PREFACE.

The short descriptions of the principal Egyptian monuments on each side of the Nile between Cairo and the Second Cataract (Wâdi Ḥalfah), printed in the following pages, are not in any way intended to form a "Guide to Egypt": they are drawn up for the use of those travellers who have a very few weeks to spend in Egypt, and who wish to carry in their memories some of the more important facts connected with the fast-perishing remains of one of the most interesting and ancient civilizations that has been developed on the face of the earth. The existing guide books are generally too voluminous and diffuse for such travellers; and are, moreover, in many respects inaccurate. Experience has shown that the greater number of travellers in that country are more interested in history and matters connected with Egyptian civilization from B.C. 4400 to B.C. 450, than with Egypt under the rule of the Assyrians and Persians, Greeks and Romans, Arabs and Turks. It is for this reason that no attempt has been made to describe, otherwise than in the briefest possible manner, its history under these foreign rulers, and

only such facts connected with them as are absolutely necessary for a right understanding of its monuments have been inserted. In addition to such descriptions, a few chapters have been added on the history of the country during the rule of the Pharaohs, its people, the religion and method of writing. At the end of the book a fairly full list of the most important Egyptian kings is appended, and in order to make this list as useful as possible, a transliteration of each name is printed beneath it, together with the ordinary form of the name. The list of three hundred hieroglyphic characters and their phonetic values, printed on pp. 61-68, will, it is hoped, be useful to those who may like to spell out the royal names on tombs and temples and the commoner words which occur in the inscriptions. For those who wish to study independently the various branches of Egyptology, a list of the more readily obtained books is given in the "Programme" issued yearly by Thos. Cook and Son.

In transcribing Arabic names of places the most authoritative forms have been followed, but such wellknown names as "Luxor," in Arabic El-Uksûr or El-kuşûr, and "Cairo," in Arabic Kâhira, have not been altered.

Similarly, the ordinary well-known. forms of the Egyptian proper names "Rameses," "Thothmes," "Amenophis," "Amāsis," "Psammetichus," "Hophra" or "Apries," etc., etc., have been

used in preference to the more correct transcriptions "Rā-messu,” “Teḥuti-mes," "Amen-ḥetep,” “Аāḥmes," "Psemthek," "Uaḥ-ab-Ra.”

The dates assigned to the Egyptian kings are those of Dr. H. Brugsch, who bases his calculations on the assumption that the average duration of a generation was thirty-three years. Hence it will be readily understood that the date assigned to Rameses II. (B.C. 1333), for instance, is only approximately correct.

September, 1890.

E. A. WALLIS BUDGE.

Preface to the Second Edition.

In the second edition of this book care has been taken to correct misprints, etc., which have been kindly pointed out by friends and reviewers. Short descriptions of the principal Egyptian monuments in the Gîzeh Museum have been inserted, the numbers, as far as possible, being taken from M. Maspero's authoritative Guide du Visiteur au Musée de Boulaq, 1884; and an improved map has been given. During the last two years Prof. J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., has been engaged in making careful investigations into the subject of the orientation of Egyptian temples, from which we may one day hope to obtain data for finding within a few years the age of each. Although these researches already enable us to rectify many important points in the chronology of Egypt, it has been thought best to retain for the present the system of Dr. H. Brugsch.

The suggestion that time-tables of the arrival and departure of the steamers at the various places on the Nile between Cairo and Wâdi Halfah should be inserted, has not been adopted, as information concerning Messrs. Thomas Cook and Son's swift Tourist,

Express and Mail Steamers, which ascend and descend the river with a punctuality equal to that of many an English railway, can be readily obtained from the programmes issued at their offices all over the world.

The transliteration of Egyptian and Arabic names is that in common use throughout Europe.

E. A. WALLIS BUDGE.

September, 1892.