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Please do not assume that a book's appearance in 'The Builder' library means it can be used in any manner anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe. The Webmaster V \ •^^^M^-'-\ ^-^^ • • • •• , • • • •,• • ••••• • '^^ C^'ur SHORT HISTORY OF THE EGYPTIAN PEOPLE WITH CHAPTERS ON THEIR RELIGION DAILY LIFE, Etc. BY E. A. WALLIS BUDGE, M.A., Litt.D. Sometime Scholar of Christ's College, Cambridge, and Tyrwhitt Hebrew Scholar ; Keeper of the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum "mi 1914 LONDON J. M. DENT e? SONS LIMITED Aldine House, Bedford Street, W.C. New York : E. P. DUTTON Sf CO. T)T?3 &^5 PREFACE This little book, like its fellow on Egyptian Literature, has been written by request, and with the view of providing beginners with a handy introduction to the study of Egyptian History. The first six chapters in it are devoted to a de- scription of the country of Egypt and the Nile, and the ancient Egyptians, and the principal facts of their history, which covers a period of more than four thousand years. The next three chapters describe briefly the main outlines of the Religion and Daily Life of this wonderful people, and of their worship of the dead. Without some idea of the Religion of the Egyptians, and of the very large part which the worship of the dead occupied in their daily life, it is impossible to understand their History. Our knowledge of it is derived almost entirely from the tombs, temples, and other funerary monuments which the Egyptians built in connection with the worship of their gods and their deified dead. The Eg5rptians never wrote history in the modern sense of the word. The reason why so few dates are given in the earlier part of the book will be apparent when the remarks on Egyptian chronology in Chapter X. have been read. The limit laid down for this book precluded all possibility of adding references or long footnotes and ex- planations, but the curious or vmsatisfied reader can verify the facts given herein by consulting the authorities whose books are enumerated in the List of Egyptological Works given on pp. 246-49. E. A. WALLIS BUDGE. British Museum, May 9, 1914. 330310 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE Preface v I. The Country of Egypt and the Nile . i II. The Ancient Egyptians 9 Old Stone Age. New Stone Age ... 9 III. The Beginnings of Egyptian History . 20 Dynastic History 26 The Archaic Period 30 First Dynasty 31 Second and Third Dynasties .... 34 IV. The Ancient Empire : The Fourth Dynasty 38 The Fifth Dynasty 43 The Sixth Dynasty 46 The Seventh and Eighth Dynasties ... 49 The Ninth and Tenth Dynasties . .50 The Eleventh Dynasty 50 V. The Middle Empire : The Twelfth Dynasty 53 The Thirteenth Dynasty 63 The Fourteenth Dynasty 65 The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Dynasties—the Hyksos 66 The Seventeenth Dynasty 71 The Eighteenth Dynasty 72 The Nineteenth Dynasty 98 vii viii A SHORT HISTORY OF EGYPT CHAP. PAGE VI. The New Empire : The Twentieth Dynasty ii6 The Twenty-first Dynasty. Kmgs of Thebes and Tanis 123 The Twenty-second Dynasty . .127 The Twenty-third Dynasty. Piankhi's invasion of Egypt 130 The Twenty-fourth Dynasty . .132 Twenty-fifth Djmasty—The Nubian kings of Egypt 133 The Twenty-sixth Dynasty . .139 The Twenty-seventh Dynasty—Persians . .144 The Twenty-eighth Dynasty . .149 The Twenty-ninth Dynasty . .149 The Thirtieth Dynasty 149 The Macedonians and Ptolemies . .150 The Romans in Egypt . .158 The Arabs in Egypt . i6o The Turks in Egypt 160 VII. Egyptian Magic and Religion . .161 Gods of Egypt 165 Osiris and Isis 171 The Judgment 175 VIII. The Daily Life of the Egyptians . 192 The King 193 The Palace 196 The Aristocracy .197 The Army and Navy 198 The Priesthoods 199 The Temples ....... 200 The Home and Wife and Family . 203 Marriage ........ 204 Education, Schools, Colleges . .208 Dress . 209 Food ......... 212 Amusements 213 The House 214 Furniture 215 Writing 2i6 r CONTENTS ix CHAP. PAGE IX. Embalming. Tombs. Funerary Ceremonies. The Worship of the Dead . .221 X. Egyptian Chronology 242 I List of Egyptological Works 246 List of the Principal Kings of Egypt . .250 Index 257 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fowling Scene ...... Frontispiece PAGE Map of Egypt To face 2 Palette of Narmer, a King of the First Dynasty . 28 Plaque of King Semti 32 Section of the Great Pyramid 39 Visit of a Company of Aamu to Egypt . -57 Thothmes III, King of Egypt . To face 80 AmEN-HETEP IV. DISTRIBUTING GiFTS .... 92 Rameses II., King of Egypt . Tojace loo Defeat of the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh . 103 The Camp of Rameses II at Kadesh .... 104 Rameses II in his Chariot attacking the Hittites . 105 Rameses II receiving Tribute from the Sudan To face 109 Netek-Amen, King of Merge, and Queen Amentarit . 145 RosETTA Stone To face 216 X) 1^^ A SHORT HISTORY OF THE EGYPTIAN PEOPLE CHAPTER I THE COUNTRY OF EGYPT AND THE NILE In primitive times there was situated on the west bank of the Nile, at a spot which is about twenty miles from the site now occupied by Cairo, the capital of modem Egypt, a town " of considerable size, later known as Memphis," in which the god Ptah was worshipped, together with other gods. The temple of Ptah occupied a prominent position in the " " ** " town, and was dedicated to the Ka (i.e. the double " or the vital strength," as some now render the word) of the " " " this was called or god Ptah ; temple Hekaptah House of the Ka of Ptah." As the power of the god was believed to be greater than that of all the other gods in the town, the fame of his temple increased, and little by little the name of the temple began to include not only the temple estates of the god, but also the entire district in their immediate neigh- bourhood. As this town was to all intents and purposes the frontier town on the north of the southern division of the country, its geographical position gave it great importance, and when the foreign traders who did business in the land wanted to refer to the upper country they spoke of Hekaptah, meaning thereby not only the capital, but the country that lay to the south of it. This is easily understood if we remem- ber that the town stood at the northern end of the Valley of tJie Nile, not far from the place where the fiat open land of - . A 2 A SHORT HISTORY OF EGYPT the northern division of the country begins. By degrees the use of the name Hekaptah for the whole country spread far and wide, and the Greeks transformed the name into " Aiguptos," and the Latins into "iEgyptus"; from these " " classical forms our own form Egypt is derived. The commonest name for the whole land of Egypt among the " ancient Egyptians themselves was Kam," a word that ** means black, dark- coloured," in allusion to the dark colour " of its soil in the dark-clodded muddy ; Egypt was, fact, country." This name was known to the Hebrews under the " " form of Kham," or Ham," as it appears in the Bible, where " " we read of the tabernacles of Ham (Psalm Ixxviii. 51) and the "land of Ham" (Psalm cv. 23, 27; cvi. 22), and the Egyptians were the sons of Ham, or the children of Ham. The northern division of Egypt, or what is known to-day as *' *' " the Delta," appears to have been called Mizraim by the Hebrews, but what this name means has not yet been satisfactorily explained.