Sylvie Honigman
Biographic Data
| ID | 4018290 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sylvie Honigman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sylvie |
| FAMILY NAME | Honigman |
| SIGNATURE | HONIGMAN S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Tel Aviv University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0740-5812 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Discourse of Resistance versus Dynastic Legitimizing in First Maccabees
1 Maccabees was written to justify the rise to power of a family of usurpers. The primary target of the work is the domestic rivals, who are portrayed as lawless men, while the Maccabean brothers are presented as leaders of the whole people. In contrast, 1 Maccabees is not hostile to the foreign imperial kings per se. On the contrary, the kings are a primary source of legitimacy alongside biblical models, and the ideology shaping the discourse of…
Maccabees as a Judean Work
In this article I make the case that 2 Maccabees was composed in Judea, and more specifically in circles associated with the Hasmonean court, through three lines of argument. First, I argue that the Judean social elites and scribes in the Hellenistic period had a far greater command of Greek than is usually assumed, as evidenced by the Romance of Joseph the Tobiad and by works written in Hebrew that show a deep knowledge either of Greek historiog…
The Social Integration of Judeans in Ptolemaic Egypt and the Egyptian Influences on their Literary Production
This article examines the papyrological evidence documenting some Judean settlements in the Fayyum (Middle Egypt). It is argued that the Judeans - both as Ioudaioi cleruchs (military reservists) and tax-Hellenes (civilians) - belonged to the colonial minority that dominated the country. While maintaining their ancestral identity over the generations, they were also well integrated in their social environment, and the tax-rolls from the village of…
Judeans in Persian and Hellenistic Egypt - Social Settings and Literary Productions
»Vielmehr bietet [der Kommentar] auf höchstem Niveau eine substantielle Auseinandersetzung mit den Hintergründen, den Zusammenhängen, der Theorie und der Praxis des Grundgesetzes. Besseres lässt sich von einem Verfassungskommentar nicht sagen.“ Herbert Günther Staaatsanzeiger für das Land Hessen 2018 (50), 1494–1495
Dynastic Genealogies and Funerary Monuments
When we compare the genealogical strategies of the Ptolemies, Seleukids, and Hasmoneans, those of the Ptolemies and the Hasmoneans display striking parallels, while the Seleukids followed a different policy. This article explores one facet of the parallels, the combined use of funerary monuments, festivals, and narratives (mythical and historical) to create prestigious dynastic ancestors. We commence with Alexander the Great and Nectanebo II, the…
Competition with Egyptian Religious Ideas in the Letter of Aristeas
The article examines afresh statements defining the divine persona of the god of the Judeans in Let. Aris. 9–34 and 128–171. They are interpreted not simply as instances of positive competition with Greek literature and philosophy, but as the product of a triangulated cultural dynamic that also included Egyptian and Greco-Egyptian religious tenets about major Egyptian deities, first and foremost Isis. The said passages in Aristeas are compared wi…
In Search of a New Paradigm
In Judaism and Hellenism, Hengel described Judean society and literature as torn between absorption and rejection of Hellenism. Following the publication of that work the idea of a clear-cut dichotomy between several social circles and their assorted literary productions remained hugely popular, although the identification of the sides in conflict varied between scholars, with “hellenization” being located either within or without (and against) t…
Commemorative Fictions
This article examines the link between narratives transposing traumatic events into fictional story worlds and commemorative settings. The case-study of Athens serves to establish that wartime episodes could indeed be memorialized through fictional narratives and the reinterpretation of traditional myths, which were associated with such settings. Next, it is argued that alongside their recounting in texts referencing the events in a direct (mimet…
Novellas for Diverting Jewish Urban Businessmen or Channels of Priestly Knowledge
The Jewish literary production of Hellenistic and early imperial times includes a substantial number of short narratives displaying novelistic features. Most of these texts are in Greek, with novelistic trends also appearing in Hebrew and Aramaic works (Esther, Daniel). While this stylistic shift is undeniable, the present article questions the social and cultural implications that a number of scholars seek to read into it. Because of their share…
