Syrus II-5

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

### Chapter 5

Nahor begat Thara at the age of 79 years, according to the LXX; but according to the Syriac, at 29 years. He survived to 207 years, according to LXX, and 148 years according to Syriac.

[Jub. puts Nahor's birth in 2319 BC, his marriage to Iyoska, daughter of "Nestag of the Chaldeans" in 2263 BC, and the birth of their son Thara in 2257 BC, when Nahor was 62. The Samaritan Genesis says Nahor lived a further 69 years, which would put his death at 131 in the year 2188 BC, the year before Abam's birth, exactly fitting the narrative below.]

In this time, **Kisaronos the Parthian** engaged in combat with Samiros, killed him and reigned in his place. He lifted up his horns to himself and placed them on the crown of his head.

[BH includes the same annal, spelling his name Kasaronos or Basaronos; Michael spells it Kisranos on his table, even allotting him 43 years over Babylon. He undoubtedly corresponds to the king Barzanes of "Armenia Saga" in *Defloratio*, to whom his father Sabatius (Sebtah son of Kush, brother of Nemrod) left the throne in the 43rd year of the "Era of Ninus", meaning 2263 BC. It also claims Ninus defeated this Barzanes in his last year of 52, meaning 2254 BC. The claim that Ninus defeated Barzanes at this time, in an early form, perhaps gave rise to the legends, already known to Diodorus Siculus, that Ninus, and his successor and spouse Semiramis, were great conquerors of the entire Near East. I am inclined to reject most of these legends; if Ninus' reign ended at that time, 2254 BC, the original must have read to the contrary, that *Barzanes* defeated and slew *Ninus* (on the SKL as Meskiag-Nuna of Ur), as Ninus was succeeded then in Ur by his queen Shamgan. *Defloratio* makes clear the opponent of Barzanes was Ninus (Meskiag-nuna), and not Samiros (his father Mesannepada of Ur, whom *Defloratio* includes in the "Era of Jupiter Belus") -- but because Samiros has been moved to an earlier position here, Michael has him rather than Ninus being slain by 'Kisaronos the Parthian'.

On the SKL, 3 kings of Awan whose names are effaced are said to have defeated Ur and ruled next in Nippur until they were defeated by Kish. Awan was capital of the Elamites, that had been founded by Barwain with Japhethite help in the 3rd year of Nimrod, ie. 2421 BC (*Apoc. Method.*), or more likely the 38th year of the era of Saturn Nymbrotus, 2386 BC (*Defloratio*), actually during Dumuzid. We can infer an alliance with the Elamites (Awan) under the 2 kings of Saga (said to include Armenia, Caspian and Bactria), who *Defloratio* says fought Babylon in the eras of Belus and Ninus, namely Sabatius and Barzanes. The much later term "Parthians" appearing here may thus refer to this alliance of Sagans and Elamites alike. SKL says the 3 kings of Awan ruled Nippur 356 years, with the 3rd, Kut-[...] for 36 years, but no other information is legible. More likely, 36 years represents the entire time Nippur was held by Elamites, during Meskiag-nuna's reign at Ur, being 2303-2267 BC, until they were driven out by the king of Kish who seized Nippur, probably Kalbum (see below). This was all while Sebtah still ruled in Saga. In 2263 BC Sebtah left Saga to Barzanes (who may or may not really have been his son) and departed, as we know from Ethiopian chronology, to his father's realm of Kush to rule there, and not to Pontus as *Defloratio* has it. Thus in 2254 BC a second conflict occurred where Barzanes slew Meskiag-Nuna of Ur.]

According to the chronicle of Aroud the Canaanite, the struggle of Job the just took place in the 25th year of Nahor. The words of Aroud are these: "There was a rich man of the tribe of Joktan who was called Job. Seven times he fought alone against Satan and defeated him." Asaph says this battle took place 600 years later. As for me, I think Aroud the Canaanite spoke true. Job preceded Moses by 500 years. There are those who say he was of the race of Esau, and that he is the same as Jobab, son of Zarah.

[The 25th year of Nahor would place the agony of Job, when his conscience was tested by a spirit of arrogance, in 2294 BC, which also sounds about right to me. There was also a son of Joktan called Jobab, who may correspond with the Elb whom Aventinus indicates was the king who settled Bohemia in 2398 BC under Tuisto (ie Ashkenaz), though this Elb probably did not stay in Bohemia long. At any rate, the *Book of Job* is set in the "land of Uz", likely meaning the son of Aram whom Josephus, as Michael notes below, credited with founding Damascus.]

