DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9059#0044
SOURCES OF HISTORICAL DATA. 39
read the Second Book of Herodotus, the First
Book of Diodorus, the Seventeenth Book of
Strabo, and the Treatise de Isside et Osiride,
attributed to Plutarch.
Had we nothing but the writings of Herodotus
and of Diodorus to guide us in the study of
Ancient Egypt, we could certainly form but a
very imperfect idea of that country. Every
notion of chronology is there completely upset.*
They contain stories as ridiculous as they are
impossible. One must read the histories of
Egypt written before the discovery of Cham-
pollion to see into what fatal errors these two
writers would involve science, were no other
sources of information at hand.
Strabo is more trustworthy. His Geography
contains excellent information, with no other
fault than that of being rather curtailed.
Whoever may have been the author of the
Treatise on Isis and Osiris, no one can enter
upon the study of the Egyptian religion without
an intimate acquaintance with this book. The
author has borrowed with discernment from
true Egyptian sources. In this world of ours,
* Herodotus, for instance, places the Pyramids after
Rameses, which is very much like placing Charlemagne
after Louis XIV.
read the Second Book of Herodotus, the First
Book of Diodorus, the Seventeenth Book of
Strabo, and the Treatise de Isside et Osiride,
attributed to Plutarch.
Had we nothing but the writings of Herodotus
and of Diodorus to guide us in the study of
Ancient Egypt, we could certainly form but a
very imperfect idea of that country. Every
notion of chronology is there completely upset.*
They contain stories as ridiculous as they are
impossible. One must read the histories of
Egypt written before the discovery of Cham-
pollion to see into what fatal errors these two
writers would involve science, were no other
sources of information at hand.
Strabo is more trustworthy. His Geography
contains excellent information, with no other
fault than that of being rather curtailed.
Whoever may have been the author of the
Treatise on Isis and Osiris, no one can enter
upon the study of the Egyptian religion without
an intimate acquaintance with this book. The
author has borrowed with discernment from
true Egyptian sources. In this world of ours,
* Herodotus, for instance, places the Pyramids after
Rameses, which is very much like placing Charlemagne
after Louis XIV.