Aventinus 24

Johannes Turmayr's 1520 History of Bavaria, Chapter 24 and 25 - translated and annotated by Ras Feqade, AD 2020.

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## 24. How Abraham circumcised himself, and how the wild fire from heaven burned down the five cities; everything happened in a year.

In the tenth year of the rule of our third king Eingeb, Abraham was 99 years old and the world now stood 2050 years.

[The rest of the chapter continues the story of Abraham from Genesis, including the birth of Isaac and destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; events that took place in 2084 BC, but here wrongly assigned to the tenth year of Ingevon, which would be 2172 BC.]

## 25. Of the fourth Emperor in Germania, in our language Ausstab, Saxon Ustau, in Latin and Greek Istevon.

The fourth emperor in Germania, king **Ausstäb**, had his only and fatherly inheritance and kingdom fifty years, from which the Rhinelanders come, called by the old Ausstäber. And in the tenth year of his administration, Thara, Abraham's father, died. In the third year after, Sarah, Abraham's wife, died; he took another woman. In the twenty-fifth year thereafter, Rebecca bore her husband, Isak, two sons, the ancestors Jacob and Esau. And in the fifteenth year after that our fourth king died, likewise there died with him from this world Abraham in the 175th year of his age, from the Deluge in the 467th, from the beginning of the world in the 2125th year. And the old Germans set the above mentioned king Ausstab over the land and people after his death, believing that he drove out and dusted off the enemies of the country; he is the German Mars.

At that time also in Greece, in the land of Mosea, king **Inachus** ruled, for whom there was a river named, and the poets wrote much. At that time, too, was a very arid summer, it burnt Italy, where king Phaëton ruled, our poets sing and say much about it

[Istevon ruled Germany from 2136 to 2084 BC, 52 years, as correctly given in his later German Chronicle. This Bavarian Chronicle, in both Late High German and Latin versions, and Anderson, give him 50 years. The synchronisms here with Abraham's life are still somewhat off - Abraham lived until 2003 BC; but it is singular that the fires said to fall from the sky in Italy in Phaeton's and Istevon's day calculate to 2084 BC, the same year of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. They also synchronize with Chinese annals sighting fireballs falling far in the western horizon in that same year.

Inachus ruled Inachia, the later Argos in Greece, from 2143 to 2102 BC, roughly contemporary with Istevon but before the year of the fires.

In the final paragraph, omitted for brevity, Aventinus discusses his theory that the names of Ingevon and Istevon signify in German Ingoing dweller and Outlying dweller.

The later German Chronicle also mentions among Istevon's contemporaries, King 'Aralius of Assyria', that is, Lugal-anne-Mundu of Adab who ruled Sumer 2145-2099 BC, and the arrival of Auson, son of Aram, who fled Myrina from Damascus to the heel of Italy in 2126 BC.

In *Defloratio*, Istevon's name has dropped out, but the notice of his successor Herminon has been moved up to where Istevone's should be (under Aralius), and that of the next German king, Marsus, which should have appeared under Armatritis, has been moved to where Herminon's should be (under Baleus). Marsus' successors Gambrivius, Suevus, Vandalus, Teutanes and Allemanus all appear in their correct positions in *Defloratio*.]