In the year 5 of Thara reigned the 5th king, **Arphazad**, during 18 years. And here ended the principality of the kings of Babylon, during 7 years, until Belus, first king of the Assyrians; as several Chaldeans, Medes, Assyrians struggled for the kingship and killed one another in battle, a time of 7 years elapsed without principality.

[As noted before, Arphazad is Dumuzid of Uruk who ruled 2392-2374 BC, the years of anarchy and rebellion lasting ca. 2374 BC through 2368 BC until Gilgamesh emerged as king of Uruk. The accounts of Arphazad (spelled 'Arpakid' in Chap. 7) and Belos should therefore come right after Kambiros, and before Samiros and Kisaronos, before continuing with Tsaharon and Ninus. This too is all paralleled in Sumerian accounts of Dumuzid, presiding in opulence over an impoverished land, until he was driven out by rebels from Uruk, Ur, Nippur, Adab and Akshak. Fleeing them, he was finally betrayed by his wife Inanna to the rebels led by Gilgamesh, as also confirmed amply by the Clementine tradition in the following anecdote:

Kitab al-Magall: "*Ba‘alsameen fell in love with Nalkeez wife of Nimroda, and Nimroda fled before Ba‘alsameen; on account of this the children of Israel wept over Nimroda and burnt the city of Haran in anger about him.*"
Cave of Treasures: "*And Baltîn, who was given to Tamûzâ (Tammuz)--now because B`êlshemîn loved her, Tammuz fled before him--set fire to Harrân and burned it.*   Tammuz is the Babylonian form of the name Dumuzid, who was obviously pursued to Harran and slain by Be'elshemin (Gilgamesh) in c. 2368 BC on account of his wife Nalkeez or Baltin (Inanna, who seems to have been a 'kingmaker' married previously to Scythes or Ensuh-kesh-danna of Aratta Saga, then to Nemrod or Enmerkar of Uruk, then to Dumuzid, and finally Gilgamesh.) In addition, the Eneh of Hungarian legend is sometimes described as wife of Japheth (ie Adataneses, who was from before the deluge), and sometimes of Nemrod, in legends which also mention Tana at this time (Ensuhkeshdanna or Scythes?), making for interesting speculation if she were an original "sybil". There are classical descriptions of the annual mourning rituals for the pagan deity Tammuz at Harran, which some of the "children of Israel" took part in starting with the Babylonian captivity, which may help explain the curious statement in KM.

Aga (or Ag), son of Mebarasi of Kish, who also controlled Umma and Nippur, was the most powerful rival of Gilgamesh during this 7 year anarchy at the end of Dumuzid's reign, but Gilgamesh, as Sumerian history records, handily defeated Aga and seized Nippur and the hegemony of Sumer.]

**Belos** the Assyrian, being delivered from the servitude of the Chaldeans, struggled against them and the Medes; he defeated them and reigned over the Assyrians during 62 years; he ruled over all Asia except India.

[*Defloratio* also gives Jupiter Belus 62 years, the 'canonical' figure, as "second king of the Babylonians" following his father, Saturn Nymbrotus (Nemrod). It seems Gilgamesh, originally known in Sumerian as Bilgamesh, claimed to be a son of Lugalbanda, and Aelian mentions him as Gilgamos, grandson of Seuekoros or Euekoros, who is Enmerkar / Nimrod; although Bilgamesh also arose after Dumuzid as 'son of a phantom' on the kinglist, apparently with the rebelling party called 'phantoms' in Dumuzid literature. The 62 years of Defloratio's "Era of Jupiter Belus" cover the years 2368-2306 BC. The date 2368 BC is confirmed as we have seen by the notation "MU 100" beside his predecessor Dumuzid on the SKL. The notations of MU counting from start of the *abzu* in 2467 BC as MU 1, employed for these earliest kings, was later mistaken to mean reign lengths, blanks filled in with other fantastically long reign lengths, and thereafter "MU" was indeed used on the list to record actual reign lengths. Thus following the notation "Dumuzid MU 100", meaning his reign (including the 7 years of anarchy) ended in 2368 BC, we find "Gilgamesh MU 126", indicating that his reign actually ended 26 years later, 2342 BC, when he was succeeded by Ur-Nungal. Then "Ur Nungal MU 30", now counting years starting from Gilgamesh, to record the end of his reign after 3 years in 2339 BC. After this, few traces of the original MU systems can be observed. The remaining 33 years of the "Era of Jupiter Belus", from 2339 to 2306 BC, before the "era of Ninus", are therefore those left to Mesannepada or Samiros of Ur, father of Meskiag-Nuna, with *Defloratio* completely ignoring the dynastic change at Nippur here noted by both Michael and SKL.]

**Tsaharon**, brother of Thara, one day by a ruse killed Kisaronos, king of Babylon, who was Parthian, and wanted to drive the Parthians from their own country. In another history, we find that he killed him because of a statue of gold that he had stolen from the house of Nahor, for Nahor was priest of the idol Cainan.

[In Bed. this passage reads: "A certain Xarus ruled in Babylon and was slain by Terah's brother, Saheron, because, it is said, he fashioned a golden statue of Nahor, chief priest of the idols of Caanan [sic]." The verb "had stolen" fits better here. Per Aventinus, Cainan himself (not to be confused with Canaan) had settled in Pannonia in the Balkans in 2398 BC and probably stayed there until his death which may have been 2301 BC, if he lived 330 years after begetting Salah.

   The SKL informs us that the Elamites were driven out and the hegemony next assumed by Kish. Of the 8 names then listed as kings of Kish, only Kalbum, the 4th is known elsewhere, as Jacobsen thinks he reads 'Kalbum of Kish' on the *Stele of Vultures* for the figure depicted at the spear-tip of Eannatum of Lagash, who is synchronized for his reign end. The 3 preceding names on the SKL seem decidedly unroyal, with names like 'fuller' and 'boatman', and likely represent Kalbum's ancestry, while the following rulers of Kish in the dynasty, equally unknown, were probably insignificant mayors. We are thus looking at an inflated dynasty on the SKL that should probably be represented by Kalbum alone ruling Nippur for a time.

The only clue as to in what year Kish (under Kalbum) drove the Elamites out of Nippur comes from the first MU-notation for this dynasty, which says "Susuda the fuller - MU 201". If the MU 201 figure is a vestige of the original notation, it may indicate the year 2267 BC, as the start of the Kish dynasty, ie. Kalbum, in Nippur. This allows us to estimate the first Elamite incursion in Nippur of 36 years to 2303-2267 BC, meaning they seized it from Ninus or Meskiag-nuna in his 3rd year, while he continued to reign in Ur.

Whether or not Tsaheron was really brother of Thara (Abraham's father), and despite no royal title being mentioned for him, he is a candidate for the king Kalbum of Kish who presumably drove the Elamites from Nippur in 2267 BC -- though this was while Sebtah still ruled Saga, before Barzanes. The reference to Kisaronos stealing an idol from Ur (which became an oft-attested wartime practice) probably refers to the 2254 BC event when Barzanes killed Ninus ie Meskiag-Nuna of Ur, so the entry above refers to a still later.event, quite possibly the same one discussed in this passage from *Apoc. Method.*, where Kalbum may appear as Chosdro or Cosdron:

*In the second year of the reign of Chosdro (or Cosdron), the son of Eresdes, the sons of Ham were assembled and went down to the land of Eoam (or Etham) to make war with Chosdro the king. They were 320,000 foot soldiers, and had only sticks in their hands.*
*When Chosdro heard about them he grinned and dismissed them until they crossed the Tigris River. And there he set out against them his own army mounted with elephants and he killed them all, and not one of them was left alive...*Here, we should probably read "Elam" in place of "Ham" whom Cosdron, Tsaheron or Kalbum defeated on the Tigris. This probably also describes Kalbum's final victory over 'Kisaronos the Parthian', ie Barzanes of Saga and his Elamite allies, in retaliation for the idol theft from Ur and slaying of Ninus in 2254 BC. It thus could not possibly have occurred in Kalbum's second year, but it is quite possible that this was miscopied at some point for 'second to last year'. Fixing Kalbum's last year seems difficult, but our best clue is that the two earliest copies of SKL, instead of saying "Kalbum - MU 195", read "Kalbum - MU 132". If by chance this is the secondary count starting from Gilgamesh as last seen with Ur-Nungal, it means Kalbum ruled 31 years, ie 2267-2237 BC, and his final defeat of Barzanes on the Tigris with elephants is thus estimated for his second-last year, 2238 BC -- giving Barzanes a reign of 2263-2238 BC, or 25 years, over Saga.

If Kalbum was slain in 2237 BC by Eannatum of Lagash, aka Lumma, the capital Nippur fell at that time instead to the kingdom of Hamazi on the Diyala, east of the Tigris, and its king Hadanish. Twin lion statues discovered at the Nippur temple bear the names Lumma and Hadanish, evidence they were contemporaries who partitioned Sumer while Shamgan, the real Semiramis, and her line remained over Ur.]

Then was built Damas, by Myropos the Hittite, 20 years before the birth of Abraham. Josephus says it was built by Uz, son of Aram.

[20 years before the birth of Abraham would put the founding of Damascus in 2207 BC. However per *Defloratio* and Aventinus, Uz seems to have stayed there until 2126 BC when, fleeing the depredations of Myrina the Paladuan Amazon, he fled with the Uzzites to the heel of Italy, which first became known as Ausonia. Damascus was rebuilt in about 2109 BC, evidently by Mopsus the Thracian (more likely Moesian) who defeated Myrina, and probably resettled it with Hittites, although it would soon be controlled by the newly reestablished.kingdom of Ebla. He appears in many accounts with variant spellings, including Marigos [or Marbios] the Hittite (Bed.) and Morfos (BH), among others.]

#### "From Chaldean Teachings"

The 4th king of the Egyptians was ***Pharaon***, son of Sanos, who reigned 35 years. From the reign of this first pharaoh, during long centuries, the kings of Egypt were called Pharaohs. He belonged to the 5th dynasty.

[BH calls him 'Per'on Barsanos', i.e "son of Sanos". Sanos is Chem Esenus, ie Ham. This son of his, by his second wife and sister, Rhea, daughter of Noah, would be Osiris Apis, known over his long career by several throne names, perhaps at this time Usermerre Sa-Kheti. (Sa-Khety would also mean son of Khety).

As noted at the end of Chap. 3, *Defloratio* mentions under the year Ninus 43 (2263 BC) Dionysus defeating Ham in the Titanomachy, driving him to Egypt, and adopting his son Apis whom he made Pharaoh. Apis' first reign in Egypt of 35 years can thus be dated to 2263-2228 BC.]

In the year 48 of Nahor, the 5th king of Egypt, Pharaoh ***Karimon***, began to reign, in the 6th dynasty, over 4 years.

In this era the Canaanite Armonios had two sons: he called one Sodom and the other Gomorrha; he built two cities to whom he gave their names; he also built Tse'ir, which he called by the name of Tse'ir, their mother.

[Karimon corresponds to another of the kings named Neferkare discernible from the 5th column of the Turin Canon. He reigned 4 years, 2228-2224 BC, and was likely a regent or governor in some form in the absence of Apis, who often went abroad. During these 4 years Apis probably took his first journey to Nippur, now ruled by Hadanish of Hamazi, as described for the next king 'Aphintos'. Apis may have been accompanied by his father Ham, last reported in *Defloratio* to have begotten Juno / Isis, Apis' sister and wife, in Egypt in 2254 BC. Ham next turns up some time before 2174 BC ruling the 'Bactrians', having won them over with his knowledge of magic. Ham may also be regarded as the first Zoroaster. Apis must have returned to Egypt in 2224 BC while Ham remained in Hamazi, adjacent to Saga which still included Bactria. It is easy to imagine that it was during this procession from Egypt to Sumer to learn and teach paganism, that the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah and Zoar were founded south of the Dead Sea, but this is not explicit.

A very curious thing about the name of this regent Karimon or Neferkare, also read Kaneferre, is that the Egyptian *Nefer* "good" seems to be replaced by the element "mon", which Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, claimed was the word for "good" in "Reformed Egyptian", not to mention (absurdly) combined with modern English "more" in the name "Mormon". It seems certain Smith was utterly ignorant of the actual Egyptian language, and there is otherwise no evidence any "Reformed Egyptian" was authentic in any way, but still the name Karimon appears both here and in Bar Hebraeus.]

