as affording a date, is of the fifteenth century before Christ, and no one has alleged any such record to be of any earlier time than the twenty-fourth century before Christ."

The same thing is substantially true of the literary remains of ancient Egypt. It is generally admitted that the art of writing was known at a very early period, perhaps as early as the commencement of the empire under Menes, its first king. Clemens Alexandrinus mentions sacred Egyptian books to the number of forty-two; others, eleven hundred; others still, twenty thousand, and thirty-six thousand five hundred. Some of these may still be extant in the numerous papyrus rolls now deposited in the museums of Egypt. It is, however, generally agreed that these books contain no history or chronology; and certain it is that, if they do, neither has, as yet, been brought to light. Bunsen (vol. ii. p. 16) expressly says, "We possess no Egyptian historical

work."

For the history and chronology of ancient Egypt, then, we have to depend almost solely upon writers of other nations, mostly of the Greeks.

Diodorus Siculus (I. ii. 36) gives a list of the names of "illustrious Greeks," as he terms them, who had traveled in Egypt. He says that the

* Bunsen, vol. i. p. 7.

priests of that country read in their annals the names of these men whom they have seen among them, beginning with the semi-fabulous name of Orpheus. He then mentions Homer, Lycurgus, and others, down to his own time, giving more than half a score in all. Plutarch furnishes a similar list. Thus it appears that the principal of the Greek historians, philosophers, and poets visited Egypt for the express purpose of studying its customs, institutions, and whatever else was worthy to be known. And we find, in corroboration of these statements, very many things in Grecian mythology and science credited to that people. More than a dozen Grecian and Roman writers speak of Egypt in their works. Some, as Herodotus and Diodorus, go into details respecting the history of the country and its laws; others, as Plutarch, dwell more on matters pertaining to religion and the gods; others, still, speak of its language, pyramids, and other monuments. Now, when we consider the eminently practical character of the Greek mind, what those writers said of Egypt is of great importance in our discussion, although we may often be sorely vexed at the meagerness of the information they furnish on particular points, when they evidently had the means and the opportunity of giving us the very knowledge we seek.

In exhibiting the accounts which these writers have left us, it will be convenient to divide them into two classes—those which relate to prehistoric times, and those which relate to historic times. The time of separation between these has usually been placed at the reign of Menes, the first mortal king, though there is some evidence that Menes himself is a mythological personage.

I. THE PREHISTORIC TIMES OF EGYPT.

The following are among the testimonies of ancient writers on this subject:

From Diogenes Laertius (Int. § 2).

"The Egyptians say that Vulcan was the son of Nilus, and that he was the author of philosophy. From his age to that of Alexander, king of the Macedonians, were forty-eight thousand eight hundred and sixty-three years, and, during this time, there were three hundred and seventy-three eclipses of the sun, and eight hundred and thirty-two eclipses of the moon."

From Diodorus Siculus (I. i. § 14).

"The priests of Egypt, summing up the time from the reign of Helius (the sun).to the passage of Alexander into Asfa, find it more than twenty-three thousand years."

From Herodotus (II. 43).

But there was a certain ancient god with the Egyp- tians, by name Hercules. Seventeen thousand years before the reign of Amasis, the twelve gods were, they affirm, produced from the eight, and, of these twelve, Hercules is one."

From Pomponius Mela (Cory's Anc. Fragments,

p. 163).

"The Egyptians, according to their own accounts, are the most ancient of men, and they reckon, in their series of annals, three hundred and thirty kings, who reigned above thirteen thousand years."

From the "Old Chronicle." *

This venerable document is reported to us by George Syncellus, a Greek writer of the ninth century. It professes to give the duration of thirty dynasties of Egyptian kings, covering a period of thirty-six thousand five hundred and twenty-five years. The first fourteen of these belonged to prehistoric times, embracing thirty-four thou sand two hundred and one years. According to this Chronicle, only the last sixteen of the thirty dynasties belong to historic times, which are made to commence about B. C. 2043.

From Eusebius.

This distinguished historian and chronologer devotes chapter in his "Chronicon" (book i. ch. 20) to Egyp

*See page 73.

tian chronology, expressly mentioning MANETHO✶ as his authority. He makes the reigns of the gods, from Vulcan (Hephaistus) to Bytis, to have been thirteen thousand nine hundred years, and those of demigods, manes, heroes, and other kings of the same age, eleven thousand years in all, twenty-four thousand nine hundred years. He then gives an account of the so-called thirty-one dynasties, beginning with Menes, the first mortal king, who, according to the numbers mentioned, if the dynasties are regarded as consecutive,- began his reign about B. C. 5500, thus carrying back the full antiquity of the Egyptian people to about 30,500 B. C.

From Fulius Africanus.

--

This writer was a learned chronologer of the second century after Christ. He gives us a version of Manetho, which, so far as relates to the mythologic times of Egypt, differs, in essential particulars, from that of Eusebius. He states the reigns of the gods, beginning with Hephaistus, whose sway was nine thousand years, to have been eleven thousand nine hundred and eighty-five years,

and those of the demigods, heroes, and manes, to have been eight hundred and fifty-three years.

Then follow

* The great differences that appear in the statements of the different writers who, in the matter of Egyptian history and chronology, have professed to take Manetho as authority, are an anomaly in literature.

†There is some doubt how far the details of this account are to be ascribed to Africanus, and how far to later historians and