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he reigned, and the kingdom was called both Assyrian, on account of the nobility and antiquity of the rule and the name of the country, and Median, on account of the recency of the power and the country being called Media. But Shalmaneser could well, I think, be understood as this very man from Arbaces who reigned over the Assyrians and the Medes, who was leader of the Assyrians, but recently placed under their command. For thus say those who wrote the Babylonian histories, that Arbaces transferred the royal title and the wealth to the Medes, and he appointed Belesys as king of the Assyrians, obviously under himself. And so these were placed in succession under the Medes, as it seems to some, until the 8th king of the Assyrians and Medes, Darius, also called Astyages, whom Cyrus deposed and transferred the kingdom to the Persians, as it has seemed to some. Others say that after Sardanapalus, Ninus also gained control of the Assyrian rule, as Castor also says somewhere in his canon thus: We have therefore listed the kings of the Assyrians first, making the beginning from Belus, but because the years of his reign have not been clearly handed down, we mention his name, but we have made the beginning of the chronology from Ninus, and we end with Ninus who succeeded to the kingdom from Sardanapalus. And from the names mentioned in the divine Scripture, there appear to be three rules before the kingdom of Cyrus, after Sardanapalus. For until this man, the account prevails that the Assyrians ruled the other two, I mean, the Medes and the Chaldeans, but after Sardanapalus sometimes the Medes ruled the Assyrians, and sometimes the Chaldeans. And the rule of the Medes has already been set out above by us in a separate list beginning from Arbaces, but that of the Chaldeans remains to be set out, which is taken from Shalmaneser, whom they also call Nabonassar, both by the Chaldeans in the calculation of the stars and by the Greek mathematicians, as the most wise Claudius Ptolemy also testifies in the great treatise of astronomy, using the 244 years from Nabonassar, both in the epochs of the two luminaries, conjunctions and full moons, and in the lunar and solar eclipses occurring in connection with them, and in the calculations of the five wandering stars in longitude and latitude and of the other fixed stars. For they all agree that it is the most accurate, reckoning from the same Nabonassar to the first or seventh year of Alexander, who reigned over the Macedonians and Persians and almost all the inhabited world, 419 years, and to the death of the same Alexander, 424 years. And since we thought it necessary to show the motion of the heavenly bodies in agreement with our years of the world, and the time from Nabonassar has been attested as being in agreement with the wise men of the Chaldeans and Greeks, let there be a common starting point, the year 4747, which is the same as the first year of Nabonassar, so that if anyone should wish, according to the graphical or canonical demonstrations set out in the great treatise of the great Ptolemy, to calculate some reckoning of the celestial motions, taking the years from 4747 of the world, and then from the first year of Nabonassar, he would find one and the same epoch until the death of Alexander the founder, at which time it was the year 5170 of the world, and from the first year of Nabonassar there are 424 years, as has been said before. However, the calculations of the stars from the death of Alexander the same philosopher set forth in his Handy Tables of periods of 1476 years, that is, the apocatastasis of one Egyptian year. But also from this time, that is, from the death of Alexander and the year 5170 of the world; at which time the era of Philip, who was after Alexander the founder, has taken the beginning of the Handy Tables. if anyone should wish to calculate a conjunction, full moon, or any other calculation of the stars according to the aforementioned precise quantity of cosmic years, that is, also of the Paschal calculations, he will find an unerring and the same precise comprehension as those according to

