13 texts
The Letter of Aristeas gives us a peek behind the curtain. It's a fascinating text, purporting to be from an official in the court of Ptolemy Philadelphus, telling the story of how...
It's fascinating to peek behind the curtains of power and see what advice they valued. The Letter of Aristeas gives us just that glimpse. It's a pseudepigraphical letter—meaning, i...
The Letter of Aristeas, a fascinating text that purports to describe how the Septuagint – the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible – came to be, gives us a glimpse into just such ...
More than just inspiration, more than just beautiful writing. Sometimes, it takes a good old-fashioned curse. I’m talking about the story of the Septuagint, the Greek translation o...
A story about a small group of people who stared down a massive empire and refused to back down. This is the beginning of the story of Megillat Antiochus, a tale of courage, faith,...
We're diving into Megillat Antiochus, also known as the Scroll of Antiochus, which recounts the story of Ḥanukkah – though it offers a unique perspective compared to the more famil...
The First Book of Maccabees gives us a glimpse into just that—the tragic events leading up to the Maccabean revolt. It paints a vivid, almost painful picture of the moment when the...
That’s the feeling I get when I read this passage from the First Book of Maccabees. We're in the midst of political machinations and power plays in the ancient Levant. Ptolemy, a k...
After Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE, his empire shattered into warring kingdoms. Ptolemy, son of Lagus, seized Egypt—and Jerusalem along with it. Josephus records that Ptolem...
The Tobiads were a Jewish family who became the most powerful tax collectors in the Ptolemaic Empire—and nearly destroyed Judea in the process. Josephus tells the story of Joseph b...
The crisis started from within. Josephus records that after the High Priest Onias III died, a power struggle erupted between his brothers. Jason and Menelaus each bribed the Seleuc...
Caligula declared himself a god and ordered a colossal statue of himself installed inside the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem. The Jews told the Roman general they would rather die, ev...
The Roman Emperor wanted to test the wisdom of the Jewish sages, so he sent word that a great luminary should be dispatched to his court. The Jewish leaders chose Rabbi Meir, whose...
