The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-02-13
y. Concluded. from First Page.]
N plRced all the tombs under his charge.

mere experiments. Within the last few |
years--indeed, within the last five years
he has discovered so many relics, that our
ideas of ancient Egypt must at once under
20 radical change. He has shown that
Egyptian art in the third dynasty far sur
passed all its later wonders. Accompany
ing the statues of the time, there are clear,
legible inscriptions, which actually show
that Menes was an actual parsonage. Out
of the thirty-three ancient dynasties, there
are still eight or nine of which no records
can be discovered. Marryat takes the
ground that we may be quite sure of the
dates up to the year G65, b. c, and that
while we cannot assert the correctness OF
dates earlier, they confirm the dates in
Manetho's table. The ancient Egyptians
had no era in the past from which they
counted their years as we do. They began
anew with the beginning of each new dy-
nasty. 1t is not by looking at the inscrip-
ton which only records the length of
monarchs reign we should judge the ex.
act time. We get the length of each reign
and the number of dynastes and only thus
compute the age of the entire Egyptian
world. In astronomy 1t was they whe first
divided the sphere of the world into $50
degrees. They determined the length of
the year, not by the number of moons as the
they had no leap year, they corrected the
error of the 3G5 days in another way; so
that in fact our Julian calender is stolen
from them unacknowledgcd. In short they
achieved so many of the elements of our
higher knowledge that it is unreasonable to
suspect them of deception in their histori-
cal records. The first Egyptian dynasty is
six thousand years old. The inscriptions
on the tablets are preserved in tombs of
solid rock, surrounded by dry sand that
never admitted a drop of moisture, and
these remains still tell us their whole story
There is no better measure of civilization
than art Egyptian art reproduced, not
the beautiful, like the Greeks, but the per-
feet in nature; and there are two Egyptian
statues, one of prince and the other OF a
prince and the other of a princess, in the
British museum, which, in that respect arr
perfectly faultless.
1t is not generally understood, by the
way, that woman in Ancient Egypt was
honored and respected equally as man.
There was among the Egyptians lofty
appreciation of the marrage-tie. The wife's
name was often placed before that of the
husband, and the sons often bear the names
OF the mothers, instead of those OF the
fathers. Women often sat upon the throne
and administered all the affairs of the Gov
trnment. The assertion we so often hear
in these days that women has always &C.
cupied a position of subsection to man is
glaringly false. In ancient Egypt he pos
sessed no important right which was not
equally shared with her. 1t is impossible
to look upon the statues of that period, and
not feel what high degree of culture was
fairly claimed by the race. The very house
hold furniture is such as one might buy
la a..1 Athn 1,ir,vp
DO ards for checkers. paint boxes, knives,
needles, pomatum boxes, straw baskets, a
child's ball for playing made of elastic palm
fibres, dried fruits, fine cakes of bread,
such rs we use to-day, and many of the
surgical instruments are quite identical
Heretofore the GROWING age of Egypt has
been referred to the reigns of the Pharoahs.
This proves to be a mistake. That was
probably the ago of the greatest political
power, but, compared with the remains
then two thousand years old, we find great
falling off in the arts of that time. Be-
tween the tenth and the eighteenth dvnas-
ties there is a long period of rested pro.
gress. The Hyksos, or the Shepherd Kings,
invaded Egypt 1900 years..B. c., and ruled
the country for 500 years. Who they were
was not known until Marryat discovered
some statues of their Kings, by which it
seems quite certain that they were wan
dering Tartar race from Central Asia. The
subsequent rebellion against them by the
Egyptians, after rule of 500 years, af.
fords a powerful illustration of the vitality
of national sentiment among the Egyptians.
King Amoses began later empire, to which
the earlier ones were in every way interior.
Egypt it was that gave letters to the PhG-
necians. astronomy to the Chaldeans, art
to the Greeks and the rite of circumcision
to the Hebrews. After the rebellion against
the shepherds, there grew up a second
power. The descendants of the old rulers
reascended the throne, and became con-
querers in return. Their Kings went
abroad themselves in search of conquest,
but they closely guarded their territory at
home against the intrusion of foreigners.
Even the Israelites who followed Joseph
into Egypt were confined to the land OF
Goshen. The prevention of new inva.
sion was at the bottom of their exclusive
policy, When this policy became weaken.
ed afterward the last and fatal invasion
byses Egypt never possessed more than the
mere shadow of her former existence. Al
age of development must be accompanied
by intellectual freedom. We have, there
fore, the best right to assume that tn,
forces of the main elements of civilization
were stronger in the earlier than in tn,
later dynasties of ancient Egypt.
The Egyptian theology inculcated tn
following of truth, justice, and purity. TIN
great care they took of their dead restet
on their profound faith in the immortalit,
of the soul and future resurrection of tn
body. The Egyptian priesthood adopte,
the policy of keeping the mysteries entirel
to themselves and in giving the people onl.
an external observance. During the latte
Empire the priests became powerful cast
and thus did their full share toward tn
downfall of Egypt. Under them the Kin
was made a god, and received divine hon
ors in the temples. The priests procaime
mis- infallibility because it meant their own
Let me here remark that whatever arts W
may have lost, in the relations of men t
their rulers we show a decided progress
The Egyptian Kings were gods while the
lived. The Roman Emperors were sati,
fled to become gods after their dealt
Kings in our day say they are Kings ''b
the grace of God" and, in the near futur,
that phrase may become "by the will
the people," All the earlier races seem
have been extremely jealous and intolerai
of each other Their chronicles DESERT
victories with great accuracy, but omit a
mention of defeats. Within the last fe
years a great many discoveries have bee
made which verify the books of Nose
These books become modern when we e
innate the centuries between them and Il
earlier Egyptian dynasties. At the time
the visit Of Abraham the Egyptians had Il
rite of circumcision and the laws regardr
cleanliness, and the traditions of the TT,
of Life and the deluge. The time of j
seph's residence is referred by the best a
thorities to the reign of the Shepherds b
ing foreigners themselves they encourage
and tolerated him and his people. II
name of Joseph has not been found, b
we have number of facts which CORE
pond with his story. The Pharaohs hi
their chief buffers and chief bakers, al
their wise men, and the numbers three al
seven were sacred numbers. The nan
Potiphar means consccrated to the su
In the British Museum there is a nanyr