Miscellanies 1.21.141
Summary: The Jewish chronographers Demetrius and Eupolemus reckon the years of the captivities and from Adam to the Hellenistic kings.
Greek text · Stählin 2:87–88
Δημήτριος δέ φησιν ἐν τῷ Περὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ βασιλέων τὴν Ἰούδα φυλὴν καὶ Βενιαμεὶν καὶ Λευὶ μὴ αἰχμαλωτισθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ Σεναχηρείμ, ἀλλʼ εἶναι ἀπὸ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας ταύτης εἰς τὴν ἐσχάτην, ἣν ἐποιήσατο Ναβουχοδονόσορ ἐξ Ἱεροσολύμων, ἔτη ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι ὀκτὼ μῆνας ἔξ. ἀφʼ οὗ δὲ αἱ φυλαὶ αἱ δέκα ἐκ Σαμαρείας αἰχμάλωτοι γεγόνασιν ἕως Πτολεμαίου τετάρτου ἔτη πεντακόσια ἑβδομήκοντα τρία μῆνας ἐννέα, ἀφʼ οὗ δὲ ἐξ Ἱεροσολύμων ἔτη τριακόσια τριάκοντα ὀκτὼ μῆνας τρεῖς. Φίλων δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀνέγραψε τοὺς βασιλεῖς τοὺς Ἰουδαίων διαφώνως τῷ Δημητρίῳ. ἔτι δὲ καὶ Εὐπόλεμος ἐν τῇ ὁμοίᾳ πραγματείᾳ τὰ πάντα ἔτη φησὶν ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ ἄχρι τοῦ πέμπτου ἔτους Δημητρίου βασιλείας Πτολεμαίου τὸ δωδέκατον βασιλεύοντος Αἰγύπτου συνάγεσθαι ἔτη ερμθ΄. ἀφʼ οὗ δὲ χρόνου ἐξήγαγε Μωυσῆς τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ἐξ Αἰγύπτου ἐπὶ τὴν προειρημένην προθεσμίαν συνάγεσθαι ἔτη δισχίλια πεντακόσια ὀγδοήκοντα. ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ χρόνου τούτου ἄχρι τῶν ἐν Ῥώμῃ ὑπάτων Γναίου Δομετίου καὶ Ἀσινίου συναθροίζεται ἔτη ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι.
English · Claude translation
Demetrius, in his work On the Kings in Judea, says that the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi were not taken captive by Sennacherib, but that from this captivity to the last, which Nebuchadnezzar carried out from Jerusalem, there were a hundred and twenty-eight years and six months; and from the time the ten tribes were taken captive from Samaria to Ptolemy the Fourth, five hundred and seventy-three years and nine months; and from the captivity from Jerusalem, three hundred and thirty-eight years and three months. Philo too recorded the kings of the Jews, differing from Demetrius. Further, Eupolemus, in a similar work, says that all the years from Adam to the fifth year of the reign of Demetrius, when Ptolemy was reigning in Egypt in his twelfth year, come to five thousand one hundred and forty-nine; and from the time when Moses led the Jews out of Egypt to the date just mentioned, two thousand five hundred and eighty years. From this time to the consuls at Rome Gnaeus Domitius and Asinius, a hundred and twenty years are gathered.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Demetrius and Eupolemus were Jewish historians writing in Greek in the third and second centuries BC; their works survive only in fragments.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (final sigma inside the word in the digital text; word repeated in the digital text; wrong accent on the relative ἣν; wrong accent on οὗ): εἰς τὴν ἐσχάτην, ἥν ἐποιήσατο → εἰς τὴν ἐσχάτην, ἣν ἐποιήσατο; ἀφʼ οὖ δὲ ἐξ Ἱεροσολύμων → ἀφʼ οὗ δὲ ἐξ Ἱεροσολύμων; συνάγεσθαι ἔτη διςχίλια → συνάγεσθαι ἔτη δισχίλια; συναθροίζεται ἔτη ἔτη ἑκατὸν → συναθροίζεται ἔτη ἑκατὸν.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.21.141 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/21/141/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.21.141 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/21/141/).
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