The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1892-11-24
EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES.
What They May Reveal to Future
Generations About America.

oHe Introductory remarks TO nls
lecture upon ancient Egyptian art and
architecture, at the Peabody, DR.. Dick
erman very properly observed that ii
was chapter in the history of civliza-
ton describing ''the tremendous strug,
gle which the minds and souls of men
have made to write on external ma ture
their ideas about the true, the beautiful
and the good" And long struggle it
was, too, extending over thousands of
years Its history, engraven in stones
and embodied in manifold symbols, still
leaves ample room for investigation, and
the study of it's documents is not as vet
beyond the stage of its infancy. On
Columbus Day two gentlemen, one
weil~known Psychologist, formerly of
this city, the other Johns Hopkins
man, were earnestly discussing, in the
presence of third member of the SYM
postum, not the Columbus Cantata,
which they had just heard at the Acad-
envy of Music, nor the celebration of the
anniversary of the discovery of America,
but the question whether Egyptology
were not destined to reveal how the ex-
istence of the western hemisphere had
been known in the times of the Pharaohs
to the jewellers on the Nile. How the
eyes of the old scholar flashed when he
limited to his younger friends that he
had just succeeded in deciphering one
single symbol and with it part of
Egypt's ancient history hitherto I'M
known, or, at least, misunderstood. He
did not tell them what it was, but the
youngest of his interlocutors jumped up
from his seat, vowing that the next year
he would no longer stay in the Alexan>
dria of America, Baltimore, his native
town, but seek the shores of the Nile.
THE MUSEUM AT GIzEH.
There is, therefore, no danger that
people, especially Baltimoreans, should
''eare nothing for ancient Egypt or the
Egyptians, for their arts, their laws or
their CUSTOMS" and it may be timely to
lay before them part OF letter, dated
Gizeh, September s7th, written under
the shadows of the great pyramids and
| giving description of the new Egyp>
tian museum of that place, situated on
the left side of the Nile, opposite Cairo.
| The antiquities there collected were
formerly stored without order or design
| at Bulak, the harbor of Cairo, but have
| now been arranged in the palace of Is
mael Pasha at Gizeh, which has been
transformed into museum. "a more
appropriate place, says the writer, could
scarcely have been chosen. In front
| flows the mighty Nile, and back rise the
Pyramids and Sphinx, while within the
palace are conserved the monuments
that trace the history of this land. In
front of the palace is the sarcophagus
that contains the remains of Marietta
Pasha, to WHOM is due the founding of
the museum, as well as the discovery and
preservation of a great part of the mon
uments. The surrounding park is laid
out in European style, but the environ
ments remind one that it is in Egypt"
Auguste Edouard Marietta, the Egyp>
tologist, who died in 1881 at Bulak, had
begun to gather his collections there in
1858. He was native of Boulogne,
France, and received the title of pasha
in 1872
THE WORLDS OLDEST PAINTINGS.
The monuments are arranged accord
ing to the period to which they be-
longed. Almost without an exception
all the objects have been taken from
tombs. The ancient empire is repre-
sented from the first to the eleventh dy>
nasties, the middle empire from the
twelfth to the eighteenth and the mod
ern empire after the nineteenth dynasty
The first room contains chiefly OF jects of
the fourth dynasty (about 4325 B. G., ac-
cording to Marietta Pasha) At this
time, during the reigns of Khufu, (Ohe>
ops,) Khafra '(Clephren) and Men-Kau-
Ra, (Mycerinus) the three great pyramids
of Egypt were built. The hieroglyphics
are so well and clearly drawn that it
shows there must have been high state
of civilization at this remote period
From the tomb of the royal scribe Hest
were taken several wooden panels, some
of the figures being colored and the old
est know paintings in the world. In the
second and third rooms are relics from
the fourth to the sixth dynasties. In
the centre of the second room are two
large statues of Ranofen and statue in
wood of Raemka. The walls are from
the tomb of Subj. In the third room
are the first monuments giving the
names of kings, and the large stella from
- IL, 30 Af tI,,
history of his life. He lived under the
kings Teti and Pepi Fourth and fifth
rooms) The fine stature of Khafra, in
diorite, was found in the Temple of the
Sphinx at Gizeh. One can scarcely re-
alize, observes the writer, that six thou
sand years ago there were artists that
could chisel so perfectly every detail.
REMARKABLE RELIEFs.
In the centre of the sixth room is the
colossal statue of Thi, from his tomb at
Sal1karah, and a number of statues of
different persons from tombs of the lat
ter place and Gizeh. On the walls are
stel@ representing Apa, a government
official under KEPT 1, and people at diff
erent occupations and domestic work.
In the seventh and eighth rooms are
several remarkable reliefs. One repre-
sents boatmen in dispute; another the
offering of sacrifices. In the centre Of
the ninth room is the granite sarcopha>
gus of the high priest of Khufu, Aukh,
with architectural designs. In this
room are models of funeral boats, gran
airy and houses. In the tenth apart>
ment is mummy of king named Men
| tursaf, and in glass case are the frag-
ments of the mummy of the king Unas,
of the fifth dynasty, taken from his
pyramid at Sakkarah. In the eleventh
to the thirteenth rooms are collins, some
of elaborate decorations, with line of
hieroglyphics around the edge and
chapter from the book of the dead writ>
ten inside. The fourteenth room con-
tains relics of King An>Autef, of the
eleventh dynasty.
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