[192] In the fourth year of the reign of Dareius the Mede, the son of Assalamus, god sent Alexander the toparch (or king) of Macedonia, the son of Philippus, against the Assyrians and Persians and Parthians and Medes. Alexander founded the city of Alexandria the great, which had previously been a village called Rhacustis. Alexander named the city after himself, and there he sacrificed a young maiden, whom he called Macedonia.  # He built a temple to Helios Serapis, and a public bath, called the Horse, and some other temples.

This king Alexander encouraged like-minded generals, in his anger at the folly of the Assyrians, and he was the first to fight against Dareius, the king of the Persians. He went to Byzupolis in Europe, and founded a place [193] which he called Strategium; there he practiced his generalship with his own army and his allies. Then he crossed over from there with his army to a trading station in Bithynia, called Disci. Because he wanted to encourage his army, he distributed a large amount of gold to them there, and he changed the name of the trading-station to Chrysopolis ["city of gold"]; the place has kept this name until the present time. Setting out from there, Alexander came to Troy, where he made a sacrifice at the tomb of Achilles, the ancestor of his family, and he asked the spirit of Achilles to help him in the coming war. Olympias, the mother of Achilles the Macedonian, was descended from Molossus, the son of Pyrrhus and Andromache. Immediately Alexander set out from there like a leopard, and with his generals he conquered all the surrounding countries. He defeated Dareius, the king of the Persians, the son of Assalamus, and captured him and all his kingdom, including all the lands of the Assyrians, Medes, Parthians, Babylonians and Persians, and all the empires of the world, as the most learned Bottius has written. He freed the cities and countries and all the lands of the Romans, Greeks and Egyptians from the subjection and slavery which they had suffered under the Assyrians, Persians, Parthians and Medes, and he restored to the Romans everything which they had lost.

From Adam until the victory of Alexander the Macedonian, [194] there were 5557 years. At that time, Iaddus was high priest of the Jews.

Then the power and kingdom of the Persians was destroyed, and the Macedonians and Alexander with his allies seized control of the land of the Chaldaeans, Medes, Persians and Parthians. They defeated and killed Dareius, and succeeded to the empire of Dareius. Alexander gave them laws and ruled over their land. The Persians erected a bronze statue of him, riding a horse, in Babylon; the statue is still standing at the present time.

Alexander captured Roxane, the daughter of Dareius, king of the Persians; she was a virgin, and he made her his wife. Alexander conquered all the regions of India and their kingdoms; and he captured Porus, the king of the Indians. He conquered all the kingdoms of the other nations, apart from the kingdom of the widow Candace, who was queen of the inland Indians. Candace trapped Alexander in the following way.

It was the custom of Alexander to accompany the envoys that he sent out to hostile kings, in the guise of a soldier, so that he could see what kind of ruler they were. When queen Candace learnt of this custom of his, she enquired about his appearance and his distinguishing features. She was told that he was short, [195] with large prominent teeth; one of his eyes was grey, and the other was black. She took note of this; and when he arrived with the envoys that he had sent, she recognised him from the distinguishing features. She seized him and said to him, "King Alexander, you have conquered the world, but a single woman has captured you." Alexander replied, "Because of you cleverness and your great intelligence, I will keep you, your country and your sons safe from harm; and I will take you as my wife." When Candace heard this, she gave herself up to him. Alexander immediately took her with him, and advanced into Ethiopia and the other countries.

When he was about to die, Alexander ordered that all his bodyguards and allies should rule over the land where he had placed them, and should control the territories there. Alexander lived for 36 years; he reigned for 17 years, during which time he subdued all [countries], and his war lasted for 9 years. He subdued 22 barbarian nations, and 13 Greek nations; and he and his associates founded many cities.

From Adam until the death of Alexander the Macedonian, there are 5,593 years, as Theophilus the chronicler has recorded.