The Spread of the Ideological Concept of a (Jerusalem-Centred) Tōrâ-centred Israel beyond Yehud
The first historical attestation of the wide acceptance and development of the ideological concept of a (Jerusalem-centred) tōrâ-centred Israel outside Judah occurs in Ptolemaic Egypt. Socio-demographic features of the Judean migration to Egypt in the aftermath of the Greco-Macedonian conquest and historical contingencies in Ptolemaic Egypt facilitated the socio-cultural processes that led to this outcome. This essay opens a conversation on how a…
Tōrâ-centred Israel. When a Yehudite Concept Met Ptolemaic Egypt
»Vielmehr bietet [der Kommentar] auf höchstem Niveau eine substantielle Auseinandersetzung mit den Hintergründen, den Zusammenhängen, der Theorie und der Praxis des Grundgesetzes. Besseres lässt sich von einem Verfassungskommentar nicht sagen.“ Herbert Günther Staaatsanzeiger für das Land Hessen 2018 (50), 1494–1495
Time and Its Adversaries in the Seleucid Empire, by Paul J. Kosmin
Antiochus III’s Decree for Jerusalem and the Persian Decrees in Ezra-Nehemiah and LXX 1 Esdras
The article endorses the view that the royal decrees for the Jerusalem temple inserted in Ezra-Nehemiah (and First Esdras) are not genuine, and explores the historical conditions in which they were composed. It points to similarities between the topical content of Antiochus III ’s decree issued in 200/198 BCE (Josephus, Ant. 12.138–144) and that of the Persian decrees, and argues that the latter were based on the former. They were composed in the…
Tales of High Priests and Taxes
In the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great, the ancient world of the Bible—the ancient Near East—came under Greek rule, and in the land of Israel, time-old traditions and Greek culture met. But with the accession of King Antiochos IV, the soft power of culture was replaced with armed conflict, and soon the Jews rebelled against their imperial masters, as recorded in the Biblical books of the Maccabees. Whereas most scholars have dismisse…
Jews, in Alexandria
The Jews in Alexandria formed the most important Jewish community of the Greco‐Roman world outside Palestine in cultural terms.
Iulius Alexander, Tiberius
Born about 14–16 CE into an elite family of Alexandrian Jews, Tiberius was the nephew of Philo of Alexandria, the Jewish philosopher.
Aristeas, Letter of
The best‐known Judeo‐Hellenistic literary work, part of the Pseudepigrapha, written by an anonymous Alexandrian Jew, the Letter of Aristeas relates the circumstances of the translation of the Pentateuch into Greek and, together with Aristobulus, constitutes the earliest evidence of the legend of the origins of the Septuagint.
Apollonios Molon
A prominent orator of the first half of the first century BCE , Apollonios Molon taught rhetoric at Rhodes at about the same time as Poseidonios.
Demetrios (Jewish historian/chronographer)
The earliest known Greco‐Jewish exegete to base himself on the Septuagint, Demetrios flourished in Alexandria under Ptolemy IV Philopator (222–205 BCE ).
The dance of the islands
Politeumata and Ethnicity in Ptolemaic Egypt
The Septuagint and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria
The Letter of Aristeas tells the story of how Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt commissioned seventy scholars to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek. Long accepted as a straightforward historical account of a cultural enterprise in Ptolemaic Alexandria, the Letter nevertheless poses serious interpretative problems. Sylvie Honigman argues that the Letter should not be regarded as history, but as a charter myth for diaspora Judaism. She expounds its …
Les divers sens de l'ethnique Araps dans les sources documentaires grecques d'Égypte
Philon, Flavius Josèphe, et la citoyenneté alexandrine
Quand on examine le statut des Juifs dans la cite grecque, il semble necessaire de distinguer entre les differents domaines: ce qui concerne les institutions religieuses et la question du statut juridique des Juifs. La societe hellenistique et celle du Haut-Empire romain sont infiniment plus tolerantes et liberales que les societes europeennes medievales et modernes. C'est le triomphe du christianisme qui bouleverse les donnees: on ne peut pas pl…
Tales of High Priests and Taxes
In the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great, the ancient world of the Bible—the ancient Near East—came under Greek rule, and in the land of Israel, time-old traditions and Greek culture met. But with the accession of King Antiochos IV, the soft power of culture was replaced with armed conflict, and soon the Jews rebelled against their imperial masters, as recorded in the Biblical books of the Maccabees. Whereas most scholars have dismisse…
The dance of the islands
