TheDemotic Chronicleis anancient Egyptianprophetictext. The work is intended to provide achronicleof the28th,29thand30thdynasties[1]– thus the independence interval between thetwo Persian dominations.Rather than providing historical events occurred during the reigns of thepharaohsof the aforementioned period, theDemotic Chroniclejudges these rulers on the basis of their behaviour, explaining the length and prosperity of their reigns as an expression ofdivine will.[1]TheChroniclealso emphasizes the misrule of the "Medes" (i.e. theAchaemenids) and of thePtolemies,and prophesies the coming of a native hero who will ascend to the throne and restore an era oforder and justiceupon Egypt.[2][3]
The anti-Achaemenid themes within the Demotic Chronicle especially focus onCambyses II,Xerxes IandArtaxerxes III.[2]
The manuscript consists in a papyrus written indemotic;hence, its name. It was found during theNapoleonic campaign in Egyptand now stored at theBibliothèque nationale de France(Pap. 215). The work claims to date back to the time of pharaohTeosof the 30th Dynasty, although in fact it is a later work datable to the 3rd century BCE, likely composed under the reign ofPtolemy III Euergetes.[1]
Despite its cryptic text, analysis of theDemotic Chroniclehave allowed, among other things, to integrate the order of succession of the treated pharaohs with the informations provided byManetho's epitomes.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^abcBresciani, op. cit., p. 551
- ^abBresciani, Edda(1994)."DEMOTIC CHRONICLE".InYarshater, Ehsan(ed.).Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume VII/3: Dehqān I–Deylam, John of.London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 276–277.ISBN978-1-56859-021-9.
- ^Toby Wilkinson,The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt,Bloomsbury, London, 2010, p. 481
- Edda Bresciani,Letteratura e poesia dell'antico Egitto,Einaudi, Torino, 1969, pp. 551–60.
Further reading
edit- Joachim Friedrich Quack:“As he Disregarded the Law, he was Replaced During his Own Lifetime”. On Criticism of Egyptian Rulers in the So-Called Demotic Chronicle.In: Henning Börm (ed.):Antimonarchic Discourse in Antiquity.Steiner, Stuttgart 2015, 25–43.
External links
edit- The Demotic Chronicle(annotated translation)
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