Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/471

EGYPT 463 was succeeded by the 25th dynasty, the found- er of which was Shabaka, an Ethiopian, the Sabaco of the Greeks, the So of the Bible, who about 725 invaded Egypt with an army of Nubians and negroes and conquered it com- pletely. He took Bokenranf prisoner, and to strike terror into the people caused him to be publicly burned alive. This Ethiopian dynasty consisted of four kings and lasted 50 years, during most of which term it was at war with the Assyrians, by whom Egypt was repeatedly invaded and conquered. The last Ethiopian king, Kot-Amen, at last voluntarily evacuated Egypt and retired to the upper Nile. Two years of anarchy followed, at the end of which Egypt was ruled for 15 years by a confederacy of 12 chiefs, one of whom, Psamrnetik (Psamme- tichus), at the end of that period dethroned his colleagues, expelled the foreigners, and made himself master of all Egypt from the cataracts to the sea. He founded the 26th dynasty, whose capital was Sais, and whose duration was 138 years. Under this dynasty Egypt, according to the Greek writers, was more pros- perous than she had ever been before. She became wealthy by trade with the Greeks and other foreigners who now flocked into her ports, and who were enlisted in great numbers as mercenaries in her army. But her national spirit was corrupted ; the military caste, dis- gusted by the favor shown to foreigners, emi- grated in a body to Ethiopia ; and when about 525, at the beginning of the reign of Psammetik III., the country was invaded by the warlike Persians led by Oambyses, little resistance was offered by a people who had lost all aptitude for arms, and Egypt became a Persian prov- ince governed by a satrap. The people fre- quently revolted and were as often subdued, but at length, about 405, they succeeded in driving out the Persians, and with the aid of Greek auxiliaries maintained their indepen- dence under a series of native monarchs, the last of whom was Nectanebo II., who was con- quered and dethroned by Ochus or Artaxerxes III., in 346. Egypt continued a Persian prov- ince only till 332, when it was conquered by Alexander the Great. Of the manners and cus- toms, mode of life, and social condition of the ancient Egyptians, we can form a very satisfac- tory opinion from the representations on the monuments. It is evident from their testimony that at a very early age the Egyptians were a highly civilized people, wealthy, industrious, with a fully organized society, and great profi- ciency in arts, manufactures, and agriculture. The fertile soil of the Nile valley was highly cultivated. A great number of workmen were employed in weaving and dyeing rich stuffs. The arts of working in metals, of making por- celain and glass, and of preparing enamel and mastic for mosaics, had attained a high de- gree of perfection. The rich products of Egyp- tian industry were exported to the most dis- tant countries. The progress of the Egyptians in sculpture and painting was hampered by re- 286 VOL. vi. 30 ligious restraints, which prevented their de- velopment beyond a point which was early reached. In architecture, however, they oc- cupy perhaps the most distinguished place among the nations. No people has equalled them in the grandeur, the massiveness, or the durability of their structures. A competent authority, Fergusson, the author of the " Il- lustrated Handbook of Architecture," says : " Taken altogether, perhaps it may be safely asserted that the Egyptians were the most es- sentially a building people of all those we are acquainted with, and the most generally suc- cessful in all they attempted in this way. The Greeks, it is true, surpassed them in refine- ment and beauty of detail, and in the class of sculpture with which they ornamented their buildings, and the Gothic architects far excelled them in constructive cleverness ; but besides these, no other style can be put in competition with them. At the same time neither Grecian nor Gothic architects understood more per- fectly all the gradations of art, and the exact character that should be given to every form and every detail. They understood, also, bet- ter than any other nation, how to use sculp- ture in combination with architecture, and to make their colossi and avenues of sphinxes group themselves into parts of one great de- sign, and at the same time to use historical paintings, fading by insensible degrees into hieroglyphics on the one hand, and into sculp- ture on the other, linking the whole together with the highest class of phonetic utterance, and with the most brilliant coloring, thus har- monizing all these arts into one great whole, unsurpassed by anything the world has seen during the 30 centuries of struggle and aspira- tion that have elapsed since the brilliant days of the great kingdom of the Pharaohs." Of the religious system of the Egyptians we pos- sess scanty information. The people were of a peculiarly devout character, and their daily lives, as well as their language, literature, art, and sciences, were strongly influenced by religion. In the earliest ages they recognized only one God, who had no beginning and would have no end ; who made all things, and was not himself made. To the last the priests retained this doctrine, and taught it privately to a select few. But in the course of time it became unknown to the multitude, who began to wor- ship the symbols under which the attributes of God were represented. The oldest temples, some of which Mariette has discovered near the pyramids, were without idols or sculptures of any kind. But this primitive simplicity soon gave way to priestly inventions by which the multitude were led into idolatry and poly- theism, until at last the people worshipped many gods, and each city or district had its tutelar deity, who in that place was particularly adored, while in the rest of the country he was^ little regarded. The principal gods were Osiris and Isis, who were worshipped throughout Egypt; Amen, or Ammon, who like Jupiter was held to