New-York tribune., 1896-12-08
EGYPT THE GREAT.
A HISTORY OF HER PERIOD OF sPLEN-
DOR.

and XVIIIth Dynastes. BY W N: ,lnnr rInaenSS ~
Psychology in I-nivs rsity College. London WIN
Numerous illustrations. PIP. XVI 0'S ""'' 'e'
Scrbner's Sons.
Professor Petrie's history is not easy reading
He adheres closely to the Egyptian records in the
effort not to miss a single detail which time mas
spared or modern learning restored. Full as II IS
Of information therefore, the present volume Is
almost as dry as medieval chronicle: only the
profound interest of the theme saves 1t. Among
all the distinctive periods in history there are
few that equal the seventeenth and eighteenth
dynasties Of Egypt. The fall of Athens lroh
Pericles to the disastrous siege Of Syracuse, the
fall OF the Roman Republic from Marius to the
death OF Caesar. the wars of Alexander ana Han
niba and Gustavus Adolphus. the fall or the
monarchy in France from Louis XIV to Water
loo and the fall of the old monarchy In England
from the first Tudor to the second Cromwell COM
prise all that can be compared with the times OK
the rise and fall Of what may be called the
Greater Egypt
The English period mentioned Is, In fact.
curious parallel to the golden age of Egyptian
activity 1t began In the purest nativism with
the ruin of the ancient Plantagenet royalty and
nobility and the accession OF a Welshman.
downright Briton. to the throne 1t was the era OF
discovery. ofreligious upheaval and of a broaden
ing In thought by which England ceased to be in
sular and exclusive and became a type OF general
civilization. Above all. it was the age of
woman ruler. woman so rare that one must
come down to modern England or go back to the
annals Of desplsed China to find her like In polit-
ical genius All these particulars were character
istc Of Egypt in the crisis of its history. The age
began with triumph Of nativism in the expul-
sion of the Hyksos usurpers from Asia. 1t was an
age Of voyage and discovery. Of religious reforma-
ton and reaction Of a cosmopolitan civilization
and above all of a queen who for thirty-fve years
maintained the same kind Of armed and prosper
Gus peace which Elizabeth kept during her longer
reign Of forty-four years.
The whole Of this remarkable period In Egyp-
tian affairs Is included. according to Professor
Petrie's chronology. between the years 1I3S and
1928 before Christ-a little more than four centu-
ries This is a long time in modern politics. but
not very long in the middle of that vast stretch
Of national life called ancient Egypt. Ever since
Greek days until the present century the COM
mon notion Of Egypt has been that Of motionless
apathy In religion and politics and learning. Once
upon time everything In the way of ideas on
every subject was supposed to have been handed
down to this singular nation. and all the change
that was ever looked for by observers was in the
line Of what is nowadays called "devolution."
The best Egyptians were the first inhabitants OF
the Nile Valley. Their descendants grew worse
by degrees. but slowly that the nation lasted
for thousands of years practically unchanged
Now when a theory cruelty. utterly in
human as this has been prevalent il is great
relief to have historical demonstration Of the
fact that there at least tremendous up
heaval Of human passions and thoughts in Egypt
which broke through the level of conservatism
and raised such prominence upon 1t to make
q rise and a descent possible in the history
Of the country. There may have been other
such upheavals Professor Petries work Is
not finished yet. But II is at least a COM
fort to find that these people who
set in their ways at the last had the grace
OF changeabity once in their career. as well as
Of continuance. They could go up and down like
the rest Of mankind even II the process did take
four centuries.
In order to understand what happened it is
necessary TO realize clearly may be the
state Of things produced by the long supremacy
Of foreigners in the country. In almost any other
part Of the world. even in China. the existence Of
an alien dynasty would merge after centuries in
the life of the native population But ii was not
SO in Egypt. From first to last the Hyksos dom
ination In Egypt unnatural is the Brit
ish over-lordshp at the present moment. Con-
ficts appear to have been frequent. The bulk Of
the people. bound to the soil 1t was. yielded
suenly to the conquerors Lords and lordlings
who could not leave their holdings became
willing vassals OF the invader. But the royalties,
the mobiles and the fighting men. as a rule re-
ceded slowly up the Nile. where they massed in
the South. an impenetrable barried to further ag-
gression and constant threat 10 the enforced
peace In the North. They at peace among
themselves. and with every century they increased
In power. Meanwhile the foreigners nourished in
the Delta until they probably comprised one
fourth Of me whole population Of the valley. But
like the Turks In Europe. they remained strange
to their surroundings. and the kings doubtless.
like the Ottoman Sultans, born of that had
always lived out of doors) became weaker and
weaker in face Of n civilization which they could
Tot share. The seventeenth dynasty begins In
the doubt and obscurity OF this long struggle
with the foreigner. 1t emerges into something.
like the clear light Of history when the hated
Asiatics are thrust beyond the eastern boundary
in multtudes by the hundred thousand at a time
Nevertheless. the aliens have left their mark
There is a mixed population which, though it is
hated cannot be driven out, because of Its direct
afiliation with the natives. The language Of
Egypt begins to show the effect Of outside nfiu-
ence. and the people. Injured to war, begin to
look with longing eyes on the country of their
vanqushed enemies. There Is the more reason In
their covetousness because they have learned
that there many usful traits in the civiliza-
tion to which they have been introduced against
their WILL They have been sedate in their ways
hitherto. They have raised pyramids and built
temples and laid ou; cities and they know how
20 travel up and down their only highway the
Nile but in devices for getting across the open
country they wofully deficient. and their no.
tions Of defensive armor are still almost crude
- those Of the mid-African tribes from which
some Of them at least descended They al
ready have artifcers who can quarry and carve
the hardest rock. but they are still in want Of the
goldsmiths. sversmiths. potters and jewellers
Of the East.