¹ Frame, D. M., François Rabelais: A Study (New York 1977) 144. Throughout the present study, I shall use ‘Giant’ as a proper name for a supposed race of ‘hominids’ or inferior humans as defined by the theological tradition. Similarly, instead of the usual term ‘giantism’ I shall use 'gigantism,’ in accordance with the erudite background of the concept.Google Scholar

² The notion that Rabelais' gigantology can be entirely accounted for in terms of the Grandes chronicques, reflections of medieval French folklore in mystery plays, and Rabelais' own references to the Chronicques, Pulci's Morgante, and Folengo's Baldus (usually cited inaccurately as Le Maccheronee, of which it is only a part), was synthesized by Abel Lefranc in the Edition critique (Œuvres de François Rabelais 1 [Paris 1912] xviiiff.). It has not been challenged by even the best Rabelaisian scholars: see the introductions to the Droz editions of Pantagruel and Gargantua (Textes Littéraires Français 2 [Geneva 1965 ², 1970] 163), by V. L. Saulnier and M. A. Screech, respectively, esp. Saulnier ix–xiii nn. See also Saulnier's intro. to Pantagruel (Paris 1962), esp. vi–x. I first attacked the traditional view in my doctoral dissertation, 'Berosus Chaldaeus': Counterfeit and Fictive Editors of the Early Sixteenth Century (Cornell: DAI 40 [1980] 4584A) 271–306, on which parts of this article are based.Google Scholar

³ For bibliography on Annius, see Stephens, Berosus 1–20 nn. and passim. The Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche has recently dedicated a volume to Annius: Annio da Viterbo: Documenti e Ricerche (Contributi alla Storia degli Studi Etruschi ed Italici 1 [Rome 1981]), containing an early work, Annius' Viterbiae historiae epitoma [sic], ed. Baffioni, Giovanni, 17–251, and a study by Paola Mattiangeli, 'Annio da Viterbo ispiratore di cicli pittorici,’ 257–339. Both parts, esp. the latter, have been criticized on methodological grounds by Edoardo Fumagalli in Aevum 56 (1982) 547–53.Google Scholar

⁴ On the editions of Annius' pseudo-authors, see Stephens, Berosus 347–49 for a verified list. Item 2, 348 is in error and should be deleted. Google Scholar

⁵ Launois, P. E. and Roy, P., Études biologiques sur les géants (Paris 1904) vii–34. On the history of the idea, see also Encyclopaedia Britannica, 3rd ed. (1797) 2.59–76 (s.v. Antediluvians); 7.721–23 (s.v. Giants); 9th ed. (1878) and 11th ed. (1911), s.v. Giant; Encyclopédie méthodique, sec. Antiquités, mythologie, etc. 3 (Paris 1790) 25–28; sec. Théologie 2 (1789) 81–82; Laurentius Beyerlinck, Magnum theatrum vitae humanae (Cologne 1731) 3.7.36–41; Gaspar Barreiros, Censura in quendam auctorem, qui sub falso inscriptione Berosi Chaldaei circumfertur (1565), reprinted in Collezione classica, ossia tesoro delle antichità … ed. Martinetti, G. G. (Rome 1827) 4.1.165–67n.; Jewish Encyclopedia 5.656–59; Encyclopaedia Judaica 12.962–63; Enciclopedia cattolica 6.387–88; Herbert Wendt, Before the Deluge, tr. Richard and Clara Winston (London 1968; repr. 1970) 30–34 and passim; R. E. Kaske, 'Beowulf and the Book of Enoch,’ Speculum 46 (1971) 421–31; Giorgio Padoan, 'Giganti,’ Enciclopedia dantesca (Rome 1971) 3.160–62.Google Scholar

⁶ See n. 31 below; Goodrich, S. G., A History of All Nations, from the Earliest Periods to the Present Time … I (Auburn and Cincinnati 1852) 66–68. See also Melville's Moby Dick, chap. 104.Google Scholar

⁷ See n. 31 below. Google Scholar

⁸ In the Grandes chronicques, Merlin creates Grandgousier and Galamelle, the parents of Gargantua; Gargantua performs ‘merveilleux faictz d'armes’ for Arthur. All gigantology is ultimately folkloric, and nearly all of it eventually became erudite. Another example:Google Scholar

in his translation of the Annian Berosus, Francesco Sansovino quotes what he calls a Tuscan folksaying: ‘Et hebbi voglia anch'io d'esser gigante / Vedi che sette braccia sono a punto’ (Le antichità di Beroso Caldeo Sacerdote. Et d'altri Scrittori, così Hebrei, come Greci, et Latini … [Venice 1583] fol. 2^r). However, the lines reproduce almost exactly Luigi Pulci's Morgante, 18.113.6–8: ‘Ed ebbi voglia anco io d'esser gigante, / Poi mi penti’ quando al mezzo fu' giunto, / Vedi che sette braccia sono a punto.’ These lines rely on the erudite commonplace mentioned above, that Giants were 15 cubits tall. The commonplace derives in turn from Genesis 7.20, which asserts that the floodwaters rose 'Quindecim cubitis altior … super montes, quos operuerat.’ Flavius Josephus says that the 15-cubit depth was necessary 'ne plurimos fugae occasio liberaret'; he also attributes the building of the Tower of Babel to a lingering fear that God might send another Flood (Antiquitates Judaicae 1. 89, 144; cf. The Latin Josephus, ed. Blatt F. [Aarsskrift for Aarhus Universitet XXX.1, Humanistisk Serie, no. 44; Copenhagen 1958] 1. 134, 137–38. Henceforth this work will be quoted as AJ, with Blatt's page numbers in parentheses, e.g., AJ 1.89 [Blatt 134]).

