Pseudo-Hecataeus I

Pseudo- Hecataeus I (also Pseudo-Hecataeus I ) is atext writtenin Greek under the name of Hecataeus of Abdera , probably dating from around 100 BC. Was writtenas a pseudo-work . In his work On the Originality of Judaism in Book 1 (183-205, 213-214), Flavius ​​Josephus referredto the supposedly non-Jewish text in order to present it as a “ witness ” for the age and virtue of Judaism .

Character of the text

The linguistic style excludes an authorship of the hectaeos of Abdera and of Flavius ​​Josephus. The work presumably comes from an ancient Egyptian diaspora Jew who attempted to describe the Jewish people from a non-Jewish perspective. The writing gives the impression that the content should be understood as a Jewish self-portrait . Some historians suspect the incorporation of original Hellenistic sources. The work Pseudo-Hekataios I has the character of an “inner-Jewish amusement with a serious concern” and can therefore be classified in the genre of “entertainment literature with an inner-Jewish background”.

Bezalel Bar-Kochva assumes that the writing Pseudo-Hekataios I followed as a literary answer to the anti-Jewish statements of Lysimachus , who probably made his polemical anti-Jewish reports due to the pro-Jewish policies of Cleopatra III. († 101 BC) wrote. The explanations in Pseudo-Hekataios I are therefore a fiction that was written for a specific target audience.

Text witness of Flavius ​​Josephus

In his work On the Originality of Judaism, Flavius ​​Josephus used the content of the text Pseudo-Hekataios I for the presentation of biblical topics such as Moses , the exodus from Egypt or the Babylonian exile . Bezalel Bar-Kochva and Folker Siegert rate the statements in Book 1, 201-204 to the effect that the report there is based on incorrect views.

Flavius ​​Josephus was certainly aware that Pseudo-Hekataios I was a pseudo-work. He did not mention his findings, however, as Flavius ​​Josephus attempted to cite a non-Jewish text witness for his own reports. Folker Siegert describes the approach of Flavius ​​Josephus as a “questionable procedure” and asks the question: “ How stupid does Flavius ​​Josephus think his audience is ? ".

See also

• Pseudo-Hecataeus II

literature

• Bezalel Bar-Kochva: Pseudo-Hecataeus, "On the Jews": Legitimizing the Jewish Diaspora (series: Hellenistic Culture and Society 21, excerpts from: Flavius ​​Josephus: Contra Apionem). California University Press, Berkeley 1996, ISBN 0-520-20059-4 .
• Folker Siegert: Flavius ​​Josephus: About the originality of Judaism (Contra Apionem) . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-525-54206-4
  • Vol. 1: First collation of the entire tradition (Greek, Latin, Armenian), literary-critical analysis and German translation (writings of the Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum 6.1) .
  • Vol. 2: Additions, notes, Greek text (writings of the Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum 6.2) .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Folker Siegert: Flavius ​​Josephus: About the originality of Judaism, Bd. 1 . Pp. 43-44.
2. ↑ On verse 203 Bezalel Bar-Kochva writes, p. 61: Either this story is missing or it falsifies all the fundamental facts about the Greek bird omens .