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mainly in English with some Latin, Greek and Hebrew
Section 2B of a huge collection of disordered fragmentary drafts on ancient history in which Newton correlates Jewish, Greek and Egyptian chronology. Much of the historical material later found its way into the posthumous 'Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended' (1728). These papers also contain a draft interpretation of the visions of Daniel.
Bought at the Sotheby sale by Gabriel Wells for £90 and presumably acquired by Yahuda not long afterwards.
Iosephus tells us out of Mane
Manetho in his 11th & 12th Dynasties, as he is cited by Afri
canus & Eusebius names these
Ammenemes, Gesongoses or Sesonchoris the son of Ammenemes, Amme
nemes who was slain by his Eunuchs & Sesostris who subdued all
Asia & part of Europe. Gesongoses & Sesonchoris are
for Sesonchosis & the two first of these four kings Ammenemes
Sesonchosis are the same with the two last Ammenemes &
Sesostris. For the old Scholiast of Apollonius Rhodias that callswas
king of all Egypt, & who
at Æa thOthers say that this colony was left there by Sesostris.Ammenemes &
differs little from Sesak Ammon & Sesak.Ammon Sesonchosis, Sesostris & Sesak are the same.
Again As Manetho here repeats the same kings, so he does in several other
Dynasties & particular in his 18th Dynasty
reigned at Thebes from ee
First he tells us that after the shepherds went out of Iudea Egypt
into Iudea Tethmosis or Amosis who expelled them reigned 25 years &
4 months & then was succeeded by his brother son Chebron after
whom reigned Amenophis &
names Mephres, Mephramuthosis, Thmosis or Tuthmosis, Ameno
phis & Orus as reigning successively & subjoyns some other Princes
of Egypt contemporary to Orus namely sister
the brother unkle of Orus
again returning back he names in order Armesses Miamun or
Ramesses, & his son & successor Amenophis & & his son & successor
Sethosis the of Armais or Danaus governour of Egypt
while he himself invaded Cyprus Phenicia & all the east. These
kings are recited out of Manetho by Iosephus, Eusebius & Africa
nus th
The first king Tethmosis or Amosis who expelled the Shepherds
is plainly the same th
Predecessor Misphragmuthosis shut them up in Abaris, & there
fore the first Amenophis who succeeded Tethmosis & Chebron
is the same th
And I take the third Amenophis to be still the same & his
predecessor Armesses Ramesses or Ammeses to be the same with
their predecessors Amosis Thomosis or Tethmosis, such repetiti
ons being frequent with Manetho. And so by comparing all these
successions of kings together they seem to me to be but several
repetitions of kings the same race of kings succeeding in this
order.
1 Mephres, Misaphris or Miphris.
2 Méphramuthosis, Mispharmuthosis, Misphragmuthosis, Alisphrag
muthosis. He shut up the shepherds in Abaris.
3 Tethmosis, Thmosis, Thomosis, Amosis, Ammeses, Ar
messes, Rammeses, Rameses, Ramesses. He obliged the sheperds
to depart out of Egypt & thereby became the first king of all Egypt.
4 Chebron or Chebros if he be rightly inserted.
5 Amenophis, Amenophthis, Menophis, Mnevis, Amme
noph, Amenemes, that is Ammon the father of Sesostris. He carried the arms of Egypt into forreign countries & subdued e
Troglodites & all Ammonia, & from him Thebes was called
No-Ammon the city of Ammon,ch
6 Sethos, Sethosis, Gesongoses, Sesonchoris, Sesonchosis,
Sesostris, who is also called Sesoosts,
Sesochris, Sesonchis, Sasyches & in s
7 Orus or Horus.
Tethmosis & Chebron according to Manetho
reigned after the expulsion of the Shepherds 38
& 4 months & by his recconing the Chebron 13 years
more
were expelled between the 20th year of Samuel & first
year of Saul as above, enophis
gin after the 5th & before eth year of David &
thus the reign of his son Sethosis answers well
Sesak as above.
When David smote Edomchth year of David as above
fled into Egypt with Hadad a little child of the kings seed
& the king of Egypt
& Hadad being grown up found great favour in the sight
of Pharaoh so that he gave him to wife the sister of
his own wife Taphenes the Queen. And the sister of Ta
phenus bare him Genubath & Genubath was in Pharaohs
house among the Sons of Pharaoh untill the death of David.
Whence it appears that this king of Egypt was of about
the same age with Hadad & began his reign young & at
the death of David had a family of young children : a
Solomon'
children, & her little sister who by reason of her child
hood had no breasts, & her brother who sucked the breasts
of her mother & to whom she wishes Solomon were
like that she might kiss him whenever she fou
& lead him & bring him to her mother's house. And
of about the same age was Sesak th
sak, so that he may be recconed
Diodoruse
gathered together out of Egypt the male children who
were born the same day with Sesostris & placed them with
nurses & governours & prescribed to them all the same form
of education & discipline being perswaded that they who
were so brought up with his son would be most faith
full & usefull to him in his wars. These children he
brought up with exercises of dayly labours commanding them that none of them should eat till he had run 180 stad furlongs. By which he means they became endued
with strong & active bodies & great aspiring minds. Hence
I gather that
Egypt before Sesostris (or Sesak) was born & by consequence
in the reign of David as above, & therefore he was
Pharaoh king of Egypt who married his wives sister to
Hadad & his daughter to Solomon & took Gezar from
the Canaanites & gave it to his daughter for a portion
present, &
So then then Ammon reigned in Egypt when Cadmus
came into Europe as we noted above. And considering
the age of his Children, he seems to have been about 35 or 5when at the death of David.
After Amosis had expelled the shepherds &
expelled by Amosis & the kingdom of Egypt was established
at home, Ammon sent an army
Son Sesostris into Arabia (
Egypt & the red sea) & Sesostris accompanied with those
who were brought up with him destroyed the serpents
& overcoming the want of water & food conquered all
that barbarous nation which till then had been uncon
quered. Then being sent against the nations which
lay westward, he subdued the greatest part of Libya
although hitherto a very youth. By the first of
these conquests the Troglodytes & some of the Arabic
Ethiopians, by the latter the Libyans of Marma
rica & Cyrene & all Ammonia as far as the river
One of the first great kingdoms in the world was that
of Egypt. For Pliny a
of things ascribes to Egyptians the invention of a royal City
& to the inhabitants of Attica that of a popular one. Which
is as much as to say that Athens was by the Greeks account
ed the first city in the world under ch
ed into a popular dominion by a Common Council & the
Egyptian Thebes the first city ch
when the four Monarchies & their head cities were
not yet talked of. For saith b
thing of the Empires of the Medes & Assyrians, other
wise c
of the Phenicians he would not have passed over in
silence the riches of Babylon Nineveh & Ecbatane. And
for the same reason Memphys
the times of the Trojan war.
Cities grow great & populous in proportion to their
dominion. When the Thebans by expelling the Shepherds
became Lords of all Egypt their city would
then before, but not arrive to its greatness till they conquer
ed the nations round about & built it accordingly. Their con
quests were as follows.
After Ammon Amosis had expelled the shepherds & esta
blished his kingdom at home, & Amon sent an army
the command of his son Sesostris into Arabia, (that Arabia
which lyes between Egypt & the Red Sea) & Sesostris accom
panied th
the serpents & overcoming the want of water & food
conquered all that barbarous nation ch
been unconquered. Then being sent by his father against
the nations ch
of Libya although hitherto a very youth. Lucan extends
this conquest very far westward
By the first of these conquests the Troglodytes &
opians, by eAmmonia&Ammonia far
this seems to have given occasion to the trafic of Solomon into
Egypt for horses. For Egypt was then supplied with horses from
Cyrene a country famous for the breed of good horses breeding
a multitude of good horses a
nians being Colonies of the Egyptians & Ethiopians spake a lan
guage between them both & that the inhabitants as far as the
river Triton used the Egyptian manners but beyond that
river lived much otherwise. Ammon therefore upon conquering
this large region peopled it with colonies from Egypt & called
it Ammonia. For in those days it was very usuall to call
peoples & regions by the names of their first kings: & Stepha
nus tells us that mediterranean part of Libya & even
all Libya was called Ammonia from Ammon.
After the death of Ammon Sesostris succeeded in the throne
& being now grown up & encouraged by his former successes aimed
at conquering the world. Andfirst he set upon the Ethiopians southward & compelled th em at nation to pay him tribute, Ebony & Gold & Ivory. Straboe
a promontory of Ethiopia tells us that a Pillar of Sesostris the Egyptian was standing there with w, saith Strabo, chhe seems first to have subdued Ethiopia & Troglodytica & then passing over [those
straits] into Arabia [Fælix] to have gone over all Asia, wherefore in many places tis called the Ditch or Trench of Sesostris & Temples of the Egyptian Gods are found built. Nor did
Sesostris stop at Dira,he went through all Ethiopia to the Cinnamon-bearing region or Promontory Mossylites at the
south east corner of Afric, & there were extant in Strabos
days some monuments of this his expedition & Columns & Inscriptions. And for facilitating this his expedition he builta navy of 400 long ships on the Red Sea being the first who built such ships & thereby he subdued the Islands of the Red Sea & the Sea coasts of the adjoyning continent, going as far as India.
Pliny
of Isis were Pillars of stone with inscriptions in unknown cha
racters.
It was then the custome for every family to worship their dead
ancestors of the two or three last generations. This custome was
founded on an opinion that the souls of dead parents would be most
concerned for edeadDij PenatesRomans Greeks & Latins. In like manner
Cities deified such of their dead Kings & Heroes as had been their
benefactors & built Sepulchres to them in form of Temples with
yearly solemnities. And sometimes they endowed the Temples with
revenues for maintaining a succession of Priests & bearing the
charge of sacrifices ch
Triton came under the dominion of Egypt, & this seems to have
given occasion to the trafic of Solomon into Egypt for horses. For
Egypt was then supplied with horses from Cyrene a country
famous for the breeding a multitude of good horses. Herodotus
tells us that the Ammonians being colonies of the Egyptians
& Ethiopians spake a language between them both & that
the inhabitants as far as the river Triton used the Egyptian
manners but beyond that river lived much otherwise.
