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Table of Contents

The growing interest that is felt in all that concerns Egypt and its past has led me to hope that there may be many who will be glad of a book containing, in a concise and easily accessible form, the chief results of modern research and discovery in the valley of the Nile.

The Manuscript of this work was submitted to Dr. Lushington, formerly Professor of Greek at Glasgow University, and he has very kindly permitted the publication of the following opinion:—

‘It appears to me very carefully and accurately written, with diligent consultation of the most trustworthy sources. The illustrative quotations interspersed seem well calculated to inspire and maintain interest in the reader as well as the descriptive sketches.

The subject well deserves, and is already beginning to command, more general interest than a few years ago it would have been possible to anticipate.’

The translations I have given are selected and freely rendered from those that have appeared in Records of the Past, after comparison with any others that were available. I am also much indebted throughout to Dr. Brugsch’s valuable History of Egypt; and I wish especially to mention my obligation to Mr. Villiers Stuart’s Nile Gleanings, with its many interesting illustrations and accompanying descriptions—more particularly those relating to the tombs of the third and fourth dynasties, to the curious episode of Khu-en-aten’s reign, and to the stirring times of Rameses the Great.

My obligations to other authors are acknowledged in the respective places.

The hieroglyphs above the Table of Contents read, em rek suteniu tepau, i.e. ‘in the time of former kings,’ and the cartouche at the end of the line is that of ‘Pharaoh,’ to be read Per-aa, i.e. ‘the Great House.’ The hawk is symbolic of divine protection, and the seal it holds is the emblem of renewed and endless life.

E. BERKLEY.