Moses Older Than the Greeks

How the philosophers stole their teachings from the Hebrews I will deal with a little later. First, though, as the order of the argument requires, I must speak about the date of Moses, which will show past all contradiction that the philosophy of the Hebrews is the oldest wisdom there is. Tatian has gone into this carefully in his book To the Greeks, and so has Cassian in the first book of his Exegetics; still, these notes of mine require that I go over what has been said on the point. Apion the grammarian, then — the man nicknamed Pleistonices — was an Egyptian by race, and so hostile to the Hebrews that he composed a work against the Jews. Yet in the fourth book of his Egyptian Histories, when he comes to Amosis king of Egypt and what he did, he brings in Ptolemy of Mendes as his witness. What he says amounts to this. Amosis, who lived in the time of Inachus of Argos, overthrew Athyria, as Ptolemy of Mendes relates in his Chronology. This Ptolemy was a priest, and in three whole books setting out the deeds of the Egyptian kings he says that the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, under the leadership of Moses, took place while Amosis was king of Egypt. From this it can be seen that Moses lived in the time of Inachus. [a]

Of the Greek states the oldest is the Argive — I mean the one that began with Inachus — as Dionysius of Halicarnassus teaches in his Times. Younger than it by 40 generations was Attica, founded by Cecrops, who sprang from the soil and was of double race, as Tatian says outright; and Arcadia, younger by nine generations, founded by Pelasgus, who is also said to have sprung from the soil; and more recent than Arcadia by 52 generations was Phthiotis, founded by Deucalion. From Inachus to the Trojan war 20 generations or more are counted — say 400 years and more. And if Ctesias is right that the Assyrian power is many years older than the Greek, then the exodus of Moses from Egypt will turn out to have taken place in the 42nd year of the Assyrian empire, in the 32nd year of the reign of Belochus, in the time of Amosis of Egypt and Inachus of Argos.

In Greece, in the time of Phoroneus, who came after Inachus, the flood of Ogyges happened; and there were kings in Sicyon, first Aegialeus, then Europs, then Telchis, and in Crete, Cres. Acusilaus says that Phoroneus was the first man, which is why the author of the Phoronis called him “the father of mortal men.” Following Acusilaus, Plato writes in the Timaeus: “And wanting to draw them out into a discussion about ancient times, he ventured, he said, to speak of the most remote antiquities of this city — of Phoroneus, who is called the first man, and of Niobe, and of what happened after the flood.”

In the time of Phorbas lived Actaeus, from whom Actaea, that is Attica, takes its name. In the time of Triopas lived Prometheus and Atlas and Epimetheus, and Cecrops of double race, and Io. In the time of Crotopus came the burning of Phaethon and the flood of Deucalion. In the time of Sthenelus came the reign of Amphictyon and the arrival of Danaus in the Peloponnese. And under Dardanus came the building of Dardania — Dardanus, of whom Homer says:

— and the crossing over from Crete to Phoenicia. In the time of Lynceus came the carrying off of Persephone, and the dedication of the sacred precinct at Eleusis, and the farming of Triptolemus, and the arrival of Cadmus at Thebes, and the reign of Minos. In the time of Proetus came the war of Eumolpus against the Athenians; and in the time of Acrisius, the removal of Pelops from Phrygia and the arrival of Ion at Athens. The second Cecrops appeared; the exploits of Perseus and of Dionysus took place; and Orpheus and Musaeus lived. Troy was taken in the 18th year of Agamemnon’s reign, in the first year of the reign of Demophon son of Theseus at Athens, on the twelfth day of the month Thargelion, as Dionysius of Argos says. But Aegias and Dercylus, in their third book, say it was on the eighth day of the last third of the month Panemus. Hellanicus says the twelfth of Thargelion. And some of the writers on Attic history say the eighth of the last third of the month, in the last year of Menestheus, at full moon. The author of the Little Iliad says:

Others say it happened on the same day of Scirophorion. But Theseus, the rival of Heracles, is a generation older than the Trojan war; and Homer accordingly mentions Tlepolemus, a son of Heracles, as having served at Troy.

Moses, then, is shown to come 604 years before the making of Dionysus into a god, if he was made a god in the 32nd year of the reign of Perseus, as Apollodorus says in his Chronology. From Dionysus to Heracles and the chiefs who sailed with Jason in the ship Argo, 63 years are counted; Asclepius and the Dioscuri sailed with them, as Apollonius of Rhodes testifies in his Argonautica. From the reign of Heracles at Argos to the making of Heracles and Asclepius into gods, 38 years are counted, according to Apollodorus the chronologist, and from that to the making of Castor and Pollux into gods, 53 years. And it was at this time that Troy was taken. And if we may believe the poet Hesiod, let us hear him:

Cadmus, the father of Semele, came to Thebes in the time of Lynceus, and he was the inventor of the Greek letters. Triopas was a contemporary of Isis, in the seventh generation from Inachus. And Isis, who is the same as Io, is so called, they say, from her going (ienai), since she roamed over the whole earth. Istrus, in his work on the migration of the Egyptians, calls her the daughter of Prometheus, and Prometheus lived in the time of Triopas, in the seventh generation after Moses. So by the chronology of the Greeks themselves, Moses turns out to have lived even before men were born. Leon, who wrote about the gods of Egypt, says that Isis was called Demeter by the Greeks, and that she lived in the time of Lynceus, in the eleventh generation after Moses. Apis, king of Argos, built Memphis, as Aristippus says in the first book of the Arcadica. Aristeas of Argos says that he was named Serapis, and that it is he whom the Egyptians worship. And Nymphodorus of Amphipolis, in the third book of the Customs of Asia, says that the bull Apis, when it died and was laid in a coffin (soros), was placed in the temple of the god (daimon) worshipped there, and from this was called Soroapis, and afterwards Serapis, by the way the local people speak. And Apis is the third after Inachus.

