Spartans or Samaritans?: Revealing the Creativity of the Author of 1 Maccabees
A majority of scholars view the Hasmonean-Spartan correspondence, reported in 1 Maccabees, as inauthentic, since it contains many improbabilities, including the assertion that the Jews and the Spartans are fraternal nations. However, its patent implausibility also renders it unimaginable that the co...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
2023
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| In: |
Harvard theological review
Year: 2023, Volume: 116, Issue: 3, Pages: 376-398 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Bible. Makkabäer 1.
/ Spartaner
/ Samaritans
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| IxTheo Classification: | HB Old Testament KBK Europe (East) KBL Near East and North Africa |
| Further subjects: | B
Sparta
B historiography and fiction B Second Temple Period B 1 Maccabees B Jews and Samaritans B pseudo-documentarism B Hasmoneans B fabricated documents |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | A majority of scholars view the Hasmonean-Spartan correspondence, reported in 1 Maccabees, as inauthentic, since it contains many improbabilities, including the assertion that the Jews and the Spartans are fraternal nations. However, its patent implausibility also renders it unimaginable that the correspondence was intended to be understood literally. Hence, the binary choice offered in research, whereby it is either a bizarre fabrication or an authentic correspondence, despite all its peculiarities, is problematic. The Hasmonean-Spartan correspondence thus remains a conspicuous, unresolved enigma in the research of 1 Maccabees and the early Hasmonean period. Based on a textual clue, this article proposes a solution, namely, that the correspondence is, in fact, an ingenious derision of the Jews’ authentic ethnic "brothers"—the Samaritans. This suggestion provides new insights into the history of the early Hasmoneans and the literary creativity of the author of 1 Maccabees. |
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| ISSN: | 1475-4517 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Harvard theological review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0017816023000202 |