Ancient Egypt

George Rawlinson

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• Publié par: chuig
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 65
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ancient Egypt, by George Rawlinson This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Ancient Egypt Author: George Rawlinson Other: Arthur Gilman Release Date: April 20, 2005 [EBook #15663] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT EGYPT *** Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Susan Skinner and Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net. GREAT HALL OF COLUMNS AT KARNAK (RESTORED.) ANCIENT EGYPT BY GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A. CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF TURIN; AUTHOR OF "THE FIVE GREAT MONARCHIES OF THE ANCIENT EASTERN WORLD." ETC., ETC. WITH THE COLLABORATION OF ARTHUR GILMAN, M.A. AUTHOR OF "THE STORY OF ROME," ETC. TENTH EDITION LONDON T. FISHER UNWIN PATERNOSTER SQUARE, E.C. COPYRIGHT BY T. FISHER UNWIN, 1886 (For Great Britain) TO REGINALD STUART POOLE, KEEPER OF COINS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM, AND CORRESPONDENT OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MUCH HELP AND MUCH PLEASURE DERIVED FROM HIS EGYPTIAN LABOURS. CONTENTS. I. THE LAND OF EGYPT 1-22 General shape of Egypt, 1—Chief divisions: twofold division, 2; threefold division, 3—The Egypt of the maps unreal, 4—Egypt, "the gift of the river," in what sense, 5, 6—The Fayoum, 7—- Egyptian speculations concerning the Nile, 7, 8—The Nile not beautiful, 8—Size of Egypt, 9—Fertility, 10—Geographical situation, 11, 12—The Nile, as a means of communication, 12, 13, Phenomena of the inundation, 13, 14—Climate of Egypt. 14—Geology, 15—Flora and Fauna, 16, 17—General monotony, 19—Exceptions, 20-22. II. THE PEOPLE OF EGYPT 23-45 Origin of the Egyptians, 23—Phenomena of their language and type, 24—Two marked varieties of physique. 25—Two types of character: the melancholic, 25, 27: the gay, 27-29—Character of the Egyptian religion: polytheism, 30, 31—Animal worship, 31-33—Worship of the monarch, 33—Osirid saga, 34, 35—Evil gods, 36—Local cults, 37—Esoteric religion, 38; how reconciled with the popular belief, 39—Conviction of a life after death, 40, 41—Moral code, 41-43—Actual state of morals, 43—Ranks of society, 44, 45. III. THE DAWN OF HISTORY 45-64 Early Egyptian myths: the Seb and Thoth legends, 46, 47—The destruction of mankind by Ra, 48—Traditions concerning M'na, or Menes, 48—Site of Memphis, 49—Great Temple of Phthah at Memphis, 50, 51—Names of Memphis, 51—Question of the existence of M'na, 52, 53—Supposed successors of M'na, 54—First historical Egyptian, Sneferu, 55—The Egypt of his time, 56—Hieroglyphics, 57—Tombs, 58—Incipient pyramids, 59, 60—Social condition of the people, 60—Manners, 61—Position of women, 62-64. IV. THE PYRAMID BUILDERS 65-94 Difficult to realize the conception of a great pyramid, 65—Egyptian idea of one, 66—Number of pyramids in Egypt: the Principal Three, 67—Description of the "Third Pyramid," 67-71; of the "Second Pyramid," 72; of the "First" or "Great Pyramid," 75-81—The traditional builders, Khufu, Shafra, and Menkaura, 82; the pyramids their tombs, 82—Grandeur of Khufu's conception, 83—Cruelty involved in it, 84, 85—The builders' hopes not realized, 85, 86—Skill displayed in the construction, 86—Magnificence of the architectural effect, 89—Inferiority of the "Third Pyramid," 90—Continuance of the pyramid period, 91-94. V. THE RISE OF THEBES TO POWER, AND THE EARLY THEBAN KINGS 95-119 Shift of the seat of power—site of Thebes, 95—Origin of the name of Thebes, 96—Earliest known Theban king, Antef I., 97—His successors, Mentu-hotep I. and "Antef the Great," 98—Other Antefs and Mentu-hoteps, 98, 99—Sankh-ka-ra and his fleet, 99, 100—Dynasty of Usurtasens and Amenemhats: spirit of their civilization, 100, 101—Reign of Amenemhat I., 102—His wars and hunting expeditions, 103, 104—Usurtasen I.: his wars, 105—His sculptures and architectural works, 106—His obelisk, 107, 109—Reign of Amenemhat II.: tablet belonging to his time, 109, 110—Usurtasen II. and his conquests, 111, 112. VI. THE GOOD AMENEMHAT AND HIS WORKS 113-123 Dangers connected with the inundation of the Nile, twofold, 113—An excessive inundation, 114; a defective one, 115—Sufferings from these causes under Amenemhat III., 115, 116—Possible storage of water, 117—Amenemhat's reservoir, the "Lake Mœris," 118—Doubts as to its dimensions, 119, 120—Amenemhat's "Labyrinth," 121—His pyramid, and name of Ra-n-mat, 122, 123. VII. ABRAHAM IN EGYPT 124-131 Wanderings of the Patriarch, 124—Necessity which drove him into Egypt, 125—Passage of the Desert, 126—A dread anxiety unfaithfully met, 127—Reception on the frontier, and removal of Sarah to the court, 128—Abraham's material well-being, 129—The Pharaoh restores Sarah, 130—Probable date of the visit, 130—Other immigrants, 131. VIII. THE GREAT INVASION—THE HYKSOS OR SHEPHERD KINGS—JOSEPH AND APEPI 132-146 Exemption of Egypt hitherto from foreign attack, 132—Threatening movements among the populations of Asia, 133—Manetho's tale of the "Shepherd" invasion, 134—The probable reality, 135, 136—Upper Egypt not overrun, 137—The first Hyksos king, Set, or Saites, 138—Duration of the rule, doubtful, 139—Character of the rule improves with time, 140—Apepi's great works at Tanis, 144—Apepi and Ra-sekenen, 145—Apepi and Joseph, 146. IX. HOW THE HYKSOS WERE EXPELLED FROM EGYPT 147-169 Rapid deterioration of conquering races generally, 147, 148—Recovery of the Egyptians from the ill effects of the invasion, 149—Second rise of Thebes to greatness, 150—War of Apepi with Ra-sekenen III., 151—Succession of Aahmes; war continues, 152—The Hyksos quit Egypt, 153—Aahmes perhaps assisted by the Ethiopians, 153-157. X. THE FIRST GREAT WARRIOR KING, THOTHMES I. 158-169 Early wars of Thothmes in Ethiopia and Nubia, 158-160—His desire to avenge the Hyksos invasion, 161—Condition of Western Asia at this period, 162, 163—Geographical sketch of the countries to be attacked, 164, 165—Probable information of Thothmes on these matters, 167—His great expedition into Syria and Mesopotamia, 167—His buildings, 168—His greatness insufficiently appreciated, 169. XI. QUEEN HATASU AND HER MERCHANT FLEET 170-188 High estimation of women in Egypt, 170—Early position of Hatasu as joint ruler with Thothmes II., 173—Her buildings at this period, 173—Her assumption of male attire and titles, 174-177—Her nominal regency for Thothmes III., and real sovereignty, 177, 178—Construction and voyage of her fleet, 178, 183—Return of the expedition to Thebes, 184—Construction of a temple to commemorate it, 185—Joint reign of Hatasu with Thothmes III.—Her obelisks, 186—Her name obliterated by Thothmes, 187. XII. THOTHMES THE THIRD AND AMENHOTEP THE SECOND 189-207 First expedition of Thothmes III. into Asia, 189-191—His second and subsequent campaigns, 191, 192—Great expedition of his thirty-third year, 192, 193—Adventure with an elephant, 194—Further expeditions: amount of plunder and tribute, 195—Interest in natural history, 196—Employment of a navy, 197—Song of victory on the walls of the Temple of Karnak, 198-199—Architectural works, 199-201—Their present wide diffusion, 202—Thothmes compared with Alexander, 203—Description of his person, 204—Position of the Israelites under Thothmes III., 205—Short reign of Amenhotep II., 206. XIII. AMEN-HOTEP III. AND HIS GREAT WORKS—THE VOCAL MEMNON 208-222 The "Twin Colossi" of Thebes: their impressiveness, 208-211—The account given of them by their sculptor, 212—The Eastern Colossus, why called "The Vocal Memnon," 213, 214—Earliest testimony to its being "vocal," 214—Rational account of the phenomenon, 215-217—Amenhotep's temple at Luxor, 217, 218—His other buildings, 219—His wars and expeditions, 219, 220—His lion hunts; his physiognomy and