dynasties known to us he divides into three sections:— I-XI, XII-XIX, and XX-XXX. Diodorus Siculus, who visited Egypt about B.C. 57, wrote a history of the country, its people and its religion, based chiefly upon the works of Herodotus and Hekatæus. He was not so able a writer nor so accurate an observer as Herodotus, and his work contains many blunders. Other important ancient writers on Egypt are Strabo,* Chaeremon,† Josephus,‡ Plutarch and Horapollo.|| According to Manetho, there reigned over Egypt before Menȧ, or Menes, the first mortal king of that country, a number of beings who may be identified with the Shesu Heru, or "followers of Horus"; of their deeds and history nothing is known. Some have believed that during their rule Egypt was divided into two parts, each ruled by its own king; and others have thought that the whole of Upper and Lower Egypt was divided into a large series of small, independent principalities, which were united under one head in the person of Menes. There is, however, no support to be obtained from the inscriptions for either of these theories. The kings of Egypt following after the mythical period are divided into thirty dynasties. For the sake of convenience, Egyptian history is divided into three periods:-I, the Ancient Empire, which includes the first eleven dynasties; II, the Middle Empire, which includes the next nine dynasties (XIIthXXth); and, III, the New Empire, which includes the remaining ten dynasties, XXIst-XXXth, one being Persian. The rule of the Saïte kings was followed by that of the Persians, Macedonians, Ptolemies and Romans. The rule of the Arabs which began A.D. 641, ended A.D. 1517, when the country was conquered by the Turks; since this time Egypt has been nominally a pashalik of Turkey. About A.D. 75, * About A.D. 15. + About A. D. 50. || About A.D. 400. The date assigned to the first dynasty is variously given by different scholars: by Champollion-Figeac it is B.C. 5867, by Böckh 5702, by Bunsen 3623, by Lepsius 3892, by Lieblein 3893, by Mariette 5004, and by Brugsch 4400. As far as can be seen, there is much to be said in favour of that given by Brugsch, and his dates are adopted throughout in this book. ΙΟ B.C. HISTORICAL SUMMARY. ANCIENT EMPIRE. Dynasty I, from This. 4400. Mena,* the first human king of Egypt, founded Memphis, having turned aside the course of the Nile, and established a temple service there. 4366. Teta, wrote a book on anatomy, and continued buildings at Memphis. 4266. Hesep-ti. Some papyri state that the 64th Chapter of the Book of the Dead was written in his time. Dynasty II, from This. 4133. Neter-baiu,† in whose reign an earthquake swallowed up many people at Bubastis. 4100. Kakau, in whose days the worship of Apis at Memphis, and that of Mnevis at Heliopolis, was continued. 4066. Ba-en-neter, in whose reign, according to John of Antioch, the Nile flowed with honey for eleven days. During the reign of this king the succession of females to the throne of Egypt was declared valid. 4000. Sent. Sepulchral stela of this king's priests are preserved at Oxford and at Gîzeh; see page 572. Nefer-ka-Seker, in whose reign an eclipse appears to be mentioned. Dynasty III, from Memphis. 3900. Tcheser, the builder of the famous "Step Pyramid" B.C. Dynasty IV, from Memphis. 3766. Seneferu. Important contemporaneous monuments of this king exist. During his reign the copper mines of Wâdî Ma'ârah were worked. the pyramid of Mêdûm. He built 3733. Khufu (Cheops), who fought with the people of Sinai; he built the first pyramid of Gizeh. 3666. Kha-f-Rā (Chephren), the builder of the second. pyramid at Gizeh. 3633. Men-kau-Rā (Mycerinus), the builder of the third pyramid at Gîzeh. The fragments of his coffin are in the British Museum. Some copies of the Book of the Dead say that the 64th chapter of that work was compiled during the reign of this king. Dynasty V, from Elephantine. 3533. Saḥu-Rā, the builder of a pyramid at Abuşîr. 3443. Rā-en-user, the builder of a pyramid at Abuşir. 3366. Tet-ka-Rā. The Precepts of Ptah-hetep were written during the reign of this king. 3333. Unas, whose pyramid at Sakkâra was explored in 1881. Dynasty VI, from Memphis. 3266. Tetȧ, the builder of a pyramid at Sakkâra. 3233. Pepi-meri-Ra, the builder of a pyramid at Sakkâra. 3200. Mer-en-Rā. 3166. Nefer-ka-Rā. 3133 (?). Nit-ȧqert (Nitocris), "the beautiful woman with rosy cheeks." 3100. Dynasties VII and X, from Memphis. Nefer-ka. Nefer-Seḥ.... Åb. Nefer-kau-Rā. Kharthi. B. C. 3033. Nefer-ka-Rā. 3000. Nefer-ka-Ra-Nebi. 2966. Tet-ka-Rā-. . . . . 2933. Nefer-ka-Rā-Khenṭu. 2900. Mer-en-Ḥeru. 2866. Se-nefer-ka-Rā. 2833. Ka-en-Rā. 2800. Nefer-ka-Ra-Tererl. 2766. Nefer-ka-Ra-Ḥeru. 2733. Nefer-ka-Rā Pepi Seneb. 2533. Nefer-ȧri-ka-Rā.* Dynasty XI, from Diospolis, or Thebes, It is not at present possible to arrange in chronological order the names of the kings of this dynasty, although several of them are well known. Names common to several of them are Antef and Menthu-hetep. Some of the kings appear to have ruled for long periods, but their reigns were on the whole uneventful; the burial place of the kings of this dynasty is at Drah abu'l-Nekkah. 2500. Se-ankh-ka-Rā. This king is known to us through an inscription at Ḥamâmât, which states that he sent an expedition to the land of Punt; this shows that at that early date an active trade must have been carried on across the Arabian desert between Egypt and Arabia. The other kings of the XIth dynasty bore the names of Antef-aa, An-ȧntef, Amentuf, An-ãa, and Mentu-hetep. Se-ankh-ka-Ra appears to have been the immediate predecessor of the XIIth dynasty. These names are obtained from the TABLET OF ABYDOS; see nage 3. |