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Contents

Preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
List of Abbreviations xii

Introduction 1

PART I
Background 7
1 The Evolution of a New Field 9
2 Expert Motivations 20

PART II
Applications 33
3 Early Alert and Student Success 35
4 Course Recommendation 44
5 Adaptive Learning 51
6 Curriculum Design 61
7 Expert Thoughts on Applications 74

PART III
Logistics 77
8 Data 79
9 Metrics and Predictive Modelling 88
viii Contents
10 Visualisation 99
11 Intervention 113
12 Student-Facing Analytics 125
13 Expert Thoughts on Logistics 136

PART IV
Technologies 139
14 Architecture 141
15 Standards 150
16 Products 160
17 Expert Thoughts on Technologies 170

PART V
Deployment 175
18 Institutional Readiness 177
19 Project Planning 189
20 Ethics 203
21 Transparency and Consent 217
22 Privacy and Data Protection 229
23 Expert Thoughts on Deployment 243

PART VI
Future Directions 251
24 Emerging Techniques 253
25 Expert Visions 268

Index 275
Preface

My motivation for researching and writing this book is to attempt to answer

the question ‘What is learning analytics, and how can we make the best use of
it?’ For several years I have been working in the area, recently almost exclusively,
and have encountered a mixture of intrigue and bewilderment about learning
analytics from people across education. Many institutions have begun to
deploy innovative educational products that use data about students and their
learning to enhance education in various ways. The field has developed
extremely quickly and a growing number of professionals are now investigating
its different aspects and applications as part of a vibrant global community of
researchers and practitioners.
Ask educators what learning analytics is, though, and a wide range of
responses can be expected. Many of them recognise its potential to help solve
some of the key challenges faced by their institutions but there is, unsurprisingly,
a general lack of understanding of the different applications, logistics, technolo-
gies and deployment issues involved. There is, however, no shortage of knowl-
edge available: the problem is that it is encapsulated in a large, dispersed and
rapidly growing collection of journal and conference papers, articles and
reports, not to mention the brains of people expert in each of its dimensions.
Many of the publications are relatively impenetrable to a general audience,
sometimes containing complex mathematical formulae or computer code.
This book draws on the literature base, and the voices of experts in learning
analytics, to provide what is intended to be a readable and informative sum-
mary of the area. It is aimed at individuals working or studying in universities
and colleges who wish to gain a comprehensive understanding of the current
practice and potential of this fascinating and multifaceted field.

A Note on Spelling, Grammar and Terminology

For a while I have been completely immersed in the global literature and the
worldwide academic community around learning analytics – and for much
longer in the wider field of educational technology. I am thus used to continual
variations in the spelling of English words, differing naming conventions
for technologies and a variety of educational concepts and processes
x Preface
internationally. For this book I have settled somewhere mid-Atlantic, and
have opted for the following:

The use of UK spellings throughout except in quotations from other

sources.

Use of ‘learning management system’ (LMS) rather than ‘course man-
agement system’ or ‘virtual learning environment’ (prevalent in the UK).

Use of ‘student information system’ (SIS) rather than ‘student record
system’ (also common in the UK).

The US terms ‘faculty’ and ‘staff’, where faculty are people primarily
involved in teaching and research and staff mainly perform managerial or
administrative functions. A faculty can, of course, also be an administrative
unit within a university.

The words ‘instructor’, ‘lecturer’, ‘academic’, ‘teacher’ and ‘tutor’ used
more or less interchangeably.

Use of ‘educator’ as a generic term for those involved in educating students
at institutions.

Retention of country-specific educational terms and concepts, such as
‘freshman’ (US), in case studies.

‘Course’, in the US sense, where in some other countries ‘module’ would
be used – a unit of study that, combined with others, may lead to a
qualification.

I refer to learning analytics in the singular, for example ‘learning analytics is’
rather than ‘are’, given its emergence as a ‘thing’ in its own right; most people
now seem to use the singular too. However, I treat the word ‘analytics’ on its
own as plural, for example ‘the analytics tell us that’. I have also opted to use
‘data’ in the singular. Finally, the term ‘learning analytics’ is used throughout
the book, rather than the much less frequently used ‘learner analytics’, which
perhaps implies analysis of the learners only rather than the many aspects
surrounding their learning.
Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the inspiration provided by colleagues at Jisc,

especially Phil Richards for providing the opportunity to input to his vision-
ary Effective Learning Analytics project. Many conversations and activities
carried out with Paul Bailey and Michael Webb, as part of that project, have
influenced the content of this book. Together with others at Jisc, including
Rob Wyn Jones, Lee Baylis, Jo Wheatley, Myles Danson, Martin Hall, Shri
Footring and George Munroe, they bring a wealth of experience and are
tremendous company, wherever we happen to meet up.
The emerging learning analytics community is dynamic, altruistic and
young (in spirit, anyway: some of us are getting a little long in the tooth). I
have been touched by the willingness of busy people to share their thoughts
and experiences and to provide input to the book, including the experts, listed
in the introduction, whose voices I have incorporated throughout. Lindsay
Pineda of Unicon gave detailed and insightful comments about the deployment
section. The thoughts of Jisc’s Andrew Cormack on the chapters covering
legal and ethical issues were also most welcome. Sandeep Jayaprakash of the
University of California, Berkeley, meanwhile, provided some useful input on
data, metrics and predictive modelling. Various enjoyable discussions with Alan
Berg of the University of Amsterdam and Doug Clow of the UK’s Open Uni-
versity also helped to shape my thinking.
I would like to express my gratitude, too, to a number of vendors who have
provided extensive information on their products, as well as helpful con-
versations around learning analytics in general: Richard Gascoigne of DTP
SolutionPath, Richard Burrows of Blackboard International, Cheyne Tan of
Civitas Learning International, Shady Shahata of D2L, Alison Pendergast of
Acrobatiq, Steve Sapseid of BME Solutions, Ben Stein of Hobsons and Sabrina
Fuchs of CogBooks.
Finally, a special thank you is due to Liliana Torero Fernandez, who put
up with months of poor communication and lack of attention to domestic
duties. When I occasionally emerged from my writing – muttering, no doubt,
some obscure fact about learning analytics – it was invariably to a plate of her
fine cuisine.
Abbreviations

API application program interface

BI business intelligence
EDM educational data mining
GPA grade point average
IPR intellectual property rights
IT information technology
LAK International Conference on Learning Analytics and
Knowledge
LMS learning management system (also known as virtual learning
environment)
LRS learning record store
MOOC massive open online course
PMML Predictive Model Markup Language
ROI return on investment
SIS student information system (also known as student record
system)
SoLAR Society for Learning Analytics Research
VLE virtual learning environment
xAPI experience application program interface
Introduction

The literature base surrounding learning analytics is large and varied, reflecting
the multiple disciplines from which it is derived and the diverse backgrounds
and interests of those developing the area. In this book, I attempt to summarise
the field: what researchers are investigating and what institutions are doing to
enhance education with the ever-increasing sources of data they have at their
disposal about students and their learning contexts. The book is divided into
six parts: background, applications, logistics, technologies, deployment and
future directions.

Part I: Background
In Part I, I discuss how learning analytics has emerged in recent years and
how it is being built on a foundation of other well-established disciplines. I
also uncover the personal motivations for involvement in the field of a panel
of experts on learning analytics interviewed for the book and their perceptions of
what interests institutions most about this area.

Part II: Applications

In this part, I look at the main uses of learning analytics that have emerged so
far. These include early alert and student success, the area that has captured
most attention due to its potential to improve retention and grades. This, of
course, can have a direct impact on the finances of institutions, particularly
those with a serious attrition problem. Course recommendation is the next
major area of activity to be covered: these systems attempt to guide a student
regarding what course to take next. I then discuss adaptive learning systems,
which build on a long tradition of intelligent tutoring but are now incorpor-
ating new data sources. Some institutions are now adopting them on a large
scale. The other main and, to date, largely underexploited, application area
covered is curriculum design. Learning analytics is enabling educators to
enhance educational provision, responding to issues as they arise during a
course. It can also facilitate subsequent refinement of the learning content and
activities for future cohorts and provide insight for the development of new
courses.
2 Introduction
Part III: Logistics
Part III, on logistics, examines in depth the areas that need to be tackled when
carrying out learning analytics. A chapter on data describes the main data
sources for learning analytics, and the processes that need to be undertaken to
prepare the data. I then look at the metrics that can be developed to measure
aspects of engagement, and some of the techniques used for predicting the
academic attainment of students, or their likelihood of withdrawal. Visualisa-
tion of the analytics warrants a chapter in itself as it is essential for making
sense of the data. One of the themes of this book is that there is little point in
carrying out learning analytics unless something is done as a result. The next
chapter therefore covers intervention: the actions taken by faculty or staff based
on the data. Students, too, can make their own interventions and, in the final
chapter of this part, I discuss the provision of analytics directly to learners.

Part IV: Technologies

The first chapter in this part describes the architecture of a typical institu-
tional learning analytics deployment, outlining the different components that
might be required. The next chapter delves into the emerging specifications
and standards in the area, which should help to build the market for learning
analytics, providing some assurance to institutions that they will not be
locked into the products of one provider indefinitely. I then outline some of
the systems that have become available, particularly in the area of predictive
analytics, showing how vendors of different types of platform are competing
for a share of a rapidly growing market.

Part V: Deployment
Here I examine the key organisational areas to be considered by institutions
wishing to deploy learning analytics. Institutional readiness is a subject that has
already received reasonable coverage in the literature and is clearly important for
organisations to assess at an early stage. I also look more closely at aspects of
project planning that are likely to be required for large-scale implementation.
The following chapter introduces the many ethical issues that have been raised
in relation to learning analytics, to which institutions would be well advised to
consider their response. Two further chapters follow, on areas that have both a
legal and ethical dimension: the first on the need for transparency around
analytics processes and obtaining consent from students for the use of their
data; the second on issues around privacy and data protection. All of these
aspects are important for reasons ranging from attempting to reduce objections
from stakeholders to preventing legal action against the institution.

Part VI: Future Directions

In the final part, I outline three of the techniques that are being deployed
increasingly in learning analytics, namely the analysis of discourse, social
 Introduction 3
networks and emotions. These are some of the most intriguing areas of current
research; their use, especially when combined with other methods, promises
greater insight into aspects of that fascinating yet still somewhat elusive
phenomenon: learning.

Expert Voices
As well as immersing myself in the growing number of publications around
learning analytics as I researched this book, I was interested to tap directly
into the thinking of some of the leading thinkers in the area around the
world, the people who are the driving force behind its development. To this
end, I carried out semi-structured interviews with 20 of them, and have
incorporated their voices at the end of each section of the book:

Josh Baron, Open Education Ambassador at Lumen Learning; Member,

Board of Directors, Apereo Foundation.

Alan Berg, Chief Technical Officer of the Center of Job Knowledge
Research, Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam; Board
Member, Apereo Foundation.

Professor Simon Buckingham Shum, Professor of Learning Informatics;
Director of the Connected Intelligence Centre at the University of
Technology Sydney.

Dr Doug Clow, Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Educational Technology,
Open University, UK.

Professor Shane Dawson, Professor, Learning Analytics and Director,
Teaching Innovation Unit, University of South Australia; Founding
Executive Committee Member, Society for Learning Analytics Research.

Dr Rebecca Ferguson, Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Educational
Technology, Open University, UK; Executive Committee Member,
Society for Learning Analytics Research; Principal Investigator of the
Learning Analytics Community Exchange project; Principal Investi-
gator of the Learning Analytics for European Educational Policy
project.

Professor Dragan Gašević, Professor and Chair in Learning Analytics
and Informatics at the University of Edinburgh; President of the Society
for Learning Analytics Research; Founding Editor of the Journal of
Learning Analytics; General Chair of the International Conference on
Learning Analytics and Knowledge 2016.

Dr Mark Glynn, Head of Teaching Enhancement Unit, Dublin City
University.

Dr Jeff Grann, Academic Director of Assessment and Learning Analytics
at Capella University, Minnesota; Member of the Higher Education
Institutional Executive Board, IMS Global Learning Consortium.

Dr Cathy Gunn, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Centre for
Learning and Research in Higher Education, University of Auckland; life
member and former President of the Australasian Society for Computers
4 Introduction
in Learning in Tertiary Education (Ascilite); Principal Investigator / Project
Leader: Building an Evidence-Base for Teaching and Learning Design
using Learning Analytics.

Dr Kirsty Kitto, Senior Research Fellow, Queensland University of Tech-
nology; Founding Member of Board of Directors, Data Interoperability
Standards Consortium.

Dr Leah Macfadyen, Program Director, Evaluation and Learning Ana-
lytics at the Faculty of Arts, University of British Columbia; Executive
Committee Member of the Society for Learning Analytics Research.

Professor Timothy McKay, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Physics,
Astronomy and Education at the University of Michigan; Director of the
Digital Innovation Greenhouse; former Chair of the Learning Analytics
Task Force, University of Michigan; Instructor, Practical Learning Analytics
MOOC.

Dr Mark Milliron, Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer, Civitas
Learning; previously Deputy Director of the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation; previously Vice President, Education and Medical Practice,
SAS.

Dr Stefan Mol, Assistant Professor in Organisational Behavior, Amsterdam
Business School, University of Amsterdam.

Dr Abelardo Pardo, Senior Lecturer in the School of Electrical and
Information Engineering at the University of Sydney; Executive Committee
Member of the Society for Learning Analytics Research.

Dr Bart Rienties, Reader in Learning Analytics at the Institute of
Educational Technology, Open University, UK.

Professor Stephanie Teasley, Research Professor in the School of
Information at the University of Michigan; Member, Learning Analytics
Task Force, University of Michigan; President Elect of the Society for
Learning Analytics Research.

Dr John Whitmer, Director for Analytics and Research, Blackboard.

