By these things the later _Egyptians_ seem to have made two _Belus"s_, the one the father of _Osiris_, _Isis_, and _Neptune_, the other the son of _Neptune_, and father of _aegyptus_ and _Danaus_: and hence came the opinion of the people of _Naxus_, that there were two _Minos"s_ and two _Ariadnes_, the one two Generations older than the other; which we have confuted. The father of _aegyptus_ and _Danaus_ was the father of _Osiris_, _Isis_, and _Typhon_; and _Typhon_ was not the grandfather of _Neptune_, but _Neptune_ himself.
_Sesostris_ being brought up to hard labour by his father _Ammon_, warred first under his father, being the Hero or _Hercules_ of the _Egyptians_ during his father"s Reign, and afterward their King: under his father, whilst he was very young, he invaded and conquered _Troglodytica_, and thereby secured the harbour of the _Red Sea_, near _Coptos_ in _Egypt_, and then he invaded _Ethiopia_, and carried on his conquest southward, as far as to the region bearing cinnamon: and his father by the a.s.sistance of the _Edomites_ having built a fleet on the _Red Sea_, he put to sea, and coasted _Arabia Faelix_, going to the _Persian Gulph_ and beyond, and in those countries set up Columns with inscriptions denoting his conquests; and particularly he Set up a Pillar at _Dira_, a promontory in the straits of the _Red Sea_, next _Ethiopia_, and two Pillars in _India_, on the mountains near the mouth of the rivers _Ganges_; so [269] _Dionysius_:
???a te ?a? st??a?, T?a??e?e?? ?????s??
??stas?? p?at??? pa?a ????? O?ea????, ??d?? ??stat???s?? e? ???es??? e??a te Ga????
?e???? ??d?? ??ssa??? ep? p?ata??a ?????de?.
_Ubi etiamnum columnae Thebis geniti Bacchi_ _Stant extremi juxta fluxum Oceani_ _Indorum ultimis in montibus: ubi & Ganges_ _Claram aquam Nyssaeam ad planitiem devolvit_.
After these things he invaded _Libya_, and fought the _Africans_ with clubs, and thence is painted with a club in his hand: so [270] _Hyginus_; _Afri & aegyptii primum fustibus dimicaverunt, postea Belus Neptuni filius gladio belligeratus est, unde bellum dictum est_: and after the conquest of _Libya_, by which _Egypt_ was furnished with horses, and furnished _Solomon_ and his friends; he prepared a fleet on the _Mediterranean_, and went on westward upon the coast of _Afric_, to search those countries, as far as to the Ocean and island _Erythra_ or _Gades_ in _Spain_; as _Macrobius_ [271] informs us from _Panyasis_ and _Pherecydes_: and there he conquered _Geryon_, and at the mouth of the _Straits_ set up the famous Pillars.
[272] _Venit ad occasum mundique extrema Sesostris._
Then he returned through _Spain_ and the southern coasts of _France_ and _Italy_, with the cattel of _Geryon_, his fleet attending him by sea, and left in _Sicily_ the _Sicani_, a people which he had brought from _Spain_: and after his father"s death he built Temples to him in his conquests; whence it came to pa.s.s, that _Jupiter Ammon_ was worshipped in _Ammonia_, and _Ethiopia_, and _Arabia_, and as far as _India_, according to the [273]
Poet:
_Quamvis aethiopum populis, Arab.u.mque beatis_ _Gentibus, atque Indis unus sit Jupiter Ammon_.
The _Arabians_ worshipped only two G.o.ds, _Clus_, otherwise called _Oura.n.u.s_, or _Jupiter Uranius_, and _Bacchus_: and these were _Jupiter Ammon_ and _Sesac_, as above: and so also the people of _Meroe_ above _Egypt_ [274] worshipped no other G.o.ds but _Jupiter_ and _Bacchus_, and had an Oracle of _Jupiter_, and these two G.o.ds were _Jupiter Ammon_ and _Osiris_, according to the language of _Egypt_.
At length _Sesostris_, in the fifth year of _Rehoboam_, came out of _Egypt_ with a great army of _Libyans_, _Troglodytes_ and _Ethiopians_, and spoiled the Temple, and reduced _Judaea_ into servitude, and went on conquering, first eastward toward _India_, which he invaded, and then westward as far as _Thrace_: for _G.o.d had given him the kingdoms of the countries_, 2 _Chron._ xii. 2, 3, 8. In [275] this Expedition he spent nine years, setting up pillars with inscriptions in all his conquests, some of which remained in _Syria_ "till the days of _Herodotus_. He was accompanied with his son _Orus_, or _Apollo_, and with some singing women, called _the Muses_, one of which, called _Calliope_, was the mother of _Orpheus_ an _Argonaut_: and the two tops of the mountain _Parna.s.sus_, which were very high, were dedicated [276] the one to this _Bacchus_, and the other to his son _Apollo_: whence _Lucan_; [277]
_Parna.s.sus gemino pet.i.t aethera colle,_ _Mons Phbo, Bromioque sacer._
In the fourteenth year of _Rehoboam_ he returned back into _Egypt_; leaving _aeetes_ in _Colchis_, and his nephew _Prometheus_ at mount _Caucasus_, with part of his army, to defend his conquests from the _Scythians_. _Apollonius Rhodius_ [278] and his scholiast tell us, that _Sesonchosis_ King of all _Egypt_, that is _Sesac_, invading all _Asia_, and a great part of _Europe_, peopled many cities which he took; and that _aea_, the Metropolis of _Colchis_, _remained stable ever since his days with the posterity of those _Egyptians_ which he placed there, and that they preserved pillars or tables in which all the journies and the bounds of sea and land were described, for the use of them that were to go any whither_: these tables therefore gave a beginning to Geography.
_Sesostris_ upon his returning home [279] divided _Egypt_ by measure amongst the _Egyptians_; and this gave a beginning to Surveying and Geometry: and [280] _Jamblicus_ derives this division of _Egypt_, and beginning of Geometry, from the Age of the G.o.ds of _Egypt_. _Sesostris_ also [281] divided _Egypt_ into 36 _Nomes_ or Counties, and dug a ca.n.a.l from the _Nile_ to the head city of every _Nome_, and with the earth dug out of it, he caused the ground of the city to be raised higher, and built a Temple in every city for the worship of the _Nome_, and in the Temples set up Oracles, some of which remained "till the days of _Herodotus_: and by this means the _Egyptians_ of every _Nome_ were induced to worship the great men of the Kingdom, to whom the _Nome_, the City, and the Temple or Sepulchre of the G.o.d, was dedicated: for every Temple had its proper G.o.d, and modes of worship, and annual festivals, at which the Council and People of the _Nome_ met at certain times to sacrifice, and regulate the affairs of the _Nome_, and administer justice, and buy and sell; but _Sesac_ and his Queen, by the names of _Osiris_ and _Isis_, were worshipped in all _Egypt_: and because _Sesac_, to render the _Nile_ more useful, dug channels from it to all the capital cities of _Egypt_; that river was consecrated to him, and he was called by its names, _aegyptus_, _Siris_, _Nilus_. _Dionysius_ [282] tells us, that the _Nile_ was called _Siris_ by the _Ethiopians_, and _Nilus_ by the people of _Siene_. From the word _Nahal_, which signifies a torrent, that river was called _Nilus_; and _Dionysius_ [283] tells us, that _Nilus_ was that King who cut _Egypt_ into ca.n.a.ls, to make the river useful: in Scripture the river is called _Schichor_, or _Sihor_, and thence the _Greeks_ formed the words _Siris_, _Sirius_, _Ser-Apis_, _O-Siris_; but _Plutarch_ [284] tells us, that the syllable _O_, put before the word _Siris_ by the _Greeks_, made it scarce intelligible to the _Egyptians_.
