The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-05-09
CROCODILES WITH EARRINGS
some interesting Passages from Early
Egyptian History.

y,
some interesting Passages from Early
Egyptian History.
Inc greatest edifice which Amenemha
Ill built was the Labyrinth, consisting
OF number of small chambers COM
munlcating with one another, and Of
which this monarch appears to have
quilt the greatest portion during his
reign, leaving to his successor the COM
pletion of the edifce. The object of
this singular edifice was stated to be for
the reception of the prince and other
dlgnitaries of the country. 1t preceded
by centuries the celebrated one of
ff,a5ssus in Crete, in which King Minos
kept the monster called the Minotaur.
half man half bull. This Cretan work
consisted Of a series of meanderino pas
sages, in which the intruder who had
not the requisite clue, lost himself and
fell victim to the monster who dwelt
within Probably some reason of sus-
piciOn and security caused the con-
structiOn of this singular building.
which, with the pyramids and obelisks.
was another marvel of Old Egypt. In
Egyptian the Labyrinth was called Mera,
and had the same name as the lake.
The same word was also applied to
streets, which probably in Egypt origi-
nally did not run in straight lines as mt
presen-, but followed a tortuous or
meanderjng course. The Pyramids, for
there we're two on the borders of the
lake, are supposed to have had colossal
statues of the kings at their
summits. In the time of Herodotus,
who visited Egypt in the
reign of Darius, or about b. c. 455, the
Lake MOeris, its Pyramids and its LADY
rinth, were still existing, although
they are now an almost indlstinguisha-
BILE mass of ruins. The Labyrinth
greatly astoniShed the ancient Greek
traveller 1t had, according to his de-
scriptiOn, twelve courts, all rooted with
stone, which was unusual in Egyptian
buildings, most of which had no cell
ings and were open to the sky, or
hypdethrdi, as the Greeks called them.
1t had twelve courts with gates exactly
opposite one another, six facing the
north and the same number facing the
south, and great number of chambers.
according to the account of Herodotus,
1900, above and below. The subter-
ranean chambers or crypts Herodotus
did not see, but he heard that they com
prised the tomDs of the kings who built
the Labyrinth and those Of the sacred
crocOdiles which were attached to the
temple of Sebak, the crocodile god, of
These great reptiles were exceedingly
tame and wore earrings, and the Lady
'rinth seems to have been their sepul-
cher, although the principal pits in
which the mummies of the crocOdiles
are found are at Manfalut The courts
of the Labyrinth had colonnades and
entrances into the various chambers.
The whole was surrounded by an outer
wall and the walls covered with hero
glyphics; but little is known of the pur-
port of the inscriptions and the mere
fragments which have been found con-
tain the titles only of two
kings. At one of the cor
ners of the Labyrinth stood pyramid,
forty-one fathoms, or 246 feet high,
which was entered by a subterraneOus
passage. Two other pyramids stood in
the center of the lake, 800 feet high
above the surface of the water, which
was of the same depth at this spot. On
the apex of each of these pyramids was
a seated colossal figure. These three
pyramids were the sepulcher of the
kings. The Greek account gives diff
lferent names to the king of the LADY
rinth, but the fragments of it which have
been found near the walls of the crypts
or subterraneous chambers show that it
was Amenemha ". and his sister
whose mummes were perhaps buried
in the pyramids placed in the middle of
the lake. The arrival of Joseph in
Egypt has been placed by some in the
reign of Apepi H., and some considera-
lions are very favorable to that conject-
ure. The name Potiphar, from its com
position, is evidently Metropolitan rather
than Theban. Joseph married the
daughter of the high priest of Heliopo-
lis, occupied by the shepherds during
their occupation of the country. No
mention is made in the narrative of
Memphis or Thebes. The 1870 years OF
the bondage of Israel in Egypt CORES
pond with the monumental date of 400
years from the Shepherd ruler Set or
Saites to Rameses III, and the opinion
generally entertained by Psychologists
is that the Exodus took place in the
reign of Meneptah, son and successor OF
Rameses II. The elevation Of foreigner
to the high Office held by Joseph is also
more consonant with Egypt being at the
time in the hands of the Hyk-shos, while
the Pharaohs Of Heliopols must have
known the patriarch, whose eventfuI
story would have been unknown to the
native dynasty, which expelled from the
soil of Egypt the hated Hyk-shos, then
traditions and antecedents.- Birch {
Egypt from the Earliest Times.
Paul Howes, a Chicago drummer
while travelling in South Carolina, joined
with fellow-drummer in buying one
'houSaOd mile ticlypt The cOnductO,