History Of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Vol. 2 — 13 - Vol. 02, Ch. 02: The Memphite Empire, pt. 1

_The royal pyramid builders: Kheops, Khephren, Mykerinos--Memphite literature and art--Extension of Egypt towards the South, and the conquest of Nubia by the Pharaohs.

_ At that time “the Majesty of King Huni died, and the Majesty of King Snofrûi arose to be a sovereign benefactor over this whole earth.

” All that we know of him is contained in one sentence: he fought against the nomads of Sinai, constructed fortresses to protect the eastern frontier of the Delta, and made for himself a tomb in the form of a pyramid.

The almost uninhabited country which connects Africa with Asia is flanked towards the south by two chains of hills which unite at right angles, and together form the so-called Gebel et-Tîh. This country is a tableland, gently inclined from south to north, bare, sombre, covered with flint-shingle, and siliceous rocks, and breaking out at frequent intervals into long low chalky hills, seamed with wadys, the largest of which--that of El-Arish--having drained all the others into itself, opens into the Mediterranean halfway between Pelusiam and Gaza.

Torrents of rain are not infrequent in winter and spring, but the small quantity of water which they furnish is quickly evaporated, and barely keeps alive the meagre vegetation in the bottom of the valleys.

Sometimes, after months of absolute drought, a tempest breaks over the more elevated parts of the desert.

* * In chap.

viii.

of the _Account of the Survey_, pp. 226- 228, Mr. Holland describes a sudden rainstorm or “sell” on December 3, 1867, which drowned thirty persons, destroyed droves of camels and asses, flocks of sheep and goats, and swept away, in the Wady Feîrân, a thousand palm trees and a grove of tamarisks, two miles in length.

Towards 4. 30 in the afternoon, a few drops of rain began to fall, but the storm did not break till 5 p. m.

At 5. 15 it was at its height, and it was not over till 9. 30. The torrent, which at 8 p. m.

was 10 feet deep, and was about 1000 feet in width, was, at 6 a. m.

the next day, reduced to a small streamlet.

The wind rises suddenly in squall-like blasts; thick clouds, borne one knows not whence, are riven by lightning to the incessant accompaniment of thunder; it would seem as if the heavens had broken up and were crashing down upon the mountains.

In a few moments streams of muddy water rushing down the ravines, through the gulleys and along the slightest depressions, hurry to the low grounds, and meeting there in a foaming concourse, follow the fall of the land; a few minutes later, and the space between one hillside and the other is occupied by a deep river, flowing with terrible velocity and irresistible force.

At the end of eight or ten hours the air becomes clear, the wind falls, the rain ceases; the hastily formed river dwindles, and for lack of supply is exhausted; the inundation comes to an end almost as quickly as it began.

In a short time nothing remains of it but some shallow pools scattered in the hollows, or here and there small streamlets which rapidly dry up.

The flood, however, accelerated by its acquired velocity, continues to descend towards the sea.

The devastated flanks of the hills, their torn and corroded bases, the accumulated masses of shingle left by the eddies, the long lines of rocks and sand, mark its route and bear evidence everywhere of its power.

The inhabitants, taught by experience, avoid a sojourn in places where tempests have once occurred.

It is in vain that the sky is serene above them and the sun shines overhead; they always fear that at the moment in which danger seems least likely to threaten them, the torrent, taking its origin some twenty leagues off, may be on its headlong way to surprise them.

And, indeed, it comes so suddenly and so violently that nothing in its course can escape it: men and beasts, before there is time to fly, often even before they are aware of its approach, are swept away and pitilessly destroyed.

The Egyptians applied to the entire country the characteristic epithet of To-Shûît, the land of Emptiness, the land of Aridity.

[Illustration: 154. jpg MAP SINAITIC PENINSULAR, TIME OF MEMPHITE EMPIRE] They divided it into various districts--the upper and lower Tonû, Aia, Kadûma.

They called its inhabitants Hirû-Shâîtû, the lords of the Sands;

Nomiû-Shâîtû, the rovers of the Sands; and they associated them with the Amu--that is to say, with a race which we recognize as Semitic.

The type of these barbarians, indeed, reminds one of the Semitic massive head, aquiline nose, retreating forehead, long beard, thick and not infrequently crisp hair.

They went barefoot, and the monuments represent them as girt with a short kilt, though they also wore the _abayah_.

Their arms were those commonly used by the Egyptians--the bow, lance, club, knife, battle-axe, and shield.

They possessed great flocks of goats or sheep, but the horse and camel were unknown to them, as well as to their African neighbours.

They lived chiefly upon the milk of their flocks, and the fruit of the date-palm.

A section of them tilled the soil: settled around springs or wells, they managed by industrious labour to cultivate moderately sized but fertile fields, flourishing orchards, groups of palms, fig and olive trees, and vines.

In spite of all this their resources were insufficient, and their position would have been precarious if they had not been able to supplement their stock of provisions from Egypt or Southern Syria.

They bartered at the frontier markets their honey, wool, gums, manna, and small quantities of charcoal, for the products of local manufacture, but especially for wheat, or the cereals of which they stood in need.

The sight of the riches gathered together in the eastern plain, from Tanis to Bubastis, excited their pillaging instincts, and awoke in them an irrepressible covetousness.

The Egyptian annals make mention of their incursions at the very commencement of history, and they maintained that even the gods had to take steps to protect themselves from them.

The Gulf of Suez and the mountainous rampart of Gebel Geneffeh in the south, and the marshes of Pelusium on the north, protected almost completely the eastern boundary of the Delta; but the Wady Tumilât laid open the heart of the country to the invaders.

The Pharaohs of the divine dynasties in the first place, and then those of the human dynasties, had fortified this natural opening, some say by a continuous wall, others by a line of military posts, flanked on the one side by the waters of the gulf.

* * The existence of the wall, or of the line of military posts, is of very ancient date, for the name Kîm-Oîrît is already followed by the hieroglyph of the wall, or by that of a fortified enclosure in the texts of the Pyramids.

[Illustration: 156. jpg A BARBARIAN MONÎTI FROM SINAI] Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Petrie.

The original is of the time of Nectanebo, and is at Karnak; I have chosen it for reproduction in preference to the heads of the time of the Ancient Empire, which are more injured, and of which this is only the traditional copy.

Snofrûi restored or constructed several castles in this district, which perpetuated his name for a long time after his death.

These had the square or rectangular form of the towers, whose ruins are still to be seen on the banks of the Nile.

Standing night and day upon the battlements, the sentinels kept a strict look-out over the desert, ready to give alarm at the slightest suspicious movement.

[Illustration: 157. jpg TWO REFUGE TOWERS OF THE HIRÛ-SHÂÎTÛ, IN THE WADY BÎAR]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the vignette by E. H.

Palmer, _The Desert of the Exodus_, p. 317. The expression Kîm-Oîrît, “the very black,” is applied to the northern part of the Red Sea, in contradistinction to Ûaz-Oîrît, Uazît-Oîrît, “the very green,” the Mediterranean; a town, probably built at a short distance from the village of Maghfâr, had taken its name from the gulf on which it was situated, and was also called Kîm- Oîrît. The marauders took advantage of any inequality in the ground to approach unperceived, and they were often successful in getting through the lines; they scattered themselves over the country, surprised a village or two, bore off such women and children as they could lay their hands on, took possession of herds of animals, and, without carrying their depredations further, hastened to regain their solitudes before information of their exploits could have reached the garrison.

If their expeditions became numerous, the general of the Eastern Marches, or the Pharaoh himself, at the head of a small army, started on a campaign of reprisals against them.

The marauders did not wait to be attacked, but betook themselves to refuges constructed by them beforehand at certain points in their territory.

They erected here and there, on the crest of some steep hill, or at the confluence of several wadys, stone towers put together without mortar, and rounded at the top like so many beehives, in unequal groups of three, ten, or thirty; here they massed themselves as well as they could, and defended the position with the greatest obstinacy, in the hope that their assailants, from the lack of water and provisions, would soon be forced to retreat.

* * The members of the English Commission do not hesitate to attribute the construction of these towers to the remotest antiquity; the Bedouin call them “namûs,” plur.

“nawamîs,” mosquito-houses, and they say that the children of Israel built them as a shelter during the night from mosquitos at the time of the Exodus.

The resemblance of these buildings to the “Talayôt” of the Balearic Isles, and to the Scotch beehive-shaped houses, has struck all travellers.

Elsewhere they possessed fortified “duars,” where not only their families but also their herds could find a refuge--circular or oval enclosures, surrounded by low walls of massive rough stones crowned by a thick rampart made of branches of acacia interlaced with thorny bushes, the tents or huts being ranged behind, while in the centre was an empty space for the cattle.

These primitive fortresses were strong enough to overawe nomads; regular troops made short work of them.

The Egyptians took them by assault, overturned them, cut down the fruit trees, burned the crops, and retreated in security, after having destroyed everything in their march.

Each of their campaigns, which hardly lasted more than a few days, secured the tranquillity of the frontier for some years.

* * The inscription of Uni (11. 22-32) furnishes us with the invariable type of the Egyptian campaigns against the Hirû- Shâîtû: the bas-reliefs of Karnak might serve to illustrate it, as they represent the great raid led by Seti I. into the territory of the Shaûsûs and their allies, between the frontier of Egypt and the town of Hebron.

[Illustration: 159. jpg VIEW OF THE OASIS OF WADY FEÎKÂN IN THE PENINSULA OF SINAI]

Drawn by Boudier, from the water-colour drawing published by Lepsius, _Denhn.

_, i. 7, No. 2. To the south of Gebel et-Tîh, and cut off from it almost completely by a moat of wadys, a triangular group of mountains known as Sinai thrusts a wedge-shaped spur into the Red Sea, forcing back its waters to the right and left into two narrow gulfs, that of Akabah and that of Suez.

Gebel Katherin stands up from the centre and overlooks the whole peninsula.

A

sinuous chain detaches itself from it and ends at Gebel Serbâl, at some distance to the northwest; another trends to the south, and after attaining in Gebel Umm-Shomer an elevation equal to that of Gebel Katherin, gradually diminishes in height, and plunges into the sea at Ras-Mohammed.

A complicated system of gorges and valleys--Wady Nasb, Wady Kidd, Wady Hebrân, Wady Baba--furrows the country and holds it as in a network of unequal meshes.

Wady Feîrân contains the most fertile oasis in the peninsula.

A never-failing stream waters it for about two or three miles of its length; quite a little forest of palms enlivens both banks--somewhat meagre and thin, it is true, but intermingled with acacias, tamarisks, nabecas, carob trees, and willows.

Birds sing amid their branches, sheep wander in the pastures, while the huts of the inhabitants peep out at intervals from among the trees.

Valleys and plains, even in some places the slopes of the hills, are sparsely covered with those delicate aromatic herbs which affect a stony soil.

Their life is a perpetual struggle against the sun: scorched, dried up, to all appearance dead, and so friable that they crumble to pieces in the fingers when one attempts to gather them, the spring rains annually infuse into them new life, and bestow upon them, almost before one’s eyes, a green and perfumed youth of some days’ duration.

The summits of the hills remain always naked, and no vegetation softens the ruggedness of their outlines, or the glare of their colouring.

The core of the peninsula is hewn, as it were, out of a block of granite, in which white, rose-colour, brown, or black predominate, according to the quantities of felspar, quartz, or oxides of iron which the rocks contain.

Towards the north, the masses of sandstone which join on to Gebel et-Tîh assume all possible shades of red and grey, from a delicate lilac neutral tint to dark purple.

The tones of colour, although placed crudely side by side, present nothing jarring nor offensive to the eye;

the sun floods all, and blends them in his light.

The Sinaitic peninsula is at intervals swept, like the desert to the east of Egypt, by terrible tempests, which denude its mountains and transform its wadys into so many ephemeral torrents.

The Monîtû who frequented this region from the dawn of history did not differ much from the “Lords of the Sands;” they were of the same type, had the same costume, the same arms, the same nomadic instincts, and in districts where the soil permitted it, made similar brief efforts to cultivate it.

They worshipped a god and a goddess whom the Egyptians identified with Horus and Hâthor; one of these appeared to represent the light, perhaps the sun, the other the heavens.

They had discovered at an early period in the sides of the hills rich metalliferous veins, and strata, bearing precious stones;

from these they learned to extract iron, oxides of copper and manganese, and turquoises, which they exported to the Delta.

The fame of their riches, carried to the banks of the Nile, excited the cupidity of the Pharaohs; expeditions started from different points of the valley, swept down upon the peninsula, and established themselves by main force in the midst of the districts where the mines lay.

These were situated to the north-west, in the region of sandstone, between the western branch of Gebel et-Tîh and the Gulf of Suez.

They were collectively called Mafkaît, the country of turquoises, a fact which accounts for the application of the local epithet, lady of Mafkaît, to Hâthor.

The earliest district explored, that which the Egyptians first attacked, was separated from the coast by a narrow plain and a single range of hills: the produce of the mines could be thence transported to the sea in a few hours without difficulty.

Pharaoh’s labourers called this region the district of Baîfc, the mine _par excellence_, or of Bebît, the country of grottoes, from the numerous tunnels which their predecessors had made there: the name Wady Maghara, Valley of the Cavern, by which the site is now designated, is simply an Arabic translation of the old Egyptian word.

The Monîtû did not accept this usurpation of their rights without a struggle, and the Egyptians who came to work among them had either to purchase their forbearance by a tribute, or to hold themselves always in readiness to repulse the assaults of the Monîtû by force of arms.

Zosiri had already taken steps to ensure the safety of the turquoise-seekers at their work; Snofrûi was not, therefore, the first Pharaoh who passed that way, but none of his predecessors had left so many traces of his presence as he did in this out-of-the-way corner of the empire.

There may still be seen, on the north-west slope of the Wady Maghara, the bas-relief which one of his lieutenants engraved there in memory of a victory gained over the Monîtû.

A Bedouin sheikh fallen on his knees prays for mercy with suppliant gesture, but Pharaoh has already seized him by his long hair, and brandishes above his head a white stone mace to fell him with a single blow.

[Illustration: 163. jpg THE MINING WORKS OF WADY MAGHARA]