5. Ptolemaeus Epiphanes, 22 years.
6. Ptolemaeus Philometor, 34 years. During his reign, Antiochus Epiphanes ruled in Syria. And it was during [Antiochus'] reign that the events described in the book of Maccabees took place, including how [Antiochus] tried to force the Jewish people into paganism, how he polluted the temple by placing idols in it, and how he stole the temple's sacred vessels, in the 151st Olympiad [176-173 B.C.]. [To sum up,] 150 years elapsed from the death of Alexander of Macedon to the first year of Antiochus Epiphanes. And 347 years elapsed from the second year of Darius to Antiochus.
[42] It was during the reign of the aforementioned Antiochus that Mattathias, the son of Asamonaeus, showed zeal for his patrimonial religion and became a general of the people. After [Mattathias], his [g192] son Judas, called Maccabaeus, [led the people]; he was followed by his brother Jonathan, who was followed by his brother Simon. It is with him that the book of the Maccabees ends. It covers a period of 40 years, to the end of the 161st Olympiad [136-133 B.C.]. Eighty-eight years elapsed from that date to the Roman emperor Augustus.
According to Africanus and Josephus, after Simon [ruled] as general of the Jews, Jonathan, also called Hyrcanus, [succeeded him] for 26 years. After him, Aristobulus [ruled] for one year. [Aristobulus] was the first to put the royal crown on his head, simultaneously being king and high priest of the Jewish people. This was 484 years after the Babylonian captivity. After him, Alexander, also called Jannaeus, was king for 25 years. After him, his wife Alexandra, also called Mesalina, [ruled] for 9 years. After her, Aristobulus [g193] and Hyrcanus [ruled]. In their reign, Pompeius the Roman general put the Jews under Roman taxation. He established Hyrcanus as their king, but bound Aristobulus and took him to Rome.
In his reign, in the 184th Olympiad [44 B.C.], Julius Caesar became king of the Romans, ruling as an absolute monarch [emperor] for 4 years and 7 months. He was followed by Augustus, also called Sebastos, who ruled for 56 years and 6 months. It was in his reign that Herod, who was not fit [for the position] became the first foreign king of the Jews, getting [the position] through the Romans. [Herod's] people were from Ascalon. During his reign the Annointed of God [Christ] was born [g194] in Bethlehem, Judaea. Following Augustus, Tiberius ruled the Romans. In the 15th year of his reign, which was the fourth year of the 201st Olympiad [28 A.D.], our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ appeared among humankind.
Thus [the period] from Antiochus Epiphanes until the 15th year of Tiberius contains 201 years. [The period] from Alexander of Macedon to the same [15th] year of Tiberius contains 352 years. From the second year of Darius to [the 15th year] of Tiberius is 548 years. From the 15th year of Tiberius to the very end of the siege of Jerusalem--which occurred in the second year of Vespasian--is a total of 42 years. From Adam until the second year of Darius, is 4680 years. From the second year of Darius until the 15th year of Tiberius, is 548 years. Thus from Adam until the 15th year of Tiberius, a total of 5228 years elapsed. From the 15th year of Tiberius [g195] until the 20th anniversary of Constantinus Victor Augustus, is 300 years. The grand total is: 5518 years according to the Hebrews in the [Greek] Septuagint version; 1237 years less according to the Hebrew version of the Jews; and 935 years less according to the Hebrew Samaritan version.
This is how [our] chronology [is constructed] according to the Hebrews' [sources].
[43] How the Egyptians chronicled [their past], and how Egyptian chronology includes that of the Ethiopians and [the chronology of] the Ptolemies' rule in Egypt and Alexandria.
After discussing the chronologies of the Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Hebrews, it is time to pass to the chronology of the Egyptians.
Diodorus in the first book of the Bibliotheca [1.44] wrote [g196]:
Some of them relate fabulous stories claiming that initially gods and heroes ruled Egypt for a period of somewhat less than 16,000 years. The last god to rule there was Horus, Isis' son. Then humans ruled that land as kings, they say, during the time of Myris. And this has continued for somewhat less than 5,000 years, through the 180th Olympiad [60-57 B.C.], when we visited Egypt. At that time, Ptolemy, called the New Dionysus, was ruling [g197].
