masons at Thebes in the time of the Pharaohs. Or again in a very late papyrus belonging to the Roman Period we have the form of curse denounced by an Egyptian mother against her son who had become a Christian. The mere acquisition of correct, or comparatively correct, ideas about the life of any great nation before the Christian Era, is in itself a gain of firstrate importance. For, even supposing that we have arrived, chiefly through the genius of M. Coulanges, at forming some just conception of social life among the classic nations, the history of those states occupies but a brief and late period in the records of the antique world. And their religious doctrines and rites (more particularly in the case of Rome) betray a foreign origin, while their system is marked, not by that extreme conservatism, which, as Professor Wiedeman has truly remarked, is the chief characteristic of the Egyptian mind, but by capacity for assimilation. The records of Egypt, on the contrary, date back at least as far beyond the traditional origin of the classic communities as those communities are removed from our own day, and in the annals of that country all is self-originated, self-centred, self-enduring.

But there is another and yet more interesting aspect in which this primæval civilization may be regarded, namely, as the source from which no slight amount of light may be thrown upon the social economy of those later nations which we have been accustomed to call antique. That the land of Egypt, centrally situated as it is, and possessing peculiar facilities for communication with the civilized communities of the whole world of antiquity, whether Eastern or Western, should have deeply coloured, if it did not absolutely originate, the creeds and rites, the laws and customs, of later communities, would seem a natural and almost irresistible proposition, were it not for the commonly received but ill-supported theory that the Egyptians came into their country from the north. And no sooner do we accept the tradition maintained of old by the Egyptians themselves and confirmed by the latest researches and discoveries of such authorities as Maspero and Petrie, that the original home of the race was in the land of Poont, far away towards the Equatorial regions of the Nile, than not Egypt alone but the whole chaos of archaic history becomes clear and simple; and a single thread of migration runs through the vast labyrinth. Thus the Babylonian tradition concerning the introduction of civilization into that country by Oannes, half man half fish, who taught on the shore by day and retired into the sea at night, would exactly correspond with an emigrant from Egypt continuing the line of original migration Northwards, by sailing to the head of the Persian Gulf, and retiring to his ship each night. In the same way the wanderings of the Bak tribe, a name which itself in the hieroglyphic signifies the land of Egypt, from the Eastern borders of Babylonia across the mountains of Tartary, as the late Professor Delacouperie has shown, to introduce the elements of religion and science into China would be only a further instance of the continuation of the same line of Northward movement. And agreeably with this we find that in the numerous instances pointed out by the Professor, of resemblances between the Chinese characters and those of ancient Babylonia, a still greater resemblance is found in either case to the characters of Egypt.

Nowhere indeed is the intimate connection between the civilization of the ancient world in general and that of the primeval country more strikingly brought out than in regard to that potent factor among civilizing influences, the Alphabet. Thus, as I showed some years ago before the Royal Literary Society, if we compare the ancient form of the Hebrew, Phoenician, and the Greek Alphabets, with the Hieratic Alphabet of Egypt, which was in existence for at least two thousand years before any known example of the former, we shall find that nearly all the characters in each of those later alphabets are to be found in the latter, though the sound conveyed is not the same,-a circumstance which accounts for the failure of De Rougé to establish the connection which he sought. And even the principle which would account for that variation may, I think, be traced in a great number of instances. To the same origin may be referred the greater part of the Arabic symbols, many of which moreover retain the sound originally attached to the character. Advancing further to the East we find that the earlier part of the Sanskrit alphabet or "letters of the gods" contain numerous examples of a similar nature. And even in distant China, whose records though boasting a far higher antiquity than either the Phoenician or the Indian do not pretend to vie with the Egyptian, we have already seen that many of the characters point back to that primæval country; from which source also, as I have pointed out elsewhere, may be derived some light upon certain anomalies in the ancient kalendar of China. A relation of the same kind to the hieroglyphic appears to be evinced in the grammar of certain languages of antiquity; but it is impossible here to enter even upon an illustration. And a similar remark may be applied in some degree to the religions of the ancient world, and especially to those religious books of the East which the well-known series of translations has thrown open to every English reader, when compared with the Egyptian doctrine of the Uncreated Light secretly born from the womb of the Holy Mother. But however this may be, and at whatever conclusion we may ultimately arrive with regard to the influence of Egypt upon later nations, there can be no question of the unique importance attaching to these widely scattered documents. And while I cannot but be deeply gratified at having been the means in any degree of setting on foot so valuable an undertaking, I would hope its effect may be to advance those researches, for which the formation of a Catalogue is a mere preliminary; so that these ancient records having been thoroughly studied, materials may at last be collected for constructing a genuine science of early Institutions and the development of human organization.

