Philon(5)
Philon(5)
- Martin Goodman
Extract
Philon (5) of Byblo (RE, ‘Herennius 2’), scholar, born c. CE 70 and died c. CE 160, composed in Greek a learned work on *Phoenician history, providing a markedly euhemeristic account (see euhemerus) of Phoenician religion. Extensive fragments of this history were preserved by *Eusebius in his Praeparatio evangelica 1. 9. 22 ff. Philon's claim to have translated much of his material directly from the ancient writer Sanchuniathon, who had devoted a treatise in the Phoenician language to theology, cosmogony, and the origins of civilization, should be regarded with considerable scepticism, since Philon's versions of the ancient myths have clearly been moulded to conform to Hellenistic expectations. On the other hand, similarities between the stories ascribed by Philon to Sanchuniathon and the evidence for Phoenician myths discovered in *Ugaritic texts demonstrate that some of the material used by Philon may derive from genuine Phoenician traditions, which have, however, been modified over the intervening centuries.
Subjects
- Greek History and Historiography