IV. Epic Poetry And The Drama

IV. EPIC POETRY AND THE DRAMA
1. Philo the Epic Poet
The appropriation of Greek forms of literature on the part of the Hellenistic Jews did not stop at prose. Even the epic and dramatic poetry of the Greeks were transplanted to the soil of Hellenistic Judaism the sacred history being sung under the form of the Greek Epos nay represented in the form of the Greek drama. For what is still preserved of this remarkable literature we are indebted to the extracts of Alexander Polyhistor which have been inserted by Eusebius in his Praeparatio evangelica (see above p. 197 sqq.).
Three small fragments from a Greek poem “On Jerusalem” (Περὶ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα) by a certain Philo are given by Eusebius (Euseb. Praep. evang. ix. 20 24 37). The subject of the first is Abraham of the second Joseph of the third the springs and water-pipes of Jerusalem the abundance of which is extolled. The first and third are taken from the first book of the work quoted (ix. 20: Φίλων ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Περὶ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα; ix. 37: Φίλων ἐν τοῖς Περὶ Ἱεροσολύμων … ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ); the second professedly from the fourteenth (ix. 24: Φίλων ἐν τῇ ιδʹ τῶν Περὶ Ἱεροσόλυμα). But that Philo should have used fourteen books to get as far as the history of Joseph is too improbable. Hence we may suppose with Freudenthal that possibly we must read ἐν τῇ ιδʹ instead of ἐν τῇ δʹ. The language of Philo is that of the Greek epic but his hexameters are written with a true contempt of Greek prosody and the diction is pompous and so involved as to be unintelligible.
The Philo mentioned by Clemens Alex. Strom. i. 21. 141 and by Josephus contra Apion. i. 23 (= Euseb. Praep. evang. ix. 42) and whom Josephus distinguishes from the more recent philosopher by calling him Philo the elder (Φίλων ὁ πρεσβύτερος) is certainly identical with our epic writer. According to the notice of him in Clemens Alexandrinus we might indeed suppose that some prose writer who treated Jewish history in like manner as Demetrius and Eupolemus do was spoken of (Strom. i. 21. 141: Φίλων δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀνέγραψε τοὺς βασιλεῖς τοὺς Ἰουδαίων διαφώνως τῷ Δημητρίῳ). Josephus took him for a heathen for he adduces him together with Demetrius and Eupolemus as a proof that many heathen authors also had a tolerably accurate acquaintance with Jewish history. But the circumstance that both Clemens and Josephus in the passages cited place this Philo in the same series as Demetrius and Eupolemus (both have the order Demetrius Philo Eupolemus) proves that both were drawing from the same source and this can be no other than Alexander Polyhistor. Since then no other Philo than the epic writer occurs in the copious contributions from Alexander Polyhistor in Eusebius there is no doubt that Clemens and Josephus mean the same. Consequently Philo as the fragments in Eusebius give us reason to suppose sang in such wise of the town of Jerusalem as to give at the same time a history of the Jewish kings.
As to the date of Philo this much only can be said that he preceded Alexander Polyhistor. Hence he may be perhaps placed in the second century before Christ. There is no direct evidence that he was a Jew but from the tenor of his poem it can scarcely be doubtful.
Comp. in general: Huetius Demonstr. ev. Prop. iv. c. 2 § 33. Viger’s Anm. zu Euseb. ix. 20. Philippson Ezechiel des jüdischen Trauerspieldichters Auszug aus Egypten und Philo des Aelteren Jerusalem 1830. Delitzsch Zur Gesch. der jüd. Poesie (1836) pp. 24 209. Dähne Geschichtl. Darstellung der jüd.-alex. Religions-Philosophie ii. 215 note. Cruice De Fl. Josephi fide (1844) p. 61 sq. Müller Fragm. hist. Graec. iii. 207 sqq. Herzfeld Gesch. des Volkes Jisrael iii. 519 575. Ewald Gesch. des Volkes Israel iv. 338 vii. 91. Freudenthal Alex. Polyhistor pp. 34 100 170.
2. Theodotus
The poem of Theodotus on Sichem a long portion from which is given partly by verbal quotation partly by a statement of its contents in Euseb. Praep. evang. ix. 22 seems to have been of the same kind as that of Philo on Jerusalem. The entire portion refers to the history of the town of Sichem. Its situation is first described and then its seizure by the Hebrews in accordance with Genesis 34; how Jacob first dwelt in Mesopotamia there married and begat children then departed with them to the district of Sichem and received a portion of land from Emmor the king of Sichem; next how Sichem the son of Emmor ravished Dinah Jacob’s daughter whereupon Jacob declared himself ready to give Dinah to Sichem to wife on condition that all the Sichemites should be circumcised; and lastly how Simeon and Levi two of Jacob’s sons slew Emmor and Sichem and in conjunction with their brethren destroyed the city of the Sichemites. Jacob’s sojourn in Mesopotamia not being mentioned till after the description of the town of Sichem and only as an introduction to the history of its seizure by the Hebrews which follows it is evident that the history of the town of Sichem is the real theme of the poem; and since it is called a “holy city” (ἱερὸν ἄστυ) it can scarcely be doubted that Theodotus was a Samaritan. Hence the title Περὶ Ἰουδαίων given to the poem in Eusebius can hardly be accurate. At the commencement of the extract it is said that the town had its name from Sikimios a son of Hermes (ἀπὸ Σικιμίου τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ). Theodotus thus seems like other Hellenists to have embellished Jewish history with scraps from Greek mythology. The diction as well as the construction of the hexameters is better than Philo’s. With respect to date what was said of Philo applies here also.
Comp. in general: Huetius Demonstr. ev. iv. 2. 32. Fabricius-Harles Biblioth. gr. x. 516. Müller Fragm. hist. gr. iii. 207 sqq. Pauly’s Real-Enc. der class. Alterthumswissensch. art. “Theodotus” Nr. 13. Herzfeld Gesch. des Volkes Jisrael iii. 520 sq. 576 sq. Ewald Gesch. des Volkes Israel iv. 338 vii. 91. Freudenthal Alex. Polyh. p. 99 sq.
3. Ezekiel the Tragic Poet
The most remarkable phenomenon in the department of Judaeo-Hellenistic poetry is the manufacture of scriptural matter into Greek dramas. We know indeed of only one such Jewish dramatist Ezekiel; and it must be left uncertain whether he had either successor or predecessor. But at all events he composed other dramas besides the one which is known to us by extracts being called “The poet of Jewish tragedies” (Clemens Alex. Strom. i. 23. 155: ὁ Ἐζεκίηλος ὁ τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν τραγῳδιῶν ποιητής. Euseb. Praep. evang. ix. 28: Ἐζεκιῆλος ὁ τῶν τραγῳδιῶν ποιητής). We know more by extensive extracts in Eusebius and Clemens Alexandrinus (after Alexander Polyhistor) of one of them which was called “the Exodus” Ἐξαγωγή and which depicted the history of the departure of the Jews from Egypt (Clemens Alex. Strom. i. 23. 155: ἐν τῷ ἐπιγραφομένῳ δράματι “Ἐξαγωγή.” Euseb. Praep. evang. ix. 29. 14 ed. Gaisford: ἐν τῷ δράματι τῷ ἐπιγραφομένῳ Ἐξαγωγή). The moment chosen as the starting-point of the action was apparently that when Moses fled to Midian after slaying the Egyptian (Exodus 2); for the first extract transposes us to that period (Euseb. Praep. evang. ix. 28 = Clemens Alex. Strom. i. 23. 155-156). It is a long monologue of Moses in which he relates the history of his life down to that juncture and concludes with the words that he is now in consequence a wanderer in a foreign land. He then sees the seven daughters of Raguel approaching (Exodus 2:16 sqq.) and asks who they are when Zipporah gives him the information. The further progress of the action is only alluded to in the extract where we are told that the watering of the flock and the marriage of Zipporah with Moses now takes place (Exodus 2:16 sqq.). In the second extract (Euseb. ix. 29. 