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Artapanus [Fragment] (Researcher: Robert Hayward):
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1.1 [The text refers to itself as verbal entity (with implied or explicit boundaries). The works ascribed to Artapanus in antiquity survive only in fragments preserved in Eusebius (PE IX.18, 23, 27) and Clement of Alexandria (Stromateis I.23.154). Eusebius attributes to him a Iudaica (PE IX.18) and a work Peri Ioudaion (PE IX.23), this last being mentioned also by Clement (Stromateis I.23.154). It is not possible to determine with certainty whether these two titles are alternative designations of the same text, as many scholars suggest, or whether they refer to two separate texts. Furthermore, Eusebius, who preserved the bulk of the texts ascribed to Artapanus, drew upon an abridgement of Artapanus' writings made by Alexander Polyhistor. This analysis, therefore, has to take into account (1) the fragmentary nature of the textual evidence; (2) uncertainty about the number of the writings under investigation; and (3) the presence (for the Eusebius fragments) of an intermediary writer, Alexander Polyhistor.]

Full profile (Bibliography at the bottom):
1.1 [The text refers to itself as verbal entity (with implied or explicit boundaries). The works ascribed to Artapanus in antiquity survive only in fragments preserved in Eusebius (PE IX.18, 23, 27) and Clement of Alexandria (Stromateis I.23.154). Eusebius attributes to him a Iudaica (PE IX.18) and a work Peri Ioudaion (PE IX.23), this last being mentioned also by Clement (Stromateis I.23.154). It is not possible to determine with certainty whether these two titles are alternative designations of the same text, as many scholars suggest, or whether they refer to two separate texts. Furthermore, Eusebius, who preserved the bulk of the texts ascribed to Artapanus, drew upon an abridgement of Artapanus' writings made by Alexander Polyhistor. This analysis, therefore, has to take into account (1) the fragmentary nature of the textual evidence; (2) uncertainty about the number of the writings under investigation; and (3) the presence (for the Eusebius fragments) of an intermediary writer, Alexander Polyhistor.]

1.1.1 [The text refers to itself using a genre term, speech act term, verb or other term implying verbal constitution: The category sungramma, "book, written composition" is given for the Peri Ioudaion by Clement, at Stromateis I.23.154. It must be noted that this designation is provided by Clement, and is not attributed to Artapanus' text itself.]

1.1.2 [The text speaks of itself as dealing with an overall theme (subject matter) or purpose, or as consisting of coordinated parts making a whole. Eusebius introduces his citation of the first fragment with the words: "Now Artapanus states in Ta Ioudaika ( = Jewish Matters) that the Jews were named Hermiouth" (PE IX. 18). He introduces his second fragment by explicitly quoting Alexander Polyhistor's words: "Now Artapanus states in the Peri Ioudaion ( = Concerning Jews)...", words he used again at PE IX.37, and which Clement employed to introduce Artapanus' writing in Strom. I.23. 154. We depend entirely on Eusebius and Clement for (1) knowledge of the name Artapanus and (2) the information that he wrote on the Jews. Artapanus appears to have composed either two named texts, one "Jewish Matters", the other "Concering Jews"; or he may have composed one text, which could be referred to by either of these titles.]

1.1.4 [The text introduces the governing voice, thereby indirectly marking its own boundedness: The fragments of the text, surviving in quotations which are presented to us by Eusebius and Clement, do not provide information concerning the introduction of a governing voice.]

1.6 The approximate word count or other indication of comparative size is:

1.7 The text’s Inventory profile should be seen in the light of the following further information on completeness, aesthetic effects, etc.: The text is very fragmentary, and the profile presented in this Inventory is correspondingly provisional. Scholarly assessments of the text display great variation. On the one hand, some students regard it as a serious historiographical undertaking, designed perhaps to defend Jews living in an Hellenistic environment against anti-Jewish calumnies and prejudices by depicting Israel's ancestors as originators and bearers of high culture. On the other hand, the text is sometimes viewed as a work of fiction, including even a marked comic element, the Jewish Patriarchs being presented as larger-than-life individuals who demonstrate their superiority to the Egyptians at every turn. Such a fiction might be designed to engender Jewish self-esteem. Yet again, the text may have been composed far away from Egypt: a Greek-speaking Egyptian happening on this text might realize that the Egyptian kings mentioned in it were not historical characters, or even that they were caricatures, with the result that any hoped-for propaganda which the text might have been designed to spread would fall completely flat. Whatever the case, the striking mixture of large numbers of Jewish, Greek and Egyptian proper names, and the references to several different ethnic groups mentioned in the fragments gives a cosmopolitan feel to the narrative, and depicts a world in which Jews seem comfortably "at home".

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2.1 The information conveyed in the text defines the perspective of the governing voice in the following way:

2.1.1 [The text does not thematize how the governing voice comes to know the text’s contents (or its right to command obedience from the addressee), but suggests that its knowledge (or authority) is unlimited: Such seems to be the case, but the text is very fragmentary, and judgments in this matter must remain uncertain.]

2.1.1.1 [In narrative, the governing voice’s perspective tacitly is that of someone “present” at all events equally, regardless of their time, place, or nature (e.g. thoughts or private utterances of characters): As far as the fragments of the text are concerned, it would seem that the governing voice is "present" at all events.]

2.1.8 The governing voice speaks at no point in the first person (except for any 2.2.4.3) and all persons/objects are mentioned from a third-person perspective: According to the ancient writers who have transmitted the texts to us, the governing voice throughout the fragments is that of Artapanus, whom they report "phesin" (declared, said, stated) the words attributed to him (so Eusebius, PE IX. 18, 23 citing Polyhistor, 27) or historei (narrated, recorded, gave a written account of) the things they cite (so Clement, Strom. I.23.154).

2.4 The governing voice defines a horizon of knowledge as shared with the projected addressee by taking for granted the following linguistic usages or references (in selection):

2.4.1 Persons or unique objects referred to by proper name or by technical expression:

2.4.1.1 for persons mentioned or presented in narrative usage; as characters; or topics, for example: Names of biblical persons are given without explanation, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Raguel, and Israel. Fragment 1 deals briefly with Abraham (Eus. PE IX.18.1); fragment 2 with Joseph (Eus. PE IX.23.1-4); and fragment 3 with Moses (Eus. PE IX. 27.1-37), these names being used by Eusebius to identify sections of Artapanus' text. Non-biblical names, or non-biblical forms of names known from the Bible, are common: e.g., Egyptian forms Pharethothes (for Pharaoh), Chenephres, Chanethothes, Nacheros, Memspasthenoth, Merris, Palmanothes; Greek names Orpheus, Mousaios, Hermes; and names of many peoples along with Israel and the Hebrews, as, for example, Arabs, Egyptians, Greeks, Syrians, Heliopolitans, Memphites, Ethiopians.

2.4.1.3 for Gods/mythical figures/supernatural beings, etc., for example: Names of pagan deities Isis (3 times)and Apis are recorded (both in fragment 3); so also semi-divine characters Hermes, Orpheus and Musaios (also in frag. 3). The God of Israel is designated ton tes oikoumenes despoten, "the Lord of the World", PE IX.27.22.

2.4.1.4 for locations, for example: Some of these are biblical, such as Egypt, Arabia, Syria, Ethiopia, the Nile, and the Red Sea. Others are known from LXX, such as Heliopolis, Sais (some witnesses), Diospolis (Ezek.30:14), Memphis, Meroe (?). Not biblical are the names of the city of Hermes and Athos, the latter (in frag. 2) otherwise unknown.

2.4.1.6 [for documents, texts, books, etc. (identified through being referred to or quoted), for example: Although proper names for documents are lacking, there are references to written documents which employ common nouns, which are striking in such a limited set of fragments. Moses is said to have assigned to the Egyptian priests ta hiera grammata, "the sacred writings/letters", which may refer to a body of texts not further described, or to the Egyptian hieroglyphs (PE.IX.27.5). Later, (PE IX. 27,6) Moses is said to have been called Hermes, because he could interpret "the sacred writings". PE IX.27.26 also refers to a tablet with things written on it, which was sealed.]

2.4.3 The text as a whole routinely employs the following language(s), knowledge of which is taken for granted: Greek. A word of uncertain language, "Hermiouth", is reported and explained in Greek in Frag. 1.

2.4.4 Special linguistic usages occur pervasively or prominently:

2.4.4.1 Technical expressions for a particular subject matter: Aspects of Egyptian administration are assumed, e.g. the regional divisions called "nomes" (PE IX.27.5), along with religious customs such as the Apis bull (PE IX.27.12). Note also the disease "elephantiasis", mentioned without explanation (PE IX.27.20).

2.4.4.4 Biblicizing language, such that the text may be assumed to project itself as having a link to texts today known as biblical (see 7.1.4.1): Words and phrases found in LXX Exod. 4:2-4, 7-8; 7:12, 20, 22; 8:2, 16, and other verses from Exodus are represented in these fragments.

2.7 The epistemic stance, knowledge horizon, moral stance and identity of the governing voice, and of the projected addressee, do not become thematic in the text: This is the case for all the quoted fragments. [Such explicit information as we have about the author called Artapanus comes to us through Eusebius (and Alexander Polyhistor) and Clement of Alexandria.]

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4.1 The text narrates events which are strongly emplotted, making reference to interlocking happenings, characters, motivations, causes, times or locations: The fragments of texts which have been transmitted to us appear to consist of "main line" narrative; and both Eusebius and Clement who reproduce the texts appear to treat them and speak of them as narrative works.

4.1.1 The text narrates a complex series of events not presented as leading towards only one crisis and solution, nor as contributing to only one person's tale: Fragments 2 and 3, which deal with Joseph and Moses respectively, are treated by Eusebius and Clement as deriving from a work entitled Peri Ioudaion, and appear to indicate that the text reports segments of a continuous series of events as narrated by the Bible (see also 7.1.1). Fragment 1 is too brief to categorize in this way. The narrative is apparently multi-centred, or has several smaller points of conflict. Given the fragmentary nature of the surviving text, it is not possible to be absolutely sure that this category applies to Fragment 1 (on Abraham); but Fragments 2 and 3 point to a multi-centred narrative.

4.1.4 The narrative foregrounds apparently exact information on the absolute and relative timing of events: all fragments present narrative which claims to provide exact information on timing of events. Thus for example in Frag 1, Abraham entered Egypt in the time of Pharethothes and stayed there for twenty years; in Frag. 3, Moses is born in the reign of Palmanothes; the war with Ethiopia lasted ten years (PE IX.27.8); Moses led Israel from Egypt when he was almost eighty-nine (Frag. 3, end).

4.2 The event sequence is projected as related to the sequence of text parts as follows:

4.2.1 The report sequence mirrors the projected chronological sequence of events mostly or wholly, not precluding 4.2.2–5: Fragment 3, on Moses, most clearly fits this category, although it must be remembered that Eusebius depends for his knowledge of the text on Alexander Polyhistor's abridged version of the original. Given the fragmentary nature of the text, certainty is not possible in respect of this point.

4.3 [The text presents several sets of internally complex episodes with no explicit or manifest causal or motivational nexus between them. Where characters are identical, or linked, they do not figure in one continuous set of events: This category might apply, since the segments of Artapanus' work quoted by Eusebius could give the impression of an episodic narrative. The work of Alexander Polyhistor, however, should not be forgotten: his summary of the text may have given a false impression of the texts as episodic aggregates. Evidence for this category is therefore slender, and caution must be exercised.]

4.8 [The text provides scene-setting information, other than the introduction of an I-narration: The fragements of Artapanus' texts have survived in frames provided by Alexander Polyhistor. Eusebius, and Clement, without which it would be impossible to locate them.]

4.8.2 There is an explicit introduction of the main character(s): Main characters seem to have been explicitly introduced by Artapanus, though some significant part of the evidence for this introduction is now provided only by Alexander Polyhistor and Eusebius.

4.9 There is prominent or sustained characterization of key figures in the narrative.

4.9.1 There is editorial comment on the qualities of a character from a third-person narrator: Each of the fragments is sufficient to demonstrate that the governing voice offered explicit description of the characters in the narrative, and provided editorial comment on them. This is so not only in the cases of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses, but also with regard to the Egyptian characters not named by the Bible.

4.9.2 All characterization is achieved only through reporting the actions, speech or thoughts of the characters ("dramatic"): There is characterization through actions, which are described, on the part of the characters. Direct speech is wholly lacking in the extant fragments.

4.9.3 A figure is characterized by her or his moral or religious traits: Fragments 2 and 3 describe Joseph and Moses as contributing to the religious life of the Egyptians, Joseph assigning land to Egyptian priests and marrying the daughter of an Egyptian priest; Moses even assigning sacred writings to the Egyptian priests (PE IX.27.4). Fragment 3, however, also describes Moses as a protagonist of the Jewish God, "the Lord of the World", who performs wonders against the Egyptians. For the narrative relationships in terms of gendering, see Zellentin, "The End of Jewish Egypt", pp. 69–71.

4.9.3.1 Moral/religious traits are manifestly linked to the ethnicity and/or gender of the figure: The Fragments present Abraham, Joseph, and Moses particularly and specifically as Jews, whose superior knowledge, stature and character enable and equip them to instruct the Egyptians in matters religious, political, and economic.

4.9.4 A figure is characterized by her or his intellectual gifts or understanding: This is the clear implication (in default of further evidence) of information given about all the Jewish characters in the fragmentary text. Abraham is learned in astronomy; Joseph is endowed with wisdom and understanding; and Moses is so intellectually gifted that he is a teacher of all humanity. These intellectual gifts and understanding may be construed as natural, although some aspects of Moses' intellectual ability are by implication presented as being possibly of supernatural origin. For example, he announces to the Egyptian king that the Lord of the World had ordered him to free the Jews (PE IX.27.22), and he is able to restore a child to life with the Name of God (PE IX.27.24-25; Clement Strom. I.23.154). His actions in performing signs and bringing about the plagues, described in Fragment 3, are guided by God's intentions and are brought about by implicit supernatural agency.

4.10 A character’s relations to her/his community are foregrounded, including any two-fold social environment (e.g. a diaspora setting).

4.10.1 A main character is portrayed as being integrated in one societal environment but as in conflict with a second environment: This applies in the case of Moses, who is first described as a benefactor of the Egyptians, and then opposed to them when, as leader of the oppressed Jews, he brings upon plagues upon them.

4.10.2 A main character is portrayed as being integrated in two different societal environments: Abraham and Joseph are Jews who, in the Fragments we possess, are described as integrated into Egyptian culture.

4.11 Supernatural characters appear in the narrative, whether introduced casually, or accounted for elaborately: e.g. the God of the Jews, who is integral to the Moses narrative, but is not introduced as such. He is entitled ton tes oikoumenes despoten, "The Lord of the World" (PE IX.27.22), and by means of this title His activity in the world is implied, and lies behind Moses' signs and the coming of the plagues upon Egypt. By contrast, the Egyptian deities, sometimes named as in the cases of Isis and the Apis bull, are taken for granted, but do not take any part, explicit or implicit, in the action of the narrative. If Orpheus, Hermes, or Musaios are regarded as divine, they are also named and taken for granted, but play no part in the narrative action.

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7.1 Narrative or thematic correspondences, or overlap of specific wording, occur between a non-biblical text and one or more biblical texts in a manner that is prominent or pervasive.

7.1.1 The Fragments of Artapanus' texts, in their present form, share the narrative-chronological ground of the biblical stories of Abraham and Joseph recounted in Genesis, and the narratives about Moses recorded in Exodus.

7.1.1.1 Some or all main characters of the text correspond to main characters in a biblical partner text: The biblical characters Abraham, Joseph, and Moses play key roles; and minor characters in the biblical narrative (such as the Pharaoh and Pharaoh's daughter) are identified by name. All are identical with their biblical counterparts.

7.1.2 Chronology, physical setting or emplotment correspond between the non-biblical narrative and the narrative of a biblical text or texts:

7.1.2.1 The narrative’s chronological and spatial framework, as well as certain events, are co-extensive with that of a biblical partner text, or with some extended part of it: All Fragments use the biblical narratives about Abraham, Joseph, and Moses.

7.1.2.1.2 The narrative is told in more detail than that of a biblical partner text, or contains more components that slow down the narrative pace (4.6, 4.12 or 4.13): The text's treatment of Abraham is very brief; but the narratives about Joseph and Moses add many details not found in the Bible, some of which are alluded to in other, non-biblical texts. The biblical narrative, however, remains recognizable throughout these fragments.

7.1.2.1.4 Some of the narrative’s sub-plots or episodes, mostly corresponding to those of a biblical text, differ from each other in the amount of detail provided if compared to the biblical text.

7.1.2.1.4.1 Among the sub-plots or episodes with more detail are some or all of the ones that have no biblical counterpart.

7.1.4 The text shares features of language with the Hebrew Bible, or exhibits tacit overlap with specific biblical wording, whether narrative or not.

7.1.4.1 There are pervasive biblical linguistic features (vocabulary, morphology or syntax) or a pervasive use of unspecific biblical language, such as generic biblical phrases or single words: consistent allusive language relating to the earlier biblical text as represented by the Old Greek translation, the Septuagint (LXX).

