338 
BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
PREHISTORIC CHROXOLOCxY FROM THE EGYPTIAN 
MONUMENTS. 
Written history was once the basis from which chronology 
was drawn, but the decypherment of the inscriptions on the 
Egyptian monuments has afforded a new basis of computation, 
carrying the history of mankind far beyond the records of 
classic antiquity. 
These Egyptian tombs and pyramids were erected in a 
country remarkable for its dry climate, which has preserved 
these old hieroglyphic inscriptions for thousands of years. 
The Greek historian, Herodotus, learned something of 
Egyptian histor\^ from the priests of the temples in his day, 
and the names of several of the Pharaohs of the monuments 
have been recognized in his long list of Egyptian kings. The 
early king of Egypt as depicted on the monument seated on 
his throne, with consorts beside him, seems very primitive in 
his simple robes and hare feet, yet his subjects lived in 
civilized communities, carried on trade with the surrounding 
nations, and worked mines in the neighboring region of Sinai. 
They, however, had no weapons or implements of metal, but 
had made considerable advances in the manufacture of pottery 
and other arts. 
The chronology of Egypt, in brief, was as follows: — 
Years, 
The Ancient Empire lasted for 1600 
The Middle Empire 500 
Domination of the Hyksos or Shepherd Kings 500 
The New Empire 600 
This Empire broke up into petty states frequently dominated by 
foreign nations, Assyrian, Ethiopean, Persian and finally Greek. . . 800 
The Greek invasion occurred 330 B. C., so that the earliest 
Egyptian records go back to more than 4,000 B. C., and yet 
they belong, judging from the arts and culture of the people, 
only to the close, or latest stage of the Neolithic Age. 
The Egyptian culture is also useful as giving us a connect- 
ing link with that of Europe, for the Bronze age began in 
Egypt about 2000 B. C. or before the time of the Hyksos 
domination. 
Brugsch’s Egypt under the Pharaohs, London, 1879. Vol, II., p, 311. 
