University of Chicago - Cap and Gown Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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ull)t iEgypttan iEx Ji ' Iiitinu of U}t llniurrattg nf (Eljiragn ARLY ill summer of 1905, the University of Chicago decided to enter Egyptian archeological research the following win- ter. Dr. James Henry Breasted, Professor of Egyptology, was selected as director of the expedition, and at once began td devise a plan for making the first complete and accurate rec ords of the Nubian monuments of the Middle Empire, with their inscriptions, so that their data might be available for scientific research. Christmas day, 1906, saw the expedition embark in its houseboat at Assuan, below the first cataract, for the 200 mile trip to Wady Haifa at the foot of the second cataract. Its equipment for measuring and photographing monuments and copying the inscriptions on them was more thorough than that possessed by any previous expedition, and the use of the camera, as planned and carried out, was successful to an extent never attempted before. The speed shown in making preparations was due to the cordial assistance rendered by the Egyptian government, the Sudanese government and the De- partment of Antiquities. It was, seemingly, unprecedented in this land of hnckra (tomorrow). The monuments between the first and second cataracts were recorded the first year, and during the second year the territory between the second and the fourth cataracts was covered, completing the work south of the first cataract. It is at the first cataract. that the ancient Egyptians believed the Nile sprang from the interior of the earth. The climax of achievement came with the discovery and exact location of the lost city of Amenhotep IV, Ikhnaton, the dreamer king, who knew but one God, although he lived centuries before Abraham. This wonderful cap- ital lay far to the South in the land of the Sudan and a few columns which still remain testify by their defaced inscriptions and reliefs to later efforts to stani]) out this heresy as well as to the extent and magnificence of this empire. Whether the expedition drifted down the placid Nile or remained for weeks before the great Clifif temple Abu Simbel, the inspiration of the work never slackened. Just the charm of the land is most powerful. Although birdless and treeless, the soft winds from the desert plains seem to whisper irresistible stories of enchantment. This fascination increased the eagerness with which photographic records were made of panel after panel of that great wall of the Abu Simbel temple which is entirely given over to the scenes of the battle of Kadesh, the oldest battle whose tactics are recorded. But Egypt, which has hidden its secrets so long, gives them up whim- sically and grudgingly, and its mysteries will continue to challenge the thoughtful efiforts of the world for centuries to come as it has done for mil- leniums past. Victor Persoxs, Engineer.

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Slir ntitrrsily ' s HtHttora sity (it Lliicaso .1- us or to look, iiig here to set us with their ise who have come as visitors — President EHot of Harvard, President Whi-eler of CaHfornia, Professor Gros- venor of Amherst, the head of the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa — those who ha -e come as speakers on educational topics — President G. Stanley Hall, Superintendent Chancellor of Washington — and those men of letters and the stage who have spoken for various clubs in the Uni- versity — Hamlin Garland, Donald Robertson, and a host of others — there have been five principal ,L;rou])s of contributors to extra interest in our Uni- versitv life. The formation of the (iermanistic Society of Chica,iL; ' o, of which I ' resident Jud on is chairman, has made it possible to brin- ' to our city Ger- man scholars .f ])romineiu ' e. active in the I ' atherlaiid or in their adojited country. Some of these have come to the L ' ni ersity ; notalily Professor I uno Francke and Professor Hugo Miinsterberg. The relationship of the L ' niversit}- to the Alliance Frant aise has fostered a friendship, too, with M of France: hence this year we ha ' e had isits fron Madelin of the Alliance Fran(;aise. M. Henry Brue, editor of Le Temps, and, most conspicuou our French guests, the Abbe Klein, who conducted during the summer quarter an unusually interesting religious service in Mandel Id all. The work of the Historical group of departments has been illustrated by lectures formal and informal by Professor Burr of Cornell and Professors Daggett and Goebel of Har- vard, McPherson of Johns Hopkins, Judge Clelland of the Municipal Court of Chicago, R. R. McCormick, president of the Sanitary District of Chicago, ami William Jennings Bryan. In the religious field the t • most notable -isitors have been the Reverend Charles Cuthbert Hall, who twice represented the Univer- sity of Chicago in the F ar F ast as lecturer on the