In order to take a general survey, we shall now repeat, in a_Letters from Egypt, Ethiopia, and the peninsula of Sinai

the result of our investigations.

Manetho apparently added himself to his detailed history, which was

comprised in three Books, a _Review of the Dynasties_, in a continued

series, in the style of the old Egyptian annals. These were more often

transcribed than the work itself, which seems, indeed, to have been

less widely distributed, owing to this convenient compendium. Separate

narratives, however, from the work itself have been adopted by later

authors, and were thereby preserved to us, although not without some

alterations, after the complete work itself was lost, which must have

happened at an early period, perhaps when the Alexandrian library was

destroyed.

It was at least unknown to Josephus in the first century of our

era; but the more copious, and certainly chiefly _literal extracts_

communicated by him, he has borrowed from other works. Along with these,

he either himself combined, or found combined, _another partial list_

of kings, which only included the names from Amosis down to Menephthes

(Amenophis), and which was drawn up specially and solely for the learned

purposes of the Jews, at all events before the time of Josephus.

Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, in the second century, communicated the

same list with slight deviations, and probably not from the writings of

Josephus.

The complete Dynastic lists of the Manethonic work, which by a different

method have also themselves been preserved, seem to have been unknown to

both. These were first preserved to us by Africanus in the third century.

They had undoubtedly before this time passed through several hands, and

assumed forms partly deviating from one another. The partial Jewish list

which we find in Josephus and Theophilus, was already adopted, in the

time of Africanus (though hardly by himself), in the same series with the

others, as one peculiarly authenticated, and apparently complete; because

it contained no subdivision in itself, it was regarded as one single

Dynasty, the 18th, although it really corresponded with the 17th and 18th

and half of the 19th Dynasty taken together. Thence arose the confusion

which now exists here.

The necessity for an agreement between the Christian-Jewish and the

Egyptian computation of time produced, towards the end of the third, or

the beginning of the fourth century, two spurious writings; first, the

_Old Chronicle_, which retained the Egyptian cyclical point of view,

that, namely, of the history of the gods, and even extended it, yet in

such a manner that the means of reduction was suggested, by which these

large numbers might be compressed into the period assumed as that given

by Moses for the time since Adam. With the same end in view the first 15

Dynasties of man were transformed into 15 Generations.

The second spurious work, the SOTHIS, professed to be Manethonic; and

could do this more easily, because a long time had elapsed since the

genuine history had been lost. This writing proceeded still further

upon the same road as the Old Chronicle. By means of alterations and

abbreviations it reduced the Egyptian numbers to certain epochs, which

were considered as Biblical, and on the other hand partly abandoned the

Cyclical basis.

Eusebius, who wrote in the fourth century, was deceived by both these

writings, and endeavoured to make their statements agree with the genuine

Manethonic Dynastic lists. He had these lists before him in a form which

was rather different from, and at all events more negligently drawn up,

than that of Africanus. He followed it for the Old Monarchy, which was

almost entirely omitted in the two spurious writings. In the New Monarchy

he adopted principally the Dynastic numbers of the Old Chronicle. In

other points he followed the Sothis. His numbers of the gods, like those

of the spurious writings, are upon the whole founded on the genuine

Manethonic numbers, which he nevertheless combined in a mistaken manner.

In the commencement of the fifth century the speculative chronologists,

ANIANOS and PANODORUS, laboured with subtle ingenuity at Egyptian

chronology, but necessarily entirely failed in discovering the truth,

because they considered the two spurious writings as the true basis. They

endeavoured by ingenious arithmetical calculations to bring the numbers

of the Old Chronicle and of the Sothis to agree more exactly with their

acceptations of the Biblical chronology, than it had been the intention

of these writings themselves.

Lastly, in the eighth century, GEORGIUS SYNCELLUS delivered his compiled,

but on that very account for us most important work, by which we first

became acquainted with almost all the earlier authorities. Through him

alone we possess especially the most valuable basis for our Manethonic

chronology, the Dynastic lists of Africanus. He himself decided

nevertheless likewise in favour of the two spurious writings, and indeed

as they were worked out by Panodorus; upon this last he founded his own

system, which therefore is only so far of value to us as we thereby

become acquainted with his authorities.

TABLES OF EGYPTIAN DYNASTIES, COMPILED FOR THIS TRANSLATION.

As many of the readers of this work may not be acquainted with the

several Dynasties which successively reigned over Egypt, and the

approximate dates which have been assigned to them, the following Tables

have been compiled for their convenience, on the authority of the

Chevalier Bunsen[373] and Dr. Richard Lepsius[374], and of Kenrick’s

“Egypt under the Pharaohs.”

