Iphitus [[126]] presided both in the Temple of Jupiter Olympius, and in the Olympic Games, and so did his Successors 'till the 26th Olympiad; and so long the victors were rewarded with a Tripos: but then the Pisæans getting above the Eleans, began to preside, and rewarded the victors with a Crown, and instituted the Carnea to Apollo; and continued to preside 'till Phidon interrupted them, that is, 'till about the time of the 49th Olympiad: for [[127]] in the 48th Olympiad the Eleans entered the country of the Pisæans, suspecting their designs, but were prevailed upon to return home quietly; afterwards the Pisæans confederated with several other Greek nations, and made war upon the Eleans, and in the end were beaten: in this war I conceive it was that Phidon presided, suppose in the 49th Olympiad; for [[128]] in the 50th Olympiad, for putting an end to the contentions between the Kings about presiding, two men were chosen by lot out of the city Elis to preside, and their number in the 65th Olympiad was increased to nine, and afterwards to ten; and these judges were called Hellenodicæ, judges for or in the name of Greece. Pausanias tells us, that the Eleans called in Phidon and together with him celebrated the 8th Olympiad; he should have said the 49th Olympiad; but Herodotus tells us, that Phidon removed the Eleans; and both might be true: the Eleans might call in Phidon against the Pisæans, and upon overcoming be refused presiding in the Olympic games by Phidon, and confederate with the Spartans, and by their assistance overthrow the Kingdom of Phidon, and recover their ancient right of presiding in the games.

Strabo [[129]] tells us that Phidon was the tenth from Temenus; not the tenth King, for between Cisus and Phidon they Reigned not, but the tenth from father to son, including Temenus. If 27 years be reckoned to a Generation by the eldest sons, the nine intervals will amount unto 243 years, which counted back from the 48th Olympiad, in which Phidon flourished, will place the Return of the Heraclides about fifty years before the beginning of the Olympiads, as above. But Chronologers reckon about 515 years from the Return of the Heraclides to the 48th Olympiad, and account Phidon the seventh from Temenus; which is after the rate of 85 years to a Generation, and therefore not to be admitted.

Cyrus took Babylon, according to Ptolomy's Canon, nine years before his death, An. Nabonass. 209, An. 2, Olymp. 60: and he took Sardes a little before, namely An. 1, Olymp. 59, as Scaliger collects from Sosicrates: Crœsus was then King of Sardes, and Reigned fourteen years, and therefore began to Reign An. 3, Olymp. 55. After Solon had made laws for the Athenians, he obliged them upon oath to observe those laws 'till he returned from his travels; and then travelled ten years, going to Egypt and Cyprus, and visiting Thales of Miletus: and upon His Return to Athens, Pisistratus began to affect the Tyranny of that city, which made Solon travel a second time; and now he was invited by Crœsus to Sardes; and Crœsus, before Solon visited him, had subdued all Asia Minor, as far as to the River Halys; and therefore he received that visit towards the latter part of his Reign; and we may place it upon the ninth year thereof, An. 3, Olymp. 57: and the legislature of Solon twelve years earlier, An. 3, Olymp. 54: and that of Draco still ten years earlier, An. 1, Olymp. 52. After Solon had visited Crœsus, he went into Cilicia and some other places, and died [[130]] in his travels: and this was in the second year of the Tyranny of Pisistratus. Comias was Archon when Solon returned from his first travels to Athens; and the next year Hegestratus was Archon, and Solon died before the end of the year, An. 3, Olymp. 57, as above: and by this reckoning the objection of Plutarch above mentioned is removed.

