by ed krentz » February 28th, 2012, 2:48 pm
Yes, Aristobulus is only available in fragments, i.e. citations in later authors. This is true of many ancient Greek and Lartin authors. The best collection of them in Greek is Albert-Marie Denis, FRAGMENTA PSEUDEPIGRAPHICORUM QUAE SUPERSUNT GRAECA. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1970.
Aristobulus is included among lost Jewish historians who wrote in Greek. He describes Moses as "divine man", who did wonderful things in Egypt, e.g. taugrht the Egyptians how to write in hieroglyphics, divided Egypt into nomes [administrative units], etc. I count him as a writer who is essentially non-biblical, though he writes about a biblical figure, Moses.
In similar fashion, I regard the ancient text "Joseph and Asenath" as a non biblical text, though Jewish, even though Joseph is a biblical figrure.
Such texts are essentially written in "Koine" Greek. The wonderful Epistola ad Philokrates", which describes the origins of the LXX, would give seminary students difficulties because of it vocabulary. I am currently reading Josephus "Against Apion" with interested students, his apologetic defense of Judaism. It is in a more literary Greek [much us of the optative], though not at Artticistic text.
Ed Krentz
Edgar Krentz
Prof. Emeritus of NT
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago