A glance at ancient Egypt—Israelitish bondage—The tremendous gap in Egyptian history—Reign of Queen Hatasou—Victories and magnificence of Thothmes III.—Rameses II., the Greek Sesostris—The temples of Karnak and Luxor of Thebes—Scenes and descriptions on their walls—Painting and sculpture on the walls of the tombs—The "Book of the Dead"—The religion of old Egypt—Perfect record of life, political, religious, and social, inscribed on the monuments—The ruins of Thebes unsurpassed for stupendous grandeur.
HAVING spoken at some length of the Egypt of to-day, I cannot refrain from devoting a chapter to the magnificent and mysterious Egypt of the past, whose monuments tell us such a fascinating story. To-day a football for the more powerful peoples of the world, Egypt was then one of the mightiest of nations, and stood foremost in political status, in wisdom, and in the arts. This supremacy Egypt held for a much longer period than has been vouchsafed to any other nation.
A period of the greatest interest in Egyptian history is that of the residence of the Israelites. The first authentic record of the coming of the Semitic race into Egypt is found on the monuments of the twelfth dynasty. At Beni-Hassan, not far above Cairo, there is pictured in a tomb a Semitic chief by the name of Abasha, with all his family and attendants presenting gifts on his arrival. For a long time it was thought that this was Jacob and his party, who had come of the invitation of the patriarch Joseph. It is now believed the chief mentioned may have had the same inducements as those detailed in the case of Abraham and Sarah (Gen. 12 : 10) whose sojourn in Egypt is the earliest mentioned in the Sacred Book. It was after this, during the fourteenth dynasty, that Egypt was invaded by the hyksos or shepherd kings, the government overturned, the temples pillaged, and a grievous yoke imposed upon the people. The latter fact is evidenced by the perfect silence which reigned for a long series of years. Another era of prosperity dawned, and the monuments of the seventeenth dynasty show a high state of civilization. The invaders had become enlightened by contact with the conquered, and the seat of empire was established at Tanis. The opinion is well founded that it was under Apepi, one of the late kings of this dynasty, that the patriarch Joseph came to Egypt, and being, like the king, Semitic, there was a natural reason in this fact of his having been the minister of that Pharaoh. Amosis, a descendant of the early Pharaohs, who had a lodgment at Thebes, suddenly burst upon the hyksos king, and in a short and bloody war conquered him. The greater portion of the vanquished people fled into Asia, and are thought to be what was known as the Philistine nation, who subsequently formed an alliance with the Hittites and were in constant war with the Egyptians.
There followed, in the eighteenth dynasty, many powerful kings, who made Egypt more prosperous than ever, and achieved for her a great influence at home and abroad, which culminated in the reign of Thothmes III. For fifteen years, this king was directed by his sister Hatasou as regent, though this was really a usurpation, as she had played the same rôle with her brother Thothmes II., and was virtually queen at that time. She was ambitious, and carried her banner into Asia. She chained nations to her car, while in peace she was a great constructor, building magnificent temples and the two beautiful obelisks at Karnak. Brugsch Bey says she never hesitated to sacrifice life, even that of her brother, whose early death is attributed to her, to gratify her lust of power. Though she may have sacrificed affection and decency to attain her ends, the history of her reign places her in the list of the greatest of Pharaohs.
She had her portrait engraved on monuments and temples crowned and dressed as a king, in man's apparel, with the waving “ Plumes of Ammon,” and designated as “ the son of the Sun” and as “ the god of kings.” Then, calling herself “ lady” and “ the beloved of Ammon,” she would throw aside her male attire and glitter in the habiliments of a queen. Her act in effacing the name of the previous king from the monuments constructed by him met with its reward, for after elevating her brother, Thothmes III., from her “ footstool” to rule with her on the throne, she soon disappeared from view, and her name was erased from all the splendid temples and palaces which her munificence had constructed, save one, the beautiful obelisk now standing in the temple of Karnak. If the splendor of a reign, its great naval and military conquests, the extent of country subjugated, and the vast public works which under a wise statesmanship added such brilliancy to Egypt are considered, then Thothmes III. was undoubtedly one of the greatest men of whom history gives us record, though in the study of his statues there is very little suggestion that he was a monarch of nerve and resolution, capable of prosecuting great and successful wars. The whole expression of the beardless face is that of extreme refinement and effeminacy, and does not portray the magnificent tyrant who shook Asia to its centre and planted his flag wherever there was a dominion to conquer.
