142 On the Ancient HELLENES. 



Thofe who were addicted to that fpecies of idolatry were called 

 Hellenim, or fun-worjhippers, and the appellation was probably- 

 fixed on them by thofe who perfevered in the worfhip of the 

 true God. 



The Babylonians, according to the mod authentic accounts, 

 were the firft people who worlhipped the hoft of heaven, and 

 of confequence were the firft Hellenes. This name they re- 

 tained much longer I believe than is generally imagined. The 

 prophet Jeremiah, foretelling the overthrow of the Egyptians 

 at Carchemifh on the river Euphrates, introduces the auxilia- 

 ries of that army as exhorting one another in a fpeech to the 

 following purpofe : " Arife, and let us go again to our own 

 " people, and to the land of our nativity, from the face (edge) 

 " of the fword of the Jonim*" The Seventy tranflate the 

 laft claufe, Ato ts^otruza pufccugus 'EXX^v/xjj?. Again, in another 

 place f, we have the very fame words tranflated in the fame 

 manner. It would be abfurd to imagine, that the tranflators 

 were fo ignorant as to fuppofe that the Greeks were really in- 

 tended in thefe pafTages. They could not but know, that the 

 infpired writer alluded to the Babylonians ; and that the Gre- 

 cian Hellenes at that period, could have no manner of connec- 

 tion with the Babylonians. The fact is, they knew that thefe 

 people eh ad been often ftyled Hellenes, i. e. worJJjippers of the 

 fun. They knew that this was a general appellation by which 

 thefe people were known over all the neighbouring countries, 

 and confequently applied it to them without the leafl hesitation. 

 This account, in my opinion, furnifhes a very ftrong preemp- 

 tion, that the Babylonians were the original Hellenes, and that 

 this name was applied to them in confequence of their attach- 

 ment to the worfhip of the fun. 



Johannes Antiochenus ftyles the Midianites Hellenes. He 

 calls Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, Ag^isgsvg ruv 'EaXjj- 



vav t 



* Chap. xlvi. ver. 16. f Chap. 1. ver. i6. 2 



