VII.-VIII.
2475 "
IX.-X.
2445 '
XI.
2160 "
XII.
2000 "
XIII.-XVII.
1788 "
XVIII.
1580 "
XIX.
1350 "
XX.
1200 "
XXI.
1090 "
XXII.
945 "
XXIII.
745 "
XXIV.
71 S "
XXV.
72S
712 "
XXVI.
663 "
Persians
525 "
Greeks
332 "
Romans
30 "
RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Egypt
The figures of Brugsch are based on the average length of a human generation; Meyer's on the minimum reign-lengths shown by the records; astronomical calculations depend on eclipses as related to the Sothic periods of 1,460 years and the variable year of 365 days. The earlier systems suffered from insufficient data for the application of the method of " dead-reckoning," which is the only system really available.
4. History: The predynastic period is little known, but excavations made mainly since the beginning of the present century have begun to throw light upon the subject. The work of De Morgan and Petrie is of initial importance. The main divisions of the history, based upon the thirty dynasties of Manetho are: (1) the Ancient Kingdom, dynasties I.-VL, say 3400-2475 B.C.; (2) the Middle Kingdom, dynasties XI.-XIL, 2160-1788 B.C.; (3) the New Kingdom, dynasties XVIII.-XX., 1580-1090 B.C.; (4) the period of decline and foreign intervention, dynasties XXI.-XXV., 1090-663 B.C.; (5) the period of restoration, dynasty XXVI., 663-525 B.C.; (6) the Persian and Greek domination, dynasty XXVII. onward, 525-30 B.C.; for details as to the history, reference must be
1. Con- made to the special works on that subspectus and ject. The gaps in the above list repre-
Sources. sen^ dark periods about which little is known. Dynasties seven to ten were occupied with internal strife resulting in the removal of the seat of power from Memphis gradually southward to Thebes. Dynasties thirteen to seventeen covered also a period of unrest and of foreign domination by the Hyksos, " Sheiks of the Bedouin," who were probably of Semito-Hittite race. The sources of the history are numerous and consist of antiquities illustrating manners and beliefs ; texts on stone, leather and papyrus, containing the facts forming the raw material of historical representation; records in the cuneiform character and in Hebrew tradition as well as the accounts preserved by Greek travelers and historians. Aside from the Turin papyrus and Manetho's work, there is no evidence of the compilation of a complete list of the kings which could be called even a comprehensive outline or framework of the history. The annals of some of the kings, and the records of the separate temples constitute the historical writings of the Egyptians, and these extended scarcely beyond lists of names and reign-lengths. The available material is widely scattered, and while remarkably full for some periods, is for the most part meager and unsatisfactory.
It is probable that the immigration of the sons of Jacob must be assigned to the period of the Hyksos (before 1580 b.c). There are pictures on tomb-walls which represent the approach of shepherds of peculiarly Semitic features, and a papyrus tells of permission granting grazing privileges to others of that race. There is also a Ptolemaic tradition of a seven-year dearth in the reign of Zoser (2890 b.c). The journey of Abraham to Egypt and the resort thither against famine are quite in line with known fact. The theory which identifies the expulsion of the Hyksos with the Exodus of the Israelites (Josephus) is impossible
chronologically without destroying the historicity of the latter event. Thothmes III. (1501-1447 b.c.)
was the embodiment of the warlike 2. Hyksos, spirit which the Egyptians had acquired Pharaohs from their conflict with the Hyksos. and their He pushed his conquests through Pal- Successors estine, leaving a record of the places to the he had conquered on the walls of Exodus. the temple of Amon at Karnak. In
this list were included the names of Kadesh on the Orontes, Megiddo, Damascus, Hamath, Acco, Joppa, Gezer, etc. Later glimpses of the condition of the Palestinian dependencies of Egypt are derived from the cuneiform tablets found at Tell el-Amarna (see Amarna Tablets). These tablets were sent by the local vassals of the Pharaohs, and contain items of information, private and political, written in Babylonian, the language of the diplomacy of the period. The picture which they give is of the time just preceding the Exodus. They were composed for the information of Pharaohs who are generally supposed to have been largely under Semitic influence, one of whom made the only attempt in Egyptian history to introduce a monotheistic form of religion and worship. The attempt came to nothing permanent, and the power of Egypt in Palestine was overthrown soon afterward. Not till the time of Rameses II. (1292-1225 b.c.) was the reconquest attempted. He made his influence felt as far as the Lebanon, and his twenty-first year was marked by a treaty of peace with the Hittites. He is commonly regarded as the Pharaoh of the oppression, and the fact that he was the builder of Pithom confirms the Hebrew tradition. The absence of any personal designation in the title Pharaoh, precludes the possibility of absolute identification in most cases. The power of Egypt in Palestine did not long survive Rameses II., and it must have been during this period that the Hebrews took possession of the land.
The Exodus is usually assigned to the reign of Merneptah (1225-1215b.c.) the successor of Rameses II. The earliest extant mention of the name of Israel is in a victory-stele (discovered in 1896) which this king erected. The name is enumerated
in connection with other places in
3. Exodus Palestine and Syria as scenes of the
to the Pharaoh's conquests. On its face it is
Assyrian evidence that a tribe bearing this desig-
Period. nation had been defeated in Palestine;
but as it stands alone, an uncorroborated witness to the king's expedition, its value has been seriously questioned. Nevertheless it raises interesting and important questions. An unnamed Pharaoh, who in view of the subsequent history (I Kings xi. 40) could scarcely have been Sheshonk I. (Shishak), captured the city of Gezer and gave it to his daughter, the wife of king Solomon (I Kings ix. 16). This is the first intimation of Egyptian conquest in Canaan in nearly three hundred years. Sheshonk I. (945-924 b.c, called " Shishak," not " Pharaoh " in I Kings xi. 40, being the first time that the Old Testament gives a personal name to an Egyptian king) about 926 B.C. celebrated an expedition in which, among other places, he pillaged the temple at Jerusalem (I Kings
Egypt