Philon, Flavius Josèphe, et la citoyenneté alexandrine
Quand on examine le statut des Juifs dans la cite grecque, il semble necessaire de distinguer entre les differents domaines: ce qui concerne les institutions religieuses et la question du statut juridique des Juifs. La societe hellenistique et celle du Haut-Empire romain sont infiniment plus tolerantes et liberales que les societes europeennes medievales et modernes. C'est le triomphe du christianisme qui bouleverse les donnees: on ne peut pas pl…
Les divers sens de l'ethnique Araps dans les sources documentaires grecques d'Égypte
Philon, Flavius Josèphe, et la citoyenneté alexandrine
Quand on examine le statut des Juifs dans la cite grecque, il semble necessaire de distinguer entre les differents domaines: ce qui concerne les institutions religieuses et la question du statut juridique des Juifs. La societe hellenistique et celle du Haut-Empire romain sont infiniment plus tolerantes et liberales que les societes europeennes medievales et modernes. C'est le triomphe du christianisme qui bouleverse les donnees: on ne peut pas pl…
Les divers sens de l'ethnique Araps dans les sources documentaires grecques d'Égypte
Politeumata and Ethnicity in Ptolemaic Egypt
The Septuagint and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria
The Letter of Aristeas tells the story of how Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt commissioned seventy scholars to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek. Long accepted as a straightforward historical account of a cultural enterprise in Ptolemaic Alexandria, the Letter nevertheless poses serious interpretative problems. Sylvie Honigman argues that the Letter should not be regarded as history, but as a charter myth for diaspora Judaism. She expounds its …
The dance of the islands
Jews, in Alexandria
The Jews in Alexandria formed the most important Jewish community of the Greco‐Roman world outside Palestine in cultural terms.
Iulius Alexander, Tiberius
Born about 14–16 CE into an elite family of Alexandrian Jews, Tiberius was the nephew of Philo of Alexandria, the Jewish philosopher.
Aristeas, Letter of
The best‐known Judeo‐Hellenistic literary work, part of the Pseudepigrapha, written by an anonymous Alexandrian Jew, the Letter of Aristeas relates the circumstances of the translation of the Pentateuch into Greek and, together with Aristobulus, constitutes the earliest evidence of the legend of the origins of the Septuagint.
Apollonios Molon
A prominent orator of the first half of the first century BCE , Apollonios Molon taught rhetoric at Rhodes at about the same time as Poseidonios.
Demetrios (Jewish historian/chronographer)
The earliest known Greco‐Jewish exegete to base himself on the Septuagint, Demetrios flourished in Alexandria under Ptolemy IV Philopator (222–205 BCE ).
Tales of High Priests and Taxes
In the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great, the ancient world of the Bible—the ancient Near East—came under Greek rule, and in the land of Israel, time-old traditions and Greek culture met. But with the accession of King Antiochos IV, the soft power of culture was replaced with armed conflict, and soon the Jews rebelled against their imperial masters, as recorded in the Biblical books of the Maccabees. Whereas most scholars have dismisse…
The Spread of the Ideological Concept of a (Jerusalem-Centred) Tōrâ-centred Israel beyond Yehud
The first historical attestation of the wide acceptance and development of the ideological concept of a (Jerusalem-centred) tōrâ-centred Israel outside Judah occurs in Ptolemaic Egypt. Socio-demographic features of the Judean migration to Egypt in the aftermath of the Greco-Macedonian conquest and historical contingencies in Ptolemaic Egypt facilitated the socio-cultural processes that led to this outcome. This essay opens a conversation on how a…
Tōrâ-centred Israel. When a Yehudite Concept Met Ptolemaic Egypt
»Vielmehr bietet [der Kommentar] auf höchstem Niveau eine substantielle Auseinandersetzung mit den Hintergründen, den Zusammenhängen, der Theorie und der Praxis des Grundgesetzes. Besseres lässt sich von einem Verfassungskommentar nicht sagen.“ Herbert Günther Staaatsanzeiger für das Land Hessen 2018 (50), 1494–1495
Time and Its Adversaries in the Seleucid Empire, by Paul J. Kosmin
Antiochus III’s Decree for Jerusalem and the Persian Decrees in Ezra-Nehemiah and LXX 1 Esdras
The article endorses the view that the royal decrees for the Jerusalem temple inserted in Ezra-Nehemiah (and First Esdras) are not genuine, and explores the historical conditions in which they were composed. It points to similarities between the topical content of Antiochus III ’s decree issued in 200/198 BCE (Josephus, Ant. 12.138–144) and that of the Persian decrees, and argues that the latter were based on the former. They were composed in the…
