hIV, 1026-7. This date is found in a contemporary inscription in Hammamat (Lepsius, Denkmäler, III, 2756); as Herodotus also gives 44 as the length of this reign, there is evidently no doubt that we have in it the highest date of the reign. ADDENDUM ON CHRONOLOGY (842) A letter from Eduard Meyer calls my attention to a fragmentary relief in the tomb of Thutnakht (El Bersheh, II, Pls. 8 and 9) which shows that the flax harvest in the middle of the twentieth century B. C. took place between the twenty-third and twenty-seventh of the fourth month. This harvest at the present day in the province of Minieh occurs during the early part of April. Thus the 113th117th days of the calendar, which normally fell between November 9 and 13 (Julian), then fell in early April, showing a shift of the calendar of over 200 days, and corresponding completely with the shift of 225 days indicated by the Kahun Sothic date (§§ 42, 46). The date of the Twelfth Dynasty is thus confirmed beyond a doubt. THE PALERMO STONE a 76. The content of this document, remarkable as it is, is perhaps not more valuable than the revelation it furnishes of the existence of royal annals of an official character, regularly kept by the kings of Egypt in the Old Kingdom and extending back into the time of the two kingdoms of the North and South. They reveal a great and powerful kingdom from the beginning of the dynasties, enjoying ordered government under a highly developed and aggressive state, and exhibiting a high degree of culture and civilization such as we could not have anticipated in this remote age. 77. While a translation of the document, owing to its unique and archaic character, is accompanied by many uncertainties, yet the whole is of an importance which justifies a sufficient presentation of the content to make clear the character, scope, and arrangement of these oldest annals of Egypt. The voluminous commentary necessary for the explanation of many obscure references and allusions is unavoidably omitted here; but the obscurity of these par aA fragment of "Diorite anfibolica," 6.5 cm. thick, 0.435 m. high, and 0.25 m. wide; since 1877 in the Museum of Palermo, and commonly known as the "Palermo Stone." It was published by Pellegrini (Archivio storico Siciliano, nuova serie, anno XX, 297-316, and 3 plates); by Schaefer, who first recognized its real character (Ein Bruchstück altaegyptischer Königsannalen [Anhang zu den Abhandlungen der Königlichen Preussischen Akademie, 1902], with 2 plates); and by Naville (La pierre de Palerme, Rec. XXV, 1-20, with 2 plates). Besides the interpretations of the above scholars, see Maspero (Revue critique, 1899, I, 1, and 1901, I, 383), who was the first to recognize the character of the year-names; also Spiegelberg, Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache, XXXV, 10. bThe following translation is largely an editing of the rendering of Schaefer and Sethe; but, although space and time for commentary fail me, I have made some changes and additions, like the expedition of Snefru to Syria. |