Bibliographical Record

Title:
Pseudo-Hecataeus, "On the Jews": Legitimizing the Jewish Diaspora
Secondary Title:
Hellenistic Culture and Society 21
Author:
Bar-Kochva, Bezalel
ISBN:
0520200594 (alk. paper)
Pages:
XII, 396
Type:
Book
Publisher:
University of California Press
Place of Publication:
Berkeley, California
Year:
1996
Reviews:
in: JSPE 20 (1999), 98; in: NTAb 42.1 (1998), 185-186
Abstract:
in: NTAb 42.1 (1998), 185-186: "Bar-Kochva, professor of ancient Jewish history at Tel Aviv University and author of Judas Maccabeaeus (1998), contends that the ethnographic treatise "On the Jews" ascribed to Hecataeus of Abdera (late 4th century B.C.) was a Jewish forgery written ca. 100 B.C. by a member of a group of conservative Jews in Hellenistic Egypt whose practices were contrary to contemporary trends in Alexandrian Jewry. After a six-page introduction, he deals with Hecataeus, his word, and the Jewish excursus; the passages in Josephus' Against Apion (text and translation); the question of authenticity, date of composition; the author - origin, education, and religious group, the framework, literary genre, structure, and contents; and the purpose of the book. There are also appendixes on the Hezekiah coins (with A. Kindler) and the dating of Ps.-Aristeas, nine extended notes, and a chronological table."
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pp. 321-362) and indexes.
Josephus References:
Contra Ap. 1.183-204; Contra Ap. 2.43