Fragments of the Chronographies

Africanus says that the first day is intelligible, because the first-created light was as yet unorganized and diffused.

These are the ones who have spoken about the burial of Adam: Africanus and the holy Athanasius.

Enos “hoped to call on the name of the Lord God” first, that is, to be addressed by the name of God; for Enos is interpreted as “man,” according to the Hebrew sense. So too the Savior, truly son of man according to the natural account.

For God is called homonymously by all who are from him, since he is in all. But in the economy, as having become substantial in the whole essence, he is called man, according to what is said: “in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.”

… lives a longer time than those before him and those after him down to us: in all, nine hundred and sixty-nine years; perhaps somewhat because of the ogdoad above the world, the Lord's day; for he happens to be eighth from the first. And what he falls short of the completion of the thousand, the Savior, being the fullness of all, filled up. Then he says: There are three names shared by the descendants of Cain with those of Seth: Enoch, Methuselah, and Lamech.

Adam, being 230 years old, begets Seth, and having lived after these … years, he died … . Seth, being 205 years old, begot (Enos); so from Adam up to the birth of Enos, 435 years. Enos, being … years old, begets Cainan. Cainan, being … years old, begets Mahalaleel. Mahalaleel, being … years old, begets Jared. Jared, being 162 years old, begets Enoch. Enoch, being 165 years old, begets Methuselah; and having pleased God, he lived 200 years more and was not found. Methuselah, being 187 years old, begot Lamech. Lamech, being … years old, begets …

“When men had multiplied on the earth, angels of heaven came together with daughters of men.” In some copies I found “the sons of God.” It is told, I think, that the descendants of Seth are called by the Spirit the sons of God, because of the righteous men and patriarchs descended from him down to the Savior; but those from Cain it calls the seed of men, as having nothing divine, because of the wickedness of their race and the unlikeness of their nature; and when these mingled, God was angered. But if it should be understood of angels, we must suppose that these were the ones concerned with magic and sorcery, and further with the motion of numbers and of the heavenly bodies, who imparted the knowledge of these to the women, from whom they made children, the giants; because of whom, wickedness having come upon the earth, God resolved to destroy every kind of living thing in a flood, having threatened that men would not exceed a hundred … years. And let it not be thought a problem that some later lived a longer time; for the interval of time until the flood against the sinners was a hundred … years. To Noah, who pleased God through righteousness, God gave the command to build an ark; and when it was made, there entered into it Noah himself and his sons and his wife and the daughters-in-law, and a firstfruit of every living thing, for the preservation of the race. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came. And when the water ceased, the ark settled on the mountains of Ararat, which we know to be in Parthia; but some say they are at Celaenae in Phrygia; and I have seen both places. The flood prevailed for a year, and then the earth was dried. And they came out of the ark by pairs, … not in the way in which they went in, but by kinds; each of these differences signifies something.

… was … years old when the flood came. There are, then, from Adam to Noah and the flood 2262 years.

After the flood Shem begot Arphaxad. Arphaxad, being 135 years old, begets Salah, (in the year) 2397; (the second Cainan is not known to him). Salah, being 130 years old, begets Eber, (in the year) 2527. Eber, being 134 years old, begets Peleg, (in the year) 2661; he was so named because in his days the earth was divided. Peleg, being 130 years old, begot Reu, and having lived … years, he died. From Adam to the death of Peleg, 3000 years. Reu, being … years old, begot Serug. Serug at 130 (begot) Nahor; Nahor at 79, Terah; Terah at 70, Abraham and Nahor and Haran. In the 3277th year of the world Abraham entered the promised land of Canaan. From here begins the name of the Hebrews; for “Hebrews” is interpreted “those who cross over,” since Abraham crossed the Euphrates; and not, as some think, from the Eber mentioned above. There are, then, up to Abraham's entry into the promised land, from the flood and Noah … years, and from Adam … generations …

