And now I shall add Menander the Ephesian, as an additional witness.
This Menander wrote the Acts that were done both by the Greeks and Barbarians,
under every one of the Tyrian kings, and had taken much pains to learn
their history out of their own records. Now when he was writing about those
kings that had reigned at Tyre, he came to Hirom, and says thus: "Upon
the death of Abibalus, his son Hirom took the kingdom; he lived fifty-three
years, and reigned thirty-four. He raised a bank on that called the Broad
Place, and dedicated that golden pillar which is in Jupiter's temple; he
also went and cut down timber from the mountain called Libanus, and got
timber Of cedar for the roofs of the temples. He also pulled down the old
temples, and built new ones; besides this, he consecrated the temples of
Hercules and of Astarte. He first built Hercules's temple in the month
Peritus, and that of Astarte when he made his expedition against the Tityans,
who would not pay him their tribute; and when he had subdued them to himself,
he returned home. Under this king there was a younger son of Abdemon, who
mastered the problems which Solomon king of Jerusalem had recommended to
be solved." Now the time from this king to the building of Carthage
is thus calculated: "Upon the death of Hirom, Baleazarus his son took
the kingdom; he lived forty-three years, and reigned seven years: after
him succeeded his son Abdastartus; he lived twenty-nine years, and reigned
nine years. Now four sons of his nurse plotted against him and slew him,
the eldest of whom reigned twelve years: after them came Astartus, the
son of Deleastartus; he lived fifty-four years, and reigned twelve years:
after him came his brother Aserymus; he lived fifty-four years, and reigned
nine years: he was slain by his brother Pheles, who took the kingdom and
reigned but eight months, though he lived fifty years: he was slain by
Ithobalus, the priest of Astarte, who reigned thirty-two years, and lived
sixty-eight years: he was succeeded by his son Badezorus, who lived forty-five
years, and reigned six years: he was succeeded by Matgenus his son; he
lived thirty-two years, and reigned nine years: Pygmalion succeeded him;
he lived fifty-six years, and reigned forty-seven years. Now in the seventh
year of his reign, his sister fled away from him, and built the city Carthage
in Libya." So the whole time from the reign of Hirom, till the building
of Carthage, amounts to the sum of one hundred fifty-five years and eight
months. Since then the temple was built at Jerusalem in the twelfth year
of the reign of Hirom, there were from the building of the temple, until
the building of Carthage, one hundred forty-three years and eight months.
Wherefore, what occasion is there for alleging any more testimonies out
of the Phoenician histories [on the behalf of our nation], since what I
have said is so thoroughly confirmed already? and to be sure our ancestors
came into this country long before the building of the temple; for it was
not till we had gotten possession of the whole land by war that we built
our temple. And this is the point that I have clearly proved out of our
sacred writings in my Antiquities.
I will now relate what hath been written concerning us in the Chaldean
histories, which records have a great agreement with our books in oilier
things also. Berosus shall be witness to what I say: he was by birth a
Chaldean, well known by the learned, on account of his publication of the
Chaldean books of astronomy and philosophy among the Greeks. This Berosus,
therefore, following the most ancient records of that nation, gives us
a history of the deluge of waters that then happened, and of the destruction
of mankind thereby, and agrees with Moses's narration thereof. He also
gives us an account of that ark wherein Noah, the origin of our race, was
preserved, when it was brought to the highest part of the Armenian mountains;
after which he gives us a catalogue of the posterity of Noah, and adds
the years of their chronology, and at length comes down to Nabolassar,
who was king of Babylon, and of the Chaldeans. And when he was relating
the acts of this king, he describes to us how he sent his son Nabuchodonosor
against Egypt, and against our land, with a great army, upon his being
informed that they had revolted from him; and how, by that means, he subdued
them all, and set our temple that was at Jerusalem on fire; nay, and removed
our people entirely out of their own country, and transferred them to Babylon;
when it so happened that our city was desolate during the interval of seventy
years, until the days of Cyrus king of Persia. He then says, "That
this Babylonian king conquered Egypt, and Syria, and Phoenicia, and Arabia,
and exceeded in his exploits all that had reigned before him in Babylon
and Chaldea." A little after which Berosus subjoins what follows in
his History of Ancient Times. I will set down Berosus's own accounts, which
are these: "When Nabolassar, father of Nabuchodonosor, heard that
the governor whom he had set over Egypt, and over the parts of Celesyria
and Phoenicia, had revolted from him, he was not able to bear it any longer;
but committing certain parts of his army to his son Nabuchodonosor, who
was then but young, he sent him against the rebel: Nabuchodonosor joined
battle with him, and conquered him, and reduced the country under his dominion
again. Now it so fell out that his father Nabolassar fell into a distemper
at this time, and died in the city of Babylon, after he had reigned twenty-nine
years. But as he understood, in a little time, that his father Nabolassar
was dead, he set the affairs of Egypt and the other countries in order,
and committed the captives he had taken from the Jews, and Phoenicians,
and Syrians, and of the nations belonging to Egypt, to some of his friends,
that they might conduct that part of the forces that had on heavy armor,
with the rest of his baggage, to Babylonia; while he went in haste, having
but a few with him, over the desert to Babylon; whither, when he was come,
he found the public affairs had been managed by the Chaldeans, and that
the principal person among them had preserved the kingdom for him. Accordingly,
he now entirely obtained all his father's dominions. He then came, and
ordered the captives to be placed as colonies in the most proper places
of Babylonia; but for himself, he adorned the temple of Belus, and the
other temples, after an elegant manner, out of the spoils he had taken
in this war. He also rebuilt the old city, and added another to it on the
outside, and so far restored Babylon, that none who should besiege it afterwards
might have it in their power to divert the river, so as to facilitate an
entrance into it; and this he did by building three walls about the inner
city, and three about the outer. Some of these walls he built of burnt
brick and bitumen, and some of brick only. So when he had thus fortified
the city with walls, after an excellent manner, and had adorned the gates
magnificently, he added a new palace to that which his father had dwelt
in, and this close by it also, and that more eminent in its height, and
in its great splendor. It would perhaps require too long a narration, if
any one were to describe it. However, as prodigiously large and as magnificent
as it was, it was finished in fifteen days. Now in this palace he erected
very high walks, supported by stone pillars, and by planting what was called
a pensile paradise, and replenishing it with all sorts of trees,
he rendered the prospect an exact resemblance of a mountainous country.
This he did to please his queen, because she had been brought up in Media,
and was fond of a mountainous situation."