⁹ Britannica, 1878 and 1911. (Most of this material was eliminated in subsequent editions.) Frame, Rabelais 144, gives a similar and more complete list of Giants in literature. However, he, like most Rabelaisian scholars, comes to a conclusion with which I take issue on pp. 84–89, namely, that the dichotomy between Rabelais' presentation of his Giant protagonists and his presentation of all other Giants is consistent only in its inconsistency.Google Scholar

¹⁰ de Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel, El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha 1.1 (ed. Francisco Rodríguez Marin [Madrid 1964] 1.57; emphasis mine).Google Scholar

¹¹ See H. Grandgent's, C. preface to Inferno 31 in his edition of the Divine Comedy (Boston 1933) 274–76. I should note again that ‘animale’ in v. 50 does not mean ‘bestia’ (beast) but is understood etymologically (i.e., as 'being'), as in Inf. 5.88, etc.Google Scholar

¹² Baruch, 3.26–28, quoted in Civ. Dei, 15.23. Henceforth, all quotations are taken from Sancti Aurelii Augustini, De Civitate Dei, edd. B. Dombart and A. Kalb (GCL 47–48). Sample citation: [II 484] = vol. 48, p. 484. Occasional English translations are from the translation of Marcus Dodds (New York 1950).Google Scholar

¹³ AJ 1.73 (Blatt 132); see also Ecclesiasticus 16.8: 'Non exoraverunt pro peccatis suis antiqui gigantes, / Qui destructi sunt confidentes suae virtuti' (emphasis mine). On Capaneus as a Giant, see Inf. 14.46–72 and Grandgent 126–27. Google Scholar

¹⁴ Hugonis de Sancto Charo Opera (Lyon 1669) 1.9. The book of Wisdom implies the same idea: ‘Sed ab initio cum perirent superbi gigantes, / Spes orbis terrarum ad ratem confugiens, / Remisit saeculo semen nativitatis quae manu tua erat gubernata’ (14.6).Google Scholar

¹⁵ Freculphus, , Chronicon 1.14 (PL 106.927 c7–10). The italicized words are a quotation from Josephus (see above, p. 49).Google Scholar

¹⁶ Vico, Vico, Principi di scienza nuova, ed. Nicolini, F. (Milan 1953; repr. Turin 1976) 1.76; cf. 1.124 (i.e., capoversi 147, 346).Google Scholar

¹⁷ This is clearly the textual logic behind beliefs like that recorded by Hugh of St. Cher (above, n. 14) to the effect that the Deluge was sent to destroy the Giants, and against which Augustine is fighting (n. 46 below). Google Scholar

¹⁸ Josephus, , AJ 1.73 (Blatt 132); Philo of Alexandria, De Gigantibus; I Enoch 6–16 (J. H. Charlesworth [ed.], The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha I [New York 1983] 15–22; = R. H. Charles [ed.], The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament 2 [Oxford 1913] 191–99); II Enoch 18 (Charlesworth 131f., = Charles 439f.). For Christian acceptance of the view, see Kaske, ‘Beowulf’ 426; see also J. D. Davis, The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible, rev. ed. Gehman, H. S. (Philadelphia 1944) 574–75; A. van den Born, Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible, tr. and adapt. L. F. Hartman (New York 1963) 2283; Charlesworth 9; and Charles 191n.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Chronicon 1.14 (PL 106.927 b6–11); cf. Civ. Dei 15.23 (II 489) and 3.5 (I 68). In the Genealogia deorum gentilium 4.68, Boccaccio dismisses Josephus' angels-theory as ‘ridiculum’ (ed. V. Romano [Scrittori d'Italia 200–201; Bari 1951] 1.225).Google Scholar

²⁰ Civ. Dei 15.20 (II 483); Genesis 4.15; 24. Lamech was often believed to have incurred the curse by killing Cain, as in Hugh of St. Victor, Adnotationes elucidatoriae in Pentateuchon 7 (PL 175.45 a6–13).Google Scholar

²¹ Civ. Dei 15.24 (II 492); on Seth and Enos, ibid. and 15.17f. (II 479–81). The religiosity of Seth and Enos becomes a commonplace, and often serves to reinforce the explanation of them as the real filii Dei. Google Scholar

²² Civ. Dei 15.23 (II 491–92, 489–90). The CCL text has 'filiis Cain' in the final clause, which is illogical (it corresponds to filiabus hominum) but records filiabus as a variant. On the importance of miscegenation and the theme of ‘mixing’ in connection with the birth of the Giants, see below, pp. 82–84.Google Scholar

²³ See the beginning of Civ. Dei 15.22 (II 487). This notion of two races sprung from two brothers parallels, and may have been suggested by, the origin of the three great races in Noah's three sons (Gen. 9.22–10.32). There again the distinction is brought about by a crime (Ham's mockery) and leads up to a world-wide disaster (the Babelic confusion). Google Scholar

