THE CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT KINGDOMS.
By Sir ISAAC NEWTON. 1728
To which is Prefix'd,
A SHORT CHRONICLE from the First Memory of Things in Europe,
to the Conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great.
TO THE 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.
* * * * *
A SHORT
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 Lacedæmonians, 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, Timæus 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 Lacedæmonians, 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 Ægialeus, 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 Thermopylæ, take up 622 years, which is after the rate of 36½ 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 Thermopylæ. 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 Sesostris in Thrace and death of Ino the daughter of
Cadmus a Generation older than that Expedition: I have drawn up the
following Chronological Table, so as to make Chronology suit with the
Course of Nature, with Astronomy, with Sacred History, with Herodotus the
Father of History, and with it self; without the many repugnancies
complained of by Plutarch. I do not pretend to be exact to a year: there
may be Errors of five or ten years, and sometimes twenty, and not much
above.
* * * * *
A Short Chronicle of 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, Idumæa, Syria, and Libya; and under Lelex,
Æzeus, Inachus, Pelasgus, Æolus 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. Hæmon the son of Pelasgus Reigns in Thessaly.
1080. Lycaon the son of Pelasgus builds Lycosura; Phoroneus the son
of Inachus, Phoronicum, afterwards called Argos; Ægialeus the
brother of Phoroneus and son of Inachus, Ægialeum, 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
Lacedæmon 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 Idumæa 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 Erythræa 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 Lacedæmon 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 Idæi Dactyli.
1043. Hellen, the son of Deucalion, and father of Æolus, Xuthus, and
Dorus, flourishes.
1035. Erectheus Reigns in Attica. Æthlius, the grandson of
Deucalion and father of Endymion, builds Elis. The Idæi 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 Panathenæa joins horses to a chariot.
Ægina, the daughter of Asopus, and mother of Æacus, 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. Ætolus the son of
Endymion flies into the Country of the Curetes in Achaia, and calls
it Ætolia; and of Pronoe the daughter of Phorbas begets Pleuron and
Calydon, who built cities in Ætolia 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 Thermopylæ, 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 Thermopylæ, 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. Ægeus Reigns in Attica.
993. Pelops the son of Tantalus comes into Peloponnesus, marries
Hippodamia the granddaughter of Acrisius, takes Ætolia from Ætolus
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. Dædalus 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. Dædalus 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. Æacus flourishes.
987. Dædalus 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 Æolus 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 Æetes 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 Lapithæ 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 Antæus 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 Astræa 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 Mycenæ.
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, Chelæ, 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. Æsculapius and
Hercules were Argonauts, and Hippocrates was the eighteenth from
Æsculapius 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 Æsculapius 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
Mycenæ. 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 Chaldæa, the Chaldæans began their year of Nabonassar on
the same Thoth with the Egyptians, and made it of the same length. And
the Thoth of the first year of Nabonassar fell upon the 26th day of
February: which was 33 days and five hours before the Vernal Equinox,
according to the Sun's mean motion. And the Thoth of this year moves
backwards 33 days and five hours in 137 years, and therefore fell upon the
Vernal Equinox 137 years before the Æra of Nabonassar began; that is,
884 years before Christ. And if it began upon the day next after the
Vernal Equinox, it might begin three or four years earlier; and there we
may place the death of this King. The Greeks feigned that he was the Son
of Tithonus, and therefore he was born after the return of Sesac into
Egypt, with Tithonus and other captives, and so might be about 70 or 75
years old at his death.
883. Dido builds Carthage, and the Phoenicians begin presently after
to sail as far as to the Straights Mouth, and beyond. Æneas 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 Æolic 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 Thermopylæ; 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 Æra 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 Æra 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 Judæa.
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 Antæus, 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 Judæa.
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, Alcmæon and Eurolicus
commanded the forces of the Amphictions, and were contemporary to
Phidon. For Leocides the son of Phidon, and Megacles the son of
Alcmæon, 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 Thermopylæ and Salamis.
464. Artaxerxes Longimanus Reigns.
457. Ezra returns into Judæa. Johanan the father of Jaddua was now
grown up, having a chamber in the Temple.
444. Nehemiah returns into Judæa. 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.
* * * * *
THE
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 Chaldæans 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
Chaldæans 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 Lacedæmonians.
Hippias the Elean published a Breviary of the Olympiads, supported by
no certain arguments, as Plutarch [13] tells us: he lived in the 105th
Olympiad, and was derided by Plato for his Ignorance. This Breviary seems
to have contained nothing more than a short account of the Victors in every
Olympiad. Then [14] 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, that
is, eleven years before the fall of the Persian Empire: but [15] he
digested things by Generations, and the reckoning by the Olympiads, or by
any other Æra, was not yet in use among the Greeks. The Arundelian
Marbles were composed sixty years after the death of Alexander the great
(An. 4. Olymp. 128.) and yet mention not the Olympiads, nor any other
standing Æra, but reckon backwards from the time then present. But
Chronology was now reduced to a reckoning by Years; and in the next
Olympiad Timæus Siculus improved it: for he wrote a 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 and Priestesses,
and the 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. Eratosthenes wrote above 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 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 Lacedæmon, 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 Ælian 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
Lacedæmonians. 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 Lacedæmonians; 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 Lacedæmonians, 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,
Ægialeus, 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, Olæas, Buchalion, Phialus, Simus, Pompus,
Ægineta, Polymnestor, Æchmis, 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 Timæus 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 17¼ years a-piece. The eighteen
Kings of Babylon, Nabonassar &c. Reigned 209 years, which is 11-2/3
years a-piece. The ten Kings of Persia; Cyrus, Cambyses, &c. Reigned
208 years, which is almost 21 years a piece. The sixteen Successors of
Alexander the great, and of his brother and son in Syria; Seleucus,
Antiochus Soter, &c. Reigned 244 years, after the breaking of that
Monarchy into various Kingdoms, which is 15¼ years a-piece. The eleven
Kings of Egypt; Ptolomæus Lagi, &c. Reigned 277 years, counted from the
same Period, which is 25 years a-piece. The eight in Macedonia;
Cassander, &c. Reigned 138 years, which is 17¼ years a-piece. The thirty
Kings of England; William the Conqueror, William Rufus, &c. Reigned
648 years, which is 21½ years a-piece. The first twenty four Kings of
France; Pharamundus, &c. Reigned 458 years, which is 19 years a-piece:
the next twenty four Kings of France; Ludovicus Balbus, &c. 451 years,
which is 18¾ years a-piece: the next fifteen, Philip Valesius, &c. 315
years, which is 21 years a-piece: and all the sixty three Kings of
France, 1224 years, which is 19½ years a-piece. Generations from father
to son, may be reckoned one with another at about 33 or 34 years a-piece,
or about three Generations to an hundred years: but if the reckoning
proceed by the eldest sons, they are shorter, so that three of them may be
reckoned at about 75 or 80 years: and the Reigns of Kings are still
shorter, because Kings are succeeded not only by their eldest sons, but
sometimes by their brothers, and sometimes they are slain or deposed; and
succeeded by others of an equal or greater age, especially in elective or
turbulent Kingdoms. In the later Ages, since Chronology hath been exact,
there is scarce an instance to be found of ten Kings Reigning any where in
continual Succession above 260 years: but Timæus and his followers, and I
think also some of his Predecessors, after the example of the Egyptians,
have taken the Reigns of Kings for Generations, and reckoned three
Generations to an hundred, and sometimes to an hundred and twenty years;
and founded the Technical Chronology of the Greeks upon this way of
reckoning. Let the reckoning be reduced to the course of nature, by putting
the Reigns of Kings one with another, at about eighteen or twenty years
a-piece: and the ten Kings of Sparta by one Race, the nine by another
Race, the ten Kings of Messene, and the nine of Arcadia, above
mentioned, between the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus, and
the end of the first Messenian war, will scarce take up above 180 or 190
years: whereas according to Chronologers they took up 379 years.
For confirming this reckoning, I may add another argument. Euryleon the
son of Ægeus, [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 Timæus 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 Thermopylæ; 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 years before the first Olympiad, in
which Coræbus was victor. But the followers of Timæus have placed this
Return two hundred and eighty years earlier. Now this being the computation
upon which the Greeks, as you have heard from Diodorus and Plutarch,
have founded the Chronology of their Kingdoms, which were ancienter than
the Persian Empire; that Chronology is to be rectified, by shortening the
times which preceded the death of Cyrus, in the proportion of almost two
to one; for the times which follow the death of Cyrus are not much amiss.
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 Coræbus 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 Lacedæmonians, 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. Athenæus [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, Coræbus being victor. In the 14th
Olympiad, the double stadium was added, Hypænus being victor. And in
the 18th Olympiad the Quinquertium and Wrestling were added, Lampus and
Eurybatus, two Spartans, being victors: And the Disc was one of the
games of the Quinquertium. [32] Pausanias tells us that there were
three Discs kept in the Olympic treasury at Altis: these therefore having
the name of Lycurgus upon them, shew that they were given by him, at the
institution of the Quinquertium, in the 18th Olympiad. Now Polydectes
King of Sparta, being slain before the birth of his son Charillus or
Charilaus, left the Kingdom to Lycurgus his brother; and Lycurgus,
upon the birth of Charillus, became tutor to the child; and after about
eight months travelled into Crete and Asia, till the child grew up, and
brought back with him the poems of Homer; and soon after published his
laws, suppose upon the 22d or 23d Olympiad; for he was then growing old:
and Terpander was a Lyric Poet, and began to flourish about this time;
for [33] he imitated Orpheus and Homer, and sung Homer's verses and
his own, and wrote the laws of Lycurgus in verse, and was victor in the
Pythic games in the 26th Olympiad, as above. He was the first who
distinguished the modes of Lyric music by several names. Ardalus and
Clonas soon after did the like for wind music: and from henceforward, by
the encouragement of the Pythic games, now instituted, several eminent
Musicians and Poets flourished in Greece: as Archilochus, Eumelus
Corinthius, Polymnestus, Thaletas, Xenodemus, Xenocritus,
Sacadas, Tyrtæus, Tlesilla, Rhianus, Alcman, Arion,
Stesichorus, Mimnermnus, Alcæus, Sappho, Theognis, Anacreon,
Ibycus, Simonides, Æschylus, Pindar, by whom the Music and Poetry
of the Greeks were brought to perfection.
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
Lacedæmonians themselves affirmed. The times of the deaths of Agesilaus
and Polydectes are not certainly known: but it may be presumed that
Lycurgus did not meddle with the Olympic games before he came to the
Kingdom; and therefore Polydectes died in the beginning of the 18th
Olympiad, or but a very little before. If it may be supposed that the 20th
Olympiad was in, or very near to the middle time between the deaths of the
two Kings Polydectes and Agesilaus, and from thence be counted upwards
the aforesaid 120 years, and one year more for the Reign of Aristodemus;
the reckoning will place the Return of the Heraclides, about 45 years
before the beginning of the Olympiads.
Iphitus, who restored the Olympic games, [35] was descended from
Oxylus, the son of Hæmon, the son of Thoas, the son of Andræmon:
Hercules and Andræmon married two sisters: Thoas warred at Troy:
Oxylus returned into Peloponnesus with the Heraclides. In this return
he commanded the body of the Ætolians, and recovered Elea; [36] from
whence his ancestor Ætolus, 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 Hæmon, by
others the son of Praxonidas, the son of Hæmon: but Hæmon being the
father of Oxylus, I would reckon Iphitus the son of Praxonidas, the
son of Oxylus, the son of Hæmon. 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.
Æsculapius and Hercules were Argonauts, and Hippocrates was the
eighteenth inclusively by the father's side from Æsculapius, 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, quæ 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 Encænia 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 Æra of the
City began with its Encænia. 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
Æetes in Colchis, and Æetes 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 Achæus, 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 Ægeus, 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 Æthra 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 the same
time: and they agree not only in the time, but also in their actions and
conquests. God gave Sesac [Hebrew: mmlkvt h'rtsvt] the Kingdoms of the
lands, 2 Chron. xii. Where Herodotus describes the expedition of
Sesostris, Josephus [44] tells us that he described the expedition of
Sesac, and attributed his actions to Sesostris, erring only in the name
of the King. Corruptions of names are frequent in history; Sesostris was
otherwise called Sesochris, Sesochis, Sesoosis, Sethosis,
Sesonchis, Sesonchosis. Take away the Greek termination, and the
names become Sesost, Sesoch, Sesoos, Sethos, Sesonch: which names
differ very little from Sesach. Sesonchis and Sesach differ no more
than Memphis and Moph, two names of the same city. Josephus [45]
tells us also, from Manetho, that Sethosis was the brother of Armais,
and that these brothers were otherwise called Ægyptus and Danaus; and
that upon the return of Sethosis or Ægyptus, from his great conquests
into Egypt, Armais or Danaus fled from him into Greece.
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, and that the error was only in the name of the King: for this
is as much as to say, that the true name of him who did those things
described by Herodotus, was Sesac; and that Herodotus erred only in
calling him Sesostris; or that he was called Sesostris by a corruption
of his name. Our great Chronologer, Sir John Marsham, was also of opinion
that Sesostris was Sesac: and if this be granted, it is then most
certain, that Sesostris came out of Egypt in the fifth year of
Rehoboam to invade the nations, and returned back into Egypt in the
14th year of that King; and that Danaus then flying from his brother,
came into Greece within a year or two after: and the Argonautic
expedition being one Generation later than that invasion, and than the
coming of Danaus into Greece, was certainly about 40 or 45 years later
than the death of Solomon. Prometheus stay'd on Mount Caucasus [46]
thirty years, and then was released by Hercules: and therefore the
Argonautic expedition was thirty years after Prometheus had been left
on Mount Caucasus by Sesostris, that is, about 44 years after the death
of Solomon.
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 cæterorumque
Græcorum, quod suos dies mensesque congruere volunt cum Solis Lunæque
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
ên tois archaiois, tous men mênas agein kata selênên, tous de eniautous
kath' hêlion. To gar hypo tôn nomôn, kai tôn chrêsmôn parangellomenon, to
thyein kata g', êgoun ta patria, mênas, hêmeras, eniautous: touto dielabon
apantes hoi Hellênes tôi tous men heniautous symphônôs agein tôi hêliôi;
tas de hêmeras kai tous mênas têi selênê. esti de to men kath' hêlion agein
tous eniautous, to peri tas autas hôras tou eniautou tas autas thysias tois
theois epiteleithai, kai tên men earinên thysian dia pantos kata to ear
synteleithai; tên de therinên, kata to theros; homoiôs de kai kata tous
loipous kairous tou etous tas autas thysias piptein. Touto gar hypelabon
prosênes, kai kecharismenon einai tois theois. Touto d' allôs ouk an
dynaito genesthai, ei mê hai tropai, kai hai isêmeriai peri tous autous
topous gignointo. To de kata selênên agein tas hêmeras, toiouton esti; to
akolouthôs tois tês selênês phôtismois tas prosêgorias tôn hêmerôn
ginesthai. apo gar tôn tês selênês phôtismôn hai prosêgoriai tôn hêmerôn
katônomasthêsan. En hêi men gar hêmerai nea hê selênê phainetai, kata
synaloiphên neomênia prosêgoreuthê; en hêi de hêmerai tên deuteran phasin
poieitai, deuteran prosêgoreusan; tên de kata meson tou mênos ginomenên
phasin tês selênês, apo autou tou symbainontos dichomênian ekalesan. kai
katholou de pasas tas hêmeras apo tôn tês selênês phôtismatôn prosônomasan.
hothen kai tên triakostên tou mênos hêmeran eschatên ousan apo autou tou
symbainontos triakada ekalesan.] Propositum enim fuit veteribus, menses
quidem agere secundum Lunam, annos vero secundum Solem. Quod enim a legibus
& Oraculis præcipiebatur, ut sacrificarent secundum tria, videlicet patria,
menses, dies, annos; hoc ita distincte faciebant universi Græci, ut annos
agerent congruenter cum Sole, dies vero & menses cum Luna. Porro secundum
Solem annos agere, est circa easdem tempestates anni eadem sacrificia Diis
perfici, & vernum sacrificium semper in vere consummari, æstivum autem in
æstate: similiter & in reliquis anni temporibus eadem sacrificia cadere.
Hoc enim putabant acceptum & gratum esse Diis. Hoc autem aliter fieri non
posset nisi conversiones solstitiales & æquinoctia in iisdem Zodiaci locis
fierent. Secundum Lunam vero dies agere est tale ut congruant cum Lunæ
illuminationibus appellationes dierum. Nam a Lunæ illuminationibus
appellationes dierum sunt denominatæ. In qua enim die Luna apparet nova, ea
per Synaloephen, seu compositionem [Greek: neomênia] id est, Novilunium
appellatur. In qua vero die secundam facit apparitionem, eam secundam Lunam
vocarunt. Apparitionem Lunæ quæ circa medium mensis fit, ab ipso eventu
[Greek: dichomênian], id est medietatem mensis nominarunt. Ac summatim,
omnes dies a Lunæ illuminationibus denominarunt. Unde etiam tricesimam
mensis diem, cum ultima sit, ab ipso eventu [Greek: triakada] vocarunt.
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, [52] one of the seven wise men of Greece, alluded
to this year of the Greeks, in his Parable of one father who had twelve
sons, each of which had thirty daughters half white and half black: and
Thales [53] called the last day of the month [Greek: triakada], the
thirtieth: and Solon counted the ten last days of the month backward from
the thirtieth, calling that day [Greek: enên kai nean], the old and the
new, or the last day of the old month and the first day of the new: for he
introduced months of 29 and 30 days alternately, making the thirtieth day
of every other month to be the first day of the next month.
