Reconstructing Manetho's king list

 

This is an attempt to make sense of the garbled account that Josephus gives of Mantho’s Egyptian king list and to identify the kings he names with those recorded in Egyptian, Greek, Jewish, Phoenician and other historical texts or inscriptions.

 

Manetho (reconstructed from Josephus)

When this people or shepherds (Hyksos) were gone out of Egypt to Jerusalem, Tethtoosis the king of Egypt, who drove them out, reigned afterward twenty-five years and four months, and then died.

 

After him his son Chebron took the kingdom for thirteen years; after whom came Amenophis, for twenty years and seven months. Then came his sister Amesses, for twenty-one years and nine months.

 

After her came Mephres, for twelve years and nine months. After him was Mephramuthosis, for twenty-five years and ten months.

 

After him was Thmosis, for nine years and eight months.

 

After him came Amenophis, for thirty years and ten months.

 

After him came Orus, for thirty-six years and five months.

 

Then came his daughter Acenchres, for twelve years and one month; then was her brother Rathotis, for nine years.

 

Then was Acencheres, for twelve years and five months; then came another Acencheres, for twelve years and three months.

 

After him Armais, for four years and one month.

 

After him was Ramesses, for one year and four months; after him came Armesses Miammoun, for sixty-six years and two months.

 

After him Amenophis, for nineteen years and six months.

 

After him came Sethosis, and Ramesses, who had an army of horse, and a naval force.

 

This king appointed his brother, Armais, to be his deputy over Egypt." [In another copy it stood thus: After him came Sethosis, and Ramesses, two brethren, the former of whom had a naval force, and in a hostile manner destroyed those that met him upon the sea; but as he slew Ramesses in no long time afterward, so he appointed another of his brethren to be his deputy over Egypt.]

 

He also gave him all the other authority of a king, but with these only injunctions, that he should not wear the diadem, nor be injurious to the queen, the mother of his children, and that he should not meddle with the other concubines of the king; while he made an expedition against Cyprus, and Phoenicia, and besides against the Assyrians and the Medes.

 

He then subdued them all, some by his arms, some without fighting, and some by the terror of his great army; and being puffed up by the great successes he had had, he went on still the more boldly, and overthrew the cities and countries that lay in the eastern parts.

 

But after some considerable time, Armais, who was left in Egypt, did all those very things, by way of opposition, which his brother had forbid him to do, without fear; for he used violence to the queen, and continued to make use of the rest of the concubines, without sparing any of them; nay, at the persuasion of his friends he put on the diadem, and set up to oppose his brother.

 

But then he who was set over the priests of Egypt wrote letters to Sethosis, and informed him of all that had happened, and how his brother had set up to oppose him: he therefore returned back to Pelusium immediately, and recovered his kingdom again. The country also was called from his name Egypt.

 

Josephus continues:

 

For Manetho says, that Sethosis was himself called Egyptus, as was his brother Armais called Danaus.

 

~

 

…for he (Manetho) mentions Amenophis, a fictitious king's name, though on that account he durst not set down the number of years of his reign, which yet he had accurately done as to the other kings he mentions; he then ascribes certain fabulous stories to this king, as having in a manner forgotten how he had already related that the departure of the shepherds for Jerusalem had been five hundred and eighteen years before; for Tethmosis was king when they went away.

 

Now, from his days, the reigns of the intermediate kings, according to Manethe, amounted to three hundred and ninety-three years, as he says himself, till the two brothers Sethos and Hermeus; the one of whom, Sethos, was called by that other name of Egyptus, and the other, Hermeus, by that of Danaus. He also says that Sethos east the other out of Egypt, and reigned fifty-nine years, as did his eldest son Rhampses reign after him sixty-six years.

 

From the differences in the spellings of the names of the same kings, i.e. Thethtoosis is given as Thummosis elsewhere and Tethmosis somewhere else, it looks like several different versions of Manetho or Josephus have been used in the version of Against Apion which survives today, which is the earliest extant source of this list. Josephus may have confused kings with similar names as the same person when in fact they were different people reigning at different times and put them in the wrong order, or Against Apion is probably a forgery attributed to Josephus. All Christian and Jewish accounts of the 18th and 19th Dynasties including Jerome and Africanus seem come from variants of the list given in Against Apion. Josephus account is clearly a redaction of what might have been the account of Manetho and contains several repetitions of the names of the kings who defeated the Hyksos, and of Sethos and Ramses which is why these two kings along with their reigns are duplicated twice in Jerome’s Chronicon. From Herodotus whose account appears to be based on the same source that Manetho used we know there that Sethos/Sethosis/Sesostris only appears once and is followed by Pharaoh. By about 50 BC, Diodorus calls this Pharaoh by the name of Sesostris II but gives the same account of him that Herodorus gives of Pharaoh. Josephus writing in 90 AD on the other hand even though he gives the same history as given by Herodotus of Sethos/Sethosis he fails to give any history for the 18th Dynasty kings who preceded him, and just lists their names and lengths of reigns. Given that the order of his list fails to match the order of modern Egyptian king lists, and that Josephus needed help writing in Greek, it looks like Josephus simply copied the names and what he thought was their reigns from an account of Manetho which he had read out aloud to him, possibly in the order in which they were mentioned first, which may not have been the order in which they reigned. Herodotus didn’t write his histories in chronological order and often digressed to earlier events in order to explain the causes of later ones, as did most Greek writers, and Manetho probably wrote in the same style and placed the pharaohs in the order which best suited his purpose. Another possible reason why Manetho’s list was corrupted could be that the order of the kings of the 18th and 19th dynasties was written in columns on a hexagonal prism (or on the six interior walls of a room counting the door posts and lintel area as separate walls) or on a scroll made up of six pieces of parchment which formed the introduction or summary of the particular book in question and column one became detached and was sawn back to the scroll at the end of column six, and either Manetho or Josephus read the names in rows from left to right starting in the second column and then moving to the next row down instead of reading the kings names downwards to the bottom of each column and then moving to the next column along. If the names were organised as follows with three names in each column then both Manetho’s list as it appears in Josephus and the modern 18th and 19th Dynasty kings lists can be read off by following the rows or columns respectively. The spaces between the names might have been filled in with brief descriptions of each king’s reign, thus there is enough space for what Josephus has written briefly about the reign of Sethosis to have gone at the top of column six.

