Georgius Syncellus, Chronographical Selection

he says in the first epistle to the Corinthians: “what eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man” and the things that follow, from the apocryphal works of Elijah. And again in the epistle to the Galatians, from the Apocalypse of Moses: “neither circumcision is anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” And in the epistle to the Ephesians from the so-called apocryphal works of Jeremiah: “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” But these things have been said by us not to give license to those who wish to read them indiscriminately; may it not be; for many have been harmed by believing all of them, whence also the holy church of God and the choir of our God-bearing fathers have forbidden reading them like the rest of the divine scripture; and we have cited the aforesaid passages only for the purpose of showing the transgression of the Watchers and the impiety of the giants, of which also the divine Moses makes mention, and that because of them the universal flood occurred, and so that those who wrote the Chaldean and Egyptian antiquities should not be supposed to be Christians, because from internal or apocryphal books they had some kind of starting-point for their own falsehoods and for composing a refutation of the infinite years and the kingdoms and dynasties celebrated among them, but so that one seeking the apocryphal books concerning these things may be content with the passages from them presented here, and not, by reading the whole treatises purposelessly, fall away from the right and true goal; for also in the so-called Apocalypse of Moses 28 it is related concerning them that after the flood, in the 2582nd year of the world, moved by envy after death they led astray the sons of Noah; and when Noah prayed that they might depart from them, the Lord commanded the archangel Michael to cast them into the abyss until the day of judgment; but the devil asked to receive a portion of them for the temptation of men, and a tenth of them was given to him by divine command, so as to tempt men for the testing of each one's choice towards God, but the remaining nine parts were cast into the abyss. But to us this seems to be incongruous, that a living man be tempted by the soul of one who has died. Therefore we also advise those who read the apocryphal works, either here or elsewhere, not to follow in all things the ideas contained in them. It remains then after this, as we have promised, to set forth brief passages from those who wrote the Chaldean and Egyptian histories, through which their disagreement with each other and with the divine scripture will be manifest to the faithful, and an overturning of their monstrous idle talk. From Alexander Polyhistor, concerning the ten kings of the Chaldeans who reigned before the flood and the flood itself, and concerning Noah and the ark, in which he also says some monstrous things in between, as written by Berossus. But Berossus, in the first of his Babylonian histories, says that he was contemporary with Alexander, the son of Philip. And that many records were kept in Babylon with great care, containing a period of more than 15 myriads of years; and that the records contained histories concerning heaven and the sea and the first creation and the kings and their deeds. And first he says that the land of the Babylonians lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. And that it produces wild wheat and barley and ochrus and sesame, and that the roots growing in the marshes are eaten; they are called gongas; and that these roots are equivalent in strength to barley. And that there are palms and apples and other fruit trees and fish and birds, both of the land and of the marsh. And that the parts of it toward Arabia are both waterless and fruitless, but those opposite Arabia are mountainous 29 and fertile. And in Babylon there was a great multitude of men of other nations who had settled in Chaldea; and they lived without order, like wild beasts. In the first year

