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149. 4 [1836] Hyrcanus, the son of Josephus the leader of the Jews, went to visit Ptolemy, who received him with honour. But his brothers formed a plot against him, which caused much trouble for the Jewish people.
150th OLYMPIAD [=180-177 B. C. ]

150. 2 * [1838] Ptolemy Philometor [became] the 6th [king] of Egypt, for 35 years.
[not in Ar. ] Statius Caecilius, the writer of comedies, was in his prime. By birth he was an Insubrian Gaul (some say that he came from Mediolanum) and at first he was an associate of Ennius. He died in the year after the death of Ennius, and was buried near the Janiculum.
151st OLYMPIAD [=176-173 B. C. ]

151. 1 * [1841] Perseus [became king] of Macedonia, for 10 years.
Aristobulus, the Jewish Peripatetic philosopher, was in his prime. He wrote commentaries on the works of Moses for Ptolemy Philometor.
151. 2 * [1842] Antiochus Epiphanes [became king] of Syria and Asia, for 11 years.
152nd OLYMPIAD [=172-169 B. C. ]

152. 1 [1845] [1841 in Ar. ] Antiochus suddenly attacked the kingdom of the Ptolemaei, but was forced to withdraw by order of the senate. On his return he arrived in Judaea, and installed Jesus, also called Jason, the brother of Onias, as high priest. Then when Jason had been forced out he installed Onias, called Menelaus, as his successor. Therefore, as the leaders of the nation vied with each other for the position of high priest, there appeared the seeds of great trouble for the Jews.
152. 4 [1848] [1851 in Ar. ] Antiochus opposed the Jewish laws, and at first forced the whole country into idolatry, killing those who refused. Then he entered Jerusalem, and after despoiling the temple and the sacred vessels which were used for the worship of God, he set up a statue of Olympian Zeus in the temple. In Samaria he built a temple of Zeus Xenios ["the god of hospitality"] at the top of Mount Garizim, at the request of the Samaritans themselves. But then Mattathias the son of Asamonaeus, who was one of the priests, took up arms against Antiochus' officers at the village of Modin, and defended his country's laws with the help of his sons, in the 153rd Olympiad.
153rd OLYMPIAD [=168-165 B. C. ]

153. 1 [1849] [not in Ar. ] The poet Ennius died of a disease of the joints, when he was over 70 years old. He was buried in the monument of Scipio on the Appian Way, less than a mile out of Rome, though some claim that his bones were taken from the Janiculum back to Rudiae.
153. 3 [1851] The kingdom of Macedonia came to an end.
153. 4 [1852] [1850 in Ar. ] The Romans killed Perseus, and granted freedom to the Macedonians, Illyrians, and Galatians.
154th OLYMPIAD [=164-161 B. C. ]

154. 1 * [1853] Antiochus Eupator [became king] of Syria and Asia, for 2 years.
[1851 in Ar. ] Judas Maccabaeus, the son of Mattathias and leader of the Jews, drove the generals of Antiochus out of Judaea. He removed the statues of idols from the temple, and after three years restored the traditional laws of the Jews, in the 154th Olympiad.
154. 3 * [1855] Demetrius Soter [became king of Macedonia], for 12 years.
155th OLYMPIAD [=160-157 B. C. ]

155. 1 * [1857] Judas [became] leader of the Jews, for 3 years.
After Menelaus the high priest of the Jews, who had previously betrayed Judaea to Antiochus Epiphanes, was put to death by the younger Antiochus, Alcimus, despite not being from one of the priestly families, procured the position of high priest. Because of this, Onias the son of the high priest Onias left for Egypt and founded a city in the Heliopolitan nome which was named after himself, where he built a temple similar to the temple in Judaea. However Alcimus quarrelled with Judas Maccabaeus and not long afterwards was struck down by the anger of God, and died. And so Judas Maccabaeus was appointed high priest, with the approval of all the Jews. After becoming high priest, Judas sent envoys to Rome and the senate decreed that the Jews should be reckoned as friends and allies of the Romans.
155. 3 [1859] [not in Ar. ] Publius Terentius of Carthage, the writer of comedies, who had been set free because of his talent and his good looks, died in Arcadia. Before he sold the first version of his "Andria" to the aediles, Terentius read the play to Caecilius who greatly admired him.
155. 4 * [1860] Jonathan [became] leader of the Jews, for 19 years.
[not in Ar. ] Judas was killed in battle against the generals of Demetrius, after he had been high priest for 3 years.
156th OLYMPIAD [=156-153 B. C. ]