 

2

3

4

5

6

1

Chebron

 

 

 

 

Amesses

 

 

 

 

 

Amenophis (brother of)

Mephres

Mephramuthosis

 

 

 

Thmosis

 

Amenophis

 

Orus

 

 

 

 

Acenchres f (sister of)

 

 

 

 

 

Rathotis

 

 

 

Acencheres

Acencheres

Armais

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ramesses

Armesses Miammoun

 

 

 

 

 

Amenophis

 

 

 

 

Sethosis (with Armais)

Ramesses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2

3

4

5

6

1

Tutmoses II

 

 

 

 

Ahmose

 

 

 

 

 

Amenhotep I (brother of)

Tutmoses III

Tutmoses IV

 

 

 

Tutmoses I

 

Amenhotep III

 

Horemheb

 

 

 

 

Smenkhkare (sister of)

 

 

 

 

 

Tutankhamun

 

 

 

Amenhotep II

Amenhotep IV

Ai

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ramses I

Ramses II

 

 

 

 

 

Merneptah

 

 

 

 

Seti I (with Armais)

Ramses III

 

 

The list below is constructed by comparing the lengths of the kings reigns and names given by Josephus with those of modern Egyptian king lists and I have listed some kings in a different order than they appear in Josephus.

 

The lengths of the reigns of the Hyksos or foreign kings were originally recorded counting different winters and summers as different years and months as months. I have attempted to recover this (see Pausanius 4.17.10 for an explanation of why “twenty two winters and green herbs” was taken to mean eleven years, and Pliny’s Natural History book 7, Chapter XI.VIII which confirms this also) since time was reckoned between solstices, thus summer and winter were counted as two different years.

 

Manetho’s King List  (reconstructed from Josephus)

Manethos Hyksos kings

XV Dynasty

c.1695 Timaus

Dudimose

1674 Salatis (13/2)

Sekhaenre Shalik

 

against c.1674-3 Maibre Sheshi (or 1 years)

 

against Meruserenre Yakubher (8 years)

 

against User-anat (XVI Dynasty)

1667.5 Beon (44/2)

Seweserenre Khyan

1645.5 Apachnas (36/2 + 7 months)

Seneferankhre Apepi I (XVI Dynasty) (Sakir-Har?)

1626.5 Apophis (61/2)

Awoserre Apepi II (40+ years)

 

against Nubuserre (XVI Dynasty)

1596 Janins (50/2 + 1 month)

Aqenienre Apepi III (Yanassi?)

 

against Yakobaam Sekkhaenre (XVI Dynasty)

1571-1546 Assis (49/2 + 2 months)

?-1535 Khamudi Aasehre (Yanassi?)

Manetho as given

Manetho reordered

XVII, XVIII & IXX Dynasties

Alisphragmuthosis

c.1600 Alisphragmuthosis

c.1559 Senakhtenre (Siamun) Tao I =Djehuti'o

Tethtoosis (25,4)

1575 Tethtoosis (25,4)

c.1558 Sekenenra Tao II  =Thot-aa =Djehuti'o

 

 

1554 Wadj-kheper-re Kamose (4)

 

1550 Amasis (25)

1550 Neb-pehty-re Ahmoses (25)

 

1547 Amesses (f) (21,9)

+ his sister Ahmose-Nefertari

Chebron (13)

1525 Amenophis (20,7)

1525 Djeser-ka-re Amenhotep Ka-Waf-Taw Aa-nerw (21)

Amenophis (20,7)

1504 Thmosis (9,8)

1504 A-Kheper-ka-re Tuthmosis I (12) =Djehutymes

+ Ahmose I

Amesses (f) (21,9)

1494 Chebron (13)

1492 A-kheper-en-re Tuthmosis II (13) =Djehutymes

Mephres (12,9)

1481 Mephres (12,9 may be his age at accession)

1479 Men-kheper-re Tuthmosis III  (54) =Djehutymes

+ 1473-1458 Hatshepsut (fem.) (15)

Mephramuthosis (25,10)

1432 Acencheres (12,5)

 

