t EQYPT. 



dynasties except the name* of tome of the king*. Under the lath 

 dynasty, about B.C. 1706, Joseph, aod afterward* Jacob ami hi* family, 

 came to Egypt, where their descendant* *etUed and multu 

 Lower Egypt Egypt was then the granary of tho noighbouring 

 nation*, and apparently the centre of a great caravan-trade carried on 

 by tht> Arab* or lahmaeUtea, who brought to it the pice* and other 

 raluable product* of the east. (Genesis, xxxvii. 25.) Joseph died 

 very old, under the 17th dynasty, which wa* aUo from Lower Egypt, 

 and which reigned from B.C. 1851 to 1575. About this period " there 

 aroM a new king who knew not Joseph." (Exodua, i. 8.) Thi* wa* 

 the head of the 18th dynasty, from Diospolia, or Thebes, which 

 dynaaty reigned 340 yean, according to Eusebius and other chroni- 

 clers, and which contain* the name* of the moat illustrious sovereign* 

 of ancient Egypt The irruption of the Hyksos, or shepherds, i* sup- 

 poaed by aome to have occurred during thin period. Manetho'a 17th 

 dynasty conaiita of shepherd king*, who are aaid to have reigned at 

 Memphis. Tbeae shepherd*, who are represented as people with red 

 hair and blue eye*, came from the north east, perhaps from the moun- 

 tain* of Assyria; they conquered or overran the whole country, 

 committing the greatest ravages, and at last settled in Lower E^ypt, 

 where they had kings of their own race. They were finally expelled 

 by Amosis, the leader of the 18th dynasty, about B.C. 1530, who once 

 more united Egypt under the dominion of a single monarchy, assuming 

 the title of ' Lord of the Upper and Lower Country.' His succession 

 marks the commencement of what has been termed the New Monarchy. 

 The Exodus of the Israelites, about B.C. 1490 or 1460, occurred in 

 the reign of Thothmes III. or his successor, some 430 years after 

 the visit of Abraham to Egypt. Remeses II., or the Great, son of 

 Usirei I., who ascended the throne about B.C. 1350, and reigned above 

 40 years, is supposed to be the Sesostris or Sesoosia of the Greek 

 historians. He was one of the most warlike monarcha of ancient 

 Egypt, and his wars extended far, and against mauy nations. Some 

 of these are represented on the monuments of Thebes as of much 

 lighter complexion than the Egyptians, with flowing beards, and 

 dresses evidently Asiatic. His campaigns extended far into Asia, and 

 the interior of Africa. That the old kings of Egypt extended their 

 dominions to the east and north-east, as was done by their Greek 

 and Mohammedan successors, is attested by the Scripture (2 Kings, 

 xxiv. 7), and by the inscriptions on the Egyptian paintings and other 

 monuments. (Wilkinson, ' Ancient Egyptians.') 



The 19th dynasty, also of Diospolitans, began about B.C. 1270, and 

 reigned till about B.C. 1170. During this period the war of Troy took 

 place, in the reign of a Remeses, supposed to be the fifth of that 

 name, according to Pliny. The Pharaoh whose daughter Solomon 

 married (B.C. 1013), must have been one of the 21st dynaaty. It is 

 curious that, from the Exodus till Solomon's time, a period of nearly 

 five centuries, no mention is made in the Scripture of Egypt, which 

 proves that the storm of war, if such there was, passed off either to 

 the eastward of Palestine, or that the Egyptian conquerors followed 

 the maritime road by Gaza and the Phoenician coast, leaving the high 

 land of Judaea to their right. (Wilkinson, ' Materia Hieroglyphics," 

 part ii.) The 22nd dynasty began with Scsonchis, according to 

 Manetho, the Sheshouk'of the phonetic signs, who began to 

 reign about B.C. 978, and who is the Shixbak of the Scripture, 

 at whose court Jeroboam took refuge, and married his daughter, 

 and who, after Solomon's death, plundered the Temple of Jerusalem 

 in the 5th year of Kehoboam, about B.C. 971. Shishak is represented 

 as coming to the attack with 1200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen, and 

 an immense multitude of Lubims (probably Libyans), of Sukkiims, 

 and Ethiopians. (2 Chronicles, xii. 2, 8.) 



