Produced by Charles Klingman THE PHARAOH AND THE PRIEST AN HISTORICAL NOVEL OF ANCIENT EGYPT The Pharaoh and the Priest THE PHARAOH AND THE PRIEST FROM THE ORIGINAL POLISH OF ALEXANDER GLOVATSKI BY JEREMIAH CURTIN TRANSLATOR OF "WITH FIRE AND SWORD," "THE DELUGE" "QUO VADIS," ETC. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY.1902 CURTIN. All rights reserved. Published September, 1902. UNIVERSITY PRESS JOHN WILSON AND SON CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. PREFATORY REMARKS The position of Ancient Egypt was unique, not in one, but in every sense. To begin at the very foundation of life in that country, we find that the soil was unlike any other on earth in its origin. Every acre of fruitful land between the first cataract and the sea had been brought from Inner Africa, and each year additions were made to it. Out of this mud, borne down thousands of miles from the great fertile uplands of Abyssinia by rivers, grew everything needed to feed and clothe man and nourish animals. Out of it also was made the brick from which walls, houses, and buildings of various uses and kinds were constructed. Though this soil of the country was rich, it could be utilized only by the unceasing co-ordinate efforts of a whole population constrained and directed. To direct and constrain was the task of the priests and the pharaohs. Never have men worked in company so long and successfully at tilling the earth as the Egyptians, and never has the return been so continuous and abundant from land as in their case.