1425 A-kheperu-re Amenhotep II (25)

Thmosis (9,8)

1420 Mephramuthosis (25,10)

1400 Men-kheperu-re Tuthmosis IV (10)

Amenophis (30,10)

1394 Amenophis (30,10)

1390 Nebmaatre [Nibmu(`w)areya] Amenhotep III Heqawaset (38)

Orus (36,5)

1363 Acencheres (12,3)

1352 Nefer-kheferu-re Amenhotep IV Akhnaten (18)

Acenchres (f) (12,1)

1351 Acenchres (f) (12,1)

1334 +Smenkhkare Ankhkheperure (1)

Rathotis (9)

1339 Rathotis (9)

1333 Tutankhamun (9)

+ Ankhesenamen

Acencheres (12,5)

1330 Armais (4,1)

1324 Kheperkheprure Ai (4)

+ Ankhesenpaaten

Acencheres (12,3)

1326 Orus (36,5)

1320 Djeserkheperure Setepenre Horemheb (28)

Armais (4,1)

 

 

1289 Ramesses (1,4)

1292 Ramses I Menpehtyre (2)

1288 Sethosis (59 may be his age at death) =Sethos

1290 Menmaatre Seti Meryenptah (11)

1278 Armesses Miammoun (66,2)

1279 Usermaatre Setepenre Ramses Meryamun (66)

1212 Amenophis (19,6)

1212 Merneptah (10)

 

1202-1199 Amenemses (3)

1192 Sethos Ramesses

1199-1193 Seti II (6)

 

1193 Merneptah Siptah

1188 Thouoris (7)

1187 Twosret (f)

1182 20th Dynasty of the Diospolites (178)

1185 Setnakhte

 

1182-1151 Usermaatre Meryamun Ramses III Hekaiunu

 

The names of the Hyksos kings Apachnas and Apophis both appear to be corruptions of the Egyptian hieroglyphs rendered into English as Apepi. The fact that both are corrupted differently from exactly the same word would indicate that the original hieroglyphs were read out to a Greek scribe rather than being transliterated by the same reader.

 

From the account of Herodotus we know that Epaphus was the Greek equivalent of the Egyptian name Apis and the most likely explanation for this is if both names as they appear in Herodotus were corruptions of the Egyptian hieroglyphs which make up the name Apepi. Manetho’s rendering of the name Apepi as Apachnas and Apophis substantiates this hypothesis as do the chronologies of Jerome and Tatian and the accounts of Apollodorus and other Greek writers which place Io the daughter of Inachus the mother of Epaphus during the Hyksos period and make Apis the king of Argos also known as Sarapis his successor as king of Egypt. This enables us to identify Sarapis with Awoserre Apepi (Argos-Sar Apis). The name Sarapis is also similar to that of a Minoan period king called Saapis whose name is found in Cretan Linear A inscriptions and they may be the same person. Sarapis was considered both by Greeks and Egyptians as a king of Greece, Pontus and Egypt and worshiped by both as a god.

 

According to Philo of Byblus, as quoted by Eusebius in Preparation for the Gospel Book 1, Chapter IX-X, the religious foundation myths of the Greeks and Phoenicians, as well as those of the Jews were based on the same events in Phoenician history which described the Gods as originally being mortal kings who were deified by their descendents; “'But the Greeks, surpassing all in genius, appropriated most of the earliest stories, and then variously decked them out with ornaments of tragic phrase, and adorned them in every way, with the purpose of charming by the pleasant fables. Hence Hesiod and the celebrated Cyclic poets framed theogonies of their own, and battles of the giants, and battles of Titans, and castrations; and with these fables, as they traveled about, they conquered and drove out the truth.”

 

According to Phoenician mythology Herakles was Melcathrus the son of Demarus the son of Dagon the brother of El and son of Baal-Shamen. El fathered Pontus or Jehovah and Zeus-Belus or Dushara. Zeus-Belus was the father of Nereus who was the father of another Pontus. Meruserenre Yakubher is an obvious candidate for the first Jehovah and Yakobaam Sekkhaenre for the second.

 

According to Greek mythology Epaphus was the son of Zeus and Io and married Memphis the daughter of Nilus the son of Oceanus and Thethys and named a city in Egypt after her. Memphis bore Epaphus two sons, Belus and Agenor. Belus was the father of Danaus and Aegyptus. Agenor was the father of Cadmus.

 

Since we have postulated that Apis king of Argos or Sarapis was Awoserre Apepi and his processor was Epaphus, this would imply that Agenor reigned in the generation after Sarapis. At this time Egyptologists believe that Lower Egypt and Palestine were ruled by Aqenienre Apepi whose name is identical to that of Agenor (Aqnnr) and would correspond to Janins in Manetho’s list (ie. corrupted from [Aq]-enien-[re]) and to the biblical Canaan. By a process of elimination this means that Seneferankhre Apepi was Epaphus and Seweserenre Khyan was Beon in Manthos list or Telegonus the husband of Io the daughter of Inachus who was abducted by Zeus and taken to Egypt.

