Pseudo-Hegesippus
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Pseudo-Hegesippus is the conventional name of the anonymous author of De excidio Hierosolymitano ("On the Destruction of Jerusalem"), a fourth-century Christian
The text
Although the author is sometimes termed a "translator", he never makes a claim to be translating either literally or freely. Rather, he considered himself an historian who used Josephus as his main source. The work is certainly too free to be considered a translation, as he frequently paraphrases and abridges. In addition, he adds passages based on other sources. As a whole it suggests the work of a
There are only five books, the first four corresponding to the first four of Josephus' War, but the fifth combines the fifth, sixth and seventh books of War. In addition, the author inserts some passages from Josephus' Antiquities, as well as some Latin authors. The Latin authors most frequently imitated are Virgil, Sallust, and Cicero. The Bible is used often as well, most often for rhetorical and literary purposes, but also for historiographical clarification.
It was printed in Paris in 1510.[1] There is an edition by C. F. Weber and J. Caesar (Marburg, 1864). The most recent critical edition is Hegesippi qui dicitur historiae libri V, edited by Vincente Ussani in the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum series, volume 66, Vienna: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky (1932).
Pseudo-Hegesippus' work must not be confused with the literal Latin translation of War, which has seven books corresponding to the original Greek War. Traditionally, this latter translation has been attributed to
Attribution
In the manuscripts of the work "Iosippus" appears quite regularly for "Josephus". It has been suggested that from a corruption of Iosippus an unintelligent reviser derived Hegesippus.
A more probable explanation is that the work was mistaken for the lost history of the Greek Christian author
The work began to circulate about the time of the death of Ambrose, then
Against the attribution to St. Ambrose:
- Vogel, De Hegesippo qui dicitur Iosephi interprete (Munich, 1880).
- Klebs, Festschrift für Friedländer (1895), p. 210.
For the attribution:
- Ihm, Studia Ambrosiana (Leipzig, 1889), p. 62.
- Landgraf, Die Hegesippus Frage in Archiv für lateinische Lexikographie und Grammatik, XII, p. 465.
- Ussani, La Questione e la critica del cosi detto Egesippo in Studi italiani di Filologia classica (Florence, 1906), p. 245.
Notes
- ^ JewishEncyclopedia.com - HEGESIPPUS:
- ^ Alice Whealey, Josephus on Jesus (New York, 2003) p. 34.
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Paul Antoine Augustin Lejay (1913). "The Pseudo-Hegesippus". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.