The Chronicles
of the Kings of Israel and
the Kings of the Nations
R. Abraham, son of R. Samuel
Zacuto, may his soul rest in Paradise, said that
knowledge of what happened to each nation at different
times gives us strength and faith in the power of
Blessed God, in His attention to the affairs of mortals,
in reward and retribution and in the deep roots of the
Torah (e.g. Generation of the Flood and similar events:
earthquakes and fires; the earthquake in the days of
Uzziah and Herod, and especially all that happened to
the People of Israel, like the earth swallowing up
Dathan and Abiram and other miracles).[2]
The Holy Scripture says: ‘Remember the olden days.When
the Lord Most High gave nations their inheritance, when
He divided all mankind, the Lord’s portion is His
people.[3]
Israel needs to know about Christians if we are to
argue their religion with them. Therefore I mention some
people of alien faith, who otherwise would not be
mentioned (for instance their ‘saints’). The Holy
Scripture also mentions evildoers and heathens who
deserve no mention. This was necessary to inform us of
our great advantage. God forbid, do not think that, like
our Holy Scripture, all is truth in what they wrote in
their history books and that I quote. Know that ‘their
mouths are full of lies, their right hands are
deceitful’.[4]
I have seen many of the events recorded in their
chronicles and they are incorrect. They also lie about
events of old, days of old and their miracles. They
further lie in their calculation of time and years when
they say that a given event took place since the
Creation. There is a discrepancy of 1,439 years; in our
count the year is [AM] 5264 [AD 1504], and by theirs,
the year is [AM] 6703. Be that as it may, they wrote of
some events retold in the BT, PT and Midrash. They
supply many details about, for instance, King [Bar]
Koziba, the years of Titus the Evil, the affairs of
Hadrian the Oppressor (the era of the Bethar and the Ten
Martyrs) and after him, Antoninus the Good[5],
his era and that of his good brother as well as many
other affairs. All of them rely upon Joseph Ben Gorion
the Priest[6],
though I do not. He tends to exaggerate and magnify
while his calculations do not fit the simple meaning of
Scripture. While taking this into account, [I intend] to
satisfy the desires of the sons of our nation who wish
to know everything they wrote, I mean, the general
affairs of what happened in Jerusalem and in Palestine,
Italy, Greece, Egypt, Babylonia and Turkey as well as
places cited in the Scripture and populated by
Israelites, such as ‘Crowned Tyre’ (in the language of
Christians), only a day’s walk from Acre, quite near
Sidon and Palestine. In olden days, Phoenicians lived
there. Thus, many were misled to believe that Venice was
Tyre.[7]
Likewise, people mistake Tunis for Tarshish, which is
[actually] called Tarsus. Aruch writes in the
entry Tarsus, ‘boats of Tarshish’ -
of Tarsus, or Malamestaras, or Turtus, close to Aleppo
of our time, located to the east of Palestine.[8]
As for such details about Spain, and France, and
Germany, we left out all irrelevancies.
Many
things admitted by the Nations could be of use, as they
may have found them in the old books of the sages of
Israel. For our sins in this long Exile and many
persecutions, we lost [books] such as the astronomy
works of the sons of Issachar, books of medicine and the
wisdom of Nature compiled by [King] Solomon, pbuh, or
about trees, stones, plants, the influence of stars and
most ancient history.[9]
The true prophets (Nathan the Prophet, Isaiah, and
others in the Prophets [in the Bible]) were much engaged
[in mundane science and history] and usefully so. Even
in the days of Our Master Moses, pbuh, there was the
Book of Lord’s Wars and Joshua
[compiled] the Book of Jashar. Let
us leave the exegesis in peace. The Chronicles
of the Kings of Israel,
which are not found among us, hold tales that bring
comfort and introduce fear of God into the hearts [of
listeners]. On the Day of Atonement, they have read
before the High Priest from the Chronicles, Job, Ezra
and Daniel. Rashi explained: [they have read] stories
that attract and cheer, in order not to fall asleep.
Rambam of blessed memory explained: those were stories
and calculations of times past, to cheer the soul, so
they would not fall asleep. That was the source for all
Gentile kings to learn how to compile chronicles. Thus
Ahasuerus recorded that he was saved by Mordecai. Its
usefulness is obvious. Thus I compiled it together with
the Book of Saints, (this is the Book of Lineage [Yohassin],
which I wrote of the holy sages of Israel), in order to
tell all that happened since the Creation, to [explain]
the difference between us and the history books of alien
nations and to separate wheat from chaff.
In the
beginning, God created the universe and on the sixth day
He created Adam from red dust. He was called Adam
because Adama means ‘earth’, the earth is close
to man’s nature; and his wife was Eve; and Adam became
father of 60 sons.
Know
that, according to the Scripture, to the [Greek
translation of the] 70 Elders who translated the
Scripture for Ptolemy, and to [the Latin translation of]
Jerome, may his name perish (he is the one who
translated the Scripture into Latin), that 1,756 years
passed from the Creation until the Flood. Isidore says
2,242 years while Augustine, may his name perish, says
2,262 years. Thus the author relied upon Isidore’s
calculations, as they say Jesus the Nazarene was born in
AM 5199 and in AM 3760 by Jewish count. The discrepancy
is 1,439 years. They say Cain was born in AM 15, while
Abel his brother was born in AM 30; Seth was born in 130
and he started to learn the movements of heavens. Enosh
[was born in] 435; Kenan, in 625. Enosh started to make
images so that people would remember the Creator and it
was a mistake in means. Mehalalel was born in 795;
Jared, in 960 and Enoch, in 1502. He fought the evil
sons of Cain. In the Book of Joshua Ben Sirah, which is
added to the Holy books, it states that Enoch lived in
the Garden of Eden on Earth together with Elijah.
Methuselah was born in 1287. It is generally agreed that
he died in the first week of the Flood. It occurred in
AM 2640, by their count. The Giants [Anakim] who lived
in the days of Noah and Lamech were evil. Noah fled the
Giants as they scared him. The Gentiles interpreted the
words of the Scripture that ‘his days will be 120 years’
as Onkelos did, that Noah was 480 when the Lord spoke to
him and that the Lord gave 120 years [for people to
repent].[10]
If they did not repent, He would send the Flood. During
these 120 years, Noah built the Ark. The length of the
Ark was 300 cubits and each of their cubits was like six
of ours. Maybe he learned this from the angel that
brought him the measure for the Temple.
That was the measure of the primary cubit created by
God, and it is like six of our cubits. I mean six cubits
and an inch, though they said ‘little finger' instead of
inch. The Ark rested atop Mount Ararat in Armenia, the
highest mountain there. There Noah and his sons emerged
from the Ark. That is the First Era.
From the
Flood until Abraham’s birth was the Second Era,
292 years by Jewish count and 942 years by other count.
Some think it was 652 years. That is according to
Isidore, perish the evils’ name. According to Augustine,
perish the evils’ name, it was 1,072 years. In his book
he gave the reason for the change, that they added 100
years of life to each generation from Arphaxad on, and
40 years as well. There were 11 generations from Noah
till Abraham. When Noah planted his vineyard, he poured
some blood of lion, pig, lamb and monkey as a sign for
wine drinkers. Our sages of blessed memory mentioned
that he begat sons and daughters after the Flood [as
well]. He had a fourth son named Yoniko [Jonitus[12]]
who was very wise. After the Flood [Yoniko] began to
study astronomy and taught it to the whole world, namely
to the four kingdoms from East to West. He taught Nimrod
how to become ruler over the sons of Ham. Noah’s kin
consisted of 72 families; the sons of Japheth, 15; those
of Ham, 32; and of Shem, 27 or 28. The sons of Japheth
were in Europe, one third of the known world, from
Portugal and Castile, to Turkey in Great Asia, where lie
the lands of Israel and Babylon.[13]
Lusitania is Portugal. In all those places dwelt Gomer
and Magog, [their sons] are the Godosh [Goths], rulers
of Castile. Javan [Ionia] is Greece and Constantinople
and their land is part of Turkey in Asia. Tubal is
Sepharad.[14]
Further away is Cappadocia Caesarea, close to Armenia;
in the middle flows the river Euphrates. There is a big
city called Silkia [Cilicia?]. [The Sons of] Tiras are
strong.[15]
The kingdom of Thrace appears populated by Hungarians.
Ashkenaz is Bohemia. [The Sons of] Riphath are Trojans,
of a small kingdom in Asia.[16]
They came to Italy and built the city of Venice,
originally named Benicia after Aeneas Benito. Togarmah
is Turliya or Turkey. Tarshish is in Asia and called the
capital of Syria [Aram].[17]
Elisha is the Hellespont Isles.[18]
It is an island, as it is written in Ezekiel, ‘from the
isles [coasts] of Elisha’.[19]
Kittim is Chethema or Gifri or Kabris [Cyprus]; it has
the nature of a harlot, thus they worship Noga [Venus].
Dodanim is Rhodes, and Rodanim [with ‘R’] is the
same place.[20]
They say
that Shem son of Noah is Melchizedek and he built Salem,
which is Jerusalem.[21]
Arphaxad was born two years after the Flood in 2244.
Shelah was born in 2379. Eber was born in 2509. Because
of his name, the Jews are called Eberim [Ivrim,
Hebrews]. Nimrod was a descendant of Anakim [the
Giants]; he was evil and revolted against God. He
advised people to build the Tower and gathered them
together in Babylon. Peleg [=Division] was born in 2643;
the day he was born, the Earth was divided.[22]
Our Sages of blessed memory said it was in the end of
his days.
In the
Kingdom of Scythia, or Tartaria, there is Kefa [Kiev].
Their first king was Tino [Tanaus[23]]
and the river [Tanais = Don] is named after him. Half of
the Sea de la Tino [Azov Sea] is in Europe and half is
in Asia. It does not belong to any of the four parts of
the world, for they are Barbarians, meaning people
without good qualities who do not understand justice.[24]
In Tartaria, or Scythia, there are Amazons who inhabit
the Kingdom of women; they cut off a breast each to
fight better. In the days of Reu, the Amazons lived
between Scythia and Alboneses, close to Alemania
[Germany].[25]
As they count, [it was] in AM 2773. ‘Amazons’ means ‘no
breasts’.
In the
days of Reu the Kingdom of Egypt was established, and
the first king was Shoresh [Soros]. That is Africa. Then
Bohemia was founded, it was named after their king
Bohemio; he came in the days of Division. Their capital
is Prague. There were Amazons, three sisters[26];
the youngest of them married and since then men began to
enslave them. Serug was born in 2905.[27]
Twenty-five years later, the Kingdom of Syria was
founded (2930). To the east of Syria lays the Euphrates;
to the west, Egypt; to the north, Armenia, and to the
South, Arabia; there are Damascus, Palestine and
Babylon. Their first king was Bilus Nimrod, he was evil
and made an idol named after himself, ‘Bel’, but in his
days it was gone.
Nahor was
born in 3035 and Tubal, in 3109, and he founded Hispania
[Spain] and Lusitania, which is Portugal and Taragon,
which is Aragon.[28],
[29] Terah was born in 3114; he
begat Abraham, Nahor and Haran. Haran begat Lot, Sarah
and Milcah. Nahor and Abraham married daughters of Haran
in Haran. Haran is in the Mesopotamian Kingdom in Aram
Naharaim.[30]
At first they were in the Chaldean kingdom, in the city
called Ur. Mesopotamia is in the middle of Tigri, to the
east of it flows the river Tigris and to the west - the
river Euphrates, to the south - Babylonia and to the
North, Caucasus.
Parush
was the first king of Syria (3141). Some people identify
him with Ham, son of Noah.
The
Third Era runs from
Abraham until King David, pbuh (940 by Jewish count; 941
by Isidore’s). Abraham was born in 1948 [1815 BC]
according to Jews and in 3184 [2015 BC] according to the
author that relies on Isidore. The discrepancy is 1,039
years. It is said that Abraham reigned in Damascus. When
there was a famine in Palestine, he moved to Egypt. The
pharaoh took his wife and God immediately inflicted
serious suffering upon him. His priests told him it was
his fault for he had taken a wife of a stranger. They
knew he was a great sage. At that time, Egypt had no
wisdom at all. The pharaoh asked [Abraham] to teach
astronomy and mathematics, and he taught everybody. They
say Isaac was offered to God when he was 25 years old; a
Midrash says[31]
he was 40. Rebecca was 13 or 15 years old. Some of our
sages of blessed memory say[32]
he was 37. It is strange, as Rebecca was three, at that
time. According to Abraham ibn Ezra[33],
Isaac was 13 and [like a] slave to his father when he
was offered by his father. Nowhere did we find the merit
[of the offering] ascribed to anyone but Abraham our
forefather. If Isaac were 37, it would be suitable to
ascribe merit to him, but God [alone] knows the truth.
Jupiter
reigned in Year 37 of Abraham. Then people began to
worship stars. Sodom and Gomorrah sank in Year 99 of
Abraham (3283). By their count, Isaac was born in 3284,
one year after the sinking of Sodom. Crete is Candia, in
the Peloponnesian Sea near Uzzon (3313). Some say that
Candia is in the middle of the earth. There is music and
other good things. Abraham married Keturah in 3321 when
Sarah died.[34]
Our sages of blessed memory said[35]
he married her after Isaac’s marriage, and so it seems
from the Scripture. [Of the sons of] sons of Keturah was
Epher; he moved to Africa and as his name is Epher, it
was called Africa.[36]
Minerva
is Tritona (Year 58 of Isaac; AM 3342); she was wise,
performed miracles, and they worshipped her as goddess,
deusa. She established the lore of war and
theoretical mathematics. Diana, daughter of Jupiter and
sister of the Sun, was worshipped as goddess. In Year 60
of Isaac, when Jacob was born, King Iniko began to reign
in Tisria, a part of Greece, that is Javan. The river
has been named after him. Jacob was born in AM 3345. In
Year 91 of Jacob, Joseph was born. A wise woman named
Ceres married the king of Sicily in AM 3400, that is
Year 25 of Jacob, and she instructed people to plough
with oxen, to plant seeds and to bake bread from wheat.
Before that, people ate meat and suchlike. She was like
a goddess for them and they called her Proserpine, the
goddess of fertility.[37]
Sicily was called Sicula. In 3408, Tisria was founded,
it is in Javan [Greece]. In Year 75 of Jacob, he took
the blessing from Esau and escaped to Laban in Haran in
the kingdom of Mesopotamia (AM 3420). Reuben was born in
AM 3425 and Joseph, in AM 3434.