For most of this period, [the Egyptians'] own kings ruled the land. However, for a small portion [of time], Ethiopians, Persians, and Macedonians [ruled]. Only four Ethiopian [kings] ruled, and not contiguously at that, rather, [they ruled] at separate times, and for a total of slightly less than 36 years. Persian domination was established by Cambyses who forcibly subdued [the Egyptians]. [Persian rule] lasted for 135 years and was ended by the rebellion of the Egyptians when they could no longer bear the harshness of [Persian] rule and the insults to their country's gods. After this the Macedonians and their descendants ruled for 276 years. For all the rest of the time native kings ruled, [g198] 470 kings and 5 queens.
The priests kept records ahout all of them in their temple archives, which were transmitted continuously from ancient times from generation to generation. They described each one's bravery and valor, personality and triumphs, and whatever else they accomplished in their periods. However it is unnecessary and even pointless for us to write down what each one wrought, since some of them, even in their own day, were considered useless.
This according to Diodorus. It is fitting and proper to add to this Manetho's account of the Egyptians, since his history seems quite reliable [g199].
[44] From the Egyptian records of Manetho, who wrote a three-volume work about the gods, demi-gods, spirits, and the mortal kings who ruled over the Egyptians, to the time of the Persian king Darius.
The first being among the Egyptians was Hephaestus, who discovered fire for them. He was succeeded by the Sun (Arm. Aregakn ), (who was succeeded by Agathodaemon, followed) by Cronos, followed by Osiris. Then came Typhon, Osiris' brother, then Horus, who was the son of Osiris and Isis. These [entities] were the first rulers of the Egyptians. After them, one ruler succeeded the next until the time of Bidis, for a period of 13,900 years. This [was calculated] as lunar years of 30 days each, for what we now call a month was called a year in those days.
After rule by the gods, a race descended from the gods ruled for 1,255 years. Then other kings ruled for 1,817 years. After them 30 kings from Memphis ruled for 1,790 years. Then 10 other kings, from Thinis, ruled for 350 years. Then, for 5,813 years, the kings were spirits and demi-gods. This makes a total of 11,000 years--lunar years, that is, months.
The Egyptians calculate a total of [g200] 24,900 lunar years--2,206 solar years--to the [rule of the] gods, demi-gods, and spirits. If you compare this [calculation] with [similar calculations of] Hebrew chronology you will get almost the same figure. For among the Hebrews Aegyptus is called Mizraim, and he lived a long time after the flood. Because it was after the flood that Noah's son Ham became the father of Aegyptus, or Mizraim; and at the time of the dispersal of the peoples, he went to Egypt, as its first inhabitant. According to the Hebrews 2,242 years elapsed from Adam to the flood.
Be this as it may, the Egyptians still boast of their great antiquity before the flood. They say that they had gods, demi-gods, and spirits [as rulers in remote antiquity]. If we convert to months the years calculated by the Hebrews, we get over 20,000 lunar years. So when we count the "years" from the first man [Adam] until Mizraim, the Hebrew calculation is approximately the same [as the Egyptian]. Mizraim was first among the Egyptians, and the first dynasty is presumed to descend from him.
Despite this, if the number of years seems excessive, we must [g201] examine the reasons for it. It is conceivable that there were many kings ruling in Egypt simultaneously. For they say that [kings from] Thinis, Memphis, Sais, Ethiopia and elsewhere ruled. It may be that these dynasties did not rule in succession to each other, as is the norm, but in different places at the same time. As a consequence of this, the total number [of kings] is very large. Let us leave this issue, however, and move on to the details of Egyptian chronology.
After the [period of] spirits and demi-gods [g202], the First Dynasty appeared, consisting of 8 kings. The first and most noble of them was Menes. Beginning with him, we shall list the succession of kings from each generation [g203].
[45] 1st Dynasty
Menes of Thinis and his seven descendants.
[Menes], whom Herodotus [in The Histories 2.4] calls Min, ruled for 30 (or 60?) years. He took the army beyond the borders of his land seeking glory and renown. A hippopotamus made off with him.
Athotis, his son, ruled for 27 years. He built a palace in the city of Memphis. He was skilled in medicine, and wrote about how to conduct autopsies.