Citizendia

Manetho (or Manethon) was an Egyptian historian and priest from Sebennytos (ancient Egyptian: Tjebnutjer) who lived during the Ptolemaic era, ca. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. See also History An historian is an individual who studies and writes about History, and is regarded as an Authority on it A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites in particular rites of sacrifice to and propitiation of a deity or deities Sebennytos or Sebennytus ( Greek:, Ptol iv 5 § 50 Steph B s v Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now The Ptolemaic dynasty (sometimes also known as the Lagids, from the name of Ptolemy I's father Lagus) was a Hellenistic Macedonian royal family 3rd century BC. The 3rd century BC started the first day of 300 BC and ended the last day of 201 BC Manetho recorded Aegyptiaca (History of Egypt). His work is of great interest to Egyptologists, and is often used as evidence for the chronology of the reigns of pharaohs. This is a partial list of Egyptologists. An Egyptologist is any Archaeologist, Historian, linguist, or Art historian who specializes in

Contents

Name

The original Egyptian version of Manetho's name is now lost to us, but it is speculated to have meant "Gift of Thoth", "Beloved of Thoth", "Truth of Thoth", "Beloved of Neith", or "Lover of Neith". For other meanings of "Thoth" or of "Djehuti" and similar see Thoth (disambiguation. In Egyptian mythology, Neith (also known as Nit, Net, and Neit) was an early goddess in the Egyptian pantheon. Less accepted proposals are Myinyu-heter ("Horseherd" or "Groom") and Ma'ani-Djehuti ("I have seen Thoth"). In Greek, the earliest fragments (the Carthage inscription and Flavius Josephus) write his name as Μανεθων Manethōn, so the rendering of his name here is given as Manetho (the same way that Platōn is rendered "Plato"). Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Carthage (Καρχηδών Karkhēdōn, Carthago from the Phoenician קרת חדשת phn-Latn Qart-ḥadašt meaning new town) refers Josephus (AD 37 – c 100 also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu (Joseph son of Matthias and after he became a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Other renderings in Greek include Manethōs, Manethō, Manethos, Manēthōs, Manēthōn, and even Manethōth. In Latin we find Manethon, Manethos, Manethonus, and Manetos.

Life and work

Although no sources for the dates of his life and death remain, his work is usually associated with the reigns of Ptolemy I Soter (323-283 BCE) and Ptolemy II Philadelphos (285-246 BCE). For the astronomer see Ptolemy; for others named "Ptolemy" or "Ptolemaeus" see Ptolemy (disambiguation. Ptolemy II Philadelphus ( Greek:, Ptolemaĩos Philádelphos, 309 BC&ndash246 BC was the king of Ptolemaic Egypt from 283 BC to 246 BC If the mention of Manetho in the Hibeh Papyri, dated to 240/1 BCE, is in fact Manetho the author of Aegyptiaca, then he may well have been working during the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes (246-222 BCE) as well. Ptolemy III Euergetes, ( Greek: Πτολεμαῖος Εὐεργέτης, Ptolemaĩos Euergétēs, reigned 246 BC&ndash222 BC was the third ruler Although he was Egyptian and his topics dealt with Egyptian matters, he wrote solely in Greek. Other works he wrote include Against Herodotus, The Sacred Book, On Antiquity and Religion, On Festivals, On the Preparation of Kyphi, and the Digest of Physics. The astrological treatise Book of Sothis has also been attributed to Manetho. The Book of Sothis is a document known mainly through transmission by George Syncellus, purporting to have been written by the historian Manetho. In Aegyptiaca, he coined the term "dynasty" (Greek: dynasteia, abstractly meaning "governmental power") to represent groups of rulers with a common origin. A dynasty is a succession of rulers who belong to the same family for generations

He was probably a priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis (according to Syncellus, he was the chief priest), and was also considered an authority on the cult of Sarapis (a derivation of Osiris-Apis). Ra (pronounced Rah and sometimes as Rê, is an Ancient Egyptian sun god. Heliopolis (or On) ( Greek: or) meaning sun-city was one of the most ancient cities of Egypt, and capital of the 13th Lower Egyptian nome George Syncellus (died after 810 was a Byzantine chronicler and ecclesiastic Serapis (Latin spelling or Sarapis in Greek was a syncretic Hellenistic - Egyptian god in Antiquity. Osiris ( Greek language, also Usiris; the Egyptian language name is variously transliterated Asar, Aser, Ausar, Ausir Sarapis itself was a Greco-Macedonian annexation of the Egyptian cult, probably started after Alexander the Great's establishment of Alexandria in Egypt. Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ' Alexandria ( Egyptian Arabic: اسكندريه Eskendereyya; Standard Arabic: ar الإسكندرية Al-Iskandariyya; Ἀλεξάνδρεια A statue of the god was imported between 286 and 278 BCE by Ptolemy (either Soter or Philadelphos), where Timotheus of Athens (an authority on Demeter at Eleusis) and Manetho oversaw the project. Demeter (dɨˈmiːtɚ Greek:, possibly "distribution-mother" from the noun of the Indo-European mother-earth * dheghom * mater Elefsina (Ελευσίνα Ancient/ Katharevousa: Eleusis is a town and municipality about 20 km NW of Athens.

Aegyptiaca

Aegyptiaca (also called Aigyptiaka), the "History of Egypt", was Manetho's largest work, and certainly the most important. It was organised chronologically and divided into three volumes, and his division of rulers into dynasties was a new innovation. However, he did not use the term the way we do, by bloodlines, but rather, introduced new dynasties whenever he detected some sort of discontinuity whether geographical (Dynasty IV from Memphis, V from Elephantine), or genealogical (especially in Dynasty I, he refers to each successive Pharaoh as the "son" of the previous to define what he means by "continuity"). The fourth dynasty of Ancient Egypt is characterized as a Golden age of the Old Kingdom. The Third Fourth Fifth and Sixth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title Old Kingdom. The first dynasty of Ancient Egypt is often combined with the second dynasty under the group title Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. Within the superstructure of a genealogical table of rulers, he fills in the gaps with substantial narratives of the Pharaonic rulers.

Some have suggested that Aegyptiaca was written as a competing account to Herodotus' Histories of Herodotus, to provide a national history for Egypt that did not exist before. From this perspective, Against Herodotus may have been an abridged version or just a part of Aegyptiaca that circulated independently. Unfortunately, neither survive in their original form today.

Transmission and reception

The problems with a close study of Manetho, despite the reliance of Egyptologists on him for their reconstructions of the Egyptian dynasties, is that not only Aegyptiaca was not preserved as a whole, but that it became involved in a bitter battle between advocates of Egyptian, Jewish, and Greek histories in the form of supporting polemics. Polemics (pəˈlɛmɪks/ /poʊ- is the practice of disputing or controverting religious, philosophical, or political matters During this period, disputes raged over the "oldest" civilizations, and so Manetho's account was probably excerpted during this time for use in this argument with significant alterations. Material similar to Manetho's has been found in Lysimakhos of Alexandria, and it has been suggested that this was inserted into Manetho. We do not know when this occurred, but scholars place a terminus ante quem at the first century CE, when Josephus began writing. The 1st century was the Century that lasted from 1 to 100 according the Julian calendar.

The earliest surviving attestation to Manetho is that of Josephus' Contra Apionem, "Against Apion". Against Apion (or Contra Apionem) was a polemical work written by Flavius Josephus as a defense of Judaism as a classical religion Even here, it is clear that Josephus did not have the originals, and constructed a polemic against Manetho without them. Polemics (pəˈlɛmɪks/ /poʊ- is the practice of disputing or controverting religious, philosophical, or political matters Avaris and Osarsephos are both mentioned twice (1. Avaris ( Egyptian: ħt wʕrt Hatwaret, Greek: αυαρις Auaris) located at Tell ed-Dab'a, was the ancient capital of the Osarseph is a semi-mythical figure in the history of Ancient Egypt who has been equated with Moses. 78, 86-87; 238, 250). Apion 1. 95-97 is merely a list of kings with no narratives until 1. 98, while running across two of Manetho's dynasties without mention (Dynasties XVIII and XIX). "Amarna period" redirects here For information on Amarna see Amarna The Eighteenth Dynasty (1550-1292 BC is perhaps the best known of The Eighteenth Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title New Kingdom. Many scholars have attempted to recreate which portions were written by the anti-Jewish, pro-Jewish, anti-Egyptian, pro-Egyptian, anti-Greek and pro-Greek writers, but the conclusions have been disputed.

Contemporaneously or perhaps after Josephus wrote, an Epitome, or summary, of Manetho's work must have appeared. An epitome ( Greek epitemnein —to cut short is a summary or miniature form also used as a Synonym for embodiment This would have involved preserving the outlines of his dynasties and a few details deemed significant. For the first ruler of the first Dynasty, Menes, we learn that "He was snatched and killed by a hippopotamus". Menes is the name of the Egyptian Pharaoh credited with founding the First dynasty, sometime around 3100 BC The extent to which the epitome preserved Manetho's original writing is unclear, so caution must be exercised. Nevertheless, the epitome was preserved by Sextus Julius Africanus and Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea (Chronicon). Sextus Julius Africanus was a Christian traveller and Historian of the early 3rd century AD Because Africanus predates Eusebius, his version is usually considered more reliable, but there is no assurance that this is the case. Eusebius in turn was preserved by Jerome in his Latin translation, an Armenian translation, and by Syncellus. Jerome (c 347 – September 30, 420) ( Latin: Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος The Armenian language (hy հայերեն լեզու hajɛɹɛn lɛzu —, conventional short form) is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian George Syncellus (died after 810 was a Byzantine chronicler and ecclesiastic Syncellus recognized the similarities between Eusebius and Africanus, so he placed them side by side in his work, Ecloga Chronographica.

These last four copies are what remains of the epitome of Manetho. Other significant fragments include Malalas' Chronographia and Excerpta Latina Barbari, "Excerpts in Bad Latin". John Malalas or Ioannes Malalas (or Malelas) (Syriac word for "rhetor" "orator" ( Greek:) (c The route of transmission for the bulk of Manetho's work is given in the table below (adapted from Verbrugghe and Wickersham 2000:118).

Transmission of Manetho

Transmission of Manetho: Table

Sources and methods

Manetho's methods involved the use of king-lists to provide a structure for his history. There were precedents to his writing available in Egypt (plenty of which has survived to this day), and his Hellenistic and Egyptian background would have been influential in his writing. Josephus records him admitting to using "nameless oral tradition" (1. 105) and "myths and legends" (1. 229) into his account, and there is no reason to doubt this, as admissions of this type were common among historians (including Josephus). His familiarity with Egyptian legends is undisputable, but how he came to know Greek is more open to debate. He must have been familiar with Herodotus, and in some cases, he even attempted to synchronise Egyptian history with Greek (for example, equating Memnon with Amenophis, and Armesis with Danaos). Danaus, or Danaos ("sleeper" Greek Δαναός) was a Greek mythological character, twin brother of Aegyptus and son of Achiroe This suggests he was also familiar with the Greek Epic Cycle (where the Ethiopian Memnon is slain by Achilles during the Trojan War) and the history of Argos (in Aeschylus' Suppliants). The Epic Cycle (Επικός Κύκλος was a collection of Ancient Greek Epic poems that related the story of the Trojan War, which includes the "Achilleus" redirects here For the emperor with this name see Achilleus (emperor. In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her Aeschylus (ˈɛskɨləs or /ˈiːskɨləs/ Greek: Ασχύλος, Aischylos, 525 BC/524 BC 456 BC/455 BC was an ancient Greek Playwright However, it has also been suggested that these were later interpolations particularly when the epitome was being written, so these guesses are at best tentative. In the mathematical subfield of Numerical analysis, interpolation is a method of constructing new data points within the range of a Discrete set of At the very least, he wrote in fluent Koinê. Koine Greek (Κοινὴ Ἑλληνική, "common Greek" or, ciˈni ðiˈale̞kto̞s "the common dialect" is the popular form of Greek which emerged in

