Pub Date : 2022-12-01DOI: 10.1177/09518207221137933
Marieke Dhont
In the introduction to this special volume, Dhont reflects on Jewish literature in Greek as a research topic and contextualizes the primary research question that lies at the heart of the volume, namely, how did Greek-speaking Jews in the Hellenistic period navigate the multicultural encounter between Jewish and Greek traditions? The study of intertextuality and allusion provides a philological entry point into looking at the ways in which Jewish-Greek authors expressed their position in the cultural matrix of the ancient Mediterranean.
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Pub Date : 2022-12-01DOI: 10.1177/09518207221124499
Maxwell Kramer
Ezekiel’s Exagoge is unusual as a Greek tragedy not only because it draws on Biblical rather than mythological subject matter but also because it makes such extensive use of an external source for much of its text: the Septuagint. Although the general concept of a Greek tragedy on a Jewish subject has drawn the attention of many scholars, the literary function of the Exagoge’s close relationship with the LXX text remains comparatively unexplored. In this article, I examine in detail several passages which connect the texts. These reveal that Ezekiel’s use of text from the Septuagint is not a symptom of a lack of poetic ingenuity but rather a deliberate literary choice. The intertextual links engage the audience intellectually by encouraging them to consider the ways in which Ezekiel receives, interprets, and occasionally departs from the Biblical text and its associated exegetical traditions. A comparison of Ezekiel’s poetry with that of the Greek poet Callimachus shows that Ezekiel’s engagement with scholarly, interpretational, and literary questions through the medium of poetry reflects the techniques and interests of the so-called Hellenistic poets, the sophisticated non-Jewish writers of his own age.
{"title":"Ezekiel’s Exagoge and the drama of intertextuality","authors":"Maxwell Kramer","doi":"10.1177/09518207221124499","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207221124499","url":null,"abstract":"Ezekiel’s Exagoge is unusual as a Greek tragedy not only because it draws on Biblical rather than mythological subject matter but also because it makes such extensive use of an external source for much of its text: the Septuagint. Although the general concept of a Greek tragedy on a Jewish subject has drawn the attention of many scholars, the literary function of the Exagoge’s close relationship with the LXX text remains comparatively unexplored. In this article, I examine in detail several passages which connect the texts. These reveal that Ezekiel’s use of text from the Septuagint is not a symptom of a lack of poetic ingenuity but rather a deliberate literary choice. The intertextual links engage the audience intellectually by encouraging them to consider the ways in which Ezekiel receives, interprets, and occasionally departs from the Biblical text and its associated exegetical traditions. A comparison of Ezekiel’s poetry with that of the Greek poet Callimachus shows that Ezekiel’s engagement with scholarly, interpretational, and literary questions through the medium of poetry reflects the techniques and interests of the so-called Hellenistic poets, the sophisticated non-Jewish writers of his own age.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47088813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-01DOI: 10.1177/09518207221133823
P. B. Hartog
This article discusses Philo’s use of the well-known state is ship metaphor. After offering a definition of topos and intertextuality, I discuss passages from the Philonic corpus in which this image features. I will argue that Philo’s use of the state is ship metaphor in most of his writings must be attributed to Philo’s familiarity with a literary trope rather than to intertextual borrowing. The exception is Philo’s Legatio ad Gaium where, I intend to show, Philo’s formulation of the metaphor draws an intertextual connection with Plato’s Republic.
