A BOOK OF THE BEGINNINGS
NOTES TO SECTION 18
[1] [Brugsch, History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. 2, p. 99.]
[2] [The Antiquities of the Jews, bk. 5, 5, 2. 'So they continued to that hardship for twenty years, as not good enough of themselves to grow wise by their misfortunes. God was willing also hereby the more to subdue their obstinacy and ingratitude towards himself: so when at length they were become penitent, and were so wise as to learn that their calamities arose from their contempt of the laws, they besought Deborah, a certain prophetess among them, (which name in the Hebrew tongue signifies a Bee,) to pray to God to take pity on them, and not to overlook them, now they were ruined by the Canaanites. So God granted them deliverance, and chose them a general, Barak, one that was of the tribe of Naphtali. Now Barak, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies Lightning.' Whiston's tr.]
[3] [Poss. in Egypt's Place in Universal History, but unable to trace.]
[4] [Ex. 8:18. 'And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.']
[5] [Brugsch, History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. 2, p. 99.]
[6] [Source.]
[7] [Source.]
[8] [The Rede Lecture: The Monumental History of Egypt, pp. 23-4.]
[9] [Histories, bk. 2. 154. 'To the Ionians and Carians who had lent him their
assistance Psammetichus assigned as abodes two places opposite to each other,
one on either side of the Nile, which received the name of "the Camps." He also
made good all the splendid promises by which he had gained their support; and
further, he intrusted to their care certain Egyptian children, whom they were to
teach the language of the Greeks. These children, thus instructed, became the
parents of the entire class of interpreters in Egypt. The Ionians and Carians
occupied for many years the places assigned them by Psammetichus, which lay near
the sea, a little below the city of Bubastis, on the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile.
King Amasis, long afterwards, removed the Greeks hence, and settled them at
Memphis to guard him against the native Egyptians. From the date of the original
settlement of these persons in Egypt, we Greeks, through our intercourse with
them, have acquired an accurate knowledge of the several events in
Egyptian history, from the reign of Psammetichus downwards; but before his time
no foreigners had ever taken up their residence in that land. The docks where
their vessels were laid up, and the ruins of their habitations, were still to be
seen in my day at the place where they dwelt originally, before they were
removed by Amasis. Such was the Inode by which Psammetichus became master of
Egypt.' Tr., Rawlinson.
'To the Ionians and to the Carians who had helped him Psammetichos
granted portions of land to dwell in, opposite to one another with the river
Nile between, and these were called "Encampments": these portions of land he
gave them, and he paid them besides all that he had promised: moreover he placed
with them Egyptian boys to have them taught the Hellenic tongue; and from these,
who learnt the language thoroughly, are descended the present class of
interpreters in Egypt. Now the Ionians and Carians occupied these portions of
land for a long time, and they are towards the sea a little below the city of
Bubastis, on that which is called the Pelusian mouth of the Nile. These men king
Amasis afterwards removed from thence and established them at Memphis, making
them into a guard for himself against the Egyptians: and they being settled in
Egypt, we who are Hellenes know by intercourse with them the certainty of all
that which happened in Egypt beginning from king Psammetichos and afterwards;
for these were the first men of foreign tongue who settled in Egypt: and in the
land from which they were removed there still remained down to my time the sheds
where their ships were drawn up and the ruins of their houses.' Tr.,
Macauley.]
[10] [Commentary on Plato's Parmenides. 'Socrates also being young is a symbol of the youthfulness which is celebrated in the Gods. For theology calls Jupiter himself and Bacchus boys and young; and, in short, theologists thus call the intellectual when compared with the intelligible and paternal.' Quoted by Thomas Taylor in his tr. of Plato's Works, vol. 3. See TTS, 9, 84.]
[11] [Birch, Gallery of Antiquities, p.
41. Unable to trace exact quote, but as this page is relevant, I here will give
it in full. 'Thuoeris. Considerable difficulty attends the solution of the
hippopotamic deities; but since two, Opt and Thuoeris, can he identified with
Typhon, it is probable that they were all allied with that deity. Sir Gardner
Wilkinson' considers that they may be connected with parturition; and this
animal, in hieroglyphics, seems connected with the Nile and the hours; and while
in certain inscriptions they are connected with Netpe, the great mother of the
gods, with Athor and Isis, they may in these instances connect the good and evil
principle which pervaded the Egyptian Pantheon in one form. They are generally
represented as hippopotami standing erect, sometimes with different heads, but
always with the tail of a crocodile down the back, and often holding in the fore
paws a symbol as yet unexplained. At Ombos they presided over the months, but
their names appear rather epithets than appellations, as—the approved, Semsi....of
the mistress of the sycomore; Opt, i.e. the hippopotumns; Rann nofre, or
the gracious dandler; Bosh Ape, resplendent head, mistress of the heaven, regent
of the world, the living word (?)
On a tablet of the Earl of Belmore's Collection, found at Thebes, lithographed
and privately printed, this goddess, wearing the disk and horns, is called Te-oer
(Thuoeris), mistress of the heaven, regent of the gods.
The goddess represented standing erect, with the body of a hippopotamus and the
head of a female, is called in the hieroglyphics Te-oeri, "the great
one," and has been demonstrated by Champollion to be called by Plutarch
Thuoeris, the mistress of Typhon, who betrayed him to Osiris. In this form
she has on her head the disk, and horns, and uraeus' and generally wears a
peculiar kind of dress, holding in one hand a symbol of life. She is also found
with the right symbolic or solar eye. Her titles are, resident in the centre of
the pure waters belonging to the abime of the heaven, regent of the gods; the
first allying her with the Hapimoou, or Nile, rather than Typhon, and the second
portion alluding to her appearance on the Egyptian planisphere. Other titles of
Te-oeri occur, as restrainer of the world. At Ombos, where the months are
presided over by hippopotami and other divinities, one with a hippopotamus'
body, the head of a female, with disk, horns, and uraeus on it, and crocodile's
tail down the back, is called Skuf (Thurifier), regent of the gods of the
Mas-shini, or abode of birth and nursing. She presided in a shrine over one of
the months.
Fig. 72 is in stone, carved, and then glazed, of exquisite execution. She has
the tail of the crocodile down the back, like Opt, the mother of Typhon.
The hippopotamic divinity appears on the 13th mystic abode of the Ritual. The
text of the chapter refers to the mystic waters or streams of flame in a future
state; but her most conspicuous situation is in the abime of the heaven, resting
her hand upon a sword, and with a crocodile looking up to her. M. Biot calls
this the great bear. The Rev. Mr. Tomlinson, who has entered into some
analysis of the zodiac, considers this goddess to mean the polestar, which he
supports by the authority of Eusebius, and her hieroglyphic name reading Isis,
the established mother of the panegyry (revolution) of the heaven.']
[12] [Gen. 14:5. 'And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim.']
[13] [Birch, 'Translation of the Hieroglyphic Inscription on the Granite Altar of Turin,' TSBA, 3, pl. 2, col. 6, line 1. See full text here.]
[15] [Birch, Gallery of Antiquities, p. 41. See note 11 above.]
[16] [Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the
Ancient Egyptians. The Second Series, vol. 3,
pl. 64.
Ibid., vol. 2, p. 77. 'This animal is supposed to be the guardian
of the Lower Regions, or the accusing Spirit. It is more probably the former,
being seated near the entrance to the abode of Osiris, and called Ouom-ri-Amenti,
"the Devourer of Amenti," and "of the wicked." It has the form of a
hippopotamus, a peculiarly Typhonian animal; sometimes with the head of a
fanciful creature, partaking of the hippopotamus and the crocodile; and it is
frequently represented as a female.
Seated at the entrance of Amenti, it watches the arrival of those who present
themselves for judgment, and turning its hideous head with angry looks, appears
to menace the wicked who dare to approach the holy mansion of Osiris. This
monster was the prototype of the Greek Cerberus; but the lively imagination of
the Greeks improved upon or exaggerated the deformity: its neck was said to
bristle with snakes; it was represented with three, or with fifty heads; and
Virgil and others describe its rapacity, and the terror it was supposed to
cause.']
[17] [Sharpe, Egyptian Inscriptions from the British Museum and other Sources, pl. 106.]
[18] [Source.]
[19] [HL, 84. 'We read of Set the god of Senu, Set of Uau, Set of Un and Set of Meru. Other forms of Set are well known, but those I have cited are brought together in one inscription as children of the god Tmu.']
[20] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 30.]
[21] [Rit. ch. 17. Cf. Renouf.]
[22] [Rit. ch. 64. 'I am the [Sut] God of the House, belonging to his houses. He has come from S'Khem to Annu [Heliopolis]. He informs the Bennu of the things of the Gate.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[23] [Rit. ch. 83. 'The great one shining with his body as a God is Set, for Thoth faces those who are among them in that band. Oh dweller in Khem [Horus] with the Spirits of Annu, diffused among them! I have come upon that day. I rise. I return with the Gods. I am Horus, the piercer of all the proud.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[24] [Birch, 'Egyptian Magical Text,' RP, 6, 113. See p. 126.]
[25] [See note 13 above, for, pl. 2, col. D, lines 5 and 6.]
[26] [Manners and Customs of the Ancient
Egyptians. The Second Series,
vol.
2 [or 3?], pl. 46 A, pt. 6, or the Head of the Gryphon. Unable to trace.
Pierret, Le Pantheon Égyptien, p.
48.]
[27] [Cook, 'Inscription of Pianchi Mer-Amon,' RP, 2,
79. See p. 101. And footnote for
two following refs:
De
Rouge, 'Pa-supti.'
Brugsch, Geographische Inschriften altägyptischer Denkmäler,
vol. 1, p. 32.]
[28] [Rit. ch. 17. Cf. Renouf.]
[29] [Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. The Second Series, vol. 2 [or 3?], p. 65. Unable to trace.]
[30] [Pleyte, Lettre sur quelques Monuments Relatifs au Dieu Set?]
[31] [Halyrudhous, K. S. R., 19 October, 1566, vol. 1. Unable to trace this title.]
[32] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 36.]
[35] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 50.]
[36] [Lepsius, Auswahl der Wichtigsten urkunden der Aegptischen Alterthums.]
[37] [Histories, bk. 2:127-8. 'Cheops reigned, the Egyptians said, fifty years,
and was succeeded at his demise by Chephren, his brother. Chephren imitated the
conduct of his predecessor and, like him, built a pyramid, which did not,
however, equal the dimensions of his brother's. Of this I am certain, for I
measured them both myself. It has no subterraneous apartments, nor any canal
from the Nile to supply it with water, as the other pyramid has. In that, the
Nile water, introduced through an artificial duct, surrounds an island, where
the body of Cheops is said to lie. Chephren built his pyramid close to the great
pyramid of Cheops, and of the same dimensions, except that he lowered the height
forty feet. For the basement he employed the many-coloured stone of Ethiopia.
These two pyramids stand both on the sanle hill, an elevation not far short of a
hundred feet in height. The reign of Chephren lasted fifty-six years.
Thus the affliction of Egypt endured for the space of one hundred and six years,
during the whole of which time the temples were shut up and never opened. The
Egyptians so detest the memory of these kings that they do not much like even to
mention their names. Hence they commonly call the pyramids after Philition, a
shepherd who at that tin1e fed his flocks about the place.' Tr., Rawlinson.
'This Cheops, the Egyptians said, reigned fifty years; and after he was
dead his brother Chephren succeeded to the kingdom. This king followed the same
manner as the other, both in all the rest and also in that he made a pyramid,
not indeed attaining to the measurements of that which was built by the former
(this I know, having myself also measured it), and moreover there are no
underground chambers beneath nor does a channel come from the Nile flowing to
this one as to the other, in which the water coming through a conduit built for
it flows round an island within, where they say that Cheops himself is laid: but
for a basement he built the first course of Ethiopian stone of divers colours;
and this pyramid he made forty feet lower than the other as regards size,
building it close to the great pyramid. These stand both upon the same hill,
which is about a hundred feet high. And Chephren they said reigned fifty and six
years.
Here then they reckon one hundred and six years, during which they say that
there was nothing but evil for the Egyptians, and the temples were kept closed
and not opened during all that time. These kings the Egyptians by reason of
their hatred of them are not very willing to name; nay, they even call the
pyramids after the name of Philitis the shepherd, who at that time pastured
flocks in those regions.' Tr., Macauley.]
[38] [Deut. 5:15. 'And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.']
[39] [Description de l'Egypt, vol. 1, pl. 43.]
[40] [Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 97. The Extant Fragments of Africanus can be found in ANF, 6, 130-38.]
[41] [History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. 2, p. 210.]
[42] [Ibid., vol. 1, p. 258. Or the single ed., pp. 118-9.]
[43] [Naville, 'Inscription of the Destruction of Mankind by Ra,' RP, 6, 103. See p. 108.]
[44] [Otherwise known as the Metternich Stele. Poss. pub. in Die Metternichstela in der originalgrösse, by Golenischeff in 1877.]
[45] [Jablonski, Opuscula quibus lingua et antiquitas Ægyptiorum, vol. 4, 153.]
[46] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 59.]
[47] [The Koran, ch. 2. 'Your wives are your tillage, go in
therefore unto your tillage in what manner soever ye will.' Sale's tr.
Note n: 'That is, in any position: either standing, sitting,
lying, forwards, or backwards. And this passage, it is said, was revealed to
answer the Jews, who pretended that if a man lay with his wife backwards, he
would get a more witty child. It has been imagined that these words allow that
preposterous lust, which the commentators say is forbidden by the preceding; but
I question whether this can be proved.']
[48] [Toledoth.]
[49] [Brugsch, Histoire d'Égypt des les premiers temps, pl. 8, scut. 158: Bunsen, Egypt's Place in Universal History, vol. 2, p. 624.]
[50] [Ibid., pl. 9, scut. 196.]
[51] [Commentary on the Timaeus, vol. 1, p. 128, bk. 1. 'Again, the shepherds are analogous to the powers that are arranged over the heads of animals; which in arcane narrations are said to be souls that are frustrated of the human intellect, but have a propensity towards animals. For there is also a certain curator of the herd of men. And there are likewise certain partial curators; some being the inspectors of nations; others of cities; and others of individuals. But the hunters are analogous to those powers that hunt after souls, and inclose them in bodies.' Taylor's tr.]
[52] [Lev. 17:7. 'And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.']
[53] [Histories, bk. 2, 46. 'I mentioned above that some of the Egyptians
abstain from sacrificing goats, either male or female. The reason is the
following: These Egyptians, who are the Mendesians, consider Pan to be one of
the eight gods who existed before the twelve, and Pan is represented in Egypt by
the painters and the sculptors, just as he is in Greece, with the face and legs
of a goat. They do not, however, believe this to be his shape, or consider him
in any respect unlike the other gods; but they represent him thus for a reason
which I prefer not to relate. The Mendesians hold all goats in veneration, but
the male more than the female, giving the goatherds of the males especial
honour. One is venerated more highly than all the rest, and when he dies there
is a great mourning throughout all the Mendesian canton. In Egyptian, the goat
and Pan are both called Mendes.' Tr., Rawlinson.
'Now the reason why those of the Egyptians whom I have mentioned do not
sacrifice goats, female or male, is this: the Mendesians count Pan to be one of
the eight gods (now these eight gods they say came into being before the twelve
gods), and the painters and image-makers represent in painting and in sculpture
the figure of Pan, just as the Hellenes do, with goat's face and legs, not
supposing him to be really like this but to resemble the other gods; the cause
however why they represent him in this form I prefer not to say. The Mendesians
then reverence all goats and the males more than the females (and the goatherds
too have greater honour than other herdsmen), but of the goats one especially is
reverenced, and when he dies there is great mourning in all the Mendesian
district: and both the goat and Pan are called in the Egyptian tongue "Mendes".
Moreover in my lifetime there happened in that district this marvel, that is to
say a he-goat had intercourse with a woman publicly, and this was so done that
all men might have evidence of it.' Tr.. Macauley.
This chapter is a good
example of why I have used both Rawlinson and Macauley as translators of
Herodotus as the former shies away from including the account of the copulation
with a goat out of Victorian prudishness.]
[54] [Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 142.]
[55] [Bartolocci, Bibliotheca Magna Rabbinica, vol. 1, pp. 76-8. See also Reuchlin, De Arte Kabbalah.]
[56] [Wilkinson, (Materia Hieroglyphica?), pl. 23.]
[57] [Stuart, Nile Gleanings, p. 252.
'This queen must have been very beautiful, to judge by her portrait which
occurs here. Contrary to the usual custom she is given a pale pink complexion.
She wears a foreign costume richly coloured, and open in front.
It is a kind of Persian tunic, with long sleeves over the arms, adorned with
fringes, and it is quite open all the way down the front, with a very rich and
beautiful border of divers colours. The lady does not appear to have worn any
under dress; prudishness was evidently not the fashion of the day, and both in
this and many other instances we must admit that the costumes of Egyptian queens
did some violence to our sense of decency, though the modern eel-skin costume
ought to have inured one to that.']
