ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE DEFLORATIO BEROSI CHALDAICA.

884.6. The original Latin of the Defloratio Berosi follows the translation at §891, below, >>. The first section of the translation, through the earlier part of Book Five of the Defloratio, is by Salverté (Essai historique et philosophique sur les noms d’hommes, de peuples et de lieux, E. Salverté, tome II, Paris 1824, p. 369ff.), as translated from French into English by Mordaque, and modified here, on occasion, to correct obvious errors, or to reflect the original better; the remainder of Book Five, left untranslated by Salverté, and therefore also by Mordaque, is my own rendering. The English translation of Salverté by Mordaque is from the “History of the Names of Men, Nations and Places, in their connection with the Progress of Civilization. Translated from the French of Eusebius Salverté by Rev. L. H. Mordaque, M.A., Oxon.,” vol II, London 1864, p. 295ff. Salverté’s translation was of the text of the Defloratio Berosi itself, as transcribed by Nanni from the book obtained in Armenia and given to him in Italy by the monk George. Salverté did not translate Nanni’s commentary on the Defloratio Berosi. The Defloratio Berosi and the accompanying commentary forms Book XV of Nanni’s Antiquitates. Nanni’s extensive commentary is not included in this translation either, except in a few instances, so references in “The Six Days of Creation” to the Defloratio (in the 1512 edition of the Antiquitates in Latin, published by Joannes Paruus and Jodocus Badius), or to other sections of the Antiquitates not found here, can be presumed to be part of the commentary on the Defloratio itself, or to be extracted from other works and/or accompanying commentaries contained in the Antiquitates. My own notes are contained within braces { }.

DEFLORATIO BEROSI CHALDAICA

Complete translation from Latin to English:

885. “THE FIRST BOOK

Before the well-known disaster by which the whole world perished beneath the waters, many centuries had elapsed, the records of which have been faithfully preserved by our Chaldeans. According to their writings, there lived in those days a race of giants, in a city of great size, called Enos {= Enoch} near Mount Lebanon, which was the seat of empire over the whole world, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Trusting in their strength and colossal size, these giants made themselves weapons, and oppressed their neighbors all around. Wholly given up to a life of indulgence, they invented tents, instruments of music, and everything which contributes to pleasure.

885.1. They were cannibals. And they procured abortions and made them into food; and had sexual congress with their mothers, daughters, sisters, males and beasts. There was no crime which they did not habitually commit, in their reckless contempt both of gods and men.

885.2. In those days a great number of prophets announced the impending destruction of the world, and engraved their prophecies on stones; but the giants, hardened as they were in their sinful habits, laughed at the prophets’ threats, at the very time when the wrath and vengeance of Heaven were on the point of punishing their impious atrocities.

885.3. In Syria there was a giant whose name was Noa, the most righteous and the wisest man in Syria of those who had not abandoned the paths of virtue. He had three sons, Shem, Japhet, and Ham. Their wives were Tytea the Great, Pandora, Noela and Noegla.

885.4. Warned by the stars of the catastrophe which threatened the world, seventy-eight years before the time predicted for the inundation, Noa began to make a covered ship, in the form of a coffer or ark. Seventy-eight years after he began to build it, the sea rose suddenly above its ordinary level; all the inland seas, the rivers and springs, bursting through their usual barriers, raised the waters till they covered the mountains; unusual rains added to the calamity, rains which for a number of days fell in impetuous torrents and supernaturally flooding abundance. Thus, the whole of the human race perished, drowned by the waters, with the exception of Noa and his family; these were saved in the ark he had built. Carried by the waves to the summit of Mount Gordieus, the ark rested there. Some of its remains, it is said, may still be traced, and men go to the spot for the sake of the pitch which they use principally in their expiatory rites.

885.5. Commencing their narrative at this period, in the year when the human race was saved from the waters, our ancestors wrote innumerable volumes. It is our intention to condense their lengthy records, and merely to mention the origin and the names of the kings of such empires as are to this day considered to be amongst the greatest. The first and most glorious of all empires is our empire of Babylon in Asia. In Africa, the Egyptian empire and that of Libya were at first united in one, and were obedient to one sovereign. Our ancestors counted four empires in Europe, the empire of the Celtiberi, that of the Celts, that of Kytim (a country which by its natives is called Italy), and that of the Thuyscones which extends from the Rhine through the country of the Sarmatians to the sea. Some authors add a fifth, which they call the Ionic Empire.

 

886. THE SECOND BOOK.

It must be admitted, from the foregoing account and the writings of the Chaldeans and Scythians, that when the waters had disappeared from the face of the earth, there only remained the eight persons of whom we have spoken. They were in Armenia-Saga. From them the whole of the human race is descended. Hence the Scythians are right in calling Noa the Father of all the great and lesser gods, the Father of the human race, the Chaos and the Seed of the World. Tytea is, by them, called Aretea, i. e., Earth, because in her, Chaos deposited his seed, and from her, as from the earth, all creatures came into being. Besides his first three sons, Noa, after the Deluge, begat giants and many other sons. For the sake of brevity we shall only mention the generations of all these various individuals; we will begin with Noa, and then proceed with each of the others.

886.1. In the first place, to Noa Dysir they gave the name of Ogygisan-Saga, i. e., the illustrious pontiff in sacred matters.

886.2. {Book Two contains genealogical charts of the post-diluvian races, upon which Nanni comments at length. Amongst other items included in the charts are the identification of Osiris with the Biblical Mizraim, and of Cur, the eponymous ancestor of the Curetes, with the Biblical Cush. Nanni knows the eponymous names used in the Defloratio are modernized, so that, inter alia, he tells us “Arabs” son of “Cur” in the genealogical chart stands for the Biblical “Saba” son of Cush in Genesis 10. 7. NB. The Chart of the Posterity of Tuscus in the Fourth Series (comprising the genealogies of Ham) follows the textual construction of the 1534 Cologne edition.}

GENEALOGICAL CHARTS OF NOAH AND HIS THREE SONS

FIRST Chart of Noah which is also that of Father Ianus Noah called Ianus Ogyges begot before the Flood: Sem Cam Iaphet

After the Flood, however, he begot all these who are annexed here to the Tree:

Macrus

Iapetus Iunior

Prometheus Priscus

Tuyscon Gygas

Crana

Cranus

Granaus

17 Tytanes

Araxa Prisca

Regina

Pandora Iunior

Thetis

Oceanus

Typhoeus

Tuyscon the father of the Germans and Sarmatians:	The Posterity of Tuyscon
	Mannus	Ingaeuon	Isteuon	Herminon	Marsus	Gambrivius		Suevus		Vandalus
	Hunnus						Hercules		Teutanes

Araxa Prisca begot:	Scytha Priscus from whom:	Napus
		and Prutus

SECOND Tree of the genealogies of Samus
Samus who is placed first amongst the sons of Noah, from whom were begotten these five:	Arameus	Arpaxeus	Lugdus	Assyrius	Helameus

Arameus the son of Samus begot these five princes:	Posterity of Arameus
	Getul	Alan	Vl or Vol	Mesa	Auson

Posterity of Arpaxeus

Arpaxeus the first-begotten son of Samus begot Sale →

Saus from whom →

Epirus from whom

Obulas from whom

Thyobum

Sala from whom

Heber from whom

Ictan or Ister from whom

Dalmadan from whom ↓

↑ Albanaes

Obalus from whom

Diclas from whom

Azalus from whom

Adulas from whom

Iader from whom

Saladeus from whom

Sarmates from whom ←

Mesa son of Arameus begot these five princes:	Posterity of Mesa son of Arameus
	Getus	Dacus	Bannon	Brygus	Thynus

THIRD Tree of the Posterity of Iapetus

Andromeda

Iapetus who is also Iopetus and Cepheus Atalus who first begot 8 princes as follows. From him came Iopen and Iaph and Comerus Gallus the firstborn:

1. Comerus the firstborn begot these 3 princes:

2. Medus

3. Magogus

4. Samothes Dis

5. Tubal who is also Iubal

6. Moscus

7. Tyras

8. Ion

Ascanius

Rypheus

Tagus orma

Kytin Italus Attalus

Dodoneus

Tarsus

Helisa

Posterity of Italus					Posterity of Italus
Italus called Kytim, titled Atalaus, or Athlas, begot:					From a Pleiad in Italy: the 7 Pleiades, Maia, Celeno, Ameroe etc.
	Hyas	Morgetes	Siculus	Roma		Galathea the concubine of Hercoles		begot Galathes

Posterity of Samothes
Samothes, titled Dis, whose son was:
	Magus, whose son was		Sarron, whose son was	Namnes, whose son was	Dryiudes, whose son was	Bardus, whose son was	Longo, whose son was	Bardus Iunior, whose son was	Celtes

FOURTH Tree containing the posterities of Cam or Camesis
Chem, as he is called by the Egyptians, and Cam, by the Hebrews, titled Camesis, from whom came 5 princes:
	Cur	Osiris	Cana titled Phoenix	Phaeton, who is Pheriton	Ochus

Cur father of the Curetes begot 5 princes, who are as follows:	Posterity of the Curetes
	Arabs	Saubecres	Saba Thurifer	Sabatius Saga	Nymbrotus father of Belus Priscus

Saba Thurifer produced six descendants, who are as follows:	Posterity of Saba Thurifer
	Gogus father of Ganges and Indus	Triton, from whom	Ammon, from whom	Dionysius Libycus and	Deabus titled Gera, from whom	Lomnimi, who are also Geriones
				Hiarbas, from whom

Sabatius Saga begot these Curetes, namely:	Posterity of Sabatius Saga
	Sabus father of Sabellus	Curitus	Curites father of Anitinus	Anitinus from whom	Aruntius from whom	Pherentius

Pheriton or Phaeton, the Phut of Moses, from whom:	Posterity of Pheriton or Phuton or Phaeton
	Lygur from whom	Cydmus from whom	Eridanus from whom	Ventus from whom	Venetus from whom	Tyla

Cana titled Phoenix, from whom:	Posterity of Cana or Phoenix				Moses lists several more, whereas they filled the portion of Phoenicia which the Hebrews were due to occupy, and which they called the land of Canaan
	Sidon	Archadius	Emathius	Sinius

Osiris whom the Egyptians call Osiri begot these	Posterity of Osiris whom Moses calls Mizraim
	Lydus Priscus	Anameon or Meon	Casleus from whom came the Syrians and Cappadocians	Petreius from whom came the Palestinians	Libyus titled Hercoles	Neptumnus father of Lestrigon	Orus

Hercoles who is called Libyus begot 57 princes:	Posterity of Hercules Libyus Aegyptius
	Scytha Iunior from Araxa	Tussus from Araxa	Agatyrsus from Araxa	Peucinus from Araxa	Gython from Araxa	Galathes from Galathea	Atho from Omphale	50 Tospiades from Armena

Tussus or Tuscus engendered from Ato:	Posterity of Tuscus
	Alteus from whom was engendered	Blascon from whom were engendered	Armonia
			Cambo Blascon from whom were engendered	Iasius from whom				Coriban
				Dardanus	Erichthonius		Tros	Ilus	Laomedon	Priamus
			Curis who is also Abotinus →			Sypus
						Tile Ipiti Cybeles

Ato from the offspring of Hercoles and Omphale	Posterity of Ato
	Mannus	Astan	Pipinus Priscus	Tarcon Priscus	Turrhenus	Trasimenus
				Atho Iunior	Lydus

{To continue with the text of the Defloratio Berosi, omitting the following notes, go to §887 here.}

886.2.1. {Note 1. Commentary ed. 1512 fol. CXIIb on the name Arabs son of Cur (= Cush) in the genealogical chart: “Furthermore where it reads ‘Arabs’ in Berosus, in Hebrew this is Saba. Moses gives the aforesaid names in a different way; for example Ludim, Anamim, Luabim for Lydus, Ameon, Libyus. Similarly, as Josephus says in the First Book of the Jewish Antiquities, Iauan stands for Ion. We preserve therefore the rather obscure names in all the genealogical trees.” Fol. CXIIIb on Saubecres son of Cur (= Cush): “SAUBECRES. Moses calls this Curete Sabataca, and he is thought to have founded the Curetes of Spain called Tarcessii {scribal error in the MSS. of Justinus at XLIV. 4. 1 for Tartessii, Jeep in loc.}, to whom a number of the Titans fled from Egypt and there too they were defeated by the gods. Justinus refers to this in his last book {viz. XLIV. 4. 1}.” Sabtecha (“Sabataca”), son of Cush (Gen. 10. 7), which is the Saubecres of the Defloratio, is described in the Chronicon Paschale as the ancestor of the “Libyan Ethiopians” (Gk. Aithiopes Libues), ed. Dindorf, p. 50, and apud Syncellus, ed. Mosshammer, p. 51, line 2, footnote. Libya and Africa were synonymous terms in Classical writers, and Tarshish was equated with Africa in the Targums (Afriqi), and with the Carchedonii (African Carthaginians) in the LXX. Evidently this area of North Africa was colonized by migrants from Tarshish in the Levant. Tarshish, according to Sefer ha-Zikhronot (Jerahmeel) was the Biblical name for the Classical Tartessians (mis-spelled there Tarces[s]iani, as in the Defloratio), hence the fusion of Sabtecha and Tartessians here. The tribal name spread with the colonists across North Africa into southern Spain. As an “Ethiopian” Sabtecha was a “Curete” (son of Cush-Cur); as a “Libyan” (African), a Tartessian, of the stock of Tarshish.

Note 2. The genealogical chart links Italus-Kittim closely with Togarmah simply by its placement of the two in proximity, though Togarmah is the third son of Gomer son of Japheth in Genesis 10 and Kittim the third “son” of Javan son of Japheth. The curious form of the name Italus, viz. Attalus, Atlaus or Athlas in the chart, and what might be taken to be his genealogical connection with Togarmah (called Tagus orma in the chart and in the Defloratio generally), as well as a variation on the alternative genealogy representing the merger of the lines of Hercules Libycus and Italus by the marriage of Italus’ daughter Electra to Jupiter-Camboblascon the descendant of Hercules, is found much earlier c. AD 1300 in the Florentine Chronicle of Villani (I. 6), where one of the earliest immigrants to Italy after the Tower episode is Atalante (this name being treated in I. 7 as the eponymus of the Atlas mountains in North Africa, viz. the Classical Atlas = Italus in the Defloratio), otherwise Atalus (or Attalus) the son of Tagran (otherwise Tagram) or Targum the son of Tirras the son of Gomer (sic). This is immediately preceded (id., I. 5) by a reference from “Escodio” (viz. the Revelation ascribed to Methodius) that Noah came to Italy after the Flood with Janus “his son,” suggesting an ultimate derivation from Syriac sources, including the Chaldaean Book of Mar Abas Catina and the Berossian literature. Alternatively Atalus “and Jupiter” are begotten of Saturnus son of Caelus son of Cres son of Nimrod, son of Cush son of Ham son of Noah. (Id. I. 6.) Both these genealogies feature (in part) in the Defloratio: the first (by implication) in the Chart supra; as well as in Mar Abas Catina, where the same Togarmah is referred to, as in Villani, as the son of Tiras the son of Gomer, son of Japheth (§940, below, >>); the second genealogy is that in which Italus’ daughter Electra is married to Jupiter-Camboblascon, connecting Italus with Jupiter. In this latter case, too, Villani’s tradition had variations of its own: viz. Atalus or Atalante the descendant of Ham had a daughter Electra who was married to a second Atalante, who in turn begot by her Italus, Dardanus and Sicanus. (Id., I. 7-8.) Here the eponymous title Atlas/Italus has been given to several different characters in the genealogy. Mar Abas Catina drew on the Chaldaean book whose contents can be traced in the “Berossian Sibyl.” This, like the 12th century account detailing the exploits of Samothes in France in “Salberiensis” (= John of Salisbury, §889.2.2, below, >>), and the references in Procosius (10th century AD) to Hercules Libycus (§884.4.5.9, above, >> ), suggests the original “Berossian” work in some form or other was available to writers in early Medieval times, long before Nanni.

Note 3. Predating Nanni Arabic medieval tradition, drawing on much earlier Coptic sources, identified Masr (Mizraim) with Osiris and gave him a son Farek, the eponymus of Africa, whose name might be Latinized as Africus or Afer, and, as Africa is synonymous with Libya in Classical sources, Africus = Libycus, viz. (Hercules) Libycus in the Defloratio. Thus, Masr-Osiris father of Farek in the Coptic/Arabic tradition corresponds to Mizraim-Osiris father of Hercules Libycus in the Defloratio. See on Masr-Osiris and Farek §626.27, above, >>, §626.17.4, above, >>, §626.15, above, >>.

Note 4. In his Commentary fol. CXb-CXIa Nanni states in relation to Tuyscon (Tuisco): “It should be noted first of all from this genealogy and family tree that all these were reputed to be the children of Caelum and Terra, or of Janus and Vesta, or rather of Noah and Titea. For Noah bore the surnames Janus and Caelum as Berosus records in the third book. Now Diodorus Siculus makes mention in his fourth book from the Scythian and African history that it was Caelum who first bore universal sway over them and that he had multiple wives, and that he engendered from Titea 17 who were called Titans after their mother, and that all the children of Caelum amounted to 45. You may reckon up the same total from this Berosian family tree: 3 sons born first before the Flood, 17 Titans, and 13 others, and similarly 11 successive descendants of Tuyscon, making 44 in all {and 45 including Tuyscon himself}. But two things should be noted; Noah adopted all the posterity of Tuyscon as his own sons, and so they are placed in his family tree, and not as the further descendants of others, whereby the special status of the Germans and Sarmatians is exhibited, who are at the present time called Tuysci {= Deutsch} by the Latins {Italians} and Gauls {French}. Now the Sarmatians are the Polish people, the Goths, the Russians, the Prussians, the Daci {Danes} and so forth. This is how the Berosian account lays out the case. Concerning the plurality of the wives of Noah or Caelum: Diodorus errs on account of the multiple synonyms: the single wife of Noah was called Titea, Terra, and Great Vesta. Cornelius Tacitus in De Situ et Moribus Germanorum agrees with Berosus when he states Tuyscon was born ‘from Earth [Terra].’”}

 

887. THE THIRD BOOK.

We shall only make a brief extract now of what is related in our books respecting Chaldean and Scythian history, with respect to the respective genealogies and descents of sovereigns and heroes. The same books mention several other characters whom we shall pass over in silence, as their history would contribute little or nothing to the brief summary we intend to make; we reserve, however, to ourselves the right to mention them should it be deemed necessary.

887.1. We have now to explain how the depopulated globe was again covered with inhabitants and colonies. The waters disappeared from the face of the earth, and the land was dried up by the sun. Noa and his family came down from Mount Gordieus into the plain which it overshadowed. The plain was thickly strewn with corpses, from which fact, the place has to this day retained the name of Myri-Adam, which means, disemboweled men. Noa wrote the record of these events upon a monumental stone. The inhabitants of that place still call it, the place of the coming out of Noa.

887.2. Now they (Noa and his sons) knew their wives, who, on the very day expected, regularly brought forth twins of different sexes; afterwards, when these twins had grown to years of puberty, and married, they also had twins at each birth: for never did either God or Nature, whose desire it is to spread life throughout the world, fail the wants of creation.

887.3. After a short time, when the human race had multiplied with great rapidity, and filled the country of Armenia, it became necessary that its inhabitants should go abroad and seek new settlements. Noa, the father of all, then at a very advanced age, had already taught them the doctrines of their religion and religious rites; he then began to instruct them in the human sciences. Consequently, he drew up a number of secret topics of instruction in natural philosophy, and consigned them to the books which by the Scytho-Armenians are only entrusted to their priests. No one is allowed to consult those books, or to read them, or to teach their contents to others, except the priests, and even then only when they are amongst men of their own order. The same remark applies to the sacred books composed by Noa, on account of which he received the name of Saga, which means priest, sacrificer, or pontiff.

887.4. Noa also taught men to understand the motions of the planets; he divided time into years, according to the sun’s course, and the year into twelve months, according to the revolutions of the moon. Everything that was destined to happen in the course of the year, and its cardinal divisions, was revealed to men by this science, from the first day of the year.

887.5. Grateful for such benefits, men looked upon Noa as an emanation from the Divine Essence, and called him Olybama and Arsa, that is to say, Heaven and Sun, and under that name they consecrated several cities to his memory; for up to that period the Scytho-Armenians were in possession of the cities of Olybama and Arsa-Ratha, and others named in the same way.

887.6. Noa went to rule over Kitim, which is now called Italy. The Armenians regretted his departure so deeply, that after his death they awarded him divine honours, and looked upon him as the life of the world. In the two countries of Armenia and Italy, the one where he began and the other where he ended his teaching, his reign and his life, the men to whom he left his most complete books, those which contained all that he had taught them concerning things both human and divine, worshiped him, and called him Heaven, Sun, Chaos, Seed of the Universe, Father of Gods, both great and small; Life of the World, the Giver of Power and Motion to the Heavens and to mixed substances, to vegetation, to animals, and to mankind; the God of peace, justice, and holiness; the Warder off of misfortune, and the Guardian of wealth. With a view of expressing this, both nations represent his attributes emblematically by the course of the sun, and the revolutions of the moon, and the scepter of the kingdom, with which he drives all wicked people and evil spirits far from the society of men; they also represented chastity of body and purity of soul, the two keys which admit to the regions of happiness and religion.

{To continue with the text of the Defloratio Berosi, omitting the following note, go to §887.7 here.}

887.6.1. {Note: The “Scythian” (viz. the Sumerian) name of Noah, Ziusura or Ziusudra, and the two signs with which it is commonly written, UD.ZI, are examined at §457, above, >>, §101.13.1, above, >>, as also its relation to Deukalion, the name of the Greek flood-hero. The form Ziusura is probably the origin of the name “Dysir” given to Noa(h) at §886.1, above, >>, with initial “z” > “d” in the Armenian transcription underlying the Latin, which is not explained in the text of the Defloratio. The Biblical name Noah and the name Xisouthros (Ziusudra) appear similarly in Sibylline extracts apud Moses of Khorene, the latter transcribed into Armenian, §916ff., below, >>. The original Semitic name of Noah seems to have been Nag-napishti (Sumerian UD = nag, ZI = napishti), “Nag” being the Akkadian equivalent of the Hebrew “Noah.” An alternative reading of the signs UD.ZI gave rise to the Greek form of the name, Deukalion, according to the evidence examined at §101.13.1, above, >>. The final element in the Greek name Deukalion, -ion, could be understood to be a form of the Semitic word for “wine,” yayin, as if Deukalion = Dagil-yayin, the “Discoverer of wine.” This same word yayin is said infra (§887.9, below, >>) to be that from which Noah’s divine title Janus is derived, and Janus is interpreted to mean “Giver of wine.” Here it is alleged Noah’s attributes were expressed emblematically amongst the Armenian Scythians, and then amongst the Kittim of the West, by “the course of the sun, and the revolutions of the moon, and the scepter of the kingdom.” The signs UD and ZI with which the name Ziusudra is written in Sumerian were originally pictographs representing: 1) UD — a sun-disk rising over a crescent (moon-shaped) horizon (which could be understood to signify also the cycle [circle] of the sun, and the curved course of the moon across the southern sky), and 2) ZI — a sturdy, upright, reed, or rod, symbolizing strength, security, solidity, reliability, relief, continuation of life, etc. The rod was the

UD (left) ZI (right)
These are the ancient Sumerian (Calnite, “Scythian”) forms of the signs UD and ZI, spelling the name Nag-napishti = Noah.

scepter of the ancient kings of the East. These signs correspond precisely to the emblems referred to in the Defloratio Berosi. A ring and rod are commonly depicted in the hands of ancient near-eastern divinities, and they still feature in coronation ceremonies in the form of a globe and scepter held by the newly-crowned monarch.}

887.7. With the same reverential feeling, they used to call Thytea, who was the Mother of all living, Aretia, i.e., the Earth; after her death they called her Esta, i. e., fire, because she presided as a queen at all religious ceremonies, and taught the young virgins how to keep the fire, which was used for sacrifices, constantly burning.

887.8. Before he left Armenia, Noa remained content with having taught men agriculture, thinking that religion and good morals were better than the riches and the pleasures which lead to debauchery and crime, and which had already called down the wrath of Heaven upon the earth. He was, nevertheless, the first to plant the vine, and teach men how to make wine. Not being aware of the potency of such a beverage, and of the vapors it exhales, he became senseless, and fell to the ground in an indecent posture. He had, as has already been stated, a son out of his first three, a junior son, Chem, who, being ever engaged in the study of magic and sorcery, was in consequence of this called Zoroaster. Finding that he was neglected by Noa, who displayed a marked preference for his other children, the last to be born, he began to have an aversion to him; but Chem’s faults were at the root of his hostility to his father. He found him once sleeping heavily, in consequence of having imbibed too much wine, and took advantage of the opportunity: discovering his private parts exposed, and, mumbling something beneath his breath, he made a mockery of his father by magic incantation, and at the same time rendered him sterile and impotent ever after, so that from that time Noa could not make a woman conceive.

887.9. Grateful for the present which he had made them of the vine and wine, the Armenians honor Noa with the surname of Janus. With them the title means, the Giver of the Vine, or of Wine. Now, Chem was degrading the mortal race in a collective sense, championing the idea and upholding it by the nature of the circumstance itself that congress might be had, as it was before the Deluge, with mothers, sisters, daughters, males, brute beasts, or any other species.

{To continue with the text of the Defloratio Berosi, omitting the following note, go to §887.10 here.}

{Note on this passage: Ham here, the founder, or Saturn, of Egypt, is blamed for the immorality which spread in the era of the Tower, rather than Nymbrotus (Nimrod), the founder, or Saturn, of Berossus’ own city of Babylon. Ham is said to have entertained malevolent feelings towards his father which caused him to make a mockery of him when exposed, and thus bring a magic curse on him. He is also said to have championed the idea “by the nature of the circumstance itself” (Latin: re ipsa) that it was permissible to have sexual congress indiscriminately. This suggests the author of the Defloratio was aware Ham had concourse with Noah’s partner (that is, with his own “mother-in-law”), and considered the transfer of Noah’s son, Canaan, to Ham, — an act which implied the concubine was now Ham’s wife, — constituted a public endorsement of incest. Nymbrotus, on the contrary, is treated very mildly in the Defloratio: he is mysteriously accused of “obtaining by stealth the sacred preserves [rituales] of Jupiter Saga” by the act of adopting Jupiter Belus as a son (§888.2, below, >>). This is an allusion to the usurpation of Noah by the transfer of Ham’s concubine, see the note appended ibid. The Defloratio’s interpretation does an injustice to Ham, and exonerates the guilty party, Nimrod, the Elos-Kronos of Sanchuniathon.}

887.10. For this reason he was sent into exile by Janus, who was a model of piety, chastity, and modesty, and was given the epithet Chemesenuus, i. e., Chem the infamous, the unchaste, the evil spirit of propagation incarnate. Esen, among the Aramaean-Scythians means, infamous and unchaste. Enua means sometimes a propagator, and sometimes unchaste.

887.11. The Egyptians were the only people who adopted the doctrines of Chemesenuus; they turned him into Saturn, a younger god amongst the other gods, and dedicated to his honor a city called Chem-Myn, the inhabitants of which are called Chemmenites to this day. In course of time, however, their descendants abandoned such wicked dogmas, and only retained one objectionable point, viz., the legality of marriages between brothers and sisters.

{To continue with the text of the Defloratio Berosi, omitting the following note, go to §888 here.}

{Commentary, ed. 1512, fol. CXIIIa : “Cam was ancestor and founder of the Egyptians. And, as Berosus says, he was their Inuus Esen, that is, Pan the Infamous. Whence, from this cognomen, is the origin of Camesenuus, that is, Cam the Infamous Pan. To him (as Diodorus bears witness in his First Book) the Egyptians dedicated a whole city, named after him Chem Myn, that is, the City of Cam and Pan. The Egyptians prefer the form Chem, the Hebrew Cam {Ham}. Furthermore the Hebrews term a municipal area and colonies Maon, the Egyptians Myn, and the Etruscans used to term them Mon in the singular, Mont in the plural.”

and fol. CXVb and CXVIa on this passage: “[CXVb] The Hebrews interpret the name Cam {Ham} to mean “libidinous” and “of a hot nature,” whereas Enuus signifies “Propagator” and “Incubus.” Whence the Latins call Enuus Inuus …. Sylvanus, Pan and Inuus are all the same, from “ineundo” {“entering in”}, termed “Incubus,” on account of the fact he continually enters into sexual congress with men and beasts. Whereas Esen signifies “infamous with threefold infamy.” …. [CXVIa] Wherefore indeed Italian writers call Cam in the ancient tongue Cam Esen, that is, Cam the Infamous. By combining the two elements into one he is termed Cameses in Etruscan and Latin. Now that is the reason he was the corrupter of the human race, as Berosus says. The Egyptians prefer the form Camesenuus, that is, Cam Sylvanus, or their version of Pan the Infamous. Hence Diodorus Siculus tells us in his First Book that the Egyptian Pans built a complete city which they call Chem Myn, that is, the City of Pan, after him. For in Egyptian the word Myn signifies “abode” or “tabernacles” and “city,” whereas Chem is a proper noun, Cam {Ham}. The identical Cam Myn is what David interprets in Psalm LXXVII and CIIII as the “Land of Cam {Ham},” and the “Tabernacles of Ham,” inasmuch as he first inhabited Egypt, as the Hebrews and Catholics expound it, and so was their first Inuus, or Pan and Propagator.” {Relevant Hebrew words here are the verb ‛wn, “to dwell, cohabit” (cf. Nanni’s Enuus), whence, on the one hand the noun m‛wn (Nanni’s Maon), “abode, dwelling,” and, on the other, the noun ‛wnh, “sexual cohabitation.”}

 

888. THE FOURTH BOOK.

The human race had multiplied prodigiously; it became necessary that men should seek for new settlements. Janus the father of men accordingly advised the heads of families to seek new homes, to live in societies amongst men, and to build cities.

888.1. He taught them that the world was divided into three parts, Asia, Africa, and Europe, just as he had known it before the Deluge. He assigned to each head of a family the country to which he was to proceed, and promised that he would himself take colonies into the whole world.

{To continue with the text of the Defloratio Berosi, omitting the following note, go to §888.2 here.}

{Commentary ed. 1512 fol. CXVIb on Iapetus: “And (as Hebrew and Catholic writers say) Sem had dominion over Asia, Cam over Egypt and Aphrica, whose metropolis was Chem Myn, as we have explained in the preceding book. Now Iapetus was also called Atlas Maurus, inasmuch as he came to his end, so it turned out, in Mauretania. As Diodorus implies in Book IIII he presided over Europe.”}

888.2. Accordingly he created Nymbrotus the first Saturn of Babylonia, in order that he first might go and build a city in that region. By the act of adopting Jupiter Belus as a son, along with the colonies, Nymbrotus obtained by stealth things which fell within the sacred preserve of Jupiter Saga.

{To continue with the text of the Defloratio Berosi, omitting the following note, go to §888.3 here.}

{These things which fell within the sacred preserve [Latin: rituales] of Jupiter Saga are connected with the “sacred books” [Latin: rituales libros] composed by Noah and on account of which the latter received the name Saga: §887.3, above, >>: “Noa, the father of all, then at a very advanced age, had already taught them the doctrines of their religion and religious rites; he then began to instruct them in the human sciences. Consequently, he drew up a number of secret topics of instruction in natural philosophy, and consigned them to the books which by the Scytho-Armenians are only entrusted to their priests. No one is allowed to consult those books, or to read them, or to teach their contents to others, except the priests, and even then only when they are amongst men of their own order. The same remark applies to the sacred books composed by Noa, on account of which he received the name of Saga, which means priest, sacrificer, or pontiff.” They are doubtless the same as the “sacred preserves (Gk. ‛ierōmata) of Zeus (= Jupiter) Enualios” referred to in a fragment of Hestiaeus apud Josephus Ant. I. iv. 3 = I. 119 (and from Josephus in Eusebius, PE IX. xv): “Those of the priests who were saved [presumably from the Deluge] took the sacred preserves of Zeus Enualios and came to Senaar [Shinar] in Babylonia.” Zeus Enualios in Hestiaeus is Jupiter Saga in the Defloratio supra. The sacred preserves of Zeus Enualios are probably what the native Mesopotamian mythology referred to as the “Enlilship,” viz. the rights of supremacy amongst the gods which first belonged to Enlil (= Gk. “Zeus,” Latin “Jupiter”). This, in turn, relates to the Sumerian myth of the theft of the Tablet of Destinies containing the “me”s. (Sumerian “me” = “principle, ordinance” by which the universe is regulated.) The thief in the Sumerian myth was Anzu. Anzu, the emblem of the House of Kish, represents the builders of the Shinar Tower, viz. the three princes, Joktan (for the Semites), Phinehas (for the Japhethites) and Nimrod (for the Hamites). The Tablet was reclaimed by Ninurta, the god who defeated Anzu. Ninurta symbolizes the First Dynasty of Uruk under Lugal-banda (Canaan) and his successors. The defeated dynasty is represented in Iranian myth by the three-headed snake Azi Dahaka (Zohak): the three heads are the three princes at the Tower. Zohak is regularly identified as Nimrod son of Cush, or one of his allies, conquered by Feridun, that is, by Nimrod son of Canaan (Amraphel, Gilgamesh of the First Dynasty of Uruk). The First Dynasty of Kish represents the line of Shem into which Nimrod married in order to establish his authority in Shinar. The priesthood, likewise, was exercised by the firstborn son, Shem, and his descendants. The “sacred preserves” were the monopoly of the priesthood. Here Nimrod is said to have appropriated them by stealth in the act of adopting Jupiter Belus as a son. In the genealogical series referred to here (1. Nimrod, 2. Jupiter Belus, 3. Ninus), Jupiter Belus is Canaan-Lugal-banda (see §106.1, above, >>, with cross-references). When Nimrod (Elos-Kronos in Sanchuniathon, the Babylonian Saturn in the Defloratio) transferred Noah’s concubine to Ham (Ham = Dagon in Sanchuniathon, Dagon = Dagan = Enlil, §319, above, >>, etc.}, she was already pregnant with Noah’s post-diluvian son, Canaan (Jupiter Belus). Thus he transferred the paternity of Canaan to his own grandfather, Ham (and later to himself when he took the concubine, §322ff., above, >>), and undermined the moral authority of the chief patriarch, Noah, “obtaining by stealth” the “sacred preserves” of the priesthood (the “Enlilship”) which Noah exercised. These subsequently were handed down by Noah to his firstborn, Shem. Nimrod countered that act by marrying into the line of Shem: Noah’s concubine, the Mistress of Gebal, “Cybele,” with whom he himself subsequently consorted, was a Maeonian, viz. a Mashite descended from Mash son of Aram son of Shem, §322, above, >>, and §894.2, below, >>.}

888.3. Nymbrotus came with all his people into the plains of Sennaar; there he marked out a site for a city, and laid the foundations for a tower of great height in the hundred and thirty-first year after the human race had escaped from the plague of waters.

888.4. He reigned fifty-six years. It was his wish that the tower which he was about to build should equal the mountains in size and height, in order that it might be a sign and a monument of the superiority of the Babylonian people over every other people, and of the right which it possessed to be called the kingdom of all kingdoms. I shall therefore begin my history with an account of that empire, and mention, as I proceed, the years in which its several princes successively reigned; thus we shall be able to establish a parallel between the history of this and the history of the other empires, their annals and the names of their rulers.

888.5. In the 131st year after the disappearance of the waters, our nation and our Babylonian city, the first of nations and the first of cities, were thoroughly constituted and founded by our Babylonian Saturn. The posterity of our ancestors multiplied enormously. Our Saturn did not seek to secure opulence so much as religion and peace. He built the tower, but did not finish it; and he did not build the city of which he had marked out the site, because, after he had reigned fifty-six years, he was never seen again upon the earth; he had been removed from it by the gods.

888.6. During the early part of the reign of Nymbrotus, Janus sent colonies into Egypt, under the command of Chemesenuus; into Libya and Cyrene, under the command of Triton; and into the rest of Africa, under the command of Japetus, the old Atalaa.

{To continue with the text of the Defloratio Berosi, omitting the following note, go to §888.7 here.}

{Commentary ed. 1512 fol. CXVIIb: “But it is difficult to understand what Berosus says concerning Iapetus Atlas, that he was substituted for Cameses in Aphrica, since it can be shown the dominion of the whole of Europe fell to his lot, and he had seniority by birth over Cameses. Nevertheless it could be said Berosus used the word substitute for the extraordinary position he held as leader for the promotion of colonies. On which account Iapetus led colonies into Aphrica drawn from the progeny of his firstborn son Comerus. Even up to the present time, accordingly, the Spanish call the greater part of the peoples of Aphrica Comeri.”}

888.7. Into Eastern Asia he sent Ganges with some of the descendants of Comerus-Gallus, and into Arabia Felix he sent Saba, surnamed Thurifer, or incense-bearer. He gave the sovereignty over Arabia Deserta to Arabus, and over Arabia Petraea to Petreius. Cana was governor of the country from Damascus to the extremity of Palestine.

888.8. In Europe, Thuyscon reigned from the Tanais to the Rhine by command of Janus, who joined to him the sons of Ister and Moesa with all his brothers. Their rule extended from Mount Adula to the southern region which borders on the sea. Under them were Tyras, Arcadius, and Aemathius. Comerus Gallus settled in Italy; Samotes governed the Celts, and Jubal the Celtiberians.

{To continue with the text of the Defloratio Berosi, omitting the following note, go to §888.9 here.}

{Commentary ed. 1512 fol.CXVIIIab: “Now follows matter concerning the ancient history of Europe after the foundation of Babylonia. Tuyscon, he says, was the ruler of the Sarmatians from the Rhine to the Tanais [Don]. These formerly were counted as Scythians, as Pliny says in Book IV of the Natural History. The name of the Scythians passed over even onto the Sarmatians and Germans. For it was named Germany under the Romans, as Cornelius Tacitus testifies in his work on the Location and Customs of the Germans. Now Germany proper stretches from the River Rhine which separates the Gauls from the Germans as far as the next River, the Vistula, which flows through Cracow, the metropolis of Poland, which they call the Viscla. The whole of Germany is divided into five national groupings, as Pliny says in Book IV of the Natural History, Chapter 15. There are, he says, five national groupings of the Germans. First are the Vandals, one section of whom are the Burgundians, the Varinnae, the Catinni, and the Guttones. The second national grouping is the Inghevones, of which one section are the Cymbri, and the Teutons who originate from the Cauci people. Nearest the Rhine are the Istevones, of which one section are the Cymbri of the Middle Region. The third national grouping are those who have as their neighbors the Herminones of the fourth national grouping, of whom one section are the Suevi, the Hermunduri, the Catti, and the Cherusci. The fifth national grouping are the Peuccini, and the Basternae. But this arrangement of Pliny applies only to that part of Germany which is in the vicinity of the ocean of frozen ice. For actually it comprises many other nations, as appears in Ptolemy. Further from the Vistula of Cracow as far as the River Boriscus and the Riphaean Mountains are properly the Sarmatians in Europe. The Riphaean Mountains are so called from Ripheus the son of Comerus [Gomer], whom Moses calls Riphat [Riphath, Gen. 10. 3]. Whereas the Sarmatae are so called from Sarmates the son of Ister. But Moses calls them Ictan [Joktan] and Asarmauet [Hazarmaveth, Vulgate: Asarmoth, Gen. 10. 26], whom Berosus calls Ister and Sarmates. The Greeks call the latter Sauromatae. Further those who extend over the Riphaean Mountains and the River Boriscus to the Tanais [Don] and the wetlands of Maeotis and the Tauric Chersonessus, as appears in Ptolemy’s eighth tablet of Europe, these alone still bear the name of Scythians in Europe, as Pliny indicates in Book IV of the Natural History, Chapter 13. He says the name of Scythians, though it passes over onto the Sarmatians and Germans, has not also endured in its original signification as a national name for other nations, except for the most remote members of these tribal groupings, unknown to the rest of humankind. Berosus states in addition that to these were joined all the children of Ister and Mesa [Mash son of Aram, Gen. 10. 23] from Mount Adula to Pontic Mesembria. The current names for these places attest the same: as appears in the Geography of Ptolemy, tables V and IX relating to Europe. Mount Adula is named after Adula son of Ister, whom Moses calls Aduram [Hadoram, Vulgate Aduram, son of Joktan, Gen. 10. 27], and is a mountain overlooking Nicea, whose outlying extremities are located between Gaul and Germany, not far from Lake Constance. In this vicinity are found the springs of the Ister, as Pliny testifies in Book IV of the Natural History, Chapter 13. It rises in Noria the yoke of Germany opposite the Gallic city of Scanta, and is also called the Danube. When it first reaches Illyricum, it is called the Ister. Through innumerable drops in its level and through six nations it flows out through its mouths into the Pontic sea. On account of this it is termed the Double Named as Ovid says too in the first book on the Pontus: The neighborhood of the banks of the Double Named Ister. It received the name Ister from the chieftain [Ister = Joktan]. Mount Adula covers an immense extent of territory along its length, and a variety of names have become attached to various localities. Across the mountain towards its upper northern reaches you will still find the Moesi from Moesa [Mash, Vulgate Mes, son of Aram], who ruled the two Moesias, the upper and the lower, which they nowadays term the Valachiae, one of the two Alta, and the other Bassa. Some write the name Mysia, but Pliny more properly in Book III of the Natural History writes it Moesia. Lower Valachia or Moesia Pontica is the location of Tyraspolis, so named from Tyras son of Japheth [Tiras son of Japheth, Gen. 10. 2], and Istropolis from the chieftain Ister [Joktan], and Tybisca from Tybus son of Ister [Tybus = Jobab son of Joktan, Gen. 10. 29]. Lower Moesia is the location of the Bosinenses and Valachi Bassi, and the Dedani from the Curete Dedan [Dedan son of Cush, Gen. 10. 7]. This region of Dedania people of a later age called Dardania by a corruption of the original name. There follow the two Bannoniae, which are popularly termed the Hungaries. We call these Pannoniae in Latin, exchanging p for b. Ptolemy writes the names of localities based on those of these sons and grandsons of Ister: the River Saus [Saus = Sheba son of Joktan, Gen. 10. 28], Salinum from Sala [Sala here may be Salah son of Arphaxad, Gen. 10. 24, see the genealogical chart in Book II of the Defloratio which merges the genealogy of Arphaxad with that of Joktan, though it might also be Sheleph son of Joktan, seemingly the Sale son of Ister mentioned infra], the Azali people [Azal = Uzal son of Joktan, Gen. 10. 27] and from his brother Albines [Albines = Abimael, son of Joktan, Gen. 10. 28] Mount Albanus. Further on this side of the range of Mount Adula reaching as far as Mesembria, you will find the Mesei Lyburni, from the chieftain Mesa [Mash son of Aram]. The colony of Iader, from Iader son of Ister [Iader = Jerah son of Joktan, Gen. 10. 26]. This side of Mount Mesa, you will find Dalmatia, from Dalmatad son of Ister [Dalmatad = Almodad son of Joktan, Gen. 10. 26], and Dicliotae from Dicla son of Ister [Diklah, Vulgate Decla, son of Joktan, Gen. 10. 27]. Salona from Sale son of Ister [presumably Sheleph son of Joktan, Gen. 10. 26, though the same name is transcribed “Saladeus” in the genealogical chart in Book II of the Defloratio]. There follows Emathia from Emathius son of Cameses [Emathius = the Hamathite son of Canaan son of Ham, Gen. 10. 18], concerning whom Lucan says at the beginning of his work: Wars were waged through the Emathian plains outnumbering the settlements. Following on from these Macedonia was named after the son of Osiris [Macedon son of Osiris], as Diodorus tells us in his first book. Epirus gets its name from the son of Ister [Ophir son of Joktan, Gen. 10. 29]. We find not only the Chaldaean name Ister, but also the Ictim [Joktan] of Moses: the promontory so named from Ictam who is Ister. There follows Thrace, as though it were Tyracia, from Tyras the son of Iapetus [Tiras son of Japheth, Gen. 10. 2], reaching as far as the city at the termination of the mountain range, which the Greeks call Mesembria, Berosus Moesemberia, Philo Mese Sephara, and Moses Sephara in the tenth chapter of Genesis [“… from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar, a mount of the east.” Gen. 10. 30]. The account of Comerus, along with that of the chieftains Tubal and Samotes follows in the subsequent pages. The reader should be advised that some call them Mesi who are commonly known as Bulgars. This can be proved to be false by evidence provided by the Danube. For the mouths of that river are located in Moesia, as Ptolemy and other writers declare. But the Valachi, not the Bulgars, hold the mouths of the Danube. They are therefore Moesii whom we call Valachi, and not Bulgars.”

Amongst these identifications derived from the Defloratio and Nanni’s Commentary, Turmair in Germania Illustrata (ed. Leidinger, Munich, 1908, p. 120) adds further information from unidentified, but related, medieval sources {“very old annals”), for example, in respect of the Biblical Eber, father of Joktan (Ister): Eber is identified by Turmair as the eponymus of the Roman Ebrodunum, the Austrian Stockerau near Vienna. Since Eber was the eponymus also of the Hebrews, the “children of Eber,” and the name Abraham was believed in antiquity to be an alternative form of that eponymus (earliest in Artapanus apud Eusebius Praep. Evang. IX. xviii. 1, §626.25, above, >>), it is not surprising to find one Abraham “of Temonaria,” instead of Eber, being credited with the founding of Stockerau in the 14th century Österreichische Chronik der 95 Herrschaften of Leopold von Wien (I. 41f.), and with the founding of the Austrian royal line, predating the Defloratio and Turmair. This Abraham is said to have migrated to the banks of the Danube in Austria from the Land of Wonder (Terra Ammiracionis) after a conflict with the chief of the local inhabitants there. His new home was known as “Judeisapta” after a person called “Jud,” who had “never actually been in the land.” This evidently is a reference to the title “Hud” (for Yehud, “Jew”) given to the prophet Eber in Arabic tradition, after the patriarch Judah. Judah himself, of course, was never, and was never held to have been, in the land of Austria, as is said here similarly of Jud. The personal noun in the singular (Jud) implies the topographical name is Hebrew or Aramaic and means the “Resting-place [shabta, Latin sapta] of Yehud, that is, of Hud-Eber [Latin Iudei],” though it makes sense in Latin also if it is plural, “Suitable [apta] for Jews [Iudeis].” Abraham of Temonaria is said to have been born 810 years after the Flood. This is 300 years or so longer than the Biblical chronology of Eber, but considering here Eber (Abraham) = Hud, and the Austrian descendants of Abraham are said to have intermarried with Huns or “Hungarians” after migrating to Stockerau (the Huns being traced back to Turk/Tur in their native accounts), it is likely the figure is derived from a mixture of Arabic legend relating to Hud with Iranian traditions, of the sort widely attested in Arabic and Turkish traditional history. For example, Feridun (= Noah in his earlier incarnation) was believed to have reigned 500 years, and to have become in the mean time the father of Tur (= Japheth/Turk) and Iraj (Shem/Arphaxad). After the murder of Iraj his wife bore a son to him 330 years later. (See §677.3, above, >>.) In Genesis (Hebrew text) Arphaxad’s son (= Iraj’s son) is Shelah (the Arabic prophet Salih) and Shelah bore Eber (the Arabic prophet Hud) 30 years later (Gen. 11. 14), so the interval between Eber-Hud (= Abraham of Judeisapta) and Feridun-Noah is on the order of 800 years, as in this account (Abraham born 810 years after the Flood). Eber-Hud in Arabic legend conflicted with Shaddad ben Ad, of the race of Amlak (Amalek), as Abraham of Temonaria in the Österreichische Chronik conflicted with prince “Sattan” chief of the “Aligemi” before migrating to Judeisapta. Abraham’s sons and offspring followed him in a long list as lords of Stockerau, beginning with his son Achaim or Athaim. Achaim/Athaim is probably for Actaim, meaning the Defloratio’s Ictam or Ictim, that is, Joktan son of Eber, who gave his name in the form Ister to the Danube flowing by Stockerau. This whole area was of strategic importance in relation to the ancient settlement of Europe because it was located on the axis of two major natural routes of travel and trade, viz. 1) the Danube Valley through the highlands separating Germany from the Hungarian plains and south-eastern Europe, and 2) the route from Silesia and the North European plain to the head of the Adriatic Sea. The latter follows the lowland of Moravia and makes use of the passes of the eastern Alps, especially the Semmering Pass in this vicinity to the south. That the Stockerau region hosted an important center of Early Bronze Age civilization, dating from the era of Eber, is proven by recent archaeological findings at Oberleiserberg near Stockerau. This protected hill-top measuring seven hectares was the location of one of the largest Bronze Age settlements in Central Europe.

}

Oberleiserberg near Stockerau and Vienna, Austria, the site of the settlement of the people of Eber/Abraham in the immediate post-Flood era. Stockerau was known as Ebrodunum in Roman times, meaning the “City of Eber”}

888.9. Such are the people who, after Nymbrotus, came out of Armenia with their families, and the colonies which were destined to follow them. Each of the chiefs gave his name to the country in which he settled, in memory of the expedition with which Janus had entrusted them, and as a monument which in after ages would remind each nation of its original founder.

888.10. By order of Janus, all these chiefs raised a tower or fortress, to serve as a metropolis for their colony. As to the people themselves, they lived in caverns or in chariots.

888.11. Our Saturn was the only one who exceeded the commands of Janus, because his great wish was that Babylon should be the city of cities, and the kingdom of kingdoms.

888.12. In those days, after the departure of the heads of families whom he had sent out to found colonies, Janus divided the men who remained into two portions; for he had kept at home with himself several sons who were born after the human race had been saved from the waters of the Deluge, and besides these, a great number of families whom he intended to lead himself into various distant colonies.

888.13. Scytha, with his mother Araxa, and some colonists especially selected to settle in Armenia, were left in that country, and Scytha was the first to bear the title of king.

{Note on Araxa and Scytha: Araxa Prisca was a post-diluvian daughter of Noah, according to the genealogy in Book II. Her son was Scytha Priscus, there being a later Araxa (Araxa Iunior, Nanni, commentary on the genealogy in Book II, fol. CXIIb) and a later Scytha (Scytha Iunior) begotten on Araxa Iunior by Hercules Libycus, ibid. The “x” in the name Araxa, the eponymus of the Araxes River, is the Greek “xi” which is itself a transcription of the Semitic samekh. The latter is commonly exchanged for shin (“sh”), which is tav (“t”) in Aramaic, and for zayin (“z”), which can be exchanged for daleth (“d”). Nanni himself in his commentary (fol. CIXa) says: “Ararat is the preferred name amongst the Hebrews, Araxat amongst the Aramaeans, and Araxes amongst the Greeks and Romans.” Thus Araxa might represent an original Arat(a) or Arad(a) (arat/arad > arash/araz/aras > arax). As it happens this is identical to the Sumerian Arad or Arat, spelled with the signs LAM×KUR, which is the name of the land Aratta, the ancient Scythian homeland. The same signs also spell the name of what the Sumerians called the “esh” tree, that is the almond, which the Semitic-speaking Akkadians translated “shuqdu” or “shiqdu,” almond. This latter word is reminiscent of the Greek Skuthes and the Latin Scytha, the eponymus of the Scythians. Traditionally it was believed the Scythians were named after sagittarius, Latin, the shooter of sagitta, an “arrow” (Turmair, Germania Illustrata, ed. Leidinger, Munich, 1908, p. 114), and the Akkadian shukudu (= shuqdu = elamaku = Aratta, see §419, above, >>, §456, above, >>), which has precisely the same consonantal structure as the Latin sagitta, means “arrow” and the “arrow-star” Sirius. In other words Araxa is “Aratta” the mother “Almond Tree” of the “Almond-people” or “Arrow people” (the “Shuqdu” or Scythians) of the land of Aratta (named after her), who settled the highlands north and eastwards of Mesopotamia. The later Araxa (Araxa Iunior), the consort of Hercules Libycus, is doubtless the goddess of Aratta, called the “Lady of Aratta” (a form of Inana, Ishtar, Venus), believed to be incarnated in the priestess of the goddess, who consorted with Ama-ushumgal-ana (= Ieoud, Djet, Arueris, Hercules Libycus), believed to be incarnated similarly in the king of Aratta. Further on the “almond” (shuqdu = shukudu) and the name Lamech (Aratta), see §456, above, >>, and as the seed from which sprang Attis, §349.0.0.1, above, >>. The Greek traditions could be construed to imply the existence of two Echidnas, as there are two Araxas in the Defloratio. What is said of the first (Araxa Prisca in the Defloratio) is identical to what is related concerning the origin of the Scythians in Diodorus Siculus II. 43, as Nanni points out in his commentary (fol. CXIIb): Zeus engenders on a woman, half-human, half-snake, similar to the Echidna of Herodotus (infra), a son Skuthes (= Scytha Priscus), who begets Ploutos (Prutus), otherwise spelled Palos, and Napes (Napis). Prutus in the Defloratio, the Ploutos/Palos of Diodorus, is the eponymus of the Pruteni, viz. the Prussians, Poles and Russians. The second Araxa is the mother by Hercules Libycus (not Zeus) of Scytha Junior. Araxa here is, as Nanni points out in his commentary (fol. CXIIb), the Echidna of Herodotus IV. 9. 1ff. She is half-human, half-serpent in form, and the mother of three sons. Her last son, Skuthes (Scytha), the eponymus of the Scythians, is promoted to the chief position as founding father of the Scythian royal line on account of his martial abilities. One Araxes is said also to have been the father of Echidna (the marble relief of the Reposing Herakles from the Villa Albani, Jahn, Bilderchroniken, p. 72), and this Echidna, the mother by Herakles of Agathursos and Skuthes. Echidna daughter of Araxes must be the Araxa Junior of the Defloratio, and the Echidna of Herodotus, not only because the woman’s father is Araxes, not Noa-Janus, and her divine consort Herakles, not Zeus, but also because two of the offspring of Araxa Junior and Echidna daughter of Araxes are the same as two of Echidna’s offspring in Herodotus, viz. Agathursos (Agatyrsus) and Skuthes (Scytha). In the Polish chronicle of Procosius, Echidna/Araxa II is called Nya, and is the mother of three sons by Hercules Liby(c)us, including Scytha, as is the Echidna of Herodotus. Nya has both a male and female form, the male being identified with the Classical chthonic god Pluto, and the female with the Classical chthonic goddess Ceres/Proserpina (mother Ceres and daughter Proserpina being commonly fused into a single goddess in the later Roman mythology).}

888.14. Sabatius Saga was appointed Sovereign Pontiff in the region which extends from Armenia to Bactria, and which is still called Scythia Saga. Last of all, Janus left Armenia to plant colonies all over the world.

888.15. Such are the facts which our ancestors have handed down to us in a great number of books. We will now proceed to the recital of their annals and those of their descendants, following the accounts which are carefully and correctly reported in our Chaldean and in our early Scythian histories.

 

889. THE FIFTH BOOK.

As we said before, in the 131st year after the human race had been saved from the plague of waters, the Babylonian Empire commenced during the life of our Saturn (Nymbrotus), who reigned for 56 years, and was the father of Jupiter Belus.

889.1. In the tenth year of the reign of Nymbrotus, Comerus Gallus established various colonies in the country which has since been called Italy. He gave the country its name, and taught its inhabitants to observe the laws and be just.

889.2. In the twelfth year, Jubal founded the empire of the Celtiberians. Soon after, Samothes, who is also Dis, established the Celts {Mordaque, following Salverté, wrongly translates: “Samothes established the colonies of the Dis-Celts”}; no one at that period could vie with him in wisdom, hence his name, Samothes.

{To continue with the text of the Defloratio Berosi, omitting the following note, go to §889.3 here.}

889.2.1. {Note on Samothes: Samothes or Samotes surnamed Dis in the Defloratio is the eponymus of the Celtic philosophers known as Semnotheoi (as though “Semnotheos” > Samothes), the founder of the British and Gallic sect of that name. The British Isles hosted their chief sanctuaries. (Defloratio genealogy fol. CXIb, text fol CXIXb, commentary fol. CXXa.) For the line of Samothes in France and Britain see §897.5ff., below, >>. The Celtic priesthood in the Roman era, and probably from early times, practiced human sacrifice of the type associated traditionally with Mouth-Plouto-Dis. The form of the founding patriarch’s name in the Defloratio is an Oriental representation of the name, transcribed into Latin (via Armenian); otherwise it would have appeared simply as “Semnotheus.” The Semnotheoi were so named after the “awesome [semnos] god or gods [theos]” of the underworld and death (Dis, Hades, Plouto). The Greek semnos, “awesome,” is formed from the root seb/m = “be awestruck,” which is identical in form and meaning to the Hebrew and Egyptian sh/s-m, whence the ancient Egyptian “Semty” = Mut/Mouth = Plouto, §626.7, above, >>. The Celts actually traced their descent from Dis, the god of the Underworld. The Defloratio represents this same Dis, otherwise Samothes, as the son of Japheth-Iapetus-Atlas, the son of Caelum-Noah. Samot[h]es features in the Bayerische Chronik of Johannes Turmair (Aventinus), dating from Nanni’s own generation, as the third of the three princes of the Antiquities of Philo present at the Shinar Tower (Philo, Antiquities, ed. trans. Gaster, IV. 2f., V. 4, etc., VII), that is, as the head of the Japhethite tribes. In the Philonic Antiquities these are Nimrod (for the Hamites), Joktan (for the Semites), and Phenech (for the Japhethites). In the Bayerische Chronik (ed. Lexer, Lib. I cap. 8) these are Nimrod, Ister and Samotes, and in the same writer’s Germania Illustrata (ed. Leidinger, Munich, 1908, p. 109), Nimbrotus (“grandson of Ham”), Ister (“son of Eber son of Shelah son of Arphaxad son of Shem son of Noah”) and Dis-Samotes (“son of Japheth”). Here the forms of the latter two names are the same as in the Defloratio, viz. Ister for Joktan, and Samotes, standing for the Philonic Phenech. However, neither the Defloratio nor Nanni’s commentary make any mention of the Philonic trio at the Tower or of Philo’s Phenech. Turmair obtained the reference from an independent source, presumably an extract from Philo’s Antiquities in some medieval chronicle. Occasionally Turmair specifies which manuscript, manuscripts or other authorities he drew on for his material (e.g. Germania Illustrata, ed. Leidinger, Munich, 1908, pp. 111, 115, 118, 124, 126 etc.), but that is not the case regarding the three princes at the Tower. Still, in Turmair, Samothes of the Defloratio is the Phenech of Philo, and therefore also the Phinehas of Sefer ha-Zikhronot (Jerahmeel), and the Phenius Farsaid of the Irish chronicles. The earliest pre-Defloratio source cited in other authors for Samothes’ arrival in Europe, and for his subsequent history there, is the 12th century Descriptio De Utriusque Britanniae of “Conradius” Salsburiensis, see infra. Phenius Farsaid in the Irish sources, like Samothes in the Defloratio, is a very learned man, a descendant of Japheth, via Javan (son of Japheth), Rifath (son of Gomer son of Japheth) or Magog (son of Japheth), and head of the Japhethites at the Tower, who migrates latterly to the Celtic lands, and founds a school of philosophy, writing and law in the West. Samothes similarly imparted writing, philosophy and law to the Celts before the Greeks obtained their script from Cadmus, Defloratio, commentary, fo. XXXVIa, CXXab, CXXIIb. The script of Samothes is called the “Saga” (Scythian, what we would call Sumerian) and “Phoenician” (Canaanite) writing, commentary, fo. CXXIIb.

889.2.2. “Phenech,” or “Pheneth,” appears in the Antiquities of Philo (1st century AD, Philo, Antiquities, ed. trans. Gaster, IV. 2f., V. 4, etc., VII, following MSS. which transcribe the final -th as -ch, “Phenech”), then in Sefer ha-Zikhronot of Elazar ben Levi (the Chronicles of Jerahmeel) and other medieval chronicles, including Irish ones (in the form “Phaneg,” “Phinehas” [Pîneḥās, this form in the Hebrew Sefer ha-Zikhronot], “Fenius” or “Phenius,” titled Farsa or Farsaid), the person so named being the chief of the Japhethites at the Shinar Tower. Nimrod is named in the Antiquities and the dependent literature as chief of the Hamites, Joktan as chief of the Semites, and “Phinehas, Phenech, Pheneth etc.” as chief of the Japhethites. For more on Phenius (= Phenech), ancestor of the Gaels of Ireland, see §892ff., below, >>, and the following paragraph. Though the form of the name in the original text underlying the extant Latin of Philo’s Antiquities is uncertain, the initial consonants p-n- (as they would be transcribed if the ultimate source of the name was Semitic) are well attested. In late medieval chronicles the Phenech of Philo’s Antiquities, the third prince and head of the Japhethites at the Shinar Tower, is called Samothes (unnamed sources cited in Turmair’s early 16th century Germania Illustrata, ut cit. supra). Phinehas (Phenius) is traced from Rifath in Irish tradition, Rifath (son of Gomer son of Japheth) being the ancestor of the Britons of Brittany, according to Yosippon ([Book I] Pereq 1), and consequently the same as the eponymus Brito: Bochart thought Yosippon’s meaning was that the national name Brit- arose from Rifath by transposition of the first and second consonants, r-y-p-t > p-r-y-t (Geographia Sacra, 1681, col. 199), cf. Welsh Prydein = Britain. Samothes is the eponymous ancestor of the Celtic priesthood of the Samothei = Semnotheoi, the priests of Dis, and the ultimate ancestor of the Gauls and Britons. The earliest source cited for the migration of Samothes, Noah and other Japhethites, from Asia Minor to Gaul and the further West, — though the text itself has been lost since the 17th century, — is the 12th century Descriptio De Utriusque Britanniae of “Conradius” (see the note infra) Salberiensis, the “almoner” of Henry II of England, “lib. IV cap. vi,” cited in the Episemasie ov Gazette of Aletin le Martyr, Nantes, 1637, pp. 27 and 11f.. P. 11f. Art. XIII: “…. the ancient and primeval gods of the Bretons and of the Gauls … were the aforesaid Noah and his wife, Vesta. The reason is … Little Britain [Brittany] was the first region of Gaul which was re-peopled, inasmuch as, having departed from Armenia to go and re-people Europe along with his son Japheth, Dis Samothes and Gomer, the children of the aforesaid Japheth, and having traversed the seas to do this, he disembarked and sojourned first, says Conradianus {sic} the Archdeacon of Salisbury, at the same place where is presently located the city of Nantes, and he left there many colonies, who were to re-people first the whole country of Armorica [Brittany], along with the whole of Normandy, which was a dependency thereof in those earliest times, and thereafter the whole of Gaul, of which he ordained the aforesaid Japheth king, and after him the aforesaid Samothes, having established their royal seat in the location where he disembarked and sojourned first.” P. 27 Art. XXXII: “ …. he believes that Noah came to our Britain [Brittany] with his children Shem, Japheth, Gomer and Dis Samothes, by some called Mozoch and Mezech [Meshech], not only because the historian Conradianus {sic}, who wrote his history in the time of Henry I {sic}, king of England, has positively asserted that, and following him, Jean le Maire, Belleforest and Monsieur Roüillard: but also on account of the precise and mature consideration of the signification of these words …..” Moreau de Mautour in the Mémoires de Trévoux, January 1707, discussed the discovery in 1580 of an inscription naming the god Volianus worshiped at Nantes, and referred to a passage from “Conradianus” to explain it: “To confirm that the ancient inhabitants of Nantes could have worshiped Noah under the name of Volianus, one might repeat what Conradianus bishop of Salisbury {sic} has alleged in relation thereto in Book 4 of his Description of Britain, Both Places So Called, printed at London: ‘Now Noah, going under the name Volianus in the most illustrious temple in Gaul, is said to have arrived by ship and to have been brought to Nantes on the Loire.’” Latin of “Conradianus”: “Nannetis vero ad Ligerim Noa, sub Voliani nomine, in famosissimo apud Gallos templo, advectus et adhibitus fertur.” The same Latin quotation appears in the above mentioned Episemasie p. 71, Art. XCI, citing Conradius lib. 4. descriptionis vtriusque Britanniae cap. 6., and reading famatissimo instead of famosissimo. Historically, the area around the mouth of the Loire was the birthplace of megalithic culture in Europe: the three thousand or so menhirs of Carnac are located just over 64 miles by dirt track in a westerly direction from where the Loire empties into the Bay of Biscay. Most of the stones were erected in Carnac around 2300-2200 BC (Biblical and uncalibrated radiocarbon date, corresponding to the commonly accepted, but erroneous, calibrated date c. 3300 BC), and long predate Stonehenge. Carnac, clearly, was the “most illustrious temple in Gaul” where Noah was worshiped under the name of Volianus, according to “Conradius.” The date corresponds exactly to the period immediately after the dispersion from Babel, which is the traditional era of Noah’s voyage to the West. Sanchuniathon’s Ouranos (= Noah) was famed for having devised Baitulia (stone-pillars) of precisely this type, see §389, above, >>, and §310 subsection 2, above, >>. This was also the era of Phinehas-Samothes, the “astronomer” and founder of the Druidic philosophy. The size and antiquity of the megalithic site, as well as its astronomical alignments, add weight to what might otherwise be discarded, without consideration, as an unsubstantiated medieval tradition. (On the authenticity of the references to Conradius, also spelled Conradianus etc., see Bizeul in Annales de la Société royale académique de Nantes, 1836, 7e Volume, p 153ff., De Conradianus etc.)

Note on “Conradianus”: The name is variously spelled Conradianus, Conradinus, Conrad, Conradus, Conradius, Coradianus, Coradinus, and Corradus. This otherwise unknown author, given the epithet Salisburiensis, seems actually to have been Johannes “Salisburiensis” (John of Salisbury). See Beale Post on Richard of Cirencester in The Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. XXVII New Series, London, 1847, April 1847, pp. 377-382, esp. p. 381f. John of Salisbury was indeed a cancellarius (usher) of Henry II of England, then later episcopus (bishop) of Chartres on the Loire, in Latin “episcopus Carnotinus,” from the Latin name of Chartres, Carnutes, Carnutum or Carnotum. Perhaps Carnotinus has been corrupted to Conradinus etc. A more probable hypothesis is that the word “conradius, conradianus” is not a personal but a common noun, from the word “conredium,” also spelled “conradium, corredum,” etc., which means “pittance, distribution of food.” Albert le Grand explains who this “Conradus” was (citation infra) by describing him as the “almoner” of Henry II. “Almoner” would be an appropriate interpretation of the Latin adjectival noun “conradus,” which the more reliable Moreau de Mautour spelled “Conradianus:” viz. the man who dealt out the “conradia,” the pittances or allowances of food to the poor. Cancellarius means literally “usher, secretary,” a man who stood between the judge or other official and the public at the “lattice” (chancel) gate, one of his tasks being to dispense alms to the needy at the instruction of the king’s finance officer. At the beginning of his catalog of the bishops of Tréguier, Albert le Grand cites a passage from the Descriptio Utiusque Britanniae “ of “Salsburienis” relating to Drennalus the disciple of Joseph of Arimatheia: “Drennalus … was the disciple of the noble decurion Joseph of Arimatheia … as Conradus Archidiaconus Salsburiensis{sic} says in the Description of Britain, Both Places So Called [in Descriptione utriusque Britanniae] book 9, chapter 56, where he says ….,” and Albert adds the information: “This Conradus was almoner of Henry, the father of Duke Geoffrey, husband of the Duchess Constance, on whose instruction he composed this book in the year 1167.”

