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I. ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF EGYPT. 



[Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, VOL. i., p. 66. Read April 24, 1837.] 



IN this Paper the author endeavours to ascertain the names 

 of the Egyptian sovereigns who were contemporary with Moses. 

 For this purpose he finds it necessary to determine the interval 

 between two celebrated epochs the reign of Menes and the 

 Exodus of the Israelites. He conceives that the former epoch 

 is fixed by the " old chronicle " at the distance of 443 years 

 from the beginning of a cynic (or canicular) cycle ; and he thinks 

 it strange that this simple meaning should not have occurred to 

 chronologists, who have universally supposed the " cynic cycle " 

 of the old chronicle to be a series of demi-god kings who derived 

 that appellation from the dog-headed Anubis. The canicular 

 cycle is a well-known period of 1460 years, which the Egyptians 

 seemed to have used for computing time, as we sometimes use 

 the Julian period. One of these cycles commenced in the year 

 2782 before the Christian era ; and if we reckon 443 years in 

 advance, we shall have the year B. c. 2339 for the commence- 

 ment of the reign of Menes. This date agrees well with the com- 

 putation of Josephus, who says that the interval from Menes 

 to Solomon was upwards of 1300 years. Again, we are told by 

 Clemens of Alexandria, that the Exodus of the Israelites took 

 place 345 years before the beginning of a canicular cycle. This 

 is evidently the cycle which commenced B. c. 1322 ; and hence 

 we have B. c. 1667 for the date of the Exodus. The interval 

 between Menes and the Exodus was, therefore, about 670 years. 



