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.