Bruttius
c. 300 CE
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NOTE |
Almost nothing is known of Bruttius, whose very name did not come down to us intact. Given variously as Bruttius, Brettius, Bouthios, Bottius, Burtnos, and many other ways, he is believed to have written a work, likely of world history, sometime between the reign of Domitian and the end of the fourth century, with some indirect evidence suggesting he likely wrote during Constantine’s reign. Most scholars presume “Bruttius” is the original name of a Roman writer, though some believe it to have been Bouthios, making him from Antioch (cf. Antioch’s altar of Zeus Bottiaeus). Whether he wrote in Latin or Greek is difficult to determine. Authorities also differ in whether to consider him a Christian or pagan writer. What remains of his work are three small fragments dealing with kings and emperors, from which much has been speculated.
Benjamin Garstad of MacEwan University spent two decades (2002-2022) publishing a series of articles, culminating in the book Bouttios and Late Antique Antioch, in which he argued that Bruttius was an author from Antioch who produced a euhemerizing account of history designed to show that non-Christian rulers had been sinful, unworthy people wrongly considered gods. He believes that we can assign much more of the material found in John Malalas’s Chronicle and the Excerpta Barbari Latina to Bruttius, whom he presumes to be the author of the underlying euhemeristic Greek chronicle used by both later writers in compiling their own work. In his view, Bruttius wrote a kind of Book of Bad Kings with the goal of showing the Christian emperors to be superior leaders. Notably, Garstad centers his argument on the narrative of the family of Picus-Zeus, a composite figure unique to Malalas’ and the Excerpta’s source, who combines the Greek god Zeus, son of Kronos, with the Roman mythic king Picus, the son of Saturn. (This identification was likely suggested by a passage from Arnobius in Against the Heathens 2.71.) This narrative is of particular interest as one of the last Late Antique efforts to synthesize mythology into a new and creative account of the past, an extreme example of the euhemerizing tradition, as well as an influential narrative on later historians in its own right. For the purpose of this collection of fragments, which otherwise follow the conventional numbering and the ordering of Lieve van Hoof and Peter Van Nuffelen in The Fragmentary Latin Histories of Late Antiquity (Cambridge 2020), I have provided (more or less) the full Picus-Zeus narrative and not just the sentence (traditionally Fragment 1) about Perseus where Bruttius is explicitly mentioned. The narrative occurs in Malalas and the Excerpta and is repeated verbatim in the seventh-century Chronicon Paschale, from Malalas. The scribes recording the chronicle of Symeon Logothete and Pseudo-Symeon in the tenth and eleventh centuries attributed this material to Sextus Julius Africanus, though no earlier authority mentioned such a claim, suggesting that over time Bruttius’ work became conflated with other histories. I have also provided the parallel text from the Excerpta for Fragment 2, despite the lack of mention of Bruttius. Except where otherwise indicated, all translations are my own. |
ON THE IDENTITY OF BRUTTIUS
J. B. Lightfoot
Eusebius […] refers in the Chronicle to one Bruttius or Brettius. In the History on the other hand he does not mention any name, but states in general terms that even historians unconnected with the Christian faith (καὶ τοὺς ἄποθεν τοῦ καθ ̓ ἡμᾶς λόγου συγγραφεῖς) had not shrunk from recording the persecution under Domitian and the martyrdoms resulting from it. We may infer however from the context, as well as from the parallel passage in the Chronicle, that he had in his mind chiefly, though perhaps not solely, this same chronicler Bruttius.