Manetho, High Priest of the Temple of Isis at Sebennytus, in Lower Egypt,

in the reign of the first Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, surnamed Soter,

322 to 284 B.C., a man of the highest reputation for wisdom, and versed

in Greek as well as in Egyptian lore, published various works for the

purpose of informing the Greeks. Although his history is lost, we have

the Dynasties tolerably entire. His excellence as an historian is placed

in the clearest light by the monuments which are now made accessible

to us; and the notices concerning him transmitted by Greek and Latin

authors, are in no respect contradictory. The writers by whom the works

of Manetho have been preserved to us, are:

Julius Africanus, Bishop of Emmæus, or Nicopolis, in Judæa, a man

of learning, research, and probity, who wrote in the beginning of

the third century, A.C.;

Eusebius, Bishop of Cesarea, in Palestine, about a hundred years

later than Africanus; and

Syncellus, a Byzantine monk, of the beginning of the ninth

century.

The lists of Manetho comprise 30 Dynasties. Egyptian history is divided

into three periods—the Old Monarchy, which comprised 13 Dynasties; the

Middle Monarchy, which included the 14th and 17th Dynasties; and the New

Monarchy, which, commencing with the 18th, ended with Nectanebus, the

last of the Pharaohs, 339 years before Christ.

“The result of our chronological investigations (Bunsen and

Lepsius) has been, to carry us up to the foundation of an empire

in Egypt, and to a series of kings whose names have not only been

registered and transmitted to us by the Egyptians themselves, but

which are now legible on Egyptian monuments, most of them erected

in the lifetime of the kings whose names they record.”—BUNSEN.

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+----------------+

| | of Manetho, | in other +-------+--------+

| | Eratosthenes. | | | [375] |

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|I. |Menes |Menaios, _Herodotus_ | 3643 | 3893 |

| |Semempses {|Ismandes, | | |

| | {| _Strabo_ | | |

| | {|Osymandyas, | | |

| | {| _Diodorus_ | | |

REMARKABLE EVENTS.

MENES, born at Abydos, or This, in Upper Egypt. Several States existed

in the Thebaid and Delta before his time, and he united them in one

Monarchy. He founded Memphis.

Under Semempses, the building of the Pyramid at the Labyrinth in the

Fayoum, the oldest existing in Egypt.

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|II. |Boethos | | | |

Under Kaiechos, the introduction of the worship of the Bull,—APIS at

Memphis, and MNEVIS at Heliopolis, and of the Mendesian Goat.

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|III. |Sesorcheres | | 3453 | 3640 |

Under Sesortosis the introduction of building with hewn stones; also

improvements in the art of writing.

Building of the Pyramids of Dashour.

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|IV. |Saophis {|Cheops, _Herodotus_ | 3229 | 3426 |

| MEMPHITE. | {|Chufu | | |

| |Saophis II. { |Chephren | | |

| | { |Schafra | | |

| |Mencheres {|Menkera | | |

| |Mencheres II. {|Mykerinus | | |

Builder of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh.

Builds the second Pyramid.

Builds the third Pyramid.

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|V. |Usercheris | | |c. 3150 |

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|VI. |Othoes | | 3074 | |

Phiops (Mœris) formed out of the desert, the fertile district of the

Fayoum.

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|VII. to XI. |} Manetho does not give the names of | 2967 |c. 2960 |

| |} the Kings of these Dynasties; none | | |

| |} between Nitokris and Amenemes. | | |

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|XII. & XIII. |{ Amenemhe I. | | 2801 |c. 2330 |

| THEBAN. |{ Sesortesen I. |Osirtasen | 2654 |c. 2120 |

Sesortesen I. conquers Ethiopia; erects the Obelisk of Heliopolis.

Amenemhe III., the builder of the Labyrinth in the Fayoum.

Foundation of Thebes by Sesortesen I.

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|XIV. |} | | |

|XV. |} | | |

|XVI. |} The Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings. | | |

|XVII. |} | | |

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

| | ” II. | ” | | |

| | ” III. | ” | | |

| |Horus |Her | | |

Under Tuthmosis III. the temple on the eastern side of Thebes was

built—Drove the Hyksos from the frontier—The Israelites sorely

oppressed.

Erection of the obelisks at Alexandria by Tuthmosis III.

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|XIX. |Ramesses |Ramses | 1409 |c. 1440 |

Ramesses II. built many of the chief monuments now existing. Formed

the Cave Temples at Abu-Simbel.

His monument, the Colossus at Mitrahenny, on the site of Memphis.

