Theophilus to Autolycus 3 part 2/2

Now Moses, having led the Jews, as we have already said, expelled from the land of Egypt by king Pharaoh, whose name was Tethmosis—who, they say, after the expulsion of the people reigned twenty-five years and four months, as Manetho records. And after him Chebron thirteen years. After him Amenophis, twenty years, seven months. After him his sister Amesse, twenty-one years, one month. After her Mephres, twelve years, nine months. After him Methrammuthosis, twenty years, ten months. After him Tythmoses, nine years, eight months. After him Damphenophis, thirty years, ten months. After him Horus, thirty-five years, five months. His daughter, ten years, three months. After her Mercheres, twelve years, three months. His son Armais, thirty years, one month. After him Messes Miammou, six years and two months. After him Rameses, one year, four months. After him Amenophis, nineteen years, six months. His sons Thoissos and Rameses, ten years, who, they say, possessed great cavalry power and a marshalled naval force in their own times. The Hebrews, sojourning in Egypt at that time and enslaved by the king, as has been said, Tethmosis, built for him fortified cities, both Pithom and Rameses and On, which is Heliopolis. So that the Hebrews, who are also our forefathers, and from whom we have the sacred books that are older than all writers, as we have said before, are shown to be older even than the cities then renowned among the Egyptians. And the country was called Egypt from king Sethos; for Sethos, they say, is called Egyptus. And Sethos had a brother named Armais; this is the one called Danaus, who came to Argos from Egypt, whom the rest of the writers mention as being very ancient.

But Manetho, who among the Egyptians babbled much, and moreover spoke blasphemously against Moses and the Hebrews with him, alleging that they were expelled from Egypt on account of leprosy, did not succeed in stating the chronology accurately. For in calling them shepherds and enemies of the Egyptians, he said 'shepherds' unwillingly, being convicted by the truth; for our forefathers who sojourned in Egypt were indeed shepherds, but not lepers. For having come to the land called Jerusalem, where they afterward dwelt, it is shown by the manner in which their priests, by command of God, attending the temple, then healed every disease, so that they cured even lepers and every blemish. Solomon the king of Judaea built the temple. That Manetho erred concerning the chronology is plain from what he himself said. (And concerning the king who expelled them, Pharaoh by name—he no longer reigned over them; for having pursued the Hebrews with his army, he was drowned in the Red Sea. Moreover, in saying that those whom he called shepherds made war on the Egyptians, he lies.) For three hundred and thirteen years before, they came out of Egypt and from then dwelt in the country still now called Judaea, before even Danaus came to Argos. And that most of the Greeks reckon him more ancient than the rest is clear, so that Manetho, against his will, has disclosed to us two facts through his own writings: first, having confessed them to be shepherds; second, having said that they came out of the land of Egypt; so that from these records also it is shown that Moses and those with him are earlier by nine hundred or even a thousand years than the Trojan War.

Moreover, concerning the building of the temple in Judaea, which king Solomon built five hundred and sixty-six years after the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, it is recorded among the Tyrians that the temple was built, and the documents are preserved in their archives, in which records the temple is found to have been built one hundred and forty-three years and eight months before the Tyrians founded Carthage. (It was recorded by a king of the Tyrians named Hiram, son of Abimalus, because Hiram, through ancestral custom, had become a friend of Solomon; and also because of the surpassing wisdom which Solomon had. For they continually exercised one another with problems. And as proof of this they say copies of their letters are preserved among the Tyrians even to this day; and they exchanged writings with one another.) As Menander of Ephesus records, relating the history of the kingdom of the Tyrians, saying thus: 'For upon the death of Abimalus king of the Tyrians, his son Hiram succeeded to the kingdom, having lived fifty-three years. Him succeeded Bazorus, having lived forty-three years, who reigned seventeen years. After him Methuastartus, having lived fifty-four years, reigned twelve years. After him his brother Atharymus, having lived fifty-eight years, reigned nine years. Him his brother named Helles slew, who, having lived fifty years, reigned eight months. Him Iouthobalus, priest of Astarte, slew, who, having lived forty years, reigned twelve years. Him his son Bazorus succeeded, who, having lived forty-five years, reigned seven years. And his son was Metten, who, having lived thirty-two years, reigned twenty-nine years. Him Pygmalion son of Pygmalion succeeded, who, having lived fifty-six years, reigned seven years. And in the seventh year of his reign his sister, having fled to Libya, built the city now called Carthage.' The whole time, then, from the reign of Hiram to the founding of Carthage comes to one hundred and fifty-five years and eight months. And in the twelfth year of Hiram's reign the temple in Jerusalem was built; so that the whole time from the building of the temple to the founding of Carthage was one hundred and forty-three years and eight months.

