Georgius Syncellus, Chronographical Selection

the 4746th year of the world must be numbered, and from him until the death of Alexander the Macedonian is 424 years, so that from Adam until the death of Alexander is 5170 years. Shalmaneser, also known as Nabonassar, the first of the Chaldeans, reigned for 26 years. And it was the 4746th year of the world. Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians, having come against Hoshea, made Samaria and Israel tributary. Then, learning that Hoshea was sending an embassy for help to the Ethiopian Adramelech who was in Egypt and to So, king of Egypt, he both shut Hoshea up in prison and took captive the 10 tribes of Israel. The kingdom of the Hebrews of the ten tribes, so-called, in Samaria, in this 7th year of Hoshea, their last king, began to be besieged, which was the beginning of the 4th year of Hezekiah, as the fourth book of Kings says that "it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians came up against Samaria and besieged it and took it at the end of three years, in the 6th year of Hezekiah. This was the 9th year of Hoshea king of Israel. And Samaria was captured, and the king of the Assyrians deported the Samaritans to Assyria and placed them in Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the mountains of the Medes, because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord their God." This was the first captivity of Israel to the Assyrians, which happened at the beginning of the 6th year of Hezekiah, and at the completion of the 4770th year of the world. This same kingdom of the 10 tribes in Samaria lasted from their first king 242 Jeroboam, the servant of Solomon, for 18 kings, and 260 years. For having begun from the 4513th year of the world, it ended in the aforementioned 4771st, but according to Africanus, 4750, and according to Eusebius, 4455.

But Eusebius of Caesarea reckoned 250 years, and others 246, however, the more accurate account, and the one more in agreement with the scripture of Kings, is that the 6th year of Hezekiah at its beginning corresponds with the 9th year of Hoshea at its completion. For thus one must understand the end of the 9th year of Hoshea as the beginning of the 6th year of Hezekiah. For so it would be correctly understood.

From the captivity of the 10 tribes of Israel in Samaria, which was carried out by Shalmaneser, was Tobit, a most righteous man of the tribe of Naphtali, in the city of Nineveh. When he was discovered burying those who were slain by Shalmaneser and the rest of the Chaldeans, he fled, leaving behind his property. But when Sennacherib had been killed by his children and Shalmaneser had died, Esarhaddon, son of Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, appointed Tobit's nephew Achiacharus over the accounts, who, having asked for Tobit, received him from the king. This same man, having buried one of the Hebrews during a time of heat, fell asleep in the courtyard by the wall under a sparrow's nest; sparrows, having defecated on his eyes, blinded him. And he, being very old and also blind, sends his son Tobias to Rages of Media to a certain Gabael, a kinsman, to bring back a deposit of 10 talents of silver. And as he was departing, seeking a hired guide, he found, without knowing it, Raphael the archangel, by whom he was initiated into the matters concerning the fish's gall, liver, and heart, and he both does the things concerning his possessed kinswoman and, upon returning, opens his father's eyes.

But I think it necessary in connection with the present captivity to inquire how, since the kingdom of the Assyrians had been overthrown 66 years before by Arbaces the Mede who transferred it to the Medes, scripture calls Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians and speaks of the deportation of the 10 tribes to the Assyrians, and then gives the geographical location of their dwelling in Halah and on the 243 Habor, rivers of Gozan, and mountains of the Medes. Or is it clear that the race of the Medes, in succession from Arbaces,

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ΧΑΛ∆ΑΙΩΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΣ Τὸ πρῶτον ἔτος Ναβονασάρου Χαλδαίων βασιλέως ἀπὸ

