The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
Table of Contents | |
Section | Page |
Start of eBook | 1 |
TO THE | 1 |
A SHORT | 4 |
A SHORT | 7 |
THE | 23 |
CHAP. II | 97 |
Queen.
Madam,
As I could never hope to write any thing my self, worthy to be laid before YOUR MAJESTY; I think it a very great happiness, that it should be my lot to usher into the world, under Your Sacred Name, the last work of as great a Genius as any Age ever produced: an Offering of such value in its self, as to be in no danger of suffering from the meanness of the hand that presents it.
The impartial and universal encouragement which YOUR MAJESTY has always given to Arts and Sciences, entitles You to the best returns the learned world is able to make: And the many extraordinary Honours YOUR MAJESTY vouchsafed the Author of the following sheets, give You a just right to his Productions. These, above the rest, lay the most particular claim to Your Royal Protection; For the Chronology_ had never appeared in its present Form without your MAJESTY’s Influence; and the Short Chronicle, which precedes it, is entirely owing to the Commands with which You were pleased to honour him, out of your singular Care for the education of the Royal Issue, and earnest desire to form their minds betimes, and lead them early into the knowledge of Truth._
The Author has himself acquainted the Publick, that the following Treatise was the fruit of his vacant hours, and the relief he sometimes had recourse to, when tired with his other studies. What an Idea does it raise of His abilities, to find that a Work of such labour and learning, as would have been a sufficient employment and glory for the whole life of another, was to him diversion only, and amusement! The Subject is in its nature incapable of that demonstration upon which his other writings are founded, but his usual accuracy and judiciousness are here no less observable; And at the same time that he supports his suggestions, with all the authorities and proofs that the whole compass of Science can furnish, he offers them with the greatest caution; And by a Modesty, that was natural to Him and always accompanies such superior talents, sets a becoming example to others, not to be too presumptuous in matters so remote and dark. Tho’ the Subject be only Chronology_, yet, as the mind of the Author abounded with the most extensive variety of Knowledge, he frequently intersperses Observations of a different kind; and occasionally instills principles of Virtue and Humanity, which seem to have been always uppermost in his heart, and, as they were the Constant Rule of his actions, appear Remarkably in all his writings._
Here YOUR MAJESTY will see Astronomy_, and a just Observation on the course of Nature, assisting other parts of Learning to illustrate Antiquity; and a Penetration and Sagacity peculiar to the great Author, dispelling that Mist, with which Fable and Error had darkened it; and will with pleasure contemplate the first dawnings of Your favourite Arts and Sciences, the noblest and most beneficial of which He alone carried farther in a few years, than all the most Learned who went before him, had been able to do in many Ages. Here too, MADAM, You will observe, that an Abhorrence of Idolatry and Persecution (the very essence and foundation of that Religion, which makes so bright a part of YOUR MAJESTY’s character) was one of the earliest Laws of the Divine Legislator, the Morality of the first Ages, and the primitive Religion of both Jews and Christians; and, as the Author adds, ought to be the standing Religion of all Nations; it being for the honour of God, and good of Mankind. Nor will YOUR MAJESTY be displeased to find his sentiments so agreeable to Your own, whilst he condemns all oppression; and every kind of cruelty, even to brute beasts; and, with so much warmth, inculcates Mercy, Charity, and the indispensable duty of doing good, and promoting the general welfare of mankind: Those great ends, for which Government was first instituted, and to which alone it is administred in this happy Nation, under a KING, who distinguished himself early in opposition to the Tyranny which threatned Europe, and chuses to reign in the hearts of his subjects; Who, by his innate Benevolence, and Paternal Affection to his People, establishes and confirms all their Liberties; and, by his Valour and Magnanimity, guards and defends them._
That Sincerity and Openness of mind, which is the darling quality of this Nation, is become more conspicuous, by being placed upon the Throne; And we see, with Pride, OUR SOVEREIGN the most eminent for a Virtue, by which our country is so desirous to be distinguished. A Prince, whose views and heart are above all the mean arts of Disguise, is far out of the reach of any temptation to Introduce Blindness and Ignorance. And, as HIS MAJESTY is, by his incessant personal cares, dispensing Happiness at home, and Peace abroad; You, MADAM, lead us on by Your great Example to the most noble use of that Quiet and Ease, which we enjoy under His Administration, whilst all Your hours of leisure are employed in cultivating in Your Self That Learning, which You so warmly patronize in Others.
YOUR MAJESTY does not think the instructive Pursuit, an entertainment below Your exalted Station; and are Your Self a proof, that the abstruser parts of it are not beyond the reach of Your Sex. Nor does this Study end in barren speculation; It discovers itself in a steady attachment to true Religion; in Liberality, Beneficence, and all those amiable Virtues, which increase and heighten the Felicities of a Throne, at the same time that they bless All around it. Thus, MADAM, to enjoy, together with the highest state of publick Splendor and Dignity all the retired Pleasures and domestick Blessings of private life; is the perfection of human Wisdom, as well as Happiness.
The good Effects of this Love of knowledge, will not stop with the present Age; It will diffuse its Influence with advantage to late Posterity: And what may we not anticipate in our minds for the Generations to come under a Royal Progeny, so descended, so educated, and formed by such Patterns!
The glorious Prospect gives us abundant reason to hope, that Liberty and Learning will be perpetuated together; and that the bright Examples of Virtue and Wisdom, set in this Reign by the Royal Patrons of Both, will be transmitted with the Scepter to their Posterity, till this and the other Works of Sir ISAAC NEWTON shall be forgot, and Time it self be no more: Which is the most sincere and ardent wish of
MADAM,
May it please YOUR MAJESTY,
YOUR MAJESTY’s most obedient and most dutiful subject and servant,
John Conduitt.
* * * * *
THE CONTENTS.
A Short Chronicle from the first Memory of Things in page 1 Europe_, to the Conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great._
The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms amended.
Chap. I. Of the Chronology of the First Ages
of the p. 43
Greeks_._
Chap. II. Of the Empire of Egypt_._ p. 191
Chap. III. Of the Assyrian Empire. p. 265
Chap. IV. Of the two Contemporary Empires of the p. 294 Babylonians_ and Medes._
Chap. V. A Description of the Temple of Solomon_._ p. 332
Chap. VI. Of the Empire of the Persians_._ p. 347
* * * * *
Advertisement.
Tho’ The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms amended_, was writ by the Author many years since; yet he lately revis’d it, and was actually preparing it for the Press at the time of his death. But The Short Chronicle was never intended to be made public, and therefore was not so lately corrected by him. To this the Reader must impute it, if he shall find any places where the Short Chronicle does not accurately agree with the Dates assigned in the larger Piece. The Sixth Chapter was not copied out with the other Five, which makes it doubtful whether he intended to print it: but being found among his Papers, and evidently appearing to be a Continuation of the same Work, and (as such) abridg’d in the Short Chronicle; it was thought proper to be added._
Had the Great Author_ himself liv’d to publish this Work, there would have been no occasion for this Advertisement; But as it is, the Reader is desired to allow for such imperfections as are inseparable from Posthumous Pieces; and, in so great a number of proper names, to excuse some errors of the Press that have escaped._
* * * * *
CHRONICLE
FROM THE
First Memory of Things in Europe,
TO THE
Conquest of Persia by Alexander the
Great.
* * * * *
The INTRODUCTION.
The Greek Antiquities are full of Poetical Fictions, because the Greeks wrote nothing in Prose, before the Conquest of Asia by Cyrus the Persian. Then Pherecydes Scyrius and Cadmus Milesius introduced the writing in Prose. Pherecydes Atheniensis, about the end of the Reign of Darius Hystaspis, wrote of Antiquities, and digested his work by Genealogies, and was reckoned one of the best Genealogers. Epimenides the Historian proceeded also by Genealogies; and Hellanicus, who was twelve years older than Herodotus, digested his History by the Ages or Successions of the Priestesses of Juno Argiva. Others digested theirs by the Kings of the Lacedaemonians, or Archons of Athens. Hippias the Elean, about thirty years before the fall of the Persian Empire, published a breviary or list of the Olympic Victors; and about ten years before the fall thereof, Ephorus the disciple of Isocrates formed a Chronological History of Greece, beginning with the return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus, and ending with the siege of Perinthus, in the twentieth year of Philip the father of Alexander the great: But he digested things by Generations, and the reckoning by Olympiads was not yet in use, nor doth it appear that the Reigns of Kings were yet set down by numbers of years. The Arundelian marbles were composed sixty years after the death of Alexander the great (An. 4. Olymp. 128.) and yet mention not the Olympiads: But in the next Olympiad, Timaeus Siculus published an history in several books down to his own times, according to the Olympiads, comparing the Ephori, the Kings of Sparta, the Archons of Athens, and the Priestesses of Argos, with the Olympic Victors, so as to make the Olympiads, and the Genealogies and Successions of Kings, Archons, and Priestesses, and poetical histories suit with one another, according to the best of his judgment. And where he left off, Polybius began and carried on the history.
So then a little after the death of Alexander the great, they began to set down the Generations, Reigns and Successions, in numbers of years, and by putting Reigns and Successions equipollent to Generations, and three Generations to an hundred or an hundred and twenty years (as appears by their Chronology) they have made the Antiquities of Greece three or four hundred years older than the truth. And this was the original of the Technical Chronology of the Greeks. Eratosthenes wrote about an hundred years after the death of Alexander the great: He was followed by Apollodorus, and these two have been followed ever since by Chronologers.
But how uncertain their Chronology is, and how doubtful it was reputed by the Greeks of those times, may be understood by these passages of Plutarch. Some reckon, saith he, [1] Lycurgus contemporary to Iphitus_, and to have been his companion in ordering the Olympic festivals: amongst whom was Aristotle the Philosopher, arguing from the Olympic Disc, which had the name of Lycurgus upon it. Others supputing the times by the succession of the Kings of the Lacedaemonians, as Eratosthenes and Apollodorus, affirm that he was not a few years older than the first Olympiad._ First Aristotle and some others made him as old as the first Olympiad; then Eratosthenes, Apollodorus, and some others made him above an hundred years older: and in another place Plutarch [2] tells us: The congress of Solon_ with Croesus, some think they can confute by Chronology. But an history so illustrious, and verified by so many witnesses, and (which is more) so agreeable to the manners of Solon, and so worthy of the greatness of his mind and of his wisdom, I cannot persuade my self to reject because of some Chronological Canons, as they call them: which hundreds of authors correcting, have not yet been able to constitute any thing certain, in which they could agree among themselves, about repugnancies_. It seems the Chronologers had made the Legislature of Solon too ancient to consist with that Congress.
For reconciling such repugnancies, Chronologers have sometimes doubled the persons of men. So when the Poets had changed Io the daughter of Inachus into the Egyptian Isis, Chronologers made her husband Osiris or Bacchus and his mistress Ariadne as old as Io, and so feigned that there were two Ariadnes, one the mistress of Bacchus, and the other the mistress of Theseus, and two Minos’s their fathers, and a younger Io the daughter of Jasus, writing Jasus corruptly for Inachus. And so they have made two Pandions, and two Erechtheus’s, giving the name of Erechthonius to the first; Homer calls the first, Erechtheus: and by such corruptions they have exceedingly perplexed Ancient History.
And as for the Chronology of the Latines, that is still more uncertain. Plutarch represents great uncertainties in the Originals of Rome: and so doth Servius. The old records of the Latines were burnt by the Gauls, sixty and four years before the death of Alexander the great; and Quintus Fabius Pictor, the oldest historian of the Latines, lived an hundred years later than that King.
In Sacred History, the Assyrian Empire began with Pul and Tiglathpilaser, and lasted about 170 years. And accordingly Herodotus hath made Semiramis only five generations, or about 166 years older than Nitocris, the mother of the last King of Babylon. But Ctesias hath made Semiramis 1500 years older than Nitocris, and feigned a long series of Kings of Assyria, whose names are not Assyrian, nor have any affinity with the Assyrian names in Scripture.
The Priests of Egypt told Herodotus, that Menes built Memphis and the sumptuous temple of Vulcan, in that City: and that Rhampsinitus, Moeris, Asychis and Psammiticus added magnificent porticos to that temple. And it is not likely that Memphis could be famous, before Homer’s days who doth not mention it, or that a temple could be above two or three hundred years in building. The Reign of Psammiticus began about 655 years before Christ, and I place the founding of this temple by Menes about 257 years earlier: but the Priests of Egypt had so magnified their Antiquities before the days of Herodotus, as to tell him that from Menes to Moeris (who reigned 200 years before Psammiticus) there were 330 Kings, whose Reigns took up as many Ages, that is eleven thousand years, and had filled up the interval with feigned Kings, who had done nothing. And before the days of Diodorus Siculus they had raised their Antiquities so much higher, as to place six, eight, or ten new Reigns of Kings between those Kings, whom they had represented to Herodotus to succeed one another immediately.
In the Kingdom of Sicyon, Chronologers have split Apis Epaphus or Epopeus into two Kings, whom they call Apis and Epopeus, and between them have inserted eleven or twelve feigned names of Kings who did nothing, and thereby they have made its Founder AEgialeus, three hundred years older than his brother Phoroneus. Some have made the Kings of Germany as old as the Flood: and yet before the use of letters, the names and actions of men could scarce be remembred above eighty or an hundred years after their deaths: and therefore I admit no Chronology of things done in Europe, above eighty years before Cadmus brought letters into Europe; none, of things done in Germany, before the rise of the Roman Empire.
Now since Eratosthenes and Apollodorus computed the times by the Reigns of the Kings of Sparta, and (as appears by their Chronology still followed) have made the seventeen Reigns of these Kings in both Races, between the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus and the Battel of Thermopylae, take up 622 years, which is after the rate of 361/2 years to a Reign, and yet a Race of seventeen Kings of that length is no where to be met with in all true History, and Kings at a moderate reckoning Reign but 18 or 20 years a-piece one with another: I have stated the time of the return of the Heraclides by the last way of reckoning, placing it about 340 years before the Battel of Thermopylae. And making the Taking of Troy eighty years older than that Return, according to Thucydides, and the Argonautic Expedition a Generation older than the Trojan War, and the Wars of
* * * * *
CHRONICLE
FROM THE First Memory of things in Europe_ to the Conquest of Persia by Alexander the great._
The Times are set down in years before Christ.
The Canaanites who fled from Joshua, retired in great numbers into Egypt, and there conquered Timaus, Thamus, or Thammuz King of the lower Egypt, and reigned there under their Kings Salatis, Boeon, Apachnas, Apophis, Janias, Assis, &c. untill the days of Eli and Samuel. They fed on flesh, and sacrificed men after the manner of the Phoenicians, and were called Shepherds by the Egyptians, who lived only on the fruits of the earth, and abominated flesh-eaters. The upper parts of Egypt were in those days under many Kings, Reigning at Coptos, Thebes, This, Elephantis, and other Places, which by conquering one another grew by degrees into one Kingdom, over which Misphragmuthosis Reigned in the days of Eli.
In the year before Christ 1125 Mephres Reigned over the upper Egypt from Syene to Heliopolis, and his Successor Misphragmuthosis made a lasting war upon the Shepherds soon after, and caused many of them to fly into Palestine, Idumaea, Syria, and Libya; and under Lelex, AEzeus, Inachus, Pelasgus, AEolus the first, Cecrops, and other Captains, into Greece. Before those days Greece and all Europe was peopled by wandring Cimmerians, and Scythians from the backside of the Euxine Sea, who lived a rambling wild sort of life, like the Tartars in the northern parts of Asia. Of their Race was Ogyges, in whose days these Egyptian strangers came into Greece. The rest of the Shepherds were shut up by Misphragmuthosis, in a part of the lower Egypt called Abaris or Pelusium.
In the year 1100 the Philistims, strengthned by the access of the Shepherds, conquer Israel, and take the Ark. Samuel judges Israel.
1085. Haemon the son of Pelasgus Reigns in Thessaly.
1080. Lycaon the son of Pelasgus builds Lycosura; Phoroneus the son of Inachus, Phoronicum, afterwards called Argos; AEgialeus the brother of Phoroneus and son of Inachus, AEgialeum, afterwards called Sicyon: and these were the oldest towns in Peloponnesus. ’Till then they built only single houses scattered up and down in the fields. About the same time Cecrops built Cecropia in Attica, afterwards called Athens; and Eleusine, the son of Ogyges, built Eleusis. And these towns gave a beginning to the Kingdoms of the Arcadians, Argives, Sicyons, Athenians, Eleusinians, &c. Deucalion flourishes.
1070. Amosis, or Tethmosis, the successor of Misphragmuthosis, abolishes the Phoenician custom in Heliopolis of sacrificing men, and drives the Shepherds out of Abaris. By their access the Philistims become so numerous, as to bring into the field against Saul 30000 chariots, 6000 horsemen, and people as the sand on the sea shore for multitude. Abas, the father of Acrisius and Proetus, comes from Egypt.
1069. Saul is made King of Israel, and by the hand of Jonathan gets a great victory over the Philistims. Eurotas the son of Lelex, and Lacedaemon who married Sparta the daughter of Eurotas, Reign in Laconia, and build Sparta.
1060. Samuel dies.
1059. David made King.
1048. The Edomites are conquered and dispersed by David, and some of them fly into Egypt with their young King Hadad. Others fly to the Persian Gulph with their Commander Oannes; and others from the Red Sea to the coast of the Mediterranean, and fortify Azoth against David, and take Zidon; and the Zidonians who fled from them build Tyre and Aradus, and make Abibalus King of Tyre. These Edomites carry to all places their Arts and Sciences; amongst which were their Navigation, Astronomy, and Letters; for in Idumaea they had Constellations and Letters before the days of Job, who mentions them: and there Moses learnt to write the Law in a book. These Edomites who fled to the Mediterranean, translating the word Erythraea into that of Phoenicia, give the name of Phoenicians to themselves, and that of Phoenicia to all the sea-coasts of Palestine from Azoth to Zidon. And hence came the tradition of the Persians, and of the Phoenicians themselves, mentioned by Herodotus, that the Phoenicians came originally from the Red Sea, and presently undertook long voyages on the Mediterranean.
1047. Acrisius marries Eurydice, the daughter of Lacedaemon and Sparta. The Phoenician mariners who fled from the Red Sea, being used to long voyages for the sake of traffic, begin the like voyages on the Mediterranean from Zidon; and sailing as far as Greece, carry away Io the daughter of Inachus, who with other Grecian women came to their ships to buy their merchandize. The Greek Seas begin to be infested with Pyrates.
1046. The Syrians of Zobah and Damascus are conquered by David. Nyctimus, the son of Lycaon, reigns in Arcadia. Deucalion still alive.
1045. Many of the Phoenicians and Syrians fleeing from Zidon and from David, come under the conduct of Cadmus, Cilix, Phoenix, Membliarius, Nycteus, Thasus, Atymnus, and other Captains, into Asia minor, Crete, Greece, and Libya; and introduce Letters, Music, Poetry, the Octaeteris, Metals and their Fabrication, and other Arts, Sciences and Customs of the Phoenicians. At this time Cranaus the successor of Cecrops Reigned in Attica, and in his Reign and the beginning of the Reign of Nyctimus, the Greeks place the flood of Deucalion. This flood was succeeded by four Ages or Generations of men, in the first of which Chiron the son of Saturn and Philyra was born, and the last of which according to Hesiod ended with the Trojan War; and so places the Destruction of Troy four Generations or about 140 years later than that flood, and the coming of Cadmus, reckoning with the ancients three Generations to an hundred years. With these Phoenicians came a sort of men skilled in the Religious Mysteries, Arts, and Sciences of Phoenicia, and settled in several places under the names of Curetes, Corybantes, Telchines, and Idaei Dactyli.
1043. Hellen, the son of Deucalion, and father of AEolus, Xuthus, and Dorus, flourishes.
1035. Erectheus Reigns in Attica. AEthlius, the grandson of Deucalion and father of Endymion, builds Elis. The Idaei Dactyli find out Iron in mount Ida in Crete, and work it into armour and iron tools, and thereby give a beginning to the trades of smiths and armourers in Europe; and by singing and dancing in their armour, and keeping time by striking upon one another’s armour with their swords, they bring in Music and Poetry; and at the same time they nurse up the Cretan Jupiter in a cave of the same mountain, dancing about him in their armour.
1034. Ammon Reigns in Egypt. He conquered Libya, and reduced that people from a wandering savage life to a civil one, and taught them to lay up the fruits of the earth; and from him Libya and the desert above it were anciently called Ammonia. He was the first that built long and tall ships with sails, and had a fleet of such ships on the Red Sea, and another on the Mediterranean at Irasa in Libya. ’Till then they used small and round vessels of burden, invented on the Red Sea, and kept within sight of the shore. For enabling them to cross the seas without seeing the shore, the Egyptians began in his days to observe the Stars: and from this beginning Astronomy and Sailing had their rise. Hitherto the Lunisolar year had been in use: but this year being of an uncertain length, and so, unfit for Astronomy, in his days and in the days of his sons and grandsons, by observing the Heliacal Risings and Setting of the Stars, they found the length of the Solar year, and made it consist of five days more than the twelve calendar months of the old Lunisolar year. Creusa the daughter of Erechtheus marries Xuthus the son of Hellen. Erechtheus having first celebrated the Panathenaea joins horses to a chariot. AEgina, the daughter of Asopus, and mother of AEacus, born.
1030. Ceres a woman of Sicily, in seeking her daughter who was stolen, comes into Attica, and there teaches the Greeks to sow corn; for which Benefaction she was Deified after death. She first taught the Art to Triptolemus the young son of Celeus King of Eleusis.
1028. Oenotrus the youngest son of Lycaon, the Janus of the Latines, led the first Colony of Greeks into Italy, and there taught them to build houses. Perseus born.
1020. Arcas, the son of Callisto and grandson of Lycaon, and Eumelus the first King of Achaia, receive bread-corn from Triptolemus.
1019. Solomon Reigns, and marries the daughter of Ammon, and by means of this affinity is supplied with horses from Egypt; and his merchants also bring horses from thence for all the Kings of the Hittites and Syrians: for horses came originally from Libya; and thence Neptune was called Equestris. Tantalus King of Phrygia steals Ganimede the son of Tros King of Troas.
1017. Solomon by the assistance of the Tyrians and Aradians, who had mariners among them acquainted with the Red Sea, sets out a fleet upon that sea. Those assistants build new cities in the Persian Gulph, called Tyre and Aradus.
1015. The Temple of Solomon is founded. Minos Reigns in Crete expelling his father Asterius, who flees into Italy, and becomes the Saturn of the Latines. Ammon takes Gezer from the Canaanites, and gives it to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
1014. Ammon places Cepheus at Joppa.
1010. Sesac in the Reign of his father Ammon invades Arabia Foelix, and sets up pillars at the mouth of the Red Sea. Apis, Epaphus or Epopeus, the son of Phroroneus, and Nycteus King of Boeotia, slain. Lycus inherits the Kingdom of his brother Nycteus. AEtolus the son of Endymion flies into the Country of the Curetes in Achaia, and calls it AEtolia; and of Pronoe the daughter of Phorbas begets Pleuron and Calydon, who built cities in AEtolia called by their own names. Antiopa the daughter of Nycteus is sent home to Lycus by Lamedon the successor of Apis, and in the way brings forth Amphion and Zethus.
1008. Sesac, in the Reign of his father Ammon, invades Afric and Spain, and sets up pillars in all his conquests, and particularly at the mouth of the Mediterranean, and returns home by the coast of Gaul and Italy.
1007. Ceres being dead Eumolpus institutes her Mysteries in Eleusine. The Mysteries of Rhea are instituted in Phrygia, in the city Cybele. About this time Temples begin to be built in Greece. Hyagnis the Phrygian invents the pipe. After the example of the common-council of the five Lords of the Philistims, the Greeks set up the Amphictyonic Council, first at Thermopylae, by the influence of Amphictyon the son of Deucalion; and a few years after at Delphi by the influence of Acrisius. Among the cites, whose deputies met at Thermopylae, I do not find Athens, and therefore doubt whether Amphictyon was King of that city. If he was the son of Deucalion and brother of Hellen, he and Cranaus might Reign together in several parts of Attica. But I meet with a later Amphictyon who entertained the great Bacchus. This Council worshipped Ceres, and therefore was instituted after her death.
1006. Minos prepares a fleet, clears the Greek seas of Pyrates, and sends Colonies to the Islands of the Greeks, some of which were not inhabited before. Cecrops II. Reigns in Attica. Caucon teaches the Mysteries of Ceres in Messene.
1005. Andromeda carried away from Joppa by Perseus. Pandion the brother of Cecrops II. Reigns in Attica. Car, the son of Phoroneus, builds a Temple to Ceres.
1002. Sesac Reigns in Egypt and adorns Thebes, dedicating it to his father Ammon by the name of No-Ammon or Ammon-No, that is the people or city of Ammon: whence the Greeks called it Diospolis, the city of Jupiter. Sesac also erected Temples and Oracles to his father in Thebes, Ammonia, and Ethiopia, and thereby caused his father to be worshipped as a God in those countries, and I think also in Arabia Foelix: and this was the original of the worship of Jupiter Ammon, and the first mention of Oracles that I meet with in Prophane History. War between Pandion and Labdacus the grandson of Cadmus.
994. AEgeus Reigns in Attica.
993. Pelops the son of Tantalus comes into Peloponnesus, marries Hippodamia the granddaughter of Acrisius, takes AEtolia from AEtolus the son of Endymion, and by his riches grows potent.
990. Amphion and Zethus slay Lycus, put Laius the son of Labdacus to flight, and Reign in Thebes, and wall the city about.
989. Daedalus and his nephew Talus invent the saw, the turning-lath, the wimble, the chip-ax, and other instruments of Carpenters and Joyners, and thereby give a beginning to those Arts in Europe. Daedalus also invented the making of Statues with their feet asunder, as if they walked.
988. Minos makes war upon the Athenians, for killing his son Androgeus. AEacus flourishes.
987. Daedalus kills his nephew Talus, and flies to Minos. A Priestess of Jupiter Ammon, being brought by Phoenician merchants into Greece, sets up the Oracle of Jupiter at Dodona. This gives a beginning to Oracles in Greece: and by their dictates, the Worship of the Dead is every where introduced.
983. Sisyphus, the son of AEolus and grandson of Hellen, Reigns in Corinth, and some say that he built that city.
980. Laius recovers the Kingdom of Thebes. Athamas, the brother of Sisyphus and father of Phrixus and Helle, marries Ino the daughter of Cadmus.
979. Rehoboam Reigns. Thoas is sent from Crete to Lemnos, Reigns there in the city Hephoestia, and works in copper and iron.
978. Alcmena born of Electryo the son of Perseus and Andromeda, and of Lysidice the daughter of Pelops.
974. Sesac spoils the Temple, and invades Syria and Persia, setting up pillars in many places. Jeroboam, becoming subject to Sesac, sets up the worship of the Egyptian Gods in Israel.
971. Sesac invades India, and returns with triumph the next year but one: whence Trieterica Bacchi. He sets up pillars on two mountains at the mouth of the river Ganges.
968. Theseus Reigns, having overcome the Minotaur, and soon after unites the twelve cities of Attica under one government. Sesac, having carried on his victories to Mount Caucasus, leaves his nephew Prometheus there, and AEetes in Colchis.
967. Sesac, passing over the Hellespont conquers Thrace, kills Lycurgus King thereof, and gives his Kingdom and one of his singing-women to Oeagrus the father of Orpheus. Sesac had in his army Ethiopians commanded by Pan, and Libyan women commanded by Myrina or Minerva. It was the custom of the Ethiopians to dance when they were entring into a battel, and from their skipping they were painted with goats feet in the form of Satyrs.
966. Thoas, being made King of Cyprus by Sesac, goes thither with his wife Calycopis, and leaves his daughter Hypsipyle in Lemnos.
965. Sesac is baffled by the Greeks and Scythians, loses many of his women with their Queen Minerva, composes the war, is received by Amphiction at a feast, buries Ariadne, goes back through Asia and Syria into Egypt, with innumerable captives, among whom was Tithonus, the son of Laomedon King of Troy; and leaves his Libyan Amazons, under Marthesia and Lampeto, the successors of Minerva, at the river Thermodon. He left also in Colchos Geographical Tables of all his conquests: And thence Geography had its rise. His singing-women were celebrated in Thrace by the name of the Muses. And the daughters of Pierus a Thracian, imitating them, were celebrated by the same name.
964. Minos, making war upon Cocalus King of Sicily, is slain by him. He was eminent for his Dominion, his Laws and his Justice: upon his sepulchre visited by Pythagoras, was this inscription, [Greek: TOU DIOS] the Sepulchre of Jupiter. Danaus with his daughters flying from his brother Egyptus (that is from Sesac) comes into Greece. Sesac using the advice of his Secretary Thoth, distributes Egypt into xxxvi Nomes, and in every Nome erects a Temple, and appoints the several Gods, Festivals and Religions of the several Nomes. The Temples were the sepulchres of his great men, where they were to be buried and worshipped after death, each in his own Temple, with ceremonies and festivals appointed by him; while He and his Queen, by the names of Osiris and Isis, were to be worshipped in all Egypt. These were the Temples seen and described by Lucian eleven hundred years after, to be of one and the same age: and this was the original of the several Nomes of Egypt, and of the several Gods and several Religions of those Nomes. Sesac divided also the land of Egypt by measure amongst his soldiers, and thence Geometry had its rise. Hercules and Eurystheus born.
963. Amphictyon brings the twelve Gods of Egypt into Greece, and these are the Dii magni majorum gentium, to whom the Earth and Planets and Elements are dedicated.
962. Phryxus and Helle fly from their stepmother Ino the daughter of Cadmus. Helle is drowned in the Hellespont, so named from her, but Phryxus arrived at Colchos.
960. The war between the Lapithae and the people of Thessaly called Centaurs.
958. Oedipus kills his father Laius. Sthenelus the son of Perseus Reigns in Mycene.
956. Sesac is slain by his brother Japetus, who after death was deified in Afric by the name of Neptune, and called Typhon by the Egyptians. Orus Reigns and routs the Libyans, who under the conduct of Japetus, and his Son Antaeus or Atlas, invaded Egypt. Sesac from his making the river Nile useful, by cutting channels from it to all the cities of Egypt, was called by its names, Sihor or Siris, Nilus and Egyptus. The Greeks hearing the Egyptians lament, O Siris and Bou Siris, called him Osiris and Busiris. The Arabians from his great acts called him Bacchus, that is, the Great. The Phrygians called him Ma-fors or Mavors, the valiant, and by contraction Mars. Because he set up pillars in all his conquests, and his army in his father’s Reign fought against the Africans with clubs, he is painted with pillars and a club: and this is that Hercules who, according to Cicero, was born upon the Nile, and according to Eudoxus, was slain by Typhon; and according to Diodorus, was an Egyptian, and went over a great part of the world, and set up the pillars in Afric. He seems to be also the Belus who, according to Diodorus, led a Colony of Egyptians to Babylon, and there instituted Priests called Chaldeans, who were free from taxes, and observed the stars, as in Egypt. Hitherto Judah and Israel laboured under great vexations, but henceforward Asa King of Judah had peace ten years.
947. The Ethiopians invade Egypt, and drown Orus in the Nile. Thereupon Bubaste the sister of Orus kills herself, by falling from the top of an house, and their mother Isis or Astraea goes mad: and thus ended the Reign of the Gods of Egypt.
946. Zerah the Ethiopian is overthrown by Asa. The people of the lower Egypt make Osarsiphus their King, and call in two hundred thousand Jews and Phoenicians against the Ethiopians. Menes or Amenophis the young son of Zerah and Cissia Reigns.
944. The Ethiopians, under Amenophis, retire from the lower Egypt and fortify Memphis against Osarsiphus. And by these wars and the Argonautic expedition, the great Empire of Egypt breaks in pieces. Eurystheus the son of Sthenelus Reigns in Mycenae.
943. Evander and his mother Carmenta carry Letters into Italy.
942. Orpheus Deifies the son of Semele by the name of Bacchus, and appoints his Ceremonies.
940. The great men of Greece, hearing of the civil wars and distractions of Egypt, resolve to send an embassy to the nations, upon the Euxine and Mediterranean Seas, subject to that Empire, and for that end order the building of the ship Argo.
939. The ship Argo is built after the pattern of the long ship in which Danaus came into Greece: and this was the first long ship built by the Greeks. Chiron, who was born in the Golden Age, forms the Constellations for the use of the Argonauts; and places the Solstitial and Equinoctial Points in the fifteenth degrees or middles of the Constellations of Cancer, Chelae, Capricorn, and Aries. Meton in the year of Nabonassar 316, observed the Summer Solstice in the eighth degree of Cancer, and therefore the Solstice had then gone back seven degrees. It goes back one degree in about seventytwo years, and seven degrees in about 504 years. Count these years back from the year of Nabonassar 316, and they will place the Argonautic expedition about 936 years before Christ. Gingris the son of Thoas slain, and Deified by the name of Adonis.
938. Theseus, being fifty years old, steals Helena then seven years old. Pirithous the son of Ixion, endeavouring to steal Persephone the daughter of Orcus King of the Molossians, is slain by the Dog of Orcus; and his companion Theseus is taken and imprisoned. Helena is set at liberty by her brothers.
937. The Argonautic expedition. Prometheus leaves Mount Caucasus, being set at liberty by Hercules. Laomedon King of Troy is slain by Hercules. Priam succeeds him. Talus a brazen man, of the Brazen Age, the son of Minos, is slain by the Argonauts. AEsculapius and Hercules were Argonauts, and Hippocrates was the eighteenth from AEsculapius by the father’s side, and the nineteenth from Hercules by the mother’s side; and because these generations, being noted in history, were most probably by the chief of the family, and for the most part by the eldest sons; we may reckon 28 or at the most 30 years to a generation: and thus the seventeen intervals by the father’s side and eighteen by the mother’s, will at a middle reckoning amount unto about 507 years; which being counted backwards from the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, at which time Hippocrates began to flourish, will reach up to the time where we have placed the Argonautic expedition.
936. Theseus is set at liberty by Hercules.
934. The hunting of the Calydonian boar slain by Meleager.
930. Amenophis, with an army out of Ethiopia and Thebais, invades the lower Egypt, conquers Osarsiphus, and drives out the Jews and Canaanites: and this is reckoned the second expulsion of the Shepherds. Calycopis dies, and is Deified by Thoas with Temples at Paphos and Amathus in Cyprus, and at Byblus in Syria, and with Priests and sacred Rites, and becomes the Venus of the ancients, and the Dea Cypria and Dea Syria. And from these and other places where Temples were erected to her, she was also called Paphia, Amathusia, Byblia, Cytherea, Salaminia, Cnidia, Erycina, Idalia, &c. And her three waiting-women became the three Graces.
928. The war of the seven Captains against Thebes.
927. Hercules and AEsculapius are Deified. Eurystheus drives the Heraclides out of Peloponnesus. He is slain by Hyllus the son of Hercules. Atreus the son of Pelops succeeds him in the Kingdom of Mycenae. Menestheus, the great grandson of Erechtheus, Reigns at Athens.
925. Theseus is slain, being cast down from a rock.
924. Hyllus invading Peloponnesus is slain by Echemus.
919. Atreus dies. Agamemnon Reigns. In the absence of Menelaus, who went to look after what his father Atreus had left to him, Paris steals Helena.
918. The second war against Thebes.
912. Thoas, King of Cyprus and part of Phoenicia dies; and for making armour for the Kings of Egypt; is Deified with a sumptuous Temple at Memphis by the name of Baal Canaan, Vulcan. This Temple was said to be built by Menes, the first King of Egypt who reigned next after the Gods, that is, by Menoph or Amenophis who reigned next after the death of Osiris, Isis, Orus, Bubaste and Thoth. The city, Memphis was also said to be built by Menes; he began to build it when he fortified it against Osarsiphus. And from him it was called Menoph, Moph, Noph, &c; and is to this day called Menuf by the Arabians. And therefore Menes who built the city and temple Was Menoph or Amenophis. The Priests of Egypt at length made this temple above a thousand years older then Amenophis, and some of them five or ten thousand years older: but it could not be above two or three hundred years older than the Reign of Psammiticus who finished it, and died 614 years before Christ. When Menoph or Menes built the city, he built a bridge there over the Nile: a work too great to be older than the Monarchy of Egypt.
909. Amenophis, called Memnon by the Greeks, built the Memnonia at Susa, whilst Egypt was under the government of Proteus his Viceroy.
904. Troy taken. Amenophis was still at Susa; the Greeks feigning that he came from thence to the Trojan war.
903. Demophoon, the son of Theseus by Phoedra the daughter of Minos, Reigns at Athens.
901. Amenophis builds small Pyramids in Cochome.
896. Ulysses leaves Calypso in the Island Ogygie (perhaps Cadis or Cales.) She was the daughter of Atlas, according to Homer. The ancients at length feigned that this Island, (which from Atlas they called Atlantis) had been as big as all Europe, Africa and Asia, but was sunk into the Sea.
895. Teucer builds Salamis in Cyprus. Hadad or Benhadad King of Syria dies, and is Deified at Damascus with a Temple and Ceremonies.
887. Amenophis dies, and is succeeded by his son Ramesses or Rhampsinitus, who builds the western Portico of the Temple of Vulcan. The Egyptians dedicated to Osiris, Isis, Orus senior, Typhon, and Nephthe the sister and wife of Typhon, the five days added by the Egyptians to the twelve Calendar months of the old Luni-solar year, and said that they were added when these five Princes were born. They were therefore added in the Reign of Ammon the father of these five Princes: but this year was scarce brought into common use before the Reign of Amenophis: for in his Temple or Sepulchre at Abydus, they placed a Circle of 365 cubits in compass, covered on the upper side with a plate of gold, and divided into 365 equal parts, to represent all the days of the year; every part having the day of the year, and the Heliacal Risings and Settings of the Stars on that day, noted upon it. And this Circle remained there ’till Cambyses spoiled the temples of Egypt: and from this monument I collect that it was Amenophis who established this year, fixing the beginning thereof to one of the four Cardinal Points of the heavens. For had not the beginning thereof been now fixed, the Heliacal Risings and Settings of the Stars could not have been noted upon the days thereof. The Priests of Egypt therefore in the Reign of Amenophis continued to observe the Heliacal Risings and Settings of the Stars upon every day. And when by the Sun’s Meridional Altitudes they had found the Solstices and Equinoxes according to the Sun’s mean motion, his Equation being not yet known, they fixed the beginning of this year to the Vernal Equinox, and in memory thereof erected this monument. Now this year being carried into Chaldaea, the
883. Dido builds Carthage, and the Phoenicians begin presently after to sail as far as to the Straights Mouth, and beyond. AEneas was still alive, according to Virgil.
870. Hesiod flourishes. He hath told us himself that he lived in the age next after the wars of Thebes and Troy, and that this age should end when the men then living grew hoary and dropt into the grave; and therefore it was but of an ordinary length: and Herodotus has told us that Hesiod and Homer were but 400 years older than himself. Whence it follows that the destruction of Troy was not older than we have represented it.
860. Moeris Reigns in Egypt. He adorned Memphis, and translated the seat of his Empire thither from Thebes. There he built the famous Labyrinth, and the northern portico of the Temple of Vulcan, and dug the great Lake called the Lake of Moeris, and upon the bottom of it built two great Pyramids of brick: and these things being not mentioned by Homer or Hesiod, were unknown to them, and done after their days. Moeris wrote also a book of Geometry.
852. Hazael the successor of Hadad at Damascus dies and is Deified, as was Hadad before: and these Gods, together with Arathes the wife of Hadad, were worshipt in their Sepulchres or Temples, ’till the days of Josephus the Jew; and the Syrians boasted their antiquity, not knowing, saith Josephus, that they were novel.
844. The AEolic Migration. Boeotia, formerly called Cadmeis, is seized by the Boeotians.
838. Cheops Reigns in Egypt. He built the greatest Pyramid for his sepulchre, and forbad the worship of the former Kings; intending to have been worshipped himself.
825. The Heraclides, after three Generations, or an hundred years, reckoned from their former expedition, return into Peloponnesus. Henceforward, to the end of the first Messenian war, reigned ten Kings of Sparta by one Race, and nine by another; ten of Messene, and nine of Arcadia: which, by reckoning (according to the ordinary course of nature) about twenty years to a Reign, one Reign with another, will take up about 190 years. And the seven Reigns more in one of the two Races of the Kings of Sparta, and eight in the other, to the battle at Thermopylae; may take up 150 years more: and so place the return of the Heraclides, about 820 years before Christ.
824. Cephren Reigns in Egypt, and builds another great Pyramid.
808. Mycerinus Reigns there, and begins the third great Pyramid. He shut up the body of his daughter in a hollow ox, and caused her to be worshipped daily with odours.
804. The war, between the Athenians and Spartans, in which Codrus, King of the Athenians, is slain.
801. Nitocris, the sister of Mycerinus, succeeds him, and finishes the third great Pyramid.
794. The Ionic Migration, under the conduct of the sons of Codrus.
790. Pul founds the Assyrian Empire.
788. Asychis Reigns in Egypt, and builds the eastern Portico of the Temple of Vulcan very splendidly; and a large Pyramid of brick, made of mud dug out of the Lake of Moeris. Egypt breaks into several Kingdoms. Gnephactus and Bocchoris Reign successively in the upper Egypt; Stephanathis; Necepsos and Nechus, at Sais; Anysis or Amosis, at Anysis or Hanes; and Tacellotis, at Bubaste.
776. Iphitus restores the Olympiads. And from this AEra the Olympiads are now reckoned. Gnephactus Reigns at Memphis.
772. Necepsos and Petosiris invent Astrology in Egypt.
760. Semiramis begins to flourish; Sanchoniatho writes.
751. Sabacon the Ethiopian, invades Egypt, now divided into various Kingdoms, burns Bocchoris, slays Nechus, and makes Anysis fly.
747. Pul, King of Assyria, dies, and is succeeded at Nineveh by Tiglathpilasser, and at Babylon by Nabonassar. The Egyptians, who fled from Sabacon, carry their Astrology and Astronomy to Babylon, and found the AEra of Nabonassar in Egyptian years.
740. Tiglathpilasser, King of Assyria, takes Damascus, and captivates the Syrians.
729. Tiglathpilasser is succeeded by Salmanasser.
721. Salmanasser, King of Assyria, carries the Ten Tribes into captivity.
719. Sennacherib Reigns over Assyria. Archias the son of Evagetus, of the stock of Hercules, leads a Colony from Corinth into Sicily, and builds Syracuse.
