Egypt’s Annual Record
TABLETS OF ANNALS. The greater part of the inscriptions of this age are on small square tablets of ebony and of ivory, which were found in the royal tombs. These each have a hole in the top corner, and the sign of a year—the palm stick—down the side, as there is by the side of the entries of the events of each year on the early annals. They thus appear to be each the record of a year, and to have been strung together by the corner holes. There has not yet been any authoritative study of the meaning of these earliest inscriptions, which are very difficult to understand, owing to the transitory condition of ideographs having not yet yielded to syllabic usage. We can, however, glean many points about the civilisation from them. The towns were fortified with battlemented walls. The shrines were small sanctuaries, with a large court in front, like the temple courts of later times. At the entrance to the court were two tall poles, apparently with flags, which later developed into the row of masts with streamers in front of the pylon. The great festival at the close of each thirty years was one of the most important, already noticed here under Narmer. The sanctuary for it had two shrines back to back, each with a flight of steps, apparently for Upper and Lower Egypt. The dancing of the new king, or the crown prince as king, before the old Osirified king in the shrine, was one of the main events of the feast. The types of temple furniture were already fixed in the forms which lasted for several thousand years; the barks of Harakhti are shown with the same hangings at the prow, and are double—for the E. and W.—as in the temple of Sety I. Large bowls of electrum were offered in the temples by the king. Wild cattle were hunted by trap nets, as was done much later in Greece. And there is shown a long road, with resthouses and palm-trees, leading up to the great temple in the reign of King Zer.
A RECORD OF A YEAR’S EVENTS: EBONY TABLET OF KING MENA, 5500 B.C.
The greater part of the inscriptions of the first dynasty are on small square tablets of ebony and of ivory. These each have a hole in the top corner, and the sign of a year—the palm stick—down the side. They thus appear to be each the record of a year, and to have been strung together by the corner holes. They were found scattered in the tombs.
Officers of the Empire
SEALINGS. The clay sealings of officials show much of the organisation of the country. The oldest titles, under Zer, are the “Commander of the Inundation” and “Commander of the Cattle.” In the reign of Zet we find a “Commander of the Elders” and “Archon,” or chief of the city; also the temple property, or “Inheritance of the Chief God,” is named. Under Merneit and Den there is a prince (ha). The vizier was “Commander of the Centre,” probably the major domo of the Court, and also “Over-head of the Commanders.” There are further named a “Royal Sealer of the Vat of Neit,” the “winepress of the north,” and a “Deputy of the Treasury.” In later reigns there is an “Over-head” of a city. And under the second dynasty the titles are “Royal Sealer of all Deeds,” “Scribe of Accounts of Provisions,” “Sealer of Northern Tribute,” “Collector of Lotus Seed,” and “Chief Man Under the King.” These titles are from but a very small part of the bureaucracy, only those whose seals were affixed to the royal provision which was placed in the tomb; but they suffice to show the regular organisation of the government at that age.
THE SEAL OF AN EGYPTIAN OFFICIAL