# Letter to Origen on the History of Susanna

- Author: [Julius Africanus](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/julius-africanus/)
- Latin title: *Epistula ad Origenem de historia Susannae*
- Date: ca. 220–245 (approximate)
- Source: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Graeca 11 (Paris: Migne, 1857), cols. 41–48

- Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator
- Editions and translations: Nicholas de Lange, ed., Origène: Philocalie, Lettre à Africanus sur l'histoire de Suzanne, SC 302 (Paris: Cerf, 1983)
- Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/julius-africanus-ad-origenem/
- Passages: 1

## Letter to Origen 1

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/julius-africanus-ad-origenem/1/#p-1
- Source: PG 11:44a–48a
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Africanus writes to Origen that the story of Susanna is a later addition to Daniel: its puns work only in Greek, its setting does not fit the captivity, it is absent from the Jewish Daniel, and its style differs.

### Greek text

Χαῖρε, κύριέ μου, καὶ υἱὲ, καὶ πάντων τιμιώτατε Ὠρίγενες, παρὰ Ἀφρικανοῦ. Ὅτε τὸν ἱερὸν ἐποιοῦ πρὸς τὸν Ἀγνώμονα διάλογον, ἐμνήσθης τῆς ἐν νεότητι προφητείας τοῦ Δανιήλ· καὶ, ὡς ἔπρεπεν, ἠσπασάμην τότε· θαυμάζω δὲ, πῶς ἕλαθὲ σε τὸ μέρος τοῦ βιβλίου τοῦτο κίβδηλον ὅν· ἡ γάρ τοι περικοπή αὕτη, χαρίεν μὲν ἄλλως σύγγραμμα, νεωτερικὸν δὲ καὶ πεπλασμένον δείκνυται τε καὶ κατὰ πολλοὺς ἀπελέγχεται τρόπους τῆς γὰρ Σωσάννης ἀποθανεῖν κεκελευσμένης, Πνεύματι ληφθεὶς ὁ προφήτης ἐξεβόησεν, ὡς ἀδίκωςὴ ἀπόφασις ἔχοι. Πρῶτον οὖν ὅτι Δανιὴλ ἅλλῳτρόπῳ προφητεύει, ὀράμασι καὶ ὀνείροις, διὰ παντὸς καιροῦν καὶ ἀγγέλου ἐπιφανείας τυγχάνει, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐπιπνοίᾳ προφητικῇδ ἔπειτα μετὰ τὸ Θαυμασίως πως οὕτως ἀποφθέγξασθαι, καὶ παραδοξότατά πως αὐτοὺς ἀπελέγχει, ὡς οὐδὲ Φιλιστίων ὀ μῖμος· οὐ γὰρ ἐξήρκει ὴ διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος ὲπίπληξις, ἀλλʼ ἰδίᾳ διαστήσας ἑκάτερον, ἐρωτᾷ, αὖ αὐτὴν Οεάσαιτο μοιχωμένην. Ὠς δὲ ὁ μὲν ὑπὸ πρῖνον ἔφασκεν, ἀποκρίνεται πρίσειν αὑτὸν τὸν ἄγγελονι τῷ δὲ ὑπὸ σχῖνον (ἆ) εἰρηκότι, σχισθῆναι παραπλησίω ἀπειλεῖ. Ἐν μὲν οὖν Ἑλληνικαῖς φωναῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα ὀμοφωνεῖν συμβαίνει παρὰΙτὴν πρίνον τὸ πρίσαι, καὶ σχίσαι παρὰ τὴν σχῖνοψ ἐν δὲ τῇ Ἐβραΐδι ’τῷ παντὶ διέστηκεν. Ἐξ Ἐβραίων δὲ τοῖς Ἕλλησι μετεβλήθη πάνθʼ ὅσα τῆς Παλαιᾶς Διαοήκης φέρεται. Πῶς δὲ Χαλδαίοις αἰχμάλωτοι ὄντες ὲν τῇ Βαβυλῶνι, ἠστραγαλωμὲνοι (α), καὶ ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις ἄταφοι ῥιπτούμενοι, ὠς ὲν τῇ προτέρᾳ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἱστόρηται, τῶν τε παίδων αὐτοῖς ἀποσπωμένων είς εὐνουχισμδν, καὶ τῶν Θυγατέρων είς παλλακὰς, ὡς πεπροφήτευτο, οἶδε περὶ θανάτου ἔκρινον, καὶ ταῦτα τῇ βασιλέως αὐτῶν γενομένου γυναικὶ Ἰωακειμ, ὃν σύνθρονον πεποίητο ὁ Βαβυλωνίων βασιλεύς; εί δὲ οὐχ οὗτος, ἀλλʼ ἄλλος τις τοῦ λαοῦ Ἰωακεὶμ, πόθεν τοιαύτη κατάλυσις αἰχμαο λὼτῳ περιῆν, καὶ παράδεισος ἀμφιλαφὴς ἦν; πρὸ δὲ τούτων ἁπάντων, ἥδε ἡ περικοπὴ σὺν ἄλλαις δύο ταῖς ἐπὶ τῷ τέλει τῳ πα ρὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων είλη μμένῳ Δανιὴλ οὐκ ἐμφέρεται (Η). Ἐπὶ δὲ πᾶσι τοσούτων προώοιπορηκότων προφητῶν, ἑξῆς οὐδείς ἐστιν ἐτέρου κεχρημένος ρητῷ νοήματι. Οὐ γὰρ ἐπτώχευο σεν ὁ λόγος αὐτῶν ἀληθὴς ὢν· οὑτοσὶ δέ ἐκείνων θατέρῳ ἐπαπειλῶν, ὑπομιμνήσκει λέγοντος τοῦ Κυρίου· ι Ἀθῶον καὶ δίκαιον οὐκ ἀποκτενεῖς. ι Ἐξ ἁπάντων τούτων ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ προσκεῖσθαιή περικοπή ο ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς φράσεως ὁ χαρακτὴρ διαλλάσσει. Ἔκρουσα· σὺ δέ μοι ἥχησον, καὶ ἀντιγράφων παίδευε. Τοὺς κυρίους μου πάντας προσαγόρευε. Σὶ οἱ ἐπιστάμενοι πάντες προσαγορεύουσιν· ἐρρῶσθαί σε

