Note 677 — Chapter VIII · COMMENCEMENT OF MONOTHEISM AND THE DIFFERENTIATION OF THE MYTHS.

A mala fides should not be assumed even in the case of inscriptions like those mentioned by Procopius, De Bello Vandalico, V. 2. 13; see Munk’s Palestina, German translation by Levy, p. 193, note 5. They are everywhere old legendary popular traditions, which in later time become fixed by an inscription. From such inscriptions we must distinguish fictitious sepulchral monuments, in which the intention to delude is manifest, e.g. the inscription on the graves of Eldad and Medad, on which see Zunz, l.c. no. 43, p. 167. On Jewish accounts of the burial-places of the ancients Zunz, l.c. pp. 182 and 210, should be consulted.