Manetho

by Manetho, Loeb Classical Library

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 Aegyptiaca, on the history of Egypt; The Sacred Book on Egyptian religion; An Epitome of Physical Doctrines; On Festivals; On Ancient Ritual and Religion; On the Making of Kyphi (an incense); The Criticisms of Herodotus; and the spurious 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.

Genres: History, Egypt, Nonfiction, Classics, Ancient History, Ancient

466 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 251

Reviews

[Addison Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tantalizing volume, mostly for the window it opens onto the phenomenon of native (Egyptian, Babylonian) historians writing national histories in the Greek language for a Hellenistic readership - in this case, Manetho, priest of Heliopolis, writing a history of Egypt in the court of Ptolemy II. The actual fragments fall into two main categories. First, you have the king lists, which are drawn, for the most part, from epitomes of the original lost work. They make for dry reading, but are enlivened here and there by the translator's reliably interesting footnotes.

That said, there can be harrowing moments even in something as tedious as a king list:

Fragment from Africanus: “He was carried off by a hippopotamus and perished.”

From Syncellus: “He made a foreign expedition and won renown, but was carried off by a hippopotamus.”

From the Armenian recension of Eusebius: “Ab hippopotamo raptus est.”

Gosh!

The second major category consist of extracts and epitomes from Christian writers (Eusebius most of all) concerned with rebutting Manetho's claim that the Israelites were identical with the Hyksos 'shepherd kings' who had been driven out of Egypt at the start of the New Kingdom period. This is interesting because it shows that Egyptian writers in cosmopolitan Alexandria, which had a famously large and erudite Jewish population, felt a strong need to recast the story of Moses in a way that didn't injure their own national pride.

Outside of these two main categories, there are also scattered fragments from treatises on priestly subjects - festivals, physical doctrines, and (charmingly enough) incense recipes. If a big chunk of Manetho's miscellanea ever turns up in some Oxyrhynchian midden, it'll yield a ton of interesting material on the fustier side of Egyptian liturgical and scholarly life.

[Peter J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like how modern historians are not sure and endlessly debate the Hyskos/Hebrew connection, while both Manetho, the high priest of Heliopolis, and Josephus, the Jewish historian, don't have any doubts.

[Orgadena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creation

Scribe.

Eusebius – Manetho – The Extracts.

Thóth.
Synecellus.
Truth.


ÆGYPTIACA.
Length, of Time : Beginning, to Mesträim
– Founders –
Considerable time.

Creation.

Man, Moses
– Of Gods –
“This City, This City.”

The Flood.


SACRED BOOK.
“Concealment.”
Amûn,
~

[Stace Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection of pieces from Manetho's works as related by different authors and through different translations. Primary authors used were Eusebius (2 different translations) and Africanus.

[corbdog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and very shallow, mostly lists of pharaohs, but very interesting when it goes into detail, very much worth reading

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two books in one!

Manetho: The king lists of the Egyptian Dynasties; very little else of his history of Egypt - a native answer to Herodotus - survives. Also includes Josephus' epitome of Manetho's work.

Ptolemy: Tetrabiblos - THE how-to manual for astrologers, diviners, and newspaper horoscope columnists for millennia. Especially compelling are the chapters on ethnography and genealogies.