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those of his fellows who are not! He possesses a rich and
varied store of experience, ampler than the longest lifetime
could give him. His acquaintance with the springs of hu-
man action is more intimate and correct than could be gained
from the most extensive personal intercourse with society,
But then, be it remembered, it is not from a mere vague and
disjointed knowledge of the main facts of history, a mechani-
cal remembrance of events and their dates, that these advan-
Such an amount of historical
tages need be expected.
knowledge may be sufficient, if cleverly used, to gloss over a
man's ignorance, but it will not strengthen his understanding
or improve his judgment. To reap from it this advantage,
history must be studied. The facts stated must be considered
rather as elements for thought, than as forming in themselves
the sole end of historical reading.

Persians.

Which is the most ancient? This question has been much discussed, but the weight of authority assigns the palm of antiquity to the first. Adopting this opinion, which is by far the most general, we shall begin our brief sketches of the profane history of the ancient world with an account of the inhabitants of " the land of Egypt."

HISTORY OF EGYPT.

The earliest tribes which peopled Egypt, probably came from Abyssinia or Sennaar. The stream of population appears to have descended along the banks of the Nile, and to have gra dually overspread the valley fertilised by its floods. The date of this first migration, however, cannot be fixed. These remote settlers in Egypt were nomadic, that is, moved about from place to place for convenience of pasturage, and As a necessary accompaniment to the study of history, an had not more fixed habitations than the Bedouin Arabs of the acquaintance with two allied branches of knowledge is in- present day. After ages spent in the pastoral state, they dispensable; we mean GEOGRAPHY and CHRONOLOGY, which began to apply themselves to agriculture, and to erect perGeo-manent villages to dwell in. During these ages they were Dr. Hales calls "the joint handmaids of history." graphy gives the student a clear idea of the places in which governed by priests, who pretended to have received the laws the events he reads of occurred; whilst Chronology teaches which they enforced, immediately from the gods. This form him the relation in which they stood towards each other of government, which is called a theocracy, afforded the widest in point of time. To the former of these important subjects, & opportunity for the exercise of priestly injustice and oppresIt had divided the nation into three distinct special department of the POPULAR EDUCATOR will be devoted; sion, and for a very long period retarded the progress of whilst it will be our object to combine all necessary instruc- civilisation. tion in the latter, with the main subject of these papers, so classes or castes; first the priests, then the military, and, far as they extend. It is hoped that the student will thus lastly, the people. The people alone laboured, and all the be furnished with such an epitome of geographical and histori- fruit of their toils was devoured by the avarice of the priests, cal knowledge as shall not altogether imperfectly supply the who paid the military for keeping the rest of the population in place of costly and discursive works upon these important check. A time at length arrived, however, when the military branches. Endeavouring to attain the medium between a themselves became weary of yielding a blind obedience to mere dry detail of facts, and diffuse reflection upon them- their priestly masters, and a revolution took place which enthe first being insufficient, and the last unnecessary, for the tirely and forever changed the form of government. Theocracy purposes of popular education-we shall aim at giving the was exchanged for monarchy, or government by a king Different chronologers give different dates for reader as interesting and connected a sketch of the history of Menes was the leader of the revolution, and the first king the ancient world, as the best sources of information will of Egypt. furnish, and as the nature of the subject itself will permit. We this very remote event, but that deduced from recent insert on the opposite page an ethnographic table, showing discoveries fixes its occurrence about the year 2782 B.C. the descent of the various nations of the earth from the families Josephus says that Menes lived many years before Abraof the sons of Noah; it will go a great way to supply the ham, and that he governed Egypt more than 1300 years want of the early history of nations, being founded on the before Solomon. All that is known of his reign has been account given in the tenth chapter of Genesis, which is the most conveyed to us through the obscure and uncertain chanancient and most valuable historical document in the world. nel of tradition. This tells us that he diverted the course of In the construction of this table, very considerable use has been the Nile, which before his time had washed the base of the made of two similar tables of great value, recently published; sandy ridge, near the borders of the Libyan desert, and thus the one, by Dr. Rosenmuller, to be found in his "Biblical protected from the overflowings of the river, the ground on Geography;" and the other, by the late reverend and learned which Memphis, the future capital of the kingdom was afterDr. J. Pye Smith, inserted in the "Biblical Cyclopedia." wards erected. He also acquired glory in war; but his best Ancient History, in its widest sense, extends from the renown consists in having liberated and improved his country, creation of the world to the overthrow of the Roman Empire and instructed his subjects in the useful arts of life. The The royal power was handed down to his descendants in the direct in the West, about the year 476 of the Christian era. knowledge which we possess of the earliest ages through line, under whom it became gradually still milder and more which it carries us, is necessarily scanty and obscure. Dark- enlightened. Thebes, "the city of the hundred gates," which ness all but impenetrable everywhere surrounds our path. had been built long before the overthrow of the priestly Our only sources of trustworthy information are the Mosaic power, was the sole capital of the country, till Memphis, records. These go back to a period long before the formation whose foundations had been laid by Menes, at a short dis of regular states or communities, and, being long prior to the tance from the Nile, was completed by his son, and made a authentic annals of the profane nations, are therefore our only second capital of the rapidly flourishing Egyptian kingdom. Of the succeeding kings who belonged to the dynasty lights on those distant and dark ages of the infancy of the human race. By them, we are told of the creation of the founded by Menes, even tradition tells us almost nothing. world" in the beginning;" of the creation and fall of man; The last of them was Timaus, who was driven from his of the flood, and of the subsequent settlement of Noah and throne by the invasion of the Hycsos, or Shepherd-kings, his family in the plain of Shinar, where they built the tower which took place about 2400 years before the birth of Christ. of Babel, and where the confusion of their language took place, Accompanied by a fierce people, they poured into Egypt from which caused their dispersion into the different regions of the the east, and under their rule, which lasted for more than two carth. The sacred records afterwards confine themselves to the centuries and a half, the progress of civilisation was completely history of the Israelitish people, and refer to the annals of the suspended. They were at length Ziven from the country by other nations which, in process of time, had risen into exis- Amosis, a chief of Upper Egypt, whose father had prepared tence after the scattering of the tribes at Babel, only so far as the way for complete expulsion of the invaders, which his son hey are connected with those of the chosen people. Their effected. According to Manetho, a celebrated Egyptian annals will form no part of this summary of ancient history; writer, who lived in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the being recorded in the sacred writings they ought to be so well vanquished shepherds crossed the desert, and entered Syria; known as not to require it. Passing then from the Israelities, we but fearing the Assyrians, who were then very powerful, they find at the point where profane history may be said to begin, entered what was afterwards called the land of Judea, and three principal nations, an account of which, and of some other settling there, built Jebus or Jerusalem. secondary Asiatic communities, will embrace all, or nearly all, the points of interest or importance in the history of antiquity. These three nations are the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the

On the expulsion of the Shepherd kings, Amenoph, the son of Amosis, was raised to the throne, and founded the eighteenth dynasty of Egyptian kings. His entire reign, and those

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his three successors, Thothmosis I, Thothmosis II., and Maris or Thothmosis III., were devoted to the object of re-establishing a regular government, and raising up the nation, which had been crushed by so many years of servitude under a foreign yoke. At the time of their invasion, they had burned the cities, thrown down the temples of the gods, put the inhabitants in large numbers to death, and spread ruin all over the land. On their expulsion, therefore, everything had to be re-constructed. Amenoph and his successors gradually re-established order throughout the whole kingdom. The canals, which had been neglected or destroyed, were repaired or re-formed; whilst agriculture and the arts, encouraged and protected by the sovereigns, soon brought back abundance, and at once increased and perpetuated the resources of government. In a little time the towns were re-built; edifices consecrated to religion appeared on all sides, and several of the monuments which even yet excite the admiration of the traveller on the banks of the Nile, belong to this interesting

power to the borders of the Red Sea, and threatened encroach. ment upon the Egyptian territory. Moeris and his successors were thus drawn into wars, which resulted in constant advantages to the Egyptian nation. Amenoph II., the son of Maris, rendered tributary Syria and the ancient kingdom. of Babylon; Thothmosis IV. invaded Abyssinia and Sennaar; whilst Amenoph III. made equally successful expeditions into other parts of Asia. It was the latter king who built the temple of Sohleb, in Upper Nubia, the magnificent palace of Luxor, and all that part south of the grand palace of Carnac at Thebes. It is conjectured that it was under one of the princes of this dynasty, 1864 B.C., that Joseph the son of Jacob became prime minister of Egypt, and afterwards brought thither the family of his father, which thus became the source of the Israelitish nation. In the history of the eighteenth dynasty, we meet with nothing of interest or importance, till we come to the reign of Rameses the Great. This prince, who is known also in history by the name of Besostris, was

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epoch of the restoration of Egypt by the wisdom and energy of its kings. Of this number are the monuments of Semneh and Amada in Nubia, and several of those of Carnac and Medinet-Abou, which are the works of Thothmosis I., or of Mæris, Thothmosis III. This latter king, under whom the two obelisks of Alexandria were erected, is the Pharaoh who achieved the greatest undertakings; it is to him that Egypt owes the existence of the great lake Fayoum. By immense works which he executed, and by means of canals and sluices, this lake became a reservoir, which served to maintain, in the lower country, a perpetual balance between the overflowings of the Nile; to supply water when these were insufficient, or to withdraw it when they were excessive. Formerly it went by the name of its constructor, being called Lake Moris; it now bears the Arabic name Birket-el-Karoun.

Whilst Egypt was thus advancing in civilisation and internal prosperity, several nations of Asia had extended their

the first mighty warrior whose conquests are recorded with any degree of clearness. The date of his reign, which is the most extraordinary portion of Egyptian history, has been variously fixed. Some chronologers are of opinion that he is the Shishak who plundered Jerusalem in the reign of Rehoboam 986 B.c.; others contend that he was the Pharaoh who pursued the Israelites, and was drowned in the Red Sea 1639 B.C.; whilst by others, with more probability, the commencement of his reign is fixed about the beginning of the thirteenth century before Christ. His whole history seems largely tinged with fable and romance; it deserves, however, a more lengthened notice than has been given to any of his predecessors.

His father was told in a dream, by the god Ptha (so goes the story), that his son, then newly born, should be lord of the whole earth. Upon the credit of this vision, he collected all the males of Egypt who were born on the same day with

As

Rameses, appointed nurses to take care of them, and had them
treated like his own child; being persuaded that they who
should be the constant companions of his youth, would prove
the most faithful ministers and soldiers in his riper years.
they grew up, they were inured to laborious exercises, and in
particular, were never permitted to taste food till they had per-
formed a journey of upwards of twenty-two of our miles.
When the old king imagined they were sufficiently trained in
martial exercises, he sent them, under the command of
Rameses, against the Arabians. The young prince and his
companions were completely successful; the Arabians, who
had never been conquered before, were subdued. He was
then sent westward, where he conquered a large part of Africa,
and was only stopped in his career of victory by the Atlantic
Ocean. Whilst he was absent on this expedition, his father
died; and Rameses then resolved to fulfil the prediction of
the god Ptha, and become the conqueror of the world. With
this view he divided the kingdom into thirty-six provinces,
and endeavoured to insure the loyalty of the people by gifts,
both of money and land. He forgave all who had been guilty
of offences, and discharged the debts of the soldiers. He then
appointed his brother Armais regent during his absence, for-
bidding him, however, to use the kingly diadem, and com-

were nowhere to be seen. These pillars generally bore the following or a similar inscription: "Sesostris, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, subdued this country by the power of his arms. Besides these, in some places he also left statues of himself, armed after the Ethiopian and Egyptian manner, with a javelin in one hand and a bow in the other; whilst across the breast a line was drawn from shoulder to shoulder, with this inscription: "This regio. I obtained by these my shoulders." The abandonment of his project of universal conquest, was caused by the news of his brother's having assumed the diadem and violated his queen. Hearing this, Rameses hastened from Thrace, and nine years after he had set out on his expedition, reached Pelusium in Egypt, attended by vast multitudes of captives, and laden with the spoils of Asia. H brother met him at this city, where, as is very improbably reported, Rameses accepted an invitation to an entertainment given by the traitorous regent. On this occasion, he drank freely, the queen and the other members of the royal family joining in the festivities. During the course of the entertainment, the treacherous Armais caused a quantity of dried reeds to be laid round the apartment where they were to sleep; and as soon as the party, filled with wine and wassail, had retired to rest. he set fire to the reeds. Rameses was the first to per

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of their carousals, were incapable of aiding him, he rushed through the flames, and was followed by his queen and the royal children. Armais was eventually driven out of Egypt, and withdrew into Greece, where, under the new name of Danaus, he acquired great renown.

manding him to abstain from all injury to or undue familiarity | ceive the danger, and finding that his guards, from the effect with the queen and the royal concubines. His army consisted of 600,000 infantry, 24,000 cavalry, and 27,000 chariots. Besides these land forces, he built one fleet on the Mediterranean, for conquests in the West, and another on the Red Sea for operations in the East. The former of these conquered C prus, in the Levant, the coast of Phoenicia, and several of the islands, called Cyclades, which lie to the south of the island of Delos; and the latter fleet subdued all the coasts of the Red Sea; but shoals and other nautical difficulties stopped its further progress. With the land forces, Rameses marched against the Troglodytes (an ancient people of Ethiopia), whom he conquered, obliging them to pay him a tribute of gold, ebony, and ivory. He then proceeded as far as the promontory of Dira, which lay near the straits of Babelmandeb, where he set up a pillar, with an hieroglyphic inscription. Pursuing his conquest on the continent of Asia, he crossed the Ganges, and erected pillars likewise on its banks; then marching northward he ascended the plateau of central Asia, subdued the Assyrians and Medes, after which he directed his course towards the Caspian, and the Black Sea, and invaded Scythia and Thrace. This latter country seems to have been the utmost limit of his conquests, for beyond it his pillars

The illustrious hero of these romantic details is generally supposed to have been one of the best of princes, as well as the bravest of warriors. During his reign the star of the Pharahs reached its zenith. He founded new cities, dug new canals, and erected many of those magnificent structures whose remains even yet afford material for the increasing wonder and admiration of the Egyptian traveller. In his reign were reared the monuments of Ibsambul, Derri, Guircheh-Hassan, and Wady-Essebouah, in Nubia; and in Egypt those of Kournah, of El Medineh near Kournah, a portion of the palace of Luxor, and the great hall with columns in the palace of Carnae, which had been begun by his father, Meneptha I. The latter is the most magnificent structure ever reared by the hand of man. Nor were these his most impor ant achievements. Not content with adorning his kingdom with sumptuous edifices, being desirous to promote the real welfare of his people, he published a body of new laws, the most important of which was tha

name.

which gave to all classes of his subjects the right of property fourth page; and the ruins of the Hall of Kings, is represented in its fullest extent. By this, he divested himself of that abso-in our eighth page. Adjacent to the great palace, are many lute and unlimited power which his ancestors had preserved other extensive buildings connected with it by avenues o after the overthrow of the Shepherd kings, and immortalised his sphinxes, lions, and rams, some of the avenues extending toUnder him, it was, that Egypt arrived at its highest wards Luxor. The effect of these ruins on the mind of the pitch of internal splendour and political power. His sway, spectator is that of awe and sublimity. He seems to be either as sovereign or receiver of tribute, extended over Egypt, entering a city of departed giants-to be alone in the midst Nubia, Abyssinia, Sennaar, several countries of the south of of all that is sacred in the world. Africa, all the wandering tribes of the desert, east and west of the Nile, Syria, Arabia, the kingdoms of Babylon and Nineveh, a great part of Asia Minor, the island of Cyprus, some islands of the Archipelago, and a large part of Persia. Besides intercourse with these countries, regular commercial communications were carried on with India. The discoveries of Indian stuffs and other materials, which have been made in the tombs of Thebes, prove the existence of such a commerce between the two countries at a time when the European tribes and a great portion of the Asiatics existed in a state of barbarism. Thebes and Memphis were the first central depots of this commerce, ages before Babylon, Tyre, Sidon, Alexandria, Palmyra (Tadmor), or Bagdad were founded. Egypt was at this period divided into thirty-six provincial governments, presided over by officers of different ranks, who administered justice according to a complete code of written laws. Of the population, which amounted in all to about six millions, a part specially devoted to the study of the sciences, and the advancement of the arts, was charged, besides the ceremonies of religion, with the administration of justice, the assessment and collection of the taxes, and with all the branches of the civil government. This was called the Sacerdotal (or priestly) Caste. The chief duties of this class were exercised or directed by the members of the royal family. A second portion of the people formed the Military Caste, out of which soldiers were exclusively drawn for the standing army, which averaged about 180,000 men. The third portion of the population constituted the Agricultural Caste, which had the sole cultivation of the soil, the product of which belonged to them alone, subject only to the deduction of a portion for the king, and another for the support of the sacerdotal and military castes. The fourth, and last, was the Industrial Caste, which included artisans of all kinds, and merchants. It was the productions of this class which raised the country to its highest pitch of prosperity.

ANTIQUITIES OF EGYPT.

Several allusions having been made in the preceding lesson on Ancient History, to the remarkable antiquities which have been found in the Thebaid, or Upper Egypt, we have taken the opportunity to introduce, for the benefit of our young readers, several illustrations of these antiquities, which will serve to convey an idea of their magnitude and their magnificence, and which will, in the absence of authentic historical documents, relate even to a certain extent their own extraordinary tale. In the vicinity of Thebes, the ancient capital of Egypt, and on its eastern side, distant from each other about two miles, stand the wonderful ruins of the ancient palaces of Carnac or Karnac and Luxor; and on the western side, Medinet Abou, the Memnonium, and the tombs cut in the mountain behind. Carnac surpasses in grandeur every other structure in Thebes, and in the world. On the north-east entrance to Karnac, the ancient Egyptians appear to have lavished all their magnificence. The approach is by a long avenue of sphinxes, the largest in Egypt, leading to a succession of portals with colossal statues in front. These are distinguished even by the variety of the materials in which they are cut. A calcareous stone, compact like marble, and variegated siliceous lime-stone, and beautiful rose-coloured and black marbles of Syene, have all been used in their structure. There are two obelisks; one of 91 feet high, the loftiest in Egypt, adorned with sculptures of perfect execution. principal hall, represented in our first page, is 318 feet long, and 159 broad, having the roof supported by 136 columns; the two middle ranges of these are about 70 feet high, and 11' feet in diameter; the others are 7 feet in diameter. This immense hall or vestibule leads into a court where there are four obelisks and twelve colossal figures. Two other courts conduct to what is supposed to be the apartments of the kings. One of these, called the Grand Court is represented in our

The

The entrance to the palace of Luxor is composed of two obelisks, which are about 70 feet above the surface of the ground, and are understood to be about 30 feet below it; two colossal statues of black granite, each 38 feet high, and two great masses of building of an oblong plan and tapering sides, 55 feet high, and covered with hieroglyphics. On the Libyan side of Thebes, is the site of the Memnonium, represented in our fifth page, and the immense statue of red granite, 64 feet in height, thrown down by Cambyses. The ruins of this edifice, which is by some called the tomb of Osymandyas, or Sesostris, consist of three colossal statues-the one just mentioned is within the edifies, and the other two are in the adjoining plain. The former is entirely broken into fragments, and cover a space sixty feet square, making it resemble a quarry. It was composed of a single block, which must have weighed two millions of pounds. The two statues on the plain, called by the country people Iama and Chama, still remain in their original position, but so mutilated as to render it impossible to judge of the sculpture. One of them, from the numerous inscriptions on it, appears to have been the vocal statue of Memnon, celebrated by the ancients as emitting a musical sound at sunrise, or when struck at particular times of the day. No modern visitor has been able to elicit these sounds; and there can be no doubt that they were produced by some contrivance of the Egyptian priests. Karnac, Luxor, and the Memnonium, from the nature of the sculptures and distribution of the apartments, are supposed to have been the palaces of kings. At all other places, the ancient buildings are considered to have been temples of the gods. From the accounts which have reached us of the nature of the authority exercised by the Egyptian priesthood, it is highly probable that at ancient Thebes, the palace and the temple were united. How degrading to think that Karnac, with all its magnificence and glory, was dedicated to the impure god Priapus!

With regard to the history of Rameses the Great, or Sesostris, king of Egypt, we may believe that he gained many victories and subdued many regions, although we cannot fix the date of his reign or the limits of his empire, nor tell what humbled nations bowed before his throne, or what captive kings were yoked to his triumphal car. He is represented in the engraving on our seventh page as in the act of beheading a number of his vanquished enemies. The sculpture from which it was taken was most probably intended only to indicate their complete subjugation. Could the hieroglyphics, literally sacred engravings, on the stone from which it was taken be properly read, the story of the conquest might be learned, Hitherto, this ancient book is sealed. Many attempts have been made in vain to discover a key to this mystic mode of writing on monuments, practised by the Egyptian priests.

QUESTIONS ON THE PRECEDING LESSON.

What is history in the various senses in which this term is employed?

What are the advantages to be gained by the study of history? What sciences are called the joint handmaids of history, and what is their object?

What are the limits assigned to the period of ancient history? What are the most authentic sources of information on ancient history?

What three nations claim to be the most ancient, in the history of the world?

What was the original state of the earliest tribes that peopled Egypt?

How were these people governed? and what was the form of government called?

State the nature of the different castes into which the Egyptians were divided.

Who was the first king of Egypt? and how many years did he live before Solomon? State some of his mighty acts; and the names of the early and later capitals of the kingdom. Who was the last of the dynasty which he founded, and what befel him?

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