68
Micah and Obadiah and Eleazar and Ananias prophesied. Joram, succeeding his father Jehosaphat, for 8 years.
In Samaria, Athaliah the daughter of Zimri the king of Israel, for 8 years. She, having become the most impious of all women, kills all the children of Ahaziah, taking vengeance for Ahab the Israelite king; for she was thought to be of his lineage. But Jehosheba, the sister of Uzziah, wife of Jehoiada the high priest, having stolen Joash the son of Ahaziah, who was eight years old, brought him to Jehoiada. 1.189 And he, having anointed him, declared him king, after killing Athaliah. And having become pious at first, he tore down all the idols, except for the high places. But Joash practiced idolatry at the end, and he kills by stoning Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the prophet, who blamed him for his deviation. And he reigned for 40 years. Amaziah his son, for 29 years; in his time the Cumaean Sibyl was known. Uzziah, also called Zechariah, son of Amaziah, for 52 years. This man was god-fearing; but later, having attempted to enter the holy places, he became a leper, and his son judged in his place. And Azariah was high priest, and the prophets were Amos and Isaiah his son and Hosea and Jonah. During these times Lycurgus gave laws to the Lacedaemonians. Jotham the son of Uzziah, for 16 years. In his first year, Iphitus established the Olympiads, which is a period of four years. But among the Egyptians the moon is properly called Olympias because it travels around the zodiacal circle monthly, which the ancients called Olympus. In this first Olympiad Romus and Romulus were born, who in the 7th Olympiad began to build Rome. You will find the narrative of these things more fully in the order of the kings. Hezekiah, his son, succeeding Ahaz, reigned for 29 years. In his 6th year Samaria was carried into captivity by Shalmaneser, also called Nabunasar, king of the Assyrians. 1.190 This was the first captivity of Israel. He was also called Sardanapalus, and was the father of Nebuchadnezzar. But it is necessary to inquire concerning the kingdom of the Assyrians, how, when it had been destroyed 96 years before by Arbaces the Mede, who transferred it to the Medes, the Scripture calls Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians. And * he says that a line of Medes indeed reigned in succession from Arbaces, but the kingdom was also called that of the Assyrians on account of the nobility and antiquity of the rule and the name of the country; for this king of the Assyrians, being under the dominion of the Medes, was established as king of the Assyrians. Hezekiah, therefore, in the 15th year of his reign, having fallen sick unto death, received an extension of life of 15 years through Isaiah. And this is confirmed through the wondrous sign of the sun's return, its natural movement having gone back ten steps, that is, ten hours, throughout the whole world, so that that day alone, without its own night, was 22 hours long. He also, practicing self-control, rising from his sickness, prayed to beget a child. He tore down and melted the serpent which Moses had hung up in the wilderness, because the people were burning incense to it. But he also burned up and destroyed a book of Solomon, inscribed with remedies for every affliction, both concerning proverbs and songs, in which was the natural history of plants and all kinds of animals, of the land, of the air, and of the sea, and remedies for every affliction, written by him, from which also the iatrosophists of the Greeks, having appropriated and taken their starting points, established their own arts. 1.191 These books, therefore, Hezekiah burned and made to disappear, as has been said, because the people, obtaining the cures for their diseases from them, neglected to ask for healing from God. In these days of Hezekiah, Sennacherib the successor of Shalmaneser came up; and when he had boasted greatly against the Lord and against his people, he who scatters the counsels of nations and frustrates the thoughts of peoples and the counsels of rulers was invoked, and sending an angel he destroyed from the camp of the Assyrians 185 thousand. And so with shame and rage the
68
προε φήτευσε Μιχαίας καὶ Ἀβδίας καὶ Ἐλεάζαρ καὶ Ἀνανίας. Ἰωρὰτὸν πατέρα Ἰωσάφατ διαδεξάμενος ἔτη ηʹ.
