Most of the original Greek text of the Chronicle has been lost. This translation is based on a Latin translation of the Armenian translation of the Greek original, in the Schoene-Petermann edition. The references in red are the page numbers from that edition.
Go to previous pages
[p247] The kings of Asia and Syria after the death of Alexander the Great:
In the 6th year of Philippus Aridaeus, which was the third year of the 115th Olympiad [318 B.C.], Antigonus became the first king of Asia. He reigned for 18 years, and lived in all for 86 years. He was the most formidable of the kings of that period, and died in Phrygia after all the other rulers attacked him out of fear of him, in the fourth year of the 119th Olympiad [301 B.C.].
His son Demetrius escaped to Ephesus, and lost control of all of Asia; he was considered to be the most resourceful of the kings in siege warfare, and so was given the name Poliorcetes ["the besieger"]. Demetrius reigned for 17 years, and lived in all for 54 years. Starting from the first year of the 120th Olympiad [300 B.C.], he ruled jointly with his father for 2 years, which were included in the 17 years of his reign. In the fourth year of the [123rd] Olympiad [285 B.C.] he was captured by Seleucus; after his capture, he was sent to Cilicia, and was kept in royal style as a prisoner of Seleucus until he died, in the fourth year of the 124th Olympiad [281 B.C.]. The reigns of Antigonus and Demetrius passed in this way.
Meanwhile, Lysimachus was ruling in Lydia opposite Thrace and Seleucus was ruling in the eastern regions and Syria. [p249] Both of them started to reign in the first year of the 114th Olympiad [324 B.C.]. No account will be given of Lysimachus' reign, but the events of Seleucus' reign will be described here.
After Ptolemy, the first king of the Egyptians, had marched to Old Gaza and had defeated Demetrius the son of Antigonus in battle, he set up Seleucus as king of Syria and the eastern regions. Seleucus went up to Babylonia and defeated the barbarians there; so he was given the name Nicanor ["victor"]. He reigned for 32 years, from the first year of the 117th Olympiad [312 B.C.] until the fourth year of the 124th Olympiad [281 B.C.], and lived in all for 75 years. Eventually, he was ambushed and killed by his friend Ptolemy, called Ceraunus.
Seleucus was succeeded by Antiochus, his son by Apame the Persian. Antiochus was called Soter, and died in the [third] year of the 129th Olympiad [262 B.C.] after he had lived in all for 54 years and had reigned for 19 years, from the first year of the 125th Olympiad [280 B.C.] until the third year of the 129th Olympiad [262 B.C.].
Antiochus Soter had [three] children by Stratonice the daughter of Demetrius; a son Antiochus, and two daughters Stratonice and Apame, of whom the former was married to Demetrius the king of the Macedonians, and the latter [to Magas?]. When he died, he was succeeded by Antiochus called Theos, in the fourth year of the 129th Olympiad [261 B.C.]. After 19 years, Antiochus Theos fell ill, [p251] and died at Ephesus in the third year of the [133rd] Olympiad [246 B.C.], after living in all for 40 years. He had two sons, Seleucus called Callinicus and Antigonus, and two daughters by Laodice the daughter of Achaeus, of whom one was married to Mithridates and the other to Ariathes. The elder son Seleucus, who as we said was called Callinicus, succeeded Antiochus and reigned for 21 years, from the third year of the 133rd Olympiad [246 B.C.] until the second year of the 138th Olympiad [227 B.C.].
When he died, Seleucus was succeeded by his son, Seleucus called Ceraunus, but while he was still alive it happened that his younger brother Antigonus refused to accept his position and sought power for himself. Antigonus had help and assistance from [Alexander], the brother of his mother Laodice, who was in charge of the city of Sardis; he also had the Galatians as allies in two battles. Seleucus won a battle in Lydia, but he was unable to capture Sardis or Ephesus, which was held by Ptolemy. Then Seleucus fought a second battle against Mithridates in Cappadocia, where 20,000 of his men were killed by the barbarians, and he himself lost his life. Meanwhile Ptolemy called Tryphon seized part of Syria, but his siege of Damascus and Orthosia was stopped in the third year of the 134th Olympiad [242 B.C.], when Seleucus advanced to that region.
Antigonus the brother of Callinicus crossed greater Phrygia, forced the inhabitants to pay tribute, and sent his generals with an army against Seleucus. But he was handed over by his own followers to the barbarians, and after escaping with a few men, set off for Magnesia. The next day he offered battle, and with the assistance of soldiers sent by Ptolemy, amongst others, he won a victory, and married the daughter of Zielas. [p253] However, in the fourth year of the 137th Olympiad [229 B.C.] he fought twice in the country of Lydia and was defeated, and he joined battle with Attalus in the region of Lake Coloe. In the first year of the 138th Olympiad [228 B.C.], after a battle in Caria he was forced by Attalus to flee to Thrace, where he died.
