9
Japheth was almost added to baptism and to faith in Christ, which are the tents of Shem, since from him also came Abraham and the patriarchs, from whom also the other genealogies are clearly traced down to Christ the leader. But of Ham, very many nations even until now are in apostasy, in India and Ethiopia and Mauritania; among which also the Arabias and Idumea act insolently against God and his saints, being subjected to the curse of Ham and Canaan; wherefore also the scripture has declared Ham a servant boy of Shem and Japheth, signifying him through Canaan his son.
That two floods are reported to have occurred in the land of Greece, the first in the time of Ogyges in Attica, and 248 years later in Thessaly in the time of Deucalion when the second king, Cranaus the autochthon, was ruling in Athens. Of this flood, that is the one in the time of Deucalion, the Egyptians also seem to make mention, asserting that their country was not flooded. And they rightly contend that Egypt was not flooded then; for this flood was local. For they do not even know of the earlier, that is the universal, flood; for their patriarch 1.27 had not yet been born. And Ham the son of Noah was the father of Mizraim, from whom came the Egyptians.
That the Assyrians, having deified Nimrod, placed him among the stars of heaven, and call him Orion. He showed them the art of hunting; for which reason they also joined the so-called dog star to Orion. They also call him Cronus, after the name of the planet.
That when the nations were divided, a certain Indian man appeared, of the race of Arphaxad, named Andubarius, who handed down astronomy to the Indians.
That in the two thousand five hundred and eighty-fifth year Cainan, while traveling in the plain, found the writing of the giants and hid it with himself, and he himself sinned among them, and he taught the others the same wickedness. But others say that Shelah found it.
That on Mount Lebanon sea fish were found, in hollow places of water, confirming the total destruction of the flood.
That Lamech was the first to die before his own father, that is, Methuselah. That from Adam until the flood, according to the Seventy, there are years
#222242, to which both the truth testifies and the traditions that have prevailed from the beginning in all the churches, and until 1.28 the first year of Abraham, 3312 years. And after another 75 years he went out from Haran, having sojourned to the land of Canaan which is now called Palestine.
That Peleg died before his father Eber, and all the years from Adam to the death of Peleg are reckoned to be three thousand years. From this point the names of the Greek gods take their origin. And a man was born from the tribe of Shem, named Cush the Ethiopian, who begat Nimrod, the founder of Babylon, who was also called Orion. He, having become powerful, was the first to rule on the earth among the Assyrians; who was also named Cronus, after the name of the planet. He had a wife from the same tribe, called Semiramis. She placed embankments around the rivers and erected the so-called pyramids. Her they also named Rhea, as one ruling men with power and authority and exceeding fear. This Semiramis had a son whose name was Picus, who was also renamed Zeus; and she had other sons, Belus and Ninus, and a daughter, Hera. And Ninus, who also founded great Nineveh, took his own mother Semiramis as his wife. But as Africanus says, Cronus also had another son, Aphros, from whom come the Aphroi; who, having married Astynome, produced a daughter, Aphrodite. But Cronus
9
Ἰάφεθ σχεδὸν τῷ βαπτίσματι καὶ τῇ εἰς Χριστὸν πίστει προσ ετέθη, ἅτινά ἐστι σκηνώματα τοῦ Σήμ, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ὁ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ οἱ πατριάρχαι, ἐξ ὧν καὶ αἱ λοιπαὶ γενεαρχίαι ἕως Χριστοῦ ἡγουμένου σαφῶς γενεαλογοῦνται. τοῦ δὲ Χὰμ πλεῖστα μέχρι καὶ νῦν ἔθνη ἐστὶν ἐν ἀποστασίᾳ, κατά γε τὰς Ἰνδίας καὶ Αἰθιοπίας καὶ Μαυριτανίας· ἐν οἷς καὶ αἱ Ἀρραβίαι καὶ Ἰδουμαία κατὰ θεοῦ καὶ τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ θρασύνονται, τῇ τοῦ Χὰμ καὶ τοῦ Χαναὰν κατάρᾳ καθυποβεβλημένοι· διὸ καὶ παῖδα οἰκέ την τὸν Χὰμ τοῦ Σὴμ καὶ τοῦ Ἰάφεθ ἡ γραφὴ ἀπεφήνατο, διὰ τοῦ Χαναὰν τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ αὐτὸν σημαίνουσα.
Ὅτι δύο κατακλυσμοὶ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα γῆν διαβεβοημένοι γεγόνασι, πρῶτος μὲν ἐπὶ Ὠγύγου ἐν τῇ Ἀττικῇ, χρόνοις δὲ ὕστερον σμηʹ ἐν Θετταλίᾳ ἐπὶ ∆ευκαλίωνος βασιλεύοντος Ἀθήνησι, δευτέρου Κραναοῦ αὐτόχθονος. τούτου τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ, τοῦ ἐπὶ ∆ευκαλίωνος δηλονότι, δοκοῦσι μεμνῆσθαι καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι, φάσκοντες τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν μὴ κατακεκλύσθαι. καὶ δικαίως φιλονεικοῦσι μὴ κατακεκλύσθαι τότε τὴν Αἴγυπτον· τοπικὸς γὰρ γέγονεν οὗτος ὁ κατακλυσμός. τὸν γὰρ πρότερον ἤτοι τὸν καθο λικὸν κατακλυσμὸν οὐδὲ γινώσκουσιν· οὔπω γὰρ ἦν ὁ πατριάρχης 1.27 αὐτῶν γεννηθείς. Χὰμ δὲ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Νῶε πατὴρ ἦν Μεστρέμ, ἀφ' οὗ Αἰγύπτιοι.
