56 BABYLONIAN LITER ATURE. 



Canaanite king Salbama. 1 Then, 2 too, lie is 

 brought into connection with Numruda, and 

 represented as an emigrant from the land 

 of Canaan. Generally speaking, the stories 

 founded on his life correspond perfectly 

 with his legend, as received among the 

 Jews a little before our era. Josephus 3 of 

 old, somewhat in an arbitrary manner, iden- 

 tifies Abraham with an ancient Babylonian 

 sage mentioned by Berosus ; the reputation 

 of Abraham as a Chaldeean sage was esta- 

 blished at that period no less than in that 

 of Philo. 4 



As to the part which Numrtida plays in 

 " The Book of Nabathsean Agriculture," as 

 a Canaanite priest, 5 and as founder of the 

 Canaanite dynasty at Babylon, it would be 

 presumptuous to say that this idea only has 

 its origin in a plagiarism from the Bible. 

 It is very possible that there might be some 



1 Page 45 ff. 2 Page 49. 3 Antiquities, I. vii. 2. 



4 Philonis Juckei Opera, edit. Mangey, ii. 13. See Ewald, 

 Geschichte des Volkes Israel, i. 436, 437 (2nd edition) ; Winer, 

 Biblisthcs Realwoerterbuch, i. p. 12 (3rd edition). 



5 Page 49. 



