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his father Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem, was slain by divine wrath, and Darius took over the kingdom. After Belshazzar, Darius the Mede, also known as Astyages and Artaxerxes, reigned for 17 years. during whose reign the visions through the angel appeared to Daniel, and the time of Christ's coming was revealed; who, being envied by the chief men because he was greatly honored by the king, was cast into the den of lions. After Darius, Cyrus the Persian reigned for 30 years, who, having slain Darius, took possession of all of Chaldea and Assyria and Persia and Palestine and all of Asia, along with which he subjugated the kingdom of Lydia, having slain Croesus, as has been said before. during whose reign Daniel, being still more illustrious, and having shattered Bel and slain the dragon, the objects of Persian worship, was cast into the den of lions and was there for six days. 22 After Cyrus, his son Cambyses reigned, surnamed also Nebuchadnezzar, for 18 years. during whose reign Judith, with the help of God and her own wisdom, having deceived and beheaded Holofernes, who was laying waste the city of Bethulia, secured a great victory for the sons of Israel, and she died a widow at 105 years of age. After Cambyses, Smerdis the magus reigned for 7 months. After Smerdis, Darius son of Hystaspes reigned for 20 years. during whose reign again Zerubbabel and Joshua, having been permitted, completed the building of the temple, when Zerubbabel, having won in a contest of wits, and being permitted to ask for whatever he wanted, requested that the captivity be released and Jerusalem be rebuilt; which also came to pass, and then the 70 years of captivity and wrath were finally fulfilled. Now the high priest and scribe Ezra was teaching the law of God and interpreting it as the most intelligent of all, who also restored the holy books which had been destroyed by the enemy; for the Chaldeans after the capture of Jerusalem burned them all. wherefore God also inspired him so that he might set them forth. After Darius, Artabanus reigned for 7 months. After Artabanus, Artaxerxes Longimanus reigned for 41 years. during whose reign Sophocles, Heraclitus and Anaxagoras and Pythagoras and Thucydides and Euripides and Herodotus and 23 Empedocles and Diogenes and Zeno, and Pherecydes and Aristarchus and Hippocrates, Parmenides, Plato and Aristotle and Demosthenes and Socrates were known. After Artaxerxes, another Artaxerxes reigned, and his successors until Darius, whom Alexander slew, and when he had destroyed the kingdom of the Persians, taken control of the whole earth, and died in Babylon, his children divided the kingdom, as was said before, in this way. Ptolemy, son of Lagus, reigned over Egypt, and the 13 succeeding Ptolemies until Cleopatra, daughter of Dionysius, and Antigonus over all of Asia, and Seleucus Nicanor over Syria and Babylonia and Palestine, who also, having founded two