After the death of Alexander the Macedonian, the countries which he had subdued with his allies were divided into four toparchies or kingdoms. [196] The Macedonian comrades ruled over the kingdoms as he had instructed, as follows. Philippus his own elder brother ruled over Macedonia and all of Europe. Philippus was king, and after Philippus Cassander was king, and after Cassander his sons were kings, and after them Demetrius was king, and after Demetrius Pyrrhus of Epirus was king, and after Pyrrhus Meleager was king, and another six kings up until Perseus of Epirus. The kingdom of Macedonia lasted for 157 years after the death of Alexander.

Alexander instructed that the astronomer Ptolemaeus, son of Lagus, should rule and be king of all of Egypt and Africa. Ptolemaeus ruled the Egyptians with the authority of the Macedonians for 42 years. The second king was Ptolemaeus, his son.  # In the reign of this Ptolemaeus, son of Lagus, the books of the Jews were translated into Greek by 72 scholars in 72 days. These books were written in Hebrew, but Ptolemaeus wished to read the meaning of the Jewish books in the Greek language. After his reign, the third king was Ptolemaeus Philadelphus for 37 years, and after him the fourth king was Ptolemaeus Euergetes [197] for 25 years, and after him the fifth king was Ptolemaeus Philopator for 17 years, and after him the sixth king was Ptolemaeus Epiphanes [ ... ], and after him the seventh king was Ptolemaeus Philometor for 11 years. There were another five kings called Ptolemaeus, for a total of 92 years. The twelfth Ptolemaeus was called Dionysus, and reigned for 29 years; he had a daughter called Cleopatra and a son called Ptolemaeus. The thirteenth and last monarch of the Ptolemaic dynasty was Cleopatra, daughter of Dionysus; she was queen for 22 years. The thirteen Macedonian monarchs of the Ptolemaic dynasty, from Ptolemaeus son of Lagus until Cleopatra daughter of Dionysus, ruled over the whole country of Egypt for a total of 300 years, until the fifteenth year of the reign of the Augustus Caesar, who was also called Octavianus Sebastus Imperator. Augustus defeated Antonius and Cleopatra in a naval battle close to the land of Leucas; he killed them, and took possession of the whole of Egypt, as related by the chroniclers Eusebius [follower] of Pamphilus and Pausanias.

[Alexander] instructed that Antigonus, who was called Poliorcetes, should rule and be king of Asia as far as the river Dracon [Serpent], which is now called the Orontes, and separates the countries of Cilicia and Syria; the river is also called Typhon and Ophites.

[Alexander] instructed that Seleucus Nicator should be king of Syria, Babylonia and Palestine. [198] Seleucus [later] became king of Asia, after killing Antigonus; he made war on Antigonus,  # because he had established a city near the lake and the river Dracon, which he called Antigonia.  # After defeating him, Seleucus seized the whole of Asia and the best of the [possessions] of Antigonus. Seleucus appointed Nicomedes and Nicanor to govern the whole of the satrapy of Asia; they were his relatives, being the sons of Didymea, his sister.  # During the war against the Parthians, Seleucus Nicator took as his wife a virgin called Apama, after killing her father Pithamenes, who was a distinguished general of the Parthians. Seleucus had two daughters by Apama, who were called Apama and Laodice.  # After the death of Apama, Seleucus saw and fell in love with an extremely beautiful girl called Stratonice, who was the daughter of Demetrius, son of that Antigonus, called Poliorcetes, who had been killed by Seleucus. He found Stratonice hiding with her father Demetrius in Rhosus, a city founded by Cilix son of Agenor. Seleucus had a daughter by Stratonice, who was called Phila. Seleucus continued as king of Syria, all of Asia, Babylon and Palestine, for 43 years. Immediately after his victory over Antigonus Poliorcetes, [199]  # Seleucus Nicator, who wanted to establish some eminent cities, began to found [cities] by the coast of Syria. Going down by the sea, he saw a small city situated on the mountain, which had been founded by Syrus son of Agenor. On the 23rd day of the month of Xanthicus, Seleucus went up to Mount Casius in order to sacrifice to Zeus Casius. After completing the sacrifice and cutting the meat, Seleucus prayed [to be shown] where to found a city. Suddenly an eagle snatched the meat from the sacrifice and took it away to the old city. Following behind with his augurs, Seleucus found that the meat had been dropped near the sea below the old city, in the place called the trading-station of Pieria. Immediately he constructed walls and built the foundations of a city, which he called Seleuceia after his own name. He returned rejoicing to Iopolis and after three days he celebrated a festival there for Zeus Ceraunius, in the temple which had been established by Perseus, the son of Picus and Danae, on Mount Silpius, where Iopolis is situated. He performed the sacrifice on the first day of the month of Artemisius.

