In the seventh year of the reign of Ptolemy son of Ptolemy and Cleopatra II, gods Epiphaneis, when Philostratos was priest of Alexander and the gods Soteres and the gods Adelphoi and the gods Euergetai and the gods Philopatores and the gods Epiphaneis and the gods Philometores, Aspasia daughter of Chrysermos being athlophoros of Berenice […]
Apollonios son of Protogenes, Jew of the Epigone, has lent to Sostratos son of Neoptolemos, Jew of the epigone, two talents three thousand drachmas of copper money without interest for one year from the date above written on the security of the house belonging to him and its court and all appurtenances situated at Apias […]
Zenon Archive/Tebtunis Papyrus III 817; CPJUD. I 23 We have reason to believe that, by and large, the Jews of Egypt observed the Judaic commandments. A papyrus from the “Zenon Archive” dating from the third century B.C.E. attests the respect of the Sabbath: in a tally of brick deliveries, the number of bricks delivered on […]
Papyrus Enteuxeis 23; CPJUD. I 128 A papyrus, containing the complaint of a woman married to a Jewish man. She had addressed her case (May 11, 218 B.C.E.) to the king: To King Ptolemy greeting from Helladote, daughter of Philonides. I am being wronged by Jonathas, the Jew … He has agreed by a written […]
According to a legend preserved in the so-called Letter of Aristeas (no one knows who actually wrote it), the Septuagint translation of the Bible was commissioned by Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt so that he would have a copy of the Jewish lawbook for his famous library in Alexandria. To secure the cooperation of Eleazer, […]
Hebrew Bible Text Translated into Greek Who had decided to translate the Torah into Greek, and why was the decision taken? Two doctrines are currently professed. The first being a royal among the proponents of a royal initiative. This thesis is founded on a Jewish legend, later adopted by the Christians, first attested in the […]
One of the main pillars which has been used to support an early dating the Letter of Aristeas is a passage of the Jewish philosopher Aristobulus, quoted in Eusebius concerning Plato. The passage reads as follows: Praeparatio Evangelica 13.12.2. It is evident that Plato (427–327 B.C.E) was a follower of our (e.g. Jewish) code of […]
Two documents concern synagogues in Egypt. Both date from the middle of the third century B.C.E. the first originated in Schedia, near Kafr ed-Dauwar, southeast of Alexandria. Schedia was an important customs post on the Nile; the Jewish settlement here may have had some relation to the river guard, which, according to Josephus (Against Apion […]
The Letter of Aristeas mentions 100,000 Jews who had been carried to Egypt (e.g. from Judaea) by King Ptolemy Soter in 320 B.C.E. as prisoners of war, but were liberated by his successor Ptolemy Philadelphus (e.g. in 312 B.C.E.) Source: Ben-Zvi, Itzhak. The Exiled and the Redeemed (p. 288); How the Septuagint Differs. Biblical Archaeology […]
Alexander the Great’s conquest of Egypt opened the floodgates of a new Jewish immigration to Egypt. According to Josephus, and to older accounts he ascribes to Hecataeus of Abdera, Jewish and Samaritan soldiers served in the ranks of Alexander’s armies, in Babylon as well as Egypt. In the Third Century BCE, there were no barriers […]