CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT OF Estate of Charles H. BroA^ Cornell University Library DS 62.M41 1903 v.13 3 1924 028 575 466 .„.,..,. ^2 'm ^ Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028575466 Statue of Rui, High Priest in the Reign of Ramses II Rui is represented as resting his arms upon the head of the goddess Hathor. From Karnak. XlXth Dynasty. British Museum. From the photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co. m m m m 18 History of Egypt Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the light of recent discovert By L. W. KING, M. A., F. S. A., and H. R. HALL, M. A. Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum. CONTAINING OVER TWELVE HUNDRED COLORED PLATES AND ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON THE GROLIER SOCIETY PUBLISHERS ^ fd © ^^ f-| ' /oA," ithv Connoisseur lEliition Limited to Two Hundred Copies for England and America U^o. IT ' G- Copyright, i<)ob, by The Grolier Society PUBLISHERS' NOTE It should be noted that many of the monuments and sites of excavations in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Kurdistan described in this volume have been visited by the authors in coimection with their own work in those countries. The greater number of the photo- graphs here published were taken by the authors them- selves. Their thanks are due to M. Ernest Leroux, of Paris, for his kind permission to reproduce a certaia number of plates from the works of M. de Morgan, illus- trating his recent discoveries in Egypt and Persia, and to Messrs. W- A. Mansell & Co., of London, for kindly allowing them to make use of a number of photographs issued by them. PREFACE The present volume contains an account of the most important additions which have been made to our knowl- edge of the ancient history of Egypt and Western Asia during the few years which have elapsed since the pub- lication of Prof. Maspero's Histoire Ancienne des Peu- ples de V Orient Classique, and includes short descrip- tions of the excavations from which these results have been obtained. It is in no sense a connected and con- tinuous history of these countries, for that has already been written by Prof. Maspero, but is rather intended as an appendix or addendum to his work, briefly re- capitulating and describing the discoveries made since its appearance. On this account we have followed a geographical rather than a chronological system of ar- rangement, but at the same time the attempt has been made to suggest to the mind of the reader the historical sequence of events. At no period have excavations been pursued with more energy and activity, both in Egypt and Western Asia, than at the present time, and every season's work obliges us to modify former theories, and extends our PEEFACE knowledge of periods of history which even ten years ago were unknown to the historian. For instance, a whole chapter has been added to Egyptian history by the discovery of the Neolithic culture of the primitive Egyptians, while the recent excavations at Susa are revealing a hitherto totally unsuspected epoch of proto- Elamite civilization. Further than this, we have dis- covered the relics of the oldest historical kings of Egypt, and we are now enabled to reconstitute from material as yet unpublished the inter-relations of the early dynasties of Babylon. Important discover- ies have also been made with regard to isolated points in the later historical periods. We have therefore at- tempted to include the most important of these in our survey of recent excavations and their results. We would again remind the reader that Prof. Maspero's great work must be consulted for the complete his- tory of the period, the present volume being, not a connected history of Egypt and Western Asia, but a description and discussion of the manner in which re- cent discovery and research have added to and modified our conceptions of ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilization. CONTENTS — » CHAPTER PAGE I. The Discovery of Prehistoric Egypt 1 n. Abydos and the First Three Dynasties .... 55 m. Memphis and the Pyramids 91 rV. Recent Excavations in Western Asia and the Dawn op CHALD.EAN HiSTORY 143 V. Elam and Babylon, the Country of the Sea and the Kassites 221 VI. Early Babylonian Life and Customs 265 VII. Temples and Tombs of Thebes 317 VIII. The Assyrian and Neo - Babylonian Empires in the Light OF Recent Research . . . . . . 388 IX. The Last Days op Ancient Egypt 428 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS statue of Rui, High Priest in the Reign of Ramses II . . Front JJie^ The bed of an ancient watercourse in the Wadiygn, Thebes ... 7 Palaeolithic Implements of the Quaternary Period 8 Palseolithic Implements •--...... 9 Upper desert plateau, where Palseolithic Implements are found . . .12 flint Knife mounted in a gold handle . . . • . . . .15 Buff Ware Vase, predynastic period ........ 17 Camp of the expedition of the University of California at Nag' ed-Dgr, 1901. 27 Portion of the " Stele of Vultures " found at Telloh, representing the burial of the dead after a battle ••....... 38 Obverse of a slate relief representing the King of Upper Egypt in the form of a Bull 50 Reverse of a slate relief .......... 51 Obverse of a slate relief with representations of the Egyptian nomes . 52 Reverse of a slate relief representing animals 53 Professor Petrie's camp at Abydos, 1901 60 The Tomb of King Den at Abydos 65 Examples of conical vase-stoppers taken from Abydos .... 67 The Tomb of King Tjeser at Bgt Khaliaf 82 False Door of the Tomb of Teta, an official of the IVth Dynasty . . 86 The Shunet ez-Zebib : the fortress-town of the Ild Dynasty at Abydos . 89 Statue No. 1 of the Cairo Museum 100 Exterior of the southern Brick Pyramid of Dashiir : Xllth Dynasty . . 109 The Pyramids of Giza during the inundation Ill Gateway at Karnak II7 List of Archaic cuneiform signs . 147 Fragment of a list of Archaic cuneiform signs ...... 150 Obelisk of Manishtusu, King of the City of Kish 155 Babil, the most northern mound which marks the site of the ancient city of Babylon 160 " Stele of Victory," representing Nar^m-Sin conquering his enemies . . 160 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FAGB Roughly he-wn sculpture of a lion standing over a fallen man, found at Babylon 161 General view of the excavations on the Kasr at Babylon .... 163 View within the palace of Nebuchadnezzar 11 165 Excavations in the temple of Ninib at Babylon 166 The principal mound of Birs Nimrud, which marks the site of the ancient city of Borsippa ........... 167 The principal mound at Sherghat, which marks the site of Ashur, the ancient capital of the Assyrians ........ 168 The mound of Kuyunjik, one of the palace mounds of the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh 169 Winged bull in the palace of Sennacherib on Kuyunjik, the principal mound marking the site of Nineveh 170 Clay memorial-tablet of Eannadu, viceroy of Shirpurla .... 173 Marble gate-socket bearing an inscription of Entemena, a powerful Patesi of Shirpurla 175 Stone gate-socket bearing an inscription of Ur-Engur, an early king of the city of Ur 188 Statue of Gudea, viceroy of Shirpurla 191 Tablet inscribed in Sumerian with details of a survey of certain property . 192 Clay tablet, found at Susa, bearing an inscription in the early proto- Elamite character 230 Clay tablet, found at Susa, bearing an inscription in the early proto- Elaraite character 231 Block of limestone, found at Susa, bearing inscriptions of Karibu-sha- Shushinak . . 233 Brick stamped with an inscription of Kudur-mabug 241 Semitic Babylonian contract-tablet, inscribed in the reign of Hammurabi with a deed recording the division of property 245 A Kudurru, or Boundary -stone, inscribed with a text of Nazimaruttash . 256 A Kudurru, or Boundary-stone, inscribed with a text of Melishikhu . . 260 Upper part of the Stele of Hammurabi, King of Babylon . . . .265 Clay contract-tablet and its outer case, First Dynasty .... 280 A track in the desert 282 A camping-ground in the desert, between Birejik and Urfa . . • 283 Approach to the city of Samarra, situated on the left bank of the Tigris . 284 A small caravan in the mountains of Kurdistan 285 The city of Mosul 286 The village of Nebi Yunus 287 Portrait^sculpture of Hammurabi, King of Babylon 289 A modern machine for irrigation on the Euphrates 293 Kaiks, or native boats, on the Euphrates at Birejik 297 The modern bridge of boats across the Tigris opposite Mosul . . . 298 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE A small Kelek, or raft, upon the Tigris at Baghdad 299 Statue of Mera, Chief Steward, IXth Dynasty 320 Wall of Xlth Dynasty : Dgr el-Bahari 324 Wall of XVIIIth Dynasty : Dgr el-Bahari .325 Excavation of the north lower colonnade of the Xlth dynasty temple, Dgr el-Bahari, 1904 326 The granite threshold and sandstone pillars of the Xlth dynasty temple, at DSr el-Bahari 327 Excavation of the tomb of a priestess, on the platform of the Xlth Dynasty temple, Dlr el-Bahari, 1904 328 Cases of antiquities leaving Der el-Bahari for transport to Cairo . . 330 Shipping cases of antiquities on board the Nile steamer at Luxor, for the Egypt Exploration Fund 331 Statue of Queen Teta-shera 339 The two temples of Dgr el-Bahari 344 The upper court and trilithon gate of the XVIIIth Dynasty temple at Dgr el-Bahari 346 The tomb-mountain of Amenhetep III in the western valley, Thebes . 350 The tomb-hill of Shgkh 'Abd el-Kftrna, Thebes 356 Wall painting from a Tomb at Shgkh 'Abd el-Kdrna, Western Thebes . 358 Eresco in the tomb of Senmut, at Thebes 360 The valley of the Tombs of the Queens at Thebes 372 The Nile-Bank at Luxor 374 The Great Temple at Karnak 376 M. Legrain's excavation of the Karnak statues ...... 379 Portrait-group of a great noble and his wife, of the time of the XVIIIth Dynasty ............ 381 A tomb fitted up as an Explorer's Residence ...... 382 Stone Object Bearing a Votive Inscription of Arik-dgn-ilu . . . 396 Entrance into one of the Galleries or Tunnels of the principal mound at Sherghat 397 Stone tablet of Tukulti-Ninib I, King of Assyria 408 The Ziggurat, or Temple Tower, of the Assyrian city of Calah . . . 409 Work on one of the Rock-Inscriptions of Sennacherib, near Bavian in Assyria ............ 413 The Principal Rock Sculptures in the Gorge of the Gomel near Bavian . 414 The rock and citadel of Van 415 Ancient Flight of steps and gallery on the face of the Rock-citadel of Van 417 Part of the ancient fortifications of the city of Van . . . . .419 Within the Shrine of E-makh, Temple of the Goddess Nin-makh . . 425 Trench in the Babylonian Plain, between the mound of the Kasr and Tell Amran ibn-Ali, showing a section ot the paved sacred way . . 426 Distant view of Philse 446 The Great Dam of Aswan, showing water running through the sluices . 447 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The Kiosk at Philse in procesa of underpinning and restoration, January, 1902 -450 The Ancient Quay of Philse, November, 1904 . . • • • ,, co The Rock of Konosso in January, 1902, before the building of the Dam . 452 The Isle of the Konosso, with its inscriptions, November, 1904 . • • * EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA In the Light of Recent Excavation and Research CHAPTER I THE DISCOVERY OF PREHISTORIC EGYPT "nURINGr the last ten years our conception of the beginnings of Egyptian antiquity has profoundly altered. When Prof. Maspero published the first vol- ume of his great Histoire Ancienne des Peuples des r Orient Classique, in 1895, Egyptian history, properly so called, still began with the Pyramid-builders, Sne- feru, Khufu, and Khafra (Cheops and Chephren), and the legendary lists of earlier kings preserved at Abydos and Sakkara were still quoted as the only source of knowledge of the time before the IVth Dynasty. Of a prehistoric Egypt nothing was known, beyond a few flint flakes gathered here and there upon the desert plateaus, which might or might not tell of an age when the ancestors of the P3n['amid-builders knew only the stone tools and weapons of the primeval savage. Now, however, the veil which has hidden the begin- nings of Egyptian civilization from us has been lifted, and we see things, more or less, as they actually were, imobscured by the traditions of a later day. Until the 2 THE DISCOVERT OE PREHISTORIC EGYPT last few years nothing of the real beginnings of history in either Egypt or Mesopotamia had been found; legend supplied the only material for the reconstruction of the earliest history of the oldest civilized nations of the globe. Nor was it seriously supposed that any rel- ics of prehistoric Egypt or Mesopotamia ever would be found. The antiquity of the known history of these countries already appeared so great that nobody took into consideration the possibility of our discovering a prehistoric Egypt or Mesopotamia; the idea was too remote from practical work. And further, civilization in these countries had lasted so long that it seemed more than probable that all traces of their prehistoric age had long since been swept away. Yet the possibihty, which seemed hardly worth a moment's consideration in 1895, is in 1905 an assured reality, at least as far as Egypt is concerned. Prehistoric Babylonia has yet to be discovered. It is true, for example, that at Mukay- yar, the site of ancient Ur of the Chaldees, burials in earthenware coffins, in which the skeletons lie in the doubled-up position characteristic of Neolithic inter- ments, have been found; but there is no doubt whatever that these are burials of a much later date, belonging, quite possibly, to the Parthian period. Nothing that may rightfully be termed prehistoric has yet been fomid in the Euphrates valley, whereas in Egypt pre- historic antiquities are now almost as well known and as well represented in our museums as are the prehis- toric antiquities of Europe and America. With the exception of a few palaeoliths from the sur- PEEHISTOEIC TKACES 3 face of the Syrian desert, near the Euphrates valley, not a single implement of the Age of Stone has yet been found in Southern Mesopotamia, whereas Egypt has yielded to us the most perfect examples of the flint- knapper's art known, flint tools and weapons more beautiful than the finest that Europe and America can show. The reason is not far to seek. Southern Meso- potamia is an alluvial country, and the ancient cities, which doubtless mark the sites of the oldest settlements in the land, are situated in the alluvial marshy plain between the Tigris and the Euphrates ; so that all traces of the Neolithic culture of the country would seem to have disappeared, buried deep beneath city-moimds, clay and marsh. It is the same in the Egyptian Delta, a similar comitry; and here no traces of the prehistoric culture of Egypt have been found. The attempt to find them was made last year at Buto, which is known to be one of the most antique centres of civilization, and prob- ably was one of the earhest settlements in Egypt, but without success. The infiltration of water had made excavation impossible and had no doubt destroyed everything belonging to the most ancient settlement. It is not going too far to predict that exactly the same thing will be found by any explorer who tries to dis- cover a ISTeolithic stratum beneath a city-mound of Baby- lonia. There is little hope that prehistoric Chaldaea will ever be known to us. But in Egypt the conditions are different. The Delta is like Babylonia, it is true; but in the Upper Mle valley the river flows down with but a thin border of alluvial land on either side, through 4 THE DISCOVERY OF PREHISTORIC EGYPT the rocky and hilly desert, the dry Sahara, where rain falls but once in two or three years. Antiquities buried in this soil in the most remote ages are preserved intact as they were first interred, until the modern investi- gator comes along to look for them. And it is on the desert margin of the valley that the remains of pre- historic Egypt have been found. That is the reason for their perfect preservation till our own day, and why we know prehistoric Egypt so weU. The chief work of Egyptian civilization was the proper irrigation of the alluvial soil, the turning of marsh into cultivated fields, and the reclamation of land from the desert for the purposes of agriculture. Owing to the rainless character of the country, the only means of obtaining water for the crops is by irrigation, and where the fertilizing Nile water cannot be taken by means of canals, there cultivation ends and the desert begins. Before Egyptian civilization, properly so called, began, the vaUey was a great marsh through which the Nile found its way north to the sea. The half- savage, stone-using ancestors of the civilized Egyp- tians hunted wild fowl, crocodiles, and hippopotami in the marshy valley; but except in a few isolated settle- ments on convenient mounds here and there (the fore- runners of the later villages), they did not live there. Their settlements were on the dry desert margin, and it was here, upon low tongues of desert hill jutting out into the plain, that they buried their dead. Their simple shallow graves were safe from the flood, and, but for the depredations of jackals and hyenas, here ANCIENT PURIAL -PLACES 6 they have remained intact till our own day, and have yielded up to us the facts from which we have derived our knowledge of prehistoric Egypt, Thus it is that we know so much of the Egyptians of the Stone Age, while of their contemporaries in Mesopotamia we know nothing, nor is anything further likely to be discov- ered. But these desert cemeteries, with their crowds of oval shallow graves, covered by only a few inches of surface soil, in which the Neolithic Egjrptians lie crouched up with their flint implements and polished pottery beside them, are but monuments of the later age of prehistoric Egypt. Long before the Neolithic Egyptian hunted his game in the marshes, and here and there essayed the work of reclamation for the pur- poses of an incipient agriculture, a far older race in- habited the valley of the Nile. The written records of Egyptian civilization go back four thousand years be- fore Christ, or earher, and the Neolithic Age of Egypt must go back to a period several thousand years before that. But we can now go back much further still, to the Palaeolithic Age of Egypt. At a time when Europe was still covered by the ice and snows of the Glacial Period, and man fought as an equal, hardly yet as a superior, with cave-bear and mammoth, the Palaeolithic Egyptians lived on the banks of the NUe. Their habitat was doubtless the desert slopes, often, too, the plateaus themselves; but that they lived entirely upon the plateaus, high up above the Nile marsh, is improbable. There, it is true, we find their flint implements, the 6 THE DISCOVEKY OF PREHISTORIC EGYPT great pear-shaped weapons of the types of Chelles, St. Acheul, and Le Moustier, types well known to all who are acquainted with the flint implements of the "Drift" in Europe. And it is there that the theory, generally accepted hitherto, has placed the habitat of the makers and users of these implements. The idea was that in Palseolithic days, contemporary with the Glacial Age of Northern Europe and America, the climate of Egypt was entirely different from that of later times and of to-day. Instead of dry desert, the mountain plateaus bordering the Nile valley were sup- posed to have been then covered with forest, through which flowed countless streams to feed the river below. It was suggested that remains of these streams were to be seen in the side ravines, or wadis, of the Nile valley, which run up from the low desert on the river level into the hills on either hand. These wadis undoubtedly show extensive traces of strong water action; they curve and twist as the streams found their easiest way to the level through the softer strata, they are heaped up with great water-worn boulders, they are hollowed out where waterfalls once fell. They have the appear- ance of dry watercourses, exactly what any mountain bums would be were the water-supply suddenly cut off for ever, the climate altered from rainy to eternal sun- glare, and every plant and tree blasted, never to grow again. Acting on the supposition that this idea was a correct one, most observers have concluded that the climate of Egypt in remote periods was very differ- ent from the dry, rainless one now obtaining. To TESTIMONY OF THE WATEECOUESES 7 provide the water for tlie wadi streams, heavy rainfall and forests are desiderated. They were easily supplied, on the hypothesis. Forests clothed the mountain pla- teaus, heavy rains fell, and the water rushed down to the NUe, carving out the great watercourses which THE BED OF AN ANCIENT WATERC0DR8E IN THE WADITEN, THEBES. remain to this day, bearing testimony to the truth. And the flints, which the Palaeolithic inhabitants of the plateau-forests made and used, still lie on the now tree- less and sun-baked desert surface. This is certainly a very weak conclusion. In fact, it seriously damages the whole argument, the water- 8 THE DISCOVERY OF PREHISTOEIC EGYPT courses to the contrary notwithstanding. The palse- oliths are there. They can be picked up by any visitor. There they lie, great flints of the Drift types, just like those found in the gravel-beds of England and Belgium, on the desert surface where they were made. Un- doubtedly where they were made, for the places where they lie are the actual ancient flint workshops, where the flints were chipped. Everywhere around are innu- merable flint chips and perfect weapons, burnt black and patinated by ages of sunlight. We are taking one particular spot in the hills of Western Thebes as an example, but there are plenty of others, such as the Wadi esh-Shekh on the right bank of the Nile opposite Maghagha, whence Mr. H. Seton-Karr has brought back specimens of flint tools of all ages from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic periods. The Paleolithic flint workshops on the Theban hills have been visited of late years by Mr. Seton-Karr, by Prof. Schweinfurth, Mr. Allen Sturge, and Dr. Blanck- enhorn, by Mr. Portch, Mr. Ayrton, and Mr. Hall. The weapons illustrated here were found by Messrs. Hall and Ayrton, and are now preserved in the British Mu- seum. Among these flints shown we notice two fine specimens of the pear-shaped type of St. Acheul, with curious adze-shaped implements of primitive type to left and right. Below, to the right, is a very primitive instrument of Chellean type, being merely a sharpened pebble. Above, to left and right, are two specimens of the curious half-moon-shaped instrimients which are characteristic of the Theban flint Palaeolithic Implements of the Quaternary Period. From the desert plateau and slopes west of Thebes. PALAEOLITHIC EELICS field, and are hardly known elsewhere. All have the beautiful brown patina, which only ages of simburn can give. The " poignard " type to the left, at the bottom of the plate, is broken off short. In the smaller illustration we see some remarkable types: two scrapers or knives with strongly marked '' bull) of per- cussion " (the spot where the flint-knapper struck and from which the flakes flew oft'), a very regular coup-de- poing w^hieh looks al- most like a large arrow- head, and on the right a much weathered and patinated scraper which must he of immemorial age. This came from the top plateau, not from the slopes (or subsidiary plateaus at the head of the ivadis), as did the great St. Acheuliau weapons. The circular object is very remarkable: it is the half of the ring of a '' morpholith " (a round flinty accretion often found in the Theban limestone) which has been siolit, and the split (flat) side carefully bevelled. Several of these interesting objects have been found in conjunction with Palfeolithic implements at Thebes. No doubt the flints lie on the actual surface where they were made. PAL.EOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS. From Man, March, 1905. 10 THE DISCOVERY OF PREHISTORIC EGYPT No later water action has swept them away and cov- ered them with gravel, no later hmnan habitation has hidden them with successive deposits of soil, no gradual deposit of dust and rubbish has buried them deep. They lie as they were left in the far-away Palseolithic Age, and they have lain there till taken away by the modem explorer. But this is not the case with all the PalaBolithic flints of Thebes. In the year 1882 Maj.-Gen. Pitt-Rivers discovered Palaeolithic flints in the deposit of diluvial detritus which lies between the cultivation and the moimtains on the west bank of the Nile opposite Luxor. Many of these are of the same type as those found on the surface of the mountain plateau which lies at the head of the great wadi of the Tombs of the Kings, while the diluvial deposit is at its mouth. The stuff of which the detritus is composed evidently came originally from the high plateau, and was washed down, with the flints, in ancient times. This is quite conceivable, but how is it that the flints left behind on the plateau remain on the original an- cient surface? How is it conceivable that if (on the old theory) these plateaus were in Palaeolithic days clothed with forest, the Palaeolithic flints could even in a single instance remain undisturbed from Palaeolithic times to the present day, when the forest in which they were made and the forest soil on which they reposed have entirely disappeared"? If there were woods and forests on the heights, it would seem impossible that we should find, as we do. Palaeolithic implements lying THE DESEET PLATEAUS 11 in situ on the desert surface, around the actual manu- factories where they were made. Yet if the constant rainfall and the vegetation of the Libyan desert area in Palaeolithic days is all a myth (as it most probably is), how came the embedded palseoliths, found by Gren. Pitt-Rivers, in the bed of diluvial detritus which is apparently debris from the plateau brought down by the Palaeolithic wadi streams? Water erosion has certainly formed the Theban wadis. But this water erosion was probably not that which would be the result of perennial streams flowing down from wooded heights, but of torrents like those of to-day, which fill the wadis once in three years or so after heavy rain, but repeated at much closer inter- vals. We may in fact suppose just so much difference in meteorological conditions as would make it possible for sudden rain-storms to occur over the desert at far more frequent intervals than at present. That would account for the detritus bed at the mouth of the wadi, and its embedded flints, and at the same time maintain the general probability of the idea that the desert pla- teaus were desert in Paleolithic days as now, and that early man only knapped his flints up there because he found the flint there. He himself lived on the slopes and nearer the marsh. This new view seems to be much sounder and more probable than the old one, maintained by Flinders Petrie and Blanckenhorn, according to which the high plateau was the home of man in Palaeolithic times, when " the rainfall, as shown by the valley erosion and water- 12 THE DISCOVEEY OF PEEHISTOEIC EGYPT falls, must have caused, an abundant vegetation on the plateau, where man could live and. hunt his game."' Were this so, it is patent that the Palaeolithic flints could not have been found on the desert surface as they are. Mr. H. J. L. Beadnell, of the Geological Survey of UPPER DESERT PLATEAU, WHERE PALAEOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS ARE FOUND. Thebes : 1,400 feet above the Nile. Egypt, to whom we are indebted for the promulgation of the more modern and probable view, says: ''Is it certain that the high plateau was then clothed with forests? What evidence is there to show that it differed in any important respect from its present aspect? And if, as I suggest, desert conditions obtained then as now, 1 Petrie, Nagada and Ballas, p. 49. THE CHALCOLITHIC PERIOD 13 and man merely worked Ms fliats along the edges of the plateaus overlooking the Nile valley, I see no rea- son why flint implements, dating even from PalseoUthic times, should not in favourable cases still be found in the spots where they were left, surrounded by the flakes struck off in manufacture. On the flat plateaus the occasional rains which fall— once in three or four years— can effect but little transport of material, and merely lower the general level by dissolving the under- lying limestone, so that the plateau surface is left with a coating of nodules and blocks of insoluble flint and chert. Flint implements might thus be expected to remain in many localities for indefinite periods, but they would certainly become more or less ' patinated,' pitted on the surface, and rounded at the angles after long exposure to heat, cold, and blown sand." This is exactly the case of the Palaeolithic flint tools from the desert plateau. We do not know whether Palaeolithic man in Egypt was contemporary with the cave-man of Europe. We have no means of gauging the age of the Palaeolithic Egyptian weapons, as we have for the Neolithic period. The historical (dynastic) period of Egyptian annals began with the imification of the kingdom under one head somewhere about 4500 b. c. At that time copper as well as stone weapons were used, so that we may say that at the beginning of the historical age the Egyptians were living in the " Chalcolithic " period. We can trace the use of copper back for a considerable period anterior to the beginning of the 1st Dynasty, 14 THE DISCOVERY OF PEEHISTOEIC EGYPT SO that we shall probably not be far wrong if we do not bring down the close of the purely Neolithic Age in Egypt— the close of the Age of Stone, properly so called —later than + 5000 b. c. How far back in the remote ages the transition period between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic Ages should be placed, it is utterly impossible to say. The use of stone for weapons and implements continued in Egypt as late as the time of the Xllth Dynasty, about 2500 - 2000 b. c. But these XHth Dy- nasty stone implements show by their forms how late they are in the history of the Stone Age, The axe heads, for instance, are in form imitations of the copper and bronze axe heads usual at that period; they are stone imitations of metal, instead of the originals on whose model the metal weapons were formed. The flint implements of the Xllth Dynasty were a curious survival from long past ages. After the time of the Xllth Dynasty stone was no longer used for tools or weapons, except for the sacred rite of making the first incision in the dead bodies before beginning the opera- tions of embalming; for this purpose, as Herodotus tells us, an " Ethiopian stone " was used. This was no doubt a knife of flint or chert, like those of the Neo- lithic ancestors of the Egyptians, and the continued use of a stone knife for this one purpose only is a very interesting instance of a ceremonial survival. We may compare the wigs of British judges. We have no specimen of a flint knife which can defi- nitely be asserted to have belonged to an embalmer, but of the archaistie flint weapons of the Xllth Dynasty Flint Knife. Photograph reproduced from iVl. de Morgan's l^echerches. PREHISTORIC FLINTS 15 we have several specimens. They were found by Prof. Petrie at the place named by him " Kahun," the site of a XHth Dynasty town built near the pyramid of King Usertsen (or Senusret) II at Blahun, at the mouth of the canal leading from the Nile vaUey into the oasis- province of the Fayyiim. These Kahun flints, and others of probably the same period found by Mr. Seton- Karr at the very ancient flint works in the Wadi esh- Shekh, are of very coarse and poor workmanship as compared with the stone-knapping triumphs of the late NeoUthic and early Chalcolithic periods. The delicacy of the art had aU been lost. But the best flint knives of the early period— dating to just a little before the time of the 1st Dynasty, when flint-working had at- tained its apogee, and copper had just begun to be used —are undoubtedly the most remarkable stone weapons ever made in the world. The grace and utility of the form, the delicacy of the fluted chipping on the side, and the minute care with which the tiny serrations of the cutting edge, serrations so small that often they can hardly be seen with the naked eye, are made, can cer- tainly not be parallelled elsewhere. The art of flint- knapping reached its zenith in Ancient Egypt. The specimen illustrated has a handle covered with gold decorated with incised designs representing animals. The prehistoric Egyptians may also fairly be said to have attained greater perfection than other peoples in the Neolithic stage of culture, in other arts besides the making of stone tools and weapons. Their pottery is of remarkable perfection. Now that the sites of the 16 THE DISCOVERY OF PKEHISTOEIC EGYPT Egyptian prehistoric settlements have been so thor- oughly explored by competent archaeologists (and, un- happily, as thoroughly pUlaged by incompetent natives), this prehistoric Egyptian pottery has become extremely well known. In fact, it is so common that good speci- mens may be bought anywhere in Egypt for a few piastres. Most museums possess sets of this pottery, of which great quantities have been brought back from Egypt by Prof. Petrie and other explorers. It is of very great interest, artistically as well as historically. The potter's wheel was not yet invented, and all the vases, even those of the most perfect shape, were built up by hand. The perfection of form attained without the aid of the wheel is truly marvellous. The commonest type of this pottery is a red polished ware vase with black top, due to its having been baked mouth downward in a fire, the ashes of which, according to Prof. Petrie, deoxidized the haematite burnishing, and so turned the red colour to black. " In good examples the haematite has not onlj^ been reduced to black mag- netic oxide, but the black has the highest polish, as seen on fine Greek vases. This is probably due to the forma- tion of carbonyl gas in the smothered fire. This gas acts as a solvent of magnetic oxide, and hence allows it to assume a new surface, like the glassy surface of some marbles subjected to solution in water." This black and red ware appears to be the most ancient prehistoric Egjrptian pottery known. Later in date are a red ware and a black ware with rude geometrical incised designs, imitating basketwork, and with the incised lines filled PREHISTORIC POTTERY 17 in with white. Later again is a buff ware, either plain or decorated with wavy lines, concentric circles, and elaborate drawings of boats sailing on the Nile, os- triches, fish, men and women, and so on. These designs are in deep red. With this elaborate pottery the Neo- lithic ceramic art of Egypt reached its highest point; in the succeeding period (the begin- ning of the historic age) there was a de- cline in workman- ship, exhiliiting clumsy forms and bad colour, and it is not until the time of the TVtli D^masty that good pottery (a fine polished red) is once more f oimd. Meanwhile the in- vention of glazed pot- tery, which was un- Predvnastic period, before 4000 b. o. Photo(::rapli re- |^j^q-\Y;[]^ ^q the lOrehiS- produced tromM.de Morgan's i^ec/ierc/ies.vol.i. toric Egyptians, had been made (before the beginning of the 1st D}Tiasty). The unglazed ware of the first three dynasties was bad, but the new invention of light blue glazed faience (not porcelain properly so called) seems to have made great progress, and we possess fine speci- mens at the beginning of the 1st Djaiasty. The jDre- historic Egyptians were also proficient in other arts. BUFF WARE VASE. 18 THE DISCOVEEY OF PREHISTORIC EGYPT They carved ivory and they worked gold, which is known to have been ahnost the first metal worked by man; certainly in Egypt it was utilized for ornament even before copper was used for work. We may refer to the illustration of a flint knife with gold handle, already given,^ The date of the actual introduction of copper for tools and weapons into Egypt is uncertain, but it seems probable that copper was occasionally used at a very early period. Copper weapons have been found in pre- dynastic graves beside the finest buff pottery with elab- orate red designs, so that we may say that when the fiiat-working and pottery of the Neolithic Egyptians had reached its zenith, the use of copper was already known, and copper weapons were occasionally em- ployed. We can thus speak of the '^ Chalcolithic " period in Egypt as having already begun at that time, no doubt several centuries before the beginning of the historical or dynastic age. Strictly speaking, the Egyp- tians remained in the " Chalcolithic " period till the end of the Xllth Dynasty, but in practice it is best to speak of this period, when the word is used, as ex- tending from the time of the finest flint weapons and pottery of the prehistoric age (when the " Neolithic " period may be said to close) till about the lid or Hid Dynasty. By that time the " Bronze," or, rather, " Copper," Age of Egypt had well begim, and already stone was not in common use. The prehistoric pottery is of the greatest value to ' See illustration. THE SYSTEM OF " SEQUENCE - DATING " 19 the archaeologist, for with its help some idea may be obtained of the succession of periods within the late Neolithic-Chalcolithic Age. The enormous niunber of prehistoric graves which have been examined enables us to make an exhaustive comparison of the different kinds of pottery found in them, so that we can arrange them in order according to pottery they contained. By this means we obtain an idea of the development of different types of pottery, and the sequence of the types. Thus it is that we can say with some degree of confidence that the black and red ware is the most ancient form, and that the buff with red designs is one of the latest forms of prehistoric pottery. Other ob- jects found in the graves can be classified as they occur with different pottery types. With the help of the pottery we can thus gain a more or less reliable conspectus of the development of the late " N'eohthic " culture of Egypt. This system of " sequence-dating " was introduced by Prof. Petrie, and is certainly very useful. It must not, however, be pressed too far or be regarded as an iron-bound system, with which aU subsequent discoveries must be made to fit in by force. It is not to be supposed that all prehistoric pottery developed its series of types in an absolutely orderly manner without deviations or throws- back. The work of man's hands is variable and eccen- tric, and does not develop or evolve in an mideviating course as the work of nature does. It is a mistake, very often made by anthropologists and archaeologists, who forget this elementary fact, to assume " curves of 20 THE DISCOVERY OF PEEHISTOETC EGYPT development," and so forth, or semi-savage culture, on absolutely even and regular lines. Human culture has not developed either evenly or regularly, as a matter of fact. Therefore we cannot always be sure that, because the Egyptian black and red pottery does not occur in graves with buff and red, it is for this reason absolutely earlier in date than the latter. Some of the development-sequences may in reality be contemporary with others instead of earlier, and allowance must al- ways be made for aberrations and reversions to earlier types. This caveat having been entered, however, we may provisionally accept Prof. Petrie's system of sequence- dating as giving the best classification of the prehistoric antiquities according to development. So it may fairly be said that, as far as we know, the black and red pot- tery C' sequence-date 30—") is the most ancient Neo- lithic Egyptian ware known; that the buff and red did not begin to be used till about " sequence-date 45; " that bone and ivory carvings were commonest in the earlier period (" sequence-dates 30-50 "); that copper was almost unknown till " sequence-date 50," and so on. The arbitrary numbers used range from 30 to 80, in order to allow for possible earlier and later additions, which may be rendered necessary by the progress of discovery. The numbers are of course as purely arbi- trary and relative as those of the different thermomet- rical systems, but they afford a convenient system of arrangement. The products of the prehistoric Egyp- tians are, so to speak, distributed on a conventional M. DE MORGAN'S WORK 21 plan over a scale numbered from 30 to 80, 30 represent- ing the beginning and 80 the close of the term, so far as its close has as yet been ascertained. It is probable that " sequence-date 80 " more or less accurately marks the beginning of the dynastic or historical period. This hypothetically chronological classification is, as has been said, due to Prof. Petrie, and has been adopted by Mr. RandaU-MacIver and other students of prehis- toric Egypt in their work,^ To Prof. Petrie then is due the credit of systematizing the study of Egyptian pre- historic antiquities; but the further credit of having discovered these antiquities themselves and settled their date belongs not to him but to the distinguished French archaeologist, M. J. de Morgan, who was for several years director of the museum at Griza, and is now chief of the French archaeological delegation in Persia, which has made of late years so many important discoveries. The proof of the prehistoric date of this class of antiqui- ties was given, not by Prof. Petrie after his excavations at Dendera in 1897 - 8, but by M. de Morgan in his volume, Recherches sur les Origines de VEgypte: VAge de la Pierre et les Metaux, published in 1895 - 6. In this book the true chronological position of the pre- historic antiquities was pointed out, and the existence of an Egyptian Stone Age finally decided. M. de Mor- gan's work was based on careful study of the results of excavations carried on for several years by the Egyp- tian government in various parts of Egypt, in the course of which a large number of cemeteries of the 1 El Antra and Ahydos, Egypt Exploration Fund, 1902. 22 THE DISCOVEEY OF PEEHISTORIC EGYPT primitive type had been discovered. It was soon evi- dent to M. de Morgan that these primitive graves, with their unusual pottery and flint implements, could be nothing less than the tombs of the prehistoric Egyp- tians, the Egyptians of the Stone Age. Objects of the prehistoric period had been known to the museums for many years previously, but owing to the uncertainty of their provenance and the absence of knowledge of the existence of the primitive ceme- teries, no scientific conclusions had been arrived at with regard to them; and it was not tiU the publication of M. de Morgan's book that they were recognized and classified as prehistoric. The necropoles investigated by M. de Morgan and his assistants extended from Kawamil in the north, about twenty miles north of Abydos, to Edfu in the south. The chief cemeteries between these two points were those of Bet AUam, Saghel el-Baglieh, el-'Amra, ISTakada, Tukh, and Gebe- len. All the burials were of simple type, analogous to those of the Neolithic races in the rest of the world. In a shallow, oval grave, excavated often but a few inches below the surface of the soil, lay the body, cramped up with the knees to the chin, sometimes in a rough box of pottery, more often with only a mat to cover it. Ready to the hand of the dead man were his flint weapons and tools, and the usual red and black, or buff and red, pots lay beside him; originally, no doubt, they had been filled with the funeral meats, to sustain the ghost in the next world. Occasionally a simple copper weapon was found. With the body were SOLACE FOR THE DEAD 23 also buried slate palettes for grinding the green eye- paint which the Egyptians loved even at this early period. These are often carved to suggest the forms of animals, such as birds, bats, tortoises, goats, etc.; on others are fantastic creatures with two heads. Combs of bone, too, are found, ornamented in a simi- lar way with birds' or goats' heads, often double. And most interesting of all are the small bone and ivory figures of men and women which are also found. These usually have little blue beads for eyes, and are of the quaintest and naivest appearance conceivable. Here we have an elderly man with a long pointed beard, there two women with inane smiles upon their counte- nances, here another woman, of better work this time, with a child slung across her shoulder. This figure, which is in the British Museum, must be very late, as prehistoric Egyptian antiquities go. It is almost as good in style as the early 1st Dynasty objects. Such were the objects which the simple piety of the early Egyptian prompted him to bury with the bodies of his dead, in order that they might find solace and content- ment in the other world. All the prehistoric cemeteries are of this type, with the graves pressed closely together, so that they often impinge upon one another. The nearness of the graves to the surface is due to the exposed positions, at the entrances to wadis, in which the primitive cemeteries are usually found. The result is that they are always swept by the winds, which prevent the desert sand from accumulating over them, and so have preserved the 24 THE DISCOVEEY OF PKEHISTOEIC EGYPT original level of the ground. From their proximity to the surface they are often found disturbed, more often by the agency of jackals than that of man. Contemporaneously with M. de Morgan's explora- tions, Prof. Flinders Petrie and Mr, J. Quibell had, in the winter of 1894 - 5, excavated in the districts of Tukh and Nakada, on the west bank of the Nile opposite Koptos, a series of extensive cemeteries of the prim- itive type, from which they obtained a large number of antiquities, published in their volume Nagada and Ballas. The plates giving representations of the an- tiquities found were of the highest interest, but the scientific value of the letter-press is vitiated by the fact that the true historical position of the antiquities was not perceived by their discoverers, who came to the conclusion that these remains were those of a " New Race " of Libyan invaders. This race, they supposed, had entered Egypt after the close of the flourishing period of the " Old Kingdom " at the end of the Vlth Dynasty, and had occupied part of the Nile valley from that time till the period of the Xth Dynasty. This conclusion was proved erroneous by M. de Morgan almost as soon as made, and the French archae- ologist's identification of the primitive remains as pre- dynastic was at once generally accepted. It was obvi- ous that a hypothesis of the settlement of a stone-using barbaric race in the midst of Egypt at so late a date as the period immediately preceding the Xllth Dynasty, a race which mixed in no way with the native Egyp- tians th^nselves, and left no trace of their influence upon EXCAVATION AT EL-'AMEA 25 the later Egyptians, was one which demanded greater faith than the simple explanation of M. de Morgan. The error of the British explorers was at once ad- mitted by Mr. Quibell, in his volume on the excavations of 1897 at el-Kab, pubUshed in 1898.^ Mr. Quibell at once found full and adequate confirmation of M. de Morgan's discovery in his diggings at el-Kab. Prof. Petrie admitted the correctness of M. de Morgan's views in the preface to his volume DiospoUs Parva, published three years later in 1901.^ The preface to the first volume of M. de Morgan's book contained a generous recognition of the method and general accuracy of Prof. Petrie 's excavations, which con- trasted favourably, according to M. de Morgan, with the excavations of others, generally carried on without scientific control, and with the sole aim of obtaining antiquities or literary texts.* That M. de Morgan's own work was carried out as scientifically and as carefully is evident from the fact that his conclusions as to the chronological position of the prehistoric antiquities have been shown to be correct. To describe M. de Morgan's discovery as a " happy guess," as has been done, is therefore beside the mark. Another most important British excavation was that carried on by Messrs. Randall-Maclver and Wilkin at el-'Amra, The imposing lion-headed promontory of el-'Amra stands out into the plain on the west bank ''■El-Kdb. Egyptian Research Account, 1897, p. 11. "Diospolis Parva. Egypt Exploration Fund, 1901, p. 2. * Recherches : Age dela Pierre, p. xiii. 26 THE DISCOVERY OF PREHISTORIC EGYPT of the Nile about five miles south of Abydos. At the foot of this hill M. de Morgan found a very extensive prehistoric necropolis, which he examined, but did not excavate to any great extent, and the work of thor- oughly excavating it was performed by Messrs. Ran- dall-MacIver and Wilkin for the Egypt Exploration Fund. The results have thrown very great light upon the prehistoric culture of Egypt, and burials of all pre- historic types, some of them previously unobserved, were found. Among the most interesting are burials in pots, which have also been found by Mr. Garstang in a predynastic necropolis at Ragagna, north of Aby- dos. One of the more remarkable observations made at el-'Amra was the progressive development of the tombs from the simplest pot-burial to a small brick chamber, the embryo of the brick tombs of the 1st Dynasty. Among the objects recovered from this site may be mentioned a pottery model of oxen, a box in the shape of a model hut, and a slate " palette " with what is perhaps the oldest Egyptian hieroglyph known, a rep- resentation of the fetish-sign of the god Min, in relief. All these are preserved in the British Museum. The skulls of the bodies found were carefully preserved for craniometric examination. In 1901 an extensive prehistoric cemetery was being excavated by Messrs. Reisner and Lythgoe at Nag' ed-Der, opposite Grirga, and at el-Ahaiwa, further north, another prehistoric necropolis has been excavated by these gentlemen, working for the University of Cali- fornia. The cemetery of Nag' ed-Der is of the usual THE NAG' ED-DER CEMETERY 27 prehistoric type, with its multitudes of small oval graves, excavated just a little way below the surface. Grraves of this kind are the most primitive of all. Those at el-'Amra are usually more developed, often, as has been noted, rising to the height of regiilar brick tombs. They are evidently later, nearer to the time of the 1st CAMP OF THE EXPEDITION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT NAG' ED-DEK, 1901. Dynasty. The position of the Nag' ed-Der cemetery is also characteristic. It lies on the usual low ridge at the entrance to a desert wadi, which is itself one of the most picturesque in this part of Egypt, with its chaos of great boulders and fallen rocks. An illustra- tion of the camp of Mr. Reisner's expedition at Nag' ed-Der is given above. The excavations of the Uni- 28 THE DISCOVEEY OF PREHISTORIC EGYPT versity of California are carried out with the greatest possible care and are financed with the greatest possible liberality. Mr. Reisner has therefore been able to keep an absolutely complete photographic record of every- thing, even down to the successive stages in the open- ing of a tomb, which will be of the greatest use to sci- ence when published. For a detailed study of the antiquities of the pre- historic period the publications of Prof. Petrie, Mr, Quibell, and Mr. Randall-Maclver are more useful than that of M. de Morgan, who does not give enough details. Every atom of evidence is given in the publications of the British explorers, whereas it is a characteristic of French work to give brilliant conclusions, beautifully illustrated, without much of the evidence on which the conclusions are based. This kind of work does not appeal to the Anglo-Saxon mind, which takes nothing on trust, even from the most renowned experts, and always wants to know the why and wherefore. The complete publication of evidence which marks the Brit- ish work will no doubt be met with, if possible in even more complete detail, in the American work of Messrs. Reisner, Lythgoe, and Mace (the last-named is an Eng- lishman) for the University of California, when pub- lished. The question of speedy versus delayed pubh- cation is a very vexing one. Prof. Petrie prefers to publish as speedily as possible; six months after the season's work in Egypt is done, the full publication with photographs of everything appears. Mr. Reisner and the French explorers prefer to pubUsh nothing until THE EANGE OF EXPLOEATION 29 they have exhaustively studied the whole of the evi- dence, and can extract nothing more from it. This would be admirable if the French published their dis- coveries fully, but they do not. Even M. de Morgan has not approached the fulness of detail which characterizes British work and which will characterize Mr. Reisner's publication when it appears. The only drawback to this method is that general interest in the particular excavations described tends to pass away before the full description appears. Prof. Petrie has explored other prehistoric sites at Abadiya, and Mr. QuibeU at el-Kab. M. de Morgan and his assistants have examined a large number of sites, ranging from the Delta to el-Kab. Further research has shown that some of the sites identified by M. de Morgan as prehistoric are in reality of much later date, for example, Kahim, where the late flints of XTTth Dynasty date were found. He notes that " large num- bers of Neolithic flint weapons are found in the desert on the borders of the Fayyum, and at Helwan, south of Cairo," and that all the important necropoles and kitchen-middens of the predynastic people are to be found in the districts of Abydos and Thebes, from el-Kawamil in the North to el-Kab in the South. It is of course too soon to assert with confidence that there are no prehistoric remains in any other part of Egypt, especially in the long tract between the Fayyum and the district of Abydos, but up to the present time none have been found in this region. This geographical distribution of the prehistoric 30 THE DISCOVEEY OF PREHISTORIC EGYPT remains fits in curiously with the ancient legend con- cerning the origin of the ancestors of the Egyptians in Upper Egypt, and supports the much discussed theory that they came originally to the Nile valley from the shores of the Red Sea by way of the Wadi Hammamat, which debouches on to the Nile in the vicinity of Koptos and Kus, opposite Ballas and Tukh. The sup- position seems a very probable one, and it may well be that the earliest Egyptians entered the valley of the Nile by the route suggested and then spread northwards and southwards in the valley. The fact that their re- mains are not foimd north of el-Kawamil nor south of el-Kab might perhaps be explained by the supposition that, when they had extended thus far north and south from their original place of arrival, they passed from the primitive Neolithic condition to the more highly developed copper-using culture of the period which immediately preceded the establishment of the mon- archy. The Neolithic weapons of the Fayyum and Hel- wan would then be the remains of a different people, which inhabited the Delta and Middle Egypt in very early times. This people may have been of Mediter- ranean stock, akin to the primitive inhabitants of Pales- tine, Greece, Italy, and Spain; and they no doubt were identical with the inhabitants of Lower Egypt who were overthrown and conquered by Kha-sekhem and the other Southern founders of the monarchy (who belonged to the race which had come from the Red Sea by the Wadi Hanunamat), and so were the ancestors of the later natives of Lower Egypt. Whether the Southern- ORIGIN OF NEOLITHIC EGYPTIANS 31 ers, whose primitive remains we find from el-Kawamil to el-Kab, were of the same race as the Northerners whom they conquered, cannot be decided. The skull- form of the Southerners agrees with that of the Medi- terranean races. But we have no necropoles of the Northerners to tell us much of their peculiarities. We have nothing but their flint arrowheads. But it should be observed that, in spite of the pres- ent absence of all primitive remains (whether mere flints, or actual graves with bodies and relics) of the primeval population between the Fayyum and el-Kawa- mil, there is no proof that the primitive race of Upper Egypt was not coterminous and identical with that of the lower country. It might therefore be urged that the whole Neolithic population was " Mediterranean " by its skull-form and body-structure, and specifically " Nilotic " (indigenous Egyptian) in its culture-type. This is quite possible, but we have again to account for the legends of distant origin on the Red Sea coast, the probability that one element of the Egyptian popula- tion was of extraneous origin and came from the east into the Nile valley near Koptos, and finally the his- torical fact of an advance of the early dynastic Egyp- tians from the South to the conquest of the North. The latter fact might of coui-se be explained as a civil war analogous to that between Thebes and Asyut in the time of the IXth Dynasty, but against this explanation is to be set the fact that the contemporary monuments of the Southerners exhibit the men of the North as of foreign and non-Egyptian ethnic type, resembling Lib- 32 THE DISCOVERY OF PREHISTORIC EGYPT yans. It is possible that they were akin to the Libyans; and this would square very well with the first theory, but it may also be made to fit in with a development of the second, which has been generally accepted. According to this view, the whole primitive Neo- lithic population of North and South was Nilotic, indig- enous in origin, and akin to the " Mediterraneans " of Prof. Sergi and the other ethnologists. It was not this population, the stone-users whose necropoles have been found by Messrs. de Morgan, Petrie, and Maclver, that entered the Nile valley by the Wadi Hammamat. This was another race of different ethnic origin, which came from the Red Sea toward the end of the Neolithic period, and, being of higher civilization than the native Nilotes, assimied the lordship over them, gave a great impetus to the development of their culture, and started at once the institution of monarchy, the knowledge of letters, and the use of metals. The chiefs of this supe- rior tribe founded the monarchy, conquered the North, imified the kingdom, and began Egyptian history. From many indications it would seem probable that these conquerors were of Babylonian origin, or that the culture they brought with them (possibly from Arabia) was ultimately of Babylonian origin. They themselves would seem to have been Semites, or rather proto- Semites, who came from Arabia to Africa by way of the straits of Bab el-Mandeb, and proceeded up the coast to about the neighbourhood of Kuser, whence the Wadi Hammamat offered them an open road to the valley of the Nile. By this route they may have entered TWO RACES IN EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD 33 Egypt, bringing with them a civilization, which, like that of the other Semites, had been profoundly influ- enced and modified by that of the Sumerian inhabitants of Babylonia. This Semitic-Sumerian culture, mingling with that of the Nilotes themselves, produced the civ- ilization of Ancient Egypt as we know it. This is a very plausible hypothesis, and has a great deal of evidence in its favour. It seems certain that in the early dynastic period two races lived in Egypt, which differed considerably in type, and also, appar- ently, in burial customs. The later Egyptians always buried the dead lying on their backs, extended at full length. During the period of the Middle Kingdom (Xlth-Xmth Dynasties) the head was usually turned over on to the left side, in order that the dead man might look through the two great eyes painted on that side of the coffin. Afterward the rigidly extended posi- tion was always adopted. The Neolithic Egyptians, however, buried the dead lying wholly on the left side and in a contracted position, with the knees drawn up to the chin. The bodies were not embalmed, and the extended position and mummification were never used. Under the IVth Dynasty we find in the necropolis of Medum (north of the Fayyum) the two positions used simultaneously, and the extended bodies are mummified. The contracted bodies are skeletons, as in the case of most of the predynastic bodies. When these are found with flesh, skin, and hair intact, their preservation is due to the dryness of the soil and the preservative salts it contains, not to intentional embalming, which was 34 THE DISCOVERY OF PREHISTOEIC EGYPT evidently introduced by those who employed the ex- tended position in burial. The contracted position is found as late as the Vth Dynasty at Dashasha, south of the Fayyum, but after that date it is no longer found. The conclusion is obvious that the contracted posi- tion without mummification, which the Neolithic people used, was supplanted in the early dynastic period by the extended position with mummification, and by the time of the Vlth Dynasty it was entirely superseded. This points to the supersession of the burial customs of the indigenous Neolithic race by those of another race which conquered and dominated the indigenes. And, since the extended burials of the IVth Dynasty are evidently those of the higher nobles, while the con- tracted ones are those of inferior people, it is probable that the customs of extended burial and embalming were introduced by a foreign race which founded the Egyptian monarchical state, with its hierarchy of nobles and officials, and in fact started Egyptian civilization on its way. The conquerors of the North were thus not the descendants of the Neolithic people of the South, but their conquerors; in fact, they dominated the indi- genes both of North and South, who will then appear (since we find the custom of contracted burial in the North at Dashasha and Medum) to have originally be- longed to the same race. The conquering race is that which is supposed to have been of Semitic or proto-Semitic origin, and to have brought elements of Sumerian culture to savage EAELY INFLUENCE OF BABYLONIA 35 Egypt. The reasons advanced for this supposition are the following:— (1) Just as the Egyptian race was evidently com- pounded of two elements, of conquered *' Mediterrane- ans " and conquering x, so the Egyptian language is evidently compounded of two elements, the one Nilotic, perhaps related in some degree to the Berber dialects of North Africa, the other not x, but evidently Semitic. (2) Certain elements of the early dynastic civiliza- tion, which do not appear in that of the earlier pre- dynastic period, resemble well-known elements of the civilization of Babylonia. We may instance the use of the cylinder-seal, which died out in Egypt in the time of the XVmth Dynasty, but was always used in Baby- lonia from the earliest to the latest times. The early Egyptian mace-head is of exactly the same type as the early Babylonian one. In the British Museum is an Egyptian mace-head of red breccia, which is identical in shape and size with one from Babylonia (also in the museum) bearing the name of Shargani-shar-ali (i. e. Sargon, King of Agade), one of the earliest Chaldaean monarchs, who must have lived about the same time as the Egyptian kings of the lid— Illd Dynasties, to which period the Egyptian mace-head may also be approx- imately assigned. The Egyptian art of the earliest dynasties bears again a remarkable resemblance to that of early Babylonia. It is not till the time of the lid Dynasty that Egyptian art begins to take upon itself the regular form which we know so well, and not till that of the IVth that this form was finally crystallized. 36 THE DISCOVEEY OF PREHISTORIC EGYPT Under the 1st Dynasty we find the figure of man or, to take other instances, that of a lion, or a hawk, or a snake, often treated in a style very different from that in which we are accustomed to see a man, a lion, a hawk, or a snake depicted in works of the later period. And the striking thing is that these early representa- tions, which differ so much from what we find in later Egyptian art, curiously resemble the works of early Babylonian art, of the time of the patesis of Shirpurla or the Kings Shargani-shar-ali and Naram-Sin. One of the best known relics of the early art of Babylonia is the famous *' Stele of Vultures " now in Paris. On this we see the enemies of Eannadu, one of the early rulers of Shirpiu-la, cast out to be devoured by the vultures. On an Egyptian relief of slate, evidently originally dedi- cated in a temple as a record of some historical event, and dating from the beginning of the 1st Dynasty (prac- tically contemporary, according to our latest knowledge, with Eannadu) , we have an almost exactly similar scene of captives being cast out into the desert, and devoured by lions and vultures. The two reliefs are curiously alike in their clumsy, naive style of art. A further point is that the official represented on the stele, who appears to be thrusting one of the bound captives out to die, wears a long fringed garment of Babylonish cut, quite different from the clothes of the later Egyptians. (3) There are evidently two distinct and different main strata in the fabric of Egyptian religion. On the one hand we find a mass of myth and religious belief of very primitive, almost savage, cast, combining a EGYPTIAN RELiaiON 37 worship of the actual dead in their tombs— which were supposed to conmiunicate and thus form a veritable " underworld," or, rather, " under-Egypt "—with ven- eration of magic animals, such as jackals, cats, hawks, and crocodiles. On the other hand, we have a sun and sky worship of a more elevated nature, which does not seem to have amalgamated with the earlier fetishism and corpse-worship until a comparatively late period. The main seats of the sun-worship were at Heliopolis in the Delta and at Edfu in Upper Egypt. Heliopolis seems always to have been a centre of light and leading in Egypt, and it is, as is well known, the On of the Bible, at whose university the Jewish lawgiver Moses is related to have been educated *' in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." The philosophical theories of the priests of the Sun-gods, Ra-Harmachis and Tum, at Heliopolis seem to have been the source from which sprang the monotheistic heresy of the Disk- Worship- pers (in the time of the XViilth Dynasty), who, under the guidance of the reforming King Akhunaten, wor- shipped only the disk of the sun as the source of aU life, the door in heaven, so to speak, through which the hidden One Deity poured forth heat and light, the origin of life upon the earth. Very early in Egyptian history the Heliopolitans gained the upper hand, and the Ea- worship (under the Vth Dynasty, the apogee of the Old Kingdom) came to the front, and for the first time the kings took the afterwards time-honoured royal title of " Son of the Sun." It appears then as a more or less foreign importation into the Mle valley, and bears most 38 THE DISCOVERY OF PEEHISTOEIG EGYPT undoubtedly a Semitic impress. Its two chief seats were situated, the one, Heliopolis, in the North on the eastern edge of the Delta,— just where an early Semitic settlement from over the desert might be expected to be found,— the other, Edfu, in the Upper Egyptian terri- tory south of the Thebaid, Koptos, and the ,Wadi Ham- mamat, and close to the chief settlement of the earliest kings and the most ancient capital of Upper Egypt. (4) The custom of burying at full length was evi- dently introduced into Egypt by the second, or x race. The NeoUthic Egyptians buried in the cramped position. The early Babylonians buried at full length, as far as we know. On the same " Stele of Vultures," which has already been mentioned, we see the burying at full length of dead warriors.^ There is no trace of any early burial in Babylonia in the cramped position. The tombs at Warka (Erech) with cramped bodies in pottery cof- fins are of very late date. A further point arises with regard to embalming. The ISTeolithic Egyptians did not embalm the dead. Usually their cramped bodies are found as skeletons. When they are mummified, it is merely owing to the preservative action of the salt in the soil, not to any process of embalming. The second, or X race, however, evidently introduced the custom of embalming as well as that of burial at full length and the use of cofSns. The Neolithic Egyptian used no box or coffin, the nearest approach to this being a pot, which was inverted over the coiled up body. Usually only a mat was put over the body. Now it is evident 1 See illustration. Portion of the " Stele of Vultures " Found at Telloh Sculptured with a scene representing tlie burial of the dead after battle. From the photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co. BABYLONIAN BTJEIAL CUSTOMS 39 that Babylonians and Assyrians, who buried the dead at full length in chests, had some knowledge of embalm- ing. An Assyrian king teUs us how he buried his royal father: — " Within the grave, the secret place, In kingly oil, I gently laid him. The grave-stone marketh his resting-place. With mighty bronze I sealed its entrance. And I protected it with an incantation." The " kingly oil " was evidently used with the idea of preserving the body from decay. Salt also was used to preseirve the dead, and Herodotus says that the Baby- lonians buried in honey, which was also used by the Egyptians. No doubt the Babylonian method was less perfect than the Egyptian, but the comparison is an interesting one, when taken in connection with the other points of resemblance mentioned above. We find, then, that an analysis of the Egyptian lan- guage reveals a Semitic element in it; that the early dynastic culture had certain characteristics which were unknown to the Neolithic Egyptians but are closely parallelled in early Babylonia; that there were two elements in the Egyptian religion, one of which seems to have originally belonged to the Neolithic people, while the other has a Semitic appearance; and that there were two sets of burial customs in early Egypt, one, that of the Neolithic people, the other evidently that of a conquering race, which eventually prevailed over the former; these later rites were analogous to 40 THE DISCOVEEY OP PREHISTORIC EGYPT those of the Babylonians and Assyrians, though differ- ing from them in points of detail. The conclusion is that the x or conquering race was Semitic and brought to Egypt the Semitic elements in the Egyptian religion and a culture originally derived from that of the Smne- rian inhabitants of Babylonia, the non-Semitic parent of all Semitic civilizations. The question now arises, how did this Semitic peo- ple reach Egypt? We have the choice of two points of entry: First, Heliopolis in the North, where the Semitic sun-worship took root, and, second, the Wadi Hamma- mat in the South, north of Edfu, the southern centre of sun-worship, and Hierakonpolis (Nekheb-Nekhen) , the capital of the Upper Egyptian kingdom which existed before the foundation of the monarchy. The legends which seem to bring the ancestors of the Egyptians from the Red Sea coast have already been mentioned. They are closely connected with the worship of the Sky and Sim god Horus of Edfu. Hathor, his nurse, the " House of Horus," the centre of whose worship was at Dendera, immediately opposite the mouth of the Wadi Hanunamat, was said to have come from Ta-neter, " The Holy Land," i. e. Abyssinia or the Red Sea coast, with the company or paut of the gods. Now the Egyp- tians always seem to have had some idea that they were connected racially with the inhabitants of the Land of Punt or Puenet, the modem Abyssinia and Somaliland. In the time of the XViUth Dynasty they depicted the inhabitants of Punt as greatly resembKng themselves in form, feature, and dress, and as wearing the little EARLY INHABITANTS 41 tumed-up beard wMch was worn by tbe Egyptians of the earliest times, but even as early as the IVth Dy- nasty was reserved for the gods. Further, the word Punt is always written without the hieroglyph deter- minative of a foreign country, thus showing that the Egyptians did not regard the Punites as foreigners. This certainly looks as if the Punites were a portion of the great migration from Arabia, left behind on the African shore when the rest of the wandering people pressed on northwards to the Wadi Hammamat and the Nile. It may be that the modem Gallas and Abys- sinians are descendants of these Punites. Now the Sky-god of Edfu is in legend a conquering hero who advances down the NUe vaUey, with his Mesniu, or " Smiths," to overthrow the people of the North, whom he defeats in a great battle near Dendera. This may be a reminiscence of the first fights of the invaders with the Neolithic inhabitants. The other form of Horus, " Horus, son of Isis," has also a body of retainers, the Shemsu-Eeru, or " Followers of Ho- rus," who are spoken of in late texts as the rulers of Egypt before the monarchy. They evidently corre- spond to the dynasties of Manes, NeKi^e?, or " Ghosts," of Manetho, and are probably intended for the early kings of Hierakonpolis. The mention of the Followers of Horus as "Smiths" is very interesting, for it would appear to show that the Semitic conquerors were notable as metal-users, that, in fact, their conquest was that old story in the dawn of the world's history, the utter overthrow and 42 THE DISCOVERY OF PKEHISTOEIC EGYPT subjection of the stone-users by the metal-users, the primeval tragedy of the supersession of flint by copper. This may be, but if the " Smiths " were the Semitic con- querors who founded the kingdom, it would appear that the use of copper was known in Egypt to some extent before their arrival, for we find it in the graves of the late Neolithic Egyptians, very sparsely from ' ' sequence- date 30 " to " 45," but afterwards more commonly. It was evidently becoming known. The supposition, how- ever, that the " Smiths " were the Semitic conquerors, and that they won their way by the aid of their superior weapons of metal, may be provisionally accepted. In favour of the view which would bring the con- querors by way of the Wadi Hammamat, an interesting discovery may be quoted. Immediately opposite Den- dera, where, according to the legend, the battle between the Mesniu and the aborigines took place, lies Koptos, at the mouth of the Wadi Hammamat. Here, in 1894, underneath the pavement of the ancient temple. Prof. Petrie foimd remains which he then diagnosed as be- longing to the most ancient epoch of Egyptian history. Among them were some extremely archaic statues of the god Min, on which were curious scratched drawings of bears, crioceras-sheWs, elephants walking over hills, etc., of the most primitive description. With them were lions' heads and birds of a style then unknown, but which we now know to belong to the period of the beginning of the 1st Dynasty. But the statues of Min are older. The cnoceras-shells belong to the Red Sea. Are we to see in these statues the holy images of the A SEMITIC WAVE 43 conquerors from the Red Sea who reached the Nile val- ley by way of the Wadi Hammamat, and set up the first memorials of their presence at Koptos? It may be so, or the Min statues may be older than the con- querors, and belong to the Neohthic race, since Mia and his fetish (which we find on the slate palette from el-'Amra, already mentioned) seem to belong to the indigenous Mlotes. In any case we have in these statues, two of which are in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, probably the most ancient cult-images in the world. This theory, which would make all the Neolithic inhabitants of Egypt one people, who were conquered by a Semitic race, bringing a culture of Sumerian origin to Egypt by way of the Wadi Hammamat, is that gen- erally accepted at the present time. It may, however, eventually prove necessary to modify it. For reasons given above, it may well be that the Neolithic popu- lation was itself not indigenous, and that it reached the Nile vaUey by way of the Wadi Hammamat, spreading north and south from the mouth of the wadi. It may also be considered probable that a Semitic wave invaded Egypt by way of the Isthmus of Suez, where the early sim-cultus of Heliopolis probably marks a primeval Semitic settlement. In that case it would seem that the Mesniu or " Smiths," who introduced the use of • metal, would have to be referred to the originally Neo- lithic pre-Semitic people, who certainly were acquainted with the use of copper, though not to any great extent. But this is not a necessary supposition. The Mesniu 44 THE DISCOVEEY OF PEEHISTORIC EGYPT are closely connected with the Sky-god Horus, who was possibly of Semitic origin, and another Semitic wave, quite distinct from that which entered Egypt by way of the Isthmus, may very well also have reached Egypt by the Wadi Hammamat, or, equally possibly, from the far south, coming down to the Nile from the Abyssinian moimtains. The legend of the coming of Hathor from Ta-neter may refer to some such wandering, and we know that the Egyptians of the Old Kingdom communi- cated with the Land of Punt, not by way of the Red Sea coast as Hatshepsut did, but by way of the Upper Nile. This would tally well with the march of the Mesniu northwards from Edfu to their battle with the forces of Set at Dendera. ^"^~-. In any case, at the dawn of connected Egyptian his- tory, we find two main centres of civilization in Egypt, Heliopohs and Buto in the Delta in the North, and Edfu and Hierakonpolis in the South. Here were estab- lished at the beginning of the Chalcolithic stage of cul- ture, we may say, two kingdoms, of Lower and Upper Egypt, which were eventually united by the superior arms of the kings of Upper Egypt, who imposed their rule upon the North but at the same time removed their capital thither. The dualism of Buto and Hierakonpolis really lasted throughout Egyptian history. The king was always called " Lord of the Two Lands," and wore the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt; the snakes of Buto and Nekhebet (the goddess of Nekheb, opposite Nekhen or Hierakonpolis) always tjrpified the united kingdom. This dualism of course often led to actual IMPULSES TO CULTURE DEVELOPMENT 45 division and reversion to the predynastic order of things, as, for instance, in the time of the XXIst Dynasty. It might well seem that both the impulses to culture development in the North and South came from Semitic inspiration, and that it was to the Semitic invaders in North and South that the founding of the two kingdoms was due. This may be true to some extent, but it is at the same time very probable that the first development of political culture at Hierakonpolis was really of pre- Semitic origin. The kingdom of Buto, since its capital is situated so near to the seacoast, may have owed its origin to oversea Mediterranean connections. There is much in the political constitution of later Egypt which seems to have been of indigenous and pre-Semitic origin. Especially does this seem to be so in the case of the division and organization of the country into nomes. It is obvious that so soon as agriculture began to be practised on a large scale, boundaries would be formed, and in the unique conditions of Egypt, where all boundaries disappear beneath the inimdation every year, it is evident that the fixing of division-lines as permanently as possible by means of landmarks was early essayed. We can therefore with confidence as- sign the formation of the nomes to very early times. Now the names of the nomes and the symbols or emblems by which they were distinguished are of very great interest in this connection. They are nearly all figures of the magic animals of the primitive religion, and fetish-emblems of the older deities. The names are, 46 THE DISCOVERY OF PEEHISTOEIC EGYPT in faet, those of the territories of the Neolithic Egyp- tian tribes, and their emblems are those of the protect- ing tribal demons. The political divisions of the coun- try seem, then, to be of extremely ancient origin, and if the nomes go back to a time before the Semitic in- vasions, so may also the kingdoms of the South and North. Of these predynastic kingdoms we know very httle, except from legendary sources. The Northerners who were conquered by Aha, Narmer, and Klasekhemui do not look very much like Egyptians, but rather resemble Semites or Libyans. On the '* Stele of Palermo," a chronicle of early kings inscribed in the period of the Vth Dynasty, we have a list of early kings of the North, — Seka, Desau, Tiu, Tesh, Nihab, Uatjantj, Mekhe. The names are primitive in form. We know nothing more about them. Last year Mr. C. T. Currelly attempted to excavate at Buto, in order to find traces of the predynastic kingdom, but owing to the infiltra- tion of water his efforts were unsuccessful. It is im- probable that anything is now left of the most ancient period at that site, as the conditions in the Delta are so very different from those obtaining in Upper Egypt. There, at Hierakonpohs, and at el-Kab on the opposite bank of the Nile, the sites of the ancient cities Nekhen and Nekheb, the excavators have been very successful. The work was carried out by Messrs. Quibell and Green, in the years 1891 - 9. Prehistoric burials were found on the hills near by, but the larger portion of the antiquities were recovered from the temple-ruins, and THE MOST AITCIENT TEMPLE 47 date back to tlie beginning of the 1st Dynasty, exactly the time when the kings of Hierakonpolis first con- quered the kingdom of Buto and founded the united Egyptian monarchy. The ancient temple, which was probably one of the earliest seats of Egyptian civilization, was situated on a mound, now known as el-Kom el-ahmar, " the Red Hill," from its colour. The chief feature of the most ancient temple seems to have been a circular mound, revetted by a wall of sandstone blocks, which was ap- parently erected about the end of the predynastic period. Upon this a shrine was probably erected. This was the ancient shrine of Nekhen, the cradle of the Egyptian monarchy. Close by it were found some of the most valuable relics of the earliest Pharaonic age, the great ceremonial mace-heads and vases of Narmer and " the Scorpion," the shields or ^' palettes " of the same Narmer, the vases and stelaB of Khasekhemui, and, of later date, the splendid copper colossal group of Bang Pepi I and his son, which is now at Cairo. Most of the 1st Dynasty objects are preserved in the Ashmo- lean Museum at Oxford, which is one of the best centres for the study of early Egyptian antiquities. Narmer and Khasekhemui are, as we shall see, two of the first monarchs of all Egypt. These sculptured and inscribed mace-heads, shields, etc., are monuments dedicated by them in the ancestral shrine at Hierakonpolis as records of their deeds. Both kings seem to have waged war against the Northerners, the Anu of Heliopolis and the Delta, and on these votive monuments from Hierakon- 48 THE DISCOVERY OF PEEHISTORIC EGYPT polls we find Meroglyphed records of the defeat of the Anu, who have very definitely Semitic physiognomies. On one shield or palette we see Narmer clubbing a man of Semitic appearance, who is called the " Only One of the Marsh " (Delta), while below two other Semites fly, seeking " fortress-protection." Above is a figure of a hawk, symbolizing the Upper Egyptian king, holding a rope which is passed through the nose of a Semitic head, while behind is a sign which may be read as " the North," so that the whole symbolizes the lead- ing away of the North into captivity by the king of the South. It is significant, in view of what has been said above with regard to the probable Semitic origin of the Heliopolitan Northerners, to find the people typical of the North-land represented by the South- erners as Semites. Equally Semitic is the overthrown Northerner on the other side of this well-known monu- ment which we are describing; he is being trampled under the hoofs and gored by the horns of a bull, who, like the hawk, symbolizes the king. The royal bull has broken down the wall of a fortified enclosure, in which is the hut or tent of the Semite, and the bricks lie about promiscuously. In connection with the Semitic origin of the North- erners, the form of the fortified enclosures on both sides of this monument (that to whose protection the two Semites on one side fly, and that out of which the kingly bull has dragged the chief on the other) is no- ticeable. As usual in Egyptian writing, the hieroglyph of these buildings takes the form of a plan. The plan SYMBOLIC KEPEESENTATIONS 49 shows a crenelated enclosure, resembling the walls of a great Babylonian palace or temple, such as have been found at Telloh, Warka, or Mukayyar. The same design is found in Egypt at the Shiu-et ez-Zebib, an Old Kingdom fortress at Abydos, in the tomb of King Aha at Nakada, and in many waUs of mastaba- tombs of the early time. This is another argument in favour of an early connection between Egypt and Baby- lonia. "We illustrate a fragment of another votive shield or palette of the same kind, now in the museum of the Louvre, which probably came originally from HierakonpoHs. It is of exactly similar workmanship to that of Narmer, and is no doubt a fragment of an- other monument of that king. On it we see the same subject of the overthrowing of a Northerner (of Semitic aspect) by the royal bull. On one side, below, is a fortified enclosure with crenelated walls of the type we have described, and within it a lion and a vase; below this another fort, and a bird within it. These signs may express the names of the two forts, but, owing to the fact that at this early period Egyptian orthography was not yet fixed, we cannot read them. On the other side we see a row of animated nome- standards of Upper Egypt, with the symbols of the god Min of Koptos, the hawk of Horus of Edfu, the ibis of Thot of Eshmunen, and the jackals of Anubis of Abydos, which drag a rope; had we the rest of the monument, we should see, bound at the end of the rope, some prisoner, king, or animal symbolic of the North. On another slate shield, which we also reproduce. 