The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-10-22

wonderful age.
These discoveries have altogether chang
ed even our ideas Of time, for it has been
proven By some of the remains that have
been brought to light that at least six
| thousand years B. c. there was a high
state of civilization in thel and Of Egypt.
Many had been interested in Egyptian
research because Of the part that Egypt
plays in the Biblical narrative. The Is
| raelites were slaves in Egypt long after
Abraham had paid his visit there. The
| eye of Moses doubtless looked upon these
| very pillars of the Temple of Karnak
! shortly after they were put in place, for
| it was in thief ourteenth century B. c.
! that Seto and his son Rsmeses completed
the great temple, and that was the period
at which Israel was in Egypt. This point
alone makes it imperative that every
reader Of the Bible should know great
| deal about Egyptian history and civiliza-
ton if he is to understand the book Of
Exodus and many of the references of the
prophets.
Even though man did not take interest
! in Egyptian history on account of its
| bearing upon the Bible, If he had any
pretentions TO a broad culture he would
want TO know very much about the de-
velopment of the civilization which could
| product such monuments as appal the
modern behoIder, even though in the
/ ruins.
If you would see wonderful coloring
that has lasted for nearly four thousand
years, exposed to all the elements, look
/ at the pillars and the walls Of this an
! cient temple, where the blue is just as
! bright and the red as striking as when it
was first laid on. What wonderful Sc
crets in the mixing of colors must have
! been possessed by the old Egyptians
and when we come TO the inscriptions
whether in picture, in poetry or in prose,
we must be overcome by the display of
wisdom and artistic power there laid
bare. In the Temple Of Karnak Egyp-
tian sculpture reached its climax, and by
the fertility Of invention, mastery exc
cution and animation Of many Of the
compositions astonishes the modern be-
holder. Here is the stony story of the
triumphs of the Pharaohs Of that an
Gent day.
On the north wall are contained the
most precious records Of the reign of seti
I. Here are six battle scenes, describ-
| ing the chief events Of this great con-
querer's campaign. The wars which he
prosecuted arose from the constant at
tacks of neighboring nations upon the
Delta.
The honor of digging a canal across the
Isthmus Of Suez from the Mediterranean
to the Red Sea belongs to Seti l., who an
ticipated De Lesseps by about thirty-five
centuries. This wonderful achievement,
too, is pictured on the walls of Karnak's
temple. Other inscriptions found upon
the walls shed much light upon the atti-
tude of the king toward his gods and to
his people. over and over again does the
god assure the king in these words:
II give thee years of eternity and the
joyful government over twow centuries
So long as 1 exist, so long shall thou
exist on earth, shining as king of Upper
Egypt and king of lower Egypt on the
throne of the living; as long as heaven
endures thy name shall endure and shall
go on eternally as a reward for this
beautiful. great, pure, strong, excellent
memorial that thou hast erected to me
Thou hast accomplished it, thou ever Iiv-
ing one"
AS far as concerns the Bible, we find
many references to places in Canaan and
mention of kings whose campaigns ex-
tended to Palestine and beyond into As
syria. On the wall of Karnak is a deedly
chisened representation of the storming
Of the town Of Kadesh and the taking of
the fortress. The overthrow of the enc
my and the camp life of the Egyptians
are DEPICTED in detail. Over the picture
runs this inscription:
This is the first legion of Amen. who
bestows victory on Rameses II; Pharaoh
is with it."
1t is occupied in pitching its camp, and
there the king Of Egypt sits receiving the
reports OF the guard while the soldiers
are dragging forward two foreigners, Of
whom the inscription states.
This is the arrival of the spies before
Pharaoh, they being the spies of the peo-
pie Of the Khata before Pharaoh They
are beating them to make them declare
where the king of the Ktata is"
It must not be forgotten that before and
after the time of Seti the king of Egypt
used the walls of the Temple of Karnak
for their inscriptions and that in this
way we have a record of the achieve
ments of several dynasties. The western
front of one of the pylons is covered with
Inscriptions relating 10 the victories of
Hhothmes Ill, who had erected that part
of the building during his reign. 1t reads:
These are in their entirety the I'M
known people of the furtherest end of
Asia, whom His Majesty carried away as
living prisoners. Unknown was their
land; it had never been trodden by the
other kings Of Egypt with the exception Of
his dynasty"
on one side Of the pylon are pictures
of one hundred and fifteen persons. tied
together by their arms ana necks, and on
the opposite side is the same, number.
These represent one hundred and fifteen
towns. taken by Thothmes III. during his
campaingn in the south of Egypt while
those on the other side represent a SINH
lar number OF towns captured in the
north. Among the names in this inscrip-
ton are those of many Of the towns Of
Palestine. giving Us an account of the ex-
istence Of these cities almost three hun
dred years before the Israelites left
Egypt,
on the south wall. near the western
end, are several sculptures in commemo-
ration OF the victory Of Shashanq-the
the Shishak Of the Bible-one OF the last
Of the Pharaohs who added 10 the TEN
pie Of Karnak- A picture here was drawn
in remembrance OF the victorious cam
paign against Palestine made by the
king. which ended in the capture and sack