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 Sacæa 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 Chaldæa, 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 Æra 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 and 49 minutes of the Equinoctial year; the
beginning of this year will move backwards thirty and three days and five
hours in 137 years: and by consequence this year began at first in Egypt
upon the Vernal Equinox, according to the Sun's mean motion, 137 years
before the Æra of Nabonassar began; that is, in the year of the
Julian Period 3830, or 96 years after the death of Solomon: and if it
began upon the next day after the Vernal Equinox, it might begin four years
earlier; and about that time ended the Reign of Amenophis: for he came
not from Susa to the Trojan war, but died afterwards in Egypt. This
year was received by the Persian Empire from the Babylonian; and the
Greeks also used it in the Æra Philippæa, dated from the Death of
Alexander the great; and Julius Cæsar corrected it, by adding a day in
every four years, and made it the year of the Romans.
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,
Chelæ, 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, Chelæ, 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. For
Hipparchus tells us, that Eudoxus drew the Colure of the Solstices,
through the middle of the great Bear, and the middle of Cancer, and the
neck of Hydrus, and the Star between the Poop and Mast of Argo, and the
Tayl of the South Fish, and through the middle of Capricorn, and of
Sagitta, and through the neck and right wing of the Swan, and the left
hand of Cepheus; and that he drew the Equinoctial Colure, through the
left hand of Arctophylax, and along the middle of his Body, and cross the
middle of Chelæ, and through the right hand and fore-knee of the
Centaur, and through the flexure of Eridanus and head of Cetus, and
the back of Aries a-cross, and through the head and right hand of
Perseus.
Now Chiron delineated [Greek: schêmata 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 Musæus, 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, AURIGA to
Erechthonius, OPHIUCHUS to Phorbas, SAGITTARIUS to Crolus the son
of the Nurse of the Muses, CAPRICORN to Pan, and AQUARIUS to
Ganimede. There's Ariadne's CROWN, Bellerophon's HORSE,
Neptune's DOLPHIN, Ganimede's EAGLE, Jupiter's GOAT with her
KIDS, Bacchus's ASSES, and the FISHES of Venus and Cupid, and
their Parent the SOUTH FISH. These with DELTOTON, are the old
Constellations mentioned by Aratus: and they all relate to the
Argonauts and their Contemporaries, and to Persons one or two Generations
older: and nothing later than that Expedition was delineated there
Originally. ANTINOUS and COMA BERENICES are novel. The Sphere seems
therefore to have been formed by Chiron and Musæus, for the use of the
Argonauts: for the Ship Argo was the first long ship built by the
Greeks. Hitherto they had used round vessels of burden, and kept within
sight of the shore; and now, upon an Embassy to several Princes upon the
coasts of the Euxine and Mediterranean Seas, [74] by the dictates of
the Oracle, and consent of the Princes of Greece, the Flower of Greece
were to sail with Expedition through the deep, in a long Ship with Sails,
and guide their Ship by the Stars. The People of the Island Corcyra [75]
attributed the invention of the Sphere to Nausicaa, the daughter of
Alcinous, King of the Pheaces in that Island: and it's most probable
that she had it from the Argonauts, who [76] in their return home sailed
to that Island, and made some stay there with her father. So then in the
time of the Argonautic Expedition, the Cardinal points of the Equinoxes
and Solstices were in the middles of the Constellations of Aries,
Cancer, Chelæ, and Capricorn.
In the end of the year of our Lord 1689 the Star called Prima Arietis was
in [Aries]. 28°. 51'. 00", with North Latitude 7°. 8'. 58". And the Star
called ultima caudæ Arietis was in [Taurus]. 19°. 3'. 42", with North
Latitude 2°. 34'. 5". And the Colurus Æquinoctiorum passing through the
point in the middle between those two Stars did then cut the Ecliptic in
[Taurus]. 6°. 44': and by this reckoning the Equinox in the end of the year
1689 was gone back 36°. 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°. 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 about 25 years after the Death of Solomon: but it
is not necessary that the middle of the Constellation of Aries should be
exactly in the middle between the two Stars called prima Arietis and
ultima Caudæ: and it may be better to fix the Cardinal points by the
Stars, through which the Colures passed in the primitive Sphere,
according to the description of Eudoxus above recited. By the Colure of
the Equinoxes, I mean a great Circle passing through the Poles of the
Equator, and cutting the Ecliptic in the Equinoxes in an Angle of 66½
degrees, the complement of the Sun's greatest Declination; and by the
Colure of the Solstices I mean a great Circle passing through the same
Poles, and cutting the Ecliptic at right Angles in the Solstices: and by
the Primitive Sphere, that which was in use before the motions of the
Equinoxes and Solstices were known: now the Colures passed through the
following Stars according to Eudoxus.
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°. 38'. 45", and North Latitude 6°. 7'. 56": and
the Colurus Æquinoctiorum drawn though it, according to Eudoxus, cuts
the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 6°. 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°. 3'. 9". and [Taurus].
3°. 7'. 37", and their South Latitudes 9°. 12'. 26". and 5°. 53'. 7"; and
the Colurus Æquinoctiorum passing in the mid way between them, cuts the
Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 6°. 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°. 22'. 10". and South Latitude 25°. 15'.
50". and the Colurus Æquinoctiorum passing through it, cuts the Ecliptic
in [Taurus]. 7°. 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°. 25'. 30", and
North Latitude 34°. 20'. 12": and the Colurus Æquinoctiorum passing
through it, cuts the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 6°. 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°. 25'. 27", and North Latitude 37°. 26'. 50": and the Colurus
Æquinoctiorum passing through it cuts the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 4°. 56'.
40": and the fifth part of the summ of the places in which these five
Colures cut the Ecliptic, is [Taurus]. 6°. 29'. 15": and therefore the
Great Circle which in the Primitive Sphere according to Eudoxus, and by
consequence in the time of the Argonautic Expedition, was the Colurus
Æquinoctiorum passing through the Stars above described; did in the end of
the year 1689, cut the Ecliptic in [Taurus]. 6°. 29'. 15": as nearly as we
have been able to determin by the Observations of the Ancients, which were
but coarse.
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°. 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°. 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°. 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°. 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°.
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°. 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 Æquinoctiorum 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°. 29'; [Leo]. 6°. 29'; [Scorpio]. 6°. 29';
and [Aquarius]. 6°. 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°. 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°.
51'. as above: count backward 1 Sign, 6°. 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°. 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°. 26'. 8": and the Longitude of
Arcturus [Virgo]. 13°. 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°. 53': and by consequence
the Lucida Pleiadum had, since the Argonautic Expedition, moved from
the Equinox 4°. 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 the same age with the elder children of Priam, and was
with his army at Susa in the last year of that war: and after he had
there finished the Memnonia, he might return into Egypt, and adorn it
with Buildings, and Obelisks, and Statues, and die there about 90 or 95
years after the death of Solomon; when he had determined and settled the
beginning of the new Egyptian year of 365 days upon the Vernal Equinox,
so as to deserve the Monument above-mentioned in memory thereof.
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; and succeeding his father Reigned 'till the fifth year of
Asa: and therefore he was of about the same age with the children of
Pharaoh above-mentioned; and might be one of them, and be born near the
end of David's Reign, and be about 46 years old when he came out of
Egypt with a great Army to invade the East: and by reason of his great
Conquests, he was celebrated in several Nations by several Names. The
Chaldæans called him Belus, which in their Language signified the
Lord: the Arabians called him Bacchus, which in their Language
signified the great: the Phrygians and Thracians called him
Ma-fors, Mavors, Mars, which signified the valiant: and thence the
Amazons, whom he carried from Thrace and left at Thermodon, called
themselves the daughters of Mars. The Egyptians before his Reign called
him their Hero or Hercules; and after his death, by reason of his great
works done to the River Nile, dedicated that River to him, and Deified
him by its names Sihor, Nilus and Ægyptus; and the Greeks hearing
them lament 0 Sihor, Bou Sihor, called him Osiris and Busiris.
Arrian [82] tells us that the Arabians worshipped, only two Gods,
Coelus and Dionysus; and that they worshipped Dionysus for the glory
of leading his Army into India. The Dionysus of the Arabians was
Bacchus, and all agree that Bacchus was the same King of Egypt with
Osiris: and the Coelus, or Uranus, or Jupiter Uranius of the
Arabians, I take to be the same King of Egypt with His father Ammon,
according to the Poet:
Quamvis Æthiopum 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 Judæa, 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 was succeeded by
Amenophis, a youth of the Royal Family of the Ethiopians, and I think
the son of Zerah: but the People of the lower Egypt revolted from him,
and set up Osarsiphus over them, and called to their assistance a great
body of men from Phoenicia, I think a part of the Army of Asa; and
thereupon Amenophis, with the remains of his father's Army of
Ethiopians, retired from the lower Egypt to Memphis, and there turned
the River Nile into a new channel, under a new bridge which he built
between two Mountains; and at the same time he built and fortified that
City against Osarsiphus, calling it by his own name, Amenoph or
Memphis: and then he retired into Ethiopia, and stayed there thirteen
years; and then came back with a great Army, and subdued the lower Egypt,
expelling the People which had been called in from Phoenicia: and this I
take to be the second expulsion of the Shepherds. Dr. Castel [83] tells
us, that in Coptic this City is called Manphtha; whence by contraction
came its Names Moph, Noph.
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 Athenæa, 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 Athenæa in the beginning of the Tetraeteris, then
brought into Crete and Greece by the Phoenicians and upon the third
payment of the tribute of children, that is, about seventeen years after
the said war was at an end, and about nineteen or twenty years after the
death of Androgeus, Theseus became Victor, and returned from Crete
with Ariadne the daughter of Minos; and coming to the Island Naxus or
Dia, [84] Ariadne was there relinquished by him, and taken up by
Glaucus, an Egyptian Commander at Sea, and became the mistress of the
great Bacchus, who at that time returned from India in Triumph; and
[85] by him she had two sons, Phlyas and Eumedon, who were Argonauts.
This Bacchus was caught in bed in Phrygia with Venus the mother of
Æneas, according [86] to Homer; just before he came over the
Hellespont, and invaded Thrace; and he married Ariadne the daughter
of Minos, according to Hesiod [87]: and therefore by the Testimony of
both Homer and Hesiod, who wrote before the Greeks and Egyptians
corrupted their Antiquities, this Bacchus was one Generation older than
the Argonauts; and so being King of Egypt at the same time with
Sesostris, they must be one and the same King: for they agree also in
their actions; Bacchus invaded India and Greece, and after he was
routed by the Army of Perseus, and the war was composed, the Greeks did
him great honours, and built a Temple to him at Argos, and called it the
Temple of the Cresian Bacchus, because Ariadne was buried in it, as
Pausanias [88] relates. Ariadne therefore died in the end of the war,
just before the return of Sesostris into Egypt, that is, in the 14th
year of Rehoboam: She was taken from Naxus upon the return of Bacchus
from India, and then became the Mistress of Bacchus, and accompanied
him in his Triumphs; and therefore the expedition of Theseus to Crete,
and the death of his father Ægeus, was about nine or ten years after the
death of Solomon. Theseus was then a beardless young man, suppose about
19 or 20 years old, and Androgeus was slain about twenty years before,
being then about 20 or 22 years old; and his father Minos might be about
25 years older, and so be born about the middle of David's Reign, and be
about 70 years old when he pursued Dædalus into Sicily: and Europa
and her brother Cadmus might come into Europe, two or three years
before the birth of Minos.
Justin, in his 18th book, tells us: A rege Ascaloniorum expugnati
Sidonii navibus appulsi Tyron urbem ante annum * * Trojanæ 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: Tautên ektisen heis tôn epanelthontôn
ap' Erythras thalassês Pheugadôn]: 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 man, and his wife was called Sithonis a
Zidonian. Many from those Cities went afterwards with the great Bacchus
in his Armies: and by these things, the taking of Zidon, and the flight
of the Zidonians under Abibalus, Cadmus, Cilix, Thasus,
Membliarius, Atymnus, and other Captains, to Tyre, Aradus,
Cilicia, Rhodes, Caria, Bithynia, Phrygia, Calliste, Thasus,
Samothrace, Crete, Greece and Libya, and the building of Tyre and
Thebes, and beginning of the Reigns of Abibalus and Cadmus over those
Cities, are fixed upon the fifteenth or sixteenth year of David's Reign,
or thereabout. By means of these Colonies of Phoenicians, the people of
Caria learnt sea-affairs, in such small vessels with oars as were then in
use, and began to frequent the Greek Seas, and people some of the Islands
therein, before the Reign of Minos: for Cadmus, in coming to Greece,
arrived first at Rhodes, an Island upon the borders of Caria, and left
there a Colony of Phoenicians, who sacrificed men to Saturn, and the
Telchines being repulsed by Phoroneus, retired from Argos to Rhodes
with Phorbas, who purged the Island from Serpents; and Triopas, the son
of Phorbas, carried a Colony from Rhodes to Caria, and there
possessed himself of a promontory, thence called Triopium: and by this
and such like Colonies Caria was furnished with Shipping and Seamen, and
called [95] Phoenice. Strabo and Herodotus [96] tell us, that the
Cares were called Leleges, and became subject to Minos, and lived
first in the Islands of the Greek Seas, and went thence into Caria, a
country possest before by some of the Leleges and Pelasgi: whence it's
probable that when Lelex and Pelasgus came first into Greece to seek
new Seats, they left part of their Colonies in Caria and the neighbouring
Islands.
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 makes no mention of Tyre. But at length, [98] in the Reign
of Jehoram King of Judah, Edom revolted from the Dominion of Judah,
and made themselves a King; and the trade of Judah and Tyre upon the
Red Sea being thereby interrupted, the Tyrians built ships for
merchandise upon the Mediterranean, and began there to make long Voyages
to places not yet frequented by the Zidonians; some of them going to the
coasts of Afric beyond the Syrtes, and building Adrymetum,
Carthage, Leptis, Utica, and Capsa; and others going to the Coasts
of Spain, and building Carteia, Gades and Tartessus; and others
going further to the Fortunate Islands, and to Britain and Thule.
Jehoram Reigned eight years, and the two last years was sick in his
bowels, and before that sickness Edom revolted, because of Jehoram's
wicked Reign: if we place that revolt about the middle of the first six
years, it will fall upon the fifth year of Pygmalion King of Tyre, and
so was about twelve or fifteen years after the taking of Troy: and then,
by reason of this revolt, the Tyrians retired from the Red Sea, and
began long Voyages upon the Mediterranean; for in the seventh year of
Pygmalion, his Sister Dido sailed to the Coast of Afric beyond the
Syrtes, and there built Carthage. This retiring of the Tyrians from
the Red Sea to make long Voyages on the Mediterranean, together with
the flight of the Edomites from David to the Philistims, gave
occasion to the tradition both of the ancient Persians, and of the
Phoenicians themselves, that the Phoenicians came originally from the
Red Sea to the coasts of the Mediterranean, and presently undertook
long Voyages, as Herodotus [99] relates: for Herodotus, in the
beginning of his first book, relates that the Phoenicians coming from the
Red Sea to the Mediterranean, and beginning to make long Voyages with
Egyptian and Assyrian wares, among other places came to Argos, and
having sold their wares, seized and carried away into Egypt some of the
Grecian women who came to buy them; and amongst those women was Io the
daughter of Inachus. The Phoenicians therefore came from the Red Sea,
in the days of Io and her brother Phoroneus King of Argos, and by
consequence at that time when David conquered the Edomites, and made
them fly every way from the Red Sea; some into Egypt with their young
King, and others to the Philistims their next neighbours and the enemies
of David. And this flight gave occasion to the Philistims to call many
places Erythra, in memory of their being Erythreans or Edomites, and
of their coming from the Erythrean Sea; for Erythra was the name of a
City in Ionia, of another in Libya, of another in Locris, of another
in Boeotia, of another in Cyprus, of another in Ætolia, of another in
Asia near Chius; and Erythia Acra was a promontory in Libya, and
Erythræum a promontory in Crete, and Erythros a place near Tybur,
and Erythini a City or Country in Paphlagonia: and the name Erythea
or Erythræ was given to the Island Gades, peopled by Phoenicians. So
Solinus, [100] In capite Bæticæ insula a continenti septingentis
passibus memoratur quam Tyrii a rubro mari profecti Erytheam, Poeni sua
lingua Gadir, id est sepem nominarunt. And Pliny, [101] concerning a
little Island near it; Erythia dicta est quoniam Tyrii Aborigines eorum,
orti ab Erythræo mari ferebantur. Among the Phoenicians who came with
Cadmus into Greece, there were [102] Arabians, and [103] Erythreans
or Inhabitants of the Red Sea, that is Edomites; and in Thrace there
settled a People who were circumcised and called Odomantes, that is, as
some think, Edomites. Edom, Erythra and Phoenicia are names of the
same signification, the words denoting a red colour: which makes it
probable that the Erythreans who fled from David, settled in great
numbers in Phoenicia, that is, in all the Sea-coasts of Syria from
Egypt to Zidon; and by calling themselves Phoenicians in the language
of Syria, instead of Erythreans, gave the name of Phoenicia to all
that Sea-coast, and to that only. So Strabo: [104] [Greek: Hoi men gar
kai tous Phoinikas, kai tous Sidonious tous kath' hêmas apoikous einai tôn
en tôi Ôkeanôi phasi, prostithentes kai dia ti Phoinikes ekalounto, hoti
kai hê thalatta erythra.] Alii referunt Phoenices & Sidonios nostros esse
colonos eorum qui sunt in Oceano, addentes illos ideo vocari Phoenices
[puniceos] quod mare rubrum sit.
