The sun., 1891-12-13
Aneieat EGypt.
nnsT NOTICE

eYInsT NOTICE
Tho Messrs- Scribner have published new
and thosoughly revised edition OF the most
important product OF modern historical
scholarship. E1mt Under the Pharaohs. BY
HEINRICH BRUoscu-BEY. Certain parts OF the
original work are omitted from tho present
volume. including particularly the essay on
the relation of tho exodus to the Egyptian
monuments. tho discovery OF the site Of Pithon
having proved the authors theory to be
no longer tenable. The position taken
with regard to the nationality OF the
Bubustites has been adjusted to the
authors present view and the whole text has
been corrected SO as to bring It into con-
formity with the latest discoveries Of Egypt
ologists Completeness 10 given to the vol
ume by the addition OF q notice Of the royal
mummies OF Deir-el-Bahari and Of the re-
markable find" in February OF tho present
year. Thus enlarged, the work Of Brugsch-
Boy affords the fullest and most authentic
account OF ancient Egypt which is as yet de-
rivable exclusively from the monuments.
A preliminary word as to the system OF ohro-
nology adopted In this book. Where does
Brugseh fx the beginning Of Esypt's histori-
cal era2 It Is, Of course. understood that
Egypt had prehistoric age which witnessed
n considerable development Of society and the
dawn OF the arts and sciences. But concern
ing this period, the monuments. apart from
the myths recorded on them. reveal nothing.
The question is narrowed. therefore. TO ascer.
tanning the time at which tho first sovereign
acknowledged to be historical namely. Mena.
or Menes, the FIRST Pharaoh OF the nrst Thinite
dynasty. assembled the throne tits well known
that even with regard to this date German
Egyptologists have differed to . tolerable ex-
tent Boeckh ascribing the accession Of Mena to
5702 b @. and Bunsen to 3623 B. c.. the dii.
ference between these extremes being no less
than 2.O79 years. 1t Is rs II one should hesi-
tate to assign the date Of the birth OF Christ to
the time OF Hannibal. or to the time OF Bis
marck. Brugsch. for his part, follows middle
course. believing that Mena. the first King OF
the first Thinite dynasty. began to reign ID
4465 B. O.
Although authentic Egyptian history must
begin with Mena the human mind rebels
against such an arbitrary starting point. espe-
clally In view OF the evidence that q considera-
BILE advance toward civilization must previous
ly have been effected Recourse must accord
ingly be made to conjecture. assisted by such
dim light as the sciences OF ethnology and
comparative philology may throw on the
origin OF the Inhabitants OF the Nile land and
tuo 0dIit et18oo VI tuou upWbIu prO8f6e6.
The Egyptians themselves held the belief that
they were sutochthonous. but that 10 not the
conclusion to which the researches OF eth
nologlsts and phiiologists would point.
Brugsch agrees with those who think that
So far as weight may be given to
chronological considerations. the Egyptians
should be regarded as third branch OF
the Caucasian race. the family called Cushito
He also deems It not merely probable but GER
tain. that In the earliest age OF humanity. far
beyond all historical remembrance, the Egyp-
tlans. for reasons unknown TO rs. left their
early home. and taking their way toward the
setting sun finally crossed the Isthmus Of
SueS to find new fatherlsnd on the banks OF
the Nile. 1t 10 pointed out that comparative
philoloRy In It's turn gives powerful support to
this hypothesis. for the primitive roots OF the
Egyptian language and the essential elements
Of its grammar exhibit such an intimsts con-
nectlon with the Indo-Germanic and Semitic
languages that 1t Is scarcely possible to dis
pute the former existence Of close relations be-
tween them.
From what we have Just said II Is evident
that Brugsch repudiates the Greek tradition