The works of the primitive dynasties yet sleep undiscovered beneath seventy feet of sand at the foot of the Sphinx; those of the historic dynasties are daily exhumed from the depths of the neighbouring tombs.

These have not yielded Egyptian art as a whole; but they have familiarised us with one of its schools--the school of Memphis.

The Delta, Hermopolis, Abydos, the environs of Thebes and Asuan[42], do not appear upon the stage earlier than towards the Sixth Dynasty; and even so, we know them through but a small number of sepulchres long since violated and despoiled.

The loss is probably not very great.

Memphis was the capital; and thither the presence of the Pharaohs must have attracted all the talent of the vassal principalities.