having obtained this Præfecture of _his father_ Saturn; whence posterity
reckoned things done in the sea to be under his government, and mariners
honoured him with sacrifices_: the invention of tall Ships with sails [311]
is also ascribed to him. He was first worshipped in _Africa_, as
_Herodotus_ [312] affirms, and therefore Reigned over that province: for
his eldest son _Atlas_, who succeeded him, was not only Lord of the Island
_Atlantis_, but also Reigned over a great part of _Afric_, giving his name
to the people called _Atlantii_, and to the mountain _Atlas_, and the
_Atlantic Ocean_. The [313] outmost parts of the earth and promontories,
and whatever bordered upon the sea and was washed by it, the _Egyptians_
called _Neptys_; and on the coasts of _Marmorica_ and _Cyrene_, _Bochart_
and _Arius Montanus_ place the _Naphthuhim_, a people sprung from
_Mizraim_, _Gen._ x. 13; and thence _Neptune_ and his wife _Neptys_ might
have their names, the words _Neptune_, _Neptys_ and _Naphthuhim_,
signifying the King, Queen, and people of the sea-coasts. The _Greeks_ tell
us that _Japetus_ was the father of _Atlas_, and _Bochart_ derives
_Japetus_ and _Neptune_ from the same original: he and his son _Atlas_ are
celebrated in the ancient fables for making war upon the Gods of _Egypt_;
as when _Lucian_ [314] saith that _Corinth_ being full of fables, tells the
fight of _Sol_ and _Neptune_, that is, of _Apollo_ and _Python_, or _Orus_
and _Typhon_; and where _Agatharcides_ [315] relates how the Gods of
_Egypt_ fled from the Giants, 'till the _Titans_ came in and saved them by
putting _Neptune_ to flight; and where _Hyginus_ [316] tells the war
between the Gods of _Ægypt_, and the _Titans_ commanded by _Atlas_.
The _Titans_ are the posterity of _Titæa_, some of whom under _Hercules_
assisted the Gods, others under _Neptune_ and _Atlas_ warred against them:
_for which reason_, saith _Plutarch_, [317] _the Priests of _Egypt_
abominated the sea, and had _Neptune_ in no honour_. By _Hercules_, I
understand here the general of the forces of _Thebais_ and _Ethiopia_ whom
the Gods or great men of _Egypt_ called to their assistance, against the
Giants or great men of _Libya_, who had slain _Osiris_ and invaded _Egypt_:
for _Diodorus_ [318] saith that _when _Osiris_ made his expedition over the
world, he left his kinsman _Hercules_ general of his forces over all his
dominions, and _Antæus_ governor of _Libya_ and _Ethiopia__. _Antæus_
Reigned over all _Afric_ to the _Atlantic Ocean_, and built _Tingis_ or
_Tangieres_: _Pindar_ [319] tells us that he Reigned at _Irasa_ a town of
_Libya_, where _Cyrene_ was afterwards built: he invaded _Egypt_ and
_Thebais_; for he was beaten by _Hercules_ and the _Egyptians_ near _Antæa_
or _Antæopolis_, a town of _Thebais_; and _Diodorus_ [320] tells us that
_this town had its name from _Antæus_, whom _Hercules_ slew in the days of
_Osiris__. _Hercules_ overthrew him several times, and every time he grew
stronger by recruits from _Libya_, his mother earth; but _Hercules_
intercepted his recruits, and at length slew him. In these wars _Hercules_
took the _Libyan_ world from _Atlas_, and made _Atlas_ pay tribute out of
his golden orchard, the Kingdom of _Afric_. _Antæus_ and _Atlas_ were both
of them sons of _Neptune_ both of them Reigned over all _Libya_ and
_Afric_, between _Mount Atlas_ and the _Mediterranean_ to the very Ocean;
both of them invaded _Egypt_, and contended with _Hercules_ in the wars of
the Gods, and therefore they are but two names of one and the same man; and
even the name _Atlas_ in the oblique cases seems to have been compounded of
the name _Antæeus_ and some other word, perhaps the word _Atal_, cursed,
put before it: the invasion of _Egypt_ by _Antæus_, _Ovid_ hath relation
unto, where he makes _Hercules_ say,
_Sævoque alimenta parentis_
_Antæo eripui_.
This war was at length composed by the intervention of _Mercury_, who in
memory thereof was said to reconcile two contending serpents, by casting
his Ambassador's rod between them: and thus much concerning the ancient
state of _Egypt_, _Libya_, and _Greece_, described by _Solon_.
The mythology of the _Cretans_ differed in some things from that of _Egypt_
and _Libya_: for in the _Cretan_ mythology, _Cœlus_ and _Terra_, or
_Uranus_ and _Titæa_ were the parents of _Saturn_ and _Rhea_, and _Saturn_
and _Rhea_ were the parents of _Jupiter_ and _Juno_; and _Hyperion_,
_Japetus_ and the _Titans_ were one Generation older than _Jupiter_; and
_Saturn_ was expelled his Kingdom and castrated by his son _Jupiter_: which
fable hath no place in the mythology of _Egypt_.
During the Reign of _Sesac_, _Jeroboam_ being in subjection to _Egypt_; set
up the Gods of _Egypt_ in _Dan_ and _Bethel_; and _Israel was without the
true God, and without a teaching Priest and without law: and in those times
there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great
vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries; and nation was
destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all
adversity_. 2 _Chron_. xv. 3, 5, 6. But in the fifth year of _Asa_ the land
of _Judah_ became quiet from war, and from thence had quiet ten years; and
_Asa_ took away the altars of strange Gods, and brake down the Images, and
built the fenced cities of _Judah_ with walls and towers and gates and
bars, having rest on every side, and got up an army of 580000 men, with
which in the fifteenth year of his Reign he met _Zerah_ the _Ethiopian_,
who came out against him with an army of a thousand thousand _Ethiopians_
and _Libyans_: the way of the _Libyans_ was through _Egypt_, and therefore
_Zerah_ was now Lord of _Egypt_: they fought at _Mareshah_ near _Gerar_,
between _Egypt_ and _Judæa_, and _Zerah_ was beaten, so that he could not
recover himself: and from all this I seem to gather that _Osiris_ was slain
in the fifth year of _Asa_, and thereupon _Egypt_ fell into civil wars,
being invaded by the _Libyans_, and defended by the _Ethiopians_ for a
time; and after ten years more being invaded by the _Ethiopians_, who slew
_Orus_ the son and successor of _Osiris_, drowning him in the _Nile_, and
seized his Kingdom. By these civil wars of _Egypt_, the land of _Judah_ had
rest ten years. _Osiris_ or _Sesostris_ reigned long, _Manetho_ saith 48
years; and by this reckoning he began to Reign about the 17th year of
_Solomon_; and _Orus_ his son was drowned in the 15th year of _Asa_: for
_Pliny_ [321] tells us, _Ægyptiorum bellis attrita est Æthiopia, vicissim
imperitando serviendoque, clara & potens etiam usque ad Trojana bella
Memnone regnante_. _Ethiopia_, served _Egypt_ 'till the death of
_Sesostris_, and no longer; for _Herodotus_ [322] tells us that _he alone
enjoyed the Empire of _Ethiopia__: then the _Ethiopians_ became free, and
after ten years became Lords of _Egypt_ and _Libya_, under _Zerah_ and
_Amenophis_.
When _Asa_ by his victory over _Zerah_ became safe from _Egypt_, he
assembled all the people, and they offered sacrifices out of the spoils,
and entered into a covenant upon oath to seek the Lord; and in lieu of the
vessels taken away by _Sesac_, _he brought into the house of God the things
that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, Silver
and Gold, and Vessels_. 2 _Chron._ xv.
When _Zerah_ was beaten, so that he could not recover himself, the people
[323] of the lower _Egypt_ revolted from the _Ethiopians_, and called in to
their assistance two hundred thousand _Jews_ and _Canaanites_; and under
the conduct of one _Osarsiphus_, a Priest of _Egypt_, called _Usorthon_,
_Osorchon_, _Osorchor_, and _Hercules Ægyptius_ by _Manetho_, caused the
_Ethiopians_ now under _Memnon_ to retire to _Memphis_: and there _Memnon_
turned the river _Nile_ into a new channel, built a bridge over it and
fortified that pass, and then went back into _Ethiopia_: but after thirteen
years, he and his young son _Ramesses_ came down with an army from
_Ethiopia_, conquered the lower _Egypt_, and drove out the _Jews_ and
_Phœnicians_; and this action the _Egyptian_ writers and their followers
call the second expulsion of the Shepherds, taking _Osarsiphus_ for
_Moses_.