²⁴ Augustine would have us read the postquam of Genesis 4.4 as ‘et post illud, cum’ (Civ. Dei 15.22 [II 490]). Cf. Freculphus, Chronicon 1.14 (PL 106.927c4f.): 'quos et ante esse historia declarat, cum dixit “Gigantes autem …” etc. See n. 46 below. Google Scholar

²⁵ Cassianus, Cassianus, Conlatio 8.21.2 (ed. M. Petschenig, CSEL 13.237).Google Scholar

²⁶ Cassian takes Psalms 81 (82).6–7 as proof that the filii Dei are Seth's sons. In Civ. Dei 15.23, Augustine notes that angelus means nuntius, and says that the filii Dei before their fall fathered children not from lust or pride, but rather to procreate ‘cives civitatis Dei, quibus adnuntiarent, tamquam angeli Dei, ut ponerent in Deo spem suam, similes illius [Enos] qui natus est de Seth, filius resurrectionis, et speravit inuocare nomen Domini Dei’ (II 490). Google Scholar

²⁷ See Deut. 7.3, Ex. 34.16, 3 Kings 11.2. Google Scholar

²⁸ 'Cum diversae inter se naturae permixtio monstra gigneret': Historia Sacra 1 (PL 20. 97 a3ff.).Google Scholar

²⁹ Josephus, , AJ 1.68–71 and 106 (Blatt 132, 136–37); Georgius Monachus, Chronicon 1 (PG 111.85 c 5–8); Michael Glycas, Annales 2 (PG 158.244 c 7f.). Cf. John Zonaras; Annales 1 (PG 134.60 b 12– c 1). The Suda and other Greek sources are quoted by J. J. Mader, De Bibliothecis atque archivis: virorum clarissimorum libelli et commentationes ² (ed. J. A. Schmidt; Helmstedt 1702–1705) 1.18–21.Google Scholar

³⁰ Gen. 7.13; 1 Peter 3.20; 2 Peter 2.5; Civ. Dei 15.8, 15.21, 17.22, etc. Google Scholar

³¹ Allen, D. C., The Legend of Noah: Renaissance Rationalism in Art, Science and Letters (Illinois Studies in Language and Literature 33.3–4; Urbana 1949, repr. 1963). See also Wendt, Before the Deluge; C. C. Gillispie, Genesis and Geology: A Study in the Relations of Scientific Thought, Natural Theology and Social Opinion in Great Britain (New York 1951). Claims of scientific proof about the Deluge are still popular: see F. Warshofsky, 'Noah, the Flood, the Facts,’ Reader's Digest (Sept. 1977) 129–34.Google Scholar

³² On the resurgence of 'Creationism,’ see Henig, R. M., 'Evolution Called a Religion, Creationism Defended as a Science,’ BioScience 29 (1979) 513–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³³ Civ. Dei 15.11–13 (I 467). See also Jerome, Hebraicae quaestiones in libro Geneseos ed. de Lagarde, P., CCL 72.8–9.Google Scholar

³⁴ Hebrews, 7.1–3. Melchizedech and Abel appear together in the mosaics of San Vitale in Ravenna, presumably because both are eldest sons of 'first fathers,’ priests (sacrificers), and thus types of Christ.Google Scholar

³⁵ See Fabricius, J. A., Codex pseudepigraphus Veteris Testamenti I (Hamburg 1722) 283–91.Google Scholar

³⁶ De Vulgari eloquentia, 1.7.2–4. Cf. Purg. 12.25–36.Google Scholar

³⁷ 2 Peter 3.3–13; Civ. Dei 20.16ff. Google Scholar

³⁸ Bidez, J. and Cumont, F., Les mages héllénisés: Zoroastre, Ostanès et Hystaspe d'après la tradition grecque (Paris 1938, repr. 1973) 1.45; 2.40 and passim: Stephens, Berosus 72–76 and passim. The frescoes of the Salone Sistino (late 1580s) in the Vatican Museum begin with ‘Adam, divinitus edoctus primus scientiarum et litterarum inventor’ and 'Filii Seth [qui] columnis duabus rerum caelestium disciplinem inscribunt.’Google Scholar

³⁹ Bidez-Cumont, , Mages héllénisés 2.490; Stephens, Berosus 75 and n. 28. I have discussed the morphology of the antediluvian columns anecdote in an as-yet unpublished study of ‘antediluvian classics’ in European thought. See also C. E. Lutz, ‘Remigius’ Ideas on the Origin of the Seven Liberal Arts,’ Medievalia et Humanistica 10 (1956) 40–49.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Rathborne, I. E., The Meaning of Spenser's Fairyland (Columbia University Studies in Comparative Literature 131; New York 1937, repr. 1965) 146–47. Rathborne's analysis should be used with caution; although she quotes Jean Lemaire de Beiges' adaptation of Annius' fables, she forgets that, for Annian writers, Noah and his entire family were Giants (see below, pp. 70–85). Her statement that ‘the Bible is of course the original authority for the notion that Cham was the father of the giants’ (146) may originate in one of the authors she is examining, but it is certainly not true.Google Scholar

⁴¹ See Ginzberg, L., The Legends of the Jews I (Philadelphia 1909) 160 and V n. 35; Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. Og; Encyclopaedia Judaica, s.v. Og; and below, pp. 81–82.Google Scholar

