To Autolycus 3.29
Summary: Pagan historians (Thallus, Berossus) confirm the biblical chronology; Moses is older than Kronos, Belus, and the Trojan War, and any error in Theophilus's reckoning is a matter of decades, not of thousands of years.
Greek text · Otto 8:268–274
Τῶν οὖν χρόνων καὶ τῶν εἰρημένων ἁπάντων συνηθροισμένων, ὁρᾶν ἔστιν τὴν ἀρχαιότητα τῶν προφητικῶν γραμμάτων καὶ τὴν θειότητα τοῦ παρʼ ἡμῖν λόγου, ὅτι οὐ πρόσφατος ὁ λόγος, οὔτε μὴν τὰ καθʼ ἡμᾶς, ὡς οἴονταί τινες, μυθώδη καὶ ψευδῆ ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ μὲν οὖν ἀρχαιότερα καὶ ἀληθέστερα. Καὶ γὰρ Βήλου τοῦ Ἀσσυρίων βασιλεύσαντος καὶ Κρόνου τοῦ Τιτᾶνος Θάλλος μέμνηται, φάσκων τὸν Βῆλον πεπολεμηκέναι σὺν τοῖς Τιτᾶσι πρὸς τὸν Δία καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ θεοὺς λεγομένους, ἔνθα φησὶν Καὶ ὁ Γύγος ἡττηθεὶς ἔφυγεν εἰς Ταρτησσόν, τότε μὲν τῆς χώρας ἐκείνης Ἀκτῆς κληθείσης, νυνὶ δὲ Ἀττικῆς προσαγορευομένης, ἧς ὁ Γύγος τότε ἦρξεν. Καὶ τὰς λοιπὰς δὲ χώρας καὶ πόλεις, ἀφʼ ὧν τὰς προσωνυμίας ἔσχον, οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον ἡγούμεθα καταλέγειν, μάλιστα πρὸς σὲ τὸν ἐπιστάμενον τὰς ἱστορίας. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἀρχαιότερος ὁ Μωσῆς δείκνυται ἁπάντων συγγραφέων (οὐκ αὐτὸς δὲ μόνος ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ πλείους μετʼ αὐτὸν προφῆται γενόμενοι) καὶ Κρόνου καὶ Βήλου καὶ τοῦ Ἰλιακοῦ πολέμου, δῆλόν ἐστιν. Κατὰ γὰρ τὴν Θάλλου ἱστορίαν ὁ Βῆλος προγενέστερος εὑρίσκεται τοῦ Ἰλιακοῦ πολέμου ἔτεσι τκβ΄. Ὅτι δὲ πρός που ἔτεσι ϡ ἢ καὶ ´α προάγει ὁ Μωσῆς τῆς τοῦ Ἰλίου ἁλώσεως, ἐν τοῖς ἐπάνω δεδηλώκαμεν. Τοῦ δὲ Κρόνου καὶ τοῦ Βήλου συνακμασάντων ὁμόσε, οἱ πλείους οὐκ ἐπίστανται τίς ἐστιν ὁ Κρόνος ἤ τίς ὁ Βῆλος. Ἔνιοι μὲν σέβονται τὸν Κρόνον καὶ τοῦτον αὐτὸν ὀνομάζουσι Βὴλ καὶ Βάλ, μάλιστα οἱ οἰκοῦντες τὰ ἀνατολικὰ κλίματα, μὴ γινώσκοντες μήτε τίς ἐστιν ὁ Κρόνος μήτε τίς ἐστιν ὁ Βῆλος. Παρὰ δὲ Ῥωμαίοις Σατοῦρνος ὀνομάζεται· οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτοὶ γινώσκουσιν τίς ἐστιν αὐτῶν, πότερον ὁ Κρόνος ἢ ὁ Βῆλος. Ἡ μὲν οὖν ἀρχὴ τῶν ὀλυμπιάδων ἀπὸ Εἰφίτου, φασίν, ἔσχηκεν τὴν θρησκείαν, κατὰ δέ τινας ἀπὸ Αἵμου, ὃς καὶ Ἴλιος ἐπεκλήθη. Ὁ μὲν οὖν ἀριθμὸς τῶν ἐτῶν καὶ ὀλυμπιάδων ὡς ἔχει τὴν τάξιν, ἐν τοῖς ἐπάνω δεδηλώκαμεν. Τῆς μὲν οὖν ἀρχαιότητος τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν πραγμάτων καὶ τῶν χρόνων τὸν πάντα ἀριθμὸν κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν οἶμαι τὰ νῦν ἀκριβῶς εἰρῆσθαι. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἔλαθεν ἡμᾶς χρόνος, εἰ τύχοι εἰπεῖν ἔτη ν΄ ἢ ρ΄ ἢ καὶ ο΄, οὐ μέντοι μυριάδες ἢ χιλιάδες ἐτῶν, καθὼς προειρήκασιν Πλάτων καὶ Ἀπολλώνιος καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ ψευδῶς ἀναγράψαντες. Ὅπερ ἡμεῖς τὸ ἀκριβὲς ἴσως ἀγνοοῦμεν, ἁπάντων τῶν ἐτῶν τὸν ἀριθμόν, διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀναγεγράφθαι ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς βίβλοις τοὺς ἐπιτρέχοντας μῆνας καὶ ἡμέρας. Ἔτι δὲ περὶ ὧν φαμεν χρόνων συνᾴδει καὶ Βήρωσος, ὁ παρὰ Χαλδαίοις φιλοσοφήσας καὶ μηνύσας Ἕλλησιν τὰ Χαλδαϊκὰ γράμματα, ὃς ἀκολούθως τινὰ εἴρηκεν τῷ Μωσεῖ περί τε κατακλυσμοῦ καὶ ἑτέρων πολλῶν ἐξιστορῶν. Ἔτι μὴν καὶ τοῖς προφήταις Ἱερεμίᾳ καὶ Δανιὴλ σύμφωνα ἐκ μέρους εἴρηκεν· τὰ γὰρ συμβάντα τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως Βαβυλωνίων, ὃν αὐτὸς ὀνομάζει Ναβοπαλάσσαρον, κέκληται δὲ παρὰ Ἑβραίοις Ναβουχοδονόσορ. Μέμνηται καὶ περὶ τοῦ ναοῦ ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ὡς ἠρημῶσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ Χαλδαίων βασιλέως, καὶ ὅτι, Κύρου τὸ δεύτερον ἔτος βασιλεύσαντος τοῦ ναοῦ τῶν θεμελίων τεθέντων, Δαρείου πάλιν βασιλεύσαντος τὸ δεύτερον ἔτος ὁ ναὸς ἐπετελέσθη.
