Читать книгу A Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East онлайн

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Throughout the first half of the first century CE, relations between Jews and their Roman masters steadily deteriorated, until the Jews of Judaea and the Galilee rose in rebellion against direct Roman rule in 66 CE. Two lengthy writings saw the light of day around this time. The first, called the Book of Biblical Antiquities (Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum), incorrectly attributed to Philo of Alexandria, is another example of “Re-written Bible” and represents a highly selective re-working of information found in the biblical books Genesis–1 Samuel. Much additional, non-biblical information is incorporated into a text which is evidently keen to discuss various forms of leadership, and their appropriateness for the Jewish people at times of crisis, while offering insights into the ultimate significance of Israel’s history along with veiled predictions for the future. Scholars are divided over the book’s date, some preferring to place its final form in the years leading up to the First Revolt against Rome, others arguing that it is best understood as a reaction to the Fall of Jerusalem. Few students, however, would dispute its value as a source for Jewish thought and aspiration in the later part of the first century CE. It survives only in a Latin version, which was probably made from a Greek translation of a Hebrew (or Aramaic) original (Jacobson 1996): this is of some interest, given that the other major Jewish source approximately contemporary with it also survives only in a Latin version. This is the apocalyptic text IV Ezra, also known as II Esdras, a remarkable composition which offers a sustained reflection upon, and response to, the political and religious problems consequent upon the destruction of the Jewish Temple and state (Harnisch 1969; Stone 1990). It offers a carefully and deliberately structured theological and philosophical discourse, built around a series of visions experienced by the eponymous author, and his dialogues with the archangel Uriel. The text proceeds by gradually analysing the situation of the Jews before and after the revolt against Rome: in the course of this analysis, there emerges the enduring power of what Israel still possesses as a people, most especially the Torah of Moses and its commandments. These present possessions offer a future for Israel; and the guidance of “the wise among the people,” to whom Ezra is told to commit certain writings not made public (14:46–47), is mentioned at the end of the book as something on which future generations might rely.