[58] [Nutt, Fragments of a Samaritan Targum, p. 44. 'The ground of this exclusion is variously stated: generally they are charged with the worship of a dove, an accusation which originated as early as the second century A.D., is repeated again in a commentary of Rashi, revived by Maimonides, and reasserted as late as 1808, though repudiated with horror by the Samaritans themselves. Or it is alleged against them that in the time of Diocletian they denied their Jewash origiin and offered libations to heathen deities, a charge which must be received with considerable caution.']
[59] [Chabas, Études sur l'Antiqité Historique d'après les Sources Égyptiennes et les Monuments Reputés Prehistoriques, p. 102.]
[60] [Gen. 14:13. 'And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram.']
[61] [Lydus, Liber de Mensibus, 4.
38,
cont.,
74,
98,
cont.
Cedrenus, Compendium Historiarum, vol. 1. p. 296.
Julian, 'Oratio In Matrem Deor,' 5, p. 172. I am not sure to what
precisely Massey is referring to in this work by the Apostate Julian, so I have
included here the complete text which
is actually no. 4 in the Orations by Julian, not 5, according to Taylor.
But according to the Loeb Library ed., this is no. 5.
Nor does the pagination tally with any Lat. eds.]
[63] [? Sepher Toledoth Jesu.]
[64] [Num. 23:22. 'God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.']
[65] [Num. 24:8. 'God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.']
[66] [Champollion, Dictionnaire Égyptien en Écriture Hieroglyphique, p. 115.]
[67] [Gen. 38:8. 'And Judah said unto Onan, Go in
unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.'
Deut. 25:5-7. 'If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have
no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her
husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform
the duty of an husband's brother unto her.
And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name
of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.
And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife
go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to
raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my
husband's brother.'
Compare Ruth, 1:15. 'And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back
unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.']
[68] [Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, bk. 5.14. 'The most civilized of all these nations are they who inhabit Kent, which is entirely a maritime district, nor do they differ much from the Gallic customs. Most of the inland inhabitants do not sow corn, but live on milk and flesh, and are clad with skins. All the Britains, indeed, dye themselves with woad, which occasions a bluish colour, and thereby have a more terrible appearance in fight. They wear their hair long, and have every part of their body shaved except their head and upper lip. Ten and even twelve have wives common to them, and particularly brothers among brothers, and parents among their children; but if there be any issue by these wives, they are reputed to be the children of those by whom respectively each was first espoused when a virgin.']
[69] [Ex. 6:22. 'And the sons of Uzziel; Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Zithri.']
[70] [2 Sam. 24:1. 'And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.']
[71] [1 Ch. 21:1. 'And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.']
[72] [Deut. 32:17. 'They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.']
[73] [Ps. 106:37. 'Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils.']
[74] [Hab. 2:17. 'For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.']
[75] [Job 2:1. 'Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.']
[76] [Source below.]
[77] [Chronicon Paschale, vol. 1, p. 66.]
[78] [Vossius, de Origine ac Progressu Idololatriæ, bk. 1, c. 17.]
[79] [Is. 34:14. 'The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.']
[80] [Ex.
26:1. 'Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined
linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt
thou make them.
The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of
one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure.
The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other five
curtains shall be coupled one to another.
And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the
selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of
another curtain, in the coupling of the second.
Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make
in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops
may take hold one of another.
And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with
the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle.']
[81] [Bartolocci, Bibliotheca Magna Rabbinica, vol. 1, pp. 69-71.]
[82] [Is. 14:13. 'For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.']
[83] [History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. 2, p. 129. Or p. 318 of the single vol. ed.]
[84] [Eisenlohr, 'The Great Harris Papyrus, Part I,' RP, 6, 21. See p. 59.]
[85] [Rouge, Album Photographique de la Mission remplie en Égypte, pls. 51, 52.]
[86] [Rouge, Études sur les divers monuments du regne de Toutmès III decouverts à Thebes.]
[87] [Source below.]
[88] [Chabas, Melanges Égyptologiques, pp. 143-4.]
[89] [Eisenlohr, 'ANNALS OF RAMESES III: The Great Harris Papyrus,' RP, 8, 5. See p. 26, note 7.]
[90] [Rit. ch. 17. 'The Clean Crosser over the place of birth is Anup [Anubis]. He is behind the bier which holds the bowels of Osiris. He who has been steeped in resin in the place of Preservation is Osiris; or, it is the Heaven and Earth; or, it is Shu the conqueror of the world in Suten-khen [Bubastis].' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[91] [Eisenlohr, 'The Great Harris Papyrus, Part I,' RP, 6, 21. See pp. 57-8.]
[92] [See note below.]
[93] [Against Apion, bk. 1.14. 'I shall begin with the writings of the Egyptians; not indeed of those that have written in the Egyptian language, which it is impossible for me to do. But Manetho was a man who was by birth an Egyptian, yet had he made himself master of the Greek learning, as is very evident; for he wrote the history of his own country in the Greek tongue, by translating it, as he saith himself, out of their sacred records; he also finds great fault with Herodotus for his ignorance and false relations of Egyptian affairs. Now this Manetho, in the second book of his Egyptian History, writes concerning us in the following manner. I will set down his very words, as if I were to bring the very man himself into a court for a witness: "There was a king of ours whose name was Timaus. Under him it came to pass, I know not how, that God was averse to us, and there came, after a surprising manner, men of ignoble birth out of the eastern parts, and had boldness enough to make an expedition into our country, and with ease subdued it by force, yet without our hazarding a battle with them. So when they had gotten those that governed us under their power, they afterwards burnt down our cities, and demolished the temples of the gods, and used all the inhabitants after a most barbarous manner; nay, some they slew, and led their children and their wives into slavery. At length they made one of themselves king, whose name was Salatis; he also lived at Memphis, and made both the upper and lower regions pay tribute, and left garrisons in places that were the most proper for them. He chiefly aimed to secure the eastern parts, as fore-seeing that the Assyrians, who had then the greatest power, would be desirous of that kingdom, and invade them; and as he found in the Saite Nomos, [Sethroite,] a city very proper for this purpose, and which lay upon the Bubastic channel, but with regard to a certain theologic notion was called Avaris, this he rebuilt, and made very strong by the walls he built about it, and by a most numerous garrison of two hundred and forty thousand armed men whom he put into it to keep it. Thither Salatis came in summer time, partly to gather his corn, and pay his soldiers their wages, and partly to exercise his armed men, and thereby to terrify foreigners. When this man had reigned thirteen years, after him reigned another, whose name was Beon, for forty-four years; after him reigned another, called Apachnas, thirty-six years and seven months; after him Apophis reigned sixty-one years, and then Janins fifty years and one month; after all these reigned Assis forty-nine years and two months. And these six were the first rulers among them, who were all along making war with the Egyptians, and were very desirous gradually to destroy them to the very roots. This whole nation was styled HYCSOS, that is, Shepherd-kings: for the first syllable HYC, according to the sacred dialect, denotes a king, as is SOS a shepherd; but this according to the ordinary dialect; and of these is compounded HYCSOS: but some say that these people were Arabians." Now in another copy it is said that this word does not denote Kings, but, on the contrary, denotes Captive Shepherds, and this on account of the particle HYC; for that HYC, with the aspiration, in the Egyptian tongue again denotes Shepherds, and that expressly also; and this to me seems the more probable opinion, and more agreeable to ancient history. [But Manetho goes on]: "These people, whom we have before named kings, and called shepherds also, and their descendants," as he says, "kept possession of Egypt five hundred and eleven years." After these, he says, "That the kings of Thebais and the other parts of Egypt made an insurrection against the shepherds, and that there a terrible and long war was made between them." He says further, "That under a king, whose name was Alisphragmuthosis, the shepherds were subdued by him, and were indeed driven out of other parts of Egypt, but were shut up in a place that contained ten thousand acres; this place was named Avaris." Manetho says, "That the shepherds built a wall round all this place, which was a large and a strong wall, and this in order to keep all their possessions and their prey within a place of strength, but that Thummosis the son of Alisphragmuthosis made an attempt to take them by force and by siege, with four hundred and eighty thousand men to lie rotund about them, but that, upon his despair of taking the place by that siege, they came to a composition with them, that they should leave Egypt, and go, without any harm to be done to them, whithersoever they would; and that, after this composition was made, they went away with their whole families and effects, not fewer in number than two hundred and forty thousand, and took their journey from Egypt, through the wilderness, for Syria; but that as they were in fear of the Assyrians, who had then the dominion over Asia, they built a city in that country which is now called Judea, and that large enough to contain this great number of men, and called it Jerusalem. Now Manetho, in another book of his, says, "That this nation, thus called Shepherds, were also called Captives, in their sacred books." And this account of his is the truth; for feeding of sheep was the employment of our forefathers in the most ancient ages and as they led such a wandering life in feeding sheep, they were called Shepherds. Nor was it without reason that they were called Captives by the Egyptians, since one of our ancestors, Joseph, told the king of Egypt that he was a captive, and afterward sent for his brethren into Egypt by the king's permission. But as for these matters, I shall make a more exact inquiry about them elsewhere.' Whiston's tr.]
[94] [Source.]
[95] [Gen. 15:13. 'And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years.']
[96] [Gen. 15:16. 'But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.']
[97] [Ex.
12:40-41. 'Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was
four hundred and thirty years.
And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the
selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the
land of Egypt.']
[98] [Is.
7:14-16. 'Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin
shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose
the good.
For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the
land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.']
[99] [Birch, 'Sepulchral Inscription of Ameni,' RP, 6, 1-4.]
[100] [Hab. 3:3. 'God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.']
[101] [Hulsius, Theologiæ Judicæ pars prima de
Messia.
Bartolocci, Bibliotheca Magna Rabbinica, vol. 4, p. 28.]
[102] [Hulsius, 'Avkath Rochel,' in Theologiæ Judicæ pars prima de Messia, p. 35.]
[103] [Is. 7:16. 'For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.']
[104] [Ruth 4:11. 'And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem.']
[105] [Mic. 5:5. 'And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.']
[107] [2 Esd. 7:26-31. 'Therefore, Ezra, emptiness for the empty, fullness for the full! 'Listen! The time shall come when the signs I have foretold will be seen; the city which is now invisible shall appear and the country now concealed be made visible. Everyone who has been delivered from the evils I have foretold shall see for himself my marvellous acts. My son the Messiah shall appear with his companions and bring four hundred years of happiness to all who survive. At the end of that time, my son the Messiah shall die, and so shall all mankind who draw breath. Then the world shall return to its original silence for seven days as at the beginning of creation, and no one shall be left alive. After seven days the age which is not yet awake shall be roused and the age which is corruptible shall die.' NEB Version.]
[109] [2 Esd. 11:1. 'On the second night I had a
vision in a dream; I saw, rising from the sea, an eagle with twelve wings and
three heads.'
2 Esd. 2:36-41. 'Then I heard a voice which said to me: 'Look carefully
at what you see before you.' I looked, and saw what seemed to be a lion roused
from the forest; it roared as it came, and I heard it address the eagle in a
human voice. 'Listen to what I tell you', it said. 'The Most High says to you:
Are you not the only survivor of the four beasts to which I gave the rule over
my world, intending through them to bring my ages to their end? You are the
fourth beast, and you have conquered all who went before, ruling over the whole
world and holding it in the grip of fear and harsh oppression.' NEB
Version.]
[110] ['The Tablet of Four Hundred Years (XIX Dynasty),' RP, 4, 33.]
[111] [Ps. 88:12. 'Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?']
[112] ['The Tablet of Four Hundred Years (XIX Dynasty),' RP, 4, 33. See p. 35.]
[113] [Ibid., RP, 4, 33. See p. 35.]
[114] [Ibid., RP, 4, 33. See p. 36.]
[115] [Das Sonnen- und Siriusjahr der
Ramessiden, p. xi. 'Thot mit einem ersten Monatstage des Wandeljahres
zusammentraf. Das war im 18. Jahrhundert während
der Tetraeteris 1766—1762 der Fall, in
welcher der 1. Pachons des Wandeljahres auf den 5. Juli, also mit dem l. Thot
des neugebildeten festen Jahres, und der 15. Pachons mit dem 15. Thot
zusammenfiel. Das Wandeljahr war damals um acht Monate verschoben. Diese
Verschiebung ist in dem neugebildeten festen Jahre dadurch ausgeglichen, dass
statt des Pachons der Thot als der erste Monat der Wasserjahreszeit wieder an
den Beginn der Nilschwelle gestellt ist. Mit der Tetraeteris 1766—1762
V. Chr. also, in welcher der Pachons des Wandeljahres und der Thot des festen
Jahres sich deckten, scheint der Sirius-Schaltkreis begonnen zuhaben (S. 91—94).—Eine
Erinnerung an diesen Anfang des Sirius-Schaltkreises scheinen die Festangaben in
Dendera und Edfu am 1. Pachons zu enthalten (S. 95).—Auch
die Angaben des Decrets von Kanopus finden durch diesen Schaltkreis ihre Erklärung
(S. 97).—Ebenso scheint die astronomische
Darstellung im Ramesseum durch das eingeschobene Königsschild
die seit Bildung des Sirius-Schaltkreises eingetretene Verschiebung des
Wandeljahres anzudeuten (S. 100).
Ausdrücklich auf das 18. Jahrhundert, als
den Anfang des Sirius-Schaltkreises, wärde
die Inschrift von Tanis hinweisen, nach welcher ein Feldherr Ramses' II. zum
Andenken Seti's ein Denkmal errichtete "im Jahre 400 am 4. Mesori"; wenn dieses
Jahr 400 ein Säcularjahr des Sirius-Schaltkreises wäre (S. 105).—Im
Jahre 1766 war nun der 1. Thot des festen Jahres in der That eine [Greek], denn
am Nachmittage des 4. Juli, an dessen Abend der 1. Thot begann, trat der Neumond
ein (S. 110 und Anhang S. 371).—Wurde also
das feste Jahr damals eingeführt, so war das
Licht des Mondes mit dem ersten Halbmonat des ersten Jahres so in Verbindung
gebracht, dass jene wichtigen 15 Tage, in welchen sich der Beginn der
Nilschwelle vollzieht, die Tage vom Neumond bis zum Vollmond waren und das
wichtige Fest des Sechsten nach dem Neumond auf die Sonnenwende fiel (S. 112).—Ja
auch die Feste der Herbstgleiche, Winterwende und Frühlingsgleiche
fielen in diesem ersten Jahre der ersten Tetraeteris mit den Festen des Sechsten
nach dem Neumond zusammen (S. 115).—Dies
alles scheint dafür zu sprechen, dass das
Jahr 1766 zur Einführung des festen Jahres
ausersehen sein wird. Da die Schaltung an den Normaltag des Siriusaufgangs geknüpft,
dieser aber der 15. Thot war, fiel der erste Schalttag in den Anfang des fünften
Jahres, d. h. in den Anfang des ersten Jahres der zweiten Tetraeteris (1762).
Ebenso in allen folgenden Tetraeteriden. Dieser Schalttag war aber nicht
anticipirt, war vielmehr der durch die Verspätung
des Siriusaufgangs während der Tetraeteris
1766—1762 fällig
gewordene Tag (S. 119).']
[117] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 2.57. 'When they would denote the great cyclical renovation, they portray the bird PHŒNIX. For when he is produced a renovation of things takes place, and he is produced in this manner. When the Phœnix is about to die, he casts himself vehemently upon the ground, and is wounded by the blow, and from the ichor, which flows from the wound, another phœnix is produced; which as soon as it is fledged, goes with his father to the city of the sun in Egypt; who when he is come thither, dies in that place at the rising of the sun. And after the death of his father, the young one departs again to his own country; and the priests of Egypt bury the phœnix that is dead.']
[118] [Natural History, bk. 10.2.]
[119] [Annals, bk.
6. 28. 'Paulo Fabio L. Vitellio consulibus post longum saeculorum ambitum avis
phoenix in Aegyptum venit praebuitque materiem doctissimis indigenarum et
Graecorum multa super eo miraculo disserendi. de quibus congruunt et plura
ambigua, sed cognitu non absurda promere libet. sacrum Soli id animal et ore ac
distinctu pinnarum a ceteris avibus diversum consentiunt qui formam eius
effinxere: de numero annorum varia traduntur. maxime vulgatum quingentorum
spatium: sunt qui adseverent mille quadringentos sexaginta unum interici,
prioresque alites Sesoside primum, post Amaside dominantibus, dein Ptolemaeo,
qui ex Macedonibus tertius regnavit, in civitatem cui Heliopolis nomen
advolavisse, multo ceterarum volucrum comitatu novam faciem mirantium. sed
antiquitas quidem obscura: inter Ptolemaeum ac Tiberium minus ducenti
quinquaginta anni fuerunt. unde non nulli falsum hunc phoenicem neque Arabum e
terris credidere, nihilque usurpavisse ex his quae vetus memoria firmavit.
confecto quippe annorum numero, ubi mors propinquet, suis in terris struere
nidum eique vim genitalem adfundere ex qua fetum oriri; et primam adulto curam
sepeliendi patris, neque id temere sed sublato murrae pondere temptatoque per
longum iter, ubi par oneri, par meatui sit, subire patrium corpus inque Solis
aram perferre atque adolere. haec incerta et fabulosis aucta: ceterum aspici
aliquando in Aegypto eam volucrem non ambigitur.'
'During the consulship of Paulus Fabius and Lucius Vitellius, the bird called
the phoenix, after a long succession of ages, appeared in Egypt and furnished
the most learned men of that country and of Greece with abundant matter for the
discussion of the marvellous phenomenon. It is my wish to make known all on
which they agree with several things, questionable enough indeed, but not too
absurd to be noticed. That it is a creature sacred to the sun, differing from
all other birds in its beak and in the tints of its plumage, is held unanimously
by those who have described its nature. As to the number of years it lives,
there are various accounts. The general tradition says five hundred years. Some
maintain that it is seen at intervals of fourteen hundred and sixty-one years,
and that the former birds flew into the city called Heliopolis successively in
the reigns of Sesostris, Amasis, and Ptolemy, the third king of the Macedonian
dynasty, with a multitude of companion birds marvelling at the novelty of the
appearance. But all antiquity is of course obscure. From Ptolemy to Tiberius was
a period of less than five hundred years. Consequently some have supposed that
this was a spurious phoenix, not from the regions of Arabia, and with none of
the instincts which ancient tradition has attributed to the bird. For when the
number of years is completed and death is near, the phoenix, it is said, builds
a nest in the land of its birth and infuses into it a germ of life from which an
offspring arises, whose first care, when fledged, is to bury its father. This is
not rashly done, but taking up a load of myrrh and having tried its strength by
a long flight, as soon as it is equal to the burden and to the journey, it
carries its father’s body, bears it to the altar of the Sun, and leaves it to
the flames. All this is full of doubt and legendary exaggeration. Still, there
is no question that the bird is occasionally seen in Egypt.' Church and
Brodribb's tr.]
[120] [Histories, bk. 2.73. 'They have also another sacred bird called the
phoenix, which I myself have never seen, except in pictures. Indeed it is a
great rarity, even in Egypt, only coming there (according to the accounts of the
people of Heliopolis) once in five hundred years, when the old phoenix dies. Its
size and appearance, if it is like the pictures, are as follow: The plumage is
partly red, partly golden, while the general make and size are almost exactly
that of the eagle. They tell a story of what this bird does, which does not seem
to me to be credible: that he comes all the way from Arabia, and brings the
parent bird, all plastered over with myrrh, to the temple of the Sun, and there
buries the body. In order to bring him, they say, he first forms a ball of myrrh
as big as he finds that he can carry; then he hollows out the ball, and puts his
parent inside, after which he covers over the opening with fresh myrrh, and the
ball is then of exactly the same weight as at first; so he brings it to Egypt,
plastered over as I have said, and deposits it in the temple of the Sun. Such is
the story they tell of the doings of this bird.' Tr., Rawlinson.
'There is also another sacred bird called the phœnix which I did not
myself see except in painting, for in truth he comes to them very rarely, at
intervals, as the people of Heliopolis say, of five hundred years; and these say
that he comes regularly when his father dies; and if he be like the painting, he
is of this size and nature, that is to say, some of his feathers are of gold
colour and others red, and in outline and size he is as nearly as possible like
an eagle. This bird they say (but I cannot believe the story) contrives as
follows: setting forth from Arabia he conveys his father, they say, to the
temple of the Sun (Helios) plastered up in myrrh, and buries him in the temple
of the Sun; and he conveys him thus:--he forms first an egg of myrrh as large as
he is able to carry, and then he makes trial of carrying it, and when he has
made trial sufficiently, then he hollows out the egg and places his father
within it and plasters over with other myrrh that part of the egg where he
hollowed it out to put his father in, and when his father is laid in it, it
proves (they say) to be of the same weight as it was; and after he has plastered
it up, he conveys the whole to Egypt to the temple of the Sun. Thus they say
that this bird does.' Tr., Macauley.]
[121] [Die Chronologie der Ægypter, bearbeitet, Einleitung und Esther Theil Kritik der Quellen, p. 165.]
[122] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 2. 89. 'When they would symbolise a man that has lived to a proper age, they depict a DYING CROW; for she lives an hundred years according to the Egyptians; and a year among the Egyptians consists of four (of our) years.']
[123] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 1.5. 'To represent the current year, they depict [with the sign of the year?] the fourth part of an ARURA: now the Arura is a measure of land of an hundred cubits. And when they would express a year they say a quarter [add the quarter?]: for they affirm that in the rising of the star Sothis, the fourth part of a day intervenes between the (completion of the solar year and the) following rising (of the star Sothis), because the year of the God [the solar year] consists of only 365 days; hence in the course of each tetracterid the Egyptians intercalate an entire day, for the four quarters complete the day.']
[124] [2 Es. 7:28. See note 107 above.]
[125] [As in note below.]
[126] [Source.]
[127] [Gen. 15:13. 'And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years.']
[128] [2 Es. 12:3. 'Their reign was short and troubled, and when I looked at them they were already vanishing. Then the eagle's entice body burst into flames, and the earth was struck with terror.' NEB Version.]
[129] [2 Es. 12:13-16. 'But he was not given the interpretation which I am now giving you or have already given you. The days are coming when the earth will be under an empire more terrible than any before. It will be ruled by twelve kings, one after another. The second to come to the throne will have the longest reign of all the twelve. That is the meaning of the twelve wings you saw.' NEB Version.]
[130] [Herschel, A Treatise on Astronomy, pp. 200-1. 'The position of the longer axis of the earth's orbit is a point of great importance. In the figure (art. 315) let ECLI be the ecliptic, E the vernal equinox, L the autumnal, (i.e. the points to which the earth is referred from the sun when its heliocentric longitudes are 0° and 180° respectively). Supposing the earth's motion to be performed in the direction ECLI, the angle ESA, or the longitude of the perihelion, in the year 1800 was 99° 30' 5": we say in the year 1800, because, in point of fact, by the operation of causes hereafter to be explained, its position is subject to an extremely slow variation of about 12" per annum to the eastward, and which, in the progress of an immensely long period of no less than 20,984 years carries the axis ASM of the orbit completely round the whole circumference of the ecliptic. But this motion must be disregarded for the present, as well as many other minute deviations, to be brought into view when they can be better understood.' Or the third ed., p. 191.]
[131] [Birch, 'The Tablet of Four Hundred Years (XIX Dynasty),' RP, 4, 33.]
[132] [Chronographia.?]
[133] [Birch, 'The Tablet of Four Hundred Years (XIX Dynasty),' RP, 4, 33.]
[134] [Brugsch, History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. 1, p. 262. Or p. 121, single ed.]
[135] [Ps. 81:5. 'This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.']
[136] [Chronographia.?]
[137] [Birch, 'The Tablet of Four Hundred Years (XIX Dynasty),' RP, 4, 33. See p. 35.]
[138] [Ex.
1:8-11. 'Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are
more and mightier than we:
Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass,
that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight
against us, and so get them up out of the land.
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens.
And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.']
[139] [Talbot, 'Ishtar and Izdubar,' RP, 9, 119. See p. 125.]
[140] [De Dea Syria, ch. 20, etc.]
[141] [Renouf, 'Tale of the Two Brothers,' RP, 2, 137.]
[142] [History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. 1, p. 269.]
[143] [Drummond, Œdipus Judaicus, pl. 3.]
[144] [Rit. ch. 149. 'Hail, oh Sun, shining in the living orb, coming out of the horizon! The Osiris has known thy name, he has known the seven cows and their bull, who give of food and of drink to the living, and who feed the Gods of the West. Give ye food and drink to the Osiris, feed him. Give ye things to him; the Osiris he pursues ye; he ewes ye at your side. Give ye food and drink to the Spirit of the Osiris. He is a Spirit in Hades.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[145] [Matt. 6:11. 'Give us this day our daily bread.']
[146] [Renouf, 'Tale of the Two Brothers,' RP, 2, 137. See p. 144.]
[147] [Naville, 'The Great Tablet of Rameses II
at Abu-Simbel,' RP, 12. 81.
See p. 86.
See also Brugsch, History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol.
2, p. 99.]
[148] [Birch, 'The Tablet of Four Hundred Years (XIX Dynasty),' RP, 4, 33.]
[149] [Renouf, HL, 44-5. 'The interval
between the twelfth and the eighteenth dynasty must have been very considerable.
The time immediately preceding the eighteenth dynasty was the period of the
foreign domination generally known as that of the Hyksos, or the Shepherd kings.
So much is certain, but it is absolutely impossible to ascertain from Egyptian
records when this period began, and how long it lasted. The 511 years which are
ascribed to it by Manetho, as quoted by Josephus, are neither to be simply
accepted nor rejected, but must remain subject to future verification. The only
evidence from Egyptian sources which bears upon the subject is a monument of
Rameses II., dated from the four hundredth year of one of these kings of foreign
origin. But a considerable number of native kings must have reigned between the
last king of the twelfth dynasty and the beginning of the foreign invasion.
There are numerous inscriptions which prove that some reigns powerful in the
north of Egypt had extended their dominion to the very heart of Nubia. The
monuments of Thebes, southern Egypt and Nubia, might be consistent with the
hypothesis of a Hyksos kingdom in the north, but the presence of equally
important monuments of the Sebekhoteps at Bubastis and Tanis, kings whose names
occupy an important place in the chamber of Karnak, would alone be sufficient to
overthrow this hypothesis. There is in the Louvre a magnificent colossal statue
in real granite of Sebekhotep III., with reference to which M. de Rouge says: "A
single statue of this excellence and of such a material shows clearly that the
king who had it executed for the decoration of his temples or palaces had not
yet suffered from the invasion of the Shepherds. It is evident that under his
reign Egypt was still a great power, peacefully cultivating the arts." Perhaps
the most interesting monument of this period is the colossal statue of the king
Semench-ka-Ba (the eighteenth king of the thirteenth dynasty, according to the
royal Turin papyrus), on the right shoulder of which one of the foreign kings
has had his name engraved in hieroglyphic characters.'
See also Birch, Ancient History from the Monuments. Egypt from the
Earliest Times to B.C. 300, p. 74. 'It has been conjectured
that nearly a thousand years intervened between the close of the twelfth dynasty
and the expulsion of the Shepherds; but there is no temple or monument of
importance to mark the interval. The extraordinary number of sixty kings
attributed to the thirteenth dynasty, and of seventy-six to the fourteenth, is
unparalleled in the annals of any country. The monarchs that are known are
called Sebekhetp and Mentuhetp, and the repetition of names resembles the system
of the previous dynasties. Statues and tablets of some of these monarchs have
been found at San or Tanis, Harabat-el-Madfouneh or Abydos. These monarchs of
the thirteenth dynasty held Egypt from Nubia to the Mediterranean as sole
monarchs. Sebakhetp IV, like the kings of the eleventh, recorded the height of
the Nile at Samneh, from the first to the fourth year of his reign at the fort
Khemu of Usertesen III. Another king, Neferhetp, and his family are registered
on the rocks of the island of Shel at Assouan and Konosso. A statue of Sebakhetp
lies in the island of Argo, and at Thebes and Hammamat other memorials of the
dynasty appear. Nothing certain is known of the fourteenth dynasty, and it is
probable that at the commencement of its sway Egypt was invaded by the
Hykshos or Shepherds, and the native monarchs driven to the South.
The Shepherd kings are said to have easily subjected the country, burnt the
towns, devastated the temples, ill-treated the Egyptians, and reduced their
wives and children to slavery.
The name of Hyk-shos appears to mean "ruler," hyk, of "Shepherds,"
or "Nomads," Sham; and the invaders to have been some of the Arab or
Semitic tribes, thrown by movements in Central Asia on the borders of Egypt.']
[150] [Brugsch, Histoire d'Égypt des les premiers temps, pl. 7, scut. 116.]
[151] [Birch, Select Papyri in the Hieratic
Character, Part 1.
Slightly altered from Goodwin's version. See 'Hieratic
Papyri,' in CE, 3,
243.
Or the alt. ver., Lushington, 'Fragment of the First Sallier Papyrus,' RP, 8,
1. See pp. 3-4.]
[152] [Josephus, Against Apion, bk. 1. 'And, observing in the Saite nome, upon the east of the Bubastic channel, a city which from some ancient theological references was called Avaris; and finding it admirably adapted to his purpose, he rebuilt it, and strongly fortified it with walls.' In Cory's Ancient Fragments, p. 127. The city of Avaris was then given over to the Hekshus, or Shepherd kings, and because of them, and their leprosy, it was known as the Typhonian city, i.e., the city of the outcasts.]
[153] [Source.]
[154] [Herodotus, Histories, bk. 3.5. 'Now by this way only is there a known entrance to Egypt: for from Phoenicia to the borders of the city of Cadytis belongs to the Syrians who are called of Palestine, and from Cadytis, which is a city I suppose not much less than Sardis, from this city the trading stations on the sea- coast as far as the city of Ienysos belong to the king of Arabia, and then from Ienysos again the country belongs to the Syrians as far as the Serbonian lake, along the side of which Mount Casion extends towards the Sea. After that, from the Serbonian lake, in which the story goes that Typhon is concealed, from this point onwards the land is Egypt. Now the region which lies between the city of Ienysos on the one hand and Mount Casion and the Serbonian lake on the other, which is of no small extent but as much as a three days' journey, is grievously destitute of water.' Tr., Macauley.]
[155] [Renouf, 'Inscription of Aahmes, son of Abana,' RP, 6, 5. See p. 7, lines 7, 8, 12, 13.]
[156] [Brugsch, Histoire d'Égypt des les premiers temps, pl. 11, scuts. 237-8.]
[157] [Ibid., pl. 7, scut. 135.]
[158] [Ibid., pl. 10, scut. 216.]
[159] [Book of Enoch, ch. 61.9.]
[160] [Ancient History from the Monuments, (1879 ed.), p. 107. 'The scarabaei which record their marriage state that her father's name was Iuaa, and her mother's Tuaa. This strange and probably foreign woman exerted at a later period a marked influence on the politics of Egypt. The scarabaei issued in his tenth year mention that from the first to the tenth year he had killed with his own arrows no fierce lions, a passion for the chase like Nimrod, or for the battue like that of an Assyrian monarch or Roman gladiator. At a later period another monarch of Egypt was seen giving battle to these lords of the desert, or entering the battle-field accompanied by his faithful lion. Some scarabaei dated in his eleventh year, foreshadow the religious revolution which was impending.']
[161] [See the illustration reproduced in NG, and AE. Massey gives the same interpretation in each case.]
[162] [Jallalo'ddin; Al Beidawi; The Koran, ch. 19, note g, p. 228. 'For Gabriel blew into the bosom of her shift, which he opened with his fingers, and his breath reaching her womb, caused the conception. The age of the Virgin Mary at the time of her conception was thirteen, or, as others say, ten; and she went six, seven, eight, or nine months with him, according to different traditions; though some say the child was conceived at its full growth of nine months, and that she was delivered of him within an hour after.' Sale's tr.]
[163] [Sharpe, Egyptian Mythology, pp. 18-9. 'This
opinion of the miraculous birth of the kings is well explained in a series of
sculptures on the wall of the temple of Luxor (see Fig.
28). First, the god Thoth,
with the head of an ibis, and with his ink and pen-case in his left hand, as the
messenger of the gods, like the Mercury of the Greeks, tells the maiden queen
Mautmes that she is to give birth to a son, who is to be king Amunothph III.
Secondly, the god Kneph, the spirit, with a ram's head, and the goddess
Athor, with the sun and cow's horns upon her head, both take hold of the queen
by her hands, and put into her mouth the character for life, which is to be the
life of the coming child. Thirdly, the queen, when the child is to be born, is
seated on the midwife's stool, as described in Exodus i. 16; two of the
attending nurses rub her hands to ease the pains of childbirth, while another of
the nurses holds up the baby, over which is written the name of king Amunothph
III. He holds his finger to his mouth to mark his infancy; he has not yet
learned to speak. Lastly, the several gods or priests attend in adoration upon
their knees to present their gifts to this wonderful child, who is seated in the
midst of them, and is receiving their homage. In this picture we have the
Annunciation, the Conception, the Birth, and the Adoration, as described in the
First and Second Chapters of Luke's Gospel; and as we have historical assurance
that the chapters in Matthew's Gospel, which contain the Miraculous Birth of
Jesus, are an after addition not in the earliest manuscripts, it seems probable
that these two poetical chapters in Luke may also be unhistorical, and be
borrowed from the Egyptian accounts of the miraculous birth of their kings.'
See also 'Great
Harris Papyrus,' by Eisenlohr and Birch in RP 6,
21, and 8,
5.]
[164] [Birch. 2.(?). Unable to trace.]
[165] [British Museum, item no. 2572 b, shelf 2.]
[166] [I.e. Akhenaten, the Heretic King, who Sigmund Freud called the first individual in history.]
[167] [Brugsch, 'Inscription Amenhept IV', in History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. 1, p. 452. Or the single ed., p. 222.]
[168] [Lepsius, Königsbuch der Alten Ägypter, taf. 28, fig. D.]
[169] [Brugsch, Histoire d'Égypt des les premiers temps, pl. 12, scut. 257.]
[170] [History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. 2, p. 8.]
[172] [Gen. 45:9. 'Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not.']
[173] [Brugsch, History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. 1, p. 270.]
