THE PHOENICIAN HISTORY OF PHILO OF BYBLOS A COMMENTARY ETUDES PRELIMINAIRES AUX RELIGIONS ORIENTALES DANS L'EMPIRE ROMAIN PUBLIEES PAR M. J. VERMASEREN TOME QUATRE-VINGT-NEUVIEME ALBERT I. BAUMGARTEN THE PHOENICIAN HISTORY OF PHILO OF BYBLOS A COMMENTARY LEIDEN E. J. BRILL 1981 ALBERT I. BAUMGARTEN THE PHOENICIAN HISTORY OF PHILO OF BYBLOS A COMMENTARY LEIDEN E. J. BRILL 1981 This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. A further subsidy was awarded by the Arts Research Board of McMaster Uni versity. ISBN 90 04 06369 2 Copyright 1981 by E. J. Brill, Leiden, Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or translated in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche or any other means without written permission from the publisher PRINTED IN BELGIUM To the memory of my Father CONTENTS Acknowledgments. IX Index of Abbreviations and Bibliography XI I. The Main Problems I II. The Greek Text 8 III. Biographical Data . 31 IV. Porphyry's Account of Sanchuniathon 41 V. Philo's Account of Sanchuniathon 63 VI. The Cosmogony 94 VII. The Discoverers 140 VIII. The Life of Kronos 180 IX. Kronos' Victory & Philo's Conclusion 214 X. Child Sacrifice & Snakes 244 XI. Conclusions 261 Index of Names 269 Index of Passages 277 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My acquaintance with Philo of Byblos goes back many years. What was first proposed as an M.A. topic became a doctoral thesis, and now this book. Over these years, I have been helped by family, teachers, friends and institutions whose assistance it is a pleasure to acknowledge. First comes my family who have encouraged me to pursue an academic career. A life of teaching and research makes special de mands. My wife and children have always been helpful and supportive, for which I am grateful. The members of tile doctoral supervisory committee at Columbia University contributed significantly to my education and to the original thesis. lowe a special debt of gratitude to my former supervisor, Professor Morton Smith. Many of his oral suggestions have been incorporated in the text and notes of my commentary. Numerous suggestions by the other committee members-E. J. Bickerman, M. Held, J. Teixidor and J. Schmidt-also appear. Responsibility for the contents is, of course, mine. A book, I believe, belongs to a somewhat different academic genre than a thesis. In the process of turning my thesis into a book, I have had the advantage of extensive discussions with my colleague, E. P. Sanders of McMaster University. I have a double obligation to Professor Vermaseren, the editor of EPRO. He has supplied much good advice and encouragement in the process of accepting this book for the series. The problem of how to integrate the Greek text of Philo's fragments with my translation and commentary was hard to resolve. The solution I have adopted (see the discussion below, p. 7) has been facilitated by the permission to reprint the fragments as edited by Jacoby, granted by E. J. Brill and Co., the holder of the copyright on Jacoby's work. If education has become expensive, publication is prohibitive. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. A further subsidy was awarded by the Arts Research Board of McMaster Uni versity.