The Egyptians, with a more boastful air, set out excessive periods of time and myriads of years, according to a certain theory of those among them who practice astrology; some of those who appear to be exact about these matters, contracting them, have called them lunar years; but, inclining no less to the fabulous, they arrive at the eight or nine thousand years which the priests of the Egyptians in Plato reckon to Solon, not truly. And a little after: For why need one even mention the thirty thousand years of the Phoenicians, or the nonsense of the Chaldaeans, their forty-eight myriads? For the Jews, descended from them from of old, beginning from Abraham, more modestly and in human fashion, taught by the spirit of Moses and from the other Hebrew histories, have handed down the number of five thousand five hundred years up to the appearance of the saving Word, which was proclaimed in the time of the monarchy of the Caesars. On the dynasties of Egypt after the flood, according to Africanus. First dynasty. After the dead, the demigods, are reckoned eight kings, of whom the first, Menes of This, reigned 62 years; he was carried off by a hippopotamus and perished. 2. Athothis, his son, 57 years; he built the palace at Memphis; books on anatomy are ascribed to him, for he was a physician. 3. Kenkenes, his son, 31 years. 4. Uenephes, his son, 23 years; in his time a great famine seized Egypt; he raised the pyramids near Kochome. 5. Usaphaidos, his son, 20 years. 6. Miebis, his son, 26 years. 7. Semempses, his son, 18 years; in his time a very great pestilence seized Egypt. 8. Bieneches, his son, 26 years. Total, 253 years. Second dynasty, of nine kings. Of whom the first, Bochos, 38 years; in his time a chasm opened at Bubastis, and many perished. 2. Kaiechos, … years; in his time the bulls Apis at Memphis and Mnevis at Heliopolis and the goat of Mendes were held to be gods. 3. Binothris, 47 years; in his time it was decided that women might hold the royal office. 4. Tlas, 17 years. 5. Sethenes, … years. 6. Chaires, 17 years. 7. Nephercheres, … years; in his time, it is told, the Nile flowed mixed with honey for eleven days. 8. Sesochris, 48 years; he was five cubits tall and three palms broad. 9. Cheneres, … years. Total, 302 years. Total of the first and second dynasties after the flood, 555 years, according to the second edition of Africanus. Third dynasty, of nine kings of Memphis; of whom 1. Necherophes, … years; in his time the Libyans revolted from the Egyptians, and when the moon waxed beyond reckoning they surrendered out of fear. 2. Tosorthros, 29 years; he is regarded by the Egyptians as Asclepius for his medicine, and he discovered building with hewn stones, and also gave attention to writing. 3. Tyreis, 7 years. 4. Mesochris, 17 years. 5. Soyphis, 16 years. 6. Tosertasis, 19 years. 7. Aches, 42 years. 8. Siphuris, 30 years. 9. Kerpheres, 26 years. Total, 214 years. Total of the three dynasties, according to Africanus, 769 years. Fourth dynasty, of Memphites of another family, eight kings. 1. Soris, 29 years. 2. Suphis, … years; he raised the greatest pyramid, which Herodotus says was made under Cheops; he became contemptuous toward the gods and wrote the sacred book, which I acquired as a great treasure when I was in Egypt. 3. Suphis, 66 years. 4. Mencheres, … years. 5. Ratoises, 25 years. 6. Bicheris, 22 years. 7. Sebercheres, 7 years. 8. Thampthis, 9 years. Total, 274 years. Total of the four dynasties after the flood, according to Africanus, … years. Fifth dynasty, of kings from Elephantine. 1. Usercheres, 28 years. 2. Sephres, 13 years. 3. Nephercheres, 20 years. 4. Sisires, 7 years. … Mercheres, … years. 8. Tarcheres, 44 years. 9. Onnos, 33 years. Total, 248 years. Together with the 1046 years of the four dynasties placed before, … years. Sixth dynasty, of kings of Memphis. 1. Othoes, 30 years; he was killed by his bodyguards. 2. Phios, 53 years. 3. Methusuphis, 7 years. 4. Phiops, who began to reign at six years of age, continued until his hundredth year. 5. Menthesuphis, one year. 6. Nitocris, the noblest and most beautiful woman of her time, fair of complexion, who raised the third pyramid, reigned 12 years. Total, … years. Total of the dynasties, … years. Seventh dynasty, of seventy kings of Memphis, who reigned seventy days. Eighth dynasty, of twenty-seven kings of Memphis, who reigned … years. Together with those placed before, 1639 years of the eight dynasties. Ninth dynasty, of nineteen kings of Heracleopolis, who reigned 409 years; the first of whom, Achthoes, became more terrible than those before him and did evil to those in all Egypt; but later he fell into madness and was destroyed by a crocodile. Tenth dynasty, of nineteen kings of Heracleopolis, who reigned 185 years. Eleventh dynasty, of sixteen kings of Diospolis, who reigned 43 years. After whom Ammenemes, … years. Up to this point Manetho brought his first volume. Total, 112 kings; … days. Twelfth dynasty, of seven kings of Diospolis. 1. Sesonchosis, son of Ammanemes, … 2. Ammanemes, 38 years; he was killed by his own eunuchs. 3. Sesostris, … years; he subdued all Asia in nine years, and Europe as far as Thrace, everywhere raising memorials of his conquest of the peoples, engraving on the stelae the private parts of men for the brave peoples and of women for the ignoble; so that he was held to be the first … 4. Lachares, 8 years; he built the labyrinth in the Arsinoite nome as his own tomb. 5. Ammeres, … years. 6. Ammenemes, 8 years. 7. Skemiophris, his sister, 4 years. Total, 160 years. Thirteenth dynasty, of … kings of Diospolis, who reigned 453 years. Fourteenth dynasty, of … kings of Xois, who reigned … years. Fifteenth dynasty, of Shepherds. They were six foreign Phoenician kings, who also took Memphis; they also founded a city in the Sethroite nome, from which they set out and subdued the Egyptians. Of these, 1. Saites reigned 19 years; after him the Saite nome is named. 2. Bnon, 44 years. 3. Pachnan, 61 years. 4. Staan, 50 years. 5. Archles, 49 years. 6. Aphobis, 61 years. Total, 284 years. Sixteenth dynasty: other Shepherd kings, thirty-two; they reigned … years. Seventeenth dynasty: other Shepherd kings, forty-three, and Thebans of Diospolis, forty-three. Together the Shepherds and the Thebans reigned … years. Eighteenth dynasty, of sixteen kings of Diospolis. The first, Amos, in whose time Moses went out of Egypt, as we show. The second, according to Africanus in the eighteenth dynasty, Chebros reigned 13 years. The third, Amenophthis, 24 years. The fourth, Amersis, 22 years. The fifth, Misaphris, 13 years. The sixth, Misphragmuthosis, … years; in his time was the flood in the days of Deucalion. 7. Tuthmosis, 9 years. 8. Amenophis, 31 years; this is the one thought to be Memnon and the speaking stone. 9. Horos, 37 years. 10. Acherres, 32 years. 11. Rathos, 6 years. 12. Chebres, 12 years. 13. Acherres, 12 years. 14. Armeses, … years. 15. Rammesses, one year. 16. Amenoph, 19 years. Total, 263 years. Nineteenth dynasty, of seven kings of Diospolis. 1. Sethos, … years. 2. Rapsaces, 61 years. 3. Ammenephthes, 20 years. 4. Rameses, 60 years. 5. Ammenemnes, … years. 6. Thuoris, who is called Polybus by Homer, the husband of Alcandra, in whose time Ilium was taken, 7 years. In this second volume of Manetho, … kings, 2121 years. Twentieth dynasty, of twelve kings of Diospolis, who reigned 135 years. Twenty-first dynasty, of seven kings of Tanis. 1. Smendes, 26 years. 2. Psusennes (or Psunesis), … years. 3. Nephelcheres, 4 years. 4. Amenophthis, 9 years. … 6. Psinaches, 9 years. 7. Susennes, 14 years. Total, 130 years. Twenty-second dynasty, of … kings of Bubastis. The first, Sesonchis, 21 years. 2. Osorthon, 15 years. 3–5. Three others, … years. 6. Takellothis, 13 years. 7–9. Three others, 42 years. Total, … years. Twenty-third dynasty, of kings of Tanis. 1. Petubastes, 40 years; in his time the first Olympiad was held. 2. Osorcho, 8 years, whom the Egyptians call Heracles. 3. Psammus, … years. Total, 89 years. Twenty-fourth dynasty. Bochchoris of Sais, 6 years; in his time a lamb spoke. … Twenty-fifth dynasty, of three Ethiopian kings. 1. Sabbakon, who took Bochchoris captive and burned him alive, and reigned 8 years. 2. Sebichos, his son, 14 years. 3. Tarkos, … years. Total, 40 years. … 1. Stephinates, 7 years. 2. Nechepsos, 6 years. 3. Nechao, … years. 4. Psammitichos, 54 years. 5. Nechao the second, 6 years; he took Jerusalem and led King Joahaz captive into Egypt. 6. Psammuthis, another, 6 years. 7. Uaphris, 19 years; to him the remnant of the Jews fled when Jerusalem was taken by the Assyrians. 8. Amosis, 44 years. 9. Psammecherites, 6 months. Total, 150 years and 6 months. Twenty-seventh dynasty, of eight Persian kings. 1. Cambyses, in the … year of his reign over the Persians, reigned over Egypt 6 years. 2. Darius son of Hystaspes, 36 years. 3. Xerxes the Great, … years. 4. Artabanus, 7 months. 5. Artaxerxes, 41 years. 6. Xerxes, two months. 7. Sogdianus, 7 months. 8. Darius son of Xerxes, 19 years. Total, 124 years and 4 months. Twenty-eighth dynasty. Amyrteos of Sais, 6 years. Twenty-ninth dynasty, of four kings of Mendes. 1. Nepherites, 6 years. 2. Achoris, 13 years. 3. Psammuthis, one year. 4. Nephorotes, 4 months. Total, … years and … months. Thirtieth dynasty, of three kings of Sebennytus. 1. Nectanebes, … years. 2. Teos, 2 years. 3. Nectanebos, … years. Total, 38 years. Thirty-first dynasty, of three Persian kings. 1. Ochus, in the twentieth year of his reign over the Persians, reigned over Egypt … years. 2. Arses, … years. 3. Darius, 4 years. Total, … years. Third volume. Up to this point Manetho. What follows is from Greek writers.

