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The Aegyptiaca of Manetho

Chat GPT Summaries

Prompt: Summarize the first volume of Manetho's Aegyptiaca.

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Manetho's Aegyptiaca – Book One (Summary)

The first volume (or Book One) of Aegyptiaca by Manetho, an Egyptian priest writing in the 3rd century BCE, offers a mytho-historical account of Egypt’s earliest rulers. While the original text is lost, it survives in fragments preserved by later historians such as Josephus, Africanus, and Eusebius. Here's a summary of its contents:

Scope: Covers the reigns of the mythical and divine rulers of Egypt, through to the end of the Old Kingdom.

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1. Divine and Mythical Kings

• Egypt was first ruled by gods, beginning with the sun god Ra (Helios).
• This divine rule continued through a succession of gods and demigods, including:
  • Ptah, Shu, Geb, Osiris, Isis, and Horus.
• These reigns spanned thousands of years (often exaggerated), forming a mythological prehistory.

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2. Rule of Spirits and Demigods

• After the gods came the spirits of the dead (possibly deified ancestors) and demigods.
• These figures ruled for centuries and formed a bridge between gods and mortal kings.

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3. Mortal Kings – Early Dynasties

• Begins the Dynastic Period with Menes, the first human king, who united Upper and Lower Egypt.
• Menes (c. 3100 BCE) is considered the founder of the First Dynasty.
• The text then outlines the kings of the First through Eleventh Dynasties, including:
  • Key figures like Djer, Den, and Sneferu.
  • Great pyramid-builders such as Djoser (3rd Dynasty) and Khufu (Cheops) (4th Dynasty).
• The period includes:
  • Development of writing and administration.
  • Construction of monumental architecture (step pyramids and the Great Pyramid).
  • An emphasis on divine kingship and religious authority.

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Structure and Style

• Manetho organized his work by dynasties, a system still used today in Egyptology.
• He gave reign lengths, notable achievements, and sometimes strange or miraculous events.
• His narrative blends historical facts, folklore, and religious tradition.

Manetho’s Aegyptiaca – Book Two (Summary)

Scope: Covers the rulers of the Middle Kingdom through to the Second Intermediate Period, including the Hyksos—foreign rulers who took over parts of Egypt.

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1. Middle Kingdom (Dynasties 11–14)

• Continues from the end of Book One, picking up with the reunification of Egypt under Mentuhotep II (11th Dynasty), after the First Intermediate Period.
• 12th Dynasty is a highlight:
  • Known for stability, administrative reform, irrigation projects, and literature.
  • Key rulers include:
    • Amenemhat I – founded the dynasty and moved the capital to Itjtawy.
    • Senusret I, II, III – expanded Egypt’s borders, especially into Nubia.
    • Amenemhat III – presided over a prosperous reign and major building projects, including the Labyrinth at Hawara (possibly the inspiration for Greek myths).
• Dynasties 13 and 14 are less well known:
  • Characterized by shorter reigns, decentralization, and a decline in centralized power.
  • Likely multiple kings ruling simultaneously in different regions.

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2. Second Intermediate Period (Dynasties 15–17)

• Marked by political fragmentation and foreign invasions.
• Most notable development: The Hyksos Invasion.

Hyksos (15th Dynasty)

• A Semitic people from the Levant who settled in and eventually ruled the eastern Delta.
• Manetho calls them "Shepherd Kings" and describes their arrival as an invasion, though modern views also consider gradual immigration.
• Capital: Avaris.
• Despite being foreign rulers, the Hyksos adopted Egyptian titles and religious practices.

16th Dynasty

• Likely local rulers in Thebes or elsewhere who coexisted or clashed with the Hyksos.

17th Dynasty

• Native Egyptian rulers based in Thebes, who resisted Hyksos control.
• Ends with the rise of Seqenenre Tao and his successors, who began the wars of liberation.

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Themes and Notable Points

• This book emphasizes decline, disunity, and foreign domination following the cultural and administrative achievements of the Middle Kingdom.
• Manetho portrays the Hyksos negatively—possibly reflecting native Egyptian bias against foreign rulers.
• However, the presence of Hyksos technology (e.g., horse-drawn chariots) is acknowledged.

Manetho’s Aegyptiaca – Book Three (Summary)

Scope: Spans the New Kingdom (Dynasties 18–20), the Third Intermediate Period (Dynasties 21–25), and ends with the Late Period up to the conquest of Egypt by the Persians (Dynasty 27).

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1. New Kingdom (Dynasties 18–20)

This is Egypt’s imperial golden age—a time of military conquests, monumental architecture, and international power.

18th Dynasty (c. 1550–1292 BCE)

• Begins with Ahmose I, who expelled the Hyksos and reunited Egypt.
• Followed by powerful rulers such as:
  • Thutmose I–III: Expanded Egypt's empire into Syria and Nubia.
  • Hatshepsut: Female pharaoh known for her peaceful reign and trade expeditions (e.g., to Punt).
  • Thutmose III: Often called the "Napoleon of Egypt"; led 17 military campaigns.
  • Amenhotep III: Ruled during a period of great wealth and artistic flourishing.
  • Akhenaten: Introduced a controversial monotheistic cult of Aten, disrupting traditional religion.
  • Tutankhamun: Restored the old gods; his fame is modern, due to his tomb's discovery.
  • Horemheb: A general who restored order and ended the Amarna period.

19th Dynasty

• Featured strong leaders like:
  • Seti I: Military campaigns and architectural projects.
  • Ramses II ("the Great"): Ruled 66 years, fought the Battle of Kadesh, signed the first known peace treaty, and built extensively (e.g., Abu Simbel).

20th Dynasty

• Begins with Setnakhte, founder of the dynasty.
• Ramses III: Defeated the Sea Peoples, but after his reign, Egypt declined due to internal strife, economic trouble, and corruption.
• The dynasty ends in disorder and weakened central authority.

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2. Third Intermediate Period (Dynasties 21–25)

• Characterized by political fragmentation and division of power between:
  • Pharaohs in Tanis (Delta region).
  • High Priests of Amun in Thebes (Upper Egypt).

Highlights:

• Libyan dynasties (22–24): Descendants of Libyan mercenaries rise to power; Egypt becomes less centralized.
• 25th Dynasty (Kushite/Nubian Pharaohs):
  • Kings from Nubia (modern Sudan) reunify Egypt and promote religious revival.
  • Key figure: Piye (Piankhi) – conquered Egypt and reestablished control from the south.
  • The dynasty ends with Assyrian invasions from Mesopotamia.

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3. Late Period (Dynasties 26–30 + 27th Persian Dynasty)

• Brief revival in 26th Dynasty (Saite Period) with strong rulers like Psamtik I and Necho II.
• Egypt experiences a cultural renaissance and military stabilization.