Who then was this Bruttius? When did he live? Was he a heathen or a Christian writer? He is cited as an authority three times by Malalas. The first passage relates to the legend of Danae, which Bruttius explains in a rationalistic sense, and where he identifies Picus with Zeus. In the second passage, referring to the conquests of Alexander, he describes him as subduing ‘all the kingdoms of the earth,’ while in the context there is an obvious allusion to the prophecy of Daniel. The third contains the notice of the banishment of the Christians under Domitian with which we are more directly concerned. Thus Bruttius in his chronography covered the whole period from the beginnings of history to the close of the first Christian century at least. The Bruttian family attained their greatest prominence in the second century. One C. Bruttius Praesens was consul for the second time in A.D. 139; and among the friends and correspondents of the younger Pliny we meet with a Praesens, who doubtless belonged to this same family and may have been this same person. Critics not uncommonly, following Scaliger, identify Pliny's friend with the chronographer mentioned by Eusebius and Malalas, but for this identification there is no sufficient ground. A second C. Bruttius Praesens, apparently a son of the former, was also twice consul A.D. 153 and 180. Не was the father of L. Bruttius Crispinus, whose name appears in the consular fasti for A.D. 187, and of Bruttia Crispina, who became consort of the emperor Commodus. A third C. Bruttius Praesens, who held the consulate in A.D. 217, seems also to have been his son. The family continued to hold a distinguished position after this date, for we find the name more than once in the consular lists. The chronographer might have been any one of the persons already named, or he might have been an entirely different person, perhaps some freedman or descendant of a freedman attached to the house. The extant inscriptions suggest that there was a numerous clientele belonging to this family. It is a curious coincidence, if it be nothing more, that De Rossi has discovered, in immediate proximity to and even within the limits of the Cemetery of Domitilla, the graves of certain members of the Bruttian clan, especially one BRVTTIVS CRISPINVS. There is indeed no direct indication that these were Christian graves, but the locality suggests some connexion, or at least explains how Bruttius the chronographer should have taken a special interest in the career of Domitilla. But was not this Bruttius himself a Christian? Eusebius indeed, as we have seen, in his History speaks generally of his authorities for the persecution under Domitian as unconnected with Christianity, while we learn from his Chronicle that the most important of these authorities was Bruttius. It would appear then that he regarded Bruttius as a heathen, though this inference is not absolutely certain. But was he well acquainted with the facts? Had he the work of Bruttius before him, or did he only quote it at second hand? I believe that the latter alternative is correct. We have seen that Malalas three times refers to Bruttius as his authority. It is highly improbable that he at all events should have been directly acquainted with the work of Bruttius; and the conjecture of Gutschmidt that he derived his information from Julius Africanus seems very probable. But, if Malalas owed this notice of the persecution of Domitian to Africanus, why may not Eusebius also have drawn it from the same source? He was certainly well acquainted with the chronography of Africanus, whom he uses largely in his Chronicle and of whose writings he gives an account in his History. On the other hand he never mentions Bruttius except in the Chronicle, and there only in this single passage relating to Domitilla.
This consideration must affect our answer to the question whether Bruttius was a heathen or a Christian writer. Eusebius, as we have seen, seems to have set him down as a heathen; but, if he was unacquainted with the work itself, his opinion ceases to have any value. The references in Malalas appear to me to point very decidedly to a Christian writer. The first is an attempt to explain heathen mythology by Euhemeristic methods, a common and characteristic expedient in the Christian apologists and chronographers. The second evidently treats the empire of Alexander as fulfilling the prophecy of the third beast, the leopard, in Daniels. We cannot indeed feel sure that the more obvious references to Daniel were not due to Africanus or to Malalas himself, but the part of Bruttius is inseparable from the rest. The direct reference to the Christians in the third passage needs no comment. Thus Bruttius would appear to have been a precursor of Africanus and Eusebius, as a Christian chronographer.
