DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12654#0207
Sect. IV.]
danaus and iEGYPTUS.
179
the confusion of personifications with persons. The
traditions respecting Danaus furnish an example of
this. He is called the brother of iEgyptus, and son of
Belus, and, by his mother, the grandson of Nilus.
Belus is a mythical personage, a deified traditional
King of the Babylonians ; and here it seems probable
that he typifies a race. From the time at which the
migrations from Egypt to Greece occurred, and from
other circumstances, I can entertain no doubt that the
greater number of the migrating people were of the
tribes which the Egyptians called Shepherds. This
opinion seems to be confirmed by their being con-
nected, not only with Egypt, but also, with Phoenicia;
for many of the Shepherds were evidently Phoenicians
settled in Egypt. Some of the colonizers of Greece,
however, may have come directly from Phoenicia.
After the termination of the Twelfth Dynasty, the
Diospolite Kingdom was ruled by the Thirteenth, which
was contemporary with part of the Fifteenth and Six-
teenth Dynasties, and with the whole of the Seven-
teenth, supposing the Sixteenth to have commenced
before the conclusion of the Twelfth ; and it was also
contemporary with the Eighth Dynasty of Memphites,
and part of the Ninth, and the whole of the Tenth, of
Heracleopolites, and probably with the greater part of
the Fourteenth Dynasty, of Xoites.
The Thirteenth Dynasty commenced towards the
conclusion of the twentieth century B.C., or early in
the nineteenth century. Africanus and Eusebius agree
in assigning to this Dynasty sixty Kings and a duration
of 453 years: but the interval from the conclusion of
the Twelfth Dynasty to the commencement of the
Eighteenth Dynasty is about four hundred years, or
somewhat less; and consequently it is evident that the
n 2
danaus and iEGYPTUS.
179
the confusion of personifications with persons. The
traditions respecting Danaus furnish an example of
this. He is called the brother of iEgyptus, and son of
Belus, and, by his mother, the grandson of Nilus.
Belus is a mythical personage, a deified traditional
King of the Babylonians ; and here it seems probable
that he typifies a race. From the time at which the
migrations from Egypt to Greece occurred, and from
other circumstances, I can entertain no doubt that the
greater number of the migrating people were of the
tribes which the Egyptians called Shepherds. This
opinion seems to be confirmed by their being con-
nected, not only with Egypt, but also, with Phoenicia;
for many of the Shepherds were evidently Phoenicians
settled in Egypt. Some of the colonizers of Greece,
however, may have come directly from Phoenicia.
After the termination of the Twelfth Dynasty, the
Diospolite Kingdom was ruled by the Thirteenth, which
was contemporary with part of the Fifteenth and Six-
teenth Dynasties, and with the whole of the Seven-
teenth, supposing the Sixteenth to have commenced
before the conclusion of the Twelfth ; and it was also
contemporary with the Eighth Dynasty of Memphites,
and part of the Ninth, and the whole of the Tenth, of
Heracleopolites, and probably with the greater part of
the Fourteenth Dynasty, of Xoites.
The Thirteenth Dynasty commenced towards the
conclusion of the twentieth century B.C., or early in
the nineteenth century. Africanus and Eusebius agree
in assigning to this Dynasty sixty Kings and a duration
of 453 years: but the interval from the conclusion of
the Twelfth Dynasty to the commencement of the
Eighteenth Dynasty is about four hundred years, or
somewhat less; and consequently it is evident that the
n 2