The Sunday Oregonian., June 03, 1906, PART FOUR, Page 41, Image 41

THE SUNDAY OltEGONIAN. PORTLAND, JUNE 3, 1906.
41
Total Meaning of
the Word "Old"
Is Rqvealed at Last
in Thebes
Proof That Rameses
Was Champion
Advertiser of
Ancient Times
IMEW
Glorious Time in
History When Every
. King Was His
Own Press Agent
Why no Report of
Defeat to an
Egyptian Army
Ever Leaked Out
By George Ade
(Copyright, 1908, by George Ad.)
I I n NTIL we arrived at Luxor we
did not know the total mean
ing of the word "old." The
ruins, which are the stock in
trade of this ancient City of Thebes,
date go far back into the dimness of
Nowhere that all the other antiquities
of earth 6oem as fresh and recent as
a morning newspaper.
"Old" is merely a relative term,
after all. I remember in my native
town we small boys used to gaze in
reverent awe at a courthouse that
was actually bnilt before the Civil
War. We would look up at that
weather-beaten frame structure, two
stories high, with a square bird cage
on top of it, and to us it had all the
historic interest of a mediaeval castle.
Later in Chicago when the special
writer on the newspaper ran short of
topics he would dish up au illustrated
story on the oldest building in town.
3t was constructed away back in 1833.
When a man from the West goes
East for the first time and sees Inde
pendence Hall in Philadelphia he
takes off his hat and tries to grasp
the overwhelming fact that the build
ing stood there even in the far distant
Colonial period. When he travels to
London and walks through St. Paul's
or stands in the Henry VIII Chapel
at. Westminster he begins to get a
new line on the meaning of "old."
Later be sees the Forura at Rome and
declares to himself: "At last I have
found something really ancient."
But. when he arrives at Luxor and
rambles among the elephantine ruins
and sits in the deep, cool shade of
temples that bad been standing a
good many centuries before anyone
thought of laying out the Forum in
Rome he will begin to understand
how everything else in the world is
comparatively hot from the griddle.
One day we were in the shop of
Moiihaiumed Mouhassib, in Luxor,
and the old antiquarian reached under
the counter and lugged out a mummy.
The body was well preserved, and the
embalming cloth Sn which it was
wrapped and cross-wrapped still re
tained a definite texture.
"This mummy dates back beyond
any of the dynasties of which we have
a record," said the dealer. "There
were no inscriptions on the mummy
ease, because when this gentleman
lived it was not the custom tohscribe
the cocoon. You will observe, how
ever, that ho was buried in a sitting
posture, and we know that this man
ner of burial was discontinued about
tiOOO B. C."
As we stood there gazing into the
calm features of the unidentified has
been and realized that he had been
sitting in that easy attitude for eight
thousand years waiting for us to
come along and be preseuted to him,
we began to get a faint inkling of
what the word "old" really means.
New Adjectives Needed.
Goodness knows I am not going to
attempt any detailed description of
the stupendous ruins which make
Luxor the most interesting spot in
Egypt. Anyone who is going to de
scribe. Luxor needs a new box of ad
jectives every few minutes, and, be
sides, to repeat over and over again
that the columns and cavernous sanc
tuaries at Karnak are "gigantic,"
and "colossal," and "huge," and so
on, cannot bring the reader to any
actual conception of the barbaric
massiveness of these ancient struc
tures. The rulers who built the main
temple of Karnak, a section af a time,
thought they were not doing them
selves credit unless they piled up
columns about the size of the red
wood trees in California and guarded
each entrance with statues as Ibig as
the Goddess of Liberty in New York
harbor, and when they made a wall
to enclose a courtyard, they put up
something to resemble a mountain
range. The ordinary 150-pound mor
tal edging his way through the cor
ridors and under the vast shadows
of these overwhelming uplifts of
masonry feels about as large and as
important as a flea.
Always Ready for Insult.