Passing many ruins renowned in the history of this country, I shall linger at some of the remarkable places, it being impossible to give more than a slight glimpse of these famous cities. We are now at Thebes, the No of Nahum, the wonderful remains of which Homer sang, the Tapé of the ancients, which modern discovery tells us had been a populous city for centuries, but of no political importance until long after the greater era of the Pyramids. About the eleventh dynasty it showed growing evidences of importance. Memphis having been before that the seat of empire, of luxury, and of power. It was through an epoch of gloom and darkness that Thebes emerged into importance and attained its greatest splendor during the twelfth dynasty, one of the brightest epochs of ancient history. Mariette Bey makes this the commencement of the Middle Empire, and tells us that after the sixth dynasty there was a period of 436 years during which the monuments of Egypt were almost entirely silent, and asks: “ Was it possible that an invasion plunged Egypt into such profound darkness after the ' splendid era' of the Pyramids? Or was it a crisis of weakness, by which the life of nations, like that of man, is sometimes crossed? Maybe, again, it is our ignorance of the capitals of the four missing dynasties which are yet to be found and will unfold the mystery.” There is no era in the history of the world more worthy of serious attention than this epoch so graphically noted by Mariette Bey : “ It is certain that for many centuries before this Egypt appears as a highly enlightened people, while the rest of the world was in utter darkness and barbarism, and the most illustrious nations that lately played so distinguished a part in the affairs of the world were in a savage state. Before the sixth dynasty, Memphis, then in her glory, was a powerful monarchy, supported by a formidable organization of functionaries and employés who already controlled the destiny of Egypt.” Going back in the history of time almost to the biblical date of the origin of man, the civilization of Egypt is mature. At this time the Great Pyramids were made impervious to rains or to floods, and the sands of the desert had hermetically sealed the rocky tombs on the banks of the Nile. Was it then that the wisdom of the past was placed in them, to secure it against not only the encroachments of time, but the fearful events of the deluge? As already stated, it is believed that in this era of darkness, after the sixth dynasty, there is not the slightest evidence, either on papyrus, tomb, or monument, to show that a single human being existed in Egypt. It is very well known that the Pyramids and the monuments coeval with them are the oldest works of man existing on the earth, and that if man had not destroyed them, climate and time would have done it, had they been located in other parts of the world. In Egypt they have defied the touch of time as well as the ravages of conquest. Besides the precautions taken by the wise builders to preserve them, the climate has aided to save them from destruction.
