PALMER'S EGYPTIAN CHRONICLES.*
THE main object of Mr. Palmer's work is to reconcile Sacred and Egyptian chronology. Acknowledging, and availing himself of the labours of his predecessors, of Lepsius, Bunsen, Brugsel, Marlette, and others, he constructs his own theories and elaborates his own historical time-table. Mr. Palmer's scholarship and erudition are en- titled to all respect. His position as an Egyptologist, however, is not authoritative, and he scarcely seems to be possessed of that grave judicial faculty and philosophical spirit of cross-examination which are the pre-requisites of all inquiry. That he writes as the advocate of a foregone conclusion is inevitable: there are probably few persons to whom this imputation does not apply in some degree, for to divest the mind of all prepossession would be a task almost as difficult as that of "jumping off one's own shadow." In important controverted questions, each of the opposing champions usually considers himself impartial, and his opponent prejudiced. But however valid the plea which this consideration suggests for rejecting the theory of an an- tagonist, it is practically unavailing and unavailable, since the charge would always be met by the retort. It would be useless, therefore, to object to Mr. Palmer's chronological prepossessions. But when we find him regarding the alleged testimony of an angel and of a dream to the character of the Russian patriarch Nicon, as possibly sufficient evidence of the point in dispute, we are justified in asking whether his journey, to Rome, or else his preparations for that jour- ney, or, as a third alternative, his mental idiosyncrasies, may not dis- qualify him for the successful execution of his chronological enter- prise. That he has written an ingenious and learned book, is- howeit er this question be answered—undeniable. His decided oppo- sition to the theories of Bunsen may perhaps be the means of elicit- ing facts which will overthrow the speculative structure of that audacious historical architect; and his various denials and affirmations may possibly aid in simplifying and abridging the difficulties of the intricate and perplexing problem of Egyptian Chronology. To exhibit Mr. Palmer's mode of reconciliation, to compare to- gether the schemes of Manetho and Emtosthenes, to review the statements of Ptolemy of Mendes, Julius Africanus, Eusebius, Pam- phili, Arrianus, Panodorus, and numerous other authors, is neither desirable nor practicable here ; nor would it become any one, not a careful student of Egyptian antiquities, to criticize in detail the method of reconciling seemingly contradictory chronologies proposed • Egyptian Chronicles. With a Harmony of Sacred and Egyptian Chronology, and an Appendix on Babylonian and Assyrian Antiquities. By William Palmer, M.A., and late Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. in two volumes. Published by1.006- man, Green, Longman, and Roberts.
by Mr. William Palmer. Some characteristic features in his system, which will be readily understood and appreciated, are all that we can undertake to describe. But we must first explain how Mr. Palmer was led to employ his time and talents in the attempted reconstruc- tion of Egyptian chronology.
In the autumn of 1853, haying been advised to winter in some southern clime, the author went to Egypt in preference to any other country, and to Cairo in preference to any other part of Egypt, not meaning to study antiquities, and not intending to make the usual voyage up the Nile, but desiring to hunt out a Greek MS. of the seven- teenth century, containing an account of the deposition of the Russian patriarch Nicon, the possible saint with possible testimonials from an angel and a dream. Early in the following year an American stranger introduced himself to our author, inviting him to join him in his passage up the Nile. Prior to embarkation, one of the party purchased In a shop a thin quarto volume by an American of the name of Gliddon. "While reading one day on board the boat in Mr. Gliddon's book, the text of the Old Chronicle, in which it is pre- tended that a series of xxv. Solhic cycles had been completed at the end of the last native dynasty, when the Persian Ochus reconquered Egypt, and considering the different items of which the sum of (1461 -I-25=) 36,525 years was made out, the author's attention was drawn to one clause in which it is said that 'here 413 years of the Solhic cycle in xv. generations was entered or registerea,' the place being just above fifteen historical dynasties of kings, and just below fifteen other earlier mythological dynasties of gods and demigods." The question now occurred to Mr. Palmer to what Sothic cycle are these 443 years, or xv. generations, placed in the middle space, to be referred ? This question, if we rightly apprehend him, he did not think it necessary to answer. He nonsuitecl it, for again it occurred to him that "in truth the whole fancy on which the document was based was mere nonsense, and that there was no real ` Solhic cycle' in the series from beginning to end; for a Solhic cycle is not merely a space of 1481 Egyptian years, but it is that particular space, and that only, which begins from the conjunction of the movable new year, or Thoth L, with the heliacal rising of Sirius."
