A SYNOPSIS OF HISTORIES BEGINNING FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD AND AS FAR AS THE REIGN OF ISAAC KOMNENOS,

COMPILED FROM VARIOUS BOOKS BY MASTER GEORGE KEDRENOS.

Proem.1. Many of our predecessors with a love of God and a love of learning have undertaken the task of epitomising history1: The monk George Synkellos2 beginning from the foundation of the world, finished at Maximianus3 and Maximinus4 the oppressors, and Theophanes the Confessor, making Synkellos’ ending his beginning, reached as far as the end of Nikephoros, [Logothetes] of the Genikon5. After Theophanes others too made the attempt, like Sikeliotes and the Most Honourable6 Psellos and others in addition to these. But they fell short of precision having merely counted off the emperors and taught who held power after whom, and nothing more. For Theodore Daphnopates, Niketas the Paphlagonian, and the rest of those from Byzantium, the deacon Nikephoros the Phrygian, Leo of Caria, Theodore of Side and his namesake of Sebasteia, and Demetrios of Kyzikos, and the monk John, each giving priority to his own agenda, the one for example praising an emperor, the other censuring a patriarch, the third eulogising a friend, fell far short of the goals of the inspired men mentioned above and contradicted one another.

Pr.2. But the Droungarios John, Thrakesios by surname, giving a very concise overview of the events in various times after he had read carefully through the histories of the writers spoken of above, [72] produced a coherent explication, beginning from the end of Nikephoros [Logothetes] of the Genikon, and by banishing whatever had been said in a state of emotion or for the sake of favour, passed on history unclad.

Pr.3. We have gone through the books of these men and gathered together whatever seemed appropriate, as well as adding all those matters that we have been taught by men of old without their being written down. On the other hand we have taken not a few matters also from Little Genesis,7 and from ecclesiastical histories and other books, and by making a brief compilation of this material within one volume, we have left to posterity food that is tender and ground by the mill, in order that those who have gone through the books of the histories mentioned may have written reminders (for reading knows how to produce recollection, and recollection how to nurture and increase memory, just as in the opposite way negligence and indolence know how to create unmindfulness, something which forgetfulness assuredly follows, which obscures and confounds the memory of what has been done), while those who have not yet read the histories may have this epitome as a guide.

1.1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.8 Having broadly stated the most essential elements, [scripture] sets forth the beginning of creation in detail, saying ‘and God said, “Let there be light” ’.9 1 Note on this passage and Skyl. pro.1.1-31.2 Lit. ‘George the monk and synkellos’.3 Caius Galerius Valerius Maximianus, commonly known as ‘Galerius’ (PLRE ref. xxx).4 Caius Galerius Valerius Maximinus, commonly known as ‘Maximinus Daia’ (PLRE

ref. xxx).5 Nikephoros I (emperor, 802-11) was ‘logothetes tou genikou’ (see further ODB s.v.

‘genikon’) under Irene.6 Greek title: ὑπέρτιμος.7 Note required = Jubilees.8 Gen 1.1. Cp. verbatim PsS 18v.33.9 Gen. 1.3. Cp. Joh. Chrys. In Genesim, 53.33.26-30.

1.2. Now it should be known that everything that existed before the formation of this world existed in light. For neither were the choirs of angels living in darkness nor all the heavenly hosts, but in the light and performing with all joy of the spirit the service proper to them.1 For the [73] darkness came into being from the spreading over of the sky and those things which were below it were covered. It was therefore in relation to these things that God said ‘Let there be light’, and there was light.2 For it was separated from the darkness, and it was named ‘day’ by the Creator. It is the first day of the first month named Nissan by the Hebrews, the 25th of the Roman month of March, and the 29th of the seventh month called Phamenoth by the Egyptians.3

1.3. On this day also Gabriel uttered his greeting for the divine conception of our Saviour God to the wholly immaculate mother of God. On this day too the only-begotten Son of the Father, after his ineffable birth from her and the complete fulfilment of the divine plan, arose from the dead, the precise day to which the holy fathers also gave the name 'the Pascha of the Lord', beginning at the same holy day of the life-bringing Resurrection in the 5539th year from the creation of the world.4

1.4. Moreover some of the holy and divinely inspired fathers stated that on this day, that is,5 the 25thof the month of March, the second coming of the Son of God and Saviour, when he will judge every soul, would also occur, since they believed that the age to come would also commence on this day.6

1.5. On this very first day, which was a Sunday, that is on the first day of the week, God created the heaven and the earth, the waters, spirit and light and a full day7 and as a consequence the darkness: altogether seven works.8

1.6. Africanus 9calls the first day ‘intelligible’, because the first created light was still indistinguishable and diffuse.10

1.7. On the second full day, the firmament came into being: one work.11 ‘Firmament’ was the name given to this creation because of the fine and rarefied nature of what lay above it and what lay below, while the sky was so named because of being perceived as spread out overhead like a canopy.12