Who then was this Bruttius? When did he live? Was he a heathen or a Christian writer? He is cited as an authority three times by Malalas. The first passage relates to the legend of Danae, which Bruttius explains in a rationalistic sense, and where he identifies Picus with Zeus. In the second passage, referring to the conquests of Alexander, he describes him as subduing ‘all the kingdoms of the earth,’ while in the context there is an obvious allusion to the prophecy of Daniel. The third contains the notice of the banishment of the Christians under Domitian with which we are more directly concerned. Thus Bruttius in his chronography covered the whole period from the beginnings of history to the close of the first Christian century at least. The Bruttian family attained their greatest prominence in the second century. One C. Bruttius Praesens was consul for the second time in A.D. 139; and among the friends and correspondents of the younger Pliny we meet with a Praesens, who doubtless belonged to this same family and may have been this same person. Critics not uncommonly, following Scaliger, identify Pliny's friend with the chronographer mentioned by Eusebius and Malalas, but for this identification there is no sufficient ground. A second C. Bruttius Praesens, apparently a son of the former, was also twice consul A.D. 153 and 180. Не was the father of L. Bruttius Crispinus, whose name appears in the consular fasti for A.D. 187, and of Bruttia Crispina, who became consort of the emperor Commodus. A third C. Bruttius Praesens, who held the consulate in A.D. 217, seems also to have been his son. The family continued to hold a distinguished position after this date, for we find the name more than once in the consular lists. The chronographer might have been any one of the persons already named, or he might have been an entirely different person, perhaps some freedman or descendant of a freedman attached to the house. The extant inscriptions suggest that there was a numerous clientele belonging to this family. It is a curious coincidence, if it be nothing more, that De Rossi has discovered, in immediate proximity to and even within the limits of the Cemetery of Domitilla, the graves of certain members of the Bruttian clan, especially one BRVTTIVS CRISPINVS. There is indeed no direct indication that these were Christian graves, but the locality suggests some connexion, or at least explains how Bruttius the chronographer should have taken a special interest in the career of Domitilla. But was not this Bruttius himself a Christian? Eusebius indeed, as we have seen, in his History speaks generally of his authorities for the persecution under Domitian as unconnected with Christianity, while we learn from his Chronicle that the most important of these authorities was Bruttius. It would appear then that he regarded Bruttius as a heathen, though this inference is not absolutely certain. But was he well acquainted with the facts? Had he the work of Bruttius before him, or did he only quote it at second hand? I believe that the latter alternative is correct. We have seen that Malalas three times refers to Bruttius as his authority. It is highly improbable that he at all events should have been directly acquainted with the work of Bruttius; and the conjecture of Gutschmidt that he derived his information from Julius Africanus seems very probable. But, if Malalas owed this notice of the persecution of Domitian to Africanus, why may not Eusebius also have drawn it from the same source? He was certainly well acquainted with the chronography of Africanus, whom he uses largely in his Chronicle and of whose writings he gives an account in his History. On the other hand he never mentions Bruttius except in the Chronicle, and there only in this single passage relating to Domitilla.
This consideration must affect our answer to the question whether Bruttius was a heathen or a Christian writer. Eusebius, as we have seen, seems to have set him down as a heathen; but, if he was unacquainted with the work itself, his opinion ceases to have any value. The references in Malalas appear to me to point very decidedly to a Christian writer. The first is an attempt to explain heathen mythology by Euhemeristic methods, a common and characteristic expedient in the Christian apologists and chronographers. The second evidently treats the empire of Alexander as fulfilling the prophecy of the third beast, the leopard, in Daniels. We cannot indeed feel sure that the more obvious references to Daniel were not due to Africanus or to Malalas himself, but the part of Bruttius is inseparable from the rest. The direct reference to the Christians in the third passage needs no comment. Thus Bruttius would appear to have been a precursor of Africanus and Eusebius, as a Christian chronographer.
Source: J. B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, Part I: S. Clement of Rome (London: Macmillan, 1890), 46-49.
