CHAPTER V

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THE LAND OF THE SPHINX.

I have come to Egypt to learn something of the wisdom of the Egyptians. Tell me, then, ye tombs, and temples, and pyramids, about God; tell me about the life to come! But the pyramids speak not; and the Sphinx still looks toward the East, to watch for the rising sun, but is voiceless and mute. This valley of the Nile speaks of nothing but death. From end to end its rock-ribbed hills are filled with tombs. Yet what do they all teach the anxious and troubled heart of man? Nothing! All these hills are silent.--H. M. FIELD.

[Illustration: RUINED TEMPLES.]

Herodotus, the Greek historian, who visited Egypt about 450 B.C., was struck with the extreme attention which the Egyptians paid to religion. He says that they were the most religious of all mankind. The passing stranger was impressed with the pompous ceremonies, the magnificent festivals, the imposing processions and the many gorgeously-robed priests. He found large temples, where the walls were covered with sculptures, paintings and hieroglyphic writings. All Egypt was stamped with the impress of religion. Every art and science, and all literature were distinctly connected with religion, and were used in the service of their deities. They surpassed all nations in the reverence they paid to the gods. Their religion was by no means an open one. Like most of the false religions of antiquity, there was a great deal of mystery about it. Even to-day we find among the monuments traces of the great attention which the ancient Egyptians paid to the service and adoration of their gods.

HIDDEN HISTORY.

Formerly the world was accustomed to speak of Egypt as the “land of ruins;” a better title is now given, the “land of monuments.” The reason of the change in the title is that it has been found that its ruins contain the account of the past history of Egypt. Hundreds of years ago travelers came across these great ruins covered over with sculptures and paintings, they found traces of the existence of gigantic structures, they found, in almost perfect preservation, great structures like the pyramids and the sphinx. Here evidently was a treasure-house of information, but where was the key to unlock it? It was like a great pawnbroker’s shop, full of rubbish, but also with many articles of value locked up within its walls, but with no key to unlock its doors. It was a land of enigmas, of puzzling problems, of riddles. The traveler turned from object to object with the tone of interrogation. Why was this, and this? What was its purpose? How came it here? What does it all mean? Evidently these great buildings were not erected, these mysterious sculptures carved, these puzzling paintings drawn, merely to amuse a passing fancy. There must be some meaning in them. Scholar after scholar pored over it, beat their brains about it, and gave it up. Century after century passed away and still the mystery remained. There was one key which was found, but to use this key another key was needed. The writing of the Egyptians yet remained. Undoubtedly, in their sacred books, and in the inscriptions on the monuments or walls of the temples were descriptions of the purpose of the great buildings, full accounts of the past and their lost history of Egypt, and perhaps accounts of arts and science now lost to the world. A rich reward this, to the scholar who should succeed in unraveling the mystery.

[Illustration: ROCK TEMPLE OF IBSAMBUL, RESTORED.]

THE HIEROGLYPHICS.

But what was the character of this writing that it should be so difficult to interpret? The writing was a picture-writing, with characters or syllables added, more puzzling than the most puzzling rebus that ever appeared. The Greeks, who often visited Egypt, gave the name _Hieroglyphics_ to this Egyptian writing. The word means in the Greek language “sacred sculpture.” Neither the Greeks nor the Romans, even while they ruled Egypt, ever undertook to learn to read this writing. It seemed to them an unknowable secret. Thus gradually the ancient Egyptian language perished. So the knowledge of the reading of the hieroglyphics passed away entirely. For many centuries every attempt to read it failed, and it remained a hopeless mystery. Finally, about fifty years ago, a Frenchman succeeded in lifting the veil. Jean François Champollion (born 1790, died 1832), made this discovery, one of the greatest of the nineteenth century. He showed how the writing was to be read. Now the whole can be read perhaps almost as easily as Greek or Latin, or the Chinese or Burmese languages. Thus was the hidden history brought to light.

[Illustration: SONG OF THE THRESHERS.]

As specimens of the hieroglyphics, Wilkinson gives the opposite Song of the Threshers to the Oxen. His translation of the lines respectively is as follows: 1. “Thresh for yourselves” (twice repeated). 2. “O oxen.” 3. “Thresh for yourselves” (twice). 4. “Measures for yourselves.” 5. “Measures for your masters.”

Another specimen of hieroglyphics is added below.

