One is tempted to suspect that Sanchoniathan himself was a myth--an "idol of the cave," evolved out of the inner consciousness of Philo.

Philo had a certain knowledge of the Phoenician language, and of the Phoenician religious system, but not more than he might have gained by personal communication with the priests of Byblus and Aphaca, who maintained the old worship in, and long after, his day.

It is not clear that he drew his statements from any ancient authorities, or from books at all.

So far as the extant fragments go, a smattering of the language, a very moderate acquaintance with the religion, and a little imagination might readily have produced them.
A few extracts from the remains must be given to justify this judgement:--"The beginning of all things," Philo says,[1313] "was a dark and stormy air, or a dark air and a turbid chaos, resembling Erebus; and these were at first unbounded, and for a long series of ages had no limit.

But after a time this wind became enamoured of its own first principles, and an intimate union took place between them, a connection which was called Desire {pothos}: and this was the beginning of the creation of all things.