Ἐν Σαμαρείᾳ Γοθολία ἡ θυγάτηρ Ζαμβρῆ τοῦ βασιλέως Ἰσραὴλ ἔτη ηʹ. αὕτη πασῶν ἀσεβεστάτη γενομένη γυναικῶν πάν τας ἀναιρεῖ τοὺς Ὀχοζίου παῖδας, Ἀχαὰβ τῷ Ἰσραηλίτῃ βασιλεῖτιμωρουμένη· ἐδόκει γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ γένους εἶναι τούτου. Ἰωσαβὶδ δὲ ἡ τοῦ Ὀζίου ἀδελφή, γυνὴ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως Ἰωδαέ, κλέψασα Ἰωὰς τὸν Ὀχοζίου υἱὸν ὀκταετῆ τυγχάνοντα Ἰωδαὲ προσήγαγεν. 1.189 αὐτὸς δὲ χρίσας ἀνέδειξε βασιλέα, Γοθολίαν ἀνελών. εὐσεβὴς δὲ κατ' ἀρχὰς γενόμενος πάντα καθαιρεῖ τὰ εἴδωλα, πλὴν τῶν μετεώρων. εἰδωλολατρεῖ δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ τέλει Ἰωάς, καὶ Ζαχαρίαν τὸν τοῦ Ἰωδαὲ υἱὸν τὸν προφήτην, αἰτιώμενον τὴν ἐκτροπήν, κατα λεύσας ἀναιρεῖ. βασιλεύει δὲ ἔτη μʹ. Ἀμεσίας υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ἔτη κθʹ· ἐπὶ τούτου Σίβυλλα ἡ Κυμαία ἐγνωρίζετο. Ὀζίας ὁ καὶ Ζαχαρίας, υἱὸς Ἀμεσίου, ἔτη νβʹ. οὗτος θεοσεβὴς ἀνὴρ ἦν· ὕστερον δὲ τῶν ἁγίων ἐπιβῆναι πειρασθεὶς λεπροῦται, καὶ ἐδίκα ζεν ἀντ' αὐτοῦ ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ. ἦν δὲ ἀρχιερεὺς Ἀζαρίας, προφήτης δὲ Ἀμὼς καὶ Ἠσαΐας ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ Ὠσηὲ καὶ Ἰωνᾶς. κατατούτους τοὺς χρόνους Λυκοῦργος Λακεδαιμονίων ἐνομοθέτει. Ἰωάθαμ ὁ υἱὸς Ὀζίου ἔτη ι ϛʹ. ἐπὶ τούτου τῷ πρώτῳ ἔτει Ἴφιτος τὰς Ὀλυμπιάδας ἐνέστησεν, ὅ ἐστι τετραετηρικὸς χρόνος. παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις δὲ κυρίως Ὀλυμπιὰς ἡ σελήνη καλεῖται διὰ τὸ κατὰ μῆνα περιπολεῖν τὸν ζωδιακὸν κύκλον, ὃν οἱ παλαιοὶ Ὄλυμ πον ἐκάλουν. ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ πρώτῃ Ὀλυμπιάδι Ῥῶμος καὶ Ῥωμύλος ἐγεννήθησαν, οἵτινες ἐν τῇ ζʹ Ὀλυμπιάδι τὴν Ῥώμην ἤρξαντο κτίζειν. τούτων τὴν διήγησιν πλατύτερον ἐν τῇ τάξει τῶν βασι λέων εὑρήσεις. Ἐζεκίας τὸν Ἀχὰζ διαδεξάμενος ὁ υἱὸς ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη κθʹ. ἐν τῷ ϛʹ ἔτει τούτου μετῳκίσθη ὑπὸ Σαλμανασὰρ τοῦ καὶ Να βουνασάρου, βασιλέως Ἀσσυρίων, Σαμάρεια αἰχμαλωτισθεῖσα. 