I have now told you the original of the _Nomes_ of _Egypt_ and of the Religions and Temples of the _Nomes_, and of the Cities built there by the G.o.ds, and called by their names: whence _Diodorus_ [285] tells us, that _of all the Provinces of the World, there were in _Egypt_ only many cities built by the ancient G.o.ds, as by _Jupiter_, _Sol_, _Hermes_, _Apollo_, _Pan_, _Eilithyia_, and, many others_: and _Lucian_ [286] an _a.s.syrian_, who had travelled into _Phnicia_ and _Egypt_, tells us, that _the Temples of _Egypt_ were very old, those in _Phnicia_ built by _Cinyras_ as old, and those in _a.s.syria_ almost as old as the former, but not altogether so old_: which shews that the Monarchy of _a.s.syria_ rose up after the Monarchy of _Egypt_; as is represented in Scripture; and that the Temples of _Egypt_ then standing, were those built by _Sesostris_, about the same time that the Temples of _Phnicia_ and _Cyprus_ were built by _Cinyras_, _Benhadad_, and _Hiram_. This was not the first original of Idolatry, but only the erecting of much more sumptuous Temples than formerly to the founders of new Kingdoms: for Temples at first were very small;
_Jupiter angusta vix totus stabat in aede._ _Ovid. Fast._ l. 1.
Altars were at first erected without Temples, and this custom continued in _Persia_ "till after the days of _Herodotus_: in _Phnicia_ they had Altars with little houses for eating the sacrifices much earlier, and these they called High Places: such was the High Place where _Samuel_ entertained _Saul_; such was the House of _Dagon_ at _Ashdod_, into which the _Philistims_ brought the Ark; and the House of _Baal_, in which _Jehu_ slew the Prophets of _Baal_; and such were the High Places of the _Canaanites_ which _Moses_ commanded _Israel_ to destroy: he [287] commanded _Israel_ to destroy the Altars, Images, High Places, and Groves of the _Canaanites_, but made no mention of their Temples, as he would have done had there been any in those days. I meet with no mention of sumptuous Temples before the days of _Solomon_: new Kingdoms begun then to build Sepulchres to their Founders in the form of Sumptuous Temples; and such Temples _Hiram_ built in _Tyre_, _Sesac_ in all _Egypt_, and _Benhadad_ in _Damascus_.
For when _David_ [288] smote _Hadad Ezer_ King of _Zobah_, and slew the _Syrians_ of _Damascus_ who came to a.s.sist him, _Rezon_ _the son of _Eliadah_ fled from his lord _Hadad-Ezer_, and gathered men unto him and became Captain over a band, and Reigned in _Damascus_, over _Syria__: he is called _Hezion_, 1 _King._ xv. 18. and his successors mentioned in history were _Tabrimon_, _Hadad_ or _Ben-hadad_, _Benhadad_ II. _Hazael_, _Benhadad_ III. * * and _Rezin_ the son of _Tabeah_. _Syria_ became subject to _Egypt_ in the days of _Tabrimon_, and recovered her liberty under _Benhadad_ I; and in the days of _Benhadad_ III, until the reign of the last _Rezin_, they became subject to _Israel_: and in the ninth year of _Hoshea_ King of _Judah_, _Tiglath-pileser_ King of _a.s.syria_ captivated the _Syrians_, and put an end to their Kingdom: now _Josephus_ [289] tells us, that _the _Syrians_ "till his days worshipped both _Adar__, that is _Hadad_ or _Benhadad_, _and his successor _Hazael_ as G.o.ds, for their benefactions, and for building Temples by which they adorned the city of _Damascus_: for_, saith he, _they daily celebrate solemnities in honour of these Kings, and boast their antiquity, not knowing that they are novel, and lived not above eleven hundred years ago_. It seems these Kings built sumptuous Sepulchres for themselves, and were worshipped therein. _Justin_ [290] calls the first of these two Kings _Damascus_, saying that _the city had its name from him, and that the _Syrians_ in honour of him worshipped his wife _Arathes_ as a G.o.ddess, using her Sepulchre for a Temple_.
Another instance we have in the Kingdom of _Byblus_. In the [291] Reign of _Minos_ King of _Crete_, when _Rhadamanthus_ the brother of _Minos_ carried colonies from _Crete_ to the _Greek_ islands, and gave the islands to his captains, he gave _Lemnos_ to _Thoas_, or _Theias_, or _Thoantes_, the father of _Hypsipyle_, a _Cretan_ worker in metals, and by consequence a disciple of the _Idaei Dactyli_, and perhaps a _Phnician_: for the _Idaei Dactyli_, and _Telchines_, and _Corybantes_ brought their Arts and Sciences from _Phnicia_: and [292] _Suidas_ saith, that he was descended from _Pharnaces_ King of _Cyprus_; _Apollodorus_, [293] that he was the son of _Sandochus_ a _Syrian_; and _Apollonius Rhodius_, [294] that __Hypsipyle_ gave _Jason_ the purple cloak which the _Graces_ made for _Bacchus_, who gave it to his son _Thoas__, the father of _Hypsipyle_, and King of _Lemnos_: _Thoas_ married [295] _Calycopis_, the mother of _aeneas_, and daughter of _Otreus_ King of _Phrygia_, and for his skill on the harp was called _Cinyras_, and was said to be exceedingly beloved by _Apollo_ or _Orus_: the great _Bacchus_ loved his wife, and being caught in bed with her in _Phrygia_ appeased him with wine, and composed the matter by making him King of _Byblus_ and _Cyprus_; and then came over the _h.e.l.lespont_ with his army, and conquered _Thrace:_ and to these things the poets allude, in feigning that _Vulcan_ fell from heaven into _Lemnos_, and that _Bacchus_ [296] appeased him with wine, and reduced him back into heaven: he fell from the heaven of the _Cretan_ G.o.ds, when he went from _Crete_ to _Lemnos_ to work in metals, and was reduced back into heaven when _Bacchus_ made him King of _Cyprus_ and _Byblus_: he Reigned there "till a very great age, living to the times of the _Trojan_ war, and becoming exceeding rich: and after the death of his wife _Calycopis_, [297] he built Temples to her at _Paphos_ and _Amathus_, in _Cyprus_; and at _Byblus_ in _Syria_, and inst.i.tuted Priests to her with Sacred Rites and l.u.s.tful _Orgia_; whence she became the _Dea Cypria_, and the _Dea Syria_: and from Temples erected to her in these and other places, she was also called _Paphia_, _Amathusia_, _Byblia_, _Cytherea_ _Salaminia_, _Cnidia_, _Erycina_, _Idalia_. _Fama tradit a Cinyra sacratum vetustissimum Paphiae Veneris templum, Deamque ipsam conceptam mari huc appulsam_: _Tacit. Hist._ l. 2. c. 3. From her sailing from _Phrygia_ to the island _Cythera_, and from thence to be Queen of _Cyprus_, she was said