The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 01 : $b Prolegomena; Egypt, Mesopotamia
History
The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 01 : $b Prolegomena; Egypt, Mesopotamia
World history
We learn very little of Uskaf or Usercheres. His successor Sahu-Ra, on
the contrary, is one of the most renowned rulers of the time. He also
fought in Wady Magharah. The next kings cannot be placed in their order
with certainty. The Turin papyrus allows eight reigns, mostly short,
to follow, and at the fifth introduces a gap; the lists of Abydos
and Saqqarah have only given us three names. Only Nefer-ar-ka-Ra and
especially An, the first king who gave himself a title (User-en-Ra),
were at all important. Then followed Men-kau-hor (reign of eight
years), Assa, with the name of Tat-ka-Ra (twenty-eight years), and Unas
(thirty years), of whom the first and second, like An, left monuments
commemorative of their victories on the peninsula of Sinai.
[Illustration: DRAWINGS OF EGYPTIAN BIRDS
(From the monuments)]
The first epoch of Egyptian history closes with the reign of Unas.
Almost three hundred years had passed since Sneferu had built up his
pyramid and celebrated his victory in Wady Magharah. Throughout the
whole period Memphis was the central point of the kingdom, and its
necropolis almost the only source of our instruction. After the death
of Unas--it is not known whether he died in peace or was overthrown by
a revolution--a new race ascended the throne and the centre of Egyptian
life begins gradually to shift itself. The Turin papyrus rightly makes
the first principal division here, and gives the sum of all the reigns
from Menes to Unas; but the figures are unfortunately lost to us.
[Sidenote: [_ca._ 3866-3300 B.C.]]
Here follows a table of kings in which the lists of Manetho for the
IIIrd, IVth, and Vth Dynasties are compared with the lists of the Turin
papyrus, the Abydos tablet, the Saqqarah tablet, and the wall list
of Karnak.[b] It will be recalled that these lists, taken together,
furnish us with the chief information at present accessible as to
the true sequence of the early Egyptian rulers. Notwithstanding its
somewhat forbidding appearance at first glance, this tablet will repay
careful study. It illustrates the way in which the different lists
must be pieced together in an attempt to form a complete record. It
shows, also, how widely the Hellenised names of Manetho’s list differ
from the Egyptian originals; suggesting the extent to which surmise
must sometimes enter into identification. Indeed, it would be hard to
tell which were the greater misfortune: the disappearance of Manetho’s
history, or the accident by which the Turin papyrus was broken into
scores of little pieces only to be restored in an unscientific and
almost worthless condition by Seyffarth.[a]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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