The Portland daily press., 1891-12-14
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NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Pharaohs, Feilahs and Explorers, by
Amelia Is. Edwards. (Nrw York: Harper
y Brothers: Portland; Lorine, Short &
udim0n) Royal octave, ;j.5 pp 155 lilur
ttatlons, cloth, head gilt, price IA N, t..
log is more fascinating TO the student OF
pioIane or Of sacred history than the sub
] ct OF e., ptIan exploI ations, and nothing
\ nure tantaIiz'ns, as they Sometimes coll
fit,l aud sonnet nics cantiadict the sacred
writ, AZ they also cobirm or contradict The
history received from the Greeks. Miss
Edwaids has DOT undcriaken history, bit
inrablt chapters, based upon her lectures,
d graphic scc unit of the lahors OF some late
explorers, a description of some buried
cilies. treats ON painting. on sculpture, on
the birthplace OF Greek decorative arr, on
Egyptian literature aud religion, on here
Il, pb cal writing. auc Oh @ etn Hatasu'c
* 81 Il ton U.s. tile land OF FuuL. What we
really most wish for is history Of ERypt
giving the currt ct d chronology 10 date,
CIT THAT cannot well 5e done unli scholars
agree moro closely. Even Miss Ea wards
q, es not agree with herself, giving che date
ct khnfu's tCaeops) reign as - % on pag
Isl wilie on gage l4O she puts it y 1900 d
G. Now the former date would carry it
back To the time of Enoch, according to
Bishop U.her, While the latter would take
IL back W the Creation. OF course it is
equally condictury of the Bible if once
carried back beyond the Flood (23iS, Usher
Dnt 800 Years Is a wide margin. Probably.
II Blsnup Usher bad worked in the light OF
Chaldean and Egyptian later discoveries,
10 wonld have set his dates back 800 years,
which would make Abraham's sojourn III
Egypt 2a2l instead of 1921 as he gives it,
and fairly III agreement with the estimate
OF E4yptologists who place the 18th dynasty
somewhere between 1850 and 1900 b. g.
2i2l would also agree very well with the
Chaldean correct. dates. Ii the Chsldeans
received their TRADITIONS of the food aud
anIpdiluvian history, (Which Abraham is
supposed TO have Obtained at Ur Of the
Chaldees and transmitted 70 has decend-
ants from the Aksads, the translations OF
the Akkad tablets will throw some light on
this subject. Usher puts the date If
Mzraim (Menes) at 2247 aud Say tfarth at
27S3-also The date oil the Tower of Babel.
But Miss Edwards places it at 1870 3. G.
1000 years before Adam. 1t is surprising
that Moses. who was learned in all knowl-
edge Ut the Egyptians, should not have
Egyptian history, for there had been 200
kings In Egypt before Abraham, and their
relgns were long and peaceful, then came
go years of foreign rulers and then the
line of the Great SesUstris and the op-
preston. The chronology may have been
supplied or corrected during the captlvity
In Babylon, and Moses not responsible.
The bishop puts The date of Moses birth
at 1871 aud Miss Edwards at 1900 This
was In the sixth year ofRamests IL aud the
mummy Of that king Is now ia the Egyp-
ton Museum with verifying Inscriptions,
But Miss Edwatds does not discuss these
| points. although the reader needs to bear
them in mind IL understand her constant
| references 20 them. She notes the remark
| anle yerl6cation Of Scripture in tue walls
uncovered at PithoW, where the lower
| courses Of bricks are mixed with chopped
| straw. higher up with reeds (stubblt) and
| husliy with CLEAR Nile mud. This dis posa.
| OF the learned argument that the straw and
| stubble were not used for mixing but fol-
| fire to bake the bricks. She describes The
| fiudtng vI fragments of a great statue OF
| II ,meses I'll which must have been 81 feel
| high, aud 125 teet Including the pedestal
| aud have weighed 1910 tous, To quarry
| and move such stone seems remarkable
| Another striking discovery WAS ''Pnaraoh'.
| House ID Tahpaunes" described by Jrre
| miah, where Hopnra entertained mis- loya
Jewish guests.
In her chapter upon art she points cut
| that when the bal baTians Of Southern
| Europe and Asia Minor invaded Egypt il
the time of Moses and later tens Of thous
auds, perhaps hundreds of thousands were
made slaves, and among them Greeks VIII,
there obtained The ruaiments of what be-
came Gfecian Ait Rather curiously Egy /,
| tian statues we're az their best III the early
days 700 years before Abraham when til,
1 great pyramid was built. This was be
| cause their belief obliged them to max,
statues for their ghosts or spirits to in
habit in the tomb in case TIE mummy should
bs stolen. and these statues had to be ex
sct likenesses without titttery. The illus
tratIons show them t. be better than any
thing that followed fer 5000 years, and ia
Superior to the earlier Greek statues.
La discussing literature she says the old
est papyruS known is in the National Lii
btary at Paris and was copied in the It'll
dynasty Goo or 300 years before Abraham
from more ancient documents, one iron
tue third aud one from the sixth dynasty
the former perhaps 1000 years earlier. 81
she says, written language was know
much farther back, Tor in the Asbmnlea
Museum at Oxford are stones with in
scriptions dating back to 1890 and 420U /,
y. This oisposes of the theory that th
Phenicians invented letters about the tim
of Moses or later, and also the theory o
sccfftrs that writing was not known in tn
time of Moses $50 that be could not hav
written the Book of the Law,) for thes
inscriptions are written in hieroglyphic
which had been used nobody knows hoy
long when they were made. and which COT
| tiuupd In usa for 15O0 wears when tho