Lastly we may note the variations in the nature of the Egyptian literature, as reflecting the civilisation. The earliest tales are those of magical powers, belonging to the pyramid age. Next, in the Middle Kingdom, comes the contrast between town and country, and the tales of adventure in foreign lands. In the New Kingdom the contrasts of character are the main interest, and, in the late tales, the pseudo-historical romance of the great tournament of the Delta, or the antiquarian interests of a priest. These subjects of romance varied as much or more than the actual grammar and language.
THE WANDERERS OF THE DESERT, AMONG WHOM EGYPTIAN CIVILISATION GREW UP
LARGER IMAGE
PYRAMID OF MEIDUM: BUILT BY SENEFERU, LAST KING OF THE THIRD DYNASTY
This tomb was begun as a square block of masonry, and was enlarged by successive coats, which are here seen. Then one smooth coating of sloping blocks was put over all from bottom to top, and so the first real pyramid appeared in 4700 B.C. The pyramid coating has been destroyed and only the base remains under the rubbish mounds.
ALPHABET. One subject of great European interest should be noted here, as Egypt has thrown much light upon it. The origin of the alphabets of the Mediterranean has been disputed, without historical knowledge of the examples of such signs in early ages. The Egyptian hieratic and the archaic Babylonian signs may have, perhaps, added a few to the Mediterranean signary, but neither source can at all account for it. The alphabet is by no means a clean cut series of 22 signs; it is a very complex tangle of parallel groups of signs in different lands, more or less alike. Of these groups two of the largest are those of Karia and Spain, comprising over 30 signs, and these have many points of peculiarity in common. This is sufficient to show that the fuller alphabet is the original form, from which the shorter lists have been selected. Now, in Egypt there are found scratched on pottery and woodwork over 100 signs, and these comprise the forms of the fuller alphabet. Moreover, these Egyptian examples are found at about 1200 B.C., or only a few centuries before the Karian and Spanish alphabets, again in 3000 B.C., in 5500 B.C., and before 7000 B.C. Of 41 alphabetic signs, 19 occur in 1200–1400 B.C., 32 in 3000 B.C., 27 in 5500 B.C., and 31 in 7000 B.C. As we have not a very large amount of material, the occurrence of from 19 to 32 out of 41 signs is as much as we could expect, as all the 41 occur in one period or another. The early date of these puts all derivation from the subsequent hieroglyphics entirely out of the question. We can as yet only say that a large signary of 40 or more linear forms was in continuous use from before 7000 B.C. downwards, and that these furnish all the forms of the fuller alphabets, those of the short Phœnician and Greek list of later time.
We have now outlined the rise of civilisation in Egypt, apart from the history of the country, which is dealt with separately; and we turn to the other great valley of early civilisation, in Mesopotamia, to compare the resemblances and the differences between the two lands.
W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE