Artapanos of Alexandria

Fragment under the heading Artapanus in: Paul Rießler, Old Jewish literature outside the Bible (1928)

Artapanos of Alexandria (Greek Ἀρτάπανος ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; the name is perhaps a pseudonym) was a Jewish writer of the second century BC. He lived in Alexandria and came from the city itself or the surrounding area. He wrote various writings about the Jews, including a history work About the Jews who have not survived. Parts of the work can be found in Eusebius of Caesarea and Clement of Alexandria , who quote him.

In a kind of absolute claim of the Jewish religion, all knowledge of the world and every form of religion is presented as originating from the Jews or biblical persons. So have z. B. Moses determines the individual form of the animal cult for each district of Egypt.

literature

Crawford Howell Toy , Louis Ginzberg : Artapanus. In: Isidore Singer (Ed.): Jewish Encyclopedia . Funk and Wagnalls, New York 1901-1906.
Eduard Schwartz : Artapanos . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, column 1306.

Web links

Wikisource: Artapanos in the translation by Paul Rießler - sources and full texts

English translation of the text fragments received ( Memento of May 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

personal data
SURNAME	Artapanos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Artapanus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Jewish historian
DATE OF BIRTH	3rd century BC BC or 2nd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	2nd century BC BC or 1st century BC Chr.