Chapter III: Part 3

At length the _Egyptians_, for the sake of Navigation, applied themselves to observe the Stars; and by their Heliacal Risings and Settings found the true Solar year to be five days longer than the Calendar year, and therefore added five days to the twelve Calendar months; making the Solar year to consist of twelve months and five days. _Strabo_ [65] and [66] _Diodorus_ ascribe this invention to the _Egyptians_ of _Thebes_. _The _Theban_ Priests_, saith _Strabo_, _are above others said to be Astronomers and Philosophers. They invented the reckoning of days not by the course of the Moon, but by the course of the Sun. To twelve months each of thirty days they add yearly five days._ In memory of this Emendation of the year they dedicated the [67] five additional days to _Osiris_, _Isis_, _Orus_ senior, _Typhon_, and _Nephthe_ the wife of _Typhon_, feigning that those days were added to the year when these five Princes were born, that is, in the Reign of _Ouranus_, or _Ammon_, the father of _Sesac_: and in [68] the Sepulchre of _Amenophis_, who Reigned soon after, they placed a Golden Circle of 365 cubits in compass, and divided it into 365 equal parts, to represent all the days in the year, and noted upon each part the Heliacal Risings and Settings of the Stars on that day; which Circle remained there 'till the invasion of _Egypt_ by _Cambyses_ King of _Persia_. 'Till the Reign of _Ouranus_, the father of _Hyperion_, and grandfather of _Helius_ and _Selene_, the _Egyptians_ used the old Lunisolar year: but in his Reign, that is, in the Reign of _Ammon_, the father of _Osiris_ or _Sesac_, and grandfather of _Orus_ and _Bubaste_, the _Thebans_ began to apply themselves to Navigation and Astronomy, and by the Heliacal Risings and Settings of the Stars determined the length of the Solar year; and to the old Calendar year added five days, and dedicated them to his five children above mentioned, as their birth days: and in the Reign of _Amenophis_, when by further Observations they had sufficiently determined the time of the Solstices, they might place the beginning of this new year upon the Vernal Equinox. This year being at length propagated into _Chaldæa_, gave occasion to the year of _Nabonassar_; for the years of _Nabonassar_ and those of _Egypt_ began on one and the same day, called by them _Thoth_, and were equal and in all respects the same: and the first year of _Nabonassar_ began on the 26th day of _February_ of the old _Roman_ year, seven hundred forty and seven years before the Vulgar _Æra_ of _Christ_, and thirty and three days and five hours before the Vernal Equinox, according to the Sun's mean motion; for it is not likely that the Equation of the Sun's motion should be known in the infancy of Astronomy. Now reckoning that the year of 365 days wants five hours and 49 minutes of the Equinoctial year; the beginning of this year will move backwards thirty and three days and five hours in 137 years: and by consequence this year began at first in _Egypt_ upon the Vernal Equinox, according to the Sun's mean motion, 137 years before the _Æra_ of _Nabonassar_ began; that is, in the year of the _Julian_ Period 3830, or 96 years after the death of _Solomon_: and if it began upon the next day after the Vernal Equinox, it might begin four years earlier; and about that time ended the Reign of _Amenophis_: for he came not from _Susa_ to the _Trojan_ war, but died afterwards in _Egypt_. This year was received by the _Persian_ Empire from the _Babylonian_; and the _Greeks_ also used it in the _Æra Philippæa_, dated from the Death of _Alexander_ the great; and _Julius Cæsar_ corrected it, by adding a day in every four years, and made it the year of the _Romans_.

_Syncellus_ tells us, that the five days were added to the old year by the last King of the Shepherds: and the difference in time between the Reign of this King, and that of _Ammon_, is but small; for the Reign of the Shepherds ended but one Generation, or two, before _Ammon_ began to add those days. But the Shepherds minded not Arts and Sciences.

