Pseudo-Philo
Pseudo-Philo is the name commonly used for a Jewish pseudepigraphical work in Latin, so called because it was transmitted along with Latin translations of the works of Philo of Alexandria but is very obviously not written by Philo. Its more proper Latin title is Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum, a title generally rendered in English as the Book of Biblical Antiquities.
It chronicles biblical history from Adam to the death of Saul with omissions, modifications, and additions to the biblical texts. Many of its additions have parallels in other Jewish traditions. The temple is said to be still standing which indicates a date of composition before 70 CE. That the narrative breaks off at the death of Saul is usually considered quite strange, and some scholars have reasoned that this implies that there were further parts of the work which are now missing.
It is believed to have been written in Hebrew and then translated into Greek and the Greek translated again into Latin, with the unfortunate result that a large number of proper names not found in Biblical texts are garbled beyond restoration.
It is probably the earliest reference for many later legendary accretions to the Biblical texts, such as the casting of Abraham into the fire, Dinah's marriage to Job, and Moses born circumcised. It also contains several other embellishments which deviate quite substantially from the norm, such as Abraham leading a rebellion against the builders of the Tower of Babel (the reason for him being cast into the fire).
Amongst the several speeches it proclaims were made by the protagonists is a strange Psalm it attributes to David. This particular psalm constitutes an exorcism, which not a few scholars have argued is based on an actual ritual of exorcism that was carried out in the days of the author. There is also a lament about the human sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter, with the daughter being the singer.
Parts of this work were brought back into Hebrew for the medieval Chronicles of Jerahmeel.
Bibliography
- J. Cazeaus, C. Perrot, and P.-M Bogaert, Pseudo-Philon, Les Antiquités Bibliques. (SC 229–30;) Paris, 1976. (Critical text and French translation.) ISBN 2-204-01050-2
- M. R. James, The Biblical Antiquities of Philo (Translations of Early Documents 1: Palestinian Jewish Texts) London, 1917. (English translation.) ISBN 0-87068-069-2
- "Pseudo-Philo (First Century A.D.)", translated by D. J. Harrington in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by James H. Charlesworth, New York, 1985. ISBN 0-385-19491-9