[619] Herodot. ii, 30: Diodor. i, 67.

[620] Ἀπρίης—ὃς μετὰ Ψαμμήτιχον τὸν ἑωϋτοῦ προπάτορα ἐγένετο εὐδαιμονέστατος τῶν πρότερον βασιλέων (Herodot. ii, 161).

[621] Herodot. i, 105; ii, 157.

[622] The chronology of the Egyptian kings from Psammetichus to Amasis is given in some points differently by Herodotus and by Manetho:—

According to Herodotus, According to Manetho ap. African.
Psammetichusreigned54years. Psammetichusreigned54years.
Nekôs„16„ Nechao II„6„
Psammis„6„ Psammathis„6„
Apriês„25„ Uaphris„19„
Amasis„44„ Amosis„44„

Diodorus gives 22 years for Apriês and 55 years for Amasis (i, 68).

Now the end of the reign of Amasis stands fixed for 526 B. C., and, therefore, the beginning of his reign (according to both Herodotus and Manetho) to 570 B. C. or 569 B. C. According to the chronology of the Old Testament, the battles of Megiddo and Carchemisch, fought by Nekôs, fall from 609-605 B. C., and this coincides with the reign of Nekôs as dated by Herodotus, but not as dated by Manetho. On the other hand, it appears from the evidence of certain Egyptian inscriptions recently discovered, that the real interval from the beginning of Nechao to the end of Uaphris is only forty years, and not forty-seven years, as the dates of Herodotus would make it (Boeckh, Manetho und die Hundsternperiode, pp. 341-348), which would place the accession of Nekôs in 610 or 609 B. C. Boeckh discusses at some length this discrepancy of dates, and inclines to the supposition that Nekôs reigned nine or ten years jointly with his father, and that Herodotus has counted these nine or ten years twice, once in the reign of Psammetichus, once in that of Nekôs. Certainly, Psammetichus can hardly have been very young when his reign began, and if he reigned fifty-four years, he must have reached an extreme old age, and may have been prominently aided by his son. Adopting the suppositions, therefore, that the last ten years of the reign of Psammetichus may be reckoned both for him and for Nekôs,—that for Nekôs separately only six years are to be reckoned,—and that the number of years from the beginning of Nekôs’s separate reign to the end of Uaphris is forty,—Boeckh places the beginning of Psammetichus in 654 B. C., and not in 670 B. C., as the data of Herodotus would make it (ib. pp. 342-350).

Mr. Clinton, Fast. Hellen. B. C. 616, follows Herodotus.

[623] Herodot. ii, 158. Respecting the canal of Nekôs, see the explanation of Mr. Kenrick on this chapter of Herodotus. From Bubastis to Suez the length would be about ninety miles.

[624] Herodot. ii, 159. Diodorus makes no mention of Nekôs.