THE FRAGMENTS OF BRUTTIUS
FRAGMENT 1
THE FRAGMENTChronicle of John Malalas 1.8-15
= Chronicon Paschale (pp. 64-74, ed. Dindorf) And from the same tribe of Shem, the first son of Noah, which ruled Syria and Persia and the other parts of the east, a man born of the lineage of the giants emerged, called Kronos, named Damnus by his father, after the name of the wandering star. And this man became very powerful. He first demonstrated kingship, that is, he instituted his rule over other men; and he first reigned over Assyria for many years, and subdued all the land of Persia, beginning with the Assyrians. And he was feared by all, as a warrior and a destroyer of all; he had a wife named Semiramis, called Rhea by the Assyrians because she was proud and arrogant. And she was also of the race of Shem, the son of Noah. And Kronos had a son named Picus, who was called Zeus by his parents, from the name of a wandering star as well. And Kronos had another son named Ninus; and he had a daughter named Hera. And Picus-Zeus took as wife his own sister Hera, whom some call also the Zygian Nemesis, because she was good and wanted all things just. By her, Picus-Zeus had a son, whom he named Belus because the child was very fierce. And Kronos the grandfather, having left Picus in Assyria, and having left his wife Rhea and Semiramis with his son Picus-Zeus, and having received much help from a multitude of brave men, he went to the west, which was then unconquered, not held by any king; and he held the western parts, and was not seen again in Assyria. And he remained ruling and reigning over all the west for many years, and there he married a woman named Philyra, by whom he begat another son named Aphros, to whom he gave the lands near Libya. And Aphros reigned as king and was married to Astynom from the island of Lakeria, who bore him a daughter, whom he called Aphrodite, after the name of the wandering star of the heavens. Aphrodite became a philosopher and married Adonis the Athenian, the son of Kyniros, and he himself a philosopher; and they remained together, philosophizing diligently until death. And from the same Philyra, Cronus also had another son, called Chiron, who was also a philosopher. And after Picus-Zeus had reigned over Assyria for thirty years, he himself left his own mother and Hera his sister and wife, and having made his son Belus king of Assyria, he went west to his father Kronos. And Belus reigned over the Assyrians for two years, and at the end, the Persians deified him. But Kronos, having seen his son Picus-Zeus coming to him in the west, granted him the kingdom of the west; for Kronos himself was old and afflicted. And Picus-Zeus reigned in the west, that is, over Italy, for a total of 62 years; and of Assyria, after Belus, Ninus, the other son of Kronos, reigned, who also took his own mother Semiramis as wife; whence the Persian custom of marrying one’s own mother and sisters, for Picus also took his own sister Hera as wife, as the wisest Homer also relates: He approached his own sister Hera as wife. After Kronos died, Ninus gained the kingdom of Assyria, and having built the city of Nineveh, he was the first to rule over the Assyrians, together with Semiramis or Rhea, who was both his mother and his wife. From his lineage, therefore, was born Zoroaster, a famous astronomer among the Persians, who, on the verge of death, prayed that he might be consumed by heavenly fire, addressing the Persians thusly: “When the fire has burned me, from my burnt bones, take the ashes and preserve them: for the kingdom will not be taken from your country as long as you preserve my bones.” Then, invoking Orion, he was consumed by aerial fire. But the Persians, having carried out what he had commanded, preserve his remains reduced to ashes to this day. After Ninus, an Assyrian named Thuiras reigned, while his father Zamis, the brother of Rhea, was renamed Ares after the wandering star. He became a fierce warrior, who fought in the far regions, and fought Kaukasos, who was also a strong man, born of giants and a warrior from the tribe of Japheth, the son of Noah. And having fought against Kaukasos, he killed him and took possession of his country. And having come to Thrace, there he died and is buried. To Ares the Assyrians first erected a pillar, and they worship him as a god, and to this day the Persians call this god Baal, which is interpreted as Ares, the god of war. The prophetic writing of Daniel and the three young men mentions this, that they were forced to worship him. And after the death of Ares, Lames reigned. And after Lames, Sardanapalus the Great reigned over the Assyrians, whom Perseus the son of Danaus slew and took the kingdom from the Assyrians, and reigning over them in his own name, he called them Persians, as was written by Semeronius the