In the year 52 of Nahor, the 6th king of Egypt, Pharaoh ***Aphintos***, began to reign, in the 7th dynasty, during 32 years.

He sent towards Kisaronos, king of the Chaldeans, and learned their doctrine regarding the name of Cainan, god of Babel, whose image was worshipped in Egypt, up until Serapis, son of Niobe. He built the city of Apantos on the river Nile, and called it Babylon, ie Babel.

[This Aphintos is the second reign of Apis for 32 years, 2224-2192 BC, upon his return from Hamazi, and the journey there had taken place during the four years while Karimon was regent, 2228-2224 BC; thus the king he visited should be Hadanish. Apis, for this reign, may have called himself Userhapy (ie Osiris Apis) and Shed-, as discernible on the fragmentary Turin Canon.

"Babylon" in Egypt, or Kheriara, was in modern Cairo and marked the limit of "Lower Egypt". It could be that the site also had marked the extent of Cain's territory before the deluge; the antediluvian *Rut ni Netcher* or gateway to Asia, and it could perhaps even be deduced that Apis returned from Mesopotamia with clues allowing them to pinpoint where it had once stood.]

Asaph is in agreement with these things, for he writes: "From the time of Thara, the Egyptians learned the Chaldean doctrines, and made a gold statue to the idol Ninos".

[In BH, the idol's name in this quote appears as Kinos, rather than Ninos. Perhaps the name of Cainan evolved into Ninurta, the main pagan idol at Nippur.

The Clementine tradition included a fuller annal here that describes a series of 3 events:

* 1) The Lord saw people were worshipping idols, and sent an earthquake that destroyed the idols. This earthquake probably struck the Nippur and/or Ur temples when Nahor was 70 (2249 BC), as CT has it -- rather than when he was 3 (2316 BC) as KM claims, nor when he was 86 (2233 BC), as *Conflict* has it. It fits best in 2249 BC, when Kalbum still ruled Nippur.
* 2) The people did not repent, and a detailed description is given of how evil idol worship led even to child sacrifice, beginning probably when Terah was 26 (2231 BC), the figure in KM, after Hadanish ruled Nippur -- or perhaps when Terah was 20 (2237 BC), as in *Conflict*, but certainly not when he was 90 (2167 BC) as CT has it.
* 3) The Lord sent a whirlwind, perhaps a tornado, that destroyed the house of idols a second time. All three accounts agree in placing this in the 100th year of Nahor, 2219 BC, a little after Apis' journey there, but still in the reign of Hadanish, and probably while Ham was still there.
The temple destructions of 2249 BC and 2219 BC both fall in the reign of Shamgan (Semiramis), or her successors Elulu and Balulu, in Ur, and both seem to refer to the Ur temple; it is not clear if the Nippur temple was affected as well on either occasion.

In this same era, in 2248 BC Mannus came to rule Mannica (Germany) and abandoned the constitutional monotheism of his late father Tuiscon (Ashkenaz), by declaring him a deity, much as Cranus did for his father Barwain or Janus II in Razenua (Italy) when he finally passed in 2202 BC. In Iberia (Spain), Jubala who came to the throne 2220 BC, is said variously to have promoted theology or divination, though idolatry is said to have been introduced there by Apis in 2012 BC after he slew Geryon. The Goths and Swedes did not officially adopt pagan idol worship until the year 2155 BC, during the reign of Eirik I, as indicated by Magnus.]

In the year 5 of Thara began to reign in Egypt the 7th king, ***Arsakos*** during 33 years. He built a city of his name.

[Spelled Orkos on Michael's list of pharaohs in chap. 7, BH calls this pharaoh Auronkos -- which is slightly more accurate, as he seems to correspond with the 9th dynasty pharaoh Nebkaure Kheti. A reign of 33 years places him from 2192-2159 BC, during the years Osiris Apis and his wife Isis sojourned in Canaan promoting agriculture, which is described by *Defloratio* in detail in the entry for the 10th year of the era of Zameis Ninyas, corresponding to 2203 BC. They are said to have discovered wheat in that year, so 2192 BC is when they introduced it to Canaan. It says when they returned to Egypt (ie c. 2112 BC), Osiris invented the ox drawn plough, but we know from Jub. that Abraham invented the plough during this same timeframe, specifically in 2172 BC in Ur at the age of 15, and that it spread from there, so evidently the technique reached Canaan while Apis and Isis were there.]

He had for successor Pharaoh ***Samonos***, during 20 years.

[Spelled Samos on the list, BH calls him Simonos; he corresponds with Neferkare Senen. 20 years places him from 2159-2139 BC. Like his predecessor Nebkaure, he was probably a regent for Apis, who was still in Canaan with Isis, as sources indicate King Sarron of Samothea (France) drowned in 2144 BC while returning from Canaan to visit them there.

In the year 28 of Thara, the 9th king, Pharaoh ***Armios***, began to reign in Egypt, in the 10th dynasty, during 27 years.

[Called Arminos in BH (and Hirkos on the list in Chap. 7, where he is assigned 25 years), he corresponds to Merikare Kheti, to whom *Instructions for Merykare* was addressed. This would be the third pharaoh to govern during Apis' absence in Canaan, 27 years would be c. 2139 to 2112 BC, about when Apis' reign as the next Pharaoh "Parandos the Theban" ie Mentuhotep starts, but we know Merykare in fact refused to give up his throne, went to war with Apis in 2098 BC (Mentuhotep 14), and was finally defeated by Apis in 2073 BC (Mentuhotep 39), a total of 66 years for Merykare from 2139 to 2073 BC.

The first 20 years of Merykare's reign covered Myrina's conquests until her downfall in 2119 BC, so he was probably the Pharaoh who allowed the Amazon army passage as allies. They evidently did not molest Apis and Isis in Canaan, which they certainly came to dominate, and Abraham and Sarah did not arrive in Canaan from Harran until 2110 BC, shortly after it was liberated from the Amazons, and two years after Apis had left. Abraham and Sarah's 7 years in Egypt, per Jub., fall in 2107-2100 BC, just before the two Pharaohs were at war, so the Pharaoh with whom they dealt could have been either Merykare in Heracleopolis or Apis Mentuhotep in Thebes, but I suspect the latter.]

In the year 14 of this Hermios, the year 36 of the Assyrian Belos, Abraham was born according to the chronology of Andronicus.

[This Andronicus was evidently off somewhat, for *Jubilees* places Abraham's birth (as Abram) in 2187 BC, whereas Merikare 14 would be 2125 BC, and Belos 36 or 2333 BC is drastically off.

### Chapter 6

Thara, at the age of 70 years, begat Abraham; he survived 275 years, or, according to the Syriac, 209 years.

[At this point *Genesis* agrees on Terah's age at begetting with Jub., which places Abram's birth at Ur in 2187 BC, 70 years after Terah's in 2257 BC. The Samaritan Genesis gives Terah's total age as 145, which would put his death in Harran 2112 BC, two years before Abraham and Sarah left there for Canaan. Terah married his first cousin Edna, daughter of Abram son of Serug, in 2193 BC, and they named their son Abram after his maternal grandfather.]

Andronicus says that from the Deluge to Abraham there elapsed 1081 years, and from Adam until Abraham 3337 years.

Starting from here the Pentateuch of the Greeks and that of the Syrians are in agreement on the number of years.

Since the time of the partition of the Earth until Abraham there were 421 years.

[Following *Jubilees*, Abraham was born as Abram in the year 1876 after Adam, which is 568 after the Deluge, and 307 after the First Partition, that of 2494 BC.]

Then Nahor died, and Abraham was born from Malkatum. 22 years later, Sara, daughter of Thara, was born from Zamrot.

[Nahor's death was calculated above to 2188 BC, indeed the year before Abraham's birth. Sara was only 10 years younger than Abraham, as Jub. and Gen 17:17 say; thus she was born 2177 BC at Ur, to a different mother than Edna, who had already passed away. Bed. calls the two mothers Milcah and Armut'; KM names them Juta, and Nahdeef or Salmat; CT has Abram born to Yawnu, and Sarah to "Naharyath (or Shalmath, or Tona, or Tahdif)"; *Conflict* names the first Tona, and the second Tahdif, and Eutychius wrote their names as Yuna and Tohwait.]

In the count of years, the text of the Peshitta has 1384 years fewer than the LXX.

Abraham, being aged 15 years, began on his own to pray and worship God. He drove off the ravens that had been sent by God upon the land of the Chaldeans, to destroy and eat their seeds.

