I. ANCIENT HISTORY.

A. EASTERN PEOPLES.1

§ 1. EGYPTIANS. Hamites.

Geography: Egypt 2 (Kem, i. e. "black earth" in old Egyptian) is the valley of the Nile, which extends between two chains of low hills for 550 miles, with a breadth, above the Delta, of but a few miles. It is divided into Upper Egypt (Phile, Elephantine, Thebes or Diospolis, called by Homer KaróμTUλos, the "hundred gated," a designation which must refer to the entrances of temples and palaces, since the city had neither walls nor gates) and Lower Egypt (Memphis; in the Delta, Tanis, Bubastis, Naucrătis, Saïs; west of the Delta, Canopus, now Abukir; on the east, Pelusium; the latter cities standing on what were, in ancient times, the largest mouths of the Nile). These divisions were originally, in all probability, independent countries. They are not to be confounded with the separate principalities which became numerous at a later time. This division was commemorated in the royal title of the kings of the united countries, "lords of the upper and lower country," "lords of the two crowns."

Religion: Worship of personified forces of Nature and symbolical animal worship. In Memphis especial reverence paid to Ptah, the highest of the gods, the first creator; in his temple stood the sacred bull Apis (Egypt. Api), also closely connected with Osiris.. Ra,3 worshipped particularly in On or Heliopolis, represented the transmitting and preserving power of the godhead embodied in the sun. Khem, was the god of generation and growth. Reverence was also paid to the goddess Neith, whose worship at Sais was considered by the Greeks to be identical with that of Athena, to the goddess Bast or Pacht (at Bubastis), and to the goddess of Buto, on one of the mouths of the Nile.

At Thebes, cult of Ammon (Amun), the god of heaven, later united with Ra to form a single divinity. In Upper Egypt worship was paid to Mentu, the rising sun; Tum or Atmu, the setting sun; Chnum or Kneph, god of the overflow, always represented with a ram's head and double horns, and later becoming united with Ammon to form one divinity; and to the goddess Mut (i. e. "mother"). The educated classes recognized the various gods as personified attributes of the one Divinity.

1 For authorities, see Appendix I.

2 See Kiepert, Atlas Antiquus, Tab. III.

3 According to Rosellini and Lepsius the title of Pharaoh is derived from this name, and means Son of the Sun. Ebers and Brugsch derive it from

Pe-ra(o), the 'great house." (Compare "Sublime Porte.")

Myth of Osiris, the creative force in Nature, who was killed and thrown into the sea by Set (Typhon), the destructive force in Nature (especially drought); sought after by his sorrowing consort Isis (the earth), he was avenged by their son Horos, who slew Set; restored to life, Osiris thenceforward ruled in the lower world (decay and resurrection of the creative force in nature; immortality of the soul). Conjoined with Horos, the goddess Hathor, considered by the Greeks to be the same as Aphrodite.

Highly developed moral code.

Civilization: Fertility of the valley of the Nile maintained by the regular overflow of the Nile, beginning at the end of July and lasting four months.

Hieroglyphics, very early in conjunction with the hieratic, and afterwards the demotic, characters (syllabic and phonetic signs), which represented the language of daily life, the dialect of the common people.

Embalming of the dead. (Mummies.)

Avoidance of intercourse with foreign peoples and adoption of foreign customs. Strict regulation of the entire life by religious

prescriptions.

Castes: Priests, warriors, agricultural laborers, artisans, shepherds. These castes, however, were in no wise absolutely separated from one another.

Form of Government: Despotic monarchy, with divine attributes, also in possession of the highest spiritual power. Strong influence of the priests, especially after the fourteenth century, but they never controlled the supreme power.1

The Pyramids are gigantic monuments of the kings. Over thirty still exist. The largest, at Gizeh, was originally 480 feet high, and still measures 450 feet. The Obelisks-of which one is now at Paris, several in Rome, one in London, and one in New York- -are cut from single blocks of stone (monoliths), and were offerings to the sun-god Ra; the Sphinxes were symbols of the sun-god.

Chronology: The Egyptians filled the space before Mena, the first of the historic line of kings, by the assumption of three dynasties of gods, demi-gods, and "the mysterious manes." The list of kings after Mena was given at length by the priest Manetho (about 250 B. C.), in his history of Egypt. He arranged them in thirty dynasties, a division which is still used. To reconcile the names and dates given by Manetho with the records upon the monuments is a difficult matter, owing in part to the fact that several of the dynasties of Manetho probably reigned contemporaneously in different parts of Egypt, that it was the custom for a king to associate his son with himself during the latter part of his reign, and that the son afterwards reckoned his reign from the date of such association. Hence the systems of chronology, drawn up by Egyptologists, vary greatly. There are, in general, two schools: (1.) The long chronology, advocated on the continent, wherein the dates assigned to Mena vary from

1 See Duncker, History of Antiquity, I. 180.

2 Lepsius saw traces and remains of sixty-seven pyramids; Brugsch of more than seventy.

5702 (Boeckh) to 3623 (Bunsen). (2.) The short chronology, advocated in England, wherein the dates assigned to Mena vary between 2700 and 2440. In the following pages the chronology of Lepsius is followed, with the exception of the date assigned to Mena, which Lepsius gives as 3892 B. C. These dates should be compared with the lists given by Brugsch1 and by Rawlinson.2 Before 3000. The old empire of the Egyptians, in the lower val

ley of the Nile, founded according to Egyptian tradition by Mena (Menes). Capital: Memphis.

2800-2700 (?). The kings Khufu, Khafra, Menkaura (according to Herodotus, Cheops, Chephren, Mykerinos), the builders of the largest pyramids. IVth dynasty (Memphis) called the "Pyramid dynasty."

About 2400. Removal of the centre of government of the empire to

Thebes.

Of the princes of this line the following deserve mention: Amenemhat I. (2380-2371), who seems to have extended the power of Egypt up the Nile and over a part of Nubia; Usurtasen I. (2371–2325) who continued the conquests of his predecessor, and erected obelisks; Amenemhat II.; Usurtasen II.; Usurtasen III.; Amenemhat III. (2221– 2179) constructed lake Meri 4 (i. e. "lake of inundations "), a large reservoir for regulating the water supply of the Nile, and built S. of this lake the so-called Labyrinth, a large palace for ceremonial acts and sacrifices. These six monarchs belong to the XIIth dynasty (of Thebes).

About 2100. Egypt conquered by the Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings. The Hyksos (derived from Hyk, king, and Schasu, shepherds, contracted into Sós) were wandering tribes of Semitic descent. About 1800. Thebes revolted against the rule of the Hyksos. Native rulers maintained themselves in Upper Egypt. After a long contest the Shepherd kings were driven out of Egypt completely under King Aahmes (Amosis), of Thebes (1684-1659).5 Their epoch covers the XIIIth to XVIIth dynasties.

1670-525. The new empire (capital at first Thebes), under Thutmes III. (Thutmosis, 1591-1515; XVIIIth dynasty) increased rapidly in power and extent.

1524-1488. Under Thutmes and his successors, especially Amenhotep III. (Amenophis), successful expeditions against the Syrians (Ruthen) and against the Ethiopians in the south.

1 History of Egypt. Appendix. See also I. 37, and xxxii. note 1. 2 History of Egypt, or Manual of History, p. 61, and foll.

3 The royal nomenclature of the Egyptians is as picturesquely varied.as their chronology. I have given first some form of the true Egyptian name, as found on the monuments, generally that adopted by Brugsch, and have followed it by the more common name, as given by Manetho, Herodotus, or the Jewish Scriptures, in parentheses. [TRANS.]

4 Called by the Greeks Maris (Moipos, Herod. I. 101), and erroneously interpreted as a royal name.

5 Duncker, History of Antiquity, I. 130, and foll.

Erection of magnificent palaces and temples at Thebes. (Ruins near the present villages of Carnac, Luxor, and Medinet-Hafu; near the latter two sitting colossi, statues of Amenhotep, one of which the Greeks called the musical Statue of Memnon.)

1438-1388. Similar success in war fell to the lot of Seti I. (Sethos). Expeditions to Ethiopia, Arabia, and to the Euphrates. Temple of Ammon on the left bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes. His son, 1388-1322. Ramessu II., the Great (Sestu-Ra, Ramses), was victorious in the early part of his reign, but could not long maintain his supremacy over Syria (XIXth dynasty).

