Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. I — G. R. S. Mead (1906)

Syncellus,1 and is stated to be taken from a work of Manetho called Sothis? a work that has otherwise entirely disappeared. The passage with the introductory sentence of the monk Syncellus runs as follows :

" It is proposed then to make a few extracts concerning the Egyptian dynasties from the Books of Manetho. [This Manetho,] being high priest of the Heathen temples in Egypt, based his replies [to King Ptolemy] on the monuments 3 which lay in the Seriadic country. [These monuments,] he tells us, were engraved in the sacred language and in the characters of the sacred writing by Thoth, the first Hermes ; after the flood they were translated from the sacred language into the then common tongue,4 but [still written] in hieroglyphic characters, and stored away in books by the Good Daimon's son and the second Hermes, father of Tat — in the inner chambers of the temples of Egypt.

'"In the Book of Sothis Manetho addresses King Philadelphus, the second Ptolemy, personally, writing as follows word for word:

" ' The Letter of Manetho, the Sebennyte, to Ptolemy
Philadelphus.

"'To the great King Ptolemy Philadelphus, the venerable : I, Manetho, high priest and scribe of the holy fanes in Egypt, citizen of Heliopolis but by birth a Sebennyte,5 to my master Ptolemy send greeting.

1 Chron., xl. See Cory (I. P.), Ancient Fragments, pp. 173, 174 — mispaged as 169 (2nd ed. ; London, 1832) ; and Mitller, Fragments Historicorum Grcecorum, pp. 511 ff. (Paris, 1848).

3 ffrri\£>v, generally translated " columns " ; but the term is quite a general one and denotes any monument bearing an inscription.

4 Syncellus has " into the Greek tongue," an evident slip, as many have already pointed out.

5 Sebennytus was the chief city of the Sebennyte province, situated about the centre of the Delta. Heliopolis or On, the

"'We1 must make calculations concerning all the points which you may wish us to examine into, to answer your questions 2 concerning what will happen to the world. According to your commands, the sacred books, written by our forefather Thrice-greatest Hermes, which I study, shall be shown to you. My lord and king, farewell.'"

THE IMPOKTANCE OF MANETHO'S STATEMENT IN HIS
" SOTHIS "

Here we have a verbal quotation from a document purporting to be written prior to 250 B.C. It is evidently one of a number of letters exchanged between Manetho and Ptolemy II. Ptolemy has heard of the past according to the records of Egypt ; can the priests tell him anything of the future ? They can, replies Manetho ; but it will be necessary to make a number of calculations. Ptolemy has also expressed a strong desire to see the documents from which Manetho derived his information, and the high priest promises to let him see them.

These books are ascribed to Hermes, the Thricegreatest, and this is the first time that the title is used in extant Greek literature. This Hermes was the second, the father of Tat, we are told elsewhere by Manetho, and son of the Good Spirit (Agathodaimon), who was the first Hermes. Here we have the precise grading of the degrees in our treatises: (i.) The Shepherd of Men, or The Mind ; (ii.) Thrice-greatest ; (iii.) Tat. This refers to the ever-present distinction of pupil and master, and the Master of masters.

City of the Sun, was situated some thirty miles north of
Memphis.

1 Presumably Manetho and his fellow priests.

a Lit., " for you questioning."