Chapter XVI: Excavations in Egypt (1)

We have spoken frequently of recent discoveries in Egypt, and of objects found within old tombs. The question naturally arises: Who makes these discoveries, and under what circumstances are the secrets of the tombs revealed?

Modern excavations in Egypt are of recent date. In 1798 the military expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte drew attention to Egyptian monuments. One of his soldiers, excavating for some fortifications in the delta, discovered a stone covered with an inscription, and this was preserved. Being found near the mouth of the Rosetta river, it was called the Rosetta stone. The stone had been inscribed during the reign of Ptolemy III., a Greek king. Because some of his subjects in Egypt were Greeks and some Egyptians, he had caused the decree to be inscribed (1) in Greek, (2) in hieroglyphics, (3) in demotic. The Greek sentences were easily read, and since it seemed probable that the other writing simply repeated the decree, scholars set to work to decipher it. By 1832 they had prepared an Egyptian grammar and vocabulary.

The earliest attempt at systematic investigation was begun in 1822, when the government of Tuscany sent a number of scholars into Egypt to study inscriptions. Champollian and Rosellini were among them. In 1840 Germany sent out an expedition under the leadership of Lepsius. This party began work at Memphis, among the pyramids. In course of time the Tuscan expedition supplied volumes of copied inscriptions and explanatory material.

August Marietta went to Egypt in 1850 and was active there until 1880. He made the first great discovery when he came upon the burial place of the Apis bulls in Memphis. Sixty-four tombs were found, together with amulets and funeral ornaments. In 1857 he was made director of a new museum, which was founded at Cairo. He received the monopoly of the right to excavate in the vicinity of Thebes, and while he allowed others to study what was unearthed under his direction, he would not permit them to do any excavating. Maspero succeeded him as curator of the Cairo Museum. Into this museum has been placed all the great finds of recent years and here one who would make detailed study of ancient Egypt must go.

As a result of his explorations in the valley of the Nile, and of his personal knowledge of all gifts made to the Cairo Museum, Maspero has prepared many books pertaining to the life of the ancient Egyptians. His conclusions are drawn entirely from the revelations of old monuments and remains, and are of first importance.

Means have been provided by the Egyptian Exploration Fund and by the Egyptian Research Account to make it possible for young students to undertake explorations in behalf of public museums. Nothing found by those thus engaged can be sold, whether publicly or privately, but must be presented to some museum where people generally can have an opportunity to see and examine such objects. Reports of all discoveries are published at the earliest possible moment. In marked contrast to such generous principles have been the undertakings carried on by many who have used recovered objects for their personal profit, or have withheld knowledge of them indefinitely.

W. M. Flinders Petrie, professor of Egyptology in University College, London, took charge of the expedition sent out by the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1884. Later he organized the Egyptian Research Account, in order to give young students an opportunity to do active work themselves. In late years Petrie has carried on his efforts alone. On the basis of his observations, discoveries and knowledge, he has prepared a history of Egypt, recently published. This is a chronological account of royal tombs unearthed by him, rather than a complete history of Egypt's development.

Gardner, Griffith and Naville have been sent out at different times by the Egypt Exploration Fund, and have each prepared reports of their finds.

The Tell el Amarna Letters should be mentioned with the great finds in Egypt. In 1887-8, Arabs, who were carrying off bricks for their houses, came upon a record chamber, containing many hundred letters inscribed on bricks. They were shown to experts who did not appreciate their value. They were put in sacks and carried around, from one place to another, with the hope of making something from their sale. When many of them had been ground to powder and others were hopelessly ruined, they were bought up by museums at London, Berlin, St. Petersburg and Cairo. They have since been translated and it appears that they belonged to the record chamber of the capital built by Amenhotep IV., and called by him the Horizon of the Solar Disk. As now translated, they are found to be letters written during the peaceful reign of Amenhotep III. and early in the reign of Amenhotep IV.; others recount the North Syrian war, and certain others, the Palestine war. They reveal the condition of the empire during the reign of the fanatical king who attempted to bring about a religious revolution at home, while hostile tribes assailed his empire on the east. The Tell el Amarna letters have done much to clear up a portion of Egyptian history, previously not understood. Their revelations have been supplemented by two wonderful discoveries made within the last two years: the discovered tomb of the parents of Queen Tiy--mother of Amenhotep IV., in 1905, and early in 1907, the tomb of Queen Tiy herself. These finds are so remarkable that we may well give them brief consideration.

In recent years, Theodore M. Davis has undertaken systematic excavations in the Valley of the Kings--the great Necropolis west of Thebes--for the benefit of the Cairo Museum. This work has been directed by Archaeologist Quibell, maintained by the present Egyptian government.

Quoting from one who was present at the exciting moment when the tomb of Queen Tiy's parents was opened:

"Squeezing their way between the wall and rock ceiling, M. Maspero and Mr. Davis were soon in the midst of such a medley of tomb furniture that, in the glare of their lighted candles, the first effect was one of bewilderment. Gradually, however, one object after another detached itself from the shimmering mass, shining through the cool air, dust-free and golden. Against the wall to the left stood a chair, and beyond it a gilded coffin-cover lay upside down. In it was a conventional mask that gleamed golden through dark veiling; and the mummy whose head this mask had covered lay farther off, its body partly incased in gilded openwork. Against the wall to the right leaned two 'Osiris beds,' flat surfaces on which seed had been sown, which in sprouting, had outlined the figure of the god. Not far off, along the wall opposite the door, stood a row of sentry-boxes, each containing a statuette. In front of these rose the outermost case for a mummy. To the left stood a bed. Nearer again lay a silvered mummy case; and on this, and on a mummy beyond it, the second in the tomb, a shaft of cold blue light struck down from the outer day.

