Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum
The Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum (abbreviated: LAB; other names: Book of Biblical Antiquities , also Pseudo-Philo - because it was incorrectly ascribed to Philo of Alexandria in the past ) is an ancient Jewish script of the biblical retelling type that has only survived in Latin .
content
The Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum is an interpretative retelling of the Bible from Adam to the death of Saul . The focus of the stories is on the time of the judges, the legal corpora in the Pentateuch are almost ignored. With the end of Saul, the work breaks off suddenly. Whether this conclusion goes back to incomplete tradition, the work remained unfinished or such an end was actually intended (perhaps a reference to the Messiah, one expected the continuation of the story with David) is disputed. But there are also references to other biblical books such as Isaiah , Jeremiah or the Psalms . Many stories and legends go beyond what is known from the biblical writings and appear here for the first time in Jewish literature - the endangerment of Abraham in the fiery furnace, the otherwise unknown biblical judge Kenez, etc., although there are contacts with other Jewish writings.
Language and author
Although the work has only been handed down in Latin, it seems to have been based on a Greek or - due to numerous semitisms - a Hebrew model. The biblical model is not the Septuagint , but a Hebrew text, which apparently deviates from the Masoretic tradition . The Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum was counted among the works of Philos of Alexandria for a long time , but due to its different methodology of biblical interpretation it is out of the question as an author. Therefore the author is usually referred to as pseudo-philo .
Place and time of writing
It is unknown when and where the work was written. Linguistic evidence suggests that it should be drafted in the Land of Israel, possibly in Galilee. The chronological classification depends on the extent to which references to the destruction of the temple are suspected or found in the book. The timing varies between the 1st century BC and the middle of the 2nd century AD.
literature
- Guido Kisch , Pseudo-Philo's Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum , Notre Dame, Indiana 1949
- Christian Dietzfelbinger: Pseudo-Philo, Antiquitates biblicae (Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum). In: Jewish writings from the Hellenistic-Roman period. Vol. 2. Instruction in narrative form. Gütersloh 1975, 89-272. ISBN 3-579-03922-9
- Pseudo-Philon, Les Antiquités Bibliques. Tome I Introduction et texte critiques by Daniel J. Harrington, traduction by Jacques Cazeaux; Tome II Introduction littéraire, commentaire et index par Charles Perrot and Pierre-Maurice Bogaert. Paris 1976 (Sources Chrétiennes 229.230)
- Howard Jacobson: A commentary on Pseudo-Philo's "Liber antiquitatum biblicarum". With Latin Text and English Translation. AGJU. Vol. 31. 2 volumes. Leiden 1996. ISBN 90-04-10553-0 , ISBN 90-04-10554-9