Jupiter
II vanquished a cannibal king (3448). For this good deed
of killing the evil king, he was called Jupiter, the
[God of] Justice. Rhodes was established in AM 3459.
‘Rhodes’, the native rose in Greek, gave its name to the
island. We mentioned (above) that the name came from
‘Rodanim’. It was built in Year 15 of Joseph. Jacob died
in 3489. Prometheus the Wise (3420) learned astronomy in
the mountains and taught it in the kingdom of Syria.
Then he learned how to get fire from stone. He taught
people to wear a ring on the fourth finger, where there
is a heart blood vessel; so a ring cheers the heart. It
became a custom in Rome; judges and grandees would wear
a ring of gold; others wore rings of silver and slaves,
of iron. Everybody praised this sage. Antares [Atlas]
was a wise man and some people say he was the son of
Prometheus. He was knowledgeable in the theory of
astronomy. He learned astronomy in Greece and people
said that he reached Heaven. He had seven daughters[38];
one of them was called Maia Maio. Maia was the mother of
Mercury and a mistress of Jupiter III. In her honour,
there is the month of May. And the Majas are civilized
women. Merchants worshiped and made sacrifices to
Mercury. In Christian countries, it is a custom to
celebrate the First of May. The days are long and thus
this month is called May, for in the foreign tongue
‘major’ means ‘big’. His second daughter was Ilicata
[Electra?] and his third was Istonofi [Asterope?], who
was the mistress of Martin [Mars?], mother of Aperkon
[Apollo?] and Zilbun [Sylvan?] They say she is forever a
virgin[39].
That is hard for Christians. His fourth, fifth, sixth
and seventh daughters were called Fida. Antares was king
of Tuscany, in Florence and Parma (3610). Then there was
Aspiros [Ascanos?], brother of Antares, who was king of
Hispania and the country was named after him. So they
called Noga [Venus] the star, and it is named after her.
His brother exiled him to Italy.
On the
Captivity of Egypt in 3541, Isidore says it lasted 144
years after the death of Joseph. Augustine, perish his
name, says 141 years. Our sages of blessed memory say
that it was about 140 years, according to the tradition.
There is just a small discrepancy between them: about
four years. It would be good if that were the case for
all other calculations. They say there was a scribe from
Persia at the pharaoh [’s Court]. He foretold that a son
would be born to the Jews, he would humble Egyptians and
elevate Israel. Thus the pharaoh ordered all males put
to death and gave the girls to Egyptians as wives. They
say that, before Moses was born, Amram had had prophetic
dreams that he would have a son who would redeem Israel.
He told the dream to his wife and they rejoiced for it
would reveal the greatness of Israel. When Moses was
born, his father and mother immediately saw the signs,
(namely his beauty and words) and [understood the
prophesy] would be fulfiled. For three months they hid
him before throwing him into the river. Pharaoh’s
daughter named Tamor [Tarmuta] came to the river and
gave the child to Egyptian wet nurses, but the child did
not want to nurse. His sister Miriam told the pharaoh’s
daughter that the child was unused to them, and she
called for a Jewess. She called his mother and named him
Moses, which is an Egyptian composite name, moy,
meaning ‘water’[40]
and she, meaning ‘taken out of’. So says Joseph
b. Gorion, but the Scripture does not say so explicitly.
Asia
Minor extends from Philistines and Syria to India, which
is already Asia Major. It takes its name after the King
Asia. There were four kings named Mercury, some came
before the Flood and some, after. There was also Maia,
as mentioned above. Saturn was a great king in Candia
[Crete] in 3600.
Aaron was
born in AM 3604 and Moses, in AM 3607. At the same time
lived Pluto, who was called the Ruler of Hell for he
disdained wisdom and merely worked the land. He was a
son of Saturn and brother to Jupiter. Negroponte
[Euboea] est. in 3652. The time of Job was before the
Exodus. He belonged to the fifth generation after our
forefather Abraham. He was a descendent of Esau. He was
a king of Edom, [his real name was] Yovav b. Zerah. He
was born of Basra. This was his mother’s name, but
according to the Scripture[41],
this was the name of a city in Edom, south of Palestine.[42]
The time of Job was three years before the Exodus, while
the Exodus was in 3687 [BC 1512]. According to the true
tradition of Israel, [the Exodus was in] AM 2448 [BC
1312], or Year 500 of Abraham, while Abraham was born in
1948. The discrepancy is 1,239 years. Mitolin
[Mytilene], an island near Turkey est. 3690. Janus was
the first king of Italy. He killed a beast named
janus and thus got his name. They say he was Zepho,
son of Eliphaz, grandson of Esau.[43]
He applied to Saturn for he was removed from Candia and
shared with him his kingdom. It was Year 5 of the Exodus
(AM 3692). He gave his name to the month of January; he
is shown with two faces and there were seven rulers by
that name. Janus I was a son of Noah; Janus II, son of
Japheth and Janus III, son of Tubalcain, son of Japheth,
and he was in Milan in Lombardy. As we said, Janus IV
was [he who gave his name to] the month of January. The
fifth was Janus Kreo and Janus VI, the Greek Grino[44]
son of Jupiter who came to Italy with Saturn. Janus VII
was a Trojan who enlarged the city of Genoa, and the
city was established by Nagiano [Genoan], who came from
Egypt, and because of the sea inogid [Ligurian?]
in foreign tongue, Genoa was named after him. Hannibal,
king of Carthage (near Tunis) sacked Genoa. The
Ishmaelites sacked Genoa as well when they entered
Spain.
Korah
rose against Moses, pbuh, in the 22nd year of
Moses’ reign in the desert (AM 3709).[45]
In 30th year of Moses’ reign there was
Hercules, a great astronomer. He had two sons, Sardinio
and Corsico, and the two isles opposite Genoa were named
after them. Israel came to the Land with Joshua in 3727;
Joshua reigned for 27 years. It is close to the opinions
of our sages of blessed memory. The Isle of Sicily was
built by Isiculus (it has the form of a triangle[46]),
three years after Joshua’s death in AM 3721; it was
named Siculo Ascalia[47]
after him. It is called the storehouse of wheat, food,
meat, cheese and all else. Othniel b. Kenaz judged
Israel after Joshua for 40 years (3779). For Phineas the
Hugh Priest (3701), we do not know how long he reigned.
In 3770, the glass mirror was invented. They say the
rape of Benjamin [the Levite’s] mistress in Gibeah took
place in Year 30 of Othniel b. Kenaz.[48]
Ehud b.
Gera judged for 80 years (3800). Trolaya Batikia, a
great city, was founded in 3840 (Year 40 of Ehud). It is
in Asia Major. Regarding Pisolina [Pistoia?] near
Florence in the kingdom of Tuscany, these cities are the
same as Florence and Pisa [and are] against Genoa.
Joseph b. Gorion called it Toscana. Pisolina was founded
in 3842 [BC 1357]. Sibyl was the first prophetess in
Italy (3843). Every woman who foretells the future is
called a sibyl.
Hercules,
the last of that name, was a giant (3845). He killed
snakes as a baby in his crib. He killed the lion and
performed 12 [great] deeds, as written, from the days of
Joshua till the Sack of Troy. That was in Year 3 of
Abdon b. Hillel (AM 4033). Then all Latin languages came
into being. Hapaitas in 3879 [BC 1320].
Deborah
of the tribe of Ephraim, and her husband Barak of the
tribe of Naphtali, judged for 40 years. In Midrash [they
say that] ‘wife of Lapidoth’ [should read] ‘woman of
thunder [barakim] and lightning’.[49]
Those 40 years contain the 40 years of the oppression by
Jabin, the King of Canaan. Thus spoke the sages. Our
Master Asher said[50]
that, because women are not fit to bear witness, neither
are they fit to judge. How then could Deborah judge? He
[gave two possible explanations]: Deborah was different
for they agreed to be judged by her [or] she advised the
judges of Israel by Divine guidance.
Mercury
the last of that name invented the art of harmony, this
is music (3900). Gideon b. Joash judged Israel for 40
years, including seven years of Midianite and Amalekite
oppression (3919). In Year 25 of Gideon, the Trojan War
began (AM 3944). Abimelech, son of Gideon, reigned for
three years. Then came Philemon. He invented the musical
instrument called kodo. Years 3968 and 3961, (at
the end of Abimelech’s reign) there was a great war
between aisentiaros [centaurs] and the men of
Tisiria [Thessaly?] in Javan in Greece. Then all the
centaurs were killed; none of these beasts survived.
Thola b. Puah (3962) reigned for 24 years. Then reigned
Paon, king of Latins in Italy. Priam king of Troy
reigned in the days of Thola b. Puah for 52 years. He
had 60 sons. Aeneas was his nephew. Then there was the
kingdom of Mibia Bara, its borders, or limits were Asia
Misr[51],
which is Damascus, Palestine and the Sea of Ocean, which
is the Sea of Jaffa and Gifri [Cyprus] or Kabris in
Arabic. The kingdom was called Midia after the woman
named Medea. Then Theseus reigned in Athens, the city of
wisdom in Greece, in 3974. He did many good deeds for
his kingdom, and he saved [his city] from their enemies,
like Hercules.
Jair of
Gilead judged Israel for 22 years (AM 4985 by their
count). In that year there was a woman called Nicostrata[52],
who was a witch and wise woman. She killed their wizards
and escaped to a fortress where Rome was about to be
founded. She married a Latin king. She made the Latin
letters for the language they spoke. She made the
alphabet of 19 letters, to which others later added
more. Jephthah of Gilead judged Israel for six years; he
sacrificed his daughter and slaughtered her and it was
against the Blessed God’s will (4007). In 4010 came
Hector, son of the king of Troy, and his son Astenakti
[Astyanax] the Hero. All men of Greece feared him.
Archilios [Achilles] the Greek killed Hector. Then there
was Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons. She taught the
Trojans the art of war against Greeks. That was in 4012.
When she heard about Hector, she desired him and went to
the battlefield of the Greeks to see him (4012). Then
there was a king in Tusria [Thessaly?] in Greece who was
a great astronomer, physician and sage. It was Archilios
[Achilles]; he waged war against Troy and killed Hector.
They asked their oracle when they went to Troy and were
told to go with Irkilos [Achilles].
Ibzan of
Bethlehem judged Israel for seven years (4013). Some
people say he is identical with Boaz who married Ruth.
So say the sages of Gentiles who took it from the words
of our sages of blessed memory[53]
and from the [Aramaic] translation [of the Bible]. That
year the Trojan War began. The king was Priam. The cause
of the war was as follows. The King invited three
beautiful women to a feast. They were called ‘deussos’
[goddesses]. Then, an uninvited woman came in. In order
to annoy them, he sent three apples for the women, with
the best apple intended for the most beautiful woman, in
order to foster hatred among them for they were divided
as to who was the most beautiful.
Elon the
Zebulunite was tenth Judge of Israel. Joseph b. Gorion
called him ‘Akilon’. He judged Israel for ten years. In
the Book it is written that the 70 Elders who translated
the [Scripture] did not write the letter ‘L’. Afterwards
Abdon son of Hillel from Ephraim judged Israel for eight
years (4030). He had 70 sons and 40 warriors. While
those three reigned, times were good and people well
fed, for they worshipped Blessed God. In Year 3 of
Abdon, Troy was sacked by Greeks and ruined forever (AM
4033 by their count[54]).
The Turk called Bene Tomi[55]
said he sought revenge against Greece for the blood of
his native Troy.
The city
of Benevento in the Neapolitan kingdom was founded in
4037; it was called by Piaitas,
Maleventum for 30,000 Romans died there.[57]
It belongs to the pope.
Naples
was founded the same year by the Roman king, while Gaeta
was built by Aeneas. He named the city after his nurse.
It is the most beautiful of towns and the great mother
[of cities]. The city of Icilea was founded in Italy.
Samson son of Manoah judged Israel for 20 years (4038).
In Year 2 of Samson, Ruth the Moabite and Naomi came,
according to Jerome. Samson was the last of judges until
year [40]58. That year died Uzzi b. Bukki b. Abishua b.
Phineas b. Eleazar b. Aaron, the high priest. The high
priesthood went to the seed of Ithamar for 120 years.
Eli was the first and Abiathar was the last, because in
his [Jerome?] opinion, Solomon killed Abiathar and the
high priesthood reverted to descendents of Eleazar,
namely to Zaddok the Priest. Ancona was founded in Italy
in 4051. Eli the [High] Priest judged for 40 years (51).
According to the 70 Elders, who translated for King
Ptolemy [Septuagint], Eli judged 20 years. Padua was
founded near Venice in 81. Out of it rode 120,000
horsemen. Sharbisenti was also built there. That year
began the kings of Zarephath, which is France and it was
called Gallia (4082). Its first king was Franco and thus
the people of Zarephath are called Francos. Lombardy is
called Francia Sizarpina [Cisalpine], including Genoa
and its area; the kingdom Francia Taraspina
[Transalpine] means ‘beyond rocks and mountains’.
The
kingdom of Inglatera [England] began in 83. The first
king was Brutanos, son of the Latin king.[58]
He killed his father the king of Latins by mistake while
hunting in the fields. He escaped from Ililia [Italy?]
to Inglatera [England], the big island in the Western
Sea. It is called Great Britannia in the West. It has
the shape of a triangle, like Sicily. There were Giants
whom he defeated and reigned over them.[59]
The longest day is 17 hours long there. It is a very
rich place, they have gold, wool and hunting dogs. His
mother died at childbirth. Then the Island of Birnia
[Hibernia, Ireland] was founded; there are two sorts of
precious stones, named akatis[60]
and iris[61].
In Year
4093, the Ark was captured. The Prophet Samuel, pbuh,
(98) judged Israel 26 years until 124. There is a
version that he reigned for 40 years, anointed Saul in
his 12th year of reign and Saul judged for 27
years during Samuel’s life. This version is erroneous
for it says afterwards ‘King David - [4]124’. In the
book of Ben Gorion it says that king Saul reigned for 20
years: 18 years in Samuel’s lifetime and what the
Scripture says[62],
two years after Samuel’s death. Aeneas of Troy came to
Italy and became king in 4111. That year Doeg put to the
sword Nob, the town of priests.[63]
The kingdom of Athens fell in 4113 [1086 BC]. Pisa was
founded in [4]193. They are strong at sea. They also
went to sack Jerusalem and took along the columns and
vessels. There is soil from Jerusalem. If a man is
buried there, his flesh disintegrates within three days,
like in the land of Israel. In Rome they also have a
field of Jerusalem soil with the same properties.