Babylonian for the Persians. But Picus-Zeus, the brother of Ninus, continued reigning over Italy. At that time, there was no city nor province in the West, but all that land was simply inhabited by those who had settled there from the tribe of Japheth the son of Noah. And Picus-Zeus lived for 120 years, holding the west and reigning over it; and he begat many sons and daughters by fair women. And the same Picus-Zeus, had a son named Faunus, whom he also called Hermes, after the name of the wandering star. This same Picus-Zeus, had after Hermes Heracles, and after that yet another son, Perseus, by a fair woman named Danae, daughter of Acrisius, who came from the Argive country, about whom the most learned Euripides mythologized in the composition of his drama, as having been closed in a chest and tossed into the sea, as Danae had been corrupted by Zeus, who had turned into gold. And the most learned Bruttius, the historian and chronicler, explained that Danae had been locked in a chamber overlooking the sea, but Picus-Zeus, with much gold, was able to persuade her to leave, and having abducted her in pleasing form, he corrupted her, and from her he begot a son named Perseus, whom we have mentioned. Indeed, they commonly imagine him to be winged because from a boy he was of a sharp and versatile mind: wherefore his father Picus, or Zeus, instructed him in the magical arts of the cursed shield, and taught him all its arcane and impious mysteries and fallacies, when he said these things to him: “All your enemies and foes, however many will oppose you, you will overcome with this shield: so that whoever looks at the Gorgon’s head in it, will immediately remain blinded, as if lifeless, and killed by you.” Perseus, trusting in these words from his father Picus-Zeus, afterwards, when he died, when he had grown up and was of full age, desired the kingdom of the Assyrians, since he could not bear it being possessed by the sons of his uncle Ninus, his parent’s brother. And having consulted the oracle, as he was setting out towards Libya, he was met by a young girl of mature age, a rustic, with a certain ferocity in her hair and eyes: and when she had stopped, he spoke to her thus: “What is your name?” But she confidently answered, “Medusa.” Then he seized the hair of her head, which he had girded with a sickle-shaped sword, and severed her head. Perseus, having received it, initiated it with magical incantations, as he had been taught by his father Picus-Zeus, and presented it as his aid against all his enemies and foes, by which he might subject them to his power, or kill them. But the head, because of the speed of its help and its power against enemies, he called the “Gorgon” (quick). […] In the times of Picus-Zeus, in the western regions, there arose a certain man of the tribe of Japheth, in the region of the Argives, named Inachus, who was the first to reign in these parts, and founded a city there, which he called Iopolis, after the name of the Moon, to which he was most devoted. For the Argives still use the name Luna in this way, with a certain mystical and abstruse meaning, and call her Io. In that city he further built a temple sacred to the Moon, erecting a bronze statue of her, with this inscription, “Io, blessed morning star.” Inachus himself took Melia as his wife, by whom he had three children, Jason, Belus, and a daughter, whom he named Io after the Moon: a girl of exceedingly elegant form. But Picus, or Zeus, when he heard that Inachus had a very beautiful virgin daughter, he himself, the then King of the West, raped the daughter of Inachus, who had been abducted by emissaries, and from him she became pregnant and bore a daughter, Io, whom he named Libya. […] When Picus-Zeus was about to die, he ordered his body to be buried on the island of Crete, where a temple was built in his name by his sons, and it lies deposited there, where his tomb is visited to this day, with this inscription: “Here lies dead Picus, who is also Zeus, whom they also call Dia.” Diodorus, the most learned chronicler, wrote this in the context of his book on the Gods, where he says this: “Zeus, the son of Kronos, lies in Crete.” After the death of the same Picus, who was also called Zeus, his son Faunus, who was also called Hermes, reigned in Italy for thirty-five years. He was a clever man and mathematician, who was the first in the West to discover the metal gold and the method of smelting it. When he understood that great envy was burning among his brothers, whom Picus-Zeus, his father, had sired from various wives, and that they had conceived a plan to kill him. There were many of them, perhaps seventy. (For Zeus, having had intercourse with many women, had begotten many children.) Having carried away a very great weight of gold, he went to Egypt to the tribe of Ham, the