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they renamed Epiphania. But to Shem the son of Noah five sons are born, who inhabit Asia as far as the Indian ocean, beginning from the Euphrates. Elam then left the Elymaeans, who are the founders of the Persians, and Asshur founded the city of Ninus and named those under him Assyrians, and Arphaxad was the forefather of the Chaldeans, and Aram named after himself the Aramaeans, who were later called Syrians, and Lud brought forth the Ludites, who were afterwards called Lydians. Of the four sons of Aram, one founded Trachonitis and Damascus, which is between Palestine and Coele-Syria, and another Armenia, and the other the Bactrians. And the son of Arphaxad was Cainan, the child of Cainan was Sala. He was the father of Eber. Eber begat Peleg, so called on account of the division of the earth; for when the division of the men of that time took place, and the division of the land, he was then born; for the Hebrews call division "phalek". The nation of the Hebrews was called from Eber from the beginning. And the son of Peleg was Ragau, and Ragau was the father of Seruch, and he begat Na1.25chor, and from Nachor came Tharra, and Tharra was the father of Abraham. This great Abraham became the forefather of the Hebrew race and patriarch of his tribes, who was a Chaldean by race, being the tenth from Noah, two hundred and ninety-two years having passed since God flooded the whole earth with a deluge. This man, being of impious ancestors, was the first to know the one God, the creator of all things, understanding the maker from his works, and said that honor ought to be paid to him alone. And when the Chaldeans rose up in sedition against him for these things, he moved away from there, by the command of the God who had been made known to him, and he held the land of Canaan. And when a famine pressed the land of Canaan, he migrated to Egypt. And being admired for his intelligence, he handed down arithmetic and the things concerning astronomy to the Egyptians, who were ignorant of these things. And it is said that these things passed from the Chaldeans to Egypt and from there to the Greeks. And when the Assyrians attacked the Sodomites, with whom Lot also dwelt, being the nephew of Abraham and the brother of Sarra, and when many of the Sodomites had fallen, and the rest were taken captive, Lot was also taken captive with the Sodomites. Abraham, learning this, pursued after the Assyrians with his three hundred and eighteen household servants and three friends, and he saved both the Sodomites and Lot. And as he was returning from the pursuit, the king of the city of Solyma received him, being called Melchizedek; this, being translated into the Greek dialect, means "righteous king"; for Solyma was the name of the city Jeru1.26salem