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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume II

Book Fifteen — the multiplication of mankind after the flood

SEVENTH DISPUTATION. How long the Monarchy of the Assyrians stood

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SEVENTH DISPUTATION. How long the Monarchy of the Assyrians stood.1

SEPTIMA DISPUTATIO. Quamdiu steterit Monarchia Assyriorum.

DE duratione et diuturnitate Monarchiae Assyriorum, quantum scilicet temporis a Nino usque ad Sardanapalum effluxerit, varie admodum tam profani quam Ecclesiastici scriptores senserunt atque literis prodiderunt. In epistola quam scripsit Alexander Magnus ad matrem suam Olympiadem, cuius Epistolae memoria extat apud B. Augustinum libro 12 de Civitate Dei cap. 10, inducitur quidam Aegyptius ex sacris Aegyptiorum libris confirmans regnum Assyriorum quinque millia annorum excessisse. Verum et hoc, ut alia Aegyptiorum figmenta, cum irrisione contemptuque reiiciatur. Liquet enim vel ab ipso mundi exordio ad Magnum usque Alexandrum minus tria millia et octingentos praeteriisse annos.
Concerning the duration and length of the Monarchy of the Assyrians — namely, how much time elapsed from Ninus down to Sardanapalus — both profane and ecclesiastical writers have thought and committed to writing very variously. In the letter which Alexander the Great wrote to his mother Olympias — the record of which letter is extant in Blessed Augustine, book 12 of the City of God, chapter 10 — a certain Egyptian is brought in, confirming from the sacred books of the Egyptians that the kingdom of the Assyrians exceeded five thousand years. But this too, like the other fictions of the Egyptians, is to be rejected with derision and contempt. For it is clear that even from the very beginning of the world down to Alexander the Great fewer than three thousand eight hundred years passed.2
IOSEPHUS primo libro Antiquitatum tradit, vivente Abraham, imperium Asiae penes Assyrios fuisse: idemque libro decimo ait regnum Assyriorum circa regis Ezechiae tempora eversum esse. Si quis autem ab ortu Abrahae ad primordia usque regni Ezechiae, secundum sacram Chronologiam, tempora percenseat, annos comperiet mille ducentos et septuaginta quinque: quibus si addantur quadraginta duo anni regis Nini ante ortum Abrahae (namque inter scriptores Ecclesiasticos fere convenit post quadragesimum secundum Nini regis imperii annum Abraham esse natum) statues ex sententia Iosephi Assyriorum imperium stetisse annis mille trecentis et decem ac septem. Sed enim idem libro nono significat regnante Ioathan Nahum prophetasse excidium Assyriorum, idque evenisse annis post id tempus centum quindecim, quorum annorum finis competit in primordia regni Manassis, ex quo fieret stetisse illud regnum annis circiter mille trecentis quinquaginta.
Josephus, in the first book of the Antiquities, hands down that, while Abraham was living, the empire of Asia was in the hands of the Assyrians; and the same writer in the tenth book says that the kingdom of the Assyrians was overthrown about the times of king Hezekiah. But if one should reckon the times from the birth of Abraham down to the beginnings of the reign of Hezekiah, according to sacred chronology, he will find 1,275 years; to which if there be added the forty-two years of king Ninus before the birth of Abraham (for among ecclesiastical writers it is generally agreed that Abraham was born after the forty-second year of king Ninus's empire), you will conclude, according to Josephus's opinion, that the Assyrian empire stood for 1,317 years. But the same writer in the ninth book signifies that, while Joatham reigned, Nahum prophesied the destruction of the Assyrians, and that this happened 115 years after that time, the end of which years falls at the beginning of the reign of Manasseh; from which it would follow that that kingdom stood for about 1,350 years.3
HERODOTUS illud tantum prodidit, Assyrios imperio Asiae per quingentos annos esse potitos. Diodorus Siculus, Ctesiam ut solet auctorem secutus, regno Assyriorum assignat annos mille trecentos et sexaginta. Nec aliud profecto idem Diodorus significare voluit, cum extremis verbis septimi capitis libri tertii scripsit Assyrios regnasse per annos mille et quadringentos, scilicet quadringentos intelligens minime completos. Illud quoque ab eodem Diodoro ibidem scriptum legimus, Theutamo vigesimo Assyriorum rege imperante, iam mille annis imperii Assyriaci transactis, evenisse bellum Troianum. Ex quo efficitur, cum bellum Troianum trecentis sexaginta annis contigerit post egressum Hebraeorum ex Aegypto duce Mose, ut alibi ostendimus, exordium imperii Assyriorum fuisse centum quadraginta annis ante ortum Abrahae; hoc est, centum quin[quaginta]…
