Biblical Prophets in Byzantine Palestine: Reassessing the Lives of the Prophets

The "Lives of the Prophets," a series of brief biographical sketches of the major and minor prophets of the Hebrew Bible, is a unique composition. Generally held to be a Jewish document from the end of the period of the Second Temple, the "Lives" offers an abundance of geographical, genealogical, and narrative detail which is not readily paralleled. This study provides the first thorough assessment of the work in nearly a century. A survey of the textual state of the composition and its reception is followed by a detailed examination of the literary structures which underlie the individual "vitae," It is argued that the "Lives" is an evolved, heavily redacted document whose present form cannot predate the fourth century C.E. Only within the context of early Byzantine Christian concerns - holy men, sacred sites, and the veneration of the saints - does the "Lives of the Prophets" become a comprehensible and vital text.