DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5538#0238
21S PHARAOHS, FELLAHS, AND EXPLORERS.
the Pyramid Period, for instance, it is said that " the earth
navigates the celestial ocean in like manner with the sun and
the stars." (03) Again, in a remarkable passage of the Great
Harris Papyrus, we read how Ptah, the primordial god,
" moulded man, created the gods, made the sky, and formed
the earth revolving in spaceP Unhappily, no papyrus treat-
ing of astronomy has yet been discovered; but zodiacs, cal-
endars, and astronomical tables, showing the divisions of the
year, the phases of the moon, and the dates and hours of the
rising and setting of certain planets, abound on the walls of
temples and tombs.
Two mathematical papyri have been found. One was dis-
covered by Mr. Petrie in the ruins of a buried house in Tanis.
This papyrus is the property of the Egypt Exploration Fund,
and Prof. Eugene Eevillout, of the Egyptian Department
of the Louvre, has undertaken to translate it. The other
mathematical papyrus was found by Mr. Rhind at Thebes.
It belongs to the British Museum, and has been translated
by Dr. August Eisenlohr, of Heidelberg. This curious docu-
ment treats of plane trigonometry and the measurement of
solids; and it contains not only a system of reckoning by
decimals, but a series of problems for solution by the student.
Of the practical geometry of the Egyptians, we have a mag-
nificent example in the Pyramids, which could never have
been erected by builders who were not thoroughly conver-
sant with the art of measuring surfaces and calculating the
bulk and weight of materials.
Works on medicine abounded in Egypt from the remotest
times, and the great medical library of Memphis, which was
of immemorial antiquity, was yet in existence in the second
century before our era, when Galen visited the Valley of the
Kile. The Egyptians seem, indeed, to have especially prided
themselves on their skill as physicians, and the art of heal-
ing was held in such high esteem that even kings made
it their study. Ateta, third king of the First Dynasty, is the
reputed author of a treatise on anatomy, lie also covered
himself with glory by the invention of an infallible hair-wash,
the Pyramid Period, for instance, it is said that " the earth
navigates the celestial ocean in like manner with the sun and
the stars." (03) Again, in a remarkable passage of the Great
Harris Papyrus, we read how Ptah, the primordial god,
" moulded man, created the gods, made the sky, and formed
the earth revolving in spaceP Unhappily, no papyrus treat-
ing of astronomy has yet been discovered; but zodiacs, cal-
endars, and astronomical tables, showing the divisions of the
year, the phases of the moon, and the dates and hours of the
rising and setting of certain planets, abound on the walls of
temples and tombs.
Two mathematical papyri have been found. One was dis-
covered by Mr. Petrie in the ruins of a buried house in Tanis.
This papyrus is the property of the Egypt Exploration Fund,
and Prof. Eugene Eevillout, of the Egyptian Department
of the Louvre, has undertaken to translate it. The other
mathematical papyrus was found by Mr. Rhind at Thebes.
It belongs to the British Museum, and has been translated
by Dr. August Eisenlohr, of Heidelberg. This curious docu-
ment treats of plane trigonometry and the measurement of
solids; and it contains not only a system of reckoning by
decimals, but a series of problems for solution by the student.
Of the practical geometry of the Egyptians, we have a mag-
nificent example in the Pyramids, which could never have
been erected by builders who were not thoroughly conver-
sant with the art of measuring surfaces and calculating the
bulk and weight of materials.
Works on medicine abounded in Egypt from the remotest
times, and the great medical library of Memphis, which was
of immemorial antiquity, was yet in existence in the second
century before our era, when Galen visited the Valley of the
Kile. The Egyptians seem, indeed, to have especially prided
themselves on their skill as physicians, and the art of heal-
ing was held in such high esteem that even kings made
it their study. Ateta, third king of the First Dynasty, is the
reputed author of a treatise on anatomy, lie also covered
himself with glory by the invention of an infallible hair-wash,