"By day-light then, mingled with the light of flickering candle flames, the discoverers examined the second mummy. By candle light alone they searched the first. Both had been plundered by the thief of long ago. Throwing the mummy cases hither and yon, he had taken from both mummies everything of intrinsic value except a plate of gold closing the aperture through which the heart of one had been removed by the embalmers. Not a jewel, and only part of one necklace, remained of all those with which the dead must once have been bedecked. But if such trophies were lacking, others of surpassing splendor and significance still packed the tomb-chamber, from wall to wall. In the bottom of a mummy-case, from which the thief had removed the cover, he had left a cushion and a graceful alabaster vase. In another mummy-case he had neglected an alabaster jar and the cover of an embroidery-box which he must have carried across the chamber to a second bed, on which it now lay beside a superb gilded chair. Near by, where the floor suddenly fell one deep step to a lower level, he had thrown, among a multitude of sealed jars, half of the gilded openwork casing which had encircled one of the mummies. Near these jars again he had propped a coffin-cover against one corner of the tomb. Here, too, he had left a third bed and one of the most important finds in the tomb, a chariot, the curving front and wheel-rims of which shone through the darkness golden and scarlet.

"Except for its broken pole and the partly bare spokes of its gilded wheels, this chariot was in perfect condition; with the yoke already found in the corridor and a whip soon to be discovered, it lacked nothing to be complete.

"Maspero studied the hieroglyphics on their gleaming mummy-cases. 'Tioua,' he read after a time; and after further study he went on, 'Ioua, hereditary prince, chief friend among the friends of the sovereign.' There were the names of the dead in the tomb; and these dead, as Maspero therefore knew, had been the parents of Tiy, a queen of the eighteenth dynasty, whose changing of the national religion had once caused such uproar and violence that the burial of her parents in the sacred Valley of the Kings would have had to be hasty and secret.

"The probable history of the tomb, accordingly, was clear. During a period of unrest Queen Tiy, who wished a royal burial for her father and mother, either chose an old tomb on which the work had been abandoned or stopped work on one which was being hewn out. In it she had placed the mummies, with their funeral offerings, till the tomb could be reopened and finished, or its contents transferred to a fitter resting place. Quiet times had perhaps never returned during her reign; and however that may be, the tomb had been reopened, not by Queen Tiy, but first by a robber, and now at last, by modern archaeologists."[1]

Even more gratifying than the discovery just recounted was the finding of Queen Tiy herself. Again we can get into the spirit of the discovery best by reading the description of an eye-witness:

"The excitement of entering a newly opened tomb is naturally considerable; but when the first inscriptions to be seen revealed the fact that the tomb of Queen Tiy, which had been so long sought for, had been found, a glamour was added to the moment which will not easily be forgotten by any of the party. Inside the tomb chamber the gold covered coffin and outer coffin, gleaming in the light of the electric lamps, formed a sight of surprising richness.... The mummy of the queen protruded from beneath the lip of the beautiful coffin, which was made in human form. A vulture-headed diadem of gold could just be seen passing around her head, and one could see here and there the shining sheets of gold in which the body was wrapped. There must have been thousands of dollars worth of gold-foil and leaf in the chamber, and the post-Akhnaton officials seem to have carried away many of the portable gold ornaments, probably amounting to many times that value. In a recess cut in the wall of the chamber stood four fine canopic vases of alabastrum, containing the queen's heart and intestines; and in one corner of the room there were several charming little pots and toilet utensils of blue glazed ware. One of these, in the form of a graceful girl carrying a pot upon her shoulder, is perhaps the most perfect specimen of miniature figure-molding known in Egypt....

"After the tomb had been opened for a few hours, the air, of course, became very much better, but its bad effects on the antiquities was at once discernible. Even before the first quick record had been finished, some of the scenes on the gold showed signs of dropping to pieces....

"It is to be hoped that most of the antiquities will be able to travel to Cairo, though their fragile condition makes it difficult to deal with them. Probably much of the rotten wood work, and even some of the fine reliefs on the gold-leaf, will have to be left in the tomb, which will be closed with Portland cement."[2]

Greatest care has to be exercised to protect finds from the Arabs. In spite of the vigilance of the government, pilfering of the old Necropolis is constantly carried on. Every fragment or curio which might bring profit is snatched up by those in the employ of speculators.

DIFFICULTIES CONFRONTING THE EXPLORER.

Petrie has given in detail many of the difficulties which have confronted him in his excavations among ancient Egyptian tombs. On one occasion, in preference to living in an Arabian village, he hunted out an old tomb, occupied the three chambers above, where the deceased had been fed and worshipped, and with his guide as a guard in an adjoining tomb, found the place secure and comfortable.

