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and have written things discordant with one another. At any rate, these things will also contribute to the accurate and firm confirmation of what has been said. Hear, therefore, what this man also writes, word for word:

10.7.1 7. OF JOSEPHUS CONCERNING THE SAME THING “First, then, it occurs to me to marvel greatly at those who think it necessary, concerning the most ancient deeds, to pay attention only to the Greeks and from them to inquire after 10.7.2 the truth, but to disbelieve us and other peoples. For I see that the very opposite has happened, if indeed one must not follow vain opinions, but take what is just from the facts themselves. For one might find that all things among the Greeks are new, of yesterday and the day before, as one might say; I mean the founding of cities and matters concerning the inventions of the arts and matters concerning the recordings of laws. And of all things, almost the newest among them is the 10.7.3 care for writing histories. However, as for the Egyptians and Chaldeans and Phoenicians—for I forbear now to count ourselves among them—they themselves surely confess that they have a most ancient and most lasting 10.7.4 tradition of memory. For they all inhabit places least subject to destructions from the environment, and they have taken great care that nothing done among them should be left unremembered, but that it should always be consecrated in public 10.7.5 records by the wisest men. But the region of Greece has been seized by countless destructions, wiping out the memory of what has happened; and always establishing new ways of life, each group thought that the whole began from 10.7.6 themselves. And late and with difficulty they learned the nature of letters. At any rate, those who wish their use to be most ancient boast of having learned 10.7.7 them from the Phoenicians and Cadmus. And yet, not even from that time could anyone show a preserved record, neither in temples nor on public monuments; indeed, even concerning those who campaigned at Troy so many years later, there has been much perplexity and inquiry as to whether they used letters; and the truth prevails that they were ignorant of the present use of letters. 10.7.8 And in general, among the Greeks no acknowledged writing is found older than the poetry of Homer; and he appears to have been born after the Trojan War. And they say that not even he left his own poetry in writing, but that it was preserved by memory and later compiled from letters, and for this reason 10.7.9 it has many discrepancies in it. However, those who attempted to write histories among them, I mean those such as Cadmus the Milesian and Acusilaus the Argive and if any others are said to have come after him, 10.7.10 preceded the Persian campaign against Greece by a short time. But indeed, also as to those who first philosophized among the Greeks about heavenly and divine things, such as Pherecydes the Syrian, and Pythagoras, and Thales, all agree that, having become disciples of the Egyptians and Chaldeans, they wrote little; and these things seem to the Greeks to be the most ancient of all, and they scarcely believe that they were written by those men. 10.7.11 How then is it not irrational for the Greeks to be puffed up as if they alone know ancient things and accurately hand down the truth concerning them? Or who would not easily learn from the writers themselves that they wrote knowing nothing for certain, 10.7.12 but just as each one conjectured about the matters? At any rate, they rather refute one another through their books and do not hesitate to say the most contrary things about the same subjects. But I would be meddlesome if I were to teach those who know more than I, how many things Hellanicus to Acusilaus concerning the genealogies

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διάφωνά τε ἑαυτοῖς γεγραφέναι. συμβαλεῖται γοῦν καὶ ταῦτα εἰς τὴν τῶν εἰρημένων ἀκριβῆ καὶ βεβαίαν πίστωσιν. ἄκουε τοίνυν οἷα καὶ οὗτος γράφει πρὸς λέξιν·

