EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGY

Main informations


  1. Sources

  2. To met , classicly , Sources , you must use main books on Egyptian History , but , also Bible .
    Sources are numerous ; first , those from which lack us to high history as old as Middle Kingdom , and secondly by Grecs who know Egyptians in the XXVIth dynasty ( about 663 , 664 B . C . ) . A good knowledge are issued from Egyptian Priest Manethon , who lived under reign of Ptolemy II , that is nearly the begeening of the third Century B . C .
    This sources influence our knowledge of Egypte under our XIXth century ; that it means a longer time to our own culture .

    Following , started from the XIXth century , our knownledge was enlarged from acceded documents thanks to Champollion in hieroglyphes ; I want to speak about Tables and of the famous papyrus of Turin

    About tables I want to notice to you two types :
    -1°)-Officials or royals which are mainly situated in temples , I complete this notion , of course , Palermo Stone
    -2°)-For private one they belong to private peple , mainly the table of Marseilles and those which are situated in private tombs .

    Starting the middle of XIXth century , our knowledge was increased , due to the decepherement of cuneiform and the access to assyrian annals , persians and so on....

  3. Bible

  4. Main references are found in Old Testament .
    Books to be quoted are :
    * Genesis .
    * Exodus .
    * Kings .
    * Chronicles .

  5. Grecs

  6. Grecs was in relationship with Egypte under the reign of Pharaoh Psametique Ist , where first contacts was with ioniens ' s pirates and also cariens . They was famous bronze men from who " revenge " against Assyrians , " would come from the sea and when would appear men of bronze " , according to an oracle of the city of Buto . We are in 663 B . C . and Psametique decided to make alliance withthis ioniens grecs and cariens , too . Psametique make alliance with Gyges an usurpator in Lydia . Soon after expulsion of Assyrians the power of the King was this new force bronze men who was grecs mercenaries .
    This attitude permit an equilibre against the influence of egyptian army , always under the libyans , who are at the origin of the XXIIth dynasty, and following one . Grecs are inveted to built a castle in the oriental delta , in Daphne .
    Later they founded a town called Naucratis , in the western delta . This town became very flowrish .
    Numerous graffiti were engraved in Egypte and they give us many informations on this period ; we could found , an exemple in Abu Simbel .

    For the following period we find the Father of History Herodote .
    Herodotos was borm in Halicarnasse about 484 B . C . and dead in Thourioi about 420 B . C . He wrote many books concerniong many journeys in Europe , Asia and Africa . His main work , very known , is his Histotires in 9 books , he wa enable to achieve his work . For the study of Egypte , book II and III are largest used .
    Book II or Euterpe is divided in two parts : from chapter 2 to chapterr 98 he described Egypte 's geographia , and from chapiter 99 he described the history .
    To him we due names Kheops , Khephren and Mykerinus ?
    We are indebt also by description of centuries before his epoch , mainly events precised which started in the XXXVIth dynasty .

    For other grecs authors we could find :Aristodémus , Aristophanos , Diodorus , Hesychius , Isocrates , Justin , Ktesias , Menandros , Philocorus , Pline , Plutarque , Polyen , Pseudo-Aristote , Theopompos , Theucydites et Xenophon .
    From certainly , De Iside of Plutarque we could obtain precise informations .

  7. Manethon , the Egyptian

  8. Manéton was an egyptian priest who lived under the reign of Ptolemee II , the Lagide . He was born from city of Sebennytos in central delta . He wrote about 271 B . C . his Aiguptiaka or chronicles where he classified Pharaohs in thirty one dynasties .
    We possess , at the present time , only quotations from fragments or summary breadth . It is necessary to us to use the version from Flavius Joseph , or Julius Africanus or from Georges the Syncelle .

  9. Tables

  10. Tables means to us that hieroglyphic texts are engraved in temples or tombs , on steleas or offering tables .
    Mains tables are :
    Tables are of two kinds :

    -1°)-Official Tables :
    * Palermo stone .
    * Abydos Tables , one in Sethy Ier 's temple , and the other one is from his son 's temple , that is Ramses II , this last one is situated , now in London , in the British Museum ( Nbr 117 ) .
    * The table from Karnak .
    * List in the second pylon of Ramesseum and dated from Ramses II .

    -2°)-Private tables :
    * TheSaqqarah 's table .
    * The Table of Marseilles , or offering table .
    * List from Khâbekhnet 's tomb in Deir el Medineh .
    * List from Inherkhâ 's tomb , in Deir el Medineh too .
    * List from Iymiseba 's tomb , which date from XXth dynasty .
    * List from Irdjanen 's tomb , which date from XIXth dynasty .


  11. The Canon of Turin

  12. This papyrus , wrote in hieratic , in possession of the Turin Museum . It was descovered by Bernardino Drovetti , around 1816 , it was in good state and a very bad use during the transport ( used like a under horse saddle ! ) damaged it defenitly .
    Champollion started his study in november 1824 in the height of the Museum of Turin in fact he called it : "the columbarium of the History " , he was then ( according to a letter writed 6 November 1824 ) " seized like a cold mortal when seeing on the table of ten feet of length recovered ... a layer of papyrus remains " . He continues a little bit after, always in the same letter : " But the most important papyrus , that whose I will regret always the complete mutilation and that it was a real treasure for the history it is a chronological table , in fact a real Royal Canon " .
    On 15 november he wrote to his brother : " eventually , I have collected among remains of this royal canon that it was was a real Manéthon hieratic handwriting , approximately one hundred sixty to one hundred heighty royal names ; a lot are complete , but a lot also are curtailed.. ... .. I confess the greatest disappointment of my literary life that I have discovered this manuscript in a state spo despairing . I never be console . It is an injury that will no bleed long ."
    He reports in a small fragmentary notebook that occupied 37 pages in -8° . He classified them according to our alphabet from the letter " A " to " Uu " .

    The final publication was realized by the brother of Champollion, Champollion - Figeac , in 1850 , in the " Archaeological Review " , plate 149 .

    It seems that the papyrus was no longer degraded since 1824 , and K . Lepsius published it , in its editio princeps around 1842 ( Auswahl , plats 3 to 6 ) .

    It was from this period that the papyrus was studied particulary from hieroglyphic Text , according to the disposition of fibers and also by tax list , back of this papyrus . This Tax list is dated from Ramses II . Wilkinson intervened in publication , too .
    The most important work , after those of Champollion is due to German Gustav Seyffarth who studied more particularly the joints fragments , we are in 1826 .
    A new arrangement was undertaken by the Italian Farina and by Ibscher , work that ends to be published in 1938 : Il papyro dei Re restaurato .
    Finally in 1953 Sir Alan Gardiner studied it , after three travels in Turin . This study ends in 1959 and a large hand hieroglyphic book was published under title " The Royal Canon of Turin" by " Oxford University Press ".

    To see some photographs of this CANON , let's click !

    To those who want to know more , connect you to pages The Ancient Egypt Site ; Turin Canon .


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