Egypt -- Description and travel -- Humor; London (England) -- Description and travel -- Humor; Voyages and travels -- Humor
This unanimous outpouring of eulogy is largely explained by the fact
that every memorial in honour of a ruler was erected and supervised by
that ruler himself. It's a fact! Of all the countless temples and
obelisks and godlike granite figures and festal tomb chambers remaining
in Egypt to testify to the majesty and splendour of the ancient
dynasties, every one was built under the personal supervision of the
man who gets all of the glory out of the inscriptions. The succeeding
generation never got up subscription lists to build monuments to
statesmen or military commanders. The dutiful and loving son never
ordered a memorial in honour of his illustrious father. He was too
busy carving his own biography on the sandstone and depicting himself
as pursuing the enemy or taking afternoon tea with haughty three-headed
gods.
In old Egypt every king was his own press agent. These rulers could
have written some great "personal recollections" for the magazines,
because they remembered all the incidents that brought them to the
centre of the stage with the calcium turned on, and wisely forgot all
details calculated to injure their standing with posterity.
[Illustration: _In old Egypt every king was his own press agent_]
You take Rameses the Great. He is regarded as perhaps the king pin of
all the rulers during Egypt's long period of national splendour. Have
you ever heard anyone say a word in criticism of Rameses' fiscal
policy, his treatment of the rebate system, management of the Senate,
or his social relations with the dark emissaries that came up from
Nubia? No! Everyone has a good word for Rameses. The writers of
ancient history extol him, and the guide books print his name in big
black letters, and the travellers to Egypt gather about his
glass-covered coffin in the Ghizeh Museum at Cairo and try to trace
noble lineaments in the shrunken features. They sigh over his
departure and look down at him mournfully, with their hats in their
hands, as if they had lost him this spring, instead of 3164 years ago
this spring. They say:--"Well, he certainly was a grand character and
it's too bad we haven't got some rulers of his calibre nowadays."
[Illustration: _They look down at him mournfully_]
It is not my desire to attack Rameses, but I feel it my duty to submit
to students of history and archaeologists a very interesting papyrus,
which came into my possession at Luxor. If this document is accepted
as authentic and the statements are believed, then it would appear that
Rameses was the champion advertiser of ancient times. If Rameses were
alive to-day he would own all the billboards in America. He would take
a full page in every Sunday paper and have his picture on free
calendars. He would give Lawson cards and spades.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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