4 HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY, 



same fact. The figure of the bodies and the color of the skin demonstrate 

 the identity of origin. {Plate 3, figs. 1-4, various Egyptian faces and head- 

 dresses ; figs. 5 "■ and *, heads of male mummies ; figs. 6 "■ and ^ female 

 heads ; fig. 1, a mummy.) 



Rich as Egypt is in monuments of antiquity, they contribute but slightly 

 to her early history. What subsequently became the powerful kingdom of 

 Egypt, was once a group of small states, each of w^hich had its king. 

 Of these, Thebes and Memphis were by far the most powerful. Abraham, 

 who, during a famine in Palestine (2000 B.C.), wandered into Lower Egypt, 

 found there a powerful and flourishing kingdom. Joseph entered Middle 

 Egypt, 1800 B.C., and later induced his father and brothers to emigrate 

 thither and settle in the land of Goshen. Two hundred years after- 

 wards, their descendants, the Israelites, w^ere forced to leave Egypt for 

 Palestine. 



The most celebrated of the early kings was Sesostris, 1500 B.C. He 

 consolidated the whole of Egypt into one government, subdued the eastern 

 districts of the country to the Red Sea and Ethiopia, and by gifts of money 

 and land, secured the affections of his subjects. With an army of nearly a 

 million men, he then conquered the Ethiopians and Troglodytes, crossed the 

 Ganges, and is said to have overrun nearly the whole of Northern Asia, 

 contended with the Scythians, and entered Europe from the East. Upon 

 his return home, he directed his attention to the improvement of the 

 country ; and with his rich spoils and skilful artists from other lands, whom he 

 brought home as prisoners, he constructed those immense w^orks of utility 

 and ornament, for w^hich Egypt is so celebrated. 



The immediate successors of Sesostris have left but little to rescue their 

 names from oblivion. Cheops and his brother Chephren, and also Mycerinus 

 the son of Cheops, have indeed handed down some vestiges of their power 

 and wealth, in the shape of the pyramids. But they enjoy an unenviable 

 immortality, as the erection of these massive piles was marked by tyranny, 

 poverty, and suffering. It opened the w^ay for dissensions at home, and invited 

 upon a weak and oppressed people, the invasion of foreign nations. At last 

 twelve leading princes, QQQ B.C., formed a confederacy for the restoration of 

 peace and union, and erected the Labyrinth as a sign of their own unanimity. 

 {PL 3, fig. 36, entrance to the Labyrinth.) But the compact was of short 

 duration. One of the princes, Psammeticus, uniting w4th a band of Greek 

 mercenaries and pirates, expelled his allies and restored the monarchy. His 

 son, Necho (610 B.C.), attempted to connectby a canal the Nile and the Arabian 

 Gulf He conquered the whole country between Egypt and the Euphrates ; 

 but lost the battle with Nebuchadonazar at Circesium, 606 B.C., and thus 

 Egypt became subject to the Babylonian empire. 



Passing over the unimportant reigns of Psammis and Apries, we come 

 next to Amasis (536 B.C.). Under this able prince, Egypt recovered much 

 of her splendor, industry found suitable encourag^ements, and a brisk com- 

 merce was carried on with Greece and the islands of the Archipelago. 

 But about a month after his decease, Cambyses, king of Persia, marched 

 against the new monarch, Psammenitus, besieged Pelusium, which surren- 

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