Everywhere about these temples
there are uniformed guards whose
duty it is to protect the remains
against the vandal and the relio
hunter. The guard follows a few feet
behind you as you roam through the
many acres of toppling ruin. He is
afraid that you will steal something
Inasmuch as the smallest fragment of
one of these huge 6tatues, or obelisks,
would weigh probably six hundred
pounds, we feel that he was not
justified in suspecting us. But he
followed us along and then, when we
were leaving he calmly came forward
and indicated that he was ready to
take a money insult. This move on
his part was most characteristic of
the Egyptian attitude toward visitors
,in general. Every native expects to
get something out of a traveler for
the simple reason that he needs the
money. Suppose that a suspicious
character should arrive in an Ameri
can city and the Chief of Police sent
out a detective to shadow him and see
that he did not blow open any safes
or crawl into any second stories. The
detective having followed the suspect
all day, approaches him at nightfall
and says: "Look here; you have put
me to a lot of trouble. I, have been
on my feet all day watching you for
fear that you were going to commit
a burglary, and I think it is only
right that you should pay me some
thing." Every time we visited an antiquity
these guards tapped at our heels,
, watching us like hawks, and invari
ably they tried to hold us up for a
piece of silver before we departed.
There is a Masonic understanding
among the natives that the tourist
is to be fleeced. For instance, al
though the copper coins are in com
mon use among the natives, and in
the cheaper shops the prices are
usually reckoned in roilliemes, it is
almost impossible for a traveler to
get any of these copper coins because
the natives want him to bestow his
gratuities in piasters. A millierae is
worth one-half cent, and then the
THE, ORIGINAL fAFYEXS
II
111
41
In and Around Luxor, With a Sidelight on
Rameses the Great.
millieme is further subdivided into
fractional coins, some of which are
about the 6ize of the mustard seed
and worth about as much as a share
of mining stock.
Easy to Learn the Money.
Egyptian money is very easily un
derstood by Americans. The piaster
is the same as our 5-cent piece or
nickel. The silver five piaster piece
resembles our quarter and has the
same value. The ten piaster piece is
the same as our half dollar. The 100
piaster bill is worth five dollars. In
asmuch as many of the prices sound
great and good and just, and that he
never took off his hat to anyone ex
cept the gods, and then not ordinary
picayune gods, but only those of the
very first magnitude. According to
the hieroglyphs, every King that ruled
in Egypt was as wise as Solomon, as
brilliant in military strategy as Na
poleon, and as hard on the evildoers
as our own beloved T. R.
This unanimous outpouring of
eulogy is largely explained by the
fact that every memorial in honor of
a ruler was erected and supervised
by that ruler himself. It's a fact! Of
all the countless temples and obelisks
and godlike granite figures and festal
picture on free calendars. He would
give Lawson cards-and spades.
In all accepted records discovered
up to this time Rameses has received
nothing but praise. Whyf Because
all the records were doctored by
Rameses himself. He was the great
builder of Egypt and all over the
walls of every building that he erect
ed be had his picture and' tales of
his mighty achievements blazoned
forth in bright colors like the row of,
banners in front of a sideshow.
Wherever in Egypt he could find a
large smooth-faced rock he would en
gage a member of the Royal Academy
to sculp something about Rameses,
'ljwrt
TtttV. t-OOK. DOWN AT ttIM JIOUENrUU.Y-'
large and important when quoted in
piasters, the dealers have learned to
demand English pounds starling or
American dollars. That is, they name
their first prices in sovereigns and
dollars and then gradually work down
to piasters. I saw a native trying to
sell a scarab to a tourist. His first
price was seven pounds sterling,
equivalent to $35. After a half hour
of haggling he had cut it to 7 piasters,
or 35 cents, and the deal was con
summated. The old city of Thebes was a huge
and hustling metropolis, surrounded
by a high wall of a hundred gates,
with countless regiments of soldiers
marching out to conquer distant lands
and bring back slaves in little
batches of 80,000 or so. This was
along about 2000 B. C. The eitj be
gan to lose some of its importance a
few centuries before the Christian
era and dwindled in size until 20
years ago it was a mere village of
huts nestling in the shade of the great
temples. Then the tourist travel set
iu very heavily, and today Luxor is a
hustling city with large hotels and
fancy shops and a general air of pros
perity. The magnificent temple of
Luxor is in the very heart of the new
city. The rambling temple of Karnak
is a short donkey ride to the north
and across the river, some three miles
to the west; there are more temples
and shattered statues and the wonder
ful tombs of the Kings. In olden
days there was a broad avenue lead
ing north to Karnak and thence west
to the valley in the desert where the
Kings were buried, and this boule
vard was guarded on either side, for
the entire distance, by huge recum
bent sphinxes carved out of granite.
