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i i 8 CH R O N O LO G IC A L A R R A N G EM E N T
1494 B. C. ( = 14847. 3 mo. -f- “ 9 y. 8 mo.” of Manetho in Jos. c. A. = 1417 -|-
‘ 37 + 3 1 + 9 yenrs ” of the Afr.-Maneth table, the Euseb.-Maneth. table giving -j-
“ 38 -f- 31 -}- 9 ” = 1495), accession of Thmósis or Touthmósis, as king of Egypt. Tut-
I mas IV., third king of the Eighteenth dynasty, is next on the monuments ; both contemporaneous,
— and in the series of kings at Abydos and Gurna.
In this year = “ is t of his reign,” Tutmas IV. set up a votive tablet fourteen feet high between
the fore paws of the Great Sphinx at G izeh— (Leps. d, iii. pl. 68, and Birch). He also completed
the temple at Amada, built additions to others at Wadi Haifa and Thebes, and set up obelisks (one
of which is now in Rome).
1492 B. C. ( = 1505 y. 332II d. — “ 17 years ” of ten lunations of Gen. xxxvii. 2 and 28), Joseph
sold to Ishmeelite or Midianite merchants, and carried by them into Egypt.
T he balm o f G ilead “ t zry’’ on the camels of the Ishmeelites and Midianite merchants — (gen.
xxxvii. 25), included among the productions o f Palestine in gen. xliii. 11, healing and produced in
Gilead according to Jeremiah viii. 22 and xlvi. 11, brought by merchants of Judah and Israel to
Tyre in the days of Ezekiel xxvii. 17, is probably the “ balsamum Hierosolymitanum ” seen by Forskal
mat. med. in the drug-shops o f E g y p t : the plant from which it is procured remains unknown.
Cistus Creticus of the East Mediterranean countries. The plant producing gum ladanum is
called in Greece “ lathanfi” (Sibth.) or “ éméró k is ta r i” or “ emSra kounouklia ” (Fraas), while in
Egypt its imported product is called “ laden” (F o r sk .): the “ I t ” or “ Iw f ’ on the camels of the
Ishmeelites — (gen. xxxvii. 25), included among the productions of Palestine in gen. xliii. 11, is
referred here by Celsius, and Gesenius ; the “ lethanon ” is said by Herodotus iii. 107, and Rufus
Ephesius, to be procured by the Arabians, by Pliny xii. 37 to be produced in Nabathaean (Northern)
Arabia and Cyprus ; Arabian, Cyprian, and Libyan “ lathandn ” procured from a kind of “ kistou ”
are mentioned by Dioscorides : gum “ laden ” was found by Forskal mat. med. imported into Egypt
from Crete ; and the process of procuring it was witnessed in Crete by Tournefort, and Sieiaer
(Spreng.). C. Creticus is termed “ c. ladanífera crética flore purpureo ” by Tournefort cor. 19, was
observed by him, Sibthorp, and Fraas, from Crete and Corinth throughout the Greek islands lo
Cyprus ; is known to grow also in Syria (Buxb. iii. pl. 64, and Pers.). Ladanum according to
Lindley is a gum-resin “ produced principally by this species,” and “ has been much esteemed a s a
stimulant and emmenagogue.” (See C. Monspeliensis).
Astragalus gummifsr of the mountains of Syria and Kurdistan. Gum iragacanth is called in
Arabic “ nakaoton ” (Greenfield), and the “ nkad ” on the camels of the Ishmeelites — (gen. xxxvii.
25), enumerated among the productions of Palestine in gen. xliii. 11, is referred here by Gesenius:
“ katad” or “ katira” is mentioned by Rhazes ; and as procured on Lebanon, by Ebn Baitar: A.
gummifer was observed by Labillardiere on Lebanon, yielding gum tragacanth; by Dickson, yielding
the same in Kurdistan (Royle in Kitt. bibl. cycl.). A white kind according to Lindley, “ more
transparent than that of commerce, neither does it dissolve so well in water, and therefore is inferior
in quality.” (See A. verus).
