Moses was a Woman

(t25-29) ΙΤΑΛΙΚΑ [ΠΕΡΙ ΡΩΜΗΣ]
ἐν βιβλίοις πέντε.

(25) Suidas v. Ἀλέξανδρος. Συνέγραψε ... καὶ Περὶ Ῥώ-
μης βιβλία πέντε. Ἐν τούτοις λέγει ὡς γυνὴ γέγονεν
Ἑβραία, Μωσὼ, ἧς ἐστι σύγγραμμα ὁ παρ’ Ἑβραίοις
νόμος.

“Suidas, in the entry ‘Alexander’:
He wrote … and On Rome, in five books.
In these he says that a Hebrew woman, Mōsō (Μωσὼ), existed, whose composition is the Law among the Hebrews.”

Grammar Deep Dive

The Suda explicitly treats Μωσώ as feminine nominative singular, ἡ Μωσώ — a Hebrew woman named Mōsō.

This is not the masculine “Moses” in dative (τῷ Μωσῇ), but a recast or feminized version of the figure:

“a Hebrew woman, Mōsō, whose writing is the Law of the Hebrews.”

That is, Suidas’ source (Alexander Polyhistor or a derivative compiler) preserves a tradition where the Lawgiver was female — or, at least, a female authorial version of the Mosaic figure existed in antiquity.

• Μωσώ here follows the regular Greek feminine nominative ending –ώ, perfectly fitting a woman’s name, analogous to Κλειώ, Καλλιπώ, Ἀντιώ, etc.
• The article γυνὴ γέγονεν Ἑβραία, Μωσώ explicitly genders her female.
• The clause ἧς ἐστι σύγγραμμα ὁ παρ’ Ἑβραίοις νόμος attributes authorship to her — “of whom the Law among the Hebrews is a composition.”

Thus, the Suda preserves a legend or learned reinterpretation that Moses was understood (in that source) as a woman named Μωσώ, the author of the Hebrew Law.

In this text Μωσὼ is undeniably feminine, grammatically and contextually.
It’s ἡ Μωσώ, not τῷ Μωσῇ.

And she’s presented as the author of the Mosaic Law — a striking and possibly very ancient inversion of the biblical figure.

φα καὶ οὐκ ἠδύναντο. καὶ ἐγένοντο οἱ σκνῖφες ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις
καὶ ἐν τοῖς τετράποσιν. (15) εἶπαν οὖν οἱ ἐπαοιδοὶ τῷ Φαραω Δά-
κτυλος θεοῦ ἐστιν τοῦτο. καὶ ἐσκληρύνθη ἡ καρδία Φαραω, καὶ οὐκ
εἰσήκουσεν αὐτῶν, καθάπερ ἐλάλησεν κύριος.

“Then the epaoidoi said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of god.’”
— Exodus 8:15 (LXX)

20 εἰ δὲ ἐν δακτύλῳ Θεοῦ ἐγὼ ἐκβάλλω τὰ δαιμόνια, ἄρα ἔφθασεν ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ.

In the finger of the divine (god) I cast out daimonia, if I do this, then the dominion of the divine (god) has come upon you.

• In the dactylic divine (Under an administered divine mental state)
• I purge my inner daimonic essences (I remove my inner fears/attachments),
• if I do this,
• then the divine realm (then a divine mental state)
• has come upon you.

notetaker: ...this lines up with standard contemplative discipline of inner purification and release, the letting go of attachments, fears, and constricting influences. It's a common thread seen across spiritual systems, seen in meditation practice in e.g. Buddhist teaching and other traditions of inner release (various Shamanic practice). In the mysteries, an expression of the cathartic discipline (κάθαρσις) — the mystery’s central act of releasing inner daimonic forces to enter a "unity mind" we can call "divine awareness". Divine refers to a particular elevated state of mind, one purged of fears and able to see connections.

Terms:

• ἐν δακτύλῳ Θεοῦ (en daktulou theou) - in the finger of the divinity (god)
• ἐκβάλλω τὰ δαιμόνια (ekballou ta daimonia) - purging inner daimonic influences
• δακτύλῳ (Dactyl) - Giant, aka Magi
  • the Dactyloi (Δάκτυλοι), the Cretan/Phrygian magi and metalworkers who discovered fire and pharmaka;
  • agents of initiation, the “fingers” through which the divine power is administered — literally through touch, salve, gesture, chant.
• δαιμόνια (Daimonia) - daimon - personal inner forces of character, emotion, and fate. a mediator of energy, an unseen presence shaping thought, desire, and impulse. δαιμόνια are the inner psychic forces, inner archtypes or personas that compete with 'self'. psychic and physiological influences—the impurities or turbulences within that obscure the "divine presence".
• βασιλεία (Basileia) - *divine dominion, the altered state. kingdom (realm) of the divine (based on the pharmakon rite)

The Dactyl administers catharsis (κάθαρσις) — the tactile, rhythmic, or pharmacological act
The Daimonia are the inner agents to be pacified, transmuted, or sublimated,
The Basileia is the ensuing dominion or state of divine consciousness.

