The frequent occurrence of the name Ammenemes in the second ring among the immediate successors of Osortasen, decides that his era corresponds with the twelfth

* The brackets indicate the contents of the second ring, which is not given here.

dynasty of Manetho, in which the same name is thrice repeated.*

Though seven dynasties and nearly 1500 years are interposed by this author between these two eras, we know, upon the far better authority of the styles of art that prevailed in both, that there cannot have been any very long interval between them; for in this particular they are identical. No monument, however, has yet been discovered whereon the two stand connected in the order of their succession.

Osortasen was a prosperous and successful monarch, who reigned over the whole of Egypt; but no remains of the works of his immediate successors have been discovered in Lower Egypt. They held their court at Abydos in Upper Egypt, while another race of monarchs equally civilised with themselves had possession of Memphis, and probably, therefore, of Lower Egypt. This agrees well with Manetho's account of the invasion and conquest of Egypt by a race of people from Canaan, whom he calls shepherds or "Yκows which he interprets shepherd-kings. They reigned in Memphis, by his account, for 511 years. He gives us the names of six of them. The names of two of the Memphitic kings who reigned contemporaneously with the descendants of Osortasen at Abydos have been discovered in tombs in the burial *The six immediate successors of Osortasen are all named either Ammenemes or Osortasen.

This fact is recorded in a magnificent series of sculptured stelæ or tombstones, discovered at Abydos by Athanasi, which are now in the British Museum. Mr. Birch has given a highly interesting memoir of one or two of them in "The Archæologia." Some account of others of them will also be found in "The Antiquities of Egypt," published by the Religious Tract Society.

place of Ancient Memphis. One of them readsur, in which we recognise 'Apoßis or 'Apopis, one of the names of these shepherdkings in Manetho's list; the other is

acca, which re-produces in a man

ner equally satisfactory the name of 'Aoσis, another of them. Notwithstanding the fearful account given by Manetho of the barbarities committed by the shepherds in Egypt, they were evidently a highly refined race. The tomb of Assis is said by its discoverer, M. l'Hôte, to be executed with surpassing skill. It is in the style called cavorelievo, like most other similar monuments; and each character in it has the delicately exquisite finish of a gem or medal. This great perfection of art at so remote a period, which in his judgment was never afterwards equalled, is a subject of great surprise to him but will occasion none to those who rightly consider that all the arts of social life were, in the first instance, the direct gifts of God to man.

The shepherds had adopted the religion, the manners and the customs of Egypt. The Pharaoh to whom Joseph was prime minister was the shepherdking Aphophis, according to Manetho. The king of Egypt with whom Abraham had had communication 200 years before, was also a shepherd-king in all probability. The proof of this is the issue of a long chronological enquiry, upon which we cannot now

enter.

We only observe respecting it, that the vulgar'

* "Plus on remonte dans l'antiquité vers l'origine de l'art Egyptien, plus les produits de cet art sont parfaits, comme si la génie de cet peuple, à l'inverse des autres, se fut formé tout à coup." L'Hôte: letter from Egypt, in the "Journal des Savans," Jan. 1841.

chronology which is usually printed with the English Bible, needs critical correction quite as much as that of the kings of Egypt.

1

*

IV. THE ERA OF AMOSIS, who expelled the shepherds and recovered the throne of all Egypt. Manetho makes him the founder of the eighteenth dynasty, and interposes between his times and the former epoch a succession of more than 109 kings, and an interval of nearly 2000 years. The entire list, however, of the monarchs of Egypt, between Osortasen I. and Amosis, is preserved on several hieroglyphic genealogies; and the comparison of the two curiously illustrates the very little reliance that can be placed upon the particulars of dates preserved by the former. A succession of six kings only really intervened between Osortasen I. and Amosis, instead of the hundred and nine of Manetho.‡ The dates of existing monuments executed in the reigns of each of these monarchs, give a period of 150 years between the accession of Osortasen and that of Amosis. If we add to this 100 years for the duration of all their reigns after the periods indicated by these monuments, which most probably exceeds the truth, it gives us an interval of 250 years only between the twelfth and eighteenth dynasties of Manetho, instead of nearly 2000 years.

The era of Amosis, or the eighteenth dynasty, was the golden age of Egyptian history. Nearly all the

* No. 14 of the Genealogy, page 5.

+ On the tablet of Abydos, in the chamber at Karnak, etc.

See above p. 4, Nos. 7 to 14.

§ The Egyptians dated all their records from the accession of the ruling monarch, in exactly the same manner as the Jews afterwards.

EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY.

9

temples and palaces, the ruins of which are still in existence, were begun by the Pharaohs of this illustrious line. Every thing that was undertaken by them indicates the possession of enormous wealth, and times of the utmost prosperity. The treasures accumulated by the shepherd-kings under the administration of Joseph seem to have produced the usual effect of enervating the possessors, and exciting the cupidity of their still formidable neighbours the hereditary Pharaohs at Abydos. They became in their turn the aggressors, attacked their ancient conquerors, dispoiled them of their wealth and expelled them once more from the limits of Egypt, of the whole of which they afterwards retained possession. This event took place during the sojourn of Israel in Goshen, after the death of Joseph and his brethren and all that generation. The prosperity of the Israelites in this dependency of Egypt, and the circumstance that they had come thither originally from Canaan the land of the shepherds, would naturally excite the jealousy of the conquerors. Goshen lay between Egypt and Canaan. In this country dwelt "a people more and mightier than they." It was, therefore, perfectly conformable to the suggestions of worldly policy that they should enslave and cruelly maltreat them, "lest when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies and fight against us" (Ex. i. 10). "The new king over Egypt which arose up and knew not Joseph" (Ex. i. 8) was either Amosis or one of his immediate successors; so that the epochs of the eighteenth dynasty and the captivity coincide, or nearly so.*

* The tomb of Rekshare at Thebes, which contains the wellknown picture of the captive Jews making bricks, is dated in the reign of Thothmosis III. (Moeris), the fifth monarch of this dynasty.