Manetho
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Manetho (
He authored the Aegyptiaca (History of Egypt) in
Name
The original Egyptian version of Manetho's name is lost, but some speculate it means "Truth of Thoth", "Gift of Thoth", "Beloved of Thoth", "Beloved of Neith", or "Lover of Neith".[3] Less accepted proposals are Myinyu-heter ("Horseherd" or "Groom") and Ma'ani-Djehuti ("I have seen Thoth").
In the Greek language, the earliest fragments (the inscription of uncertain date on the base of a marble bust from the temple of Serapis at Carthage[4] and the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus of the 1st century AD) wrote his name as Μανέθων Manethōn, so the Latinised rendering of his name here is given as Manetho.[5] Other Greek renderings include Manethōs, Manethō, Manethos, Manēthōs, Manēthōn, and Manethōth. In Latin it is written as Manethon, Manethos, Manethonus, and Manetos.[citation needed]
Life and work
Although no sources for the dates of his life and death remain, Manetho is associated with the reign of Ptolemy I Soter (323–283 BC) by Plutarch (c. 46–120 AD), while George Syncellus links Manetho directly with Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BC).
If the mention of someone named Manetho in the
Manetho is described as a native Egyptian, and Egyptian would have been his mother tongue. Although the topics he supposedly wrote about dealt with Egyptian matters, he is said to have written exclusively in the Greek language for a Greek-speaking audience. Other literary works attributed to him include Against Herodotus, The Sacred Book, On Antiquity and Religion, On Festivals, On the Preparation of Kyphi, and the Digest of Physics. The treatise Book of Sothis has also been attributed to Manetho. These works are not attested during the Ptolemaic period when Manetho of Sebennytus is said to have lived and are only mentioned in another source in the first century AD, leaving a gap of 200–300 years between the composition of the Aegyptiaca and its first attestation. The gap is even larger for the other works attributed to Manetho such as The Sacred Book that is mentioned for the very first time by Eusebius in the fourth century AD.[6]
Manetho of Sebennytus was probably a priest of the
Aegyptiaca
The Aegyptiaca (Αἰγυπτιακά, Aigyptiaka), the "History of Egypt", may have been Manetho's largest work, and certainly the most important. It was organised chronologically and divided into three volumes. His division of rulers into dynasties was an innovation. However, he did not use the term in the modern sense, by bloodlines, but rather, introduced new dynasties whenever he detected some sort of discontinuity, whether geographical (
Some have suggested [citation needed] that Aegyptiaca was written as a competing account to Herodotus' Histories, to provide a national history for Egypt that did not exist before. From this perspective, Against Herodotus may have been an abridged version or just a part of Aegyptiaca that circulated independently. Neither survives in its original form today.
Two English translations of the fragments of Manetho's Aegyptiaca have been published: by William Gillan Waddell in 1940,[8] and by Gerald P. Verbrugghe and John Moore Wickersham in 2001.[9]
Transmission and reception
Despite the reliance of Egyptologists on him for their reconstructions of the Egyptian dynasties, the problem with a close study of Manetho is that not only was Aegyptiaca not preserved as a whole, but it also became involved in a rivalry among advocates of Egyptian, Jewish, and Greek histories in the form of supporting polemics. During this period, disputes raged concerning the oldest civilizations, and so Manetho's account was probably excerpted during this time for use in this argument with significant alterations. Material similar to Manetho's has been found in Lysimachus of Alexandria, a brother of Philo, and it has been suggested [citation needed] that this was inserted into Manetho. We do not know when this might have occurred, but scholars [citation needed] specify a terminus ante quem at the first century AD, when Josephus began writing.
The earliest surviving attestation to Manetho is that of
Contemporaneously or perhaps after Josephus wrote, an
Africanus, Syncellus, and the Latin and Armenian translations of Eusebius are what remains of the epitome of Manetho. Other significant fragments include
Sources and methods
Manetho's methods involved the use of king-lists to provide a structure for his history. There were precedents to his writing available in Egypt (plenty of which have survived to this day), and his
At the very least, he wrote in fluent
King lists
At the behest of
- Cambyses (Artaxerxes) b. Cyrus = reigned over Persia, his own kingdom, for 5 years, and over Egypt for 6 years.
- Darius (II), the son of Hystaspes = reigned 36 years.
- Xerxes (Artaxerxes), the Great, b. Darius = reigned 21 years.
- Artabanus = reigned 7 months.
- Artaxerxes (Cyrus) b. Xerxes the Great = reigned 41 years.
- Xerxes = reigned 2 months.
- Sogdianus = reigned 7 months.
- Darius (III), the son of Xerxes = reigned 19 years.