A little account of his experience in the summer of 1888, while excavating in the Fayoum, will give us some notion of the perplexities that often beset the archaeologist. Whenever possible, quotation is made from Petrie's own report. The district he selected--the Fayoum--calls to mind Amenemhet III., who first irrigated the region and thus added materially to the arable land of his country. To this particular section Petrie was drawn, because, as he explains: "The exploration of the pyramids of this district was my main object, as their arrangement, their dates, and their builders were yet unknown."[3]

"So soon as we began to turn over the soil we found chips of sandstone colossi; the second day the gigantic nose of a colossus was found, as broad as a man's body; then pieces of carved thrones, and a fragment of inscription of Amenemhet III. It was evident that the two piles of stone had been the pedestals of colossal seated monolithic statues, carved in hard quartzite sandstone, and brilliantly polished. These statues faced northward, and around each was a courtyard wall with sloping outer face and red granite gateway in the north front The total height of the colossi was about 60 feet from the ground. The description of Herodotus, therefore, is accounted for; and it shows that he actually saw the figures, though from a distance, as any person who visited them closely would not have described them in such a manner."[4]

Petrie took his corps of native workmen next to Hawara, for the pyramids there had not been opened in modern times. Finding no trace of an entrance, they tunneled for many weeks in the solid tomb. Finally a small opening was effected into the old chamber of the tomb, and there, by the flickering light of a candle, could be seen two empty sarcophagi. A modern canal has saturated this part of the land and the explorer was obliged to wade through mud to the tombs.

Quoting from his description of what was found: "The pyramid had been elaborately arranged so as to deceive and weary the spoilers, and it had apparently occupied a great amount of labor to force an entrance." After explaining a dozen ways they had tried and failed, he says: "At last the way had been forced by breaking away a hole in the edge of the glassy-hard sandstone roofing block, and thus reaching the chamber and its sarcophagi. By a little widening of the spoilers' hole I succeeded in getting through it into the chamber. The water was up to the middle of my body, and so the exploration was difficult; but the floor was covered with rubbish and chips, which might contain parts of the funeral vessels, and therefore needed searching. The first day I got the coveted prize, a piece of alabaster vessel with the name of Amenemhet III., proving finally to whom the pyramid belonged. Still there was a puzzle as to the second sarcophagus, which had been built up between the great central one and the chamber side. On clearing in the chamber which led to the sepulchre, however, a beautiful altar of offerings in alabaster was found, covered with figures of the offerings all named, over a hundred, and dedicated to the king's daughter, Neferuptah.... The chamber itself is a marvellous work; nearly the whole height of it is carved out of a single block of hard quartzite sandstone, forming a huge tank in which the sarcophagus was placed. No trace of inscription exists on either the walls or the sarcophagi; and but for the funeral furniture, even the very name would not have been recovered."[5]

Next they located what had in all probability been the old Labyrinth. No trace of the building itself could be discovered, but the vast extent showed it to have been larger than any temple known in Egypt. Pliny, a Roman historian, has told us that for centuries this Labyrinth served as a quarry for this section of the country, and that a small town of quarrymen lived near by.

In the cemetery of Hawara, Petrie made some explorations. He succeeded in finding one tomb, which had been missed by the spoilers--this naturally was the coveted find. It belonged to the twenty-sixth dynasty, a period of the decline of Egyptian power. It was the tomb of a great noble, Horuta. Standing deep under water, it was more difficult to manage than usual.

"But the sarcophagus itself was most difficult to open. The lid block was nearly two feet thick, and almost under water. It was too heavy for us to move entire, so some weeks were spent in cutting it in two. One piece was then raised, but it proved to be the foot end; and though I spent a day struggling with the inner coffins, sitting in the sarcophagus up to my nose in water, I yet could not draw them out from under the rest of the stone lid. So after some days the men raised that, enough to get one's head in between the under side of it and the water; and then I spent another gruesome day, sitting astride of the inner coffin, unable to turn my head under the lid without tasting the bitter brine in which I sat." At last the coffin was recovered. "Anxiously opening it, we found a slight inner coffin, and then the body of Horuta himself, wrapped in a network of beads of lazuli, beryl, and silver, this last decomposed.... Then came the last and longed-for scene, for which our months of toil had whetted our appetites--the unwrapping of Horuta. Bit by bit the layers of pitch and cloth were loosened, and row after row of magnificent amulets were disclosed, just as they were laid on in the distant past. The gold ring on the finger which bore his name and titles, the exquisitely inlaid gold birds, the chased gold figures, the lazuli statuettes delicately wrought, the polished lazuli and beryl and carnelian amulets finally engraved, all the wealth of talismanic armory, rewarded our eyes with a sight which has never been surpassed to archaeological gaze. No such complete and rich a series of amulets has been seen intact before; and as one by one they were removed all their positions were recorded, and they may now be seen lying in their original order in the Ghizeh Museum."[6]

We have noted repeatedly the various articles found within the tombs, such as funeral furniture, vases, food, and amulets. Some rather unusual disclosures were brought to light in this old cemetery in the Fayoum. Children's toys, and their personal belongings were found entombed with their mummies. One tomb of a much later date than yet mentioned--of Roman Egypt indeed--contained one of the books of the Iliad. More valuable than any of these were wreaths of flowers with which the dead had been adorned. These were perfectly dried and from them and accounts given us by Pliny, the ancient flora of Egypt has been worked out by the patience and painstaking of noted botanists.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Century, Nov., '05.

[2] Century, Sept., '07.

