John of Antioch
7th century CE
translated by Jason Colavito
2026
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NOTE |
The Byzantine historian John of Antioch (fl. c. 630-640 CE) produced a chronicle of world history that survives only in fragments. Largely derivative of his sources, particularly the more famous chronicle of John Malalas, John of Antioch nevertheless preserves some material that does not appear in surviving sources. However, scholars have disputed for centuries which fragments attributed to John are genuine, which were revised and rewritten by later Byzantine excerpters, and which are not his work at all. No two scholars agree, and the two surviving sets of excerpts do not agree with one another. These excerpts are known as the Salamantian Excerpts after their editor, Claudius Salmasius (Claude Saumaise), taken from a text known in the past as the Codex Parisinus 1630 (now numbered 1763), and the Constantinian Excerpts, taken from the Excerpta Constantiniana, a Byzantine encyclopedia. The Salamntian excerpts were edited by J. A. Cramer in his Aneccdota Graeca (1839), and both sets of excerpts were edited by Karl Müller in volume 4 of his Fragmenta historicorum graecorum (1851). It is from this latter text that I translate the first eight fragments, comprising Book 1, covering ancient history, and the passage describing Book 2, which leads into further excerpts covering matters beyond our concern. The numbering is that of Müller. To this, I have appended selected notes from Cramer and Müller.
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THE CHRONICLE
1
Exc. Salmasii in Crameri Anecd, Par. I, p. 383—388:
The Archaeology of John of Antioch, containing also an explanation of the myths.
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These are described from the Cod. Reg. 1763, form. in-4°, paper and very recently, since it was written by the hand of Claude Saumaise himself. But where Saumaise got this from is not clear. The excerpts are, as I think, from the great work of John of Antioch, not Malalas, as someone noted on the first page of the codex, but from that from which we have Excerpts among the Collectan. Constantine Porphyrog. Vales. and in the first part of this volume Περὶ επιδουλῶν. For when these are compared with Malalas, it will easily appear that what I say is true, although some things are common to both.
— J. A. Cramer |
1 Ogygus, an ancient figure among the Greeks, and Phoroneus, the son of Inachus, lived at the time of the Exodus of the people from Egypt under Moses. For from Ogygus down to the fifty‑fifth Olympiad, that is, to the reign of Cyrus the Persian, there are 1,235 years; and from Moses likewise down to the reign of Cyrus there are 1,235 years. When the Passover and the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt took place, the flood that occurred in the time of Ogygus happened. And reasonably so: for when the Egyptians were being scourged by God with hail and storms, it was likely that certain regions of the earth would suffer along with them; and it was also likely that the Athenians, thought by some to be colonists from the Egyptians, would share in the same calamities. That Moses flourished at the same time as Ogygus is attested by Polemon in the first book of his Greek Histories, where he says: “In the time of Apis, son of Phoroneus, a division of the Egyptian army left Egypt, and they settled in the region of Palestine called Syria, not far from Arabia.” It is clear that he means the Hebrews who departed from there with Moses.
2 The followers of Anaxagoras allegorize Athena as the art of craftsmanship, whence the saying: “When the hands were destroyed, resourceful Athena departed.”
3 Hades was king of the Molossians, possessing a huge dog named Cerberus, who killed Peirithous; but Theseus was rescued by Heracles. Because of the danger involved in bringing him up from Hades, the story arose that Heracles brought him back from the Underworld.
4 Attica was named from Atthis, daughter of Cranaus the autochthon.
5 Triptolemus, sailing in a long ship and distributing grain to the cities, was mythologized as a winged serpent; and it is likely that the ship itself was of such a shape.
6 Oreithyia was carried off by Boreas the Thracian, son of Astraeus, not by the wind.
7 The ram of Phrixus in the myth was a ship called by that name, or else the steward who saved him.
8 The Gorgon was a courtesan, gorgeous and stunning her spectators by her beauty so that they seemed to turn to stone; and Pegasus was her possession, a swift horse. But Palaephatus says that this was the ship of Bellerophon.
9 When Cadmus was founding Thebes, the neighboring peoples suddenly attacked him; and because they rushed together from all sides, they were called the “Sown Men” (Spartoi).
10 The stones (λίθοι) enchanted by Amphion were certain blockheaded (ἠλίθιοι) listeners.
11 Daedalus was thought to make statues that moved because he first separated their legs, whereas others made them fused together. Fleeing Minos, and being hard to find, he was thought to have flown away, having found a ship together with his son Icarus.
12 The Sphinx, being Cadmus’ wife, withdrew out of jealousy of Harmonia and made war against the Thebans; but Oedipus marched against her and killed her.
13 When Samson ruled over the people [of Israel], Heracles was accomplishing his labors. Though strong, he was an unskilled wrestler; but Antaeus was experienced in what wrestlers call “ground‑holds,” seeming to be strengthened by the earth, his mother. Avoiding these, Heracles bound him with his arms, lifted him into the air, and killed him.
14 Plato says that the Hydra was a formidable female sophist.
15 The Centaurs were actually high-born horsemen of Thessaly.
16 The Minotaur is mythologized as a beast devouring Attic youths; but he was a general of Minos named Taurus, because of his spirited and savage nature. When Minos set up games in honor of Androgeus, whom the Athenians had killed, he demanded Attic youths, whom he gave as prizes to Taurus, who defeated all competitors, for he was strong. When Theseus also entered the contest and defeated Taurus, the tribute of children ceased.
17 Heracles, falling victim to a plague, leapt into a pyre. The mythical Scylla was a Tyrrhenian trireme that plundered passing sailors; and the Sirens were courtesans plotting against those who sailed by.
18 Some say that Homer and Hesiod flourished at the same time as David; others say a little before, others after.
19 When Xanthippus the Boeotian challenged Thymoetes to single combat and he refused, Melanthus, son of Andropompus, a Pylian, donned his (Thymoetes’) clothes, fought the duel, and won; whence the festival of the the Apatouria.
20 Under Archemorus the Nemean games were held by the Argives; under Melicertes the Isthmian games by the Corinthians; under Delphis the dragon the Pythian games by the Delphians, though some say under Delphynê, an ancient heroine. From the contest of the sons of Aethlius, the competitors in games were called “athletes.”
21 The Egyptians say that Hephaestus ruled over them for countless years; after him Helios, son of Hephaestus, for 700 years; after him Sos, that is Ares; after him Keb, son of Helios, that is Cronus.
26 Mestrēm, son of Ham the son of Noah, colonized Egypt, and from him the land was named; for “Mestrēm” in Hebrew signifies Egypt. Under Binoris, king of Egypt, it was decided that women should have royal honors. Under Nefercheres, king of Egypt, they say the Nile flowed mixed with honey for eleven days. Psiōph [i.e. Phiops] began to reign at age six and lived until one hundred.
22 Semiramis, the famous queen, raised earthworks in many places of the world, ostensibly because of floods; but these were actually the tombs of her lovers, buried alive, as Ctesias reports.
23 Sesostris, king of Egypt, subdued all Asia in nine years, and as much of Europe as reaches to Thrace; and he made memorials of the conquest of the nations, engraving on pillars male genitalia for the brave nations, and those of women for the ignoble.
24 Under Bocchoris, king of Egypt, a lamb spoke with a human voice; Sabacon, king of the Ethiopians, captured it alive and burned it, though some say he flayed it.
25 A certain Seleucus, falsely claiming to be of the lineage of the great Seleucus, co‑ruled with Queen Berenice; but when he was discovered to be a commoner, she had him executed.
26 From Aegialeus, king of Sicyon, the Peloponnese was called Aegialeia.
27 Leonidas first and alone won twelve crowns over four Olympiads. The jump of Chion the Laconian was fifty‑two feet. Polymestor of Miletus caught a hare by running it down; and a certain Jew is recorded to have been faster than a deer. Milo of Croton won the Olympic games six times, the Isthmian games ten times, and the Nemean games nine times.
