Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/744

720 20 EGYPT [MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. the Empire (Dynasties XVIII.-XX.j scarcely indicate any such class. Even the princes are no longer a royal clan, but the children of the reigning sovereign. The whole system of government rests with the king, who appoints all the functionaries and dismisses them at his pleasure. Flence arose a vast and corrupt bureaucracy, to which the decay ol Egypt may have been mainly due. At all times the country was governed by nomarchs and lesser officers. In the earliest period these were local magnates whose office was at least sometimes hereditary, and whose interest it was to promote the welfare of their districts. Under the Empire governments seem to have been mere places of profit given by favour and held by force and corruption, according to the Turkish method. The laws were administered by judges appointed by the king. It is certain that commissions for an occasion were thus formed. We do not know that there were judges ap pointed for life ; but it is probable that such was the case, as it must have been the duty of a class to be thoroughly acquainted with the written laws. A legal scribe may, however, have been attached to each commission. 1 All the particulars of each case, though not necessarily submitted in writing, were recorded, and the decision was written. The process was conducted with great care, and the culprit examined on his oath. The punishments probably were not extremely severe. For murder, but not for manslaughter, death was the penalty. Adultery was severely punished, perhaps rather by custom than by law. Theft was rigor ously prosecuted. For sacrilegious theft the criminal was punished with death. The laws relating to debt are not yet well known. They appear to have been complicated by a system of loans and pawning, and to have been sub ject to modifications. Of the tenure of land we know little. The temple-lands seem to have been held in perpetuity, and this was probably the case with private domains in the earliest period (De Rouge, Six Prein. Dyn., 255, note 1). Army. We know little as yet of the organization of the Egyptian army, but much of its arms and mode of condust- ing warfare. It consisted from very early times of foreigners as well as Egyptians. The Egyptian troops seem to have been a military caste, though not in the strictest sense, and to have had certain lands allotted to them. There were two main divisions of the army, a chariot-force, in which each chariot contained an archer and a charioteer, and was drawn by two horses; and a force of foot-soldiers variously armed, chiefly heavy infantry, armed with shield and spear, sword, axe, or mace, and light infantry, with bow, and axe or falchion, as well as slingers. It may be noticed that flint-tipped arrows were used in the chase. We know nothing of the military manoeuvres, but it is evident that the troops were drilled to move in formations, and that the art of besieging was as well understood as by the Assyrians, in the mode of attacking the enemy s fort as well as in that of protecting the soldiers. Manners and Customs. The subjects of the walls of the Egyptian tombs and the hieratic papyri tell us much of the domestic life of the ancient people. The education in the earliest age seems to have been more manly and more simple than in that of the Empire, when the college of a temple or the miniature court of a great officer was the school instead of the estate of the landed proprietor. This jsystem, however, gave almost his only chance of advance- 1 M. Chabas lias given the constitution of a tribunal under Dynasty XX. It was held at the great assizes of Thebes, and presided over by the poliarch, with nine inferior judges, including his three assessors, who were a royal controller, a niajordomo, and another royal controller, the fist prophet of Amen-ra and an inferior prophet, a royal scribe, a captain of cavalry, an ensign of the navy, and the commandant of the city. The last was the prosecutor, and was himself condemned by the other judges on the acquittal of the defendants (Melanges, iii, i. 131, merit to a poor man s sou, for the .very highest posts were open to the successful scholar. (Of. Brugsch, Hist. 2d ed. 16, 17.) Circumcision was practised from the earliest times, but apparently not as a religious rite, and not until the earlier years of childhood had passed. Of the education of girls there is no indication, but, as they afterwards shared the public life of men, and even held posts of importance in the priesthood, it could not have been neglected. It has not bsen proved that the Egyptians had any definite marriage law. We find, how ever, that they married but one wife, who is termed the lady of the house, and shares with her husband the honours paid to the deceased. Concubinage was no doubt allowed, but it is seldom that we find any trace of children more numerous than those of legitimate wives could be. The family of Ramses II. is an instance of an Oriental house hold, and the fifty-two children of Baba, whose tomb is found at Eilethyia, may also be cited, though the term children may in this case include other descendants (&amp;lt;;/. Brugsch, ibid. 176, 177). Ordinarily the aspect of the family is that which it wears in civilized countries. The women were not secluded, and, if they did not take the place of those of republican Rome, it was due to faults of national character rather than the restraints of custom. There was no separation into castes, although many occupations were usually hereditary. As there was no noble caste, there was nothing to prevent the rise of naturally able persons but the growth of the official class, which gradually absorbed all power and closed the avenues to success. The corruption of this class has been remarkably shown by the researches into the Egyptian administration of justice by M. Chabas, who cites lists of robbers of tombs and houses containing the names of scribes and priests, besides a higher grade of servants (Melanges, iii. i. 1 44, seqq.). There are other indications of the social condition of Egypt under the Empire in the complaints of the lower class against the brigandage to which they were subject on the part of persons who found means to interest the highest functionaries, and so escape merited punishment. At the same time it is to be remembered that they had the right of direct appeal to the king (Ibid. 173-216). This part of the picture of Egyptian life is strikingly like that of China, and the dislike of foreigners is consistent with the comparison. The lower class being uneducated, and for the most part very poor, was held in contempt by the higher, and this was especially the case with labourers and herdsmen. All handicrafts were considered unworthy of a gentleman, and even the sculptor and painter were not raised above this general level. The only occupations fit for the upper class were priestly, civil, and military, and the direction of architectural and other works which required scientific knowledge, not skill of hand. The servants were of a higher grade than the labourers : not so the slaves, who were generally captives taken in war. The everyday life of the ancient Egyptians is abundantly represented in the pictures of the tombs from the earliest monumental age to that of the Empire. The rich passed much of their time in hospitality, giving feasts at which the guests were entertained in various ways. The host and hostess sat together, as did other married people, and the other men and women generally were seated apart. The seats were single or double chairs, but many sat on the ground. Each, feaster was decked with a necklace of flowers by the servants, and a lotus-flower was bound to the head, on which was also placed a lump of ointment. Small tables were set before the guests, on which were piled meat, fruits, cakes, and other food, and wine-cups were carried round. Before the repast, hired musicians and dancers entertained the company, and often this seems to have been the sole object of invitation.