Seleucus Callinicus, the brother of Antigonus, died in the next year, and was succeeded by his son Alexander, who adopted the name Seleucus, and was called Ceraunus by his army. Seleucus had a brother called Antiochus. After reigning for three years, Seleucus was treacherously attacked and killed by a Galatian called Nicanor, in about the first year of the 139th Olympiad [224 B.C.]. He was succeeded by his brother Antiochus, whom the army summoned from Babylon. Antiochus was called [the Great] and reigned for 36 years, from the second year of the 139th Olympiad [223 B.C.] until the second year of the 148th Olympiad [187 B.C.]. In the latter year, he made an expedition to Susa and the eastern provinces, but was killed with all [his men] in battle with the Elymaeans; he left behind two sons, Seleucus and Antiochus.
Seleucus succeeded his father in the third year of the 148th Olympiad [186 B.C.], and reigned for 12 years, until the [?] first year of the 151st Olympiad [176 B.C.]; he lived in all for 60 years. When Seleucus died, he was succeeded by his brother Antiochus called Epiphanes, who reigned for 11 years, from the third year of the 151st Olympiad [174 B.C.] until the first year of the 154th Olympiad [164 B.C.]. While Antiochus Epiphanes was still alive, his son Antiochus called Eupator was made king, when he was only twelve years old, after which his father lived for a further one year and six months. Then Demetrius, who had been given to the Romans by his father Seleucus as a hostage, escaped from Rome to Phoenicia, and came to the city of Tripolis. Demetrius killed the young Antiochus along with his guardian Lysias, and made himself king in the fourth year of the 154th Olympiad [161 B.C.]; [p255] he was called Soter, and reigned for 12 years, until the [?] fourth year of the 157th Olympiad [149 B.C.]. He was forced to fight for his kingdom against Alexander, who brought an army from outside with the assistance of Ptolemy and Attalus, and he was killed in a battle.
Alexander gained control of Syria in the [?] third year of the 157th Olympiad [150 B.C.], and ruled for 5 years. He died in the fourth year of the 158th Olympiad [145 B.C.], in a battle near the city of Antioch against Ptolemy, who had come to the aid of Demetrius the son of Demetrius. Ptolemy also was wounded and died in the same battle.
The war was carried on by this Demetrius, the son of Demetrius. Setting out from Seleuceia, he defeated Antiochus the son of Alexander, who was based in Syria and the city of Antioch, and started to reign in the first year of the 160th Olympiad [140 B.C.]. In his second year, he collected an army and set off for Babylon and the eastern regions, to fight against Arsaces. In the next year, which was the third year of the 160th Olympiad [138 B.C.], he was captured by Arsaces, who sent him to be held prisoner in Parthia; so he was called Nicanor ["victor"] because he had defeated Antiochus the son of Alexander, and also [?] Seripides because he was kept as a prisoner in chains. The younger brother of Demetrius, called Antiochus, was brought up in the city of Side, from which he was given the name Sidetes. When he heard that Demetrius had been defeated and made a prisoner, he left Side and in the fourth year of the 160th Olympiad [137 B.C.] gained control of Syria, which he ruled for nine years. In the third year of the 162nd Olympiad [130 B.C.] he conquered the Jews, pulled down the walls of [Jerusalem] after a siege, and put their leaders to death.
In the fourth year of the 162nd Olympiad [129 B.C.], Arsaces attacked him with an army of 120,000 men, and schemed against him by sending his brother Demetrius, who had been kept as a prisoner, back to Syria. But at the onset of winter Antiochus met the barbarians in a confined space; bravely attacking them, he was injured and killed, in the 35th year of his life. [p257] His young son Seleucus, who had accompanied him, was captured by king Arsaces and was kept in royal style as a prisoner.
Antiochus the fifth had three sons and two daughters; the first two, the daughters, were both called Laodice. The third, called Antiochus, fell ill and died, like his sisters. The fourth was Seleucus, who was captured by Arsaces. The fifth was another Antiochus, who was brought up by Craterus the eunuch at Cyzicus, where he had fled with Craterus and the rest of the household of Antiochus, through fear of Demetrius. One of the brothers had already died, along with his sister, so only Antiochus was left, the youngest of the brothers, and because of his residence at Cyzicus he was called Cyzicenus.
Demetrius returned [to Syria] and started his second reign in the second year of the (?) 163rd Olympiad [127 B.C.], after having been held captive for the intervening 10 years. As soon as he returned from captivity, he turned his attention to Egypt; he advanced as far as Pelusium, but when Ptolemy Physcon confronted him Demetrius had to retreat, because his soldiers hated him and refused to obey his orders.
