whom the modern appellation El Ménhi appears to have been borrowed. That the lake Moris was in reality a name applied to the canal, as well as to the lake itself, we have the authority of Pliny, who asserts that "the lake Moris* was a large canal;" and the great difficulty which has arisen on the subject is owing to the imperfect description of Herodotus, who has confounded the two omitting to designate the canal as an artificial work, and the lake as a natural formation. It has not only perplexed many of his readers, but has even misled the learned geographer D'Anville, who, in order to account for his statement, suggested the existence of the Bathen; an hypothesis entirely disproved by an examination of its supposed site and of all authors who have written on this lake and canal, or the position of the labyrinth, none can be consulted with greater satisfaction than Strabot, in whose valuable work we only regret too much conciseness.

During the period which elapsed from Menes to Sesostris, no monarch of note reigned in Egypt, if we except those above mentioned, and the Mnevis and Sasyches of Diodorust, who held a conspicuous place among the legislators of their country. But the exact period of their reigns is uncertain, and the historian has failed to inform us if Sasyches was the immediate successor of the for

* "Mœridus lacus, hoc est, fossa, grandis." Plin. xxxvi. 16. + Vide Strabo's account of the lake and its canal, as well as the position of the labyrinth. lib. xvii.

Diodor. i. 94. The name calls to mind Susachis, or Shishak; though Diodorus places him before Sesostris (Sesoosis).

mer, and whether they both preceded or followed Moris. Mnevis is represented to have been the first to teach the people to obey and respect the laws, and to have derived his sanction as a lawgiver from Mercury himself; a fable which, with the name of the prince, argues strongly in support of the opinion that Diodorus has confounded him with Menes, the founder of the Egyptian monarchy. Sasyches, a man of great learning, made numerous and important additions to the existing code, and introduced many minute regulations respecting the service of the Gods. He was also the reputed inventor of geometry; and ordained that astronomy should be taught, as an important branch of education.

With the exception of these few reigns, Egyptian history presents a blank from the foundation of the monarchy to the era of Sesostris: it is, however, probable that a portion of it may be filled by an event, which, though not fixed to any precise time by historians, is universally allowed to have occurred; the occupation of the country by the Shepherds. If this and the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt have been confounded by Josephus, perhaps intentionally, and by other writers accidentally, the exploits of Sesostris and of Remeses the Great have experienced the same treatment from Herodotus and others; as the following extracts from his writings cannot fail to prove, with which I continue my comparative view of Egyptian history:·

"Sesostris was the first who, passing the Ara

bian Gulf in a fleet of long vessels, reduced under his authority the inhabitants of the coasts bordering on the Mare Erythæum* ; and proceeding still farther, he came to a sea which, from the great number of its shoals, was not navigable. On his return to Egypt, according to the authority of the priests, he levied a mighty army, and made an expedition by land, subduing all the nations he met with on his march. Whenever he

was opposed by a people who proved themselves brave, and who discovered an ardour for liberty, he erected tablets † (stelæ) in their country, on which he inscribed his name, and that of his nation, and how he had conquered them by the force of his arms but where he met with little or no opposition, upon similar tablets, which he erected, was added a symbol emblematic of their pusillanimity. Continuing his progress, he passed from Asia to Europe‡, and subdued the countries of Scythia and Thrace; there, however, I believe his army to have been stopped, since monuments of his victories only appear thus far, and none beyond that country. On his return he came to the river Phasis; but I am by no means certain whether he left a detachment of his force as a colony in that district, or whether some of his men, fatigued with their

The Mare Erythræum, or Red Sea, was that part of the Indian Ocean without the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb; and in later times was applied to the Arabian Gulf, or Sinus Arabicus.

No doubt, similar to those about E'Souan and other places, many of which are commemorative of victories of the Pharaohs. That on the Lycus, near Beiroot, is probably one of the stele alluded to by Herodotus.

Conf. Valer. Flac. Argon. 5. 418. tulerit rex bella Getis."

...

"ut prima Sosostris. In

laborious service, remained there of their own accord.* The Colchians, indeed, appear to be of Egyptian origin; and a strong argument in support of this conjecture, is derived from the fact of their being the only people, except the Egyptians and Ethiopians, and, I may add, the Phoenicians and Syrians of Palestine, who use circumcision; and these two last acknowledge that they borrowed the custom from Egypt. The Colchians have also another point of resemblance to the Egyptians the manufacture of linen is alike in both countries, and peculiar to them; and, moreover, their manners and language are similar.

"The greater part of the stela erected by Sesostris in the places he conquered, are no longer to be found. I have myself seen some in Palestine of Syria, with the disgraceful emblem and inscriptions above mentioned; and in Ionia are two figures of the same king hewn in the rock, one on the way from Ephesus to Phocæa, the other between Sardis and Smyrna. They both represent a man, five palms in height, holding in his right hand a javelin, and in his left a bow; the rest of his armour being partly Egyptian and partly Ethiopian. Across his breast, from shoulder to shoulder, is this inscription, in the sacred or hieroglyphic writing of Egypt-I conquered this country by the force of my arms.'† Who or whence he is, are not specified; both being mentioned elsewhere‡; and though some

* Rather as a garrison for one of the military posts he established, in order to secure the conquered territory, and the exaction of tribute. + Or "shoulders:" conf. Claudian, Bell. Gild., 114. humeris pontumque subegi."

"Terras

Probably in the lines of hieroglyphics on the tablet accompanying the figure.

who have examined it, suppose it to be Memnon, I am persuaded they are mistaken in the name of the monarch."

There is little doubt that one of the tablets or stelæ alluded to by the historian still exists in Syria, bearing the name of Remeses II. It is at the side of the road leading to Beiroot, close to the river Lycus, now Nahr-el-Kelb; and though the hieroglyphics are much erased, sufficient remains to show by whose order it was sculptured. Near it is another, accompanied by the figure of a Persian king, and inscribed with the arrow-headed character, copies of which have been lately made by Mr. Bonomi; and thus the memorials of the sage of the Egyptian army, marching triumphant over Asiatic nations, and that of the Persians victorious over Syria and Egypt, are recorded in a similar manner at the same spot.

pas

Diodorus mentions several princes who reigned in Egypt between Menes and Sesostris, some of whom preceded, and others followed, Moris, or, as he calls him, Myris. Menes, according to that historian, was succeeded by two of his descendants, who in Manetho are his son Athothes and his grandson Cencenes, or, as Eratosthenes states, Athothes I. and II. Fifty-two kings, whose names are omitted, succeeded them; then Busiris, who was followed by eight of his descendants, the last of whom bore the same name as the first, and was said to have been the founder of Thebes. This honour, we have seen above, has also been claimed for Menes; but it is more probable, as I have elsewhere shown, that the city existed even