_Tithonus_ a beautiful youth, the elder brother of _Priamus_, went into
_Ethiopia_, being carried thither among many captives by _Sesostris_: and
the _Greeks_, before the days of _Hesiod_, feigned that _Memnon_ was his
son: _Memnon_ therefore, in the opinion of those ancient _Greeks_, was one
Generation younger than _Tithonus_, and was born after the return of
_Sesostris_ into _Egypt_: suppose about 16 or 20 years after the death of
_Solomon_. He is said to have lived very long, and so might die about 95
years after _Solomon_, as we reckoned above: his mother, called _Cissia_ by
_Æschylus_, in a statue erected to her in _Egypt_, [324] was represented as
the daughter, the wife, and the mother of a King, and therefore he was the
son of a King; which makes it probable that _Zerah_, whom he succeeded in
the Kingdom of _Ethiopia_, was his father.
Historians [325] agree that _Menes_ Reigned in _Egypt_ next after the Gods,
and turned the river into a new channel, and built a bridge over it, and
built _Memphis_ and the magnificent Temple of _Vulcan_: he built _Memphis_
over-against the place where _Grand Cairo_ now stands, called by the
_Arabian_ historians _Mesir_: he built only the body of the Temple of
_Vulcan_, and his successors _Ramesses_ or _Rhampsinitus_, _Mœris_,
_Asychis_, and _Psammiticus_ built the western, northern eastern, and
southern portico's thereof: _Psammiticus_, who built the last portico of
this Temple, Reigned three hundred years after the victory of _Asa_ over
_Zerah_, and it is not likely that this Temple could be above three hundred
years in building, or that any _Menes_ could be King of all _Egypt_ before
the expulsion of the Shepherds. The last of the Gods of _Egypt_ was _Orus_,
with his mother _Isis_, and sister _Bubaste_, and secretary _Thoth_, and
unkle _Typhon_; and the King who reigned next after all their deaths, and
turned the river and built a bridge over it, and built _Memphis_ and the
Temple of _Vulcan_, was _Memnon_ or _Amenophis_, called by the _Egyptians_
_Amenoph_; and therefore he is _Menes_: for the names _Amenoph_, or
_Menoph_, and _Menes_ do not much differ; and from _Amenoph_ the city
_Memphis_ built by _Menes_ had its _Egyptian_ names _Moph_, _Noph_,
_Menoph_ or _Menuf_, as it is still called by the _Arabian_ historians: the
necessity of fortifying this place against _Osarsiphus_ gave occasion to
the building of it.
