How Do We Reconstruct
Ancient Egyptian History?
In the third century B.C.—some 2,500 years
after the first Egyptian dynasty—an Egyptian priest named
Manetho recorded thirty-one dynasties of Egyptian kings in a
book called the Aegyptiaca. Manetho wrote in Greek—probably
not for a native Egyptian audience—and the Greek names
he gave to Egyptian kings often appear in later literature.
The information survives primarily as excerpts in works by early
Christian writers, but errors may have been introduced as the
text was copied over hundreds of years. Manetho did not always
distinguish between legendary traditions and factual data, and
the reign dates he lists for each king do not always correspond
to other historical evidence. However, Manetho’s work
does appear to reflect actual divisions in ancient Egyptian
history, and Egyptologists continue to follow his system of
dynasties.
Fragmentary ancient king lists also provide information about
ancient Egyptian chronology and allow us to adjust Manetho’s
dynastic system. A relief known as the Palermo stone records
the reigns of kings prior to Dynasty 5 (circa 2500–2350
B.C.). Another example, a papyrus known as the
Turin canon, lists the kings of Egypt from the earliest dynasties
to the Hyksos
rulers of the Second Intermediate Period (circa after 1630–1539
B.C.). The Turin canon was probably written during
the reign of Ramesses II (circa 1279–1213 B.C.)
of Dynasty 19. A relief in a temple in Abydos shows Ramesses
and his father, Sety I (circa 1290–1279 B.C.),
standing before a king list, honoring their ancestors. Many
other royal and private inscriptions and texts have also provided
historical information to modern Egyptologists.
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