[Illustration: HIEROGLYPHICS.]

SOME EGYPTIAN GODS.

The Egyptian gods are numbered by the hundreds. It is possible for us to refer to but a few here. The ideas of the gods which prevailed here were grafted on the simple nature-worship which the people brought to Egypt from their earlier home.

[Illustration: PASHT, THE CAT-HEADED GOD.]

In every part of Egypt two great gods, Isis and Osiris, were worshiped. Isis is the wife of Osiris. Ra the sun-god was the greatest of the gods, he was supposed to be the representative of the Supreme Being. And yet Osiris was the most popular god. Ra was generally represented as a hawk-headed man, and usually with a solar disk upon his head. Ra was generally worshiped in association with some other god, as Amen-Ra, Num-Ra, etc. In many sculptures he is represented as carrying on a constant conflict with the evil. Evil is represented in these conflicts as the great serpent Apap. At Heliopolis were kept two animals sacred to Ra, the black bull and the phœnix. The phœnix was a bird which the Egyptians regarded as the emblem of immortality; a bird which never died, but when it was burned, sprang up again, full-grown, from its ashes, ready to renew its activities.

[Illustration: ONE OF THE FORMS OF ISIS.]

Osiris was generally represented as a mummy, wearing a royal cap, containing ostrich feathers. Osiris was regarded as a good being and was in perpetual warfare with Set, the evil being. They stand to each other, said the Egyptians, as light and darkness, as day and night, as the Nile and the deserts, as Egypt and foreign lands. Osiris is represented in the myths as being vanquished by Set. He is cut in pieces and thrown into the water. By and by he revives but does not utterly destroy Set, though he defeats him. This story probably is a picture of the daily life of the sun, contending with the darkness, yet at last yielding to it, and then again after an interval re-appearing at the dawn in renewed splendor. Osiris was also a type of struggling humanity, suffering now, defeated for a time it may be, yet finally triumphant. This was the reason of his worship being so popular. Osiris was the protector of the dead, and he determined their final condition. It was to Osiris that prayers and offerings for the dead were made, and writings on the tombs were addressed to him.

Beside these gods, there were Set the evil god, who was represented with the head of a fabulous animal, having a pointed nose and high square ears. Isis, the wife of Osiris, was represented as a woman, bearing on her head her emblem the throne, or the solar disk and cow’s horns.

[Illustration: CROCODILE GOD.]

Amon (or Amen) the “hidden,” was worshiped at Thebes. Sebek was the crocodile-headed god. His sacred animal was the crocodile of the Nile River. Thoth was the chief moon-god. He was the god of letters and learning. Anubis, the jackel-headed was the god worshiped by the mummy-makers. Thus gods were multiplied.

ANIMAL WORSHIP.

“If you enter a temple,” says Clement of Alexandria, “a priest advances with a solemn air, singing a hymn in the Egyptian language; he raises the veil a little to let you see the god; and what then do you see? A cat, a crocodile, a snake, or some other noxious animal. The god of the Egyptian appears. It is but a wild beast, wallowing on a purple carpet!” This language describes the worship of ancient Egypt as we learn from the sculptures on the monuments, as well as it characterizes the worship at the beginning of the Christian era. To exhibit in some symbol their ideas of their gods was the very essence of Egyptian religion. This brought about the grossest of superstitious worship. To set forth in symbol the attributes, qualities and nature of their gods, the priests chose to use animals. The bull, cow, ram, cat, ape, crocodile, hippopotamus, hawk, ibis, scarabæus, were all emblems of the gods. Often the head of one of these animals was joined to the body of a man in the sculpture. But let it be remembered, that _the Egyptians never worshiped images or idols. They worshiped living representations of the gods and not lifeless images of stone or metal._ Their sculptures were never made for worship. They chose animals which corresponded as nearly as possible to their ideas of the gods. Each of these sacred creatures was carefully tended, fed, washed, dressed, nursed when sick, and petted during its whole life. After death its body was embalmed. Certain cities were set apart for certain animals, and apartments of the temples were consecrated to their use. Priests were appointed to attend them. Not every animal of every kind was worshiped, only a few of each sacred kind were considered as sacred. A few of the whole number were supported at the expense of the state, and were attended by great personages. Certain animals were worshiped in parts of Egypt and detested in other parts. Thus the hippopotamus was worshiped in Papæmis alone; while the Thebans worshiped the crocodile; in other places they were hunted to death.