Can you imagine a double row of gi
gantic figures crouched on each side
of the street and about 20 feet apart
all the way up Broadway to Central
Park and then through the Park to
Riverside Drive and up the drive to
the distant suburbs? If so, you will
understand to what an extent these
old rulers "went in" for sphinxes.
Labor cost nothing and time did not
count for anything and if a King
wished to build an avenue of sphinxes
leading to his private temple or tomb
all he had to do was to give the
word.
Unanimous Gush of Eulogy,
As soon as a King mounted the
throne he began making his funeral
preparations, and ordered the entire
staff of stonecutters to chisel out
hieroglyphics explaining that he was
tomb chambers remaining in Egypt
to testify to. the majesty and splen
dor of the ancient dynasties, every
one was built under the personal su
pex'vision of the man who gets all the
glory out of the inscriptions. The sue
ceeding generation never got up sub
scription lists to build monuments to
statesmen or military commanders.
The dutiful and loving son never
ordered a memorial in honor of his
illustrious father. He was too busy
carving his own biography on the
sandstone and depicting himself as
pursuing the enemy or taking an af
ternoon tea with haughty, three
headed gods.
Every King Hia Own Press Agent.
In old Egypt every King was his
own press agent. These rulers could
have written some dandy "personal
recollections" for the magazines, be
cause they remembered all the inci
dents thai brought them to the center
of the stage with the calcium turned
on, and wisely forgot all details cal
culated to injure their standing with
posterity.
You take Rameses the Great. He Is
regarded as perhaps the kingpin of all
the rulers during Egypt's long period
of national splendor. Have you ever
heard anyone say a word in criticism
of Rameses' fiscal policy, his treat
ment of the rebate system, manage
ment of the Senate, or his social re
lations with the dark emissaries that
came up from Egypt T No J Everyone
has a good word for Rameses. The
writers of ancie'ht history extol him,
and the guide books print his name in
big black letters, and the travelers
to. Egypt gather about his glass-covered
coffin in the Gizeh. Museum at
Cairo and try to trace noble linea
ments in the shrunken features. They
sigh over his departure and look down
mournfully, with their hats in their
hands, as if they bad lost him this
Spring, instead of 3164 years ago
this Spring. They say; "Well, he
certainly was grand character and
it's too bad we haven't got some
rulers of his caliber nowadays."
It is not my desire to attack
Rameses, but I feel it my duty
to submit to students of history
and archaeologists a very inter
esting papyrus which eame into
my possession at Luxor, If this
document' is accepted as authentic
and the statements are believed, then
it would appear that Rameses was
the champion advertiser of ancient
times. If Rameses were alive today
he would own all the billboards in
America. He would take a full page
ia every Sunday. pjie aud Jiavfi liis
and he would always stand and look
over the sculptor's shoulder to make
sure that the King didn't get the
worst of it. If the army of Rameses
suffered a defeat at the hands of
the Hittites, did any mention of the
fact find its way into the inscrip
tions? Most assuredly not. Rameses
had the hieroglyphs report that he
made a masterly maneuver in order
to develop the strength of the enemy
and then retired to a new and more
strategic position- We cannot dis
cover from the old inscriptions that
any Egyptian army ever suffered de
feat, and yet it has been learned from
other sources .that now and then an
invading array had the whole native
population running foot races up and
down the Nile. However, it was not
considered good form for historians
to mention these painful incidents.
The rate of mortality among those
who criticized the administration was
exactly 100 per cent. It is because
all of the familiar records are known
to have been under censorships that
the papyrus discovered by me at
Luxor possesses almost startling in
terebt. Valuable Papyrus round.
As a cold matter of Tact, I dis
covered this manuscript by proxy.
