The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-06-18
CANTON, STARK COUNTY, oHIO THURSDAY JUNE 18 1874

> / NPS5 oOOuS TOO ID. VI, discovered nOB long
: since. The light from the ceiling, falling
on the closely y-cropped crown Of the old
}. Village magistrate" "(Shekh eE-6elLed, as he
3 Is now called by the Egyptians), gave him
q The reality OF living figure, among 80
q many which seemed to be dead or asleep
, IN the shadows. The statue, which IS
9 about three feet eight inches in hight, is
D carved out of sycamore wood, which has
3 now become hard and resonant as metal
2 1t represents corpulent man of about As
years OF age, holding in one hand long
sta1f OF office, while the other, clenched,
} hangs at MS side. His only garment is
} cloth wound around the loins and falling
to the knees. The face is remarkably in
telllgent, cheerful and benevolent "a
, Shakesperean head, one might say, it gives
such evidence of a large. rich and attract
I've nature. The nose is slightly aquiline
with sensitive nostrils of only moderate
breadth, the lips large and half.smiling,
equally ready TO open for joke or bles-
sing, and the cheeks and chin full, but
} tlrmly rouaded and not puffy. The eyes,
especially, are remarkable specimens Of
/, the earliest Pre- Raphaelite attempts 10
represent nature, They are inserted, and
with Anesse of invention which almost
seems higher art The lashes are thin
rims OF bronze: the whites are formed of
white opaque quartz, the iris of rock crys-
tai and IN the center of each is set small
crystal OF facets, which from every side re-.
fleets hight, like that in the human eye.
Herr Burrgsch said to me; "there are times
when TINS head actually lives;" and !
could well believe him. The statue is
probably 6,OOO years old, thus antedatlng
hy d,fO0 years al other relics of art which
are IN any way worthy of being placed
There are two other heads of wood.
with torsos, of the same era-Whesher
broken or mutilated I could not ascertain.
One, woman, possesses the same distinct
Individuality as the good and lust magis-
trate. There are differences in the two sides
OF the face, which show the most careful
study OF the original. She is neither hand
some nor ugly, but you see at once that
she was no ordinary person, and that, in
her day, you would much rather have had
her for friend than an enemy.
Will hasten through two intervening
chambers to reach what impressed me as
the most interesting group in the whole
collection. 1t was found only eighteen
months ago, in an ancient metropolis, be-
side very singular pile of masonry, called
| by the natives the Horam eL-Redad. or
Lying Pyramid, on the western bank of
the Nile, about fifty ailea south Of Cairo.
! On broad pyramidal base rises a tower.
the aides of which are nearly perpendicu.
lar, terminating in platform, from which
| springs small tower; theentire hight can
not be less than $50 feet. This singular
structure has never been opened, or even
adequately examined but the coniectureo of
some arch@ologisIs that was built by King
sne frou, the predecessor of Cheops, is pos
slbly confirmed by Mariette's discovery of
the two limestone statues, which belong to
the lid dynasty.
The inscriptions show that they repre-
| sent the prince RG -Hotep and the prin-
cess Nefer-t. who may have been either
his wife or has sister. The size Of life, they
SIT side by side on plain, massive chairs
but the athtpdea are easy and natural, and
the hands are not laid upon the knees.
Only the drapery-a oin-cloth for the man
and simple white garment, without folds.
Tor the womar-is stiffly and awkardly
represented. The muscles of the chest and |
chest and limbs, the joints, hands and feet, |
are carefully modelled, and the heads might |
be boldly set beside the best portrait busts |
ever made. Ra-Hotep's flesh is painted |
of fresh, ruddy color, and Reler-Ps |
pale olive; yet The features indicate that
they belonged TO the same race. Nothing |
can be finer than the individuality ex- |
pressed in two faces. He is strong. proud. |
asserting authority; hers kind; sympathet- |
ic, yet carried with the air of one 10 whom |
respect Is inevitably paid. The type is |
the same as that of the "village magis- /
trate,' but greatly finer and nobler. The |
eyes are inserted IN the same manner, and |
are of even more admirable workman ship; |
for they fairly CLEAN and sparkle, and |
thnra q ra 70 bay, kV,r, ali
gence suddenly lights up the face.
1t is remalk kable circumstance. and one
over which the ethnologists win doubtless
break their heads, that these remain of /
the earliest, freest, and highest art yet dis
covered in Egypt should represent quite |
different physical type from the later dy- /
nasties- That they are Caucasian, or Ar |
yam, is evident at the first glance; that i
they possessed intelligence, energy, and |
those moral qualities which We express by !
the word character" seems equally GER |
tain. Looking at Ra-Hotep's face, your |
first impression lei "Here is a gentle |
man" The remains of the Ancient En-.
pire suggest certain amount of freedom /
continuous development among both |
rulers and people; those of the Later En- /
pire, on the contrary, are ngidly stamped |
with the seal of a priestly despotism.
Here, for instance, is splendid granite
statue of King Sha.fra (Cephrenes, the /
builder of the Second Pyramid), which /
Mariette found at the bottom of a well in /
the very ancient granite temple, which he /
discovered eight years ago, near the Sphinx. |
It bears all the marks of the same ardent,
struggling art which we detect in the |
wooden and limestone statues. The head
is slightly lifted the features are modelled /
with a care which attests to us the exact
ness of the portrait; the eyes look. and do
not simply dream, as in the forms of the |
Later Empire; and while one hand rests,
but not fatty, upon the knee, the other is
closed and brought down upon the thigh, |
as who should say: Such Is my viii 70
The fgule speaks and commands, while /
the later Thothmes and Rameses sit, like
Brahma, in endless passiveness. It will /
be found, am sure, that the decadence of
the art of Egypt, during her most iilustri- |
Gus historical periods. was due 10 the des-
potic limitations of her religion. 1t was
the same spirit which, during the Middle /
Ages and since, has compelled the artists
to give particular color to the drapery Of /
each Apostle, and to design Annunciations,
Assumptions, TRANSFORMATIONS, j Judgments, /
according to one easy recognizable pat
tern.
Mariette's discoveries, thus far, have
thrown less lignt upon the sojourn of the
Israelites in Egypt, than might have been
expected, or wished. We are apt to for
get, in the great Importance which the
Biblical narrative possesses for US, that
small subject race, like the Jews, co1ld
only be accidentally mentioned in the an
nails of such proud and powerful people.
A few streng probabilities, however, are
worthy of being noticed. The conjectured
period of Joseph's arrival in Egypt cor
responds with that of the Hyksos, or Shep-
herd Kings, who, being strangers them
selves, would the more readily confer high |
authority upon a stranger. Moses, almost
certainly, was educated as an Egyptian
priest under the reign of Rameses II and
the Pharaoh of the Exodus was the latter's
son, Menephthah, a superb bust of whom
IS IN Mariette's museum. The name, Mo-
ses, is the Egyptian Nesu, signifying
"child" or "boy." A recently deciphered
papyrus contains an official report concern
ing certain "Mesu, (" who is declared to
have had much influence over f'the foreign /
people" as the descendants of the Hyksos,
the Israelites, and other Semitic tribes |
settled in the Delta, were collectively des- /