66

if we add 160 years for the Eleventh Dynasty, we have 1,460 years for the duration of the Old Monarchy. This period our author has reduced to 1,076 years, on the authority of Eratosthenes, as he says, by a mere balance of external or comparative probabilities." We confess we cannot regard this conclusion as a satisfactory reconcilement of these authorities; nor do we believe that this difficulty will ever be cleared up, unless some means are discovered to show authoritatively whether any, and what number, of Manetho's Kings were co-regents,-whether any, and which, of his Dynasties were contemporaneous.

We now approach the most difficult and problematical portion of Bunsen's restoration of Egyptian history, namely, the nine hundred years assigned to the period of the Middle Empire, or, the dominion of the Palestino-Arab invaders,-the Hyksos. The theory of this humiliating episode in the dynastic life of Egypt is, that the Old Empire fell to pieces in the beginning of Manetho's Thirteenth Dynasty, before the warlike hordes of Bedouins who seized on Memphis, and governed Lower Egypt with military rigour, during the intervening Dynasties down to the Nineteenth. Their native stronghold and frontier fortress was near Pelusium, on the borders of Palestine, in the north-eastern angle of the Delta, whence, and from the conquered capital of Lower Egypt, they exercised their rule over the subject territory. The native Princes still retained their Pharaonic titles, but they were tributary to the Hyksos, the imperial sovereignty having passed out of their hands into the possession of the invaders; and Egypt sank, during this long period, out of the current of the general history of the world. This last circumstance increases the difficulty of dealing with this period, as does also the native distaste of the Arab races for monumental erections. Scarcely any remains of public works by the Hyksos can be traced; the erection of such gigantic structurcs as the Pyramids having nearly ceased with the Old Empire, the vocation of the invaders evidently being demolition rather than construction.

It is believed, nevertheless, that there is some monumental evidence of the period we are discussing, in the Tablet of Karnak; and the Papyrus of the Ramesside epoch, in the register of its Kings, seems to countenance that belief. The term, "Middle Empire," while any thing but a descriptive one, is simply used to imply a long parenthetic period between the native Egyptian Empires, the old one which it superseded, and the new one which it ushered in.

The length of the duration of this Empire has become more a subject of dispute than the fact itself, that there was an Empire of the Hyksos in Egypt,-the latter fact having obtained pretty general acceptance at the hands of the best Egyptologers, on the faith of the testimony of Manetho. Indeed, nothing can

be more express than his assertion of the fact, as authorized by Josephus, in his work Against Apion.

"The so-called Timaos [Amun-timaos] became King. Egypt, during his reign, lay, I know not why, under the divine displeasure, and, on a sudden, men from the East country, of an ignoble race, audaciously invaded the land. They easily got possession of it, and established themselves without a struggle, making the Rulers thereof tributary to them, burning their cities, and demolishing the temples of their gods. All the natives they treated in the most brutal manner; some they put to death, others they reduced to slavery, with their wives and children.

"Subsequently, also, they chose a King out of their own body, Salatis by name. He established himself at Memphis, took tribute from the Upper and Lower country, and placed garrisons in the most suitable places. He fortified more especially the eastern frontier, foreseeing, as he did, that the Assyrians, whose power was then at its height, would make an attempt to force their way into the Empire from that quarter. He found in the Sethroite nome a city particularly well adapted for that purpose, lying to the east of the Bubastic arm of the Nile, called Avaris, after an old mythological fable. This he repaired and fortified with strong walls, and placed in it a garrison of 240,000 heavy-armed soldiers. In summer he visited it in person, for the purpose of recruiting them with a fresh supply of provisions, paying their salaries, and practising military exercises, by which to strike terror into the foreigners.

"He died after a reign of nineteen years, and was succeeded by another King, Beon [Bnon] by name, who reigned forty-four years. After him Apachnas reigned thirty-six years and seven months; then Apophis, sixty-one years; then Janias [Jannas], fifty years and one month; and lastly Assis [Asis], forty-nine years and two months.

"These six were their first Rulers. They were continually at war, with a view of utterly exhausting the strength of Egypt. The general name of their people was Hyksos, which means 'Shepherd Kings' for Hyk signifies in the sacred language 'a King, and Sos in the demotic is 'Shepherd,' and 'Shepherds.' Some say they were Arabs."

Such is the emphatic and very clear deposition of Manetho as to the fact of an invasion and dominion of Egypt by a people whom he designates Hyksos or Shepherd Kings, a fact now too generally acknowledged to need collateral proof. Leaving untouched the historical question of who these invaders were, the inquiry of most enchaining interest is to determine the duration of their dominion; for it will not be lost sight of, that all the published portion of Bunsen's great treatise before us is chronological. Our author has displayed equal ingenuity in fixing the term of the Middle Empire, as in reconciling Manetho and Eratosthenes. Finding the following sentence on the pages of Syncellus, "The period of the 113 generations described by Manetho in his three volumes, comprises a sum total of 3,355 years," the learned Chevalier reads it as the dictum

of Manetho, because "it in no way agrees with the canon or computation of Syncellus." But then he forgets, that it differs still more widely from Manetho's own figures. It is impossible to assign a satisfactory origin to this statement, which, however, comes to us only as an assertion of the Byzantine Monk. But, proceeding on this basis, our author reckons the period from Nectanebo up to Menes to consist of 3,555 years.

Leaving the interval of 900 years for the Hyksos Empire. Although the figures from which these results are deduced differ in Bunsen's final calculation, he attains as nearly as possible this conclusion, and publishes 922 years as Manetho's real chronology.

