A Thousand Miles up the Nile

Appendix IV. — Egyptian Chronology

“The chronology of Egypt has been a disputed point for centuries. The Egyptians had no cycle, and only dated in the regnal years of their monarchs. The principal Greek sources have been the canon of Ptolemy, drawn up in the second century A.D., and the lists of the dynasties extracted from the historical work of Manetho, an Egyptian priest, who lived in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, B.C. 285-247. The discrepancies between these lists and the monuments have given rise to many schemes and rectifications of the chronology. The principal chronological points of information obtained from the monument are the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses, B.C. 527, the commencement of the reign of Psammetichus I, B.C. 665, the reign of Tirhaka, about B.C. 693, and that of Bocchoris, about B.C. 720, the synchronism of the reign of Shishak I with the capture of Jerusalem, about B.C. 970. The principal monuments throwing light on other parts of the chronology are the recorded heliacal risings of Sothis, or the Dog-star, in the reigns of Thothmes III and Rameses II, III, VI, IX, the date of four hundred years from the time of Rameses II to the shepherd kings, the dated sepulchral tablets of the bull Apis at the serapeum, the lists of kings at Sakkarah, Thebes and Abydus, the chronological canon of the Turin papyrus, and other incidental notices. But of the anterior dynasties no certain chronological dates are afforded by the monuments, those hitherto proposed not having stood the test of historical or philological criticism.”—S. Birch, LL.D.: “Guide to the First and Second Egyptian Rooms at the Brit. Museum.” 1874, p. 10.

As some indication of the wide divergence of opinion upon this subject, it is enough to point out that the German Egyptologists alone differ as to the date of Menes or Mena (the first authentic king of the ancient empire), to the following extent:

	B. C.
Boeckh places Mena in	5702
Unger places Mena in	5613
Brugsch places Mena in	4455
Lauth places Mena in	4157
Lepsius places Mena in	3892
Bunsen places Mena in	3623

Mariette, though recognizing the need for extreme caution in the acceptance or rejection of any of these calculations, inclined on the whole to abide by the lists of Manetho; according to which the thirty-four recorded dynasties would stand as follows:

ANCIENT EMPIRE.			NEW EMPIRE.
DYNASTIES.	CAPITALS.	B. C.	DYNASTIES.	CAPITALS.	B. C.
I.	This	5004	XVIII.	Thebes	1703
II.	This	4751	XIX.	Thebes	1462
III.	Memphis	4449	XX.	Thebes	1288
IV.	Memphis	4235	XXI.	Tanis	1100
V.	Memphis	3951	XXII.	Bubastis	980
VI.	Elephantine	3703	XXIII.	Tanis	810
VII.	Memphis	3500	XXIV.	Saïs	721
VIII.	Memphis	3500	XXV.	(Ethiopians)	715
IX.	Heracleopolis	3358	XXVI.	Saïs	665
X.	Heracleopolis	3240	XXVII.	(Persians)	527
			XXVIII.	Saïs	405
MIDDLE EMPIRE.			XXIX.	Mendes	399
XI.	Thebes	3064	XXX.	Sebennytis	378
XII.	Thebes	3064	XXXI.	(Persians)	340
XIII.	Thebes	2851
XIV.	Xoïs	2398	LOWER EMPIRE.
XV.	Shepherd Kings	2214	XXXII.	Macedonians	332
XVI.	Shepherd Kings	2214	XXXII.	(Greeks)	305
XVII.	Shepherd Kings	2214	XXXIV.	(Romans)	30

To this chronology may be opposed the brief table of dates compiled by M. Chabas. This table represents what may be called the medium school of Egyptian chronology, and is offered by M. Chabas, “not as an attempt to reconcile systems,” but as an aid to the classification of certain broadly indicated epochs.

	B. C.
Mena and the commencement of the ancient empire	4000
Construction of the great pyramids	3300
Sixth dynasty	2800
Twelfth dynasty	2400
	2000
Shepherd invasion	?
Expulsion of Shepherds and commencement of the new empire	1800
Thothmes III	1700
Seti I and Rameses II	1500
	1400
Sheshonk (Shishak), the conqueror of Jerusalem	1000
Saïtic dynasties	700
	600
Cambyses and the Persians	500
Second Persian conquest	400
Ptolemies	300
	200
	100