EGYPTIANMONUMENTS

By means of the knowledge of the hieroglyphic characters, which has been already obtained, we are fully competent to form a general idea of the nature of the inscriptions on the principal Egyptian monuments that are extant. Numerous as they are, there is scarcely one of them which we are not able to refer to the class either of sepulchral or of votive inscriptions; astronomical and chronological there seem to be none, since the numerical characters, which have been perfectly ascertained, have not yet been found to occur in such a form as they necessarily must have assumed in the records of this description: of a historical nature, we can only find the triumphal, which are often sufficiently distinguishable, but they may also always be referred to the votive; since whoever related his own exploits thought it wisest to attribute the glory of them to some deity, and whoever recorded those of another, was generally disposed to intermix divine honours with his panegyric. It has, indeed, been asserted, that the Egyptians were not in the habit of deifying any mortal persons; but the inscription of Rosetta is by no means the only one in which the sovereigns of Egypt are inserted in the number of its deities; the custom is observable in monuments of a much earlier age; indeed, in such a country it might be considered as a kind of dilemma of degradation, whether it was most ridiculous to be made a divinity, or to be excluded from so plebeian an assemblage; but flattery is more prone to err by commission than by omission, and, consequently, we find the terms king and god very generally inseparable. The sepulchral inscriptions, from the attention that was paid in Egypt to the obsequies of the dead, appear, on the whole, to constitute the most considerable part of the Egyptian literature which remains, and they afford us, upon a comparative examination, some very remarkable peculiarities. The general tenor of all these inscriptions appears to be, as might be expected from the testimony of Herodotus, the identification of the deceased with the God Osiris, and probably, if a female, with Isis; and the subject of the most usual representations seems to be the reception of this new personage by the principal deities, to whom he now stands in a relation expressed in the respective inscriptions; the honour of an apotheosis, reserved by the ancient Romans for emperors, and by the modern for saints, having been apparently extended by the old Egyptians to private individuals of all descriptions. It required an extensive comparison of these inscriptions to recognise their precise nature, since they seldom contain a name surrounded by a ring in its usual form: sometimes, however, as on the green sarcophagus of the British Museum, a distinct name is very often repeated, and preceded by that of Osiris; while, in most other instances, there is a certain combination of characters, bearing evident relation to the personage delineated, which occurs, after the symbols of Osiris, instead of the name; so that either the ring was simply omitted on this occasion, or a new, and perhaps a mysterious name was employed,

consisting frequently of the appellations of several distinct deities, and probably analogous to the real name. That the characteristic phrase, so repeated, must have had some relation to the deceased, is proved by its scarcely ever being alike, in any two monuments that have been compared, while almost every other part of the manuscripts and inscriptions are the same in many different instances, and some of them in almost all; and this same phrase may be observed in Lord Mountnorris's and Mr Bankes's manuscripts, placed over the head of the person who is brought up between the two goddesses, to make his appearance before the true Osiris, in his own person, and in his judicial capacity, with his counsellors about him, and the balance of justice before him. (Hierogl. 5. E F G e f.) In this instance the phrase consists of the names of "Hyperion" and the Sun, preceded by a block and an arm with an offering (Plate LXXVIII. O), and it may be interpreted, without any violence, "the votary of Hyperion and of Phre." In a small manuscript, engraved by Denon, the part, which resembles the characteristic phrase of other manuscripts, is followed by the name of a king (P), which is nearly identical with that of the father of the Pseudomemnon in the British Museum (Q), the one having the hieral-pha laid flat, the other the traces of the pedestal, which is equivalent to it. (N. 6.)

