Mind-Benders of Mesopotamian History
A Babylonian priest wrote his people's history — in Greek
Berossus, a Babylonian priest of Bel-Marduk active around 290 BCE, composed a history of Babylonia not in his native cuneiform but in Greek, the language of the new Hellenistic rulers — dedicating it to the Seleucid king Antiochus I. His original work is lost and survives today only in fragments quoted by later Greek, Roman, and early Christian writers.
How we know
Berossus, priest of Bel-Marduk at Babylon, floruit c. 290–278 BCE; wrote the Greek "Babyloniaca" dedicated to Antiochus I Soter (reigned 281–261 BCE, co-regent from c. 291); extant only in fragments via Alexander Polyhistor, Josephus, and Eusebius.
One of many fact-checked wonders across eight traditions at The Spring of Wisdom.