son of Noah, by whom he was received with great honor. While he was living there, he treated the people arrogantly and wore a golden garment. He philosophized among the Egyptians, to whom he predicted future events: for he was naturally endowed with a very sharp intellect. whence he was worshipped by them, since they said that he was the god Hermes, since he predicted future events, supplied them with answers received from God about future events, and provided them with wealth. They therefore called him the giver of riches, since they called gold God. When the same Hermes came to Egypt, Mestre, of the race of Cham, reigned among the Egyptians. When this fate was fulfilled, the Egyptians proclaimed Hermes king. He ruled arrogantly over them for thirty-nine years. After him, Hephaestus reigned among the Egyptians for 1680 days, which make up four years, seven months, and three days. For at that time the Egyptians did not know how to measure years, but called the course of days years. They also called Hermes a god: for he was a warlike man, and one who understood all mysteries. While fighting in battle, he fell from his horse, received a wound, and from that time on limped. |
PARALLEL TEXTSExcerpta Barbari Latina
(Frick, Chronica Minora 234.22-240.11) We have spoken previously of those who were depicted as divine in the time of the Judges; hence: Picus, the son [literally: great-grandson] of Cronus, ruled in the western regions in those times. Cronus himself, his progenitor, had acquired the western regions in the division of the earth, as they had no cities or kings, about which much has been said and remains untranslated. After the death of Cronus, according to the succession of years, his son Picus reigned first in Italy, whom some interpreted as Serapis and others as Olympian Zeus, while still others said he was Pluto of Hades, and others called him Chthonic Poseidon. These names were attributed to him because he surpassed all others in power and ability. In his youth, he reigned in Assyria and was called Ninus, and he founded Nineveh, the city of the Assyrians. His wife was Semimaris [sic for Semiramis], a wicked and shameless woman, whom some called Rhea, others Hera Zygia, and others Nemesis the many-formed, and still others Chthonic Hecate, because of her countless atrocities. This man, having left the empire of the west to his wife, came and ruled those western regions, which had no cities or kings at that time, according to the historical accounts. In those days, Picus the son of Cronus, having found that land spacious and unoccupied, ruled over it for eighty years, possessing many territories. By magical arts and wicked ingenuity, he turned the most noble women’s heads and corrupted them, and these women, who were deceived by him, prepared houses and seats for him and fashioned many statues and images of him, since these pleased him. And, as if the one who had copulated with them were a god, they glorified him as divine. After his death, his son Faunus reigned in Italy for thirty-five years. This made him into an impious and very busy man. Then he went down into Egypt and remained in that place and assumed the imperial robes. And he was seen to be wise by the Egyptians, and he deceived them through magic and frauds. He confided suspicious things to them and made prophecies. He learned the speech of birds and the messages of the hoopoes, the neighing of horses, as well as the divination of the dead, and many other evils. And then the wise men among the Egyptians perceived him to be a mathematician and very loquacious, so they glorified him as Hermes the Three-Times-Most-Blessed, because he knew all languages so well everywhere, and they admired him as a wealthy and rich man, and as a servant of the gods. He reigned there for thirty-five years. There are from Adam to the beginning of the reign of Picus, who is understood to be Serapis, and who was the son of Cronus, 4,100 years. Then Heracles, returning from the region of the Spaniards, placed his arms in Rome, in the Forum Boarium, and enclosed them in a temple. For they say Heracles had been born in Latis of the Thebiad and was a child of Zeus and Alminius [sic for Alcmene]. And fleeing Erythea, the king of the Thebans, he sailed with all his possessions and ruled in the western regions; he fashioned images of himself clad in gold in the farthest western regions, which still stand to this day; and for this reason, the poet Euripides also remembered him. He also had a son by daughter of the temple servant Aleus, named Telephus, and he called him Latinus. Heracles reigned for thirty-eight years. After the death of Heracles, his son Telephus, who was also called Latinus, reigned in that province for eighteen years, and from his appellation he named the Roman people, who are also called Cittei, and Latins, who are still called Latins to this day. Symeon Logothete, Chronicle
