History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Vol. 2 (eBook)

CHAPTER II—THE MEMPHITE EMPIRE

THE ROYAL PYRAMID BUILDERS: KHEOPS, KHEPHREN, MYKERINOS—MEMPHITE LITERATURE AND ART—EXTENSION OF EGYPT TOWARDS THE SOUTH, AND THE CONQUEST OP NUBIA BY THE PHARAOHS.

Snofrûi—The desert which separates Africa from Asia: its physical configuration, its inhabitants, their incursions into Egypt, and their relations with the Egyptians—The peninsula of Sinai: the turquoise and copper mines, the mining works of the Pharaohs—The two tombs of Snofrûi: the pyramid and the mastabas of Mêdûm, the statues of Bahotpû and his wife Nofrît. F

Kheops, Ehephren, and Myherinos—The Great Pyramid: its construction and internal arrangements—The pyramids of Khephren and Myherinos; the rifling of them—Legend about the royal pyramid builders: the impiety of Kheops and Khephren, the piety of Myherinos; the brick pyramid of Asychis—The materials employed in building, and the quarries of Turah; the plans, the worship of the royal "double;" the Arab legends about the guardian genii of the pyramids.

The kings of the fifth dynasty: Ùsirkaf, Sahûri, Kalciû, and the romance about their advent—The relations of the Delta to the peoples of the North: the shipping and maritime commerce of the Egyptians—Nubia and its tribes: the Ûaûaiû and the Mazaiû, Pûanît, the dwarfs and the Danga—Egyptian literature: the Proverbs of Phtahhotpû—The arts: architecture, statuary and its chief examples, bas-reliefs, painting, industrial art.

The development of Egyptian feudalism, and the advent of the sixth dynasty: Ati, Imhotpâ, Teti—Papi I. and his minister Uni: the affair of Queen Amitsi; the wars against the Hirû-Shâîtû and the country of Tiba—Metesûphis I. and the second Papi: progress of the Egyptian power in Nubia—the lords of Elephantine; Hirkhûf, Papinakhîti: the way for conquest prepared by their explorations, the occupation of the Oases—The pyramids of Saqqâra: Metesûphis the Second—Nitokris and the legend concerning her—Preponderance of the feudal lords, and fall of the Memphite dynasty.

At that time "the Majesty of King Huni died, and the Majesty of King Snofrûi arose to be a sovereign benefactor over this whole earth." All that we know of him is contained in one sentence: he fought against the nomads of Sinai, constructed fortresses to protect the eastern frontier of the Delta, and made for himself a tomb in the form of a pyramid.

The almost uninhabited country which connects Africa with Asia is flanked towards the south by two chains of hills which unite at right angles, and together form the so-called Gebel et-Tîh. This country is a tableland, gently inclined from south to north, bare, sombre, covered with flint-shingle, and siliceous rocks, and breaking out at frequent intervals into long low chalky hills, seamed with wadys, the largest of which—that of El-Arish—having drained all the others into itself, opens into the Mediterranean halfway between Pelusiam and Gaza. Torrents of rain are not infrequent in winter and spring, but the small quantity of water which they furnish is quickly evaporated, and barely keeps alive the meagre vegetation in the bottom of the valleys. Sometimes, after months of absolute drought, a tempest breaks over the more elevated parts of the desert.*

      * In chap. viii. of the Account of the Survey, pp. 226-
     228, Mr. Holland describes a sudden rainstorm or "sell" on
     December 3, 1867, which drowned thirty persons, destroyed
     droves of camels and asses, flocks of sheep and goats, and
     swept away, in the Wady Feîrân, a thousand palm trees and a
     grove of tamarisks, two miles in length. Towards 4.30 in the
     afternoon, a few drops of rain began to fall, but the storm
     did not break till 5 p.m. At 5.15 it was at its height, and
     it was not over till 9.30. The torrent, which at 8 p.m. was
     10 feet deep, and was about 1000 feet in width, was, at 6
     a.m. the next day, reduced to a small streamlet.
 

