THE RESURRECTION OF ANCIENT EGYPT 



965 



liest ancestor of the "Pharaoh's chief 

 butler," with whom we have so long been 

 familiar), a "leader of the peers," head 

 of the most ancient of earthly aristocra- 

 cies, and a "master of ceremonies," while 

 the titles of "royal seal bearer," "scribe 

 of accounts of provisions," "keeper of 

 the king's vineyards," and "royal archi- 

 tect" show us with what minuteness the 

 business affairs of the court were regu- 

 lated. 



the: CIVIIvIZATION of e:GYPT a SIvOW 

 GROWTH 



In a sense these revelations of the ear- 

 liest Egyptian dynastic civilization have 

 done much to simplify the enigma pre- 

 sented by Egyptian history. The civili- 

 zation of the Nile Valley no longer chal- 

 lenges us with the Great Pyramid as the 

 first essay of its development or seems to 

 spring full-grown like Athene from the 

 head of Zeus. 



We can see that civilization in Egypt 

 followed the natural course of develop- 

 ment by which it has grown to maturity 

 in all other lands. It was the gradual 

 growth of many centuries of patient ef- 

 fort on the part of pioneers whose great- 

 ness the later Egyptians reverenced by a 

 true instinct, though perhaps their actual 

 knowledge of them was even scantier 

 than that which the excavations of Aby- 

 dos have given to us. 



In another sense, however, the wonder 

 has only been increased by the disclosure 

 of the fact that the rise and development 

 of this race are so much more ancient 

 than was believed a few years ago to be 

 the case. The emergence from the mists 

 of the past of this ancient world, with its 

 great kings, its ordered courts, and its 

 highly organized government, is surely 

 one of the most dramatic surprises which 

 the progress of scientific investigation 

 has presented to the modern mind. 



AT WHAT DATK DOKS HISTORY DAWN IN 

 KGYPT ? 



To what date are we to assign these 

 earliest beginnings of monarchy? Here, 

 unfortunately, we become at once in- 

 volved in a controversy in which a cen- 

 tury is but "as yesterday when it is past, 



and as a watch in the night." Egyptology 

 is at present hopelessly divided against 

 itself over the question of all dates prior 

 to 1580 B.C. Into the details of the 

 controversy it is useless to dream of 

 entering. 



Between the dating of the Berlin 

 school, represented by Mayer, Erman, 

 and Breasted of Chicago, and the longer 

 system, whose chief advocate is Flinders 

 Petrie, there is a systematic difference of 

 many centuries. Petrie places the begin- 

 nings of the first dynasty at 5510 B. C, 

 while the Berlin school brings them 

 down to 3400 B. C. 



The difference is staggering and no 

 compromise upon a middle term is pos- 

 sible ; only the emergence of fresh facts 

 can settle the question. At present the 

 balance of opinion inclines toward the 

 shorter system of dates ; yet it must be 

 remembered that new discoveries may 

 at any moment make it untenable and 

 force us back upon Professor Petrie's 

 ampler scheme. In any case, and upon 

 the most conservative estimate, we must 

 accept the fact that by the middle of the 

 fourth millennium B. C. society in Egypt 

 was already in a state of high organiza- 

 tion and culture. 



Thus the discoveries of the last few 

 years, and especially those of Professor 

 Petrie at Abydos, have put our ideas of 

 these earliest dynasties of Egypt upon a 

 solid basis of material fact. The inter- 

 pretation of the results and the identifi- 

 cation of the various kings whose relics 

 have been discovered are slow and labo- 

 rious processes, involving much contro- 

 versy ; but the uncertainty of many of 

 the details does not affect the outstand- 

 ing historical fact. The kings existed 

 and ruled over a state which, far from 

 being barbarous, was already far ad- 

 vanced in the scale of civilization. 



AN historian's re:putation re:stor^d by 



A MUMMY 



That these early centuries witnessed a 

 steady growth in knowledge and power 

 on the part of the rulers of the Nile 

 Valley is evidenced by the explorations 

 which have been made with regard to 

 the kings of the dynasties immediately 