(Although written after 948 CE, it is believed that the first section of Syemon's chronicle is based on a sixth-century Greek chronicle that may or may not be independent of Malalas.) From the lineage of Shem came a man of enormous stature, called Kronos by his father after the name of the planet; he first showed the Assyrians kingship and empire. He had a wife, Semiramis, who is also called Rhea; by her he had a son, Zeus, who was also called Picus and married his sister Hera. There was also another son of Kronos named Aphron, to whom he gave the land towards Libya. He married Astyno, from whom he begat a daughter, Aphrodite. But Kronos, driven out by the power of his own son, left his sons Zeus and Ninus, who reigned with Rhea their mother in Assyria; he himself went west and held the kingdom of all Italy. Now Zeus, having left Assyria, went to his father; he granted him the empire of all Italy and after reigning for many years, Zeus died and was buried in Crete. After Ninus, the king of the Assyrians was Thurras, to whom they gave the surname Ares, as being most warlike and noble, whom the Assyrians called the god Baal and venerated by setting up an image. After the death of Zeus there reigned, Faunus, his son, who was surnamed Hermes; for he was most cunning and prudent, and discovered to how make gold from base metals. John of Nikiû, Chronicle 6-10 (trans. R. H. Charles)
(Written c. 680-690 CE, John's chronicle survives only in a late and corrupt Ge'ez translation. The text, while early, is obviously derived from John Malalas.) CHAPTER VI. 1. Cronus, moreover, was a giant of the race of Shem, the firstborn of Noah, who was thus named after the name of the first planet, which is Cronus. 2. And his son, named Domjos, was a warrior, a redoubtable man and a slayer (of men). 3. He was the first to rule over Persia and Assyria: and he married an Assyrian woman, named Rhea, and she bare him two sons, Picus whom they named Zeus, and Ninus, who built a royal city in. Assyria, i. e. Nineveh. 4. And Cronus left his son in his kingdom and went to the west and ruled over the people (there) as they had no king. 5. And Picus his son, who was named Zeus, rebelled against Cronus his father and slew him, because he had devoured his children. CHAPTER VII. 1. And he made pregnant the daughter of Niks his mother, who was named Rhea. And Picus, moreover, that is, Zeus, was the first to take his sister to wife. 2. And he begat by her a son named Belus, who resembled his grandfather Cronus. 3. And this Belus ruled in Assyria after the disappearance of his father and his grandfather Cronus. 4. And him also after his death the Persians worshipped with the gods. CHAPTER VIII. 1. And after the death of Belus, Ninus his father's brother reigned over Assyria. 2. He married Semiramis his mother and made her his wife, and established this impure custom and transmitted it to his successors: and they are designated by this evil name till the present day. 3. This conduct does not create a scandal amongst the Persians; for they take to wife their mothers and sisters and daughters. CHAPTER. IX. 1. After the death of Picus, Faunus, called Hermes, ruled in the west for thirty-five years. 2. And he became a silversmith. He was the first to begin to work in gold in the west, and to smelt it. 3. And when he learnt that his brothers were envious of him and wished to slay him, he became afraid and fled to Egypt, taking with him a great quantity of gold. 4. And he dwelt in Egypt and clothed himself in a beautiful robe of gold. 5. And furthermore he became a diviner, for he declared everything before it came to pass, and he gave to people money in abundance and he gave gifts in abundance to the people of Egypt. 6. And for this reason they received him with honour and called him ‘the Lord of gold’. And he was honoured by them as a god. And the poor worshipped him. CHAPTER. X. 1. And there was a man named Hephaestus. He ruled over Egypt: and they made him a god. And he was warlike and full of fury. 2. And men believed that he investigated hidden things and received weapons of war from the non-existent; for he was an ironsmith and was the first to make weapons of war to fight with in time of war and stones wherewith men contended. 3. Now he was lame; (for) when going to war he fell from (his) horse and was injured and was lame all his days. [...] CHAPTER XXI. 1. And there was a man named Perseus. He aspired to the throne of Assyria; but the sons of Ninus, the brother of his father Zeus, were his rivals. 2. And when he came to Qorontos, there met him a young girl, walking alone. 3. And he seized her by her hair and cut off her head with (his) sword, and placed it on the shield which he had according to the magic which his father Zeus had taught him. 4. And he carried it with him in all his warlike expeditions. 5. And after he had journeyed and gone down into 'Elbawna, he turned towards Assyria. And when the Lycaonians made war upon him; he took the head of the Gorgon the virgin magician and by displaying it before them vanquished them. 6. And he built the town of Iconium, which had previously been a small town named Amandra; <and he called it Iconium> because he had set up formerly his statue near it together with the detestable Gorgon. 7. And when he came to Isauria, a city of Cilicia, and its people, moreover, warred against him, he vanquished them by the magical power residing in the head of the Gorgon. |
