Michael Syrus 2

**Chronicle of Michael the Syrian** Book II (1195), translated from French version and annotated by Ras Feqade, 2022

## Book II

In invoking the Omnipotent Lord, Ruler of Time, we begin Book II which goes from the time that followed the Deluge, in the days of Noah, up to the era of Abraham: 1081 years.

### Chapter 1.

After the anger of God was appeased, He remembered Noah who left the Ark, and those who were there with him, the 17th of the month of Yar, which is the second month. They abandoned the Ark, as Josephus says, in the city of Apamea which is in the metropolis of Pisidia: there are the boards. Others say of that differently. There are also a number of discrepancies regarding their entry into the Ark, their departure, and the number of days, months, and years. It is affirmed that they entered the Ark on Yar 17, and that they left the 27th of the same month in the following year. The sons of Noah who left the Ark with him were three: Sem, Cham and Japhet. Thus, Sem was 98 years old when the deluge took place, and when he left the Ark he was 100. Afterward, he had children. Then, Noah divided the Earth to his children, and brought curses against those who trespassed the borders of his brother. Thus the division was made. Sem had for his part Persia, Bactriana up to India and Rinocorura: Cham had for his part from Rinocorura to Gadiron; Japhet had the northern region, from Media to Gadiron.

[Bedrosian's English translation of the Armenian version of Michael Syrus (Bed.), *Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan* (Conflict) and Bar Hebraeus (BH) say Noah and his family entered the Ark on the 27th of Iyar and departed a year later on the 27th of Iyar, while *Kitab al-Magall* (KM) and *Cave of Treasures* (CT) say as here that he entered on the 17th and departed a year later on the 27th. *Jubilees* (Jub.) more reliably says they entered on the 1st day of the second month and the Lord closed it and began the deluge on the 17th, the Earth was fully dry exactly a year later on the 17th and they disembarked on the 27th. Bed. says the Ark landed on Mt. Euphimes in Pisidia, or Mt. Ararat aka Masis in Armenia; Jub. says on Mt Lubar in Ararat.

Bed., BH, and indeed *Genesis* all agree that Shem begat Arphaxad 2 years after the flood at age 100 (103 in Jub.), which this version has confused. The divisions mentioned above roughly match those given in the other sources, Jubilees being the original and most detailed. Rinocorura is the easternmost branch of the Nile Delta, Gadiron is Gadir, now Gibraltar.]

The tribes from Japhet were numbered 15: they had had a share of the Tigris River that separates Media from Persia. The tribes of Sem numbered 25; they lived in the east, and had a share of the river Euphrates that divides their country. The tribes of the children of Cham are numbered 32; they had a share of the Gihon, which is the river Nile, which waters their land.

[Bed. reads a little more accurately "The line of Japheth holds from the source of the Tigris River which divides Media and Persia. The line of Shem dwelled to the east and west of the Euphrates and Tigris. The line of Ham holds the Gihon River, which delineates their borders."

This chapter seems to describe the second division described in Jubilees, after Madai had journeyed to his first allotment in western Europe and decided to beg for land from Shem so his wife, a daughter of Shem could stay near her people. The border between Shem and Japheth had been the Don River in the initial division, but Asshur gave Madai's tribe some lands between the Tigris and Don -- or at least the Araxes Valley, whence they soon expanded to the Don and the source of the Tigris, as well as to Bactria. The upper Tigris marked the original border between the portion of Aram and that of Asshur, but it never really divided Media from Persia as misstated here.]

Descendants of Japhet: Macedonians, Armenians, Medes, Greeks, Latins, Romans, Iberians.

Descendants of Cham: Ethiopians, Metsroye or Egyptians, Hittites, Jebusites, Hivites, Amorites, Gergasites, Aradites.

Descendants of Sem: Assyrians, Chaldeans, Lydians, Arameans, i.e. Syrians, Hebrews, Persians.

