Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/811

* EGYPT. 703 moral papyri containing rules of conduct and of manners w ere eoniiuonly used for this purpose ; but poems, tales, and religious texts were also assigned. In this way the student, as he gained skill with his pen, became acquainted with the l>est works of the national literature. Much at- tention was given to the formation of a good epistolarj- style, and to this end students were required to copy out collections of model letters upon various subjects. Arithmetic and book- keeping were important branches of study, and under the New Empire instruction in geography seems to have been given. Throughout the course the pupil was carefully trained in ethics, in the practical philosophj- of everyday life and in goo<l manners. The more advanced instruction was, of course, adapted to the career in life which the particular student expected to follow; but little is known as to the manner in which it was imparted. In the care bestowed upon the dead the: Egyp- tians surpass all other people of ancient or mod- ern times. The means adojited were more or less elaborate in proportion to the wealth of the deceased's family, but the principle was the same in all cases. Tlie body was first embalmed (see Kmbalsiixg), and, after being swathed in linen bandages, was placed in the coffin. In the time of the Middle Empire magical texts (see Dead, Book of the) designed to protect the deceased from the perils of the Lower World were in- scribed upon the coffin-boards. Under the Xew Empire similar texts were written upon papyrus and placed within the coffin. Amulets of various kinds were placed beside the mummy or hung about its neck. When these preparations were complete, the body was carried to the tomb, ac- companied by relatives, friends, and troops of hired mourners. All the Eg^s'ptian cemeteries lay upon the western side of the Nile, and hence it was frequently necessary to cross the river. When this was the case the coffin was embarked upon a richly adorned barge, and the funeral cortege followed in other boats. From the time of the Old Empire the sacred soil of Abydos was a favorite burial-place, and bodies were brought thiiher for sepulture from all parts of Egypt. At the place of burial the officiating priests per- formed the appropriate ceremonies; extracts from the sacred books were read, incense was burned, offerings were made, and the body was then com- mitted to the tomb. Every provision was made for the comfort of the deceased. Alabaster fig- ures of fowls, and loaves of bread., and little wooden wine-jars, were provided, which, by virtue of the charms repeated over them, acquired the properties of real food and drink. In the same way the food was sup])osed to be prepared in wooden models of kitchens by statuettes of cooks and bakers. Should the deceased wish for recreation, there were games of various kinds and his favorite papyri. Did he desire to travel, he might voyage in woo<Ien models of boats which, with oars, rigging, and crew, were placed in the tomb. He w-as, moreover, spared the necessity of performing labor in the future life by numbers of statuettes called nxhnhtiii, or 'answerers,' which answered to his name, and took his plaie whenever any work was assigned to dim. The tombs of the Egyptians varied with the period and with the means of the deceased and his family. Under the Old Empire wealthy EGYPT. nobles built the so-called mastaba tombs, flat, oblong structures of stone, which surround the pyramids of the kings of the Fourth and Fifth dynasties. From the end of the Old Kmpire grotto tombs, hewn out of the solid rock, were preferred. Such tombs contained several olmm- bers, and their walls were usually adorned with sculptures and paintings. To each tomb was at- tached a funerary chapel, where offerings were made from timP to time. Tombs of this kind were, of course, only within the reach of great nobles and wealthy officials. For persons of more moderate means, a common type of tomb, under the Middle and New empires, consisted of a small pyramid of brick standing upon a low, s<iuare base, and having a little portico in front to represent the fimerarj' chapel. The great majority of the people were, however, buried in the ground, and the site of the grave was usually marked by a stele, on which wa-s carved a reiiresentation of the deceased standing before a table of offerings, in the presence of Osiris and other gods. The poor were buried in shallow graves, without a coffin, and with no stele to mark the spot; but the small alabaster bowls and the bones of animals found in these graves show that even here the welfare of the deceased had not been neglected. Consult: Er- mau. Life in Ancient Egypt (London, 1S94) ; W'iedema.un. Alt-Aeoypten (Stuttgart. 1891), and Aegyptische Geschichte (Gotha, 1S84-SS) ; Due- michen and Meyer, Geschichte des alien Aegyp- tens (Berlin, 1878-87); Wilkinson, The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians (ed. Birch, London, 1878), is antiquated, but is full of valuable illustrations. niSTOEY. AsciEXT History. All historical books w ritten in hieroglyphics have been lost. Their existence is proved tmly by fragments of a short extract (a list of kings) on papyrus, preserved in Turin. (See Turin P.^PYEts. ) Manet ho. a priest of Sebennytus. under Ptolemy Philadelphus. wrote an Egyptian history in three books, which has also been lost. Epitomes of it are preserved in the works of Josephus, .Julius Africanus. Euse- bius. and George Syncellus : but they are incon- sistent, and probably unreliable. Some historical material is found in Herodotus, Diodorus. and Eratosthenes, but it is intermingled with many errors. We are therefore compelled to rely chielly on the inscriptions, which do not always supply adequate information. The greatest difficulty is in the matter of chronology. The Egyptians them- selves had no fixed era, but dated by the regnal years of the respective kings, and the inscrip- tions alone do not always furnish a reliable con- nection between reigns. In the scanty extracts from Manetlio's history, the chronological figures have been largely corrupted. Therefore the dif- ferent systems of modern scholars lack unifor- mity. For example, the dates assigned to the first historical reign, that of King Menes. vary as follows: B.C. .5702 (Boekh): .5613 (Unger)"; 5004 (JIariette); 4400 (Brugsch): .3892 (Lep- sius) ; 3023 (Brunsen); 2000 (Sharpe); etc. At the present day scholars content themselves with fixing approximate or 'minimal dates,' show- ing before what year a king nuist have reigned, thotigh he may have lived a himdred or even a thousand years earlier. Up to the present