Moses und der Mythos: Die Auseinandersetzung mit der griechischen Mythologie bei jüdisch-hellenistischen Autoren

Full title
Moses und der Mythos: Die Auseinandersetzung mit der griechischen Mythologie bei jüdisch-hellenistischen Autoren
Reference type
Author(s)
Bloch, René S.
Year
2011
Journal / Book Title || Series Title
Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism
Number of volumes
0
Issue / Series Volume
145
Publisher
Brill
Place of Publication
Leiden
Language
Label
17/01/2011
Abstract

In the Hellenistic period Jews regularly encountered Greek mythology in one form or another: in literature, in art, or through language. This book is the first comprehensive study of the different strategies pursued by Jewish-Hellenistic authors as they engaged with Greek myth. The principal focus of this study is on the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, but a large range of other authors from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE are also discussed. Far from limiting themselves to outright rejection, these authors often show a striking familiarity with Greek myth, which they sometimes even incorporated into Jewish myth. Ancient Jewish discourse on Greek myth was not primarily driven by apologetics, but constituted an important aspect of Jewish Hellenism.