Chronology

Chronology

Donovan Courville - A Pharaoh for the Exodus

Courville was quite rigorous concerning the criteria which must be met in placing the Exodus. Among the main ones which could not be avoided he listed the following.

In Egypt

	An unconcealable crisis in Egypt, both economically and politically.
	This should be followed by several centuries of decreased political power, because of the severity of the catastrophe connected with the Exodus.
	The Exodus should follow by a century or less, the appearance of a king named Rameses.
	This king should be a builder using brick, especially in the Delta region, where the Israelites lived.
	The Exodus should be preceded by a record of an extended famine in Egypt.

In Palestine

	Archaeological evidence of a rapid conquest of the territory taken by the Israelites under Joshua.
	Evidence of sedentary occupation of the territories of Edom and Moab, as indicated by the refusal of their kings to allow the Israelites to pass through their territories.
	Evidence of the fallen walls of Jericho by other than human causes.
	Evidence of the complete destruction of Ai at the same time.

More than these points, the new chronology must remove anomalies existing in the old chronology, without creating new anomalies which must be explained away to support the new chronology. If the new chronology cannot clarify events in Egypt, Israel and the surrounding nations, then it is of little value.

Meeting the Criteria

An unconcealable crisis in Egypt, both economically and politically.

This criterion is easily met by the conditions described in the Ipuwer papyrus. Some details of this papyrus are discussed in the Velikovsky page. Courville's arguments regarding the significance of the papyrus are similar to Velikovsky's.

This should be followed by several centuries of decreased political power, because of the severity of the catastrophe connected with the Exodus.

This is met by the Hyksos period when, in the words of Hatshepsut, 'men who knew not Re' ruled.

The Exodus should follow by a century or less, the appearance of a king named Rameses.

As one of the cities the Israelites were involved in building was called Raamses (Exodus 1:11), it is a reasonable assumption that the Pharaoh who built it bore the same name. The best known Pharaohs with that name come from the 19th Dynasty or later, but nothing recorded during these dynasties vaguely approaches the catastrophic events associated with the Exodus. It is necessary to look elsewhere for a Pharaoh named Ramses.

Scanning the names of Pharaohs from earlier times produces no obvious candidate. However, it should be remembered that for a large part of Egypt's history each king had five names, but most writings and chronologies tend to use only one or two of these names. Perhaps other Ramses existed.

Before looking at Courville's argument concerning Ramses, part of the Sothis king list is presented. It will be referred to subsequently.

No.	Name	Reign
1	Mestraim (Menes)	35
2	Kourodes	63
3	Aristarchus	34
4	Spanius	36
5	Two unrecorded kings
6	totalling	72
7	Osirophis	23
8	Sesonchosis	49
9	Amenemes	29
10	Amasis	2
11	Acesephthres	13
12	Anchoreus	9
13	Armiyses	4
14	Chamois	12
15	Miamus	14

No.	Name	Reign
16	Amesesis	65
17	Uses	50
18	Rameses	29
19	Rames(s)omenes	15
20	Usimares	31
21	Ramessseseos	23
22	Ramessameno	19
23	Ramesse Iubasse	39
24	Rameses, son of Uaphres	29
25	Koncharis	5
26	Silites	19
27	Bainon	44
28	Apachnas	16
29	Aphophis	61
30	Sethos	50

No.	Name	Reign
31	Certos	44
32	Aseth	20
33	Amosis (Tethmosis)	26
34	Chebron	13
35	Amemphis	15
36	Amenses	11
37	Misphragmuthosis	16
38	Misphres	23
39	Tuthmosis	39
40	Amenophthis	34
41	Orus	48
42	Achencheres	25
43	Athoris	29
44	Chencheres	26
45	Acherres	8
46	Armaeus (Danaus)	9

Courville points out that the Sothis king list names six kings who bore names related to Ramses. Traditionally these names have been considered to be a duplication of the names of the kings of the 20th Dynasty, but as can be seen from the following table, comparison of lengths of reign show these kings do not fit anywhere in the 19th or 20th Dynasties.

Ramessides of Dynasties XIX and XX		Ramessides of the Sothis List
Ruler	Reign	Ruler	Reign
Rameses I	11	Rameses	29
Rameses II	67	Ramessomenes	15
Rameses III	31	Usimare	31
Rameses IV	6	Ramesseseos	23
Rameses V	4	Ramessameno	19
Rameses VI	?5	Ramesse Iubasse	39
Rameses VII - IX	? 1 each	Ramesse, son of uaphres	29
Rameses X	19
Rameses XI	6
Rameses XII	27

So the identities of the kings in the right hand column must be looked for elsewhere.

Fortunately this is not a difficult task. These kings are numbered 18 - 24 in the Sothis list. Those numbered 33 - 45 are the familiar names of the kings of the XVIIIth Dynasty, names easily correlated with Manetho's list of these kings. Preceding these, numbered 26 - 32, are the recognized names of the early Hyksos kings. Between the Rammesides and the Hyksos kings is one name, number 25, Koncharis.

If this sequence can be substantiated then we have the following situation.

A series of kings who bore the name Rameses ruled, any one of which might be the builder of the treasure city, Raamses. They were followed by a king name Koncharis. Following his reign was a time of decline in political power, under Hyksos rule, until the emergence of the XVIIIth Dynasty.

This exactly follows the Bible narrative and points to Koncharis as the Pharaoh of the Exodus. The end of the Ramesside names suggests the end of a dynasty, placing Koncharis, first of a new dynasty, as a king who 'knew not Joseph'. Following him is the disaster of Hyksos rule.

Some evidences for the Exodus occurring in this time period.

	Eusebius left a note in his work indicating that the Pharaoh of the Exodus had the name Cencheres - easily seen as a variation on Koncharis, despite the fact Eusebius identified him as the XVIIIth Dynasty Cencheres. Could he have the name right and the time wrong?
	Josephus says that the Hyksos took over Egypt without a battle - easy to do in the situation which followed the Exodus - no Pharaoh and generalized ruin.
	Genesis 47:11 says Joseph gave his family a possession in the land of Rameses. Clearly kings named Rameses ruled at the time of Joseph. The summation of the reigns of the kings from Koncharis back to the first of the Ramessides is 190 years. This takes us back to the era of Joseph, 215 years before the Exodus. It is possible there were two other kings preceding the Ramessides listed, named Rameses.
	Josephus says that the Israelites built pyramids for the Egyptians. Pyramids were not built in the XVIIIth dynasty, but they were in the XIIth and XIIIth. The Hyksos invasion is usually placed in the late XIIIth dynasty. This is in accord with an Exodus associated with the end of the XIIIth Dynasty.
	An initial identification of Koncharis. The name Koncharis, reversing the rules by which Egyptian names are transliterated into Greek, becomes Ka-ankh-ra. This name appears among the names of the XIIIth Dynasty kings on the Table of Karnak.

These suggestions concerning the timing of the Exodus are far out of line with any conventional chronology. Some of Courville's arguments concerning a new chronology are outlined in the pages to follow.

Links to further Courville pages in this site