Al-Marqrizi, Al-Khitat 2.3
c. 1400 CE
translated by Jason Colavito
2018
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NOTE |
The exact source of the material below is unclear. Although the text below does not appear in the Latin original of Paulus Orosius’ History Against the Pagans (written c. 400 CE), al-Maqrizi, writing around 1400, copies from the old Arabic translation composed under Al Hakam II (961-976 CE) and evidently improved with additional material reflecting the Islamic mythic history of Egypt that developed after the Muslim conquest. Al-Maqizi is the final medieval witness to the survival of Manetho’s king lists as a living tradition, albeit a corrupt version of Manetho’s king list, similar to but not derived from those of Africanus and Eusebius. The Arabic original was published in Egypt in the twentieth century, but is available only in Arabic, so I am unable to compare it to al-Maqrizi’s version. For his part, al-Maqrizi names Orosius as the source of the first part of his paragraph, but the source of the king list is unclear, cited only to the ambiguous "it is said," which could refer either to the Arabic Orosius or an unnamed source. The text below is translated from the French edition of the second volume of Maqrizi's Al-Khitat published by U. Bouriant in 1900.
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In the translation of the book of the Spaniard Orosius, entitled The Description of the Dynasties and Wars, it reads: 107 years after the Pharaoh of Moses was drowned, there was in Egypt a king named Nūcherdis who killed immigrants and foreigners, immolating them to his idols, to whom he presented their blood as offerings; 328 years after this same date there was in Egypt a king named Berūbah, whose reign was admirable and government powerful; he conquered by arms many provinces on the southern border, by land and by water. He was the first to deal with the people of Rūm, who later took the name of Goths. He had sent them a messenger to invite them to submit to him, threatening them with war. “It is unworthy of a powerful king,” replied they, “to wage war against a poor people; the fate of war is hazardous, and victory as well as defeat are always unforeseeable outcomes. Far from bowing to your insolence, we will stand up to your attack.” And they prepared to keep their word. When Pharaoh set out, they went out to meet him, routed him, seized his camp and the riches that were there and the treasures of Pharaoh. Then, continuing their journey, they sacked the country of Egypt, and they would have almost become masters of it if a great mass of mud had not barred their way. So they went to Syria, continued their wars, enslaved the Syrians, forced them to pay tribute to them; and they stayed like that for 15 years to fight against the one they had stood up to, pillaging and plundering; they would never have returned to their country if some of their wives had not come to tell them: “If you do not return to perform your conjugal duties, we will ask our neighbors for children.” Then they returned to their country, hands full of riches, bringing with them herds of cattle and innumerable parcels, leaving behind a dreadful memory.
Five hundred years after the death of the Pharaoh of Moses in the waters and the reign of Dalūka, it is said the kings of Midian took possession of Egypt, whence they were driven out by the Prophet of God, Solomon, son of David. The empire then returned to the hands of the Copts, and Galūt (Goliath) ibn Balūt having been killed by David, his son Galut ibn Galūt went to Egypt where reigned the kings of Midian, who installed him in the country as king of the western region; he stayed there for a while, but in the end he left for the western countries. The Copts, it is said, reigned in Egypt after Dalūka and her son for 620 years; the number of their kings is 27: Diosqūlita, 78 years, or, according to others, 88 years; Samānadūs, 26 years; Sūmanas, 100 years; Mūfkaras, 4 years; Amānāqūnās, 9 years; Ashūris, 6 years; Fasinakhes, 9 years; Fasūsanes, 35 years; Sesūnakhūsis, 21 years; Asaliūn, 15 years; Ṭafalūnis, 13 years; Matafanastalas, 25 years; Asarathūn, 9 years; Fusameres, 10 years; Aūfaīnūas, 44 years, Sayaqūr, 12 years: Sakhis the Ethiopian, 12 years; Tarahush the Ethiopian, 2o years; Amras the Ethiopian, 12 years; Astatafinias, 7 years; Bakhfasūs, 6 years; Yakhū, 8 years; Fasamamalṭiqūsh, 44 years; Bahnūqa, 6 years; Fasamartas, 17 years; Ūafris, 25 years; Amaseles, 42 years.
After these kings, five kings reigned in Egypt of the kings of Babel: Amarṭiūsh, 6 years; Mafarṭas, 7 years; Aukhris, 12 years; Fasamūt, 2 years; Mutatūs, 7 years.
Then reigned three kings of Assūr; these were the Garmaqids who reigned in Mosul and Mesopotamia: Nafaṭanebūsh, 13 years; Tūs, 7 years; Nafaṭaninas, 18 years.
Then, from them the empire passed to Alexander, son of Philip the Greek. All these names are Rūmanian (Greek), and perhaps the kings who bore these names, or at least some of them, ruled after Dalūka. Between Bokhta Nasar (Nebuchadnezzar) and the Flood, there were 2,356 years and some months. This figure is consistent with what is said in Jewish law. Between the Flood and the ruin of Jerusalem by Bokhta Nasar, 2,684 years passed, which differs only a little from what we borrowed from al-Mas‘ūdī. And God knows it better than anyone!
Five hundred years after the death of the Pharaoh of Moses in the waters and the reign of Dalūka, it is said the kings of Midian took possession of Egypt, whence they were driven out by the Prophet of God, Solomon, son of David. The empire then returned to the hands of the Copts, and Galūt (Goliath) ibn Balūt having been killed by David, his son Galut ibn Galūt went to Egypt where reigned the kings of Midian, who installed him in the country as king of the western region; he stayed there for a while, but in the end he left for the western countries. The Copts, it is said, reigned in Egypt after Dalūka and her son for 620 years; the number of their kings is 27: Diosqūlita, 78 years, or, according to others, 88 years; Samānadūs, 26 years; Sūmanas, 100 years; Mūfkaras, 4 years; Amānāqūnās, 9 years; Ashūris, 6 years; Fasinakhes, 9 years; Fasūsanes, 35 years; Sesūnakhūsis, 21 years; Asaliūn, 15 years; Ṭafalūnis, 13 years; Matafanastalas, 25 years; Asarathūn, 9 years; Fusameres, 10 years; Aūfaīnūas, 44 years, Sayaqūr, 12 years: Sakhis the Ethiopian, 12 years; Tarahush the Ethiopian, 2o years; Amras the Ethiopian, 12 years; Astatafinias, 7 years; Bakhfasūs, 6 years; Yakhū, 8 years; Fasamamalṭiqūsh, 44 years; Bahnūqa, 6 years; Fasamartas, 17 years; Ūafris, 25 years; Amaseles, 42 years.
After these kings, five kings reigned in Egypt of the kings of Babel: Amarṭiūsh, 6 years; Mafarṭas, 7 years; Aukhris, 12 years; Fasamūt, 2 years; Mutatūs, 7 years.
Then reigned three kings of Assūr; these were the Garmaqids who reigned in Mosul and Mesopotamia: Nafaṭanebūsh, 13 years; Tūs, 7 years; Nafaṭaninas, 18 years.
Then, from them the empire passed to Alexander, son of Philip the Greek. All these names are Rūmanian (Greek), and perhaps the kings who bore these names, or at least some of them, ruled after Dalūka. Between Bokhta Nasar (Nebuchadnezzar) and the Flood, there were 2,356 years and some months. This figure is consistent with what is said in Jewish law. Between the Flood and the ruin of Jerusalem by Bokhta Nasar, 2,684 years passed, which differs only a little from what we borrowed from al-Mas‘ūdī. And God knows it better than anyone!