1 Cp. Sym. Metaphrastes, 1261.21-6.2 ‘God said …’ ff. Gen. 1.3.3 For ‘It is the first …’ ff., cp. Synk. 1.12-14. For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost

verbatim PsS 18v.33-19r.8.4 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 19r.8-13. Cp. also Synk. 1.16-20.5 Deleting comma after πέμπτῃ.6 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 19r.13-16.7 Lit. ‘night and day’.8 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 19r.16-19. Cp. also Synk. 3.5-7.9 Sextus Julius Africanus, Christian chronicler, ca. 160-ca. 240.10 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 19r.19-21. Cp. also Synk. 3.1-2. Synk. has διἀ τὸ

ἀδιοργάνιστον as does Ps. Sym. See George p. 4, n. 1.11 Cp. Synk. 3, 7-8.12 Cp. Sym. Met. 1261.40-4.

1.8. On the third full day [there was] the appearance of the land and the drying up of the waters, the Garden, trees of all kinds, plants and seeds: four works.1 And the earth was called ‘dry’ since the term denotes a property that also belongs to the earth of its very nature; what is dry in the literal sense is earth. When the earth put off like some weight the waters that were lying on it, [74] it was commanded thereafter to send out shoots.2 And it was ordered to bring forth living soul in order that as a result of this the difference might be known between the soul of an animal and a human soul. For the soul of animals was brought forth from earth, but the soul of man was formed from God’s inbreathing. And that the soul of animals is of the earth, this it is possible to learn from scripture itself: for it is stated ‘the soul of every beast is its blood’3. And blood that becomes solid is changed into flesh, while flesh that decays is reduced to earth. Logically, therefore, the soul of animals is earthen.4

1.9. On the fourth day God created the sun, the moon, and the stars: three works.5 When the lights of heaven came into being a manifold benefit was bestowed through them on the universe: through their shining and illuminating the world abundantly each with its individual brilliance; the computation of the years through their rising and setting; and also through the signs [of the weather], such as those that are [manifested] through the moon. For when the moon has sharp horns and it is clear, it promises settled good weather for the day,6 but when it has dull horns and appears reddish, it indicates that there will be either cloudbursts or a storm. In the same way when the sun is like a burning coal and its rays or effulgence are bloodshot, it shows that a violent movement [of the wind]7 is to come. And witnesses of these matters are seamen and farmers and travellers.8

1.10. On the fifth day all reptiles and swimming things (sea monsters, fish, and whatever is in the waters), as well as birds: three works.9

1.11. On the sixth day four-footed animals, land reptiles, wild beasts, and man: four works. Altogether there are twenty-two works, equal in number with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and with the number of their books10, and with the twenty-two generations of patriarchs from Adam up to Jacob, as it is reported in the Little Genesis, which some say is also a revelation of Moses. This work states that the heavenly powers [75] were created on the first day.11

1 Cp. Synk. 3.8-10.2 Cp. Sym. Met. 1264.7-11.3 Lev. 14.11.4 For ‘And it was ordered …’ ff., cp. Sym. Met. 1265.2-15. For the paragraph as a whole,

cp. almost verbatim PsS 19r.21-35.5 Cp. Synk. 3.10-11.6 [Note on Aratus, Basil, Sym versions referring to ‘third day’.]7 βιαίαν κίνησιν . K here omits the word for 'wind' found in most other occurrences of

this phrase, cf. Basil Homiliae in Hexaemeron, Homily 6, Section 4, lines 20 & 33; Glycas Annales 66. 20; John Damascene Sacra Parallela vol. 95 page 1573 line 16-17; Nicephorus Gregoras Historia Romana III 43 12-13.

8 For ‘When the lights …’ ff., cp. Sym. Met. 1264.24-39. For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 19r.35-19v.7.

9 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 19v.8-9. Cp. also Synk. 3.11-13.10 That is, of the Hebrew Bible.11 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 19v.10-15. Cp. also Synk. 3.13-18.

1.12. For what reason did God bless the seventh day, say some, and not all of the days? We say that each of the other days really did possess its blessing – from the creation that occurred on it. But since this day alone was destined to remain without a gift of honour, because no creation occurred on it, for this reason it too was blessed by God1 and sanctified, and it was called ‘Sabbath’ as a day of rest and as a prefigurement of the seventh millennium and of the consummation of sinners, as Josephos and the Little Genesis testify.2

2. The nature of humanity created in the image of God [9, 22-11, 5]

2.1. The wild beasts and the four-footed animals and the reptiles spoke the same language as humans before the transgression, because, scripture says, the serpent spoke to Eve in a human voice – which is impossible.3 Every creature possessed of reason is in the image of God, but those just mentioned are not in the image of God. For we grant that the serpent did speak to Eve since the serpent perceived by her mind became possessed of a mouth, and by operating through the serpent, on the grounds of it being being familiar to humans in comparison with other beasts, the one who, after this, spoke also through inanimate idols to those idol-worshippers who were tempted in many ways by him, by way of it deceived the progenitors. That the serpent was four-footed before and that after its wicked proposal it was reptilian and poison put into its tongue, this we do not disbelieve.4