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 Leader, because of his labours and success, and
that of Heraclea to the city Carteia which he built. So Strabo: [107]
[Greek: Ekpleousin oun ek tês hêmeteras thalattês eis tên exô, dexion esti
touto; kai pros auto Kalpê [Kartêia]] [108] [Greek: polis en tettarakonta
stadiois axiologos kai palaia, naustathmon pote genomenê tôn Ibêrôn; enioi
de kai Êrakleous ktisma legousin autên, hôn esti kai Timosthenês; hos Phêsi
kai Êrakleian onomazesthai to palaion; deiknysthai te megan peribolon, kai
neôsoikous.] Mons Calpe ad dextram est e nostro mari foras navigantibus, &
ad quadraginta inde stadia urbs Carteia vetusta ac memorabilis, olim statio
navibus Hispanorum. Hanc ab Hercule quidam conditam aiunt, inter quos est
Timosthenes, qui eam antiquitus Heracleam fuisse appellatam refert,
ostendique adhuc magnum murorum circuitum & navalia. This Hercules, in
memory of his building and Reigning over the City Carteia, they called
also Melcartus, the King of Carteia. Bochart [109] writes, that
Carteia was at first called Melcarteia, from its founder Melcartus,
and by an Aphæresis, Carteia; and that Melcartus signifies Melec
Kartha, the King of the city, that is, saith he, of the city Tyre: but
considering that no ancient Author tells us, that Carteia was ever called
Melcarteia, or that Melcartus was King of Tyre; I had rather say that
Melcartus, or Melecartus, had his name from being the Founder and
Governor or Prince of the city Carteia. Under Melcartus the Tyrians
sailed as far as Tartessus or Tarshish, a place in the Western part of
Spain, between the two mouths of the river Boetis, and there they [110]
met with much silver, which they purchased for trifles: they sailed also as
far as Britain before the death of Melcartus; for [111] Pliny tells
us, Plumbum ex Cassiteride insula primus apportavit Midacritus: And
Bochart [112] observes that Midacritus is a Greek name corruptly
written for Melcartus; Britain being unknown to the Greeks long after
it was discovered by the Phoenicians. After the death of Melcartus,
they [113] built a Temple to him in the Island Gades, and adorned it with
the sculptures of the labours of Hercules, and of his Hydra, and the
Horses to whom he threw Diomedes, King of the Bistones in Thrace, to
be devoured. In this Temple was the golden Belt of Teucer, and the golden
Olive of Pygmalion bearing Smaragdine fruit: and by these consecrated
gifts of Teucer and Pygmalion, you may know that it was built in their
days. Pomponius derives it from the times of the Trojan war; for
Teucer, seven years after that war, according to the Marbles, arrived at
Cyprus, being banished from home by his father Telamon, and there built
Salamis: and he and his Posterity Reigned there 'till Evagoras, the
last of them, was conquered by the Persians, in the twelfth year of
Artaxerxes Mnemon. Certainly this Tyrian Hercules could be no older
than the Trojan war, because the Tyrians did not begin to navigate the
Mediterranean 'till after that war: for Homer and Hesiod knew nothing
of this navigation, and the Tyrian Hercules went to the coasts of
Spain, and was buried in Gades: so Arnobius [114]; Tyrius Hercules
sepultus in finibus Hispaniæ: and Mela, speaking of the Temple of
Hercules in Gades, saith, Cur sanctum sit ossa ejus ibi sepulta
efficiunt. Carthage [115] paid tenths to this Hercules, and sent their
payments yearly to Tyre: and thence it's probable that this Hercules
went to the coast of Afric, as well as to that of Spain, and by his
discoveries prepared the way to Dido: Orosius [116] and others tell us
that he built Capsa there. Josephus tells of an earlier Hercules, to
whom Hiram built a Temple at Tyre: and perhaps there might be also an
earlier Hercules of Tyre, who set on foot their trade on the Red Sea
in the days of David or Solomon.
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 might be after the
destruction of Troy. Solomon therefore Reigned in the times between the
raptures of Europa and Helena, and Europa and her brother Cadmus
flourished in the days or David. Minos, the son of Europa, flourished
in the Reign of Solomon, and part of the Reign of Rehoboam: and the
children of Minos, namely Androgeus his eldest son, Deucalion his
youngest son and one of the Argonauts, Ariadne the mistress of
Theseus and Bacchus, and Phædra the wife of Theseus; flourished in
the latter end of Solomon, and in the Reigns of Rehoboam, Abijah and
Asa: and Idomeneus, the grandson of Minos, was at the war of Troy:
and Hiram succeeded his father Abibalus, in the three and twentieth
year of David: and Abibalus might found the Kingdom of Tyre about
sixteen or eighteen years before, when Zidon was taken by the
Philistims; and the Zidonians fled from thence, under the conduct of
Cadmus and other commanders, to seek new seats. Thus by the Annals of
Tyre, and the ancient Phoenician Historians who followed them,
Abibalus, Alymnus, Cadmus, and Europa fled from Zidon about the
sixteenth year of David's Reign: and the Argonautic Expedition being
later by about three Generations, will be about three hundred years later
than where the Greeks have placed it.
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; and the next year Archias came from
Corinth with a colony, and built Syracuse; and that Lamis came about
the same time into Sicily, with a colony from Megara in Achaia, and
lived first at Trotilum, and then at Leontini, and died at Thapsus
near Syracuse; and that after his death, this colony was invited by
Hyblo to Megara in Sicily, and lived there 245 years, and was then
expelled by Gelo King of Sicily. Now Gelo flourished about 78 years
before the end of the Peloponnesian war: count backwards the 78 and the
245 years, and about 12 years more for the Reign of Lamis in Sicily,
and the reckoning will place the building of Syracuse about 335 years
before the end of the Peloponnesian war, or in the tenth Olympiad; and
about that time Eusebius and others place it: but it might be twenty or
thirty years later, the antiquities of those days having been raised more
or less by the Greeks. From the colonies henceforward sent into Italy
and Sicily came the name of Græcia magna.
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 Pisæans and Eleans, presided in the Olympic
games; but was soon after subdued by the Eleans and Spartans.
Herodotus [122] reckons that Perdiccas was the first King of Macedon;
later writers, as Livy, Pausanias and Suidas, make Caranus the
first King: Justin calls Perdiccas the Sucessor of Caranus; and
Solinus saith that Perdiccas succeeded Caranus; and was the first
that obtained the name of King. It's probable that Caranus and
Perdiccas were contemporaries, and fled about the same time from
Phidon, and at first erected small principalities in Macedonia, which,
after the death of Caranus, became one under Perdiccas. Herodotus
[123] tells us, that after Perdiccas Reigned Aræus, or Argæus,
Philip, Æropus, Alcetas, Amyntas, and Alexander, successively.
Alexander was contemporary to Xerxes King of Persia, and died An.
4. Olymp. 79, and was succeeded by Perdiccas, and he by his son
Archelaus: and Thucydides [124] tells us that there were eight Kings of
Macedon before this Archelaus: now by reckoning above forty years
a-piece to these Kings, Chronologers have made Phidon and Caranus older
than the Olympiads; whereas if we should reckon their Reigns at about 18 or
20 years a-piece one with another, the first seven Reigns counted backwards
from the death of this Alexander, will place the dominion of Phidon,
and the beginning of the Kingdom of Macedon under Perdiccas and
Caranus, upon the 46th or 47th Olympiad, or thereabout. It could scarce
be earlier, because Leocides the son of Phidon, and Megacles the son
of Alcmæon, at one and the same time courted Agarista, the daughter of
Clisthenes King of Sicyon, as Herodotus [125] tells us; and the
Amphictyons, by the advice of Solon, made Alcmæon, and Clisthenes,
and Eurolycus King of Thessaly, commanders of their army, in their war
against Cirrha; and the Cirrheans were conquered An. 2. Olymp. 47.
according to the Marbles. Phidon therefore and his brother Caranus were
contemporary to Solon, Alcmæon, Clisthenes, and Eurolycus, and
flourished about the 48th and 49th Olympiads. They were also contemporary
in their later days to Croesus; for Solon conversed with Croesus, and
Alcmæon entertained and conducted the messengers whom Croesus sent to
consult the Oracle at Delphi, An. 1. Olymp. 56. according to the
Marbles, and was sent for by Croesus, and rewarded with much riches.
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, Alcmæon 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 Pisæans
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 Pisæans, suspecting their designs, but were prevailed upon to
return home quietly; afterwards the Pisæans 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 Hellenodicæ, 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
Pisæans, 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, about
the 18th or 20th year of David's Reign; that Sesostris and the great
Bacchus, and by consequence also Osiris, were one and the same King of
Egypt with Sesac, and came out of Egypt in the fifth year of
Rehoboam to invade the nations, and died 25 years after Solomon; that
the Argonautic expedition was about 43 years after the death of
Solomon; that Troy was taken about 76 or 78 years after the death of
Solomon; that the Phoenicians of Tyre were driven from the Red Sea
by the Edomites, about 87 years after the death of Solomon, and within
two or three years began to make long voyages upon the Mediterranean,
sailing to Spain, and beyond, under a commander whom for his industry,
conduct, and discoveries, they honoured with the names of Melcartus and
Hercules; that the return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus was
about 158 years after the death of Solomon; that Lycurgus the
Legislator Reigned at Sparta, and gave the three Discs to the Olympic
treasury, An. 1, Olymp. 18, or 273 years after the death of Solomon,
the Quinquertium being at that time added to the Olympic Games; that the
Greeks began soon after to build Triremes, and to send Colonies into
Sicily and Italy, which gave the name of Græcia magna to those
countries; that the first Messenian war ended about 350 years after the
death of Solomon, An. 1, Olymp. 37; that Phidon was contemporary to
Solon, and presided in the Olympic Games in the 49th Olympiad, that is,
397 years after the death of Solomon; that Draco was Archon, and made
his laws, An. 1, Olymp. 52; and Solon, An. 3, Olymp. 54; and that
Solon visited Croesus Ann. 3, Olymp. 57, or 433 years after the death
of Solomon; and Sardes was taken by Cyrus 438 years, and Babylon by
Cyrus 443 years, and Echatane by Cyrus 445 years after the death of
Solomon: and these periods being settled, they become a foundation for
building the Chronology of the antient times upon them; and nothing more
remains for settling such a Chronology, than to make these Periods a little
exacter, if it can be, and to shew how the rest of the Antiquities of
Greece, Egypt, Assyria, Chaldæa, and Media may suit therewith.
Whilst Bacchus made his expedition into India, Theseus left Ariadne
in the Island Naxus or Dia, as above, and succeeded his father Ægeus
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, viz. Theseus, Menestheus, Demophoon,
Oxyntes, Aphidas, Thymætes, Melanthus, and Codrus; these Kings,
at 19 years a-piece one with another, might take up about 152 years, and
end about 44 years before the Olympiads: then Reigned twelve Archons for
life, which at 14 or 15 years a-piece, the State being unstable, might take
up about 174 years, and end An. 2, Olymp. 33: then reigned seven
decennial Archons, which are usually reckoned at seventy years; but some of
them dying in their Regency, they might not take up above forty years, and
so end about An. 2, Olymp. 43, about which time began the Second
Messenian war: these decennial Archons were followed by the annual
Archons, amongst whom were the Legislators Draco and Solon. Soon after
the death of Codrus, his second Son Neleus, not bearing the Reign of
his lame brother Medon at Athens, retired into Asia, and was followed
by his younger brothers Androcles and Cyaretus, and many others: these
had the name of Ionians, from Ion the son of Xuthus, who commanded
the army of the Athenians at the death of Erechtheus, and gave the name
of Ionia to the country which they invaded: and about 20 or 25 years
after the death of Codrus, these new Colonies, being now Lords of
Ionia, set up over themselves a common Council called Panionium, and
composed of Counsellors sent from twelve of their cities, Miletus,
Myus, Priene, Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus, Teos, Clazomenæ,
Phocæa, Samos, Chios, and Erythræa: and this was the Ionic
Migration.
[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 Æneas; others, by Romus, the son or grandson of Æneas;
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
Æneas. Timæus Siculus represented it built by Romulus, the grandson
of Æneas, above an hundred years before the Olympiads; and so did
Nævius 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: by
Ages they meant Reigns of the Kings of the Latines at Alba, and
reckoned the first fourteen Reigns at about 432 years, and the following
Reigns of the seven Kings of Rome at 244 years, both which numbers made
up the time of about 676 years from the taking of Troy, according to
these Chronologers; but are much too long for the course of nature: and by
this reckoning they placed the building of Rome upon the sixth or seventh
Olympiad; Varro placed it on the first year of the Seventh Olympiad, and
was therein generally followed by the Romans; but this can scarce be
reconciled to the course of nature: for I do not meet with any instance in
all history, since Chronology was certain, wherein seven Kings, most of
whom were slain, Reigned 244 years in continual Succession. The fourteen
Reigns of the Kings of the Latines, at twenty years a-piece one with
another, amount unto 280 years, and these years counted from the taking of
Troy end in the 38th Olympiad: and the Seven Reigns of the Kings of
Rome, four or five of them being slain and one deposed, may at a moderate
reckoning amount to fifteen or sixteen years a-piece one with another: let
them be reckoned at seventeen years a-piece, and they will amount unto 119
years; which being counted backwards from the Regifuge, end also in the
38th Olympiad: and by these two reckonings Rome was built in the 38th
Olympiad, or thereabout. The 280 years and the 119 years together make up
399 years; and the same number of years arises by counting the twenty and
one Reigns at nineteen years a-piece: and this being the whole time between
the taking of Troy and the Regifuge, let these years be counted backward
from the Regifuge, An. 1, Olymp. 68, and they will place the taking of
Troy about 74 years after the death of Solomon.
When Sesostris returned from Thrace into Egypt, he left Æetes 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 Æetes 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
to a Generation, will place the birth of Polydorus upon the 18th year of
David's Reign, or thereabout: and thus Cadmus might be a young man, not
yet married, when he came first into Greece. At his first coming he
sail'd to Rhodes, and thence to Samothrace, an Island near Thrace on
the north side of Lemnos, and there married Harmonia, the sister of
Jasius and Dardanus, which gave occasion to the Samothracian
mysteries: and Polydorus might be their son, born a year or two after
their coming; and his sister Europa might be then a young woman, in the
flower of her age. These Generations cannot well be shorter; and therefore
Cadmus, and his son Polydorus, were not younger than we have reckoned
them: nor can they be much longer, without making Polydorus too old to be
born in Europe, and to be the son of Harmonia the sister of Jasius.
Labdacus was therefore born in the end of David's Reign, Laius in the
24th year of Solomon's, and Oedipus in the seventh of Rehoboam's, or
thereabout: unless you had rather say, that Polydorus was born at
Zidon, before his father came into Europe; but his name Polydorus is
in the language of Greece.
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 Ægialus,
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. Ægisthus, the son of Thyestes, slew
Agamemnon the year after the taking of Troy; and Atreus died just
before Paris stole Helena, which, according to [134] Homer, was
twenty years before the taking of Troy. Deucalion the son of Minos,
[135] was an Argonaut; and Talus another son of Minos, was slain by
the Argonauts; and Idomeneus and Meriones the grandsons of Minos
were at the Trojan war. All these things confirm the ages of Cadmus and
Europa, and their posterity, above assigned, and place the death of
Epopeus or Epaphus King of Sicyon, and birth of Amphion and
Zethus, upon the tenth year of Solomon; and the taking of Thebes by
Amphion and Zethus, and the flight of Laius to Pelops, upon the
thirtieth year of that King, or thereabout. Amphion might marry the
sister of Pelops, the same year, and Pelops come into Greece three or
four years before that flight, or about the 26th year of Solomon.
[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 of the Argonauts
in their youth; and his son Orneus [138] was the father of Peteos the
father of Menestheus, who warred at Troy: nor much younger, because his
second son Pandion, who with the Metionides deposed his elder brother
Cecrops, was the father of Ægeus, the father of Theseus; and
Metion, another of his sons, was the father of Eupalamus, the father of
Dædalus, who was older than Theseus; and his daughter Creusa married
Xuthus, the son of Hellen, and by him had two sons, Achæus and Ion;
and Ion commanded the army of the Athenians against the Eleusinians,
in the battle in which his grandfather Erechtheus was slain: and this was
just before the institution of the Eleusinia Sacra, and before the Reign
of Pandion the father of Ægeus. Erechtheus being an Egyptian
procured corn from Egypt, and for that benefaction was made King of
Athens; and near the beginning of his Reign Ceres came into Attica
from Sicily, in quest of her daughter Proserpina. We cannot err much if
we make Hellen contemporary to the Reign of Saul, and to that of
David at Hebron; and place the beginning of the Reign of Erechtheus
in the 25th year, the coming of Ceres into Attica in the 30th year, and
the dispersion of corn by Triptolemus about the 40th year of David's
Reign; and the death of Ceres and Erechtheus, and institution of the
Eleusinia Sacra, between the tenth and fifteenth year of Solomon.