[3] Petrie: Ten Years' Digging in Egypt, 81.

[4] Ibid. 82.

[5] Petrie: Ten Years' Digging in Egypt, 86.

[6] Petrie: Ten Years' Digging in Egypt, 93, ff.

DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT.

I.

The Nile had overflowed its bed. The luxuriant corn fields and blooming gardens on its shores were lost beneath a boundless waste of waters; and only the gigantic temples and palaces of its cities (protected from the force of the water by dikes), and the tops of the tall palm-trees and acacias could be seen above its surface. The branches of the sycamores and plane-trees drooped and floated on the waves, but the boughs of the tall silver poplars strained upward, as if anxious to avoid the watery world beneath. The full moon had risen; her soft light fell on the Libyan range of mountains vanishing on the western horizon, and in the north the shimmer of the Mediterranean could faintly be discerned. Blue and white lotus flowers floated on the clear water, bats of all kinds darted softly through the still air, heavy with the scent of acacia-blossom and jasmine; the wild pigeons and other birds were at roost in the tops of the trees, while the pelicans, storks and cranes squatted in groups on the shore under the shelter of the papyrus reeds, and Nile-beans. The pelicans and storks remained motionless, their long bills hidden beneath their wings, but the cranes were startled by the mere beat of an oar, stretching their necks, and peering anxiously into distance, if they heard but the song of the boatmen. The air was perfectly motionless, and the unbroken reflection of the moon, lying like a silver shield on the surface of the water, proved that, wildly as the Nile leaps over cataracts, and rushes past the gigantic temples of Upper Egypt, yet on approaching the sea by different arms, he can abandon his impetuous course, and flow along in sober tranquility.

On this moonlight night in the year 528 B.C. a bark was crossing the almost currentless canopic mouth of the Nile. On the raised deck at the stern of this boat an Egyptian was sitting to guide the long pole-rudder, and the half naked boatmen within were singing as they rowed....

As Phanes uttered these words they landed at the garden wall, washed by the Nile.... The garden of Rhodopis was as full of sound, and scent and blossom as a night in fairy land. It was one labyrinth of acanthus shrubs, yellow mimosa, the snowy gueldres rose, jasmine and lilac, red roses and laburnums, overshadowed by tall palm-trees, acacias and balsam-trees. Large bats hovered softly on their delicate wings over the whole, and sounds of mirth and song echoed from the river.

This garden had been laid out by an Egyptian, and the builders of the Pyramids had already been celebrated for ages for their skill in horticulture. They well understood how to mark out neat flower-beds, plant groups of trees and shrubs in regular order, water the whole by aqueducts and fountains, arrange arbors and summer-houses, and even inclose the walks with artistically clipped hedges and breed gold-fish in stone basins....

At noon on the following day the same boat, which, the evening before, had carried the Athenian and the Spartan, stopped once more before Rhodopis' garden. The sun was shining so brightly, so warmly and genially in the dark blue Egyptian sky, the air was so pure and light, the beetles were humming so merrily, the boatmen singing so lustily and happily, the shores of the Nile bloomed in such gay, variegated beauty, and were so thickly peopled, the palm-trees, sycamores, bananas and acacias were so luxuriant in foliage and blossom, and over the whole landscape the rarest and most glorious gifts seemed to have been poured out with such divine munificence that a passerby must have pronounced it the very home of joy and gladness, a place from which sadness and sorrow had been forever banished.

--_An Egyptian Princess._

DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. II.

The feast of Neith, called in Egyptian "the lamp-burning," was celebrated by a universal illumination, which began at the rising of the moon. The shores of the Nile looked like two long lines of fire. Every temple, house, and hut was ornamented with lamps, according to the means of its possessors. The porches of the country houses and the little towers on the larger buildings were all lighted up by brilliant flames, burning in pans of pitch and sending up clouds of smoke, in which the flags and pennons waved gently backward and forward. The palm-trees and sycamores were silvered by the moonlight and threw strange fantastic reflections onto the red waters of the Nile--red from the fiery glow of the houses on their shores. But, strong and glowing as was the light of the illumination, its rays had not power to reach the middle of the giant river where the boat was making its course and the pleasure party felt as if they were sailing in dark night between two brilliant days. Now and then a brightly lighted boat would come swiftly across the river and seem as it neared the shore to be cutting its way through a glowing stream of molten iron.

Lotus-blossoms, white as snow, lay on the surface of the river, rising and falling with the waves and looking like eyes in the water. Not a sound could be heard from either shore. The echoes were carried away by the north wind and the measured stroke of the oars and the monotonous song of the rowers were the only sounds that broke the stillness of this strange night--a night robbed of its darkness....

The pyramids lay on the left bank of the Nile, in the silver moonshine, massive and awful, as if bruising the earth beneath them with their weight; the giant graves of mighty rulers. They seemed examples of man's creative power and at the same time warnings of the vanity and mutability of earthly greatness. For where was Chufu[1] now--the king who had cemented that mountain of stone with the sweat of his subjects? Where was the long-lived Chafra[2] who had despised the gods, and, defiant in the consciousness of his own strength, was said to have closed the gates of the temples in order to make himself and his name immortal by building a tomb of superhuman dimensions? Their empty sarcophagi are, perhaps, tokens that the judges of the dead found them unworthy of rest in the grave, unworthy of the resurrection, whereas, the builder of the third and most beautiful pyramid, Menkera,[3] who contented himself with a smaller monument, and reopened the gates of the temples, was allowed to rest in peace in his coffin of blue basalt.

