Identifier: historyofartinan01perruoft Title: A history of art in ancient Egypt Year: 1883 (1880s) Authors: Perrot, Georges, 1832-1914 Chipiez, Charles, 1835-1901 Armstrong, Walter, Sir, 1850-1918 Subjects: Art -- Egypt History Egypt -- Antiquities Publisher: London : Chapman and Hall Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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Text Appearing Before Image: ose waters, by their natural fertility and theirpower of producing various kinds of aliment, were well fitted to nourish the first The Valley of the Nile and its Inhabitants. and the chase are oppressed by care ; there are some days whengame is not to be found, and they die of hunger. Those who Hvea pastoral Hfe are also exposed to cruel hardships from thedestruction of their flocks and herds by those epidemics againstwhich even modern science sometimes struQfOfles in vain. Asfor agricultural populations, they are everywhere, except inEgypt, at the mercy of the weather; seasons which are either toodry or too wet may reduce them to famine, for in those distanttimes local famines were far more fatal than in these days, whenfacility of transport and elaborate commercial connections ensurethat where the demand is, thither the supply will be taken. InEgypt the success of the crops varied with the height of theNile, but they never failed altogether. In bad years the peasant «^>^ &^i

Text Appearing After Image: Fig. 4.—Harvest scene ; from a tomb at Gizeh. (Champollion, pi. 417.) may have had the baton of the tax-collector to fear, but healways had a few onions or a few ears of maize to preserve himfrom starvation.^ beings who received the breath of life. . . . It is evident that from the foundationof the world Egypt was, of all countries, the most favourable to the generation ofmen and women, by the excellent constitution of its soil (i. 10). ^ In all ages the rod has, in Egypt, played an important part in the collection ofthe taxes. In this connection M. Lieblein has quoted a passage from the well-known letter from the chief guardian of the archives of Ameneman to the scribePentaour, in which he says : The scribe of the port arrives at the station ; hecollects the tax ; there are agents with rattans, and negroes with branches of palm ;they say Give us some corn ! and they are not to be repulsed. The peasant isbound and sent to the canal; he is driven on with violence, his wife is bound i

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