Volume II., Part A.

LONDON

THE GROLIER SOCIETY

PUBLISHERS

_THE POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF EGYPT_

_THE KING, QUEEN, AND ROYAL PRINCES--PHARAONIC ADMINISTRATION_

_FEUDALISM AND THE EGYPTIAN PRIESTHOOD, THE MILITARY--THE CITIZENS AND THE COUNTRY-PEOPLE._

_The cemeteries of Gizeh and Saqqâra: the Great Sphinx; the mastabas, their chapel and its decoration, the statues of the double, the sepulchral vault--Importance of the wall-paintings and texts of the mastabas in determining the history of the Memphite dynasties._

_The king and the royal family--Double nature and titles of the sovereign: his Horus-names, and the progressive formation of the Pharaonic Protocol--Royal etiquette an actual divine worship; the insignia and prophetic statues of Pharaoh, Pharaoh the mediator between the gods and his subjects--Pharaoh in family life; his amusements, his occupations, his cares--His harem: the women, the queen, her origin, her duties to the king--His children: their position in the State; rivalry among them during the old age and at the death of their father; succession to the throne, consequent revolutions._

_The royal city: the palace and its occupants--The royal household and its officers: Pharaoh’s jesters, dwarfs, and magicians--The royal domain and the slaves, the treasury and the establishments which provided for its service: the buildings and places for the receipt of taxes--The scribe, his education, his chances of promotion: the career of Amten, his successive offices, the value of his personal property at his death._

_Egyptian feudalism: the status of the lords, their rights, their amusements, their obligations to the sovereign--The influence of the gods: gifts to the temples, and possessions in mortmain; the priesthood, its hierarchy, and the method of recruiting its ranks--The military: foreign mercenaries; native militia, their privileges, their training._

_The people of the towns--The slaves, men without a master--Workmen and artisans; corporations: misery of handicraftsmen--Aspect of the towns: houses, furniture, women in family life--Festivals; periodic markets, bazaars: commerce by barter, the weighing of precious metals._

_The country people--The villages; serfs, free peasantry--Rural domains; the survey, taxes; the bastinado, the corvée--Administration of justice, the relations between peasants and their lords; misery of the peasantry; their resignation and natural cheerfulness; their improvidence; their indifference to political revolutions._