The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended · Isaac Newton
CHAP. II
13. _Judg._ v. 17. but it is probable that the merchants of that sea were not forward to discover their Arts and Sciences, upon which their trade depended: it seems therefore that Letters and Astronomy, and the trade of Carpenters, were invented by the merchants of the _Red Sea_, for writing down their merchandise, and keeping their accounts, and guiding their ships in the night by the Stars, and building ships; and that they were propagated from _Arabia Petræa_ into _Egypt_, _Chaldæa_, _Syria_, _Asia minor_, and _Europe_, much about one and the same time; the time in which _David_ conquered and dispersed those merchants: for we hear nothing of Letters before the days of _David_, except among the posterity of _Abraham_; nothing of Astronomy, before the _Egyptians_ under _Ammon_ and _Sesac_ applied themselves to that study, except the Constellations mentioned by _Job_, who lived in _Arabia Petræa_ among the merchants; nothing of the trade of Carpenters, or good Architecture, before _Solomon_ sent to _Hiram_ King of _Tyre_, to supply him with such Artificers, saying that _there were none in _Israel_ who could skill to hew timber like the _Zidonians__.
_Diodorus_ [266] tells us, _that the _Egyptians_ sent many colonies out of _Egypt_ into other countries; and that _Belus_, the son of _Neptune_ and _Libya_, carried colonies thence into _Babylonia_, and seating himself on _Euphrates_, instituted priests free from taxes and publick expences, after the manner of _Egypt_, who were called _Chaldæans_, and who after the manner of _Egypt_, might observe the Stars_: and _Pausanias_ [267] tells us, _that the _Belus_ of the _Babylonians_ had his name from _Belus_ an _Egyptian_, the son of _Libya__: and _Apollodorus_; [268] _that _Belus_ the son of _Neptune_ and _Libya_, and King of _Egypt_, was the father of _Ægyptus_ and _Danaus__, that is, _Ammon_: he tells us also, _that _Busiris_ the son of _Neptune_ and _Lisianassa_ _[Libyanassa]_ the daughter of _Epaphus_, was King of _Egypt__; and _Eusebius_ calls this King, __Busiris_ the son of _Neptune_, and of _Libya_ the daughter of _Epaphus__. By these things the later _Egyptians_ seem to have made two _Belus's_, the one the father of _Osiris_, _Isis_, and _Neptune_, the other the son of _Neptune_, and father of _Ægyptus_ and _Danaus_: and hence came the opinion of the people of _Naxus_, that there were two _Minos's_ and two _Ariadnes_, the one two Generations older than the other; which we have confuted. The father of _Ægyptus_ and _Danaus_ was the father of _Osiris_, _Isis_, and _Typhon_; and _Typhon_ was not the grandfather of _Neptune_, but _Neptune_ himself.
_Sesostris_ being brought up to hard labour by his father _Ammon_, warred first under his father, being the Hero or _Hercules_ of the _Egyptians_ during his father's Reign, and afterward their King: under his father, whilst he was very young, he invaded and conquered _Troglodytica_, and thereby secured the harbour of the _Red Sea_, near _Coptos_ in _Egypt_, and then he invaded _Ethiopia_, and carried on his conquest southward, as far as to the region bearing cinnamon: and his father by the assistance of the _Edomites_ having built a fleet on the _Red Sea_, he put to sea, and coasted _Arabia Fælix_, going to the _Persian Gulph_ and beyond, and in those countries set up Columns with inscriptions denoting his conquests; and particularly he Set up a Pillar at _Dira_, a promontory in the straits of the _Red Sea_, next _Ethiopia_, and two Pillars in _India_, on the mountains near the mouth of the rivers _Ganges_; so [269] _Dionysius_: Ενθα τε και στηλαι, Θηβαιγενεος Διονυσου ‛Εστασιν πυματοιο παρα ‛ροον Ωκεανοιο, Ινδων ‛υστατιοισιν εν ουρεσιν· ενθα τε Γαγγης Λευκον ‛υδορ Νυσσαιον επι πλαταμωνα κυλινδει. _Ubi etiamnum columnæ Thebis geniti Bacchi_ _Stant extremi juxta fluxum Oceani_ _Indorum ultimis in montibus: ubi & Ganges_ _Claram aquam Nyssæam ad planitiem devolvit_.
