Egyptian belief and modern thought / by James Bonwick.

  • James Bonwick
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Egyptian belief and modern thought / by James Bonwick. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    449/474 page 435
    Zoroastrian. Fathers Kircher and Huet suppose China to have been an Egyptian colony. Before leaving the Asiatic question, we must try and trace the Hycsos, or Shepherd Tribes of Egypt. Manetho says that the Hycsos reigned 511 years at Avaris, on the Bubastic branch of the Nile. On the Sallier papyrus, we read of them as enemies who were “in the fortress of the sun (Heliopolis), and their chief, Apepi, at Avaris.” Elsewhere, the hieroglyphics teach us that “ the king Ra-Apepias chose himself the god Soutech as Lord, and there was no servant of any other god existing in the entire country.” M. Roug^ has translated from the tomb at El-Kab, belonging to one Am&s, the story of the expulsion of the Hycsos, and in which expedi- tion Amibs took a part. Amosis, the first king of the eighteenth dynasty, is reported as the victor over the invaders. Manetho’s story, of very doubtful character, is as follows : “ In the reign of our king Timaus, God was on some account angry with us ; and suddenly an army of men from the eastern region, who were of obscure origin, boldly invaded our country, and easily subdued it, without so much as fighting a battle. These men, having got the rulers of it in their power, afterwards barbarously burnt the cities, and demolished the altars of the gods.” Salatis is named as the king of the force. The Israelites, according to M. Pleyte and others, were Hycsos. Both are referred to as lepers, ultimately driven from Egypt. Some identify the Israelites with the Khita, or Hittites, of Herodotus. Others refer them to the Aperi-u, or Apra, occasionally named on the monu- ments, especially of the time of the warlike Ramses II. They are mentioned in the hieroglyphics as at work on buildings at Memphis, the Ramses of Scripture. But as the Aperi appear on stelae of Ramses V., it was concluded that all did not leave the land at the Exodus. Dr. Eisenlohr sees no connection “ with the Hebrews of the Bible.” That there was a great mixture of races then we know from the Pentateuch, where one. wife of Moses was an Arab, and the other an Ethiopian. The dislike of shepherds in Egypt has been attributed to the likeness of the sons of Jacob to the old Hycsos shepherds. The jealousy of the desert tribes is seen in Joseph’s remark: “Ye are spies.” Jacob had to change his Semitic name for an Egyptian one. But the natural anxiety to find support for Jewish history in Egyp- tian hieroglyphics is not always wisely exhibited. The eagerness with which supposed identities have been seized has exposed Biblical advocates to the charge of a want of confidence in their own belief; while the failure of expectations has subjected them to the scorn of the
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