10.7.1 ζʹ. ΙΩΣΗΠΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ «Πρῶτον οὖν ἐπέρχεταί μοι πάνυ θαυμάζειν τοὺς οἰομένους δεῖν περὶ τῶν παλαιοτάτων ἔργων μόνοις προσέχειν τοῖς Ἕλλησι καὶ παρὰ τούτων πυνθάνεσθαι 10.7.2 τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἡμῖν δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις ἀπιστεῖν. πᾶν γὰρ ἐγὼ τοὐναντίον ὁρῶ συμβεβηκός, εἴ γε δεῖ μὴ ταῖς ματαίαις δόξαις ἐπακολουθεῖν, ἀλλ' ἐξ αὐτῶν τὸ δίκαιον τῶν πραγμάτων λαμβάνειν. τὰ μὲν γὰρ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἅπαντα νέα καὶ χθὲς καὶ πρώην, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, εὕροι γεγονότα· λέγω δὲ τὰς κτίσεις τῶν πόλεων καὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς ἐπινοίας τῶν τεχνῶν καὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς τῶν νόμων ἀναγραφάς· πάντων δὲ νεωτάτη σχεδόν ἐστι παρ' αὐτοῖς ἡ 10.7.3 περὶ τοῦ συγγράφειν τὰς ἱστορίας ἐπιμέλεια. τὰ μέντοι παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις τε καὶ Χαλδαίοις καὶ Φοίνιξιν-ἐῶ γὰρ νῦν ἡμᾶς ἐκείνοις συγκαταλέγειν- αὐτοὶ δήπουθεν ὁμολογοῦσιν ἀρχαιοτάτην καὶ μονιμωτάτην ἔχειν τῆς μνήμης 10.7.4 τὴν παράδοσιν. καὶ γὰρ τόπους ἅπαντες οἰκοῦσιν ἥκιστα ταῖς ἐκ τοῦ περιέχοντος φθοραῖς ὑποκειμένους καὶ πολλὴν ἐποιήσαντο πρόνοιαν τοῦ μηδὲν ἄμνηστον τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς πραττομένων παραλιπεῖν, ἀλλ' ἐν δημοσίαις 10.7.5 ἀναγραφαῖς ὑπὸ τῶν σοφωτάτων ἀεὶ καθιεροῦσθαι. τὸν δὲ περὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα τόπον μυρίαι μὲν φθοραὶ κατέσχον, ἐξαλείφουσαι τὴν μνήμην τῶν γεγονότων· ἀεὶ δὲ καινοὺς καθιστάμενοι βίους τοῦ παντὸς ἐνόμιζον ἄρχειν ἕκαστος τῶν 10.7.6 ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν· ὀψὲ δὲ καὶ μόλις ἔγνωσαν φύσιν γραμμάτων. οἱ γοῦν ἀρχαιοτάτην αὐτῶν τὴν χρῆσιν εἶναι θέλοντες παρὰ Φοινίκων καὶ Κάδμου σεμνύνονται 10.7.7 μαθεῖν. οὐ μὴν οὐδ' ἀπ' ἐκείνου τοῦ χρόνου δύναιτό τις ἂν δεῖξαι σῳζομένην ἀναγραφὴν οὔτ' ἐν ἱεροῖς οὔτ' ἐπὶ δημοσίοις ἀναθήμασιν· ὅπου γε καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐπὶ Τροίαν τοσούτοις ἔτεσι στρατευσάντων ὕστερον πολλὴ γέγονεν ἀπορία καὶ ζήτησις εἰ γράμμασιν ἐχρῶντο· καὶ τἀληθὲς ἐπικρατεῖ μᾶλλον περὶ τοῦ τὴν νῦν οὖσαν τῶν γραμμάτων χρῆσιν ἐκείνους ἀγνοεῖν. 10.7.8 ὅλως δὲ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν οὐδὲν ὁμολογούμενον εὑρίσκεται γράμμα τῆς Ὁμήρου ποιήσεως πρεσβύτερον· οὗτος δὲ καὶ τῶν Τρωϊκῶν ὕστερος φαίνεται γενόμενος. καί φασιν οὐδὲ τοῦτον ἐν γράμμασι τὴν αὑτοῦ ποίησιν καταλιπεῖν, ἀλλὰ διαμνημονευομένην ἐκ τῶν γραμμάτων ὕστερον συντεθῆναι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο 10.7.9 πολλὰς ἐν αὐτῇ σχεῖν τὰς διαφωνίας. οἱ μέντοι τὰς ἱστορίας ἐπιχειρήσαντες συγγράφειν παρ' αὐτοῖς, λέγω δὲ τοὺς περὶ Κάδμον τε τὸν Μιλήσιον καὶ τὸν Ἀργεῖον Ἀκουσίλαον καὶ μετὰ τοῦτον εἴ τινες ἄλλοι λέγονται γενέσθαι, 10.7.10 βραχὺ τῆς Περσῶν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα στρατείας τῷ χρόνῳ προέλαβον. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τοὺς περὶ τῶν οὐρανίων τε καὶ θείων πρώτους παρ' Ἕλλησι φιλοσοφήσαντας, οἷον Φερεκύδην τε τὸν Σύριον καὶ Πυθαγόραν καὶ Θάλητα, πάντες συμφώνως ὁμολογοῦσιν Αἰγυπτίων καὶ Χαλδαίων γενομένους μαθητὰς ὀλίγα συγγράψαι· καὶ ταῦτα τοῖς Ἕλλησιν εἶναι δοκεῖ πάντων ἀρχαιότατα καὶ μόλις αὐτὰ πιστεύουσιν ὑπ' ἐκείνων γεγράφθαι. 10.7.11 Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλογον τετυφῶσθαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας ὡς μόνους ἐπισταμένους τὰ ἀρχαῖα καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν περὶ αὐτῶν ἀκριβῶς παραδιδόντας; ἢ τίς οὐ παρ' αὐτῶν ἂν τῶν συγγραφέων μάθοι ῥᾳδίως ὅτι μηδὲν βεβαίως εἰδότες συνέ10.7.12 γραφον, ἀλλ' ὡς ἕκαστοι περὶ τῶν πραγμάτων εἴκαζον; πλέον γοῦν διὰ τῶν βιβλίων ἀλλήλους ἐλέγχουσι καὶ τἀναντιώτατα περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν λέγειν οὐκ ὀκνοῦσι. περίεργος δ' ἂν εἴην ἐγὼ τοὺς ἐμοῦ μᾶλλον ἐπισταμένους διδάσκων, ὅσα μὲν Ἑλλάνικος Ἀκουσιλάῳ περὶ τῶν γενεαλογιῶν