Lines of megaliths at Carnac

Nantes on the Loire (large red circle bottom right) Carnac (large orange circle middle left)

Loire River-system illustrating its wide extent and geographical importance

 

Perhaps Albert felt the need to explain the otherwise unattested use of the word “Conradus” (conradius, conradianus) as an adjectival noun, which is presumably how he found it in his source, by using the phrases “Conradus Archidiaconus,” the “Pittance-distributing Arch-deacon” and “almoner” (French Aumosnier). The quotation concerning Noah was taken by him from a manuscript, not a printed book, and the text was admitted as evidence by the erudite and respected antiquarian Moreau de Mautour at the beginning of the 18th century, who quotes the passage supra relating to Noah-Volianus in Nantes. The manuscript contained the work “Descriptio de Utriusque Britanniae” or “The Description of Britain, Both Places So Called” (whence the Noah citations were drawn). The latter is said by Moreau to have been printed some unstated time previously in London. This printed work was doubtless the “Description of Britain” extracted from Higden’s Polychronicon and printed by Caxton in London in 1480: Higden’s Polychronicon included material from Johannes Salisburiensis, and actually was sometimes called, not Polychronicon, but Polycraticon, the latter being identical to the title of John of Salisbury’s most famous work. The manuscript may be presumed to have been a version of the aforesaid Polychronicon’s Descriptio Britanniae containing a citation from Johannes Salisburiensis on Noa at Nantes, introduced by some such notification of authorship as “Salisburiensis,” with the addition of the title “Conradianus.” Such occasional notifications of authorship appear throughout the Polychronicon. They are elucidated in the Polychronicon itself by reference to the list of cited authors at the beginning of the work, which includes Johannes Salisburiensis in the standard texts. Camden is said (Bizeul, ibid., p. 160, n. 1) to have quoted “Conradianus” (by which we should therefore understand Salsburiensis) as he does indeed cite John of Salisbury’s Polycraticon (e.g. Camden, Remaines concerning Britaine, London 1614, p. 264f.). This perhaps explains the fruitlessness of the kind of search undertaken by Francisque-Michel in 1834 (Bizeul, ibid., p. 160) for a citation in Camden of “Conradianus” ipso nomine.

Samothes is a divine name = Gk. Semno-theos, the “awesome god,” meaning the god of death and of the underworld from whom the Gauls traced their descent, Latinized as “Dis” by Caesar. That the name Samothes was derived from the title Semno-theos applied to Dis is indicated by the compound form “Dissamotes” found in Turmair (Germania Illustrata, ut cit. supra, p. 109). Phineus qua Phoinix (as in Eusebius, see infra, §889.2.3, below, >>) might easily become identified with the god of the underworld, Phineus = Phoinix = Canaan = Al Khidr = Hermes = Anubis = Dis = Samothes (Semno-theos), or Phineus = Phoinix = Ogyges (Defloratio, ed. 1512, fol. XXXVb) = Kadmos = Hermes (§354.3, above, >>) = Anubis = Dis = Samothes (Semno-theos, §889.2.3, below, >>). The Celtic priests (termed “magi” in medieval Christian writers) named this god Aedd, “Fire,” and knew him as the ultimate ancestor of the Britons: Aedd Mawr, “Aedd the Great,” father of Prydein. Prydein, the eponymus of Britain in Cymric sources (= Latin Britannus), is dated some time around the early or middle second millennium BC, before the occupation of the island c. 1100 BC by Brutus/Brito, the eponymus of Britain in the alternative medieval Welsh tradition, and appears dated to that same era in traditional lists of the descendants of Samothes, §897.5ff., below, >>: in the latter, Britannus is the brother of Lucus, son of the Defloratio’s Bardus II, a descendant of Samothes, or otherwise a brother of the Defloratio’s Lemanus (Hercules Alemannus), likewise a descendant of Samothes through a Samothean princess wedded to Lemanus’ progenitor Hercules Libycus. Dis Samothes is both the god of underworld fire, and the third, Japhethite, prince at the Shinar Tower. Phenius Farsaid, too, though nothing more than human in the traditional Irish accounts, plays the same role of the inventor of the Ogham script as Ogma “sun-face” of the Tuatha De Danann (a tribe which invaded Ireland in the second millennium BC), the leading lights amongst whom, including Ogma, were treated as gods by the Irish. The name Ogma is found attached in Lucian of Samosata (2nd century AD) to the Celtic god of underworld fire “Herakles Ogmios,” who is depicted conducting souls into the otherworld by means of golden chains (eloquent words) proceeding from his mouth. Hercules (Gk. Herakles) is the Chaldaean Mars, that is, Nergal, god of the underworld fire, and Ogmios a form of Dis. We can conclude prince Phinehas was the chief of the Japhethites at the Shinar Tower, and was identified with the god of underworld fire (Celtic Aedd, Graeco-Celtic Semnotheos [“Samothes”], Herakles Ogmios, Latino-Celtic Dis, etc.).

889.2.3. The figure known as Phinehas in Sefer ha-Zikhronot (Jerahmeel), Phenech or Pheneth in the Philonic Antiquities, and Phenius in the Irish chronicles, is described as chief of the Japhethite tribes at the time of the Tower of Babel. The Irish Phenius is prince of Mygdonia (Bithynia). The Greeks called him “Phineus” of Bithynia, see §892ff., below, >>. Phineus, king and founding father of the Bithynians, was the Greek eponymus of the region known as Phineion, and of the town Phinopolis, in Pontus. Pontus was originally co-extensive with Bithynia, but later became equivalent to the term Cappadocia (= Caphtor) in its broader sense. The name Phineus always takes the form Phoinix in Eusebius, and this Phoinix is the son of the earlier Phoinix (Eliezer), the son of Agenor (Canaan), or the son of Agenor son of Belos or the son of Belos. Phineus was also a descendant of Mash son of Aram son of Shem by the following line of descent: Mash father of Nimrod (Masudi), and Nimrod (Kronos) of Picus-Zeus, father of Libya, mother of Agenor (Peri Theon, John of Antioch, ed. Muller, FHG IV, p. 544, frag. 6. 14, 15), father of Phineus. Phineus, accordingly, might receive the eponymus Mash by inheritance, as a descendant of Mash. (See further on this infra, Phineus called “Mash/Meshech.”) Phineus is an eponymous title meaning the “Phoenician” or “Canaanite” prince of Bithynia or Pontus, and represents the admixture of Canaanites in the clan of Haig at Mazaca, through Eliezer son of Canaan, alternatively son of Nimrod, the latter being treated as a son of Mash (Masudi), as well as of Cush. Phoinix is the Phinehas (Heb. Pîneḥās = Gk. Phoinix) of Sefer ha-Zikhronot (Jerahmeel), as Phineus is the Irish Phenius, prince of Mygdonia (Bithynia).

889.2.3.1. Phineus is described as the father of Thynus, the eponymus of the Thynii or Bithynians, and of Mysus, the eponymus of the Mysians. The Mysians are identified with Meshech (son of Japheth) in the Targums (Jastrow, Talmudic Dictionary s.v. Musya). Originally, however, they were Semites of the line of Mash (Mash = Mysus in the Defloratio Berosi) son of Aram son of Shem: they became merged with the similarly named Japhethite tribe of Meshech in Phrygia. The Phrygian Mazaca, where the Armenian descendants of Haig settled, and amongst them members of the family of Eliezer (a Mashite by descent from Nimrod), was so named after the Japhethite Meshech (Josephus). The mingling in this area of the tribes of Mash and Meshech might explain why the form Mash for the son of Aram in the Hebrew Scriptures alternates with the form Meshech (Gen. 10. 23, “Mash” son of Aram, I Chron. 1. 17, “Meshech” son of Aram). Phineus was, in this sense, the founding father of “Meshech” (Mysus), viz. of the Meshechites or Mysians tracing their descent through his line, and could therefore be termed “Meshech” himself (see §782, above, >>, “Meshech” for “father of Meshech”), as well as “Mash/Meshech” by inheritance of the eponymus through his descent from Nimrod-Kronos “son of Mash” (supra).

889.2.3.2. Since Phenech = Meshech, and Phenech = Samothes, it would not be surprising to find Samothes equated with Meshech. In a loose citation of the earliest source known to have mentioned Samothes, outside of the Defloratio, Samothes is said also to have been called Meshech. The source is the 12th century Descriptio De Utriusque Britanniae of “Conradius” Salsberiensis already referred to, “lib. IV cap. vi,” and the non-verbatim citation from that work is found in the Episemasie ov Gazette of Aletin le Martyr, Nantes, 1637, pp. 27 and 11. The identification of Samothes with Meshech is found also in Holinshed’s 16th century Chronicle (Book I. ch. 2), stated as an accepted fact, and commonly thereafter in English antiquarian literature. That Samothes was not the original patriarch Meshech, son of Japheth, himself, is proven by the fullest genealogical information supplied about him, that is, in the Defloratio Berosi of Giovanni Nanni. There Samothes is represented as an additional son to the seven sons of Japheth mentioned in Genesis, one of the latter being Meshech (“Moscus,” as his name is written in the Defloratio), the eponymus of the Meshechites or “Moschi” of Mazaca in Asia Minor.

889.2.3.3. However, in the earliest source for the consonantal form of the eponym p-n-, viz. the Antiquities of Philo, “Phenech” (Phineus) has nothing overtly to do with Meshech, but is son of Dudeni, that is, of the Javanite Dodanim, or Dardanians. In Classical myth the Bithynian Phineus (father of the Mysians = “Meshech/Mash”), married Idaea daughter of Dardanus, the eponymus of the Dardanians, and was therefore identically the “son” (son-in-law) of Dardanus (= Dodanim). (Javan begot Dodanim = Dardanians, Gen. 10. 4, in the sense that Dardanus married Bateia, of the clan of Cecrops of Athens, and begot Erichthonius [Gk. Erichthonios]; this Erichthonius was identified in antiquity [Strabo XIII. 1. 48] with Ericthonius or Erechtheus of Athens, whose daughter Creusa married Xuthus [Gk. Xouthos], son of Hellen [Hellen = Javan as the eponymus of Greece], by whom she engendered Ion [the eponymus of the Ionians = Javanites] and Achaeus. Thus Javan [Hellen = Javan] was the ancestor of [begot] Creusa’s children, who were Dardanians [Dodanim] through their mother.) Phineus was now a Javanite (“Javan”), as well as a Meshechite (“Meshech”), “Phenech the son of Dudeni.”

889.2.3.4. The title Javan, accordingly, is also found attached to Samothes (= Phinehas, Phenech, Phineus) in Breton and French traditions drawing on late medieval sources. Antiquarian lore at the beginning of the Renaissance represented several cities in France as having been founded by Samothes and his circle. Anthoine Couillard in the 1550s identified the city-building Samothes with “Javan,” and set him in a Fourth Son of Noah context. Again, the Defloratio Berosi suggests this equation was not, in the underlying tradition, intended to mean Samothes was the original patriarch Javan, the son of Japheth, since Samothes is introduced in the Defloratio as an additional son to the Biblical seven (significantly as Japheth’s “fourth son,” ousting the Biblical Javan from that fourth position), and Javan is listed alongside Samothes as the eighth son, “Ion.” In the Armenian Chronological History of Mkhithar (trans. Brosset, 1869, p. 31) the Bretons/Britons are said to be descended from Noah’s fourth son (“Maniton” = Yonton).

889.2.3.5. Couillard says Javan was “surnamed” Samothes (op. cit infra, p. 205), and he uses the identical phraseology when referring a little later (ibid., p. 238) to Shem “surnamed” Melchizedek. In the latter case we know there were two understandings of the relationship between the person bearing what Couillard terms a surname and the surname itself: 1) Shem was the same person as Melchizedek; alternatively 2) Melchizedek received the title “Shem” from his ancestor Shem. Here in relation to the tradition drawn on by Couillard we should understand Samothes to have been the descendant of Javan (Samothes = Phenech son of Dudeni [Philonic Antiquities], Dudeni = Dodanim the descendants of Javan, Gen. 10. 4), who received the eponymus by inheritance from his ancestor. Likewise in respect of the Biblical eponymus Meshech.

889.2.3.6. The identification of the Philonic Phenech (Phinehas) with Ashkenaz son of Gomer son of Japheth (e.g. in Beuter, Cronica generale d’Hispagna, 1556, p. 52) can be explained the same way: viz. Phineus “of Meshech” was also of the tribe of Ashkenaz, since the Armenians in the line of Haig, according to John Catholicos (I. 4, 6, 7, trans. Saint-Matin, Histoire d’Armenie, Paris, 1841, p. 5ff.) were Ashkenaz “of the house of Togarmah.” Thus Phineus might also receive the eponymous title “Ashkenaz,” from his incorporation into the family of Haig at Mazaca. Similarly Samothes is called Ashkenaz, or otherwise a “son of Ashkenaz” (Charron, Histoire universelle, 1621, p. 50f., and Bellecombe, Histoire universelle, Ptie. 2, Tom. 2, Vol. 2, 1856, p. 89). By the same principle Phenius is identified with Rifath “Scot,” the ancestor of the Scots or Scythians, and is alternatively represented as a descendant of Rifath, in the Irish Lebor Gabala Erenn (§897.1, below, >>).

889.2.3.7. According to Couillard (Les Antiquitez et Singularitez du Monde, first ed. 1557, the edition used here, Lyon, 1578, p. 307ff.), Samothes-Javan migrated from Asia Minor to France, and there founded the city of Sens (named after the Gallic tribe Senones = Semnones, who took their name, according to Couillard, from Semno-theos = Samothes) on the River Yonne. The river was so called after Samothes-Javan’s “uncle,” Ionicus (Ionton), the eponymus of the Ionians, and fourth son of Noah, who taught Samothes-Javan astrology, philosophy and science. Javan here = Ioniton, Ionicus, Janus etc. Samothes-Javan also founded Autun (id., ibid., p. 321ff.).

889.2.3.8. Autun was the metropolis of the Celtic Aedui, whose name is commonly derived from aidhu = Aedd, “Fire,” the god of underworld fire, viz. Dis-Samothes. Thus Hughes (Horae Britannicae, vol. I., London, 1818, p. 78) believed Aedd Mawr, father of Prydein (Britain), the founder of the British race in Welsh tradition, was simply Samothes “father of the Aedui” or the eponymous Aedd of Autun. The tribe of the Aedui inhabited Britain as well as Gaul. Aedd (pronounced “ay” like the long “a” in “face”) was anglicized as Hugh or Hu; and Hu Gadarn, Hu “the Mighty,” was the leader of the Cymry (traditionally understood to mean Gomerites) who first inhabited the island of Britain. According to the Welsh Triads (Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, 1870, Triads 54,56, 4, 5) Hu brought his people from the “Summer Land” called Taprobane (Sri Lanka), “where is now the city of Constantinople,” across the “Hazy Ocean” (the North Sea) to the British Isles. As Noah (accompanied by Samothes) is said to have traveled on his raft after the Flood to India in the far east as well as to Brittany in the far west (Couillard ut cit. supra), and Phenius Farsaid migrated westwards from the region around the exit to the Black Sea (at the future site of Constantinople), Hu’s itinerary, as might be expected, is identical to that of Samothes-Phinehas.

889.2.3.9. Nanni in his commentary to the Defloratio Book IV, fol. CXVIb (repeated by Jean le Maire de Belges, Illustrations de Gaule etc., livre 1, Oevres, ed. Louvain 1882, tom. 1er, p. 26f., whom Couillard followed, and Nauclerus in his Chronicon, 1564, tom. I, gen. x, p. 7 etc.) cites “Philo the Hebrew” (viz. the Philonic Antiquities) as his authority for the sea-journey of Janus-Noa and his sons. By this he means, evidently, scholia on or expansions of the following statement in the Philonic Antiquities (IV. 3): “And these {the sons of Japheth and their descendants} are they who were dispersed and settled amongst the Persians and Monadae, on the islands which are in the sea. And Phenech son of Dudeni commanded that ships of the sea be constructed, and then was a third part of the earth divided.” This is dated to the period running up to the 340th year after the Flood (V. 3), and implies any subsequent work of Noah in “dividing the earth” was completed within a period of ten years, since Noah lived a total of 350 years only after the Flood (V. 8). Nanni says: “In that period, as Philo the Hebrew {the Philonic Antiquities} records on the multiplication of the human race, Janus himself with his three sons and many colonies went on the sea and surveyed on boats [Latin ratibus, rafts, boats] all the circumference of the Mediterranean Sea, showing first to Shem all the coasts of Asia from the Tanais through the Bosporus to the Egyptian Nile, and to Cameses {Ham} from the Nile the coast of Africa to the far reaches of the Ocean {the ancient term Ocean could include the Indian Ocean as well as the Atlantic} and of Cadiz, and to Iapetus all the coasts of Europe from Cadiz to the Tanais. And he sent the first colonies to the individual regions around the shore. And by the tenth year after he departed from the Tanais he had returned to the same place, having surveyed the sea and placed the first colonies, and on his return to Scythia he appointed other colonies.” Couillard’s account is a more expanded version of the same material.

According to Couillard, ut cit. sup. p. 256ff. ch. xxxvi: 104 years after the Inundation, Noah and his sons embarked on their voyage. Ch. xxxvii: they set out from the Tanais (Don) debouching from the Rifath or Riphaean mountains, which separated Europe from Asia. Ch. xxxviii: Shem’s territory: they first sailed through the Black Sea, then on through the Hellespont, past Tenedos, through the Aegean and Icarian seas, the Myrtoan sea, and the islands off Lycia, the islands near Syria, and the island of Cyprus, through the Hyrcanian sea, the sea of Abacuc (the Caspian), to the Arabian Gulf, to the islands of the Red Sea in the Sachalites Sinus (Kuria Muria Bay), and the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean on the meridian, to the islands of the Anthropophagi (cannibals), the islands of the Satyrs, and the islands of the great eastern Ocean, viz. the principal maritime regions surrounding Asia, comprising the territory of Shem.. Ch. xxxix: Ham’s territory: they next traveled round the coasts of Africa, including the Gulf of Avalitis (the Red Sea around the straits of Mandeb) and Aromata Promontorium (Cape Guardafui), to the Barbary coast and the neighboring islands off the land of the Berbers and Africans, through the Mediterranean Sea, the islands of the Sirens, the islands of the Sea of Egypt, and the islands of the great Western Ocean adjoining Africa, and the region of Gibraltar, to the Fortunate Islands or Canaries, and the islands off Libya and to the islands of the great western sea and the Gulf of Africa. Ch. xl-xli: Japheth’s territory: they then sailed through the seas and islands of Europe, viz. the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, including those around Crete, the islands of Achaea in Southern Greece, the Cyclades, the islands off Epirus and Macedonia in the Ionian and Aegean Seas, the islands off Thrace, and the western Bosporus, the Aegean Islands, the islands off Mysia in the Black Sea, the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, the Ionian Sea, the islands of the Ligurian Sea, the islands of Liburnia, Dalmatia, the Barbary islands, the islands of the sea of Gallia Narbonensis, where the chief patriarch caused a certain number of people to disembark and retire to the regions along the Rhone and in Languedoc, the islands in the Ocean (Atlantic) off Hispania Tarraconnensis, the islands of the great western Ocean or Atlantic, and of the great German Ocean, the islands neighboring England, Scotland, Ireland, Zeeland next to Denmark, the Trinovantes Islands (Sheppey and Thanet), and finally through the Tyrrhenian Sea to Italy, where the great patriarch disembarked on the banks of a river which he called the Janiculum (the Tiber), rested for a while, and left a small number of people in the 106th year after the Inundation. Chap. xlii: He gave on the banks of the Tiber an exhortatory and instructional address to the Italian colonists. Chap. xliii: Then he departed by sea on his return journey to Armenia, accompanied only by his three pre-diluvian sons and by a few other special favorites, who were destined to carry out great designs which he kept secret for the present. Passing by the site of Constantinople, they entered the mouth of the Tanais from which they had departed, and from there traveled on to Armenia. In the homeland they were greeted joyfully by the women-folk they had left behind. This was the 108th year after the Inundation. Subsequently, after sending his three sons to their respective realms, Noah decided to embark on a second journey (chap. lxviii), leaving Sabatius Saga, son of Cush by Noah’s daughter Araxa Senior {sic in Couillard}, as governor of Armenia, Araxa herself remaining with her son Sabatius as co-regent (chap. lxix). {The following itinerary is basically the same as that of Janus-Noa in the Defloratio, but has a few variations of its own and additional contextual matter.} Noah left for Hyrcania in Asia, departing by sea, in the 177th year after the Inundation, accompanied by his wife Titea and a great number of his offspring; he founded many cities there including the metropolis Hyrcania, Adrapsa {= Bactra, Balkh (Münster, Cosmographiae Universalis Libri VI, 1552, p. 1049, Cunningham in Numismatic Chronicle N.S. VIII, 1868, p. 107)}, and Sacoe {presumably for Sacae (Münster, ibid., p. 1051f.)} (chap. lxx). He left some people there as colonists under one of his Titan sons, and departed in his ships and vessels in the 213th year after the Inundation (chap. lxxiii). He traveled to Mesopotamia, where he stayed a considerable time, and to Arabia Felix, where he founded a number of cities, and regulated their political affairs. He departed Arabia Felix in the 243rd year after the Inundation (chap. lxxv). Triton {son of Saba Turifer son of Cur/Cush in the Defloratio} described here as a son of Sabatius {Sabatius being the brother of Saba Turifer) invited Noah to visit him in Libya, as he passed on his way, and Noah did so, imparting to his offspring there the benefits of his wisdom and government (chap. lxxix). In the year 259 after the Inundation Noah departed for Spain, which was under the control of his grandson Tubal, leaving Hammon, the son of the deceased king Triton to rule the kingdom of Africa (chap. lxxxvi). Having heard from Samothes of the misgovernment of Italy under the influence of Ham, who had proceeded thither on the death of Gomer, the country’s first ruler, Noah decided to travel to Italy by way of Gaul, and to visit Samothes on the way (chap. lxxxvii). Noah and his entourage embarked for Gaul, arrived at the site now occupied by Bordeaux, passed through Aquitaine and came to the Loire. He crossed the river at the site of Orleans, and went on to the capital of the Senones. There he was entertained richly by Samothes. He next visited the capital of the Aedui at Autun. From there he passed over the mountains to Kittim or Italy where he arrived at Vetulonia, the present-day Viterbo, in the year 268 after the Inundation (chap. lxxxviii). Noah visited Sicily, then returned and requested Ham to leave Italy. The latter went first to Sicily (chap. lxxxix). Noah founded the city Janiculum, named after the river, later known as Vaticanum, leaving his daughter Crana in charge of the Aborigines (chap. xc). He left Titea in Janiculum and retired to Vetulonia or Viterbo, regulated its religious and political affairs and sent a colony to found Florence 284 years after the Inundation (chap. xci). {Noah ended his mortal life in Italy as described in the Defloratio.}

Phenius/Phineus, being otherwise written Phoinix, and the latter being a title of Ogyges, which was, in turn, a title of Janus-Noah, we can see how the medieval tradition developed: originally Phenech (Phoinix, Ogyges, Janus) was believed to have launched the post-diluvian voyage, as in the Philonic Antiquities, then Janus A (Noah) was credited with the same enterprise, accompanied variously by his offspring Janus B (the fourth son of Noah), Janus C (Javan) and Janus D (Javan-Samothes) etc. The two voyages of Noah are a midrashic interpretation of two references to the dispersal of tribes in Genesis relating to the post-diluvian period: first in Gen. 9. 18f.: “And the sons of Noah … were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth … and of them was the whole earth settled by dispersion.” In Couillard this is interpreted as a viewing by sea-voyage of the lands belonging to each of the three sons and a partial settlement around the sea-coasts. The second reference is in Gen. 10. 4f.: “And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands ….” Here, immediately following the name Dodanim, of the tribe descended from Javan (Janus), is a second mention of a division of tribal areas on the sea-coasts (“isles” = Heb. iyyim, coastal regions). Phenech is a “son of Dudeni (Dodanim),” and hence in the second voyage in Couillard Noah visits Samothes (Phenech) in his new territory in France, the roles of Phenech and Noah being confused in the underlying tradition (see supra, Janus A = Noah, Janus D = Samothes-Phenech). The central role of the river Tanais (Don) as the base-point from which the territories were settled is rather as in Jubilees 8, though there no voyaging is in view, only the allotment of territories to the three sons by Noah in various directions running away from the Tanais.

889.2.3.10. Hu Gadarn, the Welsh Samothes, otherwise Aedd of the Aedui of Autun, is said to have hauled the Avanc, a monster serpent, out of the waters of the lake with his oxen, so that the lake burst no more (ibid., Triad 97), which is a reference to the mythological battle between Fire (or the god of fire, Aedd = Hu, accompanied by his ray- or horn-headed hosts or herds) and the water demon (serpent). Included in this tradition is likely also a reference to the etymology of the tribal surname Meshech given to Samothes (supra), as Meshech means in Hebrew “extend, pull out, extract,” which is what Hu did to the serpent. Similarly in Chinese tradition, the first emperor of China Yü the Great (Da Yü), otherwise Dib Bakui, who is identified with the same patriarch Meshech in Rashid ud-Din, and whose Chinese name and epithet are a remarkable echo of the Welsh Hu Gadarn, is famed for having tamed the waters of the Flood by building embankments, when prior to him the overflowing water of the Chinese river-systems had afflicted the environs of the Yellow River. Doubtless the Hebrew etymology was understood in both cases to be a covert reference to the “extraction” of Meshech’s father Japheth from the catastrophic effects of the Noachide Inundation, and hence secondarily to any attempt to stave off destructive floods.

889.2.3.11. A legend similar to that relating to Samothes and Autun in France derived the name of the neighboring Chateau Chinon from “China” wife of Samothes (Samothes there called “Samautesse the grandson of Noah”). (Morellet, Barat, Bussière, Le Nivernois, album historique pittoresque, tom. 1, Lyon, 1840, p. 194, n. 1.) The derivation may be based on the Latin form of the toponym Chinon, viz. Castrum Caninum. That could be taken, as in an alternative popular etymology of the name of the city, to be from the Latin canis, dog (ibid.), specifically Anubis. The dog, the hound of hell, was the symbol of Dis (Dis = Samothes), and an old Christian interpretation held that the dog at the feet of Dis, otherwise Anubis at the feet of Serapis, represented the turbulent people “domesticated” by the god (Tertullian, Ad Nationes II. 8). The population of a city might be conceived of as the god’s consort, since cities, typologically considered, are female in gender: thus China, the eponymus of the city Chinon, named after the dog of Dis, is, in this legend, the bride of Dis Samothes. It may, or may not, be coincidence that Anubis stands for Phineus (viz. Samothes) in the list of pre-Ninus kings in Abydenus, according to the interpretation of that list suggested supra (§354.8, above, >>). Abydenus drew on the same Berossian writings as the Defloratio.

889.2.4. The three princes at the Shinar Tower represent, in historical terms, the generation preceding the First Dynasty of Uruk, and, in archaeological terms, the Jemdet Nasr period. In the Sumerian King List this is the era of the First Dynasty of Kish. We might expect Phinehas (Phineus, Phenius, Samothes) to feature amongst the kings of that Dynasty if he was as important as these traditions imply. The Hebrew form of the name is Phinehas (Pîneḥās), meaning “mouth, or, pronouncement (pî), of augury (neḥās),” indicating, presumably, that the child so named was granted to the parents by an oracle, or through the office of an augur. There is a name in the earlier section of the Dynasty of Kish in the Sumerian King List (§590, above, >>) which begins with the Akkadian (Semitic) word equivalent to the Hebrew pî, namely pû, “mouth, pronouncement” etc.: the name is Pu-annum, which means “mouth, or, pronouncement, of a positive answer by augury.” This is equivalent in meaning to the Hebrew Phinehas. The second element in the name, -annum, is written in Sumerian with the signs an.na. In Sumerian the word anna, written with these signs an.na, as well as meaning “positive answer by augury, consent,” also means “tin, metal, lead, etc.” Similarly in the Hebrew name Phinehas, the second element (-neḥās) means “copper, brass, bronze” as well as “augury.”}

889.3. In the fifteenth year of Nymbrotus, Oceanus came to the banks of the Nile, and had several children by his wife Thetys.

889.4. Chemesenuus, the degrader of the human race, came from Egypt to instruct the Telchines in the art of magic, and so ably did he succeed, that he was universally held in the highest reverence.

889.5. In the eighteenth year of the same reign, Gogus, whilst still a child, succeeded to his father in the government of Arabia Felix and Sabaea. Triton reigned in Libya, Japetus (the old Atalaa) in Africa, Cur in Ethiopia, and Getulus in Getulia.

889.6. In the twenty-fifth year, Thuyscon succeeded in establishing the settlements of that great people the Sarmatians; and Moesa, with the sons of Ister, established the Moesians in the country which extends from Mount Adula to the southern region near the sea.

{To continue with the text of the Defloratio Berosi, omitting the following note, go to §889.7 here.}

{Note: Hazar-maveth is called “Sarmates” (Sar- = Hazar-, -mates = -maveth), and is represented as the eponymus of the Sarmatians, and as the son of Ister (Ister = the Danube), who is equated with Joktan. (Defloratio, ed. 1512, commentary fol. CXVIIIa, §888.8, above, >>, and genealogy CXIa). Evidently there was some genealogical mingling (cf. Defloratio, fol. CXVIIIa, commentary, and §888.8, above, >>, §889.6, above, >>, §889.9, below, >>, §891.15, below, >>, §891.17, below, >>, for the text) with the line of Tuisco, the “giant” son of Noah-Janus and father of Mannus, as Tuisco is described as an ancestor of “Germans and Sarmatians” (Defloratio, genealogy fol. CXb). Hazar-maveth was the nephew by marriage (“son”) of the consort of Herakles (Heraklas, Heraklim), and this consort is called Asteria or Astaroth (a form of Astarte). (§211, above, >>, §332, above, >>.) However, in an Arabic Catena the consort of Heraklim is called Salathiel daughter of Gomer, son of Japheth, son of Noah. Thus, Hazar-maveth could trace his line back to Gomer, the ancestor of the Celts and Germans. The Hyperborean Druids descended from Dis (that is, from Ister’s comrade Phinehas-Samothes, §889.2.1ff., above, >>, identified with Dis [= Hazar-maveth], the god of Death) had a particular interest in the oak-grove of Dodona in Greece, presumably on account of the cult of the oak practiced there and the birth of the god Plouto-Dis associated with it. The removal of mistletoe from the oak was treated in the cult of the Celtic priesthood as a castration of the tree-god embodied in it, analogous to that of Mouth-Plouto-Dis. Special mention is made in the Erythraean Sibyl (§237, above, >>, citation sub fin.) of the connection between the god, as the head of one of three ancient, patriarchal, lines, and the grove at Dodona. The Hyperboreans made much also of the island of Delos in the Aegean, the center of the Greek cult of Apollo (Apollo = Resheph = Nergal = Mot, Mouth). Delos was anciently known as Asteria after the goddess Asteria, the secondary form of Astarte through whom Hazar-Maveth’s descent can be traced from Nimrod-Elos-Kronos. The name Hazar-Maveth itself has been thought to be preserved in the eponymus Adramutes, of the founder of Adramyttium in the Gulf opposite Lesbos, not far from Troy. He was an ancient king of the Lydians (Biblical Ludim, offspring of Mizraim), who introduced the custom of “castrating” women — whatever precisely that might mean — so that they could take the place of eunuchs (Xanthos of Lydia apud Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae lib. XII. p. 515); a novel variation on the castration motif associated with the sacrifice of Mouth.}

889.7. In the thirty-eighth year, the Armenian Sagas, whose population had increased rapidly, took possession of all the Caspian regions, Armenia, and Bactria. Janus then led the Janean colonists into Hyrcania, and the Janili into Mesopotamia, towards the sea below Babylon.

889.8. In the fortieth year some colonists, the children of Comerus, sought to settle in Bactria. Ganges settled in India, in the part of the country which bears his name.

889.9. In the forty-fifth year, a certain union was effected between the descendants of Moesa and Getulus, from which the nation of the Massagetae arose. At the same period, our Saturn the King of Babylonia sent Assyrius, Medus, Moscus and Magog as heads of colonies, by whom the empires of the Assyrians, Medes and Magogs were established in Asia, and that of the Mosci both in Asia and Europe.

889.10. Anamaeon founded the empire of the Maeonians, who were so called after him. He reigned over them 101 years.

889.11. The second king of the Babylonians, Jupiter Belus, the son of Saturnus Nymbrotus, reigned sixty-two years, and on the site which he had marked out for the building of Babylon, he erected a fortress rather than a town.

889.12. His reign was one of peace, from its commencement to its close. In the third year of the reign of Belus, Comerus, faithful to the customs of Scythia, of which he was a native, taught the Italians to found cities (urbes) with chariots or carts, hence the people were called Veii, from the Saga word Veia, which means a chariot. If a town thus constituted be a small one, it is called Veitula; if a large one, it is called Ulurdum; and if a metropolis, it is called Cyochola.

889.13. Comerus taught men to enclose the inhabited places which were called after him.

889.14. Tyras, after founding Tyre, occupied the coast with the heads of the colonies over which he ruled, and peopled Thrace.

889.15. Arcadius settled in Arcadia, and Aemathius in Aemathia. In the fourth year of Belus, Janus led some colonies out into Arabia Felix; after his own name and surname, he called the one Noa and the others Janinese.

889.16. The descendants of Comerus Gallus were called, after his surname, Galli or Gauls.

889.17. In the fifty-sixth year of Belus, Chemesenuus came into Italy in the direction of the Comeri. Comerus had ceased to be seen on the earth; Chemesenuus seized upon the reins of government over the colonies, and began to degrade the people’s morals by his impieties and offenses.

889.18. Janus having settled a number of colonies on the banks of the river which flows through Arabia Felix, and called them after himself, Janineae, passed over into Africa, to the kingdom of Triton.

889.19. At this period Jupiter Belus began to be affected by a desire for conquest. A short time before this, Araxa and her son {not “his son,” as the context shows} Scytha had occupied the whole of the region which lies to the west of Armenia, and extends to Sarmatia in Europe. When they quitted Armenia, they left there Sabatius-Saga with the title of king.

889.20. Jupiter Belus found out that he could not conquer the rest of the nations without first conquering Sabatius, the king of the Sagas, or putting him to death; accordingly, he determined to compass his death secretly. The Saturn of Armenia, fearing that he could not escape the innumerable snares laid for him by Jupiter Belus, fled for safety and concealed himself amongst the Caspian Sagas.

889.21. When about to pay the last debt of nature, Jupiter Belus commanded his son Ninus to destroy the power of Sabatius-Saga utterly, and to bring all the tribes into subjection to the Babylonian empire, because that empire was the first that had been established in the world.

889.22. Having heard of the command of Belus, Sabatius concealed himself amongst the Sagas of Bactria, until a favourable opportunity should arise either of taking flight or returning to the throne. The forces which Jupiter Belus had prepared against him drove him away from his kingdom about the time of Semiramis.