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 Mycenæ; 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 Prætus. 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 Æsculapius 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 Lacedæmon and Sparta: and
Capaneus, one of the seven Captains against Thebes, was the husband of
Euadne the daughter of Iphis, the son of Elector, the son of
Anaxagoras, the son of Megapenthes, the son of Prætus the brother of
Acrisius. Now from these Generations it may be gathered that Perseus,
Perieres and Anaxagoras were of about the same age with Minos,
Pelops, Ægeus and Sesac; and that Acrisius, Prætus, Eurydice,
and Amyclas, being two little Generations older, were of about the same
age with King David and Erechtheus; and that the Temple of Juno
Argiva was built about the same time with the Temple of Solomon; the
same being built by Eurydice to her daughter Danae, as above; or as
some say, by Pirasus or Piranthus, the son or successor of Argus, and
great grandson of Phoroneus: for the first Priestess of that Goddess was
Callithea the daughter of Piranthus; Callithea was succeeded by
Alcinoe, about three Generations before the taking of Troy, that is
about the middle of Solomon's Reign: in her Priesthood the Siculi
passed out of Italy into Sicily: afterwards Hypermnestra the daughter
of Danaus became Priestess of this Goddess, and she flourished in the
times next before the Argonautic expedition: and Admeta, the daughter
of Eurystheus, was Priestess of this Juno about the times of the
Trojan war. Andromeda the wife of Perseus, was the daughter of
Cepheus an Egyptian, the son of Belus, according to [140]
Herodotus; and the Egyptian Belus was Ammon: Perseus took her
from Joppa, where Cepheus, I think a kinsman of Solomon's Queen,
resided in the days of Solomon. Acrisius and Prætus were the sons of
Abas: but this Abas was not the same man with Abas the grandson of
Danaus, but a much older Prince, who built Abæa in Phocis, and might
be the Prince from whom the island Euboea [141] was anciently called
Abantis, and the people thereof Abantes: for Apollonius Rhodius [142]
tells us, that the Argonaut Canthus was the son of Canethus, and that
Canethus was of the posterity of Abas; and the Commentator upon
Apollonius tells us further, that from this Abas the inhabitants of
Euboea were anciently called Abantes. This Abas therefore flourished
three or four Generations before the Argonautic expedition, and so might
be the father of Acrisius: the ancestors of Acrisius were accounted
Egyptians by the Greeks, and they might come from Egypt under Abas
into Euboea, and from thence into Peloponnesus. I do not reckon
Phorbas and his son Triopas among the Kings of Argos, because they
fled from that Kingdom to the Island Rhodes; nor do I reckon Crotopus
among them, because because he went from Argos, and built a new city for
himself in Megaris, as [143] Conon relates.
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 Ætolia from Aetolus. Endymion
was the son of Aëthlius, 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 Æolus, the son of
Hellen, fled from their stepmother Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, to
Æetes in Colchis, presently after the return of Sesostris into
Egypt: and Jason the Argonaut was the son of Æson, the son of
Cretheus, the son of Æolus, the son of Hellen: and Calyce was the
wife of Aëthlius, and mother of Endymion, and daughter of Æolus, 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: Aëthlius, Æolus,
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 Æolus, 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 Æolus
and Dorus, and fled to Erechtheus, and married Creusa the daughter of
Erechtheus; by whom he had two sons, Achæus 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 after Sesostris had left Æetes in
Colchis, I think in the fifteenth or sixteenth year of Rehoboam: so
that Athamas, the son of Æolus and grandson of Hellen, and Ino the
daughter of Cadmus, flourished 'till about the sixteenth year of
Rehoboam. Sisyphus and his successors Ornytion, Thoas, Demophon,
Propodas, Doridas, and Hyanthidas Reigned successively at Corinth,
'till the return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus: then Reigned the
Heraclides, Aletes, Ixion, Agelas, Prumnis, Bacchis, Agelas
II, Eudamus, Aristodemus, and Telestes successively about 170 years,
and then Corinth was governed by Prytanes or annual Archons about 42
years, and after them by Cypselus and Periander about 48 years more.
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
Thermopylæ, 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 Phemonoë 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 Thermopylæ
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, nursed up by Minerva, is by Homer called
Erechtheus; and Themistius [149] tells us, that it was Erechtheus
that first joyned a chariot to horses; and Plato [150] alluding to the
story of Erichthonius in a basket, saith, The people of magnanimous
Erechtheus is beautiful, but it behoves us to behold him taken out:
Erechtheus therefore immediately succeeded Cranaus, while Amphictyon
Reigned at Thermopylæ. In the Reign of Cranaus the Poets place the
flood of Deucalion, and therefore the death of Deucalion, and the Reign
of his sons Hellen and Amphictyon, in Thessaly and Thermpolyæ, was
but a few years, suppose eight or ten, before the Reign of Erechtheus.
The first Kings of Arcadia were successively Pelasgus, Lycaon,
Nyctimus, Arcas, Clitor, Æpytus, Aleus, Lycurgus, Echemus,
Agapenor, Hippothous, Æpytus II, Cypselus, Olæas, &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 Ancæus 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
Idæi 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
Ætolia, which was thence called the country of the Curetes; until
Ætolus 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 Ætolia: and by the assistance of these artificers,
Cadmus found out gold in the mountain Pangæus 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
Idæi Dactyli modulos crepitu & tinnitu æris deprehensos in versificum
ordinem transtulissent: and [156] Isidorus, Studium musicum ab Idæis
Dactylis coeptum. Apollo and the Muses were two Generations later.
Clemens [157] calls the Idæi 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 sails, and Dædalus fled
from him by adding sails to his vessel; and therefore ships with sails were
not used by the Greeks before the flight of Dædalus, and death of
Minos, who was slain in pursuing him to Sicily, in the Reign of
Rehoboam. Dædalus and his nephew Talus, in the latter part of the
Reign of Solomon, invented the chip-ax, and saw, and wimble, and
perpendicular, and compass, and turning-lath, and glew, and the potter's
wheel; and his father Eupalamus invented the anchor: and these things
gave a beginning to manual Arts and Trades in Europe.
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 Idæa 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 Idæan Curetes were her
countrymen, and came with her and her brother Alymnus into Crete, and
dwelt in the Idæan 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, gave the name of Jao-pater, Jupiter,
to every King: and thus both Minos and his father were Jupiters.
Echemenes, an ancient author cited by Athenæus, [163] said that Minos
was that Jupiter who committed the rape upon Ganimede; though others
said more truly that it was Tantalus: Minos alone was that Jupiter
who was most famous among the Greeks for Dominion and Justice, being the
greatest King in all Greece in those days, and the only legislator.
Plutarch [164] tells us, that the people of Naxus, contrary to what
others write, pretended that there were two Minos's, and two Ariadnes;
and that the first Ariadne married Bacchus, and the last was carried
away by Theseus: but [165] Homer, Hesiod, Thucydides, Herodotus,
and Strabo, knew but of one Minos; and Homer describes him to be the
son of Jupiter and Europa, and the brother of Rhadamanthus and
Sarpedon, and the father of Deucalion the Argonaut, and grandfather
of Idomeneus who warred at Troy, and that he was the legislator of
Hell: Herodotus [166] makes Minos and Rhadamanthus the sons of
Europa, contemporary to Ægeus: and [167] Apollodorus and Hyginus
say, that Minos, the father of Androgeus, Ariadne and Phædra, was
the son of Jupiter and Europa, and brother of Rhadamanthus and
Sarpedon.
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 Idæan cave, to see sepulchre: and
Cicero, [173] in numbering three Jupiters, saith, that the third was
the Cretan Jupiter, Saturn's son, whose sepulchre was shewed in
Crete: and the Scholiast upon Callimachus [174] lets us know, that this
was the sepulchre of Minos: his words are, [Greek: En Krêtê epi tôi
taphôi tou Minôos epegegrapto, MINÔOS TOU DIOS TAPHOS. tôi chronôi de tou
Minôos apêleiphthê, hôste perileiphthênai, DIOS TAPHOS. ek toutou oun
echein legousi Krêtes ton taphon tou Dios.] In Crete upon the Sepulchre
of Minos was written Minois Jovis sepulchrum: but in time Minois wore
out so that there remained only, Jovis sepulchrum, and thence the
Cretans called it the Sepulchre of Jupiter. By Saturn, Cicero, who
was a Latine, understood the Saturn so called by the Latines: for
when Saturn was expelled his Kingdom he fled from Crete by sea, to
Italy; and this the Poets exprest by saying, that Jupiter cast him down
to Tartarus, that is, into the Sea: and because he lay hid in Italy,
the Latines called him Saturn; and Italy, Saturnia, and Latium,
and themselves Latines: so [175] Cyprian; Antrum Jovis in Creta
visitur, & sepulchrum ejus ostenditur: & ab eo Saturnum fugatum esse
manifestum est: unde Latium de latebra ejus nomen accepit: hic literas
imprimere, hic signare nummos in Italia primus instituit, unde ærarium
Saturni vocatur; & rusticitatis hic cultor fuit, inde falcem ferens senex
pingitur: and Minutius Felix; Saturnus Creta profugus, Italiam metu
filii sævientis accesserat, & Jani susceptus hospitio, rudes illos homines
& agrestes multa docuit, ut Græculus & politus, literas imprimere, nummos
signare, instrumenta conficere: itaque latebram suam, quod tuto latuisset,
vocari maluit Latium, & urbem Saturniam de suo nomine. * * Ejus filius
Jupiter Cretæ excluso parente regnavit, illic obiit, illic filios habuit;
adhuc antrum Jovis visitur, & sepulchrum ejus ostenditur, & ipsis sacris
suis humanitatis arguitur: and Tertullian; [176] Quantum rerum
argumenta docent, nusquam invenio fideliora quam apud ipsam Italiam, in qua
Saturnus post multas expeditiones, postque Attica hospitia consedit,
exceptus ab Jano, vel Jane ut Salii volunt. Mons quem incoluerat Saturnius
dictus: civitas quam depalaverat Saturnia usque nunc est. Tota denique
Italia post Oenotriam Saturnia cognominabatur. Ab ipso primum tabulæ, &
imagine signatus nummus, & inde ærario præsidet. By Saturn's carrying
letters into Italy, and coyning money, and teaching agriculture, and
making instruments, and building a town, you may know that he fled from
Crete, after letters, and the coyning of money, and manual arts were
brought into Europe by the Phoenicians; and from Attica, after
agriculture was brought into Greece by Ceres; and so could not be older
than Asterius, and Europa, and her brother Cadmus: and by Italy's
being called Oenotria, before it was called Saturnia, you may know that
he came into Italy after Oenotrus, and so was not older than the sons
of Lycaon. Oenotrus carried the first colony of the Greeks into
Italy, Saturn the second, and Evander the third; and the Latines
know nothing older in Italy than Janus and Saturn: and therefore
Oenotrus was the Janus of the Latines, and Saturn was contemporary
to the sons of Lycaon, and by consequence also to Celeus, Erechtheus,
Ceres, and Asterius: for Ceres educated Triptolemus the son of
Celeus, in the Reign of Erechtheus, and then taught him to plow and sow
corn: Arcas the son of Callisto, and grandson of Lycaon, received
corn from Triptolemus, and taught his people to make bread of it; and
Procris, the daughter of Erechtheus, fled to Minos the son of
Asterius. In memory of Saturn's coming into Italy by sea, the
Latines coined their first money with his head on one side, and a ship on
the other. Macrobius [177] tells us, that when Saturn was dead, Janus
erected an Altar to him, with sacred rites as to a God, and instituted the
Saturnalia, and that humane sacrifices were offered to him; 'till
Hercules driving the cattle of Geryon through Italy, abolished that
custom: by the human sacrifices you may know that Janus was of the race
of Lycaon; which character agrees to Oenotrus. Dionysius
Halicarnassensis tells us further, that Oenotrus having found in the
western parts of Italy a large region fit for pasturage and tillage, but
yet for the most part uninhabited, and where it was inhabited, peopled but
thinly; in a certain part of it, purged from the Barbarians, he built
towns little and numerous, in the mountains; which manner of building was
familiar to the ancients: and this was the Original of Towns in Italy.
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 Idæi 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
Idæus, being the oldest of them, in memory of the war between Saturn and
Jupiter, instituted the game of racing, and that the victor should be
rewarded with a crown of olive; and there erected an altar to Jupiter
Olympius, and called these games Olympic: and that some of the Eleans
said, that Jupiter contended here with Saturn for the Kingdom; others
that Hercules Idæus instituted these games in memory of their victory
over the Titans: for the people of Arcadia [179] had a tradition, that
the Giants fought with the Gods in the valley of Bathos, near the river
Alpheus and the fountain Olympias. [180] Before the Reign of
Asterius, his father Teutamus came into Crete with a colony from
Olympia; and upon the flight of Asterius, some of his friends might
retire with him into their own country, and be pursued and beaten there by
the Idæan Hercules: the Eleans said also that Clymenus the grandson
of the Idæan Hercules, about fifty years after Deucalion's flood,
coming from Crete, celebrated these games again in Olympia, and erected
there an altar to Juno Olympia, that is, to Europa, and another to this
Hercules and the rest of the Curetes; and Reigned in Elis 'till he
was expelled by Endymion, [181] who thereupon celebrated these games
again: and so did Pelops, who expelled Ætolus the son of Endymion;
and so also did Hercules the son of Alcmena, and Atreus the son of
Pelops, and Oxylus: they might be celebrated originally in triumph for
victories, first by Hercules Idæus, upon the conquest of Saturn and the
Titans, and then by Clymenus, upon his coming to Reign in the Terra
Curetum; then by Endymion, upon his conquering Clymenus; and
afterwards by Pelops, upon his conquering Ætolus; and by Hercules,
upon his killing Augeas; and by Atreus, upon his repelling the
Heraclides; and by Oxylus, upon the return of the Heraclides into
Peloponnesus. This Jupiter, to whom they were instituted, had a Temple
and Altar erected to him in Olympia, where the games were celebrated, and
from the place was called Jupiter Olympius: Olympia was a place upon
the confines of Pisa, near the river Alpheus.
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 Idæis 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, that is, the great Gods Ceres,
Proserpina and Pluto: for [184] Jasius a Samothracian, whose sister
married Cadmus, was familiar with Ceres; and Cadmus and Jasius were
both of them instituted in these mysteries. Jasius was the brother of
Dardanus, and married Cybele the daughter of Meones King of
Phrygia, and by her had Corybas; and after his death, Dardanus,
Cybele and Corybas went into Phrygia, and carried thither the
mysteries of the mother of the Gods, and Cybele called the goddess after
her own name, and Corybas called her priests Corybantes: thus
Diodorus; but Dionysius saith [185] that Dardanus instituted the
Samothracian mysteries, and that his wife Chryses learnt them in
Arcadia, and that Idæus the son of Dardanus instituted afterwards the
mysteries of the mother of the gods in Phrygia: this Phrygian Goddess
was drawn in a chariot by lions, and had a corona turrita on her head,
and a drum in her hand, like the Phoenician Goddess Astarte, and the
Corybantes danced in armour at her sacrifices in a furious manner, like
the Idæi Dactyli; and Lucian [186] tells us that she was the Cretan
Rhea, that is, Europa the mother of Minos: and thus the Phoenicians
introduced the practice of Deifying dead men and women among the Greeks
and Phrygians; for I meet with no instance of Deifying dead men and women
in Greece, before the coming of Cadmus and Europa from Zidon.
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 Æsculapius 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, Helena, Menelaus,
Agamemnon, Amphiaraus and his son Amphilochus, Hector and
Alexandra the son and daughter of Priam, Phoroneus, Orpheus,
Protesilaus, Achilles and his mother Thetis, Ajax, Arcas,
Idomeneus, Meriones, Æacus, Melampus, Britomartis, Adrastus,
Iolaus, and divers others. They Deified their dead in divers manners,
according to their abilities and circumstances, and the merits of the
person; some only in private families, as houshold Gods or Dii Pænates;
others by erecting gravestones to them in publick, to be used as altars for
annual sacrifices; others, by building also to them sepulchres in the form
of houses or temples; and some by appointing mysteries, and ceremonies, and
set sacrifices, and festivals, and initiations, and a succession of priests
for performing those institutions in the temples, and handing them down to
posterity. Altars might begin to be erected in Europe a little before the
days of Cadmus, for sacrificing to the old God or Gods of the Colonies,
but Temples began in the days of Solomon; for [187] Æacus the son of
Ægina, who was two Generations older than the Trojan war, is by some
reputed one of the first who built a Temple in Greece. Oracles came first
from Egypt into Greece about the same time, as also did the custom of
forming the images of the Gods with their legs bound up in the shape of the
Egyptian mummies: for Idolatry began in Chaldæa and Egypt, and spread
thence into Phoenicia and the neighbouring countries, long before it came
into Europe; and the Pelasgians propagated it in Greece, by the
dictates of the Oracles. The countries upon the Tigris and the Nile
being exceeding fertile, were first frequented by mankind, and grew first
into Kingdoms, and therefore began first to adore their dead Kings and
Queens: hence came the Gods of Laban, the Gods and Goddesses called
Baalim and Ashtaroth by the Canaanites, the Dæmons or Ghosts to whom
they sacrificed, and the Moloch to whom they offered their children in
the days of Moses and the Judges. Every City set up the worship of its
own Founder and Kings, and by alliances and conquests they spread this
worship, and at length the Phoenicians and Egyptians brought into
Europe the practice of Deifying the dead. The Kingdom of the lower
Egypt began to worship their Kings before the days of Moses; and to
this worship the second commandment is opposed: when the Shepherds invaded
the lower Egypt, they checked this worship of the old Egyptians, and
spread that of their own Kings: and at length the Egyptians of Coptos
and Thebais, under Misphragmuthosis and Amosis, expelling the
Shepherds, checked the worship of the Gods of the Shepherds, and Deifying
their own Kings and Princes, propagated the worship of twelve of them into
their conquests; and made them more universal than the false Gods of any
other nation had been before, so as to be called, Dii magni majorum
gentium. Sesostris conquered Thrace, and Amphictyon the son of
Prometheus brought the twelve Gods from Thrace into Greece:
Herodotus [188] tells us that they came from Egypt; and by the names of
the cities of Egypt dedicated to many of these Gods, you may know that
they were of an Egyptian original: and the Egyptians, according to
Diodorus, [189] usually represented, that after their Saturn and
Rhea, Reigned Jupiter and Juno, the parents of Osiris and Isis,
the parents of Orus and Bubaste.