⁴² Khaldǔn, Khaldǔn, The Muqaddimah, An Introduction to History (tr. F. Rosenthal; New York 1958) I 357; II 240–41; cf. I 358–59; and A. Kircher, Arca Noë in tres libros digesta (Amsterdam 1675) 9.Google Scholar

⁴³ Textus Biblie cum Glosa Ordinaria, Nicolai de Lyra Postilla etc. (Basel 1506) I fol. 53 ^v (cf. Biblia Sacra cum Glossa Ordinaria … et Postilla Nicolai Lyrani [Douai 1617] I 158). Nicholas of Lyra's commentary, those of his successors Matthew of Thuringia and Paul of Burgos, and the Glossa Ordinaria also contain much material on the filii Dei, in the commentary to Genesis 6.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Textus Biblie I fols. 333^v (at Deut. 3.11) and 301 ^v (at Numbers 21.33).Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Textus Biblie I fol. 333 ^v (cf. Biblia Sacra I 1485–86); Biblia Sacra I 204. On Ha-palit, see Stephens, Berosus 287–88 and nn. 53–54.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ The King James version supports Augustine's reading of Gen. 4.4: There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men' … (emphasis mine). Augustine's solution is implicitly refuted by the Douai translation: 'For after the sons of God went into the daughters of men …,’ The Holy Bible, Translated from Latin Vulgate and Compared with Other Editions in Divers Languages (Douai, A.D. 1609; Rheims, A.D. 1582) (London 1914 repr. 1964) 8. The force of postquam for the Douai translator is corroborated by a note to the passage, warning readers to ‘be very circumspect in their marriages’ so as not to incur similar ‘unhappy consequences’ of a bad choice. Augustine's interpretation derives from his use of the so-called Vetus Latina translation (based on the Septuagint) rather than the newer translation of Jerome. For the passages in question, see Vetus Latina: Die Reste der altlateinischen Bibel nach Petrus Sabatier neu gesammelt und herausgegeben von der Erzabtei Beuron 1 (Freiburg 1951) 104. For Augustine's evaluation of Jerome's translation, see Civ. Dei 18.43 (II 639). Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Civ. Dei 15.9, 22f.; Pliny, Naturalis Historia 7.16.73ff.; cf. Homer, Iliad 7.155f. (Nestor describing Ereuthalion) and 7.211ff. (depiction of Ajax).Google Scholar

⁴⁸ In fact, Paul of Burgos tried to reconcile the ‘angels theory’ with Augustine's remark on incubi and succubi (Civ. Dei 15.23), but he was reprimanded by Matthew of Thuringia for misreading (Biblia Sacra 1.149, 152). Google Scholar

⁴⁹ On Philo, see above, n. 18. For Sixtus' lost works, see his Bibliotheca Sancta 5, n. 76 and the additional n. by his editor, P. T. Milante (Naples 1742) 2.597. See also Jean Chassagnon or Chassanion de Monistrol, De Gigantibus eorumque reliquiis ac de hominibus qui prodigiosis viribus ad Gigantum naturam proximi videntur accedere (Basel 1580; Speyer 1586); Johan van Gorp (Becan), Origines Antwerpianae, sive Cimmeriorum Becceselana, novem libros complexa … (Antwerp 1569). The Gigantomachia is bk. 2 of this work, pp. 137–226. See also Vico, Scienza nuova I 82; II 135 (Capoversi 170, 369). Google Scholar

⁵⁰ Calmet, A., Dissertatio de Gigantibus in Il tesoro delle antichità sacre e profane, tratto da' comenti del reverendo padre Don Agostino Calmet …, tr. and ed. Ponsanpieri, L. G. (2nd ed.: Verona and Venice 1741) 1.440–56; repr. in J. P. and V. S. Migne, edd., Scripturae Sacrae cursus completus ex commentariis … (2nd ed.: Paris 1839) 7.763–92.Google Scholar

⁵¹ See Calmet's own dissertation, An veteres legislatores et philosophi e Scriptura leges suas el moralem scientiam hauserint, in Migne 747–64, and the works cited below, n. 76. Google Scholar

⁵² Boulduc, Boulduc (c. 1575–1650), De Ecclesia ante Legem 1.1.7ff.; 3.2, cited by Calmet, Migne 770. Cf. Vico, Scienza nuova 2.138 (Capoverso 374).Google Scholar

⁵³ See Civ. Dei 15.23, end (II 492). Google Scholar

⁵⁴ On this belief about Adam Kadmon, see Scholem, G., On the Kabbala and Its Symbolism (tr. R. Manheim; New York 1965) 162.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Migne, 769 (n.), 787, 790 (bis). On Annius' diu viventes, see Stephens, Berosus, 293–94.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Calmet mentions Tilladet's notion in Migne 787–88, but in 789 he is anxious to refute both those who deny that Giants ever existed, and those who claim that they were universal, since he needs to prove a racial definition. His use of the evidence here is both similar and related to his treatment of Adam Kadmon (n. 54 above). Google Scholar

⁵⁷ See n. 47 above. Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Migne, 770. See n. 52 above.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ A census of Biblical loci bearing the word gigas bears this out quite dramatically. As Bede says, ‘Ponitur vero et gigas aliquando in bono, ut est istud de Domino: “Exultavit ut gigas, ad currendam viam” [Ps. 18.6], sed hoc pro potentia singulari qua caeterum genus humanum jure transcendit, dispositumque Incarnationis sacramentum mirabili virtute peregit, sicut etiam leo aliquando Dominum, aliquando diabolum designat, sed diabolum propter superbiam et ferocitatem, Dominum propter potentiam’ (Hexaemeron 2 [PL 91.84 a 15– b8]). Indeed, there is only one other locus where gigas does not seem to have a strictly pejorative connotation (1 Macc. 3.3). The other loci of the Old Testament are: Gen. 6.4; Deut. 2.11, 20; 3.11, 13; 2 Sam. 21.18; 23.13; Judith 16.8; Job 16.15; 26.5; Ps. 32.16; Prov. 9.18; 21.16; Wisd. 14.6; Ecclus. 16.8; 47.4; Isa. 14.9; 26.14, 19; Baruch 3.26. I have found no mention at all of Giants in the New Testament.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ On the patriotic, misohellenistic anti-Renaissance of Annius and his followers, see Stephens, Berosus, esp. 25–56; 209–71. On Noah's colonization, see Allen, Legend 113–37. Google Scholar

⁶¹ For a full account of the contents and method of Annius' texts and commentaries, see Stephens, Berosus, esp. 25–56, 88–208. Google Scholar

⁶² On Berosus, see RE 3.309ff.; P. Schnabel, Berossos und die babylonisch-hellenistische Literatur (Leipzig 1923; repr. Hildesheim 1968); F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (Berlin 1923 —; repr. Leiden 1954–1964) 3c. 1.364–67 (testimonies) and 367–97 (text). For the importance of Josephus' mention of Berossos (AJ 1.105–108), see Stephens, Berosus 85–88. On the discovery of the real fragments of Berossos, see John E. Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship (Cambridge 1903–1908), 2.202–203 and 3.241. Google Scholar

⁶³ For this otherwise little-known library, romanticized by Annius into a rival of the library of Alexandria, see Stephens, Berosus 93–107. Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Plato, , Timaeus 23 a, tr. B. Jowett, in The Collected Dialogues of Plato, including the Letters, ed. Hamilton, E. and Cairns, H. (Princeton 1961) 1158. On Berosus' similarity to the Egyptian priests of Plato, see Stephens, Berosus 100–102.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ On the supposed provenance of Annius' MS of the Defloratio, and the controversy over its existence, see Stephens, Berosus 149–51. All quotations from ps.-Berosus and the other works of Annius are taken from the best working edition, Aniiquitatum variarum volumina XVII a venerando et Sacrae Theologiae et Praedicatorii Ordinis professore Joanni Annio … (Paris 1515). Substantive variant readings from the editio princeps (Rome 1498) will be given in brackets. Orthography follows the Paris edition (henceforth 1515) except in variants and the occasional capitalization of Noah's honorific titles. Asterisks in the text of Berosus refer to marginal citations of sources and analogues. Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Annius claims that Adam was the first Chaldaean, by which term he and his contemporaries designated an astronomer-soothsayer (as in Daniel 2.2–4). On fol. 127 ^r, Annius defines Chaldaei as 'sacerdotes theologiae physicae atque astronomiae dicatos.’ See Stephens, Berosus 109–13.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Annius says that the ruins of this city are familiar to 'nostri mercatores et peregrini,’ 1515, fol. 107 ^r.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ On Giants and anthropophagy see Kaske, ‘Beowulf’ 424n. Google Scholar

⁶⁹ On the names of Noah's and his sons' wives, see 1515, fols. 111 ^r, 123 ^r, and 145^v (cf. Petrus Comestor, PL 198.1084: 'Uxor Noe Phuarphara, uxor Sem Pharphia, uxor Cham Cathaflua, uxor Japheth Fliva'). On the seventy-eight years, see Gen. 6.3, Civ. Dei 15.24 (II 492), and 1515 fol. 108 ^r.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ On Annius' identification of Italy with the Biblical Cethim (Kitym), see 1515, fol. 18 ^r. Annius would have known that Josephus contradicted this interpretation in AJ 1.128. On Tuyscon Gigas (Tuisco or Tuisto), the 'author Germaniae,’ see 1515, fol. 110^v and F. L. Borchardt, German Antiquity in Renaissance Myth (Baltimore 1971), passim, esp. 178. Tuisto first appears in ch. 2 of Tacitus' Germania, On the glorification of the ‘Celts’ (French) see Stephens, Berosus 209–71 and nn.; see also C.-G. Dubois, Celtes et Gaulois au XVI^e siècle: Le développement d'un mythe nationaliste … (Paris 1972) and La conception de l'histoire en France au XVI^e siècle … (Paris 1977). On the 'Celtiberians,’ see Weiss, Traccia 441, addendum. On Ionicus (Ihonitus), who is much older than any of the apocryphal sons of Noah invented by Annius, see L. Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science (New York 1923–1958) II 321–22; and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Disputationes adversus Astrologiam Divinitricem, ed. Garin, E. (Florence 1946–1952) II 484–91.Google Scholar

⁷¹ On the geography and epithets, see Annius' commentaries, 1515 fol. 109 ^r–v. Annius is conscious of providing a ‘source’ for euhemeristic mythography and notions of prisca theologia, for he opens his commentary on this paragraph by saying: ‘Multa memoratu digna his verbis insinuat Berosus; quae apud poetas legebamus, et originem ignorabamus’ (1515, fol. 109 ^r.Google Scholar