[Illustration: SCARABÆUS.]

Popularly these animals were regarded as gods, and were really worshiped. By the priests they were regarded simply as the representatives of the gods. If a man killed certain of the sacred animals, by the laws of Egypt he must die; if, however, in regard to some of them, the killing was accidental, then he might escape by paying a heavy fine.

A Roman soldier once killed a sacred cat, accidentally. In spite of the fear of Rome and the interference of the King of Egypt, the enraged mob instantly killed the soldier. The story is told, that King Cambyses, when he invaded Egypt, caught a number of sacred animals, and placed them before his army. The Egyptians offered them no resistance, but fled away, afraid to fight lest they should injure the sacred animals.

Three animals were regarded as not representations merely, but incarnations of gods; these were the bull Mnevis, the goat of Mendes and the bull Apis. Apis was said to be born of a cow, yet also born of heaven. He was to be black, with a white triangle on his forehead, a mark like a half-moon on his back, and a mark like a scarabæus under his tongue. When Apis died, all Egypt mourned. As soon as a new Apis was found, the Egyptians donned their best clothing and made great rejoicings. The dead Apis was embalmed and received further worship. Apis was wrongly supposed to be the god whom the Israelites imitated in their worship of the golden calf.

MUMMIES.

The Egyptians held it as a central feature of their faith, that “man was not made to die,” that we were to live a future life, that death does not end all. Many heathen nations believed that the body, the flesh, was an evil thing, the seat of all base passions; not so the Egyptians. The greatest event in a man’s life happened after his death (to speak in apparent paradoxes). His funeral, and the arrangements for it, surpassed all other occasions of his life in their elaborateness. The period of mourning lasted seventy-two days. Perhaps during all this time, the process of embalming was going on by the use of peculiar preparations which were forced through his veins as the blood was withdrawn, and by wrapping the body in linen bands containing substances which prevented the flesh from decaying. The outermost bandage was covered with a kind of pasteboard, which represented the deceased as a workman in the Happy Fields, carrying the tools of husbandry. This is commonly called the mummy. Before the wrapping in the linen bandages began, the body had been steeped in a liquid called _natron_ (carbonate of soda). Herodotus presents a very full description of the process of embalming. There is no doubt but that all this was done as a preparation for the return of the soul to the body in a future world. The mummy was inclosed in a coffin of wood, and this again, if the person’s friends were rich, in a stone sarcophagus or coffin. The coffin was placed on a sledge drawn by oxen or men, taken to the river or lake-side and ferried over to the burial-place on the sacred boats. The coffin was deposited in the tomb, and prayers were said, and offerings given in the chapel above the tomb. Offerings to Osiris were made during an entire year by the family.

[Illustration: SHROUDING OF THE DEAD.]

[Illustration: MUMMY CASE.]

[Illustration: FORMS OF MUMMY CASES.

1, 2, 3, 4. Of wood. 5, 6, 7, 8. Of stone. 9. Of wood and of early time--before the 18th dynasty. 10. Of burnt earthenware.]

THE CELEBRATED BOOK OF THE DEAD.

Among many books which the Egyptians once possessed, one still remains in its entirety. It is somewhat confusing in its style, and yet it is in the main to be understood. A copy of this Funeral Liturgy or Book of the Dead was placed in every mummy’s coffin. We give a very full abstract of it, because of its unusual importance in the religious history of the world.

The Funeral Ritual is opened with a dialogue taking place at the very moment of death, when the soul separates from the body. The deceased, addressing the deity of Hades, enumerates all his titles to his favor, and asks for admittance into his dominions. The chorus of glorified souls interposes, as in the Greek tragedy, and supports the prayer of the deceased. The priest on earth in his turn speaks, and implores also the divine clemency. Finally Osiris, the god of the lower regions, answers the deceased, “Fear nothing in making thy prayer to me for the immortality of thy soul, and that I may give permission for thee to pass the threshold.” Reassured by the divine word, the soul of the deceased enters Kar-Neter, the land of the dead, and recommences his invocations.