 

According to Greek historians Zeus (or Sdeus) was born in Lyctos and was taken to the Diktaian caves near Lato (or Lyctos) in Crete after his birth or to the Idaian caves which are near Tylissos. Diodorus Siculus says that the Cretan city of Goulas was known as a "city of Zeus". Linear B tablets found at Knossos mention a Goulas settlement in the area of Lato and Tylissos. If this evidence is correct then it would indicate that Zeus was the Cretan king Saasi[tepi] or Saa[si]tepi who ruled at Lato and at Tiliss somewhere between 1650 and 1600 BC according to Linear A inscriptions.

 

The Bavarian Chronicle names an Ausstaeb or Istaveon the son of Eingeb, son of Mannus (Germanus) son of Tuitshe as the fourth king of the Germans after the flood, who ruled the territory from Phrygia to the month of the Danube in about 1550 BC. His name is identical to Saasitepi and is probably a corruption of Zeus Deus (or Diuja or Diwioion thus, Zeus Diwioion = Istaveon = Ausstaeb = Saasitepi.)

 

Saasitepi may have been the Hyksos king Sheshi also known as Shalik (inscription) or Salatis (Manetho).

 

This Hyksos or foreign rule over Egypt accounts for the entire Greek account of the abduction of Io by Zeus, her marriage to Telegonus, the rule of her son Epaphus and his cousin Sarapis after him and then the rule of Agener. If Assis in Manetho’s list is Khamudi Aasehre this could also account for Cadmus the son of Agenor as a Hyksos or foreign king of Egypt.

 

This leaves just Belus and Aegyptus to be accounted for in the foundation myths of the Argives and Thebans and this is where it starts getting complicated. To identify these kings properly we need to reconstruct the king list of the 18th Dynasty as it appeared not only to the Greeks, but also to the Phoenicians at a time prior to Homer, since from Jerome’s chronology we at told that Egypt which was previously called Aeria received its name from Aegyptus in 1480 BC. In the Low Chronology this almost exactly the year when Djehutymes III became king of Egypt, and it can be seen that Aegyptus is clearly a corruption of that name which a Greek scribe would make if he had that name read aloud to him. Also Jerome’s dating of 1506 for Telegonus II, the husband of Io the daughter of Iasus, following the alternative later account for the origin of Io, and 1488 BC for her son Epaphus II matches the dates of Tutmoses I and II in the Low Chronology which indicates that they are based on these kings. The Greek accounts if Io, Telegonus and Epaphus were obviously shifted to a later part of the Egyptian chronology after it was realised that a huge gap existed between Belus and Aegyptus in the original account which probably became corrupted because there were three kings who were called Aegyptus, ie. Tutmoses I to III only the first of which could have been the son of the original Belus.

 

When Manetho’s kings are organised into the correct order on the basis of their names and length of reigns, so that they fit in with the Low Chronology it is clear that Amasis (25) is Ahmose (25), Amenophis (21) is Amenhotep I (21), Thmosis (10) is Djehutymes I (12), Chebron (13) is corrupted from [A]-kheperen-[re] in the title of Djehutymes II (13), and Mephres must be corrupted from M[en]-[kh]eper-re in the title of Djehutymes III, who was Aegyptus. Manetho gives this king a reign of about 13 years (as opposed to 54 in modern lists) but this is more likely to be the age at which Djehutymes III became king than his reign, therefore I have placed the start of his reign in 1481 BC based on Jerome’s date for Aegyptus and dated the reigns of his predecessors on that basis.

 

Beginning with the 19th Dynasty it is obvious that Sethos also called Ramesses after his grandfather is Seti I, Amenophis his father (20) is probably Merneptah (10) and Armesses Miammun (66) is Ramses Meryamun (66) which means that Sethosis/Sethos/Sesostris is Seti I, but has been given a reign of 59 years by Manetho as opposed to 11 in modern lists. Either this is actually the age at which he died or became pharaoh or Manetho his mixed his reign up with that of Mephres. Since Sethosis is clearly Seti I, I have placed the start of his reign in 1292 BC and dated his processors based on this. Ramesses (1) is Ramses I (2).

 

Orus (37) is clearly a corruption of the name of Heremheb (28). Armais (4) is Kheperkheprure Ai whose wife’s name Ankhesenpaaten (An-Khesenpaa-Ten) was obviously corrupted to Cassiopeia in the Greek accounts of Perseus journey to Egypt since Jerome dates Perseus’ deeds to about 1330 BC which is approximately when Ai reigned. Therefore Ai may be identified as Cepheus. According to the Greek account Perseus married Andromeda the daughter of Cepheus. In reality she may have been based on Mutbenret or Mutnedjemet (Mut-[A]nedjemet[a]) the sister of Nefertiti (wife of Akhenaton) and the presumed daughter of Kheperkheprure Ai. She or another Mutnedjemet (since this seems to have been a popular Egyptian name) may also have been married to Horemheb. Kheperkheprure Ai is also believed to have originated from Akhmim or Chemmis which may explain Herodotus’ references to a temple and statue of Perseus in that city. In the Greek account Perseus is said to have defeated the sea monster Cetus who Andromeda was to be sacrificed to by showing it Medusa’s head. This Cetus could possibly have been Seti the father of Ramesses I and/or the royal envoy Shuta referred to in the Armana letters.

