The Symbolic Wisdom of the Egyptians

succession of stages of the growth of human knowledge is to be regarded as neither so regular, nor so decisively perfect, in proportion to its greater or lesser antiquity. The author is challenging the idea that older civilizations were automatically more enlightened or that history follows a constant upward trajectory.

The little that is presented here in the following pages regarding the symbolic wisdom of the Egyptians contains, to be sure, no great mysteries or special traces of secret arts—and in this respect, certain curious seekers of that kind may not find their expectations met here; for one sees here only the symbols through which those sages of antiquity expressed certain features of morality and knowledge of human nature The German term "Menschenkenntniß" refers to the practical understanding of human character and social behavior, a major focus of Enlightenment study., and thus what is to be made—at least of this part—of the so-called Egyptian Masonry, which for a time has come back into fashion. This refers to "Egyptian Rite" Freemasonry, such as the one promoted by Count Cagliostro in the 1780s, which claimed to revive ancient mystical secrets but was often viewed with skepticism by scholars.