Part 13

_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 _Phœnicia_ 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 _Phœnicia_ 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 _Phœnicia_ into _Greece_; as _Lelex_, _Inachus_, _Pelasgus_, _Æzeus_, _Cecrops_, _Ægialeus_, _Cadmus_, _Phœnix_, _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 _Phœnicia_, 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 _Phœnician_ 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_:

Ενθα τε και στηλαι, Θηβαιγενεος Διονυσου ‛Εστασιν πυματοιο παρα ‛ροον Ωκεανοιο, Ινδων ‛υστατιοισιν εν ουρεσιν· ενθα τε Γαγγης Λευκον ‛υδορ Νυσσαιον επι πλαταμωνα κυλινδει.

_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, _Cœlus_, 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 Phœbo, 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 _Phœnicia_ and _Egypt_, tells us, that _the Temples of _Egypt_ were very old, those in _Phœnicia_ 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 _Phœnicia_ 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 _Phœnicia_ 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_.