Dead Men Tell Tales

by Harry Rimmer

Plate 2

Magnificent example of embellished statue, conveying the name, hopes, and some of the record of an early ruler

Colossi at Luxor

The Sheltered Wife

Strangely, in view of the consistent demands of the evolutionary school, we find no evidence of human evolution in the land of Egypt. More than this, the doctrine that man began with a brutish intellect and gradually developed his high and peculiar culture, is refuted by the evidences from this country. In fact, the contrary is strikingly the case. Instead of proving a process of evolution, the history of man as found in the archeology of Egypt is a consistent record of degeneration.

The eminent Sayce, one of the ablest archeologists in the whole history of that great science, expressed his wonder and amazement at the high stage of culture met with in the very earliest records of the Egyptian people. Other authorities, such as Baikie, have written voluminously upon this subject. It had been hoped that when excavators finally reached undisturbed tombs of the first dynasty, they would find themselves in the dawn of Egyptian culture. It was our fortunate privilege to be at Sakkara a year ago when the first complete and unmolested tombs of the first dynasty were uncovered. It was our privilege to keep a close check and watch upon all that was done at that time, and the conclusions and postulations of hopeful theorists were utterly shattered in such discoveries as were made.

Indeed, we can no longer start Egyptian culture with the beginning of the dynastic ages. Through the first tombs, we peer back into an older preceding culture that dazzles and amazes the human understanding. Instead of finding the dawn of a developing humanity, we see mankind already in the high noon of cultural accomplishments. Instead of nomadic dwellers in shaggy tents, we look upon works of enduring stone. Instead of brutish, Egyptian ancestral artifacts, we find a pottery culture that is really superb. It almost seems that the farther back we go into Egyptian antiquity, the more perfect was their culture and learning. The art of writing was the common possession of the Egyptian in the pre-dynastic period.

It is true that there was a so-called stone age in Egypt, which preceded the first dynasty. We are showing here, however, a photograph of one of the most ancient open burials ever discovered in Egypt. This is accompanied by various heads of mummies, to show the state of preservation. (See [Plate 5].) Before the art of embalming was invented and the dead were mummified, they were buried by intrusion in the dry sands. You will note the perfection of the culture of this people as depicted by the pottery undisturbed in this grave. In contrast to this type of burial, the mummies shown in this same plate are no better preserved than the earlier burial. Indeed, there is no evidence to show that these cultures were consecutive rather than contemporary. In various sections of Egypt it is quite probable that different burial customs prevailed simultaneously, and it is a pure speculation to say that the more primitive type of burial is ages older than the advanced style.

There are many anomalies and mysteries in this so-called stone age in Egypt. In the museum at Cairo there will be found some of the most remarkable specimens of stone flaking to be seen on the face of this earth. Others may be seen in the British Museum, in the various exhibits of Egyptian culture. One of these knives is equipped with two points, and all of them are equally sharpened on both edges. In the author’s own gatherings from the various stone cultures of mankind, there are something over 25,000 artifacts. We have seen every important collection of stone implements in the present world, but these specimens from ancient Egypt are unquestionably the most magnificent types of stone culture we have ever been privileged to observe.

The significant and startling fact is that these stone knives have handles of beaten gold. At once we are impressed with the anomalous fact that the stone age was thus synonymous with an age of metal. Furthermore, it was an artistic age. The golden handles on these stone weapons are engraved with scenes common to the life of the people. On one side of the stone dagger with the double points, there is a sailing vessel typical of the pleasure craft that were common to all ages of Egyptian life. On the raised deck of this boat, dancing maidens were entertaining the circle of spectators. This work was not crude and brutish, but showed a high development of the engraver’s art. The reverse side of the handle was even more interesting in that it contained, in beautifully incised characters, the cult sign of the owner.

Here is, indeed, a weird super-imposition of ages and cultures. The body of the weapon is of a stone age; the handle of the weapon is of an age of metal; the engravings upon that metal show an age of art and the possession of written characters. There is no comfort for the evolutionary hypothesis in the antiquity of Egypt. The contrary rather is the case. There is a strange tide sweeping through the record, portraying an ebb and flow of culture that is fascinating to observe.

