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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 --- Third Book of Maccabees --- Jews --- Hebrews --- Israelites --- Jewish people --- Jewry --- Judaic people --- Judaists --- Ethnology --- Religious adherents --- Semites --- Judaism --- History and criticism --- History --- Identity --- Bible. --- 3 Maccabees (Apocryphal book) --- Maccabaeorum liber tertius --- 3rd Maccabees (Apocryphal book) --- Third Maccabees (Apocryphal book) --- Criticism, interpretation, etc. --- History and criticism. --- Jews - History - 586 B.C.-70 A.D. --- Jews - Identity - History - To 1500. --- Historical fiction - History and criticism. --- Jews in literature --- Juifs --- Roman historique --- Juifs dans la littérature --- Histoire --- Identité --- Histoire et critique

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"The essays in this volume explore facets of ongoing research into the interplay of history, fiction, and narrative in ancient Greco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian texts. Particular attention is given to the way in which ancient authors in a variety of genre and cultural settings employ a range of narrative strategies to reflect on pressing contemporary issues, shape community identity, or provide moral and educational guidance for their readers. This volume, the third in a series of volumes of collected papers emerging from the work of the "Ancient Fictions and Early Christian and Jewish Narrative" section of the Society for Biblical Literature since its formation in 1992, is the first to highlight the growing importance of strategies to integrate the fruits of this research into the university classroom and beyond" -- "The essays in this volume explore facets of ongoing research into the interplay of history, fiction, and narrative in ancient Greco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian texts. Particular attention is given to the way in which ancient authors in a variety of genre and cultural settings employ a range of narrative strategies to reflect on pressing contemporary issues, shape community identity, or provide moral and educational guidance for their readers. This volume, the third in a series of volumes of collected papers emerging from the work of the "Ancient Fictions and Early Christian and Jewish Narrative" section of the Society for Biblical Literature since its formation in 1992, is the first to highlight the growing importance of strategies to integrate the fruits of this research into the university classroom and beyond"--

Classical literature --- Apocryphal books --- Civilization, Ancient, in literature. --- Literature --- Literature, Modern --- Language arts --- History and criticism. --- Criticism, interpretation, etc. --- Study and teaching. --- Study and teaching --- History and criticism --- Apocryphal books. --- Classical literature. --- Classical literature - History and criticism. --- Apocryphal books - Criticism, interpretation, etc. --- Literature - Study and teaching.