CHAPTER IX. The Book of the Dead.

Contents of the * Book of the Dead ' — Explanation of parts of it — The blessed dead — The forty-two judges — The final judgment before Osiris — The negative confession — The Egyptian a fatalist ... 167

CHAPTER X.

The Life of the Ancient Egyptians.

Egyptian children and their toys — Dress of the kings, priests, and common people — Toilet articles — Kohl — Marriage — Titles of the king, and his duties — Queens reigned over Egypt — Cemetery of Memphis — Egyptian houses — Agriculture — Nilometers — Egyptian army, arms and weapons — Diet of the Egyptians — Sports and amusements ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 179

CHAPTER XI.

Architecture and Art.

Principal periods of Egyptian architecture — Statues of Chephren — Obelisks — Tomb at Beni-Hassan — Decline of architecture under the Shepherd Kings— Golden age of art and architecture under ■ Rameses II. — Imitations of old works in the time of the XXVIth Dynasty — The Ptolemies and the influence of the Greeks — Character of the Egypiian ... ... ... ... ... ... 189

APPENDIX. The Egyptian Calendar 195

Index 197

List of Scripture Rfferences .. 203

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Semites coming into Egypt

Fac-simile of Inscriptions on Rosetta Stone ...

Papyrus and Palette with Reeds for writing

Hieratic Writing ... The Sphinx

Bust of Thothmes III

Rameses II. in battle Egyptian Barbers at work Brickmakers

Hieroglyphic Borders ... Groups of Egyptian Gods

Ra

Figure of Ptah-Socharis-Osiris, and Box for holding Mummied Object

Thoth

Female Mourners for the Dead ...

Soul with Symbols of Life and Breath revisiting Mummied Body

INtummy of the lady Katebt, a Musician of the God Amen

Scarabaeus inscribed with a part of the Thirtieth Chapter of the

Ritual of the Dead

Ushabti Figures containing the Sixth Chapter of the Ritual of the

Dead

The Elysian Fields

Part of the Seventeenth Chapter of the Ritual of the Dead

The Judgment Hall of Osiris

PAGE

Frontispiece

... 76 ... 84

no, III

... 128 ... 136

INTRODUCTION,

The land of Egypt, its people and their history, have been the subjects of the most earnest enquiry both in ancient and modern times. The reason is not far to seek, for apart from its importance to the philologist and profane historian, the nation claims the attention of every Bible reader and student, from the fact of its being contemporary with Abraham, and the nursing land of the Jewish nation. When the patriarch Abraham found a famine in Canaan, he sought food and life in the land of the Pharaohs ; and after Joseph had become * the ruler of the land,' Jacob journeyed thither that his posterity might fill the measure of their four hundred (or four hundred and thirty) years' captivity. The Jews entered the land 'when they were but a few men in number,' they went out by myriads ; they went in as visitors dependent on the good favour of the Pharaoh, they went out with triumph. Egypt was a place of refuge alike for the founder of the race, for the families of the patriarchs, and for their mighty Descendant, * The Giver of Life,' Who with His mother departed by night into Egypt.

The influence of the Egyptians upon the Jews was

8 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

marked and powerful, and there can be no doubt that living for so long a time in a land where civilization had been known for thousands of years, where learning in all its branches was studied and cultivated, and where there was a luxurious and polished system of life, with its magnificent temples and buildings and worship, must have influenced Israel in its infancy for good and for bad. In a good way the influence would show itself by the Jews gathering to themselves some of the learning and wisdom for which the Egyptians were famed among the nations around. The Egyptian education of Moses was never forgotten by the posterity of Abraham, for the martyr Stephen in his dying speech remembered that Moses 'was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.' Much else too would they learn of the arts of the Egyptians : the dyeing of skins, the weaving of cloth, the cutting of precious stones, and the manufacture of 'fine twined linen wrought with needlework,' etc. All this knowledge was put to a glorious use later on in the making of the Tabernacle and the instruments for its service. The whole description of the Tabernacle in Exodus is full of allusions to Egyptian customs : the strict rules for the purifying of the priests, the ephod of the high-priest, the pomegranate decoration of the hem of his robe, his breast-plate and his mitre, all had their counterpart among the Egyptians. And not only was the knowledge gained from the Egyptians sanctified to the service of the Lord, but the mirrors which the Israelitish women possessed, and which had been brought by them

INTRODUCTION. 9

from Egypt, were melted down and went to make the 'laver of brass and the foot of it.'^ Recently, Renouf has shown that the word cherubim may have been derived from the Egyptian cherefii. The evil effects of the stay of the Hebrews in Egypt are best shown by the readiness with which they worshipped the ' golden calf,' or Apis, set up by Aaron during the absence of Moses ; and when difficulties met them and food was scarce, by their demoralised proneness to return to Egypt, where, though in a state of servitude, they had enjoyed an abundance of cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.