The
Fourth Era begins with
King David, pbuh (4194 [1005 BC]). From birth of Abraham
to David’s kingdom, there passed 940 years. Our sages of
blessed memory[64]
explained that 500 years passed from Abraham’s birth to
the Exodus and 480 years passed from the Exodus to
David’s kingdom. Forsooth, King David came in AM 2487
[1273 BC] by Jewish count. He reigned for 40 years. In
Year 13 of David, there was Dido, queen of Tyre. Her
brother killed her husband; she took all her husband’s
riches and went to [found] Carthage in Tunis.[65]
There she bought a field as great as an ox skin could
hold. Then she had shred the skin to pieces and
established [on the ground encircled by the shreds] the
great city of Carthage. On her way from Tyre she visited
Cyprus and took along some girls who worshipped Venus
the star. After she built the city, King [Iarbas, who
had sold her the land] wanted to marry her, but she
refused for she did not wish to be unfaithful to her
husband, though he was dead, and threw herself into the
fire.
Solomon
(4164) reigned for 40 years. He uttered 3,000 proverbs,
equal to the amount of trees in the world[66].
He compiled a book of nature, as well, but today only
three books of Solomon are extant[67].
He cast a spell over the demons, and [with their
assistance] began to build the temple early in his
fourth year of reign. He completed it in his eighth
year, but the Scripture does not record it[68].
Shemaiah the Prophet appeared in Year 15 of Solomon.
[Later he] convinced Rehoboam not to fight Jeroboam.[69]
Iddo, son of Nathan the Prophet, lived at that time as
well (Joseph b. Gorion called him ‘Idan son of Nathan
the Prophet’). By his will, the hand of Jeroboam
shrivelled up.[70]
He ate bread with a false prophet.[71]
A lion killed him.[72]
The Queen of Sheba came to Solomon in his 15th year of
reign (her name was Aqaula).[73]
She crossed the Red Sea with great trouble and travelled
far to listen to Solomon’s wisdom. She brought great
riches and gave Solomon 20,000 weights of gold, nice
perfume, balsam [afarsimon] and other gifts.
Zaddok was from the beginning of Solomon’s kingship and
was the eighth[74]
high priest. Rehoboam reigned for 17 years (4204).
Jeroboam reigned for 22 years (205). Abijah son of
Rehoboam reigned for three years (224). Asa reigned for
41 years (226). Then there was Hanani the Prophet[75].
Nadav b. Jeroboam reigned for two years (288). Baasha,
king of Israel reigned for 22 years (230).
Capua was
founded near Naples in 230. Jehu son of Hanani the
Prophet came in the days of Baasha (247).[76]
Ilah b. Baasha (252). Zimri (203). Jehoshaphat, king of
Judah reigned for 25 years (261). In the 13th
year of Jehoshaphat’s reign, King Tiberio [Tiberinus]
became the tenth king of Latins. He fell into the river
and died. Thus the river of Rome was named the ‘Tiber’
after him. It was previously called the Albula. He left
Agrippa, a son who became the 11th king of
Latins (Year 22 of Jehoshaphat). He reigned for 40 years
and transferred in his lifetime the kingdom to his son
Armolio [Romulus]. [Ahaziah] son of Ahab reigned for two
years (Year 23 of Jehoshaphat). Elijah the Prophet. Some
people identify him with Jonah the Prophet but it seems
wrong for Jonah was a disciple of Elisha. Joram son of
Jehoshaphat reigned for eight years (4290, Year 167 of
David). When he was 40, he married Athaliah, daughter of
Ahab. Jehoram became king of Israel in the same year. He
reigned for 12 years. In his days came the famine in
Samaria, and Elisha was there.[77]
Jehoiada
the High Priest lived 130 years (4299). Jonadab son of
Rahab, son of Jethro the father-in-law of Moses, of good
seed, of the House of Pharisees the Righteous ones: his
sons lived in the time of Jeremiah, they did not plant a
vineyard nor build a house. Year 299.
Ahaziah
king of Judah reigned for one year (4298); Athaliah
reigned for seven years. Jehu king of Israel reigned for
28 years (4303). Hazael was king of Aram and Damascus,
that is Syria, (Year 302). Joash was tenth king of Judah
(4306). Jehoahaz son of Jehu reigned for 17 years (Year
39). Amaziah reigned for 29 years (344). In 362, Elisha
died. The Scripture implies it was Year 36 of Joash,
King of Judah, which was year [4]342. Perhaps this is a
mistake. Jonah followed Elisha. Some people say Jonah
was the son of [the widow of] Zarephath whom Elisha
returned to life. Amos the Prophet prophesied in year
362. Amoz the Prophet, father of Isaiah, lived then.
Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel reigned for 41
years (year 363). Uzziah king of Judah reigned for 52
years (4375). When he entered to burn the incense, there
was an earthquake and a symptom of leprosy broke out on
his forehead.[78]
Know that after Amaziah king of Judah died, Judah had no
king for 13 years. The kingdom of Media was founded in
Year 381. Hosea son of Beeri, Joel and Obadiah the
Prophets flourished (389). The Jews say [Obadiah the
Prophet] is the same Obadiah who was in charge of the
House of Ahab in the days of Elijah. Isaiah the Prophet,
son of Amoz the Prophet, (year 399), was killed by
Manasseh, his relative, as he was sawed together with a
tree. Zechariah reigned for six months (420).
The same
year reigned Aolio Silfo[79],
15th king of Latins. He reigned for 44 years.
He exiled his elder brother[80]
and killed his elder cousin. He seized his niece[81]
and forced her into [Vestal] seclusion but she gave
birth to Romi and Romilo[82].
The brothers killed King Aolio Silvo[83]
and restored the exiled old man to the throne. Nobody
knows who lay with the mother of Romi and Romilus, but
she gave birth to twin boys. When the king learned of
it, he killed her, buried the mother alive. He ordered
to cast the twins into the river, but as the river had
overflowed its banks, they weren’t cast where the king
ordered, but they were cast at the riverbank. A shepherd
found them and took them home to his wife. She was a
harlot and nursed them. Some people say they were taken
and nursed by wolves. Maybe it is an allegory; a harlot
nursed them as a she-wolf would[84].
Menahem,
the 19th king of Israel reigned for 10 years
(408). Then reigned the 11th king of Corinth,
who was king of Greece. The son of Menahem[85]
(413) reigned for 11 years but two years according to
the Jews. Jotham king of Judah (426) reigned for 16
years. [Pecah son of Remaliah] king of Israel, killed
his Master and reigned for 20 years. Nahum the Prophet
flourished (426). Ahaz son of Jotham (42) reigned for 17[86]
years. He [became] king in Year 319 of David’s reign.
Until that time there had been 21 Latin kings in Italy.
The first was Janus, the second was Saturn, etc.
Rome was
founded in 4448 (Year 324 since David’s reign; Year 5 of
King Ahaz’ reign).
Construction was completed in the 11th year
of Hezekiah. Thus [Rome] was built in 22 years. There
were seven hills and seven towns. It was built by Romi
[Remus] and Romulus; they gave the city their name and
reigned for 38 years. Some say their father was Martos
[Mars]; others say he was his uncle Mamas. That is the
opinion of our sages obm in the Midrash of Psalms in the
verse ‘You are the helper of the fatherless’.[88]
They prepared a great feast for all the towns around
Rome, and for their women and daughters. At the feast
they snatched their wives and daughters and gave them to
the men of Rome who had no wives. Thus there were big
wars between them and the Sabines. Eventually they made
peace so that the Romans and Sabines became one nation.
In the
generation of Division, Nimrod the Giant came to Rome
and built a city there. While Rome was built, there were
prophets such as Hosea, Joel, Amos, Jonah, Obadiah,
Nahum, Isaiah etc. The Exile of the Ten Tribes occurred
in Year 453. There were 18 kings of Israel. Hezekiah son
of Ahaz (4491: should be 4459) reigned for 28[89]
years. The same year[90],
year 498, Saragosa di Sicilia[91]
was founded. The second king of Rome (Year 425). The
kingdom of Aram fell in Year 486. Then began the
Chaldean kingdom. Their first king Merodach-Baladan sent
[gifts] to Hezekiah king of Judah [as he had heard of]
his illness.[92]
Then there was the story of Tobias the Righteous. The
angel Raphael visited him, cured his father’s eyes and
more. It is told in detail in a separate book attached
to the 24 books [of the Bible]. The end of Hezekiah’s
reign was in 486. Manasseh son of Hezekiah (487) reigned
for 55 years.
Constantinople was founded in 4536 (Year 49 of
Manasseh’s reign). It was called Byzantium. King
Constantine would enlarge and broaden it almost 1,000
years later, and afterwards rename it Constantinople
after himself. It is called the ‘Second Rome’, for in
Year 301 of Nativity of That Man[93],
he began to reign, and he build the city up. He accepted
Christian faith in Year 318 of Nativity of That Man in
the days of [Pope] Sylvester and he built the city.
Afterwards, year 1093 of Christians, the king of Turks
took it. Afterwards, the French and Horsianos[94]
took it from them and the city remained in their hands
for 360 years, as the number of degrees in a circle. In
1453 of Christians (5213 Year of Israel) Mahmud son of
Tomi [Ottoman] took it. He is the Grand Turk, he died in
481 of Christians, 5241 Year of Israel.
Amon son
of Manasseh (4542) reigned for 12 years according to the
70 translators and for twenty [read: two] years
according to Jews. The author of the book accepted the
version of Septuagint, and said: Josiah his son reigned
in year 524 [read: 554] and reigned for 32 years; he was
eight years old when Hilkiah the High Priest reigned
(4569). Jeremiah (587). Baruch the scribe of Jeremiah
was a prophet and he compiled a book; the Christians
have it and it is attached to the Book of Jeremiah.
Jehoahaz (587) reigned for three months. Eliakim, the
elder son of Josiah, is Jehoiakim; he became the king
same year and reigned for 11 years.[95]
Jaconiah [Jehoiachin] became king in 597; he reigned for
three months and ten days. Zedekiah, who became king the
same year, reigned for 11 years.
Marsilia
[Marseilles] was founded by the sea in France in 599
[600 BC]. There is a chain to seal off the sea. The
Aragon king who conquered Naples burned it down and
resettled it later. Habakkuk prophesied in 423, in the
days of Hezekiah. He was held by the angel, when Daniel
was thrown into the lions’ den and the angel brought him
bread for nourishment and strength. Then Ezekiel
prophesied in Babylon. Daniel began in 660 when the
Temple was destroyed. In the Diaspora of Babylon there
was the incident with Susanna, daughter of Hilkiah and
wife of Ioakim. She was very beautiful, and three
elders, judges who used to visit her house daily in
order to commerce with her husband, desired and lusted
after her beauty. Once, when her husband was not at
home, they entered her garden while she was naked. She
was taking the ritual bath after her nidah
[menstruation]. They demanded sexual intercourse with
her, threatening otherwise to bear false testimony that
they had found her having intercourse with a boy. But
she said she would rather die than commit sin before
God. They did what they said, bore false testimony, and
sentenced her to death. Then Daniel in his wisdom and
gift of prophesy saved her. He investigated the case
again. He separated the elders and questioned them one
by one. Their testimonies did not fit. The elders were
executed. Maybe they were Ahab son of Koliah and
Zedekiah son of Maasiah, who were burned by the king of
Babylon.
In the
same year, King Zedekiah’s reign ended (660). Then there
was Pythagoras, who invented geometry, measures, weights
and music. He said human souls transmigrate. He arranged
religion in Italy. He did not wish to be called ‘wise’,
but ‘lover of wisdom’, which is ‘philosopher’. He
compiled many books but Hathinos [Athenians?] burned
most of them. Then there were the philosophers Anakarsos
[Anaxagoras?] and Moshon. Jerusalem was destroyed in AM
4609 [590 BC] (3338 by Jewish count [422 BC]).
There
were 22 kings of Judah.
David
reigned for 40 years.
Solomon
reigned for 40 years.
Rehoboam
reigned for 18 years.
Abiah
reigned for three years.
Asa
reigned for 41 years.
Jehoshaphat reigned for 25 years.
Jehoram
reigned for one year.
Ahaziah
reigned for one year.
Athaliah
reigned for seven years.
Joash
reigned for 40 years.
Amaziah
reigned for 29 years.
Uzziah
reigned for 51 years.
Jotham
reigned for 16 years.
Ahaz
reigned for 16 years.
Hezekiah
reigned for 29 years.
Manasseh
reigned for 55 years.
Amon
reigned for 12 years (according to their opinion).
Josiah
reigned for 32 years.
Jehoahaz
reigned for three months.
Jehoiakim
reigned for 11 years.
Jaconiah
reigned for three months.
Zedekiah
reigned for 11 years.
The
Fifth Era - the Exile of
Israel in Babylon for 70 years (609). Then there was the
case of Gedaliah, son of Ahikam.[96]
They say when he was merry of wine at the feast, Ishmael
killed Gedaliah. And immediately they fled to Egypt.
Five years later, Nebuchadnezzar marched on Egypt and
conquered it; then he took captive all people of Israel
who were there and in other countries, as it is said in
the end of Jeremiah. Nebuchadnezzar II, son of
Nebuchadnezzar reigned (628) for ten years. Evil
Merodach, the fourth king of Babylon, reigned for 18
years (638). Nebuchadnezzar I reigned for 35 years
though our sages of blessed memory say 45 years but they
do not mention Nebuchadnezzar II. About Evil Merodach,
our sages of blessed memory say that he reigned for 23
years, and it broadly fits. He freed Jehoiachin from
prison and sat him first among the kings.
Then
there was the great Greek physician Anaximander and
another of the same name. In Year 638, there was Isopit
who compiled many books. He was Greek but his books were
translated into Latin.
