The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1920-01-28
Egypt: A Rip Van Wrinkle of History

Egypt: A Rip Van Wrinkle OF History.
Washington, Dec 23-Egypt is
termed a perennial Rip Van Wink!e
of history in a bulletin from the Ma
tional Geographic Society, which
makes the present Egyptian home rule
agitation the occasion Of a review Of
that country's glorious past.
Quoting from a communication to
The Society by James Baikie, the bull
letin says:
We owe the framework into which
we try to tit the facts Of Egyptian his
tory to the ancient historian, Name
tho, scattered fragments of whose
history of Egypt, dating from the
third century 3. c.. have come down
to us in the works Of various ancient
authors. He recognized thirty dynas-
ties of Egyptian monarchs.
"Manetho's assertion that one of
the early kings. was slain by a hip
popotamIs, and that, in the reign Of
another the Nile flowed with honey,
may be mere fables; but the men We're
there, and their royalty was a very
real and tangible thing. Since the
early nineties investigations have been
carried out which have resulted in
the discovery Of the tombs of many
Of these ancient royalties and the
accumulation of a most interesting
mass OF information with regard to
the civilization of their time, the or
sanitation of their courts, and the at
tainments of the race over which they
ruled.
THE kings of the earliest dynasties
reared no pyramids. Their tomhs
were great structures mainly under
ground-that of Aha (who is possi-
bly, Afena, the first king Of Egypt at
Eaqada measures ITS feet by SO and
contains q chambers-built some
times Of brick, with lining Of wood;
sometimes f1oored with stone. as in the
case Of the tomb Of Kins; Den at
Anydos, whose granite floor furnishes
! the earliest known example of the use
of stone in building. =
'"The furniture of the tombs reveals
an amazing proficiency in the arts
and crafts. Ebony chests inlaid with
ivory. stools with ivory feet carved
in the shape of bulls legs, vessels cut
and ground to translucent thinness.
not only out of soft alabaster but .)u.
Of an iron-hard stone like diorite,
finely wrought copper ewers, all tell
Us that the Egyptian of the earliest
dynastic period was no rude barbar-
ian, but highly civilized craftsman
Perhaps the daintiest and most con-
vincing evidence of his skill is given
by the bracelets which were found
queen of King Ter, of the fipst dynasty,
which, alike for the grace of their
design and for the skill with which
the gold is wrought and soldered, are
admirable.
The civilization of the Nile Valley
no longer challenges US with the
Great Pyramid as the first essay Of
its development or seems to spring
full-srown like Athene from the head
of Zeus. Petrie places the begin |
nings Of the first dynasty at $50 B.
c.. while another school brings them
down to 1900 B. c.
Like many Of these ancient kings. |
Zeser was not content with single |
tomb. He had another at Saqqara,
near Memphis where the chambers
of the interior were lined with fine
blue and green glazed tiles.
"A king who could rear. such a |
structure had evidently at command
the resources of very we'll organ
lied state and capable architects.
Accuracy equal to opticians work.
but on scale of acres instead of
inches is scarcely what one expects
in buildings reared nearly 5000 |
years ago. But the huge blocks of the
Great Pyramid, 100000 of them
weighing on an average IL tons
apiece, while some run TO 40 and so
tons, are squared. fitted, and leveled
with an accuracy which puts to
shame our best modern work and
compels our respect not only for the
strength, but for the skill of these
mighty builders before the Lord.
The question of how the Egyptians
made fire was one that had often
exercised archaologists. No repre-
sentation of the process existed on
the monuments, nor does the nation
appear TO have attached any relig
ious significance to the origin of fire.
The question was settled by the dis
covery at Kahun Of a regular bow
drill for making fire, together with
several sticks showing the burnt holes
caused by fire-drilling.
In February, 1905. an American
explorer r. NJ. Davis, discovered the
tomb Of Yuaa and Thuaa, father and
of that Queen Tyi whose in
fluence played so great part in
religious information
The tomb was intact and the OBJ
jects it contained were as perfectly
preserved as if they had been shut up
only few weeks. One of the archie
ologists described his sensations on
entering the place as being very much
like those Of man who enters town.
house which has been shut up for
the summer. Armchairs stood about,
beautifully carved and decorated with