 # Seleucus came to the city of Antigonia, which had been founded by Antigonus Poliorcetes. The city was surrounded and defended by the river Archeuthas, also called the Iaphthas, which is another river which flows from the lake. There Seleucus performed a sacrifice to Zeus on the altars erected by Antigonus; he cut the meat and prayed with the priest Amphion for a sign to be given, to show whether he should settle the city of Antigonia, [200] and change its name, or he should abandon the city and found another city somewhere else. Suddenly a great eagle came down from the sky and snatched the meat of the offering from the fire on the altar. The eagle flew off by Mount Silpius, where Seleucus followed it and found the consecrated meat, with the eagle poised over it. When Seleucus and the priest and the augurs saw this marvel, they said, "We must settle here, and not in Antigonia; the city must not be there, because the gods do not wish it." And then he consulted with them as to where he might safely build the city, because he was worried by the streams and winter torrents which came down from Mount Silpius. He laid the foundations of the city at the bottom of the valley opposite the mountain, by the great river Dracon which was renamed Orontes, where there was a village called Bottia, opposite Iopolis. After Amphion, the high priest, had sacrificed a virgin girl called Aemathe between the city and the river, Seleucus [founded the city] on the 22nd day of the month of Artemisius which is also May, at the first hour of the day as the sun was rising, and he called the city Antioch, after the name of his son Antiochus Soter.

He immediately started to build a temple, which he dedicated to Zeus Bottius, and he erected imposing walls, designed by the architect Xenaeus. [201] He set up a bronze statue of the slaughtered girl as Tyche [Fortune] in the city above the river, and immediately made a sacrifice to Tyche. Then he went away and razed the city of Antigonia down to the ground; he took away the materials by river, and set up a statue of Tyche of Antigonia, with the horn of Amaltheia in front of it. There he set up a shrine with four pillars, and placed Tyche above it, and he built a tall altar in front of it; after the death of Seleucus, Demetrius the son of Antigonus Poliorcetes took away the statue of Tyche [and set it up] in the city of Rhosus in Cilicia, which had been founded by Cilix the son of Agenor.

After destroying Antigonia, Seleucus forced the Athenians who lived there to move to Antioch the great. Antigonus and his son Demetrius had allowed the Athenians to settle in Antigonia along with some Macedonians, 5,300 men in all. Seleucus set up an imposing statue of Athene at Antioch, on account of the Athenians, who worshipped Athene. Seleucus also brought down from the citadel the Cretans, whom Casus the son of Inachus had allowed to dwell up there; the Cretans came down to live in Antioch along with some Cypriots, because king Casus had married Amyce, also known as Citia, [202] the daughter of Sasalaminus the king of the Cypriots, and some Cypriots had come with her and settled in the acropolis. When Amyce died, she was buried about 100 stades away from the city, and therefore that place was called Amyce. Seleucus also urged the Argive inhabitants of Iopolis to move away from there, and made them live in Antioch, as priests and noble citizens.

Seleucus set up a stone image of the eagle in front of the city. He ordered that the months in Syria should be named after the Macedonian fashion, because he found that giants had once lived in the country. About two miles from Antioch, there is a place which contains the bodies of men turned into stone through the anger of god; these are even now called giants. And a giant called Pagras who lived in the same place was struck down by lightning, so that it is clear that the inhabitants of Syrian Antioch live in a land of giants.

In front of the city, on the other side of the river, Seleucus set up another statue, of the head of a horse with a gilded (helmet) nearby, and he added this inscription: "On this Seleucus escaped to safety from Antigonus; and returning from there, he killed Antigonus". Seleucus also set up a marble statue of Amphion, who was depicted performing an bird-sacrifice with him, inside the so-called Romanesian gate.