 

Rathotis (9) is Turankhamun (9), the female Pharaoh who Manetho calls Acenchres (12) is Smenkhkare Ankhkheperure (1). Manetho gives her a longer reign than she is given in the Low Chronology but this is balanced out by the shorter reign given to Acencheres (12) who is Amenhotep IV. Since Acencheres and Acenchres are almost identical Manetho may have split Amenhotep IV’s reign into two and wrongly attributed half to his wife. Amenophis (31) is Amenhotep III (38) and Mephramuthosis (26) is a corruption (Me[nkhe]phraru thothis) of both names of Men-kheperu-re Tuthmosis IV (10). That leaves Acencheres (12) as Amenhotep II (25).


Thethtoosis (25) is clearly Sekenenra Tao II also called Thot-aa or Djehutio and the 4 year reign given to him in the Low Chronology is probably wrong, therefore I have switched to the High Chronology for the start of his reign and the kings before him. His father Alisphragmuthosis would have to be Senakhtenre Tao I who may also have been called Siamun. The Hyksos 15th Dynasty list given by Manetho clearly ends at the start of the reign of Ahmoses rather than the start of the reign of Thethtoosis. Sekenenra Tao II opposed Aqenienre Apepi III for some of his reign.

 

Now we have the entire king list ranging from 1674 to 1192 BC reconstructed we can get to the nitty-gritty. It is clear from Diodorus first book and Lynche’s “The Travels of Noah into Europe” as well as other Greek and Roman writers which Lynche used as sources that the 18th Dynasty was used as the historical basis of the poem “Phrygia” by Thymaetes which Lynche’s predecessors then overlaid onto the accounts of the kings of Europe prior to Dardanus. “Phrygia” itself is based on much early Egyptian mythology dealing with the Egyptian gods Osyris, Thoth, Set and Horus and it is no surprise that since 4 of the kings of the 18th Dynasty used the name Thoth in their titles that the mythology was transposed onto the 18th Dynasty. The basic account given by Diodorus of Thymaetes poem in which Greek names are substituted for the names of the Egyptian gods is as follows. Uranus fathers the tyrant Kronos. Kronos deposes Hammon the king of Lybia and after the birth of his son Osyris is killed by Dionysus the son of Hammon who adopts Osyris and makes him his successor. Osyris is the complete opposite of his father Kronos and travels the world with his companion Hercules deposing tyrants. Osyris has a son also called Hercules who avenges Osyris murder by his brother Typhon (Set). Osyris is then made out by Lynche or more likely his sources to be the same as Jupiter Iustus Olympicus the king of Italy, on the pretence that he was named Olympics after his tutor Olympus. John bishop of Nikiu indicates that he was also called Zeus Picus when he ruled Italy. His son Hercules is also made out to be a king of Europe by Lynche who transfers Dionysus rule from Nikia in Arabia to Sicily. Both Diodorus and Lynche seem to agree that when Hammon was expelled from Egypt he ruled in Crete. John Nikiu indicates that Hercules was in fact Faunus the son of Picus who was also called Hermes. This enables him to be identified with Thoth and therefore one of the Tutmoseses.

 

Lynche also claims that Kronos because he founded Chem-Myn (Chemmis in Egypt) which is corroborated by Diodorus, was in reality Cham the son of Noah who he makes out to be the same as Ogygus the king of Athens in whose reign the whole of Greece was swamped by a huge deluge. Based on the chronology of Jerome this is clearly the Thera Erruption of 1628 BC which caused a 30 meter high Mega Tsunami wave to hit the coasts of everywhere in the Aegean and produced massive waves which reached as far away as Cyprus and Egypt according to NASA computer simulations. Lynche also makes Noah out to be the same person as Iannus king of Italy and he is also identified with the Babylonian king Xisuthrus by Eusebius who quotes from Berosus who Lynche claims to be his primary source, although its more likely that what Lynche thought was Berosus is actually Alexander Polyhistor. From Eusebius quotation of Berosus and Lynches chronology it is clear that Cham was in fact based on the pseudo-Assyrian king Chomasbelus. The Assyrian king list given by Berosus is in fact the Assyrian king list given by Ctesias who predates Berosus by over a century, which Berosus copied. From the morphology of the names it is clearly Medo-Persian in origin and was probably lifted from Ctesias Persica and list the kings of Media and Persia descended from the Assyrian king Ninus (Kidin-Ninua) the son of Belus (Belu-Bani). Chomasbelus is the second king after Xisuthrus who disappeared after the flood and in Lynches account is succeeded by Nembroth. In John Nikiu’s account Chomasbelus is succeeded by Zeus Picus (Zeus Olmypicus) the son of Kronos who in turn is succeeded by his son Belus who according to Nikiu “after his death the Persians worshiped with the gods”, which must mean that Nembroth must be a reference to Zeus Olympicus since Cham (Chomasbelus) was Kronos. Nikiu’s statement concerning the worship of Belus would also confirm that the so-called Assyrian kings list originated from Ctesias’ Persica as a list of Medo-Persian kings. In the biblical account of the flood, Noah begat Ham who begat Mizraim who begat Casluhim (out of whom came Philistim), and Caphtorim. Norse accounts called Egypt by the name Muspelhiem (Home of Muspel) and it is obvious that this name derives from a corruption of the name Chomasbelus whose descendents ruled over Egypt according to the bible, the name Cham or Chomas itself deriving from the name of the Egyptian city of Chemmis according to Diodorus and the name Belus or Baal meaning Lord, thus Chomasbelus means Lord of Chemis and Muspelhiem or Egypt means Home of the Lord of Chemmis. In the Ynglinga Saga, Snorri Sturluson places Asgaard the home of the Norse gods in Asia-Minor also called Asaland, east of the river Tanais. This means that Asgard was Troy, Midgard or Mygdonia (possibly a corruption of Macedonia) was Greece and the Bifrost Bridge was the Bospherus. In the account of Ragnorok the Muspelhiem led by Surtur (probably Saturn) attacked Asgard and Midgard and defeated most of the Norse gods before being defeated themselves. When this occured Midgard is described as being totally destroyed and sunk without a trace by a huge deluge. Clearly the Norse accounts are describing the Ogygian Deluge since Midgard was Greece and Asgard was Troy. If Surtur is a corruption Saturn then it is clear that he was also called Kronos, by the Greeks, who Lynche identifies with Cham. Norse, Greek, and Biblical accounts of the flood are all obviously based on exactly the same events which occurred at the time of the Thera Eruption. Chomasbelus is obviously Cham in Jewish accounts who is said to be Kronos from Thymaetes “Phrygia”, and is probably also Belus the son of Lybia the daughter of Epaphus and Poseidon. In the biblical account Cham is the father of Mizraim who gives his name to Egypt, which could mean that Mizraim was an earlier Aegyptus in the Greek account. Mizraim fathers Caphtorim who is obviously Ka-Waf-Taw Amenhotep I which means that Mizraim must be Ahmoses I. Caslohim (probably [Pi]cas Elohim) the other son of Mizraim must therefore be Tutmoses I and his son Philistim is Tutmoses II. Philistim can also be corrupted to Belus and Belus was the father of Aegyptus in the Greek accounts of the same events. Thymaetes deviates from the Biblical account by making Osyris the son of Kronos (Cham) instead of Mizraim who is probably Busiris in his account.

