_, _Judith_ xvi. 18, and then
did _Josiah_ purge _Judah_ and _Jerusalem_ from Idolatry. Whence it seems
to me that the eighth year of _Josiah_ fell in with the fourteenth or
fifteenth of _Nabuchodonosor_, and that the twelfth year of
_Nabuchodonosor_, in which _Phraortes_ was slain, was the fifth or sixth of
_Josiah_. _Phraortes_ Reigned 22 years according to _Herodotus_, and
therefore succeeded his father _Dejoces_ about the 40th year of _Manasseh_,
_Anno Nabonass._ 89, and was slain by the _Assyrians_, and succeeded by
_Astyages_, _Anno Nabonass._ 111. _Dejoces_ Reigned 53 years according to
_Herodotus_, and these years began in the 16th year of _Hezekiah_; which
makes it probable that the _Medes_ dated them from the time of their
revolt: and according to all this reckoning, the Reign of _Nabuchodonosor_
fell in with that of _Chyniladon_; which makes it probable that they were
but two names of one and the same King.

Soon after the death of _Phraortes_ [375] the _Scythians_ under _Madyes_ or
_Medus_ invaded _Media_, and beat the _Medes_ in battle, _Anno Nabonass._
113, and went thence towards _Egypt_, but were met in _Phoenicia_ by
_Psammitichus_ and bought off, and returning Reigned over a great part of
_Asia_: but in the end of about 28 years were expelled; many of their
Princes and commanders being slain in a feast by the _Medes_ under the
conduct of _Cyaxeres_, the successor of _Astyages_, just before the
destruction of _Nineveh_, and the rest being soon after forced to retire.

In the year of _Nabonassar_ 123, [376] _Nabopolassar_ the commander of the
forces of _Chyniladon_ the King of _Assyria_ in _Chaldaea_ revolted from
him, and became King of _Babylon_; and _Chyniladon_ was either then, or
soon after, succeeded at _Nineveh_ by the last King of _Assyria_, called
_Sarac_ by _Polyhistor_: and at length _Nebuchadnezzar_, the son of
_Nabopolassar_, married _Amyite_ the daughter of _Astyages_ and sister of
_Cyaxeres_; and by this marriage the two families having contracted
affinity, they conspired against the _Assyrians_; and _Nabopolasser_ being
now grown old, and _Astyages_ being dead, their sons _Nebuchadnezzar_ and
_Cyaxeres_ led the armies of the two nations against _Nineveh_, slew
_Sarac_, destroyed the city, and shared the Kingdom of the _Assyrians_.
This victory the _Jews_ refer to the _Chaldaeans_; the _Greeks_ to the
_Medes_; _Tobit_, _Polyhistor_, _Josephus_, and _Ctesias_ to both. It gave
a beginning to