We know, through classical history, of numerous alliances between
the Ethiopians and Egyptians. Solomon too, an Asiatic, married an
Egyptian princess; and we have mentioned other instances of Jewish
predilection for the women, no less than dor the “ flesh-pots, of Egypt.”
Mr. Birch155 has recently furnished some quite novel particulars
concerning the matrimonial alliance of a Pharaoh of the XXth
dynasty (probably Ramses XIV.) with an Asiatic princess of Buh-
hitana; to whom was given the title of uRa-neferu, the king’s chief
wife.”' With regard to the exact locality in Asia of this country,
although it might he Ecbatana in Media, Birch, takes it to he the
celebrated Bashan mentioned in Deuteronomy (iii. 1, &c.) This tablet,
brought from the temple of Chons at Karnac, in 1844, by M. Prisse,
is so intensely curious that we extract two of Birch’s translations,
adding interlineary explanations: —
“ Line 5. * Then the chief of Bukhitana [Bashan ? ] caused his tribute to be brought;
he gave his eldest daughter [to the King of Egypt] . . . . in adoring his majesty, and in
promising her to him: she being a very beautiful person, his majesty prized her above all
things.’
“ Line 6. ‘Thenwas given her the title [? ] of Ra-neferu, the king’s chief wife, and
when his majesty arrived in Egypt, she was made king’s wife in all respects.’ ”
Here, then, is a positive example of the marriage of an Egyptian
king with an Asiatic female, that entirely corroborates the intermixture
of races we derived from the physical aspects of the royal portraits.
Whether the hieroglyphic Bashten, or BaJchtan, be the Bashan of
Palestine or Median Ecbatana, to ethnology the fact is the same; and
probabilities favor, in either case, the lady’s Semitish extraction. It
is with regret that we cannot digress about the cure wrought upon
this lady’s sister, “ Benteresh” [Hebraic^, Daughter of the Resh, chief,
or king], who was “ possessed by devils; ” but her name, being Arabic
no less than Hebrew, settles, philologically, her Semitic lineage.
It may be worthy of passing notice to the reader, that the conventional
color by which the Egyptians always represented- their own
males was red, and their own females, yellow; and that, with few
exceptions, other races were painted in such different colors as the
artist deemed most conformable to their cuticular hues. Why were
exceptions made ? Was it because the Egyptians, in such instances,
had formed marriage connections with some of these races, and
ennobled them, therefore, with the red, color ? Our Eigs. 41, 82, and
88, belonging to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries b, c., are, in
R o s e l l i n i , thus represented in red; showing; perhaps, that they
were esteemed as equals,156 or that they belonged to cognate Hamitic
affiliations.
Let us now select for examination a few monumental heads of the
various foreign races so faithfully portrayed. It will then be apparent
that the same diversity has ever existed among the so-called Caucasian
species, up to the very earliest monuments of above fifty centuries ago.
By way of general introduction to this vast subject, we present one
group wherein three distinct types of mankind are grasped by & fourth.
Fig. 71. bis, M
Ramses H., in the fourteenth' century b . c. (or during the early part
of the lifetime of Mbses), at the temple of Aboosimbel in Xubia, symbolizes
his Asiatic and African conquests in a gorgeously-colored
tableau. He, an Egyptian, brandishes a pole-axe over the the heads
of Negroes, Nubians (Baribera), and Asiatics, each painted in their
true colors: viz., black, brick-dust, and yellow flesh-color; while,
above his head, runs the hieroglyphic scroll, “ The beneficent living
god, guardian of glory, smites the South; puts to flight the East;
rules by victoiy; and drags to his country all the earth, and all
foreign lands.” Ramses inclusive, here, to begin with, are four types
of men — one mixed, two purely African, and one true Asiatic, coexistent
at 1400 years b . c., or some 3350 years ago. Their geography
extends from the confluence of the Blue and White Mies, beyond
the northern limit'of the tropical rains, in Hegro-land; down the
river to Egypt, and thence to the banks of the Euphrates. Precisely
the same four types occupy the Same countries at the present day.
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