⁷² On the epithets, see 1515, fol. 110 ^r (cf. AJ 1.186).Google Scholar

⁷³ Genealogical trees are in 1515 fols. 110^v–112 ^v; cf. DuBois, Celtes 29–30, and Œuvres de Jean Lemaire de Belges, ed. Stecher, J. (Louvain 1882) 1.2.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ Myri Adam, On, see AJ 1.95 (Blatt 135): 'Miniadam excelsus mons in Armenia.’ The confusion of r and n is not unusual in Latin MSS. On Noah's Landing, see AJ 1.92 (Blatt 135): 'nunc autem locum Armeni egressorium vocant.’Google Scholar

⁷⁵ On this 'fertility topos,’ see below, pp. 87–88 and nn. 115f. Google Scholar

⁷⁶ For the background of prisca theologia and its relation to the Hermetic tradition, see F. A. Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (New York 1964, repr. 1969) 1–189; D. P. Walker, The Ancient Theology: Studies in Christian Platonism from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century (Ithaca 1972); C. B. Schmitt, 'Perennial Philosophy from Agostino Steuco to Leibniz,’ Journal of the History of Ideas 27 (1966) 505–32; 'Prisca Theologia e Philosophia Perennis: due temi del Rinascimento e la loro fortuna,’ in Il pensiero italiano del Rinascimento e il tempo nostro, Atti del V Convegno Internazionale del Centro di Studi Umanistici … 1968 (Florence 1970) 211–36; idem, ed., 'De Perenni Philosophia' by Augustinus Steuchus (New York 1972), introd. v–xvii. Google Scholar

⁷⁷ See 1515, fol. 109 ^v, and, for the rituales libri, below, n. 89. The fiction of sacerdotal secrecy very conveniently saves Annius the trouble of ‘revealing’ any of the Noachian prisca theologia and sapientia to his readers.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ On Annius' supposed knowledge of Hebrew and other ancient Near Eastern languages, see Stephens, Berosus 176–94, wherein I maintain that the only interpretative device he ever uses is that of etymology, and that his knowledge of Hebrew etymology is based largely, if not entirely, on Jerome's etymological glossaries of Biblical Hebrew names. Google Scholar

⁷⁹ On the Anima Mundi, see D. P. Walker, Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella (London 1958; repr. Notre Dame 1975) passim; Yates, Bruno 64–68. On Euhemerism and syncretism, see below, n. 94. The two keys of Noah are another prefiguration of Christianity; they mark Noah as a proto-Peter (in his role as pontifex maximus). Google Scholar

⁸⁰ On Titea / Terra / Vesta see 1515, fol. 110^v–111 ^r, 115^v–116 ^r, and 140 ^r–^v; on Annius' ‘discovery’ of an altar erected by Noah and Vesta at Viterbo, fol. 125 ^v. On the fortune of Annius' Titea / Vesta, Stephens, Berosus 191–92 and n. 68.Google Scholar

⁸¹ Berosus says much the same thing of Nimrod, below, p. 78. Google Scholar

⁸² In Genesis, Ham is always mentioned between Shem and Japheth (in Gen. 9.24 he is filius minor), hence Augustine (Civ. Dei 16.2) and Christian tradition make him the middle brother in age. On the rationale of Annius' ordering, see 1515, fols. 115^v–116 ^r. On the identification of Ham with Zoroaster, see A. V. Williams Jackson, Zoroaster, Prophet of Ancient Iran (London 1899) 154–57. Vincent of Beauvais and others record the etymology of Zoroaster as ‘tanquam vivens astrum’ (Speculum Historiale 1.101 [Douai 1624; repr. Graz 1965], 37).Google Scholar

⁸³ This is one of the few touches — perhaps the only one — of ‘psychological realism’ in all Annius' work. Google Scholar

⁸⁴ This deliberately reinforces the parallel with the castration of Uranus by Saturn, which Annius mentions, 1515, fol. 115 ^v. Annius identifies Ham with Saturn (below, n. 87). Annius' euhemeristic reduction of all elder gods to Noah's immediate family takes place mainly in the Aequivoca of ps.–Xenophon (1515, fols. 34^r–41 ^r).Google Scholar

⁸⁵ On the fortune of this etymology (even in Hebrew literature of the 1500s) see Stephens, Berosus 191–92 and n. 68. Google Scholar

⁸⁶ Ham's mores are a revival of those of the evil Giants, as the words ‘ut ante inundationem’ indicate. The epithet propagator may be an ironic reference to the enlargement of sexual boundaries advocated by Ham (it was an epithet of Jupiter in his role as extender of boundaries [see C. T. Lewis and C. Short, A Latin Dictionary, s.v.]). Certainly Annius sees ‘propagator of infamy’ as an etymology, which harmonizes with Ham's sexual 'propaganda.’ On incest in the antediluvian world, see Civ. Dei 15.16 (II 476–79). Google Scholar

⁸⁷ On Ham/Saturn and Chem Myn, see 1515, fols. 113^r and 116 ^r; for ‘Saturnus’ as an honorific title, fol. 34 ^v.Google Scholar