 

In Greek mythology Nilus was the father of Anippe the mother of Busiris by Poseidon and Busiris was killed by Herakles when he came to Egypt. In Lynche’s account Busiris was killed by Osyris who was accompanied by Hercules when he travelled the world and after Osyris murder Busiris the son of the former was killed by Hercules.

 

If Senakhtenre Tao I was also called Siamun as some suggest, the name could be a reference to the Phoenician god Baal-Shamen which would mean that Senakhtenre Tao I is Uranus in Thymaetes account and his son Sekenenra Tao II must therefore be Kronos.

 

Given that the bible places the birth of Cham in about 1634 BC, if we were to follow Lynche and identify Cham with Sekenenra Tao II he would have to have lived to the age of about 84 years when he died. This is not impossible but it is more likely that there was more than one Cham and more than one Kronos since Cham was the father of Cush the father of Saba the father of Triton the father of Hammon who Cham deposed to become king of Lybia. If Sekenenra Tao II was this Cham then the original Cham five successive kings earlier may have been Yakobaam Sekkhaenre but given that the names Sekenenra and Sekkhaenre are virtually identical they might in fact be the same person. Djehuti’o is the Egyptian spelling of Tao and this could easily be construed as Yahu or Jehovah by oral transmission. If the mummy alleged to be that of Sekenenra Tao II is actually him then it would indicate that he was killed violently at the age of about 40 so it is more likely there were several Chams. The name Yakobaam is also given in translation as Jacob-Baal and could indicate that he may be the historical basis for Belus (Baal) the brother of Agenor and son of Lybia the daughter of Epahpus. Since is has already been seen that Norse accounts referred to Egypt as Muspelhiem, a corruption of Home of the Lord of Chemmis, if we assume that Yakobaam Sekkhaenre of the 17th Dynasty ruled from Chemus against the Hyksos kings of Palestine of the 15th Dynasty this would imply that the name Chomasbleus (Cham-Baal) was created to refer to Yakobaam Sekkhaenre in respect of his rule as Baal or Lord of Chemmis the city of Cham or Kronos.

 

The Mittani king Shutarana I who lived in about 1600 BC whose name is identical to the Roman Saturnus and therefore Kronos, may be a possible basis for another Cham, since his descendent Naharin is obviously the basis of Nachor the grandfather of Abraham. He could in fact also be Chomasbleus or Yakobaam Sekkhaenre, explaining why Cham was also referred to as Kronos or Saturn. It is still possible though that all of these kings were actually separate individuals or possibly allies and the writers of the poem “Phyrgia” and the Norse sagas merged them together into one individual for simplicity.

 

An alternative Ouranos could be Sekhemre-sementawy Djehuti of the 17th Dynasty who ruled in about 1644 BC according to the High Chronology (Shamen from -semen- and Baal from Tawy or Deus) and would fit in best with Diodorus statement that Uranus was the brother of Zeus the king of Crete when relating the Atlantian version of Thymaetes account. It’s not out of the question that all the kings called by variants of the name Sekhemre from the 17th Dynasty were all the same person using different epithets or could have been construed as the same person by Thymaetes and other writers, thus Sekhemre-sementawy Djehuti could have been syncretised with Senakhtenre Siamun Tao I to create Ouranos. In the Biblical version of the chronology the original Cham may have been Shutarana I and he could have been syncretised with Sekenenra Tao II to stretch the chronology down to Mizraim and Caphtorim who is clearly Kawaftaw Amenhotep I or alternatively Senakhtenre Siamun Tao I and Sekenenra Tao II were syncretised as one person.

