Her seek a lofty goal,
Though from its chains she wakes, and quick sets free,
The darkened soul,
Like moonshine pale,
If the heart’s breath of life be wanting quite,
If warm love fail!
We have already repeatedly shown the beautiful and intimate relation which bound Lepsius to his father, and pointed out how zealously he ever tried to impart to his father everything that could please or interest him. He never forgot what he owed to the guide of his youth and childhood,—and it was not little. Above all others, the gift which he had received from his father was the strong love of truth and order by which he was distinguished. It was not only that this lightened his most difficult labors, but it rather made many of them possible. Hand in hand with this went the painstaking accuracy with which he worked. He never laid aside anything which was not entirely completed and finished up to the last detail. Thence it comes, for example, that the second and third volumes of his chronology, announced in the preface, were never published. He had begun important preparatory works for them, but as these were not entirely finished he only gave them to the press in detached monographs, which he could regard as completed. If, with the exception of the Decree of Canopus, and a portion of the seventeenth chapter of the Book of the Dead, we possess no continuous translation of hieroglyphic texts by him, this circumstance is also to be explained by his dislike to letting anything leave his hand and go to press which contained flaws or was not perfectly completed and filled out. All that he translated from ancient Egyptian into German gives the most sufficient evidence of his mastery of this branch also, but the critical philologist never prevailed upon himself to deliver a line which was only half known as one that was known. The fragment of his translation of the “Book of the Dead” which we have previously mentioned, and which has for its basis a critical comparison of all the texts obtainable, shows much greater ability than the translation of the entire “Book of the Dead” which has recently been prematurely attempted by a later Egyptologist.
It would be an error to call Lepsius a genius. He lacked the strong imagination, the winged creative power which achieves feats that soar beyond the conception of men of pure understanding, as well as the indifference to the things of this world and the ardent temperament of a genius. But he was a man of talent of the first order, with wonderful intensity of intellect, and the rarest strength of will and capability for learning and work. Besides this he was not only, as his wife said, an “homme comme il faut,” that is, a man fitted to appear in society, but also the model of a scholar, and what is more, of a man. It is true that warm feeling is necessary for the latter, and we remain true to our conviction that he possessed this.
In his Parisian diary, which was intended for himself alone, he tells of the fall of a platform on the occasion of a public festival. A boy, who was a stranger to him, was injured by it; he took him in his carriage, and subsequently wrote: “I held him afterwards for a long time in my arms, so that at least he should see something of the unveiling of the statue.” On the 25th of July, 1834, he wrote in the same journal: “A disagreeable and entirely unfounded slander will perhaps put an end to my Egyptian project,” and immediately afterwards: “Heap coals of fire on the head of thy enemy.”
This is what we call “kind-hearted,” this is christian in the right sense of the word. He had absolute control of the property and never restricted the beneficence of his wife, half of whose life was devoted to the care of the poor and the like occupations. Even such sums as five hundred thalers he willingly gave away when it was a question of saving a poor family. Just as he visited me as a teacher, and gave me a portion of his precious time, when a protracted illness prevented my going out of the house, so did he seek out in the hospital a needy scholar as soon as he heard of his severe illness, and there extend to him the most cordial assistance, though the young man had never been personally intimate with him, and had not been, like me, recommended to him by a Grimm. And how many such things, which never came to my knowledge, could be told of him!
Although those who cling to the letter of the faith would not approve his Christianity, yet his life was a truly christian one. He ever made an open confession of faith in God and Christ, he took, whenever he felt the need for it, the holy sacrament, he experienced in himself the blessings which Christianity had brought into the world, he recognized them in history, and he allowed his children to be educated by his pious wife without opposition. He declared to her, to Trumpp, and to others, that the highest duty of human beings was “to love God above all others, and one’s neighbor as oneself.” The new conquests of natural science had no power to shake his faith in God, although he followed them with interest after two of his sons had devoted themselves to such studies. When doubts arose in him he imposed upon his own acute mental powers the task of dissipating them, and an interesting composition was found among his papers, in which he attempts to subvert the two principal propositions in an eloquent masterpiece of Bois-Reymond’s[104] which had disturbed his mind.
There has gone to the grave in Lepsius a true man, a noble and admirable human being, and, (if we except the last years of his life) a fortunate one; a man who was among the greatest, most zealous, and most successful scholars of his time, and whose name and works will outlast the centuries. We will close this biography with the earnest and reverential words addressed to us by G. Maspero, the greatest of living French Egyptologists and the worthy successor of Mariette in the guardianship of all the monuments and excavations in Egypt, after he had received the intelligence of the departure of our Senior Master.
“Lepsius,” he says, “était un des derniers survivants de notre âge héroique, et il avait été pendant longtemps nôtre maître à tous. Je ne demande qu’une chose pour mon compte: c’est que plus tard au moment où l’on en sera venu à dire pour moi ce que je dis pour lui, on puisse affirmer que j’ai fait pour la science la moitié de ce qu’il a fait pour elle.”
APPENDIX I.
THE GÖTTINGEN INSURRECTION.
Göttingen,
Dec. 8th-9th (1830),
About two o’clock at
night.
I finally despatched the letter in which I wrote you of the mutterings of the revolution; it broke out here at midday, with the striking of the twelve o’clock bell. There was a great outcry on the streets. “Revolution, Revolution!” they shouted; we rushed to the market-place, which was already filled with citizens and students; they stormed the town-hall and occupied it; in a trice all the booths were torn down and the goods packed up in the greatest haste. I hurried to my friend Kreiss, the Frenchman, whose windows look directly on the market-place and the town-hall. It was a remarkable scene; above and below, here, there, and everywhere, glittered sabres and rifles; guards were posted on the steps which led to the colonnade in front of the town-hall. Men in black, with long green, blue and red sashes, bustled about under the colonnade, and looked consequential; one man was carrying away a pole with a big piece of sail-cloth; they tore it from him and wanted to use it for a banner, and there was a great deal of laughing and joking. A number of details, to be seen and heard at every step, I cannot mention here. More guns appeared, sabres, broadswords, rapiers, muskets, rifles, pistols, clubs; every man armed himself and they all rushed to the town-hall, to inscribe their names blindly on the lists. These were presented to the citizens and students by the chief revolutionists, especially a Dr. v. Rauschenblatt, who had quarrelled publicly with Professor Hugo, and had been forbidden to read with the students. No one knew what he wanted, or what the spectacle was for. Westphal, the superintendent of police, immediately resigned his office, to prevent acts of violence. As far as I could hear, the citizens particularly demanded a better observance of the constitution and its improvement. They wished that the authorities should render an account of the revenues, which they had neglected to do for a number of years, that the high taxes should be reduced, and the excise abolished. So said those who had anything at all to say. V. Rauschenblatt with his aids had long since been denounced by the burghers, and therefore sought to win over the students. He made fiery revolutionary speeches in the town-hall. “The rule of Liberalism,” “Overthrow of Servilism throughout the land,” and such like general phrases appealing to the ear, were constantly repeated, and it was plain to see that this eccentric man in thus stirring up the people either had no clear and rational grasp of the situation, or else was pursuing his own egotistical aims. After a while none but armed men were allowed to sign; all the shops where swords were sold were bought out, there was no one left without some sort of weapon. I should often have been forced to laugh at all this hocus-pocus and madness, if I had not been vexed at it, for so far I did not believe that it would lead to any serious consequences.
Then they marched in rank and file to v. Poten, the commandant of the city, to demand that the military, who had been ordered out for this evening, should not be admitted, and that a National Guard should be organized. This was conceded. The citizens remained at the town-hall, the students went to another spot, where v. Rauschenblatt divided them into bands, and assigned them the senior members of the societies for leaders. It was reported everywhere that Professor Langenbeck would place himself at their head, but there were still very few of them who knew where, how or why. All the students actually assembled in front of Langenbeck’s house, and hurrahed for him, with a frightful clamor and clashing of swords. He showed himself at the window, and begged them all to sign together. Meanwhile the gate had long been closed and guarded, the soldiers had been dismissed, and were keeping quiet. When three hundred had signed, (and I among them, as the sole object was to keep peace and order,) v. Rauschenblatt came up with some of his adherents, and assured everybody that it was no longer necessary to sign: the only object was to lead the people astray, and to make use of them once more for the promotion of “Servilism.” They did not need court counsellors at their head to lead them: every one who signed here was faithless to his previous signing at the town-hall, and deserted the true cause, and so on; also no one must go at seven o’clock to the Rohns, (an inn and meeting-hall) whither the court counsellor Langenbeck had summoned us all. By this time it was already dark, all the streets were full of tumult. Heads were thick in the market-place. At the town-hall stood the musicians and played the Marseillaise, and then again God save the King, and then Lützow’s hunting song, and the barcarolle, and students’ songs. The crowd continually hurrahed and shouted and howled. I passed once over the piazza before the town-hall, always with a broadsword of course, for without it one could not get through anywhere. Rauschenblatt was standing above, and giving one vivat after another for freedom and equality. It was nearly seven o’clock. As I passed the demagogue I asked him “which way,” for we had heard of some other place where the revolutionists were assembling. “Only not to the Rohns,” he said hastily, “we will now march round the town.” Then the music had to go in front, and the whole crowd behind it. Wherever they passed they cried, “Bring out the lights!” The market-place had been already illuminated for a long time. Meanwhile it snowed