Catania Obelisk. A small obelisk standing on a stone elephant and set up in front of the Cathedral in Catania, Sicily. It is only a Roman imitation, having eight sides and four columns of hieroglyphs in all. [10]
Cataracts of the Nile. There are a number of cataracts formed by the Nile, where it passes over rocks and boulders, the largest and longest being the First Cataract. This forms the southern boundary of Egypt, and lies between Syene and Philæ. [24] [86]
Chronology, Egyptian. The ancient Egyptian chronology is hopelessly tangled. Some of the dates may be correct, especially those of the later dynasties, but when we turn to the early history of Egypt we are confronted by such a confusion of facts and dates, that makes the fixing of dates for the earlier dynasties an impossibility. There is a difference of more than 3000 years between the dates assigned by various Chronologists to the reign of the first king of Egypt, Menes; Böckh setting it down as B. C. 5702, Unger as 5613, Mariette and Lenormant as 5004, Brugsch as 4455, Lauth as 4157, Lepsius as 3892, Bunsen as 3059, Poole as 2717, and Wilkinson as 2691. No scheme of chronology can be deduced from the monuments, for the ancient Egyptians cared nothing about history, a fact that is proved by the carelessness with which they recorded historical events. The big numbers above result from the supposition that the various dynasties reigned in succession, while some were undoubtedly contemporaneous. An important list of kings together with their dates, written in the third century B. C. by Manetho, an Egyptian priest, has come down to us. We herewith give his list as systematized by Lepsius.
MYTHOLOGICAL PERIOD.
Two Dynasties of Gods. 13 870 years.
One Dynasty of Demi-gods. 3 650 years.
One Dynasty of Prehistoric Kings of Thinis. 350 years.
HISTORICAL PERIOD.