1.190 αὕτη πρώτη ἡ αἰχμαλωσία Ἰσραήλ. οὗτος δὲ καὶ Σαρδανάπαλος ἐλέγετο, ἦν δὲ πατὴρ τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ. ἀναγκαῖον δὲ ζητῆ σαι περὶ τῆς τῶν Ἀσσυρίων βασιλείας, πῶς ταύτης πρὸ ϟϛʹ ἐτῶν καθαιρεθείσης ὑπὸ Ἀρβάκου τοῦ Μήδου, τοῦ ταύτην εἰς Μή δους μετενέγκαντος, ἡ γραφὴ τὸν Σαλμανασὰρ βασιλέα Ἀσσυ ρίων καλεῖ. καί * φησιν ὅτι Μήδων μὲν γένος κατὰ διαδοχὴν ἀπὸ Ἀρβάκου ἐβασίλευσεν, ἡ δὲ βασιλεία καὶ Ἀσσυρίων ἐλέγετο διὰ τὸ εὐγενὲς καὶ παλαιὸν τῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ τὸ τῆς χώρας ὄνομα· ὁ γὰρ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων οὗτος βασιλεὺς ὑπὸ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν Μήδων ὢν Ἀσσυρίων βασιλεὺς κατέστη. ὁ τοίνυν Ἐζεκίας τῷ ιεʹ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ νοσήσας πρὸς θάνατον προσθήκην ζωῆς ἔλαβε διὰ Ἠσαΐου ἐτῶν ιεʹ. καὶ πιστοῦται ταῦτα διὰ τοῦ παραδόξου σημείου τῆς ἐπανόδου ἡλίου, τῆς φυσικῆς κινήσεως δέκα βαθμοὺς ἀναποδισάσης ἤγουν δέκα ὥρας καθ' ὅλην τὴν οἰκουμένην, ὡς εἶναι τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην μόνην χωρὶς τῆς ἰδίας νυκτὸς ὡρῶν κβʹ. οὗτος καὶ σωφροσύνην ἀσκῶν ἀπὸ τῆς νόσου ἀναστὰς ηὔξατο παι δοποιῆσαι. οὗτος τὸν ὄφιν ὃν ἐκρέμασε Μωϋσῆς ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, καθεῖλε καὶ ἐχώνευσεν, ὅτι αὐτῷ ἐθυμία ὁ λαός. ἀλλὰ καὶ βι βλίον Σολομῶντος, ἰαματήριον παντὸς πάθους ἐγκεκολαμμένον, ἐξέκαυσε καὶ ἠφάνισε, τάς τε περὶ τῶν παραβολῶν καὶ ᾠδῶν, ἐν αἷς περὶ τῶν φυτῶν καὶ παντοίων ζῴων φυσιολογία, χερσαίων πετεινῶν τε καὶ νηκτῶν, καὶ ἰαμάτων πάθους παντός, γραφείσας αὐτῷ, ἀφ' ὧν καὶ οἱ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἰατροσοφισταὶ σφετερισάμε 1.191 νοι καὶ τὰς ἀφορμὰς εἰληφότες τὰς ἰδίας συνεστήσαντο τέχνας. ταῦτα τοίνυν τὰ βιβλία Ἐζεκίας κατακαύσας ἀφανῆ ἐποίησεν, ὡς λέλεκται, ἐπειδὴ τὰς θεραπείας τῶν νοσημάτων ἔνθεν κομιζόμενος ὁ λαὸς περιώρα τὰς ἰάσεις αἰτεῖν παρὰ θεοῦ. ἐν ταύταις ταῖς ἡμέραις τοῦ Ἐζεκίου ἀνέβη Σεναχηρεὶμ ὁ διάδοχος Σαλμανασάρ· καὶ πλεῖστα μεγαλορρημονήσαντος κατὰ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ κατὰ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ, παρεκλήθη ὁ διασκεδάζων βουλὰς ἐθνῶν καὶ ἀθετῶν λογισμοὺς λαῶν καὶ βουλὰς ἀρχόντων, καὶ ἀποστείλας ἄγγελον ἀνεῖλεν ἐκ τῆς παρεμβολῆς τῶν Ἀσσυρίων χιλιάδας ρπεʹ. καὶ οὕτω μετ' αἰσχύνης καὶ λύσσης ὁ