By the end of the first Christian century, the idea represented by the apocalyptic literature of Judaism had come to its most complete expression. This literature (produced approximately between the years 65 B.C.T. and 120 C.C.) has come down to us mainly in translations which owe their survival to the fact that they circulated among Christian communities where the apocalyptic books for a time enjoyed great popularity; but, with the important exception of the book of Daniel, the Hebrew or Aramaic originals have been lost. The latter book owes its good fortune to the fact that it was ultimately included in the canon of Hebrew Scriptures. The loss of the Semitic originals is highly significant.
All this apocalyptic literature is important, not only from the historical point of view of enabling the modern scholar not only to trace the evolution of certain doctrines and views but also as possessing a certain validity even for an age later than that for which some of these books were primarily written. The book of Daniel, for instance, though originally it was evoked by a particular historical crisis -- the persecution of the Jewish religion by Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 B.C.T. and the following years -- yet continued to be studied and to exercise a marked influence long after the time when the original crisis had passed away. In fact, it served to shape a tradition which persisted, and was adjusted from time to time to meet new situations. The same is true, in greater or less degree, of the other apocalypses that have survived, such as the Books of Enoch, Assumption of Moses, Apocalypse of Abraham and Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. This literature continued to be cherished in certain circles, as is shown by the fact that they have come down to us in translations which were in circulation for a long time after the original publication of the books.
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