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a flood would occur. And the story was written thus: that Cronus, appearing to him in his sleep, said that on the 15th of the month of Daesius, mankind would be destroyed by a flood. He therefore commanded him to write down the beginnings, 31 middles, and ends of all things and to bury them in Sippar, the city of the sun, and having built a vessel, to embark with his relatives and close friends; to put on board food and drink, and to put on board also winged and four-footed animals, and having prepared everything, to set sail; and when asked where he was sailing, to say: to the gods, to pray that good things might happen for mankind. And he, not disobeying, built a vessel five stades in length and two stades in breadth, and put together all that had been commanded, and embarked his wife and children and his close friends. And when the flood occurred and immediately ceased, Xisuthros released some of the birds. But they, finding neither food nor a place where they could rest, came back to the ship. And Xisuthros again, after some days, released the birds; and these came back again to the ship, having their feet covered with mud. But being released a third time, they no longer came to the ship. And Xisuthros understood that land had appeared, and having removed a part of the ship's seams and seeing that the ship had grounded on a certain mountain, he disembarked with his wife and his daughter and the pilot, and having worshipped the earth and built an altar and sacrificed to the gods, he became invisible with those who had disembarked from the ship. And those who had remained in the ship, when those with Xisuthros did not enter, disembarked and searched for him, calling him by name. But Xisuthros himself was no longer seen by them, but a voice came from the air, commanding that they must be god-fearing. For he himself, on account of his piety, was going to dwell with the gods. And his wife and his daughter and the pilot had shared in the same honor. And he told them that they would come again to Babylon, and that it was fated for them to take up the writings from Sippar and distribute them to men, and that where they were is the land of Armenia. And those who heard these things sacrificed to the gods and proceeded on foot to Babylon. And since this ship had rested in Armenia, some part of it still remains in the Cordyraean mountains of Armenia, and some bring bitumen scraped from the ship, and use it for 32 averting evils. So these men, having come to Babylon, dug up the writings from Sippar, and founding many cities and re-establishing temples, rebuilt Babylon again. Since these things from Alexander Polyhistor, as from Berossus who falsifies the Chaldean accounts, are set before us, it is possible for those who wish to rightly consider the divine scripture of Genesis and the present Chaldean tale of wonders to see how much they differ from one another, and how in most respects it contradicts the divinely inspired sayings, having taken from them its entire starting points, and through the admixture of falsehood it hastens to introduce idolatry and some other power for the cosmic creation, different in time and manner. For avoiding to say that it has stolen the beginnings of its narrative from the Mosaic writings, it puts forward Oannes the sea creature, which has never existed nor been seen by anyone nor subsists, just as skindapsos and goat-stags do not; and this, it says, handed down to men that there was once a time in which the all was darkness and water. For since it was not able to say openly the words of the divinely inspired one, saying, "and darkness was upon the face of the deep," it reshaped the words, but it did not deceive the sensible, even if it adds, saying, and in these were monstrous animals and the rest, hastening to confuse the hearer and, before the creation of heaven and earth, positing darkness and water and the most idolatrous and non-existent existence of non-subsistent animals, of which it says the images are preserved in the temple of Belus. And likewise also the

