The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended Part 6

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?e?s??????. _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 _Aphaeresis_, _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 _Tars.h.i.+sh_, a place in the Western part of _Spain_, between the two mouths of the river _Btis_, 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, _Plumb.u.m ex Ca.s.siteride 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 _Phnicians_. 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 _Arn.o.bius_ [114]; _Tyrius Hercules sepultus in finibus Hispaniae_: 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 _Phnicians_ 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 _Phnicia_; and the league and friends.h.i.+p 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 friends.h.i.+p to _Solomon_, and a.s.sistance 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 _Phnician_ 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 _Phaedra_ 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 _Phnician_ 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 s.h.i.+ps with sails, and one order of oars, had been propagated from _Egypt_ to _Phnicia_ 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 s.h.i.+ps with three orders of oars, called _Triremes_. For [118] _Thucydides_ tells us that the _Corinthians_ were the first of the _Greeks_ who built such s.h.i.+ps, and that a s.h.i.+p-carpenter of _Corinth_ went thence to _Samos_, about 300 years before the end of the _Peloponnesian_ war, and built also four s.h.i.+ps 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 _Euba_, 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 _Graecia 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. _h.e.l.lanicus_ [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 _Cara.n.u.s_ and _Perdiccas_, who being of the Race of _Temenus_ King of _Argos_, fled from _Argos_ in the Reign of _Phidon_ the brother of _Cara.n.u.s_. _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 _Pisaeans_ 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 _Cara.n.u.s_ the first King: _Justin_ calls _Perdiccas_ the Sucessor of _Cara.n.u.s_; and _Solinus_ saith that _Perdiccas_ succeeded _Cara.n.u.s_; and was the first that obtained the name of King. It's probable that _Cara.n.u.s_ and _Perdiccas_ were contemporaries, and fled about the same time from _Phidon_, and at first erected small princ.i.p.alities in _Macedonia_, which, after the death of _Cara.n.u.s_, became one under _Perdiccas_. _Herodotus_ [123] tells us, that after _Perdiccas_ Reigned _Araeus_, or _Argaeus_, _Philip_, _aeropus_, _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 _Cara.n.u.s_ 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 _Cara.n.u.s_, upon the 46th or 47th Olympiad, or thereabout. It could scarce be earlier, because _Leocides_ the son of _Phidon_, and _Megacles_ the son of _Alcmaeon_, 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 _Alcmaeon_, 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 _Cara.n.u.s_ were contemporary to _Solon_, _Alcmaeon_, _Clisthenes_, and _Eurolycus_, and flourished about the 48th and 49th Olympiads. They were also contemporary in their later days to _Crsus_; for _Solon_ conversed with _Crsus_, and _Alcmaeon_ entertained and conducted the messengers whom _Crsus_ sent to consult the Oracle at _Delphi_, _An._ 1. Olymp. 56. according to the Marbles, and was sent for by _Crsus_, 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, _Alcmaeon_ entertained and conducted the messengers whom _Crsus_ 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 _Pisaeans_ getting above the _Eleans_, began to preside, and rewarded the victors with a Crown, and inst.i.tuted 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 _Pisaeans_, suspecting their designs, but were prevailed upon to return home quietly; afterwards the _Pisaeans_ 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 _h.e.l.lenodicae_, 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 _Pisaeans_, and upon overcoming be refused presiding in the Olympic games by _Phidon_, and confederate with the _Spartans_, and by their a.s.sistance 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. Nabona.s.s._ 209, _An._ 2, Olymp. 60: and he took _Sardes_ a little before, namely _An._ 1, Olymp. 59, as _Scaliger_ collects from _Sosicrates_: _Crsus_ 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 _Crsus_ to _Sardes_; and _Crsus_, 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 _Crsus_, 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 _Phnicians_ 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 _Phnicians_ 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 _Graecia 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 _Crsus_ _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_, _a.s.syria_, _Chaldaea_, 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 _aegeus_ 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_, _Thymaetes_, _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_, _Clazomenae_, _Phocaea_, _Samos_, _Chios_, and _Erythraea_: 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 _aeneas_; others, by _Romus_, the son or grandson of _aeneas_; 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 _aeneas_. _Timaeus Siculus_ represented it built by _Romulus_, the grandson of _aeneas_, above an hundred years before the Olympiads; and so did _Naevius_ 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 _aeetes_ with part of his army in _Colchis_, to guard that pa.s.s; and _Phryxus_ and his sister _h.e.l.le_ fled from _Ino_, the daughter of _Cadmus_, to _aeetes_ soon after, in a s.h.i.+p 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 _Darda.n.u.s_, 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 _aegialus_, 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 compa.s.sed 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_. _aegisthus_, 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 a.s.signed, 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 inst.i.tuted 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 _Darda.n.u.s_ 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 _aegeus_, the father of _Theseus_; and _Metion_, another of his sons, was the father of _Eupalamus_, the father of _Daedalus_, who was older than _Theseus_; and his daughter _Creusa_ married _Xuthus_, the son of _h.e.l.len_, and by him had two sons, _Achaeus_ 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 inst.i.tution of the _Eleusinia Sacra_, and before the Reign of _Pandion_ the father of _aegeus_. _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 _h.e.l.len_ 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 inst.i.tution of the _Eleusinia Sacra_, between the tenth and fifteenth year of _Solomon_.

