Eupolemus is the earliest Hellenistic Jewish historian whose work survives only in five fragments in Eusebius of Caesarea's Praeparatio Evangelica, embedded in quotations from the historian Alexander Polyhistor, and in the Stromata of Clement of Alexandria. A sixth passage which Polyhistor attributes to Eupolemus in Eusebius' quotations of Polyhistor is usually considered spurious as being dissimilar to the other passages quoted and has come to be called Pseudo-Eupolemus. Style and vocabulary indicate the writing as also originally in Greek and the date of composition of the seemingly genuine passages is about 158/7 BC. That the author dates his work by the Seleucids rather than the Ptolemies suggests Palestinian rather than Egyptian origin. It has been speculated that the author might be the Eupolemus who was ambassador of Judas Maccabeus to Rome as found in 1 Maccabees 8.17f and 2 Maccabees 4.11.
Writings
The fragments usually considered Eupolemus' genuine work are:
A statement that Moses was the first wise man, that he taught the alphabet to the Jews who passed it on to the Phoenicians who passed it on to the Greeks, and that Moses first wrote laws for the Jews.
Some chronology about the period from Moses to David and some details of David's arrangements for building the temple followed by purported transcripts of letters exchanged between King Solomon and "Vaphres King of Egypt" and between Solomon and "Souron the King of Tyre", the Biblical Hiram.
A short statement about gold shields made by Solomon.
A very short account of the persecution of the prophetJeremiah by King "Jonachim" who seems to correspond to the Biblical kings Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah followed by a short fictionalized account of the fall of Judah ending with the note that Jeremiah preserved the ark and the tablets.
A chronological summary indicating 5,149 years from Adam to the 5th year of Demetrius.
Writing of Pseudo-Eupolemus
The fragment usually known as Pseudo-Eupolemus relates:
The Assyriancity ofBabylon was built by giants who escaped the Flood and they also built the tower. After its destruction the giants were scattered.
There follows a summary of Abraham's career based on the Biblical account with some changes and details similar to those found in the Genesis Apocryphon and Josephus and in Enochite tradition. Abraham is particularly knowledgeable about astronomy and when he goes down to Egypt he teaches astrology to the Egyptian priests and explains that Enoch first discovered astrology.
Then follows a puzzling passage which seems to have little to do with the context and may be garbled:
The account concludes by indicating that the Greeks relate that Atlas discovered astrology but that Atlas is really Enoch and that Enoch learned from the angels of God.
R. Doran gives reason for believing that this fragment may be part of the genuine work of Eupolemus despite earlier doubts.
Selected bibliography and links
"Eupolemus", translated by F. Fallon, and "Pseudo-Eupolemus", translated by R. Doran in The Old Testament Pseudepigraphia: Volume 2, edited by James H. Charlesworth, Doubleday; New York, 1985..
Eusebius
* Eusebius, Werke: Band 8: De Praeparatio Evangelica, ed. K. Mras., 43,1-2 Berlin, 1954-56.
* Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel: Part 1, Books 1-9, translated by Edward Hamilton Gifford, Clarendon Press; Oxford, 1903. Reissued by Baker House Company, 1991. , . This is available on the web and the Eupolemus material begins in .
Clement of Alexandria
* Clemens Alexandrinus, Werke, eds. Stählin. O. and Fruechtel. L., Berlin, 1960. This is the standard critical edition of Clement of Alexandria.
* Clement of Alexandria, "Stromata" in Ante-Nicene Fathers: Fathers of the Second Century, Vol. 2, edited by Alexander Roberts, reissued by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1988.. This is available on the web and the Eupolemus fragment begins in .
