MONUMENTAL SCULPTURES AND INSCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT.

SECOND ARTICLE.

NUMEROUS Scattered passages are to be found in ancient writers respecting the hieroglyphical writings of the Egyptians, but they are, for the most part, extremely vague and defective. There is, indeed, one well-known passage, in the Stromata of Clement, bishop of Alexandria, A.D. 194, in which the subject is treated with peculiar detail, but, at the same time, in a manner so obscure, that it was not until after the discoveries we have described that its meaning could be at all understood. The passage in question, however, has rendered essential service to the study of the hieroglyphics, by corroborating the results at which Champollion and Dr Young had arrived. According to Clement, the Egyptians employed three different kinds of writing,-the epistolographic or current hand, the hieratic, or the character used by the priests, and the hieroglyphic or monumental character. The first is equivalent to the enchorial or demotic, of which we have already spoken, and is believed to be of comparatively modern origin, as no documents in this mode of writing are known which bear an earlier date than that of the Pharaohs. The second is a running form or short hand of the hieroglyphics, in which a rude outline represents the figures. The third was the original mode of Egyptian writing, of which the other two are corruptions. It is wholly composed of pictorial representations, and originally, there can be no doubt, conveyed ideas entirely by pictures of the objects intended to be expressed. Thus we find on the monuments that the picture of a man represents a man, and that of a horse, a horse. The insufficiency of this plan, however, must have been immediately felt. The mere picture of a man could not represent what man was meant, and, to denote this, it became necessary to add a sign or symbol of another thing in some way associated with this particular individual. The symbols employed were of various kinds. Sometimes a part is placed for the whole. Thus, the head of an ox is employed to represent an ox, the head of a goose, to represent a goose. Two arms, the one with a shield, the other with a battle-axe, denote an army, and a pair of arms holding an oar, signifies a rower. The cause is often put for the effect, the effect for the cause, and the instrument, for the labour produced. Thus the picture of the sun is put for the day of which it is the cause,-a month is represented by a crescent with its horns turned downwards,-fire, by smoke issuing from a chafing dish, -and writing, by the combination of the reed, inkhorn, and palette, employed by the sacred scribes in writing the hieroglyphics. Sometimes the symbol is employed in consequence of some fancied resemblance between it and the idea; thus, contemplation or vision is denoted by the eye of the hawk, because that bird was supposed to possess the power of gazing upon the sun. A mother is represented by a vulture, because that bird is said to nourish its young with its own blood-a king by a bee, because that insect submits to regular government-and a priest by a jackall, to indicate his watchfulness over sacred things. In some

cases, the emblem used must be considered completely arbitrary. Thus, a hatchet signifies a god,—an asp, royalty,-Osiris is represented by a throne and eye-a son by a bird resembling a goose,-and a physician by a species of duck,-a branch of the lotus indicates Upper Egypt,-and a tuft of papyrus, Lower Egypt. Finally, the Egyptians employed various pictures of physical objects to represent not ideas, but letters or sounds. The principle on which this was done is very simple. It consisted in representing a sound by the pictorial image of a physical object, of which the name had for initial articulation or first letter, the sound which this picture was intended to express. Thus, the picture of a lion, the name of which in Egyptian was Labo, was employed to denote the sound or letter L, the tuft of a reed called Ake stood for A, and a hand called Tot stood for T. A system precisely similar is often employed in teaching little children our own alphabet as, "A was an archer, B was a butcher, &c. * This principle has originated many Semitic alphabets, as the Hebrew, the Samaritan, the Phoenician, and those of some other nations. † This brief account of the hieroglyphies may serve to give our readers some idea of the nature of the pictorial representations sculptured on the Egyptian monuments.

Of late years, Egypt has been visited by enterprising travellers from all the nations of Europe, for the sole purpose of investigating the monuments and studying the hieroglyphic inscriptions on their walls, and much valuable information on the subject will be found in their works, especially in those of Sir J. G. Wilkinson, Lord Prudhoe and Messrs Felix and Burton. But every preceding publication has been cast into the shade by the splendid work of Rosellini. In 1828, the French government sent a commission, consisting of Champollion and four French artists, abundantly supplied with all the necessary instruments, for the purpose of examining and making drawings of the hieroglyphical inscriptions, engraved on the monuments of Egypt and Nubia. A similar design having suggested itself to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, the celebrated oriental scholar, Professor Rosellini, and four Italian artists under his direction, were appointed to proceed to Egypt for the same purpose as the French commission. It was ultimately arranged that the two missions should be blended into one. They remained in Egypt for upwards of two years, during which they were unremittingly engaged in exploring the monuments scattered along the valley of the Nile. They brought back with them a very large collection of antiquities, and not less than fifteen hundred drawings, together with a particular description of each bas-relief, the details of the decorations and copies of the accompanying inscriptions. Champollion died soon after his return to Paris; but the laborious task of arranging the materials thus accumulated, and preparing them for publication, has been performed by Rosellini, in a manner, in the highest degree, creditable to his industry and learning. For the last ten years he has been periodically issuing the text and plates of, perhaps, the noblest work which the researches of

Gliddon's Ancient Egypt, &c. p. 16-23; Antiquities of Egypt, p. 82, 92; Wiseman's Lectures, vol. ii. p. 75; Ency. Brit., Article Hieroglyphics.

Hebrew Characters derived from Hieroglyphics, by John Lamb, D.D., Master of Corpus C. College, Cambridge.

an individual and the liberality of a government have ever produced. This magnificent publication furnishes a complete civil, military, religious, and monumental history of early Egypt, and supplies more ample and minute details of the arts, sciences, manners and customs, public and private life, of the ancient Egyptians, than we possess of the Greeks and Romans, or, probably, even of our own early ancestors. We purpose selecting from this invaluable mass of materials, a few examples of the light thus thrown on various important questions connected with the history of Egypt, and especially with the events recorded in the sacred scriptures.

The reading of the sculptures and inscriptions of ancient Egypt has, as might have been expected, been of important service in corroborating the statements of scripture regarding that country. A close and intimate connexion long existed between the ancient Egyptians and the Hebrews. Abraham, the founder of the Jewish race, visited Egypt, and was kindly treated by its ruler. Joseph his great-grandson was the prime minister of one of the Pharaohs, and the rich province of Goshen was the residence of his brethren and of their descendants for several centuries. The Israelites were employed in the erection of those stupendous buildings with which the kings of the eighteenth dynasty adorned Egypt, and the great Jewish legislator was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." At a later period of their history, the greatest monarch that ever sat on the throne of David, married the daughter of Pharaoh, and in the reign of his son, Jerusalem was taken and plundered by the Egyptian monarch. One of his descendants was defeated and killed, in the valley of Megiddo, by another of the Pharaohs. It was to Egypt that the Jews went down for help during their fruitless struggles against the overwhelming power of the Assyrians, and it was their reliance on this broken reed that ultimately brought about the ruin of their nation. An interesting question, hence arises, whether the monumental sculptures and inscriptions of Egypt make any reference to these events, or throw any light on the manners and customs of the early Egyptians, as incidentally portrayed in biblical history? It is gratifying to state, that all that industry and learning have been able to collect on this subject, is in entire harmony with what the scriptures directly or indirectly teach respecting Egypt; and it is certainly a very great point to have ascertained, beyond doubt, that the Egypt of the bible is Egypt indeed, not a fiction, nor an imposture, nor a blunder, as writers of the Voltaire school would persuade the world, but a reality, so far as it goes-a picture copied from actual life."*

The first mention made of Egypt in the scripture narrative, is in connexion with the visit of Abraham, recorded in the twelth chapter of the book of Genesis, " And there was a famine in the land [of Canaan]; and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was griev ous in the land. And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai, his wife, Behold now I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon, therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife;

*Biblical Cyclop., p. 604.

*

and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of thee. And it came to pass that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. The princes also of Pharaoh's house saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house." From this statement we learn that, even at this early period, the Egyptian monarch bore the official title of Pharaoh,—an appellation on the origin and signification of which, the labours of Wilkinson and Rosellini have thrown new light. By several analogies between the Hebrew and the Egyptian letters, they have shown the title to be identical with that of Phre or Phrah the sun, which is prefixed to the names of kings upon their monuments. This name was given to the Egyptian monarchs from the pretended analogy of the king as chief of earthly beings with the sun as chief of heavenly bodies. Every Pharaoh was the sun of Egypt, and over his name bore the title "Son of the sun." In confirmation of this interpretation, we may mention that the name of Joseph's father-in-law, Potipherah or Pete-phre, signifies a priest belonging to the sun. It was customary among the ancient nations of the east for the women to veil themselves; and we know that, after the Persian conquest, the women of Egypt were condemned to the concealment and seclusion, still common in the eastern countries. But we learn, from the monumental sculptures, that among the ancient Egyptians, the women exposed their faces and were permitted to enjoy as much liberty as those of modern Europe. Unless this had been known, we should have been at a loss to discover how it was that "The princes of Pharaoh saw Sarai ;" and for the knowledge of this circumstance, we are wholly indebted to the monuments.†