hard. Soldiers had several times come before the gates, but because these were locked, and Poten himself ordered them off, they went away again. Then it struck seven, and I, always a good citizen, hastened with my friends to the Rohns. At first there were few there; the music had drawn most of the people to the other side, but it filled up more and more. I could already hear how the men were dividing up into different parties, for it was easy to understand that the revolutionists would disturb us. Now came Langenbeck and summoned us to form a national guard to maintain peace and order as they had done in Leipsic. Then a couple of violent brawlers took sides against him, and would hear nothing of it; “We shall join the townspeople,” they cried, “Here we are citizens! We don’t want to be nothing but academicians!” and so on. Langenbeck became undecided in his utterances, he did not wish to hear of any meddling with politics, they must let the townsmen do as they liked, not oppose them and not help them. But he had not presence of mind enough to give his opinions positively and strongly. Then Rauschenblatt pushed through the crowd, and Langenbeck became much confused. They got into a violent altercation, a fearful din was raised on all sides, we hurrahed for Langenbeck and the other men for Rauschenblatt, sabres and broadswords were drawn, so that the whole hall clattered; an instantaneous reflection of it would have made a splendid picture. I will not make you anxious by telling how I came forward and expressed my opinion, but it must be remembered that so far there had been no danger, as in the whole town there was no longer any one for the rioters to turn against, and therefore there was no bloody disturbance of the peace to fear. Some shots which were fired gave a little anxiety, but amounted to nothing. Langenbeck then got up on the table, but did not stay long on this platform and went away; he certainly might have managed his affairs better. Rauschenblatt now spoke much more forcibly and coherently—at least it sounded so to the ear; at the same time he brandished his pistols and talked of traitors, and then he went away too. But a great many were still left. They had not seen Langenbeck go out; he was loudly called for, for the men there were mostly his followers; the few revolutionists who remained only interrupted at intervals the appropriate and forcible remarks of the tutor, Göschen, who had now climbed on to the table and continued to speak in the same strain as Langenbeck. He bade them resolve above all to preserve peace and order for this night. Meanwhile the seniors of the societies had already come to an agreement, had set a main watch, and then sent out sentinels and patrols. On the whole the temper of the students seemed to have moderated, and our party to have increased in comparison with the revolutionists, who had at first been much more numerous. Then we went to Göschen’s (that is, some acquaintances and I) and eat our supper. Afterwards we went again to Langenbeck, who had meanwhile been to the main watch with the tutor, to take him again to the Rohns, as had been decided on. But this was not done, and we now set a watch in Langenbeck’s auditorium which is at the side of his house, stationed a guard of twelve men round his house, and took turns in patrolling through the town. Who goes there? Patrol or sentinel of the night watch, or this or that, was perpetually resounding through the streets; a drunken citizen was escorted home, we visited guards and gates, in short until two o’clock I was constantly on my legs, and now I am writing this to you immediately. But what I wish is that you should have no anxiety about me, for indeed I am not wanting in prudence; besides the whole affair up to now has not taken on any dangerous character, because there is no object for it. To-morrow, or rather early to-day, about nine o’clock we are to be at the Rohns again.
Sunday, Midday,
About one o’clock.
Langenbeck’s guard has long been removed. The societies join the citizens under the seniors and Rauschenblatt. Langenbeck had still a large party at the Rohns this morning at nine o’clock; he called delegates from the societies into his house, where several professors were assembled. The seniors who came, (there were but few of them) seemed to have become more moderate. Then Langenbeck went once more to the town-hall. There were assembled in the senate chamber the deputies of the town and other citizens and students, who now played quite a rôle. We guarded the door; Rauschenblatt, Dr. Schuster, Eyting and other revolutionists were inside; Langenbeck wished to come to an understanding with them, and stayed in there a long time, there was a very violent dispute, but he came out again without having settled anything, and he said himself that he must now withdraw, and that his party had dissolved. I, and most of my friends except Gravenhorst, will join nobody, not even the societies.—At the same time a general revolution has broken out all over Hanover. If it becomes more serious here I will perhaps leave the town, but so far there has been no danger; and perhaps the whole revolution will pass over quietly. I will write to you soon again, until then
Your Richard.
Among the letters to his father is the certificate signed by General von dem Busche, which permitted Lepsius to remain longer in Göttingen. For many students this tempest in a tea-pot was to have very disagreeable consequences, for a rescript from the King dated January 11th, 1831, commanded all Hanoverian subjects studying in Göttingen to leave the town immediately. Those who should remain in spite of this were deprived of all right to any situation in the public service of the King. The foreigners among the students were also expelled, and could only obtain permission for a longer stay by means of special intercessions. “Above all” the lectures were stopped until Easter.
