Rev. Edward Hincks on the true Date of the Rosetta Stone. 73 



M. Letronne's inferences relate to the history of Epiphanes and to the mode 

 of computing the years of his reign, and that of other Egyptian kings ; and to 

 the various priesthoods of royal personages that are mentioned on the Ptolemaic 

 monuments. He begins with the latter of these ; but it will be more convenient 

 to take the former first. I will only premise that the ninth year of Epiphanes, 

 according to Ptolemy's canon, and the Egyptian mode of dating, is admitted to 

 have been that, the first day of which coincided with the 1 1th October, 197 B. C. 



Assuming the Rosetta Stone to be dated in 

 March, 196 B. C, M. Letronne infers: 



1. That Philopator died in March, 204 B. C. 



2. That Epiphanes was born in October, 209 

 B.C. 



3. That the interval between Philopator's 

 death in March, 204, and the 1st Thoth in the 

 following October, was counted as the first year 

 of Epiphanes. 



4. That, as a general rule, the portion of a 

 year which elapsed between a king's death and 

 the 1st Thoth following, no matter how small it 

 might be, was counted as the first year of his suc- 

 cessor. 



If, however, it were dated in March, 197 

 B. C, the inferences woyld be : 



1. That Philopator died in March, 205 B. C. 

 The decree bears date the day following the an- 

 niversary of his death ; and, as it is said to be in 

 his ninth year, while, according to the Egyptian 

 computation, it was in his eighth, it must have 

 been made on the day after the eighth anniver- 

 sary of his death, when he had reigned eight 

 complete years. It should be observed that the 

 mention of the ninth year is in the Greek part 

 of the inscription ; the Egyptian date was on a 

 part of the stone which is broken off. 



2. That Epiphanes was born in October, 210 

 B. C. 



3. That the interval between Philopator's 

 death and the 1st Thoth following, was counted 

 as a continuation of the 17th of Philopator, which 

 began on the preceding 1st Thoth ; and that the 

 first year of Epiphanes did not commence until 

 the 1st Thoth after his father's death. 



4. That, in the case of a king succeeding 

 peaceably to the throne in the latter part, or 

 even in the middle of a year, the remainder of 

 that year was called after his predecessor; and 

 that his first year was not reckoned to begin till 

 the 1st Thoth after his accession. 



Previous to considering M. Letronne's inferences respecting the various royal 

 priesthoods that are mentioned in Ptolemaic inscriptions, it will be right to men- 

 tion the data which he uses in conjunction with the Rosetta Stone. There are 



VOL. XIX. K 