The 23rd dynasty, called Diospolitan, like the preceding, began 

 about B.C. 908 with Usorkon II. Homer is believed to have flourished 

 about this time, and be speaks of Egypt under its Greek name. The 

 24th dynasty, which is called Saite, from Sais, a district of Lower 

 Egypt, begin* with the Bocchoris of Manetho, the Bakhor or Pehor 

 of the phonetic signs, about B.C. 812. Sabacos (Sabakoph, phonetic), 

 begins the 25th dynasty of Ethiopians, who about this time invaded 

 Egypt, or at least Upper Egypt Tehrak or Tirhakah, one of his sue- 

 osssori, attacked Sennacherib, B.C. 710. Scthos, a priest of Hephesua, 

 the great temple of Memphis, became kinp, and ruled at Memphis con- 

 temporary witb Tirhakah. After the death of Sethos a great confusion 

 or anarchy took place. At last twelve chiefs or monarch* assembled 

 at Memphis, and took the direction of affairs, which they retained for 

 16 year*. After this, Paamatik I., or Piammitichua, the son of Nechao 

 or Necoa, who bad been put to death by Sabacos, became, by the aid 

 of On-ek mercenaries, king of all Egypt about B.C. 650 or 670. His 

 BOO Necos II., the Pharaoh Nechoh of the Scripture (2 Kings, xxiii.), 

 marched against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates : he 

 defeated and (lew Joaiah, king of Judah, B.C. 610; he also began the 

 canal that joined the east branch of the Nile with the Red Sea. It 

 was in his reign that the Egyptians lost possession of Syria, Hi* 

 successor, Paamatik IL, wa* followed by Paamatik III., supposed by 

 some to be the A pries of Manetbo, and the Pharaoh of Hophra of the 

 Scripture, who defeated the Phoenician*, took Sidon, and invaded 

 Cyprus, which wa* finally subjected by Amasis, who succeeded him on 

 the throne. The reign of Amaai* lasted 44 yearn, according to a date on 

 the monument* ; hi* successor, Paamrnenitus, reigned only six months, 

 when Egypt was invaded and subjugated by Cambyses, B.C. 626. 



EGYPT. 



MB 



The 27th dynasty includes the Persian kings from Cambyses to 

 Dariu* Nuthus, during which time Egypt wa* a province, though a 

 very unruly one, of the Persian monarchy. It wa* during this period 

 that Herodotus visited Egypt Though he saw that country in a state 

 !' humiliation and depression, yet he wa* powerfully struck by its 

 building* and its highly advanced social sUte, a* well as by the pecu- 

 liarities of its manners and institutions. Egypt appears to have mad* 

 upon Herodotus an impression something like that produced by 

 England upon French or other continental travellers in the last 

 century, as being a country unlike any other. But Herodotus derived 

 his information concerning Egyptian history chiefly from the priest* 

 of Memphis, and consequently hi* account is very meagre in all that 

 relates to Thebes and Heliopolis, the two other great centres of 

 Egyptian hierarchy. After several revolt* the Egyptians succeeded 

 in placing Amy rtteus, or Aomahorte, a Saite, on the throne, about 

 B c. 414. This king alone constitutes the 28th dynasty. The magni- 

 ficent sarcophagus of green breccia in which this monarch was interred 

 is now in the British Museum. He was succeeded by the 29th 

 dynaaty, of Mendesiana, who defended Egypt against the repeated 

 attacks of the Persians, with the assistance of Greek auxiliaries under 

 Ageailaus and others. At hut Nectanebos II. being defeated by 

 Ochus, fled into Ethiopia B.C. 350, and Egypt fell again under the 

 yoke of the Persians. With Nectanebos ends the Egyptian dynasties. 

