Part 4

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 11⅔ 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 Phœnix & Carthadam dixit, quod Phœnicum 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_ ממלכות הארצות _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_.