2.2. The serpent was called astute because it intended to deceive the creature possessed of reason, the human being, who also surpassed the rest in shrewdness. Others, however, say that the serpent did not need to speak in words but the first-formed humans, inasmuch as they were untainted by evil, had senses that were extremely sharp and greatly superior to ours, so that their sense of hearing was ready to hear every utterance.5

2.3. For since the human being, like a king, [76] was given precedence in the world, it was reasonable that they had been formed in the image of God. For the one who was destined to rule over the rest had to be like some living image of the likeness of the King of the universe, showing their worthiness not in the purple or the sceptre or the diadem, since not even the archetype makes use of these, but in being adorned in incorruptibility, immortality, and virtue. For, endowed with honour by these qualities, the human being preserves the image of and likeness to the original. Furthermore, free will shows most conspicuously what is regal and exalted in the nature of the human being and what resembles the divine image. In accordance with this principle the human being is also a work of God’s hands through the high regard manifested in their creation – for everything is the working out of God’s purpose.6

3. The creation of woman and her relationship with man [11, 5-12]

1 Cp. Sym. Met. 1268.14-19.2 For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 19v.15-22.[Note needed? cp.

George p. 6, nn.4,5].3 Cp. lib. Iubil., fr. G, 1-8.4 For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 19v.22-31; cp. also Phil. Iud.

Quaest. in Gen., 1.31.1-32.5; Synk. 8.1-10.5 Cp. verbatim PsS 19v.31-7. Cp. also Sym. Met. 1272.29-33 & 40-4.6 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 19v.38-20r.10. Cp. also Sym. Met. 1265.45-1268.6.

3.1. ‘Let us make him a helper like him’1 means for the future of the procreation of children, for womankind works together with the man towards the increase and continuance of our race.2

3.2. After the woman had been formed, when Adam saw her, he did not experience seeing her as a woman, but, because he saw her as himself, he was gladdened in his spirit, perceiving that she too had the same composition. Similarly, the woman also was greatly pleased on seeing the man, considering herself to be like him.3

4. Exegesis of biblical passages relating to the creation of Adam and Eve [11, 12-22]

4.1. ‘By death you will die’4 means you will be mortal, as Symmachos explained.5

4.2. ‘To work and look after’6 means on the one hand to work at gratitude and praise for the provider of so many and so great benefits and on the other to look after and watch over these, in case, having somehow lost all sense and become forgetful of the benefactor, we lose the blessedness and good living we have in our hands.7 [77]

4.3. Adam is translated as ‘earthly’8 and Eve as ‘life’9 and this is reasonable as they are in fact identified as the founders and forebears of the earthly and fleshly life, just as Jesus Christ, a new Adam, and she who gave birth to him as a virgin are the first-fruits and cause of the heavenly and spiritual life for all the children of God.10

5. The question of how long Adam spent in Eden [12,1-13,5]

5.1. Some following tradition say that Adam stayed one hundred years in the Garden; others say that he was formed at the third hour, that he sinned at the sixth hour, and was driven out at the ninth, putting forward as proof of this that in the sixth hour the Lord was crucified and that in the ninth he died for our sake. Perhaps they have been drawn11 into this conjecture because the Lord came to Adam and Eve ‘in the evening’.12 But the three-hour length of our forefather’s stay in the Garden is extremely restricted, and very unconvincing inasmuch as it is unworthy of the magnificence of the one who orders all things with decisions difficult to comprehend in their wisdom. For when did he have time in three hours to name all the land animals and the birds? And when, after partaking of the other fruits in the Garden and being sated of partaking of these, had he started feeling a longing for a taste from the forbidden tree? This is not to mention the abuse of the enticement and the assault of the snake on the woman and its advice to her – for again this by itself needed more time spent on it than three 1 Ge. 2.18.2 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 20r.10-12. Cp. also Sym. Met. 1269.9-12.3 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 20r.12-16. Cp. also Sym. Met. 1269. 37-42.4 Ge. 2.17.5 Cp. Sym. Met. 1269.50-51.6 Cp. Ge. 2.15: ἐργάζεσθαι αὐτὸν καὶ φυλάττειν (‘to work it [the Garden] and maintain

it’).7 For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 20r.16-21.8 Cp. Joh. Chrys. In Genesim vol. 54, 628.51; Theodoret. Quaest. in Oct., 56.14.9 Cp. Synk. 5.16.10 For the paragraph as a whole, cp. verbatim PsS 20r.22-6.11 Translating the text’s infinitive (ὑπενεχθῆναι) as an indicative.12 Ge. 3.8.

hours. Consequently, that the transgression was ventured on the sixth day at the sixth hour and that in the ninth hour of the same day those who committed the offence were banished from the Garden and from life therein is extremely likely and credible, but that this took place after seven years, as some of the ancients declared.1

5.2. Saint John Chrysostom, great amongst teachers, [78] in his discourse on the gospel according to Matthew, states that it was on the sixth day of the first week, namely on the very day of his creation, that Adam was expelled from the Garden and Eve also, which we too believe.2 And it is not necessary to investigate further those things which have been left silent by the Holy Spirit in divinely inspired scripture, lest in return for a small gain we incur great loss.3

6. Exegesis of biblical passages relating to the account of the original sin [13, 6-15, 8]

6.1. The statement ‘Adam has become like one of us’4 is not written as if through disobedience he had advanced in the direction of evil, but because it had been said that ‘he made him in the image of God’5.6 But let no one suppose that the tree was of such a nature as to provide knowledge of good and evil. For there was nothing harmful in the Garden, but a limit was set over the tree for training in the exercise of free will. And it is clear that the tree did not constitute the cause of knowledge for Adam, for the command was given to one who knew both, both good and evil, both obedience and disobedience, so that the knowledge preceded the command. And this knowledge is given, as has been said, through the human being – who moves with free will and is able with impunity to partake of all the other trees, but who is commanded by a decree to withhold from one alone – knowing that they are under the control of a master, the one who also gave the command.7

6.2. ‘Their eyes were opened’8 is not written as if just at that moment the first-formed humans saw clearly (for they are shown as seeing even before they ate, since it is said ‘And the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasing to the eyes to see’),9 but, because through transgression they had laid aside their innocence, which made even their nakedness neither good nor evil, it was stated that their [79] eyes were opened. For it is the nature of every eye to be awoken by reasoning in relation to what it sees – since by itself it does not have intelligence – so that often, when our mind is occupied by other matters, like a blind person at times we pass by even our best acquaintance, and whenever we are called to account, we push back the cause of our mind being occupied and defend ourselves. In this way, then, Adam and Eve were awoken in relation to their sight by the perception of their mind. For the words ‘They perceived that they were naked’10 indicate a revelation that was springing up in their reasoning, not a vision of the eyes.11 And that argument should also be 1 For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 20r.26-v.5.2 Cp. Synk. 3.19-22.3 For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 21r.2-9. For ‘And it is not …’

ff., cp. also Synk. 3.26-4.2. 4 Ge. 3.22.5 Ge. 1.27.6 Cp. verbatim PsS 21r.8-10. Cp. also Sym. Met. 1276.33-9.7 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 20v.7-15. Cp. also Sym Met. 1272.3-16.8 Ge. 3.7.9 Ge. 3.6. 10 Ge. 3.7.11 For ‘because through transgression … vision of the eyes’, cp. Geo. Mon. 368.12-24.

presented which states that before the disobedience, since there was no opportunity for the business of procreation, the observation of nakedness was not given them by God, but they remained as if not of flesh, having no opportunity as yet for a fleshly disposition. But when the ensuing disobedience introduced mortality, it was reasonable finally that mutual shame was granted them – and it was afterwards that they had perceived the difference between their forms, which had been taken into consideration beforehand with the moulded figure with a view to what would be necessary for the succession of the race. And they made themselves loin-cloths from the leaves of the fig tree, which intimated by means of the tree the way that evil-doing works: for just as the fruit of the fig tree is sweet but the leaf is rough and extremely bitter, so all sin proves sweet in its commission but after this gives pain to the one who has committed it.1

Concerning the tunics of skins2 Gregory the Theologian says3 that by surrounding him with death God pronounced Adam mortal – for the tunics of skin indicate this by the nature of death for animals – in order that through the dissolution of the body and of our outward appearance every sin may be destroyed root and branch.4 For this is the reason why Adam is exiled from the Garden, in order that he may not exercise his free will and so take from the tree of life and become an immortal evil-doer.5

6.3. Satan in the Hebrew language means ‘apostate’ and ‘opponent’, but ‘devil’6 was said inasmuch as he slandered God to humans.7 [80]

7. Cain and Abel [15, 9-16, 4]

7.1. Cain became the first murderer amongst humans,8 but Lamech became the second, after he had taken two wives, and he committed two murders.9 Those whom he killed, a man and a youth, were brothers of Enoch, who, after he had prayed in faith not yet to see such a death, was heard and removed to heaven without death.10

7.2. Abel set his mind on righteousness;11 therefore too they say that his body had become invisible, giving an indication of dependable hopes to the just who would live thereafter. But Cain was the first to discover ploughing and he built a city in the name of his son, Enon12. And after his sentence Cain became rapacious and greedy, having been the first to invent 1 For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 20v.16-38; cp. also Sym. Met.

