MENES.
"The first King of Egypt that we know about was Menes, who founded the City of Memphis. There is a difference of opinion among the writers as to the date when he existed; Wilkinson, Poole, and others say he lived about 2700 b.c., Bunsen says it was 3623 b.c., and Mariette thinks it was 5004 b.c. The reason why they make this difference is because some of them believe the dynasties, or families of kings, of ancient Egypt succeeded one another, while others believe some of them ruled at the same time in different parts of the country. The difference between the 'successive' and the 'contemporaneous' theories, when you add up the periods of all the dynasties, is more than two thousand years. Down to the seventeenth dynasty the figures are uncertain; from the seventeenth to the twenty-first it is agreed that the dynasties were successive, but there is some difference about their dates; while from the twenty-first dynasty to the Christian era there is no dispute.
"Perhaps this is dry reading; if so, you had better go over it carefully, and then skip.
"Whether King Menes lived seven or five thousand years ago makes very little difference to us, and probably to him, as he is dead now. To avoid confusion we will take the theory of Wilkinson, and suppose it was only five thousand years ago that the first dynasty began. That will seem more neighborly, and bring us so near to Menes that we can almost imagine we knew him personally. Just think of it—only five thousand years ago!
"Some of the dynasties of ancient Egypt lasted two hundred years and more, while others were much less, the shortest dynasty being seventy days. During the fourth dynasty, which lasted two hundred years, the Pyramids of Gizeh were built (about 2400 b.c.). In the twelfth dynasty many monuments and temples were erected, and many of the famous tombs were made; Abraham, and afterward Joseph, came to Egypt, and several important events of Egyptian history belong to this dynasty. The eighteenth dynasty lasted nearly two hundred and fifty years (in the sixteenth, fifteenth, and fourteenth centuries b.c.), and was the most brilliant of all the periods of ancient Egypt. Thebes and other cities were in the height of their glory, the armies made great conquests, the temples at Karnak and Thebes were built, and the obelisks that are to-day the wonder of the world were brought from Syene, and erected where they could attest the power of the rulers of the land. The inscriptions on the monuments say that during the reign of Thothmes III., one of the kings of the eighteenth dynasty, 'Egypt placed her frontier where she pleased.'
RAMESES II., FROM AN INSCRIPTION.