Secret_History

Chapter 10: Who Wrote the Bible and Why? 415
Let’s have a look at how famed Egyptologist Gardner has described the problem
of the dynasties in question.
Since the passage of Time shows no break in continuity, nothing but some
momentous event or sequence of events can justify a particular reign being
regarded as inaugurating an era. What caused Sobeknofru, or Sobeknofrure’ as later
sources call her, to be taken as closing Dyn. XII will doubtless never be known. But
the Turin Canon, the Saqqara king-list, and Manetho are unanimous on the point.
The Abydos list jumps straight from Ammenemes IV to the first king of
Dyn.XVIII. The date of Amosis I, the founder of Dyn. XVIII, being fixed with
some accuracy, the interval from 1786 to 1575 BC must be accepted as the duration
of the Second Intermediate Period. This is an age the problems of which are even
more intractable than those of the First. Before entering upon details, it will be well
to note that the general pattern of these two dark periods is roughly the same. Both
begin with a chaotic series of insignificant native rulers. In both, intruders from
Palestine cast their shadow over the Delta and even into the Valley. Also in both,
relief comes at last from a hardy race of Theban princes, who after quelling internal
dissension expel the foreigner and usher in a new epoch of immense power and
prosperity.
Some account has already been given of the formidable difficulties here
confronting us, but these must now be discussed at length. As usual we start with
Manetho. The Thirteenth Dynasty according to him, was Diospolite (Theban) and
consisted of sixty kings who reigned for 453 years. The Fourteenth Dynasty
counted seventy-six kings from Xois, the modern Sakha in the central Delta, with a
total of 184 or, as an alternative reading, 484 years. For Dyns. XV to XVII there is
divergence between Africanus and Eusebius, while a much simpler account is
preserved by the Jewish historian Josephus in what purports to be a verbatim
extract from Manetho’s own writing.
For our present purpose the data supplied by Africanus must suffice. His Fifteenth
Dynasty consists of six foreign so-called ‘Shepherd’ or Hyksos kings, whose
domination lasted 284 years. The Sixteenth Dynasty consisted of Shepherd kings
again, thirty-two in number totaling 518 years. Lastly, in the Seventeenth Dynasty
Shepherd kings and Theban kings reigned concurrently, forty-three of each line
altogether 151 years. Adding these figures, but adopting the lower number of years
given for Dyn. XIV, we obtain 217 kings covering a stretch of 1590 years, over
seven times the duration to which acceptance of the Sothic date in the El-Lahun
papyrus has committed us.
To abandon 1786 BC as the year when Dyn. XII ended would be to cast adrift from
our only firm anchor, a course that would have serious consequences for the
history, not of Egypt alone, but of the entire Middle East. 294
294 Gardiner, Sir Alan, Egypt of the Pharaohs.