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Ancient Fragments Containing What Remains of the Writings of Sanchoniatho, Berossus, Abydenus, Megasthenes, and Manetho

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Ancient Fragments Containing What Remains of the Writings of Sanchoniatho, Berossus, Abydenus, Megasthenes, and Manetho AN C IENT F RAGMENTS C O N TAI NI N G WH AT R EMAI NS OF TH E WR I TINGS OF SANC H O NIATHO B ER SUS A Y ENUS , O S , B D , MEGASTHE E E H N S AND M T O . , AN ALSO TI—IR H E R METIC C R EED T HE O LD C H RO IC LE , N , THE LATERC U LU S O F E R TO STH E ES A N , TH E TY R I LS AN ANNA , TH E O R AC LES O F Z O RO ST E R A , AND TH E PE RIPLU S O F H ANN O . I R ES . B Y . P. C O Y , Q B R G F EL L O W O F C AI U S C O L L EGE , C AM I D E LO NDON W I L L I AM PI C K E R I N G . MDCCCXXV III . P C R E F A E . IN presenting this collection of ANC IE NT F R AG M t o the m t wha t ENTS world , so e explana ion of is comprehended under that title is n ot altogether t unnecessary . We are accus omed t o regard the t th e k t Hebrew scrip ures , and Gree and La in t the t d t uit : wri ings, as only cer ain recor s of an iq y et t t n y here have been o her la guages , in which have been written the annals and the histories of t t o her countries . Where hen are those of Assyria E t and Babylon, of Persia and gyp and Phoenicia, of Tyre and Carthage ? Of the literature of all these mighty empires where are even the remains It t t t o t m t will, no doub , end exci e so e reflec ions of m t to t m m a elancholy cas , look on his s all volu e as i . t t t t I an answer Tha hey are all con ained in , ul to t : et t m sho d be unwilling asser y , wi h so e dili n ot to dis gence and research, I have been able t m t I cover o her frag en s, which could consider suflicientl t t t to its . y au hen ica ed, increase size It was my wish to have included in this colle e m t of the t tion all the frag en s earlier Gen ile world, which have reached u s through the medium of the b th e t of Greek language . Of early his orians Greece to u s the names on ly of some have come down ; istiaeu s t Eu olemu s H , whilst of o hers, such as p and several very interesting fragments have escaped th e t the general wreck . In classic ages of heir th e t of th e t literature, acquain ance Greek his orians with antiquity is generally confined and obscure t the t t nor was it till th e publica ion of Sep uagin , that they turned their attention t o the antiquities of their own and th e surrounding nations : and for this reason we meet with more certain notices of t the t t the t m ancient his ory in la er, han in earlier i es t to of Greece . To have drawn a line hen, have inserted the earlier writers to the exclusion of the m t the m t to . la er, would have been o i ore valuable t th e m t of m t To have reprin ed frag en s any au hors, D a ma sc e nu s t of m such as Nicolaus , a wri er Da as of the A t t cus, ugus an age , would have in roduced, “ t m m tt t of tt t m wi h so e a er wor hy a en ion, uch of t t m t t . t t m li le in eres To have selec ed fro he all, the passages relating to ancient times and foreign t t t s a es, would have been a ask as useless as labo rious the t t o , and would have swelled collec ion a t series of volumes . I have herefore excluded all — n a tive Greek historians and every writer of the — Augustan age and downwards I have also omit te d all fragments which bear about them the st m f the t of a p of orgery, or are produc ions Hel len istic Jews ; or of authors who have had access to the tu f he sacred Scrip res, and ollowing t words throw no additional light upon th e subjects under on e or other of which divisions ma y be classed th e t d E the m t An e iluvian books of noch , large frag en s ofArta a n u s the the c orre s on p , Sibylline Oracles, p of m m of th e dence Solo on and Hira king Tyre , tragedy of Ezekiel in which Moses figures as th e t m t m hero, wi h several co posi ions of a si ilar description . The contents then of this volume are Frag ments which have been translated from foreign languages into Greek ; or have been quoted or transcribed by Greeks from foreign authors ; or have been written in th e Greek language by foreigners who have had access to th e archives of their own respective countries . They are arranged the f : the o the under ollowing heads Ph enician, a th e E t the the Chald ean , gyp ian , Tyrian , Persian, and the Carthaginian . In the following review of these ancient wri t m t m t t ers, I have passed fro he selves in o a sligh examination of their works : n ot with a view of t a t t th e t bu t m t o en ering all in o de ails , erely call the tt t to m fe w t m a en ion so e grea land arks, which stand prominently forth amidst what might other m t a t m . wise be dee ed wild, pa hless and in er inable For th e most ample and satisfactory explanation th e I m t t o the m t of whole, us refer ini i able works t . of Mr . Faber and Bryan U nder the first head is contained only the Phoe Sa n chonia tho 1 n icia n Theology of , who is cons the a t dered to be the most ancient writer of he hen t t t : bu t world . In wha age he wro e is uncer ain his history was composed in the Ph oenician lan its m t t f m the guage , and a erials collec ed ro archives It t t t of the Ph oenician cities . was ransla ed in o B bliu s a n d th e t Greek by Philo y , for preserva ion t o th e of of these fragments we are indebted care I t but tt f m the Eusebius . have devia ed li le ro m quaint translation of Bishop Cu berland, gene t t rally so fa r only as to render it more consonan wi h the t t t to t t t m mo ex of S ephen, or subs i u e ore m dern expressions for phrases become now al ost obsolete . The cosmogony is one of those jargons of The the t ology and Physics, which were refined by la er heathens into some resemblance of the sublimest the m t a n mystery of the Christian faith . As os t it the m t it cien , is os valuable ; and as speaks mo t the t it ff to t re plainly han res , a ords a key heir t in erpretation . The generations contain many very curious pas t t t sages . They are th e only well au hen ica ed hea then account of the times before the flood . In th e first generation is an allusion to the fall in the second Genus ma y be Cain : after which we 10 se the traces of similarity : a t the fifth there is an t t . But t the t i in errup ion aking up hread of inqu ry, a t the of th e t li Ta a u tu s Tho th end firs ne, in or y , ma Athothis the we y perhaps recognize , second E t the m sm t a king of gyp , Her es Tri egis us, who p e f pears again as th adviser o Cronus . His prede s t t Mizra lm th e ces or Misor, corresponds hen wi h , t of E t the of the firs king gyp , Menes and Mines t . the t Am n us dynas ies In preceding genera ion is y , Amm or H a m the m t the on, , sa e wi h Cronus, of t ff t A wha is supposed a di eren line . n ascent A ru s the m higher we find, g , husband an , who was worshipped in Phoeni cia as the greatest of the gods t the O ura nu s of the he corresponds wi h Noah, t m E i eu s o her line, whose original na e was p g A t t m o f m m t t or u och hon, a na e si ilar i por wi h A m grus .
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