from Abydenus, who wrote books about the Assyrians and Medes
from the three books of Manetho, about the monuments of Egypt
from Cephalion's nine books of the Muses
from the forty books of Diodorus' [Historical] Library, containing a brief history of events up until Gaius Caesar
from the eighteen books of Cassius Longinus, containing a summary of 228 Olympiads
[p265] from the fourteen books of Phlegon, the freedman of [Hadrianus] Caesar, containing a summary of 229 Olympiads
from the six books of Castor, containing an account of history from Ninus up until the 181st Olympiad
from the three books of (?) Thallus, containing an account of events from the capture of Troy up until the (?) 167th Olympiad [112 B.C.]
from [the books of] Porphyrius, the philosopher who lived in our time, [containing events] from the capture of Troy up until the reign of Claudius
[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 Daïcles 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."