GASTON MASPERO, HON. K.C.M.G.
HOX. D.C.L. AND FELLOW OF QUEEN's COLLEGE, OXFORD
MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE, AND PROFESSOR AT THE COLLEGE OF FRANCE
DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF ANTIQUITIES IN EGYPT
EDITED BY
A. H. SAYCE
PROFESSOR OF ASSYRIOLOGY, OXFORD
TRANSLATED BY M. L. McCLURE
MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND
A^
Reprint: FIFTH EDITION
[THE FOURTH EDITION WAS BROUGHT UP TO DATE BY THE AUTHOR^
SOCIETY FOE PEOMOTIXG CHRTSTIAX KNOWLEDGE
lo:ndon: noethumbeeland avenue, w.c.
43, Queen Victoria Street, E.G..c^
^
-x^-^'
[Date of Fourth Edition, October, 1901]
EDITOR'S PREFACE
TO THE FIRST EDITION.
h
\^
Peofessor Maspero does not need to be introduced to English readers. His name is well known in this country as that of one of the chief masters of
Egyptian science as well as of ancient Oriental history and archaeology. Alike as a philologist, a historian, and an archaeologist, he occupies a foremost place in the annals of Qiodern knowledge and research. He possesses that quick apprehension and fertility of resource without which the decipherment of ancient texts is impossible, and he also possesses a sympathy with the past and a power of realizing it which are indispensable if we would picture it aright.
His intimate acquaintance with Egypt and its literature, and the opportunities of discovery afforded him by his position for several years as director of…