 # Seleucus Nicator founded another city by the coast of Syria, which he called Laodiceia [203] after the name of his daughter; previously there had been a village there called Mazabda. As was his custom, he performed a sacrifice to Zeus, and asked where he should found the city. Again, an eagle came down and seized [the meat] from the sacrifice. While Seleucus was pursuing the eagle, he was confronted by a huge boar, which came out of a reed-bed. Seleucus killed the boar with the spear which he held; after killing the boar, he dragged its body along and used its blood to mark out the walls [of the city], paying no further attention to the eagle. Thus Seleucus founded the city over the blood of the boar; he sacrificed a pure maiden called Agaue, and set up a bronze statue of her for the good fortune of the city.

Seleucus Nicator founded another great city in Syria, where there had previously been a village called Pharnace, and he named it after his daughter Apama. After building a wall around it, and performing a sacrifice, Seleucus changed the name of the city to Apameia. He also called it by the name of Pella, because the fortune of the city of Apameia had that name; Seleucus himself came from Pella, a city in Macedonia. He sacrificed a bull and a goat; and again an eagle came down and seized the heads of the bull and the goat, and Seleucus marked out the walls [of the city] with the blood [of the animals].

 # Seleucus founded many other cities in the other provinces and in the region of Persia. The learned chronicler Pausanias relates that in total there were 75 of the cities, [204] which Seleucus named as he wished after the names of himself and his children. The learned Pausanias relates that Seleucus named Antioch the great after the name of his father, because his father was called Antiochus; but no-one would name a city after a dead man - that would be silly - and instead they name them after someone who is alive and well. Seleucus named the city, as was said before, after the name of his son Antiochus. The learned Pausanias has related many other things in a poetical fashion.

Seleucus planted cypress trees near the temple of Apollo in the city which was previously called Heracleis, but is now called Daphne; some cypress trees had already been planted there by the priest Heracles, who founded Daphne and called it Heracleis after his own name. He established the city outside the sacred grove, by the temple of Athene; but the temple of Apollo was in the middle of the sacred grove, and was called "Daphnaean". This Heracles was the first to practice the sport of wrestling.

 # Afterwards Seleucus died by the Hellespont, at the age of 72 years, and he was buried at Seleuceia in Syria.

After the reign of Seleucus, his son Antiochus Soter was king for 20 years.  # This Antiochus fell in love with his own step-mother, Stratonice the daughter of Demetrius, [205] and took her as his wife. He had two sons by her, Seleucus, who died while he was still young, and Antiochus, who was called Theoeides ["God-like"]. After the death of Antiochus the son of Seleucus, Antiochus Theoeides was the next king, for 15 years. After him, Seleucus Callinicus, his son by Berenice, was king for 24 years, and then Alexander Nicator for 36 years, then Seleucus Philopator for 10 years, and then Antiochus Epiphanes for 12 years.

In the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, when many of the inhabitants of the city had died from a plague, a priest called Leius ordered a rock on the mountain above the city to be carved with an enormous crowned head, facing towards the city and the valley, and he wrote an inscription on it, after which the deaths from the plague ceased. Up until the present time, the inhabitants of the Antioch call this head Charonius.

 # This Antiochus Epiphanes was the first to build the so-called bouleterion [council-house] in Antioch the great, outside the city limits. Here all the councillors met with all the statesmen and all the property-holders of the city, in order to debate what to do about whatever occurred, and then to provide anything which was required. Antiochus constructed some other buildings outside the city, and called this area Epiphania after his own name; he did not put a wall around it, but it was built on the mountain.