After these things he invaded _Libya_, and fought the _Africans_ with clubs, and thence is painted with a club in his hand: so [270] _Hyginus_; _Afri & Ægyptii primum fustibus dimicaverunt, postea Belus Neptuni filius gladio belligeratus est, unde bellum dictum est_: and after the conquest of _Libya_, by which _Egypt_ was furnished with horses, and furnished _Solomon_ and his friends; he prepared a fleet on the _Mediterranean_, and went on westward upon the coast of _Afric_, to search those countries, as far as to the Ocean and island _Erythra_ or _Gades_ in _Spain_; as _Macrobius_ [271] informs us from _Panyasis_ and _Pherecydes_: and there he conquered _Geryon_, and at the mouth of the _Straits_ set up the famous Pillars. [272] _Venit ad occasum mundique extrema Sesostris._ Then he returned through _Spain_ and the southern coasts of _France_ and _Italy_, with the cattel of _Geryon_, his fleet attending him by sea, and left in _Sicily_ the _Sicani_, a people which he had brought from _Spain_: and after his father's death he built Temples to him in his conquests; whence it came to pass, that _Jupiter Ammon_ was worshipped in _Ammonia_, and _Ethiopia_, and _Arabia_, and as far as _India_, according to the [273] Poet: _Quamvis Æthiopum populis, Arabumque beatis_ _Gentibus, atque Indis unus sit Jupiter Ammon_. The _Arabians_ worshipped only two Gods, _Cœlus_, otherwise called _Ouranus_, or _Jupiter Uranius_, and _Bacchus_: and these were _Jupiter Ammon_ and _Sesac_, as above: and so also the people of _Meroe_ above _Egypt_ [274] worshipped no other Gods but _Jupiter_ and _Bacchus_, and had an Oracle of _Jupiter_, and these two Gods were _Jupiter Ammon_ and _Osiris_, according to the language of _Egypt_.
At length _Sesostris_, in the fifth year of _Rehoboam_, came out of _Egypt_ with a great army of _Libyans_, _Troglodytes_ and _Ethiopians_, and spoiled the Temple, and reduced _Judæa_ into servitude, and went on conquering, first eastward toward _India_, which he invaded, and then westward as far as _Thrace_: for _God had given him the kingdoms of the countries_, 2 _Chron._ xii. 2, 3, 8. In [275] this Expedition he spent nine years, setting up pillars with inscriptions in all his conquests, some of which remained in _Syria_ 'till the days of _Herodotus_. He was accompanied with his son _Orus_, or _Apollo_, and with some singing women, called _the Muses_, one of which, called _Calliope_, was the mother of _Orpheus_ an _Argonaut_: and the two tops of the mountain _Parnassus_, which were very high, were dedicated [276] the one to this _Bacchus_, and the other to his son _Apollo_: whence _Lucan_; [277] _Parnassus gemino petit æthera colle,_ _Mons Phœbo, Bromioque sacer._ In the fourteenth year of _Rehoboam_ he returned back into _Egypt_; leaving _Æetes_ in _Colchis_, and his nephew _Prometheus_ at mount _Caucasus_, with part of his army, to defend his conquests from the _Scythians_. _Apollonius Rhodius_ [278] and his scholiast tell us, that _Sesonchosis_ King of all _Egypt_, that is _Sesac_, invading all _Asia_, and a great part of _Europe_, peopled many cities which he took; and that _Æa_, the Metropolis of _Colchis_, _remained stable ever since his days with the posterity of those _Egyptians_ which he placed there, and that they preserved pillars or tables in which all the journies and the bounds of sea and land were described, for the use of them that were to go any whither_: these tables therefore gave a beginning to Geography.