The
Kingdom of Persia began in Year 30 of the Captivity of
Babylon (AM 4660). Their first king was Cyrus who
reigned for 30 years; he fought the king of Babylon
named Belshazzar and vanquished him. He conquered all
the East, and conquered the kingdom of Tarslos and
killed them. One queen[97]
sent her son to the war and Cyrus killed him. Then the
queen went and killed Cyrus, and cut off his head and
member. Persia is the head of Asia Major; named after a
Greek king called Perses[98]
who married the queen and built the country that bears
his name. Misbania[99]
includes Karamanos [Karamania[100]],
Antioch and Britanos. Aruch says, Karamanos is up
north, beyond Persia and there are few fruits due to the
great cold.
Lucio
Tarquino [Lucius Tarquinius], seventh king of Romans,
was malevolent; he was exiled and died in 649. Then
there was Haggai the Prophet and Zechariah b. Berekiah;
they are of the 12 Books of Minor Prophets. Then there
was Omriya [Cimmerian?] Sibyl who compiled nine books of
prophecies. She came to Tarquinius, the well-known king,
but he did not wish to pay her what she asked.[101]
Then she burned three books before him on the first day.
On the second day, she burned another three books. On
the third day, he paid what she asked and got the last
three books. In them, all was written, all that would
happen to the Romans till the end of Time.
Then in
Turkey there was Ispitima the Sibyl (Year 655). Then
Belshazzar[102],
the fifth King of Babylon reigned for 17 years,
according to Joseph b. Gorion. In the first year of his
reign, Daniel had the vision of four beasts. Darius the
Mede, was a son-in-law of Cyrus I, who destroyed
Babylon; he was 62 when he became king in 656. Daniel
was his advisor and he was called the ‘man of desires’
for he desired to know the future. Cambyses, son of King
Cyrus (670) reigned for eight years. He was bad for
Israel. Holofernes was his army commander; he came to
destroy Israel but Judith killed him. In the book[103],
[the king] is called Nebuchadnezzar. This Book [of
Judith] is appended to the 24 Books of Bible. This
Cambyses captured the king of Egypt in his fifth year of
reign. Judith (year 670) killed Holofernes. Smerdis,[104]
the third king of Persia (678), reigned for seven
months; Darius killed him. Cambyses had no son. Darius
became king in year ‘79 (Year 70 of the Babylonian
Captivity). He was the fourth king of Persia and reigned
for 37 years. He returned the holy vessels to the Temple
and appointed Zerubbabel as pasha of Judah. He made him
great and sent him to Jerusalem with his people of
Israel in ’79; and he married the daughter of Cambyses.
He was a malevolent king. Joiakim the High Priest was
high priest (year 680) for six years; he was a son of
Jeshua [Jesus] the High Priest. He built the temple and
the city.[105]
In 680, construction of the temple was completed. Then
was the end of the Roman kings (Year 686). Thereafter
they had no king but only consuls until Julius Caesar
who took power by force. In their opinion they had no
king for 466 years but for 306 years in the opinion of
Jews. All that happened because of the [rape of]
Lucrece, of royal blood. [Her husband] and his
son-in-law were first consuls of Rome in 686 (Year 10 of
Darius). Girsos [Xerxes I] son of Darius (714) reigned
for 20 years; he favoured Ezra and vanquished the
Egyptians.[106]
Eliashib, [son of?] high priest Joiakim, became the high
priest in 725 when his father died and served for 32
years. This calls for more study. Artaban, king of
Persia (734), reigned for one year. Artaxerxes (735)
reigned for 40 years. He had long arms, down to his
knees. Nechemiah son of Hilkiah and Ezra the Scribe were
in 742, Year 7 of his reign. There was Aksagoras
[Anaxagoras?] the philosopher and Avocrat the Physician
[Hippocrates] – year 71, who made [the Book of Medicine]
(763). There was Gorgias the philosopher (‘64).[107]
Socrates[108],
master of Plato (‘71), compiled the book of Ethics. He
was a great philosopher. On his hand, he wore a ring
bearing the inscription ‘Wisdom is man’s friend;
foolishness is his enemy’. He mocked idols and thus he
was killed.
Xerxes II
was the eighth king of Persia; he reigned for two
months. Then the ninth king Shibdiano [Sogdianus], king
of Persia reigned for seven months. Then Darius king of
Persia reigned for 29 years (4729); he was the tenth
king. High Priest Joiada[109],
the fourth (year ’83), was the high priest for 45 years.
Artaxerxes II, Jews called him Ahasuerus, (805) reigned
for 40 years over 127 provinces from India to Kush[110].
In his 12th year of reign, he married Esther,
daughter of Abihail uncle of Mordecai (Year 817; 128 of
the Babylonian Exile). Queen Esther reigned with her
husband for 28 years. By their count, Mordecai was a
member of the Synedrion who was taken into captivity
with Jehoiachin 11 years before the Destruction of the
Temple and Babylonian Exile. Thus, in the days of
Esther, Mordecai was over 250 years old, and it is
amazing that Mordecai and Esther were cousins, children
of two brothers, and that she was a virgin. But we can
argue that Mordecai’s great-grandfather Kish, not
Mordecai, was among the exiles of Jehoiachin. But our
sages of blessed memory imply that it was [Mordecai]
himself, and that he lived for over 400 years. Thus he
was about 120 years old in the days of Esther.
There was
Isocrates[111],
a Greek philosopher (820). There was Plato the
philosopher (824 [375 BC]). He was the first to teach
the grammar of language; he was the master of Aristotle.
He was from Athens in Greece and went to study in Egypt.
He divided philosophy into three parts: ethics, logic
and natural science. He said there was one god, the
cause of all causes. He was a great sage in all kinds of
wisdom and the leading philosopher. He compiled a book
called Timaeus, about the world, stars and
immortality of the soul. Tully
said he did not understand the book in depth. He lived
for 81 years. He wrote Timaeus in 4830.[113]
Epicurus
the philosopher was a disciple of Socrates (833). He
certainly did not study for he wrote erroneously that
Blessed Name does not care about earthly things and that
the soul died with the body. His followers are called
Epicursin[114].
Artaxerxes III, son of Esther, reigned for 26 years. He
was cruel; he killed his sister, mother-in-law and all
her family. He reigned in 845. The kingdom of Egypt
began in 847[115].
In 848, Philip, king of Macedonia and father of
Alexander the Great, reigned for 27 years. Ilufona
[Olympia?] was his wife. All the chroniclers say
Alexander was not Philip’s son, but Nikolo Tomeo’s,
meaning Nektanibur, king of Egypt[116].
Jonathan son of Joiada the High Priest (849) served for
43 years.
Demosthenes invented rhetoric, the art of effective
speaking, in 856. He lived in Athens in the days of King
Philip. Aristotle was 52 in 856 [343 BC]; his masters
were Socrates and Plato. He lived for 23 years after
Plato’s death and taught Alexander. He said, ‘the sage
hides his knowledge’. In the end, the envious men said
he spoke against the idols; he fled in order to avoid
the fate of Socrates. He lived for 62 years[117]
and wrote countless books. Arses, 13th king
of Persians (871) reigned for four years. Onias son of
Iadua (889) was the 7th high priest and
reigned for five years. Simeon the Righteous son of
Onias, was the eighth high priest (894) and reigned for
26 years. He was called ‘righteous’ for he was merciful
towards the people. His son Onias was small; Eleazar
served Simeon the Righteous. Iadua was the sixth high
priest (875) after Jonathan his father; he served for 18
years.
Alexander
king of Macedonia (874) reigned for 12 years. He became
king at 25; he was promiscuous. After his father’s
death, he conquered Asklabonia, the Roman Isles, Africa
and Syria. He came to Jerusalem and the priests paid him
honours. He founded Alexandria, named after him. Darius
the first [last?] king of Persians (4865) reigned for
six years. Alexander killed him and crossed the
Euphrates.
Altogether there were 14 kings of Persia
1 Cyrus I 30 years
2 Cambyses 8 years
3 Smerdis 7 months
4 Darius 37 years[118]
5 Xerxes[119]
20 years[120]
6 Artaban 1 year[121]
7 Artaxerxes [I] 40 years[122]
8 Xerxes[123]
[II] 2 months
9 Sobdianus [Sogdianus or Secydianus] 9 months
10
Darius [II] the Famous 29 years[124]
11
Artaxerxes [II] (Ahasuerus, Esther’s husband) 40 years[125]
12
Artaxerxes [III] son of Esther 26 years[126]
13
Arses 4
years[127]
14
Darius [III] the last, 6
years[128]
The total
is 240 years, or 290 years in opinion of our sages of
blessed memory.
Three
kings of Egypt named ‘Hermes’ [Trismegistos] are called
Enoch in our tongue. One is called Mercury, a great sage
who compiled the Book of Prophesies and Astrology in
889. Then there was Apulio [Apollonius of Tyana?],
friend of Plato, who wrote The Cosmography
and many other books. Then there was Diamas and Glistini
[Callisthenes of Olynthus],
disciple of Aristotle and Democrites.
The
Sixth Era – The kingdom of
Inglaterra [England] was founded. Malta [?] was built in
840 by Ahasuerus king of Persia. Some say it was built
in the days of Joshua and it is true. Fabia was founded
in Italy in 882. Kimo [Como], Bir Amon [Bergamo],
Brescia were built near Milan same time. Verona was
built in Lombardy along with Cremona and more many
places in Lombardy and Ferrara, that is of Marquis of
Ferrara near Venice; Bologna and Florence were built 390
years before the Nativity of That Man. Siena was built
383 years before the Nativity of That Man; as were
Alexandria and Italia.
The
Seventh Era - Ptolemy,
king of Egypt, reigned for 40 years after Alexander
(887; 283 years after the Babylonian Exile). He troubled
Israel a lot. Then Israel dispersed among the nations in
the kingdom of Aram [Rum?] (887) after Alexander. The
kingdom of Asia began in 893. The king was Alexander’s
brother. Then there was the first [Punic] War of
Carthaginians with Romans in 4917.
Eleazar the ninth high priest (902) reigned for 37
years. They say he was the brother of Simeon the
Righteous (Year 35 of Ptolemy). He sent 70 Elders,
translators of Scripture to Ptolemy king of Egypt.
Within 17 days they translated it into Greek. The book
was gilded and covered with precious stones. Ptolemy
gave them many gifts and asked them to visit him in
Egypt from time to time. Ptolemy II reigned for 38 years
(930; Year 323 after the Babylonian Exile). Antiochus II
of Syria (that is Damascus and Aram) reigned for 19
years (4930). The following kings were named ‘Antiochus’
after him as well. The [Punic] War of Carthaginians and
Romans (year 939), people of Rome fought Sicily,
Sardinia and Africa. The people of Africa rode elephants
in the war. Antiochus III king of Aram (951) reigned for
15 years. Peace between Romans and Carthage in 961.
Ptolemy king of Egypt (965) reigned for 26 years. The
same time Antiochus IV of Aram reigned for 20 years.
Onias[131]
son of Simeon the Righteous the high priest (964)
reigned for nine years; he was kili
[parsimonious?]. Ptolemy king of Egypt demanded money
from him but he did not wish to pay. The best people of
Jerusalem went to him [Ptolemy] to accommodate him.
Joseph was the greatest of them all; he and his son
Hyrcanus were honoured by the king. Onias fled to Egypt
for fear of Antiochus. At that time, the Romans took
Milan. Simeon b. Onias was the 12th high
priest (978) and served for 22 years. He built up the
temple and raised the walls higher. Then there was a
miracle: the cisterns were filled with water. In the
book of Ben Gorion it is said that Onias son of Onias
went to Egypt and he wrote to King Ptolemy and the Queen
in Alexandria. [He wrote that] a big house had collapsed
and asked for royal permission to build there a temple
similar to the Temple of Jerusalem. [He wrote that] it
had to be done for Isaiah had prophesied it 420 years
earlier. The king replied that he was amazed that Onias
would want to build a holy temple in the land of whores.
He said he was not hostile to the Law of Moses and would
allow construction of the temple. As for Isaiah’s
prophecy, may it be fulfiled. Then he came to Alexandria
and built the temple and altar; there he found priests
and Levites and made [holy] vessels. But one cannot
compare the inferior quality of this temple and [holy]
utensils with those of the Temple of Jerusalem. Then the
sages of the Samaritans and those of Jerusalem came to
King Ptolemy to speak about the temple on Mount Gerizim
and there was a heated dispute. Besides the true reason
[grounded] in the Law that there should be no temples
but the temple in Jerusalem, they found that all Gentile
kings of all times had sent sacrifices to Jerusalem
[while none sent any to Mount Gerizim]. So [the Jews]
won the dispute. The king ordered to kill the Samaritans
and let the [Jews] do as they wish. Then the
Alexandrians turned away from the temple they made, too.
A similar story is recorded by our sages of blessed
memory in the end of Menachoth.[132]
Antiochus
The Great, the second king of Aram (87) reigned for 37
years. Hannibal, king of Carthage, fled to this king
from Scipio the Roman general. Then there was Jesus b.
Sirah in 590 [990?]. He wrote books that are appended to
the 24 books of the Latin Bible. In 993, Hannibal and
his brother Hasdrubal were minors when their father
died, and they divided Spain along the river Ebro: the
bank on the Roman side went to the Romans, while the
other bank remained Carthaginian and they built the
Carthage of Castile[133].
In 996, Hannibal was 25 and he became the king of
Carthage. Onias the High Priest, son of Simeon, reigned
(Year 5000) for 29 years. In those days, Antiochus the
Great, king of Aram, vanquished King Ptolemy, conquered
Jerusalem and devastated it. Some people of Jerusalem
opened the gates [for him]; he killed 60,000 Jews,
seized all the holy utensils and took 10,000 into
captivity. He did great evil to Israel. There was
Aristobulus the Jew, the philosopher (AM 5000 [200 BC]).[134]
Then there was Adrachmedos [Archimedes?], the engineer
and philosopher; he was great in geometry. Ptolemy, the
fifth king of Egypt (5008) reigned for 24 years.
