-

Egyptians." Of these 36,525 years, it proceeds to say the first fifteen dynasties are of gods (Æritæ) and demigods (Mestræans), who together reigned 34,644 years, leaving the human period to begin with the XVIth dynasty, and extending only 1881 years. This, Syncellus says, "is accounted " is accounted the oldest Egyptian document," αὕτη μὲν ἡ παλαιοτέρα νομιζομένη Αιγυπτίων συγγραφή, Alɣvarlov ovɣyaq, i. e., probably the oldest written in Greek. It was, according to this author, one of the documents consulted by Manetho in making up his lists, in regard to which he made the mistake of reckoning all the dynasties, instead of the last fifteen only, as mortal kings, and carrying up the begin→ ning of the monarchy 3523 years above the date at which it was set by the Chronicle- a very grave mistake truly, and rendering the list, as usually read, entirely worthless. According to this venerable document, therefore, the true date of Menes is B. C. 2220.

(b.) Nearly contemporary with Manetho was the distinguished scholar, historian, and critic Eratosthenes, who wrote an important work on the history of Egypt, of which portions are preserved to us in the writings of Apollodorus, an equally eminent scholar of the succeeding century. Bunsen (vol. i. pp. 119-121) styles Eratosthenes "the father of chronology and geography," and says,

*See Appendix, F.

"Everything relative to Egypt, emanating from a man of such rare talent and extensive learning, is deserving of the highest respect. Besides which, we must also reflect that for the history of Egypt, above that of all other countries, every attainable material was at his disposal. Born in the 126th Olympiad, about B. C. 276, in the early part, therefore, of the reign of Philadelphus, he succeeded, probably under Evergetes, to the honorable post of director of the Alexandrian Library, which he filled to the time of his death, in his eightieth or eighty-second year. The very researches to which our attention is here directed, were undertaken by the command of the king, consequently with every advantage that royal patronage could procure for the investigation from the Egyptian priests."

Of Apollodorus, also, Bunsen speaks in terms scarcely less eulogistic. The testimony of these eminent scholars is reported to us by Syncellus, as follows:

"The chronographer Apollodorus has written of another kingdom (Egyptian) of thirty-eight Theban kings, so called, amounting to 1076 years, which began at the 2900th, and ended in the 3975th (3976th) year of the world, the knowledge of which he says Eratosthenes derived from Egyptian records and lists of names, and by royal command translated into Greek, thus." Then, after reciting the names, he adds, "The dominion (ag) of the thirty-eight kings, called, in Egypt, Theban, whose names Eratosthenes received from the sacred

scribes in Diospolis, and translated from Egyptian into Greek, ended here, having begun at the 2900th year of the world, — 124 years after the confusion of tongues, and terminating at this 3975th (3976th) year of the world. But the names of the fifty-three other Theban kings after these, I think it needless to give here, since they are nothing to my purpose, as, indeed, is true of those already given."

According to this eminent authority, therefore, the entire Egyptian monarchy extended through only ninety-one reigns, instead of the several hundred claimed for it by Manetho. It is true that Bunsen denies that the fifty-three unnamed kings reached down to the close of the empire, and insists that they belong to what he calls the "Middle Kingdom," extending from the XIIth to the XVIIIth dynasty. In this, however, he stands alone, so far as I am aware. He concedes, however, that the thirty-eight reigns cover the first twelve dynasties; and there is decisive evidence from the monuments, as we shall presently see, that the XVIIIth dynasty immediately succeeded the XIIth, the intermediate ones either not existing at all, or being scattered in fragments, contemporaneous with those preceding or following. In this view the so-called Middle Kingdom wholly disappears. The fifty-three unnamed kings of Eratosthenes, then, probably covered the

remainder of the monarchy from the beginning of the XVIIIth dynasty, which may be the reason why Syncellus deemed it unnecessary to name them, as they agreed substantially with Manetho's lists (in Eusebius). At any rate, the fact is admitted by Lepsius, one of the greatest Egyptologers, and can not well be disputed.

*

This period, according to Africanus, was 1377 years, which, added to the 1076 of the preceding thirty-eight reigns, makes the entire duration of the monarchy 2453 years, and, dating back from Alexander, B. C. 340, carries the age of Menes to B. C. 2793, or 362 years after the flood, which sufficiently harmonizes with the Scripture chronology.†

(c.) Our next authority on the point before us is Josephus, the eminent Jewish historian, who, for the elegance and vigor of his style, has been named the Greek Livy. His work, entitled " Against Apion," is a vindication of the antiquity of his nation from

*He points out the important fact that, according to Syncellus, there were just fifty-three kings from Amosis I., who expelled the Shepherds, to Amosis II., the contemporary of Cambyses.

† Bunsen himself places the beginning of the XVIIIth dynasty at B. C. 1633, which all admit to be near the truth. Thus, instead of carrying up the era of Menes, as he does, to B. C. 3623, or 3059, we bring it down by the list of Eratosthenes to (1633+1076) B. C. 2709. See Appendix, G.

the charge that it had not been mentioned by Greek historians. In this work he refers to Manetho by name, and gives, professedly verbatim, long extracts from him.* In comparing these with what we have of that author, we find very little resemblance between them. Of the narrative portion cited by Josephus there is absolutely nothing. His list of kings, twenty-five in all, begins with the XVth dynasty of Africanus, and ends with the early part of the XXth a period to which Manetho assigns ninety-eight kings. In Eusebius it begins with the XVIIth dynasty, and includes a period of but nineteen kings. The whole duration of these reigns in Josephus is 492 years, in Africanus 1216, in Eusebius 451. Nothing more, surely, is needed to show how utterly unworthy of confidence are the lists of Manetho. There is no reason to believe that Josephus did not give, literally, his extracts, as he professed to do, or that his works, which have been otherwise so well preserved, have been corrupted. He evidently had what he regarded as the original work before him. We see not how to avoid the conclusion, that Africanus and Eusebius, or Syncellus, who reported them, used some abridgment or epitome made by some other person, either a bungling transcriber, a willful falsifier, or an impos* See Appendix, H.

.