717. Tirhakah Reigns in Ethiopia.
714. Sennacherib is put to flight by the Ethiopians and Egyptians, with great slaughter.
711. The Medes revolt from the Assyrians. Sennacherib slain. Asserhadon succeeds him. This is that Asserhadon-Pul, or Sardanapalus, the son of Anacyndaraxis, or Sennacherib, who built Tarsus and Anchiale in one day.
710. Lycurgus, brings the poems of Homer out of Asia into Greece.
708. Lycurgus, becomes tutor to Charillus or Charilaus, the young King of Sparta. Aristotle makes Lycurgus as old as Iphitus, because his name was upon the Olympic Disc. But the Disc was one of the five games called the Quinquertium, and the Quinquertium was first instituted upon the eighteenth Olympiad. Socrates and Thucydides made the institutions of Lycurgus about 300 years older than the end of the Peloponnesian war, that is, 705 years before Christ.
701. Sabacon, after a Reign of 50 years, relinquishes Egypt to his son Sevechus or Sethon, who becomes Priest of Vulcan, and neglects military affairs.
698. Manasseh Reigns.
697. The Corinthians begin first of any men to build ships with three orders of oars, called Triremes. Hitherto the Greeks had used long vessels of fifty oars.
687. Tirhakah Reigns in Egypt.
681. Asserhadon invades Babylon.
673. The Jews conquered by Asserhadon, and Manasseh carried captive to Babylon.
671. Asserbadon invades Egypt. The government of Egypt committed to twelve princes.
668. The western nations of Syria, Phoenicia and Egypt, revolt from the Assyrians. Asserhadon dies, and is succeeded by Saosduchinus. Manasseh returns from Captivity.
658. Phraortes Reigns in Media. The Prytanes Reign in Corinth, expelling their Kings.
657. The Corinthians overcome the Corcyreans at sea: and this was the oldest sea fight.
655. Psammiticus becomes King of all Egypt, by conquering the other eleven Kings with whom he had already reigned fifteen years: he reigned about 39 years more. Henceforward the Ionians had access into Egypt; and thence came the Ionian Philosophy, Astronomy and Geometry.
652. The first Messenian war begins: it lasted twenty years.
647. Charops, the first decennial Archon of the Athenians. Some of these Archons might dye before the end of the ten years, and the remainder of the ten years be supplied by a new Archon. And hence the seven decennial Archons might not take up above forty or fifty years. Saosduchinus King of Assyria dies, and is succeeded by Chyniladon.
640. Josiah Reigns in Judaea.
636. Phraortes> King of the Medes, is slain in a war against the Assyrians. Astyages succeeds him.
635. The Scythians invade the Medes and Assyrians.
633. Battus builds Cyrene, where Irasa, the city of Antaeus, had stood.
627. Rome is built.
625. Nabopolassar revolts from the King of Assyria, and Reigns over Babylon. Phalantus leads the Parthenians into Italy, and builds Tarentum.
617. Psammiticus dies. Nechaoh reigns in Egypt.
611. Cyaxeres Reigns over the Medes.
610. The Princes of the Scythians slain in a feast by Cyaxeres.
609. Josiah slain. Cyaxeres and Nebuchadnezzar overthrow Nineveh, and, by sharing the Assyrian Empire, grow great.
607. Creon the first annual Archon of the Athenians. The second Messenian war begins. Cyaxeres makes the Scythians retire beyond Colchos and Iberia, and seizes the Assyrian Provinces of Armenia, Pontus and Cappadocia.
606. Nebuchadnezzar invades Syria and Judaea.
604. Nabopolassar dies, and is succeeded by his Son Nebuchadnezzar, who had already Reigned two years with his father.
600. Darius the Mede, the son of Cyaxeres, is born.
599. Cyrus is born of Mandane, the Sister of Cyaxeres, and daughter of Astyages.
596. Susiana and Elam conquered by Nebuchadnezzar. Caranus and Perdiccas fly from Phidon, and found the Kingdom of Macedon. Phidon introduces Weights and Measures, and the Coining of Silver Money.
590. Cyaxeres makes war upon Alyattes King of Lydia.
588. The Temple of Solomon is burnt by Nebuchadnezzar. The Messenians being conquered, fly into Sicily, and build Messana.
585. In the sixth year of the Lydian war, a total Eclipse of the Sun, predicted by Thales, May the 28th, puts an end to a Battel between the Medes and Lydians: Whereupon they make Peace, and ratify it by a marriage between Darius Medus the son of Cyaxeres, and Ariene the daughter of Alyattes.
584. Phidon presides in the 49th Olympiad.
580. Phidon is overthrown. Two men chosen by lot, out of the city Elis, to preside in the Olympic Games.
572. Draco is Archon of the Athenians, and makes laws for them.
568. The Amphictions make war upon the Cirrheans, by the advice of Solon, and take Cirrha. Clisthenes, Alcmaeon and Eurolicus commanded the forces of the Amphictions, and were contemporary to Phidon. For Leocides the son of Phidon, and Megacles the son of Alcmaeon, at one and the same time, courted Agarista the daughter of Clisthenes.
569. Nebuchadnezzar invades Egypt. Darius the Mede Reigns.
562. Solon, being Archon of the Athenians, makes laws for them.
557. Periander dies, and Corinth becomes free from Tyrants.
555. Nabonadius Reigns at Babylon. His Mother Nitocris adorns and fortifies that City.
550. Pisistratus becomes Tyrant at Athens. The Conference between Croesus and Solon.
549. Solon dies, Hegestratus being Archon of Athens.
544. Sardes is taken by Cyrus. Darius the Mede recoins the Lydian money into Darics.
538. Babylon is taken by Cyrus.
536. Cyrus overcomes Darius the Mede, and translates the Empire to the Persians. The Jews return from Captivity, and found the second Temple.
529. Cyrus dies. Cambyses Reigns,
521. Darius the son of Hystaspes Reigns. The Magi are slain. The various Religions of the several Nations of Persia, which consisted in the worship of their ancient Kings, are abolished; and by the influence of Hystaspes and Zoroaster, the worship of One God, at Altars, without Temples is set up in all Persia.
520. The second Temple is built at Jerusalem by the command of Darius.
515. The second Temple is finished and dedicated.
513. Harmodius and Aristogiton, slay Hipparchus the son of Pisistratus, Tyrant of the Athenians.
508. The Kings of the Romans expelled, and Consuls erected.
491. The Battle of Marathon.
485. Xerxes Reigns.
480. The Passage of Xerxes over the Hellespont into Greece, and Battles of Thermopylae and Salamis.
464. Artaxerxes Longimanus Reigns.
457. Ezra returns into Judaea. Johanan the father of Jaddua was now grown up, having a chamber in the Temple.
444. Nehemiah returns into Judaea. Herodotus writes.
431. The Peloponnesian war begins.
428. Nehemiah drives away Manasseh the brother of Jaddua, because he had married Nicaso the daughter of Sanballat.
424. Darius Nothus Reigns.
422. Sanballat builds a Temple in Mount Gerizim and makes his son-in-law Manasseh the first High-Priest thereof.
412. Hitherto the Priests and Levites were numbered, and written in the Chronicles of the Jews, before the death of Nehemiah: at which time either Johanan or Jaddua was High-Priest, And here Ends the Sacred History of the Jews.
405. Artaxerxes Mnemon Reigns. The end of the Peloponnesian war.
359. Artaxerxes Ochus Reigns.
338. Arogus Reigns.
336. Darius Codomannus Reigns.
332. The Persian Empire conquered by Alexander the great.
331. Darius Codomannus, the last King of Persia, slain.
* * * * *
CHRONOLOGY
OF ANCIENT KINGDOMS AMENDED.
* * * * *
CHAP. I.
Of the Chronology of the First Ages of the Greeks_._
All Nations, before they began to keep exact accounts of Time, have been prone to raise their Antiquities; and this humour has been promoted, by the Contentions between Nations about their Originals. Herodotus [3] tells us, that the Priests of Egypt reckoned from the Reign of Menes to that of Sethon, who put Sennacherib to flight, three hundred forty and one Generations of men, and as many Priests of Vulcan, and as many Kings of Egypt: and that three hundred Generations make ten thousand years; for, saith he, three Generations of men make an hundred years: and the remaining forty and one Generations make 1340 years: and so the whole time from the Reign of Menes to that of Sethon was 11340 years. And by this way of reckoning, and allotting longer Reigns to the Gods of Egypt than to the Kings which followed them, Herodotus tells us from the Priests of Egypt, that from Pan to Amosis were 15000 years, and from Hercules to Amosis 17000 years. So also the Chaldaeans boasted of their Antiquity; for Callisthenes, the Disciple of Aristotle, sent Astronomical Observations from Babylon to Greece, said to be of 1903 years standing before the times of Alexander the great. And the Chaldaeans boasted further, that they had observed the Stars 473000 years; and there were others who made the Kingdoms of Assyria, Media and Damascus, much older than the truth.
Some of the Greeks called the times before the Reign of Ogyges, Unknown, because they had No History of them; those between his flood and the beginning of the Olympiads, Fabulous, because their History was much mixed with Poetical Fables: and those after the beginning of the Olympiads, Historical, because their History was free from such Fables. The fabulous Ages wanted a good Chronology, and so also did the Historical, for the first 60 or 70 Olympiads.
The Europeans, had no Chronology before the times of the Persian Empire: and whatsoever Chronology they now have of ancienter times, hath been framed since, by reasoning and conjecture. In the beginning of that Monarchy, Acusilaus made Phoroneus as old as Ogyges and his flood, and that flood 1020 years older than the first Olympiad; which is above 680 years older than the truth: and to make out this reckoning his followers have encreased the Reigns of Kings in length and number. Plutarch [4] tells us that the Philosophers anciently delivered their Opinions in Verse, as Orpheus, Hesiod, Parmenides, Xenophanes, Empedocles, Thales; but afterwards left off the use of Verses; and that Aristarchus, Timocharis, Aristillus, Hipparchus, did not make Astronomy the more contemptible by describing it in Prose; after Eudoxus, Hesiod, and Thales had wrote of it in Verse. Solon wrote [5] in Verse, and all the Seven Wise Men were addicted to Poetry, as Anaximenes [6] affirmed. ’Till those days the Greeks wrote only in Verse, and while they did so there could be no Chronology, nor any other History, than such as was mixed with poetical fancies. Pliny, [7] in reckoning up the Inventors of things, tells us, that Pherecydes Syrius_ taught to compose discourses in Prose in the Reign of Cyrus, and Cadmus Milesius to write History._ And in [8] another place he saith that Cadmus Milesius_ was the first that wrote in Prose_. Josephus tells us [9] that Cadmus Milesius and Acusilaus were but a little before the expedition of the Persians against the Greeks: and Suidas [10] calls Acusilaus a most ancient Historian, and saith that he wrote Genealogies out of tables of brass, which his father, as was reported, found in a corner of his house. Who hid them there may be doubted: For the Greeks [11] had no publick table or inscription older than the Laws of Draco. Pherecydes Atheniensis, in the Reign of Darius Hystaspis, or soon after, wrote of the Antiquities and ancient Genealogies of the Athenians, in ten books; and was one of the first European writers of this kind, and one of the best; whence he had the name of Genealogus; and by Dionysius [12] Halicarnassensis is said to be second to none of the Genealogers. Epimenides, not the Philosopher, but an Historian, wrote also of the ancient Genealogies: and Hellanicus, who was twelve years older than Herodotus, digested his History by the Ages or Successions of the Priestesses of Juno Argiva. Others digested theirs by those of the Archons of Athens, or Kings of the Lacedaemonians. Hippias the Elean published a Breviary of the Olympiads, supported by no certain arguments, as Plutarch
But how uncertain their Chronology is, and how doubtful it was reputed by the Greeks of those times, may be understood by these passages of Plutarch. Some reckon Lycurgus__, saith he, [16] contemporary to Iphitus_, and to have been his companion in ordering the Olympic festivals, amongst whom was Aristotle the Philosopher; arguing from the Olympic Disc, which had the name of Lycurgus upon it. Others supputing the times by the Kings of Lacedaemon, as Eratosthenes and Apollodorus, affirm that he was not a few years older than the first Olympiad._ He began to flourish in the 17th or 18th Olympiad, and at length Aristotle made him as old as the first Olympiad; and so did Epaminondas, as he is cited by AElian and Plutarch: and then Eratosthenes, Apollodorus, and their followers, made him above an hundred years older.
And in another place Plutarch [17] tells us: The Congress of Solon_ with Croesus, some think they can confute by Chronology. But a History so illustrious, and verified by so many witnesses, and which is more, so agreeable to the manners of Solon, and worthy of the greatness of his mind, and of his wisdom, I cannot persuade my self to reject because of some Chronological Canons, as they call them, which hundreds of authors correcting, have not yet been able to constitute any thing certain, in which they could agree amongst themselves, about repugnancies._
As for the Chronology of the Latines, that is still more uncertain. Plutarch [18] represents great uncertainties in the Originals of Rome, and so doth Servius [19]. The old Records of the Latines were burnt [20] by the Gauls, an hundred and twenty years after the Regifuge, and sixty-four years before the death of Alexander the great: and Quintus Fabius Pictor, [21] the oldest Historian of the Latines, lived an hundred years later than that King, and took almost all things from Diocles Peparethius, a Greek. The Chronologers of Gallia, Spain, Germany, Scythia, Swedeland, Britain and Ireland are of a date still later; for Scythia beyond the Danube had no letters, ’till Ulphilas their Bishop formed them; which was about six hundred years after the death of Alexander the great: and Germany had none ’till it received them, from the western Empire of the Latines, above seven hundred years after the death of that King. The Hunns, had none in the days of Procopius, who flourished 850 years after the death of that King: and Sweden and Norway received them still later. And things said to be done above one or two hundred years before the use of letters, are of little credit.
Diodorus, [22] in the beginning of his History tells us, that he did not define by any certain space the times preceding the Trojan War, because he had no certain foundation to rely upon: but from the Trojan war, according to the reckoning of Apollodorus, whom he followed, there were eighty years to the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus; and that from that Period to the first Olympiad, there were three hundred and twenty eight years, computing the times from the Kings of the Lacedaemonians. Apollodorus followed Eratosthenes, and both of them followed Thucydides, in reckoning eighty years from the Trojan war to the Return of the Heraclides: but in reckoning 328 years from that Return to the first Olympiad, Diodorus tells us, that the times were computed from the Kings of the Lacedaemonians; and Plutarch [23] tells us, that Apollodorus, Eratosthenes and others followed that computation: and since this reckoning is still received by Chronologers, and was gathered by computing the times from the Kings of the Lacedaemonians, that is from their number, let us re-examin that Computation.
The Egyptians reckoned the Reigns of Kings equipollent to Generations of men, and three Generations to an hundred years, as above; and so did the Greeks and Latines: and accordingly they have made their Kings Reign one with another thirty and three years a-piece, and above. For they make the seven Kings of Rome who preceded the Consuls to have Reigned 244 years, which is 35 years a-piece: and the first twelve Kings of Sicyon, AEgialeus, Europs, &c. to have Reigned 529 years, which is 44 years a-piece: and the first eight Kings of Argos, Inachus, Phoroneus, &c. to have Reigned 371 years, which is above 46 years a-piece: and between the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus, and the end of the first Messenian war, the ten Kings of Sparta in one Race; Eurysthenes, Agis, Echestratus, Labotas, Doryagus, Agesilaus, Archelaus, Teleclus, Alcamenes, and Polydorus: the nine in the other Race; Procles, Sous, Eurypon, Prytanis, Eunomus, Polydectes, Charilaus, Nicander, Theopompus: the ten Kings of Messene; Cresphontes, Epytus, Glaucus, Isthmius, Dotadas, Sibotas, Phintas, Antiochus, Euphaes, Aristodemus: and the nine of Arcadia; Cypselus, Olaeas, Buchalion, Phialus, Simus, Pompus, AEgineta, Polymnestor, AEchmis, according to Chronologers, took up 379 years: which is 38 years a-piece to the ten Kings, and 42 years a-piece to the nine. And the five Kings of the Race of Eurysthenes, between the end of the first Messenian war, and the beginning of the Reign of Darius Hystaspis; Eurycrates, Anaxander, Eurycrates II, Leon, Anaxandrides, Reigned 202 years, which is above 40 years a-piece.
Thus the Greek Chronologers, who follow Timaeus and Eratosthenes, have made the Kings of their several Cities, who lived before the times of the Persian Empire, to Reign about 35 or 40 years a-piece, one with another; which is a length so much beyond the course of nature, as is not to be credited. For by the ordinary course of nature Kings Reign, one with another, about eighteen or twenty years a-piece: and if in some instances they Reign, one with another, five or six years longer, in others they Reign as much shorter: eighteen or twenty years is a medium. So the eighteen Kings of Judah who succeeded Solomon, Reigned 390 years, which is one with another 22 years a-piece. The fifteen Kings of Israel after Solomon, Reigned 259 years, which is 171/4 years a-piece. The eighteen Kings of Babylon, Nabonassar &c. Reigned 209 years, which is 11-2/3 years a-piece. The
For confirming this reckoning, I may add another argument. Euryleon the son of AEgeus, [24] commanded the main body of the Messenians in the fifth year of the first Messenian war, and was in the fifth Generation from Oiolicus the son Theras, the brother-in-law of Aristodemus, and tutor to his sons Eurysthenes and Procles, as Pausanias [25] relates: and by consequence, from the return of the Heraclides, which was in the days of Theras, to the battle which was in the fifth year of this war, there were six Generations, which, as I conceive, being for the most part by the eldest sons, will scarce exceed thirty years to a Generation; and so may amount unto 170 or 180 years. That war lasted 19 or 20 years: add the last 15 years, and there will be about 190 years to the end of that war: whereas the followers of Timaeus make it about 379 years, which is above sixty years to a Generation.
By these arguments, Chronologers have lengthned the time, between the return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus and the first Messenian war, adding to it about 190 years: and they have also lengthned the time, between that war and the rise of the Persian Empire. For in the Race of the Spartan Kings, descended from Eurysthenes; after Polydorus, reigned [26] these Kings, Eurycrates, Anaxander, Eurycratides, Leon, Anaxandrides, Clomenes, Leonidas, &c. And in the other Race descended from Procles; after Theopompus, reigned [27] these, Anaxandrides, Archidemus, Anaxileus, Leutychides, Hippocratides, Ariston, Demaratus, Leutychides II. &c. according to Herodotus. These Kings reigned ’till the sixth year of Xerxes, in which Leonidas was slain by the Persians at Thermopylae; and Leutychides II. soon after, flying from Sparta to Tegea, died there. The seven Reigns of the Kings of Sparta, which follow Polydorus, being added to the ten Reigns above mentioned, which began with that of Eurysthenes; make up seventeen Reigns of Kings, between the return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus and the sixth year of Xerxes: and the eight Reigns following Theopompus, being added to the nine Reigns above mentioned, which began with that of Procles, make up also seventeen Reigns: and these seventeen Reigns, at twenty years a-piece one with another, amount unto three hundred and forty years. Count these 340 years upwards from the sixth year of Xerxes, and one or two years more for the war of the Heraclides, and Reign of Aristodemus, the father of Eurysthenes and Procles; and they will place the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus, 159 years after the death of Solomon, and 46
The Artificial Chronologers, have made Lycurgus, the legislator, as old as Iphitus, the restorer of the Olympiads; and Iphitus, an hundred and twelve years, older than the first Olympiad: and, to help out the Hypothesis, they have feigned twenty eight Olympiads older than the first Olympiad, wherein Coraebus was victor. But these things were feigned, after the days of Thucydides and Plato: for Socrates died three years after the end of the Peloponnesian war, and Plato [28] introduceth him saying, that the institutions of Lycurgus_ were but of three hundred years standing, or not much more_. And [29] Thucydides, in the reading followed by Stephanus, saith, that the Lacedaemonians_, had from ancient times used good laws, and been free from tyranny; and that from the time that they had used one and the same administration of their commonwealth, to the end of the Peloponnesian war, there were three hundred years and a few more_. Count three hundred years back from the end of the Peloponnesian war, and they will place the Legislature of Lycurgus upon the 19th Olympiad. And, according to Socrates, it might be upon the 22d or 23d. Athenaeus [30] tells us out of ancient authors (Hellanicus, Sosimus and Hieronymus) that Lycurgus the Legislator, was contemporary to Terpander the Musician; and that Terpander was the first man who got the victory in the Carnea, in a solemnity of music instituted in those festivals in the 26th Olympiad. He overcame four times in those Pythic games, and therefore lived at least ’till the 29th Olympiad: and beginning to flourish in the days of Lycurgus, it is not likely that Lycurgus began to flourish, much before the 18th Olympiad. The name of Lycurgus being on the Olympic Disc, Aristotle concluded thence, that Lycurgus was the companion of Iphitus, in restoring the Olympic games: and this argument might be the ground of the opinion of Chronologers, that Lycurgus and Iphitus were contemporary. But Iphitus did not restore all the Olympic games. He [31] restored indeed the Racing in the first Olympiad, Coraebus being victor. In the 14th Olympiad, the double stadium was
Lycurgus, published his laws in the Reign of Agesilaus, the son and successor of Doryagus, in the Race of the Kings of Sparta descended from Eurysthenes. From the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus, to the end of the Reign of Agesilaus, there were six Reigns: and from the same Return to the end of the Reign of Polydectes, in the Race of the Spartan Kings descended from Procles, there were also six Reigns: and these Reigns, at twenty years a-piece one with another, amount unto 120 years; besides the short Reign of Aristodemus, the father of Eurysthenes and Procles, which might amount to a year or two: for Aristodemus came to the crown, as [34] Herodotus and the Lacedaemonians themselves affirmed. The times of the deaths of Agesilaus and Polydectes
Iphitus, who restored the Olympic games, [35] was descended from Oxylus, the son of Haemon, the son of Thoas, the son of Andraemon: Hercules and Andraemon married two sisters: Thoas warred at Troy: Oxylus returned into Peloponnesus with the Heraclides. In this return he commanded the body of the AEtolians, and recovered Elea; [36] from whence his ancestor AEtolus, the son of Endymion, the son of Aethlius, had been driven by Salmoneus the grandson of Hellen. By the friendship of the Heraclides, Oxylus had the care of the Olympic Temple committed to him: and the Heraclides, for his service done them, granted further upon oath that the country of the Eleans should be free from invasions, and be defended by them from all armed force: And when the Eleans were thus consecrated, Oxylus restored the Olympic games: and after they had been again intermitted, Iphitus their King [37] restored them, and made them quadrennial. Iphitus is by some reckoned the son of Haemon, by others the son of Praxonidas, the son of Haemon: but Haemon being the father of Oxylus, I would reckon Iphitus the son of Praxonidas, the son of Oxylus, the son of Haemon. And by this reckoning the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus will be two Generations by the eldest sons, or about 52 years, before the Olympiads.
Pausanias [38] represents that Melas the son of Antissus, of the posterity of Gonussa the daughter of Sicyon, was not above six Generations older than Cypselus King of Corinth; and that he was contemporary to Aletes, who returned with the Heraclides into Peloponnesus. The Reign of Cypselus began An. 2, Olymp. 31, according to Chronologers; and six Generations, at about 30 years to a Generation, amount unto 180 years. Count those years backwards from An. 2, Olymp. 31, and they will place the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus 58 years before the first Olympiad. But it might not be so early, if the Reign of Cypselus began three or four Olympiads later; for he reigned before the Persian Empire began.
Hercules the Argonaut was the father of Hyllus; the father of Cleodius; the father of Aristomachus; the father of Temenus, Cresphontes, and Aristodemus, who led the Heraclides into Peloponnesus and Eurystheus, who was of the same age with Hercules, was slain in the first attempt of the Heraclides to return: Hyllus was slain in the second attempt, Cleodius in the third attempt, Aristomachus in the fourth attempt, and Aristodemus died as soon as they were returned, and left the Kingdom of Sparta to his sons Eurysthenes and Procles. Whence their Return was four Generations later than the Argonautic expedition: And these Generations were short ones, being by the chief of the family, and suit with the reckoning of Thucydides and the Ancients, that the taking of Troy was about 75 or eighty years before the return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus; and the Argonautic expedition one Generation earlier than the taking of Troy. Count therefore eighty years backward from the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus to the Trojan war, and the taking of Troy will be about 76 years after the death of Solomon: And the Argonautic expedition, which was one Generation earlier, will be about 43 years after it. From the taking of Troy to the Return of the Heraclides, could scarce be more than eighty years, because Orestes the son of Agamemnon was a youth at the taking of Troy, and his sons Penthilus and Tisamenus lived till the Return of the Heraclides.
AEsculapius and Hercules were Argonauts, and Hippocrates was the eighteenth inclusively by the father’s side from AEsculapius, and the nineteenth from Hercules by the mother’s side: and because these Generations, being taken notice of by writers, were most probably by the principal of the family, and so for the most part by the eldest sons; we may reckon about 28 or at the most about 30 years to a Generation. And thus the seventeen intervals by the father’s side, and eighteen by the mother’s, will at a middle reckoning amount unto about 507 years: which counted backwards from the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, at which time Hippocrates began to flourish, will reach up to the 43d year after the death of Solomon, and there place the Argonautic expedition.
When the Romans conquered the Carthaginians, the Archives of Carthage came into their hands: And thence Appian, in his history of the Punic wars, tells in round numbers that Carthage stood seven hundred years: and [39] Solinus adds the odd number of years in these words: Adrymeto atque Carthagini author est a Tyro populus. Urbem istam, ut Cato in Oratione Senatoria autumat; cum rex Hiarbas rerum in Libya potiretur, Elissa mulier extruxit, domo Phoenix & Carthadam dixit, quod Phoenicum ore exprimit civitatem novam; mox sermone verso Carthago dicta est, quae post annos septingentos triginta septem exciditur quam fuerat extructa. Elissa was Dido, and Carthage was destroyed in the Consulship of Lentulus and Mummius, in the year of the Julian Period 4568; from whence count backwards 737 years, and the Encaenia or Dedication of the City, will fall upon the 16th year of Pygmalion, the brother of Dido, and King of Tyre. She fled in the seventh year of Pygmalion, but the AEra of the City began with its Encaenia. Now Virgil, and his Scholiast Servius, who might have some things from the archives of Tyre and Cyprus, as well as from those of Carthage, relate that Teucer came from the war of Troy to Cyprus, in the days of Dido, a little before the Reign of her brother Pygmalion; and, in conjunction with her father, seized Cyprus, and ejected Cinyras: and the Marbles say that Teucer came to Cyprus seven years after the destruction of Troy, and built Salamis; and Apollodorus, that Cinyras married Metharme the daughter of Pygmalion, and built Paphos. Therefore, if the Romans, in the days of Augustus, followed not altogether the artificial Chronology of Eratosthenes, but had these things from the records of Carthage, Cyprus, or Tyre; the arrival of Teucer at Cyprus will be in the Reign of the predecessor of Pygmalion: and by consequence the destruction of Troy, about 76 years later than the death of Solomon.
Dionysius Halicarnassensis [40] tells us, that in the time of the Trojan war, Latinus was King of the Aborigines in Italy, and that in the sixteenth Age after that war, Romulus built Rome. By Ages he means Reigns of Kings: for after Latinus he names sixteen Kings of the Latines, the last of which was Numitor, in whose days Romulus built Rome: for Romulus was contemporary to Numitor, and after him Dionysius and others reckon six Kings more over Rome, to the beginning of the Consuls. Now these twenty and two Reigns, at about 18 years to a Reign one with another, for many of these Kings were slain, took up 396 years; which counted back from the consulship of Junius Brutus and Valerius Publicola, the two first Consuls, place the Trojan war about 78 years after the death of Solomon.
The expedition of Sesostris was one Generation earlier than the Argonautic expedition: for in his return back into Egypt he left AEetes in Colchis, and AEetes reigned there ’till the Argonautic expedition; and Prometheus was left by Sesostris with a body of men at Mount Caucasus, to guard that pass, and after thirty years was released by Hercules the Argonaut: and Phlyas and Eumedon, the sons of the great Bacchus, so the Poets call Sesostris, and of Ariadne the daughter of Minos, were Argonauts. At the return of Sesostris into Egypt, his brother Danaus fled from him into Greece with his fifty daughters, in a long ship; after the pattern of which the ship Argo was built: and Argus, the son of Danaus, was the master-builder thereof. Nauplius the Argonaut was born in Greece, of Amymone, one of the daughters of Danaus, and of Neptune, the brother and admiral of Sesostris: And two others of the daughters of Danaus married Archander and Archilites, the sons of Achaeus, the son of Creusa, the daughter of Erechtheus King of Athens: and therefore the daughters of Danaus were three Generations younger than Erechtheus; and by consequence contemporary to Theseus the son of AEgeus, the adopted son of Pandion, the son of Erechtheus. Theseus, in the time of the Argonautic expedition, was of about 50 years of age, and so was born about the 33d year of Solomon: for he stole Helena [41] just before that expedition, being then 50 years old, and she but seven, or as some say ten. Pirithous the son of Ixion helped Theseus to steal Helena, and then [42] Theseus went with Pirithous to steal Persephone, the daughter of Aidoneus, or Orcus, King of the Molossians, and was taken in the action: and whilst he lay in prison, Castor and Pollux returning from the Argonautic expedition, released their sister Helena, and captivated AEthra the mother of Theseus. Now the daughters of Danaus being contemporary to Theseus, and some of their sons being Argonauts, Danaus with his daughters fled from his brother Sesostris into Greece about one Generation before the Argonautic expedition; and therefore Sesostris returned into Egypt in the Reign of Rehoboam. He came out of Egypt in the fifth year of Rehoboam, [43] and spent nine years in that expedition, against the Eastern Nations and Greece; and therefore returned back into Egypt, in the fourteenth year of Rehoboam. Sesac and Sesostris were therefore Kings of all Egypt, at one and
Egypt was at first divided into many small Kingdoms, like other nations; and grew into one monarchy by degrees: and the father of Solomon’s Queen, was the first King of Egypt, who came into Phoenicia with an Army: but he only took Gezir, and gave it to his daughter. Sesac, the next King, came out of Egypt with an army of Libyans, Troglodites and Ethiopians, 2 Chron. xii. 3. and therefore was then King of all those countries; and we do not read in Scripture, that any former King of Egypt; who Reigned over all those nations, came out of Egypt with a great army to conquer other countries. The sacred history of the Israelites, from the days of Abraham to the days of Solomon, admits of no such conqueror. Sesostris reigned over all the same nations of the Libyans, Troglodites and Ethiopians, and came out of Egypt with a great army to conquer other Kingdoms. The Shepherds reigned long in the lower part of Egypt, and were expelled thence, just before the building of Jerusalem and the Temple; according to Manetho; and whilst they Reigned in the lower part of Egypt, the upper part thereof was under other Kings: and while Egypt was divided into several Kingdoms, there was no room for any such King of all Egypt as Sesostris; and no historian makes him later than Sesac: and therefore he was one and the same King of Egypt with Sesac. This is no new opinion: Josephus discovered it when he affirmed that Herodotus erred, in ascribing the actions of Sesac to Sesostris,
All nations, before the just length of the Solar year was known, reckoned months by the course of the moon; and years by the [47] returns of winter and summer, spring and autumn: and in making Calendars for their Festivals, reckoned thirty days to a Lunar month, and twelve Lunar months to a year; taking the nearest round numbers: whence came the division of the Ecliptic into 360 degrees. So in the time of Noah’s flood, when the Moon could not be seen, Noah reckoned thirty days to a month: but if the Moon appeared a day or two before the end of the month, [48] they began the next month with the first day of her appearing: and this was done generally, ’till the Egyptians of Thebais found the length of the Solar year. So [49] Diodorus tells us that the Egyptians_ of Thebais use no intercalary months, nor subduct any days_ [from the month] as is done by most of the Greeks__. And [50] Cicero, est consuetudo Siculorum caeterorumque Graecorum, quod suos dies mensesque congruere volunt cum Solis Lunaeque ratione, ut nonnumquam siquid discrepet, eximant unum aliquem diem aut summum biduum ex mense [civili dierum triginta] quos illi [Greek: exairesimous] dies nominant. And Proclus, upon Hesiod’s [Greek: triakas] mentions the same thing. And [51] Geminus: [Greek: Prothesis gar en tois archaiois, tous men menas agein kata selenen, tous de eniautous kath’ helion. To gar hypo ton nomon, kai ton chresmon parangellomenon, to thyein kata g’, egoun ta patria, menas, hemeras, eniautous: touto dielabon apantes hoi Hellenes toi tous men heniautous symphonos agein toi helioi; tas de hemeras kai tous menas tei
The ancient Calendar year of the Greeks consisted therefore of twelve Lunar months, and every month of thirty days: and these years and months they corrected from time to time, by the courses of the Sun and Moon, omitting a day or two in the month, as often as they found the month too long for the course of the Moon; and adding a month to the year, as often as they found the twelve Lunar months too short for the return of the four seasons. Cleobulus,
To the twelve Lunar months [54] the ancient Greeks added a thirteenth, every other year, which made their Dieteris; and because this reckoning made their year too long by a month in eight years, they omitted an intercalary month once in eight years, which made their Octaeteris, one half of which was their Tetraeteris: And these Periods seem to have been almost as old as the religions of Greece, being used in divers of their Sacra. The [55] Octaeteris was the Annus magnus of Cadmus and Minos, and seems to have been brought into Greece and Crete by the Phoenicians, who came thither with Cadmus and Europa, and to have continued ’till after the days of Herodotus: for in counting the length of seventy years [56], he reckons thirty days to a Lunar month, and twelve such months, or 360 days, to the ordinary year, without the intercalary months, and 25 such months to the Dieteris: and according to the number of days in the Calendar year of the Greeks, Demetrius Phalereus had 360 Statues erected to him by the Athenians. But the Greeks, Cleostratus, Harpalus, and others, to make their months agree better with the course of the Moon, in the times of the Persian Empire, varied the manner of intercaling the three months in the Octaeteris; and Meton found out the Cycle of intercaling seven months in nineteen years.
The Ancient year of the Latines was also Luni-solar; for Plutarch [57] tells us, that the year of Numa consisted of twelve Lunar months, with intercalary months to make up what the twelve Lunar months wanted of the Solar year. The Ancient year of the Egyptians was also Luni-solar, and continued to be so ’till the days of Hyperion, or Osiris, a King of Egypt, the father of Helius and Selene, or Orus and Bubaste: For the Israelites brought this year out of Egypt; and Diodorus tells [58] us that Ouranus the father of Hyperion used this year, and [59] that in the Temple of Osiris the Priests appointed thereunto filled 360 Milk Bowls every day: I think he means one Bowl every day, in all 360, to count the number of days in the Calendar year, and thereby to find out the difference between this and the true Solar year: for the year of 360 days was the year, to the end of which they added five days.
That the Israelites used the Luni-solar year is beyond question. Their months began with their new Moons. Their first month was called Abib, from the earing of Corn in that month. Their Passover was kept upon the fourteenth day of the first month, the Moon being then in the full: and if the Corn was not then ripe enough for offering the first Fruits, the Festival was put off, by adding an intercalary month to the end of the year; and the harvest was got in before the Pentecost, and the other Fruits gathered before the Feast of the seventh month.
Simplicius in his commentary [60] on the first of Aristotle’s Physical Acroasis, tells us, that some begin the year upon the Summer Solstice, as the People of Attica_; or upon the Autumnal Equinox, as the People of Asia; or in Winter, as the Romans; or about the Vernal Equinox, as the Arabians and People of Damascus: and the month began, according to some, upon the Full Moon, or upon the New._ The years of all these Nations were therefore Luni-solar, and kept to the four Seasons: and the Roman year began at first in Spring, as I seem to gather from the Names of their Months, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, December: and the beginning was afterwards removed to Winter. The ancient civil year of the Assyrians and Babylonians was also Luni-solar: for this year was also used by the Samaritans, who came from several parts of the Assyrian Empire; and the Jews who came from Babylon called the months of their Luni-solar year after the Names of the months of the Babylonian year: and Berosus [61] tells us that the Babylonians celebrated the Feast Sacaea upon the 16th day of the month Lous, which was a Lunar month of the Macedonians, and kept to one and the same Season of the year: and the Arabians, a Nation who peopled Babylon, use Lunar months to this day. Suidas [62] tells us, that the Sarus of the Chaldeans contains 222 Lunar months, which are eighteen years, consisting each of twelve Lunar months, besides six intercalary months: and when [63] Cyrus cut the River Gindus into 360 Channels, he seems to have alluded unto the number of days in the Calendar year of the Medes and Persians: and the Emperor Julian [64] writes, For when all other People, that I may say it in one word, accommodate their months to the course of the Moon, we alone with the Egyptians_ measure the days of the year by the course of the Sun._
At length the Egyptians, for the sake of Navigation, applied themselves to observe the Stars; and by their Heliacal Risings and Settings found the true Solar year to be five days longer than the Calendar year, and therefore added five days to the twelve Calendar months; making the Solar year to consist of twelve months and five days. Strabo [65] and [66] Diodorus ascribe this invention to the Egyptians of Thebes. The Theban_ Priests_, saith Strabo, are above others said to be Astronomers and Philosophers. They invented the reckoning of days not by the course of the Moon, but by the course of the Sun. To twelve months each of thirty days they add yearly five days. In memory of this Emendation of the year they dedicated the [67] five additional days to Osiris, Isis, Orus senior, Typhon, and Nephthe the wife of Typhon, feigning that those days were added to the year when these five Princes were born, that is, in the Reign of Ouranus, or Ammon, the father of Sesac: and in [68] the Sepulchre of Amenophis, who Reigned soon after, they placed a Golden Circle of 365 cubits in compass, and divided it into 365 equal parts, to represent all the days in the year, and noted upon each part the Heliacal Risings and Settings of the Stars on that day; which Circle remained there ’till the invasion of Egypt by Cambyses King of Persia. ’Till the Reign of Ouranus, the father of Hyperion, and grandfather of Helius and Selene, the Egyptians used the old Lunisolar year: but in his Reign, that is, in the Reign of Ammon, the father of Osiris or Sesac, and grandfather of Orus and Bubaste, the Thebans began to apply themselves to Navigation and Astronomy, and by the Heliacal Risings and Settings of the Stars determined the length of the Solar year; and to the old Calendar year added five days, and dedicated them to his five children above mentioned, as their birth days: and in the Reign of Amenophis, when by further Observations they had sufficiently determined the time of the Solstices, they might place the beginning of this new year upon the Vernal Equinox. This year being at length propagated into Chaldaea, gave occasion to the year of Nabonassar; for the years of Nabonassar and those of Egypt began on one and the same day, called by them Thoth, and were equal and in all respects the same: and the first year of Nabonassar began on the 26th day of February of the old Roman year, seven hundred forty and seven years before the Vulgar AEra of Christ, and thirty and three days and five hours before the Vernal Equinox, according to the Sun’s mean motion; for it is not likely that the Equation of the Sun’s motion should be known in the infancy of Astronomy. Now reckoning that the year of 365 days wants five hours
Syncellus tells us, that the five days were added to the old year by the last King of the Shepherds: and the difference in time between the Reign of this King, and that of Ammon, is but small; for the Reign of the Shepherds ended but one Generation, or two, before Ammon began to add those days. But the Shepherds minded not Arts and Sciences.
The first month of the Luni-solar year, by reason of the Intercalary month, began sometimes a week or a fortnight before the Equinox or Solstice, and sometimes as much after it. And this year gave occasion to the first Astronomers, who formed the Asterisms, to place the Equinoxes and Solstices in the middles of the Constellations of Aries, Cancer, Chelae, and Capricorn. Achilles Tatius [69] tells us, that some antiently placed the Solstice in the beginning of Cancer_, others in the eighth degree of Cancer, others about the twelfth degree, and others about the fifteenth degree thereof._ This variety of opinions proceeded from the precession of the Equinox, then not known to the Greeks. When the Sphere was first formed, the Solstice was in the fifteenth degree or middle of the Constellation of Cancer: then it came into the twelfth, eighth, fourth, and first degree successively. Eudoxus, who flourished about sixty years after Meton, and an hundred years before Aratus, in describing the Sphere of the Ancients, placed the Solstices and Equinoxes in the middles of the Constellations of Aries, Cancer, Chelae, and Capricorn, as is affirmed by [70] Hipparchus Bithynus; and appears also by the Description of the Equinoctial and Tropical Circles in Aratus, [71] who copied after Eudoxus; and by the positions of the Colures of the Equinoxes and Solstices, which in the Sphere of Eudoxus, described by Hipparchus, went through the middles of those Constellations.
