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Joseph and Aseneth

About this book
Chapter 1

1 In the first year of plenty, in the second month, on the fifth day of the month, Pharaoh sent Joseph to go around all the land of Egypt; 2 and in the fourth month of the first year, on the eighteenth day of the month, Joseph came to the district of Heliopolis, 3 and he was gathering the grain of that country like the sand of the sea. 4 And there was a man in that city named Pentephres, who was a priest of Heliopolis⁠ and a satrap of Pharaoh, and chief over all Pharaoh's satraps and princes; 5 and this man was very rich and very wise and gentle, and he was also a counselor of Pharaoh, because he was more discerning than all Pharaoh's princes. 6 And he had a virgin daughter, named Asenath, eighteen years old, tall and graceful, and more beautiful to look at than any virgin on the earth.⁠ 7 Now Asenath herself did not resemble the Egyptian virgins, but was in every way like the daughters of the Hebrews, 8 being as tall as Sarah and as graceful as Rebekah and as beautiful as Rachel; 9 and news of her beauty spread throughout all that land and to the ends of the world, so that all the sons of the princes and the satraps wanted to court her, and even the sons of kings, all of them young and powerful men, 10 and there was fierce rivalry among them because of her, and they tried to fight against one another. 11 And Pharaoh's firstborn son also heard about her, and he kept begging his father to give her to him in marriage, saying: 12 "Father, give me Asenath, the daughter of Pentephres, the leading man of Heliopolis, as my wife." And his father Pharaoh said to him: 13 "Why are you asking for a wife of lower rank than yourself when you are king of all this land? 14 No! Look, the daughter of Joachim the King of Moab is promised to you in marriage, and she herself is a queen and extremely beautiful. Marry her."

Texts in conversation

Compare Chariton, Chaereas and Callirhoe 1.1 and Joseph and Aseneth 1:7

Classical · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

Joseph and Aseneth opens with language similar to Greek romance novels like Chariton’s Callirhoe, which describes a heroine whose beauty is almost divine. Both introduce a virtuous woman whose beauty motivates a story of transformation.

Passages

Chariton, Chaereas and Callirhoe 1.1

Classical
Hermocrates, ruler of Syracuse, victor over the Athenians, had a daughter named Callirhoe, a marvel of a girl and the idol of all Sicily. In fact her beauty was not so much human as divine, not that of a Nereid or mountain nymph, either, but of Aphrodite herself.

Joseph and Aseneth 1:7

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
4 And there was a man in that city named Pentephres, who was a priest of Heliopolis and a satrap of Pharaoh, and chief over all Pharaoh's satraps and princes; 5 and this man was very rich and very wise and gentle, and he was also a counselor of Pharaoh, because he was more discerning than all Pharaoh's princes. 6 And he had a virgin daughter, named Asenath, eighteen years old, tall and graceful, and more beautiful to look at than any virgin on the earth. 7 Now Asenath herself did not resemble the Egyptian virgins, but was in every way like the daughters of the Hebrews, 8 being as tall as Sarah and as graceful as Rebekah and as beautiful as Rachel;
100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Joseph and Aseneth

References

“... When referring to women, Aseneth uses the latter connotation of the young female, but the genre of this narrative produces more expectations regarding the nature of female parthenoi. In ancient Greek novels, chastity is an outward sign of noble youth, and parthenos especially describes the female protagonist, so a female parthenos in Aseneth is a heterosexually innocent woman who is unmarried, capable of producing offspring, and from a wealthy household. [...] tall like Sara, attractive like Rebekka, and beautiful like Rachel Sara, Rebekka, and Rachel are extraordinary ancestors with whom most Hebrew women cannot compare but Aseneth can. Ancient Greek novels present the female protagonists as exceptional in appearance (often likening them to goddesses), and here Aseneth’s extraordinary beauty resembles three of the epic heroines of Judaism. [...] 1:6. the report of her beauty spread . . . to fight against each other on account of her The extraordinary beauty of the female protagonist and the interest of noble suitors that her renowned looks generate are typical features in ancient Greek novels. [...] The isolation of a parthenos is a common motif in Greek literature (e.g., Callirhoe in Chariton’s Chaereas and Callirhoe 1:1–6), but it is not clear how much this was the case for parthenoi in real life. ...”
Patricia Ahearne-Kroll, “Joseph and Aseneth,” in Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture, ed. Louis H. Feldman, James L. Kugel, and Lawrence H. Schiffman (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2013), 2530–2532.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Chariton, Chaereas and Callirhoe 1.1 and Joseph and Aseneth 1:7

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