cities in the region of Cilicia and another in Syria, called one Seleucia, another Antioch, and another Laodicea, after his own name and that of his son and his daughter Laodice. during whose reign the Rhodians, having become masters of the sea, erected in the city, that is, on the island there, a bronze statue of the sun, which on account of its size they called a colossus, and they themselves were named Colossians. After Seleucus, his son Antiochus reigned, and 5 others. Then Antiochus Epiphanes reigned, son of Seleucus Philopator, during whose reign the second capture of Jerusalem took place and the events concerning the Maccabees occurred and the sanctuary was defiled according to the prophecy of Daniel. who also, because of the many evil things he did, ended his life by a most shameful fate in a foreign land. 24 After Antiochus, his son Eupator reigned. After these things, Julius Caesar reigned, he who was not born; for when his mother died in the ninth month, they cut her open and brought him out. whence he is also called Caesar; from whom the Roman emperors were named Caesars, which is "a cutting" according to the Roman tongue. who first and alone held the Roman scepters after

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ἤγαγεν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ἐξ Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἀνῃρέθη κατὰ θείαν ὀργήν, καὶ παρέλαβε τὴν βασιλείαν ∆αρεῖος. Μετὰ δὲ Βαλτάσαρ ἐβασίλευσε ∆αρεῖος ὁ Μῆδος, ὁ καὶ Ἀστυάγης καὶ Ἀρταξέρξης, ἔτη ιζʹ. ἐφ' οὗ καὶ τῷ ∆ανιὴλ ὡράθησαν αἱ διὰ τοῦ ἀγγέλου ὀπτασίαι, καὶ ὁ χρόνος ἐδηλώθη τῆς Χριστοῦ παρουσίας· ὃς φθονηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν μεγιστάνων διὰ τὸ μεγάλως τιμᾶσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐνεβλήθη ἐν τῷ λάκκῳ τῶν λεόντων. Μετὰ δὲ ∆αρεῖον ἐβασίλευσε Κῦρος ὁ Πέρσης ἔτη λʹ, ὃς ἀνελὼν ∆αρεῖον ἐκράτησε πάσης τῆς Χαλδαίων καὶ Ἀσσυρίων καὶ Περσῶν καὶ Παλαιστίνης καὶ πάσης τῆς Ἀσίας, μεθ' ὧν τὴν Λυδῶν βασιλείαν ὑπέταξεν, ἀνελὼν Κροῖσον, ὡς προείρηται. ἐφ' οὗ ∆ανιὴλ ἐπιφανέστερος ὑπάρχων ἔτι καὶ τὸν Βὴλ συντρίψας καὶ τὸν δράκοντα φονεύσας, τὰ Περσῶν σεβάσματα, ἐβλήθη ἐν τῷ λάκκῳ τῶν λεόντων καὶ ἦν ἐκεῖ ἡμέρας ἕξ. 22 Μετὰ δὲ Κῦρον ἐβασίλευσε Καμβύσης ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ, ὁ καὶ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ἐπικληθείς, ἔτη ιηʹ. ἐφ' οὗ καὶ Ἰουδὴθ τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ βοηθείᾳ καὶ τῇ ἑαυτῆς σοφίᾳ ἀπατήσασα καὶ ἀποκεφαλίσασα τὸν Ὁλοφέρνην, πορθοῦντα τὴν Βετουλίαν πόλιν, νίκην μεγάλην τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ προεξένησεν, καὶ ἐτελεύτησε χήρα ἐτῶν ρεʹ. Μετὰ δὲ Καμβύσην ἐβασίλευσε Σπέρδιος ὁ μάγος μῆνας ζʹ. Μετὰ δὲ Σπέρδιον ἐβασίλευσε ∆αρεῖος Ὑστάσπου ἔτη κʹ. ἐφ' οὗ πάλιν Ζοροβάβελ καὶ Ἰησοῦς ἐπιτραπέντες ἐτελείωσαν τὴν οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ ναοῦ, ὅτε ὁ Ζοροβάβελ ἐν προβλήματι νικήσας, καὶ ἐπιτραπεὶς αἰτήσασθαι ὃ βούλεται, ἠξίωσεν ἀφεθῆναι τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν καὶ οἰκοδομηθῆναι τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ· ὃ καὶ γέγονε, καὶ τότε πεπλήρωται εἰς τέλος τὰ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας καὶ τῆς ὀργῆς ἔτη οʹ. ὁ δέ γε ἀρχιερεὺς καὶ γραμματεὺς Ἔσδρας ἦν διδάσκων τὸν νόμον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ διερμηνεύων ὡς εὐφυέστατος πάντων, ὃς καὶ τὰς ἱερὰς βίβλους ἀπεκατέστησε διαφθαρείσας ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων· οἱ γάρ τοι Χαλδαῖοι μετὰ τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐνέπρησαν πάσας. διὸ καὶ ἐνέπνευσεν ὁ θεὸς τούτῳ ὥστε αὐτὰς ἐκθέσθαι. Μετὰ δὲ ∆αρεῖον ἐβασίλευσεν Ἀρταβάνης μῆνας ζʹ. Μετὰ δὲ Ἀρταβάνην ἐβασίλευσεν Ἀρταξέρξης ὁ μακρόχειρ ἔτη μαʹ. ἐφ' οὗ Σοφοκλῆς Ἡράκλειτος καὶ Ἀναξαγόρας καὶ Πυθαγόρας καὶ Θουκυδίδης καὶ Εὐριπίδης καὶ Ἡρόδοτος καὶ 23 Ἐμπεδοκλῆς καὶ ∆ιογένης καὶ Ζήνων Φερεκύδης τε καὶ Ἀρίσταρχος καὶ Ἱπποκράτης, Παρμενίδης, Πλάτων καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης καὶ ∆ημοσθένης καὶ Σωκράτης ἐγνωρίζοντο. Μετὰ δὲ Ἀρταξέρξην ἐβασίλευσεν Ἀρταξέρξης ἄλλος καὶ οἱ καθεξῆς ἕως ∆αρείου, ὃν ἀνεῖλεν Ἀλέξανδρος, οὗ τὴν Περσῶν βασιλείαν καταλύσαντος καὶ πάσης τῆς γῆς κρατήσαντος ἐν Βαβυλῶνί τε τελευτήσαντος διεῖλον τὴν βασιλείαν, ὡς πρόσθεν εἴρηται, οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ οὕτως. τῆς μὲν Αἰγύπτου Πτολεμαῖος ἐβασίλευσεν ὁ Λαγοῦ καὶ οἱ καθεξῆς Πτολεμαῖοι ιγʹ ἕως Κλεοπάτρας θυγατρὸς ∆ιονυσίου, τῆς δὲ Ἀσίας πάσης Ἀντίγονος, τῆς δὲ Συρίας καὶ Βαβυλωνίας καὶ Παλαιστίνης Σέλευκος ὁ Νικάνωρ, ὃς καὶ πόλεις δύο κτίσας ἐν τοῖς μέρεσι Κιλικίας καὶ ἄλλην ἐν Συρίᾳ τὴν μὲν Σελεύκειαν ἐκάλεσεν τὴν δὲ Ἀντιόχειαν τὴν δὲ Λαοδίκειαν εἰς τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ὄνομα καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τῆς θυγατρὸς Λαοδίκης. ἐφ' οὗ Ῥόδιοι θαλασσοκρατήσαντες ἀνέστησαν ἐν τῇ πόλει, ἤγουν τῇ ἐκεῖσε νήσῳ, χαλκοῦν ἀνδριάντα τοῦ ἡλίου, ὃν διὰ τὸ μέγεθος ἐκάλεσαν κολοσσόν, καὶ αὐτοὶ Κολοσσαεῖς ὠνομάσθησαν. Μετὰ δὲ Σέλευκον ἐβασίλευσεν Ἀντίοχος υἱὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἄλλοι εʹ. εἶτα ἐβασίλευσεν Ἀντίοχος ὁ ἐπιφανής, υἱὸς Σελεύκου τοῦ φιλοπάτορος, ἐφ' οὗ γέγονεν ἡ δευτέρα ἅλωσις τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὰ κατὰ τῶν Μακκαβαίων ἐπράχθη καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν ἐμολύνθη κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ∆ανιὴλ πρόρρησιν. ὃς καὶ δι' ἃ ἔπραξε πολλὰ κακὰ αἰσχίστῳ μόρῳ τὸν βίον ἐπὶ ξένης κατέστρεψεν. 24 Μετὰ δὲ Ἀντίοχον ἐβασίλευσεν ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ὁ Εὐπάτωρ. Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐβασίλευσεν Ἰούλιος Καῖσαρ ὁ μὴ γεννηθείς· τῆς γὰρ μητρὸς αὐτοῦ θανούσης ἐν τῷ ἐννάτῳ μηνί, ταύτην ἀνατεμόντες ἐξέβαλον αὐτόν. ὅθεν καὶ Καῖσαρ λέγεται· ἀφ' οὗ Καίσαρες οἱ Ῥωμαίων προσηγορεύθησαν βασιλεῖς, ὅ ἐστιν ἀνατομὴ κατὰ τὴν Ῥωμαίων γλῶτταν. ὃς πρῶτος καὶ μόνος ἐκράτησεν τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν σκήπτρων μετὰ