Now Chiron delineated [Greek: schemata olympou] the Asterisms, as the ancient Author of Gigantomachia, cited by [72] Clemens Alexandrinus informs us: for Chiron was a practical Astronomer, as may be there understood also of his daughter Hippo: and Musaeus, the son of Eumolpus and master of Orpheus, and one of the Argonauts, [73] made a Sphere, and is reputed the first among the Greeks who made one: and the Sphere it self shews that it was delineated in the time of the Argonautic expedition; for that expedition is delineated in the Asterisms, together with several other ancienter Histories of the Greeks, and without any thing later. There’s the golden RAM, the ensign of the Vessel in which Phryxus fled to Colchis; the BULL with brazen hoofs tamed by Jason; and the TWINS, CASTOR and POLLUX, two of the Argonauts, with the SWAN of Leda their mother. There’s the Ship ARGO, and HYDRUS the watchful Dragon; with Medea’s CUP, and a RAVEN upon its Carcass, the Symbol of Death. There’s CHIRON the master of Jason, with his ALTAR and SACRIFICE. There’s the Argonaut HERCULES with his DART and VULTURE falling down; and the DRAGON, CRAB and LION, whom he slew; and the HARP of the Argonaut Orpheus. All these relate to the Argonauts. There’s ORION the son of Neptune, or as some say, the grandson of Minos, with his DOGS, and HARE, and RIVER, and SCORPION. There’s the story of Perseus in the Constellations of PERSEUS, ANDROMEDA, CEPHEUS, CASSIOPEA and CETUS: That of Callisto, and her son Arcas, in URSA MAJOR and ARCTOPHYLAX: That of Icareus and his daughter Erigone in BOOTES, PLAUSTRUM and VIRGO. URSA MINOR relates to one of the Nurses of Jupiter,
In the end of the year of our Lord 1689 the Star called Prima Arietis was in [Aries]. 28 deg.. 51’. 00”, with North Latitude 7 deg.. 8’. 58”. And the Star called ultima caudae Arietis was in [Taurus]. 19 deg.. 3’. 42”, with North Latitude 2 deg.. 34’. 5”. And the Colurus AEquinoctiorum passing through the point in the middle between those two Stars did then cut the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 6 deg.. 44’: and by this reckoning the Equinox in the end of the year 1689 was gone back 36 deg.. 44’. since the Argonautic Expedition: Supposing that the said Colure passed through the middle of the Constellation of Aries, according to the delineation of the Ancients. The Equinox goes back fifty seconds in one year, and one degree in seventy and two years, and by consequence 36 deg.. 44’. in 2645 years, which counted back from the end of the year of our Lord 1689, or beginning of the year 1690, will place the Argonautic Expedition
In the back of Aries is a Star of the sixth magnitude, marked [nu] by Bayer: in the end of the year 1689, and beginning of the year 1690, its Longitude was [Taurus]. 9 deg.. 38’. 45”, and North Latitude 6 deg.. 7’. 56”: and the Colurus AEquinoctiorum drawn though it, according to Eudoxus, cuts the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 6 deg.. 58’. 57”. In the head of Cetus are two Stars of the fourth Magnitude, called [nu] and [xi] by Bayer: in the end of the year 1689 their Longitudes were [Taurus]. 4 deg.. 3’. 9”. and [Taurus]. 3 deg.. 7’. 37”, and their South Latitudes 9 deg.. 12’. 26”. and 5 deg.. 53’. 7”; and the Colurus AEquinoctiorum passing in the mid way between them, cuts the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 6 deg.. 58’. 51”. In the extreme flexure of Eridanus, rightly delineated, is a Star of the fourth Magnitude, of late referred to the breast of Cetus, and called [rho] by Bayer; it is the only Star in Eridanus through which this Colure can pass; its Longitude, in the end of the year 1689, was [Aries]. 25 deg.. 22’. 10”. and South Latitude 25 deg.. 15’. 50”. and the Colurus AEquinoctiorum passing through it, cuts the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 7 deg.. 12’. 40”. In the head of Perseus, rightly delineated, is a Star of the fourth Magnitude, called [tau] by Bayer; the Longitude of this Star, in the end of the year 1689, was [Taurus]. 23 deg.. 25’. 30”, and North Latitude 34 deg.. 20’. 12”: and the Colurus AEquinoctiorum passing through it, cuts the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 6 deg.. 18’. 57”. In the right hand of Perseus, rightly delineated, is a Star of the fourth Magnitude, called [eta] by Bayer; its Longitude in the end of the year 1689, was [Taurus]. 24 deg.. 25’. 27”, and North Latitude 37 deg.. 26’. 50”: and the Colurus AEquinoctiorum passing through it cuts the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 4 deg.. 56’. 40”: and the fifth part of the summ of the
In the middle of Cancer is the South Asellus, a Star of the fourth Magnitude, called by Bayer [delta]; its Longitude in the end of the year 1689, was [Leo]. 4 deg.. 23’. 40”. In the neck of Hydrus, rightly delineated, is a Star of the fourth Magnitude, called [delta] by Bayer; its Longitude in the end of the year 1689, was [Leo]. 5 deg.. 59’. 3”. Between the poop and mast of the Ship Argo is a Star of the third Magnitude, called [iota] by Bayer; its Longitude in the end of that year, was [Leo]. 7 deg.. 5’. 31”. In Sagitta is a Star of the sixth Magnitude, called [theta] by Bayer; its Longitude in the end of the same year 1689, was [Aquarius]. 6 deg.. 29’. 53”. In the middle of Capricorn is a Star of the fifth Magnitude, called [eta] by Bayer; its Longitude in the end of the same year was [Aquarius]. 8 deg.. 25’. 55”: and the fifth part of the summ of the three first Longitudes, and of the complements of the two last to 180 Degrees; is [Leo]. 6 deg.. 28’. 46”. This is the new Longitude of the old Colurus Solstitiorum passing through these Stars. The same Colurus passes also in the middle between the Stars [eta] and [kappa], of the fourth and fifth Magnitudes, in the neck of the Swan; being distant from each about a Degree: it passeth also by the Star [kappa], of the fourth Magnitude, in the right wing of the Swan; and by the Star [omicron], of the fifth Magnitude, in the left hand of Cepheus, rightly delineated; and by the Stars in the tail of the South-Fish; and is at right angles with the Colurus AEquinoctiorum found above: and so it hath all the characters, of the Colurus Solstitiorum rightly drawn.
The two Colures therefore, which in the time of the Argonautic Expedition cut the Ecliptic in the Cardinal Points, did in the end of the year 1689 cut it in [Taurus]. 6 deg.. 29’; [Leo]. 6 deg.. 29’; [Scorpio]. 6 deg.. 29’; and [Aquarius]. 6 deg.. 29’; that is, at the distance of 1 Sign, 6 Degrees and 29 Minutes from the Cardinal Points of Chiron; as nearly as we have been able to determin from the coarse observations of the Ancients: and therefore the Cardinal Points, in the time between that Expedition and the end of the year 1689, have gone back from those Colures one Sign, 6 Degrees and 29 Minutes; which, after the rate of 72 years to a Degree, answers to 2627 years. Count those years backwards from the end of the year 1689, or beginning of the year 1690, and the reckoning will place the Argonautic Expedition, about 43 years after the death of Solomon.
By the same method the place of any Star in the Primitive Sphere may readily be found, counting backwards one Sign, 6 deg.. 29’. from the Longitude which it had in the end of the year of our Lord 1689. So the Longitude of the first Star of Aries in the end of the year 1689 was [Aries]. 28 deg.. 51’. as above: count backward 1 Sign, 6 deg.. 29’. and its Longitude, counted from the Equinox in the middle of the Constellation of Aries, in the time of the Argonautic expedition, will be [Pisces]. 22 deg.. 22’: and by the same way of arguing, the Longitude of the Lucida Pleiadum in the time of the Argonautic Expedition will be [Aries]. 19 deg.. 26’. 8”: and the Longitude of Arcturus [Virgo]. 13 deg.. 24’. 52”: and so of any other Stars.
After the Argonautic Expedition we hear no more of Astronomy ’till the days of Thales: He [77] revived Astronomy, and wrote a book of the Tropics and Equinoxes, and predicted Eclipses; and Pliny [78] tells us, that he determined the Occasus Matutinus of the Pleiades to be upon the 25th day after the Autumnal Equinox: and thence [79] Petavius computes the Longitude of the Pleiades in [Aries]. 23 deg.. 53’: and by consequence the Lucida Pleiadum had, since the Argonautic Expedition, moved from the Equinox 4 deg.. 26’. 52”: and this motion, after the rate of 72 years to a Degree, answers to 320 years: count these years back from the time in which Thales was a young man fit to apply himself to Astronomical Studies, that is from about the 41st Olympiad, and the reckoning will place the Argonautic Expedition about 44 years after the death of Solomon, as above: and in the days of Thales, the Solstices and Equinoxes, by this reckoning, will have been in the middle of the eleventh Degrees of the Signs. But Thales, in publishing his book about the Tropics and Equinoxes, might lean a little to the opinion of former Astronomers, so as to place them in the twelfth Degrees of the Signs.
Meton and Euctemon, [80] in order to publish the Lunar Cycle of nineteen years, observed the Summer Solstice in the year of Nabonassar 316, the year before the Peloponnesian war began; and Columella [81] tells us that they placed it in the eighth Degree of Cancer, which is at least seven Degrees backwarder than at first. Now the Equinox, after the rate of a Degree in Seventy and two years, goes backwards seven Degrees in 504 years: count backwards those years from the 316th year of Nabonassar, and the Argonautic Expedition will fall upon the 44th year after the death of Solomon, or thereabout, as above. And thus you see the truth of what we cited above out of Achilles Tatius; viz. that some anciently placed the Solstice in the eighth Degree of Cancer, others about the twelfth Degree, and others about the fifteenth Degree thereof.
Hipparchus the great Astronomer, comparing his own Observations with those of former Astronomers, concluded first of any man, that the Equinoxes had a motion backwards in respect of the fixt Stars: and his opinion was, that they went backwards one Degree in about an hundred years. He made his observations of the Equinoxes between the years of Nabonassar 586 and 618: the middle year is 602, which is 286 years after the aforesaid observation of Meton and Euctemon; and in these years the Equinox must have gone backwards four degrees, and so have been in the fourth Degree of Aries in the days of Hipparchus, and by consequence have then gone back eleven Degrees since the Argonautic Expedition; that is, in 1090 years, according to the Chronology of the ancient Greeks then in use: and this is after the rate of about 99 years, or in the next round number an hundred years to a Degree, as was then stated by Hipparchus. But it really went back a Degree in seventy and two years, and eleven Degrees in 792 years: count these 792 years backward from the year of Nabonassar, 602, the year from which we counted the 286 years, and the reckoning will place the Argonautic Expedition about 43 years after the death of Solomon. The Greeks have therefore made the Argonautic Expedition about three hundred years ancienter than the truth, and thereby given occasion to the opinion of the great Hipparchus, that the Equinox went backward after the rate of only a Degree in an hundred years.
Hesiod tells us that sixty days after the winter Solstice the Star Arcturus rose just at Sunset: and thence it follows that Hesiod flourished about an hundred years after the death of Solomon, or in the Generation or Age next after the Trojan war, as Hesiod himself declares.
From all these circumstances, grounded upon the coarse observations of the ancient Astronomers, we may reckon it certain that the Argonautic Expedition was not earlier than the Reign of Solomon: and if these Astronomical arguments be added to the former arguments taken from the mean length of the Reigns of Kings, according to the course of nature; from them all we may safely conclude that the Argonautic Expedition was after the death of Solomon, and most probably that it was about 43 years after it.
The Trojan War was one Generation later than that Expedition, as was said above, several Captains of the Greeks in that war being sons of the Argonauts: and the ancient Greeks reckoned Memnon or Amenophis, King of Egypt, to have Reigned in the times of that war, feigning him to be the son of Tithonus the elder brother of Priam, and in the end of that war to have come from Susa to the assistance of Priam. Amenophis was therefore of
Rehoboam was born in the last year of King David, being 41 years old at the Death of Solomon, 1 Kings xiv. 21. and therefore his father Solomon was probably born in the 18th year of King David’s Reign, or before: and two or three years before his Birth, David besieged Rabbah the Metropolis of the Ammonites, and committed adultery with Bathsheba: and the year before this siege began, David vanquished the Ammonites, and their Confederates the Syrians of Zobah, and Rehob, and Ishtob, and Maacah, and Damascus, and extended his Dominion over all these Nations as far as to the entring in of Hamath and the River Euphrates: and before this war began he smote Moab, and Ammon, and Edom, and made the Edomites fly, some of them into Egypt with their King Hadad, then a little child; and others to the Philistims, where they fortified Azoth against Israel; and others, I think, to the Persian Gulph, and other places whither they could escape: and before this he had several Battles with the Philistims: and all this was after the eighth year of his Reign, in which he came from Hebron to Jerusalem. We cannot err therefore above two or three years, if we place this Victory over Edom in the eleventh or twelfth year of his Reign; and that over Ammon and the Syrians in the fourteenth. After the flight of Edom, the King of Edom grew up, and married Tahaphenes or Daphnis, the sister of Pharaoh’s Queen, and before the Death of David had by her a son called Genubah, and this son was brought up among the children of Pharaoh: and among these children was the chief or first born of her mother’s children, whom Solomon married in the beginning of his Reign; and her little sister who at that time had no breasts, and her brother who then sucked the breasts of his mother, Cant. vi. 9. and viii. 1, 8: and of about the same Age with these children was Sesac or Sesostris; for he became King of Egypt in the Reign of Solomon, 1 Kings xi. 40; and before he began to Reign he warred under his father, and whilst he was very young, conquered Arabia, Troglodytica and Libya, and then invaded Ethiopia;
Quamvis AEthiopum populis, Arabumque
beatis
Gentibus, atque Indis unus sit Jupiter
Ammon.
I place the end of the Reign of Sesac upon the fifth year of Asa, because in that year Asa became free from the Dominion of Egypt, so as to be able to fortify Judaea, and raise that great Army with which he met Zerah, and routed him. Osiris was therefore slain in the fifth year of Asa, by his brother Japetus, whom the Egyptians called Typhon, Python, and Neptune: and then the Libyans, under Japetus and his son Atlas, invaded Egypt, and raised that famous war between the Gods and Giants, from whence the Nile had the name of Eridanus: but Orus the son of Osiris, by the assistance of the Ethiopians, prevailed, and Reigned ’till the 15th year of Asa: and then the Ethiopians under Zerah invaded Egypt, drowned Orus in Eridanus, and were routed by Asa, so that Zerah could not recover himself. Zerah
While Amenophis staid in Ethiopia, Egypt was in its greatest distraction: and then it was, as I conceive, that the Greeks hearing thereof contrived the Argonautic Expedition, and sent the flower of Greece in the Ship Argo to persuade the Nations upon the Sea Coasts of the Euxine and Mediterranean Seas to revolt from Egypt, and set up for themselves, as the Libyans, Ethiopians and Jews had done before. And this is a further argument for placing that Expedition about 43 years after the Death of Solomon; this Period being in the middle of the distraction of Egypt. Amenophis might return from Ethiopia, and conquer the lower Egypt about eight years after that Expedition, and having settled his Government over it, he might, for putting a stop to the revolting of the eastern Nations, lead his Army into Persia, and leave Proteus at Memphis to govern Egypt in his absence, and stay some time at Susa, and build the Memnonia, fortifying that City, as the Metropolis of his Dominion in those parts.
Androgeus the son of Minos, upon his overcoming in the Athenaea, or quadrennial Games at Athens in his youth, was perfidiously slain out of envy: and Minos thereupon made war upon the Athenians, and compelled them to send every eighth year to Crete seven beardless Youths, and as many young Virgins, to be given as a reward to him that should get the Victory in the like Games instituted in Crete in honour of Androgeus. These Games seem to have been celebrated in the beginning of the Octaeteris, and the Athenaea in the beginning of the Tetraeteris,
Justin, in his 18th book, tells us: A rege Ascaloniorum expugnati Sidonii navibus appulsi Tyron urbem ante annum * * Trojanae cladis condiderunt And Strabo, [89] that Aradus was built by the men who fled from Zidon__. Hence [90] Isaiah calls Tyre the daughter of Zidon_, the inhabitants of the Isle whom the Merchants of Zidon have replenished_: and [91] Solomon in the beginning of his Reign calls the People of Tyre Zidonians. My Servants, saith he, in a Message to Hiram King of Tyre, shall be with thy Servants, and unto thee will I give hire for thy Servants according to all that thou desirest: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like the Zidonians__. The new Inhabitants of Tyre had not yet lost the name of Zidonians, nor had the old Inhabitants, if there were any considerable number of them, gained the reputation of the new ones for skill in hewing of timber, as they would have done had navigation been long in use at Tyre. The Artificers who came from Zidon were not dead, and the flight of the Zidonians was in the Reign of David, and by consequence in the beginning of the Reign of Abibalus the father of Hiram, and the first King of Tyre mentioned in History. David in the twelfth year of his Reign conquered Edom, as above, and made some of the Edomites, and chiefly the Merchants and Seamen, fly from the Red Sea to the Philistims upon the Mediterranean, where they fortified Azoth. For [92] Stephanus tells us: [Greek: Tauten ektisen heis ton epanelthonton ap’ Erythras thalasses Pheugadon]: One of the Fugitives from the Red Sea built Azoth: that is, a Prince of Edom, who fled from David, fortified Azoth for the Philistims against him. The Philistims were now grown very strong, by the access of the Edomites and Shepherds, and by their assistance invaded and took Zidon, that being a town very convenient for the Merchants who fled from the Red Sea: and then did the Zidonians fly by Sea to Tyre and Aradus, and to other havens in Asia Minor, Greece, and Libya, with which, by means of their trade, they had been acquainted before; the great wars and victories of David their enemy, prompting them to fly by Sea: for [93] they went with a great multitude, not to seek Europa as was pretended, but to seek new Seats, and therefore fled from their enemies: and when some of them fled under Cadmus and his brothers to Cilicia, Asia minor, and Greece; others fled under other Commanders to seek new Seats in Libya, and there built many walled towns, as Nonnus [94] affirms: and their leader was also there called Cadmus, which word signifies an eastern
The Zidonians being still possessed of the trade of the Mediterranean, as far westward as Greece and Libya, and the trade of the Red Sea being richer; the Tyrians traded on the Red Sea in conjunction with Solomon and the Kings of Judah, ’till after the Trojan war; and so also did the Merchants of Aradus, Arvad, or Arpad: for in the Persian Gulph [97] were two Islands called Tyre and Aradus, which had Temples like the Phoenician; and therefore the Tyrians and Aradians sailed thither, and beyond, to the Coasts of India, while the Zidonians frequented the Mediterranean: and hence it is that Homer celebrates Zidon, and
Strabo [105] mentioning the first men who left the Sea-coasts, and ventured out into the deep, and undertook long Voyages, names Bacchus, Hercules, Jason, Ulysses and Menelaus; and saith that the Dominion of Minos over the Sea was celebrated, and the Navigation of the Phoenicians who went beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and built Cities there, and in the middle of the Sea-coasts of Afric, presently after the war of Troy. These Phoenicians [106] were the Tyrians, who at that time built Carthage in Afric, and Carteia in Spain, and Gades in the Island of that name without the Straights; and gave the name of Hercules to their chief
Tatian, in his book against the Greeks, relates, that amongst the Phoenicians flourished three ancient Historians, Theodotus, Hysicrates and Mochus, who all of them delivered in their histories, translated into Greek_ by Latus, under which of the Kings happened the rapture of Europa; the voyage of Menelaus into Phoenicia; and the league and friendship between Solomon and Hiram, when Hiram gave his daughter to Solomon, and furnished him with timber for building the Temple: and that the same is affirmed by Menander of Pergamus_. Josephus [117] lets us know that the Annals of the Tyrians, from the days of Abibalus and Hiram, Kings of Tyre, were extant in his days; and that Menander of Pergamus translated them into Greek, and that Hiram’s friendship to Solomon, and assistance in building the Temple, was mentioned in them; and that the Temple was founded in the eleventh year of Hiram: and by the testimony of Menander and the ancient Phoenician historians, the rapture of Europa, and by consequence the coming of her brother Cadmus into Greece, happened within the time of the Reigns of the Kings of Tyre delivered in these histories; and therefore not before the Reign of Abibalus, the first of them, nor before the Reign of King David his contemporary. The voyage of Menelaus
After Navigation in long ships with sails, and one order of oars, had been propagated from Egypt to Phoenicia and Greece, and thereby the Zidonians had extended their trade to Greece, and carried it on about an hundred and fifty years; and then the Tyrians being driven from the Red Sea by the Edomites, had begun a new trade on the Mediterranean with Spain, Afric, Britain, and other remote nations; they carried it on about an hundred and sixty years; and then the Corinthians began to improve Navigation, by building bigger ships with three orders of oars, called Triremes. For [118] Thucydides tells us that the Corinthians were the first of the Greeks who built such ships, and that a ship-carpenter of Corinth went thence to Samos, about 300 years before the end of the Peloponnesian war, and built also four ships for the Samians; and that 260 years before the end of that war, that is, about the 29th Olympiad, there was a fight at sea between the Corinthians and the Corcyreans which was the oldest sea-fight mentioned in history. Thucydides tells us further, that the first colony which the Greeks sent into Sicily, came from Chalcis in Euboea, under the conduct of Thucles, and built Naxus;
Thucydides [119] tells us further, that the Greeks began to come into Sicily almost three hundred years after the Siculi had invaded that Island with an army out of Italy: suppose it 280 years after, and the building of Syracuse 310 years before the end of the Peloponnesian war; and that invasion of Sicily by the Siculi will be 590 years before the end of that war, that is, in the 27th year of Solomon’s Reign, or thereabout. Hellanicus [120] tells us, that it was in the third Generation before the Trojan war; and in the 26th year of the Priesthood of Alcinoe, Priestess of Juno Argiva: and Philistius of Syracuse, that it was 80 years before the Trojan war: whence it follows that the Trojan war and Argonautic Expedition were later than the days of Solomon and Rehoboam, and could not be much earlier than where we have placed them.
The Kingdom of Macedon [121] was founded by Caranus and Perdiccas, who being of the Race of Temenus King of Argos, fled from Argos in the Reign of Phidon the brother of Caranus. Temenus was one of the three brothers who led the Heraclides into Peloponnesus, and shared the conquest among themselves: he obtained Argos; and after him, and his son Cisus, the Kingdom of Argos became divided among the posterity of Temenus, until Phidon reunited it, expelling his kindred. Phidon grew potent, appointed weights and measures in Peloponnesus, and coined silver money; and removing the Pisaeans and Eleans, presided in the Olympic games; but was soon after subdued by the Eleans and Spartans. Herodotus
But the times set down in the Marbles before the Persian Empire began, being collected by reckoning the Reigns of Kings equipollent to Generations, and three Generations to an hundred years or above; and the Reigns of Kings, one with another, being shorter in the proportion of about four to seven; the Chronology set down in the Marbles, until the Conquest of Media by Cyrus, An. 4, Olymp. 60, will approach the truth much nearer, by shortening the times before that Conquest in the proportion of four to seven. So the Cirrheans were conquered An. 2, Olymp. 47, according to the Marbles, that is 54 years before the Conquest of Media; and these years being shortened in the proportion of four to seven, become 31 years; which subducted from An. 4, Olymp. 60, place the Conquest of Cirrha upon An. 1, Olymp. 53: and, by the like correction of the Marbles, Alcmaeon entertained and conducted the messengers whom Croesus sent to consult the Oracle at Delphi, An. 1, Olymp. 58; that is, four years before the Conquest of Sardes by Cyrus: and the Tyranny of Pisistratus, which by the Marbles began at Athens, An. 4, Olymp. 54, by the like correction began An. 3, Olymp. 57; and by consequence Solon died An. 4, Olymp. 57. This method may be used alone, where other arguments are wanting; but where they are not wanting, the best arguments are to be preferred.
Iphitus [126] presided both in the Temple of Jupiter Olympius, and in the Olympic Games, and so did his Successors ’till the 26th Olympiad; and so long the victors were rewarded with a Tripos: but then the Pisaeans getting above the Eleans, began to preside, and rewarded the victors with a Crown, and instituted the Carnea to Apollo; and continued to preside ’till Phidon interrupted them, that is, ’till about the time of the 49th Olympiad: for [127] in the 48th Olympiad the Eleans entered the country of the Pisaeans, suspecting their designs, but were prevailed upon to return home quietly; afterwards the Pisaeans confederated with several other Greek nations, and made war upon the Eleans, and in the end were beaten: in this war I conceive it was that Phidon presided, suppose in the 49th Olympiad; for [128] in the 50th Olympiad, for putting an end to the contentions between the Kings about presiding, two men were chosen by lot out of the city Elis to preside, and their number in the 65th Olympiad was increased to nine, and afterwards to ten; and these judges were called Hellenodicae, judges for or in the name of Greece. Pausanias tells us, that the Eleans called in Phidon and together with him celebrated the 8th Olympiad; he should have said the 49th Olympiad; but Herodotus tells us, that Phidon removed the Eleans; and both might be true: the Eleans might call in Phidon against the Pisaeans, and upon overcoming be refused presiding in the Olympic games by Phidon, and confederate with the Spartans, and by their assistance overthrow the Kingdom of Phidon, and recover their ancient right of presiding in the games.
Strabo [129] tells us that Phidon was the tenth from Temenus; not the tenth King, for between Cisus and Phidon they Reigned not, but the tenth from father to son, including Temenus. If 27 years be reckoned to a Generation by the eldest sons, the nine intervals will amount unto 243 years, which counted back from the 48th Olympiad, in which Phidon flourished, will place the Return of the Heraclides about fifty years before the beginning of the Olympiads, as above. But Chronologers reckon about 515 years from the Return of the Heraclides to the 48th Olympiad, and account Phidon the seventh from Temenus; which is after the rate of 85 years to a Generation, and therefore not to be admitted.
Cyrus took Babylon, according to Ptolomy’s Canon, nine years before his death, An. Nabonass. 209, An. 2, Olymp. 60: and he took Sardes a little before, namely An. 1, Olymp. 59, as Scaliger collects from Sosicrates: Croesus was then King of Sardes, and Reigned fourteen years, and therefore began to Reign An. 3, Olymp. 55. After Solon had made laws for the Athenians, he obliged them upon oath to observe those laws ’till he returned from his travels; and then travelled ten years, going to Egypt and Cyprus, and visiting Thales of Miletus: and upon His Return to Athens, Pisistratus began to affect the Tyranny of that city, which made Solon travel a second time; and now he was invited by Croesus to Sardes; and Croesus, before Solon visited him, had subdued all Asia Minor, as far as to the River Halys; and therefore he received that visit towards the latter part of his Reign; and we may place it upon the ninth year thereof, An. 3, Olymp. 57: and the legislature of Solon twelve years earlier, An. 3, Olymp. 54: and that of Draco still ten years earlier, An. 1, Olymp. 52. After Solon had visited Croesus, he went into Cilicia and some other places, and died [130] in his travels: and this was in the second year of the Tyranny of Pisistratus. Comias was Archon when Solon returned from his first travels to Athens; and the next year Hegestratus was Archon, and Solon died before the end of the year, An. 3, Olymp. 57, as above: and by this reckoning the objection of Plutarch above mentioned is removed.
We have now shewed that the Phoenicians of Zidon, under the conduct of Cadmus and other captains, flying from their enemies, came into Greece, with letters and other arts, about the sixteenth year of King David’s Reign; that Europa the sister of Cadmus, fled some days before him from Zidon and came to Crete, and there became the mother of Minos,
Whilst Bacchus made his expedition into India, Theseus left Ariadne in the Island Naxus or Dia, as above, and succeeded his father AEgeus at Athens; and upon the Return of Bacchus from India, Ariadne became his mistress, and accompanied him in his triumphs; and this was about ten years after the death of Solomon: and from that time reigned eight Kings in Athens,
[131] When the Greeks and Latines were forming their Technical Chronology, there were great disputes about the Antiquity of Rome: the Greeks made it much older than the Olympiads: some of them said it was built by AEneas; others, by Romus, the son or grandson of AEneas; others, by Romus, the son or grandson of Latinus King of the Aborigines; others, by Romus the son of Ulysses, or of Ascanius, or of Italus: and some of the Latines at first fell in with the opinion of the Greeks, saying that it was built by Romulus, the son or grandson of AEneas. Timaeus Siculus represented it built by Romulus, the grandson of AEneas, above an hundred years before the Olympiads; and so did Naevius the Poet, who was twenty years older than Ennius, and served in the first Punic war, and wrote the history of that war. Hitherto nothing certain was agreed upon, but about 140 or 150 years after the death of Alexander the Great, they began to say that Rome was built a second time by Romulus, in the fifteenth Age after the destruction of Troy:
When Sesostris returned from Thrace into Egypt, he left AEetes with part of his army in Colchis, to guard that pass; and Phryxus and his sister Helle fled from Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, to AEetes soon after, in a ship whose ensign was a golden ram: Ino was therefore alive in the fourteenth year of Rehoboam, the year in which Sesostris returned into Egypt; and by consequence her father Cadmus flourished in the Reign of David, and not before. Cadmus was the father of Polydorus, the father of Labdacus, the father of Laius, the father of Oedipus, the father of Eteocles and Polynices who slew one another in their youth, in the war of the seven Captains at Thebes, about ten or twelve years after the Argonautic Expedition: and Thersander, the son of Polynices, warred at Troy. These Generations being by the eldest sons who married young, if they be reckoned at about twenty and four years
Polydorus married Nycteis, the daughter of Nycteus a native of Greece, and dying young, left his Kingdom and young son Labdacus under the administration of Nycteus. Then Epopeus King of AEgialus, afterwards called Sicyon, stole Antiope the daughter of Nycteus, [132] and Nycteus thereupon made war upon him, and in a battle wherein Nycteus overcame, both were wounded and died soon after. Nycteus left the tuition of Labdacus, and administration of the Kingdom, to his brother Lycus; and Epopeus or, as Hyginus [133] calls him, Epaphus the Sicyonian, left his Kingdom to Lamedon, who presently ended the war, by sending home Antiope: and she, in returning home, brought forth Amphion and Zethus. Labdacus being grown up received the Kingdom from Lycus, and soon after dying left it again to his administration, for his young son Laius. When Amphion and Zethus were about twenty years old, at the instigation of their mother Antiope, they killed Lycus, and made Laius flee to Pelops, and seized the city Thebes, and compassed it with a wall; and Amphion married Niobe the sister of Pelops, and by her had several children, amongst whom was Chloris, the mother of Periclymenus the Argonaut. Pelops was the father of Plisthenes, Atreus, and Thyestes; and Agamemnon and Menelaus, the adopted sons of Atreus, warred at Troy. AEgisthus,
[Sidenode p: Hygin. Fab. 14.]
In the days of Erechtheus King of Athens, and Celeus King of Eleusis, Ceres came into Attica; and educated Triptolemus the son of Celeus, and taught him to sow corn. She [136] lay with Jasion, or Jasius, the brother of Harmonia the wife of Cadmus; and presently after her death Erechtheus was slain, in a war between the Athenians and Eleusinians; and, for the benefaction of bringing tillage into Greece, the Eleusinia Sacra were instituted to her [137] with Egyptian ceremonies, by Celeus and Eumolpus; and a Sepulchre or Temple was erected to her in Eleusine, and in this Temple the families of Celeus and Eumolpus became her Priests: and this Temple, and that which Eurydice erected to her daughter Danae, by the name of Juno Argiva, are the first instances that I meet with in Greece of Deifying the dead, with Temples, and Sacred Rites, and Sacrifices, and Initiations, and a succession of Priests to perform them. Now by this history it is manifest that Erechtheus, Celeus, Eumolpus, Ceres, Jasius, Cadmus, Harmonia, Asterius, and Dardanus the brother of Jasius, and one of the founders of the Kingdom of Troy, were all contemporary to one another, and flourished in their youth, when Cadmus came first into Europe. Erechtheus could not be much older, because his daughter Procris convers’d with Minos King of Crete; and his grandson Thespis had fifty daughters, who lay with Hercules; and his daughter Orithyia was the mother of Calais and Zetes, two
Teucer, Dardanus, Erichthonius, Tros, Ilus, Laomedon, and Priamus Reigned successively at Troy; and their Reigns, at about twenty years a-piece one with another, amount unto an hundred and forty years: which counted back from the taking of Troy, place the beginning of the Reign of Teucer about the fifteenth year of the Reign of King David; and that of Dardanus, in the days of Ceres, who lay with Jasius the brother of Dardanus: whereas Chronologers reckon that the six last of these Kings Reigned 296 years, which is after the rate of 49-1/3 years a-piece one with another; and that they began their Reign in the days of Moses. Dardanus married the daughter of Teucer, the Son of Scamander, and succeeded him: whence Teucer was of about the same age with David.
Upon the return of Sesostris into Egypt, his brother Danaus not only attempted his life, as above, but also commanded his daughters, who were fifty in number and had married the sons of Sesostris, to slay their husbands; and then fled with his daughters from Egypt, in a long ship of fifty oars. This Flight was in the fourteenth year of Rehoboam. Danaus came first to Lindus, a town in Rhodes, and there built a Temple, and erected a Statue to Minerva, and lost three of his daughters by a plague which raged there; and then sailed thence with the rest of his daughters to Argos. He came to Argos therefore in the fifteenth or sixteenth year of Rehoboam: and at length contending there with Gelanor the brother of Eurystheus for the crown of Argos, was chosen by the people, and Reigned at Argos, while Eurystheus Reigned at Mycenae; and Eurystheus was born [139] the same year with Hercules. Gelanor and Eurystheus were the sons of Sthenelus, by Nicippe the daughter of Pelops; and Sthenelus was the son of Perseus, and Reigned at Argos, and Danaus, who succeeded him at Argos, was succeeded there by his son in law Lynceus, and he by his son Abas; that Abas who is commonly, but erroneously, reputed the father of Acrisius and Praetus. In the time of the Argonautic expedition Castor and Pollux were beardless young men, and their sisters Helena and Clytemnestra were children, and their wives Phoebe and Ilaira were also very young: all these, with the Argonauts Lynceus and Idas, were the grandchildren of Gorgophone, the daughter of Perseus, the son of Danae, the daughter of Acrisius and Eurydice; and Perieres and Oebalus, the husbands of Gorgophone, were the sons of Cynortes, the son of Amyclas, the brother of Eurydice. Mestor or Mastor, the brother of Sthenelus, married Lysidice, another of the daughters of Pelops: and Pelops married Hippodamia, the daughter of Evarete, the daughter of Acrisius. Alcmena, the mother of Hercules, was the daughter of Electryo; and Sthenelus, Mestor and Electryo were brothers of Gorgophone, and sons of Perseus and Andromeda: and the Argonaut AEsculapius was the grandson of Leucippus and Phlegia, and Leucippus was the son of Perieres, the grandson of Amyclas the brother of Eurydice, and Amyclas and Eurydice were the children of Lacedaemon and Sparta: and Capaneus, one of the seven Captains against Thebes, was the husband of Euadne the daughter of Iphis,
We said that Pelops came into Greece about the 26th year of Solomon: he [144] came thither in the days of Acrisius, and in those of Endymion, and of his sons, and took AEtolia from Aetolus. Endymion was the son of Aethlius, the son of Protogenia, the sister of Hellen, and daughter of Deucalion: Phrixus and Helle, the children of Athamus, the brother of Sisyphus and Son of AEolus, the son of Hellen, fled from their stepmother Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, to AEetes in Colchis, presently after the return of Sesostris into Egypt: and Jason the Argonaut was the son of AEson, the son of Cretheus, the son of AEolus, the son of Hellen: and Calyce was the wife of Aethlius, and mother of Endymion, and daughter of AEolus, and sister of Cretheus, Sisyphus and Athamas: and by these circumstances Cretheus, Sisyphus and Athamas flourished in the latter part of the Reign of Solomon, and in the Reign of Rehoboam: Aethlius, AEolus, Xuthus, Dorus, Tantalus, and Danae were contemporary to Erechtheus, Jasius and Cadmus; and Hellen was about one, and Deucalion about two Generations older than Erechtheus. They could not be much older, because Xuthus the youngest son of Hellen [145] married Creusa the daughter of Erechtheus; nor could they be much younger, because Cephalus the son of Deioneus, the son of AEolus, the eldest son of Hellen, [146] married Procris the daughter of Erechtheus; and Procris fled from her husband to Minos. Upon the death of Hellen, his youngest son Xuthus [147] was expelled Thessaly by his brothers AEolus and Dorus, and fled to Erechtheus, and married Creusa the daughter of Erechtheus; by whom he had two sons, Achaeus and Ion, the youngest of which grew up before the death of Erechtheus, and commanded the army of the Athenians, in the war in which Erechtheus was slain: and therefore Hellen died about one Generation before Erechtheus.
Sisyphus therefore built Corinth about the latter end of the Reign of Solomon, or the beginning of the Reign of Rehoboam. Upon the flight of Phrixus and Helle, their father Athamas, a little King in Boeotia, went distracted and slew his son Learchus; and his wife Ino threw her self into the sea, together with her other son Melicertus; and thereupon Sisyphus instituted the Isthmia at Corinth to his nephew Melicertus. This was presently
Celeus King of Eleusis, who was contemporary to Erechtheus, [148] was the son of Rharus, the son of Cranaus, the successor of Cecrops; and in the Reign of Cranaus, Deucalion fled with his sons Hellen and Amphictyon from the flood which then overflowed Thessaly, and was called Deucalion’s flood: they fled into Attica, and there Deucalion died soon after; and Pausanias tells us that his Sepulchre was to be seen near Athens. His eldest son Hellen succeeded him in Thessaly, and his other son Amphictyon married the daughter of Cranaus, and Reigning at Thermopylae, erected there the Amphictyonic Council; and Acrisius soon after erected the like Council at Delphi. This I conceive was done when Amphictyon and Acrisius were aged, and fit to be Counsellors; suppose in the latter half of the Reign of David, and beginning of the Reign of Solomon; and soon after, suppose about the middle of the Reign of Solomon, did Phemonoe become the first Priestess of Apollo at Delphi, and gave Oracles in hexameter verse: and then was Acrisius slain accidentally by his grandson Perseus. The Council of Thermopylae included twelve nations of the Greeks, without Attica, and therefore Amphictyon did not then Reign at Athens: he might endeavour to succeed Cranaus, his wife’s father, and be prevented by Erechtheus.
Between the Reigns of Cranaus and Erechtheus, Chronologers place also Erichthonius, and his son Pandion; but I take this Erichthonius and this his son Pandion, to be the same with Erechtheus and his son and successor Pandion, the names being only repeated with a little variation in the list of the Kings of Attica: for Erichthonius, he that was the son of the Earth,
The first Kings of Arcadia were successively Pelasgus, Lycaon, Nyctimus, Arcas, Clitor, AEpytus, Aleus, Lycurgus, Echemus, Agapenor, Hippothous, AEpytus II, Cypselus, Olaeas, &c. Under Cypselus the Heraclides returned into Peloponnesus, as above: Agapenor was one of those who courted Helena; he courted her before he reigned, and afterwards he went to the war at Troy, and thence to Cyprus, and there built Paphos. Echemus slew Hyllus the son of Hercules. Lycurgus, Cepheus, and Auge, were [151] the children of Aleus, the son of Aphidas, the son of Arcas, the son of Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon: Auge lay with Hercules, and Ancaeus the son of Lycurgus was an Argonaut, and his uncle Cepheus was his Governour in that Expedition; and Lycurgus stay’d at home, to look after his aged father Aleus, who might be born about 75 years before that Expedition; and his grandfather Arcas might be born about the end of the Reign of Saul, and Lycaon the grandfather of Arcas might be then alive, and dye before the middle of David’s Reign; and His youngest son Oenotrus, the Janus of the Latines, might grow up, and lead a colony into Italy before the Reign of Solomon. Arcas received [152] bread-corn from Triptolemus, and taught his people to make bread of it; and so did Eumelus, the first King of a region afterwards called Achaia: and therefore Arcas and Eumelus were contemporary to Triptolemus, and to his old father Celeus, and to Erechtheus King of Athens; and Callisto to Rharus, and her father Lycaon to Cranaus: but Lycaon died before Cranaus, so as to leave room for Deucalion’s flood between their deaths. The eleven Kings of Arcadia, between this Flood and the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus, that is, between the Reigns of Lycaon and Cypselus, after the rate of about twenty years to a Reign one with another, took up about 220 years; and these years counted back from the Return of the Heraclides, place the Flood of Deucalion upon the fourteenth year of David’s Reign, or thereabout.
Herodotus [153] tells us, that the Phoenicians who came with Cadmus brought many doctrines into Greece: for amongst those Phoenicians were a sort of men called Curetes, who were skilled in the Arts and Sciences of Phoenicia, above other men, and [154] settled some in Phrygia, where they were called Corybantes; some in Crete, where they were called Idaei Dactyli; some in Rhodes, where they were called Telchines; some in Samothrace, where they were called Cabiri; some in Euboea, where, before the invention of iron, they wrought in copper, in a city thence called Chalcis some in Lemnos, where they assisted Vulcan; and some in Imbrus, and other places: and a considerable number of them settled in AEtolia, which was thence called the country of the Curetes; until AEtolus the son of Endymion, having slain Apis King of Sicyon, fled thither, and by the assistance of his father invaded it, and from his own name called it AEtolia: and by the assistance of these artificers, Cadmus found out gold in the mountain Pangaeus in Thrace, and copper at Thebes; whence copper ore is still called Cadmia. Where they settled they wrought first in copper, ’till iron was invented, and then in iron; and when they had made themselves armour, they danced in it at the sacrifices with tumult and clamour, and bells, and pipes, and drums, and swords, with which they struck upon one another’s armour, in musical times, appearing seized with a divine fury; and this is reckoned the original of music in Greece: so Solinus [155] Studium musicum inde coeptum cum Idaei Dactyli modulos crepitu & tinnitu aeris deprehensos in versificum ordinem transtulissent: and [156] Isidorus, Studium musicum ab Idaeis Dactylis coeptum. Apollo and the Muses were two Generations later. Clemens [157] calls the Idaei Dactyli barbarous, that is strangers; and saith, that they reputed the first wise men, to whom both the letters which they call Ephesian, and the invention of musical rhymes are referred: it seems that when the Phoenician letters, ascribed to Cadmus, were brought into Greece, they were at the same time brought into Phrygia and Crete, by the Curetes; who settled in those countries, and called them Ephesian, from the city Ephesus, where they were first taught. The Curetes, by their manufacturing copper and iron, and making swords, and armour, and edged tools for hewing and carving of wood, brought into Europe a new way of fighting; and gave Minos an opportunity of building a Fleet, and gaining the dominion of the seas; and set on foot the trades of Smiths and Carpenters in Greece, which are the foundation of manual trades: the [158] fleet of Minos was without
The [159] Curetes, who thus introduced Letters, and Music, and Poetry, and Dancing, and Arts, and attended on the Sacrifices, were no less active about religious institutions, and for their skill and knowledge and mystical practices, were accounted wise men and conjurers by the vulgar. In Phrygia their mysteries were about Rhea, called Magna Mater, and from the places where she was worshipped, Cybele, Berecynthia, Pessinuntia, Dindymene, Mygdonia, and Idaea Phrygia: and in Crete, and the Terra Curetum, they were about Jupiter Olympius, the son of the Cretan Rhea: they represented, [160] that when Jupiter was born in Crete, his mother Rhea caused him to be educated in a cave in mount Ida, under their care and tuition; and [161] that they danced about him in armour, with great noise, that his father Saturn might not hear him cry; and when he was grown up, assisted him in conquering his father, and his father’s friends; and in memory of these things instituted their mysteries. Bochart [162] brings them from Palestine, and thinks that they had the name of Curetes from the people among the Philistims called Crethim, or Cerethites: Ezek. xxv. 16. Zeph. ii. 5. 1 Sam. xxx. 14, for the Philistims conquered Zidon, and mixed with the Zidonians.
