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testimonies of the philosopher. And the same man, in his treatise *Concerning the Jews*, writes also these things about Kronos: 1.10.43 "Taautus, whom the Egyptians call Thoth, preeminent in wisdom among the Phoenicians, was the first to arrange the things pertaining to the worship of the gods from the ignorance of the common people into an orderly and scientific experience. Whom, after many generations, the god Sourmoubelos and Thouro, she who was renamed Chousarthis, followed, and they brought to light the theology of Taautus which had been hidden and overshadowed by allegories." 1.10.44 And a little after, he says: "It was a custom of the ancients in great calamities from dangers that, in place of the destruction of all, the rulers of a city or nation would give up the most beloved of their children for slaughter, as a ransom to the avenging daemons; and those who were given up were slaughtered mystically. Kronos, therefore, whom the Phoenicians call El, being king of the country and later, after the end of his life, deified into the star of Kronos, having an only-begotten son from a local nymph named Anobret, whom for this reason they called Ieoud, as the only-begotten is still so called now among the Phoenicians, when the greatest dangers from war had overtaken the country, having adorned his son with royal attire, he prepared an altar and sacrificed him." 1.10.45 And the same man again, translating from the writings of Sanchuniathon concerning the Phoenician elements, see what things he says about the creeping and venomous beasts, which indeed perform no good use for men, but work destruction and ruin on whomever they might smear with their incurable and harsh venom. And he writes these things also word for word, saying thus: 1.10.46 "Now, Taautus himself deified the nature of the dragon and of serpents, and after him again the Phoenicians and Egyptians; for this animal was handed down by him as the most full of spirit and fiery of all creeping things. For which reason it also exhibits an unsurpassed swiftness through its spirit, without feet or hands or any other external means by which the other animals make their movements. And it forms figures of various shapes and in its course has spiral 1.10.47 motions at whatever speed it wishes. And it is also most long-lived, not only by sloughing off its old age to become young again, but it is also its nature to receive a greater increase in size; and when it has fulfilled its appointed measure, it is consumed into itself, just as Taautus himself likewise set down in the sacred writings. For this reason also this animal has been included in temples 1.10.48 and mysteries. And we have spoken of it at greater length in the memoirs entitled *On the Custo<ms of Na>ti<on>s*, in which it is established that it is immortal and is resolved into