Ὅτι τὸν Νεβρὼδ ἀποθεώσαντες οἱ Ἀσσύριοι ἐν τοῖς ἄστροις τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἔταξαν, καὶ καλοῦσιν Ὠρίωνα. οὗτος κατέδειξε τὴν κυνηγετικήν· διὸ καὶ τὸν καλούμενον κύνα ἄστρον τῷ Ὠρίωνι συνῆψαν. τοῦτον καλοῦσιν καὶ Κρόνον εἰς τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν τοῦ πλάνητος.
Ὅτι διαμερισθέντων τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀνεφάνη τις ἀνὴρ Ἰνδός, ἐκ τοῦ γένους Ἀρφαξάδ, τοὔνομα Ἀνδουβάριος, ὃς παρέδωκε τοῖς Ἰνδοῖς ἀστρονομίαν.
Ὅτι τῷ δισχιλιοστῷ πεντακοσιοστῷ ὀγδοηκοστῷ εʹ ἔτει διο δεύων Καϊνᾶν ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ εὗρε τὴν γραφὴν τῶν γιγάντων καὶ ἔκρυψε παρ' ἑαυτῷ, καὶ αὐτὸς μὲν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐξημάρτανε, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τὴν αὐτὴν ἀτοπίαν ἐξεπαίδευσεν. οἱ δὲ τὸν Σάλα φασὶ ταύτην εὑρηκέναι.
Ὅτι ἐν τῷ ὄρει τοῦ Λιβάνου ἰχθύες θαλάσσης εὑρέθησαν, ἐν κοίλοις τόποις ὑδάτων, τὴν τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ πιστούμενοι πανωλεθρίαν.
Ὅτι πρῶτος Λάμεχ πρὸ τοῦ ἰδίου πατρὸς τελευτᾷ, ἤγουν τοῦ Μαθουσάλα. Ὅτι ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἕως τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ, κατὰ τοὺς ἑβδο μήκοντα, ἔτη
#22βσμβʹ, οἷς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐπιμαρτυρεῖ καὶ αἱ ἀνέ καθεν πάσαις ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἐπικρατήσασαι παραδόσεις, ἐπὶ δὲ 1.28 τὸ πρῶτον ἔτος Ἀβραὰμ ἔτη γτιβʹ. καὶ μετὰ ἕτερα οεʹ ἔτη ἐξῆλ θεν ἐκ Χαρράν, παροικήσας εἰς γῆν Χαναὰν τὴν νῦν Παλαιστίνην λεγομένην.
Ὅτι ὁ Φάλεκ πρὸ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ Ἕβερ τελευτᾷ, συνά γεται δὲ τὰ πάντα ἔτη ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ Φάλεκ τελευτὴν ἔτη τρισχίλια. ἔνθεν ἀρχὴν τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν θεῶν λαμβάνουσι τὰ ὀνόματα. Ἐγεννήθη δὲ ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς τοῦ Σὴμ ἀνὴρ ὄνομα Χοῦς Αἰθίοψ, ὃς ἐγέννησε τὸν Νεβρὼδ τὸν τὴν Βαβυλῶνα κτίσαντα, τὸν καὶ Ὠρίωνα ἐπικληθέντα. οὗτος δυνατὸς γενόμενος ἐβασίλευσε πρῶτος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐν τοῖς Ἀσσυρίοις· ὃς καὶ ὠνομάσθη Κρόνος εἰς τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν τοῦ πλάνητος. οὗτος ἔσχε γυναῖκα ἐκ τῆς αὐ τῆς φυλῆς, καλουμένην Σεμίραμιν. αὕτη τοῖς ποταμοῖς περιέβαλε στόμια, καὶ τὰς καλουμένας πυραμίδας ἀνήγειρε. ταύτην καὶ Ῥέαν ὠνόμασαν ὡς ἐν δυνάμει καὶ ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ ὑπερβάλλοντι φόβῳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἄρχουσαν. αὕτη ἡ Σεμίραμις ἔσχεν υἱὸν οὗ τὸ ὄνομα Πῖκος, ὃς καὶ μετωνομάσθη Ζεύς· καὶ ἄλλους δὲ ἔσχεν υἱοὺς Βῆλόν τε καὶ Νῖνον, καὶ θυγατέρα τὴν Ἥραν. καὶ ὁ μὲν Νῖνος, ὃς καὶ τὴν Νινευὶ τὴν μεγάλην ἔκτισε, τὴν ἰδίαν μητέρα Σεμίραμιν ἔσχε γυναῖκα. ὡς δὲ Ἀφρικανός φησι, καὶ ἕτερον υἱὸν ἔσχεν ὁ Κρόνος τὸν Ἄφρον, ἐξ οὗ Ἄφροι· ὃς γήμας Ἀστυνόμην ἐποίησε θυγατέρα τὴν Ἀφροδίτην. ὁ δὲ Κρόνος