1. An ancient chronologist quoted by Velleius Paterculus (1.
i. c. 6) observes, that the Assyrians, the Medes, the
Persians, and the Macedonians, reigned over Asia one
thousand nine hundred and ninety-five years, from the
accession of Ninus to the defeat of Antiochus by the Romans.
As the latter of these great events happened 289 years
before Christ, the former may be placed 2184 years before
the same era. The Astronomical Observations found at Babylon
by Alexander, went fifty years higher.