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PIftteXVIl 
 
 C Ifujnfjkrcys 
 
 CAPITALS of COLUMNS. 
 
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 D«iykSa.fktL\A"*tc int ^iu» ■ 
 
THE 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, 
 
 INCLUDING THEIR 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE, GOVERNMENT, LAWS, ARTS, MANUFACTUREvS, 
 RELIGION, AGRICULTURE, AND EARLY HISTORY ; 
 
 DERIVED FROM A COMPARISON OF THE 
 
 PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES, AND MONUMENTS STILL EXISTING, 
 
 WITH THE ACCOUNTS OF ANCIENT AUTHORS. 
 
 Sir GARDNER AVILKINSON, F.R.S. &c. 
 
 AUTHOR OF “ MODERN EGYPT, AND THEBES." 
 
 IN FU^E VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 IITustratrlJ I9Iatc^ antr ZKInniintts. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 1847 . 
 
London : 
 
 Printed by A. Spottiswoodk, 
 New- Street- Square. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE THIRD VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Page 
 
 The Hyaena caught in a Trap. The Chase - - 2 
 
 Huntsmen. The Chasseur and his Attendants - - 3 
 
 Provisions and other Requisites carried by them. A large 
 Space in the Desert, enclosed by Nets. The Sportsman 
 in his Chariot - - - - - ~ 4 - 
 
 Nets of different Kinds, for various Purposes - 6 
 
 Dresses of Huntsmen. Preserves for Game. Gamekeepers 7 
 Wild Animals kept, and brought up in the Preserves ; not 
 marked like Cattle - - - - - 8 
 
 Early Custom of Hunting throughout the East. The 
 Medes and Persians - - - - - 1 1 
 
 Coursing in the open Plains. Mode of Starting the Dogs 12 
 
 The Game when caught, how carried home - - 13 
 
 They often divided into Parties. The Use of the Noose, or 
 Lasso - - - - - - - 14 
 
 They trained Lions for Hunting - - _ - 16 
 
 No Appearance of the Leopard being used for this Purpose. 
 Mode of drawing the Bow in the Chase. The Animals 
 they hunted - - - - - - 17 
 
 Some killed for their Skins. The Ostrich ; its Eggs and 
 Plumes - - - - - - 20 
 
 A 2 
 
IV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Animals often drawn with great Spirit. The Wild Boar 
 not represented. Fanciful Animals - - - 21 
 
 The Sphinx ; always Male - - - - 2S 
 
 Various Kinds of Sphinxes. The Animals still found in 
 Egypt. The Oryx, and other Antelopes - - 24 
 
 The Wild Ox : Stag : Ibex - - - - 25 
 
 The Kebsh or Wild Sheep. Porcupine. Bear unknown in 
 Egypt as well as the Otter - - - - 26 
 
 The Wolf small, generally found singly. M. Sonnini’s 
 Error respecting the Wolf. Wolf Mummies at E’Sioot, 
 the ancient Lycopolis - - - - - 27 
 
 The Hare. A Remark of Denon. The Wabber or Hyrax 28 
 The Hyaena and Wolf seldom found in the Interior of the 
 Desert. The Lion not in Egypt - - - 29 
 
 The Ichneumon ; its Hostility to Serpents. Thence vene- 
 rated. Story of its recovering from the Bite of poisonous 
 Snakes - - - - - - 30 
 
 Easily tamed. Kept as a Cat. Its Food. The Wild Cat, 
 or Felis chaus. The Jerboa. The Giraffe - - 31 
 
 Various Breeds of Dogs. A Sort of Bitch not unlike our 
 Turnspit ; a Favourite in the House. The Fox Dog of an- 
 cient and modern Egypt. Pigs. Cattle of different Kinds 33 
 Horses and Asses - - - - - 34 
 
 The Catnel not represented; nor Fowls and Pigeons. Ar- 
 tificial Mode of rearing Poultry. Birds caught in Nets 
 and Traps by Fowlers - - - - - 35 
 
 Fowling. Traps for catching Birds - - - 36 
 
 The Throw-stick. Bows and Slings not used for killing 
 Birds - - - - - - -38 
 
 They went in Boats with a Party of Friends to the Jungles 
 which were the Resort of numerous Wild Fowl. A De- 
 coy Bird - - - - - - 40 
 
 A Cat accompanied them, and was trained to catch the 
 Birds. Prejudice in favour of Cats and Dogs - - 42 
 
 Dogs not favoured by the modern Egyptians. Cats well 
 
 treated - - - - - - 44 
 
 The Clap Net, how placed. The Watcher - - 45 
 
 Sign to indicate Silence, not by the Finger to the Mouth 46 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 V 
 
 Page 
 
 Mode of catching Ducks in Ponds. Birds chiefl}' caught 
 by them. Geese - - - - - 47 
 
 Birds salted. Eggs taken to stock the Poultry Yard. Va- 
 rious Birds represented - - - - 49 
 
 List of the Birds most easily recognised in the Paintings - 51 
 
 Others not readily ascertained. Locusts, Butterflies, and 
 Beetles - - - - - -52 
 
 Fishing. Fish-ponds. Angling and spearing Fish - 53 
 
 Gentlemen fishing with the Line for Amusement. The 
 Rod. Poor People used the Line and Hook. Ground- 
 bait - - - - - - -54 
 
 A Sort of Landing-net. The Drag-net ; pulled to the 
 Shore ; the Fish sent off to Market, or salted and dried 55 
 Mode of carrying large Fish. Salted and fresh Fish. The 
 former eaten by every one, except the Priests, on the 
 9th of Thoth - - - - - - 57 
 
 The Fish particularly esteemed for the Table. The Oxy- 
 rinchus, Phagrus or Eel, and Lepidotus, sacred - 58 
 
 Sacred Animals not equally honoured in different Parts of 
 Egypt {vide also Juv. Sat. 15.). The Bulti a favourite 
 Fish for the Table - - - - - 59 
 
 The Use of the Bident Spear - - - - GO 
 
 Attendants strung the Fish, when caught, on the Stalk of 
 a Rush. The name Papyrus used for several Species of 
 the Cyperus - - - - - -61 
 
 The Abundance of Fish. The Lake Mceris - - 63 
 
 The Revenue arising from the Fisheries of that Lake given 
 to the Queens - - - - - - 64 
 
 The Lake Mceris confounded with the Canal. Level of the 
 Lake - - - - -35 
 
 The Bathen of D’Anville. The Fish of the Lake still 
 farmed - - - - - - 66 
 
 Extract from El Makrisi relative to the Fisheries - - 67 
 
 Great Consumption of Fish in Egypt. Sluices and Ponds. 
 Chase of the Hippopotamus. Rare in Egypt, though 
 formerly said to frequent the Delta - - - 68 
 
 Use of its Hide. Corbag Whips ; used in former Times. 
 Mode of attacking the Hippopotamus - - -69 
 
 A 3 
 
VI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Diodorus’s Account of the Hippopotamus Chase. The 
 Spear they used - - _ - - 72 
 
 A Reel. Fish cured and sent to Market. Fish formerly 
 in the Nile - - - - - - 73 
 
 Some Animals, once common in Egypt, now confined to 
 Ethiopia. The accidental Visits of Hippopotami in Egypt 74 
 Hippopotamus and Crocodile not eaten. The latter killed 
 by the Apollinopolites. Sacred Animals of various Parts 
 of Egypt - - - - - - 75 
 
 Crocodiles kept and fed at a great Expense. Embalmed. 
 Grottoes of Maabdeh. The Skill and Boldness of the 
 Tentyrites in catching them - - - - 76 
 
 The Crocodile timid. Its Mode of Attack. Its Sight 
 
 under ’Water - - - - - - 78 
 
 Two Varieties of the Crocodile in Egypt. The Trochilus 79 
 The Ichneumon. Probable Origin of the Story of the Tro- 
 chilus. Mode of catching the Crocodile - - 80 
 
 Serious Disputes of Towns, friendly and hostile to the 
 Crocodile - - - - - - 81 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Fall of Egyptian Art. The Persian Invasion - - 83 
 
 Style of the Monuments of different Eras. The Scale 
 smaller at an early Period, and afterwards increased. 
 
 They possessed great Mechanical Skill even at a very 
 remote Time - - - - - - 85 
 
 Rules of Art prescribed, from Veneration of Antiquity. This 
 Love of early Custom probably extended to their Style 
 of writing Religious Works, as in other Nations - 87 
 
 Resemblance to Greek Taste in some Ornamental Objects. 
 
 Glass an early Invention in Egypt - - 88 
 
 Glass Bead bearing the Name of a Monarch who lived 
 1500 b. c. - - - - - - 90 
 
 The Use of Glass among the Ancients till lately disbelieved ; 
 and many still continue to limit its Invention to the 
 Augustan Era - - - - - -91 
 
 Use of Glass for Windows not suited to a hot Climate. 
 
 Glass Ware of Egypt famous 
 
 92 
 
CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 Page 
 
 A Quality of Glass, the Manufacture of which is unknown 
 to European Workmen. Mentioned also by Winkelmann. 
 Extracts from his Work - - - - 93 
 
 A Specimen of this Glass belonging to Captain Henvey, 
 R.N., described - - - - - 96 
 
 The Manner in which the Parts of this Glass were put 
 together. Opinion of Paw, Goguet, and others, on the 
 Antiquity of Glass . . _ - 97 
 
 Certain reputed Emeralds supposed to be Glass. Winkel- 
 mann thinks the Ancients used Glass more frequently 
 than the Moderns - - - - - 98 
 
 The Portland Vase. False Stones made by the Egyptians, 
 and much used. Pliny’s Account of them - - 99 
 
 Difficulty in distinguishing false from real Stones. Many 
 ordinary Materials coated with a vitrified Composition, 
 and sold at a cheap Rate - . _ . loo 
 
 An additional Proof of Refinement. Glass Beads and 
 Bugles, arranged like our Bead Purses, an Amusement of 
 the Egyptian Ladies. Principal Uses of Glass - 101 
 
 Glass Coffin. Granite Sarcophagi covered with a vitrified 
 Composition. Glass for Mosaic Work. Brilliancy of the 
 Colours, particulary the Blues and Reds - - 102 
 
 The Beauty of the Colours in Egyptian Porcelain Cups. A 
 
 Sort of Glass-porcelain. The Colours penetrated into 
 the Ground, sometimes quite through - - - 103 
 
 In some Instances a Colour was put on afterwards. The 
 Handles and other Parts added. Many Glass Vases 
 broken in applying them. Knowledge of Chemistry, and 
 the Use of Metallic Oxides, as well as the Effect of Acids 
 on Colour - - - lOI 
 
 Glass-cutting. The Diamond used for cutting Gems. In 
 ancient Times (as at the present day) it was thought a 
 pity to spoil a valuable Gem by engraving it - - 105 
 
 Use of Emery Powder. Glass Bottles inclosed in Wicker- 
 work and Papyrus Stalks, like the modern damagans and 
 Florence Oil Flasks. Chinese Bottles found at Thebes 106 
 Not valued by the Egyptians for their Quality, which was 
 very inferior, but for their Contents, and afterwards ap- 
 
 A 4 
 
vm 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 plied to ordinary Purposes. Enamelling on Gold and 
 Silver - - - - - - -109 
 
 Encaustic Painting. Bottles of Glass, Porcelain, Alabaster, 
 and other Materials - - - - - 1 10 
 
 Exported from Egypt. Murrhine Vases, supposed to have 
 been of Fluor Spar - - - - -111 
 
 False Murrhine made at Thebes and Memphis. No Lamps 
 or Lanterns represented in the Egyptian Paintings. 
 
 Fete of burning Lamps at Sal's - - - 112 
 
 Supposed Indication of a Lantern. Manufacture of Linen 113 
 Exported. 'Woollen Stuffs. Panopolis famed for its 
 Woollen Manufactures. Use of Woollen Garments. 
 Quantity of Linen manufactured - - - 114 
 
 Question respecting the Mummy Cloths being Linen, now 
 decided by the Microscope - - - - 115 
 
 Some Difficulty regarding the Byssus of Herodotus, and the 
 Shash of the Hebrews. Cotton Cloth manufactured in 
 Egypt, and used by the Priests, and sacred Robes of the 
 Gods - - - - - - - 116 
 
 Much Cotton used for Household Purposes. The Egyptian 
 Looms, apparently rude. The simple Means employed 
 by Eastern Nations for the most delicate Work - 118 
 
 Quality of the Egyptian fine Linen. Its Praise merited, as 
 proved by a Specimen in my Possession. The Mummy 
 Cloths. Mr. Thompson’s Account of them - - 119 
 
 The Threads. Disparity of the Number in the Warp and 
 
 the Woof - 121 
 
 Compared to the Muslin of India. Fringed Cloths. Sel- 
 vages - - - - - - -122 
 
 Use of Indigo. Piece of Cloth from Thebes with broad 
 blue Border ------ 124 
 
 Tlie Threads coloured before the Cloth was made. Blue 
 Borders of the Nubian Cloths at the present Day. Piece 
 of Linen from Thebes ----- 125 
 
 The Carthamus Tinctorius* used for Dyeing. The Number 
 
 * It is an opinion, among some persons in Egypt, that tliis plant was in- 
 troduced from India ; there is, however, evidence of its having been grown 
 in Egypt at an ancient period, and seeds of it have been found with a mummy 
 brought from Thebes. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 IX 
 
 Page 
 
 of' Threads in a Piece of fine Linen, which is also cover- 
 ed with Figures, beautifully drawn in Ink. Four Qualities 
 of Linen particularly noticed by Pliny. Exported - 126 
 Fineness of Egyptian Nets. Pliny’s Account of them, and 
 of the Corslet of Amasis - - - - 127 
 
 Stuffs coloured in the Loom, besides those dyed and print- 
 ed. Embroidered Work. The Gold Thread they used, 
 supposed to have been beaten out with the Hammer - 128 
 Coloured Dresses. Silver Thread. Wire-drawing - 129 
 
 Pliny’s Account of the Use of Mordants in Dyeing - 131 
 
 Knowledge of Chemistry. Spinning - - - 133 
 
 Men and Women used the Spindle. The Mode of Weaving 134 
 The Process of preparing the Flax, and its Uses _ - 137 
 
 Pliny’s Description of the Process. Combs for cleansing 
 the Flax. Borders and Fringes of Cloth - - 139 
 
 Smoothing and calendering Cloth. Carpets - - 141 
 
 Rope-making, and twisting Thongs of Leather - - 143 
 
 Nets. Netting-needles. Sieves . _ _ 145 
 
 The Papyrus. Various Kinds of Cyperus, included by an- 
 cient Writers under the name of Papyrus. Vide supra, 
 p. 61,62 - - - - - - 146 
 
 Paper made of it. Different Qualities ; some which are 
 found are more dried than others - - - 147 
 
 Mode of making Papyri. Some made as Specimens at Sy- 
 racuse in Sicily, where the Plant still grows - - 148 
 
 Pliny’s Account of their Manufacture - - - 149 
 
 Different Kinds. Pliny’s Error in supposing Papyri not 
 made before the Time of Alexander - _ . 150 
 
 Papyrus superseded b}' Parchment. Monopoly of the Pa- 
 pyrus rendered it expensive - - - - 151 
 
 Other cheaper Materials used for it. Use of various Sub- 
 stances to write upon, in early Times - - - 1 52 
 
 The Arabs used Shoulder-bones of Sheep and Papyrus 
 Paper. They afterwards made fine Parchment. Cotton 
 and Linen Paper, when invented. The Chinese long 
 used Linen Paper - _ - - . 153 
 
 This Kind of Paper, when introduced into Europe. When 
 first made in England - - - - - 154 
 
X 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Tanners and Leather-cutters. Embossed Leather - 155 
 
 Use of Leather for various Purposes. Skins for holding 
 Water and Wine. Curing the Skins. Juice of a Plant 
 used by the modern Arabs - - - - 156 
 
 The Manner in which it is applied. Stretching and bending 
 Leather. The Use of the semicircular Knife for cutting 
 Leather - - - - . - 157 
 
 Their Tools very simple. Shops in an Egyptian Town - 158 
 Question if they put the Name of the Person and his Trade 
 over the Shop. Skins imported from other Countries, 
 owing to the great Consumption of Leather - 161 
 
 Pods of the Acacia used for Tanning. Fullers - - 162 
 
 Potters. Clay kneaded with the feet. The Wheel very 
 simple. Manufacture of Jars and Vases - - 163 
 
 Modern porous Vases of Qeneh. Invention of the Potter’s 
 Wheel - - - - - -165 
 
 Errors of the Greeks in claiming the Credit of various 
 Inventions. Taste of the Egyptians in some Vases - 166 
 Their Taste not so good, or so general, as among the Greeks. 
 These last improved on what they borrowed from Egypt. 
 Carpenters and Cabinet-makers. Little Wood in Egypt. 
 
 Use of Sycomore Wood - - - - 167 
 
 Sycomore and Persea, sacred Trees. The Tamarisk. Sont 
 or Acacia Nilotica. Other Acacia Trees - - 168 
 
 Employment of Foreign and rare Woods for Ornamental 
 Purposes. Painted Imitations of rare Woods. Usual 
 Tools of the Carpenter - - - - 169 
 
 Furniture of their Rooms. Dovetailing. Mode of applying 
 Two Planks of VV’ood ----- 170 
 Use of the Saw and Adze. Those found in the Tombs - 171 
 The Drill. The Chisel. The Hatchet. Mode of saw- 
 ing Timber - - - - - -172 
 
 Early Invention of Glue - - - - - 173 
 
 Boxes of various Forms. Veneered and painted - - 175 
 
 Wheelwrights ; Coffin-makers and Coopers. Subdivision 
 of Labour. The P/aMSfrww, or Travelling Car. One In- 
 stance of it at Thebes - - - - - 178 
 
 An Ethiopian Princess coming to Thebes in a Plaustrum - 18( 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XI 
 
 Page 
 
 Palanquins, and Canopies of Wood. Public Pounders, 
 as now in Cairo - - - - - 180 
 
 Barrels and Wooden Measures for Grain - - - 182 
 
 Makers of Coffins. The Embalmers and others connected 
 with the Funeral Ceremonies. Boat Builders - - 184- 
 
 Boats of Rushes and Osiers. Boats at the Cataracts. Pa- 
 pj’rus Boats mentioned by ancient Writers - - 185 
 
 Pitched. The Papyrus Rush used for making small Boats 
 and other Purposes - - - - - 186 
 
 Other Kinds of Boats. Boats on the Euphrates. Boats of 
 Burden on the Nile, mentioned by Herodotus - - 187 
 
 These Boats of Burden far better built than Herodotus 
 would lead us to suppose - - - - 189 
 
 Ships of War fitted out by Sesostris; probably used before 
 to protect the Trade of the Red Sea. Pliny supposes 
 Ships first built by Danaus. Shown to have been used 
 
 by the Egyptians long before - - - - 190 
 
 The Obligations we owe to M. Champollion - - 192 
 
 Various Boats on the Nile. Some with large Cabins, with 
 and without Masts - - - - - 195 
 
 The Sail used in ascending the River, and taken down on 
 descending - - - - - -196 
 
 Large Boats. Error respecting a Boat represented at 
 Eilethyas - - - - - -197 
 
 Rudders; how acting. Oars. Man at the Head of the 
 Boat with a Pole - - - - - 198 
 
 Very little Keel in the Nile Boats, in order to avoid the 
 Sandbanks. Sails - - - - - 199 
 
 Cabins. Boats painted. An Eye on the Rudder, and at 
 the Prow ------ 200 
 
 Flag and Standard. Resemblance to the Boats of 
 India ------- 201 
 
 No Beaks to Ships of War. Forecastle at the Head for 
 the Archers. Ships of War. Wooden Bulwark along 
 the Gunnel to protect the Rowers - - . 202 
 
 Advancing to attack an Enemy’s Vessel. The Sail raised 
 by Ropes 203 
 
 Having cleared for Action the Rowers pulled, and endea- 
 
XU 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 voured to strike the Enemy on tlie Side. A Lion’s Head 
 on the Prow 20t 
 
 A large Boat on the Nile with Forty-four Oars, of peculiar 
 Construction 205 
 
 Braces for turning the Yard. Mode of Steering. Ar- 
 rangement of the Oars. One Mast and One Sail - 206 
 Model of a Boat at Berlin, showing the Position of the 
 Rowers ; the different Parts and Arrangement of the 
 Boat. Large Cabins in Boats of Burden. Cleanliness of 
 their Boats ------ 207 
 
 The Mast probably of Firwood. Ribs of Acacia or So7it. 
 
 Mode of fixing the Mast . - - - 208 
 
 In Ships of War the Sail had only an upper Yard. In Nile 
 Boats a lower one also. Much Trouble to loosen the 
 Sail. Pulleys. Yards large - - - - 209 
 
 Sails painted. The Phoenix and other Devices - - 210 
 
 Fancy Devices. The Phoenix very appropriate. Edges 
 of the Sail. Some Vessels very large - - 211 
 
 Origin of Navigation. Ships of Burden originally 
 Rafts - - - - - - - 212 
 
 Sailed round Africa. Foundation of Alexandria, and Inter- 
 course with India by the Red Sea - - - 214' 
 
 The Use of Tin at a very early Period - - - 215 
 
 Taken by the Phoenicians from Britain, and previously from 
 other Countries ----- 216 
 
 Productions of India found in Egypt of a very early Period. 
 
 First Mention of Tin ----- 217 
 
 The Islands of the Cassiterides. Care of the Phoenicians 
 to conceal the Place whence they obtained Tin - 218 
 
 Tin, where found. Spain to the Phoenicians what America 
 was to the Spaniards - - - - - 219 
 
 Goguet’s Opinion respecting the burning of the Golden 
 Calf. Use of Gold ----- 221 
 
 Hieroglyphic of Gold. The Mode of working Gold. Cru- 
 cibles ------- 224 
 
 Early Manufacture of Gold Ornaments. Shield of Achilles 
 mentioned by Homer. The Precious Metals wrought in 
 Egypt at a very early Time - - - - 225 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XIU 
 
 Page 
 
 Gold Mines of Egypt. Their Position ascertained, and 
 lately visited ------ 227 
 
 Diodorus’s Account of the Mode of working the Mines, and 
 the Cruelty exercised towards those condemned to that 
 Labour ------ 231 
 
 Gildins. Gold Leaf at first thick. Some thick Leaf con- 
 tinned to be used long after a thinner Kind was made - 234 
 Gilding known at a very early Time. Mode of beating 
 the Leaf. The Invention of a Method by the Germans 
 in the 17th Century ----- 235 
 
 Monuments, as well as small Objects, gilded by the Egyp- 
 tians. Use of Gold and Silver for Money - - 237 
 
 Value of Money ascertained by Weight. Ptolemies coined 
 Money. Aryandes, Governor of Egypt under Cambyses 
 and Darius, the first who coined Money there. Money, 
 when first stamped ----- 238 
 
 Weights and Measures long known in Egypt. The Balance 
 for weighing Gold ----- 239 
 
 Principle of the large Egyptian Scales. No Steel-yard - 240 
 The Plummet. Use of Copper and Bronze. Known before 
 Iron. Iron, when supposed to have been first employed* 241 
 Argument of its Use from Homer. Iron Rings of late 
 Date ------- 242 
 
 Iron in little Estimation in the Days of Lycurgus, 884 b.c. 
 
 The Jews had Two Kinds of Iron. Mentioned as early 
 as the Time of Job and Moses. Arguments against its 
 early Use ------ 243 
 
 Bronze preferred long after Iron was commonly known. 
 
 An Argument to show Bronze to have been known in 
 Greece before Iron ----- 245 
 
 Still uncertain. No Proof derived from Iron not being 
 found, or from the Use of Bronze Tools by the Egyp- 
 tians. Iron Mine discovered in Egypt - - - 246 
 
 Representation of Iron in the Tombs of Thebes. Some 
 
 * Colonel Howard Vyse has discovered a piece of iron in the midst of the 
 masonry of the Great Pyramid, which he thinks could only have been placed 
 there when that monument was erected. 
 
XIV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Implements of Husbandry of Wood. Wooden Hoes 
 found ------- 24'7 
 
 Mode of sculpturing Granite. Question respecting it and 
 the Use of Steel ----- 249 
 
 Difficulty now experienced in cutting Granite. Erroneous 
 Notion respecting Granite having been softer when 
 sculptured by the Egyptians - - - - 250 
 
 Stunning the Stone, a Method of which we may also avail 
 ourselves at present, but not found sufficient to account 
 for the Facility they appear to have had. Possibility of 
 their having used Emery Powder in sculpturing or en- 
 graving Granite - - - - - 251 
 
 This could not be used for cutting the Stone itself. Bronze 
 Chisel found at Thebes - - - . 252 
 
 Skill in compounding Metals. Elasticity of Bronze 
 Blades ------ 253 
 
 Bronze Statues, when first cast. The Process not repre- 
 sented ------ 254? 
 
 Pausanias thinks the Art of casting Metal a late Disco- 
 very ------- 255 
 
 Bronze Statues in Etruria. Gold smelted in Egypt at a 
 very early Period. Damaskeening - - - 256 
 
 Soldering Metals ----- 258 
 
 Stone Knives and Tools used in early Times - - 259 
 
 Stone-tipped Arrows. VideYo\. I. p. 309, 310. Private 
 Citizens unarmed ----- 260 
 
 The short Time elapsed between the Deluge and the Build- 
 ing of the Pyramids. Ethiopic Stone sometimes signified 
 Flint - - - - - - - 261 
 
 Stone Knives found ----- 262 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Style of Art. Bas-relief . - - . 264 
 
 Deficiency of Style. No Expression given to the Features. 
 Drapery ------ 265 
 
 Every Part of a Picture conceived by itself. Conventional 
 Style - - - - - - - 266 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XV 
 
 Page 
 
 No Change in Character after the Roman Conquest ; merely 
 a Style deteriorated. Principal Figure in an Egyptian 
 Painting. Greater Licence in Paintings of the Tombs. 
 
 The Battle Scenes . . . _ . 267 
 
 The Figure mechanically formed; the Position of the 
 Parts alone altered to give it Action. Animals - 268 
 
 Simple Mode of representing Figures in Profile - - 269 
 
 Bas-relief earliest Style of Sculpture. Progress of Art - 270 
 Fpaipa, to write, draw, engrave, and describe. Want of 
 Letters. Funeral Pillars. Poetry and Songs - 271 
 
 Sculpture dates before Architecture as an Art - - 272 
 
 Statues originally rough Pillars. Arms and Legs united at 
 first 273 
 
 No Life in Egyptian Statues. Certain Postures. The 
 Feet ...... 274? 
 
 Reverence for ancient Forms. Antinoiis made to conform 
 to the Egyptian Style .... 275 
 
 Changes in Style at different Epochs, but not of Charac- 
 ter - - - - - - - 276 
 
 Sculptures and Paintings at Beni Hassan and other Places 277 
 Suphis, and other early Kings, whose Names occur - 278 
 Contemporary Kings of Upper and Lower Egypt. Menes 
 sole Monarch of the Country - - - . 283 
 
 The nomen prcenomen, Papi and Apappus - - 284? 
 
 Style of ancient Epochs, in the Time of Suphis, Osirtasen, 
 and the 18th Dynasty ..... 285 
 
 The Third Remeses ; the Encouragement of Art in his 
 Reign ...... 286 
 
 The Profusion of painted Sculpture on an Egyptian Temple. 
 
 Processions represented at Medeenet Haboo - - 287 
 
 Coronation Ceremony ..... 289 
 
 Historical Subjects. Battle Scenes. Prisoners : and Hands 
 of the Killed cut off - - - - - 291 
 
 Return, and Triumph of the King. Sculptures outside the 
 Building - - .... 292 
 
 March of the Army. The King accompanied by a Lion. 
 
 Attack of the Rebo. Their Defeat ... 293 
 Returns of the Enemy’s Killed, and Account of the Arms 
 
XVI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 taken from them. Advance of the Army continued. 
 Attack another Enemy . . . _ 294- 
 
 Defeat them. Their Plaustra, or Carts. The King, pass- 
 ing through a Morass, is attacked by Lions. The Army 
 and its Allies - ... - 295 
 
 The Attack of a Fleet on a Lake, or Sea. Offerings to 
 the Gods ...... 296 
 
 Siege and Capture of Fortified Towns. All the Subjects 
 coloured - - - - - 297 
 
 Coloured Architecture. Colour found also on Greek Mo- 
 numents ...... 298 
 
 Columns, even in Egyptian Buildings, frequently ^^’hite. 
 
 The Stone covered with a thin Coat of Stucco, to re- 
 ceive the Paint. Egyptian Paint mixed with Water. 
 
 The Colours they used. Analysis of the Green, Blue, 
 
 Red, Black, Yellow, and White - - - 301 
 
 Sculptures in Relief and Intaglio. Epochs when the 
 Two Styles were adopted. Relieved Intaglio of Re- 
 meses III. 304- 
 
 Fresh Impulse given to Art by the Kings of the 26th 
 Dynasty. Error of Winkelmann respecting the Date of 
 the Isiac Table ..... 306 
 
 Fall of Egyptian Art. Sculptures of the Ptolemaic Era - 307 
 The Style of the Grottoes at Beni Hassan - - 309 
 
 Origin of the Doric Column . _ . _ 310 
 
 Painting on Board. Egyptian Pictures - - 311 
 
 Earliest Paintings - - - - - 312 
 
 Style of Egyptian Drawing. The Walls ruled in Squares. 
 
 Conventional Method - - - - - 313 
 
 No Perspective. Pencils and Brushes for Colouring - 314? 
 Painters and Scribes. Their Writing Implements - 315 
 
 Architecture. Bricks and Antiquity of the Arch - 316 
 
 Brick Pyramids with vaulted Chambers. Question respect- 
 ing the Era of Ayschis and Anysis ... 317 
 Stone Arch at Saqqara. Crude Brick Arches at Thebes 319 
 False Arches at Abydus and Thebes ... 320 
 Stones hewn from Quarries. Limestone first employed for 
 Building ,...-- 322 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XVll 
 
 Page 
 
 Sandstone ?of Silsilis afterwards used and preferred. 
 Extent of the Quarries. Mode of opening a new 
 Quarry 323 
 
 Mode of transporting Blocks of Stone. Large Stones 
 dragged by Men ..... 324- 
 
 Large Colossus, on a Sledge, at El-Bersheh - - 325 
 
 The Colossus, how fastened. Large Long Shafts of Stone 
 at Fateereh. Small Blocks sent by Water down the 
 River ...... 327 
 
 Obelisks. — Large ponderous Masses of Stone, transported 
 from the Cataracts to Thebes . - - - 329 
 
 Statue of Remeses at the Memnonium. Monolith of Sai's • 330 
 Monoliths at Tel-et-mai (properly Tel e’Tmai), and at 
 Buto. Skill of the Egyptians in raising, as well as drag- 
 ging, great Weights ..... 331 
 
 Obelisk remaining in a Quarry at E’Sodan. Obelisks men- 
 tioned by Pliny - - - - - 332 
 
 Their Removal to Rome, prompted by Vanity. Obelisk 
 of “ Ramises,” according to Pliny ... 333 
 Pliny's Description of a Method of transporting Obelisks 
 from a Quarry. No insight given by the Sculptures into 
 their mechanical Knowledge - - - - 334 
 
 Diodorus’s erroneous Notion respecting the Invention and 
 Use of Machines ..... 335 
 
 Sculpturing and polishing large Colossi, surrounded by 
 Scaffolding. Large Blocks, how cut from the Quarries - 337 
 The Invention of Bellows .... 333 
 
 Siphons long used in Egypt .... 340 
 
 Origin of Geometry ..... 342 
 
 The Sundial, and Division of the Day into twelve Hours. 
 
 Few Inventions indicated. Objects buried with the 
 Dead ; some valuable, some very inferior - - 343 
 
 Their Costume not well defined. Dresses of the People 344 
 Fringes. Woollen Cloak. Shirts. Dresses of Priests and 
 Persons of Rank - - . . 347 
 
 Costume of Princes. Princes considered Infants. Leo- 
 pard’s Skin worn by Priests .... 350 
 
 Jr VOL. III. a 
 
XVlll 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 The King’s Dress. A peculiar Apron. His Head-dress 
 and Crown - 35I 
 
 Crown worn in Battle and in the Temple. Wigs, not ill- 
 suited to a hot Climate - _ . . 353 
 
 Wigs, how made. Found at Thebes, and preserved in the 
 British and Berlin Museums - _ - - 355 
 
 Shaving the Beard and Head .... 357 
 
 The Priests particular in their Habits of Cleanliness. Ab- 
 horrence of Foreigners . . _ . 358 
 
 Barbers. When introduced at Rome. Fondness of the 
 Greeks for long Hair. Retained to the present Day - 359 
 Heads of Egyptian Children shaved. Hardness of their 
 Skulls ------- 360 
 
 Vows for Children. Caps. Women wore their own Hair. 
 
 A Kind of Wig used by the Romans - - - 361 
 
 False Beards. Beards appropriated to Individuals of Rank, 
 to the Kings, and the Gods. Dresses of Children - 362 
 A Bulla, or Charm. The Roman bulla. Ladies paid 
 great Attention to their Sandals - - . 364 
 
 Various Kinds of Sandals - - _ . 366 
 
 Shoes, or low Boots. Dresses of Women - - 367 
 
 Slaves and Servants did not wear the same Dress as La- 
 dies. Ladies’ Hair plaited - _ - . 369 
 
 Short Hair at the Side of the Face. Earrings - - 370 
 
 Various Forms of Earrings. Rings. The Ring-Finger. 
 
 The Left Hand peculiarly privileged - - - 371 
 
 Worn also on the Thumb. Simple and ornamented 
 Rings. Silver Rings. Rare Bronze and Iron Rings - 372 
 Porcelain Rings. Scarabaei. Signets. Devices on Rings. 
 
 Gold Anklets, or Bangles, and Bracelets - - 373 
 
 Bracelet of Thothmes III. Rich Necklaces - - 375 
 
 Gold Chains. A Sort of Torques. Various Patterns. De- 
 vices on Scarabaei, and Rings. Various Stones set - 376 
 The Toilet. Kohl, or Collyrium, for the Eyes. Ointments 378 
 Custom of anointing the Hair among the Ethiopians. 
 
 Combs. Staining the Eyelids with Kohl - - 380 
 
 The Jews and Romans had the same Custom. Kohl Bot- 
 tles found -----. 382 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XIX 
 
 Page 
 
 Pins and Needles ----- 383 
 
 Bronze Needles. Metal Mirrors - - - 384 
 
 Walking-sticks ------ 386 
 
 Baths. A Lady represented in a Bath - - - 388 
 
 Doctors for various Complaints. Paid by Government. 
 
 Punished for improper Treatment of Patients - - 390 
 
 Attended without Fees on a Journey, and on Military Ser- 
 vice. Attention of the Egyptians to Health. The Use 
 
 of Preventives. Many Drugs used by them - - 391 
 
 Their numerous Medicines mentioned by Jeremiah, and in 
 Homer. Number of Physicians in Egypt. Bodies ex- 
 amined after Death ----- 392 
 
 Magic and Dreams. Exvotos for their Recovery. Cura- 
 tors of the Sacred Animals travelled through the Coun- 
 try in quest of Alms, a Custom still retained by the 
 Servants of the Shekh’s Tombs - _ . 394 
 
 Models of the restored Part, dedicated in a Temple. 
 Travellers who passed by a Temple wrote a Prosku- 
 nema, or Adoration - - - - 395 
 
 Its complete Formula. Contained sometimes a good Wish 
 for the Reader. Early Study of Medicine in Egypt - 396 
 The Embalmers probably Members of the Medical Pro- 
 fession 397 
 
 ERRATUM IN THE WOOD-CUTS. 
 
 Page 263. Vignette. The stones forming the arch are made too thin. 
 
LIST AND EXPLANATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PLATES, WOOD-CUTS, AND VIGNETTES OF VOL. III. 
 
 Frontispiece, or Plate 17. Capitals of Columns, and piece of 
 glass belonging to Captain Henvey, R.N., described in 
 p. 96. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Page 
 
 1. Vignette G. The palace-temple of Remeses the Great, 
 
 generally called the Memnonium at Thebes, taken 
 during the inundation. In the centre, near the front 
 columns of the area, lies the colossal statue of Remeses ; 
 and above the water’s surface, to the right of a small 
 bush, appear parts of the fallen statues of Amunoph III. 
 
 2. Wood-cut, No. 318. Hyaena caught in a trap, and carried 
 
 upon a pole by two men. 
 
 8. No. 319. Men bringing young animals to stock the pre- 
 
 serves. 
 
 9. No. 320. Gazelles and other animals belonging to the 
 
 preserves. Fig. 2. Gazelle with its young. 
 
 10. No. 321. Men heating irons to mark cattle. 
 
 13. No. 322. A huntsman carrying home an oryx, with his 
 
 coupled dogs. Reduced from a cast which I have of 
 the subject. 
 
 14. No. 323. Bringing home the live game. 
 
LIST AND EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES, ETC. XXI 
 
 Page 
 
 15. 
 
 16. 
 
 18. 
 
 19. 
 
 22 . 
 
 23. 
 
 32. 
 
 Wood-cut, No. 324-. 
 lasso. 
 
 Catching a gazelle with the noose, or 
 
 Catching a wild ox with the noose. 
 
 Hunting with a lion. 
 
 A chasseur shooting with his dog. 
 
 Animals from the sculptures. 
 
 A chase in the desert. 
 
 Monsters, or fanciful animals, from the paint- 
 
 No. 325. 
 
 No. 326. 
 
 No. 327. 
 
 No. 328. 
 
 No. 329. 
 
 No. 330. 
 ings. 
 
 No. 331. Various kinds of dogs. Fiff. 1. A dog often 
 represented accompanying the master of a villa, or his 
 steward. Fig. 3. From Beni Hassan, which frequently 
 occurs in the time of Osirtasen. Vide also some hounds 
 in wood-cuts. Nos. 322. and 329. 
 
 34'. No. 332. Pigs, which are rarely seen in the sculptures. 
 
 37. No. 333. Fishing and fowling. Vide references in wood- 
 
 cut. 
 
 38. No. 334'. Bird traps. 
 
 39. No. 335. A sportsman using the throw-stick. 
 
 41. No. 336. Fowling scene and spearing fish with the bi- 
 
 dent. Vide references in wood-cut. 
 
 42. No. 337. The use of the throw-stick. 
 
 46. No. 338. Clap nets. 
 
 48. No. 339. Some of the birds of Egypt. 
 
 50. No. 340. Other birds. 
 
 52. No. 341. An Egyptian gentleman fishing. 
 
 53. No. 342. Fishing with ground bait. 
 
 55. No. 343. A sort of landing net. 
 
 56. No. 344. Bringing fish, and opening them, preparatory 
 
 to their being salted. 
 
 57. No. 345. Another mode of carrying large fish. 
 
 70. No. 346. Attendant carrying a whip, or corbag, made of 
 
 the hippopotamus’s hide. 
 
 71. Plate 15. Chase of the hippopotamus. Various birds in the 
 
 jungle, and fish in the river. 
 
 72. No. 347. Spear used in the chase of the hippopota- 
 
 mus. 
 
 73. No. 348. A reel held by an attendant. 
 
XXII 
 
 LIST AND EXPLANATION 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Page 
 
 82. Vignette H. Wooden boats of the Nile. A whirlwind of 
 sand in the distance. 
 
 89. Wood-cut, No. 349. Glass blowers. 
 
 90. No. 349. a. Glass bottles, and a bead with the name of 
 
 an ancient monarch. 
 
 107. No. 350. Glass bottles covered with wicker-work, and 
 
 papyrus, and a piece of cloth with a blue border. 
 
 108. No. 351. Chinese bottles found at Thebes. 
 
 1 13. No. 352. A guard apparently carrying a lantern. 
 
 134. No. 353. Men engaged in spinning and weaving. 
 
 135. No. 354. A piece of cloth on a frame, and a loom. 
 
 136. No. 355. Spindles found in Egypt. 
 
 138. No. 356. Process of preparing the flax, and making it 
 into twine and cloth. 
 
 140. No. 357. A wooden comb found with some tow. 
 
 No. 358. Netting needle and wooden plane. 
 
 144. No. 359. Cutting and twisting thongs of leather, and 
 carpenters. 
 
 159. No. 360. Currier holding a strap of leather with his toes 
 
 while cutting it. 
 
 160. No. 361. Shoemakers, and men polishing a column. 
 
 162. No. 362. Fullers. 
 
 164. No. 363. Potters making earthenware vases. 
 
 174. No. 364. Veneering, and the use of glue. 
 
 176. No. 365. Different boxes. 
 
 179. No. 366. An Ethiopian princess travelling in a plaustrum. 
 181. No. 367. Pounding various substances in stone mortars. 
 183. No. 368. Bandaging mummies, and making the cases. 
 
 195. No. 369. Boats for carrying cattle and goods on the Nile. 
 
 196. No. 370. A boat with the mast taken down, while de- 
 
 scending the stream. 
 
 203. No. 371. War galley: the sail being pulled up during 
 action. 
 
 205. No. 372. Large boat, with a peculiar sail and mast. 
 
 208. No. 373. Boat of the Nile : showing how the sail was 
 fastened to the yards, and the nature of the rigging. 
 
OF THE PLATES, ETC. 
 
 XXlll 
 
 Page 
 
 211. Plate 16. Boats with painted sails, from the tomb of 
 Remeses III. 
 
 222. Wood-cut, No. 37T. Goldsmiths at Beni Hassan. 
 
 223. No. 374. a. Goldsmiths, at Thebes. 
 
 224. No. 375. Blowpipe, and small fireplace with cheeks to 
 
 reflect the heat. 
 
 226. No. 376. Golden baskets, represented in the tomb of 
 Remeses III. 
 
 248. No. 377. Wooden hoes. 
 
 258. No. 378. Vases ornamented with plates of metal. 
 
 262. No. 379. Flint knives. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 263. Vignette I. Tomb of Saqqara, erected with stone, of the 
 time of Psamaticus II. 
 
 278. Wood-cut, No 380. Name of Shofo, Suphis, or Cheops; 
 
 and of the city of Memphis. 
 
 280. No. 381. Names of other ancient kings. 
 
 282. No. 382. Figures of kings wearing the crowns of Upper 
 and Lower Egypt; either two distinct persons, or the 
 same king, with his prcenomen and nomen. 
 
 309. No. 383. Section of one of the southern grottoes of Beni 
 
 Hassan. 
 
 310. No. 384. Section of one of the northern grottoes of Beni 
 
 Hassan, and origin of the Doric capital. 
 
 311. No. 385. Artists painting on board, and colouring a 
 
 figure. 
 
 315. No. 386. A scribe writing on a tablet, with his case for 
 holding writing materials. 
 
 321. No. 387. A scribe with his pen behind his ear. 
 
 No. 388. Vaulted rooms and arched doorway of crude 
 brick at Thebes. Imitations of arches, and commence- 
 ment of a quarry. 
 
 324. No. 389. Removal of a stone, represented at the quarries 
 of El Maasara. 
 
 328. No. 390. Mode of transporting a large colossus. 
 
 335. No. 391. Masons levelling and squaring a stone. 
 
XXIV LIST AND EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES, ETC. 
 
 Page 
 
 336. Wood-cut, No. 392. Large granite colossus, which men 
 are sculpturing, polishing, and painting. 
 
 339. No. 393. The use of bellows. 
 
 34'1. No. 394. Siphons. 
 
 345. No. 395. Men’s dresses. 
 
 348. No. 396. Dresses of priests. 
 
 342. No. 397. Princess and children. 
 
 352. No. 398. Dress of the king. 
 
 354. No. 399. Head-dresses of kings and individuals. 
 
 355. No. 400. Front and back of an Egyptian wig in the British 
 
 Museum. 
 
 356. No. 401. An Egyptian wig, in the Berlin Museum. 
 
 363. No. 402. Women carrying their children. 
 
 365. No. 403. Shoes, or low boots, and sandals. 
 
 366. No. 404. Sandals. 
 
 368. No. 405. Dresses of women. 
 
 369. No. 406. Head-dress of a lady, from a mummy-case. 
 
 372. No. 407. Hands of a wooden figure, showing how rings 
 
 were worn by women. 
 
 374. No. 408. Rings, signets, bracelets, and earrings, disco- 
 vered in Egypt. 
 
 377. No. 409. Necklaces, principally in the Leyden Museum. 
 381. No. 410. Wooden combs found at Thebes. 
 
 383. No. 411. Boxes, or bottles, for holding kohl, used in 
 
 staining the eyelids. 
 
 384. No. 412. Needles, pins, and earrings. 
 
 385. No. 413. Metal mirrors. 
 
 386. No. 414. Other metal mirrors. 
 
 No. 415. Another, with the head of a Typhonian 
 monster. 
 
 No. 416. Walking-sticks. 
 
 387. No. 417. Priests and other persons of rank walking with 
 
 sticks. 
 
 389. No. 417.0. A lady in the bath. 
 
 393. No. 418. Doctors and patients, _/?^. 1. and 4. adminis- 
 tering medicine to patients. 
 
 395. No. 419. Exvotus. Models of a hand and ears dedi- 
 cated to a deity. 
 
 398. Topographical plan of the pyramids ofGeezeh. 
 
ERRATA — (of First Series). 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 Page viii. (Contents), line 12., for “ Woollen” read “ Linen." 
 
 17. note *, for “ Bagajet ” read “ Bajazet ; ” and for “ Gibbon, xi. 64." 
 read “ Gibbon, xi. 455.” 
 
 27. note f, omit from “ May he mean ” to end of note, and substitute 
 “ He means the ichneumon, which is called by Am- 
 mianus ‘hydros ichneumonis genus.’ xxii. 14. p. 336. 
 Fide infrd, Vol. V. p. 138.” 
 
 38. last line, add note on “surface:” “ * Like the bumarang of 
 Australia ; though there is no appearance of its being 
 thrown by the Egyptians to come back again.” 
 
 51. last line but one, omit “ Tantalus, or.” 
 
 114. line 6., for “ woollen stuffs ” read “ linen stuffs.” 
 
 117. note •, for “ xix. 8.” read “ xix. 1.” 
 
 253. note ), for “ brass being known ” read “ brass implements being 
 known ; ” and at the end of this note add, “ Brass coins 
 are found, but not Egyptian. ” 
 
 289. note f, omit it all, and substitute “ See Plate 76., second series of 
 this work.” 
 
 385. note *, for “ Exod. xxvli. 8.” read “ Exod. xxxviii. 8.” 
 
 393. Woodcut, add note on “ Doctors : ” “ * On another visit to Beni 
 Hassan in 1842, I found, hy wetting the painting in 
 the other tomb, that these are more probably barbers 
 than doctors, as the fig. 3. is there cutting the nails of 
 the other’s toes ; unless, as of old in Europe, they united 
 the office of barber and surgeon.” 
 
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 I (r 
 
 
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 ViGVETTE G. The palace-temple of Remeses the Great, generally called the Memnonium, 
 at Thebes, during the inundation. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Chase. — Animals. — Dogs. — Fowlers. — Fishermen. — 
 Hippopotamus. — Crocodile. — The Tentyrites. 
 
 All classes of the Egyptians delighted in the 
 sports of the field, and the peasants deemed it a 
 duty as well as an amusement, to hunt and destroy 
 the hyaena, and those animals which were enemies 
 of the fields or flocks, and they shot them with the 
 bow, caught them in traps, or by whatever means 
 their dexterity and ingenuity could suggest. For 
 though the hyaena is a carnivorous animal, it is not 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 less hostile to the crops than to the flocks, when 
 pressed with hunger*, and the ravages they are 
 known to commit in the fields among the Indian 
 corn and other produce, make the peasants of 
 modern Egypt as anxious as their predecessors to 
 destroy them, whenever they have an opportunity, 
 or the courage to attack them. 
 
 CHASE. 
 
 Plato t reckons the huntsmen as one of the 
 castes of the Egyptians ; and though, as I have 
 already observed, persons who followed this occu- 
 pation may have constituted a particular body, or a 
 minor subdivision of one of the castes, we are not 
 to suppose, that the sports of the field were con- 
 fined to those who gained their livelihood by the 
 chase ; or that the wealthy classes of Egyptians 
 were averse to an amusement so generally wel- 
 comed in all countries. Indeed, the sculptures of 
 
 * I have already noticed this in Egypt and Thebes, p. 243, note, 
 f Plato in Timaeo, near the beginning. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 HUNTSMEN. 
 
 3 
 
 Thebes, Beni Hassan, and other places, assure us, 
 that they took particular delight in chasing the 
 wild animals, kept in their preserves for this pur- 
 pose, and even in the more laborious task of fol- 
 lowing them in the extensive tracts of the wide 
 desert, which stretch to the east and west of the 
 valley of the Nile. On these occasions they were 
 attended by several huntsmen, whom they kept in 
 their service, to attend upon the hounds, to direct 
 the hunt, to assist in catching the larger animals 
 with a noose, to carry darts and hunting poles*, 
 to arrange the netst, and, in short, to manage all 
 matters connected with the chase. 
 
 When the chasseur was a person of consequence, 
 numerous attendants accompanied him, not merely 
 in the capacity of beaters, to rouse and turn the 
 game, or to carry it when killed, but for various 
 purposes connected with his immediate wants or 
 comforts while in the field ; some brought with 
 them a fresh supply of arrows, a spare bow, or 
 other requisites for remedying accidents ; and some 
 carried a stock of provisions for his use. These were 
 borne upon the usual yoke, across the shoulders, 
 and consisted of a skin of water, and jars placed 
 
 * The Roman venabula were of the thickness of a spear, armed 
 with a sharp iron point, of moderate length, and used as a defensive 
 weapon against the attack of a wild beast, being held in a slanting direc- 
 tion to receive it. J. Pollux, v. 4. 
 f Virg. jEn. iv. 131. : 
 
 “ Retia rara, plagae, lato venabula ferro, 
 
 Massylique ruunt equites, et odora canum vis.” 
 
 And Hor. 1 Ep. vi. 58. : — 
 
 “ Plagas, venabula, servos.” 
 
 This person was called by the Greeks, SiKTvayojyo^. J. Pollux, v. 4. 
 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 in wicker baskets, probably containing bread, 
 meats, or other provisions. The skins used for 
 carrying water were precisely the same as those of 
 the present day, being of a goat, or a gazelle, 
 stripped from the body by a longitudinal opening 
 at the throat ; the legs serving as handles, to which 
 ropes for slinging them were attached ; and a 
 soft pendent tube of leather sewed to the throat, 
 in the place of the head, formed the mouth of 
 the water-skin, which was secured by a thong 
 fastened round it. 
 
 Sometimes a space of ground, of considerable 
 extent, was enclosed with nets, into which the 
 animals were driven by beaters ; and as this is 
 frequently shown by the sculptures to have been 
 in a hilly country, it is evident that the scenes of 
 those amusements were in the desert, where they 
 probably extended nets across the narrow valleys, 
 or torrent beds, which lie between the rocky hills, 
 difficult of ascent to animals closely pressed by 
 dogs. This is indeed the only way in which a per- 
 son, mounted on horseback * or in a chariot, could 
 follow, or get within reach of them with the bow ; 
 and that some animals, particularly antelopes, when 
 closely pressed, fear to take a steep ascent, is a 
 fact well known to the Arabs ; and I have myself, 
 
 * As in Virgil, ^n. iv. 151. : — 
 
 “ Postquam altos ventum in raontes, atque invia lustra ; 
 
 Ecce ferae, saxi dejectae vertice, caprae 
 Decurrere jugis : alia de parte patentes 
 Transmittunt cursu campos, atque agmina cervi 
 Pulverulenta fuga glomerant, niontesque relinquunt. 
 
 At puer Ascanius viediis in vallibus acri 
 
 Gaudet equo : jamque hos cursu, jam praeterit illos.” 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 MODE OF HUNTING. 
 
 5 
 
 when followint; them with dromedaries in the same 
 valleys, observed that gazelles preferred doubling, 
 and swiftly passing between their pursuers, to the 
 risk of slowly ascending the eminence to which 
 they had been driven. 
 
 The spots thus enclosed were usually in the 
 vicinity of the water brooks*, to which they were 
 in the habit of repairing in the morning and 
 evening : and having awaited the time when they 
 went to drink, and ascertained it by their recent 
 tracks on the accustomed patht, the hunters dis- 
 posed the nets, occupied proper positions for ob- 
 serving them unseen t, and gradually closed in 
 upon them. Such are the scenes partially por- 
 trayed in the Egyptian paintings, where long nets 
 are represented surrounding the space, wherein 
 the chasseur and his attendants pursue the game, 
 either on foot or mounted in a chariot : and the 
 presence of hyaenas, jackals, and various wild 
 beasts unconnected with the sport, is intended 
 to show that they have been accidentally enclosed 
 within the line of nets, which, from embracing an 
 extensive tract, necessarily included within its range 
 the resort of these, as well as of the antelopes and 
 other animals, of which they were in quest. 
 
 * “ As the hart panteth after the water brooks.” Ps. xlii. i. The 
 Hebrew name is Ail, evidently the same as the Egyptian 0 iotX 
 and the Arabic ^\, which I believe to be the Oryx. 
 
 •f My long sojourn with the Arabs in the desert, and my frequent 
 visits to the springs for the same purpose, have explained to me the 
 methods adopted by the ancient Egyptian chasseurs. 
 
 J The person whose business it was to watch the nets, was called 
 by the Greeks XivoTTTrjg, o ra iinrinrovTa fKujKovfitvoQ. J. Pollux, v. 4. 
 
 B 3 
 
6 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 The same custom of surrounding a spot, which 
 they intended to beat, seems to have been adopted 
 by the Romans ; and Virgil* represents ^Eneas and 
 Dido repairing to a wood at break of day, after the 
 attendants had surrounded it with a temporary 
 fence, to enclose the game. This is further con- 
 firmed by the description, given by Julius Pollux, 
 of the various contrivances employed in hunting ; 
 and he makes an evident distinction between the 
 nets for enclosing a large space, and those for stop- 
 ping gaps or openings, and other purposes. 
 
 The long net, called hxrog, was furnished with 
 several ropes, and was supported on forked poles, 
 varying in length, to correspond with the inequali- 
 ties of the ground over which it extended, and this 
 was so contrived as to enclose any space, by cross- 
 ing hills, valleys, or streams, and encircling woods, 
 or whatever might present itself ; a description 
 fully applicable to those exhibited in the Egyptian 
 paintingst ; smaller nets, called svo8<a, for stopping 
 gaps, are also described by the same author ; and 
 a circular snare TroSaypa, set round with wooden and 
 iron nails, and attached by a rope to a log of wood, 
 which was used for catching deer, so nearly re- 
 sembles one still made by the Arabs, and sup- 
 posed to be an old Egyptian invention, that we 
 
 * “ Venatum jEneas, unaque miserrima Dido, 
 
 In nenius ire parant, iibi primes crastinus ortus 
 Extulerit Titan, radiisque retexerit orbem. 
 
 Ilis ego nigrantem commista grandine nimbum, 
 
 Dura trepidant alae, saitusque indagine cingunt, 
 
 Desiipcr infundani.” Virg. ^n. iv. 1 17. 
 
 f Vide J. Poll. Ononi. v. 4. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 PRESERVES FOR GAME. 
 
 7 
 
 may conclude it was common to several ancient 
 people. 
 
 In many instances, the dresses of the attendants 
 and huntsmen were, as Julius Pollux recommends, 
 “not white, nor of a brilliant hue, lest they should 
 be seen at a distance by the animals,” but of a 
 suppressed colour, and reaching only a short way 
 down the thigh * ; being shorter even than those he 
 mentions, which extended to the knee ; and the 
 horses of the chariots were divested of the fea- 
 thers and showy ornaments used on other occa- 
 sions. 
 
 Besides the portions of the open desert and the 
 valleys, above alluded to, which were enclosed 
 by the Egyptians, during their hunting excursions, 
 the parks and preserves on their own domains in the 
 valley of the Nile, though of comparatively limited 
 dimensions, offered ample space and opportunity 
 for indulging in the amusement of the chase ; and 
 there, as in the theriotrophia of the Romans, a 
 quantity of game was kept, among which may be 
 enumerated the wild goat, oryx, and gazelle. 
 They have also fishponds and spacious mvariay set 
 apart for keeping geese and other wild fowl, which 
 they fattened for the table. 
 
 It was the duty of the huntsmen or the gamekeep- 
 ers they employed, to superintend the preserves ; 
 and at proper periods of the year, when the young 
 animals could be obtained, they sought them, and 
 added to the stock, which continued also to increase, 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 319. It was customary with the Egyptians, on 
 ordinary occasions, to wear a kelt reaching to the knee. 
 
 B 4 
 
8 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 No. 319. Bringing young animals to stock the preserves. Tomb near the Pyramids. 
 
 independent of those occasional additions, through 
 the care taken in encouraging their propagation, by 
 a judicious regard to their habits. And this is con- 
 firmed by the numerous flocks of gazelles and other 
 wild animals, represented in the tombs, among the 
 possessions of the deceased, of which the scribes 
 are seen writing an account, at the command of the 
 steward, who waits to present it, with an annual 
 census of his property, to the owner of the estate. 
 
 Being fed within pastures enclosed with fences, 
 they were not marked in any particular way like 
 the cattle, which, being let loose, in open meadows, 
 and frequently allowed to mix with the herds of 
 the neighbours, required some distinguishing sign 
 by which they might be recognised j and were, 
 therefore, branded on the shoulder with a hot iron, 
 probably engraved with the owner’s name. This is 
 distinctly shown in the paintings of Thebes, where 
 the cattle are represented lying on the ground with 
 their feet tied, while one person heats an iron on 
 
CHAP. VJII. 
 
 PRESERVES FOR GAME. 
 
 9 
 
 the fire, and another applies it to the shoulder of 
 the prostrate animal. 
 
10 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 In primitive ages, the chase was not an amuse- 
 ment, but a necessary occupation among those 
 people, who did not follow agricultural pursuits, or 
 
 lead a pastoral life, and who depended for their 
 subsistence upon the sports of the field ; and in 
 some instances the shepherd was obliged to hunt 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 REFLECTIONS ON THE CHASE. 
 
 11 
 
 and destroy the wild beasts, for the security of his 
 flocks and herds : and sometimes even for his 
 own safety.* In after times, when population in- 
 creased, and each community began to adopt the 
 habits of civilised life, the injuries apprehended 
 from them decreased ; and the fear of man having 
 compelled them to remove their haunts to a greater 
 distance, their pursuit was no longer required ; and 
 those who hunted followed the occupation as an 
 amusement, to supply the table, or in the employ of 
 other persons : as among the Egyptians, Babylo- 
 nians, Persians, and Medes. 
 
 In the East, indeed, it was always looked 
 upon as a manly exercise, requiring courage and 
 dexterity, and tending to invigorate the body, and 
 to instil into the mind a taste for active pursuits ; 
 it was held in such repute, that the founders of 
 empires were represented in the character of re- 
 nowned hunters ; and the Babylonians were so 
 fond of the chase, that the walls of their rooms pre- 
 sented a repetition of subjects connected with itf ; 
 and they even ornamented their dresses and the 
 furniture of their houses with the animals they 
 hunted.1^ The Medes and Persians were equally 
 noted for their love of field sports ; and, like the 
 Egyptians, they had spacious preserves § where 
 the game was enclosed j the grounds of the royal 
 palaces containing antelopes and other animals, 
 
 * Whence in Exodus xxiii. 29. : “ I will not drive them out from 
 before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beast 
 of the field multiply against thee.” 
 
 + Ammian. Marcell. lib. xxvi. c. 6. Diod. 2. t Athen. lib. xii. 9. 
 
 $ Xenoph. Cyr. lib. i. “ ev TmpaSiKToig.” Dio. Chrysost. in Orat. 3. 
 
12 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 pheasants, peacocks, and abundance of birds, as 
 well as lions, tigers, and wild boars.* 
 
 The Egyptians frequently coursed with dogs in 
 the open plains, the chasseur following in his 
 chariot, and the huntsmen on foot. Sometimes he 
 only drove to cover in his car, and having alighted, 
 shared in the toil of searching for the game, his 
 attendants keeping the dogs in slips, ready to start 
 them as soon as it appeared. The more usual 
 custom, when the dogs threw off in a level plain of 
 great extent, was for him to remain in his chariot, 
 and, urging his horses to their full speed, endea- 
 vour to turn or intercept them as they doubled, 
 discharging a well directed arrow whenever they 
 came within its range. 
 
 The dogs were taken to the ground by persons 
 expressly employed for that purpose, and for 
 all the duties connected with the kennel, the 
 xuvaycoyoi f of the Greeks, and were either 
 started one by one, or in pairs, in the narrow 
 valleys or open plains : and when coursing on 
 foot, the chasseur and his attendant huntsmen, 
 acquainted with the direction and sinuosities of 
 the torrent beds, shortened the road, as they 
 followed across the intervening hills, and sought 
 a favourable opportunity for using the bow : or 
 marked with a watchful eye the progress of the 
 course in the level space before them.t For not 
 only was the chasseur provided with a bow, but many 
 
 * Curtius, lib. 7 and 8. Xenoph. Cyrop. lib. i. 
 f J. Pollux, iv. 5. 
 
 j As the Arabs of the present clay, in the same districts. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 CATCHING THE GAME. 
 
 13 
 
 of those also who accompanied him ; and the num- 
 ber of head brought home was naturally looked 
 upon as the criterion of his good day’s sport. 
 
 Having with eager haste pursued on foot, and 
 arrived at the spot where the dogs had caught 
 their prey, the huntsman, if alone, took up the 
 game, tied its legs together, and hanging it over 
 his shoulders, once more led by his hand the 
 coupled dogs, precisely in the same manner as the 
 Arabs are wont to do at the present day ; this, 
 however, was generally the office of persons who 
 followed expressly for the purpose, carrying cages 
 and baskets on the usual wooden yoke, and who 
 
 took charge of the game as soon as it was caught ; 
 the number of these substitutes for our game cart 
 depending of course on the proposed range of the 
 
14 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 chase, and the abundance they expected to find. 
 Sometimes an ibex *, oryx, or wild ox, being closely 
 pressed by the hounds, and driven to an eminence 
 of difficult ascent, faced round and kept them at 
 bay, with its formidable horns t, and the spear of 
 
 the huntsman, as he came up, was required to 
 decide the success of the chase. 
 
 It frequently happened, when the chasseur had 
 many attendants, and the district to be hunted was 
 extensive, that they divided into parties, each 
 taking one or more dogs, and starting them on 
 whatever animal broke cover ; sometimes tliey 
 went without hounds, merely having a small dog 
 for searching the bushes, or laid in wait for the 
 larger and more formidable animals, and attacked 
 them with the lance. 
 
 The noose was also employed to catch the wild 
 
 * The wild goat of the desert, the beddan or taytal, of the Arabs, 
 which are still common in the desert between the Nile and Red Sea. 
 t I have occasionally witnessed instances of this in the desert. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 THE NOOSE OR LASSO. 
 
 15 
 
 OX, the antelope, and other animals ; and as they are 
 always represented on foot, when throwing it, we 
 
 may suppose they lay in ambush for this purpose, and 
 that it was principally adopted when they wished 
 to secure them alive : since we find they frequently 
 
 chased the same animals with dogs, and with the 
 bow. The noose was very similar to the lasso of 
 South America, but it does not appear that the 
 Egyptians had the custom of riding on horse- 
 back when they used it ; and from the introduction 
 of a bush immediately behind the man who has 
 
16 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 thrown it, we may suppose the artist intended to 
 convey the notion of his previous concealment. 
 
 Besides the bow, the hounds, and the noose, they 
 hunted with lions, which were trained expressly 
 for the chase, like the cheeta or hunting leopard of 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 THE CHASE. 
 
 17 
 
 India : but there is no appearance of the leopard * 
 or the pantlier having been employed for this pur- 
 pose ; and the lion was always the animal they 
 preferred. It was frequently brought up in a tame 
 state t, and many Egyptian monarchs are said to 
 liave been accompanied, in battle by a favourite 
 lion, — as we learn from the sculptures of Thebes 
 and other places, and from the authority of Dio- 
 dorus. t 
 
 The bow used for the chase was very similar to 
 that employed in war ; the arrows were frequently 
 the same, with metal heads, but some were tipped 
 with stone, which are represented in the hunting 
 scenes of Beni Hassan, and in many of those at 
 Thebes, The mode of drawing the bow was also 
 the same, though, as I have already observed, the 
 chasseurs sometimes pulled the string only to the 
 breast, instead of the more perfect and more usual 
 method of raising it, and bringing the arrow to the 
 ear ; and occasionally, one or more spare arrows 
 were held in the hand §, to give greater facility in 
 discharging them with rapidity on the swift ante- 
 lopes and wild oxen. 
 
 ANIMALS. 
 
 The animals they chiefly hunted were the 
 gazelle, wild goat or ibex, the oryx, wild ox, 
 
 * Bagajet I. (Byazeed) had 12,000 officers and servants of the chase. 
 Besides hounds of various breeds, he had leopards, whose collars were 
 set with jewels. Gibbon, xi. 64. 
 
 f I have seen two or three tame lions in Cairo. Animals are more 
 easily tamed in those climates than in Europe. 
 
 J Diod. i. 48. And the sculptures of Dayr, Medeenet Haboo, 
 Kalabshi, &c. 
 
 § Vide wood-cut. No. 327. ; and No. 30., in Vol. I. 
 
 VOL. III. C 
 
18 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Stag kebsh or wild sheep, hare, and porcupine t ; 
 
 of all of which the meat was highly esteemed among 
 
 * Probably the same as the Cervus barbarus. 
 
 •j- I have not found this animal in Egypt. It is eaten in Italy, and 
 sold in the markets of Home and other places. 
 
20 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 the delicacies of the table. Others, as the fox, 
 jackal, wolf, hygena, and leopard, were chased as 
 an amusement, for the sake of their skins, or as 
 enemies of the farm-yard; and the ostrich held 
 out a great temptation to the hunter from the 
 value of its plumes. These were in great request 
 among the Egyptians for ornamental purposes ; 
 a religious veneration for them, as the symbol of 
 truth, enhanced their value ; and the members of the 
 court on grand occasions failed not to deck them- 
 selves with the feathers of the ostrich. The labour 
 endured during the chase of this swift-footed bird 
 was amply repaid ; even its eggs were required for 
 some ornamental or religious use, and these, with 
 the plumes, formed part of the tribute imposed 
 by the Egyptians on the conquered countries 
 where it abounded. The purposes to which the 
 eggs were applied are unknown ; but we may 
 infer, from a religious prejudice in their favour 
 among the Christians of Egypt, that some super- 
 stition was connected with them, and that they 
 were suspended in the temples of the ancient 
 Egyptians, as they still are in the Churches of the 
 Copts.* 
 
 The subjects of the chase in the sculptures are 
 frequently represented wdth great spirit. The 
 character of the animals is maintained with won- 
 derful truth, and, though time and the hand of 
 man have done much to injure them, sufficient re- 
 
 * They consider them the emblems of watchfulness. Sometimes 
 they use them with a different view : the rope of their lamps is passed 
 through the egg, in order to prevent the rats coming down and drink- 
 ing the oil, as we were assured by the monks of Dayr Antonios. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 FANCIFUL ANIMALS. 
 
 21 
 
 mains to evince the skill of the Egyptian draughts- 
 men. Distance and locality are not so well defined, 
 and the archer, like all Egyptian figures, offends 
 against every rule of drawing and perspective ; but 
 the action of the dogs and of the flying antelopes 
 is spirited, and shows how successfully the effect 
 was given by simple outline. 
 
 It is singular that the wild boar is never repre- 
 sented among the animals of Egypt, since it is a 
 native of the country ; — and is even eaten at the pre- 
 sent day, in spite of the religious prejudices of the 
 Moslems *, hy many of the inhabitants of the districts 
 where it lives : — nor can I suggest any reason for 
 this omission, except from its not frequenting those 
 parts where the scenes of the chase are laid, being 
 confined to the low marshy spots about the north 
 of the Delta, and the banks of the Lake Moeris. In 
 the Thebai’d it was unknown ; the sculptures or 
 paintings of Diospolis relate principally to the vi- 
 cinity of Upper Egypt, and the monuments of the 
 Delta and the lower country are too few to enable 
 iis to say if it was omitted there. Nor is the wild 
 ass met with in the paintings, either of Upper or 
 I.ower Egypt, though it is common in the deserts 
 of the Thebai'd. 
 
 Many other animals are introduced in the 
 sculptures, besides those already noticed, some of 
 which are purely the offspring of disordered im- 
 agination: and the winged quadrupeds, sphinxes, 
 or lions, with the head of a hawk, or of a snake, 
 
 * That is, followers of Islam. Need I add, they never call them- 
 selves Mahometans, which is an European misnomer ? 
 
 c 3 
 
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 as 
 
 No. 329. A chase in the desert of Thebaid. Ihcbcs, 
 
 To the left of A was the chasseur in his chariot shooting with the bow, now defaced. 
 Figs. 1, 9 , 15, 18. Gazelles. 2, 11. Hares. 3. Female hy^na, with its young. 4. 13. Foxes. 
 
 5. Porcui'ine. 6. Hyaena arrived at the top of a hill and looking towards the 
 chasseur. 7. Tlie ibex. 8, 14. Hounds, 12. Ostriches (defaceti). 16. The oryx. 
 19. Wild oxen. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 THE SPHINX. 
 
 23 
 
 and some others equally fanciful and unnatural, can 
 only be compared to the creations of heraldry *, or 
 serve as companions to the monsters of Pliny, t 
 The Egyptian sphinx was usually an emblematic 
 figure, representative of the king, and may be 
 considered, when with the head of a man and the 
 body of a lion, as the union of intellect and phy- 
 
 No. 330. Monsters, in the paintings of Beni Hassan and Thebes, 
 
 sical force : it is therefore scarcely necessary to 
 
 * An Austrian nobleman asked an English ambassador at Vienna, 
 whose arms presented a griffin and other monsters, “ in what forest 
 they were met with ? ” “ In the same,” said the ambassador, “ where 
 you find eagles with two heads.” 
 f Plin. viii. 21. 
 
24 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 observe that they are never female, as those of 
 tlie Greeks. Besides the ordinary sphinx, com- 
 pounded of a lion and a man, and denominated 
 androsphinx, were the criosphinx, with the head 
 of a ram, and the hieracosphinx, with the hawk’s 
 head and lion’s body, — all which are represent- 
 atives of the king : but the asp-headed and the 
 hawk-headed sphinx with wings, do not appear to 
 have been adopted as the same symbol. 
 
 Those of the above-mentioned animals which are 
 still found in Egypt, either in the Valley of the 
 Nile, or in the desert, are the gazelle *, ibex, kehsh, 
 hare, fox, jackal, wolf, and hymna. 
 
 The oryx\ is a native of Ethiopia, as is the 
 spotted hymna t or marafeen ; which last is once 
 represented in the Egyptian sculptures. The 
 oryx has long annulated hotns, tapering to a sharp 
 point, and nearly straight, with a slight curve or 
 inclination backwards. It frequently occurs in 
 the sculptures, being among the animals tamed by 
 the Egyptians, and kept in great numbers in the 
 preserves of their villas. 
 
 The beisa § is very like the oryx, except in the 
 black marks upon its face, and a few other points ; 
 and the adda.v\\, another antelope, inhabiting Upper 
 Ethiopia, differs principally from the oryx in its 
 horns, which have a waving or spiral form : but 
 these do not appear in the sculptures, unless the 
 Egyptian artists, by an imperfect representation of 
 
 * Wood-cut, No. 328. yg. 6. and No.329.y>fs. 1. 9, 10. 15. 18. 
 
 -}■ The antilope leucoryx. r.wood-cut, No.328.y?g.2. & No.329.yg.l6. 
 
 f The canis crocutus, which ap[>ears to be the chaus of PIin_v, or, as 
 some editions have it, ; “cffigielnj)i, pardoruminacnlis.” Lib.viii.l9. 
 
 ^ Antilope bei'sa. || Antilope addax. 
 
CHAP. Vill. VARIOUS WILD ANIMALS. 
 
 25 
 
 them, and an inattention to their distinguishing pe- 
 culiarities, have confounded them * with the oryx 
 or the wild ox. 
 
 This last, which is also of the genus antilope\, 
 the defassa of modern zoologists, though not a native 
 of Egypt, is found in the African desert, and I 
 believe in Eastern Ethiopia ; it is of a reddish sandy 
 and grey colour, with a black tuft terminating its 
 tail, and stands about four feet high at the shoulder. 
 Though made too much to resemble a common ox 
 in some of the paintings, it is sufficiently evident 
 that the Egyptians had in view the defassa, in their 
 representations of this animal : and the Theban 
 sculptors^ who had a better opportunity of 
 becoming acquainted with it, have succeeded in 
 giving its character far more satisfactorily than the 
 painters § of Beni Hassan. 
 
 The stag with branching horns ||, figured at Beni 
 Hassan, is also unknown in the Valley of the Nile ; 
 but I have been assured that it is still seen in the 
 vicinity of the Natron Lakes, though not a native 
 of the desert between the river and the Red Sea. 
 
 The ihex%, which is common in the Eastern 
 desert, as far north as the range of the Qalalla and 
 Gebel Aboo-Durrag, or latitude 29° 30', is very 
 similar to the bouquetin of the Alps, and is called 
 in Arabic Beddan or Tdytal. The former apjiel- 
 lation is exclusively applied to the male, which is 
 readily distinguished by a beard and large knotted 
 horns, curving backwards over its body, the female 
 
 * Fig. 7 of wood-cut, No. 328. appears to be the addax. 
 
 f Antilope defassa. } Firfe wood-cut. No. 329.7%. ID. 
 
 ^ Vide wood-cut. No. 327. j%.?. 4. & 5. 
 
 II Wood-cut, No. 328.7%. 9. ^ Wood-cut, No. 328.7%. I. 
 
2G 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Imving short erect horns, scarcely larger than those 
 of the gazelle, and being of a much smaller and 
 lighter structure. 
 
 Tlie kebsh, or wild sheep, is found in the Eastern 
 desert, principally in the ranges of primitive moun- 
 tains, which, commencing about latitude 28° 40', at 
 the back of the limestone hills of the Valley of the 
 Nile, extend thence into Ethiopia and Abyssinia. 
 The female kebsh is between two and three feet 
 high at the shoulder, and its total length from the 
 tail to the end of the nose is a little more than four 
 feet : but the male is larger, and is provided with 
 stronger horns, which are about five inches in 
 diameter at the roots, and are curved down towards 
 the neck. The whole body is covered with hair, 
 like many of the Ethiopian sheep, and the throat 
 and thighs of the fore legs are furnished with a 
 long pendent mane ; a peculiarity not omitted in 
 the sculptures, and which suffices to prove the 
 identity of the kebsh*, wherever its figure is repre- 
 sented. 
 
 The porcupine is not a native of Egypt ; nor is 
 the leopard met with on this side of Upper Ethio- 
 pia. Bears are altogether unknown, and if they 
 occur twice in the paintings of the Theban tombs, 
 the manner in which they are introduced suffi- 
 ciently proves them not to have been among the 
 animals of Egypt, since they are brought by 
 foreigners, together with the productions of their 
 country, which were deemed rare and curious to 
 the Egyjitians. Herodotus is therefore in error 
 
 * Wood-cut, No. 328. 10. 
 
CHAP. vrii. 
 
 THE WOLF. 
 
 27 
 
 respecting the bear* as well as the otter t; but tlie 
 Greek name of tbis last is so ambiguous, that it 
 may apply to any “ animal inhabiting the water,” 
 which is the signification of the word 
 
 With regard to the Egyptian wolf, which he 
 says t is small, and “scarcely larger than a fox,” 
 his statement is fully borne out by fact, and Pliny’s 
 remark §, that “ those of Egypt and Africa are 
 small and inactive,” is equally just. But it is still 
 more remarkable that in Egypt their habits differ, 
 in one of the principal characteristics of the species, 
 from those of other countries, being so little gre- 
 garious ; for, though so often in pursuit of them, 
 I never met with more than two together, and gene- 
 rally found them prowling singly over the plain. 
 
 M. Sonnini’s conclusions, respecting the exist- 
 ence of the wolf in Egypt, are hasty and erroneous; 
 and he has perverted the meaning of Herodotus, 
 when he says that the sacred animal of Lycopolis 
 “was not the wolf, for there are none in Egypt, but 
 the jackal, which seems clearly shown by Herodotus, 
 when he says the wolves in that country are scarcely 
 largerthan foxes.” The tombs in the mountain above 
 Lycopolis, the modern E’Sioot||, contain the mum- 
 mies of wolves, many of which I have examined, and 
 ascertained to be of the sacred animals of the place ; 
 
 * Herod, ii. 67. “ Bears being rare.” 
 
 -I* Herod.il. 72. “ Tivoi/rai Se /cat tvvdpitg tv rti> noTaiuo, raQ ipag 
 
 riyijvTni ftvai.” May he mean the “ Woiran of the river,” the large 
 lacerta Nilotica ? 
 
 J Herod, ii. 67. 
 
 ^ Plin. 8. 22. “ Inertes hos (lupos) parvosque Africa et Egyptus 
 
 gignunt.” Aristot. Hist. An. 1. 8. c. xxviii. 
 
 II I have shown that Aboolfeda, and others, were wrong in writing 
 this name Osioot, in my Egypt and Thebes, p. 389. 
 
28 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 the ancient sculptures represent them as natives of 
 the country in the earliest times ; and the coins of 
 the Lycopolite nome bear a wolf on their reverse, 
 with the word lyco (T^uxo), signifying “ a wolf.” It 
 is, therefore, evident, that M. Sonnini is in error, as 
 to their not having been natives of Egypt in the time 
 of Herodotus ; and since we find them on both sides 
 of the Nile, those now met with there are shown to 
 be indigenous in the country, and not derived 
 from any which may have accidentally strayed from 
 the borders of Syria. 
 
 The Egyptian hare is a native of the Valley of 
 the Nile as well as the two deserts. It is remark- 
 able for the length of its ears, which the Egyptians 
 have not failed to indicate in their sculptures ; but 
 it is much smaller than those of Europe. 
 
 The intelligent Denon has made a just remark 
 on the comparative size of animals common to 
 Egypt and Europe, that the former are always 
 smaller than our own species ; and this is exemplified 
 by none more strongly than the hare and wolf. 
 
 The ivahher* or hyrax, though a native of the 
 eastern desert of Egypt, is not represented in the 
 sculptures ; but this is probably owing to its habits, 
 and to their hunting principally in the vallies of the 
 secondary mountains ; the wabber only venturing 
 a short distance from its burrow in the evening, and 
 living in the primitive ranges, where the. sedleh^ or 
 acacia grows. It was probably the saphan of the 
 
 * By a singular inadvertency, this lias been called a gazelle, in 
 M. Leon Delaborde’s Petra. Vide the translation, p. 106, 107. 
 
 -f- The acacia, or sniinosa seysil. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 THE LION. 
 
 29 
 
 Bible, as Bruce has remarked, and that enterprising 
 traveller is perfectly correct in placing it among 
 ruminating animals. 
 
 In enumerating the wild beasts of the desert, it 
 may not be irrelevant to observe that the hyaena and 
 wolf are seldom met with in unfrequented districts, 
 or any great distance from the Nile, where they 
 would suffer from want of food, and are therefore 
 principally confined to the mountains lying at most 
 a few miles from the edge of the cultivated land. 
 Once only I have met with the wolf on the coast 
 of the Red Sea ; and few even of the watering 
 places of the interior of the desert are infested by 
 it, or the hyaena. 
 
 The lion is now unknown to the north of Upper 
 Ethiopia : there, however, it is common, as well as 
 the leopard, the ahooinimgdr* , and other carni- 
 vorous beasts ; and the abundance of sheep in 
 those districts amply supplies them with food, and 
 has the happy tendency of rendering them less 
 dangerous to man. In ancient times, however, 
 the lion inhabited the deserts of Egypt, and 
 Athenaeus mentions one killed by the emperor 
 Adrian, while hunting near Alexandria.! They 
 are even said, in former times, to have been found 
 in Syria!, and in Greece. 
 