Persian Conquest (Dynasty 27)

• Cambyses II of Persia conquers Egypt (525 BCE), making it a Persian satrapy.
• Manetho portrays the Persians negatively, calling Cambyses impious and cruel.
• Native Egyptians briefly reclaim power (28th–30th dynasties), but:

Second Persian Conquest

• Egypt is reconquered in 343 BCE by Artaxerxes III, marking the end of native rule.

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Closing Notes

• Book Three ends just before or around the time of Alexander the Great's conquest (332 BCE), which marks the beginning of Ptolemaic Egypt.
• Manetho’s dynastic system, though sometimes inconsistent, provides the foundation for how modern Egyptologists divide Egyptian history.

Timeline of Manetho’s Aegyptiaca

Period	Dynasties	Dates (BCE)	Key Highlights
Mythical & Divine Rule	—	Prehistoric	Gods and demigods rule (Ra, Osiris, Horus, etc.)
Early Dynastic Period	1–2	c. 3100–2686	Unification by Menes; first writing and cities
Old Kingdom	3–6	c. 2686–2181	Age of pyramids: Djoser, Sneferu, Khufu
First Intermediate Period	7–10	c. 2181–2055	Political fragmentation and drought
Middle Kingdom	11–12	c. 2055–1650	Mentuhotep II, Senusret III, Amenemhat III
Second Intermediate Period	13–17	c. 1650–1550	Hyksos rule in the Delta; native resistance in Thebes
New Kingdom	18–20	c. 1550–1069	Empire-building: Thutmose III, Hatshepsut, Ramses II
Third Intermediate Period	21–25	c. 1069–664	Libyan and Nubian rule; divided Egypt
Late Period	26–30	c. 664–332	Saite revival, Persian conquests (27th & 31st Dynasties)
Ptolemaic Period (post-Manetho)	—	332–30	Begins with Alexander the Great

Notable Rulers to Remember

• Menes (Narmer) – Unifier of Egypt (Dynasty 1)
• Djoser – Step Pyramid at Saqqara (Dynasty 3)
• Khufu – Great Pyramid (Dynasty 4)
• Mentuhotep II – Reunifies Egypt (Dynasty 11)
• Senusret III – Expands into Nubia (Dynasty 12)
• Ahmose I – Expels Hyksos, starts New Kingdom (Dynasty 18)
• Hatshepsut – Female pharaoh, trade and peace (Dynasty 18)
• Akhenaten – Monotheistic revolution (Dynasty 18)
• Ramses II – Empire builder, peace treaty with Hittites (Dynasty 19)
• Piye (Piankhi) – Nubian king who reunified Egypt (Dynasty 25)
• Cambyses II – Persian who conquered Egypt (Dynasty 27)
• Nectanebo II – Last native Egyptian pharaoh (Dynasty 30)

Sources of Fragments

Prompt: I understand that Manetho's work is only from fragments referenced or quoted by later authors. Who were the authors who preserved the fragments we have of Volume I?

ChatGPT said:

You're absolutely right — Manetho’s Aegyptiaca survives only in fragments, quoted or summarized by later authors, often centuries after his time. For Volume I (Book One), which covers Egypt’s divine and early dynastic rulers, the main sources preserving these fragments are:

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🔍 1. Flavius Josephus (1st century CE)

• Work: Against Apion
• Why important:
  • Josephus was a Jewish historian who quoted Manetho extensively — especially Book I, in order to refute anti-Jewish claims and connect biblical history with Egyptian accounts.
  • He provides the longest and most detailed surviving fragments of Manetho, especially concerning:
    • The divine rulers
    • The early dynasties
    • The Hyksos, whom he controversially equates with the Israelites

⚠️ Bias alert: Josephus often manipulates or reinterprets Manetho’s words to support his argument.

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🔍 2. Sextus Julius Africanus (3rd century CE)

• Work: Chronographiai
• Why important:
  • Provides a dynastic list of kings with reign lengths and dynasty numbers.
  • Africanus’s list aligns fairly well with modern reconstructions of Egyptian chronology, particularly for early dynasties.
  • He also preserves Manetho’s sequence of dynasties, which modern Egyptologists still use (albeit refined).

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🔍 3. Eusebius of Caesarea (early 4th century CE)

• Works:
  • Chronicon (Chronicle)
  • Praeparatio Evangelica (occasionally)
• Why important:
  • Eusebius was a Christian bishop and historian who relied heavily on Africanus’s list but introduced variations and simplifications.
  • His Chronicon survives mostly in Armenian translation and in summaries by later authors.
  • Gives a compressed version of Manetho's dynasties and often omits or glosses over mythical material.

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Bonus: Syncellus (9th century CE)

• Work: Excerpta Chronographica
• Why important:
  • A Byzantine monk who tried to reconstruct a comprehensive timeline by comparing Josephus, Africanus, and Eusebius.
  • Preserves multiple versions of Manetho’s king lists side by side.

Summary of Their Contributions to Book I:

Author	Preserves	Reliability	Focus
Josephus	Direct quotes & commentary	Mixed (agenda-driven)	Divine kings, Hyksos, First Dynasties
Africanus	Dynasty lists, reign lengths	Generally solid	Systematic chronology
Eusebius	Condensed dynasty lists	Selective	Christianized universal history
Syncellus	Comparative excerpts	Compilation only	Chronological synthesis

Let me know if you want a side-by-side of their versions of the king lists from Book I!

You said:

Yes I want a side by side

ChatGPT said:

Great! Here's a side-by-side comparison of Manetho's Dynasties 1–6 (Book I of Aegyptiaca), as preserved by the three main sources: Africanus, Eusebius, and Josephus. Since Josephus focuses more on commentary and narrative than systematic king lists, he doesn't provide dynasties 1–6 as directly as the other two — but where possible, I've noted what he mentions.