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ἐβασίλευσεν, ἡ δὲ βασιλεία καὶ Ἀσσυρίων ἐλέγετο διὰ τὸ εὐγενὲς καὶ παλαιὸν τῆς ἀρχῆς καὶ τὸ τῆς χώρας ὄνομα καὶ Μήδων διὰ τὸ ὄψιμον τῆς ἐξουσίας καὶ τὴν χώραν Μηδίαν λεγομένην. Σαλμανασὰρ δὲ καλῶς ἄν, οἶμαι, νοηθείη αὐτὸς οὗτος ὁ ἀπὸ Ἀρβάκου βασιλεύων Ἀσσυρίων καὶ Μήδων, ὃς ἦν τῶν Ἀσσυρίων μὲν ἀρχηγός, ὑπὸ δὲ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἄρτι κατατεταγμένος. οὕτω γάρ φασιν οἱ τὰ Βαβυ λωνιακὰ γράψαντες, ὅτι Ἀρβάκης τὴν βασιλικὴν προσηγορίαν καὶ τὸν πλοῦτον εἰς Μήδους μετήγαγεν, Ἀσσυρίων δὲ βασιλέα κατέστησε Βέλεσυν ὑπ' αὐτὸν δηλονότι. καὶ οὗτοι λοιπὸν ἦσαν κατὰ διαδοχὴν ὑπὸ Μήδους τεταγμένοι, ὥς τισι δοκεῖ, ἕως τοῦ ηʹ βασιλέως Ἀσσυρίων καὶ Μήδων ∆αρείου τοῦ καὶ Ἀστυάγους, ὃν Κῦρος καθελὼν εἰς Πέρσας τὴν βασιλείαν μετήνεγκεν, ὥς τισιν ἔδοξεν. ἕτεροί φασι μετὰ Σαρδανάπαλον κρατῆσαι καὶ τῆς Ἀσσυρίων ἀρχῆς Νίνον, ὥς που καὶ Κάστωρ ἐν τῷ κανόνι αὐτοῦ φησιν ὧδε· πρώτους μὲν οὖν τοὺς Ἀσσυρίων βασιλεῖς κατετάχαμεν, τὴν μὲν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ Βήλου πεποιημένους, τῷ δὲ τὰ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ ἔτη μὴ παραδεδόσθαι σαφῶς τοῦ μὲν ὀνόματος μνημο νεύομεν, τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν τῆς χρονογραφίας ἀπὸ Νίνου πεποιήμεθα, καὶ καταλήγομεν ἐπὶ Νίνον τὸν διαδεξάμενον τὴν βασιλείαν παρὰ Σαρδανα πάλου. Ἐκ δὲ τῶν ἐν τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ μνημονευομένων ὀνομάτων φαίνονται τρεῖς ἀρχαὶ πρὸ τῆς Κύρου βασιλείας μετὰ Σαρδανάπαλον. ἕως γὰρ τούτου λόγος κρατεῖ Ἀσσυρίους ἄρχειν τῶν δύο λοιπόν, λέγω δὴ Μήδων καὶ Χαλδαίων, μετὰ δὲ Σαρδανάπαλον ποτὲ μὲν Μήδους ἄρχειν τῶν Ἀσσυρίων, ποτὲ δὲ Χαλδαίους. καὶ ἡ μὲν τῶν Μήδων ἀρχὴ ἤδη ἀνωτέρω ἡμῖν ἐν κανονίῳ ἐστοιχειώθη ἰδιάζοντι ἀπὸ Ἀρβάκου, ἡ δὲ τῶν Χαλδαίων λείπεται στοιχειωθῆναι, ἥτις ἀπὸ Σαλμανασάρ, ὃν καὶ Ναβονάσαρον καλοῦσι, λαμβάνεται παρά τε Χαλδαίοις ἐν τῇ τῶν ἀστέρων ψηφοφορίᾳ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Ἑλλήνων μαθηματικοῖς, ὡς μαρτυρεῖ καὶ ὁ σοφώτατος Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος ἐν τῇ μεγάλῃ συντάξει τῇ τῆς ἀστρονομίας τοῖς 244 ἀπὸ Ναβονασάρου χρώμενος ἔτεσιν, ἔν τε ταῖς τῶν δύο φωστήρων ἐποχαῖς συνόδοις τε καὶ πανσελήνοις καὶ ταῖς κατ' αὐτὰς συμβαινούσαις σεληνιακαῖς καὶ ἡλιακαῖς ἐκλείψεσιν, ἔν τε ταῖς τῶν πέντε πλανωμένων κατὰ μῆκος καὶ πλάτος ψηφοφορίαις καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀπλανῶν ἀστέρων. πάντων γὰρ αὐτὴν ἀκριβεστέραν ὁμολογοῦσιν εἶναι, συνάγουσαν ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ Ναβονασάρου ἐπὶ τὸ πρῶτον ἤτοι ζʹ ἔτος Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Μακε δόνων καὶ Περσῶν καὶ πάσης σχεδὸν τῆς οἰκουμένης βασιλεύσαντος ἔτη υιθʹ, ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου ἔτη υκδʹ. Ἐπεὶ δὲ συμφωνεῖν ἀναγκαῖον ἡγησάμεθα δεῖξαι τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς ἔτεσι τοῦ κόσμου τὴν τῶν οὐρανίων κίνησιν, σύμφωνος δὲ καὶ τοῖς Χαλδαίων καὶ Ἑλλήνων σοφοῖς ὁ ἀπὸ Ναβονασάρου χρόνος μεμαρτύρηται, κοινή τις ἔστω ἀρχὴ τὸ δψμζʹ ἔτος, τὸ αὐτὸ ὑπάρχον τῷ πρώτῳ ἔτει Ναβονασάρου, ἵν', εἴ τις βουληθείη κατὰ τὰς ἐν τῇ μεγάλῃ συντάξει τοῦ μεγάλου Πτολεμαίου ἐκτεθειμένας γραμμικὰς ἢ κανονικὰς δείξεις ψηφοφορίαν τινὰ τῶν οὐρανίων φορῶν ἐπιλογίσασθαι, λαμβάνων τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ δψμζʹ ἔτους τοῦ κόσμου, εἶτα ἀπὸ πρώτου ἔτους Ναβονασάρου μίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν εὕροι ἐποχὴν μέχρι τελευτῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ κτιστοῦ, καθ' ἣν κόσμου μὲν ἔτος εροʹ ὑπῆρχεν, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ πρώτου ἔτους Ναβονασάρου ἔτη γίνονται υκδʹ, ὡς προείρηται. τὰς μέντοι ἀπὸ τῆς τελευτῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου ψηφοφορίας τῶν ἀστέρων ὁ αὐτὸς φιλόσοφος ἐν προχείροις κανόσιν αυοςʹ ἐτῶν περιόδων ἤτοι ἀποκαταστάσει Αἰγυπτιακοῦ ἑνὸς ἔτους ἐξέθετο. πλὴν καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦδε τοῦ χρόνου ἤτοι ἀπὸ τῆς τελευτῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ τοῦ εροʹ κοσμικοῦ ἔτους; ἡνίκα ὁ ἀπὸ Φιλίππου τοῦ μετὰ Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν κτιστὴν χρόνος, τῶν προχείρων κανόνων τὴν ἀρχὴν εἴληφεν. εἴ τις βουληθείη σύνοδον, πανσέληνον ἢ ἄλλην τινὰ ψηφοφορίαν τῶν ἀστέρων ἐπιλογίσασθαι κατὰ τὴν προκειμένην ἀκριβῆ τῶν κοσμικῶν ἐτῶν ποσότητα, ἤγουν καὶ πασχουαλίων, ἄπταιστον εὑρήσει καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀκριβῆ κατάληψιν τοῖς τε κατὰ