( or Animadr. ad Euseb. p. 248.) He was born in the reign of Alexander the Great, and lived
till that of Antiochus II. urnamed ad v. Gent. 58; Euseb.
Praep. Evang. x. p. 289.) Respecting the personal history of Berosus
scarcely anything is known; but he must have been a man of education and extensive learning,
and was well acquainted with the Greek language, which the conquests of Alexander had diffused over a great part of Asia.
Some writers have thought that they can discover in the extant fragments of his work traces of
the author's ignorance of the Chaldee language, and thus have come to the conciusion, that the
history of Babylonia was the work of a Greek, who assumed the name of a celebrated Babylonian.
But this opinion is without any foundation at all. The fact that a Babyloaian wrote the
history of his own country in Greek cannot be surprising; for, after the Greek language had
commenced to be spoken in the East, a desire appears to have sprung up in some learned persons
to make the history of their respective countries known to the Greeks: hence Menander of Tyre
wrote the history of Phoenicia, and Manetho that of Egypt.
The historical work of Berosus consisted of three books, and is sometimes called Protrept. 19.) The work itself is lost, but
we possess several fragments of it, which are preserved in Josephus, Eusebius, Syncellus,
and the Christian fathers, who made great use of the work, for Berosus seems to have been
acquainted with the sacred books of the Jews, whence his statements often agree with those
of the Old Testatement.
We know that Berosus also treated of the history of the neighboring countries, such as Chaldaea and Media. (Agathias, 2.24.) He himself states, that he derived the materials for his work from the archives in the temple of Belus, where chronicles were kept by the priests; but he appears to have used and interpreted the early or mythical history, according to the views current in his time. From the fragments extant we see that the work embraced the earliest traditions about the human race, a description of Babylonia and its population, and a chronological list of its kings down to the time of the great Cyrus. The history of Assyria, Media, and even Armenia, seems to have been constantly kept in view also. There is a marked difference, in many instances, between the statements of Ctesias and those of Berosus; but it is erroneous to infer from this, as some have done, that Berosus forged some of his statements. The difference appears sufficiently accounted for by the circumstance, that Ctesias had recourse to Assyrian and Persian sources, while Berosus followed the Babylonian, Chaldaean, and the Jewish, which necessarily placed the same events in a different light, and may frequently have differed in their substance altogether.
de Emendatione Temporum, and more complete in Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. xiv. p. 175, &c., of the old edition.
The best collection is that by J. D. G. Richter. (Berosi Chald. Historiae
quae supersunt; cum Comment. de Berosi Vita, &c. Lips. 1825, 8vo.)
Berosus is also mentioned as one of the earliest writers on astronomy, astrology, and
similar subjects; but what Pliny, Vitruvius, and Seneca have preserved of him on these
subjects does not give us a high idea of his astronomical or mathematical knowledge. Pliny
(hemicyclium), and states that, in his later years, he settled in the island of Cos,
where he founded a school of astrology. By the statement of Justin Martyr (Cohort. ad Graec. 100.39; comp. s. v.
l.c.) [SIBYLLA.] Other writers again have been
inclined to assume, that Berosus the historian was a different person from the astrologer;
but this opinion too is not supported by satisfactory evidence.
The work entitled
Fabric. Bibl. Graec. iv. p. 163, &c.; Vossius, De
Hist. Graec. p. 120, &c., ed. Westermann; and Richter's Introduction to his edition
of the Fragments.