 

Egyptian kings listed in different sources

Inscriptions

Manetho

Diodorus, Herodotus

Greek mythology

Thymaetes, Lynche

Bible, Jasher

John Nikiu

c.1695 Dudimose

c.1705 Timaus

 

Kronos

 

 

 

1674 Sekhaenre Shalik

1674 Salatis

 

1677 Zeus

 

 

 

Seweserenre Khyan

1667.5 Beon

 

Telegonus

 

 

 

Seneferankhre Apepi

1645.5 Apachnas

Uchoreus I

Epaphus

 

 

Picas

Awoserre Apepi

1626.5 Apophis

Uchoreus II

1622 Sarapis

 

 

 

Aqenienre Apepi

1596 Janins

<1>

1605 Agenor

 

 

Agenor

?-1535 Khamudi Aasehre

1571-1546 Assis

<2>

Cadmus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1644 Sekhemre-sementawy Djehuti

 

 

 

c.1650 Ouranos

1632 Noah

 

c.1600 Yakobaam Sekkhaenre

 

 

1605 Belus

1605 Kronos

1603 Cham

Belus

c.1559 Senakhtenre Djehuti’o

Alisphragmuthosis

 

 

1578 Triton

 

 

c.1558 Sekenenra Djehuti’o

1575 Tethtoosis

 

 

1574 Hammon

 

 

1554 Wadjkheperre Kamose

 

 

 

1567 Kronos (rest.)

 

Kronos

1550 Nebpehtyre Ahmoses

1550 Amasis

<3>

Aegyptus

1552 Busiris

Mizraim

 

1525 Kawaftaw Amenhotep

1525 Amenophis

<4>

1518 Zeus

1526 Hercules

Caphtorim

 

1504 Akheperkare Djehutymes

1504 Thmosis

<5>

1506 Telegonus

1504 Zeus Olympicus

Caslohim

Zeus Picas

1492 Akheperenre Djehutymes

1494 Chebron

<6>

1488 Epaphus

1491 Hercules

Philistim

Faunus Hermes

1479 Menkheperre Djehutymes

1481 Mephres

<7>

1480 Aegyptus

 

Mizraim

 

1425 Aakheperenre Amenhotep

1432 Acencheres 

<8>

Amon

 

c.1425 Anom

 

1400 Menkheperure Djehutymes

1420 Mephramuthosis

<9>

Proteus

 

c.1407 Oswiris

Abratus Hermes

1390 Nebmaatre Amenhotep

1394 Amenophis

<10>

Amon

 

c.1404 Rikaon

Hephaestus Helios

1352 Neferkheperure-waenre Amenhotep
Akhenaten

1363 Acencheres

<11>

Belus

 

 

Hephaestus Helios

1334 Ankhkheperure Smenkhkare

1351 Acenchres (f)

 

 

 

 

 

1333 Nebkheperure Tutankhamun

1339 Rathotis

<12>

 

 

 

 

1324 Kheperkheprure Ai

1330 Armais

 

1330 Cepheus

 

 

Aiqasbera Dionysus

wife Ankhesenpaaten

 

 

Cassiopeia

 

 

 

daughter Mutnedjemet

 

 

Andromeda

 

 

 

1320 Djeserkheperure Setepenre
Horemheb Horhermaatsekhepertawy

1326 Orus

c.1350 Moeris

 

 

c.1309 Pharaoh

Matunavis

1292 Ramses Menpehtyre

1289 Ramesses

<6 kings>

 

 

 

Osiris Apollo

1290 Seti Meryenptah

1288 Sethosis

Sesostris

 

 

 

Sesostris

 

 

 

 

 

1282 Joseph

 

1279 Ramses Meryamun

1278 Armesses Miammoun

Pharon

Memnon

 

1262 Magron

Sabacon

 

 

<many kings/ages>

 

 

 

 

from Thebes Menmire Setepenre
Amenmesse Heqa-waset

 

Ammosis

 

 

Moses (in Cush)

Amosius

1212 Binere-meramun Merneptah-hotphi(r)mae

1212 Amenophis 

1194.5 Aktisanes

Tithonus

 

1242 Melol (Meror)

Petissonius

1199 Seti Userkheperure Meryamun

 

1192 Sethos Ramesses

1189.5 Mendes/Marrus

Memnon

 

1195-1193 Adikam (Ahuz)

 

1193 Merneptah Siptah

 

 

 

 

 

 

1187 Twosret

1188-1182 Thouoris

 

 

 

 

 

1185 Setnakhte

 

1181 Proteus Ktes

1181 Proteus

 

 

 

1182 Usermaatre Ramses

 

1164.5-1154 Rampsinitus

1173 Theoclymenos

 

 

Rampsinitus

 

John Nikiu states that the Pharaoh of the Exodus was Petissonius (Pah Tissonius) who is obviously the same king as Aktissanis in Ethiopian kings lists and the Aktisanis referred to by Diodorus in book 1.5 of his Library. Diodorus says that Aktisanis invaded Egypt from Ethiopia and deposed the tyrant Ammosis and ruled Egypt after him. This account matches the account on the Merneptah Stele and Manetho’s account of Amenophis routing Moses from Egypt from a base in Ethiopia.

