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 OTUEU DRB88E8. 
 
THE EGYPTIANS 
 
 IN THE TIME OF THE PHAEAOHS. 
 
 BEING A COMPANION TO THE CRYSTAL PALACE EGYPTIAN 
 COLLECTIONS. 
 
 By Sib J. GAEDNER WILKINSON, 
 
 D.C.L,, F.R.S. 
 Author of " The Private Life, Manners, and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians." 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 
 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS, 
 
 By SAMUEL BIECH. 
 
 LONDON : "^>>^^ ---^ 
 
 ^tiMis^tir for t\it ^rgstal palate Compattg Irg 
 BRADBURY AND EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET. 
 
 1857. 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 REAT facilities have been afforded for the comparison 
 lifferent styles of architecture by the many specimens 
 ight together in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham ; and the 
 cs describing the Courts not only serve as guides to thos 
 i actually visit them, but give a very useful and instructive 
 :^dit into the general history and character of art and 
 :itecture at different periods, 
 
 ut for a knowledge of the customs and occupations of 
 Egyptians, much more is to be obtained from the tombs 
 I from the sculptures of the public buildings. The variety 
 he tombs, however, is so great, that it is not possible 
 ^ive even a general, much less a complete, notion of 
 numerous subjects represented in them ; and it appeared 
 ;ssary that Egypt should have to itself an account of 
 paintings in its tombs and the scenes they describe, 
 iave, therefore, undertaken a sketch of this subject : 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 and, though it must necessarily be treated briefly, compared 
 to that already given in the "Manners and Customs of the 
 Ancient Eg\T^tians,'' I am glad to have an opportunity 
 of introducing into it some new matter and illustrations 
 not contained in that work. 
 
 At the same time, the expense they would entail obliges 
 me to omit many illustrations I would gladly have introduced; 
 and I therefore limit myself on this, as on the previous 
 occasion, to such as appear most essential for the purpose. 
 But, in justice to those who have had to incur the expense, 
 and to show that it was not with them a question of a few 
 morej I think it right to say that in the previous work it 
 was found absolutely necessary to omit many more than a 
 hundred of those I had selected as illustrations, and in 
 the present one more than half that number ; while, in stating 
 this, I disclaim all pretensions to any unusual diligence in 
 their collection, and place far before my own the importance 
 of the materials contained in the portfolios of Mr. Hay 
 and some other English travellers. I only wish to show 
 how difficult it would be to give full illustrations of all 
 that Egypt offers relating to its customs. 
 
 In order to distinguish the subjects that belong to the 
 tombs and to the temples, I have separated the two as much 
 
'^' 
 
 DESCEIPTION OF THE WOODCUTS. 
 
 No. Pag( 
 
 1. Hieroglyphical signs for units, tens, hundreds, and thousands . 3 
 
 2. Stela, or tablet, recording a victory, or a dedication to a deity, &c., 
 
 and the Egyptian shield from which its form was derived . IC 
 
 3. Training and " rehearsals " of tumblers . . . . . It 
 
 4. The usual Egyptian ball If 
 
 5. A game ; perhaps a sort of *' forfeits " . . . . . . 17 
 
 6. Men fighting in boats made of the papyrus. A hippopotamus in 
 
 the river below ; and on the bank are some of the papyrus 
 
 plant 18 
 
 7. Unknown games, represented at Beni Hassan . . . . 20 
 
 8. A fat harper 21 
 
 9. A lyre played with the plectrum, and another played by the hands 
 
 alone 22 
 
 10. Lyre in the Berlin Museum, of thirteen strings, with a long and a 
 
 short limb . . . . . . . . . .23 
 
 11. Roman flute of bone, sheathed with brass, ^'orichalco vlncta''' . 25 
 
 12. Flute-player, with a very long flute ...... 2^ 
 
 13. Three kinds of tambourine ........ 2 
 
 14. The darabooJca drum ; the figure playing it is from a torab at ^ 
 
 Thebes ; the two drums are those now used, evidently the same 
 kind of instrument . . . . . . . .2. 
 
 15. Buffoons dancing to the tomtom drum, now used in India, bvit not 
 
 in Egypt 2'. 
 
 16. Figure and posture-dances ' . 2i 
 
 17. The pirouette, and other steps . . . - . i . . 3( 
 
 18. Fig. 1, kneading dough; 2, forming the cakes of bread, and 
 
 putting them to bake on the hearth, or on a flat girdle ovtr the 
 
 fire ; 3, prepares a goose ; 4, roasts it over a charcoal fire . M 
 
 % 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE WOODCUTS. 
 
 Page 
 'hair of hard-wood inlaid with ivory, in the Louvre ; the legs and 
 
 seat are wanting , , 35 
 
 (Ian seated on a chair with solid sides. On the ground is a mat 
 worked in patterns like the modem menoofee. One of his sons 
 offers him a lotus-flower ; the position of the other is indicative 
 of respect. Of the time of the twelfth dynasty. From the great 
 tomb at El Bersheh ........ 36 
 
 '^arious chairs, stools, and benches . . . . . . 37 
 
 )re8S worked in colours ..... ... 42 
 
 >ther dresses. Fig. 2 has gold lines worked in the stuff . . 42 
 
 'attems of ceilings from Osioot ; probably of the sixth dynasty . 42 
 )evices as borders on walls. Fig. 3 is from a ceiling, and is 
 
 common 43 
 
 )cvices on walls, baskets, &c. . . . . . . . 44 
 
 Jold and silver vases, with and without devices . . . .45 
 
 bid and silver vases ornamented with animals and other devices ; 
 
 on fig. 2 is the word "gold" 46 
 
 ugs with one handle A^ 
 
 'ig, 1, vase or jug without a handle, for holding ointment ; 2, 3, 
 
 jars on stands 47 
 
 ktttle of a peculiar and favourite form of glazed pottery, richly 
 
 ornamented 47 
 
 'wo vases from the paintings, of coloured composition, or glass- 
 porcelain 49 
 
 3. Two of the same, found in the tombs 50 
 
 'orms of bottles and jars, &c., in the paintings . . . . 51 
 -ilabaster bottles, &c., found in the tombs . . . .52 
 
 .' Hher alabaster vases 53 
 
 Uabaster vases. Figs. 1 and 3 have the word *' Ilin'' upon them 54 
 
 Vases of hard stone 55 
 
 '-'ig. 1, a beaker; 2, a bottle of glazed earthenware, with a central 
 core, the outer part being a hollow casing. It is now in the 
 
 British Museum 55 
 
 'arious earthenware bottles . . . . . , .56 
 
 iottle in the form of a hedgehog 57 
 
 'oloured earthenware bottles. Fig. 4 is a cup in the form of a 
 
 lotus-flower 57 
 
 'ig. 1, a bottle in the form of a female playing the guitar ; fig. 2, 
 
 of a girl nursing a cat. Intended for children . . . . 5S 
 'arious bronze utensila on a table (2a) of the same metal, in the 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE WOODCUTS. xiii 
 
 No. Page 
 
 npper part of the woodcut. At the side, and below, are some 
 of the same on a larger scale ; 3, is the strainer (at da the 
 same on the table) ; 8, is the top of the table ; 7, is a small 
 portable sink, or slop-basin, closed at the bottom ... 69 
 
 44. Small bronze utensils for the service of the temple. They are 
 
 sometimes of great size, holding two or more quarts . . . 60 
 
 45. A garden, in the great tomb at El Bersheh. In the upper row are 
 
 red flower-pots exactly like our own^ and baskets of onions, 
 and vegetables, and fruit. Below they are sowing and watering 
 beds, which are laid out in sunken squares, like our saltpans, 
 and those in the modem Egyptian gardens . . . • ^1 
 
 46. A wine -press ; twisting the grapes in a bag. At fig. 5, they are 
 
 straining a liquid through fine cloth ; fig. 7 stirs a. mixture in a 
 deep pan 64 
 
 47. Forms of windows in houses and temples 67 
 
 43. Windows in temples. Fig. 1 shows the windows over the lateral 
 
 colonnade which light the central avenue (or nave), as at Kamak 
 
 and the Memnonium 68 
 
 49. Stamps, cylinder (fig. 6), and mould. Fig. 6 is 2^ inches long, and 
 
 of hard stone 71 
 
 60. Men drawing a plough ; a singular instance, from Thebes ; now in 
 
 the Louvre {see description below the woodcut) . . . . 73 
 
 61. Part of the same agricultural scene {see description below the 
 
 woodcut) 75 
 
 62. PoUed cattle, stall fed 78 
 
 63. A fattened ox 78 
 
 64. Poor herdsmen . 79 
 
 55. Dogs in slips ........•• 81 
 
 5Q. Hounds in slips 81 
 
 67. Different breeds of dogs 82 
 
 68. A dog fashionable in the time of the pyramid kings . . . 83 
 
 69. A turnspit-looking dog, fashionable in the time of the Osirtasen 
 
 60. Another dog, fashionable under the Osirtasens . . . . 83 
 
 61. Nou, or Neph, at the potter's wheel, as the creating power . . 85 
 
 62. A glass bottle of early time, similar to those used in later days . 86 
 
 63. An ornament of glazed pottery, in imitation of a pine-apple. I 
 
 have seen two of these 87 
 
 64. Scales, and mode of weighing. The bull is remarkable as a weight, 
 
 probably the "talent" 92 
 
xiv DESCRIPTION OF THE WOODCUTS. 
 
 So. rage 
 
 65. Portable pocket-scales. The lead at a answers for one weight ; at 
 
 B for ano'ther. It is probably not very ancient ; and perhaps 
 
 only of Arab time . 9i 
 
 66. Gold ornaments ; 3, a ring ; 5, 6, ear-rings, as is, perhaps, fig. 1 9J 
 
 67. Fig. 1, bracelet and armlet ; 2, a necklace dt 
 
 68. A gold necklace. In the Louvre (reduced to about one-third) . 9i 
 
 69. Bracelet. Figs. 2, 3, catches or clasps, very like our modern ones 9;- 
 
 70. Ornaments, probably instead of fibulae, for securing dresses. Fig. 2 
 
 is very like some of Saxon time (it was found by me, in Egypt). 
 
 The principle of them is not very intelligible . . . . 9(' 
 
 71. Gold bracelet, -with coloured composition inlaid, — resembling, but 
 
 differing from, enamel, being merely inlaid. It is in the 
 Louvre . ► , . 9', 
 
 72. Gold basket, with ornaments engraved upon it . . . . 9* 
 
 73. Gold cup of Thothmes III. in the Louvre 9^ 
 
 74. Man holding an instrument, which looks very like a portable 
 
 pump 10.' 
 
 75. Manufacture of linen ; women twisting the threads, winding off, 
 
 and making a piece of stuff in a horizontal loom . . . . 10 : 
 
 76. A box, with the boards dovetailed. The care in joining the boards 
 
 of the lid (fig. 2.) is remarkable, being fitted together with 
 wooden tongues, which again are secured by pins through them 10. 
 
 77. Carpenter's tools : — fig. 1, a hatchet ; 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, chisels ; 
 
 10, two hand-saws ; 11, horn for oil ; 12, 13, 14, wooden 
 mallets. Some are bound round with linen cloth, having been 
 buried in a tomb at Thebes 10 
 
 78. Fig. 1, an adze ; 2, the blade (in front) ; fig. 10, a centre-bit, or 
 
 di-iU, tiirned by the thong once fixed into fig. 6. It was held by 
 the nut 7, in which it worked. Figs. 4, 8, 11, awls, or small 
 chisels ; 12, 13, smoothing instruments held in the hand ; 5, a 
 sort of spatula. This and fig. 9 are thin flat blades, as if for 
 spreading something soft . . 107 
 
 79. "Walking-sticks :— figs. 1, 2, covered with cherry -bark ; 3 has a 
 
 knob of ivory; the others a hook 10: 
 
 80. Boxes: — fig. 2, of ebony, inlaid with ivory; 2 and 3 are f n 
 
 the paintings lOi: 
 
 81. Boxes for holding kohl, or collyrium, for staining the edge of 
 
 eyelids. Fig. 3 is the pin ; 1 is of wood, 2 of stone 
 
 82. A small ivory figure holding a box, belonging to a toilette-tt 
 
 From Thebes, and now in the Museum at Alnwick Castle 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE WOODCUTS. ?v 
 
 Pago 
 
 :;). Bruslies, made of halfeli grass . . . . . . . 116 
 
 i. Baskets found in Egypt, with some zig-zag patterns; like tliose 
 
 painted on the walls of the tombs 116 
 
 ■'. Papyrus roll, bound up and sealed . . , . . . 117 
 
 '. >. Inkstands and palettes with colours ...... 120 
 
 • 7. Slab and pestle for grinding colours 120 
 
 3, Scribe and defaulter 121 
 
 ; ). Surgical instruments : — fig. 5, a sort of spatula ; 9, a pair of tweezers 122 
 
 }. Figure of a doctor, with his bottles, salves, and instruments . 123 
 
 :1. Various bronze instruments ; figs. 6, 7, are small bells . . 124 
 : 2. Bronze knife and two simpulce ; one with its bowl in the form of an 
 
 oryx. In the Louvre 125 
 
 •3. A crucible 125 
 
 •4. Figs. 1, 2, 3, daggers; 4, hatchet; 5, battle-axe; 6, shopsh, or 
 
 falchion 126 
 
 ■■5. Fig. 1, battle-axe; 2, blade of another 127 
 
 ;"6. Fig. 1, arrow tipped with flint; 2, arrow with a metal head; 3, 
 
 arrow with a point of hard wood 128 
 
 : 7. Breastplate, or armlet, resembling the Urim and Thummim . 131 
 
 8. Early brick arch, the bricks lengthways 138 
 
 : 9. Brick arch, still with the bricks placed lengthways . . . 138 
 
 0. Imitation arch in stone .139 
 
 1. Early stone arch, the stones placed lengthways, like the bricks . 13D 
 
 2. Early pointed arch, with key 140 
 
 •3. Another, with wedge as a key ■ . 140 
 
 .'•4. Another, with a whole brick as a key 140 
 
 i5. Pent-roof arch, of stone . 141 
 
 .•6. Simple plan of the original Temple . . . . . . 141 
 
 '■7. The Temple increased in size . . . . . . .142 
 
 iiS. The Temple in a temenos, or grove, surrounded by a wall . . 143 
 
 i.p. The plan of a large temple 144 
 
 0. Hypsethral building before some temples . . . . . 145 
 
 1. Pyramidal towers, flag-staffs, and statues; from a painting in a 
 
 tomb at Thebes 146 
 
 2. Sectional view of a great hall, backed by the pyramidal towers of a 
 
 temple 147 
 
 3. Original construction of a temple 149 
 
 4. Columns supporting an architrave and cornice . . . . 149 
 
 5. Different forms of doorways, from the oldest (fig. 1) to the later 
 ones (fig. 3) 150 
 
xvi DESCRIPTION OF THE WOODCUTS. 
 
 No. ]>. 
 
 116. Panels, and recesses in the tluckness of the -wall . . . . i: 
 
 117. Five of the orders of columns 1 
 
 117 a. The three other orders . . 1 
 
 118. The polygonal column taken from the square pillar . . . I' 
 
 119. Origin of the clustered water-plant column, from the water-plant 
 
 painted, and afterwards sculptured in high relief, on the square 
 
 pillar (fig. 1) : 1 
 
 120. A feather-like capital, taken also from a plant represented in tho 
 
 paintings, and often made of glazed pottery ... .1 
 
 121. Water-plants, typical of Upper and Lower Egypt. Figs. 3, 4, have 
 
 beneath them the circular hieroglyphic signifying "land" , . 1 
 
 122. Origin of the Doric capital 1 
 
 123. Origin of the Ionic capital. Fig. 3, the volute ornament often 
 
 attached to the figure of Astarte, the Phcenician Venus . . 1 " 
 
 124. Origin of the basket capital, which led to the Corinthian . . 1'. 
 
 125. Egyptian triglyphs, on the cornice . . . . . 1 
 
 126. Goose and sun and zig-zag of Egypt, on oldest Greek vases . . 1 : 
 
 127. Fig. 1, Greek harpy, taken from the Egyptian soul, figs. 2, 3 . 1 ' 
 
 128. Medusa and the Typhonian monster of Egypt . . . . 1' 
 
DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE ANCIENT 
 EGYPTIANS. 
 
 The great antiquity of Egypt, and its well-known connection 
 •nth early sacred history, invest it with an interest which no 
 f'\er country possesses. It is not only the oldest state of 
 / iich any authentic record remains, but the earliest mention 
 (>■' it in the Bible, and the oldest existing monuments, prove 
 it to have arrived, even in those remote days, at a point of 
 civilisation which continued long to distinguish it among the 
 tions of antiquity. For some of its monuments are of an 
 > which we generally ascribe to the infancy of the world ; 
 I such is the antiquity even of those of the eighteenth and 
 -leteenth dynasties, that after having become accustomed to 
 t'3 sculptures recording the victories of the kings of that, 
 ih} Augustan, age of Egypt, we look upon the monuments 
 c Shishak, the contemporary of Solomon, as of a comparatively 
 r3: ent date. 
 
 We are pleased with the spirit displayed in the sculptures 
 
 representing those victories ; we feel an interest in the very 
 
 ural pride shown in recording them; and the names of 
 
 ^. latic and African countries made tributary to Egypt, the 
 
 c'.vtives and spoil brought home, and the matter-of-factness 
 
 L^ 
 
2 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 with which each event is pourtrajed, enable us almost to 
 transport ourselves back to those early days. Every building 
 and every court bid us comprehend the condition of Egypt in 
 those days, and judge of its importance among the nations of 
 its time. Tet this was before the era ascribed by received 
 opinion to the Argonautic expedition and the Trojan war; 
 and when Troy is said to have been taken, Egypt had 
 already passed its meridian, and was falling from its high 
 estate. 
 
 Eor monuments of the greatest antiquity in Egypt, it is 
 necessary to look much farther back than the glorious age of 
 the eighteenth dynasty ; and our surprise is increased by find- 
 ing that already before the days of Abraham the Egyptians had 
 the same institutions and domestic habits as at the time of the 
 Persian conquest under Cambyses ; and that the customs of the 
 kings who erected the pyramids, and of the inmates of the old 
 tombs in their vicinity, differed in no important points from those 
 of their successors. They also knew the use of squared stone, 
 and even granite, as well as limestone. The masonry of the 
 passages in the Great Pyramid has not been surpassed at any 
 age ; and those monuments are so accurately placed north and 
 south that the variation of the compass may now be ascertained 
 from the direction of their sides. At the same period, not only 
 the citizen, but the soldier, had already laid aside his arms, 
 when within the city and in the house ; their code of laws had 
 long been framed ; they had the same mode of writing hiero- 
 glyphics on the papyrus-paper as in after-times ; the same 
 reed-pen and inkstand ; the same papyrus-roll bound up and 
 sealed ; and if some new hieroglyphics were added at different 
 times, and greater variety was introduced in architectural 
 ornament, there was no marked alteration in the character of 
 the monuments until after the decadence of art, in the time of 
 
ITS GREAT ANTIQUITY. 
 
 the Ptolemies and CsBsars. They had duodecimal as well as 
 decimal calculation ; — the method of numeration hj units, tens, 
 hundreds, and thousands ; and the division of the year into 
 
 I 
 
 9 n III 
 
 (W. 1.) 1000 100 10 3 
 
 twelvemonths of thirty days each; ornaments of gold and silver; 
 the same use of wine, apparently, too, brought in the same 
 kind of glass bottles ; musical instruments ; and, with the 
 exception of horses and chariots, the paintings then represent 
 the usual industrial pursuits of after-times. And all this at 
 a period which could not be less than 2400 years before our 
 era, or upwards of 4000 years ago. Por though the high 
 antiquity once given to those edifices is now brought within 
 more reasonable limits, by the fact of many early kings having 
 reigned contemporaneously, it is impossible to assign a lower 
 date to the monuments of the fourth dynasty. 
 
 Nor is there any doubt that the oldest tombs at the pyramids 
 are of the same era as those monuments : even the names of 
 kings painted on the stones before they were built into the 
 upper chambers of the Great Pyramid occur in some of the 
 tombs; and no one who sees them will fail to perceive that 
 they are of individuals who lived in the reigns of the founders 
 of the pyramids and their immediate successors ; in whose 
 service many held important offices. And the age of the pyra- 
 mids themselves is acknowledged by Memphis being already 
 called "the land of the pyramid" in the reigns of Suphis, 
 Papi, and Osirtasen, of the fourth, fifth, and twelfth dynasties. 
 
 Egypt has also a high interest from having been the spot 
 chosen for the promulgation of the important doctrines which 
 liberated man from superstition, and from the perversions of 
 
 b2 
 
4 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 the priesthood of those days. It was in Egypt that God 
 " made himself known unto the Israelites ;"* and " at the first 
 did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his 
 name." t And there the only community that retained the 
 germ of true religion, and was competent to uphold the doc- 
 trine of the unity of the Deity, was set apart that it might 
 receive a divine law, which would in " the fulness of time" fit it 
 to be the medium of a more complete revelation. 
 
 Egypt also at a subsequent period exercised very great 
 influence on the fate of the Jewish people under their latter 
 kings. It was then a fast declining power. Assyria was rising 
 to wrest from it all its conquests in the East ; and the Jews, 
 placed in a difficult position between the two rivals, and com- 
 pelled to side with one or the other, were exposed to the 
 resentment of the victor. In vain did the voice of prophecy 
 warn them of their danger. The temporary successes of Egypt 
 blinded them to its falling condition, until the simile of the 
 *' broken reed" having been too fully exemplified, the time had 
 passed to remedy the error ; and Egypt thus brought upon the 
 Jews the vengeance of an enemy from whom it could no 
 longer protect them, the houses of Israel and Judah being con- 
 demned to the captivity of Assyria and Babylon. 
 
 But though a dire calamity for that people, it was part of a 
 scheme destined to produce inestimable results. Even the 
 Jews themselves perceived and admitted that this great affliction 
 had tended to secure them from temptations of idolatry, to 
 which they had so often given way : and they were thus fitted 
 to carry out the grand design and ultimate object of their selec- 
 tion as the " chosen people." 
 
 Egypt, it is true, was only one of many indirect causes of 
 these events, but its name ever will be connected with them ; 
 
 ♦ Ezekiel xx. 5. + Acts xv. 14. 
 
OTHER COUNTRIES INDEBTED TO EGYPT. 5 
 
 and it is remarkable for the influence it exercised on the early 
 condition of other nations. 
 
 In architecture, in ornamental taste, and in many early 
 works of art, they were greatly indebted to Egyptian models ; 
 recent discoveries in Assyria have shown this to be the case to 
 an extent even beyond what was generally supposed ; and many 
 an original idea was borrowed from Egypt by the Grreeks, and 
 improved upon by the taste of that talented people. This will 
 appear more clearly in examining the customs of the Egyptians, 
 respecting which we obtain so much information from the 
 monuments ; — the only authorities deserving of implicit con- 
 fidence. Eor, though the Greeks, at a remote age, obtained an 
 acquaintance with many arts from the Egyptians, they knew 
 little of them as a nation ; and even those who visited Egypt 
 in after-times, before the accession of the Ptolemies, never 
 became thoroughly conversant with their customs. They saw a 
 very small portion of the country, and being ignorant of the 
 language, they could not hold that direct intercourse with the 
 inhabitants, so necessary for becoming acquainted with their 
 ideas and feelings. They depended on the ciceroni or valets-de- 
 2>lace of those days, who mixed up what they knew very im- 
 perfectly themselves with certain set ideas and tales handed 
 down from others who had gone before them ; whose blunders 
 find a parallel in those of the Erank quarter of the modern 
 capital. Erom these, indeed, we may form an estimate of the 
 information obtained of old by the Greeks, provided at the 
 same time we allow for those exaggerations which the known 
 marvels of Egypt gave so tempting an opportunity of indulging 
 in ; the country being reputed to " contain more wonders than 
 any other," and marked by peculiarities such as could now 
 only be paralleled in China. The lively imagination of the 
 Greeks, together with their hasty conclusions respecting 
 
6 D05IESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 foreigners (whom, whether superior or inferior to themselves in 
 civilisation and social habits, they stigmatised as barbarians), 
 and their readiness to invent tales adapted, as they supposed, to 
 manners they did not understand, helped to distort the picture ; 
 while their absurd stories about kings and their daughters, 
 so inconsistent with the customs of a people like the Egyptians, 
 were the result of unpardonable prejudice, and of depraved 
 ideas. The information, therefore, so obtained, can only be 
 relied on when not at variance with the monuments, or with pro- 
 bability ; while its general uncertainty may be inferred from some 
 of the false impressions it is known to have conveyed. Thus, we 
 are told that onions were worshipped ; that Isis had the head of a 
 cow ; Anubis that of a dog (instead of a jackal) ; that a sphinx 
 was composed of a lion and a virgin ; that an Egyptian doorway 
 had sloping sides (which in reality are confined to the outer 
 line of the jambs*) ; that obelisks were only dedicated to the 
 sun ; that a crocodile moved its upper, instead of its lower 
 jaw ; that the trochilus, a most obliging bird, performed the 
 ofi&ce of toothpick to that unprepossessing monster, removing 
 the leeches from its gaping mouth ; that vines grew only in one 
 part of the country ; that men carried burdens on their heads, 
 women on their shoulders ; that ships made of the papyrus, or 
 of planks sewed together with bands of that rush, carried car- 
 goes of many tons weight, and even sailed on the ocean ; 
 that the Egyptian gods were deified beings who had lived on 
 earth ; and numerous other fallacies handed down as estab- 
 lished facts. The name of Egypt conveyed certain conven- 
 tional impressions; with it were associated one particular 
 kind of building, one unvarying character of the people ; 
 and Egypt, the parent of hieroglyphics, was hieroglyphically 
 represented in men's minds by fixed notions. 
 
 * Sec below, woodcut 115, 
 
IDEAS RESPECTING EGYPT. 7 
 
 The E,omans judged of it in mucli the same way as the 
 Greeks. A mosaic, or a fresco, was thought to convey the idea 
 of Egypt to the spectator, by the introduction of a pyramid, an 
 obelisk, or a sphinx; the worship of sacred animals, and of 
 those few deities whose names happened to be known out of 
 the country, were supposed to represent all that its religion 
 could pretend to ; and " monsters such as Egypt produces,'* 
 were more thought of in connection with its name than all the 
 wisdom that distinguished it among the nations of antiquity. 
 Even the Greeks of Alexandria, and the Eomans after them, 
 knew nothing of the Egyptian religion ; nor did they really 
 understand the nature of all their own deities, some of whom 
 were adopted from the Nile : and Cicero is often puzzled to 
 explain them in his inventory of the Pantheon. 
 
 Till recent enquiries had been made into their habits, the 
 Egyptians were believed to have had a gloomy, serious charac- 
 ter ; massive buildings of prodigious size, colossal statues, and 
 immense columns, were considered the unvarying characteristics 
 of their architecture; and/^few would have supposed that theyi 
 admitted lengthy slender columns, extending up the whole' 
 face of a house, of two or more floors in height, from the ' 
 ground to the cornice ; or that they were the first to invent 
 the arch, and to use it commonly in their crude brick houses 
 and tombs, y These and many other unexpected facts are 
 distinctly proved by the monuments ; and many of their tastes 
 and inventions, the furniture and ornaments of their houses, 
 as well as their mode of life, will be found to differ greatly 
 from the ordinary impressions received respecting the ancient 
 Egyptians. 
 
 Our authorities, the monuments, consist chiefly of two 
 kinds: the temples, and the tombs. Of the houses, few 
 vestiges remain, their crude brick materials having been em- 
 
8 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 ployed for other purposes, or converted, by the increased 
 level of the inundation, into their original condition of mud ; 
 for few dwellings were of stone, except some apartments, 
 attached to the temples, belonging to the kings and priests, 
 which were only intended for occasional use ; and their family 
 mansions and villas were built of the same simple materials as 
 the ordinary houses of the country. 
 
 The sculptures in the temples relate chiefly to offerings made 
 to the gods, the victories of the kings, and other events which 
 I shall notice after having described the tombs ; these last 
 being of particular interest, from their illustrating so many of 
 the customs and occupations of the Egyptians. 
 ^^ne very usual subject in the tombs is the reception of guests 
 at a party ; and Egyptian artists, fully alive to caricature, have 
 sometimes shown that the little follies of gossip, display of 
 finery, and conceit, were as common in those days as in later 
 times. Here, a man of fashion arriving in his curricle long 
 after the other guests are assembled, thinks to increase his 
 consequence by this affectation, as well as by the number of 
 his attendants and running footmen ; there, women examine, 
 with the eyes of envy or curiosity, the jewellery of a neighbour; 
 and the profusion of gold and silver vases set out on the side- 
 board, proclaim, by their utter uselessness on the occasion, that 
 love of display alone procured them a place in the festive chamber. 
 In another place, the consequence of the master and mistress 
 of the house is indicated by the submissive obeisance made to 
 them by the dancers and musicians hired to entertain the 
 company ; and as the principal people who gave these enter- 
 tainments were of the priestly class, we learn, that however 
 they might lecture the people on the propriety of considering 
 this life a mere passage to a future state, and of mortifying 
 their appetites for pleasure, they were themselves by no means 
 
SUBJECTS PAINTED IN THE TOMBS. 9 
 
 averse to the good thiugs of this world, and enjoy ed their 
 comforts like the rest of the community. 
 
 Nor do the artists omit to notice some of the appliances that 
 contributed to their comforts and those of their guests. 
 Among these were the precautions taken against the heat of a 
 southern climate. Their rooms were spacious, and protected 
 against the sun ; their gardens abounded in shady avenues of 
 trees, with large tanks of water, and apparently fountains. 
 Water was sprinkled abundantly through the courts, and 
 around the house ; and, though they had not adopted all the 
 luxuries of India, they had many contrivances for obtaining ' 
 coolness during the heat of the day. Attendants, too, waved j 
 before them large feather-fans on certain occasions ; and a j 
 figure in Dr. Abbott's collection holds in his hand what 
 bears a strong resemblance to one of our European and 
 Chinese fans. 
 
 Music and dancing are always at their feasts, as well as 
 games, both within and out of doors ; and the various trades of 
 the carpenter, boat-builder, potter, leather-cutter, glass-blower, 
 and others, have always a marked position on the walls of a 
 tomb. 
 
 In one part the funeral procession is represented : where the\ 
 hearse, placed on a sledge drawn by oxen and men, is preceded \ 
 by priests and by the mourners — men and women who throw 
 dust on their heads, and utter the same kind of lamentations 
 as at a modern Cairene, or at an Irish, funeral. Various em- 
 blems, the chariot, and articles of furniture, belonging to the 
 deceased, and the sacred boats of the dead, are also introduced, 
 as well as the last judgment, which holds so conspicuous a 
 place in the ceremonies of the Egyptians. 
 
 These are some of the principal subjects on the walls of the 
 tombs, which will be mentioned more in detail as we proceed. 
 
10 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 / Both in the tombs and temples the subjects varied slightly 
 / at difterent periods ; for in the temples of early time, which 
 were as yet of small dimensions, it was not usual to introduce 
 the representation of victories, even on the exterior. Sacred 
 subjects occupied the whole of that limited space; and its 
 Avails within were also devoted to sculptures relating to 
 religious rites. These were always retained upon the interior 
 of the sanctuary itself, however large the building became ; and 
 no battle-scene was admitted, even in the eighteenth and nine- 
 teenth dynasties, nearer to the adytum than the portico, or the 
 great hall of assembly. 
 
 When the temple was as yet little more than the original 
 square chamber, the Pharaohs were satisfied to record their 
 1 2 victories on tablets engraved on 
 
 rocks, or on stelcB^ set up in some 
 chosen spot, which, having the 
 form of anEgyptian shield (fig. 2), 
 were probably derived from an 
 earlier custom of using it for that 
 purpose. It contained the date of 
 the king's reign, the name of the 
 people he had defeated, and 
 whatever important consequences attended his success; and 
 above was the king, making offerings to the deity, to whose 
 interference the victory was ascribed. As yet, these subjects 
 had not become pictorial. 
 
 The oldest tombs, however, as at the pyramids, contained 
 almost as great a variety of subjects as those of the eighteenth 
 and subsequent dynasties ; and the sepulchral grottoes of Beni 
 Hassan, of the twelfth dynasty, offer even more than any 
 single tomb of later date. 
 It is interesting to find from them that (as before stated) the 
 
 fl 
 
 (W. 2.) 
 
EARLY RELIGION AND HABITS. 11 
 
 Egyptians had abeady the habits and customs of after-times ; 
 and I shall have an opportanity of noticing the early date 
 of some inventions and usages generally ascribed to much 
 more recent periods. 
 
 "Whatever their religion may have been in their infancy as a 
 nation, it had evidently the same general character, as well as 
 their laws and institutions, from the earliest periods of which 
 the monuments have left us any record ; and even if any new 
 law was introduced, it only carried out the system already 
 framed of old, and was the natural result of experience and the 
 advancement of society. Nor did some little innovations in 
 the rights and ceremonies, nor the occasional adoption of a 
 new, or even of a foreign, god, so conveniently tolerated by 
 polytheism, make any real alteration in their religion ; and the 
 prominence given to the mysteries and office of Osiris in the 
 sixth, and still more in the eighteenth and succeeding dynasties, 
 were only the fuller development of an old doctrine. What- 
 ever change was introduced of a contrary tendency was forcibly 
 introduced by some foreign king ; as when Amun was banished 
 from the Pantheon; and the expulsion of the heterodox 
 "stranger" was the signal for the restoration of the old and 
 favourite deity. 
 
 In their manners and customs, too, the changes that time 
 brought about were very trifling ; and, as I have already 
 stated, the fact of the oldest monuments representing a people 
 already having the customs of their later civilisation, while it 
 takes us back to an era beyond the reach of all known history, 
 suggests this obvious question — how long a time must have 
 elapsed before the Egyptians could have reached that ad- 
 vanced state in which they are introduced to us by the monu- 
 ments ? 
 
 It is unnecessary to offer any conjectures respecting the few 
 
12 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 customs not recorded before the age of the Osirtasens and 
 the Shepherd invasion; which last may be considered the 
 turning point in their history. Those customs may have 
 already existed, even though not represented, since the monu- 
 ments of that time are few ; for many that we know they had 
 are only found once, while others are never alluded to. Every 
 new tomb of any size is sure to contain something unnoticed 
 in another ; and it would be too much to expect that if all the 
 tombs of Thebes were now open to us, they should contain a 
 perfect list and illustration of all the employments or customs 
 of the Egyptians. We have reason to be grateful for what 
 we have. 
 
 Much is of course to be learnt of the manners of a people 
 from their domestic usages, the style and furniture of their 
 houses, their mode of living, their amusements and daily 
 occupations, and we have therefore ample opportunities of 
 judging of the character and social habits of the Egyptians. 
 The mistake of supposing them a grave and gloomy people 
 will become evident when we examine those instructive autho- 
 rities; and if some ancient writers have represented them 
 *' rather sad," and others a vivacious and hasty people, we shall 
 not find it difficult to account for any change after Egypt 
 iiad been for ages subject to a series of calamities and the 
 oppressions of foreign rule. And the mixed population of 
 Alexandria and its neighbourhood, from whom foreigners too 
 often formed an estimate of their manners, could not certainly 
 convey any notion of the Egyptians under the Pharaohs. 
 
 It is certain that however much their priestly rulers im- 
 pressed upon them the propriety of abstinence and sobriety, 
 the Egyptians were noted for a love of conviviality, and lost 
 [no opportunity of indulging in the most lively amusements, as 
 rell as in the pleasures and even in the excesses of the table. 
 
LIVELY AND FOND OF WINE. 13 
 
 Indeed, the fact of this advice being thought so necessary 
 suffices to prove the character of the people who required it ; 
 and those who suppose, from the introduction of the figure of 
 the human mummy at a festive meeting, in order to remind 
 them of the transitory nature of this life's pleasures, that the 
 Egyptians enjoyed their recreations in a serious mood, have 
 made not only a hasty but an inconsistent conclusion ; not very 
 unlike that which might pronounce the morality of a people 
 from the number of methods devised to deter them from vice. 
 They were the reverse of a serious people ; and while their 
 philosophers gave their attention to grave abstruse studies, the 
 rest of the community appreciated a merry life, and were 
 remarkable for a love of excitement, quite consistent with the 
 scenes of bufibonery and the talent for caricature so often 
 displayed in the paintings. 
 
 They indulged very freely in wine, many qualities of which / 
 were highly esteemed in Egypt. Of these the most noted were 
 the Mareotic, the Anthyllan, the Teniotic, the Sebennytic, the 
 Coptite, and a few others ; those " of the north " appear to 
 have been reputed the best ; and in after-times, when the trade 
 with Grreece was opened, wines from that country, as well as 
 from Phoenicia, were imported into Egypt. It always had its 
 place on the altars of the gods, as well as on the tables of the 
 rich ; it was not forbidden to the priests ; and a certain 
 quantity was always allowed to the soldiers on duty in the city, 
 as part of their daily rations. It was kept in earthenware jars, 
 resembling the amphorcB of the Eomans, and arranged in the 
 same manner upright in the cellar ; and if in late times they 
 occasionally carried it in skins, this was rather a Greek than an 
 Egyptian custom ; and Athenaeus mentions a monster skin 
 made of panthers' hides, displayed in the festive procession of 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus, on a four-wheeled car, twenty-five cubits 
 
14 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 long and fourteen broad, drawn by 600 men, whicli contained 
 3000 jars of wine. 
 
 / The Egyptians, also, at an early time, had excellent beer, 
 /which, in default of hops, was flavoured by lupins, skirret, and 
 /an Assyrian root. The " bitter ale " made by the Basses 
 and Allsops of Pelusium was noted as the best ; and we may 
 suppose it was by no means bad when praised by the Greeks, 
 who held beer in great contempt ; for Diodorus, a native of a 
 wine country, considers it scarcely inferior to the juice of the 
 grape. Its use, however, was mostly confined to those who 
 could not afford good wine ; and the paintings do not mention 
 (it at parties given by wealthy Egyptians. 
 
 They were particularly fond of music and dancing ; the most 
 austere priest could not give an entertainment without a good 
 band of musicians and professional dancers, as well as plenty of 
 wine, rich ointments and perfumes, a profusion of flowers, and 
 a capital dinner. Tumblers, jugglers, and various artistes 
 skilled in feats of agility, were engaged for the occasion ; and 
 the guests themselves played at games of chance, at mora, so 
 common now in Italy, odd and even, draughts, and other 
 favourite pastimes. These were all of very old date, at least as 
 early as the fourth dynasty, more than 4000 years ago.* In mora 
 each player threw out the fingers of one hand while he endea- 
 voured to guess the united sum of both : the game was in later 
 times common in Borne, and is now played by every idler in an 
 Italian street. 
 
 Draughts was a favourite game of all ranks; and King 
 Eemeses III. is more than once represented playing at it in 
 the palace at Thebes. The number of men cannot exactly be 
 ascertained ; they were of different colours on the opposite^side 
 of the board, and were not flat pieces like our own, but about 
 
 * Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 190. 
 
THIMBLE-ma, AND INDOOR GAMES. 
 
 15 
 
 one and a-half to one and tliree-quarter inches high ; and when 
 moved were taken up with the finger and thumb as our chessmen. 
 The greater part of their games within doors were played by 
 professional people hired to amuse the guests, who sat round 
 on elegant chairs and couches, while the performers displayed 
 their skill in the open space purposely left in the centre of 
 the room. At one time a conjuror produced his pea, and 
 astonished the ever-mistaken novice with thimble-rig, per- 
 formed with four cups ;* at another, tumblers, mostly women, 
 performed various evolutions, throwing themselves over and 
 over backwards, "in the manner of a wheel," singly or two 
 together ; t some, again, standing on each other's backs, made a 
 somersault to the ground ; while others, wearing high foolscaps, 
 or with their long hair dressed to resemble them, turned head 
 over heels without deranging their projecting head-gear, occa- , 
 sionally holding one foot with the hand during the performance. 
 
 (W. 3.) 
 
 To excel in these feats required long training, and was not 
 * P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 203. f lb., p. 189. 
 
16 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 attained without severe tuition. The company of tumblers be- 
 longed to a proprietor, who instructed them in the art ; and a 
 sharp chastisement was often inflicted during the " rehearsals" 
 on a negligent performer. Many of them w^ere foreign slaves ; 
 as were some of those who constituted a higher class of 
 performers, and who excelled in a dance consisting of graceful 
 posture, analogous to the " Ionic movements " of G-reece, and 
 the Almeh gestures of modern Egypt. • 
 
 Games of ball were also fixvourite amusements ; and they 
 had various ways of playing. Women were again the prin- 
 cipal performers ; and their mode of throwing up several balls, 
 and catching them in succession, was a piece of dexterity 
 which excited admiration in those as in modern days. At 
 other times, one person, seated on the back of a companion, 
 threw the ball to the opposite player, until one of the two, 
 failing to catch it, lost the post of honour, and was in turn 
 obliged to submit herself to the same beast-of-burthen office ; 
 in token of which, the Greeks, who also had this game, gave to 
 the bearers the name of "Asses," while the riders were called 
 
 "Kings." In another game, the 
 
 performer threw the ball as high 
 
 as she could ; and then leaping up, 
 
 caught it before her feet touched 
 
 the ground again — corresponding 
 
 to the ovpavia ("skyball") of the 
 
 Greeks; and it was sometimes 
 
 thrown to the opposite player, 
 
 who caught it in the same manner 
 
 ^*^ while jumping from the ground. 
 
 Others threw and caught it standing on one leg, with their 
 
 hands behind their back.* 
 
 • See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 199; figs. 4, 5, 6. 
 
BALL, AND OTHER GAMES. 
 
 17 
 
 TPie ball was very like many of our own, about tbree inches 
 in diameter, sewed with string crosswise at its one seam, and 
 stuffed with bran, thread, husks of corn, or small rushes, and 
 covered with leather. 
 
 Another feat was performed by a couple of men, who, holding 
 two women by the wrist, whirled them round as they reclined 
 backwards, each with her feet pressed against those of her 
 companion.* Others, placing a hoop between two hooked sticks, 
 strove who should first snatch it away from his adversary t ; 
 and a sort of forfeits was played by two men, who, holding some 
 wooden counters in their hands, or striking the back of a third 
 as he knelt between them, obliged him to guess the number, or 
 
 (W. 5.) 
 
 which gave the blow. Another feat consisted of sitting back 
 to back, and striving who should first rise from the ground ; 
 and sometimes two men contended who should throw a knife 
 nearest to the centre, or the edge, of a block of wood — the 
 number of times deciding the winner of the stake. But many 
 of these were rather out-of-doors amusements than exhibitions 
 to divert a party, as was the trial of strength in raising weights. 
 
 * P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, voL i. p. 201. f Ibid. p. 194. 
 
 
 
WRESTLING, BULL-FIGHTS, MUSIC. 19 
 
 "Wrestling was also among the games of tlie Egyptians, as 
 well as other trials of dexterity; and the grottoes of Beni 
 Hassan show all the numerous positions, modes of attack and 
 defence, and various artful resources adopted by wrestlers ; as 
 well as sham fights, and the more serious conflicts of single- 
 stick and quarter-staff. Conflicts with long poles (still a 
 favourite weapon with the Egyptians) were very common 
 among the peasants and boatmen of the Nile (woodcut 6) ; and I 
 Herodotus tell us of a battle with sticks, which was part of a 
 religious ceremony. 
 
 Bull-fighting was also a favourite sport. It was even 1 
 allowed in the avenue leading to the temple of Pthah (Yulcan) ' 
 at Memphis ; and prizes were given to the owner of the suc- 
 cessful bull, as they were to those men who excelled in 
 wrestling and other games.* Nor are these the only pastimes 
 represented at Beni Hassan ; and tricks of various kinds, not 
 always very intelligible to a modem spectator, are recorded in 
 the paintings of the tombs f ; some of which I shall introduce 
 here, as it may be amusing to try to understand them, or they 
 may possibly be explained by future discoveries (woodcut 7). 
 
 The games were exhibited before and after dinner ; and 
 nothing was omitted that could promote festivity, or the 
 entertainment of the party. Music was the most popular, and 
 was always introduced at the very commencement of a feast, as 
 soon as the guests arrived. The instruments were principally 
 harps, lyres, guitars, drums, tambourines of various shapes, 
 clappers, double and single pipes, flutes, and a few others of 
 less common occurrence ; and they were often accompanied by 
 songs and the clapping of hands. Sometimes a solo was per- 
 formed on one of these instruments ; but it was more usual 
 
 * For various games, see P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. pp. 189—211. 
 + Ibid. vol. i. p. 194, 
 
 c2 
 
COMBINATION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 
 
 21 
 
 to have a combination of many; and the Egyptians were 
 acquainted at a very early time with the triple symphony : the 
 harmony of instruments, of voices, and of voices and instru- 
 ments. ) Their bands were often composed of a harp, lyre, and 
 guitar, double pipe and tambourine; of a fourteen-stringed 
 harp, a double pipe, and a lyre of seventeen chords, with 
 voices ; of two harps, a flute, and voices ; of a harp, a guitar, 
 and a double pipe or of two flutes ; of a harp and two guitars, 
 with a double pipe and the clapping of hands ; of two harps, 
 and a jingling instrument which may correspond to the 
 crescent-crowned bells of our military bands; besides many 
 other combinations.* And in a tomb at the Pyramids, built in 
 the early time of the fourth dynasty, bands were already com- 
 posed of two harps, a pipe, and flute, with several voices. 
 
 The musicians on these occasions were hired performers ; 
 and though many of the 
 harpers and choristers were 
 poor and blind, the occupa- 
 tion seems to have agreed 
 with them, some being in- 
 ordinately fat. 
 
 For though music formed 
 part of the education of an 
 Egyptian gentleman, he did 
 not display his musical ta- 
 lents at a party ; but in the 
 temple, at funerals, and in several religious ceremonies, men 
 and women of high rank, belonging to the priestly order, 
 played the harp and other instruments adapted to sacred 
 music ; and many devoted themselves to the service of religion 
 in the capacity of minstrels of various deities. 
 
 * See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. pp. 85—134. 
 
 (W. 8.) 
 
\ 
 
 22 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 The instruments were of various compass. The harps were 
 of four, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen, 
 seventeen, twenty, twenty-one, or twenty -two strings ; and 
 lyres are represented of five, seven, ten, and eighteen. Both 
 were of very varied shape ; and some harps were highly orna- 
 mented with leather, painted in bright coloiu-s. Harps of a 
 small size were frequently raised on a stand or foot, and played 
 by the performer seated on the ground; to others it was 
 customary to stand, as to the large harps in the tomb of 
 Remeses III., at Thebes, which are of ten and twelve strings, 
 and are ornamented with the head of a king, and painted 
 with the richest colours. Both men and women played the 
 harp ; but, when of very great size, it was usually represented 
 in the hands of men. 
 
 [ Of the lyre there were many varieties, which were mostly 
 played by men. It was frequently ornamented with the head 
 of a gazelle, oryx, or some other animal, — an idea adopted by 
 the Greeks, whose lyre, formed of the horns of an Egyptian 
 
 (W. 9.) 
 
 antelope (unknown in Europe), was improved upon by their 
 taste, and made into a far more elegant instrument. Like 
 
TUNING THE HARP AND LYEE. 
 
 2S 
 
 that of Greece, it was played with the two hands, or with the 
 plectrmiij a small implement, made of bone, ivory, or hard 
 wood ; or with this, and one hand. It was held under one arm, 
 and sometimes supported by a strap over the shoulders ; but 
 there is no indication of the band across the left hand, used by 
 the Greeks. 
 
 ^N^either in the harp, nor in the lyre, had they any means of 
 shortening the strings, during the performance, by any con- 
 trivance like our pedals ; they could therefore only play in 
 one key; but this want was less felt when the instruments 
 were chiefly accompaniments to the voice. The harp was 
 tuned by pegs ; the chords of the lyre by sliding them up the 
 inclined bar, when the two limbs were of different lengths. 
 This was a very common form ; and a lyre, which was in the 
 
 (W. 10.) 
 
 centre twenty-two inches high, measured on one side with its 
 limb about two feet ; on the other, one foot eight inches in 
 height. "When the limbs were equal, the strings were tightened 
 by rolling them round the transverse bar, as in the hisirka, or 
 modern Nubian lyre. 
 
24 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 The invention of a stringed instrument might be of a very 
 early age ; and a harp, or a lyre, of one octave, might be used 
 as well as the drum, the tambourine, and the pipe, long before 
 Music became a science, and when the simplest melody was 
 alone attempted. For at first, all music was confined to melody ; 
 that of uncivilised man is always in a minor key ; and the same 
 may be said of the winds, and other sounds of nature. 
 
 The strings of their instruments were of catgut ; and it is 
 I probable that the acquaintance with their sound was first 
 obtained from the twang of the bow used by the hunter, long 
 before the harp was thought of; and the earliest musical sounds 
 were perhaps obtained from the pipe made of a reed, which 
 continued to be used in Egypt to a late time. Dr. Burney, 
 indeed, thinks that " in the infancy of music no other instru- 
 ments were used than those of percussion ;" but, with great 
 deference to his opinion, it may be said that, though the 
 clapping of hands was the first union of many rude performers, 
 the earliest efforts to obtain musical sounds were from some 
 kind of pipe, quite as easy to construct as an instrument of 
 percussion. It is the pipe of the shepherd and the moun- 
 taineer that we hear in the wildest countries ; and the first 
 attempt of the child is to make a whistle, or a pipe, from some 
 common plant. 
 
 The primitive flute was also a very simple instrument. In 
 Egypt it was called sehi, the same name as the " bone of the 
 leg," showing how it was originally made. It was sometimes of 
 a hard wood ; and a few have been found, like the pipe, made 
 \of reed. Some Eoman flutes were also of bone ; and the name 
 tibia, corresponding with the Egyptian sebi, explains, like the 
 words avena and Jlstula, applied to the pipe, the material of which 
 it was often formed. The pipe, however, was also called tibia ; 
 and the flute was distinguished by the epithet obliqua. The 
 
FLUTE. -GUITAR, 
 
 25 
 
 latter was, in later times, bound with brass ; when it was said, 
 by Horace, to have " emulated the trumpet ;" and I have seen 
 one found at Eome, of bone, sheathed entirely with brass, which 
 had only a diameter of an inch and a half, and measured five 
 and a half inches from the top to the fifth hole, where it was 
 broken off. The first hole was an inch and a half from that 
 for the mouth ; and it had five holes on the upper and two on 
 the under side, and may, when entire, have been about nine 
 inches in length ; showing that its power as an instrument was 
 very limited, and that it depended for its effect rather on its 
 shrillness than the fullness of its tones. It was also much smaller 
 
 (W. 11.) 
 
 than the Egyptian flute, which exceeded two feet in length. 
 This was played by men, who stood, or sat on the ground ; and 
 an instance is met with of a man playing on one at Thebes, 
 which must have been about four feet Ions. 
 
 (W. 12.) 
 
 To discover, rather than to invent, these simple instruments, 
 required little skill ; but before they could devise the means of 
 obtaining various notes from a small number of strings, by 
 shortening them on a neck, as in our modern guitar and violin, 
 
 ^V OF ms ^ 
 
26 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 considerable experience was required; and this could only 
 have resulted from an attentive study of musical sounds. The 
 three-stringed guitar, therefore, proves that the Egyptians had 
 acquired a knowledge of music at a very remote time, for, 
 though not represented in a band of music earlier than the 
 eighteenth dynasty, it is found among the hieroglyphics up- 
 wards of 600 years before that period, as the initial of the word 
 nofr, "good." 
 
 / The guitar had a long neck, about twice the length of its 
 oval body; which last was a hollow case of wood, with leather 
 or parchment strained over it, having small holes to allow the 
 sound to escape. It was played with the plectrum ; and as the 
 cithara of Greece was smaller than the other Greek lyres, 
 the guitar of the Egyptians was of less power than their lyre. 
 IWomen generally played it ; men rarely. It was supported on 
 the right arm, and even by a strap over the shoulder, like the 
 Spanish guitar ; while the strings were shortened by the left 
 hand ; and the performer occasionally danced to its sound. 
 Besides the lyre and guitar, were several instruments that 
 
 held a place between 
 them; some of which 
 have been found in the 
 tombs, and are pre- 
 served in the British 
 and other Museums.* 
 
 The tambourine, and 
 
 the darahooka drum of 
 
 modern Egypt, were 
 
 (^v. 13.) used at funerals, as well 
 
 as on festive meetings. The tambourine was of three different 
 
 kinds ; one of which, of round shape, is still so common 
 
 * P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. pp. 118 — 125. 
 
TAMBOURINE AND DRUMS. 
 
 27 
 
 throughout the East, as well as in Europe (woodcut 13). It was 
 the tapJi of the Hebrews, the timbrel, or tabret, that Miiiam, and 
 the women after her, took in 
 their hands ; when they cele- 
 brated the deliverance of the 
 people " with timbrels and 
 with dances." It is the only 
 form now used in Egypt ; and 
 in the upper country it is intro- 
 duced on occasions of mourn- 
 ing as well as of rejoicing, with 
 the same rude kind of song as of 
 old ; but the darahooTca (wood- 
 cut 14), made of parchment, 
 strained over one end of a cone, 
 or a cylinder, of earthenware, 
 is an instrument of mirth, like 
 the common drum, which was also known to the ancient Egyp- 
 tians. This last was braced like our own, and beaten in the same 
 
 (W. 14.) 
 
 manner with two sticks; but the hand-drum was precisely 
 
28 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 similar to the tomtom of India. It formed part of the military 
 band ; and the buffoons in the street danced to its sound 
 (woodcut 15). 
 
 Most of the Egyptian instruments were admitted on occa- 
 sions of festivity and rejoicing; but the trumpet was chiefly 
 confined to the military band; to which also belonged, though not 
 exclusively, the 5'^?w^o?n-drum, the clappers, and a few others. 
 
 Cymbals were i^-ostly used by the sacred minstrels. They 
 
 were of metal, and like those of modern days, though smaller, 
 
 being from five and a half .0 seven inches in diameter. Clappers, 
 
 the crotala of the Greeks, were of hard wood, bone, ivory, shells, 
 
 or metal ; which, held one in each hand, were struck together, 
 
 and, giving a sharp sound, like our castanets, were often used 
 
 as an accompaniment to other instruments. Sometimes a 
 
 man danced a solo to their sound, and to the clapping of hands. 
 
 They were also admitted in festive and solemn ceremonies. 
 
 But the sistrum was peculiarly appropriated to religious rites, 
 
 and its jingling sound was thought to drive away Typhon, or 
 
 the devil. To hold it in the temple was a highly honourable 
 
 office, entrusted only to the queens, and those holy women who 
 
 dedicated themselves to the service of the gods, and who seem 
 
 to have constituted a sort of sacred college, or sisterhood, 
 
 resembling in some degree the conventual communities of later 
 
 times ; though their vows did not prevent their attending also 
 
 to social and other duties, as wives, and members of society. 
 
 [ Sacred music was much used in Egypt ; and the harp, lyre, 
 
 tuitar, flute, double-pipe, tambourine, clappers, cymbals, and 
 
 Isistrum were admitted in various religious services, of which 
 
 jmusic formed an important part, as with the Jews. 
 
 I Dancing was quite as indispensable at an Egyptian party as 
 
 1 music, and the performers were in like manner hired for the 
 
 \ occasion. They did not pride themselves only on the variety of 
 
80 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 their steps, but on the graceful attitudes they assumed during 
 the performance ; and figure dances were also great favourites. 
 
 I Both men and women danced for hire ; but the latter being 
 more graceful were selected for dances requiring elegance of 
 
 (W.17.) 12 3 
 
 posture ; and this, as well as a greater natural facility of balance, 
 recommended them for feats of tumbling. 
 
 To stand on one foot, while singing, was equally an accomplish- 
 ment at an Egyptian as at a Roman party; and being a common 
 attitude at the beginning as well as in the middle of a dance, 
 it was chosen as the hieroglyphic to signify *' dancing." But 
 one of the most remarkable steps in the Egyptian dance was the 
 pirouette^ which there excited the applause of spectators about 
 4000 years ago ; and some other steps of our modern hallet 
 seem to have been known to them (woodcut 17). 
 
 Sacred dancing was also practised in the religious ceremonies 
 of Egypt ; nor was it considered ill-suited to such occasions by 
 the Jews ;* and some religious ceremonies were accompanied 
 with dances, feasting and games ; as when the Israelites having 
 " offered burnt offerings " to the golden calf, *' sat down to eat, 
 and to drink, and rose up to play ;" and were found by Moses 
 " dancing** before it. 
 