King lists

The king-list that Manetho had access to is unknown to us, but of the surviving king-lists, the one most similar to his is the Turin Royal Canon (or Turin Papyrus). The Turin King List, also known as the Turin Royal Canon is an Hieratic Papyrus thought to date from thereign of Ramesses II, now in the Museo The oldest source with which we can compare to Manetho are the Old Kingdom Annals (ca. The Old Kingdom is the name commonly given to that period in the 3rd millennium BCE when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement 2500-2200 BCE). From the New Kingdom are the list at Karnak (erected by Thutmose), two at Abydos (by Seti I and Ramesses—the latter a duplicate but updated version of the former), and the Saqqara list by the priest Tenry. The New Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in Ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BC and The Karnak temple complex, universally known only as Karnak, describes a vast conglomeration of ruined temples chapels pylons and other buildings Thutmose (also rendered Thutmosis, Tuthmose, Tutmosis, Thothmes, Tuthmosis, Djhutmose, etc Abydos ( Egyptian Abdju, 3bdw, Arabic: أبيدوس Greek Αβυδος one of the most ancient cities of Menmaatre Seti I (also called Sethos I after the Greeks) was a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt ( Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt) the son of Ramesses Saqqara or Sakkara, Saqqarah ( Arabic: سقارة is a vast ancient burial ground in Egypt, featuring the world's oldest standing Step

The provenance of the Old Kingdom Annals is unknown, surviving as the Palermo Stone. The Palermo Stone is a large fragment of a stela called the Royal Annals of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. The differences between the Annals and Manetho are vast. The Annals only reach to the fifth dynasty, but its pre-dynastic rulers are listed as the kings of Lower Egypt and kings of Upper Egypt. Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the fertile Nile Delta region which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Upper Egypt (صعيد مصر Sa'id Misr) is a narrow strip of land that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan to the area between By contrast, Manetho lists several Greek and Egyptian gods beginning with Hephaistos and Helios. Hephaestus (hɨˈfiːstəs or /hɨˈfɛstəs/ Greek Hēphaistos) was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan. In Greek mythology the Sun was personified as Helios (ˈhiliˌɑs ( Ἥλιος Latinized as Helius) Secondly, the Annals give annual reports of the activities of the kings, while there is little probability that Manetho would have been able to go into such detail.

The New Kingdom lists are each selective in their listings: that of Seti I, for instance, lists seventy-six kings from Dynasties I to XIX omitting the Hyksos rulers and those associated with the heretic Akhenaten. The Hyksos ( Egyptian heqa khasewet, "foreign rulers" Greek,, Arabic,) were an Asiatic people who invaded the eastern Nile Heresy is an introduced change to some system of belief especially a religion that conflicts with the previously established canon of that belief Akhenaten (often alt: Akhnaten, or rarely Ikhnaton) (In English ˌɑkəˡnɑtən or approximately "AHK-en-AHT-en" his royal name Amenhotep The Saqqara list, contemporaneous with Ramesses II, has fifty-eight names, with similar omissions. If Manetho used these lists at all, he would have been unable to get all of his information from them alone, due to the selective nature of their records. Verbrugghe and Wickersham argue:

“Furthermore, the purpose of these lists was to cover the walls of a sacred room in which the reigning Pharaoh (or other worshiper, as in the case of Tenry and his Saqqara list) made offerings or prayers to his or her predecessors, imagined as ancestors. Each royal house had a particular traditional list of these "ancestors," different from that of the other houses. The purpose of these lists is not historical but religious. It is not that they are trying and failing to give a complete list. They are not trying at all. Seti and Ramesses did not wish to make offerings to Akhenaten, Tutankhamen, or Hatshepsut, and that is why they are omitted, not because their existence was unknown or deliberately ignored in a broader historical sense. Hatshepsut (or Hatchepsut, hætˈʃɛpsʊt meaning Foremost of Noble Ladies, was the fifth Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of For this reason, the Pharaonic king-lists were generally wrong for Manetho's purposes, and we should commend Manetho for not basing his account on them (2000:105). ”