28 Holofernes, the general of the second Nebuchadnezzar, whom the Greeks call Cambyses, was a commander.
2 The followers of Anaxagoras allegorize Athena as the art of craftsmanship, whence the saying: “When the hands were destroyed, resourceful Athena departed.”
3 Hades was king of the Molossians, possessing a huge dog named Cerberus, who killed Peirithous; but Theseus was rescued by Heracles. Because of the danger involved in bringing him up from Hades, the story arose that Heracles brought him back from the Underworld.
4 Attica was named from Atthis, daughter of Cranaus the autochthon.
5 Triptolemus, sailing in a long ship and distributing grain to the cities, was mythologized as a winged serpent; and it is likely that the ship itself was of such a shape.
6 Oreithyia was carried off by Boreas the Thracian, son of Astraeus, not by the wind.
7 The ram of Phrixus in the myth was a ship called by that name, or else the steward who saved him.
8 The Gorgon was a courtesan, gorgeous and stunning her spectators by her beauty so that they seemed to turn to stone; and Pegasus was her possession, a swift horse. But Palaephatus says that this was the ship of Bellerophon.
9 When Cadmus was founding Thebes, the neighboring peoples suddenly attacked him; and because they rushed together from all sides, they were called the “Sown Men” (Spartoi).
10 The stones (λίθοι) enchanted by Amphion were certain blockheaded (ἠλίθιοι) listeners.
11 Daedalus was thought to make statues that moved because he first separated their legs, whereas others made them fused together. Fleeing Minos, and being hard to find, he was thought to have flown away, having found a ship together with his son Icarus.
12 The Sphinx, being Cadmus’ wife, withdrew out of jealousy of Harmonia and made war against the Thebans; but Oedipus marched against her and killed her.
13 When Samson ruled over the people [of Israel], Heracles was accomplishing his labors. Though strong, he was an unskilled wrestler; but Antaeus was experienced in what wrestlers call “ground‑holds,” seeming to be strengthened by the earth, his mother. Avoiding these, Heracles bound him with his arms, lifted him into the air, and killed him.
14 Plato says that the Hydra was a formidable female sophist.
15 The Centaurs were actually high-born horsemen of Thessaly.
16 The Minotaur is mythologized as a beast devouring Attic youths; but he was a general of Minos named Taurus, because of his spirited and savage nature. When Minos set up games in honor of Androgeus, whom the Athenians had killed, he demanded Attic youths, whom he gave as prizes to Taurus, who defeated all competitors, for he was strong. When Theseus also entered the contest and defeated Taurus, the tribute of children ceased.
17 Heracles, falling victim to a plague, leapt into a pyre. The mythical Scylla was a Tyrrhenian trireme that plundered passing sailors; and the Sirens were courtesans plotting against those who sailed by.
18 Some say that Homer and Hesiod flourished at the same time as David; others say a little before, others after.
19 When Xanthippus the Boeotian challenged Thymoetes to single combat and he refused, Melanthus, son of Andropompus, a Pylian, donned his (Thymoetes’) clothes, fought the duel, and won; whence the festival of the the Apatouria.
20 Under Archemorus the Nemean games were held by the Argives; under Melicertes the Isthmian games by the Corinthians; under Delphis the dragon the Pythian games by the Delphians, though some say under Delphynê, an ancient heroine. From the contest of the sons of Aethlius, the competitors in games were called “athletes.”
21 The Egyptians say that Hephaestus ruled over them for countless years; after him Helios, son of Hephaestus, for 700 years; after him Sos, that is Ares; after him Keb, son of Helios, that is Cronus.
26 Mestrēm, son of Ham the son of Noah, colonized Egypt, and from him the land was named; for “Mestrēm” in Hebrew signifies Egypt. Under Binoris, king of Egypt, it was decided that women should have royal honors. Under Nefercheres, king of Egypt, they say the Nile flowed mixed with honey for eleven days. Psiōph [i.e. Phiops] began to reign at age six and lived until one hundred.
22 Semiramis, the famous queen, raised earthworks in many places of the world, ostensibly because of floods; but these were actually the tombs of her lovers, buried alive, as Ctesias reports.
23 Sesostris, king of Egypt, subdued all Asia in nine years, and as much of Europe as reaches to Thrace; and he made memorials of the conquest of the nations, engraving on pillars male genitalia for the brave nations, and those of women for the ignoble.
24 Under Bocchoris, king of Egypt, a lamb spoke with a human voice; Sabacon, king of the Ethiopians, captured it alive and burned it, though some say he flayed it.
25 A certain Seleucus, falsely claiming to be of the lineage of the great Seleucus, co‑ruled with Queen Berenice; but when he was discovered to be a commoner, she had him executed.
26 From Aegialeus, king of Sicyon, the Peloponnese was called Aegialeia.
27 Leonidas first and alone won twelve crowns over four Olympiads. The jump of Chion the Laconian was fifty‑two feet. Polymestor of Miletus caught a hare by running it down; and a certain Jew is recorded to have been faster than a deer. Milo of Croton won the Olympic games six times, the Isthmian games ten times, and the Nemean games nine times.
28 Holofernes, the general of the second Nebuchadnezzar, whom the Greeks call Cambyses, was a commander.
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What we have thus far read concerning the most ancient times of the Greeks and the barbarians agrees very well with the better-known chronicles of Sextus Julius Africanus, Eusebius of Caesarea, and George Syncellus. One might therefore expect that this series of excerpts, guided by these same authorities, would now lead us into more reliable history. But this is not the case.
For the material that follows in Claude Saumaise's manuscript (fragment 3) once again returns to the earliest traditions concerning the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Greeks, explaining them in precisely the same manner that we know so well from the inferior class of chronographers—such as John Malalas, George Cedrenus, and others of that sort. To this later recension of ancient history belong the passages excerpted from John that are preserved in the Constantinian collections On Virtue (Περὶ ἀρετῆς) and On Plots (Περὶ ἐπιβουλῶν), as well as in Paris manuscript 1630. Since this is so, I do not think I am making a rash claim when I maintain that these so-called Salmasian Excerpts derive from two different chronicles, and that the earlier portion, which I have just presented, is not the work of our John. — Karl Müller |
2
Codex Paris, No. 1630, folio 234.
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Fragment 2. This paper manuscript, in octavo, written in small script in the fourteenth century, was mentioned by John Anthony Cramer, who also transcribed several passages from it in Anecdota Parisiensia II, p. 379.
Cramer sampled these excerpts from John only in passing, because he believed that they belonged to the John Malalas whom we possess, and not to our John. But this opinion misled that most learned man. It is certainly true that Malalas relates these events in almost the same manner, and often in the very same words. This would be even more apparent if the manuscript presented its author's complete narrative instead of only brief excerpts. Yet this proves nothing, for one writer of this sort is accustomed to imitate another. Moreover, it is in itself probable that the later Antiochene writer drew his material from the earlier one. Finally, that the excerpts of this manuscript must be assigned to our John is evident from the fact that they contain several passages that are not found in the published chronicles of John Malalas. Thus, to cite just one example, you will search those chronicles in vain for the account of Hercules that the Constantinian Excerpts present in exactly the same words. — Karl Müller |
1 From the exposition of John of Antioch concerning times and the creation of the world, composed, as he says, from the books of Moses, Africanus, Eusebius, Papias, Didymus, and others.
2 The first man formed from the earth was Adam. From God he had a stature of five cubits in height, including his head, so that his total height was forty‑five fingers. His span measured fifteen fingers, his cubit twenty‑four, and his foot fifteen. He lived 930 years. His wife was called Eve, and she bore sons — Cain, Abel, and Seth — and daughters Azura and Asouam.