60 THE DISCOVEEY OF PEEHISTOEIC EGYPT we see a symbolical representation of the capture of seven Northern cities, M-hose names seem to mean the " Two Men," the " Heron," the '' Owl," the " Pahn," and the " Ghost " Cities. " Ghost City " is at- tacked by a lion, " Owl City" by a hawk, "Palm City " by two hawk nome-standards, and an- other, whose name we cannot guess at, is being opened up by a scorpion. The operating animals evidently represent nomes and tribes of the Upper Egyptians. Here again we see the same crenelated walls of the ISTorthern towns, and there is no doubt that this slate fragment also, which is preserved in OBVERSE OP A SLATE RELIEF. tho Calro Muscum, Is a With symbolical representation of the King of j j» j t Upper Egypt, in the form of a bull, overthrowing mOnUmCnt 01 the COU- a Northern enemy. Below are representations of fortresses with archaic hieroglyphs giving their „,t„„+o nf XToTnvioT* Tf ia names. Reproduced from de Morgan, ieecftercAes, (jUeStS 01 JMaiTXiex. JLL io vol. i. executed in the same archaic style as those from Hierakonpolis. The ani- mals on the other side no doubt represent part of the spoil of the North. Eetuming to the great shield or palette found by SLATE BELIEFS 61 Mr. Quibell, we see the king coining out, followed by his sandal-bearer, the H en-net er or " God's Servant," ^ to view the dead bodies of the slain Northerners which lie arranged in rows. decapitated, and with their heads between their feet. The king is pre- ceded by a procession of nome-standards. Above the dead men are sym- bolic representations of a hawk perched on a harpoon over a boat, and a hawk and a door, which doubtless again refer to the fights of the royal hawk of Upper Egypt on the Nile and at the gate of the North. The designs on the mace- heads refer to the same conquest of the North. The monuments of Khasekhemui, a later king, show us that he conquered the North also and slew 47,209 " Northern Enemies." The contorted attitudes of the dead North- KEVEESE OP A SLATE RELIEF. Witb the same symbolical representation. 1st Dynasty. Reproduced from de Morgan, Be- cherches^ vol. i. ^ In his commentary (Hierakonpolis, i. p. 9) on this scene, Prof. Petrie supposes that the seven-pointed star sign means " king," and compares the eight- pointed star " used for king in Babylonia." The eight-pointed star of the 62 THE DISCOVEEY OF PREHISTOEIC EGYPT emers were greatly admired and sketched at the time, and were reproduced on the pedestal of the king's statue found by Mr. Quibell, which is now at Oxford. It was an age of cheerful savage energy, like most OBVERSE OF A SLATE RELIEF. With symbolical representations of the Egyptian nomes. Be- produced from de Morgan, Reeherches^ vol. i. times when kingdoms and peoples are in the making. About 4000 B. c. is the date of these various monuments. Khasekhemui probably lived later than Narmer, and we may suppose that his conquest was in reality a cuneiform script does not mean "king," but "god." The star then ought to mean " god," and the title " servant of a god," and this supposition may be correct. Hen-neter, "god's servant," was the appellation of a peculiar kind of priest in later days, and was then spelt with the ordinary sign for a god, the picture of an axe. But in the archaic period, with which we are dealing, a star like the Babylonian sign may very well have been used for " god," and the title of Narmer's sandal-bearer may read Hen-neter. He was the slave of the living god Narmer. All Egyptian kings were regarded as deities, more or less. KHASEKHEMUI Aid) NAEMEE 63 re-conquest. He may have lived as late as the time of the lid Dynasty, whereas Narmer must be placed at the beginning of the 1st, and his conquest was probably that which first united the two kingdoms of the South and North. As we shall see in the next chapter, he is probably one of the originals of the legendary " Mena," who was regarded from the time of the XVinth Dy- REVESSE OF A BLATE RELIEF, EEPEESEyTING ANIMALS. 1st Dynasty. Keproduoed from de Morgan, Recherches, vol. 1. nasty onwards as the founder of the kingdom, and was first made known to Europe by Herodotus, under the name of " Menes." Narmer is therefore the last of the ancient kings of Hierakonpolis, the last of Mane- tho's " Spirits." "We may possibly have recovered the names of one or two of the kings anterior to Narmer in the excavations at Abydos (see Chapter II), but this is uncertain. To all intents and purposes we have only 64 THE DISCOVERY OF PREHISTORIC EGYPT legendary knowledge of the Southern kingdom until its close, when Narmer the mighty went forth to strike down the Anu of the North, an exploit which he re- corded in votive montunents at Hierakonpolis, and which was commemorated henceforward throughout Egyptian history in the yearly " Feast of the Smiting of the Anu." Then was Egypt for the first time united, and the fortress of the " White WaU," the " Good Abode " of Memphis, was built to dominate the lower country. The 1st Dynasty was founded and Egyptian history began. -- ,,. ••1., f.-J.- r^- ' ' CHAPTER n ABYDOS AND THE FIRST THREE DYNASTIES TTNTIL the recent discoveries had been made, which have thrown so much light upon the early history of Egypt, the traditional order and names of the kings of the first three Egyptian dynasties were, in default of more accurate information, retained by all writers on the history of the period. The names were taken from the official lists of kings at Abydos and elsewhere, and were divided into dynasties according to the system of Manetho, whose names agree more or less with those of the lists and were evidently derived from them ulti- mately. With regard to the fourth and later dynasties it was clear that the king-lists were correct, as their evidence agreed entirely with that of the contemporary monmnents. But no means existed of checking the lists of the first three dynasties, as no contemporary monu- ments other than a IVth Dynasty mention of a lid Dynasty king, Send, had been found. The lists dated from the time of the XVliith and XlXth Dynasties, so that it was very possible that with regard to the 55 66 ABYDOS AND THE FIEST THEEE DYNASTIES earliest dynasties they might not be very correct. This conclusion gained additional weight from the fact that no monmnents of these earliest kings were ever dis- covered; it therefore seemed probable that they were purely legendary figures, in whose time (if they ever did exist) Egypt was still a semi-barbarous nation. The jejime stories told about them by Manetho seemed to confirm this idea. Mena, the reputed founder of the monarchy, was generally regarded as a historical figure, owing to the persistence of his name in all ancient literary accounts of the beginnings of Egyptian history; for it was but natural to suppose that the name of the man who unified Egypt and founded Memphis would endure in the mouths of the people. But with regard to his successors no such supposition seemed probable, until the time of Snef eru and the pyramid-builders. This was the critical view. Another school of his- torians accepted all the kings of the lists as historical en hloc, simply because the Egyptians had registered their names as kings. To them Teta, Ateth, and Ata were as historical as Mena. Modem discovery has altered our view, and truth is seen to lie between the opposing schools, as usual. The kings after Mena do not seem to be such entirely imhistorical figures as the extreme critics thought; the names of several of them, e.g. Merpeba, of the 1st Dynasty, are correctly given in the later lists, and those of others were simply misread, e. g. that of Semti of the same dynasty, misread *' Hesepti " by the list- makers. On the other hand, Mena himself has become DYNASTIC LISTS 57 a somewhat doubtful quantity. The real names of most of the early monarchs of Egypt have been recovered for us by the latest excavations, and we can now see when the list-makers of the XlXth Dynasty were right and when they were wrong, and can distinguish what is legendary in their work from what is reaUy historical. It is true that they very often appear to have been wrong, but, on the other hand, they were sometimes imexpectedly near the mark, and the general number and arrangement of their kings seems correct; so that we can stUl go to them for assistance in the arrange- ment of the names which are communicated to us by the newly discovered monuments. Manetho's help, too, need never be despised because he was a copyist of copjdsts; we can stiU use him to direct our investiga- tions, and his arrangement of dynasties must stiU remain the framework of our chronological scheme, though he does not seem to have been always correct as to the places in which the dynasties originated. More than the names of the kings have the new dis- coveries communicated to us. They have shed a flood of light on the beginnings of Egyptian civilization and art, supplementing the recently ascertained facts con- cerning the prehistoric age which have been described in the preceding chapter. The impulse to these discov- eries was given by the work of M. de Morgan, who excavated sites of the early dynastic as well as of the predynastie age. Among these was a great mastaba- tomb at Nakada, which proved to be that of a very early king who bore the name of Aha, " the Fighter." The 68 ABYDOS AND THE FIRST THEEE DYNASTIES walls of this tomb are crenelated like those of the early Babylonian palaces and the forts of the Northerners, already referred to. M. de Morgan early perceived the difference between the Neolithic antiquities and those of the later archaic period of Egyptian civilization, to which the tomb at Nakada belonged. In the second volume of his great work on the primitive antiquities of Egypt (L^Age des Metaux et le Tomheau Royale de Negadeh), he described the antiquities of the 1st Dy- nasty which had been found at the time he wrote. Antiquities of the same primitive period and even of an earlier date had been discovered by Prof. Flinders Petrie, as has already been said, at Koptos, at the mouth of the Wadi Hammamat. But though Prof. Petrie correctly diagnosed the age of the great statues of the god Min which he found, he was led, by his misdating of the " New Race " antiquities from BaUas and Tukh, also to misdate several of the primitive antiquities,— the lions and hawks, for instance, found at Koptos, he placed in the period between the Vllth and Xth Dynasties; whereas they can now, in the light of further discoveries at Abydos, be seen to date to the earlier part of the 1st Dynasty, the time of Narmer and Aha. It is these discoveries at Abydos, coupled with those (already described) of Mr. Quibell at Hierakonpolis, which have told us most of what we know with regard to the history of the first three dynasties. At Abydos Prof. Petrie was not himself the first in the field, the site having already been partially explored by a DISCOVERIES AT ABYDOS 69 French Egyptologist, M. Amelineau. The excavations of M. Amelineau were, however, perhaps not conducted strictly on scientific lines, and his results have been insufficiently published with very few photographs, so that with the best will in the world we are unable to give M. Amelineau the fuU credit which is, no doubt, due to him for his work. The system of Prof. Petrie's publications has been often, and with justice, criticized, but he at least tells us every year what he has been doing, and gives us photographs of everything he has found. For this reason the epoch-making discoveries at Abydos have been coupled chiefly with the name of Prof. Petrie, while that of M. Ameliaeau is rarely heard in connection with them. As a matter of fact, however, M. Amelineau first excavated the necropolis of the early kings at Abydos, and discovered most of the tombs afterwards worked over by Prof. Petrie and Mr. Mace. Yet most of the important scientific results are due to the later explorers, who were the first to attempt a classification of them, though we must add that this classification has not been entirely accepted by the sci- entific world. The necropolis of the earliest kings of Egypt is situated in the great bay in the hills which lies behind Abydos, to the southwest of the main necropolis. Here, at holy Abydos, where every pious Egyptian wished to rest after death, the bodies of the most ancient kings were buried. It is said by Manetho that the original seat of their dominion was This, a town in the vicinity of Abydos, now represented by the modem Girga, which 60 ABYDOS AND THE FIEST THEEE DYNASTIES lies a few miles distant from its site (el-Birba). TMs may be a fact, but we have as yet obtained no confirma- tion of it. It may well be that the attribution of a Thinite origin to the 1st and lid Dynasties was due simply to the fact that the kings of these dynasties were buried at Abydos, which lay within the Thinite nome. Manetho knew that they were buried at Abydos, and so jumped to the conclusion that they lived there PKOP. petbie's camp at abydos, 1901. also, and called them " Thinites." Their real place of origin must have been Hierakonpolis, where the pre- dynastic kingdom of the South had its seat. The Illd Dynasty was no doubt of Memphite origin, as Manetho says. It is certain that the seat of the government of the rVth Dynasty was at Memphis, where the pyramid- building kings were buried, and we know that the sepulchres of two md Dynasty kings, at least, were situated in the necropolis of Memphis (Sakkara- Medum). So that probably the seat of government ABYDOS THE EOYAL BUKIAL -PLACE 61 was transferred from Hierakonpolis to Memphis by the first king of the md Dynasty. Thenceforward the kings were buried in the Memphite necropolis. The two great necropoles of Memphis and Abydos were originally the seats of the worship of the two Egyptian gods of the dead, Seker and Khentamenti, both of whom were afterwards identified with the Busi- rite god Osiris. Abydos was also the centre of the wor- ship of Anubis, an animal-deity of the dead, the jackal who prowls roimd the tombs at night. Anubis and Osiris-Khentamenti, " He who is in the West," were associated in the minds of the Egyptians as the pro- tecting deities of Abydos. The worship of these gods as the chief Southern deities of the dead, and the pre- eminence of the necropolis of Abydos in the South, no doubt date back before the time of the 1st Dynasty, so that it would not surprise us were burials of kings of the predynastic Hierakonpolite kingdom discovered at Abydos. Prof. Petrie indeed claims to have discov- ered actual royal relics of that period at Abydos, but this seems to be one of the least certain of his conclu- sions. iWe cannot definitely state that the names " Ro," ** Ka," and " Sma " (if they are names at all, which is doubtful) belong to early kings of Hierakonpolis who were buried at Abydos. It may be so, but further con- firmation is desirable before we accept it as a fact; and as yet such confirmation has not been forthcoming. The oldest kings, who were certainly buried at Abydos, seem to have been the first rulers of the united kingdom of the North and South, Aha and his successors. Narmer 62 ABYDOS AND THE FIEST THREE DYNASTIES is not represented. It may be that he was not buried at Abydos, but in the necropolis of Hierakonpolis. This would point to the kings of the South not having been buried at Abydos until after the unification of the kingdom. That Aha possessed a tomb at Abydos as well as another at Nakada seems peculiar, but it is a phenom- enon not unknown in Egypt. Several kings, whose bod- ies were actually buried elsewhere, had second tombs at Abydos, in order that they might possess last resting- places near the tomb of Osiris, although they might not prefer to use them. TJsertsen (or Senusret) III is a case in point. He was really buried in a pyramid at Illahun, up in the North, but he had a great rock tomb cut for him in the cliffs at Abydos, which he never occu- pied, and probably had never intended to occupy. We find exactly the same thing far back at the beginning of Egyptian history, when Aha possessed not only a great mastaba-tomb at Nakada, but also a tomb-cham- ber in the great necropolis of Abydos. It may be that other kings of the earliest period also had second sepul- chres elsewhere. It is noteworthy that in none of the early tombs at Abydos were found any bodies which might be considered those of the kings themselves. M. Amelineau discovered bodies of attendants or slaves (who were in all probability purposely strangled and buried around the royal chamber in order that they should attend the king in the next world), but no roy- alties. Prof. Petrie found the arm of a female mummy, who may have been of royal blood, though there is GREAT TOMB OF AHA 63 nothing to show that she was. And the quaint plait and fringe of false hair, which were also found, need not have belonged to a royal mummy. It is therefore quite possible that these tombs at Abydos were not the actual last resting-places of the earliest kings, who may really have been buried at Hierakonpolis or elsewhere, as Aha was. Messrs. Newberry and Garstang, in their Short History of Egypt, suppose that Aha was actually buried at Abydos, and that the great tomb with objects bearing his name, found by M. de Morgan at Nakada, is really not his, but belonged to a royal princess named Neit-hetep, whose name is found in conjunction with his at Abydos and Nakada. But the argument is equally valid tinned round the other way: the ISTakada tomb might just as well be Aha's and the Abydos one Neit- hetep 's. Neit-hetep, who is supposed by Messrs. New- berry and Garstang to have been Narmer's daughter and Aha's wife, was evidently closely connected with Aha, and she may have been buried with him at Nakada and commemorated with him at Abydos.^ It is prob- able that the XlXth Dynasty list-makers and Manetho considered the Abydos tombs to have been the real graves of the kings, but it is by no means impossible that they were wrong. This view of the royal tombs at Abydos tallies to a great extent with that of M. Naville, who has ener- getically maintained the view that M. Amelineau and Prof. Petrie have not discovered the real tombs of the 1 A princess named Bener-ab ("Sweet-heart"), who may have been Aha's daughter, was actually buried beside his tomb at Abydos. 64 ABYDOS AND THE FIEST THREE DYNASTIES early kings, but only their contemporary commemora- tive *' tombs " at Abydos. The only real tomb of the 1st Dynasty, therefore, as yet discovered is that of Aha at Nakada, found by M. de Morgan, The fact that attendant slaves were buried around the Abydos tombs is no bar to the view that the tombs were only the monu- ments, not the real graves, of the kings. The royal ghosts would naturally visit their commemorative cham- bers at Abydos, in order to be in the company of the great Osiris, and ghostly servants would be as necessary to their Majesties at Abydos as elsewhere. It must not be thought that this revised opinion of the Abydos tombs detracts in the slightest degree from the importance of the discovery of M, Amelineau and its subsequent and more detailed investigation by Prof. Petrie, These monimients are as valuable for historical purposes as the real tombs themselves. The actual bodies of these primeval kings themselves we are never likely to find. The tomb of Aha at Nakada had been completely rifled in ancient times. The commemorative tombs of the kings of the 1st and lid Dynasties at Abydos lie southwest of the great necropolis, far within the bay in the hills. Their present aspect is that of a wilderness of sand hillocks, covered with masses of fragments of red pottery, from which the site has obtained the modem Arab name of Umm el-Ga^ab, " Mother of Pots." It is impossible to move a step in any direction without crushing some of these potsherds under the heel. They are chiefly the remains of the countless little vases of rough red pottery, which THE TOMB OF KING DEN 65 were dedicated here as ex-votos by the pious, between the XTXth and XXVIth Dynasties, to the memory of the ancient kings and of the great god Osiris, whose tomb, as we shall see, was supposed to have been situ- ated here also. Intermingled with these later fragments are pieces of the original 1st Dy- nasty vases, which were filled with wine and provi- sions and were placed in the tombs, for the refreshment and delectation of the royal ghosts when they should visit their houses at Abydos. These were thrown out and broken when the tombs were vio- lated. Here and there one sees a dip in the sand, out of which rise four walls of great bricks, forming a rectangular chamber, half-filled with sand. This is one of the royal tomb-chambers of the 1st Dynasty. That of King Den is illustrated above. A straight staircase descends into it from the ground-level above. In several of the tombs the original flooring of wooden beams is still preserved. Den's is the most THE TOMB OP KTOG DEN AT ABYDOS. About 4000 D. c. 66 ABYDOS AND THE FIRST THEEE DYNASTIES magnificent of all, for it has a floor of granite blocks; we know of no other instance of stone being used for building in this early age. Almost every tomb has been burnt at some period unknown. The brick walls are burnt red, and many of the alabaster vases are almost calcined. This was probably the work of some unknown enemy. The wide complicated tombs have around the main chamber a series of smaller rooms, which were used to store what was considered necessary for the use of the royal ghost. Of these necessaries the most interesting to us are the slaves, who were, as there is little reason to doubt, purposely killed and buried round the royal chamber so that their spirits should be on the spot when the dead king came to Abydos; thus they would be always ready to serve him with the food and other things which had been stored in the tomb with them and placed under their charge. There were stacks of great vases of wine, corn, and other food; these were covered up with masses of fat to preserve the contents, and they were corked with a pottery stopper, which was protected by a conical clay sealing, stamped with the impress of the royal cylinder-seal. There were bins of corn, joints of oxen, pottery dishes, copper pans, and other things which might be useful for the ghostly cuisine of the tomb. There were numberless small objects, used, no doubt, by the dead monarch during life, which he would be pleased to see again in the next world,— carved ivory boxes, little slabs for grinding eye-paint, golden buttons, model tools, model vases with gold tops, ivory and pot- CONTEISTTS OF THE TOMBS 67 tery figurines, and other oh jets d^art; the golden royal seal of judgment of King Den in its ivory casket, and so forth. There were memorials of the royal victories in peace and war, little ivory plaques with inscriptions commemorating the founding of new buildings, the insti- tution of new religious festivals in honour of the gods, CONICAL VASE - STOPPERS. From Abydos. Ist Dynasty : about 4000 b. c. Photograph reproduced from M. de Morgan's Recherches, vol. i. the bringing of the captives of the royal bow and spear to the palace, the discomfiture of the peoples of the North-land. All these things, which have done so much to reconstitute for us the history of the earliest period of the Egyptian monarchy, were placed under the care of the dead slaves whose bodies were buried round 68 ABYDOS AND THE FIEST THEEE DYNASTIES the empty tomb-chamber of their royal master in Abydos. The killing and entombment of the royal servants is of the highest anthropological interest, for it throws a vivid light upon the manners of the time. It shows the primeval Egyptians as a semi-barbaric people of childishly simple ways of thought. The king was dead. For all his kingship he was a man, and no man was immortal in this world. But yet how could one reaUy die? Shadows, dreams, all kinds of phenomena which the primitive mind could not explain, induced the belief that, though the outer man might rot, there was an inner man which could not die and still lived on. The idea of total death was unthinkable. And where should this inner man still live on but in the tomb to which the outer man was consigned*? And here, doubtless it was believed, in the house to which the body was consigned, the ghost lived on. And as each ghost had his house with the body, so no doubt all ghosts could communicate with one another from tomb to tomb ; and so there grew up the belief in a tomb-world, a subterranean Egypt of tombs, in which the dead Egyptians still lived and had their being. Later on the boat of the sun, in which the god of light crossed the heavens by day, was thought to pass through this dead world between his setting and his rising, accompanied by the souls of the righteous. But of this belief we find no trace yet in the ideas of the 1st Dynasty. All we can see is that the sahus, or bodies of the dead, were supposed to reside in awful majesty in the tomb, while the ghosts could pass from GHOSTLY KINGS JlNB SLAVES 69 tomb to tomb through the mazes of the miderworld. Over this dread reahn of dead men presided a dead god, Osiris of Abydos; and so the necropolis of Abydos was the necropolis of the miderworld, to which all ghosts who were not its rightful citizens would come from afar to pay their court to their ruler. Thus the man of substance would have a monumental tablet put up to himself in this necropolis as a sort of pied-a-terre, even if he coTild not be buried there ; for the king, who, for reasons chiefly connected with local patriotism, was buried near the city of his earthly abode, a second tomb would be erected, a stately mansion in the city of Osiris, in which his ghost could reside when it pleased him to come to Abydos. Now none could live without food, and men living under the earth needed it as much as men living on the earth. The royal tomb was thus provided with an enor- mous amoimt of earthly food for the use of the royal ghost, and with other things as well, as we have seen. The same provision had also to be made for the royal resting-place at Abydos. And in both cases royal slaves were needed to take care of all this provision, and to serve the ghost of the king, whether in his real tomb at Nakada, or elsewhere, or in his second tomb at Abydos. Ghosts only could serve ghosts, so that of the slaves ghosts had to be made. That was easily done ; they died when their master died and followed him to the tomb. No doubt it seemed perfectly natural to all concerned, to the slaves as much as to anybody else. But it shows the child's idea of the value of life. An animate thing 70 ABYDOS AND THE FIRST THREE DYNASTIES was hardly distinguished at this period from an inani- mate thing. The most ancient Egyptians buried slaves with their kings as naturally as they buried jars of wine and bins of com with them. Both were buried with a definite object. The slaves had to die before they were buried, but then so had the king himself. They all had to die sometime or other. And the actual killing of them was no worse than killing a dog, no worse even than " killing " golden buttons and ivory boxes. For, when the buttons and boxes were buried with the king, they were just as much dead as the slaves. Of the sanctity of human life as distinct from other life, there was probably no idea at all. The royal ghost needed ghostly servants, and they were provided as a matter of course. But as civilization progressed, the ideas of the Egyp- tians changed on these points, and in the later ages of the ancient world they were probably the most humane of the peoples, far more so than the Greeks, in fact. The cultured Hellenes murdered their prisoners of war without hesitation. Who has not been troubled in mind by the execution of Nikias and Demosthenes after the surrender of the Athenian army at Syracuse? When we compare this with Grant's refusal even to take Lee's sword at Appomattox, we see how we have progressed in these matters; while Gylippus and the Syracusans were as much children as the 1st Dynasty Egyptians. But the Egyptians of Gylippus 's time had probably ad- vanced much further than the Greeks in the direction of rational manhood. When Amasis had his rival Apries PROGRESS IN PRINCIPLES OE HUMANITY 71 in his power, he did not put him to death, but kept Tn'm as his coadjutor on the throne. Apries fled from him, allied himself with Grreek pirates, and advanced against his generous rival. After his defeat and murder at Momemphis, Amasis gave him a splendid burial. When we compare this generosity to a beaten foe with the savagery of the Assyrians, for instance, we see how far the later Egyptians had progressed in the paths of humanity. The ancient custom of killing slaves was first dis- continued at the death of the lesser chieftains, but we find a possible survival of it in the case of a king, even as late as the time of the Xlth Dynasty; for at Thebes, in the precinct of the funerary temple of King Neb- hapet-Ra Mentuhetep and roimd the central pyramid which commemorated his memory, were buried a number of the ladies of his harim. They were all buried at one and the same time, and there can be little doubt that they were aU killed and buried round the king, in order to be with him in the next world. Now with each of these ladies, who had been turned into ghosts, was buried a little waxen human figure placed in a httle model cof&n. This was to replace her own slave. She who went to accompany the king in the next world had to have her own attendant also. But, not being royal, a real slave was not killed for her; she only took with her a waxen figure, which by means of charms and incantations would, when she called upon it, turn into a real slave, and say, '* Here am I," and do whatever work might be required of her. The actual killing and 72 ABYDOg AlTD THE FIRST THEEE DYNASTIES burial of the slaves had in all cases except that of the king been long " commuted, ' ' so to speak, into a burial with the dead person of ushabtis, or " Answerers," little figures like those described above, made more usually of stone, and inscribed with the name of the deceased. They were caUed " Answerers " because they answered the call of their dead master or mistress, and by magic power became ghostly servants. Later on they were made of wood and glazed faience, as well as stone. By this means the greater humanity of a later age sought a relief from the primitive disregard of the death of others. Anthropologically interesting as are the results of the excavations at Umm el-Ga'ab, they are no less his- torically important. There is no need here to weary the reader with the details of scientific controversy; it will suffice to set before him as succinctly and clearly as possible the net results of the work which has been done. Messrs. Amelineau and Petrie have found the sec- ondary tombs and have identified the names of the fol- lowing primeval kings of Egypt. We arrange them in their apparent historical order. 1. Aha Men (?). 8. Qa Sen. 2. Narmer (or Betjumer) Sma (?). 9. Khasekhem (Khasekhemui) 3. Tjer (or Khent). Besh. 4. Tja Ati. 10. Hetepsekhemni. 5. Den Semti. 11. Raneb. 6. Atjab Merpeba. 12. Neneter. 7. Semerkha Nekht. 13. Sekhemab Perabsen. IDENTIFICATION OF KINGS 73 Two or tliree other names are ascribed by Prof. Petrie to the Hierakonpolite dynasty of Upper Egypt, which, as it occurs before the time of Mena and the 1st Dynasty, he calls " Dynasty 0." Dynasty 0, how- ever, is no dynasty, and in any case we should prefer to caU the " predynastic " dynasty " Dynasty —I." The names of '* Dynasty minus One," however, remain problematical, and for the present it would seem safer to suspend judgment as to the place of the supposed royal names " Ro " and " Ka " (Men-ka*?), which Prof. Petrie supposes to have been those of two of the kings of Upper Egypt who reigned before Mena. The king " Sma " (" Uniter ") is possibly identical with Aha or Narmer, more probably the latter. It is not necessary to detaU the process by which Egyptologists have sought to identify these thirteen kings with the successors of Mena in the lists of kings and the 1st and Hd Dynas- ties of Manetho. The work has been very successful, though not perhaps quite so completely accomplished as Prof. Petrie himself inclines to believe. The first identification was made by Prof. Sethe, of Gottingen, who pointed out that the names Semti and Merpeba on a vase-fragment found by M. Amehneau were in reahty those of the kings Hesepti and Merbap of the hsts, the Ousaphais and Miebis of Manetho. The perfectly cer- tain identifications are these:— 5. Den Semti = Hesepti, Ousaphais, Ist Dynasty. 6. Atjab Merpeba = Merbap, Miebis, Ist Dynasty. 7. Semerkha Nekht= Shemsu or Semsem (?), Semempres, Ist Dynasty. 8. Qa Sen = Qebh, Bienekhes, Ist Dynasty. 74 ABYDOS AND THE FIKST THEEE DYNASTIES 9. Khasekhemui Besh = Betju-mer (?), Boethos, lid Dynasty. 12 Neneter = Bineneter, Binothris, lid Dynasty. Six of the Abydos kings have thus been identified with names in the lists and in Manetho; that is to say, we now know the real names of six of the earliest Egyp- tian monarchs, whose appellations are given us under mutilated forms by the later list-makers. Prof. Petrie further identifies (4) Tja Ati with Ateth, (3) Tjer with Teta, and (1) Aha with Mena. Mena, Teta, Ateth, Ata, Hesepti, Merbap, Shemsu (?), and Qebh are the names of the 1st Dynasty as given in the lists. The equivalent of Ata Prof. Petrie finds in the name " Merneit," which is found at Umm el-Ga'ab. But there is no proof what- ever that Merneit was a king; he was much more prob- ably a prince or other great personage of the reign of Den, who was buried with the kings. Prof. Petrie ac- cepts the identification of the personal name of Aha as " Men," and so makes him the only equivalent of Mena. But this reading of the name is still doubtful. Arguing that Aha must be Mena, and having all the rest of the kings of the 1st Dynasty identified with the names in the lists, Prof. Petrie is compelled to exclude Narmer from the dynasty, and to relegate him to " Dynasty 0," before the time of Mena. It is quite possible, however, that Narmer was the successor, not the predecessor, of Mena. He was certainly either the one or the other, as the style of art in his time was exactly the same as that in the time of Aha. The " Scorpion," too, whose name is found at Hierakonpolis, certainly dates to the KINGS or THE FIEST DYNASTY 75 same time as Narmer and Alia, for the style of his work is the same. And it may well be that he is not to be counted as a separate king, belonging to " Dynasty " (or " Dynasty —I ") at all, but as identical with Narmer, just as " Sma " may also be. We thus find that the two kings who left the most developed remains at Hierakonpolis are the two whose monuments at Aby- dos are the oldest of all on that site. That is to say, the kings whose monuments record the conquest of the North belong to the period of transition from the old Hierakonpolite dominion of Upper Egypt to the new kingdom of all Egypt. They, in fact, represent the " Mena " or Menes of tradition. It may be that Aha bore the personal name of Men, which would thus be the original of Mena, but this is uncertain. In any case both Aha and Narmer must be assigned to the 1st Dy- nasty, with the result that we know of more kings belonging to the dynasty than appear in the lists. Nor is this improbable. Manetho's list is evidently based upon old Egyptian lists derived from the authori- ties upon which the king-lists of Abydos and Sakkara were based. These old lists were made imder the XlXth Dynasty, when an interest in the oldest kings seems to have been awakened, and the ruling monarchs erected temples at Abydos in their honour. This phenomenon can only have been due to a discovery of Umm el-Ga'ab and its treasures, the tombs of which were recognized as the burial-places (real or secondary) of the kings before the pyramid-builders. Seti I. and his son Ramses then worshipped the kings of Umm el-Ga'ab, with their 76 ABYDOS AND THE FIRST THREE DYNASTIES names set before them in the order, number, and spelling in which the scribes considered they ought to be in- scribed. It is highly probable that the number known at that time was not quite correct. We know that the spelling of the names was very much garbled (to take one example only, the signs for Sen were read as one sign Qehli), so that one or two kings may have been omitted or displaced. This may be the case with Nar- mer, or, as his name ought possibly to be read, Betju- mer. His monuments show by their style that he belongs to the very beginning of the 1st Dynasty. No name in the 1st Dynasty list corresponds to his. But one of the lists gives for the first king of the lid Dynasty (the successor of "Qebh" = Sen) a name which may also be read Betjumer, spelt syllabicaUy this time, not ideographically. On this account Prof. Naville wishes to regard the Hierakonpolite monuments of Narmer as belonging to the lid Dynasty, but, as we have seen, they are among the most archaic known, and certainly must belong to the beginning of the 1st Dynasty. It is therefore probable that Kiasekhemui Besh and Narmer (Betjumer?) were confused by this list-maker, and the name Betjumer was given to the first king of the lid Dynasty, who was probably in reality Khasekhemui. The resemblance of Betju to BesJi may have contributed to this confusion. So Narmer (or Betjumer) found his way out of his proper place at. the beginning of the 1st Dynasty. Whether Aha was also called " Men " or not, it seems evident that he and Narmer were jointly the originals SOME HISTOEICAL EESULTS 77 of the legendary Mena. Narmer, who possibly also bore the name of Sma, " the Uniter," conquered the North. Aha, " the Fighter," also ruled both South and North at the same period. Khasekhemui, too, conquered the North, but the style of his monuments shows such an advance upon that of the days of Aha and Narmer that it seems best to make him the successor of Sen (or " Qebh "), and, explaining the transference of the name Betjumer to the beginning of the lid Dynasty as due to a confusion with Khasekhemui 's personal name Besh, to make KJiasekhemui the founder of the lid Dynasty. The beginning of a new dynasty may well have been marked by a reassertion of the new royal power over Lower Egypt, which may have lapsed somewhat under the rule of the later kings of the 1st Dynasty. Semti is certainly the " Hesepti " of the lists, and Tja Ati is probably *' Ateth." " Ata " is thus uniden- tified. Prof. Petrie makes him = Merneit, but, as has already been said, there is no proof that the tomb of Merneit is that of a king. " Teta " may be Tjer or Khent, but of this there is no proof. It is most prob- able that the names " Teta," '' Ateth," and " Ata " are all founded on Ati, the personal name of Tja. The king Tjer is then not represented in the lists, and " Mena " is a compound of the two oldest Abydos kings, Narmer (Betjumer) Sma (?) and Aha Men (?). These are the bare historical results that have been attained with regard to the names, identity, and order of the kings. The smaller memorials that have been found with them, especially the ivory plaques, have told 78 ABYDOS AND THE FIEST THEEE DYNASTIES US of events that took place during their reigns; but, with the exception of the constantly recurring refer- ences to the conquest of the North, there is little that can be considered of historical interest or importance. We will take one as an example. This is the tablet No. 32,650 of the British Museiun, illustrated by Prof. Petrie, Royal Tombs i (Egypt Exploration Fund), pi. xi, 14, XV, 16. This is the record of a single year, the first in the reign of Semti, Bang of Upper and Lower Egypt. On it we see a picture of a king performing a religious dance before the god Osiris, who is seated in a shrine placed on a dais. This religious dance was performed by all the kings in later times. Below we find hieroglyphic (ideographic) records of a river expe- dition to fight the Northerners and of the capture of a fortified town called An. The capture of the town is indicated by a broken line of fortification, half -encircling the name, and the hoe with which the emblematic hawks on the slate reliefs already described^ are armed; this signifies the opening and breaking down of the wall. On the other half of the tablet we find the viceroy of Lower Egypt, Hemaka, mentioned; also " the Hawk {i. e. the king) seizes the seat of the Libyans," and some unintelligible record of a jeweller of the palace and a king's carpenter. On a similar tablet (of Sen) we find the words " the king's carpenter made this record." All these little tablets are then the records of single years of a king's life, and others like them, preserved no doubt in royal archives, formed the base of regular 1 See p. 51. THE STELE OF PALEEMO 79 annals, wMcli were occasionally carved upon stone. We have an example of one of these in the " Stele of Pa- lermo," a fragment of black granite, inscribed with the annals of the kings up to the time of the Vth Dynasty, when the monument itseK was made. It is a matter for intense regret that the greater portion of this price- less historical monument has disappeared, leaving us but a piece out of the centre, with part of the records of only six kings before Snefru, Of these six the name of only one, Neneter, of the lid Dynasty, whose name is also found at Abydos, is mentioned. The only impor- tant historical event of Neneter 's reign seems to have occurred in his thirteenth year, when the towns or pal- aces of Ha (" North ") and Shem-Rd (" The Sun pro- ceeds ") were founded. Nothing but the institution and celebration of religious festivals is recorded in the six- teen yearly entries preserved to us out of a reign of thirty-five years. The annual height of the Nile is given, and the occasions of numbering the people are recorded (every second year) : nothing else. Manetho tells us that in the reign of Binothris, who is Neneter, it was decreed that women could hold royal honours and privileges. This first concession of women's rights is not mentioned on the strictly official *' Palermo Stele." More regrettable than aught else is the absence from the " Palermo Stele " of that part of the original monu- ment which gave the annals of the earliest kings. At any rate, in the lines of annals which still exist above that which contains the chronicle of the reign of Neneter no entry can be definitely identified as belonging to the 80 ABYDOS AND THE FIRST THREE DYNASTIES reigns of Aha or Narmer. In a line below there is a mention of the " birth of Khasekhemui," apparently a festival in honour of the birth of that king celebrated in the same way as the reputed birthday of a god. This shows the great honour in which Khasekhemui was held, and perhaps it was he who really finally settled the question of the unification of North and South and con- solidated the work of the earlier kings. As far as we can tell, then, Aha and Narmer were the first conquerors of the North, the unifiers of the king- dom, and the originals of the legendary Mena. In their time the kingdom's centre of gravity was still in the South, and Narmer (who is probably identical with "the Scorpion ") dedicated the memorials of his deeds in the temple of Hierakonpolis. It may be that the legend of the founding of Memphis in the time of " Menes " is nearly correct (as we shall see, historically, the founda- tion may have been due to Merpeba), but we have the authority of Manetho for the fact that the first two dynasties were " Thinite " (that is. Upper Egyptian), and that Memphis did not become the capital till the time of the Hid Dynasty. With this statement the evi- dence of the monuments fully agrees. The earliest royal tombs in the pyramid-field of Memphis date from the time of the Illd Dynasty, so that it is evident that the kings had then taken up their abode in the Northern capital. We find that soon after the time of Khase- khemui the king Perabsen was especially connected with Lower Egypt. His personal name is unknown to us (though he may be the '* Uatjnes " of the lists), but UNiriEES or THE KINGDOM 81 we do know tliat he had two banner-names, Sekhem-ab and Perabsen. The first is his hawk or Horus-name, the second his Set-name; that is to say, while he bore the first name as King of Upper Egypt under the special patronage of Horus, the hawk-god of the Upper Coun- try, he bore the second as King of Lower Egypt, under the patronage of Set, the deity of the Delta, whose fetish animal appears above this name instead of the hawk. This shows how definitely Perabsen wished to appear as legitimate King of Lower as well as Upper Egypt. Li later times the Theban kings of the XTEth Dynasty, when they devoted themselves to winning the allegiance of the Northerners by living near Memphis rather than at Thebes, seem to have been imitating the successors of Khasekhemui. Moreover, we now find various evidences of increas- ing connection with the North. A princess named Ne- maat-hap, who seems to have been the mother of Sa- nekht, the first king of the Illd Dynasty, bears the name of the sacred Apis of Memphis, her name signifying " Possessing the right of Apis." According to Manetho, the kings of the ITCd Dynasty are the first Memphites, and this seems to be quite correct. With ISTe-maat-hap the royal right seems to have been transferred to a Memphite house. But the Memphites stiU had asso- ciations with Upper Egypt: two of them, Tjeser Khet- neter and Sa-nekht, were buried near Abydos, in the desert at Bet Khallaf, where their tombs were discov- ered and excavated by Mr, Garstang in 1900. The tomb of Tjeser, which is illustrated on page 82, is a great 82 ABYDOS AND THE FIRST THREE DYNASTIES brick-built mastaba, forty feet high and measuring 300 feet by 150 feet. The actual tomb-chambers are exca- vated in the rock, twenty feet below the ground-level and sixty feet below the top of the mastaba. They had been violated in ancient times, but a number of clay jar-sealings, alabaster vases, and bowls belonging to the tomb furniture were foimd by the discoverer. Sa- nekht's tomb is similar. In it was found the preserved THE TOMB OF KING TJESEK AT e6t KHALLAF. About 3700 B. c. skeleton of its owner, who was a giant seven feet high. It is remarkable that Manetho chronicles among the kings of the early period a king named Sesokhris, who was five cubits high. This may have been Sa-nekht. Tjeser had two tombs, one, the above-mentioned, near Abydos, the other at Sakkara, in the Memphite pyramid-field. This is the famous Step-Pyramid. Since Sa-nekht seems really to have been buried at Bet Khal- laf, probably Tjeser was, too, and the Step-Pyramid may have been his secondary or sham tomb, erected in the necropolis of Memphis as a compliment to Seker, the ROYAL POWEE TRANSFEEEED TO MEMPHIS 83 Northern god of the dead, just as Aha had his secondary- tomb at Abydos in compliment to Khentamenti. Sne- feru, also, the last king of the md Dynasty, seems to have had two tombs. One of these was the great Pyra- mid of Medum, which was explored by Prof. Petrie in 1891, the other was at Dashur. Near by was the inter- esting necropolis already mentioned, in which was dis- covered evidence of the continuance of the cramped posi- tion of burial and of the absence of mummification among a certain section of the population even as late as the time of the IVth Dynasty. This has been taken to imply that the fusion of the primitive Neolithic and invading sub-Semitic races had not been effected at that time. With the rVth Dynasty the connection of the royal house with the South seems to have finally ceased. The governmental centre of gravity was finally transferred to Memphis, and the kings were thenceforth for several centuries buried in the great pyramids which still stand in serried order along the western desert border of Egypt, from the Delta to the province of the Fayyum. With the latest discoveries in this Memphite pyramid- field we shall deal in the next chapter. The transference of the royal power to Memphis under the Hid Dynasty naturally led to a great increase of Egyptian activity in the Northern lands. We read in Manetho of a great Libyan war in the reign of Neche- rophes, and both Sa-nekht and Tjeser seem to have finally established Egyptian authority in the Sinaitic peninsula, where their rock-inscriptions have been found. 84 ABYDOS AND THE FIEST THEEE DYNASTIES In 1904 Prof. Petrie was despatched to Sinai by the Egypt Exploration Fund, in order finally to record the inscriptions of the early kings in the Wadi Maghara, which had been lately very much damaged by the opera- tions of the turquoise-miners. It seems almost incredi- ble that ignorance and vandalism should still be so ram- pant in the twentieth century that the most important historical monuments are not safe from desecration in order to obtain a few turquoises, but it is so. Prof. Pe- trie 's expedition did not start a day too soon, and at the suggestion of Sir WiUiam Garstin, the adviser to the Ministry of the Interior, the majority of the inscrip- tions have been removed to the Cairo Museum for safety and preservation. Among the new inscriptions discovered is one of Sa-nekht, which is now in the Brit- ish Museum. Tjeser and Sa-nekht were not the first Egyptian kings to visit Sinai. Already, in the days of the 1st Dynasty, Semerkha had entered that land and inscribed his name upon the rocks. But the regular annexation, so to speak, of Sinai to Egypt took place imder the Memphites of the Illd Dynasty. With the ind Dynasty we have reached the age of the pyramid-builders. The most typical pyramids are those of the three great kings of the IVth Dynasty, Khufu, Khafra, and Menkaura, at Giza near Cairo. But, as we have seen, the last king of the Illd Dynasty, Snefru, also had one pyramid, if not two; and the most ancient of these buildings known to us, the Step-Pyra- mid of Sakkara, was erected by Tjeser at the beginning of that dynasty. The evolution of the royal tombs from EVOLUTION OF ROYAL TOMBS 85 the time of the 1st Dynasty to that of the IVth is very interesting to trace. At the period of transition from the predynastic to the dynastic age we have the great mastaba of Aha at Nakada, and the simplest chamber- tombs at Abydos. All these were of brick; no stone was used in their construction. Then we find the cham- ber-tomb of Den Semti at Abydos with a granite floor, the walls being still of brick. Above each of the Abydos tombs was probably a low mound, and in front a small chapel, from which a flight of steps descended into the simple chamber. On one of the little plaques already mentioned, which were found in these tombs, we have an archaic inscription, entirely written in ideographs, which seems to read, " The Big-Heads (i. e. the chiefs) come to the tomb." The ideograph for " tomb " seems to be a rude picture of the funerary chapel, but from it we can derive little information as to its construction. Towards the end of the 1st Dynasty, and during the lid, the royal tombs became much more complicated, being surrounded with munerous chambers for the dead slaves, etc. Khasekhemui's tomb has thirty-three such cham- bers, and there is one large chamber of stone. We know of no other instance of the use of stone work for building at this period except in the royal tombs. No doubt the mason's art was stiU so difficult that it was reserved for royal use only. Under the Hid Dynasty we find the last brick mas- tabas built for royalty, at Bet Khallaf, and the first pyramids, in the Memphite necropolis. In the mastaba of Tjeser at Bet Khallaf stone was used for the great 86 ABYDOS AND THE FIRST THREE DYNASTIES portciillises whicli were intended to bar the way to pos- sible plunderers through the passages of the tomb. The Step-Pyramid at Sakkara is, so to speak, a series of mastabas of stone, imposed one above the other; it never had the continuous casing of stone which is the mark of a true pyramid. The pyramid of Snefru at Medum is more developed. It also originated in a mastaba, enlarged, and with another mastaba-like erection on the top of it; but it was given a continuous sloping casing of fine limestone from bottom to top, and so is a true pyramid. A discussion of recent theories as to the build- ing of the later pyramids of the IVth Dynasty will be found in the next chapter. In the time of the 1st Dynasty the royal tomb was known by the name of " Prptection-around-the-Hawk, i.e. the king" (Sa-lia-Jieru) ; but under the Illd and IVth Dynasties regular names, such as " the Finn," *' the Glorious," " the Appearing," etc., were given to each pyramid. We must not omit to note an interesting point in connection with the royal tombs at Abydos. In that of King Khent or Tjer (the reading of the ideograph is doubtful) M. Amelineau found a large bed or bier of granite, with a figure of the god Osiris lying in state sculptured in high relief upon it. This led him to jump to the conclusion that he had found the tomb of the god Osiris himself, and that a skull he found close by was the veritable cranium of the primeval folk-hero, who, according to the euhemerist theory, was the deified orig- inal of the god. The true explanation is given by Dr. False Door of the Tomb of Tela. An official of the IVth Dynasty ; about 3600 B. C. From Gtza. British Museum. Photograph by Messrs. Mansell 6c Co. THE TOMB OF OSIEIS 87 Wallis Budge in Ms History of Egypt, i, p. 19. It is a fact that the tomb of Tjer was regarded by the Egyp- tians of the XlXth Dynasty as the veritable tomb of Osiris. They thought they had discovered it, just as M. Amelineau did. When the ancient royal tombs of TJnun el-Ga'ab were rediscovered and identified at the beginning of the XlXth Dynasty, and Seti I built the great temple of Abydos to the divine ancestors in honour of the discovery, embellishing it with a relief of himself and his son Ramses making offerings to the names of his predecessors (the " Tablet of Abydos "), the name of King Kient or Tjer (which is perhaps the really cor- rect original form) was read by the royal scribes as " Khent " and hastily identified with the first part of the name of the god Khent-scmexxii Osiris, the lord of Abydos. The tomb was thus regarded as the tomb of Osiris himself, and it was furnished with a great stone figure of the god lying on his bier, attended by the two hawks of Isis and Nephthys; ever after the site was visited by crowds of pilgrims, who left at Umm el-Ga'ab the thousands of little votive vases whose fragments have given the place its name of the " Mother of Pots." ^ This is the explanation of the discovery of the " Tomb of Osiris." We have not found what M. Amelineau seems rather naively to have thought possible, a con- firmation of the ancient view that Osiris was originally a man who ruled over Egypt and was deified after his death; but we have found that the Egyptians them- selves were more or less euhemerists, and did think so. 1 See p. 64. 88 ABYDOS AND THE FIEST THEEE DYNASTIES It may seem remarkable that all this new knowledge of ancient Egypt is derived from tombs and has to do with the resting-places of the kings when dead, rather than with their palaces or temples when living. Of temples at this early period we have no trace. The old- est temple in Egypt is perhaps the little chapel in front of the pyramid of Snefru at Medrnn. We first hear of temples to the gods under the IVth Dynasty, but of the actual buildings of that period we have recovered noth- ing but one or two inscribed blocks of stone. Prof. Petrie has traced out the plan of the oldest temple of Osiris at Abydos, which may be of the time of Khufu, from scanty evidences which give us but little informa- tion. It is certain, however, that this temple, which is clearly one of the oldest in Egypt, goes back at least to his time. Its site is the mound called Kom es-SuUan, " The Mound of the King," close to the village of el- Kherba, and on the borders of the cultivation northeast of the royal tombs at TJmm el-Ga'ab. Of royal palaces we have more definite information. North of the Kom es-Sultan are two great fortress-en- closures of brick : the one is known as Shunet ez-Zebib, "the Storehouse of Dried Orapes;" the other is occu- pied by the Coptic monastery of Der Anba Musas. Both are certainly fortress-palaces of the earliest period of the Egyptian monarchy. We know from the small record- plaques of this period that the kings were constantly founding or repairing places of this kind, which were always great rectangular enclosures with crenelated brick walls like those of early Babylonian buildings. EOYAL FORTRESS - CITIES 89 We have seen that the Northern Egyptian possessed similar fortress-cities which were captured by Narmer.^ These were the seats of the royal residence in various parts of the country. Behind their walls was the king's house, and no doubt also a town of nobles and retainers, while the peasants lived on the arable land without. The Shunet ez-Zebib and its companion fortress were THE SHftnET EZ - ZEbTb : THE POKTEESS - TOWN OP THE lid DYNASTY AT ABYDOS. About 3900 B. C. evidently the royal cities of the 1st and lid Dynasties at Abydos. The former has been excavated by Mr. E. R. Ayrton for the Egypt Exploration Fund, under the supervision of Prof. Petrie. He found jar-sealings of Khasekhemui and Perabsen, In later times the place was utilized as a burial-place for ibis-miunmies (it had already been abandoned as a city before the time of the XHth Dynasty), and from this fact it received the name of Shenet ded-Jiib, or " Storehouse of Ibis Burials." The Arab invaders adapted this name to their own language 1 See p. 50. 90 ABYDOS AND THE FIEST THEEE DYNASTIES in the nearest form which would have any meaning, as Shunet ez-Zebib, " the Storehouse of Dried Grapes." The Arab word shuna (" Bam " or '' Storehouse ") was, it should be noted, taken over from the Coptic sheune, which is the old-Egyptian sJienet. The identity of sheune or shuna with the G-erman " Scheune " is a quaint and curious coincidence. In the illustration of the Shunet ez-Zebib the curved line of crenelated wall, following the contour of the hill, should be noted, as it is a remarkable example of the building of this early period. It will have been seen from the foregoing description of what far-reaching importance the discoveries at Aby- dos have been. A new chapter of the history of the human race has been opened, which contains information previously undreamt of, information which Egyptolo- gists had never dared to hope would be recovered. The sand of Egypt indeed conceals inexhaustible treas- ures, and no one knows what the morrow's work may bring forth. Ex Africa semper aliquid novi! CHAPTER m MEMPHIS AND THE PYRAMIDS IITEMPHIS, the " beautiful abode," the " City of the White iWall," is said to have been founded by the legendary Menes, who in order to build it diverted the stream of the Nile by means of a great dyke constructed near the modem village of Koshesh, south of the village of Mitrahena, which marks the central point of the ancient metropolis of Northern Egypt. It may be that the city was founded by Aha or Narmer, the historical originals of Mena or Menes; but we have another theory with regard to its foundation, that it was originally built by King Merpeba Atjab, whose tomb was also discov- ered at Abydos near those of Aha and Narmer. Mer- peba is the oldest king whose name is absolutely identi- fied with one occurring in the XlXth Dynasty king-lists and in Manetho. He is certainly the " Merbap " or " Merbepa " (" Merbapen ") of the lists and the Miebis of Manetho. In both the lists and in Manetho he stands fifth in order from Mena, and he was therefore the sixth king of the 1st Dynasty. The lists, Manetho, and the 91 92 MEMPHIS AND THE PYRAMIDS small monuments in his own tomb agree in making him the immediate successor of Semti Den (Ousaphais), and from the style of these latter it is evident that he comes after Tja, Tjer, Narmer, and Aha. That is to say, the contemporary evidence makes him the fifth king from Aha, the first original of " Menes." Now after the piety of Seti I had led him to erect a great temple at Abydos in memory of the ancient kings, whose sepulchres had probably been brought to light shortly before, and to compile and set up in the temple a list of his predecessors, a certain pious snob- bery or snobbish piety impelled a worthy named Tunure, who lived at Memphis, to put up in his own tomb at Sakkara a tablet of kings like the royal one at Abydos. If Osiris-Khentamenti at Abydos had his tablet of kings, so should Osiris-Seker at Sakkara. But Timure does not begin his list with Mena; his initial king is Merpeba. For him Merpeba was the first monarch to be commemorated at Sakkara. Does not this look very much as if the strictly historical Merpeba, not the rather legendary and confused Mena, was regarded as the first Memphite king ? It may well be that it was in the reign of Merpeba, not in that of Aha or Narmer, that Memphis was founded. The XlXth Dynasty lists of course say nothing about Mena or Merpeba having founded Memphis; they only give the names of the kings, nothing more. The earliest authority for the ascription of Memphis to " Menes " is Herodotus, who was followed in this ascription, as in many other matters, by Manetho; but it must be THE FOUKDEE OF MEMPHIS 93 remembered that Manetho was writing for the edifica- tion of a Greek king (Ptolemy Philadelphus) and Ms Oreek court at Alexandria, and had therefore to evince a respect for the great Greek classic which he may not always have really felt. Herodotus is not, of course, accused of any wilful misstatement in this or in any other matter in which his accuracy is suspected. He merely wrote down what he was told by the Egyptians themselves, and Merpeba was sufficiently near in time to Aha to be easily confounded with him by the scribes of the Persian period, who no doubt ascribed everything to " Mena " that was done by the kings of the 1st and Hd Dynasties. Therefore it may be considered quite probable that the '' Menes " who founded Memphis was Merpeba, the fifth or sixth king of the 1st Dynasty, who Tunure, a thousand years before the time of Herodotus and his informants, placed at the head of the Memphite " List of Sakkara." The reconquest of the North by Khasekhemui doubt- less led to a further strengthening of Memphis; and it is quite possible that the deeds of this king also con- tributed to make up the sum total of those ascribed to the Herodotean and Manethonian Menes. It may be that a town of the Northerners existed here before the time of the Southern Conquest, for Phtah, the local god of Memphis, has a very marked character of his own, quite different from that of Khen- tamenti, the Osiris of Abydos. He is always represented as a little bow-legged hydrocephalous dwarf very like the Phoenician Kabeiroi. It may be that here is another 94 MEMPHIS AND THE PYRAMn)S connection between the Northern Egyptians and the Semites. The name " Phtah," the " Opener," is defi- nitely Semitic. We may then regard the dwarf Phtah as originally a non-Egyptian god of the Northerners, probably Semitic in origin, and his town also as ante- dating the conquest. But it evidently was to the Southerners that Memphis owed its importance and its eventual promotion to the position of capital of the united kingdom. Then the dwarf Phtah saw himself rivalled by another Phtah of Southern Egyptian origin, who had been installed at Memphis by the Southerners. This Phtah was a sort of modified edition of Osiris, in mummy-form and holding crook and whip, but with a refined edition of the Kabeiric head of the indigenous Phtah. The actual god of '' the White Wall " was un- doubtedly confused with the dead god of the neeropoHs, whose name was Seker or Sekri (Sokari), " the Cof- fined." The original form of this deity was a mummied hawk upon a coffin, and it is very probable that he was imported from the South, like the second Phtah, at the time of the conquest, when the great Northern necropolis began to grow up as a duplicate of that at Abydos. Later on we find Seker confused with the ancient dwarf- god, and it is the latter who was afterwards chiefly revered as Phtah-Socharis-Osiris, the protector of the necropolis, the mummied Phtah being the generally rec- ognized ruler of the City of the White Wall. It is from the name of Seker that the modem Sak- kara takes its title. Sakkara marks the central point of the great Memphite necropolis, as it is the nearest point EOYAL TOMBS AT SAKKAEA 95 of the western desert to Memphis. Northwards the necropolis extended to Giza and Abu Roash, southwards, to Dashur; even the necropoles of Lisht and Medum may be regarded as appanages of Sakkara. At Sakkara itself Tjeser of the Illd Dynasty had a pyramid, which, as we have seen, was probably not his real tomb (which was the great mastaba at Bet Khallaf), but a secondary or sham tomb corresponding to the " tombs " of the earliest kiags at Umcm el-Ga'ab in the necropolis of Abydos. Many later kings, however, especially of the Vlth Dynasty, were actually buried at Sakkara. Their tombs have all been thoroughly described by their dis- coverer. Prof. Maspero, in his history. The last king of the md Dynasty, Snefru, was buried away down south at Medum, in splendid isolation, but he may also have had a second pyramid at Sakkara or Abu Roash. The kings of the IVth Dynasty were the greatest of the pyramid builders, and to them belong the huge edi- fices of Gtza. The Vth Dynasty favoured Abusir, be- tween Giza and Sakkara; the Vlth, as we have said, preferred Sakkara itself. With them the end of the Old Kingdom and of Memphite dominion was reached; the sceptre fell from the hands of the Memphite kings and was taken up by the princes of Herakleopolis (Ahnasyet el-Medina, near Beni Suef, south of the Fayyum) and Thebes. Where the Herakleopolite kings were buried we do not know; probably somewhere in the local necropolis of the Gebel es-Sedment, between Ahnasya and the Payyura. The first Thebans (the Xlth Dy- 96 MEMPHIS JlSD THE PYEAMHDS nasty) were certainly buried at Thebes, but when the Herakleopolites had finally disappeared, and all Egypt was again united under one strong sceptre, the Theban kings seem to have been drawn northwards. They re- moved to the seat of the dominion of those whom they had supplanted, and they settled in the neighbourhood of Herakleopolis, near the fertile province of the Fayyum, and between it and Memphis. Here, in the royal for- tress-palace of Itht-taui, " Controlling the Two Lands," the kings of the Xllth Dynasty hved, and they were buried in the necropoles of Dashur, Lisht, and Ulahun (Hawara), in pyramids like those of the old Memphite kings. These facts, of the situation of Itht-taui, of then- burial in the southern annex of the old necropolis of Memphis, and of the form of their tombs (the true Upper Egyptian and Theban form was a rock-cut gal- lery and chamber driven deep into the hill), show how solicitous were the Amenemhats and Senusrets of the suffrages of Lower Egypt, how anxious they were to conciliate the ancient royal pride of Memphis. Where the kings of the XTTT th Dynasty and the Hyksos or " Shepherds " were buried, we do not know. The kings of the restored Theban empire were all in- terred at Thebes. There are, in fact, no known royal sepulchres between the Fayyum and Abydos. The great kings were mostly buried in the neighbourhood of Mem- phis, Abydos, and Thebes. The sepulchres of the " Mid- dle Empire "—the Xlth to XHIth Dynasties— in the neighbourhood of the Fayyum may fairly be grouped with those of the same period at Dashur, which belongs IMPOETANT SITES EXCAVATED 97 to the necropolis of MempMs, since it is only a nule or two south of Sakkara. It is chiefly with regard to the sepulchres of the kings that the most momentous discoveries of recent years have been made— at Thebes, and at Sakkara, Abusir, Dashur, and Lisht, as at Abydos. For this rea- son we deal in succession with the finds in the necropoles of Abydos, Memphis, and Thebes respectively. And with the sepulchres of the " Old Kingdom," in the Mem- phite necropolis proper, we have natm-ally grouped those of the " Middle Kingdom " at Dashur, Lisht, niahun, and Hawara. Some of these modem discoveries have been com- mented on and illustrated by Prof. Maspero in his great history. But the discoveries that have been made since this publication have been very important,— those at Abusir, indeed, of first-rate importance, though not so momentous as those of the tombs of the 1st and lid Dynasties at Abydos, ah-eady described. At Abu Roash and at Giza, at the northern end of the Memphite necropolis, several expeditions have had considerable success, notably those of the American Dr. Reisner, assisted by Mr. Mace, who excavated the royal tombs at Umm el-Ga'ab for Prof. Petrie, those of the German Drs. SteindorfE and Borchardt,— the latter working for the Deutsch-Orient Gesellschaft,— and those of other American excavators. Until the full publication of the results of these excavations appears, very little can be said about them. Many mastaba-tombs have, it is under- stood, been found, with interesting remains. Nothing of 98 MEMPHIS AND THE PYRAMIDS great historical importance seems to have been discov- ered, however. It is otherwise when we come to the discoveries of Messrs. Borchardt and Schaier at Abusir, south of Giza and north of Sakkara. At this place results of first-rate historical importance have been attained. The main group of pyramids at Abusir consists of the tombs of the kings Sahura, Neferarikara, and Ne- user-Ra, of the Vth Dynasty. The pyramids themselves are smaller than those of Giza, but larger than those of Sakkara. In general appearance and effect they resem- ble those of Giza, but they are not so imposing, as the desert here is low. Those of Giza, Sakkara, and Dashur owe much of their impressiveness to the fact that they are placed at some height above the cultivated land. The excavation and planning of these pyramids were carried out by Messrs. Borchardt and Schafer at the expense of Baron von Bissing, the weU-known Egyp- tologist of Munich, and of the DeutscJi-Orient Gesell- schaft of Berhn. The antiquities found have been divided between the museums of Berlin and Cairo, One of the most noteworthy discoveries was that of the funerary temple of Ne-user-Ra, which stood at the base of his pyramid. The plan is interesting, and the granite lotus-bud columns found are the most ancient yet discovered in Egypt. Much of the paving and the wainscoting of the walls was of fine black marble, beau- tifully polished. An interesting find was a basin and drain with lion's-head mouth, to carry away the blood of the sacrifices. Some sculptures in relief were dis- DEVELOPMENT OE EGYPTIAN ART 99 covered, including a gigantic representation of the king and the goddess Isis, which shows that in the early days of the Vth Djnaasty the king and the gods were already depicted in exactly the same costume as they wore in the days of the Ramses and the Ptolemies. The hieratic art of Egypt had, in fact, now taken on itself the final outward appearance which it retained to the very end. There is no more of the archaism and absence of conventionality, which marks the art of the earliest dynasties. We can trace by successive steps the swift devel- opment of Egyptian art from the rude archaism of the 1st Dynasty to its final consummation under the Vth, when the conventions became fixed. In the time of Eiasekhemui, at the beginning of the lid Dynasty, the archaic character of the art has already begun to wear off. Under the same dynasty we still have styles of unconventional naivete, such as the famous Statue " Ko. 1 " of the Cairo Museum,^ bearing the names of Kings Hetepahaui, Neb-ra, and Neneter. But with the rVth Dynasty we no longer look for unconventionality. Prof. Petrie discovered at Abydos a small ivory statuette of Khufu or Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid of Griza. The portrait is a good one and carefully exe- cuted. It was not till the time of the XViilth Dynasty, indeed, that the Egyptians ceased to portray their kings as they reaUy were, and gave them a purely conven- tional type of face. This convention, against which the heretical King Amenhetep IV (Akhimaten) rebelled, 1 See illustration, p. 100. 