Ammon therefore upon conquering this large region peopled
it with colonies from Egypt & called it Ammonia. For in
those days it was very usual to call peoples & regions
by the names of their first kings; & Stephanus tells
us that the Mediterranean part of Libya & even all
Libya was called Ammonia from Ammon. And tho Egypt kept its dominion only to the river Triton yet Sesostris seems to have gone westward to the very ✝pillars of Hercules. Lucian Lib 1
After the death of Ammon, Sesostris succeeded in
the throne & being now grown up encouraged by his former
successes, aimed at conquering the world. And aa Diodor l. 1 p 35first he set upon the Ethiopians southward & compelled that nation to pay him tribute Ebony & Gold & Ivory. Strabo bb Strabo. l. 16. p. 769
at Dira a promontory of Ethiopia tells us that a Pillar of Sesostris the Egyptian was standing there w, saith Strabo, chhe seems first to have subdued Ethiopia & Troglodytica & then passing over [those straits] into Arabia [Felix] to have gone all over Asia, wherefore in many places tis called the Ditch or Trench of Sesostris & Templesof the Egyptian Gods are found built. Nor did Sesostris stop
at Dira,Also from In this expedition cc Strabo l. 17. p. 790. Plin. l. 6. c. 29.he went through all Ethiopia to the Cinnamon bearing region or Promontory Mossylil
of Afric, & there were extant in Strabo's days some monuments of this his expedition & Columns & Inscriptions. & the & then he past the straits
facilitating this his expedition dd Diodor. l. 1. p. 35 Herod. l. 2. c. 102.built a navy of 400 long ships on the Red sea being the first who built such ships & thereby he subdued the Islands of the Red Sea & the adjoyning continent, going as far as India. Pliny ee Plin. l. 6. c. 29.
Island of the Red Sea before the haven of Isis were Pillars
of Stone with inscriptions in unknown characters.
It was then the custome for every family to worship their
dead ancestors of the two or three last generations. This custome was
founded on an opinion that e
cerned for their dead Dij Penatesc
benefactors & built sepulchres to them in form of Temples th
yearly solemnities. And sometimes they endowed the Temples with
revenues for maintaining a succession of Priests & bearing the
charge of sacrifices ch
Temples erected to him in several places it made his wor
ship of ee
rors became the greatest Gods. Thus the Greecians before the
Trojan war built Temples to almost all their dead kings &
famous men as you may read in
learnt of e
that the Temples built
for propagating the worship of was
# After these conquests Sesak in the fift year of Rehobeam came out of Egypt w (tht& the servitude
תוצראהof the kingdoms of the earth. So Sesak came up against Ierusalem & took away the treasures of the house of the Lord & the treasures of the kings house. He took all. He carried away also the shields of gold w. 2 Chron. 12. The Libych
ans Troglodites & Ethiopians were therefore subdued & become the
servants of Sesak before the fift year of Rehoboam, & by the
conquest of Cyrene having procured horses for 60000 horsmen
he came out th
nations & subdued Iudea & the kingdoms of e
He left Egypt Libya & Ethiopia
Several Princes, &having forces by the sea & land he invaded Cyprus & Phœnicia & the nations of Persia Assyrians & Medes subduing by force as many as would not submit, & being lifted up with the success went on more confidently, subverting the cities & provinces of the east.
After these conquests Sesak in in the fift year of Reho
boam came against out of Egypt with a great army
Troglodytes & Ethiopians, nations newly conquered & took the
fenced cities of Iudah & spoiled the Temple. having forces both by sea & land invaded Cyprus & Phenicia & the nations of Persia & Assyria & Media subduing by force as many as would not submit & being lifted up with the success went on more confidently subverting the cities & provinces of the east. Thusleading his army by land he subdued all Asia. For he did not only invade those countries wchchHe subdued also the Scythians as far as the river Tanais w, chhe erected
pillIn most p In many place he erected pillars in m ost any places of his conquests with this inscription in the sacred Egyptian letters: Sesoosis King of Kings and Lord of Lords overcame this country by his arms. In these Pillars the privy member of a man was exprest where the nations were stout & warlike & that of a woman where they were timoro us & made no resistance. In some places he erected also his own statue in stone holding a bow & lance & being four cubits & palms high w. chaaith that he conquered most of the nations of Greece &
Herodotus that he passed over the Danube. His words are: bSesostris having a great army went through the continent subduing all nations before him untill passing over from Asia into Europe he subdued the Scythians & Thracians to whom & no further the Egyptian army seems to have . Most of those pillars were gone come8r come because in their territories the
before the days of Herodotus, but some he saw in Palestine
with the Egyptian writing & weomens genitals & in Ionia
there were two statues of Sesostris then remaining, one in
the way from Ephesus into Phocæa & the other between
Sardes & Smyrna, each holding a dart in the right hand &
a bow in the left, & the rest of their armature being Ethi
opic & Egyptian, & upon e
Egyptian letters: I obteined this region with
In his return he left a colony of Egyptians at Colchos
that the people at Colchos anciently spake the Egyptian language
& like the Egyptians used circumcision & ware linnen garments
& had crisp hair & a dark complexion & had commerce with
the Egyptians,
& in winter to Egypt. And Ætes king of Colchos was called e
son of the Sun
his wife & daughters were
of plants like the Egyptians. For Homer
Egypt abounded with plants both medicinal & deadly & that
the Egyptians were skilled in medicine above all other
mortals being the progeny of Apollo. Also Sesostris left
with the people at Colchos geographical Tables ch
made of his his conquests. For Eustathius
made such Tables & communicated them not only to the
Egyptians but also to the Scythians, by the Scythians meaning
the people at Colchos ach
Geography.
Pliny
chos. Iam regnaverat, saith he, in Colchis Salauces & Esubopes qui terram virgineam naclus plurimum argenti auri inclyto regno. Sed er illius aureæ cameræ et argenteæ trabes narrantur et columnæ at.a
of the place made himself master of it & left a part of
his army there to These seem to guard the pass. These
seem to have been people of the lower Egypt called b
scripture Casluchi, & by contraction Colchi c
says of Sesostris
And Apollonius came Sesostris
in that part of Cappadocia ch
of his army mixt of Egyptians Philistims & the Shepherds those old enemies a
a people who b
Philisitms afterward returned back from captivity into their
own land. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt & the Philistims from Caphtor & the Syrians from Kir,
Amos 9.7. The Lord will spoile the Philistims the remnant of the country of Caphtor. Ier. 47.4. A
the river Thermodon on the north side o west side of this colony Sesostris
placed a colony of his weomen whom the Greeks called Amazons.
Iustin makes the Scythians to have repulsed & pursued Se
sostris as far as Egypt & being stopt by the Lakes & fenny places
to have returned thence & subdued all the east 1500 years till
the rise of the Assyrian Monarchy. Others
ans were a colony of the Scythians who seated themselves there
in the reign of Sesostris. But these things happened rather in the
latter end of the Assyrian Monarchy, the Scythians at that
time as Herodotus relates making an inrode through Colchos into
Media & Syria as far as Egypt & reigning over the east 28.
years till the Medes slew most of them. And probably the
Scythians were who escaped the Medes fled into Parthia & remained
there. Whence the people of that country had the name of Par
thi ch
Sesostris having spent nine years in this expedition com
manded the nations according to their ability to bring
yearly into Egypt & having outdone all former kings with e
greatness of his acctions
& other spoiles of ch
other captives he seems to have carried away Tithonus a
youth beautifull to a proverb: chTithonus, saith Diodorus,was the son of Laomedon & brother of Priam & warring in the eastern parts went as far as Ethiopia, whence came the fable of Memnons being the son of Aurora. Hesiod calls Tithonus the son of
& Pinder
Troilus one of the sons of Priam. He lived a very great age
& spent his days in the Court & army of the Kings of Egypt
If when he was captivated, which was in the 14th year of
Rehoboam we may suppose his brother Priam to have been
a child, the taking of Troy which happened when Priam
began to be infirm with old age, may be recconed about
55 or 60
or 70 years later then the death of Solomon as above.
When Sesostris in returning home came back to Pelusium
his brother Armais who had revolted & usurped the crown of
ae
first that built a Temple in the lower Egypt & that he built
one at Heliopolis the Metropolis of that kingdome. Also that his
daughter m
gion above Memphis. For then, saith he, Egypt had many kings.
He adds that this daughter was shee that educated Moses
the kingdom into 36 Nomi or Counties
their rites of worshipping the Deity & the sacred letters. Which he did to that end that he might render the Monarchy firm to Cenephres; because before that time the multitude b not being reduced into distinct order did sometimes eject & sometime create kings & often y. By all ech
people & was honoured by the Priests the
mes or Mercury. Here Artaphanus being a Christian
ascribes some things to Moses which do not well agree
to him, but yet he lets us understand that the king
of Egypt were at first like those of Greece, many
in number & free from Tyranny, the people placing
& displacing their kings, that is the captains of their
armies till the government was new modelled & reduced into the 36 Nomi, Nomi various Nomi
old as the first Temple in the lower Egypt& by
consequence
accurate structurs & magnificent structures shew t
Architecture was then grown to a good degree of per
fection, &
shipped only on altars th
did & the Persians in their Prytanea, & that e
ans
erected their first Temples for eir
common cch
gulation combined, as was afterwards done in Greece in
imitation of the Greeks. He lets us understand also t
the Egyptians attributed this regulation of their govern
ment to him whom they accounted the author of their
Arts & sacred rites & letters & whom their Priests
honoured by the name of Mercury or Hermes, that
is to Thoth whome some would have to be Moses
or Ioseph, but who was really an Egyptian
reigned in Egypt soon after edays of Osiris &
And indeed it is not improbable that he who is
for craft & policy & had seen Egypt twice invaded &
pressed by their enemies e
procured the kingdom to himself should afterwards consider how
to strengthen them against their enemies for the future, ch
else means his being reputed by all antiquity the God of weight wisdome & eloquence &to him along the ways to his memory, but that he taught
the cities of Egypt to travel from one to another by
marking out the ways between them with such heaps of
stones & to trade with one another assemble &
assemp
example in their festivalls of their common councils
For while those festivalls were being celebrated in Greece &
by consequence in Egypt also with merchandizing for
drawing the people together & in Egypt were kept not
yearely as in Greece but often every year, they seem
to have been the ancientest assemblies in the world for
bye
tians. Thoth was the first & greatest Lawmaker of the
Egyptians in things both civil & sacred. He made their
laws first in the reign of Isis who governed by his coun
sel & then in his own reign & his laws obteined over all
Egypt. And laws could not be put in execution without
civilizing the nations
certain forms of government For thaby subordination of inferior towns towns to capital cities & of capital cities to the king was necessary.
solemnities of Osiris & Isis were instituted by him & from
his death days obteined all over Egypt. And there is the
same reason to beleive that
of the Egyptian Gods observed in the several parts of
Egypt had might have
the conventions for such solemnities were
Æor we are told by Sanchoniatho
figures of the Gods of Egypt & by Diodorus that he
ordeined the worship & sacrifices of those Gods & by Arta
phanus that he divided Egypt into 36
each their rites of worshipping the Deity. For all Egypt
did not worship all Mercuries Gods but in one Convention
they worshipped one God in
proper ceremonies & worship. For Herodotus
worshipped not the same Gods except Osiris & Isis. In the rest
of their Gods they were divided, every Temple Metropolis & Temple & High Priest &c
territory of worshippers & its proper God & way of Worship.
sacredch
Pan & sacrificed Rams & on e
Ammonians in their's worshipped Ramms & sacrificed Goats.
