Tobit

Tobit

Anonymous · c. 250-175 BC; Aramaic fragments at Qumran confirm a Semitic original despite its fictional 8th-7th century BC Assyrian-exile setting · place of composition unknown (Israel) · other

Tobit is a pious novella about a blinded exile, his son's journey guided by the disguised angel Raphael, and a demon defeated by folk remedy, using an entertaining diaspora adventure to model right conduct, almsgiving, and endogamous marriage. Its own place of composition is unknown, distinct from Nineveh and Ecbatana, its narrative setting.