Supplement to "Nature" November 6, 1902. 



111 



THE HISTORY OF EGYPT. 

 A History of Egypt from the End of the Neolithic Period 

 to the Death of Cleopatra 1 71., B.C. 30. 8 vols., illus- 

 trated. Rooks on Egypt and Chaldaea, vols, ix-xvi. 

 By E. A. Wallis Budge, M.A., Litt.D., D.Lit., Keeper 

 of the Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the 

 British Museum. (London : Kegan Paul and Co., 

 Ltd., 1902.) Price 3.r. 6d. per vol. 



IT is now twenty years since Egypt last changed 

 masters, and the completion of these twenty years 

 of British rule has been marked by the completion of a 

 work of public utility, the great dam at Aswan, which 

 will surpass any similar work carried out in the days of the 

 Pharaohs. Simultaneously is published the fullest and 

 most complete English history of Egypt under her 

 ancient native monarchs, from the earliest times to the 

 end of the native kingdom, a period of more than four thou- 

 sand years. The publication consists of eight small and 

 very handy volumes, all profusely illustrated with photo- 

 graphs and line-drawings of temples, tombs, mummies 

 and other antiquities of the various periods, which are 

 treated in succession. Dr. Budge may be congratulated 

 on the production at a most opportune moment of this 

 work, which should find a place on the shelves of every- 

 one who is. interested in the past history of the famous 

 land which we have taken under our protection. 



The history is described on the title-page as beginning 

 with the end of the Neolithic period. But in reality 

 Dr. Budge begins earlier than that, for Egypt was 

 inhabited in Palaeolithic days, and the fact is chron- 

 icled by her historian, who also engraves several flint 

 implements, now in the British Museum, which are 

 undoubtedly of the Older Stone Age (p. 85). All anthro- 

 pological inquirers will be grateful to Dr. Budge for the 

 large number of illustrations which he gives in his first 

 volume of the weapons, implements, vases, &c, which were 

 used by the earliest Egyptians. The Neolithic Egyptian 

 weapons are beyond doubt the finest ever discovered, the 

 masterpieces of the Neolithic knapper, and those who are 

 familiar only with European or East-Asiatic types will 

 open their eyes when they first become acquainted with 

 those of Egypt. The vases can hardly be believed to 

 have been made without the wheel. Yet they undoubtedly 

 were ; neither the wheel nor the lathe were known to the 

 early Egyptians. The Neolithic vase-types, the oldest 

 of which is the well-known red and black ware, gradually 

 progress until they merge insensibly into those of the 

 earliest dynastic period, which was " Chalcolithic " in 

 character, i.e. copper had then come into general use. 



Dr. Budge describes very fully the probable manner of 

 life of the earliest Egyptians, his authorities being their 

 own relics and the many valuable hints which are given 

 us by the Sicilian historian Diodorus. He also makes 

 clear the whole history of the discovery of these primitive 

 inhabitants of the Nile Valley, showing how their remains 

 were known in many museums years ago, but could not 

 be classified, being often set down as forgeries simply 

 because they were extraordinary ; how Prof. Petrie and 

 M de Morgan made a series of independent but contem- 

 NO. I/23, VOL. 67] 



porary explorations, which resulted in the discovery of 

 whole cemeteries of the " New Race " (the people to whom 

 these extraordinary objects belonged) and of numbers of 

 these objects, chiefly flints and vases, themselves ; how the 

 problem of the chronological position of these remarkable 

 remains arose, and how M. de Morgan dated them 

 rightly and Prof. Petrie wrongly; finally, how the 

 English savant was convi need that the arguments of his 

 French confrere were correct, with the result that all 

 archaeologists are now agreed that these remains are 

 veritably those of the Egyptians of the later Neolithic 

 and early Chalcolithic periods. All this, and more, is 

 set forth in most interesting fashion by the Keeper of the 

 Xational Collection of Egyptian Antiquities. 



From the Predynastic period, to which the Neolithic 

 antiquities belong, Dr. Budge proceeds to the discussion 

 of the remains of the Early Dynastic or "Archaic" 

 period, which was "Chalcolithic" in character, as has 

 been already observed above. Here again the historian 

 performs the necessary function of impartially dealing 

 out to each explorer and archaeologist the exact meed 

 of due renown to which he is entitled for his particular 

 services to the cause of science in the matter of the 

 discovery and elucidation of the tombs of the earliest 

 dynasties. Prof. Petrie's scheme for the arrangement 

 of the earliest kings is more or less accepted, with the 

 exception of " Dynasty O," of which the author makes 

 no mention, probably because the phrase is a contra- 

 diction in terms, since " Dynasty O " is no dynasty. 

 That there were local kings in both Upper and Lower 

 Egypt before Menes is of course probable ; indeed, Dr. 

 Budge is, so far as we are aware, the first to point out 

 that a very ancient monument, the Palermo Stele (Fifth 

 Dynasty, about 3500 B.C.), contains the names of a 

 whole series of hitherto unsuspected predynastic 

 monarchs of Lower Egypt, which names, Seka, Tau, 

 Thesh, Mekha, &c, are of a most primitive character 

 (vol. i. p. 169). Since, however, these kings, as well 

 as others (of Upper Egypt) identified at Abydos are 

 mere local monarchs of the ages before Mena, they 

 can hardly be said to belong to any " dynasty " at 

 all, for the dynasties of All Egypt begin with Mena ; 

 and the use of the term " dynasty " for these predynastic 

 chiefs is evidently deprecated by Dr. Budge. 



In the chapter with which the second volume com- 

 mences, Dr. Budge describes the advance which the 

 "Archaic" Egyptians had made upon their ancestors 

 of the predynastic time. The civilisation of the Archaic 

 people he does not regard as indigenous, but as an 

 importation from farther east, probably from Southern 

 Arabia. He certainly seems to show that there are un- 

 doubted traces of strong Sumerian (Early Babylonian) 

 influence in the archaic civilisation of Egypt which are 

 absent from the older Neolithic barbarism. Further, 

 writing begins with the dynasties. Taking these facts in 

 conjunction with the indications supplied by several 

 Egyptian legends (of great interest to the student of 

 early traditions), he comes to the conclusion that the 

 indigenous stone-using people, who were akin to the 

 Libyans, were overrun at some period previous to the 

 unification of the country under one king by a conquering, 

 more highly civilised people from the east, who used 

 copper weapons. This people invaded the Nile Valley 