本文论述了菲洛对“国是船”的比喻。在给出拓扑和互文性的定义后，我讨论了Philonic语料库中这一图像所包含的段落。我认为，菲洛在其大部分作品中使用的国家是船的隐喻，必须归因于菲洛对文学比喻的熟悉，而不是互文借用。例外的是菲洛的《Legatio ad Gaium》，我想表明，菲洛对隐喻的表述与柏拉图的《理想国》有着互文的联系。
{"title":"The ship of state: Metaphor and intertextuality in Philo of Alexandria","authors":"P. B. Hartog","doi":"10.1177/09518207221133823","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207221133823","url":null,"abstract":"This article discusses Philo’s use of the well-known state is ship metaphor. After offering a definition of topos and intertextuality, I discuss passages from the Philonic corpus in which this image features. I will argue that Philo’s use of the state is ship metaphor in most of his writings must be attributed to Philo’s familiarity with a literary trope rather than to intertextual borrowing. The exception is Philo’s Legatio ad Gaium where, I intend to show, Philo’s formulation of the metaphor draws an intertextual connection with Plato’s Republic.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49578364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-01DOI: 10.1177/09518207221124493
M. Leventhal
This article examines how two Jewish Greek prose writers refer to aspects of the Greek and Jewish literary traditions. The first section studies the fragments of Aristobulus and the multiple models of reading and making meaning that they exhibit and the extent to which this aimed at aligning Greek and Jewish ideas. In the second section, I turn to the Letter of Aristeas. In this text, I propose that an application of Aristobulus’s theorizing can be observed in practice. Through three case studies of under-appreciated and previously unobserved allusions, I demonstrate that the entire range of allusive strategies implied by Aristobulus’s discussions are to be found in the Letter’s narrative and I argue that their use demands a readership able to set Greek and Jewish literary traditions in various configurations. What will emerge is a Jewish Greek literature attuned to the cultural politics of allusion.
{"title":"Jewish Greek allusion in theory and in practice: Aristobulus and the Letter of Aristeas","authors":"M. Leventhal","doi":"10.1177/09518207221124493","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207221124493","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines how two Jewish Greek prose writers refer to aspects of the Greek and Jewish literary traditions. The first section studies the fragments of Aristobulus and the multiple models of reading and making meaning that they exhibit and the extent to which this aimed at aligning Greek and Jewish ideas. In the second section, I turn to the Letter of Aristeas. In this text, I propose that an application of Aristobulus’s theorizing can be observed in practice. Through three case studies of under-appreciated and previously unobserved allusions, I demonstrate that the entire range of allusive strategies implied by Aristobulus’s discussions are to be found in the Letter’s narrative and I argue that their use demands a readership able to set Greek and Jewish literary traditions in various configurations. What will emerge is a Jewish Greek literature attuned to the cultural politics of allusion.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46136776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-01DOI: 10.1177/09518207221115928
Helen Van Noorden
The hybrid cultural weave of the Sibylline Oracles is one of the most arresting aspects of a collection which preserves Judaeo-Christian compositions in Greek ranging from c. second century BCE to the seventh century CE. Reviewing world history in the form of prophecy, sketching rewards and punishments due at the end of days, and urging ethical behavior, these oracles in Homerizing hexameters combine Classical and Biblical traditions and are attributed to an ancient Sibyl. This article focuses on a distinctive case of repetition within the Sibylline corpus to highlight how the sense of a Classical canon is updated in the Jewish development of this prophetic genre. The passages triggering both intertextual and intratextual investigation ar Sibylline Oracles 3.419–25, which “predicts” that the blind Homer will be the first to open the Sibylline books and copy her tale of Troy, and the far less studied Sibylline Oracles 11.163–71, where phrases about Homer are revised to produce an emphasis on Vergil’s skill as a poet and discretion in concealing the Sibylline writings until his death. Study of these lines in their immediate and wider narrative contexts reveals the Jewish sibyllists exploiting the literary knowledge of Classically-educated readers, first and foremost in order to build up the Sibylline authority, a priority which is developed through both “combative” and “parasitic” stances in relation to canonical authors. Overall, this study offers new information about modes of allusion in Jewish Greek literature and the relationship between the tracks of Homeric and Vergilian reception in cross-cultural contexts.
