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History of the Kings of Egypt.
No part of ancient history is more obscure or uncertain, than that of the first kings of Egypt. This proud nation, fondly conceited of its antiquity and nobility, thought it glorious to lose itself in an abyss of infinite ages, which seemed to carry its pretensions backward to eternity. According to its own historians,400 first, gods, and afterwards demigods or heroes, governed it successively, through a series of more than twenty thousand years.
o gods and demigods, men succeeded as rulers or kings in Egypt, of whom Manetho has left us thirty dynasties or principalities. This Manetho was an Egyptian high priest, and keeper of the sacred archives of Egypt, and had been instructed in the Grecian learning: he wrote a history of Egypt, which he pretended to have extracted from the writings of Mercurius, and other ancient memoirs, preserved in the archives of the Egyptian temples. He drew up this history under the reign, and at the command of Ptolemy Philadelphus. If his thirty dynasties are allowed to be successive, they make up a series of time, of more than five thousand three hundred years, to the reign of Alexander the Great; but this is a manifest forgery. Besides, we find in Eratosthenes,401 who was invited to Alexandria by Ptolemy Euergetes, a catalogue of thirty-eight kings of Thebes, all different from those of Manetho. The clearing up of these difficulties has put the learned to a great deal of trouble and labour. The most effectual way to reconcile such contradictions, is to suppose, with almost all the modern writers upon this subject, that the kings of these different dynasties did not reign successively after one another, but many of them at the same time, and in different countries of Egypt. There were in Egypt four principal dynasties, that of Thebes, of Thin, of Memphis, and of Tanis. I shall not [pg 056] here give my readers a list of the kings who have reigned in Egypt, of most of whom we have only the names transmitted to us. I shall only take notice of what seems to me most proper, to give youth the necessary light into this part of history, for whose sake principally I engaged in this undertaking; and I shall confine myself chiefly to the memoirs left us by Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, concerning the Egyptian kings, without even scrupulously preserving the exactness of succession, at least in the early part of the monarchy, which is very obscure; and without pretending to reconcile these two historians. Their design, especially that of Herodotus, was not to lay before us an exact series of the kings of Egypt, but only to point out those princes whose history appeared to them most important and instructive. I shall follow the same plan, and hope to be forgiven, for not having involved either myself or my readers in a labyrinth of almost inextricable difficulties, from which the most able can scarce disengage themselves, when they pretend to follow the series of history, and reduce it to fixed and certain dates. The curious may consult the learned pieces,402 in which this subject is treated in all its extent.
I am to premise, that Herodotus, upon the credit of the
Egyptian priests, whom he had consulted, gives us a great
number of oracles and singular incidents, all which, though he
relates them as so many facts, the judicious reader will easily
discover to be what they really are—I mean, fictions.
The ancient history of Egypt comprehends 2158 years, and
is naturally divided into three periods.
The first begins with the establishment of the Egyptian
monarchy, by Menes
Menes or Misraim, the son of Cham,403 in the
year of the world 1816; and ends with the destruction of that
monarchy by Cambyses, king of Persia, in the year of the
world 3479. This first period contains 1663 years.
The second period is intermixed with the Persian and Grecian
history, and extends to the death of Alexander the Great,
which happened in the year 3681, and consequently includes
202 years.
he Kings of Egypt.—Menes.
menes was the first king of Egypt. It is pretended, and not without foundation, that he is the same with Misraïm, the son of Cham.
Cham was the second son of Noah. When the family of the latter, after the extravagant attempt of building the tower of Babel, dispersed themselves into different countries, Cham retired to Africa; and it doubtless was he who afterwards was worshipped as a god, under the name of Jupiter Ammon. He had four children, Chus,404 Misraïm, Phut, and Canaan. Chus settled in Ethiopia, Misraïm in Egypt, which generally is called in Scripture after his name, and by that of Cham,405 his father; Phut took possession of that part of Africa which lies westward of Egypt; and Canaan, of the country which afterwards bore his name. The Canaanites are certainly the same people who are called almost always Phœnicians by the Greeks, of which foreign name no reason can be given, any more than of the oblivion of the true one.