The first month of the Luni-solar year, by reason of the Intercalary month, began sometimes a week or a fortnight before the Equinox or Solstice, and sometimes as much after it. And this year gave occasion to the first Astronomers, who formed the _Asterisms_, to place the Equinoxes and Solstices in the middles of the Constellations of _Aries_, _Cancer_, _Chelæ_, and _Capricorn_. _Achilles Tatius_ [69] tells us, that _some antiently placed the Solstice in the beginning of _Cancer_, others in the eighth degree of _Cancer_, others about the twelfth degree, and others about the fifteenth degree thereof._ This variety of opinions proceeded from the precession of the Equinox, then not known to the _Greeks_. When the Sphere was first formed, the Solstice was in the fifteenth degree or middle of the Constellation of _Cancer_: then it came into the twelfth, eighth, fourth, and first degree successively. _Eudoxus_, who flourished about sixty years after _Meton_, and an hundred years before _Aratus_, in describing the Sphere of the Ancients, placed the Solstices and Equinoxes in the middles of the Constellations of _Aries_, _Cancer_, _Chelæ_, and _Capricorn_, as is affirmed by [70] _Hipparchus Bithynus_; and appears also by the Description of the Equinoctial and Tropical Circles in _Aratus_, [71] who copied after _Eudoxus_; and by the positions of the _Colures_ of the Equinoxes and Solstices, which in the Sphere of _Eudoxus_, described by _Hipparchus_, went through the middles of those Constellations. For _Hipparchus_ tells us, that _Eudoxus_ drew the _Colure_ of the Solstices, through the middle of the _great Bear_, and the middle of _Cancer_, and the neck of _Hydrus_, and the Star between the Poop and Mast of _Argo_, and the Tayl of the _South Fish_, and through the middle of _Capricorn_, and of _Sagitta_, and through the neck and right wing of the _Swan_, and the left hand of _Cepheus_; and that he drew the Equinoctial _Colure_, through the left hand of _Arctophylax_, and along the middle of his Body, and cross the middle of _Chelæ_, and through the right hand and fore-knee of the _Centaur_, and through the flexure of _Eridanus_ and head of _Cetus_, and the back of _Aries_ a-cross, and through the head and right hand of _Perseus_.

Now _Chiron_ delineated σχηματα ολυμπου the _Asterisms_, as the ancient Author of _Gigantomachia_, cited by [72] _Clemens Alexandrinus_ informs us: for _Chiron_ was a practical Astronomer, as may be there understood also of his daughter _Hippo_: and _Musæus_, the son of _Eumolpus_ and master of _Orpheus_, and one of the _Argonauts_, [73] made a Sphere, and is reputed the first among the _Greeks_ who made one: and the Sphere it self shews that it was delineated in the time of the _Argonautic_ expedition; for that expedition is delineated in the _Asterisms_, together with several other ancienter Histories of the _Greeks_, and without any thing later. There's the golden _RAM_, the ensign of the Vessel in which _Phryxus_ fled to _Colchis_; the _BULL_ with brazen hoofs tamed by _Jason_; and the _TWINS_, _CASTOR_ and _POLLUX_, two of the _Argonauts_, with the _SWAN_ of _Leda_ their mother. There's the Ship _ARGO_, and _HYDRUS_ the watchful Dragon; with _Medea_'s _CUP_, and a _RAVEN_ upon its Carcass, the Symbol of Death. There's _CHIRON_ the master of _Jason_, with his _ALTAR_ and _SACRIFICE_. There's the _Argonaut_ _HERCULES_ with his _DART_ and _VULTURE_ falling down; and the _DRAGON_, _CRAB_ and _LION_, whom