Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/824

* EGYPTIAN ART. 712 EGYPTIAN MUSIC. trans., London, 18951 : and Pctrie, Student's His- tory of Eg!>i>t (London. 1804). has some good chapters on art and arclucology. The fullest his- lorj' is Perrot and Chipiez, History of Art in Ancient Egypt, translated by Armstrong (Lon- don, 1883). Large series of monuments are pub- lished in such illustrated works as Prisse d'Aven- nes, Histoire de I'art (■gyptien (Paris. 1868); Lepsius, Denl-miiler aus Aegyplen iind Aethioiiirn (Berlin. 1849-59). The rehition of tlio plastic and minor arts to life is well given in Wilkinson, The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyp- tians (London, 1878). The finest monographs on a large scale, illustrating single monuments or small related groups, are those in the series of volumes published by the Egypt Exploration Fund and the Mission Archeologique Francaise du Caire. Other information and bibliography on Egyptian monuments is contained under the articles Obelisk; Pyramid; Temple : Tomb; also imder Abu Simbel; Abydos; Beni Hass. BuBASTis; Kakxak; Luxor; Memphis; Phil.e; Thebes. EGYP'TIAN BEAN. See Xelumbo. EGYPTIAN CAT, or Catfre Cat. A wild cat of the Xile region, domesticated in ancient Egypt. See Cat. EGYPTIAN EXPLOBATION EUND. A foundation promoted in 18S2 by the Egyptolo- gist Amelia B. Edwards (q.v.), for the excava- tion and study of Egj'ptian remains. Under its auspices Edouard Naville unearthed Goshen and the Temple of Bubastis; W. M. F. Petrie dis- closed Naucratis and discovered fragments of the works of Euripides. Plato and other writers; and E. A. Gardner made important finds of pot- tery. An American branch was founded in 1883 by W. C. Winslow (q.v.). which rendered inval- iable service in tlic prosecution of the work. EGYPTIAN MUSIC. The information which we possess about Egyjitian music is ex- tremely meagre. It is derived either from in- adequate accounts of ancient (Jreok authors, or from illustrations and specimens of their musical instruments. We do, however, know that music, crude and imperfect as their form of it was, has played nn important nMe from before the time of the Old Empire down to the songs of the Xile boatmen uf to-day. They sang odes to the gods, songs in praise of their heroes, dirges to the dead, and their entertainments were considered in- complete without musicians and dancers. Probably, as in the case of every nation which has developed from barbarism to civilization, the first music was merely an .iccompanimcnt to the dance. Some of the earliest representations show singers clapping their hands in rhythm to the motions of dancers, and this method of marking time is ised at the present day. During the Old Empire the dances were generally slow and dig- nified, and the accompaniment was that of voices; but with the beginning of the New Empire the tempo of the dances became rapid and the usual accompaniment was supplied by tambourines and castanets. The pirouette was a favorite dance. and in that, as in all their complicated figures. the use and position of the hands and the arms was of prime importance. The number of per- formers varied from one or two to ten or fifteen; though, as the dramatic ballet was unknown, their more elaborate dances consisted rather of a number of small groups than of one integral whole. Vocal music consisted of solos and choruses, which seem to have been entirely in unison. Wo- men often sang without instrumental accompani- ments, but the Egyptians seem to have felt that the voices of men needed the sipport of instru- ments, ilany of the very ancient songs have been preserved in hieroglyphics, and though they are inferior to the Hebrew, they are remark- able for striking metaphors and naturalness of expression. Most famous, and one of the oldest of the songs, is that of the oxen treading out the corn. Various theories were formerly ad- vanced to show that the Greeks derived their knowledge of music from the Egyptians; but though the latter had treatises on music, they seem to have had no system of notation and no definite ideas of harmony. Indeed, it is without parallel that a people so advanced in other arts as were the Egj-ptians should have had so little exact knowledge of the science of music. We have no definite information about their .scales, though the seven - stringed lyre seems to have been tuned in conjoined tetrachords. Long before the lyre was known to the Greeks the Egj'ptians had both harps and lyres. The harp was their earliest instrument, and we have records of it before n.c. 3000. In its original form it had five or seven strings, and was ex- tremely long (certainly over six feet), with a semicircular body. As it was developed, how- ever, the number of strings was increased to eleven or twelve, and, by n.c. 1300, to twenty- one, while its size was greatly reduced. At no time, however, did the Egyptians have |)edals. or even, ,as in the Welsh harjis, a double set of strings ; consequently, unless retuned. they could be played Init in one key. The ornamentation of harps was most elaborate, the heads and bodies being exquisitely carved and painted. Although the harp always remained a national instrument, its popularity was eclipsed later by the lyre, the Egyptian form of which had from six to twenty strings, and was considerably larger than its Grecian derivative. At a very early time flutes were in use. The long flute was held in a slant- ing, per|)endicular jiositioii. and the short flute in a horizontal. The number of apertures varieii from three to five. Considerably later the double flute superseded the other two. It was played with both h.ands, one tube giving the melody while the other droned a monotone accompaniment. By B.C. 400 or 500. in addition to the various forms of harp, lyre, and double flute, there weri' the te-bouni (.n sort of banjo), the shoulder harp, and .several kinds of drums. The te-bouni had a long neck and a cylindrical body over which parchment was stretched. It sometimes had two or threes strings, but generally only one, and in subsequent centuries the monoehord (q.v.) was developed from it. The shoulder harp was a link between the harp and guitar. A specimen preserved in the British ^Museum has a neck 22 inches long, a body 19 inches long and 4 inches wide, and 4 strings. As its name implies, it is played when resting on the .shoulder. There were two common forms of drums, the larger one being a barrel-shaped instnnnent about three feet long, and the smaller a cone-shaped earthen- ware vessel over the open end of which parchment was stretched, .'^till later were added the .siV trum, a .sort of rattle, and the trigonon, a tri-