VI. The Wisdom of Solomon. The noblest literary product of the Jews of the dispersion was the apocryphal book known as the Wisdom of Solomon. It was so called because the author assumed the point of view of Solomon. In so doing he did not intend to deceive his contemporaries, but rather followed the common tendency of his day. Although the book has many characteristic Hebrew idioms, which are due to its Jewish authorship, it was without doubt originally written in Greek. Its author was evidently acquainted with the writings of many of the Greek poets and philosophers. He accepted Plato's doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul (8:19, 20), of the limitations of the body (9:15), and of the creation of the world out of formless matter (11:17). He was especially influenced by the beliefs of the Epicureans and Stoics. He was acquainted with Hellenic art, astronomy, and science (7:17-29) and throughout shows the influence of Greek methods of thinking. His rejection of the teachings of the book of Ecclesiastes, his wide learning and his conception of immortality indicate that he lived some time after the beginning of the Maccabean struggle. His reference in 3:1-4 is probably to the persecutions through which the Jews of Egypt passed during the reign of Ptolemy Psycon (140-117 B.C.). On the other hand the book clearly antedates the writings of the Jewish philosopher Philo, who lived during the latter part of the first century B.C. The Wisdom of Solomon, therefore, may be dated somewhere between 100 and 50 B.C.