Scorzonera tuberosa of Syria and the Tauro-Caspian countries. The “ nkwd ” brought from
Gilead on the camels of the Ishmeelites — (gen. xxxvii. 25) is referred by Sprengel to the gum exuded
by this root, well known in the country East of the Jordan : S. tuberosa is known to grow around
Damascus, was observed in Syria by Rauwolf 117 ; and by Pallas trav. iii. app. 131, in arid situations
along the Lower Volga (Pers.)
1491 B. C. ( = “ five hundred and twenty-fifth ann. A b r ,” of Euseb., “ five hundredth” being
given in another place), in Greece, the temple at Delphi built by Erysichthon. The oracle at first
belonged to Ge and Neptune (Paus. x. 5. 6, see Aeschyl. eum. 2).
“ 1490 B. C. = 1st year of Wou-kia, of the Chang ” or Fourth dynasty — (Chinese chron. table).
1488 B. C. = “ 7th year of Tutmas IV .,” in a tablet on Kono.sso recording a victory over Negro
tribes ; the latest date in his reign found on the monuments — (Birch).
1485 B. C. ( = 1417 -|- “ 36 y. 5 mo. -j- 30 y. 10 mo.” of Manetho in Jos. c. A., =
“ 37 + 3t ” in the Afr.-Maneth. table, the Euseb.-Maneth. table giving + “ 38 -f- 31 ”
= i486), accession of Aménóphis as king of Egypt. Amunhotep III., fourth b ’ng of
the Eighteenth dynasty, is next on the monuments : both contemporaneous, — and in
the series of kings at Abydos and Gurna.
In this year = “ is t of his reign.” The quarries at Tourah re-opened by Amunhotep III. (Birch.)
“ 1484 B. C. = beginning of the Dwapar Y u g or Brazen A g e ” among the Hindus (Graha
Munjari tables). Parasurama son of Jamadagni (Bentley as. res. viii. 231) may have been at
this time reigning. He is said to have destroyed the Kshattriya or military caste (Bhavabhuti
Uttar, vi., transl. H. H. W ils .). Rama, a son of Jumudugni, — is mentioned in the Ramayana i. 61
to ii. 18.
In this year = “ 2d of Amunhotep I I I .,” on the rocks at the quarries at Tourah — (Birch).
Uredo segetum of Europe and Northern Asia. A minute fungus developed in the blasting of
grain-crops, and called in Britain rust or blight (Ainsw.) or mildew, in Anglo-Saxon “ mele-deaw,”
in the Ortus Sanitatis “ mei roris ” (Prior), in Germany “ mehlthau” (Grieb), in France “ nielie ”
(Nugent), and the blasted ears “ shdphwn” of Pharaoh’s dream— (gen. xii. 6 to 27), Deut. xxviii.
22, Amos iv. 9, and i K. viii. 37, are referred here by Gesenius. Farther North, the “ 6rusives” is
mentioned by Democritus (Cass, geopon. v. 5), Theophrastus viii. 10 and caus. iii. 27 ; the “ uredo,”
by Cicero, and Pliny; the “ sterilem rubiginem” by Horace; “ rorem inustum sole acri frugibus
rubiginis causam e s s e ” by Pliny xviii. 68; and the “ ustilago ru stica ” by Apuleius d. h. 63. 109
(Billerb., and others).
1482 B. C. (— 1484 — “ 2 full y e a r s ” of Gen. xii. i = 1002 y. 1163^5- d. - f “ 480th y e a r ” of i
Kings vi. I = 1611 y. 239II- d. — “ 130 years ” of Gen. xlvii. 9 ; 1587 y. 239-lf d. — “ 130 years ” of
ten lunations = end of September 1483), Joseph released from prison and appointed governor over
Egypt. Israel or the Israelitish nation being “ an hundred and thirty years ” old.
The “ Coptic” or Egyptian language at this time the spoken language of E g yp t: as appears
from Gen. xiii. 23, and from the quotations preserved in xii. 43 to 45 : “ abrk ” apg-rfik, head incline ;
and “ tsphnd phinh ” tsh6f-noud fai-nSh, in God’s Desert-making bringing deliverance. The words
being pure Coptic, the non-existence of any different hieroglyphic language is demonstrated. — Words
however were clearly invented heiore grammarj and at what period the latter modification was made
in the Egyptian language, does not appear.
