The Books of Enoch, Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

LATER HISTORY 319
the cursing of their accompUces, first a passive accompUce, Mount Hermon,
and then the active accompUces who were the giants, the nephilim, and the
men. Now a fragment of the Manichaean Kawan contains a passage which
seems to me to be an adaptation of the second part of the Greek quotation
(Henning, BSOAS xi, pp. 57 and 61: fr. /, page i); in both cases one is
tempted to read, or supply, * Watchers' instead of 'men':
\ . . Enoch, the apostle, . . . [gave] a message to [the men and their]
children: To you . . . not peace. The judgement on you is that you shall be
bound for the sins you have committed. You shall see the destruction of
your children, . . . ruling for a hundred and twenty years. . . .'
Page 2 of this Middle Persian fragment already describes the fertility of
the earth which the just will enjoy eternally (above, pp. 301-2). This whole
section of the Book of Giants was thus an amplification of the passage
En. 10: 11-22, recounting God's message to Michael who is preparing to
do battle with 'Semihazah and his companions' (verse 11), but also 'the sons
of the Watchers' (verse 15).
It is true that Syncellus expressly identifies this quotation as forming part
'of the first Book of Enoch, on the Watchers'. It will be remembered, however,
that he was acquainted with the Enochic writings only through the
works of the Alexandrian historians Panodorus and Annianus (around A.D.
400). He could thus combine under the same heading and the same colophon
quotations one of which did not come from the first Book of Enoch at all.
Syncellus' predecessors were acquainted with various works attributed to
Enoch, for instance the Astronomical Book (En. 72-82), the resume of which
is to be read in Syncellus (Dindorf i, p. 60, 12-61, i; Bibl. Nat. grec 1711,
p. 22, 3-10). The same chronographer makes an obscure allusion probably
to the final part of the Astronomical Enoch (see above, pp. 296-7, on
Enastr^) (Bibl. Nat. grec 1711, p. 21, 4-6; cf. Dindorf, p. 57, 16-18):
rrapaXa^ovras arro rov T€rdpTov TCOV iyprjyopojv dp^ovTos, Xcupa^ir^X. TO TOV
rjiXLov dvaKVKXevpiaTLKov /xerpov etvai iv ^coStot?" cj8* pioipais r^* r] Se fxoipa
icrTLv TjpLepa d' Kal ACTTTOV IV '(I share less the opinion of) those who recognize
that the annual movement of the sun owes its origin to Chorabiel (read:
Chobabiel), the fourth chief of the Watchers, and that it is effected across
the twelve signs of the Zodiac and through 360 degrees; one degree is equal
to one day and one minute.'
In conclusion, I suggest that the quotation of Syncellus on the fate of
Hermon and of the sons of the men/Watchers comes in fact from the Book