The Historians' History of the World 01

We learn very little of Uskaf or Usercheres. His successor Sahu-Ra, on the contrary, is one of the most renowned rulers of the time. He also fought in Wady Magharah. The next kings cannot be placed in their order with certainty. The Turin papyrus allows eight reigns, mostly short, to follow, and at the fifth introduces a gap; the lists of Abydos and Saqqarah have only given us three names. Only Nefer-ar-ka-Ra and especially An, the first king who gave himself a title (User-en-Ra), were at all important. Then followed Men-kau-hor (reign of eight years), Assa, with the name of Tat-ka-Ra (twenty-eight years), and Unas (thirty years), of whom the first and second, like An, left monuments commemorative of their victories on the peninsula of Sinai.

Drawings of Egyptian Birds

(From the monuments)

The first epoch of Egyptian history closes with the reign of Unas. Almost three hundred years had passed since Sneferu had built up his pyramid and celebrated his victory in Wady Magharah. Throughout the whole period Memphis was the central point of the kingdom, and its necropolis almost the only source of our instruction. After the death of Unas—it is not known whether he died in peace or was overthrown by a revolution—a new race ascended the throne and the centre of Egyptian life begins gradually to shift itself. The Turin papyrus rightly makes the first principal division here, and gives the sum of all the reigns from Menes to Unas; but the figures are unfortunately lost to us.

[ca. 3866-3300 B.C.]

Here follows a table of kings in which the lists of Manetho for the IIIrd, IVth, and Vth Dynasties are compared with the lists of the Turin papyrus, the Abydos tablet, the Saqqarah tablet, and the wall list of Karnak.b It will be recalled that these lists, taken together, furnish us with the chief information at present accessible as to the true sequence of the early Egyptian rulers. Notwithstanding its somewhat forbidding appearance at first glance, this tablet will repay careful study. It illustrates the way in which the different lists must be pieced together in an attempt to form a complete record. It shows, also, how widely the Hellenised names of Manetho’s list differ from the Egyptian originals; suggesting the extent to which surmise must sometimes enter into identification. Indeed, it would be hard to tell which were the greater misfortune: the disappearance of Manetho’s history, or the accident by which the Turin papyrus was broken into scores of little pieces only to be restored in an unscientific and almost worthless condition by Seyffarth.a

Turin Papyrus [P.], Abydos Tablet [A.], Saqqarah Tablet [S.] Karnak [K.]

Manetho

1.

Zeser, P. A. S.

Dyn. III—

2

Tosorthros

29 years

Gap in dynasty

19 years

6

Tosertasis

19 years

2.

Zeser Teta, P. A. S.

6 years

3.

Set´es, A.; Neb-ka-Ra, S.

6 years

4.

Nefer-ka-Ra, A.; Huni, S.

24 years

5.

Sneferu, A. S. K.

24 years

Dyn. IV—

1

Soris

29 years

6.

Khufu, A. S.

23 years

2

Suphis

63 years

7.

Tatf-Ra, A. S.

8 years

8.

Khaf-Ra, A. S.

? years

3

Suphis

66 years

9.

Men-kau-Ra, A. S.

? years

4

Mencheres

63 years

10.

Shepses-ka-f, A. S.

? years

5

Rhatoises

25 years

6

Bicheris

22 years

7

Sebercheres

7 years

8

Tamphthis

9 years

11.

[Us-ka-f, A. S.]

[missing]

Dyn. V—

1

Usercheres

28 years

12.

[A. S. K.] Sahu-Ra

18-38 years

2

Sephres

13 years

Here belong:

13.

{

Kakaa, A.; and Monum.

4 years

14.

{

Nefer-Ra, A.

2 years

15.

{

Nefer-ar-ka-Ra, S.; and Monum.

7 years

3

Nephercheres

20 years

16.

{

Shepses-ka-Ra, S.

12 years

4

Sisires

7 years

17.

{

Nefer-kha-Ra, S.

? years

}

5

Cheres

20 years

{

Gap in Dynasty

}

18.

{

Akau-hor, Monum.

7 years

}

19.

{

and perhaps Ahtes

? years

}

20.

[User-en-Ra, An. A. K.]

10-30 years

}

6

Rhathures

44 years

21.

Men-kau-hor, P. A. S.

8 years

7

Mencheres

9 years

22.

Tat-ka-Ra, Assa., P. A. S. K.

28 years

8

Tancheres

44 years

23.

Unas, P. A. S.

30 years

9

Onnos

33 years

Total of seventeen reigns,

236-276 years

To these must be added six reigns; the duration of which is unknown.

Totals give 277 years for Dyn. IV, 248 for Dyn. V, differing from the sums of the single reigns.

If we allow fifteen years for each of the six missing reigns, we get for the period from Zeser to Unas about 350 years. For the something like nineteen kings of the Turin Papyrus from Menes to Zeser (exclusive) there falls, then, about 350 years, from Menes to Sneferu (exclusive) therefore, about 350, from Sneferu to Unas about 300, which agrees very well with the indications on the monuments. (According to the most reliable of the reported figures of Manetho the first three dynasties lasted 769 years, the IVth and Vth 525 years.)b

[ca. 3566-3300 B.C.]

Very recent discoveries have thrown a certain amount of light on the obscurities of the Vth Dynasty, particularly with reference to the kings Nos. 13-19 bracketed in the above table. The latest research has developed:

(1) That Kakaa (No. 13) must be only another, and probably personal, name of either Nefer-ar-ka-Ra or Shepses-ka-Ra, probably of the former.