Copiah signal. (Hazlehurst, Miss.) 1888-1899, 1889-11-14
VERY ANCIENT HISTORY.
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aaatnea Iwnsrass Aeoo Ne@r.

- Kss., ss wAasa sAs wsF,s u.. R.-
snsiRea IHnsrsas Aeoa fs@rs
The momentous fact nov bursts upon
he world that In the fourteenth year
4 The reign % ftolemy fhiladelphus.
sna Of the royal goose herds wrote
etser staiiag that he could not supply
.welve geese wanted for the Kings fes-
ivAL Of this simple fact the world
Aas been In ignoranco for over four
thousand years, yet we are nos as
mred of u on NJ irreiragible historical
svidenee as thai which tells us that the
Pharaoh Of Joseph's time imprisoned
his chief butler and chief baker for
probably A. small an ofTense. II comes
about In this ways The state paper
concerning the royal geese vas duly
pigeon-holed. and after the lapse oi
years perhaps. was disposed of a@
waste papyFua II fell Into the hands
d the undertakeru. who used u along
with a lot Of similar material In max
Ing tho cartoanage head-eass for =
mummy.
This mummy wss entombed IN the
metropolis of liitle tosn lthe cite 10
called. Tell Gurob ~ this day) which
began 30 fall into decay about the time
Of Menepthah. the supposed Pharaoh
Of the Exodus II has been disin-
terrcd by Mr.. Pstrie In the course Of
his last seasons excavations In the
Fayoum The head-case. with a thin
covering Of plaster over all was soaked
In water, and the papyFi of which II
vas composed became separated with
out inlury 90 thaAorlgiaAl writing
Thus SO come to know about the
gooseherd aud aboat a. many other
far more iateressing facts IN coonsc.
tion with everyday life and anAlrs %
the Egyptiass of shaf epoch. For
there are lots ot uammica and quite
a crop % Ptolemaie documents. and
many oi them will soon b. Ia the
actual custody oi the British Museum
authorities. Considering the prog grcss
that has been made in E9yptoloay dur
Ing the presont century. and The
abundance Of fresh material hal has
been brought 10 light of recent yeArs.
the next genoraiioa may be able 10
learn as much about Egy ptian an.
tiquitlea a. the present one can about
GreciAn or Roman.
From records previously discovered
Il appaars 90 bo established that
.Egcan Greeks visited Egypt quite a.
500 years ago. During bis Last sea-
sons explorations Mr. Petrls exhumed
at lllabun some pottery ~ that period
stamped with alphabetical characters
which are neithsr hieroglyphic nor
hieratic. There Il nothing to show
that these two facts arv Ia any way
connected. but b. exhumbed at Tell
Gurob a quantity Of pottery Of un-
doubted Cypriote aud MyeeRaah
types. and which belongs 10 = period
somewhat anterior 10 the ExoduA
rhese. curiously enough, are incisesl
with characters of a very similar de.
Acrlption. Thg obvious Inference /.
thai thesa alphabvslc characters are
very early Greek or Phosnlcia ..
should this conjecture prove to be
we'll founded II would lead Ia some
very startling conclusions n has
generally been accepted that the Ilo.
meric epics we're preserved by oral
tradition aud edited. II not added 10,
at a later period But these discover
ies oi Me Petrie suggest the astound.
Ing possibility that the llliad may have
been reduced to writlag at blind lIo-
mers own dictation. -Levant Herald