gg CHRONOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 



A deed for the sale of a piece of land, executed in B. C. 105, has 

 been discovered; and is translated by Champollion-Figeac, p. 439. 

 It is accompanied with evidence, that the system of Public Registry 

 was in force. 



When Ptolemy Lathyrus was recalled to Egypt, the city of Thebes 

 refused to acknowledge his authority, and held out for nearly three 

 years ; but was finally captured in " B. C. 87 ;" and on this occasion, 

 the monuments are said to have sustained much injury. 



The name of Ptolemy IX., or Ptolemy Alexander I., has been found 

 in hieroglyphic characters on the monuments ; but his reign is in- 

 cluded in that of his brother, Ptolemy Lathyrus, already mentioned. 

 The accession of Ptolemy X., or Ptolemy Alexander II., took place 

 " in B. C. 81 ;" but his reign appears to have lasted only a few months ; 

 and his name has not been found on the monuments, nor even upon 

 coins. 



In " B. C. 80," the accession of Ptolemy XI., or Ptolemy Auletes, 

 took place. His name (according to Champollion-Figeac) has not been 

 found in hieroglyphic characters ; but occurs on coins, and in Greek 

 inscriptions in red ink at Philae. 



Iambulus, who appears to have visited some of the East African 

 islands, met with persons " who wrote in vertical columns " (see Dio- 

 dorus Siculus ii. 55). This, it will be observed, is the Chinese method 

 of writing : though something of the same sort, is found on the eye- 

 paint bottles manufactured on the Persian Gulf. — The eye-paint bot- 

 tles discovered in Egyptian tombs, together with real Chinese manufac- 

 tures, were evidently deposited at a comparatively recent period. 



The skopaion of Mithridates, Lenaeus, Dioscorides, Pliny, and Galen, 

 according to the received opinion and Sibthorp's account of the Greek 

 usage, is the Teucrium scordium. — Alpinus met with the pulverised 

 leaves of T. scordium among the ingredients of the Egyptian theriac ; 

 but the living plant, according to Clot-Bey and Figari, has been only 

 recently introduced into Egypt. 



Diodorus Siculus (i. 46 and 47) visited Thebes in the "one hundred 

 and eightieth Olympiad" (B. C. 60); at which time, the great syenite 

 colossus of Ramses II. was still entire. 



The nasturtium of Varro and Columella, is usually referred to the 

 water-cress (Nasturtium officinale). — This plant was seen by Sibthorp 

 in Greece ; and by Hasselquist in Palestine ; but according to Clot-Bey 

 and Figari, has been only recently introduced into Egypt. 