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 King of Crete: and therefore
Asterius Reigned in Crete in the Golden Age; and the Silver Age began
when Chiron was a child: if Chiron was born about the 35th year of
David's Reign, he will be born in the Reign of Asterius, when Jupiter
was a child in the Cretan cave, and be about 88 years old in the time of
the Argonautic expedition, when he invented the Asterisms; and this is
within the reach of nature. The Golden Age therefore falls in with the
Reign of Asterius, and the Silver Age with that of Minos; and to make
these Ages much longer than ordinary generations, is to make Chiron live
much longer than according to the course of nature. This fable of the four
Ages seems to have been made by the Curetes in the fourth Age, in memory
of the first four Ages of their coming into Europe, as into a new world;
and in honour of their country-woman Europa, and her husband Asterius
the Saturn of the Latines, and of her son Minos the Cretan Jupiter
and grandson Deucalion, who Reigned 'till the Argonautic expedition,
and is sometimes reckoned among the Argonauts, and of their great
grandson Idomeneus who warred at Troy. Hesiod tells us that he
himself lived in the fifth Age, the Age next after the taking of Troy,
and therefore he flourished within thirty or thirty five years after it:
and Homer was of about the same Age; for he [192] lived sometime with
Mentor in Ithaca, and there learnt of him many things concerning
Ulysses, with whom Mentor had been personally acquainted: now
Herodotus, the oldest Historian of the Greeks now extant, [193] tells
us that Hesiod and Homer were not above four hundred years older than
himself, and therefore they flourished within 110 or 120 years after the
death of Solomon; and according to my reckoning the taking of Troy was
but one Generation earlier.
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,
Lacedæmon, Æacus, 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 Judæa 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 might go to Zidon,
and from Zidon, by sea to Asia minor and Greece: and afterwards, in
the beginning of the Reign of Saul, the Shepherds who still remained in
Egypt might be forced by Tethmosis or Amosis the son of
Misphragmuthosis, to leave Abaris, and retire in very great numbers to
the Philistims; and upon these occasions several of them, as Pelasgus,
Inachus, Lelex, Cecrops, and Abas, might come with their people by
sea from Egypt to Zidon and Cyprus, and thence to Asia minor and
Greece, in the days of Eli, Samuel and Saul, and thereby begin to
open a commerce by sea between Zidon and Greece, before the revolt of
Edom from Judæa, and the final coming of the Phoenicians from the
Red Sea.
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, Ægialeus, 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 Ægialeus 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, and [198] Apollodorus tells us, Ægialeus was the brother
of Phoroneus. Ægialeus died without issue, and after him Reigned
Europs, Telchin, Apis, Lamedon, Sicyon, Polybus, Adrastus,
and Agamemnon, &c. and Sicyon gave his name to the Kingdom:
Herodotus [199] saith that Apis in the Greek Tongue is Epaphus; and
Hyginus, [200] that Epaphus the Sicyonian got Antiopa with child:
but the later Greeks have made two men of the two names Apis and
Epaphus or Epopeus, and between them inserted twelve feigned Kings of
Sicyon, who made no wars, nor did any thing memorable, and yet Reigned
five hundred and twenty years, which is, one with another, above forty and
three years a-piece. If these feigned Kings be rejected, and the two Kings
Apis and Epopeus be reunited; Ægialeus will become contemporary to
his brother Phoroneus, as he ought to be; for Apis or Epopeus, and
Nycteus the guardian of Labdacus, were slain in battle about the tenth
year of Solomon, as above; and the first four Kings of Sicyon,
Ægialeus, Europs, Telchin, Apis, after the rate of about twenty
years to a Reign, take up about eighty years; and these years counted
upwards from the tenth year of Solomon, place the beginning of the Reign
of Ægialeus upon the twelfth year of Samuel, or thereabout: and about
that time began the Reign of Phoroneus at Argos; Apollodorus [201]
calls Adrastus King of Argos; but Homer [202] tells us, that he
Reigned first at Sicyon: he was in the first war against Thebes. Some
place Janiscus and Phæstus between Polybus and Adrastus, but
without any certainty.
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 Lacedæmon, 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 Ægeus, for the Kingdom; and Æacus 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 Actæus, 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 Actæus,
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; Ægialeus, who built Ægialea,
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 Æolus and grandson of Hellen, built
Ephyra, afterwards called Corinth; and Aëthlius, the son of Æolus,
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 places, and built new towns, as Car, Apis, &c. and
Hæmon, the son of Pelasgus, Reigned in Hæmonia, afterwards called
Thessaly, and built towns there. This division and subdivision has made
great confusion in the history of the first Kingdoms of Peloponnesus, and
thereby given occasion to the vain-glorious Greeks, to make those
kingdoms much older than they really were: but by all the reckonings
abovementioned, the first civilizing of the Greeks, and teaching them to
dwell in houses and towns, and the oldest towns in Europe, could scarce
be above two or three Generations older than the coming of Cadmus from
Zidon into Greece; and might most probably be occasioned by the
expulsion of the Shepherds out of Egypt in the days of Eli and
Samuel, and their flying into Greece in considerable numbers: but it's
difficult to set right the Genealogies and Chronology of the Fabulous Ages
of the Greeks, and I leave these things to be further examined.
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: dêmoi], peoples
or communities, or Corporation Towns: and at length, when many of these
[Greek: dêmoi] for their common safety united by consent under one common
Council, they erected a Prytaneum in one of the [Greek: dêmoi] for the
common Council and People to meet in, and to consult and worship in, and
feast, and buy, and sell; and this [Greek: dêmos] they walled about for its
safety, and called [Greek: tên 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:
dêmoi], 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: dêmoi], free towns, out of which afterward noble cities were built
and frequented: so the Argives composed Mantinæa in Arcadia out of
five towns, and Tegea out of nine; and out of so many was Heræa built
by Cleombrotus, or by Cleonymus: so also Ægium was built out of seven
or eight towns, Patræ: 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 in the days of Lelex the Spartans lived in villages apart.
The Greeks therefore began to build houses and villages in the days of
Pelasgus the father of Lycaon, and in the days of Lelex the father of
Myles, and by consequence about two or three Generations before the Flood
of Deucalion, and the coming of Cadmus; 'till then [209] they lived in
woods and caves of the earth. The first houses were of clay, 'till the
brothers Euryalus and Hyperbius taught them to harden the clay into
bricks, and to build therewith. In the days of Ogyges, Pelasgus,
Æzeus, Inachus and Lelex, they began to build houses and villages of
clay, Doxius the son of Coelus teaching them to do it; and in the days
of Lycaon, Phoroneus, Ægialeus, Phegeus, Eurotas, Myles,
Polycaon, and Cecrops, and their sons, to assemble the villages into
[Greek: dêmoi], and the [Greek: dêmoi] into cities.
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; but Minos having a
potent fleet, sent many Colonies out of Crete, and peopled many of them;
and particularly that the island Carpathus was first seized by the
soldiers of Minos: Syme lay waste and desolate 'till Triops came
thither with a Colony under Chthonius: Strongyle or Naxus was first
inhabited by the Thracians in the days of Boreas, a little before the
Argonautic Expedition: Samsos was, at first desert, and inhabited only
by a great multitude of terrible wild beasts, 'till Macareus peopled it,
as he did also the islands Chius and Cos. Lesbos lay waste and
desolate 'till Xanthus sailed thither with a Colony: Tenedos lay
desolate 'till Tennes, a little before the Trojan war, sailed thither
from Troas. Aristæus, who married Autonoe the daughter of Cadmus,
carried a Colony from Thebes into Cæa, an island not inhabited before:
the island Rhodes was at first called Ophiusa, being full of serpents,
before Phorbas, a Prince of Argos, went thither, and made it habitable
by destroying the serpents, which was about the end of Solomon's Reign;
in memory of which he is delineated in the heavens in the Constellation of
Ophiuchus. The discovery of this and some other islands made a report
that they rose out of the Sea: in Asia Delos emersit, & Hiera, & Anaphe, &
Rhodus, saith [213] Ammianus: and [214] Pliny; claræ jampridem
insulæ, Delos & Rhodos memoriæ produntur enatæ, postea minores, ultra Melon
Anaphe, inter Lemnum & Hellespontum Nea, inter Lebedum & Teon Halone, &c.
Diodorus [215] tells us also, that the seven islands called Æolides,
between Italy and Sicily, were desert and uninhabited 'till Lipparus
and Æolus, 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 they were a Spanish people who fled from the
Ligures in Italy; he means the Ligures [218] who opposed Hercules
when he returned from his expedition against Geryon in Spain, and
endeavoured to pass the Alps out of Gaul into Italy. Hercules that
year got into Italy, and made some conquests there, and founded the city
Croton; and [219] after winter, upon the arrival of his fleet from
Erythra in Spain, sailed to Sicily, and there left the Sicani: for
it was his custom to recruit his army with conquered people, and after
they had assisted him in making new conquests to reward them with new
seats: this was the Egyptian Hercules, who had a potent fleet, and in
the days of Solomon sailed to the Straits, and according to his custom
set up pillars there, and conquered Geryon, and returned back by Italy
and Sicily to Egypt, and was by the ancient Gauls called Ogmius,
and by Egyptians [220] Nilus: for Erythra and the country of Geryon
were without the Straits. Dionysius [221] represents this Hercules
contemporary to Evander.
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 Cæsar'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: dêmoi], 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 Solomon,
Benhadad King of Syria [229] had two and thirty Kings in his army
against Ahab: and when Joshuah conquered the land of Canaan, every
city of the Canaanites had its own King, like the cities of Europe,
before they conquered one another; and one of those Kings, Adonibezek,
the King of Bezek had conquered seventy other Kings a little before,
Judg. i. 7. and therefore towns began to be built in that land not many
ages before the days of Joshuah: for the Patriarchs wandred there in
tents, and fed their flocks where-ever they pleased, the fields of
Phoenicia not being yet fully appropriated, for want of people. The
countries first inhabited by mankind, were in those days so thinly peopled,
that [230] four Kings from the coasts of Shinar and Elam invaded and
spoiled the Rephaims, and the inhabitants of the countries of Moab,
Ammon, Edom, and the Kingdoms of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and
Zeboim; and yet were pursued and beaten by Abraham with an armed force
of only 318 men, the whole force which Abraham and the princes with him
could raise: and Egypt was so thinly peopled before the birth of Moses,
that Pharaoh said of the Israelites; [231] behold the people of the
children of Israel are more and mightier than we: and to prevent their
multiplying and growing too strong, he caused their male children to be
drowned.
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 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 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.
* * * * *
CHAP. II
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 Æneas, 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; and one of his minstrells, called by the Greeks
Calliope, to Oeagrus the son of Tharops; and of Oeagrus and
Calliope was born Orpheus, who sailed with the Argonauts: this
Bacchus was therefore contemporary to Sesostris; and both being Kings
of Egypt, and potent at sea, and great conquerors, and carrying on their
conquests into India and Thrace, they must be one and the same man.
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.
Dicæarchus, 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.
Thymætes [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 Æetes 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 and married Antiope the sister of
Orithya. Hercules made war upon the Amazons, and in the Reign of
Orithya and Penthesilea they came to the Trojan war: whence the first
wars of the Amazons in Europe and Asia, and their settling at
Thermodon, were but one Generation before those actions of Hercules and
Theseus, and but two before the Trojan war, and so fell in with the
expedition of Sesostris: and since they warred in the days of Isis and
her son Orus, and were a part of the army of Bacchus or Osiris, we
have here a further argument for making Osiris and Bacchus contemporary
to Sesostris, and all three one and the same King with Sesac.
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] Thymætes
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 hê Libyê houtôs
ekaleito apo Ammônos;] 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 fælix 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 Chanaanæi? 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 hêmas ho tês historias logos entauth' êgagen. epanankes eipein anôthen,
hothen te ta Maurousiôn ethnê es Libyên êlthe, kai hopôs ôikêsanto. Epeidê
Hebraioi ex Aigyptou anechôrêsan, kai anchi tôn Palaistinês horiôn
egenonto; Môsês men sophos anêr, hos autos tês hodou hêgêsato, thnêskei.
diadechetai de tên hêgemonian Iêsous ho tou Nauê pais; hos es te tên
Palaistinên ton leôn touton eisêgage; kai aretên en tôi polemôi kreissô hê
kata anthrôpou physin epideixamenos, tên chôran esche; kai ta ethnê hapanta
katastrepsamenos, tas poleis eupetôs parestêsato, anikêtos te pantapasin
edoxen einai. tote de hê epithalassia chôra, ek Sidônos mechri tôn Aigyptou
horiôn, Phoinikê xympasa ônomazeto. basileus de eis to palaion ephestêkei;
hôsper hapasin hômologêtai, hoi Phoinikôn ta archaiotata anegrapsanto.
entauth' ôkênto ethnê polyanthrôpotata, Gergesaioi te kai Iebousaioi, kai
alla atta onomata echonta, hois dê auta hê tôn Hebraiôn historia kalei.
houtos ho laos epei amachon ti chrêma ton epêlytên stratêgon eidon; ex
êthôn tôn patriôn exanastantes, ep' Aigypton homorou ousês echôrêsan. entha
chôron oudena sphisin hikanon enoikêsasthai heurontes, epei en Aigyptô
polyanthrôpia ek palaiou ên; es Libyên mechri stêlôn tôn Hêrakleous eschon;
entautha te kai es eme têi Phoinikôn phônêi chrômenoi ôikêntai]. Quando ad
Mauros nos historia deduxit, congruens nos exponere unde orta gens in
Africa sedes fixerit. Quo tempore egressi Ægypto Hebræi jam prope Palestinæ
fines venerant, mortuus ibi Moses, vir sapiens, dux itineris. Successor
imperii factus Jesus Navæ filius intra Palæstinam duxit popularium agmen; &
virtute usus supra humanum modum, terram occupavit, gentibusque excisis
urbes ditionis suæ fecit, & invicti famam tulit. Maritima ora quæ a Sidone
ad Ægypti limitem extenditur, nomen habet Phoenices. Rex unus [Hebræis]
imperabat ut omnes qui res Phoenicias scripsere consentiunt. In eo tractatu
numerosæ gentes erant, Gergesæi, Jebusæi, quosque aliis nominibus Hebræorum
annales memorant. Hi homines ut impares se venienti imperatori videre,
derelicto patriæ solo ad finitimam primum venere Ægyptum, sed ibi capacem
tantæ multitudinis locum non reperientes, erat enim Ægyptus ab antiquo
foecunda populis, in Africam profecti, multis conditis urbibus, omnem eam
Herculis columnas usque, obtinuerunt: ubi ad meam ætatem sermone Phoenicio
utentes habitant. By the language and extreme poverty of the Moors,
described also by Procopius and by their being unacquainted with
merchandise and sea-affairs, you may know that they were Canaanites
originally, and peopled Afric before the Tyrian merchants came thither.
These Canaanites coming from the East, pitched their tents in great
numbers in the lower Egypt, in the Reign of Timaus, as [253] Manetho
writes, and easily seized the country, and fortifying Pelusium, then
called Abaris, they erected a Kingdom there, and Reigned long under their
own Kings, Salatis, Boeon, Apachnas, Apophis, Janias, Assis,
and others successively: and in the mean time the upper part of Egypt
called Thebais, and according to [254] Herodotus, Ægyptus, and in
Scripture the land of Pathros, was under other Kings, Reigning perhaps at
Coptos, and Thebes, and This, and Syene, and [255] Pathros, and
Elephantis, and Heracleopolis, and Mesir, and other great cities,
'till they conquered one another, or were conquered by the Ethiopians:
for cities grew great in those days, by being the seats of Kingdoms: but at
length one of these Kingdoms conquered the rest, and made a lasting war
upon the Shepherds, and in the Reign of its King Misphragmuthosis, and
his son Amosis, called also Tethmosis, Tuthmosis, and Thomosis,
drove them out of Egypt, and made them fly into Afric and Syria, and
other places, and united all Egypt into one Monarchy; and under their
next Kings, Ammon and Sesac, enlarged it into a great Empire. This
conquering people worshipped not the Kings of the Shepherds whom they
conquered and expelled, but [256] abolished their religion of sacrificing
men, and after the manner of those ages Deified their own Kings, who
founded their new Dominion, beginning the history of their Empire with the
Reign and great acts of their Gods and Heroes: whence their Gods Ammon
and Rhea, or Uranus and Titæa; Osiris and Isis; Orus and
Bubaste: and their Secretary Thoth, and Generals Hercules and Pan;
and Admiral Japetus, Neptune, or Typhon; were all of them Thebans,
and flourished after the expulsion of the Shepherds. Homer places
Thebes in Ethiopia, and the Ethiopians reported that [257] the
Egyptians were a colony drawn out of them by Osiris, and that thence it
came to pass that most of the laws of Egypt were the same with those of
Ethiopia, and that the Egyptians learnt from the Ethiopians the
custom of Deifying their Kings.
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 Judæa, 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 Judæa 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, Æzeus, Cecrops,
Ægialeus, 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 Petræa, 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 Judæa 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 of Abraham, and in passing
from island to island guided themselves by the sight of the islands in the
day time, or by the sight of some of the Stars in the night. Their old year
was the Lunisolar year, derived from Noah to all his posterity, 'till
those days, and consisted of twelve months, each of thirty days, according
to their calendar: and to the end of this calendar-year they now added five
days, and thereby made up the Solar year of twelve months and five days, or
365 days.
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
Titæa, 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
Petræa, 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 Chaldæa, taught the Chaldæans Astrology the first of any
man; he means Astronomy: and Alexander Polyhistor [264] tells us from
Berosus, that Oannes taught the Chaldæans 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 Chaldæa 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 Chaldæans 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 of the Red Sea, for writing
down their merchandise, and keeping their accounts, and guiding their ships
in the night by the Stars, and building ships; and that they were
propagated from Arabia Petræa into Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Asia
minor, and Europe, much about one and the same time; the time in which
David conquered and dispersed those merchants: for we hear nothing of
Letters before the days of David, except among the posterity of
Abraham; nothing of Astronomy, before the Egyptians under Ammon and
Sesac applied themselves to that study, except the Constellations
mentioned by Job, who lived in Arabia Petræa among the merchants;
nothing of the trade of Carpenters, or good Architecture, before Solomon
sent to Hiram King of Tyre, to supply him with such Artificers, saying
that there were none in Israel who could skill to hew timber like the
Zidonians.
