- Vivid scenes of ancient life depicted by contemporary artists
The walls of the tombs in Egypt form a great picture gallery of the vanished life of that country and are invaluable to the historian. This fragment from the British Museum shows how vividly the domestic figures were realised. - Ancient Egypt’s strange books and pictorial records, made of papyrus
Papyrus, a tall, graceful, sedgy plant, supplied the favourite writing material of the ancient world, and many priceless records of antiquity are preserved to us in papyri. The pith of the plant was pressed flat and thin and joined with others to form strips, on which records were written or painted. The above is a photograph of a piece of Egyptian papyrus, showing both hieroglyphics and picture-writing. The oldest piece of papyrus dates back to B.C. 3500. - Egyptian
- The Syce on duty
One of the most novel and interesting sights which attracts the traveller's attention when he first arrives in Egypt is the syce running before the horses as they go through the narrow, closely packed streets. How the crowd scatters, and the donkey-boys hustle their meek property out of the way as one of those runners comes bounding along, shouting, in the strange Arabic tongue, "Clear the way!" The sun shines upon his velvet vest, glittering with its spangled trimmings, the breeze fills the large floating sleeves till they wave backward like white wings. - The Sky as a cow
The Sky as a cow, supported by Shu and other gods. Across her body are the stars, and the barks of the sun. (Tomb of Seti I) - The bark of the sun
To the Egyptians there was no god of higher than the sun god, who was regarded as the sole creator, and ruler of the world; from the bark in which he traversed the heavens, the great god, the gor of heaven governed all things, and who-soeve in daily life merely speaks of the god, he will think of him. - The Sun-God of Edfu
Another important centre of the worship of the sun god, was Edfu in Upper Egypt, where even now his temple stands complete. Here originated the remarkable figure of the god which represents him as the sun with multicoloured wings as he flies across the heavens triumphant over his enemies. This figure of Horus of Edfu (or, as he was usually styled, he of Edfu) is placed over the gateways of the temples to keep out all evil things. - Scepters
His gods (a) carry a staff as a scepter, which every Bedouin still cuts today, and his goddesses (b) are content with a stalk of reeds. - Egyptian wine
The Egyptians had several kinds of wine, even as early as the fourth dynasty (above 6000 years ago, according to Mariette), when four kinds of wine, at least, were known. Pliny and Horace say that the wine of Mareotis was most esteemed. - Egyptians’ Early Use of Wine
- Naval Gunnery in the Old Days
An 18-ton gun in action at the bombardment of Alexandria. The gun has just recoiled after firing. No. 1 is "serving the vent". The sponge end is being passed to be thrust out of the small scuttle in the middle of the port (which is closed as soon as the gun is fired), so that the big wet end can be placed in the gun. - The Pyramids of Gizeh
- Villa of an Egyptian Noble
The Egyptians excelled in architecture, and the greatest of their buildings were the pyramids. As to whether or not there was much invention devoted to those works, it is virtually impossible now to know. The probability seems to be that they could not have been produced without the promptings of the inventor, but that the progress was a slow and gradual march. It seems that there was a long series of many small inventions that made short steps, and not a few basic inventions that proceeded by great leaps. - King Narmer
Among the most ancient representations of Egyptian costume which are known to us is that of the figure of the pre-dynastic King Narmer (3407 B.C.). In the figure he is seen wearing the tall white crown of Upper Egypt (the " Het "), also a plain corselet held in place by one brace, and a short plain kilt with a belt from which ornamental pendants hang down in front. Each pendant has at the top a representation of the goddess Hathor's head, and this is shewn at the side of the figure to a larger scale. At the back of the belt is fastened the ceremonial animal's tail which persists as a part of the kings of Egypt until the end of their history. On the chin of Narmer we see the ceremonial artificial beard of a king, which is fastened by straps to his crown. The figure of this king is taken from that very ancient fragment decorated with figures in relief and called " The Palette of Narmer," a memorial tablet shewing the king in battle. The beards of gods, kings and noblemen were each different in shape, each symbolic of their wearers. - Statue of Rânofir
- The Colossus of Ramses II emerging from the earth
- Egyptian jewellery of the XIXTH dynasty
- Gold pectoral inlaid with enamel
- Pectoral in shape of a hawk with a ram’s head
- Pectoral of Ramses II
- Statuette in wood
- The lady Touî, statuette in wood
- Statuette in wood 2
- The Soul - front view
- Bronze Cat
- The Soul - back view
- Egyptian Gamblers
Egyptian Gamblers - Egyptian Water Carriers filling their jars
Everywhere through Egypt water is filtered in large jars, some of them holding nearly a barrel, and it is carried on the heads of women in lesser jars that contain from four to six gallons. - Bread Seller in the streets of Cairo
Bread Seller in the streets of Cairo - Priest
The illustration shows a priest wearing nothing but a loin cloth and a leopard skin. - Hunifer
- Anou or Dagon
- The suite of Sargon
- The suite of Sargon 2
- The King Sargon and his Grand Vizier
- Statue of Nebo
- Assurbanipal at the chase.