The tablet of the last judgment, which is so well illustrated by the testimony of Diodorus concerning the funerals of the Egyptians (Sect. 5.) is found near the end of almost all the manuscripts upon papyrus, that are so frequently discovered in the coffins of the mummies, and among others in Lord Mountnorris's hieratic manuscript, printed in the Collection of the Egyptian Society. The great deity sits on the left, holding the hook and the whip or fan; his name and titles are generally placed over him; but this part of the present manuscript is a little injured. Before him is a kind of mace, supporting something like the skin of a leopard; then a female Cerberus, and on a shelf over her head, the tetrad of termini, which have been already distinguished by the names "Tetrarcha," Anubis, Macedo, and "Hieracion," each having had his appropriate denomination written over his head. Behind the Cerberus stands Thoth, with his style and tablet, having just begun to write. Over his head, in two columns, we find his name and titles, including his designation as a scribe. The balance follows, with a little ba-boon as a kind of genius, sitting on it. Under the beam stand "Cteristes" and "Hyperion," who are employed in adjusting the equipoise; but their names in this manuscript are omitted. The five columns over the balance are only remarkable as containing, in this instance, the characteristic phrase, or the name of the deceased, intermixed with other characters. Beyond the balance stands a female, holding the sceptre of Isis, who seems to be called Rhea, the wife of the sun. She is looking back at the personage who holds up his hand as a mark of respect, and who is identified as the deceased by the name simply placed over him, without any exordium. He is followed by a second goddess, who is also holding up her hands, in token of respect; and whose name

Egyptian Monuments. looks like a personification of honour or glory, unless it is simply intended to signify "a divine priestess" belonging to the order of the Pterophori mentioned on the Rosetta stone. The forty two assessors are wanting in this tablet; and, in many other manuscripts, their number is curtailed, to make room for other subjects; but, in several of those which are engraved in the Description de l'Egypte, they are all represented, sometimes as sitting figures, and sometimes standing as termini, with their feet united.

The principal part of the text of all these manuscripts appears to consist of a collection of hymns, or rather homages to certain deities, generally expressed in the name of the deceased, with his title of Osiris, although the true Osiris is not excluded from the groups that are introduced. The upper part of each manuscript is occupied by a series of pictorial tablets; under them are vertical columns of distinct hieroglyphics, or, in the epistolographic manuscripts, pages of the text, which are commonly divided into paragraphs, with a tablet at the head of each, the first words being constantly written with red ink, made of a kind of ochre, as the black is of a carbonaceous substance. The beginning of the manuscript is seldom entire, being always at the outside of the roll; as the "umbilicus" of the Romans was synonymous with the end. Not far from the beginning, we always find a large tablet, occupying the whole depth of the paper, representing the sun adored by his ministering spirits. In the large hieratic manuscript, which occupies four plates of the Description de l'Egypte, and which may be considered as a fine specimen of the most highly finished copies, there are at present only four columns remaining before this tablet. It is followed by a short section, with a rubric, which is not very distinctly expressed; after this are 35 others, beginning with a long rubric (Plate LXXVIII. R.), which is usually followed by the name of a divinity, represented in a neighbouring part of the margin, and which may be supposed to mean something like "Respect and reverence be paid to each of the sacred powers." The next ten sections begin with the rubric of a feather, and a sitting figure raising his hand to his head, as if holding a vase on it (S), meaning probably "Honour is due," or belonging to; then follow the name and titles of Thoth or Hermes, and the phrase describing the deceased in the character of Osiris; and afterwards, the names of each of a group of deities, which is represented in the corresponding tablet with an altar and a suppliant before them. These groups are different in the different sections, but they correspond pretty accurately with each other in the various manuscripts, and this hermetic decad is the most constant part of the manuscripts found with the mummies, though a little more extended in some than in others. (Hierogl. 4.) After these, we find 35 sections, beginning with a drop, a feather, a serpent, and a line (T); the rubric being immediately followed by the deified name peculiar to the manuscript. This exordium, from the analogy of the term sacred (n. 146), we can have no hesitation in understanding as a derivative of the feather, signifying honour or ornament, and the serpent signifying perpetuity, and in translating it, "Eternal

honour" or respect. A similar sense seems, in other places, to be expressed by the open square or the pyramid, instead of the feather (U, V); and not uncommonly the hat is substituted for the line, without any variation of the meaning (W). After these 35 sections, we have two others, of which the rubrics are less intelligible, followed by 42 short ones, which evidently contain the names and titles of as many separate deities, whose figures are commonly represented in the great tablet, near that of Osiris. We may generally observe, among the epithets of each, the term "illustrious" (n. 121); and each section has a second paragraph, beginning with a pair of arms extended, a character which seems occasionally to be used in reference to the equal scales of justice, though on the stone of Rosetta it appears to signify a kind of temple, so that it may possibly relate to the honours to be paid to these divine judges. With a few additional columns, and with the great tablet of the judgment, the manuscript concludes. It does not contain the figure of the sacred cow, which is the termination of most other manuscripts; nor the agricultural representations, which are frequently found in many of them, especially in that of Lord Mountnorris (Hierogl. 3), with the three deities sitting in a grotto under it. The last of these, according to the inscriptions over the two boats, is meant for Arueris, the second apparently for the mother of the sun, and the first for Osiris; and one of the boats carries the steps, which seem to be emblematic of the solar power; the other the throne or chair of state, which is universally appropriated to Osiris.