FRAGMENT 2
THE FRAGMENTMalalas, Chronicle 8.1
And Alexander defeated Darius, king of the Persians, son of Assalamus, and captured him and all his kingdom and all the land of the Assyrians and Medes and Parthians and Babylonians and Persians and all the kingdoms of the earth, as the most learned Bottius wrote. Alexander himself freed all the cities and the countries and all the lands of the Romans and Greeks and Egyptians from subjugation and slavery to the Assyrians and Persians and Parthians and Medes, and restored to the Romans everything that they had lost. |
PARALLEL TEXTExcerpta Latina Barbari 1.6.6, Frick 244, 11-23
After this, the Lord God delivered the kingdom of the Roman land into the hands of the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the Persians, and the Medes. And that land became tributary to the Assyrians, and Rome remained without a kingdom, until God raised up Alexander the Macedonian and the founder. He indeed fought against the king of the Persians and overcame him. And the Lord delivered the kingdom of the Assyrians into his hands, and he entered into power over their kingdom, and shook the cities of the Persians and the Medes, and freed all the lands of the Romans and the Greeks and the Egyptians from slavery to the Chaldeans, and he established laws for the world. |
FRAGMENT 3
3a Armenian Eusebius, Chronicle (Aucher, II, 278-279)
Brettius reports that many Christians suffered martyrdom under Domitian, but Flavia Domitilla, son [sic] of the sister of the Consul Flavius Clemens, fled to the island of Ponza because she professed to be a Christian.
3b Jerome, Chronicle 96
Bruttius writes that many Christians were martyred under Domitian. Among them was Flavia Domitilla, the niece of the consul Flavius Clemens by his sister. She was banished to the island of Ponza because she testified that she was a Christian.
3c John Malalas, Chronicle 10.49
He [Domitian] punished many other Christians, so that a great number of them fled to Pontus, as the wise chronicler Bottius wrote of them.
3d Chronicon Paschale (Dindorf, p. 468)
Brouttios records that many Christians were martyred under Domitian in the year 140.
3e George Syncellus, Chronicle 419-20.
Many Christians were martyred under Domitian, as Brettius relates, among whom Flavia Domitilla, niece of the consul Clemens Flavius, was exiled as a Christian to the island of Ponza; this Clemens was also executed for Christ.
3f Chronicle of 734 (= Michael the Great, Chronicle 6.3) (Brooks, Scriptores Syri, s.3, v. 4, 1904, p. 93)
Burtnos relates that many Christians became martyrs in the days of Domitian, and Flavia Domitilla, the daughter of the consul Clemens’ sister, fled to the island of Ponza because she professed herself a Christian.
Brettius reports that many Christians suffered martyrdom under Domitian, but Flavia Domitilla, son [sic] of the sister of the Consul Flavius Clemens, fled to the island of Ponza because she professed to be a Christian.
3b Jerome, Chronicle 96
Bruttius writes that many Christians were martyred under Domitian. Among them was Flavia Domitilla, the niece of the consul Flavius Clemens by his sister. She was banished to the island of Ponza because she testified that she was a Christian.
3c John Malalas, Chronicle 10.49
He [Domitian] punished many other Christians, so that a great number of them fled to Pontus, as the wise chronicler Bottius wrote of them.
3d Chronicon Paschale (Dindorf, p. 468)
Brouttios records that many Christians were martyred under Domitian in the year 140.
3e George Syncellus, Chronicle 419-20.
Many Christians were martyred under Domitian, as Brettius relates, among whom Flavia Domitilla, niece of the consul Clemens Flavius, was exiled as a Christian to the island of Ponza; this Clemens was also executed for Christ.
3f Chronicle of 734 (= Michael the Great, Chronicle 6.3) (Brooks, Scriptores Syri, s.3, v. 4, 1904, p. 93)
Burtnos relates that many Christians became martyrs in the days of Domitian, and Flavia Domitilla, the daughter of the consul Clemens’ sister, fled to the island of Ponza because she professed herself a Christian.