[1] Khufu.
[2] Khafre.
[3] Menkure.

There they lay in the quiet night, these mighty pyramids, shone on by the bright stars, guarded by the watchmen of the desert--the gigantic sphinx--and overlooking the barren rocks of the Libyan stony mountains. At their feet slept the mummies of their faithful subjects....

But their boat sped on before the north wind; they left the city of the dead behind them and passed the enormous dikes built to protect the city of Menes from the violence of the floods; the city of the Pharaohs came in sight, dazzlingly bright with the myriads of flames which had been kindled in honor of the goddess Neith, and when at last the gigantic temple of Ptah appeared, the most ancient building of the most ancient land, the spell broke, their tongues were loosed, and they burst out into loud exclamations of delight.

It was illuminated by thousands of lamps; a hundred fires burned on its pylons, its battlemented walls and roofs. Burning torches flared between the rows of sphinxes which connected the various gates with the main building, and the now empty house of the god Apis was so surrounded by colored fires that it gleamed like a white limestone rock in a tropical sunset. Pennons, flags and garlands waved above the brilliant picture; music and loud songs could be heard from below.

--_Egyptian Princess._

DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. III.

By the walls of Thebes--the old city of a hundred gates--the Nile spreads to a broad river; the heights, which follow the stream on both sides, here take a more decided outline; solitary, almost cone-shaped peaks stand out sharply from the level background of the many-colored limestone hills, on which no palm-tree flourishes and in which no humble desert-plant can strike root. Rocky crevasses and gorges cut more or less deeply into the mountain range, and up to its ridge extends the desert, destructive of all life, with sand and stones, with rocky cliffs and reef-like, desert hills.

Behind the eastern range the desert spreads to the Red Sea; behind the western it stretches without limit, into infinity. In the belief of the Egyptians beyond it lay the region of the dead....

In the fourteenth century before Christ--for to so remote a date we must direct the thoughts of the reader--impassable limits had been set by the hand of man, in many places in Thebes, to the inroads of the water; high dykes of stone and embankments protected the streets and squares, the temples and the palaces, from the overflow.

Canals that could be tightly closed up led from the dykes to the land within, and smaller branch-cuttings to the gardens of Thebes.

On the right, the eastern bank of the Nile, rose the buildings of the far-famed residence of the Pharaohs. Close by the river stood the immense and gaudy temples of the city of Amon; behind these and at a short distance from the Eastern hills--indeed at their very foot and partly even on the soil of the desert--were the palaces of the king and nobles, and the shady streets in which the high narrow houses of the citizens stood in close rows.

Life was gay and busy in the streets of the capital of the Pharaohs. The western shore of the Nile showed quite a different scene. Here too there was no lack of stately buildings or thronging men; but while on the further side of the river there was a compact mass of houses, and the citizens went cheerfully and openly about their day's work, on this side there were solitary splendid structures, round which little houses and huts seemed to cling as children cling to the protection of a mother. And these buildings lay in detached groups....

And even more dissimilar were the slow-moving, solemn groups in the road-ways on this side, and the cheerful, confused throng yonder. There, on the eastern shore, all were in eager pursuit of labor or recreation, stirred by pleasure or by grief, active in deed and speech: here, in the west, little was spoken, a spell seemed to check the footsteps of the wanderer, a pale hand to sadden the bright glance of every eye, and to banish the smile from every lip.

And yet many a gayly-dressed bark stopped at the shore, there was no lack of minstrel bands, grand processions passed on to the western heights; but the Nile boats bore the dead, the songs sung here were songs of lamentation, and the processions consisted of mourners following the sarcophagus. We are standing on the soil of the City of the Dead of Thebes.

Nevertheless even here nothing is wanting for return and revival, for to the Egyptian his dead died not. He closed his eyes, he bore him to the Necropolis, to the house of the embalmer, or Kolchytes, and then to the grave; but he knew that the souls of the departed lived on; that the justified absorbed into Osiris floated over the Heavens in the vessel of the Sun; that they appeared on earth in the form they chose to take upon them, and that they might exert influence on the current of the lives of the survivors. So he took care to give a worthy interment to his dead, above all to have the body embalmed so as to endure long; and had fixed times to bring fresh offerings for the dead, of flesh and fowl, with drink-offerings and sweet-smelling essences, and vegetables and flowers.

Neither at the obsequies nor at the offerings might the ministers of the gods be absent, and the silent City of the Dead was regarded as a favored sanctuary in which to establish schools and dwellings for the learned.

So it came to pass that in the temples and on the site of the Necropolis, large communities of priests dwelt together, and close to the extensive embalming houses lived numerous Kolchytes, who handed down the secrets of their art from father to son.

Besides these there were other manufactories and shops. In the former, sarcophagi of stone and of wood, linen bands for enveloping mummies, and amulets for decorating them, were made; in the latter, merchants kept spices and essences, flowers, fruits, vegetables and pastry for sale. Calves, gazelles, goats, geese, and other fowl were fed on inclosed meadow-plats, and the mourners betook themselves thither to select what they needed from among the beasts pronounced by the priests to be clean for sacrifice, and to have them sealed with the sacred seal. Many bought only a part of a victim at the shambles--the poor could not even do this. They bought only colored cakes in the shape of beasts, which symbolically took the place of the calves and geese which their means were unable to procure. In the handsomest shops sat servants of the priests, who received forms written on rolls of papyrus which were filled up in the writing room of the temple with those sacred verses which the departed spirit must know and repeat to ward off the evil genius of the deep, to open the gate of the under-world, and to be held righteous before Osiris and the forty-two assessors of the subterranean court of justice.