φησὶν ἐν τῇ πρὸς Κορινθίους πρώτῃ ἐπιστολῇ· «ἃ ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ εἶδε καὶ οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσε καὶ ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς Ἠλία ἀποκρύφων. καὶ πάλιν ἐν τῇ πρὸς Γαλάτας ἐκ τῆς Μωυσέως ἀποκαλύ ψεως· «οὔτε περιτομή τι ἐστὶν οὔτε ἀκροβυστία, ἀλλὰ καινὴ κτίσις.» καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἐφεσίους ἐκ τῶν Ἱερεμίου λεγομένων ἀποκρύφων· «ἔγειραι ὁ καθεύδων καὶ ἀνάστα ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, καὶ ἐπιφαύσει σοι ὁ Χριστός.» ταῦτα δὲ ἡμῖν εἴρηται οὐ πρὸς ἄδειαν τῶν βουλομένων ἀδιαφόρως αὐτοῖς ἐντυγχά νειν· μὴ γένοιτο· πολλοὶ γὰρ ἐβλάβησαν ἐν πᾶσιν αὐτοῖς πιστεύσαντες, ὅθεν καὶ ἡ ἁγία τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησία καὶ ὁ χορὸς τῶν θεοφόρων ἡμῶν πατέ ρων ἐκώλυσεν ἐντυγχάνειν αὐτοῖς ὥσπερ τῇ θείᾳ λοιπῇ γραφῇ· καὶ ἡμεῖς τὰς προγραφείσας χρήσεις ὑπὲρ τοῦ δεῖξαι μόνον τὴν τῶν ἐγρηγόρων παρά βασιν καὶ τὴν τῶν γιγάντων ἀσέβειαν, περὶ ἧς καὶ ὁ θεῖος Μωυσῆς μέμνηται, καὶ ὅτι δι' αὐτοὺς ὁ κοσμικὸς γέγονε κατακλυσμὸς παρεθέμε θα, καὶ ὥστε τοὺς τὰς Χαλδαϊκὰς καὶ Αἰγυπτιακὰς ἀρχαιολογίας γράψαν τας μὴ δεῖν Χριστιανῶν ὑπολαμβάνειν, ὅτι ἀπὸ ἐνδιαθέτων ἢ ἀποκρύφων βιβλίων ἔσχον οἱανδηποτοῦν ἀφορμὴν τῆς οἰκείας ψευδηγορίας καὶ τῶν ἀπείρων ἐτῶν τὸν ἐξελεγμὸν συγγράψαι καὶ τὰς παρ' αὐτοῖς φημιζομένας βασιλείας καὶ δυναστείας, ἀλλ' ἵνα καὶ τὰς περὶ τούτων βίβλους ἀποκρύ φους ζητῶν ἀρκῆται ταῖς προκειμέναις ἐξ αὐτῶν χρήσεσιν ἐνταῦθα, καὶ μὴ τὰς καθόλου πραγματείας ἀσκόπως ἀναγινώσκων τοῦ ὀρθοῦ καὶ ἀλη θοῦς ἀποπέσοι σκοποῦ· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐν τῇ Μωυσέως λεγομένῃ ἀποκαλύψει 28 φέρεται περὶ αὐτῶν, ὅτι μετὰ τὸν κατακλυσμὸν τῷ βφπβʹ ἔτει τοῦ κόσμου φθόνῳ κινούμενοι μετὰ θάνατον ἐπλάνησαν τοὺς υἱοὺς Νῶε· καὶ εὐξαμέ νου τοῦ Νῶε ἵνα ἀποστῶσιν ἀπ' αὐτῶν, ὁ κύριος ἐκέλευσε τῷ ἀρχαγγέλῳ Μιχαὴλ βαλεῖν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον ἄχρι ἡμέρας τῆς κρίσεως· ὁ δὲ διάβολος ᾐτήσατο λαβεῖν μοῖραν ἀπ' αὐτῶν πρὸς πειρασμὸν τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ τὸ δέκατον αὐτῶν κατὰ πρόσταξιν θείαν, ὥστε πειράζειν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους πρὸς δοκιμὴν τῆς ἑκάστου πρὸς θεὸν προαιρέσεως, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ θʹ μέρη ἐβλήθη εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον. ἡμῖν δὲ ἀσύμφωνον εἶναι τοῦτο δοκεῖ, ἄνθρωπον ζῶντα ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ τεθνεῶτος ψυχῆς πειράζεσθαι. διὸ παραινοῦμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας ἢ ἐνταῦθα ἢ ἀλλαχοῦ τοῖς ἀποκρύφοις μὴ ἐν πᾶσιν ἕπεσθαι ταῖς ἐννοίαις ταῖς φερομέναις ἐν αὐταῖς. λοιπὸν δέ ἐστι μετὰ ταῦτα, καθὼς καὶ ἐπηγγειλάμεθα, μικρὰς χρήσεις τῶν τὰς Χαλδαϊκὰς καὶ Αἰγυπτιακὰς ἱστορίας γραψάντων παραθέσθαι, δι' ὧν πρόδηλος ἡ τούτων ἀσυμφωνία πρός τε ἀλλήλους καὶ τὴν θείαν γραφὴν τοῖς πιστοῖς ἔσται καὶ ἀνατροπὴ τῆς τερατώδους αὐτῶν ἐρεσχε λίας. Ἐκ τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Πολυίστορος περὶ τῶν πρὸ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ βασιλευσάντων ιʹ βασιλέων τῶν Χαλδαίων καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ, καὶ περὶ τοῦ Νῶε καὶ τῆς κιβωτοῦ, ἐν οἷς καί τινα διὰ μέσου τερατώδη φάσκει, ὡς τῷ Βηρώσσῳ γεγραμμένα. Βήρωσσος δὲ ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Βαβυλωνιακῶν φησι γενέσθαι μὲν αὐτὸν κατὰ Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Φιλίππου τὴν ἡλικίαν. ἀναγραφὰς δὲ πολλῶν ἐν Βαβυλῶνι φυλάσσεσθαι μετὰ πολλῆς ἐπιμελείας ἀπὸ ἐτῶν που ὑπὲρ μυ ριάδων ιεʹ περιεχούσας χρόνον· περιέχειν δὲ τὰς ἀναγραφὰς ἱστορίας περὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ θαλάσσης καὶ πρωτογονίας καὶ βασιλέων καὶ τῶν κατ' αὐτοὺς πράξεων. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τὴν Βαβυλωνίων γῆν φησι κεῖσθαι ἐπὶ τοῦ Τίγριδος καὶ Εὐφράτου ποταμοῦ μέσην. φύειν δὲ αὐτὴν πυροὺς ἀγρίους καὶ κριθὰς καὶ ὦχρον καὶ σήσαμον καὶ τὰς ἐν τοῖς ἕλεσι φυομένας ῥίζας ἐσθίεσθαι· ὀνομάζεσθαι αὐτὰς γόγγας· ἰσοδυναμεῖν δὲ τὰς ῥίζας ταύτας κριθαῖς. γίνεσθαι δὲ φοίνικας καὶ μῆλα καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἀκρόδρυα καὶ ἰχθύας καὶ ὄρνεα χερσαῖά τε καὶ λιμναῖα. εἶναι δὲ αὐτῆς τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Ἀραβίαν μέρη ἄνυδρά τε καὶ ἄκαρπα, τὰ δὲ ἀντικείμενα τῇ Ἀραβίᾳ ὀρεινά 29 τε καὶ εὔφορα. ἐν δὲ τῇ Βαβυλῶνι πολὺ πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων γενέσθαι ἀλ λοεθνῶν κατοικησάντων τὴν Χαλδαίαν· ζῆν δὲ αὐτοὺς ἀτάκτως ὥσπερ τὰ θηρία. Ἐν δὲ τῷ πρώτῳ ἐνιαυτῷ