Eupolemus
Encyclopedia
Eupolemus is the earliest Hellenistic
Jewish historian whose work survives only in five fragments (or possibly six fragments) in the Eusebius of Caesarea
's Praeparatio Evangelica (hereafter abbreviated as Praep.) embedded in quotations from the historian Alexander Polyhistor
and in the Stromata
(hereafter abbreviated as Strom.) of Clement of Alexandria
.
A sixth passage which Polyhistor attributes to Eupolemus in Eusebius' quotations of Polyhistor is usually considered spurious as being dissimilar to the other passages quoted and has come to be called Pseudo-Eupolemus.
Style and vocabulary indicate the writing as also originally in Greek and the date of composition of the seemingly genuine passages is about 158/7 BC
. That the author dates his work by the Seleucids rather than the Ptolemies
suggests Palestinian
rather than Egyptian
origin. It has been speculated that the author might be the Eupolemus who was ambassador of Judas Maccabeus
to Rome
as found in 1 Maccabees
8.17f and 2 Maccabees
4.11.
R. Doran gives reason for believing that this fragment may be part of the genuine work of Eupolemus despite earlier doubts.
Koine Greek
Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
Jewish historian whose work survives only in five fragments (or possibly six fragments) in the Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius of Caesarea also called Eusebius Pamphili, was a Roman historian, exegete and Christian polemicist. He became the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine about the year 314. Together with Pamphilus, he was a scholar of the Biblical canon...
's Praeparatio Evangelica (hereafter abbreviated as Praep.) embedded in quotations from the historian Alexander Polyhistor
Alexander Polyhistor
Lucius Cornelius Alexander Polyhistor was a Greek scholar who was enslaved by the Romans during the Mithridatic War and taken to Rome as a tutor. After his release, he continued to live in Italy as a Roman citizen...
and in the Stromata
Stromata
The Stromata is the third in Clement of Alexandria's trilogy of works on the Christian life. Clement titled this work Stromateis, "patchwork," because it dealt with such a variety of matters...
(hereafter abbreviated as Strom.) of Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria
Titus Flavius Clemens , known as Clement of Alexandria , was a Christian theologian and the head of the noted Catechetical School of Alexandria. Clement is best remembered as the teacher of Origen...
.
A sixth passage which Polyhistor attributes to Eupolemus in Eusebius' quotations of Polyhistor is usually considered spurious as being dissimilar to the other passages quoted and has come to be called Pseudo-Eupolemus.
Style and vocabulary indicate the writing as also originally in Greek and the date of composition of the seemingly genuine passages is about 158/7 BC
150s BC
-Births:* 156 BC – Wu of Han* 154 BC – Gaius Gracchus, Roman politician, younger brother of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus...
. That the author dates his work by the Seleucids rather than the Ptolemies
Ptolemaic dynasty
The Ptolemaic dynasty, was a Macedonian Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC...
suggests Palestinian
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
rather than Egyptian
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
origin. It has been speculated that the author might be the Eupolemus who was ambassador of Judas Maccabeus
Judas Maccabeus
Judah Maccabee was a Kohen and a son of the Jewish priest Mattathias...
to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
as found in 1 Maccabees
1 Maccabees
The First book of Maccabees is a book written in Hebrew by a Jewish author after the restoration of an independent Jewish kingdom, about the latter part of the 2nd century BC. The original Hebrew is lost and the most important surviving version is the Greek translation contained in the Septuagint...
8.17f and 2 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
2 Maccabees is a deuterocanonical book of the Bible, which focuses on the Jews' revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes and concludes with the defeat of the Syrian general Nicanor in 161 BC by Judas Maccabeus, the hero of the work....
4.11.
Writings
The fragments usually considered Eupolemus' genuine work are:- A statement that MosesMosesMoses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
was the first wise man, that he taught the alphabet to the Jews who passed it on to the PhoeniciaPhoeniciaPhoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
ns who passed it on to the Greeks, and that MosesMosesMoses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
first wrote laws for the Jews (Praep. 9.26.1). - Some chronology about the period from Moses to DavidDavidDavid was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
and some details of David's arrangements for building the temple followed by purported transcripts of letters exchanged between King SolomonSolomonSolomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
and "Vaphres King of Egypt" and between Solomon and "Souron the King of Tyre", the Biblical HiramHiram IHiram I , according to the Hebrew Bible, was the Phoenician king of Tyre. He reigned from 980 to 947 BC, succeeding his father, Abibaal. Hiram was succeeded as king of Tyre by his son Baal-Eser I...
(Praep. 9.30.1–34.18). - A short statement about gold shields made by Solomon (Praep. 9.34.20).
- A very short account of the persecution of the prophet Jeremiah by King "Jonachim" who seems to correspond to the Biblical kings JehoiakimJehoiakimJehoiakim .On Josiah's death, Jehoiakim's younger brother Jehoahaz was proclaimed king, but after three months pharaoh Necho II deposed him and replaced him with the eldest son, Eliakim, who adopted the name Jehoiakim and became king at the age of twenty-five...