by the _Cyprians_, to be born of the froth of the sea, and was painted sailing upon a sh.e.l.l. _Cinyras_ Deified also his son _Gingris_, by the name of _Adonis_; and for a.s.sisting the _Egyptians_ with armour, it is probable that he himself was Deified by his friends the _Egyptians_, by the name of _Baal-Canaan_, or _Vulcan_: for _Vulcan_ was celebrated princ.i.p.ally by the _Egyptians_, and was a King according to _Homer_, and Reigned in _Lemnos_; and _Cinyras_ was an inventor of arts, [298] and found out copper in _Cyprus_, and the smiths hammer, and anvil, and tongs, and laver; and imployed workmen in making armour, and other things of bra.s.s and iron, and was the only King celebrated in history for working in metals, and was King of _Lemnos_, and the husband of _Venus_; all which are the characters of _Vulcan_: and the _Egyptians_ about the time of the death of _Cinyras_, _viz._ in the Reign of their King _Amenophis_, built a very sumptuous Temple at _Memphis_ to _Vulcan_, and near it a smaller Temple to _Venus Hospita_; not an _Egyptian_ woman but a foreigner, not _Helena_ but _Vulcan"s Venus_: for [299] _Herodotus_ tells us, that the region round about this Temple was inhabited by _Tyrian Phnicians_, and that [300] _Cambyses_ going into this Temple at _Memphis_, very much derided the statue of _Vulcan_ for its littleness; _For_, saith he, _this statue is most like those G.o.ds which the _Phnicians_ call _Pataeci_, and carry about in the fore part of their Ships in the form of Pygmies_: and [301] _Bochart_ saith of this _Venus Hospita_, _Phniciam Venerem in aegypto pro peregrina habitam._
As the _Egyptians_, _Phnicians_ and _Syrians_ in those days Deified their Kings and Princes, so upon their coming into _Asia minor_ and _Greece_, they taught those nations to do the like, as hath been shewed above. In those days the writing of the _Thebans_ and _Ethiopians_ was in hieroglyphicks; and this way of writing seems to have spread into the lower _Egypt_ before the days of _Moses_: for thence came the worship of their G.o.ds in the various shapes of Birds, Beasts, and Fishes, forbidden in the second commandment. Now this emblematical way of writing gave occasion to the _Thebans_ and _Ethiopians_, who in the days of _Samuel_, _David_, _Solomon_, and _Rehoboam_ conquered _Egypt_, and the nations round about, and erected a great Empire, to represent and signify their conquering Kings and Princes, not by writing down their names, but by making various hieroglyphical figures; as by painting _Ammon_ with Ram"s horns, to signify the King who conquered _Libya_, a country abounding with sheep; his father _Amosis_ with a Scithe, to signify that King who conquered the lower _Egypt_, a country abounding with corn; his Son _Osiris_ by an Ox, because he taught the conquered nations to plow with oxen; _Bacchus_ with Bulls horns for the same reason, and with Grapes because he taught the nations to plant vines, and upon a Tiger because he subdued _India_; _Orus_ the son of _Osiris_ with a Harp, to signify the Prince who was eminently skilled on that instrument; _Jupiter_ upon an Eagle to signify the sublimity of his dominion, and with a Thunderbolt to represent him a warrior; _Venus_ in a Chariot drawn with two Doves, to represent her amorous and l.u.s.tful; _Neptune_ with a Trident, to signify the commander of a fleet composed of three Squadrons; _aegeon_, a Giant, with 50 heads, and an hundred hands, to signify _Neptune_ with his men in a ship of fifty oars; _Thoth_ with a Dog"s head and wings at his cap and feet, and a _Caduceus_ writhen about with two Serpents, to signify a man of craft, and an emba.s.sador who reconciled two contending nations; _Pan_ with a Pipe and the legs of a Goat, to signify a man delighted in piping and dancing; and _Hercules_ with Pillars and a Club, because _Sesostris_ set up pillars in all his conquests, and fought against the _Libyans_ with clubs: this is that _Hercules_ who, according to [302] _Eudoxus_, was slain by _Typhon_; and according to _Ptolomaeus Hephaestion_ [303] was called _Nilus_, and who conquered _Geryon_ with his three sons in _Spain_, and set up the famous pillars at the mouth of the _Straits_: for _Diodorus_ [304] mentioning three _Hercules_"s, the _Egyptian_, the _Tyrian_, and the son of _Alcmena_, saith that _the oldest flourished among the _Egyptians_, and having conquered a great part of the world, set up the pillars in _Afric__: and _Vasaeus_, [305] that _Osiris_, called also _Dionysius_, _came into _Spain_ and conquered _Geryon_, and was the first who brought Idolatry into _Spain__. _Strabo_ [306] tells us, that the _Ethiopians_ called _Megabars_ fought with clubs: and some of the _Greeks_ [307] did so "till the times of the _Trojan_ war. Now from this hieroglyphical way of writing it came to pa.s.s, that upon the division of _Egypt_ into _Nomes_ by _Sesostris_, the great men of the Kingdom to whom the _Nomes_ were dedicated, were represented in their Sepulchers or Temples of the _Nomes_, by various hieroglyphicks; as by an _Ox_, a _Cat_, a _Dog_, a _Cebus_, a _Goat_, a _Lyon_, a _Scarabaeus_, an _Ichneumon_, a _Crocodile_, an _Hippopotamus_, an _Oxyrinchus_, an _Ibis_, a _Crow_, a _Hawk,_ a _Leek_, and were worshipped by the _Nomes_ in the shape of these creatures.
The [308] _Atlantides_, a people upon mount _Atlas_ conquered by the _Egyptians_ in the Reign of _Ammon_, related that _Ura.n.u.s_ was their first King, and reduced them from a savage course of life, and caused them to dwell in towns and cities, and lay up and use the fruits of the earth, and that he reigned over a great part of the world, and by his wife _t.i.taea_ had eighteen children, among which were _Hyperion_ and _Basilea_ the parents of _Helius_ and _Selene_; that the brothers of _Hyperion_ slew him, and drowned his son _Helius_, the _Phaeton_ of the ancients, in the _Nile_, and divided his Kingdom amongst themselves; and the country bordering upon the Ocean fell to the lot of _Atlas_, from whom the people were called _Atlantides_. By _Ura.n.u.s_ or _Jupiter Uranius_, _Hyperion_, _Basilea_, _Helius_ and _Selene_, I understand _Jupiter Ammon_, _Osiris_, _Isis_, _Orus_ and _Bubaste_; and by the sharing of the Kingdom of _Hyperion_ amongst his brothers the _t.i.tans_, I understand the division of the earth among the G.o.ds mentioned in the Poem of _Solon_.
