464 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



published by Mr. Sidney Smith for the British Museum. These 

 places were on the caravan route to Babylon, and Carchemish was 

 bound to keep possession of them. 



In the inscriptions of Carchemish three successive kings are 

 named, and the last inscription mentions a name which is deci- 

 phered as Sarduris. This must be Sarduris II of Van, who had 

 various dealings with the Hittites, as is known from the Yannic 

 inscriptions. His date, and therefore the date of the last of the 

 three kings of the Carchemish inscriptions, is about 750 B.C. 

 Other indications corroborate this conclusion, so that the dates of 

 this group of texts may be taken to fall between 850 and 750 B.C. 

 They are thus contemporary with the inscriptions of the neighbor- 

 ing kingdom of Van, with which also there seems to be some lin- 

 guistic connexion. Several comparisons were made with Vannic 

 grammar and vocabulary. 



Mr. Alexandre Moret, of Paris, Conservateur of the Musee 

 Guimet, speaking in French, then followed. The title of his 

 paper was: L'acceg de la plebe aux droits religieux et politiques 

 en Egypte. 



A visit to the splendid Egyptian galleries of the Boston Museum 

 of Fine Arts shows what a contrast there is between the funerary 

 monuments of the Old Empire and those of the Middle Empire. 

 Among the former, the superb statues of king Mycerinus and his 

 family are most notable; among the latter, the magnificent coffins 

 of private individuals. This change implies nothing less than 

 a religious and social revolution. Under the Old Empire (3000 to 

 about 2600 B.C.), the king admits to religious and administrative 

 functions only his relatives, friends, courtiers. And to them alone 

 he accords participation in the funerary rites which assure survival 

 in the other world. In Egypt, as in Greece and Rome, religious 

 rights blend with political rights. To play a role in society, one 

 must take some part in the religious rites of which the king, son 

 of the gods, god himself, is the sole dispenser among men. 



Beginning with the Middle Empire, about 2000 B.C., all is 

 changed. The funerary monuments, by their character and 

 increasing number, make it evident that every man has meantime 

 gained access to the much- valued religious and funerary rites. 

 Every man, no matter whether he be a plebeian or of the royal 