### English translation (Claude)

Greetings, my lord and son, most honoured Origen, from Africanus.

When you held the sacred dialogue with Agnomon, you mentioned the prophecy of Daniel in his youth; and, as was fitting, I accepted it at the time. But I wonder how it escaped you that this part of the book is counterfeit. For this section, though otherwise an elegant composition, is shown to be recent and fabricated, and is refuted in many ways.

When Susanna had been condemned to die, the prophet, seized by the Spirit, cried out that the sentence was unjust. First, then, Daniel prophesies in another way, by visions and dreams, and always receives the appearance of an angel, not prophetic inspiration. Then, after uttering this in so wonderful a way, he also convicts them in a most extraordinary manner, as not even Philistion the mime would have done. For the rebuke through the Spirit was not enough; he separated the two and asked each where he had seen her committing adultery. And when the one said "under a holm-oak" (prinos), he answers that the angel will saw (prisein) him; and he threatens the one who said "under a mastic tree" (schinos) that he will likewise be split (schisthenai). In Greek words it happens that such things sound alike: prinos with prisai, and schisai with schinos; but in Hebrew they are wholly different. And everything that is current of the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek.

And how could captives of the Chaldeans in Babylon, cast about like dice, thrown unburied in the streets, as is recorded of the former captivity of Israel, with their sons torn from them to be made eunuchs and their daughters to be concubines, as had been prophesied, sit in judgment in capital cases, and that too against the wife of their king Joakim, whom the king of the Babylonians had made sharer of his throne? And if it was not he, but some other Joakim of the people, how did a captive come to have such a mansion and a spreading park?

But before all these points, this section, together with two others at the end, is not contained in the Daniel received by the Jews. Besides all this, of so many prophets who went before, none has used the very words of another; for their word was not poor, since it was true. But this man, threatening one of the two, reminds him that the Lord says: "The innocent and the righteous you shall not kill." From all this it seems to me that the section is an addition. And the character of the style too is different.

I have struck the note; you make it sound back to me, and teach me by writing in reply. Greet all my lords. All who know you greet you. I pray for your health.

### Scripture references

- Exod 23:7: quotation, high confidence
- Ps 79:3 (78:3 LXX): allusion, low confidence
- Dan 1:3: allusion, low confidence

### Extrabiblical texts

- Sus 45 (Susanna): allusion, high confidence
- Sus 54 (Susanna): allusion, high confidence
- Sus 53 (Susanna): quotation, high confidence
- Bel 1 (Bel and the Dragon): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- The word rendered "cast about like dice" (ἠστραγαλωμένοι) is rare and its sense uncertain. The scan reads "διὰ παντὸς καιροῦν καὶ ἀγγέλου"; "καιροῦν" is probably an OCR slip and is not translated. "The two others at the end" are Bel and the Dragon and (probably) the Prayer of Azariah with the Song of the Three; the Song is in fact in the middle of Dan 3, so the reference is uncertain. Philistion was a famous writer of mimes (ca. AD 1). The dialogue with Agnomon ("the Unreasonable") is not otherwise known. Quotations and allusions: Sus 45, 54–59 (Greek additions to Daniel); Exod 23:7 (Sus 53); Ps 78:3 LXX (79:3).

### Citation (SBL)

Julius Africanus, Ep. Orig. 1 (PG 11:44a–48a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/julius-africanus-ad-origenem/1/#p-1).