 * The aboomungar is said to be in the Egyptian deserts as well 
 as the sheeb. I have not been able to discover what these two animals 
 really are ; the former was described to me by the Arabs with a pointed 
 nose, like a wolf, with the power of springing like a leopard, or rather 
 like a dog, and attacking cattle : the latter was said to have a round 
 head and shaggy neck. 
 
 f Athen. lib. xv. c. 6. 
 
 j Sam. xvii. SL 2 Sam. xxiii. 20. 1 Kings, xiii. 24. 
 
30 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Among the animals confined to the Valley of the 
 Nile, and its immediate vicinity, may be mentioned 
 the ichneumon*, which lives principally in Lower 
 Egypt and the Fyoom, and which, from its enmity 
 to serpents, was looked upon by the Egyptians 
 with great respect. Its dexterity in attacking the 
 snake is truly surprising. It seizes the enemy at the 
 back of the neck, as soon as it perceives it rising to 
 the attack, one firm bite sufficing to destroy it ; and 
 when wounded by the venomous fangs of its oppo- 
 nent, it is said by the Arabs to have recourse to 
 some herb, which checks the effect of the deadly 
 poison. 
 
 Of the truth, however, of this commonly credited 
 assertion!, I can say nothing ; an Arab assured 
 me he had witnessed a fight between a large 
 venomous snake and an ichneumon, which last, 
 whenever it received a bite, ran to a small plant, 
 of which it eat a part, rubbing the wound against 
 the leaves, and then returned to renew the com- 
 bat ; and in order to ascertain the reality of its 
 effect, he plucked up and removed the plant, and 
 having waited to see the wounded animal return 
 in vain to seek it, he became convinced, by its 
 death, that the herb alone had previously saved its 
 life. The Arabs, however, frequently consult their 
 imagination more than their love of truth, and, 
 like many authors of amusing tales, they tell their 
 stories till they believe them true. 
 
 * In Arabic, “ nims,” or “ got Pharaoon,” Pharaoh’s cat. It is the 
 viverra ichneumon. 
 
 f They have the same notion in India. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 THE ICHNEUMON. GIRAFFE. 
 
 31 
 
 The ichneumon* is easily tamed, and is some- 
 times seen in the houses of Cairo, where, in its 
 hostility to rats, it performs all the duties of a cat ; 
 but, from its indiscriminate fondness for eggs, poul- 
 try, and many other requisites for the kitchen, it 
 is generally reckoned troublesome, and I have 
 often found reason to complain of those I kept. 
 
 Eggs are its favourite food, and it is said to have 
 been greatly venerated by those who held the 
 crocodile in abhorrence, in consequence of its 
 destroying the eggs of that hateful animal t : but 
 it is now rarely met with in places where the 
 crocodile abounds ; and we may conclude that at 
 all periods its principal recommendation was its 
 hostility to serpents. It is frequently seen in the 
 paintings, where its habits are distinctly alluded 
 to by the Egyptian artists, who represent it in 
 search of eggs, among the bushes, and the usual 
 resorts of the feathered tribe. 
 
 The wild cat, the felis chaus of Linnaeus, is 
 common in the vicinity of the pyramids and Helio- 
 polis, but it does not occur among the pictured 
 animals of ancient Egypt. Nor is the jerhoat, so 
 frequently met with both in the upper and lower 
 country, represented in the sculptures. 
 
 The giraffe § was not a native of Egypt, but of 
 
 * It is often introduced in the sculptures. Vide wood-cut, No. 328. 
 Jig. 20. ; and in wood-cut No. 336. it is represented carrying away a 
 young bird from the nest. 
 
 -j- Diod. i. 35. 
 
 j Dipus jaculus. It is eaten by the Arabs of Africa. Bruce with 
 great reason supposes it to be the mouse mentioned in Isaiah, Ixvi. 17. 
 ^ Vide plate 4. 
 
32 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII- 
 
 Ethiopia, and is only introduced in subjects which 
 relate to that country, where it is brought with 
 apes, rare woods, and other native productions, 
 as part of the tribute annually paid to the Pha- 
 raohs. 
 
 The Egyptians had several breeds of dogs*, 
 
 No. 331. Various kinds of dogs, from the sculptures. 
 
 some solely used for the chase, others admitted 
 
 * Vide also plate 4., at the end of Vol. I. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 DOGS. PIGS. 
 
 33 
 
 into the parlour, or selected as the companions of 
 their walks ; and some, as at the present day, se- 
 lected for their peculiar ugliness. All were looked 
 upon with veneration, and the death of a dog was not 
 only lamented as a misfortune, but was mourned by 
 every member of the house in which it occurred.* 
 
 The most common kinds were a sort of fox 
 dog, and a hound ; they had also a short-legged 
 dog, not unlike our turnspit, w^hich was a great 
 favourite in the house, especially, it appears, in 
 the time of Osirtasen ; and it is possible that, 
 as in later days, the choice of a monarch led 
 the taste, or fashion, of the time, to fix upon a 
 particular breed. Of the fox dog, I have found 
 several mummies in Upper Egypt, and it is rea- 
 sonable to conclude that this was the parent stock 
 of the modern red wild dog of Egypt, which is so 
 common at Cairo, and other towns of the lower 
 country. 
 
 Herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep t and goats 
 were numerous; and pigs, though unclean t, and 
 an abomination to the Egyptians, frequently formed 
 part of the stock of the farm-yard ; but they are 
 more rarely represented in the sculptures than 
 other animals. Their cattle were of different 
 kinds, of which three principal distinctions are 
 most deserving of notice, the short, the long horned 
 cattle, and the Indian or humped ox ; and the two 
 
 * Vide infra, p. 42. 
 
 f I have already observed, on the authority of Diodorus, that sheep 
 in Egypt were twice shorn, and twice brought forth lambs in the year; 
 as at the present day. Homer says those of Libya had lambs thrice 
 in a year. Od. iv. 86. f Herod, ii. 47. 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 last, though no longer natives of Egypt, are com- 
 mon to this day in Abyssinia and Upper Ethiopia. 
 Horses and asses were abundant in Egypt, and 
 
 No. 323. Pigs ; rarely seen in the sculptures. Thebes. 
 
 1. Sows with young pigs. 2. Young pigs. 3. Boars, 
 o is a whip, knotted like some of our own. b agaydy or noose. 
 
 the latter were employed as beasts of burden, for 
 treading out corn, particularly in Lower Egypt, 
 and for many other purposes. Like those of the 
 present day, it is probable that they were small, 
 active, and capable of bearing great fatigue ; and, 
 considering the trifling expense at which these 
 hardy animals were maintained, we are not sur- 
 prised to find that they were kept in great numbers 
 in the agricultural districts, or that one individual 
 had as many as seven hundred and sixty employed 
 in different parts of his estate. 
 
 Egyptian horses were greatly esteemed ; they 
 were even exported to the neighbouring coun- 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 THE CAMEL. POULTRY. 
 
 35 
 
 tries, and Solomon bought them at a hundred and 
 fifty shekels of silver*, from the merchants who 
 traded with Egypt by the Syrian desert. 
 
 It is remarkable that the camel, though known 
 to have been used in, and probably a native of, 
 Egypt, as early at least as the time of Abraham 
 (the Bible distinctly stating it to have been among 
 the presents given by Pharaoh to the patriarch t), 
 has never yet been met with in the paintings or 
 hieroglyphics. We cannot however infer, from 
 our finding no representation, or notice of itt, 
 that it was rare in any part of the country, 
 since the same would apply to poultry, which, 
 it is scarcely necessary to observe, was always 
 abundant in Egypt : for no instance occurs in 
 the sculptures of fowls or pigeons, among the 
 stock of the farm-yard, though geese are repeat- 
 edly introduced, and numbered in the presence of 
 the stewards. 
 
 The mode of rearing poultry, and the artificial 
 process of hatching the eggs of fowls and geese, I 
 have already mentioned in a former work §, where 
 I have shown the method adopted by the Copts, 
 from their predecessors. 1| 
 
 Many birds, which frequented the interior and 
 skirts of the desert, and were highly prized for the 
 table, were caught in nets and traps, by the fowlers, 
 
 * I Kings, X. 28, 29. 
 
 •)- Gen. xii. 16. The name in Hebrew is the same by which the ani- 
 mal is known in Arabic, Gemel, gemeliin, “ also Exod. ix. 3. 
 
 t I have a stone seal found in Nubia, on which two camels are 
 rudely engraved, but it is of uncertain date. 
 
 § Egypt and Thebes, p. 245, 246. 
 
 II Diod. i. s. 74. Pliny, x. c. 54. 
 
86 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII* 
 
 as the partridge, gutta*, bustard t, and quail t ; 
 and waterfowl of different descriptions, which 
 abounded in the Valley of the Nile, afforded 
 endless diversion to the sportsman, and profit to 
 those who gained a livelihood by their sale. 
 
 FOWLING. 
 
 Fowling was a favourite amusement of all classes ; 
 and the fowlers and fishermen, as I have already 
 observed, were subdivisions of one of the castes. 
 They either caught the birds in large clap-nets §, 
 or in traps ; and they sometimes shot them with 
 arrows, or felled them with a throw-stick, as they 
 flew in the thickets. 
 
 The trap II was generally made of network, 
 strained over a frame. It consisted of two semi- 
 circular sides or flaps, of equal sizes, one or both 
 moving on the common bar, or axis, upon which 
 they rested. Wlien the trap was set, the two flaps 
 were kept open by means of strings, probably of 
 catgut, which, the moment the bait that stood in 
 the centre of the bar was touched, slipped aside, 
 and allowed the two flaps to collapse, and thus se- 
 cured the bird. 
 
 Another kind, which was square, appears to 
 have closed in the same manner ; but its construc- 
 tion was different, the framework running across 
 the centre, and not, as in the others, round the 
 edges of the trap. 
 
 * The Pterocles melanogaster. Vide Egypt and Thebes, p. 245. 
 
 -|- The Otis hebara. 
 
 i Herod, ii. 77. : Diod. i. 60. ; and the sculptures. 
 
 J V. wood-cut, No. 333. part ii. || V. wood-cut. No. 335. 
 
CHAP. VIII, 
 
 FOWLING 
 
 37 
 
 THE 
 
 CLAP-NET. 
 
38 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 If tlieir skill in making traps is not proved in 
 those used by the fowlers, it may at least be in- 
 
 ferred from that in which the robber was caught 
 in the treasury of Rhampsinitus* ; since the power 
 of the spring, or the mechanism of the catch, was 
 so great that his brother was unable to open it or 
 release him. 
 
 They do not seem to have used the bow very 
 generally to shoot birds, nor was the sling adopted, 
 except by gardeners and peasants to frighten 
 them from the vineyards t and fields. The use of 
 the throw-stick J was very general, every ama- 
 teur chasseur priding himself on the dexterity he 
 displayed with this missile : and being made of 
 heavy wood, flat, and offering little surface to the 
 
 * Vide Vol. 1. p. 123. ■[■ V. wood-ciit, No. 136. Vol. II. p. 149. 
 
 The Irish frctpicntly use it for the same purpose. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 THROW-STICKS. 
 
 39 
 
 air in the direction of its flight, the distance to 
 which an expert arm could throw it was consider- 
 
 able ; though they always endeavoured to approach 
 the birds as near as possible, under the cover 
 of the bushes or reeds. It was from one foot 
 and a quarter to two feet in length, and about 
 one inch and a half in breadth, slightly curved at 
 the upper end ; and its general form may be inferred 
 from one found atThebes by Mr. Burton, from those 
 of the Berlin Museum, and from the sculptures. 
 
 On their fowling excursions, they usually pro- 
 D 4 
 
40 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ceeded with a party of friends and attendants, some- 
 times accompanied by the members of their family, 
 and even their young children, to the jungles or 
 thickets of the marsh lands, or to the lakes of their 
 own grounds, formed by the waters of theoverflowing 
 Nile, at the period of the inundation, when wild fowl 
 was more abundant than at any other season of the 
 year ; and seated in punts made of the papyrus*', or 
 rushes of various kinds, they passed without disturb- 
 ing the birds, amidst the lofty reeds which grew in 
 the water, and masked their approach. This sort of 
 boat was either towed, pushed by a pole, or pro- 
 pelled by paddles ; and a religious prejudice in- 
 duced the Egyptians to believe that persons who 
 used it were secure from the attacks of croco- 
 dilest; a story which can be more readily believed 
 and explained, when we remember that they prin- 
 cipally used these boats in the lakes and inland 
 canals, where crocodiles were seldom seen. 
 
 The attendants collected the game as it fell, and 
 one of them was always ready to present a fresh 
 stick to the chasseur, as soon as he had thrown. 
 They frequently took with tliem a decoy bird, 
 which was posted in a convenient place ; and in 
 order more effectually to prevent its quitting the 
 post assigned to it, a female was selected for the 
 purpose, whose nest, containing eggs, was brought 
 with it and deposited in the boat. 
 
 * Conf. Lucan, iv. 136. : — 
 
 “ Conseritur bibula Memphitis cyniba papyro.” and Plin. xiii. 11. 
 
 f Pint, de Is. s. 1 8. “ Isis . . . made use of a boat constructed of the 
 reed papyrus, in order to pass more easily through the fenny parts of 
 the country, whence, they say, the crocodile never touches any persons 
 who go in this sort of vessel.’’ 
 
42 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 A favourite cat sometimes attended them on 
 these occasions, and from the readiness with which 
 
 No. 337. Sportsman using the throw-stick. British Museum. 
 
 Fig. 2. keeps the boat steady by holding the stalks of a lotus. 4. A cat seizing the game in 
 the thicket. 5. A decoy bird. 
 
 it is represented to have seized the game, the 
 artist has intended to show that those animals 
 acted as retrievers, or were trained to catch the 
 birds ; being let out of the boat into the thickets 
 which grew at the water’s edge : though making 
 every allowance for the great skill attributed to 
 the Egyptians in taming and training animals, it 
 is difficult to persuade us that the cat could be 
 induced, on any consideration, to take the water, 
 in quest of a fallen bird. 
 
 That cats, as well as dogs, were looked upon 
 with great esteem by the Egyptians, is evident 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 CATS AND DOGS. 
 
 43 
 
 from the care they took to preserve and embalm 
 them, and from the express statements of ancient 
 writers. Herodotus * mentions the concern they 
 felt at their loss, and the general mourning that 
 ensued in a house, even if they died a natural 
 death ; every inmate being obliged to shave his 
 eyebrows, in token of sorrow, for the loss of a 
 cat, and the head and whole body for the death 
 of a dog. When ill, they watched and attended 
 them with the greatest solicitude ; and, if any per- 
 son purposely, or even involuntarily t, killed one 
 of these revered animals, it was deemed a capital 
 offence ; nor could all the influence of the magis- 
 trates, nor even the dread of the Roman name pre- 
 vent the people from sacrificing to their resentment 
 an incautious Roman who had killed a cat, though 
 it was evident that he had done it unintentionally. 
 
 “So deeply rooted in their minds,” says Diodorus, 
 “ was the superstitious regard for the sacred animals, 
 and so strongly were the passions of every one bent 
 upon their honour, that, even at this time, when 
 Ptolemy had not yet been called a king by the 
 Romans, and the people were using every possible 
 effort to flatter the Italians, who visited the country 
 as strangers, and studiously avoided any thing 
 which could excite disputes, or lead to war, on ac- 
 count of their dread of the consequences, they posi- 
 tively refused to restrain their anger, or to spare 
 the offender.” 
 
 Some remains of this prejudice in favour of the 
 
 Herod, ii. 66. 
 
 f Diod. i. 83. 
 
44 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 cat * may still be traced among the modern Egyp- 
 tians, who even allow it to eat from the same dish t, 
 and to be the constant companion of their children ; 
 though the reputed reason of their predilection 
 for this animal is its utility in watching and de- 
 stroying scorpions, and other reptiles, which infest 
 the houses. 
 
 Dogs are not regarded by them with the same 
 feelings ; they are considered unclean, and are 
 seldom admitted into the house, except by some 
 persons of the Malekee sect, who do not, like 
 the Shaffaees, and Hanefees, consider themselves 
 defiled by their touch. But though they draw this 
 marked distinction between them, the character 
 given to the two animals appears to be in favour of 
 the dog ; which they represent, in the true spirit of 
 oriental fable, when asked hereafter respecting the 
 treatment it received from man, concealing all the 
 numerous injuries it has received, and magnifying 
 the few benefits, while the cat is supposed to 
 deny the obligations conferred upon it, and to en- 
 deavour to detract from the merits of its bene- 
 factor. 
 
 Though the death of a cat is not attended with 
 lamentations or funeral honours, it is looked upon 
 by many of the modern Egyptians to be wrong 
 to kill, or even to illtreat them : and some have 
 carried their humanity so far as to bequeath by will 
 a fund for their sujiport, in compliance with which 
 
 * They are much more tractable and attached in Egypt than in 
 Europe. The cat and dog are not there the emblems of discord. 
 
 f This is a general custom with the Moslems. 
 
CHAP. VITl. MODE OF INDICATING SILENCE. 
 
 45 
 
 these animals are daily fed in Cairo at the Cadi’s 
 court, and the bazar of Khan Khaleel. 
 
 The clap net was of different forms, though on 
 the same general principle as the traps already 
 mentioned. It consisted of two sides or frames, over 
 which the network was strained ; at one end was 
 a short rope, which they fastened to a bush, or a 
 cluster of reeds, and at the other was one of con- 
 siderable length, which, as soon as the birds were 
 seen feeding in the area within the net, was 
 pulled by the fowlers, causing the instantaneous 
 collapsion of the two sides.* The Egyptian nets 
 were very similar to those used in Europe at the 
 present day, but probably larger, and requiring a 
 greater number of persons to manage them than 
 our own ; this, however, may be attributed to an 
 imperfection in their contrivance for closing them. 
 
 As soon as they had selected a convenient spot 
 for laying down the net, in a field or on the sur- 
 face of a pond, the known resort of numerous wild 
 fowl, they spread open the two sides or flaps, and 
 secured them in such a manner that they remained 
 flat upon the ground, until pulled by the rope. A 
 man, crouched behind some reeds, growing at a 
 convenient distance from the spot, from which 
 he could observe the birds as they came down, 
 watched the nett, and enjoining silence by plac- 
 ing his hand over his mouth, beckoned to those 
 holding the rope to keep themselves in readiness, 
 till he saw them assembled in sufficient numbers, 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 333. part 2. 
 
 f He was styled Xivom-riq by the Greeks. J. Pollux, v. 4. 
 
46 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 when a wave of his hand gave the signal for closing 
 the net. 
 
 The sign adopted by the Egyptians to indicate 
 silence is evidently shown, from these scenes, to 
 have been given by placing the hand over the 
 mouth ; not, as generally supposed *, by approach- 
 ing the forefinger to the lips ; and the Greeks 
 erroneously concluded, that the youthful Harpo- 
 crates was the deity of silence, from his appearing 
 in this attitude ; which, however humiliating to the 
 character of a deity, was only illustrative of his 
 extreme youth, and of a habit common to children 
 in every country, whether of ancient or modern 
 times. 
 
 Some nets were of a single piece, stretched 
 over a frame ; others were furnished with addi- 
 
 * And by Plutarch, De Isid. s. C8. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 BIRDS OF EGYPT. 
 
 47 
 
 tional sections of a diamond shape *, and in some 
 the interior portion was surrounded by an outer cir- 
 cuit of an oval form, to which the ring of the rope 
 was attached. 
 
 It is probable that the ancient Egyptians adopted 
 the same ingenious method of catching ducks, wid- 
 geons, and other water fowl, as the modern inhabit- 
 ants of Lower Egypt t ; who, when the inundation 
 covers the lands, creep unperceived to the water’s 
 edge, and placing a gourd upon their head, with 
 two holes cut in fi’ont, through which they look, 
 swim towards the unsuspecting birds, and taking 
 them one after the other by the legs, suddenly pull 
 them under the water, and tie them to their girdle ; 
 thus, in a short space of time, securing great num- 
 bers, without alarming the rest. 
 
 The birds taken in nets were principally geese, 
 ducks, quails, and some small kinds which they 
 were in the habit of salting, especially in Lower 
 Egypt, where Herodotus t tells us they “ ate 
 quails, ducks, and small birds undressed, having 
 merely preserved them in salt, living at the same 
 time on all sorts of birds and fish, not reckoned 
 sacred, which were eaten either roasted or boiled.” 
 For though geese constituted a very great portion 
 of the food of the Egyptians, both in the upper 
 and lower country, and are more frequently repre- 
 sented in the sculptures than any bird, it is not 
 to be supposed that they were preferred to the 
 
 * This calls to mind the nets mentioned by J. Pollux, v. 4., of which 
 a square part termed the Ppoxog became po/ifo£i(lfc, of a rhomboi'dal 
 figure, as soon as the net (apxve) was stretched. 
 
 •j- The same is done in India. 
 
 j; Herod, ii. 77. 
 
48 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS 
 
 CHAP . VIII, 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 VARIOUS BIRDS. 
 
 4.9 
 
 exclusion of others ; and besides poultry and 
 pigeons, which abounded in Egypt, many of the 
 wading tribe, the curlew, the ardea, and several 
 others were esteemed for the table, and even in- 
 troduced among the choice offerings presented to 
 the gods. The practice of salting birds, in a 
 country like Egypt, may, perhaps, be considered 
 singular ; but confirmation of the statement of 
 Herodotus is derived from the sculptures, where 
 some poulterers appear to be in the act of pre- 
 serving them in this manner, and depositing them 
 in jars.* 
 
 Independent of the birds taken in nets, and by 
 other means, the Egyptian poulterers supplied the 
 market with the eggs of those most in request ; 
 they also reared the young after the eggs were 
 hatched, (which was frequently done, as already 
 observed, by an artificial process,) and these were 
 sold to supply the poultry-yards of the rich, whose 
 stock of wild fowl was often numerous. 
 
 The various birds represented in the Egyptian 
 sculptures, cannot always be recognised with cer- 
 tainty, in consequence of the loss of the colours, 
 or a want of skill in their artists, who, disregard- 
 ing the intermediate hues, adopted certain fixed 
 colours, in a conventional manner, as an approx- 
 imation ; and unless the character of the birds is so 
 marked as to be readily distinguished by a simple 
 outline, it is often difficult to identify them. 
 
 In some, however, thei'e is sufficient to guide us 
 without the necessity of conjecture, and these I 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 * nde wood. cut, No. 80. 
 F. 
 
50 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. Vlll 
 
 
 
 No. 340. Some of the birds of Egypt. Beni Hassan and the Tombs near the Pyramids. 
 Figs. 18, 19, 20. Bats. 21, The locust. From Thebes. 
 
CHAP. VIII 
 
 BIRDS 
 
 51 
 
 shall notice in their proper order, without distin- 
 guishing between such as were forbidden, or ad- 
 mitted at an Egyptian table. 
 
 BIRDS OCCURRING IN THE SCULPTURES. 
 
 1. Raptores. 
 
 Vultur Nubicus. 
 
 Vultur percnopterus. J- 
 
 Aquila. 
 
 Falco cinereo-feiTugineus. I 
 Fors. J 
 
 Falco 
 
 Falco tenunciiloides. 
 
 Bubo maximiis. 
 
 Strix flammea. 
 
 Strix passerina. 
 
 2. Insessores. 
 
 Lanius excubitor ? 
 
 Corvus corax. 
 
 Corvus cornix. 
 
 Turdiis viscivorus. 
 
 Alauda cristata. 
 
 Alauda arenaria. 
 
 Upupa epops. 
 
 Hirundo rustica. 
 
 AJcedo ispida. 
 
 Fringilla; several species. 
 
 3. Rasores, or Gallinaceous. 
 
 Columba turtur. 
 
 Pterocles melanogaster. 
 Perdix coturnix. 
 
 Otis Hebara ? 
 
 Struthio camelus. 
 
 4. Grallatores, wading birds. 
 
 Ardea garzetta. j- 
 
 Ardea cinera. 
 
 Ardea ciconia ; 
 
 and some other species. 
 Tantalus, or Nunieniiis, Ibis. 
 Platalea. 
 
 The large vulture of Egypt and 
 Nubia, which occurs frequently 
 on the ceilings and sculptures 
 of the temples. 
 
 The small white vulture, called 
 also Pharaoh’s hen. 
 
 The eagle. 
 
 The kite, or Miluus. Falco arda 
 of Savigny. 
 
 The sacred hawk. 
 
 The common brown hawk. 
 Horned owl. 
 
 White owl. 
 
 Small owl. 
 
 Great shrike, or butcher bird ? 
 The raven. 
 
 The Royston crow. 
 
 Missel thrush. 
 
 Crested lark. 
 
 Sand-coloured-lark. 
 
 Hoopoe. 
 
 The swallow. 
 
 Common king-fisher. 
 
 Finches. 
 
 Turtle-dove. 
 
 The Gutta* 
 
 The quail. 
 
 Ruffed bustard ? 
 
 The ostrich. 
 
 Small white stork: the Ar. Virgo 
 of Hasselquitz. 
 
 Grey heron. 
 
 White stork. 
 
 The ibis. 
 
 S])oonbill. 
 
 * This name has been given it in Arabic from the noise it makes 
 when alarmed and flying. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Cliaradriiis annatiw. 
 Scolopax gallinago. 
 Fulica atra ? 
 
 5. Natatores, swimming birds. 
 Anser jEgyptius ; 
 
 and other species. 
 
 Anas ; various species. 
 Anas creca. 
 
 Recurvirostra avosetta. 
 Pelicanus onocratulus. 
 
 Spur-winged plover. 
 Snipe. 
 
 The common coot. 
 
 Egyptian goose. 
 
 Ducks. 
 
 Teal. 
 
 Avoset. 
 
 The pelican. 
 
 Many other birds are figured in the sculptures ; 
 but as it is difficult to determine the exact species 
 to which they belong, I shall not hazard any con- 
 jecture upon their names, having noticed those 
 which most commonly occur. In the tombs of 
 Thebes and Beni Hassan the Egyptians have not 
 omitted to notice bats, and even some of the 
 
 No. 341. 
 
 An Egyptian gentleman fishing. 
 
 Thebes. 
 
 insects, which abound in the Valley of the Nile ; 
 and the well known locust*, the butterfly t, and the 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 340. fig. 21. 
 f Vide wood-cuts. Nos. 336, 337, and 341. 
 
CHAP. VIII. FISHING WITH GROUND BAIT. 53 
 
 beetle are occasionally introduced in the fowling 
 scenes, and in sacred subjects. 
 
 FISHING. 
 
 Fishing was an amusement in which the Egyp- 
 tians particularly delighted ; and not contented 
 with the abundance afforded by the Nile, they con- 
 structed within their grounds spacious “ sluices or 
 ponds for fish*,” like the vivaria of the Romans, 
 where they fed them for the table, and where they 
 amused themselves by anglingt, and the dexterous 
 use of the hident. 
 
 These favourite occupations were not confined 
 to young persons, nor thought unworthy of men 
 of serious habits ; and an Egyption of conse- 
 
 Na. 342. Fishing with ground bait. Beni Hassan, 
 
 These fish are the Shilbehy or rather the Ar^ibrab. 
 
 quence is frequently represented in the sculptures, 
 catching fish in a canal or lake with the line, or 
 
 f Isaiah, xix. 8. 
 
 E 3 
 
 * Isaiah, xix. 10. 
 
54 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII 
 
 spearing them, as they glided past the bank. Some- 
 times the angler posted himself in a shady spot 
 at the water’s edge, and having ordered his ser- 
 vants to spread a mat upon the ground, he sat 
 upon it as he threw the line ; and some with higher 
 notions of comfort used a chair for the same purpose. 
 The rod was short, and apparently of one piece ; 
 the line usually single, though instances occur of 
 a double line, each furnished with its own hook, 
 which, judging from those I have found, was of 
 bronze. 
 
 The fishermen, who, as I have observed, com- 
 posed one of the subdivisions of the Egyptian 
 castes, and who gained their livelihood by fishing, 
 generally used the net in preference to the line, 
 but on some occasions they employed the latter, 
 seated or standing on the bank. It is, however, 
 probable, that these were people who could not 
 afford the expence of nets ; and the use of the line 
 is generally confined, in like manner, at the present 
 day, to the poorer classes*, who depend upon skill, 
 or good fortune, for their subsistence. 
 
 In all cases they adopted a ground bait, as is 
 still the custom in Egypt, without any float ; and 
 though several winged insects are represented in 
 the paintings hovering over the water, it does not 
 appear that they ever put them to the hook, and 
 still less that they had devised any method similar 
 to our artificial-fly fishing ; which is still unknown 
 to the Egyptians, though the fish of the Nile are 
 occasionally seen to rise to insects on the water’s 
 surface. 
 
 * Vide vignette D., at the head of chap. iv. Vol. II. 
 
CHAP. VIII. DRYING AND SALTING FISH. 
 
 55 
 
 The ordinary Egyptian net has been already 
 mentioned* , as well as the mode of dragging it to 
 
 the shore ; but it sometimes happened that they 
 used a smaller kind, for catching fish in shallow 
 water, furnished with a pole on either side, to 
 which it was attached ; and the fisherman holding 
 one of the poles in either hand, thrust it below the 
 surface of the water, and awaited the moment 
 when a shoal of fish passed over it ; the same 
 being probably used for landing those which had 
 been wounded with the spear, or entangled with 
 the hook.t 
 
 When they employed the drag-net, and even when 
 they pulled it to the shore, a boat sometimes at- 
 tended, in which the fish were deposited as soon as 
 they were caught ; those intended for immediate 
 use, to be eaten fresh, being sent off to market 
 when the day’s sport was finished ; and the others 
 being opened, salted, and hung up to dry in the 
 sun. 
 
 * Vol. II. p. 21. Vide wood-cut, No. 343. 
 
 E 4 
 
56 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VI II 
 
 Some were cut in half, and suspended on ropes 
 for this purpose, the passing current of air being 
 found to accelerate the process ; sometimes the 
 
 body was simply laid open with a knife from the 
 head to the tail, the two sides being divided as 
 
CHAP. VIII. SALTED AND FRESH FISH. 
 
 57 
 
 far as the back bone ; and many were contented 
 with taking out the intestines, and removing the 
 head, and tip of the tail, and exposing them, when 
 salted, to the sun. 
 
 When caught, the small fish were generally put 
 into baskets, but those of a larger kind were sus- 
 pended to a pole, borne by two or more men over 
 their shoulders ; or were carried singly in the hand, 
 slung at their back, or under the arm ; all which 
 methods I have seen adopted by the modern fish- 
 ermen, at the Cataracts of E’Sooan, and in other 
 parts of Egypt. 
 
 Salted, as well as fresh fish, were much eaten* 
 in Egypt, both in the Thebaid and the lower 
 country, as the sculptures and ancient authors in- 
 form us ; and at a particular period of the year, on 
 the 9th day of the first month (Thoth)t, every 
 
 * Conf. Herod, ii. 92. Diod. i. .36. Perhaps the rapiict) AiyvwTia of 
 Julius Pollox, Onom. vi. 9. 
 
 f The first of Thoth corresponded with the 29th of August. 
 Vide Vol. I. p. 275. 
 
58 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 person was obliged, by a religious ordinance, to 
 eat a fried fish before the door of his house, with 
 the exception of the priests, who were contented 
 to burn it on that occasion.* 
 
 Some fish were particularly prized for the table, 
 and preferred as being more wholesome, as well as 
 superior in flavour to others ; among which we may 
 mention the bulti\, the gisherX, the benni§, the 
 shall\\, the shilbeh% and ar'dbrab, the byad** ,i\i& gar- 
 mootW, and a few others ; but it was unlawful to 
 touch those which were sacred, as the oxyrinchus, 
 the phagrus, and the lepidotus : and the inhabitants 
 of the city of Oxyrinchus objected even to eat any 
 fish caught by a hook, lest it should have been de- 
 filed by the blood of one they held so sacred.tt 
 The oxyrinchus, 1 have elsewhere observed §§, 
 was probably the mizdeh, a mormyrus remarkable 
 among the fish of the Nile for its pointed noselHI, as 
 the word oxyrinchus implies ; and the resemblance 
 of the Coptic name of that city, which was called 
 Mge, to that of the fish, strongly favours this opinion. 
 
 The phagrus was the eel, and the reason of its 
 sanctity, like that of the former, was probably owing 
 to its unwholesome qualities ; the most effectual 
 method of forbidding its use being to assign it a 
 place among the sacred animals of the country. 
 
 The lepidotus is still uncertain ; its name proves 
 it to have been a scaly fisb, but the various 
 
 * Plut. De Is. s. 7. f Or hooltce, Labrus Niloticus. 
 
 J Perea Nilotica. Cyprinus Benni. 
 
 11 Silurus Shall. ^ The Silurus Schilbe Niloticus. 
 
 ** Silurus Bajad. +•]■ Silurus Carmuth. 
 
 Plut. de Isid. s. 7. Egypt and Thebe.s, p. .S66. 
 
 II II V. wood-cut, No. 366. figs. 14. ‘20., and No. 81 . fig. 1. p. 20. Vol. II. 
 
CHAP. Vlll. 
 
 DIFFERENT FISH. 
 
 59 
 
 conjectures of naturalists have led to nothing 
 satisfactory respecting it. Linnaeus believed it to 
 be a carp, the cyprinus ruhescens Niloticus ; Sicard 
 preferred the henni, and others the bulti, or the 
 gisher ; but if I may be pardoned for venturing 
 a conjecture, there appears to be more reason to 
 suppose it the kelb el bahr*, called the dogfish of 
 the Nile; which, though a wholesome fisht, might, 
 from its appearance, create a prejudice in the 
 minds of a superstitious people, sufficient to forbid 
 its introduction at table, and obtain for it a place 
 among their sacred fish : nor do I know of an 
 instance of its introduction in the Egyptian sculp- 
 tures. 
 
 Like the sacred quadrupeds, they w^ere not all 
 regarded with the same reverence in different parts 
 of the countryf ; Plutarch even states that these 
 three fish w^ere generally held in aversion § by the 
 Egyptians ; and the people of Cynopolis, accord- 
 ing to the same author 1|, were in the habit of eating 
 the oxyrinchus, which, he adds, “ was the origin 
 of a civil war between the two cities, till both 
 sides, after doing each other great mischief, were 
 severely punished by the Romans.” 
 
 Of all fish the bulti% was evidently preferred, and 
 not, indeed, without reason, being still considered 
 
 * Salmo Dentex, whic'i has very large scales. 
 
 -j- The fish, in Egypt, are considered better after October than in the 
 summer months : they think that fish with scales are the only kind 
 wholesome even in winter. 
 
 t Another fish, the latus, was worshipped at Latopolis in the 
 Thebaid. 
 
 § Plut. De Isid. s. 18. |j Plut. De Isid. s. 72. 
 
 V It is represented in wood-cut, No. .34-1. figs. 1. & 5. No. 81. e. and 
 g. No. 336. fig. 8., &c. 
 
60 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 inferior to none produced in the Nile. Many 
 others, not readily ascertained from the mode of 
 representing them, occur in the sculptures of 
 Upper and Lower Egypt, and we even find the 
 eel and the niizdeh introduced among those at 
 Beni Hassan and other places ; but the difficulty, 
 which this' at first sight appears to present, is 
 readily explained by the observation I have already 
 made, of their having been held sacred in some, 
 and not in other, cities, or districts of Egypt. 
 
 The favourite mode of fishing, among those who 
 took a pleasure in it, and prided themselves on 
 their skill, was with the bident spear. They 
 sometimes stood on the bank of a canal, but gene- 
 rally used a punt, or boat made of papyrus*, in 
 which they glided smoothly over the lakes, and 
 canals, within their own grounds, without disturb- 
 ing the fish as they lay beneath the broad leaves 
 of the lotus plant. The custom of angling for 
 amusement, and spearing with the bident, may be 
 considered peculiar to the higher orders, and 
 while the poorer classes employed the net and 
 hook, as already stated, the use of the spear was 
 confined to the sportsman. 
 
 The bident was a spear with two barbed points, 
 which was either thrust at the fish with one, or both 
 hands, as they passed by ; or was darted to a short 
 distance, a long line fastened to it preventing its 
 being lost, and serving to secure the fish when 
 struck. It was occasionally furnished with feathers 
 at the upper extremity, like an arrow, to assist 
 
 * The name of papyrus, or byblus, was applied to more than one 
 plant of the genus cyperus, as I shall have occasion to show. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 THE PAPYRUS PLANT. 
 
 61 
 
 in its distant flight, and sometimes a common 
 spear was used for the purpose ; but in most 
 cases, it was provided with a line, whose end was 
 held by the left hand, or wound upon a reel. The 
 same mode of fishing is still adopted by many 
 people who live on the sea-coasts ; and the fish 
 spears of the South Sea islanders have two, three, 
 and four points, and are used nearly in the same 
 manner, and with the same dexterity, as the bident 
 by the ancient Egyptians. 
 
 On these occasions they were usually accom- 
 panied by a friend, or some of their children, and 
 by one or two attendants, who assisted in securing 
 the fish, and who, taking them off the barbed 
 point of the spear, passed the stalk of a rush through 
 the gills, and thus attached them together, in order 
 more conveniently to carry them home.* 
 
 I have frequently had occasion to mention boats 
 made of the byblus or papyrus. It is evident that 
 this plant, from its great value and from its exclu- 
 sive cultivation in certain districts, where it was 
 a government monopoly, could not have been 
 applied to the many purposes mentioned in ancient 
 authors ; we may therefore conclude, that several 
 plants of the genus cyperus were comprehended 
 under the head of byblus or papyrus. This is not 
 only in accordance with probability, from their 
 general resemblance, but is expressly stated by 
 Strabo t, who says, that “much grows in the lower 
 part of the Delta, where one kind is of an inferior, 
 the other of a superior quality, and this last is 
 
 * Vide wood-cut. No. 336. fig. 13. 
 
 t Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 530. ed. Cas. 
 
62 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 known by the distinctive appellation of Hieratic 
 Byblus. That the profits arising from its sale may 
 be increased, they have adopted the same plan 
 which was devised in Judaea, regarding the date 
 tree and balsam, permitting it to grow only in 
 certain places ; so that its rarity increasing its 
 value, they benefit themselves at the expense of the 
 community.” And that under the name “ papy- 
 rus” he includes other kinds of cyperus produced 
 spontaneously in the marshy lands, is evident from 
 his observing that, “ the papyrus does not grow in 
 great quantity about Alexandria, because it is not 
 cultivated and Pliny*, and other writers, 
 
 show that the plant to which they frequently ap- 
 plied this name was wild in many parts of Egypt. 
 
 There is therefore reason to believe, that several 
 species were comprehended under the general appel- 
 lation of byblus or papyrus ; the cyperus dives, which 
 grows to the height of five or six feet, is still culti- 
 vated in Egypt for many of the purposes to which 
 the papyrus plant is said to have been applied ; 
 and I have no doubt, that this was the species com- 
 monly employed in former times for making mats, 
 baskets, parts of sandals, papyrus boats, and for 
 other ordinary uses ; the cyperus papyrus, or pa- 
 pyrus (byblus) hieraticLis of Strabo, being confined 
 to the manufacture of paper. 
 
 The great abundance of fisht produced in the 
 
 * Plin. xiii. 1 1. According to one reading Pliny says, “ All the paper 
 is grown in the Sebennytic nome ; ” but another gives, “ nothing but 
 paper is grown ” there, which (however erroneous) is evidentl}’ the 
 sense required ; “ non nisi charta,” for “omnis charta,”ashe afterwards 
 mentions its being found in other parts of Egypt. V. infra on the ma 
 niifacture of paper. 
 
 -)- Strabo, xvii. p. 566. Diod. i. 36. -IS. and 52. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 THE LAKE MIERIS. 
 
 63 
 
 Nile was an invaluable provision of nature, in a 
 country which had neither extensive pasture lands, 
 nor large herds of cattle, and where corn was the 
 principal production. When the Nile inundated 
 the country and filled the lakes and canals with 
 its overflowing waters, these precious gifts were 
 extended to the most remote villages in the in- 
 terior of the Valley, and the plentiful supply of 
 fish, they then obtained, was an additional benefit 
 conferred upon them at this season of the year. 
 The quantity is said* to have been immense, as 
 indeed it is at the present dayt ; and the shoals of 
 small fish, which then appear in the canals and 
 ponds, call to mind, and confirm, a remark of He- 
 rodotus, respecting their numbers at the rising 
 Nile. His explanation of the cause of their ap- 
 parently sudden production is inadmissible and 
 unnecessary, as the ponds were always filled by 
 artificial or natural ducts ; and the same species of 
 young fry which are found there, appear at the 
 same time in the river ; nor are they of any 
 particular kindt, but the young of the various fish 
 inhabiting the Nile.§ 
 
 Herodotus mentions a large sum annually pro- 
 duced by the fisheries of the lake Moeris. “ Dur- 
 ing six months,” says the historian 1|, “ the water of 
 
 * Herodot. ii. 93. Strabo, loc. cit. 
 
 f Michaud .says that the lake Menzaleh now yields an annual revenue 
 of 800 purses, (5,600/.) V. Correspond, de I’Orient. tom. vi. let. 156. 
 
 J Fide De Sacy’s Abd-al-latif, note 141., in lib. i. c. 4. 
 
 j I have caught a small net full of them, and on examination found 
 them to be of the silurus shall and other common species ; and no one who 
 has eaten them at table can have failed to observe that they are of dif- 
 ferent kinds, from the greater or less quantity of bones they contain. 
 
 II Herodot. ii. 49. 
 
64 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 the river flows into it, and during the remaining 
 half of the year, it returns from the lake into the 
 Nile. At this time, while the water is retiring, 
 the profits derived from the fisheries, and paid 
 daily into the royal treasury, amount to a talent of 
 silver* (193^. 15s. English t) ; and during the 
 other six months, when the water flows from the 
 Nile into the lake, they do not exceed twenty 
 minaet” (about 64/. 12s.). Diodorus says, that when 
 Moeris, from whom the lake derived its name, and 
 who was supposed to have made the canal, had ar- 
 ranged the sluices for the introduction of the water, 
 and established every thing connected with it, he 
 assigned the sum annually derived from this source 
 as a dowry to the queen, for the purchase of 
 jewels, ointments, and other objects connected 
 with the toilet. The provision was certainly very 
 liberal, being a talent every day, or upwards of 
 70 , 700 /. a year§; and when this formed only a 
 portion of the pin-money of the Egyptian queens, 
 to whom the revenues of the city of Anthylla, 
 famous for its wines, were given for their dress ||, 
 it is certain they had no reason to complain of the 
 allowance they enjoyed. 
 
 I have frequently had occasion ^ to notice the 
 
 * Reckoning the talent at 60 niinae. 
 
 t Some compute it to be 2251. J The mina was 3/. 7rf. 
 
 Diodor. i. 52. From all the fisheries of Egypt would have been 
 less improbable. The lake Moeris is now farmed for 30. purses (210A) 
 annually. Of 90 piastres, from the sale of the fish, 10 are paid for the 
 boat, 40 to the fishermen, and 40 to the farmers of the fish. There are 
 only now six boats on the lake. 
 
 II Herodot. (ii. 98.) says, “ for their sandals;” Athenaeus (Deipn. 
 i. 25.) “ for their dress ; ” a privilege continued to the queens of Persia, 
 after Egypt was conquered by Cambyses. 
 
 1 Vide Egypt and Thebes, p. 354 ; and supra, Vol. I. p. 93. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 FISHERIES. 
 
 ()5 
 
 error of Herodotus, in confounding the lake Moeris 
 with the canal, and have proved from Pliny *, that 
 the name was also applied to the canal which con- 
 ducted the water from the Nile, to what is now 
 called the Birket el Qorn ; and in order to show 
 the impossibility of the return of the waters from 
 the lake itself to the higher level of the Nile, and 
 that Herodotus did not judge from his own ob- 
 servation, but mistook the facts detailed to him by 
 his Egyptian informants, who had in view the 
 canal alone, when speaking of the return of the 
 water to the river, I shall repeat what I before 
 remarked on this subject.! 
 
 “ Herodotus’s account of the water returning from 
 the lake to the Nile, on the subsiding of the inun- 
 dation, is totally inapplicable to the lake Moeris, 
 the level of its surface being about 100 or 120 
 feet lower than the bank of the Nile at Benisooef ; 
 which, making every allowance for the rise of the 
 bed of the river, and the proportionate elevation 
 of its banks, could never have been on a level, even 
 in Herodotus’s time, with the lake Moeris ; and con- 
 sequently no return of the water could have taken 
 place from the lake to the Nile. From the canal, 
 however, it could, as at the present day ; and the 
 fish caught at the mouth of this and other canals, 
 at that season, still afford a considerable revenue to 
 the government, and are farmed by certain vil- 
 lages on the banks. That the level of the lake 
 Moeris must be now about the same as formerly, is 
 
 * Plin. xxxvi. 12. “ Ubi fiiit Mccriclis lacus, hoc est fossa grandi.s,” 
 
 f Egypt and Thebes, p. 358. 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 evident from our finding ruins of baths on its 
 borders ; and the accidental and temporary rise of 
 its waters, which happened some years since, was 
 merely owing to the bursting of the great dyke at 
 Tomeeh. As to the Bathen of the great geogra- 
 pher D’Anville, it is quite Utopian.” 
 
 The quantity of fish now caught in the lake Moeris 
 itself, or Birket el Qorn, is very great, and supplies 
 the markets of the Fyoom with abundance and 
 variety of the finest kind — superior, certainly, in 
 flavour to those of the Nile, though of the same 
 species ; but it is probable that the saline quality 
 of the water may effect the slight change observable 
 in the lake fish. I do not believe it produces 
 any species, or even varieties, differing from those 
 of the Nile, from whence, doubtless, it derived its 
 original stock ; and the twenty-two kinds it pro- 
 duced, according to the information of Diodorus *, 
 do not appear to have been at any time considered 
 different from those of the parent stream. 
 
 Like that of the canals, the lake fishing is farmed 
 by the government to some rich inhabitants of the 
 district t, who are usually Copt Christians j and the 
 fish, as in former times, are either taken fresh to 
 the market, or are dried and salted, as Diodorus ob- 
 serves in his notice of the lake ; though the number 
 of persons t engaged in this occupation bears a very 
 small proportion to that of former times. 
 
 * Diod. i. 52. PiWe Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 5G6., on the Nile fish. 
 
 f The small village of Agalteh, at Thebes, pays annually 1500 pias- 
 tres, about 21/., to government for the fish of its canal. 
 
 f Diod. loc. cit. “ They say that 22 kinds of fish are found in it 
 ( the lake Moeris), and so large a number is caught, that the numerous 
 salters who are constantly employed there can with difficulty get 
 through the work imposed upon them.” 
 
CHAP. VIII. REVENUE FROM THE FISHERIES. fi7 
 
 This custom of farming the fisheries was pro- 
 bably derived by the Arab government from their 
 predecessors ; it does not, however, seem to have 
 been adopted by them at their first occupation of 
 tlie country, but was introduced subsequently, since 
 the Arab historian El Makrisi mentions it as a new 
 idea. The method employed was doubtless simi- 
 lar to that of ancient times, which continues to the 
 present day ; and the passage is so curious, that I 
 shall introduce it from the translation given by the 
 learned M. Silvestre de Sacy.* 
 
 “ Quant a la peche, c’est-a-dire, aux alimens que 
 Dieu procure aux homines par la peche du fleuve, 
 le premier administrateur qui en a fait un objet 
 de revenu pour le fisc, c’est encore Ebn-Modabbir : 
 il etablit un bureau expres pour cela ; mais ne 
 voulant pas donner a ce bureau le denomination 
 de bureau des peches, qui lui paroissoit ignoble, il 
 le nomma le bureau pour la plantation des pieux, 
 et I’etablissement des filets. Cette nouvelle inven- 
 tion fiscale se soutint. On deputoit pour la re- 
 cette de ce droit un inspecteur, des notaries, et un 
 cateb, en divers cantons de I’Egypte, tels que le 
 canal d’Alexandrie, le lac d’Alexandrie, celui de 
 Nestarawa, Damiette, les cataractes d’Oswan, et 
 plusieurs autres etangs et lacs. Ces commissaires 
 partoient pour leur mission, au moment ou le Nil 
 coinmeii9oit a decroitre, et les eaux a se retirer de- 
 dessLis les terres qu’elles avoient couvertes, pour 
 rentrer dans le lit du fleuve. Anterieurement a 
 cela, on avoit ferine les ouvertures pratiquees dans 
 
 * In his Relation de I’Egypte of Abd-al-latif, p. 283. note. 
 
68 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 les chaussees, et les arches des ponts, au moment 
 ou le Nil avoit cesse de croitre, afin d’empecher 
 les eaiix de se retirer dans le fleuve, et de les 
 forcer a s’accumuler du cote voison des terres. 
 Alors on pla9oit des filets, et on laissoit I’eau 
 prendre son cours ; le poisson, entraine par le 
 conrant de I’eau, arrivoit aux filets, qui I’em- 
 pechoient d’aller plus loin, et de redescendre avec 
 I’eau ; il s’amassoit done dans les filets. On le 
 tiroit ensuite a terre, on le deposoit sur des tapis, 
 on le saloit, et on le mettoit dans des vases ; et, 
 lorsqu’il etoit suflfisamment fait, on le vendoit sous le 
 nom de salaisons, et de sir. On ne preparoit ainsi 
 que le poisson qui etoit de la taille du doigt et au- 
 dessous. Cette meme espece, quand elle estfraiche, 
 se nomine absaria ; on la mange rotie et frite.” 
 
 The great consumption of fish in ancient Egypt 
 is not only attested by Herodotus and other wri- 
 ters, but by the sculptures of the upper and lower 
 country ; and the Bible makes allusion to the 
 “ fishers” * of the Nile, “ the sluices and ponds ”f 
 where they were preserved, and the regret with 
 which the Israelites remembered the fish they ate 
 so “ freely ” in Egypt, t 
 
 The chase of the hippopotamus § was a favourite 
 amusement of the sportsman, in tliose parts of the 
 upper country where it was found. It was probably 
 ahvays rare in Lower Egypt ll, though Pliny ^ says 
 
 * Isaiah, xix. 8. f Ibid. xix. 10. 
 
 J Exod. xi. 5. “ We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt 
 
 freely.” 
 
 § In Arabia it has the same name, Faras el bahr, “river horse” 
 (mare) ; and in the language of Ethiopia, Yasimt. 
 
 II It is not met with in Upper Egypt, or, indeed, on this side the 
 second cataract, at the present day. T Pliny, xxviii. 8. 
 
CHAP. VIII. 
 
 THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 
 
 60 
 
 it abounded in the Saite nome ; but in Upper 
 Ethiopia this amphibious animal was common in the 
 Nile, as at the present day. Though not so 
 hostile to man as the voracious crocodile, it was 
 looked upon as an enemy, which they willingly 
 destroyed, since the ravages it committed at night 
 in the fields occasioned heavy losses to the farmer* ; 
 and an additional inducement to kill it was the 
 value attached to its hide, of which they made 
 shields, whipst, javelinsl^, and helmets. § To the 
 two former purposes it is still applied ; and as Pliny 
 observes, it retains its hardness perfectly, if pre- 
 served from moisture. 
 
 The whips are known by the name of corbag 
 (corbaj), and are in very general use in Egypt and 
 Ethiopia, for riding the dromedary, or for chas- 
 tising the delinquent peasants ; and it is probable 
 that it was also applied to the latter purpose by the 
 ancient Egyptians, since we find an attendant fol- 
 lowing the steward of an estate, with this imple- 
 ment of punishment in his hand. || 
 
 The mode of attacking and securing the hippo- 
 potamus appears, from the sculptures of Thebes, 
 to have been very similar to that now adopted 
 about Sennar ; where, like the ancient Egyptians, 
 
 * Pliny and Diodorus are correct in saying “ it feeds on the corn- 
 fields : ” but the modern hippopotamus has not retained the dexterity 
 or the cunning of his ancestors, in walking backwards to deceive his 
 pursuers ; mentioned by Plin. viii. 25. : — 
 
 “ ^tas parentum, pejor avis, tulit 
 (IIos) nequiores, mox daturos 
 Progeniem vitiosiorem.” 
 
 Ilor. iii. Od. vi. 46. 
 
 f Plin. viii. 25. “ Tergoris ad scuta galeasque impenetrabilis.” 
 
 t Herod, ii. 71. j) Fide Diod. i. 35. 1| Wood-cut, No. 346. 
 
 F 3 
 
70 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 No. 346. Attendant carrying a whip, or coriog. Thebes. 
 
 they prefer chasing it in the river, to an open 
 attack on shore : and the modern Ethiopians are 
 contented to frighten it from the corn-fields by the 
 sound of drums, and other noisy instruments. 
 
 I have already had occasion* to explain the me- 
 thod of taking this animal : it was entangled by a 
 running noose, at the extremity of a long line wound 
 upon a reel, at the same time that it was struck by 
 the spear of the chasseur. “ This weapon consisted 
 of a broad flat blade, furnished with a deep tooth or 
 barb at the side, having a strong rope of consider- 
 able length attached to its upper end, and running 
 over the notched summit of a wooden shaft, which 
 was inserted into the head or blade, like a common 
 javelin. It was thrown in the same manner, but 
 on striking, the shaft fell, and the iron head alone 
 remained in the body of the animal, which, on 
 receiving a wound, plunged into deep water, the 
 rope having been immediately let out. ^Vhen 
 fatigued by exertion, the hippopotamus was dragged 
 to the boat, from which it again plunged, and the 
 
 * Egypt and Thebes, p. 226. 
 
?: XV 
 
 CHASE .;tSc HI P P'*P<:>TAMi: S 
 TH- ‘’fiasiirut js xccouipaiiied byiu^ ciuliircii.ajia.**tEid-Aii; ’^ir ‘Ws ■ t :rtl' ■»^:'-a*a£d 
 
CHAP. VIII, HIPPOPOTAMUS CHASE. 
 
 71 
 
 same was repeated till it became perfectly ex- 
 hausted ; frequently receiving additional wounds, 
 and being entangled by other nooses, which, the 
 attendants held in readiness, as it was brought 
 within their reach.” 
 
 Several representations of this subject have been 
 found at Thebes, but the destructive thoughtlessness 
 of the peasants, or the appropriating inclinations of 
 travellers, have, unfortunately, destroyed them, and 
 few vestiges now remain beyond the figure of the 
 man, his spear, and a few minor details. I should, 
 therefore, have been unable to introduce a copy of 
 this interesting subject, had not the kindness of 
 Mr. Humphreys, who was fortunate enough to 
 obtain a sketch of one of them, furnished me with 
 it for the accompanying plate.* 
 
 The chasseur is here in the act of throwing the 
 spear at the hippopotamus, which he has already 
 wounded with three other blades, indicated by 
 the ropes he holds in his left hand ; and having 
 pulled the animal towards the surface of the 
 water, an attendant endeavours to throw a noose 
 over its head, as he strikes it for the fourth 
 time. Behind him is his son, holding a fresh 
 spear in readiness : and in order that there should 
 be no question about the ropes belonging to the 
 blades, the fourth is seen to extend from his hand 
 to the shaft of the spear he is throwing. The 
 upupa, heron, and other birds are frightened from 
 the rushes as the boat approaches ; and the fish, 
 with a young hippopotamus, seen at the bottom of 
 
 * Plate 15. 
 
 F 4 
 
72 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 the water are intended to show the communication 
 of the fenny lake with the Nile. 
 
 The mode of attacking the hippopotamus is thus 
 described by Diodorus* : — “ It is chased,” says the 
 historian, “ by many persons, each armed with 
 iron javelins. As soon as it makes its appearance 
 at the surface of the water, they surround it with 
 boats, and closing in on all sides they wound it 
 with blades, furnished with iron barbs, and having 
 hempen ropes fastened to them, in order that, 
 when wounded, it may be let out, until its strength 
 fails it from loss of blood.” 
 
 The spear they used on these occasions was evi- 
 dently of a different construction from that intended 
 for ordinary purposes, and was furnished, as Dio- 
 dorus observes, with a rope for letting out the 
 wounded animal, in the same manner as practised 
 by the modern Ethiopians : there was sometimes 
 
 * Diod. i. 35 
 
CHAT. VIII. ABODES OF ANIMALS CHANGED. 
 
 another line fastened to the shaft, and passing over 
 a notch at its upper end ; which was probably in- 
 tended to give the weapon a greater impetus, as 
 well as to retain the shaft when it left the blade. 
 The rope attached to the blade was wound upon 
 a reel, generally carried by some of the attendants. 
 It was of very simple construction, consisting of a 
 half ring of metal, by which it was held, and a bar 
 turning in it, on which the line or string was wound. 
 
 No. 348. A reel held by an attendant. Beni Hassan. 
 
 Besides the fish cured, or sent to market for the 
 table, a very great quantity was set apart expressly 
 for feeding the sacred animals and birds, — as the 
 cats, crocodiles, ibises, and others ; and it is probable 
 that some of the large reservoirs, attached to the 
 temples, were used as well for preserves ox piscinco, 
 where the fish were kept, as to afford a supply of 
 water for the necessary ablutions of the devout, 
 and for various purposes connected with religion. 
 
 With regard to the number of fish in the river 
 of Egypt, and the many species said to have been 
 known there, it may be conjectured that some for- 
 merly common to the lower parts of the Nile are no 
 
74 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 longer met with to the north of the first and second 
 cataracts ; or varieties of the same species may have 
 been enumerated in the twenty-two mentioned by 
 Diodorus ; and we even find that the Ethiopians 
 sometimes brought fish, perhaps of a rare kind 
 unknown in Egypt, as part of their tribute to the 
 Egyptians. 
 
 That some animals, both aquatic and terrestrial, 
 as well as several botanical productions, once com- 
 mon in Egypt, are now confined to the latitudes of 
 Ethiopia, is well known ; the crocodile, formerly 
 an inhabitant of Lower Egypt and the Delta*, 
 now limits the extent of its visits northward, to the 
 districts about Manfaloot ; and the hippopotamus 
 is no longer seen in Lower Ethiopia. And if one 
 was known, some years ago, to wander downwards 
 into Nubia, below the second cataract, and another 
 even as far as Damietta, these were accidental oc- 
 currences, which occasioned as much astonishment 
 to the people who witnessed their unexpected visit, 
 as to the bewildered animals themselves. 
 
 As usual on such occasions, their unintentional 
 intrusion, where they could not be objects of terror, 
 was punished with a readiness, which the same 
 persons would not have displayed in places where 
 they are really obnoxious ; and every Turk, or 
 peasant, who could procure a weapon, was fired with 
 the proud desire of destroying the intruder, and 
 showed the same chivalrous feeling, usually called 
 
 * Seneca, Nat. Quaest. iv. 2., sajs, “at the Heracleotic mouth of the 
 Nile, which is the largest, a battle occurred between the dolphins of 
 the sea and the crocodiles of the river, the former being victorious ! ” 
 
CHAP. VIII. THE CROCODILE AND TENTYRITES. 75 
 
 forth against an imprudent porpoise, who has ven- 
 tured to pass the bridges of the English capital. 
 
 But the hippopotamus once lived in Lower Egypt, 
 and the city of Papremis, in the Delta, worshipped 
 it as a sacred animal, worthy of the Egyptian Mars. 
 
 Neither the hippopotamus nor the crocodile ap- 
 pear to have been eaten by the ancient Egyptians. 
 Pliny indeed mentions the medicinal properties of 
 both of them*; and Plutarch affirms t that the 
 people of Apollinopolis used to eat the crocodile ; 
 this, however, was not a general custom, but 
 merely upon a certain occasion connected with 
 religious superstition, and intended to show their 
 abhorrence of Typhon the evil genius, of whom it 
 was an emblem. “ They have likewise,” he con- 
 tinues, “ a solemn hunt of this animal upon a par- 
 ticular day, set apart for the purpose, at which time 
 they kill as many of them as they can, and after- 
 wards throw their dead bodies before the temple of 
 their god, assigning this reason for their practice, 
 that it was in the shape of a crocodile Typhon 
 eluded the pursuit of Orus.” 
 
 This is one of many instances of the different 
 feelings with which the saci'ed animals were re- 
 garded in various parts of Egypt : and as Hero- 
 dotus t observes, “ some of the Egyptians consider 
 the crocodile sacred, while others make war upon 
 it ; and those who live about Thebes and the Lake 
 Moeris (in the Arsinoite nome) hold it in great 
 veneration.” 
 
 * Plin. xxviii. 8. 
 t Herod, ii. 69. 
 
 t Pint, de Isid. s. 50. 
 
76 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 In some places it was treated with the most 
 marked respect, and kept at a considerable expense ; 
 it was fed and attended with the most scrupulous 
 care ; geese, tish, and various meats were dressed 
 purposely for it ; they ornamented its head with 
 ear-rings, and its feet with bracelets and necklaces 
 of gold or artificial stones* ; it was rendered per- 
 fectly tame by kind treatment ; and after death the 
 body was embalmed in a most sumptuous manner. 
 This was particularly the case in the Theban, 
 Ombite, and Arsinoite nomes ; and at a place now 
 called Maabdeh, opposite the modern town of 
 Manfaloot, are extensive grottoes, cut far into the 
 limestone mountain, where numerous crocodile 
 mummies have been found, perfectly preserved, 
 and evidently embalmed with great care. 
 
 The people of Apollinopolis, Tentyris, Hera- 
 cleopolis, and other places, on the contrary, held 
 this animal in abhorrence, and lost no opportunity 
 of destroying it ; and the Tenty rites were so expert, 
 from long habit, in catching, and even in engaging, 
 this powerful animal in its native element, that they 
 were known to follow it into the Nile, and bring it 
 by force to the shore. Pliny and other ancient 
 authors mention the wonderful feats performed by 
 them not only in their own country, but in the 
 presence of the Roman people ; and Strabo t says 
 that on the occasion of some crocodiles being ex- 
 hibited at Rome, the Tentyrites who had followed 
 them, fully confirmed the truth of the report of 
 their power over those animals ; for, having put 
 
 * Herod, ii. G9. f Strabo, xvii. p. 5C0., cd. Cas. 
 
CHAP. VIII. NATURE OF THE CROCODILE. 
 
 77 
 
 them into a spacious tank of water, with a shelving 
 bank artificially constructed at one side, the men 
 boldly entered the water, and entangling them in 
 a net, dragged them to the bank, and back again into 
 the water, in the presence of numerous spectators. 
 
 Pliny observes, “ that though the Tenty rites are 
 small men, they have the greatest presence of mind 
 in their encounters with the crocodile, which is an 
 animal most dangerous to those who fear it, but 
 timid when pursued. They even dare to follow it 
 singly, and swimming after it in the river spring 
 upon its back, and thrust a bar into its open mouth, 
 which, being held at the two extremities, serves as 
 a bit, and enables them to force it to the shore.” 
 Pliny even goes so far as to state that, frightening 
 them with the voice alone, they compelled them to 
 render the bodies they had devoured to the (disap- 
 pointed) embalmers* ; but as crocodiles show them- 
 selves much greater epicures in their mode of eating, 
 and tear their food to pieces before they swallow it, 
 we may take the liberty of suggesting the proba- 
 bility that, in these cases, the animal abandoned the 
 body on their approach : its usual habit being to 
 bring it to the shore, and there to tear it up, the 
 clothes having been stripped off while in the water. 
 
 Senecat accounts for the power possessed by the 
 Tentyrites over the crocodile from their intrepidity, 
 and in accordance with Pliny, and with modern 
 experience, he states it to be “ timid before the 
 
 * Plin. (viii. 25.) “ Voce etiam sola territos, cogiint evomere re- 
 
 centia corpora ad sepiilturam,” and xxviii. 3. 
 
 t Seneca, Nat. Quast. iv. 2. 
 
78 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 bold, and most ready to attack those who fear it : 
 the Tentyrites excelling neither in their nature nor 
 constitution, but in their fearless contempt of it ; 
 for they follow, and by means of a snare, stop it in 
 its flight ; nor are any killed except those who are 
 wanting in presence of mind.” 
 
 “ The crocodile is in fact,” as I have elsewhere 
 remarked *, “a timid animal, flying on the approach 
 of man, and generally speaking, only venturing to 
 attack its prey on a sudden ; for which reason we 
 seldom or never hear of persons devoured by it, 
 unless incautiously standing at the bank of the 
 river, where its approach is concealed by the water ; 
 and where, by the immense power of its tail, it is 
 enabled to throw down and overcome the strongest 
 man, who, being carried instantaneously to the 
 bottom of the river, has neither the time nor the 
 means to resist. 
 
 “ Pliny, like other authors t, has been led into a 
 common error, that the sight of the crocodile is 
 defective under water, which a moment’s consider- 
 ation, without the necessity of personal experience, 
 should have corrected ; for it is at least reasonable 
 to suppose that an animal, living chiefly on fish, 
 should, in order to secure its prey, be gifted with 
 an equal power of sight ; and that of fish cannot be 
 considered defective ; but Herodotus, the father 
 of history, and of these errors, affirms t that it is 
 totally ‘ blind under water.’ 
 
 * Thebes, p. 409. 
 
 f Aristot. Hist. An.ii. 10. “ They see imperfectly in the water.” 
 
CHAP. VIII. CHASE OF THE CROCODILE. 
 
 79 
 
 “ Egypt produces two varieties of this animal *, 
 distinguished by the number and position of the 
 scales on the neck. One has the front row composed 
 of six scales, behind which is a cluster of four large 
 central scales in two lines, with two smaller ones 
 on each side of the uppermost of these lines ; the 
 other has in the front row four only, and the dis- 
 position of the other eight is thus : four central 
 scales in two lines, with one smaller one on each 
 side of the upper line, and two behind the second 
 and lower line. The first row of the body con- 
 sists of six scales, the former variety having only 
 four. The other scales of the body are nearly 
 alike in both. They do not exceed eighteen or 
 nineteen feet, though travellers have mentioned 
 some of stupendous size.” 
 
 Herodotus enters into a detail of the habits of 
 the crocodile, and relates the frequently repeated 
 story of the trochilust entering the animal’s mouth, 
 during its sleep on the sand banks of the Nile, and 
 relieving it of the leeches which adhere to its throat. 
 The truth of this assertion is seriously impugned, 
 when we recollect that leeches do not abound in 
 the Nile ; and the polite understanding supposed to 
 exist, between the crocodile and the bird, becomes 
 more improbable, when we examine the manner 
 in which the throat of the animal is formed ; 
 for having no tongue, nature has given it the 
 means of closing it entirely, except when in the 
 
 * Egypt and Thebes, p. 225. note. Conf. Plin. xxviii. 8. 
 f Herod, ii. 68. Plin. viii. 25. 
 
80 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. VIII. 
 
 act of swallowing ; anti during sleep, the throat is 
 constantly shut, though the mouth is open. 
 
 The hostile intrusion of the ichneumon, related 
 by other writers*, is equally destitute of probability. 
 
 That birds living on flies frequently flit about the 
 crocodile, while lying on the sand, we can readily 
 believe ; and this circumstance as well as the pre- 
 sence of a small running bird (a species of chara- 
 drius\^, which is often seen on the same bank, and 
 which, loudly chirping on the approach of man, may 
 be supposed to warn the crocodile of danger, very 
 possibly led to the fable of those visits of the 
 trochilus\, and the friendly services it rendered the 
 sleeping crocodile. 
 
 Its eggs, as Herodotus and Pliny observe, are 
 small, considering the size which it afterwards at- 
 tains, and are deposited by the female in the sand, 
 or in the light loose earth of the river side ; and its 
 constant desire to enjoy the fresh air, during the 
 summer, is shown by its lying for a length of time 
 asleep on the sand banks, with its open mouth 
 turned to the prevailing wind. 
 
 “ They had many different modes of catching 
 it,” says Herodotus §; “that most worthy of notice 
 is as follows : — They fasten a piece of pork to a 
 hook, and throw it into the middle of the stream, 
 as a bait ; then, standing near the water’s edge, they 
 beat a young pig, and the crocodile, being enticed 
 to the spot by its cries, finds the bait on its way, 
 and swallowing it is caught by the hook. They 
 
 * Plin. viii. 25. t Called sicsac in Arabic. 
 
 J The name Trochilus signifies running. $ Herod, ii. 70. 
 
CH.VIII. WAR OF THE OMBITES AND TENTYHITES. 81 
 
 then pull it ashore, and the first step is to cover its 
 eyes with mud, and thus being deprived of sight it 
 is unable to offer an effectual resistance.” We also 
 find from the sculptures that they attacked the 
 crocodile with a spear, transfixing it as it passed 
 beneath the boat in shallow water. 
 
 The hatred borne by some of the Egyptians 
 against the crocodile frequently gave rise to 
 serious disputes ; and the inhabitants of Tentyris, 
 who had killed and eaten the sacred animal of 
 Ombos, were attacked with all the fury of religious 
 feud. On one occasion, after many had been 
 wounded on both sides, and the Tentyrites were 
 worsted and compelled to fly, the Ombites secured 
 a prisoner of the opposing party, and, if we may 
 believe Juvenal *, satiated their revenge by eating 
 his body. The statement, however, is questionable, 
 nor is it probable, even in that depraved age, when 
 Egypt had passed under the dominion of the Ho- 
 mans, that such a scene actually occurred ; and great 
 licence is always allowed to poets, and still more is 
 taken by the severity of satire. 
 
 * Juv. Sat. XV. .33. 80. 
 
 Box in the form of a fish with turning lid, and handle in the shape of a fox. 
 
 Mr. Salt's Collection. 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 G 
 
Vignette H. Modem boats of the Nile. On the o|'posite bank is a whirlwind of sand. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Arts and Manufactures. — Glass. — Linen. — Dyeing. — Dope- 
 making. — The Papyrus. — Leather-cutters. — Potters. — 
 Cabinet-makers and Carpenters. — Makers of Chariots and 
 Coffins. — Coopers. — Boats and War Galleys. — Tin and 
 other Metals. — Gold Mines. — Gold Working and Gilding. 
 
 Of the progress of the ancient Egyptians in many 
 useful branches of art, we have unquestionable 
 proofs in the monuments that remain, and from 
 the evidence of ancient writers. The sculptures 
 inform us that many inventions were known to 
 them at the early periods when most other nations 
 were still in their infancy, which, though generally 
 ascribed to a much later epoch, are, from the 
 facility we now have of fixing the chronology of 
 Egyptian monuments, ascertained to be coeval 
 with the Exodus, or the bondage of the Israelites. 
 
CHAP. ]X. 
 
 DOWNFAL OF ART. 
 
 83 
 
 The scientific skill they possessed in architecture 
 is always a matter of surprise to the traveller who 
 beholds the stupendous monuments of Egypt ; 
 whose solid masonry would have defied the ra- 
 vages of time, and have remained unimpaired to 
 the present day, had not the destructive hand of 
 man been employed against them. The invasion 
 of Cambyses, and the subsequent wars with the 
 Persians ; the three years’ siege of Thebes, by 
 Ptolemy Lathyrus, which laid several of her build- 
 ings in ruins, and so completely reduced that 
 ancient capital, that it was no longer worthy to be 
 considered an Egyptian city ; the inveteracy of the 
 Christians against their Pagan predecessors, and 
 the abhorrence of the Moslems for the monuments 
 of the idolatrous infidels ; and, lastly, the position 
 of the temples, which presented themselves to the 
 mason as a convenient quarry, supplying, at little 
 labour and expense, abundance of stones for the 
 erection of new edifices, were the baneful causes 
 of the downfal of the Egyptian monuments ; but, 
 though great portions of the finest buildings were 
 destroyed, sufficient remains to attest their former 
 grandeur, and to proclaim the wonderful skill and 
 mechanical knowledge of their founders. 
 
 At the period of the Persian invasion, Egypt 
 was looked upon as the great school of science, 
 and the repository of all kinds of learning ; but 
 the arts had fallen from the degree of excellence 
 to which they attained, under the Augustan age 
 of the 18th dynasty, and though luxury and pri- 
 vate wealth increased, taste in sculpture and archi- 
 
 G ^2 
 
84 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX 
 
 tecture had long since been on the decline, and 
 minute and highly finished details were substituted 
 for the simple and dignified forms of an earlier 
 period. The arts, however, continued to flourish 
 under the succeeding dynasties ; and in the reigns 
 of Psamaticus and Amasis, the encouragement 
 given to architecture, sculpture, and painting, 
 seemed to promise an improvement, if not the 
 revival, of taste, and arrested for a time their 
 downfal ; but an unexpected event was destined 
 to bring about their sudden decadence, and the 
 Persian conquest dealt a blow, from which they 
 vainly strove to recover in the succeeding reigns of 
 the Macedonian dynasty ; for not only were the 
 finest monuments destroyed or mutilated, statues 
 works of art, and all the wealth t of the country 
 carried off to Persia, but the artists themselves were 
 compelled to leave their homes to follow the con- 
 querors to their capital, and to commemorate the 
 victories obtained over Egypt, by the authors of 
 their own captivity and misfortunes. Thus deprived 
 of the finest models, humbled by the lengthened 
 occupation of the country, and losing the only per- 
 sons capable of directing taste, or encouraging art, 
 Egypt, already beginning to sink, vainly endea- 
 voured to struggle with the overwhelming current 
 of events ; and while Persia was benefited, Egyp- 
 tian art received its death blow from the invasion 
 of Cambyses. 
 
 * Ptolemy Euergetes is said to have brought back 2500 statues 
 when lie invaded the Persian dominions, which had been taken from 
 Egypt by Cambyses. 
 
 f Conf. Diodor. i. 46. “ The silver and gold, the abundance of ivory 
 
 and precious stones, carried away by the Persians,” and i. 49. 
 
CHAP. IX. STYLE OF THEIR MONUMENTS. 85 
 
 The Egyptians had long been renowned for 
 mathematical science ; but it was not till the power 
 and wealth of the country were at their zenith, 
 that full scope was given for its display in the 
 grand style of public monuments ; a fact, suffi- 
 ciently indicated by their increase of scale and 
 vastness of size at that period ; the buildings of olden 
 time being generally of much smaller dimensions 
 than those of the advanced age of the 18th dynasty. 
 I particularly allude to the temples and to the colos- 
 sal statues erected at the latter epoch, which far 
 exceed in their scale, and the size of the blocks 
 themselves, the ordinary monuments of an earlier 
 era, as may be observed in the increased propor- 
 tions of the grand hall of Karnak, added by Remeses 
 the Great, and the dimensions of the sitting colossi 
 of Amunoph, in the plain of Thebes ; or that of 
 Remeses, at the Memnonium, which weighed about 
 886 tons, and was brought over land from the 
 quarries at the cataracts of Syene, a distance of 
 more than 120 miles.* 
 
 Many obelisks, each of a single block of granite, 
 had already been hewn, and transported from the 
 same quarries, as early at least as the reign of 
 Osirtasen I., whom I suppose to have been the 
 contemporary of Joseph ; and the same me- 
 chanical skill had already existed even before 
 that period, as is shown from the construction of 
 those wonderful monuments the pyramids, near 
 Memphis, which, in the size of the blocks, and 
 
 * I siiall liave occasion to notice tliis hereafter. 
 
 G 3 
 
86 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 their style of building, evince a degree of archi- 
 tectural knowledge, perhaps inferior to none pos- 
 sessed at a subsequent epoch. But it was not 
 generally called forth in early times ; they were 
 then contented with monuments of an inferior 
 scale, and their ordinary buildings were not of the 
 same gigantic dimensions. A grand work was then 
 seldom undertaken without an adequate motive, 
 and the knowledge they possessed was reserved 
 for particular and extraordinary occasions ; but 
 when riches and the love of show increased, they 
 extended the size of their temples, and constant 
 practice having made the means familiar to them, 
 artisans and engineers vied with each other in 
 hewing and transporting colossal statues, mono- 
 liths, and other ponderous monuments, which 
 served for ornament, and the display of their 
 mechanical knowledge. 
 
 It was not in this branch of science alone that 
 the Egyptians excelled : the wonderful skill they 
 evinced in sculpturing or engraving hard stones is 
 still more surprising ; and we wonder at the means 
 employed for cutting hieroglyphics, frequently to 
 the depth of more than two inches, on basalt, on 
 syenite, and other stones of the hardest quality. 
 Nor were they deficient in taste, — a taste, too, 
 not acquired by imitating approved models, but 
 claiming for itself the praise of originality, and 
 universally allowed to have been the parent of 
 much that was afterwards perfected, with such 
 wonderful success, by the most highly-gifted of 
 nations, the ancient Greeks : and no one can look 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 PRESCRIBED RULES OF ART. 
 
 87 
 
 upon the elegant forms of many of the Egyptian 
 vases, the ornamental designs of their architecture, 
 or the furniture of their rooms, without conceding 
 to them due praise on this point, and admitting, 
 that however whimsical some of the figures may be 
 in sacred subjects, they often showed considerable 
 taste, wdiere the regulations of the priesthood and 
 religious scruples ceased to interfere. 
 
 In their temples they were obliged to conform 
 to rules established in the early infancy of art, 
 which custom and prejudice had rendered sacred : 
 the ancient style was always looked upon with 
 the highest veneration, and it is probable that from 
 the same feeling of respect, the formulas and 
 diction of their books of law or religion continued 
 the same as in early times ; a custom prevalent 
 among many people, whatever improvements lan- 
 guage undergoes ; for neither would the Turkish 
 Moslem dare to translate the Arabic Qoran, nor the 
 Cairene to alter it to his own dialect : and we 
 might ourselves object to a Bible written in the 
 style of Robertson or Hume. 
 
 Plato and Synesius both mention the stern regu- 
 lations which forbade their artists to introduce 
 innovations in religious subjects ; and the more 
 effectually to prevent this, “ the profession of 
 artist was not allowed to be exercised by common 
 or illiterate persons, lest they should attempt any 
 thing contrary to the law's established, regarding 
 the figures of the deities.” 
 
 In their household furniture, and the ornamental 
 objects used in their dwelling-houses, they were 
 
 G 4 
 
88 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 not restricted by any etablished rules ; here, as 
 I have observed, inuch taste was displayed, and 
 their vases frequently bear so strong a resemblance 
 to those of Greece, that we might feel disposed to 
 consider them borrowed from Greek models, did 
 not their known antiquity forbid such a conclusion ; 
 and many have mistaken the ornamental devices, 
 attached to them, and to other fancy works of 
 Egyptian art, for the productions of Greek sculp- 
 tors. Now, that we are acquainted with the dates 
 of the Egyptian monuments, the square border and 
 scrolls, so common on Athenian, Sicilian, Etruscan, 
 and Graeco- Italian vases, are shown to be, from the 
 most remote time, among the ordinary devices 
 on cups, and the ceilings of tombs, at Thebes 
 and other places ; and the graceful curve * of the 
 Egyptian cornice, which, not confined to architec- 
 ture, is repeated on vases, and numerous articles 
 of furniture, was evidently adopted, for the same 
 ornamental purpose, by the Greeks. 
 
 GLASS, PORCELAIN, AND FALSE STONES. 
 
 One of the most remarkable inventions of a re- 
 mote era, and one with which the Egyptians appear 
 to have been acquainted, at least as early as the 
 reign of the first Osirtasen, upwards of 3500 years 
 ago, is that of glass-blowing. The process is repre- 
 sented in the paintings of Beni Hassan, executed 
 
 * Vide vases, woodcut, No. 244., and doorways, woodcuts, Nos. 101, 
 102. and 104. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 INVENTION OF GLASS. 
 
 89 
 
 during the reign of that monarch, and his imme- 
 diate successors ; and the same is again repeated, in 
 other parts of Egypt, in tombs of various epochs. 
 
 No. 349. Parti. Glass .blowers. Beni Hassan. 
 
 2. The same. Thebes. 
 
 The glass at the end of the blowpipe bh\s colotired green. 
 a is the hre. d a glass bottle. 
 