3 And Adam, according to the command of God, gave names to all the quadrupeds, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fishes, and also to his own children; for the name of himself and of his wife was spoken to them by the angel of the Lord.
4 His son Seth had wisdom from God, and by divine command he gave names to all the stars and to the five planets, so that they might be known among men. He called the first planet Cronus, the second Zeus, the third Ares, the fourth Aphrodite, and the fifth Hermes; but the two great luminaries were named by God Himself. Seth also discovered the seven vowels from the five stars and the two luminaries, and the Hebrew letters.
5 Seth took a wife named Azura, and there came from him a great generation of men and women upon the earth.
6 In their time Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was translated.
7 And when the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, they took wives for themselves from all whom they chose, as Moses says (Genesis 6:2). And they bore sons — the giants.
8 From Adam until the time when the sons of God desired the daughters of men, there were 222 years.
9 In those times God sent a sphere of fire from heaven against the giants who dwelt in the Celtic land, and it burned both the land and them. And when the sphere fell into the river Eridanus, it was extinguished.
10 The Greeks record this fire, saying that it was the son of the Sun, whom they call Phaethon, fallen from his chariot to the earth. The poet Ovid wrote this story in poetic form, but Plutarch of Chaeronea told it more truthfully.
11 Seeing the other giants struck by thunderbolts, the rest remained disobedient; and God, angered, said: “My spirit shall not remain in them, because they are flesh.”
12 The Greek poet Peisander called these beings dragon‑footed, born from the earth, who dared to fight against the highest divine powers, until the divine force destroyed them with various blows.
13 Servius said that they dwelt in a deep plain and waged war against certain inhabitants of the high mountains, and those who had gathered in the valleys were slain by those dwelling in the heights.
14 Then came Noah, a man beloved by God, and the Flood occurred, as is written in the Scriptures. From Adam to the Flood were 2,256 years. In the six‑hundredth year of his life Noah went out from the ark, and every living soul of his race with him. After the Flood ceased, the ark rested, as Pergamus wrote, on the mountains of Ararat in the province of Pisidia, whose metropolis is Apamea; but Josephus (II, 3, 6) and others say it rested on the mountains of Ararat in Armenia, between Parthia and Armenia.
15 The generation of Noah multiplied, and there arose a great number of men and women. They began to build towers, being skilled also in the construction of the ark; and they were the first to make ships and to sail upon the waters. From the Flood to the building of the tower there were 340 years.
16 Shem, son of Noah, begot Arphaxad, a wise man; and Arphaxad begot Cainan, who after the Flood composed writings on astronomy, having discovered the names of the stars engraved upon a stone tablet, as Josephus records. For the descendants of Seth, being god‑fearing men and foreseeing the coming destruction or change of mankind, made two pillars, one of stone, and the other of brick, and wrote upon them all the heavenly things handed down from their ancestor Seth, reasoning that if the world should be destroyed by water, the stone pillar would remain with its inscriptions; but if by fire, the brick pillar would remain. The stone pillar survived after the Flood on Mount Seir, as Josephus (I, 2, 3) relates.
17 The tribes of the sons of Noah were divided. The tribe of Shem received the region from Persia and Bactria as far as the Euphrates (to India and Rhinocorura, according to the anonymous chronicle, codex 854). The tribe of Ham received from Rhinocorura of Egypt to the western parts, and all Libya, the Nile called the Chrysorrhoas, as far as Mauritania and the Pillars of Heracles, and the great sea of the Adriatic. The tribe of Japheth received from Media northward to the British Isles, and all the regions of the Pontic Sea, the Danube and Tanais rivers, the Caucasus Mountains and the Abasgians; from the Tigris to the Pontic Sea, and from Rhodes and Cyprus to the surrounding lands. Thus the tribes were divided, and the nations remained in their allotted places.
2 The first man formed from the earth was Adam. From God he had a stature of five cubits in height, including his head, so that his total height was forty‑five fingers. His span measured fifteen fingers, his cubit twenty‑four, and his foot fifteen. He lived 930 years. His wife was called Eve, and she bore sons — Cain, Abel, and Seth — and daughters Azura and Asouam.
3 And Adam, according to the command of God, gave names to all the quadrupeds, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fishes, and also to his own children; for the name of himself and of his wife was spoken to them by the angel of the Lord.
4 His son Seth had wisdom from God, and by divine command he gave names to all the stars and to the five planets, so that they might be known among men. He called the first planet Cronus, the second Zeus, the third Ares, the fourth Aphrodite, and the fifth Hermes; but the two great luminaries were named by God Himself. Seth also discovered the seven vowels from the five stars and the two luminaries, and the Hebrew letters.
5 Seth took a wife named Azura, and there came from him a great generation of men and women upon the earth.
6 In their time Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was translated.
7 And when the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, they took wives for themselves from all whom they chose, as Moses says (Genesis 6:2). And they bore sons — the giants.
8 From Adam until the time when the sons of God desired the daughters of men, there were 222 years.
9 In those times God sent a sphere of fire from heaven against the giants who dwelt in the Celtic land, and it burned both the land and them. And when the sphere fell into the river Eridanus, it was extinguished.
10 The Greeks record this fire, saying that it was the son of the Sun, whom they call Phaethon, fallen from his chariot to the earth. The poet Ovid wrote this story in poetic form, but Plutarch of Chaeronea told it more truthfully.
11 Seeing the other giants struck by thunderbolts, the rest remained disobedient; and God, angered, said: “My spirit shall not remain in them, because they are flesh.”
12 The Greek poet Peisander called these beings dragon‑footed, born from the earth, who dared to fight against the highest divine powers, until the divine force destroyed them with various blows.
13 Servius said that they dwelt in a deep plain and waged war against certain inhabitants of the high mountains, and those who had gathered in the valleys were slain by those dwelling in the heights.
14 Then came Noah, a man beloved by God, and the Flood occurred, as is written in the Scriptures. From Adam to the Flood were 2,256 years. In the six‑hundredth year of his life Noah went out from the ark, and every living soul of his race with him. After the Flood ceased, the ark rested, as Pergamus wrote, on the mountains of Ararat in the province of Pisidia, whose metropolis is Apamea; but Josephus (II, 3, 6) and others say it rested on the mountains of Ararat in Armenia, between Parthia and Armenia.
15 The generation of Noah multiplied, and there arose a great number of men and women. They began to build towers, being skilled also in the construction of the ark; and they were the first to make ships and to sail upon the waters. From the Flood to the building of the tower there were 340 years.
16 Shem, son of Noah, begot Arphaxad, a wise man; and Arphaxad begot Cainan, who after the Flood composed writings on astronomy, having discovered the names of the stars engraved upon a stone tablet, as Josephus records. For the descendants of Seth, being god‑fearing men and foreseeing the coming destruction or change of mankind, made two pillars, one of stone, and the other of brick, and wrote upon them all the heavenly things handed down from their ancestor Seth, reasoning that if the world should be destroyed by water, the stone pillar would remain with its inscriptions; but if by fire, the brick pillar would remain. The stone pillar survived after the Flood on Mount Seir, as Josephus (I, 2, 3) relates.
17 The tribes of the sons of Noah were divided. The tribe of Shem received the region from Persia and Bactria as far as the Euphrates (to India and Rhinocorura, according to the anonymous chronicle, codex 854). The tribe of Ham received from Rhinocorura of Egypt to the western parts, and all Libya, the Nile called the Chrysorrhoas, as far as Mauritania and the Pillars of Heracles, and the great sea of the Adriatic. The tribe of Japheth received from Media northward to the British Isles, and all the regions of the Pontic Sea, the Danube and Tanais rivers, the Caucasus Mountains and the Abasgians; from the Tigris to the Pontic Sea, and from Rhodes and Cyprus to the surrounding lands. Thus the tribes were divided, and the nations remained in their allotted places.