[174] [Gen. 41:41. 'And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.']
[175] [Gen. 41:43. 'And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.']
[176] [Brugsch, Histoire d'Égypt des les premiers temps, pl. 12, scut. 256 (Nefertiti).]
[177] [History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. 1, p. 456.]
[178] [Ibid., vol. 1, p. 466.]
[179] [Source.]
[180] [Source.]
[181] [History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. 1, p. 456.]
[182] ['Inscription of Haremhebi on a Statue at
Turin,' TSBA, 3, 491. See full text
here.
This also appears in RP, 10, 29,
tr., by Birch.]
[183] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 13.]
[186] [Egyptian gallery, British Museum, vestibule, nos. 550-552. See note 182 above.]
[187] [Maspero, Monuments Divers Recueillis en Égypte et en Nubie, par Mariette-Bey, pls. 74, 75.]
[188] [Osburn, The Monumental History of Egypt, vol. 2, p. 341. 'The monuments of the reign of Ai and his queen are by no means numerous. Besides the rock-tombs of Panopolis, he seems to have been the first monarch to select the dreary ravine, now known as Biban-el-Malook, for his place of sepulture. His tomb and that of his wife's son, Amenophis-Memnon, are apart from the rest of the tombs of the kings, in an offshoot from the valley to the westward. The catacomb of Ai is of no great extent. The negro countenance of the king is the most remarkable object in it.']
[189] [Massey is here implying that Josephus is not the most reliable of reporters. See my essay.]
[190] [Josephus, Against Apion, bk. 1, chs. 27-8. 'The king, although he had been informed of these things, and terrified with the fear of what was to come, yet did not he even then eject these maimed people out of his country, when it had been foretold him that he was to clear Egypt of them; but, as Manetho says, "he then, upon their request, gave them that city to inhabit, which had formerly belonged to the shepherds, and was called Avaris; whither when they were gone in crowds," he says, "they chose one that had formerly been priest of Heliopolis; and that this priest first ordained that they should neither worship the gods, nor abstain from those animals that were worshipped by the Egyptians, but should kill and eat them all, and should associate with nobody but those that had conspired with them; and that he bound the multitude by oaths to be sure to continue in those laws; and that when he had built a wall about Avaris, he made war against the king." Manetho adds also, that "this priest sent to Jerusalem to invite that people to come to his assistance, and promised to give them Avaris; for that it had belonged to the forefathers of those that were coming from Jerusalem, and that when they were come, they made a war immediately against the king, and got possession of all Egypt." He says also that "the Egyptians came with an army of two hundred thousand men, and that Amenophis, the king of Egypt, not thinking that he ought to fight against the gods, ran away presently into Ethiopia, and committed Apis and certain other of their sacred animals to the priests, and commanded them to take care of preserving them." He says further, that" the people of Jerusalem came accordingly upon the Egyptians, and overthrew their cities, and burnt their temples, and slew their horsemen, and, in short, abstained from no sort of wickedness nor barbarity; and for that priest who settled their polity and their laws," he says, "he was by birth of Heliopolis, and his name was Osarsiph, from Osyris the god of Heliopolis, but that he changed his name, and called himself Moses." He then says that "on the thirteenth year afterward, Amenophis, according to the fatal time of the duration of his misfortunes, came upon them out of Ethiopia with a great army, and joining battle with the shepherds and with the polluted people, overcame them in battle, and slew a great many of them, and pursued them as far as the bounds of Syria."' In Cory, Ancient Fragments, pp. 132-4.]
[191] [Ibid., bk. 1, chs. 27-8. 'Manetho adds, "how this namesake of his told him that he might see the gods, if he would clear the whole country of the lepers and of the other impure people; that the king was pleased with this injunction, and got together all that had any defect in their bodies out of Egypt; and that their number was eighty thousand; whom he sent to those quarries which are on the east side of the Nile, that they might work in them, and might be separated from the rest of the Egyptians."' Ibid., p. 134.]
[192] [Ibid., bk. 1, ch. 32. '"The
goddess Isis appeared to Amenophis in his sleep, and blamed him that her temple
had been demolished in the war. But that Phritiphantes, the sacred scribe, said
to him, that in case he would purge Egypt of the men that had pollutions upon
them, he should be no longer troubled. with such frightful apparitions. That
Amenophis accordingly chose out two hundred and fifty thousand of those that
were thus diseased, and cast them out of the country: that Moses and Joseph were
scribes, and Joseph was a sacred scribe; that their names were Egyptian
originally; that of Moses had been Tisithen, and that of Joseph, Peteseph: that
these two came to Pelusium, and lighted upon three hundred and eighty thousand
that had been left there by Amenophis, he not being willing to carry them into
Egypt; that these scribes made a league of friendship with them, and made with
them an expedition against Egypt: that Amenophis could not sustain their
attacks, but fled into Ethiopia, and left his wife with child behind him, who
lay concealed in certain caverns, and there brought forth a son, whose name was
Messene, and who, when he was grown up to man's estate, pursued the Jews into
Syria, being about two hundred thousand, and then received his father Amenophis
out of Ethiopia."' Ibid., pp. 142-3.
See also BB 2:307.]
[193] [Ibid. '"This king was desirous to become a spectator of the gods, as had Orus, one of his predecessors in that kingdom, desired the same before him; he also communicated that his desire to his namesake Amenophis, who was the son of Papis, and one that seemed to partake of a divine nature, both as to wisdom and the knowledge of futurities." Manetho adds, "how this namesake of his told him that he might see the gods, if he would clear the whole country of the lepers and of the other impure people; that the king was pleased with this injunction, and got together all that had any defect in their bodies out of Egypt; and that their number was eighty thousand; whom he sent to those quarries which are on the east side of the Nile, that they might work in them, and might be separated from the rest of the Egyptians."' As note 191 above.]
[194] [Ibid.]
[195] [Ibid., bk. 1, ch. 25. 'Now the Egyptians were the first that cast reproaches upon us; in order to please which nation, some others undertook to pervert the truth, while they would neither own that our forefathers came into Egypt from another country, as the fact was, nor give a true account of our departure thence.']
[196] [Ibid., bk. 1, ch. 26. 'For he mentions Amenophis, a fictitious king's name, though on that account he durst not set down the number of years of his reign, which yet he had accurately done as to the other kings he mentions; he then ascribes certain fabulous stories to this king, as having in a manner forgotten how he had already related that the departure of the shepherds for Jerusalem had been five hundred and eighteen years before; for Tethmosis was king when they went away. Now, from his days, the reigns of the intermediate kings, according to Manetho, amounted to three hundred and ninety-three years, as he says himself, till the two brothers Sethos and Hermeus; the one of whom, Sethos, was called by that other name of Egyptus, and the other, Hermeus, by that of Danaus. He also says that Sethos east the other out of Egypt, and reigned fifty-nine years, as did his eldest son Rhampses reign after him sixty-six years. When Manetho therefore had acknowledged that our forefathers were gone out of Egypt so many years ago, he introduces his fictitious king Amenophis.' In Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 131.]
[197] [Ibid., bk. 1, ch. 34. 'His words are these: "The people of the Jews being leprous and scabby, and subject to certain other kinds of distempers, in the days of Bocchoris, king of Egypt, they fled to the temples, and got their food there by begging: and as the numbers were very great that were fallen under these diseases, there arose a scarcity in Egypt. Hereupon Bocchoris, the king of Egypt, sent some to consult the oracle of [Jupiter] Hammon about his scarcity. The god's answer was this, that he must purge his temples of impure and impious men, by expelling them out of those temples into desert places; but as to the scabby and leprous people, he must drown them, and purge his temples, the sun having an indignation at these men being suffered to live; and by this means the land will bring forth its fruits. Upon Bocchoris's having received these oracles, he called for their priests, and the attendants upon their altars, and ordered them to make a collection of the impure people, and to deliver them to the soldiers, to carry them away into the desert; but to take the leprous people, and wrap them in sheets of lead, and let them down into the sea. Hereupon the scabby and leprous people were drowned, and the rest were gotten together, and sent into desert places, in order to be exposed to destruction. In this case they assembled themselves together, and took counsel what they should do, and determined that, as the night was coming on, they should kindle fires and lamps, and keep watch; that they also should fast the next night, and propitiate the gods, in order to obtain deliverance from them. That on the next day there was one Moses, who advised them that they should venture upon a journey, and go along one road till they should come to places fit for habitation: that he charged them to have no kind regards for any man, nor give good counsel to any, but always to advise them for the worst; and to overturn all those temples and altars of the gods they should meet with: that the rest commended what he had said with one consent, and did what they had resolved on, and so traveled over the desert. But that the difficulties of the journey being over, they came to a country inhabited, and that there they abused the men, and plundered and burnt their temples; and then came into that land which is called Judea, and there they built a city, and dwelt therein, and that their city was named Hierosyla, from this their robbing of the temples; but that still, upon the success they had afterwards, they in time changed its denomination, that it might not be a reproach to them, and called the city Hierosolyma, and themselves Hierosolymites."' In Cory, ibid., pp. 144-5. See also The Phenix, p. 271.]
[198] [Meier, Judaica, seu veterum scriptorum profanorum de rebus Judaicis fragmenta, pp. 2-3.]
[199] [As note 197 above.]
[200] [Goodwin, 'Hieratic Papyri,' CE, 3, 244.]
[201] [Eisenlohr, 'ANNALS OF RAMESES III: The Great Harris Papyrus,' RP, 8, 5. See p. 46.]
[202] ['Inscription of Haremhebi on a Statue at Turin,' TSBA, 3, 491. See full text here, note 32; Kammhut.]
[203] [Manetho, in Josephus, Against Apion, bk. 1, ch. 14. '"And that, after this composition was made, they went away with their whole families and effects, not fewer in number than two hundred and forty thousand, and took their journey from Egypt, through the wilderness, for Syria; but that as they were in fear of the Assyrians, who had then the dominion over Asia, they built a city in that country which is now called Judea, and that large enough to contain this great number of men, and called it Jerusalem."' In Cory, ibid.]
[204] [Ex. 1.11. 'Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.']
[205] [Eisenlohr, 'Great Harris Papyrus,' RP, 6, 21. See p. 54. pls. 26, 27.]
[206] [Mariette, Lettre à M. le Vicomte de Rougé, sur les Fouilles des Tanis, p. 16.]
[207] [Birch, 'Tablet of 400 Years,' RP, 4. 33.]
[209] [Gill, Notices of the Jews and Their
Country by Classic Writers of Antiquity, pp. 8-12. '"This king
(Amenophis) was desirous of beholding the gods, as Orus, one of his predecessors
in the kingdom had desired to do before him, and he communicated his desire to a
priest of the same name with himself, Amenophis, the son of Papis, who seemed to
partake of the Divine nature, both in his wisdom and knowledge of futurity; and
Amenophis returned him answer, that it was in his power to behold the gods, if
he would clear the whole country of the lepers and other impure people that
abounded in it.
"Well pleased with this information, the king gathered together out of Egypt all
that laboured under any defect in body, to the number of 80,000, and sent them
to the quarries, which are situated on the east side of the Nile, that they
might work in them, and be separated from the rest of the Egyptians." "And," he
adds, "there were among them some learned priests, who were affected with
leprosy. And Amenophis, the wise man and prophet, fearful lest the vengeance of
the gods should fall both on himself and on the king, if it should appear that
violence had been offered them, added this also in a prophetic spirit, that
certain people would come to the assistance of these unclean persons, and. would
subdue Egypt, and hold it
in possession for thirteen years. These tidings, however, he dared not
communicate to the king, but left in writing an account of what should come to
pass, and destroyed himself, at which the king was fearfully distressed."
After which, Josephus says, he thus writes word for word: "When those that were
sent to work in the quarries had continued for some time in that miserable
state, the king was petitioned to set apart for their habitation and protection
the city Avaris, which had been left vacant by the shepherds, and he granted
them their desire. Now this city, according to the ancient theology, was Typho's
city.
"But when they had taken possession of the city, and found it well adapted for a
revolt, they appointed for themselves a ruler from among the priests of Heliopolis,
one whose name was Osarsiph, and they bound themselves by oath that they would
be obedient to him in all things. Osarsiph then, in the first place, enacted
this law: that they should neither worship the gods, nor abstain from any of
those sacred animals which the Egyptians hold in veneration, but sacrifice and
slay them all; and that they should connect themselves with none but such as
were of that confederacy. When he had made such laws as these, and many others
of a tendency directly in opposition to the customs of the Egyptians, he gave
orders that they should employ the multitude in rebuilding the walls about the
city, and hold themselves in readiness for war with Amenophis, the King. He then
took into his counsels some others of the priests and polluted persons, and sent
ambassadors to the city called Jerusalem, to the shepherds who had been expelled
by Tethmosis; and he informed them of the position of his affairs, and requested
them to come up unanimously to his assistance in this war against Egypt. He also
promised, in the first place, to reinstate them in their ancient city and
country, Avaris, and provide a plentiful maintenance for their host, and fight
for them as occasion might require; and assured them that he would easily reduce
the country under their dominion. The shepherds received the message with the
greatest joy, and quickly mustered, to the number of 200,000 men, and came up to
Avaris.
"Now Amenophis, the king of Egypt, when he was informed of their invasion, was
in great consternation, remembering the prophecy of Amenophis, the son of Papis.
And he assembled the armies of the Egyptians; and having consulted with the
leaders, he commanded the sacred animals to be brought to him, especially those
which were held in more particular veneration in the temples; and he forthwith
charged the priests to conceal the images of their gods with the utmost care.
Moreover, he placed his son Sethos, who was also called Rameses from his father
Rampses, being then but five years old, under the protection of a faithful
adherent, and marched with the rest of the Egyptians, being 300,000 warriors,
against the enemy,
who advanced to meet him; but he did not attack them, thinking it would be to
wage war against the gods, but returned, and came again to Memphis, where he
took Apis and other sacred animals he had sent for, and retreated immediately
into Ethiopia, together with all his army and all the multitude of the
Egyptians; for the king of Ethiopia was under obligations to him. He was
therefore kindly received by the king, who took care of all the multitude that
was with him, while the country supplied what was necessary for their
subsistence. He also allotted to him cities and villages during his exile, which
was to continue from its beginning, during the predestined thirteen years.
"Moreover, he pitched a camp for an Ethiopian army upon the borders of Egypt, as
a protection to King Amenophis.
''In the meantime, while such was the state of things in Ethiopia, the people of
Jerusalem, who had come down with the unclean of the Egyptians, treated the
inhabitants with such barbarity, that those who witnessed their horrible
wickedness believed that their joint sway was more execrable than that which the
shepherds had formerly exercised alone. For they not only set fire to the cities
and villages, but committed every kind of sacrilege, and destroyed two images of
the gods, and wasted and fed upon those sacred animals that were worshipped; and
having compelled the priests and prophets to kill and sacrifice those animals,,
they cast them naked out of the country. It is said also that the priest who
ordained their polity and laws was born at Heliopolis, and his name was Osarsiph,
from Osiris, the god of Heliopolis; but when he went over to these people his
name was changed, and he was called Moyses."
Manetho further says, "After this, Amenophis returned from Ethiopia with a great
force, and Rampses also his son with other forces, and encountering the
shepherds and the unclean people they defeated them, and slew multitudes of
them, and pursued them to the bounds of Syria."']
[210] [Eisenlohr, 'The Great Harris Papyrus,' TSBA, 1,
372-3. 'The translated passage of the Papyrus contains the interesting story of
a political and religious revolution, which was suppressed by Seti nekht, the
father of Ramses III.
"Thus saith the King Ra user ma mer amon, life,
welfare, health, the great god, to the princes, the governors of the land, to
the archers, the horsemen, the Shardana, numerous allies, to every living person
of the land of Ta-Mera. Hearken, I let you see my mighty acts which I have
performed as king of men. The land of Egypt was in a state of ruin. Every man
did as he liked. There was no head to them for many years, who might preside
over other matters. The land of Egypt belonged to the princes in the districts.
One killed the other through envy of power. Other events took place thereafter
in years of distress. One Syrian chief had made himself a prince among them. He
brought the whole land into subjection under his sole rule. He assembled his
companions, plundered the treasures of the inhabitants. They made the gods like
the human beings. Offerings were no longer presented in the interior of the
temples. The images of the gods were thrown down and remained on the ground. His
pleasure was in harmony with his plan. They (the gods) appointed their son, the
issue of their limbs, to be prince l. w. h. of the whole land on their seat, the
great Ra user sha sotep en ra mer amon 1. w. h. the son of Ra, Ra
Setinehlit merer amonmeri, 1. w. h. He was Khepera-Sutekh in his tempest. He
arranged the whole land which had revolted. He executed the criminals who were
in the land Mera. He purified the great throne of Egypt. He was chief of both
lands at the place of Tum. He made the faces upright, which were perverted, so
that everyone recognised his brother. What was decayed he set up, the temples
with their divine revenues in order to offer to the nine gods according to their
regulations. He designated me as crown prince on the seat of Seb. I am the great
head of the lands of Egypt in the administration of the whole land together at
once. He set in his horizon like the nine gods. There were made to him the
ceremonies of Osiris navigating in his royal bark on the surface of the river.
He descended to his eternal house in the west of Thebes. The father Ammon, the
lord of the gods, Ra, Tum, the good-looking Ptah, they elevated me to the lord
of both lands upon the seat of my engenderer. I received the dignity of the
father with exultation. The land was pacified. It was enjoying on offerings.
They were delighted on seeing me as chief, 1. w. h. of both lands in the same
manner as Horus rules both lands on the seat of Osiris, adorned with the crown
and the snake diadems. I put on the attire of the two feathers like Tatenen,
sitting down on the throne of Harmakhis, clothed with ornaments like Tum."
Eisenlohr, 'ANNALS OF RAMESES III: The Great Harris Papyrus,' RP,
8, 5. See pp. 45-6.]
[211] [Ibid. Eisenlohr gives the Manetho account,
and then concludes on the following pages, 380-4. 'It is scarcely
necessary to point out the resemblances between the account of Josephus and of
the Harris Papyrus. It is true that the whole introduction of the king's desire
to view the gods, and of the consequent banishment of the impure men into the
quarries, is not to be found in the Papyrus; and there is also depicted in the
Papyrus a different condition of the kingdom. In it is not seen a king fleeing
away before an insurrection; for long years there is an anarchy in the land; the
chiefs of the districts become independent; and only after another change of
events does a Syrian chief usurp the supremacy. Manetho's rebelling chief is no
Syrian, but a priest of Heliopolis, with a good Egyptian name, Osarsiph (child
of Osiris), Also, it can scarcely be doubted, that Manetho places his story in
the reign of the follower of Ramses II, Menephtah I, whom he calls Amenophis
or Amenophath, In the position of this Amenophis the extracts of Africanus,
Eusebius, and Josephus (contra Apionem I, 15) are harmonious. On the
contrary, the Syrian's dominion is abolished by Setinekht, between whom and
Menephtah I there is still the reign of Seti II.
But the proof which seems to me conclusive for the
identification of both accounts, is the manner in which the revolution itself is
therein described. There is not a simple political change of regimen, but a
combination of political and religious innovations. In the Harris Papyrus is
related: "The Syrian assembled his companions and ransacked the property; the
gods were made equal to the men; no more sacrifices were offered in the interior
of the temples; the statues of the gods were overturned, laying on the floor."
And Josephus, according to Manetho, says: "Osarsiph gave them a law no more to
venerate the gods, nor to abstain themselves from the animals held sacred in
Egypt." According to Lysimachus, Moses plainly gave orders to destroy the
temples and altars of the Egyptian gods.
As it is not to be presumed that two revolutions of like
character took place in so short a space of time, I am induced to see in the
speech of the Egyptian king the same events which have been related by Manetho
and Josephus described in a somewhat different manner.
It has for a long time been accepted by Egyptologists that
the narration of Josephus refers really to the establishment of the Jewish
religion and to the Exodus of the Israelites. If such is the case, and if
Osarsiph, the chief of the rebels, be really Moses, which we understand was
Manetho's opinion, then, accepting the supposition that both accounts treat of
the same events, we seem obliged to take also the Syrian chief for no other than
Moses himself.
However, trying to carry on this identification, we find some
want of congruence between Manetho and the Papyrus on one side and the Holy
Scriptures on the other. Moses did not abolish simply the sacrifices, as is
related of Osarsiph and of the Syrian chief, but he altered the service which he
found in Egypt. He did not entirely abolish the worship of the Egyptian gods,
but substituted in their stead that of a single divinity, a dogma which already
formed a part of the Hykshos' religion, who recognised one deity, under the name
of Set or Sutech. However, to the hostile Egyptian people and to their king, the
alteration of the sacrifices and the abrogation of polytheism might appear as a
complete abolition of the old religion. There is farther another difference in
the description of the escape. The Biblical account seems to infer that the king
was drowned in the Red Sea, whilst Manetho's Pharaoh chases the Jews to the
Syrian frontier, and in the Harris Papyrus, Setinekht restores the land to its
former order. Further, also, Osarsiph recalls the Hykshos from Jerusalem for his
aid; but, according to the Old Testament, Jerusalem was in the hands of the
Jebusites till after the
immigration of the Jews, and David was the first who took it from them.
All these discrepancies are insignificant compared with the
different representations of the position of Moses. The Book of Exodus makes him
the religious reformer and the chief of his own people. Manetho and the Papyrus
give him, on the contrary, the dominion of the land of Egypt for a considerable
space of time (thirteen years). This difference does not admit of mediation. If
Moses = Osarsiph were really the chief of Egypt, and his countrymen the
domineering class, that fact would never have been forgotten by the Jews, but
would always have remained the pride of the nation, and the object of their
favourite songs, and the boast of their historical records.
To surmount these difficulties I see no other way than to
make a difference between the political head of this revolution and the
religious reformer. The first cannot possibly have been Moses, but it is highly
probable that the new religious institutions, which the latter introduced, had
been adopted by that political chief, who was no other than one of those
anomalous kings, Amonmeses or Siptah. If so, we must separate from the
Manethonian records all that belongs to the political dominion of Moses, and
leave to him only that which belongs to the Sylvian religious innovator.
Further, if it be accepted that the account of the Great Harris Papyrus treats
of the establishment of the Jewish religion by Moses and the subsequent
emigration of this people out of Egypt, that event cannot be placed any longer
under the reign of Menephtah I, but after the reign of Seti II Menephtah,
because Setinekht was the king who subdued the revolution and executed the
rioters. On this hypothesis we may fix with tolerable precision the date of the
Exodus. On the south side of the outer wall of the Temple of Medinet-Abu is a
calendar of feasts, which was probably made in the twelfth year of King Ramses
III, as there is mentioned the victory of that sovereign over the Mashuash in
his eleventh year. Now this calendar places the rising of the Dog Star (Sirius)
in the commencement of the month Thoth. We know that the so-called sacred year
of the Egyptians of 365¼ days began with
this rise, as the common Egyptian year of 365 days commenced with the first of
the month Thoth. A coincidence in the beginning of both forms of years happened
only once in every 1460 sacred (or Julian) years, and, if this calendar can be
trusted, that event took place in the twelfth year of King Ramses III. This
would equal the Julian year 1322 B.C., which date for the twelfth gives 1333,
the first year of Ramses III, and giving to Setinekht the seven years, which the
Manethonian lists ascribe to the last king of the XIXth dynasty, we thus come to
1340 B.C. as the time of the suppression of the revolution. Not long before
1340, therefore, took place the Exodus of the Israelites. Lepsius, believing
that the so-called Era of Menophres, the coincidence of both forms of the
Egyptian years, fell in the beginning of the reign of Menephtah placed the
Exodus in the ninth year of that Pharaoh, 1314. But Menephtah and Menophres are
very different names, the one contains the god Ra, the other the god Ptah, so
that the basis of Lepsius' reckoning would appear to be somewhat unsafe. Still,
all things considered, it is remarkable that in the seventy-nine sheets of the
Great Harris Papyrus, which contain so many details of Ramses Ill's reign, no
mention is made of the coincidence of both these forms of years, which could not
well remain unobserved.
Though I am not able to clear up all the difficulties which
are raised by this newly-discovered document, nor to harmonize its statements
fully with the records of the Holy Scriptures, I am still confident that its
testimony of more than 3,000 years ago will be thought of no little importance
for the reconstruction of the history of that time, and of peculiar interest for
all those who are occupied with Biblical and Archaeological studies.']
[212] [Historiam. 'After the death of Moses, his son Aruas was made priest for celebrating the rites which they brought from Egypt, and soon after created king: and ever afterwards, it was a custom among the Jews to have the same chiefs both for kings and priests; and by uniting religion with the administration of justice, it is almost incredible how powerful they became.' In Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 81.]
[213] [From Josephus, Against Apion, in Cory, Ancient Fragments, pp. 132-4. See note 190 above, and The Phenix, p. 265.]
[214] [The Antiquities of the Jews,
bk. 1, 9.6. 'Hereupon it was that Thermuthis imposed this name Mouses
upon him, from what had happened when he was put into the river; for the
Egyptians call water by the name of Mo, and such as are saved out of it,
by the name of Uses: so by putting these two words together, they imposed this
name upon him. And he was, by the confession of all, according to God's
prediction, as well for his greatness of mind as for his contempt of
difficulties, the best of all the Hebrews, for Abraham was his ancestor of the
seventh generation. For Moses was the son of Amram, who was the son of Caath,
whose father Levi was the son of Jacob, who was the son of Isaac, who was the
son of Abraham. Now Moses's understanding became superior to his age, nay, far
beyond that standard; and when he was taught, he discovered greater quickness of
apprehension than was usual at his age, and his actions at that time promised
greater, when he should come to the age of a man. God did also give him that
tallness, when he was but three years old, as was wonderful. And as for his
beauty, there was nobody so unpolite as, when they saw Moses, they were not
greatly surprised at the beauty of his countenance; nay, it happened frequently,
that those that met him as he was carried along the road, were obliged to turn
again upon seeing the child; that they left what they were about, and stood
still a great while to look on him; for the beauty of the child was so
remarkable and natural to him on many accounts, that it detained the spectators,
and made them stay longer to look upon him.' Whiston's tr.
See also Cory, Ancient Fragments, p.
135.]
[215] [History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. 2, p. 112.]
[216] [Chabas, 'Hymn to Osiris,' RP, 4, 97. See p. 101, line 14.]
[217] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 17.]
[218] [Ex. 2:10. 'And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.']
[219] [Acts 7:22. 'And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.']
[220] [The Last Journals of David Livingstone, vol. 2, ch. 3. 'Bambarré, 25th August, 1870.—One of my waking dreams is that the legendary tales about Moses coming up into Inner Ethiopia with Merr his foster-mother, and founding a city which he called in her honour "Meroe," may have a substratum of fact. He was evidently a man of transcendent genius, and we learn from the speech of St. Stephen that "he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." His deeds must have been well known in Egypt, for "he supposed that his brethren would have understood how that God by His hand would deliver them, but they understood not." His supposition could not be founded on his success in smiting a single Egyptian; he was too great a man to be elated by a single act of prowess, but his success on a large scale in Ethiopia afforded reasonable grounds for believing that his brethren would be proud of their countryman, and disposed to follow his leadership, but they were slaves. The notice taken of the matter by Pharaoh showed that he was eyed by the great as a dangerous, if not powerful, man. He "dwelt" in Midian for some time before his gallant bearing towards the shepherds by the well, commended him to the priest or prince of the country. An uninteresting wife, and the want of intercourse with kindred spirits during the long forty years' solitude of a herdsman's life, seem to have acted injuriously on his spirits, and it was not till he had with Aaron struck terror into the Egyptian mind, that the "man Moses" again became "very great in the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants." The Ethiopian woman whom he married could scarcely be the daughter of Renel or Jethro, for Midian was descended from Keturah, Abraham's concubine, and they were never considered Cushite or Ethiopian. If he left his wife in Egypt she would now be some fifty or sixty years old, and all the more likely to be despised by the proud prophetess Miriam as a daughter of Ham.']
[221] [Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica, 9.27, 1-37. 'Artapanus says in his On the Jews that when Abraham had died and his son Mempsasthenoth, and also the king of the Egyptians, his son Palmanothes succeeded to dominion. The latter treated the Jews very badly. First he built Sais and founded the temple there. Then he established the shrine at Heliopolis. This man begat a daughter Merris, whom he betrothed to a certain Chenephres who was the king over the regions beyond Memphis (for at the time there were many kings of Egypt). Since she was barren she adopted the child of one of the Jews and named it Moses. As a grown man he was called Mousaeus by the Greeks.' See Charlesworth, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 2, p. 889. Note, this quote, strangely, does not appear in Cory's Ancient Fragments.]
[222] [I can find no trace of this name, unless Massey has spelt it incorrectly. However, in his Antiquities, bk. 1, 13.1, Josephus has: 'So Moses, when he understood that the Pharaoh, in whose reign he fled away, was dead, asked leave of Raguel to go to Egypt, for the benefit of his own people. And he took with him Zipporah, the daughter of Raguel, whom he had married, and the children he had by her, Gersom and Eleazer, and made haste into Egypt. Now the former of those names, Gersom, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies that he was in a strange land; and Eleazer, that, by the assistance of the God of his fathers, he had escaped from the Egyptians. Now when they were near the borders, Aaron his brother, by the command of God, met him, to whom he declared what had befallen him at the mountain, and the commands that God had given him. But as they were going forward, the chief men among the Hebrews, having learned that they were coming, met them: to whom Moses declared the signs he had seen; and while they could not believe them, he made them see them, So they took courage at these surprising and unexpected sights, and hoped well of their entire deliverance, as believing now that God took care of their preservation.' Whiston's tr.]
[223] [Birch, 'Tablet of 400 Years,' RP, 4, 33. See p. 35.]
[224] [Mariette, Arch. (RA?) vol. 11, p.
169, pl. 4.
Brugsch, History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol.
2, p. 95.
Birch, 'Tablet of 400 Years,' RP, 4,
33. See p. 35.]
[225] [Lepsius, Königsbuch der Alten Ägypter, taf. 36.]
[226] [Osburn, The Monumental History of
Egypt, vol. 2, p. 554. 'Ambnemnes, ob Sethos II. The
hieroglyphic name of the son of Amenephthis stands thus; i.e., Lower Egypt,
rois-chru-ra meh-n-amn, "sun vigilant over the creations, full of Amun."
Upper Egypt, Seki mefe-n-Pktha, "Sethos absorbed in [or full of] Phtha." The
name in the lists, Amenemnes, is the last title in the L. E. ring; meh-n-amn,
pronounced Amun mehn, for the purpose, doubtless, of placing the divine
name first. This epithet was taken because the first in the upper ring, Sethos,
had already been appropriated. A very great difficulty in the succession meets
us in considering the monumental records of this king. A queen and her husband
make their appearance as co-regent with him. Her name is thus written: i.e.,
tha-rois, "she who is vigilant," which there can scarcely be a doubt is the
name of the successor of Amenephthis, which is written in the lists, Thouoris.
The name of her husband is also preserved upon the monuments. It is written
thus: ... but that of his wife is entered in the lists.
This is in exact accordance with the universal custom of Ancient Egypt. The
husband of a queen regnant took the name of his wife in all public records. The
husband's name reads ra-bsh stp-n-ra (pth-mn si-phtha), "shining
sun, proved by the sun," first ring; "absorbed in Phtha, the son of Phtha,"
second ring. The names neither of queen Thouoris nor her husband appear in the
hieroglyphic genealogies, nor in any other cotemporary succession. Yet are both
names inscribed on a tolerably extensive range of monuments. One of them is in
the palace at Goumou, where two tablets are still extant, on both of which the
husband Siphtha pays divine honours to Sethos I. and his son Sesostris-Ramses,
as to their ancestors. Their tomb also at the Biban-el-Malook is very
spacious, and highly and elaborately decorated throughout, the unerring proof of
a long, quiet reign.']
[227] [Monumenti del Culto?]
[228] [The Monumental History of Egypt,
vol. 2, p. 559. 'Thouoris had been previously devoted to the
service of the gods in an especial manner, according to the prevailing custom
with the princesses of Egypt.* The sincerity of her devotion is evidenced by all
the monuments of her reign. She seems, by the reliefs on her tomb, to have been
a priestess of Hathor and Neith, the two great primeval goddesses. The heartless
arrangement, whereby she was at mature age espoused to an infant of days, to
whom, in all probability, she might, in the ordinary course of nature, have
given birth but a month or two before, was brought about by the deep craft and
utterly reckless policy of her father. He endeavoured to compensate her, by
investing her with a high vice-regal power in the Delta. The frequent allusions
to the vicegerents of the authority of Sesostris, which we noticed in his final
treaty with Sheth, may, we conceive, be probably enough assumed to refer
to the rule of the Xoite Pharaohs, now embodied in Thouoris his daughter, as the
queen of the last of them.
* She was one of the
Πάλλαχες
of the Greek historians. See Herod, i. 84, &c.']
[229] [Lepsius, Königsbuch der Alten Ägypter, scut. taf. 36, fig. 479.
Brugsch, Histoire d'Égypt des les premiers temps, pl. 13, scut.
278.]
[230] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 1.11. 'To denote a mother, or vision, or boundary, or foreknowledge, or a year, or heaven, or one that is compassionate, or Athena [Neith], or Hera [Saté], or two drachmas, they delineate it a mother, because in this race of creatures there is no male. Gignuntur autem hunc in modum. Cum amore concipiendi vultur exarserit, vulvam ad Boream aperiens, ab eo velut comprimitur per dies quinque, during which time she partakes neither of food nor drink, being intent upon procreation. There are also other kinds of birds which conceive by the wind, but their eggs are of use only for food, and not for procreation; but the eggs of the vultures that are impregnated by the wind possess a vital principle. The vulture is used also as a symbol of vision, because it sees more keenly than all other creatures; and by looking towards the west when the sun is in the east, and towards the east when the god is in the west, it procures its necessary food from afar. And it signifies a boundary [landmark?] because, when a battle is to be fought, it points out the spot on which it will take place, by betaking itself thither seven days beforehand:—and foreknowledge, both from the circumstance last mentioned, and because it looks towards that army which is about to have the greater number killed, and be defeated, reckoning on its food from their slain: and on this account the ancient kings were accustomed to send forth observers to ascertain towards which part of the battle the vultures were looking, to be thereby apprized which army was to be overcome. And it symbolizes a year, because the 365 days of the year, in which the annual period is completed, are exactly apportioned by the habits of this creature; for it remains pregnant 120 days, and during an equal number it brings up its young, and during the remaining 120 it gives its attention to itself, neither conceiving nor bringing up its young, but preparing itself for another conception; 1 and the remaining five days of the year, as I have said before, it devotes to another impregnation by the wind. It symbolises also a compassionate person, which appears to some to be the furthest from its nature, inasmuch as it is a creature that preys upon all things; but they were induced to use it as a symbol for this, because in the 120 days, during which it brings up its offspring, it flies to no great distance, but is solely engaged about its young and their sustenance; and if during this period it should be without food to give its young, it opens its own thigh, and suffers its offspring to partake of the blood, that they may not perish from want of nourishment:—and Athena [Neith], and Hera [Saté], because among the Egyptians Athena [ Neith] is regarded as presiding over the upper hemisphere, and Hera [Saté] over the lower; whence also they think it absurd to designate the heaven in the masculine, τν ορανν, but represent it in the feminine, τν ορανν, inasmuch as the generation of the sun and moon and the rest of the stars, is perfected in it, which is the peculiar property of a female. And the race of vultures, as I said before, is a race of females alone, and on this account the Egyptians over any female hieroglyph place the vulture as a mark of royalty [maternity?]. And hence, not to prolong my discourse by mentioning each individually, when the Egyptians would designate any goddess who is a mother, they delineate a vulture, for it is the mother of a female progeny. And they denote by it (οραναν) heaven, (for it does not suit them to say τν ορανν, as I said before,) because its generation is from thence [by the wind]:—and two drachmas, because among the Egyptians the unit [of money] is the two drachmas, and the unit is the origin of every number, therefore when they would denote two drachmas, they with good reason depict a vulture, inasmuch as like unity it seems to be mother and generation.' See also BB 1:142 for other refs to this verse.]
[232] [Rit. ch. 102. 'Thou hast hailed Ars from the conductors of heaven, in ... I have stopped, I come myself, that Great God sits where I am. His faults and defects are the same. I have come, I have divided the bladebone, I have twisted the shoulder, I have approached Men. I do not fall at the towing of the Sun.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[233] [Chabas, 'Magic Papyrus,' RP, 10, 135. See pp. 140-1.]
[234] [Marcellinus, The Obelisk of Heliopolis, in Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 148. Also in The Phenix, p. 267.]
[235] [Materia Hieroglyphica, p. 52.
'Plate XLV, pt. 1. The first of these deities may perhaps be a character of
Osiris. I have only met with him at Philae.'
Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. The Second Series,
vol. 2, p. 83. 'This Deity is probably one of the characters of Osiris.
His name is sometimes followed by the emblem of Stability, sometimes by that of
Goodness, both belonging to Osiris, whose head-dress he wears. I have only met
with him at Philae, and Dendoor, in sculptures of a Ptolemaic or Roman period.'
Ibid., vol. 3,
pl. 68, pt. 2.]
[236] [Mayer Collection of Antiquities.]
[237] [Moses der Ebräer, [poss. p.
82 which discusses the contents of Anastasi I]. 'XXVI. 9. Ma'puy du
auserwählter Schreiber, Mohär, XXVII.
1. welcher kennt seine Hand, Verfolger der Aolana, Erster des Heeres, der du
erforscht hast die äussersten Punkte der Erde, du K a n a n a (-näer ?), nicht
2. antwortest du mir (weder) Gutes (noch) Böses, nicht sendest du zurück mir
eine Weisung. Komme dass ich dir sage die Vorfälle alle dein, am Schlüsse deiner
Reise. Ich be-
3. ginne dir vom Hause des Sestsu LHK: hast du es nicht betreten aus Noth? Hast
du nicht verzehrt Fische der (Bucht) Aolath,
4. hast du dich nicht gebadet in derselben? Wohlan! lassmich dir erwähnen (die
Stadt) Huzina und wo sich ihre Festung befindet.
5. Komme zum Hause der Göttin Uoti (Buto?) des Sestsu LHK in seinen Siegen (Ravesurma)
LHK, (nach) Sazaaar
6. nebst Absaqabu, (dass) ich dir sage die Beschaffenheit von Ainini; kennst du
nicht seine Sitten? (kennst du nicht) Nach asa
7. nebst Huburtha, (welche) du nicht gesehen (hattest) seit deiner Geburt, o
Mohär, ausgezeichneter ? R o p e h u
8. (und) sein Schloss, wie es beschaffen ist? Es beträgt die Grösse eines
Schoenus Weges bis nach Gazatha.
9. Antworte schnell! sprich zu mir von dem, so ich von deinem Moharthume zu dir
sage: ich errege Stutzen den ...']
[238] [Études Égyptologiques.?]
[239] [Bunsen, Egypt's Place in Universal History, vol. 2, p. 628, scut.]
[240] [Bunsen, ibid., vol. 1, appendix of authorities, pt. 2, 'Dicaerchi Messenii de Sesostride Rege Fragmenta in Scholiis ad Apollonii Rhodii Argonautica Reperta,' pp. 676-82. The text is in Greek without translation.]
[241] [Syncellus, Chronicon. 'The 37th of the Theban kings, Phruron, who is Nilus, reigned 5 years.' In Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 141.]
[242] [Actually, Alcandrus is the last king mentioned by Manetho to have ruled the 19th dynasty, not Thuoris, who was penultimate. See Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 120.]
[243] [1 Mac. 12:21. 'It has been found in writing concerning the Spartans and the Jews that they are brethren and are of the family of Abraham.' NEB Version.]
[244] [Plato, Timaeus. 'There is at the head of the Egyptian Delta, where the river Nile divides, a city and district called Sais; the city was the birthplace of King Amasis, and is under the protection of the goddess Neith or Athene. The citizens have a friendly feeling towards the Athenians, believing themselves to be related to them. Hither came Solon, and was received with honour; and here he first learnt, by conversing with the Egyptian priests, how ignorant he and his countrymen were of antiquity.' Jowett's tr. See also note 249 below.]
[245] [Ησυχιου Λεξικον.]
[246] [Tripartitæ Historiæ.]
[247] [See note 249 below. ]
[248] [See note below.]
[249] [Proclus, Commentaries on the Timaeus, vol.
1, p. 82, bk. 1. '"Of this province, the greatest city is Sais, from which also
king Amasis derived his origin. The city has a presiding divinity, whose name
is, in the Egyptian tongue, Neith, but in the Greek Athena, or Minerva. The
inhabitants of this city were very friendly to the Athenians, to whom also they
said they were after a certain manner allied."
The word [Greek], or province, derived its appellation from the distribution of
land. For thus the Egyptians called divisions of the great parts of Egypt. But
from the city the whole province was denominated Saitic, just as Satannytic is
denominated from Sebennetus, and Canobic from Canobus. Amasis, however, is now
assumed analogous to Solon. For he paid attention to wisdom and justice beyond
all the (other Egyptian) kings. He is therefore conjoined with Solon, and has
the same relation to him, which the city has to Athens; in order that we may
survey the cities and the men adorned by the Goddess [Minerva] as from one
monad, and secondary natures always perfected from such as are more perfect.
Callisthenes, however, and Phanodemus relate, that the Athenians were the
fathers of the Saitae. But Theopompus, on the contrary, says, that they were a
colony of them. The Platonic Atticus says, that Theopompus altered the history
through envy. For, according to him, some of the inhabitants of Sais came to
renew their alliance with the Athenians.']
[250] [Chronicon, p. 14. I cannot trace the word 'Sidon' in this work, and the only ref. to Cadmus is in his pref. 'It should come as no surprise that the Greeks are absent [from recording information about events in antiquity] for a long period, since [during that time] they corrupted themselves with diverse forms of iniquities; moreover, for a long period, until Cadmus' generation, they were entirely unlettered since, they say, it was Cadmus who first brought them an alphabet from the land of the Phoenicians. Quite justly did that Egyptian reproach Solon in Plato's book when he remarked: "Oh, Solon, you Greeks are always [like] children. Nothing resembling an old man may be found amongst you. [And thus] it is impossible to study ancient history from you." On the other hand, the Egyptians relate many fabulous accounts [about ancient times], as do the Chaldeans, since they reckon their literacy embraces more than 400,000 years. The Egyptians have written extensively about [false] gods and their offspring, about ghosts and spirits of the dead, and of other [mortal] kings, in fable-like, delirious ravings.']
[251] [The Library of History, bk. 5. 'And so
even the Athenians themselves, though they built the city Sais, in Egypt, yet by
reason of the flood, were led into the same error of forgetting what was before.
And therefore it is believed, that, many ages after, Cadmus the son of Agenor
brought the
knowledge of letters out of Phoenicia first into Greece; and after him, it is
supposed the Grecians themselves added some letters to those they learned
before, but a general ignorance, however still prevailed amongst them.
Triopas, another son, passed over into Caria, and possessed himself of the
promontory there, called from him Triopium. The rest of Sol's sons, having had
no hand in the murder, staid behind in Rhodes; and afterwards built the city
Achaia, and dwelt in Ialysia. But the regal power was in Ochimus the eldest son,
who married Hegetoria, one of the nymphs, and of her begat a daughter called
Gydippe, who afterwards went by the name of Cyrbias, by marrying of whom
Cercaphus his brother came to the kingdom; after whose death, three of the sons,
Lindus, lalysus, and Camirus reigned together; in whose time a great inundation
laid Cyrbe waste and desolate. These three brothers divided the country amongst
themselves and each built a city, and called them after their own names.
At this time Danaus fled out of Egypt with his great number of daughters, and
landed at Lindus in Rhodes; where being received by the inhabitants, he built a
temple to Minerva, and consecrated to her an altar.' Booth's tr., vol. 1, p.
336.]
[252] [History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. 1, p. 290.]
[253] [Histories, bk. 2. 152-3. 'This was the second time that Psammetichus had
been driven into banishment. On a former occasion he had fled from Sabacôs the
Ethiopian, who had put his father Necôs to death; and had taken refuge in Syria,
from whence, after the retirement of the Ethiop in consequence of his dream, he
was brought back by the Egyptians of the Saitic canton. Now it was his
ill-fortune to be banished a second time by the eleven kings, on account of the
libation which he had poured from his helmet; on this occasion he fled to the
marshes. Feeling that he was an injured man, and designing to avenge himself
upon his persecutors, Psammetichus sent to the city of Buto, where there is an
oracle of Latona, the most veracious of all the oracles of the Egyptians and
having inquired concerning means of vengeance, received for answer, that
"Vengeance would come from the sea, when brazen men should appear." Great was
his incredulity when this answer arrived, for never, he thought, would brazen
men arrive to be his helpers. However, not long afterwards certain Carians and
Ionians, who had left their country on a voyage of plunder, were carried by
stress of weather to Egypt, where they disembarked, all equipped in their brazen
armour, and were seen by the natives, one of whom carried the tidings to
Psammetichus, and, as he had never before seen men clad in brass, he reported
that brazen men had come from the sea and were plundering the plain.
Psammetichus, perceiving at once that the oracle was accomplished, made friendly
advances to the strangers, and engaged them, by splendid promises, to enter into
his services. He then, with their aid and that of the Egyptians who espoused his
cause, attacked the eleven and vanquished them.
When Psammetichus had thus become sole monarch of Egypt, he built the
southern gateway of the temple of Vulcan in Memphis, and also a court for Apis,
in which Apis is kept whenever he makes his appearance in Egypt. This court is
opposite the gateway of Psammetichus, and is surrounded with a colonnade and
adorned with a multitude of figures. Instead of pillars, the colonnade rests
upon colossal statues, twelve cubits in height. The Greek name for Apis is
Epaphus.' Tr., Rawlinson.
'This Psammetichos had formerly been a fugitive from the Ethiopian
Sabacos who had killed his father Necos, from him, I say, he had then been a
fugitive in Syria; and when the Ethiopian had departed in consequence of the
vision of the dream, the Egyptians who were of the district of Saïs brought him
back to his own country. Then afterwards, when he was king, it was his fate to
be a fugitive a second time on account of the helmet, being driven by the eleven
kings into the fen- country. So then holding that he had been grievously wronged
by them, he thought how he might take vengeance on those who had driven him out:
and when he had sent to the Oracle of Leto in the city of Buto, where the
Egyptians have their most truthful Oracle, there was given to him the reply that
vengeance would come when men of bronze appeared from the sea. And he was
strongly disposed not to believe that bronze men would come to help him; but
after no long time had passed, certain Ionians and Carians who had sailed forth
for plunder were compelled to come to shore in Egypt, and they having landed and
being clad in bronze armour, one of the Egyptians, not having before seen men
clad in bronze armour, came to the fen-land and brought a report to Psammetichos
that bronze men had come from the sea and were plundering the plain. So he,
perceiving that the saying of the Oracle was coming to pass, dealt in a friendly
manner with the Ionians and Carians, and with large promises he persuaded them
to take his part. Then when he had persuaded them, with the help of those
Egyptians who favoured his cause and of these foreign mercenaries he overthrew
the kings.
Having thus got power over all Egypt, Psammetichos made for Hephaistos that
gateway of the temple at Memphis which is turned towards the South Wind; and he
built a court for Apis, in which Apis is kept when he appears, opposite to the
gateway of the temple, surrounded all with pillars and covered with figures; and
instead of columns there stand to support the roof of the court colossal statues
twelve cubits high. Now Apis is in the tongue of the Hellenes Epaphos.' Tr.,
Macauley.]
[254] [Ibid., bk. 2. 61. 'The ceremonies at the feast of Isis in the city
of Busiris have been already spoken of. It is there that the whole multitude,
both of men and women, many thousands in number, beat themselves at the close of
the sacrifice, in honour of a god, whose name a religious scruple forbids me to
mention. The Carian dwellers in Egypt proceed on this occasion to still greater
lengths, even cutting their faces with their knives, whereby they let it be seen
that they are not Egyptians but foreigners.' Tr., Rawlinson.
'Thus it is done here; and how they celebrate the festival in honour of
Isis at the city of Busiris has been told by me before: for, as I said, they
beat themselves in mourning after the sacrifice, all of them both men and women,
very many myriads of people; but for whom they beat themselves it is not
permitted to me by religion to say: and so many as there are of the Carians
dwelling in Egypt do this even more than the Egyptians themselves, inasmuch as
they cut their foreheads also with knives; and by this it is manifested that
they are strangers and not Egyptians.' Tr., Macauley.]
[255] [Ibid., bk. 1.171. 'After conquering the Ionians, Harpagus proceeded
to attack the Carians, the Caunians, and the Lycians. The Ionians and Aeolians
were forced to serve in his army. Now, of the above nations the Carians are a
race who came into the mainland from the islands. In ancient times they were
subjects of king Minos, and went by the name of Leleges, dwelling among the
isles, and, so far as I have been able to push my inquiries, never liable to
give tribute to any man. They served on board the ships of king Minos whenever
he required; and thus, as he was a great conqueror and prospered in his wars,
the Carians were in his day the most famous by far of all the nations of the
earth. They likewise were the inventors of three things, the use of which was
borrowed from them by the Greeks; they were the first to fasten crests on
helmets and to put devices on shields, and they also invented handles for
shields. In the earlier times shields were without handles, and their wearers
managed them by the aid of a leathern thong, by which they were slung round the
neck and left shoulder. Long after the time of Minos, the Carians were driven
from the islands by the Ionians and Dorians, and so settled upon the mainland.
The above is the account which the Cretans give of the Carians: the Carians
themselves say very differently. They maintain that they are the aboriginal
inhabitants of the part of the mainland where they now dwell, and never had any
other name than that which they still bear: and in proof of this they show an
ancient temple of Carian Jove in which the Mysians and Lydians have the right of
worshipping, as brother races to the Carians: for Lydus and Mysus, they say,
were brothers of Car. These nations, therefore, have the aforesaid right; but
such as arc of a different race, even though they have come to use the Carian
tongue, are excluded from this temple.' Tr., Rawlinson.
'But Harpagos, after subduing Ionia, proceeded to march
against the Carians and Caunians and Lykians, taking also Ionians and Aiolians
to help him. Of these the Carians came to the mainland from the islands; for
being of old time subjects of Minos and being called Leleges, they used to dwell
in the islands, paying no tribute, so far back as I am able to arrive by
hearsay, but whenever Minos required it, they used to supply his ships with
seamen: and as Minos subdued much land and was fortunate in his fighting, the
Carian nation was of all nations by much the most famous at that time together
with him. And they produced three inventions of which the Hellenes adopted the
use; that is to say, the Carians were those who first set the fashion of
fastening crests on helmets, and of making the devices which are put onto
shields, and these also were the first who made handles for their shields,
whereas up to that time all who were wont to use shields carried them without
handles and with leathern straps to guide them, having them hung about their
necks and their left shoulders. Then after the lapse of a long time the Dorians
and Ionians drove the Carians out of the islands, and so they came to the
mainland. With respect to the Carians the Cretans relate that it happened thus;
the Carians themselves however do not agree with this account, but suppose that
they are dwellers on the mainland from the beginning, and that they went always
by the same name which they have now: and they point as evidence of this to an
ancient temple of Carian Zeus at Mylasa, in which the Mysians and Lydians share
as being brother races of the Carians, for they say that Lydos and Mysos were
brothers of Car; these share in it, but those who being of another race have
come to speak the same language as the Carians, these have no share in it.'
