names and _titles_ of kings were distinguished by being inclosed in rings; the ring containing the proper name being accompanied usually by a second, inclosing certain other hieroglyphics, expressing the title by which that particular king was designated; and it appears probable that the kings of Egypt were distinguished by their titles rather than by their names, since the same name recurs frequently in different individuals, but the titles are all dissimilar; with a single exception amongst the very many that have come under observation, and in which the same title is common to two brothers. The signification of the titles is yet obscure, except that they are of the same general nature as is frequent in the East, such as “Sun of the Universe,” &c.; but for the purpose of individualizing, the sign is to us of the same value as the thing signified; and as other monuments furnish the _names_ in connexion with the _titles_, we are enabled to compare the succession evidenced by the titles with the record of the historian, and thus to test the fidelity of the record. The discovery of this hieroglyphic table was made by Mr. William Banks in 1818, in excavating for the purpose of obtaining an accurate ground-plan of the ruins of Abydus, near Thebes. On a side wall of one of the innermost apartments, hieroglyphics were sculptured inclosed in rings, ranged symmetrically in three horizontal rows, each row having originally contained twenty rings, of which twelve of the upper row, eighteen of the middle, and fourteen of the lower row were still remaining, the others having been destroyed by the breaking down of the wall. The hieroglyphics having been copied and lithographed, it was speedily recognised that the rings in the two upper rows consisted of titles only; with the exception of one [p183] proper name, the last of the second row, since known to be the name of the king whose title is the last in the succession, and who was the fourth in reign and generation before Sesostris. The third row was recognised to consist of one proper name and one title, each repeated ten times, and alternating with each other: these are since known to be the name and title of Sesostris, to whose reign the construction of the table is with much probability ascribed. The titles in the same row with that of the ancestor of Sesostris and preceding it, have been identified on other monuments, coupled with names which are those of the predecessors of the same king in the list of Manetho.