 The form of the bottle and the use of the blow- 
 pipe are unequivocally indicated in those subjects ; 
 and the green hue of the fused material, taken from 
 the fire at the point of the pipe, cannot fail to show 
 the intention of the artist. But if the sceptic should 
 feel disposed to withhold his belief on the author- 
 ity of a painted representation, and deny that the 
 use of glass could be proved on such evidence, it 
 may be well to remind him that images of glazed 
 
90 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 pottery were common at the same period, that the 
 vitrified substance with which they are covered is 
 of the same quality as glass, and that therefore the 
 mode of fusing, and the proper proportions of the 
 ingredients for making glass, were already known 
 to them ; and we can positively state, that 200 
 years after, or about 1500 b.c., they made orna- 
 ments of glass ; a bead, bearing a king’s name who 
 lived at that period, having been found at Thebes, 
 by my friend Captain Henvey, R. N., the specific 
 gravity of which, 25 ° 23 ', is precisely the same as 
 of crown glass, now manufactured in England. 
 
 No. 349. a. 
 
 Figs. 1. 2. Glass bottles represented in the sculptures of Thebes. 
 
 3. Captain Henvey’s glass bead. About the real size. 
 
 4. The hieroglyphics on the bead, containing the name of a monarch who 
 
 lived 1500. B.C. 
 
 glass bottles and objects of various forms 
 have been met with in the tombs ofUpper and Lower 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 EARLY USE OF GLASS. 
 
 91 
 
 Egypt, some unquestionably of very remote anti- 
 quity, though not readily ascribed to any fixed 
 epoch, owing to the absence of royal names, in- 
 dicative of their date ; and glass vases, if we may 
 trust to the representations in the Theban paintings, 
 are frequently shown to have been used for holding 
 wine, at least as early as the Exodus, 1490 years 
 before our era. 
 
 Till within a few years, prejudice forbade the 
 belief that the ancients were acquainted with the 
 manufacture of glass, and many persons could not 
 be persuaded that the Romans used it, though re- 
 presented in the paintings of Pompeii with the most 
 unquestionable truth, and a pane of glass and nu- 
 merous fragments of broken bottles had been dis- 
 covered in that excavated city. The fact, however, 
 became established, and these doubts were silenced ; 
 still it was questioned whether the invention dated 
 before the destruction of that city ; the glass was 
 much condemned as of inferior quality ; and the au- 
 thority of Pliny *, previously disbelieved, was now 
 welcomed as an old friend, and called forth to 
 prove that glass was a late discovery of some Phoe- 
 nician mariners, who having lighted a fire on the 
 sea shore, and supported their cooking utensils on 
 blocks of nitre, were taught by the union of the 
 fused substances the secret of this useful invention. 
 The Roman naturalist had fixed no time for this 
 event, and if he spoke of improvements in the art, 
 introduced in the reign of Tiberius, it was presumed 
 
 * Plin. xxxvi. c. 26. 
 
92 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 that, though a vitrified substance was known, its 
 qualities were not properly understood, and that 
 its discovery only dated about the Augustan age. 
 They even objected that, under the first emperors, 
 windows were made of a transparent stone, brought 
 from Spain and other countries, called Lapis 
 specularis ; and they hence inferred the imperfect 
 knowledge of glass. 
 
 This stone is now well known under the name 
 of talc ; it was only used in the houses of the 
 rich, in litters, or as an ornament to the best 
 apartments : other persons being content witli 
 
 linen, horn, or paper. 
 
 Such were the feeble arguments brought forward 
 to disprove the use of glass for vases, and for orna- 
 mental purposes, among the Romans ; but with 
 much less reason did they apply to its invention in 
 other countries : and though the Egyptians never 
 knew the necessity, or rather the annoyance, of 
 glass windows, under a burning sun, they were well 
 acquainted with vases of that material ; and the 
 workmen of Thebes and Memphis, and subse- 
 quently Alexandria, were famed for the excellent 
 qualities of glass ware they produced, with which 
 Rome continued to be supplied, long after Egypt 
 became a province of the empire. Strabo was in- 
 formed by a glassmaker of Alexandria * that a pe- 
 culiar earth was found in Egypt, without which it 
 was impossible to manufacture certain kinds of 
 glass of a brilliant and valuable quality ; and some 
 
 * Strabo, lib. xvii. 
 
CHAP. IX. A PECULIAR KIND OF GLASS. 
 
 93 
 
 vases, presented by an Egyptian priest to the 
 emperor Hadrian *, were considered so curious 
 and valuable, that they were only used on grand 
 occasions. 
 
 Such, too, was the skill of the Egyptians in the 
 manufacture of glass, and in the mode of staining 
 it of various hues, that they counterfeited with 
 success the amethyst and other precious stones, 
 and even arrived at an excellence in the art which 
 their successors have been unable to retain, and 
 which our European workmen, in spite of their 
 improvements in other branches of this manufac- 
 ture, are still unable to imitate ; for not only do 
 the colours of some Egyptian opaque glass offer the 
 most varied devices on the exterior, distributed 
 with the regularity of a studied design, but the 
 same hue and the same device pass in right lines 
 directly through the substance ; so that in what- 
 ever part it is broken, or wherever a section may 
 chance to be made of it, the same appearance, the 
 same colours, and the same device, present them- 
 selves, without being found ever to deviate from 
 the direction of a straight line, from the external 
 surface to the interior. 
 
 This quality of glass, of which I have seen se- 
 veral specimens, has been already noticed by the 
 learned Winkelmann, who is decidedly of opinion 
 that “ the ancients carried the art of glass-making 
 to a higher degree of perfection than ourselves, 
 though it may appear a paradox to those who have 
 
 * Vopiscus in Vita Saturnini, c. 8. 
 
94 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 not seen their works in this material.”* He de- 
 scribes two pieces of glass, found at Rome, a few 
 years before he wrote, which were of the quality 
 above mentioned. t “ One of them,” he says, 
 
 “ though not quite an. inch in length, and a third 
 of an inch in breadth, exhibits, on a dark and varie- 
 gated ground, a bird resembling a duck, in very 
 bright and varied colours, rather in the manner 
 of a Chinese painting than a copy of nature. The 
 outlines are bold and decided, the colours beau- 
 tiful and pure, and the effect very pleasing ; in 
 consequence of the artist having alternately intro- 
 duced an opaque and a transparent glass. The 
 most delicate pencil of a miniature painter could 
 not have traced with greater sharpness the circle 
 of the eyeball, or the plumage of the neck and 
 wings ; at which part this specimen has been 
 broken. But the most surprising thing is, that the 
 reverse exhibits the same bird, in which it is im- 
 possible to discover any difference in the smallest 
 details ; whence it may be concluded that the 
 figure of the bird continues through its entire 
 thickness. The picture has a granular appearance 
 on both sides, and seems to have been formed of 
 single pieces, like mosaic work, united with so 
 much skill, that the most powerful magnifying 
 glass is unable to discover their junction. 
 
 “ From the condition of this fragment, it was at 
 first difficult to form any idea of the process em- 
 ployed in its manufacture ; and we should have 
 
 * Winkelmann, Orig. de I’Art., lib. i. 2. 19. 
 
 f Winkelmann, Ibid. 
 
CHAP. IX. SPECIMENS OF THIS GLASS. 
 
 95 
 
 remained entirely ignorant of it, had not tlie frac- 
 ture shown that filaments of the same colours, as 
 on the surface of the glass, and throughout its 
 whole diameter, passed from one side to the other; 
 whence it has been concluded that the picture was 
 composed of different cylinders of coloured glass, 
 which, being subjected to a proper degree of heat, 
 united by (partial) fusion. I cannot suppose they 
 would have taken so much trouble, and have been 
 contented to make a picture only the sixth of an 
 inch thick, while, by employing longer filaments, 
 they might have produced one many inches in 
 thickness, without occupying any additional time 
 in the process ; it is therefore probable this was 
 cut from a larger or thicker piece, and the number 
 of the pictures taken from the same depended on 
 the length of the filaments, and the consequent 
 thickness of the original mass. 
 
 “ The other specimen, also broken, and about 
 the size of the preceding one, is made in the 
 same manner. It exhibits ornaments of a green, 
 yellow, and white colour, on a blue ground, which 
 consist in volutes, strings of beads, and flowers, 
 ending in pyramidical points. All the details are 
 perfectly distinct and unconfused, and yet so very 
 minute, that the keenest eye is unable to follow 
 the delicate lines in which the volutes terminate ; 
 the ornaments, however, are all continued, without 
 interruption, through the entire thickness of the 
 piece.” 
 
 Sometimes, when the specimens were very thin, 
 they applied and cemented them to a small slab of 
 
96 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 stone of their own size*, which served as a support 
 at the back ; and by this means they were enabled 
 to cut them much thinner, and consequently to 
 increase their number. 
 
 Two of the most curious specimens I have 
 seen, of this kind of glass, have been brought to 
 England. One is in the possession of my friend, 
 Capt. Henvey, R.N., to whose kindness I am in- 
 debted for the copy I have given of it, and of the 
 bead before mentioned. The other was found in 
 Egypt by Dr. Hogg. 
 
 The quality and the distribution of tlie colours in 
 Captain Henvey’s specimen are strikingly beautiful : 
 the total size is about 1^^^ inch square ; and the 
 ground is of an amethyst hue. In the centre is 
 a device consisting of a yellow circle, surrounded 
 by light blue with a bright red border, and on the 
 four sides shoot forth light blue rays edged with 
 white. Around this, which is isolated, runs a 
 square ornament of bright yellow, divided into 
 distinct parts, formed by openings in each of the 
 sides, and at the four corners a beautiful device 
 projects, like a leaf, formed of a succession of 
 minute lines, green, red, and white, the two last 
 encircling the green nucleus, which meet in a 
 common point towards the base, and terminate in 
 almost imperceptible tenuity. The delicacy of 
 some of the lines is truly surprising, and not less 
 the accuracy with which the patterns are executed ; 
 and the brilliancy of the colours is as remarkable 
 
 * Mr. Rogers has a specimen applied in this manner. 
 
CHAP. IX. THIS GLASS, HOW COMPOSED. 97 
 
 as the harmony maintained in their disposition : 
 an art then much more studiously attended to, and 
 far better understood, than at the present day. 
 
 The secret of making tliese glass ornaments is 
 more readily explained from this specimen than 
 any I have met with. It consists of separate 
 squares, whose original division is readily dis. 
 covered in a bright light, as well as the manner of 
 adjusting the different parts, and of uniting them 
 in one mass ; and here and there we find that the 
 heat applied to cement the squares has caused 
 the colours to run between them, in consequence 
 of partial fusion from too strong a fire. This fact, 
 and the disposition of the separate squares, will be 
 better understood from a reference to the plate*, 
 from which too some idea may be obtained of the 
 fineness of the lines composing the devices. 
 
 Not only were these various parts made at 
 different times, and afterwards united by heat, 
 rendered effective on their surfaces, by means of 
 a flux applied to them, but each coloured line was 
 at first separate, and, when adjusted in its proper 
 place, was connected with those around it by the 
 same process : and these, as Winkelmann very 
 properly suggests, were cylinders, or laminae, ac- 
 cording to the pattern proposed, which passed in 
 direct lines through the substance, or ground, in 
 which they were imbedded. 
 
 Paw, Goguet, and other antiquaries had long 
 ago been convinced that glass was known to the 
 
 * rif/c plate 17. — Fionlisjjiece. 
 
 H 
 
 VOL. HI. 
 
98 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Egyptians, as well as the Phoenicians, at a very 
 lemote period, and the immense emeralds men- 
 tioned by ancient authors were considered glass 
 imitations of those precious stones ; a conjecture 
 rendered still more plausible by the experience 
 of modern times, which shows that the most noted 
 jewels of Christian churches are frequently formed 
 of the same materials. Such were the colossal 
 statue of Serapis*, in the Egyptian labyrinth, nine 
 cubits, or thirteen feet and a half, in height ; an 
 emerald presented by the king of Babylon to an 
 Egyptian Pharaoh t, which was four cubits, or six 
 feet, long, and three cubits broad ; and an obelisk t 
 in the temple of Jupiter, which was forty cubits, 
 or sixty feet, in height, and four cubits broad, 
 composed of four emeralds. § 
 
 The opinion of those writers, respecting the 
 early invention of glass, is now fully confirmed ; 
 and whether the first idea originated with the 
 Phoenicians, or their neighbours the Egyptians, 
 we have satisfactory evidence of its use 8300, or 
 perhaps 3500, years ago. 
 
 Of the different purposes to whidi glass was 
 applied by the ancients, Winkelmann gives a fur- 
 ther account in the same chapter, where he pro- 
 nounces his opinion that, “ generally speaking, it 
 was employed more frequently in ancient than in 
 modern times ; ” and cites, as another proof of 
 
 * Plin. lib.xxxvii. 5. on the authority of Apion, surnamed Plisto- 
 nices. 
 
 f Plin. loc. cit. on the authority of Tlieophrastus. 
 
 j Plin. loc. cit. See also Theophrastus on stones, s. 44'. 
 
 § To have made them of glass required extraordinary skill. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 FALSE STONES. 
 
 99 
 
 their great skill in its manufacture, the vase pre- 
 served in the Palazzo Barberini, at Rome, which, 
 from the manner in which the layers of colour were 
 united, “ had been mistaken for a real sardonyx.” 
 It is the same that is now in the British Museum, 
 and known by the name of the Portland vase.* 
 
 That the Egyptians, at the early period of the 
 18 th dynasty, were well acquainted not only with 
 the manufacture of common glass, for beads and 
 bottles of ordinary quality, but with the art of stain- 
 ing it of divers colours, is sufficiently proved by the 
 fragments found in the tombs of Thebes ; and so 
 skilful were they in this complicated process, that 
 they imitated the most fancifid devices, and suc- 
 ceeded in counterfeiting the rich hues, and bril- 
 liancy, of precious stones.t The green emerald, 
 the purple amethyst, and other expensive gems, 
 were successfully imitated ; a necklace of false 
 stones could be purchased at a Theban jeweller’s, 
 to please the wearer, or deceive a stranger, by the 
 appearance of reality ; and the feelings of envy- 
 might be partially allayed, and the love of show be 
 gratified, by these specious substitutes for real jewels. 
 
 Pliny states t that the emerald was more easily 
 counterfeited than any other gem, and considers the 
 
 * Some imitations of it were made by Wedgewood. 
 
 f Seneca says that Democritus first showed the method of polishing 
 ivory, and of imitating precious stones (Epist. 90.) ; but this was long 
 after the art was common in Egypt. Vide Plin. (xxxvi, 26.), “ Fit et 
 album et niurrhinum, ant hyacinthos sapphirosque imitatum (vitrum);” 
 and Herodot. ii, 69., who calls them \iBiva or melted composition 
 
 of stone. 
 
 J “ Non est smaragdo alia imitabilior gemma mendacio vitri and 
 
 “ ex crystallo tingentnr smaragdi, neque est ulla fraus vitae 
 
 lucrosior,” lib. xxvii. c. 12. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 art of imitating precious stones a far more lucrative 
 piece of deceit than any devised by the inge- 
 nuity of man ; Egypt was, as usual, the country 
 most noted for its skill in this manufacture*, 
 and Strabot says, “that an earth found there was 
 the only kind which would answer for certain 
 rich and variegated compositions.” The emeralds 
 mentioned by Apion and Theophrastus, which, 
 as before observed, are supposed to have been of 
 glass, might also be cited to show that the art was 
 known in a Pharaonic age, if we had not abundant 
 and far more satisfactory proofs from specimens 
 found in the ruins of Thebes: and we can readily 
 believe the assertion of Pliny, that in his time they 
 succeeded so completely in the imitation as to 
 render it “ difficult to distinguish false from real 
 stones.”! 
 
 Many, in the form of beads, have been met witli 
 in different parts of Egypt, particularly at Thebes ; 
 and so far did the Egyptians carry this spirit of 
 imitation, that even small figures, scarabaei, and 
 objects made of ordinary porcelain, were counter- 
 feited, being composed of still cheaper materials. 
 A figure, which was entirely of earthenware, with 
 a glazed exterior, underwent a somewhat more 
 complicated process than when cut out of stone, and 
 simply covered with a vitrified coating ; this last 
 could therefore be sold at a low price : it offered 
 
 * Vide the memoir of M. Boudet, “ Sur I’Art de la Verrerie, ne en 
 Egypte,” in that valuable work the Description de l’Eg 3 pte, vol. ix. 
 p. 213. I cannot agree with M. B. respecting the trees and the water 
 at the Natron Lakes, p. 239. note c. 
 
 -f- Strabo, lib. xvi. p. 521. ed. Cas. 
 
 f Plin. xxxvii. 12. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 PRINCIPAL USES OF GLASS. 
 
 101 
 
 all the brilliancy of the former, and its weight 
 alone betrayed its inferiority ; by which means, 
 whatever was novel, or pleasing from its external 
 appearance, was placed within reach of all classes ; 
 or at least the possessor had the satisfaction of 
 appearing to partake in each fashionable novelty. 
 
 Such inventions, and successful endeavours to 
 imitate costly ornaments by humbler materials, not 
 only show the progress of art among the Egypt- 
 ians, but strongly argue the great advancement 
 they had made in the customs of civilised life ; since 
 it is certain, that until society has arrived at a high 
 degree of luxury and refinement, artificial wants of 
 this nature are not created, and the lower classes 
 do not yet feel the desire of imitating their wealthier 
 superiors, in the adoption of objects dependent on 
 taste or accidental caprice. 
 
 Glass bugles and beads were much used by 
 the Egyptians for necklaces, and for a sort of 
 network, with which they covered the wrappers 
 and cartonage of mummies, arranged so as to 
 form, by their varied hues, numerous devices and 
 figures, in the manner of our bead purses ; and 
 the ladies sometimes amused themselves by string- 
 ing them for ornamental purposes, as at the present 
 day. 
 
 The principal use to which glass was applied by 
 the Egyptians, (besides the beads and fancy work 
 already noticed,) was for the manufacture of 
 bottles, vases, and other utensils * ; wine was fre- 
 
 * The lamps mentioned by Herodotus (ii. 62.) at the festival of 
 lamps at Sai’s, were probably glass. Vide infra, p. 1 12. 
 
 II 3 
 
10^2 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 quently brought to table in a bottle, or banded to 
 a guest in a cup * of this material, and a body was 
 sometimes buried in a glass coffin, t Occasionally 
 a granite sarcophagus was covered with a coating 
 of vitrified matter, usually of a deep green colour, 
 which displayed, by its transparency, the sculptures 
 or hieroglyphic legends engraved upon the stone ; a 
 process well understood by the Egyptians, and the 
 same they employed in many of the blue figures of 
 pottery and stone, commonly found in their tombs ; 
 the stone, in one case, being covered with a com- 
 position capable of vitrifying, and then exposed to a 
 certain degree of heat, until properly melted and 
 diffused over the surface, and, in the other, 
 dipped into a mixture, which was vitrified in the 
 same manner. 
 
 Like the Romans, they used glass for mosaic 
 woi k, and pieces of various colours were employed 
 in fancy ornaments, in the figures of deities, in 
 sacred emblems, and in the different objects for 
 which inlaid work was particularly adapted, the 
 quality there used being generally of an opaque 
 kind. In some of these vitrified compositions, the 
 colours have a brilliancy which is truly surprising ; 
 the blues which are given by copper are vivid and 
 beautifully clear ; and one of the reds, which is 
 probably derived from minium, has all the intense- 
 ness of rosso antico with the brightness of the 
 
 * In Rome the use of glass vases superseded that of gold and silver. 
 Plin. xxxvi. 26. “ Usus ad potandum argent! inetalli et auri pepulit 
 
 (vitrum).” 
 
 f Alexander the Great was said to have been buried in a glass coffin 
 at Alexandria. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 PORCELAIN. 
 
 103 
 
 glassy material in which it is found ; thus com- 
 bining the qualities of a rich enamel. 
 
 Many of the cups discovered at Thebes, present 
 a tasteful arrangement of varied hues, and evince 
 the great skill of the Egyptians in the manufac- 
 ture of porcelain ; and no one can examine similar 
 specimens without feeling convinced of the great 
 experience they possessed in this branch of art. 
 The manner in which the colours are blended and 
 arranged ; the minuteness of the lines, frequently 
 tapering off to an almost imperceptible fineness; 
 and the varied directions of tortuous curves, tra- 
 versing the substance, but strictly conforming to 
 the pattern designed by the artist, display no or- 
 dinary skill, and show that they were perfect mas- 
 ters of the means employed to produce the effect 
 proposed. 
 
 The Egyptian porcelain should perhaps be de- 
 nominated glass-porcelain, as partaking of the 
 quality of the two, and not being altogether unlike 
 the porcelain-glass invented by the celebrated 
 Reaumur ; who discovered, during his curious ex- 
 periments on different qualities of porcelain, the 
 method of converting glass into a substance very 
 similar to chinaware. 
 
 The ground of Egyptian porcelain is generally 
 of one homogeneous quality and hue, either blue or 
 green, traversed in every direction by lines or de- 
 vices of other colours — red, white, yellow, black, 
 light or dark blue, and green, or whatever the 
 artist chose to introduce ; and these are not always 
 confined to the surface, but frequently penetrate 
 
 H 4 
 
104 
 
 ' THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 considerably into the ground, sometimes having 
 passed half, at others entirely, through the fused 
 substance ; in which respect they differ from the 
 porcelain of China, where the flowers or patterns 
 are applied to the surface, and perhaps justify the 
 use of the term glass-porcelain, which I have 
 adopted. In some instances, the yellows were put 
 on after the other colours, upon the surface of the 
 vase, which was then again subjected to a proper 
 degree of heat ; and after this, the handles, the 
 rim, and the base, were added, and fixed by a 
 repetition of the same process. It was not with- 
 out considerable risk that these additions were 
 made, and many vases were broken during the 
 operation ; to which Martial alludes, in an epigram 
 on the glass cups of the Egyptians.* 
 
 That the Egyptians possessed considerable know- 
 ledge of chemistry and the use of metallic oxides, 
 is evident from the nature of the colours applied 
 to their glass and porcelain ; and they were even 
 acquainted with the influence of acids upon colour, 
 being able, in the process of dyeing or staining 
 cloth, to bring about certain changes in the huest, 
 by the same means adopted in our own cotton 
 works, as I shall show in describing the manufac- 
 tures of the Egyptians. 
 
 It is evident that the art of cutting glass was 
 known to the Egyptians at the most remote 
 
 * Martial, Epig. lib. xiv. 115. Calices vitrei : — 
 
 “ Adspicis ingeiiium Nili, quibus addere plura 
 Duni ciipit, ah, qnoties perdidit auctor opus.” 
 
 f Plin. XXXV. 11. 
 
CHAP. IX. CUTTING OF GLASS AND STO-NES. 105 
 
 periods, hieroglyphics and various devices being 
 engraved upon vases and beads, made in the time 
 of the 18th dynasty ; and some glass, particu- 
 larly that which bears figures or ornaments in 
 relief, was cast in a mould. Some have supposed 
 that the method of cutting glass was unknown to 
 the ancients, and have limited the period of its 
 invention to the commencement of the seventeenth 
 century of our era, when Gaspar Lehmann, at 
 Prague, first succeeded in it, and obtained a patent 
 from the emperor Rodolph II.; but we may infer 
 from the authority of Pliny, that glass-cutting was 
 known to the ancients, and that the diamond was 
 used for the purpose as at the present day, even if 
 they were ignorant of the art of cutting this stone 
 with its own dust. “ Diamonds,” says that author*, 
 “ are eagerly sought by lapidaries, who set them 
 in iron handles, for they have the power of pene- 
 trating any thing, however hard it may be.” He 
 also states that emeralds and other hard stones were 
 engraved, though in early times it was “ con- 
 sidered wrong to violate gems with any figures 
 or devicest;” and the diamond was found capable 
 of cutting those of the hardest quality, “ for all 
 gems,” he observes, “ may be engraved by the 
 diamond.”! 
 
 It is difficult to decide upon the precise method 
 
 * Plin. xxxvii. 4. “ Expetuntur (adainantis crustas) a sculptoribus, 
 
 ferroque includuntur, mdlam non duritiam ex facili cavantes.” 
 
 t Plin. xxxvii. Proem, and xxxiii. I. He thinks the stone of Poly- 
 crates’ ring was a sardonyx, xxxvii. c. I. 
 
 t Plin. xxxvii. 13. “ Veruin oinnes (gemmae) adamante (scalpi 
 
 possunt).” 
 
106 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 adopted by the Egyptians for cutting glass and 
 hard stones ; but if nothing remains to show the 
 process they employed, there is sufficient evidence 
 of its effect; and their early intercourse with India 
 may have led them to the knowledge of the 
 diamond, and of its great utility in engraving 
 those materials. It is also probable that emery 
 powder, as I shall hereafter have occasion to ob- 
 serve, and the lapidary’s wheel, were used in Egypt; 
 and there is little doubt that the Israelites learnt 
 the art of cutting and engraving stones in that 
 country.* 
 
 Some glass bottles were enclosed in wicker- 
 work t, very nearly resembling what is now called 
 by the Egyptians a damagdn : they were generally 
 of considerable size, holding from one to two gallons 
 of fluid ; and some of a smaller size, from six to nine 
 inches in height, were protected by a covering 
 made of the stalks of the papyrus or cyperus rush, 
 like the modern bottles containing Florence oilt: 
 others again appear to have been partly cased in 
 leather, sewed over them, much in the same man- 
 ner as some now made for carrying liquids on a 
 journey. § 
 
 Among the many bottles found in the tombs 
 of Thebes, none have excited greater curiosity 
 and surprise than those of Chinese manufacture, 
 
 * The stones engraved by the Israelites were the “ sardius, topaz, 
 and carbuncle; the emerald, sapphire, and diamond ; the ligure, agate, 
 and amethyst ; the beryl, onyx, and jasper.” Exod. xxviii. 17, 18, 19, 
 20. and xxxix. 6. 
 
 + Wood-cut, ^50. fig. 2. t Wood-cut, QbO.fig. 3. 
 
 5 Wood-cut, 350. yg. 1. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 CHINESE BOI'TLES. 
 
 107 
 
 4 
 
 I 2 3 
 
 No. 350. Fig. 1, has apparently leather sewed over the glass. 
 
 2, gla.ss daynagdn enclosed in wicker-work, 
 
 3, glass bottle covered with papyrus rush, like the Florence oil flasks. 
 
 the possession of S. Rogers^ Esq. 
 
 4, a piece of cloth with a border of a blue colour. In my possession. 
 
 In 
 
 presenting inscriptions in that language. The 
 accidental discovery of a single bottle of this 
 kind would naturally pass unheeded, and if we 
 felt surprised that it should be deposited in an 
 Egyptian sepulchre, conjecture would reasonably 
 suggest that an accidental visiter in later times 
 might have dropped it there, while searching for 
 ancient treasures of a more valuable kind. But 
 this explanation ceases to be admissible, when we 
 find the same have been discovered in various 
 Theban tombs. I myself have seen several, two 
 of which I brought to England*; another is 
 described by the learned Professor Rosellinit, 
 and found by him “ in a previously unopened 
 
 * One is in the British Museum, the other in my possession. 
 
 •f- In his extensive work on the Egyptian monuments, part 2. vol. ii. 
 p. 337. 
 
108 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 tomb, of uncertain date, which,” he refers, “ from 
 the style of the sculptures, to a Pharaonic 
 period, not much later than the 18th dynasty;” 
 a fourth is in the museum at Jersey ; another 
 was purchased by Lord Prudhoe, at Coptos, and 
 is now in the museum at Alnwick Castle ; two 
 others are in the possession of Mrs. Bowen ; and 
 another belongs to Mr. W. Hamilton. They are 
 about two inches in height : one side presents a 
 flower, and the other an inscription, containing, 
 according to the valuable authority of Mr. Davis, 
 
 No. Sf’l. Chinese bottles found in tlie Egyptian tombs. 
 
 Fig. 1, in the Museum of Alnwick Castle. 
 
 2, brought by me from Thebes. 
 
 3, belonging to Mr. VV. Hamilton. 
 
 4, in my possession From Thebes. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ENAMELLING. 
 
 109 
 
 (in three out of the eight*,) the following legend 
 — “The flower opens, and lo! another year.” 
 
 The quality of these bottles is very inferior, and 
 they appear to have been made before the manu- 
 facture of porcelain had attained the same degree 
 of perfection in China as in after times ; they were 
 probably brought to Egypt, through India, with 
 which country I believe the Egyptians to have 
 traded at a very remote period, and contained some 
 precious ingredient, whose value may be inferred 
 from the size of the vase. It cannot be supposed 
 that the Egyptians, who manufactured porcelain of 
 far better quality, would have sought or imported 
 these as articles of value ; we can therefore only 
 suppose that they were prized for their contents : 
 and after they were exhausted, the valueless bottle 
 was applied to the ordinary purpose of holding the 
 Kokly or Collyrium, used by women for staining 
 their eyelids. 
 
 It has been questioned, if the Egyptians under- 
 stood the art of enamelling upon gold or silver, 
 though, even in the absence of further evidence, 
 we might infer it from an expression of Pliny t, 
 who says : “ The Egyptians paint their silver 
 
 vases, representing Anubis upon them, the silver 
 being painted and not engraved.” Small gold 
 figures are frequently found with ornamented 
 wings, and bodies, whose feathers, faces, or other 
 coloured parts are composed of a vitrified com- 
 
 * I am happy to find that Mr. Davis is preparing an account of these 
 interesting curiosities. 
 
 f Plin. xxxiii. 9. 
 
110 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 position, let into the metal ; some again appear to 
 have been really enamelled ; and it is probable that 
 the early specimens of encaustum were made by 
 tooling the devices to a certain depth on bronze, 
 and pouring a vitrified composition into the hollow 
 space, the metal being properly heated, at the same 
 time ; and, when fixed, the surface was smoothed 
 down and polished. 
 
 Both the encaustic painting in wax, and that 
 which consisted in burning in the colours, were 
 evidently known to the ancients, being mentioned 
 by Pliny*, Ovidt, Martial!, and others; and the 
 latter is supposed to have been on the same prin- 
 ciple as our enamelling on gold. Pliny § says it 
 was uncertain to whom the invention was due : 
 some ascribed it to Aristides, as that of perfecting 
 the art to Praxiteles ; but he supposes “ it was 
 known, long before that time, to Polygnotus, Ni- 
 canor, and Arcesilaus of Paros.” 
 
 Bottles of various kinds, glass, porcelain, ala- 
 baster, and other materials were frequently exported 
 from Egypt to other countries. The Greeks, the 
 Etruscans, and the Romans received them as 
 articles of luxury, which being remarkable for their 
 beauty were prized as ornaments of the table ; and 
 when Egypt became a Roman province, part of the 
 
 * Ibid. XXXV. 11. f Ovid, Fast. lib. viii. 275. 
 
 “ et picta coloribus ustis 
 
 Coelestiim matrem concava puppis habet.” 
 
 J Mart. Epig. lib. iv. ep. 39. 
 
 “ Encaustus Phaethon tabula depictus in liac est ; 
 
 Quid tibi vis Dipyron qui Phaethonta facis ? ” 
 
 § Plin. XXXV. 11. “ Ceris pingere, ac picturam inurere quis priimis 
 
 excogitaverit, non constat.” 
 
CHAP. IX. MUKUHINE VASES — LAMPS. Ill 
 
 tribute annually paid to the conquerors consisted 
 of glass vases, from the manufactories of Memphis 
 and Alexandria. 
 
 The intercourse between Egypt and Greece 
 had been constantly kept up after the accession ol 
 Psamaticus and Amasis; and the former, the parent 
 of the arts at that period, supplied the Greeks and 
 some of the Syrian tribes with the manufactures 
 they required. 
 
 The Etruscans, a commercial people, appear to 
 have traded with Egypt, about, or a little after the 
 same period, and we repeatedly find small alabaster 
 and porcelain bottles in their tombs, which have 
 all the character of the Egyptian ; and not only 
 does the stone of the former proclaim by its quality 
 the quarries from which it was taken, but the form 
 and style of the workmanship leave no doubt of 
 the bottles themselves being the productions of 
 Egyptian artists. 
 
 It is uncertain of what stone the murrhine vases, 
 mentioned by Pliny*, Martial, and other writers, 
 were made ; it was of various colours, beautifully 
 blended, and even iridescent, and was obtained in 
 greater quantity in Carmania than in any country. 
 It was also found in Parthia and other districts of 
 Asia, but unknown in Egypt ; a fact quite con- 
 sistent with the notion of its being fluor-spar, 
 which is not met with in the valley of the Nile ; 
 and explaining the reason why the Egyptians 
 imitated it with the composition known under the 
 
 * Plin. xxxvii. 2. 
 
112 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP, IX. 
 
 name of false miirrhine, said to have been made at 
 Thebes*, and Memphis. The description given by 
 Pliny certainly bears a stronger resemblance to the 
 fluor-spar, than to any other stone, and the only 
 objection to this having been murrhine, arises 
 from our not finding any vases, or fragments, of 
 it ; and some may still be disposed to doubt 
 if the stone is known to which the naturalist 
 alludes. But the fluor-spar appears to have the 
 strongest claim ; and the porcelain of Egypt, 
 whose various colours are disposed in waving 
 lines, as if to imitate the natural undulations of 
 that crystallised substance t, may perhaps be 
 looked upon with reason as the false murrhine of 
 the ancients. 
 
 It is difficult to say whether the Egyptians em- 
 ployed glass for the purpose of making lamps or 
 lanterns : ancient authors give us no direct in- 
 formation on the subject ; and the paintings offer 
 no representation which can be proved to indicate 
 a lamp, a torch, or any other kind of light.! 
 
 Herodotus § mentions a “fete of burning lamps,” 
 which took place at Sais, and indeed throughout 
 
 * Arrian, in his Periplus of the Red Sea (p. 3.), mentions “ XiOiag 
 vaXriQ TrXtiova ytvr], Kai aX\i]Q fioppivr)Q rpp ytvoptvpQ tv AtocnroXei." At 
 Medeenet Haboo are numerous agatised pebbles, which were evidently 
 brought there (the nearest known spot where they are found being 
 Nubia), but at what period is uncertain. Were they not for some 
 purpose connected with art ? If so, it is not probable they were 
 brought there by the Christians, though generally found upon the sur- 
 face of the mounds. 
 
 f Fide wood-cut. No. 25G._fig. 2, 257. Jig. 5, and 41 1. yJg. 1, a. 
 
 j In the funeral processions, one person carries what seems to be a 
 candle or torch. 
 
 ^ Herodot. ii. 02. 
 
CHAP. TX. 
 
 LAMPS 
 
 LINEN. 
 
 113 
 
 the countiy, at a certain period of the year, and 
 describes the lamps used on this occasion as 
 “small vases filled with salt and olive oil, on which 
 the wick floated, and burnt during the whole 
 night;” but it does not appear of what materials 
 those vases were made, though we may reasonably 
 suppose them to have been of glass. 
 
 The sculptures of Alabastron, again, represent a 
 guard of soldiers, one of whom holds before him 
 what resembles, and may be considered, a lantern ; 
 but here too there is great uncertainty, and neither 
 of these are sufficient to decide the question. 
 
 The Egyptians, from a most remote era, were 
 celebrated for their manufacture of linen and other 
 cloths, and the produce of their looms was ex- 
 ported to, and eagerly purchased by, foreign nations. 
 The fine linen, and embroidered work, the yarn, 
 
 VOL. III. I 
 
 No. 352. 
 
 A guard apparently with a lantern. 
 
 Alabastron. 
 
 MANUFACTURE OF LINEN 
 
114 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 and woollen stuffs, of the upper and lower country 
 are frequently mentioned, and were highly es- 
 teemed. Solomon purchased many of those com- 
 modities, as well as chariots and horses, from 
 Egypt ; and Chemmis, the city of Pan, retained * 
 the credit it had acquired in making woollen stuffs, 
 nearly till the period of the Roman conquest. 
 
 Woollen garments were chiefly used by the lower 
 orders : sometimes also by the rich, and even by 
 the priests, who were permitted to wear an upper 
 robe in the form of a cloak of this material : but 
 under garments of wool were strictly forbidden 
 them, upon a principle of cleanliness ; and as they 
 took so much pains to cleanse and shave the body, 
 they considered it inconsistent to adopt clothes 
 made of the hair of animals. No one was al- 
 lowed to be buried in a woollen garment, in 
 consequence, as I have already observed!, of its 
 engendering worms, which would injure the body ; 
 nor could any priest enter a temple without taking 
 off this part of his dress. 
 
 The quantity of linen manufactured and used in 
 Egypt was truly surprising, and independent of 
 that made up info articles of dress, the great 
 abundance used for enveloping the mummies, both 
 of men and animals, shows how large a supjily 
 must have been kept ready for the constant demand 
 at home, as well as for that of the foreign market. 
 
 That the bandages employed in wrapping the 
 dead are of linen, and not, as some have imagined, 
 
 * Strabo, xvii. p. 559. 
 
 -j- Vol. I. p. 280., t'/rfe Herodot. ii. 81. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 LINEN AND COTTON. 
 
 115 
 
 of cotton, has been already ascertained by the most 
 satisfactory tests ; and though no one, even among 
 the unscientific inhabitants of modern Egypt, ever 
 thought of questioning the fact, received opinion 
 in Europe had till lately decided that they were 
 cotton ; and it was forbidden to doubt that “ the 
 bands of hyssine linen,” said by Herodotus * to 
 have been used for enveloping the mummies, 
 were cotton. My own impression had certainly 
 been that the mummy cloths were invariably 
 linen, but positive experience had not then con- 
 firmed my opinion, and I reluctantly yielded to 
 the universal belief, and concluded that some at 
 least might be cotton. 
 
 The accurate experiments made, with the aid 
 of powerful microscopes, by Dr. Uret, Mr. Bauer, 
 Mr. Thompson, and others, on the nature of the 
 fibres of linen and cotton threads t, have shown 
 that the former invariably present a cylindrical 
 form, transparent, and articulated, or jointed like 
 a cane, while the latter offer the appearance of a 
 flat riband, with a hem or border at each edge ; so 
 that there is no possibility of mistaking the fibres 
 of either, except perhaps, when the cotton is in an 
 unripe state, and the flattened shape of the centre 
 is less apparent. The results having been found 
 similar in every instance, and the structure of the 
 fibres thus unquestionably determined, the threads 
 of mummy cloths were submitted to the same test, 
 
 * Herodot. ii. 86. “ "2ivSovoq Pv<T<nvt]Q Ti\ajj.ijjm.” 
 
 •)■ Vide Dr. Ure’s Philosophy of Manufactures, p. 95. 
 
 j Vide Mr. Thompson on the Mummy cloth of Egypt. 
 
 1 2 
 
116 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 and no exception was found to their being linen, 
 nor were they even a mixture of linen and cotton 
 thread. 
 
 The fact of the mummy cloths being linen is 
 therefore decided. It now remains to inquire into 
 the nature of the byssus, in which I confess con- 
 siderable difficulty presents itself, owing to the 
 Hebrew shush being translated byssus in the Sep- 
 tuagint version, and, in our own, “fine linen* j” 
 and to shash being the name applied at this day by 
 the Arabs to fine muslin, which is of cotton and not 
 of linen ; for the similarity of the words in these 
 cognate languages argues in favour f of the same 
 meaning. On the other hand, Herodotus says the 
 mummy cloths were “ of byssine sindon t,” and 
 they are found to be invariably linen : he uses the 
 expression “tree wool” to denote cotton § ; and 
 Julius Pollux adopts the same name 11, distinguish- 
 ing it also from byssus, which he calls a species of 
 Indian flax. The use of the two words byssus 
 and linon present no difficulty, since they might 
 be employed, like our flax and linen, to signify 
 the plant, and the substance made from it. 
 
 Cotton cloth, however, was among the manu- 
 factures of Egypt, and dresses of this material 
 were worn by all classes. Pliny states that the 
 Egyptian priests, though they used linen, were 
 
 • In Exodus, XXV. “ jivaaov KtK\(i>aixtv7]v ; ” in Coptic “ shens.” 
 
 -)- There are instances to the contrary, as kmsuf^' silver,” in Hebrew, 
 and hissuh “ gold lace,” in Arabic, and others. 
 
 t Herodot. loc. cit. Sindon is unquestionably linen. 
 
 $ Herodot. iii. 47. “ Eipioicrc airo ^v\ov.” 
 
 i| J. Poll. Onom.vii. 17. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 FINE LINEN. 
 
 117 
 
 particularly partial to cotton robes and “ cotton 
 garments,” supplied by the government for the 
 use of the temples 1, are distinctly mentioned 
 in the Rosetta stone. Herodotus and Plutarch t 
 affirm that linen was preferred, owing as well to 
 its freshness in a hot climate, as to its great ten- 
 dency to keep the body clean, and that a religious 
 prejudice forbade the priests to wear .vestments 
 of any other quality § ; we may, however, con- 
 clude that this refers to the inner portion of the 
 dress ; and the prohibition of entering a temple 
 with cotton or woollen garments, may have led to 
 the notion that none but linen were worn by them 
 at any time. The same custom was adopted by 
 the votaries of Isis, when her rites were intro- 
 duced by the Greeks and Romans || ; and linen 
 dresses were appropriated to those who had been 
 initiated % in the sacred mysteries. 
 
 Whatever restrictions may have been in force 
 respecting the use of cotton among the priesthood, 
 it is probable that other individuals were permitted 
 to consult their own choice on this point ; and it 
 was immaterial whether they preferred, during life, 
 the coolness of flax, or the softness of cotton 
 raiment, provided the body, after death, was en- 
 
 * Plin. xix. 8. 
 
 j “ The sacred robes with which the statues of the gods are adorned.” 
 Pint, de Is. s. 78. 
 
 J Pint, de Is. s. 4. 
 
 Ilerodot. ii. 37. “ The priests . . . wear only one robe of linen, 
 
 and sandals of the byblus. They are not allowed to have any other 
 vestment, or covering to the feet.” 
 
 II Pint, de Is. s. 3. 
 
 II Apiil. Metam. lib. xi. 
 
 I 3 
 
118 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 veloped in bandages of linen * ; and this regula- 
 tion accounts for the mummy cloths of the poorest 
 individuals being invariably found of that material. 
 
 It was not only for articles of dress that cotton 
 was manufactured by the Egyptians ; a great 
 quantity was used for the furniture of their houses, 
 the coverings of chairs and couches, and various 
 other purposes ; and a sort of cloth was made of 
 the united filaments of flax and cotton. This is 
 mentioned by Julius Pollux, who, after describing 
 the cotton plant as an Egyptian production, and 
 stating that cloth was manufactured of the “ wool 
 of its nut,” says they sometimes “ make the woof 
 of it, and the warp of linen t;” a quality of cloth 
 still manufactured by the modern Egyptians. 
 
 From the few representations which occur in the 
 tombs of Thebes, it has been supposed tliat the 
 Egyptian looms were of rude construction, and 
 totally incapable of producing the fine linen so 
 much admired by the ancients ; and as the paint- 
 ings in which they occur were executed at a very 
 early period, it has been conjectured that, in after 
 times, great improvements took place in their 
 construction. But when we consider with what 
 simple means oriental nations are in the habit of 
 executing the most delicate and complicated work, 
 we cease to feel surprised at the apparent imper- 
 fection of the mechanism, or instruments used 
 by the Egyptians ; and it is probable that their far- 
 
 * In England woollen cloth has been chosen for this purpose, in 
 order to encourage the staple commodity of the country. 
 
 -j- J. Poll. Onom. vii. 17. 
 
CHAP. IX. NATURE OF THEIR CLOTH. 
 
 119 
 
 famed “fine linen,” mentioned in scripture, and by 
 ancient writers*, was produced from looms of the 
 same construction as those represented in the paint- 
 ings of Thebes and Eilethyas. Nor was the praise 
 bestowed upon that manufacture unmerited t; and, 
 as I have already observed, the quality of some 
 linen in my possession fully justifies it, and excites 
 equal admiration at the present day, being to the 
 touch comparable to silk, and not inferior in tex- 
 ture to our finest cambric. 
 
 The mummy cloths are generally of a very 
 coarse quality ; and little attention was bestowed 
 on the disposition of the threads, in the cloths of 
 ordinary manufacture. Mr. Thomson, who exa- 
 mined many specimens of them, is of opinion that 
 the number of threads in the warp invariably 
 exceeded those of the woof, occasionally even by 
 four times the quantity ; and as his observations 
 are highly interesting, I shall introduce an extract 
 from his pamphlet on the subject. 
 
 “ Of the products of the Egyptian loom, we 
 know' scarcely more than the mummy pits have 
 disclosed to us ; and it would be as unreasonable 
 to look through modern sepulchres for specimens 
 and proofs of the state of manufacturing art 
 amongst ourselves, as to deduce an opinion of the 
 skill of the Egyptians, from those fragments of 
 cloth which envelope their dead, and have come 
 down, almost unchanged, to our own time. The 
 
 * Pliny allows that the Egyptians invented the art of weaving, vii. 56. ; 
 and Athenaeus ascribes it to Pathymias the Egyptian. Deipn. lib. ii. 
 
 -f- Some was so fine, that it obtained the appellation of “ woven air.” 
 
 I 4 
 
120 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 curious or costly fabrics which adorned the living, 
 and were the pride of the industry and skill of 
 Thebes, have perished ages ago. There are, how- 
 ever, amongst these remains, some which are not 
 unworthy of notice, which carry us back into the 
 workshops of former times, and exhibit to us the 
 actual labours of weavers and dyers of Egypt, 
 more than 2000 years ago. 
 
 “ The great mass of the mummy cloth, em- 
 ployed in bandages and coverings, whether of 
 birds, animals, or the human species, is of coarse 
 texture, especially that more immediately in 
 contact with the body, which is generally im- 
 pregnated with resinous or bituminous matter. 
 The upper bandages, nearer the surface, are finer. 
 Sometimes the whole is enveloped in a covering 
 coarse and thick, and very like the sacking of tire 
 present day : sometimes in cloth coarse and open, 
 like that used in our cheese-presses, for which it 
 might easily be mistaken. In the college of sur- 
 geons are various specimens of these cloths, some 
 of which are very curious. 
 
 “ The beauty of the texture and peculiarity in 
 the structure of a mummy cloth given to me by 
 Mr. Belzoni, was very striking. It was free from 
 gum, or resin, or impregnation of any kind, and had 
 evidently been originally white. It was close and 
 firm, yet very elastic. The yarn of both warp and 
 woof was remarkably even and well spun. The 
 thread of the warp was double, consisting of two 
 fine threads twisted together. The woof was 
 single. The warp contained 90 threads in an 
 
CHAP. IX. OTHER SPECIMENS OF CLOTH. 
 
 121 
 
 inch ; the woof, or weft, only 44. The fineness 
 of these materials, estimated after the manner of 
 cotton yarn, was about thirty hanks in the pound. 
 
 “ The subsequent examination of a great variety 
 of mummy cloths showed, that the disparity be- 
 tween the warp and woof belonged to the system 
 of manufacture, and that the warp generally had 
 twice or thrice, and not seldom four times, the 
 number of threads in an inch that the woof had : 
 thus, a cloth containing 80 threads of warp in the 
 inch, of a fineness of about 24 hanks in the pound, 
 had 40 threads in the woof: another with 120 
 threads of warp, of 80 hanks, had 40 ; and a third 
 specimen only 30 threads in the woof. These have 
 each respectively double, treble, and quadruple the 
 number of threads in the warp that they have in 
 the woof. This structure, so different from modern 
 cloth, which has the proportions nearly equal, ori- 
 ginated, probably, in the difficulty and tediousness 
 of getting in the woof, when the shuttle was thrown 
 by hand, which is the practice in India at the present 
 day, and which there are weavers still living old 
 enough to remember the universal practice in this 
 country.” 
 
 Mr. Thomson then mentions some fragments 
 of mummy cloths, sent to England by the late 
 Mr. Salt, which he saw in the British Museum. 
 They were “ of different degrees of fineness ; 
 some fringed at the ends, and some striped at the 
 edges.” “ My first impression,” he continues, 
 “ on seeing these cloths, was, that the finest kinds 
 were mmlin, and of Indian manufacture, since 
 
12‘2 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 we learn from the ‘ Periplus of the Erythrean 
 Sea,’ ascribed to Arrian, but more probably the 
 work of some Greek merchant himself engaged 
 in the trade, that muslins from the Ganges were an 
 article of export from India to the Arabian gulf : 
 but this suspicion of their being cotton was soon 
 removed by the microscope of Mr. Bauer, which 
 showed that the}'^ were all, without exception, linen. 
 Some were thin and transparent, and of very deli- 
 cate texture. The finest appeared to be made of 
 yarns of near 100 hanks in the pound, with 140 
 threads in the inch in the warp, and about 64 in 
 the woof. A specimen of muslin in the museum 
 of the East India House, the finest production of 
 the Dacca loom, has only 100 threads in an inch 
 in the warp, and 84 in the woof ; but the surprising 
 fineness of the yarns, which, though spun by hand, 
 is not less than 250 hanks in the pound, gives to 
 this fabric its unrivalled tenuity and lightness. 
 
 “ Some of the cloths w'ere fringed at the ends, 
 and one, a sort of scarf, about four feet long, and 
 twenty inches wide, was fringed at both ends. 
 Three or four threads twisted together with the 
 fingers to form a strong one, and two of these 
 again twisted together, and knotted at the middle 
 and at the end to prevent unravelling, formed the 
 fringe, precisely like the silk shawls of the pre- 
 sent day. 
 
 “ The selvages of the Egyptian cloths are gene- 
 rally formed with the greatest care, and are well 
 calculated by their strength to protect the cloth 
 from accident. Fillets of strong cloth or tape also 
 
CHAP. IX. STRIPED BORDERS OF THE CLOTH. 
 
 1<23 
 
 secure the ends of’ the pieces from injury, show- 
 ing a knowledge of all the little resources of mo- 
 dern manufacture. Several of the specimens, both 
 of fine and coarse cloth, were bordered with blue 
 stripes of various patterns, and in some alternating 
 with narrow lines of another colour. The width 
 of the patterns varied from lialf an inch to an 
 inch and a quarter. In the latter were seven blue 
 stripes, the broadest about half an inch wide nearest 
 the selvage, followed by five very narrow ones, and 
 terminated by one an eighth of an inch broad. 
 Had this pattern, instead of being confined to the 
 edge of the cloth, been repeated across its whole 
 breadth, it would have formed a modern gingham, 
 which we can scarcely doubt was one of the articles 
 of Egyptian industry. 
 
 “ A small pattern about half an inch broad formed 
 the edging of one of the finest of these cloths, 
 and was composed of a stripe of blue, alternating 
 with three lines of a fawn colour, forming a simple 
 and elegant border. These stripes were produced 
 in the loom by coloured threads previously dyed 
 in the yarn. The nature of the fawn colour 
 I was unable to determine. It was too much 
 degraded by age, and the quantity too small to 
 enable me to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. 
 Though I had no doubt the colouring matter of 
 the blue stripes was indigo, I subjected the cloth 
 to the following examination. Boiled in water 
 for some time, the colour did not yield in the 
 least ; nor was it at all affected by soap, nor by 
 strong alkalies : sulphuric acid, diluted only so 
 
124 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 far as not to destroy the cloth, had no action on 
 the colour. Chloride of lime gradually reduced, 
 and at last destroyed it. Strong nitric acid, drop- 
 ped upon the blue, turned it orange, and in the 
 same instant destroyed it. These tests prove the 
 colouring matter of the stripes to be indigo. 
 
 “ This dye was unknown to Herodotus, for he 
 makes no mention of it. It was known to Pliny, 
 who, though ignorant of its true nature, and the 
 history of its production, has correctly described 
 the most characteristic of its properties, the emis- 
 sion of a beautiful purple vapour when exposed to 
 heat. Had his commentators been acquainted with 
 the sublimation of indigo, it would have saved 
 many learned doubts. We learn from the Periplus, 
 that it was an article of export from Barbarike on 
 the Indus, to Egpyt, where its employment by the 
 manufacturers of that country, probably from a re- 
 mote period, is clearly established by the speci- 
 mens here described.” 
 
 I have a piece of cloth, brought from Thebes by 
 Mr. Arundel, which offers a very good instance of 
 the coloured border mentioned by Mr. Thomson. 
 
 It is of ordinary quality, the number of threads in 
 the inch are ninety-six in the warp, and thirty-four 
 in the woof ; and the border consists of one broad 
 band and six narrow stripes, of a blue colour, - 
 evidently dyed with indigo ; the band which is 
 nearest the selvage is one inch and two tenths in 
 breadth, the others consist each of two threads, in 
 the direction of the warp, with the exception of 
 the innermost one, which is of five threads ; and 
 
CHAP. IX. SPECIMENS OF FINE LINEN. 
 
 125 
 
 the dividing line between the fourth and fifth is 
 varied by the introduction of a blue thread down 
 the centre.* The rest of the cloth has the usual 
 yellowish tinge, “supposed to arise from some 
 astringent preparation employed for its preserva- 
 tion,” which, according to Mr. Thomson, imparts 
 to water a similar colour, but offers no trace of 
 tannin. “ In none of the specimens I have ex- 
 amined,” he adds, “did either gelatine or albumen, 
 or solution of iron, afford any precipitate ; but the 
 subacetate of lead produced a cloud, indicating the 
 presence of extractive matter.” 
 
 It is evident that the colour was imparted to the 
 threads previous to the cloth being madet, as the 
 blue remains unaltered ; and the cloths with broad 
 coloured borders are the more curious, as they 
 illustrate the representations in the paintings, and 
 show that they were similar to those made by the 
 looms used in the age of the Pharaohs of the l6th 
 and 18th dynasties, which occur in the tombs at 
 Eilethyas and Thebes ; and it is curious to see 
 the Nubians wearing shawls with the same blue 
 borders, manufactured in the valley of the Nile, at 
 the present day. 
 
 Another piece of linen, which I obtained at 
 Thebes, has 152 threads in the warp, and 7 I in 
 the woof, to each inch ; it is of a much darker hue 
 than the cloth just mentioned, and was perhaps 
 
 * Vide woodcut, No. 350. fig. 4. 
 
 As was the case with the threads used by the Israelites, Exod. 
 XXXV. 25. “ And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with 
 
 their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and 
 of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.” 
 
126 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 dyed with the carthamus tinctorius* , or safF-flower, 
 which Mr. Thomson supposes to have been used for 
 this purpose. The piece of fine linen, previously 
 alluded to, is of the same light brown colour. 
 Some idea may be given of its texture, from the 
 number of threads in the incht, which is 540 (or 
 270 double threads)! in the warp ; and the limited 
 proportion of 110 in the woof§, shows the justness 
 of Mr. Thomson’s observation, that this disparity 
 belonged to their “ system of manufacture,” since 
 it is observable even in the finest quality of cloth. 
 
 Another very remarkable circumstance in this 
 specimen is, that it is covered with small figures 
 and hieroglyphics, so finely drawn, that here and 
 there the lines are with difficulty followed by the 
 eye ; and as there is no appearance of the ink 
 having run in any part of the cloth, it is evident 
 they had previously prepared it for this purpose. 
 
 Pliny cites four qualities of linen, particularly 
 noted in Egypt : the Tanitic, and Pelusiac, the 
 Butine, and the Tentyritic ; and mentions in the 
 same place ll the cotton tree of Egypt, which he 
 confines to the upper country. He also states that 
 the quantity of flax, cultivated in Egypt, was ac- 
 counted for, by their exporting linen to Arabia and 
 
 * 1 am still doubtful if it was indigenous in Egypt. 
 
 -f- Some of our cambric has only 160 in an inch of the warp, and 
 140 of the woof. 
 
 I Vide supra, p. 120. and 121. 
 
 § The Egyptians, instead of throwing the shuttle, appear to have 
 put in the threads by means of a rod with a hook at either end. Vide 
 wood-cuts. No. 91. and 354. 
 
 II Plin. xix. c. 1. “ Superior pars jEgypti in Arabiam vergens 
 
 gignet fruticem, quern aliqui gossipion vocant, plures xylon, et ideo 
 lina inde facta xylina.” 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 CORSLETS OF AMASIS. 
 
 127 
 
 India ; and the quality of that produced by the 
 Egyptian looms is shown to have been far superior 
 to any other. 
 
 The threads used for nets were remarkable for 
 their fineness ; “ and so delicate were some of 
 them,” says Pliny *, “ that they would pass through 
 a man’s ring, and a single person could carry a 
 sufficient number of them to surround a whole 
 wood. Julius Lupus, who died while governor of 
 Egypt, had some of these nets, each string of 
 which consisted of 150 threads ; a fact perfectly 
 surprising to those who are not aware, that the 
 Rhodians preserve to this day, in the Temple of 
 Minerva, the remains of a linen corslet, presented 
 to them by Amasis, king of Egypt, whose threads 
 are composed each of 365 fibres ; and in proof of 
 the truth of this, Mutianus, who was thrice consul, 
 lately affirmed at Rome, that he had examined it ; 
 and the reason of so few fragments remaining was 
 attributable to the curiosity of those who had fre- 
 quently subjected it to the same scrutiny.” 
 
 Herodotus mentions this corslet t, and another, 
 presented by Amasis to the Lacedaemonians, which 
 had been carried off by the Samians ; “ it was 
 of linen, ornamented with numerous figures of 
 animals, worked in gold and cotton. Each thread 
 of the corslet was worthy of admiration, t For, 
 though very fine, every one was composed of 360 
 other threads, all distinct; the quality being similar 
 to that dedicated to Minerva, at Lindus, by the 
 same monarch.” 
 
 * Plin. xix. 1. f Herodot. ii. 182., and iii. 47. 
 
 t Herodot. iii. 47, 
 
128 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Many of the Egyptian stuffs presented various 
 patterns worked in colours by the loom, inde- 
 pendent of those produced by the dyeing or print- 
 ing process, and so richly composed, that they 
 vied with cloths embroidered with the needle.* * * § 
 The art of embroidery t was commonly practised 
 in Egypt. We find that the Hebrews, on leav- 
 ing the country, took advantage of the know- 
 ledge they had there acquired to make a rich 
 “hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and 
 purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought 
 with needlework!;” a coat of fine linen was em- 
 broidered for Aaron ; and his girdle was “of fine 
 twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, of 
 needlework.” § 
 
 The gold thread used for these purposes is sup- 
 posed to have been beaten out with the hammer ||, 
 and afterwards rounded ; and even the delicate 
 net made by Vulcan, which was so fine that the 
 gods themselves were unable to see it, is re- 
 presented to have been forged on his anvil with 
 the hammer. ^ Pliny mentions cloth woven with 
 gold threads, sometimes entirely of those materials, 
 without any woollen or linen ground, as were the 
 
 * Martial, xiv. Epigr. 50. 
 
 “ Hebc tibi Meniphitis tellus dat munera ; victa est 
 Pectine Niliaco jam Babylonis acus.” 
 
 j- Vide Ezekiel, xxvii. 7. “ Fine linen, with broidered work from 
 
 Egypt.” 
 
 t Exod. xxvi. 36., xxvii. 16. xxxvi. 37., and xxxviii. 18. 
 
 § Exod. xxviii. 39., and xxxix. 29. 
 
 II Conf. Exod. xxxix. 3. “ And they did beat the gold into thin 
 
 plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, 
 and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen.” 
 
 1 Horn. Od, viii. 274. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 SILVER THREAD 
 
 WIRE. 
 
 129 
 
 garment of Agrippina*, the tunic of Heliogabalus t, 
 and that worn by Tarquinius Priscus, mentioned 
 by Verrius. t 
 
 “ Coloured dresses,” says Pliny §, “ were known 
 in the time of Homer, from which the robes of 
 triumph were borrowed : and from the Phrygians 
 having been the first to devise the method of giving 
 the same effect with the needle, they have been 
 called Phrygiones. But to weave cloth with gold 
 thread was the invention of an Asiatic king. Atta- 
 ins ||, from whom the name Attalic was derived; 
 and the Babylonians were most noted for their 
 skill in weaving cloths of various colours.” 
 
 The question still remains undecided respecting 
 the time when silver thread came into use ; and as 
 no mention of silver stuffs occurs in the writings 
 of ancient authors, it has been supposed that its 
 introduction was of late date. Silver wire, however, 
 was already known in Egypt at the remote epoch 
 of the 18th dynasty, as is proved by being found 
 at Thebes of the time of the third Thothmes : 
 nor is there any reason to suppose it was then a 
 novel invention ; and it was probably known and 
 used as early as gold wire, which we find attached 
 to rings bearing the date of Osirtasen the First. 
 
 This wire is supposed not to have been drawn, 
 like our own, through holes in metal plates, but 
 to have been beaten out, and rounded with the 
 
 ♦ Plin. xxxiii. 3. “ Auro textili sine alia materie.” 
 
 j- Lamprid, Vit. Heliog c. 23. 
 
 J Plin. loc. cit. ') Plin. viii. 48, 
 
 II Attains, king of Pergainus. 
 
 VOL. Ill, K 
 
130 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 file : but the appearance of some found at Thebes 
 almost justifies the conclusion that a mode of 
 drawing it was not unknown to them ; and the 
 omission of every representation of the process in 
 the paintings cannot be adduced as an argument 
 against it, since they have also failed to introduce 
 the casting of metals, and various other arts, with 
 which they were undoubtedly acquainted. 
 
 It is reasonable to suppose that wire-drawdng was 
 first attempted with the most ductile metals, that 
 gold and silver were first used, and brass and iron at 
 a much later period ; and this is further argued 
 by the probability of wire having been originally 
 employed for ornamental purposes. Gold thread 
 and wire were always made entirely of that metal, 
 even to the time of the latter Roman Emperors * : 
 nor are there any instances of flattened wire wound 
 round silk or linen threads, or of silver or other 
 wire gilt, in the ruins of Herculaneum and 
 Pompeii, That the Egyptians had arrived at 
 great perfection in the art of making the thread is 
 evident, from its being sufficiently fine for weaving 
 into cloth, and for embroidery ; and the exceeding 
 delicacy of the linen corslet of Amasist, on wliich 
 numerous figures of animals were worked in gold, 
 required a proportionate degree of fineness in the 
 gold thread used for the purpose. 
 
 The coloured dresses represented in the Egyptian 
 paintings, worn by women of rank, and by the 
 deities, much resemble our modern chintzes, in the 
 
 * Probably till the reign of Aurelian. 
 
 f Herod, iii. 47. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 USE OF MORDANTS. 
 
 131 
 
 style of their patterns, though it is probable that 
 they were generally of linen instead of calico : 
 some were probably worked with the needle *, and 
 others woven with gold threads. 
 
 I have already observed that tlie Egyptians pos- 
 sessed a knowledge of the effect of acids on colour, 
 and submitted the cloth they dyed to one of the 
 same processes adopted in our modern manufac- 
 tories ; as is plainly pointed out by Pliny in the fol- 
 lowing passage t : — “ Pingunt et vestes in ^gypto 
 inter pauca mirabili genere, Candida vel postquam 
 attrivere illinentes non coloribus, sed colorem sor- 
 bentibus medicamentis. Hoc cum fecere, non ap- 
 paret in velis : sed in cortinam pigment! serventis 
 mersa, post momentum extrahuntur picta. Mi- 
 rumque, cum sit unns in cortina colos, ex illo 
 alius atque alius fit in veste, accipientis medica- 
 ment! qnalitate mntatus, nec postea ablui potest; 
 ita cortina non dubie confusura colores si pictos acci- 
 peret.” “ Moreover in Egypt they stain cloths in a 
 wonderful manner. They take them in their ori- 
 ginal state, quite white, and imbue them, not with a 
 dye, but with certain drugs which have the power 
 of absorbing and taking colour. When this is 
 done, there is still no appearance of change in the 
 cloths ; but so soon as they are dipped into a bath 
 of the pigment, which has been prepared for the 
 purpose, they are taken out properly coloured. 
 The singular thing is, that though the bath con- 
 
 * “ Candida Sidonio perlucent pectora filo, 
 
 Quod Nilotis acus percussuni pectine Serum 
 Solvit.” Lucan. Phars. x. HI, 
 
 f Plin. XXXV. 11. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 tains only one colour, several hues are imparted to 
 the piece, these changes depending on the nature 
 of the drug employed : nor can the colour be 
 afterwards washed off ; and surely if the bath had 
 many colours in it, they must have presented a 
 confused appearance on the cloth.” 
 
 From this it is evident that the cloth was pre- 
 pared before steeping ; the momentary effect he 
 mentions could only be produced by the powerful 
 agency of mordants ; and they not only used them 
 to make the cloth take the colour equally, but also 
 to change the hues. 
 
 Whether the Egyptians really understood the 
 principle, on which the salts and acids of the mor- 
 dants acted, or calculated their effects solely from 
 the experience they had acquired, it is difficult to 
 decide. They had long been used in Europe, before 
 their chemical agency was properly explained ; and 
 when the term mordant was first applied by the 
 French dyers, they imagined “that the intention 
 of passing the substances, which were to be dyed, 
 through certain saline liquors, was to corrode 
 something that opposed the entering of the co- 
 louring principle, and to enlarge the pores of the 
 substances ; ’* (the effect of acids in changing the 
 hues being a later discovery;) we cannot there- 
 fore positively prove that the Egyptians had a 
 knowledge of chemistry, though from their long 
 experience, and from their skill in the employ- 
 ment of the metallic oxides, we may find strong 
 reasons to infer it. For if at first ignorant of the 
 reason of such changes, it is probable that in pro- 
 
CHAP. IX. KNOWLEDGE OF CHEMISTRY. 
 
 133 
 
 cess of time, they were led to investigate the 
 causes, by which they were effected. 
 
 Many discoveries, and even inventions, are more 
 the effect of chance than of studious reflection, and 
 the principle is often the last to be understood. In 
 discoveries this is generally the case, in inventions 
 frequently. But when men have observed, from 
 long practice, a fixed and undeviating result, their 
 curiosity naturally becomes excited, the thirst for 
 knowledge, and above all the desire of benefiting 
 by the discovery, prompt them to scrutinise the 
 causes to which they are so much indebted ; and 
 few people, who have made any advance in the 
 arts of civilised life, long remain ignorant of the 
 means of improving their knowledge. 
 
 We may therefore suppose, some general notions 
 of chemistry, or at least of chemical agency, were 
 known to the Egyptians ; and the beautiful colours 
 they obtained from copper, the composition of 
 various metals, and. tlie knowledge of the effects 
 produced on different substances by the salts of 
 tlie earth, tend to confirm this opinion. 
 
 The Egyptian yarn seems all to have been spun 
 with the hand, and the spindle is seen in all the 
 pictures representing the manufacture of cloth, 
 Spinningwasprincipally the occupation of women * ; 
 but men also used the spindle, and were engaged 
 in the loom; though not as Herodotus t would 
 lead us to suppose, to the exclusion of women, 
 
 * Vide wood-cut. No. 91. Vol. II. p. 60. 
 
 -f- Ilerodot. ii. 35. Sophocles, CEdip. Col. v. 352., makes the same 
 remark. 
 
 K 3 
 
134 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 2. The horizontal loom, or perhaps mat*making. 
 
 Beni Hassan. 
 
 who he pretends undertook the duties of men in 
 other countries, “ by going to market, and en- 
 gaging in business, while the men, shut up in 
 the house, worked at the loom.*’ Men, to this 
 day, are employed in making cloth, in Egypt and 
 in other countries, but it cannot be said that they 
 have relinquished their habits for those of women ; 
 and we find from the paintings executed by the 
 Egyptians themselves, far more authentic and cre- 
 dible than the casual remarks of a Greek, that 
 both men and women were employed in manufac- 
 turing cloth.” 
 
 “Other nations,” continues the historian, “make 
 cloth by pushing’ the woof upwards, the Egyptians, 
 on the contrary, press it down ; ” and this is con- 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 LOOMS. 
 
 135 
 
 firmed by the paintings* which represent the pro- 
 cess of making cloth ; but at Thebes, a man who 
 is engaged in making a piece of cloth, with a co- 
 loured border or selvage, appears to push the woof 
 upwards, the cloth being fixed above him, to the 
 upper part of the frame. They had also the hori- 
 zontal loom, which occurs at Beni Hassan and 
 other places. 
 
 No. 354. Ilg. 1. A piece of cloth on a frame. Eilethyas, 
 
 2. A loom. Thebes. 
 
 itis a shuttle, not thrown, but put in with the hand. It had a hook at each end. Vide 
 woodcut. No. 91. fig. 2. 
 
 * In wood-cut. No. 91.^^. 2. Vol. II. p. 60. 
 
 K 4 
 
136 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX 
 
 In the hieroglyphics over persons employed 
 with the spindle, it is remarkable that the word 
 said, which in Coptic signifies to twist, con- 
 stantly occurs. The spindles were generally small, 
 being about one foot three inches in length, and 
 several have been found at Thebes, and are now 
 preserved in the museums of Europe.* They 
 were generally of wood, and in order to increase 
 
 5 4 3 2 1 
 
 No. 355. Spindles. .British and Berlin '^^luseums. 
 
 Fig. 1 is a sort of cane split at the top to give it a globular shape. 
 
 2 has the head of gypsum. 
 
 3 entirely of wood. 
 
 4 of plaited or basket work. 
 
 5 the loop to put over the twine. 
 
 6 a ring of wood for securing the twine. 
 
 * One of those in the British Museum, which I found at Tliebes, 
 had some of the linen thread with it. Vdc wood-cut, No. 2. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 SPINDLES. 
 
 137 
 
 their impetus in turning, the circular head was 
 occasionally of gypsum, or composition : some, 
 however, were of a light plaited work, made of 
 rushes, or palm leaves, stained of various colours, 
 and furnished with a loop of the same materials, 
 for securing the twine after it was wound.* 
 
 Besides the use of the spindle t, and the form 
 of the loom, we find the two principal purposes, 
 to which flax was applied, represented in the 
 paintings of the tombs : and at Beni Hassan the 
 mode of cultivating the plant, in the same square 
 beds now met with throughout Egypt, (much re- 
 sembling our salt-pans,) the process of beating the 
 stalks, and making them into ropes, and the manu- 
 facture of a piece of cloth, are distinctly pointed 
 out. 
 
 It is, however, possible that the part of the 
 picture, where men are represented pouring water 
 from earthen pots, may refer to tlie process of 
 steeping the stalks of the plant, after they were 
 cut ; the square spaces would then indicate the 
 different pits in which they were immersed, con- 
 taining some less, some more, water, according to 
 the state in which they were required ; and this 
 is rendered more probable by the flight of steps, 
 for ascending to the top of the raised sides of the 
 pits, which would not have been introduced if the 
 level ground were intended. 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 355. Jig. 5. Another of wood,yg. 6. 
 
 f The ordinary distaff does not occur in these subject.s, but we may 
 conclude they had it ; and Homer mentions one of gold, given to Helen 
 by '■ Alcandra, the wife of Poljbus,” who lived in Egyptian Thebes. 
 Od. iv. ).31. 
 
CHAP. IX. PREPARATION OF THE FLAX. 
 
 139 
 
 The steeping, and the subsequent process of 
 beating the stalks with mallets, illustrate the fol- 
 lowing passage of Pliny * upon the same subject : 
 — “ The stalks themselves are immersed in water, 
 warmed by the heat of the sun, and are kept down 
 by weights placed upon them ; for nothing is 
 lighter than flax. The membrane, or rind, be- 
 coming loose is a sign of their being sufficiently 
 macerated. They are then taken out, and re- 
 peatedly turned over in the sun, until perfectly 
 dried ; and afterwards beaten by mallets on stone 
 slabs. That which is nearest the rind is called 
 stupa, ‘ tow,’ inferior to the inner fibres, and fit 
 only for the wicks of lamps. It is combed out 
 with iron hooks, until all the rind is removed. 
 The inner part is of a whiter and finer quality. 
 
 Men are not ashamed to prepare it 
 
 After it is made into yarn, it is polished by 
 striking it frequently on a hard stone, moistened 
 with water ; and when woven into cloth it is again 
 beaten with clubs, being always improved in pro- 
 portion as it is beaten. 
 
 They also parted and cleansed the fibres of the 
 flax with a sort of comb, probably answering to the 
 iron hooks mentioned by Pliny ; two of which, 
 found with some tow at Thebes, are preserved in 
 the Berlin museum ; one having twenty-nine, the 
 other forty-six, teeth, t 
 
 The border of some of their cloths consists of 
 long fringes, formed by the projecting threads of 
 
 * Plin. xix. 1. 
 
 f Vide wood-cut, No. 357. 
 
140 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 the warp, twisted together, and tied at the end 
 in one or more knots, to prevent their unravelling, 
 “precisely,” as Mr. Thomson observes, “like the 
 silk shawls of the present day and specimens of 
 the same borders, in pieces of cloth found in the 
 tombs, may be seen in the British Museum, and 
 other collections.* 
 
 The sculptures, as well as the cloths which have 
 been discovered, perfectly bear out Herodotus 
 in his statement that they had the custom of 
 leaving a fringe to their pieces of linen t, which, 
 when the dresses were made up, formed a border 
 round the legs ; but they do not appear to have 
 
 No.3;’<8. 
 
 No. 357. woollen comb found with some tow. Berlin Museum. 
 
 No 358 tig 1 netting needle of wood in Mr. Salt’s colleetion. 
 
 2 part of another of bronze, of later date, found by me at Berenice. 
 
 3 wooden plane for smootliing or pressing cloth. From Thches. 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 350. 
 
 f Herodot. ii. 81 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 CARPETS. 
 
 141 
 
 been universally worn. This kind of dress he 
 calls calasiris. When the fringe was wanting, the 
 border was hemmed, which had the same effect 
 of preventing the unravelling of the cloth. The 
 Jews wore a similar kind of fringed dress, and 
 Moses * commanded the children of Israel to 
 “make them fringes in the borders of their gar- 
 ments, . . . and . . . put upon the fringe of the 
 borders a riband of blue.” 
 
 Besides the process of making cloth, that of 
 smoothing, or calendering, is represented in the 
 paintings ; which appears to have been done by 
 means of wooden rods, passed to and fro over the 
 surface ; but from the appearance of some of the 
 fine linen found in the tombs, we may conjecture 
 that much greater pressure was sometimes used for 
 this purpose, and such as could only be applied by 
 a press, or cylinders of metal. 
 
 For smoothing linen after washing, a wooden 
 substitute for what we call an iron was used by 
 the Egyptian washerwomen, some of which have 
 been found at Thebes, six inches in length, made 
 of athul or tamarisk wood.t 
 
 I have had occasion to observe t that the Egyp- 
 tians had carpets, which, according to Diodorus §, 
 were spread for the sacred animals, and are noticed 
 by Homer II, as a very early invention ; they were of 
 wool^, but of their quality we are unable to form 
 
 * Numbers, xv. 38. 
 
 + Vide wood-cut. No. 358. 3. 
 
 J Vol. II. p. 201. § Diodor. i. 34. 
 
 II Horn. Od. iv. 124., and called tapeta, the modern name of a carpet. 
 
 IT As in Homer, “ Vatrtira . . . fiaXaKov tpioio” loc. cit. 
 
142 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 any opinion, the fragments discovered in the tombs 
 being very imperfectly preserved. Some portions of 
 woollen work have been found at Thebes, which 
 presented the appearance of a carpet ; and a small 
 rug was lately brought to England, and is now in 
 the possession of Mr. Hay, whose valuable collec- 
 tion of drawings from Thebes and other parts of 
 Egypt, I have already noticed. 
 
 This rug is eleven inches long by nine broad. It 
 is made like many carpets of the present day, with 
 woollen threads on linen string. In the centre is the 
 figure of a boy in white, with a goose above it, the 
 hieroglyphic of “child,” upon a green ground; 
 around which is a border composed of red and 
 blue lines ; the remainder is a ground of yellow, 
 with four white figures above and below, and one 
 at each side, with blue outlines and red ornaments ; 
 and the outer border is made up of red, white, and 
 blue lines, with a fancy device projecting from it, 
 with a triangular summit, which extends entirely 
 round the edge of the carpet. Its date is uncer- 
 tain ; but from the child, the combination of the 
 colours, and the ornament of the border, I am in- 
 clined to think it really Egyptian. 
 
 I have also been informed by Lord Prudhoe, that 
 in the Turin museum he met with “some speci- 
 mens of worked worsted upon linen, in which the 
 linen threads of the weft had been picked out, and 
 the coloured worsted sewed on the warp.” 
 
CHAP. IX. TWISTING LEATHER THONGS. 
 
 143 
 
 ROPE-MAKING. 
 
 I liave noticed the use of flax for making ropes, 
 string, and various kinds of twine ; for large ropes, 
 however, of ordinary quality, and for common 
 purposes, the leef or fibres of the date tree, were 
 employed, as at the present day ; and many speci- 
 mens of these durable materials have been found 
 in the excavations of Upper and Lower Egypto 
 
 In a tomb at Thebes, of the time of Thothmes 
 III., is represented the process of twisting thongs 
 of leather, which, as it is probably the same as that 
 adopted in rope-making, may be properly intro- 
 duced here. 
 
 The ends of four thongs were inserted and fast- 
 ened into a hollow tube, from the side of which a 
 bar projected, surmounted by a heavy metal ball ; 
 and the man, who twisted them, held the tube in 
 his right hand, whirling it round, as he walked 
 backwards, by means of the impetus given by the 
 ball. A band, attached to a ring at the other end 
 of the tube, went round his body, in order to 
 support it and give it a free action, and the ring 
 turned upon a nut, to prevent the band itself from 
 twisting. 
 
 At the other extremity of the walk, a man, seated 
 on the ground, or on a low' three-legged stool, let 
 out the separate thongs, and kept them from be- 
 coming entangled. Behind him sat another, who, 
 with the usual semicircular knife, cut the skin into 
 strips, as he turned it round ; show'ing that what 
 
No. 359. Parti. Cutting and twisting thongs of leather. 
 
 144 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. IX. 
 
 Part 2. Carpenters. 
 
 r drills a hole in the seat of a chair 5. Z Megs of chairs. k w hatchets. 
 
 V a right angle. w >nan planing or polishing the leg of a chair. 
 
CHAP. IX. TWISTING LEATHER THONGS. 
 
 145 
 
 we term the circular cut was known to the ancient 
 Egyptians at this early period, and that they had 
 already adopted this mode of obtaining the longest 
 thongs from a single piece of leather.* When 
 finished, the twisted thongs were wound round a 
 hollow centre, through which the end was passed, 
 and repeatedly bound over the concentric coils in 
 the same manner as ropes. 
 
 Some, indeed, have supposed the present subject 
 to represent rope- making ; but the presence of the 
 skin on the left, and the shoemakers on the right, 
 forming a continuation of the picture, sufficiently 
 prove that they are engaged in preparing leathern 
 thongs for sandals, and other similar purposes. 
 
 Their nets were made of flax-string t, both for 
 fishing and fowling ; and portions of them have 
 been discovered at Thebes, and are preserved in 
 our European museums. The netting neediest 
 were of wood, very like our own, split at each end, 
 and between ten and eleven inches in length, and 
 others were of bronze, with the point closed. 
 
 Sieves were often made of string, but some of 
 an inferior quality, and, for coarse work, were con- 
 structed of small thin rushes or reeds (very similar 
 to those used by the Egyptians for writing, and 
 frequently found in the tablets of the scribes) ; a 
 specimen of which kind of sieve is preserved in 
 
 * This calls to mind the fable of Dido’s purchasing as much land in 
 Africa, as could be covered by a bull’s hide, upon which she built 
 Byrsa, the origin of Carthage. Vir. iBn. i. 368. 
 
 f Conf. Isaiah, xvii. 9. “ They that work in fine flax, and they that 
 weave networks.” Fide Plin. 19. 1., and supra, p. 127. 
 
 t Vide wood-cut. No. .SSS.yfgi. 1, 2. 
 
 VOL. III. L 
 
H<6 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 the Paris museum. The paintings also represent 
 them made of the same materials ; and indeed it is 
 probable that the first they used were all of this 
 humble quality, since the hieroglyphic indicating a 
 sieve is evidently borrowed from them. 
 
 THE PAPYRUS. 
 
