Manetho

MANETHO: This Author was an Egyptian, and Priest of Heliopolis in Egypt. As his History is often quoted by Josephus, it will be necessary to give some Account of it here. He had written in Greek the History of the several Dynasties, from the Foundation of the Egyptian Monarchy to the Time of Nectanebus, the last King of the Egyptian Race, and to the Time that Darius Ochus invaded this Countrey, and made himself Master of it, fifteen Years before the Expedition of Alexander the Great against the Persians. Manetho had the Office of Secretary or Writer to the Temples of Egypt; he lived under Ptolemy Philadelphus, to whom he dedicated his Work: Therefore he was far from being Cotemporary with the Things he treats of. He admits thirty Dynasties of one hundred and thirty Generations which have reigned in Egypt, from the Beginning of the Egyptian Government down to Nectanebus. He places in this Succession of Kings, Gods, Demigods, and Men, and assigns to each a certain Number of Years, the Amount or Sum of which far exceeds the Number of Years, which are acknowledged by the Books of the Hebrews.

‘Tis to Syncellus that we are obliged for the Abstract of this antient Historian, which he has preserved for us. His History was divided into five Parts. The first contained the History of the Gods; the second that of the Demigods, or Kings of Egypt. The third that of the Kings of this Country. In the Abridgment which yet remains, we only find the Names of the Princes, and the Years of their Reigns. Nor must we imagine that they all reigned successively, for they were Princes of different Parts of Egypt, and have sometimes reigned together in the several Provinces of this Countrey. Josephus¹ in his first Book against Appion makes large Extracts out of this Author, in which he distinguishes what Manetho had taken out of the antient Records of the Temples of Egypt, from what he says of his own, or what he borrows from the fabulous Reports of the Egyptians. He found in the sacred Monuments of the Kingdom, that the Hebrews had penetrated into Egypt with a great Army, and had subdued this Countrey; that being afterwards driven out again, they had made a Conquest of Judæa, where they built Jerusalem, and its Temple. So far is agreeable to Truth. But what he then adds, that under the Reign of a pretended King called Amenophis, they went out of Egypt with a Multitude of Lepers among them, and other diseased Persons, with other fabulous Stories; all this deserves no Credit, as having no other Foundation but common Fame and popular Tradition.

Read this article in its place on the printed pages