at that time; so ancient was the city and having claimed by time the rights of precedence over all. And God, approving of Abraham's virtue, promised a reward for it; but when he said that every benefit seemed thankless to him, having no one to succeed to it, for he was still destitute of legitimate offspring, because Sarra's womb was barren, God promised to give him a son, and that from him a great nation would come forth, equaling the stars in number; and he commanded that he and the males under him circumcise their private parts, so that his race might be unmixed with other nations; and they were circumcised. Therefore, a son is born to Abraham from Sarra when he was a hundred years old, whom God commanded to be called Isaac; and the name means laughter, either because a smile came to Sarra, when God declared she would give birth, on account of the hopelessness of the promise, being past age and not expecting to bear a child, for she happened to be ninety years old when she bore Isaac, or because the child became a cause of laughter to his parents, that is, of gladness and joy. And when this child was born, his father circumcised him on the eighth day; from which it has become the custom for the Jews also to be circumcised in this way. But the Arabs are accustomed to circumcise their sons after the thirteenth year, because Ishmael their forefather was also circumcised at this time; for he was thirteen years old when God commanded Abraham

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̓Επιφάνειαν μετωνόμασαν. Σὴμ δὲ τῷ υἱῷ Νῶε πέντε τίκτονται παῖδες, οι τὴν μέχρις ὠκεανοῦ τοῦ κατ' ̓Ινδίαν οἰκοῦσιν ̓Ασίαν, ἀπ' Εὐφράτου ἀρξάμενοι. ̓Ελὰμ μὲν ουν ̓Ελυμαίους Περσῶν οντας ἀρχηγέτας κατέλιπεν, ̓Ασοὺρ δὲ Νίνον οἰκίζει πόλιν καὶ τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτὸν ̓Ασσυρίους ὠνόμασε, καὶ ̓Αρφαξὰδ Χαλδαίων προπάτωρ ην, Ἀρὰμ δὲ τοὺς Σύρους κληθέντας υστερον ̓Αραμαίους ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ προσηγόρευσεν, ὁ Λοὺδ δὲ Λούδους προήγαγεν, οι Λυδοὶ μετέπειτα προσερρήθησαν. τῶν δὲ υἱῶν ̓Αρὰμ τεσσάρων οντων ὁ μὲν τὴν Τραχωνῖτιν οἰκίζει καὶ τὴν ∆αμασκόν, μέση δ' ἐστὶ Παλαιστίνης καὶ Κοίλης Συρίας, ὁ δὲ ̓Αρμενίαν, Βακτριανοὺς δὲ ὁ ετερος. τοῦ ̓Αρφαξὰδ δὲ υἱὸς Καϊνᾶν, παῖς Καϊνᾶν ὁ Σαλά. ουτος δὲ πατὴρ Εβερ. Εβερ δ' ετεκε τὸν Φαλέκ, ουτω κληθέντα διὰ τὸν τῆς γῆς μερισμόν· οτε γὰρ ἡ διαίρεσις γέγονε τῶν τότε ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ὁ τῆς γῆς μερισμὸς τότε ἐτέχθη· φάλεκ γὰρ ̔Εβραῖοι τὸν μερισμὸν ὀνομάζουσιν. ̔Εβραῖοι δὲ τὸ εθνος ἐκ τοῦ Εβερ ἀρχῆθεν ἐκλήθη. τοῦ Φαλὲκ δὲ υἱὸς ὁ ̔Ραγαῦ, ὁ δὲ ̔Ραγαῦ πατὴρ τοῦ Σερούχ, ουτος δ' ετεκε τὸν Να1.25 χώρ, ἐκ Ναχὼρ δὲ Θάρρα προῆλθε, Θάρρα δὲ πατὴρ ̓Αβραάμ. Τοῦ δὲ τῶν ̔Εβραίων γένους προπάτωρ καὶ πατριάρχης τῶν αὐτοῦ πατριῶν ὁ μέγας ουτος γέγονεν ̓Αβραάμ, ος Χαλδαῖος