translating it, as he states himself, out of the sacred records. His work is, most unfortunately, lost; but the fragments which have been preserved to us, by the writings [p180] of Josephus in the first century of the Christian æra, and by the Greek authors above named of the third and fourth centuries, contain matter, which, if entitled to confidence, is of the highest historical value, _viz._, a chronological list of the successive rulers of Egypt, from the first foundation of monarchy, to Alexander of Macedon, who succeeded the Persians. This list is divided into thirty dynasties, not all of separate families; a memorable reign appearing in some instances to commence a new dynasty, although happening in the regular succession. It originally contained the length of reign as well as the name of every king; but in consequence of successive transcriptions, variations have crept in, and some few omissions also occur in the record, as it has reached us through the medium of different authors. The chronology of Manetho, adopted with confidence by some, and rejected with equal confidence by others,—his name and his information not being even noticed by some of the modern systematic writers on Egyptian history,—has received the most unquestionable and decisive testimony of its general fidelity by the interpretation of the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the existing monuments: so much so, that by the accordance of the facts attested by these monuments with the record of the historian, we have reason to expect the entire restoration of the annals of the Egyptian monarchy antecedent to the Persian conquest, and which, indeed, is already accomplished in part. Before we pursue this part of our subject, we must conclude our brief review of the original authorities in early Egyptian history, by a notice of Eratosthenes. He was keeper of the Alexandrian library in the reign of Ptolemy Evergetes, the successor to Ptolemy Philadelphus, under whose reign Manetho wrote. Amongst the few fragments of his works, which have reached us transmitted through the Greek historians, is a catalogue of thirty-eight kings of Thebes, commencing with Menes, (who is mentioned by the other authorities also as the first monarch of Egypt,) and occupying by their successive reigns 1055 years. These names are stated to have been compiled from original records existing at Thebes, which city Eratosthenes visited expressly to consult them. The names of the two first kings in his catalogue are the same with the names of the two first kings of the first dynasty of Manetho; but the [p181] remainder of the catalogue presents no further accordance, either in the names or in the duration of the reigns.