206 CHRONOGRAPHY. 



Punic war: but in return, their leader, Hamilcar, commenced the 

 conquest of Spain, 237 B. C. This led to the second Punic war, 

 and the fatal battle of Zama, lost by Hannibal, 202 B. C.; after 

 which, Spain was ceded to the Romans. The third Punic war termi- 

 nated in the final destruction of Carthage by the Romans, 146 B. C. 



Among the kingdoms of Asia Minor, were Troy, Lydia, Caria, 

 Phrygia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Pontus. Troy, was built by 

 Dardanus, the grandson of Scamander, about 1480 B. C., and named 

 from Tros, one of his successors ; from another of whom, Ilus, it 

 was also called Jlion. Little is known of its history, except the 

 account which Homer gives of its destruction, after a ten years' siege, 

 by the allied Greeks, 1184 B. C. Priam was its last king. Lydia 

 became a distinct kingdom under the Atyada?, about 1400 B. C. 

 These were succeeded by the Heraclidae, about the time of the 

 Trojan war, ending with Candaules, 718 B, C. : and Croesus, the 

 last of the Mermnadae, was conquered by Cyrus, 548 B. C. ; when 

 Lydia became a Persian province. Of Caria, we can only mention 

 Mausolus and his queen Artemisia, 353 B. C., (some say 554) ; and 

 of Phrygia, we would mention Gorgius, about 1370 B. C., and 

 Midas ; both belonging to the fabulous age. Asia Minor was suc- 

 cessively conquered by the Persians under Cyrus ; the Greeks, under 

 Alexander : and the Romans, under Pompey and other generals. 

 Mithridates VI., the last king of Pontus, long resisted the Roman 

 power ; but at length yielded his kingdom and his life, 66 B. C. 



5. The early History of Greece, is involved in fable and obscu- 

 rity ; but of the later times we have full accounts by Herodotus, 

 Thucydides, Xenophon, and other historians. The first settlement 

 in Greece, was probably Sicyon ; which was founded by ^Egialus, 

 about 2089 B. C.; and which long remained a distinct kingdom. 

 Inachus next founded the kingdom of Argos, 1856 B. C. ; and 

 from Pelasgus, one of his successors, the ancient Greeks are said to 

 have received the name of Pelasgians.* Ogyges is mentioned 

 as the most ancient ruler of Attica, about 1775 B. C.; in whose 

 time a deluge is said to have occurred, which desolated that 

 region, till the arrival of Cecrops from Egypt, who founded the 

 city of Athens, 1556 B. C. Sparta was founded by Lelex, about 

 1516 B. C. ; and the deluge of Deucalion, in Thessaly, is said 

 to have happened in 1504; caused probably by an earthquake, 

 like several others recorded by the Greeks. Amphictyon, of 

 Athens, first united the Grecian states in the Amphictyonic coun- 

 cil, 1497 B. C. Cadmus, the Phoenician, is said to have intro- 

 duced letters into Greece, about 1490 B. C.; and Minos, king 

 of Crete, celebrated for his wise laws, reigned about 1406.. Co- 

 rinth, though founded previously, became a distinct monarchy under 

 Sisyphus, about 1380 B. C. The Argonautic expedition, by 

 Jason, in the ship Argo, to Colchis, after the fabulous golden fleece, 

 is usually dated 1263 B. C. 



The Trojan War, in which Troy was taken and destroyed by the 

 united Greeks, led by Achilles, 1184 B. C., was referred to in the 

 preceding section. The wars of the Heraclidae, or descendants of 

 * Perseus removed his capital from Argos to Mycenae, about 1300 B. C. 