The two first Kings of Crete, who reigned after the coming of the Curetes, were Asterius and Minos; and Europa was the Queen of Asterius, and mother of Minos; and the Idaean Curetes were her countrymen, and came with her and her brother Alymnus into Crete, and dwelt in the Idaean cave in her Reign, and there educated Jupiter, and found out iron, and made armour: and therefore these three, Asterius, Europa, and Minos, must be the Saturn, Rhea and Jupiter of the Cretans. Minos is usually called the son of Jupiter; but this is in relation to the fable, that Jupiter in the shape of a bull, the Ensign of the Ship, carried away Europa from Zidon: for the Phoenicians, upon their first coming into Greece,
Lucian [168] lets us know that Europa the mother of Minos was worshipped by the name of Rhea, the form of a woman sitting in a chariot drawn by lions, with a drum in her hand, and a Corona turrita on her head, like Astarte and Isis; and the Cretans [169] anciently shewed the house where this Rhea lived: and [170] Apollonius Rhodius tells us, that Saturn, while he Reigned over the Titans in Olympus, a mountain in Crete, and Jupiter was educated by the Curetes in the Cretan cave, deceived Rhea, and of Philyra begot Chiron: and therefore the Cretan Saturn and Rhea, were but one Generation older than Chiron, and by consequence not older than Asterius and Europa, the parents of Minos; for Chiron lived ’till after the Argonautic Expedition, and had two grandsons in that Expedition, and Europa came into Crete above an hundred years before that Expedition: Lucian [171] tells us, that the Cretans did not only relate, that Jupiter was born and buried among them, but also shewed his sepulchre: and Porphyry [172] tells us, that Pythagoras went down into the Idaean cave, to see sepulchre: and Cicero, [173] in numbering three Jupiters,
Pausanias [178] tells us that the people of Elis_, who were best skilled in Antiquities, related this to have been the Original of the Olympic Games: that Saturn Reigned first and had a Temple built to him in Olympia by the men of the Golden Age; and that when Jupiter was newly born, his mother Rhea recommended him to the care of the Idaei Dactyli, who were also called Curetes: that afterwards five of them, called Hercules, Poeonius, Epimedes, Jasius, and Ida, came from Ida, a mountain in Crete, into Elis; and Hercules, called also Hercules Idaeus, being the oldest of them, in memory of the war between Saturn and Jupiter,
In the [182] Island Thasus, where Cadmus left his brother Thasus, the Phoenicians built a Temple to Hercules Olympius, that Hercules, whom Cicero [183] calls ex Idaeis Dactylis; cui inferias afferunt. When the mysteries of Ceres were instituted in Eleusis, there were other mysteries instituted to her and her daughter and daughter’s husband, in the Island Samothrace, by the Phoenician names of Dii Cabiri Axieros, Axiokersa, and Axiokerses,
From these originals it came into fashion among the Greeks, [Greek: kterizein], parentare, to celebrate the funerals of dead parents with festivals and invocations and sacrifices offered to their ghosts, and to erect magnificent sepulchres in the form of temples, with altars and statues, to persons of renown; and there to honour them publickly with sacrifices and invocations: every man might do it to his ancestors; and the cities of Greece did it to all the eminent Greeks: as to Europa the sister, to Alymnus the brother, and to Minos and Rhadamanthus the nephews of Cadmus; to his daughter Ino, and her son Melicertus; to Bacchus the son of his daughter Semele, Aristarchus the husband of his daughter Autonoe, and Jasius the brother of his wife Harmonia; to Hercules a Theban, and his mother Alcmena; to Danae the daughter of Acrisius; to AEsculapius and Polemocrates the son of Machaon, to Pandion and Theseus Kings of Athens, Hippolytus the son of Theseus, Pan the son of Penelope, Proserpina, Triptolemus, Celeus, Trophonius, Castor, Pollux,
By all this it may be understood, that as the Egyptians who Deified their Kings, began their monarchy with the Reign of their Gods and Heroes, reckoning Menes the first man who reigned after their Gods; so the Cretans had the Ages of their Gods and Heroes, calling the first four Ages of their Deified Kings and Princes, the Golden, Silver, Brazen, and Iron Ages. Hesiod [190] describing these four Ages of the Gods and Demi-Gods of Greece, represents them to be four Generations of men, each of which ended when the men then living grew old and dropt into the grave, and tells us that the fourth ended with the wars of Thebes and Troy: and so many Generations there were, from the coming of the Phoenicians and Curetes with Cadmus and Europa into Greece unto the destruction of Troy. Apollonius Rhodius saith that when the Argonauts came to Crete, they slew Talus a brazen man, who remained of those that were of the Brazen Age, and guarded that pass: Talus was reputed [191] the son of Minos, and therefore the sons of Minos lived in the Brazen Age, and Minos Reigned in the Silver Age: it was the Silver Age of the Greeks in which they began to plow and sow Corn, and Ceres, that taught them to do it, flourished in the Reign of Celeus and Erechtheus and Minos. Mythologists tell us that the last woman with whom Jupiter lay, was Alcmena; and thereby they seem to put an end to the Reign of Jupiter among mortals, that is to the Silver Age, when Alcmena was with child of Hercules; who therefore was born about the eighth or tenth year of Rehoboam’s Reign, and was about 34 years old at the time of the Argonautic expedition. Chiron was begot by Saturn of Philyra in the Golden Age, when Jupiter was a child in the Cretan cave, as above; and this was in the Reign of Asterius
Mythologists tell us, that Niobe the daughter of Phoroneus was the first woman with whom Jupiter lay, and that of her he begat Argus, who succeeded Phoroneus in the Kingdom of Argos, and gave his name to that city; and therefore Argus was born in the beginning of the Silver Age: unless you had rather say that by Jupiter they might here mean Asterius; for the Phoenicians gave the name of Jupiter to every King, from the time of their first coming into Greece with Cadmus and Europa, until the invasion of Greece by Sesostris, and the birth of Hercules, and particularly to the fathers of Minos, Pelops, Lacedaemon, AEacus, and Perseus.
The four first Ages succeeded the flood of Deucalion; and some tell us that Deucalion was the son of Prometheus, the son of Japetus, and brother of Atlas: but this was another Deucalion; for Japetus the father of Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Atlas, was an Egyptian, the brother of Osiris, and flourished two generations after the flood of Deucalion.
I have now carried up the Chronology of the Greeks as high as to the first use of letters, the first plowing and sowing of corn, the first manufacturing of copper and iron, the beginning of the trades of Smiths, Carpenters, Joyners, Turners, Brick-makers, Stone-cutters, and Potters, in Europe; the first walling of cities about, the first building of Temples, and the original of Oracles in Greece; the beginning of navigation by the Stars in long ships with sails; the erecting of the Amphictyonic Council; the first Ages of Greece, called the Golden, Silver, Brazen and Iron Ages, and the flood of Deucalion which immediately preceded them. Those Ages could not be earlier than the invention and use of the four metals in Greece, from whence they had their names; and the flood of Ogyges could not be much above two or three ages earlier than that of Deucalion: for among such wandering people as were then in Europe, there could be no memory of things done above three or four ages before the first use of letters: and the expulsion of the Shepherds out of Egypt, which gave the first occasion to the coming of people from Egypt into Greece, and to the building of houses and villages in Greece, was scarce earlier than the days of Eli and Samuel; for Manetho tells us, that when they were forced to quit Abaris and retire out of Egypt, they went through the wilderness into Judaea and built Jerusalem: I do not think, with Manetho, that they were the Israelites under Moses, but rather believe that they were Canaanites; and upon leaving Abaris mingled with the Philistims their next neighbours: though some of them might assist David and Solomon in building Jerusalem and the Temple.
Saul was made King [194], that he might rescue Israel out of the hand of the Philistims, who opressed them; and in the second year of his Reign, the Philistims brought into the field against him thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore for multitude: the Canaanites had their horses from Egypt; and yet in the days of Moses all the chariots of Egypt, with which Pharaoh pursued Israel were but six hundred, Exod. xiv. 7. From the great army of the Philistims against Saul, and the great number of their horses, I seem to gather that the Shepherds had newly relinquished Egypt; and joyned them: the Shepherds might be beaten and driven out of the greatest part of Egypt, and shut up in Abaris by Misphragmuthosis in the latter end of the days of Eli; and some of them fly to the Philistims, and strengthen them against Israel, in the last year of Eli; and from the Philistims some of the Shepherds
Pelasgus Reigned in Arcadia, and was the father of Lycaon, according to Pherecydes Atheniensis, and Lycaon died just before the flood of Deucalion; and therefore his father Pelasgus might come into Greece about two Generations before Cadmus, or in the latter end of the days of Eli: Lycaon sacrificed children, and therefore his father might come with his people from the Shepherds in Egypt, and perhaps from the regions of Heliopolis, where they sacrificed men, ’till Amosis abolished that custom. Misphragmuthosis the father of Amosis, drove the Shepherds out of a great part of Egypt, and shut the remainder up in Abaris: and then great numbers might escape to Greece; some from the regions of Heliopolis under Pelasgus, and others from Memphis and other places, under other Captains: and hence it might come to pass that the Pelasgians were at the first very numerous in Greece, and spake a different language from the Greek, and were the ringleaders in bringing into Greece the worship of the dead.
Inachus is called the son of Oceanus, perhaps because he came to Greece by sea: he might come with his people to Argos from Egypt in the days of Eli, and seat himself upon the river Inachus, so named from him, and leave his territories to his sons Phoroneus, AEgialeus, and Phegeus, in the days of Samuel: for Car the son of Phoroneus built a Temple to Ceres in Megara, and therefore was contemporary to Erechtheus. Phoroneus Reigned at Argos, and Aegialeus at Sicyon, and founded those Kingdoms; and yet AEgialeus is made above five hundred years older than Phoroneus by some Chronologers: but [195] Acusilaus, [196] Anticlides and [197] Plato, accounted Phoroneus the oldest King in Greece,
Lelex might come with his people into Laconia in the days of Eli, and leave his territories to his sons Myles, Eurotas, Cleson, and Polycaon in the days of Samuel. Myles set up a quern, or handmill to grind corn, and is reputed the first among the Greeks who did so: but he flourished before Triptolemus, and seems to have had his corn and artificers from Egypt. Eurotas the brother, or as some say the son of Myles, built Sparta, and called it after the name of his daughter Sparta, the wife of Lacedaemon, and mother of Eurydice. Cleson was the father of Pylas the father of Sciron, who married the daughter of Pandion the son of Erechtheus, and contended with Nisus the son of Pandion and brother of AEgeus, for the Kingdom; and AEacus adjudged it to Nisus. Polycaon invaded Messene, then peopled only by villages, called it Messene after the name of his wife, and built cities therein.
Cecrops came from Sais in Egypt to Cyprus, and thence into Attica: and he might do this in the days of Samuel, and marry Agraule the daughter of Actaeus, and succeed him in Attica soon after, and leave his Kingdom to Cranaus in the Reign of Saul, or in the beginning of the Reign of David: for the flood of Deucalion happened in the Reign of Cranaus.
Of about the same age with Pelasgus, Inachus, Lelex, and Actaeus, was Ogyges: he Reigned in Boeotia, and some of his people were Leleges: and either he or his son Eleusis built the city Eleusis in Attica, that is, they built a few houses of clay, which in time grew into a city. Acusilaus wrote that Phoroneus was older than Ogyges, and that Ogyges flourished 1020 years before the first Olympiad, as above; but Acusilaus was an Argive, and feigned these things in honour of his country: to call things Ogygian has been a phrase among the ancient Greeks, to signify that they are as old as the first memory of things; and so high we have now carried up the Chronology of the Greeks. Inachus might be as old as Ogyges, but Acusilaus and his followers made them seven hundred years older than the truth; and Chronologers, to make out this reckoning, have lengthened the races of the Kings of Argos and Sicyon, and changed several contemporary Princes of Argos into successive Kings, and inserted many feigned Kings into the race of the Kings of Sicyon.
Inachus had several sons, who Reigned in several parts of Peloponnesus, and there built Towns; as Phoroneus, who built Phoronicum, afterwards called Argos, from Argus his grandson; AEgialeus, who built AEgialea, afterwards called Sicyon, from Sicyon the grandson of Erechtheus; Phegeus, who built Phegea, afterwards called Psophis, from Psophis the daughter of Lycaon: and these were the oldest towns in Peloponnesus then Sisyphus, the son of AEolus and grandson of Hellen, built Ephyra, afterwards called Corinth; and Aethlius, the son of AEolus, built Elis: and before them Cecrops built Cecropia, the cittadel of Athens; and Lycaon built Lycosura, reckoned by some the oldest town in Arcadia; and his sons, who were at least four and twenty in number, built each of them a town; except the youngest, called Oenotrus, who grew up after his father’s death, and sailed into Italy with his people, and there set on foot the building of towns, and became the Janus of the Latines. Phoroneus had also several children and grand-children, who Reigned in several
Before the Phoenicians introduced the Deifying of dead men, the Greeks had a Council of Elders in every town for the government thereof, and a place where the elders and people worshipped their God with Sacrifices: and when many of those towns, for their common safety, united under a common Council, they erected a Prytaneum or Court in one of the towns, where the Council and People met at certain times, to consult their common safety, and worship their common God with sacrifices, and to buy and sell: the towns where these Councils met, the Greeks called [Greek: demoi], peoples or communities, or Corporation Towns: and at length, when many of these [Greek: demoi] for their common safety united by consent under one common Council, they erected a Prytaneum in one of the [Greek: demoi] for the common Council and People to meet in, and to consult and worship in, and feast, and buy, and sell; and this [Greek: demos] they walled about for its safety, and called [Greek: ten polin] the city: and this I take to have been the original of Villages, Market-Towns, Cities, common Councils, Vestal Temples, Feasts and Fairs, in Europe: the Prytaneum, [Greek: pyros tameion], was a Court with a place of worship, and a perpetual fire kept therein upon an Altar for sacrificing: from the word [Greek: Hestia] fire, came the name Vesta, which at length the people turned into a Goddess, and so became fire-worshippers like the ancient Persians: and when these Councils made war upon their neighbours, they had a general commander to lead their armies, and he became their King.
So Thucydides [203] tells us, that under Cecrops and the ancient Kings, untill Theseus_; Attica was always inhabited city by city, each having Magistrates and Prytanea: neither did they consult the King, when there was no fear of danger, but each apart administred their own common-wealth, and had their own Council, and even sometimes made war, as the Eleusinians with Eumolpus did against Erechtheus: but when Theseus, a prudent and potent man obtained the Kingdom, he took away the Courts and Magistrates of the other cities, and made them all meet in one Council and Prytaneum at Athens_. Polemon, as he is cited by [204] Strabo, tells us, that in this body of Attica_, there were 170 [Greek: demoi], one of which was Eleusis_: and Philochorus [205] relates, that when Attica_ was infested by sea and land by the Cares and Boeoti, Cecrops the first of any man reduced the multitude, that is the 170 towns, into twelve cities, whose names were Cecropia, Tetrapolis, Epacria, Decelia, Eleusis, Aphydna, Thoricus, Brauron, Cytherus, Sphettus, Cephissia, and Phalerus; and that Theseus contracted those twelve cities into one, which was Athens_.
The original of the Kingdom of the Argives was much after the same manner: for Pausanias [206] tells us, that Phoroneus_ the son of Inachus was the first who gathered into one community the Argives, who ’till then were scattered, and lived every where apart, and the place where they were first assembled was called Phoronicum, the city of Phoroneus_: and Strabo [207] observes, that Homer_ calls all the places which he reckons up in Peloponnesus, a few excepted, not cities but regions, because each of them consisted of a convention of many_ [Greek: demoi], free towns, out of which afterward noble cities were built and frequented: so the Argives_ composed Mantinaea in Arcadia out of five towns, and Tegea out of nine; and out of so many was Heraea built by Cleombrotus, or by Cleonymus: so also AEgium was built out of seven or eight towns, Patrae: out of seven, and Dyme out of eight; and so Elis was erected by the conflux of many towns into one city._
Pausanias [208] tells us, that the Arcadians accounted Pelasgus the first man, and that he was their first King; and taught the ignorant people to built houses, for defending themselves from heat, and cold, and rain; and to make them garments of skins; and instead of herbs and roots, which were sometimes noxious, to eat the acorns of the beech tree; and that his son Lycaon built the oldest city in all Greece: he tells us also, that
When Oenotrus the son of Lycaon carried a Colony into Italy, he [210] found that country for the most part uninhabited; and where it was inhabited, peopled but thinly: and seizing a part of it, he built towns in the mountains, little and numerous, as above: these towns were without walls; but after this Colony grew numerous, and began to want room, they expelled the Siculi_, compassed many cities with walls, and became possest of all the territory between the two rivers Liris and Tibre_: and it is to be understood that those cities had their Councils and Prytanea after the manner of the Greeks: for Dionysius [211] tells us, that the new Kingdom of Rome, as Romulus left it, consisted of thirty Courts or Councils, in thirty towns, each with the sacred fire kept in the Prytaneum of the Court, for the Senators who met there to perform Sacred Rites, after the manner of the Greeks: but when Numa_ the successor of Romulus Reigned, he leaving the several fires in their own Courts, instituted one common to them all at Rome_: whence Rome was not a compleat city before the days of Numa.
When navigation was so far improved that the Phoenicians began to leave the sea-shore, and sail through the Mediterranean by the help of the stars, it may be presumed that they began to discover the islands of the Mediterranean, and for the sake of trafic to sail as far as Greece: and this was not long before they carried away Io the daughter of Inachus, from Argos. The Cares first infested the Greek seas with piracy, and then Minos the son of Europa got up a potent fleet, and sent out Colonies: for Diodorus [212] tells us, that the Cyclades islands, those near Crete, were at first desolate and uninhabited;
Diodorus [215] tells us also, that the seven islands called AEolides, between Italy and Sicily, were desert and uninhabited ’till Lipparus and AEolus, a little before the Trojan war, went thither from Italy, and peopled them: and that Malta and Gaulus or Gaudus on the other side of Sicily, were first peopled by Phoenicians; and so was Madera without the Straits: and Homer writes that Ulysses found the Island Ogygia covered with wood, and uninhabited, except by Calypso and her maids, who lived in a cave without houses; and it is not likely that Great Britain and Ireland could be peopled before navigation was propagated beyond the Straits.
The Sicaneans were reputed the first inhabitants of Sicily, they built little Villages or Towns upon hills, and every Town had its own King; and by this means they spread over the country, before they formed themselves into larger governments with a common King: Philistus [216] saith that they were transplanted into Sicily_ from the River Sicanus in Spain_; and Dionysius [217], that
The first inhabitants of Crete, according to Diodorus [222] were called Eteocretans; but whence they were, and how they came thither, is not said in history: then sailed thither a Colony of Pelasgians from Greece; and soon after Teutamus, the grandfather of Minos, carried thither a Colony of Dorians from Laconia, and from the territory of Olympia in Peloponnesus: and these several Colonies spake several languages, and fed on the spontaeous fruits of the earth, and lived quietly in caves and huts, ’till the invention of iron tools, in the days of Asterius the son of Teutamus; and at length were reduced into one Kingdom, and one People, by Minos, who was their first law-giver, and built many towns and ships, and introduced plowing and sowing, and in whose days the Curetes conquered his father’s friends in Crete and Peloponnesus. The Curetes [223] sacrificed children to Saturn and according to Bochart [224] were Philistims; and Eusebius faith that Crete had its name from Cres, one of the Curetes who nursed up Jupiter: but whatever was the original of the island, it seems to have been peopled by Colonies which spake different languages, ’till the days of Asterius and Minos; and might come thither two or three Generations before, and not above, for want of navigation in those seas.
The island Cyprus was discovered by the Phoenicians not long before; for Eratosthenes [225] tells us, that Cyprus_ was at first so overgrown with wood that it could not be tilled, and that they first cut down the wood for the melting of copper and silver, and afterwards when they began to sail safely upon the Mediterranean_, that is, presently after the Trojan war, they built ships and even navies of it: and when they could not thus destroy the wood, they gave every man leave to cut down what wood he pleased, and to possess all the ground which he cleared of wood. So also Europe at first abounded very much with woods, one of which, called the Hercinian, took up a great part of Germany, being full nine days journey broad, and above forty long, in Julius Caesar’s days: and yet the Europeans had been cutting down their woods, to make room for mankind, ever since the invention of iron tools, in the days of Asterius and Minos.
All these footsteps there are of the first peopling of Europe, and its Islands, by sea; before those days it seems to have been thinly peopled from the northern coast of the Euxine-sea by Scythians descended from Japhet, who wandered without houses, and sheltered themselves from rain and wild beasts in thickets and caves of the earth; such as were the caves in mount Ida in Crete, in which Minos was educated and buried; the cave of Cacus, and the Catacombs in Italy near Rome and Naples, afterwards turned into burying-places; the Syringes and many other caves in the sides of the mountains of Egypt; the caves of the Troglodites between Egypt and the Red Sea, and those of the Phaurusii in Afric, mentioned by [226] Strabo; and the caves, and thickets, and rocks, and high places, and pits, in which the Israelites hid themselves from the Philistims in the days of Saul, 1 Sam. xiii. 6. But of the state of mankind in Europe in those days there is now no history remaining.
The antiquities of Libya were not much older than those of Europe; for Diodorus [227] tells us, that Uranus the father of Hyperion, and grandfather of Helius and Selene, that is Ammon the father of Sesac, was their first common King, and caused the people, who ’till then wandered up and down, to dwell in towns: and Herodotus [228] tells us, that all Media was peopled by [Greek: demoi], towns without walls, ’till they revolted from the Assyrians, which was about 267 years after the death of Solomon: and that after that revolt they set up a King over them, and built Ecbatane with walls for his seat, the first town which they walled about; and about 72 years after the death of
These footsteps there are of the first peopling of
the earth by mankind, not long before the days of
Abraham; and of the overspreading it with villages,
towns and cities, and their growing into Kingdoms,
first Smaller and then greater, until the rise of
the Monarchies of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon,
Media, Persia, Greece, and Rome,
the first great Empires on this side India.
Abraham was the fifth from Peleg, and
all mankind lived together in Chaldea under
the Government of Noah and his sons, untill
the days of Peleg: so long they were of
one language, one society, and one religion:
and then they divided the earth, being perhaps, disturbed
by the rebellion of Nimrod, and forced to leave
off building the tower of Babel: and from
thence they spread themselves into the several countries
which fell to their shares, carrying along with them
the laws, customs and religion, under which they had
’till those days been educated and governed,
by Noah, and his sons and grandsons: and
these laws were handed down to Abraham, Melchizedek,
and Job, and their contemporaries, and for some
time were observed by the judges of the eastern countries:
so Job [232] tells us, that adultery was an
heinous crime, yea an iniquity to be punished by the
judges: and of idolatry he [233] saith, If
Page 96
I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking
in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly inticed,
or my mouth hath kissed my hand, this also were an
iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should
have denied the God that is above: and there
being no dispute between Job and his friends
about these matters, it may be presumed that they
also with their countrymen were of the same religion.
Melchizedek was a Priest of the most high God,
and Abraham voluntarily paid tythes to him;
which he would scarce have done had they not been
of one and the same religion. The first inhabitants
of the land of Canaan seem also to have been
originally of the same religion, and to have continued
in it ’till the death of Noah, and the
days of Abraham; for Jerusalem was anciently
[234] called Jebus, and its people Jebusites,
and Melchizedek was their Priest and King:
these nations revolted therefore after the days of
Melchizedek to the worship of false Gods; as
did also the posterity of Ismael, Esau,
Moab, Ammon, and that of Abraham
by Keturah: and the Israelites
themselves were very apt to revolt: and one reason
why Terah went from Ur of the Chaldees
to Haran in his way to the land of Canaan;
and why Abraham afterward left Haran,
and went into the land of Canaan, might be
to avoid the worship of false Gods, which in their
days began in Chaldea, and spread every way
from thence; but did not yet reach into the land of
Canaan. Several of the laws and precepts
in which this primitive religion consisted are mentioned
in the book of Job, chap. i. ver. 5, and chap,
xxxi, viz. not to blaspheme God, nor to worship
the Sun or Moon, nor to kill, nor steal, nor to commit
adultery, nor trust in riches, nor oppress the poor
or fatherless, nor curse your enemies, nor rejoyce
at their misfortunes: but to be friendly, and
hospitable and merciful, and to relieve the poor and
needy, and to set up Judges. This was the
morality and religion of the first ages, still called
by the Jews, The precepts of the sons of
Noah__: this was the religion of Moses
and the Prophets, comprehended in the two great commandments,
of loving the Lord our God with all our heart and
soul and mind, and our neighbour as our selves:
this was the religion enjoyned by Moses to the
uncircumcised stranger within the gates of Israel,
as well as to the Israelites: and this
is the primitive religion of both Jews and
Christians, and ought to be the standing religion
of all nations, it being for the honour of God, and
good of mankind: and Moses adds the precept
of being merciful even to brute beasts, so as not
to suck out their blood, nor to cut off their flesh
alive with the blood in it, nor to kill them for the
Page 97
sake of their blood, nor to strangle them; but in
killing them for food, to let out their blood and
spill it upon the ground, Gen. ix. 4, and
Levit. xvii. 12, 13. This law was ancienter
than the days of Moses, being given to Noah
and his sons long before the days of Abraham:
and therefore when the Apostles and Elders in the
Council at Jerusalem declared that the Gentiles
were not obliged to be circumcised and keep the law
of Moses, they excepted this law of abstaining
from blood, and things strangled as being an earlier
law of God, imposed not on the sons of Abraham
only, but on all nations, while they lived together
in Shinar under the dominion of Noah:
and of the same kind is the law of abstaining from
meats offered to Idols or false Gods, and from fornication.
So then, the believing that the world was framed
by one supreme God, and is governed by him; and the
loving and worshipping him, and honouring our parents,
and loving our neighbour as our selves, and being
merciful even to brute beasts, is the oldest of
all religions: and the Original of letters, agriculture,
navigation, music, arts and sciences, metals, smiths
and carpenters, towns and houses, was not older in
Europe than the days of Eli, Samuel
and David; and before those days the earth
was so thinly peopled, and so overgrown with woods,
that mankind could not be much older than is represented
in Scripture.
* * * * *
Of the Empire of Egypt_._
The Egyptians anciently boasted of a very great and lasting Empire under their Kings Ammon, Osiris, Bacchus, Sesostris, Hercules, Memnon, &c. reaching eastward to the Indies, and westward to the Atlantic Ocean; and out of vanity have made this monarchy some thousands of years older than the world: let us now try to rectify the Chronology of Egypt; by comparing the affairs of Egypt with the synchronizing affairs of the Greeks and Hebrews.
Bacchus the conqueror loved two women, Venus and Ariadne: Venus was the mistress of Anchises and Cinyras, and mother of AEneas, who all lived ’till the destruction of Troy; and the sons of Bacchus and Ariadne were Argonauts; as above: and therefore the great Bacchus flourished but one Generation before the Argonautic expedition. This Bacchus [235] was potent at sea, conquered eastward as far as India returned in triumph, brought his army over the Hellespont; conquered Thrace, left music, dancing and poetry there; killed Lycurgus King of Thrace, and Pentheus the grandson of Cadmus; gave the Kingdom of Lycurgus to Tharops;
The antient Greeks, who made the fables of the Gods, related that Io the daughter of Inachus was carried into Egypt; and there became the Egyptian Isis; and that Apis the son of Phoroneus after death became the God Serapis; and some said that Epaphus was the son of Io: Serapis and Epaphus are Osiris, and therefore Isis and Osiris, in the opinion of the ancient Greeks who made the fables of the Gods, were not above two or three Generations older than the Argonautic expedition. Dicaearchus, as he is cited by the scholiast upon Apollonius, [236] represents them two Generations older than Sesostris, saying that after Orus the son of Osiris and Isis, Reigned Sesonchosis. He seems to have followed the opinion of the people of Naxus, who made Bacchus two Generations older than Theseus, and for that end feigned two Minos’s and two Ariadnes; for by the consent of all antiquity Osiris and Bacchus were one and the same King of Egypt: this is affirmed by the Egyptians, as well as by the Greeks; and some of the antient Mythologists, as Eumolpus and Orpheus, [237] called Osiris by the names of Dionysus and Sirius. Osiris was King of all Egypt, and a great conqueror, and came over the Hellespont in the days of Triptolemus, and subdued Thrace, and there killed Lycurgus; and therefore his expedition falls in with that of the great Bacchus. Osiris, Bacchus and Sesostris lived about the same time, and by the relation of historians were all of them Kings of all Egypt, and Reigned at Thebes, and adorned that city, and were very potent by land and sea: all three were great conquerors, and carried on their conquests by land through Asia as far as India: all three came over the Hellespont and were there in danger of losing their army: all three conquered Thrace, and there put a stop to their victories, and returned back from thence into Egypt: all three left pillars with inscriptions in their conquests: and therefore all three must be one and the same King of Egypt; and this King can be no other than Sesac. All Egypt, including Thebais, Ethiopia and Libya, had no common King before the expulsion of the Shepherds who Reigned in the lower Egypt; no Conqueror of Syria, India, Asia minor and Thrace, before Sesac; and the sacred history admits of no Egyptian conqueror of Palestine before this King.
Thymaetes [238] who was contemporary to Orpheus, and wrote a poesy called Phrygia, of the actions of Bacchus in very old language and character, said that Bacchus had Libyan women in his army, amongst whom was Minerva a woman born in Libya, near the river Triton, and that Bacchus commanded the men and Minerva the women. Diodorus [239] calls her Myrina, and saith that she was Queen of the Amazons in Libya, and there conquered the Atlantides and Gorgons, and then made a league with Orus the son of Isis, sent to her by his father Osiris or Bacchus for that purpose, and passing through Egypt subdued the Arabians, and Syria and Cilicia, and came through Phrygia, viz. in the army of Bacchus to the Mediterranean; but palling over into Europe, was slain with many of her women by the Thracians and Scythians, under the conduct of Sipylus a Scythian, and Mopsus a Thracian whom Lycurgus King of Thrace had banished. This was that Lycurgus who opposed the passage of Bacchus over the Hellespont, and was soon after conquered by him, and slain: but afterwards Bacchus met with a repulse from the Greeks, under the conduct of Perseus, who slew many of his women, as Pausanias [240] relates, and was assisted by the Scythians and Thracians under the conduct of Sipylus and Mopsus; which repulses, together with a revolt of his brother Danaus in Egypt; put a stop to his victories: and in returning home he left part of his men in Colchis and at Mount Caucasus, under AEetes and Prometheus; and his women upon the river Thermodon near Colchis, under their new Queens Marthesia and Lampeto: for Diodorus [241] speaking of the Amazons who were seated at Thermodon, saith, that they dwelt originally in Libya, and there Reigned over the Atlantides, and invading their neighbours conquered as far as Europe: and Ammianus, [242] that the ancient Amazons breaking through many nations, attack’d the Athenians, and there receiving a great slaughter retired to Thermodon: and Justin, [243] that these Amazons had at first, he means at their first coming to Thermodon, two Queens who called themselves daughters of Mars; and that they conquered part of Europe, and some cities of Asia, viz. in the Reign of Minerva, and then sent back part of their army with a great booty, under their said new Queens; and that Marthesia being afterwards slain, was succeeded by her daughter Orithya, and she by Penthesilea; and that Theseus captivated
The Greeks reckon Osiris and Bacchus to be sons of Jupiter, and the Egyptian name of Jupiter is Ammon. Manetho in his 11th and 12th Dynasties, as he is cited by Africanus and Eusebius names these four Kings of Egypt, as reigning in order; Ammenemes, Gesongeses or Sesonchoris the son of Ammenemes, Ammenemes who was slain by his Eunuchs, and Sesostris who subdued all Asia and part of Europe. Gesongeses and Sesonchoris are corruptly written for Sesonchosis; and the two first of these four Kings, Ammenemes and Sesonchosis, are the same with the two last, Ammenemes and Sesostris, that is, with Ammon and Sesac; for Diodorus saith [244] that Osiris built in Thebes a magnificent temple to his parents Jupiter and Juno, and two other temples to Jupiter, a larger to Jupiter Uranius, and a less to his father Jupiter Ammon who reigned in that city: and [245] Thymaetes abovementioned, who was contemporary to Orpheus, wrote expresly that the father of Bacchus was Ammon, a King Reigning over part of Libya, that is, a King of Egypt Reigning over all that part of Libya, anciently called Ammonia. Stephanus [246] saith [Greek: Pasa he Libye houtos ekaleito apo Ammonos;] All Libya_ was anciently called Ammonia from Ammon_: this is that King of Egypt from whom Thebes was called No-Ammon, and Ammon-no the city of Ammon, and by the Greeks Diospolis, the city of Jupiter Ammon: Sesostris built it sumptuously, and called it by his father’s name, and from the same King the [247] River called Ammon, the people called Ammonii, and the [248] promontory Ammonium in Arabia faelix had their names.
The lower part of Egypt being yearly overflowed by the Nile, was scarce inhabited before the invention of corn, which made it useful: and the King, who by this invention first peopled it and Reigned over it, perhaps the King of the city Mesir where Memphis was afterwards built, seems to have been worshipped by his subjects after death, in the ox or calf, for this benefaction: for this city stood in the most convenient place to people the lower Egypt, and from its being composed of two parts seated on each side of the river Nile, might give the name of Mizraim to its founder and people; unless you had rather refer the word to the double people, those above the Delta, and those within it: and this I take to be the state of the lower Egypt, ’till the Shepherds or Phoenicians who fled from Joshuah conquered it, and being afterwards conquered by the Ethiopians, fled into Afric and other places: for there was a tradition that some of them fled into Afric; and St. Austin [249] confirms this, by telling us that the common people of Afric being asked who they were, replied Chanani, that is, Canaanites. Interrogati rustici nostri, saith he, quid sint, Punice respondentes Chanani, corrupta scilicet voce sicut in talibus solet, quid aliud respondent quam Chanaanaei? Procopius also [250] tells us of two pillars in the west of Afric, with inscriptions signifying that the people were Canaanites who fled from Joshuah: and Eusebius [251] tells us, that these Canaanites flying from the sons of Israel, built Tripolis in Afric; and the Jerusalem Gemara, [252] that the Gergesites fled from Joshua, going into Afric: and Procopius relates their flight in this manner. [Greek: Epei de hemas ho tes historias logos entauth’ egagen. epanankes eipein anothen, hothen te ta Maurousion ethne es Libyen elthe, kai hopos oikesanto. Epeide Hebraioi ex Aigyptou anechoresan, kai anchi ton Palaistines horion egenonto; Moses men sophos aner, hos autos tes hodou hegesato, thneskei. diadechetai de ten hegemonian Iesous ho tou Naue pais; hos es te ten Palaistinen ton leon touton eisegage; kai areten en toi polemoi kreisso he kata anthropou physin epideixamenos, ten choran esche; kai ta ethne hapanta katastrepsamenos, tas poleis eupetos parestesato, aniketos te pantapasin edoxen einai. tote de he epithalassia chora, ek Sidonos mechri ton Aigyptou horion, Phoinike xympasa onomazeto. basileus de eis to palaion ephestekei; hosper hapasin homologetai, hoi Phoinikon ta archaiotata anegrapsanto. entauth’ okento ethne polyanthropotata, Gergesaioi te kai Iebousaioi, kai alla atta onomata echonta, hois de auta he ton Hebraion historia kalei. houtos ho laos epei amachon ti chrema ton epelyten strategon eidon; ex ethon ton patrion exanastantes, ep’ Aigypton homorou ouses echoresan. entha choron oudena
When Joseph entertained his brethren in Egypt, they did eat at a table by themselves, and he did eat at another table by himself; and the Egyptians who did eat with him were at another table, because the Egyptians_ might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that was an abomination to the Egyptians_, Gen. xliii. 32. These Egyptians who did eat with Joseph were of the Court of Pharaoh; and therefore Pharaoh and his Court were at this time not Shepherds but genuine Egyptians; and these Egyptians abominated eating bread with the Hebrews, at one and the same table: and of these Egyptians and their fellow-subjects, it is said a little after, that every Shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians__: Egypt at this time was therefore under the government of the genuine Egyptians, and not under that of the Shepherds.
After the descent of Jacob and his sons into Egypt, Joseph lived 70 years, and so long continued in favour with the Kings of Egypt: and 64 years after his death Moses was born: and between the death of Joseph and the birth of Moses, there arose up a new King over Egypt_, which knew not Joseph_, Exod. i. 8. But this King of Egypt was not one of the Shepherds; for he is called Pharaoh, Exod. i. 11, 22: and Moses told his successor, that if the people of Israel should sacrifice in the land of Egypt, they should sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians_ before their eyes, and the Egyptians would stone them_, Exod. viii. 26. that is, they should sacrifice sheep or oxen, contrary to the religion of Egypt. The Shepherds therefore did not Reign over Egypt while Israel was there, but either were driven out of Egypt before Israel went down thither, or did not enter into Egypt ’till after Moses had brought Israel from thence: and the latter must be true, if they were driven out of Egypt a little before the building of the temple of Solomon, as Manetho affirms.
Diodorus [258] saith in his 40th book, that in Egypt_ there were formerly multitudes of strangers of several nations, who used foreign rites and ceremonies in worshipping the Gods, for which they were expelled Egypt; and under Danaus, Cadmus, and other skilful commanders, after great hardships, came into Greece, and other places; but the greatest part of them came into Judaea, not far from Egypt, a country then uninhabited and desert, being conducted thither by one Moses, a wise and valiant man, who after he had possest himself of the country, among other things built Jerusalem, and the Temple._ Diodorus here mistakes the original of the Israelites, as Manetho had done before, confounding their flight into the wilderness under the conduct of Moses, with the flight of the Shepherds from Misphragmuthosis, and his son Amosis, into Phoenicia and Afric; and not knowing that Judaea was inhabited by Canaanites, before the Israelites under Moses came thither: but however, he lets us know that the Shepherds were expelled Egypt by Amosis, a little before the building of Jerusalem and the Temple, and that after several hardships several of them came into Greece, and other places, under the conduct of Cadmus, and other Captains, but the most of them Settled in Phoenicia next Egypt. We may reckon therefore that the expulsion of the Shepherds by the Kings of Thebais, was the occasion that the Philistims were so numerous in the days of Saul; and that so many men came in those times with colonies out of Egypt and Phoenicia into Greece; as Lelex, Inachus, Pelasgus, AEzeus, Cecrops, AEgialeus, Cadmus, Phoenix, Membliarius, Alymnus, Abas, Erechtheus, Peteos, Phorbas, in the days of Eli, Samuel, Saul and David: some of them fled in the days of Eli, from Misphragmuthosis, who conquered part of the lower Egypt; others retired from his Successor Amosis into Phoenicia, and Arabia Petraea, and there mixed with the old inhabitants; who not long after being conquered by David, fled from him and the Philistims by sea, under the conduct of Cadmus and other Captains, into Asia Minor, Greece, and Libya, to seek new seats, and there built towns, erected Kingdoms, and set on foot the worship of the dead: and some of those who remained in Judaea might assist David and Solomon, in building Jerusalem and the Temple. Among the foreign rites used by the strangers in Egypt, in worshipping the Gods, was the sacrificing of men; for Amosis abolished that custom at Heliopolis: and therefore those strangers were Canaanites, such as fled from Joshua; for the Canaanites gave their seed, that is, their children, to Moloch, and burnt their sons and their daughters in the fire to their Gods, Deut. xii. 31. Manetho calls them Phoenician strangers.
After Amosis had expelled the Shepherds, and extended his dominion over all Egypt, his son and Successor Ammenemes or Ammon, by much greater conquests laid the foundation of the Egyptian Empire: for by the assistance of his young son Sesostris, whom he brought up to hunting and other laborious exercises, he conquered Arabia, Troglodytica, and Libya: and from him all Libya was anciently called Ammonia: and after his death, in the temples erected to him at Thebes, and in Ammonia and at Meroe in Ethiopia, they set up Oracles to him, and made the people worship him as the God that acted in them: and these are the oldest Oracles mentioned in history; the Greeks therein imitating the Egyptians: for the [259] Oracle at Dodona was the oldest in Greece, and was set up by an Egyptian woman, after the example of the Oracle of Jupiter Ammon at Thebes.
In the days of Ammon a body of the Edomites fled from David into Egypt, with their young King Hadad, as above; and carried thither their skill in navigation: and this seems to have given occasion to the Egyptians to build a fleet on the Red Sea near Coptos, and might ingratiate Hadad with Pharaoh: for the Midianites and Ishmaelites, who bordered upon the Red Sea, near Mount Horeb on the south-side of Edom, were merchants from the days of Jacob the Patriarch, Gen. xxxvii. 28, 36. and by their merchandise the Midianites abounded with gold in the days of Moses, Numb. xxxi. 50, 51, 52. and in the days of the judges of Israel, because they were Ishmaelites__, Judg. viii 24. The Ishmaelites therefore in those days grew rich by merchandise; they carried their merchandise on camels through Petra to Rhinocolura, and thence to Egypt: and this trafic at length came into the hands of David, by his conquering the Edomites, and gaining the ports of the Red Sea called Eloth and Ezion-Geber, as may be understood by the 3000 talents of gold of Ophir, which David gave to the Temple, 1 Chron. xxix. 4. The Egyptians having the art of making linen-cloth, they began about this time to build long Ships with sails, in their port on those Seas near Coptos, and having learnt the skill of the Edomites, they began now to observe the positions of the Stars, and the length of the Solar Year, for enabling them to know the position of the Stars at any time, and to sail by them at all times, without sight of the shoar: and this gave a beginning to Astronomy and Navigation: for hitherto they had gone only by the shoar with oars, in round vessels of burden, first invented on that shallow sea by the posterity
The ancient Egyptians feigned [260] that Rhea lay secretly with Saturn, and Sol prayed that she might bring forth neither in any month, nor in the year; and that Mercury playing at dice with Luna, overcame, and took from the Lunar year the 72d part of every day, and thereof composed five days, and added them to the year of 360 days, that she might bring forth in them; and that the Egyptians celebrated those days as the birth-days of Rhea’s five children, Osiris, Orus senior, Typhon, Isis, and Nephthe the wife of Typhon: and therefore, according to the opinion of the ancient Egyptians, the five days were added to the Lunisolar calendar-year, in the Reign of Saturn and Rhea, the parents of Osiris, Isis, and Typhon; that is, in the Reign of Ammon and Titaea, the parents of the Titans; or in the latter half of the Reign of David, when those Titans were born, and by consequence soon after the flight of the Edomites from David into Egypt: but the Solstices not being yet settled, the beginning of this new year might not be fixed to the Vernal Equinox before the Reign of Amenophis the successor of Orus junior, the Son of Osiris and Isis.
When the Edomites fled from David with their young King Hadad into Egypt, it is probable that they carried thither also the use of letters: for letters were then in use among the posterity of Abraham in Arabia Petraea, and upon the borders of the Red Sea, the Law being written there by Moses in a book, and in tables of stone, long before: for Moses marrying the daughter of the prince of Midian, and dwelling with him forty years, learnt them among the Midianites: and Job, who lived [261] among their neighbours the Edomites, mentions the writing down or words, as there in use in his days, Job. xix. 23, 24. and there is no instance of letters for writing down sounds, being in use before the days of David, in any other nation besides the posterity of Abraham. The Egyptians ascribed this invention to Thoth, the secretary of Osiris; and therefore Letters began to be in use in Egypt in the days of Thoth, that is, a little after the flight of the Edomites from David, or about the time that Cadmus brought them into Europe.