3
Exc. Salmas., p. 386.
From the tribe of Shem, son of Noah, there arose Nebro, the first hunter, whom the Assyrians deified and set among the stars, calling him Orion; hence also they joined to him the constellation of the Dog. He was called by the locals Chronos, and he took as wife Semiramis, who was called Rhea, and had by her Picus, also called Zeus, and Hera and other children. This Zeus, having gained power over the Assyrians, went westward and had a son Aphros, who gave his name to Libya, whence Africa took its name; and this Aphros had a daughter Aphrodite. Zeus, having entrusted the rule of the Assyrians to his son Ninus, went to his father Cronus and reigned there, Cronus having yielded his kingdom to him and then disappeared. Ninus married Hera, that is, Semiramis, his own mother, whence among the Persians arose the law of marrying one’s mothers. Then appeared Zoroaster the astronomer, who was purified by heavenly fire at his death, and commanded the Assyrians to preserve his ashes, saying that thus their kingdom would never fail.
4
Codex Paris. 1630
1 From the tribe of Shem was born Chus, called Aethiops, who begot Nerod, the giant who built Babylon. The Persians say that he was deified and placed among the stars of heaven, and they call him Orion. He was the first to show the art of hunting. From the same tribe of Shem, the first son of Noah, was born Cronus.
2 Concerning the so‑called gods among the Greeks: This Cronus, being born, was a man of giant race. He was called Cronus by his own father after the name of the planet. He became powerful and harsh, and was the first to show how to rule upon the earth. He reigned over Assyria for many years. He had a wife Semiramis, also called Rhea among the Assyrians, because she too was proud and arrogant, being of the same race.
3 Cronus had a son named Picus, who was called Zeus by his parents, taking also the name of the planet.
4 He had another son named Ninus and a daughter Hera. Picon, also called Zeus, took his own sister Hera as wife, whom some called Nemesis, praising her as good and just. From her Picon (Zeus) had a son, whom he named Belus, because he was most mighty. Cronus, the forefather, left his son Picon in Assyria with his wife Rhea, and taking many helpers among men, went westward to an unruled land and reigned there for many years. He had there a wife named Philyra, by whom he had a son Aphros. Aphros married Astynome and begot a daughter whom he called Aphrodite, taking also the name of the planet. She became a philosopher, and when she married Adonis the Athenian, also a philosopher, they both pursued philosophy together until death. From the same Philyra, Cronus had another son Chiron, who was also a philosopher.
5 Picus, also called Zeus, reigned in Assyria for thirty years. Having appointed Belus as king of the Assyrians, he departed westward to his father Cronus. Cronus, after long suffering, made his son Zeus king in his place. And Zeus reigned for sixty years.
6 After Belus had reigned for sixty‑two years, Ninus, another son of Cronus, took power. He also took his own mother Semiramis as wife. Hence among the Persians arose the law of marrying their own mothers and sisters. Cronus died soon afterward. Ninus, having become ruler of Syria, built the city Nineveh, capital of the Assyrians.
2 Concerning the so‑called gods among the Greeks: This Cronus, being born, was a man of giant race. He was called Cronus by his own father after the name of the planet. He became powerful and harsh, and was the first to show how to rule upon the earth. He reigned over Assyria for many years. He had a wife Semiramis, also called Rhea among the Assyrians, because she too was proud and arrogant, being of the same race.
3 Cronus had a son named Picus, who was called Zeus by his parents, taking also the name of the planet.
4 He had another son named Ninus and a daughter Hera. Picon, also called Zeus, took his own sister Hera as wife, whom some called Nemesis, praising her as good and just. From her Picon (Zeus) had a son, whom he named Belus, because he was most mighty. Cronus, the forefather, left his son Picon in Assyria with his wife Rhea, and taking many helpers among men, went westward to an unruled land and reigned there for many years. He had there a wife named Philyra, by whom he had a son Aphros. Aphros married Astynome and begot a daughter whom he called Aphrodite, taking also the name of the planet. She became a philosopher, and when she married Adonis the Athenian, also a philosopher, they both pursued philosophy together until death. From the same Philyra, Cronus had another son Chiron, who was also a philosopher.
5 Picus, also called Zeus, reigned in Assyria for thirty years. Having appointed Belus as king of the Assyrians, he departed westward to his father Cronus. Cronus, after long suffering, made his son Zeus king in his place. And Zeus reigned for sixty years.
6 After Belus had reigned for sixty‑two years, Ninus, another son of Cronus, took power. He also took his own mother Semiramis as wife. Hence among the Persians arose the law of marrying their own mothers and sisters. Cronus died soon afterward. Ninus, having become ruler of Syria, built the city Nineveh, capital of the Assyrians.
5
Exc. Salmas. p. 386 sq.
After Ninus, Thourras reigned, whom they called Ares. He was exceedingly fierce and warlike, and the Assyrians worshiped him as a god, naming him Belus, that is, Ares, the god of war. Zeus in the West begot Phanes, who was Hermes; and when he died, he was buried at Knossos in Crete. This Hermes discovered the mines of gold and silver, and therefore was called “Giver of Wealth.” He ruled Egypt after Mestrēm. After Hermes, Hephaestus ruled Egypt. Hephaestus, who was wounded in the foot while fighting and became lame, established the custom of monogamy for women. Through prayer he received a swift flame from the air and fashioned weapons of war from iron. After Hephaestus, his son Helios ruled Egypt; and he, keeping his father’s laws, found his wife committing adultery and killed her — a story which Homer turned into myth. Sesostris, king of Egypt from the race of Ham, ruled all Asia and settled in the land of the Assyrians.
6
Codex Paris. 1630
1 After Ninus, Thouras reigned over the Assyrians, whom his father Zames, brother of Hera, renamed after the planet Ares. He became a fierce warrior. The Assyrians were the first to raise pillars to Ares and worship him as a god; and even to this day the Persians call him Baal, which means Ares, the god of war.
2 After the death of Ares, Lames reigned; after Lames, Sardanapalus the Great, whom Perseus, son of Danaë, killed and took the Assyrian kingdom, naming the people Persians after himself.
3 Picus, also called Zeus, lived 120 years, ruling the West and reigning over it. He had many sons and daughters by noble women, for he seduced them, being mystical and performing certain wonders that amazed them. These women regarded him as a god, though they perished through him.
4 The same Picus (Zeus) had by Maia of Italy a son named Faunus, whom he also called Hermes, after the name of the planet. When he was about to die, he ordered his body to be buried on the island of Crete. His children built a temple for him there, and placed him in a tomb in Crete as a memorial. That tomb remains in Crete to this day, inscribed: “Here lies dead Picus, also called Zeus, whom they name Dia.”
5 After the death of Zeus, his son Faunus, also called Hermes of Italy, reigned for thirty‑five years. He was a cunning and learned man. He was the first to discover gold mines in the West and to refine the metal. Knowing that his brothers envied him — for Zeus, mingling with many women, had begotten numerous sons — he departed with a great quantity of gold and went to Egypt, to the tribe of Ham. Received there with honor, he lived in great luxury, wearing golden garments and practicing divination, for he was very wise. The Egyptians worshiped him as a god, saying that he foretold the future and gave them wealth; therefore, they called him Giver of Wealth. After the death of Mestrēm, king of Egypt from the tribe of Ham, the Egyptians made Hermes their king, and he reigned for thirty‑nine years.
