Ft*.4] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1S91117 years before SheshenTt, therefore, as we may now assert, in
B.C. 1065. Theperiodof 35^5 years, beginningwithMenes,may
havereferred to the successive regnalyears of the 330 Pharaohs
beginningwithMenes,for on this assumptionthe average reignof
thesePharaohswou'dhavelastedslightlyoverelevenyears. If so,
the Manethonian period of 3555 years would have lasted from
B.C. 1065-4620, a not improbable yearfor the accession of Menes.
As a curiosity it may be observed thatthispossibleyearof the first
king'saccessionto the throne, has been assignedto the creation of
the first man by the Seventy, the contemporaries of Manetho.*
ThesynchronismshereindicatedbetweenHebrewandEgyptian
traditiondo not in any way dependon this possible calendrianyear
for the accession of Menes. Theycouldonlythenbe doubted if
the year B.C. 928 for Shishak's capture of Jerusalem couldbe
attacked; or if a sound reasoncouldbe advanced for not regard
ing as strictly historicalthoseManethoniandateswhichhaveled, in
conjunctionwith Hebrew chronology, to such remarkable coinci
dences. The synchronismsbroughtforward point to Alimes and
Amenophis I as the Pharaohs of Moses. But the objection has
been raised, thatafter Ahmesthe conquering expeditionsof the
Egyptiansbegan,which always firsttouched Palestine, and made
thislanda vassal-state of the Pharaonic empire. AVhy doesthe
Biblenot mention anythingaboutthis?
In the first place, it has to be remarked that thisargument
couldbe made to refer as much to the passage of troops underthe
successorof Menephtha, the supposed Pharaoh of the Exodus, as
under the successor of Amenophis I. ForRamses III, allied
withthe Sharutana (perhapsSardinians)madewar against the Rebo,
the Tzakruri (Teukrians?)and the Purusata or Philistines, whomthe
Sharutanahad joinedby sea. He made an attack on Maka-Tyra
(Tyre),and advanced intoNaharaynor Mesopotamia, wherehow
everhe could not maintain himself. It is now provedby compa
rativechronology thathis accession to the throne tookplaceafter
Joshua'sdivisionof the land, evenif the Exodus had taken placein
the last regnal yearof Menephtha, thatis, in B.C. 1258.
ThePharaohsof Dynasty XVIIIto XX, whenmarchingto the
north,necessarily preferredthe road alongthe sea coast to that on* According to the Septuagint, Adam wascreated 2260 yearsbeforethe
Flood,beforen.C 2360, that is 4620."
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