Travels in Ethiopia, above the second cataract of the Nile

by G. A. Hoskins

In so fertile a country, a great proportion of the principal landed proprietors, besides those who had realised large fortunes by commerce, must have been able to pass their lives in literary leisure, and employ their fortune in the encouragement of the arts, and the propagation of science. Even the heat of the climate would contribute to the advancement of civilisation. In Europe, particularly in its northern districts, how many consume a great portion of their time and fortune in the healthy, but rough, amusement of the chase; but in the tropics, the greatest luxury is repose. I have remarked repeatedly, that the rich natives of the climates of the East rarely expose themselves to the heat of the sun, except when necessity absolutely requires it, as on a journey; and even then as little as possible. It is considered one of the greatest advantages of rank and fortune, that its possessors can enjoy the luxury of shade during the whole day, while their less fortunate brethren are obliged to toil under a burning sun.

The same natural causes, operating equally in ancient times, would give to the Ethiopians an inclination for sedentary pursuits, which would be advantageous to their advancement in the different branches of science, as soon as their taste for them had been unfolded. That rivalry which always arises among bodies of men, would urge to the improvement of the arts. The great and wealthy would endeavour to surpass each other in the beauty and magnificence of their palaces, and they would emulously display their piety to the gods, by contributing to the building and decorating the temples, and their munificence and generosity, by the construction of edifices of public utility.

This is not an imaginary picture. Let the reader look at the drawings of Meroe, and candidly say whether, in a country containing architects able to construct such chaste and beautiful monuments, men could have spent the superfluity of wealth, derived from commerce, in mere sensual indulgence? Was the knowledge of architecture, sculpture, and painting, exclusively employed in the construction of the sepulchres of her monarchs and the temples of the gods? Can it be supposed that those who must have had the means, would content themselves with wretched huts, when their wealth enabled them to employ their skilful architects in erecting commodious and elegant habitations, suitable to their rank? Can we imagine that the gentry of a kingdom, famous in antiquity for its civilisation, would spend their time, like the Turks, in listless indolence, and would not seek to distinguish themselves by studies and learning? But Diodorus, speaking of the language of hieroglyphics, says, that, in Egypt, the priests only were acquainted with them, whilst, in Ethiopia, they were generally understood. This shows that civilisation was widely diffused among the people, who apparently were not content, like their neighbours, to view without understanding the tablets of writing and sculpture which ornamented the walls of their temples.

Unfortunately, the remains of pure Ethiopian art, at all events, those of the earliest period, are but few. The pyramids of Nouri, but particularly those of Meroe, must have been built many ages before the temples of Gibel el Birkel, especially the one finished by Tirhaka: the style of the sculpture differs so widely, that a slight examination only is necessary to prove that a long period must have intervened before, in a country like this, the style could have so materially changed. I place, then, the pyramids of Meroe among the earliest specimens now existing of the skill of the Ethiopians. In my description of those ruins, I have extolled the beautiful simplicity of the architecture, imposing, and, at the same time, elegant, in a superior degree to the immense pyramids of Geezah. The sepulchres of Meroe delight us by evincing the greatest purity of taste, while they are not, like the Egyptian pyramids, monuments of the tyranny and oppression of their kings.

The different plates I have given of the sculpture in the porticoes of Meroe, at Gibel el Birkel (see Plates [X.,] [XI.,] and [XII.,] and particularly Plate XI., which contains a number of vases,) display a great degree of elegance, and, perhaps, a refined simplicity, equal to what we find in Egyptian sculpture.