6 Zeus begot another son named Heracles, by Alcmene of Thebes, who was called Triesperos (“Three Evenings”). This Heracles first to introduce the pursuit of philosophy among the western peoples. After his death, his descendants deified him and called a heavenly star by his name, the constellation Heracles. They depict him wearing a lion’s skin and holding three apples, which they say he took after slaying the dragon with his club, that is, conquering the manifold reasoning of evil desire through the club of philosophy. The lion’s skin symbolizes the noble spirit, and the three apples represent the three virtues: not to be angry, not to love money, and not to love pleasure. By the club of steadfast soul and the shield of courageous and temperate reason, he overcame the offspring of base desire, philosophizing until death, as Herodorus, the wisest writer, records, who also says that seven different men named Heracles existed.
7 After Hermes, Hephaestus reigned over Egypt, whom they also worshiped as a god. He was a warrior and a mystic. When his horse fell upon him in battle, he was wounded and became lame. Through mystical prayers he received a flame from the air and used it to forge weapons of iron; hence he became skilled in warfare, for before him men fought with clubs and stones. He also established among the Egyptian women the law of monogamy and of living chastely.
8 After the death of Hephaestus, his son Helios reigned over the Egyptians for 16 years and 47 days. For at that time the Egyptians and others did not yet know how to reckon the year; some counted the cycles of the moon as years, others the cycles of days. Later they devised the number of 16 months, from which the term “year” was derived. This king of Egypt, Helios, finding his wife guilty of adultery, punished her, upholding his father’s laws. This is what Homer poetically says when he writes that “Helios reproached Aphrodite for lying with Ares by night.” For Aphrodite signifies the desire of lust, reproved by King Helios. The wise chronographer Palaephatus wrote this as the true account.
9 After the death of Helios, Sosis reigned. After him came two others, and after them Thulis, who, having subdued all the earth as far as the Ocean, came to Africa to consult the oracle. And sacrificing, he asked: “Who before my reign has been able to subdue all things, or who after me?” And the oracle replied: “First God, then Word and Spirit with Him. These three are one, eternal and unchanging.”
10 After him reigned over Egypt Sesostris, of the tribe of Ham, under whom the Scythians migrated into Persia. In the time of Sesostris there was Hermes the Thrice‑Great, an Egyptian, a man mighty in wisdom, who declared that there are three supreme powers — that of the ineffable and of the Creator — and that there is one divinity. Therefore the Egyptians called him Trismegistus (“Thrice‑Great”). His sayings are preserved in the discourses addressed to Asclepius.
11 “There is only one intelligent Light, before there was intelligent light; and there was always Intellect, the light of the intellect. There was nothing else, other than this unity, existing always in itself, and likewise comprehending everything with its intellect, light, and spirit. Outside of this, there is neither god, nor angel, nor demon, nor any other being. For it is the Lord and God of all, and all things exist beneath and within it. For its Word, which came forth from it, was entirely perfect, and worked itself on fecund nature, and fell on the fecund water, and it made the water fertile.”
12 And having said this, Hermes prayed, saying: “I swear by you, O Heaven, the great work of the wise Divinity, may you be propitious. I swear by you, O Voice of the Father, which was the first that He uttered when He established the entire world with His counsel, Voice of the Father, which He first uttered, His only-begotten Word.” Thus Hermes Trismegistus, though ignorant of the future, confessed the consubstantial Trinity.
13 After Sesostris, Pharaoh reigned over the Egyptians, and from him the rulers of Egypt took the name Pharaoh.
14 Inachus, king of the Argives, was of the race of Japheth. Zeus carried off his daughter Io; and she, leaving her father because of her shame, went to Syria and from there to Antioch. Her kin, not finding her but learning that she had died there, built a temple for her and called the place Iopolis (“City of Io”).
15 Libya, having been joined in marriage to Poseidon, bore him three sons: Agenor, Belus, and Enyalion. Belus married Sidon and had two sons, Egyptus and Danaus; from them came the names Egypt and Sidon. Agenor took Tyro as wife, from whom came the city Tyre; and he had four sons and one daughter: Cadmus, Phoenix, Syrus, Cilix, and Europa. They received the lands named after them: Cadmeia (Thebes), Phoenicia, Syria, Cilicia, and Europe. Europa was carried off by a bull — the king of Crete — and bore Minos.
16 In those times there appeared in Tyre a wise man named Heracles, who discovered the purple dye called murex. Seeing a shepherd’s dog eating a murex shell and the shepherd wiping the dog’s mouth with a tuft of wool, he noticed that the wool was stained with a brilliant color. He brought the dyed wool as a great gift to the king.
17 Syros discovered arithmetic, and he also taught that there exist incorporeal principles and the transmigration of souls into other living beings.
18 In those times lived Phaleg, son of Eber, of whom Moses wrote; and another son of Picon Zeus, born of Danaë, named Perseus, whom his father taught all mystical visions. Desiring to establish a kingdom for himself, and traveling far over the earth, he saw a maiden, fierce and hideous, named Medusa. He cut off her head, and when he had finished the deed as he had been instructed, he displayed it, astonishing all and slaying those who looked upon it. He called the head Gorgon because of the sharpness of its power. He married Andromeda, and coming to a village called Amadra, he made it a city, setting up a pillar for himself bearing the Gorgon’s image. This city is still called Iconium, because of the likeness of the Gorgon. He also fought against the Isaurians and Cilicians, and built a city which he called Tarsus, in the place called Andrasus. For he had been warned in a dream that, after victory over his enemies, when his horse’s hoof struck the ground, he should build a city there in honor of his triumph; and he built it and called it Tarsus. Afterward, having conquered the Medes, he named the land Persis, and taught many of the Persians the rites of the Gorgon. In that time a sphere of fire fell from heaven, from which Perseus took fire and received honor for it — and even now they preserve it with reverence.
19 He joined battle with Cepheus, father of Andromeda, who was blind from old age, and, as was the custom, brought the head of the Gorgon to aid him. But Perseus, not seeing, was unaware that the head’s power still worked; and turning it toward himself, he saw it and died.
20 After him reigned his son Merros, who burned the foul head of the Gorgon.
2 After the death of Ares, Lames reigned; after Lames, Sardanapalus the Great, whom Perseus, son of Danaë, killed and took the Assyrian kingdom, naming the people Persians after himself.
3 Picus, also called Zeus, lived 120 years, ruling the West and reigning over it. He had many sons and daughters by noble women, for he seduced them, being mystical and performing certain wonders that amazed them. These women regarded him as a god, though they perished through him.
4 The same Picus (Zeus) had by Maia of Italy a son named Faunus, whom he also called Hermes, after the name of the planet. When he was about to die, he ordered his body to be buried on the island of Crete. His children built a temple for him there, and placed him in a tomb in Crete as a memorial. That tomb remains in Crete to this day, inscribed: “Here lies dead Picus, also called Zeus, whom they name Dia.”
5 After the death of Zeus, his son Faunus, also called Hermes of Italy, reigned for thirty‑five years. He was a cunning and learned man. He was the first to discover gold mines in the West and to refine the metal. Knowing that his brothers envied him — for Zeus, mingling with many women, had begotten numerous sons — he departed with a great quantity of gold and went to Egypt, to the tribe of Ham. Received there with honor, he lived in great luxury, wearing golden garments and practicing divination, for he was very wise. The Egyptians worshiped him as a god, saying that he foretold the future and gave them wealth; therefore, they called him Giver of Wealth. After the death of Mestrēm, king of Egypt from the tribe of Ham, the Egyptians made Hermes their king, and he reigned for thirty‑nine years.
6 Zeus begot another son named Heracles, by Alcmene of Thebes, who was called Triesperos (“Three Evenings”). This Heracles first to introduce the pursuit of philosophy among the western peoples. After his death, his descendants deified him and called a heavenly star by his name, the constellation Heracles. They depict him wearing a lion’s skin and holding three apples, which they say he took after slaying the dragon with his club, that is, conquering the manifold reasoning of evil desire through the club of philosophy. The lion’s skin symbolizes the noble spirit, and the three apples represent the three virtues: not to be angry, not to love money, and not to love pleasure. By the club of steadfast soul and the shield of courageous and temperate reason, he overcame the offspring of base desire, philosophizing until death, as Herodorus, the wisest writer, records, who also says that seven different men named Heracles existed.
