Wild Doings in the Theological College

Extract

The following narrative is translated from the Greek book of Philon of Byblos (the Biblical Gebal, modern Jebail), who wrote in the reign of Nero. The book is a history of early Phoenicia, down to the time of Solomon, which Philon claims to have edited from an old Phoenician chronicle by a scribe named Sanchuniathon and (as in this part) from other sources. Nineteenth-century scholars were inclined to disbelieve in the existence of Sanchuniathon, and to think that Philon's work was thus a forgery; but now that archaeology has produced actual fragments of early Phoenician literature, including references to a war with the Kerethites of Philistia, which Sanchuniathon also mentions, scholars, especially in Germany, are more disposed to take him seriously.