=The Home.=--Woman occupied a much higher plane in Egypt than in China or India, though polygamy was practiced by all classes except the priests. She was the recognized mistress of the home, possessed some education, and largely directed the education of the children. Children of wives of different castes had equal rights before the law to inheritance. Great attention was paid to religious ceremonies, and the children were taught piety and obedience in their early youth. They were highly regarded in the Egyptian home, and were brought up in an atmosphere of love and filial respect. The day of a child's birth was regarded as determining its destiny. The child was brought up on the simplest food, and furnished with scanty clothing, in order that its body might be strong and supple. =The Education.=--The education, like that of India, was suited to the different castes. Priests were the only teachers. While chief attention was given to the education of boys, girls also received some instruction. The principal subjects taught in the lowest caste were writing and mathematics. The papyrus plant, found along the Nile, furnished a material on which writing was practiced. In arithmetic we find an anticipation of modern principles in the concrete methods employed. Religious instruction was also given. Bodily exercise was severe, running being a favorite pastime. The expense of schooling was very small. The boy usually followed the trade of his father, though this was not an inflexible rule. The occupation he was to follow had some influence in shaping his education. The higher castes received an extensive education, including a knowledge of higher mathematics, astronomy, language, natural science, medicine, music, engineering, and religion. The annual overflow of the Nile necessitated the construction of reservoirs and irrigation canals, and caused frequent changes of boundary lines. For all this a knowledge of mathematics was necessary, and this study was therefore greatly encouraged. Institutions of higher learning for the training of priests and soldiers were found at Thebes, Memphis, and Heliopolis. The Museum of Alexandria, which reached its highest prosperity about the middle of the third century B.C., and which made Alexandria the center of the learning of the world at that period, attracted philosophers and investigators from Athens and Rome. In connection with the Museum was the celebrated Alexandrian library, which was fostered by the Ptolemies, and which contained a vast collection of books, variously estimated at from four hundred thousand to seven hundred thousand volumes.[16] =Criticism of Egyptian Education.=--1. It was dominated by the priests under the caste system, and did not recognize equality of man. 2. It encouraged greater respect for woman than other oriental systems, but took little account of her intellectual training. 3. It made use of concrete methods, at least in writing and arithmetic, for the first time in history.