s, the
monuments tell us; these palaces, temples, and tombs are in
proportion to a power which considered itself to have the world at
its feet, and to be the manifestation of the greatest gods.
Literature is at the same high level of development with the other
arts, and writing is used for every branch of the public service.
This, the most ancient of the literatures of the world, is spread
over the immense surfaces of ancient temples and tombs, and stored up
in masses of papyrus rolls, much of which is still to be explored.
Our knowledge of ancient Egypt and its religion is still in its
infancy. The story of the decipherment of the various characters and
of the recovery of the early language of Egypt is one of the most
wonderful triumphs of scholarship. Only one remark, however, do we
now make in connection with Egyptian writing, namely, that it
illustrates in a singular manner the conservatism of the Egyptian
people, a feature of their character which is strikingly manifested
in their religion also. The ancient Egyptian did not cast away an old
usage when a new one, even a very superior one, had been introduced.
Long after metals had come into use, he still employed for various
purposes, especially those connected with religion, implements of
stone. The flint knives found in mummy-cases are connected with the
work of embalming, and show the retention of an archaic usage. The
same is true of the matter of writing. The earliest Egyptian writing
was that which is called hieroglyphic, or picture-writing. In this
system what is written down does not represent the sounds of words
the writer uses, but the ideas in his mind; it is writing without
words; a clumsy system we should say, and presenting the greatest
possible difficulties to the reader. At a very early time, however,
what is called hieratic writing was invented, in which the symbols
used represent not things but sounds, though the symbols used are
adapted from those of the earlier picture-writing. It is in this
hieratic character that the great mass of Egyptian literature is
preserved to us; but here again we find that the new system did not
banish the old one from use. Especially in religious inscriptions and
documents, the matter is given both in the newer writing and in the
older; the piece is written twice, first in hieroglyphic, the old and
sacred form, and then in hieratic, the new form, which could be
easily read. In the matter of different objects of worship