_Helladius_ [262] tells us, that a man called _Oes_, who appeared in the _Red Sea_ with the tail of a fish, so they painted a sea-man, taught Astronomy and Letters: and _Hyginus_, [263] that _Euhadnes_, who came out of the Sea in _Chaldæa_, taught the _Chaldæans_ Astrology the first of any man; he means Astronomy: and _Alexander Polyhistor_ [264] tells us from _Berosus_, that _Oannes_ taught the _Chaldæans_ Letters, Mathematicks, Arts, Agriculture, Cohabitation in Cities, and the Construction of Temples; and that several such men came thither successively. _Oes_, _Euhadnes_, and _Oannes_, seem to be the same name a little varied by corruption; and this name seems to have been given in common to several sea-men, who came thither from time to time, and by consequence were merchants, and frequented those seas with their merchandise, or else fled from their enemies: so that Letters, Astronomy, Architecture and Agriculture, came into _Chaldæa_ by sea, and were carried thither by sea-men, who frequented the _Persian Gulph_, and came thither from time to time, after all those things were practised in other countries whence they came, and by consequence in the days of _Ammon_ and _Sesac_, _David_ and _Solomon_, and their successors, or not long before. The _Chaldæans_ indeed made _Oannes_ older than the flood of _Xisuthrus_, but the _Egyptians_ made _Osiris_ as old, and I make them contemporary.
The _Red Sea_ had its name not from its colour, but from _Edom_ and _Erythra_, the names of _Esau_, which signify that colour: and some [265] tell us, that King _Erythra_, meaning _Esau_, invented the vessels, _rates_, in which they navigated that Sea, and was buried in an island thereof near the _Persian Gulph_: whence it follows, that the _Edomites_ navigated that Sea from the days of _Esau_; and there is no need that the oldest _Oannes_ should be older. There were boats upon rivers before, such as were the boats which carried the Patriarchs over _Euphrates_ and _Jordan_, and the first nations over many other rivers, for peopling the earth, seeking new seats, and invading one another's territories: and after the example of such vessels, _Ishhmael_ and _Midian_ the sons of _Abraham_, and _Esau_ his grandson, might build larger vessels to go to the islands upon the _Red Sea_, in searching for new seats, and by degrees learn to navigate that sea, as far as to the _Persian Gulph_: for ships were as old, even upon the _Mediterranean_, as the days of _Jacob_, _Gen._ xlix. 13. _Judg._ v. 17. but it is probable that the merchants of that sea were not forward to discover their Arts and Sciences, upon which their trade depended: it seems therefore that Letters and Astronomy, and the trade of Carpenters, were invented by the merchants of the _Red Sea_, for writing down their merchandise, and keeping their accounts, and guiding their ships in the night by the Stars, and building ships; and that they were propagated from _Arabia Petræa_ into _Egypt_, _Chaldæa_, _Syria_, _Asia minor_, and _Europe_, much about one and the same time; the time in which _David_ conquered and dispersed those merchants: for we hear nothing of Letters before the days of _David_, except among the posterity of _Abraham_; nothing of Astronomy, before the _Egyptians_ under _Ammon_ and _Sesac_ applied themselves to that study, except the Constellations mentioned by _Job_, who lived in _Arabia Petræa_ among the merchants; nothing of the trade of Carpenters, or good Architecture, before _Solomon_ sent to _Hiram_ King of _Tyre_, to supply him with such Artificers, saying that _there were none in _Israel_ who could skill to hew timber like the _Zidonians__.