APPENDIX II.
Lepsius’ Report to the Berlin Royal Academy of Sciences on the Commencement of his Egyptological Studies.
Somewhat more than a year and a half ago I began the study of Egyptian antiquity by the path which had been substantially opened to modern science, and firmly trodden by her, since Champollion’s important discoveries regarding phonetic hieroglyphs. I did so with a generally diffused doubt as to the soundness of the new doctrine which had been almost exclusively founded and embraced by a French scholar. The system of Champollion was a purely empirical one, which had not yet been reduced to order. It affirmed more than it proved, and appealed to me less at the beginning, in proportion as I had become accustomed in those of my previous studies which related especially to philology, to seek organic coherence in science, and only to admit as a foundation there for reasons of intrinsic worth. I began with the Précis hiéroglyphique, as the most comprehensive statement of the new discovery, and found on every side assertions which seemed to me undemonstrable, and evidence which seemed to me imperfect. I reserved to myself some doubts as to the reading of the names Ptolemy and Berenice, which would need to be solved to satisfy reasonable criticism. But in the phonetic hieroglyphs the substitution of the vowels seemed to me too arbitrary, and the mixing of the phonetic with the figurative and symbolical hieroglyphs, to represent one and the same word, seemed quite inadmissable. In my earlier palaeographic researches amongst occidental and oriental writings I had always found the strictest economy and a surprising significance in the original signs for the sounds, united with an accuracy which has hitherto been far too little regarded. But here I had to accustom myself to a superfluity, I might say a prodigality, of signs, which yet only imperfectly attained their object, and therefore seemed so much the more to be chosen arbitrarily and multiplied in a chaotic manner.
Nevertheless, I did not allow myself to be discouraged from proceeding further, because at the same time I saw plainly that there were many things which were incontestably correct, and I also believed that I had found a coherence in the system, and several isolated proofs of it, which had escaped the discoverer himself. Thence I began to believe that it was a question of method, and that it was only necessary to separate the certain from the uncertain in order to make clear the true condition of affairs, and the real extent of what had so far been achieved on this field. Here other workers had preceded me, some of whom sided with and some against Champollion. More especially since the French Expedition an immense literature has begun to investigate, describe, and profit by every aspect of Old and New Egypt. By making myself as thoroughly as possible acquainted with this, I endeavored to keep myself as free as possible from a one-sided apprehension and criticism of hieroglyphics, and of Egyptian learning in general, so far as it rests upon native authorities.
A problem which was to be solved above all others concerned the Coptic language. Even the purely historical researches in the “Recherches sur la langue et la littérature de l’Égypte” by Etienne Quatremére had not been able to satisfy me regarding the identity of this tongue with the ancient Egyptian, or, at least, its direct descent therefrom. But on a closer acquaintance with this language, and its application on the hieroglyphic and demotic monuments, every doubt must be dispelled as to its being the sole key to the ancient language of the Egyptians, and the only one which could lead to the end in view. I have since applied myself chiefly to the study of the Coptic language, to which I also felt myself especially attracted by my previous linguistic studies. Within a few days there have arrived in Paris the last sheets of a Coptic lexicon which has been prepared from the most copious sources by Amadeo Peyron, and shows extensive learning. From the first I have directed my labors on the Coptic tongue to the end of preparing a grammar of that language, especially intended to lighten the study of hieroglyphics, and in accordance with the philological science of the present day.
In order to give you, most highly esteemed Herr General Secretary, a comprehensive idea of the course of my studies up to the present time in the department in question, I must further mention two circumstances, which were especially favorable to me. One was my sojourn in Paris, which is the place altogether best adapted to obtaining an initiation into Egyptian antiquity. The first broad foundation for this science was laid on the part of the French in the “Description de l’Égypte.” A French scholar first procured access to the native monuments of Egypt, and for a number of years he was the center of Egyptian studies on account of his admirable talent, which seemed made for the deciphering of the Egyptian monuments. I need not say that for these reasons there can be no lack in Paris of the most perfect aids to study, as regards both literature and monuments. But that to which I attribute yet greater weight is that there is always a large number of men assembled there who take the most lively and direct interest in the discoveries of their countryman, and are in a position to give thorough information, generally directed by their own opinions, on all the different parts and details. They were frequently more instructive to me through their conversation than any books could have been. I often felt there the great value of the viva voce correction of many unavoidable errors in the judgment of persons, objects and facts. These are of far greater importance in so young a science than in one which has been long founded. As a second favorable circumstance I would mention my early acquaintance with a young, learned and talented man, François Salvolini. For ten years he educated himself exclusively for the study of hieroglyphics under the personal direction of Champollion, he took copies of the most important drawings and manuscript works of his teacher, part of which are still inaccessible to the public, and with the greatest liberality he opened to me his important collections, and allowed me the freest use of them. Under the auspices of the Sardinian government he is occupying himself with a comprehensive work on the Rosetta inscriptions, specimens of which he communicated to me. He also gave me a verbal explanation of the details. I thus became acquainted in the most rapid and thorough manner with the real value of the system of Champollion, and the development which it has thus far attained. It is true that the principal doubts which I had entertained were not entirely removed, but I believed in the difficulties which still remained to see, not a refutation of the system, but only a want of completeness. Especially I became aware that many difficulties might be removed when some other linguistic standpoint than that previously employed should be adopted.