Herodotus handed down only this, that the Assyrians held the empire of Asia for five hundred years. Diodorus Siculus, following Ctesias as his authority as he is wont, assigns to the kingdom of the Assyrians 1,360 years. Nor indeed did the same Diodorus mean anything else, when in the last words of the seventh chapter of the third book he wrote that the Assyrians reigned for 1,400 years — understanding, namely, the four hundred as by no means completed. We read also written by the same Diodorus, in the same place, that while Theutamus the twentieth king of the Assyrians was reigning, a thousand years of the Assyrian empire having already passed, the Trojan War occurred. From which it follows — since the Trojan War happened 360 years after the going-out of the Hebrews from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, as we have shown elsewhere — that the beginning of the Assyrian empire was 140 years before the birth of Abraham; that is, 150 [years after the flood]…4
…centum quinquaginta post diluvium. Velleius Paterculus regno Assyriorum attribuit mille septuaginta annos, Iustinus vero mille trecentos.
…150 years after the flood. Velleius Paterculus attributes to the kingdom of the Assyrians 1,070 years, but Justin 1,300.5
EUSEBIUS, quem secutus est Augustinus, S. Hieronymus, Cyrillus, Isidorus, Beda, aliique quam plurimi, durationem imperii Assyriorum mille ducentis et quadraginta annis definierunt. Paulus Orosius primo libro mille centum sexaginta annos huic imperio tribuit. Verum non satis constanter ea de re variis locis loqui videtur Orosius. Siquidem libro 1 cap. 12 a primo rege Assyriorum Nino usque ad ultimum regem Sardanapalum recenset annos mille centum sexaginta. In capite autem 4 eiusdem libri ait hoc imperium coepisse annis ante Romam conditam mille trecentis, desiisse vero ante fundatam Romam annis sexaginta quatuor. At enim duo haec posteriora primum illud Orosii dictum prorsus evertunt. Ex his enim necessario concluditur stetisse imperium Assyriorum mille ducentis triginta sex annis, non autem, ut ipse tradidit, annis mille centum sexaginta.
Eusebius — whom Augustine, Saint Jerome, Cyril, Isidore, Bede, and very many others followed — defined the duration of the Assyrian empire as 1,240 years. Paulus Orosius in the first book attributes to this empire 1,160 years. But Orosius does not seem to speak consistently enough on this matter in various places. For in book 1, chapter 12, he reckons from the first Assyrian king Ninus down to the last king Sardanapalus 1,160 years. But in chapter 4 of the same book he says this empire began 1,300 years before Rome was founded, and ended 64 years before Rome's founding. But these two latter statements wholly overturn that first saying of Orosius. For from them it is necessarily concluded that the Assyrian empire stood 1,236 years, and not, as he handed down, 1,160 years.6
BEATUS porro Augustinus libro 16 de Civitate Dei cap. 17 scribit regnum Assyriorum incepisse mille ducentis quadraginta annis ante Romam, desiisse autem eodem propemodum tempore quo Roma est condita, regnante in tribu Iuda Achaz vel Ezechia, ut tradit ipsemet Augustinus libro 18 cap. 22. Sed haec Augustini sententia non satis constat. Ab ortu enim Abrahae usque ad initium regni Ezechiae sacra Chronologia annos mille ducentos et octoginta continet: quibus si addas quadraginta annos regni Nini ante ortum Abrahae, quos ponit etiam Augustinus libro 16 cap. 17 eiusdem operis, colliges annos imperii Assyriaci mille trecentos viginti. Vel igitur tot annos ei regno tribuere debet Augustinus, vel fateri octoginta annis ante regnum Ezechiae (cuius anno decimo sexto condita est Roma) cecidisse regnum Assyriorum: ut hac ratione principium eius regni statuatur ducentesimo quinquagesimo anno post diluvium, finis autem eius signetur in quarto anno regis Azariae. Atque hoc dicimus secundum opinionem fere scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis probatam, qui Monarchiam Assyriorum mille ducentis quadraginta annis circumscribunt, eiusque initium statuunt quadraginta duobus annis ante ortum Abrahae.
Blessed Augustine, moreover, in book 16 of the City of God, chapter 17, writes that the kingdom of the Assyrians began 1,240 years before Rome, and ended at almost the same time as Rome was founded, while in the tribe of Judah Ahaz or Hezekiah reigned, as Augustine himself hands down in book 18, chapter 22. But this opinion of Augustine is not consistent enough. For from the birth of Abraham down to the beginning of Hezekiah's reign sacred chronology contains 1,280 years; to which if you add the forty years of Ninus's reign before Abraham's birth, which Augustine too sets down in book 16 chapter 17 of the same work, you will gather 1,320 years of the Assyrian empire. Either, therefore, Augustine ought to attribute so many years to that kingdom, or to admit that 80 years before Hezekiah's reign (in whose sixteenth year Rome was founded) the Assyrian kingdom fell: so that by this reckoning the beginning of its reign is set at the 250th year after the flood, and its end marked in the fourth year of king Azariah. And this we say according to the opinion approved by nearly all ecclesiastical writers, who circumscribe the Assyrian Monarchy within 1,240 years, and set its beginning at 42 years before the birth of Abraham.7