In the time of the revolt of the lower _Egypt_ under _Osarsiphus_, and the
retirement of _Amenophis_ into _Ethiopia_, _Egypt_ being then in the
greatest distraction, the _Greeks_ built the ship _Argo_, and sent in it
the flower of _Greece_ to _Æetes_ in _Colchis_, and to many other Princes
on the coasts of the _Euxine_ and _Mediterranean_ seas; and this ship was
built after the pattern of an _Egyptian_ ship with fifty oars, in which
_Danaus_ with his fifty daughters a few years before fled from _Egypt_ into
_Greece_, and was the first long ship with sails built by the _Greeks_: and
such an improvement of navigation, with a design to send the flower of
_Greece_ to many Princes upon the sea-coasts of the _Euxine_ and
_Mediterranean_ seas, was too great an undertaking to be set on foot,
without the concurrence of the Princes and States of _Greece_, and perhaps
the approbation of the _Amphictyonic_ Council; for it was done by the
dictate of the Oracle. This Council met every half year upon state-affairs
for the welfare of _Greece_, and therefore knew of this expedition, and
might send the _Argonauts_ upon an embassy to the said Princes; and for
concealing their design might make the fable of the golden fleece, in
relation to the ship of _Phrixus_ whose ensign was a golden ram: and
probably their design was to notify the distraction of _Egypt_, and the
invasion thereof by the _Ethiopians_ and _Israelites_, to the said Princes,
and to persuade them to take that opportunity to revolt from _Egypt_, and
set up for themselves, and make a league with the _Greeks_: for the
_Argonauts_ went through [326] the Kingdom of _Colchis_ by land to the
_Armenians_, and through _Armenia_ to the _Medes_; which could not have
been done if they had not made friendship with the nations through which
they passed: they visited also _Laomedon_ King of the _Trojans_, _Phineus_
King of the _Thracians_, _Cyzicus_ King of the _Doliones_, _Lycus_ King of
the _Mariandyni_, the coasts of _Mysia_ and _Taurica Chersonesus_, the
nations upon the _Tanais_, the people about _Byzantium_, and the coasts of
_Epirus_, _Corsica_, _Melita_, _Italy_, _Sicily_, _Sardinia_, and _Gallia_
upon the _Mediterranean_; and from thence they [327] crossed the sea to
_Afric_, and there conferred with _Euripylus_ King of _Cyrene_: and [328]
_Strabo_ tells us that _in _Armenia_ and _Media_, and the neighbouring
places, there were frequent monuments of the expedition of _Jason_; as also
about _Sinope_, and its sea-coasts, the _Propontis_ and the _Hellespont_,
and in the _Mediterranean__: and a message by the flower of _Greece_ to so
many nations could be on no other account than state-policy; these nations
had been invaded by the _Egyptians_, but after this expedition we hear no
more of their continuing in subjection to _Egypt_.
The [329] _Egyptians_ originally lived on the fruits of the earth, and
fared hardly, and abstained from animals, and therefore abominated
Shepherds: _Menes_ taught them to adorn their beds and tables with rich
furniture and carpets, and brought in amongst them a sumptuous, delicious
and voluptuous way of life: and about a hundred years after his death,
_Gnephacthus_ one of his successors cursed him for it, and to reduce the
luxury of _Egypt_, caused the curse to be entered in the Temple of
_Jupiter_ at _Thebes_; and by this curse the honour of _Menes_ was
diminished among the _Egyptians_.
The Kings of _Egypt_ who expelled the Shepherds and Succeeded them, Reigned
I think first at _Coptos_, and then at _Thebes_, and then at _Memphis_. At
_Coptos_ I place _Misphragmuthosis_ and _Amosis_ or _Thomosis_ who expelled
the Shepherds, and abolished their custom of sacrificing men, and extended
the _Coptic_ language, and the name of Αια Κοπτου, _Aegyptus_, to the
conquest. Then _Thebes_ became the Royal City of _Ammon_, and from him was
called _No-Ammon,_ and his conquest on the west of _Egypt_ was called
_Ammonia._ After him, in the same city of _Thebes_, Reigned _Osiris_,
_Orus_, _Menes_ or _Amenophis_, and _Ramesses_: but _Memphis_ and her
miracles were not yet celebrated in _Greece_; for _Homer_ celebrates
_Thebes_ as in its glory in his days, and makes no mention of _Memphis_.
After _Menes_ had built _Memphis, Mœris_ the successor of _Ramesses_
adorned it, and made it the seat of the Kingdom, and this was almost two
Generations after the _Trojan_ war. _Cinyras_, the _Vulcan_ who married
_Venus_, and under the Kings of _Egypt_ Reigned over _Cyprus_ and part of
_Phœnicia_, and made armour for those Kings, lived 'till the times of the
_Trojan_ war: and upon his death _Menes_ or _Memnon_ might Deify him, and
found the famous Temple of _Vulcan_ in that city for his worship, but not
live to finish it. In a plain [330] not far from _Memphis_ are many small
Pyramids, said to be built by _Venephes_ or _Enephes_; and I suspect that
_Venephes_ and _Enephes_ have been corruptly written for _Menephes_ or
_Amenophis_, the letters _AM_ being almost worn out in some old manuscript:
for after the example of these Pyramids, the following Kings, _Mœris_ and
his successors, built others much larger. The plain in which they were
built was the burying-place of that city, as appears by the Mummies there
found; and therefore the Pyramids were the sepulchral monuments of the
Kings and Princes of that city: and by these and such like works the city
grew famous soon after the days of _Homer_; who therefore flourished in the
Reign of _Ramesses_.
