Book of Enoch ca. 300–100 BCE

The book of Enoch is an ancient religious work that presents esoteric wisdom and examines the origin of sin, blending ancient Jewish history and Christian-like views. It was probably written in either Hebrew or Aramaic and perhaps in both languages. It survives, however, in an Ethiopic language called Ge'ez, while fragments of the book exist in Greek and Latin. Scholars agree that the five portions of the book were written over a period of perhaps two centuries, from 300 to 100 bce, most probably in or around Jerusalem by the Essenes, a Jewish sect. These texts were then compiled into a single work, often referred to today as 1 Enoch, to distinguish it from 2 Enoch, which survives only in the Old Slavonic language, and 3 Enoch, which was written in about the fifth or sixth century ce.