Translator’s notes

  1. Liber XV, Disputation 7 (title): the duration of the Assyrian Monarchy. ↩
  2. §89. Disp. 7 opens: estimates of the Assyrian Monarchy's duration vary widely. Alexander's letter to Olympias (in Augustine, City of God 12.10) cites an Egyptian's claim from sacred books that the kingdom exceeded 5,000 yrs — rejected with the other Egyptian fictions, since from the world's start to Alexander was under 3,800 yrs. Margins: Letter of Alexander the Great to his mother Olympias; Augustine. ↩
  3. §90. Josephus (Antiquities bk. 1): Asia was under the Assyrians in Abraham's lifetime; (bk. 10) the kingdom fell ~Hezekiah's time. Abraham's birth to Hezekiah's reign = 1,275 yrs; +42 yrs of Ninus before Abraham = 1,317 yrs total. But (bk. 9) Nahum prophesied under Joatham, the fall coming 115 yrs later (~start of Manasseh's reign) = ~1,350 yrs. Margin: Josephus. ↩
  4. §91. Herodotus (bk. 1): Assyrians held Asia 500 yrs. Diodorus/Ctesias (bk. 3 ch. 6): 1,360 yrs (or '1,400,' the 400 incomplete). Diodorus: under Theutamus, the 20th king, 1,000 yrs into the empire, came the Trojan War — which fell 360 yrs after the Exodus, so the Assyrian empire began 140 yrs before Abraham's birth (continues p. 438). Margins: Herodotus bk. 1; Diodorus bk. 3 ch. 6. ↩
  5. §91 (concl.). So the empire began 150 yrs after the flood. Other figures: Velleius Paterculus 1,070 yrs; Justin 1,300. Margins: Velleius Paterculus bk. 1; Justin bk. 1. ↩
  6. §92. Eusebius (followed by Augustine, Jerome, Cyril, Isidore, Bede, etc.): 1,240 yrs. Orosius (bk. 1): inconsistent — ch. 12 says 1,160 yrs (Ninus→Sardanapalus); but ch. 4 says it began 1,300 yrs before Rome and ended 64 yrs before Rome = 1,236 yrs, overturning his own 1,160. Margins: Eusebius; Augustine; Jerome; Cyril; Isidore; Bede; Orosius; a remark on Orosius. ↩
  7. §93. Augustine (City of God 16.17): the kingdom began 1,240 yrs before Rome, ended ~Rome's founding under Ahaz/Hezekiah (18.22). But this is inconsistent: Abraham's birth to Hezekiah = 1,280 yrs, +40 of Ninus = 1,320, not 1,240. So either 1,320 yrs, or the fall was 80 yrs before Hezekiah (Rome founded in Hezekiah's 16th yr) — placing the start at yr 250 after the flood and the end in Azariah's 4th yr. This follows the common ecclesiastical view: 1,240 yrs, beginning 42 yrs before Abraham. Margins: Augustine; a remark on Augustine's opinion. ↩