Angered by this, Ptolemy set up Alexander, a pretended son of Alexander, to be king of Asia; Alexander was called Zabinas by the Syrians, because he was thought to have been bought by Ptolemy to take on this role.
Demetrius was defeated in a battle at Damascus, and fled to Tyre, but was refused entry into the city. While trying to escape by boat, he was seized and killed, in the first year of the 164th Olympiad [124 B.C.]; he had reigned for 3 years before his captivity, and for another 4 years after his return.
Demetrius was succeeded by his son Seleucus, who died soon afterwards as a result of his mother's accusations. His younger brother Antiochus came to power in the second year of the 164th Olympiad [123 B.C.], and in the third year he defeated Zabinas, who killed himself with poison because he could not endure the defeat. Antiochus reigned for 11 years, until the fourth year of the 166th Olympiad [113 B.C.]; the one year of his brother Seleucus' reign is also included in this total. [p259] He was given the names Grypus ["hook-nose"] and Philometor. But when faced with an attack by Antiochus Cyzicenus whom we mentioned earlier, who was his half-brother by the same mother as well as his nephew on his father's side, Grypus gave up his kingdom and retired to Aspendus; from which he was given the name Aspendius, as well as Grypus and Philometor.
Antiochus Cyzicenus started to reign in the first year of the 167th Olympiad [112 B.C.], after Antiochus [Grypus] retired to Aspendus. But in the second year of the same Olympiad [111 B.C.], Antiochus returned from Aspendus, and took control of Syria, while Cyzicenus remained in control of Coele [Syria]. After the kingdom had been split between them in this way, Grypus remained as king until the fourth year of the 170th Olympiad [97 B.C.]. He lived for another 15 years after his return, so that his reign lasted in all for 26 years: 11 years on his own, and 15 years after the kingdom had been split in two.
Cyzicenus ruled from the first year of the 167th Olympiad [112 B.C.], and died in the first year of the 171st Olympiad [96 B.C.], after reigning for 18 years and living in all for 50 years. The manner of his death was as follows. After Antiochus Grypus died at the time which was stated above, his son Seleucus came with an army and captured many cities. Antiochus Cyzicenus brought an army from Antioch, but was defeated in a battle; his horse carried him off towards the enemy, and when they were about to capture him, he drew his sword and killed himself. So Seleucus gained control of the whole kingdom, and captured Antioch.
But the surviving son of Cyzicenus began a war against Seleucus. When their armies met at the city called Mopsuestia in Cilicia, the victory went to Antiochus. Seleucus fled to the city, but when he learnt that the inhabitants intended to burn him alive, [p261] he hastened to commit suicide. His two brothers Antiochus and Philippus who were called the Didymi ["twins"], appeared with an army and captured the city by force; then they avenged their brother's death by destroying the city. However they were confronted by the son of Cyzicenus, and defeated in a battle; while escaping from the battle, Antiochus the brother of Seleucus rode his horse recklessly and fell headlong into the river Orontes, where he was caught by the current and died.
And then two others began to fight over the kingdom: Philippus, the brother of Seleucus and son of Antiochus Grypus, and Antiochus, the son of Antiochus Cyzicenus. Starting from the (?) third year of the 171st Olympiad [94 B.C.], they fought against each other for possession of Syria with substantial armies, each controlling part of the country. Antiochus was defeated and fled to the Parthians. Later he surrendered to Pompeius, in the hope of being restored to Syria. But Pompeius, who had received a gift of money from the inhabitants of Antioch, ignored Antiochus and allowed to city to be autonomous.
Then the inhabitants of Alexandria sent Menelaus and Lampon and Callimander to ask Antiochus to come and rule in Egypt together with the daughters of Ptolemy, when Ptolemy Dionysus had been driven out of Alexandria. But Antiochus fell ill, and died.
Philippus whom we mentioned before, the son of Grypus and of Tryphaena the daughter of Ptolemy VIII, was also deposed. He wanted to go to Egypt, because he too had been invited by the inhabitants of Alexandria to rule there, but Gabinius, an officer of Pompeius who was the Roman governor of Syria, stopped him from going. And so the royal dynasty in Syria came to an end with Antiochus and Philippus.
So the kings of Asia and Syria are as follows:
[ The total duration of the Macedonian rule in Syria, starting from Antigonus, was 274 years; or, starting from Seleucus Nicator, 239 years. ]
[The kings] of the Romans, and their dates
It is now time to list the dates of the kings of the Romans. They first acquired this title in the seventh Olympiad [752-749 B.C.], when Romulus founded the city of the Romans, and gave his name to the city, and to all the people who were ruled by the kings [of the city]. Before this time they had been called sometimes Latins, and sometimes Aborigines, having different names at different times.