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 Chaldæans, 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
Ægyptus 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 Ægyptus 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 Ægyptus 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 Fælix, 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 stêlai, Thêbaigeneos Dionysou]
[Greek: Hestasin pymatoio para rhoon Ôkeanoio,]
[Greek: Indôn hystatioisin en ouresin; entha te Gangês]
[Greek: Leukon hydor Nyssaion epi platamôna kylindei.]
Ubi etiamnum columnæ Thebis geniti Bacchi
Stant extremi juxta fluxum Oceani
Indorum ultimis in montibus: ubi & Ganges
Claram aquam Nyssæam 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 & Ægyptii 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 Æthiopum 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 Judæa 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 æthera colle,
Mons Phoebo, Bromioque sacer.
In the fourteenth year of Rehoboam he returned back into Egypt; leaving
Æetes 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 Æa, 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 to be raised higher, and built
a Temple in every city for the worship of the Nome, and in the Temples
set up Oracles, some of which remained 'till the days of Herodotus: and
by this means the Egyptians of every Nome were induced to worship the
great men of the Kingdom, to whom the Nome, the City, and the Temple or
Sepulchre of the God, was dedicated: for every Temple had its proper God,
and modes of worship, and annual festivals, at which the Council and People
of the Nome met at certain times to sacrifice, and regulate the affairs
of the Nome, and administer justice, and buy and sell; but Sesac and
his Queen, by the names of Osiris and Isis, were worshipped in all
Egypt: and because Sesac, to render the Nile more useful, dug
channels from it to all the capital cities of Egypt; that river was
consecrated to him, and he was called by its names, Ægyptus, Siris,
Nilus. Dionysius [282] tells us, that the Nile was called Siris by
the Ethiopians, and Nilus by the people of Siene. From the word
Nahal, which signifies a torrent, that river was called Nilus; and
Dionysius [283] tells us, that Nilus was that King who cut Egypt into
canals, to make the river useful: in Scripture the river is called
Schichor, or Sihor, and thence the Greeks formed the words Siris,
Sirius, Ser-Apis, O-Siris; but Plutarch [284] tells us, that the
syllable O, put before the word Siris by the Greeks, made it scarce
intelligible to the Egyptians.
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 æde.
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 Idæi Dactyli, and perhaps a Phoenician: for the Idæi
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 Æneas, 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 Paphiæ 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 sailing upon a shell. Cinyras Deified also his son
Gingris, by the name of Adonis; and for assisting the Egyptians with
armour, it is probable that he himself was Deified by his friends the
Egyptians, by the name of Baal-Canaan, or Vulcan: for Vulcan was
celebrated principally by the Egyptians, and was a King according to
Homer, and Reigned in Lemnos; and Cinyras was an inventor of arts,
[298] and found out copper in Cyprus, and the smiths hammer, and anvil,
and tongs, and laver; and imployed workmen in making armour, and other
things of brass and iron, and was the only King celebrated in history for
working in metals, and was King of Lemnos, and the husband of Venus;
all which are the characters of Vulcan: and the Egyptians about the
time of the death of Cinyras, viz. in the Reign of their King
Amenophis, built a very sumptuous Temple at Memphis to Vulcan, and
near it a smaller Temple to Venus Hospita; not an Egyptian woman but a
foreigner, not Helena but Vulcan's Venus: for [299] Herodotus tells
us, that the region round about this Temple was inhabited by Tyrian
Phoenicians, and that [300] Cambyses going into this Temple at
Memphis, very much derided the statue of Vulcan for its littleness;
For, saith he, this statue is most like those Gods which the
Phoenicians call Patæci, and carry about in the fore part of their
Ships in the form of Pygmies: and [301] Bochart saith of this Venus
Hospita, Phoeniciam Venerem in Ægypto pro peregrina habitam.
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 conquered nations to plow with oxen; Bacchus with Bulls
horns for the same reason, and with Grapes because he taught the nations to
plant vines, and upon a Tiger because he subdued India; Orus the son of
Osiris with a Harp, to signify the Prince who was eminently skilled on
that instrument; Jupiter upon an Eagle to signify the sublimity of his
dominion, and with a Thunderbolt to represent him a warrior; Venus in a
Chariot drawn with two Doves, to represent her amorous and lustful;
Neptune with a Trident, to signify the commander of a fleet composed of
three Squadrons; Ægeon, a Giant, with 50 heads, and an hundred hands, to
signify Neptune with his men in a ship of fifty oars; Thoth with a
Dog's head and wings at his cap and feet, and a Caduceus writhen about
with two Serpents, to signify a man of craft, and an embassador who
reconciled two contending nations; Pan with a Pipe and the legs of a
Goat, to signify a man delighted in piping and dancing; and Hercules with
Pillars and a Club, because Sesostris set up pillars in all his
conquests, and fought against the Libyans with clubs: this is that
Hercules who, according to [302] Eudoxus, was slain by Typhon; and
according to Ptolomæus Hephæstion [303] was called Nilus, and who
conquered Geryon with his three sons in Spain, and set up the famous
pillars at the mouth of the Straits: for Diodorus [304] mentioning
three Hercules's, the Egyptian, the Tyrian, and the son of Alcmena,
saith that the oldest flourished among the Egyptians, and having
conquered a great part of the world, set up the pillars in Afric: and
Vasæus, [305] that Osiris, called also Dionysius, came into Spain
and conquered Geryon, and was the first who brought Idolatry into
Spain. Strabo [306] tells us, that the Ethiopians called Megabars
fought with clubs: and some of the Greeks [307] did so 'till the times of
the Trojan war. Now from this hieroglyphical way of writing it came to
pass, that upon the division of Egypt into Nomes by Sesostris, the
great men of the Kingdom to whom the Nomes were dedicated, were
represented in their Sepulchers or Temples of the Nomes, by various
hieroglyphicks; as by an Ox, a Cat, a Dog, a Cebus, a Goat, a
Lyon, a Scarabæus, an Ichneumon, a Crocodile, an Hippopotamus, an
Oxyrinchus, an Ibis, a Crow, a Hawk, a Leek, and were worshipped
by the Nomes in the shape of these creatures.
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 Titæa 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 brother Neptune made upon the nations
by land and sea, and the resistance he met with in Greece, and the
following invasion of Egypt by Neptune, are here described; and how the
captains of Sesostris shared his conquests amongst themselves, as the
captains of Alexander the great did his conquests long after, and
instituting Temples and Priests and sacred Rites to themselves, caused the
nations to worship them after death as Gods: and that the Island Gadir or
Gades, with all Libya, fell to the lot of him who after death was
Deified by the name of Neptune. The time therefore when these things were
done is by Solon limited to the age of Neptune, the father of Atlas;
for Homer tells us, that Ulysses presently after the Trojan war found
Calypso the daughter of Atlas in the Ogygian Island, perhaps Gadir;
and therefore it was but two Generations before the Trojan war. This is
that Neptune, who with Apollo or Orus fortified Troy with a wall,
in the Reign of Laomedon the father of Priamus, and left many natural
children in Greece, some of which were Argonauts, and others were
contemporary to the Argonauts; and therefore he flourished but one
Generation before the Argonautic expedition, and by consequence about 400
years before Solon went into Egypt: but the Priests of Egypt in those
400 years had magnified the stories and antiquity of their Gods so
exceedingly, as to make them nine thousand years older than Solon, and
the Island Atlantis bigger than all Afric and Asia together, and full
of people; and because in the days of Solon this great Island did not
appear, they pretended that it was sunk into the sea with all its people:
thus great was the vanity of the Priests of Egypt in magnifying their
antiquities.
The Cretans [310] affirmed that Neptune was the man who set out a fleet,
having obtained this Præfecture 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 place the Naphthuhim, a people sprung from
Mizraim, Gen. x. 13; and thence Neptune and his wife Neptys might
have their names, the words Neptune, Neptys and Naphthuhim,
signifying the King, Queen, and people of the sea-coasts. The Greeks tell
us that Japetus was the father of Atlas, and Bochart derives
Japetus and Neptune from the same original: he and his son Atlas are
celebrated in the ancient fables for making war upon the Gods of Egypt;
as when Lucian [314] saith that Corinth being full of fables, tells the
fight of Sol and Neptune, that is, of Apollo and Python, or Orus
and Typhon; and where Agatharcides [315] relates how the Gods of
Egypt fled from the Giants, 'till the Titans came in and saved them by
putting Neptune to flight; and where Hyginus [316] tells the war
between the Gods of Ægypt, and the Titans commanded by Atlas.
The Titans are the posterity of Titæa, 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 Antæus governor of Libya and Ethiopia. Antæus
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 Antæa
or Antæopolis, a town of Thebais; and Diodorus [320] tells us that
this town had its name from Antæus, 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. Antæus and Atlas were both
of them sons of Neptune both of them Reigned over all Libya and
Afric, between Mount Atlas and the Mediterranean to the very Ocean;
both of them invaded Egypt, and contended with Hercules in the wars of
the Gods, and therefore they are but two names of one and the same man; and
even the name Atlas in the oblique cases seems to have been compounded of
the name Antæeus and some other word, perhaps the word Atal, cursed,
put before it: the invasion of Egypt by Antæus, Ovid hath relation
unto, where he makes Hercules say,
Sævoque alimenta parentis
Antæo 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 Titæa 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 Judæa, 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 by the Ethiopians for a
time; and after ten years more being invaded by the Ethiopians, who slew
Orus the son and successor of Osiris, drowning him in the Nile, and
seized his Kingdom. By these civil wars of Egypt, the land of Judah had
rest ten years. Osiris or Sesostris reigned long, Manetho saith 48
years; and by this reckoning he began to Reign about the 17th year of
Solomon; and Orus his son was drowned in the 15th year of Asa: for
Pliny [321] tells us, Ægyptiorum bellis attrita est Æthiopia, vicissim
imperitando serviendoque, clara & potens etiam usque ad Trojana bella
Memnone regnante. Ethiopia, served Egypt 'till the death of
Sesostris, and no longer; for Herodotus [322] tells us that he alone
enjoyed the Empire of Ethiopia: then the Ethiopians became free, and
after ten years became Lords of Egypt and Libya, under Zerah and
Amenophis.
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 Ægyptius 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 the death of
Solomon. He is said to have lived very long, and so might die about 95
years after Solomon, as we reckoned above: his mother, called Cissia by
Æschylus, in a statue erected to her in Egypt, [324] was represented as
the daughter, the wife, and the mother of a King, and therefore he was the
son of a King; which makes it probable that Zerah, whom he succeeded in
the Kingdom of Ethiopia, was his father.
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 Æetes 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 to many Princes upon the sea-coasts of the Euxine and
Mediterranean seas, was too great an undertaking to be set on foot,
without the concurrence of the Princes and States of Greece, and perhaps
the approbation of the Amphictyonic Council; for it was done by the
dictate of the Oracle. This Council met every half year upon state-affairs
for the welfare of Greece, and therefore knew of this expedition, and
might send the Argonauts upon an embassy to the said Princes; and for
concealing their design might make the fable of the golden fleece, in
relation to the ship of Phrixus whose ensign was a golden ram: and
probably their design was to notify the distraction of Egypt, and the
invasion thereof by the Ethiopians and Israelites, to the said Princes,
and to persuade them to take that opportunity to revolt from Egypt, and
set up for themselves, and make a league with the Greeks: for the
Argonauts went through [326] the Kingdom of Colchis by land to the
Armenians, and through Armenia to the Medes; which could not have
been done if they had not made friendship with the nations through which
they passed: they visited also Laomedon King of the Trojans, Phineus
King of the Thracians, Cyzicus King of the Doliones, Lycus King of
the Mariandyni, the coasts of Mysia and Taurica Chersonesus, the
nations upon the Tanais, the people about Byzantium, and the coasts of
Epirus, Corsica, Melita, Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and Gallia
upon the Mediterranean; and from thence they [327] crossed the sea to
Afric, and there conferred with Euripylus King of Cyrene: and [328]
Strabo tells us that in Armenia and Media, and the neighbouring
places, there were frequent monuments of the expedition of Jason; as also
about Sinope, and its sea-coasts, the Propontis and the Hellespont,
and in the Mediterranean: and a message by the flower of Greece to so
many nations could be on no other account than state-policy; these nations
had been invaded by the Egyptians, but after this expedition we hear no
more of their continuing in subjection to Egypt.
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 that they recited to him out of their books, the names of 330
Kings who Reigned after Menes, but did nothing memorable, except
Nitocris and Moeris the last of them: all these Reigned at Thebes,
'till Moeris translated the seat of the Empire from Thebes to
Memphis. After Moeris he reckons Sesostris, Pheron, Proteus,
Rhampsinitus, Cheops, Cephren, Mycerinus, Asychis, Anysis,
Sabacon, Anysis again, Sethon, twelve contemporary Kings,
Psammitichus, Nechus, Psammis, Apries, Amasis, and Psammenitus.
The Egyptians had before the days of Solon made their monarchy 9000
years old, and now they reckon'd to Herodotus a succession of 330 Kings
Reigning so many Generations, that is about 11000 years, before
Sesostris: but the Kings who Reigned long before Sesostris might Reign
over several little Kingdoms in several parts of Egypt, before the rise
of their Monarchy; and by consequence before the days of Eli and
Samuel, and so are not under our consideration: and these names may have
been multiplied by corruption; and some of them, as Athothes or Thoth,
the secretary of Osiris; Tosorthrus or Æsculapius a Physician who
invented building with square stones; and Thuor or Polybus the husband
of Alcandra, were only Princes of Egypt. If with Herodotus we omit
the names of those Kings who did nothing memorable, and consider only those
whose actions are recorded, and who left splendid monuments of their having
Reigned over Egypt, such as were Temples, Statues, Pyramids, Obelisks,
and Palaces dedicated or ascribed to them, these Kings reduced into good
order will give us all or almost all the Kings of Egypt, from the days of
the expulsion of the Shepherds and founding of the Monarchy, downwards to
the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses: for Sesostris Reigned in the Age
of the Gods of Egypt: being Deified by the names of Osiris, Hercules
and Bacchus, as above; and therefore Menes, Nitocris, and Moeris
are to be placed after him; Menes and his son Ramesses Reigned next
after the Gods, and therefore Nitocris and Moeris Reigned after
Ramesses: Moeris is set down immediately before Cheops, three times
in the Dynastys of the Kings of Egypt composed by Eratosthenes, and
once in the Dynasties of Manetho; and in the same Dynasties Nitocris is
set after the builders of the three great Pyramids, and according to
Herodotus her brother Reigned before her, and was slain, and she revenged
his death; and according to Syncellus she built the third great Pyramid;
and the builders of the Pyramids Reigned at Memphis, and by consequence
after Moeris. Now from these things I gather that the Kings of Egypt
mentioned by Herodotus ought to be placed in this order; Sesostris,
Pheron, Proteus, Menes, Rhampsinitus, Moeris, Cheops,
Cephren, Mycerinus, Nitocris, Asychis, Anysis, Sabacon,
Anysis again, Sethon, twelve contemporary Kings, Psammitichus,
Nechus, Psammis, Apries, Amasis, Psammenitus.
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 Æsculapius
of Egypt: he is by corruption of his name called Menes, Mines,
Minæus, 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 earth:
and Strabo, [334] an eye-witness, tells us, that in the monuments of the
Kings of Egypt, above the Memnonium were inscriptions upon Obelisks,
expressing the riches of the Kings, and their Reigning as far as Scythia,
Bactria, India and Ionia: and Tacitus [335] tells us from an
inscription seen at Thebes by Cæsar Germanicus, and interpreted to him
by the Egyptian Priests, that this King Ramesses had an army of 700000
men, and Reigned over Libya, Ethiopia, Media, Persia, Bactria,
Scythia, Armenia, Cappadocia, Bithynia, and Lycia; whence the
Monarchy of Assyria was not yet risen. This King was very covetous, and a
great collector of taxes, and one of the richest of all the Kings of
Egypt, and built the western portico of the Temple of Vulcan.
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 Æra 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 Æra 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 Chaldæans in
Babylon, being Colonies of the Egyptians, became famous for Astrology,
having learnt it from the Priests of Egypt: and Hestiæus, 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 Æra 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 thereof; but the
Egyptians, for making their Gods and Kingdom look ancient, have inserted
between the builders of the first and second portico of this Temple, three
hundred and thirty Kings of Thebes, and supposed that these Kings Reigned
eleven thousand years; as if any Temple could stand so long. This being a
manifest fiction, we have corrected it, by omitting those interposed Kings,
who did nothing, and placing Moeris the builder of the second portico,
next after Ramesses the builder of the first.
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 Judæa 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 Chaldæa. 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 Judæa, 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
Judæa: 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 Judæa 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 146½ 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 II, to be the same Kings with Osiris and Orus: also
Osymanduas to be the same with Amenophis or Menes: also Amasis, and
Actisanes, an Ethiopian who conquered him, to be the same with Anysis
and Sabacon in Herodotus: and Uchoreus, Mendes, Marrus, and
Myris, to be only several names of one and the same King. Whence the
catalogue of Diodorus will be reduced to this: Jupiter Ammon and
Juno; Osiris, Busiris or Sesoosis, and Isis; Horus, Busiris
II, or Sesoosis II; Menes, or Osymanduas; Proteus; Remphis or
Ramesses; Uchoreus, Mendes, Marrus, or Myris; Chembis or
Cheops; Cephren; Mycerinus; * * Gnephacthus; Bocchoris; Amasis,
or Anysis; Actisanes, or Sabacon; * twelve contemporary Kings;
Psammitichus; * * Apries; Amasis: to which, if in their proper places
you add Nitocris, Asychis, Sethon, Nechus, and Psammis, you will
have the catalogue of Herodotus.