889.23. At no distant period, Triton left the kingdom of Libya to his son Hammon, who married Rhea, the sister of Chemesenuus, the Saturn of the Egyptians. But, unknown to Rhea, a young girl named Amalthea became by him the mother of Dionysius, who by his orders was brought up at Nysa, a town in Arabia.

889.24. Our historians are of opinion that Ninus, the son of Jupiter Belus, was the third king of Babylonia; he reigned fifty-two years.

889.25. Ninus collected all his forces, and, taking advantage of the military preparations of his father Jupiter Belus, he declared war against all the nations. He spared none, and was especially anxious to put Sabatius-Saga to death, as he was the object of universal regret. Hence Sabatius remained in exile and concealment amongst his own people during the whole of that reign.

889.26. Ninus was the first of our Babylonian kings who extended the limits of his empire; he was the first also to raise statues in the centre of the fortified enclosure of Babylon, to Jupiter Belus his father, to his mother Juno, and to his grandmother Rhea.

889.27. In the fourth year of the reign of Ninus, the giant Thuyscon gave laws to the Sarmatians who were settled on the banks of the Rhine. Jubal did the same for the Celtiberians, and Samotes for the Celts.

889.28. On the other hand, Chemesenuus the Saturn of the Egyptians, proceeded to degrade the Comeri in Italy; he was assisted in this by the assembled strangers and immigrants, whom he had brought together with the view of forming colonies in that country, and who, as a body, were called Mountaineer Aborigines by the Italians.

889.29. In Libya, a dispute arose between Rhea and Hammon, in consequence of the relations which had existed between the latter and Amalthea. Rhea wished to know where Dionysius was, so that she might put him to death. The quarrel was one which lasted long.

889.30. In the tenth year of Ninus, Janus came from Africa to the Celtiberians of Spain; there he established two colonies, which he named Noela and Noegla, the same surnames which he had already given to the wives of Japetus and Chemesenuus.

889.31. In the twenty-ninth year Janus crossed into Italy, and found that there also Chemesenuus was degrading the youth more than expected.

889.32. He bore his conduct patiently for three years; after which he ordered him to leave Italy with a few of the colonists, whom he placed under his command. Next, he divided the colonies which were then established in Italy. The Comeri who had become demoralized, the assembled strangers and immigrants, received orders to settle in the mountain regions beyond the river Janiculum. To reign over them, he gave them his daughter Crana, with the title of Helerna, i.e., a queen elected and raised to the throne by universal suffrage. Now Janus had sent his two last children Cranus and Crana and all their descendants into Italy, when he sent Comerus thither. This family became a numerous people in consequence of their rapid increase, and are still known in our own days by the name of Janigenes, or descendants of Janus; Janus, however, gave them the surname of Razenua, the sacred spirit of procreation, in opposition to the wickedness of Chemesenuus. In this way Janus showed his desire to separate his own descendants from the aborigines, and settled them beyond the Janiculum, on the sea-coast. He surnamed his daughter Razenua, and his son Cranus he surnamed Razenuus.

889.33. Chemesenuus had left Italy. His sister Rhea came to meet him and married him; both of them were joined by the Titans, then marched against Hammon, fought with him, and drove him from his kingdom; and further, forced him to retire into Crete. Chemesenuus reigned in Libya, and had, by his sister Rhea, a son called Osiris, to whom he gave the surname of Jupiter.

889.34. In the twenty-second year of Ninus, Janus, who had founded Janiculum in Thusia (Tuscany), during the sojourning of Chemesenuus in Italy, determined to make it his fixed abode, and extended his possessions to the Arno. Having placed colonies there, he called them Aryn-Janae, i.e., solemnly named or dedicated by Janus. Janus enacted laws and taught them to the people in Vetulonia, where also, he was chief ruler.

889.35. In the forty-third year of Ninus, Sabatius became convinced that it was impossible to retain any hold upon his kingdom, and accordingly he left his son Barzanes as king over the Armenian Sagas, whilst he himself fled to Pontus, to the region inhabited by the Sarmatians. About the same time, Dionysius, the son of Hammon, took up arms and drove Rhea and Chemesenuus out of his father’s kingdom. Osiris he kept, and adopted as a son. After the names of his father and his master Olympus, he called him Jupiter Ammon and Olympicus. He gave him the kingdom of Egypt. During the same year, the Virgin Pallas, who was still very young, was abandoned on the shore of the lake Tritonis. The same Dionysius who was surnamed the Libyan Jupiter, adopted her as a daughter. She it was who taught the Libyans all the details of the military art.

{To continue with the text of the Defloratio Berosi, omitting the following note, go to §889.36 here.}

889.35.1. {Note on the Defloratio’s account of Dionysius, Hammon and Pallas. Following the Initial Remarks on Amaltheia is the Libyan account of Dionysus summarized by Diodorus Siculus (III. 68. 1ff. trans. LCL [modified]):

Initial Remarks on Amaltheia: Amaltheia was equated with the Sibyl Sabbe, and Sabbe = Sheba (the Queen of Sheba), Glycas, Annales, ed. Bekker, 1836, p. 343, Cedrenus, Compendium, ed. Bekker, vol. I., 1838, p. 166f. Hence Dionys(i)us is of the tribe of Sheba in the Defloratio: Dionysius son of Hammon son of Triton son of Saba (Sheba) son of Cur (Cush). The Queen of Sheba (called Bilqis by the Arabs) was, in turn, identified with the Sabaean astral deity Almaqah, Venus (e.g. in Bekri, Geographical Dictionary, ed. Wüstenfeld, p. 855, and ibid., quoting Hamdani). Almaqah was the chief divinity worshiped by the pagan Sabaeans, male in gender, symbolized by a bull and ibex. Almaqah-Bilqis was the female form of this deity. As in Hebrew and other Semitic dialects “q” (qoph corresponding to Arabic qaf in the divine name Almaqah) can be exchanged for “t” (tav, corresponding to Arabic ta), Almaqah might become Almathah in transcription, which by a typical transposition of “l” and “m” could be transmogrified into the pseudo-Greek form Amaltheia. Actually the (Latin) Defloratio has the form Alma(n)the/ia, which is reminiscent of the original Al-maqah, though it may simply be an orthographical error. The Almaqah ibex of the Sabaeans is, in its female aspect, the wild she-goat Amaltheia or Aix (the star Capella). Almaqah is the “Father” in the Sabaean Father-Mother-Son triad. Amaltheia in the Greek myth is the Mother figure and Dionysus the Son. Amaltheia, as well as being the star Capella in Auriga, is one of the stars in the Hyades cluster, the Hyades being the nurturing nymphs of Huas (= Dionysus), the eponymus of the Hyades (Huades). The constellation Taurus (the Bull), in which the Hyades are the located, is the astrological “house” of Venus.

889.35.2. As regards the Biblical identity of Amaltheia: Amaltheia is mentioned in the LXX (Septuagint Greek) translation of the Book of Job, where the name of Job’s daughter, Keren-happuch (Job 42. 14) is translated “Amaltheia’s horn.” The nymph Amaltheia of the account of Diodorus Siculus and the Defloratio Berosi, who lived in the early Patriarchal era just after Noah’s Inundation, appears to be this daughter of Job. Keren-happuch is described as a very beautiful maiden, and one to whom was bequeathed a portion of land in the Near East, like the nymph Amaltheia in these accounts. They lived, both of them, in the “land of the Min-folk,” viz. the land of the Minaeans, or Hivites, around the Dead Sea, but Job is usually dated by modernist scholars to a much later period than the early Patriarchal age, and even by conservative scholars to around the time of Moses at the earliest. However, the ancient tradition dated him earlier than that. Job was identified with Jobab son of Zerah of Gen. 36.33, fifth in descent from Abraham, or he was believed to have flourished earlier even than Jobab. The following note is appended to the Book of Job in some texts of the Septuagint.

Job 42. 17 LXX (the Hebrew forms of the personal names etc. are added in square brackets):

889.35.3. “And he [Job] died an old man and full of days. Now it is written that he was due to rise with those whom the Lord raises. The interpretation adopted in the Syriac book concerning this [Job] is that he dwelt in the land of Uz on the borders of Idumaea and Arabia, but that he lived prior to him who was called Jobab, and that he took a wife Arabissa and begot a son called Ennon. Whereas he [Jobab] was the son of Zare [Zerah], his father, of the sons of Esau, and his mother was of Bozrah, so that he was fifth in descent from Abraham. Also these were the kings who ruled in Edom, which was the same land he {Jobab} ruled: first Balak [Bela] the son of Beor and the name of his city was Dennaba [Dinhabah], after Balak Jobab who is called Job, after him Asom [Husham] who was ruler of the land of Themanitis, after him Adad son of Barad [Bedad] who cut off Midian in the plain of Moab, and the name of his city was Geththaim [Avith]. Whereas the friends who came to him were Eliphaz king of the Temanites [the Temanite], the sons of Esau, Baldad [Bildad] the ruler of the Sauchaeans [the Shuhite], and Sophar [Zophar] king of the Minaeans [the Naamathite].”

889.35.4. The arguments of the Syriac book cited here against the identification of the Job of the Book of Job with Jobab of Genesis 36. 33 are:

1) The older Job of the Book of Job was of a different family background to Jobab.

2) The older Job of the Book of Job was visited by the king of the Edomite Temanites, whereas Jobab was himself king of Edom.

The LXX note is not advocating either side, but shows there was already at the time the epilogue was written a disagreement about the era of Job: one theory dated him earlier than the other. The later dated him to the 5th generation from Abraham and identified him with Jobab “son of Zerah son of Reuel” son of Esau of Gen. 36. The LXX seems to lean towards the view of the Syriac Book, which was that the Job of the Book of Job was of an older generation than the generation of the Edomite Jobab. The Hellenistic writer Aristeas leaned the other way.

889.35.5. Both may be right in certain respects: viz. 1) Job is indeed Jobab son of Zerah of Gen. 36. 33, but 2) this Zerah is not Zerah the descendant of Esau, but rather a man “of Bozrah,” as he is called by way of distinction in Gen. 36. 33 (compare Zerah son of Reuel in Gen. 36. 13, with no mention of Bozrah there). This Jobab is ruler of the “land of” Edom, not of the sons of Esau. So it is stated in Gen. 36. 31. The ambiguous phrase “in Edom” in Gen. 36. 32 means therefore “in the land of Edom,” as in the previous verse, not “amongst the Edomites” or sons of Esau. Jobab-Job would be an earlier ruler of the land of Edom (which was its later name), that is, of the “land of Uz” (as it was known in his own day). Jobab appears in Gen. 36 alongside Ayyah (Gen. 36. 24), who is, as we have concluded, Dionysius the son of Amaltheia. And Amaltheia is Keren-happuch the daughter of Job, otherwise of Jobab son of Zerah. Ayyah, his father Zibeon, and his maternal grandfather Jobab son of Zerah all feature, according to this understanding, in Gen. 36.

889.35.6. A very early date for Job is attested in Syriac sources: the temptation of Job “of the House of Joktan” is dated in Bar-Hebraeus and Michael of Syria to the 25th year of Nahor (according to the erroneous chronology of the Septuagint synchronized in those chronicles with the Sirius Cycle), about the time of the Sirius Cycle’s 4th king of Egypt, according to the Christian Syriac tradition, Peron Barsanos, and before the introduction of the wisdom of Cainan from Babylonia into Egypt by the 5th king. This is from “Arudh [or Arodh] the Canaanite.” It synchronizes with the first half of the first dynasty of Egypt, see §626.19, above, >>, and particularly §626.25, above, >>, that is, with the era of the wars between Ham (Chemesenuus) and the Sabaeans of Libya, which is precisely the era of Amaltheia in the Defloratio. This is also the era of world-wide pillaging by the people of Sheba and counter-offensives by the Chaldaeans (viz. the descendants of Arphaxad, according to Josephus, I. vi. 4 [= I. 143]), which explains the plundering of Job’s property by those parties. If Job, as the LXX claims, lived to the ripe age of 248 years (Job. 42. 16 [LXX]), and such is implied by the statement in the same verse (Heb.) that Job lived 140 years after “this” (“this” being the granting of an inheritance to his daughters by Job after his restoration), then he could have been born as early as c. 2400-2350 BC, and deceased c. 2100 BC. This means he was a contemporary of Abraham (in the latter’s youth), which was the earliest of the various chronologies of Job’s life handed down by the Rabbis.

It also means Job’s daughter Keren-happuch, or the “Horn of Amaltheia,” as the LXX translates her name, could have flourished c. 2330-2270 BC at the time the first dynasty of Egypt was inaugurated, and thus have supplied Dionysus (Hor-Aha) with the nourishment he needed as an infant, as Greek mythology generally, and Diodorus Siculus and the Defloratio in particular, claim the nymph Amaltheia did by her horn. The land referred to in Diodorus and the Defloratio as the “Horn of Amaltheia” would in that case be the personal inheritance of Keren-happuch, referred to in the text of Job, within Job’s home-territory in Ashtaroth-Karnaim, which latter is mentioned also in Gen. 14. 5. On Job’s homeland, see the Onomasticon of Eusebius (Greek and Latin) s.n. Karnaeim (Carnaim) Astaroth: (Greek text) “Karnaeim Astaroth [some texts read “Karnaeim Astaroth. Astaroth Karnaeim …”]. It is now a sizable settlement in the Arabian territory comprising Bataneia [Bashan] over the Jordan. There, on the basis of local tradition, they point out the habitation of Job.” Ashtaroth-Karnaim, means “Ashtaroth [presumably a pluralis excellentiae, the “Great Eshterah/Astarte/Venus] with two horns.” The same place appears in Diodorus’ account as Hesperou-keras, meaning “Horn of Venus” or, more probably “The [land of the] Horned Venus” (Hesperos being construed in the latter case as a feminine noun, as in Apollonius Rhodius 4. 1290, and keras the gen. fem. sing. of adj. keraos, “horned,” with “land of” understood). At a later period in history the Carthaginians applied the name to a cape off the western coast of Africa, because Hesperos means West as well as Venus. The striking coincidence that the home territory of both Keren-happuch (the LXX’s “Horn of Amaltheia”) and the nymph Amaltheia of Diodorus’ account bore the unique name “Horned Venus,” confirms the identity of one with the other. Keren-happuch means “vessel [lit. horn, Heb. qeren, from the use of horns as vessels] of increase, or, of enhancement [Heb. pukh].” The latter component of the name is formed from the bi-consonantal root p-k, which is analogous to p-q and n-p-q = “increase, go forward, be enhanced,” whence pukh = eyeliner, lit. enhancer (of antimony or stibium, a dark-colored eye-paint), pukh = weed (from its prolific increase), avney-pukh, “stones, or, gems of enhancement” (used to adorn buildings), and nophekh = a gem of (green/red) corundum employed to enhance one’s appearance. Keren-happuch embodied qualities of fruitfulness and of beauty. Job 42. 15 remarks on the beauty of Keren-happuch and Amaltheia is said to have been identically a maiden of “unusual beauty” (Diodorus III. 68. 1). As regards the quality of fruitfulness, the Greek Amaltheia conveys the same sense as the Hebrew root p-k, “increase:” Gk. amaltheuo = plethuno, ploutizo, trepho (Hesychius), “increase,” and the adjectival form “amaltheia” means, therefore, “she who exemplifies the principal of increase,” as the Hebrew Keren-happuch means “she who embodies (lit. is the “horn” or “vessel” of) increase/enhancement.” Amaltheia is depicted as an ungulate (a gazelle or wild goat) because the original name employed the word keren (qeren), “horn” (e.g. of a gazelle). Hence also the “horn of Amaltheia” (Gk. keras Amaltheias) became itself a mythological symbol, a cornucopia or “horn of increase,” which miraculously brought forth its bounty. The word “horn” (qeren) can also mean “nook” or “corner,” and the name Keren-happuch might therefore be interpreted to mean “a productive or beautiful nook,” in reference to the parcel of land bestowed on her. Note the phrase in Diodorus III. 68. 3 “the country was named after her Amaltheias Keras” which shows it had a topographical connotation. Baba Bathra 16b gives two meanings for the name Keren-happuch: 1) “Horn of a Qeresh,” the qeresh being a fabulous gazelle of Inner Asia (Jastrow s.vv. tigros [with initial teth], and qeresh II): this from the fabulous antelope Amaltheia of the LXX name, whose horn was a source of miraculous plenty; the second meaning is 2) “Eye-paint made from garden crocus” (pukh = eye-paint, qeren = [garden] nook). The name Amaltheia is exchanged for Adamantaea in one account (Hyginus, Fab. CXXXIX), from Greek adamas, “corundum,” perhaps because of the use of the root p-k in the phrase avney-pukh, “stones, or gems, of enhancement” and in the term nophekh, denoting “corundum” of a green or green/red hue, the spinel or oriental emerald. The Greek adamas is likely itself a borrowing from Hebrew/Aramaic odem, which also signifies corundum, but in the case of the Levantine gem, of a red hue, that is, a ruby.

Amaltheia in Greek myth is described as the daughter of Melisseus or Melissos, a “king of Crete,” and her sisters are variously named: commonly she is paired with Melissa, but also with Kunosoura, and also with Adrasteia and Ida; but as the latter two are more closely defined as the offspring of Amaltheia daughter of Melissos, we see that they are really the grandchildren of Melissos, not his children. That means the genuine sisters of Amaltheia are Melissa and Kunosoura. Keren-happuch in the Biblical account likewise has two sisters, Jemima and Kezia. The name Jemima is formed in Hebrew from the root y-m, meaning “warm, cordial” etc., so Jemima is the “affable, benign, or kindly” one (LXX ‛emera). Melissa likewise in Greek can mean “kindly, amenable.” However the same Hebrew root provides a plural yemim which is treated in some ancient versions as equivalent to Emim (Gesenius-Tregelles, s.v. yemim), a synonym of Zamzummim, “Rephaim, giants.” Since further these Zamzummim, the “hummers” or “wasps,” are equated with “bees” in Greek myth, the females of the class being termed Meliai or “bee-nymphs,” §209.2.2, above, >>, it is significant that Melissa (“bee”) is herself one of the Melian nymphs. Her father Melisseus, the “bee-man,” we may conclude, is the eponymus of the “bee-men,” that is, of the Zamzummim. Jemima is Melissa in both senses: 1) “the kindly one” and 2) the “bee-nymph of the Zamzummim-Emim,” being the sister of Amaltheia who was wedded to Ammon the Sabaean, that is, the Hivite or Anakite of the line of the Zamzummim. Thus, Amaltheia = Keren-happuch, the third daughter of Job, and Melissa = Jemima, the first daughter of Job. The other daughter of Melisseus in Greek myth, Kunosoura, should correspond to the remaining, second daughter of Job, Kezia. Hebrew Kezia means “Cassia,” which is a sweet-smelling herb incorporated into frankincense. It is formed from the root q-ṣ–‛, to “cut slice off, terminate,” because it can easily be “cut” or peeled off the plant to form the required product. However the identical word, Kezia, has an alternative meaning, namely the “cutting” and packing of the fruit of the harvest of figs and dates in the full heat of summer. (Jastrow Talmudic Dictionary, s.vv. qeṣi‛ah, q-ṣ-‛ and qayiṣ.) Since the summer was known in Greece as the “Dog” period (from the “Dog” star [Gk. kuon], Sirius, which is visible in the night-sky throughout those hot summer months), then the word Kunosoura, taken by Aratus to be the name of the pole-star as the “tail (ouros) of Sirius (Kuon),” — as if Sirius revolving round the pole was a dog chasing its own tail, — could be understood as an astral pun on, and representation of, the name Kezia: viz. the “tail-end” (Gk. ouros = tail or tail-end = Heb. qeṣi‛ah, termination, tail-end) of the Dog-period (Gk. kunos = summer season of the Dog-star Sirius = Heb. qeṣi‛ah, summer harvest period). All three daughters of Melisseus, the “bee-man,” have names, interpreted this way, illustrative of fertility: Amaltheia = Keren-happuch = “increase,” Melissa = Jemima = “bee,” Kunosoura = Kezia = “end of summer harvest.” Melisseus himself is described as a “king of Crete” because he was actually king of the “Curetes” (= “Cretans”), meaning those Sabaeans of the line of Joktan who had intermarried into the line of Cush.

Elsewhere in Diodorus (III. 74. 1), Io, not Amaltheia, becomes the mother of Dionysus by Zeus: Dionysus ends up as king of Egypt and instructs the Egyptians in the mysteries. Io is titled Boukeros, which means “massively horned,” literally “cow-horned,” and this not only translates the name Keren-happuch, in the sense “horn of enlargement,” but includes a reference to the fabulous gazelle (cow), and a clever echo of the Semitic name: bou(k)-keros = pukh-qeren. Io, commonly identified with the Egyptian Isis (Diodorus I. 24. 8), was the moon-goddess of Argos in southern Greece, and was held to be embodied in a series of priestesses at Hera’s shrine in the city. She was turned into a star in the constellation Auriga (schol. Arat. 161), as was Amaltheia (Capella). Io was wooed by Zeus as Amaltheia was by Ammon (= Zeus), and was threatened by Zeus’ wife Hera as Amaltheia was by Ammon’s wife, Rhea. Hera set a guard over Io, the many-eyed giant/dog Argos, and sent her into exile, as Amaltheia was forced into exile by Rhea and her Titan allies. The giant/dog Argos was finally slain by Hermes (= Faunus, Favonus, Ayyah, Huas, Dionysius), and Io set free from her confinement. The dog is an allusion to the hunting-dog clan of Zeus/Pan Lukaios, “He of the Wild Dog [Gk. lukos]” (meaning Ammon, Zibeon), that is, the Seth faction of Egyptian Dynasty I, with whom Dionysus (= Ayyah, Huas, Hor-Aha of the falcon-clan) came into internecine conflict, and whom he ousted from power. In her wandering Io was believed to have left her name to the Bosporus (from bous, cow), and to the town Bous near Chalcedon. The inhabitants of the latter erected as a memorial of her passage a brazen (khalk– as in Khalk-edon, Chalcedon) image of the cow Io (Eustathius ad Dion. 140), suggesting a connection between the goddess and the city-name, which happens, in fact, to be the Greek translation of nophekh (chalcedony = nophekh, of a greenish hew, root p-k whence pukh).}

889.35.7. Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheke III. 68. 1ff.

“1. Ammon, the king of that part of Libya, married a daughter of Uranus who was called Rhea and was a sister of Cronus and the other Titans. And once when Ammon was going about his kingdom, near the Ceraunian Mountains, as they are called, he came upon a maiden of unusual beauty whose name was Amaltheia.

“2 And becoming enamored of her he lay with the maiden and begat a son of marvelous beauty as well as bodily vigor, and Amaltheia herself he appointed mistress of all the region round about, which was shaped like the horn of a bull and for this reason was known as Hesperoukeras {that is, Horned Venus}; and the region, because of the excellent quality of the land, abounds in every variety of the vine and all other trees which bear cultivated fruits. 3 When the woman whom we have just mentioned took over the supreme power the country was named after her Amaltheias Keras; consequently the men of later times, for the reason which we have just given, likewise call any especially fertile bit of ground which abounds in fruits of every kind “Amaltheia’s Horn.”

“4 Now Ammon, fearing the jealousy of Rhea, concealed the affair and brought the boy secretly to a certain city called Nysa, which was at a great distance from those parts. 5 This city lies on a certain island which is surrounded by the river Triton and is precipitous on all sides save at one place where there is a narrow pass which bears the name “Nysaean Gates.” The land of the island is rich, is traversed at intervals by pleasant meadows and watered by abundant streams from springs, and possesses every kind of fruit-bearing tree and the wild vine in abundance, which for the most part grows up trees. 6 The whole region, moreover, has a fresh and pure air and is furthermore exceedingly healthful; and for this reason its inhabitants are the longest lived of any in those parts. The entrance into the island is like a glen at its beginning, being thickly shaded by lofty trees growing close together, so that the sun never shines at all through the close-set branches but only the radiance of its light may be seen.

“69 1 Everywhere along the lanes, the account continues, springs of water gush forth of exceeding sweetness, making the place most pleasant to those who desire to tarry there. Further in there is a cave, circular in shape and of marvelous size and beauty. For above and all about it rises a crag of immense height, formed of rocks of different colors; for the rocks lie in bands and send forth a bright gleam, some like that purple which comes from the sea, some bluish and others like every other kind of brilliant hue, the result being that there is not a color to be seen among men which is not visible in that place. 2 Before the entrance grow marvelous trees, some fruit-bearing, others evergreen, and all of them fashioned by nature for no other end than to delight the eye; and in them nest every kind of bird of pleasing color and most charming song. Consequently the whole place is meet for a god, not merely in its aspect but in its sound as well, since the sweet tones which nature teaches are always superior to the song which is devised by art. 3 When one has passed the entrance the cave is seen to widen out and to be lighted all about by the rays of the sun, and all kinds of flowering plants grow there, especially the cassia and every other kind which has the power to preserve its fragrance throughout the year; and in it are also to be seen several couches of nymphs, formed of every manner of flower, made not by hand but by the light touch of Nature herself, in manner meet for a god. 4 Moreover, throughout the whole place round about not a flower or leaf is to be seen which has fallen. Consequently those who gaze upon this spot find not only its aspect delightful but also its fragrance most pleasant.

889.35.8. {Note. This description matches perfectly the location within the peninsula of Sinai (Nysa) called Wadi Feiran, which was in Roman times, and is still today, the single magnificent jewel in its geographical crown: otherwise the peninsula is barren, indeed hostile. It calls the peninsula in the ancient fashion an “island,” and notes it was surrounded by the “River Triton.” The Triton was strictly speaking the Nile, but in Classical times the Nile poured its waters into the Red Sea surrounding the peninsula through a system of canals running from the Nile to the Bitter Lakes through Wadi Tummilat, and then on to the Red Sea near Suez. Thus the whole peninsula (“island”) could be said to have been “surrounded by the River Triton.” In the first millennium BC and the first few centuries AD Wadi Feiran was the only place in the peninsula where there was a “city” like that referred to here. The city was known as Pharan in late Roman Imperial times, and was the location of a bishopric, whence the Arabs borrowed the name for the whole wadi (Pharan = Feiran). The entrance to the wadi through a narrow defile, the rippling brooks, the abundance of fruit-laden trees, and of wild life, the grassy knolls, the towering rock-faces on either side, the multicolored rocks, the pure air, are all found here, and here alone in Sinai. Actually in the era of Ammon and Dionysius described in the narrative, that is, the third millennium BC, Wadi Feiran was barren. Only after the Exodus in the 15th century BC and the miraculous striking of the rock here by Moses did it become fertile. The life-giving water still flows as proof of the miracle. The ancient writer could not be expected to know this. Dramatizing the story, he describes Nysa (Sinai) as it was in his own, that is, Graeco-Roman times, particularly the beautiful central region in Wadi Feiran at the base of “Mount Sinai” (today Serbal), called Mount Nysa by the Greeks. Mount Serbal is identified as the original Mount Sinai in the earliest detailed account in Cosmas Indicopleustes in the 6th century AD. (Christian Topography, Book V, MS p. 195f., ed. Migne, Patrologia Graeca vol. 88, col. 198ff.) This is the highest mountain in the peninsula measuring from its base upward, rather than from sea-level, as was the ancient custom. The part of Sinai/Nysa which was the actual scene of the exploits in the third millennium BC was what the Arabs call Shera further to the east, in the Sinai mountain-ranges of Edom south of the Dead Sea, whence the Arabian Dionysus was called Dusares, “He of Shera.” The “wilderness of P(h)aran” stretched north and eastwards from Wadi Feiran to the Shera area, and the two districts overlapped at this north-eastern extremity. Thus they might be considered a single topographical region, as they were commonly in medieval times, and as they were evidently in this instance too, at a slightly earlier period of history. The whole area, and particularly in Shera, is pock-marked with intricate cave-systems where fugitives (like Dionysius) might hide.}

889.35.9. “70 1 Now to this cave, the account runs, Ammon came and brought the child and gave him into the care of Nysa, one of the daughters of Aristaeus; and he appointed Aristaeus to be his caretaker, he being a man who excelled in understanding, and in self-control, and in all learning. 2 Against the machinations of his stepmother Rhea the infant’s guardian brought thither Athena [or, “The duty of protecting the boy against the machinations of his stepmother Rhea he (viz. Ammon) assigned to Athena”], who a short while before had been born of the earth and had been found beside the river Triton, from which she had been called Tritonis.

889.35.10. {Note: Qu.: who is the “infant’s guardian” referred to in the first part of the sentence? Is it the guardian of Dionysus, according to the first translation, or Athena herself, according to the second? Nanni’s commentary (at fol. CXXIIIIb) presumes the second is the correct interpretation. But that would mean Athena had a protective role in relation to Dionysus, which contradicts the text of the Defloratio: the latter represents Dionysus as the protector of Athena, as having adopted Athena (Pallas) into his family when she was found abandoned at Lake Tritonis. Both accounts can be reconciled on the assumption that, Dionysus himself having discovered the infant Athena at Tritonis (as Ayyah = Huas = Dionysus discovered Anah = Anat = Athena at the “hot pools,” §181.4, 179, >>) and adopted her, the “infant’s” guardian, meaning Dionysus’ “guardian,” Ammon, thereafter brought her to Nysa to live with Dionysus, seeing Dionysus and all associated with him were under threat from the wrath of Rhea. Aristaeus (Aristaios), “the noble one,” is equivalent to the Hebrew Hor, meaning “noble, freeborn,” which was a name given to a number of individuals in the Horite line of Seir or “Seilenus” [Diod. Sic. III. 72.1, infra], see §209.2.1, above, >> and §140.2, above, >>.}

889.35.11. “3 And according to the myth this goddess, choosing to spend all her days in maidenhood, excelled in virtue and invented most of the crafts, since she was exceedingly ready of wit; she cultivated also the arts of war, and since she excelled in courage and in bodily strength she performed many other deeds worthy of memory and slew the Aegis, as it was called, a certain frightful monster which was a difficult antagonist to overcome. 4 For it was sprung from the earth and in accordance with its nature breathed forth terrible flames of fire from its mouth, and its first appearance it made about Phrygia and burned up the land, which to this day is called “Burned Phrygia”; and after that it ravaged unceasingly the lands about the Taurus mountains and burned up the forests extending from that region as far as India. Thereupon, returning again towards the sea round about Phoenicia, it sent up in flames the forests on Mt. Lebanon, and making its way through Egypt it passed over Libya to the regions of the west and at the end of its wanderings fell upon the forests about Ceraunia. 5 And since the country round about was going up in flames and the inhabitants in some cases were being destroyed and in others were leaving their native countries in their terror and removing to distant regions, Athena, they say, overcoming the monster partly through her intelligence and partly through her courage and bodily strength, slew it, and covering her breast with its hide bore this about with her, both as a covering and protection for her body against later dangers, and as a memorial of her valour and of her well-merited fame. 6 Gê (Earth), however, the mother of the monster, was enraged and sent up the Giants, as they are called, to fight against the gods; but they were destroyed at a later time by Zeus, Athena and Dionysus and the rest of the gods taking part in the conflict on the side of Zeus.

“7 Dionysus, however, being reared according to the account in Nysa and instructed in the best pursuits, became not only conspicuous for his beauty and bodily strength, but skillful also in the arts and quick to make every useful invention. 8 For while still a boy he discovered both the nature and use of wine, in that he pressed out the clusters of grapes of the vine while it still grew wild, and such ripe fruits as could be dried and stored away to advantage, and how each one of them should be planted and cared for was likewise a discovery of his; also it was his desire to share the discoveries which he had made with the race of men, in the hope that by reason of the magnitude of his benefactions he would be accorded immortal honors.

“71 1 When the valor and fame of Dionysus became spread abroad, Rhea, it is said, angered at Ammon, strongly desired to get Dionysus into her power; but being unable to carry out her design she forsook Ammon and, departing to her brothers, the Titans, married Cronus her brother.

{Note: Cronus is called Chemesenuus, the “Cronus” or “Saturn” of the Egyptians, in the Defloratio.}

“2 Cronus, then, upon the solicitation of Rhea, made war with the aid of the Titans upon Ammon, and in the pitched battle which followed Cronus gained the upper hand, whereas Ammon, who was hard pressed by lack of supplies, fled to Crete, and marrying there Cretê, the daughter of one of the Curetes who were the kings at that time, gained the sovereignty over those regions, and to the island, which before that time had been called Idaea, he gave the name Crete after his wife. 3 As for Cronus, the myth relates, after his victory he ruled harshly over these regions which had formerly been Ammon’s, and set out with a great force against Nysa and Dionysus. Now Dionysus, on learning both of the reverses suffered by his father and of the uprising of the Titans against himself, gathered soldiers from Nysa, two hundred of whom were foster-brothers of his and were distinguished for their courage and their loyalty to him; and to these he added from neighboring peoples both the Libyans and the Amazons, regarding the latter of whom we have already observed that it is reputed that they were distinguished for their courage and first of all campaigned beyond the borders of their country and subdued with arms a large part of the inhabited world.

“4 These women, they say, were urged on to the alliance especially by Athena, because their zeal for their ideal of life was like her own, seeing that the Amazons clung tenaciously to manly courage and virginity. The force was divided into two parts, the men having Dionysus as their general and the women being under the command of Athena, and coming with their army upon the Titans they joined battle. The struggle having proved sharp and many having fallen on both sides, Cronus finally was wounded and victory lay with Dionysus, who had distinguished himself in the battle. 5 Thereupon the Titans fled to the regions which had once been possessed by Ammon, and Dionysus gathered up a multitude of captives and returned to Nysa. Here, drawing up his force in arms about the prisoners, he brought a formal accusation against the Titans and gave them every reason to suspect that he was going to execute the captives. But when he got them free from the charges and allowed them to make their choice either to join him in his campaign or to go scot free, they all chose to join him, and because their lives had been spared contrary to their expectation they venerated him like a god. 6 Dionysus, then, taking the captives singly and giving them a libation (spondê) of wine, required of all of them an oath that they would join in the campaign without treachery and fight manfully until death; consequently, these captives being the first to be designated as “freed under a truce” (hypospondoi), men of later times, imitating the ceremony which had been performed at that time, speak of the truces in wars as spondai.