Again, Leto lived in the time of Tityus:

Now Tityus was a contemporary of Tantalus. So Pindar of Boeotia is right to write, “And in time Apollo was born” — and no wonder, since Apollo is found serving Admetus “for a long year,” along with Heracles. Zethus and Amphion, the inventors of music, lived about the time of Cadmus. And if anyone claims that Phemonoe was the first to chant oracles in verse, to Acrisius, let him know that 27 years after Phemonoe came Orpheus and Musaeus and Linus, the teacher of Heracles. Homer and Hesiod are much later than the Trojan war, and after them the Greek lawgivers are much later still — Lycurgus and Solon, and the seven wise men, and Pherecydes of Syros, and the great Pythagoras, who lived later still, about the time of the Olympiads, as we have shown. So we have demonstrated that Moses is older not only than the men the Greeks call poets and wise men, but than most of their gods as well.

And he is not the only one: the Sibyl too is older than Orpheus. There are said to be several accounts of her name and her oracles — among them, that she was a Phrygian and was called Artemis, and that when she reached Delphi she sang:

There is another as well, an Erythraean, called Herophile. Heraclides of Pontus mentions these in his work On Oracles. I pass over the Egyptian Sibyl, and the Italian one, who lived in the Carmental quarter at Rome; her son was Evander, who built the temple of Pan at Rome called the Lupercal.

Now that we have come this far, it is worth going into the dates of the other prophets among the Hebrews who came after Moses. When Moses’ life had closed, Joshua succeeded to the leadership of the people; he made war for 65 years, and then rested in the good land for another 25. As the book of Joshua relates, the man just named was Moses’ successor for 27 years. Then the Hebrews sinned and were handed over to Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia for eight years, as the book of Judges records. But afterwards they begged the Lord, and they were given as their leader Othniel, the younger brother of Caleb, of the tribe of Judah, who killed the king of Mesopotamia and ruled the people for 40 unbroken years. They sinned again and were handed over into the hands of Eglon king of the Moabites for 18 years. But when they repented, Ehud — a man who could use both hands alike, of the tribe of Ephraim — was their leader for 80 years. It was he who made away with Eglon.

When Ehud died and they sinned again, they were handed over into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan for 20 years. After him Deborah the wife of Lappidoth, of the tribe of Ephraim, prophesied, and Ozias son of Rhiesu was high priest. At her word Barak son of Bener, of the tribe of Naphtali, took command of the army, met Sisera, Jabin’s commander-in-chief, in battle, and beat him. And after that Deborah ruled, judging the people for 40 years. When she died and the people sinned again, they were handed over into the hands of the Midianites for seven years. After this Gideon, of the tribe of Manasseh, the son of Joash, fought with his 300 men, killed 120,000, and ruled 40 years; after him the son of Abimelech, three years. He was followed by Boleas son of Bedan son of Charran, of the tribe of Ephraim, who ruled 23 years. After him the people sinned again and were handed over to the Ammonites for 18 years; and on repenting they were commanded by Jephthah the Gileadite, of the tribe of Manasseh, who ruled six years. After him Ibzan of Bethlehem, of the tribe of Judah, ruled seven years. Then Ebron the Zebulunite, eight years. Then Eglon of Ephraim, eight years. Some add the eight years of Ebron to the seven of Ibzan.

After him the people broke the law again and came under the power of the foreigners, the Philistines, for 40 years. But when they turned back to God they were led by Samson, of the tribe of Dan, who beat the foreigners in battle. He ruled 20 years. And after him, since there was no governor, Eli the priest judged the people for 40 years. He was succeeded by Samuel the prophet; and in his time Saul reigned, who held power for 27 years. Samuel anointed David. Samuel died two years before Saul, while Ahimelech was high priest. It was Samuel who anointed Saul as king, the first man to hold royal power over Israel after the judges; and the whole span of the judges down to Saul was 463 years and seven months.

Then in the first book of Kings there are 20 years of Saul, during which he reigned after he had been renewed. And after Saul’s death David the son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah, reigned next, in Hebron, 40 years, as the second book of Kings has it. And Abiathar the son of Ahimelech, of the family of Eli, was high priest. In his time Gad and Nathan prophesied. From Joshua the son of Nun, then, until David received the kingdom, some say 450 years fall in between; but as the chronology set out here shows, 523 years and seven months are taken in down to the death of David.

After this Solomon the son of David reigned 40 years. Under him Nathan went on prophesying, and it was Nathan who urged him about the building of the temple. Ahijah of Shiloh also prophesied. And both the kings, David and Solomon, were prophets. And Zadok the high priest was the first to serve in the temple that Solomon built; he was the eighth from Aaron, the first high priest. From Moses, then, to the time of Solomon is, as some say, 595 years, and as others say, 576.