This Antiochus Epiphanes was angry with Ptolemaeus, the king of Egypt, [206] because Ptolemaeus demanded taxes from the Jews who lived in his territory.  # The Jews came to Antioch from Palestine and asked Antiochus to write to Ptolemaeus, the ruler and king of Egypt, that he should not demand taxes from the Jews, when they transported corn for their sustenance, because there was a great famine at that time in Palestine, and therefore the Jews were transporting corn from the land of Egypt.  # But when Ptolemaeus received Antiochus' letter, he ordered that the Jews should pay more taxes. Then Antiochus Epiphanes marched against Ptolemaeus, because he had disregarded his letter. There was a battle between them, in which many of Antiochus' soldiers were killed, and he fled back to the borders of his own territory. When the Jews in Jerusalem learned of this, they agreed terms with Ptolemaeus and surrendered to him, because they thought that Antiochus had died.  # But Antiochus Epiphanes gathered [another] army, attacked Ptolemaeus, destroyed his army and killed him.  # When Antiochus heard what the Jews in Jerusalem had done, as if they rejoiced in his defeat, he marched against Jerusalem. He besieged the city and captured it, slaughtering all [the inhabitants];  # he took Eleazer the high priest of the Jews along with the Maccabees back to Antioch, where punished them with death.  # He abolished the high priesthood of Judaea, and he turned the Jews' temple, which had been built by Solomon, [207] into a temple of Olympian Zeus and Athene. He defiled the building with meat, and prevented the Jews from performing their ancestral acts of worship; for three years, he forced them to follow Greek customs.

When Antiochus died, his son Antiochus Glaucus, who was called Hierax, became king for two years.

After him Demetrianus the son of Seleucus was king for 8 years.  # A Jew called Judas came to Antioch the great, and shamed Demetrianus with his entreaties, so that the king handed over the temple and the remains of the Maccabees to him. Judas buried the Maccabees in the so-called Cerateum at Antioch the great, where there was a synagogue of the Jews; Antiochus had punished the Maccabees a short way outside the city of Antioch, on the "ever-weeping" mountain opposite [the temple] of Zeus Casius.  # Then Judas cleansed the temple and refounded Jerusalem, celebrating a Passover [feast] in honour of God. This was the second capture of Jerusalem, as Eusebius [follower] of Pamphilus has recorded in his chronicle.

After Demetrianus, Antiochus the offspring of Grypus became king for 9 years; he was the son of Laodice, the daughter of Ariarathes, king of the Cappadocians. In the eighth year of his reign, Antioch the great was destroyed by the anger of god, in the time of the Macedonians. This happened 152 years after the foundations of the walls were laid by Seleucus Nicator, [208] on the 21st day of the month of Peritius, which is the same as February, at the tenth hour of the day. And the whole city was restored, as Domninus the chronicler has recorded. It suffered [this disaster] 122 years after the walls and the whole city were completed; and afterwards it became yet more splendid.

After Antiochus the offspring of Grypus, Antiochus Euergetes became king. Antiochus was attacked by the Parthians, and marched against them in great force. After many of the Parthians had been killed, they agreed to a truce and Antiochus took Brittane, the daughter of Arsaces the Parthian who had attacked him, as a wife for his son Antiochus, who was called Cyzicenus. In this way the war came to an end.

After Antiochus Euergetes there were another nine kings from his family up until the reign of Antiochus, son of Dionices the leper, the father of Cleopatra and Antiochis.

During the reign of this Antiochus son of Dionices, Pyrrhus the king or toparch of Epirus attacked the Romans. Pyrrhus had been told by an oracle that he would be killed by a woman. Curius the consul of the Romans fought against Pyrrhus and defeated him.  # Then Pyrrhus fled away and came near a city which had buildings outside its walls, where a woman threw a roof-tile at his head and killed him.

Afterwards Magnus, also called Paulus Macedonicus, became consul. When he had fought against Perseus king of Macedonia and killed him, [209] he seized control of the country of Macedonia and subjected it to Roman rule. Sallustius mentions [Perseus] in his Catilinarian history, when he records Caesar's speech. Then Perseus of Epirus, the sea-fighter and toparch of Epirus, ruled over his own country. Eutropius, the Roman historian, mentions Perseus in the translation of his account, and Palaephatus also mentions him. Lucius Paulus, the consul of the Romans, fought against this Perseus and killed him.

At this time a king of the Africans called Hannibal attacked the Romans for twenty years, when Rome was ruled not by kings, but by consuls.  # Hannibal destroyed a large part of the whole of Italy in warfare, and he killed Paulus, whom we mentioned previously. Then the Roman senate appointed a consul who was outstanding in every way, but especially in warfare; his name was Scipio the Great.  # This Scipio, while Hannibal was still staying in Italy, took a large army and invaded Hannibal's own homeland, in Africa. Scipio ravaged Africa and burnt down Carthage, the city where Hannibal was king; after seizing the city, and capturing all its inhabitants together with its senate, he returned to Rome.