7 After Hermes, Hephaestus reigned over Egypt, whom they also worshiped as a god. He was a warrior and a mystic. When his horse fell upon him in battle, he was wounded and became lame. Through mystical prayers he received a flame from the air and used it to forge weapons of iron; hence he became skilled in warfare, for before him men fought with clubs and stones. He also established among the Egyptian women the law of monogamy and of living chastely.
8 After the death of Hephaestus, his son Helios reigned over the Egyptians for 16 years and 47 days. For at that time the Egyptians and others did not yet know how to reckon the year; some counted the cycles of the moon as years, others the cycles of days. Later they devised the number of 16 months, from which the term “year” was derived. This king of Egypt, Helios, finding his wife guilty of adultery, punished her, upholding his father’s laws. This is what Homer poetically says when he writes that “Helios reproached Aphrodite for lying with Ares by night.” For Aphrodite signifies the desire of lust, reproved by King Helios. The wise chronographer Palaephatus wrote this as the true account.
9 After the death of Helios, Sosis reigned. After him came two others, and after them Thulis, who, having subdued all the earth as far as the Ocean, came to Africa to consult the oracle. And sacrificing, he asked: “Who before my reign has been able to subdue all things, or who after me?” And the oracle replied: “First God, then Word and Spirit with Him. These three are one, eternal and unchanging.”
10 After him reigned over Egypt Sesostris, of the tribe of Ham, under whom the Scythians migrated into Persia. In the time of Sesostris there was Hermes the Thrice‑Great, an Egyptian, a man mighty in wisdom, who declared that there are three supreme powers — that of the ineffable and of the Creator — and that there is one divinity. Therefore the Egyptians called him Trismegistus (“Thrice‑Great”). His sayings are preserved in the discourses addressed to Asclepius.
11 “There is only one intelligent Light, before there was intelligent light; and there was always Intellect, the light of the intellect. There was nothing else, other than this unity, existing always in itself, and likewise comprehending everything with its intellect, light, and spirit. Outside of this, there is neither god, nor angel, nor demon, nor any other being. For it is the Lord and God of all, and all things exist beneath and within it. For its Word, which came forth from it, was entirely perfect, and worked itself on fecund nature, and fell on the fecund water, and it made the water fertile.”
12 And having said this, Hermes prayed, saying: “I swear by you, O Heaven, the great work of the wise Divinity, may you be propitious. I swear by you, O Voice of the Father, which was the first that He uttered when He established the entire world with His counsel, Voice of the Father, which He first uttered, His only-begotten Word.” Thus Hermes Trismegistus, though ignorant of the future, confessed the consubstantial Trinity.
13 After Sesostris, Pharaoh reigned over the Egyptians, and from him the rulers of Egypt took the name Pharaoh.
14 Inachus, king of the Argives, was of the race of Japheth. Zeus carried off his daughter Io; and she, leaving her father because of her shame, went to Syria and from there to Antioch. Her kin, not finding her but learning that she had died there, built a temple for her and called the place Iopolis (“City of Io”).
15 Libya, having been joined in marriage to Poseidon, bore him three sons: Agenor, Belus, and Enyalion. Belus married Sidon and had two sons, Egyptus and Danaus; from them came the names Egypt and Sidon. Agenor took Tyro as wife, from whom came the city Tyre; and he had four sons and one daughter: Cadmus, Phoenix, Syrus, Cilix, and Europa. They received the lands named after them: Cadmeia (Thebes), Phoenicia, Syria, Cilicia, and Europe. Europa was carried off by a bull — the king of Crete — and bore Minos.
16 In those times there appeared in Tyre a wise man named Heracles, who discovered the purple dye called murex. Seeing a shepherd’s dog eating a murex shell and the shepherd wiping the dog’s mouth with a tuft of wool, he noticed that the wool was stained with a brilliant color. He brought the dyed wool as a great gift to the king.
17 Syros discovered arithmetic, and he also taught that there exist incorporeal principles and the transmigration of souls into other living beings.
18 In those times lived Phaleg, son of Eber, of whom Moses wrote; and another son of Picon Zeus, born of Danaë, named Perseus, whom his father taught all mystical visions. Desiring to establish a kingdom for himself, and traveling far over the earth, he saw a maiden, fierce and hideous, named Medusa. He cut off her head, and when he had finished the deed as he had been instructed, he displayed it, astonishing all and slaying those who looked upon it. He called the head Gorgon because of the sharpness of its power. He married Andromeda, and coming to a village called Amadra, he made it a city, setting up a pillar for himself bearing the Gorgon’s image. This city is still called Iconium, because of the likeness of the Gorgon. He also fought against the Isaurians and Cilicians, and built a city which he called Tarsus, in the place called Andrasus. For he had been warned in a dream that, after victory over his enemies, when his horse’s hoof struck the ground, he should build a city there in honor of his triumph; and he built it and called it Tarsus. Afterward, having conquered the Medes, he named the land Persis, and taught many of the Persians the rites of the Gorgon. In that time a sphere of fire fell from heaven, from which Perseus took fire and received honor for it — and even now they preserve it with reverence.
19 He joined battle with Cepheus, father of Andromeda, who was blind from old age, and, as was the custom, brought the head of the Gorgon to aid him. But Perseus, not seeing, was unaware that the head’s power still worked; and turning it toward himself, he saw it and died.
20 After him reigned his son Merros, who burned the foul head of the Gorgon.
7
Exc. Salmas. p. 388.
Dionysus, having fought against Pentheus, his cousin, was taken prisoner. But Agave, Pentheus’s mother, persuaded them to make peace before their grandfather Cadmus. Then Dionysus commanded his followers to slay Pentheus; and it was said that Agave tore her own son apart, becoming the cause of his death. When the citizens rose in strife over Pentheus’s death, Dionysus was banished, and Lycurgus was appointed in his place.
8
Codex Paris. 1630
1 After Ninus, Thouras reigned over the Assyrians, whom his father Zames, brother of Hera, renamed after the planet Ares. He became a fierce warrior. The Assyrians were the first to raise pillars to Ares and worship him as a god; and even to this day the Persians call him Baal, which means Ares, the god of war.
2 After the death of Ares, Lames reigned; after Lames, Sardanapalus the Great, whom Perseus, son of Danaë, killed and took the Assyrian kingdom, naming the people Persians after himself.
3 Picus, also called Zeus, lived 120 years, ruling the West and reigning over it. He had many sons and daughters by noble women, for he seduced them, being mystical and performing certain wonders that amazed them. These women regarded him as a god, though they perished through him.
4 The same Picus (Zeus) had by Maia of Italy a son named Faunus, whom he also called Hermes, after the name of the planet. When he was about to die, he ordered his body to be buried on the island of Crete. His children built a temple for him there, and placed him in a tomb in Crete as a memorial. That tomb remains in Crete to this day, inscribed: “Here lies dead Picus, also called Zeus, whom they name Dia.”
5 After the death of Zeus, his son Faunus, also called Hermes of Italy, reigned for thirty‑five years. He was a cunning and learned man. He was the first to discover gold mines in the West and to refine the metal. Knowing that his brothers envied him — for Zeus, mingling with many women, had begotten numerous sons — he departed with a great quantity of gold and went to Egypt, to the tribe of Ham. Received there with honor, he lived in great luxury, wearing golden garments and practicing divination, for he was very wise. The Egyptians worshiped him as a god, saying that he foretold the future and gave them wealth; therefore, they called him Giver of Wealth. After the death of Mestrēm, king of Egypt from the tribe of Ham, the Egyptians made Hermes their king, and he reigned for thirty‑nine years.
