The manner in which the Hieroglyphical alphabet was employed, in the time of the Roman emperors, may be understood from the examination of the specimens inserted in this chapter; they comprehend an example of each of the names and titles, which Mr. Champollion has included in his catalogue. In order to illustrate the veneration paid to the Roman emperors in Egypt, I shall subjoin an extract from Strabo, relating to the administration of that country, in the days of the earlier Caesars, for he was a contemporary and a subject of Tiberius.
Book XVII. “The whole of Egypt was divided into Nomes, the Thebaid containing ten, the Delta ten, and the intermediate parts sixteen, making in all 36.... The nomes were generally divided into Toparchiae, or local governments: and these again into other portions.... At Alexandria, the Necropolis is a separate suburb, containing gardens, and sepulchres, and subterraneous passages, employed for preserving the dead.”
“After the death of Julius Caesar, and after the battle of Philippi, Antony went into Asia, and paid extravagant honours to Cleopatra, even making her his wife, and having several children by her. He carried on, in concert with her, the war that was terminated at Actium, and accompanied her, as is well known, in her flight. Augustus following them, destroyed them both, and set Egypt at rest from the revels of a drunkard. It is now governed as a province, or an Eparchia, paying considerable taxes, but being always administered by moderate men, who are sent as Governors, and who hold the rank of a king. Under the governor is the Dicaeodotes, that is the lawgiver, or chancellor: another officer is called the Privy purse, or private accountant, whose business it is to take charge of every thing which is left without an owner, and which falls of right to the Emperor. These two are also attended by Freedmen and Stewards of Caesar, who are intrusted with affairs of greater or less magnitude. There are also three battalions of soldiers, one in the city of Alexandria, the others in the country. Besides these, there are nine companies of Romans; three in the city, three in garrison at Syene, upon the frontiers of Ethiopia, and three in other parts of the country. There are also three regiments of cavalry, similarly distributed, among the fittest places. But of the natives, who are employed in the government of the different cities, the principal are the Exegétes, or Expounder, who is dressed in purple, and is honoured according to the usages of the country, and takes care of what is necessary for the welfare of the city; and the Register, or writer of commentaries; and the Archidicastes, or chief judge; and fourthly, the Captain of the Night. These same magistracies existed in the time of the kings: but the kings governed so ill, that the welfare of the state was disturbed by all kinds of irregularities. Polybius, who was in Egypt, expresses his horror of the condition of the country at that time: he says there were three kinds of inhabitants in Alexandria; the Egyptians, or the people of the country, a keen and civilised race, and the mercenary troops, who were numerous and turbulent; for it was the custom to keep foreign soldiers in their pay, who, having arms in their hands, were more ready to govern than to obey: the third description of people were the Alexandrians, not very decidedly tractable, for similar reasons, but still, better than the last: for those, who had mixed with them, were originally Greeks, and remembered the habits of their country. This part of the population was however then dwindling away, more especially through Evergetes Physcon, in whose reign Polybius came to Alexandria: for on several occasions, when there had been some seditious proceedings he attacked this plebeian multitude with his troops, and destroyed great numbers of them. Polybius could not therefore help exclaiming, that he had “To Egypt come, a long and weary way,” with but little pleasure or comfort. The subsequent sovereigns administered their governments as ill, or still worse. The Romans may be said to have effected a great reformation in many respects, and to have regulated the city very effectually; and in the country they appointed persons as Commanders, and Monarchae, and Ethnarchae, that is, masters of single places, and of districts, without very extensive powers.... With respect to the revenues of the country, we may judge of them from Cicero, who mentions, in one of his orations, that Auletes, the father of Cleopatra, had an income, from the taxes, of twelve thousand five hundred talents, [between three and four millions sterling]. If then a king, who administered his government in the worst and most negligent manner possible, received so large a revenue, what are we to suppose it must be at present, when it is managed with so much care, and when it has been so much increased by the enlargement of the Indian and African commerce? In former times, there were not twenty vessels, that ventured to navigate the Red Sea, so as to pass out of the Straights: but now there are great fleets, that make the voyage to India, and to the remotest parts of Ethiopia, returning, laden with very valuable cargos, to Egypt, whence they are distributed to other parts; so that they are subjected to a double duty, first upon importation, and then upon exportation: and the customs upon these valuable articles are themselves proportionally valuable; besides that they have the advantages of a monopoly: since Alexandria alone is so situated, as to afford, in general, the only warehouse for receiving them, and for supplying other places with them.”
From a comparison of the Enchorial names, which are here inserted, we may confidently add to the alphabet a semicircle, open above, as a form of the P; we have also several variations of the T, and perhaps of the TH; and the character, which is sometimes represented by Z, and sometimes by S, must, in all probability, be the Coptic SH; so that ZMINIS ought rather to be written SHMINIS, meaning Octavius, from SHMEN, eight. The same character is found in the phrase of the Pillar of Rosetta, “who has received the kingdom from his father;” and may probably have belonged to the word SHEP, if it is allowable to pursue the analogy so far: it is also remarkable, that the hieroglyphic, which corresponds to this character, has very nearly the same form with that, to which Mr. Champollion attributes the power of SH or X in the name of Xerxes. His Enchorial form of the CH is wholly unsupported by any of these names.
ALPHABET OF CHAMPOLLION.
| Α | |
| Β* | |
| Κ, Γ | |
| Τ, Δ* | |
| Ε | |
| Ι, Η* | |
| Λ* | |
| Μ* | |
| Ν* | |
| Ω, Ο* | |
| Φ, Π* | |
| Ρ | |
| Σ* | |
| ΤΟ |
*Y: †B.
HIEROGLYPHICAL NAMES.
ADRIANUS: CAESAR.