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rifdiction of Babylon, and fituated not far from it. On the other fide of the River Lycus, in the Plains of Aturia is the City of Ninus. In the Province of Aturia is likewife the Village of Gaugamela, famous for the great Victory obtained by Alexander the Great against Darius, &c. But the Macedonians feeing Gaugamela to be but a poor Village, and Arbela a confiderable Place, built (as it is reported) by Arbelus the Son of Athmoneus, they gave out, that they had fought and obtained this fignal Victory near Arbela, which has mifled feveral Hiftorians inC to an Error. Confult the Notes of Freinshemius upon Curtius.

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§. 3. Fofeph Scaliger l. 5. de Emend. Temp. is of O-Whether pinion, that Plutarch is mistaken in the Character of Plutarch of the above mentioned Lunar Eclipfe. But if we committed weigh things maturely, we'll find but little ground for an Error thus cenfuring an Hiftorian of fo extraordinary a Re- in his Cha• putation. For he does not mention exprefly any cer- rader of tain day of the Month Bordromion, but only the Feast the Lunar of Eleafinia, which was celebrated by the Greeks for Eclipfe. feveral Days together. Befides that, the conftitution of the Attick year as propofed by Scaliger, and according to which he has corrected Plutarch,is not fufficiently established and approved among us, which is, queftionless, the reafon that Calvifins, who otherwife never fails to follow clofely the Footsteps of Scaliger, has not made the leaft Animadverfions upon this Paffage of Plutarch; and for the fame reafon it is our Opinion that this Character of fo ancient an Author ought not to be rejected.

CHA P. XXXI.

Of the time of the Death of Alexander the
Great, and the Epocha of the years of Phi-

lip.

RULES.

I. Alexander the Great lived 32 years and 8 Months, computed from the first year of the 106th Olympiad

and from the fame day that Philip the Father of Alexander received the Congratulations upon the OlympickViEtory,and the Victory obtained by Parmenio over thelllyrians, according to Arrian L.7. and Plutarch Vit. Alex. 2. Alexander reigned 12 years and 7 or 8 Months, according to Eratofthenes in Clemens Alexandrinus, Diodorus Siculus, Arrian, Eufebius, Sulpitius Severus, and 1 Maccab. 1. 8. 3. When 7 years were compleated from the Victory of Alexander over Darius, Alexander died near Babylon, Sulpit. Severus 1. 2. 4. Agefias was Archon at Athens the fame year that Alexander died. Diodor. Sicul. Arrian. 5. The same year C. Poetelius and L. Papyrius were Confuls at Rome.Diodorus Siculus. 6. The 114th Olympiad was celebrated the fame year, and Micinas of Rhodes carried the Day. Jofephus L. 1. contr. Appion. Diodor. Sic. Arrian L.7. Eufebius 1. 8. demonftr. Evang. 7. Alexander died 236 years after Cyrus, who began to reign over Perfia in the beginning of the 55th Olympiad. Eufeb. 1. cit. 8. From the beginning of the Nabonaffarean Epocha till the Death of Alexander are computed 424 years, ac cording to Ptolemy 1. 3. 9. The year of the Chriftian Era 238, was the 562d after the Death of Alexander, according to Cenforinus de D. N. c. 21. 10. 1214 years after the Death of Alexander there was a Solar Eclipfe obferved at Aracta; both the great Luminaries being in Leo; and that the fame Eclipfe hapned in the year of Chrift 891, on the 8th day of Auguft about Noon, is manifeft from the Ecliptical Calculations. Albategn. 11. The Death of Alexander is thus defcribed by Plutarch Vit. Alex. On the 18th day of the Month Dafins, being feized with a Fever, he remained all that Night in the Bath. The next day after bathing he kept his Bed-Chamber, where he played at Tables with Medius. Ha ving bathed again at Night, and affifted at the Sacrifice, he eat with much eagerness. The fame Night his Feaver returned again. The 20th day of the Month, after having bathed again, he affisted at the folemn Sacrifice; and being laid down in the Bath, he paffed his time with a certain Commander of a Ship, who gave him a relation of his Voyage, and of what he had obferved as moft remarkable in

