- Pseudo-Phocylides
Pseudo-Phocylides is an
apocrypha l work claiming to have been written byPhocylides , a Greek philosopher of the 6th century. The text is noticeablyJewish , and depends on theSeptuagint , although it does not make direct references to either theHebrew Bible orJudaism . Textual and linguistic studies point to the work as having originally been written in Greek, and having originated somewhere between 100BC and 100AD, although the oldest surviving manuscripts date from the 10th century AD.Pseudo-Phocylides consists of a series of
aphorism s, and these refer indirectly to each of the "Noachide Laws ", as well as the so-called "unwritten law s" of the Greeks. There are about 250 in total, and these are written as a series ofhexameter verses, in the form of a teaching manual; each maxim directly commanding the reader to obey it::"Do not remain unmarried, otherwise your name will die with you":"Do not cut off a teenager's penis":"Do not let women go on top during sex":"Do not grow long hair, it is only fit for sexy women"Some of the maxims in Pseudo-Phocylides were copied directly into one of the
Sibylline Oracles , found in Book 2.The text of "Pseudo-Phocylides" is published in volume 2 of "Old Testament Pseudepigrapha" edited by James Charlesworth. The most recent translator and commentator on the work is Pieter van der Horst, "The Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides" (SVTP 4; Leiden: Brill, 1978).
Some authors, including Luke T. Johnson, believe that the way in which the work utilizes Leviticus 19 has an analogy with the way that the NT "Letter of James" employs that passage ("Brother of Jesus: Friend of God", pages 123 ff.).
External links
French translation: http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/poetes/phocylide/sentences.htm
Studies:
* J. J. Collins, 'Life after Death in Pseudo Phocylides,' in F. García Martínez and G. Luttikhuizen (eds.), "Jerusalem, Alexandria, Rome. Studies in ancient cultural interaction in honour of A. Hilhorst" (Leiden, Brill, 2003).
* K.-W. Niebuhr, 'Life and Death in Pseudo-Phocylides,' in Alberdina Houtman, Albert de Jong, Magda Misset-van de Weg (eds.), "Empsychoi Logoi: Religious Innovations in Antiquity. Studies in Honour of Pieter Willem van der Horst" (Leiden, Brill, 2008) (Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, 73).
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