Seven parts of the world (1)

Text
Bardesanes, Book of the Laws of Countries:
Then I (= Awida) said to him: “Oh Father Bardesanes, of this you have convinced us and we know that it is true. Yet you are also aware, that the Chaldeans maintain that the earth is divided into seven parts named climates, and that one of the Seven rules over each of these parts, and that in each of these regions the will of the government rules and it is called law?” He replied to me: “In the first place you must know, my son Philippus, that the Chaldeans have invented this doctrine to bolster up their fallacy. Even if the earth is divided into seven parts, yet in each of these parts many laws are found that differ from one another. For we do not see seven laws in the world according to the number of the Seven stars, nor twelve according to the number of the signs of the Zodiac, nor thirty-six according to the number of the decanal stars, but there are numerous laws in every reign, in every region, in every district and in every inhabited place that differ one from the other.

Source (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Bardesanes, Book of the Laws of Countries

Bibliography

Amar Annus

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