[This is greatly amplified in Bed., which says he defeated the magpies or jackdaws through prayer, at the age of 17, while BH agrees this was when he was 15. The ultimate source is Jub. which describes this event when he was 14 (2173 BC), already making him famous in Chaldea, as well as his invention of the plough in 2172 BC at 15. It says further that in 2160 BC, when he was 27, he questioned his father Thara why he believed in idols; and in 2138 BC at age 49 he married his half sister Sarah (though the Lord would indeed prohibit this type of marriage at Sinai in 1653 BC, at this stage His priority was working with Abraham to establish a basic faith). Abram's brother Haran married a wife in 2135 BC and begat Lot in 2131 BC.]

In this era died Belus, the first king of the Assyrians. His son **Ninus** reigned 52 years.

This Ninus, 2nd king of the Assyrians, built in his country a city that he called Ninus, that that the Hebrews call Nineveh. He made for his father Belos a statue in molten gold and he wrote above: "Great God"; he made to proclaim it in all Assyria, and many worshipped it. After the construction of Nineveh were built Rahabot, Rasan and Kalne.

[From the chronology established by *Defloratio*, Ninus seems to be Meskiag-nuna who ruled Ur (not Niniveh) following his father Mesannepada from 2306 to 2254 BC, these years remembered there as the 52-year "era of Ninus". Ninus evidently did not rule the rest of Sumer after 2303 BC, when the Elamites are estimated to have seized Nippur, nor after 2267 BC when Kalbum drove them out. As we have reconstructed above, in 2254 BC Barzanes of Saga stole an idol from Nahor in Ur and killed Ninus, who was not the great conqueror as he would be remembered.

Ninus was thus not contemporary with Abraham, but the same jumbling that moved Samiros ahead of Arphazad, is perhaps related to the practically enshrined view that Abraham and Ninus were contemporaries, as seen even in Jerome.

In fact, during the 42 year 'Era of Semiramis', when Ninus' queen Shamgan ruled Ur, which would be 2254-2212 BC, she probably did not rule much more than Ur either, which was probably subject to Kalbum and then Hadanish when they ruled Nippur. Next in Ur was the 38 year 'Era of Zameis Ninyas', or Nanni, their son, 2212-2174 BC, which would cover Abram's actual birth; however Ur continued as a vassal of Hadanish, then of Enshakushanna of Uruk after ca. 2207 BC, and in c. 2189 BC it would be seized by Lumma of Lagash, who died that same year before being crowned King of Sumer, leaving it to Enshakushanna's son Lugal-kinishe-dudu of Uruk. Indeed both Abraham's grandfathers, Nahor and Abram the sons of Serug, were said to have perished a year or two before his birth in 2187 BC, perhaps in the strife between Uruk and Lagash over Ur at this very time. Finally in 2182 BC, when Abram was 5, Nanni Zameis was able to seize the hegemony for Ur from Uruk once again, 121 years after Ur had last held it. But only 8 years later, in 2174 BC, when Abram would be 13, Arius aka Argandea and Lugal-kisalsi of Uruk again seized the Nippur hegemony as well as Ur, during the 30 year 'Era of Arius' (2174-2144 BC). In 2144 BC, or when Abraham was 43, Lugal-anne-Mundu of Adab, aka Aralius and Amraphel, usurped the throne from Arius; this would be from whom Abraham fled to Harran in 2127 BC, and whom Abraham defeated in the 'War of Kings', 2099 BC. Aralius should thus be assigned about 45 years rather than 40 as on *Defloratio*.]

Then was built Jerusalem by Melchizedek the Canaanite, who called it Oreb. Abraham set fire to the temple of the idols that was in Ur of the Chaldeans. His brother Haron came in to put it out and save the idols, lest they be burnt, and he was burnt up there.

[Jub. places the building of Jerusalem or Salem for Melchizedek in 2072 BC, well after Abraham was already in the area, so this is out of place, though the Clementine sources have it in the right place. Bed. adds that Melchizedek's father Malikh had ruled in Canaan, and wanted to sacrifice him as a child, but he escaped and went on to found Jerusalem. The Clementine story is that Noah had sent Shem and Melchizedek to Ararat to retrieve Adam and Eve's bodies from the Ark, which they did and buried in Golgotha; then Shem appointed Melchizedek as a monk, then told his parents Malikh son of Cainan, and Yozadak, falsely that he had perished.]

