"During the nineteenth dynasty one king, Rameses II. (or 'The Great'), reigned sixty-seven years, and left many monuments that remain to this day. One of his predecessors in the same dynasty, Sethi I., built several magnificent temples, and made the first canal from the Nile to the Red Sea. The flight of the Israelites from bondage occurred in this dynasty during the reign of Meneptah. He is generally known in history as the Pharaoh of the Exodus; and it is well to explain here that Pharaoh was the Egyptian word for 'king,' and is properly prefixed to the name of the ruler. The Egyptians would say 'Pharaoh Rameses,' 'Pharaoh Necho,' and the like, just as we say 'King George,' or 'King Charles.'
MENEPTAH, THE SUPPOSED PHARAOH OF THE EXODUS.
"In the twenty-seventh dynasty Egypt was taken by the Persians, and held by them one hundred and twenty years. Then the Egyptians made a successful rebellion, and drove out their oppressors till the thirty-first dynasty, when the Persians came back again. In the thirty-second dynasty (332 b.c.) Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, and founded Alexandria. The Greeks ruled the country for three hundred years, till the time of Cleopatra, at the beginning of the Christian era (thirty-fourth dynasty), when it became a Roman province, and what is called 'Ancient Egypt' came to an end. As we are not concerned now with modern Egypt, we will close our historical record and take breath."
With this brief outline of the history of ancient Egypt in their minds the boys were able to make an intelligent observation of the museum at Boulak. On their way thither the Doctor gave them a history of the Museum which owed its existence to the labors of Mariette Bey.[5]
THE NAME OF EGYPT IN HIEROGLYPHICS.
"In the early half of this century," said the Doctor, "many of the tombs of the ancient Egyptians were explored, and their contents carried away to the museums of Europe. In 1850 the French Government sent an officer, Auguste Edouard Mariette, to examine the ruins of Memphis. His mission was successful, as he discovered the Serapeum, or tombs of the Sacred Bulls, and opened one of the principal temples of the long-ruined city. In 1856 the Egyptian Government appointed him Director of the Department for the Preservation of Egyptian Antiquities, with the title of Bey, and gave him a liberal allowance of money for carrying on his work. Through his efforts an order was made forbidding the exportation of antiquities, and establishing a museum near Cairo for their preservation. So much has been found that the museum at Boulak has been filled, and a new and larger building has been erected on the opposite side of the Nile, to which the collection will be transferred. Many interesting discoveries have been made, and every year reveals something new. Much light has been thrown on the history of ancient Egypt, and many questions that were formerly matters of dispute have been set at rest. It is safe to say that we have learned more about ancient Egypt through the labors of Mariette Bey than through those of all other explorers combined, with the possible exception of Champollion."