The offerings (see [Plate XXIX.]) are the animals of the country and surrounding deserts. The group with branches of the palm tree, is quite Ethiopian, and very beautiful; but the splendid procession alluded to, in treating of the commerce, as existing in a tomb at Thebes, is particularly instructive: the Ethiopians are there represented carrying presents to a great man at the time of Thothmes. Besides the ivory, ebony, gold, silver, skins, and animals, enumerated in my last chapter, they are also represented bearing different kinds of vases. These evince a degree of elegance and refinement which has never been surpassed. They are not ornamented with figures like the Phœnician, Etruscan, Greek, and Roman vases, but in taste and elegant simplicity of form they are not surpassed by those of any nation. Such discoveries as these afford the strongest evidence of the civilisation of a people. No learning or profound knowledge of the arts is required to understand, that a nation, among whom have been wrought such rich and magnificent vases as are now to be found in London, could be barbarians.

When a people have attained a certain degree of taste, such knowledge is never confined to one branch. The cultivated minds, which could appreciate such works of art as the pyramids of Meroe, and were accustomed to such a degree of elegance in their domestic ornaments, could not, I conceive, have been uncivilised, generally speaking. These vases, like the chairs and furniture represented on the walls of Thebes, admit us at once to a knowledge of the private life of the people. We cannot doubt the luxury and refinement of the private life of the Egyptians, when we find represented, in one of the tombs of the kings at Thebes, more beautiful patterns of chairs, cushions, &c. than are now to be found in Europe. As little can we imagine, that apartments, ornamented with such elegant vases as the Ethiopians are represented offering to the Egyptians, would not in every other respect be furnished with equal taste. I think, then, that I am not too bold in asserting, that the people who had skill to devise, and ability to execute, such beautiful works of art, are entitled to a very high rank in the scale of civilisation. To the other proofs that they are Ethiopian, I should add, their long curly hair, their peculiar dress, differing from the Egyptian, the similarity with the few vases which I found sculptured on the walls at Meroe, (see [Plate XI.]) and, most of all, the hieroglyphics written over the procession, which state them to be from the land of Ethiopia.

Another important proof of the extensive architectural skill of the Ethiopians is their knowledge and employment of the arch. In my narrative, I have described that which exists in one of the porticoes of Meroe, having the form of the segment of a circle, and have mentioned also the pointed arch in a pyramid at Gibel el Berkel. Both are constructed on the true principle of being supported only by lateral pressure. The pyramids of Meroe being the oldest, we may say that the earliest specimen of the arch now existing is on the site of the capital of Ethiopia. I conceive it very likely, that the necessity of finding some method of resisting the tropical rains led the Ethiopians to the invention of the arch; as of course, slight even as they are here, they would be obliged to pay more attention to their roofs than in Egypt, where, with few exceptions, sometimes, especially in Upper Egypt, not exceeding once in the year, it may almost be said never to rain. The rains which fall at Shendy are, however, rarely heavy. As I have noticed in my topographical description ([page 156.]), the only specimens of the arch in Egypt belong to that period when wars existed between the two countries, and the Egyptians would have the opportunity of learning that invention from the Ethiopians. It is also singular, that there is not a stone arch in Egypt regularly constructed, except one, before mentioned, of the time of Psammitichus, who reigned after the Ethiopian dynasty. The only specimens which show the Egyptians to have been acquainted with the true mode of forming one, is a brick arch, erected at the time of Amunoph, and another of the time of Thothmes III. They are formed of crude bricks; the size of which is seven inches by five. (See [Vignettes.]) Is it not singular, that although these and other brick arches at Thebes are regularly constructed, the specimens there and elsewhere in stone, lead us to infer, that they were acquainted with the beauty of the arch as an architectural ornament, but not with its great utility? I refer to that arch near to the temple excavated out of the rock, in the valley of Hassaseef, at Thebes, of the time of Amunoph, which is formed by approaching stones (see [Vignette]), and numerous excavations in the valley of the Nile, where the roofs are hollowed slightly into the arched form. As, therefore, no specimen of even a brick arch exists before the reign of those kings who carried their arms into Ethiopia; and as the pyramids of Ethiopia are evidently so very ancient, it seems highly probable that this important discovery had there its origin.

STONE ARCH AT THEBES.