Let the testimony, then, of the Phoenicians and Egyptians—as the writers Manetho the Egyptian and Menander of Ephesus, and also Josephus, who recorded the Jewish War waged against them by the Romans, have related concerning our chronology—suffice for what we have said. For from these ancient records it is shown that the writings of the rest are also later than the letters given to us through Moses, and indeed than those of the intervening prophets. For the latest of the prophets, Zechariah by name, flourished during the reign of Darius. But all the lawgivers also are found to have legislated in the interval. For if one should name Solon the Athenian, he lived in the times of Cyrus and Darius the kings, during the time of Zechariah the aforesaid prophet, who came many years earlier in the interval. Or concerning Lycurgus, or Draco, or Minos the lawgivers, Josephus writes, saying that the sacred books surpass them in antiquity, seeing that they are shown to precede even Zeus who reigned over the Cretans, and indeed even the Trojan War—the writings of the divine law given to us through Moses. But that we may make our demonstration of the seasons and times more accurate, God granting it—recording not only the events after the flood but also those before the flood, so that we may state, as far as possible, the number of them all—we will now do so, running back to the very beginning of the creation of the world, which Moses the servant of God recorded through the Holy Spirit. For having told the things concerning the creation and genesis of the world, of the first-formed man, and the things that came to pass thereafter, he signified also the years that occurred before the flood. And I ask grace from the only God, that I may state all things accurately and truly according to His will, so that you too, and everyone who reads these things, may be guided by His truth and grace. I will begin, then, first from the recorded genealogies, making my beginning, I say, from the first-formed man.

Adam, until he begot offspring: 230 years. His son Seth: 205. His son Enos: 190. His son Cainan: 170. His son Maleleel: 165. His son Jared: 162. His son Enoch: 165. His son Mathusala: 167. His son Lamech: 188. To him was born a son, the aforesaid Noah, who begot Shem when he was 500 years old; in his time the flood occurred, when he was 600 years old. All the years, then, until the flood came to 2242. And immediately after the flood Shem, being 100 years old, begot Arphaxad. And Arphaxad begot Sala, being 135 years old. And Sala begot when he was 130 years old. His son was Eber, being 134 years old—from whom their race was called Hebrews. His son was Phaleg, being 130 years old. His son was Ragau, being 132 years old. His son was Serug, being 130 years old. His son was Nachor, being 75 years old. His son was Tharra, being 70 years old. His son was Abraham our patriarch, who begot Isaac when he was 100 years old. There are, then, until Abraham, 3278 years. The aforesaid Isaac lived until he begot offspring 60 years; he begot Jacob. Jacob lived until the migration into Egypt, of which we spoke above, being 130 years old. And the sojourn of the Hebrews in Egypt was 430 years. And after they came out of the land of Egypt, they passed 40 years in the wilderness, as it is called. The whole, then, comes to 3,938 years. At which time, Moses having died, Joshua son of Nun succeeded to the leadership, who presided over them 27 years. And after Joshua, the people having transgressed the commandments of God, they served the king of Mesopotamia named Chusarathon eight years. Then, the people having repented, judges arose for them: Gothoniel, 40 years; Eglon, 18 years; Aoth, 8 years. Then, when they offended, foreigners prevailed over them 20 years. Then Deborah judged them 40 years. Then the Midianites prevailed over them 7 years. Then Gideon judged them 40 years. Abimelech, 3 years. Thola, 22 years. Jair, 22 years. Then the Philistines and Ammonites prevailed over them 18 years. Then Jephthah judged them six years. Esbon, 7 years. Ailon, 10 years. Abdon, 8 years. Then foreigners prevailed over them 40 years. Then Samson judged them 20 years. Then there was peace among them 40 years. Then Samera judged them one year; Eli, 20 years; Samuel, 12 years.

