Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/746

722 722 E G Y P T [SCIENCE, ARTS, AND CEREMONIES. is not without its merits, but it has that want of lofty ideas and of charm which is characteristic of the litera ture of nations which have written very much and have had no other means of addressing mankind. Science. Fresh information is being constantly acquired as to the knowledge of science possessed by the ancient Egyptians. Their progress in astronomy is evident from their observations, and still more from the cycles they formed for the adjustment of different reckonings of time. Their knowledge of geometry is attested by their architecture, and by a document on the lands of the temple of Adfoo ; and the annual inundation must have made careful surveys and records necessary for the preservation of landed property. Very great mechanical skill must have been needed to move the vast blocks used in their buildings, sometimes for very long distances, in part by difficult land- routes, and then to place them in position. Considering the want of iron, and of any but the very simplest mechanical appliances, the achievements of the Egyptian architects are an enigma to modem science (Brugsch, Hist., 2cl ed. 52). Chemistry and metallurgy had also made great progress. The hardening of the bronze tools with which they cut granite is a proof of this, and the manner in which Moses destroyed the golden calf is another evidence. Medicine and surgery were much studied, and the Egyptians were in those sciences only inferior to the Greeks. Arts. Of the arts architecture claims the first place, sculpture and painting being subservient to it among the Egyptians. Temples were not built to contain statues, but statues were set up to adorn temples, of which they were a part, and the walls were covered with sculptures and paintings which, had a decorative purpose. The group of these arts may therefore be considered as a whole, and thus the principle they expressed may be best discovered. This principle seems not to have been accidental, but a deliberate choice. The country and climate afforded the best means of symbolizing the leading idea of the Egyptian religion in the material forms of art. Life after death was that idea, and it found expression in the construction of tombs as lasting as the rocks on which they rested. The pyramid is the first form of Egyptian art, and modifications of its form, in truncated pyramids, are seen in the main outlines of all later edifices or excavations. The decora tions were subordinated to the idea of commemoration, and thus every building was at once religious and historical in its purpose. To this the Egyptian monuments owe a reserved grandeur that is not affected by the symmetrical qualities of hieratic art nor by the use of strongly contrasted colours. The art is always dignified, and the colours, being seen either in strong sunlight outside the monuments, or in dim twilight within them, are never glaring. The effect is exactly what was intended, and would probably not have been produced had the art been more advanced, In the whole range of ancient art Egyptian may take its place next after Greek. Indeed in some instances it excels Greek, as when in animal forms the natural is subordi nated to the ideal. The lions from Gebel Barkal, pre sented by the fourth duke of Northumberland to the British Museum, are probably the finest examples of the idealization of animal forms that any age has produced. From these observations we may form some idea of the character of the ancient Egyptians. They were religious, but superstitious ; brave without cruelty, but tyrannical ; hospitable, but not to strangers. In dress they were plain, but luxurious in their ornaments ; simple in their food, but given to excess in wine. With respect for family ties, they were careless in their morals. The women enjoyed great freedom, yet their character does not seem to have been higher than it is among their descendants, subject to the lowering influence of the hareeni seclusion. Though the chief object of every man s life was the construction of his tomb, and the most costly personal event was the funeral, the Egyptians were singularly mirthful, delighting in music and the dance, and so given to caricature that even in the representation of a funeral ceremony the artist cannot omit a ludicrous incident. The double origin of the race seems as apparent here as in their physical type and their religion. The generous qualities of the Shemite are being perpetually perverted by the inferior impulses of the Nigritian ; and again the bright elements of the Nigritian character are strangely darkened by the shadow of the gloomy tendency of the Shemite. The industrial arts were carried to a high degree of excellence by the ancient Egyptians. In weaving and all the processss connected with the manufacture of linen they have never been surpassed. Their pottery was excellent in quality and suitable to its various purposes, and their glass but slightly inferior to that of the Greeks. In the making of furniture, and instruments of music, vessels of metal, alabaster, and other materials, arms and domestic imple ments, they showed great taste and skill, and their influence on Greek art through the Phoenicians is undoubted, though they did little more than afford suggestions to more skilful artists of Hellas. The Egyptians had a great variety of musical instruments, the number of which shows how much attention was paid to the art. Various kinds of harps are represented, played with the hand, and of lyres, played with or without the plec trum, and also a guitar. There are other stringed instru ments, for which it is difficult to find a modern name. The Egyptians had also flutes, single and double pipes, the tam bourine of various forms, cymbals, cylindrical maces, drums of different kinds beaten with the hands or sticks, the trumpet, and the sacred sistrum. The military music was that of the trumpet, drum, and cylindrical maces; but almost all the instruments were usod in the temple services. It is impossible to form any conjecture as to the character of the music, unless we may suppose that with many of the old instruments the modern inhabitants have preserved its tra dition. It may therefore be mentioned that they are ignorant of harmony, but have fineness of ear and of execu tion. The musicians often sang or danced while they played. The dances of both men and girls were of various kinds, from what may be called feats of agility to slow move ments. The dancers were chiefly girls, whose performances evidently resembled those of their modern successors, and whose clothing was even more transparent or scanty. Ceremonies. We know little of the private festivities of the ancient Egyptians. In particular no representation of a marriage ceremony has yet been discovered on the monu ments. The greatest ceremony of each man s life was 1m funeral. The period of mourning began at the time of death, and lasted seventy-two days or a shorter time. Dur ing this time the body was embalmed and swathed in many linen bandages, the outermost of which was covered with a kind of pasteboard, which represented the deceased, in the form we call a mummy, as a labourer in the Elysian fields, carrying the implements of husbandry, the face and hands being alone seen, and the rest of the body being painted with subjects relating to the future state, and bearing a principal inscription giving the name and titles of &quot;the Osiris, justified.&quot; The viscera were separately preserved in vases having covers in the forms of the heads of the four genii of Amenti. The mummy was inclosed in a case of wood having the same shape, and this was again inclosed, when the deceased was a rich man, within either another wooden case, or more usually a sarcophagus of stone, sometimes of the same form as the mummy, but generally rectangular or nearly so. The mummy was then placed on a sledge, drawn by oxen or by men, and was frequently taken