Dr Alyssa Wise, Associate Professor of Educational Communication
and Technology, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human
Development, New York University, New York; Executive Committee
Member and Treasurer for the Society for Learning Analytics Research;
Associate Editor of the Journal of Learning Analytics; General
Chair of the International Conference on Learning Analytics and
Knowledge 2017.

I start by asking the experts what their personal interest is in learning analytics.
As could be expected with people from such wide-ranging backgrounds, they
have a variety of drivers for involvement in the area. However, there is also a
lot of common ground. All of them, including the representatives from the
commercial world, have a strong background in higher education. There is
an ever-present realism in their comments about the barriers to progress at
institutions and the risks that institutions face if the field is not developed
with great attention to the ethical dimension and the needs of the learner.
 Introduction 5
Like many people working in education, though, the interviewees appear to
be driven by a belief in education’s potential to transform lives: a constant
theme in the conversations is that learning analytics is a key area that can and
will improve things for learners. This vision is perhaps founded on an under-
lying technological utopianism, which is apparent among most of the experts:
a belief that the appropriate use of technology will lead to better education
than that which institutions are currently providing. The many case studies
mentioned throughout the book, drawn from colleges and universities across
the world, also demonstrate the huge efforts being made by innovative
researchers, practitioners and vendors to develop the field. It can be assumed
that the majority of these are also driven by their own personal belief in the
potentially transformative nature of the technologies and associated practices.
This page intentionally left blank
Part I
Background
This page intentionally left blank
1 The Evolution of a New Field

Online and mobile technologies are facilitating the accumulation of vast

amounts of data across business, industry, government and other areas of
human endeavour. We have become dependent on the internet as a source of
information for most of what we need to know, for access to entertainment,
for communication with others, for purchases and banking and for carrying
out our work. As our lives become increasingly intertwined with technology,
we are generating huge quantities of ‘digital exhaust’ through the use of
internet-connected extensions of ourselves: devices such as smartphones,
tablets, laptops, e-book readers and fitness trackers.
The use of analytics to process and help interpret this data is enabling
organisations to develop better insight into people’s activities and to optimise
organisational processes and outputs. Business intelligence, as this area is
often known, is now essential for the survival and expansion of commercial
organisations and an increasingly essential tool in other sectors. Insurance
providers, for instance, offer discounts to customers prepared to install devices
in their cars that monitor the safety of their driving. Meanwhile, in medicine,
analytics identify the spread of disease across populations and help agencies
to target interventions more rapidly.
In universities and colleges, data has until recently often been stored on
paper in filing cabinets and in a wide variety of different formats,1 sometimes
residing on spreadsheets on a teacher’s or administrator’s machine. However,
large, more easily accessible datasets increasingly exist about learners, their
learning activities and the environments in which they study. Educators are
beginning to understand how to exploit this to help solve some of the chal-
lenges faced by their institutions. Analytics about learning promises to
enhance many aspects of the educational experience through the use of data
about students and their learning contexts.
This chapter outlines how the field of learning analytics is evolving:
what the drivers are for institutions and which existing fields of enquiry
are contributing to it. I discuss some of the definitions for learning analy-
tics and to what extent it can be differentiated from other closely related
fields. Finally, I look at what the main current focusses of investigation are
and how the worldwide community of researchers, practitioners and
10 Background
vendors is (at least sometimes) working together to build the new domain
of learning analytics.

The Opportunities Presented by Big Data and Analytics

Access to the internet has become an important aspect of education – an
essential part of it if learners are to become effective citizens and employees in
a world organised digitally. Institutions offer many courses in blended or fully
online modes and it is increasingly unlikely that a university student will
complete a degree programme without carrying out some studies using
web-based tools. The internet has encouraged the growth of for-profit online
colleges in the US,2 and massive open online courses (MOOCs) provide
online education to millions more learners globally.
As students navigate online learning systems, they leave ‘digital footprints’,
or traces of their activities. Clearly, the more learning that takes place online,
the more data is likely to be accumulated. Meanwhile, other aspects of student
activity are being recorded continually, such as their presence on campus,
their attendance at lectures, their use of library facilities and their submission
of assignments. These multiple sources of information enable the development
of a much richer view of student behaviour than has been possible before,
helping institutions to identify opportunities to improve courses, to personalise
the study experience for individual learners and to assist those identified by
the systems as academically at risk.

Data-Informed Decision Making

The growth of big data – datasets that are beyond the ability of traditional
software to capture, store, manage and analyse3 – is driving the development
of the tools and methods of learning analytics.4 While there are problems with
the reliability of some of this data, it can generally be collected cheaply5 or is
already being gathered by the systems that the students are using. Analysing
learners’ experiences of education has traditionally been carried out using
questionnaires and interviews with limited numbers of students. Using the data
accumulated by students during their normal study activities is less intrusive
than these research methods and provides a more continuous, uninterrupted
and complete picture of study activities.6
Traditionally, most of the decisions made in educational institutions by
faculty, staff and administrators have been based on intuition, anecdotes or
presumptions. Formulating a hypothesis and then attempting to prove or dis-
prove it can be a time-consuming process, limited by the quality of the research
question. Empirical educational research, until recently, has been designed to
answer a single question: which of two approaches works better?7 Decisions
on how to enhance education are likely to have better results if they are
founded on data, facts and statistical analysis.8, 9 This is not to suggest that
human qualities such as experience, expertise and judgement should be
 The Evolution of a New Field 11
entirely replaced but they should be supplemented by analytical techniques
where appropriate.10
As education moves increasingly online, teachers may lack the visual
clues that helped them to identify students who were insufficiently chal-
lenged, bored, confused or who were failing to attend:11 the use and
interpretation of learning activity data thus becomes key for those teach-
ing online. Data can help highlight issues in ways that were not previously
possible and its use can encourage a philosophy of continuous improve-
ment.12 Patterns and trends can be identified and the merits of different
options can be weighed up.13
Cooper suggests that analytics can help us to answer questions of information
and fact, such as ‘What happened?’ or ‘What is happening now?’ and ‘Where are
trends leading?’ He differentiates these from questions of understanding and
insight such as ‘How and why did something happen?’ or ‘What should we do
next?’ and ‘What is likely to happen?’14 Colleges and universities that fail to ask
such questions and to learn from the increasingly valuable data being accumu-
lated about their learners risk being left behind by more innovative institutions,
which offer better and more personalised education to their students.

Pressures on Institutions
The need for more effective decision making at all levels of institutions is
given impetus by a wide range of pressures affecting education, particu-
larly greater student numbers. In an era of accountability and liability,
there is a requirement for better measurement and quantification of many
educational processes.15, 16 Institutional budgets are more and more stret-
ched and there is a need for evidence-based prioritisation of spending.
Meanwhile, students who pay for their education will increasingly and
justifiably expect to be able to see evidence that their fees are being spent
appropriately.
Simultaneously, there is increased government scrutiny of issues such as
retention and the equality of educational provision for minority groups. In the
US, high student attrition levels are a focus of the Department of Education,
and a number of for-profit institutions have been targeted for poor retention
rates and for receiving financial aid for students who subsequently with-
draw.17 In the UK, the government-imposed Teaching Excellence Framework
requires universities to measure aspects of their teaching provision in order to
ensure quality, value for money and, ultimately, the employability of gradu-
ates.18 The concerns of Western governments that their economies are falling
behind the rising nations of Asia is captured in an Australian review of higher
education, which identifies the link between educational attainment and economic
productivity. The document also sets targets for improving retention and
completion rates for indigenous students and those from low socio-economic
backgrounds.19
Poor retention rates affect institutions in numerous ways, as well as broader
society and countries’ economic progress. The financial impact resulting from
12 Background
the loss of income from student fees, in particular, can be significant. The cost
of recruiting the students may have been wasted and revenues from catering
outlets and student accommodation can also be affected.20 The personal
impact on a student who has dropped out can, of course, be dramatic as
well. Apart from feelings of failure and the loss of self-esteem, job prospects
may be adversely impacted and debt may have been accrued that is never
paid off. There are strong correlations between academic achievement and
higher income levels.21 Graduates tend to have higher status jobs, be healthier
and live longer. They may also be more likely to rate their former institu-
tions highly, leading to improved reputation and enhanced recruitment
possibilities.

Influences
Key contributing disciplines to learning analytics are computer science,
education and statistics.22 Dawson and colleagues analysed contributions to
the International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (LAK),
for example, and discovered that approximately 51% of papers were from
computer scientists whereas 40% of authors had a background in educa-
tion.23 Theory and methodologies are drawn from disciplines as varied as
psychology, philosophy, sociology, linguistics, information science, learning
sciences and artificial intelligence.24 Learning analytics draws on web analytics
to help make sense of the data created in log files of users’ access to web-
sites.25 Other methods deployed include social network analysis, predictive
modelling and natural language processing – all fields of enquiry in their
own right. Demonstrating the connections between learning analytics and
other disciplines, for example, was an international conference in the well-
established field of computer supported collaborative learning, which had
nine papers, three posters and an invited session with ‘learning analytics’ in
their titles.26
Clow argues that this eclectic approach facilitates rapid development of the
field and the ability to build on established work. However, it means that
learning analytics currently lacks its own coherent epistemology and estab-
lished approaches.27 Contributors to the key conferences in learning analytics
and associated areas are, though, increasingly using theories from learning
sciences to guide their selection of methods.28

A Confusing Mix of Disciplines and Terminology

Given the recent emergence of learning analytics as a field and its multi-
disciplinary origins, it is hardly surprising that there is confusion about what
exactly it is and how it is differentiated from related areas. Analytics can refer to:

a specific topic, such as health analytics;

the aim of the activity, for instance predictive analytics;

the data source, for example Google Analytics.29
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
dweller pictures that have come down to us are the work of average men of that period. On the
contrary, it is much more likely that they were the work, not of average men, but of the artistic geniuses
of their day,—of the Michelangelos, Raphaels, or if you prefer, the Landseers, the Bonheurs, and Corots
of their time.
There is no more reason to suppose that the average cave dweller could have drawn the reindeer
hunting scene or the famous picture of the mammoth, than that the average Frenchman of to-day could
have painted the Horse Fair. There is no reason then to suppose that the average Scythian could have
made himself equally intelligible to Darius by drawing pictures instead of sending actual objects, though
quite possibly there were some men among the Scythian hordes who could have done so. The idea of
such pictorial ideographs had seemingly not yet come to the Scythians, but that idea had been attained
many centuries before by other people of a higher plane of civilisation. At least four thousand years
before the age of Darius, the Babylonians, over whose descendants the Persian king was to rule, had
invented or developed a picture-writing and elaborated it until it was able to convey, not merely vague
generalities, but exquisite shades of meaning. The Egyptians, too, at a period probably at least as
remote, had developed what seems an independent system of picture-writing, and brought it to an
astonishing degree of perfection.
At least three other systems of picture-writing in elaborated forms are recognised, namely, that used
by the Hittites in Western Asia, that of the Chinese, and that of the Mexican Indians in America. No
dates can be fixed as to when these were introduced, neither is it possible to demonstrate the entire
independence of the various systems; but all of them were developed in prehistoric periods. There
seems no reason to doubt that in each case the picture-writing consisted originally of the mere graphic
presentation of an object as representing an idea connected with that object itself, precisely as if the
Scythians had drawn pictures of the mouse, the bird, the frog, and the arrows in order to convey the
message to Darius. Doubtless periods of incalculable length elapsed after the use of such ideograms as
this had come into vogue before the next great step was taken, which consisted in using a picture, not
merely to represent some idea associated with the object depicted, but to represent a sound. Probably
the first steps of this development came about through the attempt to depict the names of men. Since
the name of a man is often a combination of syllables, having no independent significance, it was
obviously difficult to represent that name in a picture record, and yet, in the nature of the case, the
name of the man might often constitute the most important part of the record. Sooner or later the
difficulty was met, as the Egyptian hieroglyphics prove to us, by adopting a system of phonetics, in
which a certain picture stands for the sound of each syllable of the name. The pictures selected for such
syllabic use were usually chosen because the name of the object presented by the picture began with
the sound in question. Such a syllabary having been introduced, its obvious utility led presently to its
application, not merely to the spelling of proper names, but to general purposes of writing.
One other step remained, namely, to make that final analysis of sounds which reduces the multitude
of syllables to about twenty-five elementary sounds, and to recognise that, by supplying a symbol for
each one of these sounds, the entire cumbersome structure of ideographs and syllables might be
dispensed with. The Egyptians made this analysis before the dawn of history, and had provided
themselves with an alphabet; but strangely enough they had not given up, nor did they ever relinquish
in subsequent times, the system of ideographs and syllabics that mark the stages of evolution of the
alphabet. The Babylonians at the beginning of their historic period had developed a most elaborate
system of syllables, but their writing had not reached the alphabet stage.
The introduction of the alphabet to the exclusion of the cruder methods was a feat accomplished
within the historic period by the Phœnicians, some details of which we shall have occasion to examine
later on. This feat is justly regarded as one of the greatest accomplishments of the entire historic
period. But that estimate must not blind us to the fact that the Egyptians and Babylonians, and probably
also the Chinese, were in possession of their fully elaborated systems of writing long before the very
beginnings of that historic period of which we are all along speaking. Indeed, as has been said, true
history could not begin until individual human deeds began to be recorded in written words.
 PART II

THE HISTORY OF EGYPT

BASED CHIEFLY UPON THE FOLLOWING AUTHORITIES

H. C. BRUGSCH, E. A. WALLIS BUDGE, C. K. J. BUNSEN, J. F. CHABAS, ADOLF

ERMAN, K. R. LEPSIUS, A. E. MARIETTE, G. C. C. MASPERO, EDUARD
MEYER, W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE, J. GARDNER WILKINSON

TOGETHER WITH A CHARACTERISATION OF

EGYPT AS A WORLD INFLUENCE

BY

ADOLF ERMAN

WITH ADDITIONAL CITATIONS FROM

CLAUDIUS ÆLIANUS, WM. BELOE, THE HOLY BIBLE, J. B. BIOT, SAMUEL BIRCH,
J. F. CHAMPOLLION, DIODORUS SICULUS, GEORG EBERS, AMELIA B.
EDWARDS, ROBERT HARTMANN, A. H. L. HEEREN, HERODOTUS,
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, H. LARCHER, J. P. MAHAFFY, MANETHO,
AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS, JOHN MAUNDEVILLE, MELA
POMPONIUS, L. MÉNARD, PAUSANIAS, PETRONIUS, PLINY,
PLUTARCH, R. POCOCKE, PETER LE PAGE RENOUF,
I. ROSELLINI, E. DE ROUGÉ, C. SAVARY, F. VON
SCHLEGEL, G. SERGI, SOLINUS, STRABO, ISAAC
TAYLOR, THE TURIN PAPYRUS AND THE
DYNASTIC LISTS OF KARNAK, ABYDOS,
AND SAQQARAH, A. WIEDEMANN,
HENRY SMITH WILLIAMS, AND
THOMAS YOUNG

Copyright, 1904,
By HENRY SMITH WILLIAMS.
All rights reserved.
 EGYPT
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introductory Essay. Egypt as a World Influence. By Dr. Adolf Erman

Egyptian History in Outline
Chapter I. The Egyptian Race and its Origin
Chapter II. The Old Memphis Kingdom
Chapter III. The Old Theban Kingdom
Chapter IV. The Restoration
Chapter V. The XIXth Dynasty
Chapter VI. The Finding of the Royal Mummies
Chapter VII. The Period of Decay
Chapter VIII. The Closing Scenes
Chapter IX. Manners and Customs of the Egyptians
Chapter X. The Egyptian Religion
Chapter XI. Egyptian Culture
Chapter XII. Concluding Summary of Egyptian History
Appendix A. Classical Traditions
Appendix B. The Problem of Egyptian Chronology
Brief Reference-List of Authorities by Chapters
A General Bibliography of Egyptian History

Ancient and Modern

Egypt
 EGYPT AS A WORLD INFLUENCE
A CHARACTERISATION OF EGYPTIAN HISTORY
Written Specially for the Present Work
By Dr. ADOLF ERMAN
Professor of Egyptology in the University of Berlin; Director of the Berlin Egyptian Museum; Member of
the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, Berlin, etc.
The countries that laid the foundation of our civilisation are not of those through which traffic passes
on its way from land to land. Neither Babylon nor Egypt lies on one of the natural highways of the
world; they lie hidden, encircled by mountains or deserts, and the seas that wash their shores are such
as the ordinary seafarer avoids rather than frequents.
But this very seclusion, which to us, with our modern ideas, seems a thing prejudicial to culture, did
its part toward furthering the development of mankind in these ancient lands; it assured to their
inhabitants a less troublous life than otherwise falls to the lot of nations under primitive conditions.
Egypt, more particularly, had no determined adversary, nor any that could meet her on equal terms
close at hand. To west of her stretched a desert, leading by interminable wanderings to sparsely
populated lands. On the east the desert was less wide indeed, but beyond it lay the Red Sea, and he
who crossed it did but reach another desert, the Arabian waste. Southward for hundreds of miles
stretched the barren land of Nubia, where even the waterway of the Nile withholds its wonted service,
so that the races of the Sudan are likewise shut off from Egypt. And even the route from Palestine to
the Nile, which we are apt to think of as so short and easy, involved a march of several days through
waterless desert and marshy ground. These neighbour countries, barren as they are, were certainly
inhabited, but the dwellers there were poor nomads; they might conquer Egypt now and again, but they
could not permanently injure her civilisation.
Thus the people which dwelt in Egypt could enjoy undisturbed all the good things their country had to
bestow. For in this singular river valley it was easier for men to live and thrive than in most other
countries of the world. Not that the life was such as is led in those tropic lands where the fruits of earth
simply drop into the mouth, and the human race grows enervated in a pleasant indolence; the dweller
in Egypt had to cultivate his fields, to tend his cattle, but if he did so he was bounteously repaid for his
labour. Every year the river fertilised his fields that they might bring forth barley and spelt and fodder
for his oxen. He became a settled husbandman, a grave and diligent man, who was spared the disquiet
and hardships endured by the nomadic tribes. Hence in this place there early developed a civilisation
which far surpassed that of other nations, and with which only that of far-off Babylonia, where
somewhat similar local conditions obtained, could in any degree vie. And this civilisation, and the
national characteristics of the Egyptian nation which went hand in hand with it, were so strong that they
could weather even a grievous storm. For long ago, in the remote antiquity which lies far beyond all
tradition, Egypt was once overtaken by the same calamity which was destined to befall her twice within
historic times—she was conquered by Arab Bedouins, who lorded it over the country so long that the
Egyptians adopted their language, though they altered and adapted it curiously in the process. This
transplantation of an Asiatic language to African soil is the lasting, but likewise the only, trace left by
this primeval invasion; in all other respects the conquerors were merged into the Egyptian people, to
whom they, as barbarians, had nothing to offer. There is nothing in the ideas and reminiscences of later
Egyptians to indicate that a Bedouin element had been absorbed into the race; in spite of their
language the aspect they present to us is that of the true children of their singular country, a people to
whom the desert and its inhabitants are something alien and incomprehensible. It is the same scene,
mutatis mutandis, that was enacted in the full light of history at the rise of Islam; then, too, the
unwarlike land was subdued by the swift onset of the Bedouins, who also imposed their language on it
in the days of their rule; and yet the Egyptian people remains ever the same, and the people who speak
Arabic to-day in the valley of the Nile have little in common with the Arabs of the desert.
 Long before the period at which our historical knowledge begins, these Egyptian husbandmen had
laid the foundations of their civilisation. They still went unclad and delighted to paint their bodies with
green pigment; their ruler still wore a lion’s tail at his girdle and a strange savage-looking top-knot on
his head; his sceptre was still a staff such as may be cut from the tree; but these staves already ruled a
wide domain full of townships large and small. And in each of these there were already nobles,
responsible to the king for the government thereof, looking with reverence toward his “great house,”
and paying him tribute of their corn and cattle. And in the midst of the clay huts in every place stood a
large hut, with wattled walls, the entrance adorned with poles; no other than the sanctuary of their god.
Already they carved his image in wood and carried it round the town at festivals. Manifold are the
accomplishments which the Egyptians have acquired by this time. They fashion the flint of the desert
into knives and weapons of the utmost perfection of workmanship, they make cords, mats, and skiffs
out of the rushes from the marsh-land, they are acquainted with the art of manufacturing tiles and
earthen vessels from the clay of the soil. They carve in wood and ivory, and their carvings have already
a peculiar character wholly their own. Moreover, they have prepared the way for the greatest of their
achievements and have learned to record their ideas by drawing small pictures; the character is still for
the most part pictographic, but even now certain particular pictures are used to denote sounds.
On this primitive period of the Egyptian nation we can only gaze from afar; we do not meet it face to
face until the time when the two kingdoms, into which the country had hitherto been divided, were
united for the first time by King Menes; this may have taken place after the middle of the fourth
millennium. The union must have given a strong impulse to the life of the nation, and but a few
generations after the days of King Menes the monuments that have come down to us exhibit most of
the features characteristic of Egyptian civilisation in the later centuries. The might of Egypt waxes
apace; a few centuries more—at the period we are in the habit of speaking of as the Old Kingdom—and
its development has progressed so far that nothing now seems beyond its strength. The gigantic
buildings of the IVth Dynasty, whose great pyramids defy the tooth of time, bear witness to this. How
proudly self-conscious must the race have been which strove thus to set up for itself a perpetual
memorial! And if this passion for the huge is relinquished in succeeding centuries, it is merely a token of
the further development of the nation; it has wearied of the colossal scale, and turns its attention to a
greater refinement of life, the grace of which still looks forth upon us from the monuments of the Vth
Dynasty.
Thus, even under the Old Kingdom, Egypt is a country in a high state of civilisation; a centralised
government, a high level of technical skill, a religion in exuberant development, an art that has reached
its zenith, a literature that strives upward to its culminating point,—this it is that we see displayed in its
monuments. It is an early blossom, put forth by the human race at a time when other nations were yet
wrapped in their winter sleep. In ancient Babylonia alone, where conditions equally favourable
prevailed, the nation of the Sumerians reached a similar height. Any one who will compare these two
ancient civilisations of Babylonia and Egypt cannot fail to see that they present many similarities of
custom; thus in both the seal is rolled upon the clay, and both date their years according to certain
events. The idea that some connection subsisted between them, and that then, as in later times, the
products of both countries were dispersed by commerce through the world about them, is one that
suggests itself spontaneously. But substantial evidence in support of this conjecture is still lacking and
will probably ever remain so.
The great age of the Old Kingdom ends in a collapse, the body politic breaks up into its component
parts, and the level of civilisation in the provinces sinks rapidly. But it rises again no less rapidly, when,
at the close of the third millennium b.c., Egypt is once more united under a single sovereign.
The Middle Kingdom, as we customarily call this epoch, is a second season of efflorescence; indeed, it
is the time upon which the Egyptians of succeeding generations looked back as the classic period of
their literature; and many centuries later, boys at school were still patiently copying out the wise lessons
which the first king of the period imparted to his son, or the adventures of his contemporary, Sinuhe,
and thereby learning the elegance of style in which the Egyptians of the Middle Kingdom were such
adepts. This, moreover, is the epoch in which, so far as we know, the Egyptian arms were first carried
to remoter lands; at this time Nubia became an Egyptian province, and the gold of its desert
thenceforth belonged to the Pharaohs. The memory of this extension of the sway of Egypt survived
among the Egyptians of later days, embodied in the semi-mythical figure of the great King Sesostris.
When legend reports that this monarch likewise subjugated distant lands to the north, we have now no
means of judging how much truth there may be in the tale. But this we can see, that at that time Egypt
maintained commercial relations with the countries of the Mediterranean; for their dainty vases are
found in Egyptian rubbish heaps of the period, and may have been imported into the Nile valley then, as
later, as vessels for containing delicate foreign oils.
These palmy days of the second period of Egyptian history lasted for barely two hundred years, and
then a time of political decadence again set in, and Egypt for some centuries passes almost out of sight.
One thing only do we know of its fortunes during this interval, namely, that it once more fell a prey to
barbarian conquerors. The Hyksos—presumably a Bedouin tribe from the Syrio-Arabian desert—long
reigned in Egypt as its lords. But the sway of these barbarians was naturally lax, and while the foreign
great king abode in his camp on the Delta, Egyptian princes ruled as his vassals in the great cities of
Egypt. And when, as was inevitable, the might of the barbarians waned, the might of these dynasts
increased, till one of them, who ruled in the little city of Thebes in distant Upper Egypt, rose to such a
height of power as to gain the mastery, not only over the other princes, but ultimately over the Hyksos
themselves. About the year 1600 b.c. we find Egypt free once more, and under the sceptre of this same
upper Egyptian line which has rendered the names of Thebes, its city, and Amen, its god, forever
famous. The New Kingdom, the greatest age that the Nile Valley ever saw, has dawned.
The power of the kingdom waxed apace beyond its borders. Tehutimes I and his son, the
indefatigable warrior, Tehutimes III, subdued a region that extended northward to northern Syria and
southward to the Sudan; Egypt became the neighbour of the kingdom of Mitani [or Mitanni] on the
Euphrates, of the rising power of Assyria, of ancient Babylonia. The two ancient civilisations which had
been developing for thousands of years in Mesopotamia and the valley of the Nile were thus brought
into direct contact, and we shall hardly be wrong in saying that during these centuries a great part of
the civilised world whose heirs we are, met together in a common life. A brisk trade must have
developed as a result of this new relation of country to country. The countries of the Mediterranean,
where the so-called Mycenæan civilisation was then in its prime, had their part in it, as is proved by the
discovery of numerous Mycenæan vessels in the tombs and ruins of the New Kingdom, and no less by
the productions of Egyptian technical art which have been brought to light from the seats of Mycenæan
civilisation.
The effect of these altered relations upon Egypt is easy to see. Vast wealth pours into the country and
enables the Pharaohs to erect the gigantic fabric of the Theban temples. But at the very time when the
spirit of ancient Egypt finds its most splendid transfiguration in these buildings, it begins to suffer loss
and change. The old simple garb no longer beseems the lords of so great an empire; it must give place
to a costlier. The antiquated literary language handed down from days of old is gradually superseded by
