The Project Gutenberg ebook of The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended

_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_.

_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.

_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.

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.

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_.

_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_.

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_.

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.

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_.

_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.

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_.

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.

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.

_Androgeus_. _Æacus_ flourishes.

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.

_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.

of _Lysidice_ the daughter of _Pelops_.

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_.

_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_.

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.

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_.

Reigns in _Mycene_.

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_.

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.

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_.

appoints his Ceremonies.

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_.

_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.

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.

_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_.