And if you add to the 450 years from Joshua to David the 40 years of Moses’ rule, and the other 80 years of Moses’ life before the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt, you will make the whole come to 610 years. But our chronology will run more correctly if to the 523 years and seven months down to David’s death you add the 120 years of Moses and the 40 years of Solomon; for then you will make the whole, down to Solomon’s death, 683 years and seven months.

Hiram gave his daughter to Solomon about the time that Menelaus arrived in Phoenicia, after the capture of Troy, as Menander of Pergamum says, and Laetus in The Phoenicia. And after Solomon, Rehoboam his son reigned 17 years, and Abimelech the son of Zadok was high priest. In his reign the kingdom was divided, and Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim, Solomon’s servant, reigned in Samaria; and Ahijah the Shilonite went on prophesying, and Shemaiah the son of Amame, and the man who came from Judah to Jeroboam and prophesied against the altar. After him his son Abijam, 23 years, and then his son Asa. Asa in his old age was diseased in his feet, and in his reign Jehu the son of Hanani prophesied.

After him Jehoshaphat his son reigned 25 years. In his reign Elijah the Tishbite prophesied, and Micaiah the son of Imlah, and Obadiah the son of Hananias; and in the time of Micaiah there was also the false prophet Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah. These were followed by the reign of Joram the son of Jehoshaphat, for eight years, in whose time Elijah prophesied, and after Elijah, Elisha the son of Shaphat. In his reign the people in Samaria ate doves’ dung and their own children. The period of Jehoshaphat runs from the end of the third book of Kings into the fourth. And in the reign of Joram, Elijah was taken up, and Elisha the son of Shaphat began to prophesy, and prophesied for six years, being 40 years old.

Then Ahaziah reigned one year. In his time Elisha went on prophesying, and Adadonaeus along with him. After him the mother of Ahaziah, Athaliah, reigned eight years, having killed her brother’s children; for she was of the family of Ahab. But Ahaziah’s sister Jehosheba stole away Joash the son of Ahaziah, and afterwards put him on the throne. And in the time of this Athaliah, Elisha was still prophesying. And after her reigned, as I said before, Joash, rescued by Jehosheba the wife of Jehoiada the high priest; and he lived 40 years in all.

From Solomon, then, to the death of Elisha the prophet is, as some say, 105 years; according to others, 102; and, as the chronology before us shows, 181 years from the reign of Solomon.

Now from the Trojan war to the birth of Homer, according to Philochorus, 180 years went by, and he came after the Ionian migration. But Aristarchus, in the Archilochian Memoirs, says that he lived during the Ionian migration, which took place 120 years after the siege of Troy. Apollodorus alleges it was 120 years after the Ionian migration, while Agesilaus son of Doryssaeus was king of the Spartans — so that he brings Lycurgus the lawgiver, while still a young man, close to him. Euthymenes, in the Chronicles, says that Homer flourished at the same time as Hesiod, in the days of Acastus, and was born in Chios about the 400th year after the capture of Troy; and Archimachus, in the third book of his Euboean History, is of the same opinion. So both Homer and Hesiod were later than Elisha the prophet. And if you choose to follow Crates the grammarian, and say that Homer was born about the time of the expedition of the Heraclidae, 80 years after the taking of Troy, he will be found later still than Solomon, in whose days Menelaus arrived in Phoenicia, as was said above. Eratosthenes says that Homer’s date was 200 years after the capture of Troy. Theopompus, in the 43rd book of the Philippics, relates that Homer was born 500 years after the war at Troy. And Euphorion, in his book about the Aleuadae, maintains that he was born in the time of Gyges, who began to reign in the 18th Olympiad, and who, he also says, was the first man to be called a tyrant. Sosibius the Spartan, again, in his Record of Dates, brings Homer down to the eighth year of the reign of Charillus the son of Polydectes. Charillus reigned 64 years, and after him the son of Nicander reigned 39 years; and in Nicander’s 34th year the first Olympiad is said to have been instituted. So Homer comes 90 years before the introduction of the Olympic games.

After Joash, Amaziah his son reigned in his place 39 years. He in turn was succeeded by his son Uzziah, who reigned 52 years and died a leper. And in his time Amos prophesied, and Isaiah his son, and Hosea the son of Beeri, and Jonah the son of Amittai, who was of Gath-hepher, who preached to the Ninevites and passed through the whale’s belly. Then Jotham the son of Uzziah reigned 16 years. In his time Isaiah was still prophesying, and Hosea, and Micah of Moresheth, and Joel the son of Bethuel. Next in succession was his son Ahaz, who reigned 16 years. In his time, in the fifteenth year, Israel was carried away to Babylon; and Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians carried away the people of Samaria into the country of the Medes and to Babylon. Again, Ahaz was succeeded by Hoshea, who reigned eight years. Then followed Hezekiah, for 29 years. For his holiness, when he had come near his end, God through Isaiah allowed him to live another 15 years, giving as a sign the going back of the sun. Up to his time Isaiah, Hosea and Micah went on prophesying.

