William Osburn

“ In the construction of their legend respecting this abyss, they embodied the two primitive traditions;—that the separate spirit goes under the earth, and that the soul will be judged hereafter for the deeds done in the body. ”

“ There were sixteen kings in the eighteenth dynasty who reigned for about 348 years. The earlier monarchs of this race appear to have reigned in peace, for their monuments are covered with the representations of idolatrous ceremonies, or occasionally record some triumph over negro races to the south. But those of their successors show that they had incessantly to contend for the integrity of Egypt with enemies from the north east. The Exodus took place under the last monarch of the eighteenth dynasty, and Egypt never recovered the blow which this terrible event inflicted upon her prosperity ”

“ This great perfection of art at so remote a period, which in his judgment was never afterwards equalled, is a subject of great surprise to him [9] but will occasion none to those who rightly consider that all the arts of social life were, in the first instance, the direct gifts of God to man.
The shepherds had adopted the religion, the manners and the customs of Egypt. The Pharaoh to whom Joseph was prime minister was the shepherd-king Aphophis, according to Manetho. The king of Egypt with whom Abraham had had communication 200 years before, was also a shepherd-king in all probability. ”

“ The strange absurdity of the wild legend in the text, which dates from the very commencement of the history of Egypt, will be accounted for, if we assume that its authors were the first settlers in that country who had emigrated thither from the plains of Shinar. Looking westward from Heliopolis, they would nightly see the sun sink in the vast expanse of marsh which then bounded the horizon in that direction. Their notions of general geography would necessarily be very imperfect. The Nile was the only considerable river of which they could have known anything, except the Euphrates ”

“ Manetho's book professes to be a translation from historical documents then existing in the temples of Egypt. Like the histories of India, China, Mexico and most other heathen nations, it commences with the reigns of the gods and demigods which lasted many hundred thousand years, and the first of whom was the sun or Phra, who gave his name, Pharaoh, to all his successors on the throne of Egypt. After these come thirty-one dynasties of men, who, according to Manetho, reigned in succession over Egypt for an incredibly long period. ”

“ Osortasen was a prosperous and successful monarch, who reigned over the whole of Egypt; but no remains of the works of his immediate successors have been discovered in Lower Egypt. They held their court at Abydos in Upper Egypt, [8] while another race of monarchs equally civilised with themselves had possession of Memphis, and probably, therefore, of Lower Egypt. This agrees well with Manetho's account of the invasion and conquest of Egypt by a race of people from Canaan, whom he calls shepherds or Ὑκσῶς which he interprets shepherd-kings. ”

“ Several of the tombs in their immediate vicinity also belong to the same remote period. As we proceed up the valley of the Nile to Beni Hassan and Abydos, the remains are those of the era of Osortasen: while at Thebes, and the regions to the south of it, we scarcely find a trace of any thing that is earlier than the eighteenth dynasty. More satisfactory proof could scarcely be desired that the progress of the first inhabitants of the valley was from Heliopolis upwards, not from Thebes downwards, as has been too hastily assumed by certain modern antiquaries. ”

“ It seems, however, always to denote a country or district, not a people. The inhabitants were included among the ⲛⲁϩⲁⲥⲓ, the general appellation of all the black races.
The countries to the south-east and south of Egypt were designated by the group (Hieroglyphic characters) , which contains the elements of the name of כוּשׁ‎ Cush, the second son of Ham (Gen. x. 6,etc.) , whose descendants peopled the burning desert of Sinai, and, following the direction of the Red Sea, scattered themselves over the dreary waste which separates it from Egypt, and penetrated the regions to the south of it. ”

“ Foreign nations are occasionally mentioned on works of art of a higher antiquity, but not to such an extent as to throw any light upon their ideas of the great divisions of the earth, and of the original distribution of the sons of Noah. ”

“ The tomb of Ass is is said by its discoverer, M. l'Hôte, to be executed with surpassing skill. It is in the style called cavo-relievo, like most other similar monuments; and each character in it has the delicately exquisite finish of a gem or medal. ”

“ EGYPT FIRST COLONISED FROM THE NORTH EAST.—THE “GREAT RITUAL.”—THE SOUL AFTER DEATH.—THE THREE NILES.—FIRST EMIGRANTS FROM SHINAR.—EGYPT FIRST PEOPLED FROM THE EAST.—THE RACES OF MEN.—THE SHEMITES.—THE NEGROES AND THE HAMATHITES.—THE FOUR RACES OF MANKIND.—NATIONS TO THE NORTH AND WEST.—THE DESCENDANTS OF HAM.—MIZRAIM.—THE CANAANITES.—ANCIENT LIMITS OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE. The remains of ancient Egypt are the monuments of a religion and polity which prevailed at a period far earlier than any other of which similar memorials are now in existence. ”