_Sesostris_ upon his returning home [279] divided _Egypt_ by measure amongst the _Egyptians_; and this gave a beginning to Surveying and Geometry: and [280] _Jamblicus_ derives this division of _Egypt_, and beginning of Geometry, from the Age of the Gods of _Egypt_. _Sesostris_ also [281] divided _Egypt_ into 36 _Nomes_ or Counties, and dug a canal from the _Nile_ to the head city of every _Nome_, and with the earth dug out of it, he caused the ground of the city to be raised higher, and built a Temple in every city for the worship of the _Nome_, and in the Temples set up Oracles, some of which remained 'till the days of _Herodotus_: and by this means the _Egyptians_ of every _Nome_ were induced to worship the great men of the Kingdom, to whom the _Nome_, the City, and the Temple or Sepulchre of the God, was dedicated: for every Temple had its proper God, and modes of worship, and annual festivals, at which the Council and People of the _Nome_ met at certain times to sacrifice, and regulate the affairs of the _Nome_, and administer justice, and buy and sell; but _Sesac_ and his Queen, by the names of _Osiris_ and _Isis_, were worshipped in all _Egypt_: and because _Sesac_, to render the _Nile_ more useful, dug channels from it to all the capital cities of _Egypt_; that river was consecrated to him, and he was called by its names, _Ægyptus_, _Siris_, _Nilus_. _Dionysius_ [282] tells us, that the _Nile_ was called _Siris_ by the _Ethiopians_, and _Nilus_ by the people of _Siene_. From the word _Nahal_, which signifies a torrent, that river was called _Nilus_; and _Dionysius_ [283] tells us, that _Nilus_ was that King who cut _Egypt_ into canals, to make the river useful: in Scripture the river is called _Schichor_, or _Sihor_, and thence the _Greeks_ formed the words _Siris_, _Sirius_, _Ser-Apis_, _O-Siris_; but _Plutarch_ [284] tells us, that the syllable _O_, put before the word _Siris_ by the _Greeks_, made it scarce intelligible to the _Egyptians_.
I have now told you the original of the _Nomes_ of _Egypt_ and of the Religions and Temples of the _Nomes_, and of the Cities built there by the Gods, and called by their names: whence _Diodorus_ [285] tells us, that _of all the Provinces of the World, there were in _Egypt_ only many cities built by the ancient Gods, as by _Jupiter_, _Sol_, _Hermes_, _Apollo_, _Pan_, _Eilithyia_, and, many others_: and _Lucian_ [286] an _Assyrian_, who had travelled into _Phœnicia_ and _Egypt_, tells us, that _the Temples of _Egypt_ were very old, those in _Phœnicia_ built by _Cinyras_ as old, and those in _Assyria_ almost as old as the former, but not altogether so old_: which shews that the Monarchy of _Assyria_ rose up after the Monarchy of _Egypt_; as is represented in Scripture; and that the Temples of _Egypt_ then standing, were those built by _Sesostris_, about the same time that the Temples of _Phœnicia_ and _Cyprus_ were built by _Cinyras_, _Benhadad_, and _Hiram_. This was not the first original of Idolatry, but only the erecting of much more sumptuous Temples than formerly to the founders of new Kingdoms: for Temples at first were very small; _Jupiter angusta vix totus stabat in æde._ _Ovid. Fast._ l. 1.
Altars were at first erected without Temples, and this custom continued in _Persia_ 'till after the days of _Herodotus_: in _Phœnicia_ they had Altars with little houses for eating the sacrifices much earlier, and these they called High Places: such was the High Place where _Samuel_ entertained _Saul_; such was the House of _Dagon_ at _Ashdod_, into which the _Philistims_ brought the Ark; and the House of _Baal_, in which _Jehu_ slew the Prophets of _Baal_; and such were the High Places of the _Canaanites_ which _Moses_ commanded _Israel_ to destroy: he [287] commanded _Israel_ to destroy the Altars, Images, High Places, and Groves of the _Canaanites_, but made no mention of their Temples, as he would have done had there been any in those days. I meet with no mention of sumptuous Temples before the days of _Solomon_: new Kingdoms begun then to build Sepulchres to their Founders in the form of Sumptuous Temples; and such Temples _Hiram_ built in _Tyre_, _Sesac_ in all _Egypt_, and _Benhadad_ in _Damascus_.