6 Zeus begot another son named Heracles, by Alcmene of Thebes, who was called Triesperos (“Three Evenings”). This Heracles first to introduce the pursuit of philosophy among the western peoples. After his death, his descendants deified him and called a heavenly star by his name, the constellation Heracles. They depict him wearing a lion’s skin and holding three apples, which they say he took after slaying the dragon with his club, that is, conquering the manifold reasoning of evil desire through the club of philosophy. The lion’s skin symbolizes the noble spirit, and the three apples represent the three virtues: not to be angry, not to love money, and not to love pleasure. By the club of steadfast soul and the shield of courageous and temperate reason, he overcame the offspring of base desire, philosophizing until death, as Herodorus, the wisest writer, records, who also says that seven different men named Heracles existed.
7 After Hermes, Hephaestus reigned over Egypt, whom they also worshiped as a god. He was a warrior and a mystic. When his horse fell upon him in battle, he was wounded and became lame. Through mystical prayers he received a flame from the air and used it to forge weapons of iron; hence he became skilled in warfare, for before him men fought with clubs and stones. He also established among the Egyptian women the law of monogamy and of living chastely.
8 After the death of Hephaestus, his son Helios reigned over the Egyptians for 16 years and 47 days. For at that time the Egyptians and others did not yet know how to reckon the year; some counted the cycles of the moon as years, others the cycles of days. Later they devised the number of 16 months, from which the term “year” was derived. This king of Egypt, Helios, finding his wife guilty of adultery, punished her, upholding his father’s laws. This is what Homer poetically says when he writes that “Helios reproached Aphrodite for lying with Ares by night.” For Aphrodite signifies the desire of lust, reproved by King Helios. The wise chronographer Palaephatus wrote this as the true account.
9 After the death of Helios, Sosis reigned. After him came two others, and after them Thulis, who, having subdued all the earth as far as the Ocean, came to Africa to consult the oracle. And sacrificing, he asked: “Who before my reign has been able to subdue all things, or who after me?” And the oracle replied: “First God, then Word and Spirit with Him. These three are one, eternal and unchanging.”
10 After him reigned over Egypt Sesostris, of the tribe of Ham, under whom the Scythians migrated into Persia. In the time of Sesostris there was Hermes the Thrice‑Great, an Egyptian, a man mighty in wisdom, who declared that there are three supreme powers — that of the ineffable and of the Creator — and that there is one divinity. Therefore the Egyptians called him Trismegistus (“Thrice‑Great”). His sayings are preserved in the discourses addressed to Asclepius.
11 “There is only one intelligent Light, before there was intelligent light; and there was always Intellect, the light of the intellect. There was nothing else, other than this unity, existing always in itself, and likewise comprehending everything with its intellect, light, and spirit. Outside of this, there is neither god, nor angel, nor demon, nor any other being. For it is the Lord and God of all, and all things exist beneath and within it. For its Word, which came forth from it, was entirely perfect, and worked itself on fecund nature, and fell on the fecund water, and it made the water fertile.”
12 And having said this, Hermes prayed, saying: “I swear by you, O Heaven, the great work of the wise Divinity, may you be propitious. I swear by you, O Voice of the Father, which was the first that He uttered when He established the entire world with His counsel, Voice of the Father, which He first uttered, His only-begotten Word.” Thus Hermes Trismegistus, though ignorant of the future, confessed the consubstantial Trinity.
13 After Sesostris, Pharaoh reigned over the Egyptians, and from him the rulers of Egypt took the name Pharaoh.
14 Inachus, king of the Argives, was of the race of Japheth. Zeus carried off his daughter Io; and she, leaving her father because of her shame, went to Syria and from there to Antioch. Her kin, not finding her but learning that she had died there, built a temple for her and called the place Iopolis (“City of Io”).
15 Libya, having been joined in marriage to Poseidon, bore him three sons: Agenor, Belus, and Enyalion. Belus married Sidon and had two sons, Egyptus and Danaus; from them came the names Egypt and Sidon. Agenor took Tyro as wife, from whom came the city Tyre; and he had four sons and one daughter: Cadmus, Phoenix, Syrus, Cilix, and Europa. They received the lands named after them: Cadmeia (Thebes), Phoenicia, Syria, Cilicia, and Europe. Europa was carried off by a bull — the king of Crete — and bore Minos.
16 In those times there appeared in Tyre a wise man named Heracles, who discovered the purple dye called murex. Seeing a shepherd’s dog eating a murex shell and the shepherd wiping the dog’s mouth with a tuft of wool, he noticed that the wool was stained with a brilliant color.
He brought the dyed wool as a great gift to the king.
17 Syros discovered arithmetic, and he also taught that there exist incorporeal principles and the transmigration of souls into other living beings.
18 In those times lived Phaleg, son of Eber, of whom Moses wrote; and another son of Picon Zeus, born of Danaë, named Perseus, whom his father taught all mystical visions. Desiring to establish a kingdom for himself, and traveling far over the earth, he saw a maiden, fierce and hideous, named Medusa. He cut off her head, and when he had finished the deed as he had been instructed, he displayed it, astonishing all and slaying those who looked upon it. He called the head Gorgon because of the sharpness of its power. He married Andromeda, and coming to a village called Amadra, he made it a city, setting up a pillar for himself bearing the Gorgon’s image. This city is still called Iconium, because of the likeness of the Gorgon. He also fought against the Isaurians and Cilicians, and built a city which he called Tarsus, in the place called Andrasus. For he had been warned in a dream that, after victory over his enemies, when his horse’s hoof struck the ground, he should build a city there in honor of his triumph; and he built it and called it Tarsus. Afterward, having conquered the Medes, he named the land Persis, and taught many of the Persians the rites of the Gorgon. In that time a sphere of fire fell from heaven, from which Perseus took fire and received honor for it — and even now they preserve it with reverence.
19 He joined battle with Cepheus, father of Andromeda, who was blind from old age, and, as was the custom, brought the head of the Gorgon to aid him. But Perseus, not seeing, was unaware that the head’s power still worked; and turning it toward himself, he saw it and died.
20 After him reigned his son Merros, who burned the foul head of the Gorgon.
2 After the death of Ares, Lames reigned; after Lames, Sardanapalus the Great, whom Perseus, son of Danaë, killed and took the Assyrian kingdom, naming the people Persians after himself.
3 Picus, also called Zeus, lived 120 years, ruling the West and reigning over it. He had many sons and daughters by noble women, for he seduced them, being mystical and performing certain wonders that amazed them. These women regarded him as a god, though they perished through him.
4 The same Picus (Zeus) had by Maia of Italy a son named Faunus, whom he also called Hermes, after the name of the planet. When he was about to die, he ordered his body to be buried on the island of Crete. His children built a temple for him there, and placed him in a tomb in Crete as a memorial. That tomb remains in Crete to this day, inscribed: “Here lies dead Picus, also called Zeus, whom they name Dia.”
5 After the death of Zeus, his son Faunus, also called Hermes of Italy, reigned for thirty‑five years. He was a cunning and learned man. He was the first to discover gold mines in the West and to refine the metal. Knowing that his brothers envied him — for Zeus, mingling with many women, had begotten numerous sons — he departed with a great quantity of gold and went to Egypt, to the tribe of Ham. Received there with honor, he lived in great luxury, wearing golden garments and practicing divination, for he was very wise. The Egyptians worshiped him as a god, saying that he foretold the future and gave them wealth; therefore, they called him Giver of Wealth. After the death of Mestrēm, king of Egypt from the tribe of Ham, the Egyptians made Hermes their king, and he reigned for thirty‑nine years.
