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The Letter of Aristeas tells the story of how Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt commissioned seventy scholars to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek. Long accepted as a straightforward historical account of a cultural enterprise in Ptolemaic Alexandria, the Letter nevertheless poses serious interpretative problems. Sylvie Honigman argues that the Letter should not be regarded as history, but as a charter myth for diaspora Judaism. She expounds its generic affinities with other works on Jewish history from Ptolemaic Alexandria, and argues that the process of transla

Homer --- Letter of Aristeas. --- Bible. --- Versions --- Septuagint. --- 221.05*2 --- 221.02*3 --- Septuagint (LXX) en andere Griekse vertalingen --- Oud Testament: bijbelse filologie: grieks; septuagint --- Aristeas' epistle --- Aristeas' letter --- Aristeas to Philocrates --- Aristeae Historia LXXII interpretum --- Historia LXXII interpretum --- Aristeae Ad Philocratem epistula --- Ad Philocratem epistula --- Aristeasbrief --- 221.02*3 Oud Testament: bijbelse filologie: grieks; septuagint --- 221.05*2 Septuagint (LXX) en andere Griekse vertalingen --- Homer. --- Septuaginta. --- Aristeas, --- Aristeas . --- Ad Philocratem. --- Lettre d'Aristée. --- Septante. --- Versions.

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In this thoughtful and penetrating study, Sara Raup Johnson investigates the creation of historical fictions in a wide range of Hellenistic Jewish texts. Surveying so-called Jewish novels, including the Letter of Aristeas, 2 Maccabees, Esther, Daniel, Judith, Tobit, Josephus's account of Alexander's visit to Jerusalem and of the Tobiads, Artapanus, and Joseph and Aseneth, she demonstrates that the use of historical fiction in these texts does not constitute a uniform genre. Instead it cuts across all boundaries of language, provenance, genre, and even purpose. Johnson argues that each author uses historical fiction to construct a particular model of Hellenistic Jewish identity through the reinvention of the past. The models of identity differ, but all seek to explore relations between Jews and the wider non-Jewish world. The author goes on to present a focal in-depth analysis of one text, Third Maccabees. Maintaining that this is a late Hellenistic, not a Roman, work Johnson traces important themes in Third Maccabees within a broader literary context. She evaluates the evidence for the authorship, audience, and purpose of the work and analyzes the historicity of the persecution described in the narrative. Illustrating how the author reinvents history in order to construct his own model for life in the diaspora, Johnson weighs the attitudes and stances, from defiance to assimilation, of this crucial period.

Historical fiction --- Jews --- Hebrews --- Israelites --- Jewish people --- Jewry --- Judaic people --- Judaists --- Ethnology --- Religious adherents --- Semites --- Judaism --- History and criticism. --- Identity --- History --- Third Book of Maccabees --- Bible. --- 3 Maccabees (Apocryphal book) --- Maccabaeorum liber tertius --- 3rd Maccabees (Apocryphal book) --- Third Maccabees (Apocryphal book) --- Criticism, interpretation, etc. --- Jews in literature --- Juifs --- Roman historique --- Juifs dans la littérature --- Histoire --- Identité --- Histoire et critique --- 2 maccabees. --- acculturation. --- alienation. --- anti semitism. --- artapanus. --- assimilation. --- belonging. --- daniel. --- diaspora. --- esther. --- exile. --- genre studies. --- hellenistic judaism. --- historical adaptation. --- historical fiction. --- homeland. --- jewish fiction. --- jewish identity. --- jewish literature. --- jewish migration. --- jewish novels. --- jewish world. --- jews and gentiles. --- joseph and aseneth. --- josephus. --- judaica. --- judaism. --- judith. --- late hellenism. --- letter of aristeas. --- literary criticism. --- literary theory. --- persecution. --- religious difference. --- third maccabees. --- tobiads. --- tobit.

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Relations between Jews and non-Jews in the Hellenistic-Roman period were marked by suspicion and hate, maintain most studies of that topic. But if such conjectures are true, asks Louis Feldman, how did Jews succeed in winning so many adherents, whether full-fledged proselytes or "sympathizers" who adopted one or more Jewish practices? Systematically evaluating attitudes toward Jews from the time of Alexander the Great to the fifth century A.D., Feldman finds that Judaism elicited strongly positive and not merely unfavorable responses from the non-Jewish population. Jews were a vigorous presence in the ancient world, and Judaism was strengthened substantially by the development of the Talmud. Although Jews in the Diaspora were deeply Hellenized, those who remained in Israel were able to resist the cultural inroads of Hellenism and even to initiate intellectual counterattacks. Feldman draws on a wide variety of material, from Philo, Josephus, and other Graeco-Jewish writers through the Apocrypha, the Pseudepigrapha, the Church Councils, Church Fathers, and imperial decrees to Talmudic and Midrashic writings and inscriptions and papyri. What emerges is a rich description of a long era to which conceptions of Jewish history as uninterrupted weakness and suffering do not apply.

Philosemitism --- Proselytes and proselyting, Jewish --- Judaism --- Antisemitism --- Jews --- Philo-Semitism --- Philsemitism --- Hebrews --- Israelites --- Jewish people --- Jewry --- Judaic people --- Judaists --- Ethnology --- Religious adherents --- Semites --- History. --- Controversial literature --- History and criticism. --- History --- Public opinion --- Relations. --- Proselytizing --- Convert making --- Proselyting --- Proselytism --- Proselytization --- Persuasion (Psychology) --- Religion --- Conversion --- Missions --- Against Apion. --- American Jews. --- Ancient history. --- Anti-Judaism. --- Antiochus IV Epiphanes. --- Arnobius. --- Ashkelon. --- Avodah Zarah. --- Babylonia. --- Babylonian captivity. --- Bar Kokhba revolt. --- Ben Sira. --- Bible. --- Book of Esther. --- Canaan. --- Christian mortalism. --- Conversion to Judaism. --- Culture of Greece. --- Dead Sea Scrolls. --- Elagabalus. --- Elisha ben Abuyah. --- Epigraphy. --- Essenes. --- Etymology. --- Eupolemus. --- Exegesis. --- Gentile. --- Greek literature. --- Greek mythology. --- Greek name. --- Greeks. --- Hebrew Bible. --- Hebrew language. --- Hebrews. --- Hellenistic period. --- Hellenization. --- Hermetica. --- Herod the Great. --- Herodian. --- Herodians. --- Hillel the Elder. --- Hyrcanus II. --- Israelites. --- Japheth. --- Jason of Cyrene. --- Jerusalem Talmud. --- Jewish diaspora. --- Jewish history. --- Jewish identity. --- Jewish literature. --- Jewish mysticism. --- Jewish name. --- Jewish religious movements. --- Jews. --- Joshua ben Gamla. --- Judah Halevi. --- Judaism. --- Judea (Roman province). --- Kashrut. --- Lactantius. --- Land of Israel. --- Letter of Aristeas. --- Maccabean Revolt. --- Maimonides. --- Mishnah. --- Mithraism. --- Notion (ancient city). --- Oenomaus of Gadara. --- Orthodox Judaism. --- Paganism. --- Pharisees. --- Philistia. --- Philo-Semitism. --- Phoenicia. --- Proselyte. --- Ptolemaic Kingdom. --- Ptolemy II Philadelphus. --- Rabbinic literature. --- Roman Empire. --- Roman Government. --- Sadducees. --- Samaritans. --- Saul Lieberman. --- Second Temple. --- Sicarii. --- Sirach. --- Sotah (Talmud). --- Stephanus of Byzantium. --- Suetonius. --- Syrian Jews. --- Talmudic law. --- Temple in Jerusalem. --- The Jewish War. --- Theophilus of Antioch. --- Theophrastus. --- Tiberias. --- Torah. --- Tosefta. --- Yiddish. --- Yishuv.