is of the age of Moses. 38.1 But there are accurate records of the Egyptians' chronologies, and the interpreter of their writings is Ptolemy, not the king, but a priest of Mendes. This man, in setting forth the deeds of the kings, says that the journey of the Jews from Egypt to the places they desired happened during the reign of Amosis, king of Egypt, with Moses as their leader. And he speaks thus: _And_ _Amosis_ _lived_ during the time of king Inachus. After him, Apion the grammarian, a most esteemed man, in the fourth of his Egyptian histories (for there are five books by him), among many other things, also says that _Amosis_ _destroyed_ _Avaris_ _during the time_ _of the Argive_ Inachus, as Ptolemy of Mendes recorded in his Chronicles. 38.2 And the time from Inachus until the capture of Ilium fills twenty generations, and the proof has this form. 39.1 The kings of the Argives were these: Inachus, Phoroneus, Apis, Argus, Criasus, Phorbas, Triopas, Crotopus, Sthenelus, Danaus, Lynceus, Abas, Proetus, Acrisius, Perseus, Sthenelus, Eurystheus, Atreus, Thyestes, Agamemnon, in the eighteenth year of whose reign Ilium was captured. And the prudent man must understand with all accuracy that according to the tradition of the Greeks, there was not even any recording of history among them. For Cadmus, who handed down the letters to the aforementioned, came to Boeotia many generations later. After Inachus, in the time of Phoroneus, the beastly and nomadic life was with difficulty circumscribed, and men were brought to an ordered state. Therefore, if Moses is shown to have lived in the time of Inachus, he is older than the Trojan events by four hundred years. 39.2 And this is proved to be so from the succession of the Attic kings, and the Macedonian, and the Ptolemaic, and also the Antiochian; whence, if the more illustrious deeds among the Greeks were recorded and are known after Inachus, it is clear that they were also after Moses. For in the time of Phoroneus, who was after Inachus, Ogygus is mentioned among the Athenians, in whose time the first flood occurred; and in the time of Phorbas, Actaeus, from whom Attica was called Actaea; and in the time of Triopas, Prometheus and Epimetheus and Atlas and the double-natured Cecrops and Io; and in the time of Crotopus, the conflagration under Phaethon and the deluge under Deucalion; and in the time of Sthenelus, both the reign of Amphictyon and the arrival 39.3 of Danaus in the Peloponnesus and the founding of Dardania by Dardanus and the conveyance of Europa from Phoenicia to Crete; and in the time of Lynceus, the rape of Kore and the foundation of the sanctuary at Eleusis and the agriculture of Triptolemus and the arrival of Cadmus at Thebes and the reign of Minos; and in the time of Proetus, the war of Eumolpus against the Athenians; and in the time of Acrisius, the crossing of Pelops from Phrygia and the arrival of Ion in Athens and the second Cecrops and the deeds of Perseus and Dionysus, and Musaeus, the disciple of Orpheus; and in the reign of Agamemnon, Ilium was captured. 40.1 Therefore Moses has been shown from the aforesaid to be older than heroes, cities, and daemons. And one must trust the one who is senior in age, rather than the Greeks who drew his doctrines from their source without true knowledge. For their sophists, using much elaborate artfulness upon what they learned from the school of Moses and those who philosophized like him, attempted to adulterate them, first, that they might be thought to say something of their own, and second, so that by concealing what they did not understand with a certain counterfeit rhetoric, they might misrepresent the truth as mythology. Therefore, concerning our own commonwealth and the history according to our laws, and all that the learned among the Greeks have said, and 40.2 how many and who they are that have made mention of them, will be shown in the treatise _Against those who have misrepresented the things concerning God_. 41.1 But for the present matter, we must hasten to make clear with all accuracy that Moses is older not only than Homer, but also than the writers before him, Linus, Philammon, Thamyris, Amphion, Orpheus, Musaeus, Demodocus, Phemius, Sibyl, Epimenides

ἐστι τῆς Μωυσέως ἡλικίας. 38.1 Αἰγυπτίων δέ εἰσιν ἀκριβεῖς χρόνων ἀναγραφαί, καὶ τῶν κατ' αὐτοὺς γραμμάτων ἑρμηνεύς ἐστι Πτολεμαῖος, οὐχ ὁ βασιλεύς, ἱερεὺς δὲ Μένδητος. οὗτος τὰς τῶν βασιλέων πράξεις ἐκτιθέμενος κατ' Ἄμωσιν Αἰγύπτου βασιλέα γεγονέναι Ἰουδαίοις φησὶ τὴν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου πορείαν εἰς ἅπερ ἤθελον χωρία, Μωυσέως ἡγουμένου. λέγει δὲ οὕτως· _ὁ_ _δ_ὲ_ _ __Α_μ_ω_σ_ι_ς_ _ἐ_γ_έ_νετο κατ' Ἴναχον βασιλέα. μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον Ἀπίων ὁ γραμματικὸς ἀνὴρ δοκιμώτατος, ἐν τῇ τετάρτῃ τῶν Αἰγυπτιακῶν (πέντε δέ εἰσιν αὐτῷ γραφαί) πολλὰ μὲν καὶ ἄλλα, φησὶ δὲ καὶ ὅτι _κ_α_τ_έ_σ_κ_α_ψ_ε_ _τ_ὴ_ν_ _ _ ̓_Α_ο_υ_α_ρ_ί_α_ν_ _ __Α_μ_ω_σ_ι_ς_ _κ_α_τ_ὰ_ _τ_ὸ_ν_ _ _̓_Α_ρ_γ_ε_ῖ_ο_ν_ _γ_ε_ν_όμενος Ἴναχον, ὡς ἐν τοῖς Χρόνοις ἀνέγραψεν ὁ Μενδήσιος Πτολεμαῖος. ὁ δὲ ἀπ' Ἰνάχου 38.2 χρόνος ἄχρι τῆς Ἰλίου ἁλώσεως ἀποπληροῖ γενεὰς εἴκοσι καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀποδείξεως τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν τρόπον. 39.1 Γεγόνασιν Ἀργείων βασιλεῖς οἵδε· Ἴναχος Φορωνεὺς Ἆπις Ἀργεῖος Κρίασος Φόρβας Τριόπας Κρότωπος Σθενέλαος ∆αναὸς Λυγκεὺς Ἄβας Προῖτος Ἀκρίσιος Περσεὺς Σθενέλαος Εὐρυσθεὺς Ἀτρεὺς Θυέστης Ἀγαμέμνων, οὗ κατὰτὸ ὀκτωκαιδέκατον ἔτος τῆς βασιλείας Ἴλιον ἑάλω. καὶ χρὴ τὸν νουνεχῆ συνεῖναι μετὰ πάσης ἀκριβείας ὅτι κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλήνων παράδοσιν οὐδ' ἱστορίας τις ἦν παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀναγραφή. Κάδμος γὰρ ὁ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῖς προειρημένοις παραδοὺς μετὰ πολλὰς γενεὰς τῆς Βοιωτίας ἐπέβη. μετὰ δὲ Ἴναχον ἐπὶ Φορωνέως μόγις τοῦ θηριώδους βίου καὶ νομάδος περιγραφὴ γέγονεν μετεκοσμήθησάν τε οἱ ἄνθρωποι. διόπερ εἰ κατὰ Ἴναχον πέφηνεν ὁ Μωυσῆς γεγονώς, πρεσβύτερός ἐστι τῶν Ἰλιακῶν ἔτεσι τετρακοσίοις. ἀποδείκνυται δὲ 39.2 τοῦθ' οὕτως ἔχον ἀπὸ τε τῆς τῶν Ἀττικῶν βασιλέων διαδοχῆς καὶ Μακεδονικῶν καὶ Πτολεμαϊκῶν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ Ἀντιοχικῶν· ὅθεν εἰ μετὰ τὸν Ἴναχον αἱ διαφανέστεραι πράξεις παρ' Ἕλλησιν ἀνεγράφησάν τε καὶ γινώσκονται, δῆλον ὡς καὶ μετὰ Μωυσέα. κατὰ μὲν γὰρ Φορωνέα τὸν μετ' Ἴναχον μνημονεύεται παρ' Ἀθηναίοις Ὤγυγος, ἐφ' οὗ κατακλυσμὸς ὁ πρῶτος· κατὰ δὲ Φόρβαντα Ἀκταῖος, ἀφ' οὗ Ἀκταία ἡ Ἀττική· κατὰ δὲ Τριόπαν Προμηθεὺς καὶ Ἐπιμηθεὺς καὶ Ἄτλας καὶ ὁ διφυὴς Κέκροψ καὶ ἡ Ἰώ· κατὰ δὲ Κρότωπον ἡ ἐπὶ Φαέθοντος ἐκπύρωσις καὶ ἡ ἐπὶ ∆ευκαλίωνος ἐπομβρία· κατὰ δὲ Σθενέλαον ἥ τε Ἀμφικτύονος βασιλεία καὶ ἡ εἰς 39.3 Πελοπόννησον ∆αναοῦ παρουσία καὶ ἡ ὑπὸ ∆αρδάνου τῆς ∆αρδανίας κτίσις ἥ τε ἐκ Φοινίκης τῆς Εὐρώπης εἰς τὴν Κρήτην ἀνακομιδή· κατὰ δὲ Λυγκέα τῆς Κόρης ἡ ἁρπαγὴ καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι τεμένους καθίδρυσις καὶ ἡ Τριπτολέμου γεωργία καὶ ἡ Κάδμου εἰς Θήβας παρουσία Μίνωός τε ἡ βασιλεία· κατὰ δὲ Προῖτον ὁ Εὐμόλπου πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πόλεμος· κατὰ δὲ Ἀκρίσιον ἡ Πέλοπος ἀπὸ Φρυγίας διάβασις καὶ ἡ Ἴωνος εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας ἄφιξις καὶ ὁ δεύτερος Κέκροψ αἵ τε Περσέως καὶ ∆ιονύσου πράξεις καὶ Ὀρφέως μαθητὴς Μουσαῖος· κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἀγαμέμνονος βασιλείαν ἑάλω τὸ Ἴλιον. 40.1 Οὐκοῦν πέφηνε Μωυσῆς ἀπό γε τῶν προειρημένων πρεσβύτερος ἡρώων πόλεων δαιμόνων. καὶ χρὴ τῷ πρεσβεύοντι κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν πιστεύειν ἤπερ τοῖς ἀπὸ πηγῆς ἀρυσαμένοις Ἕλλησιν οὐ κατ' ἐπίγνωσιν τὰ ἐκείνου δόγματα. πολλῇ γὰρ οἱ κατ' αὐτοὺς σοφισταὶ κεχρημένοι περιεργίᾳ τὰ ὅσα παρὰ τῶν κατὰ Μωυσέα καὶ τῶν ὁμοίως αὐτῷ φιλοσοφούντων ἔγνωσαν, παραχαράττειν ἐπειράθησαν, πρῶτον μὲν ἵνα τι λέγειν ἴδιον νομισθῶσι, δεύτερον δὲ ὅπως τὰ ὅσα μὴ συνίεσαν διά τινος ἐπιπλάστου ῥητολογίας παρακαλύπτοντες, ὡς μυθολογίαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν παραβραβεύσωσι. Περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς πολιτείας ἱστορίας τε τῆς κατὰ τοὺς ἡμετέρους νόμους ὅσα τε εἰρήκασιν οἱ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι λόγιοι καὶ 40.2 πόσοι καὶ τίνες εἰσὶν οἱ μνημονεύσαντες, ἐν τῷ Πρὸς τοὺς ἀποφηναμένους τὰ περὶ θεοῦ δειχθήσεται. 41.1 Τὸ δὲ νῦν συνέχον, σπευστέον μετὰ πάσης ἀκριβείας σαφηνίζειν ὡς οὐχ Ὁμήρου μόνον πρεσβύτερός ἐστιν ὁ Μωυσῆς, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ συγγραφέων, Λίνου Φιλάμμωνος Θαμύριδος Ἀμφίονος Ὀρφέως Μουσαίου ∆ημοδόκου Φημίου Σιβύλλης Ἐπιμενίδου