⁸⁸ Needless to say, Noah's colonizing voyage is a mixture of traditional assumptions and Annius' fantasy (he cites Phylo Hebraeus de multiplicato humano genere as his source, 1515, fol. 116 ^v). On the fortune of Annius' invention of the voyages, see Allen, Legend, 113–37 (but use with caution: there are several serious inaccuracies in these pages).Google Scholar

⁸⁹ Annius identifies Noah's recension of the antediluvian patriarchal writings on science and theology with both the Etruscan libri rituales celebrated by Roman writers (see the excerpt from Festus in Lewis and Short, A Latin Dictionary s.v. ritualis) and the Kabbala (fols. 71 ^r-v, 81 ^r-v, 124 ^v, passim). I have treated his ideas in an article on 'The Etruscans and the Ancient Theology in Annius of Viterbo,’ which will appear in the Proceedings of the conference Humanism in Rome in the Fifteenth Century, co-sponsored by Columbia University and the University of Rome, New York City, December 2–5, 1981 (Rome 1984).Google Scholar

⁹⁰ Pseudo-Berosus' chronology uses the end of the Flood as a cut-off point analogous to the Christian reckoning according to the birth of Christ and the Jewish reckoning since Creation. Henceforth, I shall use the abbreviation p.d. (post diluvium) when discussing this chronology.Google Scholar

⁹¹ Pseudo-Berosus indicates here that the Babelic confusion of tongues took place in 187 p.d. (131 + 56). Traditional Christian historiography dated the event in 100 p.d. , on the basis of Gen. 10.25 ('nomen uni Phaleg, eo quod in diebus eius divisa sit terra') and Gen. 11.10–16, wherein it appears that Peleg was born in 100 or 101 p.d. See AJ 1.146; Civ. Dei 16.10f. (II 511–15), and Stephens, Berosus 177–86. Annius also gives the traditional date of Peleg's birth as 101 p.d. , on fol. 114 ^v; this he can do because he has separated the divisio terrarum (which becomes Noah's colonization tour) from the Babelic confusion, with which it is linked in Gen. 11.9. However, on fol. 111 ^r Annius contradicts this, saying that Peleg was born tempore divisionis linguarum (i.e., not terrarum). This oversight presumably remains from one of the several earlier redactions of Annius' fictions.Google Scholar

⁹² For bibliography on the question, see Stephens, Berosus 128 n. 7, 129 nn. 18–20. Google Scholar

⁹³ Stephens, , Berosus 69–76.Google Scholar

⁹⁴ Pseudo-Xenophon is summarized in Stephens, Berosus 37–38. On Euhemerism, see J. Seznec, The Survival of the Pagan Gods: The Mythological Tradition and Its Place in Renaissance Humanism and Art, tr. B. F. Sessions (1953, repr. New York 1961), esp. 3–36. Google Scholar

⁹⁵ See above, n. 74. Annius' pseudo-Archilochus begins with a pseudo-quotation: 'Maseas Phoenix Damascenus libro nonagesimo septimo historiarum asserit …,’ a strategem based coyly on the fact that in AJ 1.94 Josephus had quoted from book 96 of the same work (see n. 99 below). Google Scholar

⁹⁶ Josephus says that the sons of Seth 'septem generationibus permanserunt deum iudicantes esse dominum omnium et ad virtutem sempter inspicientes, deinde tempore procedente de paternis sollemnitatibus ad mala progressi sunt …’ (AJ 1.72 [Blatt 132]). Annius echoes him by saying: 'Huc usque impia septima generatio ab Adam excrevit per universum orbem. Sed in hac septima generatione impia et excommunicata coepit iusta posteritas Adae cum excommunicatis [i.e., the children of Cain] participare coniugio et supradictis sceleribus impiorum [i.e., incest, sodomy, and bestiality] …’ (1515, fol. 107 ^v).Google Scholar

⁹⁷ On the 120 years, see above, p. 52. On the birthdates of Noah's sons, Gen. 5.31; 7.6. Google Scholar

⁹⁸ On Annius' largely fictitious Talmudists, see Stephens, Berosus 186–91. Google Scholar

⁹⁹ Josephus says that the reason the waters flooded over all mountains to a depth of fifteen cubits was ‘ne plurimos fugae occasio liberaret’ AJ 1.89 (Blatt 134); but he also quotes Mnaseas of Damascus to the effect that “est super Miniadam excelsus mons in Armenia, qui Baris appellatur, in quo multos confugientes sermo est diluvii tempore liberatos et quendam simul in arca devectum in montis Ocile summitatem … fuit autem iste quern etiam Moyses Iudaeorum legislator scripsit” (AJ 1.95). Calmet (Migne 777) quotes Josephus, 'narrans spectari in Hebron immania quaedam hominis ossa.’ See also Eusebii Pamphili Evangelicae Praeparationis libri XV, ed. Gifford, E. H. (Oxford 1903) 3.1.450 (Babylon founded by Giants who escaped the Flood). In Timaeus 22d (Hamilton / Cairns 1157) Plato remarks that 'When … the gods purge the earth with a deluge of water, the survivors … dwell on the mountains.’Google Scholar

¹⁰⁰ See above, n. 43. Google Scholar

¹⁰¹ See 1515, fols. 39 ^r, 113 ^r. See also Nicholas of Lyra's commentary to Num. 13.23.Google Scholar