When Hannibal learned of this, he went off to Bithynia, [210] and urged Antiochus son of Nicomedes, the king of Asia, to become his ally. Since the time of Alexander of Macedonia, the Macedonians had had a treaty of friendship with the Romans, because the Romans had sent an army to help Alexander against Dareius.  # But Antiochus the king of Asia was persuaded to support Hannibal, and together with him he advanced out of Bithynia against the Romans, trusting in his own army. When the Roman senators heard about this, they appointed an excellent consul, the second Scipio, the brother of the first Scipio, and they sent him against their two [enemies], Antiochus king of Asia and Hannibal king of Africa.  # Scipio confronted them and fought a great battle against them; after many men had been killed, Hannibal fled away, because he saw the strength of Scipio, who was gaining the upper hand. Hannibal afterwards committed suicide by drinking poison. When Antiochus saw Hannibal fleeing, he too gave way, and Scipio pursued him as far as the mountain called Taurus in Cilicia. When Antiochus had retreated to there, he sent envoys to Scipio, asking to be forgiven, because he had no personal grudge against the Romans, but was fighting on behalf of another. Scipio accepted his request, and with the agreement of the Roman senate, made him an ally of the Romans, on condition that he paid four talents of gold and silver [211] and other [tribute] to the Romans every year for the rest of his life. Scipio invited Antiochus to a banquet and seated him in the top place, honouring him as a king.  # Then Scipio returned to Rome in triumph, as is mentioned by the learned Florus, who derives his account from the writings of Livius.

 # In the 15th year of Antiochus, son of Dionices the leper, king of Syria, Tigranes the king of the Armenians came and fought a great war against Antiochus. King Antiochus was defeated and fled to the region of Persia. Tigranes the king of the Armenians deprived him of all his possessions; he captured Antioch the great and the rest of his kingdom. Then Pompeius Magnus came from Rome, through the influence of Caesar.  # After advancing to defeat the Cilicians, who had attacked him, Pompeius fought against Tigranes, the king of the Armenians, and defeated him.  # He conquered Armenia, Cilicia and Syria, and put an end to the toparchies there.  # Pompeius took possession of Antioch; he entered the city and put it under Roman rule, but he treated the inhabitants justly. He conferred many favours on them, and rebuilt the council-house, which was falling down. He honoured the inhabitants of Antioch, because they were descended from the Athenians.

A powerful general called Bibulus came to a village on the coast of Phoenicia and built a walled city there, [212] which he called Byblus after his own name. He took away the awesome statue of Athene, which had been set up by Seleucus, and another awesome statue of Zeus Ceraunius, which had also been set up by Seleucus, after asking for them as a favour from the inhabitants of Antioch. Because he considered them remarkable works of art, which belonged to the Romans, he sent them off the Capitol at Rome, where they can still be seen, with this inscription; "The people of Antioch the great honoured the Romans with the gift of these statues."

 # When Antiochus son of Dionices heard that Tigranes, the king of the Armenians, had been overthrown, and that Pompeius Magnus had defeated him, he went to Pompeius and fell at his feet, asking for his kingdom to be returned to him. He persuaded Pompeius to give back to him the kingdom of Syria and Cilicia, and all that Antiochus had previously possessed. On the 19th day of the month of Daesius, Pompeius left Antioch for Egypt, and Antiochus the Macedonian, the son of Dionices, became king again.

At the same time, Cicero and Sallustius, the learned Roman poets, were alive.

When king Antiochus, the son of Dionices, was about to die, he left his kingdom and all his possessions to the Romans. After king Antiochus died, Antioch the great came under Roman rule, together with all the land of Syria, [213] Cilicia, and the other dominions of the Macedonians.

In this way the Macedonians ruled Antioch the great, together with Syria, Cilicia, and their other dominions, for 263 years, from Seleucus Nicator until their kingdom was handed over to the Romans.

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