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their food being more suitable for 9.13.4 a longer time, they reasonably lived for so many years. Then, both because of their virtue and because of the usefulness of their inventions of astrology and geometry, God granted them to live longer, things which they could not have safely foretold without living six hundred years; for through these the great year is completed. 9.13.5 All who have written antiquities among both Greeks and barbarians bear witness to my account. For Manetho, who made the record of the Egyptians, and Berossus, who collected the Chaldean accounts, and Mochus and Hestiaeus, and in addition to them the Egyptian Hieronymus, and those who composed the Phoenician histories, agree with what I have said; Hesiod and Hecataeus and Hellanicus and Acusilaus, and in addition to these Ephorus and Nicolaus, record that the ancients lived for a thousand years. Concerning these matters, therefore, let each person consider them as he pleases.” 9.14.1 Again, when Moses had recounted the building of the tower and how from one language they were confused into many dialects, in the aforementioned writing *Concerning the Assyrians*, the author mentioned a little earlier bears witness to similar things, speaking thus:

9.14.2 14. FROM THE WRITING OF ABYDENUS CONCERNING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE TOWER

“In this they say that the first men who sprang from the earth, puffed up with strength and size and scorning the gods, deeming themselves superior, raised a lofty tower where Babylon now is; and when it was already near to heaven, the winds, coming to the aid of the gods, overthrew the structure upon them; and its ruins are called Babylon. And whereas they had been of one language, they were then given a multifarious speech by the gods; and afterwards war arose between Cronus and Titan.”

9.14.3 15. THAT MANY OTHERS ALSO MADE MENTION OF THE SAME THING; FROM THE ANTIQUITIES OF JOSEPHUS

“The place in which they built the tower is now called Babylon, because of the confusion of what was at first the intelligible language; for the Hebrews call confusion Babel. 9.15.1 The Sibyl also makes mention of this tower and the diversity of languages among men, speaking thus: ‘When all men were of one language, some of them built a very high tower, as if they would ascend up to heaven by it. But the gods sent winds and overthrew the tower, and gave to each his own language; and for this reason it came to pass that the city was called Babylon.’ And concerning the plain called Shinar in the country of Babylonia, Hestiaeus makes mention, speaking thus: ‘That those of the priests who were saved, taking the sacred vessels of Enyalian Zeus, came to Shinar of Babylonia; and from thence the rest were scattered, having established their settlements everywhere because of their common language, and each took possession of whatever land they happened upon.’” Again, when Moses had set forth at length the history concerning Abraham, the forefather of the Hebrews, Josephus says that the gentile historians also bear witness to him, in these words:

9.16.2 10. THOSE WHO MADE MENTION OF ABRAHAM, THE FOREFATHER OF ALL THE HEBREWS

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τὰς τροφὰς ἐπιτηδειοτέρας πρὸς 9.13.4 πλείονα χρόνον οὔσας εἰκότως ἔζων πλῆθος τοσούτων ἐτῶν. ἔπειτα καὶ δι' ἀρετὴν καὶ δι' εὐχρηστίαν ὧν ἐπενόουν ἀστρολογίας καὶ γεωμετρίας εἰς πλείονα ζῆν τὸν θεὸν αὐτοῖς παρασχεῖν, ἅπερ οὐκ ἦν ἀσφαλῶς αὐτοῖς προειπεῖν μὴ ζήσασιν ἑξακοσίους ἐνιαυτούς· διὰ γὰρ τούτων ὁ μέγας ἐνιαυτὸς πλη9.13.5 ροῦται. μαρτυροῦσι δέ μου τῷ λόγῳ πάντες οἱ παρ' Ἕλλησι καὶ βαρβάροις συγγραψάμενοι τὰς ἀρχαιολογίας. καὶ γὰρ καὶ Μάνεθως ὁ τὴν τῶν Αἰγυπτιακῶν ποιησάμενος ἀναγραφὴν καὶ Βηρωσσὸς ὁ τὰ Χαλδαϊκὰ συναγαγὼν καὶ Μόλος καὶ Ἑστιαῖος καὶ πρὸς αὐτοῖς ὁ Αἰγύπτιος Ἱερώνυμος οἵ τε τὰ Φοινικικὰ συνταξάμενοι συμφωνοῦσι τοῖς ὑπ' ἐμοῦ λεγομένοις· Ἡσίοδός τε καὶ Ἑκαταῖος καὶ Ἑλλάνικος καὶ Ἀκουσίλαος καὶ πρὸς τούτοις Ἔφορος και Νικόλαος ἱστοροῦσι τοὺς ἀρχαίους ζήσαντας ἔτη χίλια. περὶ μὲν οὖν τούτων, ὡς ἂν ἑκάστοις ᾖ φίλον, οὕτως σκοπείτωσαν.» 9.14.1 Πάλιν Μωσέως περὶ τῆς τοῦ πύργου κατασκευῆς καὶ ὡς ἀπὸ μιᾶς γλώσσης εἰς πολλὰς συνεχύθησαν διαλέκτους ἱστορήσαντος, ἐν τῇ λεχθείσῃ Περὶ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων γραφῇ ὁ μικρῷ πρόσθεν δηλωθεὶς συγγραφεὺς τὰ ὅμοια μαρτυρεῖ λέγων ὧδε·

9.14.2 ιδʹ. ΑΠΟ ΤΗΣ ΑΒΥ∆ΗΝΟΥ ΓΡΑΦΗΣ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΤΟΥ ΠΥΡΓΟΥ ΚΑΤΑΣΚΕΥΗΣ

«Ἐν τῇ δὴ λέγουσι τοὺς πρώτους ἐκ γῆς ἀνασχόντας, ῥώμῃ τε καὶ μεγέθει χαυνωθέντας καὶ δὴ θεῶν καταφρονήσαντας ἀμείνονας εἶναι, τύρσιν ἠλίβατον ἀείρειν, ἵνα νῦν Βαβυλών ἐστιν· ἤδη τε ἆσσον εἶναι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ τοὺς ἀνέμους θεοῖσι βωθέοντας ἀνατρέψαι περὶ αὐτοῖσι τὸ μηχάνημα· τοῦ δὴ τὰ ἐρείπια λέγεσθαι Βαβυλῶνα. τέως δὲ ὄντας ὁμογλώσσους ἐκ θεῶν πολύθροον φωνὴν ἐνείκασθαι, μετὰ δὲ Κρόνῳ τε καὶ Τιτῆνι συστῆναι πόλεμον.»

9.14.3 ιεʹ. ΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΤΕΡΟΙ ΠΛΕΙΟΥΣ ΕΜΝΗΣΘΗΣΑΝ ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ· ΑΠΟ ΤΗΣ ΙΩΣΗΠΟΥ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΛΟΓΙΑΣ

«Ὁ δὲ τόπος, ἐν ᾧ τὸν πύργον ᾠκοδόμησαν, νῦν Βαβυλὼν καλεῖται, διὰ τὴν σύγχυσιν τοῦ περὶ τὴν διάλεκτον πρῶτον ἐναργοῦς· Ἑβραῖοι γὰρ τὴν σύγχυσιν Βαβὲλ καλοῦσι. 9.15.1 Περὶ δὲ τοῦ πύργου τούτου καὶ τῆς ἀλλοφωνίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων μέμνηται καὶ Σίβυλλα, λέγουσα οὕτως· «Πάντων ὁμοφώνων ὄντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων πύργον ᾠκοδόμησάν τινες ὑψηλότατον, ὡς ἐπὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβησόμενοι δι' αὐτοῦ. οἱ δὲ θεοὶ ἀνέμους ἐπιπέμψαντες ἀνέτρεψαν τὸν πύργον, καὶ ἰδίαν ἑκάστῳ φωνὴν ἔδωκαν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο Βαβυλῶνα συνέβη κληθῆναι τὴν πόλιν.» περὶ δὲ τοῦ πεδίου τοῦ λεγομένου Σενναὰρ ἐν τῇ Βαβυλωνίᾳ χώρᾳ μνημονεύει Ἑστιαῖος, λέγων οὕτως· «Τῶν δὲ ἱερέων τοὺς διασωθέντας, τὰ τοῦ Ἐνυαλίου ∆ιὸς ἱερώματα λαβόντας, εἰς Σενναὰρ τῆς Βαβυλωνίας ἐλθεῖν· σκίδνανται δὴ τὸ λοιπὸν ἐντεῦθεν ὑπὸ τῆς ὁμογλωσσίας τὰς συνοικίας ποιησάμενοι πανταχοῦ, καὶ γῆν ἕκαστοι κατελάμβανον τὴν ἐντυχοῦσαν.»« Πάλιν Μωσέως τὴν κατὰ τὸν Ἑβραίων προπάτορα Ἁβραὰμ ἱστορίαν εἰς πλάτος ἐκθεμένου, μαρτυρεῖν αὐτῷ καὶ τοὺς ἔξωθεν ἱστορικοὺς ὁ Ἰώσηπος λέγει διὰ τούτων·

9.16.2 ιʹ. ΟΣΟΙ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΝΤΩΝ ΕΒΡΑΙΩΝ ΠΡΟΠΑΤΟΡΟΣ ΑΒΡΑΑΜ ΕΜΝΗΣΘΗΣΑΝ