THE WATERLILIES. 



EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY. 



In Egypt the relations of the waterlilies to the social and religious 

 life were more extended. But after an impartial examination of the facts 

 available, I am strongly of opinion that they received no worship or 

 even reverence here. The teachings of archaeological research were 

 brought together long ago by Duppa (1813-1816), and to some extent 

 by Tratinnick (1822), and more recently by Dr. Pleyte (1875), whereas 

 the critical observations of Schweinfurth from 1882 to 1 886 have added 

 many interesting facts, and placed many points beyond the reach of doubt. 

 In spite of a complete unanimity among scholars, considerable confusion 

 exists in the popular mind as to the identity of the so-called Sacred Lotus 

 of Egypt. In America, at least, Nelumbo nucifera is commonly styled 



Sacred or Egyptian Lotus. But Pickering, 

 Pleyte, Joret and Schweinfurth from the bo- 

 tanical side, and Wilkinson, at least, among 

 archaeologists, unite in the opinion that Ne- 

 lumbo is never found on the ancient monu- 

 ments, and that it was not known in Egypt 

 before the advent of the Persians. Not until 

 the Roman period did it find a place in Egyptian 

 art ; it does become more or less prominent at 

 this time. But this comes within the limit of 

 recorded history and is discussed in another 

 place. 



We must understand, therefore, that the "lotus" of the palmy days 

 when Egypt was truly Egyptian was a waterlily native to the Nile Valley 

 and Delta. Two species are figured on the monuments and tombs, 

 N. lotus, the white night-lotus, and N. caerulea, the blue diurnal one ; 

 of these the latter occurs very much more frequently. Pleyte found the 

 white lotus only on a single tomb, belonging to the XII dynasty, about 

 2500 B. c.; 1 this example, however, was plainly distinguishable from the 

 allied species. Schweinfurth (1884 c) found petals of the white lotus 

 along with those of the blue in the funeral wreaths of Ramses II and 

 Amenhotep I, but he never observed any carvings or pictures of this 

 plant, though he says Unger found such at Beni-Hassan. The lotus 

 borne on the head of Nefer Turn in one of his manifestations (Wilkinson, 

 1883, 2 : 180; Wiedemann, 1897, p. 138) is long and obtuse and suggests 



FlG. 1. Nefer Turn (after Wilkinson). 



1 Petrie's dates are followed throughout. 