 ♦ "The name" of God was "praised in the dance."— Ps. cxHx. 3. 
 
DANCING.— DINNER. 31 
 
 Thougli fond of dancing, no Egyptian gentleman took a partner, 
 or performed a solo at a party : they did not consider it the 
 same becoming occupation as the Greeks; and when these 
 foreigners settled in the country, the Egyptians looked upon 
 this accomplishment much as the Eomans did, and as most 
 Orientals now do, who suppose no one can dance unless he is 
 well paid for it. An illustration of this is the well-known story 
 of the Turk, who, when told that the French and other am- 
 bassadors danced at the ball of the British embassy, said he 
 was sure that, though the British ambassador might hire the 
 minor ministers for the occasion, he could never afford to pay 
 the Erench plenipotentiary for his performance. 
 
 The Jews were an exception to other Orientals : they danced 
 both in private, and on sacred occasions ; and the young ladies 
 of Jewish families in Syria still delight their friends with their 
 skill in the dance. Nor would the splendour of their dresses, 
 with the festoons of pearls, and of gold coins, diamonds, and 
 other jewels they wear at these festive meetings, have been 
 unworthy of the daughter of Herodias. 
 
 These were among the chief amusements of an Egyptian 
 party, and were introduced both before and after dinner, which 
 was served up in the middle of the day. Thus Joseph's 
 brethren dined with him " at noon." On their first arrival at 
 a party, lotus flowers and garlands for the head and neck were 
 presented to all the guests, and their heads were anointed with 
 sweet-scented ointments, in token of welcome. Wine was also 
 brought them — at great houses, in a golden or a " silver cup ;" 
 and, when all the company were assembled, the master and 
 mistress of the house took their place at one end of the room 
 on a double chair. Men and women either sat together, or in 
 difierent parts of the room, as convenience or inclination i 
 suggested — married people frequently occupying the same! 
 
32 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 ^^V^l 
 
 double-chair, or couch; and men and maid-servants we 
 always in attendance to bring round refreshments and newl 
 cut fiowers, both before and after dinner. For those who walk 
 to the house water was brought, in an elegant basin ai ■ 
 ewer, for their feet ; and washing the hands was always i 
 indispensable preliminary before sitting down to table. 
 
 The favourite dishes at an Egyptian dinner consisted of fis : 
 beef, and goose; the ibex, or wild goat, oryx, gazelle, and oth» 
 antelopes, were also common on the tables of the rich; ar- 
 partridges, sand-grouse, quails, bustards, wild ducks, teal, an- • 
 several wading birds included under the name of game, wer 
 served up at dinner. The same M'ere offered on the altars ( 
 the gods. Vegetables were in great profusion, dressed in ; 
 variety of ways, with and without meat. They constituted, c 
 at present, a great part of the food of the higher as well as c 
 the lower classes, and the regrets of the Israelites wer 
 expressed as strongly for them as for " the fish " and " th 
 fleshpots of Egypt." Even black-puddiugs were not onl 
 tolerated, but were fashionable ; and when the throat of the o: 
 was, as usual, cut nearly from ear to ear, the blood was caugh 
 to make a dish which was thought worthy of figuring in th» 
 kitchen of King Eemeses.* The mode of cutting the throa 
 is still required, by Moslem law, in Egypt; but to eat th( 
 \blood is unlawful. 
 
 It was this custom of the country they had just left thai 
 made the Hebrew legislator so often warn the Israelites againsi 
 eating the blood of animals ; for while some of the Mosaic laws 
 were in accordance with the patriarchal habits of their fore- 
 fathers, many were directly introduced in order to correct 
 abuses they had adopted during their sojourn in Egypt. 
 
 The first joint taken off was the foreleg with the shoulder ; as 
 was customary with the Jews. It was called the chosen part ; 
 * P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 175 (woodcut). 
 
COOKERY. 
 
 33 
 
 .nd, when the whole had been cut up, the joints were removed 
 o the kitchen, on wooden trays, to be cooked according to the 
 aste of the chef. Some were roasted, others boiled, stewed, or 
 Toiled, and some of the meat was pounded and minced — 
 oubtless to make those excellent dishes of stuffed vine- 
 1 3aves, cucumbers, and other forcemeat viands of the East, 
 
 (W. IS.) 
 
 hich might well be introduced into our cuisine.* Like their 
 iccessors, they employed very simple processes for cooking 
 :; s well as for making gold ornaments, and other fine work, 
 ; ch as the Hindoos and other Orientals still produce by 
 
 * It is to be hoped that the definition of man, *' a cooking animal," does 
 
 imply any excellence in the art, or we in England might rank very low in 
 
 ; human scale ; but though it is not desirable that men should devote their 
 
 16 to the study of gastronomy, it is of some importance that the poor should 
 
 least be enabled to come under the denomination of "cooking animals.'* 
 
 »L home " is now, with reason, considered their great want ; but when the 
 
 8 is incapable of providing those ** creature comforts," which might make 
 
 poor man enjoy his " home," and is unable even to cook a dinner for him 
 
 his return from work, he naturally seeks them out of his own house, flies 
 
 ;he excitement of drink (which is rendered doubly injurious by his ordinary 
 
 ■r3rage being supplied him "on the premises" of the vender), and returns 
 
 le to ill-treat one whose fault is her inability to be a complete "helpmate 
 
 him," from wanting some of the simplest acquirements of a poor man's 
 
 • :. Those, then, who with charitable feelings so kindly interest themselves 
 
 :he welfare of the poor, would greatly add to their domestic comforts by 
 
 ;.i)ling girls to learn this useful art, — for education does not consist solely of 
 
 .■ "uction; and many learned studies will be found in after-life much less 
 
 . xl than more homely acquirements. 
 
34 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 similar means), and some pans of charcoal, or the smallest 
 stove, with a few saucepans and hand-spits, or skewers, and 
 a fan in lieu of bellows, or a contrivance to let fall a little 
 grease, or some flour, upon the joint as it was roasting, suf- 
 ficed for their kitchen utensils. The same are still thought 
 sufficient by their successors for the production of the twenty 
 or thirty " savoury dishes " of a modern Egyptian table, which 
 our cooks would think the most complicated hatterie de cuisine 
 insufficient to produce. They had always one great requisite 
 for good cookery — a charcoal fire ; and, even if they had known 
 our coal, they would never have subjected a cutlet to its 
 sulphureous fumes, as they would have avoided making cofibe 
 or tea with hard water. 
 
 The ancient Egyptians, like all Orientals, ate much bread at 
 table ; and fancy rolls, or cakes, often sprinkled with sesame, 
 cummin, caraway, or other seeds, were in great abundance at 
 every feast. The bread was sometimes flat, like our girdle- 
 cakes, and made in the same manner, or "on the hearth," 
 on which, when swept clean, the cake of dough was laid, and 
 then covered over with the live charcoal (as in the foregoing 
 woodcut (fig. 2) and as commonly practised by the Arabs), but it 
 was more generally baked in an ordinary oven. All who could 
 afford it had wheaten bread, the poor people alone being satis- 
 fied with a coarse kind made of doora flour. They ate witli 
 their fingers in the Oriental way, knives and forks not being 
 1 used at table ; and water, cooled in porous bottles, or wine, in 
 glass, porcelain, or metal cups, was brought round to those 
 who asked for it. The table was sometimes covered with a 
 cloth, and, in the houses of the rich, each guest had a napkin 
 presented to him by a servant, for wiping his mouth after 
 drinking. They sat on the ground, upon a mat or carpet, 
 around a small table, resembling the hdorsee of modem Egypt, 
 
SITTING AT TABLE.— CHAIRS. 
 
 t5 
 
 or on stools or chairs; but they never adopted the custom 
 "of reclining at meat," like the Grreeks andEomans; with 
 whom, indeed, it was also usual, in old times, to sit, not 
 to recline, at table. 
 
 (W. 19.) 
 
 Their chairs were frequently made of ebony, or other 
 hard woods, inlaid with ivory (like that at Paris represented 
 in the woodcut), and over the interlaced work of string 
 that formed the seat was a cushion, or coloured covering 
 
 d2 
 
3lf 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 made of leather, or of rich stuff, which often extended over 
 the back of the chair. These chairs were generally of the 
 usual size of our own, about one foot two inches high, which, 
 with the back of twenty inches, gave a total height of from 
 
 (w- 20) 
 two and three-quarters to three feet ; but some were low, the 
 seat not being more than eight inches from the ground. Many 
 were on the principle of our camp-stools, with folding legs, 
 sometimes with, sometimes without, a back ; the seat being of 
 coloured stuff, painted leather, or the skin of some animal. 
 
CHAIRS AND STOOLS. 
 
 37 
 
 The legs were generally made to imitate those of an antelope, \ 
 a lion, or some other animal; but some were of a purely con- 1 
 ventional form, showing more invention than the mere imita. 1 
 
 ^ H tr-; 
 
 p^ ! j r 
 
 J: A k- 
 
 B r "■ 
 
 mm 
 
 10 
 
 I 
 
 12 
 
 (W. 21.) 
 
 tions of the legs of animals. Both these were adopted also by 
 the Greeks. Others have been found of wood, turned and 
 ornamented with alternate rings of blue glazed ware and 
 
S8 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 gilding, some of which may have belonged to tables, couches 
 and other pieces of furniture. 
 
 Many chairs had arms or solid sides,* which, in the richest 
 fauteuils, were ornamented with the figure of a walking or a 
 crouched lion; and those represented in the tomb of RemesesIII. 
 are as remarkable for the elegance of their form, as for the rich- 
 ness of the stufi*s forming the seats and back.f Some were without 
 backs, like a couch, and intended for two persons (woodcut 21, 
 fig. 12) ; and some, like the thrones of the gods, had a very low 
 ridge behind the seat, over which the long end of the cushion was 
 made to fall (fig. 1,6); others had an inflated cushion, which sank 
 down when sat upon, like some of our own in old-fashioned 
 times (fig. 3), and some were in the form of our kangaroo- 
 chairs (fig. 5). A 5t<^poy, or double chair, was frequently provided 
 with a back. There were also low square stools, made of palm- 
 sticks ; and three-legged stools of wood, or metal, mostly adopted 
 by poor people, when not seated cross-legged on mats, or on the 
 ground (figs. 7, 8, 9). Low benches were also used (figs. 
 10, 11) ; and highly ornamented couches and ottomans formed 
 part of the furniture of an Egyptian drawing-room. J 
 
 It is remarkable that the Egyptians should have resembled 
 the Europeans, rather than Orientals, of the present day, in 
 the custom of sitting on chairs ; and if they had couches, they 
 were only used like our own, and were not for the purpose of 
 reclining. The floors of many apartments were covered over with 
 mats ; and sometimes part of a room, exclusively appropriated 
 to the master of the house and his most distinguished guests, 
 was marked as the post of honour, by having a mat of superior 
 quality ; resembling in its patterns those in the modern houses 
 
 * See woodcut No. 20, in page 36. 
 t See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. pp. 60, 61. 
 :;: See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. pp. 67, 69. 
 
MATS.— CARPETS.— DRESSES. .3© 
 
 of great people at Cairo, called Menoofee, from the town where 
 they are manufactured (woodcut 20). 
 
 Carpets, or rugs, also formed part of the occasional furniture 
 of a house, in cold weather. They were made of coloured woollen 
 thread, with various patterns, as at the present day in the East, 
 or of worsted thread worked with the needle upon linen ; and 
 some were entirely of linen, with a raised nap, or long flock, 
 formed of projecting loops of thread. The furniture of their 
 bed-rooms varied according to the wealth, or the choice, of in- 
 dividuals. Their beds were often laid on the ground, upon a [ 
 mat or carpet ; and a wooden stool, precisely similar to that 
 now used in Ethiopia and some other countries, supported their 
 head.* The lofty bedstead was a mark of honour. It was 
 furnished with moveable steps for mounting upon it, as in a 
 European chamber ; and the funeral bier, on which the dead 
 reposed, was taken from this the choicest resting-place of the 
 body during life. 
 
 The dresses of the Egyptians varied slightly at different sea- 
 sons ; and in winter an outer woollen cloak was thrown over their 
 under garments, which were generally of linen ; though cotton | 
 might be worn on occasions unconnected with the ceremonies I 
 of religion. Eor funeral purposes linen was always required ; ! 
 and every bandage of a mummy was of that material. Nor could 
 any one enter a temple, or be buried, in a woollen garment. 
 
 There was a variety in the form, and colour, as well as the 
 material of their dresses ; and even in those of the higher and 
 lower classes, especially of the priests, whose robes of ceremony 
 had a peculiar character ; but the under part of the dress was 
 much the same for all, except very poor people.f _ 
 
 Among the peculiarities of the Egyptian costume the most j 
 
 * See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 71. 
 t See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 321 (woodcut). 
 
40 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 singular -vras tlie wig ; which offered gradations as marked as 
 from that of a judge to the bobwig of later times. It was worn 
 by everj gentleman ; and though it might appear ill-suited to a 
 hot climate, the interlaced texture of the ground to which the 
 hair was fastened, and the protection of this last against the 
 sun, rendered it a most effective, and at the same time the 
 coolest, kind of covering for the head. He was not obliged to 
 have a wig of one particular shape, nor always to wear it ; and 
 a priest frequently performed his religious duties with the head 
 uncovered. Some people wore close-fitting caps ; . and the 
 lower orders often worked with bare heads ; which being a 
 custom from their youth, was supposed by Herodotus to account 
 for the hardness of their skulls — a peculiarity very fortunately 
 inherited by their successors, who have many a blow to test it 
 from a tyrannical master. All the Egyptians shaved the head 
 and face, and indeed the whole body ; but the same apparent 
 contrariety, which made them place a covering of hair on their 
 shaved head, suggested a false beard ; not like the full scrub- 
 bery that plants out half the features at the present day, but a 
 conventional twist, whose length and shape depended on the 
 quality of the wearer, — a god's beard being turned up at the 
 end, a king's square, and that of a person of less rank being a 
 short square block. Though the beard seems to have been 
 confined to certain occasions, connected with religious and 
 funeral rites, it was not so with the wig, which might be worn 
 at all times ; but women had their own long plaited hair ; 
 and a boy, being a sort of neutral animal (like a young woman 
 in German), was permitted to leave a lock or two of hair, to 
 denote his non-arrival at manhood. 
 
 Their linen was often of a beautiful texture ; and an Egyptian 
 gentleman prided himself on the texture of the dress he wore. 
 He was particular about the transparent fineness of his outer 
 
DRESSES.— FINE LINEN. 41 
 
 robe ; and this the painters never fail to indicate on the monu- 
 ments, as well as the waving lines purposely impressed upon it 
 by the goeffreying process. Indeed the fineness of Egyptian 
 linen was always celebrated; and some pieces have been found 
 of the most delicate texture, one of which contains no less than 
 540 (or 270 double) threads in the warp and 110 in the woof, 
 without any appearance of the breaks, knots, or irregularities 
 so common in our modem manufactures. Of such fine thread 
 was the linen corslet of Amasis ; each thread of which consisted 
 of 365 fibres. The transparent dresses represented on the 
 monuments were of equally fine quality, though the threads 
 were not so close as in the piece above mentioned, but were 
 apparently of the more open texture of some in the museum of 
 the Louvre. The Egyptian looms were also famed for their 
 fine cotton and woollen fabrics ; and many of these were 
 worked with patterns in brilliant colours, which on dresses 
 worn by women were very varied. They were mostly worked 
 with the needle, but some were woven in the piece. Of these 
 last were the linen and cotton fabrics with blue borders ; the 
 threads having been previously dyed with indigo ; and stripes, 
 or some other simple devices, were generally put into the stuff 
 on the loom. Some of the stripes were of gold thread, alter- 
 nating with red lines as a border. It was also usual to em- 
 broider patterns in the staircase-style, common in our worsted 
 work; and some were made out with long stitches, that 
 laid down the figures, or devices on the surface. Some of 
 these are in the Louvre (woodcut, 22). They are mostly 
 cotton; and though their date is uncertain, they suffi<;e to 
 show that the manufacture was Egyptian; and the many 
 dresses painted on the monuments of the eighteenth dynasty 
 show that the most varied patterns were used by the 
 Egyptians more than 3000 years ago, as they were at a 
 
42 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 laiier period by the Babylonians, who became noted for their 
 needlework. 
 
 (W. 23.) ' 3 5 
 
 The Egyptians had also the secret of dyeing cloths of various 
 colours by means of mordants, — a fact satisfactorily proved by 
 the very manner in which Pliny describes a process which he 
 
"^■^ 
 
PATTERNS ON CEILINGS AND WALLS. 
 
 43 
 
 evidently did not understand ; as the strongest evidence of the 
 circumnavigation of Africa, by the Phoenician sailors sent by 
 Necho, is derived from the very doubts of Herodotus respecting 
 the sun setting, at one part of the voyage on their right, at 
 the other on their left, hand. 
 
 The Egyptians were equally fond of variety of patterns on the 
 walls and ceilings of their houses and tombs, as on hangings 
 and furniture ; and some of the oldest ceilings, as at a tomb 
 near Osiodt, show that the chevron (so common in Egyptian 
 baskets and vases) together with the chequer, as well as the scroll 
 and guilloche, ascribed too hastily to the comparatively modern 
 Greeks, were adopted in Egypt more than 2000 years before 
 our era (woodcut 23). 
 
 An infinite variety of purely conventional devices had been 
 invented, and were in common use during the eighteenth and 
 
 OO O O Q ^ y cj 
 
 ^§^^^^ 
 
 s 
 
 (W. 24.) 
 
 ~mm 
 
 nineteenth dynasties, long before the Trojan war, as well as the 
 lotus and other ornaments, directly imitated from natural 
 
44 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 objects ; which show that the Egyptians were, like that highly- 
 gifted people, the Greeks, aware of the propriety of fancy devices 
 for decorative purposes. These last in fact were almost always 
 introduced upon their painted ceilings ; except in temples, where 
 gold or white stars on a blue ground represented the heavens, 
 and vultures holding in their claws the royal flabellas borne 
 over the Pharaohs on state occasions (as the eagle of G-reece 
 held the thunderbolt of Jupiter), hovered over the passages 
 through which the king passed to the interior of the building. 
 
 Indeed, we perceive the gradual progress made by the Egyp- 
 tians in this choice of fancy ornament ; for, having begun with 
 simple imitations of real objects, as the lotus and other flowers, 
 they by degrees adopted conventional representations of them, 
 or purely imaginary devices ; and it is worthy of remark that the 
 oldest Greek and Etruscan vases have almost as close an imitation 
 of the lotus and other real objects, used in early Egyptian orna- 
 ment, as are found on the old monuments of Thebes. This is also 
 
 2 '^^^^^M 
 
 ■ ■■■■■■II 5 
 
 Uij,-^\nmutmnmi\i ' k 
 
 3 ZSS^^EZEZ^ 
 
 (W. 25.) 
 
 ''^SJ£3£J^^^ 7 
 
 one of the many proofs of the early centre from which orna- 
 mental art advanced, and forms one of the interesting links in 
 
EARLY FORMS OF VASES. 
 
 45 
 
 the history of its origin and progress. The same scroll, chevron, 
 and other patterns, common on Greek vases, had also been in- 
 troduced long before on those of Egypt ; whole ceilings are 
 covered with them, and the vases themselves had frequently 
 the same elegant forms we admire in the cylix and others after- 
 wards made in Greece. They were of gold and silver, with the 
 
 A 
 
 W 
 
 A 
 
 (W. 26.) 
 
 scroll and other patterns engraved or embossed upon them. 
 Some of larger dimensions were also highly ornamented, and 
 those made of porcelain were rich in colour. Some had the 
 handles and lids ornamented with the heads of animals ; and as 
 many of these, as well as the graceful ones above mentioned, 
 
46 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 are borne in procession as part of the tribute of Asiatic nations, 
 
 it is reasonable to suppose that these last had vases of the same 
 
 1 2 ^^^^ ^^^ pattern; and 
 
 it may even be a ques- 
 tion whether Asia bor- 
 rowed the original de- 
 signs from Egypt, or 
 Egypt from Asia. Some 
 were in the form of jugs, 
 also of gold and silver, 
 and one represented in 
 the tomb of King Be- 
 meses III. is remark- 
 able from having cows' 
 ^' ^ heads and rosettes, 
 
 which remind us of Greek ornaments common in the metopes 
 of Doric temples.* A jug without a handle was used for holding ■ 
 
 ointment at a party 
 (woodcut 29, fig. 1); 
 where vases of numerous 
 forms were used for vari- 
 ous purposes ; and some 
 raised on stands appear 
 to have held water, re- 
 minding us of the stone 
 water-jars at the feast of 
 Cana (figs. 2, 3). 
 Among the many re- 
 ^* presented and found in 
 
 the tombs, one which is peculiarly Egyptian, though quaint, has 
 a graceful character,and is remarkable for the variety and taste 
 
 * P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i, p. 154. 
 
A BOTTLE OF PECULIAR SHAPE. 
 
 47 
 
 of its patterns. The neck is ornamented -with blossoms of 
 water-plants,. and on each side of it sits a monkey. The devices 
 at the front and back are ar- 
 ranged in the manner of a 
 necklace, and below the 
 legend on the side relating 
 to the Deities, Pthah and 
 Pasht (Vulcan and Bubastis 
 or Diana), is a not inelegant 
 ornament. These vases or 
 bottles are generally of , 
 
 ^ •; (W.29.) 1 
 
 glazed pottery, sometimes 
 
 partly vitrified ; and they probably derived their shape from 
 
 the calabash so common in Africa (woodcut 30). 
 
48 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 j The Egyptians do not appear to have bad any vases in imita- 
 ( tion of skins, occasionally found in Greece ; and if the remark 
 of Pasiteles, quoted by Pliny, that pottery was the parent of 
 the arts, both in stone and metal, is correct in regard to 
 Greece, it applies equally to Egypt. It must, however, be 
 observed that when art has so far advanced as to keep the 
 styles of pottery, stone, and metal vases distinct, it is an error 
 to copy exactly any one of them in the material of tlie other ; 
 and a certain difference is required in the form and treatment 
 of each conventional object, according as it is to be of metal, 
 glass, pottery, stone, or other dissimilar substance. In some 
 instances the peculiar form may be suited to more than one 
 material, and the Greeks and Etruscans have copied some metal 
 vases, with success, in earthenware ; though the early Greek 
 potters only find an excuse for their imitation of basket-work 
 in their rude jars, from the want of taste in a primitive age. 
 
 Some Egyptian vases in gold and silver were richly inlaid or 
 studded with precious stones, and like their bracelets and other 
 irticles of jewellery were enamelled in brilliant colours. For, 
 though in most of these, the vitrified substances were inlaid in 
 the metal, previously chiselled out to receive them, one 
 instance of real enamel has been found ; and this remark of 
 Pliny, "the Egyptians paint their silver cups, representing 
 Anubis upon them ; the metal being painted — not engraved — " 
 seems to point out enamel in contradistinction to the ordinary 
 inlaid work. It is true he speaks of the silver having an alloy of 
 copper and sulphur; but Pliny seldom understood the pro- 
 cesses by which the effects he describes were produced. 
 
 The glass and porcelain cups were equally varied, and the use 
 of glass was known in Egypt at a most remote age, as I shall 
 have occasion to show in mentioning the trade of glass-blowers. 
 Among the most beautiful productions of this manufacture were 
 
GLASS MOSAICS.— FALSE MURRHINE. 49 
 
 their richly coloured bottles with waving lines ; and their small 
 inlaid mosaics. In these last the most delicate designs were 
 made ; and such was the fineness of the work that it must have 
 required a strong magnifying power to put the parts together, 
 as it now does to examine them ; particularly the feathers of 
 birds, the hair, and other intricate details. They were com- 
 posed of the finest threads or rods of glass (attenuated by draw- 
 ing them, when heated, to a great length) which, having been 
 selected according to their colour, were placed upright side 
 by side, as in an ordinary mosaic, in sufficient number to form 
 a portion of the intended picture. Others were then added 
 until the whole had been composed ; and when they had all 
 been cemented together by a proper heat, the work was com- 
 pleted. Slices were then sawn ofi" transversely, as in our 
 Tunbridge ware ; and each section presented the same picture 
 on its upper and under side. 
 
 The coloured bottles were of a composition which has not 
 been improperly called glass-porcelain. They 
 are represented in the old paintings, and many 
 have been found in the tombs. 
 
 The colours often passed directly through 
 the fused substance, and that this was a recom- (W. 31.) 
 mendation in the sale is shown by an imitation of it being 
 sometimes made either to content the purchaser at a lower 
 price, or to deceive him by appearance of reality. They 
 were generally in the form of bottles, cups, and smaU. 
 bowls, or saucers. The difficulty of making them, ahdi 
 finishing those of the finest quality, without accident, is 
 even alluded to by old writers ; and we may readily believe the 
 manufacturers "often lost their labour" in applying the last 
 colours, and in adding the handles and other parts of those 
 delicate objects. They were probably the false Murrhine vases 
 
50 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 of antiquity, which, at first made to imitate the varied 
 hues of a rare stone, were soon carried to such perfection 
 
 (W. 32.) 
 
 (W. 33.) 
 
 that they almost entirely superseded its use, so that no frag- 
 ment of a vase of the real Murrhine stone has yet been found. 
 It was probably what we know in England as Derbyshire 
 spar. 
 
 ^ Glass was also cast, engraved, ground, and cut ; and precious 
 stones were imitated successfully in that substance. 
 
 Though many Egyptian vases were of very elegant shape, 
 others were as deficient in form and proportion as some now 
 made in Europe and in China. Nor is this extraordinary, when 
 we see that even the talented Greeks sometimes failed, particu- 
 larly in the handles and the footstalk of their vases, and many of 
 the later vases, called Apulian, though remarkable for their size 
 and the elaborate designs painted on them, are as elongated, in 
 defiance of all symmetry, as many of the glass bottles and 
 vases of Bohemia. ^ 
 
 As it is interesting to compare the taste of different people. 
 
COMMON SHAPES OF VASES. 
 
 51 
 
 and to trace its progress at various periods, it may not be out 
 of place to introduce some of the most ordinary forms of 
 
 (W. 34.) 
 
 yases and utensils made of glass, stone, and other materials 
 used in Egypt.* 
 
 Many are figured in the paintings ; t and the oldest shapes 
 
 * See others in Popular Account of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. pp. 149 — 
 158, and vol. ii. pp. 77—80). t See woodcut 34. 
 
 e2 
 
f 
 
 (W. 35) 9 10 11 
 
 12 
 
ALABASTER VASES. 
 
 68 
 
 (W. 35 a.) 
 
 in vogue during the fourth and other early dynasties continued 
 to he common to a late time. 
 
 Alahaster was a material much used for vases; and as 
 ointment was generally kept in "an alahaster hox," the Greeks 
 and Eomans applied the name ^^ alahastron^* to all vases 
 employed for that purpose; and one of them found at Thebes, 
 and now in the jnuseum of Alnwick Castle, contains some 
 
5i 
 
 DOMESTIC. HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 ointment, perfectly preserved ; thougli from the Queen's name 
 in the hieroglyphics, it is more than 3000 years old.* 
 
 (W.36.) 1 2 8 
 
 Another of these vases (fig. 1) appears to have contained 
 a liquid, and is remarkable from having "25 ^tw"- written 
 upon it, accompanied by the sign of "measure." It would 
 contain about two gallons, or rather more ; so that this hin, 
 if really a measure, differed from that of the Jews, which was 
 equal to one gallon and a half Another, with the same word 
 hin has also been found, of alabaster; but I am not certain 
 about the quantity it may have contained (fig. 3). 
 
 Bottles and cups were also made of hard stone, as granite, 
 porphyry, and basalt ; and some both of alabaster and hard 
 stone have been found in the form of shells, geese, and animals ; 
 but those cups, commonly used for offerings to the gods (woodcut 
 35, fig. 15), were of very simple shape, as were many of the 
 BhytonSf or drinking cups, some of which were ornamented 
 with flowers and other devices. Many were of earthenware 
 
 * P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 167, woodcut 171, fig. 1. 
 
VASES OF HARD STONE, AND POTTERY. 
 
 55 
 
 and of vitrified pottery ; and one is curiously made with an 
 outer casing round a small nucleus forming the bottle itself, 
 1 2 
 
 (W. 37.) 
 
 which last appears to have been turned before the ornamental 
 exterior was placed round it (woodcut 38, fig. 2). 
 
 Glazed earthenware cups, or bowls, were often ornamented 
 with various patterns; some having fish and lotus blossoms 
 
 (W. 38.) 2 
 
 on the concave bottom, which appeared to float in the water 
 
(W. 39.) 
 
COLOURED EARTHENWAEE BOTTLES. .57 
 
 poured over them ; and some were in the form of these favourite 
 
 (W. 40.) 
 
 flowers.* Earthenware bottles were very varied ia form. Some 
 
 (W. 41.) 
 
 * P. A of Ancient Egyptians, voL i. p. 180 (woodcut). 
 
 
(W. 42.) 
 
60 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 were double ; others, in the form of animals or of women, were 
 made to suit some caprice or to amuse a child (woodcut 42) ; 
 and many were painted in various ways, with rings, flowers, 
 and other devices (woodcut 41). 
 
 Yases of metal were not less varied in shape. Those of 
 gold and silver have been already mentioned, and bronze 
 vessels are frequently found in the tombs and figured on the 
 monuments. A table of this last metal was found at Thebes, 
 on which were about twenty of different forms (represented in 
 woodcut 43, where some of the principal ones have been drawn 
 on a larger scale). Among them is a sort of small portable 
 sink (fig. 7), and one of those neatly-made strainers which 
 were also used by the G-reeks, Eomans, and Etruscans (figs. 3, 
 3flf), and which show how wisely they extended their taste to 
 the most ordinary utensils of common life. Fig. 8 gives the 
 form of the top of the table. 
 
 Some of the bronze vases were ornamented with the favourite 
 lotus flower, either as a handle or in the devices carved upon 
 
 (W.44.) 
 
 them ; some were of simple shape, with a lip formed for 
 pouring conveniently from it ; and some that held water for 
 
FLOWER POTS.— GARDENS. 
 
 61 
 
 the service of the temple were 
 hieroglyphics, sculptured in 
 intaglio or relief upon the 
 exterior(woodcut 44, fig. 1). 
 
 The quality and the work- 
 manship of the vases, of what- 
 ever material they might be, 
 varied of course according to 
 the taste or the wealth of those 
 to whom they belonged ; and , 
 the same difference was ob- 
 servable in the ornamental 
 furniture, and in the decora- 
 tion and dimensions of their 
 houses. 
 
 The wealthy part of the 
 community, consisting mostly ; 
 of the military and priestly i 
 classes, had large town houses i 
 and spacious villas ; and their 
 extensive gardens were laid 
 out with every attention to 
 taste, and ornamented with 
 numerous beautiful plants. 
 Avenues of trees shaded the 
 walks, and a plentiful supply 
 of water was always kept in 
 large tanks, cased with stone 
 and furnished with flights of 
 steps, to enable them to reach 
 the water when low, and to 
 clean out the tanks when 
 
 ornamented with figures and 
 
 DD 
 DD 
 DD 
 DD 
 DD 
 DD 
 □D 
 DD 
 DD 
 DD 
 DD 
 DD 
 DD 
 DD 
 DD 
 DD 
 DD 
 
 DQ 
 DD 
 
62 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 empty. The water when required for irrigation was sometimes 
 raised with the pole and bucket (the modern Shadoof oi Egypt),* 
 and was conducted by small channels to various parts of the 
 garden, as was the custom in the fields ; but the flower-beds 
 were generally watered by means of buckets or earthenware 
 jars, attached to a wooden yoke borne on men's shoulders — a 
 method common to water-carriers and milk-maids in this 
 I country, and one which was very frequently adopted by the 
 /.Jlgyptians even for carrying heavy burthens f (woodcut 45). 
 r This was always the method used for watering choice plants ; 
 which were often placed in rows in red earthenware flower- 
 pots, in colour and rude form exactly like our own ; but the 
 / beds were laid out in squares for the convenience of irri- 
 gation, as in a modern Egyptian garden, and were very 
 similar to our salt-pans. One of the best illustrations of this 
 kind of garden is in a tomb at El Bersheh, of the early time of 
 the Osirtasens of the twelfth dynasty, and the same in which 
 the Colossus on a sledge is represented (woodcut 45). 
 / The flower-garden was one of the most important features 
 of the pleasure-grounds ; for the Egyptians took the greatest 
 delight in the cultivation of flowers, and the great variety they 
 succeeded in raising is mentioned by more than one ancient 
 writer. Athenseus attributes this to the nature of the climate, 
 as well as to the skill of their gardeners ; and " while other 
 coimtries produced them only in small quantities at any season, 
 Egypt had at all times of the year the greatest abundance, and 
 roses, violets, and other flowers were always to be had, even in 
 winter." Such, too, was the fondness of the Egyptians for 
 flowers, that they were not satisfied with the abundance pro- 
 ] duced by nature, and artificial flowers were invented by them, 
 I which thence received of old the name " Egyptian." 
 
 * P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 35 ; vol. ii. p. 4. 
 t Ibid. vol. i. p. 33 (woodcut 36). 
 
GARDEN.— VINEYARD. 63 
 
 Separate portions of the garden were appropriated to par- 
 ticular productions. The vineyard occupied a large space ; the 
 orchard containing sycamore and other fig-trees, olives, pome- 
 granates, dates, and various fruit-trees, was also extensive. 
 The vines were trained on trellis-work, often in the form of 
 bowers; as they still are in the modem gardens of Upper 
 Egypt, where the intermediate spaces between the main 
 rafters are traversed by strong reeds fastened with string to the 
 wooden framework. The same was evidently the mode of con- 
 struction of old ; but the rafters were then mostly supported 
 on forked poles ; and, being of moderate height, afibrded great 
 facility for plucking the grapes. 
 
 The fruit-trees were standards, as usual in hot climates ; and 
 in gathering the figs from the large sycamores, boys were em- 
 ployed to climb the upper part of the tree, while men standing 
 on the ground collected the fruit from the lower branches, 
 which in the sycamore grows in great numbers upon the wood 
 itself. 
 
 They were sometimes assisted by monkeys, trained for the 
 purpose; which is one of many proofs of the skill of the 
 Egyptians in taming animals, and teaching them to conform to 
 habits totally at variance with their nature ; for though these 
 monkeys occasionally helped themselves to a tempting fig, it 
 required more than ordinary ingenuity to teach them to assist 
 at all in so delicate and tantalising an occupation. 
 
 When gathered, the fruit was carefully covered with leaves, 
 and placed in the shade till sent home ; and the flat baskets of 
 that day were similar to those now used in Egypt for the 
 same purpose. 
 
 The wine-press was frequently in or near the vineyard ; and, 
 like the whole garden, was under the protection of the " good 
 
 * P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii., frontispiece. 
 
:>J 
 
 "^ 
 
WINE-PRESS. 66 
 
 nius," typified by an asp, the emblem of the ram-headed 
 
 td Nou ; which snake was indebted for its divine character to 
 
 I utility in killing rats, and other vermin hurtful to 
 
 rdens, and like some other sacred animals, derived its ideal 
 
 putation from the real benefits it unconsciously conferred. 
 
 The grapes were trodden by the feet ; but they were sometimes 
 
 bjected to another process of twisting in a bag; and some other 
 
 iuid seems afterwards to have been added, which, having been 
 
 ; rred round (woodcut 46, fig. 7), was poured through a piece 
 
 i fine cloth into a vase (fig. 5) placed below for this purpose. 
 
 he presence of a man (fig. 2), holding what seems to be an egg 
 
 his hand, may also indicate its use for clarifying the wine. 
 
 The flower-garden was placed conveniently near to the house 
 
 : enable the master and his friends to walk through the 
 
 : xdy avenues that traversed it, and to receive the morning 
 
 ■ilering of bouquets from his attendants without exposure to 
 
 i. 3 sun. Adjoining it was frequently a piece of water fed by 
 
 ^anal from the Nile, on which they amused themselves by 
 
 ^ling or spearing fish; and the canal communicating with the 
 
 er enabled them to pass during the inundation in their: 
 
 ainted boats " into the Nile itself. 
 
 The house, its offices, and the gardens, were variously 
 
 1 out ; and, as the Egyptians were averse to great uni- 
 
 mity, the two wings of a villa were always diflferent. The 
 
 irts and windows were either supported on columns, or 
 
 ■ ,ded with trees : coolness in that climate being the great 
 
 ideratum ; and the rooms were generally placed round an 
 
 n court, or opened on a corridor, at the end of which were 
 
 staircases leading to the upper chambers. The house 
 
 sisted generally of a ground-floor, and one upper story; 
 
 even in the towns, few exceeded two or three floors above 
 
 1:.: basement story. These, too, were often built, where the 
 
66 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 space would permit, round an open court; in the centre of 
 whicli was a fountain or a small garden ; or with the rooms of 
 the ground-floor opening on a court, or a covered corridor ; and 
 large houses had a porch of two or more columns, occasionally 
 with a flight of steps, before the street-door. Above, or on 
 the lintel of this, was painted the name of the owner, or a 
 sentence of good omen,* which was doubtless put up at the 
 dedication of the house, — a ceremony adopted also by the Jews. 
 
 The door was in the centre, or at one corner of the front, and 
 the windows of the upper floors were often irregularly placed^ 
 with the usual studied avoidance of symmetry ; and the whole 
 was surmounted by a row of columns, supporting an awning 
 over the terrace on the flat roof. In one part a tower often 
 rose above the rest of the building, and it was on the top of 
 this, or on the terrace, that they slept during the hot weathery 
 to enjoy the cool air of an Egyptian night at that season, and 
 to escape the attacks of musquitos, generally numerous 
 enough, but particularly troublesome in autumn during the 
 inundation.t The doors turned on bronze or wooden pins 
 and were of one or two valves ; the windows were closed with 
 shutters on the same principle ; and both, like the walls of the 
 rooms, and the exterior of the house, were painted with 
 numerous devices, among which the favourite lotus and a 
 variety of patterns were conspicuous. Sometimes the windows 
 were ornamented with one or more columns, dividing them 
 into several lights ; some had simple stone muUions, occasion- 
 ally with transoms, and the same kind of window, with stone 
 pillars, or mullions, was used in the large avenues, and side 
 chambers of the temples (see woodcuts 48 and 110). 
 
 Light was also admitted into the chambers and corridors of 
 
 • See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 7 (woodcut). 
 + See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 9 (voodcut). 
 
WINDOWS. 67 
 
 temples by windows in the roof, which was the chief mode of | 
 lighting those buildings. They were small square or oblong '"> 
 
 ■=^' 
 
 n 
 
 ^.,s^x, X ^--x..-^v^^^.~^.xV3^K>^^^^^^^ 
 
 (W. 47.) 
 
 holes splaying inwards, (woodcut 48, jBg. 4) ; and the siHe- 
 windows were often of the same kind, the exterior opening not 
 being a foot square. The few windows introduced into the 
 side-walls of temples were about three feet in breadth, half 
 of which was occupied by the bars or mullions. They splayed 
 inwards ; and were generally recessed (fig. 3) ; or of such a 
 
 f2 
 
68 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 thickness that, wliile the light was admitted, little sun could 
 penetrate into the buildino:. 
 
 (W. 48.) 
 
 ' The houses were of crude brick, stone being chiefly confined 
 to sacred edifices; and some of the rooms were vaulted, as 
 were the granaries. For the arch, as I shall have occasion to 
 show, was of very early invention in Egypt, and was commonly 
 introduced in the tombs, at least as early as the sixteenth 
 century before our era, or 3400 years ago. 
 
 The use of bricks baked in the sun was universal throughout 
 the country ; and the government, taking advantage of the 
 general want, secured a monopoly of them ; so that bricks 
 without an official stamp of the king, or of some licensed 
 
BRICKS.— JEWISH BRICKMAKERS. 69 
 
 authority, could neither be made nor sold. It was on this 
 account that the Jews, and various captives taken in war, were 
 employed in such numbers to make bricks for the Pharaohs ; 
 and the representation of the whole process preserved in 
 a tomb at Thebes is doubly interesting from its according so 
 exactly with the account given in Exodus, and from its having 
 been painted at the very time when the Israelites were in 
 Egypt. Eor though the Asiatic captives there represented are 
 said to be so employed "at Thebes," and cannot therefore be 
 Jews, as some have supposed, still the task-masters, the tale 
 of bricks, the straw brought to mix with the clay, and the 
 whole details of the picture are in such exact accordance 
 with the Eible account, as to be a complete illustration of 
 it. We may therefore look upon it with full interest, 
 without the necessity of a forced identity, and claim for it 
 an importance far beyond that of the ordinary paintings in the 
 tombs.* 
 
 IS'ext to their mode of living, their houses, and their amuse- 
 ments, the most common and the most interesting represen- 
 tations on the monuments are those that relate to the trades, 
 and the ordinary employments of the working classes; and 
 though a great number of these (as may be reasonably ex- 
 pected) are unnoticed, there is sufficient to enable us to obtain 
 an insight into their most usual occupations. Among those 
 that occur most frequently in the paintings of the tombs, 
 are agricultural pursuits, rearing cattle, fishing and fowling 
 scenes, potters, glass-blowers, gold-workers, weavers, dyers, 
 mat-makers, carpenters, and cabinet-makers, boat-builders, 
 chariot-makers, undertakers, leather-cutters, sculptors, painters, 
 public scribes and weighers, and some others. These, with the 
 amusements of their private life already mentioned, present a 
 
 * See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 196 (woodcut). 
 
70 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 sort of epitome of man's life and actions, and are the principal 
 subjects in the tombs, together with the funeral rites and 
 other ceremonies relating exclusively to the deceased. 
 
 It is singular that, among the many painted there, some of 
 the most important occupations and discoveries are entirely 
 omitted ; and were it not for the results that remain to bear wit- 
 ness of them, we should have had no proof of their having been 
 known to them. One of these is the method they employed for 
 transporting and raising the enormous blocks of stone that have 
 excited so much surprise in ancient and modern times, and of 
 which no satisfactory representation is found on the monu- 
 ments. We have, indeed, abundant evidence of it ; but there 
 is no indication of the mode of hewing such a mass as the 
 colossus of Eemeses II., nor of the mode of transporting this 
 weight of 887 tons to Thebes ; and except the smaller lime- 
 j stone blocks, carried on sledges drawn by oxen from the 
 j quarries of El Mahsara, and the colossus of El Bersheh,* said 
 in the hieroglyphics to be thirteen cubits (or about twenty 
 feet) high, which is represented on a sledge dragged by the 
 force of men's arms, we have no information from the sculp- 
 tures respecting the mechanism they employed for moving, 
 and still less for raising, great weights. "We may admire the 
 skill required for conveying the granite colossus of Bemeses 
 from the quarries of the first cataracts to Thebes, a distance of 
 more than 130 miles ; but if the measurements of the mono- 
 lith of Buto given by Herodotus are even an approximation to 
 the truth, the transport of that monument from the same 
 quarries to the Delta is far beyond any other attempt with 
 which wc are acquainted, as it could not have weighed less 
 than five thousand tons. 
 
 Similar omissions of other common processes and customs are 
 
 • P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii. (frontispiece). 
 
SEALS AND STAMPS. 
 
 equally inexplicable, — and many animals and productions of 
 Egypt are also unnoticed. 
 
 It is also curious to observe how near the Egyptians 
 approached, without actually arriving at, some later invention. 
 Thus though they stamped metal, and used carved seals and 
 cylinders of gold, or stone, for sealing the clay fixed to docu- 
 ments, as early as the fourth and twelfth dynasties, they never 
 relieved themselves from the inconvenience of weighing every 
 ring of gold or silver spent in purchases at the market, and 
 never hit on the expedient of coinage; and the numerous 
 
 /y 
 
 (W. 49.) 
 
 impressions of the dies they employed for stamping leather and 
 other substances, never suggested the idea of moveable types. 
 Impressions of seals on clay, marked also by the fibres of 
 the cloth or of the papyrus they were attached to, and 
 
72 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 beariDg the name of Thothmes III., are not uncommon ; which, 
 with some of a still older date, show how erroneous it is to 
 cite those from Nineveh for great antiquity, or as a proof of 
 the early use of clay seals. And there is one of hard stone in 
 the museum at Alnwick Castle, which is of the remote age of 
 Osirtasen, more than 2000 years before our era (woodcut 49, 
 figs. 5, 6). Besides those used as seals, are others very like our 
 modern butter-moulds, with birds and various fanciful forms; 
 and at the side are notches in the stone, to let off the liquid 
 matter pressed between the two matrices of the mould (fig. 7.) 
 
 In a country so remarkable for the fertility of its soil, and 
 which depended so much on the promotion of agriculture, 
 it is reasonable to suppose that the pursuits of the peasant 
 would hold a prominent place in the paintings that illustrate 
 its customs ; and all the difierent scenes connected with the 
 tillage of the land, and the harvest, are frequently represented, 
 — as ploughing, hoeing, sowing, cutting the corn, gleaning, 
 threshing, and winnowing ; as well as collecting, carrying, and 
 housing the grain. 
 
 Every estate had several stewards, who superintended the 
 cultivation of the land, the rearing of cattle, and other farming 
 operations ; and the owner of tlie property frequently went 
 himself to watch the labours of the peasantry, sometimes in a 
 chariot drawn by two horses, or more rarely by two mules ; 
 and sometimes on foot, accompanied by his favourite dog. 
 
 The plough was of the simplest construction, — all that was 
 required being to make light furrows in the soil, which, restored 
 annually by the fertilising mud of the inundation, wanted no 
 top-dressing, subsoiling, or artificial appliances ; and though 
 nitre and the guano of the pigeon-house were occasionally used, 
 as by the modern Egyptians, for water-melons and some other 
 produce, nothing of the kind was required for the productions 
 

 o o 
 
 cc i-T 
 
 bo >o 
 
 f I 
 
 1! 
 
 *^ p. 
 
 o So 
 
 
 g -S 
 
 •J J 
 
 3 >> 
 II 
 
 2 2 
 
74 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 connected with the necessary food of man ; and very little 
 variety in the crops grown on the same field sufficed to prevent 
 the land being impoverished or run out. They frequently dis- 
 pensed with the use of the plough, and then merely dragged 
 the wet mud with bushes, before throwing in the seed, which 
 was sown broadcast. The plough was drawn by two oxen, 
 sometimes yoked by the neck, sometimes by the horns ; and 
 pne instance occurs of it drawn by men, showing that the 
 /breaking up of the surface was alone required ; which might be 
 aptly described by the Roman term " scarification." This sin- 
 gular and interesting subject (now in the Louvre) is shown by 
 its style to be from a Theban tomb of the eighteenth, or the 
 beginning of the nineteenth dynasty ; and it forms part of the 
 same agricultural scene with the succeeding woodcut. 
 
 The wheat was cut with a toothed sickle, a short way below the 
 ear, and was then carried in coarse nets to the threshing-floor ; 
 but the door a (or Tiolcus sorghum) was plucked up by the roots, 
 and, when the earth had been beaten off* with the hand, was 
 tied up in bundles or small sheaves, the grain on its round 
 head being afterwards stripped off" by an instrument furnished 
 with three or four prongs, through which it was forcibly drawn. 
 
 Their mode of threshing was with oxen, which, driven over 
 the corn strewed upon tlie hard ground, or on a paved floor, 
 trod out the grain ; as they still do in Italy, Spain, and some 
 other countries ; and the ox was " unmuzzled,'* as with the 
 Jews. The grain was then winnowed ; and having been piled 
 up in great heaps, was carried off" in baskets to the granary ; 
 one teller being employed, with the usual caution of the 
 Egyptians, to note down the number of measures removed, and 
 another to verify the quantity on their arrival at the granary. 
 
 Great attention was paid to the rearing of cattle and sheep ; 
 and many wild animals, as the gazelle, the ibex or wild goat, 
 
0Ii¥JSA- 
 
 j^ t Kk *am 
 
7G DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 and the oryx, formed part of the stock of the farmyard. All 
 these last were bred in considerable numbers; and supplies 
 were constantly added whenever the huntsmen could catch them 
 \young in the deserts, where they abounded. We are informed 
 by the paintings, and the accounts of old writers, that experi- 
 ence had imparted to them many useful secrets in taming and 
 training animals and birds ; and if lions were taught to perform 
 the part of hounds, and of the chita or hunting leopard of 
 India, — if cats could be made retrievers in fowling excursions 
 among the fens, and snakes were charmed (as they still are in 
 the East), — if monkeys helped to gather fruit, and if crocodiles 
 could be taught to come out of the water when called by name, 
 and submitted, like young ladies, to have their ears bored for 
 the display of an ornament, we must allow that our modern 
 Yan Amburghs fall far short of the Egyptians. But, even 
 j admitting that much of their reputed skill was exaggerated, 
 I there can be little doubt that they studied the habits of animals 
 with great success; and the veterinary art was well understood. 
 Indeed, to northern people, more prone to destroy than to 
 tame wild animals, the regard so often shown them by Orientals 
 may often appear strange and inconsistent; but though none are 
 more fond of field sports than Asiatics (as they and the chase- 
 loving people of Egypt were of old), they do not kill animals 
 from a mere habit. Storks and doves are permitted by the 
 Oriental to appropriate whatever part of his house may please 
 them, even if it inconveniences the owner ; and the gulls and 
 porpoises in the Golden Horn are so accustomed to be unmo- 
 lested, that they scarcely make way for the oar as it dips in 
 the water ; and yet the Turks have not the credit of being the 
 meekest, or the most humane, of men. "What European boy or 
 man, who could reach a stone or a gun, would fail to indulge 
 in such an opportunity for destroying? And, with all our 
 
EGGS HATCHED ARTIFICIALLY. 77 
 
 vaunted love of the horse, where is that auimal treated as at an 
 Arab's tent? "We SiVe proud of our horses, rather than fond 
 of them. A man shows the hunters that have carried him, 
 more impressed with their worth and excellence than with a 
 feeling of attachment to them. Few horses indeed know and 
 welcome their masters as they do in the East ; and if the master 
 were to use that constant kindness which endears him to the 
 animal, his groom would scarcely fail to counteract the unusual 
 interference by vulgar violence. > 
 
 Not only was the artificial hatching of eggs an invention of the ^ 
 ancient Egyptians, but the treatment of sick animals is among 
 the subjects of their paintings, executed nearly 4000 years ago ; 
 and Cuvier found incontestable proof that the fractured bone 
 of an ibis had been set by them, while the bird was still alive. - 
 
 Their cattle grazed in the fields ; and, when the inundation 
 was rising, great care was required lest, being left too long, a 
 sudden increase of the water might endanger their safety, 
 particularly in the low lands and in the Delta. This last 
 afibrded the chief grazing country long before a part of it, 
 **the land of Goshen," was mentioned as the best place for 
 cattle ; as it did when that district received the later name of 
 Bucolia ; and as it does at the present day. Eescuing the 
 cattle from the water on those occasions is one of the subjects 
 represented at Beni Hassan ;* and the same scene is often now 
 witnessed in the Delta during the high Nile. When intended \ 
 to be fattened, the cattle were taken up and fed in stalls, — a | 
 custom which the mention of the "fatted calf" and the / 
 " stalled ox " shows to have been common also with the Jews. '* 
 They consisted of several varieties, as in those modem countries 
 where the rearing of cattle has long been attended to ; the 
 
 * See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 6, 7 (woodcut 357, ami 
 vignette), at the head of chapter viii. 
 
DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 most common being long-horned breeds, some of which were 
 even imported from Ethiopia. "Short-horns," too, were favour- 
 
 (W. 52.) 
 
 ites of the Egyptian farmer at the earliest times, as well as a 
 polled breed (woodcut 52). 
 
 Humped cattle were also common, though now only found 
 on the upper Nile ; one breed of which, far larger than those 
 
 of India, is equal in size to 
 our ordinary cows; and the 
 Egyptian breeders seem to 
 have fattened their cattle to a 
 degree which might obtain for 
 them a prize, or at least be 
 (^y 53 ) " highly commended " at one 
 
 of our modem cattle shows. 
 The care they took in breeding stock— like the religious 
 
CATTLE. —HERDSMEN. 
 
 7» 
 
 regulations, which, in order to prevent the slaughtering of cows, 
 made them sacred — originated in a prudent fear lest their 
 supply of cattle should become exhausted, and suggested thej 
 idea of adding to it by rearing wild animals of the desert. 
 The assertion, however, that none but red cattle were killed in 
 Egypt is erroneous ; spotted, piebald, and other coloured varie- 
 ties being lawful for the altar and the table. 
 
 Those who bred cattle were the wealthy landed proprietors ; 
 for it was long ago discovered that, even in Egypt, capital is 
 required for successful farming; and though " small holders" 
 may gain a livelihood by cattle, or by tilling land near large 
 towns which give a ready market without the expense of long 
 land carriage, no great quantity of stock can be reared, nor any 
 undertakings be successful on a large scale, without an adequate 
 outlay ; as no large country can be cultivated, like a market 
 garden, by a number of "little proprietors." The wealthy ' 
 landowners were grandees of the priestly and military classes ; 
 but those who tended cattle were looked down upon by the 
 rest of the community. " Every shepherd was an abomination 
 to the Egyptians," both from his employment, and from the 
 
 (W. 54.) 
 
 recollection of the foreign Pastor Kings who had tyrannised 
 over Egypt ; and this contempt is often shown by the paintings 
 
80 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 representing them unshaven, and squalid in appearance, a) 
 dressed in the same covering of mats that were thrown ov 
 the beasts they tended. Some were even figured as stunted 
 deformed ; and such was the aversion felt towards swineherc 
 the lowest of this class, that no others would intermarry wi 
 them. But the contempt of others did not prevent herdsm 
 from taking care of themselves ; and, with the usual caution 
 Egyptians, they tied a cow's legs while milking her. T . 
 office was performed by men, as at the present day among t 
 Ababdeh Arabs, who even think it disgraceful for a woman 
 milk any animal. 
 
 Fowling and fishing scenes are among the most usi 
 subjects in the paintings; and not only those who gained 
 livelihood thereby, but priests and others of rank took delig : 
 in chasing the numerous wild fowl of the marsh lands, 
 angling and spearing fish, and in hunting the beasts of t 
 desert. Birds were felled with the throwstick, a weapon 
 hard wood, about one foot six inches long, slightly cm-ved, wi 
 a sharp edge on either side, in order to ofier less resistance 
 the air, like the hoomarang ; though the Egyptian throwsti 
 was less curved, and had not the same extraordinary po\\ 
 of returning to the thrower, as the Australian weapon. 
 
 Fish were killed with the double or single spear ; and a gc 
 tleman was generally accompanied by many attendants, as w 
 as by his children, who assisted in the sport. For the Egyptia • 
 never failed to show that great fondness for their children : ; 
 which they were remarkable ; and the most consequent; s:.! 
 pontiff did not affect indifference to those feelings which { 
 natural to man, nor pretend that his religious occupatic 
 obliged him to disregard the affectionate duties of a husband 
 a parent. 
 
 In the chase of wild animals of the desert they used the be 
 
DOGS IN SLirS. 
 
 81 
 
 le spear, and even the lasso ; but more generally the first of 
 ' lese ; and the chasseur either shot on foot, or in his chariot, in 
 •me chosen spot, previously enclosed with nets, into which his 
 waters had driven the game. 
 They also coursed with dogs, which were taken to the ground 
 
 (W. 55.) 
 
 slips, and loosed upon the game as opportunity oifered ; and 
 ) pains were spared to breed and train hounds for this sport, 
 
 (W. 56.) 
 
 me of which were exported even from Ethiopia. They had 
 any breeds of dogs ; and such was their fondness for them 
 at an Egyptian was always accompanied by his dog, both in 
 e house and in his walks. The same caprice too seems to 
 ive guided their taste in the selection of pets, as in modern 
 tys ; many were admired for the beauty of their extreme 
 jliness ; and a certain breed was fashionable at different times. 
 
 o 
 
(mCT.) 
 
FASHIONABLE BREEDS OF DOGS. 83 
 
 What may be called the Suphis breed, with a pointed nose, 
 
 (W. 58.) 
 
 prick ears, and a closely-curled tail, was the particular favourite 
 
 (W. 59.) 
 
 during the reigns of the pyramid kings ; and the veriest tum- 
 
 (W. 60.) 
 
 spit was fashionable in the days of the Osirtasens. But the 
 "King Suphis breed" enjoyed the most lasting favour in Egypt ; 
 
 o2 
 
84 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 and a spotted variety of it shared the admiration of great men, 
 even at the court of the Osirtasens (woodcut 60). 
 