That is, I bought it from the man
who said he had found it concealed
in the funeral vestments of a mum
my uprooted near Thebes in the
month of February. I cannot give
the name of this- Egyptian, for the
reason that all valuable antiquities
discovered in Egypt are supposed to
belong to the government, and any
one concealing an artr. treasure or
some document of rare value may be
severely punished. I can say this
much, however the native from
whom I bought the papyrus assured
me that . he was an honorable and
truthful guide, and he gave me his
personal guarantee that he had re
moved the document from the
mummy's undergarment with his own
hands and had been waiting for an
opportunity to offer it to a traveler
who was really a connoisseur of an
tiquities and a reverent student of
ancient languages.. All this he told
roe while we were out on the desert
together, and after looking apprehen
sively in all directions to make sure
that no human being was within three
miles of us he pulled a tin cylinder
from under his robe and carefully re
moved from it the time-stained but
still intact roll of papyrus. I must
say that I never saw a more con
vincing document in all my life. The
hieroglyphs looked as Egyptian as
anything could be, and as soon as I
saw thein I had a burning curiosity
to know what message to the world
beyond this poor mummy had been
hugging iu his bosom through all
these centuries. I asked regarding
the mummy on which the papyrus
had been found and learned' that the
inscription on his outer coffin indi
cated that he had been an officer
assigned to the royal palace of Ram
eses II, the type of courtier who must
bend the supple knee and wear the
smiling face, at all times concealing
his real opinion of things in general.
The guarantee which accompanied
the papyrus was so heartfelt and al
together emphatic that I made the
purchase. The price was large, but
I felt justified in paying it, for the.
native assured me that I could sell
it to the British Museum at any time
for twice as much. I promised
faithfully that I would never mention
his name in connection with the deal,
and this promise was easily kept, be
cause he had a name that no one
could have remembered for two min-J
Utes.
For obvious reasons I did not show
the document to my traveling com
panions. I knew that if people heard
, of my discovery and got talking
about it I might not be permitted to
take it out of the country.
When we arrived at Cairo I went
to Mr. Ralph Blancbard, an Ameri
can who is noted as an antiquarian,
Egyptologist and mummy collector,
and after a few 'cautious prelimi
naries told him that I had a docu
ment in hieroglyphics of which I de
sired a translation. I begged him
not to inquire where or how I had
obtained the papyrus. All I wanted
him to do was to tell me what the
blamed thing meant.
Blanchard was startled as soon as
he looked at the document. I could
see that. He said he had deciphered
a good many acres of hieroglyphics,
but this record was unique and the
most interesting that had ever come
under his observation. He spent
two days on the translation, so as
to be absolutely accurate regarding
every fine point and get not only the
cold words but also the literary style
and the real spirit of the original
communications.
Let the translation speak for it
self. I must confess that when it
was handed me I was overwhelmed.
Not only had a flood of light been
let in upon a most important epoch,
but there were also surprising revela
tions as to the origin of valued words
and phrases. Here is the translation :
Rameses gecond Is a Smooth Citizen.
His Foxy Scheme. Is to bunko Posterity.
His Soldiers go out and put up a. hard
Sorap and do up the enemy and h hires
a Stonecutter to rive an Account of it
on a Granite Rock and hand all tha Bou
quets to Rameses. He la building; many
Temple. The Architects draw the Plans.
The Laborers do the Work. The Public
foots the Bill. Rameses and the Ixeal
Deities are the only ones who. butt into
the Inscription. He has the future doped
out a follows: Three thousand years
from now. when Cook's Tourists see my
Pictures all over the Shops, they will con
clude that I must have been the real
Works and they will call ma Rameses
the Great.
This revelation in regard to the
self-advertising proclivities of the
great monarch, coming, as it did,
from one who had been intimately as
sociated with him, was so vastly im
portant that -Mr. Blanchard thouRht
it better to verify the translation.
He took a copy of the document to
several eminent Egyptologists, and
they agreed with him on every point.
They said there was no getting away
from "scraps" and "butt in" and
"dope out" and other characters
which seemed to me to have some
what of a modern flavor.
After a man has been universally
respected for nearly three thousand
two hundred years it does seem a
low down trick to show him up. And,
possibly the anonymous writer was
prejudiced because he had failed to
secure an appointment. Did the
papyrus really come from the bosom
of the mummy? Who knows? Some-'
times it is the duty of the traveler
to record facts a.4 they come under
his observation and not to draw hasty
conclusions.
The documentary evidence is sub
mitted herewith first a copy of the
original papyrus and then the trans
lation, word by word and phrase by
phrase. The testimony should con
vince any who are disposed to be
skeptical. , My only hope is that it
will not entirely blast the reputation
of Rameses.
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