Manetho

A historian of the Alexandrian school, who, under Ptolemy Philadelphus (third century B.C.) wrote a history of Egypt with a list of its thirty dynasties, which he profe ed to have drawn from genuine archives in the keeping of the priests. He himself was an Egyptian priest, living at Sebennytus, in Lower Egypt. His book is now only known by some lists and fragments preserved by Joseph us in his treatise “Against Apion,” by Eusebius in his “Chronic a,” and by Syncellus. Of these, Syncellus does not quote from the original. Though Egyptian monuments have afforded confirmation of many of his statements, it is not wise to rely entirely on his a ertions, since through transcriptions and ret ran script ions the original has probably suffered from alterations. His method was apparently not strictly chronological, the number of years for each dynasty being made up of the sum of the kings’ reigns, without allowance being made for the overlapping of some of these dynasties. The work is, however, invaluable to the student for comparative use. Several other works have been ascribed to Manetho.