There was
Panicio [Polybius?], the teacher of the Roman general
Scipio (5011). Scipio went to Spain and led great
battles for Rome. He fought Hannibal in Carthage near
Tunis and destroyed it. He was a philosopher, and it was
the said year. King Ptolemy the seventh king (5032)
reigned for 35 years. Titus Livy[135],
the historian (AM 5033). The same year - Philo[136]
the Jew [of Alexandria], descendant of priests. He wrote
a book of wisdom in Greek. Cato the philosopher and
historian of Egypt - the same year. There was another
Cato, the first philosopher of Rome. Then there was the
war of Romans against Macedonia (5062). Macedonia is
Baiskala Bonia, hundred miles from Venice. It is called
Bondalakia. The war was in the Gulf of Venice. In 5034,
heresy spread among the priests of the Temple. Then
Simeon the Righteous died. Three sons survived him:
Onias, Jason and Johanan. Pious Onias had no sons. The
other two fought for the high priesthood. They applied
to Antiochus the Great, king of Aram, so he banned
circumcision and made Israel adopt Gentile names. They
also adopted Gentile names. Joshua was called Jason in
Greek and Johanan was called Menelaus, the Gentile name,
but Onias did not change his name. Menelaus bribed king
Antiochus and reigned for 11 years and his younger
brother for the next ten years. They applied to the king
for him to persecute Israel and impose Gentile names
instead of Jewish names. Then Onias went to the king to
convince him to cease the persecution but Menelaus sent
his favourite to kill him en route and he killed him.
The king killed the assassin for he was angered.
Mattathias (5043 [156 BC]), son of Jonathan son of
Simeon son of Hasmoneus, belonged to a Jerusalem family
called Jehoiarib. He had five sons: Johanan, Simeon,
Judah, Eleazar and Jonathan. He adhered to the Law of
Moses and he would prefer to die rather than transgress
its laws. Antiochus sent [an emissary telling him] to
change his religion. He refused and fought, and his sons
were with him. As he grew old and was about to die, he
commanded his sons to be ready to die for the Law and to
follow Simeon’s advice and the heroic might of Judah.
They changed names: Johanan became Jaddua; Simeon,
Thashai; and Judah, Maccabee. And after him they were
called Maccabeans, while Eleazar and Jonathan did not
take other names.
Year 46.
Judah Maccabee reigned. Then Antiochus king of Persia
came to raise a loan and left four generals in the Land
of Israel. Judah the Maccabee expelled them all. He made
a peace treaty with the Romans. Antiochus sent new
generals to fight Judah and he was killed. Before that,
Judah had come to the Temple, purified it, fixed the
breaches and held a feast. He killed the Jews who had
abandoned the Mosaic Law. His brothers Jonathan and
Simeon ransomed his body for a great amount of gold and
buried him. [Judah] reigned for four years. Then
Jonathan reigned for 19 years. Antiochus king of Greece
tried to kill him as he had killed his brother Judah.
There was a great war and the entire army of the king of
Aram invaded the land. Jonathan became famous all over
the world and made the peace treaty with the Romans.
Abrakus
[Hipparchus?] the astronomer (5029). The Third Punic War
(year 62). The Sack of Carthage[137]
(65). Ptolemy king of Egypt (67) reigned for 29 years.
Simeon son of Mattathias (73) reigned for eight years.
Ptolemy, son-in-law of Antiochus[138],
invited Simeon to the feast and killed him, his twelve
sons and his wife; two other sons were taken hostage.
King Hyrcanus[139],
son of Simeon (81), the seventh Hasmonean, reigned for
26 years. He was a prophet fit to be [high] priest. He
was called Hyrcanus after a king he vanquished and
slain. Antiochus king of Aram besieged Jerusalem in the
days of Hyrcanus [and demanded] to apostatize. For the
people’s benefit, Hyrcanus opened David’s Tomb and found
there … gold drachmas. He removed them, paid 300 to King
Antiochus, who lifted the siege. Hyrcanus went to
Samaria and destroyed it. It was eventually rebuilt in
the days of Herod and renamed Sebaste rather then
Samaria. Hyrcanus ended the controversy with the
Pharisees. He was very old and died at a ripe age. He
was survived by five sons: Aristobulus, Antigonus and
three others. He prophesied on his deathbed that his
sons would not adhere to the Law and it happened so. His
son Aristobulus (5107) reigned for one year and
exchanged the priesthood for royalty; he took the royal
crown for himself[140].
As
mentioned above, Onias the Great, son of Simeon the
Righteous, was the High priest in the days of Antiochus
the Evil. Afterwards Seleucus son of Antiochus sent his
general to loot the Temple of Jerusalem. As he entered
it, two boys assassinated him. Fearing the king, Onias
prayed to the Lord who resurrected him. The general
returned to the king and told him, whomever you wish to
be killed, send him to [loot] Jerusalem. After Onias’
death, his son was a little boy, and the king gave the
high priesthood to Johanan, called Menelaus.
Jaddua
the High Priest, son of Jonathan, was the sixth high
priest after Joshua son of Jehozadak the high priest in
the days of Alexander the Great. His brother Manasseh
was son-in-law to Sanballat or to other Samaritans. They
were expelled from Jerusalem and built the temple on
Mount Gerizim. They spoke evil [of the Jews] to
Alexander the Macedonian, while he was in the Sidonian
kingdom and Alexander came to Jerusalem and laid the
siege. Surrounded by priests, High Priest Jaddua went
out to him wearing ecclesiastical dress. When Alexander
saw him, he dismounted and prostrated himself before the
Name, which was written on the diadem. One of his
generals asked why he prostrated himself before a Jew.
He answered, ‘I bow to his God, as [His Name] is written
on his forehead. I prostrate myself for I saw this image
in my dream.’ He entered Jerusalem joyously, made
sacrifices to the Blessed Name and gave presents to the
High Priest and other priests. He invited the leaders of
Jerusalem to ask him for a favour. They asked for seven
years of tax relief for Jerusalem, and he fulfiled this
wish and others of theirs. When Alexander died, Jaddua
the High priest died immediately. The Book of Ezra lists
the high priests before Jaddua: Joshua son of Jehozadak,
Ioakim, Eliashib, Jaddua, Jonathan and Jaddua. As for
Ezra himself, there is some doubt about whether he was a
high priest or, as the Book of Ezra states, perhaps only
head of a priestly family while his brother was
Jehozadak, and Joshua was his nephew.
Let us
return to Aristobulus. He reigned for one year[141],
starting in ‘84 of Babylonian Exile. On advise of his
brother Antigonus he arrested another brother of his. He
died a painful death from internal bleeding of the
intestines. After Aristobulus, Alexander [Jannai], the
second brother of his father Hyrcanus, reigned for 27
years. His [Jewish] name was Johanan[142].
At first he was good but later became evil. He killed
1,000 elders and 40 [important] men with their wives;
and died of great disease[143].
This Alexander became the king in 5108; the Antiochus
dynasty of the kings of Aram ended in 114. Alexander
left two sons: Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. Alexander left
his wife Alexandra to reign as queen for the common
good. She reigned for nine years and died at the age of
73. She made her elder son Hyrcanus the high priest. He
was the 23rd high priest for 24 years. After
their mother’s demise, the sons fell out. Hyrcanus
vanquished his brother Aristobulus but they made peace.
Aristobulus became king and Hyrcanus, high priest. But
later Hyrcanus regretted the decision and joined forces
with the Arabian king. They besieged Jerusalem and
Aristobulus. Thus came Roman rule to Jerusalem. Pompey
came to Jerusalem, saw the Temple and its dignity[144]
and did not loot it. Later he went to Rome and Julius
Caesar vanquished him. Pompey escaped to Egypt to
Ptolemy, who cut off Pompey’s head and sent it to Julius
Caesar. Pompey was the first to make Jerusalem pay tax
to Rome.
Julius
Caesar[145]
was a Roman leader (147 [52 BC]); another Roman leader,
Crassus, looted the Temple (148) and went to Persia
where he was killed. Then there were Marcus Filius and
Tullius, Lucretius the Poet[146]
and Apollodoros the Orator. Marcus Tullius Cicero, the
philosopher, had great talent for the Latin tongue and
its purity. After the Egyptian kings, Cleopatra daughter
of Ptolemy, became queen. She did not marry but was a
whore and witch. She is mentioned in a Ch. Mapelet
and the Ch. One, AZ[147],
‘Queen Cleopatra was vanquished by the Romans and they
seized her country.’ In the Ch. Helek there is a
reference to ‘Queen Cleopatra who asked R. Meir’ but it
is not the same Cleopatra as 200 years separate them.
She asked Herod to lay with her but he declined for she
was a goya. Cleopatra became the queen in year ‘150; 557
of Babylonian Exile, and reigned for 22 years and there
were no more kings of Egypt. The same year (150), a
great city called Ankita was built 30 miles from
Carthage in Africa.
Julius
Caesar, the first monarch of Rome, reigned from year 191[148];
542 of Babylonian Exile for four years and seven months.
He established a monarchy in Rome and was assassinated.
Rome remained without a ruler for three years. Then
Octavian [Augustus] Caesar became the king[149]
in August 151 [48 BC] for 56˝ years. He was a son of
Julius Caesar’s sister. After the first 18 years, he
reigned the entire world in peace for 38 years.
Herod the
Galilean, son of Antipater the Idumean, reigned for 37
years and came to power in 161 when Antipater died of
poison (he was a great warrior). He had five sons. The
high priest was Malchion. Until then the office of high
priest would pass from father to son, but from that time
until the third year before the Destruction, the office
was sold for money and there was a new high priest each
year. In his 15th year of reign, King Herod
built the exquisite Temple as well as houses in
Jerusalem and elsewhere. In year 26, he killed Hyrcanus
the High Priest, his master, who was a righteous man. He
was assassinated as he returned from Babylon. Herod also
killed his sister’s husband. And he killed the
Synedrion. His sons were Archelaus, Antipas, Antipater,
Lysinius and Philip. Virginius the philosopher,
physician, astronomer (165) in Rome, and Tullius Miro.
Hyrcanus
the high priest was killed by Herod in 186 (28, Year of
Augustus). He was 80. All Hasmoneans were wiped out
then. [Hyrcanus] lived in sorrow all his life, as after
the death of his mother Alexandra. he reigned for three
months; then his brother Aristobulus came and fought
him. Then came Pompey, the Roman general, who restored
the kingdom to Hyrcanus; he served for 40 years before
he went to Babylon. After his death, the office of high
priest was sold for money each year. Thus Daniel’s
prophecy[150]
was fulfiled: the Annointed [the high priest] would be
cut down after 70, 70 and 60 years and justice would be
destroyed: that is the Synedrion.
The last
Sibyl (5170) of the prophetesses of the nations of the
world. Titus Livy, the historian (183). Ovid,
philosopher and poet (182).
Mariamne
the Hasmonean, sister of Aristobulus the boy priest who
was killed by Herod. She was Herod’s wife and of
unsurpassed beauty. Her face shone and people said she
was not a woman, but a heavenly body like the sun and
moon. As Herod had killed all her family, she was very
hostile to him. She was a person of great heart and soul
and refused to lay with him. Her mother-in-law and
sister-in-law told King Herod that she had sent a letter
asking Rome to remove Herod and install her brother
instead. Herod judged her in the Synedrion and she was
killed.
The
Eighth Era – This was the
Nativity of That Man[151]
and John the Baptist (5199). John was the son of
Zechariah the Priest, his wife was barren and John was
born six months before That Man. They have various
theories; according to Isidore He was born in 5200, or
5210, or some say in 199. His mother Miriam gave birth
when she was 14. Archelaus[152]
son of Herod (204; 47 Year of Augustus) reigned for nine
years. He and his brother Antiochus[153]
fought wars and conquered lands. Archelaus’ brother
Antipas[154]
(213) took the sceptre from him. He reigned for 24 years
and divided the land into four parts, Galilee for
himself etc. He was cruel: he killed his sons, abolished
the priesthood and transgressed the Law. He slaughtered
John the Baptist, as he reproached him for marrying the
wife of his brother Antipas[155].
After that he was taken to Rome and sent to Lyon, a city
in France, where he and his wife, and daughter drowned
when the bridge collapsed.
Tiberius[156]
(214) reigned in Rome for 23 years. Valerius[157]
(215) was a wise philosopher who worked for the Romans
in Jerusalem for nine years In those days the high
priesthood was sold for money; and he gave the
priesthood to Caiaphas and he [Caiaphas] judged That
Man. Pilate[158]
(224) was in Jerusalem for four years. In 228 the
Pharisees separated; they paid much attention to their
clothes and meals. They were enemies of That Man. In 228
there were also the Sadducees, they were heretics who
denied resurrection and angels; they held that a man’s
soul died with his body. They were hypocrites pretending
to be righteous[159],
but they were heretics. There was another Pharisee sect
called the Essenes who were extreme Pharisees.
The Duchy
of Burgundy began (234).
Agrippa[160]
son of Herod son of Aristobulus (237) reigned for seven
years; he was a righteous man. He was previously in Rome
with Tiberius the Caesar. Gaius Caesar [Caligula] (237)
reigned for four years. Claudius Caesar (242) reigned
for 13 years and eight months. Simeon Peter first Pope
of Rome (243); he was the Pope for 25 years and seven
months. Before that he was the Pope of Antioch. He was
from Galilee; and Caesar executed him personally.
Simon the
Great, the Samaritan, a mighty warrior and magician who
could levitate. He wished to be considered God and that
people will give him money. Thus ‘simony’ means ‘to sell
one’s holiness for money.’ They say that Simon Peter
prayed and Simon the Samaritan fell down and died.
Herod, brother of Agrippa reigned (245) for three years.
He passed the priesthood to his son for two years.
Afterwards Agrippa[161]
son of Agrippa (249) reigned for 21 years and was very
wise and knowledgeable in Latin. He was the last king.
There was the great dispute between the Sages and the
Priests. Then there was Onias the High Priest; he was a
righteous man, and afterwards came Mattathias the High
Priest, who was the last. It appears from the book that
he was father of Joseph b. Gorion[162],
the compiler of the Sefer Yohassin[163].
Seneca
the great sage (291) wrote many books. His disciple Nero
the Caesar killed him. Then Lucano, brother of Seneca,
wrote books. Nero the Caesar (255) reigned for 14 years
and seven months. After Peter, Liginus
was the Pope (259) for 11 years. Galba, the Caesar in
Rome (70) reigned for seven months; the same emperor
reigned for three months, too. Vitellius Caesar, for
three months.
Kinteiro
the philosopher (278 [AD 79]) flourished in Spain. The
same year, there was Joseph b. Gorion the priest, son of
Mattathias the High Priest. Vespasian Caesar, (bees and
wasps entered in his nose), (72 [AD 71]) reigned for six
years. He besieged Jerusalem, while he was Nero’s
general, and was proclaimed the emperor in Rome while
still in Jerusalem. He left his son Titus to deal with
Jerusalem, who destroyed it in 5274 (8th
September 75, Nativity of That Man). According to
tradition in Joseph b. Gorion, the destruction was on 9th
Ab, on Sunday, 28th Ab[165]
AM 3698 (21st August, year 9 of the Cycle –
the leap year). Maybe the destruction was completed in
8, September 68 of Christians.