Commemorative Fictions
This article examines the link between narratives transposing traumatic events into fictional story worlds and commemorative settings. The case-study of Athens serves to establish that wartime episodes could indeed be memorialized through fictional narratives and the reinterpretation of traditional myths, which were associated with such settings. Next, it is argued that alongside their recounting in texts referencing the events in a direct (mimet…
Novellas for Diverting Jewish Urban Businessmen or Channels of Priestly Knowledge
The Jewish literary production of Hellenistic and early imperial times includes a substantial number of short narratives displaying novelistic features. Most of these texts are in Greek, with novelistic trends also appearing in Hebrew and Aramaic works (Esther, Daniel). While this stylistic shift is undeniable, the present article questions the social and cultural implications that a number of scholars seek to read into it. Because of their share…
Dynastic Genealogies and Funerary Monuments
When we compare the genealogical strategies of the Ptolemies, Seleukids, and Hasmoneans, those of the Ptolemies and the Hasmoneans display striking parallels, while the Seleukids followed a different policy. This article explores one facet of the parallels, the combined use of funerary monuments, festivals, and narratives (mythical and historical) to create prestigious dynastic ancestors. We commence with Alexander the Great and Nectanebo II, the…
Competition with Egyptian Religious Ideas in the Letter of Aristeas
The article examines afresh statements defining the divine persona of the god of the Judeans in Let. Aris. 9–34 and 128–171. They are interpreted not simply as instances of positive competition with Greek literature and philosophy, but as the product of a triangulated cultural dynamic that also included Egyptian and Greco-Egyptian religious tenets about major Egyptian deities, first and foremost Isis. The said passages in Aristeas are compared wi…
In Search of a New Paradigm
In Judaism and Hellenism, Hengel described Judean society and literature as torn between absorption and rejection of Hellenism. Following the publication of that work the idea of a clear-cut dichotomy between several social circles and their assorted literary productions remained hugely popular, although the identification of the sides in conflict varied between scholars, with “hellenization” being located either within or without (and against) t…
The Social Integration of Judeans in Ptolemaic Egypt and the Egyptian Influences on their Literary Production
This article examines the papyrological evidence documenting some Judean settlements in the Fayyum (Middle Egypt). It is argued that the Judeans - both as Ioudaioi cleruchs (military reservists) and tax-Hellenes (civilians) - belonged to the colonial minority that dominated the country. While maintaining their ancestral identity over the generations, they were also well integrated in their social environment, and the tax-rolls from the village of…
Judeans in Persian and Hellenistic Egypt - Social Settings and Literary Productions
»Vielmehr bietet [der Kommentar] auf höchstem Niveau eine substantielle Auseinandersetzung mit den Hintergründen, den Zusammenhängen, der Theorie und der Praxis des Grundgesetzes. Besseres lässt sich von einem Verfassungskommentar nicht sagen.“ Herbert Günther Staaatsanzeiger für das Land Hessen 2018 (50), 1494–1495
Discourse of Resistance versus Dynastic Legitimizing in First Maccabees
1 Maccabees was written to justify the rise to power of a family of usurpers. The primary target of the work is the domestic rivals, who are portrayed as lawless men, while the Maccabean brothers are presented as leaders of the whole people. In contrast, 1 Maccabees is not hostile to the foreign imperial kings per se. On the contrary, the kings are a primary source of legitimacy alongside biblical models, and the ideology shaping the discourse of…
Maccabees as a Judean Work
In this article I make the case that 2 Maccabees was composed in Judea, and more specifically in circles associated with the Hasmonean court, through three lines of argument. First, I argue that the Judean social elites and scribes in the Hellenistic period had a far greater command of Greek than is usually assumed, as evidenced by the Romance of Joseph the Tobiad and by works written in Hebrew that show a deep knowledge either of Greek historiog…
History (20 works) · Art (15 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (15 works) · Ancient history (12 works) · Archaeology and Historical Studies (11 works) · Historical and Linguistic Studies (11 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Literature (9 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (8 works) · Classics (8 works)