“72 1 Now when Dionysus was on the point of setting out against Cronus and his force was already passing out of Nysa, his guardian Aristaeus, the myth relates, offered a sacrifice and so was the first man to sacrifice to him as to a god. And companions of his on the campaign, they say, were also the most nobly born of the Nysaeans, those, namely, who bear the name Seileni. 2 For the first man of all, they say, to be king of Nysa was Seilenus, but his ancestry was unknown to all men because of its antiquity. This man had a tail at the lower part of his back and his descendants also regularly carried this distinguishing mark because of their participation in his nature. Dionysus, then, set out with his army, and after passing through a great extent of waterless land, no small portion of which was desert and infested with wild beasts, he encamped beside a city of Libya named Zabirna.

889.35.12. {Note: A location of this name within Libya is not otherwise known. The probability is the name Zabirna, like the name Triton, was relocated from the Nile valley when the Cushite Sabaeans (“Libyans”) moved into Libya, that is, during the “campaign of Dionysus in Libya.” Probably Zabirna = Serbonis (Tritonis), the Sirbonian Lagoon, so named after Zibeon the Hivite, father of Ayyah (= Huas = Ia = Iakkhos = Dionysus, §182, above, >>). See §337.4f., above, >>. Note the army of Seileni = Satyrs = Seirites, §140.2, above, >>, from Hivite/Seirite territory in Sinai (Nysa, §316.1, above, >>) around the Sirbonian Lagoon.}

889.35.13. “3 Near this city an earth-born monster called Campê, which was destroying many of the natives, was slain by him, whereby he won great fame among the natives for valor. Over the monster which he had killed he also erected an enormous mound, wishing to leave behind him an immortal memorial of his personal bravery, and this mound remained until comparatively recent times. 4 Then Dionysus advanced against the Titans, maintaining strict discipline on his journeyings, treating all the inhabitants kindly, and, in a word, making it clear that his campaign was for the purpose of punishing the impious and of conferring benefits upon the entire human race. The Libyans, admiring his strict discipline and high-mindedness, provided his followers with supplies in abundance and joined in the campaign with the greatest eagerness.

“5 As the army approached the city of the Ammonians, Cronus, who had been defeated in a pitched battle before the walls, set fire to the city in the night, intending to destroy utterly the ancestral palace of Dionysus, and himself taking with him his wife Rhea and some of his friends who had aided him in the struggle, he stole unobserved out of the city. Dionysus, however, showed no such a temper as this; for though he took both Cronus and Rhea captive, not only did he waive the charges against them because of his kinship to them, but he entreated them for the future to maintain both the good-will and the position of parents towards him and to live in a common home with him, held in honor above all others. 6 Rhea, accordingly, loved him like a son for all the rest of her life, but the good-will of Cronus was a pretense. And about this time there was born to both of these a son who was called Zeus, and he was honored greatly by Dionysus and at a later time, because of his high achievements, was made king over all.

“73 1 Since the Libyans had said to Dionysus before the battle that, at the time when Ammon had been driven from the kingdom, he had prophesied to the inhabitants that at an appointed time his son Dionysus would come, and that he would recover his father’s kingdom and, after becoming master of all the inhabited world, would be looked upon as a god, Dionysus, believing him to have been a true prophet, established there the oracle of his father, rebuilt the city and ordained honors to him as to a god, and appointed men to have charge of the oracle. Tradition also has recorded that the head of Ammon was shaped like that of a ram, since as his device he had worn a helmet of that form in his campaigns. 2 But there are some writers of myths who recount that in very truth there were little horns on both sides of his temples and that therefore Dionysus also, being Ammon’s son, had the same aspect as his father and so the tradition has been handed down to succeeding generations of mankind that this god had horns.

“3 However this may be, after Dionysus had built the city and established the oracle he first of all, they say, inquired of the god with regard to his expedition, and he received from his father the reply that, if he showed himself a benefactor of mankind, he would receive the reward of immortality. 4 Consequently, elated in spirit at this prophecy, he first of all directed his campaign against Egypt and as king of the country he set up Zeus, the son of Cronus and Rhea, though he was still but a boy in years. And at his side as guardian he placed Olympus, by whom Zeus had been instructed and after whom he came to be called “Olympian,” when he had attained preeminence in high achievements.

889.35.14. {Note: Zeus here is the Osiris-Mizraim of the Defloratio, who was titled Jupiter (= Zeus) Olympicus and (H)ammon by Dionysius. This is probably a reference to the name Men given to Narmer, as 1) Men means “Dionios, Zeus-like,” according to Eratosthenes, 2) Ammon = Amun = Zeus in the interpretatio Graeca, 3) Men means “Enduring” from mn, “to endure,” and Nanni in his commentary to the Defloratio, ed. 1512, fo. XXXIIIb, XXXVIab, derives the word Olympus from Heb. olam, which means “age, cycle of time,” or, when used adjectivally, “enduring.” The name Men in a shrine, presumed to be the alternative name of Narmer (Mizraim-Menes), is illustrated on a label of king Hor-Aha (= Ayyah, Huas, Dionysus), see 626.4, above, >>.}

889.35.15. “5 As for Dionysus, he taught the Egyptians, it is said, both the cultivation of the vine and how to use and to store both wine and the fruits which are gathered from trees, as well as all others. And since a good report of him was spread abroad everywhere, no man opposed him as if he were an enemy, but all rendered him eager obedience and honored him like a god with panegyrics and sacrifices. 6 In like manner as in Egypt, they say, he visited the inhabited world, bringing the land under cultivation by means of the plantings which he made and conferring benefactions upon the people for all time by bestowing upon them great and valuable gifts. For this reason it comes about that, although not all men are of one belief with one another concerning the honors which they accord to the other gods, in the case of Dionysus alone we may almost say that they are in complete agreement in testifying to his immortality; for there is no man among Greeks or barbarians who does not share in the gift and favor which this god dispenses, nay, even those who possess a country which has become a wilderness or altogether unsuited to the cultivation of the vine learned from him how to prepared from barley a drink which is little inferior to wine in aroma.

“7 Now Dionysus, they say, as he was marching out of India to the sea, learned that all the Titans had assembled their united forces together and had crossed over to Crete to attack Ammon. Already Zeus had passed over from Egypt to the aid of Ammon and a great war had arisen on the island, and forthwith Dionysus and Athena and certain others who had been considered to be gods rushed over in a body to Crete. 8 In a great battle which followed Dionysus was victorious and slew all the Titans. And when after this Ammon and Dionysus exchanged their mortal nature for immortality, Zeus, they say, became king of the entire world, since the Titans had been punished and there was no one whose impiety would make him bold enough to dispute with him for the supreme power.”}

889.36. About the same period Janus taught the Janigenes Razenui natural philosophy, astronomy, the art of divination, and religious rites. He committed all his teaching to writing, and composed what were called the Ritual Books. The Razenui adopted all the forms of worship and the names which were given to sacred things, which were already in common use amongst the Armenians.

889.37. In the forty-ninth year of Ninus, Iberius, the son of Jubal, reigned over the Celtiberians, who were named Iberians after him. In the fifty-first year, Magus, the son of Samotes, reigned over the Celts, and built several towns amongst them.

889.38. In the last year of his reign, Ninus gained the victory over Barzanes, the king of Armenia.

889.39. The fourth sovereign in Babylon was Semiramis, who was born at Ascalon. She reigned forty-two years. She surpassed all her predecessors and contemporaries in the brilliancy of her exploits, victories, triumphs, riches, and in the extent of her dominions. Of the fortified enclosure of Babylon she made an immense city, so that it may be truly said of her that she did not enlarge the city, but that she founded it. There is not a man who can be compared with this woman, so many are the wonderful things which have been written and related concerning her; some to her disadvantage, but most to the contrary.

889.40. In the first year of the reign of Semiramis, the Egyptian Juno was born, the offspring of Rhea and Chemesenuus; she was afterwards called Isis the Great, she who bestows fruits and enacts laws, the wife of Osiris.

889.41. In the same year, Sabatius came by sea into Italy, to Janus the father of men. The latter treated him with great hospitality, and after a lapse of some years made him Coritus, and appointed him ruler over the Aborigines.

889.42. In the sixth year of Semiramis, Mannus, the son of Thuyscon, reigned over the Sarmatians of the Rhine. Amongst the Janigenes Razenui, Vesta, the wife of Janus, entrusted the care of the ever-burning fire to the young virgins whom she had initiated in the ceremonies of religious worship.

889.43. In the twelfth year of Semiramis, Sabatius ruled Saba jointly with Janus.

889.44. In the seventeenth year, Sabatius-Saga taught the people agricultural pursuits, and the elements of religion.

889.45. In the twenty-second year Sabatius made Sabus governor over the Sabines and the Aborigines. He himself continued to live near the region of Janiculum with the rest of the Curetes, and there he died.

889.46. In the thirty-fourth year Jubelda the son of Hiberus reigned over the Celtiberians, on the mountain which bears his name.

889.47. Zameis-Ninias, the fifth king of Babylon, reigned thirty eight years. He did little for the glory of the empire; yet he ornamented the temples of the gods and increased the greatness of the Chaldeans.

889.48. In the second year of the reign of Ninias, when Sabatius was dead, Janus, who had then reached an extreme old age, appointed his son Cranus to be Coritus; and eight years after, he died at the age of 350 years. The Janigenes called him Vertumnus, and awarded to him, as it was right they should, a temple and divine honours.

889.49. During this year Osiris and his sister, who was still very young, discovered wheat, and the art of cultivating grain. Osiris began to introduce both into Palestine. On his return into Egypt, he invented the plough, and all other instruments which are used in agriculture. He then travelled here and there in the world to teach men all his inventions, and became ruler over the whole of the world, except in the countries which were already subject to Babylonian rule.

889.50. In the same year, Sarron was king over the Celts. With the view of softening the manners of men who had only recently collected together into societies, he established a system of teaching letters publicly. Inghaevon reigned over the Thuyscons.

889.51. Arius, the sixth king of Babylon, ruled 30 years, and subjected the whole of Bactria and its inhabitants to his rule. A short time before the death of Ninias, Chemesenuus, who had been forced out of nearly every part of the world, had reached the country of the Bactrians, and owing to his great influence in Magic, he had won upon them to such a degree, that he succeeded in ruling over them with the most absolute authority. Chemesenuus, having collected a large army in Bactria, invaded Assyria. Ninus fought against him, and having gained the victory cut off his head. It was not long before he died. After his death, Arius assembled his troops and conquered the Bactrians and all the Caspian tribes.

889.52. Cranus-Janigen having lost his sister, celebrated her funeral obsequies with great pomp, in company with the Razenui and all the Aborigines. In a grove near the Janiculum, he appointed a regular system of worship in her memory, and an annual festival. When he had grown old he appointed his son Aurunus to be Coritus.

889.53. In the twentieth year of the reign of Arius, Brygus was king of the Celtiberians. He founded a great number of cities in those regions, and gave his name to them, adding to each the name of the chief to whom the care of the city was in the first instance intrusted.

889.54. The ancient Hyarbas reigned in Libya; he was a warrior, formidable in arms, and dreaded on account of his Paladuan troops.

889.55. In the twenty-fourth year of Arius, Aurunus, the son of Cranus, reigned over the Janigenes; and in the thirtieth year Dryas, a learned and prudent man, reigned over the Celts.”

{Mordaque’s English rendering of Salverté’s French translation of the earlier part of the Defloratio Berosi stops here. There follows my translation of the remainder of the Fifth and final Book of the Defloratio Berosi:}

889.56. “The seventh ruler of the Assyrians was Aralius who ruled for 40 years. This man was of outstanding ingenuity in military training, and he was the first to multiply parades and precious stones and female luxuries. Amongst the Libyans Hyarbas, fighting with the Paladuan women, was no match for them. Resorting therefore to bribes he reconciled himself to sharing power with them.

889.57. Amongst the Tuyscones reigned Herminon, a man ferocious in battle, and amongst the Celts, Bardus, who was renowned amongst them for the composition of songs and melodies.

889.58. In the 10th year of Aralius the Armenian Janigenes Griphonii came to Aurunus Janigenus with their colonies. He received them hospitably and assigned them a place of residence with the Janigenes Razenui. At that same time Auson was received by Aurunus along with his fleet, in the following eighth year, and they were assigned their own places of residence by him in the eastern parts of Italy.

{To continue with the text of the Defloratio Berosi, omitting the following note, go to §889.59 here.}

{Commentary, ed. 1512 fol. CXXIXb: “Berosus accordingly, with commendable accuracy, demolishes the Greek fables, and proclaims the Ausones to have been established in Apulia even before Oenotrius, in the 11th year of Aralius. Auson is the Hebrew Aus {Uz} mentioned by Moses, who earlier in Syria founded the realm of Ausitis from which the venerable Job originated, as the Hebrews testify. And so his province and city is written Aus, not Us, by the Hebrews. We have given a sufficient account of the origin of that prince in the genealogies {Book II}. The Greeks are misleading further in their assertions regarding the Perusini {Perugians}, namely that they were a colony of their own. For it is a fact that Perusia is a Scythian name dating from the times prior to the Pelasgians, and in a sense Hebrew: for Perus [Heb. peres, translated grups in the LXX Lev. 11. 13, the ossifrage or marine eagle, “griffin”} means Griphon {Griffin}, and Perusia is called Griphonia from its heraldic symbol. We do not deny the Pelasgians took Cortonia and expanded one district of Perusia, as well as Tyrrhenia, and dwelt alongside them, as Dionysius Halicarnassus writes in his First Book, but we reject the fabricators who imagine the Perusini were either in the beginning a colony of the Pelasgians, or so called from a Greek word, as the honest author Berosus makes plain; and the interpretation of the name, agreeing with their heraldic sign of immemorial antiquity, is conclusive evidence of the same …. Therefore the Perusini originated from Janus, and received their cognomen from the heraldic sign; and one year before them the Ausones of Apulia acquired their Italian possessions.”}

889.59. The same Aurunus dedicated a grove in Vetulonia to Cranus, and numbered him amongst the Isi, that is the gods. He also dedicated a temple and a statue to Janus Vertumnus not far from the city, and founded a shrine to the god Razenuus in Vetulonia.

889.60. In his latter years Aurunus created his son Malot Tages Coritus, and in the 35th year of Aralius he died and Malot Tages succeeded him.

889.61. In the last but one year of Aralius Phaeton came with a fleet to Malot Tages Janigenus Razenuus along with his sons. Finding everywhere in the east occupied by the Ausonii, and the mountainous regions under the control of the Galli and Aborigines, and the low land inhabited by the Razenui Janigenes, he was granted land in the western zone, and took possession of the mountains and the whole of the Eridanus up to the neighboring region along with his posterity, bestowing names on these places.

{Note: On Phaet[h]on = Phut and the myth of Phaethon in relation to his migration to Liguria, see §626.48.2, above, >>.}

889.62. At that time Italy burned for many days in three regions, around the Istrians, Cymeans and Vesuvians, and those regions were called by the Janigeni Palensana, that is, the Burned-over Region.

889.63. The eighth king of Babylonia was Baleus, surnamed Xerses, and he reigned 30 years. They called him Xerses, that is, Victor and Conqueror, because he came to dominate double the number of nations, and more, than Aralius had dominated. For he was ferocious in armed conflict, and successful, and spread the area of his dominion as far as the regions bordering the Indians.

889.64. In the times of this Baleus Xerses Tagus, surnamed Orma, ruled amongst the Celts, and from him his homeland was called Taga. Marsus reigned amongst the Tuyscones, and Phaeton left his son Lygur amongst the Lygures and returned to Ethiopia, whilst Maloth Tages multiplied the sacred rites handed down by Janus and the inspection of sacrificial entrails.

889.65. The ninth king of Babylon Armatritis ruled for 38 years. Turning more towards luxury and pleasure, he both invented himself things which incline to lust, and caused those which had already been invented to increase much more abundantly. In his era Longho reigned amongst the Celts, and Betus amongst the Celtiberi, from whom the kingdom received its name. And amongst the Janigenes Sicanus the son of Maloth Tages, after whom the region of Vetulonia obtained its by-name.

889.66. In the twentieth year of Armatritis Lygur sent forth Cydnus and Eridanus with colonies, along with their brethren and descendants: and they occupied the regions in Italy reaching to the Ister.

889.67. Sicanus deified Aretia, and called her in the language of the Janigenes Horchia.

889.68. Osiris killed the giant Lycurgus in Thrace.

889.69. In the thirty-second year of Armatritis Deabus became a tyrant over the Celtiberi. He earned this title from digging up gold and precious things, which he was the first to acquire and discover there, putting the colonies under service. And after two years Bardus Junior began to rule amongst the Celts.

889.70. Belochus became the tenth king of the Assyrians, reigning for thirty-five years. He took the cognomen of Belus, because he wanted to exercise dominion as the chief of the priests of Belus Iovis, and his mind was principally occupied with auspices and divinations. Amongst the Tuyscones Gambrivius became king, and he was a man of fierce spirit.

889.71. Amongst the Emathii Macedon the son of Osiris began to reign, and the region retains its name from him to the present day, whilst Osiris subdued the giants around this kingdom, as they had now begun to exercise their tyranny.

889.72. In the twenty-ninth year of this Belochus, the Lomnimi flourished amongst the Celtiberi, and built a great city, named Lomnimia after them. In the following year the Itali were oppressed by the tyrannical giants in the three Palensana, and summoned Osiris to their aid, since he had arrived with colonies at the springs in the vicinity of the Ister {or “at the springs in Ister’s neighborhood”}. Osiris took the whole of Italy under his control and held it for ten years, giving it his own name as a mark of triumph: and bringing the giants into subjection, he left the giant Lestrigon as king of the Janigenes, being his grandson by his son Neptunus.

889.73. In the 33rd year of Belochus king Lucus began to reign amongst the Celts. In the latter years of Belochus the Attic sea overpowered, and, overspreading its bounds, inundated, Attica.

889.74. The eleventh king of the Babylonians was Baleus, reigning for fifty-two years. After Semiramis his fame outshines the rest. He reigned gloriously over the lands this side of India. Many books of his deeds have been composed by our writers. In the tenth year of his reign Porcus filled Cados Sene island {= Sardinia} with colonies from Vetulonia, leaving part to the Lygures for their posterity.

889.75. In the time of this Baleus the Indians gained possession of their own territories from the Babylonians. Osiris returned to Egypt and inscribed on a column which remains to this day a memorial of his expedition through the whole world.

889.76. Amongst the Tuyscones reigned Suaevus, and amongst the Celts Celtes. Their highest mountains {= the Pyrenees}, which divide the Celts from the Celtiberi, were named by him after a conflagration of the forests.

889.77. Egyptian Typhon, in alliance with all the giants of the world, slew his brother Osiris Iovis Iustus Aegyptius, and he himself assumed the rule over Egypt as a tyrant. Busiris did the same in Phoenicia, another Typhon in Phrygia, Anteus in Libya, in Celtiberia the Lomnini, in Italy the Lestrigones, and over the whole sea Milinus of Crete.

889.78. Hercules the son of Osiris, whose name was Libyus, along with Isis in Egypt took on Typhon, in Phoenicia Busiris, another Typhon in Phrygia, Milinus in Crete, Anteus in Libya, the Lomnini in Celtiberia, whereupon Hispalus was substituted as their king instead, and then he returned to deal with the tyrants of Italy. While he was passing through the Celts on his way to Italy, he begot by Galathea, with the permission of her parents, king Galathes.

889.79. In Italy he made war for ten years and drove out the Lestrigones, afterwards reigning peacefully amongst them for 20 years. He also founded many towns for them bearing his name and his by-name Musarna, as of Gedrosia and Carnania, and he made places impassible on account of flooding suitable for human habitation. And so in the 41st year of Baleus he stirred up war in Italy against the giants, and destroyed them in the second year before his death. Thus Hercules came to Italy from the Hispali, took on the Lestrigones and all the tyrants, founded the Arni, Lybarni and Musarni named after himself, reigned for thirty years and left Thuscus as their duly appointed king.

889.80. Altades was the twelfth king of the Babylonians, ruling for 32 years. He devoted a significant portion of his time to luxury, considering it wasted if spent in labor, and his life a continual misery if devoted to work, not indeed for the advantage and benefit of others and for humanity in general, but for their ruin and servitude. Therefore he so ordered his life that it should be productive of wealth and pomp, and that all his days on earth moroseness and misery should be foreign to his experience, yielding to greater achievements.

889.81. In the time of this Altades Hercules summoned the son Thuscus whom he had begotten from Araxa from the region of the Tanais. Galathes, after whom the Samothei were named Galli, reigned in his era amongst the Celts, and Vandalus amongst the Tuyscones.

889.82. Hercules made his son Thuscus, as was customary, Coritus over the Janigenes. He left him king over them, and in extreme old age returned to the Celtiberi, in the thirty-ninth year of Altades, and reigned and died there. The Celtiberi awarded him a temple in Gades and a sepulcher and divine honors, and dedicated many cities in his name as recognition of his achievements, as for example Libysosona, Libysoca, Libunca, and Libora.

889.83. Thuscus despatched the young Galathes (who had been sent to Hercules) to Sicily with colonies. The same Thuscus first instructed the Palatuan militia and the Razenui Janigenes in first principles.

889.84. The thirteenth king of Babylonia Mamitus ruled thirty years. He by contrast trained the soldiers and familiarized them with labor, allowing luxuries, unguents and ointments only at fixed intervals, and thus made it his aim to excel in armed conflict. He became formidable to the Syrians and Egyptians. In his twenty-second year Alteus the son of Thuscus reigned amongst the Janigenes and in the second year prior to this Hesperus the brother of Kitym amongst the Celtiberi, and further Narbon amongst the Celts and Teutanes amongst the Tuyscones.

889.85. The fourteenth king to have dominion over the Babylonians was Mancaleus, ruling for 30 years. In his first year Kytim reigned amongst the Celtiberi, having driven out his brother Hesperus into Italy.

889.86. In the twelfth year of Mancaleus, Kitym ruled amongst the Janigenes, leaving as king over the Celtiberi his son Sicorus. In the era of the same Mancaleus Hercules Alemannus ruled amongst the Tuyscones, and Lugdus amongst the Celts, and various districts and men received their names from him.

889.87. The Itali called Kytim Italus Atala in their own language on account of his mental capacity. He gave his daughter Electra as wife to Cambo Blascon the chief of the Janigenes. For his wedding Italus sent colonies across the Alps adjoining Italy and consecrated his daughter Roma first of all under-queen of the Aborigines. Italus Kytim made also his son Morges Coritus.

{To continue with the text of the Defloratio Berosi, omitting the following note, go to §889.88 here.}

{Commentary ed. 1512 fol. CXLIa: “They called him Italaa or Atalaa on account of his mental capacity, inasmuch as they mean the same thing.”}

889.88. The fifteenth king to have dominion over the Assyrians was Sferus, who ruled for 20 years, a man whose deeds and wisdom all the people celebrate. In his time Morges the son of Italus made his relative Camboblascon Coritus, and Itus remained Coritus till a little while later. Amongst the Celtiberi reigned Sicanus the son of Sicorus, after the death of Sferus under Mamelus.

889.89. The sixteenth king to have dominion over the Babylonians was Mamelus who ruled 30 years. In his eighth year Romanessos son of Roma became the first sub-king of the mountain Aborigines and Sicanus reigned amongst the Celtiberi.

{To continue with the text of the Defloratio Berosi, omitting the following note, go to §889.90 here.}

889.89.1.{Commentary ed. 1512 fol. CXLIIa: “Sicanus Italantides reigned amongst the Hispani in the time of Mamelus of Assyria. From him the Sicani Siculi received the cognomen Italantides or Atalantides, in the same way that the native Tusci were named Sicani from Sicanus the king of Vetulonia, as Berosus has informed us, and the district Sicana in Vetulonia is evidence of that. Dionysius {of Halicarnassus} insinuates the same when he writes that it was ancient native Sicani, not immigrants, who first settled Rome. So, from the native Sicanus Tuscus as father, and mother Roma, an immigrant Atalantides Sicana, is born Romanessus, the first of the male sub-kings of the Aborigines of Latium. The name of this king is composite, being formed from the Aramaic words Roma and Nesson. This was standard practice at the time for parents, since that was the language they employed. Roma means “exaltation” {from the Aramaic rwm, “be high, exalted”} and Nesson “very strong in auguries” {from the Aramaic ns = “sign, augury,” and ’wn, “strength”), as the divine Jerome and the Talmudists agree. Certainly, the future exaltation of the Roman Empire accords with the name Romanessus, that is, the exalted power of augury and divination: and Tuscus his father will have been an expert in the Tuscan practice of augury which was then in its heyday. From his city and from the line of his mother and father the future world Empire arose, as the interpretation of his name signifies. For Aeneas, the founder of the Roman imperial line, sprung from Dardanus of the line of Tuscus, and Lavinia was of the line of mother Roma, the queen of Latium, and from them was born Ascanius, as the more approved historical writers agree, though Virgil, a citizen of the Tuscan city of Mantua, alleges in the poetic books of the Aeneid that Ascanius belonged solely to the Tuscan stock of Dardanus. This Romanessus, whose name presaged the universal dominion to be exercised by the settlement of Rome, I take to be the ineffable god under whose tutelage the city of Rome fell, given that he was the first Saturn of that settlement, as Berosus goes on to relate, and as equally, more especially, his name demonstrates: on him depended every omen and augury of the Roman dominion. Along with many others, Pliny principally evidences the same in Book XXVIII of the Natural History cap. II {modern editions XXVIII. 4). He says Verrius Flaccus sets forth authorities to which he gives credit, in affirmation of the fact that, on the occasion of a siege, it was the invariable custom of the priests to invoke first that deity under whose tutelage the settlement fell, and to promise him the same or a more ample sacred area and service amongst the Romans. The rite (he says) still features in the priests’ rubric. And he confirms that the identity of the tutelary deity of Rome was kept secret lest any of the enemy should act likewise. {The passage reads: “Verrius Flaccus cites authors whom he deems worthy of credit, to show that on the occasion of a siege, it was the usage, the first thing of all, for the Roman priests to summon forth the tutelary divinity of that particular town, and to promise him the same rites, or even a more extended worship, at Rome; and at the present day even, this ritual still forms part of the discipline of our pontiffs. Hence it is, no doubt, that the name of the tutelary deity of Rome has been so strictly kept concealed, lest any of our enemies should act in a similar manner.” (Bostock-Riley)} He also makes the same assertion in Book III. cap. VI {modern editions III. 9}. Rome itself, he says, is an additional name to that of the most ancient city which was forbidden to be uttered by ceremonial taboos. This custom, a fine and healthy safeguard, fell into disuse when Valerius Sorranus published it abroad, and presently paid the penalty. So says Pliny. {The passage reads: “…. Rome herself, whose other name the hallowed mysteries of the sacred rites forbid us to mention without being guilty of the greatest impiety. After it had been long kept buried in secrecy with the strictest fidelity and in respectful and salutary silence, Valerius Soranus dared to divulge it, but soon did he pay the penalty of his rashness.” (Bostock-Riley)} The reader should be aware in this regard: Rome at first had two names. One of them was permitted to be employed as a name, that is, Roma. The other was placed under ceremonial taboos and was not permitted to be uttered, as Pliny demonstrates. The second point is that the ineffable name was forbidden to be uttered according to the priests’ rubric, lest, once known, the Roman god might be invoked by enemies. The third point to be noted is that it was banished from public use, that is, forbidden to be uttered, but not in private, because Valerius Sorranus knew it himself then made it public. This name, therefore, was Romanessus, for which the evidence is fourfold. The first proof is that he was the first Saturn and god of Rome. The second is that this was at one and the same time the name of Rome itself, and carried everything upon it, for which reason it was kept secret, lest it should be conveyed to hostile powers. The third is that this was the name that was awarded by sacred taboos to the tribe of Romulus. For according to the testimony of Livy in the First Book Ab Urbe Condita, and Varro in the First Book De Lingua Latina, though the other tribes were named Tatienses and Luceres from the princes Tatius and Lucus or Lucumo, the tribe of Romulus was not called Romulea, but Romnensis by syncope. For the vernacular says Romnesse for Romanesse, concerning which fuller information will be given in relation to Fabius and C. Sempronius.”

889.89.2. {Notes on this passage of the Defloratio and commentary: Romanessos, also spelled Romanessus, according to the Defloratio, was elevated to divinity as Saturn, the first god and founder of Rome (§889.97, below, >>). In Rabbinic legend (earliest in Yosippon 10th century AD, [Book I] Pereq 2) the same is said of Zepho, son of Eliphaz son of Esau. The Arabs call Zepho al-Asfar (the “Roman,” literally, “the Tawny one,” a reference to the sallow skin-color of the Romans), playing on his name. (Zepho is transcribed “Sophar” in the LXX, and this has been interpreted as if it is equivalent to the Arabic “asfar”= “tawny, sallow, bronze-colored.”) In the Defloratio the mother of Romanessos is Roma, daughter of Kittim-Italus, and wife of Tuscus of the line of Hercules Libycus. She bears, however, an Oriental (Aramaic) name, Roma the “tall, lofty, or, exalted one.” According to Nanni in his commentary, Aramaic was the language in common use at that time in these circles. That is confirmed by the comments made earlier respecting the Etruscan god Camillus (§348, above, >>). Since the name Romanessos, applied to her son, was composed of epithets of Roma herself (“Roma,” “nes,” and “on,” “Roma, the miracle of strength,” or “the exalted one, powerful in auguries,” or however else it should be interpreted), and was the secret name of the city of Rome (Rome, Latin “Roma,” being the abbreviated form), which was conceived of as female, it is clear the name had more to do with Romanessos’ mother than with his own person. According to the Rabbis the real name of the founder of Rome was Zepho. The name Zepho, however, like the name Romanessus, might be used as a titular eponymus to designate a series of individuals descended from the original clan chief so called. If we assume what can hardly be doubted, on the evidence of what is alleged about them, that Romanessos and Zepho are one and the same person, or, at least, equivalent titular eponymi, then Zepho must also have been the “son” of a woman of Kittim (Roma), whose husband was Tuscus. The Arabic legend of al-Asfar in Ibn Khallikan (infra) explains how that situation may have come about. Al-Asfar is the eponymus of the Romans, equivalent to the Hebrew Zepho and the Defloratio’s Romanessus. Al-Asfar’s mother was a “white woman” of the “Rum” people (Rum = Romans, viz. the Kittim of the Defloratio). Her Rum husband died, and the Rum, being in political straits at the time, accepted as their king the first person who appeared on the scene, and this happened to be the father of al-Asfar, meaning the ancestor from whom the Romans traced their descent. He is described as an Abyssinian, and as having been, prior to his elevation, the chattel of a man who brought him in slavery out of Yemen. In Rabbinic literature Yemen is the land of Teman, that is, the land of Zepho son of Eliphaz son of Esau, Eliphaz being identified with Job’s comforter, Eliphaz of Teman, in the Book of Job. Through the intermarriage of Esau with the Hivites, the Edomites, including Eliphaz and Zepho, could be, and were, termed Hivites, and therefore also Minaeans, that is, Cushite Sabaeans, or “Abyssinians,” to use the common Arabic ethnic designation. Esau and his children were believed to have been given extensive territories to inhabit stretching from their homeland in Seir as far as Rome (that is, the Biblical Iram, see infra, citing Pirqe de Rab Eliezer cap. 38). Zepho himself and members of his clan, furthermore, were enslaved by the patriarch Joseph in his Canaanite wars, and brought down out of their native land (Edom, Seir, Teman) by Joseph into Egypt. Zepho slipped his chains, fled first to North Africa, and then to Italy, where he founded Rome, according to Yosippon ([Book I] Pereq 2). In a variant of or addition to the Zepho legend, Eliphaz is said to have been present latterly with Zepho in Italy (Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, n. 425, citing Sikli Talmud Torah [manuscript], quoting Yelammedenu), and to have been visited there by Esau, after Zepho’s demise. Now, the al-Asfar story refers to the father of al-Asfar, viz. the ancestor of the Romans, as a one-time slave, whose release from slavery was purchased by the Rum from his master. When the slave-owner was apprised of his slave’s location, he went to the Rum to demand, and receive, a price for his acquiescence. The Romans (“al-Asfar”) were the offspring of the mixed marriage between the dark-skinned Abyssinian and the fair-skinned queen of the Rum, who was given to him in marriage when he became their king. Hence the name al-Asfar, the “tawny, or, sallow one,” with reference to the mulatto skin-color the Romans were believed to have inherited from their first parents. If, as seems probable, the escaped slave of the al-Asfar story was Yosippon’s Zepho, then he must have married a native Kittim queen. Accordingly in the Defloratio Romanessos, corresponding to the Arabic al-Asfar, is the “son” of Roma, queen of the Kittim. The name Romanessos speaks of the mother Roma, more than of the particular male who bore it, and may be presumed to reflect the importance of this matriarchal figure in the underlying tradition. From the time of the Republic the eponymous goddess Roma features on coins and monuments with the attributes of Athena (Minerva). This shows Roma was believed to be a form of Athena. Athena was originally Anat of Canaan, and the Hivite Anah, who was the mother of the wife of Esau, and therefore an ancestress of Zepho himself. It would be typical for the attributes of the ancestral goddess to be passed down to her descendants in the female line, as, in this case, the attributes of Athena to Roma her “daughter” (by Zepho’s mixed marriage). The Lilith-like “Roma” of Revelation 17, 18 and 19, Mystery Babylon, is described as a cage of every unclean and hateful bird (Rev. 18. 2), the smoke of whose judgment will rise up for ever (Rev. 19. 3), in veiled reference to Isaiah’s prophecy on the fall of Edom (Isa. 34. 10, cf. also on the unclean birds in the ruins of Edom Isa. 34. 11ff.). Roma’s Edomite origin is alluded to here, as well as her identity with the pagan goddess Athena, whose symbol was the owl (an unclean bird), and whose post-diluvian incarnation was Anah/Anat of Edom. (See further §337.1, above, >>.) The incidental details in the three stories (of Zepho, al-Asfar and Romanessos) harmonize well. This presumes only, what is not stated explicitly in the al-Asfar story in Ibn Khallikan, that the title al-Asfar was applied generally to the people of Rome, including Zepho himself, even though Zepho was not mulatto, and therefore not “sallow” colored, but simply a “Roman,” in fact the founder of the city of Rome. For this reason, and not because of his color, he came to be awarded preeminently the sobriquet “al-Asfar.” It is remarkable that the Defloratio itself (as opposed to Nanni’s commentary) does not name the father of Romanessos, but only his mother Roma. The father of Romanessos, on this evidence, was the Edomite Zepho, whose eponymus (Zepho = al-Asfar = Romanessos) passed down to his successors on the throne of Rome.

