The subject of this thesis is the Exagoge, a second-century BCE Greek tragedy written by Ezekiel the Tragedian. The author retells the biblical story of the Exodus from Egypt, focusing on Moses' calling, leadership, and ultimate elevation. In my analysis of the text, I focus on five main areas: the cultural context; the depiction of Moses in Biblical literature; the Exagoge as Tragedy; the exegesis of the Exagoge; and Moses' dream and early Jewish mysticism. The first chapter surveys Hellenism and Hellenization and the formation of Hellenistic-Jewish identity. The second chapter looks at the development of Moses' character in biblical literature, focusing particularly on the Pentateuch. The third chapter asks how the Exagoge might be considered a tragedy, and how it compares to fifth-century tragedies. I also ask why Ezekiel chose to portray Moses as a tragic figure, and how he might have found precedent for this interpretation in the biblical text itself. The fourth chapter includes a translation of the text from Greek, followed by a line-by-line exegesis of the text. The fifth chapter looks at the dream sequence in the Exagoge and its similarities to 1 Enoch, discussing its relationship to early Jewish mysticism. The goal of the thesis is to discover not only how Moses could be a tragic figure, but also how he could be instrumental to the formation of early Jewish mysticism.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:655671 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Shadle, Amber |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=226791 |
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