Solomon to His Friends: The Role of Epistolarity in Eupolemos

Abstract

The Hellenistic Judaean historian known as Eupolemos embedded four fanciful epistles in his history of the kings of Judaea: two letters from Solomon to the kings of Egypt and Tyre, and the two responses of those kings. The letters to and from the king of Tyre are closely modeled on an exchange between Solomon and Hiram of Tyre in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles. The letters involving the Egyptian king, however, are Eupolemos's invention. This article demonstrates through a close reading of Eupolemos vis-à-vis its sources, and in light of contemporaneous Greek letters, that the author used Hellenistic epistolary conventions as a medium for rewriting the traditional history of Solomon's reign. It is argued that he did so apologetically in order to characterize the foreign kings as ‘friends', that is, subordinate vassals, of the Judaean king. The historical context reflected in this epistolary re-characterization reflects political conditions in Hasmonean Judaea in the late second century bce, and thereby is offered as evidence against the consensus date of Eupolemos (158/57 bce) and the related assumption that this author can be identified as the ambassador Eupolemos mentioned in 1 Macc. 8.17 and 2 Macc. 4.11.