The children of Sem to the east; the children of Japheth to the north; the children of Cham to the south.

Noah had seen that those who lived before the deluge, regarding living places and better spaces, were defiled with blood and had angered God, until they made all perish and disappear from the face of the Earth; that's why he divided the Earth and imposed, on penalty of a curse, lest they quarrel further to anger the Lord.

### Chapter 2

Sem, aged 130 years, begat Arphaxad; according to the Hebrew, at the age of 102 years. Arphaxad, at the age of 135 years, begat Cainan. Eusebius never counts this Cainan nor the number of his years, in the series of years; the Hebrew text and ours, no more. This Cainan invented magic, incantations, divination by the stars; his children worshipped him like a god and erected a statue for him: thence began the worship of idols. He built a city and named it Hara from the name of his son Haron. The evangelist Luke mentions the name of Cainan. Arphaxad survived, according to the Greek, 465 years, and according to the Syriac, 438 years. Cainan begat Sala at the age of 139 years, and according to the Samaritan, at the age of 39 years. Sala begat Heber at the age of 130 years according to the three books, and survived 460 years; according to the Syriac, he begat at 30 years and died at 433 years. Heber begat at the age of 134 years. Annianus says that he begat Phaleg at the age of 133 years, and then Jectan; but according to the Syriac, this was at the age of 34 years. He survived 343 years. In the Syriac it is written that he survived 464 years; and there are some who say the Hebrews took their name from him.

[*Jubilees* predates the various versions of *Genesis* and has the most accurate chronology. It has Shem born in 1207 AA (After Adam), and the flood in 1308 AA (= 2755 BC) when he was 101, Arphaxad born 2 years later in 1310 AA, Cainan in 1375 AA when Arphaxad was 65, Salah in 1432 AA when Cainan was 57, Eber in 1503 AA when Salah was 71, Peleg in 1567 AA (= 2496 BC) when Eber was 64. All of the various versions of *Genesis* have confused this data to varying degrees.

Cainan and Kesed were sons of Arphaxad and Rasueya, daughter of Susan son of Elam; Cainan founded Harran, thus the oldest continuously inhabited settlement, even before the cities to the south in Senar (Shinar or Sumer). Cainan married Milcah, daughter of Madai (2634 BC), and they begat Salah (2631 BC), Malah and Haran. Aventinus indicates that Cainan later joined his son Salah and grandson Eber, along with Joktan and several of his sons, in migrating to the Danube region of Europe (2398 BC).

      Kesed was father to Ur Pabilsag, who in 2376 BC founded the city of Ur Kesdim, and to Mu'ak, who married her first cousin Salah (2564 BC) and begat Eber (2560 BC). Ur Pabilsag was father to the ephemeral king Akalamdug and his brother Meskalamdug, who succeeded him at Ur (ca. 2350 BC), as well as to Ora, who would marry Peleg's son Reu or Ragu (2382 BC), and beget Serug (2376 BC). The tombs of Ur Pabilsag and Meskalamdug are among those known to archaeology. Arphaxad according to the Samaritan *Genesis* lived another 303 years after begetting, or until 2385 BC; KM says he was buried in his town "Arbalsabat", and indeed the oldest Ur tomb of "A-imdugud" (reading uncertain) may prove to be that of Arphaxad himself.

   Malah or Malikh, son of Cainan and Milcah, married Yotsadaq and begat Melchizedek, according to KM and CT. Melchizedek would eventually (2072 BC) found Salem, the later Jerusalem.

The oldest town Harran, though founded c. 2630 BC by Cainan, Arphaxad's son, would be within the land assigned to Aram, Arphaxad's brother; thus after the division Harran became the capital of Paddan-Aram, aka Aram-Naharain. The inhabitants became Aramaean, although they would have been Hurrian speakers at first after the confusion of languages, before Aramaic was a Semitic language.]