Misraïm. He is allowed to be the same with Menes, the first king of Egypt, the institutor of the worship of the gods, and of the ceremonies of the sacrifices.
Busiris, some ages after him, built the famous city of Thebes, and made it the seat of his empire. We have elsewhere taken notice of the wealth and magnificence of this city. This prince is not to be confounded with Busiris, so infamous for his cruelties
Osymandyas. description of many magnificent edifices raised by this king;407 one of [pg 058] which was adorned with sculptures and paintings of exquisite beauty, representing his expedition against the Bactrians, a people of Asia, whom he had invaded with four hundred thousand foot and twenty thousand horse. In another part of the edifice was exhibited an assembly of the judges, whose president wore, on his breast, a picture of Truth, with her eyes shut, and himself was surrounded with books—an emphatic emblem, denoting that judges ought to be perfectly versed in the laws, and impartial in the administration of them.
Uchoreus, one of the successors of Osymandyas, built the city of Memphis. This city was 150 furlongs, or more than seven leagues in circumference, and stood at the point of the Delta, in that part where the Nile divides itself into several branches or streams. Southward from the city, he raised a lofty mole. On the right and left he dug very deep moats to receive the river. These were faced with stone, and raised, [pg 059] near the city, by strong causeys; the whole designed to secure the city from the inundations of the Nile, and the incursions of the enemy. A city so advantageously situated, and so strongly fortified, that it was almost the key of the Nile, and by this means commanded the whole country, became soon the usual residence of the Egyptian kings. It kept possession of this honour till Alexandria was built by Alexander the Great.
Mœris. This king made the famous lake, which went by his name, and whereof mention has been already made,
Egypt had long been governed by its native princes,
when strangers, called Shepherd-kings, (Hycsos
in the Egyptian language,) from Arabia or Phœnicia,
invaded and seized a great part of Lower Egypt,
and Memphis itself; but Upper Egypt remained unconquered,
and the kingdom of Thebes existed till the reign of Sesostris.
These foreign princes governed about 260 years.
Thethmosis, or Amosis, having expelled the Shepherd-kings, reigned in Lower Egypt.
Long after his reign, Joseph was brought a slave into Egypt, by some Ishmaelitish merchants; sold to Potiphar; and, by a series of wonderful events, enjoyed the supreme authority, by his being raised to the chief employment of the kingdom. I shall pass over his history, as it is so universally known. But I must take notice of a remark of Justin, (the epitomizer of Trogus Pompeius,412 an excellent historian of the Augustan age,) viz. that Joseph, the youngest of Jacob's children, whom his brethren, through envy, had sold to foreign merchants, being endowed from heaven413 with the interpretation of dreams, and a knowledge of futurity, preserved, by his uncommon prudence, [pg 060] Egypt from the famine with which it was menaced, and was extremely caressed by the king.
Jacob also went into Egypt with his whole family, which met with the kindest treatment from the Egyptians, whilst Joseph's important services were fresh in their memories. But after his death, say the Scriptures,414 “there arose up a new king, which knew not Joseph
Rameses-miamun, according to archbishop Usher, was the name of this king, who is called Pharaoh in Scripture. He reigned sixty-six years, and oppressed the Israelites in a most grievous manner. “He set over them task-masters, to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities,415 Pithom and Raamses—and the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour, and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field; all their service wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.”416 This king had two sons, Amenophis and Busiris.
Amenophis, the eldest, succeeded him. He was the Pharaoh, under whose reign the Israelites departed out of Egypt, and was drowned in passing the Red-Sea.
Amenophis left two sons, one called Sesothis or Sesostris, and the other Armais. The Greeks call him Belus, and his two sons Egyptus and Danaus
Sesostris, of whom we shall speak immediately, the Pharaoh who raised the persecution against the Israelites, and oppressed them with the most painful toils. This is exactly agreeable to the account given by Diodorus of this prince, who employed in his Egyptian works only foreigners; so that we may place the memorable event of the passage of the Red-Sea, under his son Pheron;417 and the characteristic of impiety ascribed to him by Herodotus, greatly strengthens the probability of this conjecture. The plan I have proposed to follow in this history, excuses me from entering into chronological discussions.