What took place within the temples was concealed from view, for each was surrounded by a high inclosing wall with lofty, carefully closed portals, which were only opened when a chorus of priests came out to sing a pious hymn, in the morning to Horus the rising god, and in the evening to Turn the descending god. As soon as the evening hymn of the priests was heard, the Necropolis was deserted, for the mourners and those who were visiting the graves were required by this time to return to their boats, and to quit the City of the Dead. Crowds of men who had marched in the processions of the west bank hastened in disorder to the shore, driven on by the body of watchmen who took it in turns to do this duty and to protect the graves against robbers. The merchants closed their booths, then embalmers and workmen ended their day's work and retired to their houses, the priests returned to the temples, and the inns were filled with guests, who had come hither on long pilgrimages from a distance, and who preferred passing the night in the vicinity of the dead whom they had come to visit, to going across to the bustling noisy city on the further shore.

The voices of the singers and of the wailing women were hushed, even the song of the sailors on the numberless ferryboats from the western shore of Thebes died away, its faint echo was now and then borne across on the evening air, and at last all was still.

_Uarda._

KARNAK.

"I am Karnak, and a thousand million men have lived and died
Since open have my gates been thrown for kings through them to ride:
My massive walls have echoed to the tread of Egypt's hosts,
But now they are a skulking place for goblins and for ghosts."

"I stand once more among those mighty columns, which radiate into avenues from whatever point one takes them. I see them swathed in coiled shadows and broad bands of light. I see them sculptured and painted with shapes of gods and kings, with blazonings of royal names, with sacrificial altars and forms of sacred beasts, and emblems of wisdom and truth. The shafts of these columns are enormous. I stand at the foot of one--or of what seems to be the foot; for the original pavement lies buried seven feet below.... It casts a shadow twelve feet in breadth--such a shadow as might be cast by a tower. The capital that juts out so high above my head looks as if it might have been placed there to support the heavens. It is carved in the semblance of a full-blown lotus, and glows with undying colors--colors that are still fresh, though laid on by hands that have been dust these three thousand years and more. It would take not six men, but a dozen, to measure round the curved lip of that stupendous lily.

"Such are the twelve central columns. The rest (one hundred and twenty-two in number) are gigantic, too, but smaller. Of the roof they once supported, only the beams remain. Those beams are stone ... carved and painted, bridging the space from pillar to pillar, and patterning the trodden soil with bands of shadow.

"Looking up and down the central avenue, we see at the one end a flame-like obelisk; at the other, a solitary palm against a back-ground of glowing mountain. To right, to left, showing transversely through long files of columns, we catch glimpses of colossal bas-reliefs lining the roofless walls in every direction. The king, as usual, figures in every group, and performs the customary acts of worship. The gods receive and approve him. Half in light, half in shadow, these slender, fantastic forms stand out sharp and clear and colorless; each figure some eighteen or twenty feet in height. They could scarcely have looked more weird when the great roof was in its place and perpetual twilight reigned. But it is difficult to imagine the roof on and the sky shut out. It all looks right as it is; and one feels, somehow, that such columns should have nothing between them and the infinite blue depths of heaven....

"How often has it been written, and how often must it be repeated, that the great hall at Karnak is the noblest architectural work ever designed and executed by human hands? One writer tells us that it covers four times the area occupied by the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Another measures it against St. Peter's. All admit their inability to describe it; yet all attempt the description. To convey a concrete image of the place to one who has never seen it, is, however, as I have said, impossible. If it could be likened to this place or that, the task would not be so difficult; but there is, in truth, no building in the wide world to compare with it. The pyramids are more stupendous. The colosseum covers more ground. The parthenon is more beautiful. Yet in nobility of conception, in vastness of detail, in majesty of the highest order, the hall of pillars exceeds them every one. This doorway, these columns, are the wonder of the world. How was that lintel-stone raised? How were these capitals lifted? Entering among those mighty pillars, says a recent observer, 'you feel that you have shrunk to the dimensions and feebleness of a fly.' But I think you feel more than that. You are stupefied by the thought of the mighty men who made them. You say to yourself: 'There were indeed giants in those days.'

"It may be that the traveler who finds himself for the first time in the midst of a grove of _Wellingtonia gigantea_ feels something of the same overwhelming sense of awe and wonder; but the great trees, though they have taken three thousand years to grow, lack the pathos and the mystery that comes of human labor. They do not strike their roots through six thousand years of history. They have not been watered with the blood and tears of millions. Their leaves know no sounds less musical than the singing of the birds, or the moaning of the night-wind as it sweeps over the highlands of Calaveras. But every breath that wanders down the painted aisles of Karnak seems to echo back the sighs of those who perished in the quarry, at the oar, and under the chariot-wheels of the conqueror."

MEMPHIS.

