BABYLONIAN LITERATURE. 53 



Ishitha, 1 the son of Adami, described as a 

 religious legislator, as the founder of astro- 

 logy and of astrolatria, is undeniably Seth. 

 We know that among all the apocryphal 

 legends of the antediluvian patriarchs, that 

 of Seth is the most ancient, and appears 

 already in Josephus. 2 Ishitha, according to 

 " The Agriculture," had followers called 

 Ishithians ; an organised sect are descended 

 from him, having a sort of high-priest ; and 

 numerous writings were circulated under 

 his name. These Ishithians are very pro- 

 bably the sect of the Serbians, which played 

 an important part in the first centuries of 

 our era. 3 All the fables which the Mussul- 

 mans connect with Seth, in looking upon 

 him as the prophet of an age of mankind 

 which they call the age of Seth, come 

 doubtless from the same source. Ibn-Abi- 



to Adami and Adam (pp. 44, 45, note ; 49, 50, note ; 190). See 

 Banqueri, i. p. 9. 



1 Page 27. 2 Antiquitates, I. ii. 3. 



3 The theology of the Sethians appears to hare heen of true 

 Babylonian doctrine, which they sought to blend with Biblical 

 teaching. (See Hippolyti Refutationes Haeresium, edit. Duncker 

 et Schneidewin, p. 198 ff.) 