1273.6-43.2 Cp. Ge. 3.21.3 Cp. Greg. Nanz. 36 (orat. 38) 324.44-47; 36 (orat. 45) 633. 8-12.4 Cp. Sym. Met. 1276.26-30; Sym. Log. 3.5-9; Epiph., Pan. 2.452.1-4. For ‘Concerning

…’ ff., cp. PsS 20v.39-21r.2.5 Cp. Sym. Met. 1276.42-4; Sym. Log. 4.8-11; Epiph., Pan. 2.450.19-23. For ‘in order

that he may not …’ ff., cp. verbatim PsS 21r. 28-9.6 Greek διάβολος (‘slanderer’).7 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 21r.29-31. Cp. also Theodoret, Graecarum affectionum,

3.100.3-101.1.8 Ge. 4.8.9 Ge. 4.23. Cp. Synk. 9.2-3.10 Ge. 5.23-4. Cp. Joh. Mal. Chronologica, 9.12; Georg. Mon. 46.11-13; Suda, lamda,

83.9-11. For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 21v.9-12.11 Cp. Synk. 9.11. 12 sic, for Enoch.

measures and weights and land boundaries, and he brought together the members of his household into one place and began teaching them to engage in wars. Because of God’s curse he was of low standing, as well as all those descended from him. He inhabited the land that quakes, being low-lying, and lived separated from Seth’s clan at the command of Adam.1

7.3. This Cain, as the Little Genesis of Moses says2, died after his house3 had fallen on top of him – for with stones he killed his brother, and with stones he too himself was likewise killed.4

8. Seth [16, 5-17, 8]

8.1. Seth is recorded as the third son of Adam; he married his own sister called Asouam and begot Enos.5 Seth means ‘raising up’,6 but he was also named ‘god’ because of the radiance of his face, which he had all his life 7 – Moses too had this outward grace [81] and so for forty years he would put on his veil before speaking to the Jews8 – and when Seth had given names to the seven planets, he also thought out the wisdom of the movements of heavenly bodies. And he constructed two monuments, both a stone one and a brick one, and there he wrote these things, since he knew that every thing would be destroyed, and so that if the destruction were to occur by water the stone monument would be preserved, but if by fire, the brick – which is the one that is preserved, as Josephos witnesses, 9 on Mt Siridon even up to today. Seth too composed the Hebrew alphabet.10

8.2. For in the 230th year of Adam Seth was born,11 and when he was 12 years old he was weaned from his mother’s milk.12 And in the 270th year of Adam he was carried off by an angel and taught what would happen concerning the transgression of his sons or the Watchers, who were also the ones called ‘sons of God’,13 and the matters concerning the flood and those concerning the coming of the Saviour.14 After he had disappeared for forty days he went and explained in detail to the first-formed humans what he had been taught by the angel. Seth was devout and exceedingly well-formed, both he himself and his descendants,15 who were called Watchers and ‘sons of God’ because of the radiance of Seth’s face16 and inhabited the higher

1 Cp. Synk. 9.9-16. For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 21v.16-24.2 Transposing φησίν (‘says’) from its position between οὗτος (‘This’) and ὁ Κάϊν (‘Cain’) to after Μοϋσέως Γένεσις (‘Genesis of Moses’).3 Taking οἰκείας as a misspelling of οἰκίας.4 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 21v.24-6. Cp. also Synk. 11.4-5.5 Cp. Epiph. Pan. II, 76.25-27.6 Cp. Ge. 4.25.7 Cp. Doctrina patrum 244.10-15.8 Cp. Exod. 34.29-35. Cp. also below 87, 1-2 (K135.18-20). For the paragraph as a

whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 21v.26-31. 9 Jos. AJ 1.71.2-5.10 For ‘and when Seth …’ ff., cp. Sym. Log. 9.15-10.1. For the paragraph as a whole, cp.

almost verbatim PsS 21v.31-6.11 Cp. Synk. 9.19.12 Cp. Synk. 9.21.13 Cp. Synk. 9. 16-17.14 Cp. Synk. 9.22-4.15 Cp. Synk. 9.25-7.16 Cp. Doctrina patrum 244.11-17.

ground of Eden, near the garden, living like angels until AM 100017. Their virtuous life was more than the author of evil could bear to look at and so he did them harm by means of the beauty of the daughters of humanity, that is, of Cain.2

9. Enos and his descendants [17, 9-17]

9.1. Enos was the first to hope to make use of the name of the Lord God’ means to be called by the name of God. For Enos is interpreted as ‘human’ according to the Hebrew sense of the word; thus the Saviour really is the son of humanity, in accordance with natural reasoning (Africanus).3

9.2. Enos begets [82] Maleleël,4 and the latter Jared,5 by whom Enoch is begotten.6 This man is the first to learn and teach written characters. And he is deemed worthy of the revelation of divine mysteries.7

9.3. And the first period of 532 years is completed. It was Seth’s 302nd year and Enoch’s 98th.8

10. Repentance and death of Adam; death of Cain [17, 18-18, 14]

10.1 Adam, in the 600th year, repented and learned through revelation about the Watchers and the Flood, and about repentance and the divine Incarnation, and about the prayers sent up to God at every hour of the day and night from all creatures through Uriel, the archangel overseeing repentance, as follows:9

