Manetho (pronounced /ˈmænɪθoʊ/; Koine Greek: Μανέθων Manéthōn, gen.: Μανέθωνος) was an Egyptian priest who lived during the early third century BCE, at the start of the Hellenistic period. He served in the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Details about his life are not well known. He is famous for writing a history of Egypt in Greek called the Aegyptiaca (History of Egypt). This work was written during the rule of Ptolemy I Soter or Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BCE). No original copies of his writings remain. Only parts of his work, copied by later writers in ancient times, are known today.

The pieces of the Aegyptiaca are still important for understanding the timeline of ancient Egypt. Before ancient Egyptian scripts were deciphered in the early 1800s, these fragments were a key source for learning about Egypt’s history. His work continues to be valuable in the study of Egyptology.

Works attributed to Manetho

Eight works have been credited to Manetho:

• Aegyptiaca
• The Book of Sothis
• The Sacred Book
• An Epitome of Physical Doctrines
• On Festivals
• On Ancient Ritual and Religion
• On the Making of Kyphi [a kind of incense]
• Criticisms of Herodotus

Some of these titles are considered "ghost" titles, meaning they may not be real works. Scholars today agree that the historical Manetho wrote Aegyptiaca. They also agree that Manetho did not write The Book of Sothis. Additionally, they believe Criticisms of Herodotus is likely part of the larger work Aegyptiaca and was not written as a separate book.

Name

Scholars believe that "Manetho" is a Greek version of an Egyptian name, but they do not agree on what the original name was. Some think it might be a name that includes the names of gods like Thoth or Neith, such as "Truth of Thoth" or "Beloved of Neith." Others suggest it could mean "I have seen the great god." Another idea is that it is an occupational name, possibly related to the Egyptian words for "Shepherd" or "Groom." In Latin writings, his name appears as Manethon, Manethos, Manethonus, and Manetos.

The earliest records of his name, all in Greek, come from three places: an inscription found in Carthage, the Hibeh papyrus, and the writings of Josephus. The name he likely used for himself in Greek was probably Manethôn.

Historical context

Manetho lived and worked during the early years of the new Greek-influenced period in Egypt. At this time, the Macedonian Greek rulers who followed Alexander the Great (who died in 323 BCE) fought to control the empire, which eventually led to its division. In Egypt, one of these rulers, Ptolemy I Soter, created the Ptolemaic Kingdom in 305 BCE. The Ptolemies ruled Egypt for almost three hundred years, making them the last and longest-lasting dynasty in ancient Egypt before the Romans took control in 30 BCE. They combined Greek and Egyptian religious traditions into a new type of belief system. Manetho wrote a book called Aegyptiaca to record Egypt’s history for future generations. He wrote it in Greek, likely to share this information with Egypt’s new Greek rulers.

Manetho was born in Sebennytos and may have been a priest of the sun god Ra in Heliopolis. He was an expert on the religious practices of Serapis, a figure created by blending elements of the Egyptian gods Osiris and Apis with Greek traditions.

Many ancient writers grouped Manetho with Berossus, a writer from Mesopotamia, and saw them as similar in purpose. Most of their writings were preserved by the same group of later writers, including Josephus, Africanus, Eusebius, and Syncellus. Both Manetho and Berossus wrote in Greek around the same time and used a writing style similar to Greek historians like Herodotus and Hesiod. They organized their histories using lists of kings and rulers, called "king-lists," and extended their stories back to a mythical past. Modern historians believe Manetho and Berossus lived during the same general time period.

The fragments of Manetho

All of Manetho's original writings are no longer available. What remains are copies of parts of his work, summaries, and references found in the writings of later authors. These remaining pieces are called "literary fragments," and scholars have given each fragment a number, such as "Fragment 1" or "Fragment 2."

Two English translations of Manetho's fragments have been published. The first was completed by William Gillan Waddell in 1940, and the second was done by Gerald P. Verbrugghe and John Moore Wickersham in 2001.

Waddell's 1940 translation grouped the fragments by the author who preserved them and tried to organize them in the order they might have appeared in Manetho's original work. His numbering system followed this arrangement.