 A still more remarkable resemblance to later customs was 
 the employment of dwarfs as attendants upon the grandees of 
 those days ; and even deformed persons were admitted to a 
 similar office ; either from a superstitious regard for the pigmy 
 god Pthah-Sokari (from whom the fable of Vulcan's lameness 
 was borrowed), or from the better motive of compensating them 
 for their misfortune. But dwarfs were a curiosity ; and their 
 yellow colour shows that they were sometimes brought to 
 Egypt from a foreign country. Their Egyptian name seems 
 also to bear a resemblance to that of a dwarf in Greek (vai/os), 
 and the Latin " Nanus." 
 
 Those who gained a livelihood by the chase used snares for 
 large animals ; some birds in the fields were taken in small 
 spring traps, made of network ; and geese, coots, and other 
 waterfowl were* caught in large clap-nets spread near the banks 
 of the river, or in the marsh lands, where they were known to 
 feed. 
 
 Eish were also caught in large drag-nets ; and none but the 
 rich who could afford the time, and the poor who could not 
 afford a net, were in the habit of " casting angle in the brooks." 
 
 The abundance of fish was a great resource to the people ; and 
 the produce of the fisheries, particularly at the time of the 
 inundation, was an immense revenue to the government ; 
 though we may not believe that the artificial Lake Moeris 
 alone, during half the year, gave daily to the royal treasury a 
 talent of silver (or £153 English) and twenty mina) (£64) 
 during the other six months. 
 
 The different kinds of Nile fish are often represented on the 
 monuments ; and though prized by the Egyptians as they were 
 regretted by the Israelites, they were very indifferent in flavour; 
 
FISH.— PIGS.— POTTERS. 
 
 85 
 
 and some were considered even by the Egyptians sufficiently- 
 unwholesome to be made sacred, and forbidden as food. 
 The priests, indeed, " abstained entirely from all kinds ; '* and 
 on a certain day, when custom obliged the rest of the people to 
 eat a fried fish before the door of their houses, the priests were 
 contented to burn one in honour of the occasion ; and the 
 same regard for health led them to abstain from beans, and 
 some other pulse, and especially from pork ; which was in like 
 manner unclean to the Jews, as it is still to the Christians of 
 Abyssinia. 
 
 Pigs are therefore rarely represented ; and if a pig is figured 
 in a boat among the mysterious subjects of the tombs, it is only 
 as a hateful emblem ; the wicked soul, found wanting before 
 the judgment throne of Osiris, being condemned to return to 
 earth in the body of that degraded animal. 
 
 Potters were a numerous trade ; and the wheel, the baking 
 of earthenware cups, and all the process of the fictile art held a 
 prominent place on the monuments. 
 
 The same idea of fashioning the clay is also applied to man's 
 formation ; and the gods Pthah (the creative power) and Nou 
 or Neph (the divine spirit) are repre- 
 sented seated at the potter's wheel, 
 and turning the clay for the human 
 creation. 
 
 The forms of many Egyptian vases 
 have been already given. One of 
 the most common was the amphora 
 precisely similar to that of the 
 Greeks and Eomans, and used for 
 laying up wiae in the cellar, as well 
 as for other purposes. Bitumen was ^" ^^"^ 
 even brought from Asia in vases of this kind, in the time of the 
 
86 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 IStli dynasty : and one is preserved in the British Museum, 
 bearing the word "tribute " upon it, which has the same form 
 as on the monuments. When deposited in the cellar, these jars 
 reclined, the inner row against the wall, and the outer rows 
 against each other ; but some had their pointed bases 
 fixed in the ground, or upon a wooden stand, or in a ring 
 of stone, to keep them upright;* which last mode of 
 supporting them was evidently the origin of that very 
 ungraceful footstalk found in Greek vases, especially of 
 the later Apulian style. 
 
 Glass-blowing was also distinctly indicated; and the 
 discovery of a glass bead with the name of a Pharaoh 
 of the eighteenth dynasty, proves it to have been 
 known upwards of 3200 years ago. We may also 
 Ov. 62.) reasonably suppose this was not the first glass object 
 made by them ; and the use of glass bottles is distinct^ 
 shown by far older paintings, where the transparent sub- 
 stance is represented in the bottles holding wine, which 
 were the same that continued to serve for that purpose in 
 after- times (woodcut 62). 
 
 Glass was applied to many uses by the Egyptians, who were 
 always celebrated for their skill in its manufacture ; natron or 
 subcarbonate of soda, a native production in different parts of 
 the country, was the very substance most likely to lead to its 
 invention, or rather to its accidental discovery ; and it is far 
 more reasonable to suppose that this would have been made 
 where natron abounded, than from a fire once accidentally 
 lighted on the sea-shore, by some Phoenicians who happened 
 to be carrying a cargo of natron. 
 
 Some kinds of glass were made in Egypt alone, even in 
 Roman times, when the ordinary manufacture had become 
 
 * P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. i>p. 46, 47. 
 
GrLASS.— PINEAPPLE.— SCARABiEI. 87 
 
 generally known ; nor is there any doubt tliat tliose with waving 
 lines of different colours (already mentioned) /so much prized by 
 the Greeks and Eomans, were originally a manufacture of Egypt, 
 and continued to be exported thence till a late time. They had 
 been made there at a very remote period ; as well as other vases 
 of the most beautiful quality, and most varied hues, requu'ed 
 for domestic and ornamental purposes; and the well-known, 
 blue coating on stone or earthenware figures, as well as the 
 opaque glass eyes of mummy cases, show that the vitrifying- 
 process was Imown as early as the fourth dynasty. Objects 
 of glass, or vitrified composition, were very common; and 
 among the infinite variety used as drop ornaments 
 in necklaces, or trinkets, one may be noticed 
 which is remarkable from its resemblance to a 
 pineapple — being of a yellow colour topped with 
 green leaves. Scarabsei also of vitrified composi- 
 tion, or of glazed earthenware, were very common, 
 frequently most carefully executed, and bearing (w. 63.) 
 hieroglyphics very sharply cut ; but they were 
 evidently inferior in value to those of cornelian, amethyst, 
 haematite, and other stones; and some of the most trivial 
 objects were made of glass and vitrified work. 
 
 Scarabsei were used for funereal as well as ornamental purposes. 
 In the latter capacity, they formed parts of necklaces, or mounted 
 in gold were worn as rings, having some fancy device upon them, 
 — a sentence, or a king's name ; and those belonging to the dead 
 contained a prayer, a portion of the ritual, or some other in- 
 scription connected with the deceased, on whose breast one 
 was generally placed. Scarabsei frequently had the head of a 
 man, a hawk, or a ram ; some had the wings expanded, which 
 were either of the same substance as the body, or of metal laid 
 over it ; and when a real beetle was embalmed, the lid of the 
 
88 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 box, that served as its coffin, had a representation of it on the 
 outside. 
 
 Glass, as may be supposed, was not used for windows in a 
 climate like Egypt ; but there can be little doubt that, if it had 
 been adopted by the Egyptians, they would have made it part 
 of the coloured decoration of their buildings. For though 
 some at the present day run into the error of making pictures 
 upon glass, no people imbued with a proper feeling for colour 
 as a decorative adjunct to architecture would have considered 
 the glass window other than what it always was, and should be, 
 — a part of the whole coloured building. Nor would the 
 Egyptians, nor the Greeks, nor Mediaeval architects, have 
 made the coloured glass windows a contrast to a white wall, as 
 in some of our modern churches ; where, too, they are often 
 only on a par with transparent blinds. The incompatibility of 
 the translucid material for a picture also points out the im- 
 propriety of making glass assume the place of the fresco wall, 
 the panel, or the canvas ; and glass should not certainly be 
 allowed to attempt what is out of its power and its province to 
 accomplish. It should be kept for the purpose, for which it is 
 80 well adapted, of decorative art ; which, though not altogether 
 excluding figures, makes them subservient to the general effect 
 of ornamentation. 
 
 The employment of colour in architecture was well under- 
 stood by the Egyptians ; and they were so thoroughly acquainted 
 with its various combinations, that however brilliant the hues 
 they were never gaudy ; for this vicious effect only proceeds 
 from rich hues being put together without harmony. Their 
 colours were few in number. They were aware that for 
 decorative purposes the primaries should predominate, and 
 that secondary hues should be secondary in quantity and in 
 position ; their most usual combinations were therefore blue. 
 
COLOURS.— PERCEPTION OF COLOUR. 89 
 
 red, and green; and a fillet of white or yellow was intro- 
 duced between them, to obviate that false efiect which is apt 
 to convert red and blue into purple, when placed together 
 in immediate contact. When yellow was introduced a due 
 proportion of black was added to balance it; and for each 
 colour was sought its suitable companion ; or, if certain colours 
 occasionally predominated in one part of a wall, the balance was 
 restored by a greater quantity of others elsewhere, so that the 
 due proportions of all were kept up, and the general efiect was 
 a perfect concord. The colours were simply mixed with 
 water ; the reds and yellows were ochres, the green a copper, 
 the blue a smalt or pounded glass coloured by copper, the 
 black was of burnt bone or ivory, and the white a pure lime or 
 chalk. The secondary and tertiary colours, as purple, orange, 
 and brown, were seldom introduced on the monuments, and 
 were chiefly confined to papyri. 
 
 The appreciation of colour and of proportion were far better 
 understood of old than in most countries of modern Europe ; 
 not from any theory, but because the eye was able to appreciate 
 them ; and a discord in colours would have been as ofiensive to 
 them as a discord in music. The eye is the judge of one as the 
 ear of the other ; and though it would be disgraceful for any 
 musician to sit down to an instrument and play out of tune, 
 yet there is not a room we enter in this country, where 
 the eye is not shocked by innumerable discords of colour. 
 It is true that there are fewer eyes which can perceive 
 discord in colour, than ears which can detect a false note; 
 and, besides, there are many cases of vision naturally defective, 
 or " colour blindness." But it is not by leginning with rules 
 that the eye is to be taught to perceive colour ; though the 
 power when once possessed may be improved by them. It is 
 the eye itself which is to be educated ; and the habit of looking 
 
90 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 at colours arranged in perfect harmony will teach those whose 
 vision is not actually defective to appreciate the pleasure of 
 such combinations : for to educate the eye by theory is as hope- 
 less as to give a correct ear by rules to one who is unable to 
 distinguish a discord in sound. Nothing indeed tends to fetter 
 the perceptive faculty more than attempts to lay down laws for 
 colour, drawn from some fanciful theory, before the subject 
 itself is comprehended. It is like writing a grammar before 
 the language is understood. Those of old who succeeded so 
 well in the harmony of colours depended on the eye, the proper 
 judge of their effect, instead of warping their judgment with 
 crude theories ; and the same practical result is now obtained in 
 the East, where the uneducated child will arrange any number 
 of colours with the most perfect concord. Nations, like indi- 
 viduals, often have certain natural gifts, and colour is one pos- 
 sessed by the Oriental in a remarkable degree, while few people 
 in modem Europe appear fully to appreciate it ; but since we 
 perceive that untutored men in some of the wildest northern 
 districts of the world have that faculjby, it is not impossible 
 that the conventional habits of civilisation may have blunted 
 it ; and that the eye and ear of man in a primitive state were 
 gifted with a true perception both of colour and of sound. 
 It is then, too, that the natural gifts to all men are veri- 
 similar. They supply their wants much in the same way, allow- 
 ance being made for climate and other disturbing causes ; and the 
 greatest differences of character arise from conventional habits. 
 
 The colour chosen by the Egyptians for painting the human 
 figure was red ; wliich was thought to be the true colour of 
 man, as by the early Greeks, Etruscans, Assyrians, and many 
 more. " Adam," too, signifies " red," and the names " Phoe- 
 nician," " Edomite," and others, have the same meaning. 
 
 The colour was a bright red ochre, frequently called " ver- 
 
EED COLOUH.— GOLD WORKERS. 91 
 
 milion " (as in Ezekiel xxiii. 14), which may afterwards have 
 come into use ; and not only did red continue the conyentional 
 colour in Egypt, but in other countries also; and in Etruria, the 
 reclining figure on the lid of a sarcophagus retained, together 
 with much of its early stiffness, the old colour, sanctioned by 
 habit, long after a more varied style of painting had been 
 introduced for the other figures on the same monument. 
 Pliny, too, tells us the statue of Jupiter at the Capitol was 
 painted with 7ninium on holidays, as well as the bodies of those 
 who triumph, which honour was conferred on Camillus ; and 
 the same custom of painting the statues of gods red was com- 
 mon to the Ethiopians, though they had little claim from their 
 own complexion to that honourable hue. But they were of 
 the red (Adamic) race of Asia, or as we should now call it, the 
 Caucasian ; and as Asiatics, were entitled to the honourable 
 distinction of the red colour. 
 
 Gold workers are often represented on the monuments ; and 
 the various processes of washing the ore, of smelting it, and of 
 weighing, and making the metal into ornaments, are introduced.* 
 The balance used by goldsmiths was of very delicate con- 
 struction, and instead of strings for suspending the scales, an 
 arm terminating in a hook, to which the bags of gold were 
 attached, was fixed at right angles to each end of the cross- 
 beam. Another kind, used for light objects, had a registering 
 plummet fastened to the beam ; but the ordinary scales for 
 weighing the rings of gold and silver that served for money, 
 and for heavy goods, had the beam fastened to the pillar, 
 with a tranverse bar above, supporting a ring through which 
 the beam passed ; and Vhich not only showed, when hanging 
 free, that the two scales were equally poised, but prevented the 
 beam " tilting '* when the weight was taken out of one of the 
 
 * P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 137. 
 
92 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 scales. The weights were a whole bull, probably " the talent," 
 the half, the quarter, and the component parts of the talent; 
 
 r^ 
 
 (W. ei.) 1 
 
 which consisted of sixty minse, and if the same as the Babylo- 
 nian, was about eighty-one 
 pounds troy ; the mina 
 (men or mna) containing a 
 hundred drachms, and being 
 sixteen and one -seventh 
 ounces English. 
 
 Another kiud of portable 
 scales has been found, 
 made of wood, and consist- 
 ing of two limbs, each 
 
 Jl 
 
 
 1 
 
 (W. 65.) 
 
 loaded at one end with lead ; but its weighing capability was 
 
SCALES.— GOLD ORNAMENTS. 
 
 93 
 
 very limited, and it only had two diiFerenfc weights, according 
 to the quantity of lead fixed in one or the other of its two limbs 
 (woodcut 65, A and b). It was of small size, so that when 
 closed it could be conveniently carried in the pocket or the 
 
 (W. 66.) 
 
 girdle ; and, though this may not be of very great antiquity, it 
 was probably a copy of an old invention. The steelyard does 
 not appear to have been used in Egypt until Eoman times. 
 Besides the above-mentioned processes, that of making, 
 
 y'"'' OF THB '^ ^ 
 
94 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 engraving, and policing vases, and otlier objects of gold and 
 silver, is frequently represented, and the not uncommon use of 
 the forceps and blow-pipe is pointed out in the same subjects.* 
 
 (W. 07.) 
 
 Ornaments of gold and silver, such as the Israelites borrowed 
 of the Egyptians, are constantly found in the tombs, among 
 
 * P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol, ii. pp. 58, 139. 
 
NECKLACES AND BRACELETS. 95 
 
 which tlie snake was as favourite an ornament as in later 
 times. Emblems of Athor and other deities, the bull Apis, 
 and numerous conceits offered an endless variety in Egyptian 
 
 (W. 6S.) 
 
 jewellery ; as may be seen in the many necklaces and other 
 objects once worn by women, preserved in the British Museum 
 
 and other collections. The paintings abound with no less 
 variety of them ; and rich necklaces of gold or other materials, 
 bracelets, ear-rings, and armlets are shown to have been 
 universally worn by the wealthy Egyptians. Many of their 
 bracelets and other ornaments are beautifully wrought; and 
 the clasps of some of their necklaces are on so perfect a 
 
90 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 principle (woodcut 69, fig. 2, 3), that thej might have be 
 made hj a modern jeweller ; but among these various obje 
 some are particulariy worthy of remark from being very sii 
 lar to those often found of Anglo-Saxon and early Irish tii 
 It is uncertain to what purpose they were applied, both 
 Egypt and in our islands. They are of gold, silver, c 
 nelian, ivory, glass, and various compositions ; generally oj 
 in the centre, with a small fissure at one side (woodcut 
 figs. 2, 3, 4, 5), and one which appears to have been intenc 
 
 (W. 70.) 3 4 5 
 
 for a similar purpose (fig. 1) was composed of two lobes c 
 nected by a spiral shaft at the centre. They may have answe 
 as studs, or as fibul®. 
 
 Ornamental work of various kinds, in gold, silver, or bror 
 sometimes gilt, sometimes inlaid with other metals or preci 
 stones, was made in great quantities. Some had desi. 
 chased, engraved, or punched upon them and others a sort 
 
GOLD BRACELETS AND VASES. 
 
 97 
 
 lamel or opaque gla^s composition inlaid in the metal, pre- 
 ously hollowed out to receive it ; of which last many good 
 ecimens are found in the winged figures and other orna- 
 
 (W. 71.) 
 
 Bnts seen in our museums. A bracelet in the Louvre has a 
 ivice of gold inlaid in this manner, which, in the workmanship 
 L its hinge, is like many worn at the present day. Highly 
 
 (W. 72.) 
 
 namented gold vases were equally numerous, especially about 
 e wealthy period of the eighteenth and following dynasties, 
 ich were the baskets represented in the tomb of the third 
 
98 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 Eemeses ; and the cup of Thothmes III. in the Louvre, all of 
 the same precious metal ; which last measures about seven 
 
 (W. 73.) 
 
 inches in diameter, and has fish and other devices, with a 
 border of hieroglyphics in relief, punched upon it from within. 
 
 Though gold-beating in its modem improved state is an 
 improvement of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the 
 Egyptians overlaid wood and other materials with leaf of great 
 fineness at a very remote age ; and beating, damascening, en- 
 graving, casting, inlaying, wire-drawing, and other processes, 
 were adopted by them more than 3900 years ago. It is not, 
 therefore, surprising that Homer should mention the horns of 
 an ox overlaid with gold, as well as otlier arts long known in 
 Egypt. But the covering of gold was generally of considerable 
 thickness, compared to what we use at the present day. 
 
 Gold was the precious metal ^ar excelUncCj and is shown to 
 have been used in Egypt at an earlier time than silver, this last 
 being called "white gold,'* or " «owi-7*<z#," whence hat, "white," 
 alone came to signify " silver.** In this the Egyptians differed 
 
GOLD, SILVER, AND OTHER METALS. 09 
 
 from the Greeks, who employed the word "silver" for "money" 
 (like the French ^^ argent ^^^, from its having been first known 
 to them. The Egyptians had no coined money ; their gold and 
 silver was in rings, similar to those used at the present day in j 
 Sennar ; and, like the iron rings of the ancient British men- 
 tioned by Csesar, when purchases were made, they were tried in 
 the scales to ascertain if the " money" was "in full weight." 
 
 The use of other metals — as tin and zinc (mostly for bronze 
 and brass), as well as of iron and steel — is either directly proved 
 by discoveries in the tombs, or inferred from the monuments ; 
 and the manufacture of bronze is shown to have dated at least 
 as early as the fifth dynasty, more than 4000 years before our 
 era. But, as in some other countries, the use of hammered 
 bronze preceded the two processes of running the metal into a 
 mould, and casting it hollow on a core. The bronze of Egypt 
 varied in its quality according to the alloys it contained, some 
 having more or less tin, some being mixed with silver or other 
 metals ; but that for ordinary purposes contained 80 or 90 of 
 copper to 20 or 10 of tin, like most bronze of Eoman times. 
 That of Greece varied much in quality and colour, from the 
 proportions and variety of the alloys ; the most noted of which 
 was the Corinthian bronze, miscalled " brass," and which, from 
 the silver it contained, had a " pale " hue. This was an old 
 manufacture, and was not, as an idle and improbable tale 
 asserts, the result of an accidental mixture of metals at 
 the burning of the city. Some of the Corinthian cups had 
 even the richness of gold: and driDking-cups of this kind 
 have been found in Greece. Indeed, the fine quality of 
 Egyptian and Greek metal mirrors and other ornamental objects 
 is well known, and many of the latter were made to assume 
 various colours by the introduction of bronze of different 
 alloys; which process, having been first adopted by the 
 
 h2 
 
100 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 Egyptians and Sidonians, was afterwards carried to great 
 perfection by the Greeks. 
 
 Iron was also known in Egypt at a very remote period, and 
 the butchers sharpening their knives on a bar, which, from its 
 blue colour, was evidently steel, is represented on monuments 
 of the fourth dynasty,* as well as on those of later time. And if 
 bronze implements continued to be adopted long after iron was 
 known, this is no argument against the use of the latter, as we 
 know the Bomans and others did the same for ages after they 
 had made arms and common utensils of iron. The case- 
 hardening of iron, by plunging it red-hot into water, is even 
 mentioned by Homer; and the more we enquire into, and 
 become acquainted with, the customs of people in the early 
 ages of the world, the more we are convinced that iron sup- 
 plied their simplest wants much in the same way at all times, 
 and that many secrets were known which we blindly suppose to 
 be of late date. There is great truth in the remark, " There 
 is no new thing under the sun," as there also is in the Arab 
 saying, "The world is very old;" and if Tubal Cain was, ages 
 before the time of Moses, " an instructor of every ai'tificer 
 in brass and iron,^ the discovery of these will not date at a 
 very recent period. Nor is it sufficient to establish the fact of 
 an acquaintance with the use of iron — it is evident that its 
 properties as steel were not unknown ; and those who deny 
 a nearer approach to it than case-hardening will find it difficult 
 to reconcile the mention of " a bow of steel," (Ps. xviii. 34), 
 and other evidence of its use, with the mere hardening of the 
 external surface of iron. Solomon, too, says, " iron sharpeneth 
 iron." 
 
 We are too apt to consider discoveries and inventions 
 new ; and to under-rate the knowledge of man in old times. 
 * See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 160 ; ii. p. 155. 
 
EARLY INVENTIONS. 101 
 
 Ancient history and the monuments show that the Egyptians 
 had arrived at many very correct notions, which could only 
 have been derived from long experience in mathematics 
 and astronomy ; and the theory of the sun being the centre 
 of our system, the borrowed light of the moon, the revolu- 
 tion of the earth round its own axis, and other scientific 
 discoveries obtained by the Pythagoreans from Egypt, con- 
 tradict the too hasty notion of their not having extended their 
 thoughts beyond astrology. Man, arrived at a certain state of 
 civilisation, employs his time and talents on the same inquiries 
 which afterwards continue to attract attention ; and in no 
 country were geometry, surveying, and levelling of land, 
 hydraulics, "the motion of the stars," and calculations for 
 ascertaining the exact returns of the seasons so necessary, or 
 so inviting, as in Egypt. Nor were shrewd remarks wanting in 
 early days, on ordinary phenomena: — " The wind," says Eccle- 
 siastes (i. 6, 7), " returneth again according to his circuits," 
 and " rivers run into the sea . . . and unto the place whence 
 the rivers come thither they return again;" and though none 
 of those great strides in science had yet been made which 
 distinguish a later age, many very sensible inferences were 
 drawn from observation at a very remote age. 
 
 But of all errors, none is so palpable as that of attributing 
 to a people of a comparatively recent age discoveries known 
 before they existed as a nation ; and though we may smile 
 when Pliny tells us that Rhaesus and Theodorus of Samos were 
 said to have invented the casting of metals, that Cleanthes of 
 Corinth was the first to represent forms by lines, and that 
 numerous other arts, practised for ages in Egypt, xA.ssyria, and 
 Phoenicia, were invented in Greece, we feel surprised at finding 
 the same repeated by modern writers, as if the Greeks had been 
 the first inhabitants of the earth, and had originated everything 
 
102 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 at home. Tor Egypt had passed the most advanced period of her 
 career, and was a falling nation, before the Greeks cherished, 
 or required, the arts of civilisation ; the Egyptians were fully 
 justified in calling them "young," without any claim "to 
 antiquity," in the days of Solon ; their history and their 
 works were modern compared to those of Egypt; and even 
 the remains of Nineveh are mostly of a period when Egypt 
 was no longer the flourishing country of the Amenophs, the 
 Thothmes, and the Eemeses. If Homer mentions many elaborate 
 works, like the shield of Achilles, which the Greeks were not 
 then capable of making, we have a proof that the art was 
 practised by some older people, whose works were well known. 
 They did not certainly originate in Greece ; nor do we fail to 
 perceive from Homer that the Greeks were indebted to the 
 Sidonians for many secrets in the working of metals. No 
 one indeed, who has carefully examined the earliest works of the 
 Greeks, can have failed to perceive in them the impress of a 
 foreign origin ; many offsprings of Egyptian fancy, adopted by 
 the Greeks, show how the known habit of man to borrow from 
 the dominant nation of the day was common then as it has 
 ever been ; and the story of Daedalus having visited Egypt 
 tacitly admits the origin of the arts ascribed to him, whether a 
 real or imaginary personage. 
 
 That the Greeks afterwards far surpassed the Egyptians, 
 and added immensely to the discoveries of their predecessors, 
 all will admit ; and wo cannot sufficiently express our admira- 
 tion for their talent, or the obligation we owe them for that 
 knowledge and refinement which has contributed so greatly to 
 modem civilisation. Many arts were exclusively their own : — 
 the glorious result of unfettered genius ; and many improve- 
 ments on imperfect ones were equally creditable to their talents 
 and their taste ; and tlie real sterling merit they will always 
 
METALLURGY.— FLAX.— LOOMS. 103 
 
 enjoy is too great to make it necessary to claim for them an ori- 
 ginality, and antiquity, at variance alike with history and truth. 
 
 The skill of the Egyptians in metallurgy was very great ; 
 and we have ample proof of the working of metals at the 
 earliest times of which any monuments remain ; nor is it too 
 much to say that some of the secrets they possessed, parti- 
 cularly in the manufacture of bronze, are still very imperfectly 
 known to us. 
 
 In connection with this art, the paintings notice the forceps, 
 the blow-pipe, and the bellows, which 
 last even appear to show an acquaint- 
 ance with the principle of the valve ; * 
 and though they give very few of the 
 inventions of Egypt, they prove the 
 early use of siphons,t and many efficient 
 tools of different crafts. The syringe 
 was also known ; and one instrument 
 occurs, even on the monuments of the 
 fourth dynasty, which has the appearance 
 of a hand-pump (woodcut 74). And if 
 many of their arts, as well as their skill 
 
 in mensuration, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and various 
 branches of science are unnoticed, we are not surprised at the 
 omission of subjects so little suited to sculpture, or the embel- 
 lishment of a tomb. 
 
 The process of growing flax, steeping and beating the stalks, 
 making it into thread, string, and ropes, and also into a piece 
 of cloth, are all pictured, as well as the looms they worked on, 
 which were of the most simple kind. Some were vertical, 
 others horizontal ; and the mode of taking up the piece as 
 
 * P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 174 ; ii. p. 316 (woodcut 457). 
 t lb., vol. i. p. 174 ; ii. pp. 317, 318. 
 
104 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 it advanced towards completion, in order to make room for the 
 working of the machine, by winding it round pegs fixed at 
 intervals in the ground, is precisely similar to that still adopted 
 
 (W. 75.) 
 
 in Ethiopia. The running the threads off several balls, placed 
 in a frame, also illustrates the simplicity of the process they 
 adopted in these and other operations, which is still a marked 
 peculiarity in the manufactures of the East (figs. 12, 13). 
 
 Mat-making was exactly similar to that adopted by the 
 modern Egyptians, and by the Spaniards of Andalusia, who 
 derived it from the Moors ; and the mode of laying out the 
 frame on the level ground, and pinning it down with hooked 
 pegs, as well as the position of the workman, might serve to 
 represent the modern, as completely as the ancient, process. 
 
 Carpenters and cabinet-makers were a very numerous class ; 
 
VENEERING. —DOVETAILING. 
 
 105 
 
 and under tliis head may be included boafcsbuilders, those who 
 made the woodwork of chariots, and coffin-makers ; though the 
 undertakers, properly so called, belong to another class con- 
 nected with, or at least in the employ of, the priests. 
 
 Veneering with foreign woods, painting a common quality to 
 resemble one of greater rarity and beauty, dovetailing, 
 glueing, and other processes are represented; and the cau- 
 tiousness and desire of durability, that mark the Egyptian 
 character, are perhaps nowhere more fully testified than by 
 the precision of their cabinet-work. Not only the sides of a 
 box are dovetailed, but the tongues that hold the spliced 
 
 44^ # 
 
 (W. 76.) 
 
 boards are again secured with pins driven through them 
 (fig. 2), and the same care is shown by the frequent combina- 
 tion of glue and pins in the same case. 
 
 In sawing they frequently fixed the wood upright, secured 
 by pins in lieu of a vice ; or with the pins passing through the 
 piece of timber itself, in order to support the planks as they 
 were cut apart ; which is the practice of modern sawyers. They 
 used a large hand-saw for this purpose ; and, for hewing large 
 
 I 
 
(W. 78.) 
 
108 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 pieces of timber, the axe or hatchet, or sometimes the adze ; 
 which last was employed even for fashioning very small kinds 
 of wood-work (woodcut 78, fig. 1) ; and we may readily judge, 
 from the expertness of their unskilful descendants, how suc- 
 cessfully that tool must have been managed, when in the hands 
 of the ancient Egyptians. This, indeed, is fully shown by the 
 remains of their cabinet-work ; and the minuteness of finish in 
 their chairs and other furniture is very remarkable. The other 
 tools they chiefly used were chisels of various kinds struck with 
 the mallet, the awl, drill, or centre-bit (woodcut 77, fig. 6), the 
 hand-saw, and light hatchet ; and these, with the oil-horn (wood- 
 cut 77, fig. 11), and a few other implements have been found in 
 the tombs. The age of the fourth dynasty is sufficient to rescue 
 the invention of the saw from the mythical Daedalus, to whom it 
 is ascribed by Pliny ; and a similar inaccuracy may be found in 
 most of the other inventions claimed by him for the Greeks. 
 
 Eare woods were imported into Egypt, in great quantities, 
 from Central Africa, and from Asia ; among which ebony, and 
 woods of dark red and variegated colours, cedar, cypress, 
 cherry, and walnut, were the most common. The last five 
 were from Syria ; and those of the country were chiefly con- 
 fined to sycamore, several acacias (which gave a hard and 
 useful wood) the persea or balanites, the date and Theban palms, 
 and the two tamarisks. 
 
 Ivory was often combined with ebony, and even with other 
 bard woods, in ornamental furniture ; it was sometimes stained 
 red, or bright blue, as occasion required; and gold, or gilding, 
 was frequently added to increase the richness of some fancy 
 wooden trinket. "Walking-sticks of cherry, or of acacia, about 
 five or six feet long, were very fashionable ; the natural colour 
 of the former being often set off" by the addition of bright red, 
 yellow, and other colours, sometimes with fillets or lines of 
 
CHERRY-STICKS.— CABINETS. 
 
 109 
 
 gold : and they had either a hook towards the upper end, or 
 were surmounted by a round knob of turned ivory (woodcut 
 79).* Cherry-bark was thought very ornamental; and in Dr. 
 
 4 
 
 (W. 79.) 
 
 Abbott's collection is a bow made of three pieces of another 
 wood, fastened together lengthways, and covered with that 
 bark. It was removed by beating (as when boys make a 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 Cff. 
 
 ( £' 
 
 '1\ 
 
 >>- 
 
 r> 
 
 '^ 
 
 b\ 
 
 .•!Tr 
 
 !•'. 
 
 (^ 
 
 >.il 
 
 y'i 
 
 •'^• 
 
 It 
 
 9 
 
 f 
 
 )7; 
 
 A 
 
 ^;f 
 
 £1 
 
 u 
 
 b 
 
 ^ 
 
 ill 
 
 whistle), and transferred to another stick. The same process 
 is still adopted in making the Turkish cherry-stick pipes. 
 Boxes and cabinets were of many shapes and sizes, according 
 
 * See P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii. (woodcuts 477, 478). 
 
110 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 to caprice, or the purpose for which they were intended ; some 
 being square, with or without fancy feet ; and others flat, 
 circular, or pointed at the top, with folding or sliding lids. 
 They were either of ebony, inlaid with ivory, of hard or of 
 ordinary soft wood, or painted to imitate some rare quality ; 
 and many were of common sycamore, deal, or cedar, covered 
 with a coating of stucco, on which various subjects were painted 
 in rich colours. 
 
 Some were intended for ornamental, others for sacred and 
 funereal, purposes; and the most remarkable were the rich 
 canopies placed over the throne of a king, and the statues of 
 the gods. These ranked among the most important works of 
 the cabinetmaker; and they were not only richly decorated 
 with carving, but were inlaid with coloured porcelain and gold, 
 like the sacred shrines, or arks, standards, and other wooden 
 ornaments used in the temple. Numerous fancy boxes and 
 
 OV. 81.) 1 la 
 
 trinkets were also made for domestic use. Those intended for 
 the toilette were frequently in the form of animals, geese, fish, 
 
BOXES FOR THE TOILETTE- TABLE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 or the human figure ; and boxes that held the Icolil, or col- 
 Ijrium, used for paintmg the eyes, were also of various fanciful 
 shapes (woodcut 81). But they were not always of wood ; and 
 many were of coloured porcelain, and other richer materials ; and 
 some, made of coloured glass, of the same quality as the imita- 
 tion Murrhine cups, already mentioned, were in the form of 
 an Egyptian column. 
 
 Some boxes appear to partake of the character of spoons, 
 the handle terminating in a goose's head, or representing a 
 whole fox, or a white slave holding 
 a cup in the shape of a goose with 
 a movable lid;* and one of these 
 last, discovered at Thebes, curiously 
 illustrates a mode adopted by slaves 
 of wearing their plaited hair, which 
 in this, and other instances differed 
 much from that of Egyptian ladies.f 
 Similar handles, in the form of human 
 figures, were adopted by the Grreeks, 
 for vases and paterce. 
 
 Another specimen occurs of a 
 small box for the toilette-table, borne 
 by a girl carved in wood, the whole 
 being about five and a half inches 
 high (woodcut 82) ; and numerous 
 other fanciful boxes, cups, and 
 spoons, were the work of the cabinet- 
 makers and the carvers in wood. 
 
 Wood was used not only for small ornamental figures and 
 trinkets, but for large statues also. ]S"or was this chiefly 
 
 * P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. pp. 159—162, 183, 184. 
 t lb., vol. i. p. 160 (woodcut 177). 
 
 (W. 82.) 
 
112 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 confined to a primitive age, as in Greece ; for some figures 
 the Pharaohs continued to be made of it, above life size, to 
 latest times. But the Egyptians never adopted ivory for 
 same purpose as the Greeks in their chryselephantine colo 
 
 Coffins, or wooden sarcophagi, were mostly of sycarao 
 deal, or cedar, covered with a coating of stucco, and ricl 
 painted ; and the models of boats and other wooden objec 
 connected with the funerals of the dead, showed the same sir 
 of the Egyptian workmen. 
 
 Boat-builders were of two denominations : one belonging 
 the carpenters, who constructed vessels of wood ; the other 
 basket-makers, who made boats of the papyrus. The ordinr 
 boats of the Nile were of planks of the acacia, fastened up 
 ribs of the same wood with wooden bolts ; and they were p 
 tially or entirely decked. They had one mast, a single squr 
 sail, with one yard above and another below; which was trimm 
 by halliards and sheets, and raised or lowered by lifts runni 
 in dead-sheeve holes at the top of the mast, which answered 
 lieu of blocks. Latine sails were never used by the anci 
 as they are by the modem, Egyptians ; and no instance oc 
 of a boat with more than one sail or one mast. 
 
 In early times the mast was double, but being fo 
 cumbrous, it gave place to a single one ; and to the sail, wh 
 had then only an upper yard, was added another below ; b 
 yards being frequently of two pieces, scarfed together in 
 middle, and supported by lifts. The upper yard might 
 lowered when necessary, in order to shorten sail, which 
 probably taken in by rolling up the lower yard in it, as is 
 done in the square-rigged boats of Ethiopia ; but when furl 
 the sail was brailed up, and then bent upon the upper y 
 which was afterwards let down to the lower one. The ca 
 was of light wood, probably deal from Syria, painted as ui 
 
BOATS.— PAPYRUS PUNTS. 113 
 
 ith tlie brightest colours; and in common boats, used for 
 urying goods, or cattle from the farm, it was of sycamore, or 
 r open wickerwork. 
 
 Boats bad either one rudder turning on the taiFrel, or two — 
 le at each side of the quarter; and in those employed for 
 mereal purposes the eye of Osiris was painted on the rudder- 
 lades, and on the head of the boat itself. This last custom is 
 ill common in China, and even in the Mediterranean ; and the 
 idder turning on the taffrel is used in the boats of the Loire, 
 id some other places. 
 
 The oars were large at the end, in the form of a lotus leaf, 
 ' diamond shape, or oval ; and the sail was of cloth, frequently 
 linted, or worked, in coloured patterns. Embroidered cloth 
 T sails is mentioned by Ezekiel, as having been imported from 
 ; gypt to Tyre ; and the sails of boats represented in the tomb 
 King Kemeses III., at Thebes, are covered with fanciful 
 jures, flowers, and other devices, with squares in cheques, and 
 3h borders worked in various colours. 
 
 Many vessels were of very great size, and were employed for 
 
 Trying com and heavy cargoes, especially during the inunda- 
 
 on ; and some ships, mentioned by ancient writers, measured 
 
 :)wards of 400 feet in length. But these last were rather 
 
 )jects of caprice than of utility ; or dedicated to some deity, 
 
 ce that presented by Sesostris to Amun, the god of Thebes, 
 
 fiich was 280 cubits, or 420 feet long, and built of cedar. 
 
 The papyrus boats were chiefly punts for fishing, or for 
 
 iding through the fens of the Delta. They were made of the 
 
 alks of some of the many kinds of Cyperus rush, which 
 
 . .'i 'ounded in Egypt, and which, though difiering from the real 
 
 ! ' iblus used for making paper, were included by the ancients 
 
 . . ider the general name papi/rus. To construct them, layers of 
 
 e stalks, placed lengthwise, were fastened together by bands 
 
lU DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 of the same plant threaded in between them ; so that the boat 
 was not inaptly said to be " sewed together ;" * and the whole 
 was covered with a coating of pitch, like the "ark of bulrushes'* 
 in which Moses was deposited, and which was of similar con- 
 struction. 
 
 And here, in speaking of the Tvord "ark,'* I avail myself of 
 the opportunity to mention a strange attempt to connect the 
 name of Thebes with the Hebrew word Thebeh, and thence 
 with the Ark of Noah ; which is at once shown to be erro- 
 neous, from the name of that city being a corruption of the 
 Egyptian " ap<?,'' or, with the article jRipe, (in the Memphitic 
 dialect Thdpe,) "the head," or "capital," converted by the 
 Greeks into their own " Thehai.^^ 
 
 Some of these papyrus boats were large enough to hold 
 several men ; t and they were generally propelled by long poles, 
 or by paddles ; but they were rarely, if ever, furnished with a sail. 
 
 Those who made the wooden parts of chariots, as the frame- 
 work, the wheels, pole, and yoke, were of the class of car- 
 penters ; the fittings of the inside and the bindings of the 
 framework, as well as the harness, which were chiefly of raw 
 hide and leather, being the work of the curriers, who, with the 
 tanners, were a numerous trade. In Thebes a district of the 
 town was assigned to the "leather cutters;'* and a great 
 quantity of leather was used for shoes and sandals, in house- 
 hold furniture as well as in chariots, for harness, for bow-cases, 
 shields, and various objects connected with a soldier's outfit, 
 for covering musical instruments, and as a substitute for 
 writing paper, besides other purposes ; and the skill of tho 
 Egyptians in preparing and in stamping leather is fully testified 
 by the few specimens of that perishable material that have 
 
 * P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 120, woodcut 399. 
 t See above, woodcut 6, p. 13. 
 
LEATHER.— ROPES.— SIEVES. 115 
 
 been preserved. They are chiefly straps placed across the 
 breasts of figures ; and most of them bear the names of the 
 later E-emeses,* of Sheshonk (Shishak), and of the Osorkons. 
 Leather was used by the Egyptians at a very early time ; and it 
 is curious to see that in cutting a piece of hide, whether tanned 
 or undressed, into strips for making thongs, they practised 
 "what we term the circular cut," which, as well as our 
 modem semi-circular knife was used by them more than 3000 
 years ago.f Their mode of twisting leather thongs was also 
 ingenious, — four or more being fastened at one end of a tube, 
 which, being furnished with a swivel, was attached to a strap 
 round a man's body, who whirled round the tube with the 
 thongs by means of a heavy weight projecting from it ; while 
 another man held the other end of the thongs, and, to use 
 a nautical term, "paid them off" carefully to prevent their 
 becoming entangled during the operation. 
 
 But ropes were generally made of flax; and for common 
 use were of the fibre of the date-tree, which not being liable 
 to injury from wet was well suited to all purposes connected 
 with the drawing of water, and was recommended to the 
 peasant for its cheapness and strength. The flax nets of 
 Egypt were also famous, and of the finest texture. 
 
 Sieves were often made of flax-string, but many of a more 
 common quality were of thin rushes, and that they were 
 originally of this simple material is evident from the " sieve" 
 being represented in the hieroglyphics as composed of rushes. 
 These were the work of the basket-makers — a numerous 
 class of people employed in making seats of common chairs, 
 and the many kinds of baskets used in Egypt, as well as 
 
 * They hare been found with the name of Amunoph III. 
 t See also P. A. of Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 377, woodcut 333 ; and 
 vol. ii. p. 94, woodcut 390, fig. c. and {. 
 
 x2 
 
IIG DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 brooms and brushes, all wliich were generally of halfeh grass, 
 
 (W. S3.) 
 
 or palm fibres. To tl e same department also belonged the 
 
 (W. 8 J.) 
 
 manufacturers of papyrus boats j and the makers of mats may 
 
BASKET-MAKERS.— PAPYRUS. 117 
 
 be included under that class, of M'hicli the basket-makers 
 formed one section. The baskets were often beautifully made, 
 closely knitted together, and of many rich colours, the rushes 
 being dyed beforehand ; and the skill in basket-work, for which 
 the people of Ethiopia and the Oases are still so remarkable, is 
 doubtless derived from their Egyptian predecessors (woodcut 84) . 
 
 Though leather was sometimes used for writing purposes, 
 paper was generally made in Egypt of the well-known papyrus, 
 which grew in the marsh-lands of the Delta. The part of the 
 plant employed in its manufacture was the pith of its trian- 
 gular stalk ; the outer rind serving for mats, baskets, and 
 similar purposes. 
 
 The mode of making the paper was by cutting the pith into 
 thin slices in the direction of its length, which, having been 
 laid on a large slab or table; received upon them other similar 
 layers at right angles, — and the two sets having been glued 
 together, and kept under pressure for a proper time, formed a 
 sheet. The breadth of the paper depended in some degree on 
 the size of the plant, the length being only limited by con- 
 venience; but as the breadth varied from about six fingers 
 (nearly four and a-half inches) to twelve or fourteen and a-half 
 inches at most, it is evident that a very small portion of the 
 whole length of the plant was taken for that of the same sheet. 
 Eor the stalk was about fifteen feet in height, and the upper 
 part was used for making paper of inferior quality. 
 
 When a sheet of papyrus had been used for writing, it was 
 rolled up, and placed upright in a box; and l^„^^>|Cj^3 
 when deposited with the dead, or kept as a (w. 85.) 
 secret document, it was bound round with string, or the stalk 
 of a plant, and secured by clay stamped with a seal. 
 
 The papyrus was a government monopoly, and in order to 
 keep up its price, its cultivation was at one time forbidden 
 
118 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 in every place except the Sebenny tic Nome, — so that poor people 
 were obliged to write accounts, or memoranda, on fragments 
 of pottery, and other cheap materials ; and even artists practised 
 their pencil, and made rough sketches, on pieces of prepared 
 wood, or slabs of limestone. 
 
 But custom or law required that public documents, con- 
 veyances, deeds, and all large funereal rituals should be drawn 
 out on the authorised papyrus (except on certain occasions, 
 when leather, skins, or prepared cloth were permitted) ; and the 
 papyrus may be said to correspond to one of our stamps for 
 legalising an important paper, and ensuring its validity. The 
 effect of this at length recoiled on the authors of so short- 
 sighted, and illiberal, a policy ; the neighbouring princes and 
 others who collected libraries, soon found out substitutes for 
 the papyrus, — and parchment, which received its name from 
 Pergamus, where it was first employed on a great scale for 
 paper, made the kings of that place independent of the Egyptian 
 papyrus. Other substitutes were afterwards invented, and 
 paper from cotton and linen rags at length entirely superseded 
 the once famous papyrus. The prophecy of Isaiah, that " the 
 paper-reeds by the brooks . . . shall wither, be driven away, 
 and be no more," has come to pass, — the plant is no longer a 
 native of Egypt, and it is now only found in the Anapus near 
 Syracuse, and in a stream of Syria. 
 
 The dried flower-heads of the papyrus have been found in the 
 tombs, and the plant is often represented in the paintings. 
 
 The occupations of the painter and sculptor were not 
 omitted on the walls of the tombs; and though the monuments 
 themselves bear sufficient testimony of their skill, one fact is 
 recorded in the ["paintings of Beni Hassan, which we might 
 not have learnt from any other source. This is their early 
 art of painting upon panel, which is shown to have been 
 
PAINTING ON PANEL. 119 
 
 practised in Egypt more than 2000 years before our era, and 
 is one of the many proofs of Egypt having been the cradle 
 of various branches of knowledge long afterwards carried to 
 such perfection by the Greeks. But the conventional habits 
 of the Egyptians, who were fettered by prescribed rules, and 
 afraid of disregarding the veto of orthodoxy, prevented the 
 arts of painting and statuary from taking their proper place ; 
 so that they never arrived at a real representation of natural 
 events, much less at that highest branch of art, — ideal beauty ; 
 which the Greeks were the first to comprehend, and practise. Nor 
 did the Egyptians understand the beauty and true province of 
 bas-relief like the Greeks ; in their battle scenes they attempted 
 to make a picture ; and in order to obviate the confusion 
 resulting from a number of sculptured figures one behind the 
 other they placed them in all parts of the same field, regardless 
 of the sky, or of perspective, providing only against everything 
 which might interfere with the hero of the subject — the king ; 
 who depended on colossal size, instead of art, for his import- 
 ance. But as they had not yet learnt to distinguish between 
 the province of painting and sculpture, great excuse may be 
 found for them ; which may not be so readily conceded to some 
 later pictures in stone, bronze, and other materials, of mediaeval 
 and modern times. In these two the anomaly of a landscape 
 background is the more unpardonable, as we have learnt the 
 beautiful and necessary efiect of aerial perspective, which 
 cannot of course be obtained in such materials. 
 
 Painters and sculptors held in Egypt a rank similar to that 
 of architects and professional scribes, — from which last they can 
 scarcely be separated. The same kind of wooden palette, or 
 inkstand, was used by the limner in drawing outlines, as by 
 the scribe in writing upon a papyrus (woodcut 86, fig. 1) ; and 
 the same kind of reed pen was employed for both purposes. 
 
120 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 The inkstand contained two colours, black and red ; the latter 
 being introduced at the beginning of a subject, and for the 
 
 i^ij^ I 
 
 
 V_^' 
 
 (\v. so.) 
 
 division of certain sentences, — showing this custom to be as 
 old as that of holding the pen behind the ear often pourtrayed 
 in the paintings of the tombs. 
 
 (W. ST.) 
 
 Some palettes contained more than two colours, — black, red, 
 blue, green, and white (fig. 2). They were of the same long 
 shape as the ordinary inkstand, with the usual case in the 
 
INKSTANDS.— THE BASTINADO. 121 
 
 centre for holding the pens; and some were of square or 
 oblong form, made of wood or stone, with a larger cavity for 
 each colour (fig. 3). Slabs and pestles for grinding colour are 
 also commonly found in the tombs of Thebes (woodcut 87) ; 
 as well as lumps of ochre, green, blue, and other colours. 
 
 The sacred scribes were of the priestly order ; but the royal 
 scribes might be either priests or military men, and they were 
 generally sons of the king, or of the chief men of the court. 
 The public scribes were also men of great trust and conse- 
 quence, to whom the settlement of public and private accounts 
 
 (W. 88.) 
 
 was committed ; and they assisted, or performed the office of, 
 magistrates, in condemning defaulters to punishment. 
 
 The stick seems to have been very freely administered in 
 Egypt ; and small men in office delighted in power then, as in 
 modem days. Thus the old porter of the king's house, obliged 
 to support himself on his walking-stick, is represented mar- 
 shalling the bearers of bags of gold, and other deposits for the 
 royal treasury, and reminding them of his authority by an 
 occasional blow of his wand ; and even artisans stimulated the 
 exertions of their workmen by the stick. 
 
 The skill of the Egyptian doctors was celebrated : and they 
 had adopted a custom indicative of great advancement in civiK- 
 
122 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 sation, of assigning to a particular member of the profession his 
 peculiar branch — oculists being distmct from those who treated 
 diseases of the head and other parts of the body. Accoucheurs 
 
 were mostly, if not always, 
 women. But the paintings 
 give little, if any, indica- 
 tion of their duties, except 
 of the last mentioned ; and 
 it is uncertain whether the 
 supposed doctors at Beni 
 Hassan may not be barbers. 
 Surgical instruments, how- 
 ever, have been found; as 
 well as slabs or cases, which 
 appear to contain models of 
 the most ordinary require- 
 ments of the doctor, whose 
 figure sometimes accom- 
 panies them ; among which 
 are bottles, salve-pots, and 
 knives similar to those 
 they used for circumcision. 
 Other instruments, chiefly 
 bronze, have been discovered 
 in the tombs ; and, though 
 it is uncertain for what 
 purpose most of them were 
 intended, or to what trade they belonged, some were in such 
 common use, that it may not be uninteresting to introduce 
 them here. Among them may be seen small bells (woodcut 91, 
 figs. 6, 7) : but though many of the others are known to be of 
 early date, it is uncertain to what time these last may be 
 
 (W. 89.) 
 
DOCTOR.— INSTRUMENTS.— LADLES. 
 
 123 
 
 assigned, or when bells were first invented. Knives of various 
 forms have also been found ; one of which, now in the Louvre 
 collection, has a place for the fingers rather than a handle, in 
 the curved shape of a goose's neck. Its whole length is twelve 
 
 (W. 90.) 
 
 inches (woodcut 92, fig. 1). Bronze needles were not un- 
 common, about the size of those we have for rough sewing, or 
 three and a-half inches long ; and a pair of bronze tongs, found 
 at Thebes, and now in the British Museum, are remarkable for 
 their finish, and for the very Egyptian caprice of making the 
 two ends in the form of fish. They even retain their elasticity — 
 the sides being kept apart by a block of wood. 
 
 Bronze sim^ulce, or ladles, frequently gilt, used for taking 
 liquids out of vases, are also found ; and one in the Louvre has 
 its bowl in the strange form of an oryx, the emblem of the 
 god Pthah-Sokari- Osiris (woodcut 92, fig. 3) ; but weapons of 
 
124 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 various kinds, as might be supposed, are much more common, 
 both in the'tombs and in the paintings. They are of bronze, 
 
 -<- ^:i:niiM | i| || ||i[niim ^ 
 
 (W. 91.) 
 
 but the coloured representations of them show that some were 
 of iron or steel, being painted blue. They consisted chiefly of 
 the short sword or dagger, the spear, javelin, and arrow, the 
 club, pole-axe, the hatchet, the battle-axe, and the falchion; 
 and many specimens of the three last may be seen in our 
 museums (woodcuts 94,95). The arrows were of wood or reed, 
 with a bronze head (woodcut 96, fig. 2); but those used for the 
 chase were frequently tipped with flint (fig. 1), or had a point 
 of hard wood (fig. 3), the shaft itself being of reed. 
 
AEMS.— CRUCIBLES. 125 
 
 Crucibles belonging to tbe workers in metal have also been 
 
 (W. 92.) 
 
 discovered, which, in size, material, and form, much resemble 
 
126 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 those of the present day; they are four and three-quarter 
 inches in diameter, and a fragment of one I have contains 
 particles of smelted copper. (Woodcut 93.) 
 
 (W. 94.) 
 
 Prom what has been said, it will be evident that the subjects 
 represented in the tombs illustrated the customs and occu- 
 pations of the Egyptians, while those in the temples related 
 
CLASSES.— KING.— PRIESTS.— SOLDIERS. 
 
 12r 
 
 principally to the duties of the king and of the priests, as well 
 as to the deeds of the other most honoured class of the com- 
 munity — the soldiers. 
 
 (W. 95.) 
 
 The distinction of classes in Egypt was very marked, and 
 after the king the priests and soldiers held the highest position, 
 and may be considered the aristocracy of the country. The 
 king was the chief of the state, and, in virtue of his oJB&ce, was 
 the head of the religion, of the law, and of the army^ He was 
 always either of the priestly, or of the military, class ; and if not 
 of the sacerdotal order before his coronation, he was admitted 
 into it on ascending the throne, and instructed in all the secrets 
 of religion ; as the kings of Persia were by the Magi. He had 
 also the right of presiding in the temple ; and no other func- 
 tionary offered sacrifices there, when he was present to perform 
 that duty. Those engaged in trade, and various laborious 
 pursuits, were in an inferior position to the two leading classes, 
 and the occupation of each generally descended from father 
 to son. But this was not exclusively so — as the son of a 
 
SUBJECTS REPRESENTED IN THE TOMBS. 129 
 
 •iest miglit be in the army, or the son of a military man 
 
 the priesthood, and each might occupy a different grade 
 om his father. The divisions of Egyptian society cannot, 
 ,:erefore, be said to correspond to the castes of India ; and 
 ere is reason to believe that, occasionally, a man of talent 
 tight rise from a lower to a higher class. Indeed, Mr. Birch 
 id M. Ampere may be said to have proved the non-existence 
 : castes in Egypt. 
 
 Besides the subjects in the tombs relating to the customs of 
 e Egyptians during their lifetime, are the funeral of the 
 •ceased, before mentioned, and the transport of the body in 
 e laris, or boat, over the sacred lake, which is the origin of 
 e Acherusian lake, the ferry-boat of Charon, and the passage 
 the Styx of G-reek fable ; and the memory of this important 
 3nt is often alluded to, by the dedication of a wooden boat in 
 3 tomb. 
 
 Eeference is also frequently made to the king in whose 
 gn the owner of the tomb lived, particularly if he had held 
 y office about the court. Sometimes the procession of 
 I'eign chiefs, bringing tribute to the Egyptian king, is repre- 
 ited ; sometimes a young prince, seated on the knee of his 
 :or, or of his mother, is complimented on his future career by 
 
 allusion to the conquests he is to make over the enemies of 
 ypt, whom he holds in bonds beneath his feet ; and various 
 torical events are alluded to, though battle scenes and the 
 fcories of the king are confined to the temple. 
 The tomb was either made for a person during his lifetime, 
 
 was purchased by his family at his death ; and ready-made 
 
 lbs were kept for sale, in which the usual representations of 
 
 -iieral customs were already introduced.; blanks being left for 
 
 ! name and for the portrait of the future occupant, as well 
 
 of his wife and children. Indeed, a trial in this world 
 
130 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 might exclude him, or even a king who had led a glaringly 
 bad life, from burial in his own sepulchre; and accusers 
 were allowed at the day of the funeral to pronounce a con- 
 demnation here, which all agreed he would receive in a future 
 state. 
 
 The last judgment is one of the principal subjects in the 
 tombs. There the deeds of the deceased, typified by the heart 
 (or the funeral vase that held it), are weighed by Anubis and 
 Horus, against the ostrich feather, or the figure of the Goddess 
 of Truth, placed in the opposite scale ; in the presence of the 
 forty-two assessors, whose office it was to examine the dead 
 respecting the peculiar crimes they avenged, and which were 
 forbidden by the Egyptian code of morality. Thoth (Mer- 
 cury) then presents the account of this "finding of the 
 jury" to Osiris (the judge of the dead), who pronounces the 
 favourable sentence admitting the virtuous into his presence 
 in the " mansions of the blessed.*' There before the entrance 
 sits Harpocrates, the type of youth and of new life ; and a 
 hideous monster (the prototype of Cerberus), sometimes 
 called "the devourer of the wicked,'* guards the gate of 
 " Amenti," or Hades. "Within are the four genii, thought to 
 preside over the different parts of the human body, standing 
 before the throne of the judge, whose emblem, the spotted 
 skin suspended to a cone-headed spear, gave rise to the nehris 
 and thyrsus of Bacchus, to whom Osiris corresponded in Greek 
 mythology. 
 