Helladius [262] tells us, that a man called Oes, who appeared in the Red Sea with the tail of a fish, so they painted a sea-man, taught Astronomy and Letters: and Hyginus, [263] that Euhadnes, who came out of the Sea in Chaldaea, taught the Chaldaeans Astrology the first of any man; he means Astronomy: and Alexander Polyhistor [264] tells us from Berosus, that Oannes taught the Chaldaeans Letters, Mathematicks, Arts, Agriculture, Cohabitation in Cities, and the Construction of Temples; and that several such men came thither successively. Oes, Euhadnes, and Oannes, seem to be the same name a little varied by corruption; and this name seems to have been given in common to several sea-men, who came thither from time to time, and by consequence were merchants, and frequented those seas with their merchandise, or else fled from their enemies: so that Letters, Astronomy, Architecture and Agriculture, came into Chaldaea by sea, and were carried thither by sea-men, who frequented the Persian Gulph, and came thither from time to time, after all those things were practised in other countries whence they came, and by consequence in the days of Ammon and Sesac, David and Solomon, and their successors, or not long before. The Chaldaeans indeed made Oannes older than the flood of Xisuthrus, but the Egyptians made Osiris as old, and I make them contemporary.
The Red Sea had its name not from its colour, but from Edom and Erythra, the names of Esau, which signify that colour: and some [265] tell us, that King Erythra, meaning Esau, invented the vessels, rates, in which they navigated that Sea, and was buried in an island thereof near the Persian Gulph: whence it follows, that the Edomites navigated that Sea from the days of Esau; and there is no need that the oldest Oannes should be older. There were boats upon rivers before, such as were the boats which carried the Patriarchs over Euphrates and Jordan, and the first nations over many other rivers, for peopling the earth, seeking new seats, and invading one another’s territories: and after the example of such vessels, Ishhmael and Midian the sons of Abraham, and Esau his grandson, might build larger vessels to go to the islands upon the Red Sea, in searching for new seats, and by degrees learn to navigate that sea, as far as to the Persian Gulph: for ships were as old, even upon the Mediterranean, as the days of Jacob, Gen. xlix. 13. Judg. v. 17. but it is probable that the merchants of that sea were not forward to discover their Arts and Sciences, upon which their trade depended: it seems therefore that Letters and Astronomy, and the trade of Carpenters, were invented by the merchants
Diodorus [266] tells us, that the Egyptians_ sent many colonies out of Egypt into other countries; and that Belus, the son of Neptune and Libya, carried colonies thence into Babylonia, and seating himself on Euphrates, instituted priests free from taxes and publick expences, after the manner of Egypt, who were called Chaldaeans, and who after the manner of Egypt, might observe the Stars_: and Pausanias [267] tells us, that the Belus_ of the Babylonians had his name from Belus an Egyptian, the son of Libya_: and Apollodorus; [268] that Belus_ the son of Neptune and Libya, and King of Egypt, was the father of AEgyptus and Danaus_, that is, Ammon: he tells us also, that Busiris_ the son of Neptune and Lisianassa [Libyanassa] the daughter of Epaphus, was King of Egypt_; and Eusebius calls this King, __Busiris_ the son of Neptune, and of Libya the daughter of Epaphus_. By these things the later Egyptians seem to have made two Belus’s, the one the father of Osiris, Isis, and Neptune, the other the son of Neptune, and father of AEgyptus and Danaus: and hence came the opinion of the people of Naxus, that there were two Minos’s and two Ariadnes, the one two Generations older than the other; which we have confuted. The father of AEgyptus and Danaus was the father of Osiris, Isis, and Typhon; and Typhon was not the grandfather of Neptune, but Neptune himself.
Sesostris being brought up to hard labour by his father Ammon, warred first under his father, being the Hero or Hercules of the Egyptians during his father’s Reign, and afterward their King: under his father, whilst he was very young, he invaded and conquered Troglodytica, and thereby secured the harbour of the Red Sea, near Coptos in Egypt, and then he invaded Ethiopia, and carried on his conquest southward, as far as to the region bearing cinnamon: and his father by the assistance of the Edomites having built a fleet on the Red Sea, he put to sea, and coasted Arabia Faelix, going to the Persian Gulph and beyond, and in those countries set up Columns with inscriptions denoting his conquests; and particularly he Set up a Pillar at Dira, a promontory in the straits of the Red Sea, next Ethiopia, and two Pillars in India, on the mountains near the mouth of the rivers Ganges; so [269] Dionysius:
[Greek: Entha te kai stelai, Thebaigeneos Dionysou] [Greek: Hestasin pymatoio para rhoon Okeanoio,] [Greek: Indon hystatioisin en ouresin; entha te Ganges] [Greek: Leukon hydor Nyssaion epi platamona kylindei.]
Ubi etiamnum columnae Thebis geniti Bacchi Stant extremi juxta fluxum Oceani Indorum ultimis in montibus: ubi & Ganges Claram aquam Nyssaeam ad planitiem devolvit.
After these things he invaded Libya, and fought the Africans with clubs, and thence is painted with a club in his hand: so [270] Hyginus; Afri & AEgyptii primum fustibus dimicaverunt, postea Belus Neptuni filius gladio belligeratus est, unde bellum dictum est: and after the conquest of Libya, by which Egypt was furnished with horses, and furnished Solomon and his friends; he prepared a fleet on the Mediterranean, and went on westward upon the coast of Afric, to search those countries, as far as to the Ocean and island Erythra or Gades in Spain; as Macrobius [271] informs us from Panyasis and Pherecydes: and there he conquered Geryon, and at the mouth of the Straits set up the famous Pillars.
[272] Venit ad occasum mundique extrema Sesostris.
Then he returned through Spain and the southern coasts of France and Italy, with the cattel of Geryon, his fleet attending him by sea, and left in Sicily the Sicani, a people which he had brought from Spain: and after his father’s death he built Temples to him in his conquests; whence it came to pass, that Jupiter Ammon was worshipped in Ammonia, and Ethiopia, and Arabia, and as far as India, according to the [273] Poet:
Quamvis AEthiopum populis, Arabumque
beatis
Gentibus, atque Indis unus sit Jupiter
Ammon.
The Arabians worshipped only two Gods, Coelus, otherwise called Ouranus, or Jupiter Uranius, and Bacchus: and these were Jupiter Ammon and Sesac, as above: and so also the people of Meroe above Egypt [274] worshipped no other Gods but Jupiter and Bacchus, and had an Oracle of Jupiter, and these two Gods were Jupiter Ammon and Osiris, according to the language of Egypt.
At length Sesostris, in the fifth year of Rehoboam, came out of Egypt with a great army of Libyans, Troglodytes and Ethiopians, and spoiled the Temple, and reduced Judaea into servitude, and went on conquering, first eastward toward India, which he invaded, and then westward as far as Thrace: for God had given him the kingdoms of the countries, 2 Chron. xii. 2, 3, 8. In [275] this Expedition he spent nine years, setting up pillars with inscriptions in all his conquests, some of which remained in Syria ’till the days of Herodotus. He was accompanied with his son Orus, or Apollo, and with some singing women, called the Muses, one of which, called Calliope, was the mother of Orpheus an Argonaut: and the two tops of the mountain Parnassus, which were very high, were dedicated [276] the one to this Bacchus, and the other to his son Apollo: whence Lucan; [277]
Parnassus
gemino petit aethera colle,
Mons Phoebo, Bromioque sacer.
In the fourteenth year of Rehoboam he returned back into Egypt; leaving AEetes in Colchis, and his nephew Prometheus at mount Caucasus, with part of his army, to defend his conquests from the Scythians. Apollonius Rhodius [278] and his scholiast tell us, that Sesonchosis King of all Egypt, that is Sesac, invading all Asia, and a great part of Europe, peopled many cities which he took; and that AEa, the Metropolis of Colchis, remained stable ever since his days with the posterity of those Egyptians_ which he placed there, and that they preserved pillars or tables in which all the journies and the bounds of sea and land were described, for the use of them that were to go any whither_: these tables therefore gave a beginning to Geography.
Sesostris upon his returning home [279] divided Egypt by measure amongst the Egyptians; and this gave a beginning to Surveying and Geometry: and [280] Jamblicus derives this division of Egypt, and beginning of Geometry, from the Age of the Gods of Egypt. Sesostris also [281] divided Egypt into 36 Nomes or Counties, and dug a canal from the Nile to the head city of every Nome, and with the earth dug out of it, he caused the ground of the city
I have now told you the original of the Nomes of Egypt and of the Religions and Temples of the Nomes, and of the Cities built there by the Gods, and called by their names: whence Diodorus [285] tells us, that of all the Provinces of the World, there were in Egypt_ only many cities built by the ancient Gods, as by Jupiter, Sol, Hermes, Apollo, Pan, Eilithyia, and, many others_: and Lucian [286] an Assyrian, who had travelled into Phoenicia and Egypt, tells us, that the Temples of Egypt_ were very old, those in Phoenicia built by Cinyras as old, and those in Assyria almost as old as the former, but not altogether so old_: which shews that the Monarchy of Assyria rose up after the Monarchy of Egypt; as is represented in Scripture; and that the Temples of Egypt then standing, were those built by Sesostris, about the same time that the Temples of Phoenicia and Cyprus were built by Cinyras, Benhadad, and Hiram. This was not the first original of Idolatry, but only the erecting of much more sumptuous Temples than formerly to the founders of new Kingdoms: for Temples at first were very small;
Jupiter angusta vix totus stabat in
aede.
Ovid.
Fast. l. 1.
Altars were at first erected without Temples, and this custom continued in Persia ’till after the days of Herodotus: in Phoenicia they had Altars with little houses for eating the sacrifices much earlier, and these they called High Places: such was the High Place where Samuel entertained Saul; such was the House of Dagon at Ashdod, into which the Philistims brought the Ark; and the House of Baal, in which Jehu slew the Prophets of Baal; and such were the High Places of the Canaanites which Moses commanded Israel to destroy: he [287] commanded Israel to destroy the Altars, Images, High Places, and Groves of the Canaanites, but made no mention of their Temples, as he would have done had there been any in those days. I meet with no mention of sumptuous Temples before the days of Solomon: new Kingdoms begun then to build Sepulchres to their Founders in the form of Sumptuous Temples; and such Temples Hiram built in Tyre, Sesac in all Egypt, and Benhadad in Damascus.
For when David [288] smote Hadad Ezer King of Zobah, and slew the Syrians of Damascus who came to assist him, Rezon the son of Eliadah_ fled from his lord Hadad-Ezer, and gathered men unto him and became Captain over a band, and Reigned in Damascus, over Syria_: he is called Hezion, 1 King. xv. 18. and his successors mentioned in history were Tabrimon, Hadad or Ben-hadad, Benhadad II. Hazael, Benhadad III. * * and Rezin the son of Tabeah. Syria became subject to Egypt in the days of Tabrimon, and recovered her liberty under Benhadad I; and in the days of Benhadad III, until the reign of the last Rezin, they became subject to Israel: and in the ninth year of Hoshea King of Judah, Tiglath-pileser King of Assyria captivated the Syrians, and put an end to their Kingdom: now Josephus [289] tells us, that the Syrians_ ’till his days worshipped both Adar_, that is Hadad or Benhadad, and his successor Hazael_ as Gods, for their benefactions, and for building Temples by which they adorned the city of Damascus: for_, saith he, they daily celebrate solemnities in honour of these Kings, and boast their antiquity, not knowing that they are novel, and lived not above eleven hundred years ago. It seems these Kings built sumptuous Sepulchres for themselves, and were worshipped therein. Justin [290] calls the first of these two Kings Damascus, saying that the city had its name from him, and that the Syrians_ in honour of him worshipped his wife Arathes as a Goddess, using her Sepulchre for a Temple_.
Another instance we have in the Kingdom of Byblus. In the [291] Reign of Minos King of Crete, when Rhadamanthus the brother of Minos carried colonies from Crete to the Greek islands, and gave the islands to his captains, he gave Lemnos to Thoas, or Theias, or Thoantes, the father of Hypsipyle, a Cretan worker in metals, and by consequence a disciple of the Idaei Dactyli, and perhaps a Phoenician: for the Idaei Dactyli, and Telchines, and Corybantes brought their Arts and Sciences from Phoenicia: and [292] Suidas saith, that he was descended from Pharnaces King of Cyprus; Apollodorus, [293] that he was the son of Sandochus a Syrian; and Apollonius Rhodius, [294] that __Hypsipyle_ gave Jason the purple cloak which the Graces made for Bacchus, who gave it to his son Thoas_, the father of Hypsipyle, and King of Lemnos: Thoas married [295] Calycopis, the mother of AEneas, and daughter of Otreus King of Phrygia, and for his skill on the harp was called Cinyras, and was said to be exceedingly beloved by Apollo or Orus: the great Bacchus loved his wife, and being caught in bed with her in Phrygia appeased him with wine, and composed the matter by making him King of Byblus and Cyprus; and then came over the Hellespont with his army, and conquered Thrace: and to these things the poets allude, in feigning that Vulcan fell from heaven into Lemnos, and that Bacchus [296] appeased him with wine, and reduced him back into heaven: he fell from the heaven of the Cretan Gods, when he went from Crete to Lemnos to work in metals, and was reduced back into heaven when Bacchus made him King of Cyprus and Byblus: he Reigned there ’till a very great age, living to the times of the Trojan war, and becoming exceeding rich: and after the death of his wife Calycopis, [297] he built Temples to her at Paphos and Amathus, in Cyprus; and at Byblus in Syria, and instituted Priests to her with Sacred Rites and lustful Orgia; whence she became the Dea Cypria, and the Dea Syria: and from Temples erected to her in these and other places, she was also called Paphia, Amathusia, Byblia, Cytherea Salaminia, Cnidia, Erycina, Idalia. Fama tradit a Cinyra sacratum vetustissimum Paphiae Veneris templum, Deamque ipsam conceptam mari huc appulsam: Tacit. Hist. l. 2. c. 3. From her sailing from Phrygia to the island Cythera, and from thence to be Queen of Cyprus, she was said by the Cyprians, to be born of the froth of the sea, and was painted
As the Egyptians, Phoenicians and Syrians in those days Deified their Kings and Princes, so upon their coming into Asia minor and Greece, they taught those nations to do the like, as hath been shewed above. In those days the writing of the Thebans and Ethiopians was in hieroglyphicks; and this way of writing seems to have spread into the lower Egypt before the days of Moses: for thence came the worship of their Gods in the various shapes of Birds, Beasts, and Fishes, forbidden in the second commandment. Now this emblematical way of writing gave occasion to the Thebans and Ethiopians, who in the days of Samuel, David, Solomon, and Rehoboam conquered Egypt, and the nations round about, and erected a great Empire, to represent and signify their conquering Kings and Princes, not by writing down their names, but by making various hieroglyphical figures; as by painting Ammon with Ram’s horns, to signify the King who conquered Libya, a country abounding with sheep; his father Amosis with a Scithe, to signify that King who conquered the lower Egypt, a country abounding with corn; his Son Osiris by an Ox, because he taught
The [308] Atlantides, a people upon mount Atlas conquered by the Egyptians in the Reign of Ammon, related that Uranus was their first King, and reduced them from a savage course of life, and caused them to dwell in towns and cities, and lay up and use the fruits of the earth, and that he reigned over a great part of the world, and by his wife Titaea had eighteen children, among which were Hyperion and Basilea the parents of Helius and Selene; that the brothers of Hyperion slew him, and drowned his son Helius, the Phaeton of the ancients, in the Nile, and divided his Kingdom amongst themselves; and the country bordering upon the Ocean fell to the lot of Atlas, from whom the people were called Atlantides. By Uranus or Jupiter Uranius, Hyperion, Basilea, Helius and Selene, I understand Jupiter Ammon, Osiris, Isis, Orus and Bubaste; and by the sharing of the Kingdom of Hyperion amongst his brothers the Titans, I understand the division of the earth among the Gods mentioned in the Poem of Solon.
For Solon having travelled into Egypt, and conversed with the Priests of Sais; about their antiquities, wrote a Poem of what he had learnt, but did not finish it; [309] and this Poem fell into the hands of Plato who relates out of it, that at the mouth of the Straits near Hercules’s Pillars there was an Island called Atlantis, the people of which, nine thousand years before the days of Solon, reigned over Libya as far as Egypt; and over Europe as far as the Tyrrhene sea; and all this force collected into one body invaded Egypt and Greece, and whatever was contained within the Pillars of Hercules, but was resisted and stopt by the Athenians and other Greeks, and thereby the rest of the nations not yet conquered were preserved: he saith also that in those days the Gods, having finished their conquests, divided the whole earth amongst themselves, partly into larger, partly into smaller portions, and instituted Temples and Sacred Rites to themselves; and that the Island Atlantis fell to the lot of Neptune, who made his eldest Son Atlas King of the whole Island, a part of which was called Gadir; and that in the history of the said wars mention was made of Cecrops_, Erechtheus, Erichthonius, and others before Theseus, and also of the women who warred with the men, and of the habit and statue of Minerva, the study of war in those days being common to men and women_. By all these circumstances it is manifest that these Gods were the Dii magni majorum gentium, and lived between the age of Cecrops and Theseus; and that the wars which Sesostris with his
The Cretans [310] affirmed that Neptune was the man who set out a fleet, having obtained this Praefecture of his father_ Saturn; whence posterity reckoned things done in the sea to be under his government, and mariners honoured him with sacrifices_: the invention of tall Ships with sails [311] is also ascribed to him. He was first worshipped in Africa, as Herodotus [312] affirms, and therefore Reigned over that province: for his eldest son Atlas, who succeeded him, was not only Lord of the Island Atlantis, but also Reigned over a great part of Afric, giving his name to the people called Atlantii, and to the mountain Atlas, and the Atlantic Ocean. The [313] outmost parts of the earth and promontories, and whatever bordered upon the sea and was washed by it, the Egyptians called Neptys; and on the coasts of Marmorica and Cyrene, Bochart and Arius Montanus
The Titans are the posterity of Titaea, some of whom under Hercules assisted the Gods, others under Neptune and Atlas warred against them: for which reason, saith Plutarch, [317] the Priests of Egypt_ abominated the sea, and had Neptune in no honour_. By Hercules, I understand here the general of the forces of Thebais and Ethiopia whom the Gods or great men of Egypt called to their assistance, against the Giants or great men of Libya, who had slain Osiris and invaded Egypt: for Diodorus [318] saith that when Osiris_ made his expedition over the world, he left his kinsman Hercules general of his forces over all his dominions, and Antaeus governor of Libya and Ethiopia_. Antaeus Reigned over all Afric to the Atlantic Ocean, and built Tingis or Tangieres: Pindar [319] tells us that he Reigned at Irasa a town of Libya, where Cyrene was afterwards built: he invaded Egypt and Thebais; for he was beaten by Hercules and the Egyptians near Antaea or Antaeopolis, a town of Thebais; and Diodorus [320] tells us that this town had its name from Antaeus_, whom Hercules slew in the days of Osiris_. Hercules overthrew him several times, and every time he grew stronger by recruits from Libya, his mother earth; but Hercules intercepted his recruits, and at length slew him. In these wars Hercules took the Libyan world from Atlas, and made Atlas pay tribute out of his golden orchard, the Kingdom of Afric. Antaeus and Atlas were both of them sons of Neptune both of them Reigned over all Libya and Afric, between Mount Atlas
Saevoque
alimenta parentis
Antaeo eripui.
This war was at length composed by the intervention of Mercury, who in memory thereof was said to reconcile two contending serpents, by casting his Ambassador’s rod between them: and thus much concerning the ancient state of Egypt, Libya, and Greece, described by Solon.
The mythology of the Cretans differed in some things from that of Egypt and Libya: for in the Cretan mythology, Coelus and Terra, or Uranus and Titaea were the parents of Saturn and Rhea, and Saturn and Rhea were the parents of Jupiter and Juno; and Hyperion, Japetus and the Titans were one Generation older than Jupiter; and Saturn was expelled his Kingdom and castrated by his son Jupiter: which fable hath no place in the mythology of Egypt.
During the Reign of Sesac, Jeroboam being in subjection to Egypt; set up the Gods of Egypt in Dan and Bethel; and Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching Priest and without law: and in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries; and nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity. 2 Chron. xv. 3, 5, 6. But in the fifth year of Asa the land of Judah became quiet from war, and from thence had quiet ten years; and Asa took away the altars of strange Gods, and brake down the Images, and built the fenced cities of Judah with walls and towers and gates and bars, having rest on every side, and got up an army of 580000 men, with which in the fifteenth year of his Reign he met Zerah the Ethiopian, who came out against him with an army of a thousand thousand Ethiopians and Libyans: the way of the Libyans was through Egypt, and therefore Zerah was now Lord of Egypt: they fought at Mareshah near Gerar, between Egypt and Judaea, and Zerah was beaten, so that he could not recover himself: and from all this I seem to gather that Osiris was slain in the fifth year of Asa, and thereupon Egypt fell into civil wars, being invaded by the Libyans, and defended
When Asa by his victory over Zerah became safe from Egypt, he assembled all the people, and they offered sacrifices out of the spoils, and entered into a covenant upon oath to seek the Lord; and in lieu of the vessels taken away by Sesac, he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, Silver and Gold, and Vessels. 2 Chron. xv.
When Zerah was beaten, so that he could not recover himself, the people [323] of the lower Egypt revolted from the Ethiopians, and called in to their assistance two hundred thousand Jews and Canaanites; and under the conduct of one Osarsiphus, a Priest of Egypt, called Usorthon, Osorchon, Osorchor, and Hercules AEgyptius by Manetho, caused the Ethiopians now under Memnon to retire to Memphis: and there Memnon turned the river Nile into a new channel, built a bridge over it and fortified that pass, and then went back into Ethiopia: but after thirteen years, he and his young son Ramesses came down with an army from Ethiopia, conquered the lower Egypt, and drove out the Jews and Phoenicians; and this action the Egyptian writers and their followers call the second expulsion of the Shepherds, taking Osarsiphus for Moses.
Tithonus a beautiful youth, the elder brother of Priamus, went into Ethiopia, being carried thither among many captives by Sesostris: and the Greeks, before the days of Hesiod, feigned that Memnon was his son: Memnon therefore, in the opinion of those ancient Greeks, was one Generation younger than Tithonus, and was born after the return of Sesostris into Egypt: suppose about 16 or 20 years after
Historians [325] agree that Menes Reigned in Egypt next after the Gods, and turned the river into a new channel, and built a bridge over it, and built Memphis and the magnificent Temple of Vulcan: he built Memphis over-against the place where Grand Cairo now stands, called by the Arabian historians Mesir: he built only the body of the Temple of Vulcan, and his successors Ramesses or Rhampsinitus, Moeris, Asychis, and Psammiticus built the western, northern eastern, and southern portico’s thereof: Psammiticus, who built the last portico of this Temple, Reigned three hundred years after the victory of Asa over Zerah, and it is not likely that this Temple could be above three hundred years in building, or that any Menes could be King of all Egypt before the expulsion of the Shepherds. The last of the Gods of Egypt was Orus, with his mother Isis, and sister Bubaste, and secretary Thoth, and unkle Typhon; and the King who reigned next after all their deaths, and turned the river and built a bridge over it, and built Memphis and the Temple of Vulcan, was Memnon or Amenophis, called by the Egyptians Amenoph; and therefore he is Menes: for the names Amenoph, or Menoph, and Menes do not much differ; and from Amenoph the city Memphis built by Menes had its Egyptian names Moph, Noph, Menoph or Menuf, as it is still called by the Arabian historians: the necessity of fortifying this place against Osarsiphus gave occasion to the building of it.
In the time of the revolt of the lower Egypt under Osarsiphus, and the retirement of Amenophis into Ethiopia, Egypt being then in the greatest distraction, the Greeks built the ship Argo, and sent in it the flower of Greece to AEetes in Colchis, and to many other Princes on the coasts of the Euxine and Mediterranean seas; and this ship was built after the pattern of an Egyptian ship with fifty oars, in which Danaus with his fifty daughters a few years before fled from Egypt into Greece, and was the first long ship with sails built by the Greeks: and such an improvement of navigation, with a design to send the flower of Greece
The [329] Egyptians originally lived on the fruits of the earth, and fared hardly, and abstained from animals, and therefore abominated Shepherds: Menes taught them to adorn their beds and tables with rich furniture and carpets, and brought in amongst them a sumptuous, delicious and voluptuous way of life: and about a hundred years after his death, Gnephacthus one of his successors cursed him for it, and to reduce the luxury of Egypt, caused the curse to be entered in the Temple of Jupiter at Thebes; and by this curse the honour of Menes was diminished among the Egyptians.
The Kings of Egypt who expelled the Shepherds and Succeeded them, Reigned I think first at Coptos, and then at Thebes, and then at Memphis. At Coptos I place Misphragmuthosis and Amosis or Thomosis who expelled the Shepherds, and abolished their custom of sacrificing men, and extended the Coptic language, and the name of [Greek: Aia Koptou], Aegyptus, to the conquest. Then Thebes became the Royal City of Ammon, and from him was called No-Ammon, and his conquest on the west of Egypt was called Ammonia. After him, in the same city of Thebes, Reigned Osiris, Orus, Menes or Amenophis, and Ramesses: but Memphis and her miracles were not yet celebrated in Greece; for Homer celebrates Thebes as in its glory in his days, and makes no mention of Memphis. After Menes had built Memphis, Moeris the successor of Ramesses adorned it, and made it the seat of the Kingdom, and this was almost two Generations after the Trojan war. Cinyras, the Vulcan who married Venus, and under the Kings of Egypt Reigned over Cyprus and part of Phoenicia, and made armour for those Kings, lived ’till the times of the Trojan war: and upon his death Menes or Memnon might Deify him, and found the famous Temple of Vulcan in that city for his worship, but not live to finish it. In a plain [330] not far from Memphis are many small Pyramids, said to be built by Venephes or Enephes; and I suspect that Venephes and Enephes have been corruptly written for Menephes or Amenophis, the letters AM being almost worn out in some old manuscript: for after the example of these Pyramids, the following Kings, Moeris and his successors, built others much larger. The plain in which they were built was the burying-place of that city, as appears by the Mummies there found; and therefore the Pyramids were the sepulchral monuments of the Kings and Princes of that city: and by these and such like works the city grew famous soon after the days of Homer; who therefore flourished in the Reign of Ramesses.
Herodotus [331] is the oldest historian now extant who wrote of the antiquities of Egypt, and had what he wrote from the Priests of that country: and Diodorus, who wrote almost 400 years after him, and had his relations also from the Priests of Egypt, placed many nameless Kings between those whom Herodotus placed in continual succession. The Priests of Egypt had therefore, between the days of Herodotus and Diodorus, out of vanity, very much increased the number of their Kings: and what they did after the days of Herodotus, they began to do before his days; for he tells us
Pheron is by Herodotus said to be the son and successor of Sesostris. He was Deified by the name of Orus.
Proteus Reigned in the lower Egypt when Paris sailed thither; that is at the end of the Trojan war, according to [332] Herodotus: and at that time Amenophis was King of Egypt and Ethiopia: but in his absence Proteus might be governor of some part of the lower Egypt under him; for Homer places Proteus upon the sea-coasts, and makes him a sea God, and calls him the servant of Neptune; and Herodotus saith that he rose up from among the common people, and that Proteus was his name translated into Greek, and this name in Greek signifies only a Prince or President. He succeeded Pheron, and was succeeded by Rhampsinitus according to Herodotus; and so was contemporary to Amenophis.
Amenophis Reigned next after Orus and Isis the last of the Gods; he Reigned at first over all Egypt, and then over Memphis and the upper parts of Egypt; and by conquering Osarsiphus, who had revolted from him, became King of all Egypt again, about 51 years after the death of Solomon. He built Memphis and ordered the worship of the Gods of Egypt, and built a Palace at Abydus, and the Memnonia at This and Susa, and the magnificent Temple of Vulcan in Memphis; the building with square stones being found out before by Tosorthrus, the AEsculapius of Egypt: he is by corruption of his name called Menes, Mines, Minaeus, Mineus, Minies, Mnevis, Enephes, Venephes, Phamenophis, Osymanthyas, Osimandes, Ismandes, Imandes, Memnon, Arminon.
Amenophis was succeeded by his son, called by Herodotus, Rhampsinitus, and by others Ramses, Ramises, Rameses, Ramesses, [333] Ramestes, Rhampses, Remphis. Upon an Obelisk erected by this King in Heliopolis, and sent to Rome by the Emperor Constantius, was an inscription, interpreted by Hermapion an Egyptian Priest, expressing that the King was long lived, and Reigned over a great part of the
Moeris inheriting the riches of Ramesses, built the northern portico of that Temple more sumptuously, and made the Lake of Moeris, with two great Pyramids of brick in the midst of it: and for preserving the division of Egypt into equal shares amongst the soldiers, this King wrote a book of surveying, which gave a beginning to Geometry. He is called also Maris, Myris, Meres, Marres, Smarres; and more corruptly, by changing [Greek: M] into [Greek: A, T, B, S, YCH, L], &c. Ayres, Tyris, Byires, Soris, Uchoreus, Lachares, Labaris, &c.
Diodorus [336] places Uchoreus between Osymanduas and Myris, that is between Amenophis and Moeris, and saith that he built Memphis, and fortified it to admiration with a mighty rampart of earth, and a broad and deep trench, which was filled with the water of the Nile, and made there a vast and deep Lake for receiving the water of the Nile in the time of its overflowing, and built palaces in the city; and that this place was so commodiously seated that most of the Kings who Reigned after him preferred it before Thebes, and removed the Court from thence to this place, so that the magnificence of Thebes from that time began to decrease, and that of Memphis to increase, ’till Alexander King of Macedon built Alexandria. These great works of Uchoreus and those of Moeris savour of one and the same genius, and were certainly done by one and the same King, distinguished into two by a corruption of the name as above; for this Lake of Uchoreus was certainly the same with that of Moeris.
After the example of the two brick Pyramids made by Moeris, the three next Kings, Cheops, Cephren and Mycerinus built the three great Pyramids at Memphis; and therefore Reigned in that city. Cheops shut up the Temples of the Nomes, and prohibited the worship of the Gods of Egypt, designing no doubt to have been worshipped himself after death: he is called also Chembis, Chemmis, Chemnis, Phiops, Apathus, Apappus, Suphis, Saophis, Syphoas, Syphaosis, Soiphis, Syphuris, Anoiphis, Anoisis: he built the biggest of the three great Pyramids which stand together; and his brother Cephren or Cerpheres built the second, and his son Mycerinus founded the third: this last King was celebrated for clemency and justice; he shut up the dead body of his daughter in a hollow ox, and caused her to be worshipped daily with odours: he is called also Cheres, Cherinus, Bicheres, Moscheres, Mencheres. He died before the third Pyramid was finished, and his sister and successor Nitocris finished it.
Then Reigned Asychis, who built the eastern portico of the Temple of Vulcan very splendidly, and among the small Pyramids a large Pyramid of brick, made of mud dug out of the Lake of Moeris: and these are the Kings who Reigned at Memphis, and spent their time in adorning that city, until the Ethiopians and the Assyrians and others revolted, and Egypt lost all her dominion abroad, and became again divided into several small Kingdoms.
One of those Kingdoms was I think at Memphis, under Gnephactus, and his son and successor Bocchoris. Africanus calls Bocchoris a Saite; but Sais at this time had other Kings: Gnephactus, otherwise called Neochabis and Technatis, cursed Menes for his luxury, and caused the curse to be entered in the Temple of Jupiter at Thebes; and therefore Reigned over Thebais: and Bocchoris sent in a wild bull upon the God Mnevis which was worshipped at Heliopolis. Another of those Kingdoms was at Anysis, or Hanes, Isa. xxx. 4. under its King Anysis or Amosis; a third was at Sais, under Stephanathis, Nechepsos, and Nechus; and a fourth was at Tanis or Zoan, under Petubastes, Osorchon and Psammis: and Egypt being weakened by this division, was invaded and conquered by the Ethiopians under Sabacon, who slew Bocchoris and Nechus, and made Anysis fly. The Olympiads began in the Reign of Petubastes, and the AEra of Nabonassar in the 22d year of the Reign of Bocchoris, according to Africanus; and therefore the division, of Egypt into many Kingdoms began before the Olympiads, but not above the length of two Kings Reigns before them.
After the study of Astronomy was set on foot for the use of navigation, and the Egyptians by the Heliacal Risings and Settings of the Stars had determined the length of the Solar year of 365 days, and by other observations had fixed the Solstices, and formed the fixt Stars into Asterisms, all which was done in the Reign of Ammon, Sesac, Orus, and Memnon; it may be presumed that they continued to observe the motions of the Planets; for they called them after the names of their Gods; and Nechepsos or Nicepsos King of Sais, by the assistance of Petosiris a Priest of Egypt, invented Astrology, grounding it upon the aspects of the Planets, and the qualities of the men and women to whom they were dedicated: and in the beginning of the Reign of Nabonassar King of Babylon, about which time the Ethiopians under Sabacon invaded Egypt, those Egyptians who fled from him to Babylon, carried thither the Egyptian year of 365 days, and the study of Astronomy and Astrology, and founded the AEra of Nabonassar; dating it from the first year of that King’s Reign, which was the 22d year of Bocchoris as above, and beginning the year on the same day with the Egyptians for the sake of their calculations. So Diodorus [337]: they say that the Chaldaeans_ in Babylon, being Colonies of the Egyptians, became famous for Astrology, having learnt it from the Priests of Egypt_: and Hestiaeus, who wrote an history of Egypt, speaking of a disaster of the invaded Egyptians, saith [338] that the Priests who survived this disaster, taking with them the Sacra_ of Jupiter Enyalius, came to Sennaar in Babylonia_. From the 15th year of Asa, in which Zerah was beaten, and Menes or Amenophis began his Reign, to the beginning of the AEra of Nabonassar, were 200 years; and this interval of time allows room for about nine or ten Reigns of Kings, at about twenty years to a Reign one with another; and so many Reigns there were, according to the account set down above out of Herodotus; and therefore that account, as it is the oldest, and was received by Herodotus from the Priests of Thebes, Memphis, and Heliopolis, three principal cities of Egypt, agrees also with the course of nature, and leaves no room for the Reigns of the many nameless Kings which we have omitted. These omitted Kings Reigned before Moeris, and by consequence at Thebes; for Moeris translated the seat of the Empire from Thebes to Memphis: they Reigned after Ramesses; for Ramesses was the son and successor of Menes, who Reigned next after the Gods. Now Menes built the body of the Temple of Vulcan, Ramesses the first portico, and Moeris the second portico
In the Dynasties of Manetho; Sevechus is made the successor of Sabacon, being his son; and perhaps he is the Sethon of Herodotus, who became Priest of Vulcan, and neglected military discipline: for Sabacon is that So or Sua with whom Hoshea King of Israel conspired against the Assyrians, in the fourth year of Hezekiah, Anno Nabonass. 24. Herodotus tells us twice or thrice, that Sabacon after a long Reign of fifty years relinquished Egypt voluntarily, and that Anysis who fled from him, returned and Reigned again in the lower Egypt after him, or rather with him: and that Sethon Reigned after Sabacon, and went to Pelusium against the army of Sennacherib, and was relieved with a great multitude of mice, which eat the bow-strings of the Assyrians; in memory of which the statue of Sethon, seen by Herodotus, [339] was made with a Mouse in its hand. A Mouse was the Egyptian symbol of destruction, and the Mouse in the hand of Sethon signifies only that he overcame the Assyrians with a great destruction. The Scriptures inform us, that when Sennacherib invaded Judaea and besieged Lachish and Libnah, which was in the 14th year of Hezekiah, Anno Nabonass. 34. the King of Judah trusted upon Pharaoh King of Egypt, that is upon Sethon, and that Tirhakah King of Ethiopia came out also to fight against Sennacherib, 2 King. xviii. 21. & xix. 9. which makes it probable, that when Sennacherib heard of the Kings of Egypt and Ethiopia coming against him, he went from Libnah towards Pelusium to oppose them, and was there surprized and set upon in the night by them both, and routed with as great a slaughter as if the bow-strings of the Assyrians had been eaten by mice. Some think that the Assyrians were smitten by lightning, or by a fiery wind which sometimes comes from the southern parts of Chaldaea. After this victory Tirhakah succeeding Sethon, carried his arms westward through Libya and Afric to the mouth of the Straits: but Herodotus tells us, that the Priests of Egypt reckoned Sethon the last King of Egypt, who Reigned before the division of Egypt into twelve contemporary Kingdoms, and by consequence before the invasion of Egypt by the Assyrians.
For Asserhadon King of Assyria, in the 68th year of Nabonassar, after he had Reigned about thirty years over Assyria, invaded the Kingdom of Babylon, and then carried into captivity many people from Babylon, and Cuthah, and Ava, and Hamath, and Sepharvaim, placing them in the Regions of Samaria and Damascus: and from thence they carried into Babylonia and Assyria the remainder of the people of Israel and Syria, which had been left there by Tiglath-pileser. This captivity was 65 years after the first year of Ahaz, Isa. vii. 1, 8. & 2. King. xv. 37. & xvi. 5. and by consequence in the twentieth year of Manasseh, Anno Nabonass. 69. and then Tartan was sent by Asserhadon with an army against Ashdod or Azoth, a town at that time subject to Judaea, 2 Chron. xxvi. 6. and took it, Isa. xx. 1: and this post being secured, the Assyrians beat the Jews, and captivated Manasseh, and subdued Judaea: and in these wars, Isaiah was saw’d asunder by the command of Manasseh, for prophesying against him. Then the Assyrians invaded and subdued Egypt and Ethiopia, and carried the Egyptians and Ethiopians into captivity, and thereby put an end to the Reign of the Ethiopians over Egypt, Isa. vii. 18. & viii. 7. & x. 11, 12, & xix. 23. & xx. 4. In this war the city No-Ammon or Thebes, which had hitherto continued in a flourishing condition, was miserably wasted and led into captivity, as is described by Nahum, chap. iii. ver. 8, 9, 10; for Nahum wrote after the last invasion of Judaea by the Assyrians, chap. i. ver. 15; and therefore describes this captivity as fresh in memory: and this and other following invasions of Egypt under Nebuchadnezzar and Cambyses, put an end to the glory of that city. Asserhadon Reigned over the Egyptians and Ethiopians three years, Isa. xx. 3, 4. that is until his death, which was in the year of Nabonassar 81, and therefore invaded Egypt, and put an end to the Reign of the Ethiopians over the Egyptians, in the year of Nabonassar 78; so that the Ethiopians under Sabacon, and his successors Sethon and Tirhakah, Reigned over Egypt about 80 years: Herodotus allots 50 years to Sabacon, and Africanus fourteen years to Sethon, and eighteen to Tirhakah.
The division of Egypt into more Kingdoms than one, both before and after the Reign of the Ethiopians, and the conquest of the Egyptians by Asserhadon, the prophet Isaiah [340] seems allude unto in these words: I will set, saith he, the Egyptians_ against the Egyptians, and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour, city against city, and Kingdom against Kingdom, and the Spirit of Egypt shall fail.—And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel Lord [viz. Asserhadon_]_ and a fierce King shall Reign over them.—Surely the Princes of Zoan [Tanis] are fools, the counsel of the wise Councellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how long say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the ancient Kings.—The Princes of Zoan are be come fools: the Princes of Noph [Memphis] are deceived,—even they that were the stay of the tribes thereof.—In that day there shall be a high-way out of Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrians_.
After the death of Asserhadon, Egypt remained subject to twelve contemporary Kings, who revolted from the Assyrians, and Reigned together fifteen years; including I think the three years of Asserhadon, because the Egyptians do not reckon him among their Kings. They [341] built the Labyrinth adjoining to the Lake of Moeris which was a very magnificent structure, with twelve Halls in it, for their Palaces: and then Psammitichus, who was one of the twelve, conquered all the rest. He built the last Portico of the Temple of Vulcan, founded by Menes about 260 years before, and Reigned 54 years, including the fifteen years of his Reign with the twelve Kings. Then Reigned Nechaoh or Nechus, 17 years; Psammis six years; Vaphres, Apries, Eraphius, or Hophra, 25 years; Amasis 44 years; and Psammenitus six months, according to Herodotus. Egypt was subdued by Nebuchadnezzar in the last year but one of Hophra, Anno Nabonass. 178, and remained in subjection to Babylon forty years, Jer. xliv. 30. & Ezek. xxix. 12, 13, 14, 17, 19. that is, almost all the Reign of Amasis, a plebeian set over Egypt by the conqueror: the forty years ended with the death of Cyrus; for he Reigned over Egypt and Ethiopia, according to Xenophon. At that time therefore those nations recovered their liberty; but after four or five years more they were invaded and conquered by Cambyses, Anno Nabonass. 223 or 224, and have almost ever since remained in servitude, as was predicted by the Prophets.
The Reigns of Psammitichus, Nechus, Psammis, Apries, Amasis, and Psammenitus, set down by Herodotus, amount unto 1461/2 years: and so many years there were from the 78th year of Nabonassar, in which the dominion of the Ethiopians over Egypt came to an end, unto the 224th year of Nabonassar, in which Cambyses invaded Egypt, and put an end to that Kingdom: which is an argument that Herodotus was circumspect and faithful in his narrations, and has given us a good account of the antiquities of Egypt, so far as the Priests of Egypt at Thebes, Memphis, and Heliopolis, and the Carians and Ionians inhabiting Egypt, were then able to inform him: for he consulted them all; and the Cares and Ionians had been in Egypt from the time of the Reign of the twelve contemporary Kings.
Pliny [342] tells us, that the Egyptian Obelisks were of a sort of stone dug near Syene in Thebais, and that the first Obelisk was made by Mitres, who Reigned in Heliopolis; that is, by Mephres the predecessor of Misphragmuthosis; and that afterwards other Kings made others: Sochis, that is Sesochis, or Sesac, four, each of 48 cubits in length; Ramises, that is Ramesses, two; Smarres, that is Moeris, one of 48 cubits in length; Eraphius, or Hophra, one of 48; and Nectabis, or Nectenabis, one of 80. Mephres therefore extended his dominion over all the upper Egypt, from Syene to Heliopolis, and after him, Misphragmuthosis and Amosis, Reigned Ammon and Sesac, who erected the first great Empire in the world: and these four, Amosis, Ammon, Sesac, and Orus, Reigned in the four ages of the great Gods of Egypt; and Amenophis was the Menes who Reigned next after them: he was Succeeded by Ramesses, and Moeris, and some time after by Hophra.
Diodorus [343] recites the same Kings of Egypt with Herodotus, but in a more confused order, and repeats some of them twice, or oftener, under various names, and omits others: his Kings are these; Jupiter Ammon and Juno, Osiris and Isis, Horus, Menes, Busiris I, Busiris II, Osymanduas, Uchoreus, Myris, Sesoosis I, Sesoosis II, Amasis, Actisanes, Mendes or Marrus, Proteus, Remphis, Chembis, Cephren, Mycerinus or Cherinus, Gnephacthus, Bocchoris, Sabacon, twelve contemporary Kings, Psammitichus, * * Apries, Amasis. Here I take Sesoosis I, and Sesoosis II, Busiris I, and Busiris
The Dynasties of Manetho and Eratosthenes seem to be filled with many such names of Kings as Herodotus omitted: when it shall be made appear that any of them Reigned in Egypt after the expulsion of the Shepherds, and were different from the Kings described above, they may be inserted in their proper places.
Egypt was conquered by the Ethiopians under Sabacon, about the beginning of the AEra of Nabonassar, or perhaps three or four years before, that is, about three hundred years before Herodotus wrote his history; and about eighty years after that conquest, it was conquered again by the Assyrians under Asserhadon: and the history of Egypt set down by Herodotus from the time of this last conquest, is right both as to the number, and order, and names of the Kings, and as to the length of their Reigns: and therein he is now followed by historians, being the only author who hath given us so good a history of Egypt, for that interval of time. If his history of the earlier times be less accurate, it was because the archives of Egypt had suffered much during the Reign of the Ethiopians and Assyrians: and it is not likely that the Priests of Egypt, who lived two or three hundred years after the days of Herodotus, could mend the matter: on the contrary, after Cambyses had carried away the records of Egypt, the Priests were daily feigning new Kings, to make their Gods and nation look ancient; as is manifest by comparing Herodotus with Diodorus Siculus, and both of them with what Plato relates out of the Poem of Solon: which Poem makes the
* * * * *
CHAP. III.
Of the ASSYRIAN_ Empire._
As the Gods or ancient Deified Kings and Princes of Greece, Egypt, and Syria of Damascus, have been made much ancienter than the truth, so have those of Chaldaea and Assyria: for Diodorus [344] tells us, that when Alexander the great was in Asia, the Chaldaeans reckoned 473000 years since they first began to observe the Stars; and Ctesias, and the ancient Greek and Latin writers who copy from him, have made the Assyrian Empire as old as Noah’s flood within 60 or 70 years, and tell us the names of all the Kings of Assyria downwards, from Belus and his feigned son Ninus, to Sardanapalus the last King of that Monarchy: but the names of his Kings, except two or three, have no affinity with the names of the Assyrians mentioned in Scripture; for the Assyrians were usually named after their Gods, Bel or Pul; Chaddon, Hadon, Adon, or Adonis; Melech or Moloch; Atsur or Assur; Nebo; Nergal; Merodach: as in these names, Pul, Tiglath-Pul-Assur, Salman-Assur, Adra-Melech, Shar-Assur, Assur-Hadon, Sardanapalus or Assur-Hadon-Pul, Nabonassar or Nebo-Adon-Assur, Bel Adon, Chiniladon or Chen-El-Adon, Nebo-Pul-Assur, Nebo-Chaddon-Assur, Nebuzaradon or Nebo-Assur-Adon, Nergal-Assur, Nergal-Shar-Assur, Labo-Assur-dach, Sheseb-Assur, Beltes-Assur, Evil-Merodach, Shamgar-Nebo, Rabsaris or Rab-Assur, Nebo-Shashban, Mardocempad or Merodach-Empad. Such were the Assyrian names; but those in Ctesias are of another sort, except Sardanapalus, whose name he had met with in Herodotus. He
When the Jews were newly returned from the Babylonian captivity, they confessed their Sins in this manner, Now therefore our God, —— let not all the trouble seem little before thee that hath come upon us, on our Kings, on our Princes, and on our Priests, and on our Prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the Kings of Assyria_, unto this day_; Nehem. ix. 32. that is, since the time of the Kingdom of Assyria, or since the rise of that Empire; and therefore the Assyrian Empire arose when the Kings of Assyria began to afflict the inhabitants of Palestine; which was in the days of Pul: he and his successors afflicted Israel, and conquered the nations round about them; and upon the ruin of many small and ancient Kingdoms erected their Empire, conquering the Medes as well as other nations: but of these conquests Ctesias knew not a word, no not so much as the names of the conquerors, or that there was an Assyrian Empire then standing; for he supposes that the Medes Reigned at that time, and that the Assyrian Empire was at an end above 250 years before it began.
However we must allow that Nimrod founded a Kingdom at Babylon, and perhaps extended it into Assyria: but this Kingdom was but of small extent, if compared with the Empires which rose up afterwards; being only within the fertile plains of Chaldaea, Chalonitis and Assyria, watered by the Tigris and Euphrates: and if it had been greater, yet it was but of short continuance, it being the custom in those early ages for every father to divide his territories amongst his sons. So Noah was King of all the world, and Cham was King of all Afric, and Japhet of all Europe and Asia minor; but they left no standing Kingdoms. After the days of Nimrod, we hear no more of an Assyrian Empire ’till the days of Pul. The four Kings who in the days of Abraham invaded the southern coast of Canaan came from the countries where Nimrod had Reigned, and perhaps were some of his posterity who had shared his conquests. In the time of the Judges of Israel, Mesopotamia was under its own King, Judg. iii. 8. and the King of Zobah Reigned on both sides of the River Euphrates ’till David conquered him, 2 Sam. viii, and x. The Kingdoms of Israel, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Philistia, Zidon, Damascus, and Hamath the great, continued subject to other Lords than the Assyrians ’till the days of Pul and his successors; and so did the house of Eden, Amos i. 5. 2 Kings xix. 12. and Haran or Carrhae, Gen. xii. 2 Kings xix. 12. and Sepharvaim in Mesopotamia, and Calneh near Bagdad, Gen. x. 10, Isa. x. 9, 2 Kings xvii. 31. Sesac and Memnon were great conquerors, and Reigned over Chaldaea, Assyria, and Persia, but in their histories there is not a word of any opposition made to them by an Assyrian Empire then standing: on the contrary, Susiana, Media, Persia, Bactria, Armenia, Cappadocia, &c. were conquered by them, and continued subject to the Kings of Egypt ’till after the long Reign of Ramesses the son of Memnon, as above.
Homer mentions Bacchus and Memnon Kings of Egypt and Persia, but knew nothing of an Assyrian Empire. Jonah prophesied when Israel was in affliction under the King of Syria, and this was in the latter part of the Reign of Jehoahaz, and first part of the Reign of Joash, Kings of Israel, and I think in the Reign of Moeris the successor of Ramesses King of Egypt, and about sixty years before the Reign of Pul; and Nineveh was then a city of large extent, but full of pastures for cattle, so that it contained but about 120000
Amos prophesied in the Reign of Jeroboam the Son of Joash King of Israel, soon after Jeroboam had subdued the Kingdoms of Damascus and Hamath, that is, about ten or twenty years before the Reign of Pul: and he [345] thus reproves Israel for being lifted up by those conquests; Ye which rejoyce in a thing of nought, which say, have we not taken to us horns by our strength? But behold I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel_, saith the Lord the God of Hosts, and they shall afflict you from the entring in of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness_. God here threatens to raise up a nation against Israel; but what nation he names not; that he conceals ’till the Assyrians should appear and discover it. In the prophesies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah and Zechariah, which were written after the Monarchy grew up, it is openly named upon all occasions; but in this of Amos not once, tho’ the captivity of Israel and Syria be the subject of the prophesy, and that of Israel be often threatned: he only saith in general that Syria should go into captivity unto Kir, and that Israel, notwithstanding her present greatness, should go into captivity beyond Damascus; and that God would raise up a nation to afflict them: meaning that he would raise up above them from a lower condition, a nation whom they yet feared not: for so the Hebrew word [Hebrew: mqm] signifies when applied to men, as in Amos v. 2. 1 Sam. xii. 11. Psal. cxiii. 7. Jer. x. 20. l. 32. Hab. i. 6. Zech. xi. 16. As Amos names not the Assyrians; at the writing of this prophecy they made no great figure in the world, but were to be raised up against Israel, and by consequence rose up in the days of Pul and his successors: for after Jeroboam had conquered Damascus and Hamath, his successor Menahem destroyed Tiphsah
The same Prophet Amos, in prophesying against Israel, threatned them in this manner, with what had lately befallen other Kingdoms: Pass ye, [346] saith he, unto Calneh_ and see, and from thence go ye to Hamath the great, then go down to Gath of the Philistims. Be they better than these Kingdoms?_ These Kingdoms were not yet conquered by the Assyrians, except that of Calneh or Chalonitis upon Tigris, between Babylon and Nineveh. Gath was newly vanquished [347] by Uzziah King of Judah, and Hamath [348] by Jeroboam King of Israel: and while the Prophet, in threatning Israel with the Assyrians, instances in desolations made by other nations, and mentions no other conquest of the Assyrians than that of Chalonitis near Nineveh; it argues that the King of Nineveh was now beginning his conquests, and had not yet made any great progress in that vast career of victories, which we read of a few years after.
For about seven years after the captivity of the ten Tribes, when Sennacherib warred in Syria, which was in the 16th Olympiad, he [349] sent this message to the King of Judah: Behold, thou hast heard that the Kings of Assyria_ have done to all Lands by destroying them utterly, and shalt thou be delivered? Have the Gods of the nations delivered them which the Gods of my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan and Haran and Reseph, and the children of Eden which were in [the Kingdom of] Thelasar? Where is the King of Hamath, and the King of Arpad, and the King of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivah_? And Isaiah [350] thus introduceth the King of Assyria boasting: Are not my Princes altogether as Kings? Is not Calno [or Calneh]_ as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found the Kingdoms of the Idols, and whose graven Images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; shall I not as I have done unto Samaria and her Idols, so do to Jerusalem and her Idols?_ All this desolation is recited as fresh in memory to terrify the Jews, and these Kingdoms reach to the borders of Assyria, and to shew
In these conquests are involved on the west and south side of Assyria, the Kingdoms of Mesopotamia, whose royal seats were Haran or Carrhae, and Carchemish or Circutium, and Sepharvaim, a city upon Euphrates, between Babylon and Nineveh, called Sipparae by Berosus, Abydenus, and Polyhistor, and Sipphara by Ptolomy; and the Kingdoms of Syria seated at Samaria, Damascus, Gath, Hamath, Arpad, and Reseph, a city placed by Ptolomy near Thapsacus: on the south side and south east side were Babylon and Calneh, or Calno, a city which was founded by Nimrod, where Bagdad now stands, and gave the name of Chalonitis to a large region under its government; and Thelasar or Talatha, a city of the children of Eden, placed by Ptolomy in Babylonia, upon the common stream of Tigris and Euphrates, which was therefore the river of Paradise; and the Archevites at Areca or Erech, a city built by Nimrod on the east side of Pasitigris, between Apamia and the Persian Gulph; and the Susanchites at Cuth, or Susa, the metropolis of Susiana: on the east were Elymais, and some cities of the Medes, and Kir, [352] a city and large region of Media, between Elymais, and Assyria, called Kirene by the Chaldee Paraphrast and Latin Interpreter, and Carine by Ptolomy: on the north-east were Habor or Chaboras, a mountainous region between Assyria and Media; and the Apharsachites, or men of Arrapachitis, a region originally peopled by Arphaxad, and placed by Ptolomy at the bottom of the mountains next Assyria:
Between the Reigns of Jeroboam II, and his son Zachariah, there was an interregnum of about ten or twelve years in the Kingdom of Israel: and the prophet Hosea [355] in the time of that interregnum, or soon after, mentions the King of Assyria by the name of Jareb, and another conqueror by the name of Shalman; and perhaps Shalman might be the first part of the name of Shalmaneser, and Iareb, or Irib, for it may be read both ways, the last part of the name of his successor Sennacherib: but whoever these Princes were, it appears not that they Reigned before Shalmaneser. Pul, or Belus, seems to be the first who carried on his conquests beyond the province of Assyria: he conquered Calneh with its territories in the Reign of Jerboam, Amos i. 1. vi. 2. & Isa. x. 8, 9. and invaded Israel in the Reign of Menahem, 2 King. xv. 19. but stayed not in the land, being bought off by Menahem for a thousand talents of silver: in his Reign therefore the Kingdom of Assyria was advanced on this side Tigris: for he was a great warrior, and seems to have conquered Haran, and Carchemish, and Reseph, and Calneh, and Thelasar, and might found or enlarge the city of Babylon, and build the old palace.
Herodotus tells us, that one of the gates of Babylon was [356] called the gate of Semiramis, and than she adorned the walls of the city, and the Temple of Belus, and that she [357] was five Generations older than Nitocris the mother of Labynitus, or Nabonnedus, the last King of Babylon; and therefore she flourished four Generations, or about 134 years, before Nebuchadnezzar , and by consequence in the Reign of Tiglath-pileser the successor of Pul: and the followers of Ctesias tell us, that she built Babylon, and was the widow of the son and successor of Belus, the founder of the Assyrian Empire; that is, the widow of one of the sons of Pul: but [358] Berosus a Chaldaean blames the Greeks for ascribing the building of Babylon to Semiramis; and other authors ascribe the building of this city to Belus himself, that is to Pul; so Curtius [359] tells us; Semiramis Babylonem condiderat, vel ut plerique credidere Belus, cujus regia ostenditur: and Abydenus, who had his history from the ancient monuments of the Chaldaeans, writes, [360] [Greek: Legetai Belon Babylona teichei peribalein; toi chronoi de toi ikneumenoi aphanisthenai. teichisai de authis Nabouchodonosoron, to mechri tes Makedonion arches diameinan eon chalkopylon.] ’Tis reported that Belus_ compassed Babylon with a wall, which in time was abolished: and that Nebuchadnezzar afterwards built a new wall with brazen gates, which stood ’till the time of the Macedonian Empire_: and so Dorotheas [361] an ancient Poet of Sidon;
[Greek: Archaie Babylon, Tyriou Beloio
polisma.]
The ancient city Babylon_ built
by the Tyrian Belus_;
That is, by the Syrian or Assyrian Belus; the words Tyrian, Syrian, and Assyrian, being anciently used promiscuously for one another: Herennius [362] tells us, that it was built by the son of Belus; and this son might be Nabonassar. After the conquest of Calneh, Thelasar, and Sippare, Belus might seize Chaldaea, and begin to build Babylon, and leave it to his younger son: for all the Kings of Babylon in the Canon of Ptolemy are called Assyrians, and Nabonassar is the first of them: and Nebuchadnezzar [363] reckoned himself descended from Belus, that is, from the Assyrian Pul: and the building of Babylon is ascribed to the Assyrians by [364] Isaiah: Behold, saith he, the land of the Chaldeans_: This people was not ’till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness, [that is, for the Arabians_.]_ They set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof_.
Pul therefore was succeeded at Nineveh by his elder son Tiglath-pileser, at the same time that he left Babylon to his younger son Nabonassar. Tiglath-pileser, the second King of Assyria, warred in Phoenicia, and captivated Galilee with the two Tribes and an half, in the days of Pekah King of Israel, and placed them in Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and at the river Gozan, places lying on the western borders of Media, between Assyria and the Caspian sea, 2 King. xv. 29, &: 1 Chron. v. 26. and about the fifth or sixth year of Nabonassar, he came to the assistance of the King of Judah against the Kings of Israel and Syria, and overthrew the Kingdom of Syria, which had been seated at Damascus ever since the days of King David, and carried away the Syrians to Kir in Media, as Amos had prophesied, and placed other nations in the regions of Damascus, 2 King. xv. 37, & xvi. 5, 9. Amos i. 5. Joseph. Antiq. l. 9. c. 13. whence it seems that the Medes were conquered before, and that the Empire of the Assyrians was now grown great: for the God of Israel_ stirred up the spirit of Pul King of Assyria, and the spirit of Tiglath-pileser King of Assyria_ to make war, 1 Chron. v. 26.
Shalmaneser or Salmanasser, called Enemessar by Tobit, invaded [365] all Phoenicia, took the city of Samaria, and captivated Israel, and placed them in Chalach and Chabor, by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes; and Hosea [366] seems to say that he took Arbela: and his successor Sennacherib said that his fathers had conquered also Gozan, and Haran or Carrhae, and Reseph or Resen, and the children of Eden, and Arpad or the Aradii, 2 King. xix. 12.
Sennacherib the son of Shalmaneser in the 14th year of Hezekiah invaded Phoenicia, and took several cities of Judah, and attempted Egypt; and Sethon or Sevechus King of Egypt and Tirhakah King of Ethiopia coming against him, he lost in one night 185000 men, as some say by a plague, or perhaps by lightning, or a fiery wind which blows sometimes in the neighbouring deserts, or rather by being surprised by Sethon and Tirhakah: for the Egyptians in memory of this action erected a statue to Sethon, holding in his hand a mouse, the Egyptian symbol of destruction. Upon this defeat Sennacherib returned in haste to Nineveh, and [367] his Kingdom became troubled, so that Tobit could not go into Media, the Medes I think at this time revolting: and he was soon after slain by two of his sons who fled into Armenia, and his son Asserhadon succeeded him. At that time did Merodach Baladan or Mardocempad King of Babylon send an embassy to Hezekiah King of Judah.
Asserhadon, [368] called Sarchedon by Tobit, Asordan by the LXX, and Assaradin in Ptolomy’s Canon, began his Reign at Nineveh, in the year of Nabonassar 42; and in the year 68 extended it over Babylon: then he carried the remainder of the Samaritans into captivity, and peopled Samaria with captives brought from several parts of his Kingdom, the Dinaites, the Apharsachites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Susanchites, the Dehavites, the Elamites, Ezra iv. 2, 9. and therefore he Reigned over all these nations. Pekah and Rezin Kings of Samaria and Damascus, invaded Judaea in the first year of Ahaz, and within 65 years after, that is in the 21st year of Manasseh, Anno Nabonass. 69, Samaria by this captivity ceased to be a people, Isa. vii. 8. Then Asserhadon invaded Judaea, took Azoth, carried Manasseh captive to Babylon, and [369] captivated also Egypt, Thebais, and Ethiopia above Thebais: and by this war he seems to have put an end to the Reign of the Ethiopians over Egypt, in the year of Nabonassar 77 or 78.
In the Reign of Sennacherib and Asserhadon, the Assyrian Empire seems arrived at its greatness, being united under one Monarch, and containing Assyria, Media, Apolloniatis, Susiana, Chaldaea, Mesopotamia, Cilicia, Syria, Phoenicia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and part of Arabia, and reaching eastward into Elymais, and Paraetacene, a province
Yet the Medes revolted from the Assyrians in the latter end of the Reign of Sennacherib, I think upon the slaughter of his army near Egypt and his flight to Nineveh: for at that time the estate of Sennacherib was troubled, so that Tobit could not go into Media as he had done before, Tobit i. 15. and some time after, Tobit advised his son to go into Media where he might expect peace, while Nineveh, according to the prophesy of Jonah, should be destroyed. Ctesias wrote that Arbaces a Mede being admitted to see Sardanapalus in his palace, and observing his voluptuous life amongst women, revolted with the Medes, and in conjunction with Belesis a Babylonian overcame him, and caused him to set fire to his palace and burn himself: but he is contradicted by other authors of better credit; for Duris and [371] many others wrote that Arbaces upon being admitted into the palace of Sardanapalus, and seeing his effeminate life, slew himself; and Cleitarchus, that Sardanapalus died of old age, after he had lost his dominion over Syria: he lost it by the revolt of the western nations; and Herodotus [372] tells us, that the Medes revolted first, and defended their liberty by force of arms against the Assyrians, without conquering them; and at their first revolting had no King, but after some time set up Dejoces over them, and built Ecbatane for his residence; and that Dejoces Reigned only over Media, and had a peaceable Reign of 54 years, but his son and successor Phraortes made war upon his neighbours, and conquered Persia; and that the Syrians also, and other western nations, at length revolted from the Assyrians, being encouraged thereunto by the example of the Medes; and that after the revolt of the western nations, Phraortes invaded the Assyrians, but was slain by them in that war, after he had Reigned twenty and two years. He was succeeded by Astyages.
Now Asserhadon seems to be the Sardanapalus who died of old age after the revolt of Syria, the name Sardanapalus being derived from Asserhadon-Pul. Sardanapalus was the [373] son of Anacyndaraxis, Cyndaraxis, or Anabaxaris, King of Assyria; and this name seems to have been corruptly written for Sennacherib the father of Asserhadon. Sardanapalus built Tarsus and Anchiale in one day, and therefore Reigned over Cilicia, before the revolt of the western nations: and if he be the same King with Asserhadon, he was succeeded by Saosduchinus in the year of Nabonassar 81; and by this revolution Manasseh was set at liberty to return home and fortify Jerusalem: and the Egyptians also, after the Assyrians had harrassed Egypt and Ethiopia three years, Isa. xx. 3, 4. were set at liberty, and continued under twelve contemporary Kings of their own nation, as above. The Assyrians invaded and conquered the Egyptians the first of the three years, and Reigned over them two years more: and these two years are the interregnum which Africanus, from Manetho, places next before the twelve Kings. The Scythians of Touran or Turquestan beyond the river Oxus began in those days to infest Persia, and by one of their inroads might give occasion to the revolt of the western nations.
In the year of Nabonassar 101, Saosduchinus, after a Reign of twenty years, was succeeded at Babylon by Chyniladon, and I think at Nineveh also, for I take Chyniladon to be that Nabuchodonosor who is mentioned in the book of Judith; for the history of that King suits best with these times: for there it is said that __Nabuchodonosor_ King of the Assyrians who Reigned at Nineveh, that great city, in the twelfth year of his Reign made war upon Arphaxad King of the Medes_, and was then left alone by a defection of the auxiliary nations of Cilicia, Damascus, Syria, Phoenicia, Moab, Ammon, and Egypt; and without their help routed the army of the Medes, and slew Arphaxad: and Arphaxad is there said to have built Ecbatane and therefore was either Dejoces, or his son Phraortes, who might finish the city founded by his father: and Herodotus [374] tells the same story of a King of Assyria, who routed the Medes, and slew their King Phraortes; and saith that in the time of this war the Assyrians were left alone by the defection of the auxiliary nations, being otherwise in good condition: Arphaxad was therefore the Phraortes of Herodotus, and by consequence was slain near the beginning of the Reign of Josiah: for this war was made
After this war Nabuchodonosor King of Assyria,
in the 13th year of his Reign, according to the version
of Jerom, sent his captain Holofernes
with a great army to avenge himself on all the west
country; because they had disobeyed his commandment:
and Holofernes went forth with an army of 12000
horse, and 120000 foot of Assyrians, Medes
and Persians, and reduced Cilicia, Mesopotamia,
and Syria, and Damascus, and part of
Arabia, and Ammon, and Edom, and
Madian, and then came against Judaea:
and this was done when the government was in the hands
of the High-Priest and Antients of Israel,
Judith iv. 8. and vii. 23. and by consequence
not in the Reign of Manasseh or Amon,
but when Josiah was a child. In times
of prosperity the children of Israel were apt
to go after false Gods, and in times of affliction
to repent and turn to the Lord. So Manasseh
a very wicked King, being captivated by the Assyrians,
repented; and being released from captivity restored
the worship of the true God: So when we are told
that Josiah in the eighth year of his Reign, while
he was yet young, began to seek after the God of David_
his father, and in the twelfth year of his Reign began
to purge Judah and Jerusalem from Idolatry,
and to destroy the High Places, and Groves, and Altars
and Images of Baalim_, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 3. we
may understand that these acts of religion were occasioned
by impending dangers, and escapes from danger.
When Holofernes came against the western nations,
and spoiled them, then were the Jews terrified,
and they fortified Judaea, and cryed unto
God with great fervency, and humbled themselves in
Page 147
sackcloth, and put ashes on their heads, and cried
unto the God of Israel_ that he would not give
their wives and their children and cities for a prey,
and the Temple for a profanation: and the High-priest,
and all the Priests put on sackcloth and ashes, and
offered daily burnt offerings with vows and free gifts
of the people_, Judith iv. and then began Josiah
to seek after the God of his father David:
and after Judith had slain Holofernes,
and the Assyrians were fled, and the Jews
who pursued them were returned to Jerusalem,
they worshipped the Lord, and offered burnt offerings
and gifts, and continued feasting before the sanctuary
for the space of three months, Judith xvi.
18, and then did Josiah purge Judah
and Jerusalem from Idolatry. Whence it
seems to me that the eighth year of Josiah
fell in with the fourteenth or fifteenth of Nabuchodonosor,
and that the twelfth year of Nabuchodonosor,
in which Phraortes was slain, was the fifth
or sixth of Josiah. Phraortes Reigned
22 years according to Herodotus, and therefore
succeeded his father Dejoces about the 40th
year of Manasseh, Anno Nabonass. 89,
and was slain by the Assyrians, and succeeded
by Astyages, Anno Nabonass. 111. Dejoces
Reigned 53 years according to Herodotus, and
these years began in the 16th year of Hezekiah;
which makes it probable that the Medes dated
them from the time of their revolt: and according
to all this reckoning, the Reign of Nabuchodonosor
fell in with that of Chyniladon; which makes
it probable that they were but two names of one and
the same King.
Soon after the death of Phraortes [375] the Scythians under Madyes or Medus invaded Media, and beat the Medes in battle, Anno Nabonass. 113, and went thence towards Egypt, but were met in Phoenicia by Psammitichus and bought off, and returning Reigned over a great part of Asia: but in the end of about 28 years were expelled; many of their Princes and commanders being slain in a feast by the Medes under the conduct of Cyaxeres, the successor of Astyages, just before the destruction of Nineveh, and the rest being soon after forced to retire.
In the year of Nabonassar 123, [376] Nabopolassar the commander of the forces of Chyniladon the King of Assyria in Chaldaea revolted from him, and became King of Babylon; and Chyniladon was either then, or soon after, succeeded at Nineveh by the last King of Assyria, called Sarac by Polyhistor: and at length Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopolassar, married Amyite the daughter of Astyages and sister of Cyaxeres; and by this marriage the two families having contracted
While the Assyrians Reigned at Nineveh, Persia was divided into several Kingdoms; and amongst others there was a Kingdom of Elam, which flourished in the days of Hezekiah, Manasseh, Josiah, and Jehoiakim Kings of Judah, and fell in the days of Zedekiah, Jer. xxv. 25, and xlix. 34, and Ezek. xxxii. 24. This Kingdom seems to have been potent, and to have had wars with the King of Touran or Scythia beyond the river Oxus with various success, and at length to have been subdued by the Medes and Babylonians, or one of them. For while Nebuchadnezzar warred in the west, Cyaxeres
* * * * *
CHAP. IV.
Of the two Contemporary Empires of the Babylonians_ and Medes._
By the fall of the Assyrian Empire the Kingdoms of the Babylonians and Medes grew great and potent. The Reigns of the Kings of Babylon are stated in Ptolemy’s Canon: for understanding of which you are to note that every King’s Reign in that Canon began with the last Thoth of his predecessor’s Reign, as I gather by comparing the Reigns of the Roman Emperors in that Canon with their Reigns recorded in years, months, and days, by other Authors: whence it appears from that Canon that Asserhadon died in the year of Nabonassar 81, Saosduchinus his successor in the year 101, Chyniladon in the year 123, Nabopolassar in the year 144, and Nebuchadnezzar in the year 187. All these Kings, and some others mentioned in the Canon, Reigned successively over Babylon, and this last King died in the 37th year of Jechoniah’s captivity, 2 Kings xxv. 27. and therefore Jechoniah was captivated in the 150th year of Nabonassar.
This captivity was in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s Reign, 2 Kings xxiv. 12. and eleventh of Jehoiakim’s: for the first year of Nebuchadnezzar’s Reign was the fourth of Jehoiakim’s, Jer. xxv. i. and Jehoiakim Reigned eleven years before this captivity, 2 Kings xxiii. 36. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 5, and Jechoniah three months, ending with the captivity; and the tenth year of Jechoniah’s captivity, was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s Reign, Jer. xxxii. 1. and the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in which Jerusalem was taken, was the nineteenth of Nebuchadnezzar, Jer. lii. 5, 12. and therefore Nebuchadnezzar began his Reign in the year of Nabonassar 142, that is, two years before the death of his father Nabopolassar, he being then made King by his father; and Jehoiakim succeeded his father Josiah in the year of Nabonassar 139; and Jerusalem was taken and the Temple burnt in the year of Nabonassar 160, about twenty years after the destruction of Nineveh.
The Reign of Darius Hystaspis over Persia, by the Canon and the consent of all Chronologers, and by several Eclipses of the Moon, began in spring in the year of Nabonassar 227: and in the fourth year of King Darius_, in the 4th day of the ninth month, which is the month Chisleu, when the Jews had sent unto the house of God, saying, should I weep in the fifth month as I have done these so many years? the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying, speak to all the people of the Land, and to the Priests, saying; when ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me?_ Zech. vii. Count backwards those seventy years in which they fasted in the fifth month for the burning of the Temple, and in the seventh for the death of Gedaliah; and the burning of the Temple and death of Gedaliah, will fall upon the fifth and seventh Jewish months, in the year of Nabonassar 160, as above.
As the Chaldaean Astronomers counted the Reigns of their Kings by the years of Nabonassar, beginning with the month Thoth, so the Jews, as their Authors tell us, counted the Reigns of theirs by the years of Moses, beginning every year with the month Nisan: for if any King began his Reign a few days before this month began, it was reckoned to him for a whole year, and the beginning of this month was accounted the beginning of the second year of his Reign; and according to this reckoning the first year of Jehojakim began with the month Nisan, Anno Nabonass. 139, tho’ his Reign might not really begin ’till five or six months after; and the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and first of Nebuchadnezzar, according to the reckoning of the Jews, began with the month Nisan, Anno Nabonass. 142; and the first year of Zedekiah and of Jeconiah’s captivity, and ninth year of Nebuchadnezzar, began with the month Nisan, in the year of Nabonassar 150; and the tenth year of Zedekiah, and 18th of Nebuchadnezzar, began with the month Nisan in the year of Nabonassar 159. Now in the ninth year of Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judaea and the cities thereof and in the tenth month of that year, and tenth day of the month, he and his host besieged Jerusalem, 2 Kings xxv. 1. Jer. xxxiv. 1, xxxix. 1, and lii. 4. From this time to the tenth month in the second year of Darius are just seventy years, and accordingly, upon the 24th day of the eleventh month of the second year of Darius_, the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah,—and the Angel of the Lord said, Oh Lord of Hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation, these threescore and ten years_,
By all these characters the years of Jehoiakim, Zedekiah, and Nebuchadnezzar, seem to be sufficiently determined, and thereby the Chronology of the Jews in the Old Testament is connected with that of later times: for between the death of Solomon and the ninth year of Zedekiah wherein Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judaea, and began the Siege of Jerusalem, there were 390 years, as is manifest both by the prophesy of Ezekiel, chap. iv, and by summing up the years of the Kings of Judah; and from the ninth year of Zedekiah inclusively to the vulgar AEra of Christ, there were 590 years: and both these numbers, with half the Reign of Solomon, make up a thousand years.
In the [378] end of the Reign of Josiah, Anno Nabonass. 139, Pharaoh Nechoh, the successor of Psammitichus, came with a great army out of Egypt against the King of Assyria, and being denied passage through Judaea, beat the Jews at Megiddo or Magdolus before Egypt, slew Josiah their King, marched to Carchemish or Circutium, a town of Mesopotamia upon Euphrates, and took it, possest himself of the cities of Syria, sent for Jehoahaz the new King of Judah to Riblah or Antioch, deposed him there, made Jehojakim King in the room of Josiah, and put the Kingdom of Judah to tribute: but the King of Assyria being in the mean time besieged and subdued, and Nineveh destroyed by Assuerus King of the Medes, and Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, and the conquerors being thereby entitled to the countries belonging to the King of Assyria, they led their victorious armies against the King of Egypt who had seized part of them. For Nebuchadnezzar, assisted [379] by Astibares, that is, by Astivares, Assuerus, Acksweres, Axeres, or Cy-Axeres, King of the Medes, in the [380] third year of Jehoiakim, came with an army of Babylonians, Medes, Syrians, Moabites and Ammonites, to the number of 10000 chariots, and 180000 foot, and 120000 horse, and laid waste Samaria, Galilee, Scythopolis, and the Jews in Galaaditis, and besieged Jerusalem, and took King Jehoiakim alive, and [381] bound him in chains for a time, and
Whilst Nebuchadnezzar was acting in Syria, [384] his father Nabopolassar died, having Reigned 21 years; and Nebuchadnezzar upon the news thereof, having ordered his affairs in Syria returned to Babylon, leaving the captives and his army with his servants to follow him: and from henceforward he applied himself sometimes to war, conquering Sittacene, Susiana, Arabia, Edom, Egypt, and some other countries; and sometimes to peace, adorning the Temple of Belus with the spoils that he had taken; and the city of Babylon with magnificent walls and gates, and stately palaces and pensile gardens, as Berosus relates; and amongst other things he cut the new rivers Naarmalcha and Pallacopas above Babylon and built the city of Teredon.
Judaea was now in servitude under the King of Babylon, being invaded and subdued in the third and fourth years of Jehoiakim, and Jehoiakim_ served him three years, and then turned and rebelled_, 2 King. xxiv. 1. While Nebuchadnezzar and the army of the Chaldaeans continued in Syria, Jehojakim was under compulsion; after they returned to Babylon, Jehojakim continued in fidelity three years, that is, during the 7th, 8th and 9th years of his Reign, and rebelled in the tenth: whereupon in the return or end of the year, that is in spring, he sent [385] and besieged Jerusalem, captivated Jeconiah the son and successor of Jehoiakim, spoiled the Temple, and carried away to Babylon the Princes, craftsmen, smiths, and all that were fit for war: and, when none remained but the poorest of the people, made [386] Zedekiah their King, and bound him upon oath to serve the King of Babylon: this was in spring in the end of the eleventh year of Jehoiakim, and beginning of the year of Nabonassar 150.
Zedekiah notwithstanding his oath [387] revolted, and made a covenant with the King of Egypt, and therefore Nebuchadnezzar in the ninth year of Zedekiah [388] invaded Judaea and the cities thereof, and in the tenth Jewish month of that year besieged Jerusalem again, and in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the 4th and 5th months, after a siege of one year and an half, took and burnt the City and Temple.
Nebuchadnezzar after he was made King by his father Reigned over Phoenicia and Coele-Syria 45 years, and [389] after the death of his father 43 years, and [390] after the captivity of Jeconiah 37; and then was succeeded by his son Evilmerodach, called Iluarodamus in Ptolemy’s Canon. Jerome [391] tells us, that Evilmerodach Reigned seven years in his father’s life-time, while his father did eat grass with oxen, and after his father’s restoration was put in prison with Jeconiah King of Judah ’till the death of his father, and then succeeded in the Throne. In the fifth year of Jeconiah’s captivity, Belshazzar was next in dignity to his father Nebuchadnezzar, and was designed to be his successor, Baruch i. 2, 10, 11, 12, 14, and therefore Evilmerodach was even then in disgrace. Upon his coming to the Throne [392] he brought his friend and companion Jeconiah out of prison on the 27th day of the twelfth month; so that Nebuchadnezzar died in the end of winter, Anno Nabonass. 187.
Evilmerodach Reigned two years after his father’s death, and for his lust and evil manners was slain by his sister’s husband Neriglissar, or Nergalassar, Nabonass. 189, according to the Canon.
Neriglissar, in the name of his young son Labosordachus, or Laboasserdach, the grand-child of Nebuchadnezzar by his daughter, Reigned four years, according to the Canon and Berosus, including the short Reign of Laboasserdach alone: for Laboasserdach, according to Berosus and Josephus, Reigned nine months after the death of his father, and then for his evil manners was slain in a feast, by the conspiracy of his friends with Nabonnedus a Babylonian, to whom by consent they gave the Kingdom: but these nine months are not reckoned apart in the Canon.
Nabonnedus or Nabonadius, according to the Canon, began his Reign in the year of Nabonassar 193, Reigned seventeen years, and ended his Reign in the year of Nabonassar 210, being then vanquished and Babylon taken by Cyrus.
Herodotus calls this last King of Babylon, Labynitus, and says that he was the son of a former Labynitus, and of Nitocris an eminent Queen of Babylon: by the father he seems to understand that Labynitus, who, as he tells us, was King of Babylon when the great Eclipse of the Sun predicted by Thales put an end to the five years war between the Medes and Lydians; and this was the great Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel [393] calls the last King of Babylon, Belshazzar, and saith that Nebuchadnezzar was his father: and Josephus tells us, [394] that the last King of Babylon was called Naboandel by the Babylonians, and Reigned
Herodotus [395] tells us, that there were two famous Queens of Babylon, Semiramis and Nitocris; and that the latter was more skilful: she observing that the Kingdom of the Medes, having subdued many cities, and among others Nineveh, was become great and potent, intercepted and fortified the passages out of Media into Babylonia; and the river which before was straight, she made crooked with great windings, that it might be more sedate and less apt to overflow: and on the side of the river above Babylon, in imitation of the Lake of Moeris in Egypt, she dug a Lake every way forty miles broad, to receive the water of the river, and keep it for watering the land. She built also a bridge over the river in the middle of Babylon, turning the stream into the Lake ’till the bridge was built. Philostratus saith, [396] that she made a bridge under the river two fathoms broad, meaning an arched vault over which the river flowed, and under which they might walk cross the river: he calls her [Greek: Medeia], a Mede.
Berosus tells us, that Nebuchadnezzar built a pensile garden upon arches, because his wife was a Mede and delighted in mountainous prospects, such as abounded in Media, but were wanting in Babylonia: she was Amyite the daughter of Astyages, and sister of Cyaxeres, Kings of the Medes. Nebuchadnezzar married her upon a league between the two families against the King of Assyria: but Nitocris might be another woman who in the Reign of her son Labynitus, a voluptuous and vicious King, took care of his affairs, and for securing his Kingdom against the Medes, did the works above mentioned. This is that Queen mentioned in Daniel, chap. v. ver. 10.
Josephus [397] relates out of the Tyrian records, that in the Reign of Ithobalus King of Tyre, that city was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar thirteen years together: in the end of that siege Ithobalus their King was slain, Ezek. xxviii. 8, 9, 10. and after him, according to the Tyrian records, Reigned Baal ten years, Ecnibalus and Chelbes one year, Abbarus three months, Mytgonus and Gerastratus six years, Balatorus one year, Merbalus four years, and Iromus twenty years: and in the fourteenth year of Iromus, say the Tyrian records, the Reign of Cyrus began in Babylonia; therefore the siege of Tyre began 48 years and some months before the Reign of Cyrus in Babylonia: it began when Jerusalem had been newly taken and burnt, with the Temple, Ezek. xxvi and by consequence after the eleventh year of Jeconiah’s captivity, or 160th year of Nabonassar, and therefore the Reign of Cyrus in Babylonia began after the year of Nabonassar 208: it ended before the eight and twentieth year of Jeconiah’s captivity, or 176th year of Nabonassar, Ezek. xxix. 17. and therefore the Reign of Cyrus in Babylonia began before the year of Nabonassar 211. By this argument the first year of Cyrus in Babylonia was one of the two intermediate years 209, 210. Cyrus invaded Babylonia in the year of Nabonassar 209; [398] Babylon held out, and the next year was taken, Jer. li. 39, 57. by diverting the river Euphrates, and entring the city through the emptied channel, and by consequence after midsummer: for the river, by the melting of the snow in Armenia, overflows yearly in the beginning of summer, but in the heat of dimmer grows low. [399] And that night was the King of Babylon_ slain, and Darius the Mede, or King of the Medes, took the Kingdom being about threescore and two years old_: so then Babylon was taken a month or two after the summer solstice, in the year of Nabonassar 210; as the Canon also represents.
The Kings of the Medes before Cyrus were Dejoces, Phraortes, Astyages, Cyaxeres, or Cyaxares, and Darius: the three first Reigned before the Kingdom grew great, the two last were great conquerors, and erected the Empire; for AEschylus, who flourished in the Reigns of Darius Hystaspis, and Xerxes, and died in the 76th Olympiad, introduces Darius thus complaining of those who persuaded his son Xerxes to invade Greece; [400]
[Greek: Toigar sphin ergon estin exeirgasmenon] [Greek: Megiston, aieimneston hoion oudepo,] [Greek: To d’ asty Souson exekeinosen peson;] [Greek: Ex houte timen Zeus anax tend’ opasen] [Greek: En andra pases Asiados melotrophou] [Greek: Tagein, echonta skeptron euthynterion] [Greek: Medos gar en ho protos hegemon stratou;] [Greek: Allos d’ ekeinou pais tod’ ergon enyse;] [Greek: Phrenes gar autou thymon oiakostrophoun.] [Greek: Tritos d’ ap’ autou Kyros, eudaimon aner,] &c.
They have done a work The greatest, and most memorable, such as never happen’d, For it has emptied the falling Sufa_:_ From the time that King Jupiter granted this honour, That one man should Reign over all fruitful Asia_,_ Having the imperial Scepter. For he that first led the Army was a Mede_;_ The next, who was his son, finisht the work, For prudence directed his soul; The third was Cyrus_, a happy man_, &c.
The Poet here attributes the founding of the Medo-Persian Empire to the two immediate predecessors of Cyrus, the first of which was a Mede, and the second was his son: the second was Darius the Mede, the immediate predecessor of Cyrus, according to Daniel; and therefore the first was the father of Darius, that is, Achsuerus, Assuerus, Oxyares, Axeres, Prince Axeres, or Cy-Axeres, the word Cy signifying a Prince: for Daniel tells us, that Darius was the son of Achsuerus, or Ahasuerus, as the Masoretes erroneously call him, of the seed of the Medes, that is, of the seed royal: this is that Assuerus who together with Nebuchadnezzar took and destroyed Nineveh, according to Tobit: which action is by the Greeks ascribed to Cyaxeres, and by Eupolemus to Astibares, a name perhaps corruptly written for Assuerus. By this victory over the Assyrians, and subversion of their Empire seated at Nineveh, and the ensuing conquests of Armenia, Cappadocia and Persia, he began to extend the Reign of one man over all Asia; and his son Darius the Mede, by conquering the Kingdoms of Lydia and Babylon, finished the work: and the third King was Cyrus, a happy man for his great successes under and against Darius, and large and peaceable dominion in his own Reign.
Cyrus lived seventy years, according to Cicero, and Reigned nine years over Babylon, according to Ptolemy’s Canon, and therefore was 61 years old at the taking of Babylon; at which time Darius the Mede was 62 years old, according to Daniel: and therefore Darius was two Generations younger than Astyages, the grandfather of Cyrus: for Astyages,
Herodotus therefore [404] hath inverted the order of the Kings Astyages and Cyaxeres, making Cyaxeres to be the son and successor of Phraortes, and the father and predecessor of Astyages the father of Mandane, and grandfather of Cyrus, and telling us, that this Astyages married Ariene the daughter of Alyattes King of Lydia, and was at length taken prisoner and deprived of his dominion by Cyrus: and Pausanias hath copied after Herodotus, in telling us that Astyages the son of Cyaxeres Reigned in Media in the days of Alyattes King of Lydia. Cyaxeres had a son who married Ariene the daughter of Alyattes; but this son was not the father of Mandane, and grandfather of Cyrus, but of the same age with Cyrus: and his true name is preserved in the name of the Darics, which upon the conquest of Croesus by the conduct of his General Cyrus, he coyned out of the gold and silver of the conquered Lydians: his name was therefore Darius, as he is called by Daniel; for Daniel tells us, that this Darius was a Mede, and that his father’s name was Assuerus, that is Axeres or Cyaxeres, as above: considering therefore that Cyaxeres Reigned long, and that no author mentions more Kings of Media than one called Astyages, and that AEschylus who lived in those days knew but of two great Monarchs of Media and Persia, the father and the son, older than Cyrus; it seems to me that Astyages, the father of Mandane and grandfather of Cyrus, was the father and predecessor of Cyaxeres; and that the son and successor of Cyaxeres was called Darius. Cyaxeres, [405] according
Of all the Kings of the Medes, Cyaxeres was greatest warrior. Herodotus [406] saith that he was much more valiant than his ancestors, and that he was the first who divided the Kingdom into provinces, and reduced the irregular and undisciplined forces of the Medes into discipline and order: and therefore by the testimony of Herodotus he was that King of the Medes whom AEschylus makes the first conqueror and founder of the Empire; for Herodotus represents him and his son to have been the two immediate predecessors of Cyrus, erring only in the name of the son. Astyages did nothing glorious: in the beginning of his Reign a great body of Scythians commanded by Madyes, [407] invaded Media and Parthia, as above, and Reigned there about 28 years; but at length his son Cyaxeres circumvented and slew them in a feast, and made the rest fly to their brethren in Parthia; and immediately after, in conjunction with Nebuchadnezzar, invaded and subverted the Kingdom of Assyria, and destroyed Nineveh.
In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which the Jews reckon to be the first of Nebuchadnezzar, dating his Reign from his being made King by his father, or from the month Nisan preceding, when the victors had newly shared the Empire of the Assyrians, and in prosecuting their victory were invading Syria and Phoenicia, and were ready to invade the nations round about; God [408] threatned that he would take all the families of the North, that is, the armies of the Medes,_ and Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon, and bring them against Judaea and against the nations round about, and utterly destroy those nations, and make them an astonishment and lasting desolations, and cause them all to drink the wine-cup of his fury_; and in particular, he names the Kings of Judah_ and Egypt, and those of Edom, and Moab, and Ammon, and Tyre, and Zidon, and the Isles of the Sea, and Arabia, and Zimri, and all the Kings of Elam, and all the Kings of the Medes, and all the Kings of the North, and the King of Sesac; and that after seventy years, he would also punish the King of Babylon_. Here, in numbering the nations which should suffer, he omits the Assyrians as fallen already, and names the Kings of Elam or Persia, and Sesac or Susa, as distinct from those of the Medes and Babylonians; and therefore the Persians were not yet subdued by the Medes, nor the King of Susa by the Chaldaeans; and as by the punishment of the King of Babylon he means the conquest of Babylon by the Medes; so by the punishment of the Medes he seems to mean the conquest of the Medes by Cyrus.
After this, in the beginning of the Reign of Zedekiah, that is, in the ninth year of Nebuchadnezzar, God threatned that he would give the Kingdoms of Edom_, Moab, and Ammon, and Tyre and Zidon, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, and that all the nations should serve him, and his son, and his son’s son until the very time of his land should come, and many nations and great Kings should serve themselves of him_, Jer. xxvii. And at the same time God thus predicted the approaching conquest of the Persians by the Medes and their confederates: Behold, saith he, I will break the bow of Elam_, the chief of their might: and upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them towards all those winds, and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come: for I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life; and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the Lord; and I will send the sword after them ’till I have consumed them; and I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the King and the Princes, saith the Lord: but it shall come to pass in the latter days, viz. in the Reign of Cyrus_,_ that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the Lord._ Jer. xlix. 35, _&c._ The Persians were therefore hitherto a free nation under their own King, but soon after this were invaded, subdued, captivated, and dispersed into the nations round about, and continued in servitude until the Reign of Cyrus: and since the Medes and Chaldaeans did not conquer the Persians ’till after the ninth year of Nebuchadnezzar, it gives us occasion to enquire what that active warrior Cyaxeres was doing next after the taking of Nineveh.
When Cyaxeres expelled the Scythians, [409] some of them made their peace with him, and staid in Media, and presented to him daily some of the venison which they took in hunting: but happening one day to catch nothing, Cyaxeres in a passion treated them with opprobrious language: this they resented, and soon after killed one of the children of the Medes, dressed it like venison, and presented it to Cyaxeres, and then fled to Alyattes King of Lydia; whence followed a war of five years between the two Kings Cyaxeres and Alyattes: and thence I gather that the Kingdoms of the Medes and Lydians were now contiguous, and by consequence that Cyaxeres, soon after the conquest of Nineveh, seized the regions belonging to the Assyrians, as far as to the river Halys. In the sixth year of this war, in the midst of a battel between the two Kings, there was a total Eclipse of the Sun, predicted by Thales; [410] and this Eclipse fell upon
In the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s Reign, the year in which Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple, Ezekiel comparing the Kingdoms of the East to trees in the garden of Eden, thus mentions their being conquered by the Kings of the Medes and Chaldaeans: Behold, saith he, the Assyrian was a Cedar in Lebanon with fair branches,—his height was exalted above all the trees of the field,—and under his shadow dwelt all great nations,—not any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty:—but I have delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen,—I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to the grave with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden_, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth: they also went down into the grave with him, unto them that be slain with the sword, and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen,_ Ezek. xxxi.
The next year Ezekiel, in another prophesy, thus enumerates the principal nations who had been subdued and slaughtered by the conquering sword of Cyaxeres and Nebuchadnezzar. __Asthur_ is there and all her company, viz. in Hades_ or the lower parts of the earth, where the dead bodies lay buried_, his graves are about him; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused their terrour in the land of the living. There is Elam, and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terrour in the land of the living: yet have they born their shame with them that go down into the pit.—There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude [411]; her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terrour in the land of the living.—There is Edom, her Kings, and all her Princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword.—There be the Princes of the North all of them, and all the Zidonians, which with their terrour are gone down with the slain_, Ezek. xxxii. Here by the Princes of the North I understand those on the north
Now this is that Darius who coined a great number of pieces of pure gold called Darics, or Stateres Darici: for Suidas, Harpocration, and the Scholiast of Aristophanes> [415] tell us, that these were coined not by the father of Xerxes, but by an earlier Darius, by Darius the first, by the first King of the Medes and Persians who coined gold money. They were stamped on one side with the effigies of an Archer, who was crowned with a spiked crown, had a bow in his left hand, and an arrow in his right, and was cloathed with a long robe; I have seen one of them in gold, and another in silver: they were of the same weight and value with the Attic Stater or piece of gold money weighing two Attic drachms. Darius seems to have learnt the art and use of money from the conquered Kingdom of the Lydians, and to have recoined their gold: for the Medes, before they conquered the Lydians, had no money. Herodotus [416] tells us, that when Croesus was preparing to invade Cyrus, a certain Lydian_ called Sandanis advised him, that he was preparing an expedition against a nation who were cloathed with leathern breeches, who eat not such victuals as they would, but such as their barren country afforded; who drank no wine, but water only, who eat no figs nor other good meat, who had nothing to lose, but might get much from the Lydians_: for the Persians__, saith Herodotus, before they conquered the Lydians_, had nothing rich or valuable_: and [417] Isaiah tells us, that the Medes_ regarded not silver, nor delighted in gold_; but the
And since the cup of Semiramis was preserved ’till the conquest of Croesus by Darius, it is not probable that she could be older than is represented by Herodotus.
This conquest of the Kingdom of Lydia put the Greeks into fear of the Medes: for Theognis, who lived at Megara in the very times of these wars, writes thus, [420]
[Greek: Pinomen, charienta met’
alleloisi legontes,]
[Greek: Meden ton Medon
deidiotes polemon.]
Let us drink, talking pleasant things
with one another,
Not fearing the war of
the Medes_._
And again, [421]
[Greek: Autos de straton hybristen
Medon aperyke]
[Greek: Tesde poleus,
hina soi laoi en euphrosynei]
[Greek: Eros eperchomenou kleitas
pempos’ hekatombas,]
[Greek: Terpomenoi kithare
kai eratei thaliei,]
[Greek: Paianonte chorois, iachosi
te, son peri bomon.]
[Greek: E gar egoge dedoik’,
aphradien esoron]
[Greek: Kai stasin Hellenon laophthoron;
alla sy Phoibe,]
[Greek: Hilaos hemeteren
tende phylasse polin.]
Thou Apollo_ drive away the injurious
army of the Medes_
From this city, that the
people may with joy
Send thee choice hecatombs in the spring,
Delighted with the harp
and chearful feasting,
And chorus’s of Poeans_ and
acclamations about thy altar_.
For truly I am afraid,
beholding the folly
And sedition of the Greeks_, which
corrupts the people: but thou
Apollo,_
Being propitious, keep
this our city.
The Poet tells us further that discord had destroyed Magnesia, Colophon, and Smyrna, cities of Ionia and Phrygia, and would destroy the Greeks; which is as much as to say that the Medes had then conquered those cities.
The Medes therefore Reigned ’till the taking of Sardes: and further, according to Xenophon and the Scriptures, they Reigned ’till the taking of Babylon: for Xenophon [422] tells us, that after the taking of Babylon, Cyrus went to the King of the Medes at Ecbatane and succeeded him in the Kingdom: and Jerom, [423] that Babylon_ was taken by Darius King of the Medes and his kinsman Cyrus_: and the Scriptures tell us, that Babylon was destroyed by a nation out of the north, Jerem. l. 3, 9, 41. by the Kingdoms of Ararat Minni, or Armenia_, and Ashchenez, or Phrygia minor___, Jer. li. 27. by the Medes, Isa. xiii. 17, 19. by the Kings of the Medes_ and the captains and rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion_, Jer. li. 11, 28. The Kingdom of Babylon was numbred and finished and broken and given to the Medes_ and Persians_, Dan. v. 26. 28. first to the Medes under Darius, and then to the Persians under Cyrus: for Darius Reigned over Babylon like a conqueror, not observing the laws of the Babylonians, but introducing the immutable laws of the conquering nations, the Medes and Persians, Dan. vi. 8, 12, 15; and the Medes in his Reign are set before the Persians, Dan. ib. & v. 28, & viii. 20. as the Persians were afterwards in the Reign of Cyrus and his successors set before the Medes, Esther i. 3, 14, 18, 19. Dan. x. 1, 20. and xi. 2. which shews that in the Reign of Darius the Medes were uppermost.
You may know also by the great number of provinces in the Kingdom of Darius, that he was King of the Medes and Persians: for upon the conquest of Babylon, he set over the whole Kingdom an hundred and twenty Princes, Dan. vi. 1. and afterwards when Cambyses and Darius Hystaspis had added some new territories, the whole contained but 127 provinces.
The extent of the Babylonian Empire was much the same with that of Nineveh after the revolt of the Medes. Berosus saith that Nebuchadnezzar held Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia and Arabia: and Strabo adds Arbela to the territories of Babylon; and saying that Babylon was anciently the metropolis of Assyria, he thus describes the limits of this Assyrian Empire. Contiguous, [424] saith he, to Persia_ and Susiana are the Assyrians: for so they call Babylonia, and the greatest part of the region about it: part of which is Arturia, wherein is Ninus [or_ Nineveh;]_ and Apolloniatis, and the Elymaeans, and the Paraetacae, and Chalonitis by the mountain Zagrus,
When Cyrus took Babylon, he changed the Kingdom into a Satrapy or Province: whereby the bounds were long after known: and by this means Herodotus [426] gives us an estimate of the bigness of this Monarchy in proportion to that of the Persians, telling us that whilst every region over which the King of Persia_ Reigned in his days, was distributed for the nourishment of his army, besides the tributes, the Babylonian region nourished him four months of the twelve in the year, and all the rest of Asia eight: so the power of the region_, saith he, is equivalent to the third part of Asia_, and its Principality, which the Persians call a Satrapy, is far the best of all the Provinces_.
Babylon [427] was a square city of 120 furlongs, or 15 miles on every side, compassed first with a broad and deep ditch, and then with a wall fifty cubits thick, and two hundred high. Euphrates flowed through the middle of it southward, a few leagues on this side Tigris: and in the middle of one half westward stood the King’s new Palace, built by Nebuchadnezzar; and in the middle of the other half stood the Temple of Belus, with the old Palace between that Temple and the river: this old Palace was built by the Assyrians,
Quique magos docuit mysteria vana Necepsos:
And Diodorus, [429] they say that the Chaldaeans_ in Babylonia are colonies of the Egyptians, and being taught by the Priests of Egypt became famous for Astrology_. By the influence of the same colonies, the Temple of Jupiter Belus in Babylon seems to have been erected in the form of the Egyptian Pyramids: for [430] this Temple was a solid Tower or Pyramid a furlong square, and a furlong high, with seven retractions, which made it appear like eight towers standing upon one another, and growing less and less to the top: and in the eighth tower was a Temple with a bed and a golden table, kept by a woman, after the manner of the Egyptians in the Temple of Jupiter Ammon at Thebes; and above the Temple was a place for observing the Stars: they went up to the top of it by steps on the outside, and the bottom was compassed with a court, and the court with a building two furlongs in length on every side.
The Babylonians were extreamly addicted to
Sorcery, Inchantments, Astrology and Divinations,
Isa. xlvii. 9, 12, 13. Dan. ii. 2, &
v. 11. and to the worship of Idols, Jer. l.
2, 40. and to feasting, wine and women. Nihil urbis
ejus corruptius moribus, nec ad irritandas illiciendasque
immodicas voluptates instructius. Liberos conjugesque
cum hospitibus stupro coire, modo pretium flagitii
detur, parentes maritique patiuntur. Convivales
ludi tota Perside regibus purpuratisque cordi sunt:
Babylonii maxime in vinum & quae ebrietatem sequuntur
effusi sunt. Faeminarum convivia ineuntium in
principio modestus est habitus; dein summa quaeque
Page 166
amicula exuunt, paulatimque pudorem profanant:
ad ultimum, honos auribus sit, ima corporum velamenta
projiciunt. Nec meretricum hoc dedecus est, sed
matronarum virginumque, apud quas comitas habetur vulgati
corporis vilitas. Q. Curtius, lib.
v. cap. 1. And this lewdness of their women,
coloured over with the name of civility, was encouraged
even by their religion: for it was the custom
for their women once in their life to sit in the Temple
of Venus for the use of strangers; which Temple
they called Succoth Benoth, the Temple of Women:
and when any woman was once sat there, she was not
to depart ’till some stranger threw money into
her bosom, took her away and lay with her; and the
money being for sacred uses, she was obliged to accept
of it how little soever, and follow the stranger.
The Persians being conquered by the Medes about the middle of the Reign of Zedekiah, continued in subjection under them ’till the end of the Reign of Darius the Mede: and Cyrus, who was of the Royal Family of the Persians, might be Satrapa of Persia, and command a body of their forces under Darius; but was not yet an absolute and independant King: but after the taking of Babylon, when he had a victorious army at his devotion, and Darius was returned from Babylon into Media, he revolted from Darius, in conjunction with the Persians under him; [431] they being incited thereunto by Harpagus a Mede, whom Xenophon calls Artagerses and Atabazus, and who had assisted Cyrus in conquering Croesus and Asia minor, and had been injured by Darius. Harpagus was sent by Darius with an army against Cyrus, and in the midst of a battel revolted with part of the army to Cyrus: Darius got up a fresh army, and the next year the two armies fought again: this last battel was fought at Pasargadae in Persia, according to [432] Strabo; and there Darius was beaten and taken Prisoner by Cyrus, and the Monarchy was by this victory translated to the Persians. The last King of the Medes is by Xenophon called Cyaxares, and by Herodotus, Astyages the father of Mandane: but these Kings were dead before, and Daniel lets us know that Darius was the true name of the last King, and Herodotus, [433] that the last King was conquered by Cyrus in the manner above described; and the Darics coined by the last King testify that his name was Darius.
This victory over Darius was about two years after the taking of Babylon: for the Reign or Nabonnedus the last King of the Chaldees, whom Josephus calls Naboandel and Belshazzar, ended in the year of Nabonassar 210, nine years before the death of Cyrus, according to the Canon: but after the translation of the Kingdom of the Medes to the Persians, Cyrus Reigned only seven years, according to [434] Xenophon; and spending the seven winter months yearly at Babylon, the three spring months yearly at Susa, and the two Summer months at Ecbatane, he came the seventh time into Persia, and died there in the spring, and was buried at Pasargadae. By the Canon and the common consent of all Chronologers, he died in the year of Nabonassar 219, and therefore conquered Darius in the year of Nabonassar 212, seventy and two years after the destruction of Nineveh, and beat him the first time in the year of Nabonassar 211, and revolted from him, and became King of the Persians, either the same year, or in the end of the year before. At his death he was seventy years old according to Herodotus, and therefore he was born in the year of Nabonassar 149, his mother Mandane being the sister of Cyaxeres, at that time a young man, and also the sister of Amyite the wife of Nebuchadnezzar, and his father Cambyses being of the old Royal Family of the Persians.
* * * * *
CHAP. V.
A Description of the TEMPLE_ of Solomon._
[435] The Temple of Solomon being destroyed by the Babylonians, it may not be amiss here to give a description of that edifice.
This [436] Temple looked eastward, and stood in a square area, called the Separate Place: and [437] before it stood the Altar, in the center of another square area, called the Inner Court, or Court of the Priests: and these two square areas, being parted only by a marble rail, made an area 200 cubits long from west to east, and 100 cubits broad: this area was compassed on the west with a wall, and [438] on the other three sides with a pavement fifty cubits broad, upon which stood the buildings for the Priests, with cloysters under them: and the pavement was faced on the inside with a marble rail before the cloysters: the whole made an area 250 cubits long from west to east, and 200 broad, and was compassed with an outward Court, called also the Great Court, or Court of the People, [439] which was an hundred cubits on every side; for there were but two Courts built by Solomon: and the outward Court was about four cubits lower than the inward, and was compassed on the west with a wall, and on the other three sides [440] with a pavement fifty cubits broad, upon which
The Altar stood in the center of the whole; and in the buildings of [442] both Courts over against the middle of the Altar, eastward, southward, and northward, were gates [443] 25 cubits broad between the buildings, and 40 long; with porches of ten cubits more, looking towards the Altar Court, which made the whole length of the gates fifty cubits cross the pavements. Every gate had two doors, one at either [444] end, ten cubits wide, and twenty high, with posts and thresholds six cubits broad: within the gates was an area 28 cubits long between the thresholds, and 13 cubits wide: and on either side of this area were three posts, each six cubits square, and twenty high, with arches five cubits wide between them: all which posts and arches filled the 28 cubits in length between the thresholds; and their breadth being added to the thirteen cubits, made the whole breadth of the gates 25 cubits. These posts were hollow, and had rooms in them with narrow windows for the porters, and a step before them a cubit broad: and the walls of the porches being six cubits thick, were also hollow for several uses. [445] At the east gate of the Peoples Court, called the King’s gate, [446] were six porters, at the south gate were four, and at the north gate were four: the people [447] went in and out at the south and north gates: the [448] east gate was opened only for the King, and in this gate he ate the Sacrifices. There were also four gates or doors in the western wall of the Mountain of the House: of these [449] the most northern, called Shallecheth, or the gate of the causey, led to the King’s palace, the valley between being filled up with a causey: the next gate, called Parbar, led to the suburbs Millo: the third and fourth gates, called Asuppim, led the one to Millo, the other to the city of Jerusalem, there being steps down into the valley and up again into the city. At the gate Shallecheth were four porters; at the other three gates were six porters, two at each gate: the house of the porters who had the charge of the north gate of the People’s Court, had also the charge of the gates Shallecheth and Parbar: and the house of the porters who had the charge of the south gate of the People s Court, had also the charge of the other two gates called Asuppim.
They came through the four western gates into the Mountain of the House, and [450] went up from the Mountain of the House, to the gates of the People’s Court by seven steps, and from the People’s Court to the gates of the Priest’s Court by eight steps: [451] and the arches in the sides of the gates of both courts led into cloysters [452] under a double building, supported by three rows of marble pillars, which butted directly upon the middles of the square posts, ran along from thence upon the pavements towards the corners of the Courts: the axes of the pillars in the middle row being eleven cubits distant from the axes of the pillars in the other two rows on either hand; and the building joining to the sides of the gates: the pillars were three cubits in diameter below, and their bases four cubits and an half square. The gates and buildings of both Courts were alike, and [453] faced their Courts: the cloysters of all the buildings, and the porches of all the gates looking towards the Altar. The row of pillars on the backsides of the cloysters adhered to marble walls, which bounded the cloysters and supported the buildings: [454] these buildings were three stories high above the cloysters, and [455] were supported in each of those stories by a row of cedar beams, or pillars of cedar, standing above the middle row of the marble pillars: the buildings on either side of every gate of the People’s Court, being 1871/2 cubits long, were distinguished into five chambers on a floor, running in length from the gates to the corners or the Courts: there [456] being in all thirty chambers in a story, where the People ate the Sacrifices, or thirty exhedras, each of which contained three chambers, a lower, a middle, and an upper: every exhedra was 371/2 cubits long, being supported by four pillars in each row, [457] whose bases were 41/2 cubits square, and the distances between their bases 61/2 cubits, and the distances between the axes of the pillars eleven cubits: and where two [458] exhedras joyned, there the bases of their pillars joyned; the axes of those two pillars being only 41/2 cubits distant from one another: and perhaps for strengthning the building, the space between the axes of these two pillars in the front was filled up with a marble column 41/2 cubits square, the two pillars standing half out on either side of the square column. At the ends of these buildings [459] in the four corners of the Peoples Court, were little Courts fifty cubits square on the outside of their walls, and forty on the inside thereof, for stair-cases to the buildings, and kitchins to bake and boil the Sacrifices for the People, the kitchin being thirty cubits broad, and the stair-case ten. The buildings on either side of the gates of the Priests Court were also 371/2 cubits long, and contained each of them one great chamber in a story, subdivided into smaller rooms, for the Great Officers of the Temple, and Princes of the Priests: and in the south-east and north-east corners of this court, at the ends of the buildings, were kitchins and stair-cases for the Great Officers; and perhaps rooms for laying up wood for the Altar.
In the eastern gate of the Peoples Court, sat a Court of Judicature, composed of 23 Elders. The eastern gate of the Priests Court, with the buildings on either side, was for the High-Priest, and his deputy the Sagan, and for the Sanhedrim or Supreme Court of Judicature, composed of seventy Elders. [460] The building or exhedra on the eastern side of the southern gate, was for the Priests who had the oversight of the charge of the Sanctuary with its treasuries: and these were, first, two Catholikim, who were High-Treasurers and Secretaries to the High-Priest, and examined, stated, and prepared all acts and accounts to be signed and sealed by him; then seven Amarcholim, who kept the keys of the seven locks of every gate of the Sanctuary, and those also of the treasuries, and had the oversight, direction, and appointment of all things in the Sanctuary; then three or more Gisbarim, or Under-Treasurers, or Receivers, who kept the Holy Vessels, and the Publick Money, and received or disposed of such sums as were brought in for the service of the Temple, and accounted for the same. All these, with the High-Priest, composed the Supreme Council for managing the affairs of the Temple.
The Sacrifices [461] were killed on the northern side of the Altar, and flea’d, cut in pieces and salted in the northern gate of the Temple; and therefore the building or exhedra on the eastern side of this gate, was for the Priests who had the oversight of the charge of the Altar, and Daily Service: and these Officers were, He that received money of the People for purchasing things for the Sacrifices, and gave out tickets for the same; He that upon sight of the tickets delivered the wine, flower and oyl purchased; He that was over the lots, whereby every Priest attending on the Altar had his duty assigned; He that upon sight of the tickets delivered out the doves and pigeons purchased; He that administred physic to the Priests attending; He that was over the waters; He that was over the times, and did the duty of a cryer, calling the Priests or Levites to attend in their ministeries; He that opened the gates in the morning to begin the service, and shut them in the evening when the service was done, and for that end received the keys of the Amarcholim, and returned them when he had done his duty; He that visited the night-watches; He that by a Cymbal called the Levites to their stations for singing; He that appointed the Hymns and set the Tune; and He that took care of the Shew-Bread: there were also Officers who took care of the Perfume, the Veil, and the Wardrobe of the Priests.
The exhedra on the western side of the south gate, and that on the western side of the north gate, were for the Princes of the four and twenty courses of the Priests, one exhedra for twelve of the Princes, [462] and the other exhedra for the other twelve: and upon the pavement on either side of the Separate Place [463] were other buildings without cloysters, for the four and twenty courses of the Priests to eat the Sacrifices, and lay up their garments and the most holy things: each pavement being 100 cubits long, and 50 broad, had buildings on either side of it twenty cubits broad, with a walk or alley ten cubits broad between them: the building which bordered upon the Separate Place was an hundred cubits long, and that next the Peoples Court but fifty, the other fifty cubits westward [464] being for a stair-case and kitchin: these buildings [465] were three stories high, and the middle story was narrower in the front than the lower story, and the upper story still narrower, to make room for galleries; for they had galleries before them, and under the galleries were closets for laying up the holy things, and the garments of the Priests, and these galleries were towards the walk or alley, which ran between the buildings.
They went up from the Priests Court to the Porch of the Temple by ten steps: and the [466] House of the Temple was twenty cubits broad, and sixty long within; or thirty broad, and seventy long, including the walls; or seventy cubits broad, and 90 long, including a building of treasure-chambers which was twenty cubits broad on three sides of the House; and if the Porch be also included, the Temple was [467] an hundred cubits long. The treasure-chambers were built of cedar, between the wall of the Temple, and another wall without: they were [468] built in two rows three stories high, and opened door against door into a walk or gallery which ran along between them, and was five cubits broad in every story; So that the breadth of the chambers on either side of the gallery, including the breadth of the wall to which they adjoined, was ten cubits; and the whole breadth of the gallery and chambers, and both walls, was five and twenty cubits: the chambers [469] were five cubits broad in the lower story, six broad in the middle story, and seven broad in the upper story; for the wall of the Temple was built with retractions of a cubit, to rest the timber upon. Ezekiel represents the chambers a cubit narrower, and the walls a cubit thicker than they were in Solomon’s Temple: there were [470] thirty chambers in a story, in all ninety chambers, and they were five cubits high in every story. The [471] Porch of the Temple was 120 cubits high, and its length from south to north equalled the breadth of the House: the House was three stories high, which made the height of the Holy Place three times thirty cubits, and that of the Most Holy three times twenty: the upper rooms were treasure-chambers; they [472] went up to the middle chamber by winding stairs in the southern shoulder of the House, and from the middle into the upper.
Some time after this Temple was built, the Jews [473] added a New Court, on the eastern side of the Priests Court, before the King’s gate, and therein built [474] a covert for the Sabbath: this Court was not measured by Ezekiel, but the dimensions thereof may be gathered from those of the Womens Court, in the second Temple, built after the example thereof: for when Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the first Temple, Zerubbabel, by the commissions of Cyrus and Darius, built another upon the same area, excepting the Outward Court, which was left open to the Gentiles: and this Temple [475] was sixty cubits long, and sixty broad, being only two stories in height, and having only one row of treasure-chambers about it: and on either side of the Priests Court were double buildings for the Priests, built upon three rows of marble pillars in the lower story, with a row of cedar beams or pillars in the stories above: and the cloyster in the lower story looked towards the Priests Court: and the Separate Place, and Priests Court, with their buildings on the north and south sides, and the Womens Court, at the east end, took up an area three hundred cubits long, and two hundred broad, the Altar standing in the center of the whole. The Womens Court was so named, because the women came into it as well as the men: there were galleries for the women, and the men worshipped upon the ground below: and in this state the second Temple continued all the Reign of the Persians; but afterwards suffered some alterations, especially in the days of Herod.
This description of the Temple being taken principally from Ezekiel’s Vision thereof; and the ancient Hebrew copy followed by the Seventy, differing in some readings from the copy followed by the editors of the present Hebrew, I will here subjoin that part of the Vision which relates to the Outward Court, as I have deduced it from the present Hebrew, and the version of the Seventy compared together.
Ezekiel chap. xl. ver. 5, &c.
[476] And behold a wall on the outside of the House round about, at the distance of fifty cubits from it, aabb: and in the man’s hand a measuring reed six cubits long by the cubit, and an hand-breadth: so he measured the breadth of the building, or wall_, one reed, and the height one reed. [477] Then came he unto the gate of the House, which looketh towards the east, and went up the seven steps thereof, AB, and measured the threshold of the gate, CD, which was one reed broad, and the Porters little chamber, EFG, one reed long, and one reed broad; and the arched passage between the little chambers, FH, five cubits: and the second little chamber, HIK, a reed broad and a reed long; and the arched passage, IL,
Then he brought me into the Outward Court, and lo there were chambers, and a pavement with pillars upon it in the court round about, [478]_ thirty chambers in length upon the pavement, supported by the pillars, ten chambers on every side, except the western: and the pavement butted upon the shoulders or sides of the gates below, every gate having five chambers or exhedrae on either side. And he measured the breadth of the Outward Court, from the fore-front of the lower-gate, to the fore-front of the inward court, an hundred cubits eastward._
Then he brought me northward, and there was a gate that looked towards the north; he measured the length thereof, and the breadth thereof, and the little chambers thereof, three on this side, and three on that side, and the posts thereof, and the porch thereof, and it was according to the measures of the first gate; its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth was five and twenty: and the windows thereof, and the porch and the palm-trees thereof were_ according to the measures of the gate which looked to the east, and they went up to it by seven steps: and its porch was before them, that is inward. And there was a gate of the inward court over against this gate of the north, as in the gates to the eastward: and he measured from gate to gate an hundred cubits._
* * * * *
A Description of THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON
[Illustration: Plate I. p. 346.]
ABCD. The Separate Place in which stood the Temple.
ABEF. The Court of y^{e} Priests.
G. The Altar.
DHLKICEFD. A Pavement compassing three sides of the foremention’d Courts, and upon which stood the Buildings for the Priests, with Cloysters under them.
MNOP. The Court of the People.
MQTSRN. A Pavement compassing three sides of the Peoples Court, upon which stood the Buildings for the People, with Cloysters under them.
UXYZ. The Mountain of the House.
aabb._ A Wall enclosing the whole._
c. The Gate Shallecheth.
d. The Gate Parbar.
ef. The two Gates Assupim.
g. The East Gate of the Peoples Court, call’d the Kings Gate.
hh. The North and South Gates of the same Court.
iiii. The chambers over the Cloysters of the Peoples Court where the People ate the Sacrifices, 30 Chambers in each Story.
kkkk. Four little Courts serving for Stair Cases and Kitchins for the People.
l. The Eastern Gate of the Priests Court, over which sate the Sanhedrin.
m. The Southern Gate of the Priests Court.
n. The Northern Gate of the same Court, where the Sacrifices were flea’d &c.
opqrst. The Buildings over the Cloysters for the Priests, viz six large Chambers (subdivided) in each Story, whereof o_ and p were for the High Priest and Sagan, q for the Overseers of the Sanctuary and Treasury, r for the Overseers of the Altar and Sacrifice and s and t for the Princes of the twenty four Courses of Priests._
uu. Two Courts in which were Stair Cases and Kitchins for the Priests.
x. The House or Temple which (together with the Treasure Chambers y_, and Buildings zz on each side of the Separate Place) is more particularly describ’d on the second Plate._
* * * * *
A Description of the Inner Court & Buildings for the Priests in Solomons Temple.
[Illustration: Plate II. p. 346.]
ABCD. The Separate Place.
ABEF. The Inner Court, or Court of the Priests,
parted from the Separate
Place, and and Pavement on the other three sides,
by a marble rail.
G. The Altar.
HHH. The East, South, & North Gates of the Priests Court.
III. _&c. The Cloysters supporting the Buildings for the Priests._
KK. Two Courts in which were Stair Cases and Kitchins for the Priests.
L. Ten Steps to the Porch of the Temple.
M. The Porch of the Temple.
N. The Holy Place.
O. The most Holy Place.
PPPP. Thirty Treasure-Chambers, in two rows, opening into a gallery, door against door, and compassing three sides of the Holy & most Holy Places.
Q. The Stairs leading to the Middle Chamber.
RRRR. _&c. The buildings for the four and twenty Courses of Priests, upon the Pavement on either side of the Separate Place, three Stories high without Cloysters, but the upper Stories narrower than the lower, to make room for Galleries before them. There were 24 Chambers in each Story and they opend into a walk or alley, SS. between the Buildings._
TT. Two Courts in which were Kitchins for the Priests
of the twenty four
Courses.
* * * * *
A Particular Description of one of the Gates of the Peoples Court, with part of the Cloyster adjoyning.
[Illustration: Plate III. p. 346.]
uw. The inner margin of the Pavement compassing three sides of the Peoples Court.
xxx. _&c. The Pillars of the Cloyster supporting the Buildings for the People._
yyyy. Double Pillars where two Exhedrae joyned, and whose interstices in the front zz_ were filled up with a square Column of Marble._
Note The preceding letters of this Plate refer to the description in pag. 344 345.
* * * * *
CHAP. VI.
Of the Empire of the Persians_._
Cyrus having translated the Monarchy to the Persians, and Reigned seven years, was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who Reigned seven years and five months, and in the three last years of his Reign subdued Egypt: he was succeeded by Mardus, or Smerdis the Magus, who feigned himself to be Smerdis the brother of Cambyses.
Smerdis Reigned seven months, and in the eighth
month being discovered, was slain, with a great number
of the Magi; so the Persians called
their Priests, and in memory of this kept an anniversary
day, which they called, The slaughter of the Magi__.
Then Reigned Maraphus and Artaphernes
a few days, and after them Darius the son of
Hystaspes, the son of Arsamenes, of
the family of Achaemenes, a Persian,
being chosen King by the neighing of his horse:
before he Reigned his [479] name was Ochus.
He seems on this occasion to have reformed the constitution
of the Magi, making his father Hystaspes
their Master, or Archimagus; for Porphyrius
tells us, [480] that the Magi_ were a sort of
men so venerable amongst the Persians, that
Darius the son of Hystaspes wrote on
the monument of his father_, amongst other things,
that he had been the Master of the Magi__.
In this reformation of the Magi, Hystaspes
was assisted by Zoroastres: so Agathias;
The Persians_ at this day say simply that Zoroastres
lived under Hystaspes_: and Apuleius;
Pythagoram, aiunt, inter captivos Cambysae Regis
[ex AEgypto Babylonem abductos]_ doctores habuisse
Persarum Magos, & praecipue Zoroastrem, omnis divini
arcani Antistitem_. By Zoroastres’s
conversing at Babylon he seems to have borrowed
his skill from the Chaldaeans; for he was skilled
in Astronomy, and used their year: so Q.
Curtius; [481] Magi proximi patrium carmen
canebant: Magos trecenti & sexaginta quinque
juvenes sequebantur, puniceis amiculis velati, diebus
totius anni pares numero: and Ammianus;
Scientiae multa ex Chaldaeorum arcanis Bactrianus
addidit Zoroastres. From his conversing in
several places he is reckoned a Chaldaean,
an Assyrian, a Mede, a Persian,
a Bactrian. Suidas calls him [482] a
Perso-Mede, and saith that he was the most
skilful of Astronomers, and first author of the name
of the Magi_ received among them_. This skill
in Astronomy he had doubtless from the Chaldaeans,
but Hystaspes travelled into India,
to be instructed by the Gymnosophists:
and these two conjoyning their skill and authority,
instituted a new set of Priests or Magi, and
instructed them in such ceremonies and mysteries of
Religion and Philosophy as they thought fit to establish
for the Religion and Philosophy of that Empire; and
these instructed others, ’till from a small
number they grew to a great multitude: for Suidas
tells us, that Zoroastres gave a beginning to the
name of the Magi__: and Elmacinus;
that he reformed the religion of the Persians_,
which before was divided into many sects_: and
Agathias; that he introduced the religion
Page 177
of the Magi_ among the Persians, changing
their ancient sacred rites, and bringing in several
opinions_: and Ammianus [483] tells us,
Magiam esse divinorum incorruptissimum cultum,
cujus scientiae seculis priscis multa ex Chaldaeorum
arcanis Bactrianus addidit Zoroastres: deinde
Hystaspes Rex prudentissimus Darii pater; qui quum
superioris Indiae secreta fidentius penetraret, ad
nemorosam quamdam venerat solitudinem, cujus tranquillis
silentiis praecelsa Brachmanorum ingenia potiuntur;
eorumque monitu rationes mundani motus & siderum,
purosque sacrorum ritus quantum colligere potuit eruditus,
ex his quae didicit, aliqua sensibus Magorum infudit;
quae illi cum disciplinis praesentiendi futura, per
suam quisque progeniem, posteris aetatibus tradunt.
Ex eo per saecula multa ad praesens, una eademque prosapia
multitudo creata, Deorum cultibus dedicatur.
Feruntque, si justum est credi, etiam ignem coelitus
lapsum apud se sempiternis foculis custodiri, cujus
portionem exiguam ut faustam praeisse quondam Asiaticis
Regibus dicunt: Hujus originis apud veteres numerus
erat exilis, ejusque mysteriis Persicae potestates
in faciendis rebus divinis solemniter utebantur.
Eratque piaculum aras adire, vel hostiam contrectare,
antequam Magus conceptis precationibus libamenta diffunderet
praecursoria. Verum aucti paullatim, in amplitudinem
gentis solidae concesserunt & nomen: villasque
inhabitantes nulla murorum firmitudine communitas
& legibus suis uti permissi, religionis respectu sunt
honorati. So this Empire was at first composed
of many nations, each of which had hitherto its own
religion: but now Hystaspes and Zoroastres
collected what they conceived to be best, established
it by law, and taught it to others, and those to others,
’till their disciples became numerous enough
for the Priesthood of the whole Empire; and instead
of those various old religions, they set up their own
institutions in the whole Empire, much after the manner
that Numa contrived and instituted the religion
of the Romans: and this religion of the
Persian Empire was composed partly of the institutions
of the Chaldaeans, in which Zoroastres
was well skilled; and partly of the institutions of
the ancient Brachmans, who are supposed to
derive even their name from the Abrahamans,
or sons of Abraham, born of his second wife
Keturah, instructed by their father in the
worship of ONE GOD without images, and sent into the
east, where Hystaspes was instructed by their
successors. About the same time with Hystapes
and Zoroastres, lived also Ostanes,
another eminent Magus: Pliny places
him under Darius Hystaspis, and Suidas
makes him the follower of Zoroastres: he
came into Greece with Xerxes, and seems
to be the Otanes of Herodotus, who discovered
Smerdis, and formed the conspiracy against him,
and for that service was honoured by the conspirators,
and exempt from subjection to Darius.
In the sacred commentary of the Persian rites these words are ascribed to Zoroastres; [484] [Greek: Ho Theos esti kephalen echon hierakos. houtos estin ho protos, aphthartos, aidios, agenetos, ameres, anomoiotatos, heniochos pantos kalou, adorodoketos, agathon agathotatos, phronimon phronimotatos; esti de kai pater eunomias kai dikaiosynes, autodidaktos, physikos, kai teleios, kai sophos, kai hierou physikou monos heuretes.] Deus est accipitris capite: hic est primus, incorruptibilis, aeternus, ingenitus, sine partibus, omnibus aliis dissimillimus, moderator omnis boni, donis non capiendus, bonorum optimus, prudentium prudentissimus, legum aequitatis ac justitiae parens, ipse sui doctor, physicus & perfectus & sapiens & sacri physici unicus inventor: and the same was taught by Ostanes, in his book called Octateuchus. This was the Antient God of the Persian Magi, and they worshipped him by keeping a perpetual fire for Sacrifices upon an Altar in the center of a round area, compassed with a ditch, without any Temple in the place, and without paying any worship to the dead, or any images. But in a short time they declined from the worship of this Eternal, Invisible God, to worship the Sun, and the Fire, and dead men, and images, as the Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Chaldaeans had done before: and from these superstitions, and the pretending to prognostications, the words Magi and Magia, which signify the Priests and Religion of the Persians, came to be taken in an ill sense.
Darius, or Darab, began his Reign in spring, in the sixteenth year of the Empire of the Persians, Anno Nabonass. 227, and Reigned 36 years, by the unanimous consent of all Chronologers. In the second year of his Reign the Jews began to build the Temple, by the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah, and finished it in the sixth. He fought the Greeks at Marathon in October, Anno Nabonass. 258, ten years before the battel at Salamis, and died in the fifth year following, in the end of winter, or beginning of spring, Anno Nabonass. 263. The years of Cambyses and Darius are determined by three Eclipses of the Moon recorded by Ptolemy, so that they cannot be disputed: and by those Eclipses, and the Prophesies of Haggai and Zechariah compared together, it is manifest that the years of Darius began after the 24th day of the eleventh Jewish month, and before the 24th day of April, and by consequence in March or April.
Xerxes, Achschirosch, Achsweros, or Oxyares, succeeded his father Darius, and spent the first five years of his Reign, and something more, in preparations for his Expedition against the Greeks: and this Expedition was in the time of the Olympic Games, in the beginning of the first year of the 75th Olympiad, Callias being Archon at Athens; as all Chronologers agree. The great number of people which he drew out of Susa to invade Greece, made AEschylus the Poet say [485]:
[Greek: To d’ asty Souson exekeinosen
peson.]
It emptied the falling city of Susa_._
The passage of his army over the Hellespont began in the end of the fourth year of the 74th Olympiad, that is in June, Anno Nabonass. 268, and took up a month; and in autumn, after three months more, on the 16th day of the month Munychion, at the full moon, was the battel at Salamis; and a little after that an Eclipse of the Moon, which by the calculation fell on Octob. 2. His first year therefore began in spring, Anno Nabonass. 263, as above: he Reigned almost twenty one years by the consent of all writers, and was murdered by Artabanus, captain of his guards; towards the end of winter, Anno Nabonass. 284.
Artabanus Reigned seven months, and upon suspicion of treason against Xerxes, was slain by Artaxerxes Longimanus, the son of Xerxes.
Artaxerxes began his Reign in the autumnal half year, between the 4th and 9th Jewish months, Nehem. i. 1. & ii. 1, & v. 14. and Ezra vii. 7, 8, 9. and his 20th year fell in with the 4th year of the 83d Olympiad, as Africanus [486] informs us, and therefore his first year began within a month or two or the autumnal Equinox, Anno Nabonass. 284. Thucydides relates that the news of his death came to Athens in winter, in the seventh year of the Peloponnesian war, that is An. 4. Olymp. 88. and by the Canon he Reigned forty one years, including the Reign of his predecessor Artabanus, and died about the middle of winter, Anno Nabonass. 325 ineunte: the Persians now call him Ardschir and Bahaman, the Oriental Christians Artahascht.
Then Reigned Xerxes, two months, and Sogdian seven months, and Darius Nothus, the bastard son of Artaxerxes, nineteen years wanting four or five months; and Darius died in summer, a little after the end of the Peloponnesian war, and in the same Olympic year, and by consequence in May or June, Anno Nabonass. 344. The 13th year of his Reign was coincident in winter with the 20th of the Peloponnesian war, and the years of that war are stated by indisputable characters, and agreed on by all Chronologers: the war began in spring, Ann. 1. Olymp. 87, lasted 27 years, and ended Apr. 14. An. 4. Olymp. 93.
The next King was Artaxerxes Mnemon, the son of Darius: he Reigned forty six years, and died Anno Nabonass. 390. Then Reigned Artaxerxes Ochus twenty one years; Arses, or Arogus, two years, and Darius Codomannus four years, unto the battel of Arbela, whereby the Persian Monarchy was translated to the Greeks, Octob. 2. An. Nabonass. 417; but Darius was not slain untill a year and some months after.
I have hitherto stated the times of this Monarchy
out of the Greek and Latin writers:
for the Jews knew nothing more of the Babylonian
and Medo-Persian Empires than what they have
out of the sacred books of the old Testament; and
therefore own no more Kings, nor years of Kings, than
they can find in those books: the Kings they reckon
are only Nebuchadnezzar, Evilmerodach,
Belshazzar, Darius the Mede,
Cyrus, Ahasuerus, and Darius the
Persian; this last Darius they reckon
to be the Artaxerxes, in whose Reign Ezra
and Nehemiah came to Jerusalem, accounting
Artaxerxes a common name of the Persian
Kings: Nebuchadnezzar, they say, Reigned
forty five years, 2 King. xxv. 27. Belshazzar
three years, Dan. viii. 1. and therefore Evilmerodach
twenty three, to make up the seventy years captivity;
excluding the first year of Nebuchadnezzar,
in which they say the Prophesy of the seventy years
was given. To Darius the Mede they
assign one year, or at most but two, Dan. ix.
1. to Cyrus three years incomplete, Dan.
x. 1. to Ahasuerus twelve years ’till
the casting of Pur, Esth. iii. 7. one
year more ’till the Jews smote their enemies,
Esth. ix. 1. and one year more ’till
Esther and Mordecai wrote the second
letter for the keeping of Purim, Esth.
ix. 29. in all fourteen years: and to Darius
the Persian they allot thirty two or rather
thirty six years, Nehem. xiii. 6. So that
the Persian Empire from the building of the
Temple in the Second year of Darius Hystaspis,
flourished only thirty four years, until Alexander
the great overthrew it: thus the Jews reckon
in their greater Chronicle, Seder Olam Rabbah.
Josephus, out of the sacred and other books,
reckons only these Kings of Persia; Cyrus,
Cambyses, Darius Hystaspis, Xerxes,
Artaxerxes, and Darius: and taking
this Darius, who was Darius Nothus,
to be one and the same King with the last Darius,
whom Alexander the great overcame; by means
of this reckoning he makes Sanballat and Jaddua
alive when Alexander the great overthrew the
Persian Empire. Thus all the Jews
conclude the Persian Empire with Artaxerxes
Longimanus, and Darius Nothus, allowing
no more Kings of Persia, than they found in
the books of Ezra and Nehemiah; and
referring to the Reigns of this Artaxerxes,
and this Darius, whatever they met with in
profane history concerning the following Kings of
the same names: so as to take Artaxerxes Longimanus,
Artaxerxes Mnemon and Artaxerxes Ochus,
for one and the same Artaxerxes; and Darius
Page 181
Nothus, and Darius Codomannus, for one and
the same Darius; and Jaddua, and Simeon
Justus, for one and the same High-Priest.
Those Jews who took Herod for the Messiah,
and were thence called Herodians, seem to have
grounded their opinion upon the seventy weeks of years,
which they found between the Reign of Cyrus
and that of Herod: but afterwards, in
applying the Prophesy to Theudas, and Judas
of Galilee, and at length to Barchochab,
they seem to have shortned the Reign of the Kingdom
of Persia. These accounts being very imperfect,
it was necessary to have recourse to the records of
the Greeks and Latines, and to the Canon
recited by Ptolemy, for stating the times of
this Empire. Which being done, we have a better
ground for understanding the history of the Jews
set down in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah,
and adjusting it; for this history having suffered
by time, wants some illustration: and first I
shall state the history of the Jews under Zerubbabel,
in the Reigns of Cyrus, Cambysis, and
Darius Hystaspis.
This history is contained partly in the three first chapters of the book of Ezra, and first five verses of the fourth; and partly in the book of Nehemiah, from the 5th verse of the seventh chapter to the 9th verse of the twelfth: for Nehemiah copied all this out of the Chronicles of the Jews, written before his days; as may appear by reading the place, and considering that the Priests and Levites who sealed the Covenant on the 24th day of the seventh month, Nehem. x. were the very same with those who returned from captivity in the first year of Cyrus, Nehem. xii. and that all those who returned sealed it: this will be perceived by the following comparison of their names.
The Priests who returned. The Priests who sealed.
Nehemiah. Ezra ii. 2. Nehemiah.
Serajah. Serajah.
* Azariah.
Jeremiah. Jeremiah.
Ezra. Ezra. Nehem. 8.
* Pashur.
Amariah. Amariah.
Malluch: or Melicu, Neh. Malchijah. xii. 2, 14.
Hattush. Hattush.
Shechaniah or Shebaniah, Shebaniah. Neh. xii. 3, 14.
* Malluch.
Rehum: or Harim, ib. 3, Harim. 15.
Meremoth. Meremoth.
Iddo. Obadiah or Obdia.
* Daniel.
Ginnetho: or Ginnethon, Ginnethon. Neh. xii. 4, 16.
* Baruch.
* Meshullam.
Abijah. Abijah.
Miamin. Mijamin.
Maadiah. Maaziah.
Bilgah. Bilgai.
Shemajah. Shemajah.
Jeshua. Jeshua.
Binnui. Binnui.
Kadmiel. Kadmiel.
Sherebiah. [Hebrew: shrbjh]. Shebaniah. [Hebrew: shbnjh].
Judah: or Hodaviah, Hodijah. Ezra ii. 40. & iii. 9. [Greek: Odouia]; Septuag.
The Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, and Hodaviah or Judah, here mentioned, are reckoned chief fathers among the people who returned with Zerubbabel, Ezra ii. 40. and they assisted as well in laying the foundation of the Temple, Ezra iii. 9. as in reading the law, and making and sealing the covenant, Nehem. viii. 7. & ix. 5. & x. 9, 10.
Comparing therefore the books of Ezra and Nehemiah together; the history of the Jews under Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius Hystaspis, is that they returned from captivity under Zerubbabel, in the first year of Cyrus, with the Holy Vessels and a commission to build the Temple; and came to Jerusalem and Judah, every one to his city, and dwelt in their cities untill the seventh month; and then coming to Jerusalem, they first built the Altar, and on the first day of the seventh month began to offer the daily burnt-offerings, and read in the book of the Law, and they kept a solemn fast, and sealed a Covenant; and thenceforward the Rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots, to dwell one in ten at Jerusalem, and the rest in the cities of Judah: and in the second year of their coming, in the second month, which was six years before the death of Cyrus, they laid the foundation of the Temple; but the adversaries of Judah_ troubled them in building, and hired counsellors against them all the days of Cyrus_, and longer, even until the Reign of Darius_ King of Persia_: but in the second year of his Reign, by the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah, they returned to the work; and by the help of a new decree from Darius, finished it on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of his Reign, and kept the Dedication with joy, and the Passover, and Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Now this Darius was not Darius Nothus, but Darius Hystaspis, as I gather by considering that the second year of this Darius was the seventieth of the indignation against Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, which indignation commenced with the invasion of Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, in the ninth year of Zedekiah, Zech. i. 12. Jer. xxxiv. 1, 7, 22. & xxxix. 1. and that the fourth year of this Darius, was the seventieth from the burning of the Temple in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, Zech. vii. 5. & Jer. lii. 12. both which are exactly true of Darius Hystaspis: and that in the second year of this Darius there were men living who had seen the first Temple, Hagg. ii. 3. whereas the second year of Darius Nothus was 166 years after the desolation of the Temple and City. And further, if the finishing of the Temple be deferred to the sixth year of Darius Nothus, Jeshua and Zerubbabel must have been the one High-Priest, the other Captain of the people an hundred and eighteen years together, besides their ages before; which is surely too long: for in the first year of Cyrus the chief Priests were Serajah, Jeremiah, Ezra, Amariah, Malluch, Shechaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, Iddo, Ginnetho, Abijah, Miamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, Shemajah, Joiarib, Jedaiah, Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah: these were Priests in the days of Jeshua, and the eldest sons of them all, Merajah the son of Serajah, Hananiah the son of Jeremiah, Meshullam the son of Ezra, &c. were chief Priests in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua: Nehem. xii. and therefore the High Priest-hood of Jeshua was but of an ordinary length.
I have now stated the history of the Jews in the Reigns of Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius Hystaspis: it remains that I state their history in the Reigns of Xerxes, and Artaxerxes Longimanus: for I place the history of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Reign of this Artaxerxes, and not in that of Artaxerxes Mnemon: for during all the Persian Monarchy, until the last Darius mentioned in Scripture, whom I take to be Darius Nothus, there were but six High-Priests in continual succession of father and son, namely, Jeshua, Joiakim, Eliashib, Joiada, Jonathan, Jaddua, and the seventh High-Priest was Onias the son of Jaddua, and the eighth was Simeon Justus, the Son of Onias, and the ninth was Eleazar the younger brother of Simeon. Now, at a mean reckoning, we should allow about 27 or 28 years only to a Generation by the eldest sons
I consider further that Ezra, chap. iv. names Cyrus, *, Darius, Ahasuerus, and Artaxerxes, in continual order, as successors to one another, and these names agree to Cyrus, *, Darius Hystaspis, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes Longimanus, and to no other Kings of Persia: some take this Artaxerxes to be not the Successor, but the Predecessor of Darius Hystaspis, not considering that in his Reign the Jews were busy in building the City and the Wall, Ezra iv. 12. and by consequence had finished the Temple before. Ezra describes first how the people of the land hindered the building of the Temple all the days of Cyrus, and further, untill the Reign of Darius; and after the Temple was built, how they hindered the building of the city in the Reign of Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes, and then returns back to the story of the Temple in the Reign of Cyrus and Darius; and this is confirmed by comparing the book of Ezra with the book of Esdras: for if in the book of Ezra you omit the story of Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes, and in that of Esdras you omit the same story of Artaxerxes, and that of the three wise men, the two books will agree: and therefore the book of Esdras, if you except the story of the three wise men, was originally copied from authentic writings of Sacred Authority. Now the story of Artaxerxes, which, with that of Ahasuerus, in the book of Ezra interrupts the story of Darius, doth not interrupt it in the book of Esdras, but is there inferred into the story of Cyrus, between the first and second chapter of Ezra; and all the rest of the story of Cyrus, and that of Darius,
After the Temple was built, and Darius Hystaspis
was dead, the enemies of the Jews in the beginning
of the Reign of his successor Ahasuerus or
Xerxes, wrote unto him an accusation against
them; Ezra iv. 6. but in the seventh year of
his successor Artaxerxes, Ezra and his
companions went up from Babylon with Offerings
and Vessels for the Temple, and power to bestow on
it out of the King’s Treasure what should be
requisite; Ezra vii. whence the Temple is said
to be finished, according to the commandment of
Cyrus_, and Darius, and Artaxerxes
King of Persia_: Ezra vi. 14.
Their commission was also to set Magistrates and Judges
over the land, and thereby becoming a new Body Politic,
they called a great Council or Sanhedrim to separate
the people from strange wives; and they were also
encouraged to attempt the building of Jerusalem
with its wall: and thence Ezra saith in
his prayer, that God had extended mercy unto them
in the sight of the Kings of Persia_, and given
them a reviving to set up the house of their God,
and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give
them a WALL in Judah, even in Jerusalem_.
Ezra ix. 9. But when they had begun to
repair the wall, their enemies wrote against them to
Artaxerxes: Be it known, say they,
unto the King, that the Jews_ which came up
from thee to us, are come unto Jerusalem, building
the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the
walls thereof, and joined the foundations_, &c.
And the King wrote back that the Jews should
cease and the city not be built, until another commandment
should be given from him: whereupon their enemies
went up to Jerusalem_, and made them cease
by force and power_; Ezra iv. but in the twentieth
year of the King, Nehemiah hearing that the
Jews were in great affliction and distress,
and that the wall of Jerusalem, that wall which
had been newly repaired by Ezra, was broken
Page 188
down, and the gates thereof burnt wth fire; he
obtained leave of the King to go and build the city,
and the Governour’s house, Nehem. i.
3. & ii. 6, 8, 17. and coming to Jerusalem the
same year, he continued Governor twelve years, and
built the wall; and being opposed by Sanballat,
Tobiah and Geshem, he persisted in the
work with great resolution and patience, until the
breaches were made up: then Sanballat
and Geshem sent messengers unto him five times
to hinder him from setting up the doors upon the gates:
but notwithstanding he persisted in the work, until
the doors were also set up: so the wall was finished
in the eight and twentieth year of the King, Joseph.
Antiq. l. xi. c. 5. in the five and twentieth
day of the month Elul, or sixth month, in fifty
and two days after the breaches were made up, and they
began to work upon the gates. While the timber
for the gates was preparing and seasoning, they made
up the breaches of the wall; both were works of time,
and are not jointly to be reckoned within the 52 days:
this is the time of the last work of the wall, the
work of setting up the gates after the timber was
seasoned and the breaches made up. When he had
set up the gates, he dedicated the wall with great
solemnity, and appointed Officers over the chambers
for the Treasure, for the Offerings, for the First-Fruits,
and for the Tithes, to gather into them out of the
fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the
law for the Priests and Levites; and the Singers and
the Porters kept the ward of their God; Nehem.
xii. but the people in the city were but few, and
the houses were unbuilt: Nehem. vii.
1, 4. and in this condition he left Jerusalem
in the 32d year of the King; and after sometime returning
back from the King, he reformed such abuses as had
been committed in his absence. Nehem. xiii.
In the mean time, the Genealogies of the Priests and
Levites were recorded in the book of the Chronicles,
in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Jonathan,
and Jaddua, until the Reign of the next King
Darius Nothus, whom Nehemiah calls Darius
the Persian: Nehem. xii. 11, 22,
23. whence it follows that Nehemiah was Governor
of the Jews until the Reign of Darius Nothus.
And here ends the Sacred History of the Jews.
The histories of the Persians now extant in the East, represent that the oldest Dynasties of the Kings of Persia, were those whom they call Pischdadians and Kaianides, and that the Dynasty of the Kaianides immediately succeeded that of the Pischdadians. They derive the name Kaianides from the word Kai, which, they say, in the old Persian language signified a Giant or great King; and they call the first four Kings of this Dynasty, Kai-Cobad, Kai-Caus, Kai-Cosroes,
This Dynasty being the Monarchy of the Medes, and Persians; the Dynasty of the Pischdadians which immediately preceded it, must be that of the Assyrians: and according to the oriental historians this was the oldest Kingdom in the world, some of its Kings living a thousand years a-piece, and one of them Reigning five hundred years, another seven hundred years, and another a thousand years.
We need not then wonder, that the Egyptians have made the Kings in the first Dynasty of their Monarchy, that which was seated at Thebes in the days of David, Solomon, and Rehoboam, so very ancient and so long lived; since the Persians have done the like to their Kings, who began to Reign in Assyria two hundred years after the death of Solomon; and the Syrians of Damascus have done the like to their Kings Adar and Hazael, who Reigned an hundred years after the death of Solomon, worshipping them as Gods, and boasting their antiquity, and not knowing, saith Josephus, that they were but modern.
And whilst all these nations have magnified their Antiquities so exceedingly, we need not wonder that the Greeks and Latines have made their first Kings a little older than the truth.
* * * * *
FINIS.
* * * * *
Notes.
[1] In the life of Lycurgus.
[2] In the life of Solon.
[3] Herod. l. 2.
[4] Plutarch. de Pythiae Oraculo.
[5] Plutarch. in Solon
[6] Apud Diog. Laert. in Solon p. 10.
[7] Plin. nat. hist. l. 7. c. 56.
[8] Ib. l. 5. c. 29.
[9] Cont. Apion. sub initio.
[10] In [Greek: Akousilaos].
[11] Joseph. cont. Ap. l. 1.
[12] Dionys. l. 1. initio.
[13] Plutarch. in Numa.
[14] Diodor. l. 16. p. 550. Edit. Steph.
[15] Polyb. p. 379. B.
[16] In vita Lycurgi, sub initio.
[17] In Solone.
[18] Plutarch. in Romulo & Numa.
[19] In AEneid. 7. v. 678.
[20] Diodor. l. 1.
[21] Plutarch. in Romulo.
[22] Lib. I. in Proaem.
[23] Plutarch. in Lycurgo sub initio.
[24] Pausan. l. 4. c. 13. p. 28. & c. 7. p. 296 & l. 3. c. 15. p. 245.
[25] Pausan. l. 4. c. 7. p. 296.
[26] Herod. l. 7.
[27] Herod. l. 8.
[28] Plato in Minoe.
[29] Thucyd. l. 1. p. 13.
[30] Athen. l. 14 p. 605
[31] Pausan. l. 5. c. 8.
[32] Pausan. l. 6. c. 19.
[33] Plutarch. de Musica. Clemens Strom. l. 1. p. 308.
[34] Herod. l. 6. c. 52.
[35] Pausan. l. 5. c. 4.
[36] Pausan. l. 5. c. 1, 3, 8. Strabo, l. 8, p. 357.
[37] Pausan. l. 5. c.4.
[38] Pausan. l. 5. c.18.
[39] Solin. c. 30.
[40] Dionys. l. 1. p. 15.
[41] Apollon. Argonaut. l. 1. v. 101.
[42] Plutarch. in Theseo.
[43] Diodor. l. 1. p. 35.
[44] Joseph. Antiq. l. 4. c. 8
[45] Contra Apion. l. 1.
[46] Hygin. Fab. 144.
[47] Gen. i. 14. & viii. 22. Censorinus c. 19 & 20. Cicero in Verrem. Geminus c. 6.
[48] Cicero in Verrem.
[49] Diodor. l. 1.
[50] Cicero in Verrem.
[51] Gem. c. 6.
[52] Apud Laertium, in Cleobulo.
[53] Apud Laertium, in Thalete. Plutarch. in Solone.
[54] Censorinus c. 18. Herod. l. 2. prope initium.
[55] Apollodor l. 3. p. 169. Strabo l. 16. p. 476. Homer. Odyss. [Tau]. v. 179.
[56] Herod. l. 1.
[57] Plutarch. in Numa.
[58] Diodor. l. 3. p. 133.
[59] Diodor. l. 1. p. 13.
[60] Apud Theodorum Gazam de mentibus.
[61] Apud Athenaeum, l. 14.
[62] Suidas in [Greek: Saroi].
[63] Herod. l. 1.
[64] Julian. Or: 4.
[65] Strabo l. 17. p. 816.
[66] Diodor. l. 1. p. 32.
[67] Plutarch de Osiride & Iside. Diodor. l. 1. p. 9.
[68] Hecataeus apud Diodor. l. 1. p. 32.
[69] Isagoge Sect. 23, a Petavio edit.
[70] Hipparch. ad Phaenom. l.2. Sect. 3. a Petavio edit.
[71] Hipparch. ad Phaenom. l.1. Sect. 2.
[72] Strom. 1. p. 306, 352.
[73] Laertius Proem. l. 1.
[74] Apollodor. l. 1. c. 9. Sect. 16.
[75] Suidas in [Greek: Anagallis].
[76] Apollodor. l. 1. c. 9. Sect. 25.
[77] Laert. in Thalete. Plin. l. 2. c. 12.
[78] Plin. l. 18. c. 23.
[79] Petav. Var. Disl. l. 1. c. 5.
[80] Petav. Doct. Temp. l. 4. c. 26.
[81] Columel. l. 9. c. 14. Plin. l. 18. c. 25.
[82] Arrian. l. 7.
[83] In Moph.
[84] Euanthes apud Athenaeum, l. 67. p. 296.
[85] Hyginus Fab. 14.
[86] Homer. Odyss. l. 8. v. 292.
[87] Hesiod. Theogon. v. 945.
[88] Pausan. l. 2. c. 23.
[89] Strabo l. 16.
[90] Isa. xxiii. 2. 12.
[91] 1 Kings v. 6
[92] Steph. in Azoth.
[93] Conon. Narrat. 37.
[94] Nonnus Dionysiac l. 13 v. 333 [alpha] sequ.
[95] Athen. l. 4. c. 23.
[96] Strabo. l. 10. p. 661. Herod. l. 1.
[97] Strabo. l. 16.
[98] 2 Chron. xxi. 8, 10. & 2 Kings. viii. 20, 22.
[99] Herod. l. 1. initio, & l. 7. circa medium.
[100] Solin. c. 23, Edit. Salm.
[101] Plin. l. 4. c. 22.
[102] Strabo. l. 9. p. 401. & l. 10. p. 447.
[103] Herod. l. 5.
[104] Strabo. l. 1. p. 42.
[105] Strabo. l. 1. p. 48.
[106] Bochart. Canaan. l. 1. c. 34.
[107] Strabo. l. 3. p. 140.
[108] Vid. Phil. Transact. No. 359.
[109] Canaan, l. 1. c. 34. p. 682.
[110] Aristot. de Mirab.
[111] Plin. l. 7. c. 56.
[112] Canaan. l. 1. c. 39.
[113] Philostratus in vita Apollonii l. 5. c. 1. apud Photium.
[114] Arnob. l. 1.
[115] Bochart. in Canaan. l. 1. c. 24.
[116] Oros. l. 5. c. 15. Florus l. 3. c. 1. Sallust. in Jugurtha.
[117] Antiq. l. 8. c. 2, 5. & l. 9. c. 14.
[118] Thucyd. l. 6. initio. Euseb. Chr.
[119] Thucyd. ib.
[120] Apud Dionys. l. 1. p. 15.
[121] Herod. l. 8. c. 137.
[122] Herod. l. 8.
[123] Herod. l. 8. c. 139.
[124] Thucyd. l. 2. prope finem.
[125] Herod l. 6. c. 127.
[126] Strabo. l. 8. p. 355.
[127] Pausan. l. 6. c. 22.
[128] Pausan. l. 5. c. 9.
[129] Strabo. l. 8. p. 358.
[130] Phanias Eph. ap. Plut. in vita Solonis.
[131] Vid. Dionys. Halicarnass. l. 1. p. 44, 45.
[132] Pausan. l. 2. c. 6.
[133] Hygin. Fab. 7 & 8.
[134] Homer. Iliad. [Omicron].
[135] Homer. Odys. [Eta]. Diodor. l. 5. p.237.
[136] Diodor. l. 1. p.17.
[137] Pausan. l. 2. c. 25.
[138] Apollodor. l. 2. Sect. 5.
[139] Herod l. 7.
[140] Bochart. Canaan part. 2. cap. 13.
[141] Apollon. Argonaut. l. 1. v. 77.
[142] Conon. Narrat. 13.
[143] Pausan. l. 5. c. 1. Apollodor. l. 1. c. 7.
[144] Pausan. l. 7. c. 1.
[145] Pausan. l. 1. c. 37. & l. 10. c. 29.
[146] Pausan. l. 7. c. 1.
[147] Hesych. in [Greek: Kranaos].
[148] Themist. Orat. 19.
[149] Plato in Alcib. 1.
[150] Pausan. l. 8. c. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
[151] Pausan. l. 8. c. 4. Apollon. Argonaut. l. 1. v. 161.
[152] Pausan. l. 8. c. 4.
[153] Herod. l. 5. c. 58.
[154] Strabo l. 10. p. 464, 465, 466.
[155] Solin. Polyhist. c. 11.
[156] Isidor. originum. lib. xi. c. 6.
[157] Clem. Strom. l. 1.
[158] Pausan. l. 9. c. 11.
[159] Strabo l. 10. p. 472, 473. Diodor. l. 5. c. 4.
[160] Strabo l. 10. p. 468. 472. Diodor. l. 5. c. 4.
[161] Lucian de sacrificiis. Apollod. l. 1. c. 1. sect. 3. & c. 2. sect. 1.
[162] Boch. in Canaan. l. 1. c. 15.
[163] Athen. l. 13. p. 601.
[164] Plutarch in Theseo.
[165] Homer Il. [Nu]. & [Xi]. & Odys. [Lambda]. & [Tau].
[166] Herod. l. 1.
[167] Apollod. l. 3. c. 1. Hygin. Fab. 40, 41, 42. 178.
[168] Lucian. de Dea Syria.
[169] Diodor. l. 5. c. 4,
[170] Argonaut. l. 2. v. 1236.
[171] Lucian. de sacrificiis.
[172] Porphyr. in vita Pythag.
[173] Cicero de Nat. Deor. l. 3.
[174] Callimac. Hymn 1. v. 8.
[175] Cypr. de Idolorum vanitate.
[176] Tert. Apologet. c. 10.
[177] Macrob. Saturnal. lib. 1. c. 7.
[178] Pausan. l. 5. c. 7, vid. et. c. 13. 14. & l. 8. c. 2.
[179] Pausan. l. 8. c. 29.
[180] Diodor. l. 5. p. 183.
[181] Pausan. l. 5. c. 8. 14.
[182] Herod. l. 2. c. 44.
[183] Cic. de natura Deorum. lib. 3.
[184] Diodor. p. 223.
[185] Dionys. l. 1. p. 38, 42.
[186] Lucian. de saltatione.
[187] Arnob. adv. gent. l. 6. p. 131.
[188] Herod. l. 2. initio.
[189] Diodor. l. 1. p. 8.
[190] Hesiod. opera. v. 108.
[191] Apollon. Argonaut. l. 4. v. 1643.
[192] Vita Homeri Herodoto adfer.
[193] Herod. l. 2.
[194] 1 Sam. ix. 16. & xiii. 5. 19, 20.
[195] Clem. Al. Strom. 1. p. 321.
[196] Plin. l. 7.
[197] Plato in Timaeo.
[198] Apollodor. l. 3. c. 1.
[199] Herod. l. 2.
[200] Hygin. Fab. 7.
[201] Apollodor. l. 3. c. 6.
[202] Homer. Il. [Gamma]. vers 572.
[203] Thucyd. l. 2. p. 110. & Plutarch. in Theseo.
[204] Strabo. l. 9. p. 396.
[205] Apud Strabonem, l. 9. p. 397.
[206] Pausan. l. 2. c. 15.
[207] Strabo. l. 8. p. 337.
[208] Pausan. l. 8. c. 1. 2.
[209] Plin. l. 7. c. 56.
[210] Dionys. l. 1. p. 10.
[211] Dionys. l. 2. p. 126.
[212] Diodor l. 5. p. 224. 225. 240.
[213] Ammian. l. 17. c. 7.
[214] Plin. l. 2. c. 87.
[215] Diodor. l. 5. p. 202. 204.
[216] Apud Diodor. l. 5. p. 201.
[217] Dionys. l. 1. p. 17.
[218] Dionys. l. 1. p. 33. 34.
[219] Dionys. ib.
[220] Ptol. Hephaest. l. 2.
[221] Dionys. l. 2. p. 34.
[222] Diodor. l. 5. p. 230.
[223] Ister apud Porphyr. abst. l. 2. s. 56.
[224] Bochart. Canaan. l. 1. c. 15.
[225] Apud Strabonem. lib. 14. p. 684.
[226] Strabo. l. 17. p. 828.
[227] Diodor. l. 3. p. 132.
[228] Herod. l. 1.
[229] 1 King. xx. 16.
[230] Genes. xiv. Deut ii. 9. 12. 19.-22.
[231] Exod. i. 9. 22.
[232] Job xxxi. 11.
[233] Job xxxi. 26.
[234] 1 Chron. xi. 4. 5. Judg. i. 21. 2 Sam v. 6.
[235] Vide Hermippum apud Athenaeum, I.
[236] Argonaut. l. 4. v. 272.
[237] Diodor. l. 1. p. 7.
[238] Apud Diodorum l. 3. p. 140.
[239] Diodor. l. 3. p. 131. 132.
[240] Pausan. l. 2. c. 20. p. 155.
[241] Diodor. l. 3. p. 130 & Schol. Apollonii. l. 2.
[242] Ammian. l. 22. c. 8.
[243] Justin. l. 2. c. 4.
[244] Diodor. l. 1. p. 9.
[245] Apud Diodor. l. 3. p. 141.
[246] Step. in [Greek: Ammonia].
[247] Plin. l. 6. c. 28.
[248] Ptol. l. 6. c. 7.
[249] D. Augustin. in exposit. epist. ad Rom. sub initio.
[250] Procop. de bello Vandal. l. 2. c. 10.
[251] Chron. l. 1. p. 11.
[252] Gemar. ad tit. Shebijth. cap. 6.
[253] Manetho apud Josephum cont. Appion. l. 1. p. 1039.
[254] Herod. l. 2.
[255] Jerem. xliv. 1. Ezek. xxix. 14.
[256] Menetho apud Porphyrium [Greek: peri apones**] l. 1. Sect. 55. Et. Euseb. Praep. l. 4. c. 16. p. 155.
[257] Diodor. l. 3. p. 101.
[258] Diodor. apud Photium in Biblioth.
[259] Herod. l. 2.
[260] Plutarch. de Iside. p. 355. Diodor. l. 1. p. 9.
[261] Augustin. de Civ. Dei. l. 18. c. 47.
[262] Apud Photium, c. 279.
[263] Fab. 274.
[264] Apud Euseb. Chron.
[265] Plin. l. 6. c. 23, 28. & l. 7. c. 56.
[266] Diodor. l. 1. p. 17.
[267] Pausan. l. 4. c. 23.
[268] Apollodor. l. 2. c. 1.
[269] Dionys. in Perie. v. 623.
[270] Fab. 275.
[271] Saturnal. l. 5. c. 21.
[272] Lucan. l. 10.
[273] Lucan. l. 9.
[274] Herod. l. 1.
[275] Diodor. l. 1. p. 35. Herod. l. 2 c. 102, 103, 106.
[276] Pausan. l. 10. Suidas in [Greek: Parnasioi].
[277] Lucan l. 5.
[278] Argonaut. l. 4. v. 272.
[279] Herod. l. 2. c. 109.
[280] In vita Pythag. c. 29.
[281] Diodor. l. 1. p. 36
[282] Dionys. de situ Orbis.
[283] Diodor. l. 1. p. 39.
[284] Plutarch. de Iside & Osiride.
[285] Diodor. l. 1. p. 8.
[286] Lucian. de Dea Syria
[287] Exod. xxxiv. 13. Num. xxxiii. 52. Deut. vii. 5. & xii. 3.
[288] 2 Sam. viii. 10. & 1 King. xi. 23.
[289] Antiq l. 9. c. 2.
[290] Justin. l. 36.
[291] Diodor. l. 5. p. 238.
[292] Suidas in [Greek: Sardanapalos].
[293] Apollod. l. 3.
[294] Argonaut. l. 4. v. 424. & l. 1. v. 621.
[295] Homer Odyss. [Theta]. v. 268. 292. & Hymn. 1. & 2. in Venerem. & Hesiod. Theogon. v. 192.
[296] Pausan. l. 1. c. 20.
[297] Clem. Al. Admon. ad Gent. p. 10. Apollodor. l. 3. c. 13. Pindar. Pyth. Ode 2. Hesych. in [Greek: Kinyradai]. Steph. in [Greek: Amathous]. Strabo. l. 16, p. 755.
[298] Clem. Al. Admon. ad Gent. p. 21. Plin. l. 7. c. 56.
[299] Herod. l. 2.
[300] Herod. l. 3. c. 37.
[301] Bochart. Canaan. l. 1. c. 4.
[302] Apud Athenaeum l. 9. p. 392.
[303] Ptol. l. 2.
[304] Diod. l. 3. p. 145.
[305] Vas. Chron. Hisp. c. 10.
[306] Strabo l. 16. p. 776.
[307] Homer.
[308] Diodor. l. 3. p.132, 133
[309] Plato in Timaeo. & Critia.
[310] Apud Diodor. l. 5. p. 233.
[311] Pamphus apud Pausan. l. 7. c. 21.
[312] Herod. l. 2. c. 50.
[313] Plutarch in Iside.
[314] Lucian de Saltatione.
[315] Agatharc. apud Photium.
[316] Hygin. Fab. 150.
[317] Plutarch. in Iside.
[318] Diodor. l. 1. p. 10.
[319] Pindar. Pyth. Ode 9.
[320] Diodor. l. 1. p. 12.
[321] Plin. l. 6. c. 29.
[322] Herod. l. 2. c. 110.
[323] Manetho apud Josephum cont. Apion. p. 1052, 1053.
[324] Diodor. l. 1. p. 31.
[325] Herod. l. 2.
[326] Strabo. l. 1. p. 48.
[327] Pindar. Pyth. Ode 4.
[328] Strabo. l. 1. p. 21, 45, 46.
[329] Diodor. l. 1. p. 29.
[330] Manetho
[331] Herod. l. 2
[332] Herod. l. 2.
[333] Ammian. l. 17. c. 4.
[334] Strabo. l. 17. p. 817.
[335] Annal. l. 2. c. 60.
[336] Diodor. l. 1. p. 32.
[337] Diodor. l. 1. p. 51.
[338] Joseph. Ant. l. 1. c. 4.
[339] Heordot. l. 2. c. 141.
[340] Isa. xix. 2, 4, 11, 13, 23.
[341] Herod. l. 2. c. 148, &c.
[342] Plin. l. 36. c. 8. 9.
[343] Diodor. l. 1 p. 29, &c.
[344] Diodor. l. 2, p. 83.
[345] Amos vi. 13, 14.
[346] Amos vi. 2.
[347] 2 Chron. xxvi. 6.
[348] 2 King. xiv. 25.
[349] 2 King. xix. 11.
[350] Isa. x. 8.
[351] 1 Chron. v. 26. 2 King. xvi. 9 & xvii. 6, 24. & Ezra iv. 9.
[352] Isa. xxii. 6.
[353] 2 King. xvii. 24, 30, 31. & xviii. 33, 34, 35. 2 Chron. xxxii. 15.
[354] 2 Chron. xxxii. 13, 15.
[355] Hosea v. 13. & x. 6, 14.
[356] Herod. l. iii. c. 155.
[357] Herod. l. i. c. 184.
[358] Beros. apud Josep. contr. Appion. l. 1.
[359] Curt. l. 5. c. 1.
[360] Apud Euseb. Praep. l. 9. c. 41.
[361] Doroth. apud Julium Firmicum.
[362] Heren. apud Steph. in [Greek: Bab.]
[363] Abyden apud Euseb. Praep. l. 9. c. 41.
[364] Isa. xxiii. 13.
[365] Tobit. i. 13. Annal. Tyr. apud Joseph. Ant. l. 9. c. 14.
[366] Hosea x. 14.
[367] Tobit. i. 15.
[368] Tobit. i. 21. 2 King. xix. 37. Ptol. Canon.
[369] Isa. xx. 1, 3, 4.
[370] Herod. l. 1. c. 72. & l. 7. c. 63.
[371] Apud Athenaeum l. xii. p. 528.
[372] Herod. l. 1. c. 96. &c.
[373] Athenaeus l. 12. p. 529, 530.
[374] Herod. l. 1. c. 102.
[375] Herod. l. 1. c. 103. Steph. in [Greek: Parthyaioi.]
[376] Alexander Polyhist. apud Euseb. in Chron. p. 46 & apud Syncellum. p. 210.
[377] 2 Kings xxiv. 7. Jer. xlvi. 2. Eupolemus apud Euseb. Praep. l. 9. c. 35.
[378] 2 King. xxiii. 29, &c.
[379] Eupolemus apud Euseb. Praep. l. 9. c. 39. 2 King. xxv. 2, 7.
[380] Dan. i. 1.
[381] Dan. i. 2. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 6.
[382] Jer. xlvi. 2.
[383] Apud Joseph. Antiq. l. 10. c. 11.
[384] Beros. apud Joseph. Ant. l. 10. c. 11.
[385] 2 King. xxiv. 12, 14. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 10.
[386] 2 Kings xxiv. 17. Ezek. xvii. 13, 16, 18.
[387] Ezek. xvii. 15.
[388] 2 King. xxv. 1, 2, 8. Jer. xxxii. 1, & xxxix 1, 2.
[389] Canon. & Beros.
[390] 2 King. xxv. 27.
[391] Hieron. in Isa. xiv. 19.
[392] 2 King. xxv. 27. 29, &c.
[393] Dan. v. 2.
[394] Jos. Ant. l. 10. c. 11.
[395] Herod. l. 1. c. 184, 185.
[396] Philost. in vita Apollonii. l. 1. c. 15.
[397] Jos. cont. Apion. l. 1. c. 21.
[398] Herod. l. 1. c. 189, 190, 191. Xenoph. l. 7. p. 190, 191, 192. Ed. Paris.
[399] Dan. v. 30, 31. Joseph. Ant. l. 10. c. 11.
[400] AEsch. Persae v. 761.
[401] Herod. l. 1. c. 107, 108. Xenophon Cyropaed. l. 1. p. 3.
[402] Cyropaed. l. 1. p. 22.
[403] Cyropaed. l. viii. p. 228, 229.
[404] Herod. l. 1. c. 73.
[405] Herod. l. 1. c. 106, 130.
[406] Herod. l. 1. c. 103.
[407] Herod. ib.
[408] Jer. xxv.
[409] Herod. l. 1. c. 73, 74.
[410] Herod. Ibid. Plin. l. 2. c. 12.
[411] The Scythians_._
[412] Jer. xxvii. 3, 6. Ezek. xxi. 19, 20 & xxv. 2, 8, 12.
[413] Ezek. xxvi. 2. & xxix. 17, 19.
[414] Ezek. xxix. 19. & xxx. 4, 5.
[415] Suid. in [Greek: Dareikos] & [Greek: Dareikous]. Harpocr. in [Greek: Dareikos]. Scoliast in Aristophanis. [Greek: Ekklesiazouston. v. 598.]
[416] Herod. l. 1. c. 71.
[417] Isa. xiii. 17.
[418] Plin. l. 33. c. 3.
[419] Herod. l. 1. c. 94.
[420] Theogn. [Greek: Gnomai], v. 761.
[421] Ibid. v. 773.
[422] Cyrop. l. 8.
[423] Comment. in Dan. v.
[424] Strabo. l. 16. initio.
[425] Strab. l. 16. p. 745.
[426] Herod. l. 1. c. 192.
[427] Herod. l. 1. c. 178, &c.
[428] Isa. xxiii. 13.
[429] Diod. l. 1. p. 51.
[430] Herod. l. 1. c. 181.
[431] Suidas in [Greek: Aristarchos]. Herod. l. 1. c. 123, &c.
[432] Strabo. l. 15. p. 730.
[433] Herod. l. 1. c. 127, &c.
[434] Cyrop. l. 8. p. 233.
[435] See Plate I. & II.
[436] Ezek. xli. 13, 14.
[437] Ezek. xl. 47
[438] Ezek. xl. 29, 33, 36.
[439] Ezek. xl. 19, 23, 27. 2 King xxi. 5. 2 Chron. iv. 9.
[440] Ezek. xl. 15, 17, 21. 1 Chron. xxviii. 12.
[441] Ezek. xl 5, xlii. 20, & xlv. 2.
[442] 2 King. xxi.5.
[443] Ezek. xl.
[444] Plate III.
[445] Plate I.
[446] 1 Chron. xxvi. 17.
[447] Ezek. xlvi. 8, 9.
[448] Ezek. xliv. 2, 3.
[449] 1 Chron. xxvi. 15, 16, 17, 18.
[450] Ezek. xl. 22, 26, 31, 34, 37.
[451] Plate II & III.
[452] 1 King. vi. 36. & vii. 13. Ezek. xl. 17, 18.
[453] Ezek. xl. 10, 31, 34, 37.
[454] Plate I.
[455] 1 King. vi. 36, & vii. 12.
[456] Ezek. xl. 17.
[457] Plate III.
[458] Plate I & II.
[459] Ezek. xlvi. 21, 22.
[460] Ezek. xl. 45.
[461] Ezek. xl. 39, 41, 42, 46.
[462] Plate II.
[463] Ezek. xlii. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 13, 14.
[464] Ezek. xlvi. 19, 20.
[465] Ezek. xlii. 5, 6.
[466] 1 King. vi. 2. Ezek. xli. 2, 4, 12, 13, 14.
[467] 1 King. vi. 3. Ezek. xli. 13.
[468] Ezek. xli. 6, 11.
[469] 1 King. vi. 6.
[470] Ezek. xli. 6.
[471] 2 Chron. iii. 4.
[472] 1 King. vi. 8.
[473] 2 Chron. xx. 5.
[474] 2 King. xvi. 18.
[475] Ezra vi. 3, 4.
[476] Plate I
[477] Plate III.
[478] Plate I.
[479] Valer. Max. l. 9. c. 2.
[480] Porph. de Abstinentia, lib. 4.
[481] Q. Curt. Lib. iii. c. 3.
[482] Suidas in [Greek: Zoroastres].
[483] Ammian. l. 23. c. 6.
[484] Euseb. Praep. Evang. l. 1. c. ult.
[485] AEsch. Persae v. 763.
[486] Apud. Hieron in Dan. viii.