After the capture of Troy, they submitted to Aeneias the son of Anchises, and his successors ruled over the people until the foundation of the city. The history of these kings has been related by many different writers, not only native Romans but also Greeks. It will be sufficient to quote just two of them, as reliable witnesses to the events which we are considering. Firstly, I will quote Dionysius, who provides a brief description of the history of the Romans; as well as other books, he wrote an Ancient History of the Romans. In the first book, he gives an account of Aeneias and the kings after him, (?) up until the capture of Troy. From this book I will summarise what is essential, and what is related to the matters which we are considering here, as follows [ DionHal_1.9 ].
From the first book of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, about the history of the Romans
"This city, mistress of the whole earth and sea, which the Romans now inhabit, is said to have had as its earliest occupants the barbarian Sicels, a native race. As to the condition of the place before their time, whether it was occupied by others or uninhabited, none can certainly say. [p267] But some time later the Aborigines gained possession of it, having taken it from the occupants after a long war. These people had previously lived on the mountains in unwalled villages and scattered groups. They say that after them, the Pelasgians and some of the Greeks conquered that region. At first they were called Aborigines; but under Latinus, their king, who reigned at the time of the Trojan war, they began to be called Latins. Sixteen generations later, Romulus founded the city, and expanded it, and raised its affairs to greater prosperity."
And then Dionysius continues his narrative, in these very words [ DionHal_1.10 ]: "There are some who affirm that the Aborigines, from whom the Romans are originally descended, were natives of Italy, a stock which came into being spontaneously (I call Italy all that peninsula which is bounded by the Ionian Gulf and the Tyrrhenian Sea and, thirdly, by the region where the Latins live). The Aborigines were called "founders of families" or "ancestors"; but others claim that they were called "vagabonds", coming together out of many places. Still others have a story to the effect that they were foreigners who came there from Libya. But some of the Roman historians say that they were Greeks, part of those who once dwelt in Achaea, and that they migrated to there many generations before the Trojan war."
Then he adds: "It is uncertain, therefore, what the truth of the matter is. But in my opinion, the Aborigines can be a colony of no other people but of those who are now called Arcadians; for these were the first of all the Greeks to cross the Ionian Gulf, under the leadership of Oenotrus, the son of Lycaon, and to settle in Italy; this Oenotrus was the fifth from (?) Aezeius and Phoroneus, seventeen generations before the Trojan war. Oenotrus settled in the mountains, and called the region Oenotria, and its inhabitants Oenotrians. Later they were called Italians, from king Italus, who also gave the name of Italy to the whole country. [p269] Italus was succeeded by Morges, from whose name they were called Morgetes. And at the same time as Oenotrus, his brother Peucetius came as a colonist from Arcadia, and settled by the Junian bay, and from his name the people were called Peucetii."
After giving his own opinion about all of this, he then says that the Pelasgian colonists migrated from Greece, and settled in the country of the Italians among the Aborigines. The Pelasgians were also called Tyrrheni [Etruscans] and the whole region was called Tyrrhenia, from the name of one of their leaders, who was called Tyrrhenus. Later, Euander arrived with a fleet from Greece, from the city of Pallantium in Arcadia, and he settled in the region of Italy around the site of the future city of Rome. [Dionysius] says that the Arcadians brought the Greek alphabet to Italy, along with the musical instruments called nablia, or lyres, and a set of laws. After them, Heracles arrived with a Greek fleet and settled in the same region. At first, he was called Saturnius, and from his name the whole region was called Saturnia. Heracles had a son called Latinus, and he too ruled over the land of the Aborigines; from his name, they were called Latins. When Latinus died without any sons, Aeneias the son of Anchises succeeded him as king.
He summarises all this again in the following words [ DionHal_1.60 ]: "The people who came together there, and mingled with the native population of the land, from whom the Roman race was sprung, before the present inhabitants of the city, were as follows. Firstly, the Aborigines, who drove the Sicels out of this region; they were Greeks, originally from the Peloponnese, who came as colonists with Oenotrus, from the region which is now called Arcadia, in my opinion. Secondly, the Thessalians migrated there, from the country which used to be called Haemonia, and is now called Thessaly. Thirdly, the Pelasgians, who arrived with Euander from the city of Pallantium in Arcadia. Then another group arrived, who were part of the Peloponnesian army commanded by Heracles. Lastly, the Trojans who escaped with Aeneias from Ilium, Dardanus and the other Trojan towns."