In the year 120 of Phaleg, the Earth was divided a second time by the children of Sem and the other sons of Noah. To the children of Sem fell all the region that forms the middle of the habitable earth, from the border of Egypt, Rinocorura and the Red Sea, and from the sea of Phoenicia and Syria, until eastern edge of the habitable earth. Among other known places they obtained: Palestine, Arabia, Phoenicia, Syria, all Mesopotamia and Hyrcania, Assyria, the countries of Sennaar, Babel and the Kurds, all Persia and the countries that surround it, with northern India, Bactria and other eastern regions.

[*Jubilees* places the first division in 2494 BC (1569 AA), two years after the birth of Peleg. The second division would have occurred when Jub. indicates Madai visited western Europe and rejected his portion in favor of land in Shem's inheritance, which is mentioned in passing soon after the tower's fall in 2424 BC, implying it had already occurred somewhat before then. This could not have been as late as when Peleg was 120 as here, nor when he was 140 as in BH. KM contains an even more impossible statement that the peoples discovered and settled the plain at Shinar when Peleg was 239. In the next chapter the 2nd partition is dated to 10 years before Nemrod assumed his crown, which would place it in 2453 BC, a much better fit for Madai's journey.]

To the children of Cham, second son of Noah, fell all the southern region that can be inhabited, from east to west: that is to say, central and southern India, the countries of Kush, Saba, Egypt, Libya, Thebaid and Africa, and all the western and southern countries up to the borders of inhabitable land and the Ocean sea. On the northern side, they have Cilicia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Moesia, Phrygia, Lycia, Lydia, and several islands of the sea: Cyprus, Chios, Sicily and around 20 others.

[No part of Anatolia or any Mediterranean island was in fact delineated to Ham according to Jub., although both regions would certainly see a Hamitic, particularly Egyptian, presence within a few centuries. The partition with Shem per Jub. would seem to run due east from the source of the Blue Nile, which interestingly enough would indeed leave southern India to Ham.]

To the children of Japhet, third son of Noah, fell all the northern country, from the eastern edge of the habitable earth to the western edge. They had the following countries: The country of the Alans and Turks, and, to the east: Media, Armenia, Cappadocia, Galatia, Asia, Moesia, Thrace, Greece and the countries that are north and west of those: the country of the Greeks, Romans, Sarmatians, Slavs, Kurgakhe; to the west the country of the Gauls, Spain, and all the others found on the western border as far as Gadira.

[It is not clear from this account what the meaningful redivision was of the second apportionment, since it is described as nearly the same as the first here and in BH (which clarifies 'Bulgarians' in place of the corrupted 'Kurgakhe'). The second division of 2453 BC can be gleaned from Jubilees, which describes Madai receiving land in the portion of Shem, as well as from clues in *Defloratio* and Aventinus, and it primarily concerns Europe. Aventinus relates that lands west of the Don (Sarmatia) and in the western Balkans were initially settled by the tribes of Joktan, likely in exchange for Madai son of Japheth receiving part of Shem's portion. These lands were taken from the part of the original allotments of Tubal and Magog. Meanwhile, Madai's rejected inheritance in western Europe was given to Ashkenaz east of the Rhine, and west of the Rhine to Samothes (son of Rhodes and grandson of Javan per *Bib. Ant.*, which calls him 'Fenech') -- who at that time was chief foreman of the Japhethites at Babel, along with Joktan for the Semites and Nimrod for the Hamites. Thus while Nimrod was claiming kingship in Senar, both Joktan and Samothes were also accommodated with lands in this redivision. In addition, the original allotment of Meshech in North America being very remote, his tribe was also allowed to settle the eastern Balkans formerly part of Magog's allotment, most likely as a transitory base from which to migrate westward by sea. These areas of the Balkans and Sarmatia, settled by Joktan and Meshech by 2398 BC, would be subject to Ashkenaz.]

* **Next: chapter 3**

* **Sources Index**