Jerusalem
had already been conquered five times: (1) in the days
of Nebuchadnezzar, (2) in the days of the Second Temple
by Isibio, king of Egypt, (3) Antiochus, (4) Pompey and
(5) Herod the Great. The city was built by Canaan but
some say by Melchizedek. He built a tower and called it
Suleiman. [Thus was it called] from the Canaanites until
the days of King David, pbuh. David called it Jerusalem.
‘Jeru’ means ‘full of all good’. There were three walls,
water reservoirs, moats between the walls and iron
chains. The moats were 40,000 feet deep and 250[166]
feet wide. The city remained in ruins until Hadrian. He
repaired it and gave it to goyim, so the Jews would not
enter, but the poor ones. When Titus took Jerusalem,
many Romans died along with 600 000 Jews, as many as had
left in the Exodus from Egypt.
The kings
of Jerusalem after the Hasmoneans were: Aristobulus (one
year), Alexander (27 years), his wife Alexandra after
him (nine years), Hyrcanus (34 years), Herod (37 years),
Archelaus (nine years), Tetrarch (24 years), Agrippa
(eight years) and Herod brother of Agrippa (four years).
The true high priests, who did not buy the office, until
Pirapeo and Mattathias the last ones were as follows.
From Aaron till Solomon’s completion of the temple,
there were 12: Aaron, Eleazar, Phineas, Abishua, Bukki,
Eli, Samuel (this is strange, for Samuel was a Levite,
not a priest), after him Ahitub, Ahimelech, Abiathar,
Zadok and Ahimaaz. Joseph b. Gorion counted 612 years
from Aaron until the Temple was built. From the Temple
<construction> until Nebuchadnezzar, there were 18
priests: the first was Zadok and last, Jehozadak, who
was exiled to Babylon. That period lasted 466˝ years and
20 days. In their (Christians) opinion, there were 15
high priests from the seed of Aaron from the Exile until
Antiochus; then came Ioakim for three years and then
there was no high priest for seven years. Afterwards
came Jonathan brother of Judas Maccabee for four years;
he was trapped and killed. Then came his brother Simeon,
afterwards, his son Hyrcanus for 31 years, his son
Aristobulus for a year and then Alexander his brother.
His mother appointed him the high priest; he served for
27 years throughout her lifetime. When she died, his
brother Aristobulus removed him from office. Aristobulus
was king and high priest for three years and three
months. Afterwards Pompey took him to Rome, while the
office of high priest returned to Hyrcanus for 40 years.
Afterwards another king was anointed and the priesthood
given to Hyrcanus son of Aristobulus, and he reigned for
three years and three months. Afterwards Herod besieged
him and sent him to Antioch near Tarblus [Tripoli] in
Syria, near Palestine. They sent Antigonus to Antioch of
the Romans and killed Antigonus. When Herod seized the
kingdom, the Hasmoneans were no more and there were
other high priests. From Herod till the Destruction of
the Temple, there were 29 high priests in 187 years. The
land of Israel was called Judea, after Judah, Israel and
Benjamin. Titus son of Vespasian (5280 [AD81]) reigned
for two years. He brought to Rome beautiful clothes and
all the riches of Jerusalem – even the tablets of Law
they say, and that is a total lie. Titus’ brother
Domitian (283) reigned for 15 years After him, Tirba
[Nerva] reigned for a year and four months. Emperor
Trajan reigned (AM 299; 100 of Nativity of That Man) for
11˝ years. Pliny II the historian, nephew of Pliny the
philosopher, wrote the book of animals, in year 112 of
Incarnation. Hadrian the Evil, oppressor of Israel, son[167]
of Trajan, reigned (301) for 21 years. He was clever in
mischief. He rebuilt Jerusalem and destroyed it. He
banned Jews from the city. He renamed the city ‘Adrian’[168]
after his son Adrianus. He went to Alexandria, rebuilt
and fortified it. In Inglaterra [England], he built the
city of Tiburtina, with walls 80 miles long. He died at
age of 60[169]
at Baiae.
Christian
history book tells the story of Ben Koziba the Jew who
reigned over Israel in the days of Hadrian, AM 318 [AD
119]; when Hadrian reigned, 45 years after the
Destruction). Eusebius the Historian writes that he was
a mighty warrior, who caused damage and slaughtered
Christians. He was strong and cruel to them in all
lands. He fought them and destroyed their lands until
Hadrian came and saved them. Ben Koziba went to Egypt
and sacked two kingdoms, Sidoni and Tabienari. He came
to Alexandria in Egypt and attacked it but Hadrian
defeated him. Many people died then in Alexandria, while
Ben Koziba went to Mesopotamia, i.e. Aram Nahoraim, and
Palestine; he was there with the Jews and made great war
against Hadrian. Hadrian then killed many Jews. It is in
the books and he[170]
keeps close to the words of our sages of blessed memory
who said (in Gittin[171])
that ‘he killed many Jews in Alexandria’. He went to
Palestine and destroyed Bethar. Here one sees the truth:
the Destruction of Bethar by Emperor Hadrian was 52
years after the Destruction [of the Temple], not 73
years as Doroth Olam says. It is not mentioned that
Koziba was killed, but the Sages of blessed memory
mention it. Hadrian died in Year 65 of the Destruction.
Antonius
Pius son-in-law of Hadrian reigned (139) for 22 years
and three months. He was compassionate and good, thus he
was called ‘Pius’, from ‘piada’, which means ‘merciful’.
It seems he or his brother, who succeeded him, was
Antoninus, friend of Rabbi. Ptolemy of Alexandria[172],
the philosopher and great astronomer; in his opinion, he
was a king. He added much to astronomy, he made
Almagest, the lore of aspects, the four parts of law
and five sayings. He lived for 88 years. That was year
5344[173];
Year 69 of the Destruction (but really Year 65). He
said, whoever thinks there is no Ruler in the World
considers himself the sovereign of the world. He said,
whoever has not received advice and morals from anyone
is unfit to argue his case. And he also said, whoever
grows older should do more good deeds. Al Battani the
great astronomer was 720 years later, and RaLBG[174]
the astronomer came 1,200 years after Ptolemy. Galen
(5349) the Roman physician compiled 150 books on
medicine. Marc Anthony, the brother of Antonius Pius
reigned (362) in Rome for 19 years and one month. He was
wise and pious. These two brothers were contemporaries
of Our Saintly Master.
Commodius
reigned (381) for 13 years. I did not care to list seven
emperors who followed him. Schism arose among
Christians, meaning heresy (441). Philip reigned (45)
for seven years; he was an Arab who became Christian.
Gallus reigned (453) for two years, that were the years
of Plague worldwide. The world was almost destroyed.
Egypt suffered most. Diocletian the Emperor reigned (485
[AD 286]) for two years. He visited Jerusalem, returned
to Rome and removed himself from office. He died in Rome
of poisoning. The astronomers start the calendar with
his date; I do not know why. Galerius reigned (505) for
two[175]
years with Constantine the Great. Afterwards Constantine
the Great reigned[176]
(5507; 78 of Nativity of that man) alone for 30 years.
In Year 10 of his reign he became a Christian because,
they say, Pope Sylvester healed him of leprosy.
Thus
began Ninth Era. Afterwards Constantine’s mother
Helena went to Jerusalem. Filled with great hatred of
Jews, she was determined to kill them unless they gave
her the tree[177]
That Man was hanged on. Then they prayed and found the
right one 300 years after [the Crucifixion]. They say
they found three crosses, of which one bore the
inscription ‘That Man’ in Hebrew, Greek and Latin.
Because of that, the emperor abolished crucifixion in
future. The Jew [who found the Cross] became a
Christian; she [Helena] made him the bishop of Jerusalem
but later he was killed and the cross was taken to Rome.
Helena gave her son one of the nails of the cross, and
he put it into the bridle of his horse to go to war.
According to their version, she cast another nail into
the sea. The whereabouts of the third nail are unknown.[178]
Constantine extended the limits of Byzantium and renamed
it Constantinople after himself. It has been called the
Second Rome because of its greatness from that time and
the days of Pope Sylvester until our days.
Constantine[179]
II (538) … of Constantine reigned for 24˝ years. The
third king was Julian the Apostate of Constantine (572
) who reigned for two years and
five months. Valentinus[181]
reigned (566 [367]) for 11 years. In Year 2 of
Valentinus, there was a worldwide seaquake[182]
and entire lands sank into the depths. In Sicily and
elsewhere, mountains collapsed and destroyed whole
nations. The earthquake struck Constantinople as well
and falling stones killed many people. The Temple of
Israel was then in Jerusalem, Jews had built it at great
expense four years earlier in the days of Julian the
Apostate: the earthquake collapsed it and many Jews were
killed. The next day fire burned all the Temple
utensils, even those of iron. They say this panic caused
300 Jews to become Christians. Emperor Valentino was
against Christians; he returned Jews to Jerusalem and
ordered them to rebuild the Temple, he gave them
permission and helped defray their expenses. He said
there was no sacrifice but in Jerusalem. The Jews tried
to rebuild an even more magnificent temple than the
previous one.
Ambrose[183],
bishop of Milan (5572), wrote many books and he brought
Augustine[184]
to Christianity. Moosis [Maurice?], a monk in Egypt (76)
brought many Egyptians to Christianity. The sixth
emperor of Constantinople[185]
(77) reigned for four years. Augustine the Bishop[186]
built [??] in 5582; he was 18 years old. And he wrote
the book. Theodosius[187]
the Elder from Spain reigned in Constantinople for 11
years in 87. In 89, Augustine repented and returned to
Christianity when he was 30[188];
he was with Ambrose in Milan. In 5611 (412[189]
of Christians), Rome was sacked and ruined by Alaric,
fourth king of Goths, from the kingdom of Gothia near
Hungary. In his fifth year of reign, he conquered Rome,
burned it, and devastated Italy. First he sent his
general to Florence and Lombardy, and the king of
Lombardy fought him, and Paul, his general defeated the
Goth general. When Alaric king of the Goths learned
this, he went and sacked France; then he went to Rome,
where he stayed until they ate the flesh of their sons,
and he burned the city. He fought Constantine three
times. Then Alaric went and captured France, and he came
to Italy and died there. Then Goths came to Spain,
conquered it and remained there.
Jerome[190],
the translator of the Bible from the holy tongue into
Latin (5628), studied the holy tongue in Jerusalem from
a Jew at nights, as it was an offence for Jews to teach
Hebrew to Gentiles. He lived 98 years; he was buried in
Bethlehem and compiled many books.
In 5660,
a demon[191]
appeared on the island of Candia [Crete]; he was
incarnated in a body of a man, and misled the Jews to
walk to the Land [of Israel] by sea as by dry land; and
many Jews converted to Christianity.
In 5646
(446 of Christians), Merlin the great philosopher and
astronomer flourished in England. He was the son of a
demon; his mother was a princess; she was monastic, and
had never lain with a man, but had a vision in a dream
of doing so[192].
The Gentile Sages said a woman could become pregnant
without a man if a demon came into a woman’s dream in
the image of man, and she felt he had lain with her and
impregnated her. Then the demon would take the semen and
implant it in the woman’s womb; thus the woman dreaming
of laying with a man would become pregnant. Our Sages of
blessed memory also said, a virgin could become pregnant
in a bathtub without a man. The same is written in Ben
Sirah. The demons know the great cycles and they do it
at the right time; perhaps such was the case with the
Sons of God and the Giants.[193]
Merlin wrote many books and obscure prophesies, which
Doksis the wise and Isidore later explained.
In AM
5650 (but really 4211, as there is a difference of 1,439
between our calendar and the Christian calendar because
we count from the Creation, and the mnemonic is ET LOG
[=1439, a measure of oil]), there was a great earthquake
for four months in Constantinople. There was a boy of
Israel, who said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts
[Sabaoth]’ and the earthquake ceased. So I think it is
true that this verse helped, for we see that when there
was the earthquake in the days of Uzziah; Isaiah spoke
this verse[194].
Our sages of blessed memory hinted at it[195],
why the world endures? Because we glorify the Lord[196],
that’s why the world would not perish.
Messiag[n]os[197]
the 12th emperor, (651) reigned for seven
years. It is held that fishermen founded Venice at this
time, and in astrology its sign is Pisces. Then Ragusa
[Dubrovnik] was founded (in 656); it is a Christian
town, but it pays tax to the Turks. Like Venice, it is a
sovereign city and located in the Gulf of Venice
[Adriatic]. Leo[198],
the 13th emperor in Constantinople (657)
reigned for 16 years. The 14th emperor[199]
reigned (673) for 17 years. Anastius[200]
the 15th emperor reigned (690) in the East
for 36 years. Boicio[201]
the philosopher arranged songs and melodies in 699. The
16th[202]
emperor reigned (714) for eight years. Justinian the
Great[203],
the 17th emperor (724) reigned for 38 years.
He was wise; he arranged the Codex of Law. Benito died n
728 (701 in the Christian chronicles; 502 of
Christians). In 749, the Goths came to Milan and killed
30,000 men.
The
Tenth Era
Justin[204]
the boy emperor (773[205])
reigned for 11 years. At that time the great plague
infested the entire world, especially suffered people of
Liguria, they are Genovese. At night they heard voices
during the plague and they were ignorant. The kingdom of
Lombardy was founded (766). The 19th emperor
Tiberius Constantine[206]
reigned (770) for seven years. The second emperor[207]
(777) reigned for 20 years. There was Pope Gregory[208]
who composed the commentary of Job, a great book, in
781. In 791, the Christians said they found the garment
made by the Mother of That Man for Her Son and it was
hidden in a marble box near Jerusalem. In 792, great
signs were seen in the skies of Greece and they said the
progenitor of the faith, Muhammad had [appeared]. Great
light shone in the skies of Constantinople and a
four-legged boy was born. On the seashore people saw two
fish in the form of men.
Muhammad[209]
came in 794. [The Christians said] his father was an
Arab nobleman, and his mother, a Jewess of the seed of
Ishmael. When he was 28, he was angered by Christians.