But as Bunsen prefers the term of Eratosthenes for the duration of the Old Empire, 1,076 years, his arrival at the term of nine centuries for the Hyksos dominion is not so simple and obvious. Taking Apollodorus's statement, that fifty-three Kings reigned during the period of the Hyksos dominion, as only available to establish the simple fact, that there was such a sovereignty, we are driven to gather the chronology of the period from the calculations of Manetho alone. The duration of part of the Thirteenth, of the whole of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Dynasties, is to be ascertained. Now, of these Dynasties,

XIII. and XIV. are native, Theban and Xoite,
XV. and XVI. are Hyksos, while

XVII. is the two races of Kings, foreign and native, which are
contemporaneous with each other.

If these are to be computed in succession, the sums of the reigns will amount to 1,859, according to Viscount Rougé, who has adopted this method. Bunsen gives it as 2,017, but evidently counts the Seventeenth Dynasty twice, and misprints 922, the sum of the two Hyksos Dynasties. (See vol. ii., p. 450.) The sum 1,859 is thus arrived at :

The Hyksos Dynasties, XV. and XVI., reigned 260+

511 years =

771

The two Theban Dynasties, XIII. and XVII., reigned

But Bunsen, finding this period so lengthened as to be incompatible with all the facts of history and calculations of

chronology, propounds a scheme, whereby the period shall be reduced to about half this length,-preserving intact the duration of the general period from Menes to Alexander. His theory is, that to the duration of the two Hyksos Dynasties, Fifteenth and Sixteenth, are to be added ten years of the Seventeenth Dynasty, that is, 260+518+151 = 929; and maintains that this is the true result, the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Dynasties being the contemporaneous Theban and native Rulers who held sway over the Empire under the Hyksos' supreme dominion, retaining the Pharaonic name and tradition, however, themselves, and preserving the royal pedigree and prestige intact.

The reader will see little reason for reliance on results obtained by such violent means. If we were dealing only with a national history, such a course would be sufficiently startling; but the great avowed object of the investigation is to rear up a standard for regulating the chronology of the world. Every part of the investigation should consequently rest on sterling historical fact, and not be buttressed up by laboured speculation. Nor are we more reconciled to the conclusions of our author in this particular, when we are told that this scheme is sanctioned by its accordance with the sculpture in the chamber of Karnak, where there are supposed to be thirty effigies of Hyksos Kings, whose reigns, at thirty years each, would fill up this period of about nine hundred years. Compare this with other authorities.

The first thirty Kings in the Canon of Ptolemy
reigned

Years.

416

The first thirty Kings in the Dynasty of Nabonassar,
according to the Ecclesiastical Canon

399

according to the Astronomical Canon

418

The average reign of the 192 Kings in the first eleven
Dynasties of Manetho was about twelve years, or,
for thirty......

360

Into any further particulars connected with the supposed dominion of the Hyksos in Egypt, we deem it inexpedient to enter. Our author asserts the fact in the most unqualified terms, justified therein by the express historical evidence which he cites, while, by a series of ingenious, if not conclusive, reasonings, he fixes its duration at a period closely bordering on nine hundred years. This brings us down, assuming it all to be proved, to the reign of the Theban King Tuthmosis III., of the Eighteenth Dynasty, under whom the expulsion of the foreigners took place, aud the inauguration of the New Empire of native Princes. The date before Christ of the defeat and ejection of the Hyksos is, according to this calculation, 1,636.

THE NEW EMPIRE, or closing epoch of the dynastic history of Egypt, comprises the whole period from Tuthmosis III., of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Manetho, down to Nectanebo, of the

Thirtieth. The difficulties connected with this part of the investigation are infinitely less than those which attended the previous ones, from its coming more within the range of contemporary histories, and from its having the names and dates of the Kings fully recorded by the epitomizers, with the excep tion of those of the Twentieth Dynasty, and that rather in appearance than in reality.

In fact, the illustrative matter of all kinds becomes here so superabundant, that it would constitute an embarras de richesses to a mind less methodical and clear than that of our author. Be the strings of his harp, however, ten, or ten thousand, the more numerous, as well as the less so, are equally amenable to his skill. He makes a harmonious diapason from them all. Synchronisms, therefore, with Jewish history, with the reigns of the Psammetici, with the Kings of Persia, with the annals of Greece, and copious illustration from contemporary monuments, all come in here with great felicity to do good service in this cause.

For convenience of treatment, the New Empire may be distributed into the following three epochs.

I. The first embraces the Dynasties of

XVIII. The Tuthmoses.

XIX. The Ramessides.

XX. Theban Ramessides.

XXI. Bubastites.

XXII. Tanites (Ososkon=Sesak).

This brings us down to a synchronism with Jewish history, in the fact of the conquest of Jerusalem by Sheshonk-Sesak, in the fifth year of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.

II. The second epoch embraces the following Dynasties:

XXIII. Tanites.

XXIV. A Saite (Bokkhoris).

XXV. The Ethiopians (Sabako).
XXVI. Saites (the Psammetici).

XXVII. Persians (the Achæmenida).

Here the point of contact with the history of the outer world is the conquest of Egypt by the Persians, a chronological period of easy determination.

III. The third epoch will include the remaining three Dynasties, down to the close of the native Egyptian Empire ::XXVIII. A Saite (Amyrtæus).

XXIX. Mendesians (Nepherites).

XXX. A Sebennyte (Nectanebo).

As ample materials exist, from this closing date of the ninth year before the conquest by Alexander, up to the Eighteenth Dynasty backwards, for fixing with absolute certainty the dates of the principal occurrences out of the history of contemporary