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Judith and Holofernes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Extract

Among the books of the Apocrypha two portions stand out in strong relief as bearing the marks of genius. One is the Book of Wisdom, with its sustained moral fervour and luxuriant yet devout fancy; the other, the noble tragedy of the Book of Judith. The latter work has the further interest of presenting a curious literary problem. Is ‘Judith’ in any sense history, or even based on history, or is it mere romance ? Certainly the writer takes great liberties with facts. Time and place have to yield to the requirements of the narrative. Famous names are mingled together in extraordinary combinations. Nebuchadnezzar reigns over the Assyrians at Nineveh; and he reigns soon after the Jewish return from Captivity. An Arphaxad rules at Ecbatane as king of the Medes. An unknown high priest Joachim is supreme at Jerusalem. The book opens moreover with a catalogue of nations brought under this Nebuchadnezzar's sway; and the list teems with contradictions of history and even of probability.

Learned opinion since the time of Grotius has been almost unanimous in pronouncing the book to be an historical romance, of the time of the Maccabees or later, wherein the writer sets forth in parable the hopes and fears of his nation, and stirs up his countrymen to heroic resistance to the oppressor.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1885

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