 The figure of Truth always holds a remarkable position in 
 these scenes. She had a double capacity, as Trutli and Justice, 
 and her name Thmei appears to be the origin of the Hebrew 
 Thummim, which is translated " Truth " in the Septuagint, and 
 which in its plural form well accords with the double character 
 of the Egyptian Thmei. She is also the Greek Themis. She 
 
URIM AND THUMMBL 131 
 
 is sometimes figured "with her eyes closed," and sometimes (as 
 Diodorus also describes her) "without a head." A further 
 resemblance of the figure of Truth to the Thummim of the 
 Jews was in its being worn by the Egyptian judge, and a 
 breastplate is represented which seems to accord with both the 
 TJrim and Thummim ; the other figure composing it being the 
 sun, and TJrim signifying "lights." 
 
 Each figure holds the Tau^ or sign of life; which was adopted 
 by some of the early Christians in the 
 East in lieu of the cross ; and which 
 is mentioned in Ezekiel (ix. 4, 6) as 
 the "mark" {Tau) "set upon the fore- 
 heads of the men" who were to be 
 preserved alive. The old inscriptions 
 of the Christians at the Great Oasis 
 
 are headed by this symbol ; and it has also been found on some 
 of their monuments in Eome. 
 
 The western side of the Nile was considered most suitable 
 for burial, and it is there that the Egyptians made the pyra- 
 mids, the tombs of the Diospolite kings, and all the sepulchres of 
 Thebes, Memphis, Abydus, and other chief cities ; and if they 
 departed from their custom in those of Beni Hassan and some 
 more, it was because the eastern mountains were in those 
 places near to, and the western inconveniently distant from, 
 the Nile. Behind the western mountains of Thebes was the 
 place of darkness, to which the sun retired after having run his 
 daily course; it was the abode of Athor (Venus), who received 
 the setting sun into her arms, and in this capacity answered to 
 night; and the very name Ement ("west") was similar to the 
 Amenti, or Hades, of the Egyptians. 
 
 The tombs of the kings present subjects mostly difiering 
 from those in the sepulchres of private individuals. They 
 
 k2 
 
132 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 relate to mythology, principally in its connexion with the dead ; 
 and much may some day be learnt from them respecting the 
 mysterious views of the Egyptians. The astronomical ceilings, 
 too, particularly in the so-called tomb of Memnon, may also 
 prove of great importance, and it is to be regretted that they 
 have been overlooked by the several government commissions 
 sent to Egypt, for whom the task would be much better suited 
 than for one individual. In the mysterious subjects on the 
 i walls snakes perform a distinguished part; some are guar- 
 / dians of the doors of certain mansions of Amenti, and 
 the killing of "the Great Serpent" (the emblem of sin), 
 the binding of the wicked, and their punishment in fire, are 
 introduced. 
 f^^' There is a subject, repeated in more than one tomb, which is 
 remarkable, not because, as erroneously supposed, it relates to 
 the Jews, but because it represents the whole human race ; as 
 the customs of the people in the private tombs are an epitome 
 of Egyptian life. Mankind is there figured as four races ; and 
 this division of the world reminds us of several allusions in the 
 Bible, of which it will suffice here to notice the " four winds," 
 and the "four comers" of the earth; according also with the 
 " custom of the Egyptians, at the coronation of their kings, of 
 sending forth four carrier-pigeons to announce that event to 
 the " four winds," or, as we should say, to the " four quarters 
 of the globe." 
 
 First, are four figures clad in long dresses, with feathers on 
 their heads, representing the East (placed first from its being 
 considered "the beginning of the world"). Their costume 
 resembles that of the Eebo, an Asiatic people, against whom 
 the Egyptians made several expeditions, and who appear to 
 have been thought worthy of selection as the type of the 
 East. They were tattooed ; and among the marks on their legs. 
 
SUBJECTS IN THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS. 133 
 
 and on their dresses, was a cross, which simple device was not 
 uncommon in ancient Egyptian and other ornaments. 
 
 Next are the Negroes, called " JVahsi,^' representing the 
 South; then a white people, with blue eyes, bushy light- 
 coloured beards, and short dresses, the type of the North ; 
 and after them come four red men, representing Egypt (con- 
 sidered the centre of the world, and the pure nation), who are 
 very appropriately followed and superintended by the god Ee> 
 the Sun. 
 
 These are a few of the principal subjects introduced in the 
 paintings of the tombs. 
 
 Those in the temples are : — 
 
 1°. Variotis religious ceremonies ; of which the most common 
 are offerings to the chief deity and "the contemplar gods;'* 
 the worship of the triad of the city ; the bringing in of the 
 shrines, or arks, borne by numerous priests ; the dedication of 
 the temple ; the coronation, the consecration, and the anointing 
 of the king, (over whom the gods Horns and Seth are seen to 
 pour alternate emblems of life and power, implying that mix- 
 ture of good and evil which is inseparable from all human 
 affairs) ; and some other ceremonies. The offerings to the 
 gods are the most frequently repeated. They occur on the 
 walls, columns, and most parts of the building ; and the king 
 has the privilege of officiating on all occasions. The deities are 
 recognised by their different forms, and by the hieroglyphic 
 legends over them. The gods hold in one hand the sacred Tau, or 
 sign of life ; in the other the sceptre of power, having the head of 
 an animal and a forked base ; which last part, made of bronze, 
 has been more than once found at Thebes, and in one instance 
 ornamented much more highly than in any representation on 
 the monuments. 
 
 It is a curious fact, that the Arabs of the desert now use 
 
134 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 a stick with a similar head, when riding a dromedary ; and 
 an Egyptian painting at the British Museum represents it in 
 the hand of an ancient peasant, who is in a corn-field. Few 
 goddesses, except Maut and Neith, hold this sceptre, theirs 
 being in the form of the papyrus. 
 
 2°. The victories of the Egyptians ; in which the conquests 
 in Asia and Africa are recorded ; the attack of the king on the 
 enemy's fortified towns, and his victorious return to Egypt, 
 bringing captives and spoil, which he dedicates to the god of 
 the temple ; the march of the army, with its foreign auxiliaries, 
 all with their peculiar arms ; the distribution of rewards to the 
 troops ; and the thanksgiving of the army for victory, headed 
 by the priests, who perform sacrifices and libations to the 
 gods. 
 
 The army is shown to have been regularly disciplined, and 
 the Egyptian phalanx, so distinguished in the contest between 
 Croesus and Cyrus, is the first mentioned in history, and is 
 represented on the monuments of the 18th dynasty. 
 
 In all these subjects the king, whether in his chariot or on 
 foot, is the principal figure — conspicuous above all the rest by 
 his colossal form ; while his sons and other officers of his house- 
 hold, the troops, and the foreign foe are made to hold a 
 subordinate position by their inferior size. Columns of hiero- 
 glyphics describe each picture, and the events it represents ; 
 and the same pictorial writing accompanies every offering to a 
 god, or other sacred subject. They, too, like the scenes they 
 describe, are coloured and form part of the whole painted 
 building. Eor no part was left without colour. Even the 
 columns, and the obelisks, the sphinxes that formed the 
 approach to the entrance, and the outer gateway of the court 
 that enclosed the temple, were coloured ; and the banners on 
 the flagstaff's that out-topped the lofty pyramidal towers, and 
 
SUBJECTS ON THE PYRAMIDAL TOWERS. 135 
 
 all the architectural details, were conspicuous -with the same 
 rich mode of decoration. Even granite was painted, except 
 when the surface, well-polished, was thought to have sufficient 
 effect in its own colour. 
 
 The historical subjects on the walls of the temple were those 
 that chiefly excited the admiration of strangers in old times ; 
 and from them the priests read to Germanicus " the amount of 
 tribute imposed on conquered nations," which was pronounced 
 by Tacitus to have been " not less magnificent than that exacted 
 by Parthian despotism, or levied by the power of E-ome." 
 
 On the large pyramidal towers, forming the fagade of the 
 temple, the king generally slays a group of captives in the pre- 
 sence of the god, who, holding forth a falchion, says, " Take 
 this, and smite with it the chiefs (heads) of the impure na- 
 tions." This emblematic group is typical of the victory he has 
 been permitted to obtain, and not, as some have supposed, a 
 human sacrifice ; for the advanced state of civilisation to which 
 the Egyptians had arrived, which had taught them to lay aside 
 their arms in the city, and which made them rescue from death, 
 even in the heat of battle, those enemies whose galley had been 
 upset, sufficiently proves that such representations were not 
 offerings of human victims to a god ; which is further confirmed 
 by the Ptolemies having the same emblematic group on temples 
 of their time. It is equally erroneous to call these several 
 captives with uplifted arms a figure of Briareus. Eut of all the 
 misconceptions of modem days the most extraordinary is that 
 which sees in the " sacred sycamore " of Netpe (Ehea) the 
 tree of the Garden of Eden ; the goddess being innocently occu- 
 pied in giving the fruit to the deserving dead ; as Athor (Venus) 
 gives it from the Persea ; together with the drink of heaven, — 
 the evident origin of the ambrosia and nectar of Greek fable.* 
 
 See Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, plates 32, 36 » 
 
136 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 Though the pyramidal towers are one of the most striking 
 features of the Egyptian temple, they were wanting in early- 
 times ; but the pyramidal or sloping line was a peculiarity of 
 every building. Colossal dimensions have also been looked 
 upon as an essential feature of Egyptian architecture ; but its 
 true character and object were strength and durability rather 
 than size, and whether the monuments were large or small, 
 these were always necessary conditions. Of the three pre- 
 scribed by Yitruvius, " utility, strength, and beauty," Egyptian 
 temples possess in an eminent degree the first as well as the 
 second ; and if the crude brick materials of houses were not 
 equally durable, they were not wanting in strength, and might 
 shame the ephemeral productions of modern civilisation. 
 
 It was not till the Egyptians had advanced considerably in 
 wealth, and in the love of grandeur, that their temples became 
 remarkable for their size, and the oldest were of moderate 
 dimensions. It is, however, true, that size was a tendency of 
 their taste ; and the pyramids, which are the oldest monuments 
 that remain, are of enormous magnitude. But these may not 
 perhaps be admitted as specimens of a style of architecture ; 
 they are monumental, and many people erected large sepulchral 
 monuments to the dead, long before they devised a system of 
 architecture. 
 
 The smaller size of temples erected between the age of the 
 pyramids and the eighteenth dynasty was not owing to any 
 want of masonic skill, since the much older pyramids attest 
 the perfect knowledge of all the principles of construction 
 possessed centuries before by the Egyptians ; and it is with 
 amazement that we perceive how long they must have been 
 previously acquainted with the use of squared stone, and even 
 of squared granite the blocks of which are hewn, and fitted 
 together in the interior with a precision which no modern or 
 
USE AND ORIGIN OF THE ARCH. 137 
 
 ancient masonry could surpass. This, too, at least 4250 
 years ago. 
 
 Another feature of their sepulchral monumentswas also absent 
 from the temples ; nor was it ever admitted into them, even in 
 Eoman times, except in some small out-of-the-way buildings in 
 the desert. This was the arch, which was frequently employed 
 in the tombs of Thebes, and which appears to have been first 
 used for roofing the chambers of the crude brick pyramids near 
 Memphis. It was also adopted in houses and granaries ; and 
 though chance has not preserved any one with its internal 
 coating of stucco, bearing a king's name, before the time of 
 Amunoph I., who reigned about 1500 years before the Christian 
 era, there is reason to believe that it was common in the twelfth 
 dynasty, and that its invention dates as early as the sixth, or 
 about 2100 B.C. Its existence in the time of Amunoph is 
 certain ; and other arches have been found at Thebes, with the 
 names of Thothmes III., and other kings of the same and the 
 succeeding dynasty, painted on the stucco that lines them. 
 Those, however, about the so-called Memnonium, are of a later, 
 probably Christian, time. 
 
 f, The origin of the arch may be ascribed to the scarcity of 
 wood fit for rafters ; and the want of timber-trees in Egypt, 
 together with the habit of building with crude brick, taxed the 
 ingenuity of man to devise a method of constructing roofs with 
 the same material as the walls. Similar instances of the influ- 
 ence of materials are not uncommon. The peculiar fracture of 
 certain kinds of stone led to polygonal masonry; and the 
 groined arches of Gothic churches, the round towers of brick 
 or of flint, and other peculiarities of construction, have been 
 indebted to materials for their principle and their form. Bricks, 
 therefore, being called upon to complete the whole chamber, 
 suggested the vaulted roof; and the size of some Egyptian 
 
138 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 bricks, nearly one and a half foot long, eight inches broad, and 
 five and a half inches thick, was a saving of labour in the con- 
 struction. And in order to spare as much of the arch as 
 possible, they were placed lengthways ; the ends of the bricks 
 
 being cut into a wedge shape, or 
 the space left between their 
 upper edges being filled in by a 
 triangular piece of stone im- 
 ^1 lit" bedded in the mud, that served 
 
 *^' ' for mortar. Either of these 
 
 methods made up for the curve 
 (W.98.) of the arch, and enabled the 
 
 bricks to radiate to a common centre, on which, and not on the 
 key-stone, the principle of an arch depends ; for many arches, 
 both round and pointed, have been built in modem ages 
 without a keystone. 
 
 They afterwards improved upon their mode of placing the 
 bricks, and arranged them side by side, as in modern buildings; 
 
 and some of the double con- 
 centric arches, over the gate- 
 ways before the tombs at 
 Thebes, are as beautifully con- 
 structed as those of Roman, 
 or of modern, times. They 
 are of the age of Psammitichus 
 and the other kings of the 
 twenty- sixtli dynasty, about 
 600 before our era. But many 
 well-built arches were made on the old principle to a late time, 
 and consisted of three or four concentric rows of bricks placed 
 lengthways, with a sort of hood or dripstone projecting beyond 
 the level of the wall and the face of the archivolt (woodcut 99). 
 
 (W. 09.) 
 
IMITATION ARCHES OF STONE. 
 
 139 
 
 The oldest stone arches hitherto found in Egypt are of the 
 same date, or about 600 B.C. ; all those of earlier time being 
 false arches, cut in the 
 thickness of the overlapping 
 stones : a mode of construc- 
 tion common also in Italy, 
 and other countries at a 
 remote age. 
 
 When they first began 
 to use stone for real arches 
 is uncertain : but it was 
 
 . dm 
 
 )X1 I 
 
 
 ■"Yd 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 [ 
 
 
 VJli 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (W. 100.) 
 
 (W. 101.) 
 
 evidently brick that first led to the invention. And it is a 
 curious fact that those stone arches at the pyramids of Gebel 
 Eerkel, in Ethiopia, imitate the old 
 system, the blocks being placed 
 lengthways, like the bricks of the 
 earliest Egyptian vaults. 
 
 To bricks, indeed, various styles 
 of building were indebted for their 
 origin; they exerted very great in- 
 fluence on many kinds of architec- 
 ture ; and they were the earliest 
 improvement on that primitive mode of construction, the mud 
 wall. 
 
 The Egyptians seem at first to have been afraid of roofing 
 large spaces with the arch ; and their vaulted tombs are seldom 
 more than seven or ten feet in breadth, until the time of the 
 twenty-sixth dynasty. 
 
 The same remark applies to the early pointed arches, built 
 by the Christians in Egypt, dating about the seventh century, 
 which are seldom more than two and a half feet in span. They 
 were only used for covering narrow spaces, as staircases or niches. 
 
140 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 and were formed of bricks placed lengthways, as in the earliest 
 round arches. The two uppermost bricks usually met together 
 
 in the centre, the key being formed 
 of a triangular piece of stone or 
 brick ; and a still ruder kind of arch 
 consisted of three bricks, with the 
 centre one placed horizontally be- 
 tween the other two (woodcut 104). 
 But the pointed arch was not 
 devised in order to cover small spaces, nor (as some have 
 thought) because there was not room enough for placing a 
 
 small round one on the same 
 level with others of larger span ; 
 as this difficulty is more readily 
 removed by the stilted round 
 arch than by inventing a new 
 
 (W. 102.) 
 
 one. Much less did it originate 
 
 (W. 103.) 
 
 in the intersection of two round 
 Norman arches, or in groined 
 vaults, both which were unknown till long after the pointed 
 arch had been commonly used in the East. A whole mosque 
 still remains at Cairo, built by Sultan 
 Ahmed-ben-Tooloon, a. d. 879; the 
 Cufic inscriptions at the Nilometer of 
 Eoda, opposite old Cairo, show, from 
 their style, that its pointed arches are 
 of a similarly remote period ; and there 
 is reason to believe that this kind of arch was used by the Arabs 
 long before. It is also found covering one of the chambers 
 before an Ethiopian pyramid, at Gebel Berkel, built while the 
 Bomans were in Egypt. There is one with the keystone over 
 a passage at Tusculum, at least as old as the days of the Latin 
 
 (W. 104.) 
 
EARLIEST EGYPTIAN TEMPLES. 
 
 141 
 
 (W. 105.) 
 
 Confederation; another at Pompeii, and at Zindan, and at 
 Ephesus ; and future discoveries will doubtless prove that it 
 was employed in the East before 
 its adoption by the Saracens. 
 
 The arch seems to have been 
 considered, by the Egyptians, par- 
 ticularly appropriate for the tomb ; 
 even the ceilings of many hewn 
 in the rock were cut in imitation of 
 it, as at Beni Hassan ; and some 
 of the oldest sepulchral chambers 
 in the Great Pyramid had that peculiar mode of construction, 
 which was the precursor of the arch in Egypt and other 
 countries, —a pointed or pent roof formed by two sets of stones 
 inclined towards each other. 
 
 The Egyptian temple was at first merely a small quadrangular 
 chamber — a sanctuary with one entrance in front; and the 
 same continued to be its form, however much the size 
 of the sacred building increased. Hence a hiero- 
 glyphic, of the same form as its plan, was made to 
 signify "temple," or "house." 
 
 Within this sanctuary was the statue of the god, 
 and the altar for sacrifice or for libation ; and to it the 
 priests alone had access ; the people, treated as the profane 
 laity, remaining without, and only participating — or taught to 
 believe that they participated — in the ceremonies through their 
 priestly vicars. In process of time other chambers and a portico 
 were added ; and the approach to the body of the temple was 
 through avenues of sphinxes, and a succession of courts, well 
 suited for the grand processions in which the Egyptians 
 delighted, and by which the priests sought to impress that 
 superstitious people with the importance of their office. 
 
 n 
 
 (W. 106.) 
 
142 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 The first change in the simple single-chambered temple was 
 the addition of an ante-room or porch (fig. 1) ; the next 
 was to replace the outer wall of that porch by two columns 
 united to the side walls by a low screen (figs. 2, 3, 4, 5) ; and 
 
 (W. 107.) 
 
 two or more inner columns having been introduced, the porch 
 assumed the character of a spacious portico. Another change 
 was the introduction of three sanctuaries, corresponding to 
 the number of the three members of the Triad of each town ; 
 and before these was a transverse corridor (woodcut 108, fig. 2, 
 and 109, fig. 2), analogous to the original ante-room of the earlier 
 sanctuary, separating them from the portico. An avenue of 
 sphinxes was also added to form the approach from the stone 
 gateway (or pylon) in front (woodcut 108, fig. 5), which was the 
 entrance to the crude brick enclosure, in which the temple 
 stood. 
 
 This enclosure was planted with trees, and constituted the 
 sacred " grove,'' or temenos. It was laid out in numerous shady 
 
TEMPLE IN A TEMENOS. 
 
 143 
 
 (W. 108.) 
 
 avenues ; and sometimes a large reservoir cased with stone, 
 having a spacious double flight of steps leading down to it, 
 afforded a plentiful supply of 
 water for the use of the temple, 
 for watering the trees, sprinkling 
 the walks, and other purposes. 
 
 One or two courts were after- 
 wards added before the portico, 
 as the temple increased in size, 
 and two massive pyramidal towers 
 were placed on either side of the 
 2oylon at the entrance of each 
 court; the avenue of sphinxes con- 
 necting it as before to the outer 
 gate of the great enclosure (wood- 
 cut 109, fig. 8) . An obelisk also stood before the outer towers on 
 each side of the entrance ; and statues of the king at the inner 
 doorway (fig. 9). By this more extended arrangement, the por- 
 tico was converted into a spacious hall of columns, where the 
 great assemblies were held at stated periods under the presidency 
 of the king ; and two sets of columns at the upper end of the 
 inner court, with screens uniting the front row, then served 
 as the portico (fig. 4). This was the ordinary arrangement of a 
 large temple ; but other chambers and halls were sometimes 
 added between the hall of columns and the sanctuary; and 
 when many kings wished to honour the god by successive 
 additions to the same temple, lateral courts with pyramidal 
 towers were appended at the side, forming new approaches on 
 the right and left. Before the gate of the enclosure was a 
 paved road, sometimes with another avenue of sphinxes (the 
 emblems of the king) or of rams, or lions, leading to a square 
 building open at the top, and consisting merely of columns, 
 
144 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 • • • • . a 
 
 ■ • • • . « 
 
 ■ • • • • • 
 
 • • • • • • 
 
 supporting an entablature, composed of the usual architrave 
 and cornice, andfrequently decorated with a row of asps along the 
 1 summit (fig. 11, and woodcut 110). 
 The columns were united by stone 
 screens, reaching half-way up the 
 3 shaft, which were by no means a late 
 introduction, having been used in 
 the reigns of the second and third 
 Hemeses ; and as it stood on a raised 
 platform — one or sometimes several 
 steps — ^led up to the doorways placed 
 at each end. It was the place of meet- 
 ing, whence the priests marched ir 
 procession to the temple, bearing th( 
 sacred ark, with various banners anc 
 holy emblems, on the days of granc 
 ceremony. (^See Frontispiece Fopula. 
 Account of the Ancient Egyptians.) 
 Passing through the sacred en 
 closure, and entering the first pylo. 
 
 1:2 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 (W. 109.) 
 
 between the front towers, you came to a large open court 
 about 140 feet by 170 (woodcut 109, fig. 7), having on eac 
 side a covered corridor formed by one row of columns, suf 
 porting a flat roof, painted as usual with white, or gold, star ; 
 on an azure ground, representing the heavens ; and so brilliar = 
 was the blue they used, and so clear the Egyptian sky, thr : 
 little difference could be distinguished between the colour <• : 
 the two, when the light struck on the ceiling. 
 
 The next was about the same size as the outer court ; an 
 the height of both, which depended on the dimensions of tl. 
 building, was about thirty feet from the ground to the top '. 
 the cornice, or roof, of the corridor. The entrance to this, : - 
 
HYP^THRAL BUILDING— LARGE TEMPLE. 
 
 145 
 
 :he outer court, was through a pylon, or gateway, between 
 
 other pyramidal towers (6), like the first, about forty or 
 
 • feet high, and decorated also with lofty flagstaffs bearing 
 
 (W. 110.) 
 
 and white banners. These have even been found repre- 
 ■;ed in the paintings, with the statues of the king seated 
 ■re the gateway, between them ; though, with an Egyptian 
 ^ke to a front view of the human figure, these last are drawn 
 rofile (woodcut 111). 
 
 ♦n passing this gateway you entered the inner court (5) ; 
 
 3h, in addition to the colonnade at the sides, had a covered 
 
 idor at the two ends, supported on Osiride piUars, repre- 
 
 ing the king in the form of Osiris. The centre part was 
 
 1 to the air ; and at the upper end was an inner row of 
 
 mns, behind the Osiride pillars, separated from the open 
 
 by stone screens (4), which, as I before stated, served in lieu 
 
 portico. Beyond it was the hall of assembly (3), entirely 
 
 red over, with a flat roof supported on numerous columns, 
 
 ; jh in the centre avenue were much higher than those to the 
 
 t and left, and of a different order, having bell-shaped 
 
146 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 capitals, representing tlie head of the full-blown papyrus. The 
 others were in the form of buds of a water-plant ; and the 
 
 (W. 111.) 
 
 difference of height in the columns gave room for a row of 
 windows in an attic over the centre, to light that part of the 
 hall. This is the Egyptian style of building described by 
 Vitruvius, with windows between the upper pillars, as in a 
 basilica. 
 
GREAT HALL— SANCTUARIES. 
 
 147 
 
 Beyond this were other chambers, varying in size and number 
 according to the dimensions of the temple ; and at the extreme 
 end were the central and two side sanctuaries (woodcut 109, 1). 
 
 (W. 112.) 
 
 This part of the building (which may be said to correspond to 
 the chancel of our churches) was rather less in breadtli and 
 much lower than the hall, portico, and areas ; and an appearance 
 
148 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 of greater length was given to the whole temple by a false per- 
 spective, each door being smaller and smaller as you approached 
 tbe sanctuary. 
 
 In older times the temple was not furnished with pyramidal 
 towers ; these were first added for defence, as well as for archi- 
 tectural effect, by the kings of the eighteenth dynasty, and 
 each temple with its wall of enclosure tben became a detached 
 fort. The city was therefore unwalled. The temple contained 
 the statues of the gods, the gold and silver utensils for religions 
 purposes, the treasury, and the abode of the king ; so that all 
 that was most precious was protected ; and it required a smaller 
 number of men to garrison it than a walled town. And though 
 the fortresses on the frontier were still kept up, and a few 
 towns, in defiles at the edge of the desert, still continued to be 
 walled, none were then built in the interior of the country; nor 
 were the capitals — Thebes and Memphis — surrounded by 
 walls. "The hundred gates of Thebes'* do not, therefore, 
 signify those of the city, but of the courts attached to its 
 numerous temples ; which were certainly more likely to furnish 
 that number of gates than a city wall ; and this is even stated 
 by Diodorus. 
 
 Tbe origin of Egyptian architecture has been erroneously 
 derived from excavations made in the rock ; but it is obvious 
 that men made for themselves huts long before they were 
 capable of hewing chambers in stone. They found no ready- 
 made caves, such as have been invented for the fabulous Tro- 
 glodytjB ; and despite the authority of Bruce, I believe their low 
 mud huts, still common in Africa, led to their name, and to 
 the story. Nor were the Egyptians in the habit of living in 
 caves after they knew how to make them ; and their excavations 
 in the rock were always intended for tombs or temples. They 
 were also invariably imitations of constructed monuments. 
 
ORIGIN OP THEIR ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 149 
 
 (W. 113.) 
 
 The form and mouldings of the primitive temple and house 
 were derived from the nature of their construction. The walls 
 were of mud — afterwards suc- 
 ceeded by crude brick — with 
 a framework of reeds bound 
 together, extending up the 
 ends and over the top ; which 
 was the origin of the torus in 
 the stone temples. This held 
 the same position there, and even the old binding of the reeds 
 was imitated ; which was so like that of the Eoman fasces (see 
 woodcut 111). Above the upper line of the framework was the 
 roof, composed of rafters with rushes, reeds, or branches of the 
 date-tree laid over them (and coated over with a layer of mud), 
 which, overhanging the rafters, gave rise to the projecting 
 summit, or regula, of the cornice. Though at first very 
 simple, this was soon varied into that overhanging curve which 
 was so graceful a feature of Egyptian buildings, and was imitated 
 by the Greeks ; but the lowness of the early cornice still con- 
 tinued to be a marked feature of the oldest temples, and it 
 only attained great height in those built after the accession of 
 the Ptolemies. This curve, which is the same as in the bell- 
 shaped capital, appears to 
 have been taken from the 
 flower-head of that favourite 
 plant of the Egyptians, the 
 papyrus. 
 
 No member intervened be- 
 tween the torus -frameworlc 
 and the cornice, except over 
 columns; and the architrave 
 was there "the mainbeam" from one column to another. 
 
 AWWUntltilliiiHlUiimiiilinlm i 
 
 (W. 114.) 
 
150 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 In order to strengthen the wall over a doorway, a beam of 
 wood was let into it, and the jambs were upright posts on 
 which the lintel rested ; and sometimes, besides the framework 
 and flat beams, the doorway had a round log for its lintel, 
 which was thought stronger than cut wood (fig. 1). 
 
 I 
 
 (W.m.) 12 3 
 
 The framework over the doorway was afterwards of a more 
 complicated and ornamental kind, and richly coloured ; and 
 the dead-wall at the sides of a building was sometimes relieved 
 by panels, or by a sort of niche, either in brickwork or in stone 
 
 MM / I i / 1 I I < I I r 
 
 M ^ \ ! / \ Ml / M T 
 
 (W. 116.) 
 
 p| |^^^^'. ^^^^', 
 
 1 
 
 i \ 
 
 (woodcut 116, figs. 1, 2, 3). If these, and some doorways of 
 the tombs at the pyramids, were recessed in the thickness of 
 the wall, they diflTered, in this respect, from the general cha- 
 racter of the doorways and mouldings of Egyptian buildings, 
 which projected beyond the level of the surfiice ; as in Greek 
 doors and windows ; and were therefore unlike thos,e of Lombard, 
 Italian- Gothic, and some other styles of architecture. 
 
 Another ornament over the doorway, found even in buildings 
 
ORDERS OF COLUMNS. 
 
 151 
 
 of the fourth dynasty, was the cornice with an overhanging 
 curve, like that of the roof. At first, it surmounted the 
 framework (woodcut 115, fig. 2), but, in process of time, the 
 latter began to be omitted, and the doorway was then per- 
 mitted to consist merely of the cornice, lintel, and jambs ; 
 generally with the. winged globe on the upper moulding (wood- 
 cut 115, fig. 3). 
 
 The pyramidal, or sloping, line was intended to insure the 
 durability of a wall, and as the above-mentioned members are 
 evidently derived from a constructed building, so too the 
 sloping line could only come from the same origin, being quite 
 
 1st 2nd 
 (W. iir.) 
 
 8rd 
 
 4th 
 
 5th Order. 
 
152 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EC^YPTIANS. 
 
 LO f* 
 
 6th 
 (W. m a.) 
 
 (th 
 
 8th Order. 
 
 inconsistent witli an excavation. The internal walls of rock- 
 monuments, like those of every chamber itnthin a temple, were, 
 of course, perpendicular, as were the inner sides of the jambs 
 of all doorways ; but when the outer sides of the jambs of 
 the doorways in excavated temples and tombs inclined, they 
 evidently imitated constructed buildings. One feature, how- 
 ever, 1008 derived from the quarry. This was the pillar. It was 
 taken from the mass left to support the roof of rock, and was 
 square, because the blocks were hewn of quadrangular shape. 
 
ORIGIN OF FLUTED COLUMNS. 153 
 
 Eut here the obligation ceased; and the built temple soon 
 amply repaid the obligation, by giving back to excavated monu- 
 ments the water-plant, palm-tree, and other columns, with the 
 architrave, plinth, abacus, and other members that could only 
 originate in constructed work. 
 
 Egyptian columns may be divided into eight principal 
 Orders : — 1. The square pillar ; 2. The polygonal and the fluted 
 column; 3. That with a bud capital; 4. That with the bell- 
 shaped, or full-blown, papyrus capital; 5. The palm-tree 
 column; 6. That with the Isis-head capital; 7. The Com- 
 posite Order, with capitals of various shapes, comprising the 
 full-blown lotus, sometimes surmounted by the head of Isis 
 and various fanciful forms ; 8. The Osiride Order, which had 
 sometimes the figure of a king in the form of Osiris, sometimes 
 a Typhonian monster attached to a square pillar. 
 
 Egyptian columns often borrowed from each other; and 
 though the last Orders differ so widely from the square pillar, 
 and from the polygonal column, the original relationship 
 even of these may still be traced. The square pillar was the 
 oldest ; it continued, however, to be used in tombs, in covered 
 courts, and in the peristyles of temples, even after the inven- 
 tion of the round column. It had frequently a plinth, or base, 
 but rarely a capital and abacus. The polygonal column was 
 formed from it, by cutting off the four angles (fig. 2) ; which was 
 done in order to give more room for passage 
 in crowded spaces ; and its eight faces were 
 afterwards increased to twelve, sixteen, 
 twenty, and thirty-two. The next step was 
 to hollow out these faces, or facettes, into 
 grooves ; and the only trace of the original unfluted column 
 was then the central facette, which was left flat in order to 
 receive a line of hieroglyphics. Such was the gradual formation 
 
154 
 
 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 (W. no.) 
 
 of the fluted sliaft ; which ^Yas evidently the prototype of the 
 Greek Doric. 
 It may seem strange that the next, or third, Order, should 
 
 have been devised by the same 
 people who had invented the 
 polygonal and fluted column. 
 But the transition from the 
 square pillar was as simple to 
 the third, as to the second. 
 Order. The pillars had always ^^ 
 been painted with various de- 
 vices, among which plants 
 were the most common; these 
 were afterwards sculptured in 
 relief; and, at length, when convenience required the angles 
 to be removed, the pillar was cut away into the form of the 
 plants hitherto sculptured upon its four sides (woodcut 119, 
 fig. 1) ; and the four plants alone being left (fig. 2), were repre- 
 sented bound together to account for their position, and to 
 complete the illusion. 
 
 This idea being once adopted, other combinations arose ; and 
 Isis heads were mere additions to the round shaft, as the 
 Osiride figure was an appendage to the old square pillar 
 {woodcut 117 a. Order 8th). The size, too, could be increased 
 ad libitum; from small columns such as that at the British 
 Museum, fourteen or fifteen feet high, to those at Karnak 
 measuring nearly forty feet ; while the other columns of the 
 fourth Order rose, as at Karnak, to upwards of sixty feet in 
 height. 
 
 In the water-plant columns of the third Order, the shaft was 
 either composed of four plants, or of a single one ; but at the 
 lower part were always represented the sheaths that envelope 
 
PLANTS TYPICAL OF UPPER AND LOWER EGYPT. 
 
 155 
 
 (W. 120.) 
 
 the bottom of the papyrus stalk in nature ; and this was even 
 introduced in the palm-tree shaft, which shows, either that the 
 fifth Order was of later date than the third ; or, at least, that 
 it borrowed from it. 
 
 The papyrus column of the fourth Order had this by right ; 
 the third and fourth representing the same plant in bud, and 
 in blossom : and their resemblance to the papyrus in those two 
 
 states may be readily recognised. -" 
 
 The triangular form of the stem is 
 also indicated in the shaft, as at tlie 
 Memnonium. 
 
 In the fifth Order may be included 
 the column with a feather-like capital, often imitated in glazed 
 pottery, and even found in the paintings of the twelfth 
 dynasty (woodcut 120). 
 
 The oldest instance of a column of the fourth Order is about 
 the age of the eleventh dynasty. 
 
 The sixth is best known from the portico of Dendera ; and 
 the seventh, which may be called the Composite, includes 
 within it columns with the most varied and highly ornamented 
 capitals; which increased in number under 
 the Ptolemies and Caesars, though still 
 perfectly Egyptian ; and in this Order may 
 be classed the volute-headed column, which 
 was of great antiquity, at least as early as 
 the beginning of the eighteenth dynasty, 
 and which was derived from the water-plant typical of 
 Upper, as the papyrus was of Lower Egypt (woodcut 121, 
 figs. 1, 3). 
 
 There was also a fanciful pilaster, surmounted by a cow's 
 head, in lieu of a capital ; instances of which occur on each 
 side of the entrance to the tomb of Eemeses III., at Thebes j 
 
 (W. 121.) 
 
156 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 recallmg the cow-headed columns found at Delos, given in 
 Stuart and Eivett's Athens (Suppl. Vol. p. 26). 
 
 It is sufficiently evident that the Egyptians were not fond of 
 uniformity, as some have imagined ; for though their archi- 
 tecture had a marked character, its component parts and 
 accessories were very varied; and their fondness for variety 
 is shown in the juxta-position of columns of different Orders ; 
 which was at last carried to such an extreme, that no two 
 adjacent capitals were alike in the same portico. 
 
 In the oldest monuments of the third and fourth dynasties, 
 about Memphis and the pyramids, certain ornaments and 
 mouldings were in vogue, which are seldom found at Thebes ; 
 but these are owing quite as much to local taste as to early 
 date ; and it was not till the eighteenth dynasty had united all 
 Egypt under one king, that the same uniformity of style 
 prevailed throughout the country. All, however, was of the 
 same general character. 
 
 The interest that attaches to their architecture is greatly 
 
 increased by our knowing that the Egyptians being long the 
 
 leading nation of antiquity, and the one to whom others, and 
 
 particularly the Greeks, looked during their early career, 
 
 for instruction, much was adopted from them which was 
 
 afterwards carried to perfection by that highly gifted race. 
 
 Among the peculiarities in architecture, 
 
 borrowed by the Greeks from Egypt, may 
 
 be mentioned : 1°. the polygonal column 
 
 with its shallow flutes, the origin of the 
 
 Doric shaft. 2°. The annuli taken from 
 
 the five bands round the neck of the 
 
 ,^y J22) Egyptian clustered column, composed of 
 
 four water-plants hound together — an 
 
 evident imitation, as the Greek shaft had nothing to hind. 
 
ORIGIN OF THE VOLUTE. 157 
 
 3°. The Doric capital from tlie bud of the Egyptian, with the 
 abacus lowered to the curve of its base, which has been fully 
 confirmed by the Egyptian columns of the same form, found 
 by Mr. Falkener, in the temple of the lake at Karnak (see 
 Mus. Class. Antiq., vol. i. p. 87). 4°. The ninepin- shaped 
 shaft, as at Paestum, derived from the extravagant swell 
 of the Egyptian bud column; which was imitated also by 
 the Romans at the Amphitheatrum Castrense at Eome. 
 5°. The Mutules, copied from the rafters of a flat roof (not 
 
 G^D 
 
 (W.123.) 1 2 3 
 
 from the pent roof of Greece), which are seen in the facade of 
 a rock-tomb at Beni Hassan. 6°. The Ionic volutes, taken 
 from the water-plant column (common on Egyptian canopies as 
 early as the sixteenth century before our era), which has the 
 pendent ornament at the corner, introduced behind the Ionic 
 volute ; and here we see the graceful change made from the 
 clumsy Egyptian form to the festoon shape of the Attic Ionic, 
 with its epitrachelion substituted for the Egyptian bands round 
 the neck of the shaft (see above, p. 156, and woodcuts 121, 
 figs. 1, 3, and 123, figs. 1, 2). A volute ornament is also the 
 emblem of Astarte, the Phoenician Yenus, and is the same 
 as that of Egypt (when drawn in outline) inverted (fig. 3) ; 
 and its presence at the Druidical-looking ruins of Crendi, in 
 Malta, seems to show their connection with the worship of that 
 goddess. A sceptre, too, of the same form occurs in the hand 
 of Astarte on Phoenician coins. 7°. The basket capital ; the 
 oldest form of what afterwards became the Corinthian ; which 
 is found at the Tower of the Winds, and at the Acropolis, in 
 
158 
 
 Domestic habits of the Egyptians. 
 
 Athens, and was borrowed from the bell-shaped capital of 
 Egypt.* For, however tre may admire 
 the beautiful tale of its invention from 
 the basket and acanthus leaf, we readily 
 perceive its real origin ; and the whole 
 history of architecture clearly shows 
 how one style after another has bor- 
 rowed from a predecessor. (See, also? 
 the fragment found at Delphi, in Stuart 
 and Eivett's Athens, Suppl. Vol., p. 34, 
 pi. 2). 8°. The curve of the cornice, 
 borrowed from that of Egypt. The antefixas only bear an 
 accidental resemblance to the row of asps. 9°. The triglyphs 
 
 (W. 124.) 
 
 (W. 125.) 
 
 and Metopes ; which were a common ornament of an Egyptian 
 temple (woodcut 125). They were, as usual, so far changed by 
 the Greeks, as to present a new character ; but the opinion that 
 those over the so-called tombs of the kings, near Jerusalem, 
 were of any other than Greek origin, is utterly untenable. 
 
 10°. The band round the torus, as at the Parthenon, perhaps 
 modified from that of Egypt (above, p. 146, woodcut, and p. 148). 
 11°. The guilloche, the scroll pattern, the zig- 
 zag or chevron, and others so common on the 
 oldest Egyptian ceilings and vases. (See above, 
 p. 42 to 40.) 
 
 12°. The Greeks, too, borrowed sphinxes, and 
 various conventional designs, common on their old vases, as the 
 
 * There is another proof of the bell-shaped capitals of Greece, the parents of 
 the Corinthian, having been derived from Egypt, in those of the "Treasury of 
 Atreus," given in "Stuart and Rivett's Athens," Suppl. Vol., Mycenae, PI. V. 
 
OTHER IDEAS FROM EGYPT. 
 
 15^ 
 
 winged griffin, and the lotus, and even the goose and sun with 
 
 lfcizrr=4 
 
 (W. 127.) 
 
 the Egyptian hieroglyphical zigzag (woodcut 126) — first pointed 
 out by Mr. Stuart Poole — and the ibex, and leopard. They 
 also took the harpy 
 from the Egyptian soul 
 flying from the dead — 
 the HSma, or Sada, of 
 the Arabs when Pagans, 
 (woodcut 127 ) ; and 
 the eye, so full of mean- 
 ing in Egypt, but quite 
 unconnected with Grreek 
 fable, was Egyptian. 
 
 13°. The Medusa, with 
 protruded tongue, as in the Metopes of Selinus, was the coun- 
 
 (W. 12S.) 
 
160 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 terpart of the Typhonian monster of Egypt (woodcut 128, 
 fig. 2) ; and was probably connected with the introduction of 
 the horse from Libya into Grreece ; for Neptune was Lybian. 
 
 14°. The Minotaur was from the bull-headed human figure of 
 Apis ; which guardian of the Cretan labyrinth (also borrowed 
 from Egypt) has been strangely enough mistaken, on the 
 Chiusi vase, for " Anubis." 
 
 15°. The Hermes statues were from the mummy-form figures 
 of Osiris and other Egyptian gods. 
 
 IQ'^. The Caryatides, from the Osiride pillars of Egypt. 
 
 17°. The Pyramidal, or sloping line, adopted particularly in 
 the jambs of Greek doors and windows. 
 
 18°. The bevelled edges of hewn stone, which were used in 
 Egypt even in the granite casing of the third pyramid ; and 
 which were afterwards adopted also in Syria. 
 
 Nor were these the only instances of imitation from Egypt. 
 Many religious rites and mythological fables were borrowed by 
 the Grreeks from the same source. The thyrsus, and spotted skin 
 of the fawn, as well as the leopards of Bacchus, may be traced 
 to the ceremonies of Osiris ; and Plutarch, in speaking of the 
 Egyptian priests at the funeral of Apis, " dressed in the spotted 
 skins of fawns, bearing the thyrsus in their hands, uttering the 
 same cries, and making the same gesticulations as the votaries 
 of Bacchus, during the ceremonies in honour of that god," 
 plainly had in view the Egyptian priests clad in leopard skins, 
 as w^ell as the rites of Osiris. The story of the Styx, ^vith all 
 the dramatis persona of Elysium ; the battle of the giants and 
 the gods ; and the fable of the Serpent Python and Apollo, 
 taken from the giant Aphophis — "that great serpent" pierced 
 by the spear of Horus, the Apollo of Egypt ; and many other 
 Q-reek myths, some of which are noticed by Herodotus, 
 Diodorus, and other writers, are also unmistakeably Egyptian. 
 
STYLES BORROWED FROM EACH OTHER. 161 
 
 Even the alraosfe unaltered names of some proclaim their 
 parentage ; as the Greek Themis, derived from Thmei, the 
 Egyptian Groddess of Justice ; and the steersman Charon, and 
 the judges of Hades — Minos and 'Rhsid-a7nantJms — show their 
 •connection with the Ame?iti, or Hades of Egypt. (See above, 
 pp. 129, 131.) 
 
 When Greece first borrowed from the Egyptians, it was in 
 its infancy ; and as in all times the dominant race has led 
 the fashion both in art and conventional customs, we are not 
 surprised to find an Egyptian element in the vases, and the 
 various creations of decorative taste, in Greece and Etruria, or 
 even in Assyria. 
 
 It is by watching the mode of adopting and modifying certain 
 features of taste they borrowed from others, that we under- 
 stand the process by which the Greeks improved on the pro- 
 ductions of other people less gifted than themselves ; and how 
 their quick perception of the beautiful taught them to choose 
 what was worthy of adoption. This appreciation of the beaur 
 tiful, and the talent of adopting and adapting it, are merits 
 which modern aspirants to taste would do well to acquire, in- 
 stead of striving to obtain the merit of invention, and thinking 
 more of novelty than excellence. The mere consideration of 
 the rise and progress of different styles of architecture, as well 
 as of different arts, will suffice to show how much more is the 
 result of adaptation than of invention. Thus, as the Greeks 
 adopted certain architectural features from those of Egypt, the 
 Etruscans and Eomans imitated the Greeks ; the early Sara- 
 cens again copied simple Eoman buildings, as they afterwards 
 borrowed from the richer Byzantine and Persian styles. Thus, 
 too, the pointed arch (the earliest instances of which are found 
 in a mosque at Cairo, dating a. d. 886), supposed to be a 
 Saracenic invention, will doubtless prove to be derived from 
 
162 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 some older Eastern monuments ; as the cupola, and the rich 
 golden mosaics of Syria, were from the Byzantine style. This 
 last also contributed largely to the early churcli architecture 
 of Italy, giving to it the cupola, mosaics, and other peculiarities; 
 which were themselves borrowed from the golden domes of 
 Kome, and were even found (according to Pliny) in the splendid 
 palace of the king of Colchis. But, if not its inventors, the 
 Saracens were the first to make known the pointed arch to 
 the architects of Europe ; and the builders of the thirteenth 
 and following centuries benefitted, like their predecessors, by 
 the hints derived from those of other people ; which were 
 adopted and made their own without derogating from the 
 excellence of the new style, and without their builders thinking 
 themselves degraded by adopting what was beautiful and suited 
 to their wants. This was adaptation, not mere imitation. 
 The knowledge of this important difference, and the taste 
 required to carry out their own ideas, prevented their being 
 jnere copyists, and enabled each to create a new style ; and tlie 
 same remodelling of previous ideas may be seen in the worka 
 of men of talent in all ages ; innumerable instances of which 
 occur in poetry, science, painting, and all branches of art. 
 
 At no time perhaps has a better opportunity of drawing 
 attention to this interesting fact been oft'ered than the present; 
 when the Crystal Palace of Sydenham has brought together 
 the different styles of architecture, enabling us to trace the 
 principal gradations through which they passed, and some of 
 the numerous obligations that each owed to its predecessor. 
 
 The customs of the Egyptians varied of course at different 
 periods, as they advanced in civilisation and in artificial wants; 
 but it is remarkable how slight the clianges were during the 
 periods in which we are acquainted with them; and how 
 much the customs of this " consenative " and cautious people, 
 
EGYPT IN ITS INFANCY UNKNOWN TO US. 163 
 
 in the time of the third and fourth dynasties, resembled those 
 of the eighteenth and nineteenth, when their civilisation and 
 power w^ere at their zenith. Their dresses were the same; 
 they had not large wigs with flowing robes in one age, and long 
 hair with tight dresses at another ; nor was there an " old 
 school " in Egyptian society. Changes took place in increased 
 splendour and luxury ; in the details and dimensions of build- 
 ings, and in the improvements inseparable from advancement ; 
 but the archaic style of Egyptian art and of Egyptian manners 
 are of such remote antiquity, that neither can be traced on any 
 existing monument. We have no evidence of their infancy 
 as a nation ; and this fact leaves us to imagine the remoteness 
 of the period, when the Egyptians were in a barbarous and 
 primitive condition. 
 
 In giving this summary of Egyptian customs, and the prin- 
 cipal subjects on the monuments, I have necessarily introduced 
 much that has been already more fully mentioned in the 
 " Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians ; " but being 
 now limited to space, I have omitted all details, and must refer 
 for them to that work ; of which this may also serve as an 
 appendix, from the introduction of some new matter, and 
 illustrations. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Adytum, sacred subjects alone re- 
 presented on the walls of the — , 10. 
 
 Agriculture of Egypt, 72 — 75. 
 
 Alabaster vases, 52 — 54. 
 
 *' Alabastron" the name given to 
 ointment-boxes, 53. 
 
 Amenti, or Hades, 131, 132, 161. 
 
 Amphorce, common, 85. 
 
 , bitumen brought from Asia in 
 
 — , 85. 
 
 • for holding wine, 13. 
 
 fixed in the ground, or against 
 
 the wall, in the cellar, 86. 
 
 fixed sometimes in a ring of 
 
 stone, which was the origin of the 
 base of some Greek vases, 86. 
 
 Angling, 80, 84. 
 
 Animals, some not noticed in the 
 paintings, 71. 
 
 , skill of the Egyptians in taming 
 
 and training — , 76. 
 
 of the desei-t killed by bow and 
 
 arrow, spear and lasso, 80. 
 
 , oriental treatment of — , 76. 
 
 Antefixce of Greek temples analogous 
 to the Egyptian row of asps, 158. 
 
 Antiquity of Egypt, the great — , 1. 
 
 AphdpMs, the great serpent and giant 
 (see Serpent), 160. 
 
 Appendix to the Popular Account of 
 the Ancient Egyptians, this may 
 serve as an — , 163. 
 
 Apulian vases of elongated shape, 50. 
 
 Arch, origin and use of the — , 137. 
 
 , early use of the — , 68, 138. 
 
 , oldest in Egypt, 137. 
 
 , pointed — , first used for cover- 
 ing narrow spaces, 139, 140. 
 
 Arch, pointed — , from the Saracens 
 
 {sec Arches), 161. 
 , the earliest construction of the 
 
 — 138. 
 depends not on the keystone, 
 
 the principle of the — , 138. 
 Arches, the oldest of bricks, 137. 
 
 ofbricks placed lengthways, 138. 
 
 , by the bricks being placed side 
 
 by side, 138. 
 well built ou the old principle 
 
 to a late time, 138. 
 
 , oldest — , of stone, 139. 
 
 , of stone, imitation — , 139. 
 
 of stone, when first used, 139. 
 
 at the Pyramids of Gebel Berkel 
 
 built with stones placed length- 
 ways, 139. 
 , fear at first of using pointed — , 
 
 for covering large spaces, 139. 
 
 , pointed — , at Gebel Berkel, 140. 
 
 , earliest pointed — , 139 — 141. 
 
 , not from the intersection of two 
 
 round arches, the pointed — , 140. 
 considered suitable for tombs in 
 
 Egypt, 141. 
 
 in the form of a pent roof, 141. 
 
 Architecture, character of Egyptian 
 
 — , 136. 
 
 influenced by materials, 137. 
 
 , colour in — , 88. 
 
 , various styles of — , borrowed 
 
 from others, 161. 
 
 , origin of Egyptian — , 148. 
 
 , from constructed monuments, 
 
 Egyptian — , 148, 151, 153. 
 Aristocracy, the priests and soldiers 
 
 composed the Egyptian — , 127. 
 
166 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ark, sacred — , 144. 
 
 Arms laid aside in Egypt at an early 
 period, 2, 135. 
 
 of bronze and steel, 124. 
 
 , daggers, axes, hatchets, arrows, 
 
 &c., 124—128. 
 
 Army disciplined, 134. 
 
 Arrows pointed with flint, and metal 
 heads, 124, 128. 
 
 Arts and occupations unnoticed, some 
 — , 70. 
 
 Asp, sacred — ; its use in killing rats, 
 &c., 65. 
 
 , the garden under the protec- 
 tion of the — , 65. 
 
 as the Good Genius and emblem 
 
 of Nou, 65. 
 
 Astronomical ceilings of the tombs of 
 the kings at Thebes, very interest- 
 ing, 132. 
 
 Athor, or "Venus," as *' Night," in 
 one of her characters, 131. 
 
 Ball, games of — , 16, 17. 
 
 Baskets and brushes, 116. 
 
 Bastinado, 15, 121. 
 
 Beards, false — , 40. 
 
 Bed-room furniture, 39. 
 
 Beds on the ground, or on a mat, or 
 a carpet, 39. 
 
 Bedsteads, lofty—, 39. 
 
 Beer of Egypt, good — , 14. 
 
 Bells found of small size and uncer- 
 tain date, 123. 
 
 Benches, 37, 38. 
 
 Bevelled edges of stones in Egypt, 139. 
 
 Bible, connection of p]gypt and the — , 1. 
 
 Birds felled by the throwstick, 80. 
 
 Bitumen brought in amphors8 from 
 Asia, 85. 
 
 Black-puddings even fashionable in 
 Egypt, 32. 
 
 Blood cooked and eaten by the Egyp- 
 tians, 32. 
 
 Blue colour of the ceilings, 144. 
 
 Boat-fights, 18, 19. 
 
 Boat-builders of two kinds — those 
 who made boats of wood, and of 
 the papyrus plant, 111. 
 
 Boate, how rigged, 112. 
 
 - never had latiue sails, 112. 
 
 Boats in old times had a double mast, 
 
 112. 
 ■ had only one mast, aii(l some- 
 times only one rudder, 112, 113. 
 , oars of Egyptian — , the eye 
 
 on — , sails of — , 113. 
 
 of large size, 113. 
 
 of the papyrus chiefly used as 
 
 punts, 113. 
 Bohemian glass, forms of the — , 50. 
 Boomarang different from the Egyj)- 
 
 tian throwstick, 80. 
 Bottle {see Vases) with an outer 
 
 easing round a nucleus, 55. 
 of peculiar form, like a calabash, 
 
 47. 
 Boxes in form of spoons, 111. 
 with liandle in the form of a 
 
 human figure, 111. 
 
 for the toilette-table. 111. 
 
 , dovetailed, sides of — , 105. 
 
 , forms of — , 109. 
 
 for kohl, or coUyrium, for the 
 
 eyes, 110, 111. 
 Bow-string gave the first notion of 
 
 the sound of a musical chord, 24. 
 Bracelets, necklaces, and other orna- 
 ments of gold, 93 — 97. 
 Bread, flat loaves of — , 34. 
 Briareus, figure mistaken for a — , 135. 
 Brickmakers as described in Exodns, 
 
 but not Jews, 69. 
 Bricks baked in the sun, or crude, 
 
 68, 69. 
 
 a government monopoly, 68, 69. 
 
 , mode of making — , 69. 
 
 , the Jews made — , 69 . 
 
 the origin of the arch, 137, 139. 
 
 — — placed lengthways in the oldest 
 
 arches, 138. 
 Bronze, qualities of — , 99. 
 
 .Corinthian — , miscalled brass, 99. 
 
 Brushes and baskets, 116. 
 Buildings, all coloured, 134. 
 Bull-fights, 19. 
 Byzantine mosaics, 162. 
 
 I 
 Capital became the Oorinthian, the 
 
 basket—, 167. 
 Capitalsof columns, different, 155, 156. 
 Carpenters and cabinet-makers, 104, 
 
 105. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 167 
 
 Carpenters, neat work of the Egyp- 
 tian — , 105, 108. 
 
 tools, 106, 107, 108. 
 
 Carpets and rugs, 39. 
 
 Caryatides, from the Osiride figures of 
 
 Egypt, 160. 
 Castanets, clappers as — , 28. 
 €astes, classes rather than — , 127, 
 
 129. 
 Cats as retrievers, 76. 
 Cattle, long and short-horned and 
 
 spotted breeds of — , 78. 
 
 , humped — ,78. 
 
 , fattened, as for prize shows, 78. 
 
 breeders wealthy individuals, 79. 
 
 feeders a despised class, 79, 80. 
 
 , rearing of — , 74, 76, 78. 
 
 grazed and fed in stalls also, 
 
 77, 78. 
 Cautious people, the Egyptians a — , 
 
 80, 105. 
 Chair, double — , or St^pos, 38. 
 Chairs, 35—38. 
 
 • with solid sides, 38. 
 
 with inflated cushions, 37, 38. 
 
 Changes in Egypt, few — , 2, 162. 
 
 Preface. 
 
 , from local taste, some — , 155. 
 
 • , from length of time, some — , 
 
 163. 
 Chariot, or curricle, a man of fashion 
 
 arriving in his — , 8. 
 Chariots, those who made — , 114. 
 ■ , makers of leather- work for — , 
 
 114, 115. 
 and horses not on the oldest 
 
 monuments, 3. 
 Charon and the Styx, &c., from 
 
 Egypt, 129, 161. 
 Chase, 76, 81, 84. 
 Cherry-bark put upon sticks, and 
 
 even on a bow, 109. 
 Children, Egyptians very fond of their 
 
 — , 80. 
 Circular knife of the leather-cutters, 
 
 115. 
 Cities unwalled, 147, 148. 
 Clappers, or crotala, 28. 
 Classes in Egypt, rather than castes, 
 
 127, 129. 
 day fixed as a seal to documents and 
 
 locks of doors, 71. 
 
