Elena Dugan’s “Apocalypse of the Birds”: A critical review

Abstract

Elena Dugan’s book, The Apocalypse of the Birds: 1 Enoch and the Jewish Revolt Against Rome, seeks to overturn the prevailing scholarly consensus that the “Animal Apocalypse” (1 En. 85–90) is a unified work, written at the time of the Maccabean revolt or shortly thereafter. She argues that it is two works and that the second part, called by her “The Apocalypse of the Birds,” was written in the latter ‘60s C.E. It does not describe the Maccabean revolt, but the “first Jewish revolt” against Rome and the defeat of Cestius Gallus in 66 C.E. She points out that the latter part of the “Animal Apocalypse” is not attested at Qumran, and she tries to show on literary grounds that the work has two parts. She further points to many alleged deficiencies in the “Maccabean hypothesis” and strengths in her “Roman hypothesis.” This review constitutes a detailed rebuttal to Dugan’s book by a representative of the “Maccabean hypothesis.” It also makes a new and original case for an allusion to the “Animal Apocalypse” in Jubilees 4:19, something Dugan denies.