Miscellanies 1.16.74 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The barbarians invented nearly every art: astronomy, calendars, geometry, divination, and music.

Greek text · Stählin 2:47–48

Οὐ μόνης δὲ φιλοσοφίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάσης σχεδὸν τέχνης εὑρεταὶ βάρβαροι. Αἰγύπτιοι γοῦν πρῶτοι ἀστρολογίαν εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἐξήνεγκαν, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Χαλδαῖοι. Αἰγύπτιοι λύχνους τε αὖ καίειν πρῶτοι κατέδειξαν καὶ τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν εἰς δώδεκα μῆνας διεῖλον καὶ ἐν ἱεροῖς μίσγεσθαι γυναιξὶν ἐκώλυσαν μηδʼ εἰς ἱερὰ εἰσιέναι ἀπὸ γυναικὸς ἀλούτους ἐνομοθέτησαν γεωμετρίας τε αὖ εὑρεταὶ οἱ αὐτοὶ γεγόνασιν. εἰσὶν δὲ οἳ Κᾶρας οἳ τὴν διʼ ἀστέρων πρόγνωσιν ἐπινενοηκέναι λέγουσιν. πτήσεις δὲ ὀρνίθων παρεφυλάξαντο πρῶτοι Φρύγες, καὶ θυτικὴν ἠκρίβωσαν Τοῦσκοι, Ἰταλίας γείτονες. Ἴσαυροι δὲ καὶ Ἄραβες ἐξεπόνησαν τὴν οἰωνιστικήν, ὥσπερ ἀμέλει Τελμισεῖς τὴν διʼ ὀνείρων μαντικήν. Τυρρηνοὶ δὲ σάλπιγγα ἐπενόησαν καὶ Φρύγες αὐλόν· Φρύγες γὰρ ἤστην Ὄλυμπός τε καὶ Μαρσύας.

English · Claude translation

The barbarians were inventors not only of philosophy but of almost every art. The Egyptians, at any rate, were the first to introduce astronomy to mankind, and likewise the Chaldeans. The Egyptians first showed how to burn lamps, divided the year into twelve months, forbade intercourse with women in temples, and legislated that no one should enter temples from a woman unwashed; the same were inventors of geometry. Some say the Carians devised prediction by the stars. The Phrygians first observed the flights of birds, and the Tuscans, neighbors of Italy, perfected the inspection of sacrifices. The Isaurians and Arabians worked out augury, as indeed the Telmessians did divination by dreams. The Tyrrhenians invented the trumpet and the Phrygians the flute; for Olympus and Marsyas were Phrygians.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:47–48 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 17. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1906–1909); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.

Topics

Scripture and canon

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.16.74 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/16/74/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.16.74 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/16/74/).