IX.  Let us proceed further to their account of their gods that we may carefully demonstrate all that is said above.  First of all, the Greeks bring forward as a god Kronos, that is to say Chiun8    Cf. Amos v. 26, “Chiun, your star god,” and Acts vii. 43. (Saturn).  And his worshippers sacrifice their children to him, and they burn some of them alive in his honour.  And they say that he took to him among his wives Rhea, and begat many children by her.  By her too he begat Dios, who is called Zeus.  And at length he (Kronos) went mad, and through fear of an oracle that had been made known to him, he began to devour his sons.  And from him Zeus was stolen away without his knowledge; and at length Zeus bound him, and mutilated the signs of his manhood, and flung them into the sea.  And hence, as they say in fable, there was engendered Aphrodite, who is called Astarte.  And he (Zeus) cast out Kronos fettered into darkness.  Great then is the error and ignominy which the Greeks have brought forward about the first of their gods, in that they have said all this about him, O King.  It is impossible that a god should be bound or mutilated; and if it be otherwise, he is indeed miserable.

And after Kronos they bring forward another god Zeus.  And they say of him that he assumed the sovereignty, and was king over all the gods.  And they say that he changed himself into a beast and other shapes in order to seduce mortal women, and to raise up by them children for himself.  Once, they say, he changed himself into a bull through love of Europe and Pasiphae.9    Pasiphae’s unnatural passion for Taurus is not in the Greek mythology charged to Zeus.  And again he changed himself into the likeness of gold through love of Danae, and to a swan through love of Leda, and to a man through love of Antiope, and to lightning through love of Luna,10    The visit of Zeus to Semele (not Selene) is evidently referred to.  Σελήνη Luna would give the Syriac ***. and so by these he begat many children.  For by Antiope, they say, that he begat Zethus and Amphion, and by Luna Dionysos, by Alcmena Hercules, and by Leto, Apollo and Artemis, and by Danae Perseus, and by Leda, Castor and Polydeuces, and Helene and Paludus,11    Professor Rendel Harris pronounces “Paludus” a vox nihili, and explains its presence as due to a corrupt repetition of the preceding Polydeuces.  The Syriac word in the text suggests Pollux—the Latin equivalent of Polydeuces.  Clytemnestra is the name required. and by Mnemosyne he begat nine daughters whom they styled the Muses, and by Europe, Minos and Rhadamanthos and Sarpedon.  And lastly he changed himself into the likeness of an eagle through his passion for Ganydemos (Ganymede) the shepherd.

By reason of these tales, O King, much evil has arisen among men, who to this day are imitators of their gods, and practise adultery and defile themselves with their mothers and their sisters, and by lying with males, and some make bold to slay even their parents.  For if he who is said to be the chief and king of their gods do these things how much more should his worshippers imitate him?  And great is the folly which the Greeks have brought forward in their narrative concerning him.  For it is impossible that a god should practise adultery or fornication or come near to lie with males, or kill his parents; and if it be otherwise, he is much worse than a destructive demon.

[9] Ἀλλὰ καὶ καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν θεῶν αὐτῶν εἰ θελήσομεν ἐπεξελθεῖν τῷ λόγῳ, πολλὴν ὄψει ἀτοπίαν. οὕτως παρεισάγεται αὐτοῖς πρὸ πάντων θεὸς ὁ λεγόμενος Κρόνος καὶ τούτῳ θύουσι τὰ ἴδια τέκνα. ὃς ἔσχε παῖδας πολλοὺς ἐκ τῆς Ῥέας καὶ μανεὶς ἤσθιε τὰ ἴδια τέκνα. φασὶ δὲ τὸν Δία κόψαι αὐτοῦ τὰ ἀναγκαῖα καὶ βαλεῖν εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, ὅθεν Ἀφροδίτη μυθεύεται γεννηθῆναι. δήσας οὖν τὸν ἴδιον πατέρα ὁ Ζεὺς ἔβαλεν εἰς τὸν Τάρταρον. ὁρᾷς τὴν πλάνην καὶ ἀσέλγειαν, ἣν παρεισάγουσι κατὰ τοῦ θεοῦ αὐτῶν: ἐνδέχεται οὖν θεὸν εἶναι δέσμιον καὶ ἀπόκοπον; ὢ τῆς ἀνοίας: τίς τῶν νοῦν ἐχόντων ταῦτα φήσειεν; δεύτερος παρεισάγεται ὁ Ζεύς, ὅν φασι βασιλεῦσαι τῶν θεῶν αὐτῶν καὶ μεταμορφοῦσθαι εἰς ζῷα, ὅπως μοιχεύσῃ θνητὰς γυναῖκας. παρεισάγουσι γὰρ τοῦτον μεταμορφούμενον εἰς ταῦρον πρὸς Εὐρώπην, καὶ εἰς χρυσὸν πρὸς Δανάην, καὶ εἰς κύκνον πρὸς Λήδαν, καὶ εἰς σάτυρον πρὸς Ἀντιόπην, καὶ εἰς κεραυνὸν πρὸς Σεμέλην: εἶτα γενέσθαι ἐκ τούτων τέκνα πολλά, Διόνυσον, καὶ Ζῆθον καὶ Ἀμφίονα, καὶ Ἡρακλῆν, καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα καὶ Ἄρτεμιν, καὶ Περσέα, Κάστορά τε καὶ Ἑλένην καὶ Πολυδεύκην, καὶ Μίνωα, καὶ Ῥαδάμανθυν, καὶ Σαρπηδόνα, καὶ τὰς ἐννέα θυγατέρας ἃς προσηγόρευσαν Μούσας. εἶθ' οὕτως παρεισάγουσι τὰ κατὰ τὸν Γανυμήδην. συνέβη οὖν, βασιλεῦ, τοῖς ἀνθρώποις μιμεῖσθαι ταῦτα πάντα, καὶ γίνεσθαι μοιχοὺς καὶ ἀρρενομανεῖς, καὶ ἄλλων δεινῶν ἔργων ἐργάτας, κατὰ μίμησιν τοῦ θεοῦ αὐτῶν. πῶς οὖν ἐνδέχεται θεὸν εἶναι μοιχὸν ἢ ἀνδροβάτην ἢ πατροκτόνον;