"The apocryphal books of Tobit and Judith are both Jewish legends, presumably created in the third or second century BCE. Tobit stems from the Eastern Diaspora, while Judith seems to have originated in Palestine. What both books have in common is their narrative setting in the seventh century BCE, under the Assyrian empire. This handy introduction to the two books discusses the problems of relating real history to historical fiction, examines the genres and purposes of each, and explores literary and religious motives of the tales they tell. Textual problems (the Greek text of the Septuagint vs. the Hebrew and Aramaic Tobit-fragments from Qumran) are also covered in this new addition to the popular Guides to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha series."--BOOK JACKET.