Sanchuniathon (;

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: ; probably from , "

Sakkun Sakkun () was a Phoenician god. He is known chiefly from theophoric names such as Sanchuniathon ( ''sknytn'', variant ) ''šknytn'' and Gisgo ( ''grskn''). As of 1940, his earliest appearance in epigraphical evidence is from the 5th century B ...

has given"), variant ''šknytn'' also known as Sanchoniatho the Berytian, was a

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

n author. His three works, originally written in the

Phoenician language Phoenician ( ; ) is an extinct language, extinct Canaanite languages, Canaanite Semitic language originally spoken in the region surrounding the cities of Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre and Sidon. Extensive Tyro-Sidonian trade and commercial dominance le ...

, survive only in partial paraphrase and a summary of a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

translation by

Philo of Byblos Philo of Byblos (, ''Phílōn Býblios''; ; – 141), also known as Herennius Philon, was an antiquarian writer of grammatical, lexicon, lexical and historical works in Greek language, Greek. He is chiefly known for his Phoenician history ...

recorded by the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

bishop

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

. These few fragments comprise the most extended literary source concerning

Phoenician religion Canaanite religion or Syro-Canaanite religions refers to the myths, cults and ritual practices of people in the Levant during roughly the first three millennia BC. Canaanite religions were polytheistic and in some cases monolatristic. They we ...

in either Greek or

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: Phoenician sources, along with all of Phoenician literature, were lost with the

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...

on which they were written.

The author

All knowledge of Sanchuniathon and his work comes from the ''

Praeparatio Evangelica ''Preparation for the Gospel'' (, ''Euangelikē proparaskeuē''), commonly known by its Latin title ''Praeparatio evangelica'', is a work of Christian apologetics written by Eusebius in the early part of the fourth century AD. It was begun about th ...

'' of Eusebius (I. chs ix-x), which contains some information about him, along with the only surviving excerpts from his writing, as summarized and quoted from his purported translator,

. Eusebius quotes neo-Platonist writer

Porphyry Porphyry (; , ''Porphyrios'' "purple-clad") may refer to: Geology * Porphyry (geology), an igneous rock with large crystals in a fine-grained matrix, often purple, and prestigious Roman sculpture material * Shoksha porphyry, quartzite of purple c ...

as stating that Sanchuniathon of

Berytus Berytus (; ; ; ; ), briefly known as Laodicea in Phoenicia (; ) or Laodicea in Canaan from the 2nd century to 64 BCE, was the ancient city of Beirut (in modern-day Lebanon) from the Roman Republic through the Roman Empire and late antiquity, Ear ...

(

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

) wrote the truest history because he obtained records from

Hierombalus Hierombalus (Ίερομβάλος)nominative; sic Ίερομβάλου was a priest of Ieuo, mentioned in Sanchuniathon's mythistory, known only through later historian Philo of Byblos via early Christian writer Eusebius. Philo emphasizes the reli ...

priest of Ieuo (

: Ἰευώ), that Sanchuniathon dedicated his history to Abibalus (Abibaal) king of Berytus, and that it was approved by the king and other investigators, the date of this writing being before the

Trojan War The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...

(around 1200 BC) approaching close to the time of

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

, "when

Semiramis Semiramis (; ''Šammīrām'', ''Šamiram'', , ''Samīrāmīs'') was the legendary Lydian- Babylonian wife of Onnes and of Ninus, who succeeded the latter on the throne of Assyria, according to Movses Khorenatsi. Legends narrated by Diodorus ...

was queen of the

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

ns." Thus Sanchuniathon is placed firmly in the mythic context of the pre-

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

Greek Heroic Age The Greek Heroic Age, in mythology, is the period between the coming of the Greeks to Thessaly and the Greek warriors' return from Troy. The poet Hesiod ( ) identified this mythological era as one of his five Ages of Man. The period spans roughly ...

, an antiquity from which no other Greek or Phoenician writings are known to have survived to the time of Philo. Sanchuniathon claims to have based his work on "collections of secret writings of the '' Ammouneis'' discovered in the shrines", sacred lore deciphered from mystic inscriptions on the pillars which stood in the Phoenician temples, lore which exposed the truth—later covered up by allegories and myths—that the gods were originally human beings who came to be worshipped after their deaths and that the Phoenicians had taken what were originally names of their kings and applied them to elements of the

cosmos The cosmos (, ; ) is an alternative name for the universe or its nature or order. Usage of the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos is studied in cosmologya broad discipline covering ...

(compare

euhemerism In the fields of philosophy and mythography, euhemerism () is an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages. Euhemerism supposes that histo ...

), worshipping forces of nature and the

sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

, and

stars A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by self-gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night; their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed points of ...