At the first hour the first prayer is performed in heaven, at the second hour the prayer of angels, at the third the prayer of birds, at the fourth the prayer of domestic animals, at the fifth the prayer of wild beasts, at the sixth the attendance of the angels and the judging of all creation, at the seventh the entry of the angels toward God and their going out, at the eighth the praise and offerings of angels, at the ninth the praise and worship of humans, at the tenth the visitations of the waters and the supplications of things in heaven and on earth, at the eleventh the thanksgiving and exultation of all things, at the twelfth the entreaty of humans for God’s favour.10

1 Literally ‘the 1000th universal year’ (τοῦ χιλιοστοῦ κοσμικοῦ ἔτους), the latter two words being one of a number of means used by K to express this concept and uniformly translated here as AM (‘anno mundi’).

2 For ‘and inhabited …’ ff., cp. Synk. 9.27-31. For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 21v.37-22r.11.

3 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 22r.11-14. Cp. also Synk. 10.8-11.4 Cain in fact begets Maleleël (Ge.5.12) but cp. Synk. 10. 25-6, where there is ambiguity

in the use of οὗτος. Synk. 10.28, however, is unambiguous.5 Cp. Synk. 10.29-30,11.15.6 Cp. Synk. 11.16-17.7 Cp. Lib. Jub. Fr. n.1-4. For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 22r.14-

16.8 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 22r.16-18. Cp. also Synk. 10. 12-13. The reference is to the

532-year Easter cycle, usually credited to Annianos.9 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 22r.18-22. Cp. also Synk. 10. 14-18.10 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 22r.22-28. Cp. also Synk. 10.14-24.

10.2. In the 930th year Adam went to his rest on the very day of the transgression and he departed into the earth from which he was taken, having left behind males, thirty-three sons, and twenty-seven daughters. This man ruled the human race throughout the whole of his life. And his burial took place in the land of Jerusalem, as Josephos records.1

10.3. In the same year Cain too died, after his house had fallen on top of him,2 one year after the death of Adam.3 [83]

11. The Giants [18, 15-20, 11]

11.1 After Adam Seth ruled over humanity. In AM 1000, which was the 40th year of Jared and the 770th of Seth himself, 200 Watchers of his line went astray and descended and took wives for themselves from the daughters of humanity, that is to say of Cain, and they begot the renowned giants.4 And on account of the just Seth these giants became strong and very mighty and exceedingly tall in the size of their body, monstrous and abominable – whence also they had gained their appellation, but through the profane Cain they became brave and most powerful and harsh in their bravery, and most murderous, ungodly, and wanton in their way of life.5 Some called them ‘serpent-footed’ as well, either inasmuch as they had been turned into wild beasts by their ideas and would think about nothing good, or, as some record, because being at war with some inhabitants of high places and so crawling upwards on hands and feet and bellies like serpents against them (by whom also many of the giants were frequently being struck from above and killed), they had been called ‘serpent-footed’. Not a few of these the Most High struck from on high with balls of fire, that is with thunderbolts, and utterly destroyed. As for the rest who remained unaware and incorrigible, God utterly destroyed them all afterwards with a flood.6 These giants swore an oath on Mt Hermonieim to pick out for themselves wives from the sons of humanity, that is to say from the line of Cain, and they called the mountain Hermon, because they swore their oath and bound one another with a curse there.7

11.2. They taught their wives the uses of potions and spells. And first Azazel, the tenth of their leaders – for there were twenty leaders of the 200 who had descended – taught them to make swords and breast-plates and every implement of war and what is made from the minerals of the earth, such as gold, silver, and the rest. And each of them [84] similarly: one the adornment of the body, another choice stones and colouring tinctures, 8 another roots of plants, another wisdom and remedies for spells, another observation of the stars and astronomy, someone else astrology, another divination from the appearance of the sky, another signs of the earth, another of the sun and the moon.9 So that neither did Babylon exist nor a kingdom of Chaldaeans, as Berossos and his followers hold with the purpose of overturning divine scriptures, nor were there dynasties of Egyptians, as Manetho holds in his 1 Cp. verbatim PsS 22r.28-32. Cp. also Joh. Mal. Chronologica 6.21-7.4; Georg. Mon.

