Chapter VIII. Diodorus, the Author of the Bibliotheca, on the Same Subject

[DIODORUS] [1] ‘AFTER having thoroughly explained these points, I must state how many of those who have been famed among the Greeks for intelligence and culture made a voyage to Egypt in ancient times, in order that they might gain some knowledge of its customs and culture.

‘For the priests of the Egyptians report from the records in their sacred books that they were visited by Orpheus, and Musaeus, and Melampus, and Daedalus, and besides these by the poet Homer, and Lycurgus the Spartan; also by Solon the Athenian, and Plato the philosopher; and that there came also Pythagoras of Samos, and Eudoxus the mathematician, Democritus of Abdera also, and Oenopides of Chios.

‘And as evidences of all these they point to the images of some, and the names of places or buildings called after others. Also from the branch of learning studied by each the priests bring proofs of the fact that they had brought over from Egypt everything whereby they gained admiration among the Greeks.

‘Thus Orpheus, they say, brought away from the Egyptians most of the mystic rites, and the orgiastic celebration of his own wandering, and the fable concerning those in Hades. For the rite of Osiris is the same as that of Dionysus: and that of Isis is very similar to that of Demeter, with only the change of names. And the punishments of the ungodly in Hades, and the meadows of the godly, and the making of moulded images (of the shades) common among the multitude he is said to have introduced in imitation of the Egyptian customs in regard to burial.

‘For Hermes the conductor of souls, according to the ancient custom among the Egyptians, having brought up the body Of Apis to a certain place gives it over to him who wears the face of Cerberus. And after Orpheus had made this known among the Greeks, Homer, it is said, following him wrote in his poem:

‘’Cyllenian Hermes waved his golden wand, And summoned forth the souls of heroes slain.”’ [2]

Then again farther on he adds: [3]

‘They say that Melampus brought from Egypt the customary rites performed in honour of Dionysus among the Greeks, and the mythological tales concerning Kronos, and those concerning the war of the Titans, and the entire history of the sufferings of the gods.

‘Daedalus, it is said, imitated the winding of the labyrinth which remains up to the present time, but was built, as some say, by Mendes, or, as others say, by king Marus many years before the reign of Minos: the proportion too of the ancient statues in Egypt is said to be the same with that of the statues made by Daedalus in Greece.

‘Daedalus was also said to have been the architect of the very beautiful vestibule of Hephaestus in Memphis, for which he was admired, and received a wooden statue in the said temple, wrought by his own hands. And at last being held in great honour for his genius, and having made many more discoveries, he received divine honours. For in one of the islands near Memphis there is still a temple of Daedalus venerated by the inhabitants.

‘Of Homer’s visit to Egypt they bring forward among other proofs especially the drugging of Telemachus by Helen in the house of Menelaus, and his oblivion of the evils that had befallen him.[4] For it is evident that the poet had carefully examined the soothing drug which he says that Helen had obtained from Egypt, from Polydamna the wife of Thon.

‘Even at the present time they still say that the women in this country use the same medicine, and they assert that a remedy for anger and sorrow has been discovered from ancient times among the women of Diospolis only: and that Thebes and Diospolis are the same city: also that among the inhabitants Aphrodite is called the “golden” from an ancient tradition, and that near the city named Momemphis there is a so-called “plain of golden Aphrodite.”

‘Also the mythical tales concerning Zeus and Hera and their intercourse, and their travelling to Ethiopia, Homer is said to have brought thence. For among the Egyptians, year by year, the shrine of Zeus is carried across the river into Libya, and after some days it returns again, as if the god were come from Ethiopia: and that the intercourse of these deities takes place when at their festivals both their shrines are carried up into a mountain crowned with all kinds of flowers by the priests.

‘They say that Lycurgus also, and Plato, and Solon, inserted many of the customs of Egypt in, their codes of law, and that Pythagoras learned from the Egyptians the doctrines of the Sacred Word,and the theories of geometry, and the science of numbers, and besides these the migration of the soul into every kind of animal.

‘They suppose also that Democritus spent five years among them, and was taught many of the principles of astrology; and that Oenopides in like manner lived with the priests and astrologers and learned, among other things, that the sun’s orbit has an oblique path, and that he is carried in the opposite direction to the other heavenly bodies.

‘In like manner also it is said that Eudoxus studied astrology with them, and published much useful information to the Greeks, whereby he acquired a notable reputation.

‘And of; all the ancient statuaries those whose names are most widely known had sojourned with them, Telecles and Theodorus the sons of Rhoecus, who had -made the statue of the Pythian Apollo for the Samians.’

Thus far Diodorus. But here I must let this argument, with such proof as has been given, come to an end. Henceforth then we ought not to be charged with unreasonableness, if in our desire for the true religion we have ourselves resorted to the teachers of the wise Greeks and even of their philosophers, I mean the Barbarians, if at least the Hebrews, are Barbarians.

Now it would be well to examine their chronology, I mean the dates at which Moses and the prophets after him nourished: since this would be one of the most conclusive evidences for the argument before us, that before dealing with the learned men among the people we should first decide about their antiquity; in order that, if the Greeks should be found to hold the same doctrines with the prophets and theologians of the Hebrews, you may no longer be in doubt who were likely to have borrowed from the others; whether the elder from the younger, Hebrews from Greeks, and Barbarians from philosophers, whose language even they were not likely to understand; or, what is more likely, that the younger borrowed from, the elder, and that those Greeks who had most busily studied the history of the various nations were not unacquainted with the writings of the Hebrews, which had been long before translated into the Greek language.