[5] So much was this the case, that at a later period simpler forms of writing, known as the hieratic and demotic were adopted for general purposes; but the ancient hieroglyphic characters continued to be employed on monuments and in the temples.
[6] This comparison of the ancient ‘wisdom’ to the phœnix is taken from Reginald Stuart Poole’s Cities of Egypt,—an interesting and suggestive book, to which I have been more than once indebted, and especially in the above description of On.
[7] Generally known as the ‘Book’ or ‘Ritual of the Dead,’ but it was never known to the Egyptians by any name of the kind.
[8] Loftie’s Ride in Egypt.
[9] The length of the Nile, from the spot where the Blue and White Nile unite, down to the Mediterranean, is 1800 miles. The valley of the Nile bounded east by the Arabian, west by the Libyan hills, varies in breadth from fourteen to thirty-two miles, but the breadth of the arable land does not exceed nine or ten miles.—Erasmus Wilson’s Egypt of the Past.
[10] That position was in remarkable contrast to the subjection and seclusion of the Asiatic harem, and was superior to that assigned to women in the domestic and social life of Greece itself. The Egyptian was the husband of one wife, and she was regarded as the honoured mistress of the household; the companion, not the slave or inferior, of the man. In sculptures and paintings she is constantly seen sitting by his side; she joins him in receiving and welcoming guests, and freely takes her part in the occupations and enjoyments of social life. In the tombs and memorial chambers of the dead, husband and wife are still represented side by side.
[11] The face of the Sphinx is 30 feet long and 14 wide. Its body 140, and its front paws 50 feet long. Between the paws was a small sanctuary.
[12] Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine.
[13] On the coffin-lid is a hieroglyphic inscription, which is interesting as showing at how early a period the departed spirit was regarded as one with Osiris. It runs thus: ‘O Osiris, King of Egypt, Menkaura, living for ever! born of Heaven, offspring of Seb. May thy Mother Nut (Heaven) stretch herself over thee, and cover thee in her Name of Heavenly Mystery. May she render thee divine, destroying all thine enemies, O King Menkaura, living for ever!’
[14] Tribes inhabiting the desert beyond the north-east frontier of Egypt.