River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1889-11-07
VERY ANCIENT HISTORY.
An Event of Which the World Has II
manned Ignorant 1000 Years.

An Event of Which the World Has Re-
manned Ignorant 1000 Years.
The momcntous fact now bursts upon
the world that in the fourteenth year
of the reign Of Ptolemy Philadelphus.
one of the royal goose herds wrote q
letter stating that he could not supply
twelve geese wanted for the Kings fes-
tival. OF this simple fact the world
has been in ignorance for over four
thousand years; yet we are now as
sured of it on as irrefragible historical
evidence as that which tells us that the
Pharaoh of Joseph's time imprisoned
his chief butler and chief baker for
probably as small an offense. II comes
about in this way: The state paper
concerning the royal geese was duly
pigeOn-holed, and after the lapse OF
years, perhaps, was disposed of as
waste papyrus. 1t fell into the hands
of the underwriters. who used it along
with lot of similar material in MAX
ing the cartonnage hcad-case for q
mummy.
This mummy was cntombed in the
metropolis of little town (the cite is
called Tell Gurob at this day) which
began to fall into decay about the time
of Menepthah, the supposed Pharaoh
Of the Exodus. II has been disin-
tered by Mr.. Pctric in the course of
his last seasons excavations in the
Fayoum. The head-case. with thin
covering of plaster over all, was soaked
in water, and the papyri of which il
was composed became separated with
out injury TO the original writing.
Thus we come to know about the
far more interesting facts in ccnnec-
tion with everyday life and affairs of
the Egyptians of that epoch. For
there are lots Of mummies and quite
q crop OF Ptolemaic documents, and
many of them will soon be in the
actual custody OF the British Museum
authorities. Considering the progress
that has been made in Egyptology dur
ing the present century, and the
abundance of fresh material that has
been brought to light of recent years,
the next generation may be able 10
learn as much about Egyptian an
tiquitics as the present one can about
Grecian or Roman.
From records previously discovered
it appears to be established that
.Egcan Grcehs visited Egypt quite A.
800 years ago. During his last sea-
sons explorations Mr.. Petrie exhumed
at lllabun some pottery of that period
stamped with alphabetical characters
which are neither hieroglyphic nor
hieratic. There is nothing to show
that these two facts are In any way
connected But he exhumbed at Tell
Gurob a quantity of pottery Of UNI
doubted CypriOte and Mycen8an
types, and which belongs to a period
somewhat anterior to the Exodus.
These, curiously enough, arc iIcised
with characters of very similar de-
scription. The obvious inference is
that these alphabetic characters are
very early Greek or Phenician.
Should this conjecture prove to be
we'll founded il would lead to some
very startling conclusions. It has
generally been accepted that the Ho-
meric epics were preserved by oral
tradition and edited. if not added to,
at later period But these discover
les of Mr.. Petrie suggest the astound-
ing possibility that the Illiad may have
been reduced to writing at blind Ho-
mer's own dictation. -Levant Herald.