CHAPTER III.

Civil History of Ancient Egypt.

Obscurity of Egyptian Annals-Variety of HypothesesReign of Menes determined; His Actions-Account of Osymandias; His Palace and Tomb-Chronological Tables-Invasion of the Shepherds-Quotation from Manetho-Mistake as to the Israelites-Indian Tradition in regard to the Conquest of Egypt by Pastoral Chiefs-The Origin of the Pyramids-Hatred of Shepherds entertained by the Egyptians in Time of Joseph— The Reign of Mœris-Accession of Sesostris; His Exploits; Proofs of his warlike Expedition; The Magnificence of his Buildings; His Epitaph-Invasion by Sabaco the Ethiopian or Abyssinian-By SennacheribBy Nebuchadnezzar-By Cyrus—And complete Subjugation by Cambyses-The Persian Government-Conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great-Ancient Dynasties-The Ptolemies-The Romans-The Saracens.

It is our intention in this chapter to give an outline of Egyptian history from the earliest times. down to the accession of the Saracenic princes,—an epoch at which the power and splendour of the more ancient governments were oppressed by a weight of barbarism which has not yet been removed.

In regard to this interesting subject, we may confidently assert that there is no portion of the remoter annals of the human race more obscure from the want of authentic records, or more perplexed by

groundless conjecture and bold speculation. He who begins his inquiries with the establishment of the Egyptian monarchy, and proposes to sail down the stream of time accompanied and guided by the old historians, soon discovers the numerous obstacles which must impede his course. The ancient authors from whom he seeks information, require of him to carry back his imagination to an era many thousand years prior to the existence of all written deeds; and they then gravely introduce him to the gods and demigods who had once condescended to dwell on the banks of the Nile, and to govern the fancied inhabitants of that fertile region.

If, impatient of the fables related to him respecting supernatural personages, the inquirer should ask who was the first human sovereign who reigned over Egypt, he is encouraged by being told that his name was Menes, and that his history is not altogether unknown. But he soon finds out that the exploits of this prince greatly resemble the achievements of the god Osiris, and that the limits between mythology and the simple annals of a mortal race are not yet fully established. Fatigued with vain conjectures, and still unable to separate facts from fiction, he may resolve to change his plan, and flatter himself with the hope of being able to thread his way through the dark labyrinth of Egyptian chronology. Adopting the philosophical rule, he determines to proceed from the known to the unknown; and, selecting some comparatively recent and wellattested fact, of which the date is considered as certain, he obtains possession of one end of the chain, which he trusts he may succeed in tracing link after link, until he shall arrive at the other extremity.

But this method, however ingeniously conceived, has not hitherto been attended with a corresponding success. The chronologer pursues his way, trusting now to one guide, and at another time to a second who appears to have opened the path under a clearer light; but, unfortunately, he soon becomes convinced that the authorities who oppose him, in whatever direction he may choose to proceed, are more numerous than those who favour him with their aid, and on whose reputation he had thought it safe to rely. As he advances, he is farther dismayed by the unwelcome discovery that all his guides become more and more ignorant, and also that their confidence increases in proportion to the obscurity in which they are enveloped. Their statements abound with fictions sufficient to stagger the strongest belief. He is now satisfied that absolute truth cannot be obtained on such uncertain ground, and therefore consents to imitate all those who have gone before him,-to build conjectures instead of establishing facts; to admit what is probable where he cannot find demonstration; and, finally, to allow what is possible where he cannot reach unquestionable evidence. His difficulties augment as he removes farther from the point whence he had originally started. Like the traveller who sets out upon a journey when the day is closing, the light grows more feeble at every step he takes, and the shades of night fall blacker and thicker around him, until he is at length shrouded in total darkness.*

But to a certain extent, at least, the history of

* See "Origines," by Sir William Drummond, vol. ii. p.

250.

ancient Egypt can be placed on credible grounds, and even be rendered capable of throwing light upon the condition of contemporary kingdoms. We must at once relinquish the regal gods and the thirty-six thousand years of their government, as only the indication perhaps of some physical principle, or, more probably, the expression of a vast astronomical cycle. The Sun, Moon, and other leaders of the celestial host, may, according to the ancient mythology, be supposed to have ruled over Egypt before it became fit for the habitation of mortals; or the authors of this hypothesis may be thought to have had nothing more serious in view than the gratification of their fancy in the wilds of that terra incognita, which, in every quarter of the globe, stretches far beyond the boundaries of authentic history.

But as the reign of Menes marks the limits of legitimate inquiry in this interesting field, and as all correct notions of Egyptian chronology must rest upon the determination of the period at which that monarch exercised the supreme power, we shall lay before our readers an abridged view of such opinions on this subject as seem the most worthy of their attention. Here, we need not add, we must confine ourselves to mere results; it being quite inconsistent both with our limits and our object, to enter into the learned arguments by which different authors have laboured to fortify their conclusions. But to those readers who are desirous of entering more deeply into the question, we earnestly recommend the works of Hales and Dr Prichard, the latest and unquestionably the ablest writers on this obscure though very important branch of historical inquiry.

D

As the actions of this monarch were conveyed to posterity through the uncertain channel of tradition, little reliance can be placed upon the accuracy of the details. Herodotus informs us that he protected from the inundations of the Nile the ground upon which Memphis was afterwards erected. Before his age the river flowed close under the ridge of hills which borders the Libyan desert, whence, it is more than probable, a large branch of it, at least, made its way through the valley of Fayoum into the Mediterranean. To prevent this deviation, he erected a mound about twelve miles south from the future capital of Egypt; turned the course of the stream towards the Delta; and led it to the sea at an equal distance from the elevated ground by which on either side the country is bounded. Menes is moreover said to have been a great general, to have made warlike expeditions into foreign countries, and to have fallen a prey at last to the voracity of a hippopotamus.

Among the principal authorities on which the reign of Menes has been determined is the following statement of Josephus, who had better means of becom

* New Analysis of Ancient Chronology, vol. iv. p. 418. + Ibid. vol. iv. p. 407.

Prichard's Egyptian Antiquities.

§ New Analysis, vol. iv. p. 417. ¶ Egyptian Antiquities, p. 91.

|| Ibid.