FIrst then, I shall produce some Testimonies of Ancient Heathen Writers concerning the Deluge.
The first shall be that of Berosus, recorded by Iosephus, in the fifth Chapter of his first Book of Iewish Antiquities, […], &c. That is, Berosus the Chaldaean relating the Story of the Deluge writes thus. It is reported, that there is some part of the Vessel [the Ark] still remaining at the Mountain of the Gordyaeans; and that certain Persons scraping off the Bitumen or Pitch, carry it away; and that men make use of it for Amulets, to drive away Diseases.
A second Testimony the same Iosephus affords us in the same place, and that is, of Nicolaus Damascenus; who, saith he, gives us the History of the [Ark and Deluge] in these words; About Minyas in Armenia there is a great Mountain called Baris; to which it is reported, that many flying in the time of the Deluge were saved, and that a certain person was carried thither in an Ark, which rested on the top of it; the reliques of the Timber whereof were preserved there a long time. Besides these, Iosephus tells us in the same place, that Hieronymus the Egyptian, who wrote the Phoenician Antiquities, and Mnaseas, and many others, whose words he alledges not, make mention of the Flood.
Eusebius superadds two Testimonies more. The one of Melon to this effect. There departed from Armenia at the time of the Deluge, a certain man, who together with his Sons had been saved; who being cast out of his House and Possessions, was driven away by the Natives. This man passing over the intermediate Region, came into the mountainous part of Syria, that was then desolate. This Testimony makes the Deluge Topical, and not to have reached Armenia.
The other is of Abydenus an ancient Writer, set down by Eusebius, Praepar· Evangel. lib. 9. cap. 4. […], &c. After whom others reigned, and then Si[…]ithrus, (so he calls Noah.) To whom Saturn foretold, that there should be a great Flood of Waters upon the fifteenth Day of the Month Desius; and commanded him to hide all Writings [or whatever was committed to writing] in Heliopolis of the Sypparians. Which so soon as Sisithrus had performed, he presently sailed away to Armenia, where what God had predicted to him, immediately came to pass [or came upon him]. The third day, after the Waters ceased, he sent forth Birds, that he might try whether they could espy any Land uncovered of Water. But they finding nothing but Sea, and not knowing whither to betake themselves, returned back to Sisithrus. In like manner, after some days he sent out others with like success. But being sent out the third time, they returned with their feet fouled with Mud. Then the Gods caught up Sisithrus from among Men: but the Ship remained in Armenia, and its Wood afforded the Inhabitants Amulets to chase away many Diseases. These Histories accord with the Scripture as to the main, of the being of a […] Noah escaping out of it; only […] the Truth, by the admixture […] fabulous stuff.
[…] first Book against Iulian, to […] Deluge, alledges a passage out of Alexander Polyhistor· Plato himself (saith he) gives us an obscure intimation of the Deluge, in his Timaeus, bringing in a certain Egyptian Priest, who related to Solon out of the Sacred Books of the Egyptians, that before the particular Deluges known and celebrated by the Grecians, there was of old an exceeding great Inundation of Waters, and devastation of the Earth; which seems to be no other than Noah’s Flood.
Plutarch in his Book De Solertia Animalium tells us, That those who have written of Deucalion’s Flood, report, that there was a Dove sent out of the Ark by Deucalion, which returning again into the Ark, was a sign of the continuance of the Flood, but flying quite away, and not returning any more, was a sign of Serenity, and that the Earth was drained.
Indeed Ovid and other Mythologists make Deucalion’s Flood to have been universal: and it’s clear, by the Description Ovid gives of it, that he· meant the general Deluge in the days of Noah. And that by Deucalion, the Ancients together with Ovid, understood Noah; Kircher in his1 Arca Noae doth well make out. First, For that the Poet Apollonius makes him the Son of Prometheus in his third Book, —[…]. Where Prometheus the Son of Iapetus begat the Renowned Deucalion. 2. Berosus affirms Noah to have been a Scythian. And Lucian in his Book De Dea Syria tells us, that many make Deucalion to have been so too. 3. The Scripture testifies, that Men were generally very corrupt and wicked in the days of Noah. And Andro Teius a very ancient Writer testifies, that in Deucalion’s time there was a great abundance of wicked Men, which made it necessary for God to destroy Mankind. 4. The Scripture saith, that Noah was a Just Man, and Perfect in his Generation. And Ovid saith of Deucalion, that Non illo melior quisquam, nec amantior aequi Vir fuit, aut illâ [Pyrrhâ uxore ejus] reverentior ulla Deorum. And a little after, Innocuos ambos, cultores numinis ambos.
- Apollonius saith of Deucalion, […], He first ruled over Men. Which may very well be attributed to Noah the Father and Restorer of Mankind, whose right the Kingdom was. 6. The sending out of a Dove, to try whether the Waters were abated, and the Flood gone off, is (we have seen) by Plutarch attributed to Deucalion. 7. Lucian in his Timon, and in his Book De Dea Syria, sets forth the Particulars of Deucalion’s, after the Example of Noah’s Flood. […], &c. Deucalion was the only Man that was left for a second Generation, for his Prudence and Piety sake: And he was saved in this manner. He made a great Ark, and got aboard it, with his Wife and Children: And to him came Swine, and Horses, and Lions, and Serpents, and all other living Creatures, which the Earth maintains, according to their kinds by pairs; and he received them all, and they hurt him not; for there was by Divine Instinct a great friendship among them; and they sailed together in the Ark, so long as the Waters prevailed. And in his Timon he saith, That Noah laid up in the Ark plenty of all Provisions for their sustenance.
By all this it appears, that the notion of a general Flood was every where current among the People, especially in those Countreys where the Ark rested, and where Noah afterward lived. And hence it was, that the TAB: I. pag: 69 The two ancient Apamian Coyns taken out of Octav. Falconieri de Nummo Apamensi Deucalionaei Diluvij typum exhibente 8••. Romae. By the Greek inscriptions they were stamp under Philippus Marcus Aurelius Alexander and Septimius Severus Apameans, whether of Mesopotamia, or Syria, or Bythinia, (for there were three Cities of that Name) coined Moneys in honour of the Emperours Septimius Severus, and Philippus Arabs, having on the Reverse the Figure of an Ark, with a Man and a Woman standing before it; and a Man and a Woman looking out of it; and two Doves above it, one flying with a Branch of a Tree in its Mouth, another resting upon it. The Figures whereof, and a learned Discourse thereupon out of Falconerius, may be seen in Kircher’s2 Arca Noae. Which Moneys though they were coined long after our Saviour’s time, and the divulgation of the Scriptures; yet being done by Ethnicks, do shew that the Story of the Deluge was known, and famous, and generally credited among them, as being near the place where Noah lived and conversed after the Flood.
Howbeit I do not deny, that there was such a particular Flood in Thessaly, as they call Deucalion’s, which happened Seven Hundred and Seventy Years or thereabouts after the general Deluge. I acknowiedge also a more ancient Flood in Attica in the time of Ogyges, about Two hundred and thirty years before Deucalion’s, by which the Countrey was so marred, that it lay waste and uncultivated without Inhabitants for almost Two hundred years.
← Discourse 2. Of the General Deluge, Its Causes and Effects · Contents · Discourse 2, Chapter 2. Of the Causes of the Deluge →