In Pamphreni the people of the subordinate cities celebrated
the festival of Mars with a formal fight with clubbs. In
the feast at Busiris after they had sacrificed they beat
themselves & some cut their foreheads with swords. In Sais
they th
In Bubastis they went to the feast with piping & singing & clapping
of hands & reviling the cities through ch
polis & Buti they only sacrificed to their proper Gods.
ever Gods or solemnities Mercury at first appointed among them
no doubt they retained as obstinately as the people in r
do the several religions they are brought up in. Thus Egypt
became distinguisht into many nationes every nation having its
own God & Temple & religion & solemn assemblies s & court of Iudicature
take to be the Nomi 36 i
How these Nomi
came united into larger kingdoms & what alterations happi
in those kingdoms in the first ages is not related in history. By
such alterations en
Kingdom before e
of famin he bought all the goods & lands & persons of the
Egyptians for Pharaoh & then to break their power he
removed them from one end of the borders of Egypt to e
other end thereof (as e
whom they conquered) & giving them seed to sow the
lands were he planted them, he reserved by a perpetual
law the fift part of the increase to Pharaoh.
theee
Egypt of which he was king before is uncertain.
Some e
the Sheepherds from the east that is the Arabians
Timaus king of the lower Egypt & burnt the cities &
verted the Temples of the Egyptians & reduced the people
into servitude & reigning there a long time had various th
the Kings of Thebais. This invasion I place after the de
parture of Israel out of Egypt because during their stay
in Egypt there is no mention of Sheepherds or Arabians there but Pharaoh & all his people are spoken of as Egypti
ans. The King is called Pharaoh che
tian not Arabian Kings. He feared least upon any incursion of the Arabians Israel should help them & go with them out of
the land (Exod. 1.10.) He sought e4till the Egyptians drove them out of Egypt & by way of distinction ✝peop army & all his people are called Egyptians except the Israelites are considered tian astian (Exod 2.15) Moses was educated in his house like e
not like e
said to be in bondage under the Egyptians & to be oppressed
by the Egyptians Exod 3.8, 9 & the plagues fall on the Egypti
& to those Egyptians the sacrifices of the flocks & herds of
the Israelites who were sheepherds were an abomination
Exod 268. 26 & 10.9 & Pharaoh & his captains & army ch
pursued Israel are called Egyptians Exod 14: It was
after this time therefore that Egypt came under the
dominion of the Sheepherds.& schthe Sheepherdsethe Arabians I910
These shepherds after their first seating themselves in
Egypt made Salatis their King & after him reigned Beon,
Aphacnesaith
(Manetho that is till ebor Tethmosis one of etook
from them & abolished the custome of sacrificing men in
that city. After him reigned Chebron, Amenophes, Mephres,
Misphragmuthosis, Tethmosis or Thummosis & Amenophes. Mis
phragmuthosis drove them & theye walled them up. Thummosis forced obliged
out of Egypt & in the reign of Amenophes they returned
into Egypt but after 13 years were beaten out again
by Amenophes & his son Ramses. Andthemselves up & in ten thousand acres of land & shut themselves up, & ThLIews Iews, but I had rather say that they were the Phoenicians. For #at first been e
well as upon eeRed Sea before
they traded on the Mediterranean. And the bb Geog. l.4. p. 104.ch
tions without the mountains of Egypt on eArabica of e
probably the remains of this people. c
Phœnicians & & came originally out of Egypt, & the letters ch
into Greece were Phœnician. l & like those used in the lower Egypt about
the times of the Trojan war ee Strabo l 10 p. 447. ach
were Arabians & I take Cecrops & the colony of Egyptians chCecrops he
Thebes at became the Metroee
polis of all Egypt & by the following victories of Sesosostris soon grew the greatest & most famous city then
in the world.
Herodotus in giving an account of the ancient state of
Egypt tells us that the Egyptian Priests affirmed Menes to
be their first King, & read to him
of 330 Kings of Egypt who all reigned before Sesostris, &
amongst whom were 18 Ethiopians & a forreign woman
named Nitocris who acquired the Kingdom by a memorable
revenge of her brothers death; & that the Priests reported
nothing memorable done by any of the rest except one
who was the last of them & was called Mæris. But Mæris
as we shall presently shall presently shew reigned after
Sesostris, & so did Nitocris if she reigned over both Egypt &
Ethiopia as Iosephus mentions & built the third Pyramid
at Memphys as isManetho t
therefore all the in a few words all the ages
of Egypt before Sesostris as obscure & conteining nothing
memorable & begins his history of eth
this king.For tho Manetho the former kings reigning not over
all Egypt successively but divers of them at once in severall ch
In the time of the Monarchy of Egypt Herodotus
their Kings in this order.
nitus. 678910
the Ethiopian. 111213k14tus. 1516171819
inserted Amenophes & Mæris.
Stherefore
herds out of Egypt & thereby established their dominion at
began soon to invade their neighboughsthe King Sesostris (called also
of Egypt began soon
Sesonchis, Sesonchosis & in scripture Sesach) was sent
father Amenophis against the Arabians & overcoming the
want of father & meat subdued all that nation ch
then had continued unvanquished. Probably these were Afterwards he went weste
bians who had invaded Egypt before & were newly driven out .
ward & subdued a great part of Africa
his father in the Kingdom. This was before the death of
Solomone
& the Troglodiæ on the East rsouth sea promontory Mossylites. & in those countries left columns thch
of Rehoboamth
Troglodites & Ethiopians
eastward & northward & in nine years subdued all Asia
& Thrace & part of Scythia in Europe where he met
with a repulse. Diodorus adds that he past the River Gan
ges & conquered all India
columns tthch
saw in Syria & Asia minor & mentions that there were
some then extant in Thrace & Scythia. He caused also
Geographical Tables to be made of his conquests & this gave
a beginning to Geography. And in his return he left a part
of his army at Æa in under the command of Ætes
the father of Medea to guard as it seems the pass between
the seas least the Scythians should thence invade his conquests.
Whence it came to pass that the people at Colchos spake
the Egyptian language & used circumcision
ed a colony of Egyptians left there by Sesostris. [And this
seems to have occasioned e
the Greeks being alarmed by the expedition of Sesostris into
Thrace & thereupon
to Ætes at Colchos.]
Iustin makes the Scythians to have pursued Sesostris as far
as Egypt & being stopt by the Lakes & fenny places to have re
turned thence & subdued all the East & reigned there 1500 years
the Parthians were a colony of the Scythians who seated them
selves there in the reign of Sesostris but these things happened
rather in the latter end of the Assyrian Monarchy, the
Scythians at that time as Herodotus relates making an inrode
through Colchos into Media & Syria as far as Egypt and
reigning over the east 28 years till the Medes slew most
of them. And probably the Scythians who escaped the Medes
fled into Parthia & remained there. Whence the people
of that country had ech
thian language signifies fugitives.
As Babylon & Rome were adorned in the height of
their Empire so was Thebes & all Egypt in the reign
of Sesostris & his successors the captives spoiles & tribute
of the nations being imployed in building Palaces, Temples,
Obelisks, Pyramids & other works. For Sesostris returning home th
sing yearly tributes on the conquered nations built & adorn
ed new Temples in all the capital cities of Egypt, amo
amongst which was the Temple of Vulcan at Memphys
honoured the Gods & chiefly Vulcan with
cut ditches from the river Nile into all the parts of
Egypt for supplying the cities th
corn & other commodities by water, & with the earth
dug out he raised the Cities higher to defend them from
the inundation of the river & fortified them & in
these works imployed only the captives he brought
home with him. He erected also in Heliopolis two Obe
lisks of 120 cubits inscribing on them the greatness of
his dominion & tribute with the number of the con
quered nations, on of ch
veyed to Rome. And before the Temple of Vulcan
he erected his own & his wifes statues of 30 cubits each
& four others to his four sons & attemp
ted to cut a ditch from Nile to e
of Egypt he distributed in equal square portions among
the people who were to hold it by a yearly pension
whence Geometry had its rise.✝the Casluhim ornext
at Colchos spake the Egyptian language & used & the name Colchos
seemes derived from e
called the son of the Sun according to e
& daughters were celebrated for their great skill in the medical virtues of
plants a knowledge ebarbarous
from Egypt. Ætes built Æa the metro This kingdom seems founded in the days of Ætes because he built Æa the royal city & was reputed a
of Egypt. For Diodorus tells us that the Egyptians had these Lawmakers, Mnevis
Sasyches Sesostris Boccharis & Amasis & that Sasyches made excellent laws relating e
Mevis is Menes the first king of Thebes who began his reign in the tenth
year of the sheperds as above, & to whom e
ted. Sasyches is the same name ththe same king Lawmakerbecause it was is the same lawmaker thSesostris he that by dividing Egypt into equal squares gave a the same man with Sesostris
beginning to Geometrybecause
Geometry is ascribed to them both.Some think that the
Egypt into the 2ing a Iudge over every Nomus ancient chAnd tho that division seems to be founded in the variety
of the Nations & religions of Egypt & by consequence
to be much older yet it might receive some aunder
Pheron was the son of Sesostris. Pliny calls him Nunco
reus a
the river Nile became blind & continued sowards
culous recovery of his sight placed memorable gifts in
the Temples & particularly in Heliopolis two Obelisks
an hundred cubits long & eight broad one of ch
carried to Rome by Caius. ② Perhaps he is the Phruron
or Nilus of Erathostenes who reigned 5 years & from whom
the River Nile had its name. For Dicæarchus equals Nile
with the Trojan war. But emakes Rhampses
Proteus was of Memphys & reigned there
sumptuous Temple in that City
of Vulcan. In this Temple was the house of Venus Hospita
by ch
of Tyndarus was meant having heard that she stayed in Egypt th
Priests of Egypt. For when Alexander stole her from her
husband Menelaus the Greek, in his flight he was driven th
her upon the coast of Egypt & there suspected by Thonis
governour of the place & sent to Proteus at Memphys &
Proteus examining the matter deteined Helena & sent home
Alexander. Then the Greeks demanding her of the Trojans
made war upon Troy thinking that Alexander had carried her
thither. But after the destruction of Troy Menelaus went for
her into Egypt. And to this history saith Herodotus Homer alludes
in mentioning ethe
coast of Sidon before the war & e
into Egypt after it. [Chronologers now make the Trojan war
200 years older then this King, but the chronology of
the Greeks before the Olympiads
trust arguments from synchronisms. Certainly Homer speaks of
Thebes as in its glory & greatness th
& immense riches in the time of the Trojan war, & this de
scription could not agree to Thebes before the days of Se
sostris. Hesiod makes Memnon
Aurora: chwas the son of Laomedon & brother of Priamus & warring in the eastern parts went as far as Ethiopia (that is, was carried captive by Sesostris into
Thebais) whence came the fable of Memnons being born of Aurora. unkle w (Pindar Nem. Ode 1) e
Tithonus & Priamus, King of Troy & by consequence contemporary to e
Trojan warr. And s
war of Troy & there slain by Achilles.Nor did Virgil err in the Greeks taking occasion
making Æneas contemporary to Dido
from the synchronism to frame this story in honour of their
nation. And if Æneas was contemporary to Dido as Virgil makes
him, he
places the taking of Troy in eae
nitus
Ramises sent Memnon abroad with an army. And Proteus might
be contemporary to them both if he was not a
but a Prince or Viceroy set over the lower Egypt by the King.