 Coffins mostly of sycamore, deal, or 
 
 cedar, stuccoed and painted. 111. 
 Columns, eight Orders of Egyptian 
 
 — , 151, 152. 
 
 borrowed from each other, 153. 
 
 , oi'igin of polygonal and fluted 
 
 — , 153, 156. 
 , origin of other orders of — , 
 
 154—158. 
 
 , size of — , increased, 154. 
 
 different in the same portico, 
 
 156. 
 reaching up the whole face of 
 
 the house, 7. 
 Colossal figure of the king, 134. 
 
 figures, 119. 
 
 size not so much a condition of 
 
 Egyptian buildings as strength and 
 
 durability, 136. 
 Colossus of Remeses II., the weight 
 
 of the — , 70. 
 Colour in every part of the building, 
 
 134. 
 
 , appreciation of — , 88, 90. 
 
 , theories on — , before the sub- 
 ject is understood, 89. 
 • for man, red considered 
 
 most honourable, 90, 91. 
 Colours in architecture, 88. 
 
 used by the Egyptians, 
 
 , slab for grinding — , 120. 
 
 Comforts of Egyptian houses, 9. 
 Conquests of the Egyptians explained 
 
 to Grermanicus, 135. 
 Conventional habits of the Egyptians, 
 
 119. 
 Cooking, 33. 
 
 , animal, man called a — , 33, note. 
 
 Corinthian capital, oldest form of the 
 
 — , 157. 
 
 • 'bronze, miscalled "brass," 99. 
 
 Cornice and other members, 149, 150, 
 
 151, 158. 
 Cotton stu ffs with coloured patterns, 4 1 . 
 Couches, 38. 
 Cows' heads on pilasters, 155. 
 
 ■ ■ on a vase, 46. 
 
 legs tied while milked, 80. 
 
 Cross, the Tau, or sign of life, adopted 
 
 in lieu of the — . See Tau. 
 on dresses, a very simple orna- 
 ment, 133. 
 
 the 
 
 90. 
 
168 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ci-ucibles, 125. ' 
 
 Crystal Palace useful in liringing to- 
 gether specimens of different styles ' 
 of architecture, 1G2. 
 
 Customs, not to be expected that all 
 should be represented on the monu- j 
 ments, 12. | 
 
 — did not vary much at different 
 periods, 2, 3, 136, 162. j 
 
 learnt mostly from the ijaiutings ; 
 
 in the tombs, 8. | 
 
 Cymbals mostly used by sacred min- 
 strels, 28. ! 
 
 Dancers and tumblers, 14, 15. 
 
 Dancing, 28—31. 
 
 on one leg, 30. 
 
 figure — , 29, 30. 
 
 , sacred — , 30. 
 
 , uo gentleman took a i>artner 
 
 for—, 31. 
 
 • and music, 9, 14. 
 
 iJarabooka drum, 27. 
 
 Decimal and duodecimal calculation, 2. 
 
 Devices conventional («ee Patterns), 44. 
 
 Dinner, favourite dishes at — , 32. 
 
 at noon, 31. 
 
 and other entertainments, 1 4. 
 
 Doctors, skill of the Egyptian — , 122. 
 
 had each their separate depart- 
 ment, 122. 
 
 Dogs, breeds of — , 81—83. 
 
 in slips, 81. 
 
 , caprices about fashionable — , 
 
 81, 83. 
 
 ■ Suphis and Osirtasen, breeds of | 
 — , S3. I 
 
 Doora, or Holcus Sorghum, grown, 74. , 
 
 Doors, and pins for hinges of — , 66. j 
 
 Doorways, original — , 150. 
 
 sunk in the thickness of the I 
 
 wall, 150. i 
 
 Doric sbaft, origin of the — , 154. 
 
 capital, origin of the — ,156. } 
 
 Draughts, game of — ,14. j 
 
 played by kings, 14. j 
 
 Dresses varied, 31>. ! 
 
 • of linen, 39. i 
 
 with coloured patterns, 41. | 
 
 Drum and tomtom, 27. 
 
 Dwarfs and deformed persons in the 
 suite of Egyptian grandees, 84. 
 
 SSarliesi buildings not all of great 
 
 size, 136. 
 
 Eden, mistaken idejv of the repre- 
 sentation of the Garden of — , 135. 
 
 Eggs artificially hatched, 77. 
 
 Egypt connected with early sacred 
 history, 1. 
 
 , the oldest state of which records 
 
 remain, 1. 
 
 , few changes in the monuments 
 
 of — , 2. 
 
 ■ interesting in the history of 
 
 the Israelites, 3, 4. 
 
 and Assyria, influence of — , on 
 
 the Jews, 4. 
 
 , early Greek fables from — , 
 
 159, 160. 
 
 , Asiatic and African countries 
 
 tributary to — , 1. 
 
 , early condition of — , 1, 2. 
 
 , influence of — , on other nations, 
 
 5. 
 
 , influence of — , in architecture 
 
 and art, 5. 
 
 , Greeks learnt much from — , 5, 
 
 161. 
 
 , mistakes of the Greeks respect- 
 ing — , 6. 
 
 , mistakes of the Romans respect- 
 ing— 7. 
 
 ■ tombs and temples, the authori- 
 ties respecting the customs of — , 7. 
 
 Eg3ri)tiaus, early habits of the — , 3. 
 
 had the same institutions iu 
 
 early times, 2, 11, 163. 
 
 buildings, character of — , 7. 
 
 > erroneously sui)i)08ed to be of 
 
 gloomy character, 7, 12, 13. 
 
 , early advjuicement in astro- 
 nomy, 101. 
 
 a cautious jieople, 80, 162. 
 
 , cbaraoter of the — , 12, 13. 
 
 fond of wine, 13. 
 
 given to buffoonery and carica- 
 ture, 13. 
 
 fond of their children, SO. 
 
 , how long arriving at their early 
 
 state of civilisation, 11, 163. 
 
 Enamel, use of — , and inlaid composi- 
 tion resembling — , 48, 97. 
 
 Enemies under the feet of a prince, 
 129. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 169 
 
 Epitome of life, the subjects in the 
 tombs, 70. 
 
 Fables from Egypt, 159,160. 
 Fan, object resembling a — ,9. 
 Farm-vard, stock of the — , 74, 76, 
 
 78, 79. 
 Faiiteuils, 38. 
 Feats of agility, tumblers', at parties, 
 
 14, 15. 
 Fish caught in large drag-nets, 84, 
 ■ , abundance of — , and kinds of 
 
 -, 84. 
 of the Lake Mceris, revenue from 
 
 the — , 84. 
 
 , some sacred — , 85. 
 
 , dried — , eaten, except by the 
 
 priests, 85. 
 , mode of catching, angling, &c. 
 
 — 80, 84. 
 Flag-statfs, with banners, of the tem- 
 ples, 145, 147. 
 Flax, uses of — , 115. 
 used for making ropes, cloth, 
 
 &c, 103, 104. 
 Flower-garden near the house, 65. 
 Flowers, the Egyptians fond of — , 62. 
 
 , abundance of — , 62. 
 
 Flute, 24, 25. 
 
 ■ , a Roman — , discovered at 
 
 Rome, — 25. 
 Fore-leg, the chosen part, the first 
 
 jomt cut off — , 32. 
 Forms of vases, good and bad, 50. 
 Fortresses, old — , 148. 
 Four figures in the tombs of the kings, 
 
 the four races of man, 132. 
 Four quarters of the world, or the 
 
 four winds, 132. 
 Fowling and fishing scenes, 80. 
 Fruit, gathered — , 63. 
 Fruit-trees, standard — ,63. 
 Funeral procession, 9. 
 Furrows, light — , with the plough, 74. 
 
 Game of ball, 16, 17. 
 Games of forfeit and skill, 17. 
 
 played at parties, 14—17. 
 
 , some unknown — , 19, 20. 
 
 Garden, 61. 
 
 , flower — , 62, 65. 
 
 under protection of the asp. 65. 
 
 Garden watered by buckets, 62. 
 
 • of several distinct parts, 63. 
 
 Glass, early use of — , 3, 48. 
 
 blowing ; bead upwards of 3200 
 
 years old, 86. 
 bottles for wine in very early 
 
 times, 86. 
 , discovery of the mode of 
 
 making — ; more likely to be in a 
 
 country where natron abounded, 
 
 86. 
 , one kind of clay only foimd in 
 
 Egypt necessary for making a par- 
 ticular kind of — , 87. 
 
 ornaments and vitrified ware, 87. 
 
 not used for windows, 88. 
 
 , modem coloured windows of — , 
 
 88. 
 
 and porcelain cups, 48, 49. 
 
 , cast, engraved, ground, and 
 
 cut, 50. 
 
 , forms of Bavarian — , 50. 
 
 mosaic work, 49. 
 
 imitations of precious stones, 50. 
 
 Gods of the Romans, Cicero's difiicul- 
 
 ties respecting the — , 7. 
 
 • introduced into Egypt, new — , 11. 
 
 expelled by foreign kings, 11. 
 
 Gold ornaments, 93. 
 
 vases and baskets, 97. 
 
 cup of Thothmes III., 98. 
 
 beating, 98. 
 
 known in Egypt before silver, 
 
 98. 
 rings used for money, as now 
 
 in Sennui-, 99. 
 
 workers — , 91. 
 
 Goldsmiths, scales of — , 91. 
 Goose and sun on Greek vases, 158. 
 Goshen, Land of, cattle in the — , 77. 
 Grammars were invented ; languages 
 
 spoken long before — , 90. 
 Granite coloured, except when po- 
 lished, 134. 
 
 , early use of squared — , 2. 
 
 Greek and Etruscan vases, 48. 
 
 ■ columns and various details 
 
 from Egypt, 156—158. 
 
 mistakes about Egypt, 5, 6. 
 
 Greeks learnt much from Egypt, 5. 
 ■ ■ far surpassed the Egyptians ia 
 
 taste and talent, 102. 
 
170 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Greeks Lorrowetl from Egypt, 156, 161. 
 borrowed and improved upon it, 
 
 161, 162. 
 Guano of pigeon -houses used in 
 
 Egypt, 72. 
 Guests, reception of — , 8, 9. 
 (juilloche, scroll, chevron, &c., 158. 
 Guitar, 26. 
 
 Habits and pursuits, the same of 
 old as in after times, in Egypt, 3, 163. 
 
 Hair, lock of — ,wom by young men, 40. 
 
 of slaves diflferently dressed from 
 
 that of ladies, 111. 
 
 Hall of Assembly, 145. 
 
 Harps and harpers, 21. 
 
 Harvest scene, 72, 75. 
 
 Head stools, or pillows of wood, 39. 
 
 Hermes statues, from Egypt, 160. 
 
 Historical subjects on the walls of 
 temples, 135. 
 
 Horse in England and with the Arabs, 
 77. 
 
 Hounds from Ethiopia, some — , 81. 
 
 House and its offices, arrangement of 
 the—, 65. 
 
 ■ with courts, 66. 
 
 with a towei', 66. 
 
 Houses of crude brick, 68. 
 
 Human sacrifices not in Egypt, 135. 
 
 Hunting, 76, 81, 84. 
 
 , lions trained for — , 76. 
 
 Hyptethral building before large tem- 
 ples, 143, 145. 
 
 Ideal beauty first comprehended by 
 
 the Greeks, 119. 
 Inkstand of scril)€s and painters, 120. 
 Instruments of music, various ■ — ,19, 
 
 22. 
 -^— , stringed, invention of — ^ 24. 
 , first idea of shortening strings 
 
 of musical — , 25. 
 
 of festivity, 28. 
 
 of sacred music, 21, 28. 
 
 , surgical—, 122, 124. 
 
 Inundation, cattle rescued from the — , 
 
 77. 
 Inventions of early time in Egypt, as 
 
 the blow-pipe, bellows, valve, si- 
 
 |)hon, syringe, and apparently a 
 
 sort of hand-pump, 103. 
 
 Inventionsanddiscoverieslong known, 
 attributed to the Greeks, 101, 102. 
 
 • and discoveries often older than 
 
 we imagine, 100, 101. 
 
 Ionic volute, origin of the — , 155, 157. 
 
 Iron, early use of — , 99, 100. 
 
 Jews affected by the policy of Egypt 
 and Assyria, 4. 
 
 , effect of the afflictions of the 
 
 — , 4. 
 
 , dancing among the — , 30, 31. 
 
 , figures in the tombs of the kings 
 
 mistaken for — , 132. 
 
 Joint, the fore-leg and shoulder the 
 firet and chosen, 32. 
 
 Judgment, the final, commonly repre- 
 sented, 130. 
 
 King, the head of the religion, 127 
 
 represented of colossal size, 134. 
 
 if bad, denied the right of iDurial 
 
 in his own tomb, 130. 
 Kitchen, 34. 
 Knives of different forms, 123. 
 
 and forks not used at table, 34. 
 
 Kohl boxes, 110, 111. 
 
 Zia-ws and institutions at early 
 periods, 11. 
 
 Leather-cutters a large class of work- 
 men, 114, 115. 
 
 , the use of — , 117. 
 
 Legs of chairs, stools, and tables 
 ornamented, 88. 
 
 Linen of extreme fineness, 40, 41. 
 
 with coloured borders and pat- 
 terns, 41. 
 
 for dresses and for burial, 39. 
 
 Lions trained for hunting, 76. 
 
 Lock of hair of young men, 40. 
 
 Looms like those of mo<lern Ethiopia, 
 104. 
 
 Lyres, 22, 23. 
 
 , mode of tuning — , 23. 
 
 Mankind, four races of, i-epresented, 
 
 132. 
 blaster and mistress of the house at a 
 
 party, 8. 
 Materials influencing architecture, 
 
 137. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 171 
 
 Mat-making, 104. 
 
 Mats with patterns, 38, 39. 
 
 Medusa, origin of — , 160. 
 
 Memphis called "Land of the Pyra- 
 mid," 3. 
 
 Men and women sat together, or apart, 
 at a party, 31. 
 
 Metallurgy, skill of the Egyptians in 
 — , 103. 
 
 Metals — zinc, tin, bronze, iron, and 
 steel, 99. 
 
 Mina and talent, 92. 
 
 Minotaur, origin of — , 159. 
 
 Mistakes about Egyptian subjects, 
 135. 
 
 Monkies assisted ingathering fruit, 63. 
 
 Monolith of Buto, immense weight of 
 the — , 70. 
 
 Monuments, the oldest show the same 
 customs as later, 2, 11, 163. 
 
 • had the same character of old, 2. 
 
 , old—, of smaller size, 136,148. 
 
 Mora, game of — , 14. 
 
 Mourners howled at funerals, 9. 
 
 Mummy brought in at a party, figure 
 of a — , 13. 
 
 Murrhine vases, and false murrhine, 
 49, 50. 
 
 Music, earliest instruments of — , 24. 
 
 very popular, 19. 
 
 , instruments of — , 19, 21, 22. 
 
 , no gentleman displayed a know- 
 ledge of — , at a party, 21. 
 
 , sacred — , 21, 28. 
 
 , bands of — , 21. 
 
 and dancing, 9, 14, 19, 28, 31. 
 
 Musicians blind, and often fat, 21. 
 
 niapkin for wiping the mouth after 
 
 drinking, 34. 
 Natural objects ia patterns, some — , 
 
 44. 
 Needles of bronze, 123. 
 Negroes, or Nahsi, 133 
 Netpe and Athor, trees of — , 135. 
 Nou, or Neph, forming man of clay, 
 
 at the Creation, 85. n 
 
 Obelisks before a temple, 143. 
 , coloured — , 134. 
 
 Ornaments of gold, 93 — 97. 
 Osiride pillars, 145, 152, 153, 154. 
 Osiris, the judge of a future state, 
 
 130 
 Ottomans and couches, 38. 
 
 Painters and sculptors, rank of 
 
 — , 119. 
 
 , inkstand or palette of — , 120. 
 
 Paintings in the tombs, subjects of 
 
 the — , 8, 10, 129, 133. 
 in the tombs of the kings, 131, 
 
 133. 
 of the Egyptians fettered by 
 
 rules, 119. 
 
 on panel, early in Egypt, 119. 
 
 Palettes and inkstands, 120. 
 Palm-tree column, 151, 153. 
 Panels on walls, 150. 
 Paper of papyrus, how made, 117, 
 
 118. 
 Papyrus columns, 149, 151, 153. 
 
 , early use of the — , 2. 
 
 , manufacture of paper of the, 
 
 117, 118. 
 • , monopoly of the — , and its 
 
 effect, 118. 
 
 no longer grown in Egypt, 118. 
 
 , seals on the — , 71. 
 
 bound up and sealed, 71, 117. 
 
 Parties, music, dancing, and wine at 
 
 -14. 
 Patterns on dresses, 41. 
 
 on ceilings and walls, 42, 43. 
 
 on vases, 44, 45. 
 
 from natural objects ; some 
 
 others conventional, 44. 
 Peasants, pursuits of the — , 72. 
 Pen behind the ear, 120, 121. 
 Pent-roof arch, 141. 
 Perspective, false — , of doors, 1 48. 
 Phalanx of the Egyptians, 134. 
 Pig in a boat, a wicked soul, 85. 
 — not eaten, flesh of the — , 85. 
 Pigs rarely represented, 85. 
 Pigeons, carrier — , 132. 
 Pilaster with cow's heads, 155. 
 Pillar derived from the quarry, 152. 
 
 , square — , 151 — 153. 
 
 Pillows for the head, wooden — , 39. 
 Pine-apples in vitrified composition, 87. 
 
172 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Pipe, early invention of the — , 24. 
 Pirouette very early in Egyptian 
 
 dancing, 30. 
 Ploughing, 72, 73. 
 with men, singular instance of 
 
 — , 73, 74. 
 
 light furrows, 74. 
 
 Polygonal columns, 151, 152, 153. 
 masonry from the fracture of 
 
 the stone, 137. 
 Porcelain and glass vases, 48, 49. 
 Porticos of temples, 141 — 143. 
 Potters, a numerous trade, 85. 
 Pottery, parent of arts in stone and 
 
 metal, 48. 
 
 and metal vases kept distinct, 48. 
 
 require a diflFerent 
 
 treatment, 48. 
 
 of Greeks and Etruscans, 48. 
 
 Precious stones imitated in glass, 50. 
 Priests and soldiers the aristocracy of 
 
 Egypt, 127. 
 — — lectured the people on the tran- 
 sitory nature of life, but enjoyed 
 
 the good things of it, 8, 9. 
 had good music at their parties, 
 
 14. 
 did not affect to disregard their 
 
 duties as husbands and parents, 
 
 through pretended sanctity, 80. 
 
 ate no fish, 85. 
 
 Printing, near approach to — , without 
 
 arriving at the art of — , 71. 
 Prizes given at bull-fights, 19. 
 Pyramid, excellence of the masonry 
 
 in the Great, 2. 
 Pyramids of great size, though the 
 
 oldest monuments, as temples, &c., 
 
 were small, 136. 
 on the western side of the Nile, 
 
 that being puv excellence the place 
 
 for the tomb, 131. 
 , tombs at the — , of the same 
 
 early date, 3. 
 Pyramidal, or sloping line, 13G, 151, 
 
 160. 
 — — towers not attached to the oldest 
 
 temples, 135, 136, 143—147. 
 , figures represented on 
 
 the—, 135. 
 Python, and Aphophis the Great Ser- 
 pent, IGO. 
 
 Rebo taken as the type of Asia, 132. 
 Reclining not the custom of the 
 
 Egyptians, 35. 
 Red the most honourable colour for 
 
 man, 90, 91. 
 Religion, earliest state of the Egyptian, 
 
 11. 
 Rhad-amanthus and Amenti (or 
 I "Hades"), 161. 
 i Jihyton, or drinking-cup, 54, 55. 
 t Romans made mistakes about Egypt, 7. 
 Ropes of iiax and date-tree fibre, 115. 
 
 Sacred music, 28. 
 i Sanctuary held the statue of the god, 
 I 141. 
 ! , the priests alone had access to 
 
 the—, 141. 
 Sawing, mode of ^ — , 105. 
 Scales of various kinds, 91, 92. 
 Scarabsei of vitrified ware, 87. 
 
 for funereal purposes, 87, 88. 
 
 , witli the head of a man, a hawk, 
 
 or a ram, and some winged, 78. 
 Science, various branches of — , un- 
 noticed, 103. 
 Scribes, sacred, royal, and public — , 
 
 121. 
 Sculptures, different in later times, 
 
 3, 135. 
 Seals of clay, 71, 72. 
 Serpent, "the Great," the emblem 
 
 of sin, killed, 132, 160. 
 Shadoof, or pole and bucket for 
 
 raising water, 62. 
 I Shepherd invasion the turning-point 
 
 of Egyptian history, 1 2. 
 Shields the origin of stelae, 10. 
 Shishak conijxvratively of late time, 1. 
 Sieves of flax-string, but originally of 
 
 rushes, 115. 
 Silver, calle<l "white gold," known 
 
 in Egyi)t later than gold, 98. 
 Shnpula, or ladle, of curious fonn in 
 
 the Louvre, 125. 
 Simjyiihe, or ladles, of bronze, 123. 
 Sistnim, said to frighten away Ty- 
 
 phon, 28. 
 Snakes represented in the tombs, 132. 
 
 j guardians of the doors of 
 
 I Amenti, 132. 
 
 j Soldiers and citizens unarmed, 2. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 173 
 
 Solo on an instrument, 19. 
 Sphinxes, avenue of — , 143. 
 
 of Greece, fi'om Egypt, 158. 
 
 Spoons like boxes, 111. 
 
 Squared stone, early use of, — {see 
 
 Granite), 2, 136. 
 Stamps and cylinders, use of — , 71, 72. 
 Statues of wood. 111. 
 Steel, early use of—, 99, 100. 
 
 arms of — , 124. 
 
 Steelyard of Eoman, not of Egyptian, 
 
 time, 93. 
 Stelae, or tablets, recording victories, 
 
 taken from shields, 10. 
 Stewards of estates, 72. 
 Stick, the free use of the — , 121. 
 Sticks covered with cherry-bark, 109. 
 , walking — , with a hook or a 
 
 knob, 109. 
 Stone water-jars, 46. 
 , mode of raising large blocks of 
 
 — , not represented, 70. 
 Stools and chairs, 37. 
 Strings of catgut for the lyre and 
 
 harp (see Bowstring), 24. 
 Stud, a sort of gold and silver — , 96. 
 Summary of Egyptian customs, this 
 
 only contains a — , 163. 
 
 Tables, 34. 
 
 Talent and 7nina, 92. 
 Tambourine the Hebrew tajyJi, 27. 
 Tambourines of three shapes, 26. 
 Tau, or sign of life, 131. 
 used by the early Christians for 
 
 the ci-oss, 131. 
 ■ the word used by Ezekiel as 
 
 the "mark" set on those whose 
 
 lives were to be preserved, 131. 
 Temple, the oldest Egyptian — , had 
 
 only one chamber, 141. 
 
 , origin of tbe — , 149. 
 
 , enlarged, and other chambers 
 
 added to it, 141—148. 
 
 in a temenos, or grove, 142. 
 
 Temples, plans of — , 141 — 148. 
 and tombs, the authorities 
 
 about Egypt, 7, 10, 133, 134. 
 
 ^ , subjects in the — , 133 — 135. 
 
 , the oldest — , small, 136. 
 
 Thebeh, an "ark," not related to 
 
 Thebes, 114. 
 
 Thebes really Ape, or Tapg (Thape), 
 "the head," or capital, 114. 
 
 and Memphis had no wall 
 
 circuit, 148. 
 
 Themis, from Thmei, "Justice," 
 
 131, 161. 
 Thmei, goddess of truth and justice, 
 
 131. 
 Thickness of the wall, doors and 
 
 panels in the — , 150. 
 Thimblerig, 15. 
 Thummim, 130, 131. 
 Threshing, or treading out corn with 
 
 oxen, 74. 
 Tillage of the lands, 72. 
 Tomb, name of the owner of a — , 129. 
 
 made for a person during his 
 
 lifetime, or bought, 129. 
 
 , bad men, and even kings, ex- 
 cluded from their — , 130. 
 
 , judgment-scene represented in 
 
 the — , 130. 
 
 Tombs, nearly the same variety of 
 subjects painted in the oldest as in 
 the later — , 10. 
 
 , subjects on the walls of the — , 
 
 8—10, 129. 
 
 and temples, character of the — , 
 
 137. 
 
 on the west side of the Nile, 131. 
 
 Tongs of bronze, 123. 
 
 Torus and band of Egyptian temples, 
 146, 149, 158. 
 
 Tower of the house, slept upon {see 
 pyramidal towers), 66. 
 
 Trades, those engaged in — , inferior 
 to the two leading classes, 127. 
 
 and occupations, 69. 
 
 Traps and snares, 84. 
 
 Triad of each town, 142. 
 
 Triglyphs of Egypt, 158. 
 
 Tumblers, chiefly women, and some- 
 times slaves, 15, 16. 
 
 underwent severe training, 15, 
 
 16. 
 
 Units, tens, hundreds, and thousands, 
 
 3. 
 Urim and Thummim, 131. 
 
 Vase, or bottle, of peculiar form, like 
 a calabash, 47. 
 
174 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Vases, forms and patterns of — , 45. 
 with animals on the lid and 
 
 handles, 45, 46. 
 
 • from Egypt and Asia, 46. 
 
 of gold, and silver, withprecions 
 
 stones, 45 — 48. 
 — — for ointment, 47, 48. 
 
 of glass and porcelain, 48. 
 
 on stands, 47. 
 
 not in imitation of skins in 
 
 Egypt, 48. 
 with the word **7tm" on them, 
 
 54. 
 
 , curious earthenware — , 56, 57. 
 
 — — in the form of flowers, animals, 
 
 and figures, 57, 58. 
 
 , painted — , 57. 
 
 to amuse a child, 58. 
 
 '— of bronze, on a bronze table, 59. 
 
 of metal, various — , 59, 60. 
 
 for holding water for the temple, 
 
 60, 61. 
 — — of various shapes, 45 — 61. 
 
 of alabaster found, 52, 53. 
 
 , cups, and bottles, of hard 
 
 stone, found, 54, 55. 
 ornamented with lotus flowers 
 
 and fish, 55. 
 Vegetables much eaten in Egypt, 
 
 32. 
 Victories of the Egyptians, 1, 8, 10, 
 
 134, 135. 
 not originally represented on the 
 
 temple, 10. 
 Vineyard and orchard, 63. 
 Vines trained on trellis-work, 63. 
 Volute-headed column from the water- 
 
 j plant of Upper Egypt (see Ionic), 
 155, 157. 
 
 "Water-plant columns, 151 — 158. 
 i Weights, mode of raising and moving 
 j great — ,70. 
 
 i West, Ement, and Hades or Amenti, 
 I 131. 
 
 i side of the Nile, tombs usually 
 
 i on the — , 131. 
 I Western mountain of Thebes, 131. 
 I Wheat reaped with a toothed sickle, 
 74; 
 
 Wigs, 40. 
 
 Windows, 67, 68, 88, 147. 
 
 , coloured glass, of our churches, 
 
 88. 
 
 Wine, the Egyptians fond — of, 13. 
 
 , skins for holding — ; Greek, 
 
 rather than Egyi)tian — , 13. 
 
 of Egypt, 13. 
 
 from Greece and Phtenicia in 
 
 later times, 13, 
 
 Wine-press in or near the vineyard, 63. 
 
 ■ trodden by the feet, 65. 
 
 , different kinds of — , 64, 65. 
 
 Wine-skin, a monster — , 13. 
 
 Winnowing, 74. 
 
 Wood for statues. 111. 
 
 Woods imported, rare — , 108. 
 
 for boxes, 110. 
 
 Wrestling, 19. 
 
 ITear, early division of the — , into 
 
 twelve months, 3. 
 Yoke over the slioulder for caiTving 
 
 water and burdens, 62. 
 
 END OF SIB GAUD^'EE WILKIN80N*S DOMESTIC HABITS OF 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
INTEODUCTION TO THE STUDY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN HIEEOGLYPHS. 
 
 Bt SAMUEL BIECH. 
 
#r 
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 Definition — invention — known to the Jews. — Greek — Democritus — Manetlio — 
 Chjeremon. — Romans — Pliny — Christian wTiters — Clemens. — Porphjrry. — 
 Hermetic books — royal and priestly authors — their contents — revival of 
 learning — early monumental publications — travellers — vain attempts at 
 interpreting them, by Kircher and others. — French expedition to Egypt. — 
 Renewed attempts to decipher — De Sacy — Akerblad — erroneous notions in 
 Europe — Young — ChampoUion — mode of deciphering — Seyflfarth — Wilkin- 
 son — Klaproth — Rosellini — Salvolini — Bunsen — Lepsius — School of Champol- 
 lion — Kinds of Hieroglyi>hs — sculptured, written, and painted — arrangement 
 — their number — objects selected. — Ideographs — determinatives — analysis 
 and interpretation of ideographs. — Phonetic hieroglyphs, how selected. — 
 General alphabet and syllabarium — how explained — various powers of pho- 
 netic hieroglyphs — proportion of phonetic — later alphabet — not often 
 explained by Coptic, but by the context — no text of })ure phonetics. — Rela- 
 tion of the language to the Coptic — Hebrew and English — Greek and Latin 
 — Semitic and Indo-Germanic languages. — Grammar — nouns, verbs, prepo- 
 sitions, and adverbs. — Syntax — style of wi-iting — antithesis, paraphrasis, 
 high style, descriptive, religious, dialogue, epistolary, poetry, monumental 
 style, explanations — official inscriptions — the Ritual— Hieratic writing — 
 — contents of papyri — ancient books, letters, rescripts, poems, and novels. — 
 Demotic writing, deeds of sale, epistles, accounts, rituals. 
 

 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 The term hieroglyph, which literally means " sacred sculp- 
 ture," was applied by the ancients to those representations by 
 which the Egyptians expressed their language, from the idea 
 that they were restricted to sacred subjects. They are now 
 well known as defining the various forms, either sculptured or 
 painted upon stone and other substances, which served the 
 Egyptians for writing, and they were long supposed to belong 
 to the general class of symhols. In fact, they are little pictures or 
 miniatures of things, and are supposed to have originated in 
 picture-writing, by which ideas were conveyed either by mimic 
 representations of entire objects, or of parts of them to express 
 the whole, or by using them to convey other ideas by allusion 
 or metaphor. According to the principal authors of classical 
 antiquity, the Egyptians possessed two kinds of writing — the 
 sacred writing,^ or so-called hierographic,^ the writing of the 
 gods,^ or hieroglyphic,* and the popular luriting, called 
 demotic,^ or demode,''' enchorial,^ or epistolary.^ Clemens 
 Alexandrinus calls one the hieratic, or sacerdotal manner of 
 writing ; the other, epistolograpMc, or epistolary. 
 
 1 Herodot. ii. 36. Diodonis, iii. 3. Rosetta Stone, 1. 54. Greek Version. 
 
 2 Manetho, apud Syncell. Chron. 40. ^ i\y^^^ 
 
 * Clemens Alex. Strom, v. 657. ^ Herodot. ii. 86. 
 
 6 Diod. iii. 3. 7 Rosetta Stone, 1. 54. Inscr. of Turin. 
 
 ** Glemen^^Alex. Strom, v. 657. Lepsius, Annales d'Instlt. Archeol, 
 1837, p. 18. 
 
 N 
 
178 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 The first method represents the ideas intended to be con- 
 veyed, not bj the abstract marks which we call letters, but by 
 depicting in regular order the representations of all kinds of 
 objects of nature and art. The Egyptian, beholding the starry 
 vault of heaven — man in his various relations — the infinite 
 realms of nature — the numerous utensils and products of art 
 — endeavoured, by a series of mimic pictures, to transmit to 
 posterity, or to convey to the knowledge of the present, the 
 records of the past by sculpturing and inscribing them. To 
 these speaking forms they had given an organisation, so as to 
 render them capable of distinctly expressing the required 
 series of ideas. This plan consisted in an improved develop- 
 ment of picture-writing, of which there are two other distinct 
 traces in the world ; the Mexican, a picture-writing in its most 
 primitive form, with no distinct organisation, and the Chinese, 
 which is even further advanced in structure than the Egyptian, 
 the forms often representing sounds only, and always being 
 formed in a manner quite conventional. The hieroglyphs were 
 divided into two classes, those which represented ideas, called 
 ideographs, or pictures of ideas, and those expressive of sound, 
 called phonetics. The first belonged to the order of picture- 
 writing, but the second formed a syllabarium, perfect as far as 
 the Egyptian language, or " sacred dialect," was concerned. It 
 is of course highly probable that at one time the language was 
 entirely composed of pictures or ideographs ; but all the monu- 
 ments, even those of the most remote antiquity, exhibit the two 
 kinds mingled together in the inscriptions, and the age of pure 
 picture-writing is one to which it is not possible to reach 
 except by induction. Their invention was attributed to the 
 gods themselves. Plutarch, indeed, seems to have been aware 
 of an Egyptian alphabet. " Hermias," he says, " informs us 
 that Hermes was the inventor of letters in Egypt. Thus, to 
 
INVENTION. 179 
 
 represent tlie first letter, the Egyptian figured an ibis, a bird 
 which belongs to Hermes ; " ^ which is actually the fact, as the 
 ibis is formed equivalent to the word Aah (the moon), or the 
 letter A, as it sometimes occurs in the name of the god Thoth 
 or Hermes. 
 
 Hermes or Thoth, according to Diodorus, was the scribe of 
 Osiris and the inventor of letters ; ^ and the same is stated in 
 the false Sanchoniatho."* In the hieroglyphic legends or titles 
 of this deity he is called " scribe of the daimons and lord of 
 hieroglyphs," or the "words of the gods." As these hiero- 
 glyphs were used at a very early period, and the old formulae 
 were implicitly copied in later times, they formed a language as 
 different from that ordinarily spoken as Sanscrit from Pracrit or 
 the Chinese of Confucius from the colloquial. Hence it is 
 spoken of as the sacred dialect ; while the language in later 
 use is called the common dialect. These dialects, or the old 
 and modern language, differing in some particulars, belong to a 
 spoken language intermediate between the Semitic and Indo- 
 Germanic. Their structure, indeed, resembles the Semitic 
 family, approaching the Chaldee and the Hebrew ; but the 
 words of which the body of the language is composed are many 
 of them traceable to Indo- Germanic roots. Tb^.fijst^ that in 
 which the religious formulae are drawn up, and which may be 
 called the sacred dialect, is used throughout in inscriptions of 
 grave style; the other, which reproduces the speeches and 
 addresses, is the colloquial, and nearer in its construction to 
 the Coptic. A few words, chiefly of the Aramaean language, 
 appear at the time of the nineteenth dynasty. 
 
 Although the spoken language was of the Semitic branch, it 
 
 ^ Sympos. ix. 1. " Cory. Fragments, 8, 9. 
 
 3 Some have supposed it to be pre-Adamite. Smith, Dissertation, &c. ; 
 8vo. 1842. 
 
 K 2 
 
180 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 was by no means intelligible to the Hebrews : Joseph con- 
 versed with his brothers by means of an interpreter ; and the 
 tongue of Egypt is always mentioned as foreign, strange, or 
 unintelligible. Only very obscure allusions to the hieroglyphs 
 occur in the Scriptures, although the older portions contain 
 many words of Egyptian etymology.^ 
 
 It is not, however, to be supposed that so intellectual and 
 inquisitive a people as the Grreeks were entirely unacquainted 
 "with the curious phenomena of the hieroglyphical language of 
 Egypt. As soon as the Greek factories on the coast had risen 
 to importance, the complicated relations of the two people had 
 created a race apparently of half-castes, who, like the linguists 
 of the Chinese and the dragomans of the Turks, acted as 
 interpreters between Greeks and Egyptians. The employment 
 of Greek mercenaries, " the brazen men," designated by the 
 oracle to Psammetichus, opened a new era in the relations of 
 Egypt ; and when the Persians had overrun the country, and 
 reduced it under their sway, the more compendious form of 
 writing, called the demotic, or enchorial, introduced for com- 
 mercial and legal purposes about two centuries before, was in 
 common use for the transactions of life. So easy had the 
 intercourse become, that the early travellers, Hecatfeus (b.c. 
 521) and Herodotus (b.c. 45G), who, under the protection of 
 the Persians, were enabled to traverse the country in safety, 
 bad no difficulty in holding, through their interpreters, conver- 
 sations even with learned priests, or of obtaining translations, 
 whether of public inscriptions or of rolls of papyri. 
 
 If, however, little attention was paid to the curious mecha- 
 nism of a language so essentially distinct, it was owing to the 
 low estimation in which philology and the study of languages 
 
 * Mr. Williams, Essay on the Hieroglypliics, 8vo, London, 1336, conjectures 
 the langtmge to be Hebrew. 
 
KNOWN TO THE GREEKS. 181 
 
 was held by the Greeks. How slowly, indeed, even at the 
 present day, has the study advanced ! How many travellers 
 have traversed the land of Egypt since the revival of learning ; 
 how few, even of the most eminent, have copied a line of 
 hieroglyphs with accuracy, still less analysed them with success! 
 The later philosophical school, indeed, had studied deeply the 
 philosophy and sciences of Egypt, and must have been aware of 
 the nature of the language in which they were couched. Demo- 
 critus, one of the early Ionic writers, who flourished in the 
 XXX. Olympiad (b.c. 459), had written a dissertation on the 
 sacred characters in Meroe, and on those upon the obelisk of 
 -King Achicharas^ at Babylon. Keither of these dissertations 
 'has remained ; and it was not till the time of the Ptolemies 
 that any serious study of the language was commenced. At 
 the beginning of the reign of Philadelphus, the Greeks were 
 completely aroused to the importance of paying attention to 
 the language. Eratosthenes, who was keeper of the Alexandrian \ 
 library, has left behind a list of kings, accompanied by trans- I 
 lations of their names. Manetho, the learned priest of Seben- 
 nytus, had been employed to draw up a compendium of the 
 history and chronology of the ancient kingdom, which he has 
 interspersed with philological notices, and which he must have 
 translated into Greek. The public acts even of the Greek 
 priests of the country were translated into the sacred characters, 
 and the demotic was in daily use for law-deeds, private affairs, 
 and accounts ; duplicates being drawn up by the trapezitae, or 
 notaries, in the Greek language for the state and the Greeks, 
 in the demotic writing for the Egyptians. The Greeks, for the 
 purpose of acquiring the necessary knowledge of the language, 
 at this time employed tutors. At the court, however, Greek 
 
 1 Diogenes Laertius, Vita Democriti, 650, ed. Gas. Clemens Alex. Strom. 
 i. 69. 
 
 
182 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 literature and pliilosopliy prevailed, and the conquered race 
 continued to retain their hieroglyphical language only for 
 hieratic purposes. No works of poetry, philosophy, or history 
 of this period, written in hieroglyphs, have survived the wreck 
 of ages : even the ritualistic formula? show a notable decline in 
 style and mode of writing. The people, abased and dejected 
 by two foreign dynasties, had lost the powerful stimulus of 
 their old religious notions, and tenaciously clung to their 
 declining theosophy. Yet the importance of the study of the 
 native language continued to advance : enlightened rulers 
 prided themselves in speaking foreign tongues with fluency: 
 the celebrated Mithridates discoursed in several, the ill-starred 
 Cleopatra spoke seven, Egyptian among the number. As the 
 stream of history becomes broader, our knowledge of what 
 the ancients knew increases in proportion. At the time of 
 Augustus one Chjeremon, the keeper of the library of the 
 Serapeum, had compiled a hieroglyphical dictionary, fragments 
 of which, thanks to the industry of the Byzantine monk 
 Tzetzes, have reached the present time. The historian Diodo- 
 rus also treated, in his ^Egyptiaca, on the hieroglyphs, and 
 explained certain symbols : the traveller Strabo deigns to cast 
 on them a passing allusion. In the historian of the empire, 
 Tacitus, is the translation rendered by the priests to Ger- 
 manicus of the monuments of Thebes with her hundred gates. 
 Yet at Home itself, so rare was the knowledge of hieroglyphs, 
 that one of the emperors is said to have offered a reward for 
 the interpretation of an obelisk. 
 
 It is to be regretted that the encyclopajdia of Pliny contains 
 no notice worth recording upon hieroglyphs. He disputes the 
 rival claims of the Assyrians and Egyptians, upon the authority 
 of Anticlides, to the honour of the invention of writing ; but 
 he does not treat on the nature of the hieroglyphs. Of course, 
 
ACCOUNTS OF ROMAN WRITERS. 183 
 
 an occasional notice of their existence bursts from him, as from 
 other writers, and he gives historical and artistical accounts of 
 the marvellous monuments of the country, especially of the 
 obelisks removed to Eome, but they are of little importance for 
 the philology. After his time even less was known of the 
 hieroglyphs ; and the only writer who illumines the gloom of 
 this literature in the declining ages of Eome is HorapoUo, or 
 Horus Apollo.^ Two books of hieroglyphics of this writer 
 remain, one of which contains the true explanation of several 
 signs, the other is a collection of Eoman emblemata rather 
 than Egyptian hierogljrphs. Like the work of Chasremon, they 
 enlarge upon the marvellous application of animal and other 
 forms to express ideas, and enters into the etymological or 
 esoteric meaning of certain ideographic signs. This age, that 
 of Philip (a.d. 249), when the vanguard of Paganism, now on 
 the decline, was led by the Neoplatonists, was favourable to the 
 defence of the old esoteric notions of faith by rationalistic 
 explanations ; and the Hieroglyphics of this writer is rather a 
 treatise of this kind than a practical commentary for the 
 use of students. It is, however, not a little remarkable to find 
 that so late in the days of the Empire as Grordian, his sepulchre 
 had an inscription in Grreek, Latia, Persian, and JEgyptian." 
 But even in the age of Constantino their knowledge was by no 
 means entirely lost. Ammianus Marcellinus, the historian of 
 Julian, has introduced into his annals of the Apostate the 
 Greek translation by Hermapion***, of an obelisk removed by 
 Oonstantius to Eome, one of the most valuable portions of 
 philology that has reached the present day. Julius Valens, an 
 author of the third ^ century, has also given a brief epitome of 
 
 * Horapollo, Leemans, 8vo, Leide, 1836. ~ Capitolinus, Vit. Gordian. 
 
 3 XVII. 4, p. 121—127, ed. Gronov. 
 
 4 Mai. Class. Vet. 8vo. Romse, 1835. vii. 99, 100. 
 
184 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 the inscriptions of an obelisk erected by Sesostris to 
 Serapis. 
 
 The hieroglyphs were of course particularly obnoxious to the 
 Christian religion, at that time rapidly developing in Egypt ; 
 and the first care of the Church was to introduce a new 
 alphabet of Greek characters, with some conventional forms, in 
 order to destroy the old Pagan one, filled with the obnoxious 
 idolatry of the old faith. To the early fathers the hieroglyphs 
 presented no deeper interest than the Mexican picture-writing 
 did to the zealous monks of Castile and Arragon, who crowded 
 to the new world with Columbus and his fellow navigators. 
 At the time of Clement of Alexandria (a.d. 211), they had 
 passed into the condition of a dead language; and Clement 
 describes how it was studied, by commencing with the demotic, 
 or popular writing, and ending with the more difficult ^ 
 hieroglyphs. 
 
 " Those," says Clement, " who are being instructed, first of 
 all learn that kind of Egyptian letters which is called episto- 
 lary ; after that, the hieratic, which the sacred scribes use ; 
 and last of all, the hieroglyphic. 
 
 " The hieroglyphic is of two kinds : one, to express words 
 (cyriologic)^ employs the first letters of the alphabet ; the other 
 is symbolical. 
 
 " The symbolical method is subdivided into several kinds : 
 the first represents objects properly by imitation ; the second in 
 a tropical or figured manner ; the third makes use entirely of 
 allegories, expressed by certain enigmas. Thus, in this kind, if 
 the Egyptians wish to write the sun, they draw a circle, if the 
 moon, a crescent; in the tropical manner, changing and 
 turning aside the sense of objects, by way of analogy, they 
 express them, either in modifying their image, or in making 
 them undergo different kinds of transformation. It is thus 
 
DESCRIPTIONS OF CLEMENT AND PORPHYRY. 185 
 
 that they employ anaglyphs when they would transmit the 
 praises of kings by religious myths. This is an example of the 
 third kind of writing, which employs enigmatical allusions. 
 The Egyptians figure the other stars by serpents, on account 
 of the obliquity of their course, but the sun is figured by a 
 scarabseus." ^ 
 
 His division of the modes of writing is this : — 
 
 HIEROGLYPHICS. 
 Alphabetic. Mimic. 
 
 Tropic. 
 Enigmatic. 
 
 METHOD OF WRITING. 
 Epistolary. 
 Hieratic. 
 Hieroglyphic. 
 
 Porphyry,- in the next century (a.d. 304), divides the lan- 
 guage nearly in the same manner into — 
 
 Epistolary, 
 Hieroglyphic, 
 
 Ccenologic, 
 Enigmatic, 
 
 \ 
 
 but it is not very clear what he means. 
 
 The existence of a considerable number of works in the 
 native language was not unknown to the Greeks, with whom 
 they passed under the name of those of Hermes. Hence 
 Clement ^ mentions two books of Hermes on music ; one con- 
 taining a series of hymns to the gods, the other the institutes 
 of the life of the king : four others upon astronomy ; one con- 
 taining a list of the fixed stars, a second on the phenomena of 
 the sun and moon. The two others were on the rising of the 
 stars. Another contained a cosmography and geography, the 
 course of the sun, moon, and the five planets, the chorography 
 
 ^ Goulianoff. Archeologie llgyptienne, 8vo, Leipsik, 1839, p. 300, 1" 
 Tableau. There has been much discussion on the meaning of the Greek word 
 2T0ix««- See Encycl. Britann. 7* ed. 1842, XI. p. 298, note 2 ; but it seems 
 to mean tiie name or sound of the letter, as A a. Be, C e, &c., in the 
 alphabet. 
 
 2 Vit. Pythag. 0. 11, 12. 3 Clemens Alex. Strom, vi. 4, p. 633. 
 
186 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 of Egypt and scheme of the Nile, an account of the supplies 
 of the temples and the lands apportioned to them, touching 
 on measures and the requisites of sacred things. Another of 
 the works referred to the sealing of victims and the instruction 
 of youth ; ten others to the honours to be rendered to the 
 gods, and other actions of Egyptian piety, as sacrifices, first- 
 fruits, vows, ceremonies, feasts, and similar things. Ten more 
 books embraced the laws of the country and of the gods, and 
 the instruction of the priests. Altogether, there were 
 forty- two of these works — thirty- six embracing the philo- 
 sophical notions of the Egyptians, and the other six 
 medicine. 
 
 The titles of some of the Hermetic books were : " Physics, 
 Origin, the Key, the Bowl;" "The Hidden "Word ; " "Con- 
 cerning Universal Nature ; " "To His own Mind ; " " Address 
 to the Tat, to Ammon, to Asclepios, the Asclepios ; " * " The 
 Damsel of the World," or " The Sacred Address of Isis to 
 Horus," 2 and " The Reply of Horus to Isis ; " ^ "The Letters 
 of -3Esculapius to the King Ammon ; " a work called Tanaretos^ 
 or " On all the Virtues ; " ^ and another called " The Kyran- 
 nides." ^ According to Manetho, there were 36,525 Her- 
 metic books, but this is now recognised as an astronomical 
 number." 
 
 The works of King SitpJiiSf or the celebrated Cheops, who 
 built the great Pyramid, were theological ; ^ others of AtJicfJiis 
 the King, the son of Menes," who was a physician, treated 
 
 » Zoega, 1. c. 515. ^ Ibid. n. 39. 
 
 3 lamblichus, de Mysteriis. Cyril, lib. 1 and 2, contra Julian. Lactantius, 
 Instit. divinar. lib. 1, 2, 4, 7. St. Augustin, de Civit. Dei, VIII. ; Syncell. 
 Chron.; Stobaeus : Galen, vi. p. c. 1. 
 
 * Fabricius, Bibl. Grsec. c. viii. 6, 6, p. 64. 
 
 * Zoega, 1. c. 515. ^ Syncellus, Chronogr. p. 51. 
 ^ Syncell. Chron. p. 56. ed. Gear. * Syncell. 1. c. 54. 
 
WORKS OF ROYAL AND OTHER AUTHORS. 187 
 
 upon anatomy ; and a third of the royal authors, Nechepsus,* 
 or jN'echo, who was the grandfather of Psammetichus, wrote on 
 astrology, physic, and medicine. 
 
 There were others of the priests and scribes : " the prophet 
 Bitys translated from the hieroglyphics in Sais a work ad- 
 dressed to Ammon on the ascension of the souls to God, pro- 
 bably part of the ritual.^ Epeis, according to Philo-Byblius, 
 had translated into Greek a work of a religious nature, in 
 which he stated that the first divine nature was a serpent 
 metamorphosed into the shape of a hawk, which created light 
 by opening its eyes, and darkness by shutting them.^ Petosiris, 
 a priest of the age of Psammetichi, had also written treatises 
 on the gods and mysteries,^ and in conjunction with King 
 Nechepsus, others on the sphere ^ and meteors,^ on the cosmo- 
 gony, astrology,^ and the art of retaining health.^ Another 
 w^ork, on nosology, was written by lachen, who lived at the 
 time of Senyes " — perhaps King Senefru. 
 
 The false Hermetic books" mention the secret hymns and 
 the hymns taught by Isis to Horus.^^ Plato, better informed, 
 speaks of the hymns of Isis,^^ which were apparently in the 
 form of colloquies." Certain books, which passed under the 
 
 1 Galen, de Simplic. ix. 2, 19. Aetius, Tetrab. i, 2. Fabric, iii. 20 ; 
 s. V. 36, 47; iv. 3, 19. Pliny, N. H. ii. 23. 
 
 - The one which Zoega attributes to Ammon. See Justin Martyr, Cohort, 
 ad Gentes, c. 38, is clearly an error. Cf. however. Fabric. Bib. Gr. I. c. 2, 
 s. 2, p. 7. 
 
 .2 lamblichus de Mysteriis, s. 8, c. 5. 
 
 ^ Philo Byblius apud Euseb. Prsep. Evangel. I. c. 10, p. 41. 
 
 ^ Suidas, voce UerSffipis. ^ Plinius, N. H. ii. 23. 
 
 7 Servius, ad Virg. ^neid. x. 272. 
 
 ^ Jul. Firmicus, Astron. iii. Prsef. 
 
 9 Zoega, 1. c. 518. Cf. Juvenal, vi. 579. '" Suidas, voce 'lax-fjv. 
 
 " Fabric. Bibl. Grsec. I. c. 7, s. 5, torn. i. p. 58. 
 
 12 Hermeticse, ex edit. Patric. lib. xiii. f. 32. i-' Leg. R. ii. 557. 
 
 i-* Fabric. Bibl. Grsec. 1. c. . 
 
188 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 name of those of Horus and Isis, are spoken of by Luclan.* 
 There were also ancient lyrical poems, containing the praises 
 of the gods and ancient heroes, and sung at ceremonies and 
 entertainments,^ and deaths, when thrones, or funeral dirges, 
 composed in rhythm, were chanted for the deceased. Among 
 the encomiastic odes is mentioned one in honour of Sesostris, 
 which differed from the historical accounts. Hymns were also 
 addressed to the rising and the setting sun,^ and to Ammon, 
 to obtain his oracular responses in the Oasis."* Of these the 
 most important were the Threne, i.e., the dirge or lament for 
 Maneros,^ another addressed to Saturn,*^ and a chant called 
 the Genethlia, or Birth of Horus.^ 
 
 The laws of the country were extant in eight volumes,® and 
 its annals carefully preserved in several versions.^ There 
 were also works on astronomy,'" on medicine," on prognostica- 
 
 » In Gallo, s. 18, ii. "729. 
 
 2 Plato, 1. c. Diod. i. 53, 72 ; xvii. 50, 2. 
 
 2 Porphyry, de Abstin. iv. s. 8 ; Plutarch, de Iside et Osiride, 466, 467, 
 468, 410; ii. 371, 363, 357; Herodot. ii. 79; Avistides, Elcusin. i. 257; 
 Nonniis, S. Gr. Nazianzen, Orat. ii. 28 ; Eudocia, Violariiun, p. 305. 
 
 * Curtius, iv. 7 ; Clemens Alex. Paedag. iii. 2, p. 252. 
 
 » Plutarch de Iside et Osiride, p. 363, D. 372, D. ^ Ibid. 
 
 ' Gregor. Nazianzen, Orat. xxxix. p. 626. 
 
 « Diodorus, i. 75, 48 ; .^lian, Var. Hist. xiv. 34. 
 
 ' Apollonides Horapios in the Coptic work Semenuthi. Theophilus, ad 
 Autol. ii. c. 6. Damascius. Suidas, voce 'HpaiaKos, mentions that Asclepeius 
 had read of a volume with annals of more than 30,000 years. Diodorus, i. 
 48, 75 ; Herodot. ii. 100. Plato, Timajus, p. 22, ctseq. Theophrast. Lapid. 
 394. Strabo, vii. 461; i. c. 43, 44, 46, 70, 73, 95, 96; xvi. c. 51. Joseph, 
 contra Apion. i. 6. Plutarch, de Iside et Osiride, 445. Aristides, .^gypt. 
 p. 331. Lucian, de Sacrif. s. 14. Syncellus, Chron. 51. Tatiau adv. 
 Gnec. c. 1. 
 
 w Diod. i. 81, 73; Herodot. ii. 4, 82; Strabo, xvii. 1160, 1171. 
 
 " Homer, Odysa. iv. 219; Herodot. ii. 84, 77; iii. 129; Diodorus, i. 82; 
 Hoiapollo, i. 38. For tlie Moscho-graphia, of. also Porphyry de Abstin. s. 87, 
 p. 365, and Herodot. ii. 88. 
 
COPIES OF LATE ROMAN AUTHORS. 189 
 
 tions of diseases, and on the selection of victims/ on magic,'-^ 
 and chemistry.^ Letters, also, as literary compositions, were 
 known.^ 
 
 Some of these works existed at the time of the Eomans, 
 such as those mentioned by Apnleius^ and Ammianus Marcel- 
 linus,^ and Plutarch, containing the mysteries of Isis ; 
 another, described by Achilles Tatius,' in which was a descrip- 
 tion of the Phoenix, and those by A sclepeiades, already cited, 
 besides the books ordered by Severus ^ to be shut up in the 
 tomb of Alexander, those destroyed by Diocletian,^ and books 
 relating to the course and rise of the Nile.^" Still, even to the 
 days of Tzetzes (a.d. 1000), many works on hieroglyphics were 
 known. After the fall of the Eastern empire all knowledge of 
 them had disappeared. 
 
 After the revival of learning, the monuments of Egypt were 
 published, unfortunately with little discrimination, by Kircher, 
 and Bouchard," La Chausse,^^ the author of the Nani Museum,'^ 
 Caylus," Gordon,^* AVinckelman,'* Yisconti,^^ and others, but so 
 intermixed with spurious monuments, or disfigured in the 
 copying, that it was almost impossible to arrive at a correct 
 
 ' Heplisestion, Prsefat. lib. i.; Mli&u, apud Suidam voce 'laxvf- 
 
 " Ausonius, Epist. xix. 18 ; Lucian, De Sacrif. s. 14. 
 
 3 Zoega, 1. c. p. 525. 
 
 -» Diod. i. 70, 95 ; Herodot. ii. 43. ; Heliodor. Beth, iv. S. 
 
 5 Apul. Met. ii. 386 ; ^ Am. Marc. xxii. 14. 
 
 7 Clitophon and Leucippe, iii. 86. ^ Dio. Ixxv. c. 13; Suidas, 'S.^^ripos. 
 
 9 Johannes Antioch. p. 437; ii. 364. '" Heliodonis, mhiop. ii. 109. 
 
 '^ Monumens figyptiens, fo. Romse, 1791. 
 
 '2 Museum Romanum, fo. Romse, 1690. 
 
 13 Museum Veronense, fo. Romse, 1749 ; fo. Venezia, 1815. 
 
 •4 Recueil d'Antiquites, 4to, Paris, 1752-1767. 
 
 ^ Essay on Hieroglyphical Figures in the Coffin of the ancient Mummy 
 belonging to Capt. W. LethieuUier, fo. London, 1737. Gordon is, I believe, 
 an assumed name, the work being that of the antiquary Gough. 
 