the vulgar tongue. And if the Egyptians had up to this time looked proudly down upon all other nations
as wretched barbarians, they must have found this narrow-minded view untenable when once they had
met face to face the equally ancient civilisation of Babylonia and the vigorous growth of Syrian and
Mediterranean cultures. The sons of Egypt’s Asiatic vassals attend her king, their daughters sit in his
harem; Syrian mercenaries form one regiment of his bodyguard, foreign captives work on the edifices
he builds. His officers, military and civil, have all made some stay on Asiatic soil, and his “letter-scribe”
can read and write the cuneiform characters of Babylonia. The commerce which led foreign merchants
to Egypt must have acted no less powerfully; they brought in silverware, wood of various kinds, horses
and oxen, wine, beer, oil, and unguents, and carried away in return the manifold products of Egyptian
industry and Egyptian crafts. In the long result not only does their traditional fear of foreigners pass
away, but Asiatic fashions actually come into vogue among cultured Egyptians. They coquet with foreign
Canaanitish phrases, and think it permissible to offer up prayer to Baal [Bel] Astarte, and other gods of
alien peoples. Asiatic singing-girls set the lyre of their native land in place of the old Egyptian harp, and
many an intellectual possession may have migrated into Egypt with their songs.
It is far harder to gauge in detail the effect of Egyptian supremacy on Asia and Europe. We can see
from the discoveries made in these countries what a quantity of small Egyptian wares in glass and
faience, silver and bronze, was exported during this period, and we may further conclude that this was
the time when the industrial art of Syrio-Phœnicia acquired its Egyptianised style. Similarly we may
conjecture that it was then that our civilisation adopted all those things which were undoubtedly
invented or perfected on Egyptian soil, and which we meet with even in the very oldest Greek and
Etruscan times—the forms of household furniture, of columns, statues, weapons, seals, and many other
things which still play their part in our daily life, though we are all unconscious of their Egyptian origin.
At that period, when Egypt held the first place in Asia and Europe, a stream of Egyptian influence must
have flowed out upon the whole world—a stream of which we still can guess the force only from these
traces it has left.
As for the most precious lore that other nations might have learned from the Egyptians, we have no
information concerning it whatever; though it is certain that their intellectual riches, their religion and
poetry, their medical and arithmetical skill, can have been no less widely spread abroad than these
productions of their technical dexterity. If, for example, our religion tells us of an immortality of the soul
more excellent than the melancholy existence of the shades, the conception is one first met with in
ancient Egypt; and Egyptian, likewise, is the idea that the fate of the dead is determined by the life led
upon earth. These conceptions come to us by way of the Jewish religion. But may not the Jews have
obtained them from Egypt, the land that bore its dead so heedfully in mind? The silent paths by which
such thoughts pass from nation to nation are, it is true, beyond all showing. Or, if much in the gnomic
poetry of the Hebrews reminds us strikingly of the abundant proverbial literature of Egypt, the idea of
seeking its origin in the Nile Valley is one that occurs almost spontaneously. Here, too, of course, we
have no proof to offer; connections of the kind can be no more than guessed at.
Thus the first part of the New Kingdom, or what we are in the habit of calling the XVIIIth Dynasty, is
one of those periods which are pre-eminent as having advanced the progress of the world. To Egypt
herself this co-operation with other nations might have brought a new and loftier development, had she
been able really to assimilate the influx of new ideas. But of this the old nation was no longer capable;
it had not vigour enough to shake off the ballast wherewith its thousands of years of existence had
laden it.
About 1400 b.c. one of the Pharaohs—it was Amenhotep IV—did indeed make a serious attempt to
break with custom and tradition and adapt the faith and thought of his people to the new conditions. He
tried to create a new religion, in which only one god should be worshipped—the Sun, a divinity which
could be equally adored by all peoples within his kingdom. And it sounds strangely un-Egyptian when
the hymns to this new god insist that all men, Syrians, Ethiopians, and Egyptians, are alike dear to him;
he has made them to differ in colour and speech, and has placed them in different lands, but he takes
thought for all alike.
But this attempt of the fourth Amenhotep came to naught, and the spirit of ancient Egypt triumphed
over the abominable heretic. And with this triumph the fate of Egypt was sealed. True, in the next
century, under the Sethos and the Ramses she enjoyed a period of external splendour, to which the
great temples of Karnak, Luxor, and Medinet Habu still testify. But it was an illusory glory. Egypt was
outworn and exhausted; she could no longer maintain her political ascendency, her might falls to
pitiable ruin while younger and more vigorous nations in anterior Asia take the place that once was
hers. And therewith begins the long and mournful death struggle of the Egyptian nation. The chief
authority passes from the hands of the kings to those of the priests, from them to the commanders of
the Syrian mercenaries; and then Egypt falls a prey to the Ethiopian barbarians, with whom the
Assyrians next dispute it. For five long centuries the wretched nation is whelmed beneath these
miseries, and yet, so far as we can see, they work no change in it; it is, in truth, exhausted utterly.
Once more, after the fall of the Assyrian empire, the political situation changes in Egypt’s favour, and
Psamthek I and his successors won back wealth and power for her. But the aged nation had no longer
the skill to take wise advantage of propitious fortune; it had no thoughts of its own, nor could it find
fitting form for its new splendour. The Egyptians rested content with imitating in whimsical fashion, in all
things, the Old Kingdom, the earliest period of their national glory, and the contemporaries of Neku and
Apries [Uah-ab-Ra] took pleasure in feigning themselves the subjects of Cheops, in bearing the titles of
his court, and writing in a language and orthography which had been in use two thousand years before.
Learned antiquarianism is the distinguishing feature of this latest Egyptian development.
The end of the sixth century brought fresh calamities upon the land. Cambyses conquered it, and it
became a Persian province. And although, after many a vain attempt at revolt, it shook off the foreign
yoke for awhile, about 400 b.c., yet in a few decades it again fell into the hands of the Persians. Since
those days Egypt has never had a ruler of her own blood; she has been the hapless spoil of any who
chose to take her.
Alexander the Great was the first to whom the country fell, and at his death it became the heritage of
his general, Ptolemy. In his family it was handed down, to become at length a province of the Roman
Empire in the year 30 b.c. Throughout its length and breadth there is but one spot that thrives during
this period, the new port of Alexandria, founded by the great king in the barren west of the Delta; this
becomes a metropolis of the Greek world, and its merchants and manufacturers extend their trade by
land and sea to every quarter. But this same Alexandria was ever something of an alien in Egypt, and
the rest of the country took no part in the busy life that ran its round there; it grew corn and flax and
wine and supplied them to the Roman world, it throve, but less for its own profit than that of the
empire. Greek culture made its way but slowly there, and even in the great cities of the interior the
Greek language and the Greek religion were never strong enough to displace the native idiom and the
old faith. They influenced it by degrees, much as the European culture of to-day influences the ancient
civilisation of the far East, but even as the Chinese remain Chinese in spite of railroads and the
telegraph, so the Egyptians of the Græco-Roman period clung tenaciously to their own ways. They held
fast all points of the national customs they only half understood; above all, they held to their ancient
faith. And yet by that time the religion of Egypt was as degenerate and debased as it could possibly be.
As is apt to be the case with antiquated beliefs, its mere singularities had flourished at the expense of
its wholesome side; cats, snakes, and crocodiles had now become the most sacred of beings in the eyes
of the vulgar, and every kind of superstition was rampant. The depositaries of this religion were the
members of a stereotyped hierarchy that had long lost touch with the outer world; they worshipped
their gods according to the old tradition, used the ample wealth of the temples to build them new
shrines in the old style, and enjoyed their fat benefices under the benevolent protection of the foreign
government.
Thus the Egypt of this later day had long been empty of all vital force; it continued to exist, but only
because the aged nation had lost the power of adapting itself to the new world. And yet this decrepit
Egyptian character, with its dead religion, cast a singular spell over the sated spirit of the Roman world.
The worship of Isis and Serapis spread far and wide; everywhere Egyptian sorcerers found a willing
public for their superstitions. Roman tourists visited the ancient land, gazed in amazement at its
wonders, while at home the nobles built themselves villas in the Egyptian style and adorned them with
statues from Memphis. Even the most highly educated looked upon Egypt as a holy land, where
everything was full of mystery and marvel, and piety and the true worship of the gods had their
dwelling place from of old. And even after the fashionable predilection for things Egyptian had passed
away, this notion of the mysterious and sacred land of Egypt remained fixed in men’s minds, and was
handed on from generation to generation. Whenever ancient Egypt is mentioned in later days it
suggests ideas of mystery, symbolism, and esoteric wisdom. And so anything to which it is desired to
lend an air of mystery claims derivation preferably from Egypt, the secret lodges of the eighteenth
century no less than the spiritualists and quacks of our own day. Ancient Egypt has acquired this
reputation, and though, now that we know it better, we perceive that it is but little in accordance with
her true character, all our researches will not be able to dispel the illusion of two thousand years. In the
future, as in the past, the feeling with which the multitude regards the remains of Egyptian antiquity will
be one of awestruck reverence. Nevertheless, another feeling would be more appropriate, a feeling of
grateful acknowledgment and veneration, such as one of a later generation might feel for the ancestor
who had founded his family and endowed it with a large part of its wealth. For though we are seldom
able to say with certainty of any one thing in our possession that it is a legacy we have inherited from
the Egyptians, yet no one who seriously turns his attention to such subjects can now doubt that a great
part of our heritage comes from them. In all the implements which are about us nowadays, in every art
and craft which we practise now, a large and important element has descended to us from the
Egyptians. And it is no less certain that we owe to them many ideas and opinions of which we can no
longer trace the origin, and which have long come to seem to us the natural property of our own minds.
This legacy of ideas, no less than of technical dexterity and artistic form, which the Egyptians have
bequeathed to us, constitutes the service they have done to the human race. They cannot vie with the
Greeks in intellectual gifts, and they never possessed the force that determines the course of history;
but they were able to develop their capabilities earlier than other nations, and thus secured for the
world the substantial groundwork of civilisation.
Thirty centuries have passed since ancient Egypt accomplished this, her real mission for the world;
since then she has hardly done more than till her soil in its service. Silently her existence has flowed on,
and all the catastrophes which have befallen her since Roman times have not been able to stir her to
fresh vigour. Christianity spread in Egypt early, but the philosophic labours accomplished there in
connection with it are the work of the educated Hellenistic classes, not of the Egyptians proper. What
these last added to Christianity, the anchoretic and monastic life, cannot be counted among its
advantages. And when, in the fifth century, the Egyptians broke away from the Catholic Church, the
barbarian element to which the nation succumbed thenceforward finally triumphed. The tie that had
bound the Egyptians to European civilisation was severed, and the Arab conquest had only to set the
seal to this divorce.
This same Arab conquest, which, in the course of centuries, went so far as to rob the ancient nation
of its ancient language, and imposed a new faith upon the great majority of its inhabitants, was
powerless to inspire it with new life. Outwardly Egypt has become Arab, but the Egyptians had but a
very small share in the intellectual life of the Arab Middle Ages, a share probably not much larger than
that which they had taken in Alexandrian culture.
Once again, in our own days, the opportunity of rousing itself afresh is offered to the Egyptian nation.
It is once more linked with Europe, and its prosperity has advanced with astounding rapidity. From all
sides new influences stream in upon the ancient people, and we would fain indulge in the hope that
now at length it might awake to new life. But, unhappily, this hope has but little prospect of fulfilment,
and all things will but run again the course they ran long ago in Græco-Roman days. The foreigner will
prosper in Egypt and invest it with a tinge of his own civilisation, the work of European civilisation will
inspire an Egyptian here and there with a profound sympathy. But the nation itself will remain
untouched, it will rise up no more, it has lived itself out and its intellectual capabilities are exhausted. In
time to come, the Egyptian nation will probably do no more for the human race than diligently provide it
with cotton and onions, as it does to-day.
 EGYPTIAN HISTORY IN OUTLINE