The Nile divides Thebes. On the east are the remains of the grand temples of Karnak and Luxor, around which the dense population lived ; on the other side are temples and palaces, and behind these is the immense Necropolis, where repose the dead of the city, and, in separate tombs, the mummies of the kings and queens. Riding over the waving green on the west side, two grand objects salute you, gigantic statues of stone sixty feet high. The wisdom of the world for ages has gazed in admiration upon them, one of them being Memnon's statue, which at sunrise is said to have emitted vocal sounds. It was broken by an earthquake A.D. 27, and repaired by the Romans. Though the features of both are defaced, still they are very attractive. Erected by Amenoph III. of the twelfth dynasty, they represent him, and all that is left of eighteen similar statues forming an avenue leading to his palace ; the rest, with the palace, have disappeared, the débris is covered with the soil of the Nile, and golden grain marks the spot where they once stood. A short distance back is the entrance, between two high statues, into the immense ruins of the temple of Memnonium. They sit in Egyptian repose, with their hands upon their knees, as though weighed down with mighty thought. Overwhelmed by the broken columns, statues, and fragments heaped around you, climbing and dodging under and over them, you find a passage difficult, but as your interest increases you feel compensated for your labor. Every vestige, with its hidden language engraved upon it, tells of bygone customs, habits, and religion. Inscriptions over massive doors point to their enormous libraries. Herodotus says no people stored their records and recollections as they did. They cultivated not only the mysteries of their profound and philosophical religion, but their literature was founded upon the highest scientific knowledge, and furnished the Alexandrian library with 400,000 rolls of papyrus and 20,000 books of Hermes. Wandering to the remains of the palace of Rameses II., like everybody else I climbed with no little risk into what is called the harem of that celebrated Pharaoh, to watch his game of chess with a beautiful young woman, one arm around a second, while chucking a third pretty creature under the chin. It is interesting, while wandering among these ruins, to find evidence that this great statesman and warrior forgot the cares of state in refined intercourse with fair women, and that 3000 years ago he was so charmed with their sweet allurements that he had this beautiful scene deeply engraved upon the massive walls of this palace, for future ages to look upon and admire as a memorial of his kingly gallantry. There is no object that so arrests the attention of all who visit Egypt as the remains of the grand statue of this king. Composed of black granite, it was brought 300 miles down the Nile, from where it was quarried, and placed in front of this palace. It weighs 900 tons, is twenty-three feet between the shoulders, and its foot is eleven feet long. Further to realize its magnitude, it will be recollected that the obelisk brought from Egypt weighs only 200 tons, and yet it required the most skilful engineers of the time to remove it from Alexandria to New York and put it on its pedestal in Central Park. Though immense in size, probably the largest sculpture in the world, artists have said this statue is faultless in proportions. Rameses II., the Pharaoh whom this idol represents (believed to be the Sesostris of the Greek), was a high priest, thought himself divine, was worshipped while living, and was deified after death. As grand in size as it is fine in workmanship, the idol is broken in its middle, and the body with its gigantic head lies prone upon the ground, “ with all its majesty seated on its brow.” “ The God of truth has executed judgment upon all the gods of Egypt.” Strange to say, during the last year the mummies of thirty-nine kings, queens, and other dignitaries have been discovered, in a cave where they were hidden thousands of years ago to prevent desecration by an invader. They had been previously taken out of their own gorgeous tombs, which were constructed by themselves before their death 3500 years ago for their sepulchres.
Among these kings are those famous and mighty Pharaohs, Hatasou the illustrious queen, Thothmes III., Seti I., and Rameses II. Most great Egyptologists, Christians and infidels, say that if such a man as Moses existed, and the events followed as related in the Old Testament, it must have been during the reigns of Rameses II. and Menephthah, his thirteenth son ; and that Rameses must be the Pharaoh to whom the Bible refers as not “ knowing Joseph the patriarch,” and the one who put the Israelites in bondage.
Joel prophesied the destruction of Thebes when it was in its greatest splendor, and he was followed by Isaiah and Ezekiel. I propose now to refer particularly to one of the most beautiful passages of Isaiah, which, though evidently referring to a king in his own day, is applicable to Rameses II. The mummy of Rameses, one of the greatest of kings, “ who did not know Joseph,” that was brought down to the grave, the bottomless pit, is one of those lately discovered, and is now an inmate of the Boulac Museum, near Cairo, for the curious to wonder at and the learned to study. History tells us that he conquered a large portion of Asia, and that he constructed more of the gigantic monuments of which we now see the ruins than any other of those wonderful Pharaohs. The prophecy says : “ They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, and that did shake kingdoms ; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof ; that opened not the house of his prisoners? . . . But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit ; as a carcass trodden under feet.” The multitude of No has been for centuries as silent as the stillness of the desert which surrounds her ; the land is still “ the basest of kingdoms.” How visible and unerring seems the fulfilment of this prophecy !