{"title":"“Vergil and Homer opened my Books:” The Sibylline Oracles and the non-Jewish canon","authors":"Helen Van Noorden","doi":"10.1177/09518207221115928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207221115928","url":null,"abstract":"The hybrid cultural weave of the Sibylline Oracles is one of the most arresting aspects of a collection which preserves Judaeo-Christian compositions in Greek ranging from c. second century BCE to the seventh century CE. Reviewing world history in the form of prophecy, sketching rewards and punishments due at the end of days, and urging ethical behavior, these oracles in Homerizing hexameters combine Classical and Biblical traditions and are attributed to an ancient Sibyl. This article focuses on a distinctive case of repetition within the Sibylline corpus to highlight how the sense of a Classical canon is updated in the Jewish development of this prophetic genre. The passages triggering both intertextual and intratextual investigation ar Sibylline Oracles 3.419–25, which “predicts” that the blind Homer will be the first to open the Sibylline books and copy her tale of Troy, and the far less studied Sibylline Oracles 11.163–71, where phrases about Homer are revised to produce an emphasis on Vergil’s skill as a poet and discretion in concealing the Sibylline writings until his death. Study of these lines in their immediate and wider narrative contexts reveals the Jewish sibyllists exploiting the literary knowledge of Classically-educated readers, first and foremost in order to build up the Sibylline authority, a priority which is developed through both “combative” and “parasitic” stances in relation to canonical authors. Overall, this study offers new information about modes of allusion in Jewish Greek literature and the relationship between the tracks of Homeric and Vergilian reception in cross-cultural contexts.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45208800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1177/09518207221115942
Anna Shirav
This article re-examines the material reconstruction of the copies of 4QWords of Ezekiel olim 4QPseudo Ezekiel (4Q385 and 4Q386) via the use of digital tools and the Stegemann method. The findings evince that 4Q385 frgs. 2, 3, and 6 share the same deterioration patterns, suggesting that they originated in consecutive columns. The new sequence of the visions that emerge is as follows: “accelerating time” (4Q385 4), the divine merkabah (4Q385 6), and the resurrection of the dry bones (4Q385 2 + 3). 4Q385b is tentatively identified a replacement sheet. In light of the material differences in the parchment, top-margin height, and orthography, 4Q385b most likely belonged to the beginning of the composition—as per Qimron, although on different grounds. This material proposal establishes the name of the composition as 4QWords of Ezekiel. The reconstruction is followed by a transcription of the discussed fragments.
{"title":"The reconstruction of 4QWords of Ezekiel: Re-assessing 4Q385, 4Q386, and 4Q385b","authors":"Anna Shirav","doi":"10.1177/09518207221115942","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207221115942","url":null,"abstract":"This article re-examines the material reconstruction of the copies of 4QWords of Ezekiel olim 4QPseudo Ezekiel (4Q385 and 4Q386) via the use of digital tools and the Stegemann method. The findings evince that 4Q385 frgs. 2, 3, and 6 share the same deterioration patterns, suggesting that they originated in consecutive columns. The new sequence of the visions that emerge is as follows: “accelerating time” (4Q385 4), the divine merkabah (4Q385 6), and the resurrection of the dry bones (4Q385 2 + 3). 4Q385b is tentatively identified a replacement sheet. In light of the material differences in the parchment, top-margin height, and orthography, 4Q385b most likely belonged to the beginning of the composition—as per Qimron, although on different grounds. This material proposal establishes the name of the composition as 4QWords of Ezekiel. The reconstruction is followed by a transcription of the discussed fragments.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47557111","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1177/09518207221085652
A. Sheppard
After discussing issues surrounding the distinction between Christian and Jewish apocryphal/pseudepigraphic texts, this paper suggests that the composition of (Joseph and) Aseneth could have been stimulated by the shift to a matrilineal definition of inherited Jewish status, datable to the second-century C.E. It is further argued that this text cannot have originated in either Christian or rabbinic Jewish circles, but most probably belongs in a mystically inclined, fringe Jewish group, perhaps identifying themselves as “god-fearers” (theosebeis), and possibly influenced by Valentinian Gnosticism. The paper accepts a view of the text as tending toward syncretism in its spirituality and notes the importance of erotic and novelistic features in the narrative.
{"title":"Aseneth: A tale from the religious frontier","authors":"A. Sheppard","doi":"10.1177/09518207221085652","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207221085652","url":null,"abstract":"After discussing issues surrounding the distinction between Christian and Jewish apocryphal/pseudepigraphic texts, this paper suggests that the composition of (Joseph and) Aseneth could have been stimulated by the shift to a matrilineal definition of inherited Jewish status, datable to the second-century C.E. It is further argued that this text cannot have originated in either Christian or rabbinic Jewish circles, but most probably belongs in a mystically inclined, fringe Jewish group, perhaps identifying themselves as “god-fearers” (theosebeis), and possibly influenced by Valentinian Gnosticism. The paper accepts a view of the text as tending toward syncretism in its spirituality and notes the importance of erotic and novelistic features in the narrative.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48170699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1177/09518207221115929
Megan R Remington, Julia Smith
The Animal Apocalypse (1 En. 85–90) provides some of the most vivid imagery in Second Temple literature. In reference to the descent of the Watchers allegorized as stars, the narrative invokes the simile “they let out their phalluses like stallions” three times. Beyond the simile’s allusion to the oracle in Ezek 23:20, the stallion phallus remains largely unexplored. Our investigation demonstrates the associations of stallions with “aggressive virility” and foreignness based on the Hebrew Bible and contemporary Hellenistic and early Jewish literature. Moreover, we show the Animal Apocalypse’s innovative emphasis on the violent nature of the sexual acts, a feature absent in Gen 6 and the Book of Watchers, and argue for the episode’s contextualization with other early Jewish texts in which sexual violence is present. By spotlighting the stallion-phallused stars with their foreign genitalia, the Animal Apocalypse highlights anxieties surrounding communal boundary crossing and its violent repercussions.
