DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3720#0151
134 DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE EGYPTIANS.
a stick with a similar head, when riding a dromedary; and
an Egyptian painting at the British Museum represents it in
the hand of an ancient peasant, who is in a corn-field. Few
goddesses, except Maut and Neith, hold this sceptre, theirs
being in the form of the papyrus.
2°. The victories of the Egyptians ; in which the conquests
in Asia and Africa are recorded; the attack of the king on the
enemy's fortified towns, and his victorious return to Egypt,
bringing captives and spoil, which he dedicates to the god of
the temple; the march of the army, with its foreign auxiliaries,
all with their peculiar arms; the distribution of rewards to the
troops; and the thanksgiving of the army for victory, headed
by the priests, who perform sacrifices and libations to the
gods.
The army is shown to have been regularly disciplined, and
the Egyptian phalanx, so distinguished in the contest between
Croesus and Cyrus, is the first mentioned in history, and is
represented on the monuments of the 18th dynasty.
In all these subjects the king, whether in lu3 chariot or on
foot, is the principal figure—conspicuous above all the rest by
his colossal form ; while his sous and other officers of his house-
hold, the troops, and the foreign foe arc made to hold a
subordinate position by their inferior size. Columns of hiero-
glyphics describe each picture, and the events it represents;
and the same pictorial writing accompanies every offering to a
god, or other sacred subject. They, too, like the scenes they
describe, are coloured and form part of the whole painted
building. Porno part was left without colour. Even the
columns, and the obelisks, the sphinxes that formed the
approach to the entrance, and the outer gateway of the court
that enclosed the temple, were coloured; and the banners on
the flagstaffs that out-topped the lofty pyramidal towers, and