Who was Berossus

Berossus was a priest of Bel in the Greek Hellenistic period (c. 332BC to c. 100 BC ). This is the time when Alexander the Great conquers Persia and Egypt but dies and leaves is territories to be split amongst his generals.

Ptolemy I Soter inherits Egypt and goes on to invent an Egyptian/Greek god called Serapis.

Berossus meanwhile is a writer, astronomer, astrologer, and historian who is studying the Enima Elish and king lists dated back to pre dynastic Egypt and as far back as he can find. Berossus is living in Babylon and Alexander the Great has also conquered Babylon. He is recording his findings in the Greek language. It isn't completely certain why these history studies by the Bel priest Berossus were undertaken but some sources state that likely it was a commission from Antichios I Soter who wanted to know more about his newly acquired land where Bel/Marduk cults were the custom.

From Babylon where he is ruled by Antiochus I Soter, Berossos is believed to have relocated to Kos in Asia Minor which would have placed him under the rule of Ptolemy I Soter. Here he sets up a school of astrology ( not well documented).

What is a priest of Bel ?

The Chaldean priest of Bel is a powerful figure in the Akkadian/ Sumerian social caste.

When the earliest civilizations were founded c. 3500 BC in this region of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, priest-kings were the norm. These high order priests were full of knowledge and they could sometimes be gifted healers with seemingly miraculous powers. But this priestly role as ruler diminished over time with the ongoing battles. With time the priest class is one step below the elitist king who may or may not be a priest.

Marduk is a Sumerian word which is the equivalent of the Akkadian word AMAR UTU which signifies "solar calf" ( this is interesting when it is correlated to the Apis Bull of Egypt story). Marduk was by some accounts the son of the Akkadian god Ea ( Ea to the Sumerian was Enki). Marduk is often depicted as riding on a dragon.

Enlil is another god figure who is higher up the pantheonic ladder than Marduk in the old Sumerian world. Enlil is recognized as the only god who had the ability to reach the heavenly god An. Enlil became known as father of the gods or king of kings for this unique gift of divinity.

Enlil was by some accounts cast out of the heavenly realm of the Gods, a place called Dilmun, to an underworld called Kur. Is exile was a punishment for having raped Ninlil who was a goddess and got her pregnant. Ninlil meanwhile had to follow him into the underworld of Kur where Nergal/Sin was born.

Nippur becomes a major cult center devoted to Enlil. Nippur is also Nibbur or Nibru. Nippur is a major city in the later Hebrew exodus story where Moses and Lot (c. 2000 BC) lead the righteous out of Egypt in order to relocate to Canaan the promised land.

Interestingly, correlations can be made between Ki, the Sumerian goddess of the earth, and An, the Sumerian god of the Heavens, and Canaan. Kinahhu and other variations are Sumerian roots for the Hebrew word Canaan.

By the c. 1550 BC Marduk is well established as the pantheon leader of the Babylonian order.

Bel is a word which signifies lord or master. More than a name, Bel is a title which became used extensively with the Marduk cults. Bel Marduk.

Bel is to the Greeks, Belos, and to the Latin Romans, Belus.

It is a word found in belial which is a reference to one of the seven princes of hell. Bel is also Ba'al.

So is a Bel priest a satanist since the word seems to be connected to serpents, dragons, and dark lords who seem to have lost the respect of their heavenly forefathers ?

Bel and the Dragon is an ancient manuscript which was an extension of the Book of Daniel and originally written in Aramaic ( forerunner of the Hebrew language) sometime around 200 BC.

Somehow it never made it into the Bible compendium of holy texts. It seems the story of Bel and the Dragon was deemed apocryphal ( having esoteric or hidden meaning ).

" The king has become a Jew; has destroyed Bel, and has killed the Dragon, and slaughtered the [Bel] priests..."

In 300 BC Berossus is a Bel priest writing an history of the Mesopotamian evolution of kings. He isn't overly popular and most of his works end up destroyed.

At one point Ba'al (Bel) is a title given to Hadad, the son of El, a primary God of the Pagan Canaanite pantheon.


See more on Berossus at wikipedia.