Tr., Macauley.]
[256] [Ibid., bk. 2. 112. 'Pheron, they said, was succeeded by a man of
Memphis, whose name, in the language of the Greeks, was Proteus. There is a
sacred precinct of this king in Memphis, which is very beautiful, and richly
adorned, situated south of the great temple of Vulcan. Phoenicians from the city
of Tyre dwell all round this precinct, and the whole place is known by the name
of "the camp of the Tyrians." Within the enclosure stands a temple, which is
called that of Venus the Stranger. I conjecture the building to have been
erected to Helen, the daughter
of Tyndarus; first, because she, as I have heard say, passed some time at the
court of Proteus; and secondly, because the temple is dedicated to Venus the
Stranger,. for among all the many temples of Venus there is no other where the
goddess bears this title.' Tr., Rawlinson.
'After him, they said, there succeeded to the throne a man of Memphis,
whose name in the tongue of the Hellenes was Proteus; for whom there is now a
sacred enclosure at Memphis, very fair and well ordered, lying on that side of
the temple of Hephaistos which faces the North Wind. Round about this enclosure
dwell Phoenicians of Tyre, and this whole region is called the Camp of the
Tyrians. Within the enclosure of Proteus there is a temple called the temple of
the "foreign Aphrodite," which temple I conjecture to be one of Helen the
daughter of Tyndareus, not only because I have heard the tale how Helen dwelt
with Proteus, but also especially because it is called by the name of the
"foreign Aphrodite," for the other temples of Aphrodite which there are have
none of them the addition of the word "foreign" to the name.'
Tr., Macauley.]
[257] [Odyssey, bk. 4. '"Yea now, sir, I will plainly tell thee all. Hither resorteth that ancient one of the sea, whose speech is sooth, the deathless Egyptian Proteus, who knows the depths of every sea, and is the thrall of Poseidon, and who, they say, is my father that begat me."' Butcher and Lang's ed.]
[258] [The Library of History, ch. 5. 'After the death of this Mendes, and five generations spent, (during which time there was an interregnum), the Egyptians chose one Cetes, of an ignoble extraction, to be their king, whom the Grecians call Proteus; this fell out in the time of the Trojan war.' Booth's tr., vol. 1, p. 66.]
[259] [Geographica.]
[260] [See note 256 above.]
[261] [Naville, 'Destruction of Mankind,' RP, 6, 79. See p. 103.]
[262] [bid., bk. 2.104. 'The Phoenicians and the Syrians of Palestine
themselves confess that they learnt the custom of the Egyptians; and the Syrians
who dwell about the rivers Thermôdon and Parthenius, as well as their neighbours
the Macronians, say that they have recently adopted it from the Colchians. Now
these are the only nations who use circumcision, and it is plain that they all
imitate herein the Egyptians.' Tr., Rawlinson.
'The Phoenicians and the Syrians who dwell in Palestine confess
themselves that they have learnt it from the Egyptians, and the Syrians about
the river Thermodon and the river Parthenios, and the Macronians, who are their
neighbours, say that they have learnt it lately from the Colchians. These are
the only races of men who practise circumcision, and these evidently practise it
in the same manner as the Egyptians.' Tr., Macauley.]
[263] [History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs, vol. 2, p. 88.]
[264] [Histories, bk. 7.89. 'Of the triremes the number proved to be
one thousand two hundred and seven, and these were they who furnished them: the
Phoenicians, together with the Syrians who dwell in Palestine furnished three
hundred; and they were equipped thus, that is to say, they had about their heads
leathern caps made very nearly in the Hellenic fashion, and they wore corslets
of linen, and had shields without rims and javelins. These Phoenicians dwelt in
ancient time, as they themselves report, upon the Erythraian Sea, and thence
they passed over and dwell in the country along the sea coast of Syria; and this
part of Syria and all as far as Egypt is called Palestine. The Egyptians
furnished two hundred ships: these men had about their heads helmets of plaited
work, and they had hollow shields with the rims large, and spears for
sea-fighting, and large axes: the greater number of them wore corslets, and they
had large knives.' Tr., Macauley.
See also note 262 above.]
[265] [Gen.10:4. 'And the sons of Javan; Elishah,
and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.'
1 Ch. 1:7. 'And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and
Dodanim.']
[266] [Antiquities of the Jews, bk. 1.6. 'The children of Ham possessed the land from Syria and Amanus, and the mountains of Libanus; seizing upon all that was on its sea-coasts, and as far as the ocean, and keeping it as their own. Some indeed of its names are utterly vanished away; others of them being changed, and another sound given them, are hardly to be discovered; yet a few there are which have kept their denominations entire. For of the four sons of Ham, time has not at all hurt the name of Chus; for the Ethiopians, over whom he reigned, are even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in Asia, called Chusites. The memory also of the Mesraites is preserved in their name; for all we who inhabit this country [of Judea] called Egypt Mestre, and the Egyptians Mestreans. Phut also was the founder of Libya, and called the inhabitants Phutites, from himself: there is also a river in the country of Moors which bears that name; whence it is that we may see the greatest part of the Grecian historiographers mention that river and the adjoining country by the appellation of Phut: but the name it has now has been by change given it from one of the sons of Mesraim, who was called Lybyos. We will inform you presently what has been the occasion why it has been called Africa also. Canaan, the fourth son of Ham, inhabited the country now called Judea, and called it from his own name Canaan. The children of these [four] were these: Sabas, who founded the Sabeans; Evilas, who founded the Evileans, who are called Getuli; Sabathes founded the Sabathens, they are now called by the Greeks Astaborans; Sabactas settled the Sabactens; and Ragmus the Ragmeans; and he had two sons, the one of whom, Judadas, settled the Judadeans, a nation of the western Ethiopians, and left them his name; as did Sabas to the Sabeans: but Nimrod, the son of Chus, staid and tyrannized at Babylon, as we have already informed you. Now all the children of Mesraim, being eight in number, possessed the country from Gaza to Egypt, though it retained the name of one only, the Philistim; for the Greeks call part of that country Palestine. As for the rest, Ludieim, and Enemim, and Labim, who alone inhabited in Libya, and called the country from himself, Nedim, and Phethrosim, and Chesloim, and Cephthorim, we know nothing of them besides their names; for the Ethiopic war which we shall describe hereafter, was the cause that those cities were overthrown. The sons of Canaan were these: Sidonius, who also built a city of the same name; it is called by the Greeks Sidon Amathus inhabited in Amathine, which is even now called Amathe by the inhabitants, although the Macedonians named it Epiphania, from one of his posterity: Arudeus possessed the island Aradus: Arucas possessed Arce, which is in Libanus. But for the seven others, [Eueus,] Chetteus, Jebuseus, Amorreus, Gergesus, Eudeus, Sineus, Samareus, we have nothing in the sacred books but their names, for the Hebrews overthrew their cities; and their calamities came upon them on the occasion following.' Whiston's tr.]
[267] [See note above.]
[268] [Of Isis and Osiris, ch. 31.]
[269] [Histories, bk. 5. 'Some say that the Jews were fugitives from the island of Crete, who settled on the nearest coast of Africa about the time when Saturn was driven from his throne by the power of Jupiter. Evidence of this is sought in the name. There is a famous mountain in Crete called Ida; the neighbouring tribe, the Idaei, came to be called Judaei by a barbarous lengthening of the national name. Others assert that in the reign of Isis the overflowing population of Egypt, led by Hierosolymus and Judas, discharged itself into the neighbouring countries. Many, again, say that they were a race of Ethiopian origin, who in the time of king Cepheus were driven by fear and hatred of their neighbours to seek a new dwelling-place. Others describe them as an Assyrian horde who, not having sufficient territory, took possession of part of Egypt, and founded cities of their own in what is called the Hebrew country, lying on the borders of Syria. Others, again, assign a very distinguished origin to the Jews, alleging that they were the Solymi, a nation celebrated in the poems of Homer, who called the city which they founded Hierosolyma after their own name.']
[270] [Sallust, The War Against Jugurtha. '"The Gaetulians and Libyans," says he, "possessed Africa at first, a rough unpolished people, whose food, like that of cattle, consisted of the herb of the field, to which they added the flesh of wild animals."' In Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 186. See also The Phenix, p. 221, and p. 120 of the 1845 London ed. of Sallust's work, The History of the Conspiracy of Catiline, and of the Jugurthine War, for alternative spelling of Getulians.]
[271] [Histories, bk. 5. See note 269 above.]
[272] [Ibid., bk. 5. See note 269 above.]
[273] [Ibid., bk. 5. See note 269 above.]
[274] [Ibid., bk. 5. 'Most writers, however, agree in stating that once a disease, which horribly disfigured the body, broke out over Egypt; that king Bocchoris, seeking a remedy, consulted the oracle of Hammon, and was bidden to cleanse his realm, and to convey into some foreign land this race detested by the gods. The people, who had been collected after diligent search, finding themselves left in a desert, sat for the most part in a stupor of grief, till one of the exiles, Moyses by name, warned them not to look for any relief from God or man, forsaken as they were of both, but to trust to themselves, taking for their heaven-sent leader that man who should first help them to be quit of their present misery. They agreed, and in utter ignorance began to advance at random. Nothing, however, distressed them so much as the scarcity of water, and they had sunk ready to perish in all directions over the plain, when a herd of wild asses was seen to retire from their pasture to a rock shaded by trees. Moyses followed them, and, guided by the appearance of a grassy spot, discovered an abundant spring of water. This furnished relief. After a continuous journey for six days, on the seventh they possessed themselves of a country, from which they expelled the inhabitants, and in which they founded a city and a temple.']
[275] [Deut. 5:15. 'I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to show you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount.']
[276] [Eusebius, Praepartio Evangelica, bk. 10. 'Some of the Greeks also relate that Moses flourished in those times. Polemo, in his first book of his Grecian Histories, says "that in the reign of Apis, the son of Phoroneus, a part of the Egyptian army deserted from Egypt, and took up their habitation in that part of Syria which is called Palestine, not far from Arabia." These indeed were those who went out with Moses.' In Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 146. See also ANF, 4, 134 and 2, 324, and The Phenix, p. 273.]
[277] [Eusebius states Grecian, not Egyptian. See op. cit. and above note.]
[278] [See note 276 above.]
[280] [Talmud.]
[281] [See note 197 above, BB 2:414 and The Phenix, pp. 271-3.]
[282] [Origen, Contra Celsus, bk. 4, ch. 31. 'After this, wishing to prove that there is no difference between Jews and Christians, and those animals previously enumerated by him, he asserts that the Jews were "fugitives from Egypt, who never performed anything worthy of note, and never were held in any reputation or account." Now, on the point of their not being fugitives, nor Egyptians, but Hebrews who settled in Egypt, we have spoken in the preceding pages. But if he thinks his statement, that "they were never held in any reputation or account," to be proved, because no remarkable event in their history is found recorded by the Greeks, we would answer, that if one will examine their polity from its first beginning, and the arrangement of their laws, he will find that they were men who represented upon earth the shadow of a heavenly life, and that amongst them God is recognised as nothing else, save He who is over all things, and that amongst them no maker of images was permitted to enjoy the rights of citizenship. For neither painter nor image-maker existed in their state, the law expelling all such from it; that there might be no pretext for the construction of images,—an art which attracts the attention of foolish men, and which drags down the eyes of the soul from God to earth. There was, accordingly, amongst them a law to the following effect: "Do not transgress the law, and make to yourselves a graven image, any likeness of male or female; either a likeness of any one of the creatures that are upon the earth, or a likeness of any winged fowl that flieth under the heaven, or a likeness of any creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, or a likeness of any of the fishes which are in the waters under the earth." The law, indeed, wished them to have regard to the truth of each individual thing, and not to form representations of things contrary to reality, feigning the appearance merely of what was really male or really female, or the nature of animals, or of birds, or of creeping things, or of fishes. Venerable, too, and grand was this prohibition of theirs: "Lift not up thine eyes unto heaven, lest, when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and all the host of heaven, thou shouldst be led astray to worship them, and serve them." And what a regime was that under which the whole nation was placed, and which rendered it impossible for any effeminate person to appear in public and worthy of admiration, too, was the arrangement by which harlots were removed out of the state, those incentives to the passions of the youth! Their courts of justice also were composed of men of the strictest integrity, who, after having for a lengthened period set the example of an unstained life, were entrusted with the duty of presiding over the tribunals, and who, on account of the superhuman purity of their character, were said to be gods, in conformity with an ancient Jewish usage of speech. Here was the spectacle of a whole nation devoted to philosophy; and in order that there might be leisure to listen to their sacred laws, the days termed "Sabbath," and the other festivals which existed among them, were instituted. And why need I speak of the orders of their priests and sacrifices, which contain innumerable indications [of deeper truths] to those who wish to ascertain the signification of things?' ANCL, 23, 192-4.]
[283] ['On Egypt and the Nile from the Sanscrit,' ARSB, 3, 358.]
[284] [Ez. 16:3-4. 'And say, Thus saith the Lord
GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy
father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.
And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut,
neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all.']
[285] [Brugsch, Histoire d'Égypt des les premiers temps, pl. 12, scuts. 248 and 258.]
[286] [Christian Researches in Asia, p. 225. 'The Black Jews communicated to me much interesting intelligence concerning their brethren the ancient Israelites in the East: traditional indeed in its nature, but in general illustrative of true history. They recounted the names of many other small colonies resident in northern India, Tartary, and China, and gave me a written list of SIXTY-FIVE places. I conversed with those who had lately visited many of these stations, and were about to return again. The Jews have a never-ceasing communication with each other in the East. Their families indeed are generally stationary, being subject to despotic princes but the men move much about in a commercial capacity; and the same individual will pass through many extensive countries. So that when any thing interesting to the nation of the Jews takes place, the rumour will pass rapidly throughout all Asia.']
[287] [Histories, bk. 5.2. 'Sed quoniam famosae urbis supremum diem tradituri sumus, congruens videtur primordia eius aperire. Iudaeos Creta insula profugos novissima Libyae insedisse memorant, qua tempestate Saturnus vi Iovis pulsus cesserit regnis. Argumentum e nomine petitur: inclutum in Creta Idam montem, accolas Idaeos aucto in barbarum cognomento Iudaeos vocitari. Quidam regnante Iside exundantem per Aegyptum multitudinem ducibus Hierosolymo ac Iuda proximas in terras exoneratam; plerique Aethiopum prolem, quos rege Cepheo metus atque odium mutare sedis perpulerit. Sunt qui tradant Assyrios convenas, indigum agrorum populum, parte Aegypti potitos, mox proprias urbis Hebraeas que terras et propiora Syriae coluisse. Clara alii Iudaeorum initia, Solymos, carminibus Homeri celebratam gentem, conditae urbi Hierosolyma nomen e suo fecisse.']
[288] [Samii quæ supersunt collegit et illustravit.]
[289] [Mysteries, 8.2. 'He likewise delivered to us the history of the empyrean gods in one hundred books; of the etherial in an equal number; and of the celestial in a thousand books.' T. Taylor's tr., from The Thomas Taylor Series, vol. 17, p. 137. Theurgia, see ch. 2 and ch. 16, summary.]
[290] [On Concerning the Gods.]
[291] [Manetho makes no mention himself of the number of
books written by Thoth, but simply ascribes to that god the hieroglyphics
engraved upon the columns set up in the Seriadic land. See Cory, Ancient
Fragments, p. 109. But
see below:
Iamblichus, Mysteries, 8.1. 'As Seleucus narrates, therefore, Hermes
described the principles that rank as wholes in two myriads of books; or, as we
are informed by Manetho, he perfectly unfolded these principles in the three
myriads six thousand five hundred and twenty five volumes.' T. Taylor's tr.,
from The Thomas Taylor Series, vol. 17, p. 136. See also BB 1:31.]
[292] [Gen. 10:5. 'By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.']
[293] [Gen. 10:1. 'Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.']
[294] [Iliad, bk. 8, lines 13-18. 'Back to
Olympus, scourged and in disgrace,
Shall he be brought, or I will seize and hurl
The offender down to rayless Tartarus,
Deep, deep in the great gulf below the earth,
With iron gates and threshold forged of brass,
As far beneath the shades as earth from heaven.'
Ibid., bk. 8, lines 598-603. 'Beside Iapetus, and neither light
Of overgoing suns nor breath of wind
Refreshes them, but gulfs of Tartarus
Surround them, shouldst thou even thither bend
Thy way, I shall not heed thy rage, who art
Beyond all others shamelessly perverse.' W. C. Bryant's tr.]