Chronicon breve 110.85.24-30; Synk. 11.1-3.2 Cp. verbatim PsS 22r.32-3.3 Cp. PsS 22r. 33-5; Synk. 11.4-6.4 Cp. Synk. 11.7-11.5 Cp. Joh. Mal. Chronologica 8.1-3; Georg. Mon. Chronicon breve 110.88.10-12.6 Cp. Joh. Ant. Fragmenta, 2.45-59.7 Cp. Synk. 11.28-12.2. For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 22r.35-

v.14.8 Cp. Synk. 12.12-17.9 Cp. Synk. 12.21-5.

lies and glorification of the Egyptian people.10 For the kingdom of the Babylonians, that is of the Chaldaeans, began with Nimrod, who was at his prime 630 years after the Flood.2 Yet everything they have written they have written after stealing it from our divinely inspired Scriptures and plagiarising it, as a result of which those who are more simple-minded and who pay attention to the rest of their nonsense are readily harmed.3

12. Notes on Enoch, Noah, the Flood [20, 12-21, 20]

12.1. In AM 1488 Enoch was translated into the Garden at the age of 365. He pleased God and was not found because God removed him to heaven without death.4

12.2. According to those who are called ‘geometers’5, the length of a half of the inhabited earth is twelve thousand miles, and the breadth sixteen thousand miles.6

12.3. We know that the mountains of Ararat are in Armenian Parthia, while some say they are in Phrygian Kelainai.7

12.4. The ark was built over a period of 100 years.8 It was completed in the 599th year of Noah’s life, on the 20th of the month of May, on the first day [of the week].9 The ark’s cubit measurement is a very long fathom amongst Egyptians.10 The rain came down for 40 days and 40 nights. And during April, on the first day of the week, Noah came out of the ark.11 Some say that the ark was opened on the very same day that it was closed one year after this, in AM [85] 2243.12

And, bringing a sacrifice before God, Noah beseeched him no longer to cause a flood. So God, after accepting the man’s virtue, made this promise, having set the rainbow in place as sign of it.13

12.5. Noah was called Xisouthros by the Chaldaeans.14

1 Cp. Synk. 16.3-6.2 Cp. Synk. 16.13-15.3 Cp. Synk. 16.18-20. For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 22v.14-28.4 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 22v.28-30. Cp. also Synk. 21.9-11.5 i.e. ‘land-measurers’.6 Cp. verbatim PsS 22v.30-2..7 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 22v32-3. Cp. also Synk. 22.6-7 where there is no mention of

Armenia and 23.12 where the mountains of Ararat are described only as ‘Armenian’.8 Cp. Synk. 22.20.9 Cp. Synk. 22.19 & 26-7. It appears K has conflated the date of the ark’s completion

(Noah’s 599th year) with that of Noah’s boarding it (20 May in Noah’s 600th year).10 Cp Georg. Mon. 48.13-20 where criticism of the ark’s dimensions at Ge. 6.15 as being

too small to house all the different kinds of animals is rebutted on the grounds that Moses (taken as the author of Genesis) had received an Egyptian education and so, as an Egyptian geometer, his ‘cubit’ measurement is in fact a very long fathom.

11 Cp. Synk. 23.29-30.12 Cp. Synk. 22.24-8 and 23.25-30 where 25 Pachon and the first day of the week are

dates given in common for the ark’s closure in 2242 and Noah’s disembarkation in 2243. For the paragraph as a whole, cp. verbatim PsS 22v33-23r.1.

13 Cp. verbatim PsS 23r.1-3. Cp. also Sym. Log. 11.25-12.3.14 Cp. almost verbatim PsS 23r.4. Cp. also Synk. 23.36.

12.6. Before the Flood there existed neither nation nor kingdom,1 but there was a period of years.2 Contained in the book of the apocrypha of Enoch is the statement that Uriel revealed to Enoch what a month is and what a season and a year, and that a year has 52 weeks.3

Since Egypt was settled and ruled by Mestrem, the second son of Ham, according to Scripture, and the uncle of Nimrod, the son of Cush, the first son of Ham, it is called ‘Mestraia’ up to the present day by Hebrews and Syrians and Arabs.4

In the 2251st year Noah planted a vineyard on Mt Lubar of Armenia, and when he had sacrificed to God and was drinking wine, he stripped himself naked.5

13. Nimrod and the tower of Babel [21, 22-22, 14]

While Nimrod was ruling Babylon was built, as also was the tower in 43 years. Nimrod was the son of Ham but a descendant of Enoch.6 Nimrod was also called Euechios.7 All together the nations carrying out the building were 70, yet they all had but one language.8 And Nimrod the giant, the son of the Ethiopian, Cush, used to go hunting and provide them with animals for eating. And Heber, the son of Sala, had been entrusted with urging on the building process.9 Then, when the languages had been brought into confusion by God and all the people had been scattered abroad, Nimrod himself continued to live there, without desisting from his work on the tower and ruling over a certain limited population. The tower fell down on him in a violent wind, as some record, including Josephos himself, and killed him in divine judgement.10 This, from the time when Adam was formed, was the first kingdom that had come into being on earth. And those who say that other kingdoms also had come into being are lying.11 From Nimrod Asour was born, [86] who build the cities of Nineveh and Rhoboth and Chalach. And it is clear that after 630 years from the Flood the kingdom of the Chaldaeans, that is of the Babylonians, had its beginning by means of Nimrod.12