. Eusebius cites Sanchuniathon in his attempt to discredit pagan religion based on such foundations. This rationalizing euhemeristic slant and the emphasis on Beirut, a city of great importance in the late classical period but apparently of little importance in ancient times, suggests that the work itself is not nearly as old as it claims to be. Some have suggested it was forged by Philo himself or assembled from various traditions and presented within an authenticating

pseudepigraphical A pseudepigraph (also anglicized as "pseudepigraphon") is a falsely attributed work, a text whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past. The name of the author to whom the wor ...

format to give the material a patina of believability. Philo may have translated genuine Phoenician works ascribed to an ancient writer known as Sanchuniathon but in fact written in more recent times. This judgment is echoed by the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is a 29-volume reference work, an edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. It was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. So ...

'', which described Sanchuniathon as "belong ngmore to legend than to history." Not all readers have taken such a critical view: However that may be, much of what has been preserved in this writing, despite the

euhemeristic In the fields of philosophy and mythography, euhemerism () is an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages. Euhemerism supposes that histor ...

interpretation given it, turned out to be supported by the

Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...

mythological texts excavated at

Ras Shamra Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...

(ancient

Ugarit Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...

) in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

since 1929;

Otto Eissfeldt Otto Eißfeldt, spelled alternatively Otto Eissfeldt, (September 1, 1887, in Northeim – April 23, 1973, in Halle) was a German Protestant theologian, known for his work on the Old Testament and comparative near-east religious history. His magis ...

demonstrated in 1952 that it does incorporate genuine Phoenician elements that can now be related to the Ugaritic texts, some of which, as shown in extant versions of Sanchuniathon, remained unchanged since the second millennium BC. The modern consensus is that Philo's treatment of Sanchuniathon offered a

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

view of Phoenician materials written between the time of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

and the first century BC, if it was not a literary invention of Philo.

The work

In surviving fragments of the text, it can be difficult to ascertain whether Eusebius is citing Philo's translation of Sanchuniathon or speaking in his own voice. Another difficulty is the substitution of Greek proper names for Phoenician ones and the possible corruption of some Phoenician names that do appear.

Philosophical creation story

A philosophical

creation story A creation myth or cosmogonic myth is a type of cosmogony, a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it., "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Crea ...

traced to "the

cosmogony Cosmogony is any model concerning the origin of the cosmos or the universe. Overview Scientific theories In astronomy, cosmogony is the study of the origin of particular astrophysical objects or systems, and is most commonly used in ref ...

of ''

Taautus Taautus of Byblos, according to the Phoenician writer Sanchuniathon, was the son of Misor and the inventor of writing, who was bequeathed the land of Egypt by Cronus. Sanchuniathon's writings, through the translation of Philo, were transmitted to ...

'', whom Philo explicitly identifies with the

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

Thoth Thoth (from , borrowed from , , the reflex of " eis like the ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an African sacred ibis, ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine count ...

—"the first who thought of the invention of letters, and began the writing of records"—which begins with

Erebus In Greek mythology, Erebus (; ), or Erebos, is the personification of darkness. In Hesiod's ''Theogony'', he is the offspring of Chaos, and the father of Aether and Hemera (Day) by Nyx (Night); in other Greek cosmogonies, he is the father of A ...

and Wind, between which ''

Eros Eros (, ; ) is the Greek god of love and sex. The Romans referred to him as Cupid or Amor. In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is the child of Aphrodite. He is usually presented as a handsome young ma ...

'' 'Desire' came to be. From this was produced '' Môt'' 'Death' but which the account says may mean 'mud'. In a mixed confusion, the germs of life appear, and intelligent animals called ''Zophasemin'' (probably best translated 'observers of heaven') formed together as an egg. The account is not clear. Then Môt burst forth into light and the heavens were created and the various elements found their stations.

Allegorical culture heroes

Various descendants are listed, many of whom have allegorical names but are described in the quotations from Philo as mortals who first made particular discoveries or who established particular customs. According to the text, the wind Colpias and his wife Baau (translated as ''

Nyx In Greek mythology, Nyx (; ) is the goddess and personification of the night. In Hesiod's ''Theogony'', she is the offspring of Chaos, and the mother of Aether and Hemera (Day) by Erebus (Darkness). By herself, she produces a brood of children ...

'' 'Night') give birth to mortals

Aeon The word aeon , also spelled eon (in American and Australian English), originally meant "life", "vital force" or "being", "generation" or "a period of time", though it tended to be translated as "age" in the sense of "ages", "forever", "timele ...

, who discovered food from trees, and Protogonus 'firstborn'); The immediate descendants of these were Genus and Genea, who dwelt in

; "and ... when

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

s occurred, they (Genus and Genea) stretched out their hands to heaven towards the sun; for him alone (he says) they regarded as god the Lord of Heaven, calling him Beelsamen, which is in the Phoenician language 'lord of heaven', and in Greek '

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

.'" (Eusebius, I, x). Genus and Genea give birth to hôs, Pûr, and Phlox.