A PRELIMINARY SURVEY COMPRISING A CURSORY VIEW OF THE

SOURCES OF EGYPTIAN HISTORY, THE SWEEP OF EVENTS, AND A
TABLE OF CHRONOLOGY
Until somewhat recently it has been customary to think of Egyptian history as constituting a single
uniform period. Before our generation it was quite impossible for any one to realise the extreme length
of time which this history involves; or if a certain few did realise it, a consensus of opinion among the
many forbade the acceptance of their estimate. Now, however, limitations of time are no longer a
bugbear to the historian, and we are coming to realise the full import of the fact that when one speaks
of historic Egypt he is referring to an epoch at least four thousand years in extent. Prior to the
nineteenth century discoveries, the historian had only the most meagre supply of material dealing with
any epoch prior to that age of the Trojan War which marked the extreme limits of the historic view in
Greece; but now we understand that the men who built the Pyramids in Egypt were at least as far
removed from Homer as Homer is removed from us: and it is but the expression of an historical
platitude to say that a vast stretch of Egyptian history must lie back of the Pyramids; for no one any
longer supposes that a people recently emerged from barbarism could have created such structures.
Throughout classical times very little was known of the history of Egypt, except what was contained
in the fragmentary remains of Manetho and the more lengthy descriptions of Herodotus and Diodorus.
There were other references, of course, but for anything like a comprehensive knowledge of the history
of the country it would have been necessary to understand the Egyptian language and decipher the
hieroglyphics; and no person throughout classical times had such understanding.
There were practically no additions to the world’s knowledge of ancient Egyptian history from classical
times till about the beginning of the nineteenth century. The stimulus to the new knowledge that was
then acquired came about chiefly through the Egyptian expedition of Napoleon. The French expedition
included various scientists who made a concerted effort to study the antiquities, and to transport as
many of them as might be to Paris. In the latter regard the expedition failed, as in some more important
particulars, through the interference of the British, with the result that some of the most important
antiquities, including the since famous Rosetta stone, found their way to the British Museum. A large
amount of material, however, was transported to Paris, and gave occupation to the savants of France
for about a generation before the final publication of results in a monumental work.
But before this publication, thanks to the efforts of Thomas Young in England, and Champollion in
France, the hieroglyphics had been deciphered, and at last the almost inexhaustible word treasures of
Egypt were made available as witnesses for history. Very naturally, a large number of explorers entered
the field, and from that day till this there has been no dearth of Egyptologists either in the field of
exploration or of interpretation. Prominent among these in the first half of the century were the pupils
of Champollion, the Italians, Rossellini and Salvolini. But the most important work, perhaps, was done
by the German, Lepsius, who came to be recognised as the foremost Egyptologist of his time, and
whose Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien is still one of the most monumental works on the
subject. In England, Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson took up the study of Egyptian life in particular, and
deduced from the inscriptions of the monuments and from the pictures a comprehensive understanding
of Egyptian manners and customs. The various workers at the British Museum, beginning with Birch and
continuing with Renouf and with E. A. Wallis Budge, have added an ever increasing complement to our
knowledge of Egyptian archæology.
The country of Champollion has been ably represented in more recent time by Mariette and Maspero;
while in Germany, Dümichen, Meyer, and Wiedemann have worked and written exhaustively, the former
with special reference to archæology, the two latter with reference to history. But no one else perhaps
has given quite such attention to the language of old Egypt as Professor Adolf Erman. The field that
Wilkinson occupied earlier in the century has also been entered by Professor Erman, and the most
recent and authoritative studies of Egyptian manners and customs are those that he has deduced from
the papyri and the monumental inscriptions. Wilkinson depended largely upon pictorial representations
for his information, but Erman has been able to go beyond these to the subtler and sometimes more
illuminative written records.
As to the early history of Egypt, no one else has made such exhaustive studies as Professor W. M.
Flinders Petrie, whose publications cover a wide range, from the most technical to the relatively popular.
For a strictly popular presentation of the subject, however, the works of George Ebers, of Baron Bunsen,
and of Amelia B. Edwards should be consulted, together with the books of Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson and
the works of Professor Adolf Erman.
A more comprehensive account of these writers and their labours, together with reasonably complete
bibliographies of the entire subject, will be found at the close of the history of Egypt. The character of
the materials with which the Egyptologists have worked in creating a new history of one of the oldest
civilisations, will be revealed as we proceed.
The Egyptians of history are probably a fusion of an indigenous white race of northeastern Africa and
an intruding people of Asiatic origin. In the Archaic period independent kings ruled in the Delta region
(Kings of the Red Crown) and in Upper Egypt (Kings of the White Crown). Under King Menes the two
crowns were probably first united, and the Dynastic period begins. According to Egyptian traditions the
pre-dynastic ages were filled with dynasties of gods and demigods, who were perhaps primeval chiefs
or tribal leaders. Monuments of the pre-dynastic period are earthenware vases, jars, sculptured ivory
objects, and flint implements.
The dynasties which formed the foundation of all classifications of Egyptian history are based upon
the lists of the Egyptian priest Manetho, who wrote a history of Egypt in the time of the Ptolemies. The
original work of Manetho has not come down to us, and it is quite impossible to restore it in extenso
from the fragmentary excerpts that are preserved. The writings of Josephus and of Eusebius are our
chief sources for Manetho’s lists, but Josephus copied the lists only in part, and Eusebius seemingly
knew them only at second or third hand, when, it is suspected, they had been somewhat perverted in
the interests of Hebrew chronology. Nevertheless, the dynasties of Manetho as we now know them
probably do not very radically differ from the original lists. Beyond question these are based upon
authentic Egyptian documents, but there is a good deal of confusion and much difference of opinion
among Egyptologists, as to whether some of the dynasties were not contemporaneous; and for many
periods the lists are only provisional.
It is notable, however, that the somewhat recent discoveries of original Egyptian lists, such as the so-
called Turin Papyrus and the dynastic lists of Karnak and Abydos, tend to corroborate the lists of
Manetho, and show that he was an historian of very great merit. It is convenient also to regard the
grand divisions of Egyptian history noted by Manetho, namely, the Old Memphis Kingdom, comprising
the first ten dynasties; the Middle Kingdom or Old Theban Kingdom, comprising the XIth to the XVIIth
Dynasties; and the New Theban Kingdom, comprising the remaining dynasties.[1]
As to the dates employed in the following chronology, a word of explanation is necessary. Neither
Manetho’s lists nor any other available sources enable us at present to supply exact dates for the earlier
periods of Egyptian history with any precision. Authorities differ as to the early period to the extent of
more than three thousand years. Thus Champollion gives the date 5867 b.c. for the beginning of the Ist
Dynasty, while Wilkinson supplies for the same event the date 2320 b.c. Later authorities are pretty fully
agreed that such a date as that of Wilkinson is much too recent. Meyer fixes upon 3180 b.c. as the
minimum date, and no doubt he would very willingly admit that the probable date is much more
remote. For our present purpose it has been thought well to adopt an intermediate date, as in some
sense striking an average among divergent opinions. The dates of Brugsch, which agree rather closely
with those of Mariette and Petrie, have in the main been followed here, with certain modifications made
necessary by recent discoveries, chiefly with reference to synchronism with known dates of the Assyrian
empire and other countries. It will be understood, therefore, that all the earlier dates of this chronology
are accepted as merely approximative, the approximation becoming closer and closer as we come down
the centuries. At the middle of the XVIIIth Dynasty the dates cannot be more than twenty years out of
the way, while from the XXIInd onward the probable error is very small indeed, vanishing entirely with
the accession of Psamthek I of the XXVIth Dynasty.

THE TEMPLE AT KARNAK

For present purposes it is undesirable to give a complete list of the names of Egyptian kings. Fuller
details as to monarchs and events will be given elsewhere in our text. But the purposes of our
preliminary view are better subserved by confining attention to the more important Pharaohs, and to
the principal events that give picturesqueness and interest to Egyptian history.
We take up now the synoptical view of the successive dynasties. Such a survey will, it is believed,
furnish the reader with the best possible preparation for the full comprehension of the more detailed
presentation that is to follow.

THE OLD MEMPHIS KINGDOM

Ist DYNASTY, 4400-4133 b.c.

4400 B.C. Accession of Menes. Ist Dynasty founded.
Tradition ascribes to him the foundation of Memphis, the
capital of the Old Memphite Kingdom, whither it was
moved from This or Thinis; and states that he was killed
by a hippopotamus in a campaign against the Libyans.
Monument.—A tomb discovered by De Morgan (1897) is
believed to be that of King Menes, or of his wife Nit-
hotep.
4366 Teta.—Second king, said to have written a work on
anatomy.
Monument.—A papyrus bought in Thebes by Ebers refers to
a pomatum made for Teta’s mother, Shesh.
4266 Hesepti (Semti).—Fifth king. Several passages in the
Book of the Dead refer to him. King Senta of the IInd
Dynasty owned a medical work which once belonged to
Semti.
Monument.—His tomb has been discovered by Amélineau at
Abydos. It contained among other things an ebony
tablet representing the king dancing before Osiris. (Now
in the British Museum.)
4233 Merbapen.—Sixth king.
Monument.—Tomb at Abydos, discovered by Amélineau.
4200 Semen-Ptah (Semsu).—Seventh king. Manetho says:
“In his reign a terrible pestilence afflicted Egypt.”

IInd DYNASTY, 4133-3900 b.c.

4133 Neter-b’au.—First king. Manetho says: “During his

reign a chasm opened near Bubastis and many persons
perished.”
Monument.—Tomb discovered by Amélineau in 1897 at
Abydos.
4100 Ka-ka-u.—Second (?) king; establishes or expands
the worship of Apis; also of Mnevis and the Mendesian
goat.
4066 Ba-en-neter.—Third (?) king; establishes the right of
female succession.

IIIrd DYNASTY, 3900-3766 b.c.

3900 Neb-ka.—First or third king. According to Manetho a

revolt of the Libyans in which they submitted “on
account of an unexpected increase in the moon,” took
place in this reign.
3866 Zeser (T´er-sa).—Second or fourth king. Builder of
the Step Pyramid of Saqqarah. Dr. Budge says of this:
“It is certainly the oldest of all the large buildings which
 have successfully resisted the action of wind and
weather, and destruction by the hand of man.”
Monuments.—The Step Pyramid; the Great Sphinx of Gizeh.
Rapid development of civilisation during the first three
dynasties.

IVth DYNASTY, 3766-3566 b.c.

3766 Sneferu.—First king. He wars against the robber-like

tribes of the desert. He is said, on a monument of the
XIIth Dynasty, to have founded Egyptian dominion in
the peninsula of Sinai, which he conquered for its
mineral wealth.
Monuments.—A number of carved stones, a bas-relief at
Wady Magharah showing him smiting an enemy.
3733 Khufu or Cheops.—Builder of the Great Pyramid,
Khut—“The Horizon.”
3666 Khaf-Ra.—Builder of the pyramid Ur,—“The Great.”
3633 Men-kau-Ra.—Builder of the pyramid Her,—“The
Supreme.” He enlarges it after it is built. He afterward
builds another pyramid at Abu Roash, and was probably
buried there.
A peaceful dynasty. Brilliant age of art and literature.

Vth DYNASTY, 3566-3300 b.c.

3566 A new house from Elephantine “of priestly character”

founded by Us-kaf.
3533 Sahu-Ra.—One of the most renowned rulers of the
Old Memphis Kingdom. Wars in Sinai.
Monument.—Pyramid Khaba, at Abusir.
3433 Usen-en-Ra.—First Pharaoh to adopt a second
cartouche with his private name, An. He holds the rule
over the peninsula of Sinai.
Monuments.—The pyramid Menasu; a victory tablet at Wady
Magharah; two statues, etc.
3366 Tat-ka-Ra (Assa).—He continues to wage war with
even greater activity in the peninsula of Sinai.
Monuments.—The oldest papyri of authentic date belong to
this reign. They are: “The Papyrus of Accounts” found at
Saqqarah and the “Proverbs of Ptah-hotep.”
Ptah-hotep was probably the uncle and tutor of the king,
under whose patronage the work was given to the
world.
3333 Close of dynasty and first period of Egyptian history
with King Unas.
Monument.—Pyramid Nefer-asu, at Saqqarah.
No great monuments in this dynasty. An age of decline. The
art of building shows a great falling off from that of the
IVth Dynasty. Methods are careless; decoration becomes
formal, coarse, and flat.
Monument of Vth Dynasty.—The Palermo stele, containing,
among others, names of some of the pre-dynastic kings
of Lower Egypt.

VIth DYNASTY, 3300-3000 b.c.

3300 A new line of vigorous Memphite kings founded by

Teta.
Monument.—Pyramid Tat-asu at Saqqarah, one of the first
and worst despoiled by plunderers.
3233 Pepi Ist.—Most important ruler of this dynasty. He has
left more monuments than any other ruler before the
XIIth Dynasty. Great and successful wars against the
Aamu and Herusha, inhabiting the desert east of the
Delta. War against the people of Terebah, a country of
doubtful location, probably in western Asia.
Monuments.—The long inscription on the tomb of Una, Pepi’s
general, is our source of the history of this reign.
Pyramid Men-nefer, at Saqqarah; the red granite sphinx
of Tanis; statuettes, etc.
3066 Queen Men-ka-Ra.—The Nitocris of Herodotus. The
early part of this dynasty is characterised by foreign
conquest and exploration, but toward the end internal
troubles have brought the kingdom to a state of
disorganisation. Architecture rapidly declines.

VIIth, VIIIth, IXth, AND Xth DYNASTIES, 3000-2700 b.c.

3000-2700 A long era of confusion. Rapid decay of the

Memphite power in the VIIth and VIIIth Dynasties,
while that of Thebes is rising. The Delta invaded and
occupied by Syrian tribes, which drive the capital from
Memphis south to Heracleopolis. A great wall is built
across the Isthmus of Suez to keep the invaders out.
Dynasties IX and X at Heracleopolis in constant conflict
with the Theban princes, in which the latter gradually
attain their independence and establish the XIth (First
Theban) Dynasty. For about a century the Xth and XIth
Dynasties probably reign contemporaneously.
Monuments.—Mainly scarabs.

THE OLD THEBAN (MIDDLE) KINGDOM

XIth DYNASTY, 2700-2466 b.c.

2700 Beginning of the Old Theban (Middle) Kingdom. Antef
I (?), first of nine (?) kings. They are all buried at the
foot of the Western Mountain of the Theban Necropolis.
Monument.—The coarsely carved coffin of Antef I, rudely
painted in red, blue, and yellow. (Now in the Louvre.)
2600 Mentuhotep II (Neb-taui-Ra).
Monuments.—A tablet at Konosso relating his conquest of
thirteen tribes; inscriptions in the quarries of
Hammamat.
2550 Metuhotep III.—The greatest king of the dynasty,
judging from the number of his monuments. A patron of
art. His worship continues till a late day.
Monuments.—Pyramid Khut-asu, at Thebes; sandstone
tablet at Silsilis; tablets at Assuan; a temple at Thebes.
2500 Sankh-ka-Ra.—Last king of dynasty. The first voyage
to Punt and Ophir under the leadership of Hannu takes
place in his reign.
Monuments.—Inscriptions at Hammamat recording the
voyage to Punt; a statue found at Saqqarah.

XIIth DYNASTY, 2466-2250 b.c.

2466 The power of Thebes is now firmly established, and

the country enters upon a period of greatness with
Amenemhat I, the first king, who shows remarkable
vigour. Expedition against the Libyans, Herusha, Mazau,
and Sati (Asiatics).
Monuments.—The great temple of Amen at Thebes; statues;
inscriptions; the papyrus containing the famous
“Instructions to his Son”; and the memoirs of Sineh
(Sinehat or Sinhue).
2446 Usertsen I.—Took charge of foreign campaigns in his
father’s reign. Asserts his power in the Sinaitic
peninsula. Warlike expedition to Nubia as related on the
Tomb of Ameni. Enlarges temple at Karnak. Order re-
established in the land.
Monuments.—Obelisk of Heliopolis; a portrait bust and
statues; the tomb of Ameni.
2400 Amenemhat II.—Works the mines of Sarbut-el-
Khadem. Manetho says he was slain by his
chamberlains.
2370 Usertsen II.
Monuments.—A curious and unusual temple at Illahun; a
bust of Queen Nefert; the tomb of Khnum-hotep with
historical records.
2340 Usertsen III.—A famous name. The conqueror of
Ethiopia after many campaigns. He makes the conquest
secure by fixing the frontier of Egypt above the Second
 Cataract and building the fortresses of Semneh and
Kummeh. Afterward revered as the founder of Ethiopia.
Monuments.—A papyrus containing a long hymn to the king;
statues; pyramid at Dahshur; tomb of Princess Set-
hathor, which contained some remarkable jewellery.
2305 Amenemhat III.—Constructs Lake Mœris as a
storage reservoir for the Nile overflow. Also the
Labyrinth palace. These are his monuments.
2265 Amenemhat IV.—The dynasty begins to decline.
2255 Queen Sebek-neferu-Ra, sister of Amenemhat IV.
The XIIth Dynasty a great age for art and literature.
Immense activity in building. The literary style is the
model for future ages. Valuable historic records on the
tombs.

