DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5066#0031
2 ORIGIN OF THE EGYPTIANS ch. i.
ancestors of the Egyptian dynasties, the Pharaohs of
Memphis, must be recognised as real historical per-
sonages, and that King Eamses II. (about 1350 B.C.),
the Sesostris of the Greek fabulous history, was preceded
by at least seventy-six authentic sovereigns. What
conquests the growing knowledge of the old Egyptian
language and writing has won for historical research is
best shown by the numerous writings of distinguished
men of science, amongst which are the works of real
genius by the Viscount E. de Eouge on the irruption of
the Mediterranean peoples into Egypt in the times of
the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties, and the in-
valuable contributions which M. Chabas, of Chalons,
has made towards a knowledge of the same reigns. In
sixty centuries the old Egyptian race has undergone but
little change ; it still preserves those distinctive features
of physiognomy, and those peculiarities of manners and
customs, which have been handed down to us by the
united testimony of the monuments and the accounts of
classical writers, as the hereditary characteristics of
this people.
Historical researches concerning a race of mankind
are inseparably connected with the momentous enquiry
after their primeval home. The sciences of ethnology
and comparative philology must be taken into con-
sideration to determine, even though it be but approxi-
mately, the origin of nations and the directions in which
they have migrated. Suffice it to say, however, that,
according to ethnology, the Egyptians appear to form a
third branch of the Caucasian race, the family called
Cushite; and this much may be regarded as certain,
that in the earliest ages of humanity, far beyond all
historical remembrance, the Egyptians, for reasons un-
known to us, left the soil of their early home, took
their way towards the setting sun, and finally crossed
ancestors of the Egyptian dynasties, the Pharaohs of
Memphis, must be recognised as real historical per-
sonages, and that King Eamses II. (about 1350 B.C.),
the Sesostris of the Greek fabulous history, was preceded
by at least seventy-six authentic sovereigns. What
conquests the growing knowledge of the old Egyptian
language and writing has won for historical research is
best shown by the numerous writings of distinguished
men of science, amongst which are the works of real
genius by the Viscount E. de Eouge on the irruption of
the Mediterranean peoples into Egypt in the times of
the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties, and the in-
valuable contributions which M. Chabas, of Chalons,
has made towards a knowledge of the same reigns. In
sixty centuries the old Egyptian race has undergone but
little change ; it still preserves those distinctive features
of physiognomy, and those peculiarities of manners and
customs, which have been handed down to us by the
united testimony of the monuments and the accounts of
classical writers, as the hereditary characteristics of
this people.
Historical researches concerning a race of mankind
are inseparably connected with the momentous enquiry
after their primeval home. The sciences of ethnology
and comparative philology must be taken into con-
sideration to determine, even though it be but approxi-
mately, the origin of nations and the directions in which
they have migrated. Suffice it to say, however, that,
according to ethnology, the Egyptians appear to form a
third branch of the Caucasian race, the family called
Cushite; and this much may be regarded as certain,
that in the earliest ages of humanity, far beyond all
historical remembrance, the Egyptians, for reasons un-
known to us, left the soil of their early home, took
their way towards the setting sun, and finally crossed