. The dawn of civilization: Egypt and Chaldaea . yproclaimed themselves the most ancient of mankind,in comparison with whom all other races were buta mob of young children; and they looked uponnations which denied their pretensions with suchindulgence and pity as we feel for those who doubt awell-known truth. Their forefathers had appearedI upon the banks of the Nile even before the creatorhad completed his work, so eager were the gods tobehold their birth. No Egyptian disputed the reality of this right of the 1 Bas-relief at Philae ; drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Beato (Koselli
. The dawn of civilization: Egypt and Chaldaea . yproclaimed themselves the most ancient of mankind,in comparison with whom all other races were buta mob of young children; and they looked uponnations which denied their pretensions with suchindulgence and pity as we feel for those who doubt awell-known truth. Their forefathers had appearedI upon the banks of the Nile even before the creatorhad completed his work, so eager were the gods tobehold their birth. No Egyptian disputed the reality of this right of the 1 Bas-relief at Philae ; drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Beato (Kosellini, Monu-menti del Culto, pi. xix. 2). The vignette, also drawn by Faucher-Gudin, represents an ichneumon,or Pharaohs rat, sitting up on its haunches, with paws uplifted in adoration. It has been variouslyinterpreted. I take it to be the image of an animal spontaneously generated out of the mud, andgiving thanks to Kâ at the very moment of its creation. The original is of bronze, and in the GîzehMuseum (Mariette, Album photographique, pl. 5).. 156 THE LEGENDARY HISTORY OF EGYPT. firstborn, which ennobled the whole race ; but if they were asked the name oftheir divine father, then the harmony was broken, and each advanced theclaims of a different Phtah had modelled man with his ownhands ;2 Khnûmû had formed him on a potters Eâ at his first rising,seeing the earth desert and bare, had flooded it with his rays as with aflood of tears ; all living things, vegetable and animal, and man himself, hadsprung pell-mell from his eyes, and were scattered abroad with the lightover the surface of the Sometimes the facts were presented undera less poetic aspect. The mud of the Nile, heated to excess by theburning sun, fermented aud brought forth the various races of men and animalsby spontaneous generation,5 having moulded itself into a thousand livingforms. Then its procreative power became weakened to the verge of exhaus-tion. Yet on the banks of the river,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidd, booksubjectcivilization