And after the judges there came to be kings among them. The first, by name Saul, who reigned 20 years. Then David our forefather, 40 years. There are, then, until the reign of David, in all 406 years. After these Solomon reigned, who also first built the temple in Jerusalem by the counsel of God, for 40 years. After him Rehoboam, 17 years. After him Abia, 7 years. After him Asa, 41 years. After him Jehoshaphat, 25 years. After him Joram, 8 years. After him Ahaziah, one year. After him Athaliah, 6 years. After her Joash, 40 years. After him Amaziah, 39 years. After him Uzziah, 52 years. After him Jotham, 16 years. After him Ahaz, 17 years. After him Hezekiah, 29 years. After him Manasseh, 55 years. After him Amos, two years. After him Josiah, 31 years. After him Joahaz, 3 months. After him Joakim, 11 years. Then another Joakim, 3 months, 10 days. After him Zedekiah, 11 years. After these kings, the people persisting in their sins and not repenting, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah the king of Babylon, named Nebuchadnezzar, came up against Judaea. He removed the people of the Jews to Babylon and overthrew the temple which Solomon had built. In the removal to Babylon the people spent 70 years. There are, then, including the sojourn in the land of Babylon, in all 4,954 years, 6 months, 10 days. And in the manner in which God foretold through Jeremiah the prophet that the people should be taken captive to Babylon, so also He foresignified that they should again return to their land after 70 years. When the 70 years, then, were completed, Cyrus becomes king of the Persians, who, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, in the second year of his reign issued a decree, commanding by written edicts that all the Jews who were in his kingdom should return to their own country, and rebuild the temple to God, which the aforesaid king of Babylon had demolished. Besides this, Cyrus, at the command of God, ordered Sabessar and Mithridates, his own bodyguards, that the vessels which had been taken from the temple of Judaea by Nebuchadnezzar should be brought back and restored to the temple. In the second year of Cyrus, then, the 70 years foretold by Jeremiah are fulfilled.

From this point one may see how our sacred writings are shown to be more ancient and truer than those of the Greeks and Egyptians, or of any other historians. For Herodotus and Thucydides, or Xenophon, or however the other historians be named, most of them began to write more or less from the reign of Cyrus and Darius, not being able to state accurately the ancient and earlier times. For what great thing did they say if they spoke about Darius and Cyrus, the kings among the barbarians, or, among the Greeks, about Zopyrus and Hippias, or the wars of the Athenians and Lacedaemonians, or the deeds of Xerxes, or Pausanias, who in the precinct of Athena ran the risk of perishing by famine, or the matters concerning Themistocles and the Peloponnesian War, or the matters concerning Alcibiades and Thrasybulus? For our aim is not a subject for verbosity, but to make manifest the quantity of the times from the foundation of the world, and to refute the vain labor and folly of the writers—that the years are neither twenty thousand myriads, as Plato said (dogmatizing that so many years had elapsed from the flood to his own times), nor yet 150,375 years, as we said before Apollonius the Egyptian relates; nor is the world uncreated, with all things by chance, as Pythagoras and the rest have babbled; but rather it is created, and is governed by providence by the God who made all things; and the whole time and the years are demonstrated to those willing to be persuaded of the truth. Lest, then, we should seem to have set forth only as far as Cyrus and to neglect the intervening times, as though unable to demonstrate them, God granting it, I will try to expound, as far as possible, the order of the subsequent times also.

Cyrus, then, having reigned 29 years and been slain by Tomyris in Massagetia, at the time then of the sixty-second Olympiad—from that point the Romans were already growing great, God strengthening them, Rome having been founded by Romulus, who is recorded as the child of Ares and Ilia, in the seventh Olympiad, on the eleventh day before the Kalends of May, the year then being reckoned at ten months. Cyrus, then, having died, as we have already said, in the sixty-second Olympiad, there comes a time from the founding of Rome of 220 years. At which time Tarquinius Superbus by name ruled the Romans, who first banished certain Romans, and corrupted boys, and made eunuchs of the natives; and moreover, corrupting the maidens, he gave them in marriage. Wherefore he was fittingly called Superbus in the Roman tongue, which is interpreted 'arrogant'; for he was the first to decree that those who greeted him should be greeted in return by another. He reigned 25 years. After him annual consuls ruled, military tribunes or aediles, for 453 years, whose names we deem it much and superfluous to enumerate. For if anyone wishes to learn them, he will find them from the records which Chryserus the nomenclator wrote, a freedman of Aurelius Verus, who from the founding of Rome until the death of his own patron the emperor Verus recorded clearly everything, both the names and the times. The annual magistrates, then, ruled the Romans, as we say, for 453 years. Then thus ruled those called emperors: first Gaius Julius, who reigned 3 years, 4 months, 6 days. Then Augustus, 56 years, 4 months, 1 day. Tiberius, 22 years. Then another Gaius, 3 years, 8 months, 7 days. Claudius, 23 years, 8 months, 24 days. Nero, 13 years, 6 months, 28 days. Galba, 2 years, 7 months, 6 days. Otho, 3 months, 5 days. Vitellius, 6 months, 22 days. Vespasian, 9 years, 11 months, 22 days. Titus, 2 years, 22 days. Domitian, 15 years, 5 months, 6 days. Nerva, one year, 4 months, 10 days. Trajan, 19 years, 6 months, 16 days. Hadrian, 20 years, 10 months, 28 days. Antoninus, 22 years, 7 months, 6 days. Verus, 19 years, 10 days. The time, then, of the Caesars until the death of the emperor Verus comes to 237 years, 5 days. From the death of Cyrus, then, and the beginning of the Roman rule of Tarquinius Superbus, until the death of the emperor Verus, of whom we spoke, the whole time amounts to 744 years.

