EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND

With Historical Narrative, Notes on Race Problems, Comparative Beliefs, etc.
by

Donald Mackenzie

Gresham Publishing Co., London

[1907]

CHAPTER III

Dawn of Civilization

Early Peoples–The Mediterranean Race–Blonde Peoples
of Morocco and Southern Palestine–Fair Types in Egypt–Migrations of Mediterraneans
–They reach Britain–Early Nilotic Civilizations–Burial Customs–Osiris Invasion–The
Set Conquest–Sun Worshippers from Babylonia–Settlement in North–Coming of Dynastic
Egyptians–The Two Kingdoms–United by Mena–The Mathematicians of the Delta–Introduction
of Calendar–Progressive Pharaohs–Early Irrigation Schemes.

IN the remote ages, ere the ice cap had melted in northern Europe, the Nile
valley was a swamp, with growth of jungle like the Delta. Rain fell in season,
so that streams flowed from the hills, and slopes which are now barren wastes
were green and pleasant grassland. Tribes of Early Stone Age savages hunted and
herded there, and the flints they chipped and splintered so rudely are still found
in mountain caves, on the surface of the desert, and embedded in mud washed down
from the hills.

Other peoples of higher development appeared in time 1
and after many centuries elapsed they divided the valley between them, increasing
in numbers and breaking off in tribes. Several small independent kingdoms were
thus formed. When government was ultimately centralized after conquest, these
kingdoms became provinces, called nomes, 2 and each had
its capital, with its ruling god and local theological system. The fusion of peoples
which resulted caused a fusion of religious beliefs, and one god acquired the
attributes of another without complete loss of identity.

The early settlers came from North Africa, which was possessed by tribes of
the Mediterranean race. They were light-skinned “long heads” of short stature,
with slender bodies, aquiline noses, and black hair and eyes. In the eastern Delta
they were the Archaic Egyptians; in the western Delta and along the coast, which
suffered from great subsidences in later times, they were known as the Libyans.
Tribes of the latter appear to have mingled with a blonde and taller stock.
3 On the northern slopes of the Atlas Mountains this type
has still survival; a similar people occupied southern Palestine in pre-Semitic
times. Blue-eyed and light-haired individuals thus made appearance in the Nile
valley at an early period. They were depicted in tomb paintings, and, although
never numerous, were occasionally influential. There are fair types among modern-day
Berbers. The idea that these are descendants of Celts or Goths no longer obtains.

As they multiplied and prospered, the Mediterranean peoples spread far from
their North African area of characterization. Their migration southward was arrested
in Nubia, where the exploring tribes met in conflict hordes of dusky Bushmen,
with whom they ultimately blended. Fusion with taller negroes followed in later
times. Thus had origin the virile Nubian people, who were ever a menace to the
Dynastic Pharaohs.

But the drift of surplus Mediterranean stock appears to have been greater towards
the north than the south. Branching eastward, they poured into Palestine and Asia
Minor. They were the primitive Phnicians who ultimately fused with Semites, and
they were the Hittites who blended with Mongols and Alpine (or Armenoid) “broad
heads”. Possessing themselves of large tracts of Italy and Greece, they became
known to history as the Italici, Ligurians, Pelasgians, and they founded a great
civilization in Crete, where evidences have been forthcoming of their settlement
as early as 10,000 B.C. 4

The western migration towards Morocco probably resulted in periodic fusions
with blonde mountain tribes, so that the stock which entered Spain across the
Straits of Gibraltar may have been more akin in physical type to the Libyans than
to the Archaic Egyptians. The early settlers spread through western Europe, and
are known to history as the Iberians. They also met and mingled with the tribes
branching along the seacoast from Greece. Moving northward through the river valleys
of France, the Iberians crossed over to Britain, absorbing everywhere, it would
appear, the earlier inhabitants who survived the clash of conflict. These were
the men of the Late Stone Age, which continued through vast intervals of time.

A glimpse of the early Mediterranean civilization is obtained in the Delta
region. The dwellings of the Archaic Egyptians were of mud-plastered wickerwork,
and were grouped in villages, round which they constructed strong stockades to
ward off the attacks of desert lions and leopards, and afford protection for their
herds of antelopes, goats, and ostriches. The cat and the dog were already domesticated.
Men tattooed their bodies and painted their faces; they wore slight garments of
goatskin, and adorned their heads with ostrich feathers. The women) who affected
similar habits, but had fuller attire, set decorated combs in their hair., and
they wore armlets and necklets of shells, painted pebbles, and animals’ teeth
which were probably charms against witchcraft.

These early settlers were herdsmen and hunters and fishermen, and among them
were artisans of great skill, who chipped from splintered flint sharp lances and
knives and keen arrowheads, while they also fashioned artistic pottery and hollowed
out shapely stone jars. In their small boats they sailed and rowed upon the Nile;
they caught fish with bone hooks, and snared birds in the Delta swamps. Their
traders bartered goods constantly among the tribes who dwelt on the river banks.
They were withal fierce and brave warriors, as fearless in the chase as in battle,
for they not only slew the wild ox, but made attack with lance and bow upon the
crocodile and hippopotamus, and hunted the wild boar and desert lion in moonlight.

As day followed night, so they believed that life came after death. They buried
their dead in shallow graves, clad in goatskin, crouched up as if taking rest
before setting forth on a journey, while beside them were placed their little
palettes of slate for grinding face paint, their staffs and flint weapons and
vessels of pottery filled with food for sustenance and drink for refreshment.

Long centuries went past, and a new civilization appeared in Lower Egypt. Tribes
from the east settled there and effected conquests, introducing new arts and manners
of life and new beliefs. The people began to till the soil after the Nile flood
subsided, and they raised harvests of barley and wheat. It was the age of Osiris
and Isis.

Each king was an Osiris, and his symbols of power were the shepherd’s staff
and the flail. The people worshipped their king as a god, and, after thirty years’
reign, devoured him at their Sed festival 5 with cannibalistic
ceremonial, so that his spirit might enter his successor and the land and the
people have prosperity. The gnawed bones of monarchs have been found in tombs.’

Laws, which were stern and inexorable as those of Nature, disciplined the people
and promoted their welfare. Social life was organized under a strict system of
government. Industries were fostered and commerce flourished. Traders went farther
afield as the needs of the age increased, and procured ivory from Nubia, silver
from Asia, and from Araby its sweet perfumes and precious stones, and for these
they bartered corn and linen and oil; there was also constant exchange of pottery
and weapons and ornaments. Centuries went past, and this civilization at length
suffered gradual decline, owing, probably, to the weakening of the central power.

Then followed a period of anarchy, when the kingdom, attracting plunderers,
sustained the shock of invasion. Hordes of Semites, mingled probably with northern
mountaineers, poured in from Syria and the Arabian steppes, and overthrew the
power of the Osirian ruler. They were worshippers of Set (Sutekh), and they plundered
and oppressed the people. Their sway, however, was but slight in the region of
the western Delta, where frequent risings occurred and rebellion was ever fostered.
Warfare disorganized commerce and impoverished the land. Art declined and an obscure
period ensued.

But the needs of a country prevail in the end, and the north flourished once
again with growing commerce and revived industries. On their pottery the skilled
artisans painted scenes of daily life. Men and women were, it appears, clad in
garments of white linen, and the rich had belts and pouches of decorated leather
and ornaments of silver and gold set with precious stones. Tools and weapons of
copper had come into use, but flint was also worked with consummate skill unsurpassed
by an), other people.

The land was a veritable hive of industry. Food was plentiful, for the harvests
yielded corn, and huntsmen found wild animals more numerous as beasts of prey
were driven from their lairs and lessened in number. Great galleys were built
to trade in the Mediterranean, and each was propelled by sixty oarsmen. The ships
of other peoples also visited the ports of Egypt, probably from Crete and the
Syrian coast, and caravans crossed the frontier going eastward and north, while
alien traders entered the land and abode in it. Battle conflicts with men of various
races were also depicted on the pottery, for there was much warfare from time
to time.

Growing communities with Babylonian beliefs effected settlements in the north.
These were the sun worshippers whose religion ultimately gained ascendancy all
over Egypt. From primitive Pithom (house of Tum) they may have passed to On (Heliopolis),
which became sacred to Ra-Tum and was the capital of a province and probably,
for a period, of the kingdom of Lower Egypt.

A. masterful people also appeared in Upper Egypt. They came from or through
Arabia, and had absorbed a culture from a remote civilization, which cannot be
located, in common with the early Babylonians. Crossing the lower end of the Red
Sea, they entered the verdurous valley of the Nile over a direct desert route,
or through the highlands of Abyssinia. They were armed with weapons of copper,
and effected their earliest settlement, it would appear, at Edfu. Then by gradual
conquest they welded together the various tribes, extending their sway over an
ever-increasing area. New and improved methods of agriculture were introduced.
Canals were constructed for purposes of irrigation. The people increased in number
and prosperity, and law and order was firmly established in the land.

These invaders were sun worshippers of the Horus-hawk cult, but they also embraced
the religious beliefs of the people with whom they mingled, including the worship
of the corn god Osiris. From Edfu and Hierakonpolis they pressed northward to
sacred Abydos, the burial place of kings, and to Thinis, the capital of four united
provinces. Several monarchs, who wore with dignity the white crown of Upper Egypt,
reigned and “abode their destined hour”. Then arose a great conqueror who was
named Zaru, “The Scorpion”. He led his victorious army down the Nile valley, extending
his kingdom as he went, until he reached the frontier of the Fayum province, which
was then a great swamp. There his progress was arrested. But a new era had dawned
in Egypt, for there then remained but two kingdoms–the Upper and the Lower.

King Zaru was not slain at the Sed festival in accordance with the suggested
ancient custom. He impersonated Osiris, throned in solitary dignity and wearing
his crown, within a small curtained enclosure which opened at the front, and he
held the crook in one hand and the flail in the other. The people made obeisance
before him. It is not possible to follow the details of the ceremony, but from
pictorial records it appears that large numbers of captives and oxen and cattle
were offered up in sacrifice, so that slaughter might be averted by slaughter.
The monarch was believed to have died a ceremonial death and to have come to life
again with renewed energy which prolonged his years. An Abydos inscription declares
of an Osiris ruler in this connection: “Thou dost begin thy days anew; like the
holy moon child thou art permitted to prosper . . . thou hast grown young and
thou art born to life again.” 6 An important event at the festival
was the appearance before the Pharaoh of his chosen successor, who performed a
religious dance; and he was afterwards given for wife a princess of the royal
line, so that his right to the throne might be secured.

The closing years of Zaru’s reign were apparently occupied in organizing and
improving the conquered territory. As befitted an Osirian king, he de-voted much
attention to agriculture, and land was reclaimed by irrigation. An artist depicted
him in the act of digging on the river bank with a hoe, as if performing the ceremony
of “cutting the first sod” of a new canal. The people are shown to have had circular
dwellings, with fruit trees protected by enclosures. Their square fields were
surrounded by irrigating ditches.

When the king died he was buried at Abydos, like other rulers of his line,
in one of the brick tombs of the time. The investigation of these by Flinders
Petrie has made possible the reconstruction in outline of the history of Egypt
immediately prior to the founding of the First Dynasty. It is significant to note
that the dead were buried at full length instead of in contracted posture as in
Lower Egypt.

The next great monarch was Narmer, who is believed by certain authorities to
have been Mena. Petrie, however, holds that they were separate personalities.
Another view is that the deeds of two or three monarchs were attributed to Mena,
as in the case of the Sesostris of the Greeks. Evidently many myths attached to
the memory of the heroic figure who accomplished the conquest of the northern
kingdom and founded the First Dynasty of united Egypt. Mena was represented, for
instance) as the monarch who taught the people how to gorge luxuriously while
he lay upon a couch and slaves massaged his stomach, and tradition asserted that
he met his death, apparently while intoxicated, by falling into the Nile, in which
he was devoured by a hippopotamus. But these folk tales hardly accord with the
character of a conqueror of tireless energy, who must have been kept fully occupied
in organizing his new territory and stamping out the smouldering fires of rebellion.

The initial triumph of the traditional Mena, in his Narmer character, was achieved
in the swampy Fayum, the buffer state between Upper and Lower Egypt. It had long
resisted invasion, but in the end the southern forces achieved a great victory.
The broad Delta region then lay open before them, and their ultimate success was
assured. King Narmer is shown on a slate palette clutching with one hand the headlocks
of the Fayum chief-who kneels in helpless posture-while with the other he swings
high a mace to smite the final blow. A composed body servant waits upon the conquering
monarch, carrying the royal sandals and a water jar. The ha-wk symbol is also
depicted to signify that victory was attributed to Horus, the tribal god. Two
enemies take flight beneath, and above the combatants are two cow heads of the
pastoral and sky goddess Hathor.

This great scene was imitated, in the true conservative spirit of the ancient
Egyptians, on the occasion of similar acts of conquest in after time. Indeed,
for a period of 3000 years each succeeding Pharaoh who achieved victory in battle
was depicted, like Narmer, smiting his humbled foeman, and his importance was
ever emphasized by his gigantic stature. It was an artistic convention in those
ancient days to represent an Egyptian monarch among his enemies or subjects like
a Gulliver surrounded by Lilliputians.

After the conquest of the Fayum, the Libyans appear to have been the dominating
people in Lower Egypt. Their capital was at Sais, the seat of their goddess Neith.
The attributes of this deity reflect the character of the civilization of her
worshippers. Her symbol was a shield and two arrows. She was depicted with green
hands and face, for she was an earth spirit who provided verdure for the flocks
of a pastoral people. A weaver’s shuttle was tattooed upon her body, to indicate
apparently that she imparted to women their skill at the loom.

Mena conquered the Libyans in battle, and many thousands were slain, and he
extended his kingdom to the shores of the Mediterranean. Then he assumed, in presence
of his assembled army, the red crown of Lower Egypt. He appears also to have legitimatized
the succession by taking for wife Neithhotep, “Neith rests”, a princess of the
royal house of Sais.

So was the Horus tribe united with the Libyans who worshipped a goddess. In
aftertime the triad of Sais was composed of Osiris, Neith, and Horus. Neith was
identified with Isis.

The race memory of the conquest of Lower Egypt is believed to be reflected
in the mythical tale of Horus overcoming Set. The turning-point in the campaign
was the Fayum conflict where the animal gods of Set were slain. Petrie urges with
much circumstantial detail the striking view that the expulsion of Set from Egypt
signifies the defeat of the military aristocracy of “Semites ” 7
by the Horus people, who, having espoused the religion of Osiris, also espoused
the cause of the tribe which introduced his worship into the land. It is evident,
from an inscription on a temple of southern Edfu, that many conquests were effected
in the Delta region ere the union was accomplished. One version of the great folk
tale states that when Horus overcame Set he handed him over to Isis bound in chains.
She failed, however, to avenge her husband’s death, and set her oppressor at liberty
again. In his great wrath Horus then tore the crown from her head. This may refer
particularly to the circumstances which led to the Libyan conquest. “We can hardly
avoid”, says Petrie, “reading the history of the animosities of the gods as being
the struggles of their worshippers.”

The Libyans were ever a troublesome people to the Pharaohs, whose hold on the
western district of the Delta was never certain. Mena apparently endeavoured to
break their power by taking captive no fewer than 120,000 prisoners. His spoils
included also 100,000 oxen and 1,420,000 goats.

This displacement of so large a proportion of the inhabitants of the north
was not without its effect in the physical character of the Nile-valley peoples.
The differences of blend between north and south were well marked prior to the
conquest. After the union of the two kingdoms the ruling classes of Upper Egypt
approximated closely to the Delta type. It is evident that the great native civilization
which flourished in the Nile valley for over forty centuries owed much to the
virility and genius of the Mediterranean race, which promoted culture where ver
its people effected settlements. One is struck, indeed) to note in this connection
that the facial characteristics of not a few Pharaohs resemble those of certain
great leaders of men who have achieved distinction among the nations of Europe.

The culture of the Horite conquerors was evidently well adapted for the Nile
valley. It developed there rapidly during the three centuries which elapsed before
the Delta was invaded, and assumed a purely Egyptian character. Hieroglyphics
were in use from the beginning, copper was worked by “the smiths”, and superior
wheel-turned pottery made its appearance. But the greatest service rendered to
ancient Egypt by the Horites was the ultimate establishment of settled conditions
over the entire land in the interests of individual welfare and national progress.

The contribution of the north to Dynastic culture was not inconsiderable. In
fact, it cannot really be overestimated. The Delta civilization was already well
developed prior to the conquest. There was in use among the people a linear script
which resembled closely the systems of Crete and the ean and those also that
appeared later in Karia and Spain. Its early beginnings may be traced, perhaps,
in those rude signs which the pioneers of the Late Stone Age in western Europe
scratched upon the French dolmens. Archaic Phnician letters show that the great
sea traders in after time simplified the system and diffused it far and wide.’
Our alphabet is thus remotely North African in origin. 8

It was in the Delta also that the Calendar was invented by great mathematicians
of the Late Stone Age, over sixty centuries ago, who recognized that an artificial
division of time was necessary for purposes of accurate record and calculation.
They began their year with the rising of the star Sirius (Sothos) at the height
of the Nile inundation. and it was divided into twelve months of thirty days each,
five extra days being added for religious festivals associated with agricultural
rites. This Calendar was ultimately imported and adjusted by the Romans, and it
continues in use, with subsequent refinements, all over the world until the present
day. Under Mena’s rule there are evidences of the progress which is ever fostered
when ideas are freely exchanged and a stimulating rivalry is promoted among the
people. The inventive mind was busily at work. Pottery improved in texture and
construction, and was glazed in colours. Jewellery of great beauty was also produced,
and weapons and tools were fashioned with artistic design. Draughtboards and sets
of “ninepins” were evidently in demand among all classes for recreation in moments
of leisure.

Meanwhile the administration of the united kingdom was thoroughly organized.
Officials were numerous and their duties were strictly defined. Various strategic
centres were garrisoned so as to prevent outbreaks and to secure protection for
every industrious and law-abiding citizen. Memphis became an important city. According
to tradition it was built by Mena, but the local theological system suggests that
it existed prior to his day. It is probable that he erected buildings there, including
a fortification, and made it a centre of administration for the northern part
of his kingdom.

When Mena died he was buried at Abydos, and he was succeeded by his son Aha,
“the fighter”. Under the new monarch a vigorous military campaign was conducted
in the south, and another province was placed under the sway of the central government.
The peaceful condition of the north is emphasized by his recorded visit to Sais,
where he made offerings at the shrine of Neith, the goddess of his mother’s people.

Meanwhile the natural resources of the Nile valley were systematically developed.
Irrigation works were undertaken everywhere, jungle was cleared away, and large
tracts of land were reclaimed by industrious toilers. These activities were promoted
and controlled by royal officials. King Den, a wise and progressive monarch, inaugurated
the great scheme of clearing and draining the Fayum, which was to become in after
time a fertile and populous province. The surveyors set to work and planned the
construction of a canal, and the scheme was developed and continued by the monarchs
who followed. It was as shrewdly recognized in the time of the First Dynasty as
it is in our own day, that the progress and welfare of the Nile-valley people
must ever depend upon the development of the agricultural resources of the country.
The wealth of Egypt is drawn from the soil. All the glory and achievements of
the Dynasties were made possible by the systems of government which afforded facilities
and protection for the men who “cast their bread upon the waters” so that abundant
return might be secured “after many days”. When we are afforded, therefore, a
glimpse of daily life on the land, as is given in the ancient and treasured folk
tale which follows, 9 we are brought into closer touch
with the people who toiled in contentment many thousands of years ago in the land
of Egypt than is possible when we contemplate with wonder their exquisite works
of art or great architectural triumphs. The spirit which pervaded the ancient
peasantry of the Nile valley is reflected in the faithful and gentle service and
the winning qualities of poor Bata, the younger brother. It gives us pause to
reflect that the story of his injured honour and tragic fate moved to tears those
high-born dames whose swaddled mummies now lie in our museums to be stared at
by holidaymakers who wonder how they lived and what scenes surrounded their daily
lives.

Footnotes

1 The early Pallithic men were probably of Bushman
type and the later of Mediterranean. Evidences of development from the Pallithic
to the Neolithic Age have been forthcoming
2 The Greek name; the old Egyptian name was “hesp”.
3 There were Libyans in the western Delta; on its borders
were the “Tehenu”, and beyond these the “Lebu”, and still farther west were the
“Meshwesh”, the Maxyes of the Greeks. All were referred to as Libyans.
4 Petrie’s view. See Researches in Sinai, p. 185.
5 Maspero. This opinion, however, has been sharply challenged.
6 The Horus worshippers had evidently absorbed the beliefs
of the Nilotic moon cult. Some authorities credit the Dynastic Egyptians with
the introduction of Osiris worship. The close resemblance of Osiris to similar
deities in Asia Minor and Europe favours the view that Osiris first entered Lower
Egypt. See Golden Bough–Adonis, Attis, Osiris volume. The Osiran heaven was of
Delta character.
7 It is possible that Set (Sutekh) was the god of a
pre-Semitic people whose beliefs were embraced by certain Semitic tribes.
8 Professor Macalister is inclined to credit the Philistines
instead of the Phoenicians with the work of systematizing the script.
9 It assumed its final form in the Empire period, and
is evidently of remote antiquity.