f Memphis, some or all of whom may have
called themselves Kings of Lower Egypt. The result of the comparison
of this tablet with other authorities, namely, Manetho, Eratosthenes,
and the tablet of Abydos, is supposed by some to contradict the longer
views of chronology held by Bunsen, Lepsius and others. Thus, reading
the list of names backwards from Remeses II. to Amosis, the first of
the eighteenth dynasty, this tablet, like the tablet of Abydos,
immediately jumps to the Kings of Manetho's twelfth dynasty; thus
arguing that the intermediate five dynasties mentioned by Manetho must
have been reigning contemporaneously with the others, and add no
length of time to a table of chronology. There is also a further
omission in this tablet of four more dynasties. This tablet would thus
seem to confirm the views of the opponents of the longer chronology of
Bunsen and others, by striking out from the long chronology two
periods amounting together to 1,536 years. But a complete counterpart
of the tablet of Memphis has been recently found at Abydos by M.
Mariette, fully confirming the chronology of Manetho, and bearing out
the views of Bunsen and Lepsius. The _Moniteur_ publishes a letter
from M. Mariette, containing the following statement:--"At Abydos I
have discovered a magnificent counterpart of the tablet of Sakharah.
Seti I., accompanied by his son, subsequently Remeses II. (Sesostris),
presents an offering to seventy-six Kings drawn up in line before him.
Menes (the first King of the first dynasty on Manetho's list) is at
their head. From Menes to Seti I., this formidable list passes through
nearly all the dynasties. The first six are represented therein. We
are next introduced to sovereigns still unknown to us, belonging to
the obscure period which extends from the end of the sixth to the
beginning of the eleventh. From the eleventh to the eighteenth the new
table follows the beaten track, which it does not quit again during
the reign of Thothmes, Amenophis, and the first Remeses. If in this
new list everything is not absolutely new, we at least find in it a
valuable confirmation of Manetho's list, and in the present state of
science we can hardly expect more. Whatever confirms Manetho gives us
confidence in our own efforts, even as whatever contradicts it weakens
the results we obtain. The new tablet of Abydos is, moreover, the
completest and best preserved monument we possess in this respect. Its
style is splendid, and t