QUARTERLY REPORT ON SEMITIC STUDIES AND ORIENTALISM.

BY PROF. DR. EDWARD MONTET.

GENERALITIES-ASSYRIAN-SYRIAC.

PART XIV. of the "Dictionnaire de la Bible," published under the direction of Abbé Vigouroux,* has recently been issued. We draw attention to the articles on Elohim, enamel, embalming, incense, slaves, etc., as also to a fine phototype plate representing a page of the Codex Ephraemi.

The Assyrian-English-German dictionary by Muss-Arnolt will shortly be completed. We have before us part VII., which is the last but one of the work. Notwithstanding its reduced proportions, this publication is an interesting contribution to Semitic studies.

The "Recueil d'Archéologie Orientale,"‡ by Clermont-Ganneau, is now finished. Parts xxiv., xxv. and xxvi. of vol. ii., which have recently appeared, really conclude the work. Among others will be found an important mémoire upon the Phoenician words (shath, year) and ♫ (shanoth, years). The author attempts to show that shath is always singular, and consequently is never, as has been generally admitted, a contraction of shanôth.

The second volume of the history of religion in olden times down to Alexander the Great (German translation), by Tiele, § has appeared. It treats of the religion of the Iranic peoples. The author believes that the most ancient fragments of the most recent part of the Avesta, and moreover under a different form from the edition we possess, go back to the year 800 B.C. As to the Gâthas, they must be two centuries older, although posterior to the origin and first developments of the Mazdian religion.

We have to point out also, amongst the general class of works, an interesting publication by Kerber, in the "Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft" (vol. ii., 1898), on the Syriac fragments of Hexapla of Origen, extracts from Bar-Hebraeus (Syrohexaplarische Fragmente zu den beiden Samuelisbüchern aus Bar-Hebraeus gesammelt).

Finally, in connection with Syriac studies, we may mention a work by Moritz upon Syriac inscriptions collected in 1885 in Syria and Mesopotamia. The author complains of the havoc committed in these countries, and energetically entreats interested governments to save the epigraphical monuments still existing.

* Paris, Letouzey et Ané, 1898.

+ "Assyrisch-englisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch," Berlin. Reuther and Reichard, 1898. Paris, E. Leroux, 1898.

§ "Geschichte der Religion im Altertum bis auf Alexander den Grossen," vol. ii., part i. Gotha, Perthes, 1898.

|| "Mittheilungen des Seminars für orientalische Sprachen an der Universität zu Berlin." Berlin and Stuttgart, W. Spemann, 1898.

HEBREW-OLD TESTAMENT-HISTORY OF ISRAEL.

Among the commentaries upon the Old Testament, a special mention must be made of Duhm's work on the Book of Job.* The learned professor shows that there existed a Job, at first, in prose, of which the prologue and epilogue had been used as a framework of discourses in verse of a more recent composition. This Job in prose must have been written before the reign of Josiah, and it is to this old book Ezekiel (xiv. 14) alludes. The poem of Job-that is to say that which might be called the second edition (in verse) of the primitive work in prosemust have been composed, with the exception of a few recent additions (discourses of Elihu, etc.), in the first half of the fifth century.

The remarkable work by Schürer on the history of the Jewish people at the time of Jesus Christ is about to appear in a third edition. It has received so many additions that, instead of consisting of two volumes, as in the preceding edition, there will be three. Volumes II. and III. of this new edition have been published ;† vol. i. will appear later. Schürer's authoritative work is and will remain one of the greatest monuments of theological science in the xixth century.

