Ben Sira

2nd century BCE) was a Hellenistic Jewