05_Biblica_1_H_Collins_Layout 1 05/11/12 12:19 Pagina 411 411 NOAH, DEUCALION, AND THE NEW TESTAMENT Flavius Josephus (37 – some time after 100 C.E.) refers to the bib- lical flood Story in his Antiquities (1, 72-108 [1.3.1-9]) and in his Against Apion (1, 130 [1.19]) 19. He quotes from the accounts of the Gentile historians Berossus (Antiq. 1, 93; Apion, 1, 130) and Nicolaus of Damascus (Antiq. 1, 94-95), and mentions “Hieronymos the Egyp- tian, who composed an ancient history of Phoenicia, and Mnaseas and numerous others” for confirmation. As Feldman observes 20, In summary, Josephus’ version of the Noah pericope, far from being a mere paraphrase of the Biblical narrative, whether based on the original Hebrew or on the Septuagint, shows careful and deliberate additions, modifications and subtractions, largely motivated by apo- logetic concerns, but arising from his aim to synthesize Jewish and Hellenistic culture. One of the most noticeable features in Josephus’ account is that his word for the ark is consistently rather than the term used in the LXX and Philo, The Greek term does not come from Berossus, who mostly uses (“the boat”), as well as and The word appears in the passages from Plutarch, Lucian, and Pseudo-Apollodorus listed above; but it looks like Josephus adopted it from the section in Nicolaus of Damascus that he quoted. Probably, then, Josephus intended to imply a parallel between Noah and Deucalion. Other indications that support the notion that Josephus followed an apologetic motive to display parallels include his connection of the “angels of God consorting with women” to the “outrages … said by the Greeks to have been done by giants” (Antiq. 1, 73); his statement that “God suggested” ( ) the ark to Noah (Antiq. 1, 76), which is so similar to Pseudo-Apollodorus’ assertion that “Prometheus suggested” ( ) the building of an ark to Deucalion. Josephus’ indebtedness to Berossus appears My discussion here benefits from several published works of L. Feldman, 19 namely: Josephus, Antiquities, 24-39, with accompanying notes; “Josephus’ Portrait of Noah and Its Parallels in Philo, Pseudo-Philo’s Biblical Antiquities, and Rabbinic Midrashim”, PAAJR 55 (1988) 31-57; “Questions About the Great Flood, as Viewed by Philo, Pseudo-Philo, Josephus, and the Rabbis”, ZAW 115 (2003) 401-422; Studies in Josephus’ Rewritten Bible (Leiden 1998) 17-37; Jo- sephus’ Interpretation of the Bible (Berkeley, CA 1998) 132-135. FELDMAN, “Josephus’ portrait of Noah and its parallels”, 56. 20