These large stelae stand in contrast to the Turin Royal Canon (like Saqqara, contemporaneous with Ramesses II), written in hieratic script. A stele (from Greek:, stēlē, ˈstiːli plural stelae,, stēlai, ˈstiːlaɪ also found Latinised singular stela Hieratic is a Cursive writing system used in pharaonic Egypt that developed alongside the hieroglyphic system to which it is intimately Like Manetho, it begins with the gods, and like Manetho, appears to be an epitome very similar in spirit and style to Manetho. Interestingly, the opposite side of the papyrus includes government records. Verbrugghe and Wickersham suggest that a comprehensive list like this would be necessary for a government office "to date contracts, leases, debts, titles, and other instruments (2000:106)" and so could not have been selective the way the king-lists in temples were. Despite numerous differences between the Turin Canon and Manetho, the format must have been available to him. As a priest (or chief priest), he would have had access to practically all written materials in the temple.

While the precise origins for Manetho's kinglist are unknown, it was certainly a Northern Lower Egyptian one. This can be deduced most noticeably from his selection of the kings for the Third Intermediate Period. The Third Intermediate Period refers to the time in Ancient Egypt from the death of Pharaoh Ramesses XI in 1070 BC to the foundation of the Manetho consistently includes the Tanite Dynasty 21 and Dynasty 22 line in his Epitome such as Psusennes I, Amenemope and even such short-lived rulers here like Amenemnisu (5 years) and Osochor (6 years). Tanis (Τάνις the Greek name of ancient Djanet (modern صان الحجر Ṣān al-Ḥaǧar) is a city in the north-eastern Nile delta The Twenty-First, Twenty-Second Twenty-Third Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title Third Intermediate The Twenty-First Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title Third Intermediate Psusennes I, or language|Greek] Ψουσέννης] Psibkhanno or Hor-Pasebakhaenniut I language|Egyptian] ḥr-p3-sb3-ḫˁỉ--nỉwt Neferkare Amenemnisu' was a Pharaoh of the 21st Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. Akheperre Setepenre Osorkon the Elder was the fifth king of the twenty-first dynasty of Egypt and was the first Pharaoh of Libyan extraction in Egypt In contrast, he ignores the existence of Theban kings such as Osorkon III, Takelot III, Harsiese A and Pinedjem I and rulers from Middle Egypt like Peftjaubast of Herakleopolis. Thebes ( Thēbai) was a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean on the east bank of the river Nile ( Usermaatre Setepenamun Osorkon III Si-Ese was the famous Crown Prince and High Priest of Amun Osorkon B son of Takelot II by his Great Royal Wife Usimare Setepenamun Takelot III Si-Ese was Osorkon III 's eldest son and successor Hedjkheperre Setepenamun Harsiese or Harsiese A, is viewed by the Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen in his Third Intermediate Period in Egypt, to be both a "High Pinedjem I was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 1070 BC to 1032 BC and the de facto ruler of the south Middle Egypt is the section of land between Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt, stretching from El-Aiyat in the north to Asyut in the south Herakleopolis Magna is the Greek name of the capital of the Twentieth nome (administrative division of Ancient Egypt. This implies that Manetho derived the primary sources for his Epitome from a local city's temple library in the Delta Region which was under the control of the Tanite based Dynasty 21 and Dynasty 22 kings. The Nile Delta ( Arabic: دلتا النيل) is the delta formed in Northern Egypt ( Lower Egypt) where the Nile River spreads The Middle and Upper Egyptian Pharaohs had no impact upon this specific region of the Delta; hence their exclusion from Manetho's kinglist. Pharaoh is the title given in modern parlance to the ancient Egyptian kings of all periods