Sesostris was not only one of the most powerful kings of Egypt, but one of the greatest conquerors that antiquity boasts of. His father, whether by inspiration, caprice, or, as the Egyptians say, by the authority of an oracle, formed a design of making his son a conqueror. This he set about after the Egyptian manner, that is, in a great and noble way. All the male children, born the same day with Sesostris, were, by the king's order, brought to court. Here they were educated as if they had been his own children, with the same care bestowed on Sesostris, with whom they were brought up. He could not possibly have given him more faithful ministers, nor officers who more zealously desired the success of his arms. The chief part of their education was, the enuring them, from their infancy, to a hard and laborious life, in order that they might one day be capable of sustaining with ease the toils of war. They were never suffered to eat, till they had run, on foot or horseback, a considerable race. Hunting was their most common exercise.
Sesostris was taught by Mercury, who instructed him in politics, and the art of government. This Mercury is he whom the Greeks called Trismegistus, i.e. thrice great. Egypt, his native country, owes to him the invention of almost every art. The two books, which go under his name, bear such evident characters of novelty, that the forgery is no longer doubted. There was another Mercury [pg 062] who also was very famous amongst the Egyptians for his rare knowledge; and of much greater antiquity than he of whom we have been speaking. Jamblicus, a priest of Egypt, affirms, that it was customary with the Egyptians, to affix the name of Hermes or Mercury to all the new books or inventions that were offered to the public.
When Sesostris was more advanced in years, his father sent
him against the Arabians, in order to acquire military knowledge.
Here the young prince learned to bear hunger and
thirst; and subdued a nation which till then had never been
conquered. The youths educated with him attended him in all
his campaigns.
Accustomed by this conquest to martial toils, he was next
sent by his father to try his fortune westward. He invaded
Libya, and subdued the greatest part of that vast country.
A.M. 2513. Ant. J.C. 1491.
Sesostris. During this expedition his father died, and left
him capable of attempting the greatest enterprises.
He formed no less a design than that of the conquest
of the world. But before he left his kingdom,
he provided for his domestic security, in winning the
hearts of his subjects by his generosity, justice, and a popular
and obliging behaviour. He was no less studious to gain the
affection of his officers and soldiers, whom he wished to be
ever ready to shed the last drop of their blood in his service;
persuaded that his enterprises would all be unsuccessful, unless
his army should be attached to his person, by all the ties
of esteem, affection, and interest. He divided the country
into thirty-six governments (called Nomi,) and bestowed them
on persons of merit, and the most approved fidelity.
n the mean time he made the requisite preparations, levied
forces, and headed them with officers of the greatest bravery
and reputation, and these were taken chiefly from among the
youths who had been educated with him. He had seventeen
hundred of these officers, who were all capable of inspiring his
troops with resolution, a love of discipline, and a zeal for the
service of their prince. His army consisted of six hundred
thousand foot, and twenty-four thousand horse, besides twenty-seven
thousand armed chariots.
He began his expedition by invading Æthiopia, situated to
[pg 063]
the south of Egypt. He made it tributary, and obliged the
nations of it to furnish him annually with a certain quantity of
ebony, ivory, and gold.
The scarcity of provisions in Thrace stopped the progress
of his conquests, and prevented his advancing farther in
Europe. One remarkable circumstance is observed in this
conqueror, who never once thought, as others had done, of
preserving his acquisitions; but contenting himself with the
glory of having subdued and despoiled so many nations; after
having made wild havoc up and down the world for nine
years, he confined himself almost within the ancient limits of
Egypt, a few neighbouring provinces excepted; for we do not
find any traces or footsteps of this new empire, either under
himself or his successors.
From Memphis, as far as the sea, he cut, on both sides of
the river, a great number of canals, for the conveniency of
trade, and the conveying of provisions, and for the settling an
easy correspondence between such cities as were most distant
from one another. Besides the advantages of traffic, Egypt was,
by these canals, made inaccessible to the cavalry of its enemies,
which before had so often harassed it by repeated incursions.
