XV 

 IN EGYPT AND THE EAST 



The most fascinating records of the Egyptian bees are to 

 be found in the hieroglyphics, those picture-writings that 

 furnish the principal part of what we know concerning 

 ancient Egypt. 



As long ago as the fourth dynasty, nearly four thousand 

 years b.c, the bee figured in the symbolical history of 

 Egypt, for when under the reign of Menes the country was 

 divided into Upper and Lower Egypt, the bee was the 

 symbol of Lower or Southern Egypt, while the lotus was the 

 symbol of the Upper or Northern country. 



It is a quaint bee and a quaint lotus that play their parts 

 for centuries as symbols in the history of the Land of the 

 Nile. nuA, 



The lotus and the bee r!f «^ standing side by side 



before the names of the kings signify jurisdiction over both 

 parts of the country, and the bee alone, while it some- 

 times means a king, is also employed to express a people 

 loyal and industrious, the following being the delightful sign 



for the country of Lower Egypt. ( 



r^ 



It is of interest to know that the bee as the symbol of 

 kingly power appears upon the hieroglyphical portion of 

 the famous Rosetta Stone. 



The pleasing cartouche of Chufu, king of Upper and 



Lower Egypt, illustrates the — _ _^ 



method of inscribing a king's 1^ f #^ Kr:^ ^)^ 

 name. 



