From Greek, pseudos, “false,” and epigraphos, “writing, inscription.” A somewhat loose term to describe a group of texts, mostly written between the third century b.c.e. and the second century c.e., which, although generally not attributed the same sanctity as the Bible, were nonetheless studied and preserved by early Jews and Christians. They are called “Pseudepigrapha” (“falsely ascribed” writings) because many of them purport to be the pronouncements of an ancient worthy such as Adam, Enokh, Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Ezra, and so forth. A great many of these books retell biblical stories or seek to comment on incidents or figures known from the Bible, and they can thus tell us much about how the Bible was read and interpreted from the third century b.c.e. on. Included in the Pseudepigrapha are various apocalypses, or revelations, given to various biblical figures, often “foretelling” events belonging to the time in which the apocalypse in question was actually written; testaments, that is, the “last words” or wills of biblical figures standing at the threshold of death and imparting advice and recollections to their children; and interpretive retellings and expanded biblical stories.