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κατα κλυσμὸν γενέσθαι. ἀναγεγράφθαι δὲ τὸν λόγον οὕτως· τὸν Κρόνον αὐτῷ κατὰ τὸν ὕπνον ἐπιστάντα φάναι μηνὸς ∆εσίου ιεʹ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ὑπὸ κατακλυσμοῦ φθαρήσεσθαι. κελεῦσαι οὖν διὰ γραμμάτων πάντων ἀρχὰς 31 καὶ μέσα καὶ τελευτὰς ὀρύξαντα θεῖναι ἐν πόλει ἡλίου Σισπάροις, καὶ ναυπηγησάμενον σκάφος ἐμβῆναι μετὰ τῶν συγγενῶν καὶ ἀναγκαίων φίλων· ἐνθέσθαι δὲ βρώματα καὶ πόματα, ἐμβαλεῖν δὲ καὶ ζῷα πτηνὰ καὶ τετράποδα, καὶ πάντα εὐτρεπισάμενον πλεῖν· ἐρωτώμενον δὲ ποῦ πλεῖ, φάναι· πρὸς τοὺς θεούς, εὐξάμενον ἀνθρώποις ἀγαθὰ γενέσθαι. τὸν δ' οὐ παρακούσαντα ναυπηγήσαντα σκάφος τὸ μὲν μῆκος σταδίων πέντε, τὸ δὲ πλάτος σταδίων δύο, τὰ δὲ συνταχθέντα πάντα συνθέσθαι, καὶ γυ ναῖκα καὶ τέκνα καὶ τοὺς ἀναγκαίους φίλους ἐμβιβάσαι. Γενομένου δὲ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ καὶ εὐθέως λήξαντος τῶν ὀρνέων τινὰ τὸν Ξίσουθρον ἀφιέναι. τὰ δὲ οὔτε τροφὴν εὑρόντα οὔτε τόπον ὅπου καθ ίσαι πάλιν ἐλθεῖν εἰς τὸ πλοῖον. τὸν δὲ Ξίσουθρον πάλιν μετά τινας ἡμέρας ἀφιέναι τὰ ὄρνεα· ταῦτα δὲ πάλιν εἰς τὴν ναῦν ἐλθεῖν τοὺς πόδας πεπηλω μένους ἔχοντα. τὸ δὲ τρίτον ἀφεθέντα οὐκέτι ἐλθεῖν εἰς τὸ πλοῖον. τὸν δὲ Ξίσουθρον ἐννοηθῆναι γῆν ἀναπεφηνέναι, διελόντα τε τῶν τοῦ πλοίου ῥαφῶν μέρος τι καὶ ἰδόντα προσοκεῖλαν τὸ πλοῖον ὄρει τινὶ ἐκβῆναι μετὰ τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ τῆς θυγατρὸς καὶ τοῦ κυβερνήτου, προσκυνήσαντα δὲ τὴν γῆν καὶ βωμὸν ἱδρυσάμενον καὶ θυσιάσαντα τοῖς θεοῖς γενέσθαι μετὰ τῶν ἐκβάντων τοῦ πλοίου ἀφανῆ. τοὺς δὲ ὑπομείναντας ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ μὴ εἰσπο ρευομένων τῶν περὶ τὸν Ξίσουθρον ἐκβάντας ζητεῖν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ ὀνόματος βοῶντας, τὸν δὲ Ξίσουθρον αὐτὸν μὲν αὐτοῖς οὐκέτι ὀφθῆναι, φωνὴν δὲ ἐκ τοῦ ἀέρος γενέσθαι κελεύουσαν ὡς δέον αὐτοὺς εἶναι θεοσεβεῖς. καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸν διὰ τὴν εὐσέβειαν πορεύεσθαι μετὰ τῶν θεῶν οἰκήσοντα. τῆς δὲ αὐ τῆς τιμῆς καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα καὶ τὸν κυβερνήτην μετεσχηκέναι. εἶπέ τε αὐτοῖς ὅτι ἐλεύσονται πάλιν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα, καὶ ὡς εἵμαρται αὐτοῖς Σισπάρων ἀνελομένοις τὰ γράμματα διαδοῦναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, καὶ ὅτι ὅπου εἰσὶν ἡ χώρα Ἀρμενίας ἐστί. τοὺς δὲ ἀκούσαντας ταῦτα θῦσαί τε τοῖς θεοῖς καὶ πεζῇ πορευθῆναι εἰς Βαβυλῶνα. Τοῦ δὲ πλοίου τούτου κατακλιθέντος ἐν τῇ Ἀρμενίᾳ ἔτι μέρος τι ἐν τοῖς Κορδυραίων ὄρεσι τῆς Ἀρμενίας διαμένειν, καί τινας ἀπὸ τοῦ πλοίου κομίζειν ἀποξύοντας ἄσφαλτον, χρᾶσθαι δὲ αὐτῇ πρὸς τοὺς ἀποτροπιασ 32 μούς. ἐλθόντας οὖν τούτους εἰς Βαβυλῶνα τά τε ἐκ Σισπάρων γράμματα ἀνορύξαι καὶ πόλεις πολλὰς κτίζοντας καὶ ἱερὰ ἀνιδρυσαμένους πάλιν ἐπικτίσαι τὴν Βαβυλῶνα. Τούτων δὴ ἀπὸ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Πολυίστορος, ὡς ἀπὸ Βηρώσσου τοῦ τὰ Χαλδαϊκὰ ψευδηγοροῦντος, προκειμένων ἔξεστι τοῖς ὀρθῶς ἐπιβάλλειν βουλομένοις τῇ τῆς Γενέσεως θείᾳ γραφῇ καὶ τῇ προκειμένῃ Χαλδαϊκῇ τερατολογίᾳ πόσον ἀλλήλων διενηνόχασι, πῶς τε ἐν τοῖς πλείοσιν ἀντι πίπτειν τοῖς θεοπνεύστοις ῥητοῖς, ἐξ αὐτῶν λαβοῦσα τὰς ὅλας ἀφορμάς, καὶ διὰ τῆς τοῦ ψεύδους ἐπιμιξίας εἰδωλολατρίαν καὶ τῆς κοσμικῆς δη μιουργίας ἄλλην τινὰ κατὰ τὸν χρόνον καὶ τὸν τρόπον δύναμιν παρεισάγειν ἐπείγεται. φεύγουσα γὰρ εἰπεῖν ὅτι ἐκ τῶν Μωυσαϊκῶν γραφῶν κέκλοφε τὰς ἀρχὰς τῆς συγγραφῆς τὸν Ὠάννην τὸ θαλάττιον ζῷον προβάλλεται, ὅπερ οὐδὲ γέγονέ ποτε οὐδ' ὤφθη τινὶ οὐδ' ὑφέστηκε, καθάπερ οὐδὲ σκίν δαψοι καὶ τραγέλαφοι· καὶ τοῦτό φησι παραδοῦναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, γενέ σθαι πω χρόνον ἐν ᾧ τὸ πᾶν σκότος καὶ ὕδωρ ἦν. ἐπεὶ γὰρ οὐκ ἴσχυσε προφανῶς εἰπεῖν τὰ τοῦ θεόπτου ῥήματα λέγοντα «καὶ σκότος ἐπάνω τῆς ἀβύσσου», μετέπλασε μὲν τοὺς λόγους, οὐ μὴν δὲ τοὺς ἐχέφρονας ἔλαθεν, εἰ καὶ ἐπάγει λέγων καὶ τούτοις ζῷα τερατώδη καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, συγχέαι τὸν ἀκροατὴν σπουδάζουσα καὶ πρὸ τῆς οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς δημιουργίας τὸ σκό τος καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τῶν ἀνυποστάτων ζῴων ὑποτιθέμενος τὴν εἰδωλομα νεστάτην καὶ ἀνύπαρκτον ὕπαρξιν, ὧν τὰς εἰκόνας φησὶν ἐν τῷ τοῦ Βήλου ναῷ σῴζεσθαι. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