164 CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT 



colonists, carried together with taro culture to the Feejee Islands, observed by myself on the artificial 

 pools there. (See L. gibba). 



1 105 B. C. (= "nth year of Tching-wang," Pauth. 88), death of the regent Tcheou-koung ; dis- 

 tinguished also as an astronomer and literary man. He was acquainted with the properties of the 

 right-angle triangle, measured the elevation of the pole and length of the solstitial shadow, and built 

 an observatory, which is still pointed out in the city of Teng-foung in Ho-nan. Some of his poetry 

 and other writings are also extant. By Tsheu-Kung (according to Humboldt cosm. iv. p. 125) the 

 earliest Chinese astronomical observations, and the meridian shadows in the two Solstices measured, 

 making the Obliquity of the Ecliptic " 23 54' or 27' greater — than in 1850." 



Tching-wang made war against the Toungi or Oriental tribes ; regarded as all belonging to Corea 

 (comment. Chou-king, and geogr. Chin, transl. Klapr. p. 152). 



" Some time after the Argonautic Expedition " (Clint, p. 64), Medea of Colchis at Athens on the 

 arrival there of Theseus, at this time a " melrakion " boy of about fourteen (Plut. thes. 6). His 

 father Aegeus, tenth Attic king, now reigning. 



Colcliicum autumnale of Europe and the adjoining portion of Asia. Called in Britain meadow 

 saffron or naked ladies, in Germany " nakte jungfern " (Prior) or " zeitlose " (Grieb), in France " col- 

 chique " (Nugent), in Greece "volhikon" (Sibth.); and the " £phem£r6n " discovered by Medea — 

 (Nicand. ther. 849 and alex. 250), mentioned as deadly by Theophrastus ix. 16. 6, is identified in Syn. 

 Diosc. with the "kolhikon" of Dioscorides, growing mostly in Messenia and Colchis, putting forth 

 a whitish saffron-like flower late in the autumn, and its bulbous root when eaten fatal : C. autumnale 

 was observed by Sibthorp, and Fraas, from Parnassus to Constantinople ; and is enumerated by Clot- 

 Bey as long known in Egypt. Westward, the " kolbikSn " or " volvon agrion " is identified in Syn. 

 Diosc. with the " voulvoum agrSstSm " of the Romans ; " colchicon " is enumerated among poisons 

 by Pliny xxviii. 33 ; and C. autumnale is described by Maranta simpl. p. 83 (Spreng.), is termed "0 

 commune " by Tournefort inst. 348, and is known to grow throughout middle Europe as far as Britain 

 (Hall., and Pers.). Its root and seeds according to Lindley " are used extensively in the manufac- 

 ture of veratria, and in various " medicinal preparations. 



1 103 B. C. = " 20th year of Ramessu XII.," on a second application for medical aid for the 

 queen's sister, the ark of the god Khons sent to Bakhtan ; represented on the tablet as borne by 

 twelve priests — (Birch, and Mariette 98. Compare Amos v. 26). 



1 102 B. C. "Little more than thirty years before the fall of Troy" (Clint, i. p. 87, see also 

 Homer il. xxxiii. 670 and od. xi. 271), Oedipus succeeded by Eteocles, as king of Boeotian Thebes. 



As Erginus reigned at Orchomenus "till within thirty years of the fall of Troy" (Clint, i. p. 49), 

 the war against him in which Amphytrion was slain, possibly not earlier than the last-named date. 



1101 B. C. (= 1071 -|- "not more than 30 years" of Clint, i. p. 51, and during the infancy of 

 Diomed, il. vi. 222 and xiv. 121), the First war against Boeotian Thebes ; conducted by Adrastus 

 king of Argos and Sicyon, accompanied by Tydeus, Amphiaraus, and four other chieftains, of whom 

 Adrastus alone lived to return. The rival brothers Polyneices and Eteocles were both slain, and 

 Laodamas son of Eteocles became king of Boeotian Thebes. 



The same year (= 1103 — "seventeen months" on the tablet), arrival of the ark of Khons in 

 Bakhtan — (Birch). 



The inscription in hexameter verse on Laodamas' votive tripod (copied by Herodotus v. 59) is an 

 early specimen of Greek poetry. The inscription was in the " Cadmean letters." 



Ninety-sixth generation. Jan. 1st, 1100, mostly beyond jouth : Obed (Ruth iv. 22, and 1 Chron. 

 ii. 12); the high-priest Uzzi (1 Chron. vi. 5, Ezr. vii. 4, and Josep. v. 11. 15): and among Greeks, 

 Idomeneus grandson of Minos (Horn. il. xiii. 450, and od. xix. 178) ; the Phrygian poet and flute- 

 player Olympus, a pupil of Marsyas (Plat, Plut., Clem. Alex., and others) ; the sculptor Daedalus 

 (Paus. ix. 40. 3 and x. 17. 4). 



1098, August (= 1097 y. 240 \\ d. = 1 1 13 y. 302 Jf d. — " 20 years " of ten lunations, Judg. xv. 

 20), death of Samson. The death of Hercules corresponds (as deduced by Clinton 1 p. 78 from 

 Greek authorities, " 26 years before the fall of Troy" = 1097). Hercules is described by Homer as 

 a military chieftain, who wore armour and led an army. By Herodotus and other Greek writers 

 Hercules is admitted to have been a Phoenician ; and his identity with Samson — is confirmed by the 

 fact (recorded by Menander Ephes. in Jos. a. J. viii. 3. 1 and c. A. i. iS) that the temple to "Her- 

 cules" at Tyre was built by king Hiram. Friendship towards Greeks of " Boeotia and the Pelo- 

 ponnesus only" (Cadmean and Dorian) was extended by Arab tribes on the Red Sea in the time of 

 Agatharchides 95. (See Dorian conquest of the Peloponnesus). 



Before the close of the year (= 1103 — " 1 y. 5 mo — 3 y. 9 mo " in the tablet), after a deten- 

 tion of " three years and nine months," departure from Bakhtan of the ark of Khons the chief 

 having been warned in a vision — (Birch). 



1096 B. C. = " 19th of Mechir in the 33d year of Ramessu XII.," return of the ark of Khons to 

 the temple of the god at Thebes — (Leps. k. tab. p. 19, and Birch). 