4-6 ed. Gaisford) Moses relates a dream to his father-in-law which the latter explains to mean that Moses will attain to a high official post and will have the knowledge of things past present and future. In another scene (Euseb. ix. 29. 7-11 ed. Gaisford) it is represented on the authority of Exodus 3-4 how God spoke to Moses from a burning bush and commissioned him to deliver the people of Israel from bondage. As God speaks invisibly from the bush He is not made to appear on the stage but only His voice is heard. The details are pretty much in agreement with Exodus 3-4. In the extract which follows (Euseb. ix. 29. 12-13 ed. Gaisford) God gives (according to Exodus 11-12) more exact directions concerning the departure and the celebration of the Passover. It cannot be decided whether this also belongs to the scene of the bush. In a further scene (Euseb. ix. 29. 14 ed. Gaisford) an Egyptian enters who has escaped the catastrophe in the Red Sea and relates how the Israelites passed safely through the waters and the Egyptian host perished in them. Finally in the last fragment (Euseb. ix. 29. 15-16) a messenger in whom we are to imagine one sent to reconnoitre for the Israelites announces to Moses the discovery of an excellent place of encampment at Elim with twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees (Exodus 15:27 = Numbers 33:9). Then the messenger relates how a marvellously strong bird nearly twice as large as an eagle which all the other birds followed as their king appeared. The description of this bird is also found without mention of the name of Ezekiel in Eustathius Comm. in Hexaemeron ed. Leo Allatius (1629) p. 25 sq.
From these fragments it appears that the action agrees pretty closely with the scriptural narrative though with many embellishments of detail. The poetry of the author is very prosaic. On the other hand a certain amount of skill in dramatizing the material cannot be denied him. The diction and versification (Iambic trimeters) are tolerably fluent. It has been doubted—incorrectly it seems to me—whether this drama was ever intended for representation. The aim of it is certainly the same as that of the scriptural dramas of the Middle Ages (the passion plays etc.) viz. on the one hand to make the people in this way also better acquainted with sacred history on the other and chiefly to supplant as far as possible profane and heathen pleasures by the supply of such “wholesome food.” Here perhaps as in other productions of Judaeo-Hellenistic literature heathen readers and spectators were calculated on.
That Ezekiel was a Jew is undoubtedly shown even by his name. What was said of the dates of Philo and Theodotus applies in his case also.
Comp. in general: Huetius Demonstr. evang. iv. 2. 24. Fabricius Biblioth. graec. ed. Harles ii. 305 sq. viii. 624 sq. 635 636. Eichhorn “De Judaeorum re scenica” in the Commentationes Societ. Gotting. recentiores vol. ii. Gotting. 1813. Philippson Ezechiel des jüdischen Trauerspieldichters Auszug aus Egypten und Philo des Aelteren Jerusalem 1830. Delitzsch Zur Gesch. der jüdischen Poesie (1836) pp. 28 209 211-219. Dähne Geschichtl. Darstellung der jüd.-alex. Religions-Philosophie ii. 199 sq. Fürst Biblioth. Jud. i. 264. Frankel Ueber den Einfluss der palästinischen Exegese auf die alexandrinische Hermeneutik (1851) pp. 113-119. Herzfeld Gesch. des Volkes Jisrael iii. 517-519. Ewald Gesch. des Volkes Israel ii. 127 iv. 338. Bähr in Pauly’s Real-Enc. iii. 365. Dübner in the appendix to Fragmenta Euripidis iterum ed. F. G. Wagner (accedunt indices locupletissimi Christus patiens Ezechieli et christianorum poetarum reliquiae dramaticae) Paris Didot 1846 pp. 7-10 and 1-7. Magnin Journal des Savants 1848 pp. 193-208 (Recension of Dübner’s appendix to Fragm. Eurip. ed. Wagner). Dindorf Praefat. to his edition of Euseb. Opp. vol. i. pp. 19-25. Bernhardy Grundriss der griechischen Litteratur ii. 2 (3rd ed. 1872) p. 76. Cobet in the Λογιος Ερμης i. 457-459.