The wind rises suddenly in squall-like blasts; thick clouds, borne one knows not whence, are riven by lightning to the incessant accompaniment of thunder; it would seem as if the heavens had broken up and were crashing down upon the mountains. In a few moments streams of muddy water rushing down the ravines, through the gulleys and along the slightest depressions, hurry to the low grounds, and meeting there in a foaming concourse, follow the fall of the land; a few minutes later, and the space between one hillside and the other is occupied by a deep river, flowing with terrible velocity and irresistible force. At the end of eight or ten hours the air becomes clear, the wind falls, the rain ceases; the hastily formed river dwindles, and for lack of supply is exhausted; the inundation comes to an end almost as quickly as it began. In a short time nothing remains of it but some shallow pools scattered in the hollows, or here and there small streamlets which rapidly dry up. The flood, however, accelerated by its acquired velocity, continues to descend towards the sea. The devastated flanks of the hills, their torn and corroded bases, the accumulated masses of shingle left by the eddies, the long lines of rocks and sand, mark its route and bear evidence everywhere of its power. The inhabitants, taught by experience, avoid a sojourn in places where tempests have once occurred. It is in vain that the sky is serene above them and the sun shines overhead; they always fear that at the moment in which danger seems least likely to threaten them, the torrent, taking its origin some twenty leagues off, may be on its headlong way to surprise them. And, indeed, it comes so suddenly and so violently that nothing in its course can escape it: men and beasts, before there is time to fly, often even before they are aware of its approach, are swept away and pitilessly destroyed. The Egyptians applied to the entire country the characteristic epithet of To-Shûît, the land of Emptiness, the land of Aridity.

They divided it into various districts—the upper and lower Tonû, Aia, Kadûma. They called its inhabitants Hirû-Shâîtû, the lords of the Sands; Nomiû-Shâîtû, the rovers of the Sands; and they associated them with the Amu—that is to say, with a race which we recognize as Semitic. The type of these barbarians, indeed, reminds one of the Semitic massive head, aquiline nose, retreating forehead, long beard, thick and not infrequently crisp hair. They went barefoot, and the monuments represent them as girt with a short kilt, though they also wore the abayah. Their arms were those commonly used by the Egyptians—the bow, lance, club, knife, battle-axe, and shield. They possessed great flocks of goats or sheep, but the horse and camel were unknown to them, as well as to their African neighbours. They lived chiefly upon the milk of their flocks, and the fruit of the date-palm. A section of them tilled the soil: settled around springs or wells, they managed by industrious labour to cultivate moderately sized but fertile fields, flourishing orchards, groups of palms, fig and olive trees, and vines. In spite of all this their resources were insufficient, and their position would have been precarious if they had not been able to supplement their stock of provisions from Egypt or Southern Syria. They bartered at the frontier markets their honey, wool, gums, manna, and small quantities of charcoal, for the products of local manufacture, but especially for wheat, or the cereals of which they stood in need. The sight of the riches gathered together in the eastern plain, from Tanis to Bubastis, excited their pillaging instincts, and awoke in them an irrepressible covetousness. The Egyptian annals make mention of their incursions at the very commencement of history, and they maintained that even the gods had to take steps to protect themselves from them. The Gulf of Suez and the mountainous rampart of Gebel Geneffeh in the south, and the marshes of Pelusium on the north, protected almost completely the eastern boundary of the Delta; but the Wady Tumilât laid open the heart of the country to the invaders. The Pharaohs of the divine dynasties in the first place, and then those of the human dynasties, had fortified this natural opening, some say by a continuous wall, others by a line of military posts, flanked on the one side by the waters of the gulf.*

      * The existence of the wall, or of the line of military
     posts, is of very ancient date, for the name Kîm-Oîrît is
     already followed by the hieroglyph of the wall, or by that
     of a fortified enclosure in the texts of the Pyramids.
 

      Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Petrie. The
     original is of the...