In the somewhat lengthened extract which I have made (sup. [p. 94]) from Bunsen, four figures (3984, 217, 443, and 184) will have struck the eye, which baffle even Bunsen’s penetration, and only make twice confounded what was confused before. But what if these four figures should all be accounted for? and, when accounted for, fitted into the chronology so as to be in keeping, not only with the other figures of the Chronicle, but also with the systems of Manetho and Eratosthenes, as exactly as “the key fits the wards of the lock?” (vide infra, [p. 332]), will not the matter begin to wear a different aspect? When the figures are shown to be imbedded in all the different systems which have been transmitted to us, will it then be said that the figures “are evidently borrowed from Eusebius?” But, in fact, it is also demonstrated by internal evidence that the Chronicle, as we have it, must be referred to the date 305 B.C.
This, then, is how the argument stands; but it is a matter of some difficulty to compass Mr Palmer’s elaborate argument, and I cannot attempt to do more than to indicate its most salient points.
Premising that the Sothic cycle (a period of 1461 vague, or 1460 fixed sidereal years) was connected by the Egyptians with their recurring periods of transformation and renovation (“common to the mythologies of Egypt and India”), and also that two such periods (1461 × 2) = 2922 corresponded with the antediluvian period, or rather with the sum of the lives or reigns of the antediluvian patriarchs, inclusive of survivors of the Deluge, with something added in order to throw the whole into cyclical form, all which is shown in detail in “Egyptian Chronicles,” i. 23–37, I may now proceed to Mr Palmer’s analysis of the scheme of the Old Chronicle, which is thus given by Syncellus, “probably from the Manetho of Africanus” (Palmer’s “Egypt. Chron.,” i. 7):—
“There is extant among the Egyptians a certain Old Chronicle, the source, I suppose, which led Manetho astray, exhibiting xxx dynasties and again cxiii generations, with an infinite space of time (not the same either as that of Manetho), viz. three myriads, six thousand five hundred and twenty-five years—1st, Of the Aeritæ; 2dly, Of the Mestræans; and, 3dly, Of the Egyptians,—being word for word as follows:—
[Dynasty I. to XV. inclusive of the chronicle of the gods]:—
| Time of Phtha there is none, as he shines equally by night and by day [but all generations being from him] | |
| [First dynasty] Ἥλιος [i.e. Ra, the sun-god], son of Phtha, reigned three myriads of years, | 30,000 |
| Then [Dynasty II. to XIV. inclusive, and generations II. to XIV. inclusive] Κρονος [or Χρονος], i.e. Seb], and all the other xii gods [who are the Aeritæ perhaps of Eusebius and Africanus], reigned years | 3984 |
| Then [Dynasty XV.] viii demigod kings [the Mestræans of Eusebius and Africanus] reigned [as viii generations but one dynasty], years | 217 |
| And after them xv generations of the Cynic cycle were registered in years | 443 |
| Then Dynasty XVI. of Tanites, generations viii, years | 190 |
| Then Dynasty XVII. of Memphites, generations iv, years of the same generations | 103 |
After whom there followed—
Besides whom is to be reckoned—
| Dynasty XXV. of Ethiopians, generations iii, years of the same generations | 44 |