Berossus

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Berossus (

Hellenistic-era Babylonian writer, a priest of Bel Marduk[2] and astronomer who wrote in the Koine Greek language, and who was active at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. His original works, including his Babyloniaca, have been lost but fragmentarily survive in some quotations, especially in the writings of the fourth-century Christian writer Eusebius.[3]

Berossus has recently been identified with Bēl-rē’ûšunu, a high priest of the temple Esagila Temple mentioned in a document from 258 BC.[4]

Name

The name Berossus likely originates from a theophoric name whose first component was Bel, meaning "Lord," which was a common title for Marduk. The original name was either either Bēl-rē’ûšunu, meaning "the god Bel is their shepherd," or Bēl-uṣuršu, meaning "O Bel watch over him!"[5]

Life and work

Using ancient Babylonian records and texts that are now

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio are also attributed to Berossus, but are of unknown provenance, or indeed are uncertain as to where they might fit into his History. Vitruvius credits him with the invention of the semi-circular sundial hollowed out of a cubical block.[9] A statue of him was erected in Athens
, perhaps attesting to his fame and scholarship as historian and astronomer-astrologer.

A separate work, Procreatio, is attributed to him by the Latin commentaries on Aratus, Commentariorium in Aratum Reliquiae, but there is no proof of this connection. However, a direct citation (name and title) is rare in antiquity, and it may have referred to Book 1 of his History.

He was born during or before Alexander the Great's reign over Babylon (330–323 BC), with the earliest date suggested as 340 BC. According to Vitruvius's work de Architectura, he relocated eventually to the island of Kos off the coast of Asia Minor and established a school of astronomy there[10] by the patronage of the king of Egypt. However, scholars have questioned whether it would have been possible to work under the Seleucids and then relocate to a region experiencing Ptolemaic control late in life. It is not known when he died.

Babyloniaca (History of Babylonia)

Main article: Babyloniaca (Berossus)

Versions at several removes of the remains of Berossos' lost Babyloniaca are given by two later Greek

astrologer.[13] The excerpts quoted recount mythology and history that relate to Old Testament concerns. As historian and archaeologist W.G. Lambert observes: "Of course Berossus may have written other works which are not quoted by Josephus and Eusebius because they lacked any Biblical interest".[13]
Lambert finds some statements in the Latin writers so clearly erroneous that it renders doubtful whether the writers had first-hand knowledge of Berossus' text.

Sources and content

The Armenian translations of Eusebius and Syncellus' transmissions (Chronicon and Ecloga Chronographica, respectively) both record Berossus' use of "public records" and it is possible that Berossus catalogued his sources. This did not make him reliable, only that he was careful with the sources and his access to priestly and sacred records allowed him to do what other Babylonians could not. What we have of ancient

myth
is somewhat comparable with Berossus, though the exact integrity with which he transmitted his sources is unknown because much of the literature of Mesopotamia has not survived. What is clear is that the form of writing he used was dissimilar to actual Babylonian literature, writing as he did in Greek.

Book 1

Book 1 fragments are preserved in Eusebius and Syncellus above, one of the main sources for knowledge about

Oannes
after the Creation, and so Verbrugghe and Wickersham (2000:17) have suggested that this is where the astrological fragments discussed above would fit, if at all.

Book 2

Book 2 describes the history of the Babylonian kings from Alulim down to Nabonassar (747–734 BC). Eusebius reports that Apollodorus reports that Berossus recounts 432,000 years from the first king Aloros (Alulim) to the tenth king Xisouthros and the Babylonian Flood. From Berossus' genealogy, it is clear that he had access to king-lists in compiling this section of History, particularly in the kings before the Flood, and from the 7th century BC with Senakheirimos (Sennacherib, who ruled both Assyria and Babylon). His account of the Flood (preserved in Syncellus) is extremely similar to versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh that we have presently. However, in Gilgamesh, the main protagonist is Utnapishtim, while for Berossus, Xisouthros is probably a Greek transliteration of Ziusudra, the protagonist of the Sumerian version of the Flood.

Perhaps what Berossus omits to mention is also noteworthy. Much information on

Derketo
, and married to Ninus (the legendary founder of Nineveh, according to Greek authors).

Book 3

Book 3 relates the history of Babylon from Nabonassar to Antiochus I (presumably). Again, it is likely that he used king-lists, though it is not known which ones he used. The Mesopotamian documents known as King-List A (one copy from the 6th or 5th centuries BC) and Chronicle 1 (3 copies with one confidently dated to 500 BC) are usually suggested as the ones he used, due to the synchronicity between those and his History (though there are some differences). A large part of his history around the time of Naboukhodonosoros (Nebuchadnezzar II, 604–562 BC) and Nabonnedos (Nabonidus, 556–539 BC) survives. Here we see his interpretation of history for the first time, moralising about the success and failure of kings based on their moral conduct. This is similar to another Babylonian history, Chronicle of Nabonidus (as well as to the Hebrew Bible), and differs from the rationalistic accounts of other Greek historians like Thucydides.

At the time of the Jewish historian

Ptolemy of Alexandria in his Canon
, excepting for the fact that the king that reigned between Neglissar and Nabonnedus is omitted by Ptolemy.

Nabopolassar = reigned 21 years.
Nebuchadnezzar b. Nabuchodonosor = reigned 43 years.
Evil Merodach (also called Amel-Marduk) = reigned 2 years. (Josephus, elsewhere, contradicts Berossus, saying that Evil Merodach reigned 18 years).[15]
Neglissar (Neriglissoor) = reigned 4 years (Josephus, elsewhere, says that Neglissar reigned 40 years, which seems odd that it is a factor of 10).[16]
Laborosoarchod (Labosordacus) = reigned 9 months.
Nabonnedus (also known as Baltasar) = reigned 17 years, in which year, Cyrus king of Persia and Darius king of Media took Babel (Borsippus) from the Chaldaeans.