For he is distinguished from e
his being a Memphite
word of the same signification th
or Princeps in Latine &
to be not the proper name of a man but a title of honour
For had it been a proper name the Greeks would have
retained the Egyptian word without translating it, where
as Herodotus tells us that it
that is a Greek word of the same signification with his name
or title in e& Diodorus tells us that this man's name was Cetes, & some make him a Phœnician. Tzetzes Chil.2. ‡‡Tzetzes Chil. 2. Hist. 44.
Rhampsinitus called by Manetho Rhampses, by Eusebius
Rhamses by Diodorus Remphis by Africanus Rhapsaces by Pliny
Ramises & by Hermapion Ramestes
elder
up wealth & was the richest of all Kings but did nothing
glorious. He gathered in gold & silver talents 400000 talents
an Egyptian talent being two Attic ones that is 120 Attick
pounds. He built the western Portico of the Temple of
Vulcan placing his own Statue before it. Tacitus tells
us that Germanicus Cæsar visiting Egypt to know its anti
quities viewed the great ruins of old Thebes where some
structures remained with Egyptian letters expressing its
ancient wealth & the oldest of the Priests being command
ed to interpret them related that there once dwelt in
it seven hundred thousand of military age & that King
Rhampses with that army reigned over Libya, Ethiopia,
the Medes Persians Bactrians & Scythians & the territories
of the Syrians Armenians Cappadocians & Bithynia &
Lycia from Sea to Sea. The tributes &
nation (in gold silver armour horses ivory & odours for
the Temples & corn & all Vtensils) were also read being
scarce less then magnificent then what the Parthians or
Egypt, plotted to destroy him by inviting him to a festst & setting
fire to the house in the night when he was heavy with wine
& asleep, & having by his wives & concubines many daughters
whom he had married to the sons of Sesostris he commanded
his daughters to kill their husbands the same night. But
Sesostris
fled with his daughters to Rhodes
long ship of 50 oares. This flight was therefore in the
14th or 15th year of Rehoboam. After the pattern of this
ship the Greeks built the ship Argo ch
long ship built by the Greeks. And thence I collect that e
Argonautick expedition was about 25 or 30 years after
the death of Solomon. For it was was in the reign of
Ætes the a
Sun or first Ægyptian king of Colchos.
Sesostris being returned home Artificersbcc Diodor. l. 1
of Egypt the
city built a new Temple to that God ch
worshipped & imploying only captives in these works wrote
upon every Temple that none of the nations were imployed
in building it. He cut ditches from the river Nile into
all the parts of Egypt as high as Memphys for supplying
the cities with water & for carrying to them corn &
other commodities by water & with the earth dug out he
raised the cities higher to defend them
tion of the river. & fortified them. And amongst other cities
it is to be conceived that he built Thebes his royal city
suitable to his conquests, calling it after his fathers name
Ammon-No, tha or No-Ammon,
Heliopolis two Obelisks of 120 cubits inscribing on them the
greatness of his dominion & tribute with the number of the
conquered nations, one of ch
veyed to Rome. He erected his own & his wives statues of 30
cubits & four others of his four sons of 20 cubits & attempted
to cut a navigable ditch from Nile to the Red sea. The statues
were afterwards placed before the Temple of Vulcan at Memphys.
The eastern side of Egypt from Pelusium through the Desert to
Heliopolis by estadia furlongs he fortified with a
wall against the irruptions of the Syrians & Arabians. He built
a ship of Cedar 280 cubits long covered over with gold without
& with silver within & dedicated it to the God ch
chiefly worshipped. The grownd of Egypt (except the portion of
the Priests) he distributed into equal squares among the peop soldiers
who were to hold it by a yearly pension, whence Geometry had its'
rise. He divided Egypt into 36 Nomes & set a Iudge over every no Nome & appointed their laws, ordeining that every artificer should
follow his fathers imployment.
a Mercurio solertiam & consilia didicisse. Ælian. var. hist. Lib. XII. c. 4., & Ama
sis, & that Sasyches made excellent laws relating to the
honour & worship of the Gods & found out Geometry & taught
Astronomy. Sasyches is the same name with Sesach Sesach
& therefore the same king th
of them found out Geometry. As
conquests ab
ever were
when the kings of the conquered nations came into Egypt th
the times appointed, he honoured th treated them with very much
excepting that when he was to enter a Temple or City he ordered
the horses to be taken out of his chariot & four kings to draw in their
room. So Lucan
As Sesostris by his conquests, his triumphs & his magnificence
outdid all other kings, so the Egyptians for his greatness &
factions to them honoured him after his death above all their
kings, erecting Temples to him & worshipping him under the name
of Sirius or Osi O-siris & celebrating his memory with anniver
sary solemnities throughout all Egypt. For the a
us that Osiris built Thebes with an hundred gates & magnifi
cent Temples & golden Altars Ammo
ingenious Artists were in great esteem & in Thebes were
Goldsmiths & Brasiers for making arms & instruments for
husbandry & Images of the Gods & Ggolden Altars, & that he
went through the world with a great army & taught men to
plant vines & sow corn & reduced them from brutish to
civil lives. That there went along with him those that
were skilfull in husbandry as Maro in planting of vines
& Triptolemus in sowing of corn
Ethiopia Arabia & India he built many cities & took care to
have statues himself set up in every place as lasting
monuments of his expedition, that having passed through the
rest of Asia he transported his army through
into Europe & in Thrace killed Lycurgus king of the barba
rians & appointed Triptolemus to till the land in Attica &
where vines would not grow he taught to make drink of barley
& brought back with him into Egypt the most pretious &
richest things that every place did afford.a
the history of Sesostris under the name of Osyris & point
out the time of his reign. For Lycurgus & Triptolemus
lived but one or two generations before the expedition
the Argonauts, Lycurgus a
grandfather of Orpheus & Triptolemus b
of Aidoneus king of the Molossi in Epire, whose daughter
Proserpine Theseus & Perithons attempted to steale away.
others make him still older but by his being contemporary
to Lycurgus & Triptolemus he lived but two or three genera
tions before the Trojan was & so could be no other then Sesos
tris. For all agree that Sesostris was older then the Trojan war.
Some make Io the sister of Phoroneus to be the Egyptians Isis, others
say that Iupiter begat Apis Serapis or Osiris of Niobe the daughter
of Phoroneus, others that Apis was the brother of Niobe & son of
Phoroneus. Which fictions
of Osiris & Isis with Io, Niobe & her children & by consequence
with David Solomon & Rehoboam or some of them.
Osiris a
arms, using rather music & verses by chbbMusic
jollity & took great pleasure in music & dancing & carried
along with him a train of Musitians of whom nine were
virgins & excellent singers & skilled in the liberal sci
ences (whom the Greeks called Muses) of whom Apollo (who
accompanied Osiris in this expedition) was captain being
thence called
skilled in dancing or naturally inclined to skipping &
dancing & singing & other sorts of mirth were taken in
as part of his army under the command of Panbthe Ethiopians. For camongst whom enter battel with
the Thebans sometimes recconed)
dancing & no Ethiopian emits a dart untill he hath
danced & by dancing struck terror into his enemy.cWhence .
probably came the proverb of Panicus terrord
the Metropolis of Ethiopia were Hercules, Pan, & Isis d
Sesostris was worship
had reigned in that city before him, so the Egyptians dedicated the
city it self to Ammon calling it No-Ammon & Ammon-No, that is
the city of Ammon, or, as the seventy render eDiospolis, the
city of Iupiter Ammon. This city therefore being the royal seat
of Ammon grew great in his days, tho
sumptuously. a
royal cities & kingdoms: David built Ierusalem, Hiram Tyre, & Ammon
& Sesak Thebes, & at the same time Rezon erected a new kingdom
at Damascus. For when David
& slew the Syrians of Damascus who came to assist him, Rezon fled
from his lord Hadad-ezer & gathering a band of men became their
captain & went & reigned in Damascus over Syria. He is called
Hezion
Ben-hadad, Hazael, Ben-hadad, * * Rezen. In the reign of
Rezen Ben-hadad Tiglathpulaser captivated the Syrians & put an
end to eBenhadad & Hazael for enlarging the kingdom
& adorning Damascus with new Temples were deified by the Syrians.For Iosephus tells us that the Syrians till his days worshipped both Adar (that is Adad or Benadad) & his successor Hazael as Gods for their benefactions & for building Temples by w. Iustinch& saith
that ewas d from him & that in honour of him the
Syrians worshipped his wife Arathes as a Goddes, using her
Sepulchre for a Temple. ✝ appears that
the eastern nations of those ages deified such of their kings
as were conquerors & benefactors & founders of royal cities
therefore since Ammon & Sesostris were such kings of Egypt &
Sesostris in the largeness of his conquests & benefactions exceeded
all that kings that ever were: we need not wonder if the Egyptians
worshipped these two above all the
be that God the great God Osiris whom they chiefly worshipped.
For since they did not worship him by the name of Osiris Sesostris
or Sesak,
by another name & the chief of them.
Sesostris having det
Egypt by cutting new canals, the Egyptians consecrated that river
to him & worshipped him & the river together & called them
both by the same names. So Homer calls that river Ægyptus, &
Manetho tells us that Sethosis was called Ægyptus. Also the River
was called Sihor, Siris & O-siris; & the king was called Siris
or Sirius & by the Greeks O-siris. Afterwards from the word
For Diodorus tells us that Nilus was that king who cut Egypt into
canals to make the River more usefull. Cicero makes Nilus e
father of Mercury, Minerva, Vulcan & Bacchus. But he was
rather Bacchus himself.