 The Persians were succeeded by the Macedonians, who, after the 

 death of Alexander, founded the dynasty of the Ptolemies, or Lagidx, 

 who ruled over Egypt for nearly 300 years, and restored that country 

 to a considerable degree of prosperity. At the death of Cleopatra, 

 B.C. 30, Egypt was reduced to a Roman province by Augustus. 



Having now closed tbis brief summary of the history of ancient 

 Egypt, imperfect and conjectural in part aa it unavoidably is, we 

 shall in a few words advert to the social condition of the country 

 under its native kings. That condition ia now tolerably well known 

 by the attentive examination of its remaining monuments and their 

 sculptures and paintings. The researches of the French in the exps- 

 dition to Egypt, and of Belzoni, Champollion, Roaellini, Wilkinson, 

 and others, have put us in possession of a series of sketches evidently 

 drawn from the life, and descriptive of the arts, industry, and habits 

 of the ancient Egyptians. To these works and the plates which 

 accompany them we must refer the reader for particular details ; here 

 we can only speak as to the general results. There is no doubt that 

 this singular nation hi;d attained a high degree of refinement and 

 luxury at a time when the whole western world was still involved in 

 barbarism ; when the history of Europe, including Greece, had not 

 yet begun ; and long before Carthage, Athens, and Rome were 

 thought of. 



Egypt Proper, as we have said, consisted in ancient as in modern 

 times of the narrow rock-bound valley of the Nile. It was at first 

 divided into Upper and Lower Egypt, but a third province was sub- 

 sequently formed out of these and called Heptauomis, or Middle 

 Egypt : the capitals of these provinces were Thebes, Memphis, and 

 Heliopolis. The provinces were again divided into nomes, or di 

 which in the time of Sesostris amounted to 36, but were subsequently 

 increased to 53. Each nome waa presided over by a monarch, and 

 subdivided into local governments, aud these again into minor juris- 

 dictions. This form of division of the country lasted till the time of 

 Conatantine, when it was divided into six provinces, but the subdi- 

 vision into nomes lasted about three centuries longer. 



The population of ancient Egypt was, if we may trust the Greek 

 historians, much greater than that of modern Egypt. According to 

 Diodorus it once contained 30,000 towns and villages, and seven millions 

 of inhabitants, though when he visited the country (B.C. 58) it only 

 contained 18,000 towns and villages, and three millions of inhabitants. 

 Herodotus asserts that in the reign of Amasis there were in Egypt 

 20,000 cities. These appear to be merely very vague statements, yet 

 us they were obtained from the priests they may have been founded 

 upon official data ; for since in the most flourishing periods of its 

 history the occupation of every male inhabitant was registered by 

 the proper officer, it seems probable, though a census may not have 

 been taken, that a tolerably correct estimate of the population may 

 have been arrived at. 



We cannot here enter into the vast and intricate ground of Egypt ian 

 mythology, and must refer the reader to the special works on that 

 subject by Champollion, Wilkinson, and others. Their animal worship 

 appears to have been originally symbolical, though it afterwards 

 degenerated, at least for the vulgar, into groan idolatry. 



Egypt attained its high state of material civilisation under a system 

 of institutions and policy which resembles in some respects those of the 

 Hindoos. It was a monarchy based upon an all-powerful hierarchy. 

 The inhabitants were divided into a kind of hereditary castes or 

 classes. The first of these classes consisted of the priests, who filled 

 the chief offices of the state. They were the depositaries and the 

 expounders of the law and the religion of the country ; they monopo- 

 lised the principal branches of learning ; they were judges, physicians, 

 architects ; their sacred books, like their temples, were not open to 

 the vulgar ; they had a language, or at least a writing, the hieroglyphic, 

 peculiar to themselves. The king himself, if not of their class, was 

 adopted into it, was initiated into it* mysteries, and became bound liy 

 its regulation*. The priests were exempt from all duties, and a large 



