Reading the Roman-Jewish treaty in 1 Maccabees 8:: narrative, documents, and Hellenistic historical culture

• Duncan E. MacRae ^[1]
  1. [1] University of California System

     University of California System

     Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Hermathena, ISSN 0018-0750, Nº. 200-201, 2016, págs. 73-94
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This article examines the historiographical poetics of the Roman-Jewish treaty that is quoted in 1 Maccabees 8. On a narrative level, the unusual verbatim quotation of the treaty acts as a guarantee for the narratorial voice, while the evocation of an epigraphic bronze copy of the text allows the text to fulfill an archival function. The inclusion of a bilateral treaty document in a piece of Hebrew (or Hebraising) historiography also indicates a moment of cultural transfusion, when a habit of Greek history writing – the verbatim quotation of treaty documents – was incorporated into a distinct historiographical tradition. This analysis offers a new perspective on the question of the Hellenism of 1 Maccabees. This article is offered to Brian McGing in gratitude for his teaching.