The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended · Isaac Newton
CHAP. II
These omitted Kings Reigned before _Mœris_, and by consequence at _Thebes_; for _Mœris_ translated the seat of the Empire from _Thebes_ to _Memphis_: they Reigned after _Ramesses_; for _Ramesses_ was the son and successor of _Menes_, who Reigned next after the Gods. Now _Menes_ built the body of the Temple of _Vulcan_, _Ramesses_ the first portico, and _Mœris_ the second portico thereof; but the _Egyptians_, for making their Gods and Kingdom look ancient, have inserted between the builders of the first and second portico of this Temple, three hundred and thirty Kings of _Thebes_, and supposed that these Kings Reigned eleven thousand years; as if any Temple could stand so long. This being a manifest fiction, we have corrected it, by omitting those interposed Kings, who did nothing, and placing _Mœris_ the builder of the second portico, next after _Ramesses_ the builder of the first. In the Dynasties of _Manetho_; _Sevechus_ is made the successor of _Sabacon_, being his son; and perhaps he is the _Sethon_ of _Herodotus_, who became Priest of _Vulcan_, and neglected military discipline: for _Sabacon_ is that _So_ or _Sua_ with whom _Hoshea_ King of _Israel_ conspired against the _Assyrians_, in the fourth year of _Hezekiah_, _Anno Nabonass._ 24. _Herodotus_ tells us twice or thrice, that _Sabacon_ after a long Reign of fifty years relinquished _Egypt_ voluntarily, and that _Anysis_ who fled from him, returned and Reigned again in the lower _Egypt_ after him, or rather with him: and that _Sethon_ Reigned after _Sabacon_, and went to _Pelusium_ against the army of _Sennacherib_, and was relieved with a great multitude of mice, which eat the bow-strings of the _Assyrians_; in memory of which the statue of _Sethon_, seen by _Herodotus_, [339] was made with a Mouse in its hand. A Mouse was the _Egyptian_ symbol of destruction, and the Mouse in the hand of _Sethon_ signifies only that he overcame the _Assyrians_ with a great destruction.
The Scriptures inform us, that when _Sennacherib_ invaded _Judæa_ and besieged _Lachish_ and _Libnah_, which was in the 14th year of _Hezekiah_, _Anno Nabonass._ 34. the King of _Judah_ trusted upon _Pharaoh_ King of _Egypt_, that is upon _Sethon_, and that _Tirhakah_ King of _Ethiopia_ came out also to fight against _Sennacherib_, 2 _King._ xviii. 21. & xix. 9. which makes it probable, that when _Sennacherib_ heard of the Kings of _Egypt_ and _Ethiopia_ coming against him, he went from _Libnah_ towards _Pelusium_ to oppose them, and was there surprized and set upon in the night by them both, and routed with as great a slaughter as if the bow-strings of the _Assyrians_ had been eaten by mice. Some think that the _Assyrians_ were smitten by lightning, or by a fiery wind which sometimes comes from the southern parts of _Chaldæa_. After this victory _Tirhakah_ succeeding _Sethon_, carried his arms westward through _Libya_ and _Afric_ to the mouth of the _Straits_: but _Herodotus_ tells us, that the Priests of _Egypt_ reckoned _Sethon_ the last King of _Egypt_, who Reigned before the division of _Egypt_ into twelve contemporary Kingdoms, and by consequence before the invasion of _Egypt_ by the _Assyrians_.
For _Asserhadon_ King of _Assyria_, in the 68th year of _Nabonassar_, after he had Reigned about thirty years over _Assyria_, invaded the Kingdom of _Babylon_, and then carried into captivity many people from _Babylon_, and _Cuthah_, and _Ava_, and _Hamath_, and _Sepharvaim_, placing them in the Regions of _Samaria_ and _Damascus_: and from thence they carried into _Babylonia_ and _Assyria_ the remainder of the people of _Israel_ and _Syria_, which had been left there by _Tiglath-pileser_. This captivity was 65 years after the first year of _Ahaz_, _Isa_. vii. 1, 8. & 2. _King._ xv. 37. & xvi. 5. and by consequence in the twentieth year of _Manasseh_, _Anno Nabonass._ 69. and then _Tartan_ was sent by _Asserhadon_ with an army against _Ashdod_ or _Azoth_, a town at that time subject to _Judæa_, 2 _Chron._ xxvi. 6. and took it, _Isa._ xx. 1: and this post being secured, the _Assyrians_ beat the _Jews_, and captivated _Manasseh_, and subdued _Judæa_: and in these wars, _Isaiah_ was saw'd asunder by the command of _Manasseh_, for prophesying against him. Then the _Assyrians_ invaded and subdued _Egypt_ and _Ethiopia_, and carried the _Egyptians_ and _Ethiopians_ into captivity, and thereby put an end to the Reign of the _Ethiopians_ over _Egypt_, _Isa._ vii. 18. & viii. 7. & x. 11, 12, & xix.
