DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12609#0069
TRUE AGE OE THE PYRAMIDS.
53
argument which so triumphantly proved that Egypt
"was a civilized country long before the Mosaic era of
the creation. And how soon did that argument
vanish under the keen gaze of philosophic truth!
That the great pyramids are works of a very early
age is argued, 1st, from the fact that the names of the
kings Avho founded them occur in the fourth of
Manetho's thirty-one dynasties ; and that three names
somewhat like these occur in the list of Eratosthenes
not very far from the beginning*: 2d, from an in-
cidental remark of Herodotus, that the Egyptians,
detesting the memory of the founders, called their
pyramids by the name of the shepherd Philitis who
at that time fed his cattle in those parts; a statement
which, combined with certain Hindoo traditions, has
been supposed by some to connect these works with
the ancient Shepherd Kings: 3d, from the (supposed)
absence of hieroglyphics upon them; whence it has
been imagined they were built before the custom of
inscribing public monuments, so universal in the
Thebaid, came into use.
As Manetho's own work is lost, and his canon, as
given by his copyists, is guilty of the egregious error
of carrying back the history of Egypt to a period
long before the creation, it is certain that none of
the statements attributed to him are to be entirely
relied on. Regarding the early dynasties, especially,
* They are the 15th, 16th, and 17th in his list; the names
Saophis, Saophis II., and Moscheres.
E 3
53
argument which so triumphantly proved that Egypt
"was a civilized country long before the Mosaic era of
the creation. And how soon did that argument
vanish under the keen gaze of philosophic truth!
That the great pyramids are works of a very early
age is argued, 1st, from the fact that the names of the
kings Avho founded them occur in the fourth of
Manetho's thirty-one dynasties ; and that three names
somewhat like these occur in the list of Eratosthenes
not very far from the beginning*: 2d, from an in-
cidental remark of Herodotus, that the Egyptians,
detesting the memory of the founders, called their
pyramids by the name of the shepherd Philitis who
at that time fed his cattle in those parts; a statement
which, combined with certain Hindoo traditions, has
been supposed by some to connect these works with
the ancient Shepherd Kings: 3d, from the (supposed)
absence of hieroglyphics upon them; whence it has
been imagined they were built before the custom of
inscribing public monuments, so universal in the
Thebaid, came into use.
As Manetho's own work is lost, and his canon, as
given by his copyists, is guilty of the egregious error
of carrying back the history of Egypt to a period
long before the creation, it is certain that none of
the statements attributed to him are to be entirely
relied on. Regarding the early dynasties, especially,
* They are the 15th, 16th, and 17th in his list; the names
Saophis, Saophis II., and Moscheres.
E 3