tha 2 434. Two of the Brick-makers. Thebes. presented bringing tribute in the same tomb. The fact of some having small beards, others merely the "stubble-field” of an unshaven chin, might accord with Jews as well as with the Rot-n-n, or other northern races; but their making bricks at Thebes, and the name of Jews not being mentioned in the whole tomb, are insuperable objections. And here I may mention a remarkable circumstance, that the Jews of the East to this day often have red hair and blue eyes, with a nose of delicate form and nearly straight, and are quite unlike their brethren of Europe; and the children in modern Jerusalem have the pink and white complexions of Europeans. The Oriental Jews are at the same time unlike the other Syrians in features; and it is the Syrians who have the large nose that strikes us as the peculiarity of the western Israelites. This prominent feature was always a characteristic of the Syrians; but not of the ancient, nor of the modern, Jews of Judæa; and the Saviour's head, though not really a portrait, is evidently a traditional representation of the Jewish face, which is still traceable at Jerusalem. No real portrait of him was ever handed down; and Eusebius, of Cæsarea, pronounced the impossibility of obtaining one for the sister of Constantine; but the character of the Jewish face would necessarily be known in those early days (in the 4th century), when the first representations of Him were attempted; and we should be surprised to find any artist abandon the style of features thus agreed upon for ages, and represent the Saviour with those of our western Jews. Yet this would be perfectly correct if the Jews of his day had those features; and such would have been, in that case, His traditional portrait. I had often remarked the colour and features of the Jews in the East, so unlike those known in Europe, and my wish to ascertain if they were the same in Judæa was at length gratified by a visit to Jerusalem, where I found the same type in all those really of eastern origin; and the large nose is there an invariable proof of mixture with a western family. It may be difficult to explain this great difference in the eastern and western face (and the former is said to be also found in Hungary); but the subject is worthy of investigation, as is the origin of those Jews now living in Europe, and the early migrations that took place from Judæa long before the Christian era.* These would be more satisfactory than mere speculations on the Lost Tribes. ap The occupations of the common people in Egypt were carefully watched by the magistrate, and no one was allowed to live an idle life, useless to himself and to the community. It was thought right that the industrious citizen should be encouraged, and distinguished from the lazy or the profligate; and in order to protect the good and detect the wicked, it was enacted that every one should at certain times present himself before the magistrates, or provincial governors, and give in his name, his place of abode, his profession or employment, and the mode in which he gained his livelihood, the particulars being duly registered in the official report. The time of attendance was fixed, and those from the same parish proceeded in bodies to the pointed office, accompanied by their respective banners, and each individual being introduced singly to the registering clerks, gave in his statement and answered the necessary questions. In approaching these functionaries, they adopted the usual forms of respect before a superior, making a profound bow, one hand falling down to the knee, the other placed over the mouth to keep the breath from his face. The same mark of deference was expected from every one, as a token of respect to the court, on all occasions; when accused before a magistrate, and when attending at the police office to prefer a complaint, or to vindicate his character from an unjust imputation; and when a culprit sought to deprecate punishment, or to show great deference before a superior, he frequently placed one hand across his breast to the opposite shoulder. The custom of giving an account of their occupations was not of late introduction; it was adopted in old times; and the above representations are of the time of the 18th dynasty. It appears that they not only enrolled their names and gave in the various particulars required of them, but were obliged to have a passport 436. Brought before the scribes. Thebes. from the magistrates; and this may possibly be the paper presented in the preceding woodcut to the scribe; for a document of that kind was required for every ship quitting a port, and all the precautions respecting a man's mode of life would have been useless if he could leave his town for another part of the country without some notice being required on his departure, and some vouchure being shown by him on his arrival at a new place of abode. The tiresome system of passports is exactly what the scrutiny of the cautious" paternal government" of Egypt would have invented; their formula may be recognized in the description of persons, who were parties to the sale of estates, and other private or public contracts; and in a deed of the time of Cleopatra Cocce and Ptolemy Alexander I., written in Greek, and relating to the sale of a piece of land at Thebes, five individuals are thus described: "Pamonthes, aged about forty-five, of middle size, dark complexion, and handsome figure, bald, round faced, and straight nosed; Snachomneus, aged about twenty, of middle size, sallow complexion, round faced, and straight nosed; Semnuthis Persineï, aged about twenty-two, of middle size, sallow complexion, round faced, flat nosed, and of quiet demeanour; and Tathlyt Persineï, aged about thirty, of middle size, and sallow complexion, round faced, and straight nosed-the four being children of Petepsais, of the leather-cutters of the Memnonia; and the Nechutes the less, the son of Asos, aged about forty, of middle size, sallow complexion, cheerful countenance, long face, and straight nose, with a scar upon the middle of his forehead." During this examination before the magistrates, if excesses were found to have been committed by any one, in an irregular course of life, he was sentenced to the bastinado; but a false statement, or the proof of being engaged in unlawful pursuits, entailed upon him the punishment of a capital crime. Another, and a fuller account of his conduct was required in the Confession, which the soul of every Egyptian was doomed to make at his death, before he could receive his last passport to eternal happiness. The laws of the Egyptians were partly a compilation from decisions of learned judges in noted cases; as in some modern countries, and as with the Bedouins, who are guided by prece dents and the opinion of their kádis, handed down from past times, rather than by the fixed law of the Koran. They had also a grand code of laws and jurisprudence, known as the celebrated "Eight Books of Hermes," which it was incumbent on those high-priests called "prophets" to be thoroughly versed in, and which the king, who held that office, was also required and entitled to know. It was not only in Egypt that the kings were judges; it was usual in many eastern countries to intrust the laws and their administration to them; and Xenophon, who ascribes the origin of the custom in Asia to Cyrus, says that those who wished to present petitions to the king attended at the gate of the palace. It was probably from a similar custom that the Turkish title "the Sublime Porte" (or "lofty gate") was derived; and the same idea is contained in the common Oriental expression Ana fee bab Allah, "I am waiting at God's gate" (for help), in cases of complete distress. We are acquainted with few of the laws of the ancient Egyptians; but the superiority of their Legislature has always been acknowledged as the cause of the duration of an empire, which lasted with the same form of government for a much longer period than the generality of ancient states. Indeed the wisdom of that people was proverbial, and was held in such consideration by other nations, that we find it taken by the Jews as the standard to which superior learning† in their own country was willingly compared; and Moses had prepared himself for the duties of a legislator by becoming versed "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." Besides their right of enacting laws, and of superintending all affairs of religion and the state, the kings administered justice to their subjects on those questions which came under their immediate cognizance, and they were assisted in the management of state affairs by the advice of the most able and distinguished members of the priestly order. With them the monarch consulted upon all questions of importance relating to the internal administration of the country; and previous to the admission of * Comp. 2 Sam. xix. 8, and Esther, and other parts of the Bible. |