THE MONUMENTS

Let us try to form a general idea of the monuments which have come down to us. What has been said above on the subject of history in general cannot but be repeated in the case of the history of art. All our knowledge is above all things fortuitous; for certain periods materials abound whilst for others, on the contrary, there are none at all, although one cannot legitimately infer from this lack of evidence that the Egyptians had completely ceased, for long ages, to produce works of art.

Certain classes of objects have entirely vanished. It is sufficient to cite but one example: the decorative goldsmith’s work, which is known to us through the representations of it on bas-reliefs and on paintings in the tombs and temples of the New Empire, where we see the kings presenting it as an offering to the gods, or the envoys of tributary states coming forward to lay it before the throne of the Pharaoh. Of another kind of monument, which is mentioned at times in the texts, it chances that a single specimen has survived. This is the great statue in metal of King Pepi I of the 6th dynasty.

The division of the country into Upper and Lower Egypt is an important one from the point of view of the preservation of works of art. One might say, almost without exaggeration, that in the Delta everything has disappeared, whilst in Upper Egypt, on the contrary, a great number of antiquities is preserved. This difference can be accounted for in various ways, of which we may cite a few instances.

In the Delta, on account of the great distance of the quarries, most of the buildings were necessarily constructed of wood or brick, stone being but sparingly used only in the principal parts, such as in facades or in doorways. The great growth of settlements and townships in Lower Egypt has led to a more and more systematic pillage of the ruins in order to carry off all the stones which can be re-used for building. The damp soil of the Delta has destroyed most of the objects confided to its care, whilst the desert of Upper Egypt has preserved them almost intact. But alike in Upper and Lower Egypt, other causes of destruction and disappearance are not lacking.

Even in quite recent times antique sites have been exploited as quarries: the temple of Amenophis III at Elephantine, for instance, which was an object of great admiration to the savants of Napoleon’s expedition, was completely demolished a few years later. Travelers in the first half of the nineteenth century have described and published in their narratives of travel many once important ruins which have vanished completely today.

When one considers the countless wars and revolutions which have devastated the country (to say nothing of the fact that under the last dynasties Egypt submitted to at least two Ethiopian invasions, two Assyrian, and two Persian), and when one recalls the systematic destru