Page 31 - My FlipBook

DENTAL ART AMONG THE EGYPTIANS 31

as substitutes for lost teeth. This piece, discovered in one of the most
ancient tombs of the necropohs, proves that dental art in Sidon was
sufficientlv advanced."'
To these words, literalh translated from Renan's work, we will only
add the foUowinir considerations:
Egypt was, in its time, a great centre of civilization, whose inHuence
was strongh- predominant in all the neighboring region, and especially
in ancient Phoenicia and in its large and industrious cities Tyre and
Sidon. The remains discovered in many of the Phoenician tombs would
of themselves alone be sufficient to demonstrate luminously the enormous
influence exercised by the Egyptian civilization on the life and customs
of that people. Now, if there were dentists in Sidon capable of applying
false teeth, it may reasonably be admitted that the dentists of the great
Egyptian metropoli Thebes and Memphis were able to do as much and
more, the level of civilization being without doubt higher there than in
Tyre or in Sidon, or in other non-Egyptian cities.

' Renan, Mission de Phenicie, p. 472.

y