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MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. |
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Christian era, are not in exact accordance with those in the Bible. The lyres at the time of Simon Maccabaeus may probably be different from those which were in use about a thousand years earlier, or at the time of David and Solomon when the art of music with the Hebrews was at its zenith.
There appears to be a probability that a Hebrew lyre of the time of Joseph (about 1700 b.c.) is represented on an ancient Egyptian painting discovered in a tomb at Beni Hassan,—which is the name of certain grottoes on the eastern bank of the Nile. Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in his "' Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," observes : " If, when we become better acquainted with the interpretation of hieroglyphics, the ' Strangers' at Beni Hassan should prove to be the arrival of Jacob's family in Egypt, we may examine the Jewish lyre drawn by an Egyptian artist. That this event took place about the period when the inmate of the tomb lived is highly probable—at least, if I am correct in considering Osirtasen I. to be the Pharaoh the patron of Joseph; and it remains for us to decide whether the disagreement in the number of persons here introduced—thirty-seven being written over them in hieroglyphics—is a sufficient objection to their identity. It will not be foreign to the present subject to introduce those figures which are curious, if only considered as illustrative of ancient customs at that early period, and which will be looked upon with unbounded interest should they ever be found to refer to the Jews. The first figure is an Egyptian scribe, who presents an account of their arrival to a person seated, the owner of the tomb, and one of the principal officers of the reigning Pharaoh. The next, also an Egyptian, ushers them into his presence; and two advance bringing presents, the wild goaf or ibex and the gazelle, the productions of their country. Four men, carrying bows and clubs, follow, leading an ass on which two children are placed in panniers, accompanied by a boy and four women ; and, last of all, another ass laden, and two men— one holding a bow and club, the other a lyre, which he plays with |
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