Transmission and reception

Berossus' work was not popular during the Hellenistic period. The usual account of Mesopotamian history was

Caesar Augustus), Pliny the Elder (d. 79 AD), and Seneca the Younger (d. 65 AD). Seven later pagan writers probably transmitted Berossus via Poseidonius through an additional intermediary. They were Aetius (1st or 2nd century AD), Cleomedes (second half of 2nd century AD), Pausanias
(c. 150 AD), Athenaeus (c. 200 AD), Censorinus (3rd century AD), and an anonymous Latin commentator on the Greek poem Phaenomena by Aratus of Soloi (ca. 315–240/39 BC).

Jewish and Christian references to Berossus probably had a different source, either

Tatianus of Syria (2nd century AD), Theophilus Bishop of Antioch (180 AD), and Titus Flavius Clemens
(c. 200 AD).

Like Poseidonius', neither Alexander's nor Juba's works have survived. However, the material in Berossus was recorded by

Praeparatio Evangelica
are derived from Josephus, Tatianus, and another inconsequential source (the last cite contains only, "Berossus the Babylonian recorded Naboukhodonosoros in his history").

Christian writers after Eusebius are probably reliant on him, but include Pseudo-Justinus (3rd–5th century),

Moses of Chorene (8th century), an unknown geographer of unknown date, and the Suda (Byzantine dictionary from the 10th century). Thus, what little of Berossus remains is very fragmentary and indirect. The most direct source of material on Berossus is Josephus, received from Alexander Polyhistor. Most of the names in his king-lists and most of the potential narrative content have been lost or completely mangled as a result. Only Eusebius and Josephus preserve narrative material, and both had agendas. Eusebius was looking to construct a consistent chronology across different cultures,[17][non-primary source needed] while Josephus was attempting to refute the charges that there was a civilization older than that of the Jews.[citation needed] However, the ten ante-diluvian kings were preserved by Christian apologists interested in how the long lifespans of the kings were similar to the long lifespans of the ante-diluvian ancestors in the story of Genesis
.

Memory

In later centuries, Berossus was remembered as a great astronomer, prophet, sage, and historiographer. For example,

Hebrew Sibyl.[18]

In an isolated report from Vitruvius, it is claimed that Berossus founded a school of astronomy at the Island of Kos, although this is typically dismissed as a later invention. Some historians have suggested that the tale originated to provide a story that creates continuity between Babylonian and Greek astronomy.[19]

In 1498,

Japhet onwards, filling a historical gap following the Biblical account of the Flood. Annius also introduced characters from classical sources into the biblical framework, publishing his account as Commentaria super opera diversorum auctorum de antiquitatibus loquentium (Commentaries on the Works of Various Authors Discussing Antiquity). One consequence was sophisticated theories about Celtic races with Druid priests in Western Europe.[22]

References

  1. ^ The suggestion was made by Heinrich Zimmern; cf. Lehmann-Haupt, "Neue Studien zu Berossos" Klio 22 (1929:29)
  2. ^ Seneca Nat. Questiones III.29: "Berosus, qui Belum interpretatus est...", "Berossus, who expounded the doctrine of Bel/Marduk" (interpretatus) as rendered by W. G. Lambert, "Berossus and Babylonian Eschatology" Iraq, 38.2 (Autumn 1976:171-173) p. 172.
  3. ^ Talon 2001, p. 270–274.
  4. ^ Bach 2013, p. 157–162.
  5. ^ Beaulieu 2021, p. 155.
  6. ^ A. Kuhrt, "Berossus's Babyloniaca and Seleucid Rule in Babylonia," in A. Kuhrt and S. Sherwin-White (eds.), Hellenism in the East (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press) 1987:55f.
  7. ^ "Digital Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum (DFHG)".
  8. ^ Diodorus Siculus, Library 3.42.1.
  9. ^ Vitruvius, De architectura, viii.8.1; in ix.2.1 he notes Berossus teaching that the moon was a ball one half luminous, the rest of a blue color.
  10. ^ Vitruvius, ix.6.2.
  11. ^ Robin Lane Fox, Travelling Heroes in the Epic Age of Homer, 2008:81, who gives his sources in note 49.
  12. ^ The authority on Eusebius' Chronicle is Alden Mosshammer The Chronicle of Eusebius and Greek Chronographic Tradition, 1979.
  13. ^ a b Lambert 1976:171.
  14. ^ Josephus, Against Apion 1:19–20
  15. OCLC 460027103
    ., who put down only two regnal years for this king.
  16. OCLC 460027103
    ., who put down only four regnal years for this king, and who is called by them Nergal-Shar-Usur.
  17. ^ a b "Eusebius' Chronicle (or Chronography), Translated from Classical Armenian, Public Domain Work. Eusebius, Chronicle, Table of Contents". Rbedrosian.com. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  18. ISBN 978-0-472-07227-9
    .
  19. ISBN 978-0-19-005908-8
    .
  20. S2CID 161600034
    .
  21. ^ Krebs, C. B. 2011. A Most Dangerous Book. Tacitus's Germania from the Roman Empire to the Third Reich. New York: W. W. Norton, pp. 103f.
  22. ^ Morse, Michael A. How the Celts Came to Britain. Tempus Publishing, Stroud, 2005. page 15.

Bibliography

External links

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