From the tribe of Shem there appeared a man of the race of giants; he was named Kronos by his father, after the name of the planet, and he first ruled over the Assyrians. He had as wife Semiramis, who is also called Rhea, by whom he had a son who was called Zeus, also Picus, who married his own sister Hera. Kronos had also two other sons, … also called Ares, and Ninus. … having married Astynome, begot a daughter, Aphrodite. And Kronos, driven out of the kingdom by his own son Zeus, went down to the west and ruled Italy. Then Zeus, withdrawing from the Assyrians, comes to his father; and he yields him the rule of Italy. And having reigned many years, he died and was laid in Crete. After Ninus, Thouras reigned over the Assyrians, who was also called Ares as being most warlike; him the Assyrians renamed Baal, or Bel, and set up statues to him and worship him. After the death of Zeus, Faunus his son reigned, who was renamed Hermes; for he was very learned and a mathematician, who also discovered for men the making of gold from metals. And Aphrodite, becoming learned and versatile, was married to Adonis, the son of Cinyras, who was also a philosopher; and they relate that they lived together philosophizing until death.

When famine seized the land of Canaan, Abraham went down into Egypt; and fearing that he would be killed on account of his wife's beauty, he pretends to be her brother. And she, being praised, was taken by Pharaoh; for so the Egyptians call their kings. And he paid the penalty to God, while Abraham, now rich, went away with his own. In Canaan the shepherds of Abraham and of Lot quarreled, and when they so decided, they separated, Lot choosing to live in Sodom for the excellence and beauty of the land, which had five cities, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar, and as many kings. The four neighboring kings of the Syrians made war on these, led by Chedorlaomer, king of Elam. They joined battle by the salt sea, which is now called the Dead Sea; in it I have seen very many marvels. For that water bears no living thing; the dead are carried under the water, while the living are not easily submerged; lamps that are burning are borne on the surface, but when put out they sink. Here are the springs of asphalt; and it produces alum, and salt somewhat different from others, for it is bitter and transparent. Wherever fruit is found there, more smoke is found, very turbid. And the water heals those who use it, and it is drained away in a manner contrary to all other water. And if it did not have the river Jordan as nourishment, running through it like a purple stream and holding out for a long way, it would have dried up sooner than appears. Near it there is a great deal of the balsam plant. It is supposed to have been overturned by God because of the impiety of those who lived around it.

Having sojourned in Gerar, which is now called Kalon, after Sarah's death (Abraham) took Keturah as his wife in his old age, by whom he had five sons: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak.

Jacob is said to have come to Mesopotamia at seventy-seven years of age.

Neither according to Africanus does it seem possible to me that Levi was born in the eighty-seventh year of Jacob, nor according to Eusebius in the same eighty-seventh year.

Jacob's shepherd's tent, which was preserved at Edessa, was destroyed by lightning in the times of Antoninus, emperor of the Romans, as Africanus says, who recorded it as having existed until the times of Antoninus.

… of this, by its trunk there was an altar, as Africanus says, on which the inhabitants of the country used to offer prayers [Eustathius: hecatombs] at the festivals; and it (the tree) was not burned, though it seemed to be set on fire.

As Africanus says, “From Esau, many others and Reuel were born; from whom Zerah; from whom came the one who, by God's permission, was tempted by the devil and overcame the tempter.” And Joseph was … years old in the same year of Jacob, because, as Africanus and his followers say, … Joseph lived … that Jacob sojourned in Egypt … years after the sojourn …

Africanus does not seem to me to say rightly, in the course of his histories, that the kingdom of the Argives began in the 200th year of the kingdom of the Assyrians, under Areios, the fifth king of the Assyrians.

Callithyia, daughter of Peiras, first served as priestess of Hera at Argos. In these times Atlas, the brother of Prometheus, shone as a most excellent astrologer, so that it was rumored that, because of his knowledge, he carries heaven itself. Euripides says that Atlas is a mountain above the clouds. He flourished in the times of Othniel, as all the historians of our doctrine testify, among whom Africanus too says: Those from Kouretis, which is now …, who discovered the rhythmic movement in arms. In these times Syrus, earth-born, is recorded to have lived, after whom Syria is named; but others say earlier by … years. And concerning Prometheus and Epimetheus they record the same variously, and concerning Atlas, and Argus the All-seeing, and Io …; others say that they lived earlier by sixty years; and others …

Africanus says that in the seventieth year of … the flood took place.

This Abimelech and his seventy brothers the book of Judges first plainly calls sons of Gideon, and then of his brother Jerubbaal, who lived with Gideon toward his end, as is written there; and it seems somehow perplexing. But Africanus says they were all sons of Jerubbaal. He judged Israel … years. Africanus says … years, not rightly.

But Eusebius of Caesarea alone of … to the elders … assigned. And Eusebius brings very many charges against him, as greatly erring, he says, and having attempted a most daring thing: that besides these he inserted on his own authority another 70 years, 40 of the anarchy and 30 of the peace, 100 in all. But Africanus himself admits these matters to be disputed at the end of his fifth book.

According to Africanus, from Adam to the end of the Judges and the beginning of Eli the priest are 4292 years; according to Eusebius son of Pamphilus …; and according to the exact and evangelical tradition and this chronicle, 4352. And the 450 years of the Judges according to the divine apostle, from the year … of the world to the first year of Eli, are completed with one year lacking; which year Africanus says Shamgar ruled Israel, though Scripture does not state the time. From Cecrops to the capture of Ilium are reckoned a little less than …

… held, as Scripture says. If, then, according to the apostle, we count together the years of the Judges, and the 40 years of Moses in the wilderness, and 27 of Joshua, and of the elders after Joshua, and further 20 of Eli the priest, 20 of Samuel, 40 of Saul, and of David … and Solomon 4, the whole time from the Exodus to the building of the temple will be 659 years. But according to Eusebius and according to Africanus, more than …

There are, then, from Adam to his (Solomon's) eighth year 4478 years; but according to Africanus 4457; according to Eusebius …

In these times Jonah too, sent to Nineveh, flees to Tarshish, and, swallowed by a sea monster, is vomited up after three days. Africanus says that Tarshish is Rhodes and Cyprus.

Over Israel reigned Pekahiah, son of Menahem, … years; but Africanus says 2 years.

There are, however, some copies of Scripture that have 20 years of Pekah, as both Africanus and Eusebius do; and others, 10.

And the kingdom of the Lacedaemonians held power in all 325 years, as the most wise Africanus wrote.

Africanus brings the first Olympiad together with Jotham, king of the Hebrews of Judah; and our canon too sets it in his time. Africanus writes thus, word for word: Aeschylus son of Agamestor ruled the Athenians for life 23 years, in whose time Jotham reigned in Jerusalem. And our canon too, he says, has placed Jotham king of Judah at the first Olympiad.

… and that the fourteenth Olympiad was the first recorded, when Coroebus too won the stadium race. Then Ahaz reigned over Jerusalem, his first year. Then in the fourth book he says: … then the first year of the reign of Ahaz, with which we have shown that the first Olympiad coincides.

