Nimrod,
about 200 years after the Flood, caused to be made that statue wherefrom
there was afterwards born idolatry, and his son's wife, the very famous
Semiramis, Queen of Babylon, in the building of that city, placed among
its adornments not only diverse varied kinds of animals, portrayed and
coloured from nature, but also the image of herself and of Ninus, her
husband, and, moreover, statues in bronze of her husband's father, of
her husband's mother, and of the mother of the latter, as Diodorus
relates, calling them by the Greek names (that did not yet exist), Jove,
Juno, and Ops. From these statues, perchance, the Chaldaeans learnt to
make the images of their gods, seeing that 150 years later Rachel, in
flying from Mesopotamia together with Jacob her husband, stole the idols
of Laban her father, as is clearly related in Genesis. Nor, indeed, were
the Chaldaeans alone in making sculptures and pictures, but the Egyptians
made them also, exercising themselves in these arts with that so great
zeal which is shown in the marvellous tomb of the most ancient King
Osimandyas, copiously described by Diodorus, and proved by the stern
commandment made by Moses in the Exodus from Egypt, namely, that under
pain of death there should be made to God no image whatsoever. He, on
descending from the mountain, having found the golden calf wrought and
adored solemnly by his people, and being greatly perturbed to see Divine
honours paid to the image of a beast, not only broke it and reduced it
to powder, but for punishment of so great a sin caused many thousands of
the wicked sons of Israel to be slain by the Levites. But because not
the making of statues but their adoration was a deadly sin, we read in
Exodus that the art of design and of statuary, not only in marble but in
every kind of metal, was bestowed by the mouth of God on Bezaleel, of
the tribe of Judah, and on Aholiab, of the tribe of Dan, who were those
that made the two cherubim of gold, the candlesticks, the veil, the
borders of the priestly vestments, and so many other most beautiful
castings for the Tabernacle, for no other reason than to bring the
people to contemplate and to adore them.

From the things seen before the Flood, then, the pride of men found the
way to make the statues of those for whom they wished that they should
remain famous and immortal in the world. And the Greeks, who think
differently about this origin, say that the Ethiopians invented the
first stat