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of 400 years, cannot be quite defined, for the reasons given by Mariette 
Bey.* The assignment of the Exodus to the reign of Thothmes II. is 
from computation and Josephus’s account. Thothmes III. is impossible ; 
Thothmes II. doubtful, and nothing is known of his reign ; but Thothmes III. 
fought the battle of Megiddo with the Khita, and it is difficult to reconcile 
Egypt marching through Palestine to Mesopotamia, and yet so weak as to 
let the Hebrews settle in Canaan or Mount Sinai, where both mouarchs held 
garrisons. It is quite right to quote, as in § 51, the genealogy of families 
in support of chronological hypothesis, but it is always necessary to be quite 
sure that the persons at the head of the list are identical with those otherwise 
found, as upon that the whole argument rests ; and this fixed point is very 
often uncertain, owing to many persons about the same period, and even 
later, bearing the same name. The tendency of the family genealogies is to 
reduce the chronology. 
Yours truly, 
S. BIRCH. 
Captain F. Petrie. 
Mr. W. R. Cooper, Secretary to the Society of Biblical Archaeology, says : 
— “ In regard to Mr. Savile’s paper, I cannot consider some of the authors 
quoted quite trustworthy, notably the ‘Acta Pilati,’ Abgarus of Edessa 
(Cowper, the Apoc. N. T.), Usher, and Bunsen ; many did not write from 
their own knowledge of the circumstances they recorded ; I may add that the 
lists of Manetho are still too confused to settle any point definitely, and there 
are no certain Egyptian dates prior to Tirhakah, the star risings and astrono- 
mical observations being very carelessly recorded. (See Renouf, ‘ Calendar 
of Astronomical Observations in the XXth Dynasty,’ in Trans. Soc. Bib. 
Arch., vol. iii. p. 1.)” 
Mr. Savile sends the following reply upon Dr. Birch’s remarks : 
I entertain so sincere a respect for any opinion expressed by my valued 
friend Dr. Birch, especially on the subject of Egyptology, that it is with 
diffidence I venture to reply to the brief remarks he has made upon my 
paper. The “twelve years” on the Egyptian monument, as the true 
length of Xerxes’ sole reign, appears to me the only way of harmonizing 
the fact which Thucydides — an almost contemporary witness records 
of his son, Artaxerxes, being on the throne when Themistocles fled 
* See the whole inscription in Records of the Fast, vol. iv. 
VOL. IX. 
G 