Before the present century every writer on Egypt was compelled to rely upon the statements of Greek and other historians, who not only often misunderstood what they were told, but filled up their works in many places with obsolete traditions and their own ideas. The day for this necessity, however, is now past, and though there are many difficulties yet to be overcome in the Egyptian language, still enough has been made out to show how carelessly the religion and customs of the Egyptians have been represented by foreign writers. Pyramid and obelisk, sarcophagus and coffin, stele and papyrus and leather have now spoken, and their inscriptions, ranging from 4000 B.C. to the time of Christ, have in a great measure yielded up the authentic history of the dwellers by the Nile ; and its real bearing on the civilization of the West, extending even to our own times, is now beginning to be rightly appreciated. 1 Exodus xxxviii. 8.

10 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

The mere names of the works on Egypt would fill a large book, but a strong line of demarcation must be drawn between those published before and after the year 1817. Before that time Egypt was the subject of the wildest theories and conjectures, but after ChampoUion's discovery of the true reading of the hieroglyphs and their meaning, this was no longer possible ; theory vanished before fact, and conjecture before certain knowledge.

In the following pages an attempt has been made to give a very brief sketch of a few of the principal events in the history of Egypt (especially the part relating to the Bible narratives of Joseph and of Moses), its people their mode of life and literature, etc. But I wish it to be distinctly understood that I am well aware how impossible it is even to touch upon all the important heads of so vast a subject in a little book like this.

The information here given has been obtained from the first and best sources. For the history of the decipherment of the hieroglyphs I have relied upon that of Dr. Birch, published in the late Sir Gardner Wilkinson's * The Egyptians in the time of the Pharaohs,' London, 1857. Considering that this is the only good and trustworthy account of this matter in England, I wonder much that no one has considered it worth while to reprint Dr. Birch's part of that work. The greater part of Egyptian history has been long well known, and the principal books consulted by me for the history of Eg}'pt were ' Egypt,' by Dr. Birch, in the

INTRODUCTION. 1 1

'Ancient History from the Monuments' series; Wiedemann's * Aeo^yptische Geschichte,' and Brugsch's * Egypt under the Pharaohs.' A long array of books and papers in the ' Transactions ' of the learned Societies constitute the authorities for the remaining chapters of the book ; and I am glad to express my obligations to their authors, more especially to Dr. Birch, Mr. Le Page Renouf, and Messrs. Stern, Brugsch, Maspero, Naville, Wilkinson, and Wiedemann.

My thanks are also due to Dr. Garnett of the British Museum for his care and kindness in reading the proof sheets.

Chronological Table of the Principal Kings OF Egypt, with approximate Dates.^

Isf Dymasty.

Cha-f-Ra

. 3666

Mena

. . 4400

Men-kau-Ra

• 3^33

Teta

.. 4366

Shepseskaf ...

. 3600

Atet

•• 4333

Ata

Hesep-ti

.. 4266

5M Dynasty.

Mer-bapen ...

Semenptah

Kebh... *

.. 4233 .. 4200 .. 4166

Userkaf

Sahu-Ra

• 3533

Kaka

• 3500

Nefer-Ra

• 3466

2mi Dynasty.

Ra-en-user-An

• 3433

Menkau-Her

• 3400

Bet'au

■• 4133

Tet-ka-Ri

. 3366

Kakau

.. 4100

Unas

• 3333

Ba-neter-en

.. 4066

Uatnes

• • 4033

Senta

.. 40CO

6t/i Dynasty.

User-l?a-Ra

. 3300

3;v/ Dynasty.

Teta

. 3266

Meri-Ra

• 3233

Tatai

.. 3966

Meren-Ra

. 3200

Nebka

• 3933

Nefer-ka-Ra

. 3166

T'er-sa

■ • 3900

I\Ier-en-Ra-Ment-eni-saf .

• 3133

Teta

.. 3866

Setes

• Z^ll

Ra-nefer-ka

.. 3800

yt/i-iit/i Dynasties.

Neter-ka-Ra

■ 3100

i,th Dynasty.

Men-ka-Ra

. 3066

■

Nefer-ka-Ra

• 3033

Snefru

.. 3766 •• 3733

Nefer-ka-Ra Nebi ...

. 3000

Chufu

Tet-ka-Ra-maa-kes (?)

. 2966

Ra-tet-f

.. 3700

Nefer-ka-Ra Chentu

• 2933

1 The dates are those of Brug.-ch, as published in ' Egypt under the Pharaohs,' ii., p. 311.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

Mer-en-Her

19/// Dynasty.

Senefer-ka

Ra-en-ka

Rameses I

Nefer-ka-Ra Tererl

Seti I

• 1366

Mefer-ka-Her

Rameses II.

• 1333

Nefer-ka-Ra Pepi-seneb ...

Merenptah ...

Nefer-ka-Ra Annu

Seti II

. 1266

kau-Ra ...

Nefer-kau-Ra

Nefer-kau-Her

26C0

20th Dynasty.

Neferarka-Ra

Neb-cher-Ra

Setnecht, Rameses III.

• 1233

Seanchka-Ra

Rameses III.

„ IV. 1

V. 1

. 1200

„ VL \

. 1 166

\2th Dynasty.

„ VIL 1 ,, VIILJ

Amenemha I.

t, IX. 1 X.

Usertsen I

Amenemha II

XL \

• 1133

Usertsen *IL

„ XIL

Ill

,, XIILJ

Amenemha III

„ ' IV

2\st Dynasty.

\yh-\1th Dynasties.

Herher

Piankhi

1 100 . 1066

Here comes a break of 50c

^ears, vings' '

Pi-net'em

• 1033

in which the ' Shepherd '.

Pa-seb-cha-nen I

. 1000

rule falls.

Men-cheper-Ra

—

Amen-em-ap-t

—

Pa-seb-cha-nen II

—

\%th Dynasty.

Ahmes ...^^^^ ...

22nd Dynasty.

Amenhetep I

Sheshank I. ...

. 966

Thothmes I

Osorkon I

,, n. 1 . „ in.J

Takelot I

.. 900

Osorkon II

.. 866

Amenhetep 11

Sheshank II

• 833

Thothmes IV

Takelot II

. 800

Amenhetep III

Sheshank II I

—

Her-em-heb

Pimai

—

Heretic kings

1 Sheshank IV

—

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

2yd Dynasty

B.C. I

Pet-tu-Bast Osorkon IIL

2^th Dynasty Bak-en-ren-f

2^th Dynasty.

Shabaka

Shabataka

Taharka

26th Dynasty

Psamtek L . Nekau

Psamtek II... Uah-ab-Ra ..

Ahmes II. .. Psamtek III.

2-]th Dynasty

Cambyses Darius I. Xerxes I.

I Artaxerxes

! Xerxes II.

i Sogdianus

Darius If.

2^th Dynasty. 733 ! Amen-rut (Amyrtaeus)

2gth Dynasty, I. ...

Nai-f-aa-u-nit Muthes Pa-sa-Mut ... Nai-f-aa-u-rut II

^ct/i Dynasty.

Necht-Her heb

Teher

Necht-neb-f (Nectanebus)

3 1 J-/ Dynasty.

Ochus ... ... ... 340

Arses 338

Darius IIL ... ... ... 336

Conquest by Alexander the

Gi'eat 332

THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE,

OR,

CHAPTERS ON THE LIFE, LITERATURE, HISTORY, AND CUSTOMS OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAPTE%L

Decipherment of the Egyptian Hieroglyphics.

Among the many linguistic triumphs which have been achieved by scholars in the nineteenth century, the decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions^ and the Egyptian hieroglyphics takes the foremost place. By their decipherment two of the greatest and most important nations of antiquity have had their proper place assigned to them among the nations of the past, and what is still better and of more use, their history has been unfolded and their learning and wisdom made available for the people of to-day. Egypt, and its people, whose past extends through a vista of sixty or seventy centuries, have ever been the subject of

» For a popular and interesting account of the decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions, see Prof. Sayce, ' Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments,' pp. iQ-20.

1 6 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

misunderstanding and of misrepresentation. The highly cultivated nations that flourished about the period of Egypt's final decay despised its religion, and invented a variety of absurd statements to cover their ignorance of a subject which they did not understand. But now there is neither room nor need for conjecture or hypothesis, for, thanks to the labour of Egyptologists, the native Egyptian records have been forced to yield up their secrets, and we have the means of judging for ourselves what their language, literature, and religion were like.

It must not be imagi|^d for a moment that everything relating to the Egyptians is known, for it is not. Much has still to be done in many branches of the science. Travellers who visit Egypt year by year see each time antiquities and ruins that they have never seen before, and tell us that in spite of the magnificent collections of Egyptian antiquities in London, Paris, Turin, Berlin, Boulak, and elsewhere, Egypt is only half excavated, and that as much, if not more, exists under the ground as above it. What has already been found will serve as a specimen of what is still to be found ; so likewise what Egyptologists have already made out from the monuments and papyri is but an earnest of what is yet to come.

Before going further, however, it will be convenient here to relate briefly the story of the decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphics.^ The man to whom the world

1 For the history of this triumph, and for a Hst of the writers on

DECIPHERMENT OF THE EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. 1/

principally owes its gratitude for this work is ChampoUion. As might be expected, one of the most serious difficulties to be overcome before any good work could be done in the way of reading the Egyptian hieroglyphics, was to obtain careful and accurate copies of inscriptions. Many scholars like Kircher, and travellers like Pococke, published copies of inscriptions, but the characters were so distorted and badly drawn that they were worthless for the purpose of reading or study. Many attempts had been made to read the hieroglyphics in the sixteenth century, but no real progress was made ; and in the seventeenth century Athanasius Kircher published his * CEdipus ^Egy ptiacus,' in which he professed to give translations of Egyptian stelae and also of an obelisk. It is perhaps needless to say that his principles of decipherment were absolutely worthless, and it is quite clear that he did not understand that some of the signs represented letters. He considered each sign to represent an idea, and, as Dr. Birch has pointed out,' he translated Domitian's title Atitocrator^ by 'the author of fruitfulness and of all vegetation is Osiris, whose productive force was produced in his kingdom of heaven through the holy Mophta.'

