Union o f the
Cainites and
Sethites.
Antediluvian
population.
field.1 From these passages, as well as from the book of
Genesis, we learn that every imagination of man’s heart was
only evil continually.2 With respect to the expressions, “ Sons
of God, and daughters of men,” 3 it appears that the descendants
of Seth, who for a long period had maintained the worship
of the true God, represent the former ; and that the nomad
and fallen race of the Cainites, whom they joined probably in
Babylonia, were the latter.4 This decided falling off commenced
amongst the Sethites about a .m . 1073,5 but an additional
period of 583 years elapsed before the fallen race had
become men of renown,6 or mighty men and giants, not in
stature but in apostasy, as the original, Nëphilim, has been
translated by Bishop Horne. This was just before the Deluge,
when it is supposed mankind became sufficiently numerous to
people the coast of Phoenicia, Arabia Felix, the valley of the
Nile, part of Central Asia, Assyria, and Syria. In the last
country we are told that the names of Genus and Genea,7 and
those of their descendants, were conferred upon the mountains
which they occupied, as Casius, Lebanon, and Brathu.8 Yery
little has reached us concerning the countries just mentioned
at this remote period, but with respect to Babylonia and the
adjoining territory we are better informed. Noah’s separation
from the sons of Seth, to avoid their wickedness, is expressly
stated by the Jewish historian;9 and that he continued in a
great measure to live apart, is probable from the circumstance
of his maintaining his righteousness ; it may also be inferred
that his distance from Babylonia was not very great, from his
1 From Alexander Polyhistor : see the Cosmogony and Deluge. Ancient
Fragments by Isaac Preston Cory, Esq., p. 22. W. Pickering, London, 1832.
8 Gen. chap. V I., v. 5. 8 Ibid., v. 2.
4 Compare Bibliothèque Orientale, d’Herbelot, A rt. Aulad, with the
Chronology and Antiquity of the most Ancient Nations of the World, by J.
Jackson, ■vol. I., p. 203.
5 Ibid., vol. I ., p. 60. 8 Gen., chap. V I., v. 4.
7 These individuals are supposed to represent Cain and his wife ; the former
name having been derived from Cain by successive transformations which may
be easily traced. Whittaker’s Univers. Hist., vol. I., p. 47.
8 From the Cosmogony of Sanchoniatho, Ancient Fragments by Isaac
Preston Cory, Esq., pp. 5, 6. W. Pickering, London, 1839.
8 Jos. Ant., lib. I , c. iii. s. 1.
preaching faith and repentance to the inhabitants of that and
the adjoining region.1 In the districts about Sinjar, the seat
of the Sethites, bordering on Paradise,2 Noah might have found
the requisite materials for building the Ark, namely, bitumen
and Gopher wood,3 so that this vast structure might have been
prepared in the course of a short time by his family alone.
Berossus, in his Babylonian Antiquities, states that Babylonia
is a country situated between the Tigris and Euphrates, pro- Products of
ducing abundantly wheat, barley, ocrus, and sesame; the lakes p
produced the roots called gongae, which are fit for> food, and
in point of nutriment similar to barley; also that there were
palm-trees, apples, and a variety of fruits, likewise fish and
birds, both those of flight and those which frequent the lakes:
he adds, that the country bordering upon Arabia was without
water and barren, but the parts lying on the other side,4 that is
Susiana and the Cosscean or Cordyean mountains, were fertile.
Berossus further states that Oannes, or Xisuthrus (Noah)6,
appeared on the shores of the Erythrean sea,6 bordering upon
Babylonia, where he was enjoined to write a history of the
beginning, procedure, and conclusion of all things, and deposit
it in Babylonia, at Sippara, the city of the Sun ;7 it is added
that he was also ordered to build a vessel, and take with him Noah's
. i i i* m instructions. into it his children and his friends, and everything necessary to
sustain life, together with the different animals, both birds and
quadrupeds, and then to trust himself fearlessly to the deep.8
Jos. Ant., lib. I ., c. iii., sec. 1.
8 Georgius Cedrenus, p. 17. Bekker, Bonn, 1838.
3 Other timber, but more particularly the pine, the cedar, and cypress
contend for this honour ; all three are found in this part of the country, but
the similarity of Gopher to the Hebrew Goupber and the Arabic Kafur give
a preference to the last, the Cupressus sempervirens, which may be said to
be almost indigenous to the districts near Babylon.
4 Ancient Fragments by Isaac Preston Cory, Esq., pp. 21, 22. W . Pickering,
London, 1832.
5 Eusebius, Canon. Chronici. in the Greek. Fol., Amst. 1658, pp. 6, 8.
8 The Persian Gulf Vvas thus called. Vincent’s Commerce of the Ancients,
&c., vol. I I ., p. 4.
7 2 Kings, c. X V I I . 24. 31 v.
8 Ancient Fragments by I. P . Cory, Esq., pp. 26, 27, compared with Gen.
chap. V I., V II.