Texts in Conversation
Prometheus in Greek myth and Azazel in 1 Enoch teach humans forbidden knowledge such as fire, metalwork, and divination, and each is punished by exile in a rocky wilderness. The similarity suggests that 1 Enoch uses elements from Greek mythology.
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Hesiod Theogony
Classical
[560] So, sir, you have not yet forgotten your cunning arts!” So spake Zeus in anger, whose wisdom is everlasting; and from that time he was always mindful of the trick, and would not give the power of unwearying fire to the Melian race of mortal men who live on the earth. [565] But the noble son of Iapetus outwitted him and stole the far-seen gleam of unwearying fire in a hollow fennel stalk. And Zeus who thunders on high was stung in spirit, and his dear heart was angered when he saw amongst men the far-seen ray of fire.
Date: 20-50 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
1 Enoch 8:1
Pseudepigrapha
1 And Azâzal taught men to make swords, knives, shields, and breastplates, and revealed to them the metals of the earth and how to work with them, as well as how to make bracelets, ornaments, and the use antimony, beautifying the eyelids, along with all kinds of precious stones and various dyes. 2 Widespread wickedness arose, and they engaged in fornication, were led astray, and corrupted all their ways. Semjâzâ taught spells and the cutting of roots, Armârôs taught how to break spells, Barâqîjâl taught astrology, Kôkabîal taught about the constellations, Ezêqêal taught about the clouds, Araqiêal taught the signs of the earth, Shamsiêal taught the signs of the sun, and Sariêal taught the course of the moon. And as men died, they cried out, and their cries ascended to heaven.
Date: 200-50 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The teaching motif appears in another form in 1 Enoch chapters 6-11, one in which the content of the teaching is not the arts of civilization but esoteric knowledge of sorcery and astrological magic. This teaching is specifically associated with Semihaza and the Watchers (1 Enoch 7:1; 8:3; 9:8; 10:7). Opinion is divided as to whether this material is a development of the Asa’el tradition which secondarily spreads to Semihaza and his associates (Nickelsburg) or is an independent tradition which became attached to the Semihaza story before the Asa’el material and which may actually have attracted the Asa’el tradition (Dimant). Nickelsburg argues that the Asa’el material is an adaptation of the Greek Prometheus myth. The gift of fire is interpreted in the Asa’el account as the teaching of metallurgy. Other teachings associated with Prometheus are attributed to Semihaza and the Watchers when the Asa’el material is worked into the original Semihaza narrative ..."
Newsom, Carol A.
The Development of 1 Enoch 6-19: Cosmology and Judgment
(pp. 310-329) The Catholic Bible Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 3, 1980
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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