The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-02-20
Egypt ln the Time Of Moses.

the height of civilization to which
Egypt and other ancient countries
around the Mediterranean had attain
ed even before the time Of Moses, says
Sir John William Dawson, in the E:r-
positor. Maspero and Tomkins have
illustrated the extent and accuracy of
the geographical knowledge of the
Egyptians Of this period. The latter
closes paper on this subject with the
following words:
"The Egyptians, dwelling in their
green, warm river-course, and on the
watered level of their Fayoum and
Delta, we're yet very enterprising
people, full of curiosity, literary,
scientific in method, admirable define
ators of nature, skilled surveyors,
makers of maps, trained and methodi-
cal administrators of domestic and
foreign affairs, kept alert by the move
ments Of their great river, and by the
necessities Of commerce, which forced
them to the Syrian forests for their
building timber, and to Kush and Pun
for their precious furniture woods and
ivory, to say nothing Of incense, aro-
matics, cosmetics, asphalt, exotic
plants, and pet and strange animals,
with hundred other needful things" I"
The heads copied by Petrie, from
Egyptian tombs, show that the physi-
cal features of all the people inhabit-
ing the surrounding countries, as we'll
as their manners, industries, and arts,
were we'll known to the Egyptians.
The papers of Lockyer have shown
that long before the Mosaic age the
dwellers by the Euphratcs and the
Nile had mapped out the heavens, as
certained the movements of the moon
and planets, establishing the zodiacal
signs, Disseminated the poles Of the
ecliptic and the equator, ascertained
the law of eclipses and the procession
of the equinoxes, and, in fact, had
worked out all the astronomical data
which can be learned by observation,
and had applied them to practical
uses. Lockyer would even ask us to
trace this knowledge as far back as
5000 years B. c., or into the post
glacial or antediluvian period; but,
however this may be, astronomy was
very old science in the time of Mos
es, and it is quite unnecessary to post
ulate late date for the references to
the heavens in Genesis or Job. In
geodesy and allied arts, also, the
Egyptians had long before this time
attained to a perfection never since
e1celled, so that our best instruments
can detect no errors in very old meas
urements and dwellings. The arts Of
architecture, metallurgy, and weaving
had attained to the highest develop
ment; civilization and irrigation, with
their consequent agriculture and cat
tie breeding, were old and well under
stood arts; and how much Of science
and practical sagacity is needed for
regulating the distribution Of Nile
water, any one may learn who will re-
fer to the reports of Sir Colin Scott
Moncrief and his assistants: Sculp-
ture and painting in the age Of Moses
had attained their acme, and we're.
falling into conventional styles. Law
and the acts of government had be-
come fixed and settled. Theology and
morals, and the doctrine Of rewards
and punishments had been elaborated
into complex systems. Ample mater
ial existed for history, not only in
monuments and temple inscriptions,
but in detailed writings on papyrus.
Egypt has lett a wealth Of records Of
this kind, unsurpassed by any nation,
and very much of these belongs to the
time before Moses; while, as Birch
has truly said, the Egyptian historical
texts are, Sin most instances, con-
temporaneous with the events they
record, and written and executed un-
der public control"
There was also abundance of poeti-
cal and imaginative literature, and
treaties on medicine and other useful
arts. At the court Of Pharaoh, CORE
spondence was carried on with all
parts of the civilized world, in many
languages, and in various forms Of
writing, including that Of Egypt itself,
that of Chaldea, and probably also the
alphabetical writing afterward used by
the Hebrews, Phenicians, and Greeks,
but which seems to have originated at
very early period among the Nine
ans, or Punites, Of South Arabia.
Educations were carried on in institu-
tions of various grades, from ordinary
schools to universities. In the latter,
we are told, were professors or "mys-
terry teachers of astronomy, geo.
graphy, mining, theology, history, and
languages, as we'll as many of the
higher technical arts. Scientific Am
ericdn.