[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: orion-list Seth in Josephus

    [The following text is in the "UTF-8" character set]
    [Your display is set for the "ISO-8859-8" character set]
    [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly]

   Darryl Jeffries asks about the legend of astrological revelations on stone 
tablets from before the flood.  Josephus, Ant. 1.68-70 reads (Loeb Classics 
Edition):

   "(68) I will only endeavor to narrate the story of the progeny of Seth.  
He... left descendants who... (69) also discovered the science of the 
heavenly bodies and their orderly array.  (70) Moreover, to prevent their 
discoveries from being lost to mankind and perishing before they became known 
- Adam having predicted a destruction of the universe, at one time by a 
violent fire and at anothe by a mighty deluge of water - they erected two 
pillars, one of brick and the other of stone, and inscribed their discoveries 
on both..."

    The book of Jubilees (c. 160 BCE, found in numerous copies at Qumran) and 
1 Enoch (also at Qumran) both attribute the discovery of 
astrological/astronomical secrets to Enoch (not Seth) who learned it from the 
Watchers (Jub. 4:17ff; Astrological book of Enoch, c. 250 BCE).  This Watcher 
lore was passed down through the generations to the flood, but preserved on 
tablets which were then discovered by Cainan the son of Arpachshad (Jub. 
8:1-4), who transmitted it to later generations.  The Treatise of Shem has 
Shem the son of Noah pass on astrological data.  The replacement of Enoch 
with Seth as discoverer of astrological secrets is a later development, 
showing up in apocryphal Life of Adam and Eve (chapters 50 and 51).  (Wise, 
Abegg and Cook have somewhat confused the traditions with that in Josephus, 
which doesn't explicitly have Seth play quite so major a role.)  The much 
later (Gnostic) Gospel of the Egyptians refer to the stele with secret lore 
put atop a mountain.  The ultimate origin of these legends is Mesopotamian:  
flood legends refer to inscribed tablets being hidden before the flood at 
Sippar and later recovered after the flood.  If you are interested in 
pursuing these traditions (which are only tangentially related to scrolls 
studies), many of the primary sources I have referred to can be found in 
Charlesworth's 2-volume "The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha" (Doubleday, 1983). 
 The introductions to these texts are also valuable and mention other related 
books and articles.

    Russell Gmirkin

>  In Wise, Abegg, and Cook's <italic>Dead Sea Scrolls</italic> (p. 381)
>  there is reference to "a legend that Seth, the son of Adam, wrote out
>  many revelations on stone tablets, which could be read only by the
>  righteous Josephus Ant. 1.70)Š" but I don't find this material in
>  Josephus.  Can anyone help with a) the reference from Josephus and b)
>  more on the legend itself.
For private reply, e-mail to RGmyrken@aol.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from Orion, e-mail to majordomo@panda.mscc.huji.ac.il with
the message: "unsubscribe Orion." For more information on the Orion Center
or for Orion archives, visit our web site http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il.