BIRTH OF EGYPTIAN MONARCHIES.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12689, 31 December 1906, Page 9

BIRTH OF EGYPTIAN MONARCHIES.

The next section of history has been filial by tlu> discoveries of tho oldest monuments of tho historic race of Egyptian kings, partly by Mr Quickeli, and partly by myself, beside other fragments which have como to light by chance in various places. Wo can now trace hew there wore five different types of men in «nd round Egypt at about 3000 B.C. Wo see how tour of those wero conqiioml I* - the fifth jjooplc, who eeern to havo oomo .across tho desert from tho Rod Sou, and to have brought with thorn Iho uso of hieroglyphic writing. Thoir 6cul))turo was far lrettor than anything that tho prehistoric people lied done, for oven their very earliest works show them to havo been a truly artistic j>oopli>. Wo find that bi'gon , tho-y had conquered all 'Egypt, they already had numeration and ac-eoimt-kooping running up to millions. The conquest began in ."outhern Egypt, wlioro they gradually united the various tribes, and then employed them in ec~ quiring the northern parts down to tho Mediterranean. Wo «o on their 6Ctilp>tuiTfi tho scones of gnat festivals wnich continued to Ik; observed for thousands of ream later. Wo find the nrtietio forms of subjects of military, religious, and civic life tho same, ac they continued throughout Egyptian history. The great timo of founding a nation stands revealed to ue, «nd wo can traoe the birth of tho firet monarchies.

Tho groat figure-head of Egyptian history has always been king Menee, whose memory was venerated, for four or five thousand years as the founder of tho kingdom. Wo now know of several kin 3s who reigned before him, jigreying with a statement of tho hietorians, an<l with tho probable growth of isiK-h a kingdom. Hut Menee wae tho lirst king "of aid Egypt united in 0110 rule; and lie marked tlie sense_ of the great chnugo by moving his capital down to tho head of the Delta, and founding Memphis, of which city Cairo is tho modern successor. But ho and tho rest of his race for som© centuries continued to bo buried at their old capital, Abydos in southern Egypt. In tho last few years moro than a dozen of their royal tombs have been discovered tlicie. All of those I have cleared out, aml from thorn havo pi?ced together tho history of that age. The tomb of Men*\s hinlaolf was a largo pdt about 1 26 foot by 17 foot, lined with brickwork; ins-ide this was a wooden chamber, doubtless rcofed over like the prehistoric tombs. In this wore probably hundreds of objects originally, which have nearly all been seatteircd and destroyed in "the various attacks on the tomb. Wo found, however, a bar of pold with tho king's name engraved on ft; iuul a tablet of ebony with his name, and a mention of some festivals and principal officials. Elsewhere, in tho teinplo of Abydos, I found part of a huge ww of green glassed pottery, with this kings name inlaid with purple glazL«. Thus'tho arts of gold work and of two-colour glazing were already known.

Jlut in the next reign the greatest of the Royal tonilis, 43 loot by 38 feet, lias preserved to us Btill more evidence of the .high civilisation of that age. IJv a strango chance the arm of the qi'ieen had boon broken off and hidden by a plunderer. Vp discovered it, and oil it tour beautiful bracelets of gold, turquoLse, lapis lazuli, and amethyst. Kaeh was a separate design, with every piat made- for its special place. The skill ot working and soldering th© gold wns perfect, and wo could not have tau-rht anything, to tho workman of nearly seven thousand years «go. Anotlio:' surprising point was the fineness of tho linen wrappings with which the body had been swathed. Tho evenness of the spun threads, and the closeness of the weaving was afi good as that of tho finest cambric handkerchiefs of the present time. All our mechanical appliances and power looms do not give Uri any letter results than tho Egyptian tnrin-id o'lt by the- hundreds ot yards at tin' Ixvjinning of history. This attainment of technical perfection in such diifi'ront arts jin glazing, gold working, and weaving, phnw* whnt nliigh level of civilisation the Kccyptians had. and how very little \vi> havo l<ooll able to improv*> on the arts which they had brought to perfection about e,\x thousand five hundred ye.irs ago. centuries before tho pyramids were built.