difficult a conquest: and the Assyrians under Semiramis are even believed by some to have extended their arms into that country. But the weakness of the successors of Ninyas prevented their keeping possession of a territory daily increasing in power: and the Egyptians were enabled to throw off the yoke, to extend in turn their conquests into the heart of Asia, and to obtain possession of the provinces lying between Egypt and the Euphrates, which had been previously annexed to the Assyrian empire, thus gratifying the ambition natural to a rising state, and retaliating the affront offered by the invader. Their first attempts were upon the neighbouring districts of Syria, and finding their efforts attended with success, they proceeded onward to the N. and E. till they had not only deprived the enemy of his conquests, but carried the war into Assyria itself; and they continued to enjoy the fruits of these victories until the arms of Babylon once more wrested the whole of the vanquished territory from the declining power of Egypt, at the close of the reign of Neco. No. 2. Shooting at a Target. Thebes In the previous chapter, I have shown the dif ficulty of elucidating the early period of Egyptian history, owing to the want of monumental records and the deficiency of authentic historical information a slight difference of opinion may also exist respecting the age of Osirtasen I., and even that of the glorious princes of the 18th Dynasty : it will, however, be proper to accompany my historical notice with a chronological table of kings, and the inquiring reader will not consider it uninteresting to compare the succession of those whose names occur on the monuments with the accounts of ancient authors. Many of the first monarchs are omitted, from the persuasion that conjecture unsupported by positive authority is unnecessary and presumptuous, and I am less anxious to introduce them into the following series, as the lists of Manetho and Eratosthenes have been already given. Supposed Succession of Egyptian Kings. Name from ancient Authors. Name from the Events. Ascended the Throne. Menes. Minæus of Jose phus 1st Dynasty, of 1 Theban. } Menai. First King of Egypt. According to Josephus, MeInes lived upwards of 1300 years before Solomon, (who was born in 1032, and ascended the throne in 1015,) and founded Memphis. Antiq. viii.c.6. 2d to the 15th Dynasty, of Memphites? Athothis, his son His successors uncertain. Suphis, or Saophis Builds the palace at Mem- Foundation of the kingdom Foundation of the king- B. C. 2320* 2300 2123 * I extend the date of his ascending the throne from 2201 of my former table to 2320, on the authority of Josephus. + The number of Manetho's Dynasties from Athothis to Menmoph is probably too great. Manetho, according to Africanus. Menes is said to have reigned 60 years. Elian, on the authority of Apion, mentions Enis, a son of Menes, as having been king of Egypt. Nat. Hist. lib. ii. 40. The name of this Pharaoh was probably Shofo, or Khof, the sh and kh being frequently used indifferently in Egyptian names. They are easily converted into Suphis or Cheops by adding the Greek termination s. * In the list of the ancestors of Remeses II. at the Memnonium, no king intervenes between Menes and the 18th Dynasty but Menmoph, which I suppose to be in consequence of his having been the only Theban monarch before the time of Amosis (vide infrà, note on Amosis). The error in this name arose from the ↔ having been mistaken for μ. The accession of the first Osirtasen I conceive to date about the year 1740 B. c., and the length of his reign must have exceeded 43 years. If the name of this monarch was not ennobled by military exploits equal to those of the Remeses, the encouragement given to the arts of peace, and the flourishing state of Egypt during his rule, evince his wisdom; and his pacific character satisfactorily accords with that of the Pharaoh* who so generously rewarded the talents and fidelity of a Hebrew stranger. Some insight into Egyptian customs during his reign is derived from the story of Joseph, with whom I suppose him to have been coeval; and the objects taken thither by the Ishmaelites, consisting in spices, balm, and myrrh, which were intended for the purposes of luxury as well as of religion; the subsequent mention of the officers of Pharaoh's household; the state allowed to Josepht; the portion of lands allotted to the priesthood, and other similar institutions and customs tend to show the advanced state of society at this early epoch. ་ * I have frequently had occasion to notice the true reading and purport of this name: I shall, therefore, only observe, that it is written in Hebrew Phrah, л, and is taken from the Egyptian word Pire or Phre (pronounced Phra), signifying the sun, and represented in hieroglyphics by the hawk and globe, or sun, over the royal banners. It was through the well-known system of analogies that the king obtained this title, being the chief of earthly as the sun was of heavenly bodies. But the word is not derived from or related to ouro, "king," as Josephus supposes (Antiq. viii. c. 6.). Phouro is like Pharaoh; but the name is Phrah in Hebrew, and Pharaoh is an unwarranted corruption. Vide my Egypt and Thebes, p. 5. note. Gen. xli. 42, 43. |