Busiris, brother of
Amenophis, so infamous among the ancients for his cruelties, exercised his tyranny at
that time on the banks of the Nile; and barbarously
murdered all foreigners who landed in his country: this was
probably during the absence of Sesostris.
Pheron succeeded Sesostris in his kingdom, but not in his
glory. Herodotus relates but one action of his, which
shows how greatly he had degenerated from the religious
sentiments of his father. In an extraordinary
inundation of the Nile, which exceeded eighteen cubits, this
prince, enraged at the wild havoc which was made by it, threw
a javelin at the river, as if he intended thereby to chastise its
insolence; but was himself immediately punished for his impiety,
if the historian may be credited, with the loss of sight.
Proteus.
He was of Memphis, where, in Herodotus's
time, his temple was still standing,
in which was a chapel dedicated to Venus the Stranger. It is conjectured
that this Venus was Helen. For, in the reign
of this monarch, Paris the Trojan, returning home with Helen
whom he had stolen, was driven by a storm into one of the
mouths of the Nile, called Canopic; and from thence was
conducted to Proteus at Memphis, who reproached him in the
strongest terms for his base perfidy and guilt, in stealing the
wife of his host, and with her all the effects in his house. He
added, that the only reason why he did not punish him with
[pg 068]
death (as his crime deserved) was, because the Egyptians
were careful not to imbrue their hands in the blood of strangers:
that he would keep Helen, with all the riches that were brought
with her, in order to restore them to their lawful owner: that
as for himself, (Paris,) he must either quit his dominions in
three days, or expect to be treated as an enemy. The king's
order was obeyed. Paris continued his voyage, and arrived
at Troy, whither he was closely pursued by the Grecian army.
The Greeks summoned the Trojans to surrender Helen, and
with her all the treasures of which her husband had been
plundered. The Trojans answered, that neither Helen, nor
her treasures, were in their city. And, indeed, was it at all
likely, says Herodotus, that Priam, who was so wise an old
prince, should choose to see his children and country destroyed
before his eyes, rather than give the Greeks the just and reasonable
satisfaction they desired? But it was to no purpose
for them to affirm with an oath, that Helen was not in their
city; the Greeks, being firmly persuaded that they were trifled
with, persisted obstinately in their unbelief: the deity, continues
the same historian, being resolved that the Trojans, by
the total destruction of their city and empire, should teach the
affrighted world this lesson:430—That
great crimes are attended with as great and signal punishments from the
offended gods. Menelaus, on his return from Troy, called
at the court of king Proteus, who restored him Helen, with all
her treasure. Herodotus proves, from some passages in Homer,
that the voyage of Paris to Egypt was not unknown to
this poet.
Cheops and Cephren. These two princes, who were truly brothers by the similitude of their manners, seem to [pg 069] have vied with each other which of them should distinguish himself most, by a barefaced impiety towards the gods, and a barbarous inhumanity to men. Cheops reigned fifty years, and his brother Cephren fifty-six years after him. They kept the temples shut during the whole time of their long reigns; and forbid the offering of sacrifices under the severest penalties. On the other hand, they oppressed their subjects by employing them in the most grievous and useless works; and sacrificed the lives of numberless multitudes of men, merely to gratify a senseless ambition of immortalizing their names by edifices of an enormous magnitude, and a boundless expense. It is remarkable, that those stately pyramids, which have so long been the admiration of the whole world, were the effect of the irreligion and merciless cruelty of those princes.
Mycerinus. He was the son of Cheops, but of a character opposite to that of his father. So far from walking in his steps, he detested his conduct, and pursued quite different measures. He again opened the temples of the gods, restored the sacrifices, did all that lay in his power to comfort his subjects, and make them forget their past miseries; and believed himself set over them for no other purpose but to exercise justice, and to make them taste all the blessings of an equitable and peaceful administration. He heard their complaints, dried their tears, alleviated their misery, and thought himself not so much the master as the father of his people. This procured him the love of them all. Egypt resounded with his praises, and his name commanded veneration in all places.
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