Hebrew Myths (44 page)

BEROSSUS’S
BABYLONIAN
HISTORY
. Fragmentarily preserved in the works of Josephus Flavius, Eusebius, etc. Berossus himself was a priest of Bel in Babylonia during the third century
B.C
.

BHM
.
Beth HaMidrash
, ed. by Adolph Jellinek, 6 vols., Leipzig, 1853–77; photostatic reprint, Jerusalem, 1938. A collection of 100 minor midrashim.

BOOK
OF
ADAM
. See
Adambuch
.

BOOK
OF
THE
DEAD
. A collection of Egyptian funerary texts, covering a period of four thousand years. The Theban recension (from the 18th, 21st, and 22nd dynasties) was translated in Sir E. A. Wallis Budge’s
The Book of the Dead
, 2nd ed., 1923.

BOOK
OF
ENOCH
. See
Enoch
.

BOOK
OF
JUBILEES
. See
Jubilees
.

C

CAVE
OF
TREASURES
. See
Schatzhöhle
.

CHRONICON
PASCHALE
. Also known as the
Alexandrian Chronicle
, a seventh-century Byzantine chronicle of Biblical and other events from the Creation to Emperor Heraclius. Ed. by D. du Cange, Paris, 1688.

CHWOLSON
,
DANIEL
A
.,
Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus
. St. Petersburg, 1856, 2 vols.

CLEMENTINE
HOMILIES
. An early third-century
A.D
. Christian tract written probably in Syria. See Ante-Nicene Christian Library, vol. xvii, Edinburgh, 1870.

D

DA‘AT
.
Sepher Da‘at Zeqenim
, Ofen, 1834 (first published in Leghorn, 1783). A compilation of midrashic commentaries on the
Pentateuch
.

DAMASCIUS
. Greek philosopher, born
c
. 480
A.D
. in Damascus. Extant fragments of his writings include part of a life of Isidore (one of his teachers) and
Doubts and Solutions Respecting the First Principles
, ed. by C. E. Ruelle, 1889.

DEUT
.
RAB
.
Deuteronomy Rabba
, a midrash on
Deuteronomy
, compiled
c
. 900
A.D
. Quoted by chapter and paragraph of the Wilna, 1884, edition.

DILLMANN
,
CHRISTIAN
FRIEDRICH
AUGUST
,
Genesis
. Edinburgh, 1897.

DIODORUS
SICULUS
. Greek historian, born in Agyrium, Sicily, flourished around 20
B.C
. His
Historical Library
, originally in forty books, is only partly preserved and published (with translation) in the Loeb Classical Library.

DOUGHTY
,
CHARLES
M
.,
Travels in Arabia Deserta
, London, 1888.

E

ECCL
.
RAB
.
Ecclesiastes Rabba
. A midrash on
Ecclesiastes
, compiled in the tenth century. Quoted by chapter and verse of
Ecclesiastes
, from the Wilna, 1884, edition.

EDUYOT
. A tractate of the
Mishna
. See M.

ELDAD
HADANI
, ed. Abraham Epstein, Pressburg, 1891. A partly invented description of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel by a tenth-century Jewish traveller of East African origin.

ENOCH
. The apocryphal
Book of Enoch
, written in either Hebrew or Aramaic during the first century
B.C
. in Palestine and preserved in Greek and Ethiopic texts.
2 Enoch
is a different version of the same book preserved in a Slavonic text. The best English translations of both are made by Charles,
The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament
, vol. ii. pp. 163 ff.

ENUMA
ELISH
(‘When Above’), the Babylonian creation epic written in Akkadian.
The best English translation is that of James B. Pritchard (ed.),
Ancient Near Eastern Texts
, Princeton, 1955, pp. 60–72.

EPHR
.
SYR
. Ephraem Syrus, Commentary on Gen. See
Ephraemi Syrii Opera Omnia
, ed. B. Benedictus and Assemanus, Rome, 1737–43.

ERUBIN
. A tractate of the
Babylonian
and of the
Palestinian Talmud
. See B. and Yer.