The coffins of the mummies, and the large sarcophagi of stone, are generally covered with representations extremely similar to some of those which are found in the manuscripts. The judicial tablet is frequently delineated on the middle of the coffins; above it are Isis and Nephthe, at the sides; and apparently Rhea in the middle, with outspread wings. The space below is chiefly occupied by figures of twenty or thirty of the principal deities, to whom the deceased, in his mystical character, is doing homage; each of them being probably designated by the relationship in which he stands to the new representative of Osiris. In the sculptures, the figures are generally less numerous; the same deities are commonly represented as on the painted coffins, but without the repetition of the suppliant, and in an order subject to some little variation. The large sarcophagus of granite, in the British Museum, brought from Cairo, and formerly called the Lover's Fountain, has the name of Apis, as a part of the characteristic denomination. This circumstance, at first sight, seemed to make it evident that it must have been intended to contain the mummy of an Apis, for which its magnitude renders it well calculated; but, when the symbols of other deities were found in the mystic names upon various other monuments, this inference could no longer be considered as absolutely conclusive.

Of the votive or dedicatory inscriptions we find an interesting example on a small scale, in the engraving on the bottom of a scarabaeus, very neatly sculptured in a softish steatite, or lapis ollaris, brought from Egypt by Mr Legh, and now in the possession of Dr Macmichael. (Plate LXXVIII. X.) It is re-

markable for its simplicity, and for affording an intelligible sense in all its parts. The chain, the semicircle, and the square block, mean clearly [To] the beloved; the loop supporting a wreath or crown, and the imperfect sitting figure, resemble some of the titles often given to Osiris, and with the following oval prettiness certainly signify of the great god; the throne, the semicircle, and the oval, Isis; the sitting figure, the goddess; the looped wreath, perhaps the great; the bird and circle, offspring of; the hieralpha or lough, and the two feathers, Phthah; the pillar perhaps the powerful, but it is not distinctly formed; the beetle seems to be here a synonym or epithet of Phthah, as if the father of all; the handled cross, the living; the lute, the good; the pyramid, the prosperous or glorious: the ring with the handle seems to be nearly synonymous with the chain, and may be rendered, in conjunction with the line and the hieralpha, the approved of Phthah, an epithet found in the inscription of Rosetta; the hatchet is the deity; the ring and handle, with the two lutes, approaches near to the symbol for munificent (n. 154), and may be called delighting in good gifts; and the concluding ring and staff or hatchet may either mean, this is dedicated; or may, with rather more probability, be considered as a reduplication of the beginning of the line, in an inverted position. It may be remarked, that all the inscriptions on the scarabaei run from right to left, as is most commonly observed wherever the direction was indifferent; so that if they were used as seals, the impression must have assumed the form which is somewhat less usual in other cases.

We have a most valuable example of a dedicatory inscription on a larger scale in the decree preserved on the stone of Rosetta, which, besides its utility in affording the only existing clue for deciphering the hieroglyphic characters, gives us also a very complete idea of the general style of the records of the Egyptian hierarchy. Of the triumphal monuments, the most magnificent are the obelisks, which are reported by Pliny to have been dedicated to the Sun; and there is every reason to suppose, that the translation of one of these inscriptions, preserved by Ammianus Marcellinus, after Hermapion, contains a true representation of a part of its contents, more especially as "the mighty Apollo" of Hermapion agrees completely with the hawk, the bull, and the arm, which usually occupy the beginning of each inscription. These symbols are generally followed by a number of pompous titles, not always very intimately connected with each other, and among them we often find that of "Lord of the asp-bearing diadems," with some others, immediately preceding the name and parentage of the sovereign, who is the principal subject of the inscription. The obelisk at Heliopolis is without the bull; and the whole inscription may be supposed to have signified something of this kind. "This Apollinean trophy is consecrated to the honour of King "Remesses," crown-

ed with an asp-bearing diadem; it is consecrated to the honour of the son of "Heron," the ornament of his country, beloved by Phthah, living for ever; it is consecrated to the honour of the revered and beneficent deity "Remesses," great in glory, superior to his enemies; by the decree of an assembly, to the powerful and flourishing, whose life shall be without end." It is true, that some parts of this interpretation are in great measure conjectural; but none of it is altogether arbitrary, or unsupported by some probable analogy: and the spirit and tenor of the inscription is probably unimpaired by the alterations, which this approximation to the sense may unavoidably have introduced.