23. & xx. 4. In this war the city _No-Ammon_ or _Thebes_, which had hitherto continued in a flourishing condition, was miserably wasted and led into captivity, as is described by _Nahum_, chap. iii. ver. 8, 9, 10; for _Nahum_ wrote after the last invasion of _Judæa_ by the _Assyrians_, chap. i. ver. 15; and therefore describes this captivity as fresh in memory: and this and other following invasions of _Egypt_ under _Nebuchadnezzar_ and _Cambyses_, put an end to the glory of that city. _Asserhadon_ Reigned over the _Egyptians_ and _Ethiopians_ three years, _Isa._ xx. 3, 4. that is until his death, which was in the year of _Nabonassar_ 81, and therefore invaded _Egypt_, and put an end to the Reign of the _Ethiopians_ over the _Egyptians_, in the year of _Nabonassar_ 78; so that the _Ethiopians_ under _Sabacon_, and his successors _Sethon_ and _Tirhakah_, Reigned over _Egypt_ about 80 years: _Herodotus_ allots 50 years to _Sabacon_, and _Africanus_ fourteen years to _Sethon_, and eighteen to _Tirhakah_.
The division of _Egypt_ into more Kingdoms than one, both before and after the Reign of the _Ethiopians_, and the conquest of the _Egyptians_ by _Asserhadon_, the prophet _Isaiah_ [340] seems allude unto in these words: _I will set_, saith he, _the _Egyptians_ against the _Egyptians_, and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour, city against city, and Kingdom against Kingdom, and the Spirit of _Egypt_ shall fail.--And the _Egyptians_ will I give over into the hand of a cruel Lord _[viz. _Asserhadon_]_ and a fierce King shall Reign over them.--Surely the Princes of _Zoan_ _[Tanis]_ are fools, the counsel of the wise Councellors of _Pharaoh_ is become brutish: how long say ye unto _Pharaoh_, I am the son of the ancient Kings.--The Princes of _Zoan_ are be come fools: the Princes of _Noph_ _[Memphis]_ are deceived,--even they that were the stay of the tribes thereof.--In that day there shall be a high-way out of _Egypt_ into _Assyria_, and the _Egyptians_ shall serve the _Assyrians__.
After the death of _Asserhadon_, _Egypt_ remained subject to twelve contemporary Kings, who revolted from the _Assyrians_, and Reigned together fifteen years; including I think the three years of _Asserhadon_, because the _Egyptians_ do not reckon him among their Kings. They [341] built the Labyrinth adjoining to the Lake of _Mœris_ which was a very magnificent structure, with twelve Halls in it, for their Palaces: and then _Psammitichus_, who was one of the twelve, conquered all the rest. He built the last Portico of the Temple of _Vulcan_, founded by _Menes_ about 260 years before, and Reigned 54 years, including the fifteen years of his Reign with the twelve Kings. Then Reigned _Nechaoh_ or _Nechus_, 17 years; _Psammis_ six years; _Vaphres_, _Apries_, _Eraphius_, or _Hophra_, 25 years; _Amasis_ 44 years; and _Psammenitus_ six months, according to _Herodotus_. _Egypt_ was subdued by _Nebuchadnezzar_ in the last year but one of _Hophra_, _Anno Nabonass._ 178, and remained in subjection to _Babylon_ forty years, _Jer._ xliv. 30. & _Ezek._ xxix. 12, 13, 14, 17, 19. that is, almost all the Reign of _Amasis_, a plebeian set over _Egypt_ by the conqueror: the forty years ended with the death of _Cyrus_; for he Reigned over _Egypt_ and _Ethiopia_, according to _Xenophon_. At that time therefore those nations recovered their liberty; but after four or five years more they were invaded and conquered by _Cambyses_, _Anno Nabonass._ 223 or 224, and have almost ever since remained in servitude, as was predicted by the Prophets.