For _Solon_ having travelled into _Egypt_, and conversed with the Priests of _Sais_; about their antiquities, wrote a Poem of what he had learnt, but did not finish it; [309] and this Poem fell into the hands of _Plato_ who relates out of it, that at the mouth of the _Straits_ near _Hercules_"s Pillars there was an Island called _Atlantis_, the people of which, nine thousand years before the days of _Solon_, reigned over _Libya_ as far as _Egypt_; and over _Europe_ as far as the _Tyrrhene_ sea; and all this force collected into one body invaded _Egypt_ and _Greece_, and whatever was contained within the Pillars of _Hercules_, but was resisted and stopt by the _Athenians_ and other _Greeks_, and thereby the rest of the nations not yet conquered were preserved: he saith also that in those days the G.o.ds, having finished their conquests, divided the whole earth amongst themselves, partly into larger, partly into smaller portions, and inst.i.tuted Temples and Sacred Rites to themselves; and that the Island _Atlantis_ fell to the lot of _Neptune_, who made his eldest Son _Atlas_ King of the whole Island, a part of which was called _Gadir_; and that _in the history of the said wars mention was made of _Cecrops_, _Erechtheus_, _Erichthonius_, and others before _Theseus_, and also of the women who warred with the men, and of the habit and statue of _Minerva_, the study of war in those days being common to men and women_. By all these circ.u.mstances it is manifest that these G.o.ds were the _Dii magni majorum gentium_, and lived between the age of _Cecrops_ and _Theseus_; and that the wars which _Sesostris_ with his brother _Neptune_ made upon the nations by land and sea, and the resistance he met with in _Greece_, and the following invasion of _Egypt_ by _Neptune_, are here described; and how the captains of _Sesostris_ shared his conquests amongst themselves, as the captains of _Alexander_ the great did his conquests long after, and inst.i.tuting Temples and Priests and sacred Rites to themselves, caused the nations to worship them after death as G.o.ds: and that the Island _Gadir_ or _Gades_, with all _Libya_, fell to the lot of him who after death was Deified by the name of _Neptune_. The time therefore when these things were done is by _Solon_ limited to the age of _Neptune_, the father of _Atlas_; for _Homer_ tells us, that _Ulysses_ presently after the _Trojan_ war found _Calypso_ the daughter of _Atlas_ in the _Ogygian_ Island, perhaps _Gadir_; and therefore it was but two Generations before the _Trojan_ war. This is that _Neptune_, who with _Apollo_ or _Orus_ fortified _Troy_ with a wall, in the Reign of _Laomedon_ the father of _Priamus_, and left many natural children in _Greece_, some of which were _Argonauts_, and others were contemporary to the _Argonauts_; and therefore he flourished but one Generation before the _Argonautic_ expedition, and by consequence about 400 years before _Solon_ went into _Egypt_: but the Priests of _Egypt_ in those 400 years had magnified the stories and antiquity of their G.o.ds so exceedingly, as to make them nine thousand years older than _Solon_, and the Island _Atlantis_ bigger than all _Afric_ and _Asia_ together, and full of people; and because in the days of _Solon_ this great Island did not appear, they pretended that it was sunk into the sea with all its people: thus great was the vanity of the Priests of _Egypt_ in magnifying their antiquities.
The _Cretans_ [310] affirmed that _Neptune was the man who set out a fleet, having obtained this Praefecture of _his father_ Saturn; whence posterity reckoned things done in the sea to be under his government, and mariners honoured him with sacrifices_: the invention of tall Ships with sails [311]
is also ascribed to him. He was first worshipped in _Africa_, as _Herodotus_ [312] affirms, and therefore Reigned over that province: for his eldest son _Atlas_, who succeeded him, was not only Lord of the Island _Atlantis_, but also Reigned over a great part of _Afric_, giving his name to the people called _Atlantii_, and to the mountain _Atlas_, and the _Atlantic Ocean_. The [313] outmost parts of the earth and promontories, and whatever bordered upon the sea and was washed by it, the _Egyptians_ called _Neptys_; and on the coasts of _Marmorica_ and _Cyrene_, _Bochart_ and _Arius Monta.n.u.s_ place the _Naphthuhim_, a people sprung from _Mizraim_, _Gen._ x. 13; and thence _Neptune_ and his wife _Neptys_ might have their names, the words _Neptune_, _Neptys_ and _Naphthuhim_, signifying the King, Queen, and people of the sea-coasts. The _Greeks_ tell us that _j.a.petus_ was the father of _Atlas_, and _Bochart_ derives _j.a.petus_ and _Neptune_ from the same original: he and his son _Atlas_ are celebrated in the ancient fables for making war upon the G.o.ds of _Egypt_; as when _Lucian_ [314] saith that _Corinth_ being full of fables, tells the fight of _Sol_ and _Neptune_, that is, of _Apollo_ and _Python_, or _Orus_ and _Typhon_; and where _Agatharcides_ [315] relates how the G.o.ds of _Egypt_ fled from the Giants, "till the _t.i.tans_ came in and saved them by putting _Neptune_ to flight; and where _Hyginus_ [316] tells the war between the G.o.ds of _aegypt_, and the _t.i.tans_ commanded by _Atlas_.
The _t.i.tans_ are the posterity of _t.i.taea_, some of whom under _Hercules_ a.s.sisted the G.o.ds, others under _Neptune_ and _Atlas_ warred against them: _for which reason_, saith _Plutarch_, [317] _the Priests of _Egypt_ abominated the sea, and had _Neptune_ in no honour_. By _Hercules_, I understand here the general of the forces of _Thebais_ and _Ethiopia_ whom the G.o.ds or great men of _Egypt_ called to their a.s.sistance, against the Giants or great men of _Libya_, who had slain _Osiris_ and invaded _Egypt_: for _Diodorus_ [318] saith that _when _Osiris_ made his expedition over the world, he left his kinsman _Hercules_ general of his forces over all his dominions, and _Antaeus_ governor of _Libya_ and _Ethiopia__. _Antaeus_ Reigned over all _Afric_ to the _Atlantic Ocean_, and built _Tingis_ or _Tangieres_: _Pindar_ [319] tells us that he Reigned at _Irasa_ a town of _Libya_, where _Cyrene_ was afterwards built: he invaded _Egypt_ and _Thebais_; for he was beaten by _Hercules_ and the _Egyptians_ near _Antaea_ or _Antaeopolis_, a town of _Thebais_; and _Diodorus_ [320] tells us that _this town had its name from _Antaeus_, whom _Hercules_ slew in the days of _Osiris__. _Hercules_ overthrew him several times, and every time he grew stronger by recruits from _Libya_, his mother earth; but _Hercules_ intercepted his recruits, and at length slew him. In these wars _Hercules_ took the _Libyan_ world from _Atlas_, and made _Atlas_ pay tribute out of his golden orchard, the Kingdom of _Afric_. _Antaeus_ and _Atlas_ were both of them sons of _Neptune_ both of them Reigned over all _Libya_ and _Afric_, between _Mount Atlas_ and the _Mediterranean_ to the very Ocean; both of them invaded _Egypt_, and contended with _Hercules_ in the wars of the G.o.ds, and therefore they are but two names of one and the same man; and even the name _Atlas_ in the oblique cases seems to have been compounded of the name _Antaeeus_ and some other word, perhaps the word _Atal_, cursed, put before it: the invasion of _Egypt_ by _Antaeus_, _Ovid_ hath relation unto, where he makes _Hercules_ say,
_Saevoque alimenta parentis_ _Antaeo eripui_.