he slew; and the _HARP_ of the _Argonaut_ _Orpheus_. All these relate to the _Argonauts_. There's _ORION_ the son of _Neptune_, or as some say, the grandson of _Minos_, with his _DOGS_, and _HARE_, and _RIVER_, and _SCORPION_. There's the story of _Perseus_ in the Constellations of _PERSEUS_, _ANDROMEDA_, _CEPHEUS_, _CASSIOPEA_ and _CETUS_: That of _Callisto_, and her son _Arcas_, in _URSA MAJOR_ and _ARCTOPHYLAX_: That of _Icareus_ and his daughter _Erigone_ in _BOOTES_, _PLAUSTRUM_ and _VIRGO_. _URSA MINOR_ relates to one of the Nurses of _Jupiter_, _AURIGA_ to _Erechthonius_, _OPHIUCHUS_ to _Phorbas_, _SAGITTARIUS_ to _Crolus_ the son of the Nurse of the Muses, _CAPRICORN_ to _Pan_, and _AQUARIUS_ to _Ganimede_. There's _Ariadne_'s _CROWN_, _Bellerophon_'s _HORSE_, _Neptune_'s _DOLPHIN_, _Ganimede_'s _EAGLE_, _Jupiter_'s _GOAT_ with her _KIDS_, _Bacchus_'s _ASSES_, and the _FISHES_ of _Venus_ and _Cupid_, and their Parent the _SOUTH FISH_. These with _DELTOTON_, are the old Constellations mentioned by _Aratus_: and they all relate to the _Argonauts_ and their Contemporaries, and to Persons one or two Generations older: and nothing later than that Expedition was delineated there Originally. _ANTINOUS_ and _COMA BERENICES_ are novel. The Sphere seems therefore to have been formed by _Chiron_ and _Musæus_, for the use of the _Argonauts_: for the Ship _Argo_ was the first long ship built by the _Greeks_. Hitherto they had used round vessels of burden, and kept within sight of the shore; and now, upon an Embassy to several Princes upon the coasts of the _Euxine_ and _Mediterranean_ Seas, [74] by the dictates of the Oracle, and consent of the Princes of _Greece_, the Flower of _Greece_ were to sail with Expedition through the deep, in a long Ship with Sails, and guide their Ship by the Stars. The People of the Island _Corcyra_ [75] attributed the invention of the Sphere to _Nausicaa_, the daughter of _Alcinous_, King of the _Pheaces_ in that Island: and it's most probable that she had it from the _Argonauts_, who [76] in their return home sailed to that Island, and made some stay there with her father. So then in the time of the _Argonautic_ Expedition, the Cardinal points of the Equinoxes and Solstices were in the middles of the Constellations of _Aries_, _Cancer_, _Chelæ_, and _Capricorn_.

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_.

_Justin_, in his 18th book, tells us: _A rege Ascaloniorum expugnati Sidonii navibus appulsi Tyron urbem ante annum * * Trojanæ cladis condiderunt_ And _Strabo_, [89] that _Aradus was built by the men who fled from _Zidon__. Hence [90] _Isaiah_ calls _Tyre_ _the daughter of _Zidon_, the inhabitants of the Isle whom the Merchants of _Zidon_ have replenished_: and [91] _Solomon_ in the beginning of his Reign calls the People of _Tyre_ _Zidonians_. _My Servants_, saith he, in a Message to _Hiram_ King of _Tyre_, _shall be with thy Servants, and unto thee will I give hire for thy Servants according to all that thou desirest: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like the _Zidonians__. The new Inhabitants of _Tyre_ had not yet lost the name of _Zidonians_, nor had the old Inhabitants, if there were any considerable number of them, gained the reputation of the new ones for skill in hewing of timber, as they would have done had navigation been long in use at _Tyre_. The Artificers who came from _Zidon_ were not dead, and the flight of the _Zidonians_ was in the Reign of _David_, and by consequence in the beginning of the Reign of _Abibalus_ the father of _Hiram_, and the first King of _Tyre_ mentioned in History. _David_ in the twelfth year of his Reign conquered _Edom_, as above, and made some of the _Edomites_, and chiefly the Merchants and Seamen, fly from the _Red Sea_ to the _Philistims_ upon the _Mediterranean_, where they fortified _Azoth_. For [92] _Stephanus_ tells us: Ταυτην εκτισεν ‛εις των επανελθοντων απ' Ερυθρας θαλασσης Φευγαδων: _One of the Fugitives from the Red Sea built_ Azoth: that is, a Prince of _Edom_, who fled from _David_, fortified _Azoth_ for the _Philistims_ against him. The _Philistims_ were now grown very strong, by the access of the _Edomites_ and Shepherds, and by their assistance invaded and took _Zidon_, that being a town very convenient for the Merchants who fled from the _Red Sea_: and then did the _Zidonians_ fly by Sea to _Tyre_ and _Aradus_, and to other havens in _Asia Minor_, _Greece_, and _Libya_, with which, by means of their trade, they had been acquainted before; the great wars and victories of _David_ their enemy, prompting them to fly by Sea: for [93] they went with a great multitude, not to seek _Europa_ as was pretended, but to seek new Seats, and therefore fled from their enemies: and when some of them fled under _Cadmus_ and his brothers to _Cilicia_, _Asia minor_, and _Greece_; others fled under other Commanders to seek new Seats in _Libya_, and there built many walled towns, as _Nonnus_ [94] affirms: and their leader was also there called _Cadmus_, which word signifies an eastern man, and his wife was called _Sithonis_ a _Zidonian_. Many from those Cities went afterwards with the great _Bacchus_ in his Armies: and by these things, the taking of _Zidon_, and the flight of the _Zidonians_ under _Abibalus_, _Cadmus_, _Cilix_, _Thasus_, _Membliarius_, _Atymnus_, and other Captains, to _Tyre_, _Aradus_, _Cilicia_, _Rhodes_, _Caria_, _Bithynia_, _Phrygia_, _Calliste_, _Thasus_, _Samothrace_, _Crete_, _Greece_ and _Libya_, and the building of _Tyre_ and _Thebes_, and beginning of the Reigns of _Abibalus_ and _Cadmus_ over those Cities, are fixed upon the fifteenth or sixteenth year of _David_'s Reign, or thereabout. By means of these Colonies of _Phœnicians_, the people of _Caria_ learnt sea-affairs, in such small vessels with oars as were then in use, and began to frequent the _Greek Seas_, and people some of the Islands therein, before the Reign of _Minos_: for _Cadmus_, in coming to _Greece_, arrived first at _Rhodes_, an Island upon the borders of _Caria_, and left there a Colony of _Phœnicians_, who sacrificed men to _Saturn_, and the _Telchines_ being repulsed by _Phoroneus_, retired from _Argos_ to _Rhodes_ with _Phorbas_, who purged the Island from Serpents; and _Triopas_, the son of _Phorbas_, carried a Colony from _Rhodes_ to _Caria_, and there possessed himself of a promontory, thence called _Triopium_: and by this and such like Colonies _Caria_ was furnished with Shipping and Seamen, and called [95] _Phœnice_. _Strabo_ and _Herodotus_ [96] tell us, that the _Cares_ were called _Leleges_, and became subject to _Minos_, and lived first in the Islands of the _Greek Seas_, and went thence into _Caria_, a country possest before by some of the _Leleges_ and _Pelasgi_: whence it's probable that when _Lelex_ and _Pelasgus_ came first into _Greece_ to seek new Seats, they left part of their Colonies in _Caria_ and the neighbouring Islands.