Verbrugghe and Wickersham's translation used a system created by Felix Jacoby, a German scholar who lived from 1876 to 1959. Jacoby's work, called "Fragments of the Greek Historians" (FGrHist), collects surviving quotes, summaries, and excerpts from lost works by ancient Greek historians. Jacoby's section on Manetho (FGrHist 609) created a widely used method for classifying and numbering the fragments.

Verbrugghe and Wickersham chose to follow Jacoby's system to match the most accepted scholarly approach in the field. Jacoby's work is known for being very careful and thorough in collecting and analyzing fragments. At the time Verbrugghe and Wickersham were working, Jacoby's writings were in German and not easily available in English.

TheAegyptiaca

The Aegyptiaca, also called "History of Egypt," was a history divided into three long paper scrolls, or "books." It may have been written to answer questions raised by the ancient Greek writer Herodotus. The text, or the pieces of it that remain, is a key source for learning about the long history of ancient Egypt, especially its timeline of events. For many centuries, it or its pieces were the main source of information about Egypt until ancient Egyptian writing was understood in the early 1800s. The text is still important for Egyptologists, who study ancient Egypt.

Manetho’s Aegyptiaca records Egypt’s history starting with a mythical time when gods ruled, then the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by a ruler named Menes around 3100 BCE. It covers the next thirty or thirty-one dynasties, ending with the creation of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in 305 BCE. Important ideas in the text include the value of a united Egypt, times of peace and progress compared to times of conflict and foreign control (such as by the Hyksos, Kushites, and Achaemenids), and the return of Egyptian power. Manetho wanted to show a full and unbroken history of Egypt, including rulers who were not Egyptian but were believed to be chosen by the gods.

Manetho's legacy

Manetho’s most important contribution comes from his work called Aegyptiaca.

He introduced the term “dynasty” (Greek: dynasteia). His idea of a dynasty was not based on family lines, as we understand the term today. Instead, he grouped kings together, with breaks between these groups. These breaks could happen for reasons like moving the capital or changes in family relationships. After each break, a new dynasty began.

One of Manetho’s most important contributions was dividing Egyptian rulers into thirty (or thirty-one) dynasties. Even though this system has some problems and has been studied for many years, it remains the main way Egyptologists organize Egyptian history. Since the time of Syncellus, Manetho’s method of grouping rulers has been the basic structure used to describe Pharaonic Egypt.

By the third century CE, Egyptian hieroglyphs and demotic writing began to disappear. With them, the ability to read these scripts was also lost. Religious groups that once used hieroglyphs faded away, and Egypt gradually became a Christian region. Egyptian Christians used the Coptic alphabet, which was based on Greek, and this replaced demotic writing. The last hieroglyphic text was written by priests at the Temple of Isis in Philae in 394 CE. The last known demotic text was written there in 452 CE.

Manetho chose to write Aegyptiaca in Greek, the common language of his time, instead of Egyptian. This decision helped keep his work available even after Egyptian scripts were no longer understood. It allowed scholars from ancient times to the present to learn about Egypt’s long history. Without this, much of Egypt’s past would have been difficult to study until ancient scripts were deciphered.

Manetho was an educated Egyptian who wrote for people outside of Egypt. Today, he remains a key source for understanding Egypt’s ancient history. As the only complete and organized work written by an Egyptian about his own culture, his perspective carried special authority. His views still provide valuable insights into how ancient Egyptians saw their history and their place in the world.

In Aegyptiaca, Manetho also wrote about the Jews. These writings are preserved in Josephus’ work Against Apion. Manetho may have disagreed with Jewish stories about their escape from Egypt, which he described not as a miracle but as the forced removal of a group of people considered unclean. He claimed that Moses, whom he called Osarseph, told the Jews to avoid others and follow rules opposite to Egyptian traditions. He also said the Jews were disrespectful of other religions. These ideas about a rebellious priest leading a group of outcasts became part of later antisemitic beliefs.

Although much of Aegyptiaca is missing or incomplete, Manetho’s work created a lasting way to think about and write about Egyptian history. For many years, his fragments and summaries were the main sources for learning about Egypt’s rulers. They gave scholars a framework, even if it had flaws, to build early Egyptological research. Jean-François Champollion used Manetho’s lists of kings as a reference when he translated ancient Egyptian scripts.