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Cyrus having translated the Monarchy
to the Persians, and Reigned seven years,
was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who Reign
ed seven years and five months, and in the
three last years of his Reign subdued Egypt:
he was succeeded by Mardus, or Smerdis the Magus, who feigned himself to be Smerdis the
brother of Cambyses.
Smerdis Reigned seven months, and in the
eighth month being discovered, was slain, with
a great number of the Magi; so the Persians called their Priests, and in memory of
this kept an anniversary day, which they
called, The slaughter of the Magi. Then Reign
ed Maraphus and Artaphernes a few days, and
after them Darius the son of Hystaspes, the
son of Arsamenes, of the family of Achæmenes,
a Persian, being chosen King by the neighing
of his horse: before he Reigned his
was Ochus. He seems on this occasion to have
reformed the constitution of the Magi, making
his father Hystaspes their Master, or Archimagus; Porphyrius tells us, the Magi were a sort of men so venerable amongst the Persians, that Darius the son of Hystaspes wrote on the monument of his father, amongst other things, that he had been the Master of the Magi. In
this reformation of the Magi, Hystaspes was
assisted by Zoroastres: so Agathias; The Persians at this day say simply that Zoroastres lived under
Hystaspes: and Apuleius; Pythagoram, aiunt, inter captivos Cambysæ Regis [ex Ægypto Babylo
nem abductos] doctores habuisse Persarum Magos, & præcipue Zoroastrem, omnis divini arcani AntistitemZoroastres's conversing at Babylon
he seems to have borrowed his skill from the Chaldæans; for he was skilled in Astronomy,
and used their year: so Q. Curtius; Magi proximi patrium carmen canebant: Magos trecenti & sexaginta quinque juvenes sequebantur, puniceis amiculis velati, diebus totius anni pares numeroAmmianus; Scientiæ multa ex Chaldæorum arcanis Bactrianus addidit Zoroastres
sing in several places he is reckoned a Chaldæan, an Assyrian, a Mede, a Persian, a Bactrian. Suidas calls him Perso-Mede, and saith that
he was the most skilful of Astronomers, and first author of the name of the Magi received among them. This skill in Astronomy he had doubt
less from the Chaldæans, but Hystaspes travelled India, to be instructed by the Gymnosophists: and these two conjoyning their skill
and authority, instituted a new set of Priests or Magi, and instructed them in such ceremonies
and mysteries of Religion and Philosophy as
they thought fit to establish for the Religion
and Philosophy of that Empire; and these in
structed others, 'till from a small number they
grew to a great multitude: for Suidas tells us,
that Zoroastres gave a beginning to the name of the Magi: and Elmacinus; that he reformed the religion of the Persians, which before was divided into many sects: and Agathias; that he introduced the religion of the Magi among the Persians, changing their ancient sacred rites, and bringing in several opinions: and Ammianus Magiam esse divinorum incorruptissimum cultum, cujus scientiæ seculis priscis multa ex Chaldæorum arcanis Bactrianus addidit Zoroastres: deinde Hystaspes Rex prudentissimus Darii pater; qui quum superioris Indiæ secreta fidentius penetraret, ad nemorosam quamdam venerat solitudinem, cujus tranquillis silentiis præcelsa Brachmanorum ingenia potiuntur; eorumque monitu rationes mundani motus & siderum, purosque sacrorum ritus quantum colligere potuit eruditus, ex his quæ didicit, aliqua sensibus Magorum infudit; quæ illi cum disciplinis præsentiendi futura, per suam quisque progeniem, posteris ætati-ætatibus tradunt. Ex eo per sæcula multa ad præsens, una eademque prosapia multitudo creata, Deorum cultibus dedicatur. Feruntque, si justum est credi, etiam ignem cœlitus lapsum apud se sempiternis foculis custodiri, cujus portionem exiguam ut faustam præisse quondam Asiaticis Regibus dicunt: Hujus originis apud veteres numerus erat exilis, ejusque mysteriis Persicæ potestates in faciendis rebus divinis solemniter utebantur. Eratque piaculum aras adire, vel hostiam contrectare, antequam Magus conceptis precationibus libamenta diffunderet præcursoria. Verum aucti paullatim, in amplitudinem gentis solidæ concesserunt & nomen: villasque inhabitantes nulla murorum firmitudine communitas & legibus suis uti permissi, religionis respectu sunt honorati
posed of many nations, each of which had
hitherto its own religion: but now Hystaspes
and Zoroastres collected what they conceived to
be best, established it by law, and taught it to
others, and those to others, 'till their disciples
became numerous enough for the Priesthood
of the whole Empire; and instead of those
various old religions, they set up their own insti
tutions in the whole Empire, much after the
manner that Numa contrived and instituted the
religion of the Romans: and this religion of
the Persian Empire was composed partly of the Chaldæans, in which Zoroastres
was well skilled; and partly of the institutions
of the ancient Brachmans, who are supposed to
derive even their name from the Abrahamans, or
sons of Abraham, born of his second wife Keturah, instructed by their father in the worship
of One God without images, and sent into the
east, where Hystaspes was instructed by their suc
cessors. About the same time with Hystapes and Zoroastres, lived also Ostanes, another emi
nent Magus: Pliny places him under Darius Hystaspis, and Suidas makes him the follower
of Zoroastres: he came into Greece with Xerxes,
and seems to be the Otanes of Herodotus, who
discovered Smerdis, and formed the conspiracy
against him, and for that service was honoured
by the conspirators, and exempt from subjection
to Darius.
In the sacred commentary of the Persian
rites these words are ascribed to Zoroastres;
Θεὸς ἔστι κεφαλὴν ἔχων ἵερακος. ὁυτὸς ἐστιν ὁ
πρωτος, ἄφθαρτος, ἀίδιος, ἀγὲνητος, ἀμε
ρὴς, ἀνομοιότατος, ἡνίοχος παντὸς καλου, ἀδω
ροδόκητος, ἀγαθων ἀγαθώτατος, φρονίμων
φρονιμώτατος. ἔστι δὲ καὶ πατὴρ ἐυνομίας καὶ δικαιοσύνης, ἀυτοδίδακτος, φυσικὸς, καὶ τέ
λειος, καὶ σοφὸς, καὶ ἱερου φυσικου μόνος ἑυρετής.DeusDeus est accipitris capite: hic est primus, incorruptibilis, æternus, ingenitus, sine partibus, omnibus aliis dissimillimus, moderator omnis boni, donis non capiendus, bonorum optimus, prudentium prudentissimus, legum æquitatis ac justitiæ parens, ipse sui doctor, physicus & perfectus & sapièns & sacri physici unicus inventorOstanes, in his book called Octateuchus. This
was the Antient God of the Persian Magi, and
they worshipped him by keeping a perpetual
fire for Sacrifices upon an Altar in the center
of a round area, compassed with a ditch, with
out any Temple in the place, and without pay
ing any worship to the dead, or any images.
But in a short time they declined from the
worship of this Eternal, Invisible God, to wor
ship the Sun, and the Fire, and dead men, and
images, as the Egyptians, Phœnicians, and Chaldæans had done before: and from these super
stitions, and the pretending to prognostications,
the words Magi and Magia, which signify the
Priests and Religion of the Persians, came to be
taken in an ill sense.
Darius, or Darab, began his Reign in spring,
in the sixteenth year of the Empire of the Persians, Anno Nabonass. 227, and Reigned 36
years, by the unanimous consent of all Chrono
logers. In the second year of his Reign the JewsJews began to build the Temple, by the pro
phesying of Haggai and Zechariah, and finished it
in the sixth. He fought the Greeks at Marathon
in October, Anno Nabonass. 258, ten years be
fore the battel at Salamis, and died in the fifth
year following, in the end of winter, or begin
ning of spring, Anno Nabonass. 263. The years
of Cambyses and Darius are determined by three
Eclipses of the Moon recorded by Ptolemy, so
that they cannot be disputed: and by those
Eclipses, and the Prophesies of Haggai and Zechariah compared together, it is manifest that the
years of Darius began after the 24th day of the
eleventh Jewish month, and before the 24th day
of April, and by consequence in March or April.
Xerxes, Achschirosch, Achsweros, or Oxyares,
succeeded his father Darius, and spent the first
five years of his Reign, and something more,
in preparations for his Expedition against the Greeks: and this Expedition was in the time of
the Olympic Games, in the beginning of the
first year of the 75th Olympiad, Callias being Archon at Athens; as all Chronologers agree. The
great number of people which he drew out of Susa to invade Greece, made Æschylus the Poet say
The passage of his army over the Hellespont began
in the end of the fourth year of the 74th
Olympiad, that is in June, Anno Nabonass. 268,
and took up a month; and in autumn, after
three months more, on the 16th day of the
month Munychion, at the full moon, was the
battel at Salamis; and a little after that an
Eclipse of the Moon, which by the calculation
fell on Octob. 2. His first year therefore began in
spring, Anno Nabonass. 263, as above: he Reign
ed almost twenty one years by the consent of all
writers, and was murdered by Artabanus, cap
tain of his guards; towards the end of winter, Anno Nabonass. 284.
Artabanus Reigned seven months, and upon
suspicion of treason against Xerxes, was slain
by Artaxerxes Longimanus, the son of Xerxes.
Artaxerxes began his Reign in the autum
nal half year, between the 4th and 9th Jewish
months, Nehem. i. 1. & ii. 1, & v. 14. and Ezra vii. 7, 8, 9. and his 20th year fell in with
the 4th year of the 83d Olympiad, as Africanus
Equinox, Anno Nabonass. 284. Thucydides re
lates that the news of his death came to Athens
in winter, in the seventh year of the Peloponnesian
war, that is An. 4. Olymp. 88. and by the
Reign of his predecessor Artabanus, and died a
bout the middle of winter, Anno Nabonass. 325 ineunte: the Persians now call him Ardschir and Bahaman, the Oriental Christians Artahascht.
Then Reigned Xerxes, two months, and Sogdian
seven months, and Darius Nothus, the bastard
son of Artaxerxes, nineteen years wanting four
or five months; and Darius died in summer, a
little after the end of the Peloponnesian war, and
in the same Olympic year, and by consequence
in May or June, Anno Nabonass. 344. The 13th
year of his Reign was coincident in winter
with the 20th of the Peloponnesian war, and the
years of that war are stated by indisputable cha
racters, and agreed on by all Chronologers:
the war began in spring, Ann. 1. Olymp. 87,
lasted 27 years, and ended Apr. 14. An. 4.
Olymp. 93.
The next King was Artaxerxes Mnemon, the son
of Darius: he Reigned forty six years, and died Anno Nabonass. 390. Then Reigned Artaxerxes Ochus twenty one years; Arses, or Arogus, two
years, and Darius Codomannus four years, unto
the battel of Arbela, whereby the Persian Mo
narchy was translated to the Greeks, Octob. 2. An. Nabonass. 417; but Darius was not slain
untill a year and some months after.
I have hitherto stated the times of this Mo
narchy out of the Greek and Latin writers: for the Jews knew nothing more of the Babylonian and Medo-Persian Empires than what they have out
of the sacred books of the old Testament; and
therefore own no more Kings, nor years of
Kings, than they can find in those books: the
Kings they reckon are only Nebuchadnezzar, Evilmerodach, Belshazzar, Darius the Mede, Cyrus, Ahasuerus, and Darius the Persian; this last Darius
they reckon to be the Artaxerxes, in whose
Reign Ezra and Nehemiah came to Jerusalem,
accounting Artaxerxes a common name of the Persian Kings: Nebuchadnezzar, they say, Reign
ed forty five years, 2 King. xxv. 27. Belshazzar three years, Dan. viii. 1. and therefore Evilmerodach twenty three, to make up the se
venty years captivity; excluding the first year
of Nebuchadnezzar, in which they say the
Prophesy of the seventy years was given. To Darius the Mede they assign one year, or at
most but two, Dan. ix. 1. to Cyrus three years
incomplete, Dan. x. 1. to Ahasuerus twelve
years 'till the casting of Pur, Esth. iii. 7. one
year more 'till the Jews smote their enemies, Esth. ix. 1. and one year more 'till Esther and Mordecai wrote the second letter for the keep
ing of Purim, Esth. ix. 29. in all fourteen Darius the Persian they allot
thirty two or rather thirty six years, Nehem.
xiii. 6. so that the Persian Empire from the
building of the Temple in the second year of Darius Hystaspis, flourished only thirty four
years, until Alexander the great overthrew it:
thus the Jews reckon in their greater Chronicle, Seder Olam Rabbah. Josephus, out of the sacred
and other books, reckons only these Kings of Persia; Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius Hystaspis, Xerxes, Artaxerxes, and Darius: and taking this Darius,
who was Darius Nothus, to be one and the same
King with the last Darius, whom Alexander the
great overcame; by means of this reckoning he
makes Sanballat and Jaddua alive when Alexander
the great overthrew the Persian Empire. Thus all
the Jews conclude the Persian Empire with Artaxerxes Longimanus, and Darius Nothus, al
lowing no more Kings of Persia, than they
found in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah; and
referring to the Reigns of this Artaxerxes,
and this Darius, whatever they met with in
profane history concerning the following Kings
of the same names: so as to take Artaxerxes Longimanus, Artaxerxes Mnemon and Artaxerxes Ochus, for one and the same Artaxerxes; and Darius Nothus, and Darius Codomannus, for one
and the same Darius; and Jaddua, and Simeon Justus,Justus, for one and the same High-Priest. Those Jews who took Herod for the Messiah, and were
thence called Herodians, seem to have grounded
their opinion upon the seventy weeks of years,
which they found between the Reign of Cyrus
and that of Herod: but afterwards, in applying
the Prophesy to Theudas, and Judas of Galilee,
and at length to Barchochab, they seem to have
shortned the Reign of the Kingdom of Persia.
These accounts being very imperfect, it was
necessary to have recourse to the records of the Greeks and Latines, and to the Canon recited
by Ptolemy, for stating the times of this Empire.
Which being done, we have a better ground
for understanding the history of the Jews set
down in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and
adjusting it; for this history having suffered by
time, wants some illustration: and first I shall
state the history of the Jews under Zerubbabel,
in the Reigns of Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius Hystaspis.
This history is contained partly in the three
first chapters of the book of Ezra, and first five
verses of the fourth; and partly in the book of Nehemiah, from the 5th verse of the seventh
chapter to the 9th verse of the twelfth: for Nehemiah copied all this out of the Chronicles of
the Jews, written before his days; as may ap
the Priests and Levites who sealed the Covenant
on the 24th day of the seventh month, Nehem.
x. were the very same with those who returned
from captivity in the first year of Cyrus, Nehem.
xii. and that all those who returned sealed it:
this will be perceived by the following compa
rison of their names.
The Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, and Hodaviah or Judah, here mentioned, are reckoned chief fathers
among the people who returned with Zerubbabel, Ezra ii. 40. and they assisted as well in laying
the foundation of the Temple, Ezra iii. 9. as
in reading the law, and making and sealing the
covenant, Nehem. viii. 7. & ix. 5. & x. 9,
10.
Comparing therefore the books of Ezra and Nehemiah together; the history of the Jews un
der Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius Hystaspis, is that Zerubbabel,
in the first year of Cyrus, with the Holy Vessels
and a commission to build the Temple; and
came to Jerusalem and Judah, every one to his
city, and dwelt in their cities untill the seventh
month; and then coming to Jerusalem, they
first built the Altar, and on the first day of
the seventh month began to offer the daily
burnt-offerings, and read in the book of the
Law, and they kept a solemn fast, and sealed a
Covenant; and thenceforward the Rulers of the
people dwelt at Jerusalem, and the rest of the
people cast lots, to dwell one in ten at Jerusalem, and the rest in the cities of Judah: and in
the second year of their coming, in the second
month, which was six years before the death of Cyrus, they laid the foundation of the Temple;
but the adversaries of Judah troubled them in building, and hired counsellors against them all the days of Cyrus, and longer, even until the Reign of Darius King of Persia: but in the se
cond year of his Reign, by the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah, they returned to the work;
and by the help of a new decree from Darius,
finished it on the third day of the month Adar,
in the sixth year of his Reign, and kept the
Dedication with joy, and the Passover, and Feast
of Unleavened Bread.
Now this Darius was not Darius Nothus, but Darius Hystaspis, as I gather by considering that
the second year of this Darius was the seventieth
of the indignation against Jerusalem, and the
cities of Judah, which indignation commenced
with the invasion of Jerusalem, and the cities
of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, in the ninth year
of Zedekiah, Zech. i. 12. Jer. xxxiv. 1, 7, 22.
& xxxix. 1. and that the fourth year of this Darius, was the seventieth from the burning of
the Temple in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, Zech. vii. 5. & Jer. lii. 12. both which are
exactly true of Darius Hystaspis: and that in the
second year of this Darius there were men living
who had seen the first Temple, Hagg. ii. 3. where
as the second year of Darius Nothus was 166 years
after the desolation of the Temple and City.
And further, if the finishing of the Temple be de
ferred to the sixth year of Darius Nothus, Jeshua
and Zerubbabel must have been the one High-
Priest, the other Captain of the people an hun
dred and eighteen years together, besides their
ages before; which is surely too long: for in
the first year of Cyrus the chief Priests were Serajah, Jeremiah, Ezra, Amariah, Malluch, Shechaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, Iddo, Ginnetho, Abijah, Miamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, Shemajah, Joiarib, Jedaiah, Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah: these Jeshua, and the
eldest sons of them all, Merajah the son of Serajah, Hananiah the son of Jeremiah, Meshullam
the son of Ezra, &c. were chief Priests in the
days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua: Nehem. xii.
and therefore the High Priest-hood of Jeshua was
but of an ordinary length.
I have now stated the history of the Jews
in the Reigns of Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius Hystaspis: it remains that I state their history
in the Reigns of Xerxes, and Artaxerxes Longimanus: for I place the history of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Reign of this Artaxerxes, and
not in that of Artaxerxes Mnemon: for during
all the Persian Monarchy, until the last Darius
mentioned in Scripture, whom I take to be Darius Nothus, there were but six High-Priests
in continual succession of father and son,
namely, Jeshua, Joiakim, Eliashib, Joiada, Jonathan, Jaddua, and the seventh Onias the son of Jaddua, and the eighth was Simeon Justus, the son of Onias, and the ninth
was Eleazar the younger brother of Simeon.
Now, at a mean reckoning, we should allow
about 27 or 28 years only to a Generation
by the eldest sons of a family, one Generation
with another, as above; but if in this case we
allow 30 years to a Generation, and may furJeshua, at the return of the
captivity in the first year of the Empire of the Persians, was about 30 or 40 years old; Joiakim will be of about that age in the 16th
year of Darius Hystaspis, Eliashib in the tenth
year of Xerxes, Joiada in the 19th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, Jonathan in the 8th year
of Darius Nothus, Jaddua in the 19th year
of Artaxerxes Mnemon, Onias in the 3d year
of Artaxerxes Ochus, and Simeon Justus two
years before the death of Alexander the Great:
and this reckoning, as it is according to the
course of nature, so it agrees perfectly well
with history; for thus Eliashib might be High-
Priest, and have grandsons, before the seventh
year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, Ezra x. 6. and
without exceeding the age which many old men
attain unto, continue High-Priest 'till after the 32d
year of that King, Nehem. xiii. 6, 7. and his
grandson Johanan, or Jonathan, might have a cham
ber in the Temple in the seventh year of that
King, Ezra x. 6. and be High-Priest before Ezra wrote the sons of Levi in the book of Chronicles; Nehem. xii. 23. and in his High-
Priesthood, he might slay his younger brother Jesus
in the Temple, before the end of the Reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon: Joseph. Antiq. l. xi. c. 7.
and Jaddua might be High-Priest before the Sanballat, Joseph. ib. and before the
death of Nehemiah, Nehem. xii. 22. and also
before the end of the Reign of Darius Nothus;
and he might thereby give occasion to Josephus
and the later Jews, who took this King for the
last Darius, to fall into an opinion that Sanballat, Jaddua, and Manasseh the younger brother of Jaddua, lived till the end of the Reign of the
last Darius: Joseph. Antiq. l. xi. c. 7, 8. and
the said Manasseh might marry Nicaso the daugh
ter of Sanballat, and for that offence be chased
from Nehemiah, before the end of the Reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus; Nehem. xiii. 28. Joseph. Antiq. l. xi. c. 7, 8. and Sanballat might at
that time be Satrapa of Samaria, and in the
Reign of Darius Nothus, or soon after, build
the Temple of the Samaritans in Mount Gerizim, for his son-in-law Manasseh, the first High-
Priest of that Temple; Joseph. ib. and Simeon Justus might be High-Priest when the Persian
Empire was invaded by Alexander the Great,
as the Jews represent, Joma fol. 69. 1. ,Liber Juchasis. R. Gedaliah, &c. and for that reason
he might be taken by some of the Jews for
the same High-Priest with Jaddua, and be
dead some time before the book of Ecclesiasticus was writ in Hebrew at Jerusalem, by the
grandfather of him, who in the 38th year of Egyptian Æra of Dionysius, that is in the
77th year after the death of Alexander the
Great, met with a copy of it in Egypt, and
there translated it into Greek: Ecclesiast. ch. 50. & in Prolog. and Eleazar, the younger bro
ther and successor of Simeon, might cause the
Law to be translated into Greek, in the beginning
of the Reign of Ptolemæus Philadelphus: Joseph. Antiq. l. xii. c. 2. and Onias the son of Simeon Justus, who was a child at his father's death,
and by consequence was born in his father's old
age, might be so old in the Reign of Ptolemæus Euergetes, as to have his follies excused to
that King, by representing that he was then
grown childish with old age. Joseph. Antiq.
l. xii. c. 4. In this manner the actions of all
these High-Priests suit with the Reigns of the
Kings, without any straining from the course
of nature: and according to this reckoning
the days of Ezra and Nehemiah fall in with
the Reign of the first Artaxerxes; for Ezra and Nehemiah flourished in the High Priesthood of Eliashib, Ezra x. 6. Nehem. iii. 1. & xiii. 4,
28. But if Eliashib, Ezra and Nehemiah be placed
in the Reign of the second Artaxerxes, since
they lived beyond the 32d year of Artaxerxes, Nehem. xiii. 28, there must be at least 160
years allotted to the three first High-Priests, and
unequal: for the High Priesthoods of Jeshua, Joiakim, and Eliashib, were but of an ordinary
length, that of Jeshua fell in with one Gene
ration of the chief Priests, and that of Joiakim with the next Generation, as we have
shewed already; and that of Eliashib fell in with
the third Generation: for at the dedication of
the wall, Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son
of Shemaiah, was one of the Priests, Nehem. xii.
35, and Jonathan and his father Shemaiah, were
contemporaries to Joiakim and his father Jeshua: Nehem. xii. 6, 18. I observe further that in
the first year of Cyrus, Jeshua, and Bani, or Binnui, were chief fathers of the Levites, Nehem.
vii. 7. 15. & Ezra ii. 2. 10. & iii. 9. and that Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son
of Binnui, were chief Levites in the seventh
year of Artaxerxes, when Ezra came to Jerusalem, Ezra viii. 33. so that this Artaxerxes be
gan his Reign before the end of the second
Generation: and that he Reigned in the time
of the third Generation is confirmed by two
instances more; for Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabeel, and Azariah the
son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, were fa
thers of their houses at the repairing of the
wall; Nehem. iii. 4, 23. and their grandfathers, Mesha-lMeshazabeel and Hananiah, subscribed the cove
nant in the Reign of Cyrus: Nehem. x. 21, 23.
Yea Nehemiah, this same Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah, was the Tirshatha, and subscribed it, Nehem. x. 1, & viii. 9, & Ezra ii. 2, 63. and
therefore in the 32d year of Artaxerxes Mnemon, he will be above 180 years old, an age
surely too great. The same may be said of Ezra,
if he was that Priest and Scribe who read the
Law, Nehem. viii. for he is the son of Serajah,
the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son
of Shallum, &c. Ezra vii. 1. and this Serajah
went into captivity at the burning of the Tem
ple, and was there slain, 1 Chron. vi. 14. 2 King. xxv. 18. and from his death, to the
twentieth year of Artaxerxes Mnemon, is above
200 years; an age too great for Ezra.
I consider further that Ezra, chap. iv. names Cyrus, *, Darius, Ahasuerus, and Artaxerxes, in
continual order, as successors to one another, and
these names agree to Cyrus, *, Darius Hystaspis, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes Longimanus, and to no
other Kings of Persia: some take this Artaxerxes to be not the Successor, but the Prede
cessor of Darius Hystaspis, not considering that
in his Reign the Jews were busy in building
the City and the Wall, Ezra iv. 12. and by con
sequence had finished the Temple before. Ezra
dered the building of the Temple all the days
of Cyrus, and further, untill the Reign of Darius;
and after the Temple was built, how they hin
dered the building of the city in the Reign of Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes, and then returns back
to the story of the Temple in the Reign of Cyrus and Darius; and this is confirmed by com
paring the book of Ezra with the book of Esdras: for if in the book of Ezra you omit
the story of Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes, and in
that of Esdras you omit the same story of Artaxerxes, and that of the three wise men, the
two books will agree: and therefore the book
of Esdras, if you except the story of the three
wise men, was originally copied from authentic
writings of Sacred Authority. Now the story of Artaxerxes, which, with that of Ahasuerus, in the
book of Ezra interrupts the story of Darius, doth
not interrupt it in the book of Esdras, but is
there inserted into the story of Cyrus, between the
first and second chapter of Ezra; and all the rest
of the story of Cyrus, and that of Darius, is told
in the book of Esdras in continual order, with
out any interruption: so that the Darius which
in the book of Ezra precedes Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes, and the Darius which in the same book
follows them, is, by the book of Esdras, one Darius; and I take the book of Esdras to be the best interpreter of the book
of Ezra: so the Darius mentioned between Cyrus and Ahasuerus, is Darius Hystaspis; and
therefore Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes who suc
ceed him, are Xerxes and Artaxerxes Longimanus; and the Jews who came up from Artaxerxes to Jerusalem, and began to build the city
and the wall, Ezra iv. 13. are Ezra with his
companions: which being understood, the hi
story of the Jews in the Reign of these Kings
will be as follows.
After the Temple was built, and Darius Hystaspis was dead, the enemies of the Jews in the
beginning of the Reign of his successor Ahasuerus or Xerxes, wrote unto him an accusation a
gainst them; Ezra iv. 6. but in the seventh year
of his successor Artaxerxes, Ezra and his com
panions went up from Babylon with Offerings
and Vessels for the Temple, and power to be
stow on it out of the King's Treasure what
should be requisite; Ezra vii. whence the Tem
ple is said to be finished, according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes King of Persia: Ezra vi. 14. Their commis
sion was also to set Magistrates and Judges over
the land, and thereby becoming a new Body
Politic, they called a great Council or Sanhe
and
building of Jerusalem with its wall: and thence Ezra saith in his prayer, that God had extended mercy unto them in the sight of the Kings of Persia, and given them a reviving to set up the house of their God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give them a WALL in Judah, even in
Jerusalem. Ezra ix. 9. But when they had be
gun to repair the wall, their enemies wrote a
gainst them to Artaxerxes: Be it known, say
they, unto the King, that the Jews which came up from thee to us, are come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations, &c. And
the King wrote back that the Jews should cease
and the city not be built, until another com
mandment should be given from him: where
upon their enemies went up to Jerusalem, and made them cease by force and power; Ezra iv.
but in the twentieth year of the King, Nehemiah hearing that the Jews were in great af
fliction and distress, and that the wall of Jerusalem, that wall which had been newly repaired
by Ezra, was broken down, and the gates thereof burnt with fire; he obtained leave of the
King to go and build the city, and the Gover
nour's house, Nehem. i. 3. & ii. 6, 8, 17. and Jerusalem the same year, he conti
nued Governor twelve years, and built the wall;
and being opposed by Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem, he persisted in the work with great reso
lution and patience, until the breaches were made
up: then Sanballat and Geshem sent messengers
unto him five times to hinder him from setting
up the doors upon the gates: but notwith
standing he persisted in the work, until the doors
were also set up: so the wall was finished in the
eight and twentieth year of the King, Joseph. Antiq. l. xi. c. 5. in the five and twentieth day
of the month Elul, or sixth month, in fifty and
two days after the breaches were made up, and
they began to work upon the gates. While the
timber for the gates was preparing and season
ing, they made up the breaches of the wall;
both were works of time, and are not jointly
to be reckoned within the 52 days: this is the
time of the last work of the wall, the work of
setting up the gates after the timber was sea
soned and the breaches made up. When
he had set up the gates, he dedicated the wall
with great solemnity, and appointed Officers over the chambers for the Treasure, for the Offerings, for the First-Fruits, and for the Tithes, to gather into them out of the fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the law for the PriestsPriests and Levites; and the Singers and the Porters kept the ward of their God; Nehem. xii. but the people in the city were but few, and the houses were unbuilt: Nehem. vii. 1, 4. and
in this condition he left Jerusalem in the 32d
year of the King; and after sometime returning
back from the King, he reformed such abuses
as had been committed in his absence. Nehem.
xiii. In the mean time, the Genealogies of the
Priests and Levites were recorded in the book
of the Chronicles, in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Jonathan, and Jaddua, until the Reign of the next
King Darius Nothus, whom Nehemiah calls Darius the Persian: Nehem. xii. 11, 22, 23. whence
it follows that Nehemiah was Governor of the Jews until the Reign of Darius Nothus. And
here ends the Sacred History of the Jews.
The histories of the Persians now extant in
the East, represent that the oldest Dynasties of
the Kings of Persia, were those whom they call Pischdadians and Kaianides, and that the Dynasty
of the Kaianides immediately succeeded that of
the Pischdadians. They derive the name Kaianides from the word Kai, which, they say, in the
old Persian language signified a Giant or great
King; and they call the first four Kings of
this Dynasty, Kai-Cobad, Kai-Caus, Kai-Cosroes,
and Lohorasp, and by Lohorasp mean Kai-Axeres, Cyaxeres: for they say that Lohorasp was the
first of their Kings who reduced their armies to
good order and discipline, and Herodotus affirms
the same thing of Cyaxeres: and they say fur
ther, that Lohorasp went eastward, and conquer
ed many Provinces of Persia, and that one of
his Generals, whom the Hebrews call Nebuchadnezzar, the Arabians Bocktanassar, and others Raham and Gudars, went westward, and conquer
ed all Syria and Judæa, and took the city of Jerusalem and destroyed it: they seem to call Nebuchadnezzar the General of Lohorasp, because he
assisted him in some of his wars. The fifth King
of this Dynasty, they call Kischtasp, and by this
name mean sometimes Darius Medus, and some
times Darius Hystaspis: for they say that he was
contemporary to Ozair or Ezra, and to Zaradust or Zoroastres, the Legislator of the Ghebers or fire-
worshippers, and established his doctrines
throughout all Persia; and here they take him
for Darius Hystaspis: they say also that he was
contemporary to Jeremiah, and to Daniel, and
that he was the son and successor of Lohorasp,
and here they take him for Darius the Mede.
The sixth King of the Kaianides, they call Bahaman, and tell us that Bahaman was Ardschir Diraz, that is Artaxerxes Longimanus, so called
from the great extent of his power: and yet Bahaman went westward into Mesopotamia and Syria, and conquered Belshazzar the
son of Nebuchadnezzar, and gave the Kingdom
to Cyrus his Lieutenant General over Media: and
here they take Bahaman for Darius Medus. Next
after Ardschir Diraz, they place Homai a Queen,
the mother of Darius Nothus, tho' really she did
not Reign: and the two next and last Kings of
the Kaianides, they call Darab the bastard son of Ardschir Diraz, and Darab who was conquered
by Ascander Roumi, that is Darius Nothus, and Darius who was conquered by Alexander the Greek:
and the Kings between these two Darius's they
omit, as they do also Cyrus, Cambyses, and Xerxes.
The Dynasty of the Kaianides, was therefore that
of the Medes and Persians, beginning with the
defection of the Medes from the Assyrians, in the
end of the Reign of Sennacherib, and ending with
the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great.
But their account of this Dynasty is very im
perfect, some Kings being omitted, and others be
ing confounded with one another: and their
Chronology of this Dynasty is still worse; for to
the first King they assign a Reign of 120 years,
to the second a Reign of 150 years, to the
third a Reign of 60 years, to the fourth a Reign
of 120 years, to the fifth as much, and to
the sixth a Reign of 112 years.
This Dynasty being the Monarchy of the Medes, and Persians; the Dynasty of the Pischdadians which immediately preceded it, must be
that of the Assyrians: and according to the ori
ental historians this was the oldest Kingdom in
the world, some of its Kings living a thousand
years a-piece, and one of them Reigning five
hundred years, another seven hundred years,
and another a thousand years.
We need not then wonder, that the Egyptians have made the Kings in the first Dynasty of
their Monarchy, that which was seated at Thebes
in the days of David, Solomon, and Rehoboam, so
very ancient and so long lived; since the Persians
have done the like to their Kings, who began to
Reign in Assyria two hundred years after the
death of Solomon; and the Syrians of Damascus
have done the like to their Kings Adar and Hazael, who Reigned an hundred years after the
death of Solomon, worshipping them as Gods, and boasting their antiquity, and not knowing, saith Josephus, that they were but modern.
And whilst all these nations have magnified
their Antiquities so exceedingly, we need not
wonder that the Greeks and Latines have made
their first Kings a little older than the truth.
FINIS.