ABSTRACT
The original character of the people and country of Egypt had already struck the Greeks, as it strikes ourselves. To quote only one instance, the second book of Herodotos is full of wonder and admiration. Sometimes he takes delight in noting, not without a touch of humour, the contrasts reigning between the manners of the Egyptians and those of other peoples, and in such chapters of the old writer Montaigne has not failed to dip, in order to show the strange diversity of human customs. 2 Nor does a wider and deeper knowledge of Egyptian history belie the notion that that people held a place in the Eastern world which was most important, but somewhat singular. Its civilization was, if not the most ancient, one of the most ancient. It was incontestably one of the most beautiful. It radiated far outside the valley of the Nile, for its influence is found as far as Etruria. In any case, it often inspired the nearer peoples of Asia and the Eastern basin of the Mediterranean. But it must be said that it never had such complete sway over other peoples as over the Egyptians themselves. It was imitated, but not adopted. On the whole, it remained confined to the valley of the Nile.
