chronology of ancient egypt Summary and Overview
Bible Dictionaries at a Glance
chronology of ancient egypt in Schaff's Bible Dictionary
CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT EGYPT As the father of nations, Egypt in its early history antedates all records, and is lost in obscurity. Egyptian history may be divided into 6 great periods:
(1) The Pharaohs or native kings, to b.c. 525;
(2) the Persian, to b.c. 332; (3) the Ptolemies, to b.c. 30;
(4) the Roman, to a.d. 640;
(5) the Arab;
(6) the Turk.
Egyptian chronology is in a confused and unsettled condition. New information from the monuments has simply increased the difficulty of settling the many conflicting statements and establishing dates on a satisfactory basis. The principal facts that appear to be generally accepted are:
(1) Menes is an historical person, and the first known king of Egypt.
(2) The great Pyramid, at Gizeh, dates from the fourth dynasty, and is an imperishable monument of the skill and resources of the people at that very remote period.
(3) Manetho's lists of dynasties were chiefly, though not entirely, consecutive, as appears from the two lists of the first Pharaohs found in the temple of Abydos, the lists at Sakkarah, and another in Thebes: the duration of these dynasties, however, is not settled.
(4) The Hyksos, or Shepherd -kings of Manetho, conquered and ruled Lower Egypt for centuries, breaking the continuity of the empire, but they were expelled by Amasis I. These Hyksos are not to be confounded with the Hebrews, whom Manetho deridingly calls "Mepers."
(5) During the eighteenth dynasty the empire of Egypt was in the height of its splendor, its conquests reaching to Babylon and Nineveh on the Euphrates, and over Nubia in the south.
(6) No dates can be definitively fixed before the beginning of the twenty-second dynasty. The two noted authorities on this subject -- M. Mariette and Prof. Lepsius -- differ over 1100 years in their tables as to the length of dynasties I.-XVII. See J. P. Thomson in Bibliotheca Sacra, 1877, and Poole in Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. vii. Some have conjectured that Menes, the founder of Egypt, was identical with Mizraim, a grandson of Noah. Gen 10:6.