This was the first captivity of Israel, to the Assyrians, which took place at the beginning of the sixth year of Hezekiah, completing the year 4770 of the world. The kingdom of the ten tribes in Samaria lasted from their first king, Jeroboam, the servant of Solomon, through 18 kings and 260 years; for, beginning from the year of the world 4513, it ended in the appointed 4771. But according to Africanus …, and according to Eusebius …; Eusebius of Caesarea reckoned 250 years, and others …

Up to the year 4801 from Adam, the first kings of the Athenians, 17, and after them the archons for life, 13, then the ten-year archons, 7, all together having held the rule of the Athenians from the year of the world …, came to an end, having lasted … After these, annual archons were chosen from the Eupatrids; the rule of nine archons was established at Athens; and that of the annual archons began in the year of the world …, Creon being the first archon, in the 19th Olympiad, or as others say the 25th; from him to the 250th Olympiad there were … archons … reckoned from the consuls after Brutus following the kings, … of the world, according to Africanus, which was … of Antoninus …

… Manasseh, the bonds, being of iron, were broken, and he fled.

Africanus counts the 70 years of the captivity from the first year of Zedekiah. … These things Africanus too says, testifying that Daniel and the three youths were of the second captivity of Judah.

After him (Cyrus), his son Cambyses rules the Persians 8 years. Some think he is the second Nebuchadnezzar, the one of the time of Holofernes and Judith, as Africanus too does.

Of Africanus, on Ezra. Artaxerxes having given permission, Ezra gathered the remnant of the Jewish captivity; and then he came to Jerusalem bringing the remains of the vessels of the temple, and taught the law. And when he learned that they had become mixed with the nations by intermarriage, he compelled those who had wives not of their own nation each to put away his own wife. And they obeyed, and the work was completed as winter was pressing.

Of Africanus. Olympiad 87. The twenty-seven years' war of the Peloponnesians and Athenians, which Thucydides wrote, broke out for the Athenians because of two prostitutes of Aspasia and the decrees against their neighbors the Megarians.

Africanus gives only 11 years to Philometor.

… and especially to a certain Antipater, (ruler) of the Jews, who was a foreigner, an Idumaean according to Josephus, but according to Africanus an Ascalonite, son of a certain temple-servant called Herod, who was attached to the temple of Apollo at Ascalon. Idumaean brigands held this Antipater, having taken him captive as a boy, hoping to get ransom for him from his father Herod. But since his father was poor and unable to pay a ransom, he remained a long time among them, sharing their brigandage and being brought up in their customs. Later, becoming a friend of Hyrcanus, he surpassed most men in wealth and reputation because of his shrewdness and his skill in public affairs.

