Character.—The character of the Egyptians was moulded and devel oped chiefly by the peculiar conditions of the Nile Valley, on both sides of which bleak rocky walls and extensive deserts shut out the rest of the world, while in the midst flowed a magnificent stream whose annual inun dation gave fertility to the land and sustenance to the inhabitants. They honored the first teacher of agriculture, whom they identified with their chief god, and their absolute dependence on natural phenomena led them to recognize as divinities the forces of nature. The worship of these forces became more firmly established as they were more closely observed. The regularity of nature was transferred to human life, and strict order became the characteristic trait of the Egyptians in all their affairs. Out of this grew that excess of self-consciousness, that pride, which down to the latest period caused them to look down upon foreigners—a trait which, after the conquest of the Promised Land, became an equally indelible characteristic of the Israelites, a people nearly related to the Egyptians.' But the fundamental trait in their character was a gloomy resignation, incompatible with any hearty enjoyment of life. They esteemed their houses, which were merely "places of sojourn," far less than their tombs, which were to be their "eternal abodes." To these only the "dwellings of the gods" could be compared. It is especially from the tombs, and next to these from their temples, that our knowledge of their material and spiritual condition is derived. But we learn less from the objects deposited in the tombs than from the paintings on their walls, depicting in animated colors scenes from the life of the deceased as a means of afford ing him satisfaction in the realm of death.
Form.—Plate to represents the exterior appearance of the people. The paintings, in which they have portrayed themselves with the greatest exactness, show that they were tall, slender, and of pronounced Semitic physiognomy.' The men were of reddish-brown color, the women some what lighter, and both sexes had black curly hair. (See Vol. I. p. 354.) Cosiume.—On account of the heat of the climate their dress was exceedingly scant until the growth of luxury increased and regulated it in accordance with the different grades of society. They used cotton and flaxen materials, which by careful treatment were rendered almost trans parent (figs. 1-3). These materials were of various colors, and were richly decorated with peculiar designs, and even with metallic embroid eries; but pure white prevailed.
The common people wore merely a cloth about the loins (fig. 12); the higher classes wore it also, but wider and more elaborate (fig. to). The former wore on the head a plain skull-cap to guard against the piercing rays of the sun. Sandals of leather or bast were a distinction of the upper ranks. The women lengthened the loin-scarf into a skirt-like gar ment (p1. to, fig. II). The loin-cloth continued to be the peculiar national
garment even during the most flourishing period of the kingdom, but skill was acquired in draping it artistically, and there was added to it a decorated girdle whose ends hung down in front (fig. 6). Sometimes a more costly material was worn over it, but this was the privilege of the higher classes, and they alone were allowed to wear upper garments—a thin over-dress (fig. 5) or a tanned panther skin, which latter was the dis tinguishing costume of the priestly class (fig. 4).
The lengthening of the cloth into skirts (fig. 7), which even the men adopted, was another form of luxury, but it was always subject to class etiquette as developed during the most flourishing period of the monarchy. The king, and naturally also the queen, enjoyed the most extensive priv ileges in the matter of dress (figs. 1, 2): they used the finest and most attenuated materials, and were thus enabled to appear iu pompous array without being oppressed by the weight or closeness of their garments.
The head-dress, more than any other part of the costume, formed the distinctive apparel of the higher classes. Though it may be traced in every case to its simple original form, it exhibited a remarkable variety of decoration, especially in its ceremonial arrangements. The simple skull-cap of the common people, sometimes merely woven of rushes, was, when worn by the upper classes, decorated with bright colors. The highest dignitaries wore a hood (fig. 6), which was formed of a cloth laid on the head and held in place by a hoop, and, hanging in folds on either side, was twisted into a braid at the back.
the earliest times the Egyptians wore their hair in its natural state; and we find in the oldest delineations those ringlets which to this day distinguish the Numidians (figs. 13, 14), the purest representatives of the primitive race of the Nile Valley. Later, both men and women shaved the entire scalp and wore wigs instead of their natural hair. The lower classes, however, were only permitted to shave the head —a privilege of which the women appear not to have availed themselves (figs. II, 12). People of rank found a means of distinguishing their respective grades by the more or less elaborate coiffure. Figures 2-5, 7, and io (p1. Io), and Figures I and 3 (p1. II), all have false hair. Some of these wigs which have been preserved are hardly inferior to those of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Even the beard was shaved and replaced by a false one (p1. 1o, figs. 4, to), represented by the cube-shaped attachments frequently found under the chin of the Egyptian statues. Kings generally wore a braid curved toward the front and fastened beneath the cheeks (pl. HD, fig. I; pi. i figs. 1, 2). Children of the royal house wore the so-called "prince's curl" of natural hair (p1. fig. 4).