45. The name of Proteus, or Certus, otherwise Ammenephthes, is only known as the predecessor of one of the kings named Ramesses, and we may safely employ it for the father of the Remesses of the friaes of Montagu and Ficoroni, the whole of which are re markable for the excellence of their workmanship.
46, 47. Until we obtain evidence of a more posi tive nature, we may give to the two kings mention ed on the sarcophagus of green breccia, the names of 4nnettupthes and Anysis, supposing them to have lived about the time of Amenephthes, or Amenophis the Fifth, and his successor Osochon. The father's name might, without difficulty, be read " Mienuph thah," supposing some titles to follow it. There are also two obeliscs of the same king, brought from Cairo, which stand near the sarcophagus in the Bri tish Museum, and the style of the workmanship somewhat resembles that of the times of Sesostris, and his immediate successors. It has been observed, that neither of the names can well be Alexander's, since that of the father is repeated much more fre quently than that of the son, which could not have happened if it had been meant for Philip ; and Alex.. ander had no son who could have been mentioned in his sarcophagus. Nor is it at all probable, that Alexander should have erected any obeliscs at Memphis or in its neighbourhood. The god Am mon is no where mentioned among the titles of the king, and holds only an inferior rank among the in numerable deities represented in the tablets. We find both the names, without any addition, on a dovetail of copper, engraved in Lord Valentia's Tra vels, which was found at Behbeit, the Atarbechis or Aphroditopolis of the ancients, situated on the branch of the Nile that runs to Damietta.
48 .. 50. We learn from Pliny, that the Flamini ax obelisc, now standing near the Porto del Popolo at Rome, which was the smaller of the two formerly in the Circus Maximus, placed there by Augustus, and used as the gnomon of a dial, was the work of Senneserteus or Semnesyrtaeus, who reined in Egypt at the time that Pythagoras visited it. This king seems to have been the same with Psammuthis or PSAMMIS ; and the authority of the evidence is so much the stronger, as the period in question is not extremely remote. The father of Psammis, ac cording to Herodotus, was Necos or NECHAO. The two names occur on all the middle lines of the obe Hee ; and that of the father on the pillar of a colos sal Isis in the Supplement of Montfaucon : the Sal lustion obelisc, which seems to have been partly co pied from the Flaminian, has them both. In the middle lines of both the obeliscs at Luxor we find a name much resembling that of Psammis, which we may therefore call Psammetius, conjecturing that it may have belonged to Psammetichus, who reigned a little earlier: the father's name is not unlike in its import to that of Nechao, both implying " approv ed by Phthah ;" and it is remarkable, that in Mane tho's series, the predecessor of Psammetichus is also Nechao.
51, 52. Among the most common of all the names of the kings of Egypt, on a great variety of monu ments, are those which were mistaken by Kircher for a sort of amulets or charms, which he denomi nated the Mophthomendesian tablets. They occur alone on three small obeliscs only, the Medicean, the Mahutean, and the Monticeellan of Kircher; but they are found in the external lines of the Alexan drian, the two at Luxor, the Flaminian, and the Sal lustian, while none are ever found exterior to them. They must, therefore, necessarily be attributed to one of the latest kings of Egypt; and there is none so likely to have made such a display as Attains, a man of considerable magnificence, and at the same time of a cautious and artful character : indeed, we have no alternative left but to choose between him and some of the kings who revolted against the Per. sians, and who do not appear so likely to have had leisure or finances for public works of splendour. His father's name, like that of Nechao, contains the character denoting Vulcan, and it may be called Maerusphdres ; but he was not the son of a king. Both the names are found in one of the middle lines of the Flaminian obelisc ; and on that side the king is represented in the tablet as doing homage to his predecessor, who occupies the place of honour on the other sides. The father's name seems to occur on the belt of a colossal statue in the palace at Kar nak. On a fragment of stone in the British Mu seum, the names are repeated in various directions, as if it had belonged to a floor or a ceiling : they al so occur on a statue, considerably mutilated, in the attitude of kneeling; and in Montfaucon's Supple ment, on the back of a colossal Isis, which seems also to have been begun by Psammia On the east ern colossus at Luxor, there is a name which might be taken either for that of Amasis, or for that of the pseudonymous Psammetius; but the sitting figure is somewhat different : the victor in the naval combat at Medinet Abou, who appears also frequently considerably resembles them both. Mountnorris has a rough seal with the name of Ama sis only, the epithet God being prefixed in a smaller character. The names also occur on e small obelisc lying at Tsan, the ancient Tanis, of which a sketch was brought Lome by Dr Merion.