426 myths · Page 15 of 15
A man wagered four hundred gold coins he could provoke the great sage Hillel into anger, asking absurd questions on a Friday afternoon.
Ezra sat under an oak, heard a voice from a bush, drank a cup full of fire, and dictated for forty days until every lost book was restored.
A Jewish courtier tells Ptolemy that asking for the Torah while owning Jewish slaves is a contradiction no library can absorb. The king pays to free them.
Ptolemy sends a jeweled table to Jerusalem, Eleazar dresses in the high priestly robes, and seventy-two scholars cross to Alexandria to translate the Torah.
A boy memorized part of Genesis before soldiers captured him. When an emperor calls for a book no one can read, the prisoner is brought from his cell.
Seventy-two elders carry the Torah to Ptolemy's court, the king weeps before the scrolls, and a seven-day banquet of questions becomes a school of kingship.