{"title":"The phallus in our stars: Sexual violence in the Animal Apocalypse","authors":"Megan R Remington, Julia Smith","doi":"10.1177/09518207221115929","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207221115929","url":null,"abstract":"The Animal Apocalypse (1 En. 85–90) provides some of the most vivid imagery in Second Temple literature. In reference to the descent of the Watchers allegorized as stars, the narrative invokes the simile “they let out their phalluses like stallions” three times. Beyond the simile’s allusion to the oracle in Ezek 23:20, the stallion phallus remains largely unexplored. Our investigation demonstrates the associations of stallions with “aggressive virility” and foreignness based on the Hebrew Bible and contemporary Hellenistic and early Jewish literature. Moreover, we show the Animal Apocalypse’s innovative emphasis on the violent nature of the sexual acts, a feature absent in Gen 6 and the Book of Watchers, and argue for the episode’s contextualization with other early Jewish texts in which sexual violence is present. By spotlighting the stallion-phallused stars with their foreign genitalia, the Animal Apocalypse highlights anxieties surrounding communal boundary crossing and its violent repercussions.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46330007","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1177/09518207221116286
Aryeh Amihay
This paper examines a single chapter of the Vitae Prophetarum (Lives of the Prophets) to explore elements that could be classified as Jewish or Christian. Setting aside the overt Christian glosses, this study explores two major themes: one is the report that Jeremiah was stoned to death by his people, the other that Jeremiah concealed the ark and the law in a rock for future times. Each of these traditions can be presented as either Jewish or Christian, through context of biblical literature as well as later patristic or rabbinic texts. This study concludes that the ambiguous nature of the text is due to a deliberate effort to appeal to a dual audience, providing insight on the purpose of the author, as well as reorienting the debate over the date of the Vitae Prophetarum.
{"title":"The stones and the rock: Jewish and Christian elements in Vita Jeremiah","authors":"Aryeh Amihay","doi":"10.1177/09518207221116286","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207221116286","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines a single chapter of the Vitae Prophetarum (Lives of the Prophets) to explore elements that could be classified as Jewish or Christian. Setting aside the overt Christian glosses, this study explores two major themes: one is the report that Jeremiah was stoned to death by his people, the other that Jeremiah concealed the ark and the law in a rock for future times. Each of these traditions can be presented as either Jewish or Christian, through context of biblical literature as well as later patristic or rabbinic texts. This study concludes that the ambiguous nature of the text is due to a deliberate effort to appeal to a dual audience, providing insight on the purpose of the author, as well as reorienting the debate over the date of the Vitae Prophetarum.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44029714","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1177/09518207221075738
K. Siegismund
4QVisions of Amram has often been presented as a text that stands for human choice or some kind of “free choice” theology. The basis for this interpretation is an intriguing passage that most scholars—with a few notable exceptions—read as an invitation to Amram to choose his own position in relation to two beings who are described as the rulers of light and darkness, respectively. Taking its cue from Perrin’s call for a skeptical stance toward the dominant reading, the article reexamines the passage and its context and questions the standard interpretation from various angles. It discusses the surviving text of the passage, finds the usual reconstruction problematic, and proposes a number of other possible reconstructions. It argues that other parts of the composition are not concerned with the notion of human choice. Rather, deterministic thoughts seem to play a more prominent role, especially if 4Q542 (Testament of Qahat) is seen as part of the work, as has been recently proposed. In addition, the article gives a critical evaluation of the suggested resemblance between Visions of Amram and the Avestan Yasna 30. Various aspects of the relationship between human choice and divine determinism are discussed, leading to the conclusion that choice is often less “free” than it may seem to be.
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