chaldean legends transmitted through berosus and other ancient authors.
berosus and his copyists.—cory’s translation.—alexander polyhistor.—babylonia.—oannes, his teaching.—creation.—belus.—chaldean kings.—xisuthrus.—deluge.—the ark.—return to babylon.—apollodorus.—pantibiblon.—larancha.—abydenus.—alorus, first king.—ten kings.—sisithrus.—deluge.—armenia.—tower of babel.—kronos and titan.—dispersion from hesti?us.—babylonian colonies.—tower of babel.—the sibyl.—titan and prometheus.—damascius.—tauthe.—moymis.—kissare and assorus.—triad.—bel.
y way of introduction to the native versions of the early legends left us by the babylonians, it is advisable to glance at the principal fragments bearing on them which are found in the classical writers of greece and rome. several others might have been quoted, but their origin is doubtful, and they are of less importance for the subject in hand. those who wish to consult them may turn to cory’s “ancient fragments” (2nd edition, 1876), whose translations, as being fairly scholarlike and correct, are here given without alteration.
32
berosus, from whom the principal extracts are copied, lived, as has already been stated, about b.c. 330 to 260, and, from his position as a babylonian priest, had the best means of knowing the babylonian traditions.
the others are later writers, who copied in the main from berosus, most of whose notices may be taken as mere abridgments of his statements.
extract i. from alexander polyhistor
(cory, p. 56).
berosus, in the first book of his history of babylonia, informs us that he lived in the age of alexander, the son of philip. and he mentions that there were written accounts, preserved at babylon with the greatest care, comprehending a period of above fifteen myriads of years; and that these writings contained histories of the heaven and of the sea; of the birth of mankind; and of the kings, and of the memorable actions which they had achieved.
and in the first place he describes babylonia as a country situated between the tigris and the euphrates; that it abounded with wheat, and barley, and ocrus, and sesame; and that in the lakes were found the roots called gong?, which are fit for food, and in respect to nutriment similar to barley. there were also palm-trees and apples, and a variety of fruits; fish also and birds, both those which are merely of flight, and those which frequent the water. those parts of the country which bordered upon33 arabia were without water, and barren; but that which lay on the other side was both hilly and fertile.
at babylon there was (in these times) a great resort of people of various races, who inhabited chaldea, and lived in a lawless manner like the beasts of the field.
oannes and other babylonian mythological figures from cylinder.
in the first year there appeared, from that part of the erythr?an sea which borders upon babylonia, an animal endowed with reason, by name oannes, whose whole body (according to the account of apollodorus) was that of a fish; under the fish’s head he had another head, with feet also below similar to those of a man, subjoined to the fish’s tail. his voice, too, and language were articulate and human; and a representation of him is preserved even to this day.
this being was accustomed to pass the day among men, but took no food at that season; and he gave them an insight into letters and sciences, and arts of every kind. he taught them to construct houses, to found temples, to compile laws, and explained to them the principles of geometrical knowledge. he34 made them distinguish the seeds of the earth, and showed them how to collect the fruits; in short, he instructed them in every thing which could tend to soften manners and humanize their lives. from that time, nothing material has been added by way of improvement to his instructions. and when the sun had set this being oannes used to retire again into the sea, and pass the night in the deep, for he was amphibious. after this there appeared other animals like oannes, of which berosus proposes to give an account when he comes to the history of the kings. moreover, oannes wrote concerning the generation of mankind, of their different ways of life, and of their civil polity; and the following is the purport of what he said:—
“there was a time in which there existed nothing but darkness and an abyss of waters, wherein resided most hideous beings, which were produced of a two-fold principle. there appeared men, some of whom were furnished with two wings, others with four, and with two faces. they had one body, but two heads; the one that of a man, the other of a woman; they were likewise in their several organs both male and female. other human figures were to be seen with the legs and horns of a goat; some had horses’ feet, while others united the hind quarters of a horse with the body of a man, resembling in shape the hippocentaurs. bulls likewise were bred there with the heads of men; and dogs with fourfold bodies, terminated in their extremities with the tails35 of fishes; horses also with the heads of dogs; men, too, and other animals, with the heads and bodies of horses, and the tails of fishes. in short, there were creatures in which were combined the limbs of every species of animals. in addition to these, fishes, reptiles, serpents, with other monstrous animals, which assumed each other’s shape and countenance. of all which were preserved delineations in the temple of belus at babylon.
composite animals from cylinder.
“the person who was supposed to have presided over them was a woman named omoroka, which in the chaldean language is thalatth; which in greek is interpreted thalassa, the sea; but according to the most true interpretation it is equivalent to selene the moon. all things being in this situation, belus came, and cut the woman asunder, and of one half of her he formed the earth, and of the other half the heavens, and at the same time destroyed the animals within her (or in the abyss).
