Author Description

This book contains the first critical edition of the ancient Jewish romance of "Joseph and Aseneth" with full apparatus from the entire manuscript tradition both Greek and versional. The romance tells how Aseneth, daughter of an Egyptian Priest, became the wife of Joseph, Pharao's viceroy, following her conversion to the God of the Hebrews. It is an instructive witness to Jewish diaspora theology and hence to the soil on which Christianity grew. The edition is preceded by a fifty-page introduction summarizing the history of the text and its modern reconstructions, and followed by appendices e.g. on the illustrated manuscripts and special indices to stimulate further study.