1. THE EGYPTIANS.
The monuments from Meroë to Memphis, present a pervading type of physiognomy which is every where distinguished at a glance from the varied forms which not unfrequently attend it, and which possesses so much nationality both in outline and expression, as to give it the highest importance in Nilotic ethnography. We may repeat that it consists in an upward elongation of the head, with a receding forehead, delicate features, but rather sharp and prominent face, in which a long and straight or gently aquiline nose forms a principal feature. The eye is sometimes oblique, the chin short and retracted, the lips rather tumid, and the hair whenever it is represented, long and flowing.
This style of features pertains to every class, kings, priests, and people, and can be readily traced through every period of monumental decoration, from the early Pharaohs down to the Greek and Roman dynasties. Among the most ancient and at the same time most characteristic examples, are the heads of Amunoph the Second, and his mother, as represented in a tomb at Thebes,[[27]] which dates, in Rosellini’s chronology, seventeen hundred and twenty-seven years before our era. In these effigies all the features are strictly Egyptian, and how strikingly do they correspond with those of many of the embalmed heads from the Theban catacombs!
Fig. 1. Fig. 2.
A similar physiognomy preponderates among the royal Egyptian personages of every epoch, as will be manifest to any one who will turn over the pages of Champollion and Rosellini. The head of Horus (Plate [XIV]., Fig. 2,) is an admirable illustration, while in the portraits of Rameses IV., and Rameses IX., (Plate [XIV]., Fig. 6 and 7,) the same lines are apparent, though much less strongly marked. How admirably also are they seen in the subjoined juvenile head, (Fig. 1,) which is that of a royal prince, copied from the very ancient paintings in the tomb of Pehrai, at Eletheias.[[28]] So also in the face of Rameses VII., (Fig. 2,) who lived perhaps one thousand years later in time.
Fig. 1. Fig. 2.
I observe that the priests almost invariably present this physiognomy, and in accordance with the usage of their caste, have the head closely shaven. When coloured they are red, like the other Egyptians. The subjoined drawing, (No. 1,) which is somewhat harsh in outline, is from the portico of one of the pyramids of Meroë,[[29]] and is probably one of the oldest human effigies in Nubia. They abound in all the temples of that country, and especially at Semneh, Dakkeh, Soleb, Gebel-Berkel, and Messoura.[[30]]