You are reminded not only that he was the greatest constructor of massive buildings, extending even to the remotest boundary of Egypt, but that he was also a great propagator of the human race, in being the father of no less than one hundred and eighty-nine children. This alone should make him memorable in the history of the world. Turning from this agreeable episode, it is difficult to realize that you are wandering in the midst of stupendous works, dating many thousands of years back, of massive architecture and elaborate ornament. It is marvellous that, with a knowledge of every mechanical art, these people should always have built in the same unchanging conventional manner during such an immense period of time. Their religion, too, like their temples, was shadowed by a gloomy philosophy ; their studies, in minutest details, were bound by irrevocable laws, and, what is still a great mystery to scholars, accompanied by loathsome and incomprehensible superstitions. Such great statesmen, warriors, and constructors as Thothmes III. and Rameses II. felt honored and sanctified as high priests of this religion, and enforced implicit obedience to the worship of stone symbols and the adoration of the crocodile, the vilest of reptiles. Queens and princesses in their palaces, holding on high the sistrum and dressed in gorgeous array, aided these renowned kings in performing the ceremonies of their extraordinary religion. Having written of these grand old Pharaohs, “ who made the earth to tremble and did shake kingdoms,” it is pleasant to turn now and then to the lights and shades of domestic life among the people, admirably and graphically pictured, and, curiously enough, mostly found in their tombs, all other evidences of their existence having passed away. Here are seen husband and wife embracing each other in a loving manner among agreeable rural scenes of grain and fruit trees. Young men and pretty maidens make love as to-day, and with the music of the harp enjoy the dance together. Every kind of industry is represented, much of it like that of the present day—mechanics making indescribable things for palaces and temples, and shoemakers hammering away at their lasts. It is not uncommon to find the head of a grand family and his interesting spouse doing the honors of a rich entertainment, and ladies seated en grand tenue with the lotus-flower in their delicate hands, or presenting it to their companions to inhale its precious perfume and mysterious power. We can fancy them gossiping of dress and jewelry or exhibiting their beautiful babies for the admiration of their visitors. It is easy to imagine one's self (so perfectly are things pictured) being present at and a participant in the active scene of four thousand years ago. There are representations of the elaborate cuisine, with servants washing and stewing fruit, making wine, and kneading bread with the naked feet. In his chariot a great personage is seen coming to the banquet, while men and women divert him with pleasant conversation. The feast prepared, the wine flows, and all is enjoyment. When mirth and joy are at their height, a stiff, stark mummy, the former representative of the household, is brought in. These most religious of all peoples were on all occasions reminded that in life they were in the midst of death, that the living should regulate their conduct for a future state ; and still more to show his guests how thin is the partition between time and eternity, there was already engraved on the walls of his tomb, ordered by himself, a representation of the funeral procession of the giver of the entertainment, in anticipation of what the ceremony and mourning would be after death. Wife and daughter in the agony of grief are standing near the bier, preceded by a priest in grand ceremony, the cortege followed by women with dishevelled hair, dusted heads, and faces distorted in the utterance of fearful cries. Notwithstanding that the mummy is made to act a part so significant, it often occurred that the guests became drunk enough to be carried home on the shoulders of their servants, and the women are depicted in like condition with the men. In these tombs every phase of their extraordinary religion is elaborately engraved upon the sarcophagi or written upon papyrus in the form of the voluminous book of the dead which is deposited with the mummy. The Egyptians believed in the immortality of the soul, in the resurrection of the dead, and in future rewards and punishments. The ablest thinkers in studying this religion give powerful reasons for