For several nations worshipped Sesostris by several names.
And as the Egyptians worshipped him by the name of Osiris so e
Arabians worshipped him by the name of Bacchus. For Bacchus
is generally accounted – – – –
As the Egyptians worshipped Sesostris by the name of Osiris
so the Arabians worshipped him by the name of Bacchus
For Bacchus is generally accounted one & the same God with
Osiris. So Herodotus:Osiris in the . And again: All the Egyptians do not worship the same Gods except Isis & Osiris whom they affirm to be Bacchus. And Diodorus:Some of y ecall Osiris Dionysus & sirname him Sirius & particularly Eumolpus & Orpheus call him Dionysus. And again: The Egyptians interpret Osiris to be b Bacchus & Iris Ceres. And again: TheEgyptians say that Orpheus brought over most of the religious rites & ceremonies concerning the celebration of the Orgia & fable of Hell, for that the ceremonies of & rites of Osiris agree in every thing with those of Bacchus, & those of Isis & Ceres are the same, differing in nothing but the name. So also
PlutarchBacchus is no other then Osiris, & that Anticlides saith that Isis was the daughter of Prometheus & , and that wife21r wife of BacchusIvy w.chch
That Bacchus & Osiris are the same appears further
by the agreement of their history. For this a& Diodor. l. 3 Apollodor. l. 3. c.5. Eurip. in Bacchis Strab. Geogr. l. 3. p. 171
his armies went through Egypt Syria Phrygia Thrace & e
Lycurgus in Thrace & leaving pillars there & in the th
inscriptions returned back to Thebesaystowards India bbe
they kept a rope till the days of Pausanias twisted of vine &
ivy branches wherewith he tyed the bridge bc
not the son of Semele was enterteined in Attica by Semachus
in the reign of Amphycd
was built a Temple in Attica thchvessels statues of Amphictyon enterteining Bacchus & other Gods
of Pegasus who taught the worship of Bacchus in Attica
by authority of the Delphic Oracle ch
coming in the days of Icariusde
worshipped in Attica was not the son of Semele but another
Bacchus whom the Athenians reputed the son of Iupiter
& Proserpinaef
plow with Oxen when men before tilled the ground with
their own handy labours, & invented many other things
useful in the art of husbandry, for chadored by all as a G by all adored as a God with divine
worship & solemn sacrifices.fg
his daughter Erigona he gave them a vessel of wine con
manding that they should impart it to
Icarus carried it in a cart to e
they drinking till they were drunk took it for poison &
slew Icarius whereupon Erigone hanged herself, & the Athe
nians honoured them with an anniversary festival.g
hish
by Pan & with Musick & the nine Musesh
called
these things & of the n
the Bacchinalia were instituted. Fork
weomen adorned with Garlands of flowers & armed with
launces & darts with ch
assaulted & slew the kings who were ignorant of the
stratagem & despised them because they were ignorant
Strabole
Apollo & the Muses & ascribed to them the Orgia & Cho
ruses & sacred initiations & mysteries, calling Bacchus the Prince
of the mysteries, that in Thrace ch
the Muses were originally celebrated, Pieria, Olympus, Pimpla
secrated to the Muses by the Thracians of Bœotia, & the
Europeans who first cultivated the ancient music, Orpheus
Musæus, & Thamyris
Asia as far as India was consecrated to Bacchus a great
part of the ancient Music was brought from thencel
When Bacchus was come over the Hellespont with some
part of his army, Lycurgus above mentioned who was king
of some part of Thrace slew them treacherously in the
night & Bacchus by the information of Tharops grand
father of Orpheus escaping brought over his whole
army, slew Lycurgus & gave his kingdom to Tharops
& one of the nine Singsters he gave to Oeagrus the
son of Tharops. For Orpheus was the son of Oea
grus & Calliope the chief of the Muses. And hence it
came to pass that Orpheus became so skilfull in
Music d
& sciences & travelled into Egypt being an Egyptian
by the mothers side & that he brought with him
out of Egypt the Orgia & mysteries of Bacchus the
benefactor of his family & spread them in Thrace
under the colour of worshipping the son of Semele.
And by the like occasion Linus became famous for
Music being the son of one of the Muses or as some
say the son of Apollo.
So them Bacchus Apollo & the Muses were but one
generation older then Oprheus & Linus, & therefore Bacchus
was contemporary to Osiris & Sesostris.
All three were Egyptians &
over Egypt. All three
were & conquered the
All three passed over the Hellespont T
in danger of losing their army. All three subdued Thrace
& put an end to their progress & returned back from
thence into Egypt. All three left Pillars with inscriptions
in their conquests. &
racters can agree to more persons then one. Add that
all three were the sons of Ammon: for the Greeks reccon
Osiris & Bacchus to be the sons of Iupiter & the Egyptian
name of Iupiter is Ammon. And Thymætes who was con
temporary to Orpheus & wrote a Poesy called Phrygia of
expresly that the father of Bacchus was Ammon a king
reigning over part of Libya.
Thymætesa saith further that 200 of the soldiers of
Bacchus were bred up with him, ch
Sesostris; that he had in his army Libyans & Amazons
who were both warriors & virgins & followed him for the
sake of Minerva; that Minerva was born at e
in Libya & minded the same cous
being a virgin all her life & that in the war against the
Titans Bacchus commanded the men & Minerva the weomen.
Diodorus b
neare the Morass or Fen Tritonides into ch
Triton runs, & there was also the country of the Gorgons was
also thereb
Diodorus says further
Amazons she raised an army 30000 foot & 2000 horse &
conquered the neighbouring Atlantides & Gorgons with a great part
of Afric & passing into Egypt made a league with Orus the son of
Isis who then reigned there & then made war upon the Arabians
& destroyed many of them & afterwards subdued Syria & Cilicia,
& having conquered the nations about mount Taurus she descended
through the greater Phrygia to the Mediterranean & possest her
self of several Islands amongst chshe was overcome in battel
under the conduct of Sipýlus a Scythian & Mompsus a Thracian
whom Lycurgus king of Thrace had banished, she was overcome
in battel & slain with many of the Amazons, & the rest
after some other foiles retired into Libya. By the progress
of this army & their king contemporary to Orus & Lycurgus
it's plain that these weomen were the Mænades who warred
under Bacchus ,& thee
don tells us that they dwelt originally
over the Atlantides a potent nation & being vic invading their neighbours conquered as far as Europe & built many cities there. f
Marthesia & Lampeto who called themselves daughters of Mars
& conquered part of Europe & some cities of Asia & having
there built Ephesus & many other cities sent back part of
their army to Thermodon with great booty: that Marthesia
being afterwards slain was succeeded by her daughter Orithya
& that when Orithya & her sister Antiope reigned over the
Amazons, Hercules
in Europe & Asia & the their setling at Thermodon were
but one generation before that war of Hercules &
the wars of Bacchus & they were part of his army.
When a
Argos & was beaten by the forces of Perseus the son of Danae
who slew many of the Menades. They had a common monument
except one of them called Choria, who being more honourable
the ea
victory of Perseus over the Gorgons for ch
brated in antiquity & in memory of ch
in his shield. rb
to Bacchus & built a temple to him at Argos ch
afterwards called the Cre(or Cretans) Temple because
he buried Aradne thereb/ c
taken many of the Islands called Cyclades & in one of them
called Dia or Naxus c
children by her. Whence that Island became sacred to
Bacchus, & some reccon that Bacchus out of India triumphed
in that Island.d
a Temple to Perseus. For in Thebais there was a Temple
built to Perseus with the statue of Perseus in itee Herod l. 2.
days not long before some years before
Cephe
They tell us that Bacchus built a city called Nysa on the
side of the mountain Merus & planted the mountain with ivy ch
where Nysa stood is uncertain. Some place it in India neare the
river Indus, others in Libya, others in Ethiopia but most in Arabia
& Homer in that part of Arabia between Syria & Egypt, ch
probable because they feign that he was born in Nysa, that is, came
from thence to perform conquests. So because Pallas was raised
to honour by the will & pleasure of Ammon & Bacchus, they
feigned that she was born of Iupiters brain & because Venus
came by the sea to Cyprus where she grew famous & was deified
they feigned that she was born of the sea.
When the Arabians would express their admiration
of any thing extraordinary they f say Bacche, Bacche that is g
city Nysa they formed the name Dionysus the Du & in
the oblir
Pocock has informed us. They had only two Gods Bacchus & Vrania.
Africanus has given us a list of seven kings of the
Chaldesch
is Euechous. This name differs so little from Bacchus that I suspect
these kings reigned in a colony planted there by him. For Bacchus
left colonies in several places to govern secure & govern his conquests. being was
by a Dynasty of six Arabian the last of ch
in the 27th year of his reign united the kingdom of Babylonians to
that of the Assyrians This Africanus tells us ( The names of these kings
Africanus gives us (if I mistake not) from Berosus. If this Assyrian Belus, who
conquered Babylonia was the father of Ninus, that is, he who
ing his neighbours began to erect the Assyrian Empire as we shewed
above; the Assyrian Belus must be Pul;: & thus there will be about
220 years from the 5t or 6t year of Rehoboam when Bacchus
invaded Asia, to the 26 year of Belus; which interval is a rea
sonable length of time for the reign of these 13 kings. For
allowing them one with another a reign of 17 years a piece
their whole reign will amount to 221 years.
