Creation's dawn / by "Kish" ; with a preface by A. H. Sayce.

  • Kish, pseud.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Creation's dawn / by "Kish" ; with a preface by A. H. Sayce. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Dr Borckhardt has shown that this date accords with the dates between 1876 and 1872 b.c. Dr Flinders Petrie states that this date is 2622 b.c. —the difference being about 750 years ! If Dr Borckhardt’s reckoning is correct, and if we reckon backw’ards, it will give us a date for the ending of the Sixth Dynasty about 2585 b.c. in- stead of 3355 B.c. And now with reference to the “ Gap ” following the ending of the Sixth Dynasty. M. Mariette in his “ History of Egypt ” states : “ A sudden and unforeseen check was given to the progress of civilisation ; and during 436 years— from the Sixth to the Eleventh Dynasties—Egypt seems to have disappeared from the list of nations. When she awoke from her long sleep, on the acces- sion of the Antefs, and the Menuhotefs (of the Sixth Dynasty), it was to find that her ancient traditions were quite forgotten. The old family names, the titles of functionaries, the writing, and even the religion itself, seemed changed. No longer were Thinis, Elephantine, and Memphis, the capitals, but Thebes was, for the time, chosen as the seat of sovereign power. Besides this, Egypt had been shorn of a considerable portion of her territory, and the authority of her kings was limited to the Thebaid. The monuments, which are barbaric, primitive, sometimes even coarse, confirm all this, and on looking at them we might easily believe that Egypt, under the Eleventh Dynasty, had