Zenobia of Palmyra and the Book of Judith: Common Motifs in Greek, Jewish, and Arabic Historiography
This article points to the many parallels between the book of Judith and the Arabic account of the life and death of Zenobia of Palmyra. By comparing these two stories with the episode about Zopyros in Herodotus’ Histories and the episode about Sinon in accounts of the fall of Troy, it argues that t...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
2013
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| In: |
Journal for the study of the pseudepigrapha
Year: 2013, Volume: 22, Issue: 4, Pages: 295-320 |
| Further subjects: | B
Zenobia of Palmyra (al-Zabbā')
B Sinon B Arabic historiography B Zopyros B Achior B Book of Judith |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Electronic
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| Summary: | This article points to the many parallels between the book of Judith and the Arabic account of the life and death of Zenobia of Palmyra. By comparing these two stories with the episode about Zopyros in Herodotus’ Histories and the episode about Sinon in accounts of the fall of Troy, it argues that these similarities can only be explained if we assume that the book of Judith and the Arabic Zenobia Legend are adaptations of the same Vorlage, an earlier story that contained a Holofernes motif (heroine kills enemy) and a Sinon motif (enemy deceives heroine). When this Vorlage was adapted to create the book of Judith, the part of the deceiving Sinon was adapted to create the role of the sincere Achior, whereby he lost his function in the story and became a blind motif. |
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| ISSN: | 1745-5286 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the pseudepigrapha
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0951820713491687 |