From the foundation of the world, then, the whole time is summed up thus: from the creation of the world to the flood there were 2,242 years. From the flood to the begetting of offspring by Abraham our forefather, 1,036 years. From Isaac the son of Abraham until the people passed time with Moses in the wilderness, 660 years. From the death of Moses and the beginning of Joshua son of Nun, until the death of David the patriarch, 498 years. From the death of David and the reign of Solomon, until the sojourn of the people in the land of Babylon, 518 years, 6 months, 10 days. From the beginning of Cyrus until the death of the emperor Aurelius Verus, 744 years. Altogether, from the creation of the world, the whole sums to 5,698 years, with the additional months and days running over.

When, then, all the times and all that has been said are gathered together, one may see the antiquity of the prophetic writings and the divinity of our doctrine—that our doctrine is not recent, nor are our matters mythical and false, as some suppose, but rather more ancient and truer. For Thallus also mentions Belus who reigned over the Assyrians, and Cronus the Titan, saying that Belus warred together with the Titans against Zeus and those called gods who were with him; where, he says, Gyges too, being defeated, fled to Tartessus..... at that time that country being called Acte, but now named Attica, over which Ogyges then ruled. And the rest of the countries and cities, from which they got their names, we deem it unnecessary to enumerate, especially to you who know the histories. That Moses, then, is shown to be more ancient than all writers (and not he alone, but also most of the prophets who came after him), and than Cronus and Belus and the Trojan War, is plain. For according to the history of Thallus, Belus is found to be earlier than the Trojan War by 322 years. And that Moses precedes the capture of Ilium by some [number of] years, or even by a thousand, we have shown above. But since Cronus and Belus flourished together at the same time, most do not know who Cronus is, or who Belus is. Some indeed worship Cronus, and call this very one Bel and Bal, especially those who dwell in the eastern climes, not knowing either who Cronus is or who Belus is. Among the Romans he is named Saturn; for neither do they themselves know who their god is, whether Cronus or Belus. The beginning of the Olympiads, they say, took its religious observance from Iphitus, or according to some from Linus, who was also called Ilius. The number, then, of the years and the Olympiads, as it stands in order, we have shown above. The godlessness, then, of your affairs, and the whole number of the times, I think have now been stated accurately, as far as possible. For even if some span of time has escaped us—say 50, or 100, or even 200 years—yet certainly not myriads or thousands of years, as Plato and Apollonius and the rest have falsely recorded. And whereas we perhaps do not know exactly the number of all the years, because of the months and days running over not being recorded in the sacred books—moreover, concerning the times of which we speak, Berosus too agrees, who philosophized among the Chaldeans and made known to the Greeks the Chaldean writings, and who has spoken some things in accord with Moses, narrating concerning the flood and many other matters. He has also spoken things in part agreeing with the prophets Jeremiah and Daniel. For he mentions the things that befell the Jews under the king of the Babylonians, whom he names Abobassar, but who is called Nebuchadnezzar by the Hebrews; and moreover concerning the temple in Jerusalem, how it was laid waste by the king of the Chaldeans; and that in the second year of the reign of Cyrus the foundations of the temple were laid, and again, in the second year of the reign of Darius, the temple was completed.

Now the Greeks do not record the true histories: first, because they only recently became partakers of the experience of letters—and they themselves confess it, saying that letters were invented, some by the Chaldeans, some by the Egyptians, others again by the Phoenicians; second, because they erred, and still err, in making no mention of God, but speaking of vain and useless matters. For thus they make friendly mention of Homer and Hesiod and the rest of the poets; but of the glory of the incorruptible and only God they not only were forgetful, but even spoke against Him; nay, they also persecuted those who worship Him, and day by day persecute them still. Moreover, on those who tunefully insult God they bestow prizes and honors; but those who press on toward virtue and practice a holy life—some they stoned, others they put to death, and even to this day they surround them with cruel torments. Therefore such men have necessarily lost the wisdom of God, and have not found the truth. If, then, you will, read these things accurately, that you may have a token and pledge of the truth.