Evening star., 1902-08-28
THE PLAQUES OF EGYPT
AN ANCIENT PAPYRUS OF
PHARAoH'S AGE.
Throws Light on Mosaic Legends-Ef
feet Of Scourges Seems to Have
Been Found.
From the London Globe.

From the London Globe.
Tradition has always regarded Egypt as
the land par excellence of magic, and the
nagicians of Egypt have become a house
hold word. The episodes which nave
brought the magic of Egypt most into
prominence are the contests between the
wonder workers of the court of Phara oh
and Moses EXODUS, vii, ~ and the mir
acles In the corm of plaques, which struck
terror into the heart of Pharaoh. The
miracles of the Hebrew lawgiver are de-
scribed with such detail that 1t has long
been hoped that some trace of such efforts
of magic would be found in the black lit
erature of Egypt. Such discovery seems
at last to have been made. During recent
years great quantity of magical litera-
ture, consisting Of charms litanies and col
lections of tales have been recovered from
Egypt Among these we have the tales In
the Westcar papyrus ascribed to a magic
ian of the age of khufu, the builder of the
great pyramid; the Daubeney papyrus, with
the Tale of the Two Brothers, which pre-
sent q close resemblance to the story of
Joseph and Potiphav's wife, and others.
The magical literature was the mental
pabulum of the common people, and these
tales were, no doubt read or told to inter-
ested audiences in Thebes and Memphis as
the stories from the Arabian Nights or
the tales Of Antar are now told in the
baZaars and cafes of Cairo.
A Revival Of the Tales.
In PtOlemaic times there was great re-
vival of these tales of the things which
the men Of the olden time knew" and
many collections Of these folk stories were
made. Chief among those cycles of stories
was one grouped round a certain prince
named khamuas, the son of Rameses II,
the king al whose court Moses f1ourished
Although the papyrus in the museum Is a
very late document, da ting about A. d. "A.
1t is copy Of much older manuscripts. The
first set of tales which relate to the birth
and miracles of a child named Se-Osiris |
noticed some months ago In these columns,
and pointed out their remarkable resem-
blance to the stories of the infancy of
Jesus; the second portion Is composed Of
material derived from documents of an
tiquity and associated with Pharaohs of the
eighteenth and nineteenth dynast!es.
The main incidents in the story are sup
posed to take place at the court of Rameses
II, as those in the life Of Moses took place
at the court Of his son, Merenptah, when
Se-Osiris championed Egypt against the
wonder-workers Of Ethiopia. The Ethio-
plan magician has magical writing which
none can read, and which, If not read will
orlng terrible curse on the la nd. This the
boy Se-Osiris succeeds in reading This
enables him to bring in a curious contest
between magcians, which had taken place
some five centuries previously at the court
of Thothmes III.
This fact is important as 1t shows that
the wonders had taken place according to
the literary traditions Of Egypt long prior
to the age of Moses. According to this
story, Se-Osris had lived in a former sta tie
of existence at the court Of Thothmes III
as Hor, the son Of the negro, where he had
been reader and an exceedingly learned
man skilled In magic. At that time there
came to Egypt some Ethiopian maSicians
VINO would work entertainments upon Pha-
raoh and his people, and. indeed, commenced
TO DO so, when this wise man was called to
save the king Here at the onset we have
curious parallel to the traditional contest
between Moses :and Iannes and Iambus
CTimothy S:viii.T And the resemblance to
Moses Is very striking when one of the
magicians taunts the victorious Hor in the
words, Art thou not Hor, the son of the
negro, whom l saved from the reeds of
Raj" VI
The Ethiopian Magicians.
we come now to curious series of
boasts OF the Ethiopian magicians Of the
spells they would cast upon the land of
Egypt This is most curious and valuable
material The first magician says: II will
cast my spell upon the land Of Egypt, and
will cause the people Of Egypt to pass three
days and three nights without seeing the
light" The parallel with Exodus, K, %
Is almost literal. To quote: 1.-The Lord said
unto Noses. stretch thy hand toward
heaven and there shall be darkness over
the land Of Egypt and there was
darkness in the land Of Egypt three days !"
Such an agreement can hardly be by mere
hA A~k ~trnA A. L.