We have now shewed that the Phœnicians of Zidon, under the conduct of Cadmus and other captains, flying from their enemies, came into Greece, with letters and other arts, about the sixteenth year of King David's Reign; that Europa the sister of Cadmus, fled some days before him from Zidon and came to Crete, and there became the mother of Minos, about the 18th or 20th year of David's Reign; that Sesostris and the great Bacchus, and by consequence also Osiris, were one and the same King of Egypt with Sesac, and came out of Egypt in the fifth year of Rehoboam to invade the nations, and died 25 years after Solomon; that the Argonautic expedition was about 43 years after the death of Solomon; that Troy was taken about 76 or 78 years after the death of Solomon; that the Phœnicians of Tyre were driven from the Red Sea by the Edomites, about 87 years after the death of Solomon, and within two or three years began to make long voyages upon the Mediterranean, sailing to Spain, and beyond, under a commander whom for his industry, conduct, and discoveries, they honoured with the names of Melcartus and Hercules; that the return of the Heraclides into Peloponnesus was about 158 years after the death of Solomon; that Lycurgus the Legislator Reigned at Sparta, and gave the three Discs to the Olympic treasury, An. 1, Olymp. 18, or 273 years after the death of Solomon, the Quinquertium being at that time added to the Olympic Games; that the Greeks began soon after to build Triremes, and to send Colonies into Sicily and Italy, which gave the name of Græcia magna to those countries; that the first Messenian war ended about 350 years after the death of Solomon, An. 1, Olymp. 37; that Phidon was contemporary to Solon, and presided in the Olympic Games in the 49th Olympiad, that is, 397 years after the death of Solomon; that Draco was Archon, and made his laws, An. 1, Olymp. 52; and Solon, An. 3, Olymp. 54; and that Solon visited Crœsus Ann. 3, Olymp. 57, or 433 years after the death of Solomon; and Sardes was taken by Cyrus 438 years, and Babylon by Cyrus 443 years, and Echatane by Cyrus 445 years after the death of Solomon: and these periods being settled, they become a foundation for building the Chronology of the antient times upon them; and nothing more remains for settling such a Chronology, than to make these Periods a little exacter, if it can be, and to shew how the rest of the Antiquities of Greece, Egypt, Assyria, Chaldæa, and Media may suit therewith.

Whilst Bacchus made his expedition into India, Theseus left Ariadne in the Island Naxus or Dia, as above, and succeeded his father Ægeus at Athens; and upon the Return of Bacchus from India, Ariadne became his mistress, and accompanied him in his triumphs; and this was about ten years after the death of Solomon: and from that time reigned eight Kings in Athens, viz. Theseus, Menestheus, Demophoon, Oxyntes, Aphidas, Thymætes, Melanthus, and Codrus; these Kings, at 19 years a-piece one with another, might take up about 152 years, and end about 44 years before the Olympiads: then Reigned twelve Archons for life, which at 14 or 15 years a-piece, the State being unstable, might take up about 174 years, and end An. 2, Olymp. 33: then reigned seven decennial Archons, which are usually reckoned at seventy years; but some of them dying in their Regency, they might not take up above forty years, and so end about An. 2, Olymp. 43, about which time began the Second Messenian war: these decennial Archons were followed by the annual Archons, amongst whom were the Legislators Draco and Solon. Soon after the death of Codrus, his second Son Neleus, not bearing the Reign of his lame brother Medon at Athens, retired into Asia, and was followed by his younger brothers Androcles and Cyaretus, and many others: these had the name of Ionians, from Ion the son of Xuthus, who commanded the army of the Athenians at the death of Erechtheus, and gave the name of Ionia to the country which they invaded: and about 20 or 25 years after the death of Codrus, these new Colonies, being now Lords of Ionia, set up over themselves a common Council called Panionium, and composed of Counsellors sent from twelve of their cities, Miletus, Myus, Priene, Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus, Teos, Clazomenæ, Phocæa, Samos, Chios, and Erythræa: and this was the Ionic Migration.

