territory. Only one work by Be ̄rossos is known, the Babyloniaca, a history of Babylo ̄n in three
books that was dedicated to King Antiokhos I. It was written in Greek and intended to
correct Greek misconceptions about the history of Babylo ̄n. The Babyloniaca does not
survive in its original form, but extensive fragments are preserved in the Against A ̄ of
Iosephus and the Chronicle of E. These reveal that Be ̄rossos organized his work
according to traditional Babylonian views of man and his place in the world.
Book 1 treated the origins of Babylo ̄n and the gift of culture to the first men by the
demigod Oannes. Book 2 recounted the history of Babylo ̄n from the appearance of Oannes
432,000 years before the flood to the reign of Nabunasir in the 8th c. BCE. Book 3 dealt
with the Neo-Babylonian and Persian periods. Be ̄rossos’ claim that he used cuneiform
sources preserved in the temple of Bel at Babylon is confirmed by the fragments. These
reveal that he used a version of the Babylonian creation epic in Book 1, a flood story and
a king-list similar to the Sumerian King List in Book 2, and chronicle texts related to extant
neo-Babylonian chronicles in Book 3.
Be ̄rossos’ influence on Hellenistic Greek culture in general and science in particular
was negligible. Thus, despite claims that Be ̄rossos was responsible for the introduction of
Babylonian astrology to the Greeks, the fragments reveal no knowledge of mathematical
astronomy or horoscopic astrology. Instead, they contain only an account of the motion of
the Moon based on that found in the fifth tablet of the Babylonian creation epic and a
description of the “Great Year.”
FGrHist 680; Stanley M. Burstein, The Babyloniaca of Berossos (1978); A. Kuhrt in Eadem and
S. Sherwin-White, Hellenism in the East (1987) 32–56; BNP 2 (2003) 608–609, B. Pongratz-Leisten.
Stanley M. Burstein
“Be ̄rutios” (350 – 500 CE?)
Wrote a work on Asia Minor, cited by the R C 2.16, as “Purit(i)os”:
cf. 5.7 where the city “Be ̄rutos” is similarly misspelled. Cited with I and
P; perhaps cf. V A or the orator Celsinus, both of Be ̄rutos.
J. Schnetz, SBAW (1942) #6, p. 62.
PTK
B ⇒ A
Billaros (of Thessalia?) (105 – 75 BCE)
Made a globe displayed in Sino ̄pe ̄ that was carried off by Lucullus in 74 BCE: S
12.3.11. (Hultsch believed the globe demonstrated the diurnal heavenly rotation.) For the
name, cf. LGPN 3B.86, Bilaros of Thessalia (20 BCE), 3B.422, Phile ̄ro ̄ of Thessalia (2nd c. BCE),
or 4.71, Bilarra of Macedon (4th c. BCE).
RE 3.1 (1897) 472, Fr. Hultsch.
PTK
Bio ̄n Caecilius (100 BCE – 77 CE)
Wrote On Potencies (Peri Dunameo ̄n), listed by P after B and before A
L as a Greek medical authority (1.ind.28). He learned a spleen remedy (dried
“BE ̄RUTIOS”