7.1.4.2 prominent or functionally important specific allusions (expressive use, 8.1.4.1.) of the earlier text (not necessarily only Bible). There are clear allusions to the LXX version of the narratives of Joseph and Moses. The Fragment treating of Abraham is small, but in describing Abraham as "Hebrew" might betray some allusion to the Hebrew Bible at this point.

7.1.4.3 The tacit overlap of wording takes place across language boundaries, with respect to the current language of the text (this point does not apply to 6.13 cases).

7.1.5.3 [The epistemic stance of the governing voice (narrative or not, first person or not) can be interpreted as falling into the same generic category as one of the following stances also adopted in biblical texts:]

7.1.5.3.2 [The omniscient narration, as in Genesis-Joshua; or unrestricted knowledge of a described reality, similar to Genesis 1: The governing voice of the fragments of this text, preserved by Eusebius and Clement, appear to indicate an "omniscient narrator"; but such an epistemic stance of the governing voice is far from certain, given the fragmentary nature of the preserved text, and the difficulty in ascertaining securely and precisely which are the passages of text quoted by Eusebius and Clement, and which passages may be their editorial information.]

7.1.9 While sharing the basic narrative-chronological framework of biblical texts, the narrative also mentions characters or events which presuppose a potentially quite different framework: The text seeks to locate Moses in an extra-biblical framework by noting that he was called Musaios by Greeks, was teacher of Orpheus (PE IX.27.4), and was identified with Hermes (PE IX.27.6). The references to Egyptian characters in Fragment 3 are intended to co-relate the narrative of Moses to Egyptian history.

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8.1.10 List sentence enumerating items by words or phrases: Rare. A list of three animals regarded by the Egyptians gods is found at PE IX.27.4.

8.1.16 Descriptive sentence of a static (ocular) structure or "scientific" descriptive sentence: A brief description of the temple at Diospolis is given at PE IX.27.11-12.

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11.2 The text is dominated by the reporting of emplotted events, whether or not in an overarching narrative format (4).

11.2.2 The reported events are not biblical, but are related to a biblical past/future.

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12.1 Examples: Popular romance literature; romantic aretalogy; popular religious propaganda; apologetic; historical literature; competitive historiography; romantic propaganda.

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Bibliography:

Text:  F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, 3 vols  (Leiden: Brill, 1954-1969), vol. 3, pp. 680-686; A. M. Denis, Fragmenta pseudepigraphorum quae supersunt Graeca una cum historicorum et auctorum Judaeorum hellenistarum Fragmentis (Leiden: Brill, 1970), pp. 186-195; C. R. Holladay, Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors, vol. 1: Historians (Chico, Cal: Scholars Press, 1983), pp. 189-243.

Translations:  J. J. Collins, "Artapanus", in (ed.) J. H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2 vols (London: Darton, Logman & Todd, 1983, 1985) , vol. 2, pp. 889-903; C. R. Holladay, Fragments, pp. 205-225; E. S. Gruen, "Artapanus", in L. H. Feldman, J. L. Kugel and L. H. Schiffman (eds.), Outside the Bible. Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture, 3 vols. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society/University of Nebraska Press, 2013), pp. 675–685, translation from Holladay. French: G. Vermes,"La figure de Moise au tournant des deux Testaments", in Moise, L'Homme de l'Alliance, Cahiers Sioniens (Paris, 1955), pp. 66-74. German: N. Walter, Fragmente juedisch-hellenistischer Historiker, JSHRZ Band 1.2, Historische und legendarische Erzaehlungen (Guetersloh: Mohn, 1976), pp. 127-136.

Studies: K. I. Merentitis, Ho Ioudaios Logios Artapanos kai to Ergon Autou (Athens, 1961); T. Rajak, "Moses in Ethiopia: Legend and Literature", JJS 29 (1978), pp. 111-122;  J. M. G. Barclay, Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1996); E. S. Gruen, Diaspora Jews amidst Greeks and Romans (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2002); E. Koskenniemi, "Greeks, Egyptians, and Jews in the Fragments of Artapanus", JSP 13 (2002), pp. 17-31; H. Jacobson, "Artapanus and the Flooding of the Nile", Classical Quarterly 56 (2006), pp. 602-603; H. M. Zellentin, "The End of Jewish Egypt- Artapanus’s Second Exodus", in K. L. Osterloh and G. Gardner (eds.), Antiquity in Antiquity. Jewish and Christian Pasts in the Greco-Roman World (Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2009), pp. 27-73.

, 3 vols. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society/University of Nebraska Press, 2013), pp. 675–685.

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