Hellenic and Egyptian, nearer to each other, to mould and weld them
into one if possible, to mix and mingle the two civilisations and thus
strengthen their own power, was greatly aided by the national character
of the Greeks and the political position of the Egyptians.

The Greeks found in Egypt a national culture and especially a religious
system. The pliant Hellenic genius could not remain insensible to that
ancient and marvellous civilisation with its sphinxes and hieroglyphics,
its pyramids and temples, its learning and thought, so strangely
perplexing and interesting to the Greek mind. Not only the magnificence
of Egyptian art, the majesty of her temples and palaces, but the wisdom
of her social and political institutions impressed the conquerors. They
made themselves acquainted with the institutions of the country; they
studied its history and took an interest in its religion and mythology.
Similarly, the conquered Egyptians, who had preferred the Macedonian
ruler to their Persian oppressors, exhibited a natural desire to learn
the languages and habits of their rulers, to make themselves acquainted
with their knowledge and phases of thought, and art and science. The
interest of the Greeks was strengthened by this, and the Egyptians were
made to see their history in its proper light. To this endeavour we owe
the history of Manetho. But, in spite of the policy of the Ptolemies,
the impressionable nature of the Hellenic character and the interest of
the Egyptians,--in spite of all that tended to a fusion of Hellenism and
Orientalism, it never came to a proper amalgamation. The contradiction
between the free-thought philosophy of Greece, which was fast outgrowing
its polytheism and Olympian worship, and the deeply rooted sacerdotal
system of the Pharaonian institutions, was too great and too flagrant.
Thus there never was an Egypto-Hellenic phase of thought. But there was
another civilisation of great antiquity, possessing peculiar features,
not less interesting for the Greek mind than that of Egypt itself, with