[p271] From the same book, about the date of Aeneias' arrival in Italy
He says [ DionHal_1.63 ]: "Ilium was taken at the end of the summer, seventeen days before the winter solstice, and in the month of Elaphebolion, according to the calendar of the Athenians; and there still remained five days after the solstice to complete that year. During the thirty-seven days that followed the taking of the city I imagine the Achaeans were employed in regulating the affairs of the city, in receiving embassies from those who had withdrawn themselves, and in concluding a treaty with them. In the following year, which was the first after the taking of the city, the Trojans set sail after the autumnal equinox, crossed the Hellespont, and landing in Thrace, passed the winter season there, during which they received the fugitives who kept flocking to them and made the necessary preparations for their voyage. And leaving Thrace at the beginning of spring, they sailed as far as Sicily; when they had landed there that year came to an end, and they passed the second winter dwelling with the Elymians in their cities in Sicily. But as soon as conditions were favourable for navigation they set sail from the island, and crossing the Tyrrhenian sea, arrived at last at Laurentum on the coast of the Aborigines in the middle of the summer. And having taken possession of the region, they founded Lavinium, thus bringing to an end the second year from the taking of Troy. With regard to these matters, then, I have thus shown my opinion.
"But when Aeneias had sufficiently adorned the city with temples and other public buildings, of which the greatest part remained even to my day, in the next year, which was the third after his departure from Troy, he reigned over the Trojans only. But in the fourth year, Latinus having died, he succeeded to his kingdom also, because of his relationship to him by marriage, Lavinia being the heiress after the death of Latinus."
A little later he adds: "War arose out of these complaints and in a sharp battle that ensued Latinus, Turnus and many others were slain; nevertheless, Aeneias and his people gained the victory. Thereupon Aeneias succeeded to the kingdom because of his connection by marriage; [p273] but when he had reigned three years after the death of Latinus, in the fourth he lost his life in battle."
A little later he says: "Aeneias having departed this life about the seventh year after the taking of Troy, Euryleon, who in the flight had been renamed Ascanius, succeeded to the rule over the Latins."
Then he adds [ DionHal_1.70 ]: "Upon the death of the Ascanius in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, Silvius, his brother, succeeded to the rule. He was born of Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus, after the death of Aeneias."
Then he adds: "Silvius, after holding the sovereignty twenty-nine years, was succeeded by Aeneias, his son, who reigned one less than thirty years. After him, Latinus reigned fifty-one, then Alba, thirty-nine; after Alba, Capetus reigned twenty-six, then Capys twenty-eight, and after Capys, Capetus held the rule for thirteen years. Then Tiberinus reigned for a period of eight years. This king, it is said, was slain in a battle that was fought near a river, and being thrown by his horse into the stream, gave his name to the river, which had previously been called the Albula. Tiberinus' successor, Agrippa, reigned forty-one years. After Agrippa, Amulius, a tyrannical creature and odious to the gods, reigned nineteen years. Contemptuous of the divine powers, he had contrived imitations of lightning and sounds resembling thunder-claps, with which he proposed to terrify people as if he were a god. But rain and lightning descended upon his house, and the lake beside which it stood rose to an unusual height, so that he was overwhelmed and destroyed with his whole household. And even now when the lake is clear in a certain part, which happens whenever the flow of water subsides and the depths are undisturbed, the ruins of porticoes and other traces of a dwelling appear. Aventius, after whom was named one of the seven hills that are joined to make the city of Rome, succeeded him in the sovereignty and reigned thirty-seven years, [p275] and after him Procas twenty-eight years. Then Amulius, having unjustly possessed himself of the kingdom which belonged to Numitor, his elder brother, reigned forty-two years. But when Amulius had been slain by Romulus and Remus, the sons of a noble maiden, as shall presently be related, Numitor, the maternal grandfather of the youths, after his brother's death resumed the sovereignty which by law belonged to him. In the next year of Numitor's reign, which was the three hundred and thirty-second after the taking of Troy, the Albans sent out a colony, under the leadership of Romulus and Remus, and founded Rome, in that year, which was the seventh Olympiad, when Da´cles of Messene was victor in the foot race [752 B.C.], and at Athens Charops was in the first year of his ten-year term as archon."
The same writer adds the following words, in which he relates the various accounts of the historians about [the foundation of] the city of Rome [ DionHal_1.72 ].
About the foundation of the city of Rome
"But as there is great dispute concerning both the time of the building of the city and the founders of it, and as in my opinion none [of the previous writers] has given a convincing account of them, [it is not possible] to give merely a cursory account of these things, as if they were universally agreed on. For Cephalon of Gergis, a very ancient writer, says that the city was built in the second generation after the Trojan war by those who had escaped from Troy with Aeneias, and he names as the founder of it Romus, who was the leader of the colony and one of Aeneias' sons; he adds that Aeneias had four sons, Ascanius, Euryleon, Romulus and Remus. And Demagoras, Agathymus and many others agree with him as regards both the time and the leader of the colony. But the author of the history of the priestesses at Argos and of what happened in the days of each of them says that Aeneias came into Italy from the land of the Molossians with Odysseus and became the founder of the city, which he named after Romē, one of the Trojan women. He says that this woman, growing weary with wandering, [p277] stirred up the other Trojan women and together with them set fire to the ships. And Damastes of Sigeum and some others agree with him.
"But Aristotle, the philosopher, relates that some of the Achaeans, while they were doubling Cape Malea on their return from Troy, were overtaken by a violent storm, and being for some time driven out of their course by the winds, wandered over many parts of the sea, till at last they came to this place in the land of the Opicans which is called Latium, lying on the Tyrrhenian sea. And being pleased with the sight of land, they hauled up their ships, stayed there the winter season, and were preparing to sail at the beginning of spring; but when their ships were set on fire in the night and they were unable to sail away, they were compelled against their will to fix their abode in the place where they had landed. This fate, he says, was brought upon them by the captive women they were carrying with them from Troy, who burned the ships, fearing that the Achaeans in returning home would carry them into slavery. Callias, who wrote about the deeds of Agathocles, says that Romē, one of the Trojan women who came into Italy with the other Trojans, married Latinus, the king of the Aborigines. By Latinus she had two sons, Romus and Romulus and Telegonus, who built a city, gave it the name of their mother. Xenagoras, the historian, writes that Odysseus and Circe had three sons, Romus, Antias and Ardeias, who built three cities and called them after their own names. Dionysius of Chalcis names Romus as the founder of the city, [p279] but says that according to some this man was the son of Ascanius, and according to others the son of Emathion. There are others who declare that Rome was built by Romus, the son of Italus and Leucē, the daughter of Latinus.
"I could cite many other Greek historians who assign different founders to the city, but, not to appear prolix, I shall come to the Roman historians. The Romans, to be sure, have not so much as one single historian or chronicler who is ancient; however, each of their historians has taken something out of ancient accounts that are preserved on tablets in their temples. Some of these say that Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were the sons of Aeneias, others say that they were the sons of a daughter of Aeneias, without going on to determine who was their father; that they were delivered as hostages by Aeneias to Latinus, the king of the Aborigines, when the treaty was made between the inhabitants and the new-comers, and that Latinus, after giving them a kindly welcome, not only looked after them carefully, but, upon dying without male issue, left them his successors to some part of his kingdom. Others say that after the death of Aeneias Ascanius, having succeeded to the entire kingdom of Latinus, divided both the country and the forces of the Latins into three parts, two of which he gave to his brothers, Romulus and Remus. He himself, they say, built Alba and some other towns; Remus built cities which he named Capua, after Capys, his great-grandfather, Anchisa, after his grandfather Anchises, Aeneia (which was afterwards called Janiculum), after his father, and Rome, after himself. This last city was for some time deserted, but upon the arrival of another colony, which the Albans sent out under the leadership of Romulus and Remus, it regained its original status. So that, according to this account, there were two settlements of Rome, one a little after the Trojan war, and the other fifteen generations after the first. And if anyone desires to look more carefully into the remote past, [p281] even a third foundation of Rome will be found, more ancient than these, one that happened before Aeneias and the Trojans came into Italy. This is related by no ordinary historian, but by Antiochus of Syracuse, whom I have mentioned before. He says that when Morges reigned in Latium (which at that time comprehended all of Italy from Tarentum to the coast of Poseidonia), a man came to him who had been banished from Rome. His words are these: 'When Italus was growing old, Morges reigned. In his reign there came a man who had been banished from Rome; his name was Sicelus.' According to the Syracusan historian, therefore, an ancient Rome is found even earlier than the Trojan war. However, as he has left it doubtful whether it was situated in the same region where the present city stands or whether some other place happened to be called by this name, I, too, cannot say for certain. But as regards the ancient settlements of Rome, I think that what has already been said is sufficient.
"As to the last settlement or founding of the city, or whatever we ought to call it, Timaeus of Sicily, following what reckoning I do not know, places it at the same time as the founding of Carthage, that is, in the thirty-eighth year before the first Olympiad [814 B.C.]; Lucius Cincius, a member of the senate, places it about the fourth year of the twelfth Olympiad [729 B.C.], and Quintus Fabius in the first year of the eighth Olympiad [748 B.C.]. Porcius Cato does not give the time according to Greek reckoning, but being as careful as any writer in gathering the date of ancient history, he places its founding four hundred and thirty-two years after the Trojan war; and this time, being compared with the Chronicles of Eratosthenes, corresponds to the first year of the seventh Olympiad [752 B.C.]. That the canons of Eratosthenes are sound I have shown in another treatise, where I have also shown how the Roman chronology is to be synchronized with that of the Greeks."
