Sect. VI. Of the princes living in the time of Joash; of the time Sect. VII. The beginning of Amaziah's reign. Of Joash king of Sect. VIII. Of Amaziah's war against Edom; his apostasy, and Sect. IX. A discourse of the reasons hindering Joash from uniting Juda to the crown of Israel, when he had won Jerusalem, and held Amaziah prisoner. The end of Joash's reign. Sect. X. The end of Amaziah's reign and life. Sect. XI. Of the interregnum or vacancy that was in the king- dom of Juda after the death of Amaziah. Sect. I. The prosperity of Uzziah, and of Jeroboam the second, 658 Sect. III. Of the prophets which lived in the time of Uzziah; and of princes then ruling in Egypt, and in some other coun- Sect. IV. Of the Assyrian kings descending from Phul; and whe- ther Phul and Belosus were one person, or heads of sundry fa- milies, that reigned apart in Nineveh and Babylon. Sect. V. Of the Olympiads, and the time when they began. 685 Of the antiquities of Italy, and foundation of Rome in the time of Ahaz. 697 Sect. I. Of the old inhabitants, and of the name of Italy. 700 Sect. IV. Of Æneas, and of the kings and governors of Alba. 706 Sect. V. Of the beginning of Rome, and of Romulus's birth and Of Ezekias and his contemporaries. Sect. I. Of the beginning of Ezekias, and of the agreeing of Pto- Sect. II. Of the danger and deliverance of Judæa from Senna- 723 Sect. IV. The kings that were in Media during the reign of Eze- kias of the difference found between sundry authors, in re- hearsing the Median kings. Other contemporaries of Ezekias : Of the kings that reigned in Egypt, between the deliverance of Sect. I. That many names of Egyptian kings, found in history, Sect. VII. Of Sethon who reigned with Ezekias, and sided with Of Manasses, and his contemporaries. Sect. II. Of troubles in Egypt following the death of Sethon. Sect. III. What reference these Egyptian matters might have to Sect. V. Of the kings that were in Lydia and Media while Ma- nasses reigned. Whether Deioces the Mede were that Ar- phaxad which is mentioned in the book of Judith. Of the Sect. VI. Of other princes and actions that were in these times. 779 Sect. I. Of Ammon and Josias. 784 Sect. II. Of Pharaoh Necho, that fought with Josias : of Jehoahaz §. 2. What nations they were that brake into Asia, with the cause §. 3. Of the Cimmerians' war in Lydia. 802 §. 4. The war of the Scythians in the higher Asia. 806 813 THE FIRST PART OF THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD: INTREATING OF THE TIMES FROM THE BIRTH OF ABRAHAM TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. BOOK II. CHAP. I. Of the time of the birth of Abraham; and of the use of this question for the ordering of the story of the Assyrian empire. SECT. I. Of some of the successors of Semiramis; with a brief transition to the question, about the time of the birth of Abraham. AFTER the death of Semiramis, Ninias or Zameis succeeded her in the empire, on whom Berosus Annianus bestows the conquest of Bactria, and the overthrow of Zoroaster, contrary to Diodorus, Justin, Orosius, and all other approved writers. For Ninias being esteemed no man of war at all, but altogether feminine, and subjected to ease and delicacy, there is no probability in that opinion. Now because there was nothing performed by this Ninias of RALEGH, HIST. WORLD. VOL. II. B any moment, other than that out of jealousy he every year changed his provincial governors, and built colleges for the Chaldean priests, his astronomers; nor by Arius his successor, whom Suidas calleth Thuras; but that he reduced again the Bactrians and Caspians, revolted, as it seemeth, in Ninias's time; nor of Aralius, the successor of Arius, but that he added sumptuosity, invented jewels of gold and stone, and some engines for the war; I will for this present pass them over, and a while follow Abraham, whose ways are warrantable, (till we meet these Assyrians again in this story,) by whom, and by whose issues we shall best give date to the kings of Babylon; Abraham living at once with Ninus, Ninias, Semiramis, Arius, Aralius, and Xerxes, or Balanius. For otherwise, if we seek to prove things certain by the uncertain, and judge of those times, which the scriptures set us down without error, by the reigns of the Assyrian princes, we shall but patch up the story at adventure, and leave it in the same confusion in which to this day it hath remained. For where the scriptures do not help us, (as Plut. in Theseo,) Mirum non est in rebus antiquis historiam non constare; "No marvel if then in things very ancient, history want assurance." 66 The better therefore to find out in what age of the world, and how long these Assyrian kings reigned, as also for other good causes, we must first assure the time of Abraham's birth, and in what year the same happened after the flood. Now since all agree that the forty-third year of Ninus was the birth year of Abraham, by proving directly out of the scriptures, in what year after the flood the birth of Abraham happened, we shall thereby set all the rest in square and order. But of this time there is much jangling between those chronologers which follow the Hebrew account, and others; the most part making 292 or 293 years, others 352 years between Abraham's birth and the flood; a matter often disputed, but never concluded. Archilochus de Temporibus (as we find him in Annius,) makes but 250 years from the flood to Ninus; then seeing that Abraham was born in the forty-third year of Ninus, |