itself, as has been stated; for this animal does not die its own death, unless it is struck by some force. The Phoenicians call it the Good Daemon. Likewise, the Egyptians call it Kneph; and they add to it a hawk's head, because of the practical nature 1.10.49 of the hawk. And Epeis, speaking allegorically, who was named among them the greatest hierophant and sacred scribe, whom Areius of Heracleopolis translated word for word thus, says: "The first and most divine being is a serpent with the form of a hawk, very graceful; who, if he should open his eyes, would fill the whole universe with light in his prim1.10.50 ordial place; but if he should close them, darkness would come to be." Epeis gives emphasis to the fact that it is also fiery by saying "it lit up"; for it is characteristic of light to light up. And Pherecydes, taking his starting points from the Phoenicians, theologized about the god called by him Ophion and the Ophionidae, about 1.10.51 whom we shall speak again. Moreover, the Egyptians, deriving from the same concept, when drawing the cosmos, trace a circle, airy and fiery in appearance, and a hawk-headed serpent stretched out in the middle, and the whole figure is like our Theta, indicating the circle as the cosmos, and the serpent in the middle as the Good Daemon holding it together. 1.10.52 And Zoroaster the magus in the *Sacred Collection* of the Persians says word for word: "And the god is one having the head of a hawk. He is the first, incorruptible, eternal, unbegotten, without parts,

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φιλοσόφου μαρτυρίας. ὁ δ' αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ Περὶ Ἰουδαίων συγγράμματι ἔτι καὶ ταῦτα περὶ τοῦ Κρόνου γράφει· 1.10.43 «Τάαυτος, ὃν Αἰγύπτιοι προσαγορεύουσιν Θωύθ, σοφίᾳ διενεγκὼν παρὰ τοῖς Φοίνιξιν, πρῶτος τὰ κατὰ τὴν θεοσέβειαν ἐκ τῆς τῶν χυδαίων ἀπειρίας εἰς ἐπιστημονικὴν ἐμπειρίαν διέταξεν. ᾧ μετὰ γενεὰς πλείους θεὸς Σουρμουβηλὸς Θουρώ τε ἡ μετονομασθεῖσα Χούσαρθις ἀκολουθήσαντες κεκρυμμένην τοῦ Τααύτου καὶ ἀλληγορίαις ἐπεσκιασμένην τὴν θεολογίαν ἐφώτισαν.» 1.10.44 Καὶ μετὰ βραχέα φησίν· «Ἔθος ἦν τοῖς παλαιοῖς ἐν ταῖς μεγάλαις συμφοραῖς τῶν κινδύνων ἀντὶ τῆς πάντων φθορᾶς τὸ ἠγαπημένον τῶν τέκνων τοὺς κρατοῦντας ἢ πόλεως ἢ ἔθνους εἰς σφαγὴν ἐπιδιδόναι, λύτρον τοῖς τιμωροῖς δαίμοσιν· κατεσφάττοντο δὲ οἱ διδόμενοι μυστικῶς. Κρόνος τοίνυν, ὃν οἱ Φοίνικες Ἢλ προσαγο ρεύουσιν, βασιλεύων τῆς χώρας καὶ ὕστερον μετὰ τὴν τοῦ βίου τελευτὴν ἐπὶ τὸν τοῦ Κρόνου ἀστέρα καθιερωθείς, ἐξ ἐπιχωρίας νύμφης Ἀνωβρὲτ λεγομένης υἱὸν ἔχων μονογενῆ ὃν διὰ τοῦτο Ἰεοὺδ ἐκάλουν, τοῦ μονογενοῦς οὕτως ἔτι καὶ νῦν καλουμένου παρὰ τοῖς Φοίνιξι κινδύνων ἐκ πολέμου μεγίστων κατειληφότων τὴν χώραν βασιλικῷ κοσμήσας σχήματι τὸν υἱὸν βωμόν τε κατασκευασάμενος κατέθυσεν.» 