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Sanchuniathon, a purported ancient Phoenician author whose writings are a primary, albeit fragmented, source for Phoenician religion and mythology. It examines the complex textual transmission of his work, the ongoing debate regarding its authenticity, and the substance of its mythological and cosmological content.

THE PROBLEM OF THE SOURCE

All that is known of the Phoenician author Sanchuniathon and his works is preserved through a complex chain of transmission. His original writings, composed in Phoenician, are lost. What survives are partial paraphrases and summaries from a Greek translation by Philo of Byblos, which were themselves preserved by the Christian bishop Eusebius in his work, Praeparatio Evangelica (I. chs ix-x). These fragments represent the most extensive literary account of Phoenician religion available from classical sources, as the vast majority of Phoenician literature, written on perishable parchment, has disappeared.

THE DEBATE OVER AUTHENTICITY

According to Eusebius, who quotes the neo-Platonist philosopher Porphyry, Sanchuniathon was a historian from Berytus (modern Beirut) who lived before the Trojan War (c. 1200 BC). He is said to have based his history on records from a priest named Hierombalus and dedicated it to Abibalus, the king of Berytus. This timeline places him near the age of Moses, during the reign of the Assyrian queen Semiramis, anchoring him in a distant, heroic past from which few other writings survive (Eusebius, I. chs ix-x). Sanchuniathon claimed his work was based on sacred lore found in temple inscriptions, which revealed the "truth" behind myths: that the gods were originally powerful humans who were deified after death, a concept known as euhemerism.

This rationalizing perspective, along with the emphasis on Beirut—a city of minor importance in ancient times but prominent during the later classical period—has led many scholars to question the text's claimed antiquity. Some suggest the work was a later forgery, perhaps created by Philo of Byblos himself and presented as an ancient text (pseudepigrapha) to lend it authority. This skeptical view was echoed by the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, which described Sanchuniathon as belonging "more to legend than to history."

However, not all have dismissed the work. Some early modern scholars, noted in the preface to Richard Cumberland's Sanchoniatho's Phoenician History (1720), argued that ancient figures like Philo, Porphyry, and Eusebius were in a better position to judge its authenticity and never questioned it. The modern scholarly consensus was significantly shaped by the discovery of Ugaritic mythological texts in 1929. In 1952, scholar Otto Eissfeldt demonstrated that the Sanchuniathon fragments contain genuine Phoenician elements that align with these much older Ugaritic sources. The current view is that the text represents a Hellenistic interpretation of authentic Phoenician material, likely composed between the era of Alexander the Great and the first century BC, if not a complete literary invention by Philo that incorporated genuine traditions.

A PHILOSOPHICAL COSMOGONY

The surviving fragments begin with a philosophical creation story attributed to Taautus, whom Philo identifies with the Egyptian god Thoth, the inventor of writing. The cosmogony starts with a primal state of Erebus (Darkness) and Wind, from which came forth Eros, or 'Desire'. This union produced Môt, a term interpreted as either 'Death' or 'mud'. From this chaotic mixture, the germs of life appeared, and intelligent creatures called Zophasemin ('observers of heaven') formed together in the shape of an egg. Eventually, Môt burst forth into light, the heavens were created, and the elements found their proper places.

ALLEGORICAL CULTURE HEROES AND EARLY WORSHIP

Following the creation, a lineage of mortals with allegorical names is presented. The wind Colpias and his wife Baau ('Night') gave birth to Aeon and Protogonus ('firstborn'), who were the first to discover how to get food from trees. Their descendants, Genus and Genea, inhabited Phoenicia. The text notes that during droughts, they "stretched out their hands to heaven towards the sun; for him alone (he says) they regarded as god the Lord of Heaven, calling him Beelsamen, which is in the Phoenician language 'lord of heaven', and in Greek 'Zeus'" (Eusebius, I, x).

THE THEOGONY OF THE GODS

The work contains a history and genealogy of the gods, often identified by their Greek counterparts. In a narrative that parallels Greek and Hittite theogonies, the god El (also called Elus, Ilus, or the Greek Cronus) overthrows his father, Sky (Uranus), by castrating him. Following this, El/Cronus founded Byblos, the first city of Phoenicia. The text adds that at the site of the castration, Uranus's blood flowed into the rivers and fountains, consecrating the location.

The divine history continues with complex conflicts and alliances. Zeus Demarûs (likely the storm god Hadad Ramman), father of Melqart (Heracles), wars against Pontus ('Sea'). The practice of circumcision is attributed to El/Cronus, who is also said to have sacrificed his own son, called Ieoud or Iedod in different manuscripts, a name possibly derived from a Phoenician word meaning "only son" or "beloved" (Olyan). Eventually, peace is established, and Zeus Adados (Hadad) and Astarte are permitted by Cronus to rule the land. This history was said to have been recorded by the divine craftsmen, the Cabeiri, and the healing god Asclepius (Eshmun), under the direction of Thoth.

THE DIVINITY OF SERPENTS

A distinct passage describes the sacredness of serpents, a belief attributed to Tauthus (Thoth) and adopted by the Phoenicians and Egyptians. The serpent was considered divine because it was "of all reptiles most full of breath, and fiery," capable of incredible speed and of assuming various forms. Its ability to shed its skin was seen as a symbol of rejuvenation and renewed growth. The text also notes that the serpent consumes itself at the end of its life, a sacred act recorded by Tauthus, which explains its prominent role in temples and mystic rites. A separate treatise. This account survives only through the works of later authors, primarily Philo of Byblos and the Christian historian Eusebius of Caesarea, who quotes Philo in his work Praeparatio evangelica (Book I, Chapter 10).

1. The Source and Key Figures

Tauthus: This is the Phoenician name for the Egyptian god Thoth. Thoth was the god of wisdom, writing, magic, and the moon. The Greeks later identified him with their god Hermes, leading to the syncretic figure Hermes Trismegistus. In this context, Tauthus is presented as a primordial sage who established the sacred symbols of Phoenician religion.
Sanchuniathon: A supposedly ancient Phoenician author whose work on Phoenician history and religion is the original source. His existence is debated, but his writings, as preserved by Philo and Eusebius, are a primary source for Canaanite mythology.

2. The Sacred Act and Its Meaning

The text recorded by Eusebius states that Tauthus established the serpent (or dragon) as a divine and sacred symbol for the Phoenicians and Egyptians. The reasons given for its sacredness provide the context for the act of self-consumption:

Fiery and Spiritual Nature: The serpent was considered the most spiritual () and fiery of all reptiles.
Immortality and Rejuvenation: It possessed the ability to shed its skin and renew its youth, symbolizing immortality and rebirth.
Cyclicality and Totality: The passage describes the serpent forming a circle with its tail in its mouth. This act was seen by Tauthus as a symbol of the universe. The key phrase states it "is resolved again into itself, in the same way as it proceeds from itself."

This image is a classic description of the Ouroboros (from Greek ourobóros, "tail-devouring").

3. Symbolic Context

The "consumption" is not a literal, final act of suicide at the end of life. It is a powerful symbol for several interconnected concepts:

Eternity and Infinity: The circular shape with no end represents the unending cycle of time and existence.
Cyclical Nature of the Cosmos: It symbolizes the perpetual cycle of creation and destruction, life and death, where the end is simultaneously the beginning.
Primal Unity (Hen to Pan): In later Gnostic and alchemical traditions, the Ouroboros came to represent the concept of Hen to Pan (ἕν τὸ πᾶν), meaning "The All is One." It symbolizes the undifferentiated, primordial unity from which all creation emerged and to which it will all return.
Self-Sufficiency: The creature sustains itself by consuming itself, representing a self-sufficient and complete system.

In summary, the act of the serpent consuming itself, as recorded by Tauthus, is an early mythological and philosophical explanation for the sacred symbolism of the Ouroboros. It represents the eternal, cyclical, and self-contained nature of the universe.

The Theology of the Phoenicians from Sanchoniatho --- Primary Text.

Gemini

The Cosmogony

He supposes that the beginning of all things was a dark and condensed windy air, or a breeze of dark air and a Chaos turbid and indistinct like Erebus: and that these things were infinite, and for a long time had no bound. But when this wind became enamoured of its own principles, and a mixture took place, that embrace was called Desire and it was the beginning of the creation of all things. But the wind knew not its own production. And of that wind from its embrace was begotten Mot which some call Mud, others the putrefaction of a watery mixture and from this sprung all the seed of the creation, and the generation of the universe.

But there were certain animals which had no sense, out of which proceeded intelligent animals, and they were called Zophasemin, that is, the inspectors of heaven, and they were moulded in like manner in the shape of an egg, and Môt shone forth the sun and the moon, the less and the greater stars.

And the air shining thoroughly with light, by its fiery influence on the sea and earth, winds were produced, and clouds, and very great defluxions, and torrents of the heavenly waters. And when these things, by the heat of the sun, were parted and separated from their proper places, and all met again in the air, and were dashed to pieces against each other, thunders and lightnings were the effect ; and at the sound of the thunders, the before-mentioned intelligent animals were awakened, and frightened by the noise, and male and female moved upon the earth, and in the sea.

(After these things our Author proceeds to say:) These things are written in the Cosmogony of Taautus, and in his memoirs, and from the conjectures, and natural signs which his mind perceived and discovered, and wherewith he has enlightened us. Afterwards, declaring the names of the winds North, South, and the rest, he makes this epilogue: -But these first men consecrated the plants of the earth, and judged them gods, and worshipped those things, upon which they themselves lived, and all their posterity, and all before them; to these they made libations and sacrifices. Then he proceeds: -Such were the devices of worship, agreeing with their weakness and the want of boldness of their souls.

The Generations

Of the wind Colpias, and his wife Baau, which is interpreted Night, were begotten two mortals, called Æon and Protogonus: and Æon found out food from trees. Those that were begotten of these were called Genus and Genea, and they dwelt in Phœnicia: and when there were great droughts they stretched forth their hands to heaven towards the Sun; for him they thought the only lord of heaven, calling him Beelsamin, which in Phœnician is Lord of Heaven, but in the Greek Zeus.

Afterwards by Genus, the son of Protogonus and Æon, were begotten mortal children, whose names were Phos, Pûr, and Phlox. These found out the method of producing fire by rubbing pieces of wood against each other, and taught men the use thereof. These begat sons of vast bulk and height, whose names were given to the mountains on which they first seised: thus from them were named Mount Cassius, and Libanus, Antilibanus, and Brathu.

Memrumus and Hypsuranius were the issue of these men having intercourse with their mothers, the women of those times, without shame, lying with any man they chanced to meet. Then Hypsuranius inhabited Tyre: and he invented the making of huts of reeds and rushes, and the papyrus. And he fell into enmity with his brother Usous, who first made clothing for the body of the skins of the wild beasts which he could catch. And when there were violent storms of rain and wind, the trees in Tyre being rubbed against each other, took fire, and the forest there was consumed. And Usous having taken a tree, and broken off its boughs, first dared to venture on the sea. And he consecrated two pillars to Fire and Wind, and worshipped them, and poured out to them the blood of the wild beasts he took in hunting: he consecrated to them the stumps of wood that remained, and worshipped the pillars, and held anniversary feasts unto the stumps.

And in the times after the generation of Hypsuranius, were Agreus and Halieus, the inventors of the arts of hunting and fishing, from whom huntsmen and fishermen are named. Of these were begotten two brothers who discovered iron, and the forging thereof. One of these called Chrysor, who is the same with Hephæstus, exercised himself in words, and charms, and divinations; and he invented the hook, bait, and fishing-line, and boats slightly built; and he was the first of all men that sailed. Wherefore he was worshipped after his death as a God, and called Diamichius. And it is said his brothers invented the way of making walls of bricks.

Afterwards, from this generation were born two youths, one of whom was called Technites, the other Geïnus Autochthôn. These discovered the method of mingling stubble with the loam of the bricks, and of drying them in the sun; and found out tiling. By these were begotten others, of which one was called Agrus, the other Agrouerus or Agrotes, of whom in Phœnicia there was a statue held in the highest veneration, and a temple drawn by yokes of oxen: and at Byblus he is called, by way of eminence, the greatest of the Gods. These invented courts, and fences for houses, and caves or cellars: husbandmen, and such as hunt with dogs, derive their origin from these: they are called also Aletæ, and Titans.

From these were descended Amynus and Magus, who taught men to construct villages and tend flocks. By these men were begotten Misor and Sydyc, that is, Well-freed and Just: and they found out the use of salt. From Misor came Taautus, who invented the writing of the first letters; him the Egyptians called Thoor, the Alexandrians Thoyth, and the Greeks Hermes. But from Sydyc came the Dioscuri, or Cabiri, or Corybantes, or Samothraces: these (he says) first built a ship complete. From these descended others, who discovered medicinal herbs, and the cure of poisons and charms.

Contemporary with these was one Elioun, which imports Hypsistus, (the most high) and his wife called Beruth, and they dwelt about Byblus. Of whom was begotten Epigeus or Autochthon, whom they afterwards called Ouranus (Heaven); so that from him that element, which is over us, by reason of its excellent beauty is named heaven. And he had a sister of the same parents, and she was called Ge (Earth), and by reason of her beauty the earth was called by the same name. Hypsistus, the father of these, having been killed in a conflict with wild beasts, was consecrated, and his children offered libations and sacrifices unto him. But Ouranus, taking the kingdom of his father, married his sister Ge, and had by her four sons, Ilus who is called Cronus, and Betylus, and Dagon who is Siton, and Atlas. But by other wives Ouranus had much issue; whereat Ge, being grieved and jealous, reproached Ouranus, so that they parted from each other. But Ouranus, though he had parted from her, yet by force returned whenever he pleased, and having laid with her again departed; moreover he attempted to kill the children he had by her; Ge also often defended or avenged herself, gathering unto her auxiliary powers.

But when Cronus came to man's age, by the advice and assistance of Hermes Trismegistus, who was his secretary, he opposed his father Ouranus, that he might avenge his mother. And Cronus had children, Persephone and Athena; the former died a virgin; but, by the advice of Athena and Hermes, Cronus made of iron a scimitar and a spear. Then Hermes, addressing the allies of Cronus with magic words, wrought in them a keen desire to fight against Ouranus in behalf of Ge. And thus Cronus overcoming Ouranus in battle, drove him from his kingdom, and succeeded him in the imperial power. In the battle was taken a well-beloved concubine of Ouranus who was pregnant; Cronus gave her in marriage to Dagon, and she was delivered, and called the child Demaroon. After these events Cronus builds a wall round about his habitation, and founds Byblus, the first city of Phœnicia. Afterwards Cronus suspecting his own brother Atlas, by the advice of Hermes, threw him into a deep cavern in the earth, and buried him.

At this time the descendants of the Dioscuri, having built some light and other more complete ships, put to sea; and being out over against Mount Cassius, there consecrated a temple. But the auxiliaries of Ilus, who is Cronus, were called Eloim, (as it were) the allies of Cronus; they were so called after Cronus. And Cronus, having a son called Sadidus, dispatched him with his own sword, because he held him in suspicion, and with his own hand deprived his son of life. And in like manner he cut off the head of his own daughter, so that all the gods were amazed at the mind of Cronus.

But in process of time, Ouranus being in banishment, sent his daughter Astarte, with two other sisters, Rhea and Dione, to cut off Cronus by deceit; but Cronus took the damsels, and married them being his own sisters. Ouranus, understanding this, sent Eimarmene and Hora with other auxiliaries to make war against him: but Cronus gained the affections of these also, and kept them with himself. Moreover, the god Ouranus devised Bætulia, contriving stones that moved as having life.

And Cronus begat on Astarte seven daughters called Titanides, or Artemides; and he begat on Rhea seven sons, the youngest of whom was consecrated from his birth; also by Dione he had daughters, and by Astarte moreover two sons, Pothos and Eros. And Dagon, after he had found out bread-corn and the plough, was called Zeus Arotrius. To Sydyc, called the just, one of the Titanides bare Asclepius. Cronus had also in Peræa three sons, Cronus bearing his father's name, and Zeus Belus, and Apollo.

Contemporary with these were Pontus, and Typhon, and Nereus the father of Pontus. From Pontus descended Sidon, who by the excellence of her singing first invented the hymns of odes or praises and Posidon. But to Demaroon was born Melicarthus, who is also called Heracles. Then again Ouranus makes war against Pontus, but parting from him attaches himself to Demaroon. Demaroon invades Pontus, but Pontus puts him to flight, and Demaroon vows a sacrifice for his escape.

In the thirty-second year of his power and reign, Ilus, who is Cronus, having laid an ambuscade for his father Ouranus in a certain place in the middle of the earth, and having gotten him into his hands, dismembers him near fountains and rivers. There Ouranus was consecrated, and his spirit was separated, and the blood of his parts dropt into the fountains and the waters of the rivers; and the place is shewed even to this day.

(Then our historian, after some other things, goes on thus:) But Astarte called the greatest, and Demaroon entitled Zeus, and Adodus named the king of gods, reigned over the country by the consent of Cronus. And Astarte put upon her head, as the mark of her sovereignty, a bull's head and travelling about the habitable world, she found a star falling through the air, which she took up, and consecrated in the holy island Tyre: and the Phœnicians say that Astarte is Aphrodite.

Cronus, also going about the habitable world, gave to his daughter Athena the kingdom of Attica. And when there happened a plague and mortality, Cronus offered up his only son as a sacrifice to his father Ouranus, and circumcised himself, and forced his allies to do the same. And not long afterwards he consecrated after his death another son, called Muth, whom he had by Rhea; him the Phœnicians call Death and Pluto. After these things, Cronus gives the city of Byblus to the goddess Baaltis, which is Dione, and Berytus to Posidon, and to the Caberi, the husbandmen and fishermen: and they consecrated the remains of Pontus at Berytus.

But before these things the god Taautus, having represented Ouranus, made types of the countenances of the gods Cronus, and Dagon, and the sacred characters of the other elements. He contrived also for Cronus the ensign of his royal power, having four eyes in the parts before and in the parts behind, two of them closing as in sleep; and upon the shoulders four wings, two in the act of flying, and two reposing as at rest. And the symbol was, that Cronus whilst he slept was watching, and reposed whilst he was awake. And in like manner with respect to his wings, that whilst he rested he was flying, yet rested whilst he flew. But to the other gods there were two wings only to each upon his shoulders, to intimate that they flew under the controul of Cronus; he had also two wings upon his head, the one for the most governing part, the mind, and one for the sense.

And Cronus coming into the country of the south, gave all Egypt to the god Taautus, that it might be his kingdom. These things, says he, the Caberi, the seven sons of Sydec, and their eighth brother Asclepius, first of all set down in memoirs, as the god Taautus commanded them. All these things the son of Thabion, the first Hierophant of all among the Phœnicians, allegorized and mixed up with the occurrences and passions of nature and the world, and delivered to the priests and prophets, the superintendants of the mysteries: and they, perceiving the rage for these allegories increase, delivered them to their successors, and to foreigners: of whom one was Isiris, the inventor of the three letters, the brother of Chna, who is called the first Phœnician.

Of the Mystical Sacrifice of the Phoenicians

It was the custom among the ancients, in times of great calamity, to prevent the ruin of all, for the rulers of the city or nation to sacrifice to the avenging deities the most beloved of their children as the price of redemption: they who were devoted for this purpose were offered mystically. For Cronus, whom the Phœnicians call Il, and who after his death was deified and instated in the planet which bears his name, when king, had by a nymph of the country called Anobret an only son, who on that account is styled Ieoud, for so the Phœnicians still call an only son: and when great danger from war beset the land he adorned the altar, and invested this son with the emblems of royalty, and sacrificed him.

Of the Serpent

Taautus first consecrated the basilisk, and introduced the worship of the serpent tribe; in which he was followed by the Phœnicians and Egyptians. For this animal was held by him to be the most inspirited of all the reptiles, and of a fiery nature; inasmuch as it exhibits an incredible celerity, moving by its spirit without either hands, or feet, or any of those external organs, by which other animals effect their motion. And in its progress it assumes a variety of forms, moving in a spiral course, and at what degree of swiftness it pleases. And it is very long-lived, and has the quality not only of putting off its old age, and assuming a second youth, but it receives a greater increase. And when it has fulfilled the appointed measure of its existence, it consumes itself: as Taautus has laid down in the sacred books, wherefore this animal is introduced in the sacred rites and mysteries.