Ptolemy, a leader in Alexander’s army, made himself ruler of Egypt following Alexander’s death in 323. He made
Ptolemy 2nd (ruled 285-246 BC) paid as many as fifty scholars to work at the library. One remarkable work made possible by Ptolemy’s patronage was the Septuagint, a translation of Jewish Scriptures from Hebrew into Greek, published around 250. Another important work, also written in Greek and published at the same time, was the History of Egypt by a man named Manetho.
Manetho was born into an Egyptian family living in the city of
He wrote several books but his most important work was his History of Egypt. He may have written this to provide a native Egyptian response to the otherwise authoritative history of
In his History, Manetho is the first writer to use the term “dynasty.” Manetho used “dynasty” to mean a group of rulers who come from the same family or rule from the same city. Manetho divided the rulers of
No copy of Manetho’s original History survives. We know of it only from summaries written centuries later. The two oldest surviving summaries were written by Sextus Julius Africanus around AD 225 and by Eusebius about 100 years later.
Copyright © 2012 by Steven Farsaci.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.