¹⁰² Hugh of St. Cher, Opera 1.9; Aurora Petri Rigae Biblia versificata, ed. Beichner, P. E. (Publications in Medieval Studies 19; Notre Dame 1965) 1.48; Godfrey of Viterbo, Pantheon (Basel 1559) 92.Google Scholar

¹⁰³ Hist. schol., Gen. 31 (PL 198.1081 c 9– d6). Notice that Petrus Comestor makes the sons of Cain the original villains in the story.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁴ 1515, fol. 107 ^r. Cf. fol. 134 ^v. Annius mentions Diodorus and Macrobius as corroborating his definition of Giants, which is based on Genesis 6.4.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁵ See the story of Osiris, Hercules Libyus, and the Giants, beginning on fol. 127 ^r.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁶ On the work of Boulduc and Tilladet, see above, nn. 52 and 56. Google Scholar

¹⁰⁷ For bibliography and analysis of Annius' French and Italian fortunes, see Stephens, Berosus 1–20, 209–71 and nn. Google Scholar

¹⁰⁸ On French polemical works, esp. those written by Jean Lemaire for Louis XII, see Y. Giraud and M.-R. Jung, La Renaissance, 1: 1480–1548, in Littérature française, gen. ed. Pichois, Cl. (Paris 1972) III 196–202. Compare the probable Italian inspiration of such early sixteenth-century Gallomania in J. W. O'Malley, s.j., 'Fulfillment of the Golden Age under Pope Julius II: Text of a Discourse of Giles of Viterbo, 1507,’ Traditio 25 (1964) 265–338. For Lemaire's epigones, see Stephens, Berosus 259–71.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁹ Stephens, , Berosus 347 (bibliography).Google Scholar

¹¹⁰ Abélard, Abélard, Les Illustrations de Gaule et singularités de Troye de Jean Lemaire de Belges: étude des éditions, genèse de l'œuvre (Geneva 1976).Google Scholar

¹¹¹ Legend of Noah 114–19.Google Scholar

¹¹² On Lemaire's programmatic rewriting of Annius, and its success in sixteenth-century France, see Stephens, Berosus 209–71. Google Scholar

¹¹³ See Stephens, , Berosus 216–43.Google Scholar

¹¹⁴ Œuvres de Jean Lemaire de Belges, ed. Stecher, J. (Louvain 1882) 1.18. A new edition is being prepared by Jacques Abélard.Google Scholar

¹¹⁵ Lemaire 1.21. See also Annius, 1515, fols. 114^v–115 ^r: 'Causae autem tarn velocis multiplicationis plures assignantur. Primam Moyses exprimit dicens qiad Deus benedixit Noae et filiis eius atque uxoribus. Haec benedictio est multiplicationis: qua etiam Christus duos pisces et quinque panes benedicens multiplicavit in cibum quinque milium hominum. [Annius apparently sees no difference between accelerated procreation and the ‘multiplication’ of inanimate objects.] Secunda causa est natura, quae sicut non abundat superfluis, ita non deest in necessariis, ut ait Aristoteles in secundo de Anima. Et has duas causas tangit Berosus: Deum scilicet et naturam. Addit et tertiam: quia semper gemino partu maritum a natura oriebatur genus humanuni.’ Indeed, ps.-Berosus says: ‘Congressi vero coniugibus perpetuo geminos edebant marem et foeminam, qui adulti et coniuges effecti et ipsi binos partu liberos semper edebant’ (fol. 114 ^v).Google Scholar

¹¹⁶ François Rabelais, Le Tiers livre, ed. Screech, M. A. (Geneva 1964) 22–23.Google Scholar

¹¹⁷ In his comment to Exod. 1.12, Nicholas of Lyra notes: 'Dicunt Hebraei quod mulieres Hebraeae in quolibet partu pariebant plures pueros; et aliquando usque ad quattuor, aliquando usque ad sex. Ideo dicitur “et quasi [germinantes multiplicati sunt] [Exod. 1.7].” Sicut per germinationem unius grani nascuntur … multa grana.’ See also Voltaire, L'homme aux quarante écus, final chapter ('D'un bon souper chez Monsieur André'): ‘Le docteur de Sorbonne … cita le père Petau, qui démontre qu'en moins de trois cents ans un seul des fils de Noé (je ne sais si c'èst Sem ou Japhet) avait procréé de son corps une série d'enfants qui se montait à six cent vingt-trois milliards six cent douze millions trois cent cinquante-huit mille fidèles, l'an 285 après le déluge universel’ (Romans et contes, ed. Benac, H. [Paris 1960] 338). Goodrich (above, n. 6) could still say in 1852 that ‘It has been estimated, that under circumstances so favorable, the human race might have increased to the number of 400,000,000,000 before the year of the deluge. But all calculations of this nature must be regarded as mere hypothesis. We have reason to think that a portion of the earth was very populous at that period, but of the numbers we are entirely ignorant’ (I 67).Google Scholar

¹¹⁸ I have completed a monograph on ‘Rabelais and the Giants of Theology’ based in part on the above analysis and in part on Berosus, which I hope soon to publish. Google Scholar

¹¹⁹ These are some of the passages examined in the monograph just mentioned (n. 118). It is my contention that Rabelais' earliest commentators, especially Le Duchat and Motteux, were at least dimly aware of his dependence on the fictions of Annius, Lemaire, and their epigones in France. Google Scholar