تاور

w what shit 4x3 whshl=83

The translation, so far as it can be at present made out, runs thus::

"The wicked race of the country of Scythia,

many kingdoms,

with

the soldiers of the country of Ireto, of the country of Maono, of the country of Toni, of the country of Keshkosh," etc. It proceeds with the names of several other ancient countries, the geography of which is now unknown.

III. EPISTOLOGRAPHIC, OR ENCHORIAL WRiting.

By the first of these epithets Clement designated a third mode of writing, which is supposed to be the same as that which on the pillar of Rosetta is termed Enchorial. Herodotus, however, mentions only two modes of writing in Egypt; and as a very minute comparison of the texts has shown that this character is a mere deterioration of the Hieratic, the conclusion has been very generally arrived at, that it is of comparatively modern origin, and that it made its appearance on the decline of the arts in Egypt. No documents in this mode of writing are known which bear an earlier date than that of the Ptolemies. Besides the pillar of Rosetta, several papyri, having Greek translations, are written in it, which are generally contracts for the tenure of land, or similar property. In one instance, the

prayers used in the worship of Isis, are written in the Enchorial character, accompanied by a Greek translation.*

The following is a specimen of Enchorial Writing, taken from the beginning of Papyrus, No. 36, of the Royal Museum at Turin.

"In the 36th year, on the 18th of the month Athyr, of the reign of the sovereigns Ptolemy, and Cleopatra his sister, the children of Ptolemy and Cleopatra gods Epiphanes." The whole is a contract for the sale of the profits of the offerings in certain mummy caves or tombs.

It will plainly appear from what has been stated, that the Egyptians had not three distinct systems of writing, but three different modes of tracing the characters of the same system; each of which, however, must be separately studied, in order to their being satisfactorily deciphered. The present observations will therefore be confined to the hieroglyphics, merely noticing that the other two have also rendered essential service in aiding the discoveries of the learned.

We now proceed to explain the

PHONETIC ALPHABET.

On the establishment of Christianity in Egypt, the ancient

* In the Museum at Leyden: a very interesting account of it has been published by Dr. Lemans the curator.

system of writing was rejected on account of its associations with idolatry; and the translations of the Bible and other religious books are written with Greek characters. There were, however, six sounds in Egyptian which did not occur in Greek, and the characters for these they borrowed from the ancient enchorial system. They are here subjoined :

The Egyptian resembles the Hebrew, the Arabic, and other oriental languages, in the great uncertainty of its vowels. Words are written in the Coptic texts with many different vowels; thus, the word which signifies "to wrap up, to fold," is written kaa, Keλ, KOλ Kw, without the slightest change in the sense. They are also sometimes written without vowels: as, TXT, to drop. It will be observed, that in the annexed alphabet all the vowels are indiscriminately represented by one set of characters.

The Coptic books are written in three different dialects, corresponding to the three great divisions of Egypt. The dialect of Lower Egypt is called by the grammarians the Memphitic; that of Middle Egypt, the Bashmuric; and that of Upper Egypt, the Sahidic. The differences between these dialects consist entirely in the employment of different consonants to spell the same word; thus ou, to be strong, in the Memphitic, is written GO in the Sahidic; and PWLE, a man, in the same dialect, is written wue in the Bashmuric.

All the consonants which thus interchange with each other are written with the same set of Phonetic characters in hieroglyphics. This will account for their being grouped together in the preceding table, the top compartment of which contains the hieroglyphics corresponding to the Coptic vowels, which are written against it. The consonants follow in the order in which they occur in the Coptic alphabet, the several hieroglyphic signs which represent them being grouped together in the compartments opposite to them.