 The Egyptians were not less famed for their 
 manufacture of paper, than for the delicate texture 
 of their linen. The plant from which it was made, 
 the Cyperus papyrus of modern botanists, mostly 
 grew in Lower Egypt, in marshy land, or in shallow 
 brooks *, and ponds formed by the inundation of 
 the Nile, where they bestowed much pains on its 
 cultivation. 
 
 The right of growing, and selling it, belonged, 
 as I have already observed, to the government, 
 who made a great profit by its monopoly ; and 
 though we frequently find mention of the use of 
 the byblus or papyrus, for constructing canoes or 
 rude punts, for making baskets, parts of sandals, 
 sails, and for numerous other common purposes, it 
 is evident, that we are to understand, in these in- 
 stances, some other species of the numerous family 
 of Cyperus ; which too is unequivocally shown by 
 Strabo, when he distinguishes the ordinary from 
 “ the hieratic byblus.” 
 
 The papyrus, or byblus hieraticus, of the geo- 
 grapher, our Cyperus papyrus, was particularly 
 
 * Isaiah, xix. 7. “ The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth 
 of the brooks.” 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 PAPYRUS. 
 
 147 
 
 cultivated in the Sebennytic nome * : other parts 
 of the Delta also produced it, and probably even 
 some districts in Upper Egypt. The paper made 
 from it differed in quality ; being dependent upon 
 the growth of the plant, and the part of the stalk 
 whence it was taken ; and we find many of the 
 papyri which have been preserved vary greatly in 
 their texture and appearance. They are generally 
 fragile, and difficult to unrol, until rendered pliant 
 by gradual exposure to steam, or the damp of our 
 climates ; and some are so brittle that they appear 
 to liave been dried by artificial means. 
 
 We are however less surprised at the effect of the 
 parched climate of Upper Egypt, when we consider 
 the length of time they have been kept beyond 
 the reach of moisture, and observe that our draw- 
 ing paper, after a very few years, becomes so dry 
 in that country, that it is too brittle to fold without 
 breaking. Indeed, those papyri which have not 
 been exposed to the same heat, being preserved in 
 the less arid climate of Lower Egypt, still preserve 
 their pliability ; and a remarkable proof of this is 
 shown in one brought by me from Memphis, which 
 may be bent, and even twisted in anyway, without 
 breaking, or without being more injured than a 
 piece of common paper. The hieroglyphics from 
 their style show it to be of an ancient Pharaonic 
 age, and, what is remarkable, they present the 
 name of the city, where the papyrus was found, 
 Menofre, or Memphis. 
 
 * Plin. xiii. 11. 
 L 2 
 
148 
 
 THE ANCIENT KGYrTlANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 The mode of making papyri, was this ; — The 
 interior of the stalks of the plant, after the rind 
 had been removed, was cut into thin slices in the 
 direction of their length, and these being laid on a 
 flat board, in succession, similar slices were placed 
 over them at right angles * ; and their surfaces being 
 cemented together by a sort of glue, and subjected 
 to a proper degree of pressure, and well dried, the 
 papyrus was completed. The length of the slices 
 depended of course on the breadth of the intended 
 sheet, as that of the sheet on the number of slices 
 placed in succession beside each other, so that 
 though the breadth was limited, the papyrus might 
 be extended to an indefinite length. 
 
 The papyrus is now no longer used, ])aper 
 from linen rags and other materials having super- 
 seded it ; but some few individuals, following the 
 example of the Cavaliere Saverio Landolina Nava, 
 of Syracuse, continue to make it ; and sheets from 
 the plant, which still grows in the small rivulet 
 formed by the fountain of Cyane, near Syracuse, 
 are offered to travellers, as curious specimens of an 
 obsolete manufacture. I have seen some of these 
 small sheets of papyrus ; the manner of placing 
 the pieces is the same as that practised in former 
 times ; but the quality of the paper is very inferior 
 to that of ancient Egypt, owing either to the pre- 
 paration of the slices of the stalk, before they are 
 glued together, or to the coarser texture of the 
 
 * The slices whicli were placed longways were called by the Romans 
 stamen, the others crossing them snhtemen, like the warp and the woof 
 in clotli. 
 
CHAP. IX. PLINY’s account OP THE PAPYUUS. 149 
 
 plant itself, certain spots occurring here and there 
 throughout the surface, which are never seen on 
 those discovered in the Egyptian tombs. 
 
 Pliny thus describes * the plant and the mode of 
 . making paper; — “The papyrus grows in the marsh 
 lands of Egypt, or in the stagnant pools left inland 
 by the Nile, after it has returned to its bed, which 
 have not more than two cubits in depth. The root 
 of the plant is the thickness of a man’s arm ; it has a 
 triangular stalk, growing not higher than ten cubits 
 (fifteen feet), and decreasing in breadth towards the 
 summit, which is crowned as with a thyrsus, con- 
 taining no seeds, and of no use except to deck the 
 statues of the gods. They employ the roots as 
 fire-wood, and for making various utensils. They 
 even construct small boats of the plant; and out of 
 the rind, sails, mats, clothes, bedding, and ropes ; 
 they eat it either crude or cooked t, swallowing 
 only the juice ; and when they manufacture paper 
 from it, they divide the stem, by means of a kind 
 of needle, into thin plates, or laminae, each of 
 which is as large as the plant will admit . . . .” 
 
 “All the paper is woven upon a tablet, and is 
 continually moistened with Nile water, which being 
 thick and slimy, furnishes an effectual species of 
 glue.§ In the first place, they form upon a table, 
 perfectly horizontal, a layer the whole length of 
 the papyrus ; which is crossed by another placed 
 
 * Plin.xiii. 11. f Conf. Diod. i. 80. 
 
 X Plin. xiii. 12. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to correct this inisconception of Pliny, or 
 to suggest the necessity of something more tenacious than Nile water. 
 
 L 3 
 
150 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 transversely, and afterwards inclosed within a press. 
 The different sheets are then hung in a situation 
 exposed to the sun, in order to dry, and the pro- 
 cess is finally completed by joining them together, 
 beginning with the best. There are seldom more 
 than twenty * slips, or stripes, produced from one 
 stem of the plant. 
 
 “ Different kinds of broad paper vary in breadth. 
 The best is thirteen digits broad ; the hieratic only 
 eleven ; the Fannian t ten, and the amphitheatric 
 nine. The Saitic is still narrower, being only the 
 breadth of the mallet ; and the paper used for busi- 
 ness is only six digits broad. Besides the breadth, 
 the fineness, thickness, whiteness, and smoothness 
 are particularly regarded ; . . . when it is coarse 
 it is polished with a (boar’s) tooth, or a shell ; but 
 then the writing is more readily effaced, as it does 
 not take the ink so well.” t 
 
 Pliny is greatly in error when he supposes that 
 the papyrus was not used for making paper, before 
 the time of Alexander the Great, since we meet 
 with papyri of the most remote Pharaonic periods ; 
 and the same mode of writing on them is shown 
 from the sculptures to have been common in the 
 age of Suphis, or Cheops, the builder of the Great 
 Pyramid, more than ^000 years before our era. 
 
 It is uncertain until what period paper made of 
 the papyrus continued in general use — but there is 
 
 * Some read “ vicinae,” not “ viginti.” 
 
 f So called from Fannins, who had a manufactory at Rome for 
 preparing paper. Plin. xiii. 12. 
 
 t Fide Plin. xiii. 12., where he makes other observations on the 
 cjuality of paper. 
 
CHAP. IX. PARCHMENT. — OTHER MATERIALS. 1.51 
 
 evidence of its having been occasionally employed, 
 to the end of the seventh century, when it was 
 superseded by parchment. All public documents, 
 under Charlemagne and his dynasty, were written 
 on this last, and the papyrus was then entirely 
 given up. 
 
 Parchment, indeed, had been invented long be- 
 fore, and was used for writing, as early as the year 
 250 before our era, by Eumenes, king of Per- 
 gamus ; who being desirous of collecting a library 
 which should vie with that of Alexandria, and 
 being prevented by the jealousy of the Ptolemies 
 from obtaining a sufficient quantity of papyrus, 
 had recourse to this substitute ; and its invention 
 at Pergamus claimed, and secured to it, the lasting 
 name of Pergamena.* It was made of the skins 
 of sheep and calves ; but to the former the name 
 of parchment is more correctly applied, as to the 
 latter that of vellum. t 
 
 The monopoly of the papyrus in Egypt so in- 
 creased the price of the commodity, that persons 
 in humble life could not afford to purchase it for 
 ordinary purposes ; few documents, therefore, are 
 met with written on papyrus, except funeral rituals, 
 the sales of estates, and official papers, which were 
 absolutely required: and so valuable was it, that 
 they frequently obliterated the old writing, and 
 inscribed another document on the same sheet. 
 
 For common purposes, pieces of broken pottery, 
 
 * Called also inembrana by the Romans. 
 
 •f- From vellus, “ a skin,” or vitulinuai, “ of calf.” 
 
 L 4 
 
152 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 stone, board, and leather were used ; an order to visit 
 some monument, a soldier’s leave of absence, ac- 
 counts, and various memoranda, were often written 
 on the fragments of an earthenware vase ; an artist 
 sketched a picture, which he was about to introduce 
 in a temple or a sepulchre, on a large flat slab of 
 limestone, or on a wooden panel prepared with a 
 thin coating of stucco : and even parts of funeral 
 rituals were inscribed on square pieces of stone, on 
 stuccoed cloth, or on leather. Sometimes leather 
 rolls were substituted for papyri, and buried in the 
 same manner with the deceased ; they are of an 
 early period, and probably adopted in consequence 
 of the high price of the papyrus ; but few have 
 hitherto been found at Thebes. 
 
 In the infancy of society, various materials were 
 employed for writing, as stones, bricks, tiles, plates 
 of bronze, lead and other metals, wooden tables *, 
 the leaves and bark of trees, and the shoulder bones 
 of animals. Wooden tablets covered with wax, 
 were long in use among the Romans, as well as 
 the papyrus t ; and the inner bark of trees t, 
 and pieces of linen §, had been previously adopted 
 by them. 
 
 Many Eastern people still write on the leaves 
 of trees, or on wooden tablets, and waraka con- 
 
 * These wooden tablets, whicli are covered with a glazed composi- 
 tion capable of receiving ink, were used by the Egyptians long after they 
 had papyri, and they are still common in schools at Cairo in lieu of 
 our slates. One is represented in wood-cut. No. 90. Jig. 5. 
 
 f Whence the word “ paper as in byblus, or biblus, originated the 
 name bible or book. 
 
 t Called liber, whence the Latin name liber, “ a book.” 
 
 ^ Liv. iv. 7. xiii. 20. “ Linteis libris,” about the year 440 b.c. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 OUR MOUKUN PAPER. 
 
 153 
 
 tinues to signify, in Arabic, both “ a leaf” and 
 “ paper.” 
 
 The early Arabs committed their poetry and 
 compositions to the shoulder-bones of sheep : they 
 afterwards obtained the papyrus paper from Egypt, 
 on which the poems called Monllaqdt were written, 
 in gold letters ; and after their conquests in Asia 
 and Africa, these people so speedily profited by, 
 and improved the inventions of the nations they 
 had subdued, that parchment was manufactured 
 in Syria, Arabia, and Egypt, which in colour and 
 delicacy might vie with our modern paper. It 
 speedily su})erseded the use of the papyrus, and 
 continued to be employed until the discovery of 
 the method of making paper from cotton and silk, 
 called Carta bomhycina., which is proved by Mont- 
 faucon to have been known at least as early as 
 A.D. 1100 ; and is supposed to have been invented 
 about the beginning of the ninth century. Being- 
 introduced into Spain from Syria, it was denomin- 
 ated Carta Damascena ; and some manuscripts on 
 cotton paper are said to exist in the Escurial, 
 written in the eleventh century. 
 
 It is a matter of doubt to what nation, and period, 
 the invention of paper manufactured from linen 
 ought to be ascribed. The Chinese were acquainted 
 with the secret of making it from various vegetable 
 substances long before it was known in Europe ; 
 the perfection to which they have carried this 
 branch of art continues to excite our admiration ; 
 and “ the librarian Casiri relates,” according to 
 Gibbon, “from credible testimony, that paper was 
 
154 . 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 first imported from China to Samarcand a. h. 30 
 (a. d. 652), and invented^ or rather introduced, at 
 Mecca a. h. 88 (a. d. 7 IO).” * 
 
 It may, however, be questioned whether it was 
 made from linen at that early period, and we have 
 no positive proof of linen paper being known even 
 by the Saracens, prior to the eleventh century. The 
 Moors, as might be expected, soon introduced it 
 into Spain, and the Escurial library is said to contain 
 manuscripts written on this kind of paper, as old as 
 the twelfth century, t 
 
 But paper of mixed cotton and linen, which was 
 made at the same time, appears to have been in 
 more general use; and linen paper continued to be 
 rare in most European countries till the fifteenth 
 century. That it was known in Germany as early 
 as the year 1312, has been satisfactorily ascertained 
 by existing documents, and a letter on linen paper, 
 written from Germany to Hugh Despencer, about 
 the year 1315, is preserved in the Chapter-house 
 at Westminster; which, even to the water-mark, 
 resembles that made at the present day. 
 
 It was not till the close of the sixteenth century 
 that paper was manufactured in England. The 
 first was merely of a coarse brown quality, very 
 similar to that of the modern Arabs, whose skill in 
 this, as in many arts and sciences, has been trans- 
 ferred to people once scarcely known to them, and 
 then greatly their inferiors ; and writing or printing 
 
 * Gibbon, vol. ix. c. 51. p. 379. 
 
 f Some doubt the existence of any MS. on linen paper before the 
 year 1270; but an Arabic version of the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, in 
 the Escurial, dates in the beginning of the 13th century. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 TANNERS AND CURRIERS. 
 
 155 
 
 paper was not made in London before 1690 ; France 
 and Holland having, till that time, supplied us with 
 an annual importation, to the amount of nearly 
 100,000 pounds. 
 
 TANNERS AND LEATHER CUTTERS. 
 
 The tanning and preparation of leather was also 
 a branch of art, in which the Egyptians evinced 
 considerable skill ; the leather cutters, as I have 
 already observed, constituted one of the principal 
 subdivisions of the third caste ; and a district of the 
 city was exclusively appropriated to them, in the 
 Libyan part of Thebes. 
 
 Leather is little capable of resisting the action of 
 damp, the salts of the earth, or excessive dryness, 
 so that we cannot reasonably expect to find it suf- 
 ficiently well preserved, to enable us to judge of 
 its quality ; but the fineness of that employed for 
 making the straps, placed across the bodies of mum- 
 mies, discovered at Thebes, and the beauty of 
 the figures stamped upon them, satisfactorily prove 
 the skill of “ the leather cutters and the anti- 
 quity of embossing : some of these bearing the 
 names of kings, who ruled Egypt about the period 
 of the Exodus, or 3300 years ago. 
 
 Many of the occupations of tlieir trade are por- 
 trayed on the painted walls of the tombs at Thebes. 
 They made shoes, sandals, the coverings and seats 
 of chairs or sofas, bow-cases, and most of the orna- 
 
 * Vide Vol. II. p. 7. 
 
l.'jfj THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. IX. 
 
 mental furniture of the chariot; harps were also 
 adorned with coloured leather, and shields and 
 numerous other things were covered with skin 
 prepared in various ways. Tliey also made skins 
 for carrying water, wine, and other liquids ; and 
 the custom of coating them within with a resin- 
 ous substance was the origin, as I have already 
 observed *, of that acquired taste, which led the 
 Egyptians to imitate the flavour it imparted to 
 wine, even in their earthen amphorie. 
 
 Part of the process of curing the skins is intro- 
 duced in the sculptures ; and that of dyeing them 
 is mentioned in the Bible t, being doubtless bor- 
 rowed by the Jews from Egypt. In one instance, 
 a man is represented dipping the hide into a vase, 
 probably containing water, in which it was suffered 
 to soak, preparatory to the lime being applied to 
 remove the hair ; a process very similar to that 
 adopted at the present day in Egypt and other coun- 
 tries. The Arabs prefer the acrid juice of a plant 
 growing in the desert, for the purpose, as its effect 
 is still more rapid, and as it has the advantage of 
 making the skin better and more durable. 
 
 This plant is the Periploca Secamone ; its stalks 
 contain a white milky juice, which exudes from it 
 when bruised, and which is so acrid as to be highly 
 injurious to the eye, or to the wounded skin. It 
 supports itself by winding around every neighbour- 
 ing shrub, and its not ungraceful stalks appear to 
 have been occasionally used by the ancient Egyp- 
 
 * Vol. n. p. 158. 
 
 f Exod. XXV. 5. “ And rains’ skins dyed red.” 
 
CHAP. IX. MODE OF CUTTING LEATHER. 
 
 157 
 
 tians, for the same ornamental purpose as the ivy, 
 in forming festoons. But there is no evidence of its 
 having been employed by them in curing skins, 
 though they seem to have been well acquainted 
 with the properties of the plants which grew in the 
 deserts, as well as in the valley of the Nile ; and 
 however we might be inclined to suppose that, in 
 the sculptures of Thebes, representing the occupa- 
 tions of curriers, they are pounding something of 
 the kind for this purpose, the absence of every in- 
 dication of the contents of the vase, or mortar, 
 leaves it undecided if it be the periploca, or lime, 
 salt, or other substance. 
 
 According to the Arabs, the method of preparing 
 skins with the periploca, or Ghulga, is as follows ; 
 — “ The skins are first put into flour and salt for 
 three days, and are cleansed of all the fat and im- 
 purities of the inside. The stalks of the plant 
 being pounded between large stones, are then put 
 into water, applied to the inner side of the skin for 
 one day, and the hair having fallen off, the skin is 
 left to dry for two or three days, and the process is 
 completed.” 
 
 The mode of stretching or bending leather over 
 a form is frequently represented at Thebes ; and it 
 is curious to observe, that the semicircular knife *, 
 used by the ancient Egyptians between 3000 and 
 4000 years ago, is precisely similar to that of our 
 modern curriers. 
 
 As in other trades, the tools they employed were 
 
 * Fide wood-cut, No. 55., fig. c, Vol. I. p. .350. 
 
158 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. IX. 
 
 neither numerous nor complex, and their means 
 might sometimes appear inadequate, did we not see 
 the beautiful work performed at the present day, 
 in China, India, and other countries, where the 
 implements are equally simple. The semicircular 
 knife, a sort of chisel, the common awl, (specimens 
 of which have been found at Thebes, similar to 
 our own,) a stone for polishing the leather, the 
 cutting table, the bending form, the horn, and a 
 few other utensils, were all that occurred in the 
 shop of the shoemaker, or the currier ; and a 
 prepared skin, the emblem of their trade, was sus- 
 pended, together with ready-made slioes and otlier 
 articles, to indicate their skill, and to invite a cus- 
 tomer. 
 
 The shops of an Egyptian town were probably 
 similar to those of Cairo *, and other Eastern 
 cities : which consist of a square room, open in 
 front, with falling or sliding shutters, to close it at 
 night ; and the goods ranged in shelves, or sus- 
 pended against the walls, are exposed to the view of 
 those who pass. In front is generally a raised seat, 
 where the owner of the shop and his customers sit, 
 dining the long process of concluding a bargain, 
 previous to the sale and purchase of the smallest 
 article ; and here an idle lounger frequently passes 
 whole hours, less intent on benefiting the shop- 
 keeper, than in amusing himself with the busy 
 scene of the passing crowd. 
 
 Among the many curious customs introduced in 
 
 Vide Lane’s Modern Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 9. and 10., wood-cuts. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 SHOPS. 
 
 159 
 
 the paintings, and still retained in the East, is that 
 of holding a strap of leather, or other substance, 
 with the toes, which from their being always free, 
 and unincumbered with tight shoes, retain their 
 full power and pliability ; and the singular, I 
 
 No. 360. Currier holding a strap of leather with his toes, while cutting it. Thebes, 
 b b are straps tied up, and deposited in the shop. 
 
 may say, primitive, mode of tightening a thong 
 with the teeth, while sewing a shoe, is also por- 
 trayed in the paintings of the time of the third 
 Thothmes. 
 
 It is probable that, as at the present day, they 
 ate in the open front of their shops, exposed to the 
 view of every one who passed ; and to this custom 
 Herodotus may allude, when he says “the Egyp- 
 tians eat in the street.” * 
 
 In Eastern towns, no regal arms, or gilded in- 
 scription, proclaim the patronage t of “ his Ma- 
 jesty,” and no picture or description, affixed to the 
 shop, announce the trade of the owner ; being 
 
 * Herodot. ii. 35. 
 
 f A Turk in London once observed, “ How very changeable your 
 king must be, if all the shops having royal arms have been successively 
 tried by him. 
 
160 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 
 No. 361. Parti. Shoemakers. 
 
 Parts. Men employed in polishing a column. Thebes. 
 
 Fig. 1. making a hole with an awl. 2. tightening a thong witli his teeth. 
 
 bb sandals hanging up in the shop. c to / various tools. 
 
 thought sufficiently shown by the goods exposed 
 for sale ; but this does not prevent the incon- 
 sistency, perhaps profanation, of attaching a reli- 
 gious sentence, or the name of the Deity, to walls, 
 which hourly witness an attempt to defraud the in- 
 experienced customer. Nor is there any direct evi- 
 dence that the ancient Egyptians affixed the name 
 and trade of the owner of the shop, though the pre- 
 sence of hieroglyphics, denoting this last, together 
 with the emblem which indicated it, may seem to 
 argue in favour of the custom ; and the absence of 
 many individuals’ names in the sculptures is readily 
 accounted for by the fact, that these scenes refer 
 
chap. IX. 
 
 TANNERS AND CURRIERS. 
 
 I6l 
 
 to the occupation of the whole trade, and not to 
 any particular person. 
 
 Of all people, we may suppose Egyptian shop- 
 keepers most likely to display the patronage received 
 from royalty, the name of a monarch being so often 
 introduced in the most conspicuous manner on 
 the coffins of private individuals, and in the paint- 
 ings of the tombs ; many of the scarabaei they 
 wore presenting the name of a king ; and the 
 most ordinary devices being formed to resemble a 
 royal oval. But whether or not they had this cus- 
 tom, or that of affixing the name and occupation of 
 the tradesman, it is difficult to determine ; and 
 indeed in those cities where certain districts were 
 set apart for particular trades, the latter distinction 
 was evidently uncalled for, and superfluous. 
 
 The great consumption of leather in Egypt, and 
 the various purposes to which skins*, both in the 
 tanned and raw state, were applied, created a 
 demand far greater than could be satisfied by the 
 produce of the country ; they therefore imported 
 skins from foreign countries, and part of the 
 tribute, levied on the conquered tribes of Asia 
 and Africa, consisted of hides, and the skins of wild 
 animals, as the leopard, fox, and others ; which 
 are frequently represented in the paintings of 
 Thebes, laid before the throne of the Egyptian 
 monarch, togetlier with gold, silver, ivory, rare 
 
 * Skins were considered of great value by many ancient people : the 
 rewards in the games at Chemmis in Upper Egypt, were skins, cattle, 
 and cloaks, and we find the same custom among the Greeks. Vide 
 Horn. II. xxii. 159. Herodot. ii. 91. 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 woods, and the various productions * of each van- 
 quished country. 
 
 For tanning, they used the pods of the Sont, or 
 Acacia (Acacia or Mimosa Nilotica), the acanthus 
 of Strabo and other writers ; which was cultivated 
 in many parts of Egypt, being also prized for its 
 timber and gum ; and it is probable that the 
 bark and wood of the Rhus oxyocanthoides, a 
 native of the desert, were employed for the same 
 purpose.! 
 
 FULLERS. 
 
 Many persons, both men and women, were en- 
 gaged in cleaning cloth, and stuffs of various kinds ; 
 and the occupations of the fuller form some of the 
 numerous subjects of the sculptures. It is, how- 
 ever, probable that they were only a subdivision of 
 
 ab inclined table*, cc the water running off into the trough below. 
 
 * Some of these tributes put us in mind of the objects which came 
 in Solomon’s ships : “ gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks,” 
 1 Kings, X. 22. ; see also Athenaeus (lib. v.), where he mentions the 
 presents brought to Ptolemy Philadelphus. 
 
 f The Arabs also use the bark of the Acacia Sayal for tanning ; it 
 grows in the desert, but not in. the valley of the Nile. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 POTTERS. 
 
 163 
 
 the dyers, whose skill in colouring cloth I have 
 already noticed. 
 
 POTTERS. 
 
 A far more numerous class were the potters ; 
 and all the processes of mixing the clay, and of 
 turning, baking, and polishing the vases, are re- 
 presented in the tombs of Thebes and Beni 
 Hassan. 
 
 They frequently kneaded the clay with their feet, 
 and after it had been properly worked up, they form- 
 ed it into a mass of convenient size with the hand, 
 and placed it on the wheel*, which, to judge from 
 that represented in the paintings, was of very 
 simple construction, and turned with the hand. 
 The various forms of the vases were made out by 
 the finger during their revolution ; the handles, if 
 they had any, were afterwards affixed to them ; 
 and the devices and other ornamental parts were 
 traced with a wooden or metal instrument, pre- 
 vious to their being baked. They were then suf- 
 fered to dry, and for this purpose were placed on 
 planks of wood ; they were afterwards arranged 
 with great care in trays, and carried, by means of 
 the usual yoke, borne on men’s shoulders, to the 
 oven. 
 
 Many of the vases, bottles, and pans of ordi- 
 nary quality were very similar to those made in 
 Egypt at the present day, as we learn from the 
 
 * Some suppose the potter’s wheel to have been invented by Ana- 
 charsis, but, as Strabo observes, it was already known to Homer. 
 Strabo, vii. p. 209. Seneca Epist. 90. Plin.vii. 56. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 POTTERS. 
 
 165 
 
 representations in the paintings, and from those 
 found in the tombs, or in the ruins of old 
 towns ; and judging from the number of Coptic 
 words applied to the different kinds, their names 
 were as varied as their forms. Coptos and its 
 vicinity were always noted for this manufacture ; 
 the clays found there were peculiarly suited for 
 porous vases to cool water ; and their qualities are 
 fully manifested, at the present day, in the goolleh 
 or bardak bottles, of Qeneh. 
 
 That the forms of the modern goollehs are bor- 
 rowed from those of an ancient time is evident, from 
 the fragments found amidst the mounds, which mark 
 the sites of ancient towns and villages, as well as 
 from the many preserved entire ; and a local tra- 
 dition affirms that the modern manufacture is bor- 
 rowed from, and has succeeded without interruption 
 to, tliat of former days. 
 
 It is impossible to fix the period of the invention 
 of the potter’s wheel, and the assertion of Pliny, 
 who attributes it to Coroebus the Athenian*, is not 
 only disproved by probability, but by the positive 
 fact that it was known at the earliest epoch of 
 Egyptian history, of which the sculptures have 
 been preserved, previous to the arrival of Joseph, 
 and consequently long before the foundation of 
 Athens. 
 
 But Pliny’s chapter of inventions abounds with 
 errors of this kind, and serves to show how com- 
 monly the Greeks adopted the discoveries of other 
 
 * Plin. vii. 50. 
 
 M 3 
 
166 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 nations, particularly of Egypt and Phoenicia, and 
 claimed them as their own ; even the art of cutting 
 stones is attributed to Cadmus, of Thebes ; and 
 Thales of Miletus was said to have enlightened the 
 Egyptians, under whom he had long been stu- 
 dying*, by teaching them to measure the altitude of 
 a pyramid, or other body, by its shadowt, at the 
 late period of 600 b.c. Though we may pardon, 
 we must smile at, the vanity of the Greeks, who 
 pretended to the merit of pointing out to their 
 instructors a discovery t, of which men so skilful 
 in astronomy and mathematics could not have 
 been ignorant ; but we must express our surprise 
 at the simplicity of modern writers, who believe 
 and repeat so improbable a story. 
 
 The Egyptians displayed much taste in their 
 gold, silver, porcelain, and glass vases, but when 
 made of earthenware, for ordinary purposes, they 
 were sometimes devoid of elegance, and scarcely 
 superior to those of England, before the classic taste 
 of Wedgewood substituted the graceful forms of 
 Greek models, for the unseemly productions of our 
 old potteries. Though the clay of Upper Egypt 
 was particularly suited to porous bottles, it could 
 not be obtained of a sufficiently fine quality for 
 the manufacture of vases like those of Greece and 
 Italy; in Egypt too, good taste did not extend to 
 
 ♦ The Greeks went to study in Egypt, as modern artists in Italy- 
 
 f Plin. xxxvi. 12. “ When the shadow was equal to its height,” at 
 
 an angle of 45°. 
 
 J On a par with this is their deriving foreign names from their own 
 language, as Isis from the Greek word signifying “ knowledge.” — 
 “ yap »; \aig (ari.'' Pint, de Is. s. 2. : and many others. 
 
CHAP. IX. CARPENTERS AND CABINET-MAKERS. 1^7 
 
 all classes, as in Greece ; and vases used for fetch- 
 ing water from a well, or from the Nile, were fre- 
 quently of a very ordinary kind, far inferior to those 
 carried by the Athenian women to the fountain of 
 Kallirhoe.* 
 
 The Greeks, it is true, were indebted to Egypt 
 for much useful knowledge, and for many early hints 
 in art, but they speedily surpassed their instructors 
 in taste, and improved on the information they had 
 acquired ; and in nothing, perhaps, is this more 
 strikingly manifested than in the productions of the 
 potter. 
 
 CARPENTERS AND CABINET-MAKERS. 
 
 Carpenters and cabinet-makers were a very 
 numerous class of workmen : and their occupa- 
 tions generally form one of the most important sub- 
 jects in the paintings which represent the Egyptian 
 trades. 
 
 Egypt produced little wood ; and with the ex- 
 ception of the date and dom palms, the sycamore, 
 tamarisk, and acacias, few trees of native growth 
 atforded timber either for building, or for orna- 
 mental purposes. 
 
 The principal uses of the date and dom trees I 
 have already mentioned, t 
 
 For coffins, boxes, tables, doors, and other objects, 
 which required large and thick planks, for idols and 
 wooden statues, the sycamore was principally em- 
 
 * In Mr. Rogers’s choice collection is a vase, on which this subject 
 is represented, 
 t In Vol. II. p. 177, 178. 
 
 M 4 
 
168 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 ployed ; and from the great quantity discovered in 
 the tombs alone, it is evident that the tree was cul- 
 tivated to a great extent. It had the additional re- 
 commendation of bearing a fruit, to which the 
 Egyptians were very partial ; and a religious preju- 
 dice claimed for it, and the Persea, the name and 
 rank of sacred fruit trees. 
 
 The tamarisk was preferred for the handles of 
 tools, wooden hoes, and other things requiring a hard 
 and compact wood ; and of the acacia were made the 
 planks and masts «f boats, the handles of offensive 
 weapons of war, and various articles of furniture. 
 Large groves of this tree were cultivated in many 
 parts of Egypt; especially in the vicinity of 
 Memphis and Abydus, where they still exist; and 
 besides its timber, the acacia was highly valued for 
 the pods it produced, so useful for tanning, and 
 for the gum, which exudes from the trunk and 
 branches, now known under the name of gum Ara- 
 bic.* This tree is not less prized by the modern 
 Egyptians, who have retained its name as well as its 
 uses ; sont being applied to this species of acacia, 
 both in Arabic and the ancient Egyptian language. 
 
 Besides the Sont, or Acacia (Mimosa) Nilotica, 
 the Sellem, Sumr, Talk, Fitneh, Lehhekh, and 
 other acacias, which grew in Egypt, were also 
 adapted to various purposes ; and some instances 
 are met with of the wood of the Eqleeq, or Balanites 
 Aigyptiaca, and of different desert trees having 
 been used by the Egyptian carpenters. 
 
 * Other acacias produce this sum. The Tulh has, jxtr excellence, 
 the specific title of gummifera. Vide Vol. II. p. 182. 
 
CHAP. IX. IMITATION OF RARE WOODS. 
 
 169 
 
 For ornamental purposes, and sometimes even 
 for coffins, doors, and boxes, foreign woods were 
 employed ; deal and cedar were imported from 
 Syria ; and part of the contributions, exacted from 
 the conquered tribes of Ethiopia, and Asia, con- 
 sisted in ebony and other rare woods, which were 
 annually brought by the chiefs, deputed to present 
 their country’s tribute to the Egyptian monarchs. 
 
 Boxes, chairs, tables, sofas, and other pieces of 
 furniture were frequently^ made of ebony, inlaid 
 with ivory ; sycamore and acacia were veneered 
 with thin layers, or ornamented with carved de- 
 vices, of rare wood, applied, or let into them ; and 
 a fondness for this display suggested to the Egypt- 
 ians the art of painting common boards, to imitate 
 foreign varieties, so generally adopted at the pre- 
 sent day. 
 
 The colours were usually applied on a thin coat- 
 ing of stucco, laid smoothly upon the previously 
 prepared wood, and the various knots and grains, 
 painted upon this ground, indicated the quality of 
 the wood they intended to counterfeit. 
 
 The usual tools * of the carpenter were the axe, 
 adze, hand-saw, chisels of various kinds (which were 
 struck with a wooden mallet), the drill, and two sorts 
 of planes (one resembling a chisel t, the other ap- 
 parently of stone, acting as a rasp on the surface 
 of the wood, which was afterwards polished by a 
 smooth body, probably .also of stone t); and these 
 
 * Vide supra, wood-cut, No. 151. Vol. II. c. 5. p. 181. 
 
 t Vide wood-cut, No. 89. 3. Vol. II. p. 42. 
 
 J Vide wood-cut, No. S9.fig. 2. Vol. II. p. 42. 
 
170 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 with the ruler *, plummet, and right angle t, a leather 
 bag containing nails, the hone, and horn of oil, 
 constituted the principal, and perhaps the only, 
 implements he used. 
 
 Some of the furniture of their rooms, the work 
 of the cabinet-maker, I have already noticed t, and 
 have observed § the perfection to which they had 
 arrived in the construction of the chairs and otto- 
 mans of their saloons ; nor can I omit the mention 
 of the art of dovetailing, already practised in the 
 earliest Pharaonic ages, or the mode of applying 
 two planks together in the same plane, by means 
 of broad pins, or tongues, of hard wood. Of the 
 former numerous instances occur, both in large and 
 small objects, and no illustration of it is required ; 
 the latter is peculiar, and shows the great care 
 taken to make every thing durable, which charac- 
 terizes all the works of the Egyptians. 
 
 When two boards are joined together by our 
 modern carpenters, they insert small round pins 
 horizontally, into corresponding parts of the edges, 
 and then apply them together, so as to form as it 
 were a single piece ; but the Egyptian carpenter was 
 not content with this precaution, and having used flat 
 pins for this purpose about two inches in breadth, he 
 secured these again, after the boards had been ap- 
 plied to each other, by round pins or wooden nails, 
 driven vertically through the boards, into each of 
 the flat pins; and thus the possibility of the joint 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 
 
 f Vide wood-cut. No. 339. partii.yg. v.-, and No. 301. c. 
 
 j At the beginning of chapter vi. 
 
 § Vol. II. ch. vi. p. 195. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 CARPENTERS. 
 
 171 
 
 opening was efFectnally prevented, even should the 
 glue, which was added as in our modern boxes, fail 
 to hold them. 
 
 After the wood had been reduced to a proper 
 size by the saw, the adze was the principal tool 
 employed for fashioning it ; and from the pre- 
 cision with which even the smallest objects are 
 worked with it at the present day, by the un- 
 skilful carpenters of modern Egypt, we may 
 form some idea of its use in the hands of their 
 expert predecessors ; and we are less surprised to 
 meet with it so frequently represented in the 
 sculptures. 
 
 Many of them, together with saws and chisels, 
 have been found at Thebes : the blades are all of 
 bronze, the handles of the acacia or the tamarisk ; 
 and, which is very singular, the general mode of 
 fastening the blade to the handle, appears to have 
 been by thongs of hide. It is probable that some 
 of those discovered in the tombs are only models, 
 or unfinished specimens ; and it may have been 
 thought sufficient to show their external appear- 
 ance, without the necessity of nailing them, beneath 
 the thongs * ; for those which they used were 
 bound in the same manner, though I believe them 
 to have been also secured with nails. Some, 
 how'ever, evidently belonged to the individuals in 
 whose tombs they were buried, and like the chisels 
 appear to have been used : for these last often bear 
 
 * It is probable that the stone and bronze celts found in Britain 
 were fastened to their handles in the same manner. Fide wood-cut. 
 No, 364. c. and No. 359. u. part 2. 
 
172 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 the signs of having been beaten with the hammer 
 or mallet. 
 
 The drill is frequently exhibited in the sculp- 
 tures. Like all the other tools, it was of the 
 earliest date, and precisely similar to that of 
 modern Egypt, even to the nut of the dom * in 
 which it turned, and the form of its bow with a 
 leathern thong. 
 
 The chisel was employed for the same purposes, 
 and in the same manner, as at the present day, 
 and was struck with a wooden mallet, sometimes 
 flat at the two ends, sometimes of circular or oval 
 form ; several of which last have been found at 
 Thebes, and are preserved in our European mu- 
 seums. The handles of the chisel were of acacia, 
 tamarisk, or other compact wood ; the blades of 
 bronze ; and the form of the points varied in 
 breadth, according to the work for which they 
 were intended. 
 
 The hatchet was principally used by boat- 
 builders, and those who made large pieces of 
 framework ; and trees were felled with the same 
 instrument. 
 
 The mode of sawing timber was primitive and 
 imperfect, owing to their not having adopted the 
 double saw ; and they were obliged to cut every 
 piece of wood, however large, single-handed. In 
 order, therefore, to divide a beam into planks, they 
 placed it, if not of very great length, upright be- 
 tween two posts, firmly fixed in the ground, and 
 
 • ride wood-cut, No. 359. part 2., and Vol. II. p. 180, 181. 
 
CHAP. IX. EARLY USE OF GLUE. 173 
 
 being lashed to them with cords, or secured with 
 pins, it was held as in a vice.* 
 
 Among the many occupations of the carpenter, 
 that of veneering is noticed in the sculptures of 
 Thebes, as early as the time of the third Thoth- 
 mes, whom I suppose to be the Pharaoh of the 
 Exodus ; and the application of a piece of rare 
 wood of a red colour, to a yellow plank of syca- 
 more, or other ordinary kind, is clearly pointed 
 out. And in order to show that the yellow wood 
 is of inferior quality, the workman is represented 
 to have fixed his adze carelessly in a block of the 
 same colour, while engaged in applying them to- 
 gether. Near him are some of his tools, with a box 
 or small chest, made of inlaid and veneered wood, 
 of various hues ; and in the same part of the shop 
 are two other men, one of whom is employed in 
 grinding something with a stone on a slab, and the 
 other in spreading glue with a brush. 
 
 It might, perhaps, be conjectured that varnish 
 was intended to be here represented ; but the ap- 
 pearance of the pot on the fire, the piece of glue 
 with its concave fracture, and the workman before 
 mentioned, applying the two pieces of wood to- 
 gether, satisfactorily decide the question, and attest 
 the invention of glue t 3300 years ago. This is 
 not, however, the only proof of its use at an early 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 368. a. 
 
 f Professor Rosellini seems to tliink that the application of colour 
 is here represented ; but the presence of the pot, containing the brush, 
 upon the fire (Wood-cut, No. 364. 8.) will scarcely admit of this, 
 though the figure (yig. 2.) grinding something on the slab, might ap- 
 pear to strengthen his conjecture. He has placed this subject with the 
 
174< THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 painters of Beni Hassan, but it is at Thebes. Pliny asci 
 vention of glue to Daedalus, as well as of the saw, the axe, 
 line, and the auger. Plin. vii. 56. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 •ibes the in- 
 , the plumb- 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 BOXES. 
 
 175 
 
 period, and several wooden boxes have been 
 found, in which glue was employed to fasten the 
 joints. 
 
 Various boxes, shrines, articles of furniture, and 
 otlier works of the cabinet-maker are frequently 
 portrayed in the paintings of Thebes, many of which 
 present not inelegant forms, and are beautifully 
 made. I have already noticed * several of the 
 smaller objects, as boxes for trinkets and ointment, 
 wooden spoons, and the like ; and have described t 
 a curious substitute for a hinge, in some of those 
 discovered at Thebes. 
 
 Many boxes had lids resembling the curved 
 summit of a royal canopy t, and were ornamented 
 with the usual cornice § ; others had a simple flat 
 cover ; and some few a pointed summit, resembling 
 the shelving roof of a house. II This last kind of lid 
 was divided into two parts, one of which alone 
 opened, turning on two small pins at the base, on 
 the principle of the doors of their houses and 
 temples ; and when necessary, the two knobs at 
 the top^ could be tied together and sealed, in the 
 same manner as in that previously mentioned.** 
 
 When not veneered, or inlaid with rare wood, 
 the sides and lid were painted, and those in- 
 tended for the tombs, to be deposited there in 
 honour of the deceased, had usually a funereal 
 inscription, or a religious subject painted upon 
 
 # In Vol. II p. 355. to 362. f In p. 361, 362. 
 
 t Wood-cut, No. 365. Jigs. 1, 2, 3, 6. J Fig. 1. 
 
 II Wood-cut, No. 365. 4. 8 . IT Fig.i. 
 
 ** In Vol. II. p.362. 
 
176 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS 
 
 CHAP. IX 
 
 No.. 365. Different boxes. 
 
 Figs. 1. and 2. Mode of placing the lid when the box was opened. 
 
 3. Man opening a box, from a painting at Thebes. 
 
 4. and 5. A painted box of Mr. Salt's collection, showing how the lid opened. 
 6. and 7. Boxes from the paintings of Thebes. 
 
 8. Another box with a shelving lid, from a tomb at Thebes, in Mr. Salt's collection. 
 
CHAP. IX. BOXES. 177 
 
 them, representing offei’ings presented by mem- 
 bers of his family. * 
 
 Several boxes have been found at Thebes ; and 
 the British Museum possesses some formerly be- 
 longing to M. Salt, one of which is remarkable for 
 the brilliancy of the colours imparted to the pieces 
 of ivory with which it is inlaid. The box is of 
 ebony ; the ivory, painted red and blue, is let into 
 the sides and edges, and the lid is ornamented in 
 the same manner. There is in this a substitute for 
 a hinge, similar to the one before mentioned, except 
 that here the back of the cross bar, cut to a sharp 
 edge along its whole extent, fits into a corre- 
 sponding groove at the end of the box : tlie two 
 knobs are fixed in their usual place at the top and 
 front. 
 
 The lids of many boxes were made to slide in a 
 groove, like our small colour boxes, as that given 
 in a preceding w'ood-cutt ; others fitted into the 
 body, being cut away at the edges for this pur- 
 pose ; and some turned on a pin at the back, as I 
 have shown in the long-handled boxes before men- 
 tioned.! 
 
 In opening a large box they frequently pushed 
 back the lid, and then either turned it sideways § 
 and left it standing across the breadth of the box, 
 or suffered it to go to the ground ; but in those of 
 still larger dimensions, it w'as removed altogether 
 and laid upon the floor. 
 
 * Figs. 4. and 8. f Wood-cut, No. 269. p. .361. Vol. II. 
 
 J Vide wood-cuts, Nos. 258, 259. and 263. 
 
 $ Wood-cut, No. 365. 1, 2, 3. 
 
 VOL. HI. 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 With the carpenters may be mentioned the 
 wheelwrights, the makers of coffins, and the 
 coopers ; and this subdivision of one class of arti- 
 sans, showing a systematic partition of labour, is 
 one of many proofs of the advancement of this 
 civilised people. 
 
 I have already shown that the Egyptian cha- 
 riot was of wood*, and have pointed out what 
 portion of it was the province of the carpenter and 
 the currier t ; and having described the war chariot, 
 and the curricle of the towns, it only remains to 
 notice the travelling car, or Y\g\\t plaustrum, which 
 was drawn by oxen. 
 
 Though so frequently used in Egypt, it is sin- 
 gular that one instance alone occurs of this kind of 
 car, in a tomb I opened at Thebes in 1827 ; and 
 this ought to show how wrong it is to infer the 
 non-existence of a custom from its not being met 
 with in the sculptures. The same remark also 
 applies to the camel, which, in consequence of its 
 not being found either in the paintings or hiero- 
 glyphicst, is conjectured by some to have been un- 
 known in Egypt at an early period ; though, as I 
 have already observed §, it is distinctly mentioned 
 in the Bible among the presents given to Abraham 
 by the king of Egypt. 
 
 * Vol. I. p. 3-12. I have observed that the Egyptian chariot had 
 only two wheels, and one instance is alone met with of a four-wheeled 
 carriage. Pliny says waggons with four wheels were an invention of 
 the Phrygians, lib. vii. 56. 
 
 -{- Vol. I. p. 318. 
 
 f I have noticed an instance of it on a seal I found in Nubia, of 
 uncertain date. 
 
 $ In chap. viii. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 THE PLAUSTRUM. 
 
 179 
 
 The plaustrum was very similar to the war 
 chariot* and the curricle, but the sides appear to 
 have been closed, and it was drawn by a pair of 
 oxen instead of horses. The harness was much 
 the same, and the wheels had six spokes. In a 
 journey it was occasionally furnished with a sort of 
 umbrella, fixed upon a rod rising from the centre, 
 or back part, of the car : the reins were the same 
 as those used for horses, and apparently furnished 
 with a bit; and besides the driver, a groom some- 
 times attended on foot, at the head of the animals, 
 perhaps feeding them as they went. 
 
 The accompanying wood-cut represents an 
 Ethiopian princess, who is on her journey through 
 
 1 2 3 
 
 No. 366. An Ethiopian princess travelling in a plaustrum, or car drawn by oxen. Over 
 her is a sort of umbrella. Thebes. 
 
 3, an attendant. 4, the charioteer or driver. 
 
 * It has been always a matter of surprise how the ancients could 
 traverse hilly countries, where no roads were made, with so much facility 
 in chariots. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Upper Egypt to Thebes, where the court tlien 
 resided ; but whether it was on the occasion of her 
 projected marriage with the king, the brother of the 
 third Amunoph, or merely to present her homage 
 to liim, is uncertain. A large tribute is brought 
 at the same time from her countrymen, the “Cush,” 
 or “ Ethiopians;” which seems to show that it 
 merely relates to a visit of ceremony from the 
 queen or princess of that country ; and the fact of 
 the charioteer and some other of the attendants 
 being Egyptians, suggests that the plaustrum was 
 also provided from Egypt, as was the case when 
 Pharaoh * sent for Jacob, and his family, to bring 
 them to Egypt. The plaustra are called in Gene- 
 sis! “ waggons : ” they were commonly used in 
 Egypt for travelling ; and Strabo performed the 
 journey from Syene, to the spot, where he crossed 
 the river to visit Philae, in one of those carriages.! 
 
 Besides the plaustrum, they had a sort of palan- 
 quin §, and a canopy or frame-work, answering the 
 purpose of a sedan chair, in which they sometimes 
 sat or stood, in their open pleasure boats, or in situ- 
 ations where they wished to avoid the sun ; and 
 these were also the work of the cabinet-maker. 
 
 Certain persons were constantly employed in 
 the towns of Egypt, as at the present day in Cairo 
 and other places, to pound various substances in 
 large stone mortars ; and salt, seeds, and other 
 things were probably taken, in the same manner, 
 
 • Genes, xlv. 19. 
 
 f They are termed ageloot wheeled carriages. Gen. loc. cit. 
 
 i Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 562. ed. Cas. “ aTrrjvt}.” 
 j Vide supra, Vol. II. p. 228. Wood-cut, No. 174. 
 
CHAP. IX. POUNDING IN STONE MORTARS. 
 
 181 
 
 by a servant to these shops, whenever it was incon- 
 venient to have it done in the house. The pestles 
 they used, as well as the mortars themselves, were 
 precisely similar to those of the modern Egyptians ; 
 and their mode of pounding was the same ; two 
 men alternately raising ponderous metal pestles 
 with both hands, and directing their falling point 
 to the centre of the mortar ; which is now 
 
 No. 367. Pounding various substances in stone mortars, with metal pestles. Thebes. 
 
 gi, mortars. rfrf, pestles. Figs. 1 and 2, alternately raising and letting fall the pestles into the mortar. 
 
 Fig. 3 and 4, sifting the substance after it is pounded ; the coarser parts, A, being returned into the 
 mortar to be again pounded. 
 
 generally made of a large piece of granite, or 
 other hard stone, scooped out into a long narrow 
 tube, to little more than half its depth. When the 
 substance was well pounded, it was taken out, and 
 passed through a sieve, and the larger particles 
 were again returned to the mortar, until it was 
 sufficiently and equally levigated ; and this, and 
 the whole process here represented, so strongly 
 resemble the occupation of the public pounders 
 at Cairo, that no one, who has been in the habit of 
 walking in the streets of that town, can fail to recog- 
 
 N 3 
 
182 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 nise the custom, or doubt of its having been handed 
 down from the early Egyptians, and retained with- 
 out the slightest alteration, to the present day. 
 
 In a country where water and other liquids were 
 carried, or kept, in skins and earthenware jars, there 
 was little necessity for the employment of wooden 
 barrels, which too are little suited to a climate like 
 the hot and arid Egypt ; and modern experience 
 there shows how ill adapted barrels are for such 
 purposes, and how soon they fall to pieces, if neg- 
 lected or left empty for a very short period. We 
 cannot, therefore, expect that they should be in 
 common use among the ancient Egyptians ; and 
 the skill of the cooper * was only required to 
 make wooden measures for grain t, which were 
 bound with hoops either of wood or metal, and 
 resembled in principle those now used in Egypt 
 for the same purpose ; though in form they ap- 
 proached nearer to the small barrels t, or kegs, of 
 modern Europe. 
 
 In an agricultural scene, painted at Beni Has- 
 san, a small barrel is represented, placed upon a 
 stand, apparently at the end of the held, which I 
 at hrst supposed to have been intended to hold 
 water for the use of the husbandmen, one of whom 
 is approaching the spot ; calling to mind the cup 
 of wine presented to the ploughman on reaching 
 the end of the furrow, mentioned by Homer, in 
 
 * The coopers of Cairo are generally Greeks. 
 
 f One of these is represented in wood-cut, No. 90. Jig. 2. 
 
 j In Europe, barrels were said by Pliny to have been invented by 
 the Gauls, who inhabited the banks of the Po. Varro and Columella 
 mention them in their time. They were pitched within. 
 
CHAr. IX. COFFIN MAKERS. 183 
 
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 « 2 «oo'' 
 
 « 2 ' 
 
 ^ OJ ^ 
 
 w 3 
 
 tS _e « 
 bC O 
 
 C 
 
 ^ .3 iJ 
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 C U ^ 
 
 -n 'B 
 c c ^ 
 
 .- rt'3 
 
 S > 
 £ «2 
 3 «« a. 
 
 W 5*jz_ 
 C 0> 
 
 1 
 
 « -Sgi 
 
 eo 
 
 c 
 
 £ 
 
 6 
 
184 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. IX. 
 
 his description of the shield of Achilles * ; but it 
 is probable that in this instance, also, it is intended 
 to indicate the measure of grain, with which the 
 land was to be sown after the plough had passed. 
 
 A great number of persons were constantly em- 
 ployed in making coffins, as well as the numerous 
 boxes, wooden figures, and other objects con- 
 nected with funerals, who may be comprehended 
 under the general head of carpenters ; the under- 
 takers, properly so called, being a different class of 
 people, attached to and even forming part of the 
 sacerdotal order, though of an inferior grade. In- 
 deed the ceremonies of the dead were so numerous, 
 and so many persons were engaged in performing 
 the several duties connected with them, that no 
 particular class of people can be said to have had 
 the sole direction in these matters ; and we find 
 that the highest orders of priests officiated in some, 
 and in others those of a very subordinate station. 
 Thus the embalmers were held in the highest con- 
 sideration, while those who cut open the body, when 
 the intestines were removed, are said to have been 
 treated with ignominy and contempt, t 
 
 BOAT-BUILDERS AND SHIPS. 
 
 The boat-builders maybe divided into two sepa- 
 rate and distinct classes ; one of which formed a 
 subdivision of the carpenters, the other of the 
 basket-makers, or the weavers of rushes and 
 osiers ; another very numerous class of workmen. 
 
 * Homer II. a. 345, 
 
 t Diod. i. 91. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 BOATS OF THE PAPYRUS. 
 
 185 
 
 The boats made by these last were a sort of canoe 
 or punt, used for fishing, and consisted merely of 
 water plants or osiers, bound together with bands 
 made of the stalks of the papyrus or cyperus.* They 
 were very light, and some so small that they could 
 easily be carried from one place to amothert ; and 
 the Ethiopian boats, mentioned by Pliny 1, which 
 were taken out of the water, and carried on men’s 
 shoulders past the rapids of the cataracts, were 
 probably of a similar kind. 
 
 Strabo §, on the other hand, describes the boats 
 at the cataracts of Syene passing the falls in perfect 
 security, and exciting the surprise of the beholders, 
 before whom the boatmen delighted in displaying 
 their skill ; and Celsius affirms that they were made 
 of the papyrus. 
 
 Papyrus boats are frequently noticed by ancient 
 writers. Plutarch describes Isis going, in search 
 of the body of Osiris, “ through the fenny coun- 
 try, in a bark made of the papyrus H ; whence 
 it is supposed that persons using boats of this 
 description^ are never attacked by crocodiles, out 
 of fear and respect to the goddess ; ” and Moses is 
 said to have been exposed in “ an ark (or boat) of 
 bulrushes, daubed with slime and with pitch.”** 
 From this last we derive additional proof that the 
 
 * Not the same species as that used for making paper. Fide supra, 
 p. 146. 
 
 f Achilles Tatius, lib. iv. 
 
 j Plin. V. 9. § Strabo, xvii. p. 562. 
 
 II Plot, de Is. S. 18. “ Ev fSapiSi TraTrvpivy.” 
 
 if “ Ev iraTTvpivoiQ (TKa<psa( irXtovraQ.’' Plut. loc. cit. 
 
 ** Exod. ii. 3. The bulrush is called XDJ ; the paper reeds in 
 Isaiah; xix. 7. are nny. 
 
186 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 body of such boats was composed of rushes, which, 
 as I have observed, were bound together with the 
 papyrus ; and the mode of rendering them imper- 
 vious to water is satisfactorily pointed out by the 
 coating of pitch, with which they were covered. 
 Nor can there he any doubt that pitch was known 
 in Egypt at that time, since we find it on objects 
 which have been preserved of the same early date ; 
 and the Hebrew word (zift) is precisely the 
 same as that used for pitch by the Arabs, to the 
 present day. 
 
 Pliny mentions boats “woven of the papyrus*,” 
 the rind being made into sails, curtains, matting, 
 ropes, and even into cloth ; and observes else- 
 where that the papyrus, the rush, and the reed 
 were all used for making boats in Egypt. t 
 
 “Vessels of bulrushes” are again mentioned in 
 Isaiah t; Lucan alludes to the mode of binding 
 or sewing them with bands of papyrus § ; and Theo- 
 phrastus 1| notices boats made of the papyrus, and 
 sails and ropes of the rind of the same plant. 
 That small boats were made of these materials 
 is very probable ; and the sculptures of Thebes, 
 Memphis, and other places abundantly show that 
 they were employed as punts or canoes for fishing, 
 in all parts of Egypt, during the inundation of the 
 Nile ; particularly in the lakes and canals of the 
 Delta. 
 
 * Plin. xiii. 11. “ Ex ipso quidem papyro navigia texunt.” 
 
 t Plin. vii. 16. and vi. 22. f Isaiah, xviii. 2. 
 
 0 “ Conseritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro.” Lucan, iv. 136. 
 
 II Theophr. iv. 9. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 LARGE BOATS OF BURDEN. 
 
 187 
 
 There was another kind, called by Strabo 
 in one of which he crossed the Nile to the Island 
 of Philae, “ made of thongs, so as to resemble 
 wicker-work * ; ” but it does not appear from his 
 account whether it was formed of reeds bound to- 
 gether with thongs, or was like those made in Ar- 
 menia, and used for going down the river to Ba- 
 bylon, which Herodotus describes, of osiers covered 
 with hides.t 
 
 The Armenian boats were merely employed for 
 transporting goods down the current of the Eu- 
 phrates, and on reaching Babylon were broken 
 up ; the hides being put upon the asses which 
 had been brought on board for this purpose, and 
 the traders returning home by land. “ They 
 were round, in form of a shield, without either 
 head or stern ; the hollow part of the centre being 
 filled with straw.” “ Some were large, others 
 small, and the largest were capable of bearing 
 5000 talents weight.” They were therefore very 
 different from the boats, reported by the same 
 historian to have been made in Egypt for trans- 
 porting goods up the Nile, which he describes as 
 being built in the form of ordinary boats, with a 
 keel, and a mast and sails. 
 
 “The Egyptian boats of burden,” he says, “are 
 made of a thorn wood, very similar to the lotus of 
 Cyrene, from which a tear exudes, called gum. Of 
 this tree they cut planks measuring about two cubits. 
 
 * Strabo, xvii. p. 562. 
 
 f Herodot. i. 19-t. Those of the ancient Britons were made of 
 wicker-work covered with hides. Caes. B.C. i. 5L 
 
188 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 and having arranged them like bricks, they build 
 the boat in the following manner : — They fasten 
 the planks round firm long pegs, and, after this, 
 stretch over the surface a series of girths, but with- 
 out any ribs, and the whole is bound within by 
 bands of papyrus. A single rudder is then put 
 through the keel, and a mast of thorn-wood, and 
 sails of the papyrus (rind), complete the rigging. 
 These boats can only ascend the stream with a 
 strong wind, unless they are towed by ropes from 
 the shore ; and when coming down the river, they 
 are provided with a hurdle made of tamarisk *, 
 sewed together with reeds, and a stone, about two 
 talents weight, with a hole in the centre. The 
 hurdle is fastened to the head of the boat, and al- 
 lowed to float on the water ; the stone is attached 
 to the stern ; so that the former, carried down the 
 river by the rapidity of the stream, draws after it 
 the (for such is the name of these vessels), 
 
 and the latter, dragged behind, and sinking into 
 the water, serves to direct its course. They have 
 many of these boats ; some of which carry several 
 thousand talents weight.” t 
 
 That boats of the peculiar construction he here 
 describes were really used in Egypt, is very pro- 
 bable ; they may have been employed to carry 
 goods from one town to another, and navigated in 
 the manner he mentions ; but we may be allowed 
 to doubt their carrying several thousand talents, or 
 many tons, weight; and we have the evidence of the 
 
 * Vide Plin. xiii. 21. “ Myricen, quam alii tamaricen vocant.” 
 
 •j- Herod, ii. 96. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 SAILS. SHIPS OF WAR. 
 
 189 
 
 paintings of Upper and Lower Egypt to show that 
 the large boats of burthen were made of wooden 
 planks, which men are seen cutting with saws and 
 hatchets, and afterwards fastening together with 
 nails and pins ; and they were furnished with spa- 
 cious cabins, like those of modern Egypt. 
 
 Pliny even goes farther than Herodotus, and 
 speaks of papyrus vessels crossing the sea, and 
 visiting the Isle of Taprobane* (Ceylon) ; unless, 
 indeed, he alludes to their sails, made of the rind of 
 that plant. 
 
 We are not, however, reduced to the necessity of 
 crediting these statements of Pliny and Herodotus ; 
 and though punts and canoes of osiers, and papyrus, 
 or reeds, may have been used on some occasions, as 
 they still aret, on the Nile and the lakes of Egypt, 
 we may be certain that the Egyptians had strong 
 and well built vessels for the purposes of trade by 
 sea, and for carrying merchandise, corn, and other 
 heavy commodities on the Nile ; and that, even 
 if they had been very bold and skilful navigators, 
 they would not have ventured to Indiat, nor have 
 defeated the fleets of Phoenicia §, in their paper 
 vessels. 
 
 The sails, when made of the rind of the papy- 
 rus, have been supposed similar to those of the 
 
 * Plin.vi. 22. “ Quia papyraceis navibus armamentisque Nili pete- 
 retur (Taprobane).” 
 
 They are very rude, and much smaller than those of ancient times, 
 j Among the numerous productions of India met with in Egypt, 
 which tend to prove an intercourse with that country, may be men- 
 tioned the pine apple, models of which are found in the tombs, of glazed 
 pottery. One is in the possession of Sir Richard Westmacott. 
 
 ^ In the reign of Apries. Vide Vol. I. p. 169. 
 
190 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Chinese, which fold up like our Venetian blinds; 
 but there is only one boat represented in the 
 paintings, which appears to have sails of this kind, 
 though so many are introduced there ; nor can 
 we believe that a people, noted for their manufac- 
 tures of linen and other cloths, would have pre- 
 ferred so imperfect a substitute as the rind of a 
 plant, especially as they exported sail cloth to 
 Phoenicia for that very purpose.* 
 
 Diodorus t and Herodotus t both mention the 
 fleet of long vessels, or ships of war, fitted out by 
 Sesostris in the Arabian Gulf The former states 
 that they were four hundred in number, and that 
 Sesostris was the first Egyptian monarch, who huilt 
 similar vessels ; but Herodotus merely says he was 
 the first who passed into the ocean ; and the neces- 
 sity of previously having ships of war to protect the 
 trade and coasts of Egypt, disproves his statement, 
 and suggests that they were used at the early period, 
 w’hen the port of Philoteras traded with the Arabian, 
 and, perhaps, even the Indian shore. § 
 
 Pliny supposes that ships were first built by 
 Danausll, and taken from Egypt to Greece when 
 he migrated to that country ; rafts only having been 
 previously known ; and he states that some attri- 
 buted their invention to the Trojans and Mysians, 
 who crossed the Hellespont, in their wars with 
 Thrace. The sculptures, however, of ancient Egypt 
 
 * Vide Ezekiel, xxvii. 7. In the lamentation of Tyre, “ Fine linen, 
 with broiflered work from Egypt, was that which thou spreadest forth 
 to be thy sail.” 
 
 -t Diodor. i. 55. t Herodot. ii. 102. 
 
 $ Tif/e Vol. I. p. 46. |{ Plin. vii. 56. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 CHAMPOLLION. 
 
 191 
 
 Still remain to decide the question, and their dates 
 being now ascertained, we are enabled to form our 
 own opinions on the subject, without the necessity 
 of trusting to the uncertain accounts of ancient 
 writers. From the sculptures of the eighteenth 
 dynasty, it appears that the same kind of boats for 
 carrying heavy burdens were then employed in 
 Egypt, as in the later days of Psamaticus and 
 Amasis ; they are found at Eilethyas and Beni 
 Hassan of the age of Amosis*, and of Osirtasen 
 the contemporary of Joseph ; and in the tombs near 
 the pyramids they again occur, of an epoch pre- 
 vious to the sixteenth dynasty, and the reign of 
 Osirtasen. 
 
 The ingenious Champolllon conjectured that 
 some hieroglyphics at Eilethyas proved t the in- 
 mate of one of the tombs there, called — “ Ah- 
 mosis, the son of Obschne,” to have been “ chief 
 of the mariners, or rather of the pilots,” who 
 “ entered the naval career in the time of King 
 Ahmosis,” and “ accompanied that monarch, when 
 he went up by water to Ethiopia, to impose 
 tribute upon it,” and “ commanded ships under 
 Thoutmosis the First.” If this be true, it confirms 
 what I have before stated, respecting the early 
 existence of an Egyptian fleet ; and whatever im- 
 provement may have been afterwards made in the 
 ships of war, fitted out by Sesostris and other 
 monarchs, in the Arabian Gulf and Mediter- 
 
 * These two names are both written Ames in the hieroglyphics, but 
 I use them thus by way of distinction, and in accordance with Manetho. 
 Vide Vol. I. p. 47. and 150. 
 
 f Champollion’s twelfth letter from Egypt. Vide Lit. Gazette, p. 6 17. 
 
192 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 ranean*, we have sufficient evidence from the paint- 
 ings of the tombs at Eilethyas, that in the time 
 of the same Amosis, tlie ordinary travelling boats 
 of the Nile were of a construction far superior to 
 those mentioned by Herodotus. 
 
 To have had frequent occasion to introduce the 
 name of Champollion, to whom we are so deeply 
 indebted, without paying a just tribute to his 
 talents, is to me a reproach, which I cannot 
 suffer to remain unremoved. I do not wish to 
 enter into the question respecting the discovery 
 of the proper mode of reading the hieroglyphics : 
 suffice it to say that Dr. Young gave the first 
 idea and proof of their alphabetic force, which 
 was even for some time after doubted by Cham- 
 pollion. And that the merit of originality in this 
 point is due to our distinguished countryman, I 
 can bear a satisfactory testimony, having, with 
 my much regretted friend Sir William Gell, as 
 early as the summer of 1821 , so far profited by 
 Dr. Young’s opinions on the subject, as to be ena- 
 bled to suggest the supposed value of two or three 
 other characters, besides those he had already ascer- 
 tained ; our taking this view of the question being 
 solely in consequence of his discovery that they were 
 the representatives of letters. But it remained for 
 the genius of Champollion to kindle the spark thus 
 obtained into a flame, and to display by its light, 
 the path which led to a clear insight into the 
 subject, to perfect the discovery, and to lay down 
 
 * Ilerodot. ii. 159. and 102. Diodor. i. C8. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 CHAMPOLLION. 
 
 193 
 
 certain rules, applicable in individual as well as in 
 general cases; and in justice to him be it confessed, 
 that if our knowledge of hieroglyphics were con- 
 fined to the limited extent to which it was car- 
 ried by Dr. Young, we should have no regular 
 system to guide us, in the interpretation of them, 
 and should know little more than the alphabetic 
 value of a few letters, without the means of affixing 
 a positive construction to a single sentence on any 
 Egyptian monument. 
 
 Had Champollion been disposed to give more 
 credit to the value and originality of Dr. Young’s 
 researches, and to admit that the real discovery of 
 the key to the hieroglyphics, which in his dexterous 
 hand proved so useful in unlocking those treasures, 
 was the result of his labours, he would unques- 
 tionably have increased his own reputation, without 
 making any sacrifice. In this, as in the case of 
 Mr. Burton’s trilingual’ (or rather trigrammatic) 
 stone, and in a few other points, he may have 
 shown a want of ingenuousness : all have their 
 faults and vanities ; but this is not a reason that 
 the memory of one so respectable as Champollion 
 should be aspersed, or due praise refused him ; and 
 we cannot forgive the ungenerous conduct of those 
 who, from private pique, summon up and misapply 
 talents, to pervert truth ; denying the merit of 
 labours, which every one acquainted with the sub- 
 ject knows to have been crowned with unexampled 
 and wonderful success. This is not an era, when 
 we could believe men capable of lending them- 
 selves to the unworthy office of maligning one no 
 VOL. III. o 
 
194 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 longer living to defend himself, and one who, pre- 
 sent, or absent, merits and possesses the respect 
 and admiration of every unprejudiced person. Yet 
 have some been found, in more than one country, 
 prompted to this malicious act by personal enmity, 
 envy of his superior talents and success, or by that 
 affectation of scepticism, which, while it endeavours 
 to conceal ignorance, often hopes to acquire credit 
 for discernment and superior knowledge. 
 
 When the subject of hieroglyphics becomes 
 better understood, and the world is capable of 
 judging how much we owe to him, the wonderful 
 ingenuity of Champollion will be appreciated, and 
 the greatest praise we can bestow on him is con- 
 fidently to pronounce, that time will do justice to 
 his merits, and experience prove the truth of what 
 inexperience now calls in question. 
 
 In the mean time, his last labours, when in Egypt, 
 are not lost to us ; and though we deeply regret that 
 his life was not spared to complete the task he so 
 ably commenced, it is satisfactory to find his power- 
 ful aid still benefits and guides us, by the publication 
 of his grammar of hieroglyphics ; and some of the 
 valuable materials collected by him and Professor 
 Rosellini are already before us. It is indeed for- 
 tunate, that one, so talented and so persevering as 
 the Italian Professor, should have presided over 
 that part of the scientific expedition sent to Egypt 
 by the Tuscan government ; and those who follow 
 in the field of hieroglyphic inquiry will re-echo 
 the praises we so willingly bestow on the liberality 
 of governments, whose patronage is given to such 
 a worthy object. 
 
CHAP. IX. MODERN BOATS OF THE NILE. 
 
 195 
 
 The construction of the various boats used on 
 the Nile varied, according to the purposes for 
 which they were intended. The punts or canoes 
 were either pushed with a pole, or propelled with 
 a paddle* ; they had no mast, nor even rudder ; and 
 many of the small boats, intended merely for row- 
 ing, were unprovdded with a mast or sails. They 
 were also destitute of the raised cabin, common in 
 large sailing boats, and the rowers appear to have 
 been seated on the flat deck, which covered the 
 interior from the head to the stern, pushing instead 
 of pulling the oars, contrary to the usual custom 
 in boats of larger dimensions. The absence of a 
 mast did not altogether depend on the size of the 
 boat, since those belonging to fishermen, which 
 were very small, were often furnished with a sail, 
 besides three or tour oars t *, and some large boats, 
 intended for carrying cattle and heavy goods, were 
 sometimes without a mast. 
 
 No. 369. Boats for carrying cattle and goods on the Nile. Thebes, 
 
 a b two boats, fastened to the bank by the ropes and pegs ff\ in the cabin of one, a man 
 inflicts the bastinado on a boatman. He is one of the stewards of the estate, and is 
 accompanied by his dog. In the other boat is a cow, and a net of hay or chopped straw e, 
 precisely the same as the shenf now used in Egypt, 
 
 * Vide Contest of boatmen, svood-cut, No. 313._;%. ). 
 f Vide Fishing scene, wood-cut. No. 333. part 1. a, 
 
 o 2 
 
196 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 In going up the Nile, they used the sail, when- 
 ever the wind was favourable, occasionally rowing, 
 in those parts where the sinuosities of the river 
 brought it too much upon the bows ; for it is pro- 
 bable that, like the modern Egyptians, they did not 
 tack in navigating the river ; and when the wind 
 was contrary, or during a calm, they generally em- 
 ployed the tow-line, which was pulled by men on 
 shore. 
 
 After they had reached the southernmost point 
 of their journey up the stream, the sail was no 
 longer considered necessary ; and the mast and 
 yards being taken down, were laid over the top 
 of the cabin, or on a short temporary mast, with 
 a forked summit ; precisely in the same way, and 
 with the same view, as at the present day, on 
 board the cangias, and other masted rowing boats 
 of Egypt. For as the wind generally blows from 
 the N. W., it seldom happens that the sail can be 
 used in going down the Nile, and in a strong wind 
 the mast and rigging are so great an incumbrance, 
 that the boat is unable to make any way against it, 
 with oars. 
 
 The heavy boats of burden, which from their 
 
CHAP. IX. MODERN BOATS OF THE NILE. 
 
 197 
 
 great size cannot be propelled by oars, are suffered 
 to retain their masts and sails, and float down the 
 river sideways at the rate of the stream, advantage 
 being taken of the wind whenever the bends of the 
 river allow of it ; and the large germs, used for 
 carrying corn during the inundation, are only em- 
 ployed when the water is very deep, and are laid up 
 the rest of the year, and covered with matting from 
 the sun. These, therefore, form exceptions to the 
 ordinary boats of the Nile, and may be considered 
 similar to some represented in the sculptures of 
 Alabastron, which are fastened to the shore by 
 several large ropes, and are shown from the size of 
 their cabins, the large awning in front for covering 
 the goods they carried, and the absence of oars, to 
 have been of unusual dimensions. 
 
 In a boat given in the preceding wood-cut from 
 a tomb at Eilethyas, an error has frequently been 
 made respecting the wheel upon the top of the 
 cabin, which some have supposed to be connected 
 with the sail*, in order to enable the yard to traverse 
 with greater facility, or for some such purpose ; but 
 on a careful examination of the subject, it proves to 
 be part of a chariot, too much defaced by time to be 
 easily perceived at first sight, and the horses belong- 
 ing to it are seen below in front of the cabin. This 
 circumstance not only shows the comforts with 
 which the Egyptian grandees travelled, when going 
 from one part of the country to the other, but 
 affords additional proof of the size of the boats used 
 upon the Nile. 
 
 * The other boat represented in this subject has the sail up, and 
 the same chariot on board. It is, indeed, the same boat, with and 
 w'ithout the sail. 
 
 o 3 
 
198 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Large boats had generally one, small pleasure- 
 boats two rudders, at the stern. The former tra- 
 versed upon a beam, between two projecting heads, 
 a short pillar or mast supporting it and acting 
 as the centre on which it moved ; the latter were 
 nearly the same in principle except that they 
 turned on a bar, or in a ring, by which they 
 were suspended to the gunnel at either side ; and 
 in both instances the steersman directed them, by 
 means of a rope fastened to the upper extremity. 
 The rudders consisted of a long broad blade and still 
 longer handle, evidently made in imitation of the 
 oars, by which they originally steered their boats, 
 before they had so far improved them as to adopt a 
 fixed rudder ; and in order to facilitate its motion 
 upon the mast or pillar, and to avoid the friction of 
 the wood, a piece of bull’s hide was introduced, as 
 is the custom in the modern boats, between the 
 mast and yard. 
 
 The oars were a long round wooden shaft, to 
 which a flat board, of oval or circular form, was fas- 
 tened ; and it is remarkable that the same oar is used 
 to this day on the Ganges, and in the Arabian Gulf. 
 They turned either on toll-pins, or in rings, fastened 
 to the gunnel of the boat, and the rowers sat on the 
 deck, on benches, or on low seats, or stood or knelt 
 to the oar, sometimes pushing it forwards, some- 
 times, and indeed more generally, pulling it, as is 
 the modern custom in Egypt, and most other 
 countries. 
 
 At the head of the boat a man* usually stood, 
 
 * The “ Gustos et tutela prorae.” Ovid, Met. iii. 617. 
 
CHAP. IX. CONSTRUCTION OF THE BOATS. 199 
 
 with a long pole * in his hand, by which he tried at 
 intervals the depth of the water, lest they should 
 run upon any of the numerous sandbanks with 
 which the river abounds, and which, from their 
 often changing at the time of the inundation, could 
 not always be known to the most skilful pilot ; a 
 precaution still adopted by the modern boatmen of 
 the Nile. 
 
 That the ancient Egyptian boats were built with 
 ribs, like those of the present day, is sufficiently 
 proved by the rude models discovered in the tombs 
 of Thebes. It is probable that they had very little 
 keel, in order to enable them to avoid the sand- 
 banks, and to facilitate their removal from them 
 when they struck ; and, indeed, if we may judge 
 from the models, they appear to have been flat- 
 bottomed. The boats now used on the Nile have 
 a very small keel, particularly at the centre, where 
 it is concave ; so that when the head strikes, they 
 put to the helm, and the hollow part clears the 
 bank ; except in those cases where the impetus is 
 too great, or the first warning is neglected. 
 
 The sails of the ancient boats appear to have been 
 always square, with a yard above and below ; in 
 which they differ from those now adopted in Egypt. 
 The only modern boats with square sails are a 
 sort of lighter, employed for conveying stones 
 from the quarries to Cairo and other places ; and 
 these have only a yard at the top. All other boats 
 have latine or triangular-shaped sails, which, in 
 
 * The middree of the Arabs, the contiis, or pertica, of the Romans. 
 
 o 4 
 
200 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. IX. 
 
 order to catch the wind when the Nile is low, are 
 made of immense size : for unless they reach above 
 its lofty banks they are often prevented from bene- 
 fiting by a side wind at that season of the year ; but 
 the number of accidents which occur are a great 
 objection to the use of such disproportionate sails. 
 
 The cabins of the Egyptian boats were lofty and 
 spacious ; they did not, however, always extend 
 over the whole breadth of the boat, as in the 
 modern cangias, but merely occupied the centre ; 
 the rowers sitting on either side, generally on a 
 bench or stool. They were made of wood, with a 
 door in front, or sometimes on one side, and they 
 were painted within and without with numerous 
 devices, in brilliant and lively colours.* The same 
 custom continued to the latest times, long after the 
 conquest of the country by the Romans ; and 
 when the Arabs invaded Egypt in 638, under 
 Amer, the general of the Caliph Omer, one of the 
 objects which struck them with surprise was the 
 gay appearance of the painted boats of the Nile. 
 
 The lotus was one of their favourite devices, as 
 on their furniture, the ceilings of rooms, and other 
 places, and it was very common on the blade of the 
 rudder, where it was frequently rejieated at both 
 ends, together with the eye. But the place con- 
 sidered peculiarly suited to the latter emblem was 
 the head or bow of the boat ; and the custom is still 
 retained in some countries to the present day. In 
 India it is very generally adopted ; and we even 
 
 Vide [)late 16. — Conf. Plin. 357. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 BOATS PAINTED. 
 
 201 
 
 see the small barks which ply in the harbour of 
 Malta bearing the eye on their bows, in the same 
 manner as the boats of ancient Egypt. 
 
 They do not appear to have had any thing like the 
 aplustre of the Romans, an ornament fixed to the 
 stern, and sometimes to the prow, on which a staff 
 was erected, bearing a riband or flag 5 but streamers 
 were occasionally attached to the pole of the rudder, 
 and a standard was erected near the head of the 
 vessel.* The latter was generally a sacred animal t; 
 a sphinx, or some emblem connected with religion 
 or royalty, like those belonging to the infantry be- 
 fore describedj ; and sometimes the top of the mast 
 bore a shrine or feathers, the symbol of the deity 
 to whose protection they committed themselves 
 during their voyage. 
 
 There is a striking resemblance, in some points, 
 between the boats of the ancient Egyptians and 
 those of India ; and the form of the stern, the 
 principle and construction of the rudder, the 
 cabins, the square sail, the copper eye on each 
 side of the head, the line of small squares at the 
 side, like false windows §, and the shape of the 
 oars of boats used on the Ganges, forcibly call to 
 mind those of the Nile, represented in the paintings 
 of the Theban tombs. 
 
 The head and stern of the Egyptian pleasure- 
 boats were usually ornamented with, or terminated 
 in the shape of, a flower richly painted ; in the 
 
 * Vide plate 16. boats with coloured sails. 
 
 f Perhaps answering to the irapaarijiov of the Greeks, though not at 
 tlie prow itself. 
 
 J Vol. I. p. 294. § Fit/e wood-cut, No. 373. 
 
202 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 \ 
 
 boats of burden they were destitute of ornament, 
 and simply rounded off; and I have met with two 
 only in which there was any resemblance to a beak. 
 But as this was in Nile boats, and at the stern *, 
 it could not have been intended for an offensive 
 purpose. Nor are the ships of war, represented at 
 Medeenet Haboo, furnished with beaks. 
 
 At the head, a forecastle frequently projected 
 above the deck, which was assigned to the man 
 who held the fathoming pole, above mentioned, 
 and at the stern another of similar form was some- 
 times added, where the steersman sat; reminding 
 us of the poop of Roman vessels, t They were 
 very generally adopted, and found of great service 
 in the war galliest; the archers profiting by these 
 commanding positions to rake the enemy’s decks, 
 as they bore dowTi upon a hostile galley, and to dis- 
 able the rowers. In the pleasure-boats they served 
 also as hatches for going below deck, and were si- 
 milar to what the Nile boatmen now call the hon. 
 
 The gallies or ships of war differed in their con- 
 struction from the boats of the Nile. They were 
 less raised at the head and stern, and on each side, 
 throughout the whole length of the vessel, a wooden 
 bulwark, rising considerably above the gunnel, 
 sheltered the rowers, who sat behind it, from the 
 missiles of the enemy ; the handles of the oars 
 
 * The remainder of the boat is destroyed, I cannot therefore say if 
 the head was of the same form. 
 
 f “ Ipse gubernator puppi Palinurus ab alta.” Virg. ./En. v. 12. 
 and 175. 
 
 J In the Roman gallies the fighting men were placed in a similar 
 manner at the head and stern, Liv. xxx. 43. and xxxvi. 42., in towers, 
 called propugnacula. Hor. Epod. i. 2. 
 