At the same time it seemed to me of the greatest importance to come to a positive opinion as to the relation of the Egyptian language to the other civilized languages of the ancient world, and to my great satisfaction I have now arrived at the conviction that the primitive Egyptian language is by no means so far removed from the Semitic and Indo-Germanic as, on a superficial examination, it has hitherto been almost universally considered. I believe that I shall not in all subsequent investigations into Egyptian antiquity allow myself to lose sight of this comparative point of view, since the great interest which the history of Egyptian civilization offers, as one of the most ancient of which we have a general historical knowledge, is without doubt greatly increased when we learn to know it also in its original relation to other civilizations. It also seems to me a worthy and useful task to draw the Egyptian people within the circle of those great groups of nations, whose most ancient history has in modern times acquired an altogether different aspect by means of the comparison of languages. I propose to preface my Coptic grammar with a special chapter on the relation of the Egyptian to the Semitic and Indo-Germanic primitive languages. I most respectfully beg you, Herr General Secretary, to present to the most favorable consideration of the very worshipful Academy two treatises in which I have attempted to prove the linguistic relationship of these two families of language. These papers treat of distinct points which would find no place in the Coptic Grammar. The first relates to the numerical words, the second to the arrangement of the alphabet, among the different nations.
Thus I have chiefly made use of my sojourn in Paris to acquire a general knowledge of Egyptian science, and am thereby placed in a position to adopt a decided course for the future according to the needs which seem to me most urgent, and to those abilities of my own which I believe to have been best developed by my previous studies. Therefore it now becomes a matter of special importance, in order to arrive at the best possible conclusions of my own, to procure correct copies of the numerous Egyptian monuments scattered about through the various French museums, and especially in Italy.
To undertake a journey to Italy for this purpose must be all the more desirable for me since a corresponding member of the Academy, whose name will always be mentioned beside that of Champollion as one of the most distinguished promoters of Egyptian science, H. P. Rosellini of Pisa, has offered, with the most noble disinterestedness, to reveal to me the rich treasures which he has brought back from Egypt, and, under his own invaluable guidance, to place them at my service.
Since I could not have been able to undertake this journey on my own resources, I have to thank the resolves of the most worshipful Academy alone, if I can directly pursue the object which is the aim of my scientific career. I must appreciate the more profoundly the special encouragement which I have thus received as up to the present time I have been able to present no sort of security on my part to the most worshipful Academy. For this reason I will make all the more conscientious use of the appropriation granted me. I will from time to time lay before the most worshipful Academy an account of the expenditure thereof, and seek to prove myself worthy of the confidence which has been shown me by the greatest zeal in the promotion of this most fruitful science, which has been so little cultivated in our own country.
With the most distinguished esteem and respect.
APPENDIX III.
Extract from the Report addressed to the Ministry, on the Acquisitions and Results of the Expedition to Egypt under R. Lepsius.
Berlin, March 12, 1846.
The antiquarian Expedition to Egypt, Nubia and the Peninsula of Sinai, ordered in the year 1842 by his Majesty, our most gracious and illustrious King Frederick William IV., and committed to my leadership, is completed.
My reports, transmitted to your Excellency from time to time, will have convinced you that it has been executed entirely in accordance with the plans advised by the Royal Academy of Sciences, most graciously approved by his Majesty, and submitted to your Excellency before departure. You will also observe that the annual sum of money appropriated at the beginning has not been exceeded, and that it has also been made to cover the important excavations, transportations and purchases, for which no special appropriation had been made. The journey of two years has, however, extended itself to three and a half. My companions were not able to return before the end of last year, and I myself not till the 27th of January of this year; a possibility which had been already foreseen in the advice of the Royal Academy.