[295] [Histories, bk. 2. 16. 'If, then, my judgment on these matters be right,
the Ionians are mistaken in what they say of Egypt. If, on the contrary, it is
they who are right, then I undertake to show that neither the Ionians nor any of
the other Greeks know how to count. For they all say that the earth is divided
into three parts, Europe, Asia, and Libya, whereas they ought to add a fourth
part, the Delta of Egypt, since the do not include it either in Asia or Libya.
For is it not their theory that the Nile separates Asia from Libya? As the Nile,
therefore, splits in two at the apex of the Delta, the Delta itself must be a
separate country, not contained in either Asia or Libya.' Tr., Rawlinson.
'If then we judge aright of these matters, the opinion of the Ionians
about Egypt is not sound: but if the judgment of the Ionians is right, I declare
that neither the Hellenes nor the Ionians themselves know how to reckon since
they say that the whole earth is made up of three divisions, Europe, Asia, and
Libya: for they ought to count in addition to these the Delta of Egypt, since it
belongs neither to Asia nor to Libya; for at least it cannot be the river Nile
by this reckoning which divides Asia from Libya, but the Nile is cleft at the
point of this Delta so as to flow round it, and the result is that this land
would come between Asia and Libya.' Tr., Macauley.]
[296] [Justin, out of Trogus Pompeius, 18. 3,3,5. 'The origin of the Jews was from Damascus, a most
famous city of Syria, whence also the Assyrian kings and queen Semiramis sprang.
The name of the city was given it from king Damascus, in honour of whom the
Syrians consecrated the sepulchre of his wife Arathis as a temple, and regard
her as a goddess of the most sacred worship. After Damascus, Azelus, and then
Adores, Abraham, and Israhel were their kings. But a prosperous family of ten
sons made Israhel more famous than any of his ancestors. Having divided his
kingdom in consequence, into ten governments, he committed them to his sons, and
called the whole people Jews.' In Cory's Ancient Fragments, pp. 78-9.
See also BB 2:418.]
[297] [Is. 11:11. 'And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.']
[298] [Matt. 11:3. 'And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?']
[299] [Potter, Archælogia Græca, vol. 1, p. 385. 'EBΔOMH, on the seventh day of every lunar month, in honour of Apollo, to whom all seventh days were sacred, because one of them was his birthday; whence he was sometimes called [Greek].' Or vol. 1, p. 444 of the 1827.]
[300] [Essai sur la Mythologie Égyptienne.?]
[301] [Gen. 10:21. 'Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.']
[302] [Chabas, 'Hymn to Osiris,' RP, 4, 97. See p. 102, line 17.]
[303] [Wars of the Jews,
bk. 5.6.3. 'However, John staid behind, out of his fear of Simon, even
while his own men were earnest in making a sally upon their enemies without. Yet
did not Simon lie still, for he lay near the place of the siege; he brought his
engines of war, and disposed of them at due distances upon the wall, both those
which they took from Cestius formerly, and those which they got when they seized
the garrison that lay in the tower Antonia. But though they had these engines in
their possession, they had so little skill in using them, that they were in
great measure useless to them; but a few there were who had been taught by
deserters how to use them, which they did use, though after an awkward manner.
So they cast stones and arrows at those that were making the banks; they also
ran out upon them by companies, and fought with them. Now those that were at
work covered themselves with hurdles spread over their banks, and their engines
were opposed to them when they made their excursions. The engines, that all the
legions had ready prepared for them, were admirably contrived; but still more
extraordinary ones belonged to the tenth legion: those that threw darts and
those that threw stones were more forcible and larger than the rest, by which
they not only repelled the excursions of the Jews, but drove those away that
were upon the walls also. Now the stones that were cast were of the weight of a
talent, and were carried two furlongs and further. The blow they gave was no way
to be sustained, not only by those that stood first in the way, but by those
that were beyond them for a great space. As for the Jews, they at first watched
the coming of the stone, for it was of a white colour, and could therefore not
only be perceived by the great noise it made, but could be seen also before it
came by its brightness; accordingly the watchmen that sat upon the towers gave
them notice when the engine was let go, and the stone came from it, and cried
out aloud, in their own country language, "The Son Cometh" so those that were in
its way stood off, and threw themselves down upon the ground; by which means,
and by their thus guarding themselves, the stone fell down and did them no harm.
But the Romans contrived how to prevent that by blacking the stone, who then
could aim at them with success, when the stone was not discerned beforehand, as
it had been till then; and so they destroyed many of them at one blow. Yet did
not the Jews, under all this distress, permit the Romans to raise their banks in
quiet; but they shrewdly and boldly exerted themselves, and repelled them both
by night and by day.' Whiston's tr.
Whiston notes on the above: 'What should be the meaning of this signal or
watchword, when the watchmen saw a stone coming from the engine, "The Son
Cometh," or what mistake there is in the reading, I cannot tell. The MSS., both
Greek and Latin, all agree in this reading; and I cannot approve of any
groundless conjectural alteration of the text from ro to lop, that not
the son or a stone, but that the arrow or dart cometh; as hath been made by Dr.
Hudson, and not corrected by Havercamp. Had Josephus written even his first
edition of these books of the war in pure Hebrew, or had the Jews then used the
pure Hebrew at Jerusalem, the Hebrew word for a son is so like that for a stone,
ben and eben, that such a correction might have been more easily
admitted. But Josephus wrote his former edition for the use of the Jews beyond
Euphrates, and so in the Chaldee language, as he did this second edition in the
Greek language; and bar was the Chaldee word for son, instead of the Hebrew
ben, and was used not only in Chaldea, etc. but in Judea also, as the New
Testament informs us. Dio lets us know that the very Romans at Rome pronounced
the name of Simon the son of Giora, Bar Poras for Bar Gioras, as
we learn from Xiphiline, p. 217. Reland takes notice, "that many will here look
for a mystery, as though the meaning were, that the Son of God came now to take
vengeance on the sins of the Jewish nation;" which is indeed the truth of the
fact, but hardly what the Jews could now mean; unless possibly by way of
derision of Christ's threatening so often made, that he would come at the head
of the Roman army for their destruction. But even this interpretation has but a
very small degree of probability. If I were to make an emendation by mere
conjecture, I would read instead of, though the likeness be not so great as in
lo; because that is the word used by Josephus just before, as has been already
noted on this very occasion, while, an arrow or dart, is only a poetical word,
and never used by Josephus elsewhere, and is indeed no way suitable to the
occasion, this engine not throwing arrows or darts, but great stones, at this
time.']
[304] [Nah. 2.1. 'He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.']
[305] [Mic. 2:13. 'The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.']
[306] [Wars of the Jews, bk. 5.6.1. 'Now
the warlike men that were in the city, and the multitude of the seditious that
were with Simon, were ten thousand, besides the Idumeans. Those ten thousand had
fifty commanders, over whom this Simon was supreme. The Idumeans that paid him
homage were five thousand, and had eight commanders, among whom those of
greatest fame were Jacob the son of Sosas, and Simon the son of Cathlas. Jotre,
who had seized upon the temple, had six thousand armed men under twenty
commanders; the zealots also that had come over to him, and left off their
opposition, were two thousand four hundred, and had the same commander that they
had formerly, Eleazar, together with Simon the son of Arinus. Now, while these
factions fought one against another, the people were their prey on both sides,
as we have said already; and that part of the people who would not join with
them in their wicked practices were plundered by both factions. Simon held the
upper city, and the great wall as far as Cedron, and as much of the old wall as
bent from Siloam to the east, and which went down to the palace of Monobazus,
who was king of the Adiabeni, beyond Euphrates; he also held that fountain, and
the Acra, which was no other than the lower city; he also held all that reached
to the palace of queen Helena, the mother of Monobazus. But John held the
temple, and the parts thereto adjoining, for a great way, as also Ophla, and the
valley called "the Valley of Cedron;" and when the parts that were interposed
between their possessions were burnt by them, they left a space wherein they
might fight with each other; for this internal sedition did not cease even when
the Romans were encamped near their very wall. But although they had grown wiser
at the first onset the Romans made upon them, this lasted but a while; for they
returned to their former madness, and separated one from another, and fought it
out, and did everything that the besiegers could desire them to do; for they
never suffered any thing that was worse from the Romans than they made each
other suffer; nor was there any misery endured by the city after these men's
actions that could be esteemed new. But it was most of all unhappy before it was
overthrown, while those that took it did it a greater kindness for I venture to
affirm that the sedition destroyed the city, and the Romans destroyed the
sedition, which it was a much harder thing to do than to destroy the walls; so
that we may justly ascribe our misfortunes to our own people, and the just
vengeance taken on them to the Romans; as to which matter let every one
determine by the actions on both sides.'
Whiston notes: 'Reland very properly takes notice here, how justly this
judgment came upon the Jews, when they were crucified in such multitudes
together, that the Romans wanted room for the crosses, and crosses for the
bodies of these Jews, since they had brought this judgment on themselves by the
crucifixion of their Messiah.' Note to bk. 5, ch. 11. See also footnote to
note 303 above.]
[307] [Jer. 50:23. 'How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!']
[308] [Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem.]
[309] [The fable of the wandering Jew became a staple diet of Middle Eastern and European folklore. Eugene Sue (1804-1857) also wrote a fictionalised version of the story (Le Juif Errant, 1844, 10 volumes) which became a French classic.]
[310] [Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, p. 360. 'Wandering Jew.' 'This is a vulgar error of considerable antiquity. Dr. Percy tells us that it obtained full credit in this part of the world before the year 1228, as we learn from Matthew Paris. In that year it seems there came an Armenian archbishop into England to visit the shrines and reliques preserved in our churches; who being entertained at the monastery of St. Albans was asked several questions relating to his country, &c. Among the rest a monk, who sat near him, inquired if he had ever seen or heard of the famous person named Joseph, who was so much talked of, who was present at our Lord's crucifixion and conversed with him, and who was still alive in confirmation of the Christian faith." The archbishop answered, that the fact was true ; and afterwards one of his train, who was well known to a servant of the abbot's, interpreting his master's words, told them in French, that his lord knew the person they spoke of very well; that he dined at his table but a little while before he left the east; that he had been Pontius Pilate's porter, by name Cartaphilus: who, when they were dragging Jesus out of the door of the judgement hall, struck him with his fist on the back, saying, "Go faster, Jesus, go faster; why dost thou linger?" Upon which Jesus looked at him with a frown, and said, "I, indeed, am going; but thou shalt tarry till I come." Soon after he was converted and baptized by the name of Joseph. He lives for ever, but at the end of every hundred years falls into an incurable illness, and at length into a fit of ecstasy, out of which, when he recovers, he returns to the same state of youth he was in when Jesus suffered, being then about thirty years of age. He remembers all the circumstances of the death and resurrection of Christ, the saints that arose with him, the composing of the Apostle's creed, their preaching and dispersion; and is himself a very grave and holy person. This is the substance of Matthew Paris's account, who was himself a monk of St. Albans, arid was living at the time when this Armenian archbishop made the above relation. Since his time several impostors have appeared at intervals under the name and character of the Wandering Jew. See Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible; and the Turkish Spy, vol. ii. b. iii. lett.']
[311] [Luke 3:23. 'And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli.']
[312] [Percy, Reliques of Ancient English
Poetry, vol. 2, pp. 236-41. 'The story of the Wandering Jew is of
considerable antiquity: it had obtained full credit in this part of the world
before the year 1228, as we learn from Mat. Paris. For in that year, it seems,
there came an Armenian archbishop into England, to visit the shrines and
reliques preserved in our churches; who, being entertained at the monastery of
St. Albans, was asked several questions relating to his country, &c. Among the
rest a monk, who sat near him, inquired ' if he had ever seen or heard of the
famous person named Joseph, that was so much talked of; who was present at our
Lord's crucifixion and conversed with him, and who was still alive in
confirmation of the Christian faith.' The archbishop answered, That the fact was
true. And afterwards one of his train, who was well known to a servant of the
abbot's, interpreting his master's words, told them in French, 'That his lord
knew the person they spoke of very well: that he had dined at his table but a
little while before he left the East: that he had been Pontius Pilate's porter,
by name Cartaphilus; who, when they were dragging Jesus out of the door of the
Judgment-hall, struck him with his fist on the back, saying, "Go faster, Jesus,
go faster; why dost thou linger?" Upon which Jesus looked at him with a frown
and said, "I indeed am going, but thou shalt tarry till I come." Soon after he
was converted, and baptized by the name of Joseph. He lives for ever, but at the
end of every hundred years falls into an incurable illness, and at length into a
fit or ecstasy, out of which when he recovers, he returns to the same state of
youth he was in when Jesus suffered, being then about 30 years of age. He
remembers all the circumstances of the death and resurrection of Christ, the
saints that arose with him, the composing of the Apostles' creed, their
preaching, and dispersion; and is himself a very grave and holy person.' This is
the substance of Matthew Paris's account, who was himself a monk of St. Albans,
and was living at the time when this Armenian archbishop made the above
relation.
Since his time several impostors have appeared at intervals under the name and
character of the Wandering Jew; whose several histories may be seen in Calmet's
Dictionary of the Bible. See also the Turkish Spy, Vol. II. Book
3, Let. 1. The story that is copied in the following; ballad is of one, who
appeared at Hamburgh in 1547, and pretended he had been a Jewish shoe maker at
the time of Christ's crucifixion. The ballad however seems to be of later date.
It is preserved in black-letter in the Pepys collection.
WHEN as in faire Jerusalem
Our Saviour Christ did live,
And for the sins of all the worlde
His own deare life did give;
The wicked Jewes with scoffes and scornes
Did dailye him molest,
That never till he left his life,
Our Saviour could not rest.
When they had crown'd his head with thornes,
And scourg'd him to disgrace,
In scornfull sort they led him forthe
Unto his dying place;
Where thousand thousands in the streete
Beheld him passe along,
Yet not one gentle heart was there,
That pityed this his wrong.
Both old and young reviled him,
As in the streete he wente,
And nought he found but churlish tauntes,
By every ones consente:
His owne deare crosse he bore himselfe,
A burthen far too great,
Which made him in the street to fainte,
With blood and water sweat.
Being weary thus, he sought for rest,
To ease his burthened soule,
Upon a stone; the which a wretch
Did churlishly controule;
And sayd, 'Awaye, thou king of Jewes,
Thou shalt not rest thee here; so
Pass on; thy execution place
Thou seest nowe draweth neare,'
And thereupon he thrust him thence;
At which our Saviour sayd,
'I sure will rest, but thou shalt walke,
And have no journey stayed.'
With that this cursed shoemaker,
For offering Christ this wrong,
Left wife and children, house and all,
And went from thence along.
Where after he had seene the bloude
Of Jesus Christ thus shed,
And to the crosse his bodye nail'd,
Awaye with speed he fled
Without returning backe againe
Unto his dwelling place,
And wandred up and downe the worlde,
A runnagate most base.
No resting could he finde at all,
No ease, nor hearts content;
No house, nor home, nor biding place:
But wandring forth he went
From towne to towne in foreigne landes,
With grieved conscience still,
Repenting for the heinous guilt
Of his fore-passed ill.
Thus after some fewe ages past
In wandring up and downe;
He much again desired to see
Jerusalems renowne,
But finding it all quite destroyd,
He wandred thence with woe,
Our Saviours wordes, which he had spoke,
To verifie and showe.
'I'll rest,' sayd hee, 'but thou shalt walke,'
So doth this wandring Jew
From place to place, but cannot rest
For seeing countries newe;
Declaring still the power of him,
Whereas he comes or goes,
And of all things done in the east,
Since Christ his death, he showes.
The world he hath still compast round
And seene those nations strange,
That hearing of the name of Christ,
Then idol gods doe change:
To whom he hath told wondrous thinges
Of time f orepast, and gone,
And to the princes of the worlde
Declares his cause of moane: so
Desiring still to be dissolved,
And yeild his mortal breath;
But, if the Lord hath thus decreed,
He shall not yet see death.
For neither lookes he old nor young,
But as he did those times,
When Christ did suffer on the crosse
For mortall sinners crimes.
He hath past through many a foreigne place,
Arabia, Egypt, Africa,
Grecia, Syria, and great Thrace,
And throughout all Hungaria;
Where Paul and Peter preached Christ,
Those blest apostles deare;
There he hath told our Saviours wordes,
In countries far, and neare.
And lately in Bohemia,
With many a German towne;
And now in Flanders, as tis thought,
He wandreth up and downe:
Where learned men with him conferre
Of those his lingering dayes,
And wonder much to heare him tell
His journeyes, and his wayes.
If people give this Jew an almes,
The most that he will take
Is not above a groat a time:
Which he, for Jesus' sake,
Will kindlye give unto the poore,
And thereof make no spare, no
Affirming still that Jesus Christ
Of him hath dailye care.
He ne'er was seene to laugh nor smile,
But weepe and make great moane;
Lamenting still his miseries,
And dayes f orepast and gone:
If he heare any one blaspheme,
Or take God's name in vaine,
He telles them that they crucifie
Their Saviour Christe anamie.
'If you had seene his death,' saith he,
'As these mine eyes have done,
Ten thousand thousand times would yee
His torments think upon:
And suffer for his sake all paine
Of torments, and all woes,'
These are his wordes and eke his life
Whereas he comes or goes.'
See note 310 above.]