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found in various parts of the ruins of Thebes, representing generally the monarch by whom the building was erected, paying religious honours to his predecessors, or ancestors. These lists entirely confirm the order of succession that occurs in the tablet of Abydos, and make some additions to it.

3. Many fragments of hieratic papyri have also been found in the tombs, containing the names of kings, and the dates of their several reigns in which the transactions they record occurred. One of these, in the museum at Turin, contains a list of more than fifty-four kings in the order of their succession, of a very similar character to the lists of Manetho.

4. The inscribed tablets, which are so frequent in collections of Egyptian antiquities, also occasionally record the names and dates of the monarchs of Egypt. These dates are always important, as fixing a term of years during which such monarchs must have reigned. From this assemblage of incontrovertible facts much has already been ascertained, and restored to authentic history, which had before been regarded as fabulous, or at best doubtful; and many important events, the memory of which had altogether perished, are added to the records of mankind.

The lists preserved by the Greek authors, commence with a long catalogue of gods and demi-gods, who are said to have reigned over Egypt for a fabulous period of at least 35,000 years. The monuments also testify that such was an article of the popular belief. The names and titles of certain of their divinities are enclosed in the ring or frame, which invariably implies the exercise of sovereignty. The universality of this doctrine among all ancient nations, that their gods in their capacity of gods, were once also

kings, is a very remarkable circumstance; affording ground for the conjecture that this tradition had a common origin in all of them, and that like many similar traditions, it had also originated from some actual occurrence. To go into particulars upon so vague a subject would be to undertake an investigation that would necessarily lead to no result. It may, however, be generally observed upon it, that the account of men originally under the temporal sovereignty of God himself, and falling from that high estate into successive stages of degeneracy, is exactly in accordance with the Scripture narrative of the history of the human race. We again call attention to the uniformity of this testimony of antiquity to the highly privileged and civilized, not savage condition of mankind at first. The Scriptures of truth teach us that the progress of man since his creation has been from civilization downwards, not from the savage upwards, except when a revelation from God has been vouchsafed to him; and the early history of all nations testifies to the truth of this account.

The first mortal who ruled Egypt, according to Manetho, was called Menes. This name occurs at the head of a procession of statues of kings of Egypt, who are receiving the homage of Ramses, the great Sesostris, their successor, in a vast scene of religious ceremony depicted on one of the walls of the palace of Luxor, at Thebes. It is written unel and enclosed in the usual ring or frame. This procession was principally intended to honour the immediate ancestor of Sesostris, who, as we have before observed, was a monarch of the eighteenth dynasty; the earlier kings being represented by one or two of the most celebrated among them. It is, therefore, a very satisfactory

confirmation of the account of Manetho to find the name of Menes at the head of it. This king is said to have laid the foundations of Memphis, and to have reclaimed the Delta, which was hitherto a marsh, by means of embankments, lakes, and other artificial means. He was an inhabitant of Tanis, a city of Lower Egypt, to the north-east of Memphis. We notice here that the fact that Menes, the first man who sat on the throne of Egypt, came from the north-east, and founded the city of Memphis, is in itself a much stronger argument in favour of the migration of the first settlers from the plain of Shinar, than any thing that the advocates of the Ethiopic origin of the Egyptians have been able to advance in support of it.

The abettors of this theory have been misled by the fable of the Egyptian priests, according to which, Thebes was the seat of government when the gods ruled in Egypt. Upon this legend has been founded the notion that Menes was the first to overturn a government of priests which had already existed at Thebes for many ages, and which had come thither originally from Ethiopia; and that he built the rival capital Memphis for the purpose of consolidating his newly acquired authority: with such implicit faith do certain modern authors receive the teaching of the idolatrous priests of Egypt. Let us now consider the extent of their deference to the authority of Holy Scripture; for there is also another point in this account of Menes upon which it will be needful to remark in this inquiry. The question of dates has been avoided, for a reason which has been already given, and which appears to be a sufficient one. There is as yet much to be learned regarding them from the study of the materials which are already before the public; and we

submit that, until this information has been fully arranged and applied, this is the only safe or even allowable course for those who undertake to give a general and popular view of the subject. It is, therefore, somewhat surprising to find, in a popular account of Egypt, which has very recently appeared, that the reign of Menes is stated to have commenced 5867 years before the birth of Christ! This may at least serve as an instance of the disregard and contempt of the Bible of which we have before complained, in certain writers upon this subject.

At first sight of this question, one consideration suggests itself which, we submit, is perfectly fatal to such a supposition. About 1600 years ago, the Nile emptied itself into the Mediterranean by many mouths, as Juvenal and other contemporary writers inform us; but since then, the mud of the annual inundations has stopped up all the mouths except two. The same cause was always at work; and yet, according to Herodotus,* in the time of Menes, the Delta was already a reclaimable marsh. It is, therefore, plainly impossible that Menes could have lived any thing like 6000 years before the classic era: had this been the case, instead of a reclaimable marsh, the Delta would, in his days, have been an expanse of deep sea.

Our present glance at the monumental history of the successors of Menes will be strictly confined to those parts of it which connect themselves with the events recorded in the Bible, or which otherwise illustrate the inspired narratives. Menes was, according to Manetho, the head of the first dynasty, or family of men, that sat upon the throne of

* Eut. c. 99.

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