Chapter XXXIX.—Catalogue of the Argive Kings.

The kings of the Argives were these: Inachus, Phoroneus, Apis, Criasis, Triopas, Argeius, Phorbas, Crotopas, Sthenelaus, Danaus, Lynceus, Prœtus, Abas, Acrisius, Perseus, Sthenelaus, Eurystheus, Atreus, Thyestes, and Agamemnon, in the eighteenth year of whose reign Troy was taken. And every intelligent person will most carefully observe that, according to the tradition of the Greeks, they possessed no historical composition; for Cadmus, who taught them letters, came into Bœotia many generations later. But after Inachus, under Phoroneus, a check was with difficulty given to their savage and nomadic life, and they entered upon a new order of things. Wherefore, if Moses is shown to be contemporary with Inachus, he is four hundred years older than the Trojan war. But this is demonstrated from the succession of the Attic, [and of the Macedonian, the Ptolemaic, and the Antiochian]91    The words within brackets, though they occur in the mss. and in Eusebius, are supposed by some scholars to be a very old interpolation. kings. Hence, if the most illustrious deeds among the Greeks were recorded and made known after Inachus, it is manifest that this must have been after Moses. In the time of Phoroneus, who was after Inachus, Ogygus is mentioned among the Athenians, in whose time was the first deluge; and in the time of Phorbas was Actæus, from whom Attica was called Actæa; and in the time of Triopas were Prometheus, and Epimetheus, and Atlas, and Cecrops of double nature, and Io; in the time of Crotopas was the burning of Phaëthon and the flood of Deucalion; in the time of Sthenelus was the reign of Amphictyon and the coming of Danaus into Peloponnesus, and the founding of Dardania by Dardanus, and the return of Europa from Phœnicia to Crete; in the time of Lynceus was the abduction of Koré, and the founding of the temple in Eleusis, and the husbandry of Triptolemus, and the coming of Cadmus to Thebes, and the reign of Minos; in the time of Prœtus was the war of Eumolpus against the Athenians; in the time of Acrisius was the coming over of Pelops from Phrygia, and the coming of Ion to Athens, and the second Cecrops, and the deeds of Perseus and Dionysus, and Musæus, the disciple of Orpheus; and in the reign of Agamemnon Troy was taken.

39.1 Γεγόνασιν Ἀργείων βασιλεῖς οἵδε· Ἴναχος Φορωνεὺς Ἆπις Ἀργεῖος Κρίασος Φόρβας Τριόπας Κρότωπος Σθενέλαος ∆αναὸς Λυγκεὺς Ἄβας Προῖτος Ἀκρίσιος Περσεὺς Σθενέλαος Εὐρυσθεὺς Ἀτρεὺς Θυέστης Ἀγαμέμνων, οὗ κατὰτὸ ὀκτωκαιδέκατον ἔτος τῆς βασιλείας Ἴλιον ἑάλω. καὶ χρὴ τὸν νουνεχῆ συνεῖναι μετὰ πάσης ἀκριβείας ὅτι κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλήνων παράδοσιν οὐδ' ἱστορίας τις ἦν παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀναγραφή. Κάδμος γὰρ ὁ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῖς προειρημένοις παραδοὺς μετὰ πολλὰς γενεὰς τῆς Βοιωτίας ἐπέβη. μετὰ δὲ Ἴναχον ἐπὶ Φορωνέως μόγις τοῦ θηριώδους βίου καὶ νομάδος περιγραφὴ γέγονεν μετεκοσμήθησάν τε οἱ ἄνθρωποι. διόπερ εἰ κατὰ Ἴναχον πέφηνεν ὁ Μωυσῆς γεγονώς, πρεσβύτερός ἐστι τῶν Ἰλιακῶν ἔτεσι τετρακοσίοις. ἀποδείκνυται δὲ 39.2 τοῦθ' οὕτως ἔχον ἀπὸ τε τῆς τῶν Ἀττικῶν βασιλέων διαδοχῆς καὶ Μακεδονικῶν καὶ Πτολεμαϊκῶν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ Ἀντιοχικῶν· ὅθεν εἰ μετὰ τὸν Ἴναχον αἱ διαφανέστεραι πράξεις παρ' Ἕλλησιν ἀνεγράφησάν τε καὶ γινώσκονται, δῆλον ὡς καὶ μετὰ Μωυσέα. κατὰ μὲν γὰρ Φορωνέα τὸν μετ' Ἴναχον μνημονεύεται παρ' Ἀθηναίοις Ὤγυγος, ἐφ' οὗ κατακλυσμὸς ὁ πρῶτος· κατὰ δὲ Φόρβαντα Ἀκταῖος, ἀφ' οὗ Ἀκταία ἡ Ἀττική· κατὰ δὲ Τριόπαν Προμηθεὺς καὶ Ἐπιμηθεὺς καὶ Ἄτλας καὶ ὁ διφυὴς Κέκροψ καὶ ἡ Ἰώ· κατὰ δὲ Κρότωπον ἡ ἐπὶ Φαέθοντος ἐκπύρωσις καὶ ἡ ἐπὶ ∆ευκαλίωνος ἐπομβρία· κατὰ δὲ Σθενέλαον ἥ τε Ἀμφικτύονος βασιλεία καὶ ἡ εἰς 39.3 Πελοπόννησον ∆αναοῦ παρουσία καὶ ἡ ὑπὸ ∆αρδάνου τῆς ∆αρδανίας κτίσις ἥ τε ἐκ Φοινίκης τῆς Εὐρώπης εἰς τὴν Κρήτην ἀνακομιδή· κατὰ δὲ Λυγκέα τῆς Κόρης ἡ ἁρπαγὴ καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι τεμένους καθίδρυσις καὶ ἡ Τριπτολέμου γεωργία καὶ ἡ Κάδμου εἰς Θήβας παρουσία Μίνωός τε ἡ βασιλεία· κατὰ δὲ Προῖτον ὁ Εὐμόλπου πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πόλεμος· κατὰ δὲ Ἀκρίσιον ἡ Πέλοπος ἀπὸ Φρυγίας διάβασις καὶ ἡ Ἴωνος εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας ἄφιξις καὶ ὁ δεύτερος Κέκροψ αἵ τε Περσέως καὶ ∆ιονύσου πράξεις καὶ Ὀρφέως μαθητὴς Μουσαῖος· κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀγαμέμνονος βασιλείαν ἑάλω τὸ Ἴλιον.