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📜 Dynasties 1–6 Side-by-Side (Book I)

Dynasty	Africanus (via Syncellus)	Eusebius (Armenian version)	Josephus (in Against Apion)
1	8 kings from This (Thinis) Starts with Menes (reigned 62 yrs)	Same as Africanus Menes (60 yrs)	Mentions Menes as Egypt’s first king
2	9 kings from This Notables: Boëthos, Kaiechos (introduced bull worship), Binothris (female succession)	Similar list, reigns differ slightly	Not mentioned directly
3	8 kings from Memphis Necho-cheres, Tosorthros (like Imhotep, improved architecture)	8 kings, names vary (e.g., Sesorthos)	No direct listing
4	17 kings from Memphis Begins with Soris, includes Suphis (Khufu), Sensuphis (Khafre)	Same, but shorter reigns Includes Saophis (Great Pyramid builder)	Describes the pyramid builders, especially Suphis/Khufu
5	9 kings from Elephantine Usercheres, Sisires, Cheres	9 kings, names altered but mostly match	Not directly mentioned
6	6 kings from Memphis Ends with Nitocris (female ruler, avenges her brother)	6 kings; Nitocris appears, said to build a pyramid	References Nitocris briefly; confused with biblical Nitocris in some texts

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📌 Key Notes:

• Dynasties 1–2:
  • Names are often Greek transliterations; historical accuracy is debated.
  • Menes = likely Narmer, first unifier of Egypt.
• Dynasty 3:
  • Tosorthros is probably Djoser, credited with the Step Pyramid.
  • Called a sage and healer by Africanus.
• Dynasty 4:
  • Suphis = Khufu (Great Pyramid).
  • Manetho says he “despised the gods” — possibly influenced later legends.
• Dynasty 6:
  • Nitocris is a mysterious female pharaoh — likely a mix-up with Neithhotep or legendary embellishment.

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🔍 Variations in Detail:

Source	Dynasty Focus	Level of Detail	Notable Differences
Africanus	1–6 in full	High	Includes unique reign lengths & notes
Eusebius	Same dynasties	Medium	Compresses reigns, sometimes alters names
Josephus	Only mentions selectively	Low	Focused on narrative (Hyksos, Menes, etc.)

Other books titled Aegyptiaca

Facts not spelled out anywhere (as I see it):

Fact: more than one real person wrote a book entitled Aegyptiaca:

1. Hecataeus of Abdera (c. 360 – c. 290 BCE)
2. Manetho of Sebennytus (c. 290 – c. 260 BCE)
3. Apion Pleistoneices (c. 30 BCE – c. 45 CE) [in which he says unkind things about Jews]

(1) and (2) were written in the same time period, very close together, around 250 BCE. (3), the only one with mean stuff about Jews, was was written almost two centuries later, around 40 CE.

None of these have survived in full; what we do have are fragments, quoted (with various degrees of trustworthiness) in later ancient and medieval texts. The quotations are always used in a polemic to support an author's claim, usually not a historical one in the modern sense, introducing yet another layer of uncertainty. We must not accept prima facie any claim that a particular passage of a purported Aegyptiaca of Manetho quoted in a text is :

1. written by the real Manetho
2. is faithful to the original written by the real Manetho
3. even if we accept that the passage is a faithful copy — that its use in a later polemic preserves Manetho's purpose and context and does not (overly) distort the original meaning to the polemicist's own ends.

Thayer: "Manetho"

Manetho was an Egyptian priest who lived in the 3c B.C. and wrote one or more books in Greek to acquaint the Mediterranean world with the history and civilization of his country. His original works have perished; what has survived has been transmitted to us as fragments in about a dozen ancient authors, the most important of whom are Josephus, who quotes long passages of connected discourse, and Eusebius and the Christian chronographer Africanus, who for the most part have preserved dry lists of Egyptian kings, grouped by "Dynasties" and only infrequently relieved by a bit of context.

For many centuries — once the knowledge of hieroglyphics had been lost — the writings of Manetho, mangled as they are, were one of the world's chief sources of information on Egyptian history; only with the 19c decipherment of hieroglyphics and archaeological investigations was Manetho slowly superseded in favor of first-hand knowledge from the papyri and tombs of Egypt themselves.

In the course of my transcription, though, I came to realize how much we owe even now to this ancient author: the entire framework of Egyptian history as we are used to it (the Kingdoms, the Dynasties) is as recorded by Manetho; and he served those 19c archaeologists, and continues to serve archaeologists today, as a guide. And dull as those dry lists of names and numbers are, in the varying corrupted forms preserved to us, chronologists and Biblical students also continue to find them of use.

Historicity

AI Overview response

Manetho's Aegyptiaca, a history of Egypt written in Greek by an Egyptian priest in the 3rd century BC, is considered a significant historical source, though its accuracy is debated. While its original text is lost, fragments survive in later works, particularly Josephus, Eusebius, and Africanus. These fragments provide a framework for understanding Egyptian chronology, organizing pharaohs into dynasties, a system still used today.

Elaboration:

• Context: Manetho, an Egyptian priest, aimed to provide the Greek world with an understanding of Egyptian history and civilization. His work is likely a fusion of Egyptian traditions and Greek historical styles.
• Content: Aegyptiaca included a chronological framework of Egyptian pharaohs, divided into dynasties. It also contained details about Egyptian history, religion, and culture.
• Transmission and Fragments: Manetho's original work is lost, but portions of it have been preserved through quotations by later writers, including Josephus, Eusebius, and Africanus. These fragments, particularly in Josephus's Contra Apionem, provide insight into Manetho's account of Egyptian history, including details about the Hyksos and the reign of various pharaohs.
• Historical Reliability: While Aegyptiaca is a valuable source for understanding Egyptian history, its accuracy has been debated. Some scholars argue that it incorporates popular traditions and may not be entirely reliable. However, it remains a crucial source for understanding early Egyptian chronology and for bridging the gap between Greek and Egyptian perspectives on history.
• Significance: Manetho's work is significant because it was the first comprehensive account of Egyptian history written in Greek by an Egyptian, providing a unique perspective on Egyptian culture and history. It also introduced the concept of dynasties, which continues to be used in modern Egyptology.

Waddell: Manetho, History of Egypt and Other Works

Manetho, History of Egypt and Other Works W.G. Waddell. Loeb Classical Library.

https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL350/1940/volume.xml (subscription required). Following passage is from the index page, written by page creator Bill Thayer:

Manetho was an Egyptian of the 3rd century BCE. Born probably at Sebennytus in the Delta, he became a priest or high priest at Heliopolis. Apparently he and a Greek Timotheus did much to establish the cult of Serapis in Egypt. Eight works or parts of works were ascribed to him, all on history and religion and all apparently in Greek: [1] Aegyptiaca, on the history of Egypt; [2] The Sacred Book on Egyptian religion; [3] An Epitome of Physical Doctrines; [4] On Festivals; [5] On Ancient Ritual and Religion; [6] On the Making of Kyphi (an incense); [7] The Criticisms of Herodotus; and the spurious [8] Book of Sôthis. These survive only as quoted by other writers. This volume also contains the doubtful Kings of Thebes (in Egypt) and the Old Chronicle.

Scanned PDF of Waddell Manetho on Internet Archive

"Never has there arisen a more complicated problem than that of Manetho."

— Boeckh, Manetho und die Hundssternperiode, 1845, p10.

p. vi

Introduction p. vii - xxii

Among the Egyptians who wrote in Greek, Manetho the priest holds a unique place because of his comparatively early date (the third century B.C.) and the interest of his subject-matter — the history and religion of Ancient Egypt. His works in their original form would possess the highest importance and value for us now, if only we could recover them; but until the fortunate discovery of a papyrus,​1 which will transmit the authentic Manetho, we can know his writings only from fragmentary and often distorted quotations preserved chiefly by Josephus and by the Christian chronographers, Africanus and Eusebius, with isolated passages in Plutarch, Theophilus, Aelian, Porphyrius, Diogenes Laertius, Theodoretus, Lydus, Malalas, the Scholia to Plato, and the Etymologicum Magnum.

Like Bêrôssos, who is of slightly earlier date, Manetho testifies to the growth of an international  p. viii spirit in the Alexandrine age: each of these "barbarians" wrote in Greek an account of his native country; and it stirs the imagination to think of their endeavour to bridge the gulf and instruct all Greek-speaking people (that is to say the whole civilized world of their time) in the history of Egypt and Chaldaea. But these two writers stand alone:​2 the Greeks indeed wrote from time to time of the wonders of Egypt (works no longer extant), but it was long before an Egyptian successor of Manetho appeared — Ptolemy of Mendês,​3 probably under Augustus.

The writings of Manetho, however, continued to  p. ix be read with interest; and his Egyptian History was used for special purposes, e.g. by the Jews when they engaged in polemic against Egyptians in order to prove their extreme antiquity. (See further pp. xvi ff.) Manetho's religious writings are known to us mostly through references in Plutarch's treatise On Isis and Osiris.

The Life of Manetho: Traditions and Conjectures

Our knowledge of Manetho is for the most part meagre and uncertain; but three statements of great probability may be made. They concern his native place, his priesthood at Hêliopolis, and his activity in the introduction of the cult of Serapis.

The name Manetho (Μανεθώς, often written Μανέθων) has been explained as meaning "Truth of Thôth", and a certain priest under Dynasty XIX is described as "First Priest of the Truth of Thôth".​4 According to Dr. Černý​5 "Manetho" is from the Coptic ⲙⲁⲛⲉϩⲧⲟ "groom" (ⲙⲁⲛⲉ "herdsman", and ϩⲧⲟ "horse"); but the word does not seem to occur elsewhere as a proper name. In regard to the date of Manetho, Syncellus in one passage​6 gives us the information that he lived later than Bêrôssos: elsewhere​7 he puts Manetho as "almost contemporary with Bêrôssos, or a little later". Bêrôssos, who  p. x was priest of Marduk at Babylon, lived under, and wrote for, Antiochus I, whose reign lasted from 285 to 261 B.C.; and Bêrôssos dedicated his Χαλδαϊκά to this king after he became sole monarch in 281 B.C. The works of Manetho and Bêrôssos may be interpreted as an expression of the rivalry of the two kings, Ptolemy and Antiochus, each seeking to proclaim the great antiquity of his land.

Under the name of Manetho, Suidas seems to distinguish two writers: (1) Manetho of Mendês in Egypt, a chief priest who wrote on the making of kyphi (i.e. Fr. 87): (2) Manetho of Diospolis or Sebennytus. (Works): A Treatise on Physical Doctrines (i.e. Fr. 82, 83). Apotelesmatica (or Astrological Influences), in hexameter verses, and other astrological works. (See p. xiv, note 3.) Nowhere else is Manetho connected with Mendês; but as Mendês was distant only •about 17 miles from Sebennytus across the Damietta arm of the Nile, the attribution is not impossible. Müller suspects confusion with Ptolemy of Mendês, an Egyptian priest (probably in the time of Augustus), who, like Manetho, wrote a work on Egyptian Chronology in three books. In the second note of Suidas Diospolis may be identified, not with Diospolis Magna (the famous Thebes) nor with Diospolis Parva, but with Diospolis Inferior, in the Delta (now Tell el‑Balamûn), the capital of the Diospolite or 17th nome​8 to the north of the Sebennyte nome and contiguous with  p. xi it. Diospolis Inferior lay near Damietta, •some 30 miles from Sebennytus. (See Strabo, 17.1.19, and Baedeker, Egypt and the Sûdân, 8th ed. (1929), p185.) We may therefore accept the usual description of Manetho (Fr. 3, 77, 80: Syncellus, 72.16), and hold that he was a native of Sebennytus (now Samannûd)​9 in the Delta, on the west bank of the Damietta branch of the Nile. Manetho was a priest, and doubtless held office at one time in the temple at Sebennytus; but in the letter (App. I) which he is said to have written to Ptolemy II Philadelphus, he describes himself as "high-priest and scribe of the sacred shrines of Egypt, born at Sebennytus and dwelling at Hêliopolis". Although the letter, as we have it, is not genuine in all its details, this description may have been borrowed from a good source; and while his precise rank as a priest remains in doubt, it is reasonable to believe that Manetho rose to be high-priest in the temple at Hêliopolis.​10 This eminent position agrees with the important part he played in the introduction of the cult of Serapis. As a Heliopolitan priest, Manetho (to quote from Laqueur, Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll, R.‑E. XIV., 1061) "was, without doubt, acquainted with  p. xii the sacred tree in the great Hall of Hêliopolis, — the tree on which the goddess Seshat, the Lady of Letters, the Mistress of the Library, wrote down with her own hand the names and deeds of the rulers.​11 He did nothing more than communicate to the Greek world what the goddess had noted down.​12 But he did so with a full sense of the superiority which relied on the sacred records of the Egyptians in opposition to Herodotus whom he was contradicting" (Fr. 43, § 73: Fr. 88). His native town, Sebennytus, was visited as a place of learning by Solon when Ethêmôn was a priest in residence there (see Proclus in Plat. Tim. I.101, 22, Diehl); and the Greek culture of the place must have been a formative influence upon Manetho at an early age.

In the introduction of the statue of Serapis to Alexandria as described by Plutarch (Manetho, Fr. 80), Manetho the Egyptian was associated with the Greek Timotheus as a priestly adviser of King Ptolemy Sôter. It is natural to suppose that the cult of Serapis itself, which was a conflation of  p. xiii Egyptian and Greek ideas intended to be acceptable to both nationalities, had already been organized​13 with the help of the two priests, and the magnificent temple in Rhakôtis, the Egyptian quarter in the west of Alexandria, had doubtless been built. The date is not certain: according to Jerome (Fotheringham, p211, Helm, p129) "Sarapis entered Alexandria" in 286 B.C., while the Armenian Version of the Chronicle of Eusebius says that in 278 B.C. "Sarapis came to Alexandria, and became resident there" (Karst, 200). Perhaps the two statements refer to different stages in the development of the cult: if the former describes the entry of the statue by Bryaxis, the latter may possibly refer to the final establishment of the whole theology. As a proof that the work of Manetho in building up the cult of Serapis must not be belittled, it may suffice to refer to the inscription of the name Μανεθών on the base of a marble bust found in the ruins of the Temple of Serapis at Carthage (Corpus Inscr. Lat. VIII.1007). The name is so uncommon that the probability is that the bust which originally stood on this base represented the Egyptian Manetho, and was erected in his honour because of his effective contribution to the organization of the cult of  p. xiv Serapis.​14 Hence it is not impossible also that the following reference in a papyrus of 241 B.C. may be to Manetho of Sebennytus. It occurs in a document containing correspondence about a Temple Seal (P. Hibeh, I.72, vv. 6, 7, γράφειν Μανεθῶι). The person named was evidently a well-known man in priestly circles: he was probably our Manetho, the writer on Egyptian history and religion, if he lived to a considerable age.15