And these are said to have lived after the time of Lycurgus, the lawgiver of the Spartans; for Dieuchidas, in the fourth book of the Megarics, puts the age of Lycurgus about the 290th year after the capture of Troy.

After Hezekiah, his son Manasseh reigned 55 years. Then his son Amon, two years. After him reigned his son Josiah, a man marked out for his keeping of the law, for 31 years. He “laid the corpses of men on the corpses of the idols,” as is written in the book of Leviticus. In his reign, in the eighteenth year, the Passover was kept, which had not been kept from the days of Samuel in all the time between. Then Hilkiah the priest, the father of the prophet Jeremiah, came upon the book of the law that had been stored away in the temple, read it, and died. And in his days Huldah prophesied, and Zephaniah, and Jeremiah. And in the days of Jeremiah there was Hananiah the son of Azor, the false prophet. Josiah, having disobeyed Jeremiah the prophet, was killed by Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt at the river Euphrates, when he met him as he was marching against the Assyrians.

Josiah was succeeded by Jeconiah, also called Jehoahaz, his son, who reigned three months and ten days. Neco king of Egypt bound him and led him off to Egypt, after making his brother Jehoiakim king in his place, who went on paying him tribute for 11 years. After him his namesake Jehoiachin reigned three months. Then Zedekiah reigned 11 years; and up to his time Jeremiah went on prophesying. Along with him prophesied Ezekiel the son of Buzi, and Uriah the son of Shemaiah, and Habakkuk. Here the Hebrew kings come to an end.

There are, then, from the birth of Moses to this captivity 972 years; but by strict chronological accuracy, 1,085 years, six months and ten days. From the reign of David to the captivity under the Chaldeans, 452 years and six months; but as the accuracy we have kept to in matters of dating works out, 482 years, six months and ten days.

And in the twelfth year of the reign of Zedekiah, 40 years before the Persians came to power, Nebuchadnezzar made war on the Phoenicians and the Jews, as Berosus asserts in his Chaldean Histories. And Juba, writing about the Assyrians, admits that he got the history from Berosus, and testifies to his accuracy. Nebuchadnezzar, then, having put out Zedekiah’s eyes, took him away to Babylon and deported the whole people — the captivity lasted 70 years — except for a few who fled to Egypt.

Jeremiah and Habakkuk were still prophesying in the time of Zedekiah. In the fifth year of his reign Ezekiel prophesied at Babylon; after him Nahum, then Daniel. After him again, Haggai and Zechariah prophesied in the time of Darius the First for two years; and then the angel among the twelve. After Haggai and Zechariah, Nehemiah, the chief cup-bearer of Artaxerxes, the son of Acheli the Israelite, built the city of Jerusalem and restored the temple. During the captivity lived Esther and Mordecai, whose book is still in our hands, as is the book of the Maccabees. During this captivity Mishael, Hananiah and Azariah refused to worship the image, and when they were thrown into a furnace of fire they were saved by the appearing of an angel. At that time, on account of the serpent, Daniel was thrown into the den of lions, but was kept safe by God’s providence through Habakkuk, and was brought out on the seventh day. At this period, too, came the sign of Jonah; and Tobias, with the help of the angel Raphael, married Sarah, whose first seven suitors the demon had killed; and after Tobias’ marriage his father Tobit got his sight back. At that time Zerubbabel, having beaten his opponents by his wisdom and obtained leave from Darius for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, returned with Ezra to his native land; and through him the redemption of the people, and the going over and restoring of the inspired writings, were carried out, and the Passover of deliverance was kept, and marriages with foreigners were dissolved.

Cyrus had by proclamation already ordered the restoration of the Hebrews; and when his promise was carried out in the time of Darius, the feast of the dedication was held, and the feast of booths as well. There were in all, taking in the length of the captivity down to the restoration of the people, 1,155 years, six months and ten days from the birth of Moses; and from the reign of David, according to some, 452 years, but more correctly 572 years, six months and ten days.

From the captivity at Babylon, which took place in the time of Jeremiah the prophet, was fulfilled what was spoken by Daniel the prophet, as follows: “Seventy weeks are marked out for your people and for your holy city, to finish transgression, and to seal up sins, and to wipe out wrongdoing and make reconciliation for it, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Holy of Holies. Know therefore and understand, that from the going out of the word that an answer be given and Jerusalem be built, to Christ the Prince, are seven weeks and 62 weeks; and the street will be built again, and the wall; and the times will be spent. And after the 62 weeks the anointing will be overthrown, and judgment will not be in him; and he will destroy the city and the sanctuary along with the Prince who is coming. And they will be destroyed in a flood, and to the end of the war they will be cut off by desolations. And he will confirm a covenant with many for one week; and in the middle of the week the sacrifice and the offering will be taken away; and in the holy place will be the abomination of desolations; and until the end of time an end will be assigned for the desolation. And in the middle of the week he will make the incense of sacrifice cease, and the wing of destruction, even to the end, like the destruction of the offering.” That the temple was built in seven weeks is plain, for it is written in Ezra. And so Christ became King of the Jews, reigning in Jerusalem in the fulfilling of the seven weeks. And in the 62 weeks the whole of Judea was quiet, and without wars. And Christ our Lord, “the Holy of Holies,” having come and fulfilled the vision and the prophecy, was anointed in his flesh by the Holy Spirit of his Father. In those “62 weeks,” as the prophet said, and “in the one week,” he was Lord. Half of the week Nero held power, and in the holy city Jerusalem he set up the abomination; and in the half of the week he was taken away, and Otho and Galba and Vitellius. And Vespasian rose to supreme power, and destroyed Jerusalem, and left the holy place desolate. And that this is how the facts stand is clear to anyone who is able to understand, as the prophet said.