Transcriptions of Pharaonic names

By the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian kings bore five different names, the "Horus" name; the "Two Ladies" name; the "Gold Horus" name; the praenomen or "throne name"; and a nomen, the personal name given at birth (also called a "Son of Ra" name as it was preceded by Sa Re'). The royal titulary or royal protocol of an Egyptian Pharaoh is the standard naming convention taken by the kings of Ancient Egypt Some Pharaohs also had multiple examples within these names, such as Ramesses II who used six Horus names at various times. Because Manetho's transcriptions agree with many king-lists, it is generally accepted that he was reliant on one or more such lists, and it is not clear to what extent he was aware of the different pharaonic names of rulers long past (and he had alternate names for some). Not all the different names for each ruler have been uncovered.

As such, Manetho did not pick consistently from the five different types of names, but in some cases, a straightforward transcription is possible. Egyptian Men or Meni (Son of Ra and king-list names) becomes Menes (officially, this is Pharaoh I. 1 Aha—"I" represents Dynasty I, and "1" means the first king of that dynasty), while Menkauhor/Menkahor (Throne and king-list names, the Horus names is Menkhau and the Son of Ra name is "Kaiu Horkaiu[. Hor-Aha is considered the second Pharaoh of the first dynasty of Ancient Egypt in current Egyptology . . ]") is transcribed as Menkheres (V. 7 Menkauhor). Menkauhor Kaiu, (in Greek known as Menkeris) was a Pharaoh of the Fifth dynasty during the Old Kingdom Others involve a slight shortening, such as A'akheperen-Re' (Throne and king-list names) becoming Khebron (XVIII. 4 Thutmose II). Thutmose II (sometimes read as Thutmosis, or Tuthmosis II and meaning Thoth is Born) was the fourth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth A few more have consonants switched for unknown reasons, as in Tausret becoming Thouoris (XIX. 6 Twosre/Tausret). Queen Twosret was the last known female king of Egypt of a local indigenous dynasty and the final Pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty. One puzzle is in the conflicting names of some early dynastic rulers—though they did not have all five titles, they still had multiple names. I. 3/4 Djer, whose Son of Ra name is Itti is seen as the basis for Manetho's I. Djer is the second or third Pharaoh of the First dynasty of Egypt, which dates from approximately 3100 B 2 Athothis. I. 4 Oenephes then is a puzzle unless it is compared with Djer's Gold Horus name, Ennebu. It may be that Manetho duplicated the name or he had a source for a name unknown to us. Finally, there are some names where the connection is a complete mystery to us. V. 6 Rhathoures/Niuserre's full name was Set-ib-tawi Set-ib-Nebty Netjeri-bik-nebu Ni-user-Re' Ini Ni-user-Re', but Manetho writes it as Rhathoures. It may be that some pharaohs were known by names other than even just the five official ones.

Thus, how Manetho transcribed these names varies, and as such we cannot reconstruct the original Egyptian forms of the names. However, because of the simplicity with which Manetho transcribed long names (see above), they were preferred until original king-lists began to be uncovered, translated, and corroborated in ancient Egyptian sites. Manetho's division of dynasties, however, is still used as a basis for all Egyptian discussions.

Content

Volume 1 begins from the earliest times, listing gods and demigods as rulers of Egypt. The term " demigod " meaning "half-god" is used to describe mythological figures whose one parent was a god and whose other parent was human We do not know what the stories inside contained, but some of the associated legends of Isis, Osiris, Seth, or Horus might have been found in here. Isis is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs and is celebrated in their mythology as the ideal mother and wife patron of nature and magic friend of slaves sinners In Ancient Egyptian mythology, Set (also spelled Seth, Sutekh or Seteh) is an ancient god who was originally the god of the Desert Manetho does not transliterate either, but gives the Greek equivalents in a convention that predates him: Ptah = Hephaistos; Isis = Demeter; Thoth = Hermes; Horus = Apollo; Seth = Typhon; etc. This is one of the clues as to how syncretism developed between seemingly disparate religions. Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contradictory beliefs often while melding practices of various schools of thought He then proceeds to Dynastic Egypt, from Dynasty I to XI. The Eleventh dynasty of Ancient Egypt was one group of rulers whose earlier members are grouped with the four preceding dynasties to form the First Intermediate Period This would have included the Old Kingdom (pyramid-builders), the First Intermediate Period, and the early Middle Kingdom.

