Jewish Fictional Letters from Hellenistic Egypt: The Epistle of Aristeas and Related Literature

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The Greek text Epistle of Aristeas is a Jewish work of the late Hellenistic period that recounts the origins of the Septuagint. Long recognized as a literary fiction, the Epistle of Aristeas has been variously dated from the third century BCE to the first century CE. As a result of the work’s uncertain provenance, its epistolary features, and especially those in which the putative author, Aristeas, addresses his brother and correspondent, Philocrates, have largely been ignored. In light of more recent scholarship on epistolary literature in the Greco-Roman world, this volume presents for the first time a complete Greek text and English translation of, with introduction, notes, and commentary on, the Epistle of Aristeas, with key testimonia from Philo, Josephus, and Eusebius as well as other related examples of Jewish fictional letters from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha.