To Autolycus 3.19
Summary: Moses tells of one universal flood, from which only Noah (the Greeks' Deucalion) and his family, eight in all, were saved in the ark.
Greek text · Otto 8:232–234
Ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ δεύτερον κατακλυσμὸν γεγονέναι δηλοῖ, ἀλλὰ μὲν οὖν ἔφη μηκέτι τῷ κόσμῳ κατακλυσμὸν ὕδατος ἔσεσθαι, οἷον οὔτε γέγονεν οὔτε μὴν ἔσται. Ὀκτὼ δέ φησιν τὰς πάσας ψυχὰς ἀνθρώπων ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ διασεσῶσθαι, ἐν τῇ κατασκευασθείσῃ προστάγματι θεοῦ, οὐχ ὑπὸ Δευκαλίωνος, ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ Νῶς ἑβραϊστί, ὃς διερμηνεύεται τῇ ἑλλάδι γλώσσῃ ἀνάπαυσις, καθὼς καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ λόγῳ ἐδηλώσαμεν ὡς Νῶε, καταγγέλλων τοῖς τότε ἀνθρώποις μέλλειν κατακλυσμὸν ἔσεσθαι, προεφήτευσεν αὐτοῖς λέγων· Δεῦτε, καλεῖ ὑμᾶς ὁ θεὸς εἰς μετάνοιαν· διὸ οἰκείως Δευκαλίων ἐκλήθη. Τούτῳ δὲ τῷ Νῶε υἱοὶ τρεῖς ἦσαν, καθὼς καὶ ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τόμῳ ἐδηλώσαμεν, ὧν τὰ ὀνόματά ἐστιν Σὴμ καὶ Χὰμ καὶ Ἰάφεθ, οἷς καὶ γυναῖκες τρεῖς ἦσαν τὸ καθʼ ἕνα αὐτῶν, καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ. Τοῦτον τὸν ἄνδρα ἔνιοι Εὐνοῦχον προσηγορεύκασιν. Ὀκτὼ οὖν αἱ πᾶσαι ψυχαὶ ἀνθρώπων διεσώθησαν, οἱ ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ εὑρεθέντες. Τὸν δὲ κατακλυσμὸν ἐσήμανεν ὁ Μωσῆς ἐπὶ ἡμέρας τεσσαράκοντα καὶ νύκτας τεσσαράκοντα γεγενῆσθαι, ἀπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τῶν καταρακτῶν ῥυέντων καὶ πασῶν τῶν πηγῶν τῆς ἀβύσσου βλυσάντων, ὥστε τὸ ὕδωρ ὑψωθῆναι ἐπάνω παντὸς ὄρους ὑψηλοῦ πεντεκαίδεκα πήχεις. Καὶ οὕτως διεφθάρη τὸ γένος πάντων τῶν τότε ἀνθρώπων, μόνοι δὲ διεσώθησαν οἱ φυλαχθέντες ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ, οὓς προειρήκαμεν ὀκτώ· ἧς κιβωτοῦ τὰ λείψανα μέχρις τοῦ δεῦρο δείκνυται εἶναι ἐν τοῖς Ἀραβικοῖς ὄρεσιν. Τὰ μὲν οὖν τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ κεφαλαιωδῶς τοιαύτην ἔχει τὴν ἱστορίαν.
English · Claude translation
Nor does Moses indicate that there was a second flood. On the contrary, he said that there would never again be a flood of water on the world, such as has never been and never will be. He says that eight human souls in all were saved in the ark, which was built by God's command, not by Deucalion but by the one called in Hebrew Noah, which is interpreted in the Greek language as “rest.” As we have shown in another work, Noah announced to the people of his time that a flood was coming, and prophesied to them, saying, “Come (δεῦτε), God is calling (καλεῖ) you to repentance”; so he was fittingly called Deucalion. This Noah had three sons, as we showed in the second volume, whose names are Sem, Cham, and Japheth; they had three wives, one each, and there were Noah himself and his wife. Some have called this man Eunuch. Eight human souls in all, then, were saved, those who were found in the ark. Moses indicated that the flood lasted forty days and forty nights, as the floodgates of heaven poured and all the springs of the abyss gushed forth, so that the water rose fifteen cubits above every high mountain. And so the race of all the people of that time was destroyed, and only those kept safe in the ark were saved, the eight we mentioned. The remains of the ark are shown to this day in the Arabian mountains. Such, in summary, is the history of the flood.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The name Deucalion is derived by Theophilus from Noah's cry δεῦτε, καλεῖ (“Come, he calls”).
- The “other work” and “second volume” are lost works of Theophilus (cf. 2.30).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misprint: κατασπευασθείσῃ for κατασκευασθείσῃ; misprint: νῇ for τῇ; wrong breathing: οἶον for οἷον): κατακλυσμὸν ὕδατος ἔσεσθαι, οἶον → κατακλυσμὸν ὕδατος ἔσεσθαι, οἷον; ἐν τῇ κατασπευασθείσῃ → ἐν τῇ κατασκευασθείσῃ; διερμηνεύεται νῇ ἑλλάδι γλώσσῃ → διερμηνεύεται τῇ ἑλλάδι γλώσσῃ.
Cite this passage
Theophilus, Autol. 3.19 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/3/19/).
Plain text
Theophilus, Autol. 3.19 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/3/19/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text