THE XIIIth, XIVth, XVth, XVIth, AND XVIIth DYNASTIES, 2250-

1635 b.c.

2250-1635 A period the length of which is unknown, and

which has been variously estimated at from four
hundred to nearly a thousand years. (See Chapter III,
pages 120, 121.) The XIIIth Dynasty reigns at Thebes,
and Sebekhotep I is its first king. Before its close the
Hyksos invaders have gained rapidly in power, and the
new dynasty (XIVth) is driven to Xoïs in the western
Delta. The Hyksos establish their rule, and the later
kings of the XIVth are probably provincial governors
with a short tenure of office, retained by the Hyksos for
purposes of internal government. The XVth Dynasty is
that of the great Hyksos kings, Salatis, Bnon,
Apachnan, Aphobis, Annas, Asseth, and marks the
climax of their power. Their principal towns are Ha-Uar
(Avaris), Pelusium, and Tanis. They adopt the customs,
language, and writings of the Egyptians. Their chief god
is Sutekh, “the Great Set,” to whom they build a great
temple at Tanis. The XVth Dynasty is in part
contemporaneous with the XIVth and XVIth Egyptian; in
the latter the provincial governors gradually have their
tenure of power lengthened. The XVIIth is of both
Hyksos and Egyptians, in which the former begin to lose
their power.
Monuments.—Many statues, inscriptions, implements of war,
etc.
1800 A new house from the south gradually regains Egypt
from the Hyksos. Its principal kings are named
Seqenen Ra. Seqenen Ra III marries Aah-hotep, a
princess of pure Egyptian blood. By the time her son by
a former marriage, Aahmes I, comes to the throne, the
Hyksos have been driven and confined to the district
around Avaris, where they prepare to make a final
stand.
1730 Descent of the Hebrews into Egypt.

THE NEW THEBAN KINGDOM

XVIIIth DYNASTY, 1635-1365 b.c.

1635 Aahmes I.—Founds the New Theban Kingdom.

Defeats and drives the Hyksos from Avaris; pursues
them into Asia. Campaign against Nubia, whose people
again need repelling. Rebuilds temples in the principal
cities. Thebes embellished. Marries Nefert-ari.
Monuments.—Coffins and mummies of the king and queen;
statues; jewellery from coffin of Aah-hotep.
1610 Amenhotep I.—Campaign against Cush and Libya.
Historical records on the tomb of Admiral Aahmes.
Monuments.—His coffin and mummy; temple at Thebes;
statues.
1590 Tehutimes I.—Penetrates into Asia as far as the
Euphrates. Campaign in Libya.
Monuments.—Coffin and mummy; obelisks, pylons, and
pillars at Karnak; many statues, etc.; tomb of Admiral
Aahmes.
1565 Tehutimes II.
Monuments.—Coffin and mummy; part of temples of Deir-el-
Bahari and Medinet Habu; statues.
1552 Queen Hatshepsu, a reign of peaceful enterprise.
Mining industries developed, also potteries and glass
works. Sends expedition of discovery to Punt.
Monuments.—The Great Temple of Deir-el-Bahari; statues; a
sculptured account of the voyage to Punt; furniture; a
draughtboard and draughtmen, etc.
1530 Tehutimes III.—Begins his independent reign. The
Great Conqueror of Egyptian history. Southern Syria had
rebelled some time before and, 1529, he begins
operations at Zaru. Second year of independent reign,
battle of Megiddo in campaign against the Ruthennu. In
the following years campaigns in Syria, fifteen in all;
cities reduced and the Kharu, Zahi, Ruthennu, Kheta
and Naharaina made tributary. Great activity in temple
building. The influence of Syrian culture now begins to
be felt in Egypt. Art and manners lose their distinctive
characteristics, and a decline sets in.
Monuments.—Coffin and mummy; obelisks; part of temple at
Karnak, etc.; numerous statues and relics of all kinds,
and very full annals.
1500 Amenhotep II.—Campaign in Asia to check revolt
among his vassals.
Monuments.—Portrait statues; obelisks and columns at
Karnak.
1470 Tehutimes IV.—Continues work of keeping together
the empire of Tehutimes III. Marries a Mitannian
princess.
Monuments.—Statues, scarabs, fine private tombs.
1455 Amenhotep III.—With the exception of one
campaign in fifth year in Egypt, rests secure in his
supremacy abroad. Trade and art are developed at
home. Close relations between Egypt and Syria. Marries
Thi, perhaps of Syrian origin (mother of Amenhotep IV),
also Gilukhipa (or Kirgipa), daughter of the king of
Mitanni (Naharain). He becomes the ally of the king of
Mitanni. He also seems to have married a daughter of
the king of Kardunyash (Babylon).
Monuments.—Very numerous. The Avenue of Sphinxes
between Karnak and Luxor; temple of Mentu at Karnak;
great temple of Luxor; the famous colossi of the Nile;
tomb of Amenhotep the architect and administrator, etc.
1420 Amenhotep IV (Khun-aten).—Early in this reign the
king and court renounce the national religion, and
substitute a strictly monotheistic worship of Aten, the
sun’s disk,—a conception that tallies marvellously with
modern knowledge of the sun as a source of power and
energy. The whole movement shows an intellectual
stride of tremendous proportions. In the hymns of the
new sun-god we seem to have the first trace of the idea
of the brotherhood of man. War is no longer glorified.
The king changes his name to Khun-aten (“Splendour of
the Sun’s disk”), and builds a new capital.
Monuments.—Palace and tomb at Tel-el-Amarna; temple of
Aten; statues, including one perfect statuette now in the
Louvre; the great hymn to Aten. To this and the former
reign belongs the correspondence in the Babylonian
language and the cuneiform character. These tablets
were discovered at Tel-el-Amarna, whither Amenhotep
IV carried them from Thebes. They deal principally with
the relations of the kings of Egypt with those of
Babylonia and Assyria, concerning the marriages of
Mesopotamian princesses, etc.; troubles and loss of
power in northern Syria and Palestine.
1400 Saa-nekht.
1390 Tut-ankh-Amen.
1380 Ai.
1368 Hor-em-heb.—Suppresses the solar religion;
reconquers Ethiopia.
Monuments.—His private tomb; numerous steles, etc.
The XVIIIth Dynasty is a period in which the progress of the
world pre-eminently advanced.
 XIXth DYNASTY, 1365-1235 b.c.

1365 Ramses I.—The power of the Kheta begins to make

itself felt.
1355 Seti I.—Wars with the Shasu, Kharu, and Kheta.
Capture of Kadesh and defeat of the Kheta. Wars with
the Libyans. Patron of art.
Monuments.—Hall of Columns at Karnak; temple of Osiris at
Abydos; the Memnonum at Gurnah; the Tablet of
Abydos.
1345 Ramses II, the Great.—The Pharaoh of the
Oppression. A noted builder. Fierce war with the Kheta
and their allies breaks out (year V). Battle of Kadesh.
Continual warfare and victories in the land of Canaan.
Treaty of peace with the Kheta. Subjugates small tribes
of Ethiopia and Libya. Semitic influence is felt in the
customs and language.
Monuments.—Northern court of temple of Ptah at Memphis.
New temples at Abydos and Memphis. Temples and
statues at Abu Simbel—on the knee of one of the
statues, some Greek mercenaries of Psamthek I cut an
inscription in archaic Greek. It is the most ancient piece
of non-Semitic alphabetical writing extant. The
Ramesseum; the poem of Pentaur; treaty with the
Kheta, etc.; the Tablet of Saqqarah.
1285 Meneptah.—The Libyans and their allies invade Egypt
and are repulsed. Battle of Proposis (year V). The
Pharaoh of the Exodus (circa 1270). To this king
belonged the papyrus containing the “Tale of the Two
Brothers.”
1250 Seti II.—A troubled reign at Pa-Ramessu, worried by a
claimant to the throne, Amenmes, who reigned as rival
king, probably at Thebes.
Monuments.—Fine sepulchre and a small temple.

XXth DYNASTY, 1235-1075 b.c.

1235 Set-nekht.—Succeeds his father Seti II. Siptah-

Meneptah succeeds his father Amenmes, as rival king.
The kingdom is now practically in a state of anarchy.
The power rests chiefly with the nomarchs, and one of
them, Arisu, a Phœnician, becomes their leader and
seizes the throne. Set-nekht drives him out and restores
the monarchy.
1225 Ramses III (sometimes reckoned as the founder of
the XXth Dynasty).—Succeeds to a united Egypt but a
disorganised empire. The provinces have ceased to pay
tribute. The king begins a reconquest of foreign
territory. Defeats Libyans in the west (year V) and the
great confederation of tribes in the east (year VIII). A
 land and sea war. Great naval battle near Pelusium.
Second campaign against Libyans (year XI). Eastern
provinces and tributary states recovered. The harem
conspiracy. Later years peaceful. Mining and trade
encouraged. The last of the great kings of Egypt.
Monuments.—The Turin and Harris papyri; effigies of
conquered kings; temples, etc.; the account of the
harem conspiracy.
1195-1075 The successors of Ramses III have short reigns.
There were some military expeditions but no great
wars. The kingdom is maintained, but the power of the
high priests comes more and more into prominence,
until in the reign of Ramses IX it begins to exceed that
of the Pharaohs. The structure of the kingdom begins
rapidly to decay. Ramses XIII, last king of dynasty.

XXIst DYNASTY, 1075-945 b.c.

1075 Her-Hor.—High priest of Amen of Thebes, attains to

royal power. The Ramessides are banished.
A new house arises at Tanis. Its chief, Se-Amen, soon
overthrows the dominion of the high priests, and Her-
Hor’s son (Piankhi) and grandson (Painet´em I) have
uncontrolled power as high priests only in the
neighbourhood of Thebes. The land is governed
simultaneously by the Tanites and the high priests. The
Ramessides attempt to regain the throne in the
Thebaid. The Tanites crush this rebellion, and Men-
kheper-Ra, one of the family, is made high priest at
Thebes. Solomon marries the daughter of the Tanite
king, probably Pasebkhanu II. The army has since the
time of Seti I been composed chiefly of Libyan
mercenaries, out of which a separate class has now
been developed. The chief authority gradually passes
from the Tanites and high priests to the commanders of
these mercenaries, and one of them, Shashanq of
Bubastis, by some means gains the crown of Egypt. The
high priests and their adherents retire to Ethiopia and
found a new kingdom whose capital is at Napata.

XXIInd DYNASTY, 945-750 b.c.

945 Shashanq I.—Rules at Bubastis. The high-priesthood

of Amen is given to princes of the reigning family.
Monuments.—The hall of the Bubastites at Karnak;
inscriptions, etc.
925 Shashanq invades Judah, captures and sacks Jerusalem.
920-750 Under Shashanq’s successors, the high places in the
government and army are filled with members of the
royal family, who found princedoms for themselves, and
the Pharaoh becomes a nominal ruler. Egypt is a land of
 petty kings, into which condition of affairs the kings of
Ethiopia (Napata) now intrude.

XXIIIrd AND XXIVth DYNASTIES, 750-728 b.c.

800 In the reign of Shashanq III, Thebes falls into the

hands of the Ethiopians. Their conquests gradually
extend to Hermopolis under their king, Piankhi. At the
same time Tefnekht, Prince of Saïs, subjects the western
Delta and Memphis, comes in contact with Piankhi, but
ends by giving the Ethiopian his allegiance. Piankhi’s
power over Egypt not complete, for the XXIIIrd Dynasty
of three kings (Uasarken III among them) seems to
have ruled in the Delta, probably at Bubastis, and is
succeeded by the XXIVth Dynasty, composed of
Tefnekht’s son, Bakenranf, who is conquered by
Piankhi’s grandson, Shabak.
Monuments.—The memorial stele of Piankhi, with account of
his reign.

XXVth DYNASTY, 728-655 b.c.

728 Shabak.—Ethiopian rule over Egypt complete. He puts

his sister Ameniritis and her husband to rule over Egypt.
A uniform and strict dominion is not practised; the local
princes still retain their power. Shabak advises Hoshea
of Israel to withhold tribute from Shalmaneser IV. First
connection of Egypt with the Sargonides.
717 Shabatak.
704 Tirhaqa.—Joins Syrian coalition against the Assyrians.
701 The Assyrian king, Sennacherib, invades Palestine.
Tirhaqa hastens to Hezekiah’s assistance. Sennacherib
compelled by pestilence to retire. 673, The Assyrian
monarch, Esarhaddon, marches as far as the Egyptian
frontier, but withdraws. 670, Esarhaddon appears again,
and captures and destroys Memphis. Tirhaqa flees to
Nubia. The whole country surrenders to Esarhaddon,
who reorganises the government with a native prince
over each nome. Neku of Saïs is the chief one. 668,
Esarhaddon abdicates. Tirhaqa attempts to win back the
country; retakes Memphis. 667, Asshurbanapal sends an
army and defeats Egyptians. Conspiracy of several
Egyptian princes to restore Tirhaqa. They are taken and
punished. 664, Tirhaqa dies; Tanut-Amen, his stepson
(son of Shabak), succeeds. Is beaten by Assyrians at
Kipkip. Thebes is sacked. End of Ethiopian rule.
664-655 The country is ruled by petty princes. In the Delta
there are twelve of these who form the Dodecarchy.
Psamthek of Saïs becomes the leader. He throws off the
Assyrian yoke with the help of Carian and Ionian
mercenaries, and declares himself Pharaoh.
 XXVIth DYNASTY, 655-527 b.c.

655 (Sometimes dated from 666-4)—Psamthek I makes his

rule legitimate by marrying an Ethiopian princess,
Shepenapet. Invasion of Syria. Capture of Ashdod after
a long siege. Commercial treaties with the Greeks. Two
hundred thousand of his Egyptian and Libyan soldiers
desert to Ethiopia through jealousy of the mercenaries.
He restores Thebes.
610 Neku II.—Endeavours to reconstruct the canal
between Nile and Red Sea, attempted by Seti I. and
Ramses II. By his orders Phœnician navigators
circumnavigate Africa. Attempts to recover Egypt’s rule
in the east, and marches into Syria. 608, Encounters
Josiah at Megiddo. The king of Israel is slain in the
battle. Neku marches toward the Euphrates. 605, Defeat
of Neku by Nebuchadrezzar at Carchemish. End of
Egyptian rule in Egypt.
594 Psamthek II.—Makes an expedition against the king of
Ethiopia.
589 Uah-ab-Ra.—Allies himself with Zedekiah and king of
Phœnicia against Nebuchadrezzar, who afterward
invades Egypt. The coalition is unsuccessful, but his
fleet helps Tyre to hold out for thirteen years. Goes to
war with the Greeks of Cyrene, and is defeated. His
troops fear he will destroy and replace them by
mercenaries; they revolt and choose Aahmes, an officer,
to be king.
570 Aahmes II.—Defeats Uah-ab-Ra and strangles him;
marries the daughter of Psamthek II, to legitimise his
pretensions. He encourages commercial relations with
Greeks. Allies himself with Crœsus against Cyrus of
Persia. Cambyses attacks Egypt on death of Cyrus.
526 Psamthek III.—In his second year he was defeated by
Cambyses at Pelusium and Memphis. Egypt a Persian
province, 525-405 b.c.

XXVIIth DYNASTY, 525-405 b.c.

525 The Persian Cambyses tolerates the religion, maintains

temples, and does all he can to conciliate the people.
Leaves Egypt in charge of the first satrap Aryandes.
Cambyses, in his rage, after an unsuccessful expedition
against Napata, orders destruction of temples, etc.
521 Darius I.—Works hard to conciliate the people.
488 Egyptians revolt and expel Persians. Set up a native
ruler, Khabbosh, who holds out for three years.
485 The Persian Xerxes I.—Reconquers Egypt and appoints
Achæmenes, his brother, governor.
464 Artaxerxes I.
 460 Inarus, King of Libya, aids Egyptians to rise against
Persia. Battle of Papramis. Memphis captured, but
Persians regain supremacy.
424 Xerxes II. Darius II. Continued endeavours of Egyptians
to throw off Persian yoke.

XXVIIIth DYNASTY, 405-399 b.c.

405 Amen-Rut.—A native prince in revolt against Persia, on

death of Darius II becomes practically independent. At
his death the government passes to the prince of
Mendes.

XXIXth DYNASTY, 399-378 b.c.

399 Nia-faa-urut I. 393 Haker. 380 Psa-mut.—Ally

themselves with enemies of Persia.
379 Nia-faa-urut II.

XXXth DYNASTY, 378-340 b.c.

378 Nectanebo I.—Defeats Persians and Greeks at

Mendes. This victory secures peace for some years.
Revival of art.
364 Tachus.—Wars with Persia.
361 Nectanebo II.—The Persians again invade Egypt, at
first unsuccessfully.

XXXIst DYNASTY, 340-332 b.c.

340 Ochus (Artaxerxes III).—Defeats Nectanebo at

Pelusium. Nectanebo flees to Napata. Ochus proves a
cruel governor.
332 Alexander the Great appears at Pelusium. The Persians
surrender without a struggle. Beginning of Greek
dominion.

FOOTNOTES

[1] [For a full discussion of Egyptian chronology, see Appendix B.]

 CHAPTER I. THE EGYPTIAN RACE AND ITS ORIGIN
Egypt is a long Contree; but it is streyt, that is to seye narrow; for thei may not enlargen it toward the
Desert, for defaute of Watre. And the Contree is sett along upon the Ryvere of Nyle; be als much as that
Ryvere may serve be Flodes or otherwise that whanne it flowethe it may spreden abrood thorghe the Contree;
so is the Contree large of Lengthe. For there it reyneth not but litylle in the Contree; and for that Cause, they
have no Watre, but zif it be of that Flood of that Ryvere. And for als moche as it ne reyeneth not in that
Contree, but the Eyr is alwey pure and clear, therefor in that Contree ben the gode Astronomyeres; for thei
fynde there no Cloudes to letten hem.—The voyage and travile of Sir John Maundeville, Kt.

Two theories as to the origin of the Egyptians have been prominent, the one supposing that they
came originally from Asia, the other that their racial cradle lay in the upper regions of the Nile,
particularly in Ethiopia. Even to-day there is no agreement among Egyptologists as to which of these
theories is correct. Among the earlier students of the subject, Heeren was prominent in pointing out an
alleged analogy between the form of skull of the Egyptian and that of the Indian races. He believed in
the Indian origin of the Egyptians.
One of the most recent authorities, Professor Flinders Petrie, inclines to the opinion that the Egyptians
were of common origin with the Phœnicians, and that they came into the Nile region from the land of
Punt, across the Red Sea. Professor Maspero, on the other hand, inclines to the belief in the African
origin of the race; and the latest important anthropological theory, as propounded by Professor Sergi,
contends for the Ethiopic origin of the entire Mediterranean race, of which the Egyptians are a part.
According to this theory, a race whose primitive seat of residence was in the upper regions of the Nile
spread gradually to the north, finally invading Asia by way of the Isthmus of Suez, and crossing to the
peninsulas of southern Europe by way of Crete and Cyprus and Sicily, and perhaps also, after a long
journey to the west along the Mediterranean coast of Africa, by way of the Straits of Gibraltar.
The true scientific status of the matter amounts merely to a confession of almost entire ignorance.
The theory of Sergi, just referred to, finds a certain support in the data of cranial measurements, but it
would be going much beyond warrantable conclusions to affirm anything like certainty for the inferences
drawn from all the observations as yet available. The historian is obliged, therefore, to fall back upon
the simple fact that for a good many thousands of years before the Christian era, a race of people of
unknown origin inhabited the Nile Valley, and had attained a very high state of civilisation. Whatever the
origin of this people, and however diversified the racial elements of which it was composed, the climatic
conditions of Egypt had long since imposed upon the entire population an influence that welded all the
diverse elements into a single racial mould, so that, as Professor Maspero points out, at the very dawn
of Egyptian history the inhabitants of the entire land of Egypt constituted a single race, speaking one
language and showing very little diversity of culture.
 Mummy of the Pre-dynastic Period discovered recently in Egypt

(Now in the British Museum)

It is one of the standing surprises for the student of antiquity that the most massive structures ever
built by man should be found in Egypt, dating from a period so remote as to be almost prehistoric. One
finds it hard to avoid the feeling that there was a race sprung suddenly to a very high plane of
civilisation, as if by a sheer leap from barbarism; but, of course, no modern student of the subject
considers the matter in this light. It is uniformly accepted that a vast period of time lies back of the
Pyramids, in which the Egyptians were slowly working their way upward. Professor Maspero estimates
that for at least eight or ten thousand years the people had inhabited this land, all along developing
their peculiar civilisation. Of course such an estimate makes no claim to historical accuracy; it is only a
general conclusion based upon what seems a reasonable rate of progress.
The recent explorations in Egypt have endeavoured to penetrate the mysteries of what has hitherto
been the prehistoric period, and these efforts have met with a certain measure of success. In the
Fayum, Professor Petrie has made excavations that revealed the remains of a much earlier period than
that of the first dynasties hitherto recognised. Among other interesting relics, sarcophagi were found
containing mummified bodies in a marvellous state of preservation. One of these now exhibited at the
British Museum in London shows the body of a man of full proportions lying on his side with knees
folded up against his body. Unlike the mummies of the later Egyptian period, this ancient effigy has no
wrappings of any kind, but so remarkable are the results of the processes of embalming to which it has
been subjected, that the form of the various members, and the features even, have been preserved
with marvellously little shrinkage or distortion. The skin is indeed dry and dark, yet its resemblance to
the skin of a living person of a dark-hued race is so striking that one can hardly realise, in looking at it,
that the corpse before him is the body of a person who lived perhaps eight or ten thousand years ago.
As to other remains found by the later explorations, among the most interesting and suggestive are
flint implements chipped in the manner characteristic of the Palæolithic or rough stone age. We are
guarded, however, against drawing too sweeping inferences from these antiquities by Professor Petrie’s
assurance that the Egyptians continued to use such chipped flint implements throughout the period
from the IVth to the Xth Dynasty. It has been doubted whether any of these stone implements can be
regarded as of strictly prehistoric origin, or whether, indeed, any of the antiquities discovered in Egypt
evidence an uncivilised stage of racial history. The latest opinion, however, is that the makers of the
pottery and flint implements were the aborigines of the country, who were displaced by the invasion of
the Egyptians of history.
The most important excavations of the last eight or ten years, carried on by Amélineau, Petrie, and
De Morgan have had for their object the collection of remains of this pre-dynastic era.
We are not likely to hear more of the contention that the archaic objects found at Naqada and other
places were the work of a “New Race” of invaders that had intruded somewhere in those dark ages
between the VIth and XIth Dynasties, for this long and bitter controversy is now replaced by a state of
complete agreement among the authorities that the people who could lay claim to the pottery and flint
objects were the aborigines, living in Egypt when the Egyptians of history invaded the country.
 In their possession of the country these aborigines were ousted by the race which gradually loomed
upon the historic horizon and to whom it has long been the custom to assign Menes as the first king,
treating the preceding periods as the time of the gods and demigods, to whose rule tradition assigns an
epoch which varies from 1000 to nearly 40,000 years. But the indications are that within a few years
there will be much light thrown on the period preceding King Menes. Just why this king should have
been placed at the head of the Ist Dynasty now seems quite clear. He was the first “Lord of the Two
Lands”—the united Upper and Lower Egypt.
It must be recognised by any one who would gain a clear idea of national existence, that the
character of a race is enormously influenced by the physical and climatic features of its environment.
There have been differences of opinion among students of the subject as to the amount of change that
may be effected by altered surroundings. But whoever considers the matter in the light of modern
ideas, can hardly be much in doubt as to the answer to any question thus raised.
If it be admitted that all the races of mankind sprang originally from a single source,—an hypothesis
upon which students of the most diverse habits of thought are agreed,—then in the last analysis it
would appear that we must look to such environing conditions as soil and climate for the causes of all
the differences that are observed among the different races of the earth to-day. The man inhabiting
equatorial regions has a dark skin and certain well-marked traits of character, simply because his
ancestors for almost endless generations have been subjected to the influences of a tropical climate;
and the light-skinned inhabitant of northern Europe owes his antagonistic characteristics to the widely
different climatic conditions of high latitudes. And what is true of these extreme instances, is no less
true of all intermediate races.
In a word, then, the Egyptian would not have been the individual that we know, had he not lived in
the valley of the Nile. The Mesopotamian required the environment of the Tigris and Euphrates to
develop his typical characteristics, and similarly with the Greek and Roman, and with the members of
every other race.
But, in accepting this view, one must not be blinded to the fact that the changes wrought by
environment in the character of a race, are of necessity extremely slow. The peculiar traits that give
racial distinction to any company of people have not been attained except through many generations of
slow alteration; and such is the conservative power of heredity that the characteristics thus slowly
stamped upon a race are well-nigh indelible. How pertinacious is their hold is best illustrated in the case
of the modern Jews, who retain their racial identity though scattered in all regions of the globe. With
this illustration in mind, it cannot be matter for surprise that any race that remains in the same
environment, and as a rule does not mingle with other races, shall have retained the same essential
characteristics throughout the historic period. That such is really the historic fact regarding any
particular race of antiquity, might not at first sight be obvious. It might seem, for example, that the
modern Egyptian, who plays so insignificant a part in the world-history of the nineteenth century, must
be a very different person indeed from his ancient progenitor, who maintained for many centuries the
dominant civilisation of the world.
But it must not be forgotten that national standards are relative; in other words, that the status of a
people depends, not alone upon the plane of civilisation of that people itself, but quite as much upon
the relative plane of civilisation of its neighbours. When the Egyptians sank from power, it was not so
much that they lost their inherent capacity for progress, as that other nations outstripped them in the
race, and came presently to dominate and subjugate them, and thus to stamp out their ambition. In
support of this view, note the fact that the Egyptians again and again, at intervals of many centuries,
were able to rouse themselves from a lethargy imposed by their conquerors, and to regain for a time
their old position of supremacy. But the best tangible illustration of the fixity of the character of a race is
furnished by the modern historians, who have at the same time most profoundly studied the ancient
conditions as recorded on the monuments, and, while doing so, have been brought in contact with the
present inhabitants of the Nile Valley.
No other scholars of the present generation have made more profound investigations than Professor
Petrie and Professor Erman, both of whom have been led to comment on the extraordinary similarity of
manner and custom and inherent characteristics between the ancient and the modern Egyptians. Here
is Professor Erman’sg verdict:
“The people who inhabited ancient Egypt still survive in their descendants, the modern Egyptians.
The vicissitudes of history have changed both language and religion, but invasions and conquests have
not been able to alter the features of this ancient people. The hundreds and thousands of Greeks and
Arabs who have settled in the country seem to have been absorbed into it; they have modified the race
in the great towns, where their numbers were considerable, but in the open country they scarcely
produced any effect. The modern fellah resembles his forefather of four thousand years ago, except
that he speaks Arabic, and has become a Mohammedan. In a modern Egyptian village, figures meet one
that might have walked out of the pictures in an ancient Egyptian tomb. We must not deny that this
resemblance is partly due to another reason besides the continuance of the old race. Each country and
condition of life stamps the inhabitants with certain characteristics. The nomad of the desert has the
same features, whether he wanders through the Sahara or the interior of Arabia; and the Copt, who has
maintained his religion through centuries of oppression, might be mistaken at first sight for a Polish Jew,
who has suffered in the same way. The Egyptian soil, therefore, with its ever constant conditions of life,
has always stamped the population of the Nile Valley with the same seal.
“As a nation the Egyptians appear to have been intelligent, practical, and very energetic, but lacking
poetical imagination; this is exactly what we should expect from peasants living in this country of
toilsome agriculture. ‘In his youth the Egyptian peasant is wonderfully docile, sensible, and active; in his
riper years, owing to want and care, and the continual work of drawing water, he loses the cheerfulness
and elasticity of mind which made him appear so amiable and promising.’ This picture of a race, cheerful
by nature, but losing the happy temperament and becoming selfish and hardened, represents also the
ancient people.”
But, however freely it may be admitted that soil and climate put their seal upon a race, opinions will
always differ as to just how the racial characteristics are to be interpreted. In the case of all Oriental
nations the European mind has found such interpretation peculiarly difficult. The Egyptians are no
exception to this rule, as we shall see.a

