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into lucid Hebrew, with the addition of explanatory notes when necessary.
The ordering of the entries, their grouping into various genres, and the
discussions of the various authors are based on the chapters, categories,
and prosopographical surveys found in The Tents of Japheth.
In The Tents of Japheth, Joseph Geiger notes that Greek intellectual
activity in Palestine is consistent with Greek practices and interests
elsewhere and shows few traces of local color or unique interests. Many
of the pieces translated here are indeed pan-Hellenic in their orientation,
and the speeches, letters, poems, technical and grammatical treatises, and
histories included here could have been composed virtually anywhere in
the Greek-speaking world. There are discussions of the range of arrows and
the doubling of cubes, of building plans and regulations, of grammatical
niceties and rhetorical exercises. We make the acquaintance of Homeric
heroes, philosophers and teachers, lovelorn poets, and city leaders. Other
pieces in the anthology relate more directly to life in Palestine. These
include a bilingual epitaph, financial contracts, brief descriptions of the
geography and cities of Palestine, a mention of the Sabbath, and stories of
encounters between Talmudic sages and Gentiles.
The volume concludes with a bibliography of the writings of Joseph
Geiger.
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