Abstract
THE appearance of an English translation of Prof. Erman's work on the manners and customs of the ancient Egyptians is most opportune, for it comes at a time when the Egyptological world is still smarting under the loss, by death, of Prof. H. Brugsch, the last and probably the greatest of the little band of German Egyptologists of which Lepsius was such a brilliant member, and proves to us that there is in Germany, besides Dr. Wiedemann, one at least who may be expected to continue the great and good work which that veteran did so much to promote. Prof. Erman is well known to Egyptologists by his papers and books on Egyptian grammar, of which from the time of his appearance at the Congress of Orientalists in 1874 until the present year he has never ceased to labour. In 1878 he published some important observations on the formation of the plural in Egyptian (“Die Pluralbildung des Aegyptischen, “Leipzig, 1878), which was followed in 1880 by his “Neuaegyptische Grammatik” ; in 1890 he edited, with translation, commentary, &c, the stories from the Westcar papyrus (“Mittheilungenans den orientalischen Sammlungen—Die Märchen des Papyrus Westcar ”), and last year he published a good little Egyptian grammar. A portion of his time he has devoted to contributing articles to the Aegyptische Zeitschrift, of which he is now the editor, and to the Zeitschrift of the German Oriental Society. His work on the life of the Egyptians, which in an English form we owe to Mrs Tirard, appeared in parts, which formed two volumes, between the years 1884 and 1887, and was then, and is now the only work of the sort in Germany. The large work by Ebers, “Aegypten in Bild und Wort,” which appeared at Stuttgart in 1879-81, and of which an English translation by Clara Bell was published in London in 1881-82, attracted the popular mind chiefly by the many beautiful illustrations which it contained; references to original authorities were few and far between, but it nevertheless appealed to a large class of readers successfully. Our own countryman, Wilkinson, the author of the first guide-book to Egypt, was perhaps the first to recognise that the only trustworthy descriptions of the manners and customs of the Egyptians must be derived from the native records of sculptor, artist and scribe, and he spent many years in compiling his monumental work on the subject, which, as Mrs. Tirard says in her preface, has formed one of the main sources of supply for Prof. Erman. Wilkinson's knowledge of the inscriptions was somewhat hazy according to modern views, and the defects which occur in his work from this cause are conspicuous by their absence in Prof. Erman's book, which is of course, as was to be expected, a record of the Egyptians compiled from their own monuments and books. On many points we should like to have had his opinions, as for example on the Hyksos, and on the Exodus; as for the Hittites, on which nation more than one reputation has been wrecked, he holds no strong view, but thinks they may have been identical with the Kheta of the hieroglyphics. In matters of chronology Prof. Erman differs greatly from Mariette and Maspero, for he places the sixth dynasty as late as B.C. 2500, while they date it at B.C. 3700 and 3300 respectively. There is no doubt that serious modifications in Egyptian chronology must shortly be made, and though they may take the form of reducing the antiquity of the periods of the dynasties from the twelfth downwards, yet it seems perfectly clear that the effect of the rearrangement ought to be either to lengthen the period of the duration of the earlier dynasties, or to admit boldly a more recent date for the beginning of historical Egyptian civilisation, and to proclaim a lengthy period of prehistoric civilisation which in all probability extended over thousands of years. Such considerations, however, affect Prof. Erman's book very little, for the reader will rely upon him not for speculations as to the original home of the Egyptians and the history of their descendants who are known to us, but for the descriptions of their life as depicted on their works; in this respect no more careful guide than Prof. Erman could be found. The tasteful form in which his book is printed and bound will, we believe, add to its intellectual attraction.
Life in Ancient Egypt.
Described by A. Erman.; translated by H. M. Tirard. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1894.)
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Life in Ancient Egypt. Nature 50, 615 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/050615a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/050615a0