Egyptian Chronology. 475 



which he had been at the beginning of the 731st year of the 

 previous cycle, and the same change would now be effected a 

 second time. Within the space, then, of 2190 years the sun 

 will have twice arisen, on a given day of the vague Egyptian 

 year, where he had at first set, and twice set where he had 

 before risen. Herodotus informs us, that the period of these 

 changes was included between the reign of the first king, 

 and that of Sethos, priest of Vulcan. The latter was re- 

 warded by Sennacherib, the date of whose reign is well esta- 

 blished at about 700 years B. c. Thus the most remote date 

 that this passage will permit us to assign for the beginning of 

 the reign of Menes is 2890 years B. c. It is, in addition, to 

 be considered, that the year of 365 days was the invention of 

 his successor, Attothes, and that every day by which the year 

 fell short of that number of days will tend to reduce the 

 length of this period ; and hence the estimate deduced from the 

 passage of Herodotus is easily reconciled with that of 2782 

 B.C., which has been deduced by other methods, as the close 

 of the reign of Slenes. 



Neither of these modes of computation may, when standing 

 by itself, be of any great value, but, when united, they struck 

 me as furnishing a most convincing evidence, if not of the 

 exact time of the origin of regal government in Egypt, at least 

 of an antiquity, that however high it may be when compared 

 with that of the nations whose authentic history has come 

 down to us, is yet fully within the chronology of the sacred 

 volume. Their close and remarkable coincidence was wholly 

 unexpected by me, when I first took up the investigation, 

 for it was hardly to be anticipated, that in the vague and 

 scattered notices that have descended to us, of the origin and 

 antiquity of that mysterious people, anything that would point 

 out an exact chronological epoch could have been gleaned. 

 I must say, that the results are still a matter of surprise even 

 to myself: I cannot, however, avoid entertaining the hope 

 that the singular coincidence thus obtained by four separate 

 and distinct methods is not a matter of pure accident, but has 

 really an important bearing upon the date of the settlement of 

 Egypt, and thus upon the connexion of sacred and profane 

 history, and the disputed chronology of those remote ages. 