Manetho's Works

Eight works​16 have been attributed to Manetho: (1) Αἰγυπτιακά, or The History of Egypt, (2) The Book of Sothis, (3) The Sacred Book, (4) An Epitome of Physical Doctrines, (5) On Festivals, (6) On Ancient Ritual and Religion, (7) On the Making of Kyphi [a kind of incense], (8) Criticisms of Herodotus.

Of these, (2) The Book of Sôthis (App. IV and  p. xv pp. xxvii ff.) is certainly not by Manetho; and there is no reason to believe that (8) Criticisms of Herodotus formed a separate work, although we know from Josephus C. Apion. I.73 (Fr. 42), that Manetho did convict Herodotus of error. Six titles remain, but it has long been thought that some of these are "ghost" titles. Fruin (Manetho, p. lxxvii) supposed that Manetho wrote only two works — one on Egyptian history, the other on Egyptian mythology and antiquities. Susemihl (Alex. Lit.‑Gesch. I.609, n. 431) and W. Otto (Priester und Tempel in Hellenistischen Ägypten, II.215, n. 4) modified this extreme view: they recognized three distinct works of Manetho (The History of Egypt, The Sacred Book, and An Epitome of Physical Doctrines), and assumed that the titles On Festivals, On Ancient Ritual and Religion, and On the Making of Kyphi referred to passages in The Sacred Book. In the paucity of our data, no definite judgement seems possible as to whether Manetho wrote six works or only three; but in support of the former theory we may refer to Eusebius (Man. Fr. 76).

The History of Egypt

The Egyptian History​17 of Manetho is preserved in extracts of two kinds. (1) Excerpts from the original work are preserved by Josephus, along with other passages which can only be pseudo-Manethonian.  p. xvi The Jews of the three centuries following the time of Manetho were naturally keenly interested in his History because of the connexion of their ancestors with Egypt — Abraham, Joseph, and Moses the leader of the Exodus; and they sought to base their theories of the origin and antiquity of the Jews securely upon the authentic traditions of Egypt. In Manetho indeed they found an unwelcome statement of the descent of the Jews from lepers; but they were able to identify their ancestors with the Hyksôs, and the Exodus with the expulsion of these invaders. The efforts of Jewish apologists account for much re‑handling, enlargement, and corruption of Manetho's text, and the result may be seen in the treatise of Josephus, Contra Apionem, I.

(2) An Epitome of Manetho's history had been made at an early date, — not by Manetho himself, there is reason to believe, — in the form of Lists of Dynasties with short notes on outstanding kings or important events. The remains of this Epitome are preserved by Christian chronographers, especially by Africanus and Eusebius. Their aim was to compare the chronologies of the Oriental nations with the Bible, and for this purpose the Epitome gave an ideal conspectus of the whole History, omitting, as it does, narratives such as the account of the Hyksôs preserved by Josephus. Of the two chronographers, the founder of Christian chronography, Sextus Julius Africanus, whose Chronicle​18 came down to  p. xvii A.D. 217 or A.D. 221, transmits the Epitome in a more accurate form; while Eusebius, whose work extends to A.D. 326, is responsible for unwarranted alterations of the original text of Manetho. About A.D. 800 George the Monk, who is known as Syncellus from his religious office (as "attendant" of Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople), made use of Manetho's work in various forms in his Ἐκλογὴ Χρονογραφίας, a history of the world from Adam to Diocletian. Syncellus sought to prove that the incarnation took place in Anno Mundi 5500; and in his survey of the thirty‑one Egyptian dynasties which reigned from the Flood to Darius, he relied on the authoritative work of Manetho as transmitted by Africanus and Eusebius, and as handed down in a corrupt form in the Old Chronicle (App. III) and the Book of Sôthis (App. IV) which had been used by the chronographer Panodôrus (c. A.D. 400).

Even from the above brief statement of the transmission of Manetho's text, it will be seen that many problems are involved, and that it is extremely difficult to reach certainty in regard to what is authentic Manetho and what is spurious or corrupt. The problems are discussed in detail by Richard Laqueur in his valuable and exhaustive article in Pauly-Wissowa-Kroll, R.‑E. s.v. Manethon; and it may be sufficient here to quote his summary of the results of his researches in regard to Manetho (1) in Josephus, and (2) in the Christian Chronographers.

(1) Manetho in Josephus, Contra Apionem, I (see Fr. 42, 50, 54).

"(a) Extracts from the genuine Manetho appear in §§ 75‑82, 84‑90, 94‑102A, 232‑249, 251. Of these  p. xviii passages, §§ 75‑82, 94‑102A, 237‑249 are quoted verbatim, the others are given in Indirect Speech.

"(b) A rationalistic critique of the genuine Manetho was written by a Hellenist, and was used by Josephus for his work. The remains of this critique appear in §§ 254‑261, 267‑269, 271‑274, 276‑277. Perhaps §§ 102B‑103 is connected with these.

"(c) The authoritative work of Manetho was further exploited by Jews and Egyptians in the mutual polemic, in the course of which additions to Manetho's works were made: these additions were partly favourable to the Jews (§§ 83, 91), partly hostile to the Jews (§ 250). These passages, like those mentioned in (b), were collected before the time of Josephus into a single treatise, so that one could no longer clearly recognize what had belonged to Manetho and what was based upon additions.

"(d) Josephus originally knew only the genuine Manetho (cf. (a)), and used him throughout as a witness against the aggressors of Judaism. In this it was of importance for Josephus to show that the Hyksôs had come to Egypt from abroad, that their expulsion took place long before the beginning of Greek history, and that they, in their expedition to aid the Lepers, remained untainted by them.

"(e) After Josephus had completed this elaboration, he came later to know the material mentioned in (b) and (c): so far as it was favourable to the Jews or helpful in interpretation, it led only to short expansions of the older presentation; so far, however, as it was hostile to the Jews, Josephus found himself induced to make a radical change in his attitude towards Manetho. He attacked Manetho  p. xix sharply for his alleged statement (§ 250), and at the same time used the polemic mentioned in (b) in order to overthrow Manetho's authority in general.

