Jewish Biography

This chapter assesses Jewish biography. Jews have produced a rich literature in Hebrew, included in the Hebrew Bible, as well as works now lost. After the conquests of Alexander and their coming into the orbit of classical civilization, Jews also contributed to Greek literature, mainly in two forms. First, the Pentateuch and then the other books of the Hebrew Bible were translated into Greek (the Septuagint). Second, they produced a copious literature in Greek, intent on conforming to the language, styles, and genres of Greek literature, but true to their own traditions, concerns, and beliefs (Jewish-Hellenistic literature). This chapter analyses the biographical elements in the Hebrew Bible and addresses the few biographical and autobiographical works of Jewish-Hellenistic literature. It is only the two Hellenized Jews, Philo of Alexandria and the historian Josephus, who produced Jewish biographies and an autobiography, while Herod’s memoirs belong here only insofar as the king was a Jew.