Moses Gaster

At that time, during the reign of Gideon, Mercorius (###) discovered certain islands called Sirenes (###); in Ashkenaz they are called Nikes (Nix) (###). The inhabitants were like beautiful women, their lower parts resembling fishes; and the inhabitants of the forests of the islands were half men and the other half wild animals and horses. The wise man Dialus, by means of his cunning (###), made images and idols and birds of gold and brass, and having breathed into them, the idols spoke and the images prophesied while the birds flew about, for he was exceedingly clever in this art. The city of Tyre was built 240 years before the Temple at Jerusalem.

At that time Theseus captured Helena, but Castor and Pollox, the brothers of Theseus, and his mother, were captured. The city of Carthage (Qar Laini, ###) was then built. Nizpa (###) invented the Latin alphabet.

After Elon came Abdon, the son of Hillel the Pirathonite. During his reign the royal city of Troy was captured, and 406 years after its capture began the Olympiad, for after the victory of the Greeks they began to calculate their Olympiad, which consisted of four years, just as we calculate the date from the destruction of the temple. Then Menelaus and Helena came to Egypt, and in the third year after the capture of Troy Agnios reigned over Italy, where Janus, Saturnus, Ficus, and Faunus reigned. Three years after the capture of Troy--some say eight years--Aeneas ruled the empire, and during his reign there arose the city of Rome--i.e., the Latini, so called because the inhabitants spoke the Latin language. In the reign of Ahaz, King of Judah, two twin brothers were born, Remus and Romulus, who founded the great city. They were the first kings of Rome, and reigned in Rome thirty-eight years.