14. Heber and the origin of the Hebrews [22, 14-23, 3]

They say that only Heber, the father of Phalek, did not assent to the act of tower-building, for which reason, although the language of the others was brought into confusion, Heber’s did not perish13 – and this is the language in which Adam also used to speak. And Heber’s descendants who received this language in turn named themselves Hebrews after their paternal ancestor and called their language Hebrew. The names of the ancients are proof that this is the language that existed before the confusion: for while in not one language is it possible to explain what is being signified in respect of these names, in this language what is 1 Cp. Synk. 34.7-8.2 Cp. Synk. 34.9-12 where the proposal that prior to Uriel’s revelation to Enoch time was

measured in days, nights, and weeks, but not months and years, is rejected.3 Cp. Synk. 34.17-19. For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 23r.4-7.4 Cp. verbatim PsS 23r.7-10. Cp. also Synk. 38.21-5.5 Cp. verbatim PsS 23r.10-12. Cp. also Synk. 88.6-7.6 Cp. Synk. 43.20-2.7 Cp. Synk. 89.18; 101.23.8 Cp. Sym. Log. 12.22-4.9 Cp. Joh. Mal. Chronologica 11.13-17; Sym. Log. 12.23-13.2.10 Cp. Synk. 43.23-7.11 Cp. Synk. passim, e.g. 16.2-6; 38.12 ff.12 Cp. Synk. 16.12-15. For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 23r.12-25.13 Cp. Joh. Mal. Chronologica 11.18-22; Georg. Mon. 52.15-22; Sym. Log. 13.4-5.

being sought after can be interpreted – just as while what is being disclosed in ‘Adam’ cannot be found in any other language, yet in this language it is interpreted as ‘human being’, and Noah’s name signifies ‘righteousness’, and Cush ‘Ethiopian’, and Mestrem ‘Egyptian’, and Phalek ‘division’,1 and Babylon ‘confusion’.2

15. The descendants of Noah after the Flood [23, 4-24, 21]

15.1. After the Flood up to the time of the dispersion there were only three who ruled the people in a godly manner, Noah, Shem, and Arphaxad, the son of Shem, for 534 years.3 It was AM 2776.4 For in AM 2592 Noah the righteous went to his rest, being 950 years of age.5 This is how the 534 years are counted: Noah’s years after the Flood 350, Shem’s years 150, and Arphaxad’s years 33, in total 533 years, the rest making their start in the 534th year.6 The following are historians of the Egyptians and Chaldaeans: Manetho, who wrote the history of the Egyptians, Berossos, who [87] compiled material on Chaldaea, Mochos and Hestiaios, and in addition to these the Egyptian Hieronymos. Those who wrote the history of Phoenicia are Hesiod and Hekataios, Hellanikos and Akousilaos, Ephoros and Nikolaos.7

15.2. In AM 2572, in the 934th year of his life, in accordance with the manifestly divine oracle, Noah divided the earth between his three sons as follows: to Shem, his first-born son, who was in his 431st year, he gave from Persia and Bactria up to India in length, and in breadth from India up to Rhinocorura in Egypt, that is the regions from the East up to a portion of the South, both Syria, which is also called Judaea – for the ancients used to call the Palestinians Syrians as well – and Media, and a river which defines his boundaries, the Euphrates. To Ham, his second son, who was in his 427th year, he gave the land towards the South and South-West and a portion of the West from Rhinocorura in Egypt, Ethiopia and Egypt and Libya, Africa and Mauritania, up to the Pillars of Herakles, that is up to the Western and Libyan Ocean, and a defining river, the Nile, which is also called Geion and Chrysorroas. To Japheth, his third son, who was in his 425th year, he gave the regions from Media towards the North and the West as far as Gadeira and the British Isles, Armenia, Iberia, Pontos, Kolchis, and the lands and islands beyond as far as Italy and the Gauls, both Spain and Celtiberia, and Lusitania. When, as they say, he had divided the earth in this way and set out this disposal in writing, he read his will to them and placed his seal upon it, keeping it to himself until the 2592nd year from Adam, in which he went to his rest. And when he was about to die he gave a command to his three sons that none of them should attack8 his brother’s borders and behave irresponsibly towards the other, on the grounds that this would become a cause of discord for them and of internecine wars. But his will he gave to Shem as he was his first-born son and more devoted to God. Shem also took over authority after him and [88] of the blessings given by Noah Shem inherited those that were special, as is reported as well in Genesis, and Noah went to his rest on Mount Lubar.9

1 For ‘And his descendants …’ ff., cp. Sym. Log. 13.5-16.2 For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 23r.25-35.3 Cp. Synk. 89.9-13.4 Cp. Synk. 89.14.5 Cp. Synk. 90.13.6 Cp. Synk. 89.10-13. ‘The rest’ are those ruling after the dispersion of the nations.7 Cp. Synk. 44.12-17. For the paragraph as a whole, cp. almost verbatim PsS 23r.35-v.8.8 For the paragraph up to this point, cp. almost verbatim PsS 23v.9-29.9 For ‘But his will …’ ff., cp. verbatim PsS 23v.29-33. For the paragraph as a whole, cp.

also Synk. 46.23-47.20.