English · Claude translation
When the times and everything said above are gathered together, then, one can see the antiquity of the prophetic writings and the divinity of our teaching: that our teaching is not recent, and that our beliefs are not, as some think, mythical and false, but older and truer. Thallus mentions Belus, who reigned over the Assyrians, and Kronos the Titan, saying that Belus, with the Titans, made war on Zeus and those with him who are called gods; and there he says: “And Gygus, defeated, fled to Tartessus.” That country was then called Acte, and is now called Attica, and Gygus then ruled it. We do not think it necessary to list the other countries and cities from which they got their names, especially for you, who know the histories. That Moses is shown to be older than all the historians (and not he alone, but most of the prophets who came after him), and older than Kronos and Belus and the Trojan War, is clear. For according to Thallus's history, Belus is found to be 322 years earlier than the Trojan War; and we have shown above that Moses precedes the capture of Troy by some 900 or even 1,000 years. Since Kronos and Belus flourished at the same time, most people do not know who Kronos is or who Belus is. Some worship Kronos and call him Bel and Bal, especially those who live in the eastern regions, not knowing who Kronos is or who Belus is. Among the Romans he is called Saturn; for they too do not know which of the two he is, Kronos or Belus. The Olympiads, they say, had their religious beginning from Iphitus, but according to some from Haemus, who was also called Ilius. We have shown above how the number of the years and the Olympiads is arranged. I think that the whole reckoning of the antiquity of our history and of the times has now been stated as precisely as possible. Even if some period has escaped us, say 50 or 100 or even 70 years, it is not tens of thousands or thousands of years, as Plato and Apollonius and the others who wrote falsely have said. Perhaps we do not know the exact number of all the years, because the additional months and days are not recorded in the sacred books. Moreover, Berossus too agrees about the times we speak of; he studied philosophy among the Chaldeans and made the Chaldean writings known to the Greeks, and in his account of the flood and many other things he said some things in agreement with Moses. He also agrees in part with the prophets Jeremiah and Daniel, about what happened to the Jews under the king of the Babylonians, whom he calls Nabopalassar, but who is called Nebuchadnezzar by the Hebrews. He also mentions that the temple in Jerusalem was laid waste by the king of the Chaldeans, and that the foundations of the temple were laid in the second year of Cyrus's reign, and the temple was completed in the second year of Darius's reign.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Thallus, a first- or second-century chronographer, survives only in fragments. Berossus: see Tatian, Or. Graec. 36.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: grave on ἢ before a following word; dittography: τὴν printed twice; misprint: Μίμνηται for Μέμνηται; missing breathing and misplaced accent (Αἵμου); accent: grave on ὃς): ἀπὸ Αιμοῦ, ὅς καὶ Ἴλιος → ἀπὸ Αἵμου, ὃς καὶ Ἴλιος; ὡς ἔχει τὴν τὴν τάξιν → ὡς ἔχει τὴν τάξιν; οὐ μέντοι μυριάδες ἤ χιλιάδες → οὐ μέντοι μυριάδες ἢ χιλιάδες; Μίμνηται καὶ περὶ τοῦ ναοῦ → Μέμνηται καὶ περὶ τοῦ ναοῦ.
Cite this passage
Theophilus, Autol. 3.29 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/3/29/).
Plain text
Theophilus, Autol. 3.29 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/3/29/).
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