The history of the gods

The work includes a

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

and history of various northwest Semitic deities who were widely worshipped. Many are listed in the genealogy under the names of their counterparts in the Greek pantheon,

Hellenized Hellenization or Hellenification is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language, and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonisation often led to the Hellenisation of indigenous people in the Hellenistic period, many of the te ...

forms of their Semitic names, or both. The additional names given for some of these deities appear usually in parentheses in the table below. Only equations made in the text appear here, but many of the hyperlinks point to the northwest Semitic deities that are probably intended. See the notes below the table for translations of the unlinked and several other names. Sanchuniathon fam tree

Translations of Greek forms: ''arotrios'', 'of husbandry, farming', ''autochthon'' (for ''autokhthon'') 'produced from the ground', ''epigeius'' (for ''epigeios'') 'from the earth', ''eros'' 'desire', ''ge'' 'earth', ''hypsistos'' 'most high', ''pluto'' (for ''plouton'') 'wealthy', ''pontus'' (for ''pontos'') 'sea', ''pothos'' 'longing', ''siton'' 'grain', ''thanatos'' 'death', ''uranus'' (for ''ouranos'') 'sky'. Notes on etymologies: ''Anobret'': proposed connections include ''ʿyn'' = "spring", by Renan ("Memoire", 281), and to ''ʿAnat rabbat'' = "Lady ʿAnat" by Clemen (''Die phönikische Religion'', 69–71); ''Ieoud''/''Iedud'': perhaps from a Phoenician cognate of Hebrew ''yḥyd'' = "only" or of Hebrew ''ydyd'' = "beloved". According to the text, as in the Greek and Hittite theogonies, Sanchuniathon's El/Elus/Ilus/Cronus overthrows his father

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is a gaseous cyan-coloured ice giant. Most of the planet is made of water, ammonia, and methane in a Supercritical fluid, supercritical phase of matter, which astronomy calls "ice" or Volatile ( ...

and castrates him, and surrounded his habitation with a wall, and founded

Byblos Byblos ( ; ), also known as Jebeil, Jbeil or Jubayl (, Lebanese Arabic, locally ), is an ancient city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. The area is believed to have been first settled between 8800 and 7000BC and continuously inhabited ...

, the first city of

. However, Zeus Demarûs (that is,

Hadad Hadad (), Haddad, Adad ( Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm- and rain-god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions. He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. From ...

Ramman), who is the father of Melqart/Melicarthus (

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

), purported son of

Dagon Dagon or Dagan (; ) was a god worshipped in ancient Syria, across the middle of the Euphrates, with primary temples located in Tuttul and Terqa, though many attestations of his cult come from cities such as Mari and Emar as well. In settl ...

but actually son of

. When

made war against

Pontus Pontus or Pontos may refer to: * Short Latin name for the Pontus Euxinus, the Greek name for the Black Sea (aka the Euxine sea) * Pontus (mythology), a sea god in Greek mythology * Pontus (region), on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in modern ...

, Zeus Demarûs invaded Pontus and joins with

, although he (Zeus Demarûs) later vowed a sacrifice for his escape and

put him to flight. To El/Cronus is attributed the practice of

circumcision Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. T ...

. Twice we are told that El/Cronus sacrificed his own son: called Ieoud, Idoud, or Iedod in variant manuscripts. (Olyan says they reflect *yahid, "only son" or *yadid, "beloved.") According to the text, El/Cronus, having laid an ambuscade for his father

in a certain place situated in the middle of the earth, when he had got him into his hands dismembered him over against the fountains and rivers. There

was consecrated, and his spirit was separated, and the blood of his parts flowed into the fountains and the waters of the rivers; and the place, which was the scene of this transaction, is shewed even to this day. At some point, peace is made, and Zeus Adados (

) and

Astarte Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...

reign over the land with

Cronus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Cronus, Cronos, or Kronos ( or ; ) was the leader and youngest of the Titans, the children of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Sky). He overthrew his father and ruled dur ...

' permission. An account of the events is written by the

Cabeiri In Greek mythology, the Cabeiri or Cabiri (, ''Kábeiroi''), also transliterated Kabeiri or Kabiri, were a group of enigmatic chthonic deities. They were worshipped in a mystery cult closely associated with that of Hephaestus, centered in the no ...

and by

Asclepius Asclepius (; ''Asklēpiós'' ; ) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Religion in ancient Greece, Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis (lover of Apollo), Coronis, or Arsinoe (Greek myth), Ars ...

(

Eshmun Eshmun (or Eshmoun, less accurately Esmun or Esmoun; '; ''Yasumunu'') was a Phoenician god of healing and the tutelary god of Sidon. His name, which means "eighth," may reference his status as the eighth son of the god Sydyk. History Eshm ...

), under Thoth's direction.

About serpents

A passage about serpent worship follows in which it is not clear what part is from Sanchuniathon and what part from Philo of Byblus:

''On the Phoenician Alphabet''

A further work of Sanchuniathon noted by Eusebius (''P.E.'' 1.10.45) is a treatise ''On the Phoenician Alphabet''.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

English translations

Tertullian.org: Eusebius ''Praeparatio'', Book 1, chapters ix-x
(Search on ''Sanchuniathon'').