156. 1 [1861] [1860 in Ar. ] The grammarian Aristarchus was in his prime.
156. 2 [1862] [1861 in Ar. ] Jonathan, the brother of Judas and leader of the Jews, drove Bacchides the general of Demetrius out of Judaea, and became high priest.
156. 3 [1863] [not in Ar. ] Pacuvius of Brundisium, the writer of tragedies, was in his prime. He was the maternal grandson of Ennius, and earned a living at Rome by painting pictures and selling his plays. Later he moved to Tarentum, and died at the age of nearly 90 years.
157th OLYMPIAD [=152-149 B. C. ]

157. 1 * [1865] [1870 in Ar. ] Pseudophilippus ["the false Philippus"] ruled in Macedonia for one year ["after there had been democracy for 19 years" - Ar. ].
157. 2 [1866] [1867 in Ar. ] Alexander, the son of Antiochus Epiphanes and king of Syria and Asia, honoured Jonathan with a precious crown and many splendid gifts.
157. 3 * [1867] Alexander [became king] of Syria and Asia, for 8 years and 10 months.
[1871 in Ar. ] The Romans killed Pseudophilippus, and reduced the Macedonians to tributary status.
158th OLYMPIAD [=148-145 B. C. ]

158. 1 [1869] [1859 in Ar. ] The Samaritans and Jews argued at Alexandria about the honours due to their respective temples, and Ptolemy decided in favour of the Jews.
158. 2 [1870] [not in Ar. ] The birth of the poet Lucilius.
A census was held at Rome, and 322,000 citizens were counted.
158. 3 [1871] [1869 in Ar. ] Oppius defeated the Gauls; and Scipio captured Carthage for the Romans, 669 years (or 749 years, according to others) after its foundation.
159th OLYMPIAD [=144-141 B. C. ]

159. 1 * [1873] Ptolemy Euergetes [became] the 7th [king] of Egypt, for 29 years.
[1871 in Ar. ] Jonathan, the leader and high priest of the Jews, arranged alliances with the Romans and Spartans.
159. 2 [1874] Ptolemy gave his own daughter as wife to Alexander son of Balas, the king of Syria.
159. 3 [1875] [1874 in Ar. ] Scipio [or "Pompeius" - Ar. ] destroyed Numantia.
[1876 in Ar. ] Brutus conquered Spain as far as the Ocean.
159. 4 [1876] [1878 in Ar. ] Tryphon ["treacherously" - Ar. ] killed Jonathan the high priest of the Jews, who was succeeded by his brother Simon.
160th OLYMPIAD [=140-137 B. C. ]

160. 1 * [1877] Demetrius [became king] of Syria and Asia, for 3 years.
[not in Ar. ] Tryphon killed Antiochus, the son of Alexander.
Ptolemy gave his daughter as wife to Demetrius, and made him king [of Syria] instead of Alexander.
160. 2 [1878] [not in Ar. ] L. Accius, the writer of tragedies, was in his prime. He was born to freedman parents in the consulship of Mancinus and Serranus, and read some of his compositions to Pacuvius at Tarentum, when Pacuvius was already an old man. The Accian estate near Pisaurum is named after him, because he was sent there as one of the colonists from Rome.
160. 3 * [1879] Simon [became] leader of the Jews, for 8 years.
Tryphon tried to seize control of Syria after killing Antiochus the son of Alexander, but eventually he himself was killed.
160. 4 * [1880] Then Antiochus Sidetes [became king of Syria], for 9 years.
After Demetrius, his brother Antiochus, who was called Sidetes, became king of all of Syria.
161st OLYMPIAD [=136-133 B. C. ]

161. 1 [1881] The Romans and Spartans gave friendly replies to the embassies which were sent by Simon, the high priest and leader of the Jews.
161. 2 [1882] A slave war started in Sicily.
161. 3 [1883] [1886 in Ar. ] Simon the high priest of the Jews was killed. He was succeeded by his son John.
161. 4 [1884] [1885 in Ar. ] The first [or "second" - Ar. ] book of Maccabees contains [or "ends with" - Ar. ] an account of this period.
162nd OLYMPIAD [=132-129 B. C. ]

162. 1 [1885] Antiochus Sidetes, the king of Syria, invaded Judaea and besieged Jerusalem. After forcing the high priest Simon to come to terms, he returned home in the 162nd Olympiad.
162. 3 * [1887] John Hyrcanus [became] king of the Jews, for 26 years.
Attalus died, and left the Roman people as heirs to his kingdom.
162. 4 [1888] [1889 in Ar. ] Ptolemy was forced out of Egypt.
163rd OLYMPIAD [=128-125 B. C. ]