With regard to the material welfare of its members the Expedition may be called in every way a very fortunate one, and especially favored by Providence. The members were eight in number, with the addition of three others who joined as volunteers, and all returned in good condition to European soil. The painter Frey alone could not support the climate, and on that account was obliged to return from Lower Egypt to Europe, where he has since recovered. As a contrast to this, the company of Professor Ehrenberg lost nine members, in spite of the greatest care. They were, however, under much more unfavorable conditions, and through his advice we profited by their experiences. It was still worse with the English under Clapperton. The French Tuscan expedition also lost both its leaders, besides many other members, in consequence of the journey. As we did not, like the expeditions mentioned, have a physician with us, we were obliged to redouble our direct attention to ourselves, and I ascribe the fortunate result, next to the protection of Providence, chiefly to the excellent conduct, mutual helpfulness and strict regard for order of all the members. There was but one exception, the moulder Franke, whom I was forced to dismiss on account of unseemly disturbances of this order. This harmony and admirable disposition of the members also greatly facilitated the management for me, and I cannot but praise this spirit especially in our architect, Herr Erbkam, who stood by me on every occasion as a true and helpful friend.
As far as the scientific results are concerned, I must first observe that scarcely any other expedition had been undertaken under such favorable circumstances. Amongst these circumstances I reckon chiefly the definiteness of the tasks which were set before us, and which we were able on this account to pursue with perfect system. The expedition most immediately comparable with ours was Champollion’s, but that was more a voyage of discovery, and necessarily suffered from the very deficiencies which we were easily able to supply. The advantages which he had as founder of the science and from his incomparable ability as a student of monuments, were for us more than counterbalanced by the firmer and broader foundations of the science, the last results of which are now presented to us in Bunsen’s remarkable work on history. Added to this was our greater previous knowledge of the interesting localities which we had to investigate. From the very beginning of the journey we could within wide limits strive for completeness, without suffering from any want of new, unexpected and most highly important discoveries. Especially had Champollion left behind to us, practically uncommenced, the investigation of the oldest Egyptian history, that is, the epoch of the first Pharaonic kingdom from about 3000 to 1700 years before Christ, which extends the history of the world for almost 1500 years. He had only ascended the valley of the Nile as far as the second cataract, beyond which there still exist a great multitude of old Egyptian monuments of all kinds, as yet entirely uninvestigated. There the whole of Ethiopian antiquity, which cannot be separated from the Egyptian, must find its interpretation and, if I do not deceive myself, has done so through us.
Thence it follows that our results are by far the most important in chronology and history. The pyramid fields of Memphis, whose importance had not been recognized by Champollion, and which had therefore scarcely been touched by him, have placed the Egyptian civilization of those remote ages before us, in four hundred large pictures. The representation which they furnish must for all future time be regarded with the highest interest and considered the beginning of investigable human history. Those earliest dynasties of the Egyptian rulers now offer us more than a barren succession of empty, unknown or doubtful names. They have not only been raised beyond all reasonable doubt and been critically arranged in order and according to the correct periods of time, but through the contemplation of the political, civil and artistic popular life which bloomed under their reigns, they have preserved an intellectual and often very individual historical reality.
This is the greatest success of our journey and must always be a convincing proof of the great and lasting service rendered to science by our expedition and its illustrious promoter. I pass over for the present the details of the evidence, which can only be rightly estimated by those co-workers on this field who shall make later and more extensive investigations. But I will mention that in Middle Egypt up to Thebes we found eight separate places of sepulchre, belonging to the Old Kingdom, which the French Tuscan expedition had passed by without suspicion. Of some of these we were the discoverers, and others we were the first to recognize as belonging to that period, and to excavate. We could not fail, also, to make a great number of more or less substantial restorations, corrections and additions to the history of the most flourishing period of the New Empire, which was peculiarly the prime of Thebes, as well as to that of the following dynasties. Even those Ptolemies who were apparently completely known in the light of Grecian history, have appeared in a new aspect in their Egyptian representations and inscriptions, and indeed have been recruited by some individuals scarcely mentioned by the Greeks and whose existence has hitherto been considered doubtful. Finally the Roman emperors, in their character of Egyptian rulers, have also appeared to us on the Egyptian monuments in greater and almost perfect completeness. They have been carried down, from Caracalla, (who had till now been recognized as the last whose name was written in hieroglyphics,) through two later emperors to Decius. Thus the whole extent of Egyptian monumental history has been increased at the latter end also by a number of years.
