OF THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT. BY ROBERT SHAW, M. A. AUTHOR OF CATOR AND COSMOS; OF COSMOTHEOLOGIES AND INDICATIONS Of Judgment; OF A CRITIQUE OF THE HISTORY OF THE SCOTTS OR GAELS OF THE BRITISH ISLES; OF THE CHALDAEAN AND HEBREW AND THE CHINESE AND HINDOO ORIGINES; OF THE PHOENICIAN REVISED. NIXON JONES PRINTING CO., BECKTOLD & CO., BOOK MANUFACTURERS, 210-212 PINE STREET, ST. LOUIS, Entered according to Act or Congress, in the year 1889, by ROBERT SHAW, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. Q INTRODUCTION. (CRITIQUE OF THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT.) I trust these few preliminary remarks, which I deem it expedient to prefix to this Treatise, may not be taken as in the nature of an apology for what it purports to introduce, as I see Introductions, so-called, very often are; for I here confess that I have no apology to offer for my giving to the public, in addition to the very large amount of literature on the subject of Egypt already extant, my "Critical Review of the History of Ancient Egypt" herein set forth: But, per contra, and for many reasons. And, first, in consideration of the very confused state of the authorities thereon as to the chronology and as to the order of succession of the dynasties and of the individual rulers of those dynasties of that interesting ancient empire, so-called, of Menes, the learned, more especially those interested and somewhat occupied in the subject of the Egyptian archæology have long felt the need of such a treatise as this I here put forth. In the way in which I treat this eminently ethnological subject, (for this, in connection with my "Critical Review of the History of the Gælic Race," will show pretty distinctly, and as a matter of fact, that the Shepherd race of ancient Egypt, or the race, so called, of Menes, did from time to time stock Europe and, to a large extent, Asia, also, with the historical, dominating and eminently civilized races) in the way in which, as I say, I treat this subject, that is, only with reference to the discovery of the truth and to its statement in the most succinct language possible, this treatise will, I believe, be found effectual as to the accomplishment of its object and quite comprehensible to the or dinary mind in regard to its meaning throughout. In my humble judgment the literary field is altogether too much occupied with fiction; in the times of the past the history proper was beclouded with fiction, the Historical Romance was overdone, and men went on improving on each other in that line until such perfect superstructures were raised upon the base of history proper that it became almost impossible for the honest historical critic in the after times to disengage the facts from the fiction, such a net work was wont to be made by the historical romancists. This " critique," as the title indicates, has for its main object to disengage the facts of the history from the fiction and to discover and set forth the true succession of the dynasties and of the individual rulers of those dynasties in the ancient Shepherd Empire of Menes in their chronological order, and all this with reference to the exodus or origin of the Jewish people: If this have been done in relation to the old empire named, which ended with the list of 38 kings, so-called of Eratosthenes, and also, in effect, with respect to giving the chronological beginnings of the subsequent dynasties down to the Christian era, then this, our "critique," will be sufficiently up to my purpose in its production and should be regarded with favor and as a great desideratum by the multitudes of sensible, intelligent and learned people throughout the world who take such an interest in this subject as at once evinces their respectable qualities of mind. ST. LOUIS, 1888. |