Appendix III. The Greek Writers Upon Egypt.

(1) Hekataios of Miletos, tyrant, statesman, and writer, b.c. 500-480. Sent as ambassador to the Persians after the suppression of the Ionic revolt. Travelled in Egypt as far as Thebes. His account of Egypt contained in his great work on geography, now lost.

(2) Thales of Miletos, philosopher, b.c. 500. Wrote on the causes of the inundation of the Nile.

(3) Hellanikos of Mytilênê, historian, b.c. 420. Wrote an account of Egypt and a journey to the oasis of Ammon, now lost.

(4) Herodotos of Halikarnassos, historian, b.c. 445-430. Travelled in Egypt as far as the Fayyûm. His account of Egypt chiefly contained in the second book of his histories.

(5) Demokritos of Abdera, philosopher, b.c. 405. Spent five years in Egypt, and wrote books on geography and on the Ethiopic hieroglyphics, now lost.

(6) Aristagoras of Miletos, b.c. 350. Wrote a history of Egypt in at least two books, now lost.

(7) Eudoxos of Knidos, philosopher. Visited Egypt in b.c. 358, and wrote an account of it in his work on geography, now lost.

(8) Leo of Pella, b.c. 330. Wrote a book on the Egyptian gods, now lost.

(9) Hekataios of Abdera, b.c. 300. Lived at the court [pg 327] of Ptolemy i., travelled up the Nile and examined the Theban temples. Wrote a history of Egypt, the first book of which was on Egyptian philosophy, now lost. The account of the Ramesseum (the temple of Osymandyas or Usir-mâ-Ra) given by Diodôros is derived from his work.

(10) Manetho, Egyptian priest of Sebennytos, b.c. 270. Compiled the history of Egypt in Greek from the records contained in the temples. Corrected many of the errors of Herodotos, according to Josephus. The work was divided into three parts, and Josephus quotes from it the account of the Hyksos conquest, the list of the kings of the eighteenth dynasty, and the Egyptian legend of the Israelitish Exodus. An epitome of the history was probably added at the end of the work. We know it from the list of dynasties quoted by the Christian writers Julius Africanus (a.d. 220) and Eusebius, both of whom endeavoured to harmonise its chronology with that of the Old Testament. The work of Africanus is lost, but the list of dynasties has been preserved by Georgios the Synkellos or Coadjutor of the Patriarch of Constantinople (a.d. 792), who has added two other lists professedly from Manetho, but really from post-Christian forgeries (“The Old Chronicle” and “The Book of Sôthis”). Eusebius quotes from a copyist of Africanus, or some unknown copyist of Manetho himself, and his list has been preserved (like that of Africanus) by George the Synkellos, as well as in an Armenian translation. Manetho also wrote (in Greek) on Egyptian festivals and religion, but all his works are lost.

(11) Eratosthenes of Kyrênê, geographer, chronologist, astronomer and mathematician, b.c. 275-194. Librarian of the Alexandrine Museum under Ptolemy iv. First fixed the latitude of places by measuring the length of the sun's shadow at noon on the longest day in Alexandria and then [pg 328] calculating the distance to Assuan, where there was no shadow at all. In his work on chronology (now lost) he gave a list of Theban kings, selected from the various dynasties, like the lists of Karnak or Abydos. This has been preserved, along with an attempt to translate the meaning of the names. The translations, however, are erroneous, as they are made from the Greek forms of the names compared with words then current in the decaying Egyptian of the day.

(12) Ptolemy of Megalopolis, b.c. 200. Wrote a history of Ptolemy Philopator, now lost.

(13) Kallixenos of Rhodes, b.c. 210. Wrote a description of Alexandria in four or more books, now lost.

(14) Philistos of Naukratis, b.c. 225. Wrote a description of Naukratis, a history of Egypt in twelve books, and an account of Egyptian religion in three books: all lost.

(15) Kharôn of Naukratis, b.c. 160. Wrote on Naukratis and on the succession of the Ptolemaic priests; the works are lost.

(16) Lykeas of Naukratis, b.c. 160. Wrote an account of Egypt, now lost.

(17) Agatharkhides of Knidos, geographer and historian, b.c. 120. Gave an account of the working of the Egyptian gold-mines (in his geographical work on the Red Sea) which has been preserved by Photios.

(18) Lysimakhos of Alexandria, b.c. 50. Wrote a history of Egypt containing the Egyptian legend of the Hebrew Exodus, which has been preserved by Josephus.

(19) L. Cornelius Alexander Polyhistor, b.c. 82-60. Wrote an account of Egypt in three books; now lost.

(20) Diodôros of Sicily (Diodorus Siculus), historian, travelled in Egypt, b.c. 57, published his great historical work, called Bibliothêkê, b.c. 28. The first book of it devoted [pg 329] to Egypt and Ethiopia. Quoted largely from Herodotos, Hekataios of Abdera, Ephoros and other authors now lost. We are dependent on him for a connected history of Egypt during the Persian period.

(21) Ptolemy of Mendes, historian, a.d. 1. Wrote a history of Egypt in three (?) books, now lost.

(22) Strabo of Amasia, geographer, a.d. 20. Travelled in Egypt. The last (17th) book of his great work on geography is devoted to Egypt.

(23) Apion of El-Khargeh, grammarian and historian, a.d. 40. Pleaded for the Alexandrines against Philo and the Jews before Caligula. Wrote a history of Egypt in five books, the third of which discussed the Hebrew Exodus; now lost.

(24) Khairêmôn of Naukratis, stoic philosopher, a.d. 50. Was Nero's teacher. Wrote an account of Egypt and an explanation of the hieroglyphics; now lost.

(25) Josephus, son of the Jewish priest Matthias, born a.d. 37, received his freedom and the name of Flavius, a.d. 69. Quotes from Manetho, Lysimakhos, etc., in his Antiquities of the Jews and Contra Apionem.

(26) Plutarch of Khaironeia, moralist, a.d. 125. Wrote at Delphi his treatise on Isis and Osiris, which is of great value for the history of the Osiris-myth.

(27) Ptolemy of Alexandria, geographer, a.d. 160. Egypt is thoroughly and scientifically treated in his great work on geography.

(28) St. Clement of Alexandria, head of the Alexandrine (Christian) School, a.d. 191-220. Many references to Egyptian history and religion in his Strômateis. He divides Egyptian writing into hieroglyphic, hieratic and epistolographic (or demotic), the first being further divided into alphabetic and symbolic, and the symbolic characters into imitative, figurative and rebus-like.

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(29) Julius Africanus, Christian apologist, wrote in a.d. 221 his Chronology, in five books; now lost.

(30) Porphyry of Batanea, a.d. 233-305, wrote a history of the Ptolemies; now lost.

(31) Eusebios, bishop of Cæsarea, published in a.d. 326 his Chronicle, containing a list of Manetho's dynasties. The work has been preserved in an Armenian translation.

(32) Horapollo of Nilopolis, grammarian, a.d. 390, wrote a work on the hieroglyphics in Coptic, which was translated into Greek by Philippos. Only the ideographic values of the characters are given, but they are mostly correct.

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