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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 ofgoatskin, 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
CHAPTER III. Dawn of Civilization 31
EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND
worshipped their king as a god, and, after thirty years' reign, devoured him at their Sed festival 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
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