The first three-quarters of the eighteenth century also saw much valuable time and learning wasted in

Egyptian, ancient and modern (up to 1857), see the ' Introduction to the Study of the Egyptian Hieroglyphs,' by Dr. Birch, in Wilkinson's 'The Egyptians in the Time of the Pharaohs.'

' Wilkinson, 'The Egyptians in the Time of the Pharaohs,' p. 191,

B

l8 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE. . . .

producing works on the Egyptian hieroglyphics which were; productive of no good results; but in the fourth quarter some facts were made out which served to hasten the solution of the difficult problem of decipherment. De Guignes found out that groups with determinative characters existed in Egyptian, and Zoega made two startling discoveries, (i) that the hieroglyphs were letters ; (2) that each cartouche contained a royal name,^ though this latter discovery was also made independently by Thomas Young. These were the first steps made in the right direction.

Matters remained thus until the French scientific expedition to Egypt under Napoleon I. took place. In 1799 an artillery officer named Boussard discovered, while digging the foundation of a house at Fort St. Julien, near Rosetta, the ancient Bolbitane, a large black stone, which has since been generally called the * Rosetta Stone,' and which is now in the British Museum. It stood originally in a temple of the god Tmu, and was presented to the French Institute of Cairo : it was afterwards surrendered to General Hutchinson, and was presented by George III. to the British Museum.^

Now, to understand an unknown language it is necessary to have an interpreter, and, as Champollion

^ The names of kings, queens, and princes are enclosed in ovals, to which the name cartouche has been given : thus f D 1 ^ ,^_-^ 1' Psammetichus.' ^ Wilkinson, ' The Eg}'ptians in the Time of the Pharaohs,' p. 192.-

B 2

_^. AT. <t*l*.=AT.Sr^V,e^ff!.

Fac-Simile of Inscript;ons on Kosetta Stone.

DECIPHERMENT OF THE EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. 21

has said.^ the interpreter must be either a man, or a book, or a writing ; in this case the unknown language was Egyptian, and the interpreter was the writing on the Rosetta Stone. The stone is three feet two inches long, two feet five inches wide, and contains inscriptions in three kinds of writing : one in hieroglyphics, another in demotic, or the language of the people, and the third in Greek. Most unfortunately a very large piece of the end of the stone containing the hieroglyphic part of the inscription was broken away, but enough remained for the purposes of interpretation. Scholars saw immediately that a key was at hand for the unlocking of the mysteries of the Egyptian language, and renewed their studies with great vigour. A fac-simile of the inscription on the stone was made by the Society of Antiquaries in 1802, and distributed among scholars ; and for the first time a scientific attempt was made to translate Egyptian.

When the Greek text of the inscription had been read, it was found that it was a decree drawn up by the priests of Memphis in honour of their king Ptolemy Epiphanes, B.C. 198, who had conferred enormous benefits upon them, and they in gratitude had enjoined that * this decree should be engraved on a tablet of hard stone, in hieroglyphical, enchorial, and Greek characters, and should be set up in each of the first, second, and third rate temples, at the statue of the everliving king.'

Since the Rosetta Stone has always been an object of

^ 'L'Univers,' p. 222.

22 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

the greatest curiosity to those who are interested in the history of Egyptian decipherment, we reproduce here a complete translation of it by Dr. Birch. As the hieroglyphic text is imperfect, and the demotic not yet fully translated, the translation here given is from the Greek. It was first published by Dr. Birch in Anmdale and Bonomi's * Gallery of Antiquities,' p. 114; and afterwards in * Records of the Past,' Vol. IV., pp. 69-78. We must add, however, that last December the Museum of Boulak bought a stele, found at En-Nobeireh near Damanour, which contained a duplicate copy of the text inscribed upon the Rosetta Stone. A reproduction of the stele and the text is given by Urbain Bouriant in the* Recueil de Travaux relatifs a la Philologie et a I'Archeologie figyptiennes et Assyriennes,' Paris, 1885.

Translation of the Rosetta Stone. Under the reign of Youth, and immediate successor of his father, lord of the diadems, very glorious ; having established order in Egypt ; pious towards the gods ; superior to his adversaries ; having ameliorated the life of men ; Master of the festivals of thirty years, like Hephaistos the Great ; like the Sun great king of the Upper and Lower regions ; born of the gods Philopatores, approved by Hephaistos ; to whom the sun has given victory ; living image of Zeus ; Son of the Sun, Ptolemy, always living, beloved of Ptah, the ninth year ; Aetes son of Aetes, being Priest of Alexander and of the gods Soteres and of the gods Adelphoi, and of the gods Euergetai, and of the gods Philopatores, and of the god Epiphanes, Eucharistes, Pyrrha, daughter of Philinos, being the Athlophoi'os of Berenice