At the close, then, of the eleventh year, at the beginning of the year following, in the reign of Jehoiakim, came the carrying away captive to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar, in the seventh year of his reign over the Assyrians, in the second year of the reign of Vaphres over the Egyptians, in the archonship of Philip at Athens, in the first year of the 48th Olympiad. The captivity lasted 70 years, and ended in the second year of Darius the son of Hystaspes, who had become king of the Persians, the Assyrians and the Egyptians; and in his reign, as I said above, Haggai and Zechariah and the angel of the twelve prophesied, and the high priest was Joshua the son of Jozadak. And in the second year of the reign of Darius, who, Herodotus says, destroyed the power of the Magi, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel was sent to raise up and adorn the temple at Jerusalem.

The times of the Persians are accordingly reckoned up like this. Cyrus reigned 30 years; Cambyses, 19; Darius, 46; Xerxes, 26; Artaxerxes, 41; Darius, eight; Artaxerxes, 42; Ochus, also called Arses, three. The sum total of the years of the Persian monarchy is 235 years. Alexander of Macedon, having made away with this Darius during that period, began to reign. In the same way, then, the times of the Macedonian kings are reckoned thus: Alexander, 18 years; Ptolemy the son of Lagus, 40 years; Ptolemy Philadelphus, 27 years; then Euergetes, 25 years; then Philopator, 17 years; then Epiphanes, 24 years; he was succeeded by Philometor, who reigned 35 years; after him Physcon, 29 years; then Lathyrus, 36 years; then the one surnamed Dionysus, 29 years; and last Cleopatra reigned 22 years. And after her came the reign of the Cappadocians, for 18 days. So the period taken in by the Macedonian kings is, in all, 312 years and 18 days.

Therefore those who prophesied in the time of Darius the son of Hystaspes, about the second year of his reign — Haggai and Zechariah and the angel of the twelve, who prophesied about the first year of the 48th Olympiad — are shown to be older than Pythagoras, who is said to have lived in the 62nd Olympiad, and older than Thales, the oldest of the Greek wise men, who lived about the 50th Olympiad. Those wise men who are classed with Thales were his contemporaries, as Andron says in the Tripod; for Heraclitus, coming after Pythagoras, mentions him in his book. So beyond dispute the first Olympiad, which was shown to be 407 years later than the Trojan war, is found to come before the age of the prophets just named, together with the men called the seven wise men. It is easy to see, then, that Solomon, who lived in the time of Menelaus (and Menelaus lived through the Trojan war), was many years earlier than the wise men among the Greeks; and how many years Moses came before Solomon we showed in what was said above. And Alexander, surnamed Polyhistor, in his work on the Jews, has copied out some letters of Solomon to Vaphres king of Egypt and to the king of the Phoenicians at Tyre, and their letters to Solomon, in which it is shown that Vaphres sent him 80,000 Egyptian men for the building of the temple, and the other king as many, along with a Tyrian craftsman, the son of a Jewish mother of the tribe of Dan, whose name, as it is written there, was Hyperon.

Further, Onomacritus the Athenian, who is said to have been the author of the poems attributed to Orpheus, is found to have lived in the reign of the sons of Pisistratus, about the 50th Olympiad. And Orpheus, who sailed with Heracles, was the pupil of Musaeus. Amphion comes two generations before the Trojan war. Demodocus and Phemius were later than the capture of Troy, for they were famous for playing the lyre, the one among the Phaeacians and the other among the suitors. The Oracles attributed to Musaeus are said to be the work of Onomacritus, the Mixing-bowls of Orpheus the work of Zopyrus of Heraclea, and The Descent into Hades the work of Prodicus of Samos. Ion of Chios relates in the Triagmi that Pythagoras attributed certain works of his own to Orpheus. Epigenes, in his book on the poetry attributed to Orpheus, says that The Descent into Hades and the Sacred Discourse were the work of Cecrops the Pythagorean, and the Robe and the Physics the work of Brontinus. Some also make Terpander out to be ancient. Hellanicus accordingly relates that he lived in the time of Midas; but Phanias, who puts Lesches of Lesbos before Terpander, makes Terpander younger than Archilochus, and relates that Lesches competed with Arctinus and won. Xanthus the Lydian says that Terpander lived about the 18th Olympiad, and Dionysius says that Thasos was founded about the 15th Olympiad — so that it is clear that Archilochus was already known after the 20th Olympiad. He relates the destruction of the Magnesians as having recently taken place. Simonides is assigned to the time of Archilochus. Callinus is not much older, for Archilochus speaks of the Magnesians as destroyed while Callinus speaks of them as flourishing. Eumelus of Corinth, being older still, is said to have met Archias, who founded Syracuse.

