ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the major bodies of texts that derive in some way from the Hellenistic and Roman periods of Judaism and Christianity. The word canon originally came from the ancient word for “measuring stick.” It has come to mean anything that is official, as opposed to unofficial. Analysing ancient literature is one of the key ways people can uncover information about women and gender in the ancient world. The Apocrypha were not a collection in antiquity. The Apocrypha tell people a lot about Hellenistic and Roman antiquity, and in particular preserve wonderful clues for people in their pursuit of the history of women and the construction of gender in ancient Mediterranean societies. The term “pseudepigraphy” literally means writing attributed to someone other than the actual author. Testaments are, broadly speaking, the last words of someone facing death. Apocalypses are another important genre included among the books that have been lumped together as Pseudepigrapha.