"And this is all that remains of Memphis, eldest of cities--a few huge rubbish-heaps, a dozen or so of broken statues, and a name! One looks round and tries in vain to realize the lost splendors of the place. Where is the Memphis that King Mena[1] came from Thinis to found--the Memphis of Chufu[2] and Chafra,[3] and all the early kings who built their pyramid-tombs in the adjacent desert? Where is the Memphis of Herodotus and Strabo? Where are those stately ruins which, even in the middle ages, extended over a space estimated at half a day's journey in every direction? One can hardly believe that a great city ever flourished on this spot, or understand how it should have been effaced so utterly. Yet here it stood--here where the grass is green, and the palms are growing, and the Arabs build their hovels on the verge of the inundation. The great colossus marks the site of the main entrance to the Temple of Ptah. It lies where it fell, and no man has moved it. That tranquil sheet of palm-fringed back-water, beyond which we catch a distant glimpse of the pyramids of Gizeh, occupies the basin of a vast artificial lake excavated by Mena.

[1] Menes.
[2] Khufu.
[3] Khafre.

"No capital in the world dates so far back as this or kept its place in history so long. Founded four thousand years before our era, it beheld the rise and fall of thirty-one dynasties; it survived the rule of the Persians, the Greek and the Roman; it was, even in its decadence, second only to Alexandria in population and extent; and it continued to be inhabited up to the time of the Arab invasion. It then became the quarry from which old Cairo was built; and as the new city rose on the eastern bank the people of Memphis quickly abandoned their ancient capital to desolation and decay....

"Memphis is a place to read about, and think about, and remember; but it is a disappointing place to see. To miss it, however, would be to miss the first link in the whole chain of monumental history which unites the Egypt of antiquity with the world of today. Those melancholy mounds and that heron-haunted lake must be seen, if only that they may take their due place in the picture gallery of one's memory."

--_A Thousand Miles Up the Nile._

A HYMN TO THE GOD RA.

Incline thine ear towards me, thou rising Sun,
Thou who dost enlighten the two lands with beauty;
Thou sunshine of mankind, chasing darkness from Egypt!
Thy form is as that of thy father Ra rising in the heavens,
Thy rays penetrate to the farthest lands.
When thou art resting in thy palace,
Thou hearest the words of all countries;
For indeed thou hast millions of ears;
Thine eye is clearer than the stars of heaven;
Thou seest farther than the Sun.
If I speak afar off, thine ear hears;
If I do a hidden deed, thine eye sees it.
O Ra, richest of beings, chosen of Ra,
Thou king of beauty, giving breath to all.

AN OLD KINGDOM BOOK OF PROVERBS.

There is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, a
papyrus roll, which was discovered at Thebes by M. Prisse, and is
now distinguished by his name. It was first described in 1857 by M.
Chabas. The papyrus dates from the beginning of the Middle Kingdom
(_Ca._ 2100 B.C.), and belongs to the rather extensive didactic
literature of the Egyptians. According to the Egyptian custom, the
words of the book were put into the mouth of a sage of the olden
time, Ptah-hotep by name, who was said to have lived in the time
of King Assa of the Fifth Dynasty (_Ca._ 2600 B.C.). There is no
reason for doubting the correctness of the tradition. Of course
it is not to be supposed that all of the proverbs really go back
to Ptah-hotep. The author is stated to have been 110 years old,
and his book opens with a remarkable description of old age. It
proceeds in a style which recalls the Proverbs of Solomon, the
Greek didactic poems, and even the homely "Poor Richard." It
inculcates obedience, diligence, patience, and other virtues
belonging to an official or servant. The Papyrus Prisse also
contains the Proverbs of Kagemni, vizier of King Snefru (_Ca._
2900 B.C.) of the Fourth Dynasty.

PRECEPTS OF PTAH-HOTEP.

The words of the Lord Prefect Ptah-Hotep, who lived in the reign of Assa, King of Northern and Southern Egypt, who liveth forever.

Thus saith the Lord Ptah-Hotep: O Lord Osiris, whose feet are upon the crocodiles!

A man waxeth old, his strength decayeth, he getteth in years, his youth fadeth away:

Day by day the heart of an old man fainteth and is troubled:

His eyes see not, his ears hear not, his power is lessened and abated:

Behold, his mouth speaketh not as of yore, his mind is feeble, and remembereth not the deeds of yesterday:

Yea, his whole body is afflicted, good is to him as evil, his tongue savoreth no longer.

Alas, the old age of a man is full of misery, his nostrils drink not the breath of heaven, his lungs wax feeble, he delighteth neither to stand nor to be seated.

Who shall give unto my tongue authority to utter unto the young men the counsels from of old? or who vouchsafeth unto me to declare the counsels received from on high?

O Lord Osiris, let thy favor be poured out upon thy servant, and suffer that these evils be removed from those who are unenlightened.

Then answered the Lord Osiris and said: Instruct them in the counsels from of old; for verily, wisdom from of old maketh the weak strong; knowledge giveth freedom to him that heareth; wisdom cries aloud, and the ear is not satisfied with hearing.

Here beginneth the book of the wise sayings of the Lord Prefect Ptah-Hotep, the first-born, the son of the King, the well-beloved of the Lord:

That the ignorant and the foolish may be instructed in the understanding of wisdom.

Whoso giveth ear, to him shall these words be as riches;

To him who heedeth them not, to the same shall come emptiness forever.

