Biblical Antiquities (Pseudo-Philo)

The Biblical Antiquities (Latin Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum), a Jewish retelling of Israel's history in 65 chapters, from Adam to the death of Saul. For centuries it was copied among the works of Philo of Alexandria, though it is not his (hence "Pseudo-Philo"); its author is unknown. It was composed in Hebrew, most likely in the later first century AD, before or soon after the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, then translated into Greek and from the Greek into Latin, in which alone it survives. It passes quickly over the well-known stories and lingers on Israel's leaders, adding names, speeches, prayers, hymns and legends; Kenaz, a judge it puts in the place of Othniel, has more space than any figure but Moses. This is M. R. James's English of 1917; his Introduction, footnotes, marginal Bible references and appendices are not reproduced, and the chapter and verse numbers are his. Not part of any church's canon.