Bishop Vsser takes this Euechous to be Be the great God Bel
of the Babylonians, & not without reason. For Babylonia was inhabited by Arabians & the great Arabians had only two Gods, Bacchus &
Vrania. And further, bbPausan l 4. c. 23 p. 337.who built S ctells us that the Egyptians report that many colonies out of Egypt were disperst over all parts of the world & that Belus . When colonies out of Egypt who is reputed the son of Neptune & Libya (as he is reputed) led a colony into the Province of Babylon & fixing his seat at the river Euphrates consecrated Priests & according to the custome of the Egyptians freed them from all public taxes & impositions. These Priests the Babylonians call Chaldeans who observe the motions of the stars in imitation of the Priests Naturalists & Astrologers of Egypt
were disperst into all parts of the world, then was thi
ans placed in Babylonia, by Belus
monarchy of Egypt & then by Belus an Assyrian in founding
the monarchy of Assyria. Of the first Belus, Strabo makes this mention:
hic fuit sideralis scientiæ.
opus antiquissimum, sapientissimi filij Beli, non, ut Herodotus, Se
miramidis. Hac enim erat antiquior duo millia annorum, ut He
rennius prodidit.
the Assyrian Belus: the Babylonian Belus was much older, the
the interval of time being her magnified to 2000 years. By his
being the inventor of Astronomy he lived in the ages of Ammon
& his sons, & by his placing a colony of Egyptians at Babylon, &
freeing them from taxes & forming their government after the
manner of Egypt, he was king of Egypt & Babylonia was a
province of his kingdom; all which is the character of Bacchus
When Bacchus invaded the nations he found them without swords
& other weapons of iron, ch
found out brass in Bœotia & then the Idæi Dactyli found out iron in Crete in
the mountain Ida. The Marble makes them contemporary to Minos. Clemensaa Strom. l. 1. p. 306.
tells us that they were reputed the first wise men & Phrygians & Barbarians
& the first wise men & found out the Ephesian letters & Rhymes in Music
whence Musitians called them Dactyli. Hebbib. p. 335.
of Deucalion & expedition of Perseus. Theycc Lucret. l. 2. Strabo. l. 10
their heads & striking brass upon brass in harmony. Solinus Polyistor c XI tells us:
nitu æris deprehensos in versificum ordinem transtulissent.ch
lived about the time that Bacchus brought Music & Poetry into Europe &
derived their wisdom & skill from Egypt.
began to make armour in Lemnos under the di management of a Master
whom the Europea nations
rary to Osiris & governed a colony of Egyptians at mount Caucasus
taught the people there Astronomy & letters & to build houses in the
rome of caves & dens in ch
chariots th
out of e
also the people of Libya were without weapons of iron till the Egyp
tians invaded them. For Pliny tells us: Prælium Afri primum fecere contra Ægyptios fustibus quos vocant Phalangas.Afri & Ægyptij primum fustibus dimicaverunt, postea Belus Neptuni filius gladio belligeratus est a quo bellum dictum.th
swords & spears invaded the unarmed nations & by that means carried
his conquests over the world, & therefore he was the same king th
This is the great Iupiter Belus of the east, for whom Vulcan & his work
men made thunderbolts, that is weapons of war, & who is figured with a
thunderbolt in one hand to represent him a king, & rides on an eagle to represent the
sublimity of his dominion. He was feigned to be the son of Neptune &
Libya to signify his valour & that he came from Libya to conquer the East.
And to this Iupiter Belus was the famous temple erected at Babylon.
When Bacchus came from India into e
invaded the Islands of e
into the Hellespont for passing over into Europe, he took
Ariadne from Theseus as above. If we may suppose this to
be about 11 or 12 years after the death of Solomon & that
Theseus was then about 20 year or 21 years old being a
beardless youth & that when he was 50 years old he stole
Helena a child 10 years old asaIside Theseo. Diodor. l. 4. c. 4.
stole her 20 years before the last year of the Trojan
war as Homerb
was about 18 or 20 years old: the taking of Troy will
be about 72 years after the death of Solomon as above.
And if we may further suppose that M
born 23
he was about 49
geus overcame at the Panathenæa & was slain by the
Athenians & that four or five years more were spent
in the war between Minos & the Athenians before matters
were agreed & ei
thrice to the Minotaur before Theseus overcame him, the e23 rd year
we placed it above.
Considering that Bacchus came over the Hellespont before
Oeagrus begat Orpheus of Calliope eaPrx
Orpheus eas
20 or 24 years old & that it was not above so many years
before the Greeks built the ship Argo after the pattern of
the long ship in ch
nautic expedition will be about 35 or 40 years after
the death of Solomon. And from thence to the taking of Troy
will be about 30 or 35 years more, whereof 20 or 21 passed
between the stealing of Helena & the taking of that city, &
before the stealing of Helena Hercules sackt Troy & took
away Helena Hesione & Priam sent a fruitless embassy into
Greece to demand satisfaction & built the walls of Troy &
Hesione bare Teucer who went with the Greeks against Troy.
Since Bacchus came into Europe in the days of Amphictyion
the son of Deucalion & in the beginning of the reign of
Theseus: it discovers to us the occasion of uniting first the
twelve cities of Attica into one polity under the Athens by
Theseus & then Athens & many other
under the Amphictyonic Council. I know that in the series
of the Kings of Athens Amphictyon is made some generations
older then Theseus: but that series is with me of not great
credit. Athens is Before the reign of Theseus Athens was
not the Metr
reigned is uncertain. Some of them might be contemporary
some of them only several names of the same king: And
whether Amphictyon was a king may be doubted. The name
might be given him only from he
for all the Senators were called Amphictyons. This Council
met every half year in spring & in autumn at Delphos &
Thermopylæ alternately & was instituted by Acrisius the
grandfather of Perseus & king of Argos. When Acrisi
us went from Argos into the regions of Thessaly where they
say he was accidentally killed by Perseus, it is to be under
stood that he went from Argos not to avoyd Perseus as
they suppose but to convene the nations of Greece for
their common safety against Sesostris, & that he then
advised & formed this Council & by their advice & assistance
raised the army thch&
Egyptians & slew many of the Mænades.
Bacchus for his warlike achievements was so much
celebrated by the ancients as to be accounted the God of war. Plericognominantur; quod est inter propria Martis nomina. Colitur etiam apud Lacedemonios simulachrum Liberi patris hasta insigne non thyrso, sed et cum thyrsum tenet quid aliud quam latens telum gerit cujus mucro hedera lambente protegitur. – Hinc etiam Liber pater bellorum potens probatur quod eum primum ediderunt authorem triumphi.
of Sesostris was made with a speare & accordingly as the
spear was covered or not covered with ivy they called
him Bacchus or Mars. As the God of war he was first originaly chiefly
Mars Thracius vel Iupiter Creticus, & Arnobius
Epicarmus vester? quis in Thraciæ finibus procreatum, nonne Sophocles Atticus, cunctis
consentientibus theatris?
lain together.
Amongst the weomen loved by Bacchus the most famous
was Venus. Alexander a
in love with Venus & Ariadne, & bc
was reputed the son of Bacchus & Venus Others tell us that were the only Gods worshipped by the Arabians.
these two
Others celebrate the loves of Mars & Venus. d
represents tha Bacchus crowned with Mirtle ch
the plant of Venus. es that Venus lay th
Bacchus till he undertook his expedition into India & that th
head & put another crown on his. I had rather say that
she lay with him in PhrygiaGreece till he returned
from his expedition & thensailed to Cyprus &perhaps when he went over the Hellespont sailed to Cythara & thence to Cyprus & upon his returning through Syria into Egypt
Mirtle one upon her own head & another chFor Mars For first
from the Island Lemnosf
vers to us that the Cyprian Venus was the daughter of Otreus
king of Phrygia, that her nurse was a Trojan & thereby she
understood both languages the Phrygian & the Trojan, that her proper
name was Calycopis & that she first lay with Anchises a heards
man of Troy upon mount Ida & by him had Æneas; Then
her & paid a dowry for her to her father & suspecting her fidelity
feigned a voyage to Lemnos & returning home unexpectedly feigned caught Mars in bed with her. Then Vulcan
a voyage to Lemnos
thought of returning her to her father & demanding back her
dowry, but when the matter was otherwise composed Mars went
presently with force over the Hellespont into Thrace & Venus
sailed in rich apparel to Cyprus & landed at Paphus were she
was washed & annointed by her weomen called the Graces & lived
splendidly in costly apparel adorned with gold.f
she sailed first to Cytharag
& Crete. After
married Aglaia the youngest of the three Graces attending on her.
✝ Clemens Alexandrinus athafter
beingthto y
ously & lay thFor
king of Cyprus & answers in all respects to Vulcan. For he Panysis calls him Thoas king of b
Hesiod calls him Phœnix the father of Adonis,e
Assyrians & Antonius Liberalis calls him Theias the son of Belus & saith that he
went from Cylicia& Antonius
of Adonis was born in Libya Libanus.
– – – This Venus lived also ab
an inventor of arts & found out Tiles & Copper in Cyprus and b
in making armour & other things. For when the Greeks were
preparing for the war against Troy, he c
a breastplate. By his arts he became d
rich as to occasion the e
He lived fg g & entirely g
& as an Artist in Music hth
therefore he flourished from the time that Apollo & Osiris
invaded the nations till the times of e
that when the Egyptians took Cyprus his family could not
but fall into the hands of the conqueror. For i
married foreigners &i
Cinyras by means of Venus seems to have received
great favours of Bacchus For a
him, the region about Tyre & gave the city Byblus to her sister Dionegave the city Byblus in Syria to the Goddess & thereby ā to Διωνηb
Byblus c
Adonis. And in recompense for such favours d
herd
Venus, and ech
he ef
Priest or Pontifex maximus & thence this Venus was called
Paphia & her g
they were of the posterity of Cinyras, & in h
Cinyras & his posterity were buried. This Temple icopied
or Asteroth the
as i
of the froth of the sea. Fama tradit a Cynera consecratum vetustissimum Paphiæ Veneris templum deam, Tacit. Hist. 2 p. 338.
lustfull Orgia instituted in her worship its plain that she
& Bacchus were worshipped together & therefore she was
his mistress. &k
Venus at Cyprus lth
I gather that this Venus followed Bacchus amongst his
armed weomen. There m
Amathus That a very old city of Cyprus so called from
Amathusa the mother of Cinyras. In this City n
Osiris was worshipped whom n
Cyprians & Phenicians chalenged as their own. Venus was
therefore worshipped here with the Egyptian God Adonis Osiris
& from this temple called Venus Amathusia. The like worship
Temple erected to her at Byblus the royal city of Ciny
was, whence she was called Venus Byblia. For Lucian
tells us that he saw at Byblus a great Temple of Venus
Byblia in ch
the manner of the worship of Apis in Egypt, lamenting
his death & shaving themselves at his resurrection & some
of Byblus say that Osiris was buried there & that this
mourning was performed not to Adonis but to Osiris &
confirm it with this circumstance that the head of Osiris
was yearly brought out of Egypt to Byblus by sea being
made of Egyptian papyr. Lucian adds that he went a days
journey from Byblus up
another old Temple of Venus chCyne Cinyras had
dedicated. Cinyras therefore set on foot her worship
as well in Syria as in Cyprus, & thence it came to pass
that she was worshipped principally in those two places,
& called Dea Syria as well as Dea Cypria. And while
she was worshipped in conjunction with Osiris it shews
him to be the Mars with whom she lay.