Thus speaketh he, giving counsel unto his son.

Be not thou puffed up with thy learning; honor the wise, neither withhold thou honor from the simple.

The gates of art are closed unto none; whoso entereth thereat, though he seeketh perfection, yet shall he not find it.

But the words of wisdom are hid, even as the emerald is hid in the earth, and adamant in the rock, which the slave diggeth up.

Yield unto him whose strength is more than thine, who falleth upon thee in anger: be not thou inflamed, neither lay thy hands upon him; so shalt thou escape calamity.

He is froward, it shall not profit thee to contend against him; be contained, and when he rageth against thee, oppose him not; so in the end shalt thou prevail over him.

If one rail against thee, and flout thee, answer him not again, but be as one who cannot be moved; even so shalt thou overcome him. For the bystanders shall declare that he who, being provoked, holdeth his tongue, is greater than he who provoketh; and thou shalt be honored of those who have understanding.

If thou do evil, being thereto commanded by one having authority over thee, the gods shall not condemn thee.

Know the master, and the slave: be not froward: obey and reverence him to whom is given dominion over thee:

None may know adversity, when it cometh, nor prosperity, when it shall relieve him, for the will of fate is hid from all:

But he that abuseth his servant shall be confounded, and God who gave him authority shall suddenly take it away; and great shall be his overthrow.

Be diligent, and do more than thy master commandeth thee; for the slothful servant shall be discomfited, and he that is idle shall be chidden.

See thou neglect not thy household; if thou find opportunity to increase thy wealth improve it; business begetteth business, but poverty is the lot of the slothful.

The wise traineth his child to walk devoutly and to serve the Lord; he maketh him obey his law, and do that which is bidden; so shall the love of the father be justified.

The son of a man is flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone; let not thy heart be cold towards him. But if he be froward, and transgress thy law, and, being tempted of evil, turn himself from thy instruction, then do thou smite the mouth that smote thee.

Delay not to bring the erring to obedience, and to chastise the rebellious; so shall he not stray from the path of righteousness, nor stumble among pitfalls.

Hide not thy path, let not thy way be hidden; though thou stand in the council of thy master, declare the truth that is in thee.

Be not as those who go backward, who eat the words of their own mouth, lest peradventure they offend:

Be not like unto them; feigners, answering, He that perceiveth the error of others, the same is wise: when the wise man uplifteth his voice against error, deny him not, but keep silence; for surely none but the wise have understanding.

If thou be wise guard thy house: honor thy wife, and love her exceedingly: feed her belly and clothe her back, for this is the duty of a husband.

Give her abundance of ointment, fail not each day to caress her, let the desire of her heart be fulfilled: for verily he that is kind to his wife and honoreth her, the same honoreth himself.

Withhold thy hand from violence, and thy heart from cruelty; softly entreat her and win her to thy way; consider her desires, and deny not the wish of her heart.

Thus shalt thou keep her heart from wandering; but if thou harden thyself against her, she will turn from thee. Speak to her, yield her thy love, she will have respect unto thee; open thy arms, she will come unto thee.

Blessed is the son who gives ear to the instruction of his father, for he shall escape error.

Train thou thy son to obedience; his wisdom shall be pleasing unto the great.

Let his mouth have respect to thy sayings; by obedience shall his wisdom be established. Day by day shall his walk be perfect; but error shall be the destruction of fools. The ignorant and the froward shall be overthrown, but knowledge shall uplift the wise.

He that lacketh prudence and inclineth not his ear to instruction, the same worketh no good. He thinketh to discover knowledge in ignorance, and gain in that which profiteth nothing; he runneth to mischief, and wandereth in error, choosing those things which are rejected of the prudent; so subsisteth he on that which perisheth, and filleth his belly with the words of evil. Yea, he is brought to shame, seeking to be nourished with whatsoever the wise hold in abomination, shunning profitable things, led astray by much foolishness.

THE VOYAGE OF THE SOUL.

In the 15th chapter of "The Book of the Dead" we find an account
of the passage of the soul in a boat across the firmament, to the
abode of the blessed.

This fable reappears in the religious writings of other nations,
as, for instance, in, the Greek story of Charon, ferrying departed
spirits across the Styx, and in the traditions of the ancient
Mexicans. The soul is called by the Egyptians Osiris, in connection
with the proper name of the individual (_N_), to indicate that the
latter already partakes of the divine nature. Ra is the sun-god,
approaching the west. The following translation is by P. Le Page
Renouf:

Here is the Osiris _N_.

Come forth into Heaven, sail across the firmament and enter into brotherhood with the stars, let salutation be made to thee in the bark, let invocation be made to thee in the morning bark. Contemplate Ra within his Ark, and do thou propitiate his orb daily. See the fish in its birth from the emerald stream, and see the tortoise and its rotations. Let the offender (the dragon) fall prostrate, when he meditates destruction for me, by blows on his backbone.

Ra springs forth with a fair wind; the evening bark speeds on and reaches the Haven. The crew of Ra are in exultation when they look upon him; the Mistress of Life, her heart is delighted at the overthrow of the adversary of her Lord.

See thou Horus at the look-out at the bow, and at his sides Thoth and Maat. All the gods are in exultation when they behold Ra coming in peace to give new life to the hearts of the Chu, and here is the Osiris _N_ along with them.

[_Litany._]