Volume 2 covers Dynasties XII - XIX, which includes the end of the Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period (XV-XVII—the Hyksos invasion), and then their expulsion and the establishment of the New Kingdom (XVIII onward). The Eleventh (all of Egypt Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title Middle Kingdom. The Eighteenth Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title New Kingdom. The Second Intermediate Period was of particular interest to Josephus, where he equated the Hyksos or "shepherd-kings" as the ancient Israelites who eventually made their way out of Egypt (Apion 1. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. 82-92). He even includes a brief etymological discussion of the term "Hyksos".

Volume 3 continues with Dynasty XX and brings it to a conclusion in Dynasty XXX (or XXXI, see below). The Eighteenth Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title New Kingdom. The Thirtieth Dynasty of ancient Egypt followed Nectanebo I 's deposition of Nefaarud II, the son of Hakor. The Saite Renaissance comes in Dynasty XXVI, while XXVII involves the Achaemenid interruption to Egyptian rule. The Saite or Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest (although others followed and had its capital at The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenid Persian Empire ( haχɒmaneʃijɒn (558–330 BC was the first of the Persian Empires to rule over significant portions of The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenid Persian Empire ( haχɒmaneʃijɒn (558–330 BC was the first of the Persian Empires to rule over significant portions of Three more local dynasties are mentioned, though they must have overlapped with Persian rule. The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia XXXI consisted of three Persian rulers, and some have suggested that this was added by a continuator. The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenid Persian Empire ( haχɒmaneʃijɒn (558–330 BC was the first of the Persian Empires to rule over significant portions of Both Moses of Chorene and Jerome end at Nectanebo ("last king of the Egyptians" and "destruction of the Egyptian monarchy" respectively), but XXXI fits within Manetho's schemata of demonstrating power through the dynasteia well. Nectanebo II (ruled 360 - 343 BC also known by the name Nakhthoreb, was the third and last king of the Thirtieth dynasty of Egypt and also the last native The Thirty-second dynasty would have been the Ptolemies.

Similarities with Berossos

Most of the ancient witnesses group him together with Berossos, and treat the pair as similar in spirit, and it is no coincidence that those who preserved the bulk of their writing are largely the same (Josephus, Africanus, Eusebius, and Syncellus). Berossus (also Berossos or Berosus; Greek: Βήρωσσος was a Hellenistic -era Babylonian writer and astronomer who Certainly, both wrote about the same time, and both adopted the historiographical approach of the Greek historians, Herodotus and Hesiod, who preceded them. Hesiod ( Greek: Hesiodos) was an early Greek Poet and Rhapsode, who presumably lived around 700 BCE While the subjects of their history are different, the form is similar, using chronological royal genealogies as the structure from which the narratives came. Both extend their histories far into the mythic past, to give the gods rule over the earliest ancestral histories. See also List of deities A deity is a Postulated Preternatural or Supernatural Being, who is always

Syncellus goes so far as to insinuate that the two copied each other:

“If one carefully examines the underlying chronological lists of events, one will have full confidence that the design of both is false, as both Berossos and Manetho, as I have said before, want to glorify each his own nation, Berossos the Chaldean, Manetho the Egyptian. One can only stand in amazement that they were not ashamed to place the beginning of their incredible story in each in one and the same year. (Ecloga Chronographica, 30)”