The culture of Egypt starts on a magnificently high level and is later reduced to a tremendous degree by a consistent record of degeneration. It might be said that by the end of the fourth dynasty, the people had reached the high peak of Egyptian art and learning. But after the sixth dynasty had well begun, a definite decline and retrogression had set in. We find ourselves then groping in a dark age wherein were no arts and no written history. No great monuments come from that period, and no great buildings were begun, repaired, or finished. Writing became extremely scarce and in many sections of the land the art seems to have been completely forgotten. As in the dark ages of medieval Europe, learning was in eclipse and the mental life of man degenerated. Just when the renaissance began, it is impossible to say, but in the eleventh dynasty we are suddenly back into the light again.

Egypt emerges from those dark ages, ruled by powerful feudal lords, with the pharaohs appearing to be mere figure-heads. These great barons left voluminous records, which depict their conquests and their powers, and tell of their own individual greatness. They constructed magnificent tombs for their eternal rest, and the land blossomed culturally under their dominion.

These conditions prevailed until the coming of the Hyksos dynasty. These conquering kings were of Semitic origin and they seem to have come from the region of Ur. After this conquest, Egypt suddenly became an unlimited monarchy. The great lords became landless, stripped of their power and robbed of all authority. The people literally passed into the possession of the crown, and Egypt became a nation of slaves who owed their very existence to the royal head of the government. The reason for this change will be made manifest later in this present work. We are now interested only in presenting these strange cycles of culture as shown by archeology.

It would take many volumes to give a detailed picture of the early golden age in Egypt. As an illustration of the art and development of that culture, we refer the reader to the tomb of a court official at the dawn of the sixth dynasty. Buried with this minor official were certain small wooden effigies depicting customs, trades, and tools of his day. There were porters laden with their heavy burdens. There were scribes bearing stylus and plaque. Certain tradesmen were found in these brilliant statuettes, each man’s craft being shown by the tools that he carried in his hand. Priests appeared clad in their pontifical robes. Perhaps the most interesting of all were the statuettes of candy vendors, each man equipped with his tray of sweets, and a horsehair tail wherewith to fan the flies. Some of these statues were so perfect in their execution that the eminent Phidias might well have envied their perfection. When we compare this art and culture with the so-called pictures of brutish cave-dwellers, we have one more failure in the collapsing chain of evidences that was supposed to show man’s constantly advancing culture.

We might also give, by way of illustration, the magnificent statue of Kephren. This memorial was exquisitely carved from stone so hard that it would blunt most modern tools. Kephren constructed one of the pyramids at Giza. This latter work was notable in that there were evidences that some of the stones had been cut with what appeared to be tubular drills. Since this is possible in our modern culture with the use of diamond-pointed instruments, there is food for considerable thought and speculation as to the culture and learning of Kephren’s age! As a general statement, it is not too much to say that the farther back we go into Egyptian antiquity, the more perfect the arts and culture in general seem to be.

When we compare, for instance, the brilliant workmanship of the priceless pectoral of the daughter of Usertesen (or Usertsen) with the crude and amateurish workmanship of the jewelry of the later queen Abhotep, it is evident that the centuries brought retrogression. The reign of Usertesen may be correlated with the early period of the patriarchal age, which fact has an important bearing upon our study. The hopeful critics of the Book of Genesis have postulated for the age of Abraham a barbaric lack of culture comparable to the nomadic tribes of Arabia in the Middle Ages. We now see, however, that the entire age of the patriarchs was a period of exquisite culture and high learning. To refer again to Usertsen, he seems to have been a capable strategist, and his system of working out his plan of battle was something like the game of chess. His artists had made for him models of the various kinds of soldiers that made up his variegated corps. The bowmen were armed with exquisite miniature weapons that had, to our delight and wonder, been preserved against all the passing centuries. The black troops that he used, of whatever origin, were carved from a wood like our ebony, and the tiny features were negroid in faithful representation of the difference between the races of men employed in his army. These model soldiers could be moved about a board which depicted the terrain of battle, and his strategy thus wrought out. Our present point, however, is the artistic perfection of the models of the soldiers that he used. The art of his age was as nearly perfect as one could wish.

