paid the greatest
attention to cleanliness and ceremonial purity already implied in their
ancient name. Fish and beans then were abhorred by them. Among the
priests were the most learned men of Egypt, but probably many were
illiterate. For the Hellenistic period see W. Otto, _Priester und Tempel
im hellenistichen Agypten_ (Leipzig, 1905 foll.).

For ancient Egyptian life and civilization in all departments, the
principal work is Ad. Erman, _Life in Ancient Egypt_, translated by H.
M. Tirard (London, 1894), (the original _Agypten und agyptisches Leben
im Altertum_, 2 vols., was published in 1885 at Tubingen); G. Maspero,
_Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria_, translated by A. P. Morton
(London, 1892), (_Lectures historiques_, Paris, 1890); also J. G.
Wilkinson, _Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians_, new ed. by
S. Birch (3 vols., London, 1878). The annual _Archaeological Reports_
of the Egypt Exploration Fund contain summaries of the work done each
year in the several departments of research.

Of the innumerable publications of Egyptian monuments, scenes and
inscriptions, C. R. Lepsius, _Denkmaler aus Agypten und Athiopien_
(Berlin, 1849-1859), and Memoirs of the _Archaeological Survey_ of the
Egypt Exploration Fund, may be specified. For antiquities in museums
there is the sumptuous _Catalogue general des antiquites egyptiennes
du musee de Caire_; for excavations the Memoirs of the Egypt
Exploration Fund, of the Research Account, of the British School of
Archaeology, of the Liverpool School of Archaeology, of the Deutsche
Orient-Gesellschaft, of the Hearst Egyptian Expedition, of the
Theodore M. Davis excavations (Tombs of the Kings).

_Trade and Money._--There is little evidence to show how buying and
selling were carried on in ancient Egypt. A unique scene in a tomb of
the IVth Dynasty, however, shows men and women exchanging commodities
against each other--fish, fish-hooks, fans, necklaces, &c. Probably this
was a market in the open air such as is held weekly at the present time
in every considerable village. Rings of metal, gold, silver and bronze
played some part in exchange, and from the Hyksos period onwards formed
the usual standards by which articles of all kinds might be valued. In
the XVIIIth Dynasty the value of meat, &c., was reckoned in gold;
somewhat later copper seems the commonest standard, and under the
Deltaic dynasties silver. But barter must have prev