"(f) From the facts adduced it follows that Manetho's work was already before the time of Josephus the object of numerous literary analyses."​19

Cf. the following summary.

(2) Manetho in the Christian Chronographers.

"(a) Not long after the appearance of Manetho's work, an Epitome was made, giving excerpts from the Dynasty-Lists and increasing these from 30 to 31. The possibility that other additions were made is not excluded.

"(b) The Epitome was remodelled by a Hellenistic Jew in such a way that the Jewish chronology became compatible with that of Manetho.

"(c) A descendant of version (a) is extant in Julius Africanus: a descendant of version (b), in Eusebius."

The Chronicle of Africanus in five books is lost except for what is preserved in the extracts made by Eusebius, and the many fragments contained in the works of Syncellus and Cedrenus, and in the Paschale Chronicon. For Eusebius we have several lines of transmission. The Greek text of Eusebius has come down to us in part, as quoted by Syncellus; but the whole work is known through (1) the Armenian Version, which was composed in the 5c A.D.20  p. xx from a revision of the first Greek text,​21 and is, of course, quite independent of Syncellus; and (2) the Latin Version made by Jerome towards the end of the fourth century.

Possible Sources of the Αἰγυπτιακά

An Egyptian high priest, learned in Greek literature, had an unrivalled opportunity, in early Ptolemaic times, of writing an excellent and accurate history of Egypt. He had open access to records of all kinds — papyri​22 in the temple archives (annals, sacred books containing liturgies and poems), hieroglyphic tablets, wall sculptures, and innumerable inscriptions.​23 These records no one but an Egyptian priest could consult and read; and only a scholar who had assimilated the works of Greek historians could make a judicious and scientific use of the abundant material. It is hardly to be expected,  p. xxi however, that Manetho's History should possess more worth than that of his sources; and the material at his disposal included a certain proportion of unhistorical traditions and popular legends.24

There is no possibility of identifying the particular records from which Manetho compiled his History: the following are the kinds of monuments which he may have consulted and from which we derive a means of controlling his statements.

(1) The Royal List of Abydos, on the wall of a corridor of the Temple of Sethôs I at Abydos, gives in chronological order a series of seventy‑six kings from Mênês to Sethôs I. Dynasties XIII to XVII are lacking. A mutilated duplicate of this list was found in the Temple of Ramessês II at Abydos (now in the British Museum: see Guide, p245): it arranges the kings in three rows, while the more complete list has them in two rows.

(2) The Royal List of Karnak (now in the Louvre) has a list of kings, originally sixty‑one, from Mênês down to Tuthmôsis III, Dynasty XVIII, with many names belonging to the Second Intermediate Period (Dynasties XIII‑XVII).

The Royal Lists of Abydos and Karnak give the tradition of Upper Egypt.

(3) The Royal List of Sakkâra (found in a tomb at Sakkâra, and now in the Cairo Museum) preserves the cartouches of forty-seven (originally fifty-eight) kings previous to, and including, Ramessês II. It begins with Miebis, the sixth king of Dynasty I; and like  p. xxii The Royal List of Abydos, it omits Dynasties XIII‑XVII. Like (4) the Turin Papyrus, the Royal List of Sakkâra gives the tradition of Lower Egypt.

(4) More important than any of the preceding is the Turin Papyrus, written in hieratic on the verso of the papyrus, with accounts of the time of Ramessês II on the recto (which gives the approximate date, c. 1200 B.C.). In its original state the papyrus must have been an artistically beautiful exemplar, as the script is an exceptionally fine one. It contains the names of kings in order, over 300 when complete, with the length of each reign in years, months, and days; and as the definitive edition of the papyrus has not yet been issued, further study is expected to yield additional results.​25 The papyrus begins, like Manetho, with the dynasty of gods, followed by mortal kings also in dynasties. The change of dynasty is noted, and the sum of the reigns is given: also, as in Manetho, several dynasties are added together, e.g. "Sum of the Kings from Mênês to [Unas]" at the end of Dynasty V. The arrangement in the papyrus is very similar to that in the Epitome of Manetho.

(5) The Palermo Stone​26 takes us back to a much greater antiquity: it dates from the Fifth Dynasty, c. 2600 B.C., and therefore contains Old Egyptian annals of the kings. The Stone or Stele was originally  p. xxiii a large slab​27 of black diorite, •about 7 feet long and over 2 feet high; but only a fragment of the middle of the slab is preserved in the Museum of Palermo, while smaller pieces of this, or of a similar monument, have been identified in the Cairo Museum and in University College, London. Although the text is unfortunately fragmentary, this early document is clearly seen to be more closely related to the genuine Manetho than are the Kings' Lists of later date (1, 2, 3, 4 above).​28 In a space marked off on each side by a year-sign and therefore denoting one year, notable events are given in an upper section of the space and records of the Nile-levels in a lower. A change of reign is denoted by a vertical line prolonging the year-sign above, on each side of which a certain number of months and days is recorded — on one side those belonging to the deceased king, and on the other to his successor. In the earliest Dynasties the years were not numbered, but were named after some important event or events, e.g. "the year of the smiting of the ʾInw," "the year of the sixth time of numbering". Religious and military events were particularly common, just as they are in Manetho. A year-name of King Snefru (Dynasty IV) states that he conquered the Nehesi, and captured 7000 prisoners and 200,000 head of cattle: cf. Manetho, Fr. 7, on the foreign expedition of Mênês. So, too, under  p. xxiv Shepseskaf, the last king of Dynasty IV, the building of a pyramid is recorded, and under Dynasties I, IV, and VI, Manetho makes mention of pyramid-building. It is especially noteworthy that the first line of the Palermo Stone gives a list of kings before Mênês: cf. the Turin Papyrus, as quoted on Fr. 1. (For the Cairo fragments see Sethe, op. cit.).