Then there came another cycle of retrogression and decay which climaxed in a period of cultural darkness that reigned too long over that ancient people. It is highly significant, for instance, that the best glass of Egypt is dug from the more ancient sites. There came a time when the art of making glass was forgotten by the people of Egypt and had later to be rediscovered by other races.

If there is one voice that can be heard in archeology, and one lesson that can be specifically learned, it is the certainty of the fallacy of the theory of evolution. Egypt, as elsewhere, shows us no dim, brutish beginning, but a startling emergence of this people in a high degree of culture. No gradual ascent up the ladder of learning, but cycles of retrogression and advancement, followed by decay: then a new dawning of art and science. The entire record of archeology is thus a complete vindication of the premise and basic contention of the inspired record of God’s Word. No greater voice may be heard in our day than this definite, adamant cry from Egypt, which depicts cycles of culture that begin with a crest of learning. It must not be presumed that this condition is unique in Egypt, or peculiar to any one race or country. The same queer discrepancy between the fallacious theories of the philosophy of organic evolution and the facts of human history is observed wherever archeology has been able to hold the torch of discovery over a given area.

We have illustrated, for instance, in Plates Number [6] and [7], one of the most interesting of the exhibits in the British Museum. This is a stone weapon from the archaic ages of the Chaldeans. It consists of a mace head, made of limestone. Incidentally, this was a very common type of weapon among those people in their warlike culture. The particular one that is illustrated is typical of its time. Note that it is a STONE AGE WEAPON.

A note of wonder is caused in our inquiring minds by the odd and utterly incompatible fact that it is engraved clearly in high relief, thus testifying to the fact that in the archaic stone age of Babylon, men who wrought in a time when the evolutionary advocates demand a dim and brutish stage of development were already gifted in the art of sculpture!

To complicate the case still further, they were possessed as well with a highly developed written language! Their stone implements are in some instances crude, as they did not spend time polishing and decorating rude tools that were used for a base purpose. Others of their artifacts, like this stone mace head, are not only covered with finely sculptured figures but are also inscribed with written characters that are clear and well executed. A “stone age” with a written culture, scholars, and books, is an anomaly, indeed!

Where, then, in the light of these archeological facts, is the evidence of the slow development of the human mentality and the emergence of primitive man from his “brutish” state? Unfortunately for the high-priests of the dying sect of organic evolution, the science which delineates the true condition of ancient races offers them no help or proof whatever. The opposite is the case in archeology, as all the evidence that has come to us from the honest attempt to see man as he was, and not as he was reported to have been, has proved conclusively that organic evolution is a false religion. It is inevitable that this fact should some day come to light; for although it may be that science moves with leaden feet, when it does finally overtake error, it smites with an iron fist!

Thus the false theory that man has struggled upward from a valley of brutish darkness is refuted by archeology, and the premise of specific creation, as set forth in the Bible, is established by the discoveries in the realm of this science. In every land that man has occupied for a long period of time, the tide of culture has ebbed and flowed from that hour to this present moment of writing. Just as the night follows the day, and the next day dawns only to be succeeded by the darkness in turn, so the learning and progress of man has been a cycle, rather than a steady climb up a ladder of learning, from level to level, until the heights of present civilization were reached. The old error must now be abandoned, or else we must close our eyes to the entire record of archeological discovery, and frankly confess that we are not interested in facts which refute erroneous, but accepted theories.

CHAPTER III
Converging Streams

In a systematic presentation of the evidences in the field of Christian apologetics, it is necessary to review the Egyptian and Chaldean records as they bear upon the text of the Scripture, and illumine its meaning. For it is here that the streams of History and Revelation converge, to continue their flow in mingled harmony throughout all the centuries which follow this original conjunction.

In the very nature of the case we would not expect direct archeological confirmation of a great deal of the earlier portions of the Old Testament. The record of creation which was handed down from Adam to each generation delineated an event which was not witnessed by any human being. As has been very clearly shown in the illuminating book, “New Discoveries in Babylonia about Genesis,” by P. J. Wiseman, this record was undoubtedly preserved in a written form from the very time of Adam himself.

Khnum and Thoth in Creation Tradition.