In spite of this a peculiar tradition transformed him into that military hero whom the Greeks knew as Sesostris (Herodotus, II. 102– 110), or Sesoosis (Diod. Sic. I. 53-58), and to whom they ascribed fabulous expeditions to Thrace and India. This tradition seems to have had its origin in the bombastic expressions common to the royal inscriptions of the Egyptians, and in poetic exaltations of his earlier victories. In the Greek account we have besides a confusion of recollections of the glorious deeds of Thutmes and Amenhotep, of Seti and Ramessu III.

During his long reign he covered Egypt with magnificent buildings. Splendid palace known as "the House of Ramses," south of Carnac; temple of Ammon, 400 miles above Syene. Commencement of a canal between the Red Sea and the Nile. Ramessu II. was probably the oppressor of the Hebrews. Under his successor,

1322-1302. Mineptah, i. e. "beloved of Ptah," occurred the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt (see page 8).1

1269-1244. Ramessu III. (Rhampsinitus, XXth dynasty). Successful resistance offered to the Libyan and Semitic tribes; expeditions as far as Phoenicia and Syria. (Story of the theft from the treasury, Herodotus, II. 121.) 1244-1091. Decay of the empire under the later kings of the name of Ramses.

1091. A new dynasty (XXI.) came to the throne with King Hirhor (Smendes). The seat of their power was Tanis, in the Delta, whence they are called Tanites.

Loss of supremacy over Ethiopia, where the kingdom of Napata or Meroe was founded.

961-940. Shashang I. (Sesonchis, Shisak), from Bubastis, founded a new dynasty (XXII.).2 He undertook (949) a successful expedition against Judæa. Jerusalem conquered and plundered.

1 It may have occurred under his successor of the same name; the date of whose reign, as well as the reigns of the kings immediately preceding, would have to be placed several decades earlier, in agreement with Duncker and Maspero.

2 The opinion of Brugsch, History of Egypt, II. 198, that an Assyrian conquest of Egypt occurred at this time, and that Shashang I. was the son of the conqueror, Nimrod, king of Assyria, has not found favor among Egyptologists. [TRANS.]

730.

The Ethiopians, under Shabak (Sabako), conquered Egypt, which they governed for fifty-eight years under three successive kings. (XXVth dynasty.)

672. An expedition of the Assyrians, under Esarhaddon (p. 15), against Egypt. The king of the Assyrians and his son, Asshurbanipal (Sardanapalus), put an end to the rule of the Ethiopians (under Taharak or Tirhakah, the second successor of Shabak), and entrusted the government of Egypt to twenty governors, most of whom were natives.

653.

One of these governors, Psamethik, in alliance with Gyges, king of Lydia, with the help of Carians, Phoenicians, and Ionians, made himself independent of Assyria, and sole ruler of Egypt (XXVIth dynasty, of Saïs). The tale of the twelve native princes (the Dodecarchy of Herodotus and Diodorus), according to which Psammeticus defeated his eleven co-regents at Momemphis, is not historical. The number, 12, is derived from the twelve courts of columns in the Labyrinth, which, according to Herodotus and Diodorus, was built by the twelve princes, whereas this gigantic building had already been standing 1500 years (p. 4).

653-610. Psamethik I., king of Egypt, from the mouths

of the Nile to Elephantine, above which place the Ethiopians held the supremacy. (XXVIth dynasty.)

New capital, Saïs, in the Delta, where Psamethik built a magnificent palace. Egypt opened to foreigners, who were favored in the army and settled at various points. Caste of Interpreters. Greek factory at Naucrătis. Dissatisfaction among the military caste; emigrations upward along the Nile to Ethiopia.

Psamethik carried on wars in Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine; they were probably undertaken in the first instance to strengthen his frontier against a new attack by the Assyrians, which he dreaded. These wars led to no lasting conquests. The son of Psamethik, 610-595. Neku (Necho), revived the plan of Ramses to unite the Nile and the Red Sea by a canal, but did not succeed in carrying it out. By his orders Africa was circumnavigated by Phoenician seamen. He undertook expeditions to Syria where he was at first successful, and defeated the king of Judah in the battle of Megiddo (609), but was afterwards defeated by the Babylonians in the

605. Battle of Karchemish. Loss of all his conquests in Asia. Neku's son,

595-589. Psame thik II. Expedition against Ethiopia without success. His son,

589-570. Hophra (Apries), fought without lasting success against Nebuchadnezzar, and sent help to the tribes of Libya against Cyrene. His defeated army revolted, and he was defeated at the head of Ionian and Carian mercenaries, captured and strangled.