ARTAPANUS. — A Jewish historian who lived in Egypt before the Christian era.
His work Περί Ἰουδαίων was used by Flavius Josephus and cited by Eusebius (Praepar. evang., 9, 18, 23, 27), Clement of Alexandria (Strom., I, 23), and the Chronicon Paschale (P.L. 92, 201), to whom we owe the very few fragments that have come down to us. From these fragments, the work appears tendentious, claiming to demonstrate that all culture, including the worship of the gods, was brought to the world by the Hebrews. Abraham is said to have taught astrology to the Egyptians, Joseph agriculture, and Moses, identified with Musaeus, the teacher of Orpheus, is said to have introduced navigation, architecture, writing, and philosophy.
BIBL.: E. Schürer, Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter J. Chr., III, 4th ed., Leipzig 1909, pp. 477–79. The fragments in C. Müller, Fragm. histor. graec., III, Paris 1852, pp. 207–208. Angelo Penna