Of Africanus, on the events concerning Hyrcanus and Antigonus, and concerning Herod and Augustus. … Octavius Augustus, whom the Romans call Augustus, being his (Gaius Caesar's) adopted son, went up from Apollonia in Epirus, where he was being educated, to Rome, and took hold of the chief power of the government. Antony afterwards obtained the rule of Asia and of the regions beyond. Under him the Jews accused Herod; but he killed the envoys and restored Herod to his rule. Later Herod was driven out together with Hyrcanus and his brother Phasael, and having fled to Antony he came back; and when the Jews would not receive him, a fierce battle took place. … And not long after he defeats in battle Antigonus too, who was returning. But Antigonus, having fled to Orodes, the king of the Parthians, came back through Pacorus his son, for a thousand talents of gold. And Herod flees; Phasael is killed in the battle; and Hyrcanus was handed over alive to Antigonus, who gave him to the Parthians to lead away, having cut off his ears, so that he might no longer be priest; for he was ashamed to kill him as a kinsman. Herod, driven out, first flees to Malichus, king of the Arabs; and when he would not receive him for fear of the Parthians, he went away to Alexandria, to Cleopatra. Olympiad 185. Cleopatra, having killed the brother who reigned with her, when she was summoned to Cilicia to make her defense before Antony, entrusted the care of her government to Herod; and since he did not think fit to be trusted until he should be restored to his own rule, … being with Antony, since he had been captured by love of the woman, she sent Herod to Rome, to Augustus … and because the Parthians had established Antigonus as king, he wrote to the generals in Palestine and Syria to restore Herod to his rule. And together with Sosius he fought against Antigonus for a long time and in battles of every kind. Then also Joseph, Herod's brother, died while in command. And when Herod came to Antony, … for three years they besieged Antigonus and brought him alive to Antony. And Antony himself proclaimed Herod king, and added to him the cities of Hippos, Gadara, Gaza, Joppa and Anthedon, and of Arabia, Trachonitis and … and Gaulanitis, and further the procuratorship of Syria. Herod was proclaimed king of the Jews by the Senate and by Octavius Augustus, and reigned 34 years. Antony, about to march against the Parthians, killed Antigonus, the king of the Jews, and gave Arabia to Cleopatra; and having crossed over against the Parthians he met with a great reverse, losing most of his army. It was Olympiad 186. Octavius Augustus led the forces of Italy and of all the West against Antony, who did not wish to return to Rome, for fear because of his reverses among the Parthians and for love of Cleopatra. And Antony met him with the forces of Asia. And Herod, being clever and a courtier of the powerful, sent out double letters, and an army, instructing the commanders to watch for the outcome. And when the victory was decided, and Antony, defeated in two naval battles, fled into Egypt with Cleopatra, the bearers delivered the letters to Augustus, hiding those they had for Antony. … Cleopatra (died) in her mausoleum, using a weapon against herself. … Helios and Selene, fleeing to the Thebaid, Augustus seized. The Actian games were established; Nicopolis near Actium was founded; and when Alexandria was taken, Cornelius Gallus is sent as the first governor of Egypt, who destroyed the cities of the Egyptians who had revolted. Up to this point the Lagidae ruled; and the whole time of the Macedonian rule after the overthrow of the Persians was 300 years less two. … the Ptolemies and the last Cleopatra, which is the 14th year of the monarchical rule of the Romans, and the 4th year of the 187th Olympiad. The total of years from Adam is 5472. After the capture of Alexandria the 188th Olympiad was held. Herod, having rebuilt the city of the Gabinians, then called Samaria, named it Sebaste; and having made a city of its port, Strato's Tower, he called it Caesarea after the same Augustus, raising a temple to Octavius in each. Later he also founds Antipatris in the plain of Lydda, named after his own father; and he settled in it those living around Sebaste whose land he had taken away. He founded other cities too; and he was harsh to the Jews, but most gracious to the other nations. It was Olympiad 189, in which the year began on the sixth day before the Kalends of March, according to the Antiochenes on the 24th of their own month. [b] Concerning these three kings, then, Africanus says in the fifth book of his Chronicles that because of their excessive impiety the Evangelist passed them over; for it is the custom … to omit those not worthy of remembrance … Simeon … and many others at different times in different ways … life-giving resurrection. [c] … And each of his (Christ's) deeds, and his healings of bodies and souls, and the hidden things of knowledge, and the resurrection from the dead, have been made known most sufficiently before us by his disciples and apostles. Over the whole world there came a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were split by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and in the rest of the earth were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his Histories, calls an eclipse of the sun, unreasonably, as it seems to me. … the events concerning the Savior happened (the day before) the Passover. But an eclipse of the sun happens when the moon passes under the sun; and it cannot happen at any other time than between the first day of the moon and the day before it, at the conjunction itself. How then could an eclipse be thought to happen when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun? Let it be so; let what happened carry away the multitude, and let the cosmic portent be supposed to be an eclipse of the sun, from the deception of sight. Phlegon records that in the time of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a total eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth; it is clear that he means this one. But what has an eclipse in common with an earthquake, rocks splitting, the resurrection of the dead, and so great a disturbance of the world? At any rate, in a long period