Of the obelisks still in existence there are perhaps about thirty larger and smaller, which may be considered as genuine. Several others are decidedly spurious, having been chiefly sculptured at Rome in imitation of the Egyptian style, but so negligently and unskillfully, as to have exhibited a striking difference even in the character of the workmanship. Such are the Pamphilian, in explanation of which the laborious Kircher has published a folio volume, and the Barberinian or Veranian: in both of these the emblems are put together in a manner wholly arbitrary; and where an attempt is made to imitate the appearance of a name, the characters are completely different at each repetition. The Sallustian obelisk has also been broken, and joined inaccurately, and some modern restitutions have been very awkwardly introduced, as becomes evident upon comparing with each other the figures of Kircher and of Zoega. Another very celebrated monument, the Isiac table, which has been the subject of much profound discussion, and has given birth to many refined mythological speculations, is equally incapable of supporting a minute examination upon solid grounds; for the inscriptions neither bear any relation to the figures near which they are placed, nor form any connected sense of their own; and the whole is undoubtedly the work of a Roman sculptor, imitating only the general style and the separate delineations of the Egyptian tablets, as indeed some of the most learned and acute of our critical antiquaries had already asserted, notwithstanding the contrary opinions of several foreigners, of the highest reputation for their intimate acquaintance with the works of Greek and Roman art. We may hope, however, that in future these unprofitable discussions and disputes will become less and less frequent, and that our knowledge of the antiquities of Egypt will gain as much in the solidity and sufficiency of its evidence, as it may probably lose in its hypothetical symmetry and its imaginary extent; and while we allow every latitude to legitimate reasoning and cautious conjecture, in the search after historical truth, we must peremptorily exclude from our investigations an attachment to fanciful systems and presupposed analogies on the one hand, and a too implicit deference to traditional authority on the other. (1. J.)

ELBA, an island of the Mediterranean, separated by a narrow channel from the western coast of Italy. It lies in 42° 49' 6" N. Lat., and 10° 9' 24" E. Long. from London. It is about 70 English miles in circuit, but the coast is very winding and irregular.

Elba is supposed to have been first peopled by a colony of Etruscans, but was afterwards occupied by a body of those Greeks who founded Marseilles. It fell afterwards under the dominion of Carthage, and was taken by the Romans during the first Punic war.

HEROGLYPHICS.

A. DEITIES

Sacred Ch.

Ros. Ench. M.S.

19 NILUS
𐀀𐀁𐀂𐀃𐀄

1 GOD powerful
𐀀𐀁𐀂𐀃𐀄

5 Agathodaemon
𐀀𐀁𐀂𐀃𐀄

13 ARUERIS
𐀀𐀁𐀂𐀃𐀄

14 ISIS
𐀀𐀁𐀂𐀃𐀄

15 NEPHTHE
𐀀𐀁𐀂𐀃𐀄

17 HORUS
𐀀𐀁𐀂𐀃𐀄

18 PAAMYLES

20 APIS

21 MNEUIS

22 Hyperion

23 Cteristes

24 Tetrarcha

25 ANUBIS

26 MACEDO

27 Hieracion

28 Cerexochus

29 Bioxiphus

30 Flatypterus

31 Mastigias

32 Soraea

B. KINGS.

33 Thuthmosis

34 Mesphres

35 Misphragmu-
thosis

36 Tithous

37 Eoa

38 MEMNON
𐀀𐀁𐀂𐀃𐀄

39 Amenses

40 Heron

41 Remesses

42 Sexostris

43 Pheron

44 Nuncoreus

45 Proteus

46 Amaemupathes

47 Anysis

48 Psammetius

49 NECHAO

50 PSAMMIS

51 Maemuphates

52 AMASIS

53 Ptoleberius

54 Discoxygus

181. THOYTH
ᐅᐅᐅᐅᐅᐅ

1 1

199. THIRTY
ᐊᐊᐊ

ᐅ.

