The hair was worn short, but the shaving of the head does not appear to have been practised daily. Wigs of various forms and sizes were used as ceremonial head coverings. Specimens of them are not infrequent. Natural beards were not worn except by shepherds and similar persons but an artificial 'Imperial° beard was one of the marks of royalty and divinity in the tomb representations. Sandals of various sorts completed the costume. Egyptian garments of the better class were of linen, wool being re garded as filthy. The food of the lower classes consisted largely of bread and vegetables. The principal vegetables were kidney beans, lentils, turnips, radishes, carrots and spinach. Milk and cheese were also common articles of food. Pomegranates, dates, figs and grapes were plen tiful. The flesh of the goat, ox, gazelle, ante lope and other animals formed part of the diet of the middle classes, the flesh of the hog was not in use, this animal being considered unclean. .Geese, ducks, turtle doves and hens were abun dant and even to-day are a source of consider able income to the laboring classes. Salt was extracted from the coast marshes and from some deposits in the Libyan desert. The na tional beverage was beer, seasoned with vari ous plants. The wealthy classes drank wine of the grape and the common people the fer mented juice of certain palms.
The dance to the accompani ment of the lute was a popular diversion. Acro bats and clowns performed in the royal and princely palaces. Checkers and chess much in the form of our day were also popular amuse ments. As regards furniture chairs and tables resembled closely those of the present day. Other articles appear to have been of simple construction. The hunting of wild animals was by coursing with dogs and the use of lasso and spear. The bow and arrow were seldom employed. Fishing was with line or net. Fowling was done in the marshy districts in boats, the weapon used being the boomerang. Traps and nets were also used. Wrestling matches and gymnastic exercises, ball-playing and juggling are often represented in paintings. Singing and music were the accompaniment of work and play, and at feasts, music and danc ing, performed by members of the harem, en livened the scene. The instruments used were the flute and a sort of whistle, the guitar, the harp, the lyre, the last two having sometimes nearly 20 strings. Assistants beat time by hand clapping. Bow practice was engaged in and a game similar to quoits is represented, along with other games which cannot be understood in their details. T-shaped boards divided into squares like checker-boards have been found, but how they were used is uncertain. The children were not forgotten, for the tombs have yielded several specimens of their toys.
When the simply the first among equals, Upper Egypt was di vided into 30 administrative departments of dif ferent grades, each having its nomarch or gov ernor who stood as the head in everything— chief judge, district chief, military commander, tax collector, architect, treasurer, etc. As judge he was also chief priest of Mat, the goddess of truth. So long as the king retained supreme power this arrangement continued, but upon the decay of royal prestige each district chief aspired to leadership. This probably explains
the periods of confusion in the history indicated by the blanks between the 7th and 11th and the 13th and 17th dynasties. A new order came in during the period of the New Empire. The nomarch surrendered all his" functions to the military official appointed by the king to look after his interests and to gather the taxes in kind, peaceably or forcibly as the case might be. Royal stewards and messengers, the 'mouths* or 'speakers" of the king appear as intermedi aries. Some of the more important additional offices were those of chief judge, governor, building-master, treasurer, overseer of gran aries, etc. The chief judge was a man of high standing, a prince or noble, or perhaps a priest. Beneath him were several grades in the office. Several sat as a court and before them com plaint was made, prosecution and defense heard and judgment pronounced or referred to the king, according to the gravity of the complaint, The prosecutor might be a private person or a public official with whom the complaint was lodged. Confessions were forced with the bastinado. The severest punishments were the loss of ears and nose, or death by impaling, compulsory suicide, or poisoning. Accounts of trials are frequent, but no legal code has sur vived. In the earliest periods there was no standing army. Each nomos had its own mili tia and each temple its soldiers, who appear rather to have been police. This arrangement continued through the Middle Empire. The chief service rendered by soldiers in these peri ods was to escort expeditions to the quarries of Syene and Hammamat and to the mines of Sinai and Nubia. They also rendered service as laborers. Under Pepi (6th dynasty) a mili tary expedition was undertaken against the Bedouin of the east. Ethiopian mercenaries formed the bulk of this force. Under Amenemha III (12th dynasty) expeditions to Nubia were undertaken and a stele of the period, now in Berlin, records the wailing which attended the visits of the conscripting officer, the 'military scribe° who came "to choose out the likely youth.° About this time the king came to have a body guard and during the contest with the Hyksos the armies were increased. Mercena ries, however, were constantly employed as con scription was little employed. Bowmen formed the principal arm of the mercenaries; the chariot coming into use after the Hyksos wars, was con structed to contain two persons, driver and warrior. Border garrisons were maintained to the east and south. The native weapons were the spear and shield, the axe, lance, dagger and sling. Naval warfare was little practised.
Binion, 'Ancient Egypt or Mizraim' (1808) ; Birch,'Egypt from the Ear liest Time' (1875) ; Brugsch. 'Egypt under the Pharaohs' (1874) ; Budge,
of Egypt' (8 vols.) ; 'The Gods of the Egyptians' (1904) ; Chain Ilion, 'L'Egypte sousles Pharaons> (1814) ; Erman,