“all this” (he says)36 “was an allegorical description of nature. for, the whole universe consisting of moisture, and animals being continually generated therein, the deity above-mentioned (belus) cut off his own head; upon which the other gods mixed the blood, as it gushed out, with the earth, and from thence men were formed. on this account it is that they are rational, and partake of divine knowledge. this belus, by whom they signify hades (pluto), divided the darkness, and separated the heavens from the earth, and reduced the universe to order. but the recently-created animals, not being able to bear the prevalence of light, died. belus upon this, seeing a vast space unoccupied, though by nature fruitful, commanded one of the gods to take off his head, and to mix the blood with the earth, and from thence to form other men and animals, which should be capable of bearing the light. belus formed also the stars, and the sun, and the moon, and the five planets.” (such, according to alexander polyhistor, is the account which berosus gives in his first book.)
(in the second book was contained the history of the ten kings of the chaldeans, and the periods of the continuance of each reign, which consisted collectively of an hundred and twenty sari, or four hundred and thirty-two thousand years; reaching to the time of the deluge. for alexander, enumerating the kings from the writings of the chaldeans, after the ninth, ardates, proceeds to the tenth, who is called by them xisuthrus, in this manner):—
“after the death of ardates, his son xisuthrus reigned eighteen sari. in his time happened the great37 deluge; the history of which is thus described. the deity kronos appeared to him in a vision, and warned him that upon the fifteenth day of the month d?sius there would be a flood, by which mankind would be destroyed. he therefore enjoined him to write a history of the beginning, progress, and conclusion of all things, down to the present term, and to bury it in sippara, the city of the sun; and to build a vessel, and take with him into it his friends and relations; and to convey on board every thing necessary to sustain life, together with all the different animals, both birds and quadrupeds, and trust himself fearlessly to the deep. having asked the deity whither he was to sail, he was answered, ‘to the gods;’ upon which he offered up a prayer for the good of mankind. he then obeyed the divine admonition, and built a vessel five stadia in length, and two in breadth. into this he put everything which he had prepared, and last of all conveyed into it his wife, his children, and his friends.
after the flood had been upon the earth, and was in time abated, xisuthrus sent out birds from the vessel; which not finding any food, nor any place whereupon they might rest their feet, returned to him again. after an interval of some days, he sent them forth a second time; and they now returned with their feet tinged with mud. he made a trial a third time with these birds; but they returned to him no more: from whence he judged that the surface of the earth had appeared above the waters.38 he therefore made an opening in the vessel, and upon looking out found that it was stranded upon the side of some mountain; upon which he immediately quitted it with his wife, his daughter, and the pilot. xisuthrus then paid his adoration to the earth: and, having constructed an altar, offered sacrifices to the gods, and, with those who had come out of the vessel with him, disappeared.
they who remained within, finding that their companions did not return, quitted the vessel with many lamentations, and called continually on the name of xisuthrus. him they saw no more; but they could distinguish his voice in the air, and could hear him admonish them to pay due regard to the gods; and he likewise informed them that it was upon account of his piety that he was translated to live with the gods, and that his wife and daughter and the pilot had obtained the same honour. to this he added that they should return to babylonia, and, as it was ordained, search for the writings at sippara, which they were to make known to all mankind; moreover, that the place wherein they then were was the land of armenia. the rest having heard these words offered sacrifices to the gods, and, taking a circuit, journeyed towards babylonia.
the vessel being thus stranded in armenia, some part of it yet remains in the gordy?an (or kurdish) mountains in armenia, and the people scrape off the bitumen with which it had been outwardly coated, and make use of it by way of an antidote and amulet.39 in this manner they returned to babylon and when they had found the writings at sippara they built cities and erected temples, and babylon was thus inhabited again.”—syncel. chron. xxviii.; euseb. chron. v.?8.
berosus, from apollodorus (cory, p. 51).
this is the history which berosus has transmitted to us. he tells us that the first king was alorus of babylon, a chaldean; he reigned ten sari (36,000 years); and afterwards alaparus and amelon, who came from pantibiblon; then ammenon the chaldean, in whose time appeared the musarus oannes, the annedotus from the erythr?an sea. (but alexander polyhistor, anticipating the event, has said that he appeared in the first year, but apollodorus says that it was after forty sari; abydenus, however, makes the second annedotus appear after twenty-six sari.) then succeeded megalarus from the city of pantibiblon, and he reigned eighteen sari; and after him daonus, the shepherd from pantibiblon, reigned ten sari; in his time (he says) appeared again from the erythr?an sea a fourth annedotus, having the same form with those above, the shape of a fish blended with that of a man. then reigned euedorachus (or euedoreschus) from pantibiblon for the term of eighteen sari; in his days there appeared another personage from the erythr?an sea like the former, having the same complicated form between a fish and a man, whose name was40 odakon. (all these, says apollodorus, related particularly and circumstantially whatever oannes had informed them of; concerning these abydenus has made no mention.) then reigned amempsinus, a chaldean from larancha; and he being the eighth in order reigned ten sari. then reigned otiartes,1 a chaldean, from larancha; and he ruled eight sari. and, upon the death of otiartes, his son xisuthrus reigned eighteen sari; in his time happened the great deluge. so that the sum of all the kings is ten; and the term which they collectively reigned an hundred and twenty sari.—syncel. chron. xxxix.; euseb. chron. v.
berosus, from abydenus (cory, p. 53).
so much concerning the wisdom of the chaldeans.
it is said that the first king of the country was alorus, and that he gave out a report that god had appointed him to be the shepherd2 of the people; he reigned ten sari; now a sarus is esteemed to be three thousand six hundred years, a neros six hundred, and a sossus sixty.
after him alaparus reigned three sari; to him succeeded amillarus from the city of pantibiblon, who reigned thirteen sari; in his time there came up from41 the sea a second annedotus, a demigod very similar in form to oannes; after amillarus reigned ammenon twelve sari; who was of the city of pantibiblon; then megalarus of the same place reigned eighteen sari; then daos the shepherd governed for the space of ten sari, he was of pantibiblon; in his time four double-shaped personages came up out of the sea to land, whose names were euedokus, eneugamus, eneubulus, and anementus; afterwards in the time of euedoreschus appeared another, anodaphus. after these reigned other kings, and last of all sisithrus, so that in all the number amounted to ten kings, and the term of their reigns to an hundred and twenty sari. (and among other things not irrelative to the subject he continues thus concerning the deluge): after euedoreschus some others reigned, and then sisithrus. to him the deity kronos foretold that on the fifteenth day of the month d?sius there would be a deluge of rain: and he commanded him to deposit all the writings whatever which were in his possession in sippara the city of the sun. sisithrus, when he had complied with these commands, sailed immediately to armenia, and was presently inspired by god. upon the third day after the cessation of the rain sisithrus sent out birds by way of experiment, that he might judge whether the flood had subsided. but the birds, passing over an unbounded sea without finding any place of rest, returned again to sisithrus. this he repeated with other birds. and when upon the third42 trial he succeeded, for the birds then returned with their feet stained with mud, the gods translated him from among men. with respect to the vessel, which yet remains in armenia, it is a custom of the inhabitants to form bracelets and amulets of its wood.—syncel. chron. xxxviii.; euseb. pr?p. evan. lib. ix.; euseb. chron. v.?8.
of the tower of babel (cory, p. 55).
they say that the first inhabitants of the earth, glorying in their own strength and size and despising the gods, undertook to build a tower whose top should reach the sky, in the place where babylon now stands; but when it approached the heaven the winds assisted the gods, and overturned the work upon its contrivers, and its ruins are said to be still at babylon; and the gods introduced a diversity of tongues among men, who till that time had all spoken the same language; and a war arose between kronos and titan. the place in which they built the tower is now called babylon on account of the confusion of tongues, for confusion is by the hebrews called babel.—euseb. pr?p. evan. lib. ix.; syncel. chron. xliv.; euseb. chron. xiii.
of the dispersion, from hesti?us (cory, p. 74).
the priests who escaped took with them the implements of the worship of the enyalian zeus, and came to senaar in babylonia. but they were again driven from thence by the introduction of a diversity of43 tongues; upon which they founded colonies in various parts, each settling in such situations as chance or the direction of god led them to occupy.—jos. ant. jud. i.?c. 4; euseb. pr?p. evan. ix.
of the tower of babel, from alexander polyhistor (cory, p. 75).
the sibyl says: that when all men formerly spoke the same language some among them undertook to erect a large and lofty tower, that they might climb up into heaven. but god sending forth a whirlwind confounded their design, and gave to each tribe a particular language of its own, which is the reason that the name of that city is babylon. after the deluge lived titan and prometheus, when titan undertook a war against kronos.—sync. xliv.; jos. ant. jud. i.?c. 4.; euseb. pr?p. evan. ix.
the theogonies, from damascius (cory, p. 92).
but the babylonians, like the rest of the barbarians, pass over in silence the one principle of the universe, and they constitute two: tauthe3 and apason,4 making apason the husband of tauthe, and denominating her the mother of the gods. and from these proceeds an only-begotten son, moymis,5 which i conceive is no other than the intelligible world proceeding from the two principles. from44 them also another progeny is derived, dache and dachus;6 and again a third, kissare and assorus, from which last three others proceed, anus (anu), and illinus (elum), and aus (hea). and of aus and dauke (dav-cina, “lady of the earth,”) is born a son called belus, who, they say, is the fabricator of the world, the demiurgus.
