But before turning to the history proper, it will be well to make a more detailed examination of the chronological foundations on which our knowledge rests. Eduard Meyer has outlined them succinctly.[a] From our sources of information, he says, it is evident that we can place ourselves on certain chronological ground for Egyptian history.
Manetho has rightly retained its general outline. He divides the kings, from the foundation of the kingdom by Menes until the fall of the last Darius, into thirty-one ruling houses, or dynasties. His division does not seem to be always correct; for instance, the Turin papyrus makes several more divisions out of the Ist Dynasty. Nevertheless, Manetho’s order has long been commonly accepted, and for many reasons its further retention commends itself.
The Turin papyrus just mentioned seems to have been written under Ramses III, as the name of this king appears in the accounts on the back. It contains a record of the Egyptian kings (the dynasties of the gods precede them), with a statement of the years of their reigns, and to some degree of their ages. Unfortunately the papyrus is much mutilated, and amidst numerous small fragments there exist only a few large pieces. But it is possible to obtain a general view of the papyrus by putting the most important fragments into their right places. It contains (if pages have not been torn off at the end) ten columns of from twenty-seven to twenty-eight lines, and it mentions about two hundred and twenty kings’ names, from Menes until before, or during, the Hyksos period.
These are divided into dynasties, which are sometimes specified only by a title, and sometimes by the word “reigned” being repeated after the king’s name. Under the longer lists totals are given. In the few cases where the figures of the papyrus have been verified by the help of the memorials, they have been found to be correct. However, the author is guilty of a great error in the total of the XIIth Dynasty.
The gaps in the papyrus are partially filled by the royal monumental tablets, which are altogether of a funereal character—a later king or citizen is shown offering sacrifice to the old rulers.
Three lists carry historical weight:
(1) The tablet of Seti I in Abydos, discovered in 1864 and quite complete, contains seventy-six names. The tablet of Ramses II, now in London, is a copy of this.
(2) The tablet of Tehutimes III from Karnak, now in the Louvre, very much injured and promiscuously put together, contains sixty-one names.
(3) The tablet from the tomb of Tunrei at Saqqarah (under Ramses II, discovered in 1860), contains fifty-one names, of which forty-seven remain.
Manetho’s list in its different editions comes next to these accounts. It was long thought that by putting it in its original form, we should arrive at a safe basis of Egyptian chronology. A more careful examination, however, shows us that Manetho is not to be trusted. Where we can verify his figures in the more ancient periods they are almost without exception wrong, and this from no fault of the copyists and makers or extractors; there are constant confusion and gaps in the succession of names. Numerous examples of such errors may be seen in the comparison of Manetho’s list with the monuments. It is only about the XXth Dynasty that his figures seem to be reliable. Another circumstance must be added. According to Manetho’s arrangement, the dynasties follow each other, so that he includes a Theban and a contemporaneous Hyksos family in the XVIIth Dynasty, and does not reckon each one as a separate ruling house. In truth, such contemporaneous governments did repeatedly take place, and consequently they must reduce the dates of Manetho, even if the numbers be correct. King Menes would not, according to Manetho (under Unger’s calculation), be placed in the year 5613 B.C., but considerably later.