Egyptian belief and modern thought / by James Bonwick.

  • James Bonwick
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Egyptian belief and modern thought / by James Bonwick. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Poorauns give a dreadful idea of that muddy land, and assert that no mortal durst approach it. But this we must understand as the opinion formed of it by the first colonists, who were alarmed by the reptiles and monsters abounding in it, and had not yet seen the beauty and richness of its fertile state.” It is not unreasonable to suppose that an ancient tradition of Central Asia about Egypt thus, at length, got perpetuated in written story, with the usual oriental exaggerations. The Yoingees, or earth-born, are said to have been driven out of India, and found their way to Egypt. They may have been the followers of the fabled Isuara, who contended with Vishnu : that is, a conflict took place between the Fire and Water principles, and their respective worshippers. As Mr. Schliemann found the most ancient settlers on the rock of the plains of Troy to be, by their symbols, of Aryan origin, using the Indian Suastika, and having urns with both Assyrian and Etruscan decorations, the race had a wide extension in early days ; though Rougd fancies the Aruna, vanquished by Ramses II., were the people of Ilium. Archdeacon Squire, in 1744, had a distinct idea of the question ; saying, “ Egypt was colonized about 130 years after the Flood by emigrant Asiatics, descendants of Ham.” How enviable are people with decided views, who know all about it / Herder, following Diodorus Siculus, etc., declares, “The Egyptians were a people of Southern Asia, who travelled westward over the Red Sea.” Sir William Jones believed that a colony from the Indus settled in Nubia; though Jomard decides that the monuments of Nubia are posterior to the Theban, which are younger than the Memphite. The old tradition of the derivation of the Egyptians from the Ethio- pians is explained by the fact that Homer and others distinctly indi- cate Asia as one region of Ethiopians, and M. Langlds affirms that the ancients recognized India under the name of Ethiopia. Perier points out figures in the Cave of Elephanta with a true Egyptian type. When the author saw these supposed African figures, he imagined it more likely that those gods came from Egypt. Maspero, whilst believing that “ no part of the Bible attributes to the Egyptians an Asiatic proceeding,” finally concludes that- they “belong to that which one may call the proto-Semitic races.” He says: “ The Egyptians appear to have soon lost the remembrance of their origin.” Eckstein is an advocate for Asia, referring to the “ basin of the Indus,” as “ the seat of the primitive civilization trans- ported to the valley of the Nile.” Sir Gardner Wilkinson is in sym- pathy with him, when writing ; “ Egypt was certainly more Asiatic F F
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