100 MEMPHIS AND THE PYRAMKtS in order to have himself portrayed in all his real imgain- liness and ugliness, did not exist till long after the time of the IVth and Vth Dynasties. The kings of the Xllth STATUE NO. 1 OF THE CAIRO MUSEUM. tog:raph reproduced Becherches, vol. i. About 3900 B. 0. Photograph reproduced from M. de Morgan's "cherc' ' ' Dynasty especially were most careful that their statues should be accurate portraits; indeed, the portraits of Usertsen (Senusret) III vary from a young face to an old one, showing that the king was faithfully depicted at different periods of his life. ART OP POETEAITURE 101 But the general conventions of dress and deportment were finally fixed under the Vth Dynasty. After this time we no longer have such absolutely faithful and original presentments as the other little ivory statuette found by Prof. Petrie at Abydos (now in the British Museum), which shows us an aged monarch of the 1st Dynasty. It is obvious that the features are absolutely true to life, and the figure wears an unconventionally party-coloured and bordered robe of a kind which kings of a later day may have worn in actual life, but which they would assuredly never be depicted as wearing by the artists of their day. To the end of Egyptian history, the kings, even the Roman emperors, were represented on the monuments clothed in the official costiune of their ancestors of the IVth and Vth Dynasties, in the same manner as we see Khufu wearing his robe in the little figure from Abydos, and Ne-user-Ra on the great relief from Abusir. There are one or two exceptions, such as the representations of the original genius Akhunaten at Tell el-Amama and the beautiful statue of Ramses II at Turin, in which we see these kings wearing the real costume of their time, but such exceptions are very rare. The art of Abusir is therefore of great interest, since it marks the end of the development of the priestly art. Secular art might develop as it liked, though the crys- tallizing influence of the ecclesiastical canon is always evident here also. But henceforward it was an impiety, which only an Akhunaten could commit, to depict a king or a god on the walls of a temple otherwise (except 102 MEMPHIS AND THE PYRAMIDS SO far as the portrait was concerned) than as he had been depicted in the time of the Vth Dynasty. Other buildings have been excavated by the Germans at Abusir, notably the usual town of mastaba-tombs belonging to the chief dignitaries of the reign, which is always found at the foot of a royal pyramid of this period. Another building of the highest interest, be- longing to the same age, was also excavated, and its true character was determined. This is a building at a place called er-Righa or Abu Ghuraib, " Father of Crows," between Abusir and Giza. It was formerly supposed to be a pyramid, but the German excavations have shown that it is really a temple of the Sun-god Ra of HeUopolis, specially venerated by the kings of the Vth Dynasty, who were of Heliopolitan origin. The great pyramid-builders of the IVth Dynasty seem to have been the last true Memphites. At the end of the reign of Shepseskaf, the last monarch of the dynasty, the sceptre passed to a Heliopolitan family. The fol- lowing Vlth Dynasty may again have been Memphite, but this is uncertain. The capital continued to be Memphis, and from the beginning of the Hid Dynasty to the end of the Old Kingdom and the rise of Herakle- opolis and Thebes, Memphis remained the chief city of Egypt. The HeliopoUtans were naturally the servants of the Sim-god above aU other gods, and they were the first to caU themselves " Sons of the Sun," a title re- tained by the Pharaohs throughout all subsequent his- tory. It was Ne-user-Ra who built the Sun-temple of THE SUN -GOD OF HELIOPOLIS 103 Abu Gliuraib, on the edge of the desert, north of his pyramid and those of his two immediate predecessors at Abusir. As now laid bare by the excavations of 1900, it is seen to consist of an artificial mound, with a great court in front to the eastward. On the mound was erected a truncated obelisk, the stone emblem of the Sun-god. The worshippers in the court below looked towards the Sun's stone erected upon its mound in the west, the quarter of the sun's setting; for the Sun-god of Heliopolis was primarily the setting sun, Tum-Ra, not Ea Harmachis, the rising sun, whose emblem is the Great Sphinx at Giza, which looks towards the east. The sacred emblem of the Heliopolitan Sun-god reminds us forcibly of the Semitic bethels or haetyli, the sacred stones of Palestine, and may give yet another hint of the Semitic origin of the Heliopolitan cult. In the court of the temple is a huge circular altar of fine alabaster, several feet across, on which slain oxen were offered to the Sun, and behind this, at the eastern end of the court, are six great basins of the same stone, over which the beasts were slain, with drains running out of them by which their blood was carried away. This temple is a most interesting monument of the civilization of the ** Old Kingdom " at the time of the Vth Dynasty. At Sakkara itself, which lies a short distance south of Abusir, no new royal tombs have, as has been said, been discovered of late years. But a great deal of work has been done among the private mastaba-tombs by the officers of the Service des Antiquites, which reserves to itself the right of excavation here and at Dashur. The 1<^^ MEMPHIS AISTD THE PYKAMIDS mastaba of the sage and writer Kagemna (or rather Gremnika, '' I-have-f ound-a-ghost, " which sounds very like an American Indian appellation) is very fine. " I-have-f ound-a-ghost " lived in the reign of the king Tatkara Assa, the " Tancheres " of Manetho, and he wrote maxims like his great contemporary Phtahhetep (" Offered to Phtah"), who was also buried at Sakkara. The officials of the Service des Antiquites who cleaned the tomb unluckily misread his name Ka-bi-n (an impos- sible form which could only mean, literally translated, " G-host-soul-of " or ** Ghost-soul-to-me "), and they have placed it in this form over the entrance to his tomb. This mastaba, like those, already known, of Mereruka (sometimes misnamed " Mera ") and the famous Ti, both also at Sakkara, contains a large number of cham- bers, ornamented with reliefs. In the vicinity M. Gre- baut, then Director of the Service of Antiquities, dis- covered a very interesting Street of Tombs, a regular Via Sacra, with rows of tombs of the dignitaries of the Vlth Dynasty on either side of it. They are generally very much like one another; the workmanship of the reliefs is fine, and the portrait of the owner of the tomb is always in evidence. Several of the smaller mastabas have lately been dis- posed of to the various museums, as they are liable to damage if they remain where they stand; moreover, they are not of great value to the Museum of Cairo, but are of considerable value to various museiuns which do not already possess complete specimens of this class of tombs. A fine one, belonging to the chief TJerarina, THE MASTABAS 105 is now exhibited ia the Assyrian Basement of the British Museum; another is in the Museum of Ley den; a third at Berlin, and so on. Most of these are simple tombs of one chamber. In the centre of the rear wall we always see the stele or gravestone proper, built into the fabric of the tomb. Before this stood the low table of offerings with a bowl for oblations, and on either side a tall incense-altar. From the altar the divine smoke (senetr) arose when the hen-ka, or priest of the ghost (literally, " Ghost's Servant "), performed his duty of venerating the spirits of the deceased, while the Kher- heb, or cantor, enveloped in the mystic folds of the leopard-skin and with bronze incense-burner in hand, sang the holy litanies and spells which should propitiate the ghost and enable him to win his way to ultimate perfection in the next world. The stele is always in the form of a door with pyloni- form cornice. On either side is a figure of the deceased, and at the sides are carved prayers to Anubis, and at a later date to Osiris, who are implored to give the fune- rary meats and " everything good and pure on which the god there (as the dead man in the tomb has been constituted) lives; " often we find that the biography and list of honorary titles and dignities of the deceased have been added. Sakkara was used as a place of burial tti the latest as well as in the earliest time. The Egyptians of the XXVIth Dynasty, wearied of the long decadence and devastating wars which had followed the glorious epoch of the conquering Pharaohs of the XVmth and XlXth 106 MEMPHIS AND THE PYRAMIDS Dynasties, tiirned for a new and refreshing inspiration to the works of the most ancient kings, when Egypt was a simple self-contained country, holding no inter- course with outside lands, bearing no outside burdens for the sake of pomp and glory, and knowing nothing of the decay and decadence which follows in the train of earthly power and grandeur. They deliberately turned their backs on the worn-out and discredited imperial trappings of the Thothmes and Ramses, and they took the supposed primitive simplicity of the Snefrus, the Khufus, and the Ne-user-Ras for a model and ensampler to their lives. It was an age of conscious and intended archaism, and in pursuit of the archaistic ideal the Mem- phites of the Sai'te age had themselves buried in the ancient necropolis of Sakkara, side by side with their ancestors of the time of the Vth and Vlth Dynasties. Several of these tombs have lately been discovered and opened, and fitted with modern improvements. One or two of them, of the Persian period, have wells (leading to the sepulchral chamber) of enormous depth, down which the modern tourist is enabled to descend by a spiral iron staircase. The Serapeum itself is lit with electricity, and in the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes nothing disturbs the silence but the steady thumping pulsation of the dynamo-engine which lights the ancient sepulchres of the Pharaohs. Thus do modem ideas and inventions help us to see and so to understand better the works of ancient Egypt. But it is perhaps a little too much like the Yankee at the Court of King Arthur. The interiors of the later tombs are often decorated "PHARAOH'S BENCH" 107 with reliefs which imitate those of the early period, but with a kind of delicate grace which at once marks them for what they are, so that it is impossible to confomid them with the genuine ancient originals from which they were adapted. Riding from Sakkara southwards to Dashur, we pass on the way the gigantic stone mastaba known as the Mastabat el-Fara'un, " Pharaoh's Bench." This was considered to be the tomb of the Vth Dynasty king, Unas, untU his pyramid was found by Prof. Maspero at Sakkara. From its form it might be thought to belong to a monarch of the md Dynasty, but the great size of the stone blocks of which it is built seems to poiat rather to the Xllth. All attempts to penetrate its secret by actual excavation have been unavailing. Fiui;her south across the desert we see from the Mastabat el-Para 'un four distract pyramids, symmetri- cally arranged in two lines, two in each line. The two to the right are great stone erections of the usual type, like those of Giza and Abusir, and the southernmost of them has a pecuhar broken-backed appearance, due to the alteration of the angle of inclination of its sides during construction. Further, it is covered almost to the ground by the original casing of polished white lime- stone blocks, so that it gives a very good idea of the original appearance of the other pyramids, which have ; lost their casing. These two pyramids very probably belong to kings of the IIEd Dynasty, as does the Step- Pyramid of Sakkara. They strongly resemble the Giza type, and the northernmost of the two looks very like 108 MEMPHIS AND THE PYRAMIDS an "understudy of the Great Pyramid. It seems to mark the step in the development of the royal pyramid which was immediately followed by the Great Pyramid. But no excavations have yet proved the accuracy of this view. Both pyramids have been entered, but nothing has been found in them. It is very probable that one of them is the second pyramid of Snefru. The other two pyramids, those nearest the cultiva- tion, are of very different appearance. They are half- ruined, they are black in colour, and their whole effect is quite different from that of the stone pyramids. For they are built of brick, not of stone. They are pyramids, it is true, but of a different material and of a different date from those which we have been describing. They are built above the sepulchres of kings of the Xllth Dynasty, the Theban house which transferred its resi- dence northwards to the neighbourhood of the ancient Northern capital. We have, in fact, reached the end of the Old Kingdom at Sakkara; at Dashur begin the sepulchres of the Middle Kingdom. Pyramids are still built, but they are not always of stone; brick is used, usually with stone in the interior. The general effect of these brick pyramids, when new, must have been indistinguishable from that of the stone ones, and even now, when it has become half -ruined, such a great brick pyramid as that of Usertsen (Senusret) III at Dashur is not without impressiveness. After all, there is no reason why a brick building should be less admirable than a stone one. And in its own way the construction of such colossal masses of bricks as the two eastern BRICK PYRAMIDS 109 pyramids of Dashur must have been as arduous, even as difficult, as that of building a moderate-sized stone pyramid. The photograph of the brick pyramids of Dashur on this page shows weU the great size of these EXTERIOR OF THE SOUTHERN BRICK PYRAMID OF DA8HITR: XIITH DYNASTY. Excavated by M. de Morgan, 1895. This is the secondary tomb of Amenemhat III ; about 2200 B. 0. masses of brickwork, which are as impressive as any of the great brick structures of Babylonia and Assyria. The Xnth Dynasty use of brick for the royal tombs was a return to the custom of earlier days, for from the time of Aha to that Tjeser, from the 1st Dynasty to the md, brick had been used for the building of the 110 MEMPHIS AND THE PYKAMIDS royal mastaba-tombs, out of which the pyramids had developed. At this point, where we take leave of the great pyra- mids of the Old Kingdom, we may notice the latest the- ory as to the building of these monuments, which has of late years been enunciated by Dr, Borchardt, and is now generally accepted. The great Prussian explorer Lepsius, when he examined the pyramids in the 'forties, came to the conclusion that each king, when he ascended the throne, planned a small pyramid for himself. This was built in a few years' time, and if his reign were short, or if he were unable to enlarge the pyramid for other reasons, it sufficed for his tomb. If, however, his reign seemed likely to be one of some length, after the first plan was completed he enlarged his pyramid by building another and a larger one around it and over it. Then again, when this addition was finished, and the king still reigned and was in possession of great resources, yet another coating, so to speak, was put on to the pyramid, and so on till colossal structures like the First and Second Pyramid of Giza, which, we know, belonged to kings who were unusually long-lived, were completed. And finally the aged monarch died, and was buried in the huge tomb which his long life and his great power had enabled him to erect. This view appeared eminently reasonable at the time, and it seemed almost as though we ought to be able to tell whether a king had reigned long or not by the size of his pyramid, and even to obtain a rough idea of the length of his reign by counting the successive coats or accretions which it METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING PYRAMIDS 111 had received, much as we tell the age of a tree by the rings in its bole. A pyramid seemed to have been con- structed something after the manner of an onion or a Chinese puzzle-box. Prof. Petrie, however, who examined the Griza pyra- mids in 1881, and carefully measured them all up and finally settled their trigonometrical rela- tion, came to the conclusion that Lep- sius's theory was en- tirely erroneous, and that every pyramid was built and now stands as it was orig- inally planned. Dr. Borchardt, however, who is an architect by profession, has examined the pyramids again, and has come to the conclusion that Prof. Petrie 's statement is not correct, and that there is an element of truth in Lepsius's hypothesis. He has shown that several of the pyramids, notably the First and Second at Giza, show unmistakable signs of a modified, altered, and enlarged plan; in fact, long-lived kings like Khufu seem to have added considerably to their pyramids and even to have entirely remodelled them on a larger scale. This has certainly been the case with the Great Pyramid. We can, then, accept Lepsius's theory as modified by Dr. Borchardt. Another interesting point has arisen in connection THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA DURING THE INUSTDATIOK. 112 MEMPHIS AJSTD THE PYEAMIDS with the Great Pyramid. Considerable difference of opinion has always existed between Egyptologists and the professors of European archgeology with regard to the antiquity of the knowledge of iron in Egypt. The majority of the Egyptologists have always maintained, on the authority of the inscriptions, that iron was known to the ancient Egyptians from the earliest period. They argued that the word for a certain metal in old Egyptian was the same as the Coptic word for " iron." They stated that in the most ancient religious texts the Egyptians spoke of the firmament of heaven as made of this metal, and they came to the conclusion that it was because this metal was blue in colour, the hue of iron or steel; and they further pointed out that some of the weapons in the tomb-paintings were painted blue and others red, some being of iron, that is to say, others of copper or bronze. Finally they brought for- ward as incontrovertible evidence an actual fragment of worked iron, which had been found between two of the inner blocks, down one of the air-shafts, in the Great Pyramid. Here was an actual piece of iron of the time of the IVth Dynasty, about 3500 B. c. This conclusion was never accepted by the students of the development of the use of metal in prehistoric Europe, when they came to know of it. No doubt their incredulity was partly due to want of appreciation of the Egyptological evidence, partly to disinclination to ac- cept a conclusion which did not at all agree with the knowledge they had derived from their own study of prehistoric Europe. In Southern Europe it was quite THE EAELY USE OF lEOIST 113 certain that iron did not come into use till about 1000 B. c. ; in Central Europe, where the discoveries at Hallstatt in the Salzkammergut exhibit the transi- tion from the Age of Bronze to that of Iron, about 800 B. c. The exclusively Iron Age culture of La Tene cannot be dated earUer than the eighth century, if as early as that. How then was it possible that, if iron had been known to the Egyptians as early as 3500 b. c, its knowledge should not have been communicated to the Europeans untU over two thousand years later? No; iron could not have been really known to the Egyptians much before 1000 b. c, and the Egyptologi- cal evidence was all wrong. This line of argument was taken by the distinguished Swedish archaeologist. Prof. Oscar Montelius, of Upsala, whose previous ex- perience in dealing with the antiquities of Northern Europe, great as it was, was hardly sufficient to enable him to pronounce with authority on a point affecting far-away African Egypt. And when dealing with Greek prehistoric antiquities Prof. Montelius 's views have hardly met with that ready agreement which all ac- knowledge to be his due when he is giving us the results of his ripe knowledge of Northern antiquities. He has, in fact, forgotten, as most " prehistoric " archaeologists do forget, that the antiquities of Scandinavia, Greece, Egypt, the Semites, the bronze-workers of Benin, the miners of Zimbabwe, and the Ohio mound-builders are not to be treated all together as a whole, and that hard and fast lines of development cannot be laid down for them, based on the experience of Scandinavia. 114 MEMPHIS AND THE PYRAMIDS We may perhaps trace this misleading habit of thought to the influence of the professors of natural science over the students of Stone Age and Bronze Age antiquities. Because nature moves by steady progres- sion and develops on even lines— nihil facit per sal- tum— it seems to have been assumed that the works of man's hands have developed in the same way, in a reg- ular and even scheme all over the world. On this sup- position it would be impossible for the great discovery of the use of iron to have been known in Egypt as early as 3500 B. c, for this knowledge to have remained dor- mant there for two thousand years, and then to have been suddenly communicated about 1000 b. c. to G-reece, spreading with lightning-like rapidity over Europe and displacing the use of bronze everywhere. Yet, as a matter of fact, the work of man does develop in exactly this haphazard way, by fits and starts and sud- den leaps of progress after millennia of stagnation, Throwsback to barbarism are just as frequent. The analogy of natural evolution is completely inapplicable and misleading. Prof. Montelius, however, following the '' evolution- ary " line of thought, believed that because iron was not known in Europe tUl about 1000 b. c. it could not have been known in Egypt much earlier; and in an important article which appeared in the Swedish eth- nological journal Ymer in 1883, entitled Bronsaldern i Egypten (*' The Bronze Age in Egypt "), he essayed to prove the contrary arguments of the Egyptologists wrong. His main points were that the colour of the A BUEIED PROTEST 115 weapons in the frescoes was of no importance, as it was purely conventional and arbitrary, and that the evi- dence of the piece of iron from the Great Pyramid was insufficiently authenticated, and therefore valueless, in the absence of other definite archaeological evidence in the shape of iron of supposed early date. To this article the Swedish Egyptologist, Dr. Piehl, replied in the same periodical, in an article entitled Bronsaldern i Egypten, in which he traversed Prof. Montehus's conclusions from the Egyptological point of view, and adduced other instances of the use of iron in Egypt, aU, it is true, later than the time of the IVth Dynasty. But this protest received little notice, owing to the fact that it remained buried in a Swedish periodical, while Prof. Montelius's original article was translated into French, and so be- came well-known. For the time Prof. MonteUus's conclusions were gen- erally accepted, and when the discoveries of the prehis- toric antiquities were made by M. de Morgan, it seemed more probable than ever that Egypt had gone through a regular progressive development from the Age of Stone through those of copper and bronze to that of iron, which was reached about 1100 or 1000 b. c. The evidence of the iron fragment from the Great Pyramid was put on one side, in spite of the circumstantial account of its discovery which had been given by its finders. Even Prof. Petrie, who in 1881 had accepted the pyramid fragment as undoubtedly contemporary with that building, and had gone so far as to adduce additional evidence for its authenticity, gave way, and Western Gateway at Karnak 116 MEMPHIS AND THE PYRAMIDS accepted Montelius's view, which held its own until in 1902 it was directly controverted by a discovery of Prof. Petrie at Abydos. This discovery consisted of an luidoubted fragment of iron found in conjunction with bronze tools of Vlth Dynasty date; and it settled the matter.^ The Vlth Dynasty date of this piece of iron, which was more probably worked than not (since it was buried with tools), was held to be undoubted by its discoverer and by everybody else, and, if this were undoubted, the IVth Dynasty date of the Great Pyramid fragment was also fully established. The dis- coverers of the earlier fragment had no doubt whatever as to its being contemporary with the pyramid, and were supported in this by Prof. Petrie in 1881. There- fore it is now known to be the fact that iron was used by the Egyptians as early as 3500 b. c.^ It would thus appear that though the Egyptians can- not be said to have used iron generally and so to have entered the " Iron Age " before about 1300 b. c. (reign of Ramses 11), yet iron was well known to them and had been used more than occasionally by them for tools and building purposes as early as the time of the IVth Dynasty, about 3500 b. c. Certainly dated examples of its use occur under the IVth, Vlth, and Xlllth Dynas- ties. Why this knowledge was not communicated to 1 See H. R. Hall's note on " The Early Use of Iron in Egypt," in Man (the organ of the Anthropological Society of London), iii (1903), No. 86. 2 Prof. Montelius objected to these conclusions in a review of the British Museum " Guide to the Antiquities of the Bronze Age," which was published in Man, 1905 (Jan.), No 7. For an answer to these objections, see Hall, ibid., No. 40. Western Gateway at Karnak Western Gateway at Karnak THE ERECTION OE THE PYEAMIDS 117 Europe before about 1000 b, c. we cannot say, nor are Egyptologists called upon to find the reason. So the Great Pyramid has played an interesting part in the settlement of a very important question. It was supposed by Prof. Petrie that the piece of iron from the Great Pyramid had been part of some arrangement employed for raising the stones into posi- tion. Herodotus speaks of the machines, which were used to raise the stones, as made of little pieces of woodi The generally accepted explanation of his meaning used to be that a small crane or similar wooden machine was used for hoisting the stone by means of pulley and rope; but M. Legrain, the director of the works of restoration in the Great Temple of Karnak, has ex- plained it differently. Among the " foundation depos- its " of the XVinth Dynasty at Der el-Bahari and elsewhere, beside the little plaques with the king's name and the model hoes and vases, was usually found an enigmatic wooden object like a small cradle, with two sides made of semicircular pieces of wood, joined along the curved portion by round wooden bars. M. Legrain has now explained this as a model of the machine used to raise heavy stones from tier to tier of a pyramid or other building, and illustrations of the method of its use may be found in Choisy's Art de Batir chez les anciens Egyptiens. There is little doubt that this primitive machine is that to which Herodotus refers as having been used in the erection of the pyramids. The later historian, Diodorus, also tells us that great mounds or ramps of earth were used as well, and that 118 MEMPHIS AND THE PYRAMIDS the stones were dragged up these to the requisite height. There is no doubt that this statement also is correct. We know that the Egyptians did build in this very way, and the system has been revived by M. Legrain for his work at Karnak, where still exist the remains of the actual mounds and ramps by which the great western pylon was erected in Ptolemaic times. Work carried on in this way is slow and expensive, but it is eminently suited to the country and understood by the people. If they wish to put a great stone architrave weighing many tons across the top of two columns, they do not hoist it up into position; they rear a great ramp or embank- ment of earth against the two pillars, half -burying them in the process, then drag the architrave up the ramp by means of ropes and men, and put it into position. Then the ramp is cleared away. This is the ancient system which is now followed at Karnak, and it is the system by which, with the further aid of the wooden ma- chines, the Great Pyramid and its compeers were erected in the days of the IVth Dynasty. Plus cela change, plus c^est la meme chose. The brick pyramids of the Xllth Djmasty were erected in the same way, for the Egyptians had no knowledge of the modern combination of wooden scaf- folding and ladders. There was originally a small stone pyramid of the same dynasty at Dashur, half-way be- tween the two brick ones, but this has now almost dis- appeared. It belonged to the king Amenemhat II, while the others belonged, the northern to Usertsen (Sen- usret) m, the southern to Amenemhat III. Both these IDENTIFICATION OF PYRAMIDS 119 latter monarchs had other tombs elsewhere,— Usertsen a great rock-cut gallery and chamber in the cliff at Abydos, Amenemhat a pyramid not very far to the south, at Hawara, close to the Fayyum. It is uncertain whether the Hawara pyramid or that of Dashur was the real burial-place of the king, as at neither place is his name found alone. At Hawara it is found in conjimc- tion with that of his daughter, the queen-regnant Se- bekneferura (Skemiophris), at Dashur with that of a king Auabra Hor, who was buried in a small tomb near that of the king, and adjoining the tombs of the king's children. Who King Hor was we do not quite know. His name is not given in the lists, and was unknown until M. de Morgan's discoveries at Dashur. It is most probable that he was a prince who was given royal honours during the lifetime of Amenemhat HI, whom he predeceased.^ In the beautiful wooden statue of him found in his tomb, which is now in the Cairo Museum, he is represented as quite a youth. Amenemhat III was certainly succeeded by Amenemhat TV, and it is impossible to intercalate Hor between them. The identification of the owners of the three western pyramids of Dashur is due to M. de Morgan and his assistants, Messrs. Legrain and Jequier, who excavated them from 1894 till 1896. The northern pyramid, that of Usertsen (Senusret) m, is not so well preserved as the southern. It is more worn away, and does not pre- sent so imposing an appearance. In both pyramids the outer casing of white stone has entirely disap- ' See below, p. 121. Possibly he was a son of Amenemliat III. 120 MEMPHIS AND THE PYEAMffiS peared, leaving only the bare black bricks. Bach stood in the midst of a great necropolis of dignitaries of the period, as was usually the case. Many of the mastabas were excavated by M. de Morgan. Some are of older periods than the Xllth Dynasty, one belonging to a priest of King Snefru, Aha-f-ka (" Ghost-fighter "), who bore the additional titles of *' director of prophets and general of infantry." There were pluralists even in those days. And the distinction between the privy councillor (Geheimrat) and real privy councillor (Wirk- licher-Geheimrat) was quite familiar; for we find it actually made, many an old Egyptian officially priding himself in his tomb on having been a real privy coun- cillor! The Egyptian bureaucracy was already ancient and had its survivals and its anomalies even as early as the time of the pyramid-builders. In front of the pyramid of TJsertsen (Senusret) III at one time stood the usual funerary temple, but it has been totally destroyed. By the side of the pyramid were buried some of the princesses of the royal family, in a series of tombs opening out of a subterranean gallery, and in this gallery were found the wonderful jewels of the princesses Sit-hathor and Merit, which are among the greatest treasures of the Cairo Museum. Those who have not seen them can obtain a perfect idea of their appearance from the beautiful water- colour paintings of them by M. Legrain, which are published in M. de Morgan's work on the " Fouilles a Dahchour " (Vienna, 1895). Altogether one hundred and seven objects were recovered, consisting of all PYEAMIDAL TEEASUEES 121 kinds of jewelry in gold and coloured stones. Among the most beautiful are the great " pectorals," or breast- ornaments, in the shape of pylons, with the names of Usertsen II, Usertsen IH, and Amenemhat III; the names are surrounded by hawks standing on the sign for gold, gryphons, figures of the king striking down enemies, etc., all in cloisonne work, with beautiful stones such as lapis lazuli, green felspar, and carnelian taking the place of coloured enamels. The massive chains of golden beads and cowries are also very re- markable. These treasures had been buried in boxes in the floor of the subterranean gallery, and had luck- ily escaped the notice of plunderers, and so by a fortunate chance have survived to tell us what the Egyptian jewellers could do in the days of the Xllth Dynasty. Here also were found two great Nile barges, full-sized boats, with their oars and other gear complete. They also may be seen in the Museum of Cairo. It can only be supposed that they had served as the biers of the royal mummies, and had been brought up in state on sledges. The actual royal cham- ber was not found, although a subterranean gallery was driven beneath the centre of the pjnramid. The southern brick pyramid was constructed in the same way as the northern one. At the side of it were also found the tombs of members of the royal house, including that of the king Hor, already mentioned, with its interesting contents. The remains of the mummy of this ephemeral monarch, known only from his tomb, were also found. The entraUs of the king were placed 122 MEMPHIS AJ^D THE PYEAMIDS in the usual '* canopic jars," which were sealed with the seal of Amenemhat III; it is thus that we know that Hor died before him. In many of the inscriptions of this king, on his coffin and stelae, a peculiarly affected manner of writing the hieroglyphs is found,— the birds are without their legs, the snake has no tail, the bee no head. Birds are found without their legs in other inscriptions of this period; it was a temporary fashion and soon discarded. In the tomb of a princess named Nubhetep, near at hand, were found more jewels of the same style as those of Sit-hathor and Merit. The pyramid itself contained the usual passages and chambers, which were reached with much difficulty and considerable tunnelling by M. de Morgan. In fact, the search for the royal death- chambers lasted from December 5, 1894, till March 17, 1895, when the excavators' gallery finally struck one of the ancient passages, which were foiuid to be unusu- ally extensive, contrasting in this respect with the northern pyramid. The royal tomb-chamber had, of course, been emptied of what it contained. It must be remembered that, in any case, it is probable that the king was not actually buried here, but in the pyramid of Hawara. The pyramid of Amenemhat IE, which lies between the two brick pyramids, was built entirely of stone. Nothing of it remains above ground, but the investiga- tion of the subterranean portions showed that it was remarkable for the massiveness of its stones and the care with which the masonry was executed. The same A EEMAEKABLE FIND 123 characteristics are found in the dependent tombs of the princesses Ha and Khnmnet, in which more jewelry was found. This splendid stonework is characteristic of the Middle Kingdom; we find it also in the temple of Men- tuhetep III at Thebes. Some distance south of Dashur is Medum, where the pyramid of Sneferu reigns in solitude, and beyond this again is Lisht, where in the years 1894 - 6 MM. Gautier and Jequier excavated the pyramid of Usertsen (Sen- usret) I. The most remarkable find was a cache of the seated statues of the king in white limestone, in abso- lutely perfect condition. They were found lying on their sides, just as they had been hidden. Six figures of the king in the form of Osiris, with the face painted red, were also found. Such figures seem to have been regularly set, up in front of a royal sepulchre; several were found in front of the funerary temple of Mentu- hetep in, Thebes, which we shall describe later. A fine altar of gray granite, with representations in relief of the nomes bringing offerings, was also recovered. The pyramid of Lisht itself is not built of bricks, like those of Dashur, but of stone. It was not, however, erected in so solid a fashion as those of earlier days at Giza or Abusir, and nothing is left of it now but a heap of debris. The XHth Dynasty architects built walls of magnificent masonry, as we have seen, and there is no doubt that the stone casing of their pyramids was originally very fime, but the interior is of brick or rubble; the wonderful system of building employed by kings of the IVth Dynasty at Giza was not practised. 124 MEMPHIS AND THE PYEAMK)S South of Lisht is lUahun, and at the entrance to the province of the Fayyum, and west of this, nearer the Fayyum, is Hawara, where Prof. Petrie excavated the pyramids of Usertsen (Senusret) II and Amenem- hat m. His discoveries have already been described by Prof. Maspero in his history, so that it will suffice here merely to compare them with the results of M. de Morgan's later work at Dashur and that of MM. Gau- tier and Jequier at Lisht, to note recent conclusions in connection with them, and to describe the newest dis- coveries in the same region. Both pyramids are of brick, lined with stone, like those of Dashur, with some differences of internal con- struction, since stone walls exist in the interior. The central chambers and passages leading to them were discovered; and in both cases the passages are pecul- iarly complex, with dumb chambers, great stone port- cullises, etc., in order to mislead and block the way to possible plimderers. The extraordinary sepulchral chamber of the Hawara pyramid, which, though it is over twenty-two feet long by ten feet wide over all, is hewn out of one solid block of hard yellow quartzite, gives some idea of the remarkable facility of dealing with huge stones and the love of utilizing them which is especially characteristic of the XHth Dynasty, The pyramid of Hawara was provided with a funerary tem- ple the like of which had never been known in Egypt before and was never known afterwards. It was a huge building far larger than the pyramid itself, and built of fine limestone and crystalline white quartzite, in a THE EGYPTIAJSr LABYRINTH 125 style e min ently characteristic of the Xllth Dynasty. In actual superficies this temple covered an extent of ground within which the temples of Karnak, Luxor, and the Ramesseum, at Thebes, could have stood, but . has now almost entirely disappeared, having been used as a quarry for two thousand years. In Roman times this destroying process had already begun, but even then the building was still magnificent, and had been noted with wonder by aU the Greek visitors to Egypt from the time of Herodotus downwards. Even before his day it had received the name of the " Labyrinth," on accoimt of its supposed resemblance to the original labyrinth in Crete. That the Hawara temple was the Egyptian labyrinth was pointed out by Lepsius in the 'forties of the last century. Within the last two or three years attention has again been drawn to it by Mr. Arthur Evans's dis- covery of the Cretan labyrinth itself in the shape of the Minoan or early Mycenaean palace of Knossos, near Candia in Crete. It is impossible to enter here into all the arguments by which it has been proved that the Knossian palace is the veritable labyrinth of the Mino- taur legend, nor would it be strictly germane to our subject were we to do so; but it may suffice to say here that the word Xa^^pivOoi has been proved to be of Greek— or rather of pre-HeUenic— origin, and would mean in Karian '* Place of the Double- Axe," like La- braunda in Karia, where Zeus was depicted with a double axe Qabrys) in his hand. The non-Aryan, " Asianic," group of languages, to which certainly 126 MEMPHIS AND THE PYRAMmS Lycian and probably Karian belong, has been shown by the German philologer Kretschmer to have spread over Greece into Italy in the period before the Aryan Greeks entered Hellas, and to have left undoubted traces of its presence in Greek place-names and in the Greek language itself. Before the true Hellenes reached Crete, an Asianic dialect must have been spoken there, and to this language the word " laby- rinth " must originally have belonged. The classical labyrinth was " in the Knossian territory." The palace of Knossos was emphatically the chief seat of the wor- ship of a god whose emblem was the double-axe; it was the Knossian " Place of the Double- Axe," the Cretan " Labyrinth." It used to be supposed that the Cretan labyrinth had taken its name froin the Egyptian one, and the word itself was supposed to be of Egyptian origin. An Egyptian etymology was found for it as " Ro-pi- ro-henet,^^ " Temple-mouth-canal," which might be in- terpreted, with some violence to Egyptian construction, as " The temple at the mouth of the canal," i. e. the Bahr Yusuf, which enters the Fayyum at Hawara. But unluckily this word would have been pronounced by the natives of the vicinity as " Elphilahune," which is not very much like Xa^iipiv0o<;. " Ro-pi-ro-Jienet " is, in fact, a mere figment of the philological imagination, and cannot be proved ever to have existed. The element Ro-Jienet, *' canal-mouth " (according to the local pro- nunciation of the Fayyum and Middle Egypt, called La-hune), is genuine; it is the origin of the modem A CRETAN PARALLEL 127 Ulahun (el-Lahun), which is situated at the " canal- mouth." However, now that we know that the word labyrinth can be explained satisfactorily with the help of Karian, as evidently of Greek (pre-Aryan) origin, and as evidently the original name of the Knossian labyrinth, it is obvious that there is no need to seek a far-fetched explanation of the word in Egypt, and to suppose that the Greeks called the Cretan labyrinth after the Egyptian one. The contrary is evidently the case. Greek visitors to Egypt found a resemblance between the great Egyp- tian building, with its numerous halls and corridors, vast in extent, and the Knossian palace. Even if very little of the latter was visible in the classical period, as seems possible, yet the site seems always to have been kept holy and free from later building till Roman times, and we know that the tradition of the mazy halls and corridors of the labyrinth was always clear, and was evidently based on a vivid reminiscence. Actually, one of the most prominent characteristics of the Knossian palace is its mazy and labyrinthine system of passages and chambers. The parallel between the two buildings, which originally caused the Greek visitors to give the pyramid-temple of Hawara the name of " labyrinth," has been traced still further. The white limestone waUs and the shining portals of " Parian marble," described by Strabo as characteristic of the Egyptian labyrinth, have been compared with the shining white selenite or gypsum used at Knossos, and certain general resem- blances between the Greek architecture of the Minoan 128 MEMPHIS AND THE PYIlAMn)S age and the almost contemporary Egyptian architectm'e of the Xllth Dynasty have been pointed out/ Such resemblances may go to sweU the amoxmt of evidence already known, which tells us that there was a close comiection between Egyptian and Minoan art and civ- ilization, established at least as early as 2500 b. c. For it must be remembered that within the last few years we have learned from the excavations in Crete a new chapter of ancient history, which, it might almost seem, shows us Greece and Egypt in regular communica- tion from nearly the beginnings of Egyptian history. As the excavations which have told us this were carried on in Crete, not in Egypt, to describe them does not lie within the scope of this book, though a short sketch of their results, so far as they affect Egyptian history in later days, is given in Chapter VH, Here it may suffice to say that, as far as the early period is concerned, Egypt and Crete were certainly in communication in the time of the Xnth Dynasty, and quite possibly in that of the YTth or stiU earlier. We have Illd Dynasty Egyptian vases from Knossos, which were certainly not imported in later days, for no ancient nation had anti- quarian tastes till the time of the Saites in Egypt and of the Romans still later. In fact, this communication seems to go so far back in time that we are gradually being led to perceive the possibility that the Minoan culture of Creece was in its origin an offshoot from that 1 See H. K. Hall, Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1905 (Pt. ii). The Temple of the Sphinx at Giza may also be compared with those of Hawara and Knossos. It seems most probable that the Temple of the Sphinx is a Xllth Dynasty building. MEDITEEEA]SrEANS AJSTD THE NILOTES 129 of primeval Egypt, probably in early Neolithic times. That is to say, the Neolithic Greeks and Neolithic Egyp- tians were both members of the same " Mediterranean " stock, which quite possibly may have had its origin in Africa, and a portion of which may have crossed the sea to Europe in very early times, taking with it the seeds of culture which in Egypt developed in the Egyp- tian way, in Greece in the Greek way. Actual communi- cation and connection may not have been maintained at first, and probably they were not. Prof. Petrie thinks otherwise, and would see in the boats painted on the predynastic Egyptian vases (see Chapter I) the identical galleys by which, in late Neolithic times, commerce be- tween Crete and Egypt was carried on across the Medi- terranean. It is certain, however, that these boats are ordinary little river craft, the usual Nile felukas and gyassas of the time; they are depicted together with emblems of the desert and cultivated land,— ostriches, antelopes, hills, and pahn-trees,— and the thoroughly inland and Upper Egyptian character of the whole design springs to the eye. There can be no doubt what- ever that the predynastic boats were not seagoing gaUeys. It was probably not tiU the time of the pyramid- builders that connection between the Greek Mediter- raneans and the Nilotes was re-established. Thence- forward it increased, and in the time of the Xllth Dynasty, when the labyrinth of AmenemJiat HE was built, there seems to have been some kind of more or less regular communication between the two countries. 130 MEMPHIS AND THE PYRAMIDS It is certain that artistic ideas were exchanged between them at this period. How communication was carried on we do not know, but it was probably rather by way of Cyprus and the Syrian coast than directly across the open sea. We shall revert to this point when we come to describe the connection between Crete and Egypt in the time of the XVIIIth Dynasty, when Cretan ambas- sadors visited the Egyptian court and were depicted in tomb paintings at Thebes. Between the time of the Xnth Dynasty and that of the XVIIIth this connection seems to have been very considerably strengthened; for at Knossos have been found an Egyptian statuette of an Egyptian named Abnub, who from his name must have lived about the end of the XITEth Dynasty, and the top of an alabastron with the royal name of Khian, one of the Hyksos kings. Quite close to Hawara, at lUahun, in the ruins of the town which was built by Usertsen's workmen when they were building his pyramid. Prof. Petrie f oimd fragments of pottery of types which we now know well from exca- vations in Crete and Cyprus, though they were then imknown. They are fragments of the polychrome Cre- tan ware called, after the name of the place where it was first found in Crete, Kamares ware, and of a black ware ornamented with small puncttires, which are often filled up with white. This latter ware has been foimd elsewhere associated with Xlllth Dynasty antiquities. The former is known to belong in Crete to the " early Minoan " period, long anterior to the *' late Minoan " or " Palace " period, which was contemporary with the DISCOVEEIES AT GUEOB 131 Egyptian XVIHth Dynasty. We have here another interesting proof of a connection between XHth Dy- nasty Egypt and early Minoan Crete. The later con- nection, under the XVIIIth and following dynasties, is , also illustrated in the same reign by Prof. Petrie 's finds of late Mycenaean objects and foreign graves at Medinet Gurob.^ These excavations at Hawara, Ulahun, Kahun, and Gurob were carried out in the years 1887 - 9. Since then Prof. Petrie and his co-workers have revisited the same district, and Gurob has been re-examined (in 1904) by Messrs. Loat and Ayrton, who discovered there a shrine devoted to the worship of fish. This work was carried on at the same time as Prof. Petrie 's main excavation for the Egypt Exploration Fund at Ahnas, or Ahnas- yet el-Medlna, the site of the ancient Henensu, the Herakleopolis of the Greeks. Prof. Naville had exca- vated there for the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1892, but had not completely cleared the temple. This work was now taken up by Prof. Petrie, who laid the whole building bare. It is dedicated to Hershefi, the local deity of HerakleopoUs. This god, who was called Ar- saphes by the Greeks, and identified with Herakles, was in fact a form of Horus with the head of a ram; his name means '' Terrible-Face." The greater part of the temple dates to the time of the XlXth Dynasty, and nothing of the early period is left. "We know, however, 1 One man who was buried here bore the name An-Tursha, "Pillar of the Tursha." The Tursha were a people of the Mediterranean, possibly Tylissians of Crete. 132 MEMPHIS AND THE PYEAMIDS that the Middle Kingdom was the flourishing period of the city of Hershefi. For a comparatively brief period, between the age of Memphite hegemony and that of Theban dominion, Herakleopolis was the capital city of Egypt. The kings of the IXth and Xth Dynasties were Herakleopolites, though we know little of them. One, Kheti, is said to have been a great tyrant. An- other, Nebkaura, is known only as a figure in the " Legend of the Eloquent Peasant," a classical story much in vogue in later days. Another, Merikara, is a more real personage, for we have contemporary records of his days in the inscriptions of the tombs at Asyut, from which we see that the princes of Thebes were already wearing down the Northerners, in spite of the resistance of the adherents of Herakleopolis, among whom the most valiant were the chiefs of Asyut. The civil war eventuated in favour of Thebes, and the Theban Xlth Dynasty assmned the double crown. The sceptre passed from Memphis and the North, and Thebes enters upon the scene of Egyptian history. With this event the Nile-land also entered upon a new era of development. The metropolis of the king- dom was once more shifted to the South, and, although the kings of the Xllth Dynasty actually resided in the North, their Theban origin was never forgotten, and Thebes was regarded as the chief city of the country. The Xlth Dynasty kings actually reigned at Thebes, and there the later kings of the XlHth Dynasty retired after the conquest of the Hyksos. The fact that with Thebes were associated all the heroic traditions of the struggle RELATIONS WITH OUTER WORLD 133 against the Hyksos ensured the final stability of the capital there when the hated Semites were finally driven out, and the national kingdom was re-estabhshed in its full extent from north to south. But for occasional intervals, as when Akhunaten held his court at Tell el-Amama and Ramses II at Tanis, Thebes remained the national capital for six hundred years, till the time of the XXnd Dynasty. Another great change which differentiates the Middle Kingdom (Xlth-XTTTth Dynasties) from the Old King- dom was caused by Egypt's coming into contact with other outside nations at this period. During the whole history of the Old Kingdom, Egyptian relations with the outer world had been nil. We have some inkling of occasional comaection with the Mediterranean peoples, the Ha-nebu or Northerners; we have accounts of wars with the people of Sinai and other Bedawin and negroes ; and expeditions were also sent to the land of Punt (SomaMland) by way of the Upper Nile. But we have not the slightest hint of any connection with, or even knowledge of, the great nations of the Euphrates valley or the peoples of Palestine. The Babylonian king Naram-Sin invaded the Sinaitic peninsula (the land of Magan) as early as 3750 b. c, about the time of the TTTd Egyptian Dynasty. The great King Tjeser, of that dynasty, also invaded Sinai, and so did Snefru, the last king of the dynasty. But we have no hint of any col- lision between Babylonians and Egyptians at that time, nor do either of them betray the slightest knowledge of one another's existence. It can hardly be that the 134 MEMPHIS AND THE PYEAMIDS two civilized peoples of the world in those days were really absolutely ignorant of each other, but we have no trace of any connection between them, other than the possible one before the foimding of the Egyptian monarchy. This early connection, however, is very problemati- cal. .We have seen that there seems to be in early Egyp- tian civihzation an element ultimately of Babylonian origin, and that there are two theories as to how it reached Egypt. One supposes that it was brought by a Semitic people of Arab affinities (represented by the modem Gallas), who crossed the Straits of Bab el-Man- deb and reached Egypt either by way of the Wadi Hammamat or by the Upper Nile. The other would bring it across the Isthmus of Suez to the Delta, where, at Heliopolis, there certainly seems to have been a set- tlement of a Semitic type of very ancient culture. In both cases we should have Semites bringing Babylonian culture to Egypt. This, as we may remind the reader, was not itself of Semitic origin, but was a development due to a non-Semitic people, the Sumerians as they are called, who, so far as we know, were the aboriginal inhabitants of Babylonia. The Sumerian language was of agglutinative type, radically distinct both from the pure Semitic idioms and from Egyptian. The Baby- lonian elements of culture which the early Semitic in- vaders brought with them to Egypt were, then, ulti- mately of Sumerian origin. Siunerian civilization had profoundly influenced the Semitic tribes for centuries before the Semitic conquest of Babylonia, and when the OKIG-IN OF SEMITIC CULTURE 135 Smnerians became more and more a conquered race, finally amalgamating with their conquerors and losing their racial and linguistic individuality, they were con- quered by an alien race but not by an ahen culture. For the culture of the Semites was Sumerian, the Semitic races owing their civilization to the Su- merians. That is as much as to say that a great deal of what we caU Semitic culture is fundamentally non- Semitic. In the earliest days, then, Egypt received elements of Sumerian culture through a Semitic medium, which introduced Semitic elements into the language of the people, and a Semitic racial strain. It is possible that both theories as to the routes of these primeval con- querors are true, and that two waves of Semites entered the Nile valley towards the close of the Neolithic period, one by way of the Upper Nile or Wadi Hammamat, the other by way of Heliopolis. After the reconsolidation of the Egyptian people, with perhaps an autocratic class of Semitic origin and a populace of indigenous Nilotic race, we have no trace of further connection with the far-away centre of Sem- itic culture in Babylonia till the time of the Theban hegemony. Under the Xllth Dynasty we see Egyptians in friendly relations with the Bedawin of Idumsea and Southern Palestine. Thus Sanehat, the younger son of Amenemhat I, when the death of his royal father was annoimced, fled from the new king Usertsen (Senusret) into Palestine, and there married the daughter of the chief Ammuanshi and became a Syrian chief himself. 136 MEMPHIS AND THE PYEAMIDS only finally returning to Egypt as an old man on the assurance of the royal pardon and favour. We have in the reign of Usertsen (Senusret) II the famous visit of the Arab chief Abisha (Abeshu') with his following to the court of Khniunhetep, the prince of the Oryx nome in Middle Egypt, as we see it depicted on the walls of Khnumhetep's tomb at Beni Hasan. We see Usert- sen (Senusret) III invading Palestine to chastise the land of Sekmem and the vile Syrians.^ The arm of Egypt was growing longer, and its weight was being felt in regions where it had previously been entirely unknown. Eventually the collision came. Egypt collided with an Asiatic power, and got the worst of the encounter. So much the worse that the Theban monarchy of the Middle Kingdom was overthrown, and Northern Egypt was actually conquered by the Asiatic foreigners and ruled by a foreign house for several centuries. Who these conquering Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings, were no recent discovery has told us. An old idea was that they were Mongols. It was supposed that the remarkable faces of the sphinxes of Tanis, now in the Cairo Museum, which bore the names of Hyksos kings, were of Mongolian type, as also those of two colossal royal heads discovered by M. Naville at Bu- 1 We know of this campaign from the interesting historical stele of the gen- eral Sebek-khu (who took part in it), which was found during Mr. Garstang's excavations at Abydos, not previously referred to above. They were carried out in 1900, and resulted in the complete clearance of a part of the great cemetery which had been created during the Xllth Dynasty. The group of objects from the tombs of this cemetery, and those of XVIIIth Dynasty tombs also found, is especially valuable as showing the styles of objects in use at these two periods (see Garstang, el-Ardbah, 1901). EACIAL THEORIES 137 bastis. But M. Golenischeff has now shown that these heads are really those of Xllth Dynasty kings, and not of Hyksos at aU. Messrs. Newberry and Grarstang have lately endeavoured to show that this type was foreign, and probably connected with that of the Kheta, or Hit- tites, of Northern Syria, who came into prominence as enemies of Egypt at a later period. They think that the type was introduced into the Egyptian royal family by Nefret, the queen of Usertsen (Senusret) 11, whom they suppose to have been a Hittite princess. At the same time they think it probable that the type was also that of the Hyksos, whom they consider to have been practically Hittites. They therefore revive the theory of de Cara, which connects the Hyksos with the Hittites and these with the Pelasgi and Tyrseni. This is a very interesting theory, which, when carried out to its logical conclusion, would connect the Hyksos and Hittites racially with the pre-Hellenic *' Minoans " or Mycenaeans of Greece, as well as with the Etruscans of Italy. But there is little of certainty in it. It is by no means impossible that we may eventually come to know that the Hittites (Kheta, the Khatte of the Assyrians) and other tribes of Asia Minor were racially akin to the " Minoans " of Greece, but the connection between the Hyksos and the Hittites is to seek. The coimtenances of the Kheta on the Egyptian monuments of Ramses II 's time have an angular cast, and so have those of the Tanis sphinxes, of Queen Nefret, of the Bubastis statues, and the statues of Usertsen (Senu- sret) m and Amenemhat m. We might then suppose. 138 MEMPHIS AND THE PYEAMIDS with Messrs. Newberry and Garstang, that Nefret was a Kheta princess, who gave her peculiar racial traits to her son Usertsen (Senusret) III and his son Amenem- hat, were it not far more probable that the resemblance between this peculiar Xllth Dynasty type and the Kheta face is purely fortuitous. There is really no reason to suppose that the type of face presented by Nefret, Usertsen, and Amenemhat is not purely Egyptian. It may be seen in many a modern fellah, and the truth probably is that the sculptors have in the case of these rulers very faithfully and carefully depicted their portraits, and that their faces happen to have been of a rather hard and forbidding type. But, if we grant the contention of Messrs. Newberry and Grarstang for the moment, where is the connection between these XHth Dynasty kings and the Hyksos? All the Tanite monmnents with this peculiar facial type which would be considered Hyksos are certainly of the XHth Dynasty. The only statue of a Hyksos king, which was undoubtedly originally made for him and is not one of the Xllth Dynasty usurped, is the small one of Khian at Cairo, discovered by M. Naville at Bubastis, and this has no head. So that we have not the slightest idea of what a Hyksos looked like. More- over, the evidence of the Hyksos names which are known to us points in quite a different direction. The Kheta, or Hittites, were certainly not Semites, yet the Hyksos names are definitely Semitic. In fact it is most probable that the Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings, were, as the classical authorities say they were, and as their name ARAB DOMINAISrCE 139 (hiku-semut or Mku-sJiasu, " princes of the deserts " or ** princes of the Bedawin ") also testifies, purely and simply Arabs. Now it is not a little curious that almost at the same time that a nomad Arab race conquered Lower Egypt and settled in it as rulers (just as 'Amr and the followers of Islam did over two thousand years later), another Arab race may have imposed its rule upon Babylonia. Yet this may have been the case; for the First Dynasty of Babylon, to which the famous Ham- murabi belonged, was very probably of Arab origin, to judge by the forms of some of the royal names. It is by no means impossible that there was some con- nection between these two conquests, and that both Babylonia and Egypt fell, in the period before the year 2000 B. c, before some great migratory movement from Arabia, which overran Babylonia, Palestine, and even the Egyptian Delta. In this manner Egypt and Babylonia may have been brought together in common subjection to the Arab. We do not know whether any regular communication between Egypt, imder Semitic rule, and Babylonia was now established; but we do know that during the Hyksos period there were considerable relations be- tween Egypt and over-sea Crete, and relations with Mesopotamia may possibly have been established. At any rate, when the war of liberation, which was directed by the princes of Thebes, was finally brought to a successful conclusion and the Arabs were expelled, we find the Egyptians a much changed nation. They 140 MEMPHIS AlTD THE PYRAMIDS had adopted for war the use of horse and chariot, which they learnt from their Semitic conquerors, whose victory was in all probability largely gained by their use, and, generally speaking, they had become much more like the Western Asiatic nations. Egypt was no longer iso- lated, for she had been forcibly brought into contact with the foreign world, and had learned much. She was no longer self-contained within her own borders. If the Semites could conquer her, so could she conquer the Semites. Armed with horse and chariot, the Egyp- tians went forth to battle, and their revenge was com- plete. All Palestine and Syria were Egyptian domains for five hundred years after the conquest by Thothmes I and III, and Ashur and Babel sent tribute to the Pharaoh of Egypt. The reaction came, and Egypt was thrown prostrate beneath the feet of Assyria; but her claim to dominion over the Western Asiatics was never abandoned, and was revived in aU its pomp by Ptolemy Euergetes, who brought back in triumph to Egypt the images of the gods which had been removed by Assyrians and Baby- lonians centuries before. This claim was never allowed by the Asiatics, it is true, and their kings wrote to the proudest Pharaoh as to an absolute equal. Even the King of Cyprus calls the King of Egypt his brother. But Palestine was admitted to be an Egyptian posses- sion, and the Phoenicians were always energetic sup- porters of the Egyptian regime against the lawless Bedawin tribes, who were constantly intriguing with . the Kheta or Hittite power to the north against Egypt. DISCOVERIES nsr MESOPOTAMIA 141 The existence of this extra-Egyptian imperial posses- sion meant that the eyes of the Egyptians were now permanently turned in the direction of Western Asia, with which they were henceforth in constant and inti- mate communication. The first Theban period and the Hyksos invasion, therefore, mark a turning-point in Egyptian history, at which we may fitly leave it for a time in order to turn our attention to those peoples of Western Asia with whom the Egyptians had now come into permanent contact. Just as new discoveries have been made in Egypt, which have modified our previous conception of her history, so also have the excavators of the ancient sites in the Mesopotamian valley made, during the last few years, far-reaching discoveries, which have enabled us to add to and revise much of our knowledge of the history of Babylonia and Assyria. In Palestine and the Sinaitic peninsula also the spade has been used with effect, but a detailed account of work in Sinai and Palestine faUs within the Limits of a description of BibUcal discoveries rather than of this book. The fol- lowing chapters will therefore deal chiefly with modern discoveries which have told us new facts with regard to the history of the ancient Sumerians themselves, and of the Babylonians, Elamites, Kassites, and Assyrians, the inheritors of the ancient Sumerian civilization, which was older than that of Egypt, and which, as we have seen, probably contributed somewhat to its forma- tion. These were the two primal civilizations of the ancient world. Eor two thousand years each marched 142 MEMPHIS AND THE PYEAMIDS upon a solitary road, without meeting the other. Even- tually the two roads converged. We have hitherto dealt with the road of the Egyptians; we now describe that of the Mesopotamians, up to the point of convergence. -'^^^ CHAPTER IV RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA AND THE DAWN OF CHALD/EAN HISTORY TN" the preceding pages it has been shown how recent excavations in Egypt have revealed an entirely new chapter in the history of that country, and how, in consequence, our theories with regard to the origin of Egyptian civilization have been entirely remodelled. Excavations have been and are being carried out in Mesopotamia and the adjacent countries with no less enthusiasm and energy than in Egypt itself, and, al- though it cannot be said that they have resulted in any sweeping modification of our conceptions with regard to the origin and kinship of the early races of Western Asia, yet they have lately added considerably to our knowledge of the ancient history of the countries in that region of the world. This is particularly the case in respect of the Sumerians, who, so far as we know at present, were the earliest inhabitants of the fertile plains of Mesopotamia. The beginnings of this ancient people stretch back into the remote past, and their origin is still shrouded in the mists of antiquity. When / 143 144 RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA first we come across them they have already attained a high level of civilization. They have built temples and palaces and houses of burnt and unburnt brick, and they have reduced their system of agriculture to a science, intersecting their country with canals for pur- poses of irrigation and to ensure a good supply of water to their cities. Their sculpture and pottery fur- nish abundant evidence that they have already attained a comparatively high level in the practice of the arts, and finally they have evolved a complicated system of writing which originally had its origin in picture-char- acters, but afterwards had been developed along pho- netic lines. To have attained to this pitch of culture argues long periods of previous development, and we must conclude that they had been settled in Southern Babylonia many centuries before the period to which we must assign the earliest of their remains at present discovered. That this people were not indigenous to Babylonia is highly probable, but we have little data by which to determine the region from which they originally came. Prom the fact that they built their ziggurats, or temple towers, of huge masses of imburnt brick which rose high above the surrounding plain, and that their ideal was to make each " like a mountain," it has been argued that they were a mountain race, and the home from which they sprang has been sought in Central Asia. Other scholars have detected signs of their origin in their language and system of writing, and, from the fact that they spoke an agglutinative INFLUENCE OP SUMEEIANS 145 tongue and at the earliest period arranged the char- acters of their script in vertical Unes hke the Chinese, it has been urged that they were of Mongol extraction. Though a case may be made out for this hypothesis, it would be rash to dogmatize for or against it, and it is wiser to await the discovery of further material on which a more certain decision may be based. But whatever their origin, it is certain that the Sumerians exercised an extraordinary influence on all races with which, either directly or indirectly, they came in con- tact. The ancient inhabitants of Elam at a very early period adopted in principle their method of writing, and afterwards, living in isolation in the mountainous dis- tricts of Persia, developed it on lines of their own.^ On their invasion of Babylonia the Semites fell abso- lutely imder Sumerian influence, and, although they eventually conquered and absorbed the Sumerians, their civilization remained Sumerian to the core. Moreover, by means of the Semitic inhabitants of Babylonia Su- merian culture continued to exert its influence on other and more distant races. We have already seen how a Babylonian element probably enters into Egyptian civilization through Semitic infiltration across the Straits of Bab el-Mandeb or by way of the Isthmus of Suez, and it was Sumerian culture which these Semites brought with them. In like manner, through the Sem- itic Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Kassites, and the inhabitants of Palestine and Syria, and of some parts of Asia Minor, Armenia, and Kurdistan, all in turn 1 See Chap. V, p. 232 and note. 146 EECENT EXCAVATIONS EST WESTERN ASIA experienced indirectly the influence of Smnerian civili- zation and continued in a greater or less degree to reproduce elements of this early culture. It will be seen that the influence of the Sumerians furnishes us with a key to much that would otherwise prove puzzling in the history of the early races of ,West- ern Asia. It is therefore all the more striking to recaU the fact that but a few years ago the very existence of this ancient people was called in question. At that time the excavations in Mesopotamia had not revealed many traces of the race itself, and its previous existence had been mainly inferred from a nmnber of Smnerian compositions inscribed upon Assyrian tablets found in the library of Ashur-bani-pal at Nineveh. These com- positions were furnished with Assyrian translations upon the tablets on which they were inscribed, and it was correctly argued by the late Sir Henry Rawlinson, ithe late M. Oppert, Prof. Schrader, Prof. Sayce, and other scholars that they were written in the lan- guage of the earlier inhabitants of the country whom the Semitic Babylonians had displaced. But M. Halevy started a theory to the effect that Sumerian was not a language at all, in the proper sense of the term, but was a cabalistic method of writing invented by the Semitic Babylonian priests. The argument on which the upholders of this theory mainly relied was that many of the phonetic values of the Sumerian signs were obviously derived from Semitic equivalents, and they hastily jumped to the conclusion that the whole lan- guage was similarly derived from Semitic Babylonian, ASSYEIAiT TABLETS 147 and was, in fact, a purely arbitrary invention of the Babylonian priests. TMs theory ignored all questions of inherent probability, and did not attempt to explain LIST OF ARCHAIC CITNEIFOKM SIGNS. Drawn up by an Assyrian scribe to assist him in his studies of early texts. Photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co. why the Babylonian priests should have troubled them- selves to make such an invention and afterwards have stultified themselves by carefully appending Assyrian 148 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTEEN ASIA translations to the majority of the Sumerian compo- sitions which they copied out. Moreover, the nature of these compositions is not such as we should expect to find recorded in a cabalistic method of writing. They contain no secret lore of the Babylonian priests, but are merely hymns and prayers and religious com- positions similar to those employed by the Babylonians and Assyrians themselves. But in spite of its inherent improbabilities, M. Ha- levy succeeded in making many converts to his theory, including Prof. Friedrich Delitzsch and a number of the younger school of German Assyriologists. More conservative scholars, such as Sir Henry Rawlinson, M. Oppert, and Prof. Schrader, stoutly opposed the theory, maintaining that Sumerian was a real language and had been spoken by an earlier race whom the Semitic Babylonians had conquered; and they ex- plained the resemblance of some of the Sumerian values to Semitic roots by supposing that Sumerian had not been suddenly superseded by the language of the Sem- itic invaders of Babylonia, but that the two tongues had been spoken for long periods side by side and that each had been strongly influenced by the other. This very probable and sane explanation has been fuUy cor- roborated by subsequent excavations, particularly those that were carried out at Telloh in Southern Babylonia by the late M. de Sarzec. In these mounds, which mark the site of the ancient Sumerian city of Shirpurla, were found thousands of clay tablets inscribed in archaic characters and in the Sumerian language, prov- METHODS OF WEITING 149 ing that it had actually been the language of the early inhabitants of Babylonia; while the examples of their art and the representations of their form and features, which were also afforded by the diggings at Telloh, proved once for all that the Sumerians were a race of strongly marked characteristics and could not be ascribed to a Semitic stock. The system of writing invented by the ancient Sume- rians was adopted by the Semitic Babylonians, who modified it to suit their own language. Moreover, the archaic forms of the characters, many of which under the Sumerians stiU retained resemblances to the pic- tures of objects from which they were descended, were considerably changed. The lines, of which they were originally composed, gave way to wedges, and the num- ber of the wedges of which each sign consisted was gradually diminished, so that in the time of the Assy- rians and the later Babylonians many of the characters bore small resemblance to the ancient Sumerian forms from which they had been derived. The reading of Sumerian and early Babylonian inscriptions by the late Assyrian scribes was therefore an accomphshment only to be acquired as the result of long study, and it is interesting to note that as an assistance to the reading of these early texts the scribes compiled lists of archaic signs. Sometimes opposite each archaic character they drew a picture of the object from which they imagined it was derived. This fact is significant as proving that the Assyrian scribes recognized the pictorial origin of cuneiform writing, but the pictures they drew opposite 150 RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA the signs are rather fanciful, and it cannot be said that their guesses were very successful. That we are able to criticize the theories of the Assyrians as to the origin and forms of the early characters is in the main due to M. de Sarzec's la- bours, from whose excavations many thousands of in- scriptions of the Sumerians have been recovered. The main re- sults of M. de Sarzec's diggings at Telloh have al- ready been de- scribed by M. Maspero in his history, and there- fore we need not go over them again, but will here confine ourselves to the results which have been obtained from recent excavations at TeUoh and at other sites in Western Asia, With the death of M. de Sarzec, which occurred in his sixty-fifth FEAGMENT OP A LIST OF AECHAIC CUNEIFORM SIGNS. Opposite each the scribe has drawn a picture of the object from which he imagined it was derived. Photo- graph by Messrs. Mansell & Co. MISSION OF CAPT. GASTON CEOS 151 year, on May 31, 1901, the wonderfully successful series of excavations which he had carried out at Telloh was brought to an end. In consequence it was feared at the time that the French diggings on this site might be interrupted for a considerable period. Such an event would have been regretted by all those who are inter- ested in the early history of the East, for, in spite of the treasures found by M. de Sarzec in the course of his various campaigns, it was obvious that the site was far from being exhausted, and that the tells as yet miexplored contained inscriptions and antiquities ex- tending back to the very earliest periods of Sumerian history. The announcement which was made in 1902, that the French government had appointed Capt. Gaston Cros as the late M. de Sarzec 's successor, was therefore received with general satisfaction. The fact that Capt. Cros had already successfully carried out several diffi- cult topographical missions in the region of the Sahara was a sufficient guarantee that the new diggings would be conducted on a systematic and exhaustive scale. The new director of the French mission in Chaldaea arrived at Telloh in January, 1903, and one of his first acts was to shift the site of the mission's settlement from the bank of the Shatt el-Hai, where it had always been established in the time of M. de Sarzec, to the mounds where the actual digging took place. The Shatt el-Hai had been previously chosen as the site of the settlement to ensure a constant supply of water, and as it was more easily protected against attack by night. But the fact that it was an hour's ride from the diggings 152 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA caused an unnecessary loss of time, and rendered the strict supervision of the diggers a matter of considerable difficulty. During the first season's work rough huts of reeds, surroimded by a wall of earth and a ditch, served the new expedition for its encampment among the mounds of Telloh, but last year these makeshift arrangements were superseded by a regular house built out of the bmTit bricks which are found in abimdance on the site. A reservoir has also been built, and car- avans of asses bring water in skins from the Shatt el-Hai to keep it filled with a constant supply of water, while the excellent relations which Capt. Cros has estab- lished with the Karagul Arabs, who occupy Telloh and its neighbourhood, have proved to be the best kind of protection for the mission engaged in scientific work upon the site. The group of moimds and hillocks, known as Telloh, which marks the site of the ancient Sumerian city of Shirpurla, is easily distinguished from the flat surround- ing desert. The mounds extend in a rough oval forma- tion running north and south, about two and a half miles long and one and a quarter broad. In the early spring, when the desert is covered with a light green verdure, the ruins are clearly marked out as a yellow spot in the surrounding green, for vegetation does not grow upon them. In the centre of this oval, which approxi- mately marks the limits of the ancient city and its suburbs, are four large teUs or mounds running, roughly, north and south, their sides descending steeply on the east, but with their western slopes rising by easier EICH DISCOVEEIES 163 undulations from the plain. These four principal teUs are known as the " Palace Tell," the " Tell of the Fruit- house," the " TeU of the Tablets," and the " Great Tell," and, rising as they do in the centre of the site, they mark the position of the temples and the other principal buildings of the city. An indication of the richness of the site in antiqui- ties was afforded to the new mission before it had started regular excavation and while it was yet engaged in levelling its encampment and surroimding it with a waU and ditch. The spot selected for the camp was a small mound to the south of the site of Telloh, and here, in the course of preparing the site for the encampment and digging the ditch, objects were found at a depth of less than a foot beneath the surface of the soil. These included daggers, copper vases, seal-cylinders, rings of lapis and cornelian, and pottery. M. de Sarzec had carried out his latest diggings in the Tell of the Tablets, and here Capt. Cros continued the excavations and came upon the remains of buildings and recovered munerous objects, dating principally from the period of Gudea and the kings of Ur. The finds included small terra-cotta figures, a boundary-stone of Gamil-Sin, and a new statue of Gudea, to which we will refer again presently. In the Tell of the Fruit-house M. de Sarzec had already discovered numbers of monuments dating from the earlier periods of Sumerian history before the con- quest and consolidation of Babylonia under Sargon of Agade, and had excavated a primitive terrace biiilt by the early king Ur-Nina. Both on and around this large 154 RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA mound Capt, Cros cut an extensive series of trenches, and in digging to the north of the mound he found a number of objects, including an alabaster tablet of Bnte- mena which had been blackened by fire. At the foot of the tell he found a copper helmet like those repre- sented on the famous Stele of Vultures discovered by M. de Sarzec, and among the tablets here recovered was one with an inscription of the time of TJrukagina, which records the complete destruction of the city of Shirpurla during his reign, and will be described in greater detail later on in this chapter. On the mound itself a consid- erable area was uncovered with remains of buildings still in place, the use of which appears to have been of an industrial character. They included flights of steps, canals with raised banks, and basins for storing water. Not far off are the previously discovered wells of Eannadu, so that it is legitimate to suppose that Capt. Cros has here come upon part of the works which were erected at a very early period of Sumerian history for the distribution of water to this portion of the city. In the Palace Tell Capt. Cros has sunk a series of deep shafts to determine precisely the relations which the buildings of Ur-Bau and Gudea, found already on this part of the site, bear to each other, and to the building of Adad-nadin-akhe, which had been erected there at a much later period. Prom this slight sketch of the work carried out during the last two years at Telloh it will have been seen that the French mission in Chaldffia is at present engaged in excavations of a most important character, which are being conducted in 4-n •'''~<^''S •-'.''•> ►*!*:'* i i Obelisk of Manishtusu. An early Semitic king of the city of Kish in Babylonia. The photograph is taken from M. de Morgan's Delegation en Perse, Mem., t. i, pi. ix. EXCAVATIONS AT SUSA 155 a regular and scientific manner. As the area of the excavations marks the site of the chief city of the Sumerians, the diggings there have yielded and are yielding material of the greatest interest and value for the reconstruction of the early history of Chaldsea. After briefly describing the character and results of other recent excavations in Mesopotamia and the neigh- bouring lands, we will return to the discoveries at TeUoh and sketch the new information they supply on the his- tory of the earliest inhabitants of the country. Another French mission that is carrying out work of the very greatest interest to the student of early Babylonian history is that which is excavating at Susa in Persia, under the direction of M. J. de Morgan, whose work on the prehistoric and early dynastic sites in Egypt has already been described. M. de Morgan's first season's digging at Susa was carried out in the years 1897 - 8, and the success with which he met from the very first, when cutting trenches in the mound which marks the acropolis of the ancient city, has led him to concentrate his main efforts in this part of the ruins ever since. Provisional trenches cut in the part of the ruins called " the Royal City," and in others of the mounds at Susa, indicate that many remains may eventually be found there dating from the period of the AchEemenian Kings of Persia. But it is in the mound of the acropolis at Susa that M. de Morgan has found monuments of the greatest historical interest and value, not only in the history of ancient Elam, but also in that of the earliest rulers of Chaldaea. 156 RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA In the diggings carried out during the first season's work on the site, an obelisk was found inscribed on four sides with a long text of some sixty-nine columns, writ- ten in Semitic Babylonian by the orders of Manishtusu, a very early Semitic king of the city of Kish in Baby- lonia.^ The text records the purchase by the King of Kish of immense tracts of land situated at Kish and in its neighbourhood, and its length is explained by the fact that it enumerates full details of the size and posi- tion of each estate, and the numbers and some of the names of the dwellers on the estates who were engaged in their cultivation. After details have been given of a number of estates situated in the same neighbourhood, a summary is appended referring to the whole neigh- bourhood, and the fact is recorded that the district dealt with in the preceding catalogue and summary had been duly acquired by purchase by Manishtusu, King of Kish. The long text upon the obelisk is entirely taken up with details of the purchase of the territory, and therefore its subject has not any great historical value. Mention is made in it of two personages, one of whom may pos- sibly be identified with a Babylonian ruler whose name is known from other sources. If the proposed identi- fication should prove to be correct, it would enable us to assign a more precise date to Manishtusu than has hitherto been possible. One of the personages in ques- tion was a certain Urukagina, the son of Engilsa, patesi of Shirpurla, and it has been suggested that he is the same Urukagina who is known to have occupied the 1 See illustration. A STELE OF VICTOEY 157 throne of Shirpurla, though this identification would bring Manishtusu down somewhat later than is prob- able from the general character of his inscriptions. The other personage mentioned in the text is the son of Manishtusu, named Mesalim, and there is more to be said for the identification of this prince with Mesilim, the early King of Kish, who reigned at a period anterior to that of Eannadu, patesi of Shirpurla. The mere fact of so large and important an obelisk, inscribed with a Semitic text by an early Babylonian king, being found at Susa was an indication that other monuments of even greater interest might be forth- coming from the same spot; and this impression was intensified when a stele of victory was found bearing an inscription of Naram-Sin, the early Semitic King of Agade, who reigned about 3750 b. c. One face of this stele is sculptured with a representation of the king conquering his enemies in a mountainous country.^ The king himself wears a helmet adorned with the horns of a bull, and he carries his battle-axe and his bow and an arrow. He is nearly at the summit of a high moun- tain, and up its steep sides, along paths through the trees which clothe the mountain, climb his allies and warriors bearing standards and weapons. The king's enemies are represented suing for mercy as they turn to fly before him. One grasps a broken spear, while another, crouching before the king, has been smitten in the throat by an arrow from the king's bow. On the plain surface of "the stele above the king's head may 1 See illustration. 158 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA be seen traces of an inscription of Naram-Sin engraved in three cohimns in the archaic characters of his period. From the few signs of the text that remain, we gather that Naram-Sin had conducted a campaign with the assistance of certain allied princes, including the Princes of Sidur, Saluni, and Lulubi, and it is not improbable that they are to be identified with the war- riors represented on the stele as climbing the mountain behind Naram-Sin. In reference to this most interesting stele of Naram- Sin we may here mention another inscription of this king, found quite recently at Susa and published only this year, which throws additional light on Naram-Sin 's allies and on the empire which he and his father Sargon f oimded. The new inscription was engraved on the base of a diorite statue, which had been broken to pieces so that only the base with a portion of the text remained. From this inscription we learn that Naram-Sin was the head of a confederation of nine chief allies, or vassal princes, and waged war on his enemies with their assist- ance. Among these nine allies of course the Princes of Sidur, Saluni, and Lulubi are to be included. The new text further records that Naram-Sin made an expe- dition against Magan (the Sinaitic peninsula), and defeated Manium, the lord of that region, and that he cut blocks of stone in the mountains there and trans- ported them to his city of Agade, where from one of them he made the statue on the base of which the text was inscribed. It was already known from the so-called " Omens of Sargon and Naram-Sin " (a text inscribed STAETLING DISCOVERIES AT SUSA 159 on a clay tablet from Ashur-bani-pal's library at Nin- eveh which associates the deeds of these two early rulers with certain augural phenomena) that Naram-Sin had made an expedition to Sinai in the course of his reign and had conquered the king of the country. The new text gives contemporary confirmation of this assertion and furnishes us with additional information with re- gard to the name of the conquered ruler of Sinai and other details of the campaign. That monuments of such great interest to the early history of Chaldaea should have been found at Susa in Persia was sufficiently startling, but an easy explana- tion was at first forthcoming from the fact that Naram- Sin 's stele of victory had been used by the later Elamite king, Shutruk-Nakhkhunte, for an inscription of his own; this he had engraved in seven long lines along the great cone in front of Naram-Sin, which is probably intended to represent the peak of the mountain. Prom the fact that it had been used in this way by Shutruk- Nakhkhunte, it seemed permissible to infer that it had been captured in the course of a campaign and brought to Susa as a trophy of war. But we shall see later on that the existence of early Babylonian inscriptions and monuments in the mound of the acropolis at Susa is not to be explained in this way, but was due to the wide extension of both Sumerian and Semitic influence throughout Western Asia from the very earliest periods. This subject will be treated more fully in the chapter dealing with the early history of Elam. The upper surface of the tell of the acropolis at 160 RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTEEN ASIA Susa for a depth of nearly two metres contains remains of the buildings and antiquities of the Achaemenian kings and others of both later and earlier dates. In these upper strata of the mound are found remains of the Arab, Sassanian, Parthian, Seleueian, and Persian periods, mixed indiscriminately with one another and with Elamite objects and materials of aU ages, from The most northern of the mounds which now mark the site of the ancient city of Babylon ; used for centuries as a quarry for building materials. that of the earliest patesis down to that of the Susian kings of the seventh century b. c. The reason of this mixture of the remains of many races and periods is that the later builders on the mound made use of the earlier building materials which they found preserved within it. Along the skirts of the mound may still be seen the foundations of the wall which formed the prin- cipal defence of the acropolis in the time of Xerxes, and in many places not only are the foundations pre- ''^tJC " " Stele of Victory " Stele of Naram-Sin, an early Semitic King of Agade in Babylonia, who reigned about B. C. 3750. From the photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co. " Stele of Victory " Stele of Naram-Sin, an early Semitic King of Agade in Babylonia, who reigned about B. C. 3750. From the photograph by Messrs. JVIansell Sc Co. THE rORTEESS OE SUSA 161 served but large pieces of the wall itself still rise above the surface of the soil. The plan of the wall is quite irregular, following the contours of the mound, and, though it is probable that the wall was strengthened and defended at intervals by towers, no trace of these now remains. The wall is very thick and bidlt of un- KOUGHLY HEWN SCULPinKE OP A LION STANDING OVER A FALLEN MAN, FOUND AT BABYLON. The group probably represents Babylon or the Babylonian king triumphing over the country's enemies. The Arabs regard the figure as an evil spirit, and it is pitted with the marks of bullets shot at it. They also smear it with filth when they can do so unobserved ; in the photo- graph some newly smeared filth may be seen adhering to the side of the lion. burnt bricks, and the system of fortification seems to have been extremely simple at this period. The earher citadel or fortress of the city of Susa was built at the top of the mound and must have been a more formid- able stronghold than that of the Achsemenian kings, for, besides its walls, it had the additional protection of the steep slopes of the mound. Below the depth of two metres from the surface of 162 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTEEN ASIA the mound are found strata in which Elamite objects and materials are no longer mixed with the remains of later ages, but here the latest Elamite remains are found mingled with objects and materials dating from the earliest periods of Elam's history. The use of un- burnt bricks as the principal material for buildings erected on the mound in all ages has been another cause of this mixture of materials, for it has little power of resistance to water, and a considerable rain-storm wiU wash away large portions of the surface and cause the remains of different strata to be mixed indiscriminately with one another. In proportion as the trenches were cut deeper into the mound the strata which were laid bare showed remains of earlier ages than those in the upper layers, though here also remains of different peri- ods are considerably mixed. The only building that has hitherto been discovered at Susa by M. de Morgan, the ground plan of which was in a comparatively good state of preservation, was a small temple of the god Shu- shinak, and this owed its preservation to the fact that it was not built of unbumt brick, but was largely com- posed of burnt brick and plaques and tiles of enamelled terra-cotta. But although the diggings of M. de Morgan at Susa have so far afforded little information on the subject of Elamite architecture, the separate objects found have enabled us to gain considerable knowledge of the artis- tic achievements of the race during the different periods of its existence. Moreover, the stelae and stone records that have been recovered present a wealth of material CODE or LAWS OF HAMMUEABI 163 for the study of the long history of Elam and of the kings who ruled in Babylonia during the earliest ages. The most famous of M. de Morgan's recent finds is the long code of laws drawn up by Hammurabi, the great- GENBKAIi VIEW OF THE EXCAVATIONS ON THE KASK AT BABYLON. Showing the depth in the mound to which the diggings are carried. est king of the First Dynasty of Babylon.' This was engraved upon a huge block of black diorite, and was found in the tell of the acropolis in the winter of 1901 2. This docmnent in itself has entirely revolu- tionized current theories as to the growth and origin 1 It will be noted that the Babylonian dynasties are referred to throughout this volume as " First Dynasty,'' " Second Dynasty," " Third Dynasty," etc. They are thus distinguished from the Egyptian dynasties, the order of which is indicated by Roman numerals, e. g. " 1st Dynasty," " lid Dynasty," " Illd Dynasty." 164 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA of the principal ancient legal codes. It proves that Babylonia was the f ountainhead from which many later races borrowed portions of their legislative systems. Moreover, the subjects dealt with in this code of laws embrace most of the different classes of the Babylonian people, and it regulates their duties and their relations to one another in their ordinary occupations and pur- suits. It therefore throws much light upon early Baby- lonian life and customs, and we shall return to it in the chapter dealing with these subjects. The American excavators at Mppur, imder the di- rection of Mr. Haynes, have done much in the past to increase our knowledge of Siunerian and early Baby- lonian history, but the work has not been continued in recent years, and, unfortunately, little progress has been made in the publication of the material already accumulated. In fact, the leadership in American ex- cavation has passed from the University of Pennsyl- vania to that of Chicago. This progressive university has sent out an expedition, under the general direction of Prof. R. P. Harper (with Dr. E. J. Banks as director of excavations), which is doing excellent work at Bismya, and, although it is too early yet to expect de- tailed accounts of their achievements, it is clear that they have already met with considerable success. One of their recent finds consists of a white marble statue of an early Sumerian king named Daudu, which was set up in the temple of E-shar in the city of Udnun, of which he was ruler. Prom its archaic style of work- manship it may be placed in the earliest period of GERMAN ACTIVITY 165 Sumerian history, and may be regarded as an earnest of what may be expected to follow from the future labours of Prof. Harper's expedition. At Para and at Abu Hatab in Babylonia, the Deutsch-Orient GeseUschaft, imder Dr. Koldewey's di- rection, has excavated Sumerian and Babylonian re- WITHIN THE PALACE OP NEBUCHADNEZZAK II. mains of the early period. At the former site they unearthed the remains of many private houses and fomid some Sumerian tablets of accounts and com- mercial documents, but little of historical interest; and an inscription, which seems to have come from Abu Hatab, probably proves that the Sumerian name of the city whose site it marks was Kishurra. But the main 166 EECENT EXCAVATIOXS IN WESTERN ASIA centre of German activity in Babylonia is the city of Babylon itself, where for the last seven years Dr. Kol- dewey has conducted excavations, unearthing the pal- aces of Nebuchadnezzar II on the mound termed the Kasr, identifying the temple of E-sagila under the mound called Tell Amran ibn-Ali, tracing the course ■■■■■RHIBHHHP^ war— jU^^^^pufUiwr wKJMk^^Bk BBgi^T^ ^^ ^^^^ l.^j^HgM ''- ^W^ .Sj "n^^^^^^^^B mtim- " " ^■«i HTv^^ T«*^lTa^H ^■^^^pp. . *^^ m.:m \ ^^^B^^^Bbi ^.^r^ . ^^^If n EXCAVATIONS IN THE TEMPLE OF NINIE AT BABYLON. In the middle distance may be seen the metal trucks running on light rails which are employed on the work for the removal of the debris from the diggings. of the sacred way between B-sagila and the palace- mound, and excavating temples dedicated to the goddess Ninmakh and the god Ninib. Dr. Andrae, Dr. Kolde- wey's assistant, has also completed the excavation of the temple dedicated to Nabu at Birs Nimrud. On the principal mound at this spot, which marks the site of the ancient city of Borsippa, traces of the ziggurat, or temple tower, may stUl be seen rising from the soil, EXCAVATIONS AT NINEVEH 167 the temple of Nabu lying at a lower level below the steep slope of the mound, which is mainly made up of debris from the ziggurat. Dr. Andrae has recently left Babylonia for Assyria, where his excavations at Sher- ghat, the site of the ancient Assyrian city of Ashur, THE PKINCIPAL MOUND OF BIKS NIMRtTD, WHICH MARKS THE SITE OF THE ANCIENT CITY OF BOKSIPPA. are confidently expected to throw considerable light on the early history of that country and the customs of the people, and already he has made numerous finds of con- siderable interest. Since the early spring of 1903 excavations have been conducted at Kuyunjik, the site of the city of Nineveh, by Messrs. L. W. King and R. C. Thompson on behalf of the Trustees of the British Museum, and have re- 168 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA suited in the discovery of many early remains in the lower strata of the mound, in addition to the finding of new portions of the two palaces already known and partly excavated, the identification of a third palace, and the finding of an ancient temple dedicated to Nabu, whose existence had already been inferred from a study of the Assyrian inscriptions.^ All these diggings at THE PRINCIPAL MOUND AT 8HEKGHAT, WHICH MARKS THE SITE OP ASHUK, THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OP THE ASSYRIANS. Babylon, at Ashur, and at Mneveh throw more light upon the history of the country during the Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods, and wiU be referred to later in the voliune. Meanwhile, we will return to the 1 It may be noted that excavations are also being actively caTried on in Palestine at the present time. Mr. Macalister has for some years been working for the Palestine Exploration Fund at Gezer ; Dr. Schumacher is digging at Megiddo for the German Palestine Society ; and Prof. Sellin is at present excavating at Taanach (Ta'annat) and will shortly start work at Dothan. Good work on remains of later historical periods is also being carried on under the auspices of the Deutsch-Orient Gesellschaft at Ba'albek and in Galilee. It would be tempting to include here a summary of the very interesting results EIVAL CITIES 169 diggings described at the begirming of this chapter, as affording new information concerning the earliest periods of Chaldsean history. A most interesting inscription has recently been dis- covered by Capt. Cros at Telloh, which throws consid- erable light on the rivalry which existed between the cities of Shirpurla and Gishkhu, and at the same time furnishes valuable material for settling the chronology THE MOUND OF KtTTITNJIK, WHICH FORMED ONE OF THE PALACE MOUNDS OP THE ANCIENT A88TKIAN CITY OP NINEVEH. of the earliest rulers whose inscriptions have been found at Nippur and their relations to contemporary rulers in Shirpurla. The cities of Gishkhu and Shirpurla were that have recently been achieved in this fruitful field of archaeological research, for it is true that these excavations may strictly be said to bear on the history of a portion of Western Asia. But the problems which they raise would more naturally be discussed in a work dealing with recent excavation and research in relation to the Bible, and to have summarized them adequately would have increased the size of the present volume considerably beyond its natural limits. They have therefore not been included within the scope of the present work. 170 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA probably situated not far from one another, and their rivalry is typical of the history of the early city-states of Babylonia. The site of the latter city, as has already been said, is marked by the mounds of TeUoh on the east bank of the Shatt el-Hai, the natural stream join- ing the Tigris and Euphrates, which has been improved and canalized by the dwellers in Southern Babylonia from the earliest period. The site of Gishkhu may be WINGED BULL IN THE PALACE OF SENNACHERIB ON KUTUN.IIK, THE PRINCIPAL MOUND MARKING THE SITE OF NINEVEH. set with considerable probability not far to the north of Telloh on the opposite bank of the Shatt el-Hai. These two cities, situated so close to one another, exer- cised considerable political influence, and though less is known of Gishkhu than of the more famous Baby- lonian cities such as Ur, Erech, and Larsam, her prox- imity to Shirpurla gave her an importance which she might not otherwise have possessed. The earliest knowledge we possess of the relations existing between INVASION or SHIEPUELA 171 Gishkhu and Shirpurla refers to the reign of Mesilim, King of Kish, the period of whose rule may be provi- sionally set before that of Sargon of Agade, i. e. about 4000 B. c. At this period there was rivalry between the two cities, in consequence of which Mesilim, King of Kish, was called in as arbitrator. A record of the treaty of delimitation that was drawn up on this occasion has been preserved upon the recently discovered cone of Entemena. This document tells us that at the command of the god Enlil, described as " the king of the coun- tries," Ningirsu, the chief god of Shirpurla, and the god of Gishkhu decided to draw up a line of division between their respective territories, and that Mesilim, King of Kish, acting under the direction of his own god Kadi, marked out the frontier and set up a stele between the two territories to commemorate the fixing of the boundary. This policy of fixing the boundary by arbitration seems to have been successful, and to have secured peace between Shirpurla and Gishkhu for some genera- tions. But after a period which cannot be accurately determined a certain patesi of Gishkhu, named Ush, was fiUed with ambition to extend his territory at the expense of Shirpurla. He therefore removed the stele which Mesilim had set up, and, invading the plain of Shirpurla, succeeded in conquering and holding a dis- trict named Gu-edin. But Ush's successful raid was not of any permanent benefit to his city, for he was in his turn defeated by the forces of Shirpurla, and his 172 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA successor upon the throne, a patesi named Bnakalliy abandoned a policy of aggression, and concluded with Eannadu, patesi of Shirpurla, a solemn treaty concern- ing the boundary between their realms, the text of which has been preserved to us upon the famous Stele of Vultures in the Louvre/ According to this treaty Gu-edin was restored to Shirpurla, and a deep ditch was dug between the two territories which should permanently indicate the line of demarcation. The stele of Mesilim was restored to its place, and a second stele was inscribed and set up as a memorial of the new treaty. Enakalli did not negoti- ate the treaty on equal terms with Eannadu, for he only secured its ratification by consenting to pay heavy trib- ute in grain for the supply of the great temples of Nin- girsu and Mna in Shirpurla, It would appear that under Eannadu the power and influence of Shirpurla were extended over the whole of Southern Babylonia^ and reached even to the borders of Elam. At any rate,^ it is clear that during his lifetime the city of Gishkhu was content to remain in a state of subjection to its more powerful neighbour. But it was always ready to seize any opportunity of asserting itself and of at- tempting to regain its independence. Accordingly, after Eannadu 's death the men of Gishkhu again took the offensive. At this time Urlumma, the son and successor of Enakalli, was on the throne of Gishkhu, and he organized the forces of the city and led them out to ^ A fragment of this stele is also preserved in the British Museum. It is published in Cuneiform Texts in the Bntish Museum, Pt. vii. f-^r"-^*^ ■:■- M^ "'«*■■-. '^^ -*"f- -J ■ ^.i-<: ^2^ ^.iw-*jj %?:i Clay Memorial-tablet of Eannadu. One of the most powerful of the patesis or viceroys of Shirpurla. The characters of the inscription well illustrate the pictorial origin of the Sumerian system of writing. Photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co. WAEFARE BETWEEN RIVAL CITIES 173 battle. His first act was to destroy the frontier ditches named after Ningirsu and Nina, the principal god and goddess of Shirpurla, which Eannadu, the powerful foe of Gishkhu, had caused to be dug. He then tore down the stele on which the terms of Eannadu 's treaty had been engraved and broke it into pieces by casting it into the fire, and the shrines which Eannadu had bmlt near the frontier, and had consecrated to the gods of Shirpurla, he razed to the ground. But again Shirpurla in the end proved too strong for Gishkhu. The ruler in Shirpurla at this time was Enannadu, who had suc- ceeded his brother Eannadu upon the throne. He marched out to meet the invading forces of the men of Gishkhu, and a battle was fought in the territory of Shirpurla. According to one accomit, the forces of Shirpurla were victorious, while on the cone of Ente- mena no mention is made of the issue of the combat. The result may not have been decisive, but Enannadu 's action at least checked Urlumma's encroachments for the time. It would appear that the death of the reigning patesi in Shirpurla was always the signal for an attack upon that city by the men of Gishkhu. They may have hoped that the new ruler would prove a less successful leader than the last, or that the accession of a new monarch might give rise to internal dissensions in the city which would weaken Shirpurla 's power of resisting a sudden attack. As Eannadu 's death had encouraged Urlumma to lead out the men of Gishkhu, so the death of Enan- nadu seemed to him a good opportunity to make another 174 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA bid for victory. But this time the result of the battle was not indecisive. Entemena had succeeded his father Enannadu, and he led out to victory the forces of Shir- purla. The battle was fought near the canal Lumma- girnun-ta, and when the men of Gishkhu were put to flight they left sixty of their feUows lying dead upon the banks of the canal, Entemena tells us that the bones of these warriors were left to bleach in the open plain, but he seems to have buried those of the men of Gishkhu who fell in the pursuit, for he records that in five separate places he piled up burial-mounds in which the bodies of the slain were interred. Entemena was not content with merely inflicting a defeat upon the army of Grishkhu and driving it back within its own borders, for he followed up his initial advantage and captured the capital itself. He deposed and imprisoned TJrlumma, and chose one of his own adherents to rule as patesi of Gishkhu in his stead. The man he ap- pointed for this high office was named Hi, and he had up to that time been priest in Ninab. Entemena sum- moned him to his presence, and, after marching in a triumphal procession from Girsu in the neighbourhood of Shirpurla to the conquered city, proceeded to invest him with the office of patesi of Gishkhu, Entemena also repaired the frontier ditches named after Mngirsu and Nina, which had been employed for purposes of irrigation as well as for marking the fron- tier; and he gave instructions to Hi to employ the men dwelling in the district of Karkar on this work, as a punishment for the active part they had taken in the ENTEEPRISE OF ENTEMENA 175 recent raid into the territory of SMrpurla. Entemena also restored and extended the system of canals in the region between the Tigris and the Euphrates, Uning one of the principal channels with stone. He thus added HABBLE GATE - SOCKET BEARIXG AN INSCRIPTIOJT OP ENTEMENA, A POWERFUL FATESI, OR VIOEROr, OF SHIRPUSI/A. In the photograph the gate-socket is resting on its side so as to show the inscription, bat when in use it was set liat upon the ground and partly buried below the level of the pavement of the building in which it was used. It was fixed at the side of a gateway and the pivot of the heavy gate revolved in the shallow hole or depression in its centre. As stone is not found in the alluvial soil of Babylonia, the blocks for ^ate-sockets had to be brought from great dis- tances and they were consequently highly prized. The kings and patesis who used them in their buildings generally had their names and titles engraved upon them, and they thus form a valuable class of inscriptions for the study of the early history. Photograph by Messrs. Man- sell & Co. greatly to the wealth of Shirpurla by increasing the area of territory under cultivation, and he continued 176 RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA to exercise authority in Gishkhu by means of .officers appointed by himself. A record of his victory over Gish- khu was inscribed by Entemena upon a niunber of clay cones, that the fame of it might be preserved in future days to the honour of Ningirsu and the goddess Nina. He ends this record with a prayer for the preservation of the frontier. If ever in time to come the men of Gishkhu should break out across the frontier-ditch of Ningirsu, or the frontier-ditch of Nina, in order to seize or lay waste the lands of Shirpurla, whether they be men of the city of Gishkhu itself or men of the moun- tains, he prays that Enlil may destroy them and that Ningirsu may lay his curse upon them; and if ever the warriors of his own city should be called upon to defend it, he prays that they may be full of courage and ardour for their task. The greater part of this information with regard to the struggles between Gishkhu and Shirpurla, between the period of Mesilim, King of Kish, and that of Ente- mena, is supplied by the inscription of the latter ruler which has been found written around a small cone of clay. There is little doubt that the text was also en- graved by the orders of Entemena upon a stone stele which was set up, like those of Mesilim and Eannadu, upon the frontier. Other copies of the inscription were probably engraved and erected in the cities of Gishkhu and Shirpurla, and to ensure the preservation of the record Entemena probably had numerous copies of it made upon small cones of clay which were preserved and possibly buried in the structure of the temples of PEACEFUL DEVELOPMENT 177 Shirpurla. Entemena's foresight in this matter has been justified by results, for, while his great memorials of stone have perished, the preservation of one of his small cones has sufficed to make known to later ages his own and his forefathers' prowess in their continual contests with their ancient rival Grishkhu. After the reign of Entemena we have little informa- tion with regard to the relations between Gishkhu and Shirpurla, though it is probable that the effects of his decisive victory continued to exercise a moderating in- fluence on Gishkhu 's desire for expansion and secured a period of peaceful development for Shirpurla with- out the continual fear of encroachments on the part of her turbulent neighbour. We may assume that this period of tranquillity continued during the reigns of Enannadu II, Enlitarzi, and Lugal-anda, but, when in the reign of Urukagina the men of Gishkhu once more emerge from their temporary obscurity, they appear as the authors of deeds of rapine and bloodshed com- mitted on a scale that was rare even in that primitive age. In the earlier stages of their rivalry Gishkhu had always been defeated, or at any rate checked, in her actual conflicts with Shirpurla. When taking the ag- gressive the men of Gishkhu seem generally to have confined themselves to the seizure of territory, such as the district of Gu-edin, which was situated on the west- em bank of the Shatt el-Hai and divided from their own lands only by the frontier-ditch. If they ever actually crossed the Shatt el-Hai and raided the lands on its 178 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA eastern bank, they never ventured to attack the city of Shirpurla itself. And, although their raids were attended with some success in their initial stages, the ruling patesis of Shirpurla were always strong enough to check them; and on most occasions they carried the war into the territory of Gishkhu, with the result that they readjusted the boundary on their own terms. But it would appear that all these primitive Chaldsean cities were subject to alternate periods of expansion and de- feat, and Shirpurla was not an exception to the rule. It was probably not due so much to TJrukagina's per- sonal qualities or defects as a leader that Shirpurla suf- fered the greatest reverse in her history during his reign, but rather to Gishkhu 's gradual increase in power at a time when Shirpurla herself remained inactive, pos- sibly lulled into a false sense of security by the memory of her victories in the past. Whatever may have been the cause of Gishkhu 's final triumph, it is certain that it took place in Urukagina's reign, and that for many years afterwards the hegemony of Southern Babylonia remained in her hands, while Shirpurla for a long period passed completely out of existence as an independent or semi-independent state. The evidence of the catastrophe that befell Shirpurla at this period is furnished by a smaU clay tablet recently found at Telloh during Captain Cros's excavations on that site. The document on which the facts in question are recorded had no official character, and in all prob- ability it had not been stored in any library or record chamber. The actual spot at Telloh where it was found KECORD OF SHIRPUELA'S DISASTERS 179 was to the north of the mound in which the most ancient buildings have been recovered, and at the depth of two metres below the surface. No other tablets appear to have been found near it, but that fact in itself would not be sufficient evidence on which to base any theory as to its not having originally formed part of the ar- chives of the city. Its unofficial character is attested by the form of the tablet and the manner in which the information upon it is arranged. In shape there is little to distinguish the document from the tablets of accounts inscribed in the reign of Uriikagina, great numbers of which have been found recently at Telloh. Roughly square in shape, its edges are shghtly convex, and the text is inscribed in a series of narrow colimins upon both the obverse and the reverse. The text itself is not a carefully arranged composition, such as are the votive and historical inscriptions of early Sumerian rulers. It consists of a series of short sentences enumerating briefly and without detail the separate deeds of violence and sacrilege performed by the men of Gishkhu after their capture of the city. It is little more than a cata- logue or list of the shrines and temples destroyed during the sack of the city, or defiled by the blood of the men of Shirpurla who were slain therein. No mention is made in the list of the palace of the Urukagina, or of any secular building, or of the dwellings of the citizens themselves. There is little doubt that these also were despoiled and destroyed by the victorious enemy, but the writer of the tablet is not concerned for the moment with the fate of his city or his feUow citizens. He 180 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTEEN ASIA appears to be overcome with the thought of the deeds of sacrilege conunitted against his gods; his mind is entirely taken up with the magnitude of the insult offered to the god Ningirsu, the city-god of Shirpurla. His bare enumeration of the deeds of sacrilege and vio- lence loses little by its brevity, and, when he has ended the list of his accusations against the men of Gishkhu, he curses the goddess to whose influence he attributes their success. No composition at all like this document has yet been recovered, and as it is not very long we may here give a translation of the text. It will be seen that the writer plunges at once into the subject of his charges against the men of Grishkhu. No historical resume prefaces his accusations, and he gives no hint of the circumstances that have rendered their delivery possible. The temples of his city have been profaned and destroyed, and his indignation finds vent in a mere enumeration of their titles. To his mind the facts need no comment, for to him it is barely conceivable that such sacred places of ancient worship should have been defiled. He launches his indictment against Gishkhu in the following terms: " The men of Gishkhu have set fire to the temple of E-ki [ . . . ], they have set fire to Antashura, and they have carried away the silver and the precious stones therefrom! They have shed blood in the palace of Tirash, they have shed blood in Abzubanda, they have shed blood in the shrine of Enlil and in the shrine of the Sun-god, they have shed blood in Akhush, and they have carried away the silver and the precious stones SACEILEGE AND VIOLENCE 181 therefrom! They have shed blood in the Gikana of the sacred grove of the goddess Ninmakh, and they have carried away the silver and the precious stones there- from! They have shed blood in Baga, and they have carried away the silver and the precious stones there- from! They have shed blood in Abzu-ega, they have set fire to the temple of Gatumdug, and they have car- ried away the silver and the precious stones therefrom, and have destroyed her statue! They have set fire to the ... of the temple E-anna of the goddess Ninrii, and they have carried away the silver and the precious stones therefrom, and have destroyed her statue! They have shed blood in Shapada, and they have carried away the silver and precious stones therefrom! They have ... in Khenda, they have shed blood in the temple of Nindar in the town of Kiab, and they have carried away the silver and the precious stones therefrom! They have set fire to the temple of Dumuzi-abzu in the town of Kinunir, and they have carried away the silver and the precious stones therefrom! They have set fire to the temple of Lugaluru, and they have carried away the silver and the precious stones therefrom! They have shed blood in E-engura, the temple of the goddess Nina, and they have carried away the silver and the precious stones therefrom! They have shed blood in Sag . . . , the temple of Amageshtin, and the silver and the pre- cious stones of Amageshtin have they carried away! They have removed the grain from Ginarbaniru, the field of the god Ningirsu, so much of it as was under cultivation! The men of Gishkhu, by the despoiling of 182 KECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTEEN ASIA Shirpurla, have committed a transgression against the god Ningirsu! The power that is come unto them, from them shall be taken away! Of transgression on the part of Urukagina, King of Girsu, there is none. As for Lugalzaggisi, patesi of Gishkhu, may his goddess Ni- daba bear on her head (the weight of) this trans- gression! " Such is the account, which has come down to us from the rough tablet of some unknown scribe, of the greatest misfortune experienced by Shirpurla during the long course of her history. Many of the great temples men- tioned in the text as among those which were burnt down and despoiled of their treasures are referred to more than once in the votive and historical inscriptions of earlier rulers of Shirpurla, who occupied the throne before the ill-fated Urukagina. The names of some of them, too, are to be found in the texts of the later pate- sis of that city, so that it may be concluded that in course of time they were rebuilt and restored to their former splendour. But there is no doubt that the de- spoiling and partial destruction of Shirpurla in the reign of Urukagina had a lasting effect upon the fortunes of that city, and effectively curtailed her influence among the greater cities of Southern Babylonia. We may now turn our attention to the leader of the men of Gishkhu, under whose direction they achieved their final triumph over their ancient, and for long years more powerful, rival Shirpurla. The writer of our tablet mentions his name in the closing words of his text when he curses him and his goddess for the destruction and A POWEEFUL COALITION 183 sacrilege that they have wrought. " As for Lugalzag- gisi," he says, " patesi of Gishkhu, may his goddess Nidaba bear on her head (the weight of ) this trans- gression! " Now the name of Lugalzaggisi has been found upon a number of fragments of vases made of white caleite stalagmite which were discovered by Mr. Haynes during his excavations at Mppur. All the vases were engraved with the same inscription, so that it was possible by piecing the fragments of text together to obtain a more or less complete copy of the records which were originally engraved upon each of them. From these records we learned for the first time, not only the name of Lugalzaggisi, but the fact that he founded a powerful coalition of cities in Babylonia at what was obviously a very early period in the history of the coun- try. In the text he describes himself as " King of Erech, king of the world, the priest of Ana, the hero of Mdaba, the son of Ukush, patesi of Gishkhu, the hero of Mdaba, the man who was favourably regarded by the sure eye of the King of the Lands {i. e. the god Enlil) , the great patesi of Enlil, imto whom understanding was granted by Enki, the chosen of the Sun-god, the exalted minister of Enzu, endowed with strength by the Sun- god, the worshipper of Mnni, the son who was con- ceived by Nidaba, who was nourished by Ninkharsag with the milk of life, the attendant of Umu, priestess of Erech, the servant who was trained by Ninagidkhadu, the mistress of Erech, the great minister of the gods." Lugalzaggisi then goes on to describe the extent of his dominion, and he says: " When the god Enlil, the lord 184 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTEEN ASIA of the countries, bestowed upon Lugalzaggisi the king- dom of the world, and granted unto him success in the sight of the world, when he filled the lands with his power, and conquered them from the rising of the sun unto the setting of the same, at that time he made straight his path from the Lower Sea of the Tigris and Euphrates unto the Upper Sea, and he granted him dominion over all from the rising of the sun unto the setting of the same, so that he caused the lands to dwell in peace." Now when first the text of this inscription was pub- lished there existed only vague indications of the date to be assigned to Lugalzaggisi and the kingdom that he founded. It was clear from the titles which he bore, that, though Gishkhu was his native place, he had extended his authority far beyond that city and had chosen Erech as his capital. Moreover, he claimed an empire extending from " the Lower Sea of the Tigris and Euphrates unto the Upper Sea." There is no doubt that the Lower Sea here mentioned is the Persian Gulf, and it has been suggested that the Upper Sea may be taken to be the Mediterranean, though it may possibly have been Lake Van or Lake Urmi. But whichever of these views might be adopted, it was clear that Lugal- zaggisi was a great conqueror, and had achieved the right to assume the high-sounding title of lugal kalama, " king of the world." In these circumstances it was of the first importance for the study of primitive Chal- dgean history and chronology to ascertain approximately the period at which Lugalzaggisi reigned. TRADITIONS CONFIRMED 186 The evidence on which such a question could be provisionally settled was of the vaguest and most un- certain character, but such as it was it had to suffice, in the absence of more reliable data. In settling all problems connected with early Chaldaean chronology, the starting-point was, and in fact still is, the period of Sargon I, King of Agade, inasmuch as the date of his reign is settled, according to the reckoning of the scribes of Nabonidus, as about 3800 b. c. It is true that this date has been called in question, and ingenious suggestions for amending it have been made by some writers, while others have rejected it altogether, holding that it merely represented a guess on the part of the late Babylonians and could be safely ignored in the chronological schemes which they brought forward. But nearly every fresh discovery made in the last few years has tended to confirm some point in the traditions current among the later Babylonians with regard to the earlier history of their country. Consequently, reliance may be placed with increased confidence on the truth of such traditions as a whole, and we may continue to accept those statements which yet await confirmation from documents more nearly contemporary with the early period to which they refer. It is true that such a date as that assigned by Nabonidus to Sargon is not to be regarded as absolutely fixed, for Nabonidus is obvi- ously speaking in round ninnbers, and we may allow for some minor inaccuracies in the calculations of his scribes. But it is certain that the later Babylonian priests and scribes had a wealth of historical material 186 RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA at their disposal which has not come down to us. We may therefore accept the date given by Nabonidus for Sargon of Agade and his son Naram-Sin as approxi- mately accurate, and this is also the opinion of the majority of writers on early Babylonian history. The diggings at Nippur furnished indications that certain inscriptions found on that site and written in a very archaic form of script were to be assigned to a period earlier than that of Sargon. One class of evi- dence was obtained from a careful study of the different levels at which the inscriptions and the remains of buildings were found. At a comparatively deep level in the mound inscriptions of Sargon himself were recov- ered, along with bricks stamped with the name of Naram-Sin, his son. It was, therefore, a reasonable conclusion roughly to date the particular stratum in which these objects were found to the period of the empire established by Sargon, with its centre at Agade. Later on excavations were carried to a lower level, and remains of buildings were discovered which appeared to belong to a still earlier period of civilization. An altar was found standing in a small enclosure surrounded by a kind of curb. Near by were two immense clay vases which appeared to have been placed on a ramp or in- clined plane leading up to the altar, and remains were also found of a massive brick building in which was an arch of brick. No inscriptions were actually foimd at' this level, but in the upper level assigned to Sargon were a number of texts which might very probably be assigned to the pre-Sargonic period. None of these were UNCERTAIN EVIDENCE 187 complete, and they had the appearance of having been intentionally broken into small fragments. There was therefore something to be said for the theory that they might have been inscribed by the builders of the con- struction in the lowest levels of the mound, and that they were destroyed and scattered by some conqueror who had laid their city in ruins. But all such evidence derived from noting the levels at which inscriptions are f oimd is in - its nature ex- tremely uncertain and liable to many different inter- pretations, especially if the strata show signs of having been disturbed. Where a pavement or building is still intact, with the inscribed bricks of the builder remain- ing in their original positions, conclusions may be con- fidently drawn with regard to the age of the building and its relative antiquity to the strata above and below it. But the strata in the lowest levels at Mppur, as we have seen, were not in this condition, and such evidence as they furnished could only be accepted if confirmed by independent data. Such confirmation was to be found by examination of the early inscriptions themselves. It has been remarked that most of them were broken into small pieces, as though by some invader of the cotmtry; but this was not the case with certain gate- sockets and great blocks of diorite which were too hard and big to be easily broken. Moreover, any conqueror of a city would be unlikely to spend time and labour in destroying materials which might be usefully em- ployed in the construction of other buildings which he himself might erect. Stone could not be obtained in 188 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTEEN ASIA the alluvial plains of Babylonia and had to be quarried in the mountains and brought great distances. From any building of his predecessors which he razed to the ground, an invader would therefore remove the gate- sockets and blocks of stone for his own use, supposing STONE GATE - SOCKET BEARIKG AN INSCRIPTION OP UR - ENGUR, AN EAELT KING OP THE CITY OF UR. Photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co. he contemplated building on the site. If he left the city in ruins and returned to his own country, some subsequent king, when clearing the ruined site for build- ing operations, might come across the stones, and he PEEIOD OF LUGALZAGGISI 189 would not leave them buried, but would use tliem for Ms own construction. And this is what actually did iappen in the case of some of the building materials of one of these early kings, from the lower strata oi\ Nippur. Certain of the blocks which bore the name of liUgalkigubnidudu had been used again by Sargon, King of Agade, who engraved his own name upon them with- out obliterating the name of the former king. It followed that Lugalkigubnidudu belonged to the pre-Sargonic period, and, although the same conclusive evidence was not forthcoming in the case of Lugalzag- gisi, he also without much hesitation was set in this early period, mainly on the strength of the archaic forms of the characters employed in his inscriptions. In fact, they were held to be so archaic that, not only was he said to have reigned before Sargon of Agade, but he was set in the very earliest period of Chaldaean history, and his empire was supposed to have been contempora- neous with the very earliest rulers of Shirpurla. The new inscription found by Captain Cros will cause this opinion to be considerably modified. While it corrob- orates the view that Lugalzaggisi is to be set in the pre-Sargonic period, it proves that he lived and reigned very shortly before him. As we have already seen, he was the contemporary of Urukagina, who belongs to the middle period of the history of Shirpurla. Lugalzag- gisi 's capture and sack of the city of Shirpurla was only one of a number of conquests which he achieved. His father Ukush had been merely patesi of the city of Gish- khu, but he himself was not content with the restricted 190 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA sphere of authority which such a position implied, and he eventually succeeded in enforcing his authority over the greater part of Babylonia. From the fact that he styles himself King of Erech, we may conclude that he removed his capital from Ukush to that city, after hav- ing probably secm'ed its submission by force of arms. In fact, his title of " king of the world " can only have been won as the result of many victories, and Captain Cros 's tablet gives us a glimpse of the methods by which he managed to secure himself against the competition of any rival. The capture of Shirpurla must have been one of his earliest achievements, for its proximity to Gish- khu rendered its reduction a necessary prelude to any more extensive plan of conquest. But the kingdom which Lugalzaggisi founded cannot have endured long. Under Sargon of Agade, the Semites gained the upper hand in Babylonia, and Erech, Gishkhu, and Shir- purla, as well as the other ancient cities in the land, fell in turn under his domination and formed part of the extensive empire which he ruled. Concerning the later rulers of city-states of Baby- lonia which succeeded the disruption of the empire founded by Sargon of Agade and consolidated by Naram-Sin, his son, the excavations have Httle to teU us which has not already been made use of by Prof. Maspero in his history of this period.^ Ur, Isin, and 1 The tablets found at Telloh by the late M. de Sarzec, and published during his lifetime, fall into two main classes, which date from different periods in early Chaldsean history. The great majority belong to the period when the city of Ur held pre-eminence among the cities of Southern Babylonia, and they are Statue of Gudea. The most famous of the later patesis, or viceroys, of Shirpurla, the Sumerian city in Southern Babylonia now marked by the mounds of Telloh. Photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co. STRIFE FOE HEGEMONY 191 Larsam succeeded one another in the position of leading city in Babylonia, holding Nippur, Eridu, Erech, Shir- purla, and the other chief cities in a condition of semi- dependence upon themselves. We may note that the true reading of the name of the founder of the dynasty of TJr has now been ascertained from a syllabary to be TJr-Engur; and an unpublished chronicle in the British Museum relates that his son Dungi cared greatly for the city of Eridu, but sacked Babylon and carried off its spoil, together with the treasures from E-sagila, the great temple of Marduk. Such episodes must have been common at this period when each city was striving for hegemony. Meanwhile, Shirpurla remained the centre of Sumerian influence in Babylonia, and her patesis were content to owe allegiance to so powerful a ruler as Dungi, King of Ur, while at all times exercising com- plete authority within their own jurisdiction. During the most recent diggings that have been car- ried out at Telloh a find of considerable value to the history of Sumerian art has been made. The find is also of great general interest, since it enables us to identify a portrait of Grudea, the most famous of the later Sume- dated in the reigns of Dungi, Bur-Sin, Gamil-Sin, and Ine-Sin. The other and smaller collection belongs to the earlier period of Sargon and Naram-Sin ; while many of the tablets found in M. de Sarzec's last diggings, which were published after his death, are to be set in the great gap between these two periods. Some of those recently discovered, which belong to the period of Dungi, contain memoranda concerning the supply of food for the maintenance of officials stopping at Shirpurla in the course of journeys in Babylonia and Elam, and they throw an interesting light on the close and constant communication which took place at this time between the great cities of Mesopotamia and the neigh- bouring countries. 192 RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA rian patesis. In the course of excavating the Tell of Tablets Captain Cros found a little seated statue made of diorite. It was not found in place, but upside down, and appeared to have been thrown with other debris scattered in that portion of the mound. On lifting it TABLET INSCKIBED IN SUMERIAN WITH DETAILS OF A SnUVET OF CERTAIN PROPERTY. Probably situated in tbe neighbourhood of Telloh. The circular shape is very unusual, and appears to have been used only for survey-tablets. Photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co. from the trench it was seen that the head of the statue was broken off, as is the case with all the other statues of Gudea found at Telloh. The statue bore an inscrip- tion of Gudea, carefully executed and well preserved, but it was smaller than other statues of the same ruler that had been already recovered, and the absence of the head thus robbed it of any extraordinary interest. On STATUES OF GTJDEA 193 its arrival at the Louvre, M. Leon Heuzey was struck by- its general resemblance to a Sumerian head of diorite formerly discovered by M. de Sarzec at Telloh, which has been preserved in the Louvre for many years. On applying the head to the newly found statue, it was found to fit it exactly, and to complete the monument, and we are thus enabled to identify the features of Gudea. From a photographic reproduction of this statue, it is seen that the head is larger than it should be, in proportion to the body, a characteristic which is also apparent in a small Siunerian statue preserved in the British Musemn, - Gudea caused many statues of himself to be made out of the hard diorite which he brought for that pur- pose from the Shaaitic peninsula, and from the inscrip- tions preserved upon them it is possible to ascertain the buildings in which they were originally placed. Thus one of the statues previously found was set up in the temple of Ninkharsag, two others in B-ninnu, the temple of the god Ningirsu, three more in the temple of the goddess Ban, one in E-anna, the temple of the goddess Ninni, and another in the temple of Gatumdug. The newly foimd statue of the king was made to be set up in the temple erected by Gudea at Girsu in honour of the god Ningishzida, as is recorded in the inscription engraved on the front of the king's robe, which reads as follows: " In the day when the god Ningirsu, the strong warrior of Enlil, granted unto the god Ningishzida, the son of Ninazu, the beloved of the gods, (the guardian- 194 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA ship of) the foundation of the city and of the hills and valleys, on that day Gudea, patesi of Shirpurla, the just man who loveth his god, who for his master Ningirsu hath constructed his temple E-ninnu, called the shining Imgig, and his temple E-pa, the temple of the seven zones of heaven, and for the goddess Nina, the queen, his lady, hath constructed the temple Sirara- shum, which riseth higher than (all) the temples in the world, and hath constructed their temples for the great gods of Lagash, built for his god Ningishzida his temple in Girsu. Whosoever shall proclaim the god Ningirsu as his god, even as I proclaim him, may he do no harm unto the temple of my god! May he proclaim the name of this temple! May that man be my friend, and may he proclaim my name! Gudea hath made the statue, and ' Unto - Gudea - the - builder - of - the - temple - hath life-been-given ' hath he called its name, and he hath brought it into the temple." The long name which Gudea gave to the statue, " Unto - Gudea the - builder - of - the - temple - hath life-been-given," is characteristic of the practice of the Sumerian patesis, who alwayg gave long an'd symbolical names to statues, stelse, and sacred objects dedicated and set up in their temples. The occasion on which the temple was built, and this statue erected within it, seems to have been the investiture of the god Ningishzida with special and peculiar powers, and it possibly inaugurated his introduction into the pantheon of Shirpurla. Nin- gishzida is called in the inscription the son of Ninazu, who was the husband of the Queen of the Underworld. FAMOUS CYLINDEES OF GUDEA 195 In one of his aspects lie was therefore probably a god of the underworld Mmself, and it is in this character that he was appointed by Ningirsu as guardian of the city's foundations. But " the hills and valleys " (i. e. the open country) were also put under his juris- diction, so that in another aspect he was a god of vege- tation. It is therefore not improbable that, like the god Dumuzi, or Tammuz, he was supposed to descend into the imderworld in winter, ascending to the surface of the earth with the earliest green shoots of vegetation in the spring.^ A most valuable contribution has recently been made to our knowledge of Sumerian religion and of the light in which these early rulers regarded the cult and wor- ship of their gods, by the complete interpretation of the long texts inscribed upon the famous cylinders of Gudea, the patesi of Shirpurla, which have been pre- served for many years in the Louvre. These two great cylinders of baked clay were discovered by the late M. de Sarzec so long ago as the year 1877, during the first period of his diggings at TeUoh, and, although the general nature of their contents has long been recog- nized, no complete translation of the texts inscribed upon them had been published until a few months ago. M. Thureau-Dangin, who has made the early Sumerian texts his special study, has devoted himself to their interpretation for some years past, and he has just issued the first part of his monograph upon them. In view of the importance of the texts and of the light they 1 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, Hev. d'Assyr., vol. vi. (1904), p. 24. 196 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTEEN ASIA throw upon the religious beliefs and practices of the early Sumerians, a somewhat detailed account of their contents may here be given. The occasion on which the cylinders were made was the rebuilding by Gudea of E-ninnu, the great temple of the god Ningirsu, in the city of Shirpurla. The two cylinders supplement one another, one of them having been inscribed while the work of construction was still in progress, the other after the completion of the temple, when the god Ningirsu had been installed within his shrine with due pomp and ceremony. It would appear that Southern Babylonia had been suffering from a pro- longed drought, and that the water in the rivers and canals had fallen, so that the crops had suffered and the country was threatened with famine. Gudea was at a loss to know by what means he might restore prosperity to his country, when one night he had a dream, and it was in consequence of this dream that he eventually erected one of the most sumptuously appointed of Sume- rian temples. By this means he secured the return of Mngirsu's favour and that of the other gods, and his country once more enjoyed the blessings of peace and prosperity. In the opening words of the first of his cylinders Gudea describes how the great gods themselves took counsel and decreed that he should build the temple of E-ninnu and thereby restore to his city the supply of water it had formerly enjoyed. He records that on the day on which the destinies were fixed in heaven and upon earth, Enlil, the chief of the gods, and Ningirsu, GUDEA'S VISION 197 the city-god of Shirpurla, held converse. And Enlil, turning to Ningirsu, said: " In my city that which is fitting is not done. The stream doth not rise. The stream of Erdil doth not rise. The high waters shine not, neither do they show their splendom*. The stream of Enin bringeth not good water like the Tigris. Let the King (i. e. Ningirsu) therefore proclaim the temple. Let the decrees of the temple E-ninnu be made illus- trious in heaven and upon earth! " The great gods did not communicate their orders directly to Grudea, but conveyed their wishes to him by means of a dream. And while the patesi slept a vision of the night came to him, and he beheld a man whose stature was so great that it equalled the heavens and the earth. And by the crown he wore upon his head Gudea knew that the figure must be a god. And by his side was the divine eagle, the emblem of Shirpurla, and his feet rested upon the whirl- wind, and a lion was crouching upon his right hand and upon his left. And the figure spoke to the patesi, but he did not understand the meaning of the words. Then it seemed to Gudea that the sun rose from the earth and he beheld a woman holding in her hand a pure reed, and she carried also a tablet on which was a star of the heavens, and she seemed to take counsel with herself. And while Gudea was gazing he seemed to see a second man who was like a warrior; and he carried a slab of lapis lazuli and on it he drew out the plan of a temple. And before the patesi himself it seemed that a fair cushion was placed, and upon the cushion was set a mould, and within the mould was a brick, the brick of 198 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA destiny. And on the right hand the patesi beheld an ass which lay upon the ground. Such was the dream which Grudea beheld in a vision of the night, and he was troubled because he could not interpret it. So he decided to go to the goddess Nina, who could divine all mysteries of the gods, and beseech her to tell him the meaning of the vision. But before applying to the goddess for her help, he thought it best to secure the mediation of the god Ningirsu and the goddess Gatumdug, in order that they should use their influence with Nina to induce her to reveal the inter- pretation of the dream. So the patesi set out to the temple of Ningirsu, and, having offered a sacrifice and poured out fresh water, he prayed to the god that his sister, Nina, the child of Eridu, might be prevailed upon to give him help. And the god hearkened to his prayer. Then Gudea made offerings, and before the sleeping- chamber of the goddess Gatumdug he offered a sacrifice and poured out fresh water. And he prayed to the god- dess, calling her his queen and the child of the pure heaven, who gave Life to the countries and befriended and preserved the people or the man on whom she looked with favour. " I have no mother," cried Gudea, " but thou art my mother! I have no father, but thou art a father to me! " And the goddess Gatumdug gave ear to the patesi 's prayer. Thus encouraged by her favour and that of Ningirsu, Gudea set out for the temple of the goddess Nina. On his arrival at the temple, the patesi offered a INTERPRETATION OF GUDEA'S DREAM 199 sacrifice and poured out fresh water, as he had already done when approaching the presence of Ningirsu and Gatiundug. And he prayed to Nina, as the goddess who divines the secrets of the gods, beseeching her to inter- pret the vision that had been sent to him; and he then recoimted to her the details of his dream. When the patesi had finished his story, the goddess addressed him and told him that she would explain the meaning of his dream to him. And this was the interpretation of the dream. The man whose stature was so great that it equalled the heavens and the earth, whose head was that of a god, at whose side was the divine eagle, whose feet rested on the whirlwind, while a Hon couched on his right hand and on his left, was her brother, the god Ningirsu. And the words which he uttered were an order to the patesi that he should build the temple E-ninnu. And the sun which rose from the earth before the patesi was the god Ningishzida, for like the sun he goes forth from the earth. And the maiden who held a pure reed in her hand, and carried the tablet with the star, was her sister, the goddess Nidaba: the star was the pure star of the temple's construction, which she proclaimed. And the second man, who was like a warrior and carried the slab of lapis lazuli, was the god Nindub, and the plan of the temple which he drew was the plan of E-ninnu. And the brick which rested in its mould upon the cushion was the sacred brick of E-ninnu. And as for the ass which lay upon the ground, that, the goddess said, was the patesi himself. Having interpreted the meaning of the dream, the 200 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTEEN ASIA goddess Nina proceeded to give Gudea instruction as to how lie should go to work to build the temple. She told him first of all to go to his treasure-house and bring forth his treasures from their sealed cases, and out of these to make certain offerings which he was to place near the god Ningirsu, in the temple in which he was dwelling at that time. The offerings were to consist of a chariot, adorned with pure metal and precious stones; bright arrows in a quiver; the weapon of the god, his sacred emblem, on which Gudea was to inscribe his own name; and finally a lyre, the music of which was wont to soothe the god when he took counsel with himself. Nina added that if the patesi carried out her instructions and made the offerings she had specified, Ningirsu would reveal to him the plan on which the temple was to be built, and would also bless hitn. Gudea bowed himself down in token of his submission to the commands of the goddess, and proceeded to execute them forthwith. He brought, out his treasures, and from the precious woods and metals which he possessed his craftsmen fashioned the objects he was to present, and he set them in Ningirsu 's temple near to the god. He worked day and night, and, having prepared a suitable spot in the precincts of the temple at the place of judg- ment, he spread out upon it as offerings a fat sheep and a kid and the skin of a young female kid. Then he built a fire of cypress and cedar and other aromatic woods, to make a sweet savoTir, and, entering the inner chamber of the temple, he offered a prayer to Ningirsu. He said that he wished to build the temple, but he had A PROMISE OP ABUNDANCE 201 received no sign that tMs was the will of the god, and he prayed for a sign. While he prayed the patesi was stretched out upon the ground, and the god, standing near his head, then answered him. He said that he who should build his temple was none other than Gudea, and that he would give him the sign for which he asked. But first he described the plan on which the temple was to be built, naming its various shrines and chambers and describing the manner in which they were to be fashioned and adorned. And the god promised that when Gudea should build the temple, the land would once more enjoy abundance, for Ningirsu would send a wind which should proclaim to the heavens the return of the waters. And on that day the waters would fall from the heavens, the water in the ditches and canals would rise, and water would gush out from the dry clefts in the ground. And the great fields would once more produce their crops, and oil would be poured out plenteously in Sumer, and wool would again be weighed in great abimdance. In that day the god would go to the mountain where dwelt the whirlwind, and he would himself direct the wind which should give the land the breath of life. Gudea must therefore work day and night at the task of building the temple. One company of men was to relieve another at its toil, and during the night the men were to kindle lights so that the plain should be as bright as day. Thus the builders would build contin- uously. Men were also to be sent to the mountains to cut down cedars and pines and other trees and bring 202 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA their trunks to the city, while masons were to go to the mountains and were to cut and transport huge blocks of stone to be used in the construction of the temple. Finally the god gave Gudea the sign for which he asked. The sign was that he should feel his side touched as by a flame, and thereby he should know that he was the man chosen by Ningirsu to carry out his commands. Gudea bowed his head in submission, and his first act was to consult the omens, and the omens were fa- vourable. He then proceeded to purify the city by spe- cial rites, so that the mother when angered did not chide her son, and the master did not strike his servant's head, and the mistress, though provoked by her handmaid, did not smite her face. And Gudea drove all the evil wizards and sorcerers from the city, and he purified and sanctified the city completely. Then he kindled a great fire of cedar and other aromatic woods, to make a sweet savour for the gods, and prayers were offered day and night; and the patesi addressed a prayer to the Anun- naki, or Spirits of the Earth, who dwelt in Shirpurla, and assigned a place to them in the temple. Then, hav- ing completed his purification of the city itself, he con- secrated its immediate surroundings. Thus he conse- crated the district of Gu-edin, whence the revenues of Mngirsu were derived, and the lands of the goddess Nina with their populous villages. And he consecrated the wild and savage bulls which no man could turn aside, and the cedars which were sacred to Ningirsu, and the cattle of the plains. And he consecrated the CONSTRUCTION OF GUDEA'S TEMPLE 203 armed men, and the famous warriors, and the warriors of the Sun-god. And the emblems of the god Ningirsu, and of the two great goddesses, Nina and Ninni, he installed before them in their shrines. Then Gudea sent far and wide to fetch materials for the construction of the temple. And the Elamite came from Elam, and men of Susa came from Susa, and men brought wood from the mountains of Sinai and Melukh- kha. And into the mountain of cedars, where no man before had penetrated, the patesi cut a road, and he brought cedars and beams of other precious woods in great quantities to the city. And he also made a road into the mountain where stone was quarried, into places where no man before had penetrated. And he carried great blocks of stone down from the mountain and loaded them into barges and brought them to the city. And the barges brought bitiunen and plaster, and they were loaded as though they were carrying grain, and all manner of great things were brought to the city. Copper ore was brought from the mountain of copper in the land of Kimash, and gold was brought in powder from the mountains, and silver was brought from the mountains and porphyry from the land of Melukhkha, and marble from the mountain of marble. And the patesi installed goldsmiths and silversmiths, who wrought in these precious metals, for the adornment of the temple; and he brought smiths who worked in copper and lead, who were priests of Nin-tu-kalama. In his search for fitting materials for the building of the temple, Gudea journeyed from the lower country to the 204 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTEEN ASIA upper country, and from the upper country to the lower country he returned. The only other materials now wanting for the con- struction of the temple were the sun-dried bricks of clay, of which the temple platform and the structure of the temple itself were in the main composed. Their manufacture was now inaugurated by a symbolical cere- mony carried out by the patesi in person. At dawn he performed an ablution with the fitting rites that accom- panied it, and when the day was more advanced he slew a buU and a kid as sacrifices, and he then entered the temple of Mngirsu, where he prostrated himself. And he took the sacred mould and the fair cushion on which it rested in the temple, and he poured a libation into the mould. Afterwards, having made offerings of honey and butter, and having burnt incense, he placed the cushion and the mould upon his head and carried it to the ap- pointed place. There he placed clay in the mould, shap- ing it into a brick, and he left the brick in its mould within the temple. And last of all he sprinkled oil of cedar-wood around. The next day at dawn Gudea broke the mould and set the brick in the sun. And the Sun-god was rejoiced at the brick that he had fashioned. And Grudea took the brick and raised it on high towards the heavens, and he carried the brick to his people. In this way the patesi inaugurated the manufacture of the sun-dried bricks for the temple, the sacred brick which he had made being the symbol and pattern of the innumerable bricks to be used in its construction. He then marked THE GODS HELP GUDEA 205 out the plan of the temple, and the text states that he devoted himself to the building of the temple like a young man who has begun building a house and allows no pleasure to interfere with his task. And he chose out skilled workmen and employed them on the building, and he was filled with joy. The gods, too, are stated to have helped with the building, for Enki fixed the temennu of the temple, and the goddess Nina looked after its oracles, and Gatumdug, the mother of Shir- purla, fashioned bricks for it morning and evening, while the goddess Bau sprinkled aromatic oil of cedar- wood. Gudea himself laid its foundations, and as he did so he blessed the temple seven times, comparing it to the sacred brick, to the holy libation-vase, to the divine eagle of Shirpurla, to a terrible couching panther, to the beautiful heavens, to the day of offerings, and to the morning light which brightens the land. He caused the temple to rise towards heaven like a moun- tain, or like a cedar growing in the desert. He built it of bricks of Sumer, and the timbers which he set in place were as strong as the dragon of the deep. While he was engaged on the building Gudea took counsel of the god Enki, and he built a fountain for the gods, where they might drink. With the great stones which he had brought and fashioned he built a reservoir and a basin for the temple. And seven of the great stones he set up as stelae, and he gave them favourable names. The text then recounts the various parts and shrines of the temple, and it describes their splendours in similes drawn from the heavens and the earth and the 206 RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA abyss, or deep, beneath the earth. The temple itself is described as being like the crescent of the new moon, or like the sun in the midst of the stars, or like a moun- tain of lapis lazuli, or like a mountain of shining mar- ble. Parts of it are said to have been terrible and strong as a savage bull, or a lion, or the antelope of the abyss, or the monster Lakhamu who dwells in the abyss, or the sacred leopard that inspires terror. One of the doors of the temple was guarded by a figure of the hero who slew the monster with six heads, and at another door was a good dragon, and at another a lion; opposite the city were set figures of the seven heroes, and facing the rising sun was fixed the emblem of the Sun-god. Fig- ures of other heroes and favourable monsters were set up as guardians of other portions of the temple. The fastenings of the main entrance were decorated with dragons shooting out their tongues, and the bolt of the great door was fashioned like a raging hound. After this description of the construction and adorn- ment of the temple the text goes on to narrate how Gudea arranged for its material endowment. He stalled oxen and sheep, for sacrifice and feasting, in the out- houses and pens within the temple precincts, and he heaped up grain in its granaries. Its storehouses he fiUed with spices so that they were like the Tigris when its waters are in flood, and in its treasure-chambers he pUed up precious stones, and silver, and lead in abun- dance. Within the temple precincts he planted a sacred garden which was like a mountain covered with vines; and on the terrace he built a great reservoir, or tank, TEEASUEES OF THE TEMPLE 207 lined with lead, in addition to the great stone reservoir within the temple itself. He constructed a special dwell- ing-place for the sacred doves, and among the flowers of the temple garden and under the shade of the great trees the birds of heaven flew about unmolested. The first of the two great cylinders of Gudea ends at this point in the description of the temple, and it is evident that its text was composed while the work of building was still in progress. Moreover, the writing of the cylinder was finished before the actual work of building the temple was completed, for the last column of the text concludes with a prayer to Ningirsu to make it glorious during the progress of the work, the prayer ending with the words, " O Ningirsu, glorify it! Glorify the temple of Ningirsu during its construction! " The text of the second of the two great cylinders is shorter than that of the first, consisting of twenty-four instead of thirty coliunns of writing, and it was composed and written after the temple was completed. Like the first of the cylinders, it concludes with a prayer to Ningirsu on behalf of the temple, ending with the similar refrain, " Ningirsu, glorify it! Glorify the temple of Ningirsu after its construction! " The first cylinder, as we have seen, records how it came about that Gudea decided to rebuild the temple E-ninnu in honour of Ningirsu. It describes how, when the land was suffering from drought and famine, Gudea had a dream, how Nina interpreted the dream to mean that he must rebuild the temple, and how Ningirsu himself promised that this act of piety would restore abundance and prosperity to 208 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA the land. Its text ends with the long description of the sumptuous manner in which the patesi carried out the work, the most striking points of which we have just siunmarized. The narrative of the second cylinder be- gins at the moment when the building of the temple was finished, and when all was ready for the great god Nin- girsu to be installed therein, and its text is taken up with a description of the ceremonies and rites with which this solemn function was carried out. It presents us with a picture, drawn from life, of the worship and cult of the ancient Sumerians in actual operation. In view of its importance from the point of view of the study and comparison of the Sumerian and Babylonian religious systems, its contents also may be summarized. We wiU afterwards discuss briefly the information fur- nished by both the cylinders on the Sumerian origin of many of the religious beliefs and practices which were current among the later Semitic inhabitants of Baby- lonia and Assyria. When Gudea had finished building the new temple of E-ninnu, and had completed the decoration and adorn- ment of its shrines, and had planted its gardens and stocked its treasure-chambers and storehouses, he ap- plied himself to the preliminary ceremonies and relig- ious preparations which necessarily preceded the actual function of transferring the statue of the god Ningirsu from his old temple to his new one. Gudea 's first act was to install the Anunnaki, or Spirits of the Earth, in the new temple, and when he had done this, and had supplied additional sheep for their sacrifices and food REMOVAL OF NINGIESU 209 in abundance for their offerings, he prayed to them to give him their assistance and to pronounce a prayer at his side when he should lead Ningirsu into his new dwelling-place. The text then describes how Gudea went to the old temple of Ningirsu, accompanied by his protecting spirits who walked before him and behind him. Into the old temple he carried sumptuous offer- ings, and when he had set them before the god, he addressed him in prayer and said: " my King, Nin- girsu! Lord, who curbest the raging waters! Lord, whose word surpasseth all others! O Son of Enlil, warrior, what commands shall I faithfully carry out? Ningirsu, I have built thy temple, and with joy would I lead thee therein, and my goddess Bau would 1 install at thy side." We are told that the god accepted Gudea's prayer, and thereby he gave his consent to be removed from the old temple of E-ninnu to his new one which bore the same name. But the ceremony of the god's removal was not car- ried out at once, for the due time had not arrived. The year ended, and the new year came, and then *' the month of the temple " began. The third day of the month was that appointed for the installation of Nin- girsu. Gudea meanwhile had sprinkled the ground with oil, and set out offerings of honey and butter and wine, and grain mixed with milk, and dates, and food un- touched by fire, to serve as food for the gods; and the gods themselves had assisted in the preparations for the reception of Ningirsu. The god Asaru made ready the temple itself, and Ninmada performed the ceremony 210 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA of purification. The god Enki issued oracles, and tlie god Nindub, the supreme priest of Eridu, brought in- cense. Mna performed chants within the temple, and brought black sheep and holy cows to its folds and stalls. This record of the help given by the other gods we may interpret as meaning that the priests attached to the other great Sumerian temples took part in the prepara- tion of the new temple, and added their offerings to the temple stores. To many of the gods, also, special shrines within the temple were assigned. When the purification of E-ninnu was completed and the way between the old temple and the new made ready, all the inhabitants of the city prostrated them- selves on the ground. " The city," says Gudea, " was like the mother of a sick man who prepareth a potion for him, or like the cattle of the plain which lie down together, or like the fierce lion, the master of the plain, when he coucheth." During the day and the night before the ceremony of removal, prayers and supplica- tions were uttered, and at the first light of dawn on the appointed day the god Ningirsu went into his new temple " like a whirlwind," the goddess Bau entering at his side '' like the sun rising over Shirpurla." She entered beside his couch, like a faithful wife, whose cares are for her own household, and she dwelt beside his ear and bestowed abundance upon Shirpurla. As the day began to brighten and the sun rose, Gudea set out as offerings in the temple a fat ox and a fat sheep, and he brought a vase of lead and filled it with wine, which he poured out as a libation, and he DUTIES OF THE GODS 211 performed incantations. Then, having duly established Ningirsu and Bau ia the chief shrine, he turned his attention to the lesser gods and installed them in their appointed places in the temple, where they would be always ready to assist Mngirsu in the temple cere- monies and in the issue of his decrees for the welfare of the city and its inhabitants. Thus he established the god Galalim, the son of Ningirsu, in a chosen spot in the great court in front of the temple, where, under the orders of his father, he should direct the just and curb the evil-doer; he would also by his presence strengthen and preserve the temple, while his special duty was to guard the throne of destiny and, on behalf of Ningirsu, to place the sceptre in the hands of the reigning patesi. Near to Ningirsu and under his orders Gudea also estab- lished the god Dunshaga, whose function it was to sanc- tify the temple and to look after its libations and offer- ings, and to see to the due performance of the ceremo- nies of ablution. This god would offer water to Ningirsu with a pure hand, he would pour out libations of wine and strong drink, and would tend the oxen, sheep, kids, and other offerings which were brought to the temple night and day. To the god Lugalkurdub, who was also installed in the temple, was assigned the privilege of holding in his hand the mace with the seven heads, and it was his duty to open the door of the Gate of Combat. He guarded the sacred weapons of Ningirsu and des- troyed the countries of his enemies. He was Ningirsu 's chief leader in battle, and another god with lesser pow- ers was associated with him as his second leader. 212 EECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTEEN ASIA Ningirsu's counsellor was the god Lugalsisa, and he also had his appointed place in E-ninnu. It was his duty to receive the prayers of Shirpurla and render them propitious; he superintended and blessed Nin- girsu's journey when he visited Bridu or returned from that city, and he made special intercessions for the life of Gudea. The minister of Ningirsu's harim was the god Shakanshabar, and he was installed near to Niu- girsu that he might issue his commands, both great and small, The keeper of the harim was the god Urizu, and it was his duty to purify the water and sanctify the grain, and he tended Ningirsu's sleeping-chamber and saw that all was arranged therein as was fitting. The driver of Ningirsu's chariot was the god Ensignun; it was his duty to keep the sacred chariot as bright as the stars of heaven, and morning and evening to tend and feed Ningirsu's sacred ass, called Ug-kash, and the ass of Eridu. The shepherd of Ningirsu's kids was the god Enlulim, and he tended the sacred she-goat who suckled the kids, and he guarded her so that the serpent should not steal her milk. This god also looked after the oil and the strong drink of E-ninnu, and saw that its store increased. Ningirsu's beloved musician was the god Ushum- gabkalama, and he was installed in E-ninnu that he might take his flute and fill the temple court with joy. It was his privilege to play to Ningirsu as he listened in his harim, and to render the life of the god pleasant in E-ninnu. Ningirsu's singer was the god Lugaligi- khusham, and he had his appointed place in E-ninnu, for NINGIRSU'S DAUGHTERS 213 he could appease the heart and soften anger; he conld stop the tears which flowed from weeping eyes, and could lessen sorrow in the sighing heart. Gudea also installed in E-ninnu the seven twin-daughters of the goddess Bau, all virgins, whom Ningirsu had begotten. Their names were Zarzaru, Impae, Urenuntaea, Khegir- nuna, Kheshaga, G-urmu, and Zarmu. Gudea installed them near their father that they might offer favourable prayers. The cultivator of the district of Gu-edin was the god Gishbare, and he was installed in the temple that he might cause the great fields to be fertile, and might make the wheat glisten in Gu-edin, the plain assigned to Ningirsu for his revenues. It was this god's duty also to tend the machines for irrigation, and to raise the water into the canals and ditches of Shirpurla, and thus to keep the city's granaries well filled. The god Kal was the guardian of the fishing in Gu-edin, and his chief duty was to place fish in the sacred pools. The steward of Gu-edin was the god Dimgalabzu, whose duty it was to keep the plain in good order, so that the birds might abound there and the beasts might raise their young in peace; he also guarded the special privilege, which the plain enjoyed, of freedom from any tax levied upon the increase of the cattle pastured there. Last of all Gudea installed in E-ninnu the god Lugalenurua- zagakam, who looked after the construction of houses in the city and the building of fortresses upon the city wall; in the temple it was his privilege to raise on high a battle-axe made of cedar. 214 KECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA All these lesser deities, having close relations to the god Ningirsu, were installed by Gudea in his temple in close proximity to him, that they might be always ready to perform their special fmictions. But the greater deities also had their share in the inauguration of the temple, and of these Gudea specially mentions Ana, Enlil, Ninkharsag, Enki, and Bnzu, who all assisted in rendering the temple's lot propitious. For at least three of the greater gods (Ana, Enlil, and the goddess Nin- makh) Gudea erected shrines near one another and probably within the temple's precincts, and, as the pas- sage which records this fact is broken, it is possible that the missing portion of the text recorded the building of shrines to other deities. In any case, it is clear that the composer of the text represents all the great gods as beholding the erection and inauguration of Ningirsu 's new temple with favour. After the account of the installation of Ningirsu, and his spouse Bau, and his attendant deities, the text re- cords the sumptuous offerings which Gudea placed within Ningirsu 's shrine. These included another char- iot drawn by an ass, a seven-headed battle-axe, a sword with nine emblems, a bow with terrible arrows and a quiver decorated with wild beasts and dragons shootttig out their tongues, and a bed which was set within the god's sleeping-chamber. On the couch in the shrine the goddess Bau reclined beside her lord Ningirsu, and ate of the great victims which were sacrificed in their honour. When the ceremony of installation had been success- EESTESTG AJSTD FEASTING 215 fully performed, Gudea rested, and for seven days lie feasted with his people. During this time the maid was the equal of her mistress, and master and servant con- sorted together as friends. The powerful and the hum- ble man lay down side by side, and in place of evil speech only propitious words were heard. The rich man did not wrong the orphan and the strong man did not oppress the widow. The laws of Nina and Ningirsu were observed, justice was bright in the sunlight, and the Sun-god trampled iniquity under foot. The building of the temple also restored material prosperity to the land, for the canals became full of water and fish swarmed in the pools, the granaries were filled with grain and the flocks and herds brought forth their in- crease. The city of Shirpurla was satiated with abun- dance. Such is a summary of the account which Grudea has left us of his rebuilding of the temple E-ninnu, of the reasons which led him to undertake the work, and of the results which followed its completion. It has often been said that the inscriptions of the ancient Sumerians are without much intrinsic value, that they mainly con- sist of dull votive formulae, and that for general interest the best of them cannot be compared with the later inscriptions of the Semitic inhabitants of Mesopotamia. This reproach, for which until recently there was con- siderable justification, has been finally removed by the working out of the texts upon Gudea 's cylinders. For picturesque narrative, for wealth of detail, and for strik- ing similes, it would be hard to find their superior in 216 RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA Babylonian and Assyrian literature. They are, in fact, very remarkable compositions, and in themselves justify the claim that the Sumerians were possessed of a litera- ture in the proper sense of the term. But that is not their only value, for they give a vivid picture of ancient Sumerian life and of the ideals and aims which actuated the people and their rulers. The Sumerians were essentially an unmilitary race. That they could maintain a stubborn fight for their ter- ritory is proved by the prolonged struggle maintained by Shirpurla against her rival Gishkhu, but neither ruler nor people was inflamed by love of conquest for its own sake. They were settled in a rich and fertile country, which supplied their own wants in abundance, and they were content to lead a peaceful life therein, engaged in agricultural and industrial pursuits, and devoted wholly to the worship of their gods. G-udea's inscriptions enable us to realize with what fervour they carried out the rebuilding of a temple, and how the whole resources of the nation were devoted to the suc- cessful completion of the work. It is true that the rebuilding of E-ninnu was undertaken in a critical period when the land was threatened with famine, and the peculiar magnificence with which the work was car- ried out may be partly explained as due to the behef that such devotion would ensure a return of material prosperity. But the existence of such a belief is in itself an index to the people's character, and we may take it that the record faithfully represents the rela- tions of the Sumerians to their gods, and the important SUMEEIAN WORSHIP 217 place which worship and ritual occupied in the national life. Moreover, the inscriptions of Gudea furnish much valuable information with regard to the details of Sume- rian worship and the elaborate organization of the tem- ples. From them we can reconstruct a picture of one of these immense buildings, with its numerous shrines and courts, surrounded by sacred gardens and raising its ziggurat, or temple tower, high above the surround- ing city. Within its dark chambers were the mysterious figures of the gods, and what httle light could enter would have been reflected in the tanks of sacred water sunk to the level of the pavement. The air within the shrines must have been heavy with the smell of incense and of aromatic woods, while the deep silence would have been broken only by the chanting of the priests and the feet of those that bore offerings. Outside in the sunlight cedars and other rare trees cast a pleasant shade, and birds flew about among the flowers and bushes in the outer courts and on the garden terraces. The area covered by the temple buildings must have been enormous, for they included the dwellings of the priests, stables and pens for the cattle, sheep, and kids employed for sacrifice, and treasure-chambers and store- houses and granaries for the produce from the temple lands. We also get much information with regard to the nature of the offerings and the character of the cere- monies which were performed. We may mention as of peculiar interest Gudea's symbolical rite which pre- 218 RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA ceded the making of the sun-dried bricks, and the cere- mony of the installation of Ningirsu in the presence of the prostrate city. The texts also throw an interesting light on the truly Oriental manner in which, when ap- proaching one deity for help, the cooperation and assist- ance of other deities were first secured. Thus Gudea solicited the intercession of Ningirsu and Gatumdug before applying to the goddess Nina to interpret his dream. The extremely human character of the gods themselves is also well illustrated. Thus we gather from the texts that Mngirsu's temple was arranged like the palace of a Sumerian ruler and that he was surrounded by gods who took the place of the attendants and min- isters of his human counterpart. His son was installed in a place of honour and shared with him the responsi- bility of government. Another god was his personal attendant and cupbearer, who offered him fair water and looked after the ablutions. Two more were his generals, who secured his country against the attacks of foes. Another was his counsellor, who received and presented petitions from his subjects and superintended his journeys. Another was the head of his harim, a position of great trust and responsibility, while a keeper of the harim looked after the practical details. Another god was" the driver of his chariot, and it is interesting to note that the chariot was drawn by an ass, for horses were not introduced into Western Asia until a much later period. Other gods performed the functions of head shepherd, chief musician, chief singer, head culti- vator and inspector of irrigation, inspector of the fish- INTERESTING CONCLUSIONS 219 ing, land steward, and architect. His household also included his wife and his seven virgin daughters. In addition to the account of the various functions per- formed by these lesser deities, the texts also furnish valuable facts with regard to the characters and attri- butes of the greater gods and goddesses, such as the attributes of Ningirsu himself, and the character of Nina as the goddess who divined and interpreted the secrets of the gods. But perhaps the most interesting conclusions to be drawn from the texts relate to the influence exerted by the ancient Siunerians upon Semitic beliefs and prac- tices. It has, of course, long been recognized that the later Semitic inhabitants of Babylonia and Assyria drew most of their culture from the Sumerians, whom they displaced and absorbed. Their system of writing, the general structure of their temples, the ritual of their worship, the majority of their religious compositions, and many of their gods themselves are to be traced to a Sumerian origin, and much of the information ob- tained from the cylinders of Gudea merely confirms or illustrates the conclusions already deduced from other sources. As instances we may mention the belief in spirits, which is illustrated by the importance attached to the placating of the Anunnaki, or Spirits of the Earth, to whom a special place and special offerings were assigned in E-ninnu. The Sumerian origin of cere- monies of purification is confirmed by Gudea's purifica- tion of the city before beginning the building of the temple, and again before the transference of the god 220 RECENT EXCAVATIONS IN WESTERN ASIA from his old temple to the new one. The consultation of omens, which was so marked a feature of Babylonian and Assyrian life, is seen in actual operation under the Sumerians; for, even after Gudea had received direct instructions from Ningirsu to begin building his tem- ple, he did not proceed to carry them out until he had consulted the omens and found that they were favour- able. Moreover, the references to mythological beings, such as the seven heroes, the dragon of the deep, and the god who slew the dragon, confirm the opinion that the creation legends and other mythological composi- tions of the Babylonians were derived by them from Sumerian sources. But there are two incidents in the narrative which are on a rather different plane and are more startling in their novelty. One is the story of Gudea 's dream, and the other the sign which he sought from his god. The former is distinctly apocalyptic in character, and both may be parallelled in what is re- garded as purely Semitic literature. That such concep- tions existed among the Sumerians is a most interesting fact, and although the theory of independent origin is possible, their existence may well have influenced later Semitic beliefs. CHAPTER V ELAM AND BABYLON, THE COUNTRY OF THE SEA AND THE KASSITES TIP to five years ago our knowledge of Elam and of tlie part she played in the ancient world was derived, in the main, from a few allusions to the country to be found in the records of Babylonian and Assyrian kings. It is true that a few inscriptions of the native rulers had been foimd in Persia, but they belonged to the late peri- ods of her history, and the majority consisted of short dedicatory formulae and did not supply us with much historical information. But the excavations carried on since then by M. de Morgan at Susa have revealed an entirely new chapter of ancient Oriental history, and have thrown a flood of light upon the position occupied by Elam among the early races of the East. Lying to the north of the Persian Gulf and to the east of the Tigris, and rising from the broad plains nearer the coast to the mountainous districts within its borders on the east and north, Elam was one of the nearest neighbours of Chaldsea. A few facts concerning her relations with Babylonia during certain periods of 221 222 ELAM AND BABYLON her history have long been known, and her struggles with the later kings of Assyria are known in some detail; but for her history during the earliest periods we have had to trust mainly to conjecture. That in the earlier as in the later periods she should have been in constant antagonism with Babylonia might legitimately be suspected, and it is not surprising that we should find an echo of her early struggles with Chaldsea in the legends which were current in the later periods of Baby- lonian history. In the fourth and fifth tablets, or sec- tions, of the great Babylonian epic which describes the exploits of the Babylonian hero Gilgamesh, a story is told of an expedition undertaken by Gilgamesh and his friend Ea-bani against an Elamite despot named Khum- baba. It is related in the poem that Khumbaba was feared by all who dwelt near him, for his roaring was like the storm, and any man perished who was rash enough to enter the cedar-wood in which he dwelt. But Gilgamesh, encouraged by a dream sent him by Sha- mash, the Sun-god, pressed on with his friend, and, having entered the wood, succeeded in slaying Khum- baba and in cutting off his head. This legend is doubt- less based on episodes in early Babylonian and Elamite history. Khumbaba may not have been an actual his- torical ruler, but at least he represents or personifies the power of Elam, and the success of Grilgamesh no doubt reflects the aspirations with which many a Baby- lonian expedition set out for the Elamite frontier. Incidentally it may be noted that the legend possibly had a stiU closer historical parallel, for the name of ELAM'S STEUGGLES WITH CHALD^A 223 Khumbaba occurs as a component in a proper name upon one of the Blamite contracts found recently by M. de Morgan at Mai- Amir. The name in question is written Khumbaha-arad-ili, " Khumbaba, the servant of God," and it proves that at the date at which the contract was written (about 1300 - 10t)0 b. c.) the name of Khumbaba was still held in remembrance, possibly as that of an early historical ruler of the country. In her struggles with Chaldaea, Elam was not suc- cessful during the earliest historical period of which we have obtained information; and, so far as we can tell at present, her princes long continued to own alle- giance to the Semitic rulers whose influence was pre- dominant from time to time in the plains of Lower Mesopotamia. Tradition relates that two of the earliest Semitic rulers whose names are known to us, Sargon and Naram-Sin, kings of Agade, held sway in Elam, for in the " Omens " which were current in a later period concerning them, the former is credited with the conquest of the whole country, while of the latter it is related that he conquered Apirak, an Elamite district, and captured its king. Some doubts were formerly cast upon these traditions inasmuch as they were foimd in a text containing omens or forecasts, but these doubts were removed by the discovery of contemporary docu- ments by which the later traditions were confirmed. Sargon 's conquest of Elam, for instance, was proved to be historical by a reference to the event in a date- formula upon tablets belonging to his reign. Moreover, the event has received further confirmation from an 224 ELAM AND BABYLON impublislied tablet in the British Museum, containing a copy of the original chronicle from which the histori- cal extracts in the '^ Omens " were derived. The por- tion of the composition inscribed upon this tablet does not contain the lines referring to Sargon's conquest of Elam, for these occurred in an earlier section of the composition; but the recovery of the tablet puts beyond a doubt the historical character of the traditions pre- served upon the omen-tablet as a whole, and the con- quest of Elam is thus confirmed by inference. The new text does recount the expedition undertaken by Naram- Sin, the son of Sargon, against Apirak, and so furnishes a direct confirmation of this event. Another early conqueror of Elam, who was probably of Semitic origin, was Alu-usharshid, king of the city of Kish, for, from a number of his inscriptions found near those of Sargon at Mppur in Babylonia, we learn that he subdued Elam and Para'se, the district in which the city of Susa was probably situated. Prom a small mace-head preserved in the British Museum we know of another conquest of Elam by a Semitic ruler of this early period. The mace-head was made and engraved by the orders of Mutabil, an early governor of the city of Dur-ilu, to commemorate his own valour as the man " who smote the head of the hosts " of Elam. Mutabil was not himself an independent ruler, and his conquest of Elam must have been undertaken on behalf of the suzerain to whom he owed allegiance, and thus his vic- tory cannot be classed in the same category as those of his predecessors. A similar remark applies to the LIGHT FROM SUSA 225 success against the city of Anshan in Elam, achieved by Gudea, the Sumerian ruler of Shirpurla, inasmuch as he was a patesi, or viceroy, and not an independent king. Of greater duration was the influence exercised over Elam by the kings of Ur, for bricks and contract- tablets have been found at Susa proving that Dungi, one of the most powerful kings of Ur, and Bur-Sin, Ine- Sin, and G-amil-Sin, kings of the second dynasty in that city, aU in turn included Elam within the limits of their empire. Such are the main facts which until recently had been ascertained with regard to the influence of early Babylonian rulers in Elam. The information is obtained mainly from Babylonian sources, and until recently we have been unable to fill in any details of the picture from the Elamite side. But this inability has now been removed by M. de Morgan's discoveries. From the inscribed bricks, cones, stelae, and statues that have been brought to light in the course of his excavations at Susa, we have recovered the name of a succession of native Elamite rulers. All those who are to be assigned to this early period, during which Elam owed allegiance to the kings of Babylonia, ascribe to themselves the title of patesi, or viceroy, of Susa, in acknowledgment of their dependence. Their records consist principally of building inscriptions and foundation memorials, and they commemorate the construction or repair of temples, the cutting of canals, and the like. They do not, there- fore, throw much light upon the problems connected with the external history of Elam during this early 226 ELAM AND BABYLON period, but we obtain from them a glimpse of the in- ternal administration of the country. We see a nation without ambition to extend its boundaries, and content, at any rate for the time, to owe allegiance to foreign rulers, while the energies of its native princes are de- voted exclusively to the cultivation of the worship of the gods and to the amelioration of the conditions of the life of the people in their charge. A difficult but interesting problem presents itself for solution at the outset of our inquiry into the history of this people as revealed by their lately recovered inscrip- tions,— the problem of their race and origin. Pound at Susa in Elam, and inscribed by princes bearing purely Elamite names, we should expect these votive and me- morial texts to be written entirely in the Elamite lan- guage. But such is not the case, for many of them are written in good Semitic Babylonian. While some are entirely composed in the tongue which we term Elamite or Anzanite, others, so far as their language and style is concerned, might have been written by any early Semitic king ruling in Babylonia. Why did early princes of Susa make this use of the Babylonian tongue ? At first sight it might seem possible to trace a par- allel in the use of the Babylonian language by kings and officials in Egypt and Syria during the fifteenth cen- tury B. c, as revealed in the letters from Tell el-Amama. But a moment's thought will show that the cases are not similar. The Egyptian or Syrian scribe employed Babylonian as a medium for his official foreign corre- spondence because Babylonian at that period was the PURPOSE OP ELAMITE MEMORIALS 227 lingua franca of the East. But tlie object of the early Elamite rulers was totally different. Their inscribed bricks and memorial stelae were not intended for the eyes of foreigners, but for those of their own descendants. Built into the structure of a temple, or buried beneath the edifice, one of their principal objects was to preserve the name and deeds of the writer from oblivion. Like similar documents found on the sites of Assyrian and Babylonian cities, they sometimes include curses upon any impious man, who, on finding the inscription after the temple shall have fallen into ruins, should in any way injure the inscription or deface the writer's name. It will be obvious that the writers of these inscriptions intended that they should be intelligible to those who might come across them in the future. If, therefore, they employed the Babylonian as well as the Elamite language, it is clear that they expected that their future readers might be either Babylonian or Elamite ; and this belief can only be explained on the supposition that their own subjects were of mixed race. It is therefore certain that at this early period of Elamite history Semitic Babylonians and Elamites dwelt side by side in Susa and retained their separate lan- guages. The problem therefore resolves itself into the inquiry: which of these two peoples occupied the coun- try first? Were the Semites at first in sole possession, which was afterwards disputed by the incursion of Elamite tribes from the north and east? Or were the Elamites the original inhabitants of the land, into which the Semites subsequently pressed from Babylonia? 228 ELAM AND BABYLON A similar mixtui'e of races is met with in Babylonia itself in the early period of the history of that country. There the early Siunerian inhabitants were gradually dispossessed by the invading Semite, who adopted the civilization of the conquered race, and took over the system of cuneiform writing, which he modified to suit his own language. In Babylonia the Semites eventually predominated and the Sumerians as a race disappeared, but during the process of absorption the two languages were employed indiscriminately. The kings of the First Babylonian Dynasty wrote their votive inscriptions sometimes in Sumerian, sometimes in Semitic Baby- lonian; at other times they employed both languages for the same text, writing the record first in Sumerian and afterwards appending a Semitic translation by the side; and in the legal and commercial documents of the period the old Sumerian legal forms and phrases were retained intact. In Elam we may suppose that the use of the Siunerian and Semitic languages was the same. It may be surmised, however, that the first Semitic incursions into Elam took place at a much later period than those into Babylonia, and under very different con- ditions. When overnmning the plains and cities of the Sumerians, the Semites were comparatively uncivilized, and, so far as we know, without a system of writing of their own. The incursions into Elam must have taken place under the great Semitic conquerors, such as Sar- gon and IsTaram-Sin and Alu-usharshid. At this period they had fully adopted and modified the Sumerian char- acters to express their own Semitic tongue, and on their BABYLONIAN INSCRIPTIONS IN ELAM 229 invasion of Elam they brought their system of writing with them. The native princes of Elam, whom they conquered, adopted it in turn for many of their votive texts and inscribed monuments when they wished to write them in the Babylonian language. Such is the most probable explanation of the occur- rence in Elam of inscriptions in the Old Babylonian lan- guage, written by native princes concerning purely domestic matters. But a further question now suggests itself. Assuming that this was the order in which events took place, are we to suppose that the first Semitic invaders of Elam found there a native popula- tion in a totally undeveloped stage of civilization? Or did they find a population enjoying a comparatively high state of culture, different from their own, which they proceeded to modify and transform? Luckily, we have not to fall back on conjecture for an answer to these questions, for a recent discovery at Susa has fur- nished material from which it is possible to reconstruct in outline the state of culture of these early Elamites. This interesting discovery consists of a number of clay tablets inscribed in the proto-Elamite system of writing, a system which was probably the only one in use in the country during the period before the Semitic invasion. The documents in question are small, roughly formed tablets of clay very similar to those employed in the early periods of Babylonian history, but the signs and characters impressed upon them offer the greatest contrast to the Sumerian and early Babylonian char- acters with which we are familiar. Although they can- 228 ELAM AND BABYLON A similar mixtiu'e of races is met with in Babylonia itself in the early period of the history of that country. There the early Sumerian inhabitants were gradually dispossessed by the invading Semite, who adopted the civilization of the conquered race, and took over the system of cuneiform writing, which he modified to suit his own language. In Babylonia the Semites eventually predominated and the Sumerians as a race disappeared, but during the process of absorption the two languages were employed indiscriminately. The kings of the First Babylonian Dynasty wrote their votive inscriptions sometimes in Sumerian, sometimes in Semitic Baby- lonian; at other times they employed both languages for the same text, writing the record first in Sumerian and afterwards appending a Semitic translation by the side ; and in the legal and commercial documents of the period the old Sumerian legal forms and phrases were retained intact. In Elam we may suppose that the use of the Smnerian and Semitic languages was the same. It may be surmised, however, that the first Semitic Incursions into Elam took place at a much later period than those into Babylonia, and under very different con- ditions. When overrunning the plains and cities of the Sumerians, the Semites were comparatively uncivilized, and, so far as we know, without a system of writing of their own. The incursions into Elam must have taken place under the great Semitic conquerors, such as Sar- gon and N'aram-Sin and Alu-usharshid. At this period they had fully adopted and modified the Sumerian char- acters to express their own Semitic tongue, and on their BABYLONIAN INSCRIPTIONS IN ELAM 229 invasion of Blam they brought their system of writing with them. The native princes of Elam, whom they conquered, adopted it in turn for many of their votive texts and inscribed monuments when they wished to write them in the Babylonian language. Such is the most probable explanation of the occur- rence in Elam of inscriptions in the Old Babylonian lan- guage, written by native princes concerning purely domestic matters. But a further question now suggests itself. Assuming that this was the order in which events took place, are we to suppose that the first Semitic invaders of Elam found there a native popula- tion in a totally undeveloped stage of civilization? Or did they find a population enjoying a comparatively high state of culture, different from their own, which they proceeded to modify and transform? Luckily, we have not to fall back on conjecture for an answer to these questions, for a recent discovery at Susa has fur- nished material from which it is possible to reconstruct in outline the state of culture of these early Elamites. This interesting discovery consists of a number of clay tablets inscribed in the proto-Elamite system of writing, a system which was probably the only one in use in the country during the period before the Semitic invasion. The documents in question are small, roughly formed tablets of clay very similar to those employed in the early periods of Babylonian history, but the signs and characters impressed upon them offer the greatest contrast to the Sumerian and early Babylonian char- acters with which we are familiar. Although they can- 230 ELAM AND BABYLON not be fully deciphered at present, it is probable that they are tablets of accounts, the signs upon them con- sisting of lists of figures and what are probably ideo- graphs for things. Some of the ideographs, such as that CLAT TABLET, TODND AT SUSA, BEARING AN INSCRIPTION- IK THE EARLY PEOTO - ELAMITB CHARACTER. The photograph is taken from M. de Morgan's Diligation en Perse, Mim., t. vi, pi. 23. for " tablet," with which many of the texts begin, are very similar to the Sumerian or Babylonian signs for the same objects; but the majority are entirely different and have been formed and developed upon a system of their own. On these tablets, in fact, we have a new PROTO-ELAMITE CLAY TABLETS 231 class of cuneiform writing in an early stage of its devel- opment, when the hieroglyphic or pictorial character of the ideographs was still prominent. Although the mean- ing of the majority of these ideographs has not yet been identified, Pere Scheil, who has edited the texts, has CLAY TABLET, RECENTLY FOUND AT SUSA, BEARING AN INSCRIP- TION IN THE EARLY PROTO - ELAMITE CHARACTER. The nhotoeraph is reproduced from M. de Morgan's Diligation en Perse, Mim., t. Ti, pi. 22. succeeded in making out the system of numeration. He has identified the signs for unity, 10, 100, and 1,000, and for certain fractions,^ and the signs for these figures are quite different from those employed by the Sumerians. 1 E. g. \, h I, h h h h h h A. A. kh etc. See Delegation en Perse, Me- moires, tome vi (1905), pp. 115 jf. 232 ELAM AND BABYLON The system, too, is different, for it is a decimal, and not a sexagesimal, system of numeration. That in its origin this form of writing had some connection with that employed and, so far as we know, invented by the ancient Sumerians is possible/ But it shows small trace of Sumerian influence, and the dispar- ity in the two systems of numeration is a clear indica- tion that, at any rate, it broke off and was isolated from the latter at a very early period. Having once been adopted by the early Elamites, it continued to be used by them for long periods with but small change or modi- fication. Employed far from the centre of Sumerian civilization, its development was slow, and it seems to have remained in its ideographic state, while the system employed by the Sumerians, and adopted by the Semitic Babylonians, was developed along syllabic lines. It was without doubt this proto-Elamite system of writing which the Semites from Babylonia found em- ployed in Elam on their first incursions into that coun- try. They brought with them their own more conve- nient form of writing, and, when the country had once been finally subdued, the subject Elamite princes adopted the foreign system of writing and language from their conquerors for memorial and monumental inscriptions. But the ancient native writing was not ^It is, of course, also possible that the system of writing had no connection in its origin with that of the Sumerians, and was invented independently of the system employed in Babylonia. In that case, the signs which resemble cer- tain of the Sumerian characters must have been adopted in a later stage of its development. Though it would be rash to dogmatize on the subject, the view that connects its origin with the Sumerians appears on the whole to fit in best with the evidence at present available. MODIFIED BABYLONIAN WRITING 233 entirely ousted, and continued to be employed by the common people of Elam for the ordinary purposes of daily Life. That this was the case at least until the reign of Karibu-sha-Shu- shinak, one of the early sub- ject native rulers, is clear from one of his inscriptions engraved upon a block of limestone to commemorate the dedication of what were probably some temple furnish- ings in honour of the god Shu- shinak. The main part of the inscription is written in Sem- itic Babylonian, and below there is an addition to the text written in proto-Elamite characters, probably enumer- ating the offerings which the Karibu - sha - Shushinak de- creed should be made for the future in honour of the god.^ In course of time this proto- Elamite system of writing by means of ideographs seems to have died out, and a modified form of the Babylonian system was adopted by the Elamites for writing their own language phonetically. It is in this phonetic char- ^ We have assumed that both inscriptions were the work of Karibu-sha- Shushinak. But it is also possible that the second one in proto-Elamite charac- BLOCK OP LIMESTONE, FOUND AT SUSA, BEARING INSCRIPTIONS OF KAKIBU - SHA - SHUSHINAK:. The photograph is taken from M. de Mor- gan's D^gati&n en Perae, M&m., t. vi, pi. 2. 234 ELAM AND BABYLON acter that the so-called " Anzanite " texts of the later Elamite princes were composed. Karibu-sha-Shushinak, whose recently discovered bilingual inscription has been referred to above, was one of the earlier of the subject princes of Elam, and he probably reigned at Susa not later than b. c. 3000. He stj-les himself " patesi of Susa, governor of the land of Elam," but we do not know at present to what con- temporary king in Babylonia he owed allegiance. The longest of his inscriptions that have been recovered is engraved upon a stele of limestone and records the building of the Gate of Shushinak at Susa and the cut- ting of a canal; it also recounts the offerings which Karibu-sha-Shushinak dedicated on the completion of the work. It may here be quoted as an example of the class of votive inscriptions from which the names of these early Elamite rulers have been recovered. The inscription runs as follows: *' For the god Shushinak, his lord, Karibu-sha-Shushinak, the son of Shimbi-ish- khuk, patesi of Susa, governor of the land of Elam,— when he set the (door) of his Gate in place, ... in the Gate of the god Shushinak, his lord, and when he had opened the canal of Sidur, he set up in face thereof his canopy, and he set planks of cedar-wood for its gate. A sheep in the interior thereof, and sheep without, he appointed (for sacrifice) to him each day. On days of festival he caused the people to sing songs in the Gate ters was added at a later period. From Its position on the stone it is clear that it was written after and not before Karibu-sha-Shushinak's inscription in Semitic Babylonian. See the photographic reproduction. A VOTIVE INSCRIPTION 235 of the god ShusMnak, And twenty measures of fine oil he dedicated to make his gate beautiful. Four magi of sUver he dedicated; a censer of silver and gold he dedicated for a sweet odour; a sword he dedicated; an axe with four blades he dedicated, and he dedicated sil- ver in addition for the mounting thereof. ... A right- eous judgment he judged in the city! As for the man who shall transgress his judgment or shall remove his gift, may the gods Shushinak and Shamash, Bel and Ea, Ninni and Sin, Ninkharsag and Nati — may all the gods uproot his foundation, and his seed may they destroy! " It will be seen that Karibu-sha-Shushinak takes a delight in enumerating the details of the ofEerings he has ordained in honour of his city-god Shushinak, and this religious temper is peculiarly characteristic of the princes of Elam throughout the whole course of their history. Another interesting point to notice in the in- scription is that, although the writer invokes Shushinak, his own god, and puts his name at the head of the list of deities whose vengeance he implores upon the impi- ous, he also caUs upon the gods of the Babylonians. As he wrote the inscription itself in Babylonian, in the belief that it might be recovered by some future Semitic inhabitant of his country, so he included in his impre- cations those deities whose names he conceived would be most reverenced by such a reader. In addition to Karibu-sha-Shushinak the names of a number of other patesis, or viceroys, have recently been recovered, such as Khutran-tepti, and Idadu I and his son Kal-Rukhu- 236 ELAM AND BABYLON ratir, and his grandson Idadu II. All these probably ruled after Karibu-sha-Shushinak, and may be set in the early period of Babylonian supremacy in Elam. It has been stated above that the allegiance which these early Blamite princes owed to their overlords in Babylonia was probably reflected in the titles which they bear upon their inscriptions recently found at Susa. These titles are " patesi of Susa, shahJcannak of Blam," which may be rendered as " viceroy of Susa, governor of Elam." But inscriptions have been found on the same site belonging to another series of rulers, to whom a different title is apphed. Instead of referring to them- selves as viceroys of Susa and governors of Elam, they bear the title of sukkal of Blam, of Siparki, and of Susa> Siparki, or Sipar, was probably the name of an impor- tant section of Elamite territory, and the title sukkalUf " ruler," probably carries with it an idea of independ- ence of foreign control which is absent from the title of patesi. It is therefore legitimate to trace this change of title to a corresponding change in the political condi- tion of Elam; and there is much to be said for the view that the rulers of Elam who bore the title of sukkalu reigned at a period when Elam herself was independent, and may possibly have exercised a suzerainty over the neighbouring districts of Babylonia. The worker of this change in the political condition of Elam and the author of her independence was a king named Kutir-Nakhkhunte or Kutir-Na'khunde, whose name and deeds have been preserved in later Assyrian records, where he is termed Kudur-Nankhundi and ASCENDENCY OF KUTIE-NAKHKHUNTE 237 Kudur-Nakhundu/ This ruler, according to the Assyr- ian king Ashur-bani-pal, was not content with throw- ing off the yoke imder which his land had laboured for so long, but carried war into the country of his suze- rain and marched through Babylonia devastating and despoiling the principal cities. This successful Elamite campaign took place, according to the computation of the later Assyrian scribes, about the year 2280 b. c, and it is probable that for many years afterwards the author- ity of the King of Elam extended over the plains of Babylonia. It has been suggested that Kutir-Nakh- khunte, after including Babylonia within his empire, did not remain permanently in Elam, but may have resided for a part of each year, at least, in Lower Meso- potamia. His object, no doubt, would have been to superintend in person the administration of his empire and to check any growing spirit of independence among his local governors. He may thus have appointed in Susa itself a local governor who would carry on the business of the country during his absence, and, under the king himself, would wield supreme authority. Such governors may have been the sukkali, who, unlike the patesi, were independent of foreign control, but yet did not enjoy the full title of '' king." It is possible that the sukkalu who ruled in Elam during the reign of Kutir-N'akhkhunte was named Temti-agun, for a short inscription of this ruler has been recovered, in which he records that he built and 1 For references to the passages wtere the name occurs, see King, Letters of Hammurabi, vol. i, p. Iv/". 238 ELAM AND BABYLON dedicated a certain temple with the object of ensuring the preservation of the life of Kutir-JSTa 'khundi. If we may identify the Kutir-Na'khundi of this text with the great Elamite conqueror, Kutir-Nakhkhunte, it follows that Temti-agun, the sukkal of Susa, was his subordi- nate. The inscription mentions other names which are possibly those of rulers of this period, and reads as follows: " Temti-agun, sukkal of Susa, the son of the sister of Sirukdu', hath built a temple of bricks at Ishme-karab for the preservation of the life of Kutir- Na'khundi, and for the preservation of the life of Lila- irtash, and for the preservation of his own life, and for the preservation of the life of Temti-khisha-khanesh and of Pil-kishamma-khashduk. " As Lila-irtash is men- tioned immediately after Kutir-Na'khundi, he was possi- bly his son, and he may have succeeded him as ruler of the empire of Elam and Babylonia, though no confirma- tion of this view has yet been discovered, Temti-khisha- khanesh is mentioned immediately after the reference to the preservation of the life of Temti-agun himself, and it may be conjectured that the name was that of Temti-agun 's son, or possibly that of his wife, in which event the last two personages mentioned in the text may have been the sons of Temti-agun. This short text affords a good example of one class of votive inscriptions from which it is possible to re- cover the names of Elamite rulers of this period, and it illustrates the uncertainty which at present attaches to the identification of the names themselves and the order in which they are to be arranged. Such uncer- ELAM'S CLAIMS DISPUTED 239 tainty necessarily exists when only a few texts have been recovered, and it will disappear with the discovery of additional monuments by which the results already arrived at may be checked. We need not here enumer- ate all the names of the later Elamite rulers which have been found in the numerous votive inscriptions recov- ered during the recent excavations at Susa. The order in which they should be arranged is still a matter of considerable uncertainty, and the facts recorded by them in such inscriptions as we possess mainly concern the building and restoration of Elamite temples and the decoration of shrines, and they are thus of no great historical interest. These votive texts are well illus- trated by a remarkable find of foundation deposits made last year by M. de Morgan in the temple of Shushinak at Susa, consisting of figures and jewelry of gold and silver, and objects of lead, bronze, iron, stone, and ivory, cylinder-seals, mace-heads, vases, etc. This is the rich- est foundation deposit that has been recovered on any ancient site, and its archaeological interest in connection with the development of Elamite art is great. But in no other way does the find affect our conception of the history of the country, and we may therefore pass on to a consideration of such recent discoveries as throw new light upon the course of history in Western Asia. With the advent of the First Dynasty in Babylon Elam found herself face to face with a power prepared to dispute her claims to exercise a suzerainty over the plains of Mesopotamia. It is held by many writers that the First Dynasty of Babylon was of Arab origin, and 240 ELAM AND BABYLON there is niiicli to be said for this view. M. Pognon was the first to start the theory that its kings were not purely Babylonian, but were of either Arab or Aramaean extraction, and he based his theory on a study of the forms of the names which some of them bore. The name of Samsu-iluna, for instance, means " the sun is our god," but the form of the words of which the name is composed betray foreign influence. Thus in Baby- lonian the name for '' sun " or the Sun-god would be Shamash or Shamshu, not Samsu; in the second half of the name, while ilu (" god ") is good Babylonian, the ending na, which is the pronominal suffix of the first person plural, is not Babylonian, but Arabic. We need not here enter into a long philological discussion, and the instance already cited may suffice to show in what way many of the names met in the Babylonian inscrip- tions of this period betray a foreign, and possibly an Arabic, origin. But whether we assign the forms of these names to Arabic influence or not, it may be re- garded as certain that the First Dynasty of Babylon had its origin in the incursion into Babylonia of a new wave of Semitic immigration. The invading Semites brought with them fresh blood and unexhausted energy, and, finding many of their own race in scattered cities and settlements throughout the country, they succeeded in establishing a purely Semitic dynasty, with its capital at Babylon, and set about the task of freeing the coun- try from any vestiges of foreign control. Many cen- turies earlier Semitic kings had ruled in Babylonian cities, and Semitic empires had been formed there. Sar- Brick Stamped with an Inscription of Kudur-mabug. Photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co. BABYLONIAN SYSTEM OF DATING 241 gon and Naram-Sin, having their capital at Agade, had established their control over a considerable area of Western Asia and had held Elam as a province. But so far as Elam was concerned Kutir-Nakhkhunte had reversed the balance and had raised Elam to the position of the predominant power. Of the struggles and campaigns of the earlier kings of the First Dynasty of Babylon we know little, for, although we possess a considerable number of legal and commercial documents of the period, we have recov- ered no strictly historical inscriptions. Our main source of information is the dates upon these documents, which are not dated by the years of the reigning king, but on a system adopted by the early Babylonian kings from their Smnerian predecessors. In the later periods of Babylonian history tablets were dated in the year of the king who was reigning at the time the document was drawn up, but this simple system had not been adopted at this early period. In place of this we find that each year was cited by the event of greatest impor- tance which occurred in that year. This event might be the cutting of a canal, when the year in which this took place might be referred to as " the year in which the canal named Ai-khegallu was cut; " or it might be the building of a temple, as in the date-formula, " the year in which the great temple of the Moon-god was built; " or it might be the conquest of a city, such as " the year in which the city of Kish was destroyed." Now it will be obvious that this system of dating had many disadvantages. An event might be of great 242 ELAM AND BABYLON importance for one city, while it might never have been heard of in another district; thus it sometimes hap- pened that the same event was not adopted throughout the whole country for designating a particular year, and the result was that different systems of dating were employed in different parts of Babylonia. Moreover, when a particular system had been in use for a con- siderable time, it required a very good memory to retain the order and period of the various events referred to in the date-formulse, so as to fix in a moment the date of a document by its mention of one of them. In order to assist themselves in their task of fixing dates in this manner, the scribes of the First Dynasty of Babylon drew up lists of the titles of the years, arranged in chronological order under the reigns of the kings to which they referred. Some of these lists have been re- covered, and they are of the greatest assistance in fixing the chronology, while at the same time they furnish us with considerable information concerning the history of the period of which we should otherwise have been in ignorance. From these lists of date-formula, and from the dates themselves which are found upon the legal and com- mercial tablets of the period, we learn that Kish, Ka- sallu, and Isin all gave trouble to the earlier kings of the First Dynasty, and had in turn to be subdued. Elam did not watch the diminution of her influence in Baby- lonia without a struggle to retain it. Under Kudur- mabug, who was prince or governor of the districts lying along the frontier of Elam, the Elamites strug- STRUGGLE BETWEEN ELAM AND BABYLONIA 243 gled hard to maintain their position in Babylonia, mak- ing the city of Ur the centre from which they sought to check the growing power of Babylon. Prom bricks that have been recovered from Mukayyer, the site of the city of Ur, we learn that Kudur-mabug rebuilt the tem- ple in that city dedicated to the Moon-god, which is an indication of the firm hold he had obtained upon the city. It was obvious to the new Semitic djmasty in Babylon that, until Ur and the neighbouring city of Larsam had been captured, they could entertain no hope of removing the Elamite yoke from Southern Babylonia. It is probable that the earlier kings of the dynasty made many attempts to capture them, with varying success. An echo of one of their struggles in which they claimed the victory may be seen in the date-formula for the fourteenth year of the reign of Sin-mubalUt, Hammu- rabi's father and predecessor on the throne of Babylon. This year was referred to in the documents of the period as " the year in which the people of Ur were slain with the sword." It will be noted that the capture of the city is not commemorated, so that we may infer that the slaughter of the Elamites which is recorded did not materially reduce their influence, as they were left in possession of their principal stronghold. In fact, Elam was not signally defeated in the reign of Kudur-mabug, but in that of his son Rim-Sin. From the date-formulse of Hammurabi's reign we learn that the struggle be- itween Elam and Babylon was brought to a climax m the thirtieth year of his reign, when it is recorded in the formulae that he defeated the Elamite army and 244 ELAM AND BABYLONIA overthrew Rim-Sin, while in the following year we gather that he added the land of Bmutbal, that is, the western district of Elam, to his dominions. An unpublished chronicle in the British Museum gives us further details of Hammurabi's victory over the Elamites, and at the same time makes it clear that the defeat and overthrow of Rim-Sin was not so crush- ing as has hitherto been supposed. This chronicle re- lates that Hammurabi attacked Rim-Sin, and, after capturing the cities of Ur and Larsam, carried their spoil to Babylon. Up to the present it has been sup- posed that Hammurabi's victory marked the end of Elamite influence in Babylonia, and that thenceforward the supremacy of Babylon was established throughout the whole of the country. But from the new chronicle we gather that Hammurabi did not succeed in finally suppressing the attempts of Elam to regain her former position. It is true that the cities of Ur and Larsam were finally incorporated in the Babylonian empire, and the letters of Hammurabi to Sin-idinnam, the governor whom he placed in authority over Larsam, afford abun- dant evidence of the stringency of the administrative control which he established over Southern Babylonia. But Rim-Sin was only crippled for the time, and, on being driven from Ur and Larsam, he retired beyond the Elamite frontier and devoted his energies to the recuperation of his forces against the time when he should feel himself strong enough again to make a bid for victory in his struggle against the growing power of Babylon. It is probable that he made no further ElM- SIN'S FINAL STRUGGLE 245 attempt to renew the contest during the life of Hammu- rabi, but after Samsu-Uuna, the son of Hammurabi, had succeeded to the Babylonian throne, he appeared in SEMITIC BABYLONIAN CONTRACT - TABLET, INSCKIBED IN THE EEIGN OP HAM- MURABI WITH A DEED RECORDING THE DIVISION OF PROPERTY. The actual tablet is on the right ; that which appears to be another and larger tablet on the left is the hollow clay case in which the tablet on the right was originally enclosed. Photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co. Babylonia at the head of the forces he had collected, and attempted to regain the cities and territory he had lost. The portion of the text of the chronicle relating 246 ELAM AND BABYLON to tlie war between Rim-Sin and Samsu-iluna is broken so that it is not possible to follow the campaign in detail, but it appears that Samsu-iluna defeated Rim-Sin, and possibly captured him or burnt him alive in a palace in which he had taken refuge. With the final defeat of Rim-Sin by Samsu-iluna it is probable that Elam ceased to be a thorn in the side of the kings of Babylon and that she made no further attempts to extend her authority beyond her own fron- tiers. But no sooner had Samsu-iluna freed his country from all danger from this quarter than he found himself faced by a new foe, before whom the dynasty eventually succimabed. This fact we learn from the unpublished chronicle to which reference has already been made, and the name of this new foe, as supplied by the chronicle, will render it necessary to revise all current schemes of Babylonian chronology. Samsu-iluna 's new foe was no other than Iluma-ilu, the first king of the Second Dynasty, and, so far from having been regarded as Samsu-iluna 's contemporary, hitherto it has been imag- ined that he ascended the throne of Babylon one hun- roperty to Marduk-aplu-iddina, his son. The photograph is reproduced from M, de Morgan's DiUgation en Ferse, M&m.j t. ii, pi. 24. " To prevent the encroachment on his land," the inscription runs, '' thus hath he (i.e. the king) estab- PEOVISIONS OF A TITLE-DEED 261 lished his (Marduk-aplu-iddma's) charter. On his land taxes and tithes shall they not impose; ditches, limits, and boundaries shall they not displace; there shall be no plots, stratagems, or claims (with regard to his pos- session) ; for forced labour or public work for the pre- vention of floods, for the maintenance and repair of the royal canal under the protection of the towns of Bit- Sikkamidu and Damik-Adad, among the gangs levied in the towns of the district of Nina-Agade, they shall not call out the people of his estate; they are not liable to forced labour on the sluices of the royal canal, nor are they liable for building dams, nor for closing the canal, nor for digging out the bed thereof. A cultivator of his lands, whether hired or belonging to the estate, and the men who receive his instructions (*". e. his over- seers) shaU no governor of Bit-Pir-Shadu-rabu cause to leave his lands, whether by the order of the king, or by the order of the governor, or by the order of whosoever may be at Bit-Pir-Shadu-rabu. On wood, grass, straw, com, and every other sort of crop, on his carts and yoke, on his ass and man-servant, shall they make no levy. During the scarcity of water in the canal running be- tween the Rati-Anzanim canal and the canal of the royal district, on the waters of his ditch for irrigation shall they make no leA^; from the ditch of his reservoir shall they not draw water, neither shaU they divert (his water for) irrigation, and other land shall they not irrigate nor water therewith. The grass of his lands shall they not mow; the beasts belonging to the king or to a gov- ernor, which may be assigned to the district of Bit-Pir- 262 ELAM AND BABYLON Shadii-rabu, shall they not drive within his boundary, nor shall they pasture them on his grass. He shall not be forced to build a road or a bridge, whether for the king, or for the governor who may be appointed ia the district of Bit-Pir-Shadu-rabu, neither shall he be liable for any new form of forced labour, which in the days that are to come a king, or a governor appointed in the district of Bit-Pir-Shadu-rabu, shall institute and exact, nor for forced labour long fallen into disuse which may be revived anew. To prevent encroachment on his land the king hath fixed the privileges of his domain, and that which appertaineth unto it, and aU that he hath granted unto him; and in the presence of Shamash, and Marduk, and Anunitu, and the great gods of heaven and earth, he hath inscribed them upon a stone, and he hath left it as an everlasting memorial with regard to his estate," The whole of the text is too long to quote, and it will suffice to note here that Melishikhu proceeds to appeal to future kings to respect the land and privileges which he has granted to his son, Marduk-aplu-iddina, even as he himself has respected similar grants made by his predecessors on the throne; and the text ends with some very vivid curses against any one, whatever his station, who should make any encroachments on the privileges granted to Marduk-aplu-iddina, or should alter or do any harm to the memorial-stone itself. The emblems of the gods whom Melishikhu invokes to avenge any infringement of his grant are sculptured upon one side of the stone, for, as has already been LIABILITIES OF LAJSTDOWNEES 263 remarked, it was believed that by carving them upon the memorial-stone their help in guarding the stone itself and its enactments was assured. From the portion of the text inscribed upon the stone which has just been translated it is seen that the owner of land in Babylonia in the period of the Kassite kings, unless he was granted special exemption, was liable to furnish forced labour for public works to the state or to his district, to furnish grazing and pasture for the flocks and herds of the king or governor, and to pay various taxes and tithes on his land, his water for irri- gation, and his crops. From the numerous documents of the First Dynasty of Babylon that have been recov- ered and published within the last few years we know that similar customs were prevalent at that period, so that it is clear that the successive conquests to which the coimtry was subjected, and the establishment of dif- ferent dynasties of foreign kings at Babylon, did not to any appreciable extent affect the life and customs of the inhabitants of the coimtry or even the general character of its government and administration. Some documents of a commercial and legal nature, inscribed upon clay tablets during the reigns of the Kassite kings of Babylon, have been fotmd at Nippur, but they have not yet been published, and the information we possess concerning the life of the people in this period is ob- tained indirectly from kudurrus or boundary-stones, such as those of Nazimaruttash and Melishikhu which have been already described. Of documents relating to the life of the people under the rule of the kings of the 264 ELAM AND BABYLON Country of the Sea we have none, and, with the excep- tion of the unpublished chronicle which has been de- scribed earlier in this chapter, our information for this period is confined to one or two short votive inscriptions. But the case is very different with regard to the reigns of the Semitic kings of the First Dynasty of Babylon. Thousands of tablets relating to legal and commercial transactions during this period have been recovered, and more recently a most valuable series of royal letters, written by Hammurabi and other kings of his dynasty, has been brought to light. Moreover, the recently dis- covered code of laws drawn up by Hammurabi contains information of the greatest interest with regard to the conditions of life that were prevalent in Babylonia at that period. From these three sources it is possible to draw up a comparatively full account of early Baby- lonian life and customs. upper Part of the Stele of Hammurabi, King of Babylon. The stele is inscribed with his great code of laws. Tlie Sun-god is represented as seated on a throne in the form of a temple facade, and his feet are resting upon the mountains. Photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co. CHAPTER VI EARLY BABYLONIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS TN tracing the ancient history of Mesopotamia and the suxroimding countries it is possible to construct a narrative which has the appearance of being compara- tively full and complete. With regard to Babylonia it may be shown how dynasty succeeded dynasty, and for long periods together the names of the kings have been recovered and the order of their succession fixed with certainty. But the number and importance of the orig- inal documents on which this connected narration is based vary enormously for different periods. Gaps occur in our knowledge of the sequence of events, which with some ingenuity may be bridged over by means of the native lists of kings and the genealogies furnished by the historical inscriptions. On the other hand, as if to make up for such parsimony, the excavations have yielded a wealth of material for illustrating the condi- tions of early Babylonian life which prevailed in such periods. The most fortunate of these periods, so far as the recovery of its records is concerned, is imdoubtedly 265 266 EAELY BABYLONIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS the period of the Semitic kings of the First Dynasty of Babylon, and in particular the reign of its greatest ruler, Hanunurabi. When M. Maspero wrote his his- tory, thousands of clay tablets, inscribed with legal and commercial dociunents and dated in the reigns of these early kings, had already been recovered, and the infor- mation they furnished was duly summarized by him.^ But since that time two other sources of information have been made available which have largely increased our knowledge of the constitution of the early Baby- lonian state, its system of administration, and the con- ditions of life of the various classes of the population. One of these ncAv sources of information consists of a remarkable series of royal letters, written by kings of the First Dynasty, which has been recovered and is now preserved in the British Museum. The letters were addressed to the governors and high officials of various great cities in Babylonia, and they contain the king's orders with regard to details of the administration of the country which had been brought to his notice. The range of subjects with which they deal is enormous, and there is scarcely one of them which does not add to our knowledge of the period.^ The other new source of information is the great code of laws, drawn up by Ham- ^Most of these tablets are preserved in the British Museum. The principal ■works in which they have been published are Cuneiform Texts in the British Museum. (1896, etc.), Strassmaier's Altbahylonischen Vertrage aus Warka, and Meissner's Beitrdge zum altbahylonischen Privatrecht. A number of similar tablets of this period, preserved in the Pennsylvania Museum, will shortly be published by Dr. Ranke. ''See King, Letters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi, 3 vols. (1898-1900). HAMMURABI'S CODE OF LAWS 267 murabi for the guidance of Ms people and defining the duties and privileges of all classes of his subjects, the discovery of which at Susa has been described in a pre- vious chapter. The laws are engraved on a great stele of diorite in no less than forty-nine columns of writing, of which forty-four are preserved,^ and at the head of the stele is sculptured a representation of the king re- ceiving them from Shamash, the Sun-god.^ This code shows to what an extent the administra- tion of law and justice had been developed in Babylonia in the time of the First Dynasty. From the contracts and letters of the period we already knew that regular judges and duly appointed courts of law were in exist- ence, and the code itself was evidently intended by the king to give the royal sanction to a great body of legal decisions and enactments which already possessed the authority conferred by custom and tradition. The means by which such a code could have come into exist- ence are illustrated by the system of procedure adopted in the courts at this period. After a case had been heard and judgment had been given, a summary of the case and of the evidence, together with the judgment, was drawn up and written out on tablets in due legal form and phraseology. A list of the witnesses was appended, and, after the tablet had been dated and sealed, it was stored away among the legal archives of the court, where it was ready for production in the event of any future appeal or case in which the recorded decision 1 See Scheil, Delegation en Perse, Memoires, tome iv (1902). 2 See illustration. 268 EAELY BABYLONIAN LITE AND CUSTOMS was involved. This procedure represents an advanced stage in the system of judicial administration, but the care which was taken for the preservation of the judg- ments given was evidently traditional, and woiild nat- urally give rise in course of tune to the existence of a recognized code of laws. Moreover, when once a judgment had been given and had been duly recorded it was irrevocable, and if any judge attempted to alter such a decision he was severely punished. For not only was he expelled from his judg- ment-seat, and debarred from exercising judicial func- tions in the future, but, if his judgment had involved the infliction of a penalty, he was obliged to pay twelve times the amount to the man he had condemned. Such an enactment must have occasionally given rise to hard- ship or injustice, but at least it must have had the effect of imbuing the judges with a sense of their responsi- bility and of instilling a respect for their decisions in the minds of the people. A further check upon injustice was provided by the custom of the elders of the city, who sat with the judge and assisted him in the carrying out of his duties; and it was always open to a man, if he believed that he could not get justice enforced, to make an appeal to the king. It is not our present pur- pose to give a technical discussion of the legal contents of the code, but rather to examine it with the object of ascertaining what light it throws upon ancient Baby- lonian life and customs, and the conditions under which the people lived. The code gives a good deal of information with re- BABYLONIAN MAREIAGE CUSTOMS 269 gard to the family life of the Babylonians, and, above all, proves the sanctity with which the marriage-tie was invested. The claims that were involved by marriage were not lightly undertaken. Any marriage, to be legally binding, had to be accompanied by a duly exe- cuted and attested marriage-contract. If a man had taken a woman to wife without having carried out this necessary preliminary, the woman was not regarded as his wife in the legal sense. On the other hand, when once such a marriage-contract had been drawn up, its inviolability was stringently secured. A case of proved adultery on the part of a man's wife was punished by the drowning of the guilty parties, though the husband of the woman, if he wished to save his wife, could do so by an appeal to the king. Similarly, death was the penalty for a man who ravished another man's betrothed wife while she was still living in her father's house, but in this case the girl's innocence and inexperience were taken into account, and no penalty was enforced against her and she was allowed to go free. Where the adultery of a wife was not proved, and only depended on the accusation of the husband, the woman could clear herself by swearing her own innocence ; if, however, the accusation was not brought by the husband himself, but by others, the woman could clear herself by submitting to the ordeal by water; that is to say, she would plunge into the Euphrates; if the river carried her away and she were drowned, it was regarded as proof that the accusation was well foimded; if, on the contrary, she survived and got safely to the bank, she was considered 270 EAELY BABYLONIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS innocent and was forthwith allowed to return to her household completely vindicated. It will have been seen that the duty of chastity on the part of a married woman was strictly enforced, but the husband's responsibility to properly maintain his wife was also recognized, and in the event of his deser- tion she could under certain circumstances become the wife of another man. Thus, if he left his city and fled from it of his own free will and deserted his wife, he could not reclaim her on his return, since he had not been forced to leave the city, but had done so because he hated it. This rule did not apply to the case of a man who was taken captive in battle. In such circum- stances the wife's action was to be guided by the condi- tion of her husband's affairs. If the captive husband possessed sufficient property on which his wife could be maintained during his captivity in a strange land, she had no reason nor excuse for seeking another mar- riage. If under these circumstances she became another man's wife, she was to be prosecuted at law, and, her action being the equivalent of adultery, she was to be drowned. But the case was regarded as altered if the captive husband had not sufficient means for the mainte- nance of his wife during his absence. The woman would then be thrown on her own resources, and if she became the wife of another man she incurred no blame. On the return of the captive he could reclaim his wife, but the children of the second marriage would remain with their own father. These, regulations for the conduct of a woman, whose husband was captured in battle, give an DIVORCE LAWS 271 intimate picture of the maimer in which the constant wars of this early period affected the lives of those who took part in them. Under the Babylonians at the period of the First Dynasty divorce was strictly regulated, though it was far easier for the man to obtain one than for the woman. If we may regard the copies of Sumerian laws, which have come down to us from the late Assyrian period, as parts of the code in use under the early Sumerians, we must conclude that at this earlier period the law was still more in favour of the husband, who could divorce his wife whenever he so desired, merely paying her half a mana as compensation. Under the Siunerians the wife could not obtain a divorce at all, and the penalty for denying her husband was death. These regulations were modified in favour of the woman in Hammurabi's code ; for under its provisions, if a man divorced his wife or his concubine, he was obliged to make proper provi- sion for her maintenance. Whether she were barren or had borne him children, he was obliged to return her marriage portion; and in the latter case she had the custody of the children, for whose maintenance and edu- cation he was obliged to furnish the necessary supplies. Moreover, at the man's death she and her children would inherit a share of his property. When there had been no marriage portion, a sum was fixed which the husband was obliged to pay to his divorced wife, according to his status. In cases where the wife was proved to have wasted her household and to have entirely failed in her duty, her husband could divorce her without paying 272 EARLY BABYLONIAlJf LIFE AND CUSTOMS any compensation, or could make her a slave in his house, and the extreme penalty for this offence was death. On the other hand, a woman could not be di- vorced because she had contracted a permanent disease; and, if she desired to divorce her husband and could prove that her past hfe had been seemly, she could do so, returning to her father's house and taking her mar- riage portion with her. It is not necessary here to go very minutely into the regulations given by the code with regard to marriage portions, the rights of widows, the laws of inheritance, and the laws regulating the adoption and maintenance of children. The customs that already have been de- scribed with regard to marriage and divorce may serve to indicate the spirit in which the code is drawn up and the recognized status occupied by the wife in the Baby- lonian household. The extremely independent position enjoyed by women in the early Babylonian days is illustrated by the existence of a special class of women, to which constant reference is made in the contracts and letters of the period. When the existence of this class of women was first recognized from the references to them in the contract-tablets inscribed at the time of the First Dynasty, they were regarded as priestesses, but the regulations concerning them which occur in the code of Hammurabi prove that their duties were not strictly sacerdotal, but that they occupied the position of vo- taries. The majority of those referred to in the inscrip- tions of this period were vowed to the service of B-bab- bara, the temple of the Sun-god at Sippara, and of PEIVILEGES OF VOTARIES 273 E-sagila, the great temple of Marduk at Babylon, but it is probable that all the great temples in the country had classes of female votaries attached to them. Prom the evidence at present available it may be concluded that the functions of these women bore no resemblance to that of the sacred prostitutes devoted to the service of the goddess Ishtar in the city of Erech. They seem to have occupied a position of great influence and inde- pendence in the community, and their duties and privi- leges were defined and safeguarded by special legis- lation. Generally they lived together in a special building, or convent, attached to the temple, but they had con- siderable freedom and could leave the convent and also contract marriage. Their vows, however, while securing them special privileges, entailed corresponding responsi- bilities. Even when married a votary was still obliged to remain a virgin, and, should her husband desire to have children, she could not bear them herself, but must provide him with a maid or concubine. Also she had to maintain a high standard of moral conduct, for any breach of which severe penalties were enforced. Thus, if a votary who was not living in the convent opened a beer-shop, or should enter one for drink, she ran the risk of being put to death. But the privileges she enjoyed were also considerable, for even when unmar- ried she enjoyed the status of a married woman, and if any man slandered her he incurred the penalty of branding on the forehead. Moreover, a married votary, though she could not bear her husband children, was 274 EAELY BABYLONIAN LIPE AND CUSTOMS secured in her position as the permanent head of his household. The concubine she might give to her hus- band was always the wife's inferior, even after bearing hun children, and should the former attempt to put her- self on a level of equality with the votary, the latter might brand her as a slave and put her with the female slaves. If the concubine proved barren she could be sold. The votary could also possess property, and on taking her vows was provided with a portion by her father exactly as though she were being given in mar- riage. Her portion was vested in herself and did not become the property of the order of votaries, nor of the temple to which she was attached. The proceeds of her property were devoted to her own maintenance, and on her father's death her brothers looked after her in- terests, or she might farm the property out. Under certain circumstances she could inherit property and was not obliged to pay taxes on it, and such property she could bequeath at her own death; but upon her death her portion returned to her own family unless her father had assigned her the privilege of bequeathing it. That the social position enjoyed by a votary was considerable is proved by the fact that many women of good family, and even members of the royal house, took vows. The existence of the order and its high repute indicate a very advanced conception of the position of women among the early Babylonians. From the code of Hammurabi we also gather con- siderable information with regard to the various classes of which the community was composed and to their rela- CLASS DIFFEEENCES 275 tive social positions. For the purposes of legislation the community was divided into three main classes or sections, which corresponded to weU-defined strata in the social system. The lowest of these classes consisted of the slaves, who must have formed a considerable por- tion of the population. The class next above them comprised the large body of free men, who were pos- sessed of a certain amount of property but were poor and humble, as their name, mushkenu, implied. These we may refer to as the middle class. The highest, or upper class, in the Babylonian community embraced all the officers and ministers attached to the court, the higher officials and servants of the state, and the owners of considerable lands and estates. The differences which divided and marked off from one another the two great classes of free men in the population of Babylonia is well illustrated by the scale of payments as compensa- tion for injury which they were obliged to make or were entitled to receive. Thus, if a member of the upper class were guilty of stealing an ox, or a sheep, or an ass, or a pig, or a boat, from a temple or a private house, he had to pay the owner thirty times its value as compen- sation, whereas if the thief were a member of the middle class he only had to pay ten times its price, but if he had no property and so could not pay compensation he was put to death. The penalty for manslaughter was less if the assailant was a man of the middle class, and such a man could also divorce his wife more cheaply, and was privileged to pay his doctor or surgeon a smaller fee for a successful operation. 276 EARLY BABYLONIAN" LIFE AND CUSTOMS But the privileges enjoyed by a man of the middle class were counterbalanced by a corresponding diminu- tion of the value at which his life and limbs were assessed. Thus, if a doctor by carrying out an opera- tion unskilfully caused the death of a member of the upper class, or inflicted a serious injury upon him, such as the loss of an eye, the punishment was the amputa- tion of both hands, but no such penalty seems to have been exacted if the patient were a member of the middle class. If, however, the patient were a slave of a member of the middle class, in the event of death under the operation, the doctor had to give the owner another slave, and in the event of the slave losing his eye, he had to pay the owner half the slave's value. Penalties for assault were also regulated in accordance with the social position and standing of the parties to the quarrel. Thus, if one member of the upper class knocked out the eye or the tooth of one of his equals, his own eye or his own tooth was knocked out as a punishment, and if he broke the limb of one of the members of his own class, he had his corresponding limb broken; but if he knocked out the eye of a member of the middle class, or broke his limb, he suffered no punishment in his own person, but was fined one mana of silver, and for knock- ing out the tooth of such a man he was fined one-third of a mana. If two members of the same class were engaged in a quarrel, and one of them made a peculiarly improper assault upon the other, the assailant was only fined, the fine being larger if the quarrel was between members of the upper class. But if such an assault RIGHTS OF SLAVES 277 was made by one man upon another who was of higher rank than himself, the assailant was punished by being publicly beaten in the presence of the assembly, when he received sixty stripes from a scourge of ox-hide. These regulations show the privileges and responsibil- ities which pertained to the two classes of free men in the Babylonian community, and they indicate the relative social positions which they enjoyed. Both classes of free men could own slaves, though it is obvious that they were more numerous in the house- holds and on the estates of members of the upper class. The slave was the absolute property of his master and could be bought and sold and employed as a deposit for a debt, but, though slaves as a class had few rights of their own, in certain circumstances they could acquire them. Thus, if the owner of a female slave had begot- ten children by her he could not use her as the payment for a debt, and in the event of his having done so he was obliged to ransom her by paying the original amount of the debt in money. It was also possible for a male slave, whether owned by a member of the upper or of the middle class, to marry a free woman, and if he did so, his children were free and did not become the property of his master. Also, if the free woman whom the slave married brought with her a marriage portion from her father's house, this remained her own property on the slave's death, and supposing the couple had acquired other property during the time they lived together as man and wife, the owner of the slave could only claim half of such property, the other half being 278 EAELY BABYLONIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS retained by the free woman for her own use and for that of her children. Generally speaking, the lot of the slave was not a particularly hard one, for he was a recognized member of his owner's household, and, as a valuable piece of property, it was obviously to his owner's interest to keep him healthy and in good condition. In fact, the value of the slave is attested by the severity of the pen- alty imposed for abducting a male or female slave from the owner's house and removing him or her from the city; for a man guilty of this offence was put to death. The same penalty was imposed for harbouring and tak- ing possession of a runaway slave, whereas a fixed re- ward was paid by the owner to any one by whom a runaway slave was captured and brought back. Special legislation was also devised with the object of render- ing the theft of slaves difficult and their detection easy. Thus, if a brander put a mark upon a slave without the owner's consent, he was liable to have his hands cut off, and if he could prove that he did so through being deceived by another man, that man was put to death. For bad offences slaves were liable to severe punish- ments, such as cutting off the ear, which was the penalty for denying his master, and also for making an aggra- vated assault on a member of the upper class of free men. But it is clear that on the whole the slave was well looked after. He was also not condemned to remain perpetually a slave, for while still in his master's serv- ice it was possible for him, under certain conditions, to acquire property of his own, and if he did so he was MERCANTILE LAWS 279 able with his master's consent to purchase his freedom. If a slave were captured by the enemy and taken to a foreign land and sold, and were then brought back by his new owner to his own country, he could claim his liberty without having to pay any purchase-money to either of his masters. The code of Hammurabi also contains detailed regu- lations concerning the duties of debtors and creditors, and it throws an interesting light on the commercial life of the Babylonians at this early period. For in- stance, it reveals the method by which a wealthy man, or a merchant, extended his business and obtained large profits by trading with other towns. This he did by employing agents who were mider certain fixed obliga- tions to him, but acted independently so far as their trading was concerned. Prom the merchant these agents would receive money or grain or wool or oil or any sort of goods wherewith to trade, and in return they paid a fixed share of their profits, retaining the remainder as the recompense for their own services. They were thus the earliest of commercial travellers. In order to prevent fraud between the merchant and the agent special regulations were framed for the deal- ings they had with one another. Thus, when the agent received from the merchant the money or goods to trade with, it was enacted that he should at the time of the transaction give a properly executed receipt for the amount he had received. Similarly, if the agent gave the merchant money in return for the goods he had received and in token of his good faith, the merchant 280 EAELY BABYLONIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS had to give a receipt to the agent, and in reckoning their accounts after the agent's return from his journey, only such amounts as were specified in the receipts were CLAY CONTRACT TABLET AND IT8 OUTER CASE. Dating from the period of tlie First Dynasty of Babylon. to be regarded as legal obligations. If the agent forgot to obtain his proper receipt he did so at his own risk. Travelling at this period was attended with some risk, as it is in the East at the present day, and the caravan with which an agent travelled was liable to attack from brigands, or it might be captured by ene- mies of the country from which it set out. It was right MERCHANTS AND THEIE, AGENTS 281 that loss from this cause should not be borne by the agent, who by trading with the goods was risking his own life, but should fall upon the merchant who had merely advanced the goods and was safe in his own city. It is plain, however, that disputes frequently arose in consequence of the loss of goods through a caravan being attacked and robbed, for the code states clearly the responsibility of the merchant in the matter. If in the course of his journey an enemy had forced the agent to give up some of the goods he was carrying, on his return the agent had to specify the amount on oath, and he was then acquitted of all responsibility in the matter. If he attempted to cheat his employer by mis- appropriating the money or goods advanced to him, on being convicted of the offence before the elders of the city, he was obliged to repay the merchant three times the amount he had taken. On the other hand, if the merchant attempted to defraud his agent by denying that the due amount had been returned to him, he was obliged on conviction to pay the agent six times the amount as compensation. It wiU thus be seen that the law sought to protect the agent from the risk of being robbed by his more powerful employer. The merchant sometimes fiu-nished the agent with goods which he was to dispose of in the best markets he could find in the cities and towns along his route, and sometimes he would give the agent money with which to purchase goods in foreign cities for sale on his return. If the venture proved successful the merchant and his agent shared the profits between them, but if the agent 282 EAKLY BABYLOKIAJSr LIFE AND CUSTOMS made bad bargains he had to refund to the merchant the value of the goods he had received; if the merchant had not agreed to risk losing any profit, the amount to be refunded to him was fixed at double the value of the goods advanced. This last enactment gives an indica- tion of the immense profits which were obtained by both the merchant and the agent from this system of foreign A TKACK IN THE DESERT. trade, for it is clear that what was regarded as a fair profit for the merchant was double the value of the goods disposed of. The profits of a successful journey would also include a fair return to the agent for the trouble and time involved in his undertaking. Many of the contract tablets of this early period relate to such commercial journeys, which show that various bargains were made between the different parties interested, and A CAMPING -GEOUND IN THE DESEET 283 sometimes such contracts, or partnerships, were entered into, not for a single journey only, but for long periods. We may therefore conclude that at the time of the First Dynasty of Babylon, and probably for long cen- turies before that period, the great trade-routes of the East were crowded with traffic. With the exception that donkeys and asses were employed for beasts of burden and were not supplemented by horses and camels until a much later period, a camping-ground in the desert on one of the great trade-routes must have pre- A CAMPING - GROUND IN THE DBSEKT, BETWEEN BIKEJIK AND UEFA. sented a scene similar to that of a caravan camping in the desert at the present day. The rough tracks beaten by the feet of men and beasts are the same to-day as they were in that remote period. We can imagine a body of these early travellers approaching a walled city at dusk and hastening their pace to get there before the gates were shut. Such a picture as that of the approach to the city of Samarra, with its mediaeval walls, may be taken as having had its counterpart in many a city of the early Babylonians. The caravan route leads through the desert to the city gate, and if we substitute two 284 EAELY BABYLONIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS massive temple towers for the domes of the mosques that rise above the wall, little else in the picture need be changed. The houses, too, at this period must have resembled the structures of unburnt brick of the present day, with their flat mud tops, on which the inmates sleep at night during the hot season, supported on poles and brush- APPKOACH TO THE CITY OF SAMARKA, SITUATED ON THE LEFT BANK OP THE TIOEIS. A small caravan is here seen approaching the city at sunset before the gates are shut. Samarra was only founded in a.d. 834, by the Khalif el-Motasim, the son of Harfln er-Eashtd, but customs in the East do not change, and the photograph may be used to illustrate the approach of an early Babylonian caravan to a walled city of the period. wood. The code furnishes evidence that at that time, also, the houses were not particularly well built and were liable to fall, and, in the event of their doing so, it very justly fixes the responsibility upon the builder. It is clear from the penalties for bad workmanship enforced upon the builder that considerable abuses had existed in the trade before the time of Hammurabi, and it is not improbable that the enforcement of the pen- alties succeeded in stamping them out. Thus, if a BUILBESTG LAWS 285 builder built a house for a man, and his work was not sound and the house fell and crushed the owner so that he died, it was enacted that the builder himself should be put to death. If the fall of the house killed the A SMALL CARAVAN IN THE MOUNTAINS OF KURDISTAN. owner's son, the builder's own son was to be put to death. If one or more of the owner's slaves were killed, the builder had to restore him slave for slave. Any damage which the owner's goods might have suffered from the fall of the house was to be made good by the 286 EAKLY BABYLONIA:sr LIFE AND CUSTOMS builder. In addition to these penalties the builder was obliged to rebuild the house, or any portion of it that had fallen through not being properly secured, at his own cost. On the other hand, due provisions were made for the payment of the builder for sound work; and as the houses of the period rarely, if ever, consisted THE CITT OP MOSUL. Situated on the right bank of the Tigris opposite the mounds 'which mark the site of the ancient city of Nineveh. The flat-roofecThouses which may be distinguished in the photograph are very similar in form and construction to those employed by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians. of more than one story, the scale of payment was fixed by the area of ground covered by the building. From the code of Hammurabi we also gain consider- able information with regard to agricultural pursuits in ancient Babylonia, for elaborate regulations are given concerning the landowner's duties and responsibiUties, and his relations to his tenants. The usual practice in hiring land for cultivation was for the tenant to pay his rent in kind, by assigning a certain proportion of the crop, generally a third or a half, to the owner. If AGEICULTURAL LAWS 287 a tenant hired certain land for cultivation he was bound to till it and raise a crop, and should he neglect to do so he had to pay the owner what was reckoned as the average rent of the land, and he had also to break up the land and plough it before handing it back. As the rent of a field was usually reckoned at harvest, and its amount depended on the size of the crop, it was only THE VILLAGE OP NEBI TUNUB. Bnilt on one of the mounds marking the site of the Assyrian city of Nineveh. The mosque in the photograph is built over the traditional site of the prophet Jonah's tomb. The flat-roofed houses of the modern dwellers on the mound can±>e well seen in the picture. fair that damage to the crop from flood or storm should not be made up by the tenant; thus it was enacted by the code that any loss from such a cause should be shared equally by the owner of the field and the farmer, though if the latter had already paid his rent at the time the damage occurred he could not make a claim for repayment. It is clear from the enactments of the code that disputes were frequent, not only between farmers and landowners, but also between farmers and 288 EAELY BABYLONIAJsT LIFE AND CUSTOMS shepherds. It is certain that the latter, in the attempt to find pasture for the flocks, often allowed their sheep to feed off the farmers' fields in the spring. This prac- tice the code set itself to prevent by fixing a scale of compensation to be paid by any shepherd who caused his sheep to graze on cultivated land without the own- er's consent. If the offence was committed in the early spring, when the crop was still small, the farmer was to harvest the crop and receive a considerable price in kind as compensation for the shepherd. But if it oc- curred later on in the spring, when the sheep had been brought in from the meadows and turned into the great common field at the city gate, the offence would less probably be due to accident and the damage to the crop would be greater. In these circumstances the shepherd had to take over the crop and pay the farmer very heav- ily for his loss. The planting of gardens and orchards was encour- aged, and a man was allowed to use a field for this pur- pose without paying a yearly rent. He might plant it and tend it for four years, and in the fifth year of his tenancy the original owner of the field took half of the garden in payment, while the other half the planter of the garden kept for himself. If a bare patch had been left in the garden it was to be reckoned in the planter's half. Regulations were framed to ensure the proper carrying out of the planting, for if the tenant neglected to do this during the first four years, he was still liable to plant the plot he had taken without receiv- ing his half, and he had to pay the owner compensation Portrait-sculpture of Hammurabi, King of Babylon- From a stone slab in the British Museum. LAWS CONCERNING CATTLE 289 m addition, whicli varied in amount according to the original condition of the land. If a man hired a garden, the rent he paid to the owner was fixed at two-thirds of its produce. Detailed regulations are also given in the code concerning the hire of cattle and asses, and the compensation to be paid to the owner for the loss or ill-treatment of his beasts. These are framed on the just principle that the hirer was responsible only for damage or loss which he could have reasonably pre- vented. Thus, if a lion killed a hired ox or ass in the open country, or if an ox was killed by lightning, the loss fell upon the owner and not on the man who hired the beast. But if the hirer killed the ox through care- lessness or by beating it unmercifully, or if the beast broke its leg while in his charge, he had to restore an- other ox to the owner in place of the one he had hired. For lesser damages to the beast the hirer had to pay compensation on a fixed scale. Thus, if the ox had its eye knocked out during the period of its hire, the man who hired it had to pay to the owner half its value; while for a broken horn, the loss of the tail, or a torn muzzle, he paid a quarter of the value of the beast. Pines were also levied for carelessness in looking after cattle, though in cases of damage or injury, where carelessness could not be proved, the owner of a beast was not held responsible. A bull might go wild at any time and gore a man, however careful and conscientious the owner might be, and in these circumstances the injured man could not bring an action against the owner. But if a bull had already gored a man, and, although 290 EARLY BABYLONIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS it was known to be vicious, the owner had not blunted its horns or shut it up, in the event of its goring and killing a free man, he had to pay half a mana of silver. One-third of a mana was the price paid for a slave who was kiUed. A landed proprietor who might hire farmers to cultivate his fields inflicted severe fines for acts of dishonesty with regard to the cattle, provender, or seed- corn committed to their charge. If a man stole the provender for the cattle he had to make it good, and he was also liable to the punishment of having his hands cut off. In the event of his being convicted of letting out the oxen for hire, or stealing the seed-corn so that he did not produce a crop, he had to pay very heavy compensation, and, if he could not pay, he was liable to be torn to pieces by the oxen in the field he should have cultivated. In a dry land like Babylonia, where little rain falls and that in only one season of the year, the irrigation of his fields forms one of the most important duties of the agriculturist. The farmer leads the water to his fields along small irrigation-canals or channels above the level of the soil, their sides being formed of banks of earth. It is clear that similar methods were employed by the early Babylonians. One such channel might sup- ply the fields of several farmers, and it was the duty of each man through whose land the channel flowed to keep its banks on his land in repair. If he omitted to strengthen his bank or dyke, and the water forced a breach and flooded his neighbour's field, he had to pay compensation in kind for any crop that was ruined; METHOD OF IKRIGATION 291 while if lie could not pay, he and his goods were sold, and his neighbours, whose fields had been damaged through his carelessness, shared the money. The land of Babylonian farmers was prepared for irrigation before it was sown by beiag divided into a number of small square or oblong tracts, each separated from the others by a low bank of earth, the seed being afterwards sown within the small squares or patches. Some of the banks running lengthwise through the field were made into small channels, the ends of which were carried up to the bank of the nearest main irrigation canal. No system of gates or sluices was employed, and when the farmer wished to water one of his fields he simply broke away the bank opposite one of his small channels and let the water flow into it. He would let the water run along this small channel until it reached the part of his land he wished to water. He then blocked the channel with a little earth, at the same time breaking down its bank so that the water flowed over one of the small squares and thoroughly soaked it. When this square was finished he filled up the bank and repeated the process for the next square, and so on until he had watered the necessary portion of the field. When this was finished he returned to the main channel and stopped the flow of the water by blocking up the hole he had made in the dyke. The whole process was, and to-day still is, extremely simple, but it needs care and vigilance, especially in the case of extensive irrigation when water is being carried into several parts of an estate at once. It will be obvious that any carelessness 292 EAKLY BABYLONIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS on the part of the irrigator in not shutting off the water in time may lead to extensive damage, not only to his own fields, but to those of his neighbours. In the early Babylonian period, if a farmer left the water running in his channel, and it flooded his neighbour's field and hurt his crop, he had to pay compensation according to the amount of damage done. It was stated above that the irrigation-canals and little channels were made above the level of the soil so that the water could at any point be tapped and allowed to flow over the surrounding land; and in a flat country like Babylonia it will be obvious that some means had to be employed for raising the water from its natural level to the higher level of the land. As we should expect, reference is made in the Babylonian in- scriptions to irrigation-machines, and, although their €xact form and construction are not described, they must have been very similar to those employed at the present day. The modern inhabitants of Mesopotamia employ four sorts of contrivances for raising the water into their irrigation-channels; three of these are quite primitive, and are those most commonly employed. The method which gives the least trouble and which is used wherever the conditions allow is a primitive form of water-wheel. This can be used only in a river with a good current. The wheel is formed of rough boughs and branches nailed together, with spokes joining the outer rims to a roughly hewn axle. A row of rough earthenware cups or bottles are tied round the outer rim for picking up the water, and a few rough paddles BABYLONIAN WATER-WHEELS 293 are fixed so that they stick out beyond the rim. The wheel is then fixed in place near the bank of the river, its axle resting in piUars of rough masonry. As the current turns the wheel, the bottles on the rim dip below the surface and are raised up full. At the top of the wheel is fixed a trough made by hollowing half the trunk of a date-pahn, and into this the bottles pour their water, A MODERN MACHINE FOR IRRIGATION ON THE EUPHRATES. which is conducted from the trough by means of a small aqueduct into the irrigation-channel on the bank. The convenience of the water-wheel will be obvious, for the water is raised without the labour of man or beast, and a constant supply is secured day and night so long as the current is strong enough to turn the wheel. The water can be cut off by blocking the wheel or tying it up. These wheels are most common on the Euphrates, and are usually set up where there is a slight drop in the river bed and the water runs swiftly over shallows. As the banks are very high, the wheels are 294 EARLY BABYLOXIAJ^ LIFE AND CUSTOMS necessarily huge contrivances in order to reach the level of the fields, and their very rough construction causes them to creak and groan as they turn with the current. In a convenient place in the river several of these are sometimes set up side by side, and the noise of their combined creakings can be heard from a great distance. Some idea of what one of these machines looks like can be obtained from the illustration. At Hit on the Eu- phrates a line of gigantic water-wheels is built across the river, and the noise they make is extraordinary. Where there is no current to turn one of these wheels, or where the bank is too high, the water must be raised by the labour of man or beast. The common- est method, which is the one employed generally on the Tigris, is to raise it in skins, which are drawn up by horses, donkeys, or cattle. A recess with perpendicular sides is cut into the bank, and a wooden spindle on wooden struts is supported horizontally over the recess. A rope running over the spindle is fastened to the skin, while the funnel end of the skin is held up by a second rope, running over a lower spindle, until its mouth is opposite the trough into which the water is to be poured. The beasts which are employed for raising the skin are fastened to the ends of the ropes, and they get a good purchase for their pull by being driven down a short cutting or inclined plane in the bank. To get a constant flow of water, two skins are usually employed, and as one is drawn up full the other is let down empty. The third primitive method of raising water, which is commoner in Egypt than in Mesopotamia at the pres- DIEECTIONS FOE TRAXSPOETATION 295 ent day, is the shadduf, and is worked by hand. It con- sists of a beam supported in the centre, at one end of which is tied a rope with a bucket or vessel for raising the water, and at the other end is fixed a counterweight.^ On an Assyrian bas-relief found at Kuyunjik are rep- resentations of the shadduf in operation, two of them being used, the one above the other, to raise the water to successive levels. These were probably the contri- vances usually employed by the early Babylonians for raising the water to the level of their fields, and the fact that they were light and easily removed must have made them tempting objects to the dishonest farmer. Hammurabi therefore fixed a scale of compensation to be paid to the owner by a detected thief, which varied according to the class and value of the machine he stole. The rivers and larger canals of Babylonia were used by the ancient inhabitants not only for the irrigation of their fields, but also as waterways for the transport of heavy materials. The recently published letters of Hammurabi and Abeshu' contain directions for the transportation of corn, dates, sesame seed, and wood, which were ordered to be brought in ships to Babylon, and the code of Hammurabi refers to the transportation by water of wool and oU. It is therefore clear that at 1 The fourth class of machine for raising water employed in Mesopotamia at the present day consists of an endless chain of iron buckets running over a wheel. This is geared by means of rough wooden cogs to a horizontal wheel, the spindle of which has long poles fixed to it, to which horses or cattle are harnessed. The beasts go round in a circle and so turn the machine. The con- trivance is not so primitive as the three described above, and the iron buckets are of European importation. 2% EARLY BABYLONIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS this period considerable use was made of vessels of dif- ferent size for conveying supplies in bulk by water. The method by which the size of such ships and barges was reckoned was based on the amount of grain they were capable of carrying, and this was measured by the gur, the largest measure of capacity. Thus mention is made in the inscriptions of vessels of five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, and seventy-five gur capacity. A boat-builder's fee for building a vessel of sixty gur was fixed at two shekels of silver, and it was proportionately less for boats of smaller capacity. To ensure that the boat-builder should not scamp his work, regulations were drawn up to .fix on him the responsi- bility for unsound work. Thus if a boat-builder were employed to build a vessel, and he put faulty work into its construction so that it developed defects within a year of its being launched, he was obliged to strengthen and rebuild it at his own expense. The hire of a boatman was fixed at six gur of com to be paid him yearly, but it is clear that some of the larger vessels carried crews commanded by a chief boat- man, or captain, whose pay was probably on a larger scale. If a man let his boat to a boatman, the latter was responsible for losing or sinking it, and he had to replace it. A boatman was also responsible for the safety of his vessel and of any goods, such as com, wool, oil, or dates, which he had been hired to transport, and if they were sunk through his carelessness he had to make good the loss. If he succeeded in refloating the boat after it had been sunk, he was only under obligation FEEEIES AND RAFTS 297 to pay tlie owner half its value in compensation for the damage it had sustained. In the case of a collision between two vessels, if one was at anchor at the time, the owner of the other vessel had to pay compensation for the boat that was sunk and its cargo, the owner of the latter estimating on oath the value of what had been sunk. Boats were also employed as ferries, and they must have resembled the primitive form of ferry-boat KAIKS, OK NATIVE BOATS ON THE EUPHRATES AT BIEEJIK. Employed for ferrying caravans across the river. in use at the present day, which is heavily built of huge timbers, and employed for transporting beasts as well as men across a river. There is evidence that under the . Assyrians rafts floated on inflated skins were employed for the transport of heavy goods, and these have survived in the keleks of the present day. They are specially adapted for the transportation of heavy materials, for they are carried down by the current, and are kept in the course by 298 EARLY ISAISYLOXIAX LIFE AND CUSTOMS means of huge sweeps or oars. Being formed only of logs of wood and skins, they are not costly, for wood is plentiful in the upper reaches of the rivers. At the end of theii' journey, after the goods are landed, they are broken up. The wood is sold at a profit, and the skins, after being deflated, are packed on to donkeys to return by caravan. It is not improbable that such rafts were employed on the Tigris and the Euphrates from the earliest periods of Chaldsean history, though THE MODERN BRIDGE OP BOATS ACROSS THE TIGRIS OPPOSITE MOSUL. boats would have been used on the canals and more sluggish waterways. In the preceding pages we have given a sketch of the more striking aspects of early Babylonian life, on which light has been thrown by recently discovered docmnents belonging to the period of the First Dynasty of Babylon. We have seen that, in the code of laws drawn up by Hammurabi, regulations were framed for settling disputes and fixing responsibilities under almost WIDESPEEAD AUTHORITY OF THE KING 299 every condition and circmnstance whicli might arise among the inhabitants of the country at that time; and the question natTirally arises as to how far the code of laws was in actual operation. It is conceivable that the king may have held admirable convictions, but have been possessed of little power to carry them out and to see that his regulations were enforced. Luckily, we have not to depend on conjecture for settling the ques- A SMALL KBLEK, OB RAFT, UPON THE TIGRIS AT BAGHDAD. tion, for Hammurabi's own letters which are now pre- served in the British Museum afford abundant evidence of the active control which the king exercised over every department of his administration and in every province of his empire. In the earlier periods of liistory, when each city lived independently of its neighboiirs and had its own system of government, the need for close and frequent communication between them was not pressing, but this became apparent as soon as they were welded together and formed parts of an extended empire. Thus 300 EAELY BABYLONIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS in the time of Sargon of Agade, about 3800 b. c, a extensive system of royal convoys was established b( tween the principal cities. At Telloh the late M. d Sarzec came across nmnbers of lumps of clay bearin the seal impressions of Sargon and of his son jSTarair Sin, which had been used as seals and labels upon pact ages sent from Agade to Shirpurla. In the time o Dungi, King of Ur, there was a constant interchang of officials between the various cities of Babylonia an( Elam, and during the more recent diggings at Tellol there have been found vouchers for the supply of foo( for their sustenance when stopping at Shirpurla in thi course of their journeys. In the case of Hammurab we have recovered some of the actual letters sent b] the king himself to Sin-idinnam, his local governor ii the city of Larsam, and from them we gain considerabL insight into the principles which guided him in th( administration of his empire. ' The letters themselves, in their general character istics, resembled the contract tablets of the period whicl have been already described. They were written oi small clay tablets oblong in shape, and as they were onlj three or four inches long they could easily be carriec about the person of the messenger into whose charg( they were delivered. After the tablet was written ii was enclosed in a thin envelope of clay, having beei first powdered with dry clay to prevent its sticking t( the envelope. The name of the person for whom th( letter was intended was written on the outside of th( envelope, and both it and the tablet were baked hare EESPECT SHOWN TO FOREIGN DEITIES 301 to ensure that they should not be broken on their travels. The recipient of the letter, on its being deUvered to him, broke the outer envelope by tapping it sharply, and it then fell away in pieces, leaving the letter and its mes- sage exposed. The envelopes were very similar to those in which the contract tablets of the period were enclosed, of which illustrations have already been given, their only difference being that the text of the tablet was not repeated on the envelope, as was the case with the former class of documents. The royal letters that have been recovered throw little light on military affairs and the prosecution of campaigns, for, being addressed to governors of cities and civil officials, most of them deal with matters affect- ing the internal administration of the empire. One let- ter indeed contains directions concerning the movements of two hundred and forty soldiers of *' the King's Com- pany " who had been stationed in Assyria, and another letter mentions certain troops who were quartered in the city of TJr. A third deals with the supply of cloth- ing and oil for a section of the Babylonian army, and troops are also mentioned as having formed the escort for certain goddesses captured from the Elamites ; while directions are sent to others engaged in a campaign upon the Elamite frontier. The letter which contains direc- tions for the safe escort of the captured Elamite god- desses, and the one ordering the return of these same goddesses to their own shrines, show that foreign deities, even when captured from an enemy, were treated by the Babylonians with the same respect and reverence that 302 EAELY BABYLONIAJST LIFE AND CUSTOMS was shown by them to their own gods and goddesses. Hammurabi gave directions in the first letter for the conveyance of the goddesses to Babylon with all due pomp and ceremony, sheep being suppUed for sacrifice upon the journey, and their usual rites being performed by their own temple-women and priestesses. The king's volimtary restoration of the goddesses to their own country may have been due to the fact that, after their transference to Babylon, the army of the Baby- lonians suffered defeat in Elam. This misfortune would naturally have been ascribed by the king and the priests to the anger of the Elamite goddesses at being detained in a foreign land, and Hammurabi probably arrived at his decision that they should be escorted back in the hope of once more securing victory for the Babylonian arms. The care which the king exercised for the due wor- ship of his own gods and the proper supply of their temples is well illustrated from the letters that have been recovered, for he superintended the collection of the temple revenues, and the herdsmen and shepherds attached to the service of the gods sent their reports directly to him. He also took care that the observances of religious rites and ceremonies were duly carried out, and on one occasion he postponed the hearing of a law- suit concerning the title to certain property which was in dispute, as it would have interfered with the proper observance of a festival in the city of Ur. The plaintiff in the suit was the chief of the temple bakers, and it was his duty to superintend the preparation of certain THE KING AND THE PRIESTHOOD 303 offerings for the occasion. In order that he should not have to leave his duties, the king put off the hearing of the case until after the festival had been duly celebrated. The king also exercised a strict control over the priests themselves, and received reports from the chief priests concerning their own subordinates, and it is probable that the royal sanction was obtained for all the princi- pal appointments. The guild of soothsayers was an important religious class at this time, and they also were under the king's direct control. A letter written by Anmaiditana, one of the later kings of the First Dynasty, to three high officials of the city of Sippar, contains directions with regard to certain duties to be carried out by the soothsayers attached to the service of the city, and indicates the nature of their fimctions. Ammiditana wrote to the officials in question, stating that there was a scarcity of com in the city of Shagga, and he therefore ordered them to send a supply thither. But before the corn was brought into the city they were told to consult the soothsayers, who were to divine the future and ascertain whether the omens were favour- able. If they proved to be so, the com was to be brought in. We may conjecture that the king took this precau- tion, as he feared the scarcity of corn in Shagga was due to the anger of some local deity or spirit, and that, if this were the case, the bringing in of the com would only lead to fresh troubles. This danger it was the duty of the soothsayers to prevent. Another class of the priesthood, which we may infer was under the king's direct control, was the astrol- 304 EARLY BABYLONIAI^ LIFE AND CUSTOMS ogers, whose duty it probably was to make reports the king of the conjunctions of the heavenly bodies, wi a view to ascertaining whether they portended good < evil to the state. No astrological reports written in th early period have been recovered, but at a later peri( under the Assyrian empire the astrologers reported re ularly to the king on such matters, and it is probab that the practice was one long established. One i Hammurabi's letters proves that the king regulated tl calendar, and it is legitimate to suppose that he soug] the advice of his astrologers as to the times when inte calary months were to be inserted. The letter dealir with the calendar was written to inform Sin-idinnam, tl governor of Larsam, that an intercalary month was 1 be inserted. '' Since the year (i. e. the calendar) hath deficiency," he writes, " let the month which is no beginning be registered as a second Elul," and the kic adds that this insertion of an extra month will n( justify any postponement in the payment of the regulj tribute due from the city of Larsam, which had to I paid a month earlier than usual to make up for tt month that was inserted. The intercalation of add tional months was due to the fact that the Babylonia months were lunar, so that the calendar had to be coi rected at intervals to make it correspond to the sols year. From the description already given of the code ( laws drawn up by Hammurabi it will have been see that the king attempted to incorporate and arrange set of regulations which should settle any dispute likel THE ADMESriSTEATION OF JUSTICE 305 to arise with regard to the duties and privileges of all classes of his subjects. That this code was not a dead letter, but was actively administered, is abimdantly proved by many of the letters of Hammurabi which have been recovered. Prom these we learn that the king took a very active part in the administration of justice in the country, and that he exercised a strict supervision, not only over the cases decided in the capital, but also over those which were tried in the other great cities and towns of Babylonia. Any private citizen was entitled to make a direct appeal to the king for justice, if he thought he could not obtain it in his local court, and it is clear from Hammurabi's letters that he always listened to such an appeal and gave it adequate consid- eration. The king was anxious to stamp out all cor- ruption on the part of those who were invested with authority, and he had no mercy on any of his officers who were convicted of taking bribes. On one occasion when he had been informed of a case of bribery in the city of Dur-gurgurri, he at once ordered the governor of the district in which Dur-gurgurri lay to investigate the charge and send to Babylon those who were proved to be guilty, that they might be punished. He also ordered that the bribe should be confiscated and des- patched to Babylon under seal, a wise provision which must have tended to discourage those who were inclined to tamper with the course of justice, whUe at the same time it enriched the state. It is probable that the king tried all cases of appeal in person when it was possible to do so. But if the litigants lived at a considerable dis- 306 EARLY BABYLONIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS tance from Babylon, he gave directions to his local officials on the spot to try the case. When he was con- vinced of the justice of any claim, he would decide the case hhnself and send instructions to the local authori- ties to see that his decision was duly carried out. It is certain that many disputes arose at this period in consequence of the extortions of money-lenders. These men frequently laid claim in a fraudulent manner to fields and estates which they had received in pledge as security for seed-corn advanced by them. In cases where fraud was proved Hammurabi had no mercy, and summoned the money-lender to Babylon to receive pun- ishment, however wealthy and powerful he might be. A subject frequently referred to in Hammurabi's let- ters is the collection of revenues, and it is clear that an elaborate system was in force throughout the country for the levying and payment of tribute to the state by the principal cities of Babylonia, as well as for the col- lection of rent and revenue from the royal estates and from the lands which were set apart for the supply of the great temples. Collectors of both secular and relig- ious tribute sent reports directly to the king, and if there was any deficit in the supply which was expected from a collector he had to make it up himself; but the king was always ready to listen to and investigate a complaint and to enforce the payment of tribute or taxes so that the loss should not fall upon the collector. Thus, in one of his letters Hammurabi informs the gov- ernor of Larsam that a collector named Sheb-Sin had reported to him, saying " Enubi-Marduk hath laid hands THE COLLECTION OF TAXES 307 upon the money for the temple of Bit-il-kittim (i. e. the great temple of the Smi-god at Larsam) which is due from the city of Dur-gurgurri and from the (region round about the) Tigris, and he hath not rendered the full sum; and Gimil-Marduk hath laid hands upon the money for the temple of Bit-il-kittim which is due from the city of Rakhabu and from the region round about that city, and he hath not (paid) the full amount. But the palace hath exacted the fuU sum from me." It is probable that both Enubi-Marduk and Gimil-Marduk were money-lenders, for we know from another letter that the former had laid claim to certain property on which he had held a mortgage, although the mortgage had been redeemed. In the present case they had prob- ably lent money or seed-corn to certain cultivators of land near Dur-gurgurri and Rakhabu and along the Tigris, and in settlement of their claims they had seized the crops and had, moreover, refused to pay to the king's officer the proportion of the crops that was due to the state as taxes upon the land. The governor of Larsam, the principal city in the district, had rightly, as the representative of the palace (^. e. the king), caused the tax-collector to make up the deficiency, but Hammurabi, on receiving the subordinate officer's complaint, referred the matter back to the governor. The end of the letter is wanting, but we may infer that Hammurabi con- demned the defaulting money-lenders to pay the taxes due, and fined them in addition, or ordered them to be sent to the capital for punishment. On another occasion Sheb-Sin himself and a second 308 EARLY BABYLONIAJST LIFE AND CUSTOMS tax-collector named Sin-mushtal appear to have been in fault and to have evaded coming to Babylon when summoned thither by the king. It had been their duty to collect large quantities of sesame seed as well as taxes paid in money. When first summoned, they had made the excuse that it was the time of harvest and they would come after the harvest was over. But as they did not then make their appearance, Hammurabi wrote an urgent letter insisting that they should be despatched with the full amount of the taxes due, in the company of a trustworthy officer who would see that they duly arrived at the capital. Tribute on flocks and herds was also levied by the king, and collectors or assessors of the revenue were stationed in each district, whose duty it was to report any deficit in the revenue accounts. The owners of flocks and herds were bound to bring the young cattle and lambs that were due as tribute to the central city of the district in which they dwelt, and they were then collected into large bodies and added to the royal flocks and herds; but, if the owners attempted to hold back any that were due as tribute, they were afterwards forced to incur the extra expense and trouble of driving the beasts to Babylon. The flocks and herds owned by the king and the great temples were probably enormous, and yielded a considerable revenue in themselves apart from the tribute and taxes due from private owners. Shepherds and herdsmen were placed in charge of them, and they were divided into groups under chief shep- herds, who arranged the districts in which the herds AGEICULTURAL INTERESTS 309 and flocks were to be grazed, distributing them when possible along the banks and in the neighbourhood of- rivers and canals which would afford good pasturage and a plentiful supply of water. The king received reports from the chief shepherds and herdsmen, and it was the duty of the governors of the chief cities and districts of Babylonia to make tours of inspection and see that due care was taken of the royal flocks and sheep. The sheep-shearing for all the flocks that were pastured near the capital took place in Babylon, and the king used to send out summonses to his chief shep- herds to inform them of the day when the shearing would take place; and it is probable that the governors of the other great cities sent out similar orders to the shepherds of flocks under their charge. Royal and priestly flocks were often under the same chief officer, a fact which shows the very strict control the king exer- cised over the temple revenues. The interests of the agricultural population were strictly looked after by the king, who secured a proper supply of water for purposes of irrigation by seeing that the canals and waterways were kept in a proper state of repair and cleaned out at regular intervals. There is also evidence that nearly every king of the First Dynasty of Babylon cut new canals, and extended the system of irrigation and transportation which had been handed down to him from his fathers. The drain- ing of the marshes and the proper repair of the canals could only be carried out by careful and continuous supervision, and it was the duty of the local governors 310 EARLY BABYLONIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS to see that the inhabitants of villages and owners of land situated on the banks of a canal should keep it in proper order. When this duty had been neglected com- plaints were often sent to the king, who gave orders to the local governor to remedy the defect. Thus on one occasion it had been ordered that a canal at Erech which had silted up should be deepened, but the dredg- ing had not been carried out thoroughly, so that the bed of the canal soon silted up again and boats were prevented from entering the city. In these circum- stances Hammurabi gave pressing orders that the ob- struction was to be removed and the canal made navi- gable within three days. Damage was often done to the banks of canals by floods which followed the winter rains, and a letter of Abeshu' gives an interesting account of a sudden rise of the water in the Imina canal so that it overflowed its banks. The king was building a palace at the city of Kar-Imina, which was supplied by the Imina canal, and every year it was possible to put so much work into the building. But one year, when little more than a third of the year's work was done, the building opera- tions were stopped by flood, the canal having overflowed its banks so that the water rose right up to the wall of the town. In return for the duty of keeping the canals in order, the villagers along the banks had the privilege of fishing in its waters in the portion which was in their charge, and any poaching by other villagers in this part of the stream was strictly forbidden. On one occasion, in the reign of Samsu-iluna, Hammurabi's THE KING'S OFFICIALS 311 son and successor, the fishermen of the district of Rabim went down in their boats to the district of Shakanim and caught fish there contrary to the law. So the inhabitants of Shakanim complained of this poaching to the king, who sent a palace official to the authorities of Sippar, near which city the districts in question lay, with orders to inquire into the matter and take steps to prevent all such poaching for the future. The regulation of transportation on the canals was also under the royal jurisdiction. The method of reck- oning the size of ships has already been described, and there is evidence that the king possessed numerous ves- sels of all sizes for the carrying of grain, wool, and dates, as well as for the wood and stone employed in his building operations. Each ship seems to have had its own crew, under the command of a captain, and it is probable that officials who regulated the transporta- tion from the centres where they were stationed were placed in charge of separate sections of the rivers and of the canals. It is obvious, from the account that has been given of the numerous operations directly controlled and superintended by the king, that he had need of a very large body of officials, by whose means he was enabled to carry out successfully the administration of the coun- try. In the course of the account we have made mention of the judges and judicial officers, the assessors and collectors of revenue, and the officials of the palace who were under the king's direct orders. It is also obvious that different classes of officers were in charge of aU 312 EAELY BABYLONIAJ^ LIFE AND CUSTOMS the departments of the administration. Two classes of officials, who were placed in charge of the public works and looked after and controlled the public slaves, and probably also had a good deal to do with the col- lection of the revenue, had special privileges assigned to them, and special legislation was drawn up to protect them in the enjoyment of the same. As payment for their duties they were each granted land with a house and garden, they were assigned the use of certain sheep and cattle with which to stock their land, and in addi- tion they received a regular salary. They were in a sense personal retainers of the king and were liable to be sent at any moment on a special mission to carry out the king's commands. Disobedience was severely punished; for, if such an officer, when detailed for a special mission, did not go but hired a substitute, he was liable to be put to death and the substitute he had hired could take his office. Sometimes an officer was sent for long periods some distance from his home to take charge of a garrison, and when this was done his home duties were performed by another man, who tem- porarily occupied his house and land, but gave it back to the officer on his return. If such an officer had a son old enough to perform his duty in his father's absence, he was allowed to do so and to till his father's lands ; but if the son was too young, the substitute who took the officer's place had to pay one-third of the prod- uce of the land to the child's mother for his education. Before departing on his journey to the garrison it was the officer's duty to arrange for the proper cultivation PEIVILEGES AND DUTIES OF OEEICIALS 313 of his land and tlie discharge of his local duties during his absence. If he omitted to do so and left his land and duties neglected for more than a year, and another had meanwhile taken his place, on his return he could not reclaim his land and office. It will be obvious, there- fore, that his position was a specially favoured one and much sought after, and these regulations ensured that the duties attaching to the office were not neglected. In the course of his garrison duty or when on special service, these officers ran some risk of being captured by the enemy, and in that event regulations were drawn up for their ransom. If the captured officer was wealthy and could pay for his own ransom, he was bound to do so, but if he had not the necessary means his ransom was to be paid out of the local temple treasury, and, when the funds in the temple treasury did not suf- fice, he was to be ransomed by the state. It was spe- cially enacted that his land and garden and house were in no case to be sold in order to pay for his ransom. These were inalienably attached to the office which he held, and he was not allowed to sell them or the sheep and cattle with which they were stocked. Moreover, he was not allowed to bequeath any of this property to his wife or daughter, so that his office would appear to have been hereditary and the property attached to it to have been entailed on his son if he succeeded him. Such succession would not, of course, have taken place if the officer by his own neglect or disobedience had for- feited his office and its privileges during his lifetime. It has been suggested with considerable probability 314 EARLY BABYLONIAJST LIFE AJSTD CUSTOMS that these officials were originally personal retainers and follows of Sumu-abu, the founder of the First Dy- nasty of Bah3"lon. They were probably assigned lands throughout the country in return for their services to the king, and their special duties were to preserve order and uphold the authority of their master. In the course of time their duties were no doubt modified, but they retained their privileges and they must have continued to be a very valuable body of officers, on whose personal loyalty the king could always rely. In the preceding chapter we have already seen how grants of considerable estates were made by the Kassite kings of the Third Dynasty to followers who had rendered conspicuous services, and at the same time they received the privi- lege of holding such lands free of all liability to forced labour and the payment of tithes and taxes. We may conclude that the class of royal officers under the kings of the First Djrnasty had a similar origin. In the present chapter, from information recently made available, we have given some account of the sys- tem of administration adopted by the early kings of Babylon, and we have described in some detail the vari- ous classes of the Babylonian population, their occupa- tions, and the conditions under which they lived. In the two preceding chapters we have dealt with the polit- ical history of Western Asia from the very earliest period of the Sumerian city-states down to the time of the Kassite kings. In the course of this account we have seen how Mesopotamia in the dawn of history was in the sole possession of the Sumerian race and how FALL OF THE SECOND DYNASTY 315 afterwards it fell in tiim under the dominion of the Semites and the kings of Elam. The immigration of fresh Semitic tribes at the end of the third millenniiun before Christ resulted in the establishment in Babylon of the Semitic kings who are known as First Dynasty kings; and under the sway of Hammurabi, the greatest of this group of kings, the empire thus established in Western Asia had every appearance of permanence. Al- though Elam no longer troubled Babylon, a great danger arose from a new and unexpected quarter. In the Coun- try of the Sea— which comprised the districts in the extreme south of Babylonia on the shores of the Persian Gulf— the Sumerians had rallied their forces, and they now declared themselves independent of Babylonian control. A period of conflict followed between the kings of the First Dynasty and the kings of the Country of the Sea, in which the latter more than held their own; and, when the Hittite tribes of Syria invaded Northern Babylonia in the reign of Samsu-ditana, Babylon's power of resistance was so far weakened that she fell an easy prey to the rulers of the Country of the Sea. But the reappearance of the Sumerians in the role of leading race in Western Asia was destined not to last long, and was little more than the last flicker of vitality exhibited by this ancient and exhausted race. Thus the Second Dynasty fell in its turn before the onslaught of the Kassite tribes who descended from the mountain- ous districts in the west of Elam, and, having overrun the whole of Mesopotamia, established a new dynasty at Babylon, and adopted Babylonian civilization. 316 EAELY BABYLONIAN LIFE AND CUSTOMS With the advent of the Kassite kings a new chapter opens in the history of Western Asia. Up to that time Egypt and Babylon, the two chief centres of ancient civilization, had no doubt indirectly influenced one an- other, but they had not come into actual contact. Dur- ing the period of the Kassite kings both Babylon and Assyria established direct relations with Egypt, and from that time forward the influence they exerted upon one another was continuous and unbroken. We have already traced the history of Babylon up to this point in the light of recent discoveries, and a similar task awaits us with regard to Assyria. Before we enter into a discussion of Assyria's origin and early history in the light of recent excavation and research, it is neces- sary that we should return once more to Egypt, and describe the course of her history from the period when Thebes succeeded in displacing Memphis as the capital city. CHAPTER Vn TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES \\l^ liave seen that it was in the Theban period that Egypt emerged from her isolation, and for the first time came into contact with Western Asia. This grand turning-point in Egyptian history seemed to be the appropriate place at which to pause in the description of our latest knowledge of Egyptian history, in order to make known the results of archaeological discovery in Mesopotamia and Western Asia generally. The de- scription has been carried down past the point of con- Tergence of the two originally isolated paths of Egyp- tian and Babylonian civilization, and what new informa- tion the latest discoveries have communicated to us on this subject has been told in the preceding chapters. We now have to retrace our steps to the point where we left Egyptian history and resume the thread of our Egyptian narrative. The Hyksos conquest and the rise of Thebes are practically contemporaneous. The conquest took place perhaps three or four hundred years after the first ad- 317 318 TEMPLES Ai^D TOMBS OF THEBES Yaucement of Thebes to the position of capital of Egypt, but it must be remembered that this position was not retained during the time of the Xllth Dynasty. The kings of tlaat dynasty, though they were Thebans, did not reign at Thebes. Tlieir royal city was in the North, in the neighbourhood of Lisht and Medum, where their pyramids were erected, and their chief care was for the lake province of the Fayyum, which was largely the creation of Amenemhat III, the Moeris of the Greeks. It was not till Thebes became the focus of the national resistance to the Hyksos that its period of greatness began. Henceforward it was the undisputed capital of Egypt, enlarged and embellished by the care and munifi- cence of a hundred kings, enriched by the tribute of a hundred conquered nations. But were we to confine ourselves to the considera- tion only of the latest discoveries of Theban greatness after the expulsion of the Hyksos, we should be omitting much that is of interest and importance. For the Egyp- tians the first grand climacteric in their history (after the foundation of the monarchy) was the transference of the royal power from Memphis and Herakleopolis to a Theban house. The second, which followed soon after, was the Hyksos invasion. The two are closely connected in Theban history; it is Thebes that defeated Herakle- opolis and conquered Memphis ; it is Theban power that was overthrown by the Hyksos; it is Thebes that ex- pelled them and initiated the second great period of Egyptian history. We therefore resimie our narrative at a point before the great increase of Theban power at DISCOVERIES AT THEBES 319 the time of the expulsion of the Hyksos, and will trace this power from its rise, which foUowed the defeat of Herakleopolis and Memphis. It is upon this epoch— the beginning of Theban power— that the latest dis- coveries at Thebes have thrown some new light. More than anywhere else in Egypt excavations have been carried on at Thebes, on the site of the ancient capital of the country. And here, if anywhere, it might have been supposed that there was nothing more to be found, no new thing to be exhumed from the soil, no new fact to be added to our knowledge of Egyptian history. Yet here, no less than at Abydos, has the archaeological exploration of the last few years been especially successful, and we have seen that the ancient city of Thebes has a great deal more to tell us than we had expected. The most ancient remains at Thebes were discovered by Mr. Newberry in the shape of two tombs of the Vlth Dynasty, cut upon the face of the weU-known hiU of Shekh Abd el-Kuma, on the west bank of the Nile oppo- site Luxor. Every winter traveller to Egypt knows well the ride from the sandy shore opposite the Luxor tem- ple, along the narrow pathway between the gardens and the canal, across the bridges and over the cultivated land to the Ramesseum, behind which rises Shekh Abd el- Kurna, with its countless tombs, ranged in serried rows along the scarred and scarped face of the hUl. This hill, which is geologically a fragment of the plateau behind which some gigantic landslip was sent sliding in the direction of the river, leaving the picturesque gorge and 320 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES cliffs of Der el-Bahari to mark the place from which it was riven, was evidently the seat of the oldest Theban necropolis. Here were the tombs of the Theban chiefs in the period of the Old Kingdom, two of which have been found by Mr, Newberry, In later times, it would seem, these tombs were largely occupied and remod- elled by the great nobles of the XVIIIth Dynasty, so that now nearly all the tombs extant on Shekh Abd el-Kurna belong to that dynasty. Of the Thebes of the IXth and Xth Dynasties, when the Herakleopolites ruled, we have in the British Mu- seum two very remarkable statues— one of which is here illustrated— of the steward of the palace, Mera, The tomb from which they came is not known. Both are very beautiful examples of the Egyptian sculptor's art, and are executed in a style eminently characteristic of the transition period between the work of the Old and Middle Kingdoms, As specimens of the art of the Hierakonpolite period, of which we have hardly any examples, they are of the greatest interest. Mera is represented wearing a different head-dress in each fig- ure; in one he has a short wig, in the other a skull- cap. When the Herakleopolite dominion was finally over- thrown, in spite of the valiant resistance of the princes of Asyut, and the Thebans assumed the Pharaonic dig- nity, thus founding the Xlth Dynasty, the Theban necropolis was situated in the great bay in the cliffs, immediately north of Shekh Abd el-Kuma, which is known as Der el-Bahari. In this picturesque part of Statue of Mera. The Chief Steward, IXth Dynasty ; about 2800 B. C. From Thebes. British Museum. Photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co. DISCOVERY OF XIth DYNASTY TEMPLE 321 Western Thebes, in many respects perhaps the most picturesque place in Egypt, the greatest king of the XIth Dynasty, Neb-hapet-Ra Mentuhetep, excavated his tomb and built for the worship of his ghost a funerary temple, which he called Akh-aset, " Glorious-is-its-Sit- uation," a name fully justified by its surroundings. This temple is an entirely new discovery, made by Prof. Naville and Mr. HaU in 1903. The results obtained up to date have been of very great importance, especially with regard to the history of Egyptian art and archi- tecture, for our sources of information were few and we were previously not very well informed as to the condition of art in the time of the XIth Dynasty. The new temple lies immediately to the south of the great XVIIIth Dynasty temple at Der el-Bahari, which has always been known, and which was excavated first by Mariette and later by Prof. Naville, for the Egypt Exploration Fund. To the results of the later excava- tions we shall return. When they were finally com- pleted, in the year 1898, the great XVIIIth Dynasty temple, which was built by Queen Hatshepsu, had been entirely cleared of debris, and the colonnades had been partially restored (under the care of Mr. Somers Clarke) in order to make a roof under which to protect the sculptures on the walls. The whole mass of debris, consisting largely of fallen talus from the cliffs above, which had almost hidden the temple, was removed; but a large tract lying to the south of the temple, which was also covered with similar mounds of debris, was not touched, but remained to await further investiga- 322 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES tion. It was here, beneath these heaps of debris, that the new temple was found when work was resumed by the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1903. The actual tomb of the king has not yet been revealed, although that of Neb-hetep Mentuhetep, who may have been his immedi- ate predecessor, was discovered by Mr. Carter in 1899. It was known, however, and still uninjured in the reign of Ramses IX of the XXth Dynasty. Then, as we learn from the report of the inspectors sent to examine the royal tombs, which is preserved in the Abbott Papyrus, they found " the pyramid-tomb of King Neb-hapet-Ea which is in Tjesret (the ancient Egyptian name for Der el-Bahari); it was intact." We know, therefore, that it was intact about 1000 b. c. The description of it as a pyramid-tomb is interesting, for in the inscription of Tetu, the priest of Akh-aset, who was buried at Abydos, Akh-aset is said to have been a pyramid. That the newly discovered temple was called Akh-aset we know from several inscriptions found in it. And the most remarkable thing about this temple is that in its centre there was a pyramid. This must be the pyramid-tomb which was found intact by the inspectors, so that the tomb itself must be close by. But it does not seem to have been beneath the pyramid, below which is only solid rock. It is perhaps a gallery cut in the cliffs at the back of the temple. The pyramid was then a dummy, made of rubble within a revetment of heavy flint nodules, which was faced with fine limestone. It was erected on a pyloni- form base with heavy cornice of the usual Egyptian XIth dynasty MASONEY 323 pattern. This central pyramid was surrounded by a roofed hall or ambulatory of small octagonal piUars, the outside wall of which was decorated with coloured reliefs, depicting various scenes connected with the sed- heb or jubilee-festival of the king, processions of the warriors and magnates of the reahn, scenes of hus- bandry, boat-building, and so forth, all of which were considered appropriate to the chapel of a royal tomb at that period. Outside this waU was an open colonnade of square pillars. The whole of this was built upon an artificially squared rectangular platform of natural rock, about fifteen feet high. To north and south of this were open courts. The southern is bounded by the hill; the northern is now bounded by the Great Temple of Hat- shepsu, but, before this was built, there was evidently a very large open court here. The face of the rock plat- form is masked by a wall of large rectangular blocks of fine white limestone, some of which measure six feet by three feet six inches. They are beautifully squared and laid in bonded courses of alternate sizes, and the walls generally may be said to be among the finest yet found in Egypt. We have already remarked that the architects of the Middle Kingdom appear to have been specially fond of fine masonry in white stone. The con- trast between these splendid XIth Dynasty walls, with their great base-stones of sandstone, and the bad rough masonry of the XVIIIth Dynasty temple close by, is striking. The XVIIIth Dynasty architects and masons had degenerated considerably from the standard of the Middle Kingdom. 