It is to be noted here that between Cambyses' reign and Darius, the son of Hystaspes, there was an interim period whereby the Magi ruled over Persia. This important anecdote is supplied by Herodotus who wrote the Magian ruled Persia for 7 months after the death of Cambyses.[12] Josephus, on the other hand, says they obtained the government of the Persians for a year.
The king-list that Manetho had access to is unknown to us, but of the surviving king-lists, the one most similar to his is the
The provenance of the Old Kingdom Annals is unknown, surviving as the
The New Kingdom lists are each selective in their listings: that of
[...] The purpose of these lists was to cover the walls of a sacred room in which the reigning Pharaoh (or other worshiper, as in the case of Tenry and his Saqqara list) made offerings or prayers to his or her predecessors, imagined as ancestors. Each royal house had a particular traditional list of these "ancestors", different from that of the other houses. The purpose of these lists is not historical but religious. It is not that they are trying and failing to give a complete list. They are not trying at all. Seti and Ramesses did not wish to make offerings to
Tutankhamen, or Hatshepsut, and that is why they are omitted, not because their existence was unknown or deliberately ignored in a broader historical sense. For this reason, the Pharaonic king-lists were generally wrong for Manetho's purposes, and we should commend Manetho for not basing his account on them (2000:105).
These large
While the precise origins for Manetho's king-list are unknown, it was certainly a northern,
Transcriptions of Pharaonic names
By the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian kings each had five different names, the "Horus" name; the "Two Ladies" name; the "Gold Horus" name; the praenomen or "throne name"; and a nomen, the personal name given at birth (also called a "Son of Ra" name as it was preceded by Sa Re'). Some kings also had multiple examples within these names, such as Ramesses II who used six Horus names at various times. Because Manetho's transcriptions agree with many king-lists, it is generally accepted that he was reliant on one or more such lists, and it is not clear to what extent he was aware of the different pharaonic names of rulers long past (and he had alternate names for some). Not all of the different names for each king have been uncovered.
Manetho did not choose consistently from the five different types of names, but in some cases, a straightforward transcription is possible. Egyptian Men or Meni (Son of Ra and king-list names) becomes Menes (officially, this is Pharaoh I.1
Thus, how Manetho transcribed these names varies, and as such, we cannot reconstruct the original Egyptian forms of the names. However, because of the simplicity with which Manetho transcribed long names (see above), they were preferred until original king-lists began to be uncovered in Egyptian sites, translated, and corroborated. Manetho's division of dynasties, however, is still used as a basis for all Egyptian discussions.
Content
Volume 1 begins from the earliest times, listing deities and
Volume 2 covers
Volume 3 continues with
Similarities with Berossos
Most of the ancient witnesses group Manetho together with
Syncellus goes so far as to insinuate that the two copied each other:
If one carefully examines the underlying chronological lists of events, one will have full confidence that the design of both is false, as both Berossos and Manetho, as I have said before, want to glorify each his own nation, Berossos the Chaldean, Manetho the Egyptian. One can only stand in amazement that they were not ashamed to place the beginning of their incredible story in each in one and the same year.[13]
While this does seem an incredible coincidence, the reliability of the report is unclear. The reasoning for presuming they started their histories in the same year involved some considerable contortions. Berossos dated the period before the
Effect of Aegyptiaca
It is speculated that Manetho wrote at the request of
Syncellus similarly recognised its importance when recording Eusebius and Africanus, and even provided a separate witness from the Book of Sothis. Unfortunately, this material is likely to have been a forgery or hoax of unknown date. Every king in Sothis after Menes is irreconcilable with the versions of Africanus and Eusebius. Manetho should not be judged on the factuality of his account, but on the method he used to record history, and in this, he was as successful as Herodotus and Hesiod.
Finally, in modern times, the effect is still visible in the way Egyptologists divide the dynasties of the Egyptian kings. The French explorer and Egyptologist
As a root of antisemitism
Manetho has been cited as an early example of antisemitism. Manetho's history of Egypt, potentially presented as a counter-narrative[14] to the traditional story of Exodus, portrays Jews negatively; Manetho's depiction of Jews — or Lepers and Shepherds – exudes anti-Jewish themes.[15] While the Old Testament's Exodus tells of the Jews escaping Egypt, liberating themselves, Manetho tells a different story: that Egypt, under the reign of Amenophis, who was the son of Ramses and the father of Sethos (Seti) whom he later named Ramses after his father,[16] expelled lepers because of their impurity who then chose to revolt against Egypt pioneered by leader Osarsiph — later revealing himself as Moses — who imposed various anti-Egyptian laws.[17] Together with the Shepherds, they conquered Egypt in a 'barbarous manner...set[ting] the cities and villages on fire...roasting those sacred animals...and forced the priests and prophets to be the executioners and murderers of those sacred animals."[18] Negative themes of the Jews followed, such as being characterized as misanthropic or tyrannical.[19] Osarsiph also declared that "they should neither worship the Egyptian gods; nor should abstain from any one of those sacred animals which they have in the highest esteem."[18]
See also
- Berossus
- History of Ancient Egypt
- Hierombalus
- List of lists of ancient kings
- Ptolemaic dynasty
Notes
- ISBN 978-1-78656-394-1.
