Decoration, Destruction and Debauchery: Reflections on 1 Enoch 8 in Light of 4QEn b

Full title
Decoration, Destruction and Debauchery: Reflections on 1 Enoch 8 in Light of 4QEn b
Research notes

reader checked|15/12/2011 AL

Reference type
Author(s)
Coblentz Bautch, Kelley
Year
2008
Journal / Book Title || Series Title
Dead Sea Discoveries
Volume
15
Number of volumes
0
Issue / Series Volume
1
Pages
79-95
Alternative title
DSD
Label
28/04/2008
Abstract

This article takes up the distinctive text of Synkellos for 1 En. 8:1 and asks whether it offers the preferred reading or at least may be defended as an early variant rather than as an interpolation of the Byzantine chronographer. To that end, the article examines the Greek translation featured in Synkellos’s Chronography and compares the text to other manuscript traditions, especially to the Aramaic fragments of Enoch found in Cave 4 of Qumran. Close examination leaves the author reluctant to dismiss the reading of Synkellos. Further, the author argues that Genesis 4 and 6 might have provided a warrant for this sort of interpretative tradition inasmuch as culture bringers (i.e. the Cainites) precede the account of the angels’ descent and mating with women as one finds in Synkellos’s version of 1 En. 8:1.

Primary Texts: Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
Composition / Author
Passage
8
Primary Texts: Judean Desert Documents
Scroll / Document
Passage
1 ii
Section type
Fragment
Scroll / Document
Passage
1 iii
Section type
Fragment