 

Merneptah’s full name is Binere-meramun Merneptah-hotphi(r)mae and it can be seen that Hotphi(r)mae could have been consonantally shifted to Petissonius or Tithonus by Greek writers, ie. T(i)phimae(s). Therefore Merneptah must be the Homeric king Tithonus otherwise known as Aktisanis in Diodorus and the Ethiopain kings list. This is supported by Diodorus who says Aktisanis is succeeded by his son Mendes who is followed by Proteus who was also called Ktes and therefore must be Setnakte. Tithonus is the father of Memnon who died at Troy which implies that Memnon also called Marrus by Diodorus was Seti Userkheperure Meryamun. If so then his brother Emathion who was killed in Arabia by Herakles was Khaemwaset or Khaemwase. Seti Userkheperure Meryamun may also be Adikam Ahuz who is described as the Pharaoh of the Exodus in the Book of Jasher. After the parting of the Red Sea, Jasher states that Adikam who was sill quite young, was saved from the water and was taken by an angel to the land of Ninevah and reigned over it a long time. This may explain why Diodorus claims that Memnon is an Assyrian and why Herodorus accuses some writers of mistakenly identifying statues of Sesostris (or Seti) in Asia-Minor as being those of Memnon.

 

This confirms my dating of the Exodus to 1192 BC and indicates that Ammosis is probably Moses since Diodorus account mirrors the account of Manetho who states that the Israelites expelled Amenophis (probably Merneptah) from Egypt who fled to the king of Ethiopia and these two kings together with Amenophis’ son Seti liberated Egypt in his final year. This is confirmed by the inscription of Merneptah who claims to have left Israel without seed in his 5th year.

 

Jerome places Thouoris reign in 1188 BC and this is probably Twosret. At this time Egypt was probably split in two and not unified until Proteus since Diodorus and Jerome assign different kings for the duration of the Trojan War. Proteus is succeeded by Rampsinitus or Remphis which is Usermaatre Meryamun Ramses III Hekaiunu, who Euripides calls Theoclymenos which means Famous God and is equivalent to Usermaatre which means Powerful One of Maat and Re. In his 8th year Ramses III records that he expelled a Cyprus based confederation of sea peoples from Egypt among whom were included the Danaioi, Teukrians and Pelasgians who accompanied Menelaus on his campaign in the 8th year after the capture of Troy.

 

The rest of Manetho’s king list as recorded by Jerome is easily restored to its original form. The kings given in square brackets were probably lost because they were thought to be duplicate entries for kings already mentioned by whoever redacted the copy of Manetho used by Eusebius and Jerome to nothing more than a list of names. Herodotus and Diodorus both used a text which put the pyramid builders at the end of the Ramassidic period (Remphis/Rampsinitus plus seven more kings according to Diodorus). Since they obviously do not belong to this period I have left them out.

 

Manetho, Herodotus, Diodorus

Modern lists

[1151 Ramses]

Ramses IV

[1145 Ramses]

Ramses V

[1141 Ramses]

Ramses VI

[1133 Ramses]

Ramses VII

[(1126 Ramses)]

Ramses VIII

[1126 Ramses]

Ramses IX

[1108 Ramses]

Ramses X

[1098 Ramses]

Ramses XI

1069-1043 Smendis/Asychis 26

Smendes

1043-1039 Anysis

Amenemnisu

1039-991 Pseusennes/Sabacos 41/50

Pasebakhaenniut I

997 Nephercheres 4

 

993 Ammenophis/Anysis (rest.) 9

Amenemope

984 Osochor 6

Osorkon the Elder

978 Psinaces 9

Siamun

969 Psusennes 35

Pasebakhaenniut II

934 Sesonchosis/Shishak 22

Sheshonq

912 Osorthon 15

Osorkon

[897 Sheshonq]

Sheshonq II

889 Tachelotis 13

Takelot I

[876 Osorkon]

Osorkon II

[850 Takelot]

Takelot II

825 Petubastis 25

Pedibastet

[800 Sheshonq]

Sheshonq IV

775 Osorthon 9

Osorkon III

766 Psammus 10

Pami

756 Bocchoris 44

Bakenrenef

712 Sabacos 12

Shabaka

700 Sebichus/Sethos 12

Shebitku

688 Tarachus 20

Taharqa

696 Merres 11

 

685 Stephinatis 7

 

678 Nichepsos 6

 

672 Necos 8

Necho

664 Psammetichus

Psamtik

610 Necos

Necho II

595 Psammis

Psamtik II

589 Apries

Wahibre

570 Amasis

Ahmose II

526-525 Psammenitus

Psamtik III

 

 

 

 

Main Page

 

Updated 16/12/09, 08/07/12, 22/04/13, 21/06/13, 14/07/13

(Hyksos according to the High Chronology, 18th Dynasty to Low Chronology, 19th Dynasty to High Chronology)