The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended · Isaac Newton
CHAP. I.
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.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.