ESDRAS
or
EZRA
. The name of two apocryphal books attributed to Ezra: one preserved in Greek and called either
1 Esdras
, or
3 Esdras
; one preserved in Latin and called either
2 Esdras
or
4 Esdras
. Both written originally in Hebrew, in Palestine; the first probably dates from the fourth century
B.C
., the second from the first century
A.D
.

EUSEBIUS
,
Praeparatio Evangelica
, ed. Gifford, Oxford, 1903. Eusebius of Caesarea (
c
. 260–340
A.D
.), was Bishop of Caesarea, Palestine, and wrote several books of Church history.

EX
.
RAB
.
Exodus Rabba
, a midrash on the Book of
Exodus
, compiled in Hebrew and Aramaic, in the eleventh century but containing much older material. Quoted by chapter and paragraph of the Wilna, 1884, edition.

G

GASTER
,
MA’ASIYOT
. Moses Gaster (ed.),
The Exempla of the Rabbis
, London, 1924.

GEN
.
RAB
.
Genesis Rabba
, a midrash on the Book of
Genesis
, compiled in the fifth century in Palestine. Quoted by page of the critical edition of J. Theodor and Ch. Albeck, Berlin, 1912–27, 2 vols.

GENESIS
APOCRYPHON
, ed. by N. Avigad and Y. Yadin, Jerusalem, 1956.

GILGAMESH
AND
THE
WILLOW
TREE
. A Sumerian tablet from Ur, from
c
. 2000
B.C
., published by Samuel N. Kramer as
Gilgamesh and the Huluppu-Tree
. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Assyriological Studies, No. 10, Chicago, 1938.

GILGAMESH
EPIC
. An Akkadian epic found in Ashurbanipal’s (seventh century
B.C
.) library, but going back to second millennium
B.C
. Sumerian and Hittite prototypes. See Pritchard,
Ancient Near Eastern Texts
, pp. 72–99.

GINZBERG
,
L.J
.
The Legends of the Jews
, by Louis Ginzberg, 7 vols., Philadelphia, 1909–46. The most important scholarly work on the subject.

GITTIN
. A tractate of the
Babylonian Talmud
. See B.

GOSPEL
OF
ST
.
THOMAS
. Published in Tischendorf’s
Evangelia Apocrypha
.

GOSSE
,
PHILIP
HENRY
. The reference is to his book
Omphalos
.

GRAVES
,
ROBERT
,
The Greek Myths
. Penguin Books, 2 vols., Baltimore, 1955.

GRAVES
,
ROBERT
,
The White Goddess
, New York, 1948.

GUNKEL
,
HERMANN
,
Schöpfung und Chaos in Urzeit und Endzeit
, 2nd ed., Göttingen, 1921.

H

HADAR
.
Sepher Hadar Zeqenim
, ed. Leghorn, 1840. A collection of midrashic explanations to the Bible, culled from the Talmudic commentaries of the Tosaphists (thirteenth and fourteenth centuries).

HAGIGA
. A tractate of the
Babylonian
and
Palestinian Talmud
. See B. and Yer.

HAGOREN
. Louis Ginzberg, ‘Hagadot Qetu’ot,’
Hagoren
, vol. 9, Berlin, 1923. The Hebrew literary magazine
Hagoren
was edited by Shemuel Abba Horodetzky in Berditschew and Berlin, 1899–1923.

HALLA
. A tractate of the
Mishna
. See M.

HAMMURABI
,
LAWS
OF
. A legal code promulgated by Hammurabi (1728–1686
B.C
.), the sixth king of the Old Babylonian (Amorite) Dynasty. See Pritchard,
Ancient Near Eastern Texts
, pp. 163–80.

HEIM
,
ROGER
, and
WASSON
,
R
.
GORDON
,
Les Champignons Hallucinogènes du Mexique
, Paris, 1958.

HUCA
.
Hebrew Union College Annual
, Cincinnati, Ohio, vols. i ff (1924 ff).

HULLIN
. A tractate of the
Babylonian Talmud
. See B.

I

IMRE
NOAM
. Midrashic commentary on the
Pentateuch
by Jacob di Illescos (fourteenth century). Printed in Constantinople, 1539, and Cremona, 1565.

J

JACOB
OF
EDESSA
. Also known as James of Edessa (died 708). Syrian Jacobite poet, commentator, letter-writer and translator of Greek works into Syriac.

JEROME
. Hieronymi Questiones Hebraicae in Libro Geneseo e. recog. P. de Lagarde, Leipzig, 1868.

J
EROME’S
LATIN
VULGATE
. See Vulgate.

JONAS
,
HANS
,
Gnosis und spätantiker Geist
, 2 vols., Göttingen, 1934–54.

JOSEPH
AND
ASENATH
. An apocryphal book written in Hebrew by Jewish Essenes. Extant in a Greek translation. See Paul Riessler,
Altjüdisches Schrifttum ausserhalb der Bibel
, Augsburg, 1928, pp. 497–538.

JOSEPHUS
FLAVIUS
. Jewish historian of the first century
A.D
. Wrote in Greek. His major works are
The Wars of the Jews
and
The Antiquities of the Jews
.

JOSHUA
B
.
SHU’AIB
. See Shu’aib.

JUBILEES
. The apocryphal
Book of Jubilees
. Written, probably in the second century
B.C
., in midrashic vein, by a Pharisaic Jew. The original Hebrew version has been lost. The best extant version is the Ethiopia See Charles,
The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament
, vol. ii. 1 ff.

K

KALIR
. Eleazar Kalir, lived probably in the eighth century; wrote Hebrew religious poems, of which some two hundred are extant.

KEPHALAIA
. A collection of Manichaean manuscripts, published by Polotzky and Schmidt, Stuttgart, 1935–9.

KERET
EPIC
. An Ugaritic legend dating from the fourteenth century
B.C
. See Pritchard,
Ancient Near Eastern Texts
, pp. 142–9.

KETUBOT
. A tractate of the
Babylonian Talmud
. See B.

KIDDUSHIN
. A tractate of the
Babylonian Talmud
. See B.

KORAN
. The Bible of Islam: revealed to the Prophet Mohammed in the early seventh century at Mecca and Medina.

L

LEV
.
RAB
.
Leviticus Rabba
, a midrash on the Book of
Leviticus
, compiled probably in the seventh century. Quoted by chapter and section from the Wilna, 1884, edition.

LIFE
OF
ADAM
AND
EVE
. See
Vita Adae
.

LIQQUTE
MIDRASHIM
. A collection of thirty-one midrash-fragments, printed in BHM (q.v.) vol. v. pp. 155–64.

LIQQUTIM
.
Liqqutim miMidrash Abkir
, ed. Solomon Buber, Vienna, 1883. A collection of the passages quoted by the
Yalqut
(q.v.) from the
Mid. Abkir
(q.v.).

LURIA
. Textual comments on PRE by David Luria, printed in Warsaw, 1852. See PRE.

M

M
.
Mishna
. The first code of Rabbinic law, written in Hebrew and compiled by Rabbi Jehuda Hanasi
c
. 200
A.D
., in Palestine. Quoted by tractate, chapter, and paragraph.

MA’ASE
ABRAHAM
. A heroic midrash about the exploits of Abraham, originally written in Arabic, extant in a Hebrew translation. Printed in BHM (q.v.) vol. i. pp. 24–34.

1
MACCABEES
. A historical book about the Maccabean period to the death of Simon (135
B.C
.). Written in Hebrew in Palestine between 104 and 63
B.C
. Extant in a Greek translation.

4
MACCABEES
. A sermon about the rule of reason over the passions, written in Greek but in a strictly Jewish spirit, probably between 56 and 66
A.D
.

MAKKOT
. A tractate of the
Babylonian Talmud
. See B.

MANETHO
. Egyptian priest and historian of the fourth century
B.C
. See
Manetho the Historian
, The Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, Mass., 1940.

MASSEKHET
SOFERIM
. An extra-canonical tractate joined to the
Babylonian Talmud
(see B.) and dating from the times of the Geonim (i.e. between 589 and 1040
A.D
.).