The evidence of the Phoenicians about the temple at Jerusalem, from Josephus
I will now, therefore, pass from these records, and come to those that belong to the Phoenicians, and concern our nation, and shall produce proof of what I have said out of them. There are then records among the Tyrians that take in the history of many years, and these are public writings, and are kept with great exactness, and include accounts of the facts done among them, and such as concern their transactions with other nations also, those I mean which were worth remembering. Therein it was recorded that the temple was built by king Solomon at Jerusalem, one hundred forty-three years and eight months before the Tyrians built Carthage.
In their annals the building of our temple is related; for Hirom, the king of Tyre, was the friend of Solomon our king, and had such friendship transmitted down to him from his forefathers. He thereupon was ambitious to contribute to the splendour of this edifice of Solomon, and made him a present of one hundred and twenty talent talents of gold. [p115] He also cut down the most excellent timber out of that mountain which is called Libanus, and sent it to him for adorning its roof. Solomon also not only made him many other presents, by way of requital, but gave him a country in Galilee also, that was called Chabulon. But there was another passion, a philosophic inclination of theirs, which cemented the friendship that was between them; for they sent mutual problems to one another, with a desire to have them resolved by each other; wherein Solomon was superior to Hirom, as he was wiser than he in other respects: and many of the letters that passed between them are still preserved among the Tyrians. Now, that this may not depend on my bare word, I will produce for a witness Dius, one that is believed to have written the Phoenician History after an accurate manner. This Dius, therefore, writes thus, in his Histories of the Phoenicians:
"Upon the death of Abibalus, his son Hirom took the kingdom. This king raised banks at the eastern parts of the city, and enlarged it; he also joined the temple of Olympian Zeus, which stood before in an island by itself, to the city, by raising a causeway between them, and adorned that temple with donations of gold. He moreover went up to Libanus, and had timber cut down for the building of temples. They say further, that Solomon, when he was king of Jerusalem, sent problems to Hirom to be solved, and desired he would send others back for him to solve, and that he who could not solve the problems proposed to him should pay money to him that solved them. And when Hirom had agreed to the proposals, but was not able to solve the problems, he was obliged to pay a great deal of money, as a penalty for the same. As also they relate, that one Abdemon, a man of Tyre, did solve the problems, and propose others which Solomon could not solve, upon which he was obliged to repay a great deal of money to Hirom."
These things are attested to by Dius, and confirm what we have said upon the same subjects before. [p117] 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 Zeus' 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 Heracles and of Astarte. He first built Heracles' temple in the month Peritius, and that of Astarte when he made his expedition against the Tityans [ (?) inhabitants of Utica ], who would not pay him their tribute; and when he had brought them under his control, 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, Baalbazerus his son took the kingdom; he lived forty-three years, and reigned seventeen years: after him succeeded his son Abdastartus; he lived thirty-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 Eleastartus; he lived fifty-four years, and reigned twelve years: after him came his brother Astharymus; he lived fifty-eight years, and reigned nine years: he was slain by his brother Phelles, who took the kingdom and reigned but eight months, though he lived fifty years: he was slain by Eithobalus, the (?) son of king Astartus, who reigned thirty-two years, and lived forty-eight years: [p119] he was succeeded by his son Balezorus, who lived forty-five years, and reigned eight years: he was succeeded by Metenus his son; he lived thirty-two years, and reigned twenty-nine years: Physmalion succeeded him; he lived fifty-eight 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. Therefore, what occasion is there for quoting any more evidence out of the Phoenician histories [on the behalf of our nation], since what I have said is so thoroughly confirmed already? To be sure, our ancestors came into this country long before the building of the temple; for it was not till we had gained 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.
That is what Josephus says.
The list of times [of reigns] which is shown here covers 432 years, from the building of the temple, in the fourth year of Solomon, until the destruction [of the temple] by the Babylonians. They are reckoned as follows:
Solomon - for 37 years
(The rest of his reign except for the first three years)
Rehoboam - for 16 years
Abijah - for 3 years
Asaph - for 41 years
Jehoshaphat - for 25 years
Jehoram - for 8 years
Ahaziah - for 1 year
Athaliah his mother - for 7 years
Joash - for 40 years
[p121] Amaziah - for 28 years
Uzziah - for 52 years
In his reign the Greeks established the first Olympic games [776 B.C.] .
Jotham - for 16 years
Ahaz - for 16 years