 1" Monumens luedits. ^7 Museo Pio Clementino, 1782. 
 
190 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 opinion upon any inscription, upon the transcription of whicb, 
 up to tliia time, the necessary care had not been expended. 
 
 Nor had the early travellers aided the philologist. The 
 copies of Norden,^ Paul Lucas,^ and Pococke,^ are useless for 
 the purposes of study ; and if those of Niehuhr'* are entitled 
 to praise, the same cannot be said of later travellers, for even 
 the copies of Belzoni * are valueless to the study of the hiero- 
 glyphs. The publication of the description of Egypt ^ by the 
 French scientific expedition under Napoleon, was the first 
 sensible advance that had been made even in this 
 particular. ^''\^-'^" 
 
 At the commencement of the seventeentp\5eriCuVy some 
 attempt was made to decipher them by yaleriani,^ and 
 Pierius,^ and Mercati^. Kircher^" was the first who came 
 forth with much pretension to success. His interpreta- 
 tions, of the most marvellous nature, suited to the taste 
 of his age, were received with deference and credulity ; and 
 it is difficult to make out whether he was an enthusiast or 
 charlatan — probably a mixture of both. He even wrote dedi- 
 cations in hieroglyphs, as well as in Latin, Greek, Syriac, 
 Arabic, and Coptic. His theory seems to have been that tho 
 hieroglyphs were not used to express sounds, but ideas ; yet in 
 one part of his works he gives a hieroglyphic alphabet." Auto- 
 
 > Drawings of Ruins at Thebes, 4to, London, 1741 ; Voyage d'figypte, fo. 
 Copenhagen, 1755. - Voyage au L6vant, 12mo, Paris, 1603. 
 
 ' A Description of the East, fo. London, 1743-5. 
 
 * Voyages en Arabie et en autres Pays, 4to, Amst. 1776-80. 
 
 5 Narrative of Operations and Discoveries at the Pyramids, &c. 4to, London, 
 1820. 
 « Fo. Paris, 1809. 7 Hieroglyphica, fo. Lngd. Bat. 1529. 
 
 ^ Hieroglyphica, fo. 1556. 
 
 * Degli Obelischi di Roma, 4to, Roma, 1589. 
 ^0 (Edipus ^gj-ptiacus, fo. Romie, 1652-54, 
 " Obeliscus Pamphilius, fo. Rome, 1650. 
 
EARLY RESEARCHES IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 191 
 
 crator jthe name and title of Domitian, on the Pamphilian obelisk, 
 he thus translated: "The author of fruitfulness and of all vege- 
 tation is Osiris, whose productive force was produced in his 
 kingdom out of heaven through the holy Mophta." Mophta, it 
 
 appears, he made a genius of creation. The ^ *^ , branch 
 and bee, which, according to Hermapion, meant " king," he 
 translated "fljflap." 
 
 Vain, too, were the subsequent researches of Marsham,^ 
 Preret,- Warburton,^ Jablonski,'* Goguet,^ the elder De 
 Guignes,^ D'Origny,^ Schumacher,^ Count de Gebelin.^ Of these 
 the most remarkable were the Memoirs of De Guignes, who, 
 setting about the matter practically, ascertained by analysis the 
 existence of groups with determinative characters, resembling 
 the Chinese keys or radicals, and those of Koch,^^ Tychsen," 
 and last, but not least, of Zoega, whose work on obelisks ^" 
 contains a compendium of ancient learning on the subject, and 
 who, conscious of the errors of his predecessors, had arrived at 
 two important conclusions, that the hieroglyphs were letters, 
 and that the ovals contained royal names. The notion of 
 
 1 Canon. Chron. 8vo, London, 1782. 
 
 2 Reflexions sur les Principes generaux de I'Art de rEcrire. Memoires de 
 1' Academic, vi. 609. 
 
 2 Divine Legation of Moses, 1738, iv, 4 ; torn. ii. part i. p. 65. 
 
 4 Pantheon iEgyptiorum, Prolog, s. 48, vol. iii' p. cxi. et seq. 
 
 ^ De rOrigine des Loix, part ii. lib. ii. c. 6. 
 
 ^ Memoires de TAcademie, xxix. 1 ; xxiv. 1. 
 
 " L'Elgypte Ancienne, 12mo, Paris, 1765, torn. ii. c. 7, 8, p. 23 et seq. 
 
 ^ Versuch die Greheimnisse der Meroglyphiscen Denkmaler aufzuklaren, 8vo, 
 Lips. 1754. 
 
 ® Le Monde Primitif, iii. 374. 
 lo Tentamen, &c. Petropoli, 1788. 
 
 " Ueber die Buchstabenschrift der alten Aegypten in the Gottingische 
 Bibliothek f. alte Liter, und Kunst, 1789, st. 6. 
 12 De Origine Obeliscorum, fo. Romse, 1797. 
 
192 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 Kircher, that the hieroglyphs were only employed for a sacred 
 or mystical language, used by the priests to express in cabal- 
 istic terms the notions of their religion, had already been 
 exploded by Warburton, who had demonstrated, from the 
 testimony of profane authors, that they were really and truly 
 the language of the country, " employed to record openly and 
 plainly their laws, policies, public morals, history, and, in a 
 word, all kinds of civil matters." ^ Here, however, the matter 
 rested. 
 
 The French expedition to Egypt opened the sealed book. 
 In 1799 M. Boussard - discovered, near Eosetta, a large stone 
 of black granite, commonly known as the Eosetta stone or 
 inscription. This appears, from late researches of Mr. Harris, 
 to have originally been placed in a temple of Turn, or Tomos, 
 the setting sun, erected to that god by the Pharaoh Necho. 
 It was originally presented to the French Institute of Cairo 
 but subsequently, at the capitulation of Alexandria, it 
 surrendered to General Hutchinson, and presented by Kin 
 Greorge III. to the British Museum. It contained a trigrani 
 matical inscription; one in hieroglyphs, a second in the demotx 
 or vernacular, a third in Greek. From this last it appear- 
 that it was a solemn decree of the united priesthood in synt 
 at Memphis, in honour of Ptolemy V., who had conferred up< 
 them certain benefits, in gratitude for which they had order 
 it to be erected in every temple of the first, second, and thi 
 rank throughout the country in the three forms of writir 
 About half of the hieroglyphical part had been destroyed ; b 
 enough remained for decipherment. Here then was wli 
 Archimedes demanded, a point on which to stand, a certain 
 
 * Divine Legation of Moses, 1. c. See also the attack of Prof. W; 
 An Examination of the Orthography of tlie Jews, 8vo, London, 1835. 
 ^ Arago, £loge Historique du Dr. T. Young, 8vo, Paris, 1832. 
 
ATTEMPTS OF DE SACY AND AKERBLAD. 193 
 
 ) commence with. The French savans had made dra'vrings, 
 id disseminated a knowledge of its existence, and with France 
 le first attempt at decipherment began. The demotic, or 
 ichorial characters, a very cursive form of writing, appeared 
 le most promising, especially as the idea prevailed that it was 
 phabetic in its nature. This idea, as all hitherto entertained 
 1 the nature of the inscriptions, was erroneous. Silvestre de 
 acy, one of that illustrious Oriental school which France 
 'oduced in the last half century, essayed this portion of the 
 scriptions, and pointed out, in the demotic, some of the 
 'oper names mentioned in the Greek version. In 1802.^ 
 kerblad,^ a Swedish archaeologist, who united classical and 
 riental attainments, advancing a step further, had assigned 
 e value of the characters employed to transcribe the proper 
 imes. 
 
 Here the French researches dropped ; no one attempted the 
 
 eroglyphical inscription. Some notions, vague and expressed 
 
 general terms, that the hieroglyphs might be phonetic, had, 
 
 already stated, been set forth by Zoega and De Gruignes; 
 
 it they were mere conjectures. 
 
 The mode of deciphering the demotic was as follows : — 
 
 First, it was perceived that the words Alexander and Alex- 
 
 dria, in the fourth and seventeenth lines of the Greek 
 
 scriptions corresponded with two other groups in the second 
 
 d tenth line of the demotic inscription. A group of 
 
 . aracters which occurred in almost every line was supposed to 
 
 the word " and." A group of characters, repeated twenty- 
 
 . le or thirty times in the enchorial inscription, could only 
 
 ^respond to the word " king'* in the Greek, which, with its 
 
 Lettre an Citoyen Chaptal, 8vo, 1802. 
 
 Lettre sur I'lnscription figyptienne du Monument de Rosette, 8vo, 
 •is, 1802. 
 
I9i HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 compounds, is repeated about thirty-seven times. Another 
 group of characters, recurring fourteen times in the enchorial, 
 corresponded to the word Ptolemy, which occurs eleven times 
 in the G-reek, and generally in passages in the same relative 
 position.^ 
 
 The important knowledge gained in this branch prepared the 
 way for the advance to be made in the hieroglyphic, concerning 
 which the most extraordinary ideas continued still to infest the 
 learned of Europe. The Chevalier Palin," in 1802-4, did not 
 hesitate to assert that it was only necessary to translate the 
 Psalms of David into Chinese, and ■w'rite them in the ancient 
 characters of that language, in order to reproduce the Egyptian 
 papyri, and that these contained many Biblical books. In 
 1806, M. Yon Hammer had given to the world the translation 
 of the work of some Arabic charlatan,'* which professed to 
 explain the hieroglyphs. Lenoir, in 1810,"* considered them to 
 be Hebrew documents. An anonymous author, in 1812,^ 
 thought that the inscription of the Portico of Dendera con- 
 tained a translation into hieroglyphs of the lOOfch Psalm. 
 
 In 1816, Bailey, a Cambridge prize-essayist, only repeated 
 what Zoega had said in 1799.^ In 1821 appeared a translation 
 at Genoa of the Pamphilian obelisk, in which it was said to 
 contain an account of the victories of the pious over the 
 wicked, B.C. 4000 (!) dn the reign of the sixth and seventh 
 
 * See Young in the Encyclopsedia Britannica, 4to, London, 1828. Hiero- 
 glyphics. 
 
 2 Lettres sur les Hi6roglyphe8, 8vo, 1802 ; Essai sur lee Hi6roglyphe8, 8vo, 
 1804 ; Analyse de rinscription en Hi6roglyphes du Monument trouv6 il 
 Rosette, 8vo, Paris, 1804. 
 
 ^ Ancient Alphabets, by Ahmeed Bin Abuker Bin Wahshih, 4to, London, 
 1806. Magaz. Encycl. 1810, p. 145. 
 
 * Nouvelle Explication des Hi6roglyphe8 figyptiens, 8vo, Paris, 1809-16. 
 ■^ £tude des Hi6roglyphes, 8vo, Paris, 1812. 
 
 ^ Hieroglyphorum Origo et Natura, 8vo, Cantab. 1816. 
 
I 
 
 YOUNG'S RESEARCHES INTO THE DEMOTIC. 195 
 
 kings of Egypt. Lacour, a Frencli savant, in 1821, thought that 
 they contained Biblical phrases.^ The same year, so prolific in 
 works on hieroglyphics, saw also the work of Senkler,^ who 
 had advanced to the idea that the hieroglyphs represented 
 metaphorically the ideas of the sounds of the objects which 
 they represented, like what is called a rebus — a very near 
 approach to the truth ; but the translations of Senkler, full of 
 philosophical and mythological ideas in very verbose style, are 
 false.^ Amidst this mass of error and contradiction, the 
 application of the phonetic principle by Young, in 1818, had 
 all the merit of an original discovery. Professor Yater had 
 suggested to him that the unknown language of the Eosetta 
 stone was capable of being resolved into an alphabet of thirty 
 letters. His attention was, however, aroused, in 1814, by 
 some papyri brought to England by Sir "W. E. Boughton ; and 
 he communicated some anonymous observations on the en- 
 <;horial writing, to the Society of Antiquaries ^ in the summer 
 of that year, which, however, did not appear in print till 1817, 
 and were followed by others in 1818. His mode of analysis 
 was peculiarly clumsy, considering that means so available were 
 at hand. The method of his investigation was rather mecha- 
 nical than scientific. Having ascertained within certain bounds 
 the relative positions of the enchorial groups, or words, he 
 tried to determine in the same manner the hieroglyphical ; but 
 this was by no means so easy, as he discovered that the 
 versions were paraphrases, not literal translations ; and it was 
 
 ^ Essai sur les Hieroglyphes, 8vo, Bourdeaux, 1821. 
 
 2 Auflosung und Erklanmgsversuch der zehn hieroglyphiscen Gemaelde auf 
 •einem Aegyptien Mumienkasten in dem Kaiserl. Koniglich. Antiken-Cabinet zu 
 Wien, in the Isis Journal, 1821. 
 
 3 Allgemeine Encyclopaedie der Wissenschaften und Kunst, 4to, Lips. 1826, 
 ii. sect. 13, Theil, s. 183, u. f. Hieroglyphen. 
 
 * Archseologia, 1817, xvii. 60. 
 
 2 
 
196 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 only by a comparison of the three kinds of writing that he traced 
 the name of Ptolemy up in his own way, from the demotic into 
 hieratic, into hieroglyphs. His translations, however, are below 
 criticism, being as unfounded as those of Kircher. How far 
 even,in the decipherment, he proceeded correctly may be doubted; 
 but by this means he arrived at the, to him at least, important 
 fact, that the first hieroglyph in Ptolemy was the equivalent of 
 the demotic or vernacular form, and so on with the rest.^ As the 
 one was assumed to be phonetic, the others must be so too. The 
 
 name of Ptolemy on the Eosetta stone is written [ ^fl ^*HP I 
 
 and Young did not succeed in assigning to all the hieroglyphs 
 their true value. The third character he strangely supposed 
 superfluous; and the lion he read OLE. He selected also 
 from the inscriptions of the description of Egypt the name of 
 Berenice without the aid of any trilingual monument, and 
 attempted its analysis by giving what he supposed the phonetic 
 value of each hieroglyph. Here, also, he failed in detail. 
 Altogether he made out the value of five characters, but was 
 unable to analyse by his results more than these - two names. 
 All his other attempts were utterly unsuccessful ; for lie mis- 
 took Autocrator for Arsinoe, and Ccesar for Euergetes. On the 
 whole, he had some success with the interpretation of certain 
 groups, which he published in his vocabulary ; but even here 
 there is much too incorrect in principle to be of real use: 
 much of it is beneath criticism. In this branch Young had 
 adopted an inductive mode of research. Following up the 
 whole labours of Young, neither his subsequent essay, nor the 
 analysis of the Eosetta inscription, nor the protocols of demotic 
 
 * See Young (Thos.), Account of Discoveries in Hieroglyphical Literature, 
 8vo, London, 1823. 
 
 2 Encyclopaxlia Britannica, 4tli ed. iv. 1st Pai-t. 
 
CHAMPOLLION DECIPHERS THE ALPHABET. 197 
 
 papyri, nor his vocabulary of this branch, can be held to justify 
 the promise of his first attempts. He clung to a vicious hypo- 
 thesis with a fanatical pertinacity. 
 
 After the essay by Young, in 1818, Champollion le Jeune, a 
 young French savant, entered upon the path of the discovery so 
 feebly made by Young. He had preceded Young in his publi- 
 cation of "Egypt under the Pharaohs," in 1814.^ It was the 
 first move in the true direction. Jablonski and Zoega had 
 done all that could be effected, as far as collecting the informa- 
 tion of the classical writers was concerned. Zoega, indeed, 
 had even advanced to the point that some hieroglyphs must be 
 employed as sounds. How far Young had gone, has been 
 already stated. From his earliest youth Champollion had been 
 attracted to the study, had stored his mind with much know- 
 ledge of Coptic, and of the opinions of the ancients ; and, after 
 coming from the Lyceum, or public school, had studied the 
 hieroglyphic inscriptions, and obtained considerable insight 
 into their structure and nature. Up to the year 1821,^ he was 
 unconscious of the phonetic value of the hieroglyphs ; he had 
 even not availed himself of the discoveries of Young. It was 
 in January, 1822, that Mr. Bankes, who had before forwarded 
 to Letronne the copy of a Greek inscription on the base of a 
 small obelisk at Philas, transmitted a copy of the hieroglyphical 
 inscription of the shaft. Lebronne had already conjectured 
 that this text must contain the same matter as the Greek ; and 
 ChampolHon then published his letter to M. Dacier, in Sep- 
 tember, 1822.^ In the subsequent year he had commenced 
 
 ^ L']6gypte sous les Pharaons, 8vo, Paris, 1814. 
 - Klaproth, Examen Critique des Travaux de feu M. Champollion, 8vo, 
 Paris, 1832 ; Champollion, De I'jficriture Hieratique, fo. Grenoble, 1821. 
 
 .' Lettre h. M. Dacier relative d, 1' Alphabet des Hieroglyphes ^gyptiens, 8vo, 
 Paris, 1822. 
 
198 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 his " Egyptian Pantheon,"* a splendid work, accompanied bj 
 coloured plates, and explanations from the monuments, which 
 continued till 1825. During the year 1824 he had visited the 
 splendid collection of Drovetti, now in the Museum of Turin, 
 and published his " Letters to M. Blacas," - entering first upon 
 the discussion of the older part of the history and monarchy, 
 and had explained more fully his system and mode of induction 
 in his " Compendium of the Hieroglyphical System of the 
 Ancient Egyptians."^ In 1826 he had published a second 
 " Letter to the Due de Blacas," * containing a series of obser- 
 vations on royal names; and in 1827, a small, but, for the 
 time, valuable, catalogue of the Museum of the Louvre.^ In 
 1831 was issued a prospectus of the " Monuments of Egypt 
 and Nubia." ^ In 1833 came forth his letters written from 
 that country, full of curious and valuable information.'^ The 
 publication of the "Monuments of Egypt," commenced by 
 him, were published afterwards by his brother, M. Champollion- 
 Figeac,^ as were his Grrammaire, in 1836-41;^ and his 
 Dictionnaire, in 1841.^° 
 
 ChampoUion so far improved at once upon the hypothesis of 
 Young, that he conjectured the hieroglyphs to be used in 
 these cartouches alphabetically, and not syllabically; and 
 
 > Pantheon :fcgyptien, 4to, Paris, 1823-25. 
 
 ' Lettres^ M. le Due de Blacas, 8vo, Paris, 1824. 
 
 ' Pr6cis du Syst^me Hieroglyphique, 8vo, Paris, 1824. 
 
 * Lettres h M. le Due de Blaeas, 8vo, Tur. 1826. 
 
 * Notice descriptive des Monumens ^figyptiens du Mus6e Charles X. 12mo^ 
 Paris, 1827. 
 
 ^ Prospectus. Les Monumens, &c. 8vo, 1831. 
 
 7 Lettres ficrites d'Jfigypte et de Nubie, 1828-9, 870, Paris, 1833. 
 
 * Monumens de I'^figypte, fo. Paris, 1835. 
 
 * Grammaire 6gyptieune, fo. 1836-41. 
 
 *" Dictionnaire figyptien, fo. Paris, 1841. 
 
HIS MODE OF DECIPHERMENT. 199 
 
 aided by the lithograph of Bankes's obelisk of PhUaa, which 
 contained the name of Cleopatra, instituted the following 
 comparison : — 
 
 Pirst, he supposed that in the texts each hieroglyph had 
 the value of the initial syllable of the object which it 
 represented. Now, 1 being Cleopatra, and 2 Ptolemy, he 
 thus proceeded — supposing both to be written in phonetic 
 
 hieroglyphs:- (^S^SBI 
 
 1. The first sign in the name of Cleopatra, which is a hnee, 
 in Coptic Tcne or Tceli, ought to be the K of Kleopatra, and 
 would not occur in Ptolemy, which was the fact. 
 
 2. The second hieroglyph, a lion couchant, in Egyptian labio 
 Qaboi Coptic), occurs in the second place of the name of 
 Cleopatra — in the fourth place of that of Ptolemy; there- 
 fore L. 
 
 3. The third hieroglyph, a reed, oak in Egyptian, alee in 
 Coptic, occurred in the sixth and seventh place of Ptolemy — 
 when doubled representing the diphthong AI or AIO, and the 
 A or E of Cleopatra. 
 
 4. The fourth hieroglyph, a kind of noose, which must repre- 
 sent the O in Kleopatra, occurred in the third place — that of 
 the O in the name of Ptolemy. 
 
 5. The fifth sign, a mat, which represented the P in Cleopa- 
 tra, occurred in the first place — that of P in Ptolemy. 
 
 6. The sixth sign, an eagle, the Coptic word for which is 
 AhTioom, occurring in the place of the A of Cleopatra, was not 
 found in the name of Ptolemy ; but it occurred in the ninth 
 place of the name of Elleopatra, exactly where the A recurs in 
 Greek. 
 
 7. The hand, in Coptic toot, was evidently the T of Cleopatra 
 
200 » HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 in the seventh place, but did not, as might have been expected, 
 appear in the second of Ptolemy. 
 
 Long researches had, however, convinced the inquirer of the 
 existence of homophones, or characters having the same value, 
 interchanged in proper names with one another. The second 
 place of Ptolemy was occupied by a hieroglyph, often repeated 
 at the end of female proper names, and apparently the T, or 
 feminine Coptic article. 
 
 8. The eighth place in Cleopatra was occupied by a mouth, in 
 Coptic ro, and was consequently the E- <3> . It did not 
 occur in Ptolemy, in which there is no R. 
 
 9. The eagle was the sixth sign, and recurred twice in its 
 right place in Cleopatra. 
 
 10. The semicircle was the second of Ptolemy, and in con- 
 junction with 
 
 11. The egg, was found at the end of female proper names, 
 and did not appear essential to the sound. 
 
 In the name of Ptolemy there are, consequently, the fifth, 
 m, and last sign, s, only to explain. All the others had been 
 found in their proper order. 
 
 By comparing the two names with that of Alexander, he 
 obtained the probable value in sound of fifteen phonetic hiero- 
 glyphs ; and it soon became evident that, by examining other 
 names of the Persian, Greek, and Roman rulers of the country, 
 tlie greater part of the phonetic hieroglyphs in use from the 
 time of Cambyses till the middle period of the Roman Empire 
 could be developed. Hence Champollion, with remarkable 
 tact, discovered this Persian name, and those as well as the 
 titles of the Roman emperors, which turned out to be in the 
 Greek language — that in which they are placed on the cur- 
 rency: as Autocrator for Imperator or Emperor, Kaisar for 
 Ca?sar, and Sebastos for Augustus. This alone was an immense 
 
APPLICATION OF SYSTEM TO NATIVE NAMES. 201 
 
 stride ; but it soon became evident that it was capable of still 
 furtber extension. A cursory glance on the Eosetta stone 
 sbows tnat tbe mass of bieroglypbs of wbicb tbe inscription is 
 composed are tbe same as tbose used in tbe names of tbe 
 foreign rulers of Egypt, arranged in different order in groups. 
 For example ; in tbe cartoucbe or ring, wbicb encloses tbe name 
 
 of Ptolemy is a group 8 rll > tbe two first bieroglypbs of 
 
 wbicb are tbose of Ptolemy; viz., P T. iS'ow in tbe Grreek 
 version it states tbat Ptolemy is beloved by PHTHA — in 
 Coptic PTAH; consequently tbe tbird or last bieroglypb 
 was an H. By applying tbis principle to tbe various biero- 
 glypbic groups in texts, a number of Coptic words were 
 discovered, besides tbe names of deities, persons, and places 
 of ancient Egypt. And extending it to tbe cartoucbes of 
 tbe older kings, it soon appeared tbat pbonetic bieroglypbs 
 were not, as Young, and even CbampoUion bimself, bad at 
 first supposed, an innovation adopted under tbe foreign rulers, 
 
 but a continuance of tbe old system. Tbus, C^ vC j Khuvu 
 
 {Cheops) f and Psemetih (JPsammetichus), ( ^Pj^^j | w^ere only 
 
 part of tbe same system of writing. Tbese bieroglypbs, 
 indeed, were mixed up witb many, ideograpbical or symbolic ; 
 but tbe development of tbe important fact in tbe decipber- 
 ment gradually revealed tbe wbole grammar and system of 
 tbe language, and placed tbe future inquirer on tbe route 
 for tbe decipberment and interpretation of tbe wbole. By 
 tbese means tbe great problem was worked out in all its 
 essentials in eigbt years by tbe indefatigable and wonderful 
 genius of CbampoUion ; and during bis lifetime no one can be 
 
 \^ 
 
202 W HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 said to liave aided or competed with him in the task. He 
 more feared, it appears, rivals of his glory than detractors of his 
 fame; but the Orientalists of his day for the most part beheld 
 his labours with suspicion or indifference, if they did not attack 
 them with asperity. The general public, however, received 
 them with wonder and delight ; and the French government, 
 ever alive to the interests of learning, sent him at the head of a 
 scientific mission to Egypt, to rescue the rapidly vanishing 
 monuments of the country from oblivion, by copying them, and 
 to illumine the world by explaining them. Provided with a 
 simple and efficacious system, and the experience of an examina- 
 tion of a great number of texts, ChampoUion translated with a 
 marvellous facility the inscriptions submitted to him. He at 
 once saw the purport of the hieratic manuscript of M. Sallier at 
 Aix, containing the campaign of Eameses against the Sheta. 
 He read with fluency the different inscriptions on the monu- 
 ments, and gave life to their mute forms. His most remark- 
 able reading was the name of Judah Malcha (the Kingdom of 
 Judah), on the wall of Karnak, amidst the prisoners of Sheshak. 
 His " Lettres Ecrites " are full of new translations, illustrative 
 of the mythology, history, ethnography, manners and customs 
 of the Egyptians as they were, and declare themselves. His 
 great philological work, his Grammar, which he called his 
 visiting-card to posterity, was not finished till his return, nor 
 published till after his death. 
 
 If the process of Young inspired confidence, although it led 
 to error, by the mathematical precision with which it was con- 
 ducted, that of ChampoUion, more literary, more perfect in its 
 application and astounding in its results, found a host of oppo- 
 nents on the one hand, and supporters on the other. Salt, the 
 British Consul- General of Egypt, known for his travels, ex- 
 cavations, and collections, had embraced the new theories, and 
 
OPPONENTS AND FOLLOWERS OF HIS SCHOOL. 20a 
 
 published a little essay in 1825-/ and Guigniaut,- in I'rance, 
 followed Champollion, in the same year, neither, however, with 
 much philological talent. New theories were, however, imme- 
 diately brought into collision with that of Champollion, of 
 which the most remarkable and perseveringly followed has 
 been that of Spohn : that the language was a sacred dialect, 
 and that the hieroglyphs were not letters, but the symbols of 
 letters,^ which found a zealous disciple and expounder in 
 Seyffarth.^ He divided them into empJionic, sympJionic, and 
 ajphonic. So far as it is possible to understand what he means, 
 it would appear that empTionics are phonetic ; sympTioniCf en- 
 clitic, or supplementary sounds; aphonics, ideographics. In 
 the same year CoquereP had applied the new discoveries to 
 Biblical researches ; and Groulianoff, a Bussian savant, had pro- 
 posed a modification of the system, in which he styled the 
 phonetical hieroglyph acrologic^ which was followed by a letter 
 of E^aproth/ Cardinal Wiseman, in the succeeding year, had, 
 like Coquerel, applied them to Biblical studies.^ In Egypt 
 itself Colonel Felix had made researches on the royal names ; ^ 
 and Sir Gardner Wilkinson had, in the same year, published a 
 work at Malta, which not only treated upon all kind of matters 
 connected with the new studies, but also enlarged the vocabu- 
 
 1 Essay on Dr. Young and M. Champollion' s Phonetic System of Hiero- 
 glyphics, 8vo. London, 1825. 
 
 ' Description d'tine CaisseTde Momie figyptienne, Svo. Paris, 1825. 
 
 3 De Lingua et Litteratura Yeteris ^gypti, 4to. 1825. This idea is said to 
 have emanated from Cosmos Indicopleustes (Cosmographia, 161), in the sixth 
 century. 
 
 ^ Kudimenta Hieroglyphices, 4to. Lipsise, 1825 ; Brevis Defensio Hiero- 
 glyphices inventse a Spohn et Seyffarth. 4to. Lipsiae, 1827. 
 
 ^ Biographic Sacree, 8vo. Amst. 1825-6. 
 
 ^ Essai sur les Hieroglyphes, 4to. Paris, 1827. 
 
 ' Seconde Lettre sur les Hieroglyphes, 8vo. Paris, 1827. 
 
 8 Horse Syriacae, Svo. London, 1828. ^ Notes, 4to. Pisa, 1826. 
 
204 " HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 larj;' in which year Mr. Osburn,'-^ also a Coptic scholar, had 
 thrown considerable light upon many points. The work of 
 Greppo,' in the same year, although it added nothing to the 
 study, yet gave a lucid account of the discovery. During this 
 time the European residents in Egypt had shown considerable 
 activity; and some of the most remarkable inscriptions had 
 been copied and published by Sir G. AVilkinsou, Mr. Hali- 
 burton,'* and Mr. Bonomi. 
 
 Immediately on the return of the French expedition, in 1829, 
 Klaproth^ renewed his attack upon ChampoUion, who had 
 pointed out in a masterly manner his daring errors in Coptic. 
 In the next year Janelli,'"' a Neapolitan writer, published an 
 account of the Eosetta stone on the old ideographic theory. 
 In 1832 appeared the first fruits of the second expedition to 
 Egypt, in the publication of " The Monuments of Egypt," by 
 Rosellini,' who had accompanied the expedition from Tuscany, 
 having been joined to it at the request of the Grand Duke, 
 and to whom the publication of " The Historical Monuments" 
 was confided. The Italian Egyptologist, although by no means 
 endowed with the talents or knowledge of ChampoUion, yet, by 
 his perseverance, and the solidity of his judgment, must be 
 
 ^ Afateria Hieroglypliica, 4to. Malta, 1828, 
 
 ' Osbum (W.), An Account of an Egyptian Mummy, presented to the 
 Museum at Leeds, Svo. Leeds, 1828. 
 
 ' Essai sur le Systcme Hieroglyphique, Svo. Paris, 1829, translated by M. 
 Stuart, 12mo. Boston, 1830. 
 
 •* J. (Hali)Burton, Excerpta Hieroglyphica, long fo. Cairo, 1826-9. 
 
 ^ Collection des Antiquitcs recueill^es par M. le Chevalier Palin, fo. 
 Paris, 1829. 
 
 ^ Fundamenta Hermeneutica Hieroglyphicte crypticae veterum Qentiiim, Svo. 
 Neapol. 1830; Hieroglyphica ^gyptia, Svo. Neapol. 1830; Tentamen Herme- 
 neuticum, Svo. Neapol. 1831. See Cullimore in Trans. Hoy. Soc. Lit. 1839, 
 ii. 75. 
 
 7 Monument! d'Egitto e della Nubia, Svo. with plates, fo. Pisa, 1832. 
 
PUOGRESS OF THE STUDY. 205 
 
 allowed to have materially aided the rising study of the 
 hieroglyphs. The virulence of Klaproth^ had, however, by no 
 means ceased. Wrong in principle, although right in some 
 minor details, he still continued to attack even the memory of 
 ChampoUion, now deceased, with his criticisms. In the mean 
 time the Italian savans, through ignorance and perverseness, 
 still clung to the departed system of Kircher and Grebelin.- 
 Mr. Williams had also disserted on the same principle.^ 
 Salvolini, a Sardinian, sent by his government to complete his 
 researches at Paris, attracted by the new study, devoted himself 
 to ChampoUion, and appeared as a successor to his system, 
 publishing, in 1832-3, a " Memoir on the Notation of Dates," '^ 
 in 1835 an account of the papyrus of M. Sallier at Aix, one of 
 the poems recording the campaign of Eameses II. against the 
 Sheta,^ in 1836 an analysis of the hieroglyphic text of the 
 B/Osetta inscription,® and in 1837 an account of the inscription 
 of the obelisk of Luxor, removed to Paris.^ This was the first 
 attempt at critical analysis after the labours of ChampoUion. 
 He endeavoured to enlarge the alphabet, to prove the value of 
 sounds and the meaning of groups by an extended examination 
 of texts ; and although there can be no doubt but that his 
 discoveries were extensively pirated from his illustrious master, 
 and his method of analysis was unsound in principle, yet 
 
 1 Examen Critique, &c. 8vo. Paris, 1832. 
 
 2 Fr. Ricardi fu Carlo. Compimento e Traduzione della Parte Greca e 
 Geroglifica della" Pietra di Rosetta, 8vo. Geneva, 1833. De Gebelin wrote iu 
 the Recueil d'Antiquites of La Sauvagere. 
 
 ^ Essay on the Hieroglyphics, 8vo. London, 1836. 
 
 ■* Des Principales Expressions qui servent t la Notation des Dates, 8vo. 
 Paris, 1832 ; Seconde Lettre, 8vo. Paris, 1833. 
 
 ^ Campagne de Rhamses le Grand contre les Scheta, 8vo. Paris, 1835. 
 
 ^ Analyse Grammaticale, 4to. Paris, 1836. 
 
 7 Traduction et Analyse des Inscriptions sur I'Obelisque de Luxor, 4to. 
 Paris, 1837. 
 
206 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 considerable merit is due to liim for the method he followed. 
 In 1835 Dr. Leemans, of Holland, had published a valuable 
 edition of HorapoUo, connecting this author with the new 
 discoveries.^ Sebastiani, in Italy, had also applied it to Biblical 
 chronology.- The study of philology had, however, continued 
 to be cultivated in England; for Sir Gardner AVilkinson, in 
 1835, had published his " Topography of Thebes,"^ and in 
 1837 his " Manners and Customs ;" * and Torke,* Colonel 
 Leake, the Bishop 'of Gibraltar," and Mr. Pettigrew,^ all 
 adopted the truth of the theory of Champollion ; ^ while 
 Biblical analogies were admitted by many, as Cooke Taylor ^ 
 and Eobiano.^" 
 
 In the mean time a new student appeared in the ranks, who, 
 after already distinguishing himself by researches into the rela- 
 tion of the Coptic, applied his mind to the systematising of the 
 labours of Champollion." This was M. Lepsius,^" who in the 
 Annali of the Institute of Archaeological Correspondence at 
 Itome, founded by the Germans and English, and protected by 
 
 ^ HorapoUinis Niloi Hieroglypliica, a Leemans, 8vo. Amst. 1835. 
 ^ I Faraoni di Abramo, &c. 8vo. Roma, 1835. 
 
 * Topography of Thebes, 8vo. London, 1835. 
 
 * Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, First Series, 8vo. 
 London, 1837 ; Second Series, 8vo. London, 1841. 
 
 5 Trans. Roy. Soc. Lit. 4to. 1827, i. 205 et acq. 
 
 ' Ibid. 1834, ii. 457, on Royal Names on Sarcophagus in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 7 History of Mummies, 4to. London, 1884. 
 
 ^ Champollion-Figeac. |Notice sur les MSS. Autographes de Champollion 
 le Jeune, 8vo. Paris, 1842. 
 
 ^ niustration of the Bible from the Monuments of Egypt, 8vo. London, 
 1838. 
 
 '" Histoire de rfiglise, 8vo. Paris, 1836. 
 
 *^ See Gliddon, Lecture, p. 7. 
 
 ^' Annali ix. 1 — 100, separately reprinted as Lettre i\ M. Rosellini, 8vo. 
 Home, 1887. 
 
 i 
 
RISE OF THE SCHOOL OF CHAMPOLLION. 207 
 
 the munificence of the present King of Prussia, published a 
 letter to M. Eosellini, in which he critically analysed and 
 arranged the structure of the language. It was the first step 
 in the right direction since the death of ChampoUion. The 
 study, indeed, had already found a great ally in the support 
 given to it by the Chevalier Bunsen, who, struck by the talent 
 of the young German student, warmly seconded his efforts.^ 
 Colonel Mure had also entered upon ethnological researches 
 connected with Egyptian history about the same time.^ In 
 1839^ M. Lepsius visited England, and at a meeting for the 
 purpose, in the rooms of the Koyal Society of Literature, the 
 Chevalier Bunsen and M. Lepsius had explained many points 
 of chronological and philological interest. The study continued 
 steadily to advance by the labours of Dr. Leemans'* in Holland, 
 and of M. Lenormant,^ Nestor L'Hote,^ M. Prisse,^ and 
 M. Pauthier,^ in Paris. In Great Britain continued researches 
 
 ^ For other dissertations see Bulletin, p. 1 et seq. 1838, p. 37, sur les deux 
 Statues Colossales figyptiennes au Musee Royal de Berlin; Annali, 1838, ix. 
 p. 167 ; Notice sur deux Statues !figyptiennes, 1838, x. 103-22 ; Analyse des 
 Inscriptions Hieroglyphiques. 
 
 2 I Popoli Stranieri, 8vo. Rome, 1837; Annali, 1836, in p. 333. 
 
 3 See Literary Gazette, May, 1839. Nos. 1164, 1165. 
 
 * Lettre k M. Fran9ois Salvolini, 8vo. Leide, 1838; Monumens !6gyptiens, 
 fo. Leide, 1839; Lettre k M. deWitte, Rev. Arck 1847-8, p. 628—717; aM. 
 Prisse d' Avesnes, Rev. Arch. 1849. 
 
 5 Musee des Antiquites figyptiennes, fo. Paris, 1841 ; ficlaircissement sur 
 le Cercueil de Mycerinus, 4to. Paris, 1839 ; Recherches sur les Hieroglyphes 
 d'HorapoUo, 8vo. Paris, 1838. 
 
 ^ Notice Historique sur les Obelisques, 8vo. Paris, 1836 ; Lettre a M. de 
 Witte, Lettres ficrites de I'llgypte en 1838-9, 8vo. Paris, 1840. 
 
 7 Notice sur la Salle des Anc^tres de Thoutlimes III. Rev. Arch. ii. 1, Svo. 
 1845 ; Antiquites ^^gyptiennes de Oaire, Rev. Arch. ii. 729 : Recherches sur 
 les Legendes Royales de Schai, ib. 457; Antiquites Egyptiennes du Musee 
 Britannique, 1846, iii. 693; Monumens ^figyptiens, gr. fo. Paris, 1847; 
 Facsimile d'un Papyrus, fo. Paris, 1847. 
 
 ** Sinico-^gyptiaca, 8vo. Paris, 1842. 
 
208 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 were carried on by Mr. Birch/ Dr. Hincks,- Dr. Nolan,* 
 Mr. Osburn/ Mr. Pettigrew,^ Spineto,*^ and tlie Bishop of 
 Gibraltar.'' In Italy the Abbe Gazzera,^ Professor Migliarini,^ 
 the Chevalier Quintino,^" Ungarelli," and Lanci,^- entered with 
 ardour on the new path. In Germany the important researches 
 of the Chevalier Bunsen ; *^ while in America the interesting 
 
 * Vyse, Pyramids of Gizeb, 8vo. London, 1841-2; Description of an 
 Egyptian Tomb, Arch. 1841, xix. 111-26; Tablet of Rameses 11. ib. xxxir. 
 357; Annals of Thothmes IH. ib. xxxv. 116 ; Lettre iM. Letronne, Rer. Arch. 
 V. 301. Sur le Nom Calasiris, 195; La Famille de Psammetichus, 623. 
 Hieratical Canon at Turin, Trans. Roy. Soc. Lit. i. 208. Obelisk of the 
 Atmeidan, ib. ii. 218; Statistical Tablet of Karnak, ib. 317 ; Ivory Ornaments 
 at Nimroud, iii. 151 ; Chseremon, ib. 385 ; Gallery of Antiquities, 4to. 1846 ; 
 On the Egyptian Mummy, Arch. Journ. 1850, p. 273 ; Object of Reign of 
 Amenophis III. ib. 1851, p. 396 ; Egyptian Calendar, ib. 1850, p. 11. 
 
 2 On the Egyptian Stele or Tablet, Trans. Roy. Ir. Acad. xix. Part ii. 4to. Dublin, 
 1849 ; ib. xxi. Part i. 1846 ; On the Defacement of Divine and Royal Names, 
 ib. xxi. Part ii. 1848; An Attempt to Ascertain the Number, Names, and 
 Powers of the Letters of the Hieroglyphic Alphabet, 1 ; Catalogue of the Egyptian 
 MSS. in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, 8vo. Dublin, 1843 ; Brit. Arch. 
 Assoc. Winchester Meeting, 8vo. 1845, 246 ; Dub. Univ. Mag. 187, 1846. 
 
 •^ Dr. Nolan on the Cycles of the Ancient Egyptians, Trans. Roy. Soc. Lit. 
 4to. London, 1842, iii. 289 j The Egyptian Chronology Analysed, 8vo. 
 London, 1848. 
 
 * Osbum (W.), The Antiquities of Egypt, 8vo. London, 1841 ; Ancient 
 Egypt, 8vo. 1846 ; Monumental History of Egypt, 8vo. 1855. 
 
 * Examination of the Mummy of Petmautiohmes, Arch, xviii. 262-73. 
 
 ® TheElementsof Hieroglyphics and of Egyptian Antiquities, 8vo. London, 1845. 
 
 7 On a Royal Egyptian CoflGin in the British Museum ; Trans. Roy. Soc. 
 Lit. II. 457, III. 238 ; On the Astronomical Ceiling of the Memnonium, III. 
 484 ; Flaminian Obelisk, ib. 8vo. New Series, i. 176. 
 
 8 Memor. della R. Accad. di Torino, 4to. 1835; Monumenti (Jeroglifici del 
 Regio Museo Egizio, 4to. Torin, 1824. 
 
 ' Annali, 1842. ^° Lezioni Archeologichi, 4to. Torino. 
 
 " Interpretatio Obeliscomm, fo. Romte, 1842. 
 
 ** Lettre sur rinterpr6tation des Hi6roglyphes figyptiens, Syo. Fftris, 1847. 
 
 " AegyptensStelleinderWeltgeschichte, 8vo. Hamburg, 1845 ; Egypt's Place 
 in Universal History, 8vo. London, 1848, translated by C. H. Cottrell, Esq. M. A. ; 
 also Report of Brit. Assoc, for Advancement of Science, 254, 8vo. London, 1848. 
 
THE HIEROLOGISTS. 209 
 
 lectures of Mr. Gliddon ^ rapidly and extensively diffused a 
 knowledge of the subject. Important accessions haye been 
 made lately to the ranks of the hierologists, or those who 
 profess to interpret the hieroglyphs, in MM. de Rouge* and 
 De Saulcy,^ Ampere/ Mariette,^ Chabas," Lenormant, fils', 
 Lesueur,^ Brunet de Presle.^ In Germany M. Brugsch ^° has 
 
 1 In the Journal, The New World, New York, 1844, which have been con- 
 tinued since in various American Journals ; see also the Ethnological Journal, 
 8vo. London, 1848, 241 et seq. ; Otia >^gyptiaca, Svo. London, 1849. 
 
 2 Sur les Lions de Granit rouge de Nubie, Rev. Arch. 1847, iv. 115 ; Sur 
 le Sesostris de la Douzi^me Dynastie, ib. 478, 731 ; Sur un Interpretation d'un 
 Norn Egyptien, Rev. Arch. 1848, v. 303 ; Sur les Travaux de ChampoUion, 
 ib. 321 ; Inscriptions des Rochers de Semne, ib. 311 ; Examen de I'Ouvrage 
 de M. Lepsius, Rev. Arch. 1849, vi. 623, 650 ; Sur un Stele ^figyptienne, ib. 
 558 ; Sur la Statue Naophore du Vatican, Rev. Arch. 1850, viii. 37 ; Sur le 
 Papyrus de Turin, ib. 559 ; Rapport a M. le Directeur General des Musees 
 nationaux, Moniteur, 1851 ; Annales de Philosophic Chretienne, xiv. xv, xvi. ; 
 Manuscrit Egyptien, ix. 385 ; Phenomenes Celestes, ib. 653 ; Athenaeum 
 Frangais, 1854-5-6 ; L'Inscription du Tombeau d'Aahmes. 4to, Paris, 1851 ; 
 Essai sur une Stele, lithograph, 4to, Berl., 1849. 
 
 2 Defense de M. ChampoUion, Rev. Arch. i. 341 ; Lettre a M. Letronne sur 
 les Proscynemes, ib. 735 ; Sur I'ficriture Demotiqiie, Rev. Arch. 1845, ii. 
 393 ; Examen des Ecrits de Klaproth, Rev. Arch. 1846, iii. 1. ; Sur un Frag- 
 ment d'Ecriture Demotique, ib. 1848, v. 104. 
 
 ^ Des Castes, Rev. Arch. 1849, v. 405. 
 
 » Notice sur un Fragment de Papyrus du Musee Royal de Turin, Rev. Arch. 
 1849, V. 305 ; Renseignements sur les 62 Apis Alten Franc. 1855 ; Bull. 
 Arch. pp. 86, 90, 92, 100. 
 
 ® Is known to the author by several communications in MS. 
 . 7 Fragments du Livre de Chaeremon, Rev. Arch. 1850, viii. 13. 
 
 ^ Chronologie des Rois d'.Egypte, 4to. Paris, 1848. 
 
 ^ Examen Critique, Svo. Paris, 1850. 
 
 1^ Ubereinstimmung einer Hieroglyphischen Inschrift, Svo. Berlin, 1849 ; 
 Lettre a M. de Rouge, 4to. Berlin, 1850 ; Ueber die fiinf, Epagomenae Zeit- 
 schrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, Svo. 1852, H. 2 ; Scriptura 
 ^gyptiorum Demotica, 4to. 1848 ; Numerorum apud Yeteres ^gyptios Demoti- 
 corumDoctrina, 4to, 1849 ; Die Adonisklageunddas Linoslied, Svo, Berlin, 1852; 
 Inacriptionis Rosettanse Hieroglyphicse Decretum Sacerdotale, 4to, lipsiae, 1853; 
 Sal en Sin Sin, 4to, Berlin, 1841. 
 
 p 
 
210 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 chiefly studied the demotic; while Lepsius/ now a veteran, 
 continues steadily to advance various branches of the study ; 
 Miss Corbaux" and Mr. Poole ^ in England, S. Orcurti at 
 Turin,"* P. Secchi in Eome,^ all profess in essential parti- 
 culars the same principles of interpretation ; but it is not 
 here the place to discuss the relative claims of so manj' 
 contemporaries, who, one and all, in different proportions 
 and ways, have elevated the study into the rank of a 
 science. M. SeyiFarth,*^ indeed, has steadily continued his 
 attacks on the system of ChampoUion since the publication 
 of his " Eudiments," in a series of minor writings. 
 
 ^ Lepsius' recent works are Einleitiing der Chxonologie, 4to. Berlin ; Ueber 
 den Apiskreis, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenliindischen Gesellschaft, 1853, 
 A'ii. 1848-1849; Aegyptische Denkmaeler, folio Berl. 1850; Ueber den 
 Ersten Aegyptischen Lotter-Kreis, Abhandl. d. K. Akad d. Wissench. 4to. 
 Berlin, 1851 ; Ueber der Zwolfte Konigdynastie, ib. 1853. 
 
 " Journal of Sacred Literature, i. 5. 
 
 3 Horae iEgyptiacse, Svo. Lttndon, 1851. 
 
 * Esame di nuovo Principio di lettura dei Geroglifici, Svo. Torino, in the 
 Cimento. Fasc, xii. ; Catalogo dei Monument! Egizii d. R. Musco di Torino, 
 Svo. Torino, 1852. 
 
 ^ Bull, 1852, Rev. Arch. iii. 821, ix. 246. 
 
 ^ De 01)elisco in Porta del Popolo in Hermap. trad. ; Repertorium der 
 Deutschen Litteratur Jahresbericht der Deutschen Morgenliindischen (Jesell- 
 schaft, 8vo. 1844, ii. 32 ; Verhandlungen der ersten Versamnilung der Orien- 
 talisten, Svo. 1845, p. 58 ; Bemerkungen ueber das Turiner Hymnologium, 
 Jahresbericht der Deutschen Morgenliindischen Gesellschaft, 1846, p. 71 ; 
 Recension von Champollion's Hieroglj-phen System in Jahresbericht Lit- 
 teratur, 202-3 ; Die Phonixperiode, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenliin- 
 dischen 'Gesellschaft, Svo. 1848, ii. 63; Recension von Lepsius Chronol. 
 -^gypt. Repert. 1. c. ii. 1 ; Recension von Lepsius Todtenbuch, ib. 1845-6 ; 
 Gi-ammatica Aegyptiaca, Theolog. Schrift. d. alt. Aegypt. Bemerk. d, 
 Mythol. 1855. It is impossible to follow all the miscellaneous researches, 
 such as those of M. Bock, die altesten Bewohner Aegyptens, Svo. Berl, 
 1845; Saalschutz (T. T.), Ueber die Hieroglypheu • Entzifferung, Svo. 
 Konigsberg, 1851 ; Description of the Mummy of Lady Chonse at Bath, Svo, 
 Wallingford, 1852. 
 
VARIOUS KINDS OF HIEROGLYPHS. 211 
 
 He has found devoted followers in MM. Ulilemann ^ and 
 Parrat.- 
 
 Having tlius far succinctly traced the history of the dis- 
 covery of the mode of reading this extinct language, every 
 hope of the recovery of which had at one time been lost to 
 Europe, it is now necessary to enter upon the considerations 
 of the particular nature of each class of hieroglyphs, their 
 -script or mode of writing, the nature of the hieratic and 
 demotic writing, and some account of the purport of the 
 inscriptions and of the literature. "Without this, it is not 
 possible to appreciate either the extent of the discovery, and 
 its importance in universal history, or the scope and object of 
 the colossal monuments, magnificent temples, and remarkable 
 sepulchral remains with which Egypt abounds. Aided by the 
 light of philology, the present age penetrates the gloom of 
 thirty centuries, and unseals the closed lips of the dead. 
 
 The writing of the Egyptians was peculiarly monumental, 
 ;and was principally employed for the temples and public 
 •edifices. It was also used for all the ordinary purposes of 
 life, being painted or inscribed on wood, papyri, terra cotta 
 :and various other substances, and incised or engraved on the 
 various kinds of stone, such as granite, basalt, breccia, calca- 
 reous stone, and on wood, glazed terra cotta, &c. On the 
 •earliest sculptures the hieroglyphs are in a flat bas-relief raised 
 above the surface of the subject ; while in the incuse or cavo- 
 relievo style, as it has been called, they are sunk below it. 
 There are, however, in this style great differences in execution. 
 Sometimes, both at the earliest and latest period, the objects 
 
 ^ De Veterum ^gyptiorum Lingua et Litteris, 8vo. Lipsise, 1851 ; In- 
 scriptionis Rosettanae Hieroglyphicse Decretum Sacerdotale, 4to. Lipsise, 
 1863. 
 
 ' Le Nilometre, a fly-sheet published at Porrentruy, 1S53. 
 
 p 2 
 
212 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 are executed in a convex relief, with all the details and ex- 
 tremities, as the eyes, fingers, and toes, carefully indicated. 
 At other times they are sunk quite flat at the bottom, the 
 mason relying upon the profile or outline to convey his mean- 
 ing. Generally they are placed between two lines, whether 
 horizontally or vertically, as the case may be, of the same 
 colour as the hieroglyphs ; but they are often distributed pro- 
 miscuously in the field, and sometimes appear both horizon- 
 tally and vertically — an arrangement which some have called 
 diphtliong. 
 
 The hieroglyphs were generally coloured on the great monu- 
 ments when complete, and three principal kinds have been 
 remarked by M. Champpllion : — 
 
 1. Sculptured, but not painted. 
 
 2. Sculptured and painted. 
 
 3. Drawn in outline with a pencil, and then painted. 
 Beside which they may be classed as — 
 
 5. JPolycliromej or painted with various colours. 
 
 6. 3Ionochrome, or having only one tint throughout the 
 inscription. 
 
 As it is probable that all were painted, the first class can 
 only apply to certain inscriptions of which the colours have 
 disappeared. The second was that in use for monuments of 
 the highest importance. On these, by means of simple primi- 
 tive colours and flat tints, they endeavoured to imitate conven- 
 tionally the objects which the hieroglyphs represented : thus, 
 the heaven was coloured blue, the hills red, the moon 
 yellow; men with red flesh, and white garments, the folds 
 of which are sometimes traced in red ; females, yellow with 
 red or green dresses ; parts of men and animals red ; and 
 animals by their proper colours, as a lion, yellow ; jackall, 
 black; goose, red; cha»todon, wasp, reed, blue, and yellow. 
 
COLOURED HIEROGLYPHS. 213 
 
 On the same principle, wooden objects were coloured yellow 
 plants and bronze objects, green ; edifices, temples, &c., blue 
 objects of earthenware, red; and iron the same colour 
 glass, blue, with red below, to show the liquid it con- 
 tained. But on the coffins and tablets the colouring is by no 
 means so regular. Sometimes the garments are all green, and 
 at others a kind of confusion of colours takes place, all colours 
 being indifferently applied to the objects.^ On certain tablets 
 and other objects on which the hieroglyphs were executed in 
 less detail, the second manner was used, as on a tablet of the 
 twelfth dynasty;- on another of the thirteenth dynasty, they 
 are green ; '' and^ on a third of the nineteenth dynasty, 
 yellow.'' 
 
 The beautiful appearance which the tombs presented, and the 
 gay and artistic effect produced by lines of pure hieroglyphs, 
 appropriately coloured with simple colour, to imitate the objects 
 they represent, will be admirably seen in the plate M. Lepsius 
 has given of part of the tomb, now at Berlin, of Mer,^ a 
 prince, son of Cheops. Alphabetic writing, compared with it, is 
 as mean and tasteless as the Erank dress compared with the 
 Oriental costume. A style fainter in its tone will be seen^ 
 on another tomb ; others at Ibsamobul show the style of colour 
 prevalent during the nineteenth dynasty. This forms the 
 class called by Champollion pure hieroglyphics. It is evident, 
 that so elaborate a system of writing was not calculated for 
 monuments, unless they were of the greatest importance, as 
 they are a series of small illuminations. Consequently, for the 
 books or rolls of papyri and other objects, such as sarcophagi 
 and tablets, another kind of hieroglyphs, to which the term 
 
 1 Grammaire Egyptienne, fo. Paris, 1836, p. 7. 
 
 ^ Sharpe, Eg. Inscr. PI. 7. 3 j^j. 15. 4 jb^ j^ 
 
 « Lepsius, Denkmaler, Abtli. ii. Bl. 19, 20. ^ lb. BI. 90. 
 
214 
 
 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 linear^ has been applied, were used. These were either 
 engraved with a pointed tool when cut, and traced with the 
 reed, when written, in black or red ink; and the following 
 little table will show the manner in which they were produced^ 
 by tracing the outline of the object in a conventional manner 
 and in one thick line, which preserves all the characteristics of 
 the form of the objects : they are in fact, a 
 kind of abridgment of the hieroglyphs. These 
 bear the impress generally of much spirit and YJ 
 elegance, although some of the sixth dynasty 
 and of the fourth resemble scrawls such 
 would mark incipient essays at the art 
 ' writing. The linear hieroglyphs are indeed 
 capable of many minute divisions and subdi- 
 visions of style, according as they approach to 
 or recede from in their finish the pure hieroglyphs. They form a 
 very large class and portion of the writing. They are generally 
 black ; but certain directional parts, as the heading of chapters, 
 
 ^^ Adoration to the sun, who sets from the district of life" 
 (the west). Here the words "Adoration to" 
 are in red. 
 
 The next point for consideration is thedisposi- 
 j tion of the hieroglyphs, which are arranged in 
 I vertical columns,reading from the top of a column 
 / to its base, then to the top of the next column, 
 and so down the whole series of columns, in the 
 same manner as the Chinese, or in horizontal 
 \ lines. They sometimes face to the left. For ex- 
 ample : in an inscription at Medinet Haboo, the 
 god Phtha, or Vulcan, thus addresses the King Eemeses III. : 
 ' Champollion, Qrammaire Eg}'ptiennc, p. 13. 
 
 
 To I 
 
 ©I 
 
 HI 
 
 II 
 
 if 
 
ARRANGEMENT 9f HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 215 
 
 Al 
 
 m 
 
 "I have given thee thy day upon earth like the sun — 
 thy dominions on earth like Horus, the son of Isis;" in 
 which the line to the left is to be first read, then that to the 
 right. 
 