τοῦ δψμςʹ ἔτους τοῦ κόσμου δεῖ ἀριθμεῖν, καὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἕως τελευτῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Μακεδόνος ἔτη υκδʹ, ὡς εἶναι ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ ἕως Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτῆς εροʹ. Σαλμανασὰρ ὁ καὶ Ναβονάσαρος Χαλδαίων πρῶτος ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη κςʹ. τοῦ δὲ κόσμου ἦν ἔτος δψμςʹ. Σαλμανασὰρ βασιλεὺς Ἀσσυρίων κατὰ τοῦ Ὠσηὲ ἐλθὼν τὴν Σαμάρειαν καὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ὑπόφορον ἔθετο. ἔπειτα δὲ μαθὼν τὸν Ὠσηὲ πρεσβευόμενον εἰς βοήθειαν ἐλθεῖν τῷ Αἰθίοπι Ἀδραμέλεχ τῷ κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον καὶ Σηγὼρ βασιλεῖ Αἰγύπτου, τόν τε Ὠσηὲ καθεῖρξεν ἐν φυλακῇ καὶ τὰς ιʹ φυλὰς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ᾐχμαλώτευσεν. Ἡ τῶν ἐν Σαμαρείᾳ δέκα φυλῶν λεγομένων τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ βασιλευομένων Ἑβραίων ἀρχὴ τούτῳ τῷ ζʹ ἔτει Ὠσηὲ τοῦ τελευταίου βασιλέως αὐτῶν ἤρξατο πολιορκεῖσθαι, ὅπερ ἦν ἀρχὴ τοῦ δʹ ἔτους Ἐζεκίου, ὥς φησιν ἡ δʹ τῶν βασιλειῶν ὅτι «ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἔτει τῷ δʹ βασιλεῖ Ἐζεκίᾳ, αὐτὸς ὁ ἐνιαυτὸς ζʹ Ὠσηὲ υἱῷ Ἠλὰ βασιλεῖ Ἰσραήλ, ἀνέβη Σαλμανασὰρ βασιλεὺςἈσσυρίων ἐπὶ Σαμάρειαν καὶ ἐπολιόρκησεν αὐτὴν καὶ κατεβάλετο αὐτὴν ἀπὸ τέλους τριῶν ἐτῶν ἐν ἔτει ςʹ Ἐζεκία. οὗτος ἐνιαυτὸς θʹ τῷ Ὠσηὲ βασιλεῖ Ἰσραήλ. καὶ συνελήφθη Σαμάρεια καὶ ἀπῴκισε βασιλεὺς Ἀσσυρίων τὴν Σαμάρειαν εἰς Ἀσσυρίους καὶ ἔθηκεν αὐτοὺς ἐν Χαλχὰλ καὶ ἐν Ἀβὼρ ποταμῷ Γωζὰν καὶ ὄρη Μήδων, ὅτι οὐκ εἰσήκουσαν τῆς φωνῆς κυρίου θεοῦ αὐτῶν.» Αὕτη πρώτη τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ αἰχμαλωσία πέφυκεν εἰς Ἀσσυρίους, ἥτις γέγονεν ἀρχομένῳ ςʹ ἔτει Ἐζεκίου, κοσμικῷ δὲ ἔτει δψοʹ πληρουμένῳ. διήρκεσε δὲ ἡ αὐτὴ τῶν ιʹ φυλῶν βασιλεία ἐν Σαμαρείᾳ ἀπὸ τοῦ αʹ βασι 242 λέως αὐτῶν Ἱεροβωὰμ δούλου Σολομῶντος ἐν βασιλεῦσι ιηʹ, ἔτεσι δὲ σξʹ. ἀπὸ γὰρ τοῦ κοσμικοῦ δφιγʹ ἀρξαμένη εἰς τὸ ὑποτεταγμένον δψοαʹ ἔληξε, κατὰ δὲ Ἀφρικανὸν δψνʹ, κατὰ δὲ Εὐσέβιον δυνεʹ.

