Manetho

Manetho (; Manéthōn, gen.: Μανέθωνος, fl. 290–260 BCE) was an Egyptian priest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom who lived in the early third century BCE, at the very beginning of the Hellenistic period. Little is certain about his life. He is known today as the author of a history of Egypt in Greek called the Aegyptiaca (History of Egypt), written during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter or Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BCE). None of Manetho’s original texts have survived; they are lost literary works, known only from fragments transmitted by later authors of classical and late antiquity.

thumb|Excerpt from Manetho, with an English translation by W.G. Waddell, p. ix.

The fragments of the Aegyptiaca continue to be a valuable resource for Egyptian chronology. Until the decipherment of Ancient Egyptian scripts in the early 19th century CE, Manetho's fragments were an essential source for understanding Egyptian history. His work remains important in Egyptology.

Works attributed to Manetho

Eight works have been attributed to Manetho:

Aegyptiaca
The Book of Sothis
The Sacred Book
An Epitome of Physical Doctrines
On Festivals
On Ancient Ritual and Religion
On the Making of Kyphi [a kind of incense]
Criticisms of Herodotus

Some of these have been considered "ghost" titles. Of these eight, modern scholars agree that: the historical Manetho is the author of Aegyptiaca; that Manetho cannot be the author of Sothis; and that the Criticisms is likely a part of the larger Aegypticia and not written as a separate work.

Name

thumb|No likeness of Manetho exists. This is a bust of a [[Neokoros, a senior official in the temple cult of Serapis (a Hellenistic appropriation of Osiris and Apis) from Roman Egypt, 230-240 CE, over three centuries after Manetho lived. The circlet with the seven-rayed sun disk in the hair identifies his position. Manetho was an authority on the temple cult of Serapis. Marble. Altes Museum, Berlin.]]

Scholars agree that "Manetho" is a Greek transcription of an Egyptian name, however there is no consensus on the original. Some speculate that it is a theophoric name invoking either the god Thoth or the goddess Neith, e.g. "Truth of Thoth", "Beloved of Neith", or similar. Another proposal is "I have seen the great god". Others propose an occupational name based on Egyptian Myinyu-heter ("Shepherd" or "Groom"). In Latin sources he is called Manethon, Manethos, Manethonus, and Manetos.

The earliest attestations of his name, all in Greek, come from three sources: an inscription found in Carthage; the Hibeh papyrus; and the writings of Josephus. The name that he called himself in Greek was likely Manethôn.

Historical context

thumb|Statue of a priest of [[Osiris, Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, 1st century CE. Le Grand Palais exhibition.]]

Manetho lived and worked at the very beginning of the new Hellenistic order in Egypt, when the Macedonian Greek Diadochi (successors) of Alexander the Great (d. 323 BCE) fought each other for control of the new empire, a struggle finally ending in partition. In Egypt, diadochos Ptolemy I Soter founded the Ptolemaic Kingdom in 305 BCE. Reigning for nearly three centuries, the Ptolemies were the final and longest-lived dynasty of ancient Egypt before Roman conquest in 30 BCE. They introduced the Hellenistic religion, a unique syncretism between Greek and Egyptian religions and cultures. Manetho wrote Aegyptiaca in order to preserve the history of his homeland for posterity and—as evidenced by his having written it in Greek—for its new foreign rulers.

Manetho originated in Sebennytos and was likely a priest of the solar deity Ra at Heliopolis. He was an authority on the temple cult of Serapis (a Hellenistic appropriation of Osiris and Apis).

Manetho's Aegyptiaca chronicles the history of Egypt from a mythical epoch of divine rulers, through the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by Menes (c. 3100 BCE in modern dating) and the subsequent thirty (or thirty-one) dynasties, culminating in the establishment of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in 305 BCE. Key themes included the importance of a unified kingdom, periods of stability and innovation versus internal strife and foreign rule (like the Hyksos, Kushites, and Achaemenids), and the restoration of Egyptian power. Manetho aimed to present a comprehensive and continuous history of Egypt under divinely-sanctioned rulers, including foreign ones.

Manetho's legacy

Manetho's unique legacy rests on the singular importance of his Aegyptiaca.

The dynastic framework

Manetho coined the term "dynasty" (Greek: dynasteia); his conception was not based on bloodlines—as we understand the term "dynasty" today—but rather as groupings of monarchs punctuated by discontinuities, either geographical (e.g., moving the capital) or genealogical. After each discontinuity came a new dynasty.

Arguably his most important legacy, Manetho's division of Egyptian rulers into thirty (or sometimes thirty-one) dynasties—despite its imperfections and the passage of millennia—still serves as the fundamental chronological backbone for Egyptology. Indeed, since Syncellus, his method of dynastic arrangement remains the foundational structure for all presentations of Pharaonic Egypt.

Written in Greek

Use of Egyptian hieroglyphic and demotic writing began to disappear in the third century CE, and with it went the knowledge to read these scripts. The temple-based priesthoods died out and Egypt was gradually converted to Christianity, and because Egyptian Christians wrote in the Greek-derived Coptic alphabet, it came to supplant demotic. The last hieroglyphic text was written by priests at the Temple of Isis at Philae in 394 CE, and the last known demotic text was inscribed there in 452 CE.

Manetho's decision to write his Aegyptiaca in Greek—the lingua franca of his day—rather than Egyptian ensured that the text remained accessible even after the knowledge of Egyptian scripts was lost, and enabled scholars from classical and late antiquity to the modern era to encounter Egypt's deep past. This history would have otherwise been largely inaccessible until the decipherment of ancient Egyptian scripts.

A native Egyptian perspective

Manetho, an educated Egyptian who wrote for an audience of foreigners, is even today a singular guide to his civilization's profoundly ancient history. As the author of a complete and systematic work by a native Egyptian, Manetho's perspective held an inherent authority. His viewpoint still offers unparalleled insights into how Egyptians themselves conceived of their own past and their place in a changing world.

Anti-Jewish Charges

In his Aegyptiaca, Manetho also included statements about and against the Jews which survive in Josephus' work Against Apion. Possibly in response to the glorifying Jewish presentation of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, which Manetho likely found offensive, he described it not as a miraculous escape but the expulsion of a leper colony and other polluted groups. According to him, Moses, who Manetho identified as the renegade priest Osarseph, commanded the Jews to not associate themselves with members outside their community, to do everything completely opposite to Egyptian custom and set up alien rule. Manetho accused the Jews as misantrophic and derisive of other religions and the notion of the rebellious priest leading a revolt of infected outcasts became a fundamental component of antisemitism.

Foundation for later scholarship

Despite the fragmented and imperfect transmission of his Aegyptiaca, Manetho established a foundational chronology for thinking and writing about Egyptian history that endures to this day. For centuries, Manetho's fragments and summaries were the primary textual sources for understanding the sequence of Egyptian rulers. They provided a framework, however flawed, upon which early Egyptological scholarship was built. Jean-François Champollion relied on Manetho's king-lists as a cross-reference in his pioneering translations of ancient Egyptian scripts.

References

Explanatory notes

=== Citations ===