 In these two instances the animals face to the left ; but in 
 many others they face to the right, which is their 
 most usual direction, as ^ — "A peace-offering to Ea, 
 (the sun), lord of the horizon, great god, superior of 
 the gods." - 
 
 When they refer to persons or objects, they are 
 arranged symmetrically, facing the same way as the ob- 
 jects to which they are attached. Eut the other mode 
 of reading, from the last column facing to the first 
 or retrograde, is common even on monuments of an 
 early period. Thus, on the celebrated sarcophagus of 
 Sethos I., commonly called Belzoni's,^ all the lines 
 read the other way, as 
 
 [ © 
 cm 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 -1^ 
 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 <x 
 
 (^ III 
 
 I I 
 
 I I I 
 I I 1 
 
 I I I 
 
 Ul 
 
 T 111 
 
 H 
 
 
 !H 
 
 1.:. 
 
 ■k 
 
 1 
 
 " This great god is led to the gods of the gates — towed along 
 in space." He says : " Lead ye me to the gates, adore ye 
 me throughout your gates ; pull your cords, lead ye me by 
 them;" which is part of one of the speeches of the Siin 
 to the gods, who lead him through space in the hours of 
 the day. 
 
 1 Lepsius, Todt. Taf.v. 15. 2 Champollion, Grammaire Egyptienne, p. 19. 
 ' Sometimes in tlie same column of hieroglyphs the titles of the god face one 
 way, and the speech another. •* Sharpe, Egyptian Inscriptions, PI. 64. 
 
*% 
 
 •f. 
 
 216 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 Generally tlie horizontal lines read from the way the animals 
 face, as — 
 
 + !<rT;kkrv^ 
 
 " The words of Turn (the setting sun), who dwells in the 
 temple. Come to me, beloved son of my race, the god beloved 
 of Truth ; I give to thee the throne of the sun (Ra), the glory 
 of Seb (Saturn), the dominions of Horus, as king." ^ 
 
 Here, of course, the line commences from the left ; the lines 
 often face to the right. Sometimes the horizontal lines read back- 
 ward, as on the coffin of the King Nekhtherhebi in the British 
 Museum, and as that of Gu-her, at Paris, as in the following 
 
 example: a I I 1 J| i 111 "says the person of that great 
 
 god of the west."'' 
 
 Now the mode of detecting this was, of course, by observing 
 the recurrence of certain groups of characters, and then finding 
 how they were divided, which gave a clue to the sequence of the 
 lines, and by paying attention to the manner in which the lines 
 usually commenced. 
 
 It will be seen from these examples that the signs are 
 packed with great care and skill according to their relative 
 length and breadth, so as to leave no gaping space to the eye, and 
 yet avoiding an array so close as would prevent their being easily 
 read. On the papyri the columns are generally vertical with 
 some horizontal Hues, on the steles and other monuments 
 placed indifferently, according to the nature of the monument. 
 
 ^ Champollion, Notice, p. 297. 
 
 - Sharpe, Egyptian Inscriptions, Second Series, PI. 10. 
 
4 
 
 NUMBER OF HIEROGLYPHS. 217 
 
 ♦ 
 It is not possible to determine the actual number of hiero- 
 glyphics used by the Egyptians, because the language was 
 capable of indefinite expansion, at the will of the scribe. Bruce 
 had reckoned them at 514; Zoega, 958; Champollion, in his 
 ^' Precis," 864, which he thus classed : — 
 
 Celestial Bodies 10 
 
 Human Figures 120 
 
 * Limbs 60 
 
 Wild Quadrupeds 21 
 
 Domestic Quadrupeds . . . . . .10 
 
 Limbs of Quadrupeds ..... 22 
 
 Birds and Parts of Birds 50 
 
 Fishes 10 
 
 Reptiles and Parts of Reptiles . . . .30 
 
 Insects ........ 14^ 
 
 Vegetable Kingdom 60 
 
 Buildings 21 
 
 Furniture 100 
 
 Attire 80 
 
 Tools and Instruments . . . . . .150 
 
 Vases and Cups ...... 30 
 
 Greometric Forms .20 
 
 Fantastic Forms 50 
 
 Total S64 
 
 The Chevalier Bunsen's list gives ; — 
 
 Ideographlcs . . . . . . .620 
 
 Determinatives . . . . . . . 164 
 
 Phonetics 129 
 
 Mixed Signs ....... 56 
 
 Total 969 
 
 Some of tliese, indeed, are repetitions ; but allowing for the 
 number of new forms discovered by M. Lepsius, and published 
 in his Monuments, they may be supposed to be, in round num- 
 bers, 1000. In the table of his Grammar Champollion gives 
 only 342, and in the Index of his Dictionary, 750. 
 
 The hieroglyphs consist of the representation of the heavenly 
 
213 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 bodies, — the sun, the moon, whethier young or old, the stars ; 
 tjie human race, in all its yarious actions ; the gods, in all their 
 combinations and attire ; the members of the body ; divers 
 kinds of quadrupeds, whether domestic or wild ; birds, their 
 eggs and plumes; fishes, insects, and reptiles; vegetables, 
 fruits, and flowers ; all the various objects in use among man- 
 kind ; attire for the head, and feet, and body ; the objects of 
 their toilet ; their weapons, their musical instruments, chests, 
 coffers, and funeral apparel ; several sorts of vases, and such 
 like objects ; parts of edifices, and other geometric forms ; 
 besides many fantastic shapes, combinations of men and 
 animals, and a vast array of unknown forms. Everything the 
 eye could see and the hand delineate was capable of entering 
 into the system, although perspicuity rendered the employment 
 of only a limited number of symbols necessary. 
 
 IDEOGRAPHS. 
 
 The hieroglyphs which represent only one idea have thence 
 been called by hierologists ideographs, or painting of ideas, and 
 are the class described by Clement as tropic, or conveying ideas 
 by imitation. They are figurative or mimic, and are the remains 
 of the primitive language, in which each idea was depicted by 
 one object. This class of characters is by far the most nume- 
 rous of the whole language, although necessarily very limited 
 in its application, as not capable of too extensive an application. 
 It was, however, very possible to compose short sentences of 
 ideographs, and an approximation to one is mentioned by 
 Plutarch,* who states that on the pronaos of tlie temple of Sais 
 there were an old man, a youth, a hawk, fish, and hippopotamus, 
 
 * De Iside et Osiride, c. xxxii. ; Orcurti, Catalogo illustrato dei Montuuenti 
 Egizii del Reale Museo di Torino, 8vo, Torino, 1852. 
 
IDEOGRAPHS. 219 
 
 which may be thus restored — fuj\ jLI^^ 'vI"^ 
 meaning, " all, whether old or young, know that the goda) 
 hate impudence ! " It is in the texts of the temple that the 
 greatest number of ideographical signs occurs ; for these grand 
 inscriptions received a more dignified appearance, and more 
 poetic development, by the insertion of the full representation 
 of the subjects mentioned in the texts. In the scenes, too, of 
 offering various rich and valuable gifts to the gods, the objects 
 themselves are frequently repeated in the texts. * _^ 
 
 In the formation of the ideograph signs to express language 
 two modes were called into action. In certain physical and 
 other objects it was possible to represent them directly, that is by 
 
 mimic characters ;^ thus a cow, 'Tibivi (iJicf, is often represented 
 by a cow, or a cat, ^L , shau, by a cat. In the names of gods 
 too, direct representations were invaluable, because there could 
 be no ambiguity as to meaning ; for ^ , a hawk-headed god 
 bearing the disk could mean no other than Ea (the sun); and ^ 
 an ibis-headed god, certainly was Tel, or Mercury. But the 
 expression of products required more ingenuity ; thus to express 
 
 milk, I • J the Egyptians used a vase, with a conventional re- 
 presentation of the stream rising from it ; and oil is represented 
 by an oil-jar J" ; fishing by a pelican seizing a fish, or 
 
 fishing ^/]| ; all of which are direct representations of the 
 
 idea intended to be conveyed. But it is evident that the 
 circle of ideas thus conveyed must be very limited. How, for 
 example, could qualities or adjectives be written, how mental 
 emotions ? To effect this they adopted the system of metonymy, 
 
 ^ Cliev. Bunsen, Egypt's Place in Universal History, p. 350. 
 
220 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 or metaplior ; and as the poet applies the image of one idea to 
 jepi'esent another, so the sacred scribe used one object to 
 Express another than itself. These are the indirect ideographs, 
 or what Clement called the tropic, and ChampoUion symholic. 
 
 Thus jj^^ a jackal, was used to express hiowledge, a hiero- 
 
 ^rammateus, or sacred scribe, or wise man, because that animal 
 was crafty {sah).-, and an ape j|B|K standing upright was used 
 for anger {gant). In the same manner a ^•fe ? a red bird, 
 
 meant red (fesJier) ; and spotted skin, W , pied {iih). This, how- 
 ever, was limited in its application, as the refinement of lan- 
 guage required a great many words to be expressed, which this 
 system could only do by ramifying into so many ideas as to in- 
 duce confusion. Hence another principle was called into play. 
 They used the instrument to express the product or the effect, 
 
 as ^1 a pen, vase, and pallet, to signify writing; a hand- 
 plough ^» , to mean hoeing or digging ; an eye -^^ to sig- 
 nify seeing. How else, for example, could the idea of sight be ^ 
 conveyed ? and how much more compendious it was to adopt 
 means so simple as tlie pen and the plough, than to depict at 
 every turn a scribe writing or a ploughman at work ? This 
 abridgment of labour is so natural that it may be readily con- 
 ceived it was soon adopted into the language. If, however, the 
 instrument was used for the product, or the cause for the 
 eff( t, in other cases the product was used for the instrument 
 or the effect for the cause : thus, a pool of water was used for 
 
 " the river'* ' ' which produced it ; and a bunch of papyrus 
 1y^ , or a bee or wasp j|^ , for " Lower Egj'pt,'* because 
 
TROPIC HIEROGLYPHS. 221 
 
 there they swarmed; a man SQJ standing and holding two 
 
 camelopards means the " country of ^m," the ancient name 
 of the regions where these animals abounded and were 
 
 ./ captured. 
 
 I There was also another form of ideograph which placed the 
 
 part for the whole by a pictorial synecdoche, as the -^ head 
 of a bird to signify birds ; and © ® pupils of the eye, for eyes ; 
 
 the fore part of an Qryx ^ for the wliole, and to signify 
 
 pride. This indeed rather belongs to a system of tachygraphy 
 than to metaphysical notions connected with the principle of 
 , , the formation of the ideographs.^ 
 
 In the same manner, according to the genius of the people, 
 the living emblems of deities were employed to express the 
 
 names of the gods themselves, as an ibis on its standard j^ 
 
 ', for Tet or Thoth, a seated ass, 'jLj for Set or Typhon, a 
 
 I crocodile on a pylon ^B\ for Sevek or Souchis, a feather f 
 
 for truth. This mode has been called the enigmatic or obscure, 
 because certain mystical physical notions are assigned by 
 writers like the author Horapollo as the reasons why these 
 animals symbolise particular gods. Profounder researches, 
 V however, into the genius of the language itself will no doub^ 
 I simplify many of these difficulties. It appears, however, from 
 the ritual that there undoubtedly was an inward or esoteric 
 
 meaning}:. 
 
 ' ^ Champollion, Grammaire, p. 23 ; S. Orcurti, in the Cimento, 1852, xi.,, 
 
 : p.- 7. 
 
222 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 DETEEMINATIYES. 
 
 The ideographic hierogl3rphs are, however, susceptible of two 
 divisions, — those which represent one idea, and are consequently 
 limited, and those which represent several modifications of the 
 primitive idea, and which are consequently extended into deter- 
 minatives, or generic. This classification, first made by Chevalier 
 Bunsen, enables above one hundred of these signs to be made 
 into a distinct class, which are extensively distributed through- 
 out the texts. The discovery of the nature of these hieroglyphs 
 is the most brilliant portion of the Grammar * of Champollion, 
 as the clear analysis and exposition of them is mainly due to his 
 labours, to which others have been only able to make a few 
 iidditions. The determinatives necessarily arose out of the 
 metaphorical or tropical ideographs by extending the nature of 
 their meaning. Like the ideographs, they are placed after the 
 groups of phonetic hieroglyphs which produce the sounds of the 
 words — with this difference, that the ideographs are preceded by 
 one constant group, while the determinatives have many. Thus 
 
 the ideograph ^^\ , a lotus flower, is only preceded by the 
 
 group reading . r=^ I] () s, sli^ n, i, «, and never means any- 
 thing else but the determinative. The skin of an animal was 
 capable of being placed after all phonetic groups referring to 
 
 skin or leather, or the objects made of it, as I fl ' V» ^*> leather ; 
 
 or after all animals or quadrupeds, as ' ^^^^ \\\\ \ aani, an ape, 
 <3> fl •T riVf a hog, and even by a kind of pictorial pleonasm 
 
 after ideographs, as |^> TNJ \J 7tu-fj a wild goat, where the 
 figure of a goat is seen preceded by the phonetic group of its 
 name, and followed by this determinative. 
 
 ^ Champollion, Grammaire, p. 83. 
 
ANALOGY OP DETERMINATIVES. 228 
 
 If the ideographs resembled in tbeir nature the picture- 
 writing, pure and simple, of the Mexicans, the primitive symbols 
 of the Chinese, the rude figures which untutored savages sculp- 
 ture on rocks, or paint on their forms, their garments, the bark 
 of trees, or other fragile remains, the determinatives are allied 
 to the keys or radicals, as they are called, of the Chinese 
 language : celestial phenomena, gods ; various kinds and condi- 
 ditious of men, their passions and affections ; limbs ; animals ; 
 in fact, the whole circle of ideas, have their assigned determi- 
 natives — about two hundred in number. They follow their 
 phonetic groups whicn give the special idea. So in the Chinese 
 system, 2i'4 characters are affixed to other characters which 
 convey either an idea or its equivalent sound. For example, in 
 
 the two systems, u'V^j ^f^t, silver, ^ , yin, silver, are both 
 
 constructed upon the same plan. In the Egyptian groap the 
 character to the right is white, that to the left the determina- 
 tive of all metals. In the Chinese it is composed of a character 
 to the right, reading Mn and kdn, which has the meaning of 
 "a limit," and used as a sound, and the determinative of all 
 kinds of metal to the left.^ While, however, in the Egyptian 
 system the phonetic part has retained its regularity, in the 
 Chinese this has been lost, and it is not possible to trace clearly 
 the relation between sound and character ; but on the contrary, 
 the determinatives in this last have gained entire mastery over 
 ideographs and purely phonetic groups, and ejected them, 
 :giving to the language a more regular literary type. It was, 
 however, the great development of the tropical nature of 
 Egyptian ideographs which limited the number of hieroglyphs 
 used ; for it became easy to expand their use and gradually to 
 supersede the others. Thus the skin replaced at least twenty 
 
 ^ Bunsen, Egypt's Place in Universal History, p. 535. 
 
224 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 forms of animals, a star all the constellations, a man all the 
 male gods of the Pantheon and various functions, a drop of 
 blood all the parts of the human form. This was an immense 
 saving of labour ; and it enabled all subjective as well as objec- 
 tive ideas to be conveyed. 
 
 In the Assyrian cuneiform the same class of characters 
 make their appearance ; but they precede the phonetic signs, 
 and do not follow them, except in a few special cases, which 
 have determinatives both at the beginning and the end. Thus 
 the *;;^ is prefixed to the names of all CMintries, and another is 
 added after the group if the country was plain, the phonetic 
 group being a kind of kernel enveloped by two determinatives. 
 But the arrow-headed script is more conventional in type, and 
 has departed still further than even the Chinese from the 
 condition of picture-writing ; while the determinatives which it 
 employs are comparatively few in number, as the language no 
 longer coasted round the old symbolism, but had launched into 
 the ocean of sound. 
 
 The interpretation of the ideographic hieroglyphs might at 
 first appear a long or hopeless task : but the following aids to 
 its clue existed : 
 
 1. Their own representation explained their meaning : thus 
 
 A a whip, means a whip ; ^i^ means a trussed duck. 
 
 2. The images or pictures that accompanied them aided 
 their interpretation, as I a stick, over a man holding a stick ; 
 
 H a truss of flax over ' men gathering flax. 
 
 3. The explanations of the Greek and Roman writers threw 
 light on others ; for example, Clement ' has stated that a circle 
 
 1 See Lepsiug, Lettre, p. 24 et $eq. 
 
METHOD OF INTERPRETATION. 225 
 
 means the sun; HorapoUo that a goose ^^ means so;?; 
 Ammianus Marcellinus that X JjL means king. 
 
 4. Ancient translations, such as the Eosetta stone, which 
 shows that rTj means festival ; the inscription of the obelisk 
 translated by Herraapion that ^,,,p * indicated the world. 
 
 5. The context, as where it is said #\ a man walked with 
 his feet, or heard ^A with his ears. 
 
 6. Phonetic groups of hieroglyphs which preceded the 
 ideograph, as \^± «^^ for «^w#, milk ; R^^^ set (saat), the 
 
 tail of an animal. 
 
 7. Variants, or different symbols, of which the meaning was 
 
 known appearing in the same name or word, thus ^^^u 
 
 a sphinx, being found in the name of Nectanebo, instead of 
 a basket, known to mean lord, showed that the 
 
 sphinx also had that meaning. 
 
 8. The phonetic hieroglyphs placed after them, as a guitar 
 t meaning good, in Coptic nofre, found followed by " ^ '— ' 
 
 fr, as 1 ""^^ NePeE 
 
 9. The employment of ideographs to represent certain 
 sounds or syllables, at the time of the Eomans ; as a scarabseus 
 for the sound TA or TO, the Coptic word for world, an eye 
 
 with its lid painted ^^ for the syllable, AN" for sight, 
 
 *^ beauty," aided to explain their sense. 
 
 10. The names of the gods and kings, as found in the 
 different authors, gave the transcription and meaning of several 
 
 Q 
 
226 HIEHOGLYPHS. 
 
 signs. Thus it is proved that J is Tet, or Tliotli, from 
 
 the name TovOfKaais of Manetho, and the name of the god Gw^, 
 Thoth.^ 
 
 Every complete Egyptian word, which did not express a 
 purely abstract idea, consisted of two portions, the phonetic, 
 or sounds which fixed its special meaning, and the determi- 
 native, which gave its generic one; but besides those, many 
 groups contain signs neither requisite to complete the sound, 
 nor conveying any portion of the idea. These may be called 
 determinatives or expletives of sounds: and as they enter 
 largely into the language, it is necessary to consider their 
 phenomena. 
 
 An examination of texts shows that in several instances 
 determinative hieroglyphs appear in groups, followed by a 
 second determinative, which is the real one, fixing or deter- 
 mining the idea. An obvious example is the name of the god 
 
 Set or Typhon, written thus (i fk, st, then a block of stone,. 
 
 finally an ass-headed god. Here the block of stone has no 
 connection with the meaning of the name of Set ; it is intro- 
 duced because the name of the god was pronounced in the 
 same manner as Set^ the rock. It did not mean that Set 
 signified a rock; for, on the contrary, the name of the god 
 meant the ass, the special object of worship of the neigh- 
 bouring nations of Egypt. In the same sense, the name of the 
 
 god Hor-us was written ^^ T:^ | -Hr, and then a road, 
 
 which determined the sound Hor to be the same as that of the 
 word road; finally the hatchet, which determined the preceding 
 group to mean a god. A still more remarkable instance is 
 
 * For the condition and modes of interpretation, see also Sharpe (S.), Rudi- 
 ments of a Vocabulary of Egyptian Hieroglyphics, 4to, London, 1837. 
 
DETERMINATIVES OF SOUNDS— AND PHONETICS. 227 
 
 the odd way in which the word 'kan^ the Coptic ^aun or sjne^ a 
 
 minister or servant, is written in certain inscriptions; thus 
 
 ■^ 4«fc| I >^ the two first hieroglyphs and 'kan^ the leg, show 
 
 that it is the same word as lean, a knee ; the next sign is the 
 feminine article of the -word knee; the next is an angle, 
 pronounced kan ; the last, the man, shows that it is a human 
 function. This system may appear paradoxical; but the instances 
 in which it was adopted are comparatively rare. It of course 
 arose out of the increased development of the language, and it 
 explains the use of to^opio hieroglyphs, which came into use to 
 represent ideas which had the same sound as themselves ; for in 
 all primitive languages the number of syllables soon became 
 exhausted, while the number of ideas to be expressed rapidly 
 increased.^ 
 
 PHONETIC HIEEOaLTPHS. 
 
 Eeom the consideration of the various classes of ideographs, 
 it is now necessary to turn to that of the phonetic hieroglyphs. 
 A vast gulf divides the two systems of representing idea and 
 sound; the invention of an alphabetic character may be re- 
 garded as the great triumph of written language. The original 
 discovery of this use of the symbols by Young and Cham- 
 pollion has been pointed out ; but it has yet required a long 
 time to overcome the prejudice and preconception that birds 
 and animals, instruments and utensils, could be employed in 
 the same manner as the conventional marks, the old familiar 
 letters of the alphabet, with which all ideas are now expressed. 
 Still the most obstinate sceptics could not deny that they 
 occurred in the same order and subject to the same conditions 
 as if they were real letters ; and as this showed, conversely, 
 
 Cf. M. de Rouge, L'Athen. Franc. 1852, p. 106. 
 
 Q2 
 
228 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 that they were actually so used, the demonstration was 
 mathematical. 
 
 The principle of phonetic hieroglyphs is seen in the determi- 
 natives ; because, as it became possible to attach a value or 
 meaning to a character independent of its actual direct repre- 
 sentation, causing it to represent many ideas, so it became easy 
 to use it in order to convey such ideas as had the same sound. 
 An excellent example of this is the eye, as cited by the Che- 
 valier Bunsen.^ Thus the eye in the hieroglyphs has the 
 phonetic value of -«s=»~ , ar or «Z, and has the sense of — 1, the 
 eye ; 2, to do ; 3, a child. Examining these words with their 
 Coptic equivalents, there are — 1, ^^OY olou, the pupil of 
 the eye ; 2, ^^ al, a rare form of the verb p er, to do; 
 '3, A.^OY oXou^ an infant or child. As speech is in all cases 
 the elder sister of writing, it is hence apparent that the eye is 
 used to express the idea, as a rebus with which children are 
 now amused, without being conscious that it is the infant 
 writing of mankind. It is not very easy to determine the 
 cause which introduced this new kind of metaphor into the 
 system ; yet the paucity of sounds to express ideas, and the 
 early use of monosyllabic words, seem to suggest to the mind 
 such a mode of writing. Order, system, perspicuity, were 
 essentials to understand the written language ; and as these 
 had curtailed the infinite array of ideographs, it became neces- 
 sary to introduce another principle besides metaphor, which 
 would have remained obscure, and would not have sufficiently 
 restricted the number of symbols. Supposing, too, for example, 
 that one man read to another a series of purely ideographic- 
 signs from a wall or manuscript which the other did not see, 
 would not the mind of the hearer have been bewildered with a 
 
 » Egypt's Place, p. 349. 
 
DEVELOPMENT OP PHONETICS. 229 
 
 chaos of sounds familiar to him, yet presenting no sequence of 
 ideas ? "Would not the reader have discovered the imperfection 
 of the system, and at once seen the remedy of substituting 
 ideographs for ideas having the same sound, and adding them 
 in to the text to express grammatical and other forms ? Or 
 again, conceive that the scribe was ordered to write down 
 foreign words, for Egypt was not the only country even in the 
 ancient world, would he not naturally take some symbols the 
 nearest in sound to his ear, and thus invent the germ of a 
 phonetic hieroglyph, the simplicity of which must have struck 
 some intelligent observer? The Aztec picture-writers, who 
 came down to the ships of Cortez, could depict all that they 
 saw, but could not represent the sounds which they heard ; but 
 the more developed language of China easily selected characters 
 approximate in sound to roughly spell the terms of Buddhistic 
 and those of Christian doctrines. The Egyptian always did so 
 when he came in contact with foreign names ; and as he had 
 developed a more perfect system, by no means found such a 
 proceeding so indispensable. Eor example, even under the Ptole- 
 mies the scribes appear to have recurred to the principles of the 
 old system : thus the name of Arsinoe^ occurs written in two 
 characters — one a keeper or guardian, ari, >£• , the other a 
 
 brother v, sen, the two reading Ari sen, and oifering an 
 
 ingenious allusion to her being " the guardian of her brother." 
 But it is evident, that if throughout the system one hieroglyph 
 could have represented any number of ideas having the same 
 sound, confusion would have been worse confounded; and it 
 consequently became necessary to select a certain number of 
 them, which the memory could readily retain and the eye with 
 
 ^ Lepsius, Lettre, p. 35 ; Champollion, Precis, p. 356. ,1 
 
230 
 
 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 facility detect, to perform the important function of a syllaba- 
 rium. Here several considerations present themselves. 
 
 It was essential that every hieroglyph selected should 
 be as universal as possible, which involved the analysis and 
 decomposition of all the polysyllabic words, or agglomera- 
 tions of monosyllables, which existed in the language at the 
 time; but when one monosyllable was found to represent 
 several ideas, and it terminated in a consonant, it was more 
 compendious to introduce a special hieroglyph to express all 
 these ideas. The analysis, too, was rendered partly incomplete 
 by the necessity which existed of selecting very obvious 
 hieroglyphs, such as all could understand when they saw. 
 Now it would appear that at the time of the formation of the 
 written language the words chiefly consisted of monosyllables 
 in which there was a consonant followed by a vowel, or a vowel 
 by a consonant. These words bear, in the names of animals, 
 distinct traces of being imitations of the sounds which the 
 animals made, as — 
 
 EGYPTIAN KAME. 
 
 SENSE. 
 
 EGYPTIAN NAME. 
 
 SENSE. 
 
 Shai 
 
 . A cat. 
 
 Ui 
 
 . A chicken 
 
 Ah . 
 
 . . A Iamb. 
 
 Ha . 
 
 . An eagle. 
 
 Ba 
 
 . A goat. 
 
 Bah . 
 
 . A hawk. 
 
 Au . 
 
 . . A cow. 
 
 Mu , 
 
 . An owl. 
 
 A'U 
 
 , An ass. 
 
 Kliaper 
 
 . A beetle. 
 
 Mau . 
 
 . . A lion. 
 
 Khah 
 
 . A wasp. 
 
 Su 
 
 . A goose. 
 
 
 
 ^Remains of these primitive words exist in the Coptic,* and 
 such perhaps are inherent in all languages, although it is not 
 possible to trace this distinctly in words conveying the mental 
 emotions, the passions or actions, yet there are sufficient to show 
 the selection of the hieroglyphs for the purposes of sound. Had 
 
 ^ ChampoUioD, Precis, p. 332 ; Mr. Osburn, Antiquities of Egypt, p. 89. 
 
SYLLABIC NATURE OF THE ALPHABET. 231 
 
 the language been formed when long experience had demon- 
 strated the minute analysis of language into consonants and 
 vowels, the system would have approached an alphabetical per- 
 fection. For example, the Egyptians could express ha by a 
 ram '^^n^ j and I , hu, by a leg ; but they had no he 
 or hi, because such did not exist in the genius of their lan- 
 guage. This they were obliged to replace by *«*.^^, fi, if 
 required.^ 
 
 It is agreed that the most developed systems of writing 
 have already passed through a syllabic state while in transition, 
 and the Egyptian transcription of the Aramaean words shows 
 that they consisted of agglomerations of monosyllables; but 
 by degrees the vowel has disappeared, and the consonant 
 alone remained to represent the idea. Hence it is probable 
 that in Egyptian, the primitive words and hieroglyphs of 
 sound consisted of a consonant followed by a vowel ; but by 
 degrees the vowel had become separated off into another 
 syllable, and the two original monosyllables were fused into a 
 monosyllable of advanced state. It was thus that in the Egyp- 
 tian such words as w«, na, became men, and ru «, rd. 
 
 The condition of the ancient language was purely syllahic ; 
 and if it ever attained to a greater degree of alphabetic writing 
 it only did so compared with other languages. It is necessary 
 to consider, in the first place, the syllables commencing with a 
 consonant and terminating with a vowel, for these are the 
 ultimate principles of all words. 
 
 Champollion, in his first analysis, considered that he had so 
 far improved on the system of Young as to have demonstrated 
 that the phonetie Tiieroglyphs were employed for the sound 
 which was represented by its initial vowel or consonant. Ac- 
 
 * Lepsius, Lettre, p. 36. 
 
232 
 
 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 cording to him, the syllabarium was formed on some such prin- 
 ciple as the following : — ^ 
 
 SYMBOL. 
 
 ■ SOUND. 
 
 NAME IN COPTIC. 
 
 
 Eagle 
 
 A 
 
 A-khoom 
 
 Reed 
 
 A 
 
 A-ke 
 
 •" 
 
 Hand 
 
 T 
 
 T-oot 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Basin 
 
 SH 
 
 S-jni kigi 
 
 V 
 
 Owl 
 
 M 
 
 M-onlag 
 
 • 
 
 Sieve 
 
 KH 
 
 KH-ai 
 
 And so forth. 
 
 Eut this principle appears so far radically wrong that each 
 character mtist have originally had the entire sound of the name 
 of the object it represented. This is evident upon a considera- 
 tion of the syllables which have two consonants, such as — 
 
 SYMBOL. 1 SOUND. 
 
 NAME IN COPTIC. 
 
 in 
 
 Strap 1 Me S 
 
 Mouss 
 
 \^ 
 
 Horns 
 
 Ta P 
 
 1 
 
 Tap ! 
 
 1 
 
 ■Hh* 
 
 Tie 
 
 TeS 
 
 Toeis 
 
 1 
 
 Although owing to the deficiency of the Coptic, but few 
 examples can be traced in that language, yet it may never- 
 
 » Precis Egyptien, p. 360. 
 
FORMATION OF THE SYLLABARIUM. 
 
 233 
 
 thelesa be considered as certain that the whole system was con- 
 structed on the same principle at the time of its formation, and 
 that it is only the confusion at the time of the Greeks and 
 Eomans which can have led to any other conclusion about the 
 earlier alphabet. However, the primitive names still remain 
 in a few instances in Coptic, as — 
 
 1 SYMBOL. 
 
 1 
 
 SOUND. 
 
 SOUND IN COPTIC. 
 
 -» 1- A stake 
 
 AA 
 
 Aoo 
 
 4 
 
 An angle 
 
 KA 
 
 Kaah 
 
 • 
 
 A sieve 
 
 KHI 
 
 Khai 
 
 . <=> 
 
 A mouth 
 
 Ru 
 
 Roo 
 
 rendering it probable that all the others were originally 
 employed on the same system. 
 
 It has been mentioned that at an early period the vowels 
 became separated from the consonants, which were necessary to 
 give them sound, and to which they were inherent ; but they 
 continued to appear constantly written after the hieroglyph 
 of the syllable to which they were inherent, thus — 
 
 A mat 
 
 1 
 
 Pu 
 
 was written 
 
 1\ 
 
 A bole 
 
 
 Mu 
 
 was written 
 
 
 An angle 
 
 A 
 
 Ka 
 
 was written 
 
 ^ik 
 
 The following table will exhibit as nearly as possible the 
 
234 
 
 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 powers of tlie syllables, and their equivalents in Coptic and 
 Hebrew : — 
 
 A 
 B 
 
 \ 
 
 Aa 
 
 ^S. 
 
 n 
 
 H 
 
 Ha 
 
 
 1 
 
 Aa 
 
 ! 
 
 i> 
 
 HsL 
 
 
 
 < 
 
 Aa 
 
 1 
 
 K 
 
 Ha 
 
 8 
 
 n 
 
 Ba 
 
 OY 
 
 q 
 
 ^ 
 
 Hu 
 
 J 
 
 Btt 
 
 OY 
 
 q 
 
 
 Hu 
 
 F 
 
 Fi 
 
 
 J 
 
 1 
 
 Hu 
 
 
 
 G 
 
 Ga 
 
 5C 
 
 I 
 K 
 
 w 
 
 lu 
 
 
 
 Ga 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 lu 
 
 1 
 
 » 
 
 Gi 
 
 
 KA 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 m 
 
 Ha 
 
 8 
 
 n 
 
 KA 
 
 K 
 
 w 
 
SYLLABLES ENDING IN VOWELS. 
 
 235 
 
 [ 
 
 2 
 
 KHa 
 
 ^ 
 
 n 
 
 M 
 
 Ma 
 
 JUL 
 
 
 KHa 
 
 i 
 
 ft 
 
 Mu 
 
 - 
 
 1 
 
 KHa 
 
 
 j 
 
 i 
 1 
 
 IK 
 
 Mu 
 
 
 KH 
 
 % 
 
 KHa 
 
 1 
 
 N 
 
 p 
 
 1 Q 
 
 N 
 
 2 
 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 L 
 
 KHi 
 
 
 y 
 
 Na 
 
 5^ 
 
 KHa 
 
 
 Nu 
 
 1 
 
 KHu 
 
 
 
 3*. 
 
 Pa 
 
 ■ 
 Pu 
 
 
 . G 
 
 Lu-Ru 
 
 P 
 
 1 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 Ru 
 
 P 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 Qa 
 
 (T 
 
 P 
 
 M 
 
 T 
 
 Ma 
 M» 
 
 JUL 
 
 
 i 
 s 
 
 Sa 
 
 ! ° 
 
 
 
 Su 
 
 
 
HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 i 
 
 s 
 
 Sa 
 
 • 
 
 
 T 
 
 1 
 
 Ta 
 
 T 
 
 n 
 
 Sa 
 
 ; * ■ • 
 
 Ti 
 
 \ : 
 
 1 
 
 St 
 
 • 
 
 • 
 
 Tu 
 
 
 , 
 
 SHa 
 
 ^ 
 
 XD 
 
 Ta 
 
 
 i 
 1 
 ! 
 
 SHa 
 
 i 
 i 
 
 U 
 
 i 
 
 Ui 
 Ui 
 
 ov 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 SHi 
 
 
 
 
 
 This table exhibits all the syllables commencing with conso- 
 nants and ending Yrith vowels, and consequently the nearest 
 approach to the alphabetic. It corresponds as nearly as pos- 
 sible with the Coptic alphabet, wliich contains thirty-two 
 letters, comprising the whole Greek alphabet, in order to repre- 
 sent aU the sounds of the Greek words introduced into the 
 language, and seven additional sounds which were not repre- 
 sented by the alphabet of that language ; but ten of the letters 
 of the Greek alphabet are used for Greek words only, and the 
 true number of Coptic sounds is consequently reduced to 
 twenty-two. It is, however, possible to reduce the hieroglyph- 
 ical alphabet to even narrower limits, by admitting that there 
 was only a dialectical variation in the form of t and ^', in 
 
SYLLABLES ENDING IN CONSONANTS. 
 
 237 
 
 that of Ji and sh often represented by the same hieroglyph. 
 This alphabet was of universal application, appearing through- 
 out all the successive periods of the monarchy ; and the fifteen 
 letters of which it is composed may be considered the remains 
 of the original sounds used by the inhabitants of the Nile.i 
 *[t was, however, not the entire phonetic system in use, 
 because coeval with it another syllabarium was employed, which 
 consisted — 
 
 1. Of syllables consisting of an initial vowel and a con- 
 sonant. 
 
 2. Syllables composed of two consonants. 
 
 It has been already shown how certain syllables had hiero- 
 glyphs of their final sounds attached to them, in order to aid 
 the memory in keeping their true sound ; but there was also 
 another principle in use even for the universal syllables : some- 
 times the initial sound was expressed before it by a hieroglyph 
 having the same value ; thus — 
 
 XK- 
 
 was written 
 
 =^x^^^ 
 
 W sa 
 
 1 \\\ ^'^ 
 
 Ik ™^ 
 
 
 ®1X. KHkhA 
 
 Here by casting the eye on the table it will be at once evident 
 that jpa is =^w^w, su is = su su, and kha = Mi, kha, Ma. This mode 
 
 ^ Bunsen, Egypt's Place, p. 554 ; Lepsius, Lettre, 1. c. ; Dr. Hincks, on the 
 Power of the Alphabet, I.e. 
 
233 
 
 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 of explaining one character by another is of the utmost impor- 
 tance ; for by it the value of several sounds is determined, 
 which otherwise it would be impossible to assign. They occur 
 constantly before the syllable ending in two consonants ; such 
 
 as 
 
 JV yNm> ^^«' a building or gift; | ^ ,7ir,aface. 
 
 One of the earliest discoveries of Champollion was the prin- 
 ciple of the interchange of signs having the same or nearly the 
 same relative power ; and in the names of the later monarchs 
 of Egypt this was carried to a very great extent, as at that 
 period the number of signs in use for phonetic purposes was 
 very great ; but at all periods the scribes indulged in slight 
 changes : they sometimes would write ruJia, the dawn, o^uhtj or 
 pttf the masculine article pw or pi. Although some have con- 
 sidered this a decisive proof that such signs were alphabetic, it 
 is necessary to bear in mind the dialectical variations of words, 
 and the vague manner in which vowels are used in Coptic. 
 
 The first division has 
 
 A 
 
 AB 
 
 1r 
 
 AR 
 
 i, 
 
 AM 
 
 + i 
 
 A ]\r i 
 
 1 
 
 «* + 
 
 AN AN 
 
 AS 1 AT 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 Gr 
 
 GM 
 
 1 
 
 GM 
 
 GP 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 HK 
 
 t 
 
 HL-HR 
 
 HM 
 
 3^ A 
 
 HN HP 1 
 
SYLLABLES ENDING. WITH CONSONANTS. 239 
 
 H 
 
 1 
 
 HP 
 
 HT 
 
 HTP 
 
 
 
 K 
 
 LJ 
 
 KR-KL 
 
 3S 
 
 KR-KL 
 
 KL-KR(?) 
 
 rg/m 
 KM 
 
 i 
 
 KT? 
 
 KH 
 
 KH'N 
 
 KH-N 
 
 KH'PR 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 MH 
 
 ML-MR 
 
 ML-MR 
 
 (11 
 
 MS 
 
 MN 
 
 N 
 
 am 
 
 NB 
 
 NH 
 
 t 
 
 NM 
 
 I 
 
 NM 
 
 NM 
 
 NS NS 
 
 
 
 
 P 
 
 i 
 
 i ! 
 
 PT(?) 1 
 
 f 
 
 PKH 
 
 PK 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 SB 
 
 SB 
 
 SM 
 
 i 
 
 SN 
 
 ST. 
 
 SH 
 
 SH'N 
 
 t 
 
 SH'N 
 
 SH'T 
 
 
 
240 
 
 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 T 
 
 A 
 
 m 
 
 MHi 
 
 v/ 
 
 
 
 TB 
 
 TR 
 
 TS 
 
 TSR 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 : 
 
 f 
 
 V 
 
 X 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 UAH 
 
 hUR 
 
 liUR 
 
 UT 
 
 
 The vowels which came between these consonants were indif- 
 ferent, according to the word pronounced ; and as the name of 
 the object was dialectically spoken in a different manner, in a 
 slight degree, there was no ambiguity in this respect. These 
 syllables were only interchangeable when they had the same 
 power of vowels as well as of consonants, and in no case were 
 tliey homophones or exchanged with those which ended in 
 vowels. There are certain distinctions, too, here to be observed : 
 the B sound has been m many Coptic words replaced by v, f, 
 or u, the A by e, o, ou^ or oo ; the H and U, too, seem to have 
 been equivalent, and the Gr, J and T are represented by the 
 same hieroglyph. These hieroglyphs, when used, were gene- 
 rally followed by those of the more universal alphabet expres- 
 sive of their final soimds, thus — 
 
 *" 
 
 M(n) 
 
 was often 
 written 
 
 --» 
 
 MN 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 H(k) 
 
 >i 
 
 ?- 
 
 H K 
 
 w, 
 
 K H (pr) 
 
 »» 
 
 l-t ' 
 
 1 
 E H F B 
 
 l- - 
 ^jig^ A(n) 
 
 
 AN 
 
 In fact, they could either be used— 1, by themselves, as 
 
CONVERSION OF PHONETIC HIEROGLYPHS. 241 
 
 2, with their final and initial sound, occupying the second place 
 in a group of three or more hieroglyphs, as IL UIWU ; 3, with 
 
 their final sound, occupying the first place jJJJJjl • 
 
 But a more remarkable feature in the language was, that the 
 same principle was applied to explain several ideographs by 
 affixing phonetic syllables to them, which showed how they were 
 sounded, without altering their meaning or causing them to be 
 used for syllables in the body of the language. About seventy of 
 these hieroglyphs have been discovered ; and extended observa- 
 tions carried on upon a greater number of inscriptions will pro- 
 bably discover more, and show that this system was extensively- 
 used. In some respects it was an improvement upon the system 
 of determinatives ; because the mind more quickly apprehended 
 the intention of the scribe than if the learner had first to spell 
 and then discover the meaning from a generic determinative. 
 
 Hence every hieroglyph could be used in several ways. It 
 
 could, in the first place, express what it actually represented by 
 
 itself in the text as a direct symbol ; for example — the eye 
 
 .^^, generally used for the syllable ar, could mean 
 
 the eye itself; in which case, it had the signs, as | or i^ i' 
 
 affixed, as "^^ the eye; in the same manner '^ , 
 
 is the hand. When, however, a sign generally had only 
 its direct meaning, this mode of indicating its sense or 
 meaning was not used. Another manner, in which the 
 meaning of the emblem itself was rendered more easy to the 
 reader, was to add after the sign the other sign or signs which 
 spelt the sound of the word itself. In the first case, already 
 cited, the bar, when sounded at all, was u, " one," and the 
 semicircle ^ t, the — and they have nothing to do with the 
 
242 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 sound of the other hieroglyph to which they are attached ; but 
 
 if the hieroglyph 5^, a man seated holding a crook and 
 
 halter, which means guardian, keeper, being itself the repre- 
 sentation of a goat or ox-herd, is examined in all the various 
 phases and forms in which it occurs, it will be found accom- 
 panied by a mouth, < — > , and two oblique signs placed 
 after it. These read EI, and show that the whole group was 
 
 read LI *=* , AEI, the Egyptian word for guardian or keeper, 
 of which the Coptic word is Apcg (areh). It is as if to 
 express the idea Jiatj first a hat was depicted, j| , and then the 
 syllable AT was inscribed after it, as & AT, to show that it 
 was pronounced HAT. To us, who are in the possession of a 
 perfect alphabetical system of writing, such a mode seems 
 highly clumsy and imperfect ; but it is to be remembered that 
 alphabetical writing is the result of a slow development from 
 picture-writing, and that it has been obtained by very slow 
 degrees. China after 3000 years has not attained to it. 
 
 The phonetics were extensively employed throughout the 
 texts ; for the greater portions of the words which did not 
 express abstract ideas were composed of groups of them, fol- 
 lowed by determinatives, while auxiliary verbs, affixes, pre- 
 fixes, and other parts of speech, were almost entirely com- 
 posed of them. The following line from the inscription 
 
 iS" jkiooJ^CfVif 
 
 
 \. ^''J ^ULml. A A Ij _^^ tJ I A*v>AN^ AW«V\ AAA --fr-\ 
 
 ef the pedestal of the great obelisk of Karnak will illustrate 
 
LATER ALPHABET. 
 
 243 
 
 the proportion of phonetics and ideographs, the latter 
 being printed in fainter lines^ — being about one-fourth of the 
 whole. This is the speech of the Eegenfc, who says — " I have 
 made two great obelisks ; I have inlaid them with gold to 
 my father Ammon, as wished ; my name remains constantly 
 at the gate of (his) house for ever and ever ! '* 
 
 At the time of 'the twenty-second dynasty, who were of 
 Babylonian origin, a revolution occurred in the phonetic hiero- 
 glyphs, which was continued till their termination. A great 
 number of the ideographs had assigned to them a phonetic 
 value, and were introduced into the texts either instead of the 
 common phonetics, or to their exclusion. The reason of this 
 change is enveloped in obscurity. Champollion called this a 
 secret writing ; but it was a natural outgrowth of the system 
 which adopted symbols for sounds, and the existence of a 
 great number of characters in the Babylonian writing, having 
 the same sound, «iay have led to it. The following table 
 exhibits the hieroglyphs thus employed. 
 
 SOUND. 
 
 HIEEOQLYPHS. 
 
 1 
 
 f VJ i-^ i ' 
 
 A 
 
 \ -V ^ + « -- 
 
 B 
 
 
 P 
 
 a ' " 
 
 1 Prisse, Mon. Egypt. PL 18 ; Bunsen's Egypt^'s Place I. p. 573 and fol- 
 lowing ; Brugsch. Sai en Sinsin PL 
 
 b2 
 
2U HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 SOUND. 
 
 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 H 
 
 ?» OD — •— * 
 
 I 
 
 <=> tWv 4t^ 
 
 K 
 
 "jf ^ ^ "^ -WW f V 
 
 L 
 
 
 M 
 
 — ^ =— T 
 
 N 
 P 
 
 1 >i^ .^ I— V r 
 
 
 
RHeOLUTION OF GROUPS. 24t 
 
 SOUND. 
 
 HIEROGLYPHS 
 
 j 
 
 T 
 
 
 * i 
 
 u 
 
 ■• T i^'i % 
 
 
 The next question to be solved was the resolution of the 
 groups. Ifr is evident that as soon as the phonetic hieroglyphs 
 had been discovered, and had their proper values attached 
 to them, the decipherment of any group was a matter of 
 ease. It was but to read the phonetic hieroglyphs, pay atten- 
 tion to the determinative, and the meaning of the word was 
 
 obvious, if it existed in the Coptic dictionary ; thus — I | ^ 
 
 (a) reads arp, with two little jars, and is the Coptic eerp, 
 
 "wine;'* I i^^^S^ ««^-^, and a bunch of reeds for its 
 
 determinative, the Coptic ahe, or alchi, is " reeds," the f 
 being the feminine affix article. Bat the texts in some 
 respects occasionally even here present difficulties. The 
 language was always pictorial and architectonic; and the 
 groups were consequently often squared or arranged in such 
 a manner as to be more pleasing to the Egyptian eye, and so 
 as not to leave spaces on the back-ground, which sometimes 
 involved the displacement of a character. Thus the word 
 
 \X > ^^> "3, father," is written as if it were pronounced 
 tef; whereas it is evident from the Coptic that it was 
 
2*6 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 pronounced loot. This difficulty was, however, greater when 
 less was knovra of the laws of the language than is now the 
 case. In the great hieroglyphical inscriptions of the temples, 
 in which the determinatives are complete pictures of the idea 
 intended to be conveyed, even if the word was not to be found 
 in the Coptic, there was no difficulty in the interpretation of 
 the idea conveyed; but there was a much more serious 
 difficulty in the discovery of the meaning of words of which no 
 equivalent Coptic form remained, and of which there was only a 
 generic determinative, a difficulty which some have conceived 
 no genius could surmount.^ The Coptic, after all, was a very 
 feeble aid, and was probably used by ChampoUion rather as a 
 justification to the world of the truth of his statements than as 
 the means of his interpretations. Yet another mode of analysis, 
 the inductive, still remained for words no longer to be found 
 in the Coptic dictionaries. After examining the numerous 
 passages in which certain uninterpreted words appear, it is 
 evident that the meaning which suits them in all instances is^ 
 the true one. In proportion as the knowledge of the hiero- 
 glyphs increases, the conditions of the unknown groups are 
 more restricted, and their meaning more easily discovered. 
 
 Take, for example, a word, J ^^^ I j| han, in its different 
 
 forms. One passage proves that it means " to return." On 
 a tablet of Amenophis II., at Phila3, it says, that in his 
 third year the monarch came "returning'* {em han)" from 
 Ethiopia. That it does not record his " advance " from Egypt 
 is proved by the fact of the names of the prisoners being re- 
 corded, and the sense of" return" stands good in every other 
 known passage in which this word occurs. The greater the 
 
 » Klaproth, Examen. p. 15 ; De Sacy, Jonraal des Savans, 1827, p. 543. 
 2 Champollion, Notice, p. 164. 
 
EMPLOYMENT OF HOMOPHONES. 247 
 
 number of examples examined the nearer the approach to the 
 true sense. Such a mode of inductive analysis is strictly 
 requisite in all cases, for it is impossible to fix the value of the 
 whole phonetic hieroglyphs so strictly as not to admit of 
 several having cognate powers. The long serpent, or viper, 
 
 ^, for example, appears in hieroglyphical groups, which 
 
 in Coptic have the sounds of ^, h, e, s7i, sj, t, or tli, 
 and in uninterpreted groups the context alone can determine 
 which is correct. This must not, however, be considered 
 true of all the syllabarium, for several of the phonetic hiero- 
 glyphs have a fixed, definite, unchanging value, and repre- 
 sent only one sound. Another circumstance which aided the 
 analysis in a most remarkable manner, was the different ways 
 in which the same group could be written. How this was 
 discovered by ChampoUion in the comparison of foreign names 
 of the Ptolemies and Eomans has been already mentioned ; but 
 it was a principle which pervaded the whole language. The 
 reason is obvious — the immense number of texts contained in 
 the inscriptions and rolls of papyri relating to the dead, which 
 were repetitions, either of each other or of the same ideas, and 
 which continued to be in use for several centuries throughout 
 an extensive country, were constantly undergoing changes and 
 modifications. The scribe had always the power of substituting 
 one syllable for another, either from forgetfulness, caprice, or 
 notions of improvement in the squaring of the groups, which 
 often required equivalent horizontal for vertical forms — thus he 
 
 wrote '^'^'^'^^ sn, " they," or [^ .. .. probably according to certain 
 
 notions as to the respective groups preceding or following it. 
 In these two groups it will be at a glance seen that there is, 
 
 an equation; consequently as the ['is known to be S from 
 
248 
 
 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 its ending the name of Ptolemaios, the value of — n — must 
 be the same. It was by carefully noting all such examples 
 which fell under his observation that Champollion per- 
 fected his alphabet, and for this purpose the comparison 
 of proper names was the most useful, for it afforded cer- 
 tain data for the undoubted value of the phonetic hiero- 
 glyphs. The scribes by no means servilely followed a normal 
 rule, but often seem to have substituted one phonetic hiero- 
 glyph for another; and such hieroglyphs are termed homo- 
 phoneSf i.e., having the same sound as each other. The words 
 in the text could be accordingly introduced either by purely 
 phonetic hieroglyphs, without any ideograph, by an ideograph 
 alone, or by the union of the two, as — 
 
 Phonetic 
 
 PH^^ 
 
 suashi 
 
 supplication 
 
 Ideograph 
 
 1 
 
 
 supplication 
 
 Mixed 
 
 m 
 
 
 supplication 
 
 Phonetic 
 
 m 
 
 kal 
 
 to fight 
 
 Ideograph 
 
 ta 
 
 1 t6 fight 
 
 ! 
 
 Mixed 
 
 ! 
 
 Bty 
 
 
 to fight 
 
 In general texts some words occur written in the first modes 
 others in the second or third, according to the bias or option of 
 the scribe, but no text offers a series of purely phonetic signs. 
 "When, however, single words are inserted over figures of 
 objects, the ideographs are often omitted, because the object 
 or picture was itself the ideograph ; for example, the names 
 
 4 
 
LINGUISTIC AFFINITIES. 249 
 
 of the following objects are written : — Z3 ^ v haf, over 
 
 an 'ape ;* I jA aw, over a * cow ;'«■»! teb, over a 'box,' <fec. 
 
 It is evident that the comparison of groups and words re- 
 quires to be conducted with the greatest judgment, for a false 
 and hasty application has conducted one student at least 
 into a maze of absurdities. Sometimes equivalent words 
 sounded quite differently have been employed, and in re- 
 peated instances signs of time and case suppressed in one 
 copy are carefully inserted in another. Hence, to arrive 
 at a correct result, all these circumstances must be carefully 
 weighed.^ 
 
 An examination of the structure of the Egyptian shows that 
 it is closely allied to the Coptic, although differing in some essen- 
 tials ; the substantives and adjectives undergoing no internal 
 changes of vowels when written, as is the case in that lan- 
 guage ; and if such a change anciently existed, it was expressed 
 in speaking, not defined by writing. The plural of nouns is 
 distinguished from the singular by the addition of iu, as neter 
 a god, neteriu, gods; and in verbs the root continued un- 
 changed throughout all moods and tenses which are formed by 
 auxiliaries and affixed pronouns ; the passive is formed by plac- 
 ing the addition of ^V ut, that of the past participle to 
 
 the verbal root, as mer-ut enAmanj "beloved of Amon ; " ar-ut 
 naff " he has been made," from the verbs mer, to love, and ar, 
 to make or do. The detached or separate pronouns resemble 
 the Hebrew, Chaldee, and other Semitic languages ; but the 
 declension of the noun and conjugation of the verb is Coptic. 
 It is not here necessary to enter into the literary history of 
 the Coptic, which is the form in which the Egyptian language 
 
 1 M. De Roug6, rAth6ii8eum Fran9ais, 1852. 
 
250 
 
 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 has remained till the present day ensconced in the liturgies of 
 the Egyptian church. It appeared ahoufc the third century, 
 certainly not earlier, and retained its forms in three dialects — 
 the Sahidic of the Upper Country, the Memphitic of the divi- 
 sion of Lower Egypt, and the Bashmouric. Standing as it does, 
 intermediate between the Semitic and Hamitic dialects, and in- 
 terspersed with many words of Greek, Latin, and Arabic origin, 
 it yet is admitted by all who have profoundly studied it to con- 
 tain the remains of the colloquial language of Egypt.' It 
 has been referred both to the Indo-Germanic and Semitic 
 families.* 
 
 About eight hundred words have as yet been determined, of 
 which the greater part are Coptic, as — 
 
 JYPTIAN. 
 
 SENSE. 
 
 COPTIC. 
 
 EGYPTIAN. 
 
 SENSE. 
 
 COPTIC. 
 
 pe 
 
 the heaven 
 
 pe-phe 
 
 stem 
 
 eye pigment 
 
 steem 
 
 sev 
 
 a star 
 
 sion 
 
 a 
 
 a house 
 
 eei 
 
 iuma 
 
 the sea 
 
 iom 
 
 seb 
 
 the door 
 
 she 
 
 " maau 
 
 water 
 
 moui 
 
 mer 
 
 to love 
 
 mere 
 
 mu 
 
 a mother 
 
 mau 
 
 inest 
 
 to hate 
 
 mosti 
 
 ut 
 
 a father 
 
 ioot 
 
 neb 
 
 to swim 
 
 nebi 
 
 sen 
 
 a brother 
 
 son 
 
 am 
 
 to eat 
 
 ouoom 
 
 uhor 
 
 a dog 
 
 ouhor 
 
 Mu 
 
 to strike 
 
 hi 
 
 pen 
 
 a rat 
 
 pin, phin 
 
 ter 
 
 entire 
 
 teer 
 
 shau. 
 
 a boar 
 
 esko 
 
 neb 
 
 all 
 
 nibi 
 
 tev 
 
 a shoe 
 
 toooue 
 
 men 
 
 none 
 
 men 
 
 fhenti 
 
 a shirt 
 
 shentoo 
 
 an 
 
 to be 
 
 6un 
 
 mess 
 
 a girdle 
 
 mouss 
 
 an 
 
 was 
 
 00 
 
 The following table will show a few of the numerous words 
 which have great analogy to the Hebrew and Chaldee 
 forms : — 
 
 > Encycl. Britan. 1. c. pp. 308, 316 ; Quatremere, Recherches but la Langue 
 et la Litterature de I'Egypte, 8vo, Paris, 1808. 
 
 • Klaproth (J.), Lettre a M. ChampoUion le Jeune, 8vo, Paris, 1823. 
 Benfey. (Th.) Ueber das Verhaltnissd. ^gyptesch. Spraete, Svo, Lips. 1844. 
 
LINGUISTIC AFFINITIES. 
 
 251 
 
 EOYPTIAN. 
 
 MEANING. 
 
 HEBKEW. 
 
 EGYPTIAN. 
 
 MEANING. 
 
 HEBKETv- 
 
 iuma 
 
 the sea 
 
 yam 
 
 suti 
 
 a devil 
 
 shed 
 
 ruha 
 
 the mom 
 
 lailah 
 
 ga 
 
 to go 
 
 tsa 
 
 mer 
 
 the sea 
 
 mul-ah 
 
 rut 
 
 to gerTnina,te 
 
 ya-led 
 
 ses 
 
 a mare 
 
 sus 
 
 as 
 
 then 
 
 az 
 
 saJcut 
 
 a tent 
 
 sekut 
 
 naJiem 
 
 to rejoice 
 
 nakhei 
 
 Jchef 
 
 to take away 
 
 shabah 
 
 ar 
 
 to do 
 
 ami 
 
 Jcha 
 
 like 
 
 ki 
 
 ami 
 
 daylight 
 
 yom 
 
 su 
 hutu 
 
 a person 
 an order 
 
 aish 
 tsivah 
 
 ZeJcham 
 
 the hippo- ) 
 potamus ) 
 
 behem 
 
 teh 
 
 a box 
 
 tebah 
 
 leaf 
 
 an ape 
 
 qof 
 
 Besides which, several words avowedly Semitic and distinct 
 by their polysyllabic form, have been introduced into the 
 body of the language, at the time of the nineteenth and 
 following dynasty, as — 
 
 EGYPTIAN. MEANING. HEBREW. 
 
 bata a house heth 
 
 makataru a tower migdol 
 
 makarbuta a chariot mirJchaveth 
 
 EGYPTIAN. MEANING. 
 
