TURIN PAPYRUS

also called Turin Papyrus Of Kings, or Turin Canon, hieratic manuscript of the 19th dynasty of Egypt, listing the kings of Egypt from earliest times to the reign of Ramses II (127913 BC), under whom it was written. Although the papyrus, now in the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy, is in very fragmentary condition, it is still considered the most detailed and reliable of the existing Egyptian king lists. It lists not only names but also regnal years, months, and days and also divides pharaonic history into dynasties and into three major periods, labeled by scholars the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom. Manetho's History (3rd century BC) was derived from a source like the Turin Papyrus but was far less reliable.