Egyptian philology, too, has made no insignificant advances during the journey. The lexicon has been increased by the addition of some hundred signs or groups, and the grammar has received manifold corrections. Besides this a wealth of material has been gathered, especially by means of the numerous paper impressions of the most important inscriptions, the gradual interpretation of which must lead to substantial progress in the science. According to the great age established for the earliest written monuments the history of the Egyptian language now embraces a period of nearly five and a half thousand years, and thus acquires an entirely new significance in relation to the universal history of human language and writing. In matters of detail one of the most important discoveries on this field was two bi-lingual decrees, written in hieroglyphics and demotic, which were discovered in Philae. One of these repeats the inscription of Rosetta, and there is promise of important results from a comparison between them. The news of this seemed so important to the French that they resolved on sending out the famous scholar Ampére, with an artist, expressly to copy this one monument. I first became aware of their intention through the publication and philological exploration of that inscription, now just appearing in print.
According to my opinion Egyptian mythology, in spite of countless works upon the subject, has hitherto been without any firm foundation. I had almost abandoned the hope that our expedition would achieve any actual advance for this science, when upon the return journey I discovered in the Theban temples a series of monuments which threw so much unexpected light upon its essential nature and historical phases, that I have come to the conclusion that upon this basis Egyptian mythology may for the first time be presented according to its true import and in its historical development.
The history of art has never been worked out from the present standpoint of Egyptology. To accomplish this was necessarily one of the chief objects of our expedition and the advanced chronological knowledge of the monuments conduced greatly to progress in this direction. For the first time we have been able to trace the various divisions of the history of art in the Old Egyptian Empire, previous to the invasion of the “Hyksos,” and thus to extend it, as well as Egyptian history in general, for about thirteen centuries upwards and for some decades downwards. We were also obliged to regard the history of art almost exclusively in the selection of our collection of monuments, of which I shall speak again hereafter. Amongst the different branches of Egyptian art, architecture, which had been entirely neglected by Champollion and Rosellini, was especially well handled by our skillful and industrious architect Erbkam. From him it received the treatment befitting the important position of this special branch, in which the artistic element of grandeur, bestowed upon the Egyptians above all other nations, could be and was most highly developed. The rendering of the sculpture and painting fell to the other artists who accompanied us. They soon learned to reproduce with praiseworthy skill the peculiar Egyptian style, which in spite of all the childish constraint that characterizes Egyptian art, yet contains an unmistakable and finely perfected ideal element. If the Grecian genius had not received art from the Egyptians as a child so severely, chastely and carefully reared, it could never have given to it such a positive character of blooming freedom. The chief task of the history of Egyptian art is to show wherein consisted this culture of art, which no ancient Asiatic nation shares with the Egyptian. I will adduce as one of the most important details belonging here, that we have found three separate canons of the proportions of the human figure, in numerous examples, upon uncompleted monuments; one for the old Pharaonic kingdom, another for the New Empire since the eighteenth dynasty, and a third which first came into general use shortly before the time of the Ptolemies. This latter involved an entire change of the principle of distribution, and remained in force under the Roman emperors to the end. These discoveries are also of decided importance in judging of the Greek canon.
Next to the history of art, however, a great part of our time and attention was claimed by Egyptian archaeology in its widest sense. This was a field which had already been worked with success and industry, especially by Wilkinson and Rosellini. It contains an inexhaustible wealth of detached monuments of common life, and representations thereof of all kinds, far exceeding in abundance all other remains of antiquity. And on this account this branch of study needed much more a vigorous prosecution of its aims and elevation of its standard, than a farther accumulation of details. Nevertheless these are continually coming in from all sides and have been collected by ourselves in great quantity as material.
