Hortatory Address to the Greeks

I WILL BEGIN WITH OUR FIRST PROPHET AND LAWGIVER: Moses, first explaining the times in which he lived based on authorities that you consider credible. I do not intend to prove these things solely from our divine histories, which you currently distrust due to the ingrained error of your ancestors, but also from your own histories, and those that have no connection to our worship, so you may understand that, among all your teachers—whether sages, poets, historians, philosophers, or lawgivers—the oldest, as Greek histories reveal, was Moses, who was our first religious teacher.

During the times of Ogyges and Inachus, whom some of your poets claim to have been born from the earth, Moses is noted as the leader and ruler of the Jewish nation. He is mentioned in this way by Polemon in the first book of his Hellenics, and by Apion son of Posidonius in his book against the Jews, as well as in the fourth book of his history, where he states that during Inachus’s rule over Argos, the Jews revolted from Amasis, king of the Egyptians, and Moses led them.

Ptolemaeus the Mendesian, in his account of Egyptian history, agrees with this. Those who wrote the Athenian history, such as Hellanicus and Philochorus (the author of The Attic History), Castor and Thallus, and Alexander Polyhistor, along with the highly informed writers on Jewish affairs, Philo and Josephus, have mentioned Moses as a very ancient and esteemed leader of the Jews. Josephus, indeed, wanting to emphasize the antiquity and age of history by the title of his work, commenced it with these words: “The Jewish Antiquities of Flavius Josephus,”—highlighting the history's age with the word “antiquities.” And your most famous historian Diodorus, who spent thirty years summarizing the libraries and, as he wrote, traveled throughout Asia and Europe for the sake of accuracy, becoming an eyewitness to many things, composed forty complete books of his history.

In his first book, after learning from Egyptian priests that Moses was an ancient lawgiver and even the first, he wrote of him in these words: “Following the ancient ways of living in Egypt, which gods and heroes are said to have governed, they claim that Moses first persuaded the people to follow written laws and live by them; he is noted to have been a man both great in spirit and in social matters.” Then, after proceeding a little further, and wishing to mention the ancient lawgivers, he mentions Moses first.

He spoke with these words: “Among the Jews, they say Moses attributed his laws to that God called Jehovah, whether because they considered it a marvelous and divine idea promising to benefit many people, or because they believed that the people would be more obedient when they reflected on the majesty and power of those said to have created the laws. They say Sasunchis was the second Egyptian legislator, a man of great understanding. The third, they say, was Sesonchosis the king, who not only achieved the most outstanding military exploits in Egypt but also united that martial race through legislation.

The fourth lawgiver, they say, was Bocchoris the king, a wise and highly skilled man. After him, it is said that Amasis the king assumed power, and he is credited with organizing all related to the provincial rulers and the general administration of Egypt. They also say that Darius, the father of Xerxes, was the sixth to legislate for the Egyptians.”