Cave of Treasures

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governor of Cappadocia is the person referred to. He can hardly have been the Bishop of Emesa, who was, of course, a believing Christian. If the Nemesius mentioned was the governor of Cappadocia, it would support the view taken by the Syrians that the "Cave of Treasures" in its original form dates from the time of Ephrem the Syrian, i.e. the IVth century. That the Syriac "Cave of Treasures" was known and used by Solomon, Bishop of Perâth Maishan (Al-Basrah) in 1222 is proved by the earlier chapters of his work the "Book of the Bee." He excerpted from it many of the legends of the early Patriarchs, although his object was not to write a table of genealogical succession, but a full history of the Christian Dispensation according to the views of the Nestorians. It is interesting to note that we owe the best manuscript of the "Cave of Treasures" which we have to the Nestorians, for Brit. Mus. MS. Add. 25875, was written by a Nestorian scribe in the Nestorian village of Alkésh, and was bound up by him in a volume which included a copy of the "Book of the Bee," whose author, Solomon, was the Nestorian Bishop of Al- Basrah early in the XIIth century. What exactly were the sources from which the author of the "Cave of Treasures" derived his information it is impossible to say. He was well acquainted with the contents of the Old and New Testaments, and it seems that, either at first hand or through translations, he was familiar with the legends concerning the Creation and the early Patriarchs, which were current among the Hebrews. There is no evidence that he knew Greek, but there is little doubt that much of the information which he gives was derived at second, or third or fourth hand from works written in Greek. Some of these dealt with the history of Babylonia, and the accounts of the early rulers of that country given in them were derived from records written in cuneiform. It is well known that some learned Greeks made their way to Babylon and became acquainted with the history, and religion and language of the country, and then wrote down in their own language the information which they had acquired there at first hand from the native records and chronicles. According to Strabo (XVII. 6) there were several native Babylonians who were acquainted with the Greek language, and he gives the names of some of them, e.g. Kidéna, Naburianos, Sudinos and Seleukos, who were mathematicians and astronomers. And we are justified in assuming that there were also native scholars who dealt with history and chronography, and who either wrote in Greek, as well as cuneiform, or whose works were translated by Greeks who could read the cuneiform inscriptions also. The section of the "Cave of Treasures" which deals with Abraham, and his father Terah and his grandfather Nâhôr shows that its author's information was based on a more or less historical foundation. The date when Abraham was called by the divine Voice to leave "Ur of the Chaldees” may be placed at about 2000 B.C., i.e. about the time when Khammurabi was making himself master of all Babylonia. In the days of Serug, the great grandfather of Abraham, the worship of idols entered the world. All the people were 14 of 130