1480 B. C. :=: “ sth year of Amunhotep I I I .,” on the rocks near Philae in a tablet recording
victories over Negro tribes : a tablet at Semneh mentioning the rapid passage of the k in g— (Birch).
1477 B. C. ( = 1447 — “ 30 years ” of Euseb. i. and ii., and Syncell.), accession of Mamylus as
Assyrian emperor.
1474 B. C. ( = 1481 y. 239II d. — I — “ 7 y e a r s ” of Gen. xii. 53), arrival of Joseph’s brethren
in Egypt.
Joseph’s cup was for divining as well as drinking (Gen. xliv. i to 5). — Divining-cups are figured
on the Assyrian monuments at Nimroud ; and to the present day, drinking-cups inscribed with
some mystic sentence are in use throughout the East (Bonom. nin. iv. 2).
In this year — “ loth of Amunhotep I I I .,” on scarabtei recording that the king had slain “ 110
lions ” with his own arrows — (Birch).
1473 B. C. (=: 1481 y. 239II d. — “ 7 — 2 years ” of Gen. xii. 53, xiv. 6 to xlvi. 27, and Ex. i. 5),
removal into Egypt of Jacob and his household: the Israelitish nation now numbering “ seventy ”
souls, “ besides Jacob’s sons’ wives.” The date is confirmed by the Biblical genealogies ; no Israelite
being named after an Egyptian king more ancient than Hur or Horus and Amminadab.
In tliis year = “ i6th Athyr in the ii th year of his reign” on scarabasi, Amunhotep III. having
married Tii, a foreign woman whose father’s name was “ lu a a ” (compare luda) and her mother’s
“ Tuaa,” now holding a novel religious festival, introducing upon an artificial lake the boat of
the responsive aid-according solar disk Aten-nefru or nofri — (compare the Hebrew Adonai, and
revealed religion).
“ In the same year of his reign,” Amunhotep I II. bestowed endowments on the temple at
Karnak — (Birch).
1471 B. C. (Gen. xlvii. 18 to 26), the land of the Egyptians bought for bread by Joseph : who
“ made it a law,” that “ Pharaoh should have the fifth : ” except only, that the priests having already
an assignment of food, “ sold not their lands.” This change in the agrarian condition of Egypt and
introduction of a ground-tax, is mentioned by Herodotus, and Diodorus, but is attributed by them
to Sesostris (Leps. trav. Eg. and Sin. p. 480).
Eighty-fifth generation. May ist, 1467, mostly beyond youth : Eliphaz and Ruel, sons of Esau
(Gen. xxxvi. 4 to 17, and i Chron. i. 35).
“ 1465 B. C. = 1st year of Tsou-ting, of the Chang ” or Fourth dynasty — (Chinese chron. table).
1456 B. C. (— 1481 y. 239 ||d. — “ 7 — 2 — 17 years ” of Gen. xii. 53, xiv. 6, and xlvii. 28),
death of Jacob ; in the reign of the king who ruled Egypt “ two full years ” before Joseph’s release
— (a severe chronological test).
The same year = “ 30th of Amunhotep I I I .,” on a monument representing him receiving the
account of a great harvest from the store-keepers of Upper and Lower E g y p t— (Birch).
1451 B. C. “ 35th of Amunhotep I I I ., ” at Sarbit-el-Khadim in the Sinai peninsula— (Birch).
Amunhotep III. warred in foreign countries, and the names of some sixty conquered tribes and
nations are recorded on the monuments. He built the great temple at Luxor, another at Elephantine,
founded that at Soleb in Nubia, and set up obelisks — (Leps. eg. and sin. 19 to 236, and Birch).
The two colossi sitting on the plain at Thebes and so,conspicuous in the distance, are statues
of Amunhotep I II . : — behind them, an immense temple has been destroyed to the foundation-stones,
the lines of which are barely traceable.