DECIPHERMENT OF THE EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. ^3

Euergetes, Aria daughter of Diogenes ; being the Kanephoros of Arsinoe Philadelphos Eirene, daughter of Ptolemy ; being Priestess of Arsinoe Philopator on the 4th of the month xandikos; and the i8th of the month of the Egyptians, Mechir (March)

A Decree. The high priests and prophets, and those who go into the sanctuary for the clothing of the gods, and feather-bearers and sacred scribes, and all the other priests, who from the temples of the country had assembled at Memphis, before the King, at the festival of the reception of the crown, of Ptolemy, ever Hving, beloved of Ptah, the god Epiphanes, Eucharistes, w^hich , he received direct from his father, assembled in the temple Jit Memphis, this same day, have said : ' Inasmuch as King .Ptolemy, ever living, beloved of Ptah, god Epiphanes, Eucharistes, issue of the King Ptolemy and of the Queen Arsinoe, gods Philopatores, has filled the temples with benefactions and those therein dwelling, and all those who are placed under his dominion, being god, born of a god and a goddess, like Horus, the son of I sis and Osiris, who Jtias avenged his father Osiris ; towards the gods, full of generpj^s piety, has consecrated to the temples revenues of money and provisions ; and has supported great expenses in order to bring tranquillity to Egypt, and to establish order in all that concerns sacred affairs, has manifested with all his own power his sentiments of humanity \ and of the public revenues and impp^^ts collected in Egypt, he has finally suppressed some, and lightened others, so that the people and all the others may have plenty .,u.nd^r his reign ; the sums due to the treasury by the inhabitants of Egypt, and those of the rest of his kingdom, ^yhvh were very

24 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

considerable, he has generally remitted ; and those imprisoned and those against whom law suits had commenced long since, he has freed them from all claims ; he has moreover ordered that the revenues of the temples, and the contributions which had been granted them yearly, whether in provision or money, as also the proper portions assigned to the gods, as the vineyards, gardens, and other lands, that belonged to the gods under the reign of his father, should remain on the same footing. As to the priests, he has also commanded that they should pay nothing more to the appointment fund than what they had been taxed to the first year under his father ; he has further remitted to those amongst the sacred body annual voyage to Alexandria ; he has likewise ordered that there should be no longer levied the contribution for the navy; of the byssus delivered in the temples to the royal treasury he has remitted two-thirds ; and all that had been previously neglected, he has re-established in proper order, taking all care that which it had been customary to perform for the gods should be executed as it ought to be ; at the same time he has distributed justice to all like Hermes, the twice great ; he has moreover ordered, that the returned ehiigrants, both of the soldiers and all others who had shown opposition in time of troubles, should keep the property in the possession of which they had re-entered ; he has provided also that of cavalry and infantry forces and ships should be sent against those who had advanced against Egypt, whether by land or sea, supporting great expenses in money and provisions, so that the temples and all the inhabitants of Egypt should be in safety.

Having gone to Lycopolis, which is in the Busirite nome, a city which had been seized and fortified against a siege, by great depots of arms and every other kind of munitions, the

DKCIPIIERMENT OF THE EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. 2$

spirit of revolt having strengthened itself there for a long time, among the impious who are assembled in it, had done much mischief to the temples and inhabitants of Egypt ; and having laid siege to this place, he surrounded it with entrenchments, ditches, and strong walls. The Nile having made a great flood in the eighth year, and as it usually does, inundating the plains, the King has restrained it, in many places, by dyking the moi;j:hs of the rivers, for which works he has spent no small sum ; after having established both cavalry and infantry troops to watch them, he took in a short time the city by storm, and destroyed all the impious ones there, like Hermes and Horus, sons of Isis and Osiris, had mastered in these same localities the former revolters. As to the ringleaders of the rebels, under his father, and who had vexed the country without respecting the temples, he having come to Memphis to avenge his father and his own crown, he has punished them all as they deserved. At the time when he came to celebrate the ceremonies prescribed on receiving his crown, he further remitted from the temples that which was due to the royal treasury up to the eighth year, amounting in provisions and money to no small matter. Similarly he remitted the value of the cloth of the byssus which had not been furnished to the royal treasury, as also the expenses of verification for those which had been so, up to the same period. He has freed the temples from the tax of an artabe (about lo gallons) per aroura {i.e., the Egyptian acre) of sacred land ; also of the keramion {i.e., a measure) per aroura of vineyard. He made many donations to the Apis, to the Mnevis, and to the other sacred animals in Egypt, taking far more care than the Kings his predecessors of what relates to these animals in every circumstance ; and what was necessary to their burial he has given largely and nobly, as well as the

26 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

sums granted for their special worship, comprising therein the sacrifice^ panegyries, and other prescribed ceremonies. The privileges of the temples of Egypt, he has maintained them on the same footing, conformably to the laws ; he has embellished the Apeion {i.e., the abode of the Apis) with magnificent work, having spent for this temple in gold, silver, and precious stones a no small quantity. He has founded temples, shrines, and altars ; he has restored in turn those that required repairs, having for all that concerns the divinity, the zeal of a beneficent god. After new information, he has repaired the chief honoured temples under his reign as is fit. In reward of which, the gods have given him health, victory, might, and all other good things, the crown to remain with him and his children for all time.

To Good Fortune.

It has seemed fit to the priests of all the temples in the country, that all the honours bestowed to the ever-living King Ptolemy, beloved of Ptah, the god Epiphanes, Eucharistes, as well as those of his parents, gods Philopatores, and those of his grand-parents, gods Euergetai, and those of the gods Adelphi, and those of the gods Soteres, should be greatly increased, and to raise to the ever-living King Ptolemy god Epiphanes, Eucharistes, an image in each temple, in the most visible part, which should bear the name of Ptolemy, the avenger of Egypt ; that close by should be placed standing the principal god of the temple, presenting him a weapon cf victory, the whole disposed in the Egyptian fashion ; that the Priests should perform thrice daily religious services at the images, and place sacred decorations on them ; and they shouM execute the other prescribed ceremonies, as for the other gods.

DECIPHERMENT OF THE EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. 2/

in the panegyrics celebrated in Egypt ; that they shoulJ raise to King Ptolemy, god Epiphanes, Eucharistes, born of the King Ptolemy and the Queen Arsinoe, the gods Philopatores, a statue of wood, and gilt shrine, in each of the temples ; that they should place them in the sanctuaries with the other shrines ; and that at the great panegyrics when the shrines are taken out, that of the god Epiphanes, Eucharistes, should be taken out at the same time ; in order that his shrine should be distinguished from the others, now and hereafter, it should be .surmounted with the ten gold diadems of the King, before which should be placed an asp, as with all the diadems which bear asps on the other shrines ; that amidst them should be placed the head-dress called Pschent, wherewith the King was covered when he entered the temple at Memphis, there to accomplish the ceremonies prescribed when taking possession of the throne ; that should be placed on the square face of the head-dresses to the aforesaid royal ornament, ten golden phylacteries, whereon shall be written that it is that of the King who has rendered illustrious the Upper Country and the Lower Country ; and since the thirtieth of Mesori, when the King's birthday is celebrated, as also the seventeenth of Mechir, when he received the crown from his father (the Priests) have recognized them as eponymous in the temples, which days are really cause of many good things for all men : that they should be celebrated in honour of him by a panegyry in the temples of Egypt, monthly that they should perform in them sacrifices, libations, and all other things appointed as in the other pansgyries, as well as the .... in the temples ; that they should celebrate a feast and a panegyry for the ever-living and beloved of Ptah, King Ptolemy, god Epiphanes, Eucharistes yearly in all the temi)les of the country, from the first of Thoth,

28 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

during five days, wherein they should also bear crowns, performing the sacrifices and libations and all that is proper ; that the Priests of the other gods should receive the names of Priests of the god Epiphanes, Eucharistes, besides the other names of the gods of whom they are the Priests ; and that they should mention, in all the decrees and declarations that be written by them, the priesthood of the King; that ever}- individual may be permitted to celebrate the fete, to set up the aforesaid shrine, and to have it by him, accomplishing all the ceremonies prescribed in the festivals monthly and annually, so that it may be known that the Egyptians (increase) the honours, and honour the god Epiphanes, Eucharistes the King, as it is legal to do ; finally that this decree be engraved on a tablet of hard stone, in hieroglyphic, enchorial (or demotic), and Greek characters ; and place it in every temple of the first, second, and third class, near the image of the ever-living King.

After the Greek part of the inscription had been read, an attempt was made to unravel the enchorial or demotic part, for it was considered to be alphabetic ; but subsequent research proved that this view was wrong. The eminent French Oriental scholar Silvestre de Sacy also worked at the demotic, and succeeded in indicating the equivalents of the proper names in the Greek version. Later, Akerblad^ the Swede gave himself up to the study of the same part of the inscription, and this scholar was so successful that he was enabled to find and fix the

' ' Lettre sur I'Inscription ^^gyptienne du Monument de Rosette,' 8vo. Paris, 1802.

DECIPHERMENT OF THE EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. 29

value of some of the characters which formed the proper names ; though, curiously enough, but little was done towards the decipherment of the hieroglyphic part of the inscription. A study of the Greek and demotic parts of the inscription showed that the words Alexander and Alexandria in the fourth and seventeenth lines of the Greek inscriptions corresponded to two other groups in the second and tenth line of the demotic inscription ; that a group of characters, repeated about thirty times in the demotic or enchorial inscriptions, corresponded to the word * king ' in the Greek ; and that a group of characters, recurring fourteen times in the demotic or enchorial, corresponded to the word Ptolemy which occurs eleven times in the Greek, etc.^

All these little discoveries were helps towards the grand object of the decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphics ; but it seems very probable that this would have been accomplished much sooner had not the scholars of the day had their heads filled with ideas on the subject which not only led them astray, but which stopped the progress of the work ; though why they held their peculiar views, or from whence they obtained them, is hard to say. As an example of these. Dr. Birch says ' 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 write them in the

1 Dr. Birch, * Introduction to the Study of Eg>'ptian Hieroglyphs,' p. 194 ; and see Young in the 'Encyclopaedia Critannica :' London, 1828, art. Hieroglyphics.