[[131]] When the Greeks and Latines were forming their Technical Chronology, there were great disputes about the Antiquity of Rome: the Greeks made it much older than the Olympiads: some of them said it was built by Æneas; others, by Romus, the son or grandson of Æneas; others, by Romus, the son or grandson of Latinus King of the Aborigines; others, by Romus the son of Ulysses, or of Ascanius, or of Italus: and some of the Latines at first fell in with the opinion of the Greeks, saying that it was built by Romulus, the son or grandson of Æneas. Timæus Siculus represented it built by Romulus, the grandson of Æneas, above an hundred years before the Olympiads; and so did Nævius the Poet, who was twenty years older than Ennius, and served in the first Punic war, and wrote the history of that war. Hitherto nothing certain was agreed upon, but about 140 or 150 years after the death of Alexander the Great, they began to say that Rome was built a second time by Romulus, in the fifteenth Age after the destruction of Troy: by Ages they meant Reigns of the Kings of the Latines at Alba, and reckoned the first fourteen Reigns at about 432 years, and the following Reigns of the seven Kings of Rome at 244 years, both which numbers made up the time of about 676 years from the taking of Troy, according to these Chronologers; but are much too long for the course of nature: and by this reckoning they placed the building of Rome upon the sixth or seventh Olympiad; Varro placed it on the first year of the Seventh Olympiad, and was therein generally followed by the Romans; but this can scarce be reconciled to the course of nature: for I do not meet with any instance in all history, since Chronology was certain, wherein seven Kings, most of whom were slain, Reigned 244 years in continual Succession. The fourteen Reigns of the Kings of the Latines, at twenty years a-piece one with another, amount unto 280 years, and these years counted from the taking of Troy end in the 38th Olympiad: and the Seven Reigns of the Kings of Rome, four or five of them being slain and one deposed, may at a moderate reckoning amount to fifteen or sixteen years a-piece one with another: let them be reckoned at seventeen years a-piece, and they will amount unto 119 years; which being counted backwards from the Regifuge, end also in the 38th Olympiad: and by these two reckonings Rome was built in the 38th Olympiad, or thereabout. The 280 years and the 119 years together make up 399 years; and the same number of years arises by counting the twenty and one Reigns at nineteen years a-piece: and this being the whole time between the taking of Troy and the Regifuge, let these years be counted backward from the Regifuge, An. 1, Olymp. 68, and they will place the taking of Troy about 74 years after the death of Solomon.

When Sesostris returned from Thrace into Egypt, he left Æetes with part of his army in Colchis, to guard that pass; and Phryxus and his sister Helle fled from Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, to Æetes soon after, in a ship whose ensign was a golden ram: Ino was therefore alive in the fourteenth year of Rehoboam, the year in which Sesostris returned into Egypt; and by consequence her father Cadmus flourished in the Reign of David, and not before. Cadmus was the father of Polydorus, the father of Labdacus, the father of Laius, the father of Oedipus, the father of Eteocles and Polynices who slew one another in their youth, in the war of the seven Captains at Thebes, about ten or twelve years after the Argonautic Expedition: and Thersander, the son of Polynices, warred at Troy. These Generations being by the eldest sons who married young, if they be reckoned at about twenty and four years to a Generation, will place the birth of Polydorus upon the 18th year of David's Reign, or thereabout: and thus Cadmus might be a young man, not yet married, when he came first into Greece. At his first coming he sail'd to Rhodes, and thence to Samothrace, an Island near Thrace on the north side of Lemnos, and there married Harmonia, the sister of Jasius and Dardanus, which gave occasion to the Samothracian mysteries: and Polydorus might be their son, born a year or two after their coming; and his sister Europa might be then a young woman, in the flower of her age. These Generations cannot well be shorter; and therefore Cadmus, and his son Polydorus, were not younger than we have reckoned them: nor can they be much longer, without making Polydorus too old to be born in Europe, and to be the son of Harmonia the sister of Jasius. Labdacus was therefore born in the end of David's Reign, Laius in the 24th year of Solomon's, and Oedipus in the seventh of Rehoboam's, or thereabout: unless you had rather say, that Polydorus was born at Zidon, before his father came into Europe; but his name Polydorus is in the language of Greece.

