Berossus

Berossus () or Berosus (; ; possibly derived from ) was an early-3rd-century BCE Hellenistic-era Babylonian writer, priest of Bel Marduk, and astronomer who wrote in the Koine Greek language.

His original works, including the '' Babyloniaca'' (, are lost, but fragments survive in some quotations, largely in the writings of the fourth-century CE early Christian writer Eusebius.

Berossus has recently been identified with Bēl-reʾû-šunu, a high priest of the Esagila Temple in the city of Babylon, as mentioned in a document from 258 BCE.

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!"

Life and work

Using ancient Babylonian records and texts that are now lost, Berossus published the ''Babyloniaca'' (hereafter, ''History of Babylonia'') in three books some time around 290–278 BCE, by the patronage of the Macedonian/Seleucid king Antiochus I Soter (during the third year of his reign, according to Diodorus Siculus). Certain astrological fragments recorded by Pliny the Elder, Censorinus, Flavius Josephus, and 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 a semi-circular sundial hollowed out of a cubical block. 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, ''Commentariorum 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 BCE), with the earliest date suggested as 340 BCE. 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 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)

Versions at several removes of the remains of Berossos' lost ''Babyloniaca'' are given by two later Greek epitomes that were used by the Christian Eusebius of Caesarea for his ''Chronological Canons'', the Greek manuscripts of which have been lost, but which can be largely recovered by the Latin translation and continuation of Jerome and a surviving Armenian translation. The reasons why Berossus wrote the ''History'' have not survived, though contemporaneous Greek historians generally did give reasons for the publication of their own histories. It is suggested that it was commissioned by Antiochus I, perhaps desiring a history of one of his newly acquired lands, or by priesthood of the Great Temple of Marduk, seeking justification for the worship of Marduk in Seleucid lands. Pure history writing ''per se'' was not a Babylonian concern, and Josephus testifies to Berossus' reputation as an astrologer.Lambert 1976:171. 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". 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 Mesopotamian 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 ancient near eastern cosmology in late antiquity due to its description of the Babylonian creation account and establishment of order, including the defeat of Thalatth (Tiamat) by Bel (Marduk). According to him, all knowledge was revealed to humans by the sea monster 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 Sargon (c. 2300 BC) would have been available during his time (e.g., a birth legend preserved at El-Amarna and in an Assyrian fragment from 8th century BC, and two Neo-Babylonian fragments), but these were not mentioned. Similarly, the great Babylonian king Hammurabi (ca. 1750 BC) merits only passing mention. He did, however, mention that the queen Semiramis (probably Sammuramat, wife of Samshi-Adad V, 824–811 BC) was Assyrian. Perhaps it was in response to Greek writers mythologising her to the point where she was described as the founder of Babylon, daughter of the Syrian goddess 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 (i.e., regnal 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

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