μὲν ην τὸ γένος, δέκατος ἀπὸ Νῶε γενόμενος, διακοσίων ἐτῶν καὶ ἐνενήκοντα πρὸς δυσὶ διεληλυθότων ἐξ οτου τὴν γῆν απασαν ὁ θεὸς ἐπομβρίᾳ κατέκλυσεν. ουτος προγόνων ων ἀσεβῶν πρῶτος εγνω θεὸν ενα τὸν τῶν ολων δημιουργόν, ἐκ τῶν ποιημάτων καταλαβὼν τὸν ποιητήν, καὶ τούτῳ μόνῳ τὴν τιμὴν ἀπονέμειν δεῖν ελεγε. στασιασάντων δὲ διὰ ταῦτα πρὸς αὐτὸν τῶν Χαλδαίων μετῴκησεν ἐκεῖθεν, τοῦ γνωσθέντος αὐτῷ κελεύσει θεοῦ, καὶ τὴν Χαναναίαν εσχηκε γῆν. λιμοῦ δὲ τὴν Χαναναίαν πιέζοντος μεταναστεύει εἰς Αιγυπτον. καὶ θαυμασθεὶς ἐπὶ συνέσει, τὴν ἀριθμητικὴν τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ τὰ περὶ ἀστρονομίας ἀμαθῶς τούτων εχουσι παραδίδωσιν. ἐκ Χαλδαίων δὲ λέγεται φοιτῆσαι ταῦτα πρὸς Αιγυπτον κἀκεῖθεν εἰς Ελληνας. ̓Ασσυρίων δ' ἐπελθόντων τοῖς Σοδομίταις, οις συνῴκει καὶ Λὼτ ἀδελφόπαις ων ̓Αβραὰμ τῆς Σάρρας τε ἀδελφός, καὶ πολλῶν μὲν πεσόντων Σοδομιτῶν, αἰχμαλωτισθέντων δὲ τῶν λοιπῶν, καὶ Λὼτ τοῖς Σοδομίταις συνῃχμαλώτευτο. ο μαθὼν ̓Αβραὰμ σὺν τριακοσίοις ὀκτωκαίδεκα οἰκέταις αὐτοῦ καὶ φίλοις τρισὶ κατεδίωξεν ὀπίσω τῶν ̓Ασσυρίων, καὶ τούς τε Σοδομίτας εσωσε καὶ τὸν Λώτ. ἐπανιόντα δ' ἐκ τῆς διώξεως ὁ τῆς Σόλυμα πόλεως βασιλεὺς αὐτὸν ὑποδέχεται, κεκλημένος Μελχισεδέκ· σημαίνει δὲ τοῦτο μεθαρμοζόμενον εἰς τὴν ̔Ελλήνων διάλεκτον βασιλεὺς δίκαιος· Σόλυμα γὰρ ην ονομα τότε τῇ πόλει ̔Ιερου1.26 σαλήμ· ουτως ἀρχαία ην ἡ πόλις καὶ χρόνῳ τὰ πρεσβεῖα κληρωσαμένη κατὰ πασῶν. τῆς ἀρετῆς δὲ τὸν ̓Αβραὰμ ἀποδεξάμενος ὁ θεὸς ἀμοιβὴν ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς ἐπηγγείλατο· τοῦ δὲ φαμένου αχαρι πᾶν αὐτῷ δοκεῖν εὐεργέτημα μὴ εχοντι τὸν τοῦτο διαδεξόμενον, ην γὰρ ετι γονῆς ἀμοιρῶν γνησίας, οτι τὴν μήτραν ἡ Σάρρα πεπήρωτο, ὁ θεὸς καὶ παῖδα δώσειν αὐτῷ καθυπέσχετο, καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνου μέγα προελθεῖν εθνος, τοῖς αστρασι τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἐξισούμενον· καὶ περιτμηθῆναι τὰ αἰδοῖα καὶ αὐτὸν καὶ τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτὸν ἐκέλευσεν αρρενας, ιν' ειη τὸ γένος αὐτοῦ τοῖς αλλοις εθνεσιν ἀνεπίμικτον· καὶ περιετμήθησαν. Γίνεται τοίνυν τῷ ̓Αβραὰμ παῖς ἑκατὸν γεγονότι ἐνιαυτῶν ἐκ τῆς Σάρρας, ον ὁ θεὸς ̓Ισαὰκ καλέσαι προσέταξε· δηλοῖ δὲ τὸ ονομα γέλωτα, η οτι μειδίαμα τῇ Σάρρᾳ ἐγένετο, τέξεσθαι αὐτὴν τοῦ θεοῦ χρηματίσαντος, διὰ τὸ τῆς ὑποσχέσεως δύσελπι, παρήλικι ουσῃ καὶ μὴ προσδοκώσῃ τεκεῖν, ἐνενήκοντα γὰρ ἐτῶν τὸν ̓Ισαὰκ τεκοῦσα ἐτύγχανεν, η οτι γέλωτος ὑπόθεσις τοῖς γονεῦσι τὸ παιδίον ἐγένετο, θυμηδίας δηλαδὴ καὶ χαρᾶς. τεχθέντα δὲ τὸν παῖδα τοῦτον κατὰ τὴν ὀγδόην ἡμέραν ὁ πατὴρ περιέτεμεν· οθεν ουτω καὶ τοῖς ̓Ιουδαίοις νενόμισται περιτέμνεσθαι. Αραβες δὲ μετὰ τρισκαιδέκατον ετος τοὺς παῖδας περιτέμνειν εἰώθασιν, οτι καὶ ̓Ισμαὴλ ὁ προπάτωρ αὐτῶν ἐν τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ περιετέτμητο· τρισκαίδεκα γὰρ ην ἐτῶν οτε τῷ ̓Αβραὰμ ὁ θεὸς ἐπέταξε