After this grand commencement, which we have epitomized, come many short chapters, much less important, relative also to the dead and to the preliminary ceremonies of his funeral. When at last the soul of the deceased has passed the gates of Kar-Neter, he penetrates into that subterranean region, and at his entry is dazzled by the glory of the sun, which he now for the first time sees in this lower hemisphere. He sings a hymn to the sun under the form of mixed litanies and invocations. After this hymn, a great vignette, representing the adoration and glorification of the sun in the heavens, on earth and in Hades, marks the end of the first part of the Ritual, serving as a sort of introduction. The second part traces the journeys and migrations of the soul in the lower region.

Next come a series of prayers to be pronounced during the process of embalming, while the body is being rolled in its wrappers. These invocations are addressed to Thoth, the Egyptian Hermes, who, as among the Greeks, played the part of Psychopompe, or conductor of souls. They are of the highest interest, for in each allusion is made to the grand myth of Osiris and his contest with Typhon, of which Plutarch and Synesius have given us the most recent versions. The deceased, addressing the god, asks him to render to him again the service he once rendered on that solemn occasion to Osiris and his son Horus, “avenger of his father.”

The body once wrapped in its coverings, and the soul well provided with a store of necessary knowledge, the deceased commences his journey. But he is still unable to move, he has not yet the use of his limbs; it is necessary to address the gods, who successively restore all the faculties he had during his life, so that he can stand upright, walk, speak, eat and fight. Thus prepared, he starts; he holds his scarabæus over his heart as a passport, and thus passes the portal of Hades.

From the first step, terrible obstacles present themselves in his way. Frightful monsters, servants of Typhon, crocodiles on land and in the water, serpents of all kinds, tortoises and other reptiles, assail the deceased and attempt to devour him. Then commences a series of combats. The deceased and the animals against which he contends mutually address insulting speeches to each other, after the fashion of Homer’s heroes. Finally, the “Osiris” (the name applied to all the deceased) has conquered all his enemies; he has subdued the Typhonic monsters, and forced a passage, and, elated by his victory, sings on the spot a song of triumph, likening himself to all the gods, whose members are made those of his own body. “My hair is like that of Nu (the firmament); my face is like that of Ra (the sun); my eyes like those of Athor (the Egyptian Venus);” and so on for every part of his body. He has even the strength of Set, that is, of Typhon, for the strife between the good and evil principle is but in appearance; in reality they are one and the same, and equally receive the adorations of the initiated.

After such labors the deceased needs rest; he stays for a time to recruit his strength and to satisfy his hunger. He has escaped great dangers, and has not gone astray in the desert where he would have died of hunger and thirst. From the tree of life the goddess Nu gives him refreshing waters, which invigorate him and enable him to recommence his journey in order to reach the first gate of heaven.

Then commences a dialogue between the deceased and the personification of the divine Light, who instructs him. This dialogue presents some most remarkable resemblances to the dialogue prefixed to the books given by the Alexandrian Greeks as translations of the ancient religious writings of Egypt, between Thoth and the Light, in which the latter explains to Thoth the most sublime mysteries of nature. This portion is certainly one of the best and grandest of the Ritual, and may almost be classed with the invocations to the sun at the close of the first part.

[Illustration: EGYPTIAN PRIESTESS.]

The deceased, having passed the gate, continues to advance, guided by this new Light, to whom he addresses his invocations. He then enters upon a series of transformations, more and more elevated, assuming the form of and identifying himself with the noblest divine symbols. He is changed successively into a hawk, an angel or divine messenger; into a lotus; into the god Ptah; into a heron; into a crane; into a human-headed bird, the usual emblem of a soul; into a swallow; into a serpent, and into a crocodile.

Up to this time the soul of the deceased has been making its journeys alone; it has been merely a sort of image; a mere shade, with the appearance of that body now stretched on the bier. After these transformations the soul becomes reunited to its body, which is needed for the rest of the journey. It was on this account that careful embalming was so important; it was necessary that the soul should find the body perfect and well-preserved. “Oh,” cries the body, “that in the dwelling of the master of life I may be reunited to my glorified soul, do not order the guardians of heaven to destroy me, so as to send away my soul from my corpse, and hinder the eye of Horus, who is with thee, from preparing my way.”

