EGYPT 



2815 



EGYPT 



EGYPT: IN ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES 



Prof. W. M. FLINDERS PETBIE, P.R.S., and S. A. MOSELEY, Author of With Kitchener in Cairo 



This article is divided into two main parts, one dealing with the Egypt of old, and the other with the modern 

 country. The former describes its wonderful civilization ; the latter includes its history until its grant of 

 independence in 1920. There are also articles on the Pyramids, on Dendera, Karnak, and other famous 

 places, and on the various rulers. For modern Egypt see the biographies of Cromer, Kitchener, Mehemet Ali, 

 and others. See also Suez Canal; Turkey ; Alexandria; Cairo 



Egypt. Arms in 

 lurkish period 



Egypt, owing to its unique 

 climate, the amount of sunshine 

 being more than tropical, is one of 

 the most impor- 

 tant lands in the 

 history of man. 

 Its productive 

 power is un- 

 rivalled, while 

 the usual N. wind 

 makes it cooler 

 than any country 

 of that latitude, 

 except ocean coasts. These condi- 

 tions, with a very healthy climate, 

 made it particularly fitting for the 

 growth of an early civilization. 

 The advantage of having excellent 

 building stones along the whole 

 valley, with easy water transport, 

 and the necessary lack of agricul- 

 tural work during the inundation 

 for a third of the year, were the 

 most favourable conditions for a 

 great architecture. The extreme 

 dryness of the country has further 

 led to the wonderful preservation 

 of even the frailest materials. It is 

 thus possible to take a longer con- 

 tinuous view of human changes 

 than in any other land. The only 

 hindrance is that, the Nile bed and 

 water level of the country having 

 risen about 5 ins. in every century, 

 the early dwellings of man in the 

 plain are now 20 ft. under water. 

 Earliest Human Work in Egypt 

 The Nile Valley began its his- 

 tory as a fault in the Eocene lime- 

 stone which covers the surface for 

 400 m. from the sea. This was 

 much raised on the E. side, up to- 

 wards the Red Sea mts., while on 

 the W. side the surface dips down 

 in the Fayum to more than 100 ft. 

 below sea level, and also in the 

 oases. The fault in the strata, due 

 to this strain, naturally received 

 the drainage of the plateau, and so 

 gouged out the Nile Valley. The 

 continuous changes in the history 

 of the country that can be observed 

 begin with the first interglacial 

 period, when there is evidence of 

 a fall of sea level about 300 ft. 

 below the present, compared with 

 200 ft. in Europe. Next came, in 

 the second glacial period, a rise of 

 the sea to 650 ft. above the pre- 

 sent level, compared with 900 ft. 

 in Europe. Of these two ages no 

 human remains have been found 

 in Egypt. 



The earliest human work in 

 Egypt is of the second interglacial 

 age, that of the grand Chellean 



flint work of Europe, fully equalled 

 in Egypt. This would be placed by 

 some authorities at 250,000 years 

 ago. The sea had retreated in 

 Europe to 600 ft. below the present 

 level, making land continuous from 

 Africa to far W. of Ireland. The 

 climate was warm and dry, and 

 mankind took a step forward in 

 the artistic perception, shown by 

 the imperishable flint remains. 

 A Rainless Land 



To this succeeded the third 

 glacial period, long ages of cold 

 and high sea level, cutting Europe 

 into scattered islands. The misery 

 of this age is seen by the decay of 

 the only art we can trace flint 

 working. In Egypt the sea level 

 rose to 800 ft. over the present, 

 like the rise of 700 ft. in Europe. 

 The Nile Valley and its tributaries 

 were silted up with rolled gravel 

 and sand, which still remain in 

 some places cut through by later 

 clearances ; and rolled beds of 

 gravel are found at the top of high 

 cliffs. After this, when the sea re- 

 treated and the Sahara dried up, 

 there was no more moist wind to 

 form rain, and Egypt became the 

 rainless land we now know. Of the 

 later stages of the stone age in 

 Europe, known by the artistic 

 products of cave man, there are 

 the equivalents in Egypt on the 

 surface. Flints of Mousterian, 

 Aurignacian, and Solutrian types 

 are found in sites on the desert ; 

 and the Magdelenian types are 

 those of the prehistoric civilization 

 which can be traced generation by 

 generation into historic times. 



IST PREHISTORIC CIVILIZATION. 

 The earliest step of the unbroken 

 line of civilization is found in 

 burials in shallow circular pits in 

 the ground. The body is doubled 

 up, with the knees near the chest, 

 and the hands before the face, 

 lying on the left side, head 

 south. This is the regular atti- 

 tude down to the historic period. 

 The earliest burials have no woven 

 cloth, the bodies being wrapped in 

 goat skins ; usually a single cup of 

 pottery lies near the face, rarely 

 some steatite beads are found, 

 while a copper pin shows that 

 metal was already known, though 

 very likely only native copper ham- 

 mered. Such is the beginning of 

 the great civilization of Egypt, 

 which we can follow through seven 

 ages of decay and revival, without 

 a break, down to our own days. 



The next change was the intro- 

 duction of more pottery in the 

 graves, and the decoration of it 

 with patterns of white lines on the 

 red polished surface. The colour- 

 ing materials and the patterns are 

 exactly like those of the highland 

 Algerian pottery of the present 

 day ; and, as the skulls of the 

 prehistoric Egyptians are almost 

 exactly of the same size as those of 

 the prehistoric Algerians, it seems 

 that these earliest civilized Egyp- 

 tians were all one with the N. 

 African people. Stone vases, 

 usually of basalt, were also made, 

 entirely formed bv handwork, 

 without turning. Slate palettes 

 became usual for grinding the 

 malachite which was painted 

 round the eyes as a preservative. 

 The palettes were made in the 

 forms of the elephant, stag, turtle, 

 bird, fish, etc. Ivory combs to 

 fasten the hair were usual, with 

 figures of animals standing upon 

 them. Flint working was highly 

 developed, equal to the best Euro- 

 pean, and only exceeded by some 

 in the next age. The whole civiliza- 

 tion seems to have been much on 

 the level of the Maori, or the best 

 Pacific island stage. 



Beginning of Written History 



The method by which the pre- 

 historic age is reduced to its order 

 of growth may be briefly stated. If 

 we have a full record of all the 

 varieties of pottery and other ob- 

 jects, found in a thousand, or more, 

 groups in graves, then it will be 

 seen that some forms are obviously 

 derived by degradation from others. 

 A rough classing by such means 

 can be extended by statistics 

 of the percentage of forms like 

 those already classed ; this is 

 similar to the percentage of recent 

 shells in various Tertiary strata. 

 By many other modes of sorting 

 and comparison, the various groups 

 can at last be put hi their most 

 probable order, which will be that 

 of keeping all resemblances as 

 close together as possible in the 

 series. Such a series, extending 

 over all the prehistoric civilization, 

 is divided into numbered stages, 

 from 30 to 78, at which point the 

 first dynasty begins the written 

 history. The order of the prehis- 

 toric time is therefore stated, not 

 by years but by sequence dates 

 from S.D. 30 to S.D. 78 ; roughly 

 these stages seem to have been at 

 least a generation each. 