CHAP. TX. 
 
 SHIPS OF WAR. 
 
 203 
 
 passing through an aperture at the lower part. 
 Besides the archers in the raised poop and fore- 
 castle, a body of slingers was stationed in the tops, 
 where they could with more facility manage that 
 weapon, and employ it with effect on the enemy. 
 
 On advancing to engage a hostile fleet, the sail 
 was used till they came within a certain distance, 
 when the signal or order being given to clear for 
 action, it was reefed by means of ropes running 
 in pullies, or loops, upon the yard. The ends of 
 these ropes, which were usually four in number, 
 dividing the sail as it rose into five folds, descended 
 and were attached to the lower part of the mast, so 
 as to be readily worked, when the sail required to 
 be pulled up, at a moment’s notice, either in a 
 squall of wind or on any other occasion ; and in this 
 respect, and in the absence of a lower yard, the sail 
 
 a raised forecastle, in which the archers were posted. c another post for the archers, 
 
 and the pilot d. e a bulwark, to protect the rowers. / slingers, in the top. 
 
 of the war galley greatly differed from that of the 
 
204 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 boats on the Nile. Having prepared for the attack, 
 the rowers, whose strength had been hitherto re- 
 served, plied their oars ; the head was directed 
 towards an enemy’s vessel, and showers of missiles 
 were thrown from the forecastle and tops as they 
 advanced. It was of great importance to strike their 
 opponent on the side ; and when the steersm.an, 
 by a skilful manoeuvre, could succeed in this, the 
 shock was so great that they sank it, or obtained a 
 considerable advantage by crippling the oars ; and 
 greater facility was given for boarding in this part, 
 being distant from the fighting men, and occupied 
 only by the rowers. 
 
 The small* Egyptian gallies do not appear, as 
 already observed, to have been furnished with a 
 beak, like those of the Romans, which being of 
 brass sharply pointed, and sometimes below the 
 water’s surface, did great damage to an enemy’s 
 vessel, and exposed it to the danger of sinking, by 
 forcing in the planks of the bottom ; but a lion’s 
 liead fixed to the prow, supplied its place, and being 
 probably covered with metal, was capable of doing 
 great execution, when the galley was impelled by 
 the force of 16 or 20 oars.t This head occasionally 
 varied in form, and perhaps served to indicate the 
 rank of the commander, the name of the vessel, or 
 the deity under whose protection they sailed, like 
 the sign (Trapao-T^jU-oi/) of the Greeks, Romans, and 
 other people! ; unless indeed the lion was always 
 
 * We have no representation of their large ships of war. 
 
 t They are represented with eight and ten oars on each side. 
 
 j Ilerodot. viii. 88. Act. Apost. xxviii. 11. Virgil (jEn. v. 116.), 
 shows that sliips had names given them, like our own at the present 
 day, as the Chiniaera, the Centaur, and others. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 UNUSUAL KIND OF BOAT. 
 
 205 
 
 chosen for their war gallies, and the ram, oryx, and 
 others, confined to the boats connected with the 
 service of religion. 
 
 Some of the boats on the Nile were furnished 
 with 4f oars, 22 being represented on one side ; 
 which, allowing for the steerage and prow, would 
 require their total length to be about 120 feet. 
 They were furnished, like all the others, with one 
 large square sail ; but the mast, instead of being 
 single, was made of two limbs of equal length, 
 sufficiently open at the top to admit the yard be- 
 tween them, and secured by several strong stays, 
 one of which extended to the prow, and others 
 to the steerage of the boat. Over the top of the 
 mast a light rope was passed, probably intended for 
 furling the sail, which last, from the horizontal lines 
 represented upon it, appears to have been like 
 
 No. 372. — Large boat with sail, apparently made of the papyrus, a double mast, and many 
 rowers. In a tomb at Kom Ahmar^ above Minieh. 
 
206 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 those of the Chinese ; and this, as already observed, 
 is the only instance of a sail which has the appear- 
 ance of being made of the papyrus. 
 
 At the extremity of the yard were braces, which 
 being held by a man seated in the steerage, or 
 upon the cabin, served to turn the sail to the right 
 and left ; they were common to all boats, as with the 
 Romans, by whom they were called pedes*, and 
 managed in the same manner. The mode of steer- 
 ing the boat is also different from that usually de- 
 scribed in the Egyptian paintings ; and instead of 
 a rudder in the centre of the stern, or at either 
 side, it is furnished with three on the same side : 
 all which peculiarities suffice to show that it was 
 of unusual construction, perhaps of a very early 
 period, and afterwards abandoned as cumbrous 
 and imperfect. The only satisfactory point it 
 indicates is the mode of arranging the oars, while 
 not required during a favourable wind. It is 
 evident that they were drawn up, through the 
 ring or band in which they turned, and they were 
 probably held in that position by a thong or loop 
 passing over the handle t, which the artist has failed 
 to insert, or which is no longer seen, in consequence 
 of the imperfect preservation of the painting. 
 
 There is no instance of a boat with a rudder at 
 both ends, said to have been used by some ancient 
 nations t, nor do we find them provided with more 
 than one mast, and a single sail ; in which respect 
 they resembled those of the Greeks, at the period 
 
 * Whence “ facere pedein,” to adjust the sail. 
 
 •f- Vide also wood-cut, No. 343. fishing scene. 
 
 t Tacit, de Mor. Germ. 44. and Ann. ii. 6. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 RUDDERS. 
 
 207 
 
 of the Trojan war.* Sometimes the single rudder, 
 instead of traversing in a groove, or hollow space, 
 merely rested on the exterior of the curved stern, 
 and was suspended by a rope, or bands ; but that 
 imperfect method was confined to boats used in 
 religious ceremonies on the river, an instance of 
 which may be seen in the model preserved at 
 Berlin, as well as in the paintings of Thehes. 
 
 This model, which is very curious, shows the posi- 
 tion of the rowers, the arrangement of the mast and 
 yard when taken down, the place of the pegs and 
 mallet for fastening the boat to the shore, and of the 
 landing plank ; which were always kept in readiness, 
 as at the present day, in the bows, and were under 
 the surveillance of the man stationed at the prow 
 to report and fathom the depth of the water ; it 
 also shows that the boat was decked, and that the 
 cabin did not extend over the whole breadth ; 
 which is in perfect accordance with the sculptures, 
 representing the pleasure boats of the Nile, and 
 those of their funeral ceremonies. 
 
 In some boats of burden, the cabin, or raised maga- 
 zine, was broader, reaching probably from one side 
 to the other, and sufficiently large to contain cattle, 
 horses, and numerous stores.! 
 
 Unlike the modern Egyptians, they paid great at- 
 tention to the cleanliness of their boats, the cabins 
 and decks being frequently washed and swept; and 
 we find the Theban artists thought it of sufficient 
 importance to be indicated in the sculptures. 
 
 * Homer, OJ. V. 25t. “ Ei> S’ \a-ov rrocec, Kai tiriKptov apfiivov avno,” 
 •f- Vide wood-cut, No. 369. 
 
208 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 No. 373. — Boat of the Nile j .showing how the sail was fastened to the yards, and the 
 nature of the rigging. Thebes. 
 
 Herodotus states that the mast was made of the 
 acanthus (Acacia, or Mimosa Nilotica) ; but as the 
 trunk and limbs of this tree are not sufficiently 
 long or straight, it is evident that the historian was 
 misinformed ; and we may readily conceive that 
 they preferred the fir, with which they were well 
 acquainted*, great quantity of the wood being 
 annually imported into Egypt from Syria. The 
 planks, the ribs, and the keel were of the acacia, 
 which from its resisting the effect of water for a 
 length of time, was found, says Pliny t, well adapted 
 for this purpose, as is fully proved by modern 
 experience. The foot of the mast was let into a 
 strong beam, which crossed the whole breadth of 
 tlie boat ; it was supported by and lashed to a 
 knee, rising to a considerable height before it; 
 
 * Vide Plin. xvi. 40. 
 
 f Plin. xiii. 9. “ Spina nigra . . . quoniam incorrupta etiam in 
 
 aqiiis durat, ob id utilissiina navium costis.” In lib. xvi. 40. he mentions 
 cedar being used in Syria and Egypt for building ships, when fir-wood 
 was scarce. 
 
CHAP. IX. WOOD USED FOR BOAT-BUILDING. ^209 
 
 and the many stout stays, fastened at the head, 
 stern, and sides, sufficiently secured it, and com- 
 pensated for the great pressure of the heavy yards 
 and sail it carried. 
 
 I have observed that in ships of war, the yard 
 was allowed to remain aloft after the sail had been 
 reefed ; but in the boats of the Nile, which had a 
 yard at the top and bottom of the sail, as soon as 
 it was furled, they lowered the upper yard, and in 
 this position it remained until they again prepared 
 for their departure. To loosen the sail from the 
 lower yard must have been a tedious operation, if 
 it was bound to it with the many lacings repre- 
 sented in some of the paintings ; but in these 
 cases it may have been folded up between the two 
 yards, as soon as the upper one was lowered ; the 
 whole being lashed together by an outer rope. 
 
 It is uncertain whether they used pullies for 
 raising and lowering the yards, or if the halliards 
 merely passed through a smooth dead-sheave-hole 
 at the top of the mast. The yards were evidently 
 of very great size, and of two separate pieces, 
 scarfed or joined together at the middle*, sometimes 
 supported by five or six lifts, and so firmly secured 
 that men could stand or sit upon them, while en- 
 gaged in arranging the sail ; and from the upper 
 yard were suspended several ropes, resembling 
 the horses of our square-rigged ships t, and per- 
 haps intended for the same purpose when they 
 furled the sail. The Egyptians, however, were 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. .373. A. -|- Vide wood-cut, No. 373. gg. 
 
 VOL. III. P 
 
210 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 not ignorant of the pulley ; and I am inclined to 
 believe they introduced it in the rigging of their 
 boats : though owing to their imperfect style of 
 drawing, it is not indicated ; and one lias actually 
 been found in Egypt, and is now in the museum 
 of Leyden. It is, however, of uncertain date, and 
 was apparently intended for drawing water from a 
 well. The sides are of athul or tamarisk wood*, 
 the roller of fir ; and the rope, of leef or fibres of 
 the date tree, which belonged to it, was found at 
 the same time. 
 
 Many of the sails were painted with rich 
 colours t, or embroidered with fanciful devices, 
 representing the phoenix, flowers, and various 
 emblems ; some were adorned with cheques, and 
 others were striped, like those of the present day. 
 This kind of cloth, of embroidered linen, appears 
 to have been made in Egypt expressly for sails, and 
 was bought by the Tyrians t for that purpose ; 
 but its use was confined to the pleasure boats of the 
 grandees, or of the king himself, ordinary sails 
 being white; and the ship, says Pliny §, in which 
 Antony and Cleopatra went to the battle of 
 Actium, was distinguished from the rest of the 
 fleet by its purple sails, which were the peculiar 
 privilege of the admiral’s vessel. The same writer 
 states that the custom of dyeing the sails of ships 
 was first adopted in the fleet of Alexander the 
 
 * Tamarix orientalis. 
 
 f The sails of our own vessels, in the time of Edward the Fourth, 
 had coats of arms emblazoned upon them. 
 
 J Ezek. xxvii. 7. Vide supra, p. 185., note 3. 
 
 ^ Plin. xix. 1. 
 
Ill AT THKUT, 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 PAINTED SAILS. 
 
 211 
 
 Great, when navigating the Indus ; but that it was 
 practised long before, in Egypt, is evident from 
 the paintings at Thebes, which represent sails 
 richly ornamented with various colours, in the 
 time of the third Remeses, nine hundred years 
 previous to the age of Alexander. 
 
 The devices with which they were painted or 
 embroidered depended on fancy, and the same 
 monarch had ships with sails of different patterns. 
 Of all these the phoenix appears to have been the 
 most appropriate emblem, if, as is stated by Hora- 
 pollo*, it indicated “the return of a traveller, who 
 had long been absent from his country and it is 
 probable that the boats used in sacred festivals 
 upon the Nile were decorated with appropriate 
 symbols, according to the nature of the ceremony, 
 or the deity in whose service they were engaged. 
 The edges of the sail were furnished with a strong 
 hem or border, also neatly coloured, serving to 
 strengthen it, and prevent an injury, and a light 
 rope was generally sewed round it for the same 
 purpose. 
 
 Some of the Egyptian vessels appear to have 
 been of very great size, t Diodorus! mentions one 
 of cedar wood, dedicated by Sesostris to the god 
 of Thebes, 280 cubits, or 420 feet, long ; an- 
 other built by Caligula in Egypt, to transport one 
 of the obelisks to Rome, carried 120,000 modii 
 (pecks) of lentils as ballast §; and Ptolemy Philo- 
 
 ♦ Horapoll. Hierogl. lib. i. c. 35, 
 
 •f- Conf. Hor. 1. Epod. i. 1. referring to the large ships of M. Antony, 
 “ alta navium . , . . propugnacula.” 
 
 t Diodor. i. 57. $ Plin. xvi. 40. ; and xxxvi. 9. 
 
 p 2 
 
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 
 pator built one of forty benches of oars, which was 
 feet long, and 72 from the keel to the top of 
 the poop, and carried four hundred sailors, besides 
 four thousand rowers, and near three thousand 
 soldiers.* 
 
 NAVIGATION. 
 
 Of the origin of navigation no satisfactory con- 
 jecture can be offered, nor do we know to what 
 nation to ascribe the merit of having conferred 
 so important a benefit on mankind. 
 
 It is evident that the first steps were slow and 
 gradual, and that the earliest attempts to construct 
 vessels on the sea were rude and imperfect. 
 
 Ships of burden were originally mere rafts, made 
 of the trunks of trees bound together, over which 
 planks were fastened ; which Pliny states to have 
 been first used on the Red Seat ; but he is wrong 
 in limiting the era of ship-building to the age of 
 Danaus, and in supposing that rafts alone were 
 employed until that period. Rafts were adopted, 
 even to carry goods, long after the invention of 
 ships, as they still are for some purposes on 
 rivers and other inland waters ; but boats, made of 
 hollow trees and various materials, covered with 
 hides or pitch, were also of very early date, and 
 to these may be ascribed the origin of planked 
 vessels. Improvement followed improvement, and 
 
 * Plat. Life of Demetrius. Pliny (vii. 56.) says it had fifty benches ; 
 and lie mentions another of Ptolemy Philadelphus with forty. 
 
 f Plin. vii. 57. The Piioenicians were supposed to have come from 
 the Red Sea, and to have settled on the coast of the Mediterranean. 
 Herodot. i. 1 . Vide Strabo, lib. i. p. 29. 
 
CHAP. IX. NAVIGATION. ^213 
 
 in proportion as civilisation advanced, the inventive 
 genius of man was called forth to push on an inven- 
 tion, so essential to those communities, where the 
 advantages of commerce were understood, and 
 numerous causes contributed to the origin of navi- 
 gation, and the construction of vessels for traversing 
 the sea. 
 
 Curiosity may have prompted those who lived 
 on the coast to visit a neighbouring island ; or the 
 desire of conquest, to cross a narrow channel, to 
 invade a foreign land, as Pliny observes in the case 
 of the Trojans ; but it is more probable that the 
 occupation of the fisherman was the principal 
 cause and promoter of this useful art ; those who 
 at first employed themselves merely on a sheltered 
 river, venturing at length in the same boat upon 
 the sea, and having acquired confidence from habit, 
 extending their excursions along the coast ; for 
 it was long, before the art of navigation was so far 
 improved, that the boldest mariner* dared to trust 
 his vessel out of sight of land. 
 
 The first sea voyages, of which we have any 
 direct notice, are those undertaken by the Egyptians 
 at the early period when they led colonies into 
 Greece ; but the people to whom the art of navi- 
 gation was most indebted, who excelled all others 
 in nautical skill, and who carried the spirit of ad- 
 
 * “ Illi robur et iES tri{)Iex 
 
 Circa pectus erat, qui f'ragileni truci 
 Commisit pelago ratem 
 Primus, nec timuit prascipitem Africuin 
 Decertantem Aqnilonibus.” 
 
 Hor. i. OJ. iii, 9. 
 
 p 3 
 
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 ! 214 . 
 
 venture far beyond any contemporary nation, were 
 the Phoenicians ; and those bold navigators even 
 visited the coast of Britain, in quest of tin. 
 
 The fleets of Sesostris and tiie third Remeses 
 certainly date at a very remote age, and some Phoe- 
 nician sailors, sent by Neco* on a voyage of dis- 
 covery, to ascertain the form of the African con- 
 tinent, actually doubled the Cape of Good Hope, 
 about twenty-one centuries before the time of 
 Bartholomew Diaz, and Vasco de Gama ; but it 
 was not till the discovery of the compass t that 
 navigation became perfected, and the uncertain 
 method of ascertaining the course by the stars t 
 gave place to the more accurate calculations of 
 modern times. 
 
 After the fall of Tyre, and the building of 
 Alexandria, Egypt became famous as a commercial 
 country, and the emporium of the East ; the riches 
 of India, brought to Berenice, Myos-Hormos, and 
 other ports on the Red Sea, passed through it, to 
 be distributed over various parts of the Roman 
 empire ; and it continued to benefit by these 
 advantages, until a new route was opened to 
 India by the Portuguese, round the Cape of Good 
 Hope. 
 
 * Vide Vol. I. p. 158. Pliny mentions others who perfonned this 
 voyage, lih. ii. 67. 
 
 f The Chinese used the compass at a very early period ; and Marco 
 Polo probably introduced it from China, about 1290 a. n., 12 years 
 before Gioia of Amalfi, its supposed inventor. The loadstone (Hera- 
 clins lapis) was different from the Magnetis of Theophrastus, (on 
 Stones, 73.) as is explained by Hesychius, “ Mayr?/r(e \iQoq . . . ci'yvpio 
 f/KpiptlC ovaa, i) Of 'Hp.'iKXfoiri!; tov aidtjpov tTriararai.” Plutarch snys the 
 loadstone was mentioned by Manetho, de Is. s. 62. 
 
 t Vide Horn. Odyss. v. 272. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 TIN AND OTHER METALS. 
 
 ^215 
 
 THE USE OF TIN AND OTHER METALS. 
 
 It is difficult to explain how, at that early period, 
 SO great a value came to be attached to tin, that 
 the Phoenicians should have thought it worth while 
 to undertake a voyage of such a length, and at- 
 tended with so much risk, in order to obtain it ; 
 even allowing that a high price was paid for this 
 commodity in Egypt, and other countries, where the 
 different branches of metallurgy were carried to 
 great perfection. It was mixed with other metals, 
 particularly copper, which was hardened by an alloy 
 of tin ; and was employed, according to Homer, for 
 the raised work on the exterior of shields*, as in 
 that of Achilles; for making greavest ; and bind- 
 ing various parts of defensive armour! ; as well as 
 for household § and ornamental purposes ; and, 
 which is very remarkable, the word kassiteros, 
 used by the poet to designate it, is the same as the 
 Arabic name kasdeerW, by which the metal is still 
 known in the East, being probably derived from the 
 ancient Phoenician. 
 
 * Horn. II. xviii. 565. 57-1. 
 
 ■}• Horn. 11. xviii. 612. “ Tfvje ol xvij/uSag iavov Kaatnrepoio." 
 
 J Horn. II. xviii. 474. “ yiaXKOv o tv irvpi (iaWiv artip^a, Ka(TrnTip(.v n 
 K«i xpviTov rcfipvra, vat cipyvpov.” 
 
 $ No copper vessels have yet been found, even of Roman time, 
 washed with tin, and few only with silver. Several gilt have been met 
 with in Egypt, Greece, nnd Italy. Dioscorides mentions tinned boilers, 
 “ ftf \t€7]ra KticaaotTepw/ievov jSaXXf,” lib. i. c. 38. He is supposed to have 
 been physician to Antony and Cleopatra, or to have lived in the time 
 of Nero. Vide also Plin. xxxiv. 17., on the tinning of copper vessels. 
 
 II It will be observed that the accent in the Greek is over the same 
 part of the word, KaaairtpuQ. It is, I trust, unnecessary to olxserve that 
 the ancient Greeks pronounced according to accent, as they now do in 
 Greece, or to point out the origin of those marks. 
 
 P 4 
 
216 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 We have no means of ascertaining the exact 
 period when the Phoenicians first visited our coasts 
 in search of tin ; some have supposed about the 
 year 400 or 450 before our era : but that this metal 
 was employed many ages previously, is showm from 
 the bronze vessels* and implements discovered at 
 Thebes, and other parts of Egypt. It cannot, 
 however, be inferred that the mines of Britain were 
 known at that remote period, since the intercourse 
 with India may have furnished the Egyptians with 
 tin ; and the Phoenicians probably obtained it from 
 Spain t and India, long before they visited those 
 distant coasts, and discovered the richness of our 
 productive mines, t Ezekiel, indeed, expressly says 
 that the Tyrians received tin, as well as other me- 
 tals, from Tarshish ; which, whether it was situated, 
 as some suppose, in Arabia § or on the Indian coast, 
 traded in the productions of the latter country ; 
 and the lamentation 1| of the prophet on the fall of 
 Tyre, though written as late as the year 588 before 
 our era, relates to a commercial intercourse with 
 that place, which had been established, and con- 
 tinued to exist, from a much earlier period.^ 
 
 * Bronze is made of copper and tin ; brass of copper and zinc. 
 
 t The mines of Spain and Portugal produce very little tin. There 
 are some in Saxony and Bohemia. Those of Malacca are very pro- 
 ductive. 
 
 t In the year 1791 about 3000 tons of tin were taken from the mines 
 of Cornwall, of which 2200 tons were sold in the European market for 
 72/. each, the remaining 800 being sent to India and China at 62/. a ton. 
 Univ. Diet, of Arts and Sciences, Tin. 
 
 Bruce supposed it to be Mokha. 
 
 II Ezek. xxvii. 12. “ Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the 
 
 nniltitiule of all kind of riches ; with silver, iron, thi, and lead, they 
 trailed in thy fairs.” 
 
 H The gold of Ophir being mentioned by Job is one of many proofs 
 of an early intercourse with India. Job, xxii. 24. 
 
CHAP. IX; 
 
 EARLY USE OF TIN. 
 
 217 
 
 It is probable that the Phoenicians supplied the 
 Egyptians with this article, even before it was 
 brought from Spain and Britain. The commercial 
 intercourse of the two nations dated at a most 
 remote epoch*; the produce and coasts of Arabia 
 and India appear to have been known to the 
 Phoenicians, long before any other people ; and 
 some have even supposed that they migrated from 
 the Red Sea to the shores of Syria.t 
 
 That the productions of India already came 
 to Egypt, at the early period of Joseph’s arrival 
 in that country, is evident from the spices which 
 the Ishmaelites t were carrying to sell there ; 
 and the amethysts, haematite §, lapis lazzuli, and 
 other objects II found at Thebes of the time 
 of the third Thothmes, and succeeding Pharaohs, 
 argue that the intercourse was constantly kept 
 up- 
 
 The first mention of tin, though not the earliest 
 proof of its use, is in connection with the spoils 
 taken by the Israelites from the people of Midian, 
 in the year 1452 b. c., where they are commanded 
 by Moses to purify “ the gold and the silver, the 
 brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,” by passing 
 it through the fire.!" Its combination with other 
 metals is noticed by Isaiah, in the year 76 U before 
 our era, who alludes to it as an alloy mixed with 
 
 * Herodot. i. 1. -j- Herodot. loc. cit. 
 
 t Gen. xxxvii. 25. 
 
 § This kind of iron ore is found also in Spain, Italy, Germany, and 
 England. 
 
 II I might, perhaps, add -siderite. 
 
 if Numb. xxxi. 22. Tin in Hebrew is called bedecl. 
 
"218 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. IX. 
 
 a more valuable substance* * * § ; and Ezekiel t shows 
 that it was used for this purpose in connection 
 with silver. 
 
 Strabo, Diodorus, Pliny and other writers, men- 
 tion certain islands discovered by the Phoenicians, 
 which, from the quantity of tin they produced, 
 obtained the name Cassiterides ; and are supposed 
 to have been the cluster now known as the Scilly 
 Isles, and to have included part of the coast of 
 Cornwall itself, t The secret of their discovery was 
 carefully concealed, says Strabo §, from all other 
 persons, and the Phoenician vessels continued to sail 
 from Gades (Cadiz) in quest of this commodity, 
 without its being known from whence they obtained 
 it ; though many endeavours were made by the 
 Romans at a subsequent period to ascertain the 
 secret, and to share the benefits of this lucrative 
 trade. 
 
 So anxious, indeed, were the Phoenicians to 
 retain their monopoly, that on one occasion, when 
 a Roman vessel pursued a trader bound to the 
 spot, the latter purposely steered his vessel on a 
 shoal, preferring to suffer shipwreck, provided he 
 involved his pursuers in the same fate, to the dis- 
 closure of his country’s secret. His artifice suc- 
 ceeded ; the Roman crew, exposed to additional 
 risk in consequence of being unprepared for the 
 
 * Isaiah, i. 25. “ I will .... purge away thy dross, and take away 
 
 all thy tin.” 
 
 f Ezek. xxii. 18. 20. ” They are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, 
 
 in the midst of the furnace ; they are even the dross of silver.” 
 
 X Beckmann and Borlase are also of this opinion. 
 
 § Strabo, lib. iii ad fin. p. 121. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 TIN ; WHERE FOUND. 
 
 219 
 
 sudden catastrophe, were all lost with their foun- 
 dered vessel, and the Phoenician, having the good 
 fortune to escape with his life, was rewarded from 
 the public treasury for his devotion and the sacri- 
 fice he had made.* * * § 
 
 Pliny mentions a report of’ “ white lead,” or tin, 
 being brought from certain islands of the Atlantic ; 
 yet he treats it as a “ fable,” and proceeds to state 
 that it was found in Lusitania and Gallicia, and 
 was the same metal t known to the Greeks in the 
 days of Homer by the name cassiteront; but 
 Diodorus and Strabo, after noticing the tin of 
 Spain and the Cassiterides, affirm that it was also 
 brought to Massilia (Marseilles) from the coast of 
 Britain. § 
 
 Spain, in early times, was to the Phoenicians 
 what America, at a later period, was to the Spa- 
 niards ; and no one can read the accounts of the 
 immense wealth derived from the mines of that 
 country, in the writings of Diodorus and other 
 authors, without being struck by the relative 
 situation of the Phoenicians and ancient Spaniards, 
 and the followers of Cortez or Pizarro and the 
 inhabitants of Mexico or Peru. 
 
 “ The whole of Spain,” says Strabo, “ abounds 
 with mines . . . and in no country are gold, silver, 
 copper, and iron in such abundance or of such 
 
 * Strabo, loc. cit. 
 
 f Beckumnn, in his History of Inventions (vol.iv. p. 10. 20.), doubts 
 the Stannum of Pliny, or the Cassiteron of Homer, being tin. Pliny’s 
 account of Stannum is obscure. 
 
 J Plin. XXXV. 16. He places the Cassiterides off the coast of Celti- 
 beria, lib. iv. 22. 
 
 § Strabo, lib. iii. p. 101., and Diodor. v. 38. 
 
220 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 good quality : even the rivers and torrents bring 
 down gold in their beds, and some is found 
 in the sand : ” and the fanciful assertion of Posi- 
 donius, regarding the richness of the country in 
 precious metals, surpassed the phantoms created 
 in the minds of the conquerors of America. 
 
 The Phoenicians purchased gold, silver, tin, 
 and other metals from the inhabitants of Spain and 
 the Cassiterides, by giving in exchange earthenware 
 vessels, oil, salt, bronze instruments, and other 
 objects of little value, in the same manner as the 
 Spaniards on their arrival at Hispaniola ; and such 
 was the abundance of silver, that after loading 
 their ships with full cargoes, they stripped the lead 
 from their anchors, and substituted the same weight 
 of silver.* 
 
 METALLURGY. 
 
 A strong evidence of the skill of the Egyptians 
 in working metals, and of the early advance- 
 ment they made in this art, is derived from their 
 success in the management of different alloys ; 
 which, as M. Goguett observes t, is further ar- 
 gued from the casting of the golden calf, and still 
 more from Moses being able to burn the metal and 
 reduce it to powder ; a secret which he could only 
 
 * Diodor. lib. v. .S5. 
 
 f Gognet, Origine des Lois, des Arts, et des Sciences, tome ii. liv. ii. 
 ch. iv. p. 145. 
 
 i Goguet is wrong in supposing that the smelting of tin is one of the 
 most difficult operations in metallurg}', tome ii. liv. ii. ch. iv. p. 14(5. 
 Tin melts more readily than lead : the latter requires a heat of 550° 
 Fahr., the former only of 420°. 
 
CHAP. IX. BURNING THE GOLDEN CALF. 
 
 2^1 
 
 have learnt in Egypt. It is said in Exodus*, 
 that “ Moses took the calf which they had made, 
 and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, 
 and strewed it upon the water, and made the 
 children of Israel drink of it ; ” an operation which, 
 according to the French savant, “ is known by all 
 who work in metals to be very difficult.” 
 
 “ Commentators’ heads,” he adds, “ have been 
 much perplexed to explain how Moses burnt and 
 reduced the gold to powder. Many have offered 
 vain and improbable conjectures, but an experienced 
 chemist has removed every difficulty upon the sub- 
 ject, and has suggested this simple process. In the 
 place of tartaric acid, which we employ, the Hebrew 
 legislator used natron, which is common in the East. 
 What follows, respecting his making the Israelites 
 drink this ‘powder, proves that he was perfectly 
 acquainted with the whole effect of the operation. 
 He wished to increase the punishment of their dis- 
 obedience, and nothing could have been more suit- 
 able ; for gold reduced and made into a draught, 
 in the manner I have mentioned, has a most dis- 
 agreeable taste.” 
 
 GOLD WORKING GILDING. 
 
 The use of gold, for jewellery and various arti- 
 cles of luxury, dates from the most remote ages. 
 Pharaoh having “ arrayed t ” Joseph “ in vestures 
 of fine linen, put a gold chain about his neck ; ” 
 and the jewels of silver and gold borrowed from 
 
 * Kxocl. xxxii. 20. 
 
 f This custom, of conferring rank by presenting a suitable dress (or 
 kisiveh), still continues in the East. 
 

 222 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 No. 374. Goldsmiths. Sent Hassan, 
 
 Fig. J, 2, making jewellery. 3 blowing the fire for melting the gold. 4 weighing the gold. 5 clerk or scribe. 6, 7, 8, 9, washing gold. 
 
 10 superintendent. The remaining part relates to the preparation of the metal before it was worked. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 GOLD WORKING. 
 
 223 
 
 the Egyptians by the Israelites * at the time of 
 their leaving Egypt, (out of which the golden calf 
 was afterwards madet,) suffice to prove the great 
 quantity of precious metals wrought at that time 
 into female ornaments. It is not from the Scrip- 
 tures alone that the skill of the Egyptian gold- 
 smiths may be inferred ; the sculptures of Thebes 
 and Beni Hassan afford their additional testimony ; 
 and the numerous gold and silver vases, inlaid 
 work, and jewellery, represented in common use, 
 show the great advancement they had already 
 made, at a remote period, in this branch of art. 
 
 The engraving of gold, the mode of casting it, 
 and inlaying it with stones, were evidently known 
 at the same time ; they are mentioned in the 
 Bible t, and numerous specimens of this kind of 
 work have been found in Egypt. 
 
 The origin of the sign signifying gold has been 
 
 are articles of jewellery. The hieroglyphics read “goldsmith,” or “ worker in gold.” 
 
 * Exod. iii. 22. and xii. 35. 
 
 -|- Exod. xxxii. 2, 3. 
 
 j Exod. xxxii. 4. Aaron “ fashioned it with a graving tool, after 
 he had made it a molten calf.” On engraving and setting stones, vide 
 Exod. xxviii. 9. and II. 
 
22 i 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Imppily explained by the ingenious Champollion ; 
 as the bowl * in which the metal was washed, the 
 cloth through which it was strained, and the 
 dropping of the water, united into one character, 
 at once indicative of the process and tlie metal. 
 
 Much cannot, of course, be expected from the 
 objects found in the excavated tombs, to illustrate 
 the means employed in smelting the ore, or to 
 disclose any of the secrets they possessed in metal- 
 lurgy ; and little is given in the paintings beyond 
 the use of the blow-pipe, the forceps t, and their 
 mode of concentrating heat, by raising cheeks of 
 metal round three sides of the fire, in which the 
 crucibles were placed. Of the latter, indeed, there 
 is no indication in these subjects, unless it be in 
 the preceding wood-cutt ; but their use is readily 
 suggested, and some which have been found in 
 Egypt are preserved in the museum of Berlin. 
 They are nearly five inches in diameter at the 
 mouth, and about the same in depth, and present 
 
 d 
 
 No. 375. Blowpipe, and small fireplace with cheeks to confine and reflect the heat. Thehes. 
 
 * Or the frame over which the cloth was laid. Vide wood-cut, 
 No. 374. a. Jig. a. .... 
 
 f Bronze forceps, tongs, and tweezers have been found, retaining 
 their spring perfectly. 
 t Wood-cut, No. 374. c. 
 
CH. IX. CRUCIBLES. WORKING OF METALS. 2^5 
 
 the ordinary form and appearance of those used at 
 the present day. 
 
 From the mention * of earrings and bracelets, and 
 jewels of silver and gold, in the days of Abraham, 
 it is evident that in Asia, as well as in Egypt, the 
 art of metallurgy was known at a very remote 
 period ; and workmen of the same countries are 
 noticed by Homer t as excelling in the manufac- 
 ture of arms, rich vases, and other objects inlaid or 
 ornamented with metals. His account of the shield 
 of Achilles t proves the art of working the various 
 substances of which it was made, copper, tin, gold, 
 and silver, to have been well understood at that 
 time ; and the skill required to represent the in- 
 finity of subjects he mentions, was such as no or- 
 dinary artisan could possess ; and unless similar 
 works had been already made, the poet would not 
 have ventured on the description he has given. 
 
 The ornaments in gold, found in Egypt, con- 
 sist of rings, bracelets, armlets, necklaces, earrings, 
 and numerous trinkets belonging to the toilet ; 
 many of which are of the early times of Osirtasen I. 
 and Thothmes III., the contemporaries of Joseph 
 and of Moses. Gold and silver vases, statues, and 
 other objects of gold and silver, of silver inlaid with 
 gold, and of bronze inlaid with the precious metals, 
 were also common at the same time ; and besides 
 those manufactured in the country from the pro- 
 
 * Gen. xxiv. 47. 53. 
 
 f Horn. II. xxiii. 741. A silver cup, the work of the Sidonians 
 Od. iv. 618, &c. Vide 11. ii. 872. vi. 236., the armour of Glaucus. 
 
 J Horn. II. xviii. 474. 
 
 VOL. HI, Q 
 
226 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 duce of their own mines *, the Egyptians exacted 
 an annual tribute from the conquered provinces of 
 Asia and Africa, in gold and silver, and in vases 
 made of those materials. 
 
 I have frequently had occasion to notice the 
 elegance of the Egyptian vases, whether of gold or 
 other materials. Many other objects were equally 
 graceful in their form, and the devices which orna- 
 mented them ; and among these I may cite the 
 golden baskets in the tomb of Ilemeses, which in 
 
 1 2 3 
 
 No. 376. Golden baskets represented in the tomb of king Uemeses III. Thebes. 
 
 their shape call to mind our European bread 
 baskets. 
 
 At Beni Hassan, the process of washing the ore, 
 smelting or fusing the metal with the help of the 
 hlow-pipe, and fashioning it for ornamental pur- 
 jioses, weighing it and taking an account of the 
 quantity so made up, and other occupations of 
 the goldsmith, are represented ; but, as might be 
 supposed, these subjects merely suffice, as they 
 were intended, to give a general indication of the 
 goldsmith’s trade, without attempting to describe 
 the means employed.! 
 
 * Diodorus mentions the silver mines of Egypt which produced 
 3,200 myriads of niinae, but I am not aware of their position. Vide 
 Diodor. i. 49., and supra, Vol. I. p. 1 13. and 234. 
 t Vide wood- cut. No. 374. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 GOLD MINES OF EGYPT. 
 
 Tlie gold mines of Egypt, though mentioned by 
 Agatharcides and later writers, and worked even by 
 the Arab Caliphs, long remained unknown, and 
 their position has only been ascertained a few years 
 since, by M. Linant and Mr. Bonomi. They lie in 
 the Bisharee desert, or, as Edreesee and Aboolfeda 
 call it, the land of Biga * or Boja, about seventeen 
 or eighteen days’ journey to the south-eastward 
 from Derow ; which is situated on the Nile, a little 
 above Kom Ombo, the ancient Ombos. 
 
 Those two travellers met with some Cufic 
 funereal inscriptions there, which from their dates 
 show that the mines were worked in the years 
 339 A.H. (951 A.D.), and 378 a. h. (989 a. d.) ; 
 the former being in the fifth year of the Caliph 
 Mostukfee Billah, a short time before the arrival 
 of the Fatemites in Egypt, the latter in the four- 
 teenth of El Azeez, the second of the Fatemite 
 dynasty. 
 
 They continued to be worked till a much later 
 period, and were afterwards abandoned, the value 
 of the gold, as Aboolfeda states t, barely covering 
 the expenses ; nor has Mohammed Ali, who sent 
 to examine them and obtain specimens of the ore, 
 found it worth while to re-open them. 
 
 The matrix is quartz ; and so diligent a search 
 did the Egyptians establish, throughout the whole 
 of the deserts east of the Nile, for this precious 
 metal, that I never remember to have seen a vein 
 
 * Bigah or Bcgga is the name which the Bishareeh Arabs give 
 themselves. 
 
 f Aboolfeda’s Description of Egypt, s. 68. 
 
 Q 2 
 
^228 THE ANCIENT EGYETIANS. CHAP. IX. 
 
 of quartz in any of the primitive ranges there, which 
 had not been carefully examined by their miners ; 
 certain portions having been invariably picked out 
 from the fissures in which it lay, and broken into 
 small fragments. At a spot near the quarries 
 of Breccia V^erde, on the road from Coptos to 
 Kossayr, the working of quartz veins has been 
 carried on to such an extent, and on so grand a 
 scale ; the houses of the miners are so numerous ; 
 the consequence of the place so strongly argued, 
 by the presence of a small stone temple bearing 
 the name and sculptures of Ptolemy Evergetes I. ; 
 'and the length of time the workmen inhabited it, 
 so distinctly proved by the large mounds of broken 
 pottery found there (from which the valley has 
 derived the name of Wadee Foakheer), that I 
 cannot suppose their labours to have been confined 
 to the mere cutting of tazzi, sarcophagi, fonts, 
 vases, columns, and similar objects from the 
 breccia quarries, which, too, are distant three 
 miles from this spot ; and the number of one 
 thousand three hundred and twenty huts, Avhich I 
 counted in the different windings of the Wadee 
 Foakheer, containing far more workmen than the 
 quarries would require, appears conclusive respect- 
 ing the object they had in view, and suggests that 
 they had succeeded in finding gold here also, 
 though probably in for less quantities than in the 
 mines of the more southerly district. 
 
 The gold mines are said by Aboolfeda to be 
 situated at El Allaga (or Ollagee) ; but Eshuranib 
 (or Eshuanib), the principal place, is about three 
 
CHAP. IX. GOLD MINES THEIU POSITION. 
 
 clays’ journey beyond Wadee Allaga, according to 
 Mr. Bonomi, to whom I am indebted for the fol- 
 lowing account of the mines. “ The direction of 
 the excavations depends,” as Diodorus states, “ on 
 that of the strata in which the ore is found, and 
 the position of the various shafts differ accordingly. 
 As to the manner of extracting the metal, some 
 notion may be given by a description of the ruins 
 at Eshuranib, the largest station, where sufficient 
 remains to explain the process they adopted. The 
 principal excavation, according to M. Linant’s 
 measurement, is about 180 feet deep; it is a 
 narrow oblique chasm, reaching a considerable 
 way down the rock. In the valley near the most 
 accessible part of the excavation, are several huts, 
 built of the unhewn fragments of the surrounding 
 hills, their walls not more than breast high, per- 
 haps the houses* of the excavators or the guardians 
 of the mine ; and separated from them by the 
 ravine or course of the torrent is a group of houses, 
 about three hundred in number, laid out very regu- 
 larly in straight lines. In those nearest the mines 
 lived the workmen who were employed to break 
 the quartz into small fragments, the size of a bean, 
 from whose hands the pounded stone passed to the 
 persons who ground it in hand-mills, similar to 
 those now used for corn in the valley of the Nile, 
 made of a granitic stone ; one of which is to be 
 found in almost every house at these mines, either 
 entire or broken. 
 
 ♦ Similar huts arc met with at all the quarries and mines of these 
 deserts. 
 
 O 3 
 
230 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 “ The quartz thus reduced to powder was washed 
 on inclined tables, furnished with two cisterns, all 
 built of fragments of stone collected there ; and near 
 these inclined planes are generally found little white 
 mounds, the residue of the operation. Besides the 
 numerous remains of houses in this station, are two 
 large buildings, with towers at the angles, built of 
 the hard blackish granitic, yet luminous rock, that 
 prevails in the district. The valley has many trees, 
 and in a high part of the torrent bed is a sort of 
 island, or isolated bank on which we found many 
 tomb-stones, some written in the ancient Cufic 
 character, very similar to those at E’Souan.” 
 
 Such is the description Mr. Bonomi has been 
 kind enough to send me of the gold mines of 
 Allaga ; and as Diodorus’s account of the mining 
 operations, and the mode of extracting the gold, 
 is highly interesting, 1 shall introduce some extracts 
 from his work. 
 
 The historian states that those who worked in 
 the mines were principally captives taken in war, 
 and men condemned to hard labour for crimes, 
 or in consequence of offences against the govern- 
 ment. They were bound in fetters, and obliged 
 to work night and day ; every chance of escape 
 being carefully obviated by the watchfulness of 
 the guards, who, in order that persuasion might 
 not be used to induce them to relax in their duty, 
 or feelings of compassion be excited for the suffer- 
 ings of their fellow-countrymen, were foreign 
 soldiers, ignorant of the Egyptian language. 
 
 Whether this system was introduced by the 
 
CHAP. IX. MEN CONDEMNED TO THE MINES. 
 
 231 
 
 Ptolemies and the latter Pharaohs, or was always 
 carried on in the earliest times, it is difficidt to 
 say, Diodorus confining his remarks to the state of 
 the mines during his own time. “ The soil,” says 
 the historian, “ naturally black *, is traversed with 
 veins of marble t of excessive whiteness, surpass- 
 ing in brilliancy the most shining substances ; out 
 of which the overseers cause the gold to be dug, 
 by the labour of a vast multitude of people ; for 
 the kings of Egypt condemn to the mines no- 
 torious criminals, prisoners of war, persons con- 
 victed by false accusations J, or the victims of 
 resentment. And not only the individuals them- 
 selves, but sometimes even their whole family are 
 doomed to this labour ; with the view of punishing 
 the guilty, and profiting by their toil. 
 
 “ The vast numbers employed in these mines are 
 bound in fetters, and compelled to work day and 
 night without intermission, and without the least 
 hope of escape ; for they set over them barbarian 
 soldiers, who speak a foreign language, so that 
 there is no possibility of conciliating them by per- 
 suasion, or the kind feelings which result from fa- 
 miliar converse. 
 
 “ When the earth containing the gold is hard, 
 they soften it by the application of fire, and when 
 it has been reduced to such a state that it yields 
 
 * The rock in which the veins of quartz run is an argillaceous 
 schist. 
 
 f Diodor. iii. 11. He evidently alludes to the quartz, which is the 
 matrix of the ore, by the expressions “ fiapftapov," “ rt]v papfiapiZovaav 
 TTtTpai’," and “ aTro<7Ti\£ov<T>ie werpas” 
 
 More probably of false accusations. 
 
 Q 4 
 
23£ 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 to moderate labour, several thousands (myriads) 
 of these unfortunate people break it up with iron 
 picks. Over the whole work presides an engineer 
 who views and selects the stone, and points it 
 out to tlie labourers. The strongest of tliem, 
 provided witli iron chisels, cleave the marble- 
 shining rock by mere force, without any attempt 
 at skill ; and in excavating the shafts below 
 ground they follow the direction of the shining 
 stratum, without keeping to a straight line. 
 
 “ In order to see in these dark windings, they 
 fasten lamps to their foreheads, having their bodies 
 painted, sometimes of one and sometimes of an- 
 other colour, according to the nature of the rock ; 
 and as they cut the stone it falls in masses on the 
 floor, the overseers urging them to the work with 
 commands and blows. They are followed by 
 little boys, who take away the fragments as they 
 fall and carry them out into the open air. Those 
 who are above thirty years of age are employed 
 to pound pieces of the stone, of certain dimen- 
 sions, with iron pestles in stone mortars, until 
 reduced to the size of a lentil. It is then trans- 
 ferred to women and old men, who put it into mills 
 arranged in a long row, two or three persons being 
 employed at the same mill, and it is ground until 
 reduced to a fine powder. 
 
 “ No attention is paid to their persons, they 
 have not even a piece of rag to cover themselves ; 
 and, so wretched is their condition, that every one 
 who witnesses it deplores the excessive misery 
 they endure. No rest, no intermission from toil. 
 
CHAP. IX. MODE OF WORKING THE MINES. 
 
 233 
 
 lire given either to the sick or maimed : neither 
 the weakness of age nor women’s infirmities are 
 regarded ; all are driven to their work with the 
 lash, till, at last, overcome with the intolerable 
 weight of their afflictions, they die in the midst 
 of their toil. So that these unhappy creatures 
 always expect worse to come than what they 
 endure at the present, and long for death as far 
 preferable to life. 
 
 “ At length the masters take the stone thus 
 ground to powder, and carry it away to undergo the 
 final process. They spread it upon a broad table a 
 little inclined ; and, pouring water upon it, rub the 
 pulverised stone until all the earthy matter is separ- 
 ated, which, flowing away with the water, leaves 
 the heavier particles behind on the board. This 
 operation is often repeated, the stone being rubbed 
 lightly with the hand : they then draw up the 
 useless and earthy substance with fine sponges, 
 gently applied, until the gold comes out quite 
 pure. Other wmrkmen then take it away by 
 weight and measure, and putting it with a fixed 
 proportion of lead, salt, a little tin, and barley 
 bran, into earthen crucibles well closed with clay, 
 leave it in a furnace for five successive days and 
 nights ; after which it is suffered to cool. The 
 crucibles are then opened, and nothing is found in 
 them but the pure gold, a little diminished in 
 quantity. 
 
 “ Such is the method of extracting the gold on 
 the confines of Egypt, the result of so many and 
 such great toils. Nature, indeed, I think, teaches 
 
231 < 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 tliat as gold is obtained with immense labour, so 
 it is kept with difficulty, creating great anxiety, 
 and attended in its use both with pleasure and 
 grief.” 
 
 GILDING. 
 
 In the early stages of society when gold first 
 began to be used, idols, ornaments, or other objects, 
 were made of the metal in its pure state, till being 
 found too soft, and too easily worn away, an alloy 
 was added to harden it, at the same time that it 
 increased the bulk of the valuable material. As 
 men advanced in experience, they found that the 
 great ductility of gold enabled them to cover sub- 
 stances of all kinds with thin plates of the metal, 
 giving all the effect of the richness and brilliancy 
 they admired in solid gold ornaments ; and the 
 gilding of bronze, stone, silver, and w'ood, was 
 speedily adopted. 
 
 The leaves so used were at first thick, but 
 skill, resulting from experience, soon showed to 
 what a degree of fineness they could be reduced ; 
 and we find that in Egypt substances of various 
 kinds were overlaid with fine gold leaf, at the 
 earliest periods of which the monuments remain, 
 even in the time of the first Osirtasen. Some 
 things still continued to be covered with thick 
 leaf, but this was from choice, and not in conse- 
 quence of any want of skill in the workmen ; and 
 in the early age of Thothmes III., they were 
 already acquainted with all the various methods 
 of applying gold ; whether in leaf: or by inlay- 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 GILDING AND GOLD LEAF. 
 
 235 
 
 ing : or by beating it into other metals, previously 
 tooled with devices to receive it. 
 
 That their knowledge of gilding* was coeval 
 with the sojourn of the Israelites in the country is 
 evident from the direct mention of it in the Bible, 
 the ark of shittim wood made by Moses being over- 
 laid with pure gold ; and the casting of the metal 
 is noticed on the same occasion t: nor can we 
 doubt that the art was derived by the Jews from 
 Egypt, or that the Egyptians had long before been 
 acquainted with all those secrets of metallurgy, in 
 which the specimens that remain prove them to 
 liave so eminently excelled. 
 
 The method devised by the Egyptians for beating 
 out the leaf is unknown to us, but from the ex- 
 treme fineness of some of that covering wooden 
 and other ornaments, found at Thebes, we may 
 conclude it was done nearly in the same way as 
 formerly in Europe, between parchment ; and 
 perhaps some membrane taken from the intestines 
 of animals was also employed by them. 
 
 In Europe the skin of an unborn calf was at first 
 substituted for the parchment previously used, but 
 in the beginning of the 17th century, the German 
 gold-beaters having obtained a fine pellicle from 
 the entrails of cattle!, found that they could beat 
 
 * Pliny mentions the lycophoron, a composition used for attaching 
 gold to wood. Plin. xxxv. 6. “ Sinopidis Ponticae selibra, silis lucidi 
 
 libris X, et melini Graeciensis duabus mixtis tritisque una, per dies xii, 
 leucophoron fit, hoc est, glutinum auri, cum inducitur ligno.” Vide 
 Theophrast. on stones, s. 46. 
 
 •f- Exod. XXV. 11, 12. 
 
 X This “ pelle del budello,” is mentioned by Lanccllotti, who wrote 
 in the year 1636. 
 
^36 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. IX. 
 
 gold much thinner than before, and this still con- 
 tinues to be used, and is known to us under the 
 name of gold-beaters’ skin. “About the year l621,” 
 says Beckmann*, “ Merunne excited general asto- 
 nishment, when he showed that the Parisian gold- 
 beaters could beat an ounce of gold into sixteen 
 hundred leaves, which together covered a surface of 
 one hundred and five square feet. Butin I 7 II, 
 when the pellicles discovered by the Germans came 
 to be used in Paris, Reaumur found that an ounce 
 of gold in the form of a cube, five and a quarter 
 lines at most in length, breadth and thickness, and 
 which covered only a surface of about 27 square 
 lines, could be so extended by the gold-beaters, as 
 to cover a surface of more than 1466^ square feet. 
 This extension, therefore, is nearly one half more 
 than was possible about a century before.” 
 
 Many gilt bronze vases, implements of various 
 kinds, trinkets, statues, toys, and other objects, in 
 metal and wood, have been discovered in the tombs 
 of Thebes : the faces of mummies are frequently 
 found overlaid with thick gold leaf; the painted 
 cloth, the wooden coffin, were also profusely orna- 
 mented in this manner ; and the whole body itself 
 of the deceased was sometimes gilded, previous 
 to its being enveloped in the bandages. Not 
 only were small objects appertaining to the service 
 of the gods, and connected with religion, or ar- 
 ticles of luxury and show, in the temples, tombs, 
 or private houses, so decorated ; the sculptures on 
 
 * Vide Beckmann's valuable work, the History of Inventions, vol.iv. 
 on Gilding. 
 
CHAP. IX. USE OF GOLD AND SILVER. 
 
 237 
 
 the lofty walls of an adytum, the ornaments of 
 a colossus, the doorways of the temples, and 
 parts of numerous large monuments were like- 
 wise covered with gilding ; of which the wooden 
 heifer which served as a sepulchre to the body 
 of king Mycerinus’s daughter*, the sculptures 
 at the temple of Kalabshi in Nubia, the statue 
 of Minerva sent to Cyrene by Amasist, and the 
 Sphinx at the pyramids may be cited as instances. 
 
 Gold is supposed by many to have been usedt 
 some time before silver, but the earliest authority, 
 which is that of the Bible, mentions both these 
 metals at the most remote age. The Egyptian 
 sculptures represent silver as well as gold in the 
 time of the third Thothmes, and silver rings have 
 been found of the same epoch. § Abraham was said 
 to have been “very rich, in cattle, in silver, and in 
 gold 11 and the use of silver as money ^ is dis- 
 tinctly pointed out in the purchase of the field of 
 Ephron, with its cave**, which Abraham bought 
 for “four hundred shekels of silver, current money 
 with the merchant.” 
 
 On this occasion, as usual, the price paid was 
 settled by weight, a custom retained among the 
 
 * Heroilot. ii. 129. 132. 
 f Herodot. ii. 182. 
 
 j Pliny attributes the art of working gold to Cadmus, vii. 50. 
 
 ^ In the museum of Alnwick Castle is a silver ring of Amnnoph III. 
 Silver rings and ornaments are less common of every epoch than gold. 
 
 II Gen. xiii. 2. But no mention is made of it as money, till after 
 Abraham’s return from Egypt, as Goguet has justly observed, tom. i. 
 1. ii. c. 4. 
 
 ^ The word silver, is commonly used in Hebrew to signify 
 
 money, as argent in French. 
 
 ** Gen. xxiii. 16, 17. 
 
238 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Egyptians, Hebrews*, and other eastern people, 
 till a late period ; and, indeed, until a govemnnient 
 stamp, or some fixed value was given to money, 
 this could be the only method of ascertaining 
 the price paid, and of giving satisfaction to both 
 parties. Thus Joseph’s brethren, when they disco- 
 vered the money returned into their sacks, brought 
 it back to Egypt, observing that it was “ in full 
 weight and the paintings of Thebes frequently 
 represent persons in the act of weighingt gold, on 
 the purchase of articles in the market. This 
 continued to be the custom when rings! of gold 
 and silver were used in Egypt for money, and even 
 to the time of the Ptolemies, who established a 
 coinage of gold, silver, and copper, in the country. 
 
 These princes were not the first who introduced 
 coined money into Egypt : it had been current 
 there during the Persian occupation of the country; 
 and Aryandes, who was governor of Egypt, under 
 Cambyses and Darius, struck silver coins, in imita- 
 tion of the gold Darics of his sovereign, for which 
 act of presumption he was condemned to death. § 
 It is uncertain, as Pliny observes, when and 
 where the art of stamping money originated. He- 
 rodotus attributes it to the Lydians, “ the first 
 people who coined gold and silver for their use|| 
 Servius Tullius made^ copper money, about the 
 
 * Vide Vol. II. p. II. note. 
 
 -|- Vide wood-cut, No. 78. p. 10. Vol. II. 
 
 j The Chinese and Japanese have a sort of ring money, or at least 
 round coins with a hole in the centre, which are strung together. 
 Vide Plin. xxxiii. 1. 
 
 § Herodot. iv. 166. 
 
 II Ilerodot. i. 93. V. Jnl. Poll, ononi.9. ; vi. 83. Lucan. Phars. vi. 40*2. 
 
 IT Plin. liii. 3. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 STAMPED MONEY. 
 
 239 
 
 year 560 b.c., and impressed upon it the figure of 
 a sheep, “ pecus,” whence it obtained the name 
 “pecunia;” silver was coined at Athens* 512 
 years before our era, and at Rome, five years 
 before the first Punic wart, or 269 B.c.t, and 
 some suppose Phidon, King of Argos, to have 
 invented weights and measures, and silver coin- 
 age §, in the year 895 b. c. H 
 
 Though stamped money was not used by the 
 ancient Egyptians, we have evidence of weights 
 and measures having been invented by them long 
 before the Greeks existed as a nation ; and it is 
 probable that they were known even in Greece 
 previous to the time of Phidon. 
 
 The balance used for weighing gold differed 
 slightly from those of ordinary construction, and 
 was probably more delicately formed. It was 
 made, as usual, with an upright pole, rising from a 
 broad base or stand, and a cross beam turning on 
 a pin at its summit ; but instead of strings suspend- 
 ing the scales, was an arm on either side, termi- 
 nating in a hook, to which the gold was attached in 
 small bags.^ 
 
 Large scales were generally a flat wooden board, 
 with four ropes attached to a ring at the extremity 
 
 * Aristot. Qiconom. lib. ii. 
 
 + Plin. loc. cit. 
 
 f Livy however mentions the Denarius (a silver coin), much earlier. 
 B.c. 337. (viii. 11.) Gold was not struck at Rome till b.c. 207. 
 
 ^ “ In .(tegina.” Strabo lib. viii. p.259 ; on the authority of Ephorus. 
 
 II Pausanias says, gold and silver money was unknown in the age of 
 Polydorus king of Sparta, who died b.c. 724 (lib. iii. c. 12.). That 
 it was not in use at the time of the Trojan war, is shown by Homer. 
 Vide II. vii. 473., their mode of buying wine. 
 
 ^ Vide wood-cut. No. 374. 
 
‘210 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 of the beam ; and those of smaller size were of 
 bronze, one of which I found in Upper Egypt, one 
 and a half inch in diameter, pierced near the edge 
 in three places, for the strings. 
 
 The principle of the common balance was simple 
 and ingenious ; the beam passed through a ring 
 suspended from a horizontal rod, immediately above 
 and parallel to it, and when equally balanced, the 
 ring, which was large enough to allow the beam to 
 play freely, showed when the scales were equally 
 poised, and had the additional effect of preventing 
 the beam tilting, when the goods were taken out of 
 one, and the weights suffered to remain in the 
 other.* To the lower part of the ring a small plum- 
 met was fixed, and this being touched by the hand, 
 and found to hang freely, indicated, without the ne- 
 cessity of looking at the beam, that the weight was 
 just. The figure of a baboon, sometimes placed 
 upon the top, was not connected in any way with 
 the balance, but was the emblem of the god Thoth, 
 the regulator of measures, of time, and of writing, 
 in his character of the moon ; but I do not find 
 any notion of the goddess of Justice being con- 
 nected with the balance, except in the judgment 
 scenes of the dead. 
 
 The pair of scales was the ordinary and, appa- 
 rently, only kind of balance used by the Egyptians ; 
 no instance of the steel-yard being met with in the 
 paintings of Thebes, or of Beni Hassan : and I con- 
 clude that the introduction of the latter is confined 
 to a Roman era. 
 
 * F?rfe wood-cut, No. 78. Vol. II. p. 10. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 THE SCALES AND BALANCE. 
 
 241 
 
 The Egyptians had another kind of balance, in 
 which the equalisation of the opposite weights was 
 ascertained by tlie plummet ; and this last, whose 
 invention has been ascribed by Pliny to Daedalus, is 
 shown to have been known and applied in Egypt 
 at least as early as the time of Osirtasen, the con- 
 temporary of Joseph. 
 
 COPPER, BRONZE, IRON. 
 
 For ordinary purposes copper was most com- 
 monly used ; arms, vases, statues, instruments, and 
 implements of every kind, articles of furniture, 
 and numerous other objects, were made of this 
 metal hardened by an alloy of tin, and even chisels 
 for cutting stone, as well as carpenters’ tools, and 
 knives, were of bronze. It is generally allowed 
 that copper or bronze was known long before 
 iron and though Tubal-Cain is said to have been 
 “ the instructor of every artificer in brass and 
 ironf,” no direct mention is made of iron arms! 
 or tools § till after the Exodus ; and some are even 
 inclined to doubt the barzel of the Hebrews being 
 really that metal. 
 
 According to the Arundelian marbles, iron was 
 known one hundred and eighty-eight years before 
 the Trojan war, about 1370 years b. c., but Hesiod, 
 Plutarch 1|, and others limit its discovery to a much 
 
 * Thus Lucretius, “ Sed prius aeris erat qiiatn ferri cognitus usus,” 
 lib. V. 1292. 
 
 f Gen. iv. 22. J Numb. xxxv. 16. 
 
 § Deut. xxvii. 5. || Paus. Grec. lib. iii. c. 3. Lacon. 
 
 VOL. III. R 
 
242 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 later period, after the capture of Troy. Homer, 
 however, distinctly mentions its use * : and that 
 there is little reason to doubt the sideros of the poet 
 being iron, is shown by the simile t, derived from 
 the quenching of iron in water, which he applies 
 to the hissing noise produced on piercing the eye 
 of Polyphemus with the pointed stake, thus ren- 
 dered by Pope : 
 
 “ And as when armourers temper in the ford 
 The keen-edg’d poleaxe, or the shining sword. 
 
 The red hot metal hisses in the lake. 
 
 Thus in his eyeball hiss’d the plunging stake.” 
 
 Among the earliest authorities for the use of iron, 
 may be cited the bedstead of Og the king of 
 Bashan t, who is said to have lived about the year 
 1450, before our era ; and Thrasyllus § agrees with 
 the Arundelian marbles in supposing iron to have 
 been known before the Trojan war, or indeed one 
 hundred and fourteen years previous to the found- 
 ation of Troy ||, 1537 before our era. On the other 
 hand it has been argued, that offerings of iron in the 
 temples of Greece distinctly showed the value at- 
 tached to that metal, as well as its limited use for 
 ordinary purposes, and rings of iron were worn by 
 the ancients, some of which have been found in the 
 tombs of Egypt. But these last are of very late date, 
 long after iron was commonly used, and I possess 
 
 * Horn. II. xxiii. 261, &c. 
 f Horn. Od. ix. 391.— 
 
 “ Qg d’ OT avr]p TriXtKvv ptyav, ije (jKorapvov, 
 
 Etv vSari jiairrH peyaXa la’j^opra, 
 
 i>appaaah)v (ro yap avTt aidtjpov Tt KpaTog tariv) 
 ilg rov aiZ' o<p9a\p,og tXdivitp Tripi no\\(p.” 
 t; Deut.iii.il. $ Clem. Alex. Strom, i. 
 
 II Founded B. C. 1423. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 EARLY USE OF IRON. 
 
 243 
 
 one of them, engraved with the figure of Harpo- 
 crates, which is undoubtedly of a Ptolemaic or 
 Roman era, and which only claims some degree of 
 interest, from its bearing a device noticed by Pliny 
 as becoming fashionable at Rome in his time.* * * § 
 That iron, as early as the days ofLycurgus, was 
 held in little estimation, is shown by that legislator 
 forbidding the introduction of gold and silver in his 
 republic, and restricting the Spartans to the use of 
 iron ; and some notion may be formed of its value 
 at that time by the assertion of Plutarch t, that it 
 required a cart drawn by two oxen to carry the 
 small sum of ten minae. 
 
 The Jews appear to have been acquainted with 
 two kinds of iron, previous to the Babylonish cap- 
 tivity, the barzel which was in common use, and 
 the northern iron, as well as steelt: even as early 
 as the days of Job § iron was known ; and Moses 
 mentions an iron furnace. ll 
 
 One of the arguments against the early use of 
 iron^ is the difficulty of smelting the ore, and of 
 reducing it to a malleable state ; and the various 
 processes required to discover all its most useful 
 properties, render it less likely to be employed 
 than a more ductile metal. Gold, silver, and 
 
 * PHn. xxxiii. 3. “ Jam vero Harpocratem, statuasque ^gj’ptioruni 
 numinum, in digitis viri quoque portare incipiunt.” 
 
 -}- Pint, in Lycurgo. 
 
 j Jerem. xv, 12. 
 
 § Job, xxviii. 2. “ Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten 
 out of the stone.” 
 
 II Deut. iv. 20. 
 
 ^ Pliny says the fabulous Cyclopes were the inventors of the iron- 
 smith’s forge ; and the Idasi Dactyli of Crete, according to Hesiod, the 
 first to introduce the use of iron. Plin. vii. 56. 
 
 R 2 
 
244 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 copper, were easily fused, and a single process 
 sufficed to make them available for every purpose ; 
 the principal art required for fabricating imple- 
 ments of copper depending on the proper propor- 
 tions and qualities of alloy introduced. 
 
 “ Those three metals,” as Robinson has ob- 
 served*, “are found in their perfect state in the 
 clefts of rocks, in the sides of mountains, or the 
 channels of rivers. They were accordingly first 
 known, and first applied to use. But iron, the 
 most serviceable of all, and to which man is most 
 indebted t, is never discovered in its perfect form ; 
 its gross and stubborn ore must feel twice the 
 force of fire, and go through two laborious pro- 
 cesses, before it becomes fit for use. Man was 
 long acquainted with the other metals before he 
 acquired the art of fabricating iron, or attained 
 such ingenuity as to perfect an invention, to which 
 he is indebted for those instruments wherewith he 
 subdues the earth and commands all its inhabit- 
 ants.” 
 
 In the infancy of the arts and sciences, the dif- 
 ficidty of working iron might long withhold the 
 secret of its superiority over copper and bronze ; 
 but it cannot reasonably be supposed that a nation 
 so advanced, and so eminently skilled in the art of 
 Avorking metals as the Egyptians, should have 
 remained ignorant of its use, even if Ave had no 
 evidence of its having been known to the Greeks 
 and other people ; and the constant employment 
 
 * Robertson, America, book iv. p. 123. 
 
 f Vide Herodot. i. 68. 
 
CHAP. IX. OF THE USE OF BRONZE. ^45 
 
 of bronze arms and implements is not a sufficient 
 argument against their knowledge of iron, since we 
 find tlie Greeks and Romans made the same things 
 of bronze long after the period when iron was uni- 
 versally known. 
 
 Another argument, to show that bronze was 
 used in Greece before iron, is derived from the 
 word (smith) in Greek, having the signi- 
 
 fication of “ coppersmith,” whether applied to a 
 worker of copper or iron.* In Latin, on the con- 
 trary, ferrum\, “an iron,” is the word frequently 
 applied to a sword ; and some have hence argued 
 the use of iron for those weapons, at the earliest 
 period, among the Romans. Yet we find that 
 their swords were constantly made of bronze, 
 as well as their defensive armour. The Etrus- 
 cans almost invariably used iron for swords, dag- 
 gers, spear heads, and other offensive weapons, 
 and confined bronze to defensive armour ; a much 
 more reasonable custom, inasmuch as the iron is 
 more capable of perforating the softer metal : and 
 if the early Romans did make their swords of iron, 
 it is probable they adopted the custom from their 
 Italian neighbours. 
 
 After examining numerous authorities, some of 
 which assert that nations of antiquity were confined 
 to the use of copper and bronze, while others affirm 
 that iron was known at a most remote epoch, we 
 
 * Horn. Od. ix. 391. Heroilot. i. 68. 
 
 f Those who derive harzel from “ hers,” the Chaldee and Syriac 
 word signifying “to perforate,” might perhaps suppose ferriim “iron” 
 taken from “ ferire ” “ to strike.” 
 
 R 3 
 
246 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 may still remain in uncertainty respecting the 
 question. But to conclude, from the want of iron 
 instruments, or arms, bearing the names of early 
 monarchs of a Pharaonic age, that bronze was alone 
 used, is neither just nor satisfactory ; since the 
 decomposition of that metal, especially when buried 
 for ages in the nitrous soil of Egypt, is so speedy 
 as to preclude the possibility of its preservation. 
 Until we know in what manner, and for what sort 
 of stone, the Egyptians employed bronze tools, the 
 discovery of them affords no additional light, nor 
 even argument ; since, as I before observed, the 
 Greeks and Romans continued to make bronze in- 
 struments of various kinds long after iron was 
 known to them*; and the general use of bronze 
 may have arisen from the greater facility of working 
 the metal, remelting and casting it afresh, as well as 
 from its being easier to find than iron : for though 
 this last, in its various combinations, is more uni- 
 versally diffused over the face of the globe t, it does 
 not always occur in a state of which the miner can 
 easily avail himself, and I only know of one mine 
 in Egypt worked by the ancients. It lies in the 
 eastern desert, between the Nile and the Red Sea, 
 at a place called Hammami, and was discovered by 
 my friend Mr. Burton, who visited it in 1822 , and 
 found the metal to be in the form of specular and 
 red iron ore. 
 
 In Ethiopia iron was much more abundant than 
 
 * Vide Beckmann’s History of Inventions, on the early use of steel, 
 vol. iv. 
 
 -j- As Plin}’ observes, “ Metallorum omnium vena ferri largissima 
 est,” xxxiv. c. 14. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 WOODEN HOES. 
 
 247 
 
 in Egypt, and Herodotus may be correct in stating 
 that copper was there a rare metal* ; though we are 
 not disposed to believe bis assertion of prisoners 
 in that country being bound with golden fetters. 
 
 In the sepulchres of Thebes, I have had occasion 
 to remark butchers represented sharpening their 
 knives on a round bar of metal attached to their 
 apron ; and the blue colour of the blades and the 
 distinction maintained between the bronze and steel 
 weapons in the tomb of Remeses III., one being 
 painted red and the other blue, leave little doubt 
 that the Egyptians of an early Pharaonic age were 
 acquainted with the use of iron. 
 
 Many implements of husbandry, the plough, the 
 hoe, and the fork, were frequently of wood, as 
 simple in their form as in the materials of which 
 they were made ; the ploughshare was probably 
 sometimes sheathed with, or the blade of a hoe 
 formed of, metal ; but it is uncertain whether iron 
 was employed for this purpose, or if, like the tools 
 of earlier days mentioned by Hesiodt, they were 
 confined to bronze. 
 
 Several wooden hoes have been found in Egypt, 
 and are now preserved in the museums of Europe: 
 the blades and handles are simply inserted the one 
 into the other, and bound together in the middle 
 with a twisted rope ; and their general appearance, 
 according exactly with those represented in the 
 agricultural scenes of the tombs, shows them to 
 
 * Herociot. iii. 23. 
 
 f Hesiod, Open, et Dies. v. 151. "Men tilled the ground with 
 bronze, iron not being as yet known.” 
 
 R 4 
 
248 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 have been the kind most commonly used*, even 
 to the latest times. 
 
 No. '377. Wooden hoes. Berlin Mu%eum. 
 
 It is true that the Berlin Museum has the head of 
 a small hoe, of iron, but of what date is uncertain ; 
 and no inference can be drawn from it, especially 
 as its form differs essentially from those of the 
 paintings. 
 
 I have already stated that the speedy decom- 
 position of iron would be sufficient to prevent our 
 finding implements of that metal of an early period, 
 and that the greater opportunities of obtaining 
 copper ore, added to the facility of working it, 
 were a reason for preferring the latter whenever it 
 answered the purpose instead of iron. I shall pre- 
 sently endeavour to show how bronze tools might 
 be made available for sculpruring and engraving 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 93. Vol. II. p. 99. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 OF SCULPTURING GRANITE. 
 
 249 
 
 stone; though there is great difficulty in accounting 
 for their use in mines and quarries, where the stone 
 was frequently hewn with them; as Agatharcides* 
 informs us in his account of the gold mines, and 
 as I have reason to believe was done in cutting 
 the limestone rock of the tombs at Thebes; having 
 found a bronze chisel amidst the chippings of the 
 stone, where it had been accidentally left by the 
 workmen. 
 
 The hieroglyphics on obelisks and other granitic 
 monuments are sculptured with a minuteness and 
 finish which, even if they used steel as highly 
 tempered as our own, cannot fail to surprise the 
 beholder, and to elicit from him the confession that 
 our modern sculptors are unable to vie with them 
 in this branch of art. 
 
 Some are cut to the depth of more than two 
 inches, the edges and all the most minute parts of 
 the intaglio presenting the same sharpness and ac- 
 curacy; and 1 have seen the figure of a king in high 
 relief, reposing on the lid of a granite coffin, which 
 was raised to the height of nine inches above the 
 level of the surface. What can be said, if we 
 deny to men who executed such works as these 
 the aid of steel, and confine them to bronze im- 
 plements ? Then, indeed, we exalt their skill in 
 metallurgy far beyond our own, and indirectly con- 
 fess that they had devised a method of sculpturing 
 stone of which we are ignorant. In vain should we 
 attempt to render copper, by the addition of certain 
 
 * He says Xarofu^es “ wedges of bronze are found,” and infers 
 
 that they were not tlien acquainted with iron. 
 
250 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. IX. 
 
 alloys, sufficiently hard to sculpture granite, basalt, 
 and stones of similar quality. No one who has tried 
 to perforate or cut a block of Egyptian granite will 
 scruple to acknowledge that our best steel tools are 
 turned in a very short time*, and require to be 
 retempered : and the labour experienced by the 
 French engineers, who removed the obelisk of 
 Luxor from Thebes, in cutting a space less than 
 two feet deep, along the face of its partially 
 decomposed pedestal, suffices to show that, even 
 with our excellent modern implements, we find 
 considerable difficulty in doing what to the Egyp- 
 tians would have been one of the least arduous 
 tasks. 
 
 Some have imagined that the granite being 
 somewhat softer, at the time it is taken from the 
 quarry, was more easily sculptured when the Egyp- 
 tians put up the obelisks than at present, and thus 
 satisfy themselves that the labour was consider- 
 ably less; but this argument is entirely overthrown 
 by the fact of other sculptures having been fre- 
 
 * 1 am indebted to Sir R. Westraacott for the following observations 
 on this subject: — “Granite, as most hard materials of that nature, being 
 generally worked with a pick of various strength, until reduced to a 
 surface, the duration of the tool depends on its form ; the more obtuse 
 the longer it will work, remaining longer cold. In jumjmig (as it is 
 termed) holes for the admission of bolts into fractured parts of granite, 
 the tools are usually of strong tempered iron, about three quarters of 
 an inch in diameter, which resist the heat sometimes half an honr, 
 seldom longer. One man holds, and turns, or moves the tool, whilst the 
 other strikes it with a heavy hammer, the hole being supplied with 
 water. Tools of less diameter are formed of steel, but these will not 
 resist more than 300 strokes, when the points fly, and require to be 
 fresh battered. Sculptors generally use tools formed of blistered steel, 
 or of cast steel, the finer sort, highly tempered, by immersing them, when 
 heated to a proper degree, into cold water. Carpenters’ tools again, 
 and saws, are of the best cast steel, and are tempered in oil.” 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 GRANITE CUT WITH BRONZE. 
 
 251 
 
 quently added, one hundred and one hundred and 
 fifty years after the erection of the monument, as 
 in the lateral lines of hieroglyphics on obelisks ; 
 which are sometimes found more deeply cut and 
 more beautifully executed than those previously 
 sculptured. Others have suggested that the stone 
 being stunned, as it is termed, in those places 
 where it was to be sculptured, yielded more readily 
 to the blow of the chisel ; but neither is this suffi- 
 cient to produce the effect proposed, nor an advan- 
 tage exclusively enjoyed by the ancient Egyptianso 
 
 Thus, then, we find that the facility they pos- 
 sessed of sculpturing granite is neither attributable 
 to any process for bruising the crystals, nor to its 
 softer state on coming from the quarry : we must 
 therefore account for it in the skill they had acquired, 
 and endeavour to discover the means they employed 
 with such wonderful success. 
 
 The hieroglyphics on the obelisks are rather 
 engraved than sculptured ; and, judging from the 
 minute manner in which they are executed, we 
 may suppose they adopted the same process as 
 engravers, and even in some instances employed 
 the wheel and drill. That they were acquainted 
 with the use of emery powder* is not at all im- 
 probable, since, being found in the islands of the 
 Archipelago, it was within their reach ; and if this 
 be admitted, we can account for the admirable 
 
 * It is probable that this powder was used in sawing granite, a pro- 
 cess not uncommonly resorted to by the Egyptians ; and the presence 
 of oxyde of copper in the part w here the rock was cut, which surprised 
 De Roziere and others, may thus be more readily accounted for. 
 
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. IX. 
 
 finish and sharpness of the hieroglyphics on granitic 
 and basaltic monuments, and explain the reason of 
 their preferring tools of bronze to those of harder 
 and more compact steel : for it is evident the 
 powder enters more readily into the former, and 
 its action upon the stone is increased in proportion 
 to the quantity retained by the point of the chisel ; 
 whence we now prefer tools of soft iron to hard 
 steel for the same purpose. 
 
 As far as the sculpture or engraving of hierogly- 
 phics, this explanation might suffice for their jire- 
 ference of bronze implements ; but when we find 
 tools used in quarries made of the same metal, we 
 are unable to account for it, and readily express 
 our surprise how they could render a bronze chisel 
 capable of hewing stone. We know of no means 
 of tempering copper, under any form or united with 
 any alloys, for such a purpose. The addition of 
 tin or other metals to harden it, if exceeding certain 
 proportions, renders it too brittle for use; and that 
 such is not the case is evident from the chisel I 
 found at Thebes, which, though it contains an alloy 
 apparently of tin, is far from being brittle, and is 
 easily turned by striking it against the very stone 
 it was once used to cut. Had it depended on the 
 proportions of itsallo3^s, it ought still to possess the 
 same power as formerly, and its point should act 
 in the same manner upon the stone ; for, what is 
 very remarkable, the summit was turned over by 
 the blows it had received from the mallet, while the 
 point was intact, as if it had recently left the hands 
 of the smith who made it. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 ANCIENT BUONZE. 
 
 253 
 
 What, then, gave it the power of cutting the 
 stone, and of resisting in this manner ? for unless 
 some medium was employed, as a sheath of steel or 
 other protection to its point, we must confess that 
 the Egyptians appear to have possessed certain 
 secrets in hardening or tempering bronze, with 
 which we are totally unacquainted. The size of 
 this chisel is 94 inches in length ; its diameter at the 
 summit is 1 inch, and the point is ^^ths of an inch 
 in its greatest width ; its weight is 1 lb. 12 oz., and 
 in general form it resembles those now used by 
 the masons of modern Europe. 
 
 The skill of the Egyptians in compounding 
 metals is abundantly proved by the vases, mirrors, 
 arms, and implements of bronze, discovered at 
 Thebes, and other parts of Egypt ; and the nu- 
 merous methods* they adopted for varying the 
 composition of bronze, by a judicious admixture of 
 alloys t, are shown in the many qualities of the 
 metal. They had even the secret of giving to 
 bronze or brass t blades a certain degree of elas- 
 ticity ; as may be seen in the dagger of the Berlin 
 Museum already noticed §, which probably de- 
 pended on tlie mode of hammering the metal, and 
 the just proportions of peculiar alloys. 
 
 Another remarkable feature in their bronze is the 
 
 * Greek bronzes of the earliest and latest times have all the same 
 proportion of alloy. A little silver sometimes occurs, but this is sup- 
 posed to have entered accidentally with the tin. 
 
 f In almost all the bronzes hitherto analysed, the proportion is about 
 twelve parts of tin in a hundred. 
 
 J There is no direct proof of brass being known to the ancients, and 
 no analysis has yet shown the presence of zinc. 1 have a ring apparently 
 of brass, but it is possible that gold is there used instead of zinc. 
 
 $ In Vol. I. p. 320. 
 
254 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 resistance it offers to the effect of the atmosphere ; 
 some continuing smooth and bright, though buried 
 for ages, and since exposed to the damp of European 
 climates, and some presenting the appearance of 
 previous oxidation purposely induced.* 
 
 It is not known at what period they began to 
 cast statues and other objects in bronze, or if the 
 use of beaten copper long preceded the art of 
 casting in that metal. No light is thrown on this 
 point by the paintings of Beni Hassan, and Thebes, 
 or by the tombs in the vicinity of the pyramids, 
 which, from their early date, would be an authority 
 highly satisfactory and important. It is, indeed, 
 singular that at no period do we find any represent- 
 ation, among the many subjects connected with the 
 trades, arts, and occupations of the Egyptians, 
 which relates to this process ; even in tombs or on 
 monuments made at a time when we know, from 
 positive evidence, that they were acquainted with 
 it ; — another convincing proof that no argument 
 against the existence of a custom ought to be de- 
 rived from the circumstance of its not being indi- 
 cated on the monuments. 
 
 Many bronze statues have been found, evidently, 
 from their style, of a very early period ; but in the 
 absence of a king’s name it is impossible to fix 
 their exact date, though I feel persuaded that the 
 art of casting metal was known before the com- 
 mencement of the 18th dynasty, and it is probable 
 
 * I suppose the metal was then coated with some substance which 
 filled the pores. This is done at the present day. 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 CASTING OF METALS. 
 
 255 
 
 that many specimens exist of the age of Osirtasen 
 and Thothmes. 
 
