Bunsen, C. K. J., Egypt’s Place in Universal History. London, 1848-1867.
Baron Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen was born at Korbach, Germany, 25th August, 1791, and died at Bonn, 28th November, 1860. Baron Bunsen had the original instincts of the scholar, as proved by his numerous writings; but it was his fate to be shifted early in life from the field of professional scholarship to that of the diplomatist, and his researches were carried on under somewhat disadvantageous circumstances. He had come early under the influence of Niebuhr, and had planned a life of scholarship; but becoming the tutor of Frederick William III, and being advanced through royal influence to a diplomatic post in Rome, and afterwards in London, he came to be more widely known as a diplomatist and statesman than as a scholar. Nevertheless, he contributed much to a popular knowledge of history, through his Aegyptens Stelle in der Weltgeschichte, and its English translation as above. It had a wide circulation, and did perhaps more than almost any other single work to popularise the relatively new subject of Egyptology. His Gott in der Geschichte (God in History) also had great popularity. The eminently philosophical character of these writings is valued even at the present day, though it must be conceded that the point of view regarding many of the subjects treated has quite radically changed in the past half century. It follows that the interest in Baron Bunsen’s books must to a large extent be antiquarian rather than historical at the present day, though they cannot be ignored by any one who wishes to have a full comprehension of the growth and development of the science of Egyptology.
Cailliaud, F., Travels in the Oases of Thebes. London, 1829.—Casanova, Memoirs on the History and Archæology of Egypt.—Chabas, J. F., in Birch’s Records of the Past. London, 1873, 12 vols.; Étude sur l’antiquité historique. Paris, 1873; Mélanges Égyptologiques. Châlons, 1863-1873.
Joseph François Chabas was born 2nd January, 1817, in Briançon; died 17th May, 1882, at Versailles. He was a specialist in Egyptology, who wrote widely and was recognised as an authority of importance. He is best known to the English reader through certain translations, notably of the inscriptions on the obelisks, published in Birch’s Records of the Past. He produced no general historical work, such as would have brought his name before the public at large, and hence he is less familiarly known than many other Egyptologists of less worth.
Chaillé-Long, C., L’Égypte et ses provinces perdues. Paris, 1892.—Champollion, J. F., L’Égypte sous les Pharaohs. Paris, 1814; Descriptions de l’Égypte, etc.; De l’écriture hiératiques des anciens Égyptiens. Paris, 1824; Précis du Système Hiéroglyphique des anciens Égyptiens. Paris, 1824, 2 vols.; Monuments de l’Égypte et de la Nubie. Paris, 1835-1845, 4 vols.
Jean François Champollion was born at Figéac, Lot, France, 23rd December, 1790; died at Paris, 4th March, 1832. Champollion’s work has received comprehensive attention in our text (see Egypt, Chapter XI) in connection with the interpretation of the hieroglyphics, in which work Champollion was an innovator of the first rank. His fame rests chiefly upon this accomplishment, but his entire life was devoted to Egyptology, and he would have been remembered always as one of the fathers of the science, even had he not been the chief originator in the particular work of interpreting the hieroglyphics. Naturally much of his work has been superseded by more recent investigations. This must be true, in the nature of things, of the work of any innovator in science; but, as we have seen, the whole modern science of Egyptology rests securely on the foundation which Champollion laid.
Charmes, G., L’Égypte archéol. hist. lit. Paris, 1891.—Chesney, I., The Land of the Pyramids. London, 1884.—Clot-Beg, A. B., Aperçu général sur l’Égypte. Paris, 1840; De la peste observée en Égypte. Paris, 1840; Description de l’Égypte; Coup d’œil sur la peste et les quarantaines. Paris, 1851.—Cook, F. C., Records of the Past. London, 1873, 18 vols.—Cooper, W. A., Short History of Egyptian Monuments. London, 1876.—Cory, I. P., Ancient Fragments of Phœnician, Chaldean, Egyptian, and other writers. London, 1826, second edition, 1832.
This work has been revised by E. Richmond Hodges in an edition published in 1876, containing some improvements but lacking the original Greek and Latin texts. The work is purely a compilation consisting solely of fragmentary remains of various classical authors. It gathers into a single work a great variety of matter, much of which was hitherto inaccessible to the average scholar; fragments, many of which give us an interesting view of various historical characters. We shall have occasion to quote some of these excerpts in other connections. The original work contained certain Neo-Platonic forgeries known as the Oracles of Zoroaster, the Hermetic Creed, and the Orphic and Pythagorean fragments which are discarded by the editor of the new edition as being of doubtful authenticity and little value. Even these, however, have an antiquarian interest, and the fact that the excerpts are given in the original languages as well as in the translation, makes the earlier edition of the work, as published by Cory himself, still particularly valuable.