The Reigns of _Psammitichus_, _Nechus_, _Psammis_, _Apries_, _Amasis_, and _Psammenitus_, set down by _Herodotus_, amount unto 146½ years: and so many years there were from the 78th year of _Nabonassar_, in which the dominion of the _Ethiopians_ over _Egypt_ came to an end, unto the 224th year of _Nabonassar_, in which _Cambyses_ invaded _Egypt_, and put an end to that Kingdom: which is an argument that _Herodotus_ was circumspect and faithful in his narrations, and has given us a good account of the antiquities of _Egypt_, so far as the Priests of _Egypt_ at _Thebes_, _Memphis_, and _Heliopolis_, and the _Carians_ and _Ionians_ inhabiting _Egypt_, were then able to inform him: for he consulted them all; and the _Cares_ and _Ionians_ had been in _Egypt_ from the time of the Reign of the twelve contemporary Kings. _Pliny_ [342] tells us, that the _Egyptian_ Obelisks were of a sort of stone dug near _Syene_ in _Thebais_, and that the first Obelisk was made by _Mitres_, who Reigned in _Heliopolis_; that is, by _Mephres_ the predecessor of _Misphragmuthosis_; and that afterwards other Kings made others: _Sochis_, that is _Sesochis_, or _Sesac_, four, each of 48 cubits in length; _Ramises_, that is _Ramesses_, two; _Smarres_, that is _Mœris_, one of 48 cubits in length; _Eraphius_, or _Hophra_, one of 48; and _Nectabis_, or _Nectenabis_, one of 80. _Mephres_ therefore extended his dominion over all the upper _Egypt_, from _Syene_ to _Heliopolis_, and after him, _Misphragmuthosis_ and _Amosis_, Reigned _Ammon_ and _Sesac_, who erected the first great Empire in the world: and these four, _Amosis_, _Ammon_, _Sesac_, and _Orus_, Reigned in the four ages of the great Gods of _Egypt_; and _Amenophis_ was the _Menes_ who Reigned next after them: he was Succeeded by _Ramesses_, and _Mœris_, and some time after by _Hophra_.
_Diodorus_ [343] recites the same Kings of _Egypt_ with _Herodotus_, but in a more confused order, and repeats some of them twice, or oftener, under various names, and omits others: his Kings are these; _Jupiter Ammon_ and _Juno_, _Osiris_ and _Isis_, _Horus_, _Menes_, _Busiris_ I, _Busiris_ II, _Osymanduas_, _Uchoreus_, _Myris_, _Sesoosis_ I, _Sesoosis_ II, _Amasis_, _Actisanes_, _Mendes_ or _Marrus_, _Proteus_, _Remphis_, _Chembis_, _Cephren_, _Mycerinus_ or _Cherinus_, _Gnephacthus_, _Bocchoris_, _Sabacon_, twelve contemporary Kings, _Psammitichus_, * * _Apries_, _Amasis_. Here I take _Sesoosis_ I, and _Sesoosis_ II, _Busiris_ I, and _Busiris_ II, to be the same Kings with _Osiris_ and _Orus_: also _Osymanduas_ to be the same with _Amenophis_ or _Menes_: also _Amasis_, and _Actisanes_, an _Ethiopian_ who conquered him, to be the same with _Anysis_ and _Sabacon_ in _Herodotus_: and _Uchoreus_, _Mendes_, _Marrus_, and _Myris_, to be only several names of one and the same King. Whence the catalogue of _Diodorus_ will be reduced to this: _Jupiter Ammon_ and _Juno_; _Osiris_, _Busiris_ or _Sesoosis_, and _Isis_; _Horus_, _Busiris_ II, or _Sesoosis_ II; _Menes_, or _Osymanduas_; _Proteus_; _Remphis_ or _Ramesses_; _Uchoreus_, _Mendes_, _Marrus_, or _Myris_; _Chembis_ or _Cheops_; _Cephren_; _Mycerinus_; * * _Gnephacthus_; _Bocchoris_; _Amasis_, or _Anysis_; _Actisanes_, or _Sabacon_; * twelve contemporary Kings; _Psammitichus_; * * _Apries_; _Amasis_: to which, if in their proper places you add _Nitocris_, _Asychis_, _Sethon_, _Nechus_, and _Psammis,_ you will have the catalogue of _Herodotus_.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.