The World's Progress Part 10

After the period of the priest-kings, the history of Egypt belongs to the history of a.s.syria, Babylonia, Greece and Rome, and no longer concerns us in our attempt to become acquainted with the "earliest nations."

We feel some way that the end of Egypt's political power should have been more splendid than it was--more worthy of her former dignity and strength, and almost regret that the ma.s.ses of her citizens had not met their final repulse in some desperate rally to drive invaders from their borders. But the end had been long drawn out. Generations of alien rule had accustomed the people to accept this as a natural condition.

Rawlinson puts it well: "As it was, Egypt sank ingloriously at the last--her art, her literature, her national spirit decayed and almost extinct--paying, by her early disappearance from among the nations of the earth, the penalty of her extraordinarily precocious greatness."[7]

Such being a brief survey of her political achievements, we turn now to the life and customs of her people.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OSIRIS]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] 1350-1205 B.C.

[2] Records of the Past, ed. Dr. Burch. The author is unknown, but the poem is known by the name of a scribe who once copied the production.

[3] Edwards: A Thousand Miles Up the Nile, 262

[4] 1200-1090 B.C.

[5] Breasted: History of Egypt, 493; trans.

[6] Twenty-first Dynasty, 1090-945 B.C.

[7] Rawlinson: Ancient Egypt, 402.

SOCIAL LIFE IN EGYPT

CHAPTER IX.

INTRODUCTORY.

The social life of ancient peoples has for many greater interest than their political development. Before the days of Greece self-government was unknown, and the king embodied in himself the government. Upon his personal character, his foresight and statesmanship, the weal of the country depended. For this reason, as we trace the political fortunes of one nation and another in antiquity, we find that the story consists largely of the doings of the monarch. When kings were strong and ambitious, wide activities characterized their reigns; when they were weak, unprincipled and selfish, their periods were less brilliant. In any case, one feels how powerless were the ma.s.ses--how utterly at the will of the sovereign. To be sure, even in antiquity, it ill behooved a ruler to disregard his subjects altogether, but conditions had to be extreme before they would a.s.sert themselves against him.

Apart from a nation's political life, however, there is always a greater life--the life of the people, regardless of their political relations.

One never exists without the other, and one is influenced by the other; but the social body includes each and every one, whether of low or high estate, while the political body may include but a portion of a nation's people. Again, in spite of bad government, the selfishness of kings, even in spite of invasions of the enemy, the daily life of the great majority of early people varied but little. They procured food and clothing, cared for their children, worked at their various callings, as civilized beings have done in all ages. Certain peculiar customs are to be found among each nation, and it is these very peculiarities, probably, that relieves what might otherwise become a monotonous repet.i.tion.

We cannot too often recall that the recorded history of ancient Egypt extended over three thousand years. The manner of life, dress, customs, etc., changed considerably in that long period, and just as we divide the social life of England into various epochs--such as social conditions under Saxon kings, during Norman rule, in Elizabethan years, etc.--so, for any protracted investigation of social Egypt, we would find it necessary to make several divisions of the subject.

The greatest source of knowledge for Egyptian social life is of course the tombs. From their contents and from the pictures that adorn their walls much has been ascertained. To be sure, many details are yet lacking, and Egyptologists seek still for answers to unanswered queries.

Many recovered remains have not yet been cla.s.sified, and rolls of papyri lie still untranslated, so undoubtedly the future will make many contributions to what has already been worked out. Nevertheless, even now many aspects of the life of the old Nile-dwellers have been reconstructed with considerable degree of certainty. These recent conclusions have proven the ancient Egyptian to have been quite a different creature from what he was long supposed. Until late years it was believed that he was a solemn, serious individual, overwhelmed with an ever-present thought of death, for which many of his acts in life prepared him. This idea was mistaken. The religion of the ancient Egyptian led him into many curious ways, beyond a doubt, but he was withal a contented person who found some humor in life. The happenings of his earthly career were as potent to him as ours are to us. The study of history should do one thing for us at least: it should teach us to find strong similarities between the people we see around us today and those of whom we read and study in antiquity. The normal human being has in all ages been governed by certain controlling interests, pa.s.sions and desires, has pulsed with the vigor of life and its manifold interests--as we do now and as the Egyptian did, five thousand years ago.

HOUSES.

In strong contrast with the solid, substantial tombs and temples were the private dwellings. No need was felt to make these enduring. Rather, they were constructed in such a way as to allow free circulation of air and to preserve coolness. The walls were thin, being made of stucco, mud brick, or wood. The outside of the house was decorated in gay colors, and was hung with brightly tinted carpets or mattings. Similar coverings adorned the inner walls.

Many pictures of ancient Egyptian houses have been found in tomb pictures. It is apparent that the well-to-do citizen desired seclusion for his home. An outer wall usually surrounded the house and out buildings. The general plan of houses for people of comfortable means was this: a gateway, often of cedar, gave entrance into a court. The gate was kept locked, save when the keeper opened it to allow visitors to enter or depart. Crossing the court--of varying size--one entered a vestibule, guarded by a porter. This vestibule led directly to the dining hall, the largest and most important room in the house. Sleeping apartments for the family were reached through a second vestibule and the kitchen, store-rooms, and servants' apartments, though joined on one side, were separated from the main portion of the house by an inner court. Often the houses were two stories in height. Generally a stairway led to the roof, which was used for many purposes when the heat of the sun was pa.s.sed.

The wealthy required many buildings. One would be set aside for the women; another contained reception halls for distinguished guests; a third, store-rooms and supplies; and besides these there might be several stables and separate quarters for slaves and servants. Service was cheap and slaves plentiful, so people of even moderate means had numerous a.s.sistants.

The elaborate estate of the wealthy was exceeded by the magnificence of the pharaoh, who frequently constructed his own city, as it was called.