, Jehoiachin, and ZedekiahZedekiahZedekiah or Tzidkiyahu was the last king of Judah before the destruction of the kingdom by Babylon. He was installed as king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, after a siege of Jerusalem to succeed his nephew, Jeconiah, who was overthrown as king after a reign of only three months and...
followed by a short fictionalized account of the fall of Judah ending with the note that Jeremiah preserved the ark and the tablets (Praep. 9.39.2–5). - A chronologial summary indicating 5,149 years from AdamAdam and EveAdam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
to the 5th year of Demetrius (Strom. 1.141,4).
Writing of Pseudo-Eupolemus
The fragment usually known as Pseudo-Eupolemus (Praep. 9.17.2–9) relates:- The Assyrian city of BabylonBabylonBabylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
[sic] was built by giants who escaped the Flood and they also built the tower. After its destruction the giants were scattered. - There follows a summary of AbrahamAbrahamAbraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
's career based on the Biblical account with the some changes and details similar to those found in the Genesis ApocryphonGenesis ApocryphonThe Genesis Apocryphon, originally called the Apocalypse of Lamech and labeled 1QapGen, is one of the original seven Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in Cave 1 near Qumran in the West Bank. Composed in Aramaic, this document consists of four sheets of leather, and is the least well preserved document of...
and JosephusJosephusTitus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
and in EnochiteEnoch (ancestor of Noah)Enoch is a figure in the Generations of Adam. Enoch is described as Adam's greatx4 grandson , the son of Jared, the father of Methuselah, and the great-grandfather of Noah...
tradition. Abraham is particularly knowledgeable about astronomyAstronomyAstronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
and when he goes down to Egypt he teaches astrologyAstrologyAstrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
to the Egyptian priests and explains that Enoch first discovered astrology. - Then follows a puzzling passage which seems to have little to do with the context and may be garbled:
-
- For the Babylonians say that the first was BelusBelusBelus or Belos may be:* The classical Latin or Greek rendition of Bel the Semitic honorific**Ba`al as a Semitic deity** Belus , the Greek Zeus Belos and Latin Jupiter Belus as translations of the Babylonian god Bel Marduk...
, who is the same as CronusCronusIn Greek mythology, Cronus or Kronos was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth, and Uranus, the sky...
, and that of him were born sons named Belus and CanaanCanaanCanaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
. This Canaan fathered the father of the Phoenicians, whose son was Chum/Chus, called by the Greeks Asbolus and was the father of the Ethiopians and the brother of Mestraim, the ancestor of the EgyptiansAncient EgyptAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
.
- For the Babylonians say that the first was Belus
- Traditionally many translators have emended Canaan to Cham, that is Ham since in Genesis 10.6 HamHam, son of NoahHam , according to the Table of Nations in the Book of Genesis, was a son of Noah and the father of Cush, Mizraim, Phut and Canaan.- Hebrew Bible :The story of Ham is related in , King James Version:...
is the father of CushBiblical CushCush was the eldest son of Ham, brother of Mizraim , Canaan and the father of Nimrod, and Raamah, mentioned in the "Table of Nations" in the Genesis 10:6 and I Chronicles 1:8...
and MizraimMizraimMizraim is the Hebrew name for the land of Egypt, with the dual suffix -āyim, perhaps referring to the "two Egypts": Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt....
. However the author here claims to be relating Babylonian tradition, not Hebrew tradition, for whatever that is worth. Asbolus means 'sooty'.
- R. Doran in his translation in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Volume 2, emends einai Kronon 'is the same as Cronus' to einai Kronou 'is son of Cronus' noting that in no other text is anyone called Belus ever equated with Cronus.
- The account concludes by indicating that the Greeks relate that AtlasAtlas (mythology)In Greek mythology, Atlas was the primordial Titan who supported the heavens. Although associated with various places, he became commonly identified with the Atlas Mountains in north-west Africa...
discovered astrology but that Atlas is really Enoch and that Enoch learned from the angels of God.
R. Doran gives reason for believing that this fragment may be part of the genuine work of Eupolemus despite earlier doubts.
Selected bibliography and links
- "Eupolemus", translated by F. Fallon, and "Pseudo-Eupolemus", translated by R. Doran in The Old Testament Pseudepigraphia: Volume 2, edited by James H. Charlesworth, Doubleday; New York, 1985. ISBN 0-385-18813-7.
- Eusebius
- Eusebius, Werke: Band 8: De Praeparatio Evangelica, ed. K. Mras. (Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte), 43,1–2 Berlin, 1954–56. (This is the standard critical edition of Eusebius.)
- Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel: Part 1, Books 1–9 , translated by Edward Hamilton Gifford, Clarendon Press; Oxford, 1903. Reissued by Baker House Company, 1991. ISBN 0-8010-3369-1 (ppr), ISBN 0-8010-3370-5 (clth). This is available on the web and the Eupolemus material begins in Tertullian Project: Praeparatio: Book 9.
- Clement of Alexandria
- Clemens Alexandrinus, Werke, eds. Stählin. O. and Fruechtel. L. (Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte, 15), Berlin, 1960. This is the standard critical edition of Clement of Alexandria.
- Clement of Alexandria, "Stromata" in Ante-Nicene Fathers: Fathers of the Second Century, Vol. 2, edited by Alexander Roberts, reissued by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1988. ISBN 0-8028-8088-6. This is available on the web and the Eupolemus fragment begins in Christian Classics Ethereal Library: Anti-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2: Clement of Alexandria: Stromata: Book I: Chapter XXI.