166 THEORY OF THE EARTH. 



dia, Persia, Bactria, Scythia, Asia-Minor, and 

 Syria *. 



Lastly, in the celebrated article of Pliny upon 

 the ohelisks f, we find names of kings which are 

 not to be seen elsewhere ; Sothies, Mnevis, 

 Zmarreus, Eraphius, Mestires, a Semenpserteus, 

 contemporary of Pythagoras, &c. A Ramises, 

 who might be thought the same as Rhamses, is 

 there made to live at the time of the siege of 

 Troy. 



1 am not sure whether it has been attempted 

 to reconcile these discordant lists by the supposi- 

 tion that the kings have borne several names. 

 For my own part, when I consider not only the 

 discrepancy of these various accounts, but, above 

 all, the mixture of authentic facts, attested by 

 vast monuments, and of puerile extravagancies, it 

 appears to me much more natural to conclude, 

 that the Egyptian priests possessed no real his- 

 tory whatever; that, inferior still to those of 



* Tacit. Annal. lib. ii. cap. 60. 



N. B. According to the interpretation given by Am- 

 mianus, lib. xvii. cap. 4., of the hieroglyphics on the obelisk 

 of Thebes, which is at present in Rome in the place of St 

 John of Latran, it appears that a Rharaestes was styled, af- 

 ter the eastern manner, lord of the habitable earth ; and 

 that the history told to Gennanicus was only a commentary 

 on this inscription. 



t Pliny, lib. xxxvi. cap. 8, 9, 10, 11. 