889.89.3. It should be noted, in addition, there were “Rum” (“Romans”) in the East, indeed in the very homeland of the Edomites, from the very earliest times, as, according to Pirqe de Rab Eliezer cap. 38, the Romans were the tribe of Iram the Duke of Edom. (Gen. 36. 43, Iram, Heb. ‛yrām, if derived from the stem ‛rm II [Gesenius-Tregelles s.v.], like Irad [‛yrād] from ‛rd and Mikal [mykāl] from mkl, is from the same biconsonantal root rm as Roma.) Thus the “Rum” originally would be the Edomite or Hivite (Minaean) clan of Iram, who had contact, and practiced intermarriage, with the fair-skinned Kittim of the Mediterranean coastlands and islands amongst whom they traded. The original historical schema is likely to have been as follows. Zepho escaped from Egypt to the land of Lotan, and settled there. His clan fought wars and settled in North Africa (in the vicinity of Carthage) and in Italy just across the sea. Amongst these settlers were Iramites descended from Iram. This clan-name later took the form Ramnenses, Romani etc. Abarbanel (commentary on Isaiah 34) identifies the Latins as the clan of Lotan, son of Seir, and brother of Zibeon. Lotan’s sister Timna married Eliphaz the father of Zepho (Gen. 36. 12, 22). There were Lotanites (“Latins”) also, therefore, amongst the settlers who passed over from North Africa to Italy. Hence the ubiquity of the eponymi Roma, Romus, Romanessus, Romulus etc. (= Iram), and Latinus (= Lotan), in the various stories that sprang up about the foundation of Rome. The era of “Zepho” in Yosippon spans the period from Joseph’s presence in Egypt to that of the Trojan Aeneas in Carthage, that is, according to the Biblical chronology from c. 1800-1700 BC to c. 1200-1100 BC, and the text goes on to mention Romulus several generations later in the era of David (c. 1000-900 BC). Classical writers dated the foundation of Rome (or, rather, the first mention of a city called “Roma”) to the era of Roma daughter of Italus (c. 1750 BC), or alternatively, or additionally, to the era of Aeneas and his sons and grandsons (c. 1150-1100 BC), or to the era of Romulus and Remus, several hundred years after that. There is always the possibility, admitted by the chroniclers themselves, that the city was rebuilt or relocated in the latter two instances. The eponymus “Roma,” denoting an “Iramite” matriarch, features in these writers variously as the daughter of Italus, or as a member of the family, or one of the companions, of Aeneas, or as the wife of a figure titled Latinus (the “Lotanite”), etc. etc., who played a more or less important part in the founding of the city. She is usually depicted as the mother of the male eponymus of Rome (Romus, Romulus etc.). It was Zepho who gathered together a portion of the Ramnenses (“Iramites”) into an homogeneous community, and thus became the founding god-man, “Saturn,” of the city of “Romanessos” or “Roma,” so called, c. 1800-1700 BC. Roma and Maia were both daughters of Italus. Maia was espoused to Picus-Zeus, the god-man of Crete (that is, Ninus I = Shamshi-Adad I, c. 1750 BC), according to Peri Theon. Picus-Zeus succeeded Zepho-Saturnus in the list of divine kings of Rome, which probably consisted at that early date only of the settlement on the “Saturnian,” the later Capitoline, hill. The sequence of divine names was Saturnus, Picus, Faunus etc., or each king in succession was treated as an incarnation of the “long-lived” Picus-Zeus. The clan of Zepho (Saturnus), that is, the clan of Lotan (Latinus) and the Iramites (Romani), occupied the settlement known as Roma on the hills in Campania by the River Tiber, refashioning and reforming the city, in three major phases, from c. 1750 BC, to the early first millennium BC. The first phase of settlement occurred in the era of Italus, the second in that of Aeneas, and the third in that of Romulus and Remus. The motif of the founder of Rome (“Romulus” = “Romanessos” = Zepho = “Edom/Esau”) as one of a pair of antagonistic twin brothers, suckled in their infancy by a lascivious woman symbolized as a wolf, goes back to the Biblical theme of conflict, then intermarriage between the clan of Esau and the Hivites of Mount Seir (Romulus the eponymus of the Iramite clan of Zepho, Remus the eponymus of Iram); the wolf (Greek lukos) specifically was the symbol of the clan of Zibeon, into which Esau married, and from whom Zepho traced his descent, as Zibeon in the original Hebrew signifies the African hunting-dog (lukos).

889.89.4. On al-Asfar as the eponymus of the Romans, from Ibn Khallikan’s Biographical Dictionary, trans. de Slane, vol. IV, Paris, 1871, section Yakut ar-Rumi the Poet, p. 8f.: “Rumi means belonging to the country of the Rum [Greeks], which is a vast and celebrated region, filled with cities. — This is a fit place for introducing a piece of curious information which is often needed and frequently asked for: The people of Rum [the Greeks and the Romans] are designated also as the Banu’ l-Asfar [sons of the tawny one], and poets often employ this expression in their verses. Adi ibn Zaid al-Ibadi [vol. I. p. 189] says, in one of his kasidas:

“The noble sons of al-Asfar, kings of ar-Rum, have left no remembrance of their deeds.

“I frequently sought for the origin of this denomination, but could find no one capable of allaying the thirst I had [for that piece of information]; till I at length met, by chance, with an old book entitled Al-Lafif [the miscellany] (see footnote 13 infra), but, on which the name of the person who dictated its contents [i.e. the author] was not inscribed. I copy here a passage of it in which the narrator says: ‘Al-Abbas informed me that he heard his father make the following statement: In the first period [of the empire], the king of the Rum died (see footnote 14 infra), leaving a wife. Rival chiefs aspired to the empire and great mischief was done between them. It was then agreed upon to take for their king the first person who would appear to them, and they held an assembly for that object. Now, a man had set out from Yemen for ar-Rum, taking with him an Abyssinian slave. He (the slave) ran away and appeared before them. “See,” said they, “into what we have fallen!” They married him to that woman, and she bore a son whom they named al-Asfar [the Tawny]. The master [of the slave] remonstrated with them and the boy [the slave] said: “He has spoken the truth! I am his slave.” They tried to appease him [the master] and made him gifts till he was satisfied. The Rum were therefore called the Sons of the Tawny, on account of the yellowness of the child, who was the son of an Abyssinian and a white woman.’ — God knows best!”

De Slane’s Footnotes :

“(13) This work is no longer known.

(14) Or, according to other readings, was torn to pieces, was burned.”}

889.90. Amongst the Celts reigned Beligius from whom the Belgians received their name and amongst the Janigenes finally Iasius was made Coritus by his father.

889.91. Iasius was made Coritus and the next year two kings began to rule at the same time, that is, Cecrops Priscus the first king of the Athenians and Iasius Janigena amongst the Celts.

889.92. Io the Egyptian was present at the marriage of Iasius. Alone amongst women she lived one more century than Dodoneus and wandered over almost the whole world after the slaying of her husband.

889.93. The seventeenth king of the Babylonians was Sparetus, and he ruled 40 years. Under him marvelous events began to occur in the world. It was then that an earthquake terrified the Babylonians. The Athenians set up their kingdom in his 4th year. That same year Iasius Janigene acquired dominion over the Italians, and a little while later Siceleus over the Celtiberi.

889.94. Under Sparetus the great Egyptian kings Orus, Acencheres, Acoris, ended their reigns and Chencres began his, who fought by Magic arts with the Hebrews and was submerged by them. In his 34th and 35th year there was an inundation in Thessaly, not only as a result of rainstorms but on account of the fact that blockages occurred through the collapse of mountains and rivers filled the low-lying land, and by the earthquake which followed the mountains’ rocky structure was split apart and water reversed in the channels. And in other parts of them a fire followed the earthquake, under a certain king of theirs Phaeton. And our king conquered the Phoenicians and Syrians. But before all this in the 20th year of his reign Io returned to Egypt from Italy. And the first intestinal struggle arose for the royal power between Dardanus and Iasius. The Aborigines sided with Dardanus and the Janigenes and Sicels, along with Siceleus, sided with Iasius.

{Note: Commentary fol CXLIIIb: “This effect of celestial phenomena caused disruptions in Italy also: but in Thessaly there was a flood and it occurred during the reign of the Greek Phaeton [Phaethon], not in the Italian Phaetontean regions of the Eridanus [the Po]; it caused flooding and fires in different places ….”}

889.95. The eighteenth king to exercise power over the Babylonians was Ascatades. He ruled 41 years and brought the whole of Syria completely under his sway. In his 13th year the discovery of the vine is said to have been made amongst the Greeks. In the same year Dardanus slew Iasius by guile and fleeing to Samothrace lay hidden there for a considerable period of time.

889.96. Iasius was succeeded by his son Coribantus.

889.97. In the 8th year of Ascatades Cancres, overcome by the magic arts of the Hebrews, perished in the sea, and he was succeeded amongst the Egyptians by Acherres, amongst the Celtiberi Lusus came to power, amongst the Celts Allobrox, and amongst the Italians Romanessus the son of Roma, consecrated the first Saturnus, presently ended his life, being succeeded by his son Picus Priscus.

889.98. In the last year of the reign of Ascatades Ato bestowed a part of the Maeonian territory on Dardanus, and thus the kingdom of Troy began. Whatever legal rights Dardanus had in the kingdom of Italy he resigned to Turrenus the son of Ato.

889.99. Turrhenus sailed to Italy Janigena, and was received with joy by Cybele and Coribantus, and was granted political status amongst the Razenui.

889.100. The same Turrhenus brought forth out of his treasures and made gifts of many Maeonian ornaments. Coribantus and Cybele, adorned with Dynastic power over twelve princes of twelve tribes of the Janigenes, conveyed themselves into Phrygia.

889.101. Further also under Ascatades there reigned amongst the Egyptians Cherres and Armeus, who was given the cognomen Danaus, and Ramesses, with the cognomen Aegyptus.

889.102. Thus the rulers and history of the primordial kingdoms are set forth in our traditions, from Janus at the time of the first Inundation up to the foundation of the kingdom of Dardania, and are herein recorded by us in a series of brief notices.”

890. This completes the translation of the Defloratio Berosi.

 

ORIGINAL LATIN TEXT OF THE DEFLORATIO BEROSI OF GIOVANNI NANNI.

891. This is the Latin original of the Defloratio Berosi which is reproduced in larger typeface in the standard editions of Nanni’s Antiquitates. Nanni’s extensive commentaries, surrounding the Defloratio text in smaller typeface, is not included here, but the commentaries are as interesting as, and sometimes more informative than, the Defloratio itself. From remarks made in these commentaries, it can be deduced Nanni had access to documents more detailed and complete, in some respects, than the basic text of the Defloratio as cited.

From: “Contributions towards a History of Arabico-Gothic Culture,” Leo Wiener vol III: “Tacitus’ Germania and Other Forgeries,” Philadelphia, 1920, p. 174ff. Latin text cited there from Johannes Annius, Antiquitatum variarum volumina. XVII, 1512, lib. XV.

Ibid. pp. 175-200 DEFLORATIO BEROSI.

“DEFLORATIO BEROSI.

Liber I.

891.1. 1. Ante aquarum cladem famosam qua universus periit orbis, multa praeterierunt saecula, quae a nostris Chaldaeis fideliter fuerunt servata.

891.2. 2. Scribunt illis temporibus circa Lybanum fuisse Enos urbem maximam gigantum, qui universo orbi dominabantur, ab occasu solis ad ortum. Hi vastitate corporis ac robore confisi, inventis armis omnes opprimebant, libidinique inservientes, invenerunt papiliones, et instrumenta musica et omnes delitias. Manducabant homines et procurabant aborsus, in eduliumque praeparabant, et commiscebantur matribus, filiabus, sororibus, et masculis, brutis, et nihil erat sceleris quod non admitterent, contemptores religionis et deorum.

891.3. 3. Tum multi praedicabant et vaticinabantur, et lapidibus excidebant, de ea quae ventura erat orbis perditione, sed enim illi assueti corridebant omnia, caelestium illos ira atque ultione perurgente pro impietate atque sceleribus.

891.4. 4. Unus inter gigantes erat, qui deorum veneratior et prudentior cunctis, reliquus ex probis erat in Syria. Huic nomen erat Noa, cum tribus filiis, Samo, Iapeto, Chem et uxoribus Tytea magna, Pandora, Noela, et Noegla, is timens quam ex astris futuram prospectabat cladem, anno .lxxviii. ante inundationem, navim instar arcae coopertam fabricari coepit. Anno septuagesimo octavo ab inchoata navi, ex improviso exundavit oceanus et omnia maria mediterranea. Fluminaque ac fontes ab imo ebullientes inundaverunt supra omnes montes accedentibus, atque impetuosissime et supra naturam e coelo copiosissimis hymbribus multis diebus corruentibus. Ita omne humanum genus aquis suffocatum, excepto Noa cum familia sua quae navi erepta est. Nam elevata ab aquis in Gordiei montis vertice quievit, cuius adhuc dicitur aliqua pars esse, et homines ex illa bitumen tollere, quo maxime utuntur ad expiationem.

891.5. 5. Ab hoc igitur anno salutis humanae ab aquis primordio sumpto, nostri maiores innumeros scripserunt. Nos vero taediosum illorum sermonem abbreviaturi referemus origines et tempora, et reges eorum dumtaxat regnorum, quae nunc magna habentur. In Asia quidem nostrum omnium celsissimum Babylonicum, in Aphrica Aegyptium et Libycum, quae unum primo fuerunt, et sub uno narrabimus. Postremo in Europa quatuor nostri enumerant. Celtiberum, Celtae, Kytim, quod illae gentes Italicum appellant, et Tuysconum quod a Rheno fluvio per Sarmatas in Pontum finit. Addunt quidam etiam quintum dictum Ionicum.

Liber II.

891.6. 1. Necesse est igitur nos ex praemissis confiteri, quod et Chaldaei et Scythae scribunt, siccato ab aquis orbe non fuisse nisi dictos octo homines in Armenia Saga, et ab his omne hominum genus in terris seminatum, atque ob id Scythas recte dicere et appellare Noam omnium deorum maiorum et minorum patrem, et humanae gentis auctorem, et chaos et semen mundi. Tyteam vero Aretiam, id est, terram in quam semen chaos posuit, et ex qua tamquam ex terra cuncti prodierunt.

891.7. 2. Praeter vero tres primores filios, Noa post diluvium gigantes pluresque filios genuit. Quare ad abbreviandum plurimum conferet si omnium posteritates figurabimus, ab ipso Noa sumpto exordio, deinde sigillatim a caeteris. Primum itaque dixerunt Ogygisan Sagam, id est illustrem sacrorum pontificem Noam Dysir.

Liber III.

891.8. 1. Has igitur principum atque Heroum origines atque posteritates abbreviamus ex nostris Chaldaeis atque Scythicis libris, quoad satis sit. Nam et multos alios memoriae mandant, quos quia vel nihil ad nostram intentam accurtationem aut parum offerunt, ob id dimittimus, resumpturi illos ubi opus fuerit.

891.9. 2. Quo pacto exinanitus orbis fuerit coloniis et hominibus oppletur dicendum est. Exsiccata humo et torrefacta terra, Noa cum familia de monte Gordieo, ut par erat, descendit in subiacentem planitiem plenam cadaverum, quam usque ad hanc aetatem appellant Myri Adam, id est, evisceratorum hominum, et inscripsit in lapide in monumentum rem gestam, et vocant incolae locum, egressorium Noae. Congressi vero coniugibus, perpetuo geminos edebant marem et foeminam, qui adulti et coniuges effecti et ipsi binos partu liberos semper edebant. Neque enim unquam Deus vel natura defuit rerum necessitati quae ad universi orbis spectat opulentiam. Eo pacto brevi in immensum adaucto humano genere, omnique Armenia completa, opus erat eos inde recedere, atque novas sibi sedes conquirere.

891.10. 3. Tunc senissimus omnium pater Noa, iam antea edoctos theologiam et sacros ritus, coepit etiam eos erudire humanam sapientiam. Et quidem multa naturalium rerum secreta mandavit literis, quae solis sacerdotibus Scythae Armeni commendant. Neque enim fas est illa, ulli inspicere aut legere vel docere quam solis sacerdotibus, et inter sacerdotes dumtaxat, sicut et quos rituales libros reliquit, ex quibus illis primum Saga nomen fuit inditum, id est, sacerdos et sacrificulus et pontifex.

891.11. 4. Docuit item illos astrorum cursus et distinxit annum ad cursum solis et .xii. menses ad motum lunae, qua scientia praedicebat illis ab initio quid in anno et cardinibus eius futurum contingeret, ob quae illum existimaverunt divinae naturae esse participem, ac propterea illum Olybama et Arsa, id est, caelum et solem cognominaverunt, et illi plures civitates dedicaverunt. Nam et ad haec tempora Scythae Armeni urbes habent Olybama et Arsa, Ratha, et eiuscemodi. Cumque ivisset ad regendum Kitim, quam nunc Italiam nominant, desiderium sui reliquit Armenis, ac propterea post mortem illum arbitrati sunt in animam coelestium corporum tralatum, et illi divinos honores impenderunt. Et ob id solum haec duo regna Armenum quidem, quia ibi coepit: Italicum vero, quia ibi finivit et docuit et regnavit, naturaliumque atque divinorum quae eos erudivit libros plenissime illis conscriptos reliquit, illum venerantur simulque cognominant coelum, solem, chaos, semen mundi, patremque deorum maiorum et minorum, animam mundi moventem coelos, et mixta vegetabiliaque et animalia et hominem, Deum pacis, iustitiae, sanctimoniae, expellentem noxia et custodientem bona. Et ob hoc illum utraeque gentes signant in scriptis cursu solis et motu lunae, et sceptro dominii quo malos et noxios expellebat a coetu hominum, et castimonia corporis et sanctimonia animi, duabus clavibus religionis et felicitatis. Neque minus Tytheam quae mater omnium erat, Aretiam, id est, terram vocabant, et Estam, id est, ignem post mortem cognominaverunt, quia ipsa regina sacrorum fuerat, et puellas docuerat sempiternum ignem sacrorum inextinctum servare. Caeterum Noa antequam discederet ab Armenia docuit illos simplicem agriculturam, magis curans religionem et mores quam opulentiam et delitias quae ad illicita et libidines provocant, et caelestium iram nuper induxerant. Primus tamen omnium invenit vites atque plantavit et vinum conficere docuit, cuius vim inexpertus et vaporem ebrius effectus minus pudice in terram cecidit. Erat illi, ut diximus, filius ex tribus primis adolescentior Chem, qui semper magicae et veneficae studens, Zoroast nomen consequutus erat. Is patrem Noam odio habebat, quia alios ultimo genitos ardentius amabat, se vero despici videbat. Potissime vero idem infensus erat patri ob vitia. Itaque nactus opportunitatem cum Noa pater madidus iaceret, illius virilia comprehendens taciteque submurmurans, carmine magico patri illusit, simul et illum sterilem perinde atque castratum effecit, neque deinceps Noa foemellam aliquam foecundare potuit. Ob beneficium inventae vitis et vini dignatus est cognomento Iano, quod Arameis sonat vitifer et vinifer. At vero Chem cum publice corrumperet mortale genus, asserens et re ipsa exequens congrediendum esse ut ante inundationem, cum matribus, sororibus, filiabus, masculis, brutis et quovis alio genere, ob hoc eiectus a Iano piissimo et castimonia atque pudicitia refertissimo, sortitus est cognomentum Chem esenua, id est Chem infamis et impudicus, incubus, propagator. Est enim Esen apud Scythas Arameos infamis et impudicus. Enua vero tum impudicus, tum propagator. Eum inter homines huius dogmatis sequuti fuerunt Aegyptii, qui sibi illum suum Saturnum inter deos adolescentiorem fecerunt, et civitatem illi posuerunt dictam Chem Myn, a qua ad hanc aetatem omnes cives illius appellamus Chemmenitas. Verum posteri hoc vitiosum dogma neglexerunt, retento quod fuit primi moris, ut inter fratres et sorores coniugium iniri posset.

Liber IV.

891.12. 1. Multiplicatum est in immensum genus humanum, et ad comparandas novas sedes necessitas compellebat. Tum Ianus pater adhortatus est homines principes ad quaerendas novas sedes et communem coetum inter homines agendum, et aedificandas urbes. Designavit itaque illas tres partes orbis Asiam, Aphricam et Europam, ut ante diluvium viderat. Singulis autem his principibus singulas partes ad quas irent partitus, ipse per totum orbem colonias se traducturum pollicitus est.

891.13. 2. Itaque Nymbrotum creavit Babyloniae Saturnum primum, ut ibi primum aedificaret cum coloniis suis. Quare Nymbrotus assumpto filio Iove Belo cum coloniis furatus est rituales Iovis Sagi, et cum populo venit in campum Sennaar, ubi designavit urbem et fundavit maximam turrim, anno salutis ab aquis centesimo trigesimoprimo, regnavitque annis .lvi. et deduxit turrim ad altitudinem et magnitudinem montium, in signum atque monumentum, quod primus in orbe terrarum est populus Babylonicus, et regnum regnorum dici debet. Ergo ab eo exordiemur, et per ipsum mensurabimus omnia regna et eorum reges ac tempora, abbreviando illa in hunc modum.

891.14. 3. Anno .cxxxi. a salute ab aquis prima omnium gentium et civitatum, fundata est a Saturno Babylonico nostro urbs et gens nostra Babilonica, multiplicataque est nimis numero posteritatis, magisque studuit paci et religioni Saturnus deorum, quam opulentiis. Et turrim quidem aedificavit, sed non complevit, nec designatam urbem fundavit, quia post quinquagintasex annos subito non comparuit translatus a diis.

891.15. 4. Ab exordio huius, Ianus pater misit in Aegyptum cum coloniis Chemesenuum, in Lybiam vero et Cyrenem, Tritonem, et in totam reliquam Aphricam Iapetum priscum Atalaa. In Asiam orientalem misit Gangem cum aliquot ex filiis Comeri Galli. In Arabiam Felicem Sabum cognomine Thuriferum. Arabum praefecit Arabiae desertae, et Petreium, Petreiae. Canam posuit a Damasco usque in extima Palaestinae. In Europa regem Sarmatiae fecit Tuysconem a Tanai ad Rhenum, iunctique sunt illi omnes filii Istri et Mesae cum fratribus suis ab Adula monte usque in Mesembericam Ponticam. Sub his tenuerunt Tyras, Arcadius, Emathius. Italiam tenuit Comerus Gallus. Samotes possedit Celtas, et Iubal occupavit Celtiberos.

891.16. 5. Hi sunt qui egressi sunt post Nymbrotum, singuli cum familiis et coloniis suis, relinquentes nomina sua locis in signum expeditionis a Iano patre commissae, et ad monumentum posteris ut scirent quis eorum fuerit conditor. Hi iuxta mandatum Iani coloniis turri constructa pro metropoli, ipsi in veiis et cavernis casas habebant. Solus noster Saturnus idcirco excessit mandatum, quia urbem urbium et regnum regnorum voluit esse Babyloniam. Rursus his temporibus Ianus cum omnes in colonias missi abivissent, eos qui remanserant bipartitus est. Nam secum retinuit filios plurimos, quos post salutem ab aquis genuit, et item maximam gentium multitudinem quum secum in colonias conducturus erat. Scytha cum matre sua Araxa et aliquot coloniis qui Armeniam incolerent, rex primus relictus est constituto summo pontifice Sabbatio Saga ab Armenia usque in Bactrianos: quae longitudo a nobis ad hanc aetatem vocatur Scythia Saga. Postremus omnium ipse Ianus ab Armenia per orbem colonias seminaturus, egressus est. Haec nostri maiores multis libris tradiderunt. Nunc de temporibus eorum ac posteritatibus dicemus, iuxta id quod in nostra Chaldaica et primordiali Scythica historia fideli memoria conservatum est.

Liber V.

891.17. 1. Ut supra diximus, anno a salute humani generis ab aquis centesimo trigesimoprimo, coepit regnum Babylonicum, sub nostro Saturno, patre Iovis Beli: qui imperavit annis .lvi. Anno huius decimo Comerus Gallus posuit colonias suas in regno, quod post Italia dicta est. Et regionem suam a suo nomine cognominavit, docuitque illos legem et iustitiam. Anno eius duodecimo Iubal condidit Celtiberos, et paulopost Samothes, qui et Dis, Celtas colonias fundavit: neque quisquam illa aetate isto sapientior fuit, ac propterea Samothes dictus est. Anno Nymbroti .xv. Oceanus ad Nilum Aegypti consedit, et multos ex sorore Tethyde edidit liberos. Inde supervenit ille corruptor humani generis Chemesenuus, ubi Telchines magicam docens, maxima opinione celebratur. Anno decimooctavo eiusdem Babylonici regis, Gogus Sabeam Arabiam Felicem cum Sabo suo patre puer tenuit, et Triton Libyam, et Iapetus priscus Atalaa Aphricam, Cur Aethiopiam, et Getulus Getuliam. Anno eiusdem .xxv. Thuyscon Sarmatas maximos populos fundavit, et Mesa cum filiis Istri priscos Mesios posuit, usque Ponticam Mesembriam ab Adula monte. Anno trigesimooctavo eiusdem regis Sagae Armeni multiplicati possederunt omnem Caspiam regionem, ab Armenia usque in Bactrianos, et Ianus pater Ianeos colonos traduxit in Hircaniam, et Ianilos in Mesopotamia versus mare sub Babylonia. Anno quadragesimo eiusdem regis aliquot coloni ex filiis Comeri in Bactrianis sibi sedes quaesiverunt. Et Ganges in India sedem sui nominis. Anno quadragesimoquinto eiusdem regis aliqui ex filiis Mesae ac Getuli iuncti simul primi Mesagetas in India propagaverunt. Eadem tempestate Saturnus rex Babyloniae misit principes coloniarum Assyrium, Medum, Moscum et Magogum: qui regna condiderunt Assyrium, Medum, et Magogum in Asia, Moscos vero et in Asia simul et Europa. Anameon quoque adolescentulus Maeones a se dictos condidit, et regnavit centum quinquaginta annis.

891.18. 2. Secundus rex Babyloniae Iuppiter Belus filius dicti Saturni, regnavit annis .lxii. et fundamenta designata Babyloniae oppidi magis quam urbis erexit. Pace fruebatur usque circa finem imperii sui. Anno .iii. huius, Comerus more Scythico unde venerat docuit suos Italos urbem curribus componere. Et idcirco Veii appellati sunt vocabulo Sago, qui Veias plaustrum appellant, et urbem ex his compositam si parva sit Veitulam, si magna Ulurdum, si metropolis Cy Ocholam ad haec quoque tempora Scythae plaustris et curru pro domibus utuntur. Et sub solario quidem stabulum, supra vero habent officinas domus. Concludit et loca a se cognominata Tyras, postquam Tyrum fundavit, cum principibus coloniarum littora maris tenuit, fundavitque Thraces Archadius Archadiam, Emathius Emathiam tenuit. Anno .xlv. huius Beli Ianus pater posuit colonias in Arabia Felice, et a suo nomine unas vocavit Noam, et a cognomine Ianineas. Qui vero ex posteritate Comeri erant Galli ab Avito cognomine illos appellavit Gallos. Anno .lvi. huius Beli Chemesenus venit in Italiam ad Comeros, et non comparente Comero, coepit colonias regere atque corrumpere suis impietatibus et sceleribus.

891.19. 3. Ianus vero pater circa Arabiae Felicis fluvium plures colonias relinquens, et a se Ianineas cognominans, in Aphricam ad Tritonem venit. Hac aetate Iuppiter Belus coepit libidine dominandi torqueri. Et paulo ante Araxa cum filio Scytha, creato omnium gentium Sagarum rege Sabatio Saga, atque in Armenia relicto, ipsa occupavit omnem partem Occidentalem ab Armenia usque in Sarmatiam Europae. At vero Iuppiter Belus quum non possit alios subiugare nisi subacto et trucidato Sabatio Sagarum rege, clam molitus est illum perimere. Cumque Saturnus prospiceret se non posse evadere quod innumeras insidias sibi paraverat Iuppiter Belus, clandestina fuga se tutabat, in Sagis Caspiis delitescando. Cumque naturae concederet, iussit filio Nino ut Sabatium Sagam funditus deleret, et omnes populos Babylonico regno subiiceret, quia omnium in orbe primum fuisset. Quo accepto Sabatius delitescebat in Bactrianis Sagis, quousque cerneret tempus idoneum vel ad regnum vel ad fugam. Ita arma Iovis contra eum parata illum regno pepulerunt circa tempora Semiramidis. Eodem tempore Triton reliquit filium Hammonem regem Libyae, qui accepit coniugem Rheam sororem Camesenui Saturni Aegyptiorum, sed tamen ex Almanthea adolescentula clam Rhea Dionysium sustulit, et in Nysam urbem Arabiae educandum misit.

891.20. 4. Tertius rex Babyloniae a nostris scribitur Ninus, Iovis Beli filius, et regnavit annis .lii. Hic omnibus suis viribus sumptis armis patris sui Iovis Beli, omnibus bellum intulit, nulli parcens, et Sabatium Sagam quod esset in omnium desiderio omni studio ad interitum quaeritabat, quare etiam toto huius tempore exul apud suos delituit. Hic omnium primus ex nostris regibus Babylonicum regnum propagavit, et omnium primus templum Belo patri, et matri Iunoni, et Rheae aviae, et statuas in medio oppidi Babyloniae erexit. Anno huius Nini .iv. Tuyscon gigas Sarmatas legibus format apud Rhenum. Idipsum agit Iubal Celtiberos, et Samotes apud Celtas. Econtra Camesenus Saturnus Aegyptiorum Comaros Italos nitebatur corrumpere, iuuantibus illum convenis et advenis quos ille pro Italiae coloniis conduxerat, quos ipsi vocant Montanos Aborigines.

891.21. 5. At apud Libyam lis orta est inter Rheam et Hammonen ob stuprum admissum cum Almanthia, quaerebatque Rhea ubi Dionysius esset ut eum perderet, et diu lis ista rixaque perseveravit. Anno Nini .x. Ianus pater ex Aphrica in Celtiberos Hispalos venit, ubi duas colonias dimisit a se dictas Noelas et Noeglas. His enim etiam antea cognominibus cognominaverat uxores Iapeti et Chemesenui. Nini anno .xix. Ianus pater veniens in Italiam cum comperisset Camesenuum praeter opinionem corrumpentem iuuentutem, tribus annis illum aequo animo tulit. Deinde illi aliquot coloniis assignatis, eum Italia excedere iubet. Ipse omnes colonias divisit. Etenim omnes colonos Comaros corruptos et convenas et advenas, montana trans Ianiculum amnem colere iubet, illisque filiam suam Cranam Helernam, id est, suffragio ab his electam et exaltatam reginam cum sceptro Albam dat: namque duos filios suos novissimos cum illorum posteritate Cranum et Cranam Ianus cum Comaro miserat, coalverantque in gentem atque posteritatem maximam, quam nostra aetate Ianigenam vocant, cognominant autem Razenuam, id est, sacram propagatricem incubamque, contra impietatem Camesenui. Itaque suam posteritatem separatam ab aboriginibus esse voluit cis Ianiculum amnem in planitie atque maritimis. Cognominavit autem eam Razenuam, ut et Cranum Razenuum. Interea quum Italia discessisset Camesenuus, ad illum Rhea venit, et illi nupta ambo contra Hammonem cum Titanibus pergunt, ibique bello commisso pellunt regno Hammonem et in Cretam cogunt. Cum in Libya Camesenuus regnat, parit ex Rhea sorore Osirim, quem cognominavit Iovem. Vigesimosecundo anno Nini Ianus in Thuscia Ianiculum, quod aetate Camesenui condidit, sedem sibi perpetuam statuit usque Arnum, ubi colonias positas vocavit Aryn Ianuas .i. a Iano exaltatas. Vetuloniae iura dicebat et docebat atque regebat anno Nini .xliii. Sabatius quum adverteret nullo pacto sibi licere uti regnis, creato Armenis Sagis rege filio Barzane, in Sarmaticum ponti littus concessit. Eadem tempestate Dionysius Hammonis filius armis sumptis Rheam et Camesenuum regno paterno pellens, et secum Osirim retinens, in filiumque adoptans, eum a patre suo Hammonem Iovem cognominavit, uti a magistro Olympo Olympicum, eique totius Aegypti regnum tradidit. Eodem anno virgo Palladon apud Tritonidem lacum infantula exposita ab eodem Dionysio love Libyco etiam cognominato, adoptata in filiam fuit, quae omnem militiam prima Libycos docuit. Eodem tempore Ianus pater Ianigenas Razenuos docuit physicam, astronomiam, divinationes, ritus, et rituales scripsit, et omnia litteris mandavit. Eisdem vero nominibus et veneratione divina sunt prosequuti, quibus in Armenia Saga erant usi. Anno .xlix. Nini, Celtiberos rexit Iberus filius Iubal, a quo Iberi nominati fuerunt. Nini .li. anno apud Celtas regnavit Samotis filius Magus, a quo illis oppida plurima posita sunt. Ultimo anno Barzanes in Armenia a Nino superatur.

891.22. 6. Quarto loco regnavit apud Babyloniam uxor Nini Ascalonita Semiramis annis quadragintaduobus. Haec antecessit militia, triumphis, divitiis, victoriis et imperio omnes mortales. Ipsa hanc urbem maximam ex oppido fecit, ut magis dici possit illam aedificasse quam ampliasse. Nemo umquam huic foeminae comparandus est virorum, tanta in eius vita dicuntur et scribuntur, cum ad vituperationem, tum maxime ad collaudationem magninca.

891.23. 7. Huius primo anno oritur ex Rhea et Camesenuo in Aegypto Iuno Aegyptia cognominata Isis maxima, frugifera, legifera, soror et uxor Osiridis.

891.24. 8. Eodem anno Sabatius Saga a Ponto solvit in Italiam ad patrem Ianum, quem exceptum hospitio post aliquot annos illum Coritum creavit, et Aboriginibus praefecit. Anno sexto Semiramidis apud Rheni Sarmatas regnavit filius Tuysconis Mannus: et apud Ianigenas Razenuos Vesta uxor Iani sempiternum ignem custodiendum virginibus puellis edoctis sacra tradidit. Anno .xii. Semiramidis, Sabatius Saba cum Iano regnat.