Εὐσέβιος δὲ ὁ Καισαρεὺς σνʹ ἔτη ἐπελογίσατο καὶ ἄλλοι σμςʹ, πλὴν τὸ ἀκριβέστερον καὶ τῇ γραφῆ τῶν βασιλειῶν συμφωνότερον ὡς πρὸς τὸ ςʹ ἔτος Ἐζεκίου καὶ αὐτὸ ἀρχόμενον συναντᾷ τὸ θʹ ἔτος Ὠσηὲ καὶ αὐτὸ πληρούμενον. οὕτω γὰρ χρὴ νοεῖν τὸ τέλος τοῦ θʹ ἔτους Ὠσηὲ ἀρχὴν τοῦ ςʹ ἔτους Ἐζεκίου. οὕτως γὰρ ἂν ὀρθῶς νοηθείη. Ἐκ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας τῆς ὑπὸ Σαλμανασὰρ γενομένης τῶν ιʹ φυλῶν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ τῶν ἐν Σαμαρείᾳ ἦν Τωβίας ὁ δικαιότατος φυλῆς Νεφθαλεὶμ ἐν Νινευὶ τῇ πόλει. οὗτος τοὺς ὑπὸ Σαλμανασὰρ καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν Χαλδαίων ἀναιρουμένους θάπτων διαγνωσθεὶς φεύγει καταλείψας τὴν κτῆσιν αὐτοῦ. τοῦ δὲ Σεναχηρεὶμ ἀναιρεθέντος ὑπὸ τῶν τέκνων αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ Σαλμανασὰρ ἀποθανόντος Ἀρχεδὼν υἱὸς Σεναχηρεὶμ βασιλεὺς Ἀσσυρίωνἀδελφιδοῦν τοῦ Τωβίου Ἀρχίκαρον ἔταξεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκλογιστείαν, ὃς τὸν Τωβίαν αἰτήσας ἔλαβε παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως. ὁ δ' αὐτὸς ὥρᾳ καύματός τινα τῶν Ἑβραίων θάψας ὕπνωσεν ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ παρὰ τὸ τεῖχος ὑπὸ στρουθῶν νοσσιάν· τούτου τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀφοδεύσαντες ἐπήρωσαν οἱ στρουθοί. Ὁ δὲ πρεσβύτατος ἅμα καὶ τυφλὸς ὢν ἐν Ῥαγαῖς τῆς Μηδείας τὸν υἱὸν ἀποστέλλει Τωβίαν πρός τινα Γαβαὴλ ὁμόφυλον ἀγαγεῖν παρακατα θήκην ταλάντων ἀργυρίων ιʹ. ὁ δὲ ἀπιὼν μισθωτὸν ὁδοδείκτην ἐπιζητή σας εὗρεν ἀγνοῶν Ῥαφαὴλ τὸν ἀρχάγγελον, ὑφ' οὗ μυηθεὶς τὰ περὶ τῆς χολῆς τοῦ ἰχθύος καὶ τοῦ ἥπατος καὶ τῆς καρδίας, τά τε κατὰ τὴν δαιμονιῶσαν συγγενίδα πράττει καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τοῦ πατρὸς ἀνοίγει ἐπανελθών. Ἀναγκαῖον δὲ οἶμαι τῇ παρούσῃ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ ζητῆσαι πῶς τῆς τῶν Ἀσσυρίων βασιλείας πρὸ ζςʹ ἐτῶν καθαιρεθείσης ὑπὸ Ἀρβάκου τοῦ Μήδου τοῦ ταύτην εἰς Μήδους μετενέγκαντος ἡ γραφὴ τὸν Σαλμανασὰρ βασιλέα Ἀσσυρίων καλεῖ καὶ τὴν ἀποικίαν εἰς Ἀσσυρίους φησὶ τῶν ιʹ φυλῶν, εἶτα τὴν τοπικὴν θέσιν τῆς κατοικίας αὐτῶν ἐν Χαλχὰλ καὶ ἐν 243 Ἀβὼρ ποταμοῖς Γωζὰν καὶ ὄρεσι Μήδων. ἢ δῆλον ὅτι Μήδων μὲν γένος κατὰ διαδοχὴν ἀπὸ Ἀρβάκου