For when _David_ [288] smote _Hadad Ezer_ King of _Zobah_, and slew the _Syrians_ of _Damascus_ who came to assist him, _Rezon_ _the son of _Eliadah_ fled from his lord _Hadad-Ezer_, and gathered men unto him and became Captain over a band, and Reigned in _Damascus_, over _Syria__: he is called _Hezion_, 1 _King._ xv. 18. and his successors mentioned in history were _Tabrimon_, _Hadad_ or _Ben-hadad_, _Benhadad_ II. _Hazael_, _Benhadad_ III. * * and _Rezin_ the son of _Tabeah_. _Syria_ became subject to _Egypt_ in the days of _Tabrimon_, and recovered her liberty under _Benhadad_ I; and in the days of _Benhadad_ III, until the reign of the last _Rezin_, they became subject to _Israel_: and in the ninth year of _Hoshea_ King of _Judah_, _Tiglath-pileser_ King of _Assyria_ captivated the _Syrians_, and put an end to their Kingdom: now _Josephus_ [289] tells us, that _the _Syrians_ 'till his days worshipped both _Adar__, that is _Hadad_ or _Benhadad_, _and his successor _Hazael_ as Gods, for their benefactions, and for building Temples by which they adorned the city of _Damascus_: for_, saith he, _they daily celebrate solemnities in honour of these Kings, and boast their antiquity, not knowing that they are novel, and lived not above eleven hundred years ago_. It seems these Kings built sumptuous Sepulchres for themselves, and were worshipped therein. _Justin_ [290] calls the first of these two Kings _Damascus_, saying that _the city had its name from him, and that the _Syrians_ in honour of him worshipped his wife _Arathes_ as a Goddess, using her Sepulchre for a Temple_.
Another instance we have in the Kingdom of _Byblus_. In the [291] Reign of _Minos_ King of _Crete_, when _Rhadamanthus_ the brother of _Minos_ carried colonies from _Crete_ to the _Greek_ islands, and gave the islands to his captains, he gave _Lemnos_ to _Thoas_, or _Theias_, or _Thoantes_, the father of _Hypsipyle_, a _Cretan_ worker in metals, and by consequence a disciple of the _Idæi Dactyli_, and perhaps a _Phœnician_: for the _Idæi Dactyli_, and _Telchines_, and _Corybantes_ brought their Arts and Sciences from _Phœnicia_: and [292] _Suidas_ saith, that he was descended from _Pharnaces_ King of _Cyprus_; _Apollodorus_, [293] that he was the son of _Sandochus_ a _Syrian_; and _Apollonius Rhodius_, [294] that __Hypsipyle_ gave _Jason_ the purple cloak which the _Graces_ made for _Bacchus_, who gave it to his son _Thoas__, the father of _Hypsipyle_, and King of _Lemnos_: _Thoas_ married [295] _Calycopis_, the mother of _Æneas_, and daughter of _Otreus_ King of _Phrygia_, and for his skill on the harp was called _Cinyras_, and was said to be exceedingly beloved by _Apollo_ or _Orus_: the great _Bacchus_ loved his wife, and being caught in bed with her in _Phrygia_ appeased him with wine, and composed the matter by making him King of _Byblus_ and _Cyprus_; and then came over the _Hellespont_ with his army, and conquered _Thrace:_ and to these things the poets allude, in feigning that _Vulcan_ fell from heaven into _Lemnos_, and that _Bacchus_ [296] appeased him with wine, and reduced him back into heaven: he fell from the heaven of the _Cretan_ Gods, when he went from _Crete_ to _Lemnos_ to work in metals, and was reduced back into heaven when _Bacchus_ made him King of _Cyprus_ and _Byblus_: he Reigned there 'till a very great age, living to the times of the _Trojan_ war, and becoming exceeding rich: and after the death of his wife _Calycopis_, [297] he built Temples to her at _Paphos_ and _Amathus_, in _Cyprus_; and at _Byblus_ in _Syria_, and instituted Priests to her with Sacred Rites and lustful _Orgia_; whence she became the _Dea Cypria_, and the _Dea Syria_: and from Temples erected to her in these and other places, she was also called _Paphia_, _Amathusia_, _Byblia_, _Cytherea_ _Salaminia_, _Cnidia_, _Erycina_, _Idalia_. _Fama tradit a Cinyra sacratum vetustissimum Paphiæ Veneris templum, Deamque ipsam conceptam mari huc appulsam_: _Tacit.
