are a kind of allegorical picture-writing, in which the signs borrowed from natural objects serve partly to represent sounds, and partly to express ideas. There are two other species of writing:-the hieratic, confined to the priests; and the demotic, used in common life-both apparently running hands derived from the hieroglyphic system.

TWENTIETH CENTURY.

SACRED HISTORY.-1921, Call of Abraham-Destruction of Sodom.1968, Ninus supposed to reign in Assyria.

ABRAHAM, of the race of Shem, was born in Ur of the Chaldees. Although connected with the idolatrous fire-worship of his native country, he possessed some knowledge of the true God, for he obeyed the divine command without hesitation, and moved westward to Haran, that Charræ famous for the defeat and death of Crassus. Passing the Euphrates, he at last, after various wanderings, settled in the Promised Land. The kings of the Pentapolis having revolted against Chedorlaomer, king of Elam (Elymais,) that monarch was obliged to take up arms against them, in order to preserve the fidelity of the adjoining states. He defeated the allied army and captured Lot, the nephew of Abraham, by whom he was shortly after rescued, 1913. Returning from his victory over the Elamites, he was met by Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of the Most High, who blessed him and received in return a tithe of the spoil, as an offering to the God who had crowned the undertaking with success. But the piety of the patriarch was unable to avert the destruction of the Cities of the Plain, 1897. Jehovah rained down fire and brimstone from heaven, and the Dead Sea now covers the ruins of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim. On the birth of Isaac (1896,) the mother urged Abraham to drive out Hagar with the child Ishmael, which she had born him, lest he should share the paternal heritage. The two exiles retired to the desert, where the youth married an Egyptian woman, and his descendants are, to this day, a living wit ness to the truth of the prophecy of the angel,—he will be a wild man, his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him,— Persians, Greeks and Romans, Mongols and Tartars, having vainly endeavoured to subdue them. The Hejazite kings of Arabia, to whose dynasty Mohammed belonged, reckon the son of Hagar among their

ancestors.

When Isaac was little more than twenty years of age, God demanded him as a burnt-sacrifice; but the faith of the patriarch prevented the consummation of the painful duty, and the covenant made before Abraham quitted Chaldea was renewed in stronger terms, 1872. This father of the faithful expired at the age of 175, B. c. 1821, leaving behind him a numerous family. Besides the Israelites and Ishmaelites, he was, by his second wife Keturah, the ancestor of the Midianites and several other Arab tribes.

Character of Abraham.

In whatever light we view the patriarch, we remark traits of grandeur that place him beside the great heroes of antiquity. He was a despotic king over his descendants and slaves, without the inconvenient title and ceremonies. Princes sought his alliance, as their equal; like a modern sheik, he made peace or war as he pleased. Possessing countless herds, the only riches of the age, he lived in abundance, rejecting all presents, lest any should boast that he had enriched himself by them. As a religious man, he had the most implicit confidence in the promises of God, and was always resigned to his commands, even to the sacrifice of his only son. As soon as the Almighty spoke, he believed against all appearances, hoped even against hope, and obeyed in spite of the strongest affections of our nature. He was a man of divine mould, the model as well as the father of all true believers.

NINETEENTH CENTURY.

EGYPT.-Invasion of the Shepherds.

GREECE.-1856, Kingdom of Argos founded by Inachus.

SHEPHERD KINGS.-The invasion of the Hyksos or Shepherd Kings is an event of great importance in Egyptian history, but much uncertainty exists as to the period when it took place. We learn that, in the reign of Timaos (Thammuz), Egypt was invaded by a pastoral tribe, who, after subduing the lower country, extended their ravages to the Thebais, which, however, they could not reduce, and where a native dynasty long continued to reign. They are said to have made Memphis their capital, and to have established a fortified camp at Abaris (Pelusium,) in the Saitic nome, where they stationed 240,000 men. These invaders are represented on the monuments with tattooed limbs and skin garments, and as preserving their wild habits and rudeness until their expulsion. This event took place under the first of the eighteenth dynasty of Thebes, 260 years after the inroad. Amosis, or Thoutmosis, raised the country from its prostrate state, and formed one compact kingdom with Thebes for its capital.

This period of Egyptian history is greatly confused, as much from the want of information as from contradictory accounts. Heeren places the Shepherd dominion between 1800 and 1600 B. c. contemporary with Moses and the Exodus; he also supposes a number of successive invasions. Dr. Hales assigns 2159 B. c. for the epoch of the Pastoral Kings, and supposes them to have been expelled about 27 years before the commencement of Joseph's administration. The authors of the Universal History, following Josephus, give a duration of more than 500 years to this dynasty. Rollin places them between 2084 and 1825 B. C., and makes Abraham visit Egypt under one of these foreign kings. The Jewish annalist maintains that these exterminating invaders are merely the 70 peaceful members who formed the family of his ancestor Jacob. The red hair and blue eyes of the Hyksos seem to indicate a northern and probably a Scythian origin; they certainly have nothing of the Arabian character.

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

SACRED HISTORY.-1837, b. Esau and Jacob-1728, Joseph in Egypt.1706, Israelites settled in Goshen,

EGYPT.-Foreign Intercourse.

Sacred History.

THE life of Isaac was not eventful. He dwelt within the borders of the Promised Land, where he practised agriculture, and became so wealthy as to excite the jealousy of the neighbouring princes. By his prudence he averted the calamities of war, and renewed the treaty that had been concluded between his father and Abimelech. His two sons, Esau and Jacob, were men of different characters: the elder applied himself to the cultivation of the soil, and by the active pleasures of the chase acquired a hardy frame of body; Jacob, on account of his mild and peaceful manners, was the object of his mother's peculiar affection. The latter defrauded Esau of his father's benediction, and was obliged to flee from his just resentment. In his journey toward Mesopotamia, 1760, he was visited by God in his sleep, who promised him a numerous posterity, as well as the possession of the land of Canaan. On the death of Isaac, at the age of 180 years, the two brothers divided the inheritance; the younger remained in the land of Canaan, while the other returned to the country which had derived from him the name of Edom (red.) His numerous posterity occupied that part of Idumea called Amalekitis, from a descendant of Ham, or, according to some, from Amalek, the grandson of Esau.

JOSEPH.-The twelve sons of Jacob did not all imitate the piety of their father. One of the number, Joseph, became the victim of their jealousy, and at the age of seventeen was sold by them to a caravan of Ishmaelites who were on their way to Egypt, 1728. Here he speedily rose to honour, became the minister of Thoutmosis, the reigning pharaoh, and by his foresight he preserved the country from famine during seven years of sterility. He strengthened the royal power, and secured the comforts of the people, by establishing a fixed land-tax or rent of onefifth of the produce instead of the previous arbitrary exactions. His own influence was confirmed by a marriage with the daughter of the priest of On; and the government, which had been theocratic and military, now became entirely sacerdotal. Jacob, with all his family, were soon after settled in the land of Goshen, 1706, which not only afforded excellent pasture, but was separated by its remoteness from the Egyptians, who had recently suffered too much from the Shepherd Kings to associate readily with those who followed the same occupation. By this means also the exposed frontier was confided to the protection of a hardy and warlike race.

EGYPT.

The state of Memphis, in which Joseph resided, comprised at this period Middle and Lower Egypt; and the Mosaic records prove that it contained a brilliant court, with its castes of priests and warriors. Thoutmosis reigned twenty-five years after the expulsion of the Shep

herd dynasty. Among his successors is reckoned Maris, who is said to have excavated the great lake which bears his name.

This century witnessed the first communication between the Hebrews, Greeks, and Egyptians. Joseph and the twelve patriarchs on the one side, a King of Thessaly and the Titans on the other, sought an asylum in Egypt. The Israelites were then a mere nomad tribe, like the Arabs at the present day; the Greeks were Scythians or Pelasgians; both were new people: while the Chaldeans, the Sidonians, and the Egyptians, were skilled in astronomy and navigation, and learned in theology, morals, politics, the art of war, and maritime commerce. During their stay in Egypt, the Greeks and Hebrews derived from a common source their first learning, subject to the various influences of the climate and superstitions of the countries to which they removed.

Read: Russel's Ancient and Modern Egypt in the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, and Wilkinson's Manners of the Egyptians.