163. 1 * [1889] Then Demetrius [became king of Syria] again, for 4 years.
Arsaces of Parthia killed Antiochus.
163. 2 [1890] [1891 in Ar. ] The rebel slaves in Sicily were put under siege, and were forced by famine to eat the dead bodies of their comrades.
163. 3 [1891] [not in Ar. ] Arverni, one of the principal cities of Gaul, was captured along with its king Bituitus.
163. 4 [1892] [1890 in Ar. ] Flames shot up near the Aeolian islands, and a new island emerged, which is now called Hiera ["Holy Island"].
164th OLYMPIAD [=124-121 B. C. ]

164. 1 * [1893] Antiochus Grypus [became king] of Syria and Asia, for 12 years.
John, the leader and high priest of the Jews, was given the name Hyrcanus after waging war against the Hyrcani. He sought an alliance with the Romans, and was enrolled amongst their allies by the senate.
165th OLYMPIAD [=120-117 B. C. ]

165. 1 [1897] [not in Ar. ] A colony was founded at Narbo.
165. 2 [1898] [1896 in Ar. ] Hyrcanus the high priest of the Jews besieged and captured Samaria, which is now called Sebaste. After capturing it, he levelled it to the ground, but it was later rebuilt by Herodes, who called it Sebaste in honour of Augustus.
166th OLYMPIAD [=116-113 B. C. ]

166. 1 [1901] [not in Ar. ] M. Terentius Varro, the philosopher and poet, was born.
166. 2 * [1902] Ptolemy Physcon, also called Soter, [became] the 8th [king] of Egypt, for 17 years ["and six months" - Ar. ].
167th OLYMPIAD [=112-109 B. C. ]

167. 1 * [1905] Then Antiochus Cyzicenus [became king of Syria], for 18 years.
Antiochus Cyzicenus seized control of Syria after forcing out Grypus, and then Grypus recovered it after defeating Cyzicenus. And so they ruled alternately, while fighting against each other.
168th OLYMPIAD [=108-105 B. C. ]

168. 1 [1909] Jugurtha, who was fighting against the Romans, was captured.
168. 2 [1910] [1908 in Ar. ] The Colossus collapsed in an earthquake at Rhodes.
168. 3 [1911] [not in Ar. ] (? ) Jonathan was a glorious leader of the Jews.
168. 4 [1912] [not in Ar. ] Cicero was born at Arpinum. His mother was called Helvia, and his father was a member of the equestrian order, descended from the kings of the Volsci.
[not in Ar. ] Cn. Pompeius Magnus was born.
169th OLYMPIAD [=104-101 B. C. ]

169. 1 * [1913] Aristobulus [became king] of the Jews, for 1 year.
Aristobulus the son of Jonathan, the king and high priest of the Jews, was the first to wear the royal diadem, 484 years [or "480 years" - Ar. ] after the Babylonian exile. The king after him was Alexander Jannaeus, who also held the position of high priest and was a very cruel ruler.
169. 2 * [1914] Then Jannaeus, also called Alexander, [became king of the Jews], for 27 years.
[not in Ar. ] Turpilius the writer of comedies died at Sinuessa, when fairly old.
[not in Ar. ] C. Lucilius the writer of satires died at Neapolis and was given a public funeral. He was 46 years old.
[not in Ar. ] The poet M. Furius, also called Bibaculus, was born at Cremona.
169. 3 [1915] [not in Ar. ] Marius killed 200,000 of the Cimbri, and captured 80,000 of them, along with their leader Teutomodus.
169. 4 [1916] [1914 in Ar. ] Gaius Marius was consul for the fifth time. He defeated the Cimbri by the river Eridanus, and celebrated a triumph over them with Catulus.
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St. Jerome ( Hieronymus ): Chronological Tables
- for Olympiads 170 to 203 [= 100 B. C. - 36 A. D. ]
St. Jerome translated the tables from Eusebius' Chronicle into Latin, and added some material of his own, for instance about the lives of Roman writers. He also extended the tables up until the year 378 A. D.

Most of the Greek text of Eusebius' Chronicle has been lost, but as well as St. Jerome's Latin translation, we also possess a fairly complete Armenian translation of the Chronicle. Differences between the text of St. Jerome and the Armenian translation (Ar. ) are shown in green.

This translation is based on the old edition by A. Schoene, and it does not attempt to reproduce the original format of the manuscripts. The references in red are the number of years from Abraham.