Hist._ l. 2. c. 3. From her sailing from _Phrygia_ to the island _Cythera_, and from thence to be Queen of _Cyprus_, she was said by the _Cyprians_, to be born of the froth of the sea, and was painted sailing upon a shell. _Cinyras_ Deified also his son _Gingris_, by the name of _Adonis_; and for assisting the _Egyptians_ with armour, it is probable that he himself was Deified by his friends the _Egyptians_, by the name of _Baal-Canaan_, or _Vulcan_: for _Vulcan_ was celebrated principally by the _Egyptians_, and was a King according to _Homer_, and Reigned in _Lemnos_; and _Cinyras_ was an inventor of arts, [298] and found out copper in _Cyprus_, and the smiths hammer, and anvil, and tongs, and laver; and imployed workmen in making armour, and other things of brass and iron, and was the only King celebrated in history for working in metals, and was King of _Lemnos_, and the husband of _Venus_; all which are the characters of _Vulcan_: and the _Egyptians_ about the time of the death of _Cinyras_, _viz._ in the Reign of their King _Amenophis_, built a very sumptuous Temple at _Memphis_ to _Vulcan_, and near it a smaller Temple to _Venus Hospita_; not an _Egyptian_ woman but a foreigner, not _Helena_ but _Vulcan's Venus_: for [299] _Herodotus_ tells us, that the region round about this Temple was inhabited by _Tyrian Phœnicians_, and that [300] _Cambyses_ going into this Temple at _Memphis_, very much derided the statue of _Vulcan_ for its littleness; _For_, saith he, _this statue is most like those Gods which the _Phœnicians_ call _Patæci_, and carry about in the fore part of their Ships in the form of Pygmies_: and [301] _Bochart_ saith of this _Venus Hospita_, _Phœniciam Venerem in Ægypto pro peregrina habitam._
Now from this hieroglyphical way of writing it came to pass, that upon the division of _Egypt_ into _Nomes_ by _Sesostris_, the great men of the Kingdom to whom the _Nomes_ were dedicated, were represented in their Sepulchers or Temples of the _Nomes_, by various hieroglyphicks; as by an _Ox_, a _Cat_, a _Dog_, a _Cebus_, a _Goat_, a _Lyon_, a _Scarabæus_, an _Ichneumon_, a _Crocodile_, an _Hippopotamus_, an _Oxyrinchus_, an _Ibis_, a _Crow_, a _Hawk,_ a _Leek_, and were worshipped by the _Nomes_ in the shape of these creatures. The [308] _Atlantides_, a people upon mount _Atlas_ conquered by the _Egyptians_ in the Reign of _Ammon_, related that _Uranus_ was their first King, and reduced them from a savage course of life, and caused them to dwell in towns and cities, and lay up and use the fruits of the earth, and that he reigned over a great part of the world, and by his wife _Titæa_ had eighteen children, among which were _Hyperion_ and _Basilea_ the parents of _Helius_ and _Selene_; that the brothers of _Hyperion_ slew him, and drowned his son _Helius_, the _Phaeton_ of the ancients, in the _Nile_, and divided his Kingdom amongst themselves; and the country bordering upon the Ocean fell to the lot of _Atlas_, from whom the people were called _Atlantides_. By _Uranus_ or _Jupiter Uranius_, _Hyperion_, _Basilea_, _Helius_ and _Selene_, I understand _Jupiter Ammon_, _Osiris_, _Isis_, _Orus_ and _Bubaste_; and by the sharing of the Kingdom of _Hyperion_ amongst his brothers the _Titans_, I understand the division of the earth among the Gods mentioned in the Poem of _Solon_.
For _Solon_ having travelled into _Egypt_, and conversed with the Priests of _Sais_; about their antiquities, wrote a Poem of what he had learnt, but did not finish it; [309] and this Poem fell into the hands of _Plato_ who relates out of it, that at the mouth of the _Straits_ near _Hercules_'s Pillars there was an Island called _Atlantis_, the people of which, nine thousand years before the days of _Solon_, reigned over _Libya_ as far as _Egypt_; and over _Europe_ as far as the _Tyrrhene_ sea; and all this force collected into one body invaded _Egypt_ and _Greece_, and whatever was contained within the Pillars of _Hercules_, but was resisted and stopt by the _Athenians_ and other _Greeks_, and thereby the rest of the nations not yet conquered were preserved: he saith also that in those days the Gods, having finished their conquests, divided the whole earth amongst themselves, partly into larger, partly into smaller portions, and instituted Temples and Sacred Rites to themselves; and that the Island _Atlantis_ fell to the lot of _Neptune_, who made his eldest Son _Atlas_ King of the whole Island, a part of which was called _Gadir_; and that _in the history of the said wars mention was made of _Cecrops_, _Erechtheus_, _Erichthonius_, and others before _Theseus_, and also of the women who warred with the men, and of the habit and statue of _Minerva_, the study of war in those days being common to men and women_.
By all these circumstances it is manifest that these Gods were the _Dii magni majorum gentium_, and lived between the age of _Cecrops_ and _Theseus_; and that the wars which _Sesostris_ with his brother _Neptune_ made upon the nations by land and sea, and the resistance he met with in _Greece_, and the following invasion of _Egypt_ by _Neptune_, are here described; and how the captains of _Sesostris_ shared his conquests amongst themselves, as the captains of _Alexander_ the great did his conquests long after, and instituting Temples and Priests and sacred Rites to themselves, caused the nations to worship them after death as Gods: and that the Island _Gadir_ or _Gades_, with all _Libya_, fell to the lot of him who after death was Deified by the name of _Neptune_. The time therefore when these things were done is by _Solon_ limited to the age of _Neptune_, the father of _Atlas_; for _Homer_ tells us, that _Ulysses_ presently after the _Trojan_ war found _Calypso_ the daughter of _Atlas_ in the _Ogygian_ Island, perhaps _Gadir_; and therefore it was but two Generations before the _Trojan_ war.
This is that _Neptune_, who with _Apollo_ or _Orus_ fortified _Troy_ with a wall, in the Reign of _Laomedon_ the father of _Priamus_, and left many natural children in _Greece_, some of which were _Argonauts_, and others were contemporary to the _Argonauts_; and therefore he flourished but one Generation before the _Argonautic_ expedition, and by consequence about 400 years before _Solon_ went into _Egypt_: but the Priests of _Egypt_ in those 400 years had magnified the stories and antiquity of their Gods so exceedingly, as to make them nine thousand years older than _Solon_, and the Island _Atlantis_ bigger than all _Afric_ and _Asia_ together, and full of people; and because in the days of _Solon_ this great Island did not appear, they pretended that it was sunk into the sea with all its people: thus great was the vanity of the Priests of _Egypt_ in magnifying their antiquities.
The _Cretans_ [310] affirmed that _Neptune was the man who set out a fleet, having obtained this Præfecture of _his father_ Saturn; whence posterity reckoned things done in the sea to be under his government, and mariners honoured him with sacrifices_: the invention of tall Ships with sails [311] is also ascribed to him. He was first worshipped in _Africa_, as _Herodotus_ [312] affirms, and therefore Reigned over that province: for his eldest son _Atlas_, who succeeded him, was not only Lord of the Island _Atlantis_, but also Reigned over a great part of _Afric_, giving his name to the people called _Atlantii_, and to the mountain _Atlas_, and the _Atlantic Ocean_. The [313] outmost parts of the earth and promontories, and whatever bordered upon the sea and was washed by it, the _Egyptians_ called _Neptys_; and on the coasts of _Marmorica_ and _Cyrene_, _Bochart_ and _Arius Montanus_ place the _Naphthuhim_, a people sprung from _Mizraim_, _Gen._ x. 13; and thence _Neptune_ and his wife _Neptys_ might have their names, the words _Neptune_, _Neptys_ and _Naphthuhim_, signifying the King, Queen, and people of the sea-coasts. The _Greeks_ tell us that _Japetus_ was the father of _Atlas_, and _Bochart_ derives _Japetus_ and _Neptune_ from the same original: he and his son _Atlas_ are celebrated in the ancient fables for making war upon the Gods of _Egypt_; as when _Lucian_ [314] saith that _Corinth_ being full of fables, tells the fight of _Sol_ and _Neptune_, that is, of _Apollo_ and _Python_, or _Orus_ and _Typhon_; and where _Agatharcides_ [315] relates how the Gods of _Egypt_ fled from the Giants, 'till the _Titans_ came in and saved them by putting _Neptune_ to flight; and where _Hyginus_ [316] tells the war between the Gods of _Ægypt_, and the _Titans_ commanded by _Atlas_.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.