_Teucer_, _Darda.n.u.s_, _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 _Darda.n.u.s_, in the days of _Ceres_, who lay with _Jasius_ the brother of _Darda.n.u.s_: whereas Chronologers reckon that the six last of these Kings Reigned 296 years, which is after the rate of 49? years a-piece one with another; and that they began their Reign in the days of _Moses_.

_Darda.n.u.s_ 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 s.h.i.+p 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 _Mycenae_; 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 _Praetus_. 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 _Phbe_ 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_ _aesculapius_ 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 _Lacedaemon_ 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 _Praetus_ 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_, _aegeus_ and _Sesac_; and that _Acrisius_, _Praetus_, _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 G.o.ddess 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_ pa.s.sed out of _Italy_ into _Sicily_: afterwards _Hypermnestra_ the daughter of _Danaus_ became Priestess of this G.o.ddess, 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 _Praetus_ 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 _Abaea_ in _Phocis_, and might be the Prince from whom the island _Euba_ [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 _Euba_ 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 _Euba_, 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 _aetolia_ from _Aetolus_. _Endymion_ was the son of _Aethlius_, the son of _Protogenia_, the sister of _h.e.l.len_, and daughter of _Deucalion_: _Phrixus_ and _h.e.l.le_, the children of _Athamus_, the brother of _Sisyphus_ and Son of _aeolus_, the son of _h.e.l.len_, fled from their stepmother _Ino_, the daughter of _Cadmus_, to _aeetes_ in _Colchis_, presently after the return of _Sesostris_ into _Egypt_: and _Jason_ the _Argonaut_ was the son of _aeson_, the son of _Cretheus_, the son of _aeolus_, the son of _h.e.l.len_: and _Calyce_ was the wife of _Aethlius_, and mother of _Endymion_, and daughter of _aeolus_, and sister of _Cretheus_, _Sisyphus_ and _Athamas_: and by these circ.u.mstances _Cretheus_, _Sisyphus_ and _Athamas_ flourished in the latter part of the Reign of _Solomon_, and in the Reign of _Rehoboam_: _Aethlius_, _aeolus_, _Xuthus_, _Dorus_, _Tantalus_, and _Danae_ were contemporary to _Erechtheus_, _Jasius_ and _Cadmus_; and _h.e.l.len_ was about one, and _Deucalion_ about two Generations older than _Erechtheus_. They could not be much older, because _Xuthus_ the youngest son of _h.e.l.len_ [145] married _Creusa_ the daughter of _Erechtheus_; nor could they be much younger, because _Cephalus_ the son of _Deioneus_, the son of _aeolus_, the eldest son of _h.e.l.len_, [146] married _Procris_ the daughter of _Erechtheus_; and _Procris_ fled from her husband to _Minos_. Upon the death of _h.e.l.len_, his youngest son _Xuthus_ [147] was expelled _Thessaly_ by his brothers _aeolus_ and _Dorus_, and fled to _Erechtheus_, and married _Creusa_ the daughter of _Erechtheus_; by whom he had two sons, _Achaeus_ 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 _h.e.l.len_ 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 _h.e.l.le_, their father _Athamas_, a little King in _Botia_, 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_ inst.i.tuted the _Isthmia_ at _Corinth_ to his nephew _Melicertus_. This was presently after _Sesostris_ had left _aeetes_ in _Colchis_, I think in the fifteenth or sixteenth year of _Rehoboam_: so that _Athamas_, the son of _aeolus_ and grandson of _h.e.l.len_, 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 _h.e.l.len_ 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 _h.e.l.len_ succeeded him in _Thessaly_, and his other son _Amphictyon_ married the daughter of _Cranaus_, and Reigning at _Thermopylae_, 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 _Phemonoe_ 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 _Thermopylae_ 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 _Thermopylae_. In the Reign of _Cranaus_ the Poets place the flood of _Deucalion_, and therefore the death of _Deucalion_, and the Reign of his sons _h.e.l.len_ and _Amphictyon_, in _Thessaly_ and _Thermpolyae_, 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_, _c.l.i.tor_, _aepytus_, _Aleus_, _Lycurgus_, _Echemus_, _Agapenor_, _Hippothous_, _aepytus_ II, _Cypselus_, _Olaeas_, &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 _Ancaeus_ 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 _Ja.n.u.s_ 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 _Phnicians_ who came with _Cadmus_ brought many doctrines into _Greece_: for amongst those _Phnicians_ were a sort of men called _Curetes_, who were skilled in the Arts and Sciences of _Phnicia_, above other men, and [154] settled some in _Phrygia_, where they were called _Corybantes_; some in _Crete_, where they were called _Idaei Dactyli_; some in _Rhodes_, where they were called _Telchines_; some in _Samothrace_, where they were called _Cabiri_; some in _Euba_, where, before the invention of iron, they wrought in copper, in a city thence called _Chalcis_ some in _Lemnos_, where they a.s.sisted _Vulcan_; and some in _Imbrus_, and other places: and a considerable number of them settled in _aetolia_, which was thence called the country of the _Curetes_; until _aetolus_ the son of _Endymion_, having slain _Apis_ King of _Sicyon_, fled thither, and by the a.s.sistance of his father invaded it, and from his own name called it _aetolia_: and by the a.s.sistance of these artificers, _Cadmus_ found out gold in the mountain _Pangaeus_ 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 music.u.m inde cptum c.u.m Idaei Dactyli modulos crepitu & tinnitu aeris deprehensos in versific.u.m ordinem transtulissent_: and [156] _Isidorus_, _Studium music.u.m ab Idaeis Dactylis cptum_. _Apollo_ and the Muses were two Generations later. _Clemens_ [157]