Abraham, aged 60 years, took Thara his father, Nahor his brother, and Lot son of Haron, and they came to live in Harran during 14 years; then he left his father in Harran, and came to the land of Canaan.

[The incident of Abraham burning the Ur temple, at which time his brother Haran perished and the rest of the family fled to the city Harran, is in *Jubilees* and dated to 2127 BC, thus 60 is correct. It has him entering Canaan 17 years later in 2110 BC.]

#### From Chaldean Teachings

In the year 15 of Abraham, Armios the Egyptian came to blows with Belos the Assyrian: Armios was defeated and taken to death.

[Armios, ie Merykare Kheti who reigned 2139-2073 BC, was certainly not contemporary with Belus or Gilgamesh, 2368-2342 BC. The only Mesopotamian king before Sargon who campaigned to the west was indeed during Merykare's reign, namely Lugal-anne-Mundu or Amraphel who annexed Sodom and Gomorrah in 2113 BC, in the aftermath of the Amazon invasions, and year 74 of Abraham. It could well be that Amraphel's forces defeated an Egyptian army at this time; and it was the next year that Apis and Isis returned to Egypt from Canaan; but Merykare would continue, at least in Lower Egypt, until finally vanquished by Apis Mentuhotep in 2073 BC.]

He had for successor, in the 11th dynasty, the 10th king: Pharaoh ***Pharnados***, Theban, during 43 years.

[BH calls him Parandos the Theban. The 43 years correspond to 2112-2069 BC, which would fit the reign of the first king of the Theban dynasty who defeated Merykare, the Theban king usually called Mentuhotep II, who is Osiris Apis for a third time. (Mentuhotep II is actually a misnomer, because the unattested pharaoh "Mentuhotep I" is an invention of modern Egyptology.) Although it is certain that Mentuhotep II (who, as is known to history, claimed to be Osiris) defeated Merykare and reunited Egypt, Egyptologists have confused the evidence and tried to insert the three Antefs before the reign of this Mentuhotep II -- when they should almost certainly come afterward, between then and the reign of Mentuhotep III (2002-1995 BC), who is actually Osiris Apis yet again for a 4th, final reign. 2069 BC then, would be when Apis left on his final world tour to spread use of the plough, among other things, as remembered by Diodorus and many others. The kinglists of the most ancient Greek states, Sicyon (Aigealea) and Argos, if properly adjusted for sequence, and synchronized with Arkad's migration from Canaan to Peloponnese in 2353 BC as the start of Sicyon, will show that Apis came to the throne in both places in the same year, 2051 BC -- just in time for *Defloratio* to have him slay Lycurgus of Thrace in about the 20th year of the era of Armatritis (Sargon), ie. 2049 BC. These dates derived from varied sources are therefore overall consistent with this picture.]

Then came the 11th king, in the 12th dynasty, Pharaoh ***Phanos***; it's this one who ravished from Abraham his wife Sarah, and who then gave him, with his wife, gold, silver, and herds, and sent him from Egypt.

[BH calls him Panos, but neither text gives the reign length; which was apparently understood as 30 years based on the calculations of Abraham's age. He corresponds to the first of the three Pharaohs named Antef or Intef, who were left in Thebes over Egypt during Apis' final absence 2069-2002 BC. All the other nomes but Thebes refused to submit to Antef I, and all three Antefs had to fight during these years to expand their control over the other nomes. From the hieroglyphic records, it seems Antef I could only have ruled about 11 years, 2069-2058 BC, before being replaced by Antef II.]

In the year 98 of Abraham, the 12th king, Pharaoh ***Hysqos*** began to reign in Egypt, in the 13th dynasty, during 21 years.

[BH calls him Isokos, he is the second Antef or Intef with the throne name Wahankh. It seems more likely that he was pharaoh at Thebes for about 50 years, 2058-2008 BC, then was followed by Antef III, whose name would be remembered in Greek as Typhon.

Michael's appendix of tables in Chapter 7 of Book II, I have not included, as the kinglists and genealogies contain little that is new or not known from the text.]

* Next: **Book III**

1. ↑ Thorkild Jacobsen, *Toward the image of Tammuz and other essays on Mesopotamian history and culture* 1970, p. 393.