Talk:Hecataeus of Abdera

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I object to this part
"Regarding his authorship of a work on the Jews (utilized by Josephus in Contra Apionem), it is conjectured that portions of the Aegyptiaca were revised by a Hellenistic Jew from his point of view and published as a special work."

Apparently someone has trouble simply believing that a Greek historian would write about the Jews specifically? The passages cited by Josephus do not at all seem like just edited excerpts from a history of Egypt, as many of them have nothing to do with Egypt. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.92.234.42 (talk) 19:52, 6 February 2010 (UTC)

Anecdote
Hecataeus of Abdera, a Greek historian who lived at the end of the fourth century BCE, tells an amusing story about a certain march in which he participated during, or just following, Alexander the Great's conquest of the ancient Near East: "When I was on the march toward the Red Sea, among the escort of Jewish cavalrymen who accompanied us was a certain Mosollamus [Hebrew Meshullam], a very intelligent man, robust, and by common consent, the very best of bowmen, whether Greek or barbarian. This man, noticing that a number of people were now idling on the path and that the whole force was being held up by a seer who was taking the auguries, asked why they were stopping. The seer pointed to a certain bird he was observing, and told him that if it stayed in that spot, they would do well to wait around for a while. If it got up and flew forward, then they would be free to proceed; if, however, it flew backward, they were to turn back. The Jew, without saying a word, drew his bow and shot, hitting the bird and killing it. The seer and some of the others became indignant and began heaping curses on him. "What you poor people getting so upset about?" he asked. Then, picking up the bird in his hand, he said: "How could any sound information about our journey have been provided by this poor creature, who was unable to make provision for his own safety? For if he had any gift for divination, he never would have come to this place, for fear of being killed by an arrow from Mosollamus the Jew."

James L. Kugel, In the Valley of the Shadow pg 156-157 --Gwern (contribs) 22:19 23 November 2011 (GMT)