nquered many
Provinces of _Persia_, and that one of his Generals, whom the _Hebrews_
call _Nebuchadnezzar_, the _Arabians_ _Bocktanassar_, and others _Raham_
and _Gudars_, went westward, and conquered all _Syria_ and _Judaea_, and
took the city of _Jerusalem_ and destroyed it: they seem to call
_Nebuchadnezzar_ the General of _Lohorasp_, because he assisted him in some
of his wars. The fifth King of this Dynasty, they call _Kischtasp_, and by
this name mean sometimes _Darius Medus_, and sometimes _Darius Hystaspis_:
for they say that he was contemporary to _Ozair_ or _Ezra_, and to
_Zaradust_ or _Zoroastres_, the Legislator of the _Ghebers_ or
fire-worshippers, and established his doctrines throughout all _Persia_;
and here they take him for _Darius Hystaspis_: they say also that he was
contemporary to _Jeremiah_, and to _Daniel_, and that he was the son and
successor of _Lohorasp_, and here they take him for _Darius_ the _Mede_.
The sixth King of the _Kaianides_, they call _Bahaman_, and tell us that
_Bahaman_ was _Ardschir Diraz_, that is _Artaxerxes Longimanus_, so called
from the great extent of his power: and yet they say that _Bahaman_ went
westward into _Mesopotamia_ and _Syria_, and conquered _Belshazzar_ the son
of _Nebuchadnezzar_, and gave the Kingdom to _Cyrus_ his Lieutenant-General
over _Media_: and here they take _Bahaman_ for _Darius Medus_. Next after
_Ardschir Diraz_, they place _Homai_ a Queen, the mother of _Darius
Nothus_, tho' really she did not Reign: and the two next and last Kings of
the _Kaianides_, they call _Darab_ the bastard son of _Ardschir Diraz_, and
_Darab_ who was conquered by _Ascander Roumi_, that is _Darius Nothus_, and
_Darius_ who was conquered by _Alexander_ the _Greek_: and the Kings
between these two _Darius's_ they omit, as they do also _Cyrus_,
_Cambyses_, and _Xerxes_. The Dynasty of the _Kaianides_, was therefore
that of the _Medes_ and _Persians_, beginning with the defection of the
_Medes_ from the _Assyrians_, in the end of the Reign of _Sennacherib_, and
ending with the conquest of _Persia_ by _Alexander_ the Great. But their
account of this Dynasty is very imperfect, some Kings being omitted, and
others being confounded with one another: and their Chronology of this
Dynasty is still worse; for to the first King they assign a Reign of 120
years, to the second a Reign of 150 years, to the third a Reign of 60
years, to the fourth a Reign of 120 years, to the fifth as much, a