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Sanchuniathon (Greek: Σαγχουνιάθων; ''gen''.: Σαγχουνιάθωνος) is the purported Phoenician author of three lost works originally in the Phoenician language, surviving only in partial paraphrase and summary of a Greek translation by Philo of Byblos, according to the Christian bishop Eusebius of Caesarea. These few fragments comprise the most extended literary source concerning Phoenician religion in either Greek or Latin: Phoenician sources, along with all of Phoenician literature, were lost with the parchment on which they were habitually written. He is also known as Sancuniates. ==The author== All our knowledge of Sanchuniathon and his work comes from Eusebius's ''Praeparatio Evangelica'', (I. chs ix-x)〔Athenaeus does refer to Sanchuniathon in ''Deipnosophistae'' iii.100— essentially an "All You Need to Know in Order to Shine at a Banquet"— but he adds nothing he could not have found in Philo, M.J. Edwards notes, in "Philo or Sanchuniathon? A Phoenicean Cosmogony" ''The Classical Quarterly'' New Series, ''41.1'' (1991, p. 213–220) p. 214. There is an entry in the Byzantine encyclopedia ''Suda'' that gives three titles Edwards considers to have been excerpts of the ''Phoenician History'': they are ''Philosophy of Hermes'', ''The Egyptian Theology'' and an ''Aegyptiaca''.〕 which contains some information about him along with the only surviving excerpts from his writing, as summarized and quoted from his supposed translator, Philo of Byblos. Eusebius also quotes the neo-Platonist writer Porphyry as stating that Sanchuniathon of Berytus (Beirut) wrote the truest history about the Jews because he obtained records from "Hierombalus" ("Jerubbaal"? or "Hiram'baal" ?) priest of the god Ieuo (Yahweh), that Sanchuniathon dedicated his history to Abibalus king of Berytus, and that it was approved by the king and other investigators, the date of this writing being before the Trojan war〔"older, as they say, than the Trojan times" (Eusebius, I, ch. viii). Porphyry's actual text does not survive, however. "During the Hellenistic and Roman periods antiquity was the proof of national virtue", M. J. Edwards remarks, in "Philo or Sanchuniathon? A Phoenicean Cosmogony" p. 214.〕 (around 1200 BC) approaching close to the time of Moses, "when Semiramis was queen of the Assyrians."〔Porphyry, quoted by Eusebius.〕 Thus Sanchuniathon is placed firmly in the mythic context of the pre-Homeric heroic age, an antiquity from which no other Greek or Phoenician writings are known to have survived to the time of Philo. Curiously, however, he is made to refer disparagingly to Hesiod at one point, who lived in Greece ca. 700 BC. The supposed Sanchuniathon claimed to have based his work on "collections of secret writings of the ''Ammouneis''〔The "Ammoneans" or priests of Ammon.〕 discovered in the shrines", sacred lore deciphered from mystic inscriptions on the pillars which stood in the Phoenician temples, lore which exposed the truth—later covered up by invented allegories and myths—that the gods were originally human beings who came to be worshipped after their deaths and that the Phoenicians had taken what were originally names of their kings and applied them to elements of the cosmos (compare euhemerism) as well as also worshipping forces of nature and the sun, moon, and stars. Eusebius' intent in mentioning Sanchuniathon is to discredit pagan religion based on such foundations. This rationalizing euhemeristic slant and the emphasis on Beirut, a city of great importance in the late classical period but apparently of little importance in ancient times, suggests that the work itself is not nearly as old as it claims to be. Some have suggested it was forged by Philo of Byblos himself, or assembled from various traditions and presented within an authenticating pseudepigraphical format, in order to give the material more believable weight. Or Philo may have translated genuine Phoenician works ascribed to an ancient writer known as Sanchuniathon, but in fact written in more recent times. This judgement is echoed by the 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', which wrote that Sanchuniathon "belongs more to legend than to history." Not all readers have taken such a critical view. Squier Payne remarked in a preface to Richard Cumberland's ''Sanchoniatho's Phoenician History'' (1720) The Humour which prevail'd with several learned Men to reject Sanchuniatho as a counterfeit because they knew not what to make of him, his Lordship always blam'd Philo Byblius, Porphyry and Eusebius, who were better able to judge than any Moderns, never call in question his being genuine.〔Quoted by H.W.F.S. reviewing O. Eissfeldt's ''Sanchunjaton von Berut und Ilumilku von Ugarit'' in ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London'' ''17''.2 (1955), p. 395.〕 However that may be,〔A review of the controversies surrounding Sanchuniathon is presented in J. Barr, "Philo of Bylos and his 'Phoenician History'", ''Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library'' ''57'' (1974), p. 17–68.〕 much of what has been preserved in this writing, despite the euhemeristic interpretation given it, turned out to be supported by the Ugaritic mythological texts excavated at Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit) in Syria since 1929; Otto Eissfeldt demonstrated in 1952〔O. Eissfeldt, ''Sanchunjaton von Berut und Ilumilku von Ugarit'' (Halle: Niemeyer) 1952, and ''Taautos und Sanchuniathon'' (Berlin) 1952.〕 that it does incorporate genuine Semitic elements that can now be related to the Ugaritic texts, some of which is shown in our versions of Sanchuniathon, remained unchanged since the second millennium BC. The modern consensus is that Philo's treatment of Sanchuniathon offered a Hellenistic view of Phoenician materials〔This is the view of Baumgarten 1981.〕 written between the time of Alexander the Great and the first century BC, if it was not a literary invention of Philo. In what follows, it is sometimes difficult to tell whether Eusebius is citing Philo's translation of Sanchuniathon or speaking in his own voice. Another difficulty is the use of Greek proper names instead of Phoenician ones and the possible corruption of some of the Phoenician names that do appear. There may be other garblings. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sanchuniathon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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