All Nations, before they began to keep exact accounts of Time, have been prone to raise their Antiquities; and this humour has been promoted, by the Contentions between Nations about their Originals. Herodotus [[3]] tells us, that the Priests of Egypt reckoned from the Reign of Menes to that of Sethon, who put Sennacherib to flight, three hundred forty and one Generations of men, and as many Priests of Vulcan, and as many Kings of Egypt: and that three hundred Generations make ten thousand years; for, saith he, three Generations of men make an hundred years: and the remaining forty and one Generations make 1340 years: and so the whole time from the Reign of Menes to that of Sethon was 11340 years. And by this way of reckoning, and allotting longer Reigns to the Gods of Egypt than to the Kings which followed them, Herodotus tells us from the Priests of Egypt, that from Pan to Amosis were 15000 years, and from Hercules to Amosis 17000 years. So also the Chaldæans boasted of their Antiquity; for Callisthenes, the Disciple of Aristotle, sent Astronomical Observations from Babylon to Greece, said to be of 1903 years standing before the times of Alexander the great. And the Chaldæans boasted further, that they had observed the Stars 473000 years; and there were others who made the Kingdoms of Assyria, Media and Damascus, much older than the truth.
Some of the Greeks called the times before the Reign of Ogyges, Unknown, because they had No History of them; those between his flood and the beginning of the Olympiads, Fabulous, because their History was much mixed with Poetical Fables: and those after the beginning of the Olympiads, Historical, because their History was free from such Fables. The fabulous Ages wanted a good Chronology, and so also did the Historical, for the first 60 or 70 Olympiads.
The Europeans, had no Chronology before the times of the Persian Empire: and whatsoever Chronology they now have of ancienter times, hath been framed since, by reasoning and conjecture. In the beginning of that Monarchy, Acusilaus made Phoroneus as old as Ogyges and his flood, and that flood 1020 years older than the first Olympiad; which is above 680 years older than the truth: and to make out this reckoning his followers have encreased the Reigns of Kings in length and number. Plutarch [[4]] tells us that the Philosophers anciently delivered their Opinions in Verse, as Orpheus, Hesiod, Parmenides, Xenophanes, Empedocles, Thales; but afterwards left off the use of Verses; and that Aristarchus, Timocharis, Aristillus, Hipparchus, did not make Astronomy the more contemptible by describing it in Prose; after Eudoxus, Hesiod, and Thales had wrote of it in Verse. Solon wrote [[5]] in Verse, and all the Seven Wise Men were addicted to Poetry, as Anaximenes [[6]] affirmed. 'Till those days the Greeks wrote only in Verse, and while they did so there could be no Chronology, nor any other History, than such as was mixed with poetical fancies. Pliny, [[7]] in reckoning up the Inventors of things, tells us, that Pherecydes Syrius taught to compose discourses in Prose in the Reign of Cyrus, and Cadmus Milesius to write History. And in [[8]] another place he saith that Cadmus Milesius was the first that wrote in Prose. Josephus tells us [[9]] that Cadmus Milesius and Acusilaus were but a little before the expedition of the Persians against the Greeks: and Suidas [[10]] calls Acusilaus a most ancient Historian, and saith that he wrote Genealogies out of tables of brass, which his father, as was reported, found in a corner of his house. Who hid them there may be doubted: For the Greeks [[11]] had no publick table or inscription older than the Laws of Draco. Pherecydes Atheniensis, in the Reign of Darius Hystaspis, or soon after, wrote of the Antiquities and ancient Genealogies of the Athenians, in ten books; and was one of the first European writers of this kind, and one of the best; whence he had the name of Genealogus; and by Dionysius [[12]] Halicarnassensis is said to be second to none of the Genealogers. Epimenides, not the Philosopher, but an Historian, wrote also of the ancient Genealogies: and Hellanicus, who was twelve years older than Herodotus, digested his History by the Ages or Successions of the Priestesses of Juno Argiva. Others digested theirs by those of the Archons of Athens, or Kings of the Lacedæmonians. Hippias the Elean published a Breviary of the Olympiads, supported by no certain arguments, as Plutarch [[13]] tells us: he lived in the 105th Olympiad, and was derided by Plato for his Ignorance. This Breviary seems to have contained nothing more than a short account of the Victors in every Olympiad. Then [[14]] Ephorus, the disciple of Isocrates, formed a Chronological History of Greece, beginning with the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus, and ending with the Siege of Perinthus, in the twentieth year of Philip the father of Alexander the great, that is, eleven years before the fall of the Persian Empire: but [[15]] he digested things by Generations, and the reckoning by the Olympiads, or by any other Æra, was not yet in use among the Greeks. The Arundelian Marbles were composed sixty years after the death of Alexander the great (An. 4. Olymp. 128.) and yet mention not the Olympiads, nor any other standing Æra, but reckon backwards from the time then present. But Chronology was now reduced to a reckoning by Years; and in the next Olympiad Timæus Siculus improved it: for he wrote a History in Several books, down to his own times, according to the Olympiads; comparing the Ephori, the Kings of Sparta, the Archons of Athens, and the Priestesses of Argos with the Olympic Victors, so as to make the Olympiads, and the Genealogies and Successions of Kings and Priestesses, and the Poetical Histories suit with one another, according to the best of his judgment: and where he left off, Polybius began, and carried on the History. Eratosthenes wrote above an hundred years after the death of Alexander the great: He was followed by Apollodorus; and these two have been followed ever since by Chronologers.
But how uncertain their Chronology is, and how doubtful it was reputed by the Greeks of those times, may be understood by these passages of Plutarch. Some reckon Lycurgus, saith he, [[16]] contemporary to Iphitus, and to have been his companion in ordering the Olympic festivals, amongst whom was Aristotle the Philosopher; arguing from the Olympic Disc, which had the name of Lycurgus upon it. Others supputing the times by the Kings of Lacedæmon, as Eratosthenes and Apollodorus, affirm that he was not a few years older than the first Olympiad. He began to flourish in the 17th or 18th Olympiad, and at length Aristotle made him as old as the first Olympiad; and so did Epaminondas, as he is cited by Ælian and Plutarch: and then Eratosthenes, Apollodorus, and their followers, made him above an hundred years older.
And in another place Plutarch [[17]] tells us: The Congress of Solon with Crœsus, some think they can confute by Chronology. But a History so illustrious, and verified by so many witnesses, and which is more, so agreeable to the manners of Solon, and worthy of the greatness of his mind, and of his wisdom, I cannot persuade my self to reject because of some Chronological Canons, as they call them, which hundreds of authors correcting, have not yet been able to constitute any thing certain, in which they could agree amongst themselves, about repugnancies.
As for the Chronology of the Latines, that is still more uncertain. Plutarch [[18]] represents great uncertainties in the Originals of Rome, and so doth Servius [[19]]. The old Records of the Latines were burnt [[20]] by the Gauls, an hundred and twenty years after the Regifuge, and sixty-four years before the death of Alexander the great: and Quintus Fabius Pictor, [[21]] the oldest Historian of the Latines, lived an hundred years later than that King, and took almost all things from Diocles Peparethius, a Greek. The Chronologers of Gallia, Spain, Germany, Scythia, Swedeland, Britain and Ireland are of a date still later; for Scythia beyond the Danube had no letters, 'till Ulphilas their Bishop formed them; which was about six hundred years after the death of Alexander the great: and Germany had none 'till it received them, from the western Empire of the Latines, above seven hundred years after the death of that King. The Hunns, had none in the days of Procopius, who flourished 850 years after the death of that King: and Sweden and Norway received them still later. And things said to be done above one or two hundred years before the use of letters, are of little credit.
Diodorus, [[22]] in the beginning of his History tells us, that he did not define by any certain space the times preceding the Trojan War, because he had no certain foundation to rely upon: but from the Trojan war, according to the reckoning of Apollodorus, whom he followed, there were eighty years to the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus; and that from that Period to the first Olympiad, there were three hundred and twenty eight years, computing the times from the Kings of the Lacedæmonians. Apollodorus followed Eratosthenes, and both of them followed Thucydides, in reckoning eighty years from the Trojan war to the Return of the Heraclides: but in reckoning 328 years from that Return to the first Olympiad, Diodorus tells us, that the times were computed from the Kings of the Lacedæmonians; and Plutarch [[23]] tells us, that Apollodorus, Eratosthenes and others followed that computation: and since this reckoning is still received by Chronologers, and was gathered by computing the times from the Kings of the Lacedæmonians, that is from their number, let us re-examin that Computation.
The Egyptians reckoned the Reigns of Kings equipollent to Generations of men, and three Generations to an hundred years, as above; and so did the Greeks and Latines: and accordingly they have made their Kings Reign one with another thirty and three years a-piece, and above. For they make the seven Kings of Rome who preceded the Consuls to have Reigned 244 years, which is 35 years a-piece: and the first twelve Kings of Sicyon, Ægialeus, Europs, &c. to have Reigned 529 years, which is 44 years a-piece: and the first eight Kings of Argos, Inachus, Phoroneus, &c. to have Reigned 371 years, which is above 46 years a-piece: and between the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus, and the end of the first Messenian war, the ten Kings of Sparta in one Race; Eurysthenes, Agis, Echestratus, Labotas, Doryagus, Agesilaus, Archelaus, Teleclus, Alcamenes, and Polydorus: the nine in the other Race; Procles, Sous, Eurypon, Prytanis, Eunomus, Polydectes, Charilaus, Nicander, Theopompus: the ten Kings of Messene; Cresphontes, Epytus, Glaucus, Isthmius, Dotadas, Sibotas, Phintas, Antiochus, Euphaes, Aristodemus: and the nine of Arcadia; Cypselus, Olæas, Buchalion, Phialus, Simus, Pompus, Ægineta, Polymnestor, Æchmis, according to Chronologers, took up 379 years: which is 38 years a-piece to the ten Kings, and 42 years a-piece to the nine. And the five Kings of the Race of Eurysthenes, between the end of the first Messenian war, and the beginning of the Reign of Darius Hystaspis; Eurycrates, Anaxander, Eurycrates II, Leon, Anaxandrides, Reigned 202 years, which is above 40 years a-piece.