In regard to Manetho's relation to his Greek predecessors in the field of Egyptian history, we know that he criticized Herodotus, not, as far as we can tell, in a separate work, but merely in passages of his History. In none of the extant fragments does Manetho mention by name Hecataeus of Abdera, but it is interesting to speculate upon Manetho's relation to this Greek historian. The floruit of Hecataeus fell in the time of Alexander and Ptolemy son of Lagus (Gutschmid gives 320 B.C. as an approximate estimate); and it is very doubtful whether he lived to see the reign of Philadelphus, who came to the throne in 285 B.C. (Jacoby in R.‑E. VII.2, 2750). His Aegyptiaca was "a philosophical romance," describing "an ethnographical Utopia": it was no history of Egypt, but a work with a philosophical tendency. Manetho and Hecataeus are quoted together, e.g. by Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, chap. 9, perhaps from an intermediary writer who used the works of both Manetho and Hecataeus. If we assume that Hecataeus wrote his "romance" before Manetho composed his History, perhaps one of the purposes of Manetho was to correct the errors of his predecessor. No  p. xxv criticism of Hecataeus, however, has been attributed to Manetho; and it is natural that similarities are found in their accounts (cf. p131, n. 2). Be that as it may, Hecataeus enjoyed greater popularity among the Greeks than Manetho: they preferred his "romance" to Manetho's more reliable annals. Yet Manetho's Aegyptiaca has no claim to be regarded as a critical history: its value lies in the dynastic skeletons which serve as a framework for the evidence of the monuments, and it has proved in its essentials the accepted scheme of Egyptian chronology.​29 But there were many errors in Manetho's work from the very beginning: all are not due to the perversions of scribes and revisers. Many of the lengths of reigns have been found impossible: in some cases the names and the sequence of kings as given by Manetho have proved untenable in the light of monumental evidence. If one may depend upon the extracts preserved in Josephus, Manetho's work was not an authentic history of Egypt, exact in its details, as the Chaldaïca of Bêrôssos was, at least for later times. Manetho introduced into an already corrupted series of dynastic lists a number of popular traditions written  p. xxvi in the characteristic Egyptian style. No genuine historical sense had been developed among the Egyptians, although Manetho's work does illustrate the influence of Greek culture upon an Egyptian priest. He wrote to correct the errors of Greek historians, especially of Herodotus (see Fr. 88); but from the paucity of information about certain periods, it seems clear that in ancient times, as for us at the present day, there were obscure eras in Egyptian history.​30 Before the Saïte Dynasty (XXVI) there were three outstanding periods — in Dynasties IV‑VI, XI‑XII, and XVIII‑XX, or roughly the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom (sometimes called the Empire); and these are the periods upon which the light falls in all histories.

The significance of Manetho's writings is that for the first time an Egyptian was seeking to instruct foreigners in the history and religion of his native land.

Other Works attributed to Manetho

To judge by the frequency of quotation, the religious treatises of Manetho were much more popular in Greek circles than the History of Egypt was; yet the fragments surviving from these works (Fr. 76‑88) are so meagre that no distinct impression of their nature can be gained...

The Author's Notes:

31 Sôthis is the Greek form of Sopdet [ 𓇮𓇼𓏏], the Egyptian name for the Dog‑star, Sirius, the heliacal rising of which was noted at an early date: on the great importance of the Sôthic period in Egyptian chronology, see Breasted, Ancient Records, I §§ 40 ff., and H. R. Hall, Encyclopaedia Britannica11, s.v. Chronology. Cf. infra, Appendix III, p226, and Appendix IV, p234.

See: Book II

The Hyksôs Age, c. 1700-c. 1580 B.C.​12

Fr. 42 (from Josephus, Contra Apionem, I.14, §§ 73‑92).

[Josephus is citing the records of neighbouring nations in proof of the antiquity of the Jews.]

In Aegpytiaca ed. Waddell see working word doc

Hear Josephus says Manetho says mean stuff about "Jews" [he never uses that word but alludes to slavery, and expulsion, a war, and their homeland in Judaea and temple in Jerusalem, conflating them here finally with Hyksos/Sheperd-King/Captives, and that they are related to Hyksos and Osarsiph/Moses, a renegade Egyptian priest from Heliolopis. According to how Josephus tells us Manetho tells it, there is conflation between Hyksos/Shepherd-Kings, and lepers expelled, and people of Judaea/Jerusalem, and a priest named Osarsiph/Moses. How much of this were Manetho's authentic words is ???. Who did the conflating is also ???.

Verbrugghe et al: Berossos and Manetho

Berossos and Manetho, Introduced and Translated: Native Traditions in Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt by Verbrugghe, Wickersham, and Moore. 2001. Available to read online on HathiTrust digital library.

Dillery: "Manetho and Greek Historiography" (1993)

JOHN DILLERY. "Manetho and Greek Historiography: The First Egyptian Narrative History" aus: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 127 (1999) 93–116 © Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn.

In the early 3rd century BC,1 during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the Egyptian priest Manetho2 of Sebennytus (FGrHist 609) wrote a history of his native land in the Greek language. The work is clearly indebted both to Egyptian and Greek texts. Its importance cannot be over stressed: two cultures, and the narrative systems they employed, were brought together in the composition of his Aegyptiaca, or Egyptian Matters. Issues such as the impact of Greek historical writing on Egyptian conceptions of the past, the intended audience of such a work, and the role of the native elite in the Macedonian and Greek governance of Egypt are all opened up through Manetho's work.

Manetho's history of Egypt is an amalgam of two distinct Egyptian forms of relating the past: (i) a king-list that provides a chronology which goes back to the earliest dynasties, indeed, to a period when the gods were thought to have ruled Egypt, and (ii) narratives of varying types, ranging from prophecies and wisdom literature to royal and non-royal autobiography.3 But while Manetho's history was built out of materials whose genres had existed for many centuries before the advent of Greco-Macedonian rule, it was only with the coming of Greek speakers in considerable numbers that a lengthy narrative history of Egypt was composed by an Egyptian.4 The most important, if not sole reason for this was the influence of two histories of Egypt composed by Greeks that he must have known well: Herodotus' treatment of Egypt, chiefly, but not confined to, Book 2 of his Histories,5 and Hecataeus of Abdera's own Aegyptiaca.

A significant problem, however, needs to be mentioned at the outset that complicates any appreciation of Manetho's work. The Aegyptiaca does not survive intact, indeed far from it. The King List component of his text was transmitted by later writers, mainly Christians, who wanted a chronological framework for dating events from the Bible on an independent basis (e.g. Gelzer [1885] 51-63; Adler [1989] 76-80). This King List portion is not devoid of connected passages, but for the most part it only serves as a guide to where the major narrative panels would have been found in Manetho's original work. For narratives of any length, we must turn to the Jewish priest-historian of the early Roman empire, Josephus (AD 1st).

In his Against Apion Josephus set himself the task of proving the great antiquity of his people. In order to make his case he relied heavily on historians who were both non-Jewish and non-Greek: the former category because of the presumption of impartiality, the latter because the Greeks were thought to be a young people who were hopelessly ill-prepared to provide reliable information about the remote past (CAp I.5ff.). In comparison with the other historians he discusses, Manetho takes up by far the most amount of text. By his own admission Josephus uses Manetho's text in different ways: he quotes him directly, summarizes, paraphrases and recapitulates, and at other points does not really make clear how he is deploying Manetho's work. To make matters more complicated Josephus also refers to other versions of Manetho's work that contradict or provide different information from the text he is following. Finally, it has been argued on the basis of factual error and repetition in Josephus' treatment that he was making use of some sort of text that was derived from Manetho but that contained elements that were not genuine. The upshot is that it is sometimes extremely difficult to know on the basis of a passage in Josephus what Manetho's original narrative would have looked like. Any discussion of Manetho's narrative has also to take account of Josephus' own methods and authorial agenda.6

While ... the problematic ... preservation of Manetho's text precludes a definitive evaluation..., we can ... reconstruct a ... picture of the Aegyptiaca... This issue of the audience of the Aegyptiaca is a large and difficult one ... they [his readers] were, chiefly, other hellenophone non-Greeks such as Manetho himself. Most often, it seems, they were other Egyptian priests...

