MEN CARRYING A LARGE FISH. 



From Petrie's Medum, PI. XII. See n. i, p. 301. 



NOTE 



Conflicting chronologies prevent the definite dating of the 

 earHer Egyptian monarchs : verily a thousand years are but as 

 yesterday in the sight of Manetho, Mariette et cie. Thus it is 

 that the reign of Menes, the first historical king, has no permanent 

 abiding place in the 3167 years between 5867 and 2700 B.C. 

 Discrepancy in dates is not confined to the older or later compu- 

 tators, such as Champollion-Figeac, Wilkinson, Lepsius, and Petrie, 

 but has infected quite recent writers, like Borchardt and Albright, 

 who in 1917 and in 1919 respectively place Menes c. 4500, and 

 c. 2900 B.C. 



If the authorities disagree as to the dates of the Old, Middle, 

 and New Kingdoms (the divisions used in my pages), they agree 

 fairly well on what Dynasties are comprised in each of these. So 

 whether a reader adhere to 5867 or to 2700 B.C. for Menes, the Old 

 Kingdom still comprises Dynasties I. to XI. ; the Middle Kingdom 

 Dynasties XII. to XVI. ; the New Kingdom Dynasty XVII. to 

 Alexander the Great or 332 B.C., at which stage the Ptolemies 

 came on the scene. 