The _Zidonians_ being still possessed of the trade of the _Mediterranean_, as far westward as _Greece_ and _Libya_, and the trade of the _Red Sea_ being richer; the _Tyrians_ traded on the _Red Sea_ in conjunction with _Solomon_ and the Kings of _Judah_, 'till after the _Trojan_ war; and so also did the Merchants of _Aradus_, _Arvad_, or _Arpad_: for in the _Persian Gulph_ [97] were two Islands called _Tyre_ and _Aradus_, which had Temples like the _Phœnician_; and therefore the _Tyrians_ and _Aradians_ sailed thither, and beyond, to the Coasts of _India_, while the _Zidonians_ frequented the _Mediterranean_: and hence it is that _Homer_ celebrates _Zidon_, and makes no mention of _Tyre_. But at length, [98] in the Reign of _Jehoram_ King of _Judah_, _Edom_ revolted from the Dominion of _Judah_, and made themselves a King; and the trade of _Judah_ and _Tyre_ upon the _Red Sea_ being thereby interrupted, the _Tyrians_ built ships for merchandise upon the _Mediterranean_, and began there to make long Voyages to places not yet frequented by the _Zidonians_; some of them going to the coasts of _Afric_ beyond the _Syrtes_, and building _Adrymetum_, _Carthage_, _Leptis_, _Utica_, and _Capsa_; and others going to the Coasts of _Spain_, and building _Carteia_, _Gades_ and _Tartessus_; and others going further to the _Fortunate Islands_, and to _Britain_ and _Thule_. _Jehoram_ Reigned eight years, and the two last years was sick in his bowels, and before that sickness _Edom_ revolted, because of _Jehoram_'s wicked Reign: if we place that revolt about the middle of the first six years, it will fall upon the fifth year of _Pygmalion_ King of _Tyre_, and so was about twelve or fifteen years after the taking of _Troy_: and then, by reason of this revolt, the _Tyrians_ retired from the _Red Sea_, and began long Voyages upon the _Mediterranean_; for in the seventh year of _Pygmalion_, his Sister _Dido_ sailed to the Coast of _Afric_ beyond the _Syrtes_, and there built _Carthage_. This retiring of the _Tyrians_ from the _Red Sea_ to make long Voyages on the _Mediterranean_, together with the flight of the _Edomites_ from _David_ to the _Philistims_, gave occasion to the tradition both of the ancient _Persians_, and of the _Phœnicians_ themselves, that the _Phœnicians_ came originally from the _Red Sea_ to the coasts of the _Mediterranean_, and presently undertook long Voyages, as _Herodotus_ [99] relates: for _Herodotus_, in the beginning of his first book, relates that the _Phœnicians_ coming from the _Red Sea_ to the _Mediterranean_, and beginning to make long Voyages with _Egyptian_ and _Assyrian_ wares, among other places came to _Argos_, and having sold their wares, seized and carried away into _Egypt_ some of the _Grecian_ women who came to buy them; and amongst those women was _Io_ the daughter of _Inachus_. The _Phœnicians_ therefore came from the _Red Sea_, in the days of _Io_ and her brother _Phoroneus_ King of _Argos_, and by consequence at that time when _David_ conquered the _Edomites_, and made them fly every way from the _Red Sea_; some into _Egypt_ with their young King, and others to the _Philistims_ their next neighbours and the enemies of _David_. And this flight gave occasion to the _Philistims_ to call many places _Erythra_, in memory of their being _Erythreans_ or _Edomites_, and of their coming from the _Erythrean_ Sea; for _Erythra_ was the name of a City in _Ionia_, of another in _Libya_, of another in _Locris_, of another in _Bœotia_, of another in _Cyprus_, of another in _Ætolia_, of another in _Asia_ near _Chius_; and _Erythia Acra_ was a promontory in _Libya_, and _Erythræum_ a promontory in _Crete_, and _Erythros_ a place near _Tybur_, and _Erythini_ a City or Country in _Paphlagonia_: and the name _Erythea_ or _Erythræ_ was given to the Island _Gades_, peopled by _Phœnicians_. So _Solinus_, [100] _In capite Bæticæ insula a continenti septingentis passibus memoratur quam Tyrii a rubro mari profecti Erytheam, Pœni sua lingua Gadir, id est sepem nominarunt._ And _Pliny_, [101] concerning a little Island near it; _Erythia dicta est quoniam Tyrii Aborigines eorum, orti ab Erythræo mari ferebantur._ Among the _Phœnicians_ who came with _Cadmus_ into _Greece_, there were [102] _Arabians_, and [103] _Erythreans_ or Inhabitants of the _Red Sea_, that is _Edomites_; and in _Thrace_ there settled a People who were circumcised and called _Odomantes_, that is, as some think, _Edomites_. _Edom_, _Erythra_ and _Phœnicia_ are names of the same signification, the words denoting a red colour: which makes it probable that the _Erythreans_ who fled from _David_, settled in great numbers in _Phœnicia_, that is, in all the Sea-coasts of _Syria_ from _Egypt_ to _Zidon_; and by calling themselves _Phœnicians_ in the language of _Syria_, instead of _Erythreans_, gave the name of _Phœnicia_ to all that Sea-coast, and to that only. So _Strabo_: [104] ‛Οι μεν γαρ και τους Φοινικας, και τους Σιδονιους τους καθ' ‛ημας αποικους ειναι των εν τωι Ωκεανωι φασι, προστιθεντες και δια τι Φοινικες εκαλουντο, ‛οτι και ‛η θαλαττα ερυθρα. _Alii referunt Phœnices & Sidonios nostros esse colonos eorum qui sunt in Oceano, addentes illos ideo vocari Phœnices _[puniceos]_ quod mare rubrum sit._

_Strabo_ [105] mentioning the first men who left the Sea-coasts, and ventured out into the deep, and undertook long Voyages, names _Bacchus_, _Hercules_, _Jason_, _Ulysses_ and _Menelaus_; and saith that the Dominion of _Minos_ over the Sea was celebrated, and the Navigation of the _Phœnicians_ who went beyond the Pillars of _Hercules_, and built Cities there, and in the middle of the Sea-coasts of _Afric_, presently after the war of _Troy_. These _Phœnicians_ [106] were the _Tyrians_, who at that time built _Carthage_ in _Afric_, and _Carteia_ in _Spain_, and _Gades_ in the Island of that name without the _Straights_; and gave the name of _Hercules_ to their chief Leader, because of his labours and success, and that of _Heraclea_ to the city _Carteia_ which he built. So _Strabo_: [107] Εκπλεουσιν ουν εκ της ‛ημετερας θαλαττης εις την εξω, δεξιον εστι τουτο· και προς αυτο Καλπη [Καρτηια] [108] πολις εν τετταρακοντα σταδιοις αξιολογος και παλαια, ναυσταθμον ποτε γενομενη των Ιβηρων· ενιοι δε και Ηρακλεους κτισμα λεγουσιν αυτην, ‛ων εστι και Τιμοσθενης· ‛ος Φησι και Ηρακλειαν ονομαζεσθαι το παλαιον· δεικνυσθαι τε μεγαν περιβολον, και νεωσοικους. _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 _Aphæresis_, _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 _Tarshish_, a place in the Western part of _Spain_, between the two mouths of the river _Bœtis_, 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, _Plumbum ex Cassiteride 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 _Phœnicians_. 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 _Arnobius_ [114]; _Tyrius Hercules sepultus in finibus Hispaniæ_: 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 _Phœnicians_ 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 _Phœnicia_; and the league and friendship 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 friendship to _Solomon_, and assistance 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 _Phœnician_ 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 _Phædra_ 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 _Phœnician_ 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 ships with sails, and one order of oars, had been propagated from _Egypt_ to _Phœnicia_ 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 ships with three orders of oars, called _Triremes_. For [118] _Thucydides_ tells us that the _Corinthians_ were the first of the _Greeks_ who built such ships, and that a ship-carpenter of _Corinth_ went thence to _Samos_, about 300 years before the end of the _Peloponnesian_ war, and built also four ships 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 _Eubœa_, 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 _Græcia 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. _Hellanicus_ [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.