calls the _Idaei 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 _Phnician_ 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 _Daedalus_ fled from him by adding sails to his vessel; and therefore s.h.i.+ps with sails were not used by the _Greeks_ before the flight of _Daedalus_, and death of _Minos_, who was slain in pursuing him to _Sicily_, in the Reign of _Rehoboam_. _Daedalus_ and his nephew _Talus_, in the latter part of the Reign of _Solomon_, invented the chip-ax, and saw, and wimble, and perpendicular, and compa.s.s, 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 inst.i.tutions, 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 wors.h.i.+pped, _Cybele_, _Berecynthia_, _Pessinuntia_, _Dindymene_, _Mygdonia_, and _Idaea 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, a.s.sisted him in conquering his father, and his father's friends; and in memory of these things inst.i.tuted 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._ x.x.x. 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 _Idaean Curetes_ were her countrymen, and came with her and her brother _Alymnus_ into _Crete_, and dwelt in the _Idaean_ 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 s.h.i.+p, carried away _Europa_ from _Zidon_: for the _Phnicians_, 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 _Athenaeus_, [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 h.e.l.l: _Herodotus_ [166] makes _Minos_ and _Rhadamanthus_ the sons of _Europa_, contemporary to _aegeus_: and [167] _Apollodorus_ and _Hyginus_ say, that _Minos_, the father of _Androgeus_, _Ariadne_ and _Phaedra_, 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 wors.h.i.+pped 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 _t.i.tans_ 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 _Idaean_ 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, ?? ???t? ep? t?? taf?? t??