6 Zeus begot another son named Heracles, by Alcmene of Thebes, who was called Triesperos (“Three Evenings”). This Heracles first to introduce the pursuit of philosophy among the western peoples. After his death, his descendants deified him and called a heavenly star by his name, the constellation Heracles. They depict him wearing a lion’s skin and holding three apples, which they say he took after slaying the dragon with his club, that is, conquering the manifold reasoning of evil desire through the club of philosophy. The lion’s skin symbolizes the noble spirit, and the three apples represent the three virtues: not to be angry, not to love money, and not to love pleasure. By the club of steadfast soul and the shield of courageous and temperate reason, he overcame the offspring of base desire, philosophizing until death, as Herodorus, the wisest writer, records, who also says that seven different men named Heracles existed.
7 After Hermes, Hephaestus reigned over Egypt, whom they also worshiped as a god. He was a warrior and a mystic. When his horse fell upon him in battle, he was wounded and became lame. Through mystical prayers he received a flame from the air and used it to forge weapons of iron; hence he became skilled in warfare, for before him men fought with clubs and stones. He also established among the Egyptian women the law of monogamy and of living chastely.
8 After the death of Hephaestus, his son Helios reigned over the Egyptians for 16 years and 47 days. For at that time the Egyptians and others did not yet know how to reckon the year; some counted the cycles of the moon as years, others the cycles of days. Later they devised the number of 16 months, from which the term “year” was derived. This king of Egypt, Helios, finding his wife guilty of adultery, punished her, upholding his father’s laws. This is what Homer poetically says when he writes that “Helios reproached Aphrodite for lying with Ares by night.” For Aphrodite signifies the desire of lust, reproved by King Helios. The wise chronographer Palaephatus wrote this as the true account.
9 After the death of Helios, Sosis reigned. After him came two others, and after them Thulis, who, having subdued all the earth as far as the Ocean, came to Africa to consult the oracle. And sacrificing, he asked: “Who before my reign has been able to subdue all things, or who after me?” And the oracle replied: “First God, then Word and Spirit with Him. These three are one, eternal and unchanging.”
10 After him reigned over Egypt Sesostris, of the tribe of Ham, under whom the Scythians migrated into Persia. In the time of Sesostris there was Hermes the Thrice‑Great, an Egyptian, a man mighty in wisdom, who declared that there are three supreme powers — that of the ineffable and of the Creator — and that there is one divinity. Therefore the Egyptians called him Trismegistus (“Thrice‑Great”). His sayings are preserved in the discourses addressed to Asclepius.
11 “There is only one intelligent Light, before there was intelligent light; and there was always Intellect, the light of the intellect. There was nothing else, other than this unity, existing always in itself, and likewise comprehending everything with its intellect, light, and spirit. Outside of this, there is neither god, nor angel, nor demon, nor any other being. For it is the Lord and God of all, and all things exist beneath and within it. For its Word, which came forth from it, was entirely perfect, and worked itself on fecund nature, and fell on the fecund water, and it made the water fertile.”
12 And having said this, Hermes prayed, saying: “I swear by you, O Heaven, the great work of the wise Divinity, may you be propitious. I swear by you, O Voice of the Father, which was the first that He uttered when He established the entire world with His counsel, Voice of the Father, which He first uttered, His only-begotten Word.” Thus Hermes Trismegistus, though ignorant of the future, confessed the consubstantial Trinity.
13 After Sesostris, Pharaoh reigned over the Egyptians, and from him the rulers of Egypt took the name Pharaoh.
14 Inachus, king of the Argives, was of the race of Japheth. Zeus carried off his daughter Io; and she, leaving her father because of her shame, went to Syria and from there to Antioch. Her kin, not finding her but learning that she had died there, built a temple for her and called the place Iopolis (“City of Io”).
15 Libya, having been joined in marriage to Poseidon, bore him three sons: Agenor, Belus, and Enyalion. Belus married Sidon and had two sons, Egyptus and Danaus; from them came the names Egypt and Sidon. Agenor took Tyro as wife, from whom came the city Tyre; and he had four sons and one daughter: Cadmus, Phoenix, Syrus, Cilix, and Europa. They received the lands named after them: Cadmeia (Thebes), Phoenicia, Syria, Cilicia, and Europe. Europa was carried off by a bull — the king of Crete — and bore Minos.
16 In those times there appeared in Tyre a wise man named Heracles, who discovered the purple dye called murex. Seeing a shepherd’s dog eating a murex shell and the shepherd wiping the dog’s mouth with a tuft of wool, he noticed that the wool was stained with a brilliant color.
He brought the dyed wool as a great gift to the king.
17 Syros discovered arithmetic, and he also taught that there exist incorporeal principles and the transmigration of souls into other living beings.
18 In those times lived Phaleg, son of Eber, of whom Moses wrote; and another son of Picon Zeus, born of Danaë, named Perseus, whom his father taught all mystical visions. Desiring to establish a kingdom for himself, and traveling far over the earth, he saw a maiden, fierce and hideous, named Medusa. He cut off her head, and when he had finished the deed as he had been instructed, he displayed it, astonishing all and slaying those who looked upon it. He called the head Gorgon because of the sharpness of its power. He married Andromeda, and coming to a village called Amadra, he made it a city, setting up a pillar for himself bearing the Gorgon’s image. This city is still called Iconium, because of the likeness of the Gorgon. He also fought against the Isaurians and Cilicians, and built a city which he called Tarsus, in the place called Andrasus. For he had been warned in a dream that, after victory over his enemies, when his horse’s hoof struck the ground, he should build a city there in honor of his triumph; and he built it and called it Tarsus. Afterward, having conquered the Medes, he named the land Persis, and taught many of the Persians the rites of the Gorgon. In that time a sphere of fire fell from heaven, from which Perseus took fire and received honor for it — and even now they preserve it with reverence.
19 He joined battle with Cepheus, father of Andromeda, who was blind from old age, and, as was the custom, brought the head of the Gorgon to aid him. But Perseus, not seeing, was unaware that the head’s power still worked; and turning it toward himself, he saw it and died.
20 After him reigned his son Merros, who burned the foul head of the Gorgon.
SECOND DISCOURSE
Suda, s.v. Seruch
1 Since it is necessary to explain how men of old came to honor many gods, we must begin from this point. A certain Seruch, descended from the tribe of Japheth, handed down a doctrine that those who had died long ago and had excelled in virtue should be honored either by images or statue and that they should be worshiped yearly as though still living. Their memorials were to be maintained, their names recorded in sacred books, and they were to be called gods as benefactors. From this arose polytheism and idolatry, which remained among them until the time of Tharra, the father of Abraham. For Tharra was a sculptor, making images from various materials for the city, and saying that these were gods and ought to be worshiped as the sources of good things. From this belief the same notion spread among most nations of men. Especially in Greece, for they were the first to embrace such error. Honoring Hellen, the giant descended from the tribe of Japheth, who had shared in the building of the tower, they divided the tongues of men and were called Meropes (mortals).
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Second Book, §1. This passage is found in Suidas, entry Seruch, in the second gloss. A shorter version appears in the Excerpta de virtutibus, under Suidas, s.v. Seruch in the first gloss; likewise in the Excerpta Salmasiana, where it reads thus: “Seruch, a man of the race of Japheth, established the custom that the most excellent men, after their death, should be honored by images and worshiped yearly. Hence arose polytheism, and it persisted until the time of Tharra, the father of Abraham. For he was a sculptor. Greece especially shared in this error, honoring the Greek giant who was chief among the builders of the tower; through him the tongues of men were divided, and the nations dispersed.”
— Karl Müller |
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Sources: Carolus Mullerus (Karl Müller), Fragmenta historicorum graecorum, vol 4. (Paris: Didot, 1851), 538-546; J. A. Cramer, Anecdota Graeca e codd. mss. bibl. Paris., vol. 2, (Oxford: 1839), 383-388.
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