May6] PROCEEDINGS. [1890.THE PRIESTLY CHARACTER OF THE EARLIEST
EGYPTIANCIVILIZATION.By P. le P. Renouf {President).Purea priori assumptionsas to what the condition of Egyptian
society must have been whilst progressing from the savage state
to a more civilized stage of existence are absolutely worthless.
We know nothing whateverof the Egyptiansuntil their earliest
monumentsexhibita state of material civilizationwhichwasnever
surpassed. Thisearlyperiodwas unquestionably precededby a sti.l
earlier one, during whichtheseartsand sciencesmusthavebeen
cultivated, withoutwhich it would havebeen impossibleto raise
the pyramids, to execute in diorite sucha statue as that of Chafra, or
to decorate the tomb of Ti. But of this earlierperiod nothing
whateveris known beyondthe mere namesof certain kings. The
Greek records respecting these monarchs, even if derived from
Egyptiansources,are beneath contempt. Theonlyauthoritieswhich
deserveattentionare the monuments belongingto the period which
is being studied.
Thetitlesof the king of Egypt are still generally misunderstood,
in spite of the explanations of M. Grebaut, which haveindeed
beencontradicted,but have not been refuted. It has never been
doubtedthatthe king claimed actual divinity;he was the "great
god,"the "golden Horus,"and sonof Ra. He claimed authority
not only overEgypt,but over "alllandsandnations,""thewhole
worldin its length and its breadth, the east and the west," "the
entire Compass of the great circuit of the sun," "the sky and
what is in it, the earth and all that is upon it," "every creature
thatwalksupon twoor upon fourlegs, all that fly or flutter, the
whole world offers her productions to him." Whatever in fact
mightbe asserted of the Sun-god, wasdogmaticallypredicableof
the king of Egypt. His titles were directly derived from those
of the Sun-god.
Thereis not the slightest evidence that1^signified Kingof
UpperandLowerEgypt. The King was like the Sun, master
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