Here the king might have plenty of land and surround himself with as many buildings as he chose, enclosing the whole by a wall. In bitter contrast to this royal splendor was the squalor of the poor, whose shelter was a tiny hut built of sun-dried mud.

For those whose incomes permitted, the garden was the favorite spot.

This we would naturally expect in a country where out of door life is interrupted only in the middle of the day by the intense heat. In the garden, trees, shrubs, and many kinds of flowers were planted. Its size depended upon the prosperity of the owner. Sometimes the court, however tiny, provided all the garden plot he possessed; sometimes extensive grounds included flower-gardens, date orchards, and sycamore groves, while summer houses and artificial ponds were scattered over wide areas.

Small wonder was it that the "pious Egyptian hoped his soul, as its supreme felicity, would return to sit under the trees he had planted, by the side of the ponds he had dug, there to enjoy the refreshing breeze from the north."

The Egyptians were pa.s.sionately fond of flowers. They grew them in their gardens, filled their houses with the blossoms, used them lavishly at their feasts and carved them on their tombs and in their temples. They sought ever to increase their varieties, originally few, and we have seen that the kings often prized new specimens found in other lands above their tribute.

"Everywhere on the monuments we meet with flowers; bouquets of flowers are presented to the G.o.ds; the coffins are covered with wreaths of flowers; flowers form the decoration of the houses, and all the capitals of the pillars are painted in imitation of their colored petals. The Egyptian also loved shady trees. He not only prayed that the 'Nile should bestow every flowering plant in their season' upon his departed soul, but also that his soul might sit 'on the boughs of the trees that he had planted, and enjoy the cool air in the shade of his sycamore.'

The arable fields, the shadeless woods of palms, the bare mud soil, scarcely provided the scenery which he most admired; he therefore tried to supply the want by landscape gardening. In the oldest periods there were parks and gardens; and the gentleman of ancient Egypt talked with pride of his shady trees, his sweet-smelling plants, and his cool tanks.

All the sentiments with which we regard the woods and meadows of nature, the Egyptian felt towards his well kept garden; to him it was the dwelling place of love, and his trees were the confidants of lovers.

"On the 'festival day of the garden,' that is on the day when the garden was in full bloom, the wild fig-tree calls to the maiden to come into the shade of the fig leaves as a trysting place:

"The little Sycamore, Which she planted with her hand She begins to speak, And her (words are as) drops of honey.

She is charming, her bower is green, Greener than the (papyrus).

She is laden with fruit, Redder than the ruby, The color of her leaves is as gla.s.s, Her stem is as the color of the opal....

It is cool in her shadow.

She sends her letter by a little maiden, The daughter of her chief gardener She makes her haste to her beloved: Come and linger in the (garden) ...

The servants who belong to thee Come with the dinner things; They are bringing beer of every (kind), With all manner of bread, Flowers of yesterday and of today, And all kinds of refreshing fruit.

Come, spend this festival day And tomorrow and the day after tomorrow Sitting in my shadow.

Thy companion sits at thy right hand, Thou dost make him drink, And then thou dost follow what he says....

I am of a silent nature And I do not tell what I see I do not chatter."[1]

Having attractive grounds as a setting, the houses of the wealthy Egyptians were also attractive indoors. The dining room was the important room of the house. Guests generally sat on stools when dining.

When ladies gathered for a banquet, they frequently sat on costly rugs spread upon the floor. Servants or slaves served those a.s.sembled from a large table loaded with tempting viands.

The Egyptian seems no longer far away and mummy-like when we learn that he was fond of good things to eat. Roast goose was a favorite dish; bread and beer were constantly in demand, quite as they are in Germany today. In naming over the dishes he hoped to supply his departed, in a tomb we may read: five kinds of birds, sixteen kinds of bread and cake, six varieties of wine, and eleven different fruits. The bread, molded into fancy shapes, was made of barley and wheat. Grapes were generally grown, and fig trees too. Tame monkeys were trained to go into the high branches of the fig trees and throw down the fruit.

Many specimens of ancient household furniture have been found in Egyptian tombs, such as chairs, couches, tables and bedsteads. In the sleeping apartments, high couches were reached by steps. Wooden headrests took the place of pillows. These were used in order that the wigs and elaborate head dresses might not be disturbed while the wearers slept.

The student who would make an exhaustive study of the Egyptian house and its contents must go to the museums where discovered articles have been preserved, or at least to the detailed descriptions of these given by Maspero and other Egyptologists. We could not well leave a consideration of the subject however, without giving brief attention to the dwellings of the poor, who in every age and country have made up a large part of the population.

The fellah of today lives much as did the peasant of antiquity. His dwelling was a hut built of mud and roofed with palm leaves. While the poorest had but one room, those who were more industrious, perhaps, might have two or three. Once or twice in a century, rain would fall.

Then these huts would dissolve and flow away. When the storm ceased, all the family would set to work, level off the spot and construct a new dwelling from sun-dried mud, which after being exposed to the heat of a few days, would be as good as ever. This leveling of huts, whether caused by storms, or because it was easier to build a new house than cleanse the old one, has elevated the land in many parts of Egypt.

Frequently it is the case that peasants have dwelt so long on the sites of buried cities, that the explorer who today would reach the original settlement must tunnel down through many layers of sun-dried mud, once the dwellings of the poor.

FAMILY LIFE.

It is frequently said that the test of a nation's civilization is the position accorded to woman. Applying this test to Egypt, her civilization would rank well with nations of modern times as well as with those contemporaneous with her. From the earliest times of which we have record, Egyptian women were the companions and trusted counsellors of their husbands. During the New Empire it was the boast of one of the Ramessides that any woman might go alone and unveiled as far in any direction as she wished, confident that she would not be accosted nor disturbed.