The oldest monuments of Egypt, and probably of the world, are the pyramids to the north of Memphis; but the absence of hieroglyphics and of every trace of sculpture precludes the possibility of ascertaining the exact period of their erection, or the names of their founders. From all that can be collected on this head, it appears that Suphis and his brother Sensuphis* erected them about the year 2120 B. c.†; and the tombs in their vicinity may have been built, or cut in the rock, shortly after their completion. These present the names of very ancient kings, whom we are still unable to refer to any certain epoch, or to place in the series of dynasties; but whether they were cotemporary with the immediate predecessors of Osirtasen ‡, or ruled the whole of Egypt, is a question that I do not as yet pretend to answer.

Previous to the accession of the first Osirtasen, who probably lived about 1740 B. C. and was therefore cotemporary with Joseph, we have little to guide us upon the monuments of Egypt; but we may safely conjecture, from the state of those erected during his reign, that the Egyptians were

Sensuphis signifies the brother of Suphis, agreeing with the relationship mentioned by Herodotus between Cheops and Cephren. They were succeeded by Moscheris or Mencheres, the Mycerinus of the Greek historian. Suphis, according to Manetho, was the second king in the fourth dynasty of Memphites.

+ This is following Eratosthenes, who places Suphis or Saophis the fourth before Apappus, whom I suppose to have been the cotemporary of Abraham, B. c. 1920. For if Jacob's arrival, B. c. 1706, is referred to the reign of Apappus, the antiquity of these monarchs is unnecessarily increased, and the additional 214 years augment our perplexities on the subject.

If we may believe Josephus, Manetho speaks of kings of the Thebaid and the rest of Egypt uniting in a common cause; and thereby shows the existence of cotemporary dynasties.

*

already far advanced in the arts of civilised life, and had arrived nearly at the same state in which they continued during what may be styled the Augustan era of the eighteenth dynasty. This is further confirmed by the scriptural sketch of Egyptian manners in the time of Joseph; but we have nothing to lead to any conclusion respecting the exact duration of the previous reigns, the organisation and progress of the political state of the country, or the period from which its civilisation dates its commencement. Nor can any thing satisfactory be derived from the imperfect history of the shepherd kings given by Manetho, or at least by his copyists: and his account of their aggressions is not sufficiently clear to enable us to determine whether he alludes to the Assyrians, Phoenicians, or Arabs. That they were not Jews is evident; though, as I have already observed in a former work, the Exodus of the Israelites may possibly, through the inattention of some authors, have been confounded with the expulsion of the Pastor tribes: and their abomination of shepherds necessarily originating in serious injuries received from them, as it already existed in the time of Joseph, proves their hostile invasions to have happened before that period.

About the epoch of the Jewish captivity, Egypt must have been engaged in a war with some powerful enemies, since the reason of the oppres

Many histories of Egypt were written at different periods, by native as well as foreign authors, which have unfortunately been lost. Conf. Cicero, de Republ. iii. 8. Illâ incorruptâ gente Egyptiorum, quæ plurimorum et sæculorum et eventorum memoriam literis continet.' + Herodotus calls Sennacherib 'king of Arabia and Assyria.' (lib. ii.

141.

sion exercised against the unresisting Hebrews is stated to have been the fear of their uniting with them *; and, indeed, it appears from the sculptures of Beni Hassan, that the Egyptians already, as early as the reign of Osirtasen, had extended their arms into Asia, had thence brought many captives to Egypt, and had perhaps enrolled some of the conquered people in their army, as was frequently the case at a later period. This war with foreign nations is another strong argument against the opinion of Josephus that the Jews were the Shepherds, and the pretended power of his countrymen at so early an epoch is inconsistent with reason and probability. The Jews, even in the most flourishing state, when in firm possession of the promised land, and united under one king, never did arrive at the degree of power which he has ascribed to them in Egypt; and the whole is at variance with Scripture history.

There is great difficulty in assigning a date to the irruption of those invaders, and their occupation of Lower Egypt. The forty-three Pastor or Shepherd kings, placed by Manetho as cotemporaries of the same number of Theban princes, who composed the seventeenth dynasty, ill agree with the monuments that remain; since Osirtasen I., who must have been one of the cotemporary Egyptian monarchs, ruled the lower as well as the

* Exodus i. 10. Lest.... when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us.' According to Manetho, the Egyptians had obtained possession of Libya long before this epoch, since he speaks of the Libyans revolting from the first king of the third dynasty. Vide infrà, p. 26.

upper country. What may have happened before his accession, I do not pretend to decide; but the pyramids, and the tombs in their vicinity, which I conceive to have been much anterior to his reign, are evidently Egyptian; and as this circumstance requires a long period of tranquillity and freedom from aggression, previous to the reign of Osirtasen, the seventeenth dynasty of shepherds is rendered still more doubtful. It is, however, remarkable, that no buildings of a date prior to the reign of Osirtasen I., excepting the pyramids, some tombs and grottos, now exist in Upper or Lower Egypt: and hence these questions naturally arise :-Did Osirtasen expel the invaders from Lower Egypt, and afterwards erect the edifices to which the obelisks at Heliopolis and in the Fyoom once belonged? and if so, why have we not pointed allusions to those battles and welcome victories in the tombs of Beni Hassan? Or are we to attribute the absence of monuments before the reign of Osirtasen to their great antiquity and consequent dilapidation? The last is more probable, since those bearing the name of Osirtasen only consist of a few broken columns at Karnak and the two obelisks above mentioned; the grottos of Beni Hassan being hewn in the imperishable rock: and, indeed, without them his name would have been almost as little known as those of other kings who preceded him. Nor could the loss of the early monuments have been the result of the irruption of the Pastors; since we do not even find any remaining at Thebes, which is beyond the point whither the invaders

appear to have penetrated, and, consequently, out of the reach of destruction.

I am, therefore, of opinion that the irruption of the Pastors was anterior to the erection of any building now extant in Egypt, and long before the accession of the seventeenth dynasty *; but, until some further light is thrown on the subject, either by the monuments or some equally authentic source, it will be better to commence our history of Egypt with the reign of that monarch whose records exist, and from whom we can establish a regular succession. I shall, however, first introduce the names and order of the sovereigns mentioned by Herodotus, Diodorus, Manetho, and Eratosthenes, with a few remarks on the probable origin of the shepherd kings; and then proceed, in the next chapter, to a comparison of the names occurring on the monuments, with the catalogues of the priest of Sebennytus, and other ancient authors.

And in order to present a comparative view of the succession from Menes to the invasion of Cambyses, according to Herodotus and Diodorus, I shall arrange the names given by those historians separately in opposite columns.

*The old chronicle gives four Memphites to the seventeenth dynasty, and eight Tanites to the sixteenth, which I have followed in preference to the forty-three of Manetho.

No. 1.

Egyptian dagger, length 114 inches.

Salt's Collection.