This war was at length composed by the intervention of _Mercury_, who in memory thereof was said to reconcile two contending serpents, by casting his Amba.s.sador"s rod between them: and thus much concerning the ancient state of _Egypt_, _Libya_, and _Greece_, described by _Solon_.
The mythology of the _Cretans_ differed in some things from that of _Egypt_ and _Libya_: for in the _Cretan_ mythology, _Clus_ and _Terra_, or _Ura.n.u.s_ and _t.i.taea_ were the parents of _Saturn_ and _Rhea_, and _Saturn_ and _Rhea_ were the parents of _Jupiter_ and _Juno_; and _Hyperion_, _j.a.petus_ and the _t.i.tans_ were one Generation older than _Jupiter_; and _Saturn_ was expelled his Kingdom and castrated by his son _Jupiter_: which fable hath no place in the mythology of _Egypt_.
During the Reign of _Sesac_, _Jeroboam_ being in subjection to _Egypt_; set up the G.o.ds of _Egypt_ in _Dan_ and _Bethel_; and _Israel was without the true G.o.d, and without a teaching Priest and without law: and in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries; and nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for G.o.d did vex them with all adversity_. 2 _Chron_. xv. 3, 5, 6. But in the fifth year of _Asa_ the land of _Judah_ became quiet from war, and from thence had quiet ten years; and _Asa_ took away the altars of strange G.o.ds, and brake down the Images, and built the fenced cities of _Judah_ with walls and towers and gates and bars, having rest on every side, and got up an army of 580000 men, with which in the fifteenth year of his Reign he met _Zerah_ the _Ethiopian_, who came out against him with an army of a thousand thousand _Ethiopians_ and _Libyans_: the way of the _Libyans_ was through _Egypt_, and therefore _Zerah_ was now Lord of _Egypt_: they fought at _Mareshah_ near _Gerar_, between _Egypt_ and _Judaea_, and _Zerah_ was beaten, so that he could not recover himself: and from all this I seem to gather that _Osiris_ was slain in the fifth year of _Asa_, and thereupon _Egypt_ fell into civil wars, being invaded by the _Libyans_, and defended by the _Ethiopians_ for a time; and after ten years more being invaded by the _Ethiopians_, who slew _Orus_ the son and successor of _Osiris_, drowning him in the _Nile_, and seized his Kingdom. By these civil wars of _Egypt_, the land of _Judah_ had rest ten years. _Osiris_ or _Sesostris_ reigned long, _Manetho_ saith 48 years; and by this reckoning he began to Reign about the 17th year of _Solomon_; and _Orus_ his son was drowned in the 15th year of _Asa_: for _Pliny_ [321] tells us, _aegyptiorum bellis attrita est aethiopia, vicissim imperitando serviendoque, clara & potens etiam usque ad Trojana bella Memnone regnante_. _Ethiopia_, served _Egypt_ "till the death of _Sesostris_, and no longer; for _Herodotus_ [322] tells us that _he alone enjoyed the Empire of _Ethiopia__: then the _Ethiopians_ became free, and after ten years became Lords of _Egypt_ and _Libya_, under _Zerah_ and _Amenophis_.
When _Asa_ by his victory over _Zerah_ became safe from _Egypt_, he a.s.sembled all the people, and they offered sacrifices out of the spoils, and entered into a covenant upon oath to seek the Lord; and in lieu of the vessels taken away by _Sesac_, _he brought into the house of G.o.d the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, Silver and Gold, and Vessels_. 2 _Chron._ xv.
When _Zerah_ was beaten, so that he could not recover himself, the people [323] of the lower _Egypt_ revolted from the _Ethiopians_, and called in to their a.s.sistance two hundred thousand _Jews_ and _Canaanites_; and under the conduct of one _Osarsiphus_, a Priest of _Egypt_, called _Usorthon_, _Osorchon_, _Osorchor_, and _Hercules aegyptius_ by _Manetho_, caused the _Ethiopians_ now under _Memnon_ to retire to _Memphis_: and there _Memnon_ turned the river _Nile_ into a new channel, built a bridge over it and fortified that pa.s.s, and then went back into _Ethiopia_: but after thirteen years, he and his young son _Ramesses_ came down with an army from _Ethiopia_, conquered the lower _Egypt_, and drove out the _Jews_ and _Phnicians_; and this action the _Egyptian_ writers and their followers call the second expulsion of the Shepherds, taking _Osarsiphus_ for _Moses_.
_t.i.thonus_ a beautiful youth, the elder brother of _Priamus_, went into _Ethiopia_, being carried thither among many captives by _Sesostris_: and the _Greeks_, before the days of _Hesiod_, feigned that _Memnon_ was his son: _Memnon_ therefore, in the opinion of those ancient _Greeks_, was one Generation younger than _t.i.thonus_, and was born after the return of _Sesostris_ into _Egypt_: suppose about 16 or 20 years after the death of _Solomon_. He is said to have lived very long, and so might die about 95 years after _Solomon_, as we reckoned above: his mother, called _Cissia_ by _aeschylus_, in a statue erected to her in _Egypt_, [324] was represented as the daughter, the wife, and the mother of a King, and therefore he was the son of a King; which makes it probable that _Zerah_, whom he succeeded in the Kingdom of _Ethiopia_, was his father.
