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, and to the
sixth a Reign of 112 years.
This Dynasty being the Monarchy of the _Medes_, and _Persians_; the Dynasty
of the _Pischdadians_ which immediately preceded it, must be that of the
_Assyrians_: and according to the oriental historians this was the oldest
Kingdom in the world, some of its Kings living a thousand years a-piece,
and one of them Reigning five hundred years, another seven hundred years,
and another a thousand years.
We need not then wonder, that the _Egyptians_ have made the Kings in the
first Dynasty of their Monarchy, that which was seated at _Thebes_ in the
days of _David_, _Solomon_, and _Rehoboam_, so very ancient and so long
lived; since the _Persians_ have done the like to their Kings, who began to
Reign in _Assyria_ two hundred years after the death of _Solomon_; and the
_Syrians_ of _Damascus_ have done the like to their Kings _Adar_ and
_Hazael_, who Reigned an hundred years after the death of _Solomon_,
_worshipping them as Gods, and boasting their antiquity, and not knowing_,
saith _Josephus_, _that they were but modern_.
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