- ^ "أسماء بعض البلاد المصرية بالقبطية - كتاب لغتنا القبطية المصرية | St-Takla.org". st-takla.org.
- ^ Waddell (1940), p. ix, n. 1.
- ^ Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum viii. 1007: "ΜΑΝΕΘΩΝ"
- ^ The same way that Platōn is rendered "Plato"; see Greek and Latin third declension.
- ^ Waddell (1940), pp. 188-189.
- ^ Tacitus, Histories 4.83; Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride 28.
- ^ Manetho, with an English translation by W.G. Waddell, Harvard University Press, 1940.
- ISBN 0-472-08687-1.
Waddell's Manetho is the only other English translation of Manetho. It was originally published in the Loeb Classical Library in 1940, together with the Tetrabiblos (Treatise in Four Books) of the astronomer Ptolemy.
- ^ https://ia801005.us.archive.org/4/items/Petrie1939/Petrie%2C%20Flinders%20WE%20-%20The%20making%20of%20Egypt%20%281939%29%20LR.pdf. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
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(help) - OCLC 1000992106.
- ISBN 0 434 99118 X- British)
- ^ Ecloga Chronographica, 30
- ISBN 9780393239430.
- ^ Van der Horst, Pieter (10 October 2007). "The Egyptian Beginning of Anti-Semitism's Long History". Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- ^ Against Apion 1:26
- ^ Ilany, Ofri (17 April 2020). "The Ancient Origin of anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories Blaming Jews for Plagues". Haaretz.
- ^ a b FlaviusJosephus. Against Apion.
- ^ Berthelot, Katell (3 March 2009). "Hecataeus of Abdera and Jewish 'misanthropy'". Bulletin du Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem (19).
References
- Josephus, Titus Flavius, ca 70-90 B.C.E Against Apion
- Barclay, John M.G., 2011. Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary, Volume 10: Against Apion. Brill: ISBN 9789004117914.
- Palmer, W., 1861. Egyptian Chronicles: Vol. II. London.
- Waddell, William Gillian, ed. 1940. Manetho. The Loeb Classical Library 350, ser. ed. George P. Goold. London and Cambridge: William Heinemann ltd. and Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-99385-3.
Further reading
- Helck, Hans Wolfgang. 1975. "Manethon (1)". In ISBN 0-8288-6776-3.
- Laqueur, Richard. 1928. "Manethon". In ISBN 3-476-01018-X.
- Cerqueiro, Daniel 2012. "Aegyptos fragmentos de una aegyptiaca recóndita". Buenos Aires:Ed.Peq.Ven. ISBN 978-987-9239-22-3.
- M.A. Leahy. 1990. "Libya and Egypt c1300–750 BC." London: School of Oriental and African Studies, Centre of Near and Middle Eastern Studies, and The Society for Libyan Studies.
- Redford, Donald Bruce. 1986a. "The Name Manetho". In Egyptological Studies in Honor of ISBN 0-87451-321-9.
- ———. 1986b. Pharaonic King–Lists, Annals and Day–Books: A Contribution to the Study of the Egyptian Sense of History. Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities Publications 4, ser. ed. Loretta M. James. Mississauga: Benben Publications. ISBN 0-920168-08-6.
- ———. 2001. "Manetho". In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, edited by Donald Bruce Redford. Vol. 2 of 3 vols. Oxford, New York, and Cairo: Oxford University Press and The American University in Cairo Press. 336–337. ISBN 0-19-510234-7.
- Thissen, Heinz-Josef. 1980. "Manetho". In Lexikon der Ägyptologie, edited by Hans Wolfgang Helck, and Wolfhart Westendorf. Vol. 3 of 7 vols. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. 1180–1181. ISBN 3-447-01441-5.
- Verbrugghe, Gerald P., and John Moore Wickersham. 1996. Berossos and Manetho, Introduced and Translated: Native Traditions in Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08687-1.
External links
- Chronologie de Manéthon showing the names given by Manetho and the names used now (in French)
- Manetho: History of Egypt, Sacred Book, etc.
- Who's Who in Ancient Egypt: Manetho
- "The First Egyptian Narrative History: Manetho and Greek Historiography", ZPE 127 (1999), pp.93-116 by J. Dillery