While this does seem an incredible coincidence, the reliability of the report is unclear. The reasoning for assuming they started their histories in the same year involved some considerable contortions. Berossos dated the period before the Flood to 120 saroi (3,600 year periods), giving an estimate of 432,000 years before the flood. The story of a Great Flood (also known as the Deluge) sent by a Deity or deities to destroy Civilization as an act of Divine retribution is a This was unacceptable to later Christian commentators, so it was assumed he meant solar days. 432,000 divided by 365 days gives a rough figure of 1,183½ years before the Flood. For Manetho, even more numeric contortions ensued. With no flood mentioned, they assumed that Manetho's first era describing the gods represented the ante-diluvian age. Secondly, they took the spurious Book of Sothis for a chronological count. The Book of Sothis is a document known mainly through transmission by George Syncellus, purporting to have been written by the historian Manetho. Six dynasties of gods totalled 11,985 years, while the nine dynasties with demigods came to 858 years. Again, this was too long for the Biblical account, so two different units of conversion were used. The 11,985 years were considered to be months of 29½ days each (a conversion used in antiquity, for example by Diodorus Siculus), which comes out to 969 years. The latter period, however, was divided into "seasons", or quarters of a year, and reduces to 214½ years (another conversion attested to by Diodorus). The sum of these comes out to 1,183½ years, equal to that of Berossos. Syncellus rejected both Manetho's and Berossos' incredible time-spans, as well as the efforts of other commentators to harmonise their numbers with Scripture. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin Ironically as we see, he also blamed them for the synchronicity concocted by later writers.

Impact of Aegyptiaca

It is speculated that Manetho wrote at the request of Ptolemy I or II to give an account of the history of Egypt to the Greeks from a native's perspective. However, there is no evidence to support this hypothesis. If such were the case, Aegyptiaca was a failure, since Herodotus' Histories continued to provide the standard account in the Hellenistic world. It may also have been that some nationalistic sentiments in Manetho provided the impetus for his writing, but that again is conjecture. It is clear, however, that when it was written, it would have proven to be the authoritative account of the history of Egypt, superior to Herodotus in every way. The completeness and systematic nature in which he marshalled his sources was unprecedented. Furthermore, its influence could be seen in the way the Hellenistic Jews and their opponents considered it of prime importance in the struggle over their histories.

Syncellus similarly recognised its importance when recording Eusebius and Africanus, and even provided a separate witness from the Book of Sothis. Unfortunately, this material is likely to have been a forgery or hoax of unknown date. Every king in Sothis after Menes is irreconcilable with the versions of Africanus and Eusebius. Manetho should not be judged on the factuality of his account, but on the approach he took to recording history, and in this, he was as successful as Herodotus and Hesiod.

Finally, in modern times, the impact is still visible in the way Egyptologists divide the dynasties of the pharaohs. The French explorer and Egyptologist, Jean-François Champollion, reportedly carried a copy of Manetho's lists in one hand as he attempted to decipher the hieroglyphics he encountered (though it probably gave him more frustration than joy, considering the way Manetho transcribed the names). Jean-François Champollion ( 23 December 1790 – 4 March 1832) was a French classical scholar, philologist Egyptian hieroglyphs (ˈhaɪərəʊɡlɪf from Greek grc-Grek ἱερογλύφος " sacred carving " also hieroglyphic = grc-Grek Most modern scholarship that mentions the names of the pharaohs will render both the modern transcription and Manetho's version, and Manetho's names are even preferred to more authentic ones in some cases. Today, his division of dynasties is universally used, and this has permeated into the study of nearly all royal genealogies through the understanding of succession in terms of dynasties or houses.

References

See also

External links

Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus ( Greek: Μέστριος Πλούταρχος c Berossus (also Berossos or Berosus; Greek: Βήρωσσος was a Hellenistic -era Babylonian writer and astronomer who The Ptolemaic dynasty (sometimes also known as the Lagids, from the name of Ptolemy I's father Lagus) was a Hellenistic Macedonian royal family The History of Ancient Egypt spans the period from the early predynastic settlements of the northern Nile Valley to the Roman conquest in 30
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