THE COUNTRY AND ITS INHABITANTS

The whole of North Africa is covered by a great desert, bordered only on the northwest by a
considerable arable district, which at present forms the states of Morocco, Algiers, and Tunis. Except for
this, if we set aside a single strip of coast land in the country between the two Syrtes (Tripolis, Leptis)
and in Cyrenaica (Bengari), this whole territory is totally destitute of all higher civilisation. It forms the
natural frontier of the Mediterranean world, beyond which not even ancient civilisation ever penetrated.
The interior of Africa was practically unknown to the Greek and Roman world.
The formidable desert land, embracing more than three million square miles, contains a series of
depressed levels in which springs are harboured, and vegetation, especially the date-palm, thrives.
These are the oases. Here, and here only, are permanent human settlements possible. At the same time
the oases form stations in the wearisome and difficult way through the desert, where the trader who
wants to acquire goods in the countries on the other side is exposed not only to the dangers that
threaten him from want of water, loss of his way, and sand-storms, but also to the attacks of vagrant
robber hordes that traverse the desert in nomadic confusion.
East of the great desert, at a distance of a few days’ journey from the Arabian Gulf, lies a straggling
fruitful valley, which in some sense may be regarded as an oasis of colossal dimensions. This is Egypt,
the valley of the Lower Nile. On both sides it is bounded by desert land. On the west rises the plateau
of the Libyan Desert, flat, absolutely barren, covered with impenetrable sand-banks. On the east a rocky
highland of solid quartz and chalk rises in a gradual slope, at the back of which the crystalline masses of
the so-called Arabian Mountains ascend to a height of about six thousand feet. In geological structure
the two territorial districts are entirely different, but, although it is true that nomadic hordes can, at a
pinch, keep body and soul together in the eastern desert, and that they are not entirely cut off from
vegetation, from springs and cisterns in which the rainwater is gathered up from storm and tempest,
civilisation is as much sealed to them as it is to the Libyan waste, through which it is impossible to
penetrate, and which is habitable only in the oases.
Between the two deserts, occupying a breadth of from fifteen to thirty-three miles, lies the depression
forming the valley of Egypt. It forms the bed which the river has dug for itself in the soft chalky soil with
untiring activity. Formerly, thousands of years ago,—thousands indeterminate,—it poured through the
country in riotous cascades, the traces of which are still clearly recognisable in many spots. Gradually
the river cleaned out the whole bed and established a regular surface level. When the historical period
begins, the creative career of the river has already long been completed; from this time forward, the
Nile flows in manifold curves and with numerous tributaries through the wrinkled valley, which it floods
to a considerable degree only in midsummer, when the Ethiopian snow melts and seeks an outlet. The
fertile land extends precisely as far as the waters of the Nile penetrate, or are guided by the hand of
man in the flood season; a sharp line of demarcation separates the black fertile land formed of the
muddy deposit left by the river, from the gray-yellow of the bordering desert. The breadth of the fertile
territory is variable; on an average it covers eight, rarely more than ten, miles. Only at the mouth of the
Nile it expands to the wide marsh lands of the Delta, intersected by numerous swamps and lakes.
Also on the south the border-land of Egypt has a sharp natural line of
demarcation. A little above the 24th degree of latitude, at Gebel Silsilis,
the sandstone plateau joins right on the river, higher up covering the
whole of Nubia. The narrow neck of river at Gebel Silsilis is the southern
boundary of fertile Egypt. A significant saga rising from the Arabian
name of the mountain range (Silsilis means “the chain”) tells how once
upon a time the stream was cut off by a chain that connected the
opposite mountains. About eight miles higher up, at Assuan (Syene) a
mountain range of granite and syenite opposes the course of the river
like a cross-rail. True, the river has broken through the hard stone, but it
has not had the power to rub it away, as it has done with the chalk-stone
of Egypt; in numerous rapids it forces a passage between neighbouring
rocks and innumerable islands raised from its bed. Without doubt,
however, the torrent has continued to make its bed deeper here also. We
know from old Egyptian accounts of the Nile levels that about four
thousand years ago, at the time of the XIIth Dynasty, the Nile at the
fortresses of Semneh and Kumneh, above the second cataract, must
have been at least eight metres higher than it is at the present day. This
can be explained only by supposing that, since then, the river must have
burrowed an equivalent depth in the rocks of the cataract district.
This “First Cataract,” which makes real navigation very nearly an
impossibility,—a vessel can be steered through the rapids only with
Statue of the Goddess Sekhet
considerable difficulty and danger,—has always formed the southern
(Now in the British Museum) boundary of Egypt. Above it, the Nile flows in a great curve through the
Nubian sandstone plateau. At numerous places its way is blocked by
hard stone material, through which it digs a bed in cataracts. The river
valley has throughout no more than a breadth of from five to nine miles. The fertile land, which at the
time of the old empire was pretty thickly wooded, confines itself, where it does not cease altogether, to
a narrow seam on the banks, so that the inhabitants, in order to leave as little as possible of it
unutilised, formed their villages on the barren, unfruitful heights above it. The whole stretch of 1000
miles from Khartum to the first cataract contains at the present day only 1125 square miles of laid-out
land. South of the Tropic only, the country on the Red Sea is gradually becoming capable of fertilisation;
for the most part, here it bears the character of the Steppes. Also in the Nile, therefore, Egypt is almost
totally shut off from Africa. The campaign of the English against the Mahdi has again given us a
vigorous picture of how wearisome and difficult is the connection here; of the dangers that a tropical
sun, a deficiency of habitations, and the difficulties of communication offer to a small army that tries to
advance here.
Egypt is the narrowest country in the world; embracing an
expanse of 570 miles in length, it does not contain more than
12,000 square miles of fertile land, that is to say, it is not larger
than the kingdom of Belgium. It is necessary to keep this fact
clearly in view, especially as the maps accessible may only too
easily convey quite a false impression, because they include the
desert land within the boundary line of Egypt, and as a rule do
not distinguish it by any sign from the fertile land. The ancient
indigenous conception is in complete accordance with the
geographical character of the land. Egypt, or Kamit, as the
country is termed in the indigenous language (the name
certainly signifies “the dark country”), is only the fertile valley of
the Nile. Here only do the Egyptians dwell. The oases in the
west and the “red country” (Tasherit) in the east, i.e. the naked,
reddish, glimmering plateaus of the Arabian Desert, are
reckoned as foreign with consistent regularity, and they are not
inhabited by Egyptians. The true state of affairs is quite
accurately portrayed in the oracle which decreed, “Egypt is all
the country watered by the Nile, and Egyptians are all those
who dwell below the town Elephantine and drink Nile water.”
Herodotus defines Egypt accurately as a “bequest of the
river”; to the river alone it owes its fertility and its well-being.
Statue of Meneptah II, XIXth Dynasty
But for the flowing river, the sand of the Libyan Desert would
cover that whole wrinkled valley, which, with the aid of the river, (Now in the British Museum)
has become one of the most fertile and most thickly populated
countries on the earth.
At the time in which our historical information begins, we find the Lower Nile Valley inhabited by a
race which, after the precedent of the Greeks, we call Egyptians. Whence the word comes, we know
not; we can only say that Aigyptos in the first instance denotes the river—almost without exception in
the Odyssey it is thus. The word was then transferred to the country and its inhabitants, and the river
received the name of Neilos (Nile), the origin of which is equally obscure. An indigenous name of the
population did not exist; the Egyptians denoted themselves, in distinction from foreigners, simply as
“men” (rometu). Their country, as we have already mentioned, they called Kamit, “Black Country”; the
river was named Ha-pi. Semitic people called Egypt, we know not why, Mior or Musr (Hebrew Mizraim,
the termination being a very common one with the names of localities). In its Arabian form, Masr, this
word, at the present day, has become the indigenous name of the country and of its capital, which we
call Cairo. From the name Egyptians, on the contrary, was developed the modern denotation of the
Christian successors of the old indigenous population, the Copts.
Controversy has been abundant and vigorous with regard to the ethnographical place of the
Egyptians. While philologists and historians assume a relation with the neighbouring Asiatic races,
separating the Egyptians by a sharp line of distinction from the negro race, ethnologists and biologists,
Robert Hartmann pre-eminent amongst them, have defined them as genuine children of Africa who
stood in indisputable physical relation with the races of the interior of the continent. And certainly in the
type of the modern Egyptian there are points of contact with the typical negro, and we shall not here
dispute the validity of the possible contention that a gradual transition from the Egyptians to the
negroes of the Sudan can be demonstrated, and that in the Nile Valley we never are confronted with an
acute ethnological contrast.
We should note, however, that an acute contradiction in races is nowhere on earth perceptible.
Everywhere may be found members to bridge over the gap, and the classification which we so much
need does not ever start with the intermediate stages, but with the extremes in which the racial type
finds its purest illustration.
Moreover, the type of the modern Egyptian cannot straightway determine the question as to the
origin of the ancient Egyptian population, even if we do not take into account the difficult problem of
how far climate and soil exercise a moderating influence upon a race. The inhabitants of the Lower Nile
Valley at the time of the New Kingdom, and from that time forward in the whole course of history, have
mingled so extensively with pure African blood, that it would have been a miracle if no assimilation had
taken place. It is an undoubted fact that the Turks belong to the peoples resembling the Mongolians;
but who will put the modern Osman in the same line with the Chinaman, or fail to recognise the
assimilation to the Armenian, Persian, Semitic, Greek type? The same is true, for example, of the
Magyars. A strictly analogous state of things is found in Egypt. It has been proved that, in the skull-
formation of the modern Egyptian, the influence of the African element is more clearly discernible than
in the days of the ancients. Moreover, a careful comparison leads to the conclusion that in ancient, as in
modern Egypt, there are two coexistent types: one resembling the Nubian more closely, who is naturally
more strongly represented in Upper Egypt than in Memphis and Cairo; and one sharply distinguished
from him whom we may define as the pure Egyptian. Midway between these two stands a hybrid form,
represented in numerous examples and sufficiently accounted for by the intermixture of the two races.
While the Nubian type is closer akin to the pure negro type and is indigenous in Africa, we must
regard the purely Egyptian type as foreign to this continent; this directs us toward the assumption that
the most ancient home of the Egyptian is to be sought in Asia. The Egyptians have depicted themselves,
times out of number, on monuments, and enable us clearly enough to recognise their type.
For the most part, they are powerful, close-knit figures, frequently with vigorous features. Not
infrequently, as Erman has sagaciously suggested, the heads have a “clever, witty expression just like
what we are accustomed to meet with in cunning old peasants.” We have a recurrence of the same trait
in several early Roman portraits. Side by side with this we have finely cut features: for instance, we are
reminded of the almost effeminate expression in the head of Ramses II. The Egyptian type is altogether
different from the negro type; the structure of the nose, for instance, is delicate for the most part, and
there is no trace of prognathismus, or the protrusion of the lower part of the face.
On the monuments the colour of the skin in male Egyptians, who in ancient days went totally naked
but for a loin cloth, is a red-brown. On the other hand, the women, who were clad in a long robe and
were not equally exposed to the effects of air and sun, are painted in a lighter brown or yellow. In quite
similar fashion the Greeks of old represented men on their vases as red and women as white. We
should not forget that the art of depicting the finer shades of colours in paint had not yet been learnt.
Just as the Egyptians are distinguished from the population of the interior of Africa, so they have their
nearest kinsmen in the inhabitants of the northern zone of the continent. West of them, on the coast
lands on the Mediterranean as well as in the oases of the desert, dwell races which are comprehended
by Egyptians under the term Thuhen. Following the precedent of the Greeks, we have transferred to all
of them the name of the Libyans, that race which was settled in the territory of Cyrene, where the
Greeks first learned of their existence. In Egyptian memorials we find them again under the name of
Rebu (we should observe here, once for all, that neither Egyptian speech nor Egyptian writing has an L,
and so in foreign words every R may be read as an L). The name Rebu, as the Greek form of the name
tells us, was pronounced Lebu [Libu]. To the east of these Libyans proper, in the desert plateau of the
country of Marmarica, dwell the Tuhennu, who spread as far as the borders of Egypt, and even also
settled in the western portion of the Delta. Further westward, presumably in the neighbourhood of the
Syrtes, we find the Mashauasha. The Greeks, especially Herodotus, have preserved for us a great
number of other names. All these tribes, to which the dwellers in the oases also belong, are most
closely related to one another, and form, together with the inhabitants of western North Africa, the
Numidians and the Moors, a great group of nations, which we denote by the term Libyan or Moorish, or
in modern terminology the group of Berber nations. The Libyans are light in colour; on the Egyptian
monuments they are represented by a white-gray skin tint.