 HEBREW. 
 
 sar 
 
 sara a pnnce 
 
 karunata ... ... 
 
 mahuru a'warrior, lord mar 
 
 Many of the words, however, resemble various others of 
 the so-called Indo- Germanic family : several are like Englisli, 
 
 EGYPTIAN. 
 
 MEANING. ENGLISH. 
 
 EGYPTIAN. 
 
 MEANING. 
 
 ENGLISH. 
 
 shaf 
 
 a sheep sheep 
 
 abut 
 
 a mansion 
 
 abode 
 
 hut ' 
 
 white white 
 
 a 
 
 one 
 
 a 
 
 dn 
 
 a chicken hen 
 
 ti 
 
 two 
 
 two 
 
 hxu 
 
 a bull cow 
 
 sas 
 
 six 
 
 six 
 
 Tear 
 
 to bear carry 
 
 
 
 
 Some of the other words might also be referred to Indo- 
 Germanic roots in other languages, as Jcaa^ a floor, like the 
 Greek gee (yrj) ; sah, cunning, or to know, like the Latin sajp- 
 ere ; neva, sailor, like nau-ta ; naham, to take, like the German 
 nahmen ; ta, thee, feminine article, like die, the ; but these ety- 
 mologies might be carried too far, and they are given more as 
 
252 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 curiosities of literature than as serious truths. It is now neces- 
 sary to turn to the grammar, in order to appreciate the power 
 of reading the hieroglyphics. The noun, as has been already 
 
 stated, does not change, except by the addition of \^^ \ 
 
 uij 1 1 ■%.>«« or iu, to itself in the plural. The indefinite 
 
 articles are : »^. a, or .aUT^ a, one^ sometimes abridged to 
 
 I for the masculine, and m I for the feminine ; the defi- 
 
 ^^*® H' J%m, ' ^^ ^ 5 *^® genitive is formed by en, aa^ , of, 
 
 or em \^ out, of: the dative by /vwv\ en, to or for j/ , 
 
 and -^>- er, the le of the Hebrews, implying direction. The 
 accusative is the same as the nominative : the vocative also, 
 
 but with ^|L nh ha, or I ^ <^ ' prefixed to it. The plural 
 
 is declined in the same manner, except that the nominative plural 
 has A^*^wv Jian and the genitive plural has 5 nu before it — 
 
 SINGULAR. DUAL. PLURAL. 
 
 neter o, a god nder ti, two gods neteriu han, gixls 
 
 en neter, of a god en neterin, of gods 
 
 en neter^ to a god en neferiti, to gods 
 
 er neter, to a god er neteriu, to gods 
 
 neter, god a netei'iu, gods 
 
 a neter, god a neteriu, of gods 
 
 am neter, by a god am neteriu, by gods 
 
 This is the only declension of nouns ; the masculine are 
 formed by dropping the a, and han and placing j;z^ or^je before 
 the noun ; the feminine by placing t after it, or ta before it ; 
 adjectives have only the plural termination added to them, and 
 t in the feminine form, as nefer, good ; neferiu, good, plural ; 
 nefer t, good, feminine. They are in the syntax placed after the 
 substantive. The pronouns are the most complex part of the 
 
DECLENSION OF PRONOUNS. 253 
 
 system. !Pirst, there is a set of detached pronouns, which appear 
 in the texts by themselves, as — 
 
 I anaJ: or nuJc, I fl/wvw^ anun, we 
 
 ^ entuk, thou a'V/./*w»a entuten, ye 
 
 en/«/, he /saww, entesen, they 
 
 Alii 
 
 ^ cn^M5, she 
 
 These in the texts suppose the verb to be understood, and 
 represent that verb in the present tense, indicative mood, as 
 « I " am, " thou " art, " he " is, &c. 
 
 Secondly, there are personal pronouns, placed after nouns 
 or verbs, affixed to them — 
 
 I, ^S* • a, I, mine, /samvk* enn, we, our 
 
 •^1^6 ^ dk, et, thou, thine A^^ ^^^> 7^) yo"r 
 
 I i I 
 
 ^^^.^ ef, he, his Avwwv sen, they, their 
 
 i I I 
 
 || " !• es, she, her 
 
 TJie accusative forms of these are — 
 
 V ) I w, me ^'*'^_^ ^^' *^®® T -^ *^' *^^°^' °^ ^^°^- 
 
 The possessive pronouns of the things possessed are formed 
 by prefixing the articles to the personal pronouns, as — 
 paia, puia, my, mas. P«i/j his taitij our, fern. 
 
 tata, tuia, my, fem. pais, her nain, our, plural 
 
 naia, our taif, his ^e<m, your, sing. 
 
 path, puk, thy, mas. faw, her naiten, your, plural 
 
 ^wiX', thy, fem. naif, his, plural paisen, theirs, mas. 
 
 tait, thy, fem. nais, her, plural taisen, their, fem. 
 
 mai^, thy, plural mas. pan, our, mas. naisen, their, plural 
 
 nais thy, plural fem. 
 
25i HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 In these pronouns the p at the commencement shows that 
 the object possessed is masculine, the t that it is feminine; 
 the / at the end shows that the possessor is masculine, the 
 s feminine.^ , 
 
 The demonstrative pronouns are — 
 
 pa, pu, the, mas. na, the, plur. tai, this, fern. 
 
 ta, the, fem. pai, this, mas. nai, this, plural 
 
 These are placed before the noun ; the/oUowing come after — 
 peuj mas. ; ten, fem, (this placed after the noun). Apui or pui (these plural). 
 
 The relative, who, is formed by the personal pronouns ef^ es, 
 
 mefi, teriy sen, &c. ; beside which is I >^ akhj Jcha^ who? 
 
 what ? interrogative ; and there is a reflective pronoun, ^^^ 
 
 ges, self, placed before the personal pronouns, as — 
 
 rjes-a, myself gess-s, herself rjess ten, yourselves 
 
 gesh, thyself gess nen, ourselves gess sen, themselves 
 
 gesf, himself 
 
 all of which are also placed after antecedent personal pronouns. 
 
 The next to be considered is the verb-substantive to be, 
 often used as auxiliary. The infinitive of this is ^^ er, 
 
 to be ; the present participle Jms^ un, am or being, I <:^» 
 
 ar, there are ; the perfect l^\> «w, was, au, ut, had been. 
 The noun is also placed after ar, and has /?«, as in Coptic, after 
 it when anything is explained. This verb is extensively 
 used throughout the texts as the sign of certain tenses. The 
 verbal root, as has already been remarked, undergoes no 
 change ; and the tenses are formed by placing certain words, 
 
 ^ For the Grammar, see Champollion, Granunaire figyptienne, folio, Paris, 
 1837 ; Bunsen, Egypt's Place, p. 844. 
 
VERB, PREPOSITION, ADVERB. 255 
 
 called auxiliaries, before the verb ; tlie persons of the tenses 
 again made by changing the pronouns placed after the 
 verb. This system resembles the Semitic and that of the 
 Indo-Germanic mode of conjugating verbs. There is but one 
 conjugation ; and although it would be difficult to find all the 
 tenses of one verb, yet by comparison it is easy to restore the 
 paradigm of a verb ; as gu, to speak ; gu-a, I speak, present 
 indicative ; ha-en-a gvra, I was speaking ; au a gu-na, I have 
 spoken, first aorist ; ^u-naj I spoke ; au-a gu-a, I will speak 
 first future ; gu-na, I will speak, second future ; ati-a-er gUf I 
 will speak; au-a Jier-gu-a^ I was about to speak; gtc k, say 
 thou, or gu er Tc, speak thou ; onai gu a, present optative, may 
 I speak, or let me speak; er gu, to speak; gvra, speaking 
 active participle ; enti gu, speaking ; gu-ta, speaking ; gu ut 
 spoken; gu-i, spoken. A kind of middle voice is formed by 
 adding hu, the reflective pronoun to the verb; as gu Jcu I 
 myself said. The passive is formed by affixing ut to the verbal 
 root throughout; as gu-ut a, I am spoken or declared; gu-ut na, 
 I have been declared or spoken. A verbal form is also pro- 
 duced by placing s before a noun; as gu, a word; s-gu, to 
 declare. 
 
 ^sSi Speak. 
 
 t^T) \A I speak. Pres. Indicative. 
 
 A. ^^ "^^ i»i| jjP I was speaking. Imp. Indie. 
 
 I ^\t ^J «^^ ^Jk I have spoken. 1st. Aorist. 
 
 ^^ >^ I spoke. Perfect Indicative. 
 
 I'V^jA^M^A I will speak. 1st. Puture Ind. . 
 
256 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 ^ j^ ^A -<;>. ^O I shall speak. 2nd. Future Indie. 
 
 IS on the j 
 speaking. 
 
 |*V VA 'f^ 1^3 VA -^ ^^^ ^^ *^® point of 2nd Aorist. 
 
 •i^T"Wi=) 
 
 ^j Speak thou. Imperative. 
 
 ^M»^ ^^ Speak. Imperative. 
 
 -T^ I J ^^i ^r ^ ™^y speak. Pres. Optative. 
 
 ^S( ^S "^^^^ -^ ™^y speak. Pres. Subjunctive. 
 
 <^> "^^l To speak. Infinitive. 
 
 2^^ ^ t Speaking. Pres. Participle. 
 
 ****^ ^^1 Speaking. 
 
 •^Z^ ^ Spoken. Past Participle. 
 
 fl Idf) To make to speak. 
 
 ^^_^> ^^1^ liflL I mvself speak. Pres. Ind. Eeflectlve or 
 -i^ > at Middle. 
 
 ^£Z^ ittV >^^ I am declared. Pres. Indicative Passive. 
 
 The prepositions are ^ ^"*^ ow, of, by, from, or to ; j^ ain, 
 by, belonging to, in, from, as ; '^=> ei-, to, towards ; /ft ajpi, 
 upon ; T A^r, upon, in, out of, above ; ^-^ sJiar, towards ; 
 
 ^^ Jcar, under, beneath ; I J^<?,ac(?ordirgto, like;? 
 
PREPOSITIONS. 257 
 
 Tina, with, together with ; ^1 || ^ OT^^/^^^ma, in place of, instead. 
 
 Several prepositions are compounded of the head ga ; as Jia-ga, 
 before, of her, the face ; as an her, in front ; her her, above, 
 besides ; her ga, a-top, over ; her het, within ; her sa, be- 
 hind : another form is am tu, before. Others have the fore- 
 part of a lion : as am ha, in front ; er ha, to the front ; Tear ha, 
 under the front : or the hinder parts — peh; as Icar peh, behind: 
 or a hole, as er ma, instead : or a headless animal : em Jchen, 
 within: or a mummy, as ^m alu, in turn. These prepositions 
 are placed before the cases thej govern. 
 
 TABLE OF PREPOSITIONS. 
 /*******\ * en, to, from, by, out of. . 
 
 P l| enha, to. 
 
 I j!^''^^^ > 1 ^^^^ i^> out of, for, as, among. 
 '^^> er, to, towards, for. 
 
 J ^^jX^ her, upon, in order to, out of. 
 
 J ^ her ga, above, upon. 
 •^ J en her, before, facing. 
 
 ® A 
 
 r^ Jcheft, facing. 
 
 r 
 
 apt, upon. 
 
 ^ 'f* hel, within. 
 
 Z3 
 
 Jcar, beneath, under. 
 
 A 
 
HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 fL I 7ina, together, with, by. • 
 
 ^^^ lier 
 
 V—- er lier, together, with, towards. 
 
 ^ Jcher, to, at. 
 
 Icher^ to. 
 
 T ^ T IKv ^'"' ^^' ^"* 
 
 J^ T^ em tu, before. 
 
 ^fc^ ^M\ r-j <^w^ ^^e«, within. 
 ^^ m^ em lia, before. 
 
 -^^ "-^ cr ^«, before. 
 *\^ mm^ Tear litty before. 
 23 ^ Jcar peh, behind. 
 
 Vk • em sa, behind. 
 -^ I 
 
 KX'- ■• 
 
 V^ y ,^_^ ^ J em aluy in sight of. 
 
 \^ fi I n em tehf instead. 
 -\j ma, in place of. 
 
ADVERBS. 259 
 
 erma, at. 
 I?V'\^^ 7««, before. 
 VV ensu^ alter. 
 <^ ,, \ cw5«, about. 
 
 These are accompauied by Nouns and the affix Pronouns. 
 
 The adverbs are formed upon the same plan, and many of 
 them are, of course, prepositions in the abstract — as am ha, 
 before ; Jcar ha, formerly. Some of the others are, as or as-tu, 
 when; fer, when, since; shef-t, since, when; heh, er-heh, er- 
 neheh, en neheh, for ever ; ^et, eternal ; shar get, for ever ; Mia 
 enti, exactly ; er enti, touching ; am-nu, as aforesaid ; onuhut, 
 like ; Tear, then, only ; sher, for, because ; er-ter, entirely. Any 
 adjective could also become an adverb, by placing it after an 
 adjective ; as hur naa, very great. The negatives are, men, iu 
 ov hen, ati, turn, not; the interjections «.' hai! oh! ha! aneg! 
 hail ! There are but few conjunctions ; but ter and Jcar answer 
 to the Latin turn and quum; her enti, because ; ter enti, there- 
 fore ; hna and masht, after, or, &c. 
 
 TABLE OF ADVERBS. 
 I n as-t, then. 
 *>^- Meft, when. 
 _ J . her a, directly. 
 X»AA her enti, because. 
 J? ^ T I ^ne, besides. 
 
280 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 \. or I ^ 'f* em Jiru, besides. 
 
 sepj times ; as, once, twice, &c. • 
 
 © twice. 
 w 
 
 X— I onttf where. 
 
 1 T ^ Jier, on high. 
 
 er Jha, before : see adverbs. 
 erpeJi, after. 
 er say after. 
 
 ?•? heJij always. 
 ^ } getUj ever. 
 T,J,T\f-' sTiaUy until. 
 
 1^ hlitty like, as. 
 '^-^ wew, no, not. 
 J men, no, not. 
 I'w wen, hu, no, not. 
 '®V^ wa*7if, after. 
 
 ^ ^^ >tar cn^*, therefore. 
 J^^ er en^t, concemiDg. 
 
 .«k NX 
 
 I ,^^ ^-/m cw^t, as to. 
 ♦ tevy while, when, as. 
 
23 
 
 CONJUNCTIONS— INTERJECTIONS. 261 
 
 ter entif therefore. 
 Jcar, so, only. Placed after the verb. 
 
 CONJUNCTIONS. 
 y Jinaf with, and. 
 
 ^ [?] ^«, and. 
 
 ^^ ^er, and. 
 
 /«er, and. 
 
 V— er her, and. 
 
 ^5^ ^^^j then, as. 
 I I lei, also. 
 
 INTER,TECTIONS. 
 ^,oh! 
 
 The syntax is also remarkably regular, as much so as the 
 English and Chinese, and on the same principle, the ideo- 
 graphic nature of the symbols allowing the language to be 
 often written without the connecting particles of the grammar 
 and position alone determines its meaning. "When two sub- 
 stantives come together, the second is in the genitive, as sa ra, 
 son of the sun, for sa-en-ra, son of the sun ; the adjective ia 
 always after the noun which it qualifies ; as hak nuh, a golden 
 
262 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 hawk, or a hawk of gold ; er])a Jia, chief duke, arch-duke ; but 
 when two adjectives come together, the second becomes ad- 
 verbial, as ur-naa^ very great. The nominative case follows the 
 verb directly as, gu-neteru, saj the gods ; and all dependents on 
 the nominative follow it ; then the case governed by the verb, 
 as men satem sen gu, not hear they the words ; but the 
 dative comes next to the verb, and then the accusative, as 
 ma-na-mtJc-necJit, given have I to thee a power, and the 
 vocative after that, as Jeep naJc Ichepsh nehlit su a, received 
 hast thou the scimetar, O my son! the same as in English. 
 The instrumental or ablative, last of all, as men ar a erf am 
 aaui a, not do I touch him with my arms. The prepositions 
 are placed before the nouns and substantives they govern, as 
 ai na shar eh am shes eh, we come to thee on thy services (i.e, 
 as thy servant). The adverbs are placed after the auxiliary 
 verb — au har ar na scha, I was then created a scribe ; but they 
 always precede other verbs and substantives, as shaft men a er sen, 
 when he approaches them ; the interjections precede, as a neteru 
 naau, oh, great gods ! Such are the general laws of syntax. 
 
 The composition is in short sentences of a very regular nature, 
 resembling those of the early Hebrew books, and by no means 
 involved like the more elaborate writing of the west. Most of 
 the grammatical forms, indeed, occur in the various kinds of 
 writing, but the sentences are chiefly replete with metaphor 
 and antithesis, especially those which describe scenes of histo- 
 rical purport. The idea, as in Hebrew poetry, is broken in two, 
 the second member of the sentence re-echoing in a modified 
 form the same idea. Thus, in the historical legends at Beitou- 
 ally,^ it is said to Rameses II. by his chiefs : — 
 
 "The Sham (Syrians) are tinder thy sandals, 
 Kush (Ethiopia) is in tby fist." 
 
 » Eoselllni, M. R. Ixiv. 
 
% 
 
 m 
 
 OFFICIAL STYLE. 26S 
 
 The same monarcli is also described as — 
 
 "A lion against tlie Sharu (Syrians), 
 A strong bull against Kush (.Ethiopia)." 
 
 This is still more forcibly shown in the titles of the king. 
 for the same is called — 
 
 "0 perfect God, very terrible, 
 The strong lion ; mighty lord, 
 The strangler of hostile lands. 
 Fallen are the Tahennu (Europeans) to thy blade, 
 Killed lie the Phut (Asiatics) under thy sandals ! 
 Immortal as the sun ! " 
 
 This is, in fact, the official style ; for tablets commence with 
 a long series of titles, as " The year twenty-eight under the reign 
 of his Majesty the living Sun, the strong bull, beloved of truth, 
 lord of festivals of thirty years like Phtha, lord of diadems, 
 watcher of Egypt, chastiser of foreigners, the Sun born of the 
 Gods, possessing the earth, the golden hawk, defender of years, 
 greatest of the powerful, the King of the upper and lower 
 country, lord of the earth, lord of creation, the Sun, defender of 
 truth, approved of the Sun, son of the Sun of his body, beloved 
 of him, lord of diadems, taker of the upper crown, EAMESSU, 
 may he live for ever on the throne of Horus." Such is the pre- 
 amble of a stele or tablet at Ibsamboul, all of which only means 
 "the twenty-eighth year of Eameses II." The strong bull 
 means that he is a valiant hero ; the festival of thirty years, 
 that after that time he had the right of celebrating a jubilee, 
 because he had lived an mon, or age ; the golden hawk implies 
 that he is the Sun, or the first principle, known as a hawk ; the 
 throne of Horus, the Egyptian throne always occupied by a 
 FharaoJi, the living Sun or god Horus.^ 
 
 1 ChampoUion, Notice, 78. 
 
264 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 ^ Subject-matter, indeed, is not so periphrastic, as the 
 remainder of the inscriptions continue in a more level strain ; 
 still it requires that the mind of the reader should habitually 
 become trained to the idiom, or orientalised, before he can ap- 
 preciate the beauties or comprehend the force of the writing. 
 The style is often filled with certain similes of constant recur- 
 rence; thus, speaking of the king, it will say, he puts on the armour 
 of Mentu or Mars, or that his hand is firm on his chariot like 
 that god ; he comes out of the egg, or the primajval matter of 
 the sun ; he dissipates his enemies like chaff before the wind, 
 strikes them down under his sandals, goes down in the valleys 
 like a child amidst grasshoppers, lets not one of them escape, or 
 makes them as if they were not, covers his army with his wings 
 like a hawk on the day of battle, has no equal or second, is in 
 the shape of Ammon (Jupiter), or Mentu (Mars), hoes or 
 ploughs or squeezes hostile countries, takes the breath out of 
 their nostrils, bruises or stabs the Barbarians. This high style 
 is exchanged for a pure and simple one, when descriptions are 
 required — for example, the following is the account of the 
 beating of two foreigners before the Pavilion of Kameses II., 
 in the campaign against the Khita, represented at the Mem- 
 nonium.^ [This is] " The approach made by the scouts to his 
 Majesty's tent. They have brought two spies of the Khita 
 before his Majesty, they have beaten them to make them 
 declare what is going on in the land of the Khita." (Hittites.) 
 Although the whole literature was essentially sacerdotal, 
 being composed and written by priests or scribes, yet there 
 are of course several varieties of style. Prayers are of great 
 simplicity, by no means inflated with the bombast of royal 
 flattery. The following, for example, is a short prayer to the 
 rising sun, part of which is entitled, "The Adoration to 
 » RoselUni, M. C. cii. 
 

 RELIGIOUS COMPOSITIONS. 265 
 
 the Sun, lord of the two horizons, who gleams from the 
 eastern horizon of heaven." ^ The deceased thus addresses 
 the god: 
 
 " O Sun, lord of sunbeams, shine on the face of the deceased, 
 who is adored at the sunrise, who is welcomed at dawn, whose 
 soul goes with thee to the heaven, who proceeds in the cabin, 
 and floats in the ark, who moves as the incessant stars of 
 heaven ; he says, glorifying the eternal lord. Hail to tliee, O 
 Sun, lord of the horizon, creator self-created, beautiful are 
 thy beams in the horizon, lighting the world with thy rays; all 
 the gods with joy behold the king of heaven, the mistress 
 of the hour is placed on thy head, the upper and lower 
 crown is on thy brow," &c. This style, of course, contains 
 many allusions to ideas which had a deeply theological or 
 esoteric meaning, for wisdom was couched at this time in 
 allegories, like the enigmatic course of instruction of Pytha- 
 goras. In most of the compositions, dialogue is introduced : 
 thus in the scenes of triumph, the gods speak to the king, 
 and the monarch replies to the gods, but no continuous 
 dialogue, that is, of successive speeches, has been found, 
 although in tlie Eitual questions and answers are effec- 
 tively introduced. In dialogues of the historical scenes the 
 language is often a transcription of the vernacular, differing 
 from the ordinary formula by the copious introduction of 
 pronouns, which must have been used in speech, although 
 suppressed or written shortly in the religious texts. Grood 
 examples of this style will be seen, both on the walls and in 
 scenes, which explain the great campaign of E-ameses 11.,^ 
 against the Khita or Hittites, especially where the monarch 
 discourses with his officers, and in the papyrus containing a full 
 account of the campaign. The epistolary style is also level and 
 1 Lepsius, Todt, taf. iv. c. 15, 1. 1-3. ' Rosellini, M. R. Ixvi. 
 
266 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 unimpassioned, not so loaded with similes, or full of bombastic 
 terms of expression ; it is written in the vernacular. " Tou 
 tell me in the letter about my son, he is going to the Kharu, 
 I am about to return him to the fortress, keeping watch to guard 
 it for Egypt, for six years," which is as simple as could be 
 written now : similarly explicit are the directions of calendars 
 and such like — for example,* the calendar of the reign of 
 Menepthah directs thus : 
 
 " Fifth of Paophi, bad at morning, noon, and night ; do not 
 go out anywhere on that day, speak to no one on that day, 
 (for) it is the day when the names were called out before 
 Sebak (Saturn) and Mentu (Mars) ; any one born on that day 
 dies killed by a bull.*' 
 
 Having dispatched the sober part of prose, it is now neces- 
 sary to consider the gayer tone of poetry, of which a few 
 fragments are preserved, and which was metrical, but not 
 ending in the same syllables at the end of the verses, except in 
 certain refrains. One of the oldest metrical pieces is the song 
 of the thrashers to the oxen, who tread out the corn. This, 
 transcribed, reads : — 
 
 hi ten en t^n Thrash ye for yourselves 
 
 hi ten en ten uhh thrash ye for yourselves, oxen, 
 
 hi ten en ten thrash ye for yourselves 
 
 hi ten en ten thrash ye for yourselves 
 
 tehd ir amu the straw which is yours 
 
 Ichiiu, en nehii ten.^ the corn which is your master's. 
 
 Here verses of four and six syllables are used. There are 
 other parts of this song thus sung by the men engaged in the 
 operations ; but the lines are not so distinctly marked. Besides 
 which, there were words set to instrumental music, not merely 
 vocal. A song is given by Kosellini, unfortunately badly copied, 
 and not intelligible.^ 
 
 ^ Select Papyri, cvii. Rev. D. T. Heath. ExoJ. Pap. p. 140. 
 
 ' EoselHni, M. C. xxiii. ^ Rosellini, xcvi. 5. 
 
POETRY. 267 
 
 As a specimen of the epic, or heroic verse, may be cited part 
 of a poem^ containing the praises of Eameses II. : — 
 
 Ha sgu nehhtu en The commencement of declaring the power 
 
 25a neb en Kam of the lord of Egypt. 
 
 haten naf Tcher efuga ua hakhen His Majesty huilt a tower 
 
 naa nelht o'an ef greatest of victors is its name 
 
 su er sJnia Taha er a Merter it holds Taha for Egypt 
 
 meht am Tear gefio stored with fresh provisions 
 
 su Telia sTchar Annu rasu it is like a picture of South Anu 
 
 hafJclia ... Ptali Icar its time is like that of Phtahkar (Memphis) 
 
 uhen 2^a '>nu em Tckut the sunlight beams in its horizon 
 
 kept am Jchennu f and sets within it 
 
 hha bu neb nasen tasliu all places leave their fortresses 
 
 har am uui f torn from their (or to its) confines 
 
 ement ef am a an amen its west (left hand) is as the temple of Ammon 
 
 abt ef am a sut its east (right hand) like that of Sut (Typhou) 
 
 Mieperu Astaruta am 2>aif uben Astarte is born in the midst of its light 
 
 3ati cm paif meht Sati is in its fulness. 
 
 pa bakhen enti em Tchennu f The tower which was within it 
 
 Sa Jcha Tchu en pe. t. was like the horizon of Heaven. 
 
 Ramessumei'i'en Amen pef net er. Rameses beloved of Amon is its god 
 
 mentu em tau em shemu a Mentu (Mars) in the countries as he walks^ 
 
 Ra en hehu em ai a Sun of rulers in his carriage. 
 
 notem en Jcami The delight of Egypt 
 
 meri en tumm em ha. beloved of Turn from the first ! 
 
 The following is the specimen of a panegyrical Ode : - 
 
 " Amon delights thy heart ; 
 he gives thee great honor ; 
 a delightful time has been made to follow thee ; 
 thy life is blessed, thy arm is well ; 
 thy eye is clear to perceive, 
 thy dress is plaited ; 
 
 thou leadest the horses of thy chariot of gold in thy hand ; 
 thou placest . . . thy yoke . . . 
 the Kharu and the Nahsi are dragged before thee, 
 when thou makest thy appearance ; 
 
 1 Select Papyri, PL Ixiii. cf. Ixxxvii. Rev. J.D. Heath, Exodus Papyri, p. 21 : 
 
 2 Rev. D. T. Heath, Exodus Papyri, pp. 198, 199. Select Papyri, PI. 
 Ixxiv. 3. 
 
268 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 thou hast gone to thy boat of cedar, 
 
 carved before and behind ; 
 
 thou approachest the good inner palace which thou thyself hast made ; 
 
 thy mouth is filled with wine and beer, 
 
 with bread, meat, and the flesh of slaughtered bulls ; 
 
 The wine is opened, the strain is delightful before thee ; 
 
 thy anointer anoints thee with cassia ; 
 
 the chief of the irrigation brings purslain [or chaplets], 
 
 the chief of thy fields presents birds, 
 
 thy fisherman brings thee fish ; 
 
 thy galley goes in the land of the Kharu, 
 
 laden with all good things ; 
 
 thy stalls are filled with cattle ; 
 
 thy female slaves are fruitful (?) ; 
 
 thou liast placed thy accusers prostrate at thy words : ' it is not so ! ' 
 
 thou hast gone into the presence of the daimons, 
 
 thou hast come forth justified." 
 
 As another specimen of the religious poetry, may be taken, 
 the first stanza of a hymn to the Nile, in a papyrus,^ now in the 
 British Museum : — 
 
 8ha en Ilapi A hjrmn to the Nile 
 
 nether eh Hapl incline thy face, Nile 
 
 shem evi ta an^ coming safe out of the land 
 
 or sankhu Icam vivifying Egypt 
 
 amen sam kek em kru hiding his dark sources from the light 
 
 hes nu seni ordering his sources 
 
 au shau ammeh the streams of his bed 
 
 Team am Ra are made by the Sun 
 
 €r sankh hit, ahu neh to give life to all animals 
 
 sltur set bu tent to water the lands which are destitute 
 
 nau pe haa coming all along the heaven 
 
 mer en tufa Jchei-p nefra loving fragrance, offering grain 
 
 8' hut tela en Phah rendering verdant every sacretl place of Fhtha ! 
 
 The literature is comprised in two great classes, monumental, 
 the work of the sculptor; scriptural, that of the scribe. 
 In no country in the world were monumental inscriptions 
 
 > Select Papyri, PI. xx. and cxxxiv. 
 
HIERATIC WRITING. 269 
 
 SO profusely employed ; for whole temples are literally books, 
 the walls of which are the leaves covered with hieroglyphs, 
 to which the sculptures served only as vignettes, or illu- 
 minations. These consist of dedications, colloquies of gods 
 and kings, prayers, calendars, lists of offerings, and historical 
 archives, containing records of important public events. The 
 tombs of the dead are also elaborately painted or sculptured 
 throughout with hieroglyphs, containing, at the earliest period 
 of the fourth dynasty, the names and titles of the dead, and 
 certain religious formulae, which all who beheld were expected 
 to repeat, being thanks to the gods because they had given 
 the blessing of life or a due funeral to the deceased, long lists 
 of offerings and of festivals, in very elliptical style, which con- 
 tinued till the time of the eleventh dynasty, when certain 
 extracts of formulae begin to appear.^ 
 
 In the paintings, too, of the sculptures, single words and 
 short sentences are dispersed over the figures and in the area ; 
 as 2^5-^, " the sawing," ^ over men sawing; shen, "chiselling,"^ 
 over men using the chisel; seh an hen, "scraper on the harp," ^ 
 over a harper. Those commencing at the fifth are continued 
 during the subsequent dynasties ; and the same principle of 
 naming the various objects occurs on the temples and other 
 public monuments. A few tombs have long inscriptions, 
 recording the appointments and exploits of functionaries, 
 military and civil. Such are, however, rare ; and the greater 
 part of the sepulchral formulae are religious extracts from the 
 liturgies recited in honour of the dead, which at a later period 
 had become incorporated with one of the Hermetic books, now 
 generally known as the Book of the Dead, or Eitual, which 
 will be subsequently described. There is one of these 
 
 ^ Lepsius, Denkmaler, Abth, ii. 115. ^ ibid., Abth. ii. Bl. 9. 
 3 Ibid. 49. 4 Ibid., Abth. 53. 
 
270 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 formulaB, repeated with more or less modifications, ou all objects 
 of the dead, which is a kind of orate pro anima of the deceased. 
 " Peace be," it says, to certain gods, such as Osiris or Anubis, 
 " who have given meals of food and drink, wine, milk, water, 
 oxen, geese, vegetables ; the gifts of heaven ; things created on 
 earth ; brought by the Nile ; to drink the water of the river ; 
 to eat the food of their table; to inhale the delightful breath of 
 the north wind, or the fragrance of incense ; to go in and out 
 of Hades, the light of heaven, the support of earth, the justi- 
 fication of Hades to the deceased." This prayer is often pre- 
 ceded by an injunction to all men to say it, as — " O all ye who 
 live on earth, all priests, prophets, scribes, undertakers, as ye 
 obey your chief, transmit your glories to your children, wish 
 them to remain in your place, as ye love life and fear death, 
 whether going or returning by this tablet or statue, do not fail 
 to say it." 
 
 it is impossible to give an account of all the inscriptions : 
 some of the most important are the services of Aahmes-Pen- 
 neben at the beginning of the eighteenth dynasty; the Eilethyian 
 inscription recording the wars against the Hykshos ; the tablet 
 of Karnak, containing the annals of Thothmes III. ; the treaty 
 between Barneses II. and the Khita ; the records of making 
 tanks or wells for miners at the gold washings ; the record of 
 the star risings in the tomb of Eameses V. ; the account of the 
 journey of the ark of the god Khons to the land of Bakhtan in 
 the reign of one of the later Eameses j the Egyptian version of 
 the conduct of Cambyses, and his successor Darius Hystaspes 
 towards Egyptv The style of these inscriptions has been 
 already pointed out. 
 
 Of the scriptural hieroglyphical texts, the principal is the 
 Eitual of the Dead, a work containing a very curious and 
 interesting portion of the Hermetic Books. It appears that, at 
 
HIERATIC WRITING. 271 ♦ 
 
 least as early as tlie twelfth dynasty, a collection had been 
 made of certain religious formulae, consisting of prayers and 
 formulae ordered to be said by the priest or inscribed upon the 
 coffin and amulets deposited with the dead. These had subse- 
 quently assumed the form of a distinct literary composition, 
 and at the time of the later monarchs of the country, transcribed 
 with all the various readings and different chapters which had 
 come into use, and formed a work which, more or less complete, 
 and written in hieroglyphics or hieratic, on papyrus, linen, or 
 leather, was rolled up into a cylindrical form and deposited 
 near or about the dead, often on the mummy, or else in cases 
 of wood in the shape of Osiris, as lord of the west, or judge of 
 the future state. The Eituals are divisible into two distinct 
 classes, w^hich are never confounded nor appear together. The 
 first is the Litany of the Sun, representing the passages of that 
 god through one of the hours of the day, accompanied with an 
 explanatory text, generally found deposited with mummied 
 priestesses of the god Amon at Thebes. The others, which 
 contain the true funeral ceremonies, are more common, and 
 exist in great numbers from the time of the fourth dynasty to 
 that of the Eoman subjugation, when a few abridged isolated 
 chapters were used instead of the old theological formulae. 
 This work is accompanied throughout by vignettes, one to each 
 chapter, elaborately painted like those of missals, and the 
 leading words of the chapters and direction pages are written 
 in red like the rubrics of prayer-books.^ So important is this 
 work to the study of hieroglyphs, that a short epitome of its 
 contents cannot fail to interest the reader. The fullest copy 
 known of this book is the papyrus of the Museum of Turin, 
 consisting of 165 chapters. 
 
 ^ These rituals have throughout blank spaces in which the name of the 
 deceased was inserted. They were rapidly copied, and are full of blunders. 
 
f 272 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 Part I. comprises sixteen chapters, probably the prayers 
 recited by the priests during the performing of the funeral, or 
 escorting the mummy to its tomb — consisting of prayers to the 
 Sun and other gods, to ensure him a favourable reception in the 
 future state. Thus one part states — " Let this chapter be read 
 ou earth, it should be painted on the coffin ; he will come out 
 any day he likes and go to his place without being turned 
 away ; there is given to him bread and drink, and slices of flesh 
 off the table of the Sun, when he peregrinates the fields of the 
 blest, corn and barley are given to him, for he is as provided 
 as he was upon earth." ^ The vignettes of this section repre- 
 sent funeral ceremonies. 
 
 II. Contains the portion requisite to be known in order to 
 let the blessed out of the Hades, to enter the service of Osiris, 
 and to enable him to make the requisite transformation or 
 transmigration. This remarkable part contains a number of 
 singular mystic interpretations, which the deceased had to 
 answer when asked — a kind of theological examination of his 
 knowledge and faith ."^ 
 
 III. The eleven litanies of Thoth or Mercury, calling upon 
 that god to make good the words of the deceased against 
 accusers before the gods of as many regions — this was called 
 ''the Crown of Truth." 3 
 
 IV. Certain chapters enabling the deceased to receive his 
 mouth and heart, or to prevent them being taken away by the 
 demons or accusers.^ 
 
 V. A series of chapters enabling the deceased to turn 
 back, or stop the serpent, tortoise, and crocodiles, called the 
 eater of the ass and gnawer of the back bone, which come to 
 devour him.' 
 
 » Lepsius, Todt. ii. 1, 22-3. • Ibid. vii. 17. ' Ibid, vii. xiv. 18-20. 
 
 * Ibid., Todt. xiv. xv. 21-30. « Ibid. xv. 31, 41. 
 
SUBJECT OF THE BOOK. 273 
 
 VI. A section in which the deceased has given to him the 
 appearance of several deities, in order to avoid being wounded 
 in the infernal strife.^ His hair is that of the milky way ; his 
 face, that of the sun ; his eyes, the symbolical eyes of Athor ; 
 his ears, those of the jackal-headed god Anubis ; his fingers 
 and toes, live serpents, &c. 
 
 VII. A section containing chapters by which he is enabled to 
 escape having his head cut off for his sins, or disappearing, being 
 soiled, or wasting away, others for obtaining his proper place 
 appearing against his accusers, of avoiding going to the block, 
 or to be overthrown, eating or drinking impurities, breathing, 
 and being strengthened by drinking waters of heaven," and 
 refreshment of the dead.^ 
 
 VIII. Chapters referring to coming out from daylight, or 
 life passing through the portals of the gate to arrive at the 
 Sun.'' One of these chapters is said to have been discovered 
 in the time of King Mycerinus, by a prince named Hartetef, 
 written upon bricks of earth painted in blue, placed under the 
 feet of the god Thoth. 
 
 IX. The transformations made by the deceased, who changes 
 liimself into the goose, the hawk of gold, the divine hawk, into 
 the chief of the gods, into a lily, Phtha, or Vulcan, the nycti- 
 corax and another heron ; he also assumes the form of a soul, 
 of a swallow, of the serpent, the soul of the world, of the god 
 Scbak, to obtain his heart.^ 
 
 X. In the tenth section are several chapters on the union of 
 the soul to the body ; the reception of the writing from Thoth,^ 
 of finding the soul again, going to the east, receiving writing 
 materials and speech of Thoth; ascending the boat of the 
 Egyptian Charon, all of whose parts call on the deceased to 
 
 ^ Lepsius, Todt. xvi. xix. 42. - Ibid. xxi. xxiii. 41-53. 
 
 ^ Ibid. xxi. xxiii. 52-63. * Ibid, xxiii. xxviii. 64-75. 
 
 ^ Ibid, xxxiii. 76-88. " Ibid, xxxiii. -xxxviii. 89-106. 
 
 T 
 
274 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 tell them their mystical names ; the passage in the barge of the 
 sun ; the chapter of finding Athor, of sitting with the gods. 
 
 XII. Certain chapters of going in and coming out of the 
 gate of the west, and of knowing the spirits of the east and 
 west of Eshmun, or Hermojyolis, and Annu, or Heliopolis. 
 The going in peace to the fields of Aahlu or Elysium^ plough- 
 ing, sowing, reaping, and transporting the food there made.^ 
 
 Xtll. The chapters of going in and out of the Eusta or plains." 
 
 XIV. The Book of the arrival at the Hall of the two 
 Truths, and the final judgment before Osiris, and the denial of 
 the forty-two sins to their personifications and demons, and the 
 weighing of the heart, the record of Thoth.^ 
 
 XV. The parts of the Hall here call on the deceased to tell 
 them their mystic names, or they will not let him proceed.** 
 
 XVI. The basin of purgatorial fire guarded by four apes.^ 
 
 XVII. A book called that of adoring the gods of the sun's 
 orbit ; another instructing the dead to stand at the boat of the 
 sun ; another for the same purport, and giving eternal life to 
 the soul, containing chapters relating to the going out to the 
 heaven as the soul approached the gate of Hades ; others con- 
 taining adoration to the Sun; of going to the east; adoring 
 the god Tum, or the setting sun.^ There is here a book said 
 to be made on the 30th of the month Epiphi when the Eye is 
 full. Another separate book or section is that teaching the 
 dead the names of the gods of the south and north ; and a 
 second book telling them the names of certain other gods.' 
 
 XVIII. Contains the account of the Halls of the Aahru or 
 Aahlu (Elysium). There are seven halls of the meek-hearted 
 Osiris, of which it is necessary that the deceased should know 
 the names of the keepers, and the name written over them, and 
 
 > Lepsius, Todt. xxxviii. xlv. 107-16. * Ibid. xlv. xlvi. 117-24. 
 
 » Ibid. xli. 1. 125. -• Ibid. li. 125. » Ibid. li. 126. 
 
 ••' Ibid. li. Iviii. 127-139. 7 Ibid. 140-143. 
 
SUBJECT OF THE b60K. 275 
 
 twenty-one gateways ; into each of these he is compelled to 
 enter anointed with a particular oil, clad in a particular dress, 
 and holding a wand or stick of particular wood. He announces 
 to the god that he knows their names ; the demons then tell him 
 he may go forth.* This is followed by a book entitled that of 
 "Instructing the dead who is the delight of the Sua," and is 
 spoken of in the following terms : " Nowhere is there a book 
 like it ; men have not spoken it, nor eye perceived it, nor ear 
 heard it.^ ISTothing prevails against him." This mystical book 
 refers to seven cows and a bull, four mystical eyes, and a 
 certain embalming of Osiris. The twenty abodes. These 
 abodes are as many regions of the Kar-Neter^ or Hell, and one 
 (the twentieth) is like the Greek Phlegethon ; for it is said 
 that none of the dead can endure it, the waters being of flame 
 and waves of fire of the most intense and unconquerable heat, 
 while the thirst of the dead in it is unquenchable, and they 
 have no peace in it, because it is filled with weeds and filth .^ 
 
 XIX. These are followed by some intermediate chapters, 
 relating to the embalming.'' 
 
 XX. Those of the six amulets or talismans placed on the necks 
 of the dead,^ in order to insure him certain benefits. 
 
 XXI. Thoth, opening the doors of the four winds. This is 
 followed by a chapter entitled that of producing warmth under 
 the head of the deceased ; it is particularly here prescribed 
 that no evil eye should be allowed to see it, and with this part 
 the Bitual ' ends ; ^ but there are two additional chapters, 
 generally found at a later period, containing the mystical names 
 of Ammon in the language of Nubia." This mystical book 
 
 ^ Lepsius, Todt. Ix. Ixviii. 144-47. "^ Ibid. Ixix. 1. 6. 
 
 3 Ibid. Ixxiii. 149, n. ^ Ibid. Ixxiii. Ixxiv. 151-54. 
 
 ■' Ibid. Ixxv. Ixxvi. 155-60. « Ibid. Ixxiv. 161, 162. 
 
 ^ Ibid. Ixxviii. Ixxix. 163-5. For an account of the Ritual, cf. M. Lepsius, 
 Todtenbucb, 4to, Leipzig, 1842 ; ChampoUion, Notice du Musee Charles X. 
 
 T 2 
 
276 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 embraces a considerable part of the theology, and chapters of 
 it are found on coffins, the walls of tombs, tablets, and various 
 other objects of the dead. 
 
 HIERATIC WRITINa. 
 
 The hieratic characters stand in the same relation to the 
 Egyptian hieroglyphs as our writing to printed text, the various 
 hieroglyphs employed being more or less reduced in form and 
 often much altered in shape. There are fewer abbreviations 
 used in the hieratic writing than in the hieroglyphic, and the 
 number of characters is smaller, the same one often correspond- 
 ing to two or three hieroglyphs. Eor these reasons the study 
 of the hieratic is very important to a due knowledge of the 
 structure of the language, while the rolls hitherto discovered 
 written in it are of considerable literary interest. It is as old as 
 the fifth dynasty, and ends about the period of the Antonines. 
 
 In all the transactions of ordinary life it was extensively 
 employed. In it correspondence was carried on ; accounts 
 rendered and annals kept ; memoranda, rituals, and probably 
 all drafts of inscriptions made. It was rarely used for the 
 same purposes as the lapidary inscriptions, although one tablet 
 lias an incised hieratic inscription containing a pubhc act of 
 the eleventh year of the reign of Amenophis III. Sometimes 
 dedications were inscribed in hieratic, as that of the first year 
 of Barneses II. at Grebel Selseleh, recording the quarrying for 
 the palaces of the king.* It often occurs on slices of stone, on 
 boards prepared with stucco, or sherds of vases. 
 
 144, 12mo, Paris, 1S27 ; M. Brugsch, Aegyptischen Denkmaler d. K. 
 Museums, 8. 54, 12mo, Berlin, 1850 ; Dr. Hinck's loc. cit. j Rapport de 
 Af. Je Vicomte de Roug6, Moniteur, Mars, 1851. 
 » Champollion, Notice, 265-6. 
 
HIERATIC WRITING. 277 
 
 The papyri inscribed in the hieratic character are tlie proto- 
 types of those of Herculaneum and Pompeii, and of the Greek 
 MSS. of the Ptolemies ; the originals of our volumina, rolls or 
 volumes, like the leather-rolls of the Jews. Their script is in 
 horizontal lines from nine to eleven in each page, reading as 
 usual from l^ft to right. The commencement of sections, and 
 some of the more important words, are written in red ink, and 
 the ends of the lines of poems are indicated by red stops or 
 dots placed above the line ; corrections, also, are made in ink 
 of the same colour. There are no notes in our sense of the 
 word; sometimes, however, leading words selected from the 
 text, or even drawings of animals, such as lions and horses 
 mentioned in it, are placed on the broad margin above the 
 page, answering to our lemmata. Although in general these 
 papyri are only written upon one side, yet some have their 
 subject-matter occasionally continued on the back ; others 
 have endorsements, the titles of their subjects, miscellaneous 
 notices, dates, &c. One of them, a most interesting fragment, 
 apparently an ancient letter addressed from a scribe or secre- 
 tary of the treasury to an officer of state, which formerly was 
 in the shape of a cylindrical roll, is endorsed with the name 
 of the person to whom it is addressed and the date of its 
 delivery. It is probable that many of these rolls of papyri 
 formerly deposited in the archives of the temples of Ammon 
 at Thebes, were a collection of state papers belonging to the 
 treasury, and even part of the celebrated library of Osymandyas. 
 
 The greater part of the hieratic papyri are rituals or books 
 of the dead, the contents of which have been described ; some 
 of the religious books however exist in it, as the Lamentations ^ 
 of Isis, a hymn in honour of the Nile, probably one of those 
 already mentioned by the Eoman writers.2 
 
 1 M. Bi-ugsch, Sai am Sinsin, 4to, Berlin, 1841. 2 gdect Papyri, PI. 20 , 23 
 
278 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 Many works however of historical interest are found, the 
 so-called hieratical canon or book of kings at Turin, containing 
 chronology of the kingdom till the twelfth dynasty, unfor- 
 tunately much mutilated,^ a panegyric on Amenemba I., written 
 by his son Neberter,' a code of moral instructions, in which are 
 mentioned the names of the old monarchs, Seneferu and Ani, 
 or An, written by one Ptah-lietp in the reign of the king Assa 
 or Asseth.^ 
 
 The following is the subject of the principal published papyri 
 in this kind of writing. A series of communications relating 
 to certain transactions in Egypt, in the reign of Apepi, as a 
 shepherd king, and Tanaaken, a king of the seventeenth 
 dynasty, relative to a political and religious controversy.* A 
 collection of letters, addressed by the scribe Pentihurtu 
 to Amenemant, chief keeper of the records of the royal 
 treasury, relating to the malpractices of an administrator of 
 the crown lands, and a record of the criminal proceedings 
 against him, apparently during the reigns of Eameses II. and 
 Menephtha.fi 
 
 The campaign of Eameses II. against the Khita, written in 
 metrical style, and addressed to Amenemant, in the tenth year of 
 Eameses II.*' There is also another, called the announcement 
 of the might of the Lord of Egypt, when his Majesty built a 
 tower. The greater part, however, is of an official character, 
 
 ^ Lepsius, Auswahl, Taf. iii. vi. Sir G. Wilkinson, Hieratic Papyrus of 
 Kings at Turin, 51 . 
 
 2 Select Papyri, PI. 10, 12. 
 
 3 M. Prisse, Facsimile d'un Papyrus figyptien, fo. Paris, 1847. 
 
 '» Select Papyri, PI. 1, 3 ; Dr. Hincks, Brit. Arch. Assoc. Winchester 
 Meeting, p. 246. 
 
 » Rev. D. J. Heath, Exodus Papyri, 8vo, Lond., 1866, p. 96 ; M. de Rouge, 
 I'Athenffium Fran^ais, 1854, p. 652. 
 
 ^ Salvolini, Campagne de Rhamsdsle Grand, Svo, Paris, 1836, PI. 36, 62. 
 
HIERATIC WRITING. 279 
 
 and resembles the rolls on whieli documents were entered in 
 tlie middle ages, a great portion of them consisting of various 
 entries, many of great interest, and referring to the external 
 politics of Egypt, consisting of correspondence between scribes 
 attached to the finance and other branches of the adminis- 
 tration, relating to repairs, examination of government works, 
 reports on transports of tablets, plaints lodged against mal- 
 administration, encomiums of the monarch, orders to prepare a 
 great feast, relation of foreign embassies ; ^ certain cor- 
 respondence relating to the governor of the fort of Tuk ; ^ 
 others relating to the fortress of Teben,^ and other political 
 affairs,'' addressed by a certain scribe named Eameses, and an 
 interesting calendar with astrological directions ^ what to do 
 and avoid. There are also several invocations to gods, registers 
 of substances, medical receipts, astronomical calculations ; ^ and 
 a kind of romance about the adventures of two brothers, 
 showing that even works of imagination were extant in 
 Pharaonic time." 
 
 » Cf. Select Papyri, Parts ii. and iii. PL 35, 145; Dr. Hincks, Brit. Arch. 
 Assoc, Winchester Meeting, p. 246 and foil. ; Rev. J. D. Heath, Exodus 
 Papyri, 1. c. ; Leeman's Mon. Egypt, fo. Leide, PI. 155, 156 ; Salvolini, 
 Campagne de Rhamses, 1. c. 
 
 - Ibid. PI. 119, 122. 3 i^a. PI. 122, 127. 
 
 •1 Ibid. PI. 140, 144. ^ Ibid. PI. 145, ad finem. 
 
 ^ See objects, Brit. Mus. Eg. room. No. 6293. Several Papyri not published, 
 are noticed also in Champollion, Lettre a M. le Due de Blacas, 8vo, Par. 
 1824-26. 
 
 7 M. de Rouge, Rev. Arch. ix. 385. 
 
280 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 DEMOTIC WEITING. 
 
 Some description of this kind of writing, called by the 
 Egyptians slchai en sJiaij **the writing of books" or "letters,** 
 has been already given in the preceding portions, relating to 
 the discovery of the mode of deciphering the hieroglyphs. It 
 * is distinguished from the hieratic by the simpler form of tlie 
 , characters, and the use of the colloquial dialect of the period, 
 called by Manetho the " common ** or " vulgar dialect,'* the 
 older having become the " sacred language.'' Along with 
 these, however, are introduced other groups, direct copies from 
 the hieratic, such as the words king, eternal, &c., which are 
 easily detected in the texts. Besides these the demotic also 
 retains the use of determinatives, which are used in the same 
 manner as in the other texts, being placed after the phonetic 
 groups, and often introduces ideographs into the inscriptions, 
 although even more sparingly than in hieratic. Throughout 
 this writing, however, the use of the phonetic characters pre- 
 dominates over that of the ideographs, and the script assume 
 a more regular, and consequently more convenient form. The 
 language too exhibits considerable difference in construction 
 as the various pronouns are prefixed to the words to which 
 they relate, and demotic writing consequently represents the 
 later spoken language of Egypt. It must not, however, be 
 imagined that even this form of writing is pure Coptic, as 
 the language still retains many words of ancient Egyptian 
 origin, and their meaning has to be eliminated by the same 
 processes. It appears that the demotic was introduced 
 into Egypt about the time of the Psammetici, b. c. 664, 
 
DEMOTIC WKITING. 281 
 
 contracts dated in the reign of these monarchs being known, 
 and this form certainly continued till the reign of the Anto- 
 nines, A. d. 250, and even partially down to the third century 
 A. D., when it was finally superseded by the Coptic ; during this 
 time it had superseded the hieratic only for civic documents, 
 since, for all sacred purposes, the hieroglj^hs or hieratic, and ' 
 for all monumental ones of primary importance, the hieroglyphs 
 continued in use. 
 
 The contents of the demotic monuments are unfortunately 
 less known than either those of the hieratic or hieroglyphic. 
 They have been divided into eight classes. 1. Public monu- 
 ments upon stone, of which the most important are the 
 inscription of the Eosetta stone,^ that of Philae, and the bilin- 
 gual tablet of Turin.^ These are comparatively rare, few public 
 monuments occurring in this writing. 2. Dedications, of which 
 the most remarkable are the inscriptions of tlie Tourah quarries, 
 those found addressed to the Apis in the Serapeum at Memphis 
 and others discovered on the Cosseir Koad, and in Nubia 
 some of private individuals.' 3. Contracts written upon papyrus 
 with a reed, for the sale of the revenues attached to the tombs 
 or of the lands and other properties. These documents com- 
 mence as early as the Psammetici, continuing, through the Per- 
 sians till the reign of the Ptolemies. They commence with the 
 date of the day, month and year of the king's reign, and con- 
 tinue to recite with the accuracy of a passport and the 
 technicality of a title-deed, descriptions of the contracting 
 parties and the property. They are always endorsed with the 
 names of sixteen witnesses.^ 4. Receipts for value received. 
 
 ^ Brugsch, Numerorum apud Vetares iEgyptos Demoticoi-um Doctrina, 3, 
 4to, BerUn. 2 i^id. 4. 
 
 ^ Bmgscli, 1. c. Spolin, De Lingua et Literatura Yeteris ^gypti, 4to, Lipsiac, 
 1835 ; Young in Tattam's Coptic Grammar. 
 
 * Young, HieroglypHcs. 
 
282 HIEROGLYPHS. 
 
 5. Accounts, of which about half-a-dozen papyri are known. 
 
 6. Letters and various epistolary documents, the contents 
 of which unfortunately have not been yet deciphered. 7. 
 Sepulchral inscriptions, on tomb-stones, being various for- 
 mulsB for the dead.^ 8. Kituals, or the formulaB usually depo- 
 sited with the dead in hieroglyphic and hieratic writing, the 
 contents of which have been already analysed ; these continued 
 to be written in demotic by the different sects of decaying 
 paganism, the Basilidians, and Gnostics, till the third century, 
 when the Coptic, introduced by the Christians, entirely super- 
 seded it, and nothing remained of the old language and litera- 
 ture but a faint remembrance. Originally it was conjectured 
 that the demotic would be the first deciphered, but the contrary 
 has proved the case, for it has not been till the structure of the 
 hieroglyphs was thoroughly understood that the demotic was 
 well analysed. Many new inquirers continue to advance the 
 study ; and, although far from perfectly understood, ere long it 
 will be as easy to read a page of hieroglyphs as of Greek or 
 Latin.^ 
 
 1 Young, 1. c. vol. XX. ; Inghirami, Men. Etr. s. vi. t. k. 4, Spohn, 1. c. 
 
 - The principal works on the demotic are : De Sacy, Lettre au citoyen 
 Chaptal, 8vo, Paris, 1802. Akerblad, Lettre a M. De Sacy, Svo, Paris, 
 1802. Young, Th., Hieroglyphics, fo. 1819. Young, Rudiments of a Dic- 
 tionary (appended to Dr. Tattam's Coptic Grammar,) 8vo, Lond., 1830. 
 Kosegarten Bemerkurgen ueber d. ^gyptisch text, 4to, Greifswald, 1824. 
 Leemans, Dr. C, Monuments figyptiens d. Mus6e de Leide, fo., Leide, 1838. 
 Dr. Hincks, Enchorial Language of Egypt, 8vo, Dublin, 1833. Journal de la 
 Soc. Orient, d' Allemagne, Svo, 1839, torn. iii. p. 263. Brugsch, Lettre a 
 M. De Saulcy, Rev. Arch. 1848. Sepr. Numerorum. ap. ^gypt. Doctrina, 
 4to, Berlin, 1849. Sammlung demotisch Urkunden, fo. Berl., 1850. Lettre 
 aM. De Roug6, 4to. Berl., 1850. Grammaire Demotiqu e, fo., Berlin , 1855. 
 
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