Cinyras being an inventor of Arts & an eminent Artificer
in the fire & making armour & other works for those Princes
who were his friends answers in all things
the ancients. Vulcan was contemporary to Bacchus Pallas &
the other Gods & therefore also to Cinyras.
arts by fire in Lemnos & made armour there, whence
it's probable that he fled thither when took his
kingdominvaded
fall from heaven ✝
✝Panysis p
Apollodorus p
Cyprus & there built Paphus. But he was rather a Phœnician,
Hesiod pq
him Theias the son of Belus & saith that his daughter Smy
mother of Adonis was born in Libanus, rs
reigned in Libanus till Sesostris invaded Phœnicia & then to have fled to
Lemnos & married Venus in Phrygia, & afterwards
have returned back to his kingdom. For he trusted Vulcan trusted none of the Gods
the Gods except Bacchus bAttic. l. 1. c. 20.
& who when he had made him drunk with wine redu
ced him back into heaven, that is into restored him to his
kingdom. In Lemnos there were only two cities ch& Myrina so called from Hephæstus the Greek name of
Vulcan & Myrrha the daughter of Cinyras & thence the
Island was called
three weomen who attended on Venus in Cyprus & were called
the Graces became Vulcans wife & therefore he
with Venus in Cyprus chCyni Cinyras.
Pindarthe applauses discourses of the inhabitants of Cyprus resounded ap bout Cyinyras whom Apollo loved extreamly & who was the chief Priest of Venus as a Ram is the captain of the flock, & that they were impelled thus to celebrate him . He out29r out of gratitude for the benefits they had received of him
being therefore king of Cyprus & part of Phenicia & in so
great esteem & honour among them for his benefactions:
tis not to be doubted but that after his death his friends
& subjects deified him according to the custome of that age. He ha In several respects he had several names.
skill on the harp he was called Cinyras; from his skill in works by fire
Baal-Cana, Volcanus, the God of Canaan.
Diodoruswhen Osiris undertook his expedition through the world he left the government of Egypt to Isis his wife & joyned with her Mercury his sacred Scribe or Secretary as chief chancellour Councellour of state. Hercules his neare kinsman a man of a strong body & great courage he left General of all his forces & the government of his territories neare Phœnicia & on the sea coasts of Egypt he committed to Busiris & that of Ethiopia & Libya to Antæus. This is the Libyan or western Ethiopia, the Ara
bic or eastern Ethiopia being under
Hercules. Antæus here seems to be the same man with
Atlas the Astronomer & Grandfather of Mercury. Both
were Egyptians both were a
reigned over Libya, both invaded Egypt, both were overcome
by Hercules the Egyptian Hercules & therefore lived at
the same time. And even the names agree. Antæus Hatal signifies
false & Hatal
ech
Neptune. For a
thence his worship was propagated into other countries
an Egyptian by birth being the brother of Iupiter & Pluto.
His name Neptune is Egyptian signifying a Lord of the sea
coasts. For the bsea earth & promontories
& whatever borders upon the sea the Egyptians called Nephtysthys. c
οἶδενHe knows all the depths of all the seas, which
to call him Neptune. fd
Atlas was the first that built a ship & sailed upon the seas
he should say the first that
had the dominion of the Egyptian Seas e Cretans e4
that Neptune was the first that began to handle sea affairs & set out a Fleet having obteined this Prefecture of Saturn whence posterity recconed things done in the sea to be under his . By Saturn government30r government and marriners honoured him with sacrifices
I understand here the father of Iupiter Neptune & Pluto. In
all the sea coasts of Egypt from Ioppa in Palestine to Paræto
nium in Africa for the space of 625 miles there was not
one safe harbour to be found except Pharus. At Paræto
nium was a very good harbour & from thence along the sea
coasts of Cyrene (including Marmorica) were several other
good ones & there Bochart & Arias Montanus place the
Naphtuhim a people sprung from Mizraim Gen. 10,13,
& Ptolemy the Gardens of the Hesperides or kingdom of
Atlas. Stephanus b tells us that this region had many names
as Libya properly so called, Olympia, Oceania, Hesperia,
Ammonis, Cyrene. Its probable that the it had e
peria from its bordering westward on Egypt, & the name Ocea
nia from its being a long & narrow tract of land bordering
on the Sea & being fitted with good harbours. The names
Naphtuhim Hesperia & Oceania discover it to be the king
dom of Neptune. Cyrene was famous for the management
& bred of good horses.Thence the Greeks learnt to joyn
four horses to a chariot. And Neptune was celebrated for
horsmanship.Equestrum Neptunum (Poeta) vocat non ex præsenti occasione sed quia Neptunus Libyes docuit equos curri. So Pallas
coming from the river Triton in Cyrene was also called equestris.& the Amazons were called Equestresa
The inventor of horses & of tall ships with sails.
Typhon is another name of Antæus
an the brother of Osiris & husband a
ted by the Egyptians a
of Egypt ab
They said that cch
lated with the land of Egypt signified by Isis & by
into the sea & being dissipated therein, perished by Typhon
And in the war between the Gods & Giants Neptune &
Atlas are sometimes put for Typhon as where d
makes Atlas the c
the Gods, & where e
fables tells the fight of Sol & Neptune, & where f
tharcides tells how the Gods of Egypt fled from the Gyants
till the Titans came in & saved them by putting Neptune
to flight. And as Atlas was celebrated for Astronomy
so some g
So then the great Gods of Egypt, t
Isis, Typhon, Apollo, Diana, Mercury, Latona, Minerva,
Pan, Hercules, Venus, Vulcan, Bacchus, Neptune &c were
the Princes of Egypt in the reign of Ammon & Sesostris
when the Monarchy of Egypt was erected & in its
Then it came in fashion in Greece & other nations parentare
dead fathers with festivals & sacrifices offered to their
ghosts & to erect magnificent sepulchres in the form of
Temples with Altars & Statues to persons of renown &
there to honour them with sacrifices. Every man might
do it to his ancestors & the Greeks did it to all the
eminent Grecians, as to Hercules the son of Alemena,
Bacchus the son of Semele, Pan the son of Penelope,
Æsculapius the son of Apollo, Machaon the son of Æscu
lapius, Palemocrates the son of Machaon, Theseus king
of Athens, Hippolytus the son of Theseus, Amphiaraus eson
Amphilochus the son of Amphiaraus, Hector & Alexan
der
Ajax, Aga
memnon, Menelaus, Castor, Pollux, Hellena,
Arcas, Perseus, Pandion, Minos,
Proserpina, C Triptolemus, Celeus, Ino, Melampus, Brito
martis, Adrastus, Iolaus, Agraulis
deified their dead in various manners according to their
various circumstances & abilities & the merits of the persons,
some only in private families as houshold Gods
erecting Altars to them in publick for annual sacrifices,
others by building also to them & some by appointing
also mysteries & ceremonies & set sacrifices & festivals & initiations &
a succession of Priests for observing & performing those institutions fashion
men founded upon the doctrine of Dæmons or Transmigration
of souls the Greeks & Asiaticks had from the Egyptians, &
Phenicians‡& Be
For the countries upon the Nile & Trigris being exceeding fertile were first frequented
by mankind & first grewing into bod populous & & kingdoms & therefore first began to adore their kings. But every kingdom wor
shipping only it own kings his conquests & dominion
worshipp of econquests Empire conquests
& universal then the Gods of Greece or any other nation so as to be called
Egypt much more famous & much more universally worshipped
then those of Greece or any other nation, so as to be called Dij magni majorum gentium.
built the cities of Egypt: for Sesostris built them upon new
foundations raised higher then the former, as you heard above.
He built them by the hands of his Princes, & Herodotus tells
us that of all the Provinces of the world there were in Egypt32r Egypt alone many cities built by the ancient Gods as by Iupiter, Sol, Hermes, Apollo, Pan, Eilithyia & many others
These were the Gods to whom who up
who sat together in Council & feasted together, the Gods to
whom Vulcan shewed Mars & Venus, a
of Osiris fled from Typhon & fro
together with Osiris & were the great men of his kingdom.
These were Ilus & his companions whom the Phenicians called
Eloim as Sanchoniatho affirms who describes Orus to be the
son, Atlas the brother, Venus the concubine, & Mercury Trismegist
the secretary of Ilus, & t
gave the kingdom of Attica to Minerva. Lucian an Assyrian
who had viewed the Temples of Egypt Phenicia & Assyria,
accounted the Temples of Egypt very old, those in Phœnicia
built by Cinyras & some others as old & 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 & that the Monarchy of Egypt rose up
when the temples of Phenicia & Cyprus were built by Ciny
ras, & by Hiram e
Temples, was occasioned by the rise
ras, Hiram & the Philistims, & of eDamascus & Assyria.
In three of the Dynasties of Manetho above mentioned
Sesostris is said to have reigned 48 years. During his
reign there were great vexations upon all the inhabitants
of the countries & nation was destroyed of nation & city
of city, for God did vex them with all adversity. But in
the reign of Asa king of Iudah the land was quiet ten
years untill Zera the Ethiopian came against it. And
in those ten years Asa so
fied the cities of Iudah & prepared an army of five hun
dred thousand & eighty thousand men thchth year
of his reign he met & fought Zera 2 Chron. 14.1, 6, 8, 9 &
15.5, 6, 10. The lands were therefore vexed untill the
fift year of Asa & then began to revolt, that is at e
death of Sesostris. For Herodotus tells us that Sesostris
was the only king that enjoyed the empire. Vpon his death
Egypt fell into civil wars as shall presently be explained
& these wars set Asa at liberty to fortefy the cities of
Iudah. th year
of Solomon & warred till the 14th year of Rehoboam, and
there till the ch
more, ch
in building the c
other great works. Whence it follows that he was
the brother of Solomon's Queen. For since he con
quered
time he may be recconed above 25 years old when he
began to reign & so was about the age of Solomon's
spouse & her little sister who had no breasts & therefore
was a child.
He was slain in autumn, being murderedsaith Dio
dorus, by his wicked brother Typhon who mangled his body into many pieces & gave to each of his confederates a piece in the treason a piece by that means to bring them all in . Then Typhon invaded th-in
Egypt th
fled & by the advice of Minerva sent for Hercules
coming
famous war between the Gods of Egypt & the Gyants so
much celebrated by the Poets, in ch
to fly from Typhon & hide themselves in various shapes efly from have many heads
& hands to signify that they were not single persons but bodies politic or Squadrons & Batalions of Typhons army.thWith respect to this war Diodorus Diodor. l. 9. c.mentionsthat the inhabitants of interior Africa once making an impression upon Egypt caused a great part of y. AndeHigynusAfri et Egyptij primum fustibus dimicaverunt: postea Belus Neptuni filius gladio belligeratus est unde bellum dictum.
Ethiopians used clubs till the times of the Roman Empire
& its probable that emore generally
till Belus that is Amenoph whom the Greeks call Memnon
taught them the use of swords. Hence Hercules who
reigned over Chus is painted with a Club.