The events of the Garden of Eden and the subsequent history are not such as would leave archeological material for the exact enlightenment of later generations. There is, however, a manner in which the study of antiquity can bring a tremendous light to shine upon the dark problem of the credibility of these records. It is generally conceded by ethnologists that when races of people hold a strongly developed idea or belief, in common, there must have been an historical incident as the basis of that universal tradition. Thus, among the very earliest traditions of ancient Egypt, there is a record of the creation of man that bears a valuable relationship to the account in Genesis.

The Mosaic record states that God stooped and created the body of man out of the dust of the earth. Life was imparted to that body by the very breath of God.

The earliest Egyptian record recounts how the god Khnum took a slab of mud, and placing it upon his potter’s wheel, moulded it into the physical form of the first man. The illustration facing this page shows the entire process, with Thoth standing behind Khnum, and marking the span of man’s years upon a notched branch. Here then is a coincidence of traditional belief in the manner of creation of man that is of tremendous significance.

We also note that the earliest records of Sumeria have this same incidental bearing upon certain portions of the Old Testament text.

All of the records of antiquity begin the history of man in a garden. This is of considerable significance in view of the account of Eden that is so prominently given in the record of Genesis.

Among the seals to which we shall occasionally refer and which are shown in [Plate 8], there is one from an early period in Sumeria from which we have derived considerable understanding of Sumerian beliefs. This seal shows Adam and Eve on opposite sides of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and can be nothing less than a direct reference to the event that is recorded in the Book of Genesis.

One of the most constantly cited documents of antiquity, is the so-called Gilgamesh epic. The high antiquity of the original form in which this occurs may be seen from the fact that many of the seals that go as far back as the year 3,000 B. C. are made of illustrations of the various episodes that are contained in this valuable document. The original home of Gilgamesh seems to have been at Erech. The city was evidently besieged by an army led by Gilgamesh, who, after a three-year war, became the king of the city. So harsh was the despotic rule of the conquering monarch that the people petitioned the goddess Aruru to create a being strong enough to overthrow Gilgamesh and release them from his sway.

Some of the gods joined in with this prayer and as a result a mythical being, partly divine, partly human, and partly animal, was created and dispatched to Erech for the destruction of Gilgamesh. This composite hero bears a great many different names, but the earliest accepted form in the Babylonian account was Enkedu. Gilgamesh, learning that an enemy had been created for his destruction, exercised craft and lured Enkedu to the city of Erech. The two became fast friends and set out finally to do battle with a mighty giant named Khumbaba. When they arrived at his castle, they besieged and captured the stronghold of the giant, whom they slew. They carried off his head as a trophy and returned to Erech to celebrate their victory.

The plan of the gods being thus frustrated, the goddess Ishtar besought her father Anu to create a mighty bull to destroy Gilgamesh. The bull being formed and dispatched upon its duty, also failed of its purpose when Enkedu and Gilgamesh vanquished the animal after a tremendous battle. And so on, the story goes with episode after episode, culminating with a crisis in the account of the deluge.

In this climax, in a notable and fascinating manner, we see again the coincidence of tradition with a record of the Scripture. In the Babylonian account of the deluge, every major premise of the Mosaic record is sustained in its entirety. The Gilgamesh account tells of the heavenly warning, it depicts the gathering of material and the building of an ark. In the ark was safely carried the hero, his wife and his family with certain beasts of the earth for seed. The ark of the Gilgamesh episode was made water tight with bitumen exactly as was the ark of Noah in the record in the Book of Genesis. Entering this ark, the Babylonian account tells how the boat came under the direct supervision of the gods. On the same night a mighty torrent fell out of the skies. The cloudburst continued for six days and nights, until the tops of the mountains were covered. The sea arose out of its banks and helped to overflow the land. After the seventh day, the storm abated and the sea decreased. By that time, however, the whole human race had been destroyed with the exception of the little company who had been within the Babylonian ark.