30 - THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

ancient character of that language, in order to reproduce' the Egyptian papyri, and that these latter contained many Biblical books. In 1806 M, von Hammer had given to the world the translation of the work of some Arabic charlatan, which professed to explain the hieroglyphics. Lenoir, in 18 10, considered them to be Hebrew documents. An anonymous author, in 18 12, thought that the inscription of the portico of Dendera contained a translation into hieroglyphs of the Hundredth Psalm.'^

If possible, still more absurd statements on the subject of the contents of Egyptian inscriptions were made : it was gravely asserted that one text contained an account of a battle between the wicked and the good in the early days of the Egyptian empire about 40(X) B.C. ; that portions of the Bible would be found in another, and that a third contained abstruse philosophical ideas. It is sad to see what an amount of learning and energy was utterly wasted in the attempt to prove these absurd theories.

But among all this chaos and confusion there were two men quietly working at the decipherment of Egyptian in different parts of Europe, and independently of each other, viz., Thomas Young, born 1773, and Francois Champollion, born at Grenoble in 1790. It was suggested to Young that the unknown language of the Rosetta Stone was capable of being resolved into an alphabet of thirty letters '^ and a very brief account of

> Dr. Birch, in Wilkinson's 'The Egyptians,' p. 194. 2 By Prof. Vater, ibid., p. 195.

DECIPHERMENT OF THE EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. 3 I'

his labours is as follows. He published some account of the demotic or enchorial writing in the 'Journal of the Society of Antiquaries' in 1817 ; he was not very successful in identifying the groups of hieroglyphs, though after a time he found out the name of Ptolemy, and that the first hieroglyph in the name was the equivalent of the demotic or enchorial form. He obtained this result by arguing that if the demotic was phonetic, the hieroglyphic must be also. He picked out from the inscriptions the cartouches of Ptolemy and Berenice ; and in each of these he identified the phonetic value of some of the characters ; but when he tried to read other names by these he failed ; for example, he read Autocrator for Arsinoe, and Caesar for Euergetes. His contribution to the decipherment amounted to the identification of five characters, and this is all that can be said. Much of his work, as Dr. Birch has said, is * beneath criticism,' and he failed alike by attributing wrong values to some of the characters, and by his interpretation of the meaning of them. As a physicist, however, Thomas Young was a great thinker, and a very celebrated man : but it is not true that he deciphered the Egyptian hieroglyphics, or even that his labours assisted the real decipherer, Ghampollion ; because he had studied and knew a great deal more about demotic rather than the hieroglyphic language.

About the year 181 8, Champollion began the study of Egyptian. He had busied himself before this date in studying the Coptic language and the geography of

33 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

ancient Egypt ; and as he had read and studied all that the ancients had written upon the subject ol" Egyptian, he was exceedingly well prepared to grapple with the difficult task before him. The unfortunate Belzoni had found at Philae a small obelisk which had a Greek inscription on the base, and one in hieroglyphics on the shaft. A copy of the Greek text was sent in 1822 to Letronne, and afterwards another containing the hieroglyphs. He at once considered that the latter must contain the same matter as the former. Here Champollion's work began. It was argued that the subject matter of the Greek would be translated into hieroglyphs, but as the Greek proper names would not give any sense in Egyptian, they could not be translated : therefore it is absolutely necessary that the sounds which formed the proper names in Greek should be written in Egyptian characters. If this argument is correct, certain phonetic signs or characters stand revealed.

In the Eg^^ptian text of the obelisk we have a group of signs enclosed in an oval, and this group is repeated a large number of times. Now the name of Ptolemy occurs in the Greek several times, therefore this group of hieroglyphs must represent the name Ptolemy. If this is the case, then the first sign is P, the second T, and so on. Now the way to prove if these signs have been rightly read, is to apply them to other names written both in hieroglyphs and in Greek where these same signs or letters occur or are supposed to occur. The Greek inscription mentioned above gave the name of a king

DECIPHERMEx\T OF THE EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. 33

called Ptolemy, and of a queen called Cleopatra ; on comparing the hieroglyphic signs which were supposed to be the equivalent of the Greek name Ptolemaios, with the group on the Rosetta Stone also supposed to be Ptolemaios, they were found to correspond exactly ; hence it was certain that the group was the Greek name Ptolemy written in hieroglyphic letters. If now the first name on the obelisk of Philae was that of Ptolemy, the second must be that of Cleopatra.

The following is the way in which the names Ptolemy and Cleopatra are written in Egyptian characters : —

I. Cleopatra.

II. Ptolemy, living for ever, beloved of the god Ptah.

Next, Champollion supposed that each hieroglyph had the value of the initial syllable of the object which is represented,^ and re-writing these names with numbers attached to each sign, we have : —

I. Cleopatra.

1. 2.

3. 4.

5.

i

7.

8.

10.

11.

^ Dr. Birch, in \Vilkin5on's 'The Eg}'ptians,' p. 199.