Great extension of Thebes under Sethôs I.

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|XX. |Merr-Ra |Phuoro, Nilus | 1297 |c. 1270 |

| | ” IV. | | | |

| | ” V. | | | |

| | ” VI. | | | |

| | ” VII. | | | |

| | ” IX. | | | |

| | ” X. | | | |

| | ” XI. | | | |

| | ” XII. | | | |

Ramses III. leads great armies into Asia, and is a conqueror nearly

equal in renown to Sethôs I. and his son Ramesses II. Built the

Temples of Medînet-Hâbu.

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|XXI. |Smendes |Smen-Titi | 1112 | |

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

Sheshonk I. takes Jerusalem about 970, and many cities in Judæa. He

is the Schischak of the Bible.

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|XXV. |Sevech I. |Shabak, Sabako | 737 | |

Schabak and Tahraka are the So and Tirhakah of the Bible.

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|XXVI. |Stephinales | | 687 | c. 680 |

Arches in the tombs near the Pyramids of Gizeh.

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|XXVII. |Cambyses | | 525 | 525 |

Conquest of Egypt by Cambyses.

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|XXIX. |Nepherites | | 408 | 399 |

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

|XXX. |Nectanebus I. | | 387 | 378 |

Nectanebus I. builds a temple at Philæ.

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

| | conquers |Arses | 338 | 338 |

| | Egypt |Darius | 336 | 336 |

| | | | 332 | 332 |

+-------------+----------------+----------------------+-------+--------+

+---------------------------------------+----------+

| AGE OF THE PTOLEMIES. | Lepsius. |

+---------------------------------------+----------+

| I. Ptolemy Lagus, Soter I. | 305 |

| II. ” Philadelphus | 285 |

| III. ” Euergetes I. | 247 |

| IV. ” Philopator I. | 222 |

| V. ” Epiphanes | 205 |

| VI. ” Eupator | 181 |

| VII. ” Philometor | 181 |

| VIII. ” Philopator II. | 146 |

| IX. ” Euergetes | 146 |

| X. ” Soter II. | 117 |

| XI. ” Alexander I. | 107 |

| XII. ” Alexander II. | 81 |

| XIII. ” Neos Dionysos | 81 |

| Cleopatra VI. Philopator. | |

| With Ptolemy XIV. | 52 |

| With ” XV. | 48 |

| With ” XVI. Cæsar | 45 |

| With Mark Antony | 37 |

| Egypt a Roman province | 30 |

+---------------------------------------+----------+

APPENDIX.

(A, p. 239.)

_Observations on the Discovery, by_ Professor LEPSIUS, _of

Sculptured Marks on Rocks in the Nile Valley in Nubia; indicating

that, within the historical period, the river had flowed at a

higher level than has been known in Modern Times._ By LEONARD

HORNER, Esq., F.R.S.S. L. & E., F.G.S., &c. (_This paper is here

reprinted[376] at the request of_ Professor LEPSIUS.)

The recent archaiological researches of Professor Lepsius in Egypt,

and the Valley of the Nile, in Nubia, have given a deserved celebrity

and authority to his name, among all who take an interest in the early

history of that remarkable portion of the Old World. While examining

the ruins of a fortress, and of two temples of high antiquity at Semne,

in Nubia, he discovered marks cut in the solid rocks, and in the

foundation-stones of the fortress, indicating that, at a very remote

period in the annals of the country, the Nile must have flowed at a level

considerably above the highest point which it has ever reached during

the greatest inundations in modern times. This remarkable fact would

possess much geological interest with respect to any great river, but it

does so especially in the case of the Nile. Its annual inundations, and

the uniformity in the periods of its rise and fall, have been recorded

with considerable accuracy for many centuries; the solid matter held in

suspension in its waters, slowly deposited on the land overflowed, has

been productive of changes in the configuration of the country, not only

in times long antecedent to history, but throughout all history, down to

the present day. Of no other river on the earth’s surface do we possess

such or similar records; and, moreover, the Nile, and the changes it has

produced on the physical character of Egypt, are intimately associated

with the earliest records and traditions of the human race. Everything,

therefore, relating to the physical history of the Nile Valley must

always be an object of interest; but the discovery of Professor Lepsius

is one peculiarly deserving the attention of the geologist; for he does

not merely record the facts of the markings of the former high level of

the river, but he infers from these marks that since the reign of Mœris,

about 2200 years before our era, the entire bed of the Nile, in Lower

Nubia, must have been excavated to a depth of about 27 feet; and he

further speculates as to the process by which he believes the excavation

to have been effected.