 Pausanias*, in speaking of the art of casting 
 metal, observes that the people of Pheneum in 
 Arcadia pretended that Ulysses dedicated a statue 
 of bronze to Neptune Hippius, in order that 
 he might recover the horses he had lost, through 
 the intervention of the Deity ; “ and indeed,” he 
 adds, “ they showed me an inscription on the 
 pedestal of the statue offering a reward to any 
 person who should find and take care of the 
 animals ; but I do not give credit to the whole 
 of their statement, and no one can persuade 
 me that Ulysses erected a bronze statue to Nep- 
 tune. The art of fusing metal and casting it in 
 a mould was not yet known ; a statue was made 
 in those times like a dress, successively, and in 
 pieces, not at one time, or in a single mass, as I 
 have already shown t in speaking of the statue of 
 Jupiter, surnamed the Most High. In fact, the 
 first who cast statues were Rhoecus the son of 
 Philaeus, and Theodorust the son of Telecles, 
 both natives of Samos; the latter the same who 
 engraved § the beautiful emerald in the ring of 
 Polycrates.” 
 
 The Samians were noted at an early period for 
 their skill in this branch of art; and before the 
 foundation of Gyrene, or b.c. 630, they made a 
 
 * Paus. Grec. lib. viii. c. 14. Arcad. 
 
 f Lib. iii. 
 
 t Pliny (vii. 56.) says “ Theodorus invented the rule, the level, the 
 turner’s instrument, and the key.” 
 
 Herodot. iii. 41. Plin. xxxvii. I. 
 
256 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. IX. 
 
 bronze vase, ornamented with griffins, supported on 
 three colossal figures of the same metal, for the 
 temple of Juno.* The art was also known at a very 
 remote period in Italy. Among the Etruscans 
 bronze statues were common before the foundation 
 of Rome : and Romulus is said to have placed a 
 statue of himself, crowned by Victory, in a four- 
 horsed car of bronze, which had been captured at 
 the taking of Camerium.t 
 
 Pliny attributes the discovery of gold and the 
 secret of s.melting it to Cadmust, who is supposed 
 to have gone to Greece 1493 years before our era ; 
 but this, like most of the inventions mentioned by 
 him, was long before known to the Egyptians; and 
 we may apply the same remark to the supposed 
 discovery of Rhoecus and Theodorus. 
 
 It is uncertain whether the Egyptians possessed 
 the art of damaskeening or inlaying iron with gold, 
 since, owing to the speedy decomposition of that 
 metal, nothing made of iron has been preserved of 
 a remote era ; but we may conclude, from their 
 inlaying bronze in this manner, that it was not un- 
 known to them. 
 
 Some have supposed that Glaucus of Chios was 
 the inventor of this art, and that the stand of his 
 silver vase presented to the temple of Delphi by 
 Alyattes king of Lydia, which, according to Hero- 
 dotus §, was the most beautiful of all the offerings 
 there, was made of iron inlaid with gold. But the 
 
 * Herodot. iv. 132. 
 
 -}- Dionys. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1. ii. Pint, in Rom. 
 
 J Plin. vii. 56. § Herod, i. 25. 
 
CH.IX. DAMASKEENING, AND SOLDERING METALS. 257 
 
 description givenofitbyPausanias* willnotsanction 
 this opinion, as he expressly states “ it consisted of 
 several plates of iron, adjusted one over the other 
 in the form of steps, the last, that is, those of the 
 summit, curving a little outwards. It had the form 
 of a tower, large at the base and decreasing upwards, 
 and the pieces of which it was composed were not 
 fastened either with nails or pins, but simply sol- 
 dered together.” 
 
 The Greeks, however, were not ignorant of 
 damaskeening, and though the stand of Alyattes’ 
 vase was not so inlaid, it is certain they possessed 
 the art, and ornamented goblets and other objects 
 in that manner. The process was very simple ; 
 the iron was carved with various devices, and the 
 narrow lines thus hollowed out were filled with 
 gold, or with silver, which in some instances was 
 probably soldered, and in others sim^ily beaten 
 in with the hammer, the surface being afterwards 
 filed and polished. 
 
 The term damaskeening, though generally con- 
 fined to iron or steel so inlaid (owing to its having 
 been borrowed from the specimens of this work in 
 the modern sword blades of Damascus), may with 
 equal propriety be extended to any metal ; and nu- 
 merous instances of bronze inlaid with gold and silver 
 occur in statues, scarabaei, and various ornamental 
 objects discovered at Thebesand other places. Hard 
 stones were also engraved in the same manner, and 
 the intaglio filled with gold or silver beaten into it ; 
 
 * Pans. lil). X. 1C. Phoc. 
 
 VOL. 111. 
 
 S 
 
258 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 a process commonly adopted at the present day 
 by the Turks, and other Eastern people, in their 
 hookahs or ndrgilehs, and in the stone ornaments 
 of their amber mouth-pieces ; but at what time this 
 was first done it is needless to conjecture. 
 
 The art of soldering metals had long been prac- 
 tised in Egypt before the time of Glaucus ; and it 
 is curious to find gold and bronze vases, made 
 apparently in the same manner as the stand of that 
 mentioned hy Pausanias, represented at Thehes in 
 sculptures executed during the reign of- the third 
 Thothmes, 1490 years before our era, and con- 
 sequently many centuries previous to the Chian 
 artist. They are shown to have been composed of 
 plates of metal, imbricated, or overlapping each 
 other, as Pausanias describes, and sometimes 
 bound at intervals with bands of metal. Instances 
 occur in the same sculptures of gold vases with 
 
 
 No. 378. Vases of the time of Thothmes III., imbricated, or ornamented with plates of 
 metal. Thebes, 
 
CHAP. IX. STONE POINTS TO ARROWS. 259 
 
 stands formed of similar plates ; which are interest- 
 ing also from the elegance of their forms. 
 
 In coarser work, or in those parts which were 
 out of sight, the Egyptians soldered with lead, but 
 we are ignorant of the time when it was first used 
 for that purpose, though it could only have been 
 after the discovery of tin ; for, as Pliny* justly 
 observes, “ lead can only be united by the addition 
 of tin, nor is this last efficient without the applica- 
 tion of oil.” t The oldest specimen of metal soldered 
 with lead, with which I am acquainted, is the sis- 
 trum of Mr. Burton : its date, however, is uncer- 
 tain ; and though, from the style of the figures en- 
 graved upon it, we may venture to ascribe it to a 
 Pharaonic age, the exact period when it was made 
 cannot be fixed. 
 
 In early ages, before men had acquired the 
 art of smelting ore, and of making arms and imple- 
 ments of metal, stones of various kinds were used, 
 and the chasseur was contented with the pointed 
 flint with which nature had provided him. The 
 only effort of his ingenuity was to fix it in some 
 kind of handle, or at the extremity of a reed, in 
 order to make the knife, or the arrow ; and we 
 still witness the skill which some savage people 
 of the present day display in constructing those 
 rude weapons. 
 
 The Egyptians, at a remote period, before 
 civilisation dawned upon them, probably adopted 
 the same ; since we find that stone-tipped 
 
 * Plin. xxxiv. 16. 
 
 •J- Or resin, which we now use. 
 
 s 2 
 
 arrows 
 
260 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 continued to be occasionally used for hunting, 
 even after they had improved every species of 
 weapon, and after the arts had arrived at the state 
 of perfection in which they appear subsequently to 
 the accession of the 18th dynasty. Long habit 
 had reconciled them to the original reed shaft, 
 with its head of flint, and even to arrows made 
 with a point of hard wood inserted into them, 
 which were also the remnant of a primaeval cus- 
 tom. 
 
 Those, however, who preferred them of a stronger 
 kind, adopted arrows of wood tipped with bronze 
 heads ; and these were considered more serviceable, 
 and were almost invariably used in war. But when 
 this improvement took place in the construction of 
 their aims it is impossible to conjecture, being 
 coeval with the early stages of a civilisation, which 
 is concealed by the veil of ages, and dates long be- 
 fore the period of which any monuments remain. 
 
 It is, indeed, a remarkable fact that the first 
 glimpse we obtain of the history and manners of 
 the Egyptians shows us a nation already advanced 
 in all the arts of civilised life, and the same 
 customs and inventions that prevailed in the Au- 
 gustan era of that people, after the accession of the 
 18th dynasty, are found in the remote age of Osir- 
 tasen, the contemporary of Joseph ; nor can there 
 be any doubt that they were in the same civilised 
 state when Abraham visited the country. 
 
 I have observed that the fact of private citizens 
 going unarmed, and of the soldier laying aside his 
 sword and other weapons when not on service, may 
 
CHAP. IX. 
 
 STONE KNIVES. 
 
 201 
 
 be considered a strong proof of refinement, and of 
 their advancement in the habits of social life. The 
 same custom was already adopted at the time to 
 which 1 allude ; and many circumstances unite in 
 proclaiming the civilisation of Egypt, at least as 
 early as the 18th century before our era. How far 
 does this throw us back into the infancy of the 
 world ! at least, of the world peopled by the de- 
 scendants of Noah — and, when we recollect that 
 the pyramids of Memphis were erected within three 
 hundred years after the era assigned to the deluge ; 
 and that the tombs of Beni Hassan were hewn and 
 painted with subjects describing the arts and man- 
 ners of a highly civilised people, about six hundred 
 years after that event ; it may occur that the dis- 
 tance between the deluge and the construction of 
 those pyramids and tombs is not greater than from 
 the present day to the reign of our own Elizabeth, 
 and Henry III. 
 
 The same prejudice in favour of an ancient 
 and primitive custom retained the use of stone 
 knives for certain purposes connected with religion 
 among the Egyptians ; and Herodotus tells us it 
 was usual to make an incision in the body of the 
 deceased, when brought to be embalmed, with an 
 Ethiopic stone.* This name, though very indefinite, 
 seems here, as in all instances where the stone 
 is said to be applied to a similar purpose, to signify 
 flint ; and this conjecture is not only confirmed by 
 probability, and by the frequent use of it by many 
 people as a cutting instrument, but by the fact of 
 
 * Heroilot. ii. 86. 
 
 s 3 
 
262 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 our finding several knives of that stone in tlie 
 tombs of Thebes. In other cases, the Ethiopia 
 stone, mentioned by Herodotus, is evidently gra- 
 nite, so called from being common in Ethiopia ; 
 and it is possible that the flint received that name 
 from its black colour. 
 
 The knives found in the excavations and tombs, 
 many of which are preserved in our European 
 museums, are generally of two kinds ; one broad 
 and flat like the blade of a knife, the other narrow 
 and pointed at the summit, several of which are 
 preserved in the Berlin museum. These last* are 
 supposed to have been used for making the incision 
 in the side of the body, for the purpose of re- 
 moving the intestines, preparatory to the embalming 
 process already mentioned ; and, considering how 
 strongly men’s minds are prepossessed in favour of 
 early habits connected with religion, and how 
 scrupulous the Egyptians were, above all people, 
 in permitting the introduction of new customs in 
 matters relating to the gods, we are not surprised 
 that they should have retained the use of these 
 primitive instruments in a ceremony of so sacred a 
 nature as the embalming of the dead. 
 
 Eliiit knives. 
 
 Berlin Museum. 
 
 No. 379. 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, S79. fig. 1. 
 
Vignette I. — Tomb at Saqqara, arthed with stone, of the time of Psamaticus II., whose 
 name occurs on the roof to the left, and other places. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Style of Art among the Egyptians. — Names of early Kings : 
 Cheops, or S aphis, and others. — Some of the Subjects of the 
 Sculptures in the Temples. — Colours. — Relief and Intaglio. 
 
 — Painting . — Brick Pyramids. — The Arch. — Quarries. — 
 Large Blochs of Slotie moved . — Bellows, Siphons, Inventions. 
 
 — Dresses. — Wigs. — Women s Dresses and Jewellery. — 
 Eyes painted. — Baths. — Medical Men. — Ex votos. 
 
 STYLE OF ART AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. 
 
 The same veneration for ancient usage and the 
 stern regulations of the priesthood, which forbade 
 
 s 4 
 
264 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 any innovation in the form of the human figure, 
 particularly in sulijects connected with religion, 
 fettered the genius of the Egyptian artists, and 
 jirevented its developement. The same formal 
 outline, the same attitudes and postures of the 
 body, the same conventional mode of representing 
 the different parts, were adhered to, at the latest as 
 at the earliest periods ; no improvements, resulting 
 from experience and observation, were admitted in 
 the mode of drawing the figure, no attempt was 
 made to copy nature, or to give proper action to 
 the limbs. Certain rules, certain models, had been 
 established by law, and the faulty conceptions of 
 early times were copied and perpetuated by every 
 successive artist. For, as Plato and Synesius inform 
 us, sculptors were not suffered to attempt any thing 
 contrary to the regulations laid down regarding 
 the figures of the gods ; they were forbidden to 
 introduce any change, or to invent new subjects 
 and habits ; and thus the art, and the rules which 
 bound it, always remained the same. 
 
 Egyptian bas-relief appears to have been, in its 
 origin, a mere copy of painting, its predecessor. 
 Tile first attempt to represent the figures of gods, 
 sacred emblems, and other subjects, consisted in 
 painting simple outlines of them on a flat surface, 
 the details being afterwards put in with colour ; 
 but in process of time these forms were traced 
 on stone with a tool, and tlie intermediate space 
 between the various figures being afterwards 
 cut away, the once level surface assumed the ap- 
 pearance of a bas-relief. It was, in fact, a jiic- 
 
CHAr. X. 
 
 STYLE OF ART. 
 
 265 
 
 torial representation on stone, which is evidently 
 the character of all the bas-reliefs on Egyptian 
 monuments ; and which readily accounts for the 
 imperfect arrangement of their figures. 
 
 Deficient in conception, and above all in a proper 
 knowledge of grouping, they were unable to form 
 those combinations which give true expression ; 
 every picture was made up of isolated parts, put 
 together according to some general notions, but 
 without harmony, or preconceived effect. The 
 human face, the whole body, and every thing 
 they introduced, were composed in the same man- 
 ner, of separate members placed together one by 
 one, according to their relative situations : the eye, 
 the nose, and other features composed a face ; but 
 the expression of feelings and passions was entirely 
 wanting ; and the countenance of the king, whether 
 charging an enemy’s phalanx in the heat of battle, 
 or peaceably offering incense in a sombre temple, 
 presented the same outline and the same inanimate 
 look. The peculiarity of the front view of an eye, 
 introduced in a profile, is thus accounted for: it 
 was the ordinary representation of that feature 
 added to a profile, and no allowance was made for 
 any change in the position of the head. 
 
 It was the same with drapery : the figure was first 
 drawn, and the drapery then added, not as part of 
 the whole, but as an accessory ; they had no general 
 conception, no previous idea of the effect required 
 to distinguish the warrior or the priest, beyond the 
 impressions received from costume, or from the 
 subject of which they formed a part ; and the 
 
266 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 same figure was dressed according to the character 
 it was intended to perform. Every portion of a 
 picture was conceived by itself, and inserted as it 
 was wanted to complete the scene ; and when the 
 walls of the building, where a subject was to be 
 drawn, bad been accurately ruled with squares, 
 the figures were introduced, and fitted to this 
 mechanical arrangement. The members were ap- 
 pended to the body, and these squares regulated 
 their form and distribution, in whatever posture 
 they might be placed. 
 
 Thus then, as Diodorus observes * of Egyptian 
 statues, various portions of the same figure might 
 be made by several artists in different places, the 
 style and attitude having been previously agreed 
 upon, which, when brought together, would neces- 
 sarily agree, and form a complete whole. 
 
 As long as this conventional system continued, 
 no great change could take place, beyond a slight 
 variation in the proportions, which at one period 
 became more elongated, particularly in the reign 
 of the second Remeses ; but still the general form 
 and character of the figures continued the same, 
 which led to the remark of Plato, “ that the 
 pictures and statues made ten thousand years ago, 
 are in no one particular better or worse than what 
 they now make.”T And that they were still bound 
 by the same regulations, which prohibited all change 
 in these matters, even to the latest times, is evident 
 
 * Diod. i. 98. This I believe never to liave been done by the 
 Egyptians, because their statues were all of one |)iece. He mentions a 
 Greek statue of Apollo of Samos, made in two pieces, by Telecles and 
 Theodorus, at Samos and Ephesus. 
 
 f Plato, ‘2d Book of Laws. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 BAS-RELIEF AND PAINTING. 
 
 267 
 
 from the sculptures of tlie monuments erected 
 when Egypt had long been a Roman province. 
 All was still Egyptian, though of a bad style ; 
 and if they then attempted to finish the details 
 with more precision, it was only substituting orna- 
 ment for simplicity ; and this love of minuteness 
 plainly indicated a deficiency of taste, the natural 
 consequence of the decadence of art. 
 
 In the composition of modern paintings three 
 objects are required : one main action ; one point of 
 view ; and one instant of time ; and the proportions 
 and harmony of the parts are regulated by perspec- 
 tive ; but in Egyptian sculpture these essentials 
 were disregarded : every thing was sacrificed to 
 the principal figure ; its colossal dimensions pointed 
 it out as a centre to which all the rest was a mere 
 accessory ; and, if any other was made equally con- 
 spicuous, or of equal size, it was still in a subordi- 
 nate station, and only intended to illustrate the 
 scene connected with the hero of the piece 
 
 In the paintings of the tombs greater licence 
 was allowed in the representation of subjects 
 relating to private life, the trades, or the manners 
 and occupations of the people ; and some indication 
 of perspective in the position of the figures may 
 occasionally be observed ; but tbe attempt was 
 imperfect, and, probably, to an Egyptian eye, 
 unpleasing ; for such is the force of habit, that 
 even where nature is copied, a conventional style 
 is sometimes preferred to a more accurate repre- 
 sentation. 
 
 In the battle scenes on tbe temples of Thebes, 
 
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 ^268 
 
 some of the figures representing the monarch 
 pursuing the flying enemy, despatching a hostile 
 chief with his sword, and drawing Ins bow, as 
 his horses carry his car over the prostrate bodies 
 of the slain, are drawn with much spirit, and the 
 position of the arms gives a perfect idea of the 
 action which the artist intended to portray ; still, 
 the same imperfections of style, and want of truth, 
 are observed ; there is action, but no sentiment, 
 expression of the passions, or life in the features ; 
 it is a figure ready formed, and mechanically varied 
 into movement ; and whatever position it is made 
 to assume, the point of view is the same : the same 
 profile of the human body with the anomaly of the 
 shoulders seen in front, and attached as a separate 
 though component part of the whole figure. 
 
 Limited to such a conventional mode of drawing, 
 it was in vain for the Egyptian artists to aspire to 
 that degree of excellence attained by the Greeks, 
 unfettered by prejudice, and allowed to imitate the 
 beauties of nature ; much less could they arrive at 
 that degree of feeling which formed taste, and 
 called forth the poetry of the mind : their imagin- 
 ative powers were checked ; they were forced to 
 remain contented with the models already before 
 them ; and no new conceptions were elicited, or 
 required. 
 
 In the representation of animals, they appear 
 not to have been restricted to the same rigid 
 style ; but genius once cramped can scarcely be ex- 
 pected to make any great etfort to rise, or to suc- 
 ceed in the attempt ; and the same union of parts 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 FIGURES OF ANIMALS. 
 
 269 
 
 into a whole, the same preference for profile, are 
 observable in these as in the human figure. Seldom 
 did they attempt to draw the face in front, either 
 of men or animals; and when this was done, it fell 
 far short of the profile, and was composed of the 
 same juxtaposition of parts. It must, however, be 
 allowed, that in general the character and form 
 of animals were admirably portrayed ; the parts 
 were put together with greater truth ; and the same 
 licence was not resorted to as in the shoulders 
 and other portions of the human body. Nor will 
 I deny that great life and animation are given to 
 the antelope, and many wild beasts, in the hunting 
 scenes of the Theban tombs, or refuse my assent to 
 the observation of Madame de Stael*, “ Les sculp- 
 teurs Egyptiens saisissaient avec bien plus de genie 
 la figure des animaux que celle des hommes.” 
 
 The mode of representing men and animals in 
 profile is primitive, and characteristic of the com- 
 mencement of art : the first attempts made by an 
 uncivilised people are confined to it ; and until 
 the genius of artists bursts forth, this style continues 
 to hold its ground. From its simplicity it is 
 readily understood ; the most inexperienced per- 
 ceive the object intended to be represented ; and 
 no effort is required to comprehend it. Hence it 
 is that, though few combinations can be made under 
 such restrictions, those few' are perfectly intelligible, 
 the eye being aware of the resemblance to the simple 
 exterior ; and the modern uninstructed peasant of 
 
 * Corinne, vol. i p. 127. 
 
270 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Egypt who is immediately struck with and under- 
 stands the paintings of the Theban tombs, if shown 
 an European drawing, is seldom able to distinguish 
 men from animals ; and no argument will induce 
 him to tolerate foreshortening, the omission of 
 those parts of the body concealed from his view 
 by the perspective of the picture, or the intro- 
 duction of shadows, particularly on the human 
 flesh. 
 
 Bas-relief may be considered the earliest style of 
 sculpture. It originated in those pictorial repre- 
 sentations, which were the primaeval records of 
 a people anxious to commemorate their victories, 
 the accession or the virtues of a king, and other 
 events connected with their history. These were 
 the first purposes to which the imitative powers 
 of the mind were applied ; but the progress was 
 slow, and the infant art (if it may be so called) 
 passed through several stages, ere it had the power 
 of portraying real occurrences, and imitating 
 living scenes. The rude drawing of a sjiear, a 
 sword, a bow, or other weapon, supplied at first the 
 place of the action itself, of which it was a species of 
 hieroglyphic; but in process of time, the outlines of 
 a warrior and a prostrate foe were attempted, and 
 tlie valour of the prince who had led them to vic- 
 tory was recorded by this simple group. 
 
 As their skill increased, the mere allegorical re- 
 presentation was extended to that of a descriptive 
 kind, and some resemblance of the hero’s person was 
 attempted ; his car, the army he commanded, and 
 the flying enemies, were introduced; and what was 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 ORIGIN OF SCULPTURE. 
 
 271 
 
 at first scarcely more than a symbol, assumed the 
 more exalted form and character of a picture. Of a 
 similar nature were all their historical records, and 
 these pictorial illustrations were a substitute for 
 written documents. Sculpture, indeed, long pre- 
 ceded letters, and we find that even in Greece, to 
 describe, draw, engrave, and write, were expressed 
 by the same word, ypatpsiv. 
 
 The want of letters, and the inability to describe 
 an individual, his occupations, or his glorious 
 actions, led them in early ages to bury with the 
 body some object which might indicate the charac- 
 ter of the deceased. Thus, warriors were interred 
 with their arms*; artisans with the implements 
 they had used ; the oar was placed over the sailor ; 
 and paterae, and other utensils connected with his 
 office, or the emblems of the deity in whose service 
 he had been employed, were deposited in the 
 sepulchre of a priest. In those times we find no 
 inscription mentioned ; a simple mound was raised 
 over a chief, sometimes with a crruXoj or rough stone 
 pillar, placed upon it, but no writing: and when, at 
 a later period, any allusion to the occupations of 
 the deceased was attempted, a rude allegorical 
 emblem, of the same nature as the early historical 
 records before alluded to, was engraved on the 
 levelled surface of the stone. 
 
 Poetry and songs also supplied the want of 
 writing, to record the details of events ; and tra- 
 dition handed down the glorious achievements of a 
 
 * Virgil, vi. 233., at the tomb of Misenus : 
 
 “ Suaque arma viro, remumque, tubamque.”_ 
 
272 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 conqueror, and the history of past years, with the 
 precision and enthusiasm of national pride. The 
 poetry was recited to the sound of music, whence 
 the same expression often implied the ode and the 
 song ; and as laws were recorded in a similar man- 
 ner, the word vofxog signified, as Aristotle observes, 
 both a law and a song. 
 
 Sculpture dates long before architecture. A 
 simple hut, or a rude house, answers every purpose 
 as a place of abode, and a long time elapses before 
 man seeks to invent what is not demanded by 
 necessity. 
 
 Architecture is a creation of the mind : it has 
 no model in nature, and it requires great ima- 
 ginative powers to conceive its ideal beauties ; to 
 make a proper combination of parts ; and to judge 
 of the harmony of forms altogether new, and be- 
 yond the reach of experience. But the desire in 
 man to imitate, and to record what has passed before 
 his eyes, in short, to transfer the impression from his 
 own mind to another, is natural in every stage of 
 society : and however imperfectly he may succeed 
 in representing the objects themselves, his attempts 
 to indicate their relative position, and to embody 
 the expression of his own ideas, are a source of the 
 highest satisfaction. 
 
 As the wish to record events gave the first, re- 
 ligion gave the second impulse to sculpture. The 
 simple pillar of wood or stone*, which was originally 
 
 * Lucan, mentioning the statues of the gods of Massilia, says, 
 
 “ Simulacra mista deorum 
 Arte carent, coecisqne extant informia truncis.” 
 
 And Tacitus describes those of the Germans as “ e stipitibus et impo- 
 lito robore.” Dc Mor. Germ. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 EARLY STATUES. 
 
 273 
 
 chosen to represent the deity, afterwards assumed 
 the human form, the noblest image of the power 
 that created it ; and the memorial of the primitive 
 substitute for a statue is curiously preserved in the 
 Greek name xkov, implying a column and an idol. 
 Pausanias * thinks that “ all statues were in an- 
 cient times of wood, particularly those made in 
 Egypt;” but this must have been at a period so 
 remote as to be far beyond the known history of 
 that country ; though it is probable that when the 
 arts were in their infancy, the Egyptians were con- 
 fined to statues of that kind ; and they occasionally 
 erected wooden figures in their temples, even till 
 the times of the latter Pharaohs. 
 
 Long after men had attempted to make out the 
 parts of the figure, statues continued to be very 
 rude ; the arms were placed directly down the side 
 to the thighs, and the legs were united together ; 
 nor did they pass beyond this imperfect state in 
 Greece, until the age of Dgedalus. The Egyptians, 
 at the latest periods, continued to follow the im- 
 perfect models of their early artists, and grace and 
 feeling were for ever prevented from forming a 
 feature of their sculpture : and though they made 
 great progress in other branches of art, though 
 they evinced considerable taste in the forms of 
 their vases, their furniture, and even in some archi- 
 tectural details, they were for ever deficient in the 
 combination of ideal beauty with the natural po- 
 sition of parts in the human figure. 
 
 One great impediment to the advancement of the 
 
 * Pausanias, lib. ii. c. xix. 
 
 VOL. III. T 
 
^74 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. X. 
 
 statuary’s art in Egypt, was the unvarying posture of 
 the figures, wliich were always in a state of repose, 
 or in a position that only required the limbs to be 
 straight, without any attempt at action, or, indeed, 
 any indication of life : they were really statues of 
 the person they represented, not the person “ living 
 in marble,” in which they differed entirely from 
 those of Greece. No statue of a warrior was sculp- 
 tured in the varied attitudes of attack and defence, 
 no wrestlers, no discobolus, no pugilist exhibited 
 the grace, the vigour, or the muscular action of a 
 man ; nor were the beauties, the feeling, and the 
 elegance of female forms displayed in stone : all 
 was made to conform to the same invariable model, 
 which confined the human figure to a few conven- 
 tional postures. 
 
 A sitting statue, whether of a man or woman, 
 was represented with the hands placed upon the 
 knees, or held across the breast ; a kneeling 
 figure sometimes supported a small shrine or sacred 
 emblem ; and when standing, the arms were placed 
 directly down the sides of the thighs, one foot 
 being advanced beyond the other, as if in the 
 attitude of walking, but without any attempt to 
 separate the legs. 
 
 “ The feet,” says Winkelmann*, “ of the Egyp- 
 tian differ from those of the Greek statues, in being 
 more flat and broad, and in having the toes per- 
 fectly straight, with the joints as little indicated as 
 in the fingers, and a gradual diminution in their 
 length ; nor is the little toe curved or bent under. 
 
 * Winkelmann, i. j). 1 10. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 NO CHANGES PEKMITTED. 
 
 275 
 
 as in those of the Greeks.” This last remark 
 is just, and their mode of representing it accords 
 with what they saw in nature ; but the length of 
 the toes of an Egyptian foot do not undergo a 
 gradual diminution, the second being invariably 
 made longer than any other, which, too, agree with 
 the natural form. 
 
 The reason of this uniformity I have already 
 explained ; and it is probable that, if their genius 
 had not been cramped by superstitious prejudice, 
 the Egyptians would have excelled in painting and 
 sculpture ; and the imitation of the human figure 
 have kept pace with their advancement in other 
 points. 
 
 No accidents, arising from the consequences 
 of invasion, or from any other cause, were ever 
 capable of changing their fixed reverence for pre- 
 scribed forms ; nor do we find, after the Greek 
 and Roman conquests, that any deviation from 
 established custom was tolerated ; or that any 
 innovation was introduced from communication 
 with those foreigners, however superior their art, 
 and however evident its resemblance to the originals 
 which nature daily presented to their eyes. After 
 the accession of the Ptolemies, Greek art became 
 well known in Egypt, and every opportunity was 
 given to their artists to improve from the best 
 models : but no change was effected by this inter- 
 course with the Greeks ; and when Adrian wished 
 divine honours to be paid to his favourite Antinoiis, 
 and statues to be erected to his memory, no form 
 was admitted but that which religious usage had 
 established, and Egyptian models prescribed. 
 
 T 2 
 
276 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. X. 
 
 Though the general character of painting and 
 sculpture continued the same, and a certain conven- 
 tional mode of representing the human figure was 
 universally adopted throughout the country, which 
 was followed by every artist through successive 
 ages, from the earliest Pharaonic era until the reli- 
 gion of Egypt was supplanted by the final establish- 
 ment of Christianity, it is reasonable to suppose that 
 several styles were introduced, and that the genius 
 of artists varied considerably during that length- 
 ened period. Plato’s assertion is therefore to be 
 taken in a limited and general sense, signifying 
 that the Egyptians followed the same conventional 
 forms, and that no nearer approach to the beau 
 ideal of the human figure was made at one period 
 than another. This is perfectly true ; but every 
 eye accustomed to Egyptian drawing readily per- 
 ceives the difference between subjects executed 
 during the Augustan age of art, the reigns of Re- 
 meses the Great and his father Osirei, and those 
 of a Ptolemaic epoch. Truth may be wanting, as 
 it necessarily must be where nature is not copied ; 
 but there are a grace and a boldness in the outline, 
 as well as in the execution of the sculptures of the 
 former period, which at once indicate the work of 
 superior genius. 
 
 The hieroglyphics on the obelisks of that epoch 
 proclaim the same fact, and, in architecture, the 
 temples erected by the great Remeses, far surpass 
 in elegance and grandeur, in harmony of propor- 
 tion and simplicity of style, the monuments of any 
 previous or subsequent era. It cannot, however^ 
 be denied that, in the time of Osirtasen and at 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 OLDEST SCULPTURES. 
 
 277 
 
 the commencement of the 18th dynasty, Egyptian 
 art flourished greatly, and monuments of that age, 
 also, claim our admiration for taste, simplicity, and 
 symmetry of details. And if some fanciful innova- 
 tions were introduced in the buildings of the third 
 Thothmes, they are attributable to momentary 
 caprice, and not to be looked upon as a change in 
 the architecture of that period. This I shall have 
 occasion to mention hereafter. 
 
 The paintings at Beni Hassan are certainly far 
 inferior to those of the age of Remeses, or of the 
 early part of the 18th dynasty; but the style of 
 the hieroglyphics on some other monuments of 
 the Osirtasen epoch, as the obelisk of Heliopolis, 
 show that sculpture had greatly advanced at that 
 remote period : and if historical bas-reliefs had 
 been preserved, we might discover still more to 
 prove the skill of the artists of the same era. 
 
 Few paintings or sculptures remain of an age 
 prior to the accession of Osirtasen I., whom I sup- 
 pose to have been the contemporary of Joseph, and 
 to have ascended the throne about the year 1740. 
 The tombs in the vicinity of the pyramids, and 
 those I discovered hewn in the rock near Qasr 
 e’Syad, the ancient Chenoboscion, are certainly an- 
 terior to the grottoes of Beni Hassan ; and the style 
 of the masonry as well as the names of the kings 
 found there, show that the former were the places 
 of sepulture of individuals, who lived in the time 
 of Suphis, and his immediate successors. They, 
 therefore, date about the year 2090 and 2050, 
 B. c., upwards of a century before the arrival 
 
 T 3 
 
278 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 of Abraham hi Egypt, if, as I suppose, the patriarch 
 came to that country during the reign of Apappus. 
 
 It is evident that the tombs, built of stone, which 
 stand in the area before and behind the great 
 pyramid*, were erected after it had been com- 
 menced, if not completed, as their position is 
 made to conform to that monument; and that 
 those hewn in the rock at the same place were not 
 of an older period, is shown by the style of the 
 sculptures, and the names of the same kings. 
 
 Among these we evidently perceive Suphis, or as 
 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 y 
 
 
 • 1 
 
 
 PI 
 
 P P 
 U 
 
 Si=2 
 
 
 (7 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 !l 
 
 n ] 
 
 
 
 a ] 
 
 b 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 fl, the name of Shofo, or Suphis. 
 
 5, C, the name of Memphis ; 7, 8, (Memphis, or) Pthah-el, the abode of Pthah. 
 No. 380. Prom the Tombs near the Pyramids. 
 
 the hieroglyphics write it, Shofo, or Khof, a name 
 easily converted into Suphis or Cheops, by adding 
 s, the Greek termination, t But it is difficult, 
 as I have already observed ±, to refer them to their 
 proper epoch, or to fix their relative position in the 
 list of kings. Nor can we decide whether the two 
 first names here introduced are both of Suphis, 
 or if the second is of the founder of the other 
 
 * It is remarkable that Memphis is styled the land of the pyramid. 
 Its Egyptian name in the hieroglyphics is Menofri, in Coptic Memfi, 
 Manfi, Membe, Panoufi, or Mefi, being probably corrupted from Ma- 
 h-nofri, “ the abode of good,” or as Plutarch calls it, “ the haven of 
 good men.” It was also called Pthah-ei, the abode of Pthah. Vide 
 wood-cut. No. 328., figs. 5, 6, 7, 8. 
 
 -}■ As I have observed in Vol. I p. 41. note 4. 
 
 j Vol. I. p. 19. 
 
CHAP. X. SUPHIS AND OTHER KINGS. ^279 
 
 pyramid, whose name ^S'en-Suphis signifies the 
 brother of Suphis ; though they certainly appear to 
 be of different kings, who lived about the same 
 epoch. 
 
 They occur again at Mount Sinai, and the 
 former has the banner or square title, given in the 
 wood-cut *, which would satisfactorily decide this 
 question, if it should ever be found with the other 
 name. For these square banners, as I have already 
 shown in a former work t, relate to the kings and 
 not to the deities : and though the learned and in- 
 genious Champollion expressed a different opinion 
 in his “ Precis t,” he was afterwards convinced of 
 this fact, which is now universally admitted. 
 
 The other names in these tombs are of the same 
 remote period ; and though there is no positive 
 proof of their relative antiquity, we may conclude 
 they belonged to the immediate successors of Suphis 
 and his brother. It is remarkable that in some 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 380. fig. 1. b. 
 
 •{- Materia Hierog. Extracts from Hieroglyphical Subjects, p. 7. : — 
 “ One more remark I have to offer, which, I confess, is not at all con- 
 sonant with the ideas of Dr. Young and M. Champollion ; that the 
 square beneath the hawk, containing sometimes a bull and arm, some- 
 times other devices, does not refer to the god in whose honour the 
 monument was raised, but to the king, whose name always follows it ; 
 and to this I have been led by the following circumstance : — wherever 
 a king has erased the name of a predecessor, and inscribed his own in 
 its stead, the hieroglyphics in this square have also been erased and 
 changed : they cannot, therefore, refer to the god to whom the building 
 was erected ; otherwise the dedication and other sculptures containing 
 his name would also be altered throughout the same- monument ; we 
 should likewise find all the different names of kings in the same temple, 
 preceded by a square containing the same devices, as relating to the 
 deity of that temple, which is not the case.” I have also shown (in 
 p. 8.) that the Kparepog AttoWwi/ is Phrah, or Pharaoh, the king in 
 the character of the sun. Vide Egypt and Thebes, p. 5. 
 
 J Precis du Systeme Hieroglyphique, p. 152. 
 
 T 4 
 
280 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, 
 
 CHAP. X 
 
 irusiriESirEBi'ivir 
 
 No. 381. Names of Ancient Kings. 
 
 Fig. 1, 2. at the tombs near the Pyramids. 3, at Saqqara and Mount Sinai. 4, at 
 E’Sioot. 5, 6, at Chenoboscion. a has been cut over d. a, b, c, seem to have reigned in 
 succession. 7, at Wady Magh&ra, near Mount Sinai. 8,9, on the Kossayr road. The 
 characters b, b, in fig. 1. signify “priest.” 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 NAMES OF EARLY KINGS. 
 
 281 
 
 instances they are preceded by, and in others de- 
 stitute of, regal titles, and sometimes they appear to 
 have the word ‘ priest ’ prefixed to them, like those 
 at Chenoboscion. Three of the names, however, 
 are so arranged, that we may suppose they indicate 
 the order in which the kings ruled, though the 
 arrangement is different in another part of the 
 same tomb, where the name of Suphis, or of Sen- 
 suphis, intervenes between two of them.* 
 
 At Saqqara other tombs of the same early 
 period occur, and some of the grottoes of E’Sioot 
 probably date long before the accession of Osir- 
 tasen. The former have a name, which, like most 
 of these, bears in its simplicity the character of great 
 antiquity, and in the latter is that of another an- 
 cient monarch ; but neither of themt can be traced 
 in the chamber of kings at Karnak. 
 
 The most interesting, after those at the pyramids, 
 are the names in the grottoes of Chenoboscion, not 
 only from their antiquity, “ which,” as I have ob- 
 served t, “ may vie with that of any other catacomb 
 or monument in Egypt, if we except the pyramids 
 and the tombs in their vicinity,” but from their 
 being placed in chronological order, and from the 
 circumstance of a king having erased one of them, 
 and introduced his own name in its stead. § The 
 title applied to them is not ‘ king,’ but ‘ priest,’ 
 though the name is enclosed in an oval, the symbol 
 
 * Wood-cut, No. 381. 1. a and c, and fig. 2., where 6 comes be- 
 tween a and c. 
 
 -f- Figs. 3 a and 4. 
 i Egypt and Thebes, p. 401, 402. 
 
 $ Fig. 5., a and c, and d cut over by a. 
 
282 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 of royalty ; and that they really had the rank and 
 appellation of king is shown by the same names 
 occurring elsewhere with the usual royal prefix, 
 and even the square title. 
 
 The first* of these is the name to which I 
 alluded as having been erased to admit that of 
 another monarch : it reads Remai, or “ the beloved 
 of the sun.” The other is Papi t, a name which 
 occurs in Egyptian history, being borne, according 
 to Manetho, by the father of the priest Amenophis 
 who lived in the time of the shepherds, t 
 
 Several tablets § and monumental records of king 
 Papi have been preserved ; and on the rocks of the 
 
 No. 382. — Figures of kings wearing the crown of Upper and of Lower Egj'pt, with the 
 names Remai and Papi, Kossayr Road. 
 
 Kossayr road, his name occurs in the same in- 
 scription with that of Remai, who is elsewhere 
 shown to have reigned sixteen years. It is remark- 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 381. fig. 5 a. 
 
 •j- Vide wood-cut, No 381. fig. 5 d. 
 
 J Joseph, contra Ap. i. 26. Vide Cork’s valuable collection of “ An^ 
 cient Fragments,” p. 176. 
 
 ^ There is one in the British Museum. 
 
CHAP. X. KINGS OF UPPER AND LOWER EGYPT. 283 
 
 able, that the two princes appear seated on their 
 tlirones in the hall of assembly, wearing, one the 
 crown of the upper, the other that of the lower 
 country * ; showing either that they were contem- 
 porary sovereigns, one ruling at Thebes, and the 
 other at Memphis, or that Papi was the phonetic 
 nomen of Remai, and that they were the same 
 monarch. 
 
 The former is a point which has been long 
 contested in Egyptian history. Manetho evidently 
 alludes to contemporary dynasties, when he speaks 
 of the kings of the Thebaid and the rest of Egypt 
 uniting in a common cause against the shepherdst ; 
 and some chronologers have endeavoured to ac- 
 count for the long list of Egyptian kings, by 
 supposing that they ruled at the same time in differ- 
 ent parts of the country. This opinion was sug- 
 gested by the learned Sir John Marsham ; but, 
 though correct, as far as it applies to the early epochs 
 of their history, there is sufficient evidence to prove 
 that from the time of Osirtasen, the sovereignty of 
 Upper and Lower Egypt continued to be vested in 
 one person, whether the royal residence was at 
 Thebes, Memphis, or Sai’s ; and even if Papi has 
 erased the name of his contemporary Remai, he 
 may only have re-united the two crowns which had 
 been previously separated ; for that Menes was sole 
 monarch of all Egypt appears to have been univer- 
 sally allowed ; and the division of the kingdom was 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 382. ; also wood-ciit, No. 381., 5 and 8. 
 
 -f- Vide Cory, p. 171. 
 
284 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 perhaps owing to the preference of his son Athothes 
 for the new capital founded by his father, which 
 caused the court to be transferred to Memphis. 
 
 In noticing these ancient names, it is necessary 
 to repeat a remark I have previously had occasion to 
 make*, that the customofaffixingajor^wommto the 
 phonetic nomen was not introduced in early times, 
 and that Menes and many other kings had merely 
 one oval, containing their name, preceded by the 
 title ‘ king,’ ‘ lord of the world,’ or other regal 
 prefix. Remai and Papi might therefore be differ- 
 ent kings, each with a single oval ; and, if they 
 really are the same person, we have probably here 
 the first instance of the introduction of a nomen ; 
 for there can be no doubt of the great antiquity of 
 these names, from the appearance of the grottoes 
 and monuments, where they occur, and the many 
 collateral facts connected with the succeeding 
 monarchs. 
 
 It may not be irrelevant to suggest that the hiero- 
 glyphics forming the name of Papi may also read 
 Apap, or Aphopht, the Apophis, or Apappus, of 
 Manetho and Eratosthenes. The era at which he 
 lived, about a century after the time of Suphis,. 
 well accords with that of Papi ; and if this be ad- 
 mitted, we have evidence of the style of sculpture 
 at another fixed period, the arrival of Abraham in 
 Egypt. 
 
 Both the names of Papi and Remeren are found 
 in the chamber of kings at Karnak. 
 
 * Vide Mater. Hierogl. Extracts, p. 9. 
 
 f Aphoph is “a giant” in Coptic. It is translated “Maximus.” 
 Viile Vol. r. p. 28. 30. 37. 42. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 EARLY STATE OF ART. 
 
 285 
 
 I have entered thus into detail upon the an- 
 tiquity of these kings, with a view to ascertain a 
 period, when the art of painting and sculpture 
 was in a less advanced state than under the kings 
 of the 18th dynasty. In the tombs near the 
 pyramids, and those of Chenoboscion, we find the 
 .same agricultural and other scenes represented, 
 which usually occur in the sepulchral chambers of 
 the Theban necropolis, and this gives an oppor- 
 tunity of judging of the comparative state of art 
 at those two periods, which are separated by an 
 interval of from five to six hundred years. The 
 mode of treating those subjects is certainly very 
 inferior even to that of the Osirtasen era, parti- 
 cularly at Chenoboscion ; but some allowance must 
 be made for sculptures executed by provincial 
 artists, who had not attained the excellence of 
 those of Thebes and Memphis. And the same 
 apology may be offered for the paintings of Beni 
 Hassan. 
 
 At the tombs of the pyramids we likewise ob- 
 serve an inferiority of style, compared with the 
 elegance and taste of the 18th dynasty ; and the 
 epochs of Suphis, of Osirtasen, of the early part 
 of the 1 8th dynasty, and of Osirei and Remeses 
 the Great, may be looked upon as the four known 
 gradations, through which the arts passed from 
 mediocrity to excellence. 
 
 After the reign of Remeses the Great the arts 
 remained stationary ; the peaceful or inactive 
 reigns of his successors offered little encourage- 
 ment to sculpture, and few opportunities were 
 
286 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 given to artists to improve, or even to exercise 
 their talents. The ainhition, the warlike spirit, 
 or the indignation of the third Remeses, roused 
 by the rebellion of the conquered provinces of 
 Asia, which had been subdued and rendered tri- 
 butary by his victorious predecessor, once more 
 awakened the dormant genius of his country ; and, 
 as it frequently happens that great military events, 
 as well as internal convulsions, produce great de- 
 velopement of talent, we are not surprised that 
 the success which attended his arms should have 
 benefited the arts. The same remark applies, 
 and in a greater degree, to the glorious era of 
 Osirei and his son ; and at no period of Egyptian 
 history did the arms of the Pharaohs attain greater 
 celebrity, or the arts reach a higher degree of per- 
 fection than in the reign of the Great Remeses. 
 
 As soon as the third Remeses had returned from 
 his successful expedition into Asia, sculpture and 
 painting were called upon to commemorate the 
 triumphs he had gained, and to record the victories 
 of his country on the walls of the splendid edi- 
 fices of Thebes. The sculptures in the palace- 
 temple of Medeenet Haboo, erected by this mo- 
 narch, display a degree of spirit which is only 
 surpassed in those of his great namesake and pre- 
 decessor ; and so little do they fall short of the style 
 of that period, that few who have not entered into 
 the real feeling of Egyptian drawing, can observe 
 in what their inferiority consists. 
 
 In order that the reader may form some idea of 
 the nature of the subjects represented on the walls 
 
CHAP. X, SUBJECTS OF THE SCULPTURES. 287 
 
 of the Egyptian temples, and the profusion of 
 painted sculptures with which they were orna- 
 mented, I shall introduce a description of the 
 palace-temple of Remeses III. at Medeenet Haboo, 
 from my ‘ Egypt and Thebes.’ * 
 
 “ On the east, or north-east wall (of the inner 
 area), Remeses is borne in his shrine or ca- 
 nopy, seated on a throne, ornamented with the 
 figures of a lion and a sphinx, which is preceded 
 by a hawk.t Behind him stand two figures of 
 Truth t and Justice, with outspread wings. Twelve 
 Egyptian princes, sons of the king§, bear the 
 shrine ; officers 1| wave flabella around the mon- 
 arch ; and others, of the sacerdotal order, attend 
 on either side, carrying his arms and insignia. Four 
 others follow ; then six of the sons of the king, be- 
 hind whom are two scribes and eight attendants of 
 the military class, bearing stools and the steps of 
 the throne. 
 
 “ In another line are members of the sacerdotal 
 order, four other of the king’s sons, fan-bearers, 
 and military scribes ; a guard of soldiers bringing- 
 up the rear of the procession. Before the shrine, 
 in one line, march six officers bearing sceptres 
 and other insignia ; in another, a scribe reads 
 aloud the contents of a scroll he holds unfolded in 
 
 * Egj-pt and Thebes, p. 61. et seq. 
 
 -f- The emblem of the king as Phrah (Pharaoh). 
 
 f This refers to the double character of this goddess, my authority 
 for whose name I have given in my Materia Hierog. p. 45. 
 
 ^ They are always di.stinguished by a badge appended from their 
 head-dress, inclosing, probably, the lock of hair, usually denoting son 
 or child. 
 
 II Probably the Pteroj>hori. 
 
288 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 his hand, preceded by two of the king’s sons and 
 two distinguished persons of the military and 
 priestly orders. The rear of both these lines is 
 closed by a pontiff*, who, turning round towards 
 the shrine, burns incense before the monarch ; and 
 a band of music, composed of the trumpet, drum, 
 double-pipe, and other instruments, with choristers, 
 forms the van of the procession. 
 
 “ The king, alighted from his throne, officiates as 
 priest before the statue of Amun Khem, or Amunre 
 generator ; and, still wearing his helmet t, he pre- 
 sents libations and incense before the altar, which 
 is loaded with flowers, and other suitable offerings. 
 The statue of the god, attended by officers bearing 
 flabellaf, is carried on a palanquin, covered with 
 rich drapery, by twenty-two priests ; behind it fol- 
 low others, bringing the table and the altar of the 
 deity. Before the statue is the sacred bull, fol- 
 lowed by the king on foot, wearing the cap of the 
 ‘ lower country.’ Apart from the procession itself 
 stands the queen, as a spectator of the ceremony ; 
 and before her, a scribe reads a scroll he has un- 
 folded. A priest turns round to offer incense to 
 the white bull ; and another, clapping his hands, 
 brings up the rear of a long procession of hieraphori, 
 carrying standards, images, and other sacred em- 
 blems ; and the foremost bear the statue of the 
 king’s ancestors. 
 
 “ This part of the picture refers to the coronation 
 
 * Not the “ eldest son of the king,” as M. Chanipollion supposes. 
 
 + Vide Herodot. ii. 151. 
 
 j The larger of these are, in fact, umbrellas ; the smaller ones fans 
 or fly-flaps. Flabella of a similar kind are carried before the pope at 
 the present day. 
 
CHAP. X. THE CEREMONY OF CORONATION, 
 
 289 
 
 of the king, who, in the hieroglyphics, is said to 
 have ‘ put on the crown of the upper and lower 
 countries ;* which the birds, flying to the four 
 sides of the world, are to announce to the gods of 
 the south, north, east, and west. * Such appears to 
 be the meaning of this ceremony t, rather than the 
 triumph of the king ; and the presence of Remeses, 
 wearing for the first time the above-mentioned 
 crown, and the great analogy between this and 
 part of the text of the Rosetta stone, fully justify 
 this opinion. 
 
 “ In the next compartment, the president of the 
 assembly reads a long invocation, the contents of 
 which are contained in the hieroglyphic inscription 
 above; and the six ears of corn! which the king, 
 once more wearing his helmet, has cut with a golden 
 sickle, are held out by a priest towards the deity. 
 The white bull and images of the king’s ancestors 
 are deposited in his temple, in the presence of 
 Amun Khem, the queen still witnessing the cere- 
 mony, which is concluded by an offering of incense 
 and libation, made by Remeses to the statue of the 
 god. 
 
 “ In the lower compartment, on this side of the 
 temple, is a procession of the arks of Amunre, 
 Maut, and Khonso (the Theban triad), which the 
 king, whose ark is also carried § before him, comes 
 
 * I am indebted for the construction of this part of it to M. Cham- 
 pollion’s letter. 
 
 y I hope to have an opportunity, at some future period, of giving a 
 copy of this interesting subject, which the contracted dimensions of this 
 work prevent my doing. 
 
 J A fit emblem for an agricultural people. 
 
 ^ Conf. Rosetta stone. 
 
 VOL. nr. 
 
 u 
 
290 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 to meet. In another part, the gods Abtaut and Hat 
 pour alternate emblems of life and power over the 
 king ; and, on the south wall, he is introduced by 
 several divinities into the presence of the patron 
 deities of the temple. 
 
 “ In the upper part of the west wall, Remeses 
 makes offerings to Pthah Sokari and to Kneph ; in 
 another compartment, he burns incense to the ark 
 of Sokari ; and, near this, is a tablet relating to the 
 offerings made to the same deity. The ark is then 
 borne by sixteen priests, with a pontiff and another 
 of the sacerdotal order in attendance. 
 
 “ The king afterwards joins in another procession, 
 formed by eight of his sons and four chiefs, behind 
 whom two priests turn round to offer incense to the 
 monarch. The hawk, the emblem of the king, or 
 of Homs, precedes them ; and eighteen priests 
 carry the sacred emblem of the god Nofri Atmoo, 
 which usually accompanies the ark of Sokari. 
 
 “ On the south wall, marches a long procession 
 composed of hieraphori, bearing different standards, 
 thrones, arks, and insignia, with musicians who 
 precede the king and his attendants. The figure 
 of the deity is not introduced, perhaps intimating 
 that this forms part of the religious pomp of the 
 corresponding wall : and, from the circumstance of 
 the king here wearing the jishent, it is not impossible 
 it may also allude to his coronation. 
 
 “ The commencement of the interesting histori- 
 cal subjects of Medeenet Haboo is in the south-west 
 corner of this court, on the inner face of the tower. 
 Here Remeses standing in his car, which his horses 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 HISTORICAL SUBJECTS. 
 
 291 
 
 at full speed cany into the midst of the enemy’s 
 ranks, discharges his arrows on their flying infantry. 
 The Egyptian chariots join in the pursuit ; and a 
 body of their allies assist* in slaughtering those who 
 oppose them, or bind them as captives. The right 
 hands of the slain are then cut off as trophies of 
 victory. 
 
 “ The sculptures on the west wall are a continu- 
 ation of the scene. The Egyptian princes and gene- 
 rals conduct the ‘ captive chiefs’ into the presence of 
 the king. He is seated at the back of his car, and 
 the spirited horses are held by his attendants on 
 foot. Large heaps of hands are placed before him, 
 which an officer counts, one by one, as the other 
 notes down their number on a scroll ; each heap 
 containing three thousand, and the total indicating 
 the returns of the enemy’s slain. The number of 
 captives, reckoned 1000 in each line, is also men- 
 tioned in the hieroglyphics above, where the name 
 of the Rebo points out the nation against whom 
 this war was carried on. Their flowing dresses, 
 striped horizontally with blue or green bands on a 
 white ground, and their long hair and aquiline 
 nose, give them the character of an Eastern na- 
 tion in the vicinity of Assyria and Persia, as their 
 name reminds us of the Rhibii of Ptolemy, whom 
 he places near the Caspian, and the north bank of 
 the Oxus. ... A long hieroglyphic inscription is 
 placed over the king; and a still longer tablet, oc- 
 cupying a great part of this wall, refers to the 
 
 * The same whom this monarch is represented as having vanquished 
 i another battle scene of this temple. 
 
 U 2 
 
29^2 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 exploits of the Egyptian conqueror, and bears the 
 date of his fifth year. 
 
 “ The suite of this historical subject continues on 
 the south wall. The king, returning victorious to 
 Egypt, proceeds slowly in his car*, conducting in 
 triumph the prisoners he has made, who walk be- 
 side and before it, three others being bound to the 
 axle. Two of his sons attend as fan-bearers, and 
 the several regiments of Egyptian infantry, with a 
 corps of their allies, under the command of three 
 other of these princes, marching in regular step, 
 and in the close array of disciplined troops, accom- 
 pany their king. He arrives at Thebes, and pre- 
 sents his captives to Amunre and Maut, the deities 
 of the city, who compliment him as usual, on the 
 victory he has gained, and the overthrow of the 
 enemy he has ‘tramjiled beneath his feet.’ 
 
 “ On the north wall the king presents offerings 
 to different gods, and below is an ornamental kind 
 of border ; composed of a procession of the king’s 
 sons and daughters. Four of the former, his im- 
 mediate successors, bear the asp or basilisk, the 
 emblem of majesty, and have their kingly ovals 
 added to their names 
 
 “ If the sculptures of the area arrest the attention 
 of the antiquary, or excite the admiration of the 
 traveller, those of the exterior of this building are 
 no less interesting in an historical point of view, 
 and the north and east walls are covered with a pro- 
 fusion of the most varied and instructive subjects. 
 
 * Vide Plate 1 . Vol. I. [>. 106 . 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE UEBO. 
 
 293 
 
 “ At the north-east extremity of the end wall a 
 trumpeter assembles the troops, who salute the 
 king as he passes in his car. In the first com- 
 partment on the east side, Remeses advances at a 
 slow pace in his chariot, attended by fan-bearers, 
 and preceded by his troops. A lion, running at 
 the side of the horses, reminds us of the account 
 given of Osymandyas, who was said to have been 
 accompanied in war by this animal : and another 
 instance of it is met with at E’Dayr, in Nubia, 
 among the sculptures of the second Remeses. 
 
 “ Second compartment. — He continues his 
 march*, his troops leading the van, and a trumpeter 
 summons them to form for the attack. 
 
 “ Third compartment. — The Rebo await the 
 Egyptian invaders in the open field ; the king 
 presses forward in his car, and drawing his bow, 
 gives the signal for the attack. Several regiments 
 of Egyptian archers, in close array, advance on dif- 
 ferent points, and harass them with showers of ar- 
 rows. The chariots rush to the charge; and a body 
 of Asiatic alliest maintain the combat hand to hand, 
 with the Rebo, who are at length routed, and fly 
 before their victorious aggressors. Some thousands 
 are left dead on the field, whose tongues t and 
 hands, being cut off, are brought by the Egyptian 
 
 * This evidently denotes the distance marched by the Egyptians 
 before they reached the enemy’s country. 
 
 f They are the Sha ... a maritime people, whose features and high- 
 furred caps particularly denote their Asiatic origin ; and a large amulet, 
 suspended from their neck, reminds us of a custom very usual among 
 the nations of the East. Fide Vol. I. p. 287., wood-cut. No. W.Jig. 2. j 
 and p. 365., wood-cut. No. 62. 3. «, 6, and c. 
 
 t The Turks, at the [>resent day, cut off the right ear. 
 
 u 3 
 
CHAP X. 
 
 2[)1< TIIR ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 soldiers as proofs of their success. Three thousand 
 five liundred and thirty-five hands and tongues 
 form part of the registered returns ; and two other 
 heaps, and a third of tongues, containing each a 
 somewhat larger number, are deposited under the 
 superintendence of the chief officers, as trophies of 
 victory. The monarch then aliglits from his cha- 
 riot, and distributes rewards to his troops. 
 
 “ In the next compartment, the king’s military 
 secretaries draw up an account of the number of 
 spears, bows, swords, and other arms taken from 
 the enemy, which are laid before them ; and men- 
 tion seems to be made in the hieroglyphics of the 
 horses that have been captured. 
 
 “ llemeses then proceeds in his car, having his 
 bow and sword in one hand, and his whip in the 
 other, indicating that his march still lies through 
 an enemy’s country. The van of his army is com- 
 j)osed of a body of chariots ; the infantry in close 
 order, preceding the royal car, constitute the centre ; 
 and other similar corps form the flank and rear. 
 
 “ They are again summoned by sound of trumpet 
 to the attack of another Asiatic enemy * ; and, in 
 the next compartment, the Egyptian monarch gives 
 orders for the charge of the hostile army, which is 
 drawn up in the open plain. Assisted by their allies, 
 the Shairetana, a maritime people armed with round 
 bucklers and spears, they fall upon the undisciplined 
 
 * This people are called Fekkaros by M. Champollion. I am igno- 
 rant of the force of the first character, and of his reasons for adopting 
 the F. May they not be the Tochari ? — “ a large tribe,” according to 
 Ptolemy, on the north-east of Bactria, and at no great distance from 
 the Rhibii. If any of the sculptures of Thebes refer to the rebellion of 
 the Bactrians, they are here. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 THE enemy’s wagons. 
 
 295 
 
 troops of the enemy, who, after a short conflict, are 
 routed, and retreat in great disorder. The women 
 endeav^our to escape with their children on the first 
 approach of the Egyptians, and retire in plaustra * 
 drawn by oxen.t The flying chariots denote the 
 greatness of the general panic, and the conquerors 
 pursue them to the interior of the country. Here, 
 while passing a large morass, the king is attacked 
 by several lions t, one of which, transfixed with 
 darts and arrows, he lays breathless beneath his 
 horse’s feet ; another attempts to fly towards the 
 jungle, but, receiving a last and fatal wound, 
 writhes in the agony of approaching death. § A 
 third springs up from behind his car, and the hero 
 prepares to receive it and check its fury with his 
 spear. 
 
 “ Below this group is represented the march of 
 the Egyptian army, with their allies, the Shaire* 
 tana, the Sha . . . ., and a third corps, armed with 
 clubs, whose form and character are but imper- 
 fectly preserved. |j 
 
 * They were used in Egypt from the earliest times, and are mentioned 
 in Genesis, xlv. 19, See. Strabo also speaks of them, lib. xvii. They are 
 the more remarkable here, as putting us in mind of a custom, very' pre- 
 valent among some Eastern nations, of posting their wagons in the rear 
 when going to battle. The Tartars of later times were noted for this 
 custom. 
 
 f With the hump of Indian cattle. They seem to have been formerly 
 very common in Egypt also, as they are at present in Kordofan and 
 Sennar. 
 
 J One modern author has supposed this to represent a lion chase, 
 another has discovered in it the lion of Osymandyas, which assisted him 
 in battle. We have frequently known sportsmen shoot their own dogs, 
 but nothing justifies a similar opinion with regard to the king on this 
 occasion. 
 
 § Ihe position of- the lion is very characteristic of the impotent fury 
 of the disabled animal. Of the third little is seen but part of the fore- 
 paw : the attitude of the king supplies the rest. 
 
 II Vide supra, Vol. I. p. 287. 
 
*296 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 “ The enemy, having continued their rapid re- 
 treat, take refuge in the ships of a maritime na- 
 tion*, to whose country they have retired for 
 shelter. Tlie Egyptians attack them with a fleet 
 of galleys and bearing down their op- 
 
 ponents, succeed in boarding them and taking 
 several prisoners. One of the hostile gallies is 
 upset ; and the slingers in the tops, with the 
 archers and spearmen on the prows, spread dismay 
 among the few who resist. The king, trampling 
 on the prostrate bodies of the enemy, and aided by 
 a corps of bowmen, discharges from the shore a 
 continued shower of arrows ; and his attendants 
 stand at a short distance with his chariot and 
 horses, and await his return. Below this scene, the 
 conquering army leads in triumph the prisoners of 
 the two nations they have captured in the naval 
 fight, and the amputated hands of the slain are laid 
 
 in heaps before the military chiefs 
 
 In the next compartment, the king distributes re- 
 wards to his victorious troops, and then proceed- 
 ing to Egypt, he conducts in triumph the captive 
 Ilebo and Tokkari, whom he offers to the Theban 
 triad, Amun, Maut, and Khonso. 
 
 “ In the compartments above these historical 
 scenes, the king makes suitable offerings to the 
 gods of Egypt ; and, on the remaining part of the 
 east wall, to the south of the second propylon, 
 another war is represented. 
 
 “ In the first picture, the king alighted from his 
 
 * The Shairetana; part of the same people who joined the Eg3 p- 
 tians as allies in this war. The expression ‘ maritime people ’ may imply 
 merely that they lived near a large lake. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 FORTIFIED TOWNS, 
 
 297 
 
 chariot, armed with his spear and shield, and 
 trampling on the prostrate bodies of the slain, 
 besieges tbe fort of an Asiatic enemy, whom he 
 forces to sue for peace. In the next, he attacks a 
 larger town surrounded by water. The Egyptians 
 fell the trees in the woody country which sur- 
 rounds it, probably to form testudos and ladders for 
 the assault. Some are applied by their comrades to 
 the walls ; and, while they reach their summit, the 
 gates are broken open, and tbe enemy are driven 
 from the ramparts, or precipitated over the para- 
 pet by the victorious assailants, who announce by 
 sound of trumpet the capture of the place. 
 
 “ In the third compartment, on the north face of 
 the first propylon, Remeses attacks two large towns, 
 the upper one of which is taken with but little re- 
 sistance, the Egyptian troops having entered it and 
 gained possession of the citadel. In the lower one, 
 the terrified inhabitants are engaged in rescuing 
 their children from the approaching danger, by 
 raising them from the plain beneath to the ram- 
 parts of the outer wall. The last picture occupies 
 the upper or north end of the east wall, where the 
 king presents his prisoners to the gods of the 
 temple. The western wall is covered by a large 
 hieroglyphical tablet, recording offerings, made in 
 the different months of the year, by Remeses III.” 
 
 This may serve to give an idea of the profusion 
 of sculpture on the walls of an Egyptian temple. 
 The whole was coloured ; and this variety served 
 as a relief to the otherwise sombre appearance of 
 massive straight walls, which formed the exterior 
 
298 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 of Egyptian temples. All the architectural details 
 were likewise painted ; and though a person unac- 
 customed to see the walls of a large building so 
 decorated, might suppose the elfect to be far from 
 pleasing, no one who understands the harmony of 
 colours will fail to admit that they perfectly un- 
 derstood their distribution and proper combina- 
 tions, and that an Egyptian temple was greatly 
 improved by the addition of painted sculptures. 
 
 In a work of so limited a scale as the present, it 
 is impossible to give an adequate notion of a large 
 temple, whose details are so made up, or to give 
 the general effect of this kind of clair-obscur ; but 
 an idea may be conveyed of some of the parts, 
 from the capitals of the columns, which I have 
 introduced in the frontispiece of this volume. 
 
 The introduction of colour in architecture was 
 not peculiar to the Egyptians ; it was common to the 
 Etrurians, and even to the Greeks. For though 
 the writings of ancient authors afford no decided 
 evidence of the practice in Greece, and the pas- 
 sages adduced in support of it from Vitruvius *, 
 Pliny t and Pausanias t, are neither satisfactory, 
 nor conclusive, the fact of colour having been found 
 on the monuments of Attica and Sicily is so well 
 
 * Vitruv. iv. 2. “ Tabellas ita forinatas, uti nunc fiiint triglyplii, 
 
 contra tignoruni praecisiones in fronte fixerunt, et eas cera ccerulea de- 
 2nnxerunt." Vide also lib. vii. c. 9. and c. 5., where he shows the bad 
 taste of the Romans in their mode of painting their houses. 
 
 f Plin. xxxvi. 23. “ In Elide aedes est Minervae, in qua frater Phidi® 
 Pannaeus, tectorium induxit lacte et croco subactum.” Vide also lib. 
 XXXV. c. 8. where he again mentions Pann®us ; and, after saying Phidias 
 was originally a painter, adds that Pannaeus assisted in painting the 
 figure of Olympian Jupiter. 
 
 J Pausan. lib. v. Elis. c. xi. He mentions the works of the brothei* of 
 Phidias, whom he calls Panenus. 
 
CHAP. X. GREEK MONUMENTS PAINTED. 
 
 299 
 
 authenticated, that no doubt can be entertained of 
 certain parts, at least, of Greek temples, of the 
 oldest and even of the best periods, having been 
 painted. 
 
 In the temple of Theseus at Athens, vestiges of 
 colours are seen on the ground of the frieze, on the 
 figures themselves, and on the ornamental details.* 
 The Parthenon presents remains of painting on some 
 members of the cornice, and the ground of the 
 frieze, above the interior of the peristyle, contain- 
 ing the reliefs of the Panathenaic procession, was 
 blue. The propylaea of the Acropolis, the Ionic 
 temple on the Ilissus, and the Choragic monu- 
 ment of Lysicrates also offer traces of colour ; and 
 vestiges of red, blue, and green, have been dis- 
 covered on the metopes of a temple at Selinus in 
 Sicily, by Messrs. Angell and Harris, who exca- 
 vated and examined the site of that ancient city 
 in 1823. In one of these, the figure of Minerva 
 has the eyes and eyebrows painted t ; her drapery, 
 and the girdle of Perseus are also ornamented with 
 coloured devices, and the whole ground of this 
 and two other of the metopes is red. 
 
 Red and blue seem to have been generally used 
 for the ground ; and these two, with green, were 
 the principal colours introduced in Greek architec- 
 ture, many members of which were also gilt, as the 
 shields, guttae, and other prominent details ; but 
 
 * Vide Transactions of The Institute of British Architects, on the 
 polychroiny of Greek architecture, translated from the German of Kugler 
 by W. R. Hamilton, Esq. p. 85. et seq. 
 
 f Vide the Sculptured Metopes of Selinus, by Messrs. Harris and 
 Angell, p. 49. 
 
300 
 
 TEIE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 there is, as yet, no proof of the flesh of statues or 
 bas-reliefs having been painted, and many suppose 
 that the shafts of columns were always white, the 
 coloured parts being confined to the entablature 
 and pediment. 
 
 In Egyptian buildings, indeed, it sometimes 
 happened, that the shafts of columns were merely 
 covered with white stucco, without any ornament, 
 and even without the usual line of hieroglyphics ; 
 and the same custom of coating certain kinds of 
 stone with stucco was common in Greece. The 
 Egyptians also put this layer of stucco, or paint, 
 over stone, whatever its quality might be ; and 
 we are surprised to find the beautiful granite of 
 obelisks and other monuments concealed in a similar 
 manner ; the sculptures engraved upon them being 
 also tinted either green, blue, red, or other colour, 
 and frequently one and the same throughout. 
 
 Whenever they employed sandstone, it was 
 absolutely necessary to cover it with a surface of 
 a smoother and less absorbent nature, to prevent 
 the colour being too readily imbibed by so porous a • 
 stone ; and a coat of calcareous composition was 
 laid on before the paint was applied. When the 
 subject was sculptured, either in relief or intaglio, 
 the stone was coated, after the figures were cut, 
 with the same substance, to receive the final co- 
 louring; and it had the additional advantage of 
 enabling the artist to finish the figures and other 
 objects, with a precision and delicacy in vain to 
 be expected on the rough and absorbent surface 
 of sandstone. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 EGYPTIAN COLOURS. 
 
 301 
 
 The Egyptians mixed their paint with water, 
 and it is probable, that a little portion of gum 
 was sometimes added, to render it more tenacious 
 and adhesive. In most instances we find red, 
 green, and blue adopted ; an union which, for all 
 subjects, and in all parts of Egypt, was a particular 
 favourite : when black was introduced, yellow was 
 added to counteract or harmonise with it ; and in 
 like manner they sought for every hue its conge- 
 nial companion. 
 
 In the examination of the colours used for paint- 
 ing the walls, while at Thebes, I was led to the 
 conjecture *, that the reds and yellows were ochres ; 
 the blues and greens metallic, and prepared from 
 copper; the black, a lampblack; and the white a 
 finely levigated and prepared lime. I have since 
 been favoured with an analysis of those brought by 
 me from Thebes, which my friend Dr. Ure has 
 had the kindness to make, and which I am happy 
 in being able to introduce. 
 
 “ The colours are green, blue, red, black, yellow, 
 and white: 1. The green pigment, scraped from 
 the painting in distemper, resists the solvent action 
 of muriatic acid, but becomes thereby of a brilliant 
 blue colour, in consequence of the abstraction of a 
 small portion of yellow ochreous matter. The resi- 
 duary blue powder has a sandy texture ; and when 
 viewed in the microscope is seen to consist of small 
 particles of blue glass. On fusing this vitreous matter 
 with potash, digesting the compound in diluted mu- 
 riatic acid, and treating the solution with water of 
 
 * Thebes, p. 44.3. 
 
302 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 ammonia in excess, the presence of copper becomes 
 manifest. A certain portion of precipitate fell, 
 which being dissolved in muriatic acid, and tested, 
 proved to be oxide of iron. We may hence con- 
 clude, that the green pigment is a mixture of a little 
 ochre, with a pulverulent glass, made by vitrifying 
 the oxides of copper and iron with sand and soda. 
 The vitreous green coat upon the small Osiris 
 figures, so numerous in the Egyptian tombs of the 
 earliest times, is a similar composition. 
 
 “ The green colour washed from the stone with a 
 sponge, and afterwards evaporated, consists of blue 
 glass in powder, mixed with a little ochre, and par- 
 ticles of colourless glass, to which it owes its 
 brighter hue. 
 
 “ 2. The blue* pigment scraped from the stone 
 is a pulverulent blue glass of like composition, 
 without the ochreous admixture, brightened with 
 a little of the chalky matter used in the distemper 
 preparation. 
 
 “ 3. The red pigment obtained by washing the 
 coloured stone in the tombs of the kings with a wet 
 sponge, and evaporating the liquid to dryness, when 
 treated with water, evinces the presence of glutin- 
 ous gummy matter. t It dissolves readily, in a great 
 measure, in muriatic acid, and affords muriates of 
 iron and alumina. It is merely a red earthy bole. 
 
 * It is remarkable how much the Egyptian method of making this 
 colour resembled in principle that of our smalt. It agrees with the false 
 cyanus of Theophrastus (s. 98.), invented by an Egyptian king, which, 
 he says, was laid on thicker than the native (or lapis lazzuli). Pliny 
 confounds the two, xxxvii. 9. 
 
 -)- The Egyptian colours contain gum ; but the quantity in these 
 specimens was owing to my having added it to form them into cakes. 
 
CHAP. X. STYLE OF THE SCULPTURES. 
 
 303 
 
 “4. The black pigment washed ofF the stone in the 
 same manner with a sponge, is not affected by diges- 
 tion in rectified petroleum, and contains, therefore, 
 no bitumen. It softens in hot water immediately, 
 and dissolves readily into a black liquid, which evi- 
 dently contains a gummy or mucilaginous matter. 
 When exposed to a red heat, upon a slip of platinum, 
 it takes fire, and burns with a fleeting white flame. 
 The remaining matter is difficult to incinerate, even 
 under the blowpipe, and then leaves a bulky grey 
 ash. This residuum dissolves, with very little effer- 
 vescence, in hot muriatic acid. When ammonia is 
 dropped into this solution it causes a bulky pre- 
 cipitate, which does not re-dissolve in excess of 
 solution of potash. These phenomena show the 
 pigment in question to be bone black (mixed with 
 a little gum). By another experiment, I found in 
 it traces of iron. 
 
 “ 5. The white pigment scraped from the stone 
 in the tombs of the kings, is nothing but a very 
 pure chalk, containing hardly any alumina, and a 
 mere trace of iron. 
 
 “ 6. The 3 ^ellow pigment is a yellow iron ochre.” 
 
 SCULPTURES IN RELIEF AND IN INTAGLIO. 
 
 The oldest Egyptian sculptures on all large mo- 
 numents were in low relief, and, as usual, at every 
 period, painted ; obelisks and every thing carved 
 in hard stone*, some funereal tablets and other 
 small objects, being in intaglio. This style con- 
 
 * Some few granite monuments are in relief, but they are rare. 
 
304 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP, X. 
 
 tinned in vogue until the time of Remeses II., 
 who began to introduce intaglio generally on large 
 monuments, and even his battle scenes at Karnak 
 and the Memnonium are executed in this manner. 
 The reliefs were little raised above the level of the 
 wall ; they had generally a flat surface, the edges 
 softly rounded off, in effect, far surpassing the 
 intaglio ; and it is to be regretted that the best 
 epoch of art, when design and execution were 
 in their zenith, should have abandoned a style so 
 superior, which, too, would have improved in pro- 
 portion to the advancement of that period. 
 
 Intaglio continued to be generally employed, 
 until the accession of the 26th dynasty, when 
 the low relief was again introduced ; and in the 
 monuments of Psamaticus and Amasis are numer- 
 ous instances of the revival of the ancient style. 
 This was afterwards universally adopted, and no re- 
 turn to intaglio on large monuments was attempted, 
 either in the Ptolemaic or Roman periods. 
 
 The intaglio introduced by Remeses may, per- 
 haps, be denominated intaglio rilievato, or relieved 
 intaglio. The sides of the incavo, which are perpen- 
 dicular, are cut to a considerable depth, and from 
 that part, to the centre of the flgure (or whatever is 
 represented) is a gradual swell, the centre being 
 frequently on a level with the surflice of the wall. 
 On this all the parts of dress, features, or devices, 
 are delineated and painted, and even the per- 
 pendicular sides are ornamented in a corresponding 
 manner, by continuing upon them the adjoining 
 details. 
 
CHAP. X. SCULPTURES OF THE 26tH DYNASTY. S05 
 
 In the reign of Remeses III. a change was made 
 in the mode of sculpturing the intaglios, which, as 
 I have already observed*, consisted in carving the 
 lower side to a great depth, while tlie upper face 
 inclined gradually from the surface of the wall till 
 it reached the innermost part of the intaglio ; it 
 was principally done in the hieroglyphics, in order 
 to enable a person standing immediately beneath, 
 and close to the wall on which they were sculp- 
 tured, to distinguish and read them ; and the de- 
 tails upon the perpendicular sides, above mentioned, 
 had the same effect. 
 
 It was a peculiarity of style not generally imi- 
 tated by the successors of Remeses III., and hiero- 
 glyphics bearing this character may serve to fix 
 the date of monuments, wherever they are found, to 
 the age of that monarch. After his reign no great 
 encouragement appears to have been given to the 
 arts ; the subjects represented on the few monu- 
 ments of the epoch intervening between his 
 death, and the succession of the 26tli dynasty, are 
 principally confined to sacred subjects, in which no 
 display of talent is shown ; and the records of 
 Sheshonk’s victories at Karnak are far from par- 
 taking of the vigour of former times, either in 
 style, or in the mode of treating the subject. 
 
 After the accession of the 26th dynasty some at- 
 tempt was made to revive the arts, which had been 
 long neglected ; and independent of the patronage 
 of government, the wealth of private individuals was 
 liberally employed in their encouragement. Public 
 
 * Vide Vol. I. p. 85. ; and Materia Hierogl. p. 95. 
 
 VOL. in. X 
 
306 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 buildings were erected in many parts of Egypt, 
 and beautified with rich sculpture ; the city of 
 Sai’s, the royal residence of the Pharaohs of that 
 dynasty, was adorned with the utmost magni- 
 ficence ; and extensive additions were made to the 
 temples of Memphis, and even to those of the 
 distant Thebes. 
 
 The fresh impulse thus given to art was not with- 
 out effect ; the sculptures of that period exhibit 
 an elegance and beauty, which might even induce 
 some to consider them equal to the productions 
 of an earlier age ; and in the tombs of the As- 
 saseef, at Thebes, are many admirable specimens 
 of Egyptian art. To those, however, who under- 
 stand the true feeling of this peculiar school, it is 
 evident, that though in minuteness and finish they 
 are deserving of the highest commendation, yet, 
 in grandeur of conception and in boldness of exe- 
 cution, they fall far short of the sculptures of 
 Osirei, and the second Remeses. 
 
 In forming an opinion of the different styles of 
 Egyptian sculpture, it is frequently difficult for 
 an unpractised eye to decide upon their peculiar 
 merits, or their respective ages ; and in nothing, 
 perhaps, has this been more fully demonstrated, 
 than in the Isiac table, now at Turin. Every 
 one, acquainted with Egyptian art, must be struck 
 at first sight with the very modern date and Ro- 
 man origin of this monument ; and the position 
 of the hieroglyphics shows that the maker of it 
 was ignorant of the subject he was treating. I 
 should, therefore, not have thought it necessary 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 FALL OF THE ARTS. 
 
 307 
 
 to notice so palpable a forgery, had not the learned 
 Winkelmann censured bishop Warburton for a 
 judicious remark, in which he is borne out by 
 fact, and for which he deserves great credit. 
 “ I cannot help,” says Winkelmann*, “ here no- 
 ticing an error of Warburton, who advances, that 
 the famous Isiac table of bronze, inlaid with figures 
 in silver, is a work made at Rome. His opinion is 
 destitute of foundation, and he only appears to have 
 adopted it, because it suited his own system. Be 
 it as it may, this monument has all the character 
 of the most ancient Egyptian style.” 
 
 Justice must be done to the judgment of Warbur- 
 ton, and a remark of this kind, made by a person 
 of Winkelmann’s reputation, is of too great weight 
 to pass unnoticed. 
 
 The invasion of Cambyses, as I have already 
 stated, struck a death blow to the arts in Egypt. 
 Sculptors, painters, and artisans of every descrip- 
 tion, were taken from their country, and sent to 
 Persia by the victors to embellish the monuments 
 of their enemies with the records of their own 
 misfortunes ; and in spite of the encouragement 
 afterwards given by the Ptolemies, the spark of 
 genius, then so nearly extinguished, could not 
 be rekindled, and Egypt was doomed to witness 
 the total decadence of those arts for which she 
 had been long renowned. 
 
 The sculptures of the Ptolemaic periods are coarse 
 and heavy, deficient in grace and spirit, and totally 
 wanting in the character of the true Egyptian school, 
 
 * Winkelmann, Hist, cle I’Art. lib. ii. c. 1. s. 46. 
 
