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Chronographia

JOHN MALALAS' CHRONOGRAPHIA.

SECOND BOOK. And after the death of Hephaestus, his son Helios reigned over the Egyptians for 4477 days, which is 12 years and 67 days; for the Egyptians at that time, or any others, did not know how to reckon number, but some reckoned the cycles of the moon as years, and others reckoned the periods of days as years; for the numbers of the 12 24 months were devised after these things, from when it was decreed for men to be subject to kings. And this Helios, the son of Hephaestus, was an ambitious and powerful man; who was informed by someone that a certain Egyptian woman of wealth and standing among them, being in love with someone, was committing adultery with him. And when Helios heard this, he sought to seize her because of the legislation of his father Hephaestus, so that it might not be broken; and taking soldiers from his own army, having learned that the time of her adultery occurred at night, he fell upon her when her husband was not there, and found her sleeping with another man, her lover. whom he immediately brought down and, having punished her, paraded through the entire land of Egypt; and great chastity came to be in the land of Egypt; and he killed that adulterer, and was well pleased. Concerning which, the poet Homer poetically relates how Helios, he says, exposed Aphrodite lying with Ares at night; and he called the desire for fornication, which was exposed by king Helios, "Aphrodite". But the truth, as written before, the most wise chronicler Palaephatus wrote down. And after the death of king Helios, son of Hephaestus, Sosis reigned over the Egyptians, and after his reign Osiris reigned, and after Osiris, Horus reigned, andafter Horus, Thoulis reigned, who took with a great 25 force all the land as far as the Ocean. And upon his return, he came to the land of Africa to the oracle in his arrogance; and after sacrificing he inquired, saying, "Tell me, o fire-mighty, o unerring, o blessed one, you who turns the ethereal course, who before my reign was able to subdue all things, or who after me?" And this oracle was given to him. First God, then Word and Spirit with them; all are co-natural and go to one, whose power is eternal. Walk with swift feet, o mortal, completing an unknown life. And immediately coming out from the oracle, having been conspired against by his own men, he was immediately slaughtered in Africa. And Manetho wrote down these ancient and archaic kingdoms of the Egyptians; in which writings of his it is related that the names of the five wandering stars were said otherwise. For they called the star called Kronos "the shining one", that of Dios "the radiant one", that of Ares "the fiery one", that of Aphrodite "the most beautiful one", and that of Hermes "the gleaming one"; which things after this the most wise Sotates interpreted. And finally in later times, Sostris, from the tribe of Ham, was the first to reign over the Egyptians; who, having armed himself, made war on the Assyrians, and he subdued them and the Chaldeans and Persians as far as Babylon. Likewise he also subdued Asia and all of Europe and Scythia and My 26 sia. and while returning to Egypt from the land of Scythia he chose 15,000 young warrior men; whom, having made them settlers, he ordered them to dwell in Persis, giving them land there such as

1

Chronographia

ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΜΑΛΑΛΑ ΧΡΟΝΟΓΡΑΦΙΑ.