We were led to mention these things because the poets of the epic cycle are put among the men of the most remote antiquity. Already, too, among the Greeks many diviners are said to have appeared, such as the two Bacides, one a Boeotian and the other an Arcadian, who made many predictions to many people. And it was by the advice of Amphilytus the Athenian, who showed him the moment to attack, that Pisistratus strengthened his hold on the government. For we may pass over in silence Cometes of Crete, Cinyras of Cyprus, Admetus the Thessalian, Aristaeas of Cyrene, Amphiaraus the Athenian, Timoxenus of Corcyra, Demaenetus of Phocis, Epigenes of Thespiae, Nicias of Carystus, Aristo the Thessalian, Dionysius of Carthage, Cleophon of Corinth, Hippo the daughter of Chiron, and Boeo, and Manto, and the whole crowd of Sibyls — the Samian, the Colophonian, the Cumaean, the Erythraean, the Pythian, the Taraxandrian, the Macetian, the Thessalian and the Thesprotian. And Calchas again, and Mopsus, who lived through the Trojan war; though Mopsus was the older, having sailed with the Argonauts. And it is said that Battus of Cyrene composed what is called the Divination of Mopsus. Dorotheus, in the first book of the Pandects, relates that Mopsus was the pupil of Alcyon and Corone. And Pythagoras the Great always applied his mind to foretelling the future, and so did Abaris the Hyperborean, and Aristaeas of Proconnesus, and Epimenides the Cretan, who came to Sparta, and Zoroaster the Mede, and Empedocles of Agrigentum, and Phormion the Spartan; Polyarataus of Thasos too, and Empedotimus of Syracuse; and besides these, Socrates the Athenian in particular. For he says in the Theages: “I am attended by something more than human, a sign that has been given to me from childhood by God’s own appointing. This is a voice which, when it comes, holds me back from what I am about to do, but never urges me on.” And Execestus, the tyrant of the Phocians, wore two rings with a spell on them, and by the sound they made striking one against the other he judged the right times to act. Yet he died all the same, murdered by treachery, though he had been warned beforehand by the sound, as Aristotle says in the Constitution of the Phocians.

Among those who once lived as men among the Egyptians, but were made gods by human opinion, were Hermes of Thebes and Asclepius of Memphis; and Tiresias and Manto again, at Thebes, as Euripides says. Helenus too, and Laocoon, and Oenone, and Crenus at Ilium — for Crenus, one of the Heraclidae, is said to have been a noted prophet. Another was Iamus in Elis, from whom came the Iamidae; and Polyidus at Argos and Megara, whom the tragedy mentions. Why list Telemus, who was a prophet of the Cyclopes and predicted to Polyphemus what would happen on Odysseus’ wanderings? Or Onomacritus at Athens? Or Amphiaraus, who campaigned with the seven against Thebes, and is reported to be a generation older than the capture of Troy? Or Theoclymenus in Cephallenia, or Telmisus in Caria, or Galeus in Sicily? There are others besides these: Idmon, who was with the Argonauts; Phemonoe of Delphi; Mopsus the son of Apollo and Manto in Pamphylia; Amphilochus the son of Amphiaraus in Cilicia; Alcmaeon among the Acarnanians; Anius in Delos; Aristander of Telmessus, who was with Alexander. Philochorus also relates, in the first book of his work On Divination, that Orpheus was a seer. And Theopompus and Ephorus and Timaeus write of a seer called Orthagoras, as Pythocles of Samos, in the fourth book of The Italics, writes of Gaius Julius Nepos.

But some of these “thieves and robbers,” as Scripture calls them, made their predictions for the most part from observation and from what was likely, the way physicians and diviners judge from natural signs. Others were worked on by demons, or were thrown into a state by water, or by fumes, or by air of a particular kind. But among the Hebrews the prophets were moved by the power and inspiration of God. Before the law, Adam spoke as a prophet about the woman and in the naming of the animals; Noah preached repentance; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob gave many clear utterances about things to come and things present. At the time of the law, Moses and Aaron; and after these prophesied Joshua the son of Nun, Samuel, Gad, Nathan, Ahijah, Shemaiah, Jehu, Elijah, Micaiah, Obadiah, Elisha, Abbadonai, Amos, Isaiah, Hosea, Jonah, Joel, Jeremiah, Zephaniah the son of Buzi, Ezekiel, Uriah, Habakkuk, Nahum, Daniel, Mishael who wrote the syllogisms, Haggai, Zechariah, and the angel among the twelve. These are 35 prophets in all. And of women — for these prophesied too — Sarah and Rebecca and Miriam and Deborah and Olda, that is, Huldah. Then within the same period John prophesied, up to the saving baptism; and after the birth of Christ, Anna and Simeon. For Zechariah, John’s father, is said in the Gospels to have prophesied before his son did. Let us then draw up the chronology of the Greeks, starting from Moses.

