The Legacy Of Egypt

12 The Calendars and Chronology
Dynasty VII......... 2294-2248
Dynasty VIII (an overlapping dynasty) ends .... 2239
Interregnum......... 2239-2233
Dynasties IX, X, XI (overlapping)..... 2233-1990
Dynasty XII......... 1990-1777
Dynasty XVIII ......... 1573-1314
Dynasty XIX......... 1314-1194
Controversy has revolved mainly on the durations of the
two periods when United Egypt broke up into petty kingdoms;
the first from the end of the Sixth Dynasty to the time when
the Theban princes of the Eleventh Dynasty (Mentuhotep I-V)
assumed the rule of the Two Lands. Putting this date at about
95 years before the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty, the
^first intermediate period' then lasted about 209 years, which
agrees well with the cultural evidence. The second intermediate
period lasted from 1777 to 1573. This also agrees with the
inferences drawn from the cultural evidence.
An assured chronology of Egypt is important for the syn-
chronisms established with periods in the history of other races.
Thus the epoch of Menes was contemporary with the Jemdt
Nasr period of Sumer, and also with the first cultural period
(Early Minoan I) of Crete. The date of Menes thus provides
an important key date in the history of Mesopotamia and in
that of Knossos. The destruction of Knossos is similarly deter-
mined by the cultural synchronisms as having occurred about
1400. The closing years of the Nineteenth Dynasty again
determine the date of the Siege of Troy as occurring between •
1200 and 1195.
Finally, new light is thrown on the chronology of the second
intermediate period, and of the Eighteenth Dynasty by Mr.
Sidney Smith's work, Alalakh and Chronology* He proves that
the First Dynasty of Babylon must be dated as lasting from
1 At the moment of writing, Mr. Sidney Smith's work is in the press.
I am much indebted to Mm for kind permission to make use of his con-
clusions.