Chapter XII. Concerning the Flood, From the Writings of Abydenus

BUT after mentioning the Median and Assyrian records from the work of Abydenus, I will set before you his statements concerning this same story, as follows:

[ABYDENUS] [1] ‘After him reigned among others Sisithrus, to whom Kronos foretold that there would be a great rain on the fifteenth day of Desius, and commanded him to hide everything connected with literature at Heliopolis in the country of the Sippari.

‘And when Sisithrus had accomplished this, he straightway sailed up towards Armenia, and immediately what God had predicted overtook him. But on the third day, when the rain had abated, he proceeded to let loose some of the birds, to try whether they saw land anywhere that had emerged from the water.

‘But as they were met by a vast unbroken ocean, and were at a loss where to find a haven, they came safe back to Sisithrus, and others after them did the same.

‘But when he was successful with the third set, for they came back with their feet full of mud, the gods removed him from men’s sight: but in Armenia the ship supplied the people of the country with wooden amulets as antidotes to poison.’

These then are his statements.