324 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES This rock platform was approached from the east in the centre by an inclined plane or ramp, of which part of the original pavement of wooden beams remains in situ. To right and left of this ramp are colonnades, each of twenty-two square pillars, all inscribed with the Xlth DYNASTY WALL : dSe EL - BAHARI. Excavated by Mr. Hall, 1904, for the Egypt Exploration Fund. name and titles of Mentuhetep. The walls masking the platform in these colonnades were sculptured with vari- ous scenes, chiefly representing boat processions and campaigns against the Aamu or nomads of the Sinaitic peninsula. The design of the colonnades is the same as that of the Great Temple, and the whole plan of ARCHITECTURE OF DIFFERENT DYNASTIES 325 this part, with its platform approached by a ramp flanked by colonnades, is so like that of the Great Tem- ple that we cannot but assume that the peculiar design of the latter, with its tiers of platforms approached by ramps flanked by colonnades, is not an original idea, XTIIlth DYNASTY WALI,, DER EL - BAHARI. Excayated by M. Naville, 1896; repaired by Mr. Howard Carter, 1904. but was directly copied by the XViiith Dynasty ar- chitects from the older Xlth Dynasty temple which they found at Der el-Bahari when they began their work. The supposed originality of Hatshepsu's temple is then non-existent; it was a copy of the older design, in 326 TEMPLES AJSTD TOMBS OF THEBES fact, a magnificent piece of archaism. But Hatshepsu's architects copied this feature only; the actual arrange- ments on the platforms in the two temples are as differ- ent as they can possibly be. In the older we have a central pyramid with a colonnade round it, in the newer EXCAVATION OF THE NOKTH LOWEE COLONNADE OF THE Xlth DYNASTY TEMPLE, DER EL - BAHARI, 1901. may be found an open court in front of rock-cave shrines. Before the Xlth Dynasty temple was set up a series of statues of King Mentuhetep and of a later king, Amenhetep I, in the form of Osiris, like those of Usert- sen (Senusret) I at Lisht already mentioned. One of these statues is in the British Museiun. In the south court were discovered six statues of King Usertsen STATUES OF USERTSEN III 327 (Senusret) III, depicting him at different periods of Ms life. Pour of the heads are preserved, and, as the expression of each differs from that of the other, it is THE GKANITE THRESHOLD AND OCTAGONAL SANDSTONE PILLARS OF THE Xlth DTNASTT TEMPLE AT DER EL - BAHARI. About 2500 B. C. quite evident that some show him as a young, others as an old, man. The face is of the well-known hard and lined type which is seen also in the portraits of Amenemhat III, and was formerly considered to be that 328 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES of the Hyksos. Messrs. Newberry and Garstang, as we have seen, consider it to be so, indirectly, as they regard the type as having been introduced into the Xllth Dy- nasty by Queen Nefret, the mother of Usertsen (Sen- usret) in. This queen, they think, was a Hittite prin- cess, and the Hittites were practically the same thing EXCAVATION OF THE TOMB OF A PRIESTESS, ON THE PLATFORM OF THE Xlth DYNASTY TEMPLE, DER EL-BAHARI, 1904. as the Hyksos. We have seen, however, that there is very little foundation for this view, and it is more than probable that this peculiar physiognomy is of a type purely Egyptian in character. On the platform, around the central pyramid, were buried in small chamber-tombs a number of priestesses of the goddess Hathor, the mistress of the desert and special deity of Der el-Bahari. They were all members TOMBS OF THE PEIESTESSES 329 of the king's harim, and they bore the title of " King's Favourite." As told in a previous chapter, all were buried at one time, before the final completion of the temple, and it is by no means impossible that they were strangled at the king's death and buried round him in order that their ghosts might accompany him in the next world, just as the slaves were buried around the graves (or secondary graves) of the 1st Dynasty kings at Aby- dos. They themselves, as also already related, took with them to the next world little waxen figures which when called upon could by magic be turned into ghostly slaves. These images were ushabtiu, " answerers," the predecessors of the little figures of wood, stone, and pottery which are found buried with the dead in later times. The priestesses themselves were, so to speak, human ushabtiu, for royal use only, and accompanied the kings to their final resting-place. With the priestesses was buried the usual funerary furniture characteristic of the period. This consisted of little models of granaries with the peasants bringing in the corn, models of bakers and brewers at work, boats with their crews, etc., just as we find them in the Xlth and XHth Dynasty tombs at el-Bersha and Beni Hasan. These models, too, were supposed to be transformed by magic into actual workmen who would work for the deceased, heap up grain for her, brew beer for her, ferry her over the ghostly Nile into the tomb-world, or per- form any other services required. Some of the stone sarcophagi of the priestesses are very elaborately decorated with carved and painted 330 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES reliefs depicting each deceased receiving offerings from priests, one of whom milks the holy cows of Hathor to give her milk. The sarcophagi were let doAvn into the tomb in pieces and there joined together, and they have been removed in the same way. The finest is a miique CASES OP ANTIQUITIES LEAVING dEk EL - BAHAKI FOR TRANSPORT TO CAIRO. example of Xlth Dynasty art, and it is now preserved in the Museum of Cairo. In memory of the priestesses there were erected on the platform behind the pyramid a number of small shrines, which were decorated with the most delicately coloured carvings in high relief, representing chiefly the same subjects as those on the sarcophagi. The TOMBSTONE OF AJST EGYPTIAN AETIST 331 peculiar style of these reliefs was previously unknown. In connection with them a most interesting possibility presents itself. We know the name of the chief artist of Mentuhetep's reign. He was called Mertisen, and he thus describes himself on his tombstone from Abydos, now ia the Louvre: " I was an artist skilled in my art. SHIPPING CASES OF ANTIQUITIES ON BOARD THE NILE STEAMER AT LUXOK, FOB THE EGTPT EXPLORATION FUND. I knew my art, how to represent the forms of going forth and returning, so that each limb may be in its proper place. I knew how the figure of a man should walk and the carriage of a woman, the poising of the arm to bring the hippopotamus low, the going of the runner. I knew how to make amulets, which enable 332 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES US to go without fire burning us and without the flood washing us away. No man could do this but I, and the eldest son of my body. Him has the god decreed to excel in art, and I have seen the perfections of the work of his hands in every kind of rare stone, in gold and silver, in ivory and ebony." Now since Mertisen and his son were the chief artists of their day, it is more than probable that they were employed to decorate their king's funerary chapel. So that in all probability the Xlth Dynasty reliefs from Der el-Bahari are the work of Mertisen and his son, and in them we see the actual " forms of going forth and returning, the poising of the arm to bring the hippopotamus low, the going of the runner," to which he refers on his tombstone. This adds a note of personal interest to the reliefs, an interest which is often sadly wanting in Egypt, where we rarely know the names of the great artists whose works we admire so much. We have recovered the names of the sculptor and painter of Seti I's temple at Abydos and that of the sculptor of some of the tombs at Tell el- Amama, but otherwise very few names of the artists are directly associated with the temples and tombs which they decorated, and of the architects we know little more. The great temple of Der el-Bahari was, however, we know, designed by Senmut, the chief archi- tect to Queen Hatshepsu. It is noticeable that Mertisen 's art, if it is Mertisen 's, is of a peculiar character. It is not quite so fully devel- oped as that of the succeeding Xllth Dynasty, The drawing of the figures is often peculiar, strange lanky A EEVIVAL or AET 333 forms taking the place of the perfect proportions of the rVth-VIth and the Xnth Dynasty styles. Great elab- oration is bestowed upon decoration, which is again of a type rather archaic in character when compared with that of the Xllth Dynasty. We are often reminded of the rude sculptures which used to be regarded as typical of the art of the Xlth Dynasty, while at the same time we find work which could not be surpassed by the best xnth Dynasty masters. In fact, the art of Neb-hapet- Ea's reign was the art of a transitional period. Under the decadent Memphites of the Vllth and Vmth Dy- nasties, Egyptian art rapidly fell from the high estate which it had attained under the Vth Dynasty, and, though good work was done under the Hierakonpolites, the chief characteristic of Egyptian art at the time of the Xth and early Xlth Dynasties is its curious rough- ness and almost barbaric appearance. When, however, the kings of the Xlth Dynasty reunited the whole land under one sceptre, and the long reign of Neb-hapet-Ra Mentuhetep enabled the reconsolidation of the realm to be carried out by one hand, art began to revive, and, just as to Neb-hapet-Ra must be attributed the renas- cence of the Egyptian state under the hegemony of Thebes, so must the revival of art in his reign be attrib- uted to his great artists, Mertisen and his son. They carried out in the reahn of art what their king had carried out in the political realm, and to them must be attributed the origin of the art of the Middle Kingdom which under the Xllth Dynasty attained so high a pitch of excellence. The sculptures of the king's temple at 334 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES Der el-Bahari, then, are monuments of the renascence of Egyptian art, after the state of decadence into which it had fallen during the long civil wars between South and North; it is a reviving art, struggling out of bar- barism to regain perfection, and therefore has much about it that seems archaic, stiff, and curious when com- pared with later work. To the XVIIIth Dynasty Egyp- tian it would no doubt have seemed hopelessly old-fash- ioned and even semi-barbarous, and he had no qualms about sweeping it aside whenever it appeared in the way of the work of his own time; but to us this very strangeness gives additional charm and interest, and we can only be thankful that Mertisen's work has lasted (in fragments only, it is true) to our own day, to tell us the story of a little known chapter in the history of ancient Egyptian art. From this description it will have been seen that the temple is an important mommient of the Egyptian art and architecture of the Middle Kingdom. It is the only temple of that period of which considerable traces have been found, and on that account the study of it wiU be of the greatest interest. It is the best preserved of the older temples of Egypt, and at Thebes it is by far the most ancient building recovered. Historically it has given us a new king of the Xlth Dynasty, Sekhahe- tep-Ra Mentuhetep, and the name of the queen of Neb- hapet-Ra Mentuhetep, Aasheit, who seems to have been an Ethiopian, to judge from her portrait, which has been discovered. It is interesting to note that one of the priestesses was a negress. CHEONOLOGICAL CONCLUSIONS 335 The name Neb-hapet-Ea may be unfamiliar to those readers who are acquainted with the lists of the Egyp- tian kings. It is a correction of the former reading, *' Neb-kheru-Ra, " which is now known from these exca- vations to be erroneous. Neb-hapet-Ra (or, as he used to be called, Neb-kheru-Ra) is Mentuhetep HI of Prof. Petrie's arrangement. Before him there seem to have come the kings Mentuhetep Neb-hetep (who is also com- memorated in this temple) and Neb-taui-Ra; after him, Sekhahetep-Ra Mentuhetep IV and Seankhkara Mentu- hetep y, who were followed by an Antef, bearing the banner or hawk-name Uah-ankh. This king was fol- lowed by Amenemhat I, the first king of the Xllth Dynasty. Antef Uah-ankh may be numbered Antef I, as the prince Antefa, who founded the Xlth Dynasty, did not assume the title of king. Other kings of the name of Antef also ruled over Egypt, and they used to be regarded as belonging to the Xlth Dynasty; but Prof. Steindorff has now proved that they really reigned after the Xmth Dynasty, and immediately before the Sekenenras, who were the fight- ers of the Hyksos and predecessors of the XVIIIth Dynasty. The second names of Antef IH (Seshes-Ra- up-maat) and Antef IV (Seshes-Ra-her-her-maat) are exactly similar to those of the XTTTth Dynasty kings and quite unlike those of the Mentuheteps; also at Koptos a decree of Antef 11 (Nub-kheper-Ra) has been found inscribed on a doorway of Usertsen (Senusret) I; so that he cannot have preceded him. Prof. Petrie does not yet accept these conclusions, and classes all the 336 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES Antefs together with the Mentuheteps in the Xlth Dy- nasty. He considers that he has evidence from Herakle^ opolis that Antef Nub-kheper-Ra (whom he numbers Antef V) preceded the Xllth Dynasty, and he supposes that the decree of Nub-kheper-Ra at Koptos is a later copy of the original and was inscribed during the Xllth Dynasty. But this is a difficult saying. The probabil- ities are that Prof. Steindorff is right. Antef Uah-ankh must, however, have preceded the Xllth Dynasty, since an official of that period refers to his father's father as having lived in Uah-ankh 's time. The necropolis of Der el-Bahari was no doubt used all through the period of the Xlth and Xllth Dynasties, and many tombs of that period have been found there. A large number of these were obliterated by the build- ing of the great temple of Queen Hatshepsu, in the northern part of the cliff -bay. We know of one queen's --tomb of that period which runs right underneath this temple from the north, and there is another that is entered at the south side which also runs down under- neath it. Several tombs were likewise found in the court between it and the Xlth Dynasty temple. We know that the XVIIIth Dynasty temple was largely built over this court, and we can see now the Xlth Dynasty mask- wall on the west of the court rimning northwards under- neath the mass of the XViilth Dynasty temple. In all probability, then, when the temple of Hatshepsu was built, the larger portion of the Middle Kingdom necrop- olis (of chamber-tombs reached by pits), which had filled up the bay to the north of the Mentuhetep temple, was DECADENCE OF AET 337 covered up and obliterated, just as the older Vlth Dy- nasty gallery tombs of Sbekh Abd el-Kuma had been appropriated and altered at the same period. The kings of the Xllth and Xlllth Dynasties were not buried at Thebes, as we have seen, but in the North, at Dashur, Lisht, and near the Fayyum, with which their royal city at Itht-taui had brought them into contact. But at the end of the Xlllth Dynasty the great inva- sion of the Hyksos probably occurred, and all Northern Egypt fell under the Arab sway. The native kings were driven south from the Fayyum to Abydos, Koptos, and Thebes, and at Thebes they were buried, in a new necropolis to the north of Der el-Bahari (prob- ably then full), on the flank of a long spur of hill which is now called Dra' Abu-'l-Negga, " Abu-'l-Neg- ga's Arm." Here the Theban kings of the period be- tween the Xnith and XVIIth Dynasties, Upuantemsaf , Antef Nub-kheper-Ra, and his descendants, Antefs III and IV, were buried. In their time the pressure of foreign invasion seems to have been felt, for, to judge from their cof&ns, which show progressive degeneration of style and workmanship, poverty now afflicted Upper Egypt and art had fallen sadly from the high standard which it had reached in the days of the Xlth and Xllth Dynasties. Probably the later Antefs and Sebekemsafs were vassals of the Hyksos. Their descendants of the XVIIth Dynasty were buried in the same necropolis of Dra' Abu-'l-Negga, and so were the first two kings of the XVinth Dynasty, Aahmes and Amenhetep I. The tombs of the last two have not yet been found, but 338 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES we know from the Abbott Papyrus that Amenhetep's was here, for, like that of Mentuhetep ni, it was found intact by the inspectors. It was a gallery-tomb of very great length, and will be a most interesting find when it is discovered, as it no doubt eventually will be. Aahmes had a tomb at Abydos, which was discovered by Mr. Currelly, working for the Egypt Exploration Fund. This, however, like the Abydene tomb of Usert- sen (Senusret) III, was in all likelihood a sham or secondary tomb, the king having most probably been buried at Thebes, in the Dra' Abu-'l-Negga. The Aby- dos tomb is of interesting construction. The entrance is by a simple pit, from which a gallery runs round in a curving direction to a great hall supported by eighteen square pillars, beyond which is a further gallery which was never finished. Nothing was found in the tomb. On the slope of the mountain, due west of and in a line with the tomb, Mr. Currelly found a terrace-temple anal- ogous to those of Der el-Bahari, approached not by means of a ramp but by stairways at the side. It was evidently the funerary temple of the tomb. The secondary tomb of Usertsen (Senusret) III at Abydos, which has already been mentioned, was discov- ered in the preceding year by Mr. A. E. P. Weigall, and excavated by Mr. Currelly in 1903. It lies north of the Aahmes temple, between it and the main cemetery of Abydos. It is a great idh or gallery-tomb, like those of the later kings at Thebes, with the usual apparatus of granite plugs, barriers, pits, etc., to defy plunderers. The tomb had been plundered, nevertheless, though it Statue of Queen Teta-shera Grandmother of Aahmes, the conqueror of the Hyksos and founder of the XVIIIth Dynasty. About 1700 B. C. British Museum. From the photograph by Messrs. Mansel) & Co. Statue of Queen Teta-shera Grandmother of Aahmes, the conqueror of the Hyksos and founder of the XVIIIth Dynasty. About 1700 B. C. British Museum. From the photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co. SECONDARY TOMBS 339 is probable that the robbers were vastly disappointed with what they found in it. Mr. Currelly ascribes the absence of all remains to the plunderers, but the fact is that there probably never was anything in it but an empty sarcophagus. Near the tomb Mr. Weigall dis- covered some dummy mastabas, a find of great interest. Just as the king had a secondary tomb, so secondary mastabas, mere dummies of rubble like the Xlth Dy- nasty pyramid at Der el-Bahari, were erected beside it to look like the tombs of his courtiers. Some curious sinuous brick walls which appear to act as dividing lines form a remarkable feature of this sham cemetery. In a line with the tomb, on the edge of the cultivation, is the funerary temple belonging to it, which was found by Mr. Randall-Maclver in 1900. Nothing remains but the bases of the fluted limestone colmnns and some brick walls. A headless statue of Usertsen was found. We have an interesting example of the custom of building a secondary tomb for royalties in these two necropoles of Dra' Abu-'l-Negga and Abydos. Queen Teta-shera, the grandmother of Aahmes, a beautiful statuette of whom may be seen in the British Mu- seum, had a small pyramid at Abydos, eastward of and in a line with the temple and secondary tomb of Aahmes. In 1901 Mr. Mace attempted to find the cham- ber, but could not. In the next year Mr. Currelly found between it and the Aahmes tomb a small chapel, contain- ing a splendid stele, on which Aahmes commemorates his grandmother, who, he says, was buried at Thebes and had a mer-ahdt at Abydos, and he records his deter- 340 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES mination to build her also a pyramid at Abydos, out of his love and veneration for her memory. It thus appeared that the pyramid to the east was simply a dummy, like Usertsen's mastabas, or the Mentuhetep pyramid at Der el-Bahari. Teta-shera was actually buried at Dra' Abu- '1-Negga. Her secondary pyramid, like that of Aahmes himself, was in the " holy groimd " at Abydos, though it was not an imitation hdb, but a dummy pyramid of rubble. This well illustrates the whole custom of the royal primary and secondary tombs, which, as we have seen, had obtained in the case of royal personages from the time of the 1st Dynasty, when Aha had two tombs, one at Nakada and the other at Abydos, It is probable that all the 1st Dynasty tombs at Abydos are secondary, the kings being really buried elsewhere. After their time we know for certain that Tjeser and Snefru had duplicate tombs, possibly also Unas, and cer- tainly Usertsen (Senusret) III, Amenemhat III, and Aahmes; while Mentuhetep III and Queen Teta-shera had dummy pyratnids as well as their tombs. Ramses ni also had two tombs, both at Thebes. The reasons for this custom were two : first, the desire to elude plun- derers, and second, the wish to give the ghost a pied-a- terre on the sacred soil of Abydos or Sakkara. As the inscription of Aahmes which records the building of the dummy pyramid of Teta-shera is of considerable interest, it may here be translated. The text reads: " It came to pass that when his Majesty the king, even the king of South and North, Neb- pehti-Ra, Son of the Sun, Aahmes, G-iver of Life, was A PICTURESQUE INSCEIPTION 341 taking his pleasure in the tjadu-hall, the hereditary- princess greatly favoured and greatly prized, the king's daughter, the king's sister, the god's wife and great wife of the king, Nefret-ari-Aahmes, the living, was in the presence of his Majesty. And the one spake unto the other, seeking to do honour to Those There,^ which con- sisteth in the pouring of water, the offering upon the altar, the painting of the stele at the beginning of each season, at the Festival of the New Moon, at the feast of the month, the feast of the going-forth of the Sem- priest, the Ceremonies of the Night, the Feasts of the Fifth Day of the Month and of the Sixth, the Hak- festival, the fJa^-festival, the feast of Thoth, the begin- ning of every season of heaven and earth. And his sister spake, answering him: ' Why hath one remem- bered these matters, and wherefore hath this word been said? Prithee, what hath come into thy heart? ' The king spake, saying: ' As for me, I have remembered the mother of my mother, the mother of my father, the king's great wife and king's mother Teta-shera, de- ceased, whose tomb-chamber and mer-ahdt are at this moment upon the soil of Thebes and Abydos. I have spoken thus unto thee because my Majesty desireth to cause a pyramid and chapel to be made for her in the Sacred Land, as a gift of a monmnent from my Majesty, and that its lake should be dug, its trees planted, and its offerings prescribed; that it should be provided with slaves, furnished with lands, and endowed with cattle, with Jien-ka priests and Mier-Jieb priests performing 1 A polite periphrasis for the dead. 342 TEMPLES AJSTD TOMBS OF THEBES their duties, each man knowing what he hath to do.' Behold! when his Majesty had thus spoken, these things were immediately carried out. His Majesty did these things on account of the greatness of the love which he bore her, which was greater than anything. Never had ancestral kings done the like for their mothers. Behold! his Majesty extended his arm and bent his hand, and made for her the king's offering to Greb, to the Ennead of Grods, to the lesser Ennead of Gods . . . [to Anubis] in the God's Shrine, thousands of offerings of bread, beer, oxen, geese, cattle ... to [the Queen Teta-shera]." This is one of the most interesting in- scriptions discovered in Egypt in recent years, for the picturesqueness of its diction is unusual. As has already been said, the king Amenhetep I was also buried in the Dra' Abu- '1-Negga, but the tomb has not yet been found. Amenhetep I and his mother. Queen Nefret-ari-Aahmes, who is mentioned in the inscription translated above, were both venerated as tutelary demons of the Western Necropolis of Thebes after their deaths, as also was Mentuhetep III. At Der el-Bahari both kings seem to have been worshipped with Hathor, the Mistress of the Waste. The worship of Amen-Ra in the XVIIIth Dynasty temple of Der el-Bahari was a novelty introduced by the priests of Amen at that time. But the worship of Hathor went on side by side with that of Amen in a chapel with a rock-cut shrine at the side of the Great Temple. Very possibly this was the original cave-shrine of Hathor, long before Men- tuhetep 's time, and was incorporated with the Great THE GEEAT TEMPLE 343 Temple and beautified with the addition of a pillared hall before it, built over pari of the Xlth Dynasty north court and wall, by Hatshepsu's architects. The Great Temple, the excavation of which for the Egypt Exploration Fund was successfully brought to an end by Prof. Naville in 1898, was erected by Queen Hatshepsu in honour of Amen-Ra, her father Thothmes I, and her brother-husband Thothmes II, and received a few additions from Thothmes III, her suc- cessor. He, however, did not complete it, and it fell into disrepair, besides suffering from the iconoclastic zeal of the heretic Akhunaten, who hammered out some of the beautifuUy painted scenes upon its walls. These were badly restored by Ramses H, whose painting is easily distinguished from the original work by the dul- ness and badness of its colour. The peculiar plan and other remarkable character- istics of this temple are well known. Its great terraces, with the ramps leading up to them, flanked by colon- nades, which, as we have seen, were imitated from the design of the old Xlth Dynasty temple at its side, are familiar from a hundred illustrations, and the marvel- lously preserved colouring of its delicate reliefs is known to every winter visitor to Egypt, and can be realized by those who have never been there through the medium of Mr. Howard Carter's wonderful coloured reproduc- tions, published in Prof. Naville's edition of the temple by the Egypt Exploration Fund. The Great Temple stands to-day clear of aU the debris which used to cover it, a lasting monument to the work of the greatest of 344 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES the societies which busy themselves with the unearthing of the relics of the ancient world. The two temples of Der el-Bahari will soon stand side by side, as they orig- inally stood, and will always be associated with the name THE TWO TEMPLES OF DER EL -BAHARI. Excavated by Prof. Naville, 1893 - 8 and 1903 - 6, for the Egypt Exploration Fund. of the society which rescued them from oblivion, and gave us the treasures of the royal tombs at Abydos. The names of the two men whom the Egypt Exploration Fund commissioned to excavate Der el-Bahari and Aby- dos, and for whose work it exclusively supplied the A SCENE OF AEID BEAUTY 345 funds, Profs. Naville and Petrie, will live chiefly in con- nection with their work at Der el-Bahari and Abydos. The Egyptians called the two temples Tjeserti, " the two holy places," the new building receiving the name of Tjeser-tjesru, " Holy of Holies," and the whole tract of Der el-Bahari the appellation Tjesret, " the Holy." The extraordinary beauty of the situation in which they are placed, with its huge cliffs and rugged hillsides, may be appreciated from the photograph which is taken from a steep path half-way up the cliff above the Great Tem- ple. In it we see the Great Temple in the foreground with the modern roofs of two of its colonnades, devised in order to protect the sculptures beneath them, the great trilithon gate leading to the upper court, and the entrance to the cave-shrine of Amen-Ra, with the niches of the kings on either side, immediately at the foot of the cliff. In the middle distance is the duller form of the Xlth Dynasty temple, with its rectangular platform, the ramp leading up to it, and the pyramid in the centre of it, surrounded by pillars, half-emerging from the great heaps of sand and debris all around. The back- ground of cliffs and hills, as seen in the photograph, will serve to give some idea of the beauty of the sur- roundings,— an arid beauty, it is true, for all is desert. There is not a blade of vegetation near; all is salmon- red in colour beneath a sky of ineffable blue, and against the red cliffs the white temple stands out in vivid contrast. The second illustration gives a nearer view of the great trilithon gate in the upper court, at the head of 346 TEMPLES AJSTD TOMBS OF THEBES the ramp. The long hill of Dra' Abu-'l-Negga is seen bending away northward behind the gate. This is the famous gate on which the jealous Thothmes III THE UPPEK COURT AND TRILITHON GATE OP THE XVIIIth DYNASTY TEMPLE AT DfiB EL-BAHARI. About 1500 B. C. chiselled out Hatshepsu's name in the royal cartouches and inserted his own in its place; but he forgot to alter the gender of the pronouns in the accompanying SHEINE OF HATHOR 347 inscription, whieli therefore reads " King Thothmes III, she made this moniunent to her father Amen." Among Prof. Naville's discoveries here one of the most important is that of the altar in a small court to the north, which, as the inscription says, was made in honour of the god Ra-Harmachis " of beautiful white stone of Anu." It is of the finest white limestone known. Here also were found the carved ebony doors of a shrine, now in the Cairo Museum. One of the most beautiful parts of the temple is the Shrine of Anubis, with its splendidly preserved paintings and perfect col- umns and roof of white limestone. The effect of the pure white stone and simplicity of architecture is almost Hellenic. The Shrine of Hathor has been known since the time of Mariette, but in connection with it some interesting discoveries have been made during the excavation of the Xlth Dynasty temple. In the court between the two temples were found a large number of small votive offerings, consisting of scarabs, beads, little figures of cows and women, etc., of blue glazed faience and rough pottery, bronze and wood, and blue glazed ware ears, eyes, and plaques with figures of the sacred cow, and other small objects of the same nature. These are evi- dently the ex-votos of the XVHIth Dynasty f ellahin to the goddess Hathor in the rock-shrine above the court. When the shrine was full or the little ex-votos broken, the sacristans threw them over the waU into the court below, which thus became a kind of dust-heap. Over this heap the sand and debris gradually collected, and 348 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES thus they were preserved. The objects found are of considerable interest to anthropological science. The Great Temple was built, as we have said, in honour of Thothmes I and II, and the deities Amen-Ra and Hathor. More especially it was the funerary chapel of Thothmes I. His tomb was excavated, not in the Dra' Abu-'l-Negga, which was doubtless now too near the capital city and not in a sufficiently dignified posi- tion of aloofness from the common herd, but at the end of the long valley of the Wadiyen, behind the cUff-hill above Der el-Bahari. Hence the new temple was ori- ented in the direction of his tomb. Immediately behind the temple, on the other side of the hill, is the tomb which was discovered by Lepsius and cleared in 1904 for Mr. Theodore N. Davis by Mr. Howard Carter, then chief inspector of antiquities at Thebes. Its gallery is of very small dimensions, and it winds about in the hill in corkscrew fashion like the tomb of Aahmes at Aby- dos. Owing to its extraordinary length, the heat and foul air in the depths of the tomb were almost insup- portable and caused great difficulty to the excavators. When the sarcophagus-chamber was at length reached, it was found to contain the empty sarcophagi of Thothmes I and of Hatshepsu. The bodies had been removed for safe-keeping in the time of the XXIst Dy- nasty, that of Thothmes I having been found with those of Seti I and Ramses II in the famous pit at Der el- Bahari, which was discovered by M. Maspero in 1881. Thothmes I seems to have had another and more elab- orate tomb (No. 38) in the Valley of the Tombs of the THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS 349 Kings, which was discovered by M, Loret in 1898. Its frescoes had been destroyed by the infiltration of water. The fashion of royal burial in the great valley behind Der el-Bahari was followed during the XVIIIth, XlXth, and XXth Dynasties. Here in the eastern branch of the Wadiyen, now called the BiMn el-Muluk, " the Tombs of the Kings," the greater number of the might- iest Theban Pharaohs were buried. In the western val- ley rested two of the kings of the XVIIIth Dynasty, who desired even more remote burial-places, Amenhe- tep in and Ai. The former chose for his last home a most kingly site. Ancient kings had raised great pyramids of artificial stone over their graves. Amen- hetep, perhaps the greatest and most powerful Pharaoh of them all, chose to have a natural pyramid for his grave, a mountain for his tumulus. The illustration shows us the tomb of this monarch, opening out of the side of one of the most imposing hills in the Western Valley. No other king but Amenhetep rested beneath this hill, which thus marks his grave and his only. It is in the Eastern Valley, the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings properly speaking, that the tombs of Thothmes I and Hatshepsu lie, and here the most recent discoveries have been made. It is a desolate spot. As we come over the hill from Der el-Bahari we see below us in the glaring sunshine a rocky canon, with sides sometimes sheer cliff, sometimes sloped by great falls of rock in past ages. At the bottom of these slopes the square openings of the many royal tombs can be 350 TEMPLES AJSTD TOMBS OF THEBES descried.^ Far below we see the forms of tourists and the tomb-guards accompanying them, moving in and out of the openings like ants going in and out of an ants' nest. Nothing is heard but the occasional cry of a kite and the ceaseless rhythmical throbbing of the exhaust- THE TOMB - MOUNTAIN OP AMENHETEP III, IN THE WESTERN VALLEY, THEBES. pipe of the electric light engine in the unfinished tomb of Ramses XI. Above and around are the red desert hills. The Egyptians called it " The Place of Eternity." In this valley some remarkable discoveries have been made during the last few years. In 1898 M. G-rebaut 1 See illustration. A EOYAL MUMMY ON EXHIBITION 351 discovered the tomb of Amenhetep II, in which was found the munnny of the king, intact, lying in its sar- cophagus in the depths of the tomb. The royal body now lies there for all to see. The tomb is Kghted with electricity, as are all the principal tombs of the kings. At the head of the sarcophagus is a single lamp, and, when the party of visitors is collected in silence around the place of death, all the lights are turned out, and then the single light is switched on, showing the royal head illuminated against the surrounding blackness. The effect is indescribably weird and impressive. The body has only twice been removed from the tomb since its burial, the second time when it was for a brief space taken up into the sunlight to be photographed by Mr. Carter, in January, 1902. The temporary removal was carefully carried out, the body of his Majesty being borne up through the passages of the tomb on the shoulders of the Italian electric light workmen, pre- ceded and followed by impassive Arab candle-bearers. The workmen were most reverent in their handling of the body of '' il gran re," as they called him. In the tomb were found some very interesting ob- jects, including a model boat (afterwards stolen), across which lay the body of a woman. This body now lies, with others foimd close by, in a side chamber of the tomb. One may be that of Hatshepsu. The walls of the tomb-chamber are painted to resemble papyrus, and on them are written chapters of the " Book of What Is in the Underworld," for the guidance of the royal ghost. 352 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES In 1902 - 3 Mr, Theodore Davis excavated the tomb of Thothmes IV. It yielded a rich harvest of antiquities belonging to the funeral state of the king, including a chariot with sides of embossed and gilded leather, dec- orated with representations of the king's warlike deeds, and much fine blue pottery, all of which are now in the Cairo Museum. The tomb-gallery returns upon itself, describing a curve. An interesting point with regard to it is that it had evidently been violated even in the short time between the reigns of its owner and Horem- heb, probably in the period of anarchy which prevailed at Thebes during the reign of the heretic Akhunaten; for in one of the chambers is a hieratic inscription recording the repair of the tomb in the eighth year of Horemheb by Maya, superintendent of works in the Tombs of the Kings. It reads as follows: ''In the eighth year, the third month of summer, under the Majesty of King Tjeser-khepru-Ra Sotp-n-Ra, Son of the Sun, Horemheb Meriamen, his Majesty (Life, health, and wealth unto him!) commanded that orders should be sent unto the Fanbearer on the King's Left Hand, the King's Scribe and Overseer of the Treasury, the Over- seer of the Works in the Place of Eternity, the Leader of the Festivals of Amen in Karnak, Maya, son of the judge Aui, born of the Lady Ueret, that he should renew the burial of King Men-khepru-Ra, deceased, in the August Habitation in Western Thebes." Men- khepru-Ra was the prenomen or throne-name of Thothmes TV. Tied round a pillar in the tomb is still a length of the actual rope used by the thieves for EVIDENCE OF LAVISH V7EALTH 353 crossing the chasm, which, as in many of the tombs here, was left open in the gallery to bar the way to plvmderers. The mmnmy of the king was found in the tomb of Amenhetep 11, and is now at Cairo. The discovery of the tomb of Thothmes I and Hat- shepsu has already been described. In 1905 Mr. Davis made his latest find, the tomb of luaa and Tuaa, the father and mother of Queen Tii, the famous consort of Amenhetep III and mother of Akhimaten the heretic. Readers of Prof. Maspero's history will remember that luaa and Tuaa are mentioned on one of the large memorial scarabs of Amenhetep III, which commem- orates his marriage. The tomb has yielded an almost incredible treasure of funerary furniture, besides the actual mummies of Tii's parents, including a chariot overlaid with gold. Gold overlay of great thickness is found on everything, boxes, chairs, etc. It was no won- der that Egypt seemed the land of gold to the Asiatics, and that even the King of Babylon begs this very Pha- raoh Amenhetep to send him gold, in one of the letters found at Tell el-Amarna, " for gold is as water in thy land." It is probable that Egypt really attained the height of her material wealth and prosperity in the reign of Amenhetep HI. Certainly her dominion reached its farthest limits in his time, and his influence was felt from the Tigris to the Sudan. He hunted lions for his pleasure in Northern Mesopotamia, and he built temples at Jebel Barkal beyond Dongola. We see the evidence of lavish wealth in the furniture of the tomb of luaa and Tuaa. Yet, fine as are many of these 354 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OE THEBES gold-overlaid and overladen objects of the XVmth Dynasty, they have neither the good taste nor the charm of the beautiful jewels from the Xllth Dynasty tombs at Dashur. It is mere vulgar wealth. There is too much gold thrown about. " For gold is as water in thy land." In three hundred years' time Egypt was to know what poverty meant, when the poor priest- kings of the XXIst Dynasty could hardly keep body and soul together and make a comparatively decent show as Pharaohs of Egypt. Then no doubt the latter- day Thebans sighed for the good old times of the XVinth Dynasty, when their city ruled a considerable part of Africa and Western Asia and garnered their riches into her coffers. But the days of the Xllth Dynasty had really been better still. Then there was not so much wealth, but what there was (and there was as much gold then, too) was used sparingly, tastefully, and simply. The Xllth Dynasty, not the XYIIIth, was the real Golden Age of Egypt. From the fimeral panoply of a tomb like that of luaa and Tuaa we can obtain some idea of the pomp and state of Amenhetep m. But the remains of his Theban palace, which have been discovered and exca- vated by Mr. C. Tytus and Mr. P. E. Newberry, do not bear out this idea of magnificence. It is quite possible that the palace was merely a pleasure house, erected very hastily and destined to fall to pieces when its owner tired of it or died, like the many palaces of the late Khedive Ismail. It stood on the border of an artificial lake, whereon the Pharaoh and his consort Tii sailed A THEBAN PALACE 355 to take their pleasure in golden barks. This is now the cultivated rectangular space of land known as the Birket Habu, which is still surrounded by the remains of the embankment built to retain its waters, and be- comes a lake during the inundation. On the western shore of this lake Amenhetep erected the " stately pleasure dome," the remains of which still cover the sandy tract known as el-Malkata, " the Salt-pans," south of the great temple of Medinet Habu. These remains consist merely of the foundations and lowest wall-courses of a complicated and rambling building of many chambers, constructed of common unburnt brick and plastered with white stucco on walls and floors, on which were painted beautiful frescoes of fighting bulls, birds of the air, water-fowl, fish-ponds, etc., in much the same style as the frescoes of Tell el-Amarna exe- cuted in the next reign. There were small pillared haUs, the columns of which were of wood, mounted on bases of white limestone. The majority still remain in posi- tion. In several chambers there are small daises, and in one the remains of a throne, built of brick and mud covered with plaster and stucco, upon which the Pha- raoh Amenhetep sat. This is the palace of him whom the Greeks called Memnon, who ruled Egypt when Israel was in bondage and when the dynasty of Minos reigned in Crete. Here by the side of his pleasure-lake the most powerful of Egyptian Pharaohs whiled away his time during the summer heats. Evidently the building was intended to be of the lightest construction, and never meant to last; but to our ideas it seems odd that 356 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES an Egyptian Pharaoh should live in a mud palace. Such a building is, however, quite suited to the climate of Egypt, as are the modern crude brick dwellings of the f ellahin. In the ruins of the palace were found several small objects of interest, and close by was an ancient glass manufactory of Amenhetep Ill's time, where much THE TOMB -HILL OF SHEKH 'ABD EL-K&ENA, THEBES. of the characteristic beautifully coloured and variegated opaque glass of the period was made. The tombs of the magnates of Amenhetep IH's reign and of the reigns of his immediate predecessors were excavated, as has been said, on the eastern slope of the hill of Shekh 'Abd el-Kurna, where was the earliest Theban necropolis. No doubt many of the early tombs TIME'S EEVENGE 357 of the time of the Vlth Dynasty were appropriated and remodelled by the XVIIIth Dynasty magnates. We have an instance of time's revenge in this matter, in the case of the tomb of Imadua, a great priestly official of the time of the XXth Dynasty. This tomb previously belonged to an XVIIIth Dynasty worthy, but Imadua appropriated it three hundred years later and covered up all its frescoes with the much begilt decoration fash- ionable in his period. Perhaps the XVIIIth Dynasty owner had stolen it from an original owner of the time of the Vlth Dynasty. The tomb has lately been cleared out by Mr. Newberry. Much work of the same kind has been done here of late years by Messrs. Newberry and R. L. Mond, in succession. To both we are indebted for the excavation of many known tombs, as well as for the discovery of many others previously unknown. Among the former was that of Sebekhetep, cleared by Mr. Newberry. Se- bekhetep was an official of the time of Thothmes IH. Erom his tomb, and from others in the same hill, came many years ago the fine frescoes shown in the illustra- tion, which are among the most valued treasures of the Egyptian department of the British Museum. They are typical specimens of the wall-decoration of an XVTIIth Dynasty tomb. On one may be seen a bald-headed peas- ant, with staff in hand, pulling an ear of com from the standing crop in order to see if it is ripe. He is the " Chief Reaper," and above him is a prayer that the " great god in heaven " may increase the crop. To the right of him is a charioteer standing beside a car and 358 TEMPLES AND TOJVIBS OF THEBES reining back a pair of horses, one black, the other bay. Below is another charioteer with two white horses. He sits on the floor of the car with his back to them, eating or resting, while they nibble the branches of a tree close by. Another scene is that of a scribe keeping tally of offerings brought to the tomb, while fellahin are bring- ing flocks of geese and other fowl, some in crates. The inscription above is apparently addressed by the goose- herd to the man with the crates. It reads: " Hasten thy feet because of the geese! Hearken! thou knowest not the next minute what has been said to thee! " Above, a reis with a stick bids other peasants squat on the ground before addressing the scribe, and he is saying to them: " Sit ye down to talk." The third scene is in another style; on it may be seen Semites bringing offerings of vases of gold, silver, and copper to the royal presence, bowing themselves to the ground and kissing the dust before the throne. The fidelity and accuracy with which the racial type of the tribute-bearers is given is most extraordinary; every face seems a por- trait, and each one might be seen any day now in the Jewish quarters of Whitechapel. The first two paintings are representative of a very common style of fresco-pictures in these tombs. The care with which the animals are depicted is remarkable. Possibly one of the finest Egyptian representations of an animal is the fresco of a goat in the tomb of Gen- Amen, discovered by Mr. Mond. There is even an attempt here at chiaroscuro, which is unknown to Egyp- tian art generally, except at Tell el-Amarna. Evidently FRESCOES IN THE TOMBS 359 the Egyptian painters reached the apogee of their art towards the end of the XVIIIth Dynasty. The third, the representation of tribute-bearers, is of a type also well known at this period. In all the chief tombs we have processions of Egyptians, Westerners, Northerners, Easterners, and Southerners, bringing tribute to the Pharaoh. The North is represented by the Semites, the East by the Punites (when they occur), the South by negroes, the West by the Keftiu or people of Crete and Cyprus. The representations of the last-named people have become of the very highest interest during the last few years, on account of the discoveries in Crete, which have revealed to us the state and civilization of these very Keftiu. Messrs. Evans and Halbherr have discov- ered at Knossos and Phaistos the cities and palace- temples of the king who sent forth their ambassadors to far-away Egypt with gifts for the mighty Pharaoh; these ambassadors were painted in the tombs of their hosts as representative of the quarter of the world from which they came. The two chief Egyptian representations of these people, who since they lived in Greece may be called Greeks, though their more proper title would be " Pe- lasgians," are to be found in the tombs of Rekhmara and Senmut, the former a vizier under Thothmes III, the latter the architect of Hatshepsu's temple at Der el-Bahari. Senmut 's tomb is a new rediscovery. It was known, as Rekhmara 's was, in the early days of Egyp- tological science, and Prisse d 'Avenues copied its paint- ings. It was afterwards lost sight of until rediscovered 360 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES by Mr. Newberry and Prof. Steindorff. The tomb of Rekhmara (No. 35) is well known to every visitor to Thebes, but it is difficult to get at that of Senmut FKESCO IN THE TOMB OF SENMUT AT THEBEB. About IBOO B. C. (No. 110); it lies at the top of the hill round to the left and overlooking Der el-Bahari, — an appropriate place for it, by the way. In some ways Senmut 's MYCEN^AJT FEESCOES 361 representations are more interesting than Rekhmara's. They are more easily seen, since they are now in the open air, the fore hall of the tomb having been ruined; and they are better preserved, since they have not been subjected to a century of inspection with naked candles and pawing with greasy hands, as have Rekhmara's frescoes. Further, there is no possibility of mistaking what they represent. Prom right to left, walking in procession, we see the Minoan gift-bearers from Crete, carrying in their hands and on their shoulders great cups of gold and silver, in shape like the famous gold cups found at Vaphio in Lakonia, but much larger, also a ewer of gold and silver exactly like one of bronze discovered by Mr. Evans two years ago at Knossos, and a huge copper jug with four ring-handles round the sides. All these vases are specifically and definitely Mycenaean, or rather, following the new terminology, Minoan. They are of Greek manufacture and are car- ried on the shoulders of Pelasgian Greeks. The bearers Wear the usual Mycenaean costume, high boots and a gaily ornamented kilt, and little else, just as we see it de- picted in the fresco of the Cupbearer at Knossos and in other Greek representations. The coiffure, possibly the most characteristic thing about the Mycenaean Greeks, is faithfully represented by the Egyptians both here and in Rekhmara's tomb. The Mycenaean men allowed their hair to grow to its full natural length, like women, and wore it partly hanging down the back, partly tied up in a knot or plait (the Kepa<; of the dandy Paris in the Iliad) on the crown of the head. This was 362 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES the universal fashion, and the Keftiu are consistently depicted by the XVIIIth Dynasty Egyptians as follow- ing it. The faces in the Senmut fresco are not so well por- trayed as those in the Rekhmara fresco. There it is evi- dent that the first three ambassadors are faithfully de- picted, as the portraits are marked. The procession ad- vances from left to right. The first man, " the G-reat Chief of the Kefti and the Isles of the Green Sea," is yoimg, and has a remarkably small mouth with an amia- ble expression. His complexion is fair rather than dark, but his hair is dark brown. His lieutenant, the next in order, is of a different type,— elderly, with a most for- bidding visage, Roman nose, and nutcracker jaws. Most of the others are very much alike,— young, dark in com- plexion, and with long black hair hanging below their waists and twisted up into fantastic knots and curls on the tops of their heads. One, carrying on his shoulder a great silver vase with curving handles and in one hand a dagger of early European Bronze Age type, is looking back to hear some remark of his next companion. Any one of these gift-bearers might have sat for the portrait of the Knossian Cupbearer, the fresco discovered by Mr. Evans in the palace-temple of Minos; he has the same ruddy brown complexion, the same long black hair dressed in the same fashion, the same parti-coloured kilt, and he bears his vase in much the same way. We have only to allow for the difference of Egyptian and Mycenaean ways of drawing. There is no doubt what- e-\'er that these Keftiu of the Egyptians were Cretans of the Minoan Age. They used to be considered Phoe- • AN IMPOETANT DISCOVEEY 363 nieians, but this view was long ago exploded. They are not Semites, and that is quite enough. Neither are they Asiatics of any kind. They are purely and simply Mycenaean, or rather Miaoan, Greeks of the pre-Hel- lenic period— Pelasgi, that is to say. Probably no discovery of more far-reaching impor- tance to our knowledge of the history of the world gen- erally and of our own culture especially has ever been made than the finding of Mycenae by Schliemann, and the further finds that have resulted therefrom, culminat- ing in the discoveries of Mr. Arthur Evans at Knossos. Naturally, these discoveries are of extraordinary inter- est to us, for they have revealed the beginnings and first bloom of the European civilization of to-day. For our culture-ancestors are neither the Egyptians, nor the Assyrians, nor the Hebrews, but the Hellenes, and they, the Aryan-Greeks, derived most of their civilization from the pre-Hellenic people whom they found in the land before them, the Pelasgi or " Mycenaean " Greeks, " Minoans," as we now caU them, the Keftiu of the Egyptians. These are the ancient Greeks of the Heroic Age, to which the legends of the Hellenes refer; in their day were fought the wars of Troy and of the Seven against Thebes, in their day the tragedy of the Atridae was played out to its end, in their day the wise Minos ruled Knossos and the ^gean. And of all the events which are at the back of these legends we know nothing. The hieroglyphed tablets of the pre-Hellenic Greeks lie before us, but we cannot read them; we can only see that the Minoan writing in many ways resembled the 364 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES Egyptian, thus again confirming our impression of the original early connection of the two cultures/ In view of this connection, and the known close rela- tions between Crete and Egypt, from the end of the Xllth Dynasty to the end of the XVIIIth, we might have hoped to recover at Knossos a bilingual inscription in Cretan and Egyptian hieroglyphs which would give us the key to the Minoan script and tell us what we so dearly wish to know. But this hope has not yet been realized. Two Egyptian inscriptions have been found at Knossos, but no bilingual one. A list of Keftian names is preserved in the British Museum upon an Egyptian writing-board from Thebes with what is per- haps a copy of a single Cretan hieroglyph, a vase; but again, nothing bilingual. A list of " Keftian words " occurs at the head of a papyrus, also in the British Museum, but they appear to be nonsense, a mere imita- tion of the sounds of a strange tongue. Still we need not despair of finding the much desired Cretan-Egyp- tian bilingual inscription yet. Perhaps the double text of a treaty between Crete and Egypt, like that of Ramses II with the Hittites, may come to light. Mean- while we can only do our best with the means at our hand to trace out the history of the relations of the oldest European culture with the ancient civilization of Egypt. The tomb-paintings at Thebes are very impor- tant material. For it is due to them that the voice of the doubter has finally ceased to be heard, and that now no archaeologist questions that the Egyptians were in 1 See above, p. 128. MYCEN^AN AND EGYPTIAN" CONNECTION 365 direct communication with the Cretan Mycenseans in the time of the XVmth Dynasty, some fifteen hundred years before Christ, for no one doubts that the pictures of the Keftiu are pictures of Mycenseans. As we have seen, we know that this connection was far older than the time of the XVIIIth Dynasty, but it is during that time and the Hyksos period that we have the clearest documentary proof of its existence, from the statuette of Abnub and the alabastron lid of King Khian, found at Knossos, down to the Mycenaean pottery fragments found at Tell el-Amarna, a site which has been utterly abandoned since the time of the heretic Akhunaten (b. c. 1430), so that there is no possibility of anything found there being later than his time. That the connection existed as late as the time of the XXth Dynasty we know from the representations of golden Bilgelkannen or false-necked vases of Mycenaean form in the tomb of Ramses HI in the Biban el-Muluk, and of golden cups of Vaphio type in the tomb of Imadua, already mentioned. This brings the connection down to about 1050 B. c. After that date we cannot hope to find any certain evidence of connection, for by that time the Mycenaean civilization had probably come to an end. In the days of the Xnth and XVIIIth Dynasties a great and splen- did power evidently existed in Crete, and sent its peace- ful ambassadors, the Keftiu who are represented in the Theban tombs, to Egypt. But with the XlXth Dynasty the name of the Keftiu disappears from Egyp- tian records, and their place is taken by a congeries 366 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES of warring seafaring tribes, whose names as given by tbe Egj'ptians seem to be forms of tribal and place names well known to us in the G-reece of later days. "We find the Akaivasha (A^atfol, Achaians), Shakalsha (Sagalassians of Pisidia), Tursha (Tylissians of Crete?), and Shardana (Sardians) allied with the Libyans and Mashauash (Maxyes) in a land attack upon Egypt in the days of Meneptah, the successor of Ramses 11— just as in the later days of the XXVIth Dynasty the North- ern pirates visited the African shore of the Mediter- ranean, and in alliance with the predatory Libyans attacked Egypt, Prof. Petrie has lately^ proffered an alternative view, which would make all these tribes Tunisians and Alge- rians, thus disposing of the identification of the Akai- vasha with the Achaians, and making them the ancient representatives of the town of el-Aghwat (Roman Agbia) in Tunis. But several difficulties might be pointed out which are in the way of an acceptance of this view, and it is probable that the older identifica- tions with Greek tribes must still be retained, so that Meneptah 's Akaivasha are evidently the ancient repre- sentatives of the Achai(v)ans, the Achivi of the Roman poets. The terminations sha and na, which appear in these names, are merely ethnic and locative affixes be- longing to the Asianic language system spoken by these tribes at that time, to which the language of the Minoan Cretans (which is written in the Knossian hieroglyphs) belonged. They existed in ancient Lycian in the forms ^History of Egypt, iii, pp. Ill, 112. EGYPTIAJSr TERMINOLOGY 367 azzi and nna, and we find them enshrined in the Asia Minor place-names terminating in assos and nda, as Halikamassos, Sagalassos (Shakalasha in Meneptah's inscription), Oroanda, and Labraimda (which, as we have seen, is the same as the Greek \a^vpivdo<;, a word of pre-Hellenic origin, both meaning " Place of the Double Axe "). The identification of these sJia and na termi- nations in the Egyptian transliterations of the foreign names, with the Lycian affixes referred to, was made some five years ago,^ and is now generally accepted. We have, then, to find the equivalents of these names, to strike off the final termination, as in the case of Akaiva-sha, where Akaiva only is the real name, and this seems to be the Egyptian equivalent of A%atfol, Achivi. It is strange to meet with this great name on an Egyptian monument of the thirteenth century b. c. But yet not so strange, when we recollect that it is pre- cisely to that period that Greek legend refers the war of Troy, which was an attack by Greek tribes from all parts of the ^gean upon the Asianic city at Hissarlik in the Troad, exactly parallel to the attacks of the Northerners on Egypt. And Homer preserves many a reminiscence of early Greek visits, peaceful and the reverse, to the coast of Egypt at this period. The reader will have noticed that one no longer treats the siege of Troy as a myth. To do so would be to exhibit a most uncritical mind; even the legends of King Arthur have a historic foundation, and those of the Mbelungen are still more probable. iSee Hall, Oldest Civilization of Greece, p. 178/. 368 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES In the eighth year of Ramses HE the second North- ern attack was made, by the Pulesta (Pelishtim, Philis- tines), Tjakaray, Shakalasha (Sagalassians), Vashasha, and Danauna or Daanau, in alUance with North Syrian tribes. The Danauna are evidently the ancient repre- sentatives of the A.avaol, the Danaans who formed the bulk of the Greek army against Troy under the leader- ship of the long-haired Achaians, KaprjKon,6a>vTe; 'Axaiol (like the Kef tin). The Vashasha have been identified by the writer with the Axians, the fa^ioi of Crete. Prof. Petrie compares the name of the Tjakaray with that of the (modern) place Zakro in Crete. Identifica- tions with modern place-names are of doubtful value; for instance, we cannot but hold that Prof. Petrie errs greatly in identifying the name of the Pidasa (another tribe mentioned in Ramses II 's time) with that of the river Pidias in Cyprus. " Pidias " is a purely modern corruption of the ancient Pedigeus, which means the " plain-river " (because it flows through the central plain of the island), from the G-reek ireBiov. If, then, we make the Pidasa Cypriotes we assume that pure Greek was spoken in Cyprus as early as 1100 b. c, which is highly improbable. The Pidasa were probably Le- leges (Pedasians) ; the name of Pisidia may be the same, by metathesis. Pedasos is a name always connected with the much wandering tribe of the Leleges, where- ever they are found in Lakonia or in Asia Minor. We believe them to have been known to the Egyptians as Pidasa. The identification of the Tjakaray with Zakro is very tempting. The name was formerly identified IDENTIFICATION OF NAMES 369 with that of the Teukrians, but the v in the word TevKpoi has always been a stumbling-block in the way. Perhaps Zakro is neither more nor less than the Tei^'/<:po?-name, since the legendary Teucer, the archer, was connected with the eastern or Eteokretan end of Crete, where Zakro lies. In Mycen^an times Zakro was an impor- tant place, so that the Tjakaray may be the Teukroi, after all, and Zakro may preserve the name. At any rate, this identification is most alluring and, taken in conjunction with the other cumulative identifications, is very probable; but the identification of the Pidasa with the river Pediseus in Cyprus is neither alluring nor probable. In the time of Ramses II some of these Asia Minor tribes had marched against Egypt as allies of the Hit- tites. We find among them the Luka or Lycians, the Dardenui (Dardanians, who may possibly have been at that time in the Troad, or elsewhere, for all these tribes were certainly migratory) , and the Masa (perhaps the Mysians). With the Cretans of Ramses Ill's time must be reckoned the Pulesta, who are certainly the Philistines, then most probably in course of their tra- ditional migration from Crete to Palestine. In Philistia recent excavations by Mr. Welch have disclosed the unmistakable presence of a late Mycensean culture, and we can only ascribe this to the Philistines, who were of Cretan origin. Thus we see that all these Northern tribal names hold together with remarkable persistence, and in fact refuse to be identified with any tribes but those of Asia Minor 370 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OE THEBES and the ^gean. In them we see the broken remnants of the old jNIinoan (Keftian) power, driven hither and thither across the seas by intestinal feuds, and " wind- ing the skein of grievous wars till every man of them perished," as Homer says of the heroes after the siege of Troy. These were in fact the wanderings of the heroes, the period of Sturm und Drang which succeeded the great civilized epoch of Minos and his thalassocracy, of Knossos, Phaistos, and the Keftius. On the walls of the temple of Medinet Habu, Ramses III depicted the portraits of the conquered heroes who had fallen before the Egyptian onslaught, and he called them heroes, tuher in Egyptian, fully recognizing their Berserker gallantry. Above all in interest are the portraits of the Phihstines, those Greeks who at this very time seized part of Pal- estine (which takes its name from them), and continued to exist there as a separate people (like the Normans in France) for at least two centuries. Goliath the giant was, then, a Greek; certainly he was of Cretan descent, and so a Pelasgian. Such are the conclusions to which modem discovery in Crete has impelled us with regard to the pictures of the Keftiu at Shekh 'Abd el-Kuma. It is indeed a new chapter in the history of the relations of ancient Egypt with the outside world that Dr. Arthur Evans has opened for us. And in this connection some American work must not be overlooked. An expedition sent out by the University of Pennsylvania, under Miss Harriet Boyd, has discovered much of importance to Mycen^an study in the ruins of an ancient town at Goumia in THE TOMBS OF THE QUEENS 371 Crete, east of Knossos. Here, however, little has been found that will bear directly on the question of relations between Mycenaean Greece and Egypt. The Theban necropoles of the New Empire are by no means exhausted by a description of the Tombs of the Kings and Shekh 'Abd el-Kurna; but few new dis- coveries have been made anywhere except in the pic- turesque valley of the Tombs of the Queens, south of Shekh 'Abd el-Kuma. Here the Italian Egyptologist, Prof. Schiaparelli, has lately discovered and excavated some very fine tombs of the XlXth and XXth Dynasties. The best is that of Queen Nefertari, one of the wives of Ramses II. The colouring of the reliefs upon these walls is extraordinarily bright, and the portraits of the queen, who has a very beautiful face, with aquiline nose, are wonderfully preserved. She was of the dark type, whUe another queen, Titi by name, who was buried close by, was fair, and had a retrousse nose. Prof. Schiaparelli also discovered here the tombs of some princes of the XXth Dynasty, who died young. All the tombs are much alike, with a single short gallery, on the walls of which are mythological scenes, figures of the prince and of his father, the king, etc., painted in a crude style, which shows a great degeneration from that of the XVinth Dynasty tombs. We now leave the great necropolis and turn to the later temples of the Western Bank at Thebes. These were of a funerary character, like those of Der el-Bahari, already described. The most imposing of all in some respects is the Ramesseum, where lies the huge granite 372 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES colossus of Ramses 11, prostrate and broken, wMch Diodorus knew as the statue of Osyinandyas. This name is a late corruption of Ramses II 's throne-name, User- maat-Ra, pronounced Usimare. The temple has been ...itMtk-.i,^^ , j^hI ^^^/M -"^^ t>^' i ''* i^^^^ "^^ .i P - -'^^ ■■v^ 3 .^ .fl 1 * _M ig?r .-. 1 ^^^^Km^'^0^^ ^ ~3| ^^^HK'v ''^■>£xHhk « MK^"-.^*^ ^f •"fl f^i-ff V^: -^IH^ K Hi ^^^ '^^^i^^^p 1 i^-rii«^^«i«'i^^ m ^ A«.ii^ THE VALLEY OF THE TOMBS OF THE QUEENS AT THEBES. In -whioli Prof. Sohiaparelli discovered the tomb of Ramses II's wife (1904). cleared by Mr. Howard Carter for the Egyptian gov- ernment, and the small town of priests' houses, maga- zines, and cellars, to the west of it, has been excavated by him. This is quite a little Pompeii, with its small streets, its houses with the stucco still clinging to the TEMPLE OE LUXOE, 373 walls, its public altar, its market colonnade, and its gallery of statues. The statues are only of brick like the walls, and rougbly shaped and plastered, but they were portraits, undoubtedly, of celebrities of the time,, though we do not know of whom. On either side are the long magazines in which were kept the possessions. of the priests of the Ramesseum, the grain from the lands with which they were endowed, and everything meet to be offered to the ghost of the king whom they served. The plan of the place had evidently been altered after the time of Ramses II, as remains of overbuilding were found here and there. The magazines were first investigated in 1896 by Prof. Petrie, who also found in the neighbourhood the remains of a number of small royal funerary temples of the XVIIIth Dynasty, all looking in the direction of the hill, beyond which lay the tombs of the kings. We may now turn to Luxor, where immediately above the landing-place of the steamers and dahabiyas rise the stately coloured colonnades of the Temple of Luxor. Un- fortunately, modern excavations have not been allowed to pursue their course to completion here, as in the first great colonnaded court, which was added by Ramses H to the original building of Amenhetep III, Tutankha- men, and Horemheb, there still remains the Mohamme- dan Mosque of Abu-'l-Haggag, which may not be re- moved. Abu-'l-Haggag, " the Father of Pilgrims " (so called on account of the number of pilgrims to his shrine), was a very holy shekh, and his memory is held in the greatest reverence by the Luksuris. It is unlucky 374 TEMPLES AJSTD TOMBS OF THEBES that tMs mosque was built within the court of the Grreat Temple, and it cannot be removed till Moslem religious prejudices become at least partially ameliorated, and then the work of completely excavating the Temple of Luxor may be carried out. Between Luxor and Karnak lay the temple of the goddess Mut, consort of Amen and protectress of THE NILE - BANK AT LUXOR, WITH A DAHAbItA AND A STEAMEK OF THE ANGLO - AMERICAN NILE COMPANY. Thebes. It stood in the part of the city known as Asheru. This building was cleared in 1895 at the ex- pense and under the supervision of two English ladies, Miss Benson and Miss Gourlay. The temple had always been remarkable on account of the prodigious num- ber of seated figures of the lioness-headed goddess Sekhemet, or Pakhet, which it contains, dedicated by TEMPLE OE KAENAK 375 Amenhetep III and Sheshenk I; most of those in the British Museum were brought from this temple. The excavators found many more of them, and also some very interesting portrait-statues of the late period which had been dedicated there. The most important of these was the head and shoulders of a statue of Mentuemhat, governor of Thebes at the time of the sack of the city by Ashur-bani-pal of Assyria in 668 b. c. In Miss Benson's interesting book, The Temple of Mut in Asher, it is suggested, on the authority of Prof. Petrie, that his facial type is Cypriote, but this speculation is a dan- gerous one, as is also the similar speculation that the wonderful portrait-head of an old man found by Miss Benson^ is of Philistine type. We have only to look at the faces of elderly Egyptians to-day to see that the types presented by Mentuemhat and Miss Benson's " Philistine " need be nothing but pure Egyptian. The whole work of the clearing was most efficiently carried out, and the Cairo Museum obtained from it some val- uable specimens of Egyptian sculpture. The Great Temple of Karnak is one of the chief cares of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities. Its paramount importance, so to speak, as the cathedral temple of Egypt, renders its preservation and explora- tion a work of constant necessity, and its great extent makes this work one which is always going on and which probably wiU be going on for many years to come. The Temple of Karnak has cost the Egyptian govern- ment much money, yet not a piastre of this can be 1 Plate vii of her book. 376 TEMPLES AJSTD TOMBS OF THEBES grudged. For several years past the works have been under the charge of M. Georges Legrain, the well-known engineer and draughtsman who was associated with THE GREAT TEMPLE OF KARNAK. The left-hand obelisk is the highest in Egypt, and wag erected by Hatshepsu; the right-hand obelisk was put up by Thothmes III. M. de Morgan in the work at Dashur. His task is to clear out the whole temple thoroughly, to discover in it what previous investigators have left undiscovered, and to restore to its original position what has fallen. PARTIAL EUIN OF TEMPLE 377 No general work of restoration is contemplated, nor would this be in the slightest degree desirable. Up to the present M. Legrain has certainly carried out all three branches of his task with great success. An un- foreseen event has, however, considerably complicated and retarded the work. In October, 1899, one of the colmnns of the side aisles of the great Hypostyle Hall fell, bringing down with it several others. The whole place was a chaotic ruin, and for a moment it seemed as though the whole of the Great Hall, one of the won- ders of the world, would collapse. The disaster was due to the gradual infiltration of water from the Nile beneath the structure, whose foundations, as is usual in Egypt, were of the flimsiest description. Even the most imposing Egyptian temples have jerry-built foun- dations; usually they are built on the top of the wall- stumps of earlier buildings of different plan, filled in with a confused mass of earlier slabs and weak rubbish of all kinds. Had the Egyptian buildings been built on sure foundations, they would have been preserved to a much greater extent even than they are. In such a climate as that of Egypt a stone building well built should last for ever. M. Legrain has for the last five years been busy repairing the damage. AU the fallen coliunns are now restored to the perpendicular, and the capitals and archi- traves are in process of being hoisted into their original positions. The process by which M. Legrain carries out this work has been already described. He works in the old Egyptian fashion, building great inclines or 378 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES ramps of earth up which the pillar-drums, the capitals, and the architra^^e-blocks are hauled by manual labour, and then swung into position. This is the way in which the Egyptians built Karnak, and in this way, too, M. Le- grain is rebuilding it. It is a slow process, but a sure one, and now it will not be long before we shall see the hall, except its roof, in much the same condition as it was when Seti built it. Lovers of the picturesque will, however, miss the famous leaning column, hanging poised across the hall, which has been a main feature in so many pictures and photographs of Karnak. This fell in the catastrophe of 1899, and naturally it has not been possible to restore it to its picturesque, but dan- gerous, position. The work at Karnak has been distinguished during the last two years by two remarkable discoveries. Out- side the main temple, to the north of the Hypostyle Hall, M. Legrain found a series of private sanctuaries or shrines, built of brick by personages of the XVIIIth Dynasty and later, in order to testify their devotion to Amen. In these small cells were found some remark- able statues, one of which is illustrated. It is one of the most perfect of its kind. A great dignitary of the XVIIIth Dynasty is seen seated with his wife, their daughter standing between them. Round his neck are four chains of golden rings, with which he had been decorated by the Pharaoh for his services. It is a remarkable group, interesting for its style and work- manship as well as for its subject. As an example of the formal hieratic type of portraiture it is very fine. AMAZING DISCOVEEIES 379 The other and more important discovery of the two was made by M. Legrain on the south side of the Hypo- style Hall. Tentative excavations, begun in an unoccu- ^fl^ |l ^■u <■ -< mmpf-^ ''M BI^K^^ M. LEGKAIN'S excavation or THE KAKNAK STATUES IN PROGRESS. pied tract under the wall of the hall, resulted in the discovery of parts of statues; the place was then regu- larly excavated, and the result has been amazing. The 380 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES ground was full of statues, large and small, at some unknown period buried pell-mell, one on the top of an- other. Some are broken, but the majority are perfect, which is in itself unusual, and is due very much to the soft, muddy soil in which they have lain. Statues found on dry desert land are often terribly cracked, especially when they are of black granite, the crystals of which seem to have a greater tendency to disintegration than have those of the red syenite. The Karnak statues are figures of pious persons, who had dedicated portraits of themselves in the temple of Amen, together with those of great men whom the king had honoured by ordering their statues placed in the temple during their lives. Of this number was the great sage Ajnenhetep, son of Hapi, the founder of the little desert temple of Der el-Medina, near Der el-Bahari, who was a sort of prime minister under Amenhetep III, and was venerated in later days as a demigod. His statue was found with the others by M, Legrain. Among them is a figure made entirely of green felspar, an imusual material for so large a statuette. A fine portrait of Thothmes III was also found. The illustration shows this wonderfully fruitful excavation in progress, with the diggers at work in the black mud soil, in the foreground the basket- boys carrying away the rubbish on their shoulders, and the massive granite walls of the Great Hypostyle Hall of Seti in the background. The huge size of the roof- blocks is noticeable. These are not the actual upper- most roof-blocks, but only the architraves from pillar CONSTRUCTION OF A TEMPLE 381 to pillar; the original roof consisted of similar blocks laid across in the transverse direction from architrave to architrave. An Egyptian granite temple was in fact PORTRAIT -GKOUP OF A GREAT NOBLE AND HIS WIFE, OF THE TIME OP THE XVIIIth DYNASTY. Discovered by M. Legrain at Karnak. built upon the plan of a child's box of bricks; it was but a modified and beautified Stonehenge. Other important discoveries have been made by 382 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES j\I. Legrain in the course of Ms work. Among them are statues of the late Middle Kingdom, including one of King Usertsen (Senusret) IV of the Xmth Dynasty. There are also reliefs of the reign of Amenhetep I, which are remarkable for the delicacy of their workmanship and the sureness of their technique. We know that the A TOMB FITTED UP AS AN EXPLORER S RESIDENCE. The Tomb of Penta (No. 5) at Tell el-Amarna, inhabited by Mr. de G. Davies during his work for the Archaeological Survey of Egypt (Egypt Exploration Fund). About 1400 B.C. temple was built as early as the time of Usertsen, for in it have been found one or two of his blocks; and no doubt the original shrine, which was rebuilt in the time of Philip Arrhidaeus, was of the same period, but hith- erto no remains of the centuries between his time and that of Hatshepsu had been found. With M. Legrain 's work in the greatest temple of Thebes we finish our THE DISK-WOESHIP HEEESY 383 account of the new discoveries in the chief city of an- cient Egypt, as we began it with the work of M. IsTaville in the oldest temple there. One of the most interesting questions connected with the archaeology of Thebes is that which asks whether the heretical disk-worshipper Akhunaten (Amenhe- tep rV) erected buildings there, and whether any trace of them has ever been discovered. To those who are interested in Egyptian history and religion the transi- tory episode of the disk-worship heresy is already famil- iar. The precise character of the heretical dogma, which Amenhetep IV proclaimed and desired his subjects to accept, has lately been well explained by Mr. de Garis Davies in his volumes, published by the "Archaeological Survey of Egypt " branch of the Egypt Exploration Fund, on the tombs of el-Amama. He shows that the heretical doctrine was a monotheism of a very high order. Amenhetep IV (or as he preferred to call him- self, Akhunaten, " Glory of the Disk ") did not, as has usually been supposed, merely worship the Sim-disk itself as the giver of life, and nothing more. He ven- erated the glowing disk merely as the visible emanation of the deity behind it, who dispensed heat and life to all living things through its mediiun. The disk was, so to speak, the window in heaven through which the unknown God, the " Lord of the Disk," shed a portion of his radiance on the world. Now, given an ignorance of the true astronomical character of the sun, we see how eminently rational a religion this was. In effect, the sun is the source of all life upon this earth, and 384 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES SO Akhunaten caused its rays to be depicted each with a hand holding out the sign of life to the earth. The monotheistic worship of the sun alone is certainly the highest form of pagan religion, but Akhunaten saw fur- ther than this. His doctrine was that there was a deity behind the sun, whose glory shone through it and gave us life. This deity was unnamed and unnamable; he was '' the Lord of the Disk." We see in his heresy, therefore, the highest attitude to which religious ideas had attained before the days of the Hebrew prophets. This religion seems to have been developed out of the philosophical speculations of the priests of the Sun at Heliopolis. Akhunaten with unwise iconoclastic zeal endeavoured to root out the worship of the ancient gods of Egypt, and especially that of Amen-Ea, the ruler of the Egyptian pantheon, whose primacy in the hearts of the people made him the most redoubtable rival of the new doctrine. But the name of the old Sun-god Ra- Harmachis was spared, and it is evident that Akhunaten regarded him as more or less identical with his god. It has been supposed by Prof. Petrie that Queen Tii, the mother of Akhunaten, was of Mitannian (Armenian) origin, and that she brought the Aten religion to Egypt from her native land, and taught it to her son. Cer- tainly it seems as though the new doctrine had made some headway before the death of Amenhetep m, but we have no reason to attribute it to Tii, or to suppose that she brought it with her from abroad. There is no proof whatever that she was not a native Egyptian, and the mummies of her parents, luaa and Tuaa, are purely AKHUNATEN THE PHILOSOPHEE 385 Egyptian in facial type. It seems undoubted that the Aten cult was a development of pure Egyptian religious thought. At first Akhunaten tried to establish his religion at Thebes alongside that of Amen and his attendant pan- theon. He seems to have built a temple to the Aten there, and we see that his courtiers began to make tombs for themselves in the new realistic style of sculptural art, which the king, heretical in art as in religion, had introduced. The tomb of Rames at Shekh 'Abd el- Kurna has on one side of the door a representation of the king in the old regular style, and on the other side one in the new realistic style, which depicts him in all the native ugliness in which this strange truth-loving man seems to have positively gloried. We find, too, that he caused a temple to the Aten to be erected in far-away Napata, the capital of Nubia, by Jebel Barkal in the Sudan. The facts as to the Theban and Napata temples have been pointed out by Prof. Breasted, of Chicago. But the opposition of the Theban priesthood was too strong. Akhimaten shook the dust of the capital off his feet and retired to the isolated city of Akhet-aten, " the Glory of the Disk," at the modem Tell el-Amarna, where he could philosophize in peace, while his king- dom was left to take care of itself. He and his wife Nefret-iti, who seems to have been a faithful sharer of his views, reigned over a select court of Aten-worship- ping nobles, priests, and artists. The artists had under Akhunaten an imrivalled opportunity for development, of which they had already begrni to take considerable 386 TEMPLES AND TOMBS OF THEBES advantage before the end of his reign and the restora- tion of the old order of ideas. Their style takes on itself an almost bizarre freedom, which reminds us strongly of the similar characteristic in Mycenaean art. There is a strange little relief in the Berlin Museum of the king standing cross-legged, leaning on a staff, and languidly smelling a flower, while the queen stands by with her garments blown about by the wind. The artistic monarch's graceful attitude is probably a faith- ful transcript of a characteristic pose. We see from this what an Egyptian artist could do when his shackles were removed, but unluckily Egypt never produced another king who was at the same time an original genius, an artist, and a thinker. When Akhunaten died, the Egyptian artists' shackles were riveted tighter than ever. The reaction was strong. The kingdom had fallen into anarchy, and the foreign empire which his predecessors had built up had prac- tically been thrown to the winds by Akhunaten. The whole is an example of the confusion and disorganiza- tion which ensue when a philosopher rules. Not long after the heretic's death the old religion was fully re- stored, the cult of the disk was blotted out, and the Egyptians returned jo5rfully to the worship of their myriad deities. Akhunaten 's ideals were too high for them. The debris of the foreign empire was, as usual in such cases, put together again, and customary law and order restored by the conservative reactionaries who succeeded him. Henceforth Egyptian civihzation runs an uninspired and undeveloping course till the days of CONSERVATIVE REACTION 387 the Saites and the Ptolemies. This point in the history of Egypt, therefore, forms a convenient stopping-place at which to pause, while we turn once more to Western Asia, and ascertain to what extent recent excavations and research have thrown new light upon the problems connected with the rise and history of the Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires. 1 Hj^^g^l^^^^g^^ffl^p)^ e " ' ' ~' '■ '■■ ^" '^^^^ ^^^ , . • - '^^ "-, I'^^S- ;H^^^^^4^ ' ' ■ 1,'"*; !* - I^H^^^^PB^ I —jvi ^ ' ■ • , - '_.■■- ^ .■*:' ,-.-"''-■■ ' -'-- -n;'.^ ^i < ,y:,^jj^^-:---^ ' ' -, '-'-.i' ' ,•- 'J'~i^J ~-i. fw^^^«te3 i^^^&njv ''^Jiu -'^-^y^^^^^^S' 1 -t 1 ,^ •^P^^^'fxlifef^ CHAPTER Vm THE ASSYRIAN AND NEO-BABYLONIAN EMPIRES IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT RESEARCH THE early history of Assyria has long been a subject on which historians were obliged to trust largely to conjecture, in their attempts to reconstruct the stages by which its early rulers obtained their independence and laid the foundations of the mighty empire over which their successors ruled. That the land was colo- nized from Babylonia and was at first ruled as a depend- ency of the southern kingdom have long been regarded as established facts, but until recently little was known of its early rulers and governors, and still less of the ■condition of the country and its capital during the early periods of their existence. Since the excavations car- ried out by the British Museum at Kala Sherghat, on the western bank of the Tigris, it has been known that the mounds at that spot mark the site of the city of Ashur, the first capital of the Assyrians, and the monu- ments and records recovered during those excavations have hitherto formed our principal source of information 388 EXCAVATIONS IN ASSYEIA 389 for the early history of the comitry.^ Some of the oldest records found in the course of these excavations were short votive texts inscribed by rulers who bore the title of ishshakku, corresponding to the Sumerian and early Babylonian title of patesi, and with some such meaning as " viceroy." It was rightly conjectured from the title which they bore that these early rulers owed allegiance to the kings of Babylon and were their nominees, or at any rate their tributaries. The names of a few of these early viceroys were recovered from their votive inscrip- tions and from notices in later historical texts, but it was obvious that our knowledge of early Assyrian his- tory would remain very fragmentary until systematic excavations in Assyria were resumed. Three years ago (1902) the British Museum resumed excavations at Kuyunjik, the site of Nineveh. The work was begun and carried out under the direction of Mr. L. W. King, but since last summer has been continued by Mr. R. C. Thompson. Last year, too, excavations were reopened at Sherghat by the Deutsch-Orient Gre- sellschaft, at first under the direction of Dr. Koldewey, and afterwards under that of Dr. Andrae, by whom they are at present being carried on. This renewed activity on the sites of the ancient cities of Assyria is already producing results of considerable interest, and the veil which has so long concealed the earlier periods in the history of that country is being lifted. Shortly before these excavations in Assyria were ' For the texts and translations of these docnments, see Budge and King, Annals of the Kings of Assyria, pp. iff. 390 ASSYEJjLN and NEO- BABYLONIAN EMPIRES set on foot an indication was obtained from an early Babylonian text that the history of Assyria as a depend- ent state or province of Babylon must be pushed back to a far more remote period than had hitherto been sup- posed. In one of Hammurabi's letters to Sin-id in nam, governor of the city of Larsam, to which reference has already been made/ directions are given for the despatch to the king of " two hundred and forty men of ' the King's Company ' under the command of ISTannar-iddina . . . who have left the country of Ashur and the dis- trict of ShituUum." Prom this most interesting refer- ence it followed that the country to the north of Baby- lonia was known as Assyria at the time of the kings of the First Dynasty of Babylon, and the fact that Baby- lonian troops were stationed there by Hammurabi proved that the country formed an integral part of the Babylonian empire. These conclusions were soon after strikingly con- firmed by two passages in the introductory sections of Hammurabi's code of laws which was discovered at Susa.^ Here Hammurabi records that he " restored his (i. e. the god Ashur 's) protecting image unto the city of Ashur," and a few lines farther on he describes him- self as the king " who hath made the names of Ishtar glorious in the city of Nineveh in the temple of E-mish- mish." That Ashur should be referred to at this period is what we might expect, inasmuch as it was known to have been the earliest capital of Assyria; more strik- ing is the reference to Nineveh, proving as it does that 1 See above, p. 301. ^See above, p. 267. PKOOFS OF NINEVEH'S GREAT AGE 391 it was a flourisMng city in Hammurabi's time and that the temple of Ishtar there had already been long estab- lished. It is true that Gudea, the Sumerian patesi of Shirpurla, records that he rebuilt the temple of the god- dess Ninni (Ishtar) at a place called Nina. Now Nina may very probably be identified with Nineveh, but many writers have taken it to be a place in Southern Baby- lonia and possibly a district of Shirpurla itself. No such uncertainty attaches to Hammurabi's reference to Nineveh, which is undoubtedly the Assyrian city of that name. Although no account has yet been published of the recent excavations carried out at Nineveh by the British Museum, they fully corroborate the inference drawn with regard to the great age of the city. The series of trenches which were cut deep into the lower strata of Kuyunjik revealed numerous traces of very early habitations on the mound. Neither in Hammiurabi's letters, nor upon the stele inscribed with his code of laws, is any reference made to the contemporary governor or ruler of Assyria, but on a contract tablet preserved in the Pennsylvania Mu- seum a name has been recovered which will probably be identified with that of the ruler of Assyria in Ham- murabi's reign. In legal and commercial documents of the period of the First Dynasty of Babylon the con- tracting parties frequently swore by the names of two gods (usually Shamash and Marduk) and also that of the reigning king. . Now it has been found by Dr. Ranke that on this document in the Pennsylvania Museum the contracting parties swear by the name of Hammurabi 392 ASSYEIAJ^ Aid) NEO - BABYLONIAN EMPIRES and also by that of Shamshi-Adad. As only gods and kings are mentioned in the oath formulse of this period, it follows that Shamshi-Adad was a king, or at any rate a patesi or ishshakku. Now from its form the name Shamshi-Adad must be that of an Assyrian, not that of a Babylonian, and, since he is associated in the oath formula with Hammurabi, it is legitimate to conclude that he governed Assyria in the time of Hammurabi as a dependency of Babylon. An early Assyrian ish- shakku of this name, who was the son of Ishme-Dagan, is mentioned by Tiglath-Pileser I, but he cannot be iden- tified with the ruler of the time of Hammurabi, since, according to Tiglath-Pileser, he ruled too late, about 1800 B. c. A brick-inscription of another Shamshi-Adad, however, the son of Igur-kapkapu, is preserved in the British Museum, and it is probable that we may identify him with Hammurabi's Assyrian viceroy. Erishum and his son Ikunum, whose inscriptions are also preserved in the British Museum, should certainly be assigned to an early period of Assyrian history. The recent excavations at Sherghat are already yield- ing the names of other early Assyrian viceroys, and, although the texts of the inscriptions in which their names occur have not yet been published, we may briefly enumerate the more important of the discoveries that have been made. Last year a small cone or cylinder was found which, though it bears only a few lines of inscription, restores the names of no less than seven early Assyrian viceroys whose existence was not pre- viously known. The cone was inscribed by Ashir-rim- EARLY ASSYRIAN VICEROYS 393 nishesliu, who gives his own genealogy and records the restoration of the wall of the city of Ashur, which he states had been rebuilt by certain of his predecessors on the throne. The principal portion of the inscription reads as follows: '' Ashir-rim-nisheshu, the viceroy of the god Ashir, the son of Ashir-nirari, the viceroy of the god Ashir, the son of Ashir-rabi, the viceroy. The city wall which Kikia, Ikunmn, Shar-kenkate- Ashir, and Ashir-nirari, the son of Ishme-Dagan, my forefathers, had built, was fallen, and for the preservation of my life ... I rebuilt it." Perhaps no inscription has yet been recovered in either Assyria or Babylonia which contained so much new information packed into so small a space. Of the names of the early viceroys mentioned in it only one was previously known, i. e. the name of Ikunum, the son of Erishmn, is found in a late copy of a votive text preserved in the British Museum. Thus from these few lines the names of three rulers in direct succession have been recovered, viz., Ashir-rabi, Ashir- nirari, and Ashur-rim-nisheshu, and also those of four earlier rulers, viz., Kikia, Shar-kenkate- Ashir, Ishme- Dagan, and his son Ashir-nirari. Another interesting point about the inscription is the spelling of the name of the national god of the Assyrians. In the later peri- ods it is always written Ashur, but at this early time we see that the second vowel is changed and that at first the name was written Ashir, a form that was already known from the Cappadocian cuneiform inscriptions. The form Ashir is a good participial construction and signifies " the Beneficent," " the Merciful One." iJ94 ASSYRIAN AJ^D NEO - BABYLONIAN EMPIRES Another interesting find, which was also made last year, consists of four stone tablets, each engraved with the same building-inscription of Shahnaneser I, a king who reigned over Assyria about 1300 b. c. In recording his rebuilding of E-kharsag-kurkura, the temple of the god Ashur in the city of Ashur, he gives a brief sum- mary of the temple's history with details as to the length of time which elapsed between the different peri- ods during which it had been previously restored. The temple was bmrned in Shalmaneser's time, and, when recording this fact and the putting out of the fire, he summarizes the temple's history in a long parenthesis, as will be seen from the following translation of the extract: " When E-kharsag-kurkura, the temple of Ashur, my lord, which Ushpia (variant Aushpia), the priest of Ashur, my forefather, had built aforetime,— and it fell into decay and Erishu, my forefather, the priest of Ashur, rebuilt it; 159 years passed by after the reign of Erishu, and that temple fell into decay, and Shamshi-Adad, the priest of Ashur, rebuilt it; (dur- ing) 580 years that temple which Shamshi-Adad, the priest of Ashur, had built, grew hoary and old— (when) fire broke out in the midst thereof . . . , at that time I drenched that temple (with water) in (all) its cir- cuit." Prom this extract it will be seen that Shalmaneser gives us, in Ushpia or Aushpia, the name of a very early Assyrian viceroy, who in his belief was the founder of the great temple of the god Ashur. He also tells us that 159 years separated Erishu from a viceroy named INACCUEACY IN ASSYRIAN EECKONING 395 ShamsM-Adad, and that 580 years separated Shamshi- Adad from his own time. ,When these inscriptions were first found they were hailed with considerable satisfac- tion by historians, as they gave what seemed to be valu- able information for settling the chronology of the early patesis. But confidence in the accuracy of Shahnaneser's reckoning was somewhat shaken a few months after- wards by the discovery of a prism of Esarhaddon, who gave in it a history of the same temple, but ascribed totally different figures for the periods separating the reigns of Erishu and Shamshi-Adad, and the temple's destruction by fire. Esarhaddon agrees with Shahna- neser in ascribing the founding of the temple to Ushpia, but he states that only 126 years (instead of 159 years) separated Erishu (whom he spells Irishu), the son of Hu-shumma, from Shamshi-Adad, the son of Bel-kabi; and he adds that 434 years (instead of 580 years) elapsed between Shamshi-Adad 's restoration of the temple and the time when it was burned down. As Shalmaneser I lived over six hundred years earlier than Esarhaddon, he was obviously in a better position to ascertain the periods at which the events recorded took place, but the discrepancy between the figures he gives and those of Esarhaddon is disconcerting. It shows that Assyrian scribes could make bad mistakes in their reckoning, and it serves to cast discredit on the absolute accuracy of the chronological notices contained in other late Assyr- ian inscriptions. So far from helping to settle the mi- solved problems of Assyrian chronology, these two recent finds at Sherghat have introduced fresh confusion, 396 ASSYEIAJSr AND NEO - BABYLONIAN EMPIEES and Assyrian chronology for the earlier periods is once more cast into the melting pot. In addition to the recovery of the names of hitherto unknown early rulers of Assyria, the recent excavations at Sherghat have enabled us to ascertain the true read- ing of the name of Shalmaneser I's grandfather, who reigned a considerable time after Assyria had gained her independence. The name of this king has hitherto been read as Pudi-ilu, but it is now shown that the signs composing the first part of the name are not to be taken phonetically, but as ideographs, the true read- ing of the name being Arik-den-ilu, the signification of which is '' Long (i. e. far-reaching) is the judgment of God." Arik-den-ilu was a great conqueror, as were his immediate descendants, all of whom extended the territory of Assyria. By strengthening the country and increasing her resources they enabled Arik-den-ilu 's great-grandson, Tukulti-Ninib I, to achieve the conquest of Babylon itself. Concerning Tukulti-Mnib 's reign and achievements an interesting inscription has re- cently been discovered. This is now preserved in the British Museum, and before describing it we may briefly refer to another phase of the excavations at Sherghat. The mounds of Sherghat rise a considerable height above the level of the plain, and are to a great extent of natural and not of artificial formation. In fact, the existence of a group of high natural mounds at this point on the bank of the Tigris must have led to its selection by the early Assyrians as the site on which Stone Object Bearing a Votive Inscription of Arik-den-ilu. An early independent King of Assyria, who reigned about B.C. 1350. Photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co. THE MOUNDS OF SHEEGHAT 397 to build their first stronghold. The mounds were al- ready so high, from their natural formation, that there was no need for the later Assyrian kings to increase their height artificially (as they raised the chief palace-mound at Nineveh), and the remains of the Assyrian buildings of the early period are thus only covered by a few feet of debris and not by masses of unburnt brick and arti- ENTKANCE INTO ONE OP THE GALLERIES OR TUNNELS CUT INTO THE PRINCIPAL MOUND AT SHERGHAT. ficially piled up soil. This fact has considerably facili- tated the systematic uncovering of the principal mound that is now being carried out by Dr. Andrae. Work has hitherto been confined to the northwest corner of the mound around the ziggurat, or temple tower, and al- ready considerable traces of Assyrian buildings have been laid bare in this portion of the site. The city wall on the northern side has been uncovered, as well as quays with steps leading down to the water along the 398 ASSYEIAJSr AND NEO - BABYLONIAN EMPIEES river front. Part of the great temple of the god Ashur has been excavated, though a considerable portion of it must be still covered by the modern Turkish fort at the extreme northern point of the mounds; also part of a palace erected by Ashur-nasir-pal has been identi- fied. In fact, the work at Sherghat promises to add considerably to our knowledge of ancient Assyrian ar- chitecture. The inscription of Tukulti-Ninib I, which was re- ferred to above as having been recently acquired by the trustees of the British Museum, affords valuable information for the reconstruction of the history of Assyria during the first half of the thirteenth cen- tury B. c.^ It is seen from the facts summarized that for our knowledge of the earlier history of the country we have to depend to a large extent on short brick- inscriptions and votive texts supplemented by histori- cal references in inscriptions of the later period. The only historical inscription of any length belonging to the early Assyrian period, which had been published up to a year ago, was the famous memorial slab con- taining an inscription of Adad-nirari I, which was acquired by the late Mr. George Smith some thirty years ago. Although purchased in Mosul, the slab had been found by the natives in the mounds at Sherghat, for the text engraved upon it in archaic Assyrian charac- ters records the restoration of a part of the temple of the god Ashur in the ancient city of Ashur, the first 1 For the text and translation of the inscription, see King, Studies in Eastern History, i (1904) . ASSYRIAN MEMORIAL SLAB 399 capital of the Assyrians, now marked by the mounds of Sherghat, which have already been described. The object of Adad-nirari in causing the memorial slab to be inscribed was to record the restoration of the portion of the temple which he had rebuilt, but the most im- portant part of the inscription was contained in the introductory phrases with which the text opens. They recorded the conquests achieved not only by Adad- nirari but by his father Arik-den-ilu, his grandfather Bel-nirari, and his great-grandfather Ashur-ubaUit. They thus enabled the historian to trace the gradual extension and consolidation of the Assyrian empire dur- ing a critical period in its early history. The recently recovered memorial slab of Tukulti- Ninib I is similar to that of his grandfather Adad- nirari I, and ranks in importance with it for the light it throws on the early struggles of Assyria. Tukulti- Ninib's slab, like that of Adad-nirari, was a foundation memorial intended to record certain building operations carried out by order of the king. The building so com- memorated was not the restoration of a portion of a temple, but the founding of a new city, in which the king erected no less than eight temples dedicated to various deities, while he also records that he built a palace therein for his own habitation, that he protected the city by a strongly fortified wall, and that he cut a canal from the Tigris by which he ensured a contin- uous supply of fresh water. These were the facts which the memorial was primarily intended to record, but, like the text of Adad-nirari I, the most interesting events 400 ASSYRIAN AND NEO - BABYLONIAN EMPIRES for the historian are those referred to in the introduc- tory portions of the inscription. Before giving details concerning the founding of the new city, named Kar- Tukulti-Ninib, " the Portress of Tukulti-Ninib, " the king supplies an account of the military expeditions which he had conducted during the coiu'se of his reign up to the time when the foundation memorial was in- scribed. These introductory paragraphs record how the king gradually conquered the peoples to the north and northeast of Assyria, and how he finally undertook a successful campaign against Babylon, during which he captured the city and completely subjugated both North- ern and Southern Babylonia. Tukulti-Ninib 's reign thus marks an epoch in the history of his country. We have already seen how, during the early ages of her history, Assyria had been merely a subject prov- ince of the Babylonian empire. Her rulers had been viceroys owing allegiance to their overlords in Baby- lon, under whose orders they administered the country, while garrisons of Babylonian soldiers, and troops com- manded by Babylonian officers, served to keep the coim- try in a state of subjection. Gradually, however, the country began to feel her feet and long for independence. The conquest of Babylon by the kings of the Country of the Sea ^ afforded her the opportunity of throwing off the Babylonian yoke. In the fifteenth century the Assyrian kings were powerful enough to have independ- ent relations with the kings of Egypt, and, during the two centuries which preceded Tukulti-Ninib 's reign, ^See above, Chapter V, p. 251. ADVANCE OF ASSYRIAN POWER 401 Assyria's relations with Babylon were the cause of con- stant friction due to the northern kingdom's growth in power and influence. The frontier between the two countries was constantly in dispute, and, though some- times rectified by treaty, the claims of Assyria often led to war between the two countries. The general result of these conflicts was that Assyria gradually extended her authority farther southwards, and en- croached upon territory which had previously been Babylonian. The successes gained by Ashur-ubaUit, Bel-nirari, and Adad-nirari I against the contemporary Babylonian kings had aU resulted in the cession of fresh territory to Assyria and in an increase of her inter- national importance. Up to the time of Tukulti-Mnib no Assyrian king had actually seated himself upon the Babylonian throne. This feat was achieved by Tukulti-Ninib, and his reign thus marks an important step in the gradual advance of Assyria to the position which she later occupied as the predominant power in Western Asia. Before undertaking his campaign against Babylon, Tukulti-Ninib secured himself against attack from other quarters, and his newly discovered memorial inscrip- tion supplies considerable information concerning the steps he took to achieve this object. In his inscription the king does not number his military expeditions, and, with the exception of the first one, he does not state the period of his reign in which they were undertaken. The results of his campaigns are summarized in four paragraphs of the text, and it is probable that they are 402 ASSYEIAJST AND NEO - BABYLONIAN EMPIRES not described in chronological order, but are arranged ratber according to the geographical position of the districts which he invaded and subdued. Tukulti-Ninib records that his first campaign took place at the begin- ning of his sovereignty, in the first year of his reign, and it was directed against the tribes and peoples in- habiting the territory on the east of Assyria. Of the tribes which he overran and conquered on this occasion the most important was the Kuti, who probably dwelt in the districts to the east of the Lower Zab. They were a turbulent race and they had already been conquered by Arik-den-ilu and Adad-nirari I, but on neither occa- sion had they been completely subdued, and they had soon regained their independence. Their subjugation by Tukulti-Ninib was a necessary preliminary to any conquest in the south, and we can well understand why it was undertaken by the king at the beginning of his reign. Other conquests which were also made in the same region were the Ukumani and the lands of Elkhu- nia, Sharnida, and Mekhri, mountainous districts which probably lay to the north of the Lower Zab. The coun- try of Mekhri took its name from the mekhru-tree, a kind of pine or fir, which grew there in abundance upon the mountainsides, and was highly esteemed by the Assyrian kings as affording excellent wood for build- ing purposes. At a later period Ashur-nasir-pal invaded the coimtry in the course of his campaigns and brought back beams of mekhru-w^ood, which he used in the con- struction of the temple dedicated to the goddess Ishtar in Nineveh. TUKULTI-NINIB'S CONQUESTS 403 The second group of tribes and districts enumerated by Tukulti-Ninib as having been subdued in his early years, before his conquest of Babylon, all lay probably to the northwest of Assyria. The most powerful among these peoples were the Shubari, who, like the Kuti on the eastern border of Assyria, had already been con- quered by Adad-nirari I, but had regained their inde- pendence and were once more threatening the border on this side. The third group of his conquests consisted of the districts ruled over by forty kings of the lands of ISTa'iri, which was a general term for the mountain- ous districts to the north of Assyria, including territory to the west of Lake Van and extending eastwards to the districts around Lake Urmi. The forty kings in this region whom Tukulti-Ninib boasts of having sub- dued were little more than chieftains of the mountain tribes, each one possessing authority over a few villages scattered among the hills and valleys. But the men of Na'iri were a warlike and hardy race, and, if left long in undisturbed possession of their native fastnesses, they were tempted to make raids into the fertile plains of Assyria. It was therefore only politic for Tukulti- Mnib to traverse their country with fire and sword, and, by exacting heavy tribute, to keep the fear of Assyrian power before their eyes. From the king's records we thus learn that he subdued and crippled the semi-inde- pendent races living on his borders to the north, to the northwest, a:nd to the east. On the west was the desert, from which region he need fear no organized attack when he concentrated his army elsewhere, for his 404 ASSYRIAN AND NEO - BABYLONIAN" EMPIRES permanent garrisons were strong enough to repel and punish any incursion of nomadic tribes. He was thus in a position to try conclusions with his hereditary foe in the south, without any fear of leaving his land open to invasion in his absence. The campaign against Babylon was the most impor- tant one undertaken by Tukulti-Mnib, and its success- ful issue was the crowning point of his military career. The king relates that the great gods Ashur, Bel, and Shamash, and the goddess Ishtar, the queen of heaven and earth, marched at the head of his warriors when he set out upon the expedition. After crossing the border and penetrating into Babylonian territory he seems to have had some difficulty in forcing Bitiliashu, the Kassite king who then occupied the throne of Baby- lon, to a decisive engagement. But by a skilful dis- position of his forces he succeeded in hemming him in, so that the Babylonian army was compelled to engage in a pitched battle. The result of the fighting was a complete victory for the Assyrian arms. Many of the Babylonian warriors fell fighting, and Bitiliashu himself was captured by the Assyrian soldiers in the midst of the battle. Tukulti-Ninib boasts that he trampled his lordly neck beneath his feet, and on his return to As- syria he carried his captive back in fetters to present him with the spoils of the campaign before Ashur, the national god of the Assyrians. Before returning to Assyria, however, Tukulti-Ninib marched with his army throughout the length and breadth of Babylonia, and achieved the subjugation of SUBJUGATION OF BABYLON 405 the whole of the Sumer and Akkad. He destroyed the fortifications of Babylon to ensure that they should not again be used against himself, and all the inhabit- ants who did not at once submit to his decrees he put to the sword. He then appointed his own officers to rule the country and established his own system of administration, adding to his previous title of " King of Assyria," those of " King of Karduniash (^. e. Baby- lonia) " and " King of Sumer and Akkad." It was probably from this period that he also adopted the title of '* King of the Four Quarters of the World." As a mark of the complete subjugation of their ancient foe, Tukulti-Ninib and his army carried back with them to Assyria not only the captive Babylonian king^ but also the statue of Marduk, the national god of Baby- lon. This they removed from E-sagila, his sumptuous temple in Babylon, and they looted the sacred treasures from the treasure-chambers, and carried them off to- gether with the spoil of the city. Tukulti-Ninib no doubt left a sufficient proportion of his army in Babylon to garrison the city and support the governors and officials into whose charge he com- mitted the administration of the land, but he himself returned to Assyria with the rich spoil of the campaign, and it was probably as a use for this large iacrease of wealth and material that he decided to found another city which should bear his own name and perpetuate it for future ages. The king records that he undertook this task at the bidding of Bel (i. e. the god Ashur), who commanded that he should found a new city and 406 ASSYRIAN AND NEO - BABYLONIAN" EMPIRES build a dwelling-place for him therein. In accordance with the desire of Ashur and the gods, Avhich was thus con's^eyed to him, the king founded the city of Kar- Tukulti-Ninib, and he erected therein temples dedicated not only to Ashur, but also to the gods Adad, and Sha- mash, and Mnib, and Nusku, and Nergal, and Imina-bi, and the goddess Ishtar. The spoils from Babylon and the temple treasures from E-sagila were doubtless used for the decoration of these temples and the adornment of their shrines, and the king endowed the temples and appointed regular offerings, which he ordained should be their property for ever. He also built a sumptuous palace for his own abode when he stayed in the city, which he constructed on a mound or terrace of earth, faced with brick, and piled high above the level of the city. Finally, he completed its fortification by the erec- tion of a massive wall around it, and the completion of this wall was the occasion on which his memorial tablet was inscribed. The memorial tablet was buried and bricked up within the actual structure of the wall, in order that in future ages it might be read by those who found it, and so it might preserve his name and fame. After finishing the account of his building operations in the new city and recording the completion of the city wall from its foundation to its coping stone, the king makes an appeal to any future ruler who should find it, in the following words: " In the days that are to come, when this wall shall have grown old and shall have fallen into ruins, may a future prince repair the damaged CONSPIEACy AND EEVOLT 407 parts thereof, and may lie anoint my memorial tablet with oil, and may he offer sacrifices and restore it unto its place, and then Ashur will hearken unto his prayers. But whosoever shall destroy this wall, or shall remove my memorial tablet or my name that is inscribed thereon, or shall leave Kar-Tukulti-Ninib, the city of my dominion, desolate, or shall destroy it, may the lord Ashur overthrow his kingdom, and may he break his weapons, and may he cause his warriors to be defeated, and may he diminish his boundaries, and may he ordain that his rule shall be cut off, and on his days may he bring sorrow, and his years may he make evil, and may he blot out his name and his seed from the land! " By such blessings and curses Tukulti-Mnib hoped to ensure the preservation of his name and the rebuild- ing of his city, should it at any time be neglected and fall into decay. Curiously enough, it was in this very city that Tukulti-Mnib met his own fate less than seven years after he had founded it. At that time one of his own sons, who bore the name of Ashur-nasir-pal, con- spired against his father and stirred up the nobles to revolt. The insurrection was arranged when Tukulti- Mnib was absent from his capital and staying in Kar- Tukulti-Mnib, where he was probably protected by only a small bodyguard, the bulk of his veteran warriors remaining behind in garrison at Ashur. The insurgent nobles, headed by Ashur-nasir-pal, fell upon the king without warning when he was passing through the city without any suspicion of risk from a treacherous attack. The king defended himself and sought refuge in a neigh- 408 ASSYEIAJ^ AND NEO - BABYLONIAN EMPIRES bouring house, but the conspirators surrounded the building and, having forced an entrance, slew him with the sword. Thus Tukulti-Ninib perished in the city he had built and beautified with the spoils of his campaigns, where he had looked forward to passing a peaceful and secure old age. Of the fate of the city itself we know little except that its site is marked to-day by a few mounds which rise slightly above the level of the sur- rounding desert. The king's memorial tablet only has survived. For some 3,200 years it rested undisturbed in the foundations of the wall of unburnt brick, where it was buried by Tukulti-Mnib on the completion of the city wall. Thence it was removed by the hands of modern Arabs, and it is now preserved in the British Museum, where the characters of the inscription may be seen to be as sharp and iminjured as on the day when the Assyrian graver inscribed them by order of the king. In the account of his first campaign, which is pre- served upon the memorial tablet, it is stated that the peoples conquered by Tukulti-Ninib brought their yearly tribute to the city of Ashur. This fact is of considerable interest, for it proves that Tukulti-Ninib restored the capital of Assyria to the city of Ashur, removing it from Calah, whither it had been transferred by his father Shalmaneser I. The city of Calah had been founded and built by Shalmaneser I in the same way that his son Tukulti-Mnib built the city of Kar-Tukulti-Mnib, and the building of both cities is striking evidence of the rapid growth of Assyria and her need of expansion ^J^i'-.'rr 'J^^^J^> i^r/.y^^p|:;^^^>''r^^;:fer:_i r>. Stone Tablet. Bearing an inscription of Tukulti-Ninib I, King of Assyria, about B.C. 1275. EAPID GROWTH OF ASSYRIA 409 around fresh centres prepared for administration and defence. The shifting of the Assyrian capital to Calah by Shahnaneser I was also due to the extension of As- syrian power in the north, in consequence of which there was need of having the capital nearer the centre of the country so enlarged. Ashur's recovery of her old position un- der Tukulti-Ninib I was only a tempo- rary check to this movement north- wards, and, so long as Babylon re- mained a conquered province of the As- syrian empire, obvi- ously the need for a capital farther north than Ashur would not have been pressing. But with Tukulti-Ninib 's death Babylon re- gained her independence and freed herself from Assyr- ian control, and the centre of the northern kingdom was once more subject to the influences which eventu- ally resulted in the permanent transference of her capi- tal to Mneveh. To the comparative neglect into which Ashur and Calah consequently fell, we may probably THE ZIGGUBAT, OK TEMPLE TOWEK, OF THE ASSYRIAN CITY OF CALAH. 410 ASSYEIAJSr AIs^D NEO - BABYLOXIAN EMPIRES trace tlie extensive remains of buildings belonging to the earlier periods of Assyrian history which have been recovered and still remain to be found, in the mounds that mark their sites. We have given some accoimt of the results already achieved from the excavations carried out during the last two years at Sherghat, the site of the city of Ashur. That much remains to be done on the site of Calah, the other early capital of Assyria, is evident from even a cursory examination of the present condition of the mounds that mark the location of the city. These motmds are now known by the name of Nimrud and are situated on the left or eastern bank of the Tigris, a short distance above the point at which it is joined by the stream of the Upper Zab, and the great mound which still covers the remains of the ziggurat, or temple tower, can be seen from a considerable distance across the plain. During the excavations formerly carried out here for the British Museum, remains of palaces were recovered which had been built or restored by Shal- maneser I, Ashur-nasir-pal, Shalmaneser 11, Tiglath- pileser III, Sargon, Esarhaddon, and Ashur-etil-ilani. After the conclusion of the diggings and the removal of many of the sculptures to England, the site was covered again with earth, in order to protect the re- mains of Assyrian buildings which were left in place. Since that time the soil has sunk and been washed away by the rains so that many of the larger sculp- tures are now protruding above the soil, an example of Avhich is seen in the two winged bulls in the palace EEVELATIONS OF ASSYRIAN BUILDINGS 411 of Ashur-nasir-pal. It is improbable that the mounds of Nimrud will yield such rich results as Sherghat, but the site would probably well repay prolonged and sys- tematic excavation. "We have hitherto summarized and described the principal facts, with regard to the early history of Babylonia and Assyria and the neighbouring countries, which have been obtained from the excavations con- ducted recently on the sites of ancient cities. From the actual remains of the buildings that have been un- earthed we have secured information with regard to the temples and palaces of ancient rulers and the plans on which they were designed. From the objects of daily life and of religious use which have been recovered, such as weapons of bronze and iron, and vessels of metal, stone, and clay, it is possible for the archaeologist to draw conclusions with regard to the customs of these early peoples; while from a study of their style and workmanship and of such examples of their sculpture as have been brought to light, he may determine the stage of artistic development at which they had arrived. The clay tablets and stone monuments that have been recovered reveal the family life of the people, their commercial undertakings, their system of legislation and land tenure, their epistolary correspondence, and the administration iinder which they lived, while the royal inscriptions and foundation-memorials throw light on the religious and historical events of the period in which they were inscribed. Information on all these points has been acquired as the result of excavation, 412 ASSYRIAN AND NEO - BABYLONIAN EiMPIEES and is based on the discoveries in the ruins of early- cities which have remained buried beneath the soil for some thousands of years. But for the history of As- syria and of the other nations in the north there is still another source of information to which reference must now be made. The kings of Assyria were not content with record- ing their achievements on the walls of their buildings, on stelae set up in their palaces and temples, on their tablets of annals preserved in their archive-chambers, and on their cylinders and foundation-memorials con- cealed within the actual structure of the buildings them- selves. They have also left records graven in the living rock, and these have never been buried, but have been exposed to wind and weather from the moment they were engraved. Records of irrigation works and mili- tary operations successfully undertaken by Assyrian kings remain to this day on the face of the mountains to the north and east of Assyria. The kings of one great mountain race that had its capital at Van bor- rowed from the Assyrians this method of recording their achievements, and, adopting the Assyrian char- acter, have left numerous rock-inscriptions in their own language in the mountains of Armenia and Kurdistan. In some instances the action of rain and frost has nearly if not quite obliterated the record, and a few have been defaced by the hand of man. But as the majority are engraved in panels cut on the sheer face of the rock, and are inaccessible except by means of ropes and tackle, they have escaped mutilation. The photograph. EOCK - INSCRIPTIONS 413 reproduced will serve to show the means that must be adopted for reaching such rock-inscriptions in order to examine or copy them. The inscription shown in the photograph is one of those cut by Sennacherib in WORK IN PROGRESS ON ONE OF THE ROCK- INSCRIPTIONS OP SENNACHERIB, IN THE GORGE OF THE RIVER GOMEL, NEAR B A VI AN. the gorge near Bavian, through which the river Gomel flows, and can be reached only by climbing down ropes fixed to the top of the cliff. The choice of such posi- tions by the kings who caused the inscriptions to be 414 ASSYRIAN AND NEO - BABYLONL^Jif EMPIRES engraved Avas dictated by the desire to render it diffi- cult to destroy them, but it has also had the effect of delaying to some extent their copying and decipherment by modern workers. Considerable progress, however, THE PKINCIPAL KOCK SCULPTURES IN THE GORGE OF THE GOMEL NEAR BAVIAN IN ASSYRIA. has recently been made in identifying and copying these texts, and we may here give a short account of what has been done and of the information furnished by the inscriptions that have been examined. Recently considerable additions have been made to THE EMPIRE OF VAN 415 our knowledge of the ancient empire of Van and of its relation to the later kings of Assyria by the labours of Prof. Lehmann and Dr. Belck on the inscriptions which the kings of that period caused to be engraved tr - -i^ '-'. ^-^' ^- THE ROCK AND CITADEL OF VAN. The flat roofs of the houses of the city of Van may be seen to the left of the photograph nestling below the rock. upon the rocks among the mountains of Armenia. The centre and capital of this empire was the ancient city which stood on the site of the modem town of Van at the southwest corner of the lake which bears the same name. The city was built at the foot of a natural rock 416 ASSYRIAN AND NEO - BABYLONIAN EMPIRES wMch rises precipitously from the plain, and must have formed an impregnable stronghold against the attack of the foe. In this citadel at the present day remain the ancient galleries and staircases and chambers which were cut in the living rock by the kings who made it their fortress, and their inscriptions, engraved upon the face of the rock on specially prepared and polished surfaces, enable us to reconstruct in some degree the history of that ancient empire. Prom time to time there have been found and copied other similar texts, which are cut on the mountainsides or on the massive stones which formed part of the construction of their buildings and fortifications. A complete collection of these texts, together with translations, will shortly be published by Prof. Lehmann. Meanwhile, this scholar has discussed and summarized the results to be obtained from much of his material, and we are thus already enabled to sketch the principal achievements of the rulers of this mountain race, who were constantly at war with the later kings of Assyria, and for two cen- turies at least disputed her claim to supremacy in this portion of Western Asia. The country occupied by this ancient people of Van was the great table-land which now forms Armenia. The people themselves cannot be connected with the Armenians, for their language presents no character- istics of those of the Indo-European family, and it is equally certain that they are not to be traced to a Semitic origin. It is true that they employed the VAN'S RELATIONS WITH ASSYEIA 417 Assyrian method of writing their inscriptions, and their art differs only in minor points from that of the As- syrians, but in both instances this similarity of culture was directly borrowed at a time when the less civilized ■t ■•■-* A '" »■ i >, • ■ •■, ♦• l^ ~ ,';v It »• " ••';"■ «■: :r .-^ **^-v|^- ANCIENT FLIGHT OT STEPS AND GALLERY ON THE PACE OF THE ROCK -CITADEL OF VAN. race, having its centre at Van, came into direct con- tact with the Assyrians. The exact date at which this influence began to be exerted is not certain, but we have records of immediate relations with Assyria in the second half of the ninth century before Christ. The 418 ASSYRIAN AND NEO - BABYLONIAN EMPIRES district inhabited by the Vannic people was known to the Assyrians by the name of Urartu, and although the inscriptions of the earlier Assyrian kings do not record expeditions against that country, they frequently make mention of campaigns against princes and petty rulers of the land of Na'iri. They must therefore for long have exercised an indirect, if not a direct, influence on the peoples and tribes which lay more to the north. The earliest evidence of direct contact between the Assyrians and the land of Urartu which we at present possess dates from the reign of Ashur-nasir-pal, and in the reign of his son Shalmaneser II three expeditions were undertaken against the people of Van. The name of the king of Urartu at this time was Arame, and his capital city, Arzasku, probably lay to the north of Lake Van. On all three occasions the Assyrians were vic- torious, forcing Arame to abandon his capital and cap- turing his cities as far as the sources of the Euphrates. Subsequently, in the year 833 B. c, Shalmaneser II made another attack upon the country, which at that time was imder the sway of Sarduris I. Under this mon- arch the citadel of Van became the great stronghold of the people of Urartu, for he added to the natural strength of the position by the construction of walls built between the rock of Van and the harbour. The 'massive blocks of stone of which his fortifications were composed are standing at the present day, and they bear eloquent testimony to the energy with which this monarch devoted himself to the task of rendering his new citadel impregnable. The fortification and strength- FORTIFICATION OF VAN 419 ening of Van and its citadel was carried on during the reigns of his direct successors and descendants, Ispui- nis, Menuas, and Argistis I, so that when Tiglath-pile- ser III brought fire and sword into the country and PART OF THE ANCIENT rORTIFICATIONS OP THE CITY OF VAN, BETWEEN THE CITADEL AND THE LAKE. laid siege to Van in the reign of Sarduris 11, he could not capture the citadel. It was not difficult for the Assyrian king to assault and capture the city itself, which lay at the foot of the citadel as it does at the present day, but the latter, within the fortifications of 420 ASSYEIAN AND NEO - BABYLONIAN EMPIRES which Sarduris and his garrison withdrew, proved itself able to withstand the Assyrian attack. The expedition of Tiglath-pileser III did not succeed in crushing the Vannic empire, for Rusas I, the son and successor of Sarduris II, allied himself to the neighbouring moun- tain races and gave considerable trouble to Sargon, the Assyrian king, who was obliged to imdertake an expe- dition to check their aggressions. It was probably Rusas I who erected the buildings on Toprak Kala, the hill to the east of Van, traces of which remain to the present day. He built a palace and a temple, and around them he constructed a new city with a reservoir to supply it with water, possibly because the slopes of Toprak Kala rendered it easier of defence than the city in the plain (beneath the rock and citadel) which had fallen an easy prey to Tiglath- pileser m. The site of the temple on Toprak Kala has been excavated by the trustees of the British Museum, and our knowledge of Vannic art is derived from the shields and helmets of bronze and small bronze figures and fittings which were recovered from this building. One of the shields brought to the British Museum from the Toprak Kala, where it originally hung with others on the temple walls, bears the name of Argistis H, who was the son and successor of Rusas I, and who at- tempted to give trouble to the Assyrians by stirring the inhabitants of the land of Kummukh (Kommagene) to revolt against Sargon. His son, Rusas II, was the con- temporary of Esarhaddon, and from some recently dis- covered rock-inscriptions we learn that he extended the INSCRIPTIONS OF SENNACHEEIB 421 limits of his kingdom on the west and secured victories against Mushki (Meshech) to the southeast of the Halys and against the Hittites in Northern Syria. Rusas III rebuilt the temple on Toprak Kala, as we know from an inscription of his on one of the shields from that place in the British Museum. Both he and Sarduris III were on friendly terms with the Assyrians, for we know that they both sent embassies to Ashur-bani-pal. By far the larger number of rock-inscriptions that have yet been found and copied in the moimtainous districts bordering on Assyria were engraved by this ancient Vannic people, and Drs. Lehmann and Belck have done good service by making careful copies and collations of all those which are at present known. Work on other classes of rock-inscriptions has also been carried on by other travellers. A new edition of the inscriptions of Sennacherib in the gorge of the Gomel, near the village of Bavian, has been made by Mr. King, who has also been fortunate enough to find a number of hitherto unknown inscriptions in Kurdistan on the Judi Dagh and at the sources of the Tigris. The in- scriptions at the mouth of the Nahr el-Kelb, " the Dog River," in Syria, have been reexamined by Dr. Knudt- zon, and the long inscription which Nebuchadnezzar II cut on the rocks at Wadi Brissa in the Lebanon, for- merly published by M. Pognon, has been recopied by Dr. Weissbach. Finally, the great trilingual inscription of Darius Hystaspes on the rock at Bisutun in Persia, which was formerly copied by the late Sir Henry Raw- linson and used by him for the successful decipherment 422 ASSYRIAN AND NEO - BABYLONIAN" EMPIRES of the cuneiform inscriptions, was completely copied last year by Messrs. King and Thompson.^ The main facts of the history of Assyria under her later kings and of Babylonia during the Neo-Babylonian and Persian periods were many years ago correctly ascertained, and recent excavation and research have done little to add to our knowledge of the history of these periods. It was hoped that the excavations con- ducted by Dr. Koldewey at Babylon would result in the recovery of a wealth of inscriptions and records referring to the later history of the country, but unfor- timately comparatively few tablets or inscriptions have been found, and those that have been recovered consist mainly of building-inscriptions and votive texts. One such building-inscription contains an interesting his- torical reference. It occurs on a barrel-cylinder of clay inscribed with a text of N'abopolassar, and it was found in the temple of Ninib and records the completion and restoration of the temple by the king. In addition to recording the building operations he had carried out in the temple, ISTabopolassar boasts of his opposition to the Assyrians. He says: " As for the Assyrians who had ruled all peoples from distant days and had set the people of the land under a heavy yoke, I, the weak and humble man who worshippeth the Lord of Lords (i. e. the god Marduk), through the mighty power of Nabu and Marduk, my lords, held back their feet from the land of Akkad and cast off their yoke." 1 Messrs. King and Thompson are preparing a new edition of this in- scription. MISSING LINKS IN HISTORY 423 It is not yet certain whether the Babylonians under Nabopolassar actively assisted Cyaxares and the Medes in the siege and in the subsequent capture of JSTineveh in 606 B. c, but this newly discovered reference to the Assyrians by Nabopolassar may possibly be taken to imply that the Babylonians were passive and not active allies of Cyaxares. If the cylinder were inscribed after the fall of Nineveh we should have expected Nabopo- lassar, had he taken an active part in the capture of the city, to have boasted in more definite terms of his achievement. On his stele which is preserved at Con- stantinople, Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Baby- lonian empire, who himself suffered defeat at the hands of Cyrus, King of Persia, ascribed the fall of Mneveh to the anger of Marduk and the other gods of Babylon because of the destruction of their city and the spolia- tion of their temples by Sennacherib in 689 b. c. We see the irony of fate in the fact that Cyrus also ascribed the defeat and deposition of Nabonidus and the fall of Babylon to Marduk 's intervention, whose anger he al- leges was aroused by the attempt of Nabonidus to con- centrate the worship of the local city-gods in Babylon. Thus it^will be seen that recent excavation and research have not yet supplied the data for flUing in such gaps as still remain in our knowledge of the later history of Assyria and Babylon. The closing years of the Assyrian empire and the military achievements of the great Neo-Babylonian rulers, Nabopolassar, Nerig- lissar, and Nebuchadnezzar 11, have not yet been found recorded in any published Assyrian or Babylonian 424 ASSYRIAN AND NEO - BABYLONIAN EMPIRES inscription, but it may be expected that at any moment some text will be discovered that will throw light upon the problems connected with the history of those periods which still await solution. Meanwhile, the excavations at Babylon, although they have not added much to our knowledge of the later history of the country, have been of immense service in revealing the topography of the city during the Neo-Babylonian period, as well as the positions, plans, and characters of the principal build- ings erected by the later Babylonian kings. The dis- covery of the palaces of Nebuchadnezzar II on the mound of the Kasr, of the small but complete temple E-makh, of the temple of the goddess Mn-makh to the northeast of the palaces, and of the sacred road divid- ing them and passing through the Great Gate of Ishtar (adorned with representations of lions, bulls, and drag- ons in raised brick upon its walls) has enabled us to form some conception of the splendour and magnificence of the city as it appeared when rebuilt by its last native rulers. Moreover, the great temple E-sagila, the famous shrine of the god Marduk, has been identified and partly excavated beneath the huge mound of Tell Amran ibn- Ali, while a smaller and less famous temple of Ninib has been discovered in the lower mounds which lie to. the eastward. Finally, the sacred way from E-sagila to the palace mound has been traced and uncovered. We are thus enabled to reconstitute the scene of the most solemn rite of the Babylonian festival of the New Year, when the statue of the god Marduk was carried in solemn procession along this road from the temple LITERAEY ACTIVITY 425 to the palace, and the Babylonian king made his yearly obeisance to the national god, placing his own hands within those of Marduk, in token of his submission to and dependence on the divine will. Though recent excavations have not led to any start- ling discoveries with regard to the history of Western WITHIN THE SHRINE OF E - MAKH, THE TEMPLE OF THE GODDESS NIN - MAKH. Asia during the last years of the Babylonian empire, research among the tablets dating from the ISTeo-Baby- lonian and Persian periods has lately added consider- ably to our knowledge of Babylonian literature. These periods were marked by great literary activity on the part of the priests at Babylon, Sippar, and elsewhere, who, under the royal orders, scoured the country for all remains of the early literature which was preserved 426 ASSYEIAl^ AND NEO - BABYLONIAN EMPIRES in the ancient temples and archives of the country, and made careful copies and collections of all they found. Many of these tablets containing Neo-Babylonian copies of earlier literary texts are preserved in the British Museum, and have been recently published, and we have thus recovered some of the principal grammatical, relig- TKENCH IN THE BABTLONIAK PLAIN, BETWEEN THE MOUND OF THE KA8K AND TELL AMRAN IBN - ALI, SHOWING A SECTION OP THE PAVED SACKED WAT. ious, and magical compositions of the earlier Babylo- nian period. Among the most interesting of such recent finds is a series of tablets inscribed with the Babylonian legends concerning the creation of the world and man, which present many new and striking parallels to the beliefs on these subjects embodied in Hebrew literature. We have not space to treat this subject at greater length UNIMPOETA^T HISTORICAL RESULTS 427 in the present work, but we may here note that dis- covery and research in its relation to the later empires that ruled at Babylon have produced results of literary rather than of historical importance. But we should exceed the space at our disposal if we attempted even to skim this fascinating field of study in which so much has recently been achieved. For it is time we turned once more to Egypt and directed our inquiry towards ascertaining what recent research has to tell us with regard to her inhabitants during the later periods of her existence as a nation of the ancient world. CHAPTER IX THE LAST DAYS OF ANCIENT EGYPT "DBFOEE we turned from Egypt to summarize the information, afforded by recent discoveries, upon tlie history of Western Asia under the kings of the Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods, we noted that the Asiatic empire of Egypt was regained by the reactionary kings of the XlXth Dynasty, after its temporary loss owing to the vagaries of Akhunaten. Palestine remained Egyptian throughout the period of the judges until the foundation of the kingdom of Judah. With the decline of military spirit in Egypt and the increasing power of the priesthood, authority over Asia became less and less a reality. Tribute was no longer paid, and the tribes wrangled without a restraining hand, during the reigns of the successors of Ramses m. By the time of the priest-kings of Thebes (the XXIst Dynasty) the authority of the Pharaohs had ceased to be exercised in Syria. Egypt was itself divided into two kingdoms, the one ruled by Northern descendants of the Ramessids at Tanis, the other by the priestly monarchs at Thebes, 428 DECLINE OP POWER 429 who reigned by right of inheritance as a result of the marriage of the daughter of Ramses with the high priest Amenhetep, father of Herhor, the first priest-king. The Thebans fortified Gebelen in the South and el-Hebi in the North against attack, and evidently their relations with the Tanites were not always friendly. In Syria nothing of the imperial power remained. The prestige of the god Amen of Thebes, however, was still very great. We see this clearly from a very in- teresting papyrus of the reign of Herhor, published in 1899 by Mr. Golenischeff, which describes the adven- tures of Uenuamen, an envoy sent (about 1050 b. c.) to Phoenicia to bring wood from the mountains of Leb- anon for the construction of a great festival bark of the god Amen at Thebes. In the course of his mission he was very badly treated (We cannot well imagine Thothmes III or Amenhetep IH tolerating ill-treatment of their envoy!) and eventually shipwrecked on the coast of the land of Alashiya or Cyprus. He tells us in the papyrus, which seems to be the official report of his mission, that, having been given letters of credence to the Prince of Byblos from the King of Tanis, " to whom Amen had given charge of his North-land," he at length reached Phoenicia, and after much discussion and argu- ment was able to prevail upon the prince to have the wood which he wanted brought down from Lebanon to the seashore. Here, however, a difficulty presented itself,— the har- bour was filled with the piratical ships of the Cretan Tjakaray, who refused to allow Uenuamen to return to 430 THE LAST DAYS OF ANCIENT EGYPT Egypt. *' They said, ' Seize him; let no ship of his go unto the land of Egypt! ' Then," says Uenuamen in the papyrus, " I sat down and wept. The scribe of the prince came out unto me ; he said unto me, * What ail- eth theel ' I replied, ' Seest thou not the birds which fly, wliich fly back unto Egypt? Look at them, they go unto the cool canal, and how long do I remain aban- doned here? Seest thou not those who would prevent my return? ' He went away and spoke unto the prince, who began to weep at the words which were told unto him and which were so sad. He sent his scribe out unto me, who brought me two measures of wine and a deer. He sent me Tentnuet, an Egyptian singing-girl who was with him, saying unto her, ' Sing unto him, that he may not grieve ! ' He sent word unto me, * Eat, drink, and grieve not! To-morrow shalt thou hear aU that I shall say.' On the morrow he had the people of his harbour summoned, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said unto the Tjakaray, * What aileth you? ' They answered him, ' We will pursue the pirat- ical ships which thou sendest unto Egypt with our un- happy companions.' He said unto them, ' I cannot seize the ambassador of Amen in my land. Let me send him away and then do ye pursue after him to seize him! ' He sent me on board, and he sent me away ... to the haven of the sea. The wind drove me upon the land of Alashiya. The people of the city came out in order to slay me. I was dragged by them to the place where Hatiba, the queen of the city, was. I met her as she was going out of one of her houses into the other. I PAPYRUS OF THE REIGN OF HERHOE 431 greeted her and said unto the people who stood by her, * Is there not one among you who understandeth the speech of Egypt? ' One of them replied, ' I understand it.' I said unto him, ' Say unto thy mistress: even as far as the city in which Amen dweUeth (i. e. Thebes) have I heard the proverb, "In all cities is injustice done; only in Alashiya is justice to be found," and now is injustice done here every day! ' She said, ' What is it that thou sayest? ' I said unto her, ' Since the sea raged and the wind drove me upon the land in which thou livest, therefore thou wilt not allow them to seize my body and to kill me, for verily I am an ambassador of Amen. Remember that I am one who will be sought for always. And if these men of the Prince of Byblos whom they seek to kill (are killed) , verily if their chief finds ten men of thine, will he not kill them also? ' She summoned the men, and they were brought before her. She said unto me, ' Lie down and sleep . . .' " At this point the papyrus breaks off, and we do not know how Uenuamen returned to Egypt with his wood. The description of his casting-away and landing on Alashiya is quite Homeric, and gives a vivid picture of the manners of the time. The natural impulse of the islanders is to kill the strange castaway, and only the fear of revenge and of the wrath of a distant foreign deity restrains them. Alashiya is probably C3T)rus, which also bore the name Tantinay from the time of Thothmes m until the seventh century, when it is called Yatnan by the Assyrians. A king of Alashiya corresponded with Amenhetep HE in cuneiform on 432 THE LAST DAYS OF ANCIENT EGYPT terms of perfect equality, three hundred years before: " Brother," he writes, " should the small amount of the copper which I have sent thee be displeasing unto thy heart, it is because in my land the hand of Nergal my lord slew all the men of my land (i. e. they died of the plague), and there was no working of copper; and this was, my brother, not pleasing unto thy heart. Thy messenger with my messenger swiftly will I send, and whatsoever amount of copper thou hast asked for, O my brother, I, even I, will send it unto thee." The mention by Herhor's envoy of Nesibinebdad (Smendes), the King of Tanis, a powerful ruler who in reality con- stantly threatened the existence of the priestly mon- archy at Thebes, as ' ' him to whom Amen has committed the wardship of his North-land," is distinctly amusing. The hard fact of the independence of Lower Egypt had to be glozed somehow. The days of Theban power were coming to an end and only the prestige of the god Amen remained strong for two hundred years more. But the alliance of Amen and his priests with a band of predatory and destroying foreign conquerors, the Ethiopians (whose rulers were the descendants of the priest-kings, who retired to Napata on the succession of the powerful Bubastite djoiasty of Shishak to that of Tanis, aban- doning Thebes to the IsTortherners) , did much to destroy the prestige of Amen and of everything connected with him. An Ethiopian victory meant only an Assyrian reconquest, and between them Ethiopians and Assjrrians had well-nigh ruined Egypt. In the Saite period Thebes THE SAITE PERIOD 433 had declined greatly in power as weU as in influence, and all its traditions were anathema to the leading peo- ple of the time, although not of course in Akhunaten's sense. With the Saite period we seem almost to have re- traced our steps and to have reentered the age of the Pyramid Builders. All the pomp and glory of Thothmes, Amenhetep, and Ramses were gone. The days of imperial Egypt were over, and the minds of men, sickened of foreign war, turned for peace and quietness to the simpler ideals of the IVth and Vth Dynasties. We have already seen that an archaistic revival of the styles of the early dynasties is charac- teristic of this late period, and that men were buried at Sakkara and at Thebes in tombs which recall in form and decoration those of the courtiers of the Pyramid Builders. Everywhere we see this fashion of archaism. A Theban noble of this period named Aba was buried at Thebes. Long ago, nearly three thousand years before, tmder the Ylth Dynasty, there had lived a great noble of the same name, who was buried in a rock-tomb at Der el-Gebrawi, in Middle Egypt. This tomb was open and known in the days of the second Aba, who caused to be copied and reproduced in his tomb in the Asasif at Thebes most of the scenes from the bas-relief with which it had been decorated. The tomb of the Vlth Dynasty Aba has lately been copied for the Ar- chaeological Survey of Egypt (Egypt Exploration Fund) by Mr. de Garis Davies, who has found the reliefs of the XXVIth Dynasty Aba of considerable use to him 434 THE LAST DAYS OF ANCIENT EGYPT in reconstituting destroyed portions of their ancient originals. During late years important discoveries of objects of this era have been few. One of the most noteworthy is that of a contemporary inscription describing the battle of Momemphis, which is mentioned by Herodo- tus (ii, 163, 169). We now have the official account of this battle, and know that it took place in the third year of the reign of Amasis— not before he became king. This was the fight in which the impatriotic king, Apries, who had paid for his partiality for the Greeks of Nau- kratis with the loss of his throne, was finally defeated. As we see from this inscription, he was probably mur- dered by the country people during his flight. The following are the most important passages of the inscription: " His Majesty (Amasis) was in the Festival-Hall, discussing plans for his whole land, when one came to say unto him, ' Haa-ab-Ra (Apries) is rowing up; he hath gone on board the ships which have crossed over. Haimebu (G-reeks), one knows not their nmnber, are traversing the North-land, which is as if it had no master to rule it; he (Apries) hath sum- moned them, they are coming round him. It is he who hath arranged their settlement in the Peh-an (the An- dropolite name); they infest the whole breadth of Egypt, those who are on thy waters fly before them! ' . . . His Majesty mounted his chariot, having taken lance and bow in his hand . . . (the enemy) reached Andropolis; the soldiers sang with joy on the roads . . . they did their duty in destroying the enemy. His EUYPTIAJSr CLEMENCY 435 Majesty fought like a lion; he made victims among them, one knows not how many. The ships and their warriors were overturned, they saw the depths as do the fishes. Like a flame he extended, making a feast of fighting. His heart rejoiced. . . . The third year, the 8th Athyr, one came to tell Majesty: * Let their vile- ness be ended! They throng the roads, there are thou- sands there ravaging the land; they fill every road. Those who are in ships bear thy terror in their hearts. But it is not yet finished! ' Said his Majesty unto his soldiers : ' . . . Young men and old men, do this in the cities, and nomes ! . . . Going upon every road, let not a day pass without fighting their galleys! ' . . . The land was traversed as by the blast of a tempest, des- troying their ships, which were abandoned by the crews. The people accomplished their fate, killing the prince (Apries) on his couch, when he had gone to repose in his cabin. When he saw his friend overthrown . . . his Majesty himself buried him (Apries), in order to establish him as a king possessing virtue, for his Maj- esty decreed that the hatred of the gods should be removed from him." This is the event to which we have already re- ferred in a preceding chapter, as proving the great amelioration of Egyptian ideas with regard to the treat- ment of a conquered enemy, as compared with those of other ancient nations. Amasis refers to the deposed monarch as his " friend," and buries him in a manner befitting a king at the charges of Amasis himself. This act warded off from the spirit of Apries the just anger 436 THE LAST DAYS OF ANCIENT EGYPT of the gods at his partiality for the " foreign devils," and ensured his reception by Osiris as a king neb menkh, *' possessing virtues." The town of Naukratis, where Apries established himself, had been granted to the Greek traders by Psametik I a century or more before. Mr. D. G. Hogarth's recent exploration of the site has led to a considerable modification of our first ideas of the place, which were obtained from Prof. Petrie's excavations. Prof. Petrie was the discoverer of Naukratis, and his diggings told us what Naukratis was like in the first instance, but Mr. Hogarth has shown that several of his identifications were erroneous and that the map of the place must be redrawn. The chief error was in the placing of the Hellenion (the great meeting-place of the Greeks), which is now known to be in quite a different position from that assigned to it by Prof. Petrie. The " Great Temenos " of Prof. Petrie has now been shown to be non-existent. Mr. Hogarth has also pointed out that an old Egyptian town existed at Nau- kratis long before the Greeks came there. This town is mentioned on a very interesting stele of black basalt (discovered at Tell Gaif, the site of Naukratis, and now in the Cairo Museum), under the name of '' Per- merti, which is called Nukrate." The first is the old Egyptian name, the second the Greek name adapted to Egyptian hieroglyphs. The stele was erected by Nekhtnebf, the last native king of Egypt, to commem- orate his gifts to the temples of Neith on the occasion of his accession at Sais. It is beautifully cut, and the WEALTH OP THE PTOLEMIES 437 inscription is written in a curious manner, with alpha- betic spellings instead of ideographs, and ideographs instead of alphabetic spellings, which savours ivllj of the affectation of the learned pedant who drafted it; for now, of course, in the fourth century before Christ, nobody but a priestly antiquarian could read hiero- glyphics. Demotic was the only writing for practical purposes. We see this fact well illustrated in the iascriptions of the Ptolemaic temples. The accession of the Ptole- mies marked a great increase in the material wealth of Egypt, and foreign conquest again came in fashion. Ptolemy Euergetes marched into Asia in the grand style of a Ramses and brought back the images of gods which had been carried off by Esarhaddon or Nebuchadnez- zar n centuries before. He was received on his return to Egypt with acclamations as a true successor of the Pharaohs. The imperial spirit was again in vogue, and the archaistic simplicity and independence of the Saites gave place to an archaistic imperialism, the first-fruits of which were the repair and building of temples in the great Pharaonic style. On these we see the Ptolemies masquerading as Pharaohs, and the climax of absurdity is reached when Ptolemy Auletes (the Piper) is seen striking down Asiatic enemies in the manner of Amen- hetep or Ramses! This scene is directly copied from a Ramesside temple, and we find imitations of reliefs of Ramses II so slavish that the name of the earlier king is actually copied, as well as the relief, and appears above the figure of a Ptolemy. The names of the nations 438 THE LAST DAYS OF ANCIENT EGYPT who were conquered by Thothmes III are repeated on Ptolemaic sculptures to do duty for the conquered of Euergetes, with all sorts of mistakes in spelling, naturally, and also with later interpolations. Such an inscription is that in the temple of Kom Ombo, which Prof. Sayce has held to contain the names of " Caphtor and Casluhim " and to prove the knowledge of the latter name in the fourteenth century before Christ. The name of Caphtor is the old Egyptian Keftiu (Crete); that of Casluhim is imknown in real Old Egyptian inscriptions, and in this Ptolemaic list at Kom Ombo it may be quite a late interpolation in the lists, perhaps no older than the Persian period, since we find the names of Parsa (Persia) and Susa, which were certainly unknown to Thothmes III, included in it. We see generally from the Ptolemaic inscriptions that nobody could read them but a few priests, who often made mistakes. One of the most serious was the identifica- tion of Keftiu with Phoenicia in the Stele of Canopus. This misled modern archaeologists down to the time of Dr. Evans's discoveries at Knossos, though how these utterly un-Semitic looking Keftiu could have been Phoe- nicians was a puzzle to everybody. We now know, of course, that they were Mycenaean or Minoan Cretans, and that the Ptolemaic antiquaries made a mistake in identifying the land of Keftiu with Phoenicia. We must not, however, say too much in dispraise of the Ptolemaic Egyptians and their works'. We have to be grateful to them indeed for the building of the tem- ples of Edfu and Dendera, which, owing to their later MAJ^XJSCEIPT TREASURES 439 date, are still in good preservation, while the best pre- served of the old Pharaonic fanes, such as Medinet Habu, have suffered considerably from the ravages of time. For these temples show us to-day what an old Egyptian temple, when perfect, really looked like. They are, so to speak, perfect mummies of temples, while of the old buildings we have nothing but the disjointed and damaged skeletons. A good deal of repairing has been done to these build- ings, especially to that at Edfu, of late years. But the main archaeological interest of Ptolemaic and Roman times has been found in the field of epigraphy and the study of papyri, with which the names of Messrs. Ken- yon, Grenfell, and Hunt are chiefly connected. The treasures which have lately been obtained by the Brit- ish Museum in the shape of the manuscripts of Aris- totle's " Constitution of Athens," the lost poems of Bacchylides, and the Mimes of Herondas, all of which have been published for the trustees of that institution by Mr. Kenyon, are known to those who are inter- ested in these subjects. The long series of publications of Messrs. Grenfell and Himt, issued at the expense of the Egjrpt Exploration Eimd (Grseco-Roman branch), with the exception of the volume of discoveries at Teb- tunis, which was issued by the University of California, is also well known. The two places with which Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt's work has been chiefly connected are the Payyum and Behnesa, the site of the ancient Pemje or Oxyr- rhynchus. The lake-province of the Payyum, which 440 THE LAST DAYS OF ANCIENT EGYPT attained such prominence in the days of the Xllth Dy- nasty, seems to have had little or no history during the whole period of the New Empire, but in Ptolemaic times it revived and again became one of the richest and most important provinces of Egypt. The town of Arsinoe was founded at Crocodilopolis, where are now the mounds of Kom el-Earis (The Mound of the Horse- man), near Medinet el-Fayyum, and became the capital of the province. At lUahun, just outside the entrance to the Fay yum, was the great Nile harbour and entre- pot of the lake-district, called Ptolemai's Hormos. The explorations of Messrs. Hogarth, Grenfell, and Hunt in the years of 1895 - 6 and 1898 - 9 resulted in the identification of the sites of the ancient cities of Karanis (Kom Ushim), Bacchias (Umm el-'Atl), Euhemeria (Kasr el-Banat), Theadelphia (Harit), and Philoteris (Wadfa). The work for the University of California in 1899 - 1900 at Umm el-Baragat showed that this place was Tebtunis. Dime, on the northern coast of the Birket Karun, the modern representative of the ancient Lake Moeris, is now known to be the ancient Sokno- paiou Nesos (the Isle of Soknopaios), a local form of Sebek, the crocodile-god of the Payyum. At Karanis this god was worshipped under the name of Petesuchos (" He whom Sebek has given ")> in conjunction with Osiris* Pnepheros (P-nefer-ho, "the beautiful of face"); at Tebtimis he became Seknebtunis, i. e. Sebek-neb- Teb-tunis (Sebek, lord of Tebtunis). This is a typical example of the portmanteau pronunciations of the lat- ter-day Egyptians. GEiECO- EGYPTIAN DOCUMENTS 441 Many very interesting discoveries were made during the course of the excavations of these places (besides Mr. Hogarth's find of the temple of Petesuchos and Pnepheros at Karanis), consisting of Eoman pottery of varied form and Roman agricultural implements, in- cluding a perfect plough.^ The main interest of aU, however, lies, both here and at Behnesa, in the papyri. They consist of Greek and Latin documents of all ages from the early Ptolemaic to the Christian. In fact, Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt have been unearthing and sifting the contents of the waste-paper baskets of the ancient Ptolemaic and Roman Egyptians, which had been thrown out on to dust-heaps near the towns. Nothing perishes in the dry climate and soil of Egypt, so the contents of the ancient dust-heaps have been preserved intact until our own day, and have been found by Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt, just as the contents of the houses of the ancient Indian rulers of Chinese Tur- kestan, at Mya and Khotan, with their store of Kha- roshthi documents, have been preserved intact in the dry Tibetan desert climate and have been found by Dr. Stein.^ There is much analogy between the discov- eries of Messrs. GrenfeU and Hunt in Egypt and those of Dr. Stein in Turkestan. The Grseco-Egyptian documents are of all kinds, consisting of letters, lists, deeds, notices, tax-assess- ments, receipts, accounts, and business records of every sort and kind, besides new fragments of classical authors 1 Illustrated on Plate IX of Fayum Towns and Their Papyri. *See Dr. Stein's Sand-huried Ruins of Khotan, London, 1903. 442 THE LAST DAYS OF ANCIENT EGYPT and the important " Sayings of Jesus," discovered at Behnesa, which have been pubhshed in a special pop- ular form by the Egypt Exploration Pund.^ These last fragments of the oldest Christian litera- ture, which are of such great importance and interest to all Christians, cannot be described or discussed here. The other docmnents are no less important to the stu- dent of ancient literature, the historian, and the soci- ologist. The classical fragments include many texts of lost authors, including Menander, We wiU give a few specimens of the private letters and documents, which will show how extremely modern the ancient Egyptians were, and how little difference there actually is between our civilization and theirs, except in the matter of mechanical invention. They had no locomo- tives and telephones; otherwise they were the same. We resemble them much more than we resemble our medieval ancestors or even the Elizabethans. This is a boy's letter to his father, who would not take him up to town with him to see the sights: " Theon to his father Theon, greeting. It was a fine thing of you not to take me with you to the city! If you won't take me with you to Alexandria, I won't write you a letter, or speak to you, or say good-bye to you; and if you go to Alexandria I won't take your hand or ever greet you again. That is what will happen if you won't take me. Mother said to Archelaus, ' It quite upsets him to be left behind.' It was good of you to send me presents on the 12th, the day you sailed. Send me a • Ao7/a 'l77