G. LIMITS OF THE DURATION OF EGYPTIAN EPOCHS PRIOR TO MENES, ACCORDING TO EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS, RECORDS, AND TRADITIONS. FROM what has been already stated, entirely irrespective of the series established on general philosophic grounds, the following approximate dates, deduced from the traces of early Egyptian development, would seem to be the lowest possible, and the most probable: I. Menes. Commencement of the idea of II. Dualism.-The date of the consolida- III. Date of the institution of Nomes.- IV. Osirism.-Formation of the religious individuality. Origines of Egyp tian life and age of picture-writing 1500 45 V. Khamism.-Formation of the Egyptian deposit of not yet individualised 1500 45 Making altogether, before Menes 9500 180 Hence the latest date at which the commencement of Egyptian life, the immigration from the Euphrates district, can have taken place is 9580 B. C., or about 6000 before Menes. But the empire which Menes founded, or the chronological period of the Egyptians as a nation down to the end of the reign of Nectanebo II., comprised, according to our historical computations, very nearly thirty-three centuries, or a hundred generations. In reality there were disturbances, especially in those early times, which must be taken into account. We have calculated the lowest possible date to be 6,000 years, or 180 generations before Menes. Were this to be doubled it would assuredly carry us too far. A much higher date, indeed twice that number of years, would certainly be more conceivable than a lower one, considering the vast amount of development and historical deposit which existed prior to Menes. It can be proved that but a few centuries after his time everything had become rigid, not only in language, but also in writing; which had grown up entirely on Egyptian soil, and which must be called the very latest link in that ancient civilisation. Now if instead of 6,000 years we reckon 4,000 more, or about 10,000 years from the first immigration down to Menes, the date of the Egyptian origines would be about 14,000 B. C. Referring this back to the astronomical epoch above described, according to which the Flood of Noah and the catastrophe in Southern Asia occurred about 9,250 B. C., this gives the highest probable computation. For the Egyptians, a people celebrated for their faithful ancient reminiscences, knew nothing of that stupendous event, the climatic centre of which was in the 10th millennium B. C., but which was assuredly many hundred years in operation. Now, after what has been already advanced, no further proof is necessary that these strata are really found in the primeval history of Egypt, or that they succeed each other in the order indicated above. But as regards the individual dates, we have put that of Menes lower by a few centuries, in order to be able to start from the half of the millennium, and indeed in order to select the lowest possible assumption; for the true date (3,623) is more than a century higher. In respect to the second assumption, the duration of the existence of the double government, we have followed the dates of Manetho, already discussed in the first volume, and a more exact analysis of which will be given in the chapter on Mythology. According to them we have most unquestionably "human kings," or princes, about whose reigns there were extant traditions in four series: Sacred Kings (sacerdotal princes) Thinites, or kings of the Upper or Southern Altogether before Menes, human princes Years. 1855 1817 1790 350 5212 1. That the Thinite princes in the Southern Empire were contemporaries of the Memphites, and consequently they will not come into the series; 2. That the Memphite date represents a sum made up out of the dates of all the reigns, consequently only about 1,500; 3. That the oldest series belongs to the era of the Nomes, and perhaps goes down as far as the date of the formation of Osirism. Even upon these assumptions, which contract the length of the chronology as much as possible, the result is that the shortest possible duration of the whole of the second and third epochs conjointly is three thousand years. We shall arrive at the same result, however, in respect to the two oldest of these epochs, if we examine them in closer detail; which will be done when the circumstances of the primeval world are investigated. SECTION II. OUTLINES OF A METHOD FOR FINDING THE PLACE OF EGYPT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION. A. THE PECULIAR DIFFICULTIES OF MYTHOLOGICAL ETYMOLOGICAL research, and the comparison of words in different languages, appear in the history of the human intellect not unlike the shipping of the ancients between Scylla and Charybdis. Nothing short of the resolution of Ulysses, who caused himself to be fastened to the mast, and his ears to be stopped, can prevent our being led away by the siren-song of similarity of sounds, and a delusive combination of images. Any one who yields to this seduction is lost, and will assuredly, sooner or later, strand his vessel on the rocks of absurdity. The same fate will attend the comparative physiologist who discovers in different animal formations the identity of the developing type. But here the individual races and species are so strongly marked by their unchangeable qualities, and by the unmistakable distinctness of their habits and whole character, that the fantastical investigator is either driven back upon the divine reality, or is condemned at once by sound human reason. Languages, on the contrary, which are the creation of the intellect, must submit to every sort of fanciful handling; and it is more difficult to obtain a verdict of infallible reason from our contemporaries against such absurdities, especially when the subjects of them are foreign and dead languages. In this case the only preservative against unscientific blunders and perversity consists in adhering to sound principles, to the adoption of a clear method, and to unflinching honesty. In mythology, however, the comparative investigator is subjected to still greater temptations and dangers. If the aim of language be to distinguish, according to their species and kind, those phenomena which in the actual state of things are continually varying, and when so distinguished to fix them by words-mythology, on the contrary, endeavours to exhibit the unity of phenomena apparently distinct. Its aim is to abolish all distinction and limitation of the Finite, and thus to show the existence of the Unity in all manifestations of life. It keeps the distinction between individual things out of sight, and attempts to reconcile the contrast between the Finite and Infinite itself. The distinction between man and woman, between cause and effect, must be abolished, in order to show a universal unity. The great object is to effect a union between the Divine and Human, between Spirit and Nature. Language, again, necessarily advances by means of transitions; mythology frequently by jumps and contrasts, and even adopts altogether new beginnings. A religious difference produces an entirely new language to express it. Kronos, who eats his own children, is the true picture of mythology. A new religion endeavours to obliterate every trace of its predecessor. But even in a natural organic development the greatest contrasts lie close to each other. A thing which is the object of worship on account of its power, may be held in abhorrence as a hostile agent: a god may sink down into a hero or demon, he may even become a spectre or devil, when the old religious ideas are superseded. It is no matter of wonder, therefore, that the greatest confusion constantly prevails upon this subject. Even |