502 TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



the Greeks, and by the astronomical full moon four days prior to 

 the 6th day of August (pp. 408, 409, 487), it is apparent that 

 Xerxes must have reigned since -484 and after August 6th. The 

 Parian Marble (Ep. 48), which counts the years down to Archon 

 Diognetus (July in -261), refers the battle at Marathon to the 

 same year (227-I- 261 =:4S8). Hence the same authentic monu- 

 ment counts 223 years from Xerxes to Diognetus, to the effect 

 again that Xerxes reigned not in -4S5, but in -4S4. (See 

 Boeckh's Corpus Inscript., vol. ii., p. 294.) Ptolemy's Histori- 

 cal Canon, on the contrary, refers Darius Hystaspes' death and 

 Xerxes' reign to -4S5. Eusebius likewise puts Xerxes in 01. 

 73, 4, i.e. in -4S4; the Armenian translation reads " Ol. 74, I," 

 which makes no difference. 



10. Herodotus (vii. 20), who was born about the same time in 



— 481, and "53 years prior to the beginning of the Peloponnesian 

 war" (Gell. xv. 23, Suidas ad v.), reports that Xerxes maixhed 

 out against Greece in the 5th year of his reign, consequently in 



— 479. His arrival at Sardes in — 478 is mathematically fixed 

 by the total eclipse of the sun in the early spring of — 478, Feb. 

 27 (p. 487). In the following year, — 477, the battle near Ther- 

 mopylae was fought during the Olympian games (Her. vii. 206), 

 and the Parian Marble (Ep. 51 ) counts from this event to Diogne- 

 tus 216 years ; wherefore the said battle belongs to — 477. This 

 date is confirmed by Thucydides (i. 18), who counts ten years 

 from the battle at Marathon (Aug. 6, — 4S8) to Xerxes' arrival in 

 Greece, and by Eratosthenes, who counts 48 years from Xerxes' 

 crossing the Hellespont to the beginning of the Peloponnesian 

 war in — 429. Ptolemy's Canon, on the contrary, refers the first 

 year of Xerxes to — 485, i.e. again one year too early. 



11. It is universally known that the Babylonian captivity com- 

 menced in the nth year of King Zedekiah, the 1st of Nebuchad- 

 nezzar (Jer. xxxix. 1 ; 2 Kings xxv. S ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 17) ; that 

 the same bondage lasted full 70 years (2 Chron. xxxvi. 22, "ful- 

 fil threescore and ten years"), and ended in the 1st year of Cyrus 

 (2 Chron. xxxvi. 22; Ezra i. 1). Now, Ptolemy's Canon puts 



"Nebuchadnezzar in — 603 and Cyrus in — 537 ; accordingly, the 

 captivity lasted 66 years only. Indeed, this is the chronology of 

 Petavius, who made out that the Babylonian captivity "lasted 

 only 66" and not 70 years with some months. But,, who is capa- 



