688 DELUGE. 
name of the patriarch was preferved ; they called him 
A' '.is, Naus, and fometimes contracted Nous-, and many 
place.; of fandlity, as well as rivers, were denominated 
from him. 'Anaxagoras of Clazomene had obtained fome 
knowledge of him in Egypt. By him tlve patriarch was 
denominated Abas or Nous- ; and both he and his difciples 
were fenfible that this was a foreign appellation; not- 
with (landing which, he has acted as if it had been a term 
• or the Greek language. Eufebius informs us, that the 
difciples of Anaxagoras fay, ‘ that Nous is, by interpre¬ 
tation, tl;e deity Dis or Dios; and they likewife efteem 
Nous the fame as Prometheus, becaufe he was the renewer 
of mankind, and was (aid to have fafhioned them again,’ 
after they .had been in a manner extindl. After this, 
• however, he gives a folution of the ftory, upon the fup- 
pofition that Nous is the fame with the Greek word vu<;, 
t.he mind : that ‘the mind was Prometkeia-, and Prome¬ 
theus was faid to renew mankind, from new forming their 
minds, and leading them, by cultivation, from ignorance.’ 
“ Suidas has preferved, from fome ancient author, a 
curious memorial of this wonderful perfonage, whom he 
affedts to diffcinguifh from Deucalion, and (files Nannacus. 
According to him, this Nannacus was a perfon of great 
antiquity, and prior to the time of Deucalion. He is 
faid to have beeii a king, who, forefeeing the approach¬ 
ing deluge, collected every body together, and led them 
to a temple, where he offered up his prayers for them, 
accompanied with many tears. There is likewife a pro¬ 
verbial exprefiion about Nannacus applied to people of 
great antiquity. Stephanus gives great light to this hif- 
tory, and (applies many deficiencies. ‘The tradition is 
(fays he), that there was one formerly, named Annaeus, 
the extent of vvhofe life was above three hundred years. 
The people who were of his neighbourhood and ac¬ 
quaintance had inquired of an oracle how long lie was 
to live ; and there was an anfwer given, that when An¬ 
naeus died, all mankind would be deftroyed. The Phry¬ 
gians, upon this account, made great lamentations, from 
whence arofe the proverb to evi Atnocxe v.’ha.vtrnv, the La¬ 
mentation for Annaeus, made ufe of for people or circum- 
ftances highly calamitous. When the flood of Deucalion 
came, all mankind were deftroyed, according as the oracle 
had foretold. Afterwards, when the furface of the earth 
began to be again dry, Zeus ordered Prometheus and 
Minerva to make images of clay, in the form of men : 
and, when they were finiflied, he called the winds, and 
made them breathe into each, and render thenrvital.” 
From tliefe hiftories Dr. Bryant concludes,as follows : 
“ However the ftory may have been varied, the principal 
outlines plainly point out the perlon who is alluded to in 
tliefe hiftories. It is, I think, manifeft, that Annaeus, 
and Nunnachus, and even Inachus, relate to Noachus or 
Noah. And not only tliefe, but the hiftories of Deuca. 
lion and Prometheus have a like reference to the pa¬ 
triarch; in the 6ooth year, and not the 300th, of whofe 
lite the waters prevailed upon the earth. He was the fa¬ 
ther of mankind, who were renewed in him. Hence lie 
is repre(ented by another author, under the character of 
Prometheus, as a great artift, by whom men were formed 
anew, and were inftru 61 ed in all that was good. 
“In the eaft, Noah appears to have been called Abas, 
Noafis, Nvfus, and Nus ; and by the Greeks his name was 
compounded Diemufus. The Amonians, wherever they 
came, founded cities to his honour : hence places called 
Aifa often occur; and indeed a great many of them are 
mentioned by ancient authors. Tliefe, though widely 
diftant, being lituated in countries far removed, yet re¬ 
tained the fame original hiftories ; and were generally 
famous for the plantation of the vine. Milled by this 
„limilarity of traditions, people in after-times imagined 
that Djonufus muft necelfanly have been where his his¬ 
tory occurred: and as it was the turn of the Greeks to 
place every thing to the account of conqueft, they made 
him a great conqueror, who went over the face of the 
whole, earth, and taught mankind the plantation of the 
vine. We are informed, that Dionufus w r ent with an 
army over the face of the whole earth, and taught man¬ 
kind, as he pafled along, the method of planting the vine, 
and how to prefs out the juice, and receive it in proper 
veftels. Though the patriarch is reprefented under va¬ 
rious titles, and even the(e not always uniformly appro¬ 
priated ; yet there will continually occur fuch peculiar 
circumftances of his hiftory as will plainly point out the 
perfon referred to. The perfon preferved is always men¬ 
tioned as preferved in an ark. He is deferibed as being 
in a (late of darknefs, which is reprefented allegorically 
as a date of death. He then obtains a new life, which 
is called a fecond birth; and is faid to have his youth 
renewed. He is, on this account, looked upon as the 
firft-born of mankind ; and .both his antediluvian and 
poftdiluvian dates are commemorated, and fometimes the 
intermediate ftate is alfo fpoken of. Diodorus calls him 
Deucalion.-, but deferibes the deluge as in a manner uni- 
verfal. * In the deluge which happened in the time of 
Deucalion, almoft all flefh died.’ Apollodorus having 
mentioned Deucalion sv configncd to the ark, takes 
notice, upon his quitting it, of his offering up an imme¬ 
diate facrifice to the God who delivered him. As he 
was the father of all mankind, the ancients have made 
him a perfon of very extenfive rule ; and fuppofed him 
to have been a king. 
“ Among the ealtern nations, the traces of the deluge 
are more vivid and determinate than thofe of Greece, 
.and more conformable to the accounts of Mofes. Eufe¬ 
bius has preferved a mod valuable extract to this purpofe 
from Abydenus ; which was taken from the archives of 
the Medes and Babylonians. This writer fpcaks of Noah, 
whom he names Seifithrus, as a king : and fays, that the 
flood began upon the 15th day of the month Delius; that, 
during the prevalence of the waters, Seifithrus fent out 
birds, that he might judge if the flood had returned; 
but that the birds, not finding any refting-place, returned 
to him again. This was repeated three times; when the 
birds were found to return with their feet ftained with 
foil; by which he knew the flood was abated. Upon 
this he quitted the ark, and was never more feen of men, 
being taken away by the gods from the earth. Abydenus 
concludes with a particular, in which the eaftern writers 
are unanimous; that the place of defeent from the ark 
was in Armenia, and lpeaks of its remains being pre¬ 
ferved for a long time. Plutarch mentions the Noachic 
dove, and its being fent out of the ark. But the mod 
particular hiftory of the deluge, and the neareft of any 
to the account given by Mofes, is to be found in Lucian. 
He was a native of Samofata, a city of Comagene, upon 
the Euphrates, a part of the world where memorials of 
the deluge were particularly preferved, and where a re¬ 
ference to that hiftory was continually kept up in the rites 
and worfltip of the country. His knowledge therefore 
was obtained from the Afiatic nations, among whom he 
was born, and not from his kinfnten the Helladians, who 
were far inferior in the knowledge of ancient times. He 
deferibes Noah under the name of Deucalion ; and fays, 
‘ that the prefent race of mankind are different from thofe 
who firft exifted : for thofe of the antediluvian world 
were all deftroyed. The prefent world is peopled from 
the fons of Deucalion; having inereafed to fo great a 
number from one perfon. In refpeft to the former brood, 
they were men of violence, and lawlefs in their dealings. 
They regarded not oaths, nor obferved the rights of hof- 
pitality, nor (hewed mercy to thofe who fued for it. On 
this account they were doomed to deftruttion : and for 
this purpofe there was a mighty eruption of waters from 
the earth, attended with heavy fhowers from above ; fo 
that the rivers (welled, and the fea overflowed, till the 
whole earth was covered with a flood, and all flefh 
drowned. Deucalion alone was preferved to re-people 
the world. This mercy was (hewn to him on account of 
his piety and juftice. His prefervation was effected in 
this manner : He put all his family, both hi-s fons and 
their 
