Roger Pearse

In the extracts of Berossus preserved via Alexander Polyhistor by Eusebius, we read that several of the ante-diluvian kings of the Chaldaeans came from a city called Pautibiblon or Pantibiblon.

I believe that there is a JSTOR article which identifies this. Can anyone tell me what it says, and where or what the city was?

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Dean Anderson

I can find lots of references (thanks to the Almighty Google) that say that Pantibiblon is an alternate name for the city of Sippara.

None of them are even remotely scholarly, though - and annoyingly they don't list their sources.

Dean Anderson

I found a source for that claim...

Legends of Babylon and Egypt in relation to Hebrew tradition by Leonard William King (1918).

It's on Project Gutenberg here - but a quote of the relevant section is:

Roger Pearse

No, I saw those. When they don't specify their sources, expect the worst. But I did see this article:

JSTOR: The Babylonian Antediluvian Kings
Langdon's reading Bad-tibira for the usual Dur- gurgurri, and identification with the Pautibiblon or Pautibiblia of Berossus, is very happy indeed, ...

The article is by W. F. Albright, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 43, 1923 (1923), pp. 323-329. It seems to be working from a clay tablet in the Ashmolean. It's rather old, I now see.

But I have no access to JSTOR, so can't see more than the first page anyway.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Roger Pearse

Well done! It's good to have a source for the online legendary material. I'm not sure how trustworthy this volume is, tho. It too is elderly.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Chris Weimer

Roger, check your email.