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

SACRED HISTORY.-1635, Death of Joseph.
GREECE.-The Pelasgi-Sicyon.

Sacred History.

THE settlement of the Jewish people in Egypt tended in some degree to recall them from their nomad state. The patriarch Jacob lived only seventeen years to enjoy the presence of his son Joseph, and witness the happiness of his family. He died in 1689 B. C., at the age of 147, blessing his children, and foretelling the birth of the Messiah from the race of Judah. His favourite son survived fifty-four years, and saw his descendants in the fourth generation. He expired in 1635, regretted by all Egypt, and with him terminates the history of the book of Genesis, containing a period of 2369 years. In the division of the Promised Land, Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of this patriarch, ranked as heads of tribes, on an equality with the eleven sons of Jacob.

GREECE.

Origin of the Greek Nations.

The first settlers of Greece were Ionians, a Pelasgic race, who derived their name from Javan (Heb. Ion,) son of Japhet. He is mentioned in Genesis as among those by whom the isles of the Gentiles were divided in their lands, and Greece is called Javan several times in the sacred Scriptures. The Hellenes, if not an offshoot of the Pelasgians, were also of eastern origin, and by these two were the different states of the Archipelago originally formed. There was also a continual influx of the wandering hordes of the north. Scythia then, as in latter times, supplied abundant streams of barbarians, who sought a milder climate and a more fertile soil than their own. These nomad tribes, like the Indians of America, subsisted on the produce of the chase or the wild fruits of the woods; but we are entirely ignorant of their history, manners, and religion.

The Pelasgians have left an imperishable record in the numerous buildings that bear their name. In the ruins of the fortifications of Lycosura we see all that remains of the oldest Greek city. Their masonry was polygonal, each stone fitting into the other without cement. The Cyclopean walls, often confounded with the Pelasgic, are at least four or five centuries later.

While these primitive tribes remained in a savage state of ignorance, the arts and sciences were advancing to perfection in the East. The troubles in Egypt, consequent upon the invasion of the shepherd races, compelled great numbers to seek peace and tranquillity beyond the sea, and by them settlements were formed in Peloponnesus and Northern Greece. Their knowledge was communicated by degrees to the inhabitants of the country, who at last were civilized. The first care of Inachus, who arrived in Argolis about 1856 B. C., was to raise a temple to Apollo on Mount Lycaon. Cecrops, from the nome of Sais, pursued a similar course in order to reclaim the uncivilized inhabitants of Attica, 1556.*

Although many of the primitive Greeks had withdrawn into the mountains of Arcadia, as the ancient Britons retired into the fastnesses of Wales, yet they generally adopted the Egyptian laws and institutions, which they cherished and long preserved with devoted constancy. The paintings still seen on the Egyptian monuments (see Rosellini) form a complete illustration of the Works and Days of Hesiod.

The Phoenicians were the next colonists, but with a different object. Their vessels infested the Grecian coasts, ravaging and plundering the adjacent towns, and carrying the inhabitants into slavery. Their very name, among the early Greeks, like the Punic faith of the Romans, was expressive of fraud, deceit, and treachery.

Consult: Thirlwall's Hist. Greece, vol. i. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia.

SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

SACRED HISTORY.-1581, Birth of Moses-Job.

GREECE.-1556, Cecrops-Deluge of Deucalion-Amphictyonic Council.

Sacred History.

MOSES.-After the death of Joseph in 1635, the Israelites increased so rapidly in numbers and in strength as to excite the fears of the reigning monarch. The ordinary modes of diminishing the population proving inefficient, the pharaoh commanded all the male children to be slain as soon as born. The affection of Jochebed preserved her son Moses for three months, when the fear of discovery at last compelled her to expose him on the banks of the Nile, 1571. Here he was providentially seen

*The reign of Cecrops is the first epoch, 1581, in the Arundelian (or Parian) marbles. These are an Athenian chronicle, graven on marble in Greek capitals, found at the beginning of the 17th century in the island of Paros, one of the Cyclades, and transported to England by Thomas earl of Arundel, whose grandson presented them to the Univer sity of Oxford. The chronicle, the authenticity of which now begins to be questioned, was engraved 264 B. C. It has been frequently printed.