Part 6

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 ν 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 ν and ξ 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 ρ 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 τ 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 η 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_ δ; 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 δ 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 ι 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 θ 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 η 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 η and κ, 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 κ, of the fourth Magnitude, in the right wing of the _Swan_; and by the Star ο, 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, _Cœlus_ 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 _Cœlus_, 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 _Phœnicia_, 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 _Phœnicia_: 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 _Phœnicians_ 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_.