1.10.45 Ὁ δ' αὐτὸς πάλιν περὶ τῶν Φοινίκων στοιχείων ἐκ τῶν Σαγχουνιάθωνος μεταβάλλων θέα ὁποῖά φησι περὶ τῶν ἑρπυστικῶν καὶ ἰοβόλων θηρίων, ἃ δὴ χρῆσιν μὲν ἀγαθὴν ἀνθρώποις οὐδεμίαν συντελεῖ, φθορὰν δὲ καὶ λύμην οἷς ἂν τὸν δυσαλθῆ καὶ χαλεπὸν ἰὸν ἐγχρίμψειεν ἀπεργάζεται. γράφει δὲ καὶ ταῦτα πρὸς λέξιν ὧδέ πως λέγων· 1.10.46 «Τὴν μὲν οὖν τοῦ δράκοντος φύσιν καὶ τῶν ὄφεων αὐτὸς ἐξεθείασεν ὁ Τάαυτος καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν αὖθις Φοίνικές τε καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι· πνευματικώτατον γὰρ τὸ ζῷον πάντων τῶν ἑρπετῶν καὶ πυρῶδες ὑπ' αὐτοῦ παρεδόθη· παρ' ὃ καὶ τάχος ἀνυπέρβλητον διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος παρίστησιν, χωρὶς ποδῶν τε καὶ χειρῶν ἢ ἄλλου τινὸς τῶν ἔκτοθεν, δι' ὧν τὰ λοιπὰ ζῷα τὰς κινήσεις ποιεῖται· καὶ ποικίλων σχημάτων τύπους ἀποτελεῖ καὶ κατὰ τὴν πορείαν ἑλικοειδεῖς ἔχει 1.10.47 τὰς ὁρμὰς ἐφ' ὃ βούλεται τάχος. καὶ πολυχρονιώτατον δέ ἐστιν οὐ μόνον τε ἐκδυόμενον τὸ γῆρας νεάζειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὔξησιν ἐπιδέχεσθαι μείζονα πέφυκεν· καὶ ἐπειδὰν τὸ ὡρισμένον μέτρον πληρώσῃ, εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀναλίσκεται, ὡς ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς ὁμοίως αὐτὸς ὁ Τάαυτος κατέταξεν γραφαῖς. διὸ καὶ ἐν ἱεροῖς 1.10.48 τοῦτο τὸ ζῷον καὶ μυστηρίοις συμπαρείληπται. εἴρηται δὲ ἡμῖν περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς ἐπιγεγραμμένοις Ἐθῶ<ν Ὀ>θ<νε>ίων ὑπομνήμασιν ἐπὶ πλεῖον, ἐν οἷς κατασκευάζεται ὅτι ἀθάνατον εἴη καὶ ὡς εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀναλύεται, ὥσπερ πρόκειται· οὐ γὰρ θνήσκει ἰδίῳ θανάτῳ εἰ μὴ βίᾳ τινὶ πληγὲν τοῦτο τὸ ζῷον. Φοίνικες δὲ αὐτὸ Ἀγαθὸν ∆αίμονα καλοῦσιν. ὁμοίως καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι Κνὴφ ἐπονομάζουσιν· προστιθέασιν δὲ αὐτῷ ἱέρακος κεφαλήν, διὰ τὸ πρακτικὸν 1.10.49 τοῦ ἱέρακος. καί φησιν Ἐπήεις ἀλληγορῶν ὁ ὀνομασθεὶς παρ' αὐτοῖς μέγιστος ἱεροφάντης καὶ ἱερογραμματεύς, ὃν μετέφρασεν Ἄρειος Ἡρακλεοπολίτης κατὰ λέξιν οὕτως· «τὸ πρῶτον ὂν θειότατον ὄφις ἐστὶν ἱέρακος ἔχων μορφήν, ἄγαν ἐπίχαρις· ὃς εἰ ἀναβλέψειεν, φωτὸς τὸ πᾶν ἐπλήρου ἐν τῇ πρω1.10.50 τογόνῳ χώρᾳ αὐτοῦ· εἰ δὲ καμμύσειεν, σκότος ἐγίνετο»· ἔμφασιν διδοὺς ὁ Ἐπήεις ὅτι καὶ διάπυρόν ἐστι διὰ τοῦ φάναι «διηύγασεν»· φωτὸς γὰρ ἴδιόν ἐστι τὸ διαυγάσαι. παρὰ Φοινίκων δὲ καὶ Φερεκύδης λαβὼν τὰς ἀφορμὰς ἐθεολόγησεν περὶ τοῦ παρ' αὐτῷ λεγομένου Ὀφίονος θεοῦ καὶ τῶν Ὀφιονιδῶν, περὶ 1.10.51 ὧν αὖθις λέξομεν. ἔτι μὴν οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς ἐννοίας τὸν κόσμον γράφοντες περιφερῆ κύκλον ἀεροειδῆ καὶ πυρωπὸν χαράσσουσιν καὶ μέσα τεταμένον ὄφιν ἱερακόμορφον καὶ ἔστι τὸ πᾶν σχῆμα ὡς τὸ παρ' ἡμῖν Θῆτα, τὸν μὲν κύκλον κόσμον μηνύοντες, τὸν δὲ μέσον ὄφιν συνεκτικὸν τούτου 1.10.52 Ἀγαθὸν ∆αίμονα σημαίνοντες. καὶ Ζωροάστρης δὲ ὁ μάγος ἐν τῇ Ἱερᾷ Συναγωγῇ τῶν Περσικῶν φησι κατὰ λέξιν· «Ὁ δὲ θεός ἐστι κεφαλὴν ἔχων ἱέρακος. οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ πρῶτος, ἄφθαρτος, ἀΐδιος, ἀγένητος, ἀμερής,