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.