That is what Dionysius says in the first book of his Ancient History of Rome, in which he describes in sequence all the things which happened in the times following the capture of Troy:
Some writers say that Picus the son of Cronus was the first king in the territory of Laurentum, where Rome is now situated, and that he reigned for 37 years. After him Faunus the son of Picus [was king] for 44 years. In his reign, Heracles arrived from Spain and set up an altar in the Forum Boarium, because he had killed Cacus the son of Vulcanus. Then Latinus was king for 36 years; the Latins derived their name from him. Troy was captured in the 33rd year of his reign. Then Aeneias fought against the Rutuli, and killed Turnus. After he married Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus, and founded the city of Lavinium, he was king for 3 years. That is a summary of what we have found in the books of other writers.
But now let us proceed to another narrator of these events - namely Diodorus, who combined and summarised [the contents of] all libraries in one collection; he records the history of the Romans in his seventh book, as follows.
From the seventh book of Diodorus, about the ancient origins of the Romans
Some historians have mistakenly supposed that Romulus [and Remus], who founded the city of Rome, were the sons of the daughter of Aeneias. But this is not true, because there were many kings in the period between Aeneias and Romulus. The foundation of Rome happened in the second year of the 7th Olympiad [751 B.C.], which was 433 years after the Trojan War. Aeneias became king of the Latins three years after the capture of Troy; and after ruling for three years, he disappeared from the sight of men, and was honoured as an immortal. He was succeeded as king by his son Ascanius, who founded the city of Alba Longa; this city was named [p285] after the river that flowed beside it, which was then called Alba, but is now called Tiber.
The Roman historian Fabius tells a different story about the name of this city. He says that it was foretold to Aeneias, that a four-footed animal would lead him to the site of the city. When he was preparing to sacrifice a pregnant white sow, the sow escaped from his grasp and was chased up a hill, where she gave birth to thirty piglets. Aeneias was amazed by this omen, and in accordance with the prophecy, he attempted to build on the site. But he was warned in a dream, that he should not found the city until thirty years had passed, the same number as the piglets which were born to the sow; and so he gave up the attempt.
After the death of Aeneias, his son Ascanius became king and after thirty years he founded a settlement on the hill, which he called Alba, after the colour of the sow; for the Latin word for 'white' is alba. Ascanius also added another name, Longa, which translated means 'long', because the city was narrow in width and stretched for a long way.
And [Diodorus] goes on to say that that Ascanius made Alba the capital of his kingdom and subdued no small number of the inhabitants round about; he became a famous man and died after a reign of thirty-eight years. At the end of this period, there arose a division among the people, on account of two men who were contending with each other for the throne. For Julius, since he was the son of Ascanius, maintained that his father's kingdom belonged to him. But Silvius, the brother of Ascanius and, furthermore, a son of Aeneias by Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus (whereas Ascanius was a son of Aeneias by his first wife, who was a Trojan woman), maintained that the kingdom belonged to him. Indeed, after the death of Aeneias, Ascanius had plotted against the life of Silvius; and it was while the latter as a child was being reared by some herdsmen on a mountain, to avoid this plot, that he came to be called Silvius, after the name of the (?) mountain, which the Latins call Silva. In the struggle between the two groups, Silvius finally received the support of the people and gained the throne. However Julius, although he did not acquire the supreme power, was made pontifex maximus and became a kind of second king; [p287] he was the ancestor, so we are told, of the Julian family, which survives in Rome even to this day.
Silvius achieved nothing worthy of mention in his reign, and died after ruling for 49 years. He was succeeded as king by his son Aeneias Silvius, who ruled for more than 30 years. He was a strong ruler, in government and in war. He subdued the neighbouring regions, and founded the eighteen ancient cities of the Latins, which were: Tibur, Praeneste, Gabii, Tusculum, Cora, Cometia, Lanuvium, Labicum, Scaptia, Satricum, Aricia, Tellenae, Crustumerium, Caenina, Fregellae, Cameria, Medullia, and Boilum (which some writers call Bola).
The next king was Arramulius Silvius, who reigned for 19 years. They say that Arramulius was arrogant throughout his life, and became so proud that he claimed to rival the power of Jupiter. When there were continual heavy thunderstorms during autumn time, he ordered all the men in his army [p289] at a given command to strike their swords against their shields, supposing that by this noise he could surpass even thunder. Therefore he was killed by a bolt of lightning, and paid the penalty for his arrogance towards the gods. His whole house was swallowed up by the Alban lake. The Romans who live near the lake today still point out the remains of the royal palace under the lake: some columns which can be seen deep beneath the surface of the water.
Aventius was chosen to be the next king, and he ruled for 37 years. During a battle against the people who lived around the city, he was trapped in a confined space and killed near a hill, which from his name was called the Aventine hill. After he died, his son Procas Silvius was appointed to be the next king, and ruled for 23 years. After his death, his younger son Amulius seized the throne by force, while his elder brother Numitor was away in a distant country. Amulius reigned for a little over 43 years, and was killed by Remus and Romulus, who founded the city of Rome.
The individual kings of the Romans are as follows:
Romulus founded Rome, and became its king in the seventh Olympiad [752-749 B.C.]. From Aeneias up until Romulus, there were (?) 427 years. From the capture of Troy [up until Romulus], there were 431 years.
The kings, after Romulus who founded Rome, are listed as follows:
There were seven kings of the Romans, starting with Romulus, and they ceased after a period of 244 years. From the capture of Troy up until Romulus, there were were (?) 431 years. Altogether, [up until the end of the kings] there were 675 years. Dionysius of Halicarnassus gives a brief account of the dates of these kings, from Romulus to Tarquinius, around the time of the first Olympiad, as follows [ DionHal_1.75 ].
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, about the kings of Rome after Romulus
If from the expulsion of the kings the time is reckoned back to Romulus, the first ruler of the city, it amounts to two hundred and forty-four years. This is known from the order in which the kings succeeded one another and the number of years each of them ruled.
As the reigns, therefore, of the kings amount to two hundred and forty-four years or sixty-one Olympiads, it follows necessarily that Romulus, the first ruler of the city, began his reign in the first year of the seventh Olympiad [752 B.C.], when Charops at Athens was in the first year of his ten-year term as archon. For the count of the years requires this; and the number of years that each king reigned is shown in (?) that book. This, therefore, is the account given by those who lived before me and adopted by me concerning the time of the settlement of the city which now rules supreme.
That is what Dionysius says.
However, after the death of Tarquinius the Romans no longer had kings to rule them. Instead of kings, first they appointed Brutus [and Collatinus] to be consuls; then [they appointed] tribunes of the plebs; then dictators, who were generals; and then consuls again. I think it would be superfluous to list the magistrates of each year here, because it would be an enormous number of names. And if I described their achievements in detail, my account would stretch to a great length. Such detail is unnecessary for my current purpose; and so I think it is appropriate to leave these magistrates, and everything connected with them, to another chronicle: that is, the consuls who came after Tarquinius, the tribunes of the plebs [p295] and the dictators who governed the city of Rome, during the years up until the time of Caesar. After these remarks, we will return to the reign of the first emperor. From the death of Tarquinius up until the time of Julius Caesar, there was an intervening period of 115 Olympiads, which is the equivalent of 460 years.
[This period is calculated as follows.] Tarquinius died at the end of the 67th Olympiad [509 B.C.]. Caesar became emperor at the start of the 183rd Olympiad [48 B.C.]. In between them, there was an interval of 460 years. From the 7th Olympiad [752 B.C.], when the city of Rome was founded, [until the death of Tarquinius] there was a period of 244 years. Therefore, from the foundation of Rome until the time of Julius Caesar, there was a total of 704 years, which is the equivalent of 176 Olympiads.
These totals are confirmed by the account in the chronicle of Castor, where he gives a summary of the dates, and writes as follows.
[From the writings] of Castor, about the kings of Rome
We have named the kings of the Romans one by one, starting from Aeneias son of Anchises, when he became king of the Latins, and finishing with Amulius Silvius, who was killed by Romulus, the son of his niece Rhea. To them we will add Romulus and the others, who ruled Rome after him up until Tarquinius Superbus, for a period of 244 years. After these kings, we will give a separate list of the consuls, starting from Lucius Junius Brutus, and finishing with Marcus Valerius Messalla and Marcus Piso, who were consuls when Theophemus was archon at Athens [61 B.C.]. Altogether, [these consuls governed] for 460 years.
That is what Castor says. Next it is appropriate to add a list of the emperors of the Romans, starting from Julius Caesar; and to mention the consuls for each year, attaching to them the numbers of the Olympiads.
[At this point, the manuscript of the Armenian translation comes to an end. A very garbled idea of what Eusebius' list of consuls may have looked like can be found in the Excerpta Latina Barbari.]
List of Contents
Attalus' home page | 29.02.16 | Any comments?