Note 581 — Chapter XX · EGYPTIANS.

Respecting the monuments of ancient Egyptian art, see the summary of O. Müller, Archäologie der Kunst, sects. 215-233, and a still better account and appreciation of them in Carl Schnaase, Geschichte der bildenden Künste bei den Alten, Düsseldorf, 1843, vol. i, book ii, chs. 1 and 2.

In regard to the credibility and value of Egyptian history anterior to Psammetichus, there are many excellent remarks by Mr. Kenrick, in the preface to his work, “The Egypt of Herodotus,” (the second book of Herodotus, with notes.) About the recent discoveries derived from the hieroglyphics, he says: “We know that it was the custom of the Egyptian kings to inscribe the temples and obelisks which they raised with their own names or with distinguishing hieroglyphics; but in no one instance do these names, as read by the modern decipherers of hieroglyphics on monuments said to have been raised by kings before Psammetichus, correspond with the names given by Herodotus.” (Preface, p. xliv.) He farther adds in a note, “A name which has been read phonetically Mena, has been found at Thebes, and Mr. Wilkinson supposes it to be Menes. It is remarkable, however, that the names which follow are not phonetically written, so that it is probable that this is not to be read Mena. Besides, the cartouche, which immediately follows, is that of a king of the eighteenth dynasty; so that, at all events, it cannot have been engraved till many centuries after the supposed age of Menes; and the occurrence of the name no more decides the question of historical existence than that of Cecrops in the Parian Chronicle.”