An historical survey of the astronomy of the ancients / by Sir George Cornewall Lewis.
- George Cornewall Lewis
- Date:
- 1862
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: An historical survey of the astronomy of the ancients / by Sir George Cornewall Lewis. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
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![but her name was attached to numerous buildings, roads, canals of irrigation, and great works in Central Asia. (45) Berosus contradicted the statement of the Greek historians; he denied that Semiramis founded Babylon, and that she was the author of the marvellous works attributed to her.(46) Ste- phanus of Byzantium says that Babylon was founded by a wise man of the same name as the city, the son of Belus; and that, according to Herennius, Semiramis lived above a thousand years after the foundation of Babylon. (47) The author here re- ferred to is Herennius Philo, who wrote at the end of the first century after Christ. Moses of Chorene cites a certain Maribas of Catana as having explored Chaldsean histories for the adven- World, by Hygin. fab. 223. It is also mentioned as the work of Seiniramis by Scbol. Juven. x. 171. Semiramis is alluded to by Claudian as the founder of Babylon :— Claras Carthagines arces Creditur, et centum portis Babylona superbam Femineus struxisse labor. In Eutrop. i. 334. Quintus Curtius says that Babylon was founded by Semiramis, and not, as is generally believed, by Belus, v. 1, § 24. According to Ammian. Marcellin. xxiii. 6, § 23, the walls of Babylon were built by Semiramis, and the citadel by Belus. The account of Abydenus was that the walls of Babylon were built by Belus, and afterwards restored by Nabricodros- eorus, Fragni. Hist. Gr. vol. iv. p. 283. Dorotbeus, in the astrological verses at the end of Kochly's Manetho, has dpxair] Ba/3v\a>j> Tvplov Bi)\oio TToXio-fia. Orosius considers Babylon to have been founded by Nimrod the giant, and to have been restored by Ninus or Semiramis, ii. 6. This is an attempt to combine the Biblical and classical accounts. (45) Diod. ii. i35 14. Lucian, de Dea Syr. c. 14; Strab. ii. 1, § 26, xi. 14, § 8, xiii. 2, § 7, xii. 3, § 37. In xvi. 1, § 2, Strabo says : t^s 2ef«- pdpidos, xvpis T<*>v i BafivXavi epycov, noWa Kai dXXa Kara irdcrav yrjv o-\e8ov oeiKvuTcu, dcrrj ttjs rjnfipcv tcivttjs ecrri, rd re ^co/iara, a Sj) KaXoicri SepipdpiSos, Kai Tfixrj Kui ipvpdratv KaraaKtval Kai crvpiyyu>v twv iv avrois Kai vdpeiuv Kai KAipciKcov Kai diaypvywv iv norapols Kai Xipvais Kai 68cov Kai ye(pvpa>v. Herodotus says that she made the dykes of the Euphrates near Babylon, i. 184. A ditch of Semiramis on the Euphrates, is mentioned by Isidorus Chara- cenus, ap. Geogr. Gr. Min. vol. i. p. 247, ed. C. Midler. (46) Ap. Joseph, contr. Apion. i. 20. According to Euseb. Chron. p. 36, the Chaldajans do not include INlnus and Semiramis among their royal names. (47) In v. Ba/3vXwi/. Compare Volney, Bech. Nouv. sur l'Hist. Anc. CEuvres, p. 481; Salmasius, Exerc. Plin. p. 866 E ; Dr. Smith's Diet, of Anc. Biog. and Myth. art. Philon, 7. The text of Stephanus has xiXiW bvo, which must be rendered 1002. Volney, however, and Movers, Phonizier, vol. ii. p. 253, translate it as if it were 810-xiXtW. The statement recurs in Eustath. ad Dionys. Perieg. 1U05, where the number is 1800.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21015855_0424.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