_Herodotus_ [331] is the oldest historian now extant who wrote of the
antiquities of _Egypt_, and had what he wrote from the Priests of that
country: and _Diodorus_, who wrote almost 400 years after him, and had his
relations also from the Priests of _Egypt_, placed many nameless Kings
between those whom _Herodotus_ placed in continual succession. The Priests
of _Egypt_ had therefore, between the days of _Herodotus_ and _Diodorus_,
out of vanity, very much increased the number of their Kings: and what they
did after the days of _Herodotus_, they began to do before his days; for he
tells us that they recited to him out of their books, the names of 330
Kings who Reigned after _Menes_, but did nothing memorable, except
_Nitocris_ and _Mœris_ the last of them: all these Reigned at _Thebes_,
'till _Mœris_ translated the seat of the Empire from _Thebes_ to _Memphis_.
After _Mœris_ he reckons _Sesostris_, _Pheron_, _Proteus_, _Rhampsinitus_,
_Cheops_, _Cephren_, _Mycerinus_, _Asychis_, _Anysis_, _Sabacon_, _Anysis_
again, _Sethon_, twelve contemporary Kings, _Psammitichus_, _Nechus_,
_Psammis_, _Apries_, _Amasis_, and _Psammenitus_. The _Egyptians_ had
before the days of _Solon_ made their monarchy 9000 years old, and now they
reckon'd to _Herodotus_ a succession of 330 Kings Reigning so many
Generations, that is about 11000 years, before _Sesostris_: but the Kings
who Reigned long before _Sesostris_ might Reign over several little
Kingdoms in several parts of _Egypt_, before the rise of their Monarchy;
and by consequence before the days of _Eli_ and _Samuel_, and so are not
under our consideration: and these names may have been multiplied by
corruption; and some of them, as _Athothes_ or _Thoth_, the secretary of
_Osiris_; _Tosorthrus_ or _Æsculapius_ a Physician who invented building
with square stones; and _Thuor_ or _Polybus_ the husband of _Alcandra_,
were only Princes of _Egypt_. If with _Herodotus_ we omit the names of
those Kings who did nothing memorable, and consider only those whose
actions are recorded, and who left splendid monuments of their having
Reigned over _Egypt_, such as were Temples, Statues, Pyramids, Obelisks,
and Palaces dedicated or ascribed to them, these Kings reduced into good
order will give us all or almost all the Kings of _Egypt_, from the days of
the expulsion of the Shepherds and founding of the Monarchy, downwards to
the conquest of _Egypt_ by _Cambyses_: for _Sesostris_ Reigned in the Age
of the Gods of _Egypt_: being Deified by the names of _Osiris_, _Hercules_
and _Bacchus_, as above; and therefore _Menes_, _Nitocris_, and _Mœris_ are
to be placed after him; _Menes_ and his son _Ramesses_ Reigned next after
the Gods, and therefore _Nitocris_ and _Mœris_ Reigned after _Ramesses_:
_Mœris_ is set down immediately before _Cheops_, three times in the
Dynastys of the Kings of _Egypt_ composed by _Eratosthenes_, and once in
the Dynasties of _Manetho_; and in the same Dynasties _Nitocris_ is set
after the builders of the three great Pyramids, and according to
_Herodotus_ her brother Reigned before her, and was slain, and she revenged
his death; and according to _Syncellus_ she built the third great Pyramid;
and the builders of the Pyramids Reigned at _Memphis_, and by consequence
after _Mœris_. Now from these things I gather that the Kings of _Egypt_
mentioned by _Herodotus_ ought to be placed in this order; _Sesostris_,
_Pheron_, _Proteus_, _Menes_, _Rhampsinitus_, _Mœris_, _Cheops_, _Cephren_,
_Mycerinus_, _Nitocris_, _Asychis_, _Anysis_, _Sabacon_, _Anysis_ again,
_Sethon_, twelve contemporary Kings, _Psammitichus_, _Nechus_, _Psammis_,
_Apries_, _Amasis_, _Psammenitus_.