Finally, geography and chorography, to which travellers are always expected to make additions, demand special attention. In Fayoum we have for the first time thoroughly investigated the Labyrinth. It lies beside Lake Moeris, which was discovered by Linant, but is now dry. We have been able to assign the Labyrinth its place in history through the discovery of the founder’s name. Our description of the ruined cities and monuments of antiquity in the land of the Nile, up to Senaar, will be more complete and exact than any previously given. So also will be our account of the rarely travelled dependencies of the dominion of the Pharaohs, such as the Ethiopian countries, the eastern mountains between the Nile and the Red Sea, and the colonies in the copper region of Mafkat (of the Peninsula of Sinai.) Only the oases of the western desert we have unfortunately been obliged to leave unexplored. In more modern geography, which must always accompany and correct the ancient, I have devoted special care to obtaining the Arabian names accurately, in order to counteract as far as possible, at least upon the region traversed by us, the intolerable confusion of designations. I have prepared upon the way accurate geographical maps of various parts of the eastern mountains of Egypt and the Arabian copper region. Respecting the border lands of Mahommed Ali’s dominion, towards Abyssinia, I have collected and recorded graphically important geographical information from particularly well-informed people of that region. On the Peninsula of Sinai I have not only for the first time investigated more exactly the ancient Egyptian copper mines, the working of which, according to the pictures on the rocks and inscriptions, preserved at Wadi-Magara, goes back to the time of Cheops, about 3000 years before Christ, but I have also traced out the route of the Israelites to Sinai. In doing so I have come to the conclusion, which I have sought to prove in a preliminary report to his Majesty, that a tradition of comparatively late origin has wrongly designated the mountain which the monks call Gebel Mûsa as the Sinai of the Bible, and that Horeb or Sinai, the Mount of God, corresponds rather to the present Serbâl, which lies some days’ journey to the north of Gebel Mûsa. A noteworthy contribution has been made to the history of the physical conditions of the Nile valley through the discovery of the nilometer of Semneh in the region of the Nubian cataracts. From this it is apparent that about 4000 years ago, under the rule of Amenemha-Moeris, the Nile at that place rose in average years twenty-two feet higher than now, while in Egypt at about that time it stood at least ten to fifteen feet lower, so that the Nile at the intervening cataracts fell thirty-five feet farther than at present. This gradual leveling of the bed of the stream has had the most decisive influence on the cultivation of the valley, and the history of its whole population, since the shore of the Nubian country lying along the stream was made inaccessible to the natural inundation by this great sinking of the water, and thence became dry and unfruitful.
Besides all our acquisitions in the ancient Egyptian language we have made some not unimportant gains for the science of language in general. In the upper countries of the Nile I have obtained three African languages, the grammar and lexicon of which I have made out and noted down from the communications of the natives, with sufficient completeness to present a clear idea of them. They are: 1. the Congâra language, a negro language of the interior, spoken in Darfur and the adjoining countries: 2. the Nuba language, which is spoken in two dialects in a portion of the valley of the Nubian Nile, and in the neighboring districts to the southwest. This appears, moreover, to be of primitive African origin. It has never been written, and I have collected for the first time a considerable quantity of Nubian manuscript literature, by getting a Nubian sheik, who was entire master of the Arabian language and writing, to translate from Arabian into Nubian, the fables of Lokman, the Gospel of St. Mark, and a portion of the Thousand and One Nights. I also had him write down and translate into Arabian about twenty Nubian songs, some in rhyme, and some only rythmical. In doing this he displayed a wonderful talent for the correct comprehension of linguistic relations. 3. The Béga language of the race of the Bishareen who are widely scattered between the Red Sea and the Nubian Nile. This appears to be a most important branch of the original Asiatic-Caucasian family of languages, and deserves our attention so much the more since it seems that it can be historically proved to be the present form of the ancient Egyptian language of Meroë. I have also found in those countries, and in the pyramids of Meroë, a great number of old Ethiopian inscriptions, which are recorded in an alphabetical writing until now entirely unknown. Subsequent inscriptions are in an alphabet formed after the Greek, and they can probably both be deciphered by the aid of the Béga language. Finally we have also made the completest possible collection of many hundreds of paper impressions from Grecian inscriptions. These are now of great value as a contribution to the knowledge of Grecian-Egyptian antiquity, which has been industriously cultivated on several sides. We have also made another collection of the numerous so-called “Inscriptions of Sinai” which were cut into the rocks by a Christian population who lived on the Peninsula of Sinai in the first centuries of our era. These have not yet been entirely deciphered.
We have only been able to give occasional attention to subjects pertaining to natural science. Yet I have not neglected to collect specimens of stone and soil from all important localities, especially during trips into the remote mountain regions. A chemical investigation and comparison of the specimens of Nile mud collected from different spots and under different conditions will perhaps be of interest. We have visited the old alabaster quarry of El Bosra, opposite Sioot, which has recently been discovered by the Bedouins and is now worked by Selim Pasha. We found there an inscription on the rock dating from the beginning of the eighteenth dynasty. We have also visited the quarries of granite and of “breccia verde” at Hammamât, which have been in use since the most ancient times, as well as the porphyry and granite quarries on Gebel Duchàn (Mons Claudianus, Mons Porphyrites,) in the eastern mountains of Egypt, (see page 160) which were celebrated in Roman times. We have brought back specimens of rock from them all. The most valuable blocks of “breccia verde,” of every size, lie directly on one of the finest and most convenient desert highways, two days journey from the Nile, and would be excellently adapted to removal and exportation. On account of our antiquarian aims we were especially interested in the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the present world of animals and plants in the southern regions of Nubia, which conspicuously resembles the representations on the most ancient Egyptian monuments. It scarcely appears possible to account for this except by the assumption of a universal recession of the more highly developed forms of natural life in the Nile valley from the north towards the south.