19 εἰ δὲ ἐγὼ ἐν Βεελζεβοὺλ ἐκβάλλω τὰ δαιμόνια, οἱ υἱοὶ ὑμῶν ἐν τίνι ἐκβάλλουσιν; διὰ τοῦτο αὐτοὶ ὑμῶν κριταὶ ἔσονται.

“But if I cast out the daimonia in the power of Beelzeboul, by what do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.”

Jesus is performing the ritual purge of daimonic energies, channeling the ecstatic Dactylic power. The Judeans interpret this as Beelzeboul’s influence, i.e., a “satanic Bacchic chorus.” The text critiques their ritual competence: if you can do it, show us how.

• Βεελζεβοὺλ (beelzeboul) - beelzebub. Lord of ecstatic madness. A humanized name we give to Dactylic power.
  • "Lord of ecstatic madness” = the force through which the inner purification (or exorcism) operates.
  • Jesus is acting through the ritualized, pharmaka-assisted, Dactylic channel, not supernatural magic.
• in the power of beelzeboul - That's the Dactyl? Exactly!
  • and frames Jesus as part of a satanic Bacchic chorus (συναγωγή δαιμονίων).

18 εἰ δὲ καὶ ὁ Σατανᾶς ἐφ’ ἑαυτὸν διεμερίσθη, πῶς σταθήσεται ἡ βασιλεία αὐτοῦ; ὅτι λέγετε ἐν Βεελζεβοὺλ ἐκβάλλειν με τὰ δαιμόνια.

“And if even the Satanas has been divided against himself, how will his dominion stand? For you say that I cast out the daimonia by Beelzeboul.”

• Σατανᾶς (Satanas) - satan. adversarial impulse, the inner principle of division — what opposes unity or harmony within the psyche
• διεμερίσθη (dielmeristhē) - “has been divided, split, dismembered.” The word evokes Dionysian sparagmos, the dismembering of "the god" (or of one’s inner unity) during ecstatic frenzy.
• βασιλεία (basileia) - the dominion, realm, or state of rulership, here symbolizing the psychic (or divine order) established when inner forces are harmonized.
• Βεελζεβοὺλ (beelzeboul) - beelzebub. lord of ecstatic madness
• ἐν Βεελζεβοὺλ ἐκβάλλειν με τὰ δαιμόνια — “that I expel the daimonia in (or by) Beelzeboul.” Implies using one daimonic current to drive out another - a familiar pattern in magical and initiatory language, where one purifies through a stronger current of divine frenzy or pharmakon.

17 αὐτὸς δὲ εἰδὼς αὐτῶν τὰ διανοήματα εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Πᾶσα βασιλεία ἐφ’ ἑαυτὴν διαμερισθεῖσα ἐρημοῦται, καὶ οἶκος ἐπὶ οἶκον πίπτει.

But he, knowing their inner thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself becomes desolate, and house falls upon house.”

(3) ΕΥΠΟΛΕΜΟΥ
περὶ Ἀβραὰμ,
ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Πολυΐστορος
Περὶ Ἰουδαίων γραφῆς.

Cap. 17: Συνᾴδει δὲ τούτοις καὶ ὁ Πολυΐστωρ Ἀλέ- (1)
ξανδρος, πολύνους ὢν καὶ πολυμαθὴς ἀνὴρ, τοῖς τε μὴ
πάρεργον τὸν ἀπὸ παιδείας καρπὸν πεποιημένοις Ἕλ-
λησι γνωριμώτατος, ὃς ἐν τῇ Περὶ Ἰουδαίων συντάξει
τὰ κατὰ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ τοῦτον ἱστορεῖ κατὰ λέξιν τὸν (5)
τρόπον.
«Εὐπόλεμος δὲ ἐν τῷ Περὶ Ἰουδαίων, τῆς Ἀσσυ-
ρίας φησὶ πόλιν Βαβυλῶνα πρῶτον μὲν κτισθῆναι ὑπὸ @1
τῶν διασωθέντων ἐκ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ· εἶναι δὲ αὐτοὺς

Ἀφροδίτη πῶς δεῖ τὴν Μήδειαν εἰς ἔρωτα ἄξειν αὑτοῦ, ἵν’ ὑπ’
αὐτῆς φαρμάκοις ἀσφαλισθείς (δεινὴ γὰρ ἦν αὕτη φαρμακουρ-
γός), ἀκαταγώνιστος ᾖ τῷ πατρὶ αὐτῆς Αἰήτῃ· ὑπέδειξε δὲ οὕ- (10)
τως. Ἴυγξ ὄρνεόν ἐστι πτηνόν, ἣ καὶ σεισοπυγὶς καλεῖται, συμ-

οὖσα φαρμακουργὸς ἡ Μήδεια