The deceased traverses the dwelling of Thoth, who gives him a book containing instructions for the rest of his way, and fresh lessons of the knowledge he is soon to require. He arrives on the banks of the subterranean river separating him from the Elysian Fields, but there a new danger awaits him. A false boatman, the envoy of the Typhonic powers, lays wait for him on his way, and endeavors by deceitful words to get him into his boat, so as to mislead him and take him to the east instead of to the west, his true destination, and where he ought to land, and rejoin the sun of the lower world. The deceased again escapes this new danger; he unmasks the perfidy of the false boatman, and drives him away, overwhelming him with reproaches. He at last meets the right boat to conduct him to his destination. But before getting into it, it is necessary to ascertain if he is really capable of making the voyage, if he possesses a sufficient amount of the knowledge necessary to his safety. The divine boatman therefore makes him undergo an examination, a preliminary initiation, seemingly corresponding to the lesser Eleusinian mysteries. The deceased passes the examination; each part of the boat then seems successively to become animated, and to demand of him its name, and the mystical meaning of the name. _The stake for anchoring the boat._ Tell me my name! “The Lord of the earth in thy case,” is thy name. _The rudder._ Tell me my name! “The enemy of Apis,” is thy name. _The rope._ Tell me my name! “The hair with which Anubis binds up the folds of the wrappers,” is thy name; and so on for twenty-three questions and answers.

After having thus victoriously passed through this trial, the deceased embarks, traverses the subterranean river, and lands on the other bank, when he soon arrives at the Elysian Fields in the valley of Avura, or Balot, the position of which the ritual gives in these terms, “The valley of Balot (abundance), at the east of heaven, is 370 cubits long, and 140 cubits broad. There is a crocodile lord of Balot in the east of that valley in his divine dwelling above the inclosure. There is a serpent at the head of that valley, thirty cubits long, his body six cubits round. In the south is the lake of sacred principles (Sharu); the north is formed by the lake of Primordial Matter (Rubu).” A large picture here shows us this valley, a real subterranean Egypt, intersected by canals, where we see the “Osiris” occupied in all the operations of agriculture; preparing the ground, sowing and reaping in the divine fields an ample provision of that bread of knowledge he is now to find more necessary than ever. He has, in fact, arrived at the end of his journey; he has before him only the last, but also the most terrible of all his trials.

Conducted by Anubis he traverses the labyrinth, and by the aid of the clew, guiding them through its windings, at last penetrates to the judgment-hall, where Osiris awaits him, seated on his throne, and assisted by forty-two terrible assessors. There the decisive sentence is to be pronounced, either admitting the deceased to happiness or excluding him forever. Then commences a new interrogatory, much more solemn than the former. The deceased is obliged to give proof of his knowledge; he must show that it is great enough to give him the right to be admitted to share the lot of glorified spirits. Each of the forty-two judges, bearing a mystical name, questions him in turn; he is obliged to tell each one his name, and what it means. Nor is this all; he is obliged to give an account of his whole life.

“I have not blasphemed,” says the deceased; “I have not stolen; I have not smitten men privily; I have not treated any person with cruelty; I have not stirred up trouble; I have not been idle; I have not been intoxicated; I have not made unjust commandments; I have shown no improper curiosity; I have not allowed my mouth to tell secrets; I have not wounded any one; I have not let envy gnaw my heart; I have spoken evil neither of the king, nor my father; I have not falsely accused any one; I have not withheld milk from the mouths of sucklings; I have not practiced any shameful crime; I have not calumniated a slave to his master.”

The deceased does not confine himself to denying any ill conduct; he speaks of the good he has done in his lifetime. “I have made to the gods the offerings that were their due. I have given food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, and clothes to the naked.” We may well on reading these passages be astounded at this high morality, superior to that of all other ancient people, that the Egyptians had been able to build up on such a foundation as their religion. Without doubt it was this clear insight into truth, this tenderness of conscience, which obtained for the Egyptians the reputation for wisdom, echoed even by Holy Scripture.

Besides these general precepts, the apology acquaints us with some police regulations for public order, raised by common interest in Egypt to the rank of conscientious duties. Thus the deceased denies ever having intercepted the irrigating canals, or having prevented the distribution of the waters of the river over the country; he declares that he has never damaged the stones for mooring vessels on the river. Crimes against religion are also mentioned; some seem very strange to us, especially when we find them classed with really moral faults. The deceased has never altered the prayers or interpolated them. He has never touched any of the sacred property, such as flocks and herds, or fished for the sacred fish in the lakes of the temples; he has not stolen offerings from the altar, nor defiled the sacred waters of the Nile.

