Egyptian sculpture

INTRODUCTION xxi

matter as regards the length of the history, the sequence of historical events is known, and sequence is, after all, of more importance than actual dates in years. The Egyptians themselves had no fixed era from which to reckon their dates, but counted from the regnal year of each king, as is still done in England in Acts of Parliament. It would be almost impossible to make out a connected scheme from the Egyptian hieroglyphic records only, but there still exist excerpts from a consecutive history of Egypt written by the high priest Manetho, at the command of Ptolemy II, about 270 B.c. Manetho divided the kings into dynasties, which he numbered, the first being the earliest: his division is adopted by modern writers, for it is a convenient method as the numbering makes the sequence clear. Thus it is seen at a glance that the IVth dynasty is before the XIIth, that the XXVIth dynasty follows the XVIIIth, and so on. The modern Egyptologist has invented a further nomenclature for quick reference by grouping the dynasties under different headings, as the following table shows:(The dates given are according to Manetho’s chronology.)

Proto-dynastic .. .. I-III 5650-4777 B.C. $3599 Old Kingdom .. : by Iv-VI 4777-4077 B.C. SI9% First Intermediate Period = VII-X 4077-3760 B.C. 265 Middle Kingdom se = XLXIII 3760-2976 B.c. 287 Second Intermediate Period .. XIV-XVII 2976-1587 B.c.

New Kingdom + .. XVITI-XX 1587-1102 B.C.

Later Period .. ne .. X&XI-XXVI 1102-525 B.C.

Persian Period in .. XXVII-XXX 5525-331 B.C. Ptolemaic Period = .. SIT 331-30 B.C.

As might be expected, the most important periods for art were those in which the struggle for life was not severe and the country was at peace and prosperous. These correspond with the dynasties when Egypt was ruled by strong kings