NOTES.
[Page 17].—For the importance attached to dreams by the ancients, see Jortin, Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. 1. p. 90.
[Page 22].—“The Pillar of Pillars”—more properly, perhaps, “the column of the pillars.” v. Abdallatif, Relation de l’Egypte, and the notes of M. de Sacy. The great portico round this column (formerly designated Pompey’s, but now known to have been erected in honour of Dioclesian) was still standing, M. de Sacy says, in the time of Saladin. v. Lord Valentia’s Travels.
[Page 23].—Ammianus thus speaks of the state of Alexandria in his time, which was, I believe, as late as the end of the fourth century:—“Ne nunc quidem in eadem urbe Doctrinæ variæ silent, non apud nos exaruit Musica nec Harmonia conticuit.” Lib. 22.
[Page 25].—From the character of the features of the Sphinx, and a passage in Herodotus, describing the Egyptians as μελαγχροες και ουλοτρικες, Volney, Bruce, and a few others, have concluded that the ancient inhabitants of Egypt were negroes. But this opinion is contradicted by a host of authorities. See Castera’s notes upon [pg 310]Browne’s Travels, for the result of Blumenbach’s dissection of a variety of mummies. Denon, speaking of the character of the heads represented in the ancient sculpture and painting of Egypt, says, “Celle des femmes ressemble encore à la figure des jolies femmes d’aujourd’hui: de la rondeur, de la volupté, le nez petit, les yeux longs, peu ouverts,” &c. &c. He could judge, too, he says, from the female mummies, “que leurs cheveux étoient longs et lisses, que le caractère de tête de la plupart tenoit du beau style”—“Je raportai,” he adds, “une tête de vieille femme qui étoit aussi belle que celles de Michel Ange, et leur ressembloit beaucoup.”
In a “Description générale de Thèbes” by Messrs. Jollois et Desvilliers, they say, “Toutes les sculptures Egyptiennes, depuis les plus grands colosses de Thèbes jusqu’aux plus petites idoles, ne rappellent en aucune manière les traits de la figure des nègres; outre que les têtes des momies des catacombs de Thèbes presentent des profils droits.” See also M. Jomard’s “Description of Syene and the Cataracts,” Baron Larrey, on the “conformation physique” of the Egyptians, &c.
De Pauw, the great depreciator of every thing Egyptian, has, on the authority of a passage in Ælian, presumed to affix to the countrywomen of Cleopatra the stigma of complete and unredeemed ugliness. The following line of Euripides, however, is an answer to such charges:—
Νειλου μεν αἱδε καλλιπαρθενοι ροαι.
In addition to the celebrated instances of Cleopatra, Rhodope, &c. we are told, on the authority of Manetho (as given by Zoega from Georgius Syncellus), of a beautiful queen of Memphis, Nitocris, of the sixth dynasty, who, in addition to other charms and perfections, was (rather inconsistently with the negro hypothesis) ξανθη την χροιαν.
See, for a tribute to the beauty of the Egyptian women, Montesquieu’s Temple de Gnide.