In this war Orus f Orus & Hercules with the other Gods f
Antæa from Typhon's name Antæus & took him prisoner. And to this action Ovid relates when he makes Hercules say
Then did Isis & Orus take upon them the government of
Egypt, but Isis afterwards let go Typhon whereupon followed
another battel or two in ch
But after 13 months he was set at liberty by Mercury,
the wife of Typon shewing him where Hercules was
in fetters. And then Mercury interceding composed the
war & in memory thereof is painted with an Embassadors
rod written about with two serpents ch
two contending nations reconciled by his embassy. The
composition was by sharing the kingdom among the brothers
of Osiris so that Typhon
of Libya, Hercules his government of Chus & other their
several
of Egypt. This I gather from the tradition
related by Diodorus from the tradition of the Atlantij
colony of Egyptians in a rich soile of Libya not far from the
river Triton, & the most civilized people of those parts.
These Atlantijin their amongst them & that their first king was Vranus
[for so they called Ammon] who caused the people who till
then wandered up & down to live in towns & cities & reducing
them from a lawless & salvage course of life taught them
to use & lay up the ripe fruits of the earth & found out
divers other things usefull things & being much addicted to the
observation of the starrs he was reputed able to predict
things. He measured the year by the course of the Sun &
the months by the course of the Moon & divided the day
into houres & was well acquainted with the risings & settings
of the stars & other things happening in the heavens, &
therefore after death they by reason of his merits & art
in astronomy they honoured him as a God & called him the
king of the Vniverse. He had 45 children by several wives
of ch
were Basilea [i. e. Isis] & Rhea by some called Pandora.
Basilea being older & more prudent then the rest nurst up
death of Vranus she was made Queen & married her brother
Hyperion [i. e. Osiris] by whom she had two children Helios
& Selene [i. e. Apollo & Diana or Orus & Bubaste] But her
brothers entering into a conspiracy assassinated Hyperion &
drowned Helio in Eridanus [i. e. the Nile] whereupon Selene
threw herself down from the house top & Basilea went
distracted & disappeared. – After the death of Hyperion
the children of Cal Vranus divided the kingdom amongst
themselves. The most renouned of them were Atlas & Sa
turn &
Atlas. From him the Atlan
had their name. He was an excellent Astronomer & was
the first that discovered the knowledge of the sf
– His brother Saturn was very prophane & covetous. He
reigned over Sicily Africa & Italy & enlarged his domi
nion over the western parts of the world. He married
his sister Rhea & by her had Iupiter [i. e. Amep
or Memnon] who was just & courteous & succeeded in the
kingdom either as given up to him by his father or set
upon the throne by the people out of hatred to his father.
And tho Saturn afterwards by the Titans made war upon
him yet Iupiter overcame in battel & so gained the king
dom, & afterwards ran through the whole world doing
good to all mankind. And because he was of a strong
body & vertuous mind he easily conquered the whole
world. &
him with this honour that he was unanimously by all
placed in the highest heavens & called a God & supreme
Lord of the earth. Thus far the Theology of the
Atlantides; for understanding ch
several nations had several Iupiters, & whoever was
Iupiter his father, grandfather & great-grandfather were
Saturn Vranus & Hypsuranius respectively. So the Iupiter
of the Atlantides being Memnon their Saturn & Vranus
were the father & grand father of Memnon whom the
Egyptians called Iupiter & Hercules & Ammon. And this
confusion of names has much obscured the history of those
times.
Orus the son & successor of Osiris is by Diodorus called
Sesostris the second by Pliny Nuncoreus {a name perhaps compounded
of Orus) & by Herodotus Phero that is Pharaoh the common name
an hundred cubits long & eight broad one of ch
to Rome by Caius. He is said to have fallen blind & recovered
his sight by such miracles as make that part of his story
look fabulous. He made no wars abroad & seems to have
reigned but a short time being drowned in the Nile by the
Titans & found dead in the water. For the Son of the Sun, wasch
made laws for Egypt &, as Diodorus tells us, celebrated the funerals of Osiris with sacrifices & divine honours as to one of the Gods & instituted many sacred rites & mystical ceremonies in memory of the mighty works
wrought by this Hero now deified.
At the death of Orus the Ethiopians under Hercules
seem to have invaded Egypt. For PlinyÆg h.
& no longer for Herodotushe alone enjoyed the Empire of Ethiopia, & within ten years after his death the
Ethiopians were Lords of Egypt. For in the 15th year of
Asa king of Iudah Zerah the Ethiopian with an army
of a thousand thousand Ethiopians & Libyans invaded
Iudea. Their way was through Egypt, & therefore they
were lords of Egypt. Before this invasion Asa had peace
ten years & in all that time prepared against a storm. For
while the land was yet before him he sought the Lord & destroyed Idolatry & fortified the cities of Iudah with walls &
towers & gates & bars & prepared an army of five hundred
& eighty thousand men. This he did without any che
from the Egyptians having work enough at home. At
length when Zerak with an army of Ethiopians & Libyans
advanced from Egypt he met them with this army & routed
them totally at Maresah a town of Iudea towards Egypt.
& pursued them to Gerar & smote the cities about Gerar,
& as he returned with much spoile Azariah the Prophet
went out to meet him & said: Hear ye me Asa & Iudah & Benjamin; The Lord is with you while ye be with him, but if you forsake him he will forsake you. Now for a long time season Israel hath been without a true God & without a teaching Priest & without law. And in those times [t
of Sesostris] there was no peace to him that went out nor .to37r to him that came in but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of those countries, & nation was destroyed of nation & city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity. But when Israel in their trouble did turn unto the Lord & sought him he was found of them
By this victory the Iews shook off the dominion of
Egypt. For whereas Sesak had taken away all the trea
sures of the Temple, Asa
the silver & gold & vessels ch
dediAnd henceforward he & his son Iehosaphat flourished & renewed the Altar & assembling all the people in
in power & wealth for many years & Egypt continued
in troubles
the third month to a sacrifice of the spoiles, they entered into
a covenant upon oath to seek the Lord, & that whoever would
not seek the Lord should be put to death. And henceforward
Asa& his son Iehosaphat flourished in power & wealth for
many years & Egypt continued in troubles. And as the Machabees
after the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, & Ezra after e
Babylonian captivity collected the sacred writings for e
the people, so the Prophets in the days of Asa seem to have done
For Iehosaphat
Priests & Levites to teach in e
book of the Law with them & went throughout the cities of Iudah
& taught the people. By the book of the Law I understand
all the Pentateauch in e
thereof found in the Temple in Iosiah's reign being ever
since followed.
And now the power of Egypt being broken ereset at liberty & released &
whom Sesostris had carried into captivity & placed in Caphtor
Prophet: Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt & the Philistims from Caphtor. Amos. 9.7.
Pausanias
the son of Maceris & that Sardus and Maceris(or as others say, the son of Hercules)that Sardus
old ina
fore or his son
Mercury, & there inva from thence set out a fleet
& invaded the coasts of the Mediterranean& his son & from thence his son invaded Sardinia t
Hercules first set out slew Antæus in Libya & then went into
Egypt & slew Busiris, After these conquests I reccon that the Ethiopians Ethiopians invaded Iudea because there were Libyans as well
as Ethiopians in the army of Zerah.But this army beingrepulsed Hercules & his son
coast of Libya invaded Sardinia, Sicily Italy & the regions
westward on both sides the Mediterranean Hercules
mouth of that Sea where he set up pillars as Sesostris had
done in the eastch
Hesiod describes four ages of the Gods, the first a
golden age under the reign of Saturn ch
of the Gods & was void of labour & trouble & in ch
lived of the spontaneous fruits of the earth. When these men
died they were made Gods, & there arose a second age of silver
much worse then the first, in ch
dred years by his mother untill he grew up. After they were
grown up they lived a while in trouble but being injurious
to one another & not worshipping the Gods nor sacrificing
as they ought to do they were laid in the ground with
due honour & Iupiter raised a third age of brass vehement
& strong & warlike & fierce who had weapons & houses
of brass by reason that iron was not yet found out. And
these overcoming themselves died & were buried & Iupiter
raised a forth age of Heros who were called semi-gods, &
these also were destroyed by evil war & battels some at
Thebes fighting for the wealth of Oedipus & others at Troy
contending about Helena. And now saith Hesiod I wish that
I did not live in the fift age, for now is the iron age labo
rious & miserable & full of cares, but Iupiter shall destroy
this age of men of various languages after that their heads
shall grow grey & hoary. Thus far Hesiod. By the ages its plain
that he means ages of man's life & therefore he himself lived
within 30 or 40 or at most 50 or 60 years
Troy. For the fift age in chth
old age & death of the men then living next next after the destruction of Troy, were not grown grey when he wrote his poem.e
age last above 100 years but it is because he makes men live
much longer in that age then in his own. There were four
ages of the Gods of Egypt reigning at Thebes; the first was of Sa
turn who expelled the Shepherds & whom Mercury painted with
two faces doing this with respect to the times before & after the
erection of the monarchy; the second was of Iupiter Ammon, the third of Osiris & the fourth of Orus & the surviving Gods. The
first was peaceable, the second unquiet, the third very warlike
& the fourth warlike troublesome & miserable. Hesiod applying
this Parable to ee
the four, counts his own age for a fift & calls that the iron age as
being the last & the worst. The he ends with the wars of
Thebes & Troy, & thtwoman
ch
the interval to be the reign of Iupiter
Theology of the Greeks, & the age preceding to be the reign of
Saturn. Greece knew nothing older then the four ages of the
Gods & therefore recconed them the four first ages of the world
The star of Mars is by the Egyptians called the starr of Hercules
-Gold & Ivory. Then he prepared built a navy of 400 long ships on y. And going on with an e
army ose na provin
ces chconque acquired, but also
country he attempted not: for he passed over the river Ganges & went over
all India to every Ocean [eastern] ocean In this expedition he passed over
the straits of the red sea at Dira a promontory of Ethiopia & conquerd Arabia
Felix & then went on to
of those straits tells us that a Pillar of Sesostris – – Columns & Inscriptions
And Pliny tells us that in an Island of the Red sea before e
were Pillars of stone with inscriptions in unknown characters.
along the regio nations by sea & land togethe
on the seas & in memther
& in memory thereof Neptune is armed with a Trident. The first expedition
was westward along ee
Hercules. The second was southward & eastward along the coasts of the
red sea & Indian sea & further &thene& The third was on the
coasts of the Mediterranean northward, his ary
Syria, Assyria, a
For Sesak in the fift year of Rehobeam – – –