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The Trouble with Taking Ancient Texts Literally

10/4/2012

5 Comments

 
I worked overtime yesterday to present Philip Coppens’ effort to “tear apart” my September 30 blog post “line by line” with my corresponding fact-based commentary (read it here), so today I’m going to try to run a bit shorter. Coppens complained my posts were too long for him anyway, so I hope this will be more to his liking.

Coppens complained that I “nitpick” by examining individual claims for factual accuracy instead of evaluating the broad, overarching philosophical approaches to the past where he feels the truth actually hides. So, let’s indulge him.

Coppens’ big, overarching idea—one that he may not be aware of himself—is that the past is one long, coherent period of ancient wisdom. Thus, he sees no problem in using the Famine Stela, which was composed around 200-190 BCE (based on the style of language used), as proof of events that happened around 2600 BCE. Giorgio Tsoukalos favors the same approach, claiming that medieval texts from the fourteenth or fifteenth century CE are a reliable guide to Fourth Dynasty Egypt (c. 2450 BCE).

Leaving aside the fact that Coppens denies the plain reading of the Famine Stela in favor of a concocted fantasy, are we justified in accepting all ancient texts as equally knowledgeable about the past? Does a Hellenistic or even a medieval text automatically have real knowledge about life 2,000 to 4,000 or more years earlier?

For Coppens and Tsoukalos, the answer is yes. But as we can clearly see, this is not true. Manetho (c. 300 BCE), who preserved a vague recollection that Djoser was responsible for the oldest pyramid, also wrote that Suphis (not Khufu/Cheops) built “the largest pyramid” and that the third pyramid of Giza (Menkaure’s) was the work of sixth dynasty female pharaoh Nitocris. This was the ruinous state of knowledge for an educated Egyptian priest of 300 BCE. (All of these texts can be found in my edition of Cory's Ancient Fragments.)

But, you might say, this is mere nitpicking. The list of inaccuracies and anachronisms, however, only grows. What follows is what I found in a few minutes of searching my edition of Cory’s Ancient Fragments: Eupolemus tells us that Babylon was founded by a race of giants (i.e. nephilim) whom God saved from Noah’s Flood, in direct contradiction of the Biblical account in which all but Noah’s family perished (Eusebius, Praeperatio Evangelica 9; cf. Genesis 7:21-23, “And all flesh died that moved upon the earth…and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.”). Nicholas of Damascus wrote that the Jewish patriarch Abraham was “king of Damascus,” while Eupolemus asserts that he lived not in Syria but Phoenicia! (Eusebius, Praeperatio Evangelica 9; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 1.7). The Roman writer Justin tells us that Judaism was invented in Damascus, which the Jews ruled (Philippic History 36.2), while in fact Damascus was the enemy of the Kingdom of Israel. Diodorus Siculus tells us that Moses founded Jerusalem (Library 40.3, preserved in Photius, Biblioteca codex 244), a direct contradiction to the Biblical account of his death prior to entering the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 34:4-6).

Now, you could explain away each of these contradictions, but to do so, you must agree that ancient texts can be mistaken or inaccurate. Once you open the door to inaccuracy, fantasy, or error, you must therefore make a strong case for why we should accept a given text—especially one written thousands of years after the fact—as accurate. That a fantastic reading of it agrees with your preconceived theories is not reason enough.

Otherwise, we end up with the absurd situation of claiming the Alexander Romance is an accurate biography of Alexander the Great. As Plutarch noted (in the Life of Alexander), when fanciful portions of one such romance were read to Alexander’s general Lysimachus, he quipped, “Why and where was I then?” I have a feeling Imhotep would say the same thing after reading what Philip Coppens said about him.

5 Comments
Julianne
10/4/2012 10:37:36 am

Then what's the point in reading about any history at all if it wasn't actually written BY the person about whom it is written? Are we supposed to only count history that was autobiographical?

I wonder if what we write in history books today will be considered worthless because we wrote it 2,000 years after the fact.


I'm just sayin', that's all. Just sayin'

Reply
Jason Colavito link
10/4/2012 10:41:21 am

The point is that there has to be supporting evidence besides taking somebody's word for it. When you read my blog post, you trust it because you can see all my sources and check them yourself. This makes it credible. Ancient texts don't offer the ability to check directly, so we have to rely on other evidence to support them. We can cross-check various accounts of the life of Caesar, for example, with each other, with Roman records, and with inscriptions and archaeological evidence to decide which parts to believe or not believe. It's that ability to support a claim with multiple lines of evidence that brings us closer to truth. Alternative claims don't have multiple lines of support, only fantastic interpretations of single sources, often misread or distorted.

Reply
Julianne
10/4/2012 12:20:18 pm

I see what you are saying, I just wonder how much the study of really ancient history can ever be worth. For example, it is my understanding that most of what we know about ancient Greek mythology is based on the writings of just a very few ancient Greek writers, like Homer. They may have been a made up story, or may have been based on fact. The ancient Greeks probably took his writings as more literal than we may now because so much time has passed. They may have seen those writings the way many Christians now view the Bible, as a literal work of God. Maybe in another 2,000 years, people will read the Bible the way we read the Iliad now and wonder if it was just a story, or if anyone really took it seriously.

I'm not a historian and I actually never cared much for history, but as a homeschool teacher for my daughter this is a big deal. I often wonder how much history to even teach my child. When I teach it at all, I make sure to let her know that the stories we know always come from the point of view of the victor and that everything we think we know about the past comes from a very limited collection of facts.

So much of history can only ever be speculated. It's an interesting subject, but so very frustrating as well.

It makes me crazy.

Jason Colavito link
10/4/2012 01:07:48 pm

I certainly hope you plan to teach your child history. Knowing what happened in the past is essential for understanding the present.

I think you are confusing ancient history (assembled from many sources) with specific ancient texts, which are not always reliable. In the case of Greek mythology (which is not history), myths are known from a variety of sources, though any given story may have only one ancient author still extant. The best-known stories are referenced by many authors (often in many versions).

If you feel that nothing about the past can be known for certain, what of the present? How do you know, for example, that there is a civil war in Syria, or that Mongolia exists? How does that differ from how you know what happened 50 years ago or 1,000 years ago?

Julianne
10/4/2012 01:49:06 pm

I have always heard that line about "those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Yet, the more I read about history, the more clear it is to me that nobody EVER learned anything because the same silly wars have been going on since history began. I really doubt that any answers relevant to the present will ever be answered by looking back.

I think it's better to look inward, but that's just me.

Thanks for a nice chat. Time to eat this chocolate bar I bought from the school kid at my front door. Not the highest quality for the price, but hey, it's CHOCOLATE!

Peace

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