St. Landry democrat., 1879-05-10
EGYPTIAN WRITING.
Eranslatfng the Hi tOrlcaI sGs.s BelfSious
Rscurds rsnslrnf Egypi.

sransGaffng the Ill tOrlcaf s7s1 BelfSiOua
BE cords rsnsi-nf Egypi.
Writin. was as old in Egypt a. archi"
lecture and sculpture. Inc papyru-
reed furnished the most ancient materiaI
for paper in the days OF the Oldest non
uments. The dry climate has preserved
q great number OF ancient rolls, OF which
most are religious: and of these again
the greater part copies of one book, the
| Ritual, which French scholars call the
Funeral Ritual" and the G-rmans
the Book of tue D 4ad." 1t is work
evidently compiled from time to time,
divided into sections, originally separate
books, and chapters, each chapter being
usually illustrated by q represent alton
of its chiet subject above the text. Par,
of this book has been found OF the dat-
OF the eleventh dynasty (before B c.
000), and, according to its own sate>
ment, which derives collateral support
from mOre general assertion OF Man
etheo, one chapter was discovered in the
time OF the great pyramid. building
kings of the fourth dynasty. There can
be no doubt that the greater par, is Of
extreme antiquity.
Two great difficulties sssail US in the
| endeavor even to coDstrue this book II
was held to be specially advantageous to
the mummird Egyptian thai a copy
should. sc deposited il his tomb Con.e.
quentloit became the custom to write
these copies in great numbers, and, as
they we're not intended to be read, the
scrtbes were careless in their copying.
Hence arises multitude OF errors which
at every step embarrass the student
The other difficulty is due to the causes
which render the Egyptian religious
writings more hard to interpret than the
historical. Yet thanks to NJ D. R)uge's
patience and skill, the general purport OF
the work is now understood. It is,
throughout text and commentary and
curiously the text usually sim pier than
the commentary, which, by It's allegoriz
ing method, renders the obscurty of the
subject greater. The theme of the
ritual ls the story of mans fate in the
neither world, and the text consists of
series of prayers to be said in each of the
several zones through which the soul was
to pass on its way to judgment, and the
confession Of innocence that was to in
sure its acquittal.
It might be supposed that SO great a
matter would have been treated in the
loftiest style of which t1e language was
capable, with the simplicity OF the
Egyptian memoir, the pathos of the dirge
and the occasional grandeur of the his
torical writings and the religious hymns
But it is far otherwise. Nowhere is the
lower element of the Egyptian religion
so evident as in the ritual. It is obscure
and mysterious, without elevation or
disnity. The student seeks in vain for
a single passage worthy of the ideas con
veyed through the eye by the pyramids
and the tombs of the kings He wanders
through q labyrinth peopled by the
forms of the lowest superstition, and the
idea forces itself upon him that the
negro ele ment OF the Egyptian m nd is
here dominant, not always in the
thought, but always in their expression
Nothing more forcibly shows the strength |
of this element, not even animal wor-
ship Side by side with the ritual we
find another work relating to the UNDER
world, the " Book OF the Lower Hemis
phere," describing the journeyings OF the
soul after death, through twelve zones
corresponding to the twelve hours of the
nocturnal sun. This book was in fash.
ion at the period to which most of the
tombs of the kings (nineteenth and
twentieth dynasties) belong, and their
pictures afford the illustrations OF its
chapters.
O oR, ,~H y ,Ew