We come now to what Mr. Palmer considers his grand discovery— the enchanted key which opens the intricate wards of Egyptian chro- nology. The Sothic cycle„ he argues, to which the Chronicle points, really began July 20, B.C. 1322, and ended July 20, A.D. 139. Now, counting back from the last-mentioned date, we shall find that the 443 years, commenced B.C. 305, for 304x138=443. But in B.C. 305, Ptolemy Lagi first assumed a crown. Hitherto the Chro- nicle seemed only to signify "that the world had run itself out with the last native dynasty, an idea which might be appropriate as a fanciful lamentation for Egyptian patriotism, but winch had no pro- priety as addressed to Greeks." But now, on the hypothesis of the construction of a fanciful cyclical epoch, it became clear to Mr. Palmer that by throwing up the last 443 years of the cycle which were still to run (omitting to notice certain other interrenient years between Nectanebo and the Lagidte, which in some form or other were thrown up too), the effect was to draw down as it were the conquest of Ochus, and make it of one point with the commencement of the Macedonian dynasty. "And the whole sense was this : not only that the old world came to an end with Nectanebo, but also, as a corollary, that a new world, with all its hopes and promises, was commencing at the date of the Chronicle with the Lagulte." Such is Mr. Palmer's cardinal discovery. The explanation is very ingenious, but we know too well the fatal adaptability of numerical correspondences to accept it as conclusive. The author next pro- ceeds to an analysis and reconstruction of the Old Chronicle, which, when properly understood, will be found to "serve as a key to all the other Egyptian schemes, whether earlier or later." Of these schemes, six are examined and explained in this work: the Hieratic, that of the Old Chronicle, that of Diogenes Laertins, and those of Manetho, Eratosthenes, and Ptolemy of Mendes.
In determining the Sacred chronology, Mr. Palmer elects to take as his basis the longer, or Greek, not the shorter, or Hebrew reckon- ing of Josephus. It is well known that the Septuagint and the Hebrew text vary in their chronological statements; and it is not easy to understand why the Greek version should be preferred to the Hebrew original of the Old Testament. In fact, reasons may be given for advocating the claims of the Hebrew in opposition to those of the Septuagint. It has been remarked by Mr. Keruick that the Septuagint regularly adds one hundred years to the age of the father at the time of the eldest son's birth, and deducts it from the length of Ilia life after that event, the object, as he affirms, being to gain time in the chronology; and this being attained by lengthening each generation by a hundred years, the generation being the age of the f'ather at the 'birth of his eldest son. Again Mr. Kenrick, referring to Mr. Sharpe's History of Et, intimates that the Septuagint chronology bears the impress of a fanciful revision; the sums by which it has lengthened the Hebrew, when taken together, amount- ing to 1460 years, the precise length (or if Mr. Palmer be more correct in estimating it at 1461 years), nearly the length of a Solhic period. Thus the Septuagint text seems hardly entitled to the pre- ference which our author accords it.
We do not propose to accompany him through all his arithmetical manipulations. It is sufficient to say that the final result at which he arrives is the establishment of a time-table for the world's history, considerably more extended than that usually received, though not of the colossal proportions of Baron Bunsen's. According to this new correction, Creation took place 5361 years before Christ; the entire Ne of the world, therefore, does not much exceed 7220 years. This, lar. Palmer considers, is the period which sacred history requires,
and with which the Egyptian registration of time can be made to correspond.
According to our author's showing, Egypt's place in history is still important, though her records do not go back so far as the Chevalier Bunsen supposed. Her chronicles, her contemporary monuments and inscriptions, transport us to a period above 2000 years before Christ; lists of names manifestly historical, and some well-marked facts augment this period by 200 years, nay, carry us above the epoch of Menes to within a few months of the Creation itself. In the cultus of Egypt Mr. Palmer sees a blasphemous parody- of the Christian religion, especially of the Roman Catholic form of that religion. I single extract will serve to exhibit the singular nature of his speculations, as well as enable the reader to judge of his literary abilities. After observing that in a number of points the religions developments of the old Egyptians seem to go beyond those of the Hebrews, and to be anticipations of what was only after many ages to be manifested in the Christian Church, he proceeds: "In their theology they named first, three deities, which answer, in some sense, to the three Divine Persons in the doctrine of the Trinity, an nuoriginated father (Phthah), a son of that father (Ea), of whom the visible sun was the symbol, and a divine spirit (Cneph). Then, with a certain correspondence IQ the doctrine of the Incarnation, there was a deified humanity from which all mankind was derived, which was slain by its enemy, and in which all the scat- tered members were to be collected together and renewed through a son—a son of the woman—who was no other than the original humanity itself, and in whom it was to triumph eventually over its adversary. The mysteries of the death and passion (ra wall) of Osiris, and the lamentation of Isis, were celebrated
annually in Egypt, with images, ritual ceremonies, readings and singings, lights, processions, and a representative embalming and burial, much as the ceremonies of Holy Week are now celebrated by Christians. Isis, the deified woman, the "great mother," and the "queen of heaven," answered to her who obtains similar titles and worship in the Christian church. Then there were a multitude of lesser deities—deified aneestors—to whom worship was paid, anticipating the saints and other spirits and powers which may be compared to the angels. All these had their peculiar names and associations, and their supposed spheres of influence and patronage They had their images, too, like the images and sacred pictures of the Christians. Nor did the parallel stop here: but a special influence or in- habitation of the image, and special preferences of particular images were re- cognised, like what is heard of miraculous images and pictures now."
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