DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0273
RAMESES THE GREAT. 255
the reign of Eameses II.* This may very well be. The
fourscore years that elapsed between that time and the
time of the exodus correspond with sufficient exactness to
the chronological data furnished by the monuments.
Moses would thus see out the sixty-one remaining years of
the king's long life, and release the Israelites from bond-'
age toward the close of the reign of Menepfchah,f who sat
for about twenty years on the throne of his fathers. The
correspondence of dates this time leaves nothing to be
desired.
The Sesostris of Diodorus Siculus went blind and died
by his own hand; which act, says the historian, as it con-
formed to the glory of his life, was greatly admired by his
people. We are here evidently in the region of pure fable.
Suicide was by no means an Egyptian, but a classical,
virtue. Just as the Greeks hated age, the Egyptians
reverenced it; and it may be doubted whether a people
who seem always to have passionately desired length of
days would have seen anything to admire in a willful short-
d'enfants, dont quelques-uns etaient assez age's pour combattre sous
ses ordres."—" Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient," par G.
Maspero, chap, v, p. 220. 4th edition, 1886.
G'omme Ramses II regna GO ans, le regne de son successeur sous
lequel la sortie des Juifs eut lieu, embrassa la duree de 20 ans; et
comme Moi'se avait l'age de.80 ans au temps de la sortie, il en resulte
evidemment que les enfants d'Israel quittSrent l'Egypte une des ces
derneires six annees du regne de Menepthah; e'est a dire entre 1327
etl881avant 1'ere chretienne. Si nous admettons que ce Pharaon
pent dans la mer, selon le rapport biblique, Molse sera ne 80 ans
nyant 1821, on 1401 avant J. Chr., la sixieme annee de regne de Ram-
ses II."—"Histoire d'Egvpte," Brugscb, chap, viii, p. 157. First
edition, Leipzig, 1859.
T If the exodus took place, however, during the opening j-ears of
the reign of Menepthah, it becomes necessary either to remove the
uirth. of Moses to a correspondingly earlier date, or to accept the
amendment of Bunsen, who says " we can hardly take literally the
Statement as to the age of Moses at the exodus, twice over "forty
years." Forty years is the mode of expressing a generation, from
thirty to thirty-three years. "Egypt's Place in Universal History,"
Bunsen, London, 1859, vol. iii. p. 184. That Meneptah did not him-
self perish with his host, seems certain. The final oppression of the
Hebrews and the miracles of Moses, as narrated in the Bible, give
°ne the impression of haying all happened -within a comparatively
Snort space of time; and cannot have extended over a period of
twenty years. Neither is it stated that Pharaoh perished. The tomb
°t Menepthah, in fact, is found in the valley of the tombs of the
kl»gs (tomb No. 8).
the reign of Eameses II.* This may very well be. The
fourscore years that elapsed between that time and the
time of the exodus correspond with sufficient exactness to
the chronological data furnished by the monuments.
Moses would thus see out the sixty-one remaining years of
the king's long life, and release the Israelites from bond-'
age toward the close of the reign of Menepfchah,f who sat
for about twenty years on the throne of his fathers. The
correspondence of dates this time leaves nothing to be
desired.
The Sesostris of Diodorus Siculus went blind and died
by his own hand; which act, says the historian, as it con-
formed to the glory of his life, was greatly admired by his
people. We are here evidently in the region of pure fable.
Suicide was by no means an Egyptian, but a classical,
virtue. Just as the Greeks hated age, the Egyptians
reverenced it; and it may be doubted whether a people
who seem always to have passionately desired length of
days would have seen anything to admire in a willful short-
d'enfants, dont quelques-uns etaient assez age's pour combattre sous
ses ordres."—" Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient," par G.
Maspero, chap, v, p. 220. 4th edition, 1886.
G'omme Ramses II regna GO ans, le regne de son successeur sous
lequel la sortie des Juifs eut lieu, embrassa la duree de 20 ans; et
comme Moi'se avait l'age de.80 ans au temps de la sortie, il en resulte
evidemment que les enfants d'Israel quittSrent l'Egypte une des ces
derneires six annees du regne de Menepthah; e'est a dire entre 1327
etl881avant 1'ere chretienne. Si nous admettons que ce Pharaon
pent dans la mer, selon le rapport biblique, Molse sera ne 80 ans
nyant 1821, on 1401 avant J. Chr., la sixieme annee de regne de Ram-
ses II."—"Histoire d'Egvpte," Brugscb, chap, viii, p. 157. First
edition, Leipzig, 1859.
T If the exodus took place, however, during the opening j-ears of
the reign of Menepthah, it becomes necessary either to remove the
uirth. of Moses to a correspondingly earlier date, or to accept the
amendment of Bunsen, who says " we can hardly take literally the
Statement as to the age of Moses at the exodus, twice over "forty
years." Forty years is the mode of expressing a generation, from
thirty to thirty-three years. "Egypt's Place in Universal History,"
Bunsen, London, 1859, vol. iii. p. 184. That Meneptah did not him-
self perish with his host, seems certain. The final oppression of the
Hebrews and the miracles of Moses, as narrated in the Bible, give
°ne the impression of haying all happened -within a comparatively
Snort space of time; and cannot have extended over a period of
twenty years. Neither is it stated that Pharaoh perished. The tomb
°t Menepthah, in fact, is found in the valley of the tombs of the
kl»gs (tomb No. 8).