Historians [325] agree that _Menes_ Reigned in _Egypt_ next after the G.o.ds, and turned the river into a new channel, and built a bridge over it, and built _Memphis_ and the magnificent Temple of _Vulcan_: he built _Memphis_ over-against the place where _Grand Cairo_ now stands, called by the _Arabian_ historians _Mesir_: he built only the body of the Temple of _Vulcan_, and his successors _Ramesses_ or _Rhampsinitus_, _Mris_, _Asychis_, and _Psammiticus_ built the western, northern eastern, and southern portico"s thereof: _Psammiticus_, who built the last portico of this Temple, Reigned three hundred years after the victory of _Asa_ over _Zerah_, and it is not likely that this Temple could be above three hundred years in building, or that any _Menes_ could be King of all _Egypt_ before the expulsion of the Shepherds. The last of the G.o.ds of _Egypt_ was _Orus_, with his mother _Isis_, and sister _Bubaste_, and secretary _Thoth_, and unkle _Typhon_; and the King who reigned next after all their deaths, and turned the river and built a bridge over it, and built _Memphis_ and the Temple of _Vulcan_, was _Memnon_ or _Amenophis_, called by the _Egyptians_ _Amenoph_; and therefore he is _Menes_: for the names _Amenoph_, or _Menoph_, and _Menes_ do not much differ; and from _Amenoph_ the city _Memphis_ built by _Menes_ had its _Egyptian_ names _Moph_, _Noph_, _Menoph_ or _Menuf_, as it is still called by the _Arabian_ historians: the necessity of fortifying this place against _Osarsiphus_ gave occasion to the building of it.
In the time of the revolt of the lower _Egypt_ under _Osarsiphus_, and the retirement of _Amenophis_ into _Ethiopia_, _Egypt_ being then in the greatest distraction, the _Greeks_ built the ship _Argo_, and sent in it the flower of _Greece_ to _aeetes_ in _Colchis_, and to many other Princes on the coasts of the _Euxine_ and _Mediterranean_ seas; and this ship was built after the pattern of an _Egyptian_ ship with fifty oars, in which _Danaus_ with his fifty daughters a few years before fled from _Egypt_ into _Greece_, and was the first long ship with sails built by the _Greeks_: and such an improvement of navigation, with a design to send the flower of _Greece_ to many Princes upon the sea-coasts of the _Euxine_ and _Mediterranean_ seas, was too great an undertaking to be set on foot, without the concurrence of the Princes and States of _Greece_, and perhaps the approbation of the _Amphictyonic_ Council; for it was done by the dictate of the Oracle. This Council met every half year upon state-affairs for the welfare of _Greece_, and therefore knew of this expedition, and might send the _Argonauts_ upon an emba.s.sy to the said Princes; and for concealing their design might make the fable of the golden fleece, in relation to the ship of _Phrixus_ whose ensign was a golden ram: and probably their design was to notify the distraction of _Egypt_, and the invasion thereof by the _Ethiopians_ and _Israelites_, to the said Princes, and to persuade them to take that opportunity to revolt from _Egypt_, and set up for themselves, and make a league with the _Greeks_: for the _Argonauts_ went through [326] the Kingdom of _Colchis_ by land to the _Armenians_, and through _Armenia_ to the _Medes_; which could not have been done if they had not made friendship with the nations through which they pa.s.sed: they visited also _Laomedon_ King of the _Trojans_, _Phineus_ King of the _Thracians_, _Cyzicus_ King of the _Doliones_, _Lycus_ King of the _Mariandyni_, the coasts of _Mysia_ and _Taurica Chersonesus_, the nations upon the _Tanais_, the people about _Byzantium_, and the coasts of _Epirus_, _Corsica_, _Melita_, _Italy_, _Sicily_, _Sardinia_, and _Gallia_ upon the _Mediterranean_; and from thence they [327] crossed the sea to _Afric_, and there conferred with _Euripylus_ King of _Cyrene_: and [328]
_Strabo_ tells us that _in _Armenia_ and _Media_, and the neighbouring places, there were frequent monuments of the expedition of _Jason_; as also about _Sinope_, and its sea-coasts, the _Propontis_ and the _h.e.l.lespont_, and in the _Mediterranean__: and a message by the flower of _Greece_ to so many nations could be on no other account than state-policy; these nations had been invaded by the _Egyptians_, but after this expedition we hear no more of their continuing in subjection to _Egypt_.
The [329] _Egyptians_ originally lived on the fruits of the earth, and fared hardly, and abstained from animals, and therefore abominated Shepherds: _Menes_ taught them to adorn their beds and tables with rich furniture and carpets, and brought in amongst them a sumptuous, delicious and voluptuous way of life: and about a hundred years after his death, _Gnephacthus_ one of his successors cursed him for it, and to reduce the luxury of _Egypt_, caused the curse to be entered in the Temple of _Jupiter_ at _Thebes_; and by this curse the honour of _Menes_ was diminished among the _Egyptians_.
The Kings of _Egypt_ who expelled the Shepherds and Succeeded them, Reigned I think first at _Coptos_, and then at _Thebes_, and then at _Memphis_. At _Coptos_ I place _Misphragmuthosis_ and _Amosis_ or _Th.o.m.osis_ who expelled the Shepherds, and abolished their custom of sacrificing men, and extended the _Coptic_ language, and the name of ??a ??pt??, _Aegyptus_, to the conquest. Then _Thebes_ became the Royal City of _Ammon_, and from him was called _No-Ammon,_ and his conquest on the west of _Egypt_ was called _Ammonia._ After him, in the same city of _Thebes_, Reigned _Osiris_, _Orus_, _Menes_ or _Amenophis_, and _Ramesses_: but _Memphis_ and her miracles were not yet celebrated in _Greece_; for _Homer_ celebrates _Thebes_ as in its glory in his days, and makes no mention of _Memphis_.
After _Menes_ had built _Memphis, Mris_ the successor of _Ramesses_ adorned it, and made it the seat of the Kingdom, and this was almost two Generations after the _Trojan_ war. _Cinyras_, the _Vulcan_ who married _Venus_, and under the Kings of _Egypt_ Reigned over _Cyprus_ and part of _Phnicia_, and made armour for those Kings, lived "till the times of the _Trojan_ war: and upon his death _Menes_ or _Memnon_ might Deify him, and found the famous Temple of _Vulcan_ in that city for his worship, but not live to finish it. In a plain [330] not far from _Memphis_ are many small Pyramids, said to be built by _Venephes_ or _Enephes_; and I suspect that _Venephes_ and _Enephes_ have been corruptly written for _Menephes_ or _Amenophis_, the letters _AM_ being almost worn out in some old ma.n.u.script: for after the example of these Pyramids, the following Kings, _Mris_ and his successors, built others much larger. The plain in which they were built was the burying-place of that city, as appears by the Mummies there found; and therefore the Pyramids were the sepulchral monuments of the Kings and Princes of that city: and by these and such like works the city grew famous soon after the days of _Homer_; who therefore flourished in the Reign of _Ramesses_.
_Herodotus_ [331] is the oldest historian now extant who wrote of the antiquities of _Egypt_, and had what he wrote from the Priests of that country: and _Diodorus_, who wrote almost 400 years after him, and had his relations also from the Priests of _Egypt_, placed many nameless Kings between those whom _Herodotus_ placed in continual succession. The Priests of _Egypt_ had therefore, between the days of _Herodotus_ and _Diodorus_, out of vanity, very much increased the number of their Kings: and what they did after the days of _Herodotus_, they began to do before his days; for he tells us that they recited to him out of their books, the names of 330 Kings who Reigned after _Menes_, but did nothing memorable, except _Nitocris_ and _Mris_ the last of them: all these Reigned at _Thebes_, "till _Mris_ translated the seat of the Empire from _Thebes_ to _Memphis_.