Thus the Greek Chronologers, who follow Timæus and Eratosthenes, have made the Kings of their several Cities, who lived before the times of the Persian Empire, to Reign about 35 or 40 years a-piece, one with another; which is a length so much beyond the course of nature, as is not to be credited. For by the ordinary course of nature Kings Reign, one with another, about eighteen or twenty years a-piece: and if in some instances they Reign, one with another, five or six years longer, in others they Reign as much shorter: eighteen or twenty years is a medium. So the eighteen Kings of Judah who succeeded Solomon, Reigned 390 years, which is one with another 22 years a-piece. The fifteen Kings of Israel after Solomon, Reigned 259 years, which is 17¼ years a-piece. The eighteen Kings of Babylon, Nabonassar &c. Reigned 209 years, which is 11⅔ years a-piece. The ten Kings of Persia; Cyrus, Cambyses, &c. Reigned 208 years, which is almost 21 years a piece. The sixteen Successors of Alexander the great, and of his brother and son in Syria; Seleucus, Antiochus Soter, &c. Reigned 244 years, after the breaking of that Monarchy into various Kingdoms, which is 15¼ years a-piece. The eleven Kings of Egypt; Ptolomæus Lagi, &c. Reigned 277 years, counted from the same Period, which is 25 years a-piece. The eight in Macedonia; Cassander, &c. Reigned 138 years, which is 17¼ years a-piece. The thirty Kings of England; William the Conqueror, William Rufus, &c. Reigned 648 years, which is 21½ years a-piece. The first twenty four Kings of France; Pharamundus, &c. Reigned 458 years, which is 19 years a-piece: the next twenty four Kings of France; Ludovicus Balbus, &c. 451 years, which is 18¾ years a-piece: the next fifteen, Philip Valesius, &c. 315 years, which is 21 years a-piece: and all the sixty three Kings of France, 1224 years, which is 19½ years a-piece. Generations from father to son, may be reckoned one with another at about 33 or 34 years a-piece, or about three Generations to an hundred years: but if the reckoning proceed by the eldest sons, they are shorter, so that three of them may be reckoned at about 75 or 80 years: and the Reigns of Kings are still shorter, because Kings are succeeded not only by their eldest sons, but sometimes by their brothers, and sometimes they are slain or deposed; and succeeded by others of an equal or greater age, especially in elective or turbulent Kingdoms. In the later Ages, since Chronology hath been exact, there is scarce an instance to be found of ten Kings Reigning any where in continual Succession above 260 years: but Timæus and his followers, and I think also some of his Predecessors, after the example of the Egyptians, have taken the Reigns of Kings for Generations, and reckoned three Generations to an hundred, and sometimes to an hundred and twenty years; and founded the Technical Chronology of the Greeks upon this way of reckoning. Let the reckoning be reduced to the course of nature, by putting the Reigns of Kings one with another, at about eighteen or twenty years a-piece: and the ten Kings of Sparta by one Race, the nine by another Race, the ten Kings of Messene, and the nine of Arcadia, above mentioned, between the Return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus, and the end of the first Messenian war, will scarce take up above 180 or 190 years: whereas according to Chronologers they took up 379 years.
For confirming this reckoning, I may add another argument. Euryleon the son of Ægeus, [[24]] commanded the main body of the Messenians in the fifth year of the first Messenian war, and was in the fifth Generation from Oiolicus the son Theras, the brother-in-law of Aristodemus, and tutor to his sons Eurysthenes and Procles, as Pausanias [[25]] relates: and by consequence, from the return of the Heraclides, which was in the days of Theras, to the battle which was in the fifth year of this war, there were six Generations, which, as I conceive, being for the most part by the eldest sons, will scarce exceed thirty years to a Generation; and so may amount unto 170 or 180 years. That war lasted 19 or 20 years: add the last 15 years, and there will be about 190 years to the end of that war: whereas the followers of Timæus make it about 379 years, which is above sixty years to a Generation.