?????? epe?e??apt?, ???O?S ??? ???S ??F?S. t?? ?????? de t?? ??????

ap??e?f??, ??ste pe???e?f???a?, ???S ??F?S. e? t??t?? ??? e?e?? ?e???s?

???te? t?? taf?? t?? ????. _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 inst.i.tuit, unde aerarium Saturni vocatur; & rusticitatis hic cultor fuit, inde falcem ferens senex pingitur:_ and _Minutius Felix_; _Saturnus Creta profugus, Italiam metu filii saevientis accesserat, & Jani susceptus hospitio, rudes illos homines & agrestes multa docuit, ut Graeculus & politus, literas imprimere, nummos signare, instrumenta conficere: itaque latebram suam, quod tuto latuisset, vocari maluit Latium, & urbem Saturniam de suo nomine. * * Ejus filius Jupiter Cretae 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 tabulae, & imagine signatus nummus, & inde aerario praesidet_. 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 _Phnicians_; 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 _Ja.n.u.s_ and _Saturn_: and therefore _Oenotrus_ was the _Ja.n.u.s_ 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 s.h.i.+p on the other. _Macrobius_ [177] tells us, that when _Saturn_ was dead, _Ja.n.u.s_ erected an Altar to him, with sacred rites as to a G.o.d, and inst.i.tuted 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 _Ja.n.u.s_ was of the race of _Lycaon_; which character agrees to _Oenotrus_. _Dionysius Halicarna.s.sensis_ 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 _Idaei Dactyli_, who were also called _Curetes_: that afterwards five of them, called _Hercules_, _Ponius_, _Epimedes_, _Jasius_, and _Ida_, came from _Ida_, a mountain in _Crete_, into _Elis_; and _Hercules_, called also _Hercules Idaeus_, being the oldest of them, in memory of the war between _Saturn_ and _Jupiter_, inst.i.tuted 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 Idaeus_ inst.i.tuted these games in memory of their victory over the _t.i.tans__: for the people of _Arcadia_ [179] had a tradition, that the Giants fought with the G.o.ds 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 _Idaean Hercules_: the _Eleans_ said also that _Clymenus_ the grandson of the _Idaean 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 _aetolus_ 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 Idaeus_, upon the conquest of _Saturn_ and the _t.i.tans_, 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 _aetolus_; 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 inst.i.tuted, 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 _Phnicians_ built a Temple to _Hercules Olympius_, that _Hercules_, whom _Cicero_ [183] calls _ex Idaeis Dactylis; cui inferias afferunt_. When the mysteries of _Ceres_ were inst.i.tuted in _Eleusis_, there were other mysteries inst.i.tuted to her and her daughter and daughter's husband, in the Island _Samothrace_, by the _Phnician_ names of _Dii Cabiri Axieros_, _Axiokersa_, and _Axiokerses_, that is, the great G.o.ds _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 inst.i.tuted in these mysteries. _Jasius_ was the brother of _Darda.n.u.s_, and married _Cybele_ the daughter of _Meones_ King of _Phrygia_, and by her had _Corybas_; and after his death, _Darda.n.u.s_, _Cybele_ and _Corybas_ went into _Phrygia_, and carried thither the mysteries of the mother of the G.o.ds, and _Cybele_ called the G.o.ddess after her own name, and _Corybas_ called her priests _Corybantes_: thus _Diodorus_; but _Dionysius_ saith [185] that _Darda.n.u.s_ inst.i.tuted the _Samothracian_ mysteries, and that his wife _Chryses_ learnt them in _Arcadia_, and that _Idaeus_ the son of _Darda.n.u.s_ inst.i.tuted afterwards the mysteries of the mother of the G.o.ds in _Phrygia_: this _Phrygian_ G.o.ddess was drawn in a chariot by lions, and had a _corona turrita_ on her head, and a drum in her hand, like the _Phnician_ G.o.ddess _Astarte_, and the _Corybantes_ danced in armour at her sacrifices in a furious manner, like the _Idaei Dactyli_; and _Lucian_ [186] tells us that she was the _Cretan Rhea_, that is, _Europa_ the mother of _Minos_: and thus the _Phnicians_ 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 fas.h.i.+on among the _Greeks_, ?te???e??, _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 daug