He was learned in all religions. The book he wrote was
written with the help of three men. [The first was]
Sergius Asano (or Ariano) the Christian of Rome. At
first he preached the Christian faith in Egypt but later
he converted. The others were a Jewish sage and John of
Antioch. They say he lived 34 years and died in 632 of
Christian calendar. But their calendar[210]
begins ten years earlier, from the war.
Phocas[211]
the 21st king (797) reigned for 13 years The
22nd emperor[212]
(810) reigned for 27 years In 814 (615 of Christians),
died Isidore, the bishop of Seville, called Isplinsi
Baladin Sebilii[213].
He was a disciple of Pope Gregory. He wrote books on
astronomy, theology, cosmography and history from Adam
the first man until his days. He was the man who knew in
astronomy what would happen in 900 years. He lived in
the days of Muhammad and died 17 years before him [and
in that time the Goth king of Spain forced the Jews of
Spain to convert to Christianity, in the days of
Isidore, as is written in the History of Popes]. The 23rd
emperor[214]
(837) reigned for two years. Constantine[215],
the 24th Emperor (839) reigned for 27 years
In 844 (or 834) the Ishmaelites [Moslems] came to
Alexandria and conquered part of Africa, the Isle of
Rhodes and the Isle of Colossus; they took 90 camels [of
gold] and sent them to Alexandria. They also went and
ruined many places in Sicily. Then the Ishmaelites
killed 150,000 Christians. Afterwards they went to
Spain, defeated the Goths there and ruined Spain. But I
found that the Ishmaelites went to Spain in 672 AD [or
710)[216].
The 25th emperor[217]
reigned for six months. Constantine, the 26th
emperor[218]
(868) reigned for 17 years.
In 873,
there was a comet, lightning and floods unheard of in
the world. And immediately the great plague came and
devastated Pavia. The kingdom of Hungary began in 880.
The 27th emperor[219]
(885) reigned for 10 years. The 28th emperor[220]
reigned (895) for three years. Tiberius[221]
the 29th emperor reigned (898) for seven
years. Then the 27th emperor returned[222]
in 905 and reigned for six years. The Doges of Venice
began in 905. The 30th emperor[223]
of Constantinople reigned for a year (5909). Anastius[224]
the 31st emperor reigned (911) for three
years. The 32nd emperor[225]
reigned (914) for a year. Leo[226]
the 33rd emperor reigned (915) for 24 years.
In 926 (or 909) there was a plague in Constantinople and
300,000 people perished. Then the Ishmaelites besieged
Constantinople[227].
Then Marc Martel[228]
of France killed 360,000 Ishmaelites but the remainder
besieged Constantinople for three years. Then they
lifted the siege due to frost and famine. Then the
Ishmaelites went to Hungary. The same year, two comets
were seen for 15 days in January, one before the sun and
the other, after the sun. The 34th emperor
Constantine[229]
reigned (939) for 33 years.
The
kingdom of Turkey began; they are Gog and Magog.
Augustine wrote that Alexander [the Great] locked them
up behind the mountains of the North. Afterwards they
came to Cappadocia, between Palestine and Turkey. Their
kingdom began in 956 (or 957). In year 72, the 35th
emperor[230]
reigned for five years. He had a very beautiful wife[231].
After his death she reigned for ten years with her minor
son. When he was eight, he parted with his mother. The
36th emperor[232]
reigned for ten years, five years with his mother and
five alone (77). In year 77 (‘95 of Christians), the
Christians said that a Jew in Syria had furiously
pierced the image of That Man with a lance and they say
much blood poured forth from the image. That is a lie.
Paolo of Toriko - 95. Roland the Warrior[233]
died in Gascony [France]; some say he died of thirst in
year ‘95. The 37th emperor[234]
(‘96) reigned for nine years.
The
Eleventh Era began in AM
6000 (but really in AM 4561; 800 AD). Charlemagne in
France. The 40th emperor[235]
reigned for nine years (6020). In 6031 there was hail
and great stones fell from the sky. One stone was 12
feet long and killed many men. In ‘32, Ishmaelites came
from Spain and sacked Italian cities. They also sacked
Palermo in Sicily[236].
The 41st emperor reigned (32) for 15 years.
In AD 858
there was an Englishwoman who studied philosophy in
Athens. She came to Rome dressed as a man and became
pope for two years and five months. She became pregnant
from her housekeeper, gave birth in the market as she
walked away from home and died. Her name was Joanna.
Thus they have the custom of grasping the testicles of a
newly-elected pope to be sure it is a man.[237]
In 6062,
blood [and fire] poured from the sky in Brescia in
Lombardy for three days and three nights. In ’63, Italy
was attacked by six-winged locusts as had never been
seen before. A great plague broke out and the river of
Rome overflowed, demolishing the majority of Roman
houses; thus people thought it was the [Great] Flood.
The 43rd emperor[238]
reigned (‘70) for 14 years. In ‘68, the Ishmaelites
conquered Crete [Candia] and sacked all the coastal
cities of Italy. Then the Christians united[239]
and expelled them from Italy and Sicily, and killed many
of them. ‘In 92, they said they saw Michael the Angel
atop a mountain in Apulia[240].
Thus the Christians celebrate St. Michael on 29th
September.
The 45th
emperor reigned (102) for two years. In 103, the
Ishmaelites from Africa crossed to Sicily and Apulia and
conquered lands, taking rich trophies. Afterwards the
Christians united and took trophies. In ‘131, a spring
near Genoa spouted blood and it was a bad omen, for that
year the Ishmaelites came to Genoa, Tuscany and Florence
where they killed everybody and took their wives and
sons into captivity by sea. Some Genoans who had fought
Pisa heard of this, [came] to fight the Ishmaelites and
saved their wives and sons from them. In ‘137, blood
appeared on the sun and many people suddenly died in
Venice. The 47th emperor reigned (140) for
ten years in Constantinople.
The
Twelfth Era saw the
appearance of the first German emperors in ‘160 (or 165)[241].
It was first time there were French and Lombardian
emperors alongside the emperor in Constantinople[242].
The 48th emperor of Constantinople[243]
reigned for six years (168). The 49th emperor[244]
reigned (175) with his brother. In 181 a comet appeared
that looked like a star. It immediately brought famine
and plague to Italy. There was an earthquake in Apulia.
In 195 there was a comet, other great omens, an
earthquake and houses collapsed in the cities. In 211
(1012 AD) blood appeared on the moon; there was an
earthquake, fire from the sky, the sea overflowed and
lands sank; there was also great famine and sudden
plague. There was a spring in France that gushed blood,
predicting this calamity. The same year the Turks and
Ishmaelites came to Jerusalem and destroyed the tomb of
That Man.[245]
They reviled Him [or despoiled] greatly, until in AD
1049, the emperor of Constantinople[246]
came and took it from the Ishmaelites and they rebuilt
the House of Prayer for Christians church [with some
changes].
The Duchy
of Milan began in 222. In 237, there was Guido, who
taught string instrumental music. In 255, Constantine
the emperor reigned for 15 years; then the Ishmaelites
conquered Constantinople[247]
and the kingdom of Greece. In 259, a monster was born
with two heads and four arms, twinned up to his navel.
From his navel down it was one man. He ate, played and
spoke normally. One face smiled while the other face
wept. He ate with both mouths and all the food came into
one place. Eventually one of them died and the other
lived for three years before he died of the stink and
heavy weight of the dead body and dead head. Our sages
of blessed memory mention in Menachoth[248]
that a two-headed child had also been born in their
time; he was firstborn and had to pay the priest 10
shekels.
In 264
there was famine and plague in all the world. Al Battani[249],
the great Arab physician translated the books of Galen,
in 269 [AD 1069] Isaac the Jew[250],
son of Miran [or Imiran] b. Solomon, the great
physician, made medicines and potions against fever in
269.
In 281
(or 6289) two great cycles were completed. Each cycle
lasted 532 years by combining 19-year cycles with
28-year cycles. Then all the Pisces, Charismas and days
of the month start from the beginning. The cycle began
in the days of Tiberius the Caesar and ended that year,
that is 1,064 years. But I count 1,052 years from that
year and until this year.
That year
the people of Venice, Genoa and Apulia went to Jerusalem
in 200 boats and captured it (281 [1081]). In 284 there
were omens and miracles: roosters and other domestic
fowl turned wild and escaped into the countryside. Many
fish died in the sea and rivers. In Sicily, an
earthquake struck, Syracuse perished with all its houses
and a church collapsed killing all but two priests.
In 295
[1096], the French took Jerusalem[251]
but also said they had taken it six years earlier. In
299 a Christian king reigned in Jerusalem; he conquered
Ashkelon, Jaffa and Ramleh, and obtained much gold from
them. R. Hiyya of Spain wrote (it was in his time) that
in 298[252]
they discovered in Antioch the lance that had wounded
That Man. In 6300 (1101 AD), the Ishmaelites went to
fight the Christians and killed many from the sea to
Jerusalem. At the beginning of charisma in 6304, there
was a star that shone like daylight, and 25 days later,
at the end of charisma, on Thursday Della Seina [Mina],
one morning two moons were visible: one in the East, the
other in the West. Even in my days in Salamanca there
was a lunar halo (similar to the solar rainbow). People
say it occurs twice in every 19-year cycle. In 305, the
Genoans captured Tribulis DiSuria[253],
Caesarea, Gibil, then ruined them, took them from the
Ishmaelites, killed many Ishmaelites and gave the cities
to the Christian king of Jerusalem. They brought the
precious emerald bowl of very high value to Genoa and it
is still there. They also say they brought the ashes of
John the Baptist, as his body and head were burned in
Rome.
In 313,
blood poured like rain in June. In 314, the Ishmaelites
and Christians fought a big naval battle for Jaffa. The
Christians seized Jaffa and gave it to the king of
Jerusalem. They went to Tyre, which is the Crowned Tyre
near Jerusalem and Sidon. Angry with the emperor of
Constantinople, the Doge of Venice then seized and
sacked Rhodes as well as Sio, Samos and Mytilene; then
he seized and sacked Lemadon [or Lemazon] and gave to
Venetians. In 317, a pig with human face and four-legged
chicken were born. The winter was very cold, with famine
and plague; animals and birds fought each other. There
was an earthquake in Italy for 40 days and a city
shifted its location. In 330, the Christian king Fulk of
Jerusalem reigned for 11 years; he went to Persia and
fought the Turks, killing 3,000 and capturing 3,000.
Afterwards the king fell from his horse and died. In
334, it was so hot that all the trees dried up. In
Italy, the earth broke apart and fire came out. The
plague began immediately. In 339, the Mesopotamian city
of Edessa (Jews call it Erek) was seized by the Turks
who killed all the Christians. That is the city of
Rages, that Tobias went to[254],
as written in his book. In 340, the Christian king
Baldwin of Jerusalem reigned for 24 years; he seized
Ashkelon, built up Gaza, fought the Turks, killed 5,000
of them, and fought other nations up to Damascus. In
348, the German emperor authorized the Genoans to mint
imperial coin. The same year, the Genoans went with the
Duke of Barcelona to Almeria to fight the Turks and
Ishmaelites there; he killed 20,000 Ishmaelites,
captured 10,000 and sacked the city.
Ibn Sina[255]
[Avicenna] Isbili, the great physician, his name was Abu
Ali. He was the doctor of the king of Beitania. Another
physician poisoned him out of envy but he realized it
and killed the physician before he died. Ibn Sina wrote
many books of divinity and five books of medicine (348).
In the same year, Ibn Rushd [Averroes], the philosopher
and commentator of Aristotle from Cordoba. He wrote a
great respected book on astronomy, astronomers
appreciate him very much and he wrote even more books on
astronomy. Al-Zuhri[256],
the great physician, came at the same time.
In 392,
King Alfonso of Spain went to Jerusalem and died
instantly when he returned home. His deserted son became
king. And then his brother Fernando immediately became
king. He went to the Ishmaelites and died. His son
Alfonso reigned in his stead. In 357 [1157], the
mountain folk in France accepted the new religion[257],
to multiply and to lay with their neighbor’s wives; they
have no law and they still exist. Then, the monk Joakim[258]
wrote Foklis, an abbreviated book of vision of
John Abargilista [the Evangelist].
In 365,
the Christian king in Jerusalem reigned for 12 years. In
371, the Ishmaelites fought at Jerusalem and then ruled
Egypt. In October 372, three images of the sun appeared
in the west, then came three moons and an earthquake:
many cities sank in Syria and Cilicia, near Palestine,
killing many Ishmaelites. In 372, an earthquake hit
Antioch, Tripoli of Syria and Damascus and houses
collapsed. The Sicilian city of Catania collapsed and
20,000 died; the sea rose in Sicily and 5,000 died. In
Italy there was hail the size of goose eggs.
In 377, a
Christian king reigned in Jerusalem for six years; he
was a leper and fought the Ishmaelites. In 383, the
Ishmaelites seized Jerusalem for the last time from the
Christians and exiled them with their wealth. At first
it was in Christian hands for 89 years. It was conquered
on 2nd October[259],
1187 and the Christians departed for Tyre, Alexandria,
Antioch and even to Seville; the [Moslems] destroyed all
the houses of idol worship [churches] and kanpans,
meaning ‘kaskbilis that ring’ [belfries], but they did
not destroy the Temple of Solomon.
The
kingdom of Gifli [or Gofri], or Cabrum [Cyprus?] began
in late 394.
The
Thirteenth Era began in
401. An emperor was enthroned in France. In 402, the
great king Tamerlane[260]
founded the kingdom of Tartaria. In 408, the saints
Francis[261]
of Italy and Dominic of Spain, established monasteries.
In 412, the African king came and attacked Toledo but
could not take it, as all the Christian kings of Spain
joined forces to defeat him. In 418, the son of the
sultan of Egypt came to Jerusalem, besieged it and
destroyed all the city, demolishing the houses of their
folly [churches] but not the Temple of Solomon. The
Christians asked him, and offered him great wealth and a
tribute if he would spare the Tomb of That Man. In 427,
there was an earthquake and the sea rose at Friga; more
then 100,000 died. Then there was a great hailstorm in
France that killed 5,000. In 451 [1250], there was
Iskoto who wrote many books. There was Guido Bonto
[Bonatti] who wrote books on the laws of astronomy[262];
he was very wise, like a prophet of laws. But in Spain
there was a great sage, like a prophet in law by the
name of Gaon Gil[263];
there was nobody like him, either before or after his
time.
