Jewish Fictional Letters from Hellenistic Egypt

This volume delves into the Epistle of Aristeas, a Jewish work from the Hellenistic period that details the origins of the Septuagint. While long recognized as a literary fiction, its epistolary elements, particularly the correspondence between Aristeas and Philocrates, have often been overlooked. Drawing on recent scholarship, this book offers a complete Greek text and English translation, along with an introduction, notes, and commentary. It also includes key testimonia from ancient authors and other examples of Jewish fictional letters from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha.