Berosus (perhaps from Bar-Osea, the son of Oseas), a priest of Belus and historian at Babylon, lived, ac- cording to some, at 250 B.C., according to others, at the time of Alexander the Great. He wrote a history of Chaldrea, which he compiled from the temple ar- chives of Babylon, of which he was the keeper. This work, which was highly valued by the ancients, was still extant at the time of Josephus, who used it to a considerable extent for his Antiquities. Other frag- ments may be found in the writings of Eusebius and others. Fabrieius, in his Biblioth. Grceca (torn, xiv), has collected the least doubtful fragments of Berosus. Other collections of these fragments were made by Richter, Berosi Clmhh'nrum hi sin rice quie supersunt (Leipz. 1825), and by Didot (1848). A work with the title A nti quit at urn libri quinque cum comment ariis Joan- nis Annii, which first appeared at Rome 1498 (again Heidelb. 1599, Wittenb. 1612), is a forgery of the Do- minican Giovanni Nanni, of Viterbo. Whether the historian Berosus is the same person as the astronomer is still a controverted question. The astronomer Be- rosus, who is likewise called a Chaldaean and priest of Belus at Babylon, left his native country, and estab- lished a school on the island of Cos. See Vossius, Be Hist. Grate, xiii ; Fabricius, JBibl. Grceca, iv, 163; Biogr. Generate, s. v. ; Smith, Diet, of Class. Biog. s. v.
Be'roth (Bjjpd)5 v. r. B?;pa>y), a place named in connection with Caphira, to which exiles returned from Babylon belonged (1 Esdr. v. 19); evidently the Bee- roth (q. v.) of the genuine text (Ezra ii, 25).
Bero'thah (Ileb. id. Str-ina, as if meaning "to
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Beroth," or toward the vxlls; Sept. in most copies has I a mass of undistinguishable names, but some read Bi/- | pa&d or Bijpw&a/x; Vulg. Berotha) and Ber'othai (Heb. Berothay', *?hS, >»y wells\ SePt- «' &*»«*« 7roXeic; Vulg. Beroth). The first of these two names, each of which occurs once only, is given by Ezekiel (xl\ ii. 16), in connection with Hamath and Damascus, as forming part of the northern boundary of the prom- ised land as restored in his vision. The second is mentioned (2 Sam. viii, 8) as the name of a city of Zo- bah taken by David (from which he brought away great quantities of "brass" as spoil), also in connection with Hamath and Damascus. The slightness of these references makes it impossible to identify the names with any degree of probability', or even to decide wheth- er they refer to the same locality or not (Hassel, Volst. Erdb. xiii, 3-15). The well-known city Beirid (Beby- tis) naturally suggests itself as identical with one, at least, of the names; Lut in each instance the cir- cumstances of the case seem to require a position far- ther east, since Ezekiel places Berothah between Ha- math and Damascus, and David's war with the King of Zobah led him away from the sea-coast toward the Euphrates (2 Sam. viii, 3). In the latter instance, the difficulty is increased by the Hebrew text reading in 1 Chr. xviii, 8, Chun (q. v.) instead of Berothai, and by the fact that both in Samuel and Chronicles the Greek translators, instead of giving a proper name, translate by the phrase ' ' from the choice cities ;" clear- ly showing that they read either the same text in each passage, or at least words which bore the same sense. Furst regards Berothah and Berothai as distinct places, and identifies the first with Berytus. Mislin (Sat; IJevx, i, 244) derives the name from the wells (Bee- rotk), which are still to be seen bored in the solid rock at Beirut. Against this identification, however, there is this farther objection, that the proper boundaries of the tribes (q. v.) never extended so far north as Bery- tus (q. v.), nor did David ever molest the Phoenician sea-coast in his wars. Both Berothah and Berothai are therefore probably to be sought in the vicinity of the springs that form the source of the Nahr Hasba- ny, near the present Hasbeya. See Hazak-ejjan.
Be'rothite (Heb. Berothi', ^n'l2 ; Sept. B>ipwSL v. r. Bnmi.i), an epithet of Naharai, Joab's armor-bear- er (1 Chr. xi, 19), doubtless as being a native of the Beeeotii (q. v.) of Benjamin (Josh, xi, 17).
Berquin, I.nns, a French nobleman, was born in 1489. His friend Erasmus states that he was high- ly respected at the French court, and that he was a religious man, but hated the monks on account of their ignorance and fanaticism. When he transla- ted Luther's work, De \'<>tis Monasticis, he was de- nounced by the Sorbonne as a heretic. In 1523 the Parliament of Paris had his books seized, and ordered Berquin to abjure his opinions, and to pledge himself neither to write nor to translate any more books against the Church of Kome. On bis refusal he was sent before the ecclesiastical tribunal of the diocese. Francis I liberated him from prison, anil submitted his case to the chancellor of his council, who demanded of Berquin the abjuration of some heretical opinions, with which the latter complied. In 1525, two coun- cillors of the court of Rome denounced him as having relapsed into heresy, but he was again set free through the interposition of Francis I. In 1528 he was again arrested, and tried Kef. re a commission of twelve mem- bers of the Parliament, which decreed that his books should be burned, his tongue pierced, and that he should be imprisoned for life. From this judgment Berquin appealed to Francis I ; but the commission, ring this appeal as a new crime, ordered him t*. I- burned, but, in consideration of his nobility, to be previously strangled. This sentence was execu- ted on April 22, 1629.— Hoefer, BiograpMt Generate, v, 658.