 X 2 
 
308 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 at the same time that they partake of nothing Greek 
 either in form or feeling ; for the Egyptians never 
 borrowed any notions, on those points, from the 
 foreigners with whom they had so long an inter- 
 course, throughout the period of Greek and Roman 
 rule. The sculptures executed in the time of the 
 Caesars arc still more degraded in every respect; 
 and so low did they fall at this period, that 
 many do not claim a rank above those of the 
 humblest village tombstone. Still the architec- 
 ture continued to be grand and majestic, and many 
 of the monuments of a Ptolemaic and Roman era 
 merit a better style of sculpture. 
 
 “ Architecture,” as I have elsewhere observed*, 
 “ more dependent on adherence to certain rules 
 than the sister art, was naturally less speedily affected 
 by the decline of taste and ingenuity of its profes- 
 sors ; and as long as encouragement was held out 
 to their exertions, the grandest edifices might 
 be constructed from mere imitation, or from the 
 knowledge of the means necessary for their exe- 
 cution. But this could never be the case with 
 sculpture, which had so many more requisites than 
 previous example or long established custom ; nor 
 could success be attained by the routine of mecha- 
 nism, or the servile imitation of former models.” 
 
 It is remarkable that the architecture, even of 
 the early time of Osirtasen, far excelled the sculp- 
 ture of that day ; and the grace and simplicity of 
 the grottos at Beni Hassan, which call to mind 
 in their elegant columns the Doric character, must 
 
 * Egypt and Thebes, p. 163. 
 
CHAP. X. GROTTOS OF BENI IIASSAN. 309 
 
 be liighly admired, even though seen amidst the 
 grandeur of the monuments of Remeses. These 
 colums are 3 ft. 4 in. in diameter, and l6 ft. 8^ in. 
 high * ; they have sixteen faces or grooves, each 
 about eight inches wide, and so slight and elegant 
 that their depth does not exceed half an inch. One 
 of the faces, which is not hollowed into a groove, is 
 left forthe introduction of a column of hieroglyphics. 
 
 The roofs of some of the grottos of Beni Hassan, 
 are cut into a slight segment of a circle, in imit- 
 ation of the arch, which, as 1 have had occasion 
 to observe, was probably known in Egypt at this 
 early period ; and it is remarkable that the walls 
 are stained and sprinkled with colour, to give 
 them the appearance of red granite. This is the 
 general character of the larger and northernmost 
 grottos ; the others differ, both in the form and 
 style of the columns, and in their general appear- 
 ance ; but the transverse section of one of them 
 will suffice to show the elegance of their depressed 
 pediment, — which extends, in lieu of architrave, 
 
 No. 383. Section of one of the southern grottos of Beni Hassan. 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 384._/gjf. 2, 3. 
 
 X 3 
 
310 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 over the columns of the interior, — and the sim- 
 plicity of their general effect. 
 
 The most favourite Egyptian capitals were those 
 in form of the full blown water plant, supposed by 
 some to be the papyrus, which was emblematic of 
 tbe lower country*, and the unopened bud of the 
 same, or of the lotus ; and that this last gave the 
 original idea of the Doric capital is not improbable, 
 since, by removing the upper part, and bringing 
 down the abacus, it presents the same appearance 
 as the early Greek style.f 
 
 No. 384. 1 2 
 
 Fig. 1. Columns in the portico of the northern grottos of Beni Hassan. 
 
 2. Columns of the interior. 
 
 3. Horizontal section of fig. 2., showing the grooves. 
 
 4. One of the grooves on a larger scale. 
 
 5. An Egyptian capital, which seems to have been the origin of the Doric : fig. 6. 
 
 * Vide Capitals of Columns, Frontispiece of this Volume, 
 t Vide wood-cut, No. 384. ^gs. 3, 6. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 PAINTING. 
 
 311 
 
 PAINTING. 
 
 Of painting, apart from sculpture, and of the 
 excellence to which it attained in Egypt, we can 
 form no accurate opinion, nothing having come 
 down to us of a Pharaonic period, or of that epoch 
 when the arts were at their zenith in Egypt ; but 
 that, already in the time of Osirtasen, they painted 
 on board, is shown by one of the subjects at Beni 
 Hassan, where two artists are engaged in a picture, 
 representing a calf, and an antelope overtaken by a 
 dog. The painter holds his brush in one hand, and his 
 palette or saucer of colour in the other ; but, though 
 
 the boards stand upright, there is no indication of 
 a contrivance to steady or support the hand. 
 
 Mention is made of an Egyptian painting by 
 Herodotus, who tells us that Amasis sent a portrait 
 of himself to Cyrene *, probably on wood ; and some, 
 of uncertain period, have been found in the tombs 
 of Thebes. Two of these are preserved in the 
 British Museum, but they are evidently of Greek 
 time, and, perhaps, even after the conquest of 
 
 * Herod, ii. 182. 
 
 X 4 
 
312 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Egypt by the Romans. It is therefore vain to 
 speculate on the nature of their painting, or their 
 skill in this branch of art ; and, though some 
 of the portraits taken from the mummies may 
 prove that encaustic painting with wax and naph- 
 tha was adopted in Egypt, the time when it was 
 first known there is uncertain, nor can we conclude 
 from a specimen of Greek time, that the same was 
 practised in the Pharaonic age. 
 
 Pliny states, in his chapter on inventions *, that 
 “ Gyges, a Lydian, was the earliest painter, in 
 Egypt; and Euchir, a cousin of Daedalus accord- 
 ing to Aristotle, the first in Greece ; or, as Theo- 
 phrastus thinks, Polygnotus the Athenian.” But 
 the painting represented in Beni Hassan evidently 
 dates before any of those artists. Pliny, in another 
 placet, says, “ the origin of painting is uncertain ; 
 the Egyptians pretend that it was invented by 
 them 6000 years before it passed into Greece ; a 
 vain boast, as every one will allow.” It must, how- 
 ever, be admitted, that all the arts were cultivated 
 in Egypt long before Greece existed as a nation ; 
 and the remark he afterwards makes t, that paint- 
 ing was unknown at the period of the Trojan war, 
 can only be applied to the Greeks ; as is shown by 
 the same unquestionable authority at Beni Hassan, 
 of the remote era of Osirtasen, who lived upwards 
 of 1700 years before our era, between five and six 
 hundred years previous to the taking of Troy. 
 
 * Plin. vii. 56. 
 
 Plin. XXXV. 3. He also mentions line drawings as an invention 
 of the Egyptians. 
 
 t Plin. XXXV. 3., at the end. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 MODE OF DRAWING. 
 
 313 
 
 STYLE OF THEIR DRAWING. 
 
 The skill of the Egyptian artists in drawing bold 
 and clear outlines is, perhaps, more worthy of 
 admiration than any thing connected with this 
 branch of art ; and I have had occasion to notice 
 the freedom, with which the figures in the un- 
 finished part of Belzoni’s tomb at Thebes are 
 sketched. I have also noticed* the manner in 
 which they began those drawings previous to their 
 being sculptured and painted. 
 
 The walls having been ruled in red squares “ the 
 position of the figures was decided by the artist, who 
 traced them roughly with a red colour ; and the 
 draughtsman then carefully sketched the outlines in 
 black, and submitted them to the inspection of the 
 former, who altered (as appears in some few in- 
 stances here) those parts which he deemed deficient 
 in proportion or correctness of attitude ; and in 
 that state they were left for the chisel of the 
 sculptor.” Sometimes the squares were dispensed 
 with, and the subjects were drawn by the eye, 
 which appears to have been the case with many of 
 those in the tomb here alluded to. 
 
 In some pictures, we observe certain conventional 
 rules of drawing, which are singular, and perhaps 
 confined to the Egyptians and Chinese, an instance 
 of which may be seen in the frontispiece to my 
 ‘ Materia Hieroglyphica.’ The subject represents 
 Amunra the god of Thebes seated on his throne, and 
 presenting the emblem of life to Remeses the Great, 
 who stands before him. The deities Khonso and 
 Bubastis are also present. Tlie god being con- 
 
 * Egypt and Thebes, p. 107. 
 
314 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 sidered the principal figure, every means are used 
 to prevent the intervention of any object, which 
 might conceal or break through its outline : the 
 leg therefore of the king, though in reality com- 
 ing in front, is placed behind his foot ; but as the 
 base of the throne is of less importance than the 
 leg of the king, the latter is continued in an un- 
 broken line to the bottom of the picture ; and the 
 same is observed in his hand, which being an 
 object of more consequence in the subject than 
 the tail of the deity, is not subjected to any 
 interruption. 
 
 The Egyptians had no notion of perspective, 
 either in figures, or in the representation of inani- 
 mate objects ; and those on the same plane, instead 
 of being shown one behind the other, were placed 
 in succession one above the other, on the perpen- 
 dicular wall. 
 
 Of the quality of the pencils they used, for draw- 
 ing and painting, it is difficult to form any opinion. 
 Those generally employed for writing were a reed 
 or rush, many of which have been found with 
 the tablets or inkstands belonging to the scribes ; 
 and with these, too, they probably sketched the 
 figures in red and black upon the stone, or stucco 
 of the walls. To put in the colour, we may 
 suppose that brushes of some kind were used ; but 
 the minute scale on which the subjects are indicated 
 in the sculptures prevents our deciding the question. 
 
 Habits among men of similar occupations are fre- 
 quently alike, even in the most distant countries ; 
 and, we find it was not unusual for an Egyptian 
 artist, or scribe, to put his reed pencil behind his ear. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 PAINTERS AND SCRIBES. 
 
 315 
 
 when engaged in examining the effect of his paint- 
 ing, or listening to a person on business, as in the 
 modern studio, or the counting-house of an Euro- 
 pean town. 
 
 Painters and scribes deposited their writing im- 
 plements in a box with a pendent leather top, which 
 was tied up with a loop or thong j and a handle, 
 or strap was fastened to the side to enable them 
 to cany it more conveniently. Their ordinary 
 wooden tablet was furnished with two or more 
 cavities for holding the colours, a tube in the 
 
 No. 38G. — A scribe writing on a tablet, c and d are two cases for carrying writing 
 materials. Thebes. 
 
 No. 387. — Scribe with his inkstand upon the table. One pen is put behind his ear, and 
 he is writing with another. Thebes. 
 
 centre containing the pens or reeds j and certain 
 memoranda were frequently written at the back of 
 it, when a large piece of papyrus, or the wooden 
 slab, were not required. 
 
316 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 Of the architecture, plans, and distribution of 
 their dwelling-houses, I have already treated in a 
 preceding volume * ; and of the great use they 
 made of crude brick for this purpose ; those burnt 
 in a kiln being rarely employed, except in damp 
 situations.t The bricks were formed in a simple 
 mould, frequently bearing a government stamp ; 
 and the number of persons employed in their manu- 
 facture is readily accounted for by the great demand 
 for those materials in the construction of dwelling- 
 houses, and ordinary buildings ; stone being con- 
 fined principally to the temples, and other monu- 
 ments connected with religion ; but this has been 
 already noticed ; and I now merely introduce the 
 subject of crude brick in connection with the arch. 
 
 I have frequently had occasion to mention the 
 antiquity of the arch, and have shown that it ex- 
 isted of brick in the reign of Amunoph I., as 
 early as the year 1540 before our eral:, and of 
 stone in the time of the second Psamaticus, b. c. 
 600. § I have suggested the probability of its 
 having owed its invention to the small quantity of 
 wood in Egypt, and the consequent expence of 
 roofing with timber, and have ventured to con- 
 clude, from the paintings at Beni Hassan, that 
 vaulted buildings were made in Egypt as early as the 
 reign of Osirtasen, the contemporary of Joseph, who 
 lived between three and four thousand years ago. || 
 
 * Vol. II. p. 95. ct seq, 
 
 f The southern extremity of the quay, near the temple of Luqsor, 
 at Thebes, is built of burnt brick. Crude bricks were common in many 
 Eastern countries, as at Babylon, and at other places. 
 
 t Egypt and Thebes, p. 81. and 126. 9 Ibid. p. 337. 
 
 II Vol. II., p. 117. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 BRICK PYRAMIDS. 
 
 317 
 
 The age of the crude brick pyramids of Mem- 
 phis, and the Arsinoite nome is unknown. Hero- 
 dotus tells us the first built of those materials was 
 erected by Asychis, whom he makes the prede- 
 cessor of Anysis the contemporary of Sabaco, thus 
 limiting its date to the ninth century before our 
 era ; and, consequently, as I have observed *, 
 making it posterior to those at Thebes, which 
 were erected about the period of the 18 th dynasty. 
 
 It is, however, far more probable, that a long 
 period intervened between the reigns of Asychis and 
 Anysist ; and that the former lived many ages before 
 Bocchoris ; which is confirmed by another passage 
 in Herodotus, placing him as the immediate suc- 
 cessor of Mycerinus the son of Cheops ; and the 
 ruinous and crumbled appearance of the brick 
 pyramids of Dashoor, fully justifies the opinion that 
 they were erected very soon after the stone ones, 
 near which they stand, and to which the inscrip- 
 tion of Asychis forbade the spectator to compare 
 them.! They have had chambers, the lower part 
 of whose side walls are still visible ; and we may 
 be permitted to conclude that they were arched, 
 like those at Thebes. 
 
 If, then, the brick pyramids of Memphis were 
 erected by the successor of the son of Cheops, 
 and the chambers were, as I suppose, vaulted, 
 the invention of the arch will be carried back 
 nearly 7OO years prior to the reign of Amunoph, 
 
 * Stipra, Vol. I. p. 132. 
 
 -f- To prevent further discussion on the reigns of those kings, I did 
 not suggest this opinion in the historical notice taken from Herodotus 
 (in Vol. I. p. 132), and have reserved it for the present occasion, as it 
 bears more particularly on the question respecting the antiquity of the 
 arch. 1 Vide Vol. I. p. 131. 
 
318 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 about 2020 years before our era. This is a con- 
 jecture on which I do not wish to insist ; we may, 
 for the present, be satisfied with the fact that this 
 style of building was in common use 3370 years 
 ago, and rejoice that the name of Amunoph has 
 been preserved on the stucco, coating the interior 
 of a vaulted tomb at Thebes, to announce it, and 
 to silence the incredulity of a sceptic. 
 
 The appearance and position of other tombs, in 
 the vicinity of the Ptolemaic temple of Dayr el 
 Medeeneh at Thebes, had always convinced me that 
 their vaulted roofs were of the time of Amunoph and 
 his immediate successors ; but, however satisfied on 
 this point myself, I could find no name to sanction 
 my opinion, or to justify me in its assertion, until 
 accident threw in my way the building in question *, 
 while prosecuting my researches therein 1827; and 
 I have the satisfaction to learn that another tomb 
 has since been discovered of similar construction, 
 which presents the ovals of the third Thothmes. 
 
 The pyramids of Gebel Rirkel (Napata), and 
 Dunkalah (Meroe), are of uncertain date, but 
 there is every reason to believe them, as well as 
 the small temples attached to their front, of an age 
 long anterior to the Ptolemies, or, as Mr. Hoskins 
 thinks, “ of a far more ancient date than Tirhaka;” 
 and we there find stone arches, both round and 
 pointed some of which are built with a key- 
 stone!, on the same principle as our own. 
 
 ♦ Materia Hierogl. p. 80. f Vide Hoskins’s Ethiopia, p. 156. 
 
 J The keystone is mentioned by Seneca, Epist. 90. Many round 
 and pointed arches of a late time have been built without it, and the 
 principle of the arch does not depend upon it, but on the adjustment 
 of (til the stones. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 ANTIQUITY OF THE ARCH. 
 
 319 
 
 At Memphis, too, near the modern village of 
 Saqqara, is a tomb, with two large vaulted chambers, 
 whose roofs display in every part the name and 
 sculptures of the second Psamaticus. They are 
 cut in the limestone rock ; and in order to secure 
 the roof, which is of a friable nature, they are 
 lined, if I may so call it, with an arch, as our 
 modern tunnels. The arch is of stone, and presents 
 a small and graceful segment of a circle, having a 
 span of seven feet ten inches, and a height of two 
 feet eight inches and a half.* 
 
 Numerous crude brick arches, of different dates, 
 exist in Thebest, besides the small pyramids already 
 alluded to, some of which are of very beautiful 
 construction. The most remarkable are the door- 
 ways of the enclosures surrounding the tombs in 
 the Assaseef, which are composed of two or more 
 concentric semicircles of brick t, as well constructed 
 as any of the present day. They are of the time of 
 Psamaticus and other princes of the 26th dynasty, 
 immediately before the invasion of Cambyses. 
 All the bricks radiate to a common centre : they 
 are occasionally pared off at the lower part, to 
 allow for the curve of the arch, and sometimes 
 the builders were contented to put in a piece of 
 stone to fill up the increased space between the 
 upper edges of the bricks. In those roofs of houses 
 or tombs, which were made with less care, and re- 
 quired less solidity, the bricks were placed longi- 
 tudinally, in the direction of the curve of the vault, 
 
 * Vide Vignette I. of this chapter. 
 
 f One is introduced into wood-cut, No. 388. fig. 1. 
 
 As of that in wood-cut, No. 119. p. 131. Vol. II. 
 
320 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. X. 
 
 and the lower ends were then cut away considera- 
 bly, to allow for the greater opening between them ; 
 and many were grooved at the sides, in order to 
 retain a greater quantity of mortar between their 
 united surfaces. 
 
 Though the oldest stone arch, whose age has 
 been positively ascertained, dates only in the time 
 of PsamaticLis, we cannot suppose that the use of 
 stone was not adopted by the Egyptians for that 
 style of building, previous to his reign, even if the 
 arches of the pyramids in Ethiopia should prove 
 not to be anterior to the same era. Nor does the 
 absence of the arch in temples and other large 
 buildings excite our surprise, when we consider 
 the style of Egyptian monuments ; and no one who 
 understands the character of their architecture could 
 wish for its introduction. In some of the small 
 temples of the Oasis, the Romans attempted this 
 innovation, but the appearance of the chambers so 
 constructed fails to please ; and the whimsical ca- 
 price of Osirei, who introduced an imitation of the 
 arch in a temple at Abydus, was not followed by 
 any of his successors.* In this building the roof 
 is formed of single blocks of stone reaching from 
 one architrave to the other, which, instead of being 
 placed in the usual manner, stand upon their edges, 
 in order to allow room for hollowing out an arch 
 in their thickness ; but it has an eifect of inconsis- 
 tency, without the plea of advantage or utility. 
 
 Another imitation of the arch occurs in a building 
 at Thebes. Here, however, a reason may perhaps 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 388. fig. 3. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 FALSE ARCHES. 
 
 3^1 
 
 be given for its introduction, being in the style of 
 a tomb, and not constructed as an Egyptian temple, 
 nor bound to accord with the ordinary rules of ar- 
 chitecture. The chambers, like those of the tomb 
 of Saqqara, lie under a friable rock, and are cased 
 with masonry, to prevent the fall of its crumbling 
 stone ; but instead of being roofed on the principle 
 of the arch, they are covered with a number of large 
 blocks, placed horizontally, one projecting beyond 
 that immediately below it, till the uppermost two 
 meet in the centre, the interior angles being after- 
 wards rounded off to form the appearance of a vault. 
 
 The date of this building is about 1500, b. c.. 
 
 No. 388. — Fig. 1. Vaulted rooms and doorway of a crude brick pyramid at Thebes. 
 
 2. An imitation of an arch at Thebes. 
 
 3. Another at Abydus. 
 
 4. Mode of commencing a quarry 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 Y 
 
3Q^2 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 consequently many years after the Egyptians had 
 been acquainted with the art of vaulting ; and the 
 reason of their preferring such a mode of construc- 
 tion probably arose from their calculating the great 
 difficulty of repairing an injured arch, in this posi- 
 tion, and the consequences attending the decay of 
 a single block ; nor can any one suppose, from 
 the great superincumbent weight applied to the 
 haunches, that this style of building is devoid of 
 strength, and of the usual durability of an Egyptian 
 fabric, or pronounce it ill suited to the purpose for 
 which it was erected.* 
 
 STONES HEWN FROM QUARRIES FOR BUILDING, FOR 
 SCULPTURE, AND OTHER PURPOSES. 
 
 The most ancient buildings in Egypt were con- 
 structed of limestone, hewn from the mountains 
 bordering the valley of the Nile to the east and 
 west, extensive quarries of which may be seen at 
 El Maasara t, Nesleh Shekh Hassan, El Mahab- 
 deh, and other places ; and evidence of its being 
 used long before sandstone is derived from the 
 tombs near the pyramids, as well as those mon- 
 uments themselves, and from the vestiges of old 
 substructions at Thebes, t Limestone continued 
 to be occasionally employed for building even after 
 the succession of the l6th dynasty § ; but so soon 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 388. ^g. 2. 
 
 -j- Fide Egypt and Thebes, p. 322. and 348., the Troici lapidis mons 
 of Ptolemy and Strabo. 
 
 t Limestone blocks are sometimes found in the thickness of the 
 wails of sandstone temples, of the time of Remeses II. and other 
 kings, taken from older monuments. 
 
 $ Herodotus says, Amasis, even, used the stone of the quarries near 
 Memphis, probably of the M.aasara hills, for part of the temple of 
 Minerva at Sals, lib. ii. 175. Vide Egypt and Thebes, p. 442. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 USE OF LIMESTONE. 
 
 323 
 
 as the durability of sandstone was ascertained, the 
 quarries of Silsilis * were opened, and those ma- 
 terials were universally adopted, and preferred for 
 their even texture, and the ease witli which they 
 were wrought. 
 
 The extent of the quarries at Silsilis, is very 
 great ; and, as I have elsewhere observed, “ it is 
 not by the size and scale of the monuments of 
 Upper Egypt alone that we are enabled to judge of 
 the stupendous works executed by the ancient 
 Egyptians ; these would suffice to prove the cha- 
 racter they bore, were the gigantic ruins of Thebes 
 and other cities t no longer in existence. And 
 safely may we apply the expression, used by Pliny 
 in speaking of the porphyry quarries, to those of 
 Silsilis, “ they are of such extent, that masses of 
 any dimensions might be hewn from them.” 
 
 In opening a new quarry, when the stone could 
 not be taken from the surface of the rock, and it 
 was necessary to cut into the lower part of its per- 
 pendicular face, they pierced it with a horizontal 
 shaft ; beginning with a square trench, and then 
 breaking away the stone left in the centre (as in- 
 dicated in the wood-cut by the space b), its height 
 and breadth depending of course on the size of the 
 stones required. They then cut the same around 
 c, and so on to any extent in a horizontal direction, 
 after which they extended the work downwards, 
 in steps, taking away e, and leaving d for the 
 present, and thus descending as far as they found 
 
 * Egypt and Thebes, p. 439. 
 
 f Herodotus (ii. 177), and Pliny (v. 9.), reckon 20,000 cities in 
 Egvpt in the time of Amasis. 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 convenient, or the stone continued good. They 
 then returned, and cut away the steps d, f, and 
 all the others, reducing each time one step in 
 depth, till at last there remained at x a perpendi- 
 cular wall ; and when the quarries were of very 
 great horizontal extent, pillars were left at intervals 
 to support the roof. 
 
 In one of the quarries at El Maasara, the mode 
 of transporting the stone is represented. It is 
 
 placed on a sledge, drawn by oxen, and is supposed 
 to be on its way to the inclined plane that led to 
 the river ; vestiges of which may still be seen a 
 little to the south of the modern village. 
 
 Sometimes, and particularly when the blocks 
 were large and ponderous, men were employed to 
 drag them, and those condemned to hard labour in 
 the quarries as a punishment, appear to have been 
 required to assist in moving a certain number of 
 stones, according to the extent of their otfence, 
 ere they were liberated ; and this expression, 
 “I have dragged 110 stones for the building of 
 Isis at PhiliE,” in an inscription at the quarries 
 of Gertassy in Nubia, seems to confirm my con- 
 jecture. In order to keep an account of their 
 progress, they frequently cut the initials of their 
 name, or some private mark, with the num- 
 ber, on the rock whence the stone was taken, as 
 
CHAP. X. TRANSPORT OF LARGK STONES. 
 
 325 
 
 soon as it was removed; thus, c. xxxii,, pd. xxxiii.; 
 PD. xxxiiii., and numerous other signs occur at 
 the quarries of Fateereh. 
 
 The blocks were taken from the quarry on 
 sledges ; and in a grotto behind E’Dayr, a Chris- 
 tian village between Antinoe and El Bersheh, is 
 the representation* of a colossus, which a number 
 of men are employed in dragging with ropes ; a 
 subject doubly interesting, from being of the early 
 age of Osirtasen IL, and one of the very few 
 paintings which throw any light on the method 
 employed by the Egyptians for moving weights. 
 For it is singular, that we find no illustration of 
 the mechanical means of a people who have left 
 so many unquestionable proofs of skill in these 
 matters. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that the colossus was 
 hewn in the hill of El Bersheh. This picture, like 
 the trades, fowling scenes, and other subjects, re- 
 presented in similar grottoes, only refers to one of 
 the occupations of the Egyptians!; nor does it 
 even follow, that the inmate of the tomb had any 
 office connected with the superintendence of the 
 quarries whence it was brought. 
 
 One hundred and seventy-two ment , in four rows, 
 of forty-three each, pull the ropes attached to the 
 front of the sledge ; and a liquid, probably grease, 
 is poured from a vase, by a person standing on the 
 
 * This curious subject was first discovered by captains Irby and 
 Mangles. From the beard we see the statue is of a private individual. 
 
 -f- Fide Egypt and Thebes, p. 142. 
 
 f The number may be indefinite ; and it is probable that more were 
 really employed than indicated in the painting. 
 
 V 3 
 
326 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 pedestal of the statue, in order to facilitate its pro- 
 gress as it slides over the ground ; which was pro- 
 bably covered with a bed of planks, though they 
 are not indicated in the painting. 
 
 Some of the persons employed in this laborious 
 duty appear to be Egyptians, the others are foreign 
 slaves, who are clad in the costume of their coun- 
 try ; and behind are four rows of men, who, though 
 only twelve in number, may be intended to repre- 
 sent the set which relieved the others when fatigued. 
 
 Below are persons carrying vases of the liquid, 
 or, perhaps water, for the use of the workmen, 
 and some implements connected with the transport 
 of the statue, followed by taskmasters with their 
 wands of office. On the knee of the figure stands 
 a man who claps his hands, to the measured ca- 
 dence of a song, to mark the time and ensure 
 their simultaneous draught ; for it is evident that, 
 in order that the whole power might be applied at 
 the same instant, a sign of this kind was necessary; 
 and the custom of singing at their work* was com- 
 mon to every occupation t among the Egyptians, 
 as it now is in that country, in India, and many 
 other places. Nor is it found a disadvantage among 
 the modern sailors of Europe, when engaged in 
 pulling a rope, or in any labour which requires a 
 simultaneous effort. 
 
 * The custom of singing or shouting, while treading grapes in the 
 winepress, is mentioned by Jeremiah, xxv. 30. “ He shall give a shout 
 
 as they that tread the grapes and Isaiah, xvi. 10. “ In the vineyard 
 
 there shall be no singing,” being common to other people as well as the 
 Egyptians. 
 
 f Also during the dance. Conf. I Sam. xxi, 11. “ Did they not sing 
 
 one to another of him in dances?” 
 
CHAP. X. TRANSPORT OF SMALL STONES. 327 
 
 The height of the statue appears to have been 
 about twenty-four feet, including the pedestal, 
 and it was of limestone*, as the colour and the 
 hieroglyphics inform us. It was bound to the 
 sledge by double ropes, which were tightened by 
 means of long pegs inserted between them, and 
 twisted round until completely braced ; and, to 
 prevent injury from the friction of the ropes upon 
 the stone, a compress of leather or other substance 
 was introduced at the part where they touched the 
 statue. 
 
 It is singular that the position of the ring to 
 which all the ropes were attached for moving the 
 mass, was confined to one place at the front of the 
 statue, and did not extend to the back part of the 
 sledge, but this was owing to the shortness of the 
 body ; and, when of great length, it is probable 
 that ropes were fixed at intervals along the sides 
 in order to give an opportunity of applying 
 a greater moving power. For this purpose, in 
 blocks of very great length, (as the columns at 
 Fateereh, which are about 60 ft. long, and 8^ ft, 
 in diameter,) certain pieces of stone were left, pro- 
 jecting from the sides, like the trunnions of a gun, 
 to which several ropes were attached, each pulled 
 by its own set of men. 
 
 Small blocks of stone were sent from the quarries 
 by water to their different places of destination, 
 either in boats or rafts ; but those of very large 
 dimensions were dragged by men, overland, in 
 
 ♦ The word in the hieroglyphics signifies either limestone or sand- 
 stone. 
 
 Y 4. 
 
328 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
CHAP. X. THEIR MECHANICAL SKILL. 329 
 
 the manner, here represented ; and the immense 
 weight of some shows that the Egyptians were 
 well acquainted with mechanical powers, and the 
 mode of applying a locomotive force with the 
 most wonderful success. 
 
 The obelisks transported from the quarries of 
 Syene, at the first cataracts, in latitude 24° 5 ' 23", 
 to Thebes and Heliopolis, vary in size from seventy 
 to ninety-three feet in length. They are of one 
 single stone ; and the largest in Egypt, which is 
 that of the great temple at Karnak, I calculate to 
 weigh about 297 tons. This was brought about 
 138 miles from the quarry to where it now stands, 
 and those taken to Heliopolis passed over a space 
 of more than 800 miles. The power, however, to 
 move the mass was the same, whatever might be 
 the distance, and the mechanical skill which trans- 
 ported it five, or even one, would suffice for any 
 number of miles. 
 
 In examining the ruins of western Thebes, and 
 reading the statements of ancient writers regarding 
 the stupendous masses of granite conveyed by this 
 people for several hundred miles, our surprise is 
 greatly increased. We find in the plain of Qoorneh 
 two colossi of Amunoph III., of a single block 
 each *, forty-seven feet in height, which contain 
 about 11,500 cubic feet, and are made of a stone 
 not known within several days’ journey of the 
 place ; and at the Memnonium, is another of Re- 
 meses II. which when entire weighed upwards 
 
 * One of these is the vocal Memnon. Vide Egypt and Thebes, 
 p. 33. el seq. This was broken and repaired. 
 
330 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 of 8S7 tons *, and was brought from E’Sooan 
 to Thebes, a distance, as before stated, of 138 
 miles. This is certainly a surprising weight, and 
 we cannot readily suggest the means adopted for 
 its transport, or its passage of the river ; but the 
 monolithic temple, said by Herodotus to have been 
 taken from Elephantine to Buto, in the Delta, was 
 still larger, and far surpassed in weight the pedestal 
 of Peter the Great’s statue at St. Petersburgh, which 
 is calculated at about 1200 tons. 
 
 He also mentions a monolith at Sai's, of which 
 he gives the following account : — “ What I admire 
 still more, is a monument of a single block of stone, 
 which Amasis transported from the city of Ele- 
 phantine, t Two thousand men, of the class of boat- 
 men, were employed to bring it, and were occupied 
 three years in this arduous task. The exterior 
 length is twenty-one cubits (31^ ft.); the breadth 
 fourteen (22 ft.) ; and the height eight ( 1 2 ft.) ; and, 
 within, it measures eighteen cubits twenty digits 
 (28 ft. 3 in.) in length ; twelve (18 ft.) in breadth ; 
 and five (72 ft.) in height. It lies near the entrance 
 of the temple, not having been admitted into the 
 building, in consequence, as they say, of the en- 
 gineer, while superintending the operation of drag- 
 ging it forward, having sighed aloud, as if exhausted 
 with fatigue, and impatient of the time it had occu- 
 pied ; which being looking upon by Amasis as a 
 
 * Egypt and Thebes, p. 11. 
 
 -|- The island opposite Syene, immediately below the first cataract. 
 The granite rocks stretch from the interior of the desert to the Nile 
 in this part : the sandstone crosses the river more to the north, a little 
 below Eilethyas. Vide Egypt and Thebes, p. 420. and p. 452. 
 
CHAP. X. IMMENSE MONOLITH AT BUTO. 331 
 
 bad omen, he forbade its being taken any further. 
 Some, however, state that it was in consequence 
 of a man having been crushed beneath it while 
 moving it with levers.” * 
 
 Herodotus’s measurement is given as it lay on 
 the ground ; his length is properly its height, and 
 his height the depth, from the front to the back ; 
 for, judging from the usual form of these mono- 
 lithic monuments, it was doubtless like that of the 
 same king at Tel-et-Mai, given in Mr. Burton’s 
 Excerpta t the dimensions of which are 21 ft. 9 in. 
 high, 13ft. broad, and lift. 'J m. deep; and in- 
 ternally 19 ft. 3 in., 8 ft., and 8 ft. 3 in. 
 
 The weight of the Sa'ite monolith cannot cer- 
 tainly be compared to that of the colossus of 
 Remeses ; but when we calculate the solid con- 
 tents of the temple of Latona at Buto, our astonish- 
 ment is unbounded ; and we are perplexed to 
 account for the means employed to move a mass 
 which, supposing the walls to have been only 6 ft. 
 thick (for Herodotus! merely gives the external 
 measurement of forty cubits, or GO ft. in height, 
 breadth, and thickness,) must have weighed up- 
 wards of 5000 tons.§ 
 
 The skill of the Egyptians was not confined to 
 the mere moving of immense weights ; their won- 
 derful knowledge of mechanism is shown in the 
 erection of obelisks, and in the position of large 
 stones, raised to a considerable height, and ad- 
 justed with the utmost precision ; sometimes, too, 
 
 * Herodot. ii. 175. -f- Plate 41. J Herodot. ii. 155. 
 
 $ This is supposing it to be granite, as these monolithic temples were. 
 
332 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 in situations where the space will not admit tlie in- 
 troduction of the inclined plane. Some of the 
 most remarkable are the lintels and roofing stones 
 of the large temples ; and the lofty doorway lead- 
 ing into the grand hall of assembly, at Karnak, is 
 covered with sandstone blocks, 40 ft. 10 in. long, 
 and 5 ft. 2 in. square. 
 
 In one of the quarries at E’Sooan (Syene) is a 
 granite obelisk, which having been broken in the 
 centre after it was finished, was left in the exact 
 spot where it had been separated from the rock. 
 The depth of the quarry is so small, and the 
 entrance to it so narrow, that it was impossible for 
 them to turn the stone, in order to remove it by 
 that opening ; it is, therefore, evident that they 
 must have lifted it out of the hollow in which it 
 had been cut ; as was the case with all the other 
 shafts previously hewn in the same quarry. Such 
 instances as these suffice to prove the wonderful 
 mechanical knowledge of the Egyptians ; and we 
 may question whether with the ingenuity and 
 science of the present day our engineers are ca- 
 pable of raising weights with the same facility as 
 that ancient people.* 
 
 Pliny mentions several obelisks of very large 
 dimensions, some of which were removed to Rome, 
 where they now stand as tokens of the empty 
 vanity of man. 
 
 The Egyptians naturally looked on those monu- 
 
 * M. Lebas, well known in France as an eminent engineer, who 
 removed the obelisk of Luxor now at Paris, has paid a just tribute to 
 the skill of the Egyptians. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 OBELISKS. 
 
 333 
 
 ments with feelings of veneration, being connected 
 with their religion, and the glorious memory of 
 their monarchs ; and at the same time perceived 
 that, in buildings constructed as their temples were, 
 the monotony of numerous horizontal lines re- 
 quired a relief of this kind ; but the same feelings 
 did not influence others, and few motives can be 
 assigned for their removal to Europe, beyond the 
 desire of possessing what required great difficulty 
 to obtain, and flattered the pride of a vain people. 
 
 I will not pretend to say that the ancient Ro- 
 mans committed the same strange outrage to taste 
 as their modern successors, who have destroyed 
 the effect of the most graceful part of these mon- 
 uments, by crowning the apex, which should of 
 course terminate in a point, with stars, rays, 
 or other whimsical additions ; and, however habit 
 may have reconciled the eye to such a monstrosity, 
 every one who understands the beauty of form, 
 and the harmony of lines, must observe and regret 
 the incongruity of balls and weather-cocks on our 
 own spires. 
 
 Pliny* says, that the first Egyptian king who 
 erected an obelisk was Mitres, who held his 
 court at Heliopolis, the city of the Sun, the deity 
 to whom they were said to have been dedicated, t 
 JMany others were raised by different monarchs, 
 and “ Ramises” made one 99 feet in height, “ on 
 which he employed 20,000 workmen.” “ And, 
 
 * Plin. xxxvi. 8. 
 
 f At Heliopolis ; but in other places to other deities, as at Thebes 
 to Araun, the god of that city. 
 
334 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 fearing lest the engineer should not take sufficient 
 care to proportion the power of the machinery to 
 the weight he had to raise, he ordered his own 
 son to be bound to the apex, more effectually to 
 guarantee the safety of the monument.” * 
 
 The same writer describes a method of transport- 
 ing obelisks from the quarries down the river, by 
 lashing two flat-bottomed boats together, side by 
 side, which were admitted into a trench, cut from 
 the Nile to the place where the stone lay, laden 
 with a quantity of ballast exactly equal to the weight 
 of the obelisk ; which, so soon as they had been in- 
 troduced beneath the transverse block, was all taken 
 out ; and the boats rising, as they were lightened, 
 bore away the obelisk in lieu of their previous 
 burden. But we are uncertain if this method 
 was adopted by the Egyptians ; and though he 
 mentions it as the invention of one Phoenix, he 
 fails to inform us at what period he lived. 
 
 No insight, as I have already observed, is given 
 into the secrets of their mechanical knowledge, 
 from the sculptures, or paintings of the tombs, 
 though so many subjects are there introduced. 
 Our information, connected with this point, is 
 confined to the use of levers, and a sort of crane ; 
 which last is mentioned by Herodotus, in de- 
 scribing the mode of raising the stones from one 
 tier to another, when they built the pyramids. 
 He says it was made of short pieces of woodt; — 
 an indefinite expression, conveying no notion 
 
 * Plin, xxxvi. 9. 
 
 j- Herod, ii. 125. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 MACHINERY OF MASONS. 
 
 335 
 
 either of its form or principle ; — and every stone 
 was raised to the succeeding tier by a different 
 machine. 
 
 Diodorus tells us*, that machines were not in- 
 vented at that early period, and that the stone was 
 raised by mounds or inclined planes ; but we may 
 be excused for doubting his assertion, and thus be 
 relieved from the effort of imagining an inclined 
 plane five hundred feet in perpendicular height, 
 with a proportionate base. 
 
 It is true, that the occupations of the mason and 
 
 No. 391. Part 1. levelling, and Part 2. squaring a stone. Thebes > 
 
 Figs. 2, 4, 6, are using the chisel and mallet. 
 
 * Dioclor. i. 63. 
 
336 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 the statuary are sometimes alluded to in the paint- 
 ings ; the former, however, are almost confined to 
 
 5 
 
 No. 392. Part 1. Large sitting colossus of granite, which they are polishing. 
 
 I Part 2. Standing figure of a king, and, like the former, painted to represent granite. 
 Figs. 8. 10. 11. are polishing it ; and figs. 6. and 7. painting and sculpturing the hiero- 
 glyphics at the back. TAedes. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 MACHINERY. MASONS. 
 
 337 
 
 the levelling or squaring a stone, and the use of the 
 chisel. Some are represented polishing and paint- 
 ing statues of men, sphinxes, and small figures ; 
 and two instances occur of large granite colossi, 
 surrounded with scaffolding*, on which men are 
 engaged in chiseling and polishing the stone ; the 
 painter following the sculptor to colour the hiero- 
 glyphics he has engraved at the back of the statue. 
 
 The usual mode of cutting large blocks from 
 the quarries was by a number of metal wedges, 
 which were struck at the same instant along its 
 whole length ; sometimes, however, they seem 
 to have been of highly dried wood, which being 
 driven into holes previously cut for them by a 
 chisel, and then saturated with water, split the 
 stone by their expansion ; and the troughs fre- 
 quently found along the whole line of the holes, 
 where the wedges were inserted, argue strongly in 
 favour of this opinion. 
 
 Such a method could only be adopted when the 
 wedges were in an horizontal position, upon the 
 upper surface of the stone ; but those put into the 
 sides were impelled by the hammer only. 
 
 To separate the lower part of a ponderous 
 mass from the rock, we may suppose they cut 
 under it, leaving long pieces here and there to sup- 
 port it, like beams, which traversed its whole depth 
 from the front to the back ; and then having intro- 
 duced wooden rafters into the open spaces which 
 were cleared away, they removed the remainder 
 of the stone, and the block rested on the wood. 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 392. 
 
 VOL. III. Z 
 
338 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. X. 
 
 Some have imagined that they used the same 
 means now practised in India, of lighting a fire 
 along the whole length of the mass, in the direction 
 where they intended it should split ; and then 
 pouring water upon it, cracked the stone in that 
 part by its sudden action : but this is very doubt- 
 ful, and the presence of the holes for the wedges 
 sufficiently proves the method they usually em- 
 ployed. 
 
 INVENTIONS. 
 
 Among the remarkable inventions of a remote 
 era among the Egyptians, may be mentioned 
 bellows and siphons. The former were used at 
 least as early as the reign of Thothmes III. the 
 contemporary of Moses, being represented in a 
 tomb bearing the name of that Pharaoh. They 
 consisted of a leather bag, secured and fitted into 
 a frame, from which a long pipe extended, for 
 carrying the wind to the fire. They were worked 
 by the feet, the operator standing upon them, with 
 one under each foot, and pressing them alter- 
 nately, while he pulled up each exhausted skin 
 with a string he held in his hand. In one instance 
 we observe from the painting, that when the man 
 left the bellows, they were raised, as if full of air* ; 
 and this would imply a knowledge of the valve. 
 
 It is uncertain when bellows were first invented ; 
 the earliest contrivance of this kind was pro- 
 bably a mere reed or pipe *, which we find used by 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 39.3. A-, o. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 BELLOWS AND SIPHONS. 
 
 339 
 
 goldsmiths in the age of Osirtasen *, and also at a 
 late period, after the invention of bellows ; and the 
 tubes of these last appear even in the time of 
 Thothmes III. to have been simply of reed, tipped 
 with a metal point, to resist the action of the fire. 
 
 In process of time the sack containing the air was 
 added, and various improvements succeeded each 
 other in the form and principle of the bellows ; 
 there are, however, no means of ascertaining the 
 period when they assumed their present form ; 
 and the merit of the late invention of wooden 
 bellows is ^till disputed. Strabo ascribes the 
 
 ♦ It does not follow from the use of the pipe at Beni Hassan, that 
 bellows were unknown at that period, because it continued to be used 
 long after the time of Thothmes. Vide wood-cut. No. 374. 
 
 Z ^ 
 
340 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 bellows * to Anacharsis, but with the evident con- 
 viction that these, the double anchor, and the 
 potter’s wheel f, were of an age far anterior to the 
 Scythian philosopher ; which is fully proved by 
 the paintings at Thebes. 
 
 The ordinary hand-bellows, now used for small 
 fires in Egypt, are a sort of bag made of the skin 
 of a kid, with an opening at one end (like the 
 mouth of a common carpet bag), where the skin 
 is sewed upon two pieces of wood ; and these being 
 pulled apart by the hands, and closed again, the bag 
 is pressed down, and the air thus forced through 
 the pipe at the other end. It is, perhaps, an ancient 
 invention, but 1 find no indication of it in the 
 paintings. 
 
 The bellows with sides of wood, made at the 
 present day, are a more perfect construction than 
 these last, or the foot-bellows of the time of 
 Thothmes. They are supposed to have been 
 known to the Greeks, though I confess, the 
 
 “ taurinis follibus auras 
 
 Accipiunt redduntque ” 
 
 of Virgil t, is rather calculated to convey the idea 
 of bellows made of ox leather §, without wooden 
 sides. 
 
 Siphons are shown to have been invented in Egypt, 
 at least, as early as the reign of Amunoph II. 1450 
 years before our era ; and they again occur in the 
 
 ■* Strabo, vii. p. 209. “ ZwTrypn.” + Seneca, Ep. 90. Plin. vii. 56. 
 
 Virg. Georg, iv. 171. Vide Herodot. i. 68. 
 
 5 Beckmann says “ that bulls’ leather,” which Virgil mentions, “ is 
 unfit for bellows, and that ox or cow leather can only be used for that 
 purpose.” Vol. I. p. 104. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 BELLOWS AND SIPHONS. 
 
 341 
 
 paintings of the third Remeses. In a tomb at 
 Thebes bearing the name of Amunoph, their use 
 is unequivocally pointed out, by one man pouring 
 a liquid into some vases, and the other drawing it 
 off, by applying the siphon to his mouth, and 
 thence to a large vase ; and it is not improbable 
 
 that they owed their invention to the necessity of 
 allowing the Nile water to deposit its thick sedi- 
 ment in vases, which could not be moved without 
 again rendering it turbid, whether by inclining 
 the vessel, or dipping a cup into it with the hand. 
 
 Julius Pollux says they were used for tasting 
 wine * ; and Heron of Alexandria, the first writer 
 of consequence who mentions them, and who lived 
 under Ptolemy Evergetes II., shows them to have 
 been employed as hydraulic machines, on a grand 
 scale, for draining lands, or conveying water over a 
 * Jul. Poll. Onom. vi. 2. and x. 20. 
 
 z 3 
 
342 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. X. 
 
 liilf from one valley to another. Their name, 
 siphon, is evidently oriental, and derived from the 
 word siph or sif, to “ imbibe,” or “ draw up with 
 the breath,” analogous to, and the origin of, our 
 own expression “ to sip.” 
 
 Of the numerous inventions to which the Egyp- 
 tians may lay claim, we learn little from the works 
 of ancient authors ; but their skill in various 
 branches of art is highly extolled by those * who 
 visited, or were acquainted with, the country. 
 
 Herodotus t ascribes the origin of geometry to the 
 necessity of ascertaining every successive year the 
 quantity of land, increased, or diminished, by acci- 
 dents arising from the inundation of the Nile ; 
 which is, indeed, not inconsistent with reason : but 
 the historian is wrong in limiting the date of land 
 surveying to the age of Sesostris, since it was evi- 
 dently known long before his time ; and so ancient 
 did the Egyptians consider it, that they ascribed 
 its invention to Thoth. t 
 
 Anticlides pretends that Moeris was the first to 
 lay down the elements of that science, which he 
 says was perfected by Pythagoras ; but the latter 
 observation is merely the result of the vanity of 
 the Greeks, which claimed for their countrymen, 
 (as in the case of Thales, and many other instances,) 
 the credit of enlightening a people on the very 
 
 * Diodorus (i. 74.) says that the arts were carried to a higlier degree 
 of perfection and excellence among the Egyptians than any other people; 
 which he ascribes to the artisans being confined to their own occu- 
 pations. The Chinese have shown that, like many other ideas, this is 
 plausible in theory, but bad in practice, 
 f Herodot. ii. 102, 
 
 t Plato in Phaedro. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 INVENTIONS. 
 
 34>3 
 
 subjects which they had visited Egypt for the pur- 
 pose of studying. 
 
 The discovery of the pole, the sundial, and the 
 division of the day into twelve hours, are said by 
 Herodotus to have been derived by the Greeks 
 from the Babylonians. Of the two former we have 
 no indication in the sculptures, to prove the epoch 
 when they were known in Egypt ; but there is rea- 
 son to believe, that the day and night were divided, 
 each into twelve hours, by the Egyptians, some 
 centuries before that idea could have been im- 
 parted to the Greeks from Babylon. * 
 
 Sufficient data cannot, of course, be expected 
 from the sculptures of the tombs, and the accidental 
 introduction of their occupations, to enable us to 
 form an accurate opinion respecting the extent of 
 their knowledge, the variety of their inventions, 
 or the skill of their workmen in different branches 
 of art. The objects buried with the dead were 
 frequently mere models of those they used ; and 
 the pains taken in making them depended on the 
 sums expended by the friends of the deceased, 
 after his death. It was left to their good inten- 
 tions, or their superstitious feelings, to decide of 
 what quality they should be, or what labour 
 should be bestowed upon them ; and if the kind 
 regards of a friend frequently induced some to 
 incur considerable expense in providing such ob- 
 jects, many, on the other hand, were less scru- 
 
 ♦ It is remarkable that no mention of hours is made in the Bible till 
 the time of Daniel. Dan. iii. 6. The Hebrew word is nytJ' Sah, as in 
 Arabic . 
 
 z 4 
 
S44 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 pulous in the last duties to their departed relative. 
 The former purchased ornaments of the most costly 
 materials, as agate*, basalt, granite, alabaster, onyx, 
 jasper, gold, and precious stones ; the latter were 
 contented with common porcelain, wax, limestone, 
 or wood. But even the best which have been 
 found in the tombs, are evidently of inferior qua- 
 lity ; and like their vases, and chairs, none have 
 been discovered equal in beauty to those repre- 
 sented in the paintings, with the exception of a 
 few rings and some female ornaments, which had 
 been actually worn by the deceased. 
 
 The paintings, again, indicate a very small portion 
 of their inventions : many, with which we know 
 they were acquainted, are omitted ; and the same 
 remark applies to some of their most common 
 occupations, to the animals they kept, and to the 
 ordinary productions of their country. No exact 
 notion can even be formed of their costume and 
 the dresses of various grades, either among men 
 or women, though so frequently represented ; 
 partly owing to their conventional style of drawing 
 figures, partly to their want of skill in depict- 
 ing drapery ; which, as I have observed, was 
 merely added to the figure, without forming part 
 of the subject described ; it is therefore only the 
 most simple portions of their dress which can be 
 understood. 
 
 DRESSES. 
 
 Ordinary workmen, and indeed all the lower 
 
 * So called from Achate a river in Sicily. Theophr. ^ 58. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 THEIR DRESSES. 
 
 345 
 
 orders, were clad in a sort of apron, or kelt, some- 
 times simply bound round the loins, and lapping 
 over in front* ; and others had short drawers, 
 
 No. 395. Men’s Dresses. 13 a shirt from the work of Prof. Rosellini. 
 
 extending halfway to the knee.t The same kind 
 of apron was worn by the higher orders, under 
 
 * Vide wood-cut. No. 395. 
 t Vide wood-cut, No. 354. Jig. \.a. and Jig. 2. a. 
 
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 34 () 
 
 an ample dress of line linen, reaching to the 
 ankles*, and provided with large sleeves.t The 
 apron was generally fastened by a girdle, or by a 
 sort of sash, tied in front in a bow or knott ; it was 
 sometimes folded over, with a centre-piece falling 
 down in front, beneath the part where it over- 
 lapped ; and some of the poor classes, while en- 
 gaged in laborious occupations, were contented 
 with a roll of linen passed between the legs, from 
 the back to the front of the girdle § ; which is 
 frequently used at this day by the peasants, when 
 drawing water by the shadoof. 
 
 Herodotus mentions || some Egyptian dresses, 
 which he describes of linen, with a fringe on the 
 border around the legs, called cnlasiris ; over 
 which they wore a cloak of white wool, similar, 
 no doubt, to the bornous% of the present day, so 
 common in Egypt and the coast of Barbary. I 
 never remember seeing this cloak represented, ex- 
 cept in the dresses worn by the captives of the Rot- 
 h-no**, who appear to have something of the kind 
 over their inner garments. 
 
 The same custom of edging their dresses with 
 fringes was common to the Israelites, who were 
 ordered ft to make them “ in the borders of their 
 garments “ a blue riband ” being “ put upon the 
 fringe.” These fringes, as already observed, were 
 
 * Fide wood-cut, No. 279. Jigs. 5,6. and pi. I2._fig. 14. 
 
 -t Vide wood-cut. No. 341. and 116. 5. 
 t Firfc wood-cut. No. 78. Vol. II. p. 10. 
 
 § Fide wood-cut. No. 395. 7. |{ Herodot. ii. 81. 
 
 K The bornous is a woollen cloak, open in from, and buttoned over 
 the breast. It has a hood. 
 
 ** Fide wood-cut, No. 7^. Vol. I. p. 403. 
 tf Numb. XV. 38. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 CLOAKS AND SHIRTS. 
 
 34-7 
 
 only the ends of the threads composing the woof, 
 left in order to prevent the cloth unravelling ; and 
 the blue riband added by the Israelites, was in- 
 tended to strengthen it, and prevent its tearing. 
 
 I have noticed the woollen cloak *, and the 
 prohibition which Herodotus says was issued 
 against their wearing it, when they entered a temple, 
 or being buried in cloths of that quality ; and I 
 have also observed, that though cotton garments 
 were sometimes used, the preference was given to 
 linen, which was considered more conducive to 
 cleanliness and health. With regard to the cala- 
 siris mentioned by Herodotus, it does not appear 
 that they were very generally used ; but dresses 
 are occasionally represented in the paintings with 
 a fringe t, and pieces of cloth have been found in the 
 tombs with this kind of border. 
 
 Some wore a sort of shirt with loose or tight 
 sleeves, open at the neck, where it was tied with 
 strings t ; and except that it was of linen, instead 
 of wool, it was not unlike the bisht of the modern 
 inhabitants of Upper Egypt. 
 
 The dresses of the priests and persons of rank 
 consisted of an under garment, similar to the apron 
 already mentioned, and a loose upper robe with 
 full sleeves, secured by a girdle round the loins ; 
 or of the apron, and a shirt with short tight sleeves, 
 over which was thrown a loose robe, leaving the 
 right arm exposed. § Sometimes a priest, when 
 officiating in the temple, laid aside the upper 
 
 * Vol. I. p. 280. 
 
 Vide wood-cut, No. 396. 1. 7. 9. ; and 398. 1. 
 
 J Vide wood-cut, No. 90.,_/?g. 5. Vol. II. p. 46., and No. 387. 
 
 ^ Fide wood-cut, No. 417. 1. 
 
348 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 vesture, and was satisfied to wear an ample robe 
 bound round the waist, which descended over the 
 apron to his ankles ; and occasionally he put on a 
 long full garment, reaching from below the arms to 
 the feet, and supported over the neck with straps.* 
 Others again, in the sacred processions, were entirely 
 covered with a dress of this kind, reaching to the 
 throat, and concealing even the hands and arms, t 
 
 The costume of the hierogrammat, or sacred scribe, 
 consisted of a large kelt or apron, either tied in 
 front, or wound round the lower part of the body ; 
 and the loose upper robe with full sleeves, which, 
 in all cases, was of the finest linen : he had some- 
 
 * Wood-cut, No. 396. 4. f Vide wood-cut, No. 396. /7g. 5. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 DRESS OF PRIESTS. 
 
 349 
 
 times one or two feathers on his head, as described 
 by Clement of Alexandria * and Diodorons. t 
 The hieraphori, when bearing the sacred em- 
 blems, wore a long full apron reaching to the 
 ankles, tied in front with long bands, and a strap, 
 also of linen, passed over the shoulder to support 
 itt; but they had no upper robe on these occa- 
 sions. Sometimes a priest who offered incense was 
 clad in this long apron, and the full robe with 
 sleeves : sometimes only in the former ; and the 
 
 No. 397. Princes and Children. Thebes. 
 
 1, head-dress of a prince. 2, and 3, lock of hair worn by children. 4, dress of a son 
 of Remeses III. 5, head-dress of a prince, Hemeses. 
 
 dresses of the others in like manner varied on 
 different occasions. 
 
 * “ The Hierogrammat walks first, having feathers on his head, and 
 a book in his hand.” Clem. Alex. Str. 5, 6. 
 
 f Diodor. i. 87. “ The sacred scribes wear a purple fillet and hawk’s 
 
 feather on their head.” Vide wood-cut, No. 396.^g. 9. 
 t Vide wood- cut. No. .396. 6. 
 
3.50 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 The princes wore a dress very like that of the 
 sacred scribe, the apron wound round the body, 
 and divided into three different folds, over which 
 was a garment with large sleeves ; but their dis- 
 tinguishing mark was a peculiar badge at the side 
 of the head, descending to the shoulder, and fre- 
 quently adorned and terminated with a gold fringe. 
 This, I suppose, to have contained the lock of hair, 
 indicative of youth, which is seen in the statues 
 of Harpocrates, and frequently represented on the 
 heads of children. For though the Egyptians were 
 shaved, and wore wigs and other coverings to the 
 head, children were allowed to leave certain locks 
 of hair* ; and if the sons of the king, long before 
 they arrived at the age of manhood, had abandoned 
 this youthful custom, the badge w^as attached to 
 their head-dress as an emblem of their rank as 
 princes ; or really to show they had not, during the 
 lifetime of their father, arrived at kinghood ; on 
 the same principle that a Spanish prince, of what- 
 ever age, continues to be styled an “ infant.” 
 
 I have already noticed t those priests who w^ore 
 a leopard skin ; which some have mistaken for that 
 of the nehris or fawn, and improperly ascribed to 
 Bacchus. It was generally thrown over their dress ; 
 its fore-legs sometimes made to form sleeves for 
 the arms : and the robes worn beneath it varied at 
 different times. It was usually confined to the 
 high-priests, who superintended the sacrifices, and 
 processions of the sacred boats or arks ; who pre- 
 
 * Vide wood-cuts, No. 397. /g. 3. No. 402. and No. 195./g. 2. 
 
 t Vol. I. p. 279. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 DRESS OF THE KIMG. 
 
 351 
 
 sented the offerings at the altar of the gods, and at 
 the funerals of individuals ; or who anointed the 
 king at his coronation : and the same badge was as- 
 sumed by the monarch when officiating on similar 
 occasions. 
 
 The robes of the sovereign varied, of course, 
 according to his immediate occupation. When 
 engaged as high-priest, they much resembled those 
 worn by the principal functionaries of the sacer- 
 dotal order, with the exception of the apron 
 and head-dress, which were of peculiar form, and 
 belonged exclusively to his rank as king. 
 
 This apron was richly ornamented in front with 
 lions’ heads, and other devices, probably of coloured 
 leather; and the border was frequently formed of 
 a row of asps, the emblems of royalty. Sometimes 
 the royal name, with an asp on each side, as sup- 
 porters, was embroidered upon it, the upper part 
 being divided into square compartments of dif- 
 ferent colours ; but it is not improbable, that this 
 formed an appendage to the girdle, rather than to 
 the apron ; and several straps falling down at the 
 side of the centre-piece, showed that it was tied in 
 front, and came over the folds of the apron, and 
 even of the upper robes. 
 
 The head-dress of the king, on state occasions, was 
 the crown of the upper or of the lower country, or the 
 pshent, the union of the two. Every king, after 
 the sovereignty of the Thebai'd and Lower Egypt* 
 had become once more vested in the same person, 
 
 * Vide snprd, p. 283. 
 
352 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 I 
 
 No. 398. Dress of the King. 
 
 2, 3, the king’s apron. 3, is from a statue of Amunoph 111. in the museum at Alnwick 
 Castle. 4, wreath of the crown of Sabaco’s statue at the Isle of Argo. 
 
 put on this double crown at his coronation ; and 
 we find in the grand representation given of this 
 ceremony at Medeenet Haboo, that the principal 
 feature of the proclamation, on his ascension to the 
 throne, was the announcement to the four sides of 
 the world, that “ Remeses had put on the crown of 
 the upper and lower country.” 
 
 I have already noticed this interesting subject*, 
 and should not have failed to introduce a copy of 
 it here, if the size of this work had not been too 
 limited. I hope, however, to be able, at a future 
 time, to present it with several other curious sculp- 
 
 * Egypt and Thebes, p. 63. ; and supra, p. 288. 289. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 HEAD-DRESS OF THE KING. 
 
 S5S 
 
 tures, in a form better suited to them, to which I 
 shall refer the reader. 
 
 He even wore his crown during the heat of 
 battle*, like the kings of olden days in Europe; 
 sometimes merely a wig ; but a helmet t made 
 apparently of woollen stuff with a thick nap, not 
 very unlike the modern Persian cap, was generally 
 preferred ; and, in religious ceremonies, he put on 
 a striped head-dress, probably of linen, which 
 descended in front over the breast, and termi- 
 nated behind in a sort of queue bound with 
 riband, t 
 
 When crowned, the king invariably put on the 
 two crowns at the same time, though on other 
 occasions he was permitted to wear each separately, 
 whether in the temple, the city, or the field of 
 battle ; and he even appeared in his helmet § during 
 the ceremonies in honour of the gods. On some 
 occasions he wore a short wig, on which a band 
 was fastened, ornamented with an asp, the emblem 
 of royalty. Ij 
 
 It may appear singular, that so warm a covering 
 to the head should have been adopted in the climate 
 of Egypt ; but when we recollect that they 
 
 * For the head-dress and costumes of soldiers, vide Vol. I. p. 339. 
 et seq. 
 
 f The Egyptian helmet had no crest. I have mentioned ^he origin 
 of crests in Vol. I. p. 331. The Greek crest was copied from the mane 
 of a horse; and in illustration of this we frequently find the scales or 
 cheek-pieces of the helmet n ade to imitate the ears of that animal, which 
 when raised and turned up, project from the upper part on either side.' 
 Conf. Homer, i. 382., the helmet of Achilles with a horse’s tail, “ imrovptg 
 rpv(pa\tia and Virg. .dEn. x. 369. “ cristaque hirsutus equina.” 
 
 t 'Vide wood-cut. No. 399. fig. 13. 
 
 9 Conf. Herodot. ii. 151. vide Vol. I. p. 144. 
 
 II Vide wood-cut, No. 399. fig. 1 1 . 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 A A 
 
354 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 No. S99. Head-dresses. 
 
 1, a close cap. 2, 3, 4, 5, wigs. 6, the crown of the upper and lower countrr, or 
 9 and 8 united. 10 to 14, roval head-dresses. 15, beard of a god. 16, of a king. 
 17, of a private individual or rank. 
 
 always shaved the head, and that the reticulated 
 texture of the groundwork, on which the hair 
 was fastened, allowed the heat of the head to 
 escape, while the hair effectually protected it from 
 the sun, it is evident that no better covering could 
 have been devised, and that it far surpassed in 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 WIGS. 
 
 355 
 
 comfort and coolness the modern turban ; which 
 is always found by those who are in the habit of 
 wearing it, to be very agreeable in hot weather, 
 provided all the particulars are attended to, which 
 the Turks find so essential, but which those Eu- 
 ropeans who merely put it on for effect, too often 
 neglect. 
 
 The upper portion of the wig was frequently made 
 with curled, and not with plaited hair, this last 
 being confined to the sides and lower part, as 
 is the case in the wigs preserved in the British and 
 Berlin museums ; but the whole was sometimes 
 composed of a succession of plaits, commencing 
 from the centre of the crown, extending down- 
 wards, and increasing in length towards the bottom. 
 
 Ko. 400. Front and back of an Egyptian wig in the British Museum. 
 
 3, shows the appearance of the long plaits, a. a. 
 
 Some smaller wigs, worn by persons of rank, 
 consisted of short locks of equal length, arranged 
 in uniform lines ; imitations of which appear to 
 
 A A 2 
 
356 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. X. 
 
 have been made in woollen or other stuffs, under 
 the denomination of false wigs, for the use of those 
 who could not afford the more expensive quality 
 of real hair. 
 
 No. 401. Wig, about 2^ feet in length, seen in front. Berlin Museum, 
 
 Wigs were worn both within the house and 
 out of doors, like the turban of the present 
 day ; and a priest might even officiate on some 
 occasions in his wig. At parties, the head- 
 dress of every guest was bound with a chaplet 
 of flowers, and ointment* was put upon the top of 
 the wig, as if it had really been the hair of the 
 headt ; and one instance occurs of a wreath of leaves 
 placed round the crown of a king, on a statue of 
 
 * Vide Athen. xv. 13. and Juvenal, Sat. xv. 50. 
 
 “ Unguenta, et flores, multaeque in fronte'eoronae.” 
 
 -)■ Vide Vol. II. p. 214. 218. 
 
CHAP. X. SHAVING THE HEAD AND BEARD. 357 
 
 Sabaco, in Ethiopia, precisely similar to those 
 worn by the Romans.* 
 
 The Egyptians, says Herodotus, “ only let the 
 hair of their headt and beard grow in mourningj 
 being at all other times shavedt;” which agrees 
 perfectly with the authority of the Bible §, and of 
 the sculptures. So particular, indeed, were they on 
 this point, that to have neglected it was a subject 
 of reproach and ridicule ; and whenever they in- 
 tended to convey the idea of a man of low con- 
 dition, or a slovenly person, the artists represented 
 him with a beard. || It is amusing to find that 
 their love of caricature was not confined to the 
 lower orders, but extended even to the king ; and 
 the negligent habits of Remeses VII. are indicated 
 in his tomb at Thebes, by the appearance of his 
 chin, blackened by an unshorn beard of two or 
 three days’ growth. But it was likewise given as 
 the test of hardships undergone in a severe cam- 
 paign ; and the warlike character of Remeses the 
 Great is pointed out in the same manner. 
 
 The Egyptians did not confine the privilege of 
 shaving to freeborn citizens, like the Romans, 
 who obliged slaves to wear their beards and hair 
 long, and only permitted them the use of a cap ^ 
 
 * Vide supra, p. 352. wood-cut, No. 398., Jig. 4. 
 f Diodorus states, that they suffered the hair to grow when on a 
 journey; but this was probably on accomplishing a vow. Diod. 
 i. 18. 
 
 t Herodot. ii. 36. and iii. 12. 
 
 9 Gen. Kli. 14. Joseph, when sent for by Pharaoh from prison, 
 
 “ shaved himself, and changed his raiment.” 
 
 II Vide wood-cut. No. 115. Vol. II. p. 127. 
 if Livius, xlv. 44. “ Pileatum, capite raso 
 
 A A 3 
 
 libertuin.” 
 
358 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 after they had been enfranchised : and though 
 foreigners, who were brought to Egypt as slaves, 
 had beards on their arrival in the country, we find 
 that so soon as they were employed in the service 
 of this civilised people, they were obliged to con- 
 form to the cleanly habits of their masters ; their 
 beards and heads were shaved ; and they adopted 
 a close cap. 
 
 The priests were remarkable for their love of 
 cleanliness, which was caiTied so far, that they 
 shaved the whole body every three days, and per- 
 formed frequent daily ablutions, bathing twice a 
 day and twice during the night. * It was not 
 confined to their order ; every Egyptian prided him- 
 self on the encouragement of habits, which it was 
 considered a disgrace t to neglect : we can, there- 
 fore, readily account for the disgust they felt on 
 seeing the squalid appearance and unrefined habits 
 of their Asiatic neighbours, whose long beards 
 were often the subject of ridicule to the Egyptian 
 soldier ; and for their abhorrence of the bearded 
 and long-haired Greeks ; which was so great, that, 
 according to Herodotust, “no Egyptian of either 
 sex would on any account kiss the lips of a Greek, 
 make use of his knife, his spit and cauldron, or 
 taste the meat of an animal which had been slaugh- 
 tered by his hand.” The same habits of cleanliness 
 are also indicated by the “changes of raiment” 
 
 * Herod, ii. 37. Porphyry says thrice a day, and a nocturnal ablution 
 occasionally.! 
 
 t Herod, ii. 37. Plut. de Is. s. 3. 
 
 X Herod, ii. tl. and 91. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 BEARDS SHAVED. 
 
 359 
 
 given by Joseph * to his brethren, when they set 
 out to fetch their father to Egypt. 
 
 Barbers may be considered the offspring of civil- 
 isation ; and as a Roman youth, when arrived 
 at the age of manhood, cut off his beard, and 
 consecrated it to some deity, as a token of his 
 having emerged from a state of childhood, so a 
 people, until they have adopted the custom of 
 shaving, may be supposed to retain a remnant of 
 their early barbarism. 
 
 The Romans, at first, like other people, allowed 
 their beards to grow, until about 454 years after 
 the building of the city (299 b. c.), when P. Ticinius 
 Mena, having brought barbers from Sicily, intro- 
 duced the custom at Rome ; and, as Pliny states t, 
 “ Scipio Africanus was the first Roman who shaved 
 every day.” They resembled the Egyptians rather 
 than the Greeks in this respect, and in the habit of 
 allowing the hair of the headt and beard to grow in 
 mourning j the Greeks, on the contrary, shaving 
 themselves on those occasions. 
 
 The prejudice of these last in favour of long hair § 
 seems to be retained to the present day ; for though 
 the modern Greeks have adopted a moslem custom, 
 and wear the red faz of the coast of Barbary, they 
 have remained insensible to the comfort and clean- 
 liness of shaving, and have preferred the incon- 
 
 * Gen. xlv. 22. “ To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment ; 
 but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes 
 of raiment.” 
 
 + Plin. vii. 59. 
 
 J And in youth : whence children are called “ Capillatos ” by 
 Petronius Arbiter (Satyr.) Vide Martial. Epigr. Ixii. lib. 10. 
 
 § Conf. Homer, II. ii. 11. “ KapyiKo/iotovrag A\aiovs,’' viii. 53., &c. 
 Apollo was represented with long hair. Vide 1 Cor. xi. 14. 
 
 A A 4 
 
360 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 sistency of covering the head with a close cap*, 
 and cherishing the growth of long hair. 
 
 With the Egyptians it was customary to shave 
 the heads even of young children, leaving only 
 certain locks t at the front, sides, and back; and 
 those of the lower classes were allowed to go out 
 in the sun with the head exposed, without the 
 protection of a cap ; which is the reason assigned 
 by Herodotus t for the hardness of the Egyptian 
 skulls, compared with those of other people. “ I 
 became acquainted,” says the historian, “ with a 
 remarkable fact, which was pointed out to me by 
 the people living in the neighbourhood of the field 
 of battle, where the Egyptians and the army of 
 Cambyses fought ; the bones of the killed being 
 still scattered about, those of the Persians on one 
 side, and of the Egyptians on the other. I ob- 
 served that the skulls of the former were so soft, that 
 you could perforate them with a small pebble; while 
 those of the latter were so strong, that with difficulty 
 you could break them with a large stone. The 
 reason of which, as they told me, and I can rea- 
 dily believe it, is that, the Egyptians being in the 
 habit of shaving their heads from early youth, the 
 bone becomes thickened : and hence, too, they are 
 never bald ; for, certainly, of all countries, no 
 where do you see fewer bald people than in Egypt. 
 The Persians, on the contrary, have soft skulls, in 
 consequence of their keeping the head covered 
 from the sun, and enveloped in soft caps. I also 
 
 * The Greeks rulieule and abhor our unbecoming hats, but there is 
 not tlie same objection to them on the score of cleanliness. 
 
 As with the Chinese, and modern Egyptians. Vide wood-cut, 
 No. 193. Jig. 2. t Herod, iii. 12. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 SHAVING THE HEAD. 
 
 3G1 
 
 observed the same of those who were killed in 
 the battle between Achaemenes and Inarus the 
 Libyan.” 
 
 It was usual for the lower orders to work in 
 the sun without any covering to the head, as the 
 modern peasants of Egypt, who appear to inherit 
 from their predecessors skulls of uncommon hard- 
 ness ; and we see the same class of persons repre- 
 sented in the paintings with and without a cap, 
 whether in the house or in the open field. 
 
 Herodotus says *, when the Egyptians perform 
 their vows, they shave the heads of their chil- 
 dren, either entirely, or half, or only a third ; 
 and putting the hair and some silver into a pair of 
 scales, dedicate an equal weight of the latter to the 
 animal which is sacred to the deity they invoke. 
 This does not, however, imply that they left the 
 whole head unshaven ; and the hair to which he 
 refers was probably the long pendent locks repre- 
 sented in the Theban sculptures. 
 
 Persons of all classes occasionally wore caps, 
 some of which were large, others fitting tight to 
 the head ; but these last were considered far less 
 becoming than the wig, and suited rather to the 
 lower orders than to persons of rank. Women 
 always wore their own hairt, and they were not 
 shaved even in mourning, or after death. 
 
 The use of wigs was not confined to the Egyp- 
 tians of all people of antiquity ; the Romans, 
 under the emperors, also adopted a sort of pe- 
 ruke, called capillamentum or galerus, though it 
 seems rather to have been worn by women than 
 
 * Herod, ii. 65, f Vide 1 Cor. xi. 6. 
 
362 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 men; and Juvenal* describes Messalina putting 
 on a wig of flaxen hair to conceal her own black 
 locks, when she left the palace in disguise. 
 
 The most singular custom of the Egyptians was 
 that of tying a false beard upon the chin, which 
 was made of plaited hair, and of a peculiar form, ac- 
 cording to the person by whom it was worn. Private 
 individuals had a small beard, scarcely two inches 
 long ; that of a king was of considerable length, 
 square at the bottom ; and the figures of gods were 
 distinguished by its turning up at the end. No 
 man ventured to assume, or affix to his image, the 
 beard of a deity; but after their death, it was per- 
 mitted to substitute this divine emblem on the 
 statues of kings, and all other persons who were 
 judged worthy of admittance to the Elysium of 
 futurity ; in consequence of their having assumed 
 the character of Osiris, to whom the souls of the 
 pure returned, on quitting their earthly abode. 
 
 The form of the beard, therefore, readily distin- 
 guishes the figures of gods and kings, in the sacred 
 subjects of the temples ; and the allegorical con- 
 nection between the sphinx and the monarch is 
 pointed out by its having the kingly beard, as well 
 as the crown, and other symbols of royalty. 
 
 The dresses of children of the lower classes were 
 very simple ; and as Diodorus t informs us, the 
 expenses incurred in feeding and clothing them 
 amounted to a mere trifle. “ They feed them,” he 
 says, “ very lightly, and at an incredibly small cost; 
 
 * Juven. Sat. vi. 120. “ Et nigrum flavo crinem abscondente galero.” 
 f Dioilor. i. 80. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 DRESSES OF CHILDREN. 
 
 363 
 
 giving them a little meal of the coarsest and cheapest 
 kind, the pith of the papyrus, baked under the ashes, 
 with the roots and stalks of some marsh weeds, either 
 raw, boiled, or roasted ; and since most of them are 
 brought up, on account of the mildness of the cli- 
 mate, without shoes, and, indeed, without any other 
 clothing*, the whole expense incurred by the pa- 
 rents does not exceed 20 drachmae (13 shillings) 
 each ; and this frugality is the true reason of the 
 populousness t of Egypt.” But the children of the 
 higher orders were often dressed like grown persons, 
 with a loose robe, reaching to the ankles, and 
 sandals, t 
 
 Infants do not appear to have been swaddled, 
 as among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans. When 
 too young to walk, if taken out by a mother or 
 nurse, they were carried in a shawl, suspended at 
 her back, or before her ; a custom still retained 
 
 by the women of the Moghrebin Arabs ; and in 
 Ethiopia they were carried in baskets, supported 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. \9b.Jig.2. andNo. -i02. 
 
 f Pliny might attribute it to the Egyptian women liaving occasionally 
 seven children at a birth. He gives his authority, Trogus (vii. 3.). 
 
 I F/rfcplate 1. . ^ fe v / 
 
364 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 at the mother’s back by a band passing over her 
 forehead. * 
 
 Sometimes, though nearly or entirely naked, the 
 neck of an Egyptian child was decorated with a 
 string of beads ; and occasionally a hulla, or charm, 
 was suspended in the centre, representing the 
 symbol of truth and justice, which has been sup- 
 posed also to indicate the heart, and is usually found 
 in the balance of the judgment scenes, as a repre- 
 sentative of the good works of the deceased. A 
 bulla of this kind was worn by the youthful deity 
 Harpocrates. t 
 
 It was probably of gold, or hard stone, like those 
 of the Romanst ; and others worn by the poorer 
 classes, as at Rome, and in modern Egypt, were 
 of leather. They were supposed to prompt the 
 wearer to virtue and wisdom, to keep off the evil 
 eye, or to avert misfortune ; and superstition 
 induced many to appeal to them in danger, and 
 derive from them omens of forthcoming events. 
 Sometimes a charm consisted of a written piece of 
 papyrus tightly rolled up, and sewed into a covering 
 of linen, or other substance, several of which have 
 been found at Thebes ; and emblems of various 
 deities were appended to necklaces for the same 
 purpose. 
 
 Ladies and men of rank paid great attention to 
 the beauty of their sandals: but on some occasions 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 73. Vol. I . p. 404. 
 
 f Vide my Materia Hieroglyphica, Pantheon, plate 17. y?g.3. 
 
 ;}; The Roman and Etruscan children had sometimes three or four 
 bidlas, as we see from statues that have been found, Conf Virg. .^En. 
 xii. 942. Plin. (xxxiii. i.) explains who wore the golden bulla, and 
 who the leather lorum. VideJiw. Sat. xiii. 33., and Pers. Sat. v. 31., &c. 
 
CHAP, X 
 
 SANDALS 
 
 S65 
 
366 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 those of the middle classes who were in the habit of 
 wearing them, preferred walking barefooted ; and, 
 in religious ceremonies, the priests frequently took 
 them off, while performing their duties in the 
 temple. 
 
 The sandals varied slightly in form ; those worn 
 by the upper classes, and by women, were usually 
 pointed and turned up at the end, like our skaits, 
 and many Eastern slippers of the present day. 
 Some had a sharp flat point, others were nearly 
 round. They were made of a sort of woven, or 
 interlaced work, of palm leaves and papyrus stalks, 
 or other similar materials ; sometimes of leather ; 
 and were frequently lined within with cloth, on 
 which the figure of a captive was painted ; that 
 
 No. 404. 
 
 1, from the sculptures. 5 
 
 3, figure of a captive on the sole. 
 
 Sandals. 
 
 Berlin Museum. 
 
 in the Berlin Museum ; made of the papyrus. 
 
CHAP. X. SANDALS. — DRESSES OF WOMEN. 367 
 
 humiliating position being considered suited to the 
 enemies of their country, whom they hated and 
 despised. An idea agreeing perfectly with the 
 expression which so often occurs in the hiero- 
 glyphic legends, accompanying a king’s name, when 
 his valour and victories are recorded on the sculp- 
 tures : “ You have trodden the impure Gentiles 
 under your powerful feet.” * 
 
 Shoes, or low boots, were also common in Egypt, 
 many having been found at Thebest; but these I 
 believe to have been of late date, and to have be- 
 longed to Greeks ; for, since no persons are repre- 
 sented in the paintings wearing them, except 
 foreigners!:, we may conclude they were not adop- 
 ted by the Egyptians, at least in a Pharaonic age. 
 They were of leather, generally of a green colour ; 
 laced in front by thongs, which passed through 
 small loops on either side ; and were principally 
 used, as in Greece and Etruria, by women. 
 
 The dresses of women consisted sometimes of a 
 loose robe or shirt, reaching to the ankles, with 
 tight, or full sleeves, and fastened at the neck like 
 those of the men, with a string ; over which they 
 wore a sort of petticoat, secured at the waist by 
 a girdle ; and this, in mourning, while bewailing 
 the death of a relative, was frequently their only 
 dress. § 
 
 Such was the costume of the lower classes of 
 women ; and, sometimes indeed, as at the present 
 
 * Vide wood-cut, No. 404. _fig. 3. 
 
 I Vide wood-cut, No. 403. Jigs. 1,2, 3. 
 
 Vide plate 14. ; and wood-cut, No. 64. ^g. 1, 
 
 Vide wood-cut. No. 7., Vol. I. p. 256. and Herodot. ii. 85. 
 
308 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 No. 405. Dresses of women. 
 
 The sash in figs. 1 , and 2, though represented at the side, is to be understood as tied in 
 front. In fig. 3, the side hair appears to be fixed by a comb ; and before it, on the 
 cheek, the short hair is arranged in separate plaits. 4, shows the shirt tied at the neck : 
 it is a terra cotta statue. 
 
 day it consisted merely of the loose shirt or robe, 
 without shoes or sandals. 
 
 The higher orders wore a petticoat, or gown, 
 secured at the waist by a coloured sash, or by straps 
 over the shoulders ; and above this was a laige loose 
 robe, made of the finest linen, with full sleeves *, 
 and tied in front below the breast : and during 
 some religious ceremonies t the right arm was taken 
 out of the sleeve, and left exposed as in the funeral 
 processions. The petticoat or gown was of richly 
 coloured stuff, presenting a great variety of patterns, 
 not unlike our modern chintzes, the most elegant 
 
 * Vide a group of women in plate 4. of my Materia Hierog. part 2. ; 
 and wood-cut, No. 8. Jig. 5. 
 
 f ITf/c wood-cut, No. 8. figs. 1, 2, and .3., Vol. I. p. 260. 
 
