Esther EshelThe Genesis Apocryphon — an Aramaic parabiblical text — recounts,
with additions, omissions, and expansions, some of the stories from Gen 5—15.^11 Although generally attributed to the second or first century B.C.E., an
earlier date cannot be ruled out for the composition of this work.^12 Like the
other Aramaic texts found at Qumran, the Genesis Apocryphon is not con
sidered sectarian.^13
In a paper I wrote in honor of my friend and colleague Betsy
Halpern-Amaru,^14 I discussed the mapa mundi in detail, mainly comparing
the descriptions found in the Genesis Apocryphon (cols. 16-17), Jubilees (8—
9), and Josephus {Ant 1.122-47). Those sources reflect both reliance on Gen
10 and a shared cartographical basis for their construction of the world,^15
namely, an updated version of this ancient, sixth century B.C.E. Ionian
world map, based on Dicaearchus's (fl. 326-296 B.C.E.) division of the
world by a median running through the Pillars of Hercules, the Taurus
Mountains, and the Himalayas.^16 Of these texts, the Genesis Apocryphon
11. See M. J. Bernstein, "From the Watchers to the Flood: Story and Exegesis in the
Early Columns of the 'Genesis Apocryphon,'" in Reworking the Bible: Apocryphal and Re
lated Texts at Qumran, ed. E. Chazon, D. Dimant, and R. A. Clements (Leiden and Boston:
Brill, 2005), 39-63.
12. For the latest edition of the Genesis Apocryphon, see J. A. Fitzmyer, The Genesis
Apocryphon of Qumran Cavei (1Q20): A Commentary, 3rd ed., BibOr 18/B (Rome: Pontificio
Instituto Biblico, 2004). The readings and translation of the Genesis Apocryphon are based
on this edition. However, some readings were arrived at in conjunction with M. Bernstein;
others were formulated in the course of working on this article.
13. Note that Noah waited until the fifth year to drink the fourth-year wine (lQapGen
12:13-15; see also Jub 7:1-2), as in sectarian law, rather than in the fourth year, as in rabbinic
law. See M. Kister, "Some Aspects of Qumranic Halakha " in The Madrid Qumran Congress:
Proceedings of the International Congress on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Madrid, 18-21 March, 1991,
ed. J. Trebolle Barrera and L. Vegas Montaner, STDJ XI,2 (Leiden: Brill, 1992), 2:581-86. On
the other hand, a reference to Noah's endogamy in choosing his children's spouses (col. 6)
may point to general, nonsectarian, second temple practice.
14. E. Eshel, "The Imago Mundi of the Genesis Apocryphon" in Heavenly Tablets: Inter
pretation, Identity, and Tradition in Ancient Judaism, ed. L. LiDonnici and A. Lieber, JSJSup
119 (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2007), 111-31.
15. Such constructs also appear in Pseudo-Philo, Antiquities of the Bible 4.1-10, SibOr 1
3: 110-14; Acts 2:9-11, and later, in Genesis Rabbah 37:1-8. The War Scroll (1QM 2:10-14) also
contains a Gen 10-based list of nations to be fought in the third phase of the thirty-three-
year war. See Y. Yadin, The Scroll of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1962), 26-33. iQM 10:14-15 also alludes to the division of the world.
16. P. S. Alexander, "Notes on the 'Imago Mundi' of the Book of Jubilees," JJS 33
(1982): 204; L. H. Feldman, ed., Judean Antiquities 1-4, vol. 3 of Flavius Josephus: Translation
and Commentary, ed. S. Mason (Boston: Brill, 2000), 43.