OF THE FIRST EDITION

...it is manifest that they adopted gods for themselves. How this came to pass—along with the beginnings and progression of polytheism original: πολυθεότητος (polytheotētos) and the worship of idols—is explained in the third chapter of the prolegomena a preliminary discourse or introduction to a scholarly work. Regarding the conjectures upon which a writing of this kind relies to no small degree, I have neither been reckless with credibility, nor yet so stingy that I would not willingly (and perhaps not unsuccessfully) venture an interpretation when the matter itself invites it. I have shrunk from presenting as established facts those things which are inaccessible original: ἀπρόσιτα (aprosita) and no less uncertain than, as the saying goes, "a passing day" original: ἐγκυκλίῳ ἡμέρᾳ (enkukliō hēmera); an idiom referring to the uncertainty of time or the wheel of fortune.

For the etymologies of the names by which the Syrian Deities are addressed, the Hebrew language mostly provides assistance; for as the most ancient tongue, it alone once occupied the most widely spread Syria. This is demonstrated in the second chapter of the prolegomena using arguments that are not exactly common or trivial original: è trivio (from the crossroads, implying commonplace or shallow reasoning).

Whatever I found in the records of the ancients that might serve our purpose—yet which seems hidden enough even from the majority of the learned—is for the most part transcribed here. However, for the sake of brevity, the reader is not infrequently referred back to the most well-known writings of the ancients, with only the specific passages indicated. For what reader would not be weary beyond measure, whether [reading] Lucian...