891.25. 9. Anno .xvii. Semiramidis Sabatius Saga docet agriculturam, et aliquantulum religionis.

891.26. 10. Anno. Semiramidis vigesimosecundo Sabatius Sabum praefecit Sabinis et Aboriginibus. Ipse iuxta Ianiculum cum aliis Curetibus regionem coluit, et ibi obiit. Anno, xxxiiii. eiusdem apud Celtiberos regnat Iubelda, filius Iberi, apud montem sui nominis.

891.27. 11. Quintus apud Babylonios regnavit Zameis Ninias, filius Semiramidis, annis triginta octo. In regno Babylonico hic parum resplenduit, ornavit tamen templa deorum, et Chaldaeos ampliavit.

891.28. 12. Eius anno primo cum Sabatius obiit, Ianus pater senissimus filium suum Cranum Coritum creavit, octavoque post anno obiit, expletis vitae suae annis. cccl. et Ianigenae illum Vortumnum appellantes, templum illi et di vinos honores, ut par erat, impenderunt.

891.29. 13. Hoc anno Osiris inventis a se et a sorore Adolescentula frumento et frugibus, coepit docere illa in Palaestina, inde reversus in Aegyptum et invento aratro et his quae ad agriculturam pertinent, sensim universum peragravit orbem, docens quaecunque invenerat, et ita universo imperavit orbi, exceptis gentibus quae iam in Babyloniorum venerant potestatem.

891.30. 14. His temporibus regnavit apud Celtas Sarron, qui ut contineret ferociam hominum tum recentum, publica literarum studia instituit, et apud Tuyscones Inghaeuon.

891.31. 15. Sextus Babyloniae rex Arius regnavit annis .xxx. qui adiecit imperio omnes Bactrianos. Nam paulo ante mortem Niniae Camesenuus pulsus ab omni ferme orbe in Bactrianos sese contulerat, et illos Magico praestigio sibi devinxerat, adeo ut apud illos maximis viribus imperaret. Coacto autem Camesenuus maximo populorum exercitu invasit Assyrios, contra quem Ninus dimicans superior fuit, et Camesenuum obtruncavit, inde paulo post ipse obiit. Quare Arius collecto exercitu, post patris Niniae obitum, Bactrianos et omnes Caspios subiecit.

891.32. 16. Cranus Ianigena sororem suam mortuam cum Ianigenis Razenuis suis et omnibus simul Aboriginibus solemni pompa celebrat. Et illi Lucum iuxta Ianiculum, amnem, solemnesque ritus et diem sacrat, ipse senex filium suum Aurunum Coritum creat.

891.33. 17. Arii .xx. anno apud Celtiberos regnat Brygus, qui multa oppida suo nomini fundavit, adiectis nominibus capitum originum, quibus illa consignabat.

891.34. 18. Apud Libyam regnavit priscus Hyarbas, vir ferox armis et militia Paladuae.

891.35. 19. Anno .xxiv. Arii apud Ianigenas Razenuos regnat Aurunus filius Crani. Anno .xxix. apud Celtas Dryius peritiae plenus.

891.36. 20. Septimus Assyriis imperat Aralius annis .xl. vir iste claruit ingenio et studio militari, et primus adauxit pompas et gemmas, et muliebres delitias. Apud Libyam Hyarbas cum Paladuis foeminis belligerans, non fuit illis par. Quare donis occurrens se ac regnum illarum permisit potestati.

891.37. 21. Apud Tuyscones regnabat Herminon vir ferox armis, et apud Celtas Bardus, inventione carminum et musicae apud illos inclytus.

891.38. 22. Aralii anno .x. Armeni Ianigenae Griphonii cum coloniis suis ad Aurunum Ianigenum venerunt, quos exceptos hospitio, etiam sedem cum Ianigenis Razenuis assignavit. Classe quoque Auson eodem tempore ab Auruno fuit exceptus anno octavo sequente, et ipsi sedes in orientali Italia ab eodem consignata fuit.

891.39. 23. Idem Aurunus in Vetulonia lucum sacravit Crano, et inter Isos, id est, deos annumeravit. Iano quoque Vortumno templum et statuam non procul urbe dedicavit, et deo Razenuo in Vetulonia sacellum condidit.

891.40. 24. Novissimis annis Aurunus Malot Tagetem filium creavit Coritum, et .xxxv. Aralii anno obiit et successit Malot Tages.

891.41. 25. Anno penultimo Aralii classe venit ad Malot Tagetem Ianigenum Razenuum Phaeton cum filiis suis, qui inveniens omnia ab Ausoniis occupata ab Oriente, et montana a Gallis et Aboriginibus possessa, planitiem vero a Razenuis Ianigenis habitatam, donatus fuit parte Occidentali, posseditque cum sua posteritate montes et totum Eridanum usque in regionem proximam, istis relinquens nomina locis.

891.42. 26. Eo tempore Italia in tribus locis arsit multis diebus circa Istros, Cymeos, et Vesuuios vocataque sunt a Ianigenis illa loca Palensana, id est, regio conflagrata.

891.43. 27. Octavus rex Babyloniae fuit Baleus cognomento Xerses et regnavit annis .xxx. hunc appellaverunt Xersem, id est victorem et triumphatorem, quod imperaverit duplo plus gentibus quam Aralius. Erat enim militia ferox et fortunatus, et propagavit regnum usque prope Indios.

891.44. 28. Huius Balei Xersis temporibus, regnat apud Celtiberos Tagus cognomento Orma, ex quo patria dicta fuit Taga. Apud Tuyscones regnat Marsus, et apud Lygures Phaeton, relicto filio Lygure, regressus est in Aethiopiam Maloth Tages ritus sacros a Iano traditos, et aruspiciam auxit.

891.45. 29. Nonus rex Babyloniae Armatritis imperavit annis .xxxviii. Qui magis ad voluptates et delitias eon versus, ea quae ad libidinem spectant, cum in venit tum maxime inventa ampliavit. Huius aetate apud Celtas Longho regnavit, et apud Celtiberos Betus, a quo regnum habuit nomen: et apud Ianigenas Sicanus filius Maloth Tagetis, a quo cognominata fuit Vetuloniae regio.

891.46. 30. Anno vigesimo Armatritis Lygur misit Cydnum et Eridanum cum coloniis, cum fratribus et nepotibus: et occupaverunt usque Istrum in Italia.

891.47. 31. Sicanus deificavit Aretiam, et nominavit eam lingua Ianigena Horchiam.

891.48. 32. Osiris in Thracia peremit gigantem Lycurgum.

891.49. 33. Anno Armatritis trigesimosecundo apud Celtiberos tyrannidem assumpsit Deabus. Qui hoc cognomentum promeruit a fodinis auri et divitiis, quas primus ibi cepit et invenit opprimens colonias. Et post duos annos apud Celtas regnavit Bardus iunior.

891.50. 34. Decimus Assyriorum rex imperat Belochus, annis trigintaquinque. Qui idcirco a Belo sumpsit cognomen, quia cum imperium voluit exercere maximum pontificum Beli Iovis, et maxime circa auspicia et divinationes occupatus fuit eius animus. Apud Tuyscones regnavit Gambrivius, vir ferocis animi.

891.51. 35. Apud Emathios coepit regnare Macedon filius Osiridis, a quo nunc nomen retinet provincia atque circa hoc regnum Osiris depressit gigantes, qui iam tyrannidem coeperant.

891.52. 36. Vigesimonono huius Belochi anno, apud Celtiberos Lomnimi florebant, et aedificaverunt a suo nomine urbem magnam Lomnimiam. Anno autem sequente Itali oppressi a tyrannis gigantibus in tribus Palensanis, advocaverunt Osirim, qui cum coloniis ad Istri vicinos fontes pervenerat. Osiris tota Italia potitus, decem annis illam tenuit, et a se nominavit in triumphum: et sub ditione positis gigantibus, regem Ianigenis reliquit Lestrigonem gigantem, sibi ex filio Neptuno nepotem.

891.53. 37. Anno .xxxiii. Belochi, rex Lucus regnare coepit apud Celtas. Novissimis annis Belochi, tenuit mare Atticum, et ebulliens inundavit Atticam.

891.54. 38. Undecimus rex Babylonis fuit Baleus annis quinquagintaduobus. Hic post Semiramidem supra caeteros enituit fama, splenduit imperio usque intra Indiam. Libri multi de eius gestis sunt a nostris conscripti. Huius anno decimo Porcus Cados Sene insulam complevit Vetulonicis coloniis, partem reliquit posteritati Lygures.

891.55. 39. Huius Balei temporibus Indi sua obtulerunt Babyloniis. Osiris in Aegyptum reversus columnam quae permanet inscripsit in monumentum expeditionis suae per totum orbem.

891.56. 40. Apud Tuyscones regnat Suaevus, et apud Celtas Celtes, a quo nomen habuerunt montes illorum maximi a conflagratione sylvarum, qui dividunt Celtas et Celtiberos.

891.57. 41. Typhon Aegyptius, omnibus orbis gigantibus consciis, fratrem suum Osiridem Iovem iustum Aegyptium peremit, et ipse in Aegypto assumit tyrannidem, Busiris in Phoenicia, in Phrygia vero alius Typhon, in Libya Anteus, in Celtiberia Lomnini, in Italia Lestrigones, et in toto mari Milinus Cretensis.

891.58. 42. Hercules Osiridis filius, cui nomen est Libyus, cum Iside in Aegypto sustulit Typhonem, in Phoenicia Busiridem, alium vero Typhonem in Phrygia, Milinum in Creta, Anteum in Libya, Lomninos in Celtiberia, a qua substituto illis rege Hispalo, ad tyrannos Italiae conversus est. Cumque in Italiam per Celtas transiret, permissu parentum Galathea genuit illis Galathem regem.

891.59. 43. In Italia decem annis debellavit, et expulit Lestrigones, postquam .xx. annos apud illos pacifice regnavit, multaque illis oppida a suo nomine et a suo cognomine Musarna sicut Gedrosiae et Carnaniae fundavit, et loca aquis impedita habitationes hominum commoda fecit. Anno itaque Balei .xli. orsus in Italia pugnam contra gigantes, biennio ante illius obitum illos delevit. Ita ab Hispalis Hercules venit in Italiam, Lestrigones et omnes tyrannos sustulit, Arnos, Lybarnos, Musarnos a se cognominatos condidit, trigintaque annis rexit, et accersitum Thuscum illis regem reliquit.

891.60. 44. Altades duodecimus rex Babyloniis fuit, regnans annis .xxxii. Hic interposuit tempus suum delitiis existimans vanum esse laboribus, et suae vitae miseria continua laborare, non quidem aliorum humanaeque gentis utilitate ac beneficio, sed exitio ac servitute. Idcirco suum institutum fuit, ut vita divitiis et gloria, aliena stultitia et miseria a suis maioribus partis sibi frueretur quoad viveret.

891.61. 45. Huius Altadis tempore Hercules filium Thuscum ex Araxa susceptum, ex Tanaide regione evocat. Galathes a quo Samothei Galli dicti, eius aetate regnavit apud Celtas, et Vandalus apud Tuyscones.

891.62. 46. Hercules Thuscum filium Ianigenis creat Coritum ex more. Quo etiam illis rege relicto, ipse senex admodum in Celtiberos revertitur, anno Altadis trigesimonono, et regnavit ibi atque obiit. Cui Celtiberi templum ad illius Gades, et sepulchrum et divinos honores tribuerunt, plurimasque illius triumpho et nomini urbes dedicaverunt, ut Libysosonam, Libysocam, Libuncam, Liboram.

891.63. 47. Galatheum puerum ad Herculem missum in Siciliam cum coloniis misit Thuscus. Idem Thuscus primus Palatuam militiam, et initiamenta Razenuos Ianigenas docuit.

891.64. 48. Tertiusdecimus Babyloniae rex Mamitus regnavit annis triginta. Is rursus milites exercuit et assuefecit laboribus, et interpositis delitiis, ungentis, et opobalsamis, militiam et pugnas exequebatur, coepitque formidini esse Syris et Aegyptiis. Huius anno vigesimosecundo Alteus Thusci filius regnat apud Ianigenas, et biennio ante Hesperus frater Kitym apud Celtiberos, rursus apud Celtas Narbon, et apud Tuyscones Teutanes.

891.65. 49. Quartusdecimus rex Babyloniis imperavit Mancaleus annis .xxx. Cuius anno primo apud Celtiberos, Kitym pulso fratre Hespero in Italiam, regnavit.

891.66. 50. Duodecimo vero anno Mancalei, apud Ianigenas regnat Kitym, relicto in Celtiberis rege filio Sicoro. Eiusdem Mancalei temporibus apud Tuyscones regnat Hercules Alemannus, apud Celtas Lugdus, a quo provincia et homines cognomenta sumpserunt.

891.67. 51. Kytim ob mentis excellentiam Ianigenae sua lingua vocaverunt Italum Atala. Hic filiam suam Electram Ianigenarum principi Cambo Blasconi dedit coniugem. Qui pro nuptiis colonias misit trans alpes Italiae proximas, et Romam filiam suam Italus primo subreginam Aboriginibus sacrat. Filium quoque suum Morgetem Italus Kitym creavit Coritum.

891.68. 52. Quintusdecimus Assyriis imperat Sferus annis .xx. vir de cuius gestis et prudentia omne vulgus personat. Huius temporibus Morges filius Itali creavit Coritum suum cognatum Camboblasconem, et paulo post idem Coritus manet Itus. Apud Celtiberos regnat Sicanus filius Sicori, post obitum Sferi sub Mamelo.

891.69. 53. Sextusdecimus rex Mamelus Babyloniis imperat annis .xxx. cuius anno octavo Romanessos filius Romae fit primus subregulus montanorum Aboriginum, et Sicanus regnat apud Celtiberos.

891.70. 54. Apud Celtas Beligius, a quo illi Beligici appellantur, regnat, et apud Ianigenas tandem a patre Iasius creatus est Coritus.

891.71. 55. Iasius creatus est Coritus, et anno sequente simul coeperunt duo reges, videlicet primus rex Atheniensium Cecrops priscus et Iasius Ianigena apud Celtas.

891.72. 56. In Iasii nuptiis affuit Io Aegyptia. Sola enim foeminarum uno plus Dodone centenario vixit, et universum ferme orbem lustravit post viri interitum.

891.73. 57. Decimus septimus rex Babyloniorum fuit Sparetus, et regnavit annis .xl. Sub eo coeperunt miranda in orbe. Nam terraemotus Babylonios terruit. Athenienses regnum exorsi sunt anno .iv. eius. Et eodem anno Iasius Ianigena imperavit Italicis, et Siceleus aliquanto post Celtiberis.

891.74. 58. Sub Spareti imperio finierunt Aegyptii reges magni Orus, Acencheres, Acoris, et coepit Chencres qui cum Hebraeis de Magica pugnavit et ab eis submersus fuit. Anno quoque huius .xxxiiii. et .xxxv. in Thessalia diluvium fuit, non solum ex imbribus, sed quod obturatis montibus casu, flumina planitiem impleverunt, et subsequuto terraemotu apertis ostiis montium, aquae in alveos regressae. Et in alia eorum parte post terraemotum sequutum est incendium, sub quodam illorum rege Phaetonte, et noster rex Phoenices et Syros subegit. Antea vero anno .xx. huius imperii ab Italia Io in Aegyptum regreditur. Et lis prima intestina oritur pro regno inter Dardanum et Iasium. Aborigines sequebantur partes Dardani, Ianigenae vero et Siculi cum Siceleo partes Iasii.

891.75. 59. Decimusoctavus rex praefuit Babyloniis Ascatades annis .xli. qui funditus omnem Syriam ditionis suae fecit, cuius anno .xiii. vitis inventa apud Graecos narratur. Sub eodem anno Dardanus Iasium dolo peremit, et fugiens in Samothraciam diu ibi latuit.

891.76. 60. Iasio Coribantus filius successit.

891.77. 61. Ascatadis anno .viii. Cancres victus Hebraeorum magica periit in mari, cui apud Aegyptios successit Acherres, apud Celtiberos Lusus, apud Celtas Allobrox, et apud Aborigines Italos Romanessus filius Romae primus Saturnus consecratus mox obiit, cui successit filius eius Picus priscus.

891.78. 62. Anno ultimo regis Ascatadis, Ato donavit Dardanum parte agri Maeonici, et ita regnum Troianum coepit. Dardanus si qua iura in Italiae regno habebat, resignavit Turreno filio Atus.

891.79. 63. Turrhenus adnavigans in Italiam Ianigenam a Cybele et Coribanto tamquam ex Herculeis hilari hospitio exceptus, et civilitate Razenua donatus est.

891.80. 64. Ipse Turrhenus multa Maeonica ornamenta proferens, dedit. Coribantus vero et Cybeles ornata Dynastia duodecim ducum duodecim populorum qui essent ex Ianigenis, ipsi in Phrygiam se contulerunt.

891.81. 65. Porro etiam sub Ascatade apud Aegyptios fuere reges Cherres et Armeus qui cognominatus est Danaus, et Ramesses cognomento Aegyptus. Itaque qui reges et tempora traduntur a nostris de primoribus regnis orbis a Iani diluvio primo usque ad Dardaniae regnum conditum, his nostris brevissimis annotationibus sint hactenus dicta.

 

A FRAGMENT OF “XENOPHON DE AEQUIVOCIS”

(Antiquitates fol. XXXIIII sqq.)

891.82. Fol. XXXIIIIb:

“The eldest of the kings of noble families who founded cities are called Saturni, their firstborn children Ioves and Iunones, and their mighty grandchildren Hercules. The fathers of the Saturni are called Coeli, their wives Rheae, and the wives of the Coeli Vestae. There are therefore as many Coeli, Vestae, Rheae, Iunones, Hercules as there are Saturni. Also the same person who is Hercules to certain peoples, is Iuppiter to others. For example Ninus was Hercules to the Chaldaeans, but Iuppiter to the Assyrians, and he appointed an ancestral town as a tetrapolis and capital of their empire. Thefore they gave him the by-name of Ninus, that is Iuppiter, though his proper name was Assyrius, after whom the Assyrians were named; and the city Ninus is so called after his by-name ….”

 

 

SELECTED WRITERS ON THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE ANTIQUITIES OF ANNIUS

891.82.1 From “History of the Names of Men, Nations and Places, in their connection with the Progress of Civilization.” Translated from the French of Eusebius Salverté by Rev. L. H. Mordaque, M.A., Oxon., vol II London 1864, p. 295ff. The author’s footnotes are not included here.

“APPENDIX.

NOTE A.

ON THE PROBABLE DEGREE OF AUTHENTICITY WHICH MAY BE ASSIGNED TO CERTAIN LITERARY PRODUCTIONS, PUBLISHED BY ANNIUS OF VITERBO.

SECTION I.

ANNIUS OF VITERBO IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF THE FRAGMENTS WHICH WERE PUBLISHED BY HIM.

At the close of the fifteenth century, Annius of Viterbo (whose real name was Giovanni Nanni) published a collection of works, which he entitled “Antiquitatum libri xvii.”

891.82.2. In this work, which was devoted to scientific and antiquarian research, he discusses several questions; but the book is chiefly composed of commentaries: first, on the three well authenticated works, viz., the two fragments of the Itinerary of Antoninus, and the second elegy in the fourth book of Propertius; secondly, on some works, or fragments of works, supposed to be of ancient date, such as the Antiquities of Berosus, the Origines of Cato, the Biblical Antiquities of Philo, &c. This collection of writings, which was vigorously attacked from the first moment of its appearance, and as vigorously defended, has long been consigned to the region of apocryphal productions, the mere tares in the field of literature.

891.82.3. Impartial judges agree in thinking that Annius may himself have been amongst the first to be deceived as to the value of the fragments which he was publishing. His language is not that of a man who is trying to palm off an imposition on the public. His own account is, that whilst he was prior in a Dominican convent in Genoa, he treated with the usual hospitalities one brother Matthias, a prior of Armenian Dominicans, and a brother George, his companion, and that from the latter he received the Abridgment of Berosus as a present, to which the fragment of Manetho was probably appended, as it forms a kind of supplement to the other. As to the other portions of works which he published, Annius states that he found them in the library of a private individual, whose name was Maitre Guillaume of Mantua. These are facts which, when the events took place, it might have been easy to verify. They have never been disproved. Father Labat, who does not believe in the authenticity of the collection of Annius, argues, with great reason on his side, for the existence of the books in the thirteenth and probably the fourteenth centuries. Hence, they could not have been forged by Annius; and more than this, the commentary which he wrote upon them shows that he did not clearly understand their meaning.

891.82.4. In his commentary and theological writings, the style of Annius is remarkable for the purity and elegance of its Latin. No trace of this is visible in the fragments supposed to be forged, and more than this, it is easy to discover characteristic differences in each. The style of the Biblical Antiquities is very similar to that of the Vulgate. The Antiquities of Berosus are full of the most extraordinary barbarisms, palpable errors in names, and omissions which are the source of great confusion. In the fragments which are attributed to Latin authors, the latinity is good and the style flowing, like that of a man who has only to extract, not to translate. Is it likely that Annius would take such pains to imitate different styles, which were neither attractive to his readers nor appreciated by his critics?

SECTION II.

REASONS WHY IT MAY BE DOUBTED WHETHER THESE WORKS WERE LITERARY FORGERIES.

891.82.5. Granted, that Annius was not guilty of the forgery imputed to him, it by no means follows that the works themselves which he has compiled are authentic.

891.82.6. Perhaps not; but if every separate work be a forgery, the number of those who are implicated in it must be great, and their very number suggests a doubt. What could have been the object of so many premeditated forgeries? That monks should have invented lives of saints and miraculous stories; that they should have endeavoured to promote the circulation of their religious opinions, under the auspices of old and revered names, is quite conceivable; but what interest could they have had in composing writings which were supposed to be ancient, at a time when they were in the constant habit of making erasures in the Greek, Roman and Armenian manuscripts, and of inserting over the old writing their own legends, missals, &c.?

891.82.7. But even supposing that some advantage could be derived. In that case the objection of a learned author is not only appropriate but irresistible, for he was not a man who could be suspected of any favourable leaning to the side of Roman Catholics, and more especially of monks: “Who will believe,” Barthius used to say,“ that a man brought up in the retirement of the cloister, could have possessed sufficient learning to enable him to forge such important documents?” The interpolations, abrupt interruptions in the narrative,“omissions and errors, are caused by the want of good faith or intelligence in the copyists or translators; but the main portion of the work was originally compiled from old and authentic writers.” When a character for learning was denied to Annius of Viterbo, how could it be allowed to the monks of the thirteenth or twelfth centuries?

891.82.8. The first ground for such a sweeping condemnation which I shall attack is, I think, founded upon this, viz., that certain writers have obstinately sought to discover in these writings of Annius, works composed by the authors whose names they bear, whereas they are merely abridgments and extracts, which are, unfortunately far too brief, and in which the negligence, prejudices and ignorance of the abridgers, translators and copyists have been the cause of countless instances of alterations and interpolations.

891.82.9. This last opinion, as we have already seen, was first broached by Barthius. It seems a plausible one. The second book of Berosus consists only of a few lines, though there are no signs of any break in the narrative; the first four books occupy together, less space than the fifth book by itself; had they been forgeries, they would have been more equally divided. The books entitled Myrsilus, Xenophon and Metasthenes, occupy scarcely two pages each. If any one were intending to name an apocryphal work with some well-known title, no such neglect of the most ordinary precautions would exist; the similarity to the original would be rigidly observed in all its minutest particulars.

891.82.10. On the other hand, let us suppose that a monk had been desired to make extracts from the manuscripts of his convent, which, when they left his hands, were handed over to the destructive effects of the scraping knife, and thus transformed into antiphonals and psalters; then the origin of such works as those of Annius would be fully accounted for: there is not one of them which does not indicate, in every line of it, the incapacity, carelessness, and hurry of the abridger.

891.82.11. Far from implying the possibility of a literal transcript of authentic fragments from their original authors, this kind of work precluded it. Hence it is a matter of surprise that forgery should have been suspected in consequence of these omissions: not forgetting to transcribe them, the forger would have carefully made them the foundation of his work, and would have devoted the greatest attention to the labour of correcting them. Such, at least, was the plan of Nodot, when he tried to fabricate a complete Petronius, and palm off his composition on the scholars of his day.

891.82.12. Without attempting any detailed examination, which would lead us too far, I purpose calling the attention of the reader to the extract of Philo, and to that of Berosus. As I have already remarked, the style of the former reminds us of the Hebrew Scriptures. This, however, is by no means a decisive proof of its authenticity: of all the various portions of the work, this is the one which a desire to secure the triumph of a certain set of opinions would expose to the most complete falsification: it would not be the first time that a pious fraud had been employed to prop up purely Christian doctrines, with the alleged testimony of an Israelite. But even then, we can infer nothing as regards the remainder of the work; nor do the suspicious circumstances which we are at present discussing, in any way affect the authenticity of the Itinerary of Antoninus, and the Elegy of Propertius.

891.82.13. Ere long, however, the public will be able to form its own opinion of the real worth of the extract of Philo. M. Zohrab, one of the editors of the Chronicle of Eusebius, completed from the Armenian version, has discovered the Biblical Antiquities of Philo also written in Armenian; this he intends to publish for the benefit of scientific readers. In that work, Philo does not go beyond the text of the books of Genesis and Exodus, and treats his subject in the form of question and answer. The extract of Philo published by Annius is not in the same form, and closes with the death of Saul. To the objections which naturally arise from this twofold difference, it is easy to answer, first, that the Armenian version may be incomplete; secondly, that the catechetical form may have been adopted by the Armenian translator himself, although such form did not exist in the original Hebrew text; thirdly, that even if it did exist, it was only natural that the abridger should get rid of it, with a view of avoiding lengthy repetitions, which would be most inconvenient in the rapid transcript of an extract. The question of authenticity, therefore, remains untouched; it will be solved by a comparison of the text with the abridgment, wherever they both exist.

891.82.14. As I cannot hope that the same line of argument will dispose of doubts that may exist as to the authenticity of the extract from Berosus, I intend to submit to the judgment of my readers a translation of part of the fragment; next, to append a few remarks, and then to discuss more fully the points which seem to establish or refute its authenticity. The attempt, though it may be a feeble one, may induce more competent writers to undertake the complete translation and full examination of the works of Annius.”

891.82.15. {Here Salverté’s inserts his translation of a part of the Defloratio Berosi.} We have now given our readers a sufficiently copious extract and translation to enable them to form an idea of the Fragment on the authenticity of which they are called upon to decide.

891.82.16. The remainder of the book, however, contains many things worthy of notice. As, for example, that in the time of Aralius, the seventh king of Assyria, Aurunus in Italy places his father Cranus, in the same rank with the Ises (inter Isos), i. e., amongst the gods, and erects a temple to his memory. This reminds us of the meaning of the word Ases, and also of the word Aes-ar, which had a similar meaning in the Tuscan language.

891.82.17. In the reigns of Sparetus and Ascatadas, the seventeenth and eighteenth kings, the historian mentions Chencres, a king of Egypt, who contended with the Hebrews for superiority in the magic arts (de magia certavit). Having been beaten by the sorceries of the Hebrews, they drowned him in the sea (Victus Hebraeorum magia).

891.82.18. The fifth book ends with the reign of Ascatadas, and closes with these words:

891.82.19. “In these brief notices, we have now recorded what our historians tell us respecting the sovereigns and the historic periods of the chief empires of the world, from the time of the first Deluge, which occurred during the life of Janus, down to the time of the foundation of the kingdom of Dardania (Troy).”

891.82.20. The following is the commencement of the Fragment of Manetho, which seems to form a supplement to the Abridgment of Berosus:

“Berosus, one of the most esteemed of Chaldean historians, has (in a series of condensed notices) given us a summary of the statements made by the Chaldean historians respecting the chief empires of the world, from the time of the great Deluge, which their ancestors say occurred before the time of Ninus, down to the period when the city of Troy was founded. We will begin where he ended, and following the reigns of the Egyptian kings, as he did those of the Assyrians, &c, &c.

SECTION IV.

THE ABRIDGER OF BEROSUS WAS PROBABLY AN ARMENIAN. WAYS IN WHICH HE MAY HAVE ALTERED THE ORIGINAL TEXT.

891.82.21. What must we think of the Abridgment of Berosus?

It will not be necessary to recapitulate the arguments which lead us to the conclusion, that Annius cannot be the author of it.

891.82.22. There is nothing to show that the monk George, who presented it to Annius, had pretended to have made the compilation, or that he knew the original text of Berosus; Annius would not have omitted to mention so interesting a circumstance. The Abridgment may have been written at a much earlier period in the Armenian language, then it may have been translated into Latin by some of the Italian monks who settled in Armenia; these must be chargeable with any errors of translation from a language which was indifferently understood: all mistakes voluntarily or involuntarily made, and all omissions, will belong to the Armenian abridger.

891.82.23. 1. I would call attention to the name of Noa, or Noah, with which Berosus was probably not acquainted. But Eusebius (Chronic. Canon., lib. i., c. ii., p. 13) says that the Xisuthros of Berosus is the same as Noah; the Armenian writers are of the same opinion; it was only natural, therefore, that the abridger should conform to it. This is the only difference between the account given by Berosus and that of his abridger.

891.82.24. 2. This substitution of names has enabled the writer of the Abridgment to follow the opinion of several Christian authors, and to call the son of Xisuthros, Cham-Zoroaster, the same who in the works of Moses of Chorene is called Zerovan, or Zoroaster, on the authority of Mar-Ibas. Genebrardus, after indignantly denying the authority of such a compilation as the one published by Annius, calls the third son of Noah, Cham-Zoroaster, who, according to his account, peopled Bactria, Egypt, &c. Then, without any further distinction of persons, he adds, “Zoroaster-Cham invented sorcery, a science which included medicine, the art of divination and religion; he established a system of royal descent amongst the Bactrians and Persians, and was conquered by Ninus.” Now, when Genebrardus, a theologian and a man well versed in Oriental and Hebrew literature, so nearly coincides with the accounts given by the writer of the Abridgment, he gives it all the more weight in proportion as he disputes its authenticity.

891.82.25. 3. Being determined to identify Zoroaster with Cham, the writer of the Abridgment turns the title Chemesenuus, Propagator of Fire, into a proper name, a title which still exists in the Liturgy of the Parsees, and which was far too appropriate to Zoroaster and his successors to allow of its being soon abandoned. Thus he embodies, as it were, a long series of pontiffs in one single individual, and is blind to the length of life which he attributes to Chemesenuus. Berosus must surely have known of the difference there was between the founder of the religion of the Magi and the pontiff kings who fought with Ninus, or Ninias. Any fabricator of history would have distinguished them from each other, and would have guarded against an error which was sure to convict him, and, moreover, he would have been especially careful, being both a Christian and a monk, not openly to contradict the account given in the Bible respecting the length of human life after the Deluge. An abridger is not so circumspect; anxious to complete his work, he turns over the page without much thought; he leaves the onus of proof of all assertions made in the work from which he only makes extracts, on the authors of the original. Nevertheless the longevity of this so-called Chemesenuus is not an error committed by the writer of the Abridgment alone; the writers who were copied by Genebrardus shared in the mistake, for they stated that Cham-Zoroaster, the third son of Noah, was put to death by Ninus.

891.82.26. 4. Genebrardus is equally mistaken when he says that Zoroaster and his religion penetrated into Egypt and Libya. This was an inevitable result of his confusing Zoroaster with Cham or Ham, whom the Bible represents as the man who populated the north-east of Africa.

891.82.27. 5. In certain other respects, it may be a matter of surmise whether the writer of the Abridgment did not sacrifice the original text to the desire of reconciling the Bible account with national prejudices, or to a wish to connect the early history of Armenia with that of the human race, and civilization in general.”

{End of citation from Salverté.}

891.83. Another defense of Giovanni Nanni’s Antiquitates.

From L.Wiener Contributions Toward a History of Arabico-Gothic Culture vol III Tacitus’ Germania and Other Forgeries, Philadelphia 1920. Wiener’s theory is that Annius’ Berosus (as well as Tacitus’ Germania) was an eighth century forgery, which Annius published in good faith as a work of the genuine Berosus. His theory is improbable, since, whilst Annius’ Berosus does indeed mention certain ancestral Germanic figures who feature in Tacitus (presuming, pace Wiener himself, that Tacitus’ Germania is authentic) there is no mention of the Frankish legends tracing the Germanic nations from Troy in Annius’ Berosus as there almost certainly would be if it was a work of the eighth century. All the figures mentioned in it are found in Classical, but not in early medieval, sources. Nevertheless Wiener ably defends Annius against the charge of outright forgery.

1. 200-206

891.84. “Poor Annius Viterbensis! What obloquy has been heaped upon him in the last four hundred years! As great a scholar as Trithemius, to whom we owe the preservation of one of the most important forgeries of the eighth century {sic}, he has suffered even more at the hands of his detractors, as well as his friends; but it will not be difficult to reestablish his reputation as one of the great Renaissance writers.

891.85. “Annius of Viterbo (Giovanno Nanni), a Dominican monk,” says the Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon of 1732, “pretended to be well versed in ancient history and the learned languages, but it was all idle bragging, and he betrayed himself most shamefully when he edited certain lists of old kings and history under the name of Berosus, Manetho, Megasthenes, Fabius Pictor, Cato, Sempronius, etc., whose true writings had long been lost, trying to persuade people that he had found them in old manuscripts. . . . How little he understood Greek, may be partially judged from the fact that he did not even know the name of Megasthenes, whose books he claimed to reconstruct, since he ascribed them to Metasthenes.” After this follows a story about his having faked inscriptions, and a long list of authors who have denounced him and the names of a few who have taken his part.