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 Æra 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 wars of the great Gods of Egypt
against the Greeks, to have been in the days of Cecrops, Erechtheus
and Erichthonius, and a little before those of Theseus; these Gods at
that time instituting Temples and Sacred Rites to themselves. I have
therefore chosen to rely upon the stories related to Herodotus by the
Priests of Egypt in those days, and corrected by the Poem of Solon, so
as to make these Gods of Egypt no older than Cecrops and Erechtheus,
and their successor Menes no older than Theseus and Memnon, and the
Temple of Vulcan not above 280 years in building: rather than to correct
Herodotus by Manetho, Eratosthenes, Diodorus, and others, who lived
after the Priests of Egypt had corrupted their Antiquities much more than
they had done in the days of Herodotus.
* * * * *
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 Chaldæa and Assyria: for Diodorus [344] tells us, that
when Alexander the great was in Asia, the Chaldæans 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 makes Semiramis as old as the first Belus; but
Herodotus tells us, that she was but five Generations older than the
mother of Labynetus: he represents that the city Ninus was founded by a
man of the same name, and Babylon by Semiramis; whereas either Nimrod
or Assur founded those and other cities, without giving his own name to
any of them: he makes the Assyrian Empire continue about 1360 years,
whereas Herodotus tells us that it lasted only 500 years, and the numbers
of Herodotus concerning those ancient times are all of them too long: he
makes Nineveh destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians, three hundred
years before the Reign of Astibares and Nebuchadnezzar who destroyed
it, and sets down the names of seven or eight feigned Kings of Media,
between the destruction of Nineveh and the Reigns of Astibares and
Nebuchadnezzar, as if the Empire of the Medes, erected upon the ruins
of the Assyrian Empire, had lasted 300 years, whereas it lasted but 72:
and the true Empire of the Assyrians described in Scripture, whose Kings
were Pul, Tiglath-pilesar, Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, Asserhadon,
&c. he mentions not, tho' much nearer to his own times; which shews that he
was ignorant of the antiquities of the Assyrians. Yet something of truth
there is in the bottom of some of his stories, as there uses to be in
Romances; as, that Nineveh was destroyed by the Medes and
Babylonians; that Sardanapalus was the last King of the Assyrian
Empire; and that Astibares and Astyages were Kings of the Medes: but
he has made all things too ancient, and out of vainglory taken too great a
liberty in feigning names and stories to please his reader.
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 Chaldæa, 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 Carrhæ, 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 Chaldæa, 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 persons. It was not yet grown so
great and potent as not to be terrified at the preaching of Jonah, and to
fear being invaded by its neighbours and ruined within forty days: it had
some time before got free from the dominion of Egypt, and had got a King
of its own; but its King was not yet called King of Assyria, but only
King of Nineveh, Jonah iii. 6, 7. and his proclamation for a fast was
not published in several nations, nor in all Assyria, but only in
Nineveh, and perhaps in the villages thereof; but soon after, when the
dominion of Nineveh was established at home, and exalted over all
Assyria properly so called, and this Kingdom began to make war upon the
neighbouring nations, its Kings were no longer called Kings of Nineveh
but began to be called Kings of Assyria.
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 with its territories upon Euphrates, because they opened not to
him: and therefore Israel continued in its greatness 'till Pul,
probably grown formidable by some victories, caused Menahem to buy his
peace. Pul therefore Reigning presently after the prophesy of Amos, and
being the first upon record who began to fulfill it, may be justly reckoned
the first conqueror and founder of this Empire. For God stirred up the
spirit of Pul, and the spirit of Tiglath-pileser King of Assyria, 1
Chron. v. 20.
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 the largeness of the conquests they are called all
lands, that is, all round about Assyria. It was the custom of the Kings
of Assyria, for preventing the rebellion of people newly conquered, to
captivate and transplant those of several countries into one another's
lands, and intermix them variously: and thence it appears [351] that
Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and Gozan, and the cities of the
Medes into which Galilee and Samaria were transplanted; and Kir
into which Damascus was transplanted; and Babylon and Cuth or the
Susanchites, and Hamath, and Ava, and Sepharvaim, and the
Dinaites, and the Apharsachites, and the Tarpelites, and the
Archevites, and the Dehavites, and the Elamites, or Persians, part
of all which nations were led captive by Asserhadon and his predecessors
into Samaria; were all of them conquered by the Assyrians not long
before.
In these conquests are involved on the west and south side of Assyria,
the Kingdoms of Mesopotamia, whose royal seats were Haran or Carrhæ,
and Carchemish or Circutium, and Sepharvaim, a city upon Euphrates,
between Babylon and Nineveh, called Sipparæ 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: and on the north between Assyria and the Gordiæan mountains
was Halah or Chalach, the metropolis of Calachene: and beyond these
upon the Caspian sea was Gozan, called Gauzania by Ptolomy. Thus
did these new conquests extend every way from the province of Assyria to
considerable distances, and make up the great body of that Monarchy: so
that well might the King of Assyria boast how his armies had destroyed
all lands. All these nations [353] had 'till now their several Gods, and
each accounted his God the God of his own land, and the defender thereof,
against the Gods of the neighbouring countries, and particularly against
the Gods of Assyria; and therefore they were never 'till now united under
the Assyrian Monarchy, especially since the King of Assyria doth not
boast of their being conquered by the Assyrians oftner than once: but
these being small Kingdoms the King of Assyria easily overflowed them:
Know ye not, saith [354] Sennacherib to the Jews, what I and my
fathers have done unto all the People of other lands?--for no God of any
nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand, and out
of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of
mine hand? He and his fathers therefore, Pul, Tiglath-pileser, and
Shalmaneser, were great conquerors, and with a current of victories had
newly overflowed all nations round about Assyria, and thereby set up this
Monarchy.
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 Chaldæan 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 Chaldæans, writes,
[360] [Greek: Legetai Bêlon Babylôna teichei peribalein; tôi chronôi de tôi
ikneumenôi aphanisthênai. teichisai de authis Nabouchodonosoron, to mechri
tês Makedoniôn archês 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: Archaiê Babylôn, Tyriou Bêloio 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 Chaldæa, 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. From all this it seems therefore that Pul founded the
walls and the palaces of Babylon, and left the city with the province of
Chaldæa to his younger son Nabonassar; and that Nabonassar finished
what his father began, and erected the Temple of Jupiter Belus to his
father: and that Semiramis lived in those days, and was the Queen of
Nabonassar, because one of the gates of Babylon was called the gate of
Semiramis, as Herodotus affirms: but whether she continued to Reign
there after her husband's death may be doubted.
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 Carrhæ, 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
Judæa 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
Judæa, 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, Chaldæa, Mesopotamia,
Cilicia, Syria, Phoenicia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and part of Arabia,
and reaching eastward into Elymais, and Parætacene, a province of the
Medes: and if Chalach and Chabor be Colchis and Iberia, as some
think, and as may seem probable from the circumcision used by those nations
'till the days of Herodotus, we are also to add these two Provinces, with
the two Armenia's, Pontus and Cappadocia, as far as to the river
Halys: for [370] Herodotus tells us, that the people of Cappadocia as
far as to that river were called Syrians by the Greeks, both before and
after the days or Cyrus, and that the Assyrians were also called
Syrians by the Greeks.
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 Phoenicia, Moab,
Ammon, and Egypt had been conquered and revolted, Judith i. 7, 8, 9.
and by consequence after the Reign of Asserhadon who conquered them: it
was made when the Jews were newly returned from captivity, and the
Vessels and Altar and Temple were sanctified after the profanation,
Judith iv. 3. that is soon after Manasseh their King had been carried
captive to Babylon by Asserhadon; and upon the death of that King, or
some other change in the Assyrian Empire, had been released with the
Jews from that captivity, and had repaired the Altar, and restored the
sacrifices and worship of the Temple, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11, 16. In the
Greek version of the book of Judith, chap. v. 18. it is said, that the
Temple of God was cast to the ground; but this is not said in Jerom's
version; and in the Greek version, chap. iv. 3, and chap. xvi. 20, it is
said, that the vessels, and the altar, and the house were sanctified after
the prophanation, and in both versions, chap. iv. 11, the Temple is
represented standing.
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
Judæa: 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 Judæa, and cryed unto God with great fervency, and humbled
themselves in 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 Chaldæa 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
affinity, they conspired against the Assyrians; and Nabopolasser being
now grown old, and Astyages being dead, their sons Nebuchadnezzar and
Cyaxeres led the armies of the two nations against Nineveh, slew
Sarac, destroyed the city, and shared the Kingdom of the Assyrians.
This victory the Jews refer to the Chaldæans; the Greeks to the
Medes; Tobit, Polyhistor, Josephus, and Ctesias to both. It gave
a beginning to the great successes of Nebuchadnezzar and Cyaxeres, and
laid the foundation of the two collateral Empires of the Babylonians and
Medes; these being branches of the Assyrian Empire: and thence the time
of the fall of the Assyrian Empire is determined, the conquerors being
then in their youth. In the Reign of Josiah, when Zephaniah prophesied,
Nineveh and the Kingdom of Assyria were standing, and their fall was
predicted by that Prophet, Zeph. i. 1, and ii. 13. and in the end of his
Reign Pharaoh Nechoh King of Egypt, the successor of Psammitichus,
went up against the King of Assyria to the river Euphrates, to fight
against Carchemish or Circutium, and in his way thither slew Josiah,
2 Kings xxiii. 29. 2 Chron. xxxv. 20. and therefore the last King of
Assyria was not yet slain. But in the third and fourth year of
Jehoiakim the successor of Josiah, the two conquerors having taken
Nineveh and finished their war in Assyria, prosecuted their conquests
westward, and leading their forces against the King of Egypt, as an
invader of their right of conquest, they beat him at Carchemish, and
[377] took from him whatever he had newly taken from the Assyrians: and
therefore we cannot err above a year or two, if we refer the destruction of
Nineveh, and fall of the Assyrian Empire, to the second year of
Jehoiakim, Anno Nabonass. 140. The name of the last King Sarac might
perhaps be contracted from Sarchedon, as this name was from Asserhadon,
Asserhadon-Pul, or Sardanapalus.
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 recovered the Assyrian provinces of
Armenia, Pontus, and Cappadocia, and then they went eastward against
the provinces of Persia and Parthia. Whether the Pischdadians, whom
the Persians reckon to have been their oldest Kings, were Kings of the
Kingdom of Elam, or of that of the Assyrians, and whether Elam was
conquered by the Assyrians at the same time with Babylonia and
Susiana in the Reign of Asserhadon, and soon after revolted, I leave to
be examined.
* * * * *
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 Chaldæan 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 Judæa
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, Zech. i. 7, 12. So then the ninth year of
Zedekiah, in which this indignation against Jerusalem and the cities of
Judah began, commenced with the month Nisan in the year of Nabonassar
158; and the eleventh year of Zedekiah, and nineteenth of
Nebuchadnezzar, in which the city was taken and the Temple burnt,
commenced with the month Nisan in the year of Nabonassar 160, as above.
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 Judæa, 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 Æra 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
Judæa, 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 carried to Babylon Daniel and others of the people, and
part of what Gold and Silver and Brass they found in the Temple: and in
[382] the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which was the twentieth of
Nabopolassar, they routed the army of Pharaoh Nechoh at Carchemish,
and by pursuing the war took from the King of Egypt whatever pertained to
him from the river of Egypt to the river of Euphrates. This King of
Egypt is called by Berosus, [383] the Satrapa of Egypt,
Coele-Syria, and Phoenicia; and this victory over him put an end to his
Reign in Coele-Syria and Phoenicia, which he had newly invaded, and
gave a beginning to the Reign of Nebuchadnezzar there: and by the
conquests over Assyria and Syria the small Kingdom of Babylon was
erected into a potent Empire.
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.
Judæa 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 Chaldæans 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 Judæa 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 seventeen years; and therefore he is the same King of Babylon
with Nabonnedus or Labynitus; and this is more agreeable to sacred writ
than to make Nabonnedus a stranger to the royal line: for all nations
were to serve Nebuchadnezzar and his posterity, till the very time of his
land should come, and many nations should serve themselves of him, Jer.
xxvii. 7. Belshazzar was born and lived in honour before the fifth year
of Jeconiah's captivity, which was the eleventh year of
Nebuchadnezzar's Reign; and therefore he was above 34 years old at the
death of Evilmerodach, and so could be no other King than Nabonnedus:
for Laboasserdach the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar was a child when he
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: Mêdeia],
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 Æschylus, 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, aieimnêston hoion oudepô,]
[Greek: To d' asty Sousôn exekeinôsen peson;]
[Greek: Ex houte timên Zeus anax tênd' ôpasen]
[Greek: En andra pasês Asiados mêlotrophou]
[Greek: Tagein, echonta skêptron euthyntêrion]
[Greek: Mêdos gar ên ho prôtos hêgemôn stratou;]
[Greek: Allos d' ekeinou pais tod' ergon ênyse;]
[Greek: Phrenes gar autou thymon oiakostrophoun.]
[Greek: Tritos d' ap' autou Kyros, eudaimôn anêr,] &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, according to both [401] Herodotus and Xenophon, gave his
daughter Mandane to Cambyses a Prince of Persia, and by them became
the grandfather of Cyrus; and Cyaxeres was the son of Astyages,
according [402] to Xenophon, and gave his Daughter to Cyrus. This
daughter, [403] saith Xenophon, was reported to be very handsome, and
used to play with Cyrus when they were both children, and to say that she
would marry him: and therefore they were much of the same age. Xenophon
saith that Cyrus married her after the taking of Babylon; but she was
then an old woman: it's more probable that he married her while she was
young and handsome, and he a young man; and that because he was the
brother-in-law of Darius the King, he led the armies of the Kingdom until
he revolted: so then Astyages, Cyaxeres and Darius Reigned
successively over the Medes; and Cyrus was the grandson of Astyages,
and married the sister of Darius, and succeeded him in the Throne.
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
Æschylus 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 to
Herodotus, Reigned 40 years, and his successor 35, and Cyrus, according
to Xenophon, seven: Cyrus died Anno Nabonass. 219, according to the
Canon, and therefore Cyaxeres died Anno Nabonass. 177, and began his
Reign Anno Nabonass. 137, and his father Astyages Reigned 26 years,
beginning his Reign at the death of Phraortes, who was slain by the
Assyrians, Anno Nabonass. 111, as above.
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 Æschylus 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 Judæa 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 Chaldæans; 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 Chaldæans 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 the 28th of May, Anno Nabonass. 163, forty
and seven years before the taking of Babylon, and put an end to the
battel: and thereupon the two Kings made peace by the mediation of
Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, and Syennesis King of Cilicia; and
the peace was ratified by a marriage, between Darius the son of
Cyaxeres and Ariene the daughter of Alyattes: Darius was therefore
fifteen or sixteen years old at the time of this marriage; for he was 62
years old at the taking of Babylon.
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 Chaldæans:
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 of
Judæa, and chiefly the Princes of Armenia and Cappadocia, who fell in
the wars which Cyaxeres made in reducing those countries after the taking
of Nineveh. Elam or Persia was conquered by the Medes, and
Susiana by the Babylonians, after the ninth, and before the nineteenth
year of Nebuchadnezzar: and therefore we cannot err much if we place
these conquests in the twelfth or fourteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar: in
the nineteenth, twentieth, and one and twentieth year of this King, he
invaded and [412] conquered Judæa, Moab, Ammon, Edom, the
Philistims and Zidon; and [413] the next year he besieged Tyre, and
after a siege of thirteen years he took it, in the 35th year of his Reign;
and then he [414] invaded and conquered Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya;
and about eighteen or twenty years after the death of this King, Darius
the Mede conquered the Kingdom of Sardes; and after five or six years
more he invaded and conquered the Empire of Babylon: and thereby finished
the work of propagating the Medo-Persian Monarchy over all Asia, as
Æschylus represents.
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 Lydians and
Phrygians were exceeding rich, even to a proverb: Midas & Croesus,
saith [418] Pliny, infinitum possederant. Jam Cyrus devicta Asia [auri]
pondo xxxiv millia invenerat, præter vasa aurea aurumque factum, & in eo
folia ac platanum vitemque. Qua victoria argenti quingenta millia
talentorum reportavit, & craterem Semiramidis cujus pondus quindecim
talentorum colligebat. Talentum autem Ægyptium pondo octoginta capere Varro
tradit. What the conqueror did with all this gold and silver appears by
the Darics. The Lydians, according to [419] Herodotus, were the first
who coined gold and silver, and Croesus coined gold monies in plenty,
called Croesei; and it was not reasonable that the monies of the Kings of
Lydia should continue current after the overthrow of their Kingdom, and
therefore Darius recoined it with his own effigies, but without altering
the current weight and value: he Reigned then from before the conquest of
Sardes 'till after the conquest of Babylon.
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: Pinômen, charienta met' allêloisi legontes,]
[Greek: Mêden ton Mêdôn 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 hybristên Mêdôn aperyke]
[Greek: Têsde poleus, hina soi laoi en euphrosynêi]
[Greek: Êros eperchomenou kleitas pempôs' hekatombas,]
[Greek: Terpomenoi kitharê kai eratêi thaliêi,]
[Greek: Paianônte chorois, iachôsi te, son peri bômon.]