the

the Ocean. The 21ft being paft in the fame manner, his Fever encreased towards Night: And the next day the Fever growing more violent, he was carried from thence to another place, near the great Bath, where he entertained himfelf with the Generals of the Army, in giving Orders to them. On the 24th, his Feaver ftill increafing, he affifted at the Sacrifice, whither he was forced to be carried; and ordered the Generals and other chief Men to tarry within the Court, the Colonels and Captains keeping Guard without the Gates. On the 25th he was carried into one of the inner Apartments of the Caftle, where he flept a little, but his Fever did not diminish. When the Generals came to attend him he had already loft the ufe of his Tongue, which continued thus on the 26:h. The Macedonians believing him to be dead, came in a tumultuous manner to the Gates; and having forc ced those that attended to admit them within the Kings Apartment, they all paffed one by one without their Arms by his Bed. On the fame day Py thon and Seleucus were dispatched to the Temple of Serapis to confult the Oracle whether Alexander fhould be conveyed thither: but they received for Anfwer, that they should not remove Alexander from the place he was then in. On the 28th towards Night he died. Thus it is recorded in the Diary. 12. It is very probable that she Month Defius of the Macedonians was coincident in that year. with the Month Thargelion of the Athenians; for Elianus fays 1. 2. c. 35 Var. Hift. It is reported that Alexander was born and died on the fame day of the year, being the 6th of the Month Thargelion, 13. After the Death of Alexander, and many long debates among the Generals, Aridæus the Son of Philip, who had also affumed the Name of Philip, was by the Majority of Suffrages conftituted King, nnd Perdiccas, to whom Alexander had given his Ring at the point of Death, was chofen Regent; pursuant to which all the Governours of the Provinces and other principal Officers were ordered to obey their Com mands. This was done the fame year that Cephilodorus was Archon of Athens. Diod. Sic. 1. 18.

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To trace

the year fince the beginning of this Epocha.

About

what time Alexan der died.

How Alexder died.

II. From thefe Characters it is evident that Alexander died in the Spring of the 4391ft year of the Julian Period, Cycl.0.23. D.2. And that from the fame year, about the Summer Seafon, when another Archon Succeeded at Athens, the Philippean Period had its beginning.

III. If therefore from any certain year of the Julian Pe riod given, 4390 years and 3 Months be fubtracted, the Refidue fhews the year fince the Death of Alexander the Great. To find out the year fince the beginning of the Philippean Period, feveral Months more must be fubtracted. And if the fame number of years and Months be added to the year fince the beginning of thefe Epocha's, the Product will be correspondent to the year of the Julian Period.

$. I.

THer "Here is fome difpute about the true time of the Death of Alexander the Great. For A. Gellius allots no more than 11 years for the Reign of Alexander; whereas Strabo l. 15. reckons as many after his last Victory obtained against Darius. But neither of these two are of fufficient Authority to counterballance what has been faid before concerning the true time of his Death.

§. 2. It is alfo called in queftion whether his Death was occafioned by Poifon or Debauchery. Of the first Opinion is fuftin l. 16. c. 16. and Curtius l. 10. But Plutarch Vit. Alex. fays, that this Account of his being made away by Poifon,was look'd upon as a Fiction; because his Body fhewed not the leaft marks of it af ter his Death, tho' it laid feveral days exposed to the heat of the Sun, whilft the contention lafted among the Generals. Perhaps he died under the influence both of Drinking and Poison.

The change S. 3. After the Death of Alexander the Boof Affairs dy of this vaft Empire was torn in many pieces, among after the which four Kingdoms were the moft remarkable, purDeath of fuant to the Vifion of Daniel. For Ptolemy feized Eder. gypt, Seleucus Babylon, Antigonus the Leffer Afia, and Antipater Macedonia and Greece.

Alexan

Si 4. The

§. 4. The Hiftories of thefe times make mention of Who was two Philips; the firft Philip the Son of Amyntas II. that Philip Father to Alexander the Great; the fecond Aridans, that gave the natural Brother of Alexander. Scaliger,Chriftmanthe Name nus, Serarius and others attribute the Origin of the to the PhiPhilippe an Epocha to the firft: But the fame having lippean Pe been unknown till after the Death of Alexander the Great, it appears more probable to me, that it owed its first rife to Philip the Brother of Alexander, who was born of Philinna a Theffalian Lady, and Mistress to K. Philip. See Diod. Sicul. l. 18. Bibl.To conclude; the Philippean years were, according to Cenforinus de D. N. c. 21. of the fame form with the Nabonaffarean years.

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Of the Epocha of the Seleucide, which is alfo called the Grecian and Alexandrian Epo cha; and of the Covenant and Therick DHILCARNAIN, mentioned in the Book of the Maccabees.

RULES.

I. The Epocha of the Seleucidæ ufed especially among the Afiaticks, owes its Name and Rife to Seleucus and commences at the time when Seleucus made himfelf Mafter of Babylon, and the Provinces of Media and Sufa. 2. Seleucus made himself Mafter of Babylon that year that Polemus was Archon at Athens. 3. In the fame year was the 117th Olympiad celebrated, at which Parmenio of Mitylene was Victor. 4. L. Papyrius was then the 5th time, and C. Junius the ad time Roman Confuls. All these Characters are related by Diodorus Siculus 1. 19. 5. In the 148th year of the Græcian Epocha, Judas the Maccabean purged the Temple of Jerufalem, after its prophanation by the Gentiles, Mac. 4. v. 52, 53. and the restoration of the Levitical Worship hap ned in the first year of the 145th Olympiad, according to Jofephus 1. 12. c. 11. Ant. 6. The 150th year

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