From the birth of Moses to the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, 80 years; and the period from then to his death, another 40. The exodus took place in the time of Inachus, before the wandering of Sothis, Moses having gone out of Egypt 345 years before it. From the rule of Moses, and from Inachus, to the flood of Deucalion — I mean the second inundation — and to the burning of Phaethon, which happened in the time of Crotopus, 40 generations are counted, three generations being reckoned to the century. From the flood to the burning of Ida, and the discovery of iron, and the Idaean Dactyls, 73 years, according to Thrasyllus; and from the burning of Ida to the carrying off of Ganymede, 65 years. From this to the expedition of Perseus, when Glaucus founded the Isthmian games in honor of Melicertes, 15 years; and from the expedition of Perseus to the building of Troy, 34 years. From this to the voyage of the Argo, 64 years. From this to Theseus and the Minotaur, 32 years; then to the seven against Thebes, ten years. And to the Olympic contest which Heracles founded in honor of Pelops, three years; and to the expedition of the Amazons against Athens and the carrying off of Helen by Theseus, nine years. From this to the making of Heracles into a god, 11 years; then to the carrying off of Helen by Alexander, four years. From the taking of Troy to the landing of Aeneas and the founding of Lavinium, ten years; and to the government of Ascanius, eight years; and to the coming down of the Heraclidae, 61 years; and to the Olympiad of Iphitus, 338 years. Eratosthenes sets down the dates like this: “From the capture of Troy to the coming down of the Heraclidae, 80 years. From this to the founding of Ionia, 60 years; and the period after that to the protectorate of Lycurgus, 159 years; and to the first year of the first Olympiad, 108 years. From that Olympiad to the invasion of Xerxes, 297 years; from that to the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, 48 years; and to its close and the defeat of the Athenians, 27 years; and to the battle at Leuctra, 34 years; after which to the death of Philip, 35 years; and after this to the death of Alexander, 12 years.”

Again, from the first Olympiad, some say, to the founding of Rome, 24 years are taken in; and after this to the expulsion of the kings, when consuls were created, about 243 years. And from the taking of Babylon to the death of Alexander, 186 years. From this to the victory of Augustus, when Antony killed himself at Alexandria, 294 years, at which time Augustus was made consul for the fourth time. And from this time to the games which Domitian founded at Rome, 114 years; and from the first of those games to the death of Commodus, 111 years. There are some who reckon from Cecrops to Alexander of Macedon 1,828 years; and from Demophon, 1,250; and from the taking of Troy to the expedition of the Heraclidae, 120 or 180 years. From this to the archonship of Evaenetus at Athens, in whose time Alexander is said to have marched into Asia, is 750 years according to Phanias; according to Ephorus, 735; according to Timaeus and Clitarchus, 820; according to Eratosthenes, 774. Duris likewise counts from the taking of Troy to Alexander’s march into Asia 1,000 years; and from that to the archonship of Hegesias, in whose time Alexander died, 11 years. From this date to the reign of Germanicus Claudius Caesar, 365 years. And from that time the years summed up to the death of Commodus are plain.

After the Greek reckoning, and following the dates as the barbarians compute them, much larger intervals have to be assigned. From Adam to the flood are taken in 2,148 years and four days. From Shem to Abraham, 1,250 years. From Isaac to the dividing of the land, 616 years. Then from the judges to Samuel, 463 years and seven months. And after the judges there were 572 years, six months and ten days of kings. After these periods there were 235 years of the Persian monarchy. Then of the Macedonian, down to the death of Antony, 312 years and 18 days. After this time the empire of the Romans, down to the death of Commodus, lasted 222 years. Then from the 70 years’ captivity and the restoration of the people to their own land, down to the captivity in the time of Vespasian, 410 years are taken in. Finally, from Vespasian to the death of Commodus there are found to be 121 years, six months and 24 days.

Demetrius, in his book On the Kings in Judea, says that the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi were not taken captive by Sennacherib; and that from this captivity to the last one, which Nebuchadnezzar carried out from Jerusalem, were 128 years and six months; and that from the time the ten tribes were carried captive from Samaria until Ptolemy the Fourth were 573 years and nine months; and from the time the captivity from Jerusalem took place, 338 years and three months. Philo himself set down the kings differently from Demetrius. Besides, Eupolemus, in a similar work, says that all the years from Adam to the fifth year of Ptolemy Demetrius, who reigned 12 years in Egypt, come when added together to 5,149; and that from the time Moses brought the Jews out of Egypt to that same date there are in all 2,580 years. And from this time to the consulship at Rome of Gaius Domitian and Casian, 120 years are reckoned.

Ephorus and many other historians say that there are 75 nations and languages, because of what they heard in the statement made by Moses: “All the souls that came from Jacob, who went down into Egypt, were seventy-five.” By the true reckoning there appear to be 72 basic dialects, as our Scriptures hand down. The rest of the common tongues are formed by the blending of two or three or more dialects. A dialect is a way of speaking that shows a character belonging to a particular place, or a way of speaking that shows a character belonging to, or shared by, a particular people. The Greeks say that among them there are five dialects — Attic, Ionic, Doric, Aeolic, and fifth the Common; and that the languages of the barbarians, which are past counting, are not called dialects but tongues.