no such event is remembered. But it was a darkness made by God, because the Lord happened to suffer. And reason shows that the seventy weeks of Daniel are comprised up to this time. [d] … This passage, then, being so, signifies many marvelous things; but now we shall speak of what is needful. That these things are said of the coming of Christ, who was to appear after seventy weeks, is clear; for in the Savior's time, from then on, transgressions are made old, and sins are brought to an end through forgiveness, and iniquities together with injustices are blotted out by expiation, and an everlasting righteousness is proclaimed beside that which is from the law, and visions and prophecies (last) until John, and the holy of holies is anointed. For before the coming of our Savior these things did not exist, but were only expected. And the angel proposes that the numbers, that is, of the seventy weeks, which are 490 years, begin from the going forth of the word to answer and to build Jerusalem. And these things happened in the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, king of the Persians. For Nehemiah, his cupbearer, having made request, obtained the answer that Jerusalem should be built, and the word went forth commanding these things; for until that time the city lay desolate. For when Cyrus, after the seventy years of the captivity, had sent down all who wished, of their own free will, those who came down with Jeshua the high priest and Zerubbabel, and those after them with Ezra, were at first prevented from building the temple and from surrounding the city with a wall, as this had not been commanded. So it remained until Nehemiah and the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, the hundred and fifteenth year of the Persian rule; and from the capture of Jerusalem there are 185 years; and then King Artaxerxes commanded the city to be built. And Nehemiah, being sent down, presided over the work, and the street and the surrounding wall were built, as had been prophesied; and from that point, as we reckon, seventy weeks are completed up to Christ. For if we should begin to reckon from somewhere else and not from here, the times will not agree, and very many absurdities will arise. For if we make the beginning of the reckoning of the seventy weeks from Cyrus and the first sending down, … the time exceeds by a hundred years and more the limit that the angel prophesied to Daniel; and much more if from the beginning of the captivity. For we find the Persian kingdom comprised in 230 years, and that of the Macedonians extending to 370 years, and from then to the sixteenth year of Tiberius Caesar 60 years. But from Artaxerxes seventy weeks are completed up to the time of Christ according to the Jewish reckoning. For from Nehemiah, who was sent by Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem in the 115th year of the Persian kingdom, the 20th year of the reign of Artaxerxes himself and the 4th year of the 83rd Olympiad, up to this time, which was the second year of the 202nd Olympiad and the sixteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, 475 years are reckoned; which make 490 Hebrew years, since they measure their years by the course of the moon, which is, to speak roughly, of 354 days, while the solar cycle is of 365¼ days; for it exceeds the lunar twelve months by 11¼ days. For this reason both Greeks and Jews insert three intercalary months every eight years; for eight times 11¼ make three months. The 475 years, then, make 59 periods of eight years and three months; and the three-month intercalations, (being added) every eight years, make fifteen years, a few days short; and these, added to the 475 years, complete the seventy weeks. Let no one think us ignorant of the astronomical numbers, … that we have put it at 365¼ days; for we abridged the calculation not through ignorance of the truth, but to avoid minute reckoning. For those who try to examine everything exactly, let this too be set down as in writing: each year in full is of 365¼ days, less …; … and the month of the moon, by exact reckoning, we find to be 29½ days, … which make three ninety-fourths; and these come to pass in a short time. It turns out, then, that from the 20th year of the reign of Artaxerxes, as in Ezra among the Hebrews, which according to the Greeks was the fourth year of the 83rd Olympiad, to the sixteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, which was the second year of the 202nd Olympiad, the aforesaid 475 years are reckoned, which according to the Hebrews make 490 years, as said before, that is, seventy weeks, according to which the coming of Christ was prophesied to Daniel by Gabriel. And if anyone thinks that the 15 Hebrew years produce an error, … after those to our time are nearly 200 years, and nothing marvelous is recorded in between. And the one and a half week, which we suppose must be taken at the consummation, can also help and lighten the time of the 15 years that is sought. That the prophecies are set forth rather symbolically is clear. As far as in us lies, we have rightly, I think, received the scripture, since the passage of the vision too seems to be somehow connected, whose beginning is “In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar,” where he foretells the overthrow of the Persian rule by the Greeks, … taking in three intercalary months. And from Artaxerxes, from whom the word went forth that Jerusalem should be built, … weeks are completed. But we have shown these things separately and more exactly in the work on the weeks and this prophecy. And I wonder that the Jews say the Lord has not yet come, and that the followers of Marcion say he was not foretold by the prophecies, when the scriptures show the sight so plainly. And after a little: The times, then, are gathered up to the coming of the Lord from Adam, and … from the resurrection … Olympiad, 192 years, as has been shown by us above.

… Africanus, then, in agreement with the apostolic tradition, dating the divine incarnation to the year 5500, erred by two years concerning the passion and the saving resurrection, placing it in the year 5531 of the world.

Africanus the chronographer says that under him … was made known at Edessa.

… Africanus … Abgar, he says, a holy man, of the former …