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==Historiography of Egypt== | == Historiography of Egypt == | ||
===Egyptology=== | ===Egyptology=== | ||
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** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventional_Egyptian_chronology wikipedia "Conventional Egyptian chronology"] | ** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventional_Egyptian_chronology wikipedia "Conventional Egyptian chronology"] | ||
** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_chronology wikipedia "Egyptian chronology"] - this page discusses the problems in establishing Egytian chronologies | ** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_chronology wikipedia "Egyptian chronology"] - this page discusses the problems in establishing Egytian chronologies | ||
=== Egyptian archaeological record === | |||
* not always reliable: often works of state propaganda | |||
* extensive gaps occur between surviving records | |||
* Egyptian year count based on events and pharaohs which is difficult to translate to modern dating | |||
* Manetho of Sebennytus | ==== Egyptian timeline via celestial dating ==== | ||
* using the path of the Dog Star, Sirius, Egyptologists have been able to correlate the position of the star with the ancient Egyptian calendar | |||
** major work is "Aegyptiaca," the first organized historical overview of ancient Egypt, completed in 271 BC | * since the Egyptian calendar was the basis of the Roman calendar | ||
*** Kings List: of rulers and gods who ruled before the kings | ** (which is the basis of the modern European "Gregorian" calendar) | ||
* knowing that July 19 is the Egyptian date for the rise of Sirius, the Dog Star | |||
** by matching surviving Egyptian records, astronomers and mathematicians were able to date the | |||
*** start of the 12th dynasty at 2000 BC | |||
*** start of the 18th dynasty at 1580 BC | |||
**** more or less by 3 years | |||
** sources: | ** these calculations have allowed for accurate extrapolation of Egyptian records into modern dating | ||
** they also showed the Manetho's timeline was greatly exaggerated | |||
=== Manetho of Sebennytus === | |||
* Egyptian high priest (of the sun god Ra) who lived under the Greek king of Egypt, Ptolomey I | |||
** lived either in late 3rd century (early 300s) to early 2nd century B.C. (300s-200s BC) | |||
* the name "Menotho" may mean "Truth" or "Gift" of "Thoth" (Egyptian god of the moon, knowledge, writing) | |||
* major work is "Aegyptiaca," the first organized historical overview of ancient Egypt, completed in 271 BC | |||
** Aegyptiaca = "History of Egypt" | |||
* Kings List: of rulers and gods who ruled before the kings | |||
** kings list was an Egyptian tradition: see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saqqara_King_List Saqqara Tablet] | |||
** the list of ruling "dynasties" comes to us from Manetho | |||
** includes narratives of events across Egyptian history | |||
* written in Greek, most of original is lost | |||
** historians rely on translations by others, notably Josephus, Africanus, and Eusebius, all from the Roman era | |||
* see essay by [https://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1999/127pdf/127093.pdf John Dillery, The First Egyptian Narrative History: Manetho and Greek Historiography] | |||
<pre>In the early 3rd century BC, during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the Egyptian priest Manetho of Sebennytus 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.</pre> | |||
* sources: | |||
** (wikipedia entry [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manetho on Manetho here] | |||
** [http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1999/127pdf/127093.pdf The First Egyptian Narrative History: Manetho and Greek Historiography] - Academic article | |||
** [http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs/Manetho.html Manetho's "Aegyptiaca"] - images of surviving manuscript | ** [http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs/Manetho.html Manetho's "Aegyptiaca"] - images of surviving manuscript | ||
=== Herodotus "Histories" === | |||
* | * Herodotus of Halicarnassus wrote "Histories", which included a study of Egypt | ||
** | * Book 2 contains three chapters with subsections: | ||
*** | ** Fourth logos: Geography of Egypt | ||
** | ** Fifth logos: customs and animals of Egypt | ||
*** | *** Tyre | ||
**** | *** Egyptian customs | ||
*** | *** The hippopotamus | ||
***** | *** Mummification | ||
*** | ** Sixth logos: history of Egypt | ||
**** | *** text: The relief of Sesostris | ||
* | * for Herodotus's text see: | ||
** | ** [https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2131/pg2131-images.html AN ACCOUNT OF EGYPT BY HERODOTUS BEING THE SECOND BOOK OF HIS HISTORIES CALLED EUTERPE (Gutenburg)] | ||
** | ** [https://www.livius.org/articles/person/herodotus/herodotus-histories/ Herodotus' Histories (livius.org)] provides commentary about each book of Herodotus | ||
=== Other Histories and ancient visitors === | |||
* Hecataeus of Miletus, 6th century B.C. | |||
** called, "the father of Geography," a Greek diplomat and philosopher from 6th century BC who had visited Egypt with the Persian court after its conquest of Egypt | |||
** wrote "Journey round the Earth" or "World Survey" | |||
*** survive only in fragments (pieces) or citations from later authors | |||
** Herodotus relied on Hecataeus | |||
* Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi, 14th century AD Islamic traveler and writer | |||
** visited Egypt and wrote in wonder of the ancient monuments | |||
** wrote "An Account of Egypt" | |||
** importantly promoted the study and preservation of the archaeological remains in Egypt | |||
=== European "Egyptologists" === | |||
* following early 19th century French invasion of Egypt, the land was opened up to European visitors | |||
* especially under later British rule, historians investigated the ancient archeology and texts and translated earlier texts from the Greeks, especially | |||
== Ancient Egypt Vocabulary == | == Ancient Egypt Vocabulary == |