ᐊᐊᐊᐅ?

182. MECHIR
ᐊᐊᐊᐅ

ᐊᐅ, ᐊᐅ

200. FORTY TWO
ᐅᐊᐊᐊᐊ

G. RELATIONS.

183. MESORE
ᐊᐊᐊᐅᐅ

ᐊᐊᐊ

201. A HUNDRED
ᐊᐅ

6. IN ORDER THAT
ᐅᐊᐊ

ᐊᐊ, ᐊᐊ

184. FIRST DAY
ᐅᐅᐊᐅ

ᐊᐊ

202. A THOUSAND
ᐊᐅ

7. WHEREVER
ᐊᐊᐊ, ᐅᐅᐊᐊ

ᐊᐊ

185. THIRTIETH
ᐅᐅᐊᐊᐊ

ᐊᐊ, ᐊᐊ

203. MCDXXXVIII
ᐊᐅ ᐅᐅᐅ ᐊᐅ ᐊᐅᐅ
ᐊᐅᐅᐅ

ᐊᐊ

I. NUMBERS

204. SEVERAL
ᐅᐊᐊ, ᐅᐅᐅ

ᐊᐊ

186. ONE
ᐅᐅᐅ, ᐅᐅᐅ

1

K. SOUNDS

187. FIRST
ᐅᐅᐅ

ᐊᐊ, ᐊᐊ=1

205
ᐊᐅᐅ

14

210
ᐊᐊ, ᐊᐊ

215
ᐊ

ᐊ

ᐊᐊ ᐊᐊ

188. TWO
ᐅᐅᐅ, ᐅᐅᐅ

206
ᐊᐅ

211
ᐊᐊ, ᐊᐊ

216
ᐊ

ᐊ ᐊ

189. SECOND
ᐅᐅᐅ, ᐅᐅᐅ

ᐊ

207
ᐊ

212
ᐊ

217
ᐊ

ᐊ

ᐊ ᐊ

190. THREE
ᐅᐅᐅ

208
ᐊᐅ

213
ᐊᐅ

218
ᐊ

ᐊ

ᐊᐊ, ᐊᐊ

191. THIRD
ᐅᐅᐅ, ᐅᐅᐅ

ᐊ ᐊ

209
ᐊ

214
ᐊᐅ, ᐅ

ᐊ

192. THRICE
ᐅᐅᐅ, ᐅᐅᐅ

ᐊᐊ

SUPPOSED ENCHOREAL ALPHABET.

2 ᐊ ᐊ

193. FOUR
ᐅᐅ

ᐊᐊ

ᐊ

ᐊ, ᐊ

ᐅ

ᐊ

ᐊ, ᐊ, ᐊ

194. FIVE
ᐅᐅ

ᐊ

ᐊ

ᐊ

ᐊ

ᐊ

H. TIME

ᐊ ᐊ

196. EIGHTH
ᐅᐅᐅ, ᐅᐅᐅ

ᐊ=1

ᐊ

ᐊ, ᐊ

ᐊ

ᐊ

ᐊ, ᐊ

197. TEN
ᐅᐅᐅ, ᐅᐅᐅ

ᐊ, ᐊ

ᐊ

ᐊ

ᐊ

ᐊ, ᐊ

ᐊ, ᐊ, ᐊ

198. SEVENTEEN
ᐅᐅᐅ, ᐅᐅᐅ

ᐊ, ᐊ

ᐊ

ᐊ, ᐊ

ᐊ

ᐊ, ᐊ

L. ADDITIONS 21* Damalis 78* CROCODILE a b 165* UPPER, LOWER

M. SPECIMENS OF PHRASES. ROS. INSCR. LAST LINE.

... ΣΤΕΡΕΟΥΛΙΟΥ ΤΟΙΣ ΤΕΙΕΡΟΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΓΧΩΡΙΟΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟΙΣ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΣΙΝ

ΚΑΙ ΣΤΗΣ ΔΙΕΝΕΚΑΣ ΤΩΙ ΤΩΝ ΤΕ ΠΡΩΤΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΔΕΥΤΕΡΩΝ! .....

N. COMPARISON OF MANUSCRIPTS.