CHAP. X. DRESSES OF WOIMEN. 36^ 
 
 of which were selected for the robes of deities and 
 the dresses of queens. 
 
 Slaves or servants were not allowed to wear 
 the same costume as ladies, and their mode of 
 dressing the hair was different. They generally 
 bound it at the back part of the head, into a sort 
 of loop, or ranged it in one or more long plaits 
 at the back, and eight or nine similar ones were suf- 
 fered to hang down at either side of the neck and 
 face.* They wore a long tight gown, tied at the 
 neck, with short close sleeves, reaching nearly to the 
 elbow ; and sometimes a long loose robe was thrown 
 over it, when employed to dance, or to present 
 themselves on festive occasions. 
 
 Ladies wore their hair long, and plaited. The 
 back part was made to consist of a number 
 of strings of hair, reaching to the bottom of 
 the shoulder blades, and on each side other 
 strings of the same length descended over the 
 breast. The hair was plaited in the triple plait, 
 the ends being left loose ; or, more usually, two 
 or three plaits were fastened together at the ex- 
 
 No. 406. Head-dress of a lady, from a mummy case. 
 
 * Vide wooil-cuts, Nos. 236, and 280. 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 B B 
 
370 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 tremity by woollen string of corresponding colour. 
 Around the head was bound an ornamental fillet, 
 with a lotus bud, by way of feroni^ret falling over 
 the forehead; and the strings of hair, at the sides, 
 were separated and secured with a comb, or a 
 band, ornamented in various ways according to the 
 fancy of the wearer *. and occasionally a round 
 stud, or pin, was thrust into them at the front. 
 
 The short hair at the side of the face, which the 
 ingenuity of ancient Roman *, and modern Euro- 
 pean ladies, has, by the aid of gum, compelled to 
 lie in an immovable curve upon the cheek, was 
 interwoven with several of its longer neighbours ; 
 and these, being bound together at the end with 
 string, fell down before the earring which they 
 partially concealed. Many of the mummies of 
 women have been found with the hair perfectly 
 preserved, plaited in the manner I have mentioned; 
 the only alteration in its appearance being the 
 change of its black hue, which became reddened 
 by exposure to great heat, during the process of 
 embalming. 
 
 The earrings, most usually worn by Egyptian 
 ladies, were large, round, single hoops t of gold, 
 from one inch and a half, to two inches and one- 
 third, in diameter, and frequently of a still greater 
 size ; or made of six rings soldered together t : 
 sometimes an asp, whose body was of gold set with 
 precious stones, was worn by persons of rank, as a 
 
 * This little accroche ceeur appears in the busts of several Roman 
 ladies, of the time of the empire. 
 
 f Vide wood-cut, No. 412., ^gs. 5. and 272. 
 
 f Vide wood-cut, No. 412., 6. and 7. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 EARRINGS. RINGS. 
 
 371 
 
 fashionable caprice ; but it is probable that this 
 emblem of majesty was usually confined to members 
 of the royal family. 
 
 Earrings of other forms have also been found at 
 Thebes, but their date is uncertain ; and it is diffi- 
 cult to say if they are of an ancient Egyptian age, 
 or of Greek introduction. Of these, the most re- 
 markable are a dragon*, and another of fancy shape 
 which is not inelegant.f Some few were of silver, 
 and plain hoops, like those made of gold already 
 noticed, but less massive, being of the thickness 
 of an ordinary ring : at one end was a small open- 
 ing, into which the curved extremity of the other 
 caught after it had been passed through the ear t ; 
 and others were in the form of simple studs. § 
 
 Women wore many rings, sometimes two and 
 three on the same finger ; the left was considered 
 the hand || peculiarly privileged to bear those or- 
 naments ; and it is remarkable, that its third 
 finger was decorated with a greater number than 
 any other, and was considered by them, as by 
 us, par excellence, the ring finger % ; though there 
 is no evidence of its having been so honoured 
 at the marriage ceremony.** They even wore a 
 
 * Wood-cut, No. 408._/%. 10. not unlike one of the Chinese dragons. 
 
 -f- Vide wood-cut, No. 408. ^g. 21. 
 
 t Vide wood-cut. No. 412. 5. 
 
 5 Vide wood-cut. No. .397. jfig. 4. 
 
 II The same with the Romans (Plin. xxxiii, i.) ; they wore rings on 
 all but the middle finger. This last was preferred by the Gauls and 
 Britons. 
 
 f Vide Plin. xxxiii. 1. Of the fingers on which rings were worn. 
 
 “ Singulis primo digitis geri mos fuerat, qui sunt minimis proximi.” 
 
 ** Plin. (xxxiii. i.) mentions the iron ring worn by a person be- 
 trothed : “ etiam nunc sponsae annulus ferreus mittitur, isque sine 
 gemma.” He thinks they had no rings in Homer’s time. But in 
 Egypt they were used long before. 
 
 B B 2 
 
•372 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. X. 
 
 ring on the thumb ; and I have seen, upon the right 
 hand of a wooden figure, a ring on the thumb, and 
 two on the third finger ; and upon the left, one 
 upon the thumb and little finger ; two on the fore 
 and second finger ; and three on the third : as may 
 be seen in the accompanying wood-cut. 
 
 No. 407. Hands of a wooden figure of a woman. On the lid of a mummy case in Mr. 
 Salt's collection, now in the British Museum. 
 
 Some rings were simple ; others were made with 
 a scarabaeus, or an engraved stone ; and they were 
 occasionally in the form of a snail, a knot, a snake, 
 or some fancy device. They were mostly of gold ; 
 and this metal seems to have been always preferred 
 to silver, for rings, and other articles of jewellery. 
 Silver rings, however, are occasionally met with ; 
 and two in my possession, which were accidentally 
 found in a temple at Thebes, are engraved with 
 hieroglyphics, containing the name of the royal 
 city. 
 
 Bronze was' seldom used for rings. Some have 
 been discovered of brass *, and iron (of a Roman 
 time, as I before observed) t ; but ivory and blue 
 
 • I am not sure if the alloy in them is zinc. I suspect it to be gold, 
 f Chap. ix. p. 236. Vide Plin. xxxiii. 3. and xxxiii. i. on iron rings; 
 
CHAP. X. RINGS. — SIGNETS. 373 
 
 porcelain were the materials of which those worn 
 by the lower classes were usually made. The 
 scarabaeus was the favourite form both for rings, 
 and the ordinary ornaments of necklaces ; in 
 some, the stone, flat on both faces, turned on 
 pins, like many of our seals at the present day ; 
 and the ring itself was bound round at each end, 
 where it was inserted into the stone, witli gold wire. 
 This was common not only to rings, but to signets, 
 and was intended for ornament as well as security. 
 
 One of the largest signets I have seen, was in 
 the possession of a French gentleman at Cairo, 
 which contained twenty pounds’ worth of gold. 
 
 It consisted of a massive ring, half an inch in 
 its largest diameter, bearing an oblong plinth, on 
 which the devices were engraved *, one inch long, 
 -^ths in its greatest, and ^ths in its smallest 
 breadth. On one face was the name of a king, 
 the successor of Amunoph III., who lived about 
 B. c. 1/iOOj on the other a lion, with the legend 
 “ lord of strength,” referring to the monarch : on 
 one side a scorpion, and on the other a crocodile. 
 
 Two cats sitting back to back and looking round 
 towards each other, with an emblem of the god- 
 dess Athor between them, seem to have been a 
 favourite device on gold rings ; and I have seen 
 three or four of this pattern, one of which is in my 
 possession t 
 
 They also had large gold anklets or bangles t, 
 
 * Pliny is wrong in saying, “ Non signal oriens, aut ^Egyptus etiain 
 nunc, literis contenta solis.” xxxiii. i. 
 
 -j- Wood-cut, No. 4'12.yg^. 11, 12. 
 j Vide Plin. xxxiii. 3. 
 
 B B 3 
 
374 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS 
 
 CHAP. X 
 
 No. 408. Kings, signets, bracelets, and earrings. 
 
 Fig. 1. Bronze bracelet, or bangle, in the museum of Alnwick Castle. 
 
 *2. Gold bracelet in the Leyden Museum, bearing the name of Thothmes 1 II., ]| inch high, 
 and 3 inches in diameter. 3. Scarabsus of amethyst, with a sphinx, emblematic of the king, 
 trampling on a prostrate enemy ; over it is the expression “ Good God, Lord of the world.’* 
 4. A gold signet, mentioned in the last page. 5, 6, 7. The three other sides of the plinth. 
 
 8. A gold ring. 9. The engraved face of it. 10. A gold earring, about 1| inch in 
 diameter. 12. A gold ring in my possession four-fifths Of an inch in diameter. 11. The 
 face of it, of the real size. 13. Gold ring with two asps. 14- A snake bracelet of gold. 
 15. A stone scarabsus. 16. Gold earring. 17. Gold earring with two pearls, a and b. 
 18, 19, 20. Otiier gold earrings. 2l. Gold earring, 1 inch high, and six-tenths broad. 
 
 22,23. Ring of porcelain, or bluc-glazcd pottery, Museum of Alnwick Castle. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 NECKLACES. 
 
 375 
 
 armlets, and bracelets, frequently inlaid with pre- 
 cions stones, or enamel : some were in the shape 
 of snakes, and others as simple rings : and worn 
 by men as well as women. Kings are often re- 
 presented with armlets and bracelets ; and in the 
 Leyden Museum is a gold one * bearing the name 
 of the third Thothmes, which was doubtless once 
 worn by that monarch ; and without any great li- 
 cence of imagination we may suppose it to have 
 been seen by Moses himself, if Thothmes was the 
 Pharaoh who oppressed the Israelites, and into 
 whose presence the Jewish legislator was so often 
 summoned. 
 
 Handsome and richly ornamented necklaces 
 were a principal part of the dress, both of men t 
 and women ; and some idea may be formed of the 
 number of jewels they wore, from those borrowed 
 by the Israelites at the time of the Exodus, and 
 by the paintings of Thebes. They consisted of 
 gold, or of beads of various qualities, and shapes, 
 disposed according to fancy : generally with a 
 large drop, or figure in the centre. Scarabaei, 
 gold, and cornelian bottles, or the emblems of 
 goodness and stability, lotus flowers in enamel, 
 amethysts, pearls, false stones, imitations of fish, 
 shells, and leaves, with numerous figures, and de- 
 vices, were strung in all the variety which their 
 taste could suggest; and the sole museum of Leyden 
 possesses an infinite assortment of those objects, 
 
 * Vide wood-cut. No. 408. ^g. 2. 
 
 •j- Necklaces and bracelets were worn by the Carthaginians, and by 
 many Europeans, as the Gauls, Sabines and others. Judah’s bracelets 
 and signet are mentioned in Genesis, xxxviii. 18. 
 
 B B 4 
 
376 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP.X 
 
 which were once the pride of the ladies of 
 Thebes. 
 
 Some wore simple gold chains, in imitation of 
 string, to which a stone scarabaeus, set in the same 
 precious metal, was appended ; but these probably 
 belonged to men, like the torques of the Romans.* 
 A set of small cups, or covered saucers, of bronze 
 gilt, hanging from a chain of the same materials, 
 were sometimes worn by women ; a necklace of 
 which has been found, belonging to a Theban lady, 
 — offering a striking contrast in their simplicity to 
 the gold leaves inlaid with lapis lazzulit, red and 
 green stones of another she wore ; which served, 
 with many more in her possession, to excite the 
 admiration of her friends. 
 
 The devices engraved on scarabaei, rings, and 
 other objects of ornamental luxe^ varied according 
 to the caprice of individuals. Rings frequently bore 
 the name of the wearer ; others of the monarch in 
 whose reign he lived ; others, again, the emblems of 
 certain deities ; and many were mere fanciful com- 
 binations. The greater number consisted of scara- 
 hsei, mounted upon a gold ring passing through 
 them : the scarabaeus itself was of green stone, 
 cornelian, haematite, granite, serpentine, agate, 
 lapis lazzuli, root of emerald, amethyst, and other 
 materials ; and a cheaper kind was made of lime- 
 stone, stained to imitate a harder and dearer quality ; 
 or of the ordinary blue pottery. 
 
 * Pharaoh “ put a gold chain about (Joseph’s) neck,” Gen. xli. 42. : 
 and “ a ring upon Joseph’s hand.” Vide wood-cut, No. 409. ^g. M. 
 
 f Vide wood-cut, No. 409. Jigs. B, I a. 
 
378 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 THE TOILET. OINTMENTS. 
 
 Of the various objects of the toilet, found at 
 Thebes, and other places, the principal are bottles, 
 or vases, for holding ointment, and kohl * or col- 
 lyrium for the eyes, mirrors, combs, and the small 
 boxes, spoons, and saucers, already mentioned, t 
 The ointment was scented in various ways, and I 
 have had occasion to notice X some preserved in the 
 museum at Alnwick Castle, which has retained its 
 odour § several centuries ; and the great 11 use of 
 ointment by the Egyptians is sufficiently indicated 
 in the paintings representing the reception of 
 guests at their parties. 
 
 AVith the exception of the little found in the 
 tombs, we have nothing to guide us respecting the 
 nature of Egyptian ointments. Some appear to 
 be made with a nut oil 5T> but it is probable that 
 animal, as well as vegetable, grease was employed 
 for this purpose ; the other ingredients depending 
 on the taste of the maker, or the purchaser. Julius 
 Pollux ** mentions a black kind made in Egypt, 
 and speaks of the sagdas as an ointment of that 
 country. Theophrastus tt, on the contrary, states 
 
 * It has the same name in Hebrew. 
 
 + Vol. II. p. 355. et seq. t Vol. II. p. 2U. 
 
 5 Theophrastus says, “ The Egyptian ointment was not very strongly 
 scented.” 
 
 II Athenmus says the revenues of Anthylla were given to the queens 
 of Egypt for the purchase of ointments, another term for pin-money, 
 lib. i. 25. Vide Corn. Nep. in vita Agesilai, and Juv. Sat. xv. 50. 
 
 •i[ This agrees with the /SfiXavor of Theophrastus. Tide Plin. xiii. 1. 
 
 ** J. Pollux, Ouom. vi. xix. ff Theophr. De odoribus. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 OINTMENTS. 
 
 379 
 
 that Egyptian ointments were colourless ; but we 
 can readily account for this variance of opinion, by 
 supposing that they had in view two different 
 qualities* : which is further proved, by the fact of 
 our finding them both preserved at Thebes. 
 
 Ointment was frequently kept in alabaster t bot- 
 tles, or vases, (whence these obtained, among the 
 Greeks, the name of alabastron, even if made of 
 other materials) ; sometimes in those of the onyxt, 
 or other stone, glass, ivory, bone, or shells §; spe- 
 cimens of all of which have been discovered in the 
 tombs. 
 
 Strabo ll says that the common people used the 
 oil of the kikki, or castor-berry for anointing them- 
 selves, both men and women ; the general purpose 
 to which it was applied being for lamps : and many 
 oils, as from the simsim olive, almond, flax, 
 selgam (coleseed), >seemga, lettuce, and other ve- 
 getable productions, were extracted in Egypt.** 
 
 The custom of anointing the body is usual in hot 
 climates, and contributes greatly to comfort. Even 
 the Greeks, Romans ft, and others, whose limbs 
 were mostly covered with clothes, and protected 
 
 * Plin. (xiii. 3.) says “ Terrarum omnium jEgyptus accommoda- 
 tissima unguentis.” They adulterated their ointments. Plin. xiii. 1. 
 
 t Conf. Matt. xxvi. 7. “ An alabaster box of very precious oint- 
 
 ment.” 
 
 t Conf. Hor. iv. Od. xi. 17. “ Nardi parvus onyx.” 
 
 ^ Hor. ii. Od. v. 23. “ Unguenta de conchis.” 
 
 II Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 567. Herod, ii. 94. Plin. xv. 7. 
 
 II Sesannim orientale. ** Plin. xiii. 1 
 
 f f Ennius tells us that even in the time of Tarquin they had this 
 custom : — 
 
 “ Tarquinii corpus bona foemina lavit, et unxit.” 
 
 Pliny doubts when it was introduced at Rome. xiii. 3. 
 
380 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 from the dryness of the air, found the advantage of 
 its use ; and those whose skin was much exposed, 
 in consequence of their scanty clothing, as the 
 Ethiopians, and other inhabitants of Africa, felt the 
 necessity of softening and cooling the skin by the 
 application of oils or ointments ; and we find the 
 custom most prevalent among the blacks who wear 
 the least covering to their body. 
 
 Their principal care is bestowed upon the hair 
 of the head, which they are not in the habit of 
 shaving, except some of the upper classes among 
 the inhabitants of the large towns; and the highest 
 ambition of the Ethiopians is to obtain a sufficient 
 quantity of grease, whatever kind it may be, to 
 cover their head, and to run down upon the 
 shoulders, so as to give them a shining gloss, 
 which they delight in displaying as they walk in 
 the sun.* 
 
 The Egyptian combs were usually of wood, and 
 double ; one side having large, the other small 
 teeth ; the centre part was frequently ornamented 
 with carved work, and, perhaps, inlaid. They 
 were about four inches long, and six deep ; and 
 those with a single row of teeth were sometimes 
 surmounted with the figure of an ibex, or other 
 animal. 
 
 The custom of staining the eyelids and brows, 
 with a moistened powder of a black colour, was 
 common in Egypt from the earliest times ; it was 
 also introduced among the Jews and Romans, and 
 
 * Conf. Virg. jEn. v. 135 “juveiitus, 
 
 Nuciatosque humeros oleo perfusa nitescit.” 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 PAINTING THE EYELIDS. 
 
 381 
 
 No. 410. 
 
 Combs found at Thebes. 
 
 1. Comb, with the centre part ornamented. 
 
 3. Side view of fig. 2. 
 
 4. An Ibex, supposed to have formed the top of a comb. 
 
 is retained in the East to the present day. It is 
 thought to increase the beauty of the eye ; which 
 is made to appear larger by this external addition 
 of a black ring ; and many even suppose the 
 stimulus its application gives to be beneficial to the 
 sight. It is made in various ways. Some use 
 antimony, black oxide of manganese, preparations 
 of lead, and other mineral substances : others the 
 powder, or the lamp black of burnt almonds, or 
 frankincense ; and many prefer a mixture of dif- 
 ferent ingredients. 
 
 Mr. Lane* is perfectly correct in stating that 
 the expression “ painted her face,” which Jezebel is 
 said to have done, when Jehu came to Jezreel, is 
 
 * Modern Egyptian.s, vol.i. p. 43. 
 
.382 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 in the Hebrew, “ painted her eyes* ; ” the same is 
 again mentioned in Jeremiah and Ezekiel t; and 
 the lengthened form of the ancient Egyptian eye, 
 represented in the paintings, was probably pro- 
 duced, as Mr. Lane supposes, by this means. 
 
 Such is the effect described by Juvenal t, 
 Pliny §, and other writers, who notice the custom 
 among the Romans. At Rome it was con- 
 sidered disgraceful for men to adopt it, as at 
 present in the East, except medicinally ; but, if we 
 may judge from the similarity of the eyes of men 
 and women in the paintings at Thebes, it appears 
 to have been used by both sexes among the ancient 
 Egyptians. 
 
 Many of these Kohl bottles have been found in 
 the tombs, together with the bodkin used for ap- 
 plying the moistened powder. They are of various 
 materials, usually stone, wood, or pottery, some- 
 times composed of two, sometimes of four and five 
 separate cells, apparently containing each a mixture, 
 differing slightly in its quality and hue, from the 
 other three. Many were simple round tubes, 
 vases, or small boxes : some were ornamented 
 with the figure of an ape, or monster, supposed to 
 
 * 2 Kings, ix. 30. In our translation, “ She painted her 
 
 face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.” In the margin 
 “ put her eyes in painting.” 
 
 f Ezek. xxiii. 40. “ For whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst 
 thine eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments.” In Jeremiah (iv. 30.), 
 it is in Hebrew “ eyes.” 
 t Juv. Sat. ii. 93. : — 
 
 “ Ille supercilium madida fuligine tactum 
 Obliqua producit acu, pingitque trementes 
 Attollens oculos.” 
 
 ^ Plin. Ep. vi. 2. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 PINS AND NEEDLES. 
 
 SS3 
 
 5 6 7 
 
 No. 411. Boxes, or bottles, for holding the Kohl^ for staining the eyelids. 
 
 1. In Mr. Burton’s collection, c is the bodkin for applying the Kohl. The others are in 
 the museum of Alnwick Castle. 
 
 assist in holding the bottle between his arms, while 
 the lady dipped into it the pin, with which she 
 painted her eyes ; and others were in imitation of 
 a column made of stone, or rich porcelain of the 
 choicest manufacture. 
 
 Pins and needles were also among the articles of 
 the toilet, which have been occasionally found in the 
 tombs. The former are frequently of considerable 
 length, with large gold heads ; and some, of a dif- 
 ferent form, tapering gradually to a point, merely 
 bound with gold at the upper end, without any 
 projecting head, seven or eight inches in length, 
 appear to have been intended for arranging the 
 plaits or curls of hair ; like those used in Eng. 
 
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 38 i 
 
 No. 412. Needles, Pins, and Earrings. 
 
 1, 2, Bronze needles in the Museum of Alnwick Castle, 3 and 3^ inches long. 3, Large 
 gold-headed pin, in the Berlin collection. 4, Another of smaller size. 5, Silver earring in 
 my possession, one and four-tenths of an inch in diameter. 6, Gold earring in the Berlin 
 Museum, one and one-third of an inch in diameter. 7, Another, seen from above. 
 
 land, in the days of Elizabeth, for nearly the same 
 purpose. 
 
 Some needles were of bronze, from three to 
 three and a half inches in length ; but as few have 
 been found, we are not able to form any opinion 
 respecting their general size and quality, particu- 
 larly of those used for fine work, which must have 
 been of a very minute kind. 
 
 One of the principal objects of the toilet was 
 the mirror. It was of mixed metal, chiefly 
 copper, most carefully wrought and highly po- 
 lished j and so admirably did the skill of the 
 Egyptians succeed in the composition of metals, 
 that this substitute for our modern looking-glass 
 was susceptible of a lustre, which has even been 
 partially revived at the present day, in some of 
 those discovered at Thebes, though buried in the 
 earth for many centuries. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 METAL MIRRORS. 
 
 385 
 
 The mirror itself was nearly round, inserted 
 into a handle of wood, stone, or metal, whose form 
 varied according to the taste of the owner. Some 
 presented the figure of a female, a flower, a column, 
 or a rod ornamented with the head of Atlior, a 
 bird, or a fancy device ; and sometimes the face of 
 a typhonian monster was introduced to support the 
 
 1, 4, Mr. Salt’s collection. 2, From a painting at Thebes. 4, is about 11 inches high. 
 
 mirror, serving as a contrast to the features whose 
 beauty was displayed within it. The same kind of 
 metal mirror was used by the Israelites, who doubt- 
 less brought them from Egypt ; and the brazen 
 laver made by Moses for the tabernacle, was com- 
 posed “ of the looking-glasses of the women, which 
 assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the con- 
 gregation.” * 
 
 * Exod. xxviii. 8. “ He made the laver of brass, and the foot of it 
 
 of brass, of the looking-glasses.” The word brass, “ nahas,” is used in 
 
 VOL. III. C C 
 
386 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 When walking from home, Egyptian gentle- 
 men frequently carried sticks, varying from three 
 
 Other Metal Mirrors. 
 
 No. 414. —Fig. 1, In Mr. Salt’s collec- No. 415.— In the possession of Dr. Hogg, 
 
 tion ; with a wooden handle. Fig. 2, 2, and 3, show the bottom of the handle, 
 
 In the Museum of Alnwick Castle. to which something has been fastened. 
 
 or four, to about six feet in length, some of 
 which were surmounted with a knob, imitating 
 
 No. 416. Walking sticks found at Thebes. 2, is of cherry-wood in Mr. Salt’s 
 collection. 3, shows the peg at the side. 
 
 a flower* ; and others with the more usual peg 
 
 Hebrew, as in Arabic, to denote copper in any form, or with any alloy. 
 The “ looking-glass,” or mirror, is in Hebrew and Arabic, mirath, or 
 mirah. The roots of these two words, and probably of the Coptic, are 
 related. 
 
 * Wood-cut, No. 417. Jig. 4., and No. 416 a. Jig. 1. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 WALKING STICKS. 
 
 3S7 
 
 projecting from one side*, some of wliicli have been 
 found at Thebes. One in tlie possession of Mr* 
 Salt, of tlie latter form, was of cherry\ wood, and 
 only three feet three inches long ; and those I 
 have seen with the lotus head were generally about 
 the same length. Others appear to have been 
 much longer ; the sculptures represent them at 
 
 least six feet ; and one brought to England by Mr. 
 Madox was about five feet in length. 
 
 O 
 
 On entering a house they left their stick in the 
 hall, or at the door ; and poor men were some- 
 times employed to hold the sticks of the guests 
 who had come to a party on foot, being re- 
 warded by the master of the house, for their trouble, 
 with a trifling compensation in money, with their 
 dinner, or a piece of meatt to carry to their family. 
 The name of each person was frequently written on 
 
 * Wood-cut, No. 417. 2., and 416 a. fig. 2. 
 
 -t According to Pliny (xv. 25.), this tree was introduced into Italy 
 by Lucullus, from Pontus, and thence went to Britain. He sajs it 
 would not grow in Egypt, and it is not now found there ; but is not 
 a species indigenous in the north of our island ? 
 
 J Vide Plate \2.fig. 10. Vol. II. 
 
 c c 2 
 
388 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 his stick*, in hieroglyphics (instances of which 
 I have seen in those found at Thebes) ; for which 
 reason a hard wood was preferred, as the acacia, 
 which seems to have been more generally used 
 than any other. 
 
 BATHS. DOCTORS. 
 
 We have little knowledge of the nature of their 
 baths, but as they were forbidden in deep mourn- 
 ing to indulge in themt, we may conclude they 
 were considered as a luxury, as well as a necessary 
 comfort. 
 
 The only instance I have met with in the paint- 
 ings is in a tomb at Thebes, where a lady is repre- 
 sented with four attendants, who wait upon her, 
 and perform various duties. 
 
 One removes the jewellery and clothes she has 
 taken off, or suspends them to a stand in the 
 apartment ; another pours water from a vase over 
 her head, as the third rubs her arms and body 
 with her open hands ; and a fourth seated near 
 her, holds a sweet scented flower to her nose, 
 and supports her as she sits. The same subject is 
 treated nearly in the same manner on some of the 
 Greek vases, the water being poured over the 
 bather, who kneels or is seated on the ground. 
 
 Warmt as well as cold baths were used by the 
 Egyptians, though for ordinary ablutions cold 
 water § was preferred ; and both were probably 
 recommended and taken medicinally, when occa- 
 sion required. 
 
 * Conf. Num. xvii. 2. “ Write thou every man’s name upon his 
 
 rod.” t Diod. i. 72. 
 
 t Diodorus (i. 84.) says they were even kept for the sacred animals. 
 
 § Herodot. ii. 37. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 THE BATH 
 
 389 
 
 s . ^ 
 
 o 
 
 03V 
 
 f- 
 
 o ) ._2 
 "O o « 
 
 « 2 s s 
 
 fc. QJ W 
 
 £ -o s1« 
 
 £ A 
 
 & ^ 
 
 h *- <9 
 cQ 0) > 
 
 W j - e * 
 
 o5 b 
 
 |k(2 
 
 rt « -*1! 
 
 The Egyptians paid great attention to health, 
 and “so wisely,” says Herodotus*, “was medi- 
 cine managed by them, that no doctor was per- 
 
 * Herodot. ii. 84. 
 
 c c 3 
 
390 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X 
 
 mitted to practise any but his own peculiar 
 branch. Some were oculists, who only studied 
 diseases of the eye ; others attended solely to 
 complaints of the head ; others to those of the 
 teetli ; some again confined themselves to com- 
 plaints of the intestines ; and others to secret and 
 internal maladies : accoucheurs being usually, if 
 not always, women.* 
 
 They received certain salaries from the public 
 treasury; and after they had studied those precepts 
 which had been laid down from the experience of 
 their predecessors, they were permitted to practise; 
 and, in order to ensure their attention to the pre- 
 scribed rules, and to prevent dangerous experiments 
 being made upon patients, they were punished 
 if their treatment was contrary to the established 
 system ; and the death of a person entrusted to 
 their care, under such circumstances, was adjudged 
 to them as a capital offence. t If, however, every 
 remedy had been administered according to the 
 sanatory law, they were absolved from blamet ; 
 and “ these provisions,” says Diodorus, “ were 
 made with the persuasion that few persons could 
 be capable of introducing any new treatment 
 superior to what had been sanctioned and ap- 
 proved by the skill of old practitioners.” 
 
 Though paid by government as a body, it was 
 
 * As at present in Egypt. Vide Exocl. i. 15. 
 
 f Pliny observes, there is no law to punish their ignorance at Rome, 
 and that a physician is the only man who can kill another with impu- 
 nity. “ Nulla prceterea lex, quae puniat inscitiam capitalem, nullum 
 exeinplum vindictse. Discunt periculis nostris, et experimenta per 
 mortes agunt : medicoque tantum honiinem occidisse impunitas summa 
 est.” Plin. xxix. 1. 
 
 J Diod. i. 82. 
 
CHAP. X. DOCTORS SALARIES AND FEES. 
 
 391 
 
 not illegal to receive fees for their advice and 
 attendance ; and demands could be made in every 
 instance, except on a foreign journey, and on 
 military service, when patients were visited free of 
 expense.* 
 
 The principal mode adopted by the Egyptians 
 for preventing illness was attention to regimen and 
 diet ; “ being persuaded that the majority of dis- 
 eases proceed from indigestion and excess of 
 eating;” and they had frequent recourse to ab- 
 stinence, emetics, slight doses of medicine, and 
 other simple means of relieving the system t, 
 which some persons were in the habit of repeating 
 every two or three days. “ Those who live in the 
 corn country,” as Herodotus terms itt, were par- 
 ticular for their attention to health. “ During 
 three successive days, every month, they sub- 
 mitted to a regular course of medicine ;” from the 
 conviction that illness was wont to proceed from 
 some irregularity in diet ; and if preventives were 
 ineffectual, they had recourse to suitable remedies, 
 adopting a mode of treatment very similar to that 
 mentioned by Diodorus. 
 
 The employment of numerous drugs in Egypt has 
 been mentioned by sacred and profane writers ; and 
 the medicinal properties of many herbs which grow 
 in the deserts, particularly between the Nile and 
 Red Sea, are still known to the Arabs ; though 
 their application has been but imperfectly recorded 
 
 • Diod. loc. cit. 
 
 •j- “ Qepantvovai ra awfiara K\vgpoig, Kca iniarHaig, kcu ifitroiQ.” — 
 Diod. loc. cit. 
 
 t Herodot. ii. 77. 
 
 c c 4 
 
392 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 and preserved. “ O virgin, daughter of Egypt,” 
 says Jeremiah*, “in vain shalt thou use many 
 medicines, for thou shalt not be cured.” Homer, 
 in the Odysseyt, describes the many valuable 
 medicines given by Polydamna, the wife of Thonis, 
 to Helen while in Egypt, “ a country whose fer- 
 tile soil produces an infinity of drugs, some salu- 
 tary and some pernicious ; where each physician 
 possesses knowledge above all other men;” and 
 Pliny makes frequent mention of the productions 
 of that country, and their use in medicine. 
 
 He also notices the physicians of Egypt t; and 
 as if their number § was indicative of the many 
 maladies to whicli the inhabitants were subject, 
 he observes, that it was a country productive of 
 numerous diseases. In this, however, he does not 
 agree with Herodotus 1|, who affirms that, “after 
 the Libyans, there are no people so healthy as the 
 Egyptians, which may be attributed to the inva- 
 riable nature of the seasons in their country.” In 
 Pliny’s time, the introduction of luxurious habits 
 and excess had probably wrought a change in the 
 people ; and to the same cause may be attributed 
 the numerous complaints among the Romans, 
 “ unknown to their fathers and ancestors.”^ 
 
 'fhe same author tells us, that the Egyptians 
 examined the bodies after death, to ascertain the 
 nature of the diseases of which they had died** ; 
 
 * Jerem. Ixvi. 11. 
 
 t Homer, Od. iv. 229. J Plin. xxvi. 1. 
 
 j Herodotus says, “ Every place is full of doctors,” in Egypt, ii. 8-1. 
 II Herodot. i. 77. t Plin. loc. cit. 
 
 ** Plin. xix. 5 . “ In .(Egypto, regibus cor|)ora inortuoruni ad scru- 
 
 tandos morbos insecantibus.” 
 
CHAP. X. THEIR SKILL KNOWN ABROAD. 
 
 393 
 
 and we can readily believe that a people, so far 
 advanced in civilisation and the principles of 
 medicine, as to assign each physician his peculiar 
 branch, would have resorted to this effectual 
 method of acquiring knowledge and experience, 
 for the benefit of the community. 
 
 It is evident that the medical skill of the 
 Egyptians was well known even in foreign and 
 distant countries ; and we learn from Herodotus *, 
 that Cyrus and Darius both sent to Egypt for 
 medical men. But though their physicians are 
 often mentioned by Herodotus and other writers, 
 the only indication of medical attendance occurs 
 in the paintings of Beni Hassan, where a doctor 
 and a patient are twice represented. 
 
 12 3 4 
 
 No. 418. Doctors and patients. Beni Hassan. 
 
 Diodorus tells ust, that dreams were regarded 
 in Egypt with religious reverence, and the prayers 
 
 * Herodot. iii. Land 132. 
 
 f Diodorus’ account of learning remedies from dreams, is not quite 
 consistent with the positive observations they took so much care to 
 make. The advocates for animal magnetism ma}' perhaps see it in this 
 passage of the historian. . . . i. 25. 
 
394t THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. X. 
 
 of the devout were often rewarded by the gods, 
 with an indication of the remedies their suffer- 
 ings required ; but this and magic * were only a 
 last resource, when the skill of the physician had 
 been baffled, and all hopes of their recovery were 
 lost : and a similar superstitious feeling induced 
 them to offer ex votos in their temples for the 
 same purpose. 
 
 They consisted of various kinds. Some per- 
 sons promised a certain sum for the maintenance 
 of the sacred animals, belonging to the deity whose 
 interposition they solicited ; which, in the case 
 of children, was decided by weighing a certain 
 portion of the hair of their head, “ either all, or 
 half, or a thirdt,” shaved expressly for the pur- 
 pose ; and as soon as the cure had been effected, 
 they accomplished their vow by giving an equal 
 weight of silver to the curators. 
 
 These persons occasionally visited different parts 
 of the country, carrying with them the banners of 
 their respective deities ; and the credulity of the pea- 
 sants being frequently induced to solicit their aid, 
 and to barter the doubtful assistance of the god for 
 the real rewards lavished on his artful servants, 
 much money was collected by them. And so pro- 
 fitable was it, that neither the change of religion, 
 nor the simplicity of Islam, has been able to 
 discard the custom : and the guardians of the 
 shekh’s tombs, in like manner, send their emissaries 
 with flags and drums to different parts of the 
 
 * Wisdom of Solomon, xvii. 8. 
 -f- Herodot. ii. 63. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 EX VOTOS. 
 
 395 
 
 country, to levy contributions from the credulous, 
 in return for the promised assistance of their wellee, 
 or patron saint. 
 
 After the cure was effected, they frequently 
 suspended a model of the restored part, in the 
 temple of the god, whose interposition they had 
 invoked ; precisely in the same manner as in the 
 shekh’s tombs of modern Egypt, and in the Roman 
 catholic chapels of Italy and other countries, conse- 
 crated to the Virgin, or a saint ; and ears, eyes, dis- 
 torted arms, and other members, were dedicated as 
 memorials of their gratitude and superstition. 
 
 No. 419. Ex votos. 
 
 1, Ivory hand, in Mr. Salt’s collection. 2, Stone tablet, dedicated to Amunre, for the 
 recovery of a complaint in the ear : found at Thebes. 3, An ear of terra cotta in my 
 possession, from Thebes. 
 
 Sometimes travellers, who happened to pass by 
 a temple, inscribed a votive sentence on the walls, 
 to indicate their respect for the deity, and solicit 
 his protection during their journey; the complete 
 formula of which contained the adoration {p7'os- 
 kunema') of the writer, with the assurance that he 
 
896 
 
 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 had been mindful of his wife, his family, and friends ; 
 and the reader of the inscription was sometimes 
 included in a share of the blessings it solicited. 
 The date of the king’s reign, and the day of the 
 month, were also added, with the profession and 
 parentage of the writer. The complete formula of 
 the proshunema was as follows : “ The adoration 
 of Caius Capitolinus, son of Flavius Julius, of the 
 fifth troop of Theban horse, to the goddess Isis, 
 with ten thousand names. And I have been 
 mindful of (or have made an adoration for) all 
 those who love me, and my consort, and children, 
 and all my household, and for him who reads this. 
 In the year of the emperor Tiberius Cgesar, 
 the 15th of Paiini.” 
 
 The Egyptians, according to Pliny*, claimed 
 the honour of having invented the art of curing 
 diseases. Indeed, the study of medicine and 
 surgery appears to have commenced at a very 
 early period in Egypt, since Athothes, the second 
 king of the country, is stated to have written 
 upon the subject of anatomy t ; and the schools of 
 Alexandria continued till a late period to enjoy 
 the reputation, and display the skill, they had in- 
 herited from their predecessors. Hermest was 
 said to have written six books on medicine, the 
 first of which related to anatomy § ; and the various 
 recipes, known to have been beneficial, were re- 
 
 * Plin. vii. 56. 
 
 •j- Vide Vol. I. p. 25. 
 
 j Hermes and Athothes may have been confounded, or they maybe 
 in this instance the same person. The god Hermes, or Thoth, generally 
 implied intellect. $ Clem. Alex. Strom, vi. 
 
CHAP. X. 
 
 EMBALMING. 
 
 397 
 
 corded, with their peculiar cases, in the memoirs of 
 physic, inscribed among the laws already alluded 
 to ; which were deposited in the principal temple 
 of the place, as at Memphis in that of Pthah, or 
 Vulcan. 
 
 The embalmers were probably members of the 
 medical profession, since the knowledge, required 
 for that purpose, appears to be connected with 
 their peculiar studies ; and the Bible expressly 
 states, that “ the physicians* embalmed” Jacob. 
 This part, however, belongs more properly to the 
 funeral ceremonies of the Egyptians, into which I 
 do not here intend to enter ; reserving that portion 
 of my subject to a future opportunity, and to a 
 work, whose less contracted dimensions will enable 
 me to introduce the paintings connected with it, 
 on a more suitable scale than these pages will 
 permit ; I shall also take advantage of the same 
 opportunity of entering more fully into the my- 
 thology of the Egyptians, and the ceremonies con- 
 nected with their religion. 
 
 * Gen. 1. 2. 
 
at>oiiiiiiB?^|3 H 
 
 <!!iiii5lH 
 
 
 Topographical Plan of the Pa’ramids of Geezeh. 
 
 A, Entrance to the great pyramid. 
 
 B, Entrance to the second pyramid. 
 
 C C, Long pits, by some supposed for mixing 
 the mortar. 
 
 D, Pyramid of the daughter of Cheops 
 (Herodotus, ii. 126.). 
 
 E, Pavement of black stones (basaltic trap), 
 the same as found on the causeways of the 
 pyramids of Saqqara. 
 
 F, Remains of masonry. 
 
 G, Round inclosures of crude brick, of Arab 
 date, at n. e. angle of this pyramid. 
 
 H, Tombs of individuals, with deep pits. 
 
 I, The tomb of numbers. 
 
 K, Two inclined passages, meeting under 
 ground, apparently once belonging to a 
 small pyramid that stood over them. 
 
 L L, The rock is here cut to a level surface. 
 
 M, A narrow and shallow trench cut in the 
 rock. 
 
 N, A square space cut in the rock, probably 
 to receive and support the corner stone of 
 the casing of the pyramid. 
 
 P, Here stood a tomb which has received the 
 title of the Temple of Osiris. 
 
 Q, Tomb of trades, to west of tombs H. 
 
 R, A pit cased with stone, of modern date. 
 
 S, The third pyramid. 
 
 T, Three small pyramids. 
 
 U, V, Ruined buildings, whose original use 
 it is now difficult to determine. 
 
 W W W, Fragments of stone, arranged in 
 the manner of a wall. 
 
 X, A few palms and sycamores, with a well. 
 
 Y, Southern stone causeway. 
 
 Z, Northern causew’ay, repaired by the Ca- 
 liphs. 
 
 a. Tombs cut in the rock. 
 
 b. Masonry. 
 
 c. Black stones. 
 
 d rf, Torahs cut in the rock. 
 
 c. The sphinx. 
 
 /, Pits, probably unopened. 
 
 g. Pits. 
 
 A, Stone ruin on a rock. 
 
 l, Doorway, or passage, through the cause- 
 way . 
 
 ky A grotto in the rock. 
 
 /, Inclined causeway, part of Y'. 
 
 m, n, Tombs in the rock. 
 
 0 , Some hieroglyphics on the rock. 
 
 Py Tombs cut in the scarp of the rock. 
 
 g, Stone wall. 
 
 r, Steps cut in the rock, near the n.w. angle 
 of the great pyramid. 
 
 5, /, Magnetic south, in 1832 and 1836, cor- 
 responding to M N ; T N being “ true 
 north.” 
 
 The names 1. and 2. are of king Ergamenes, 
 mentioned by Diodorus, lib. iii. s. G., and 
 another Ethiopian monarch, found at 
 Dakkeh. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 PRINCIPAL OBJECTS TO BE VISITED IN A TOUR UP THE 
 
 NILE. 
 
 In order to render this book more useful to travellers in Egypt, 
 I shall introduce the notes I had drawn up for some friends, 
 who required a brief statement of the principal objects worthy 
 of a visit, on the Nile, without having to seek their order and 
 position in the numerous pages of voluminous books of travels ; 
 referring the reader, who wishes for a more detailed account of 
 them, to my Egypt and Thebes. 
 
 At Alexandria are Pompey’s pillar, with its inscription, of the 
 time of Diocletian ; the obelisks ; some traces of the ancient 
 streets ; and, along the coast to the west, the catacombs, of 
 Greek time; and, to the east, beyond the French lines, the 
 ancient Roman station, where the English and French armies 
 engaged. 
 
 Between Alexandria and Cairo, a journey of three days, the 
 site of Sais, now Sa-el-Hagar ; its large walls, the lake men- 
 tioned by Herodotus, and brick houses. 
 
 Near Cairo, Heliopolis, now Matareeh, its obelisk of 
 Osirtasen I., remains of the walls and houses ; the station of 
 Egyptian Babylon, and the mosk of Amer, at old Cairo ; the 
 pyramids of Geezeh {vide the Plan), of Saqqara, and Dashoor. 
 At Saqqdra is a stone arch of the time of Psamaticus II., the 
 oldest known. It is in a tomb, cut in the face of the rock, 
 about east south east of the principal pyramid. At Mit-raheny, 
 a large colossus of Remeses II. ; mounds of Memphis ; some 
 fragments of statues, and remains of building. 
 
 On east bank, eight miles to the south of Cairo, quarries of 
 Maasara, from which the stone used for part of the casing of 
 the pyramids was taken. Some hieroglyphic tablets, in one of 
 which oxen are represented drawing a stone placed on a sledge. 
 ( Vide wood-cut. No. 389.) A little beyond the modern village 
 
400 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 is an inclined road, which leads from the quarries to the river. 
 Thirty miles further to the south, on the same bank, is Atfeeh; 
 mounds of Aphroditopolis ; no ruins. False pyramid on oppo- 
 site bank. Three miles beyond, El Feshn, and on east bank, 
 remains of crude brick ; the walls of an ancient village, called 
 El Heebee, and some hieroglyphics. 
 
 From Benisooef is the road to the Fyoom, which, when the 
 Nile is low, may be visited conveniently. A brick pyramid at 
 Illahoon, another at El Hawara, and vestiges of the labyrinth. 
 Obelisk at Biggig. Ruins on and near the lake Mceris, and at 
 Qasr Khardon. 
 
 From Aboogirgeh is the shortest road to Bahnasa (Oxy- 
 rinchus) ; mounds; no ruins. Gebel e’Tayr, north end, grotto 
 or rock temple, called Babdyn ; convent further to the south. 
 Eight miles below Minyeh, is Tehneh (Acoris), on east bank. 
 A Greek Ptolemaic inscription on the face of the cliff ; tombs 
 hewn in the rock, with small inscriptions at the doors : Roman 
 figures in high relief, on the upper part of the rock ; some 
 hieroglyphic tablets ; quarries on the top of the mountain ; a 
 tank, &c. 
 
 Same (east bank), seven miles above Minyeh, Kom ahmar, 
 some grottoes, and ruins of an old town. Nine miles further, 
 east bank, Beni Hassan ; very fine grottoes, with curious paint- 
 ings ; and about a mile and a half further, a grotto, or rock 
 temple, of Pasht (Bubastis, or Diana) ; the Speos Artemidos. 
 Cat mummies in the ravine. 
 
 Antinoe, now Shekh Abadeh, few remains of the town ; a 
 theatre, the principal streets, baths, &c. ; outside the town, on 
 the east, is the hippodrome. The grottoes in the mountain are 
 unsculptured, and have some Christian Inscriptions. A little 
 to the north of Antinoe are the remains, apparently, of Besa, 
 scarcely worthy of a visit. 
 
 At El Bersheh, a grotto on the mountain, in whieh a colossus 
 is represented on a sledge {vide wood-cut. No. 390.). At Osh- 
 moonayn, west bank, no longer any remains of Hermopolis 
 Magna. At Gebel Toona, a mountain skirting the desert to 
 the west, are mummy pits, a tablet of hieroglyphics, and statues 
 in high relief. At Mellawee, and at Tanoof, (Tanis superior,) 
 
APPPENDIX. 
 
 401 
 
 mounds, but no ruins. At Sbayda, at corner of mountains on 
 east bank, crude brick walls, and some grottoes. 
 
 At Shekh Said, the mountains recede to the eastward, 
 leaving the river; and a little beyond is the village of Tel el 
 Amarna, to the north of which are the remains of a small town, 
 and to the south, the ruins of a city, which I suppose to be 
 Alabastron. All the stone buildings have been quite destroyed, 
 but some of the brick houses remain. Near the crude brick 
 towers of the temple are the largest houses. ( Vide plan, Plate VI. 
 Vol. II. p. 106.) To the east are several fine grottoes in the face 
 of the mountain, with curious sculptures; and on the summit of 
 it is an ancient alabaster quarry. 
 
 Six miles below Manfaloot, at el Haryib, ruins of an old town, 
 in a ravine of the Gebel Aboolfaydee ; numerous dog and cat 
 mummies. Near el Maabdeh, opposite Manfaloot, crocodile 
 mummies in chambers of great extent in the mountain. 
 
 At E’Sioot (Lycopolis), the capital of Upper Egypt, grottoes ; 
 wolf mummies : the modern cemetery is prettily laid out. Gow 
 (Antaeopolis), a few stones of the temple, close to the river; 
 some grottoes at the corner of the mountain, to the north, 
 below Gow, but not containing good sculpture. Shekh Her^e- 
 dee, small grottoes ; Roman statue at the base of the mountain, 
 cut out of a piece of rock. The snake of Shekh Hereedee 
 is still supposed to perform cures. 
 
 To the west of Soohag, near the corner of mountains, old town 
 of Athribis ; a Greek inscription in the ruined temple ; grottoes 
 in the mountain, and to the north is the white monastery, or 
 Dayr Amba Shnoodee. Nearly opposite Soohag is E’Khmim 
 (Panopolis) ; Greek inscription of the temple of Pan ; and some 
 remains of other stone buildings. 
 
 Mensheeh (Ptolemais Hermii), west bank. Eight miles 
 above E’Khmim, remains of a stone quay. From Girgeh go 
 to Abydus (now Ardbat el matfoon), three hours’ ride, and send 
 on the boat to Bellianeh, returning to the boat in the evening 
 at Bellianeh, two hour’s ride ; or, coming down the river, stop 
 at Bellianeh, and send on the boat to Girgeh. At Abydus, two 
 temples, and many tombs. 
 
 How (Diospolis parva), has very few remains, of Ptolemaic 
 or Roman time. In mounds at the edge of the desert, a mile 
 VOL. III. D D 
 
402 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 and a half south of How, some tombs ; one, of a certain 
 Dionysius, son of one Ptolemy, has some sculpture. 
 
 Qasr e’Syad (Chenoboscion), remains of a quay ; about one 
 mile beyond the eastern mouth of the canal of this village are 
 some very ancient grottoes, with kings’ names. ( Vide wood-cut, 
 No. 381.) Dendera (Tentyris), opposite Qeneh ; two temples, 
 inscriptions, zodiac, &c. Qeneh is famous for its manufacture 
 of porous jars. From it roads lead to Kossayr on the Red Sea. 
 
 Qoft (Coptos) ; ruins of the old town, and of a temple; a 
 Christian church ; canals, &c. ; at the village of el Qala, to the 
 north, is a small Roman Egyptian temple. 
 
 Qoos ( Apollinopolis parva) ; no more ruins left; at a well on 
 the north of the town, is a Ptolemaic monolith, with hieroglyphics, 
 converted into a tank ; and a few stone remains of early time, in 
 the plain to the west, near a Shekh’s tomb. Thebes (Diospolis 
 magna) ; on the east bank, Karnak and Luqsor ; on the west, 
 the tombs of the kings, private tombs, several temples, colossi 
 of the plain, &c. ; for these I refer the reader to my Egypt and 
 Thebes. 
 
 Erment (Hermonthis), west bank; temple and early 
 Christian church. Tuot, or E’Selemeeh (Tuphium) ; on east 
 bank Ptolemaic temple, much ruined, and concealed by the 
 hovels of the peasants. Gebelayn, ^. e. “ the two hills,” a 
 small ancient town in ruins, and grottoes, not worthy of a 
 visit. At Tofnees and Asfoon, mounds of ancient towns, no 
 ruins. 
 
 Esneh (Latopolis), fine portico, zodiac, and quay. At E’dayr, 
 three miles to the north of Esneh, remains of a small temple of 
 the Ptolemies and Caesars, lately destroyed. Thirteen miles 
 from Esneh, near El Qenan, ruins of a quay, on west bank ; and 
 three miles further, a small stone pyramid ; opposite the quay is 
 the junction of the limestone and sandstone. Four miles beyond, 
 on east bank, is El Kab (Eilethyas); ruins of a very ancient town; 
 the temples lately destroyed : curious grottoes in the mountain ; 
 and a short distance up the valley, are three small temples. In 
 the bed of the ravine are ponds encrusted with natron. 
 
 Edfoo (Apollinopolis magna), two temples. Eleven miles 
 above Edfoo, and on east bank, remains of an old town, on face 
 of hill, fortified with towers of Arab construction. Silsilis (now 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 403 
 
 Hagar Silsili), quarries of sandstone, used for building the 
 temples of Upper Egypt ; tablets, and grottoes. Kom ombo 
 (Ombos) ; two temples ; ancient stone gateway in a crude brick 
 wall on the east side of the enclosure of the temples ; houses 
 burnt. 
 
 At E’Sooan (Syene), ruins of small temple of Roman date; 
 some columns ; Saracen wall, and Cufic tombstones ; granite 
 quarries ; in one of which is a broken obelisk ; Latin inscription 
 of Caracalla, near another quarry ; road to Philae, and wall ; 
 numerous hieroglyphic tablets on the rocks. Island of Ele- 
 phantine ; opposite the projecting rocks of E’Sooan, is the Nilo- 
 meter, which is a staircase, with Greek inscriptions, relating to 
 the rise of the Nile. Granite gateway, bearing the name of 
 Alexander, the son of Alexander the Great. 
 
 At the northern end of the cataract is the island of Sehayl. 
 Few vestiges of a temple ; hieroglyphic tablets on the rocks. 
 Go from E’Sooan to Sehayl in a boat, and ride to Philae. At 
 Philae, temples and ruins. Island of Biggeh, opposite Philae, to 
 the west, ruined temple, tablets, &c. 
 
 NUBIA. 
 
 Dabode (Parembole), temple, west bank. Kerddssy, ruins 
 and quarries. Tafa (Taphis), two small ruins, and stone en- 
 closures. Kalabshee (Talmis), large temple; quarries; and, on 
 hill behind it, to the northward, a small but interesting temple, 
 called Bayt el Wellee, cut in the rock, of the time of Remeses II. 
 Dandoor, temple. Gerf Hossayn (Tutzis), temple cut in the 
 rock, of the time of Remeses II. 
 
 Dakkeh (Pselcis) ; temple of Ptolemaic and Roman date. It 
 has also the names of two Ethiopian princes *, Ergamun, or 
 Ergamenes (mentioned by Diodorus, iii. 6., as a contemporary 
 of Ptolemy Philadelphus), and Ataramun ? ; many Greek in- 
 scriptions. Opposite Dakkeh, ruins of Contra Pselcis, or of 
 Metacompso. 
 
 Corte (Corti); few remains. Maharraka, or Oofideena, ruins 
 of Hierasycaminon ; style bad, and all of late date: Isis is re- 
 presented under the sacred Jig-tree. Sabooa ; temple of the time 
 of Remeses II., with avenue of sphinxes; the adytum is cut in 
 
 * Vide the wood-cut in page 39S.Jgs. 1,2,3, 07id 4. 
 
404 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 the rock, the rest built. Hassaia, or Amada, a temple of 
 Thothmes, ancient ; nearly opposite to it is Dayr or Dirr, on 
 east bank, the capital of Nubia, which has a temple, cut in the 
 rock, of the time of Remeses II. 
 
 Ibreem (Primis parva); part of the ancient wall on south 
 side of town ; remains of a stone building amidst the houses ; 
 some small grottoes below the town, near the river. Aboo- 
 simbel, two temples, cut in the rock, the finest Egyptian monu- 
 ments out of Thebes : they are of the time of Remeses II. 
 
 At Ferayg, nearly opposite, on east bank, a small temple in 
 the rock. Farras, on west bank, few remains ; grottoes, with 
 Coptic inscriptions, some distance from the river. Wadee 
 Halfeh ; remains of three buildings, on w'est bank ; fine view of 
 the second cataract from a rock on the same bank, a short walk 
 to the south of Wadee Halfeh. 
 
 A day and a half beyond Wadee Halfeh are the two small 
 .temples of Samneh, and the third cataract. 
 
 The distances from the Mediterranean to the second cataract 
 are as follow : — 
 
 From Rosetta to Cairo 
 
 - 
 
 - about no miles. 
 
 Cairo to Benisooef - 
 
 - 
 
 83 
 
 Benisooef to Minyeh 
 
 - 
 
 85 
 
 Minyeh to E’Sioot 
 
 - 
 
 - 106 
 
 E’Sioot to Girgeh 
 
 - 
 
 97 
 
 Girgeh to Q.eneh 
 
 - 
 
 73 
 
 Qeneh to Thebes 
 
 - 
 
 49 
 
 Thebes to Esneh 
 
 - 
 
 38 
 
 Esneh to E’Sooan 
 
 - 
 
 - 100 
 
 E’Sooan to Wadee Halfeh 
 
 - 
 
 - 219 
 
 Total from Rosetta to Wadee Halfeh 960 miles. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 London : 
 
 Printed by A. Spottiswoode, 
 N ew- Street- Square, 
 
Albemarle Street, 
 
 October, 1819. 
 
 MR. MURRAY’S 
 
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FORTHCOMING WORKS. 
 
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4 
 
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 the subject with a new and peculiar interest for an Englishman.” Quarterly Bevievj. 
 
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 CONTENTS. 
 
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 Viaducts, Tunnels, Bridges. 
 
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 Rivers, Lakes, and Canals. 
 
 Churches, Castles, and Ruins. 
 
 Seats, Pictures, and Statues. 
 
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 Nature, Antiquity, Public and 
 Private. 
 
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6 
 
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 Completion of the Series in Thirty-Seven Volumes. 
 
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 MEMOIRS OF SIR FOWELL BUXTON, BART., BY HIS SON, 
 
 Forming Three Parts at 2s. 6d. each — or One Volume, 
 
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 OLIVER GOLDSMITH, A BIOGRAPHY, 
 
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 with unabated success, Mr. Murray, anxious to guard against the objection of 
 overloading the subscribers with too large and cumbrous a series of books of 
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 for back numbers, convince him that there is an unabated desire on the part of 
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 OF GREEK AND ROMAN BIOGRAPHY, MYTHOLOGY, AND GEOGRAPHY. 
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 has been long felt by students and persons engaged in tuition. 
 
Albemarle Street, 
 
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 ceased to exist after ages of power before history begins, has always supplied matter of 
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8 
 
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 LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. 
 
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 9 
 
 A HISTORY OF GREECE, 
 
 FRO.M THE EARLIEST PERIOD DOIVN TO THE PEACE OF NIKIAS. 
 
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 noble theme he treats. Self-sustained dignity and judicial gravity give it their impress 
 throughout. We know not if any of the blood of Grotius runs in our author's veins ; but 
 certain it is that Mr. Grote possesses in full measure the mental characteristics of the 
 great publicist — the temperance, the calm and equable strength, the discriminating 
 and fully-informed criticism, which inspire the, pages of the lawgiver of nations.” 
 
 Morning Chronicle. 
 
 LIFE AND WORKS OF HORACE. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY VIGNETTES OF COINS, GEMS, BAS-RELIEFS, STATUES, VIEWS, &C., TAKEN 
 CHIEFLY FROM THE ANTIQUE, WITH A LIFE, 
 
 By Bev. H. II. Milmaii. 
 
 ■\Vitb upwards of Three Hundred Woodcuts. Royal 8vo. 42s. 
 
 “ In paper, in clearness of type, in graceful arrangement, this edition is worthy of 
 the character of the eminent house which has risked expenditure upon such an adven- 
 ture. We hope that it will be duly rewarded. There is more than grace, however, in 
 the decorations ; there is utility. Whenever on a passing expression there can be hung 
 a vivid representation of ancient life, derived from ancient art, at once instructive and 
 suggestive, we find the pencil gracefully, we trust, gratefully employed. Much taste 
 and knowledge of the apposite is displayed in the choice of illustrations, which are 
 drawn from all sources. Not a page can be opened where the eye does not light upon 
 some anfique gem. Mythology, history, art, manners, topography, have all their fitting 
 representatives. 
 
 “ It is the highest praise to say, that the designs, throughout, add to the pleasure with 
 which Horace is read. Many of them carry us back to the very portraitures from 
 which the old poets drew their inspirations.” Classical Museum. 
 
10 
 
 MR. MURRAY’S LATEST PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 HAND-BOOK FOR LONDON— PAST AND PRESENT. 
 
 By Peter Cunningliamj Esq. 
 
 Post 8 to. 
 
 “ We can conceive no companion more welcome to an enlightened foreigner visiting 
 the metropolis than Mr. Cunningham with his laborious research, his scrupulous exact- 
 ness, his alphabetical arrangement, and his authorities from every imaginable source. 
 As a piece of severe compact and finished stnicture, the ‘ Handbook’ is not to be sur- 
 passed.” The Times. 
 
 “ Every spot in this thickly-peopled district has its description and anecdote ; and 
 every page conveys some information that is curious, interesting, or valuable, — commu- 
 nicated necessarily in the most succinct, but, at the same time, in the most authentic 
 manner. There is nothing merely speculative and fanciful, — all is fact and substance. 
 It is this circumstance that especially distinguishes Mr. Cunningham’s work from, we 
 may say, all its modern predecessors. It will remain a lasting record of the past and 
 present condition of our huge metropolis.” Allusnwum. 
 
 “ This is incomparably the most complete and reliable book that has been published 
 on London, its streets and buildings, its past memories and long associations. It is a 
 well-considered, well-digested, thoroughly well-informed book. London has lately been 
 written about very pleasantly in various ways ; but no man has made himself so entirely 
 master of the subject as Mr. Cunningham. The Handbook for London is beyond all 
 comparison the best existing guide to London, old and new.” The Examiner. 
 
 “ As a guide-book or reference for the purposes of the str.anger, the explorer, or the 
 fire side enquirer, it is unrivalled for plan, and, so far as we have investigated it, for 
 execution.” T/ce Spectator. 
 
 “ When we perceive the amount of original research and curious reading which the 
 author brings to bear on the subject, above all when we arrive at a due appreciation of 
 his well-matured plan, his precise arrangement and scrupulous accuracy, then it is that 
 we feel constrained to say that we have already had books enough of loosely compiled 
 anecdote, and that Mr. Cunningham has in this Handbook laid the foundation of what 
 we really want about London — something systematised, defined, and ascertained.” — 
 
 Gentleman's Magazine. 
 
 “ Mr. Cunningham has brought to bear upon his subject an immense amount of 
 reading, especially of the poets and essayists of the two last centuries, showing industry 
 and powers of research in the examination of parish papers and other MSS., and dis- 
 crimination and skill in the use made of the matter collected. The book contains a great 
 deal of new matter, and must have cost its author much pains and labour during the 
 seven years it has been in hand.” The Builder. 
 
 “ As a specimen of Mr. Cunningham’s knowledge of his subject, of his research, of 
 the quantity of knowledge afforded in a small space, and of the collateral information 
 to be instantly got at by cross references, let us take an article at random. You are in 
 Fleet Street — the chief scene in Sir Walter Scott’s ‘Fortunes of Nigel’— and you turn 
 up the entry in the ‘ Handbook.’ 
 
 “ ‘ Fleet Street.’ — Here all that the inquirer wishes to know about this celebrated 
 thoroughfare is compressed into three pages. The extraordinary research displayed by 
 the author gives his work a literary charm which is a novelty in a dictionary. It c-an 
 be read wdth pleasure, page after page, because of the countless extracts from the 
 works of the best authors illustrative of various localities.” Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal. 
 
 “ The ‘ Handbook’ is so studded with quotations from the old poets and essayists, 
 and with illustrations of bygone manners and historical events, that it may be taken up 
 at any time for amusement as well as information. It is a sort of distillation from 
 English history, anecdote, and biography, with a sprinkling of ancient gossip and 
 scandal 1 ” Inverness Courier. 
 
MR. MURRAY'S LATEST PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 11 
 
 THE HANDBOOK FOR LONDON {continued). 
 
 “ To epitomise this mighty metropolis — to ■nTite a description of the various com- 
 ponent parts, living and inert, which constitute the aggi’egate idea of the immense 
 entity called London — within limits that should be readable, a bulk that should be 
 ponderable, and in a form sufficiently compendious to come fairly under the denomina- 
 tion of a handbook, would almost seem to be a task beyond ordinary patience and 
 ingenuity. Nevertheless, it has been accomplished. Like many other difficulties this 
 has been surmounted by talent and perseverance ; and in the production of the 
 ‘ Handbook for London ’ must be recognised the fulfilment of a work useful in pimpose, 
 and national in character. 
 
 “ It would be a great mistake to suppose that Mr. Cunningham''s book is a mere 
 guide to the sights and localities of London, or a dry catalogue of streets, squares, and 
 public buildings. That it is such a guide is certain, and the best and most complete of 
 the kind we have seen ; but it is a great deal more besides ; it is a delightful 
 literary companion, teeming, not only with rare and valuable information, often quite 
 new, but with stores of apposite quotation from our elder and modern writers, with 
 quaint saws, anecdotes, and reminiscences of characters celebrated and notorious, 
 and with every kind of illustration, historical, local, and personal. Utility, therefore — 
 great as may be the merit of the book in that respect — is not its only attraction. 
 
 “In his short and unassuming preface, Mr. Cunningham states that his work, which 
 he professes to offer to the pubfic with a distrust which we augur the result will prove 
 to have been needless, has for seven years engrossed his leisure, and cost him much 
 thought and anxiety ; an announcement which, when the magnitude and difficulties of 
 the subject are duly considered, is calculated to excite wonder — not that so long a time 
 should have been devoted to the subject, but rather that so much should have been 
 accomplished so admirably within a space so brief. Jlr. Cimningham then suggests 
 that he might have ‘ added materially to the popularity ’ of his pages if he had given 
 the result of his researches and the substance of all passages relating to the several 
 streets or buildings in one continuous text, in the style of Pennant, and he infoims us 
 that the work was actually begun and had advanced to a great length on that principle ; 
 but that he found he could not get in half his matter, for which reason, with others, he 
 was induced to alter his intention and adopt an alphabetical arrangement. We think 
 that this change was well considered ; for no attractions of style could have compensated 
 for the advantages of precision, compression, and facUily of reference which have been 
 secimed by the convenient form which is now chosen. If Mr. Cmmingham had gained 
 favour by a narrative style with lounging readers, he would have lost in the estimation 
 of those who desire a trustworthy and full record as well as an entertaining volume. 
 But we must bring this notice to a close, although we feel that we have scarcely done 
 justice to this very remarkable and capital production, the best compendium in existence 
 of London and its marvels.” Morning Chronicle, Sept. 2ith, 1849. 
 
 THE EOCKS AND RIVERS OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 SALMON ANGLING, TROLLING, EAGLE SHOOTING, WILD GOAT STALKING, 
 SKETCHES OF HIGHLAND CHARACTER, NATURAL HISTORY, &e. 
 
 By John Colquhoun, Esq. 
 
 Post Svo. 6s. 6d. 
 
 “ Tliis book belongs to a class of which recent years have given us what is now 
 almost a little library. Scrope, Colquhoun, St. John, the Stuart brothers. Tod, Stoddart 
 — these are names now familiar wherever there is a love of Scottish sport, or a taste 
 for the natural history of the north. Mr. Colquhoun, we believe, was the first (with 
 one exception) who occupied this field of letters : assuredly he has been not its least 
 successful cultivator. He enjoys one great advantage over nearly all his compeers, in 
 that he is ‘native, and to the manner born.’ One who was nursed within the ancient 
 forest of Luss, by the margin of the fairest of the Scottish lochs— that great expanse 
 of water which old Geoffrey of Monmouth believed to be fed by sixty streams, to 
 contain sixty islands, each island containing a tall rock, and each rock an eagle’s nest — 
 could scarcely fail to be a proficient in every branch of sylvan science and pastime.” 
 
 Edinburgh Evening Courant. 
 
12 
 
 MR. MURRAY’S LATEST PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 THE SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST IN 
 SUTHERLAND. 
 
 Bj Charles St. John, Esq. 
 
 With Xumorons Woodcuts. 2 Vols. Post 8vo. 18j. 
 
 “ This book is one of the most agreeable mixtures of observation, description, inci- 
 dent, and anecdote, that we have met for many a day, and upon subjects whose natural 
 freshness gives them a never-ending attraction. Although possessing literary ability, 
 and quite capable of the sketch or the story, Mr. St. John rarely attempts an approach 
 to fiction, or even to writing, but judiciously confines himself to facts ; so that, in his 
 adventui-es or obseiwations, particular trutli is the basis of his book.” Sfectator. 
 
 ^ 
 
 THE CITIES AND CEMETERIES OF ETRURIA : 
 
 OR, THE EXTANT LOCAL REMAINS OF ETRU.SCAN ART. 
 
 By George Dennis, Esq, 
 
 With Plates and Woodcuts. 2 Vols. 8vo. 42s. 
 
 “ We welcome, with great satisfaction, the appearance of Mr. Dennis’ long promised 
 work upon the remains of ancient Etruria. 
 
 “ Mr. Dennis has brought to his task no ordinary qualifications. His scholarship, 
 at once accurate and extensive, is enlightened by a sound and rational spirit of criticism, 
 and the natural enthusiasm with which he regards the subject of his long continued 
 researches, is rarely permitted to mislead the calmness of his judgment. 
 
 “ These volumes are a valuable storehouse of classical and antiquarian lore to every 
 scholar ; and the most general reader must be attracted by their pleasant, though 
 somewhat discursive, style. In this respect Mr. Dennis’ book reminds us not a little 
 of Mr. Ford’s very entertaining Hand-book for Spain.” Edinburgh Review, 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 By ilary Somerville. 
 
 A New Edition, revised. 2 Vols. Fcap. 8 vo. 1 2s. 
 
 “ We have followed Mrs. Somerville through her intellectual journey over the globe, 
 delighted and improved by her instruction, and anxious that others should derive 
 from them the same pleasure and advantage. From the extracts we have made our 
 readers will see that the work is written in a style always simple and perspicuous, 
 often vigorous and elegant, and occasionally rising to a strain of eloquence commen- 
 surate with the lofty ideas which it clothes. In ilrs. Somerville’s pages no sentiments 
 are recorded which the Christian or the philosopher disowns. In associating life with 
 nature — in taking cognizance of man as tenant of the earth-home which she describes, 
 her sympathies are ever with the slave, her aspirations ever after truth, secular and 
 divine ; and everywhere throughout her work we meet with just and noble sentiments, 
 the indication and the offspring of a highly-cultivated and well-balanced mind.” 
 
 North British Review. 
 
MR, MURRAY’S LATEST PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 13 
 
 HORTENSIUS, 
 
 AN IIISTOKICAL ESSAY ON THE DUTIES OF AN ADVOCATE. 
 
 By William rorsjTh, Esq., l\r.A. 
 
 Barrister-at-Law ; late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. 
 
 Post 8vo. 12s. 
 
 “ This remarkable work is not exactly the history of the bar, whether in any parti- 
 cular country or throughout the world. Neither is it like the ‘ life of a lawyer,’ a 
 sketch of what an advocate’s career must or might be, in England or elsewhere. 
 Nor, again, is it an account of any particular advocate, nor even a mere collection of 
 anecdotes concerning various men who have been eminent in that ancient profession. 
 What is it, then 1 It is a history of the barrister, interspersed with reflections on his art. 
 
 “ The narrative portion of the work is rendered valuable by a very considerable 
 amount of discursive erudition, and is made agreeable by the multitude of anecdotes and 
 descriptions of celebrated persons and celebrated scenes. The other portion of the 
 work which is not separated from the part mentioned by any regular or formal limits, 
 but which, as it were, is shot into the general texture, is equally excellent, and proves 
 that Mr. Forsyth has neither proposed to his mind a mean ideal of the office of an 
 advocate, nor attained to a mean proflciency in the qualities that prepare and fit a man 
 for its effective discharge.” Mornimj Post. 
 
 
 
 ANTHOLOGIA POLYGLOTTA; 
 
 OK, A SELECTION OF VERSIONS, IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES. 
 CHIEFLY FROM THE GRF.EIC ANTHOLOGY. 
 
 By Eev. Henry AYellesley, D.D., Oxford. 
 
 8vo. 15s. 
 
 A few copies have been printed in Quarto, pnce Two Guineas. 
 
 A RESIDENCE IN SIERRA LEONE, 
 
 DESCRIBED IN LETTERS TO FRIENDS, AND FROM A JOURNAL KEPT ON THE SPOT 
 
 By a Lady. Edited by the Hon. Mrs. Norton. 
 
 Post 8vo. 6s. 
 
 “ A most animated and sprightly picture of the state of society at Sierra Leone, the 
 point and cleverness of which is, we apprehend, to be placed to the credit of the 
 talented editor, fully as much as to that of the original writer of the letters. The facility 
 of recognising any portraiture of European men and things in a settlement in which 
 there are so few white men, has resti’ained the author of the letters from dwelling upon 
 that part of her subject, and she has accordingly confined herself to an account of life 
 among the Africans. The picture is not as forbidding as the ill odour in which 
 Sierra Leone is held might lead one to anticipate, though probably much of what is 
 here related, was as annoying to experience as it is amusing to read. For a chatty 
 book of foreign lands and outlandish manners, we have rarely known these two numbers 
 equalled, even among the many entertaining books of which Mr. Murray’s ‘ Home and 
 Colonial Library ’ is composed.” John Bull. 
 
14 
 
 MR. MURRAY’S LATEST PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 DALMATIA AND MONTENEGRO, 
 
 AVITII A JOUKNEY TO MOSTAR IN HERZEGOVINA. 
 
 By Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson. 
 
 Plates. 2 Vols. 8to. 42s. 
 
 “No work could be more opportune in its appearance than that, the title of which 
 we have placed at the head of this notice. 
 
 “ The work is elegantly got up, and the text is illustrated by numerous woodcuts and 
 lithographs, some of which, representing the sea-coast towns of Dalmatia, are striking 
 and well executed. The information which it contains is varied and useful, whilst its 
 interest is greatly enhanced by its appositeness to contemporary events.” 
 
 Morning Chronicle. 
 
 Pullished hy AuthorUy of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 
 
 A MANUAL OF SCIENTIFIC ENQUIRY, 
 
 PREPARED FOR THE USE OF H.M. NAVY AND FOR TRAVELLERS IN GENERAL. 
 
 By G. B. ArRY, Esq. 
 Lieut. Col. Sabine. 
 Capt. Beechey. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Whewell. 
 J. R. Hamilton, Esq. 
 
 C. Darwin, Esq. 
 
 R. Mallet, Esq. 
 
 Sir H. de la Beche. 
 Sir J.Heeschel. 
 
 W. R. Bibt, Esq. 
 
 Rich. Owen, Esq. 
 Sir W. Hooker. 
 Dr. Pritchard. 
 
 G. R. Porter, Esq. 
 Dr. Bryson. 
 
 Edited by Sir John F. W. Herscliel, Bart. 
 
 Maps, &c. Post 8vo. 10s. &d. 
 
 “ The treatises contained in this volume were, it appears, drawn up at the request of 
 the late Lord Auckland, in accordance with a memorandum by the Lords of the 
 Admiralty. In this memorandum their lordships express their opinion that it would 
 be to the honour and advantage of the navy, and conduce to the general interests of 
 science, if new facilities and encouragement were given to the collection of information 
 upon scientific subjects by the officers, and more particularly by the medical officers, of 
 her Majesty’s navy, when upon foreign service ; and their lordships further desire that 
 for this pm-pose a manual should be compiled, giving general instructions for observation 
 and for record in various branches of science, but they do not deem it necessary that 
 this manual should be one of very deep .and abstruse research. The enumeration of 
 the names of the above distinguished writers will show that the work is of a high 
 character ; indeed, it seems to have been compiled with very great care and ability. 
 It may be added that the volume is printed in a very portable form, and in a clear and 
 elegant type.” Morning Herald. 
 
 O’BYRNE’S NAVAL BIOGRAPHY 
 
 OF EVERY LIVING OFFICER, FROM THE RANK OF ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET TO THAT OF 
 LIEUTENANT, INCLUSIVE ; WITH AUTHENTIC DETAILS OF THEIR LIVES, 
 FAMILIES, AND SERVICES. 
 
 Royal 8vo. 21. 2s. 
 
 “ This great woi’k comprises, in some 1400 pages, of two columns each, the biographies 
 of no fewer than 5000 officers of all ranks in the navy, including those deceased since 
 January, 1845 ; and it is not saying too much of it to state, that never was there a 
 publication, having relation to the subject, penned in a more impartial, and, at the same 
 time, iu a more kindly spirit. It is trusted that the conscientiousness he has displayed 
 in every line of bis work, will not pass unnoticed. Praise, it must ever command, for 
 its execution, even from the most fitful and the most prejudiced of the community.” 
 
 Observer. 
 
MR. MURRAY'S LATEST PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 15 
 
 REPORT ON THE EPIDEMIC CHOLERA IN INDIA. 
 
 DRAWN UP BY ORDER OF GOVERNMENT, AND ABRIDGED, WITH INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 By William Scot, M.D. 
 
 SUKOEOX AND SECKETAET TO THE MEDICAL BOAKD. 
 
 With a Map. 8vo. 6s. Gd. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 A CHARGE 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE ORDINARY VISITATION IN JULY 1849. 
 
 By Henry Edward Manning, M.A., Archdeacon of Chichester. 
 
 8vo. 2s. 
 
 ^ 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF THE INCARNATION, 
 
 IN ITS RELATION TO MANKIND AND TO THE CHURCH. 
 
 By Ai’clideacon Wilberforce. 
 
 Second Edition. 8vo. 12Sr 
 
 ♦ 
 
 OUTLINES OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 A MANUAL FOB THE USE OF SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS. 
 
 By Thomas B. Shaw, B.A. 
 
 Post 8to. 12s. 
 
 “ The author of this work holds the appointment of Professor of English Literature 
 in the Imperial Alexander Lyceum of St. Petersburg. In the course of his teaching 
 he found the want of a manual, concise but comprehensive, on the subject of his 
 lectures. To remedy this defect he compiled the “ Outlines of English Literature,” a 
 work which, in justice to the author, we are bound to say is concise and comprehensive, 
 well written, and characterised in most instances by a fair and impartial spirit.” 
 
 Morniwj Post. 
 
 HEALTHY HOMES: 
 
 GUIDE TO THE PROPER REGULATION OF BUILDINGS, STREETS, DRAINS, 
 AND SEWERS, 
 
 By Wilham Hosking, Archt. & C,E. 
 
 Kev> Edition. Post 8vo. 3s. Qd. 
 
 “ The author’s experience on matters of this kind is most extensive : he points out in 
 the most striking manner the serious effects produced on the genei’al health of the 
 inhabitants of towns, and above all the metropolis, by neglecting to pay due attention to 
 the construction of houses aud other buildings.” Morning Chronicle, 
 
16 
 
 MR. MURRAY’S LATEST PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 RANKE’S HISTORY OF PRUSSIA, 
 
 AXD MEMOIRS OF THE HOUSE OF BRANDENBURG. 
 
 Trauslated by Sir Alexander and Lady Luff Gordon. 
 
 3 Vols. 8vo. 36s. 
 
 “ I beg to thank you for the copy of the translation of my late work which you 
 were so kind as to send me : it answers my highest expectations, and I feel niuch 
 indebted to you and the able translators for the full justice you have done it.” 
 
 Professw Ranhe to Mr. Murray, Sept., 1849. 
 
 “ The translators of this work have done it every justice, and its contuiental repute is 
 a guarantee of its value and importance. It reflects many new lights upon points of 
 biographical and national interest.” Literary Gazette. 
 
 A SECOND VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES 
 . - OF' north' AMERICA. 
 
 By Sir Charles LycU, P.Il.S. 
 
 2 Vols. Tost 8vo. ISs. 
 
 “ This is very pleasant and at the same time very instiaictive reading. Sir Charles 
 Lyell ranges with great ease, liveliness, and rapidity over an infinite variety of subjects, 
 religious, scientific, political, social — from the most profound inquiries into the structure 
 of the immense continent of North America, the institutions, the resources, the destiny 
 of the mighty nation which is spreading over it with such unexampled actiHty, down to 
 the lightest touches of Transatlantic character and manners. The present volumes will 
 command the interest of the ordinary reader in a much higher degree than his former 
 valuable Tour, which we take some shame to ourselves for not having noticed in this 
 Journal. Not only do the author’s peculiar pursuits occupy in proportion much less 
 space, but the scientific part, without being condescendingly popular, from his perfect 
 mastery of his topics and the lively perspicuity of his style, has the rare merit of making 
 the most abstruse discussions intelligible, we cannot but think even attractive, if not to 
 the absolutely uninitiate, to those who have but slight elementary acquaintance with this 
 new philosophy.” Quarterly Revmv, July, 1849. 
 
 4 ^ 
 
 A HISTORY OF THE SIKHS, 
 
 FROM THE ORIGIN OF THE NATION TO THE BATTLES OF THE SUTLEJ. 
 
 By Capt. Joseph D. Cunningham. 
 
 Map?. 8vo. 15j. 
 
 “ This work makes its appearance very appropriately at the present moment, and has 
 a strong recommendation from the circumstance of its being the production of a gentle- 
 man who has passed some time in the Punjaub in a military command ; for Mr. 
 Cunningham is a captain in the army in India, and lived among the Sikh people for a 
 period of eight years. A history of the Sikhs, from their origin as a nation to the period 
 of the battles of the Sutlej, is contained in this vojume. It is both comprehensive in 
 its arrangement, and minute in detail ; and may justly be considered the most complete 
 history of the gallant people we are now at war with, hitherto given to the public.” 
 
 Morning Herald. 
 
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