Printed for J. TONSON in the Strand , and J. OSBORN and T. LONGMAN in Pater-noster Row ....

MADAM, As I could never hope to write any thing my self, worthy to be laid before YOUR MAJESTY; I think it a very great happiness, that it should be my lot to usher into the world, under Your Sacred Name, the last work of as great a Genius as any Age ever produced: an Offering of such value in its self, as to be in no danger of suffering from the meanness of the hand that presents it. The impartial and universal encouragement which YOUR MAJESTY has always given to Arts and Sciences, entitles You

May it please YOUR MAJESTY, YOUR MAJESTY's most obedient and most dutiful subject and servant, John Conduitt ....

FROM THE First Memory of Things in Europe , TO THE Conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great....

The Greek Antiquities are full of Poetical Fictions, because the Greeks wrote nothing in Prose, before the Conquest of Asia by Cyrus the Persian . Then Pherecydes Scyrius and Cadmus Milesius introduced the writing in Prose. Pherecydes Atheniensis , about the end of the Reign of Darius Hystaspis , wrote of Antiquities, and digested his work by Genealogies, and was reckoned one of the best Genealogers. Epimenides the Historian proceeded also by Genealogies; and Hellanicus , who was twelve years ol

FROM THE First Memory of things in Europe to the Conquest of Persia by Alexander the great. The Times are set down in years before Christ. The Canaanites who fled from Joshua , retired in great numbers into Egypt , and there conquered Timaus , Thamus , or Thammuz King of the lower Egypt , and reigned there under their Kings Salatis , Bœon , Apachnas , Apophis , Janias , Assis , &c. untill the days of Eli and Samuel . They fed on flesh, and sacrificed men after the manner of the Phœnician

All Nations, before they began to keep exact accounts of Time, have been prone to raise their Antiquities; and this humour has been promoted, by the Contentions between Nations about their Originals. Herodotus [3] tells us, that the Priests of Egypt reckoned from the Reign of Menes to that of Sethon , who put Sennacherib to flight, three hundred forty and one Generations of men, and as many Priests of Vulcan , and as many Kings of Egypt : and that three hundred Generations make ten thousand year

The Egyptians anciently boasted of a very great and lasting Empire under their Kings Ammon , Osiris , Bacchus , Sesostris , Hercules , Memnon , &c. reaching eastward to the Indies , and westward to the Atlantic Ocean ; and out of vanity have made this monarchy some thousands of years older than the world: let us now try to rectify the Chronology of Egypt ; by comparing the affairs of Egypt with the synchronizing affairs of the Greeks and Hebrews . Bacchus the conqueror loved two women, V

As the Gods or ancient Deified Kings and Princes of Greece , Egypt , and Syria of Damascus , have been made much ancienter than the truth, so have those of Chaldæa and Assyria : for Diodorus [344] tells us, that when Alexander the great was in Asia , the Chaldæans reckoned 473000 years since they first began to observe the Stars; and Ctesias , and the ancient Greek and Latin writers who copy from him, have made the Assyrian Empire as old as Noah 's flood within 60 or 70 years, and tell us the na

By the fall of the Assyrian Empire the Kingdoms of the Babylonians and Medes grew great and potent. The Reigns of the Kings of Babylon are stated in Ptolemy's Canon: for understanding of which you are to note that every King's Reign in that Canon began with the last Thoth of his predecessor's Reign, as I gather by comparing the Reigns of the Roman Emperors in that Canon with their Reigns recorded in years, months, and days, by other Authors: whence it appears from that Canon that Asserhadon died

[435] The Temple of Solomon being destroyed by the Babylonians , it may not be amiss here to give a description of that edifice. This [436] Temple looked eastward, and stood in a square area, called the Separate Place : and [437] before it stood the Altar , in the center of another square area, called the Inner Court , or Court of the Priests : and these two square areas, being parted only by a marble rail, made an area 200 cubits long from west to east, and 100 cubits broad: this area was compa

[476] And behold a wall on the outside of the House round about , at the distance of fifty cubits from it, aabb: and in the man's hand a measuring reed six cubits long by the cubit, and an hand-breadth: so he measured the breadth of the building, or wall , one reed, and the height one reed. [477] Then came he unto the gate of the House , which looketh towards the east, and went up the seven steps thereof, AB , and measured the threshold of the gate, CD , which was one reed broad, and the Porters

ABCD. The Separate Place in which stood the Temple. ABEF. The Court of y^{e} Priests. G. The Altar. DHLKICEFD. A Pavement compassing three sides of the foremention'd Courts, and upon which stood the Buildings for the Priests, with Cloysters under them. MNOP. The Court of the People. MQTSRN. A Pavement compassing three sides of the Peoples Court, upon which stood the Buildings for the People, with Cloysters under them. UXYZ. The Mountain of the House. aabb. A Wall enclosing the whole. c. The Gate

ABCD. The Separate Place. ABEF. The Inner Court, or Court of the Priests, parted from the Separate Place, and and Pavement on the other three sides, by a marble rail. G. The Altar. HHH. The East, South, & North Gates of the Priests Court. III. &c. The Cloysters supporting the Buildings for the Priests. KK. Two Courts in which were Stair Cases and Kitchins for the Priests. L. Ten Steps to the Porch of the Temple. M. The Porch of the Temple. N. The Holy Place. O. The most Holy Plac

uw. The inner margin of the Pavement compassing three sides of the Peoples Court. xxx. &c. The Pillars of the Cloyster supporting the Buildings for the People. yyyy. Double Pillars where two Exhedræ joyned, and whose interstices in the front zz were filled up with a square Column of Marble. Note The preceding letters of this Plate refer to the description in pag. 344 345....

Cyrus having translated the Monarchy to the Persians , and Reigned seven years, was succeeded by his son Cambyses , who Reigned seven years and five months, and in the three last years of his Reign subdued Egypt : he was succeeded by Mardus , or Smerdis the Magus , who feigned himself to be Smerdis the brother of Cambyses . Smerdis Reigned seven months, and in the eighth month being discovered, was slain, with a great number of the Magi ; so the Persians called their Priests, and in memory of th