DE GRUYTER Journal of Anclent Near Eastem History 202%; a0p Paul-Alain Beaulieu* Berossus and the Creation Story tps: /dolorg/10.2515/faneh-2020-0012 Published online April 7, 2021 Abstract: This article investigates the fragments ofthe Babyloniaca of Berossus on creation. The following aspects are considered: the narrative structure of the book and how the account of creation is introduced, with broader implications for the cultural claims of Berossus and his peers; the relation between Berossus and previous Mesopotamian traditions, mainly the Babylonian Epic of Creation (Enuma elish), as well as possible evidence of Greek influence; and finally the view of human nature which is implicit in his account of the creation of humankind, notably the elimination of female agency and how his narrative relates to theories of human generation and the body that were current among the Babylonians, the Greeks, and the Egyptians. Keywords: anthropogony, Bel-Marduk, cosmogony, medicine, Oannes Berossus was @ Babylonian priest who lived during the first decades of Seleucid rule, ‘According to ancient testimonies he wrote an account of the culture and history of Babylonia and dedicated it to the Seleucid king Antiochus, probably Antiochus 1 (281-261)! The work of Berossus was generally known as Babyloniaca and it ineluded three books. Iti lost as a whole, but substantial fragments are quoted by ancient authors.” In most cases these fragments have come down to us through more than one intermediary, and this almost certainly implies the presence of textual comuptions, interpolations and paraphrases. Thus, Berossus’ account of creation in Book 1 was cited in antiquity not from the original, but from the epitome of the Babyloniaca made in the first century BC by the Greek polymath Alexander 1 Bach 2013: 157-162, strongly argues for identifying Berossus with Bél@GSunu, high priest (Catan) ofthe Esagl temple in Babylon attested in document from the year 258 BC. Cone sponding, he also proposes to identify the Antiochus who isthe dedicate ofthe Babyloniaca with Antiochus I (261-246) rather than Antioch 2 The main editions and discussions of the fragments are Schnabel 1923; Bustin 1978; Ver brugghe and Wickersham 1996; and De Brecker 2015. The most extensive sudy of Berossus to date is De Breucker 2012, Berossus i also discussed recently by Stevens 2019 in the content of Lellenistic intllectal istry sponding author: Paul-Alan Beaulieu, Unversity of Toronto, 4 Bancroft Avenue, MSS 201 Toronto, ON Canads, Ema: alan.beaulleugutoronto.ca