Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Of historic details relating to the earliest dynasties next to nothing has been preserved; the kings appear to have been able and enlightened rulers, and encouragers of art and learning. In their days the system of hieroglyphic writing existed, and we are told of works on the healing arts, some of which were composed by the successor of Mena himself, for ‘he was a physician.’ The earliest chapters of the sacred books were extant, and the art of embalming was already practised, though in a comparatively rude fashion. We are also informed that by a decree of King Bai-en-neter of the second dynasty, women were declared capable of succeeding to the crown—a statement which is only in harmony with all that we know of the position of women in ancient Egypt.[10]
One remarkable monument of these early dynasties remains.
The Libyan hills, running from north to south, form the western boundary of the Nile valley. Along their base there is a rocky platform of considerable breadth, at a height of some 90 or 100 feet above the plain. This vast platform was used as the necropolis of Memphis—Ank-ta, ‘Land of life,’ they called it. For the space of twenty miles in the neighbourhood of the city, it was covered with groups of pyramids and tombs. In the centre of the most ancient of these stands the pyramid of Sakkara, known as the ‘stepped pyramid,’ or ‘pyramid of degrees,’ which is considered as the burial-place of Ata, fourth King of Egypt. In that case, it is the oldest known sepulchre in the world. It is of grand and rugged aspect, about 200 feet in height, and flattened at the summit. The exterior is formed of six rough gigantic steps composed of stones, and nine or ten feet in thickness.
The forms of King Mena and his successors may well appear dreamlike in the dim light by which we discern them; but we seem to perceive that Mena was, at any rate, the first who wore the ‘double crown,’ which bespoke sovereignty over the whole land; the white upper crown representing dominion over Upper, the red lower one dominion over Lower Egypt. His successors were strong enough to repel invaders, to maintain intact the power they inherited, and thus to transmit to following dynasties the double crown they had received from Mena, the ‘Firm’ or ‘Constant.’
[CHAPTER II.]
The Pyramid Builders.
There is no longer any need to trust to the scanty notices of these early times that occur in writings of later date. Egyptian inscriptions now tell their own story; the monuments begin to speak. In the valley of Wady Maghara, in the peninsula of Sinai, carved upon the rocky precipice, is to be seen King Senefru himself, in the act of striking down an enemy; the accompanying inscription gives the name and titles of the sovereign, and designates him the conqueror of the Mentu, the ‘foreigners of the East.’