Texts

Liber antiquitatum biblicarum

  • Latin
  • prose
  • Non-Celtic texts
Early Latin translation, likely via Greek, of a Hebrew tract of biblical exegesis.
Title
Liber antiquitatum biblicarum
The work is thus known since the 1552 reprint of Sichard’s edition (Lyons: S. Gryphe, first published in 1538).
Author
Ascribed to: Philo of AlexandriaPhilo of Alexandria
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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In the manuscripts, the work is wrongly attributed to Philo of Alexandria, Latin translations of whose works appear alongside LAB.
Language
  • Latin
Date
The original work is usually dated to the first or perhaps second century AD. The Latin translation itself dates from a later period, possibly the third or fourth century.(1)n. 1 John Carey, ‘The ancestry of Fénius Farsaid’, Celtica 21 (1990): note 17. See now Howard Jacobson, A commentary on Pseudo-Philo’s Liber antiquitatum biblicarum (1996).
Form
prose (primary)
Textual relationships

John Carey (1990) discusses the derivation of Ibath, Baath and Fénius in Irish synthetic tradition from Itheb, Beath and Fenech / Phenech, sons of Dodanim, in LAB; he also notes: “I am not aware that there is any other convincing indication of knowledge of LAB by the Irish, and it may be the case that only a fragment reached them; Schaller suggests that the citations of LAB by Rupert of Deutz likewise derive from an ‘Einzelstück’ (Jn. for Study of Judaism 10 (1979) 70)” (p. 109).

Classification

Non-Celtic textsNon-Celtic texts
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Sources

Notes

John Carey, ‘The ancestry of Fénius Farsaid’, Celtica 21 (1990): note 17. See now Howard Jacobson, A commentary on Pseudo-Philo’s Liber antiquitatum biblicarum (1996).

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] [tr.] Jacobson, Howard, A commentary on Pseudo-Philo’s Liber antiquitatum biblicarum, 2 vols, Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchristentums, 31, Leiden: Brill, 1996.
[ed.] [tr.] Harrington, D. J. [ed. and intro.], Jacques Cazeaux, Charles Perrot, and Pierre Bogaert [trs], Pseudo-Philon: les antiquitiés bibliques, 2 vols, Paris: Cerf, 1976.
[ed.] Kisch, Guido [ed.], Pseudo-Philo’s Liber antiquitatum biblicarum, Publications in Mediaeval Studies, 10, Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame, 1949.

Secondary sources (select)

Carey, John, “The ancestry of Fénius Farsaid”, Celtica 21 (1990): 104–112.
Celtica – PDF: <link>
108–109
Schaller, Berndt, “Zur Überlieferungsgeschichte des ps.-philonischen Liber antiquitatem biblicarum im Mittelalter”, Journal for the Study of Judaism 10 (1979): 64–73.
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
November 2014, last updated: January 2024