Philo of Byblos

Philo of Byblos (, Phílōn Býblios; ; – 141), also known as Herennius Philon, was an antiquarian writer of grammatical, lexical and historical works in Greek. He is chiefly known for his Phoenician history assembled from the writings of Sanchuniathon.

Life Philo was born in the 1st century in Byblos in what is now Lebanon. "He lived into the reign of Hadrian, of which he wrote a history, now lost."

Philo's Greek Phoenician History was so extensively quoted by Eusebius in his 4th-century work Praeparatio evangelica that the fragments have been assembled and translated. Eusebius's quotations often have an agenda contrary to Philo's original intentions: the sources of Phoenician religion are quoted to disparage. Philo's passages show a jumbling together of Phoenician lore with Greek mythology, Zoroastrian beliefs and ancient Egyptian beliefs concerning the ibis-headed god Thoth, who in Philo is called Taautos or Tauthos. In Philo, as among the ancient Egyptians, Taautos/Thoth is given characteristics that were much argued in the 4th century Christology: "everlasting, unbegotten, undivided". Allusions to serpent veneration mingled with the cult of Thoth are also found.

According to Eusebius, Philo discovered secret mythological writings of the ancient Phoenicians assembled by the Phoenician writer Sanchuniathon who, according to Eusebius/Philo, transcribed the sacred lore from pillars in the temples of Byblos. Philo also translated all (or some) of the work in his Phoenician History. According to Porphyry, Sanchuniathon wrote a history of the Jews based on information derived from Hierombalus (i.e. Jeruba'al), a Yahwist priest, and dedicated it to Abelbal or Abibal, king of Berytus.

The sequence of the gods and their genealogy among the Phoenicians, as gleaned from Philo's quoted fragments, were for long recognized as supporting the general scheme in Hesiod's Theogony. Names of deities on the cuneiform tablets from Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra, Syria) fall into similar patterns. Compare the genealogical tables at Sanchuniathon.