891.86. Two years before, there had appeared in Paris volume XI of the Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire des hommes illustres, where we have a complete account of the man and of his work. He was born in 1432 and died in 1502. He entered early the order of St. Dominic, where he became very famous for his science, but still more for his impostures in matters of erudition and antiquity. The only work of his that interests us is the Antiquitatum variorum volumina. XVII, which appeared in its first editions in 1498 in Rome and in Venice, and contained the following books:

1. Notitia generalis sequentium sexdecim.
2. Institutio de aequivocis circa Etruscam originem.
3. Vertumniana Propertii.
4. Xenophon de aequivocis hominum nominibus.
5. Quintus Fabius Pictor de aureo saeculo, et de Origine urbis Romae ac vocabulorum ejus.
6. Myrsilus Lesbius Historicus de bello Pelasgico et origine Italiae et Thyrrenorum.
7. Fragmenta Catonis.
8. Fragmenta duo Itinerarii Antonini Pii.
9. Sempronius de Divisione et Chorographia Italiae.
10. Epithetum Archiloci de Temporibus.
11. Metasthenes Persa de judicio temporum et annalium Persarum.
12. De primis temporibus et XXIV. Regibus Hispaniae, et ejus antiquitate.
13. Etrusca simul et Italica emendatissima Chronographia.
14. Philonis Breviarium de temporibus.
15. Defloratio Berosi Chaldaica Libris V.
16. Manethonis Sacerdotis Aegyptii supplementum ad Berosum.
17. Anniae quaestiones ad consobrinum suum F. Thomam Annium ejusdem Ordinis.

891.87. The author of the Mémoires gives a long list and discussion of writers who have rejected or defended Annius, but sides with the “best” critics, who assert that the whole book is the invention of Annius, who did not even know the true names of the authors whom he produced, for he called Metasthenes an historian who was known in antiquity as Megasthenes.

891.88. The most sensible view in regard to Annius was given by Apostolo Zeno, (1) who after a long and critical review of all opinions, comes to the conclusion that it is unthinkable that Annius, a most learned man, who was Master at the Vatican, should have tried to cheat with his literary work, and asserts that Annius was simply the victim of some cheat; and Tiraboschi, in his Storia della letteratura italiana, vol. VI, Book III, accepts Zeno’s moderate view. But Ginguené (2) returns to the old accusation, even repeating the slur that Annius called Megasthenes Metasthenes.

891.89. How ill founded is the accusation of Annius’ ignorance in all the critics quoted, is proved by the fact that Annius did not make any such mistake about Megasthenes as is claimed by the critics, who did not trouble themselves about verifying their baseless statement. Annius says distinctly in the introduction to the De iudicio temporum of Metasthenes, that Metasthenes was a Persian chronographer and a priest, who was not in any way to be confounded with Megasthenes, the Greek historian and layman. (3) One can look only with contempt upon the whole brood of critics who were guilty of such criminal negligence, and who have thrown down this misstatement as their trump card. Far more decent is Sebastian Muenster, who in the Third Book of his Cosmographia has a chapter, De antiquis Germaniae populis, where he says that he cannot agree with those who reject Berosus, because it does not agree with the other authors. “However it may be, I know this much, that as far as the Hebrew words are concerned, of which there is a great number in these fragments, no deception can be discovered, and I am obliged to have faith in the book and the author, because at the time when Berosus was published by a certain monk, there was no one among the Christians who was expert in Hebrew. Indeed, who among the unlearned monks, who knew almost nothing of languages, could have known what Estha, Maia, Arecia, and Ruha meant?”

1 Dissertazioni Vossiane, Venezia 1753, vol. II, p. 186 ff.

2 Histoire littéraire d’ltalie, Paris 1824, vol. III, p. 406 ff.

3 “Corruptissime tamen inveni hunc in aliquibus Megasthenem pro Metasthene, quia primus fuit Graecus et historicus, hic vero Persa et chronographus, et ille laicus, hic vero sacerdos, quia non scripsit nisi publics et probata fide, quod erat proprium sacerdotis officium, ut hoc loco ipse Metasthenes indicat.”

891.90. The works of Annius show stupendous learning, even at a time when the polyhistorians were abroad. He supplied the texts which he published with a very detailed commentary, based on all the classics accessible to him, and on the wisdom of the Talmud. He quoted, not perfunctorily, but specifically, and many of them very often, (1) Aristotle, Varro, Livy, Ovid, Virgil, Ptolemy, Pliny, Ennius, Junius, Propertius, Cato, Suetonius, Plutarch, Valerius Maximus, Herodotus, Solinus, Strabo, Archilochus, Hyginus, etc., etc. He was well acquainted with the works of Jerome, especially with the Onomastica, and quoted for his information about Hebrew and Aramaic his friend, Rabbi Samuel, the Talmudist, obviously Samuel Zarfati, the court physician of Alexander VI, a most learned Spanish Jew, (2)

1 I give these sources in the order in which they are mentioned in the Index of the edition of 1512.

2 “Ut noster Samuel dicit,” fol. XLa; “ut erudite noster Samuel Talmudista interpretabat,” fol. XLb; “al enim teste Hieronymo commixtionem significat, et ut Talmudista doctus dicebat, etiam ligaturam et fasciculum,” fol. XLVIIIb; “ut Rabi Samuel interpretatur,” fol. LIIIa; “ut Samuel noster exposuit,” fol. LXb; “teste Talmudista Samuele et divo Hieronymo,” fol. LXVa; “ut Talmudista noster interpretabat,” fol. LXXIIIa; “verum Aramei teste Thalmudista nostro Samuele, unico verbo haec praedicta quattuor concludunt,” fol. CLVIIIa; “similiter phescem armatum equitem Aramee significet, ut rabi Samuel exposuit,” fol. CLXXa, etc.

and two other Talmudists. (1) The extraordinary care exercised by him is proved in one case where he replied to his cousin’s enquiry as to the origin of the name “Ascreanum” and its adjoining places, by saying that he had not yet found out whether or not Ascreanum was an Aramaic word. (2) On the other hand, he gave the precise references to passages in the Talmud, wherever such had been furnished him by his friend Samuel. (3)

891.91. It is sheer madness to accuse such a man of wilful forgery. A man who is supposed to have concocted all the Italian and Germanic antiquities would most certainly have committed a forgery on the Spanish antiquity, since his whole volume is dedicated to Ferdinand and Isabella; but he only builds up the origin of Spain by harmonizing Eusebius, Berosus, and the other authorities, in so far as they bear on Spanish antiquity. Of course, the books he published were all forgeries, but they were forgeries made in the eighth or ninth century by that clever school of genealogical forgers who produced the writings of Aethicus, Virgil Maro, Hegesippus, Jordanes, Tacitus, etc. Most, possibly all, the books, came from a collection which was made in 1315 by a certain Guilielmus of Mantua, (4) in which there was also a fragment of Verrius, which he quoted. (5)

1 “Quaeris quae et quot sint illa nomina quae in octavis pascae ferme quinque jam annis superioribus cum rabi Samuele et duobus aliis Thalmudistis conferebam,” fol. CLXIXb.

2 “Ascreanum nondum comperi an sit Arameae originis,” fol. CLXVIb.

3 “Talmudistae vero in libro Aaboda Zara, in distinctione qua incipit Lipfne Idiom aiunt,” etc., fol. Cb; “de zanedrin yero deletionem Hebraei scribunt in Talmud in libro Baba Bathra, in distinctione Assutafm,” fol. Clb.

4 “Porro quae habentur nunc Itineraria Antonini non sunt, sed forte ex fragmentis aliquot collecta, et plura his addita, multa diminuta, plura immutata. Argumento sunt duo fragmenta quae apud me sunt ex collectaneis magistri Guillelmi, collecta anno Salutis MCCCXV,” fol. LXXIIb; “quisquis fuerit iste Cato qui de originibus scripsit, non potui eum integrum habere, nisi fragmenta et quidem inordinata in collectaneis vetustis cuiusdam magistri Guilielmi Mantuani. Nos vero in ordinem solum fragmenta redegimus,” fol. LVIIa.

5 “Quaeris an Turrenam Graecus Hercules attigerit, quia dicis Faulam puellam fuisse praemium virtutis eius. Responsio. Lactantius in primo divinarum institutionum libro, de propria religione Romanorum dicit eam fuisse scortum Herculis, et producit Verrium testem; tamen in fragmento Verrii, quod magister Guilielmus Mantuanus collegit, non utitur Verrius vocabulo scortum sed praemium. Sic enim iacent eius verba. Accam Larentiam Faustuli Thusci uxorem, quem haeredem instituerit Romulus, sacris parentalibus donaverunt. Tuscam item adolescentulam Faulam quia virium Alcei praemium ad lacum Cyminium Fanumque Volturnae fuit, in deam retulerunt. Haec Verrius,” fol. CLXIVb.

891.92. Zeno (1) adduces the statement of Michele le Quien that he had seen in the Colbertine Library a catalogue of authors quoted in an old manuscript, which was compiled between 1220 and 1230, where there was reference to Orosius (for Berosus) de Historia Chaldaeorum, and Megasthenes de Historia Indica. Unfortunately, it is not possible to verify this statement. Zeno also mentions the fact that Leibniz published a chronicle, which was written shortly after 1240, where there is a reference to a chronology by Philo, like the one used by Annius. This statement we can verify. Annius published a very brief Breviarium de temporibus, ascribed to Philo. It has nothing in common with the works of Philo Judaeus, but the name of the author. In Annius’ fragment we have a genealogy from King David on. In the Chronicon Alberici, Monachi Trium Fontium, (2) Philo says that the Scythians were derived from Japheth, and from these later came the Trojans, and from the Trojans came the

1 Op. cit., p. 190 f.

2 “Anno L. aetatis Phalec dicit Philo ex tribus filiis Noae eo vivente nati sunt XXIIII milia virorum et centum, extra mulieres et parvulos. Nemroth filius Chus filii Cham regnavit super filios Cham, Jectan super filios Sem, Suffene super filios Japhet. Anno L° aetatis Phalec Reu filii sui XX turris aedificatur. Abhinc post diluvium et divisionem linguarum quatuor principalia regna surrexerunt in terra: primum Scytharum ab aquilone tempore Saruc, ubi primus regnavit Thanus, a quo fluvius Thanais denominatur. Scithae fuerunt de Japhet, a quibus postea descenderunt Troiani et a Troianis Romani et Franci et multi alii. Secundum regnum Aegyptiorum a meridie ubi primus regnavit Zoel sive Mineus. Tertium regnum principale Assyriorum ad orientem caeteris excellentius similiter de Cham et ex parte de Sem. Quartum regnum Sciciniorum [Sicyoniorum] ad occidentem in insula moncionis dicitur fuisse de Sem. De Sem namque fuerunt non solum Judaei sed et Medi et Persae et Graeci, de Cham Assyrii et Aegyptii et Chananaei. De Japhet Scithae et Troiani, Romani et Franci. Item de Sem gentes XXVII, de Cham XXX et de Japhet XV.” G. G. Leibniz, Accessions historicae, Hannoverae 1698, vol. II, p. 3 f.

891.93. Romans, Franks, and many others. This at once places Philo with the eighth and ninth century forgers who derived the Franks from the Trojans. The forgery cannot have been committed later, because the interest in the Troy origin for chronological purposes wanes after that. Thus we get the confirmation that Annius merely reproduced eighth or ninth century forgeries, taking them in good faith, even as d’Avezac, Pertz, and Wuttke, in the nineteenth century, found it incumbent upon themselves to defend the Aethicus forgery as a genuine work of St. Jerome, and as all scholars have credulously accepted the Germania of Tacitus as a real work of the Latin author.

891.94. Thus far we have not discovered even a distant trace of forgery in Annius himself. The Defloratio Berosi he claims to have received as a gift at Genoa from Master George, the Armenian. (1) Annius knew full well of the original Berosus, for in the introduction to the first book he quotes from Josephus as to his having been a Babylonian. Berosus, according to Annius, flourished in the time of Alexander the Great, was versed in Greek, and taught at Athens the Chaldaic science, especially astronomy. The work of Berosus is called Defloratio, says Annius, because, to use the expression of Josephus, he culled (defloravit) the whole Chaldaic history, mentioning the deluge, the ark, Noah, and his sons. As a matter of fact, Defloratio was the usual word for an historical work among the church fathers, and is, for example, so used by Cassiodorus. It is just the kind of title an eighth century forger would have affected, but a fifteenth century writer would not have thought of it.

1 “Frater autem Matthias olim provincialis Armeniae ordinis nostri, quem existens prior Genuae illum comi hospitio excepi, et a cuius socio magistro Georgio similiter Armeno, hanc Berosi deflorationem dono habui,” fol. CXIIIIb.”

 

891.95. Supplementary Evidence on the antiquity of the material in the Defloratio Berosi:

A Comparison of the Circuit of Janus in the Defloratio Berosi with Mesopotamian Tradition

891.96. Though Sumerian, Assyrian, and Babylonian tradition has much to say about Ziusudra (Noah) and the Flood, it does not provide a clear picture of Ziusudra’s history after the Flood. The little that it does say meshes well with the account in the Defloratio. Ziusudra is said to have been transported “by the gods” at the end of his life to the “land of Dilmun” where “the sun rises.” The precise location of Dilmun is disputed, but it was certainly reached by sea, sailing south and east down the Persian Gulf. Some think it was, or included, the island of Bahrein in the Persian Gulf. Others locate it on the coast of the Arabian peninsula, or of the Indian Ocean thereabouts. This is precisely the direction Janus-Noa is said in the Defloratio to have embarked on at the beginning of his colonizing enterprise: from Armenia, through southern Mesopotamia, via the Persian Gulf, to Arabia Felix (the Arabian peninsula). Thereafter, according to the Defloratio, he migrated to Africa and Kittim.

A Comparison of the Circuit of Hercules in the Defloratio Berosi with the Circuit of Horus of Edfu

891.97. The Circuit of the Libyan Hercules in the Defloratio takes the hero 1) from Egypt to Phoenicia (the territory of the Canaanites), that is from Pelusium east and north along the coast of the Mediterranean, 2) to the far North, the land of Brygus of the Aramaean Mysians, then 3), southwards across the Mediterranean in the Sabaean/Minaean maritime zone (around Crete, and the Libyan, Egyptian, and Levantine coastlands), and 4) to Libya, that is the western bank of the Nile; finally he heads back 5) north and eastwards across the Mediterranean to the land of Tubal (Asia), and then 6) to the Mediterranean coastlands (Kittim); he dies and is buried amongst the people of Tubal.

891.98. This pattern is duplicated in the Ptolemaic myth of Horus inscribed on the walls of the Temple of Edfu, which is a reworking of primitive Egyptian material dating back to the Old Kingdom. Heru-Behutet (meaning “Horus of Edfu”) is the Elder Horus, Arueris, who is referred to in the Defloratio as Hercules Liby(c)us. In the Ptolemaic myth, Horus commences his campaigns against Seth (Typhon in the Deforatio Berosi) and his confederates (the other Typhonic or gigantic foes in the Defloratio), who take the form of hippopotami and crocodiles, in Upper Egypt. This long introductory section is omitted in the translation infra. Thereafter he 1) advances to the marshlands on the coast of the Mediterranean, located around Tanis, that is east and north along the Delta coast. 2) He then proceeds to the region of the “Lake of the North,” that is northwards, then 3) chases the enemy across the waters of the Mediterranean to the desert regions west of the Nile, that is southwards, 4) defeating the enemy in the same Libyan deserts. 5) He then returns with his father Ra north and eastwards to Setet (Semitic Asia) and 6) the waters and shores of the Mediterranean seaboard, finally mounting up on the boat of his father the sun-god Ra to sail across the night-sky (viz. death).

891.99. The relevant geographical passages are highlighted in bold:

“….

XIV ….

4. Then those enemies rose up to make their escape from before him, and the face of the god was towards the Land of the North, and their hearts were stricken through fear of him. And Heru-Behutet {Horus of Edfu} was at the back (or, side) of them in the Boat of Ra, and those who were following him had spears of metal and chains of metal in their hands;

5 and the god himself was equipped for battle with the weapons of the metal workers which they had with them. And he passed a whole day before he saw them to the north-east of the nome of Tentyra. Then Ra said unto Thoth, “The enemies are resting …….. their lord.”

6. And the Majesty of Ra-Harmachis said to Heru-Behutet, “Thou art my exalted son who didst proceed from Nut. The courage of the enemies hath failed in a moment.” And Heru-Behutet made great slaughter among them. And Thoth said, “The Winged Disk shall be called…. in the name of this Aat;”

7 and is called Heru-Behutet …. its mistress. His name is to the South in the name of this god, and the acacia and the sycamore shall be the trees of the sanctuary. Then the enemies turned aside to flee from before him, and their faces were [towards the North, and they went] to

8 the swamps of Uatch-ur {the “Great Green,” that is, the Mediterranean}, and [their courage failed through fear of him]. And Heru-Behutet was at the back (or, side) of them in the Boat of Ra, and the metal spear was in his bands, and those who were in his following were equipped with the weapons for battle of the metal workers.

9. And the god spent four days and four nights in the water in pursuit of them, but he did not see one of the enemies, who fled from before him in the water in the forms of crocodiles and hippopotami. At length he found them and saw them. And Ra said unto Horus of Heben, “ O Winged Disk, thou great god and lord of heaven,

10 seize thou them ….. ; ” and he hurled his lance after them, and he slew them, and worked a great overthrow of them. And he brought one hundred and forty-two enemies to the forepart of the Boat [of Ra], and with them was a male hippopotamus

11 which had been among those enemies. And he hacked them in pieces with his knife, and he gave their entrails to those who were in his following, and he gave their carcasses to the gods and goddesses who were in the Boat of Ra on the river-bank of the city of Heben. Then Ra said unto Thoth,

12 “See what mighty things Heru-Behutet hath performed in his deeds against the enemies: verily he bath smitten them! And of the male hippopotamus he hath opened the mouth, and he hath speared it, and he hath mounted upon its back.” Then said Thoth to Ra, “Horus shall be called ‘Winged Disk, Great God,

13 Smiter of the enemies in the town of Heben’ from this day forward, and he shall be called ‘He who standeth on the back’ and ‘prophet of this god,’ from this day forward.” These are the things which happened in the lands of the city of Heben, in a region which measured three hundred and forty-two measures on the south, and on the north, on the west, and on the east.

XV.

1. Then the enemies rose up before him by the Lake of the North, and their faces were set towards Uatch-ur {the Mediterranean} which they desired to reach by sailing; but the god smote their hearts and they turned and fled in the water, and they directed their course to the water of the nome of Mertet-Ament, and they gathered themselves together in the water of Mertet in order to join themselves with the enemies [who serve] Set and who are in this region. And Heru-Behutet followed them, being equipped with all his weapons of war to fight against them.
2. And Heru-Behutet made a journey in the Boat of Ra, together with the great god who was in his boat with those who were his followers, and he pursued them on the Lake of the North twice, and passed one day and one night sailing down the river in pursuit of them before he perceived and overtook them, for he knew not the place where they were. Then he arrived at the city of Per-Rehu. And the Majesty of Ra said unto Heru-Behutet, “What hath happened to the enemies? They have gathered together themselves in the water to the west (?) of the nome of Mertet in order to unite themselves with the enemies [who serve] Set, and who are in this region,

3 at the place where are our staff and sceptre.” And Thoth said unto Ra, “Uast in the nome of Mertet is called Uaset because of this unto this day, and the Lake which is in it is called Tempt.” Then Heru-Behutet spake in the presence of his father Ra, saying, “I beseech thee to set thy boat against them, so that I may be able to perform against them that which Ra willeth;” and this was done. Then he made an attack upon them on the lake which was at the west of this district, and he perceived them on the bank of the city ….. which belongeth to the Lake of Mertet.

4. Then Heru-Behutet made an expedition against them, and his followers were with him, and they were provided with weapons of all kinds for battle, and he wrought a great overthrow among them, and he brought in three hundred and eighty-one enemies, and he slaughtered them in the forepart of the Boat of Ra,

5 and he gave one of them to each of those who were in his train. Then Set rose up and came forth, and raged loudly with words of cursing and abuse because of the things which Heru-Behutet had done in respect of the slaughter of the enemies. And Ra said unto Thoth, “This fiend Nehaha-hra uttereth words at the top of his voice because of the things which

6 Heru-Behutet hath done unto him;” and Thoth said unto Ra, “Cries of this kind shall be called Nehaha-hra unto this day.” And Heru-Behutet did battle with the Enemy for a period of time, and he hurled his iron lance at him, and he threw him down on the ground in this region,

7 which is called Pa-Rerehtu unto this day. Then Heru-Behutet came and brought the Enemy with him, and his spear was in his neck, and his chain was round his hands and arms, and the weapon of Horus had fallen on his mouth and had closed it; and he went with him before his father Ra, who said, “O Horus, thou Winged Disk,

8 twice great (Urui-Tenten) is the deed of valour which thou hast done, and thou hast cleansed the district.” And Ra, said unto Thoth, “The palace of Heru-Behutet shall be called, ‘Lord of the district which is cleansed’ because of this;” and [thus is it called] unto this day. And the name of the priest thereof is called Ur-Tenten unto this day.

9. And Ra said unto Thoth, “Let the enemies and Set be given over to Isis and her son Horus, and let them work all their heart’s desire upon them.” And she and her son Horus set themselves in position with their spears in him at the time when there was storm (or, disaster) in the district, and the Lake of the god was

10 called She-en-aha from that day to this. Then Horus the son of Isis cut off the head of the Enemy [Set], and the heads of his fiends in the presence of father Ra and of the great company of the gods, and he dragged him by his feet through his district with his spear driven through his head and back. And Ra said unto Thoth,

11 “Let the son of Osiris drag the being of disaster through his territory;” and Thoth said, “It shall be called Ateh,” and this hath been the name of the region from that day to this. And Isis, the divine lady, spake before Ra, saying, “Let the exalted Winged Disk become the amulet of my son Horus, who hath cut off the head of the Enemy and the heads of his fiends.”

XVI.

1. Thus Heru-Behutet and Horus, the son of Isis, slaughtered that evil Enemy, and his fiends, and the inert foes, and came forth with them to the water on the west side of this district. And Heru-Behutet was in the form of a man of mighty strength, and he had the face of a hawk, and his head was crowned with the White Crown and the Red Crown, and with two plumes and two uraei, and he had the back of a hawk, and his spear and his chain were in his hands. And Horus, the son of Isis, transformed himself into a similar shape, even as Heru-Behutet had done before him.
2. And they slew the enemies all together on the west of Per-Rehu, on the edge of the stream, and this god hath sailed over the water wherein the enemies had banded themselves together against him from that day to this. Now these things took place on the 7th day of the first mouth of the season Pert. And Thoth said, “This region shall be called Aat-shatet,” and this hath been the name of the region from that day unto this; and the Lake which is close by it

3 hath been called Temt from that day to this, and the 7th day of the first month of the season Pert hath been called the Festival of Sailing from that day to this. Then Set took upon himself the form of a hissing serpent, and he entered into the earth in this district without being seen. And Ra said, “Set hath taken upon himself the form of a hissing serpent. Let Horus, the son of Isis, in the form of a hawk-headed staff, set himself over the place where he is, so that the serpent may never more appear.”

4. And Thoth said, “Let this district be called Hemhemet by name;” and thus hath it been called from that day to this. And Horus, the son of Isis, in the form of a hawk headed staff, took up his abode there with his mother Isis; in this manner did these things happen. Then the Boat of Ra arrived at the town of Het-Aha;

5 its forepart was made of palm wood, and the hind part was made of acacia wood; thus the palm tree and the acacia tree have been sacred trees from that day to this. Then Heru-Behutet embarked in the Boat of Ra, after he had made an end of fighting, and sailed; and Ra said unto Thoth, “Let this Boat be called …… ;” and thus hath it been called from that day to this,

6 and these things have been done in commemoration in this place from that day to this. And Ra said unto Heru-Behutet, “Behold the fighting of the Smait fiend and his two-fold strength, and the Smai fiend Set, are upon the water of the North, and they will sail down stream upon ……..” [And] Heru-Behutet said, “Whatsoever thou commandest shall take place,

7 O Ra, Lord of the gods. Grant thou, however, that this thy Boat may pursue them into every place whithersoever they shall go, and I will do to them whatsoever pleaseth Ra.” And everything was done according to what he had said. Then this Boat of Ra was brought by the winged Sun-disk upon the waters of the Lake of Meh {the Lake of the North}, [and] Heru-Behutet took in his hands his weapons, his darts, and his harpoon, and all the chains [which he required] for the fight.

8. And Heru-Behutet looked and saw one [only] of these Sebau fiends there on the spot, and he was by himself. And he threw one metal dart, and brought (or, dragged) them along straightway, and he slaughtered them in the presence of Ra. And he made an end [of them, and there were no more of the fiends] of Set in this place at [that] moment.

XVII

1. And Thoth said, “This place shall be called Ast-ab-heru,” because Heru-Behutet wrought his desire upon them (i.e., the enemy); and he passed six days and six nights coming into port on the waters thereof and did not see one of them. And he saw them fall down in the watery depths, and he made ready the place of Ast-ab-Heru there. It was situated on the bank of the water, and the face (i.e., direction) thereof was full-front towards the South.
2. And all the rites and ceremonies of Heru-Behutet were performed on the first day of the first month of the season Akhet, and on the first day of the first month of the season Pert, and on the twenty-first and twenty-fourth days of the second month of the season Pert. These are the festivals in the town of Ast-ab, by the side of the South, in An-rut-f. And he came into port and went against them, keeping watch as for a king over the Great God in An-rut-f, in this place, in order to drive away the Enemy and his Smaiu fiends at his coming by night from the region of Mertet, to the west of this place.

3 And Heru-Behutet was in the form of a man who possessed great strength, with the face of a hawk; and he was crowned with the White Crown, and the Red Crown, and the two plumes, and the Urerit Crown, and there were two uraei upon his head. His hand grasped firmly his harpoon to slay the hippopotamus, which was [as hard] as the khenem stone in its mountain bed. And Ra said unto Thoth, “Indeed [Heru-]Behutet is like a Master-fighter in the slaughter of his enemies …. .” And Thoth said unto Ra, “He shall be called ‘Neb-Ahau’ ” (i.e., Master-fighter); and for this reason he hath been thus called by the priest of this god unto this day.

4. And Isis made incantations of every kind in order to drive away the fiend Ra from An-rut-f, and from the Great God in this place. And Thoth said [unto Ra], “The priestess of this god shall be called by the name of ‘Nebt-Heka’ for this reason.” And Thoth said unto Ra, “Beautiful, beautiful is this place wherein thou hast taken up thy seat, keeping watch, as for a king, over the Great God who is in An-rut-f in peace.”
5. And Thoth said, “This Great House in this place shall therefore be called ‘Ast-nefert’ from this day.” It is situated to the south-west of the city of Nart, and [coverethl a space of four schoinoi. And Ra-Heru-Behutet said unto Thoth, “Hast thou not searched through this water for the enemy?” And Thoth said,

6 “The water of the God-house in this place shall be called by the name of ‘Heh’ (i.e., sought out).” And Ra said, “Thy ship, O Heru-Behutet, is great (?) upon Ant-mer (?) …..” And Thoth said, “The name of [thy ship] shall be called ‘Ur’, and this stream shall be called ‘Antmer’ (?).”

7. As concerning (or, now) the place AbBat (?) is situated on the shore of the water. ‘Ast-nefert’ is the name of the Great house, ‘Neb-Aha’ [is the name of] the priest ……. is the name of the priestess, ‘Heh’ is the name of the lake …… , [is the name] of the water,

8 ‘Ain-her-net’ is the name of the holy (?) acacia tree, ‘Neter het’ is the name of the domain of the god, ‘Uru’ is the name of the sacred boat, the gods therein are Heru-Behutet, the smiter of the lands, Horus, the son of Isis [and] Osiris …….

9 his blacksmiths are to him, and those who are in his following are to him in his territory, with his metal lance, with his [mace], with his dagger, and with all his chains (or, fetters) which are in the city of Heru-Behutet. [And when he had reached the land of the North with his followers, he found the enemy.]

10. Now as for the blacksmiths who were over the middle regions, they made a great slaughter of the enemy, and there were brought back one hundred and six of them. Now as for the blacksmiths of the West, they brought back one hundred and six of the enemy. Now as for the blacksmiths of the East, among whom was Heru-Behutet,

11 he slew them (i.e., the enemy) in the presence of Ra in the Middle Domains. And Ra, said unto Thoth, “My heart [is satisfied] with the works of these blacksmiths of Heru-Behutet who are in his bodyguard. They shall dwell in 4 sanctuaries, and libations and purifications and (offerings shall be made to their images, and

12 [there shall be appointed for them] priests who shall minister by the month, and priests who shall minister by the hour, in all their God-houses whatsoever, as their reward because they have slain the enemies of the god.” And Thoth said, “The [Middle] Domains shall be called after the names of these blacksmiths from this day onwards,

13 and the god who dwelleth among them, Heru-Behutet, shall be called the ‘Lord of Mesent’ from this day onwards, and the domain shall be called ‘Mesent of the West’ from this day onwards.” As concerning Mesent of the West, the face (or, front) thereof shall be towards [the East], towards the place where Ra riseth, and this Mesent shall be called ‘Mesent of the East’ from this day onwards.

14. As concerning the double town of Mesent, the work of these blacksmiths of the East, the face (or, front) thereof shall be towards the South, towards the city of Behutet, the hiding-place of Heru-Behutet. And there shall be performed therein all the rites and ceremonies of Heru-Behutet on the second day of the first month of the season of Akhet, and on the twenty-fourth day of the fourth month of the season of Akhet, and on the seventh day of the first month of the season Pert, and on the twenty-first day of the second month of the season Pert, from this day onwards.
15. Their stream shall be called the name of ‘Asti’, their Great House shall be called ‘Abet’, the [priest (?)] shall be called ‘Qen-aha,’ and their domain shall be called ‘Kau-Mesent’ from this day onwards.

XVIII.

1. And Ra said unto Heru-Behutet, “These enemies have sailed up the river, to the country of Setet, to the end of the pillar-house of Hat, and they have sailed up the river to the east, to the country of Tchalt (or, Tchart), which is their region of swamps.” And Heru-Behutet said, “Everything which thou hast commanded hath come to pass, Ra, Lord of the gods; thou art the lord of commands.” And they untied the Boat of Ra, and they sailed up the river to the east. Then he looked upon those enemies whereof some of them had fallen into the sea (or, river), and the others had fallen headlong on the mountains.
2. And Heru-Behutet transformed himself into a lion which had the face of a man, and which was crowned with the triple crown. His paw was like unto a flint knife, and he went round and round by the side of them, and brought back one hundred and forty-two [of the enemy], and he rent them in pieces with his claws. He tore out their tongues, and their blood flowed on the ridges of the land in this place; and he made them the property of those who were in his following [whilst] he was upon the mountains. And Ra said unto Thoth, “Behold, Heru-Behutet is like unto a lion in his lair [when] he is on the back of the enemy who have given unto him their tongues.”
3. And Thoth said, “This domain shall be called ‘Khent-abt,’ and it shall [also] be called ‘Tchalt’ (or, Tchart) from this day onwards. And the bringing of the tongues from the remote places of Tchalt [shall be commemorated] from this day onwards. And this god shall be called ‘Heru-Behutet, Lord of Mesent,’ from this day onwards.” And Ra said unto Heru-Behutet, “Let us sail to the south up the river, and let us smite the enemies [who are] in the forms of crocodiles and hippopotami in the face of Egypt.”
4. And Heru-Behutet said, “Thy divine Ka, O Ra, Lord of the gods! Let us sail up the river against the remainder — one third — of the enemies who are in the water (or, river).” Then Thoth recited the chapters of protecting the Boat [of Ra] and the boats of the blacksmiths,

5 [which he used] for making tranquil the sea at the moment when a storm was raging on it. And Ra said unto Thoth, “Have we not journeyed throughout the whole land? Shall we not journey over the whole sea in like manner?” And Thoth said, “This water shall be called the ‘Sea of Journeying,’ from this day onward.” And they sailed about over the water during the night,

6 and they did not see any of those enemies at all. Then they made a journey forth and arrived in the country of Ta-sti, at the town of Shas-hertet, and he perceived the most able of their enemies in the country of Uaua, and they were uttering treason against Horus their Lord.

7 And Heru-Behutet changed his form into that of the Winged Disk, [and took his place] above the bow of the Boat of Ra. And he made the goddess Nekhebit and the goddess Uatchit to be with him in the form of serpents, so that they might make the Sebau fiends to quake in [all] their limbs (or, bodies). Their boldness (i.e., that of the fiends) subsided through the fear of him, they made no resistance whatsoever, and they died straightway.

8 Then the gods who were in the following of the Boat of Heru-khuti said, “Great, great is that which he hath done among them by means of the two Serpent Goddesses, for he hath overthrown the enemy by means of their fear of him.” And Ra Heru-khuti said, “The great one of the two Serpent Goddesses of Heru-Behutet shall be called ‘Ur-Uatchti’ from this day onwards.”

XIX.

1. And Heru-khuti travelled on in his boat, and landed at the city of Thes-Heru. And Thoth said, “The being of light who hath come forth from the horizon hath smitten the enemy in the form which he hath made, and he shall be called ‘Being of Light who hath come forth from the Horizon’ from this day onwards.” And Ra Heru-khuti said to Thoth, “Thou shalt make this Winged Disk to be in every place wherein I seat myself (or, dwell), and in [all] the seats of the gods in the South, and in [all] the seats of the gods in the Land of the North …… in the Country of Horus,

2 that it may drive away the evil ones from their domains.” Then Thoth made the image of the Winged Disk to be in every sanctuary and in every temple, where they now are, wherein are all the gods and all the goddesses from this day onwards. Now through the Winged Disk which is on the temple-buildings of all the gods and all the goddesses of the Land of the Lily, and the Land of the Papyrus, [these buildings] become shrines of Heru-Behutet. As concerning Heru-Behutet, the great god, the lord of heaven, the president of the Ater of the South, he it is who is made to be on the right hand. This is Heru-Behutet

3 on whom the goddess Nekhebit is placed in the form of a serpent (or, uraeus). As concerning Heru-Behutet, the great god, the lord of heaven, the lord of Mesent, the president of the Ater of the North, he it is who is made to be on the left hand. This Heru-Behutet on whom the goddess Uatebit is placed is in the form of a serpent. As concerning Heru-Behutet, the great god, the lord of heaven, the lord of Mesent, the president of the two Aterti of the South and North, Ra Heru-khuti set it (i.e., the Winged Disk) in his every place, to overthrow the enemies in every place wherein they are. And he shall be called President of the two Aterti of the South and North because of this from this day onwards.”

Source: E. A. Wallis Budge, Legends of the Egyptian Gods

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