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.
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