Rewritten Bible Or Imitatio? The Vestments of the High-Priest

This chapter focuses on a well known biblical text diversely rewritten in the Jewish sources of the Hellenistic-Roman Period, the description of the high-priest's vestments. Before dealing with the texts, it recalls briefly the most relevant characteristics of the imitatio in the Greco-Roman world. The mimesis or imitatio of the models was an essential element in all literary composition. Very few scholars have paid attention to the phenomenon of the imitatio in the biblical books. In the first section of De Vita Mosis I, Philo abbreviates the account of Exodus 28 and focuses on the symbolic interpretation of the vestments that represent the whole cosmos. Josephus excels in one of the qualities of the imitatio , the semantic variation. The chapter highlights that the description of the high priest's vestments was a favourite theme among the Hellenistic Jewish authors. Keywords: Exodus 28; Hellenistic-Roman Period; high-priest's vestments; Josephus; Philo