It will be convenient, before entering upon the observations I have to

offer upon the cause assigned by Professor Lepsius for the former higher

levels of the Nile indicated by these marks, that I should give the

description of the discovery itself, by translating Dr. Lepsius’s own

account of it, in letters which he addressed to his friends, Professors

Ehrenberg and Böckh of Berlin, from the island of Philæ, in September,

1844[377].

“You may probably remember, when travelling to Dongola on the

Lybian side of the Nile, and in passing through the district

of Batn el hagér, that one of the most considerable of the

cataracts of the country occurs near Semne, a very old fortress,

with a handsome temple, built of sandstone, in a good state of

preservation; the track of the caravan passing close to it,

partly over the 4000-year-old artificial road. The track on the

eastern bank of the river is higher up, being carried through the

hills; and you must turn off from it at this point in order to

see the cataract. This Nile-pass, the narrowest with which I am

acquainted, according to the measurement of Hr. Erbkam, is 380

metres (1247 English feet) broad[378]; and both in itself, and

on account of the monuments existing there, is one of the most

interesting localities in the country, and we passed twelve days

in its examination.

“The river is here confined between steep rocky cliffs on both

sides, whose summits are occupied by two fortresses of the most

ancient and most massive construction, distinguishable at once

from the numerous other forts, which, in the time of the Nubian

power in this land of cliffs, were erected on most of the larger

islands, and on the hills commanding the river. The cataract

(or rapid) derives its name of Semne from that of the higher of

the two fortresses on the western bank; that on the opposite

bank, as well as a poor village lying somewhat south of it, is

called Kumme. In both fortresses the highest and best position is

occupied by a temple, built of huge blocks of sandstone, of two

kinds, which must have been brought from a great distance through

the rapids; for, southward, no sandstone is found nearer than

Gebel Abir, in the neighbourhood of Amara and the island of Sai

(between 80 and 90 English miles), and northward, there is none

nearer than the great division of the district at Wadi Halfa (30

miles distant).

“Both temples were built in the time of Tutmosis III., a king

of the 18th dynasty, about 1600 years before Christ; but the

fortresses in which they stand are of a more ancient date. The

foundations of these are granite blocks of Cyclopian dimensions,

resting on the rock, and scarcely inferior to the rock itself

in durability. They were erected by the first conqueror of the

country, King Sesurtesen III., of the 12th Dynasty, in order

to command the river, so easily done in so narrow a gorge. The

immediate successor of this king was Amenemha III., the Mœris of

the Greeks: he who accomplished the gigantic work of forming the

artificial lake of Mœris, in the Fayoum, and from whose time—the

most flourishing of the whole of the old Egyptian kingdom—the

risings of the Nile in successive years, doubtless by means of

regular markings, as indeed Diodorus tells, remained so well

known, that, according to Herodotus, they were recorded in

distinct numbers from the time of Mœris. It appears that this

provident king, occupied with great schemes for the welfare of

his country, considered it of great importance that the rising

of the Nile on the most southern border of his kingdom should be

observed, and the results forthwith communicated widely in other

parts of the land, to prepare the people for the inundations. The

gorge at Semne offered greater advantages for this object than

any other point; because the river was there securely confined

by precipitous rocky cliffs on each side. With the same view

he had doubtless caused Nilometers to be fixed at Assuan and

other suitable places; for without a comparison with these, the

observations at Semne could be of little use.

“The highest rise of the Nile in each year at Semne, was

registered by a mark, indicating the year of the king’s reign,

cut in the granite, either on one of the blocks forming the

foundation of the fortress, or on the cliff, and particularly

on the east or right bank, as best adapted for the purpose. Of

these markings eighteen still remain, thirteen of them having

been made in the reign of Mœris, and five in the time of his two

next successors. These last kings discontinued the observations;

for, in the mean time, the irruption of the Asiatic pastoral

tribes into Lower Egypt took place, and well-nigh brought the

whole kingdom to ruin. The record is almost always in the same

terms, short and simple: _Ra en Hapi en renpe_ ... mouth or gate

of the Nile in the year.... And then follows the year of the

reign, and the name of the king. It is written in a horizontal

row of hieroglyphics, included within two lines—the upper line

indicating the particular height of the water, as is often

specially stated—

[Illustration: 𓂋𓐰𓏤𓐰𓈖𓎛𓂝𓐰𓊪𓈘𓐰𓈖𓆳𓏏𓐰𓇳𓎆𓐱𓎆𓐰𓏽...]

In order to take a general survey, we shall now repeat, in a few words,