The complexion of Sarai seems to have aggravated the alarm which her husband felt on account of her beauty, "Thou art a fair woman.” The Egyptian women were of a darker tinge than their Syrian neighbours, and the monuments afford abundant evidence that a fair complexion was deemed a mark of beauty among the early Egyptians. This seemingly trifling circumstance is recorded in no history but the book of Genesis; and its confirmation by the independent testimony of the monuments is a strong proof of the authenticity of the scripture narrative.

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In the enumeration of the presents conferred on the patriarch by Pharaoh, we find mention made of "men-servants and maid-servants," which proves that domestic slavery was, even at that early age, established in Egypt. This circumstance, like every other stated in the sacred narrative, is fully borne out by the monuments which show us these unhappy beings, trembling and cringing before their superiors, beaten with rods by the overseers, and sometimes threatened with a formidable whip, wielded by the lady of the mansion herself." The whole of this narrative is calculated to leave the impression which the monumental records abundantly confirm, that the Egyptians, even at that early period, were acquainted with agriculture, and all those arts

"I monumenti dell' Egitto e della Nubia," vol. i. p. 117, Wilkinson's Topography of Thebes.

+ Illustrations of the Bible from the Monuments of Egypt, by W. C. Taylor, LL.D. NO. II. VOL. I.

I

of civilization and government which indicate a social existence, extending backwards for at least several ages. Their monarch had a court, princes and servants, and regular armies, and his dominion extended into Ethiopia and Nigritia. Their country was already noted for its fertility and for its well-stored granaries. They had vast cities and magnificent palaces and temples. The arts of painting and sculpture had reached a degree of excellence scarcely surpassed in later times. The arch, both round and pointed, with its perfect keystone, both in brick and in stone, was known to them long before this era. The columns now termed Doric, and attributed to the Greeks, were in common use at this period which precedes the Dorians by a thousand years and some centuries; previously they had employed 100,000 men in the erection of a single pyramid to serve as a royal tomb.†

*

J. T.

A JEWISH CONVERT.

(From the Journal of a Recent Tourist.)

He

DURING our stay in the city of Strasburg, I had frequent intercourse with Mr Hausmeister, a German Jew, but at present a laborious missionary among his countrymen. I met with few men, in my journey, of a more catholic and devoted spirit. I learned from him a variety of particulars regarding his personal history, especially in reference to his conversion. They place in a striking light the difficulties with which a Jew has to contend in turning from the yoke of Judaism to Christianity; and as I am fully persuaded that they will be interesting, and I hope edifying, to the readers of the Magazine, I shall present them with the substance of the narrative I got from himself. His Jewish name is Balbaith, which has the same signification as his German name Hausmeister,-master of the house. was born in the kingdom of Würtemberg. To use his own words which are now before me, "I had the happiness to have affectionate parents, and passed the days of my childhood in the gaiety and happiness natural to that age. My parents wished me to devote myself to commerce; but as I evinced a strong repugnance to that profession, I was, according to my own desire, apprenticed to a watchmaker. Young and thoughtless I determined to know the world, its attractions, its pleasures, and endeavoured to find happiness for myself in sights, the cafés, in concerts and balls. But amid all my pleasures and my good reputation before the world, my soul languished, and nothing gave me real satisfaction. I could not dissemble from myself, that, in the depth of my soul, I possessed no true joy, and that the peace of God was not my portion. I felt that the perishable things of this world could never fully satisfy my immortal spirit; that that which is

It was long supposed that the Cloaca Magna at Rome is the most ancient specimen of the arch, but the Egyptians were acquainted with its structure 2000 years before the erection of the Cloaca Magna.

+ As an illustration of the state of refinement to which Egyptian society had already attained, we may mention the curious fact, that in one of the sculptures as old as the days of Abraham, the king is represented as diverting his leisure hours with a game similar to chess.