The materials for this history are to be derived from—
I. The Bible; which is also the first beyond all comparison, both in the value and importance of the facts it has recorded.
II. The ruins of temples, tombs, etc., now in existence, on which are inscribed the hieroglyphic names of kings with the dates of their reigns, and also, several genealogical tables containing the names of the monarchs of Egypt in the order of their succession.
III. The work of Manetho, a priest of Sebennytus, on the dynasties of the kings of Egypt, written in Greek by the command of Ptolemy Philadelphus about 180 B.C. This book is lost; but long quotations from it occur in the writings of Josephus, Eusebius, and Syncellus. The latter writer quotes from two abbreviators of Manetho, one of whom was named Eratosthenes; the work of the other is called "The Old Chronicle." Manetho's book professes to be a translation from historical documents then existing in the temples of Egypt. Like the histories of India, China, Mexico and most other heathen nations, it commences with the reigns of the gods and demigods which lasted many hundred thousand years, and the first of whom was the sun or Phra, who gave his name, Pharaoh, to all his successors on the throne of Egypt. After these come thirty-one dynasties of men, who, according to Manetho, reigned in succession over Egypt for an incredibly long period. The aid, however, of the two preceding authorities enables us materially to cut down this vast antiquity. Some of these dynasties prove to be fabulous; others are the names of kings who reigned contemporaneously over different parts of Egypt.