A new history of Israel, this time in French, has just been published by Piepenbring. It is a good popularisation of a scientific work dealing at the same time with the political, literary and religious history of Israel from its beginning down to Antiochus Epiphany.

"Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft" has published as a supplement (Beiheft) an interesting study by Von Gall on the ancient. places of Israelitic worship. § The author reviews all the ancient sanctuaries mentioned in the Old Testament. Some are the objects of genuine monographs, extremely well made, as for example Elim, one of the stations. of the desert, during the exit from Egypt.

W. Lueken has written a study of comparative religion concerning a particular point-the Jewish and Oriental Christian traditions on the Archangel Michael. The book is full of documents and comparisons of doctrines and legends of Jewish and Christian origin, which are very curious.

We draw the attention of our readers to two valuable articles by Abbé Loisy concerning the religious history of Israel. The first appeared in the Journal Asiatique (July-August, 1898), and is titled "Le Monstre Rahab et l'Histoire Biblique de la Création." Recalling to mind the works on this subject by Gunkel (Schöpfung und Chaos in Urzeit und Endzeit, 1895), Karppe and Halévy (Journal Asiatique, 1897), the author affirms the identity of the Jewish Rahab and of the Babylonian Tiamat,

"Das Buch Hiob." Freiburg i. B., Mohr, 1897.

t Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi," 3rd edition. Leipzig, Hinrichs, 1898.

"Histoire du Peuple d'Israel." Paris, Grassart, 1898.

§ "Altisraelitische Kultstätten." Giessen, Ricker, 1898.

66

Michael, eine Darstellung und Vergleichung der jüd. und der morgenl. christl. Tradition von Erzengel Michael." Göttingen, Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1898.

and he endeavours to elucidate the obscure problem of their historical and literary relation. The second article appeared in the Revue d'Histoire et de Littérature Religieuses (September-October, 1898),* and deals with the expected advent of the Messiah after the manner of Renan. The author endeavours to establish the evolution of the Messianic idea in Israel as follows: If the Messianic reign of the first Isaiah (viiith century) appears to be summed up in the person of the Messiah-King, that of Ezekiel (vith century) consists in the liturgical organization of the community. That of the second Isaiah (vith century), on the contrary, consists in the happiness and the opulent prosperity of the worshippers of Iahweh returned to their country. For the writer of the book of Daniel (iind century) the Messianic reign is the sudden manifestation of the Divine power, and the permanent triumph of the righteous who perished during the great persecution of Antiochus Epiphany, and of those who went through it scatheless. Under the Asmonean princes, the expectation of the Messiah - King again takes consistency, and asserts itself with the greatest energy, when the reviving national monarchy succumbs and makes way for the odious royalty of Herod. To sum up, the Messianic expectation has always reflected the general state, aspirations, perils, and interests of each epoch.

We would take this opportunity of pointing out the highly scientific character of the Review in which the article of the Abbé Loisy appeared.

The French translation of the "Ritual of Judaism," by J. de Pavly and M. A. Neviasky, advances rapidly. We have before us the third volume, t which deals with the subject of the portions of meat, fat, blood, etc., that are received by the priests.

ARABIC ISLAMISM.

Muhammad and the history of the origins of his religious reforms have been the subject of several interesting works, among which we may mention that of O. Pautz on the doctrine of revelation in the Kuran.‡ This book, very full of documents and written in a very impartial spirit, renders full homage to the person and work of Muhammad. The reforms of the Arabian prophet, says the author in his conclusions, have nobly served the cause of civilization in Arabia, and wherever they penetrated amongst the heathens they have deepened the knowledge of God; they have revived the religious life and the duties thereby entailed; they have elevated the moral standing of these peoples by causing to disappear a good many social wrongs and abuses, and by proclaiming the principles of a moral code which, though not, indeed, perfect, yet holds up a high standard of morality. Islam, according to the author, is a great and noble religion, which has yet to perfect and reform itself in order to attain the high destiny that awaits it.

It is worth calling attention to the fact of a popular history of Muhammad * Paris, 74, Boulevard Saint-Germain. + Orleans, Michau et Cie, 1898. "Muhammeds Lehre von der Offenbarung quellenmässig untersucht." Leipzig, Hinrichs, 1898.