Miscellanies 1.21.130 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:80

ὅθεν ἀναμφιλέκτως τῆς τῶν προειρημένων προφητῶν ἡλικίας σὺν καὶ τοῖς ἑπτὰ λεγομένοις σοφοῖς προγενεστέρα ἂν εἴη ἡ ὀλυμπιὰς ἡ πρώτη, ἣ καὶ ὑστέρα τῶν Ἰλιακῶν δείκνυται ἔτεσι τετρακοσίοις ἑπτά. ῥᾴδιον τοίνυν συνιδεῖν Σολομῶνα τὸν κατὰ Μενέλαον γενόμενον (ὃ δὲ κατὰ Ἰλιακὰ ἦν) πολλοῖς ἔτεσι πρεσβύτερον τῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησι σοφῶν. τούτου δʼ αὖ ὁπόσοις ἔτεσι Μωυσῆς προτερεῖ, ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἡμῖν δεδήλωται. Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ ὁ Πολυίστωρ ἐπικληθεὶς ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἰουδαίων συγγράμματι ἀνέγραψέν τινας ἐπιστολὰς Σολομῶνος μὲν πρός τε Οὐάφρην τὸν Αἰγύπτου βασιλέα πρός τε τὸν Φοινίκης Τυρίων τάς τε αὐτῶν πρὸς Σολομῶντα, καθʼ ἃς δείκνυται ὁ μὲν Οὐάφρης ὀκτὼ μυριάδας ἀνδρῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἀπεσταλκέναι αὐτῷ εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ νεώ, ἅτερος δὲ τὰς ἴσας σὺν ἀρχιτέκτονι Τυρίῳ ἐκ μητρὸς Ἰουδαίας ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Δαβίδ, ὡς ἐκεῖ γέγραπται, Ὑπέρων τοὔνομα.

English · Claude translation

Hence without dispute the first Olympiad would be earlier than the age of the prophets just named together with the so-called Seven Wise Men; and it is shown to be later than the Trojan War by four hundred and seven years. It is easy, then, to see that Solomon, who lived in the time of Menelaus (who was at the time of the Trojan War), was many years older than the wise men among the Greeks. And by how many years Moses precedes him has been shown by us above. Alexander, surnamed Polyhistor, in his work on the Jews recorded certain letters of Solomon to Vaphres, king of Egypt, and to the king of the Tyrians in Phoenicia, and theirs to Solomon; according to them Vaphres sent him eighty thousand Egyptian men for the building of the temple, and the other the same number with a Tyrian master builder, whose mother was a Jewess of the tribe of David, as is written there, named Hyperon.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:80 · 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.

Scripture

1 Kgs 7:13 · allusion, medium confidence
2 Chr 2:13 · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

The Tyrian builder is Hiram (Huram-abi) of 1 Kgs 7:13–14 and 2 Chr 2:13–14; the letters are legendary.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (parenthesis garbled in the digital text; word missing in the digital text): (ὃ δὲ κατὰ Ἰλιακα) ἦνʼ → (ὃ δὲ κατὰ Ἰλιακὰ ἦν); Σολομῶνος μὲν τε Οὐάφρην → Σολομῶνος μὲν πρός τε Οὐάφρην.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.21.130 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/21/130/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.21.130 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/21/130/).