Sum total: 120 sari = 432,000 lunar years. Now as the epoch of Xisuthrus is the age of the Flood, and as Berosus commenced his human history with it, the question is, what is the antithesis between it and the nine preceding epochs? At all events it must be borne in mind that the nine epochs are divided into three great traditions in different localities: the first and second, or the Chaldeo-Babylonian tradition or age; the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, or the Sipparic, to the northeast of Babylon; and the Sankharic, to the south-east of Babylon, in Susiana. To this latter Xisuthrus be sepher, writing. "A city of writing," Qiryath-Sepher, is also mentioned in the kingdom of Judah. This Babylonian Sippara, the Sipphara of Ptolemy, compared with róλiç Zapηvov in Euseb. Præpar. Ev. ix. 41., is identical with the Sepharvayim of 2 Kings xvii. 24., xviii. 34., and Isaiah xxxvi. 19.), and is confidently placed by D'Anville to the north of Babylon, east of Bagdad, on the east bank of the Euphrates. Winer also maintains this stoutly against Vitringa and others. As regards the form, the plural is universally used in the Chaldee and Greek names, Bißλoi and Sippara. What seems to be the dual form in Sepharvayim is merely the Chaldee plural (Sipparuya) with the Hebrew plural ending. (See Outlines, i. p. 211.) longs; for he is described as the son of the second Sankharic dynasty or epoch. It is clear, however, that none of these epochs or their subdivisions contain any historical dates; but that they are great astronomical cycles. These chronological references, accordingly, are ideal, as well as the epochs themselves, just as are those of the Egyptian reigns of Gods. The revelations, therefore, which are mentioned in some of the epochs must either have reference to the predominant deities, or else they are a jumble of fragments of the earliest local traditions in a mythological form. But confusions of this kind should not lead us astray as to their general character. There is some great misunderstanding at the bottom both of one and the other of the assumptions in these accounts. The existence of Man is implied, but nothing is recorded about him. Before we can restore their original form, as well as unravel their original meaning, we must obtain further information from the cuneiform inscriptions. III. THE FLOOD OF XISUTHRUS AND THE MODERN BEGINNINGS IN BABYLONIA. CRITICISM. THE account given by Berosus of the history of Xisuthrus is as follows (Eus. iii.; Sync. p. 30.): "Kronos (Set) revealed to Xisuthrus, in a dream, that on the fifteenth day of the month Daisios (the eighth of the Macedonian lunar year, Idel.i.393.), the flood would commence, in which all mankind would perish. That he must bury all the books in the city of VOL. IV. BB "And God said unto Noah... I will destroy man with the earth." (vi. 13. Gen.) "And behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh." (17.) Helios, Sippara, and build a ship five stadia (3125 ft.) long, two stadia (1250 ft.) broad, for himself, his children, and nearest relatives; that he should provide them with food to eat and to drink; and that he should take with him all sorts of animals, fowls, and fourfooted beasts. When Xisuthrus asked where he should sail to, he received for answer: To the Gods, with a prayer that it may fare well with mankind."" "Make thee an ark of gopher wood. The length of it shall be 300 cubits (600 ft.), the breadth of it 50 cubits (100 ft.), and the height of it 30 cubits" (60 ft.). (14, 15.) "And thou shalt go into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort, shalt thou bring into the ark, of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind." (18, 19.; conf. vii. 1-5.). "Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he." (22.) ... "And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came." (vii. 6.). "And the rain came on the seventeenth day of the second month ... forty days and forty nights. . . and after the end of 150 days, the waters were abated ... on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. . . . on the first day of the tenth month were the tops of the moun "A few days after, he sent out other birds, which also returned, with mud on their feet. "A few days after, he again sent out birds, for the third time, who did not return. Then Xisuthrus knew that there was land again. "Now he took out some of the planks, and saw that the ship was landed on a mountain." (Conf. below: (Conf. below in Armenia.) "He went out with his wife and a daughter, and the builder, and threw himself upon the ground, and prayed, and built an altar, and offered sacrifice upon it. "After the sacrifice, those who had come out disappeared. end of forty days, Noah sent out a raven" (7.); "after that a dove" (8.): "but when the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, she returned unto him into the ark." (9.) "After seven days, he again sent out the dove out of the ark and she came in to him in the evening; and she had in her mouth a fresh olive-leaf." (10, 11.) "And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more." (12.) "Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the earth was dry." (13. conf. v. 4.: the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.) "And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him." (18.). . . "And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord... and offered burnt offerings on the altar." "Those who had remained behind looked for them, and called to them in vain by their names; but a voice answered them out of the air: Fear God: he has been taken up to the Gods because he feared God: his wife, and his daughter, and the builder, have shared the same honour. Go back to Babylon, and communicate to mankind the books which are concealed at Sippara: the place where they were was in Arme nia. "Upon this they offered sacrifice, and went their way to Babylon. "On the Gordiæan moun. tains, pieces of the ship which stranded in Armenia are still to be seen. The asphalt which is brought from thence averts mischief. "They, upon this, did as they were commanded, built a temple, and restored Babylon." The covenant of God with Noah and the whole race of man. (ix. 1—17.) Here ends the authentic account of the Babylonian beginnings. The statements of Eusebius (Chron. Arm. iv.; conf. Euseb. Præf. Ev. ix. 5.) and of Syncellus (p. 44.) from Polyhistor are clearly borrowed from Persian records, through the medium of a Sibylline book. It |