34 THE DWELLERS OX THE NILE.

II. Ptolemy.

f l.D 2. o 3. ^ 4. _£:^ 5. / 6. ( 7. [ 8. 1 J

Now, sign No. i in the name Cleopatra represents a ' knee,' and as the Coptic- word for knee begins with k, this sign should be K.

Sign No. 2 in the same name represents a 'lion;' as the Coptic word for lion begins with /, this sign should be L. It will be noticed that this same sign occurs in the name of Ptolemy, No. 4.

Sign No. 3 in the same name represents a ' reed,' and forms Nos. 6 and 7 in the name Ptolemy ; as the Coptic word for reed begins with a, this sign should be Aor E.

Sign No. 4 in the same name represents a ' noose,' and must be equivalent to O. Sign No. 5 in the same name, being the same as No. i in the name Ptolemy, must therefore be P. Sign No. 6 in the same name represents an ' eagle ; ' and as the Coptic word for eagle begins with a, and as it is the samiC as sign No, 9 in the name Cleopatra in the place where the a recurs, it must be A. Sign No. 7 represents a ' hand ;' as the Coptic name for hand begins with /, this sign should be T. Sign No. 8, in the same name, represents a 'mouth;' as the Coptic word for mouth begins with ?', this sign should be R. Of sign No. 9 w^e have already spoken. Signs

' We omit here the other signs which are given in the cartouche above, as they form titles of the king, and are not necessary for our present purpose.

- The ancient Egyptian language is the mother of Coptic.

DECIPHERMENT OF THE P:GYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. 35

No. 10 (the same as No. 2 in the name Ptolemy) and No. 1 1 have no equivalent in the Greek ; but subsequent researches have proved that these signs are placed after the name of a female. If we look at the signs in the name of Ptolemaios, we find that only Nos. 5 and 8 remain without values, and it is easy to see from the Greek that they must represent M and S respectively.

Going back now to the signs X V^ in the unnumbered cartouche, we recog^nize the first two D at once, for we have had them both in the names of Ptolemy and Cleopatra ; and as the Greek version tells us that Ptolemy is ' beloved of Phtha,' we know that the third sign I must have the value h, and that the fourth must mean * beloved.' Champollion, after studying the other names of the later rulers of Egypt, was enabled to put together a very fair list of values of the signs, and by continuous work and study he succeeded in finding out many of the more difficult values of rare and uncommon signs. All difficulties were not yet overcome, for some of the signs were syllabic ; but little by little these difficulties melted away, and it became certain that the entire solution of the problem of Egyptian decipherment was not very far off.

For about nine years Champollion pursued his studies in the most unremitting manner, and work after work issued from his pen, containing texts, translations, explanations and information of the greatest value about ancient Egypt and its people.

C 2

36 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

But although Champollion had, quite alone, set the decipherment of Egyptian upon a sure and firm base, there lacked not men who started new theories on the subject, and fought for them with a degree of fierceness and zeal that now appear almost incredible. A large number of people objected to such a simple explanation of the hieroglyphics, and wished and hoped to find in them something of the mysterious and the marvellous. Others maintained that the language was sacred, and proceeded to divide the signs into classes, to understand which is more difficult than Egyptian itself Worse than all, there still appeared works containing explanations of Egyptian texts based upon the old ideographic theor>^;^ and Klaproth attacked Champollion on every possible occasion, relying upon his having found out a few small and unimportant details in which Champollion had tripped ; while others still believed in the absurd interpretations published by Kircher in his ' CEdipus Aegyptiacus.' Little by little, however, ChampoUion's system was gaining ground, and many scholars who published works at that time hastened to supplement their arguments by proofs drawn from the new source of information.

About the year 1837 the late Dr. Lepsius published a letter to Rosellini, in which he analysed and laid down the structure of the language in his usual masterly

^ For example, Janelli on the Rosetta Stone, published under the title of ' Fundamenta Hermeneutica Hieroglyphicae Cr}pticK veterum Gentium.' 8vo. Neapol., 1830.

DECIPHERMENT OF THE EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS, 3/

manner; and from this time onwards the good work advanced rapidly. Students arose in England, France, Germany, Italy, and elsewhere ; but until very recently there remained some who persistently refused to acknowledge that Champollion's system of decipherment was the true one ; and so late as 1862 Sir G, C. Lewis maintained in his ' Astronomy of the Ancients ' that, practically, the tradition of the Egyptian language had not been preserved unbroken, either in writing or orally, and since a period had elapsed during which it was entirely forgotten, it could never be restored. For the refutation of this gentleman's ideas, the reader is referred to the learned and masterly article by Mr. Renouf in the * Atlantis,' Vol. IV., 1861, pp. 23-57.

Thus has grown the edifice of the decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, the stones bearing them, some little, some big, having been shaped ages ago in many distant lands. By reading two names on the obelisk of Philae and on the Rosetta Stone, and by spelling out the Greek, Roman, and Persian names of the rulers of Egypt, has this great work been accomplished.