← Previous Olympiads (111 to 169)

170th OLYMPIAD [=100-97 B. C. ]

170. 1 [1917] [1918 in Ar. ] The Romans defeated the Thracians.
170. 2 [1918] [1919 in Ar. ] Another slave war started in Sicily.
170. 3 * [1919] Ptolemy Alexander [became] the 9th [king] of Egypt, for 10 years.
After Ptolemy Physcon had been forced out of his kingdom by his mother Cleopatra, and had retired to Cyprus.
171st OLYMPIAD [=96-93 B. C. ]

171. 1 [1921] Aquilius put an end to the slave war in Sicily.
171. 2 [1922] [not in Ar. ] Ptolemy the king of Cyrene died, and in his will left the Romans as his heirs.
171. 3 * [1923] Philippus [became king] of Syria, for 2 years.
[1919 in Ar. ] Seleucus was burnt alive by Antiochus the son of Cyzicenus.
[not in Ar. ] The poet Titus Lucretius was born. Later he was turned mad by a love potion, but in the intervals in between the madness he composed some books, which Cicero afterwards edited. He killed himself when he was 44 years old.
171. 4 [1924] [1922 in Ar. ] After taking refuge with the Parthians, Antiochus surrendered to Pompeius. Later, Philippus was captured by Gabinius.
Syria, which had been ruled by kings up to this time, came under Roman control.
172nd OLYMPIAD [=92-89 B. C. ]

172. 1 * [1925] The end of the kingdom of Syria and Asia.
172. 4 [1928] [not in Ar. ] The Picentes, Marsi and Paeligni fought a war against the Romans.
173rd OLYMPIAD [=88-85 B. C. ]

173. 1 * [1929] Ptolemy, who had been forced out by his mother, [became] the 10th [king] of Egypt, for 8 years.
[Ptolemy] returned from exile and became king again, because Alexander the previous king was driven out by his subjects after he murdered his mother.
[not in Ar. ] Plotius the Gaul was the first man to teach Latin rhetoric at Rome. Cicero says this about him: "I remember that when we were boys a certain Plotius first started teaching in Rome. "
173. 2 [1930] [not in Ar. ] Gaius Valerius Catullus, the writer of lyric poems, was born at Verona.
[not in Ar. ] The historian Sallustius Crispus was born at Amiternum, in the territory of the Sabines.
173. 3 [1931] [not in Ar. ] Sulla sacked Athens.
173. 4 [1932] [not in Ar. ] A census was held at Rome, and 463,000 citizens were counted.
174th OLYMPIAD [=84-81 B. C. ]

174. 1 [1933] [not in Ar. ] The temple at Delphi was burnt down for the third time, by the Thracians. The Capitolium at Rome was also burnt down.
174. 2 [1934] [not in Ar. ] Jannaeus captured a large number of cities.
[not in Ar. ] Cicero spoke in defence of Quintius, when he was 26 years old.
174. 3 [1935] [not in Ar. ] P. Terentius Varro was born in the village of Atax in the province of Narbonensis. Later, when he was 35 years old, he became a very keen student of the Greek language.
174. 4 [1936] [not in Ar. ] Vultacilius Plotus, a teacher of Latin rhetoric who was the freedman and tutor of Cn. Pompeius, opened a school at Rome.
175th OLYMPIAD [=80-77 B. C. ]

175. 1 * [1937] Ptolemy Dionysius [became] the 11th [king] of Egypt, for 30 years.
[not in Ar. ] Sulla gained control of Rome, and died two years later.
175. 2 [1938] [not in Ar. ] After defending Roscius against Chrysogonus, Cicero went away to Athens, where he stayed for three years before returning to Rome.
175. 3 [1939] [1940 in Ar. ] Pompeius celebrated a most glorious triumph.
175. 4 [1940] [1939 in Ar. ] Lepidus was declared a public enemy ["of the Romans" - Ar. ].
[not in Ar. ] Titus Quinticius Atta, the writer of "togatae" plays, died at Rome, and was buried by the second milestone on the Via Praenestina.
176th OLYMPIAD [=76-73 B. C. ]

176. 1 * [1941] Alexandra became queen of the Jews, for 9 years.
Alexandra, also called Salina, was the widow of Alexander and became queen of Jerusalem. From her reign onwards, disorders and assorted troubles overtook the Jews.
176. 4 [1944] [not in Ar. ] The war against the gladiators in Campania.
[1943 in Ar. ] L. Lucullus was the first to be given the title "imperator", after conquering Armenia and Mesopotamia and capturing Nisibis along with the brother of the king. ["Lucullus spent his life in luxury" - Ar. ]
177th OLYMPIAD [=72-69 B. C. ]

177. 1 [1945] [not in Ar. ] Pompeius subjugated the whole of Spain.
177. 2 [1946] [not in Ar. ] M. Lucullus celebrated a triumph over the Bessi, after capturing Cabyle, Tomi, and other neighbouring cities.
177. 3 [1947] [not in Ar. ] The triumph of Crassus.
177. 4 [1948] [not in Ar. ] Vergilius Maro was born in a town called Andes, not far from Mantua, when Pompeius and Crassus were consuls.