- Genius in the attitude of adoration
- Assyrian inscription
- Mummy
- Ouah-ab-ra
- Ploughing
- Hoeing
- Inundation
- Sarcophagus
- Asiatic Cithara
- Ancient Egyptian Cithara
- Street Musicians
- twenty-one string harp
- Bruce's Harpers
- Harps, pipe, and flute, from an ancient tomb near the Pyramids
- A Syce
A stranger is impressed during his first days in Cairo with the spectacle of runners in front of carriages to warn people to get out of the way. These fellows have a picturesque dress and muscular legs, and their duty is to clear the way, by keeping a few yards in advance and warning people that a carriage is coming. An appendage of this sort is called a syce, and formerly it was necessary that he should be a native born Egyptian, but at present a Nubian may aspire to the position, and it is not unusual to see syces of the complexion of charcoal in front of elegant carriages. - An Egyptian Eunuch
An Egyptian Eunuch - Boot-Blacks of Cairo
Boot-Blacks of Cairo - Egyptian 'Sakiyeh'
Another machine used for the same purpose [irrigation] is the sakiyeh, or draw-wheel. It consists of a horizontal axle, with a wheel at each end. One of these wheels overhangs the water of a river, a canal, or a well, and over it there passes a long, hanging loop of cords, to which a number of earthen pots are fastened. As the axle and the wheel go round, the pots on the cords are drawn over the wheel, and made to move in a circle like the buckets of a dredging-machine. The lower end of the loop of pots dips in the water, and each pot, as it passes through the water, is filled. It is then slowly drawn up by the turning wheel, and as it passes over the wheel, and is tilted over, it empties the water into a tank, or spout, and passes on downwards, empty, to the river again to take up a new supply. - Egyptian 'Shadoof'
The commonest of these machines is the shadoof. It is a sort of balance, with a weight at one end and a cord and bucket at the other. The arm of the balance rests upon a bar of wood, which is supported by two wooden posts, the whole resembling the horizontal bar of a gymnasium. The posts are about five feet high and two or three feet apart, and they are set up on the top of a bank, close to the edge, so that the end of the arm which bears the bucket may project over the water. This arm is made out of a slender branch of a tree, and is fastened to the horizontal bar by loops of cord. Its thicker end is loaded with a large, round ball of mud, while the other carries a long cord, or even a slender stick, at the end of which is the bucket, or bowl, in which the water is raised. - Winged Sun of Thebes
Over the portico of the Theban temple there is usually a ball or sun, ornamented with outstretched wings, representing the all-seeing Providence thus watching over and sheltering the world. From this sun hang two asps wearing the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt. - Amun-Ra
First among these gods of the Egyptians was Ra, the Sun, or Amun-Ra, the Great Sun, whose warmth ripened their harvests, but whose scorching rays made his power felt as much as an enemy as a friend. - Mando-Ra
In the Western half of the Delta, the Sun is worshipped as Mando-Ra. Like Amun-Ra, he wears the two tall feathers and the Sun on his head, but he differs from him in having a hawk's face. - Hapimou
Next was Hapimou, the Nile, whose waters were the chief source of their food, whose overflow marked the limits between the cultivated land and the desert; to him they owed nothing but grateful thanks. He is a figure of both sexes, having the beard of a man and the breastes of a child-bearing woman. He carries in his arms fruits and flowers and sometimes waterfowls.