Plato assigns a dialect to the gods as well, guessing at this mainly from dreams and oracles, and above all from people possessed, who do not speak their own language or dialect but that of the demons who have taken hold of them. He thinks the animals without reason have dialects too, which those of the same kind understand. So when an elephant falls into the mud and bellows, any other elephant nearby, seeing what has happened, soon turns, brings a herd of elephants with him, and saves the one that has fallen in. It is said too that in Libya, if a scorpion fails to sting a man, it goes away and comes back with several more, and that hanging on to one another like a chain they make their attempt in this way, and so bring their cunning plan off. The animals without reason do not use some dim hint, or suggest their meaning by taking up a particular posture, but, as I think, by a dialect of their own. And some others say that if a fish that has been caught escapes by breaking the line, no fish of the same kind will be caught in that place that day. But the first and basic barbarian dialects have their words by nature, since men themselves admit that prayers said in a barbarian tongue are more powerful. And Plato, in the Cratylus, wanting to explain the word pyr (fire), says that it is a barbarian term, and testifies that the Phrygians use this word with a slight difference.

And nothing, to my mind, now stands in the way of setting out the periods of the Roman emperors as well, in order to demonstrate the date of the Savior’s birth. Augustus, 43 years; Tiberius, 22 years; Gaius, four years; Claudius, 14 years; Nero, 14 years; Galba, one year; Vespasian, ten years; Titus, three years; Domitian, 15 years; Nerva, one year; Trajan, 19 years; Hadrian, 21 years; Antoninus, 21 years; and again in the same way Antoninus and Commodus, 32. In all, from Augustus to Commodus, 222 years; and from Adam to the death of Commodus, 5,784 years, two months and 12 days. Some set down the dates of the Roman emperors like this. Gaius Julius Caesar, three years, four months, five days; after him Augustus reigned 46 years, four months, one day. Then Tiberius, 26 years, six months, 19 days. He was succeeded by Gaius Caesar, who reigned three years, ten months, eight days, and Gaius by Claudius for 13 years, eight months, 28 days. Nero reigned 13 years, eight months, 28 days; Galba, seven months and six days; Otho, five months, one day; Vitellius, seven months, one day; Vespasian, 11 years, 11 months, 22 days; Titus, two years, two months; Domitian, 15 years, eight months, five days; Nerva, one year, four months, ten days; Trajan, 19 years, seven months, ten days; Hadrian, 20 years, ten months, 28 days; Antoninus, 22 years, three months, seven days; Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, 19 years, 11 days; Commodus, 12 years, nine months, 14 days.

From Julius Caesar, then, to the death of Commodus are 236 years, six months. And the whole from Romulus, who founded Rome, to the death of Commodus comes to 953 years, six months. And our Lord was born in the 28th year, when the census was first ordered to be taken in the reign of Augustus. And to prove that this is true, it is written in the Gospel by Luke as follows: “And in the fifteenth year, in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, the word of the Lord came to John, the son of Zechariah.” And again in the same book: “And Jesus was coming to his baptism, being about thirty years old,” and so on. And that he had to preach for one year only, this too is written: “He has sent me to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Both the prophet said this and the Gospel. So in 15 years of Tiberius and 15 years of Augustus the 30 years were completed, up to the time he suffered. And from the time he suffered to the destruction of Jerusalem are 42 years and three months; and from the destruction of Jerusalem to the death of Commodus, 128 years, ten months and three days. From the birth of Christ, then, to the death of Commodus are, in all, 194 years, one month and 13 days. And there are those who have fixed not only the year of our Lord’s birth but the day as well; and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, on the 25th day of Pachon. The followers of Basilides keep the day of his baptism as a festival, spending the night before it in readings. And they say that it was the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, the fifteenth day of the month Tubi; and some say the eleventh of the same month. And on his suffering, treating it with the greatest exactness, some say that it took place in the sixteenth year of Tiberius, on the 25th of Phamenoth; others the 25th of Pharmuthi; and others say that the Savior suffered on the 19th of Pharmuthi. Others again say that he was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi.

We have still to add to our chronology the following — I mean the days that Daniel marks out from the desolation of Jerusalem, the seven years and seven months of the reign of Vespasian. For the two years are added to the 17 months and 18 days of Otho and Galba and Vitellius, and the result is three years and six months, which is “the half of the week,” as Daniel the prophet said. For he said that there were 2,300 days from the time the abomination of Nero stood in the holy city until its destruction. The statement that follows shows it: “How long will the vision last — the sacrifice taken away, the abomination of desolation that has been given, and the power and the holy place trodden underfoot? And he said to him: Until evening and morning, two thousand three hundred days; and the holy place will be taken away.” These 2,300 days, then, make six years and four months, during half of which Nero held power, and that was half a week; and for the other half Vespasian reigned, with Otho, Galba and Vitellius. And this is why Daniel says: “Blessed is the one who comes to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.” For up to those days there was war, and after them it stopped. And this number is shown from a later chapter, which runs as follows: “And from the time of the change of the continual offering, and of the giving of the abomination of desolation, there will be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is the one who waits and comes to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.”

Flavius Josephus the Jew, who composed the history of the Jews, computing the periods, says that from Moses to David were 585 years; from David to the second year of Vespasian, 1,179; then from that to the tenth year of Antoninus, 77. So that from Moses to the tenth year of Antoninus there are, in all, 2,133 years. Of others, counting from Inachus and Moses to the death of Commodus, some say there were 3,142 years, and others 2,831.

And in the Gospel according to Matthew the genealogy that begins with Abraham is carried down to Mary the mother of the Lord. For it says: “From Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon until Christ are likewise another fourteen generations” — three mystic intervals completed in six weeks.