It is thus that we trace the Pelasgic type of feature and expression through all the various castes of the Egyptian population, beginning with kings and ending with peasants and plebeians. The illustrations have been purposely selected from those remote times wherein chronology becomes confusion, down to the later periods of recorded history,—a vast period of thirteen centuries, of which the latest date looks back nine hundred years before the birth of Christ!
People of Pelasgic features and complexion are often seen on the monuments as prisoners taken in war. One of these is copied, Plate [XIV]., Fig. 23. It is from Abousimbel, and dates with Rameses III. The very fair skin, regular features and black hair seem to point to a nation of southern Europe. The nose is nearly straight, and on the same line with the forehead, although the latter recedes more than is consistent with our ideas of the Grecian profile.[[72]]
3. THE SEMITIC RACE.[[73]]
That people of this great family were numerous in Egypt is amply attested both by sacred and profane history; and the proximity of their respective countries necessarily brought the Semitic and Egyptian communities into frequent contact for war or for peace. This fact is abundantly proved by the monuments. The Jewish people, however, appears, for the most part, to have been admitted into Egypt upon sufferance; for the Exodus, and all subsequent annals, are conclusive on this subject.
Those peculiar lineaments which, from very remote times, have characterized some of the Semitic nations, have been already noticed. How many of these nations possessed these physical characters, cannot now be determined; but it is probable that all partook of them in degree. It is in the temple of Beyt-el-Wàlee, in Nubia, in paintings of the age of Rameses II., (B.C. 1579,) that we meet with one of the earliest unquestionable delineations of these people. (Plate [XIV]., Fig. 24.)
An additional illustration is that given in the margin. It is also preserved in the temple of Bey-el-Wàlee, and is of the same date as the head above described. These people are generally represented as enemies or bondsmen; nor have I any doubt that the figures in the celebrated Brickmaker’s scene, in the tomb of Rekshari, at Thebes, of the age of Thotmes IV., are those of a Semitic nation, and, in all probability, Hebrews. Their features obviously correspond with those of the latter people; and their scanty beards, which have been made an objection to this view of their nationality, may be regarded as a compulsory badge of captivity. Perhaps the most Hebrew portrait on the monuments is that of Aahmes-Nofre-Ari, Queen of Amunoph I., who is said by the hieroglyphists to have been by birth a Meröite. (Plate [XIV]., Fig. 13.) Semitic features, as we have already shown, are occasionally found among the embalmed heads from the catacombs; in proof of which I refer, with confidence, to Plate [XI]., Fig. 2; and also, though less strongly marked, to Plate [II]., Fig. 8, Plate [VI]., Figs. 2 and 8, and to Plate [XII]., Figs. 1 and 2.
My studies have not qualified me for philological comparisons and inferences, but I cannot forbear introducing the following views of the learned Dr. Lepsius, on account of their direct bearing upon this interesting question. Speaking of the Egyptian and Coptic tongues, he says:—“I have now discovered, in the essence of the language itself, not only that there is no appearance whatever of any grammatical change, and that it possesses, perhaps in a higher degree, that principle of stability so peculiar to the Semitic dialects, but also that it has preserved in its formation traces of a higher antiquity than any Indo-Germanic or Semitic language wherewith I am acquainted, which traces will therefore be most unexpectedly important even for these two families. At the same time the Coptic cannot be termed either Semitic or Indo-Germanic. It has its own peculiar formation, though, at the same time, its fundamental relationship with these two families is not to be mistaken.”[[74]]
The Arabs.—The southern or peninsular Arabs are a people of middle stature, with a complexion varying from a sallow hue to a very dark colour. They have sharp, bold features, a rather prominent face, and a straight or gently aquiline nose. The head is, moreover, comparatively small, and the forehead rather narrow and sensibly receding; to which may often be added a meagre and angular figure,[[75]] long, slender limbs, and large knees. Some tribes are also remarkable for the small stature of the men, which, according to Burckhardt, does not exceed five feet two or three inches; while, with a thick head of hair, they possess a short, thin, and pointed beard.[[76]]