Polydorus married Nycteis, the daughter of Nycteus a native of Greece, and dying young, left his Kingdom and young son Labdacus under the administration of Nycteus. Then Epopeus King of Ægialus, afterwards called Sicyon, stole Antiope the daughter of Nycteus, [[132]] and Nycteus thereupon made war upon him, and in a battle wherein Nycteus overcame, both were wounded and died soon after. Nycteus left the tuition of Labdacus, and administration of the Kingdom, to his brother Lycus; and Epopeus or, as Hyginus [[133]] calls him, Epaphus the Sicyonian, left his Kingdom to Lamedon, who presently ended the war, by sending home Antiope: and she, in returning home, brought forth Amphion and Zethus. Labdacus being grown up received the Kingdom from Lycus, and soon after dying left it again to his administration, for his young son Laius. When Amphion and Zethus were about twenty years old, at the instigation of their mother Antiope, they killed Lycus, and made Laius flee to Pelops, and seized the city Thebes, and compassed it with a wall; and Amphion married Niobe the sister of Pelops, and by her had several children, amongst whom was Chloris, the mother of Periclymenus the Argonaut. Pelops was the father of Plisthenes, Atreus, and Thyestes; and Agamemnon and Menelaus, the adopted sons of Atreus, warred at Troy. Ægisthus, the son of Thyestes, slew Agamemnon the year after the taking of Troy; and Atreus died just before Paris stole Helena, which, according to [[134]] Homer, was twenty years before the taking of Troy. Deucalion the son of Minos, [[135]] was an Argonaut; and Talus another son of Minos, was slain by the Argonauts; and Idomeneus and Meriones the grandsons of Minos were at the Trojan war. All these things confirm the ages of Cadmus and Europa, and their posterity, above assigned, and place the death of Epopeus or Epaphus King of Sicyon, and birth of Amphion and Zethus, upon the tenth year of Solomon; and the taking of Thebes by Amphion and Zethus, and the flight of Laius to Pelops, upon the thirtieth year of that King, or thereabout. Amphion might marry the sister of Pelops, the same year, and Pelops come into Greece three or four years before that flight, or about the 26th year of Solomon.

[Sidenode p: Hygin. Fab. 14.]

In the days of Erechtheus King of Athens, and Celeus King of Eleusis, Ceres came into Attica; and educated Triptolemus the son of Celeus, and taught him to sow corn. She [[136]] lay with Jasion, or Jasius, the brother of Harmonia the wife of Cadmus; and presently after her death Erechtheus was slain, in a war between the Athenians and Eleusinians; and, for the benefaction of bringing tillage into Greece, the Eleusinia Sacra were instituted to her [[137]] with Egyptian ceremonies, by Celeus and Eumolpus; and a Sepulchre or Temple was erected to her in Eleusine, and in this Temple the families of Celeus and Eumolpus became her Priests: and this Temple, and that which Eurydice erected to her daughter Danae, by the name of Juno Argiva, are the first instances that I meet with in Greece of Deifying the dead, with Temples, and Sacred Rites, and Sacrifices, and Initiations, and a succession of Priests to perform them. Now by this history it is manifest that Erechtheus, Celeus, Eumolpus, Ceres, Jasius, Cadmus, Harmonia, Asterius, and Dardanus the brother of Jasius, and one of the founders of the Kingdom of Troy, were all contemporary to one another, and flourished in their youth, when Cadmus came first into Europe. Erechtheus could not be much older, because his daughter Procris convers'd with Minos King of Crete; and his grandson Thespis had fifty daughters, who lay with Hercules; and his daughter Orithyia was the mother of Calais and Zetes, two of the Argonauts in their youth; and his son Orneus [[138]] was the father of Peteos the father of Menestheus, who warred at Troy: nor much younger, because his second son Pandion, who with the Metionides deposed his elder brother Cecrops, was the father of Ægeus, the father of Theseus; and Metion, another of his sons, was the father of Eupalamus, the father of Dædalus, who was older than Theseus; and his daughter Creusa married Xuthus, the son of Hellen, and by him had two sons, Achæus and Ion; and Ion commanded the army of the Athenians against the Eleusinians, in the battle in which his grandfather Erechtheus was slain: and this was just before the institution of the Eleusinia Sacra, and before the Reign of Pandion the father of Ægeus. Erechtheus being an Egyptian procured corn from Egypt, and for that benefaction was made King of Athens; and near the beginning of his Reign Ceres came into Attica from Sicily, in quest of her daughter Proserpina. We cannot err much if we make Hellen contemporary to the Reign of Saul, and to that of David at Hebron; and place the beginning of the Reign of Erechtheus in the 25th year, the coming of Ceres into Attica in the 30th year, and the dispersion of corn by Triptolemus about the 40th year of David's Reign; and the death of Ceres and Erechtheus, and institution of the Eleusinia Sacra, between the tenth and fifteenth year of Solomon.