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Re: response to D.J. Kaufman
Gideon Bohak, who may still be at U. of Michigan, I'm not sure,
recently finished a Ph.D. thesis on Joseph and Asenath in which
he connected the story to the Leontopolis temple. I am working from distant
memory here, but the thesis was done at Princeton. Gideon's work
would probably be another good source of material.
Ben Wright
Lehigh University
> Friends,
> The best place to look for the basic information on Leontopolis is S.
> Steckoll's article "The Qumran sect in relation to the temple at Leontopolis"
> in Revue de Qumran 6:55-69 F 1967. He adds a few interpretations, some of
> which are more questionable than others, but does present the basic
> information quite well. Another good place to find the basic information is
> F. Parente's article in his book with J. Sievers. The book is called Josephus
> and the History of the Greco-Roman Period. It was printed by EJ Brill, New
> York, in 1994. Look at pages 76ff. Also look at Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civ.
> and the Jews, p.276ff.
>
> Essentially the temple was built at a place called Leontopolis in the
> "district of Onias" or "Onias' Land". It was constructed by Onias IV circa
> 150 BCE. Josephus says that the area was called Heliopolis. Josephus tells us
> that the temple was destroyed by Rome in 74 CE if my mind serves me. I
> believe that the citation may be found around War VII 420 or a bit later, but
> not having the text with me, I can't check it.
>
> I do not believe that Philo even mentions the temple at all.
>
> Just a few thoughts,
> -David Jay Kaufman
> HUC-JIR Jerusalem
> Rabbinical Student
>