The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-08

tributary outlying country was attracted.
In Egypt, however, the small kingdoms
and ~city-States out Of which the nation was
ultimately consolidated do not fall within
the historic age, as they do in Babylonia.
The gradual fusion by which these petty
States were merged into two kingdoms
one in the Delta, and the other comprising
the States Of the valley above-is q process
OF which we can never expect to learn the
course. There Is not aver the slightest
indication Of the length Of time consumed
by the fusion process. In Prof. Breasteo's
opinion, however, 1t can hardly have been
completed before 1000 B. c., or at least
600 years before Menes, the founder Of the
first Pan-Egyptian dynasty. Our knowl-
edge Of the two kingdoms, which emerged
toward the end OF the long, prehistoric
age, is but slightly moro satisfactory
The Delta was throughout the historic
ago open to inroads on the part OF the
Libyans, who dwelt to the west of 1t, and
the constant influx Of people from this
quarter gave the western Delta a distinctly
Libyan character, which it preserved even
down TO the time Of Herodotus. At the
earliest moment, when the monuments
enable us to discern the conditions in the
Delta, the Pharaoh Is oontending with
Libyan invaders. Our author infers that
the earlier kingdom Of the north must have
been strongly Libyan, If, indeed, 1t did not
W its origin TO this source. AS its coat
OF arms or symbol the northern kingdom,
or kingdom Of Lower Egypt (Delta) en-
ployed a tuft Of papyrus plant, which grew
plentifully in It's marches. The King him
self was designated by a bee, and wore upon
his head a red crown, both in color and
shape peculiar to his kingdom. Red was
the dist. motive color Of the Northern King
dom, and its treasury was called the Red
House"
ULlucki!y the Delta is so deeply overlaid
with deposits Of Nile mud that the material
remains Of its earliest civilization are buried
forever from our reach. In our authors
judgment that civilization was earlier aid
more advanced than that Of the valley
above, The remarkable fact Is poir ted
out that already in the fifth century B. G..
the men Of the Delta had discovered the
year Of 3e5 days and introduced a calendar
year Of this length, beginning on the day
when Sirius rose at surrise, which. as de-
termined in the latitude Of the southern
Delta, where these earliest astronomers
lived, was in 424l B. G. 1t is the p~redynastic
civilization Of the Delta, therefore, which
furTi shes us with the earliest fixed date In
the history Of the world. The ~invention
and introduction Of this calendar is sur
prising evidence OF the advar ced culture
OF the age and locality to which it belonged.
No nation Of antiquity, from the earliest
times throughout classic European his
tory, was able to devise a calendar which
should evade the Inconvenience resulting
from the fact that the lur ar month ard the
solar year are Uncommon surable quantities,
the lunar months being neon a and also
not evenly dividirg the solar year. This
earliest known calendar, with an ama2ir g
insight into the needs to be subserved,
abard oned the lunar month altogether and
substituted for it a conventional mort tn Of
thirty days. It was this calendar, already
used by the inhabitants Of the Delta in the
~pre-dynastic period, which was introduced
into Rome by julius Ctsar, and by the
Romars was beQueathed to us.
The kingdom Of Upper Egypt seems to
have been more distinctly Egyptian than
was that Of the Delta. Its standard or
symbol was a lily plant, while another
southern plant served as the ensign Of the
King, who was further distinguished by a
tall white rown. white being the color
! Of the southern kingdom. Its treasury
was therefore known as the white House"
Its capital was Nekhed, the capital Of the
northern kingdom being Buto. Each Of
these chief cities had its patroness or pro-
tecting goddess: Buto In the north had a
serpent goddess; Nekhed, in the south, the
vulture goddess. At both capitals the
hawk god Horus was worshipped as the
distinctive patron deity Of both kings.
The contents Of their cemeteries prove
that the pre-dynastic Egyptians believed
in a life hereafter, subject to wants of the
same nature as those Of the present life.
They had also developed a system Of writ
ing. The computations needed for the
discovery and use OF the calendar attest
a use of writing as far back as the last zen
turtles Of the fifth millennium B. c. 1t is
shown also by the fact that about a thousand
wears later the scribes Of the Fifth Dynasty
|, were able to copy a long list Of the kings Of
the north. The hieroglyphs for the north
ern kingdom, for it's king and for its trea-
sury cannot have arisen at n stroke
with the first king Of the dynastic age. but
must have been In use long before the rise
OF Une UrbI uyudely, Wuuo tuo PIeoenco
OF q cursive linear hand at the beginning
Of the dynasty proves that the system was
not then a recent innovation.
The final step in the long and slow evo-
| luton Of Egypt's national unity was the
| union Of the north and south, The ira
| dition, which was still current in the days
OF the Greek s%ojourners in Egypt, to the
/ effect that the two kingdoms were united
by a king named Menes, is now fully CON-
frmed by the evidence Of the early monu-
ments. The figure OF Menes, which but a
few years ago was as vague and elusive
as the figures OF the "Worshippers of Horus'
, that preceded him, has now peer clothed
with unmistakable reality, and he at last
steps forth into history to head the long
line OF Pharaohs who belong to historical
times. 1t must have been, as our author
says, q shlful warrior and a vigorous adj
mlnistrator who gathered the resources
| of the southern kingdom so we'll in hand
that he was able to invade and conquer the
Delta, and thus merge the two kingdoms
into one nation, completing the long process
Of Capitalization which had been going on
for many centuries. For the record Of the
historical period which began In $500 B. C.
.wa u,st refer the reader TO Prof. Breastad's