After _Mris_ he reckons _Sesostris_, _Pheron_, _Proteus_, _Rhampsinitus_, _Cheops_, _Cephren_, _Mycerinus_, _Asychis_, _Anysis_, _Sabacon_, _Anysis_ again, _Sethon_, twelve contemporary Kings, _Psammitichus_, _Nechus_, _Psammis_, _Apries_, _Amasis_, and _Psammenitus_. The _Egyptians_ had before the days of _Solon_ made their monarchy 9000 years old, and now they reckon"d to _Herodotus_ a succession of 330 Kings Reigning so many Generations, that is about 11000 years, before _Sesostris_: but the Kings who Reigned long before _Sesostris_ might Reign over several little Kingdoms in several parts of _Egypt_, before the rise of their Monarchy; and by consequence before the days of _Eli_ and _Samuel_, and so are not under our consideration: and these names may have been multiplied by corruption; and some of them, as _Athothes_ or _Thoth_, the secretary of _Osiris_; _Tosorthrus_ or _aesculapius_ a Physician who invented building with square stones; and _Thuor_ or _Polybus_ the husband of _Alcandra_, were only Princes of _Egypt_. If with _Herodotus_ we omit the names of those Kings who did nothing memorable, and consider only those whose actions are recorded, and who left splendid monuments of their having Reigned over _Egypt_, such as were Temples, Statues, Pyramids, Obelisks, and Palaces dedicated or ascribed to them, these Kings reduced into good order will give us all or almost all the Kings of _Egypt_, from the days of the expulsion of the Shepherds and founding of the Monarchy, downwards to the conquest of _Egypt_ by _Cambyses_: for _Sesostris_ Reigned in the Age of the G.o.ds of _Egypt_: being Deified by the names of _Osiris_, _Hercules_ and _Bacchus_, as above; and therefore _Menes_, _Nitocris_, and _Mris_ are to be placed after him; _Menes_ and his son _Ramesses_ Reigned next after the G.o.ds, and therefore _Nitocris_ and _Mris_ Reigned after _Ramesses_: _Mris_ is set down immediately before _Cheops_, three times in the Dynastys of the Kings of _Egypt_ composed by _Eratosthenes_, and once in the Dynasties of _Manetho_; and in the same Dynasties _Nitocris_ is set after the builders of the three great Pyramids, and according to _Herodotus_ her brother Reigned before her, and was slain, and she revenged his death; and according to _Syncellus_ she built the third great Pyramid; and the builders of the Pyramids Reigned at _Memphis_, and by consequence after _Mris_. Now from these things I gather that the Kings of _Egypt_ mentioned by _Herodotus_ ought to be placed in this order; _Sesostris_, _Pheron_, _Proteus_, _Menes_, _Rhampsinitus_, _Mris_, _Cheops_, _Cephren_, _Mycerinus_, _Nitocris_, _Asychis_, _Anysis_, _Sabacon_, _Anysis_ again, _Sethon_, twelve contemporary Kings, _Psammitichus_, _Nechus_, _Psammis_, _Apries_, _Amasis_, _Psammenitus_.
_Pheron_ is by _Herodotus_ said to be the son and successor of _Sesostris_.
He was Deified by the name of _Orus_.
_Proteus_ Reigned in the lower _Egypt_ when _Paris_ sailed thither; that is at the end of the _Trojan_ war, according to [332] _Herodotus_: and at that time _Amenophis_ was King of _Egypt_ and _Ethiopia_: but in his absence _Proteus_ might be governor of some part of the lower _Egypt_ under him; for _Homer_ places _Proteus_ upon the sea-coasts, and makes him a sea G.o.d, and calls him the servant of _Neptune_; and _Herodotus_ saith that he rose up from among the common people, and that _Proteus_ was his name translated into _Greek_, and this name in _Greek_ signifies only a Prince or President. He succeeded _Pheron_, and was succeeded by _Rhampsinitus_ according to _Herodotus_; and so was contemporary to _Amenophis_.
_Amenophis_ Reigned next after _Orus_ and _Isis_ the last of the G.o.ds; he Reigned at first over all _Egypt_, and then over _Memphis_ and the upper parts of _Egypt_; and by conquering _Osarsiphus_, who had revolted from him, became King of all _Egypt_ again, about 51 years after the death of _Solomon_. He built _Memphis_ and ordered the worship of the G.o.ds of _Egypt_, and built a Palace at _Abydus_, and the _Memnonia_ at _This_ and _Susa_, and the magnificent Temple of _Vulcan_ in _Memphis_; the building with square stones being found out before by _Tosorthrus_, the _aesculapius_ of _Egypt_: he is by corruption of his name called _Menes_, _Mines_, _Minaeus_, _Mineus_, _Minies_, _Mnevis_, _Enephes_, _Venephes_, _Phamenophis_, _Osymanthyas_, _Osimandes_, _Ismandes_, _Imandes_, _Memnon_, _Arminon._
_Amenophis_ was succeeded by his son, called by _Herodotus_, _Rhampsinitus_, and by others _Ramses_, _Ramises_, _Rameses_, _Ramesses_, [333] _Ramestes_, _Rhampses_, _Remphis_. Upon an Obelisk erected by this King in _Heliopolis_, and sent to _Rome_ by the Emperor _Constantius_, was an inscription, interpreted by _Hermapion_ an _Egyptian_ Priest, expressing that the King was long lived, and Reigned over a great part of the earth: and _Strabo_, [334] an eye-witness, tells us, that in the monuments of the Kings of _Egypt_, above the _Memnonium_ were inscriptions upon Obelisks, expressing the riches of the Kings, and their Reigning as far as _Scythia_, _Bactria_, _India_ and _Ionia_: and _Tacitus_ [335] tells us from an inscription seen at _Thebes_ by _Caesar Germanicus,_ and interpreted to him by the _Egyptian_ Priests, that this King _Ramesses_ had an army of 700000 men, and Reigned over _Libya_, _Ethiopia_, _Media_, _Persia_, _Bactria_, _Scythia_, _Armenia_, _Cappadocia_, _Bithynia_, and _Lycia_; whence the Monarchy of _a.s.syria_ was not yet risen. This King was very covetous, and a great collector of taxes, and one of the richest of all the Kings of _Egypt_, and built the western portico of the Temple of _Vulcan_.
_Mris_ inheriting the riches of _Ramesses_, built the northern portico of that Temple more sumptuously, and made the Lake of _Mris,_ with two great Pyramids of brick in the midst of it: and for preserving the division of _Egypt_ into equal shares amongst the soldiers, this King wrote a book of surveying, which gave a beginning to Geometry. He is called also _Maris_, _Myris_, _Meres_, _Marres_, _Smarres_; and more corruptly, by changing ?
into ?, ?, ?, S, Y?, ?, &c. _Ayres_, _Tyris_, _Byires_, _Soris_, _Uch.o.r.eus_, _Lachares_, _Labaris_, &c.
_Diodorus_ [336] places _Uch.o.r.eus_ between _Osymanduas_ and _Myris_, that is between _Amenophis_ and _Mris_, and saith that he built _Memphis_, and fortified it to admiration with a mighty rampart of earth, and a broad and deep trench, which was filled with the water of the _Nile_, and made there a vast and deep Lake for receiving the water of the _Nile_ in the time of its overflowing, and built palaces in the city; and that this place was so commodiously seated that most of the Kings who Reigned after him preferred it before _Thebes_, and removed the Court from thence to this place, so that the magnificence of _Thebes_ from that time began to decrease, and that of _Memphis_ to increase, "till _Alexander_ King of _Macedon_ built _Alexandria_. These great works of _Uch.o.r.eus_ and those of _Mris_ savour of one and the same genius, and were certainly done by one and the same King, distinguished into two by a corruption of the name as above; for this Lake of _Uch.o.r.eus_ was certainly the same with that of _Mris_.
After the example of the two brick Pyramids made by _Mris_, the three next Kings, _Cheops_, _Cephren_ and _Mycerinus_ built the three great Pyramids at _Memphis_; and therefore Reigned in that city. _Cheops_ shut up the Temples of the _Nomes_, and prohibited the worship of the G.o.ds of _Egypt_, designing no doubt to have been worshipped himself after death: he is called also _Chembis_, _Chemmis_, _Chemnis_, _Phiops_, _Apathus_, _Apappus_, _Suphis_, _Saophis_, _Syphoas_, _Syphaosis_, _Soiphis_, _Syphuris_, _Anoiphis_, _Anoisis_: he built the biggest of the three great Pyramids which stand together; and his brother _Cephren_ or _Cerpheres_ built the second, and his son _Mycerinus_ founded the third: this last King was celebrated for clemency and justice; he shut up the dead body of his daughter in a hollow ox, and caused her to be worshipped daily with odours: he is called also _Cheres_, _Cherinus_, _Bicheres_, _Moscheres_, _Mencheres_. He died before the third Pyramid was finished, and his sister and successor _Nitocris_ finished it.
Then Reigned _Asychis_, who built the eastern portico of the Temple of _Vulcan_ very splendidly, and among the small Pyramids a large Pyramid of brick, made of mud dug out of the Lake of _Mris_: and these are the Kings who Reigned at _Memphis_, and spent their time in adorning that city, until the _Ethiopians_ and the _a.s.syrians_ and others revolted, and _Egypt_ lost all her dominion abroad, and became again divided into several small Kingdoms.
One of those Kingdoms was I think at _Memphis_, under _Gnephactus_, and his son and successor _Bocchoris_. _Africa.n.u.s_ calls _Bocchoris_ a _Saite_; but _Sais_ at this time had other Kings: _Gnephactus_, otherwise called _Neochabis_ and _Technatis_, cursed _Menes_ for his luxury, and caused the curse to be entered in the Temple of _Jupiter_ at _Thebes_; and therefore Reigned over _Thebais_: and _Bocchoris_ sent in a wild bull upon the G.o.d _Mnevis_ which was worshipped at _Heliopolis_. Another of those Kingdoms was at _Anysis_, or _Hanes_, _Isa._ x.x.x. 4. under its King _Anysis_ or _Amosis_; a third was at _Sais_, under _Stephanathis_, _Nechepsos_, and _Nechus_; and a fourth was at _Tanis_ or _Zoan_, under _Petubastes_, _Osorchon_ and _Psammis_: and _Egypt_ being weakened by this division, was invaded and conquered by the _Ethiopians_ under _Sabacon_, who slew _Bocchoris_ and _Nechus_, and made _Anysis_ fly. The Olympiads began in the Reign of _Petubastes_, and the _aera_ of _Nabona.s.sar_ in the 22d year of the Reign of _Bocchoris_, according to _Africa.n.u.s_; and therefore the division, of _Egypt_ into many Kingdoms began before the Olympiads, but not above the length of two Kings Reigns before them.
After the study of Astronomy was set on foot for the use of navigation, and the _Egyptians_ by the Heliacal Risings and Settings of the Stars had determined the length of the Solar year of 365 days, and by other observations had fixed the Solstices, and formed the fixt Stars into Asterisms, all which was done in the Reign of _Ammon_, _Sesac_, _Orus_, and _Memnon_; it may be presumed that they continued to observe the motions of the Planets; for they called them after the names of their G.o.ds; and _Nechepsos_ or _Nicepsos_ King of _Sais_, by the a.s.sistance of _Petosiris_ a Priest of _Egypt_, invented Astrology, grounding it upon the aspects of the Planets, and the qualities of the men and women to whom they were dedicated: and in the beginning of the Reign of _Nabona.s.sar_ King of _Babylon_, about which time the _Ethiopians_ under _Sabacon_ invaded _Egypt_, those _Egyptians_ who fled from him to _Babylon_, carried thither the _Egyptian_ year of 365 days, and the study of Astronomy and Astrology, and founded the _aera_ of _Nabona.s.sar_; dating it from the first year of that King"s Reign, which was the 22d year _of Bocchoris_ as above, and beginning the year on the same day with the _Egyptians_ for the sake of their calculations. So _Diodorus_ [337]: _they say that the _Chaldaeans_ in _Babylon_, being Colonies of the _Egyptians_, became famous for Astrology, having learnt it from the Priests of _Egypt__: and _Hestiaeus_, who wrote an history of _Egypt_, speaking of a disaster of the invaded _Egyptians_, saith [338] that _the Priests who survived this disaster, taking with them the _Sacra_ of _Jupiter Enyalius_, came to _Sennaar_ in _Babylonia__. From the 15th year of _Asa_, in which _Zerah_ was beaten, and _Menes_ or _Amenophis_ began his Reign, to the beginning of the _aera_ of _Nabona.s.sar_, were 200 years; and this interval of time allows room for about nine or ten Reigns of Kings, at about twenty years to a Reign one with another; and so many Reigns there were, according to the account set down above out of _Herodotus_; and therefore that account, as it is the oldest, and was received by _Herodotus_ from the Priests of _Thebes_, _Memphis_, and _Heliopolis_, three princ.i.p.al cities of _Egypt_, agrees also with the course of nature, and leaves no room for the Reigns of the many nameless Kings which we have omitted. These omitted Kings Reigned before _Mris_, and by consequence at _Thebes_; for _Mris_ 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 G.o.ds. Now _Menes_ built the body of the Temple of _Vulcan_, _Ramesses_ the first portico, and _Mris_ the second portico thereof; but the _Egyptians_, for making their G.o.ds 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 _Mris_ 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 _a.s.syrians_, in the fourth year of _Hezekiah_, _Anno Nabona.s.s._ 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 mult.i.tude of mice, which eat the bow-strings of the _a.s.syrians_; 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 _a.s.syrians_ with a great destruction.