The ark of Babylon grounded in that portion of the ancient world known as Armenia, the Hebrew name of which is Ararat. Seven days after the landing of the ark, the imprisoned remnant sent forth a dove. When she found no place to light and rest, the dove returned to the ship. They waited a short while and then sent forth a swallow. The swallow also returned, wearied from a long flight, and several more days were allowed to elapse. The next attempt to discover the condition of the earth by the imprisoned remnant resulted in the sending forth of a raven. The bird returned and approached the ark, but refused to re-enter the ship. The remnant knew then that the flood was ended. They accordingly went forth with all the redeemed life, and celebrated their preservation by offering up sacrifices to the gods upon the mountains.

The goddess Ishtar was so pleased with the sacrifice of the godly remnant that she hung in the heavens a great bow, which Anu, the father of the gods, had made for the occasion. She swore by the sacred ornaments that hung about her neck that mankind should not again be destroyed by a flood, and this heavenly bow was the sign of that covenant.

The incidental details which are found in this hoary manuscript coincide too closely with the record of Genesis to admit of coincidence. Archeology has brought no stronger testimony to the historicity of the Mosaic record of the deluge than this great account in the Gilgamesh epic, although interspersed with mythological characters and deviating from the simplicity of the Genesis account.

One of the most valuable publications of the British Museum is their monograph on the Gilgamesh legend, which contains a fine and scholarly translation of the deluge tablet in an unabridged form. Our own copy of this publication has been of great value to many students who have sought its aid in their detailed studies of the Old Testament.

Another one of the disputed portions of the Old Testament text which brought great comfort to the habitually hopeful among the destructive critics, is that section of Genesis which deals with the record of Nimrod and the tower of Babel.

Modern archeology not only has failed to bring any aid to the critics in this particular incident, but has robbed them of all their carefully erected structure of argument which was predicated upon the assumption that the tower of Babel was entirely mythological. Among the recent excavations in Mesopotamia was the work in the region which bore the oriental name of Birs-nimroud. When the excavators had finished their enormous task, they had laid bare a magnificent ziggurat of tremendous antiquity which was the largest so far discovered. At the time these ruins were first seen, this enormous tower covered an area of 1,444,000 square feet. It towered to the height of a bit more than 700 feet. Time has, of course, ravished this monument to some extent, but enough of its grandeur and glory remains to show it forth as the most ancient as well as the most magnificent of the Babylonian ziggurats.

According to the description given by Herodotus, in the middle of the fifth century, B. C., the structure then consisted of a series of eight ascending towers, each one recessed in the modern fashion of cutting-back that is used in certain types of sky-scraper architecture. The famous Step Pyramid at Sakkara is another ancient example of this type of structure, each successive and higher tower being smaller than the one upon which it rests. A spiral roadway, according to Herodotus, went around the entire ziggurat, mounting rapidly from level to level. He states that at each level a resting place was provided in this spiral roadway. At the top of the structure was a magnificent temple in which the religious exercises of the day were observed.

That this was the tower of Nimrod is generally accepted by the authorities of our present day. The name of Nimrod which in the Sumerian ideographs is read “Ni-mir-rud” is found on a number of artifacts and records of high antiquity, and reference is made as well to the great monument that he built.

So as we read our way through the episodes which constitute the earlier records of Genesis, we also dig our way into the older strata of humanity and find ourselves walking hand in hand with the twins of revelation and scientific vindication! They coincide in all their utterances, teaching us that all that the Word of God has to say to men may be accepted without question or doubt.

The late Melvin Grove Kyle has written extensively of his own researches at Sodom and Gomorrah, so that it is unnecessary to recapitulate the results of his lifetime of labor. The sulphurous overburden and the startling confirmation of the Book of Genesis derived from the work of Dr. Kyle and his associates would vindicate the Scriptural claims to historical accuracy even if they stood by themselves.

In the general argument and discussion that long has clustered about the record of Abraham, the starting point of critical refutation has generally been the fourteenth chapter of Genesis. It is stated that the battle of the kings that occurred in this disputed portion of Holy Writ, was in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar. Since a contemporary is named as Ched-or-la-o-mer, a storm of argument has swept over and about that one opening verse of this important chapter. The allies of Ched-or-la-o-mer are well known from his own records, and Amraphel was not to be found among them. It was a tremendous blow to criticism when the discovery was made that Amraphel is the Hebrew name of the Sumerian form, Khammurabi.