the opinion that all the evidences point to the conclusion that the people believed originally in one God—a belief derived, it is thought, from an earlier revelation. It is evident that this religion, which is philosophical, was in the course of time very much elevated but mystical ; at first pure and simple, but eventually wonderfully complicated. This was the religion of the priesthood, but there was another for the people. Gross and tangible, it was purely symbolical, representing the numerous attributes of a supreme being. Losing sight of the grand impersonal idea, the faith of the multitude became nothing more than the worship of stocks and stones and the deification of the symbol itself, and ended in the setting up of a god for every village and town and for every day and year. At an early era, when in her splendor, Egypt accepted a magnificent religion, embodying most of her theories of the past, and one which was thought to be the most suitable to all classes. It appealed to the vulgar mind, and enabled the priesthood to involve it in deeper mysticism and more beautiful symbolisms. They adopted the trinity of Osiris, Isis, and Horus in the place of a former universal God. These new gods overshadowed and controlled all the innumerable minor deities. They have engraved Osiris (“ The Book of the Dead” explains the entire scheme) sitting in judgment in the other world ; “ Amente,” the altar of sacrifice is in front of him, the soul of the dead is in his presence, after passing the ordeal of forty-two assessors in Hades. Immediately in front are the scales of justice, resting on the shoulders of a god, with an ape, the emblem of equilibrium, on the top of the balance. The four genii of the dead, standing on a lotus-flower, guard the interest of the soul. The beautiful and ever-loving goddesses, Isis and Nephthys, are near to intercede for poor humanity. Horus, the saviour, while pleading with Osiris, places the soul in the balance, after it has passed through purgatory, a feather, representing truth and justice, in one scale, and its evil deeds in the other. The god Anubis dictates the account to Thoth, the god of letters, who records the weight upon his tablet. The great judge Osiris declares the sentence, and the officers of punishment then execute the fiat.
In a country like Egypt, where the climate and soil are so fitted for the habitation of man, the imagination in picturing a heaven naturally embodied the notion as thus expressed by a learned Egyptian : “ A sort of celestial Egypt, with a celestial Nile and its accompaniments, which was entered, in ascending from Hades, through a gate called Ammah, the whole being symbolized by a female with her arms above her head, swimming in celestial space.” Everywhere there are celestial fields demonstrating work and progress. Souls recline amid beautiful rural scenes, by the side of cool, limpid, and shady streams, and their senses are enchanted with sweet song and delicious music. It was with the familiar objects of their earthly life that their souls seem delighted in Paradise. This “ Book of the Dead,” or, as it is sometimes called, the Egyptian Bible, not only portrays their sensuous heaven, but the infernal region is also painted in lurid colors and deeply engraved upon their tombs, which display a hideous series of no less than fourteen abodes. The god Ra is often seen lighting up the infernal fires within these abodes, and the hippopotamus god, who had been at the judgment of the souls in the regions above, is here seen in the distance with his great mouth open, waiting his share of the “ lost,” and ready to swallow the shades of the damned. The scenes throughout this terrible place become painfully exciting. Numerous devils, aided by fierce-looking lions, called “ roaring monsters,” are seen thrusting with great activity bad Egyptians into a terrible place described as the “ bottomless pit.” Osiris, the great judge, and Horus, the avenger as well as the saviour, are seen here holding serpents. These creatures carry the three-pronged fork, vomit fire upon pinioned criminals, and direct the use of instruments of torture. They are further engaged in tormenting souls in still deeper and more agonizing pits beneath. The ape who figured above is here a “ minister of vengeance.” There he was seated on the balance ; now he guards the infernal boundaries like the triple-headed Cerberus of the Greeks. Mariette Bey and many other Egyptologists think they make out from the monuments the belief of a second death to the condemned, which was annihilation.
