Berossus, Manetho, and1 EnochIn the World Chronicle of Panodorus

Abstract

At the beginning of the ninth century, George Syncellus, a monk of Constantinople, composed a chronicle of world history which extended from the beginning of the world up to the reign of Diocletian. As the title suggests, the chronicle was an ἐκλογή of excerpts and citations from highly diverse sources. Among other things, these excerpts include kings lists from Africanus' and Eusebius' chronicles, arranged in parallel columns for the sake of comparison, material from various ethnic histories, and several extracts from Jewish and Christian pseudepigrapha. These pseudepigraphic citations are clustered together in the antediluvian portion of his chronicle, and include material fromJubilees,theLife of Adam,theTestament of Adam,and the Jewish pseudepigraphon known as1 Enoch.The citations from1 Enochconsist of two large excerpts, both of which Syncellus assigns to the “Book of the Watchers.” Expanding on the Genesis 6 legend of the fall of the sons of God, these excerpts recount the descent of the Watchers from Mt. Hermon, their revelations to and intercourse with the daughters of men, and the subsequent corruption of the earth.