Zoya Anatolyevna Barzakh PhD in Philology, graduate student, Department of Classical Studies, Bar-llan University (Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, 5290002)
zoia_barzakh@mail.ru
Barzakh Z. A. «Exodus» (Ἐξαγωγή) of Ezekiel the Tragedian: introductory article and translation, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii[Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2019, vol. 8, pp. 334–355.
doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2019-00016
Language: Russian
This is the first Russian verse translation of the fragments of the tragedy Exagoge, which was written by a certain Ezekiel in Hellenistic Alexandria and passed to us in citations by Eusebius of Caesaria (Praeparatio Evangelica). This tragedy dramatized the events of the Pentateuch book Exodus, chapters 1–15. It was written in ancient Greek and according to the canons and standards of ancient Greek tradition. This is the longest Jewish Hellenistic poetic fragment to survive, the most substantial testimony to Hellenistic tragedy, and the earliest Jewish play in history. The most probable date of the fragments is the end of III–II century BC. Ptolemaic Alexandria of this period was the unique spiritual and cultural environment, which originated the biggest, the most influential and certainly the most open to the Hellenic cultural influence Jewish community of the diaspora. The best-known literary document of the period is the translation of LXX, which, in turn, gave the impulse to the creation of vast corpus of Jewish literature in Ancient Greek. In the Introduction, the translator gives the survey of Exekiel’s sources. Among the Jewish sources, apart from the Pentateuch in LXX translation, we can mention early Jewish mysticism, known to us through Enochic tradition, and early exegetical tradition, which lately originated what passed to us through midrashim. Menwhile, we can state with certainty that the author of the tragedy was familiar with the greatest masterpieces of ancient Greek tragedy and made a conscious attempt to use its canons and images in adopting Biblical material.
Key words: Ezekiel the Tragedian, Exagoge, Alexandria, Hellenistic tragedy
URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/en/barzakh-2019-en/