I entered the great Propylon of the temple of Karnak, fronting the Nile. River mud is now thrown around a portion of it, and this with the water in time of overflow is loosening the foundations of the mighty structure. Dean Stanley wrote of this temple : “ It is the most magnificent building ever erected by man for the worship of the Most High.” Climbing a colonnade near the entrance, standing on its summit, which overlooks the stupendous pile, and taking within the vision the extensive valleys on both sides of the river, the hills circling back in the distance, which gives the space for the great city of Thebes, I tried to scan its limits, where once stood its hundred gates and gorgeous palaces, known to have been between this temple and the Mokattum hills. On the east and south lived the dense population, and here was situated the beautiful “ lake of the dead.” The remains of crumbling sphinxes line the avenue on the south, two miles in length, which is the only one left of ten which set out from this temple and led to the great temple of Luxor and to other grand objects that once stood within this extensive valley, over which the gorgeous processions of kings and priests were accustomed to march into the temple. Looking across the river to the temples and palaces on the other side, which stand abruptly against the Libyan hills, are seen in solitude the two great statues of Memnon, in the centre of the wide and cultivated plain. In front and rear of them, though the space was once filled with palaces, there is not now even débris to mark the spot. Yet, with all its utter ruin, it is a wondrous scene. But your amazement increases as you call to mind the magnificent avenues which led from the temples of Karnak and Luxor to those on the other side. In the place of palaces and fairy-like gardens that once encircled these hills and temples, nothing but fearful deserts greet the eye. But for a few stray Arabs and camels, and now and then a green spot, eternal silence would reign here. Surrounded by its palm-groves and flowery bowers, this city stood in the focus of commerce to which Egypt, Ethiopia, and Asia paid tribute. The great caravans with the riches of the East came hither as to the centre of the world's wealth. At certain periods the whole population of Egypt flocked hither for secular and religious purposes, and the Nile floated its endless shipping to its shores. There was no spot on earth where there was so busy a scene. It was here for centuries that Egypt concentrated her greatest political and sacerdotal power, and where the voluptuous rites of Isis and Ammon Ré were celebrated in such splendor. The great hall of the temple beneath, with its mighty columns and massive walls richly sculptured and painted, though now broken and defaced, is yet so amazing that no eloquence can portray its magnitude and beauty. Engraved upon its walls is the history of the wars, conquests, and great civil administration of Thothmes III., and Rameses II. On the south wall is what has been thought to be a scene in the history of King Shishak, who captured Jerusalem and brought to Egypt the vessels of the holy temple. He is threatening a number of prisoners standing bound before him, and among them is supposed to be Jehudah-Melek, the King of the Jews. The Pharaoh is in his chariot, larger than life, holding a drawn sword of enormous size, and from the savage look he gives his captives one imagines him about to cut off the heads of the large cavalcade with his own hand.
In observing the noble faces of these prisoners and their intellectual development, so much superior to any other faces engraved upon the monuments, it seemed to me that in comparing them with the highest Israelitish type of this day, a strong resemblance is discernible. There is one object, as interesting as any in Egypt, which stands among the accumulated fragments, pointing far above all others, even in this wonderful structure. It is the loftiest, best engraved, and most gracefully formed of any obelisk in the world. It was erected by Hatasou, the famous queen of antiquity, as an offering of filial love, and time has dealt with it gently as a record of woman's devotion. How many nations has it seen rise and crumble! And yet there it stands, it is to be hoped forever. May no sacrilegious hand ever attempt to despoil Egypt of this, one of her most sacred altars. While standing here, I tried to recall some of the images of the past, to fill these vast halls with the assembled wisdom of renowned kings and chiefs coming to deliberate for the nation, and to conjure up the conclave of that great priesthood assembling for sacerdotal ceremony ; but the mind, awed by the immensity of the scene, fails even to grasp its shadow. Yet it is known that “ the same emotions, passions, and fears of our common humanity once held high revel there,” and upon these temples, palaces, and tombs much of their laws, religion, and history is written, though it may be but a slight evidence of a departed people. I have often visited these saddened ruins of mighty Thebes, and have always left them with regret, in spite of the fact that “ a single column often marks the spot of palaces once the abode of enlightened man, and in equal desolation temples of God whose shrines no longer burn.”