[Greek: Ê gar egôge dedoik', aphradiên esorôn]
[Greek: Kai stasin Hellênôn laophthoron; alla sy Phoibe,]
[Greek: Hilaos hêmeterên tênde 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 Elymæans,
and the Parætacæ, and Chalonitis by the mountain Zagrus, and the
fields near Ninus, and Dolomene, and Chalachene, and Chazene, and
Adiabene, and the nations of Mesopotamia near the Gordyæans, and the
Mygdones about Nisibis, unto Zeugma upon Euphrates; and a large
region on this side Euphrates inhabited by the Arabians and Syrians
properly so called, as far as Cilicia and Phoenicia and Libya and the
sea of Egypt and the Sinus Issicus: and a little after describing the
extent of the Babylonian region, he bounds it on the north, with the
Armenians and Medes unto the mountain Zagrus; on the east side, with
Susa and Elymais and Parætacene, inclusively; on the south, with the
Persian Gulph and Chaldæa; and on the west, with the Arabes Scenitæ
as far as Adiabene and Gordyæa: afterwards speaking of Susiana and
Sitacene, a region between Babylon and Susa, and of Parætacene and
Cossæa and Elymais, and of the Sagapeni and Siloceni, two little
adjoining Provinces, he concludes, [425] and these are the nations which
inhabit Babylonia eastward: to the north are Media and Armenia,
exclusively, and westward are Adiabene and Mesopotamia,
inclusively; the greatest part of Adiabene is plain, the same being
part of Babylonia: in same places it borders on Armenia: for the
Medes, Armenians and Babylonians warred frequently on one another.
Thus far Strabo.
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, according to [428] Isaiah, and by
consequence, by Pul and his son Nabonassar, as above: they founded the
city for the Arabians, and set up the towers thereof, and raised the
Palaces thereof: and at that time Sabacon the Ethiopian invaded
Egypt, and made great multitudes of Egyptians fly from him into
Chaldæa, and carry thither their Astronomy, and Astrology, and
Architecture, and the form of their year, which they preserved there in the
Æra of Nabonassar: for the practice of observing the Stars began in
Egypt in the days of Ammon, as above, and was propagated from thence in
the Reign of his son Sesac into Afric, Europe, and Asia by
conquest; and then Atlas formed the Sphere of the Libyans, and Chiron
that of the Greeks, and the Chaldæans also made a Sphere of their own.
But Astrology was invented in Egypt by Nichepsos, or Necepsos, one of
the Kings of the lower Egypt, and Petosiris his Priest, a little before
the days of Sabacon, and propagated thence into Chaldæa, where
Zoroaster the Legislator of the Magi met with it: so Paulinus,
Quique magos docuit mysteria vana Necepsos:
And Diodorus, [429] they say that the Chaldæans 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 & quæ ebrietatem sequuntur effusi sunt. Fæminarum
convivia ineuntium in principio modestus est habitus; dein summa quæque
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 Pasargadæ 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
stood the buildings for the People. All this was the [441] Sanctuary, and
made a square area 500 cubits long, and 500 broad, and was compassed with a
walk, called the Mountain of the House: and this walk being 50 cubits
broad, was compassed with a wall six cubits broad, and six high, and six
hundred long on every side: and the cubit was about 21½, or almost 22
inches of the English foot, being the sacred cubit of the Jews, which
was an hand-breadth, or the sixth part of its length bigger than the common
cubit.
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 187½ 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 37½ cubits long, being supported by four pillars
in each row, [457] whose bases were 4½ cubits square, and the distances
between their bases 6½ 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 4½ 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 4½ 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 37½ 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, five cubits: and the third little chamber LMN, a reed long
and a reed broad: and the threshold of the gate next the porch of the gate
within, OP, one reed: and he measured the porch of the gate, QR, eight
cubits; and the posts thereof ST, st, two cubits; and the porch of the
gate, QR, was inward, or toward the inward court; and the little
chambers, EF, HI, LM, ef, hi, lm, were outward, or to the
east; three on this side, and three on that side of the gate. There was
one measure of the three, and one measure of the posts on this side, and on
that side; and he measured the breadth of the door of the gate, Cc, or
Dd, ten cubits; and the breadth of the gate within between the little
chambers, Ee or Ff, thirteen cubits; and the limit, or margin, or step
before the little chambers, EM, one cubit on this side, and the step,
em, one cubit on the other side; and the little chambers, EFG, HIK,
LMN, efg, hik, lmn, were six cubits broad on this side, and six
cubits broad on that side: and he measured the whole breadth of the
gate, from the further wall of one little chamber to the further wall
of another little chamber: the breadth, Gg, or Kk, or Nn, was twenty and
five cubits through; door, FH, against door, fh: and he measured the
posts, EF, HI, and LM, ef, hi, and lm, twenty cubits high;
and at the posts there were gates, or arched passages, FH, IL, fh, il,
round about; and from the eastern face of the gate at the entrance, Cc,
to the western face of the porch of the gate within, Tt, were fifty
cubits: and there were narrow windows to the little chambers, and to the
porch within the gate, round about, and likewise to the posts; even windows
were round about within: and upon each post were palm trees.
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 exhedræ 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 Exhedræ 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 Achæmenes, 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 Cambysæ Regis [ex Ægypto
Babylonem abductos] doctores habuisse Persarum Magos, & præcipue
Zoroastrem, omnis divini arcani Antistitem. By Zoroastres's conversing
at Babylon he seems to have borrowed his skill from the Chaldæans; 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; Scientiæ multa ex Chaldæorum arcanis Bactrianus
addidit Zoroastres. From his conversing in several places he is reckoned a
Chaldæan, 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 Chaldæans, 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 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 scientiæ seculis priscis multa ex Chaldæorum arcanis Bactrianus
addidit Zoroastres: deinde Hystaspes Rex prudentissimus Darii pater; qui
quum superioris Indiæ secreta fidentius penetraret, ad nemorosam quamdam
venerat solitudinem, cujus tranquillis silentiis præcelsa Brachmanorum
ingenia potiuntur; eorumque monitu rationes mundani motus & siderum,
purosque sacrorum ritus quantum colligere potuit eruditus, ex his quæ
didicit, aliqua sensibus Magorum infudit; quæ illi cum disciplinis
præsentiendi futura, per suam quisque progeniem, posteris ætatibus tradunt.
Ex eo per sæcula multa ad præsens, 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 præisse quondam Asiaticis Regibus dicunt: Hujus originis
apud veteres numerus erat exilis, ejusque mysteriis Persicæ potestates in
faciendis rebus divinis solemniter utebantur. Eratque piaculum aras adire,
vel hostiam contrectare, antequam Magus conceptis precationibus libamenta
diffunderet præcursoria. Verum aucti paullatim, in amplitudinem gentis
solidæ 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 Chaldæans, 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 kephalên echôn hierakos. houtos
estin ho prôtos, aphthartos, aidios, agenêtos, amerês, anomoiotatos,
hêniochos pantos kalou, adôrodokêtos, agathôn agathôtatos, phronimôn
phronimôtatos; esti de kai patêr eunomias kai dikaiosynês, autodidaktos,
physikos, kai teleios, kai sophos, kai hierou physikou monos heuretês.]
Deus est accipitris capite: hic est primus, incorruptibilis, æternus,
ingenitus, sine partibus, omnibus aliis dissimillimus, moderator omnis
boni, donis non capiendus, bonorum optimus, prudentium prudentissimus,
legum æquitatis ac justitiæ 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 Chaldæans 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 Æschylus the Poet say [485]:
[Greek: To d' asty Sousôn exekeinôsen 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
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: Ôdouia]; 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
of a family, one Generation with another, as above; but if in this case we
allow 30 years to a Generation, and may further suppose that Jeshua, at
the return of the captivity in the first year of the Empire of the
Persians, was about 30 or 40 years old; Joiakim will be of about that
age in the 16th year of Darius Hystaspis, Eliashib in the tenth year of
Xerxes, Joiada in the 19th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, Jonathan
in the 8th year of Darius Nothus, Jaddua in the 19th year of
Artaxerxes Mnemon, Onias in the 3d year of Artaxerxes Ochus, and
Simeon Justus two years before the death of Alexander the Great: and
this reckoning, as it is according to the course of nature, so it agrees
perfectly well with history; for thus Eliashib might be High-Priest, and
have grandsons, before the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, Ezra
x. 6. and without exceeding the age which many old men attain unto,
continue High-Priest 'till after the 32d year of that King, Nehem. xiii.
6, 7. and his grandson Johanan, or Jonathan, might have a chamber in
the Temple in the seventh year of that King, Ezra x. 6. and be
High-Priest before Ezra wrote the sons of Levi in the book of
Chronicles; Nehem. xii. 23. and in his High-Priesthood, he might slay
his younger brother Jesus in the Temple, before the end of the Reign of
Artaxerxes Mnemon: Joseph. Antiq. l. xi. c. 7. and Jaddua might be
High-Priest before the death of Sanballat, Joseph. ib. and before the
death of Nehemiah, Nehem. xii. 22. and also before the end of the Reign
of Darius Nothus; and he might thereby give occasion to Josephus and
the later Jews, who took this King for the last Darius, to fall into an
opinion that Sanballat, Jaddua, and Manasseh the younger brother of
Jaddua, lived till the end of the Reign of the last Darius: Joseph.
Antiq. l. xi. c. 7, 8. and the said Manasseh might marry Nicaso the
daughter of Sanballat, and for that offence be chased from Nehemiah,
before the end of the Reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus; Nehem. xiii. 28.
Joseph. Antiq. l. xi. c. 7, 8. and Sanballat might at that time be
Satrapa of Samaria, and in the Reign of Darius Nothus, or soon after,
build the Temple of the Samaritans in Mount Gerizim, for his son-in-law
Manasseh, the first High-Priest of that Temple; Joseph. ib. and
Simeon Justus might be High-Priest when the Persian Empire was invaded
by Alexander the Great, as the Jews represent, Joma fol. 69. 1.
Liber Juchasis. R. Gedaliah, &c. and for that reason he might be taken by
some of the Jews for the same High-Priest with Jaddua, and be dead some
time before the book of Ecclesiasticus was writ in Hebrew at
Jerusalem, by the grandfather of him, who in the 38th year of the
Egyptian Æra of Dionysius, that is in the 77th year after the death of
Alexander the Great, met with a copy of it in Egypt, and there
translated it into Greek: Ecclesiast. ch. 50. & in Prolog. and
Eleazar, the younger brother and successor of Simeon, might cause the
Law to be translated into Greek, in the beginning of the Reign of
Ptolemaus Philadelphus: Joseph. Antiq. l. xii. c. 2. and Onias the
son of Simeon Justus, who was a child at his father's death, and by
consequence was born in his father's old age, might be so old in the Reign
of Ptolemæus Euergetes, as to have his follies excused to that King, by
representing that he was then grown childish with old age. Joseph.
Antiq. l. xii. c. 4. In this manner the actions of all these High-Priests
suit with the Reigns of the Kings, without any straining from the course of
nature: and according to this reckoning the days of Ezra and Nehemiah
fall in with the Reign of the first Artaxerxes; for Ezra and Nehemiah
flourished in the High Priesthood of Eliashib, Ezra x. 6. Nehem. iii.
1. & xiii. 4, 28. But if Eliashib, Ezra and Nehemiah be placed in the
Reign of the second Artaxerxes, since they lived beyond the 32d year of
Artaxerxes, Nehem. xiii. 28, there must be at least 160 years allotted
to the three first High-Priests, and but 42 to the four or five last, a
division too unequal: for the High Priesthoods of Jeshua, Joiakim, and
Eliashib, were but of an ordinary length, that of Jeshua fell in with
one Generation of the chief Priests, and that of Joiakim with the next
Generation, as we have shewed already; and that of Eliashib fell in with
the third Generation: for at the dedication of the wall, Zechariah the
son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, was one of the Priests, Nehem.
xii. 35, and Jonathan and his father Shemaiah, were contemporaries to
Joiakim and his father Jeshua: Nehem. xii. 6, 18. I observe further
that in the first year of Cyrus, Jeshua, and Bani, or Binnui, were
chief fathers of the Levites, Nehem. vii. 7. 15. & Ezra ii. 2. 10. &
iii. 9. and that Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of
Binnui, were chief Levites in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, when
Ezra came to Jerusalem, Ezra viii. 33. so that this Artaxerxes
began his Reign before the end of the second Generation: and that he
Reigned in the time of the third Generation is confirmed by two instances
more; for Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabeel, and
Azariah the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, were fathers of
their houses at the repairing of the wall; Nehem. iii. 4, 23. and their
grandfathers, Meshazabeel and Hananiah, subscribed the covenant in the
Reign of Cyrus: Nehem. x. 21, 23. Yea Nehemiah, this same Nehemiah
the son of Hachaliah, was the Tirshatha, and subscribed it, Nehem. x.
1, & viii. 9, & Ezra ii. 2, 63. and therefore in the 32d year of
Artaxerxes Mnemon, he will be above 180 years old, an age surely too
great. The same may be said of Ezra, if he was that Priest and Scribe who
read the Law, Nehem. viii. for he is the son of Serajah, the son of
Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shallum, &c. Ezra vii. 1.
and this Serajah went into captivity at the burning of the Temple, and
was there slain, 1 Chron. vi. 14. 2 King. xxv. 18. and from his death,
to the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Mnemon, is above 200 years; an age
too great for Ezra.
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, is told in the book of
Esdras in continual order, without any interruption: so that the Darius
which in the book of Ezra precedes Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes, and the
Darius which in the same book follows them, is, by the book of Esdras,
one and the same Darius; and I take the book of Esdras to be the best
interpreter of the book of Ezra: so the Darius mentioned between
Cyrus and Ahasuerus, is Darius Hysaspis; and therefore Ahasuerus
and Artaxerxes who succeed him, are Xerxes and Artaxerxes Longimanus;
and the Jews who came up from Artaxerxes to Jerusalem, and began to
build the city and the wall, Ezra iv. 13. are Ezra with his companions:
which being understood, the history of the Jews in the Reign of these
Kings will be as follows.
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 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, and Lohorasp,
and by Lohorasp mean Kai-Axeres, or Cyaxeres: for they say that
Lohorasp was the first of their Kings who reduced their armies to good
order and discipline, and Herodotus affirms the same thing of Cyaxeres:
and they say further, that Lohorasp went eastward, and conquered many
Provinces of Persia, and that one of his Generals, whom the Hebrews
call Nebuchadnezzar, the Arabians Bocktanassar, and others Raham
and Gudars, went westward, and conquered all Syria and Judæa, and
took the city of Jerusalem and destroyed it: they seem to call
Nebuchadnezzar the General of Lohorasp, because he assisted him in some
of his wars. The fifth King of this Dynasty, they call Kischtasp, and by
this name mean sometimes Darius Medus, and sometimes Darius Hystaspis:
for they say that he was contemporary to Ozair or Ezra, and to
Zaradust or Zoroastres, the Legislator of the Ghebers or
fire-worshippers, and established his doctrines throughout all Persia;
and here they take him for Darius Hystaspis: they say also that he was
contemporary to Jeremiah, and to Daniel, and that he was the son and
successor of Lohorasp, and here they take him for Darius the Mede.
The sixth King of the Kaianides, they call Bahaman, and tell us that
Bahaman was Ardschir Diraz, that is Artaxerxes Longimanus, so called
from the great extent of his power: and yet they say that Bahaman went
westward into Mesopotamia and Syria, and conquered Belshazzar the son
of Nebuchadnezzar, and gave the Kingdom to Cyrus his Lieutenant-General
over Media: and here they take Bahaman for Darius Medus. Next after
Ardschir Diraz, they place Homai a Queen, the mother of Darius
Nothus, tho' really she did not Reign: and the two next and last Kings of
the Kaianides, they call Darab the bastard son of Ardschir Diraz, and
Darab who was conquered by Ascander Roumi, that is Darius Nothus, and
Darius who was conquered by Alexander the Greek: and the Kings
between these two Darius's they omit, as they do also Cyrus,
Cambyses, and Xerxes. The Dynasty of the Kaianides, was therefore
that of the Medes and Persians, beginning with the defection of the
Medes from the Assyrians, in the end of the Reign of Sennacherib, and
ending with the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great. But their
account of this Dynasty is very imperfect, some Kings being omitted, and
others being confounded with one another: and their Chronology of this
Dynasty is still worse; for to the first King they assign a Reign of 120
years, to the second a Reign of 150 years, to the third a Reign of 60
years, to the fourth a Reign of 120 years, to the fifth as much, and to the
sixth a Reign of 112 years.
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 Pythiæ 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 Æneid. 7. v. 678.
[20] Diodor. l. 1.
[21] Plutarch. in Romulo.
[22] Lib. I. in Proæm.
[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 Athenæum, 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] Hecatæus apud Diodor. l. 1. p. 32.
[69] Isagoge Sect. 23, a Petavio edit.
[70] Hipparch. ad Phænom. l.2. Sect. 3. a Petavio edit.
[71] Hipparch. ad Phænom. 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 Athenæum, 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 Timæo.
[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. Hephæst. 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 Athenæum, 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: Ammônia].
[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 aponês**] l. 1. Sect. 55. Et.
Euseb. Præp. 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 Athenæum 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 Timæo. & 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. Præp. l. 9. c. 41.
[361] Doroth. apud Julium Firmicum.
[362] Heren. apud Steph. in [Greek: Bab.]
[363] Abyden apud Euseb. Præp. 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 Athenæum l. xii. p. 528.
[372] Herod. l. 1. c. 96. &c.
[373] Athenæus 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. Præp. l. 9.
c.
35.
[378] 2 King. xxiii. 29, &c.
[379] Eupolemus apud Euseb. Præp. 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] Æsch. Persæ v. 761.
[401] Herod. l. 1. c. 107, 108. Xenophon Cyropæd. l. 1. p. 3.
[402] Cyropæd. l. 1. p. 22.
[403] Cyropæd. 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: Ekklêsiazouston. 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: Gnômai], 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: Zôroastrês].
[483] Ammian. l. 23. c. 6.
[484] Euseb. Præp. Evang. l. 1. c. ult.
[485] Æsch. Persæ v. 763.
[486] Apud. Hieron in Dan. viii.
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