In 453,
the Arabs came to Jerusalem, demolished the Tomb of That
Man and debased it. In 458, the Genoans fought Venice
for the cities of Tolomedia [Ptolemais, Acre] and Tyre
in Palestine. The Genoans were in Tolomedia, the
Venetians were in Tyre, and the Genoans seized Candia
[Crete] from the Venetians. In 460, the Genoans seized
the city of Sio. In 462, there was a comet for three
months. The pope had died by the end of the three
months. There were 222 popes from That Man until 1503
AD.
Albert
Magno[264],
the great sage in Paris, wrote many books (463). In 467,
the Ishmaelites came from Africa to Spain and fought the
Christians. Thomas, disciple of Albert Magno, is called
Thomas Aquinas; he wrote many books on their
religion and philosophy and quoted the the More
by Rambam. In 472, a religious dispute arose betwee the
Pope and the Greeks. The same year, Emperor Di Doko
[Duke], enemy of king Don Juan of Castile, joined forces
with king of France to march on Jerusalem. He also waged
war on the king of Bohemia. In 480, the son of Carlos,
king of Aragon, was caught in Apulia, as Sicily was his
kingdom. In older days, Apulia in Italy was united with
Sicily, but the sea separated them.
In 482, a
boy was born with fur and claws like a bear. This boy
was born of his cousin from her union with the pope.
Because of this infamy, he erased all bear images on his
family’s coat of arms. A fish was caught in the sea with
face of a lion and a voice like that of a human. Then
there was a great physician in Florence, who was
comparable to Avokrat [Hippocrates] and used medicines
as did Hippocrates[265].
In 484, Pisa won the battle of Milona [Meloria], an isle
near Pisa in the war with Genoa, but afterwards Genoa
was successful and 16,000 Pisans were killed[266].
In 489, Tripoli of Syria was conquered; it was in
Christian hands; and Beirut was taken, too[267].
In 496,
Genoa and Pisa were at war. On 30th November,
6500 (1301 AD), comets fell into the water with great
noise, foretelling wars. In 501, Juan Iscoto[268]
flourished; he wrote books. In 504, the Pope of Rome
moved to Avignon[269],
and there was a split for over 100 years. In 507, there
began Maestrie[270]
on Rhodes and Priory in the land of Christians from
Rhodes. At first Rhodes belonged to the Turks and
Ishmaelites. In 512, three moons appeared for three
months, as did a comet in the north on the edge of
Virgo. In November, King Philip of France died.
Nicola of Illyria, a Franciscan monk, argued with
the Jews; he expounded all 24 holy books [of the Bible]
and their New Testament. They said he was a Jew at
first. In 519, schism arose among the Christians; which
is like heresy, and it led to the Papal Bull of 523.
In 553,
began the Turk (I mean the Ottoman kings), Ibn Tomin,
who was not of royal blood and befriended thieves and
robbers. He took Turkey and Greece. In 542, the very
wise philosopher Francisco Pitrata [Petrarca[271]]
flourished in Florence. In 546, dust filled the air,
land animals fell into the sea, the air was dusty and a
great plague affected the entire world. In 547 (1348
AD), Germany exiled [or burned] all Jews for there was
false testimony that they poisoned wells. That year the
great plague[272]
befell the world; I mentioned it already in Sefer
Yohassin, and Guido,
who lived in those days, notes in his book, that 2/3 of
the world’s people died for the conjunction of three
superior planets (Saturn, Jupiter and Mars) in Aquarius
that formed a shape of a man. So they troubled the Jews
in vain. In 549, [AD 1350] a comet like a tree on fire
appeared in the north in December, and there was a war
between Genoa and Venice, and they took Gio (or Legio)
from Venice. There was a pillar of fire in the sky and
it descended with great thunder. In 555, there was an
earthquake in Spain, especially in Seville and in
Cordoba where houses collapsed and many died. In 559,
there was the war of Genoa with Venice and Aragon and
the emperor of Constantinople. In 563, Pisa became
subject to Florence.
In the
Fourteenth Era, Juan [Giovanni] Boccaccio[274]
in Florence wrote books (574 [1375]). In 577, the papal
seat moved from Avignon to Rome and there was a schism,
like heresy, among the Christians. For 39 years, there
was one pope in Avignon and another pope in Rome.
Mytilene, some 50 miles from the city of Sio, fell to
Genoa. They held it for 90 years until the Turks took it
after capturing Constantinople. Paribiscenci, the
Jew-hater from Valencia, preached against the Jews from
597 onwards. In 1455 AD, the pope beautified him as a
saint. In 6599, the Jubilee of Rome, there was a great
plague and 36,000 men died in Florence. In 6601 (1410
AD), Tamerlane king of Tartars crossed the Euphrates
with 400,000 cavalry and 600,000 foot soldiers and
conquered great kingdoms in Palestine. The Turks fought
him and killed 200 000 men; they imprisoned Tamerlane
and delivered him in the chains of gold. In his power,
Tamerlane was similar to Hannibal.
In 6424
(6604), Venice conquered Verona in Lombardy. Then Pisa
became subject to Venice. Ibn Ezra says that Pisa is of
Aquarius. Venice took Padua in 605. In 6603, the Pope of
Rome had to escape when the Romans revolted against him.
Then another pope appeared who later left for Aragon. In
6612, a woman reigned in Naples; she married a
Frenchman, reigned for 11 years, and casted her husband
away. And then came King Alfonso of Aragon, for the
kingdom was divided, and his son Don Fernando, king of
Aragon also reigned there. This Don Alfonso was the
brother of King Don Juan of Navarre and Aragon, father
of Fernando, king of Castile; he is the one who expelled
the Jews from Spain. In 621, the grandfather of the Duke
of Milan, (which is now arrested by the king of France),
drowned in the river. In 622, the last king of Nifli
[Naples?] reigned for 34 years.
In 626,
Venice took Brescia in Lombardy. In 627, the Tiber
flooded and caused great damage to Rome, and in there
was a plague in 474 of Christians. In 627 (1426), there
was the heresy in Bohemia. The heretics said one may
take any woman, and that the priests, and even bishops,
should have no wealth at all. In 634, Genoa expelled
King Alfonso of Aragon; he is the one who took Naples.
He was sent to Naples, then Consulo di Basilia (meaning
the Council) was in Germany. The pope went there. Then
there was a schism, and the Duke of Savoy wanted to
become pope. In 638, there was a dispute between Greeks
and Catholics over whether the host should be made of
unleavened or leavened bread: the Greeks argued for
leavened bread and compromised on something between
leavened and unleavened bread. There was also the
dispute about the [Holy] Spirit: the Greeks said he
emanated from the Father, not the Son, while the
Catholics said he was from both. Blessed we are, Israel,
as we have only One God, who created us.
In 1440,
Fernando, king of Aragon, Sicily and Sardinia died. He
reigned for 21 years; he was son of king Don Juan of
Castile, who died after falling off his horse, and
Fernando’s brother was king Don Enrique of Castile, who
died prematurely. This king Fernando served as regent of
Castile while the king’s son Enrique was a minor. When
king of Aragon died without sons, Fernando was invited
to reign in Aragon. In 1412 he began to reign over the
Balearic Isles (Majorca and Minorca), Aragon and
Lusitania. Now, that is untrue for Lusitania is
Portugal. In August 29, 448 there was a solar eclipse
for half a day, and there was war among England, France
and Italy. For the next two years, there was great
plague and earthquake. 1450 AD [was] the Christian
Jubilee. In 1453 AD, and the mnemonic sign is ‘daughter
of Edom’; on 29th May, the great
Constantinople, the main city of Greece, was captured.
It was besieged for 50 days and the Grand Turk Muhammad
ibn Tomi [Othman] captured it; then the king of Persia
reigned in Turkey for 35 years. In 1455 died king
Alfonso, who captured Naples. He bequeathed Aragon and
Sicily to his brother Don Juan, and to his son (by a
mistress) he left Naples. His name was Pedro, after his
grandfather. King Don Juan of Aragon reigned for 24
years and he escaped from Castile during the war for
Olmedo[275].
On 22nd May 1445 AD, he fled to Aragon. He
escaped together with the Castilian Almirante; he gave
his daughter in marriage to the king, for the king was a
widower, and she gave him son at noon on 10th
March 1452 AD. This son was Fernando, who became king of
Spain and Sicily, after his brother (by another woman)
Carlos the Great died. In 454 died Don Juan, king of
Castile, and his son Don Enrique reigned for 20 years.
The king
of Persia, Mede and Armenia (r. 454) made great war
against the Turk; he captured Negroponte [Euboea], and
made peace with the Pope and with Venice. He began the
war to prevent the Turk from fighting Christians; the
Turk sent his son, they fought, the Persian king
captured a city from the Turks and defeated the son of
Turk. When the Turk heard of it, he was furious, and
asked for help as they were of one faith, but [the
Persian king] did not comply and he came with a great
force. The Persian king had 350,000 riders in the
mountains. The Turk established his camp in the
vicinity, he had many ballistae which fired in salvos
upon the Persians; the horses bolted and he killed the
son of king of Persia and all his army: only 6,000
survived. Of the Turk’s forces, 40,000 survived. So the
Turk won the war, earning great fame and respect. On 11th
June 1455, the Turk captured Negroponte from Venice and
took great vengeance on them. The same year, a woman of
Brescia in Lombardy gave birth to a dog, while another
in Pavia gave birth to a cat. Two hours before sunrise
on 15th August that same year, there was a
great earthquake with hailstones as big as ostrich eggs.
On 24th August ‘71, a Sabbath, the king of
Portugal captured Tangier and Arzila in the kingdom of
Fez from the Ishmaelites. On 22nd January
‘72, there was a hairy-tailed comet full of fire in
Sagittarius that moved north through all the signs of
Zodiac within 80 days. Remember that Aristotle said that
the minimum time for a comet is a week and the maximum,
80 days. Immediately afterwards, there was another comet
in Aries, with its tail to the East. That year, there
was drought, famine, plague and war. In ‘474, a monster
was born in Verona with one head, two bodies, two sets
of genitalia and four arms; two arms were strong and two
were weak, and the bodies were attached at the navel.
His father and mother promenaded him and displayed him
for money, becoming very rich. In ‘75, there was false
testimony against Jews in an Italian city
that they had killed a goy boy called Simon, in order to
eat his blood with unleavened bread on the eve of
Passover and they killed all the Jews; God shall avenge
their blood. The same thing occurred in another city,
and three Jews were burned in Venice. The same year, the
Turk captured the city of Kafa in northern Turkey, in
the great sea, from the Genoans. One year earlier, in
‘74, the Candians [Crete] had invited the Turk but they
failed for the Venetians came and killed many of them.
Granada is so called, they say, because it was the first
place there was grana,
used for carmine painting; its previous name was Bitis.
King of Persia, son of the strong king, became king of
Parthians, Persia, Mede, Mesopotamia and Armenia in
1475. In July ‘78, there was a big solar eclipse and
plague in Italy. In ‘79, the Turks besieged Rhodes for
three months but could not capture it. In ‘480, the
Turks captured L’Otorato in the kingdom of Naples. In
‘81, the Turkish king decided to go to Egypt but a
physician poisoned him. He was 58 and he had become king
at the age of 24. In 1482, they captured Alhama in the
kingdom of Granada. That was the beginning of a ten-year
war between Ishmael and Edom. On 18th August
‘487, Malaga was captured. On 1st January
1492, Granada was captured; by the end of July that year
the Jews were expelled from Castile, Aragon, Sicily and
Sardinia. The same year a man struck the neck of the
king of Castile with a sword in Barcelona and the king
nearly died. In ‘494, at four hours of night on 12th
January 1494, there was a big earthquake in Spain and
Africa. In ‘495 AD there was a plague[278]
like those of Egypt, with rheumatic pains of hard, cold
and evil moisture, and bodies were covered in buboes,
meaning growths on the bodies and faces, that cover all
the skin like black figs. Many people died of this
disease. They say it came from Constantinople and is
called ‘the French disease’. For ten years it spread
among all nations except Israel. It starts in the
genitalia. The Christians said, that it was like the
illness in the days of Pope di Oshdi in 515 AD, in the
days of Muhammad, when Jupiter and Saturn aligned in
Scorpio, and there is the same alignment nowadays. In
1495, Mars was also in Scorpio, the sign of pudendum. In
the days of the pope, that was in the days of Muhammad,
there was a big earthquake. He healed a leper, they say,
and forbade Christians to marry padrinos[279]
and become relatives.
In ‘497,
the Jews were expelled from Portugal and Navarre. Then a
son of the king of Castile died in his 20th
year of reign. He was married and died in Salamanca. He
died and his father had no other male heir but
daughters. In ’98, died the elder daughter of the king
of Castile, wife of the Portuguese king. She died while
giving birth. In ‘500, the Turk began the war against
Venice and captured Lepanto. In ‘501, he captured Modon,
a big port and fortified city, and killed everybody,
perhaps 10,000 warriors; and captured Coron. Then the
Portuguese came to Marsa Kabir MeWahran[280],
but could not take it; many died and others returned
home ashamed. The same year, two or three kings died in
Egypt, as did many other men.
Then the
French and Spanish kings captured Naples, Apulia and
Calabria; and the king of Naples escaped to France; six
or seven years earlier, the previous king of France had
taken Naples, returned home and died. The last king also
seized Milan, the capital of Lombardy, before he took
Naples and shared it between France and Spain. In ‘503,
a dispute arose between the emissaries of the two kings
in Naples; the Spanish lord defeated the French one,
then killed him and other Frenchmen and took the entire
kingdom of Naples but Gaeta. As Gaeta was the only
remaining city, he besieged it with great force. Thus
the two kings fought in Salses near Perpignan, at the
border between France and Spain. Thus many men have died
at war and it is still going on. He captured Gaeta and
the entire Neapolitan kingdom.
Hear ye
all desirous of Salvation by our Lord! Be strong and
become stronger! May the Messiah come and appear soon!
In our time! Amen.
Thus are
completed the Chronicles of all that happened in
the old days, of miracles and signs of the good things
the Blessed Lord will give us and He shall lead us from
darkness into the light, and He shall give us our
righteous Messiah and He shall deliver us soon. Amen. If
such is His will, we shall become ever stronger, and the
writer shall suffer no harm. Amen.
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