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Manetho
Other spellings: Manethos, Manethon, Manethon of Sebennytos
(Around 300 BCE) Egyptian historian and priest of the Ancient Egyptian religion.
Manetho is an important source to knowledge about Ancient Egypt. He divided Egypt's rulers into 30 dynasties, a system which still applies. From his chronology, much of the dating of Egyptian history has been derived.
Manetho was a priest, working for Ptolemy 1. It has been suggested that he worked to establish the cult of Serapis, which would serve as an amalgamation of the Greek religion of Ptolemy and the Egyptian religion of his new subjects, thereby legitimizing the foreign dynasty.
Manetho wrote in Greek, but he could read Egyptian. He had as a priest access the archives of Egypt's libraries. His main work was the Aegyptiaca, "History of Egypt", in addition 7 more works have been accredited him.
Of his works, only fragments have survived, and then through the works of others, like with Josephus' treatise "Against Apion" (1st century CE) and tables of dynasties, kings, and lengths of reigns in the works of Julius Africanus (3rd century CE), Eusebius (4th century CE) and George Syncellus (8th century CE).
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By: Tore Kjeilen
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