_Pheron_ is by _Herodotus_ said to be the son and successor of _Sesostris_.
He was Deified by the name of _Orus_.
_Proteus_ Reigned in the lower _Egypt_ when _Paris_ sailed thither; that is
at the end of the _Trojan_ war, according to [332] _Herodotus_: and at that
time _Amenophis_ was King of _Egypt_ and _Ethiopia_: but in his absence
_Proteus_ might be governor of some part of the lower _Egypt_ under him;
for _Homer_ places _Proteus_ upon the sea-coasts, and makes him a sea God,
and calls him the servant of _Neptune_; and _Herodotus_ saith that he rose
up from among the common people, and that _Proteus_ was his name translated
into _Greek_, and this name in _Greek_ signifies only a Prince or
President. He succeeded _Pheron_, and was succeeded by _Rhampsinitus_
according to _Herodotus_; and so was contemporary to _Amenophis_.
_Amenophis_ Reigned next after _Orus_ and _Isis_ the last of the Gods; he
Reigned at first over all _Egypt_, and then over _Memphis_ and the upper
parts of _Egypt_; and by conquering _Osarsiphus_, who had revolted from
him, became King of all _Egypt_ again, about 51 years after the death of
_Solomon_. He built _Memphis_ and ordered the worship of the Gods of
_Egypt_, and built a Palace at _Abydus_, and the _Memnonia_ at _This_ and
_Susa_, and the magnificent Temple of _Vulcan_ in _Memphis_; the building
with square stones being found out before by _Tosorthrus_, the _Æsculapius_
of _Egypt_: he is by corruption of his name called _Menes_, _Mines_,
_Minæus_, _Mineus_, _Minies_, _Mnevis_, _Enephes_, _Venephes_,
_Phamenophis_, _Osymanthyas_, _Osimandes_, _Ismandes_, _Imandes_, _Memnon_,
_Arminon._
_Amenophis_ was succeeded by his son, called by _Herodotus_,
_Rhampsinitus_, and by others _Ramses_, _Ramises_, _Rameses_, _Ramesses_,
[333] _Ramestes_, _Rhampses_, _Remphis_. Upon an Obelisk erected by this
King in _Heliopolis_, and sent to _Rome_ by the Emperor _Constantius_, was
an inscription, interpreted by _Hermapion_ an _Egyptian_ Priest, expressing
that the King was long lived, and Reigned over a great part of the earth:
and _Strabo_, [334] an eye-witness, tells us, that in the monuments of the
Kings of _Egypt_, above the _Memnonium_ were inscriptions upon Obelisks,
expressing the riches of the Kings, and their Reigning as far as _Scythia_,
_Bactria_, _India_ and _Ionia_: and _Tacitus_ [335] tells us from an
inscription seen at _Thebes_ by _Cæsar Germanicus,_ and interpreted to him
by the _Egyptian_ Priests, that this King _Ramesses_ had an army of 700000
men, and Reigned over _Libya_, _Ethiopia_, _Media_, _Persia_, _Bactria_,
_Scythia_, _Armenia_, _Cappadocia_, _Bithynia_, and _Lycia_; whence the
Monarchy of _Assyria_ was not yet risen. This King was very covetous, and a
great collector of taxes, and one of the richest of all the Kings of
_Egypt_, and built the western portico of the Temple of _Vulcan_.
_Mœris_ inheriting the riches of _Ramesses_, built the northern portico of
that Temple more sumptuously, and made the Lake of _Mœris,_ with two great
Pyramids of brick in the midst of it: and for preserving the division of
_Egypt_ into equal shares amongst the soldiers, this King wrote a book of
surveying, which gave a beginning to Geometry. He is called also _Maris_,
_Myris_, _Meres_, _Marres_, _Smarres_; and more corruptly, by changing Μ
into Α, Τ, Β, Σ, YΧ, Λ, &c. _Ayres_, _Tyris_, _Byires_, _Soris_,
_Uchoreus_, _Lachares_, _Labaris_, &c.