The Osiris is now fully satisfied; his heart has been weighed in the balance with truth, and not been found wanting; the forty-two assessors have pronounced that he possesses the necessary knowledge. The great Osiris pronounces his sentence, and Thoth, as recorder to the tribunal, having inscribed it in his book, the deceased at last enters into bliss.

Here commences the third part of the Ritual, more mystical and obscure than the others. We see the Osiris, henceforth identified with the sun, traversing with him, and as him, the various houses of heaven, and the lake of fire, the source of all light. Afterwards the Ritual rises to a higher poetical flight, even contemplating the identification of the deceased with a symbolical figure comprising all the attributes of the deities of the Egyptian Pantheon. This representation ends the work.

EGYPTIAN WORSHIP.

The gods of Egypt were worshiped in temples and tombs. Every town had at least one temple. The services were conducted by the priests, and on special occasions the king and scribes joined. The common people had but little to do with the worship. The most important worship took place in the innermost chambers, where only the priests were at all permitted to go.

[Illustration: AVENUE OF SPHINXES LEADING TO A TEMPLE.]

[Illustration: GATEWAY OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN TEMPLE OF KARNAK.]

The sacrifices were of animals and vegetables with the pouring out of wine and the burning of incense. The temples were gigantic structures grouped together. They were generally approached by avenues of sphinxes. The great temples are almost all found in Upper Egypt, while the pyramids are in Lower Egypt. The inhabitants of Egypt were once the greatest nation of earth, and they built temples corresponding to their greatness.

Thebes, in Upper Egypt, was once a greater city than Babylon, or Rome, or London. It was built on both sides of the River Nile. To it all the surrounding nations flocked. The temples of Thebes have, in magnificent grandeur and majestic beauty, probably never been surpassed in any later age. Of these temples, Luxor and Karnak were the greatest. Between these two stretched in avenue of 140 gigantic columns, each twelve feet in diameter, their massive sides covered with sculptures. The columns were so great that we cannot understand how they could be cut out of the quarries and brought the 140 miles that they must pass over to get to Thebes. Karnak was the work of generations. It was 2,500 years in building. Abraham must have seen Karnak when he journeyed to Egypt. Moses must have been familiar with its courts. The messengers of Israel, who in after ages sought alliance with powerful Egypt, must have looked upon its columns and walls. Karnak was a cluster of temples. The central one was 1,108 feet long and 300 feet broad. The circuit of its walls, says a Roman historian who saw it in all its glory, was a mile and a half. Near Thebes are the statues of Memnon, which were said to sing when the rays of the rising sun touched their lips. Possibly the breeze of the early morning struck upon some concealed musical contrivance in the statue and produced the sound.

[Illustration: THE SINGING MEMNON.]

[Illustration: RUINS OF THE SPLENDID TEMPLES OF THEBES.]

[Illustration: THE SPHINX AND THE PYRAMIDS.]

The most imposing monuments of Egypt are the pyramids of El Gizeh. The largest of these is the pyramid of Cheops. This is 480 feet high, and contains more than ten millions of cubic yards of stone. The pyramid is so placed that its four sides exactly face the four points of the compass. The pyramids were probably great tombs. At the foot of the pyramids is the great Sphinx. This is a monument of a man-headed lion, nearly ninety feet long and seventy-four feet high. Its face is twenty-six feet long. It is carved out of solid rock. This great Sphinx is said to be the image of the god Har-ma-chu, the setting sun. Between the two front paws of the Sphinx was placed a small chapel, consecrated to the god. As Ampére says: “This huge, mutilated figure has an astonishing effect; it seems like an eternal spectre. The stone phantom seems attentive; one would say that it hears and sees. Its great ear appears to collect the sounds of the past; its eye, directed to the east, gazes as it were into the future; its aspect has a depth, a truth of expression, irresistibly fascinating to the spectator. In this figure, half statue, half mountain, we see a wonderful majesty, a grand serenity, and even a sort of sweetness of expression.”

There was much of majestic beauty about the Egyptian religion and worship, but there was mixed with it a mass of debasing superstition. When King Cambyses of Persia conquered Egypt, and the supremacy of the world passed out of Egypt’s hands, the downfall of its religion commenced. The religion of the conquerors was mingled with their own. After some hundreds of years, Christianity was spread over all north Africa and up the Nile. Then in the year 639, after Christ, Mohammedanism conquered Egypt. This religion continues to predominate in Egypt.

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