The Book of the Cave of Treasures is a translation of a history in the Syriac language, stretching from the dawn of the Creation to the birth and crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Some five and a half thousand years of human history span the narrative, with various ancient monarchs of human history depicted together with the Great Flood. The final portions narrate the arrival of Jesus Christ, and his sentence of death at the hands of the procurator Pontius Pilate.
Writing towards the end of his distinguished career, E. A. Wallis Budge is keen to distinguish between this text and the contents of other apocryphal works such as the Book of Jubilees and the Book of Adam and Eve. The reader will benefit from this discerning scholarship, as well as the photographic illustrations of pages of the original Ethiopic and Syriac script.
Contemporary scholars generally believe that the Cave of Treasures dates from the 7th century, and is adapted from texts that originate from around the 5th or 6th centuries. It would go on to influence various Medieval-era scholarly texts, with the Book of the Bee by Solomon, Bishop of Perâth Maishân notable for its derivations. Several of Solomon’s translations are appended near the conclusion of this book.