ΛΟΓΟΣ ∆ΕΥΤΕΡΟΣ. Μετὰ δὲ τελευτὴν Ἡφαίστου ἐβασίλευσεν Αἰγυπτίων ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ Ἥλιος ἡμέρας δυοζʹ, ὡς εἶναι ἔτη ιβʹ καὶ ἡμέρας ςζʹ· οὐ γὰρ ᾔδεισαν οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι τότε ἢ ἄλλοι τινὲς ἀριθμὸν ψηφίσαι, ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν τὰς περιόδους τῆς σελήνης ἐψήφιζον εἰς ἐνιαυτούς, οἱ δὲ τὰς περιόδους τῶν ἡμερῶν εἰς ἔτη ἐψήφιζον· οἱ γὰρ τῶν ιβʹ 24 μηνῶν ἀριθμοὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπενοήθησαν, ἐξότε ἐπωνομάσθη τὸ ὑποτελεῖς εἶναι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν. ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς Ἥλιος, ὁ υἱὸς Ἡφαίστου, ἦν φιλότιμος δυνατός· ὅστις ἐδιδάχθη ὑπό τινος ὡς γυνή τις Αἰγυπτία τῶν ἐν εὐπορίᾳ καὶ ἀξίᾳ οὐσῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐρῶσά τινος ἐμοιχεύετο ὑπ' αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἀκούσας ὁ Ἥλιος ἐζήτησεν αὐτὴν πιάσαι διὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς αὑτοῦ Ἡφαίστου νομοθεσίαν, ἵνα μὴ λυθῇ· καὶ λαβὼν στρατιώτας ἐκ τοῦ ἰδίου στρατοῦ, μαθὼν τὸν καιρὸν τῆς μοιχείας αὐτῆς γίνεσθαι νυκτῶν, ἐπιῤῥίψας αὐτῇ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτῆς μὴ ὄντος αὐτόθι, εὗρεν αὐτὴν μετὰ ἄλλου καθεύδουσαν τοῦ ἐρωμένου παρ' αὐτῆς. ἥντινα εὐθέως καταγαγὼν ἐπόμπευσεν ἐν πάσῃ τῇ χώρᾳ τῆς Αἰγύπτου τιμωρησάμενος· καὶ γέγονε σωφροσύνη μεγάλη ἐν τῇ γῇ τῆς Αἰγύπτου· κἀκεῖνον δὲ τὸν μοιχὸν ἀνεῖλε, καὶ εὐχαριστήθη. περὶ οὗ ἱστορεῖ ποιητικῶς Ὅμηρος ὁ ποιητὴς ὡς ὁ Ἥλιος, φησίν, ἤλεγξε τὴν Ἀφροδίτην συμμιγνυμένην νυκτὸς Ἄρεϊ· Ἀφροδίτην δὲ ἐκάλεσε τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τῆς πορνείας ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἡλίου βασιλέως ἐλεγχθεῖσαν. τὸ δὲ ἀληθές, ὡς προγέγραπται, Παλαίφατος ὁ σοφώτατος χρονογράφος συνεγράψατο. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν τελευτὴν Ἡλίου βασιλέως, υἱοῦ Ἡφαίστου, ἐβασίλευσε τῶν Αἰγυπτίων Σῶσις, καὶ μετὰ τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ ἐβασίλευσεν Ὄσιρις, καὶ μετὰ Ὄσιριν ἐβασίλευσεν Ὧρος, καὶμετὰ Ὧρον ἐβασίλευσε Θοῦλις, ὃς παρέλαβε μετὰ δυνάμεως πολ 25 λῆς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἕως τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ. καὶ ἐν τῷ ὑποστρέφειν ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀφρικὴν χώραν εἰς τὸ μαντεῖον ἐν ὑπερηφανίᾳ· καὶ θυσιάσας ἐπυνθάνετο λέγων, Φράσον μοι, πυρισθενές, ἀψευδές, μάκαρ, ὁ τὸν αἰθέριον μετεγκλίνων δρόμον, τίς πρὸ τῆς ἐμῆς βασιλείας ἠδυνήθη ὑποτάξαι τὰ πάντα, ἢ τίς μετ' ἐμέ; καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ χρησμὸς οὗτος. Πρῶτα θεός, μετέπειτα λόγος καὶ πνεῦμα σὺν αὐτοῖς· σύμφυτα δὲ πάντα καὶ εἰς ἓν ἰόντα, οὗ κράτος αἰώνιον. ὠκέσι ποσὶ βάδιζε, θνητέ, ἄδηλον διανύων βίον. καὶ εὐθέως ἐξελθὼν ἐκ τοῦ μαντείου, συσκευασθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων εὐθέως ἐσφάγη ἐν τῇ Ἀφρικῇ. ταῦτα δὲ τὰ παλαιὰ καὶ ἀρχαῖα βασίλεια τῶν Αἰγυπτίων Μανέθων συνεγράψατο· ἐν οἷς συγγράμμασιν αὐτοῦ ἐμφέρεται ἄλλως λέγεσθαι τὰς ἐπωνυμίας τῶν πέντε πλανητῶν ἀστέρων. τὸν γὰρ λεγόμενον Κρόνον ἀστέρα ἐκάλουν τὸν λάμποντα, τὸν δὲ ∆ιὸς τὸν φαέθοντα, τὸν δὲ Ἄρεος τὸν πυρώδη, τὸν δὲ Ἀφροδίτης τὸν κάλλιστον, τὸν δὲ Ἑρμοῦ τὸν στίλβοντα· ἅτινα μετὰ ταῦτα Σωτάτης ὁ σοφώτατος ἡρμήνευσε. Καὶ λοιπὸν ἐν τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα χρόνοις ἐβασίλευσεν Αἰγυπτίων πρῶτος ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς τοῦ Χὰμ Σῶστρις· ὅστις ὁπλισάμενος ἐπολέμησεν Ἀσσυρίοις, καὶ ὑπέταξεν αὐτοὺς καὶ τοὺς Χαλδαίους καὶ Πέρσας ἕως Βαβυλῶνος. ὁμοίως δὲ ὑπέταξε καὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ τὴν Εὐρώπην πᾶσαν καὶ τὴν Σκυθίαν καὶ τὴν Μυ 26 σίαν. καὶ ἐν τῷ ὑποστρέφειν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἐκ τῆς χώρας τῆς Σκυθίας ἐπελέξατο ἀνδρῶν νεανίσκων πολεμιστῶν χιλιάδας ιεʹ· οὕστινας μετανάστας ποιήσας ἐκέλευσεν αὐτοὺς οἰκεῖν ἐν Περσίδι, δόσας αὐτοῖς χώραν ἐκεῖ οἵαν