_________________________________

The Hyksos

Danielle Candelora. The HyksosUniversity of California, Los Angeles.

ARCE, The American Research Center in Egypt. Web page, no publication date; includes references published in 2017. Accessed April 10 2025.

If [you were] from ancient Egypt, you would consider the Hyksos a band of nasty, marauding outsiders who invaded and then brutally ruled the Nile Delta until heroic kings expelled them. In fact, the Hyksos had a more diplomatic impact, contributing to progress in culture, language, military affairs and even the introduction of the iconic horse and chariot. The story of these two competing explanations reveals much about ancient Egypt and this mysterious group.

As a word, Hyksos is simply the Greek version of an Egyptian title, Heka Khasut, meaning “rulers of foreign lands/hill countries.” While much is misunderstood, we know the Hyksos comprised a small group of West Asian ["Asiatic"] individuals who ruled Northern Egypt, especially the Delta, during the Second Intermediate Period. These rulers were recorded as Egypt’s 15th dynasty in the Turin Royal Canon, the only known king’s list that documents their existence.

For decades, the writings of the Ptolemaic Egyptian historian Manetho influenced the popular and scholarly interpretations of the Hyksos. Preserved in Josephus’s Contra Apionem I, Manetho presented the Hyksos as a barbaric horde, “invaders of an obscure race” who conquered Egypt by force, causing destruction and murdering or enslaving Egyptians. This account continued in Egyptian texts from the Second Intermediate Period and New Kingdom. As Egyptology developed, years of debate over the extent of destruction and the ethnicity of the “Hyksos people” transpired. Only in more recent decades have the Hyksos been revealed as a small group of rulers (we know of six) and not a population or ethnic group.

Note: Candelora does not mention the Jews in any way.

_________________________________

The Hyksos

on https://www.ancient-egypt.co.uk/ Accessed April 10 2025. Useful, but again not a source.

Manetho wrote, in Aegyptiaca, on the Hyksos...

and

Josephus Flavius quoting passages concerning the Hyksos from Manetho's Aegyptiaca in Book 1, section 73...

August Böckh

Google search term: "Boeckh, Manetho und die Hundssternperiode" [from Waddell epigraph] 4/12/2025

AI Overview response

"Manetho und die Hundssternperiode: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Pharaonen" (Manetho and the Sothic Period: A Contribution to the History of the Pharaohs) is a historical study by August Böckh, published in 1845. The book explores the Sothic (or Hundssternperiode) period, a period of time in ancient Egyptian history based on the heliacal rising of the star Sothis (Sirius), and its relationship to the Manetho's chronology of Egyptian pharaohs.

Böckh's work examines Manetho's Egyptian historical accounts, particularly those related to dynasties and rulers during the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms, and how they align with the Sothic period, a crucial tool for dating events in ancient Egypt. The Sothic period was a cycle that marked the beginning of the agricultural year and was used for calendar calculations and chronological purposes.

By analyzing Manetho's writings in the context of the Sothic period, Böckh aimed to contribute to a more precise understanding of Egyptian history, particularly in relation to the reign dates and succession of pharaohs. This work highlights the importance of astronomical observations and calendar systems in ancient Egyptian chronology and their influence on historical interpretations.

References

• Herodotus. The Histories, trans. Godley, A.D. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1921.
• Moyer, Ian S. Egypt and the Limits of Hellenism. Cambridge University Press, 2011. ISBN 9781139496551, 1139496557
• Rutherford, Ian. Greco-Egyptian Interactions: Literature, Translation, and Culture, 500 BC–AD 300. Oxford University Press, 2016. ISBN 978-0-19-965612-7
• Synkellos, Geōrgios. Adler, William. Tuffin, Paul. The Chronography of George Synkellos: a Byzantine Chronicle of Universal History from the Creation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0199241902
• Verbrugghe, Gerald. Wickersham, John Moore. Berossos and Manetho, Introduced and Translated: Native Traditions in Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. United States: University of Michigan Press, 2001. ISBN 9780472086870, 0472086871
• Waddell, William Gillan, ed. Manetho. The Loeb Classical Library 350, ser. ed. George P. Goold. London and Cambridge: William Heinemann ltd. and Harvard University Press. 1940.

Further reading

• Barclay, John M.G. 2011. Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary, Volume 10: Against Apion. N.p.: Brill: ISBN 9789004117914.
• Candelora, Danielle. "The Second Intermediate Period." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. 20 Mar. 2024; Accessed 9 Apr. 2025. https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-1201.
• Dillery, John. “The First Egyptian Narrative History: Manetho and Greek Historiography.” Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 127 (1999): 93–116. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20190475. PDF
• Leahy, A., ed. 1990. Libya and Egypt: c1300–750 BC. London: SOAS Centre of Near and Middle Eastern Studies and the Society for Libyan Studies.
• Redford, Donald Bruce. 1986a. "The Name Manetho." In Egyptological Studies in Honor of Richard A. Parker Presented on the Occasion of His 78th Birthday, December 10, 1983, edited by Leonard H. Lesko, 118–121. Hannover and London: University Press of New England. ISBN 0-87451-321-9.
• ———. Pharaonic king-lists, annals, and day-books: a contribution to the study of the Egyptian sense of history. Mississauga: Benben, 1986. ISBN 0920168078, 978-0920168073
• Thompson, Dorothy J. Memphis Under the Ptolemies: Second Edition. NED-New edition, 2. Princeton University Press, 2012. ISBN 9780691140339. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1n9dknx. Accessed April 8, 2025.

External links

• Berossos and Manetho, Introduced and Translated: Native Traditions in Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt by Verbrugghe, Wickersham, and Moore. 2001. Available to read online on HathiTrust digital library.
• The Fragments of Manetho online (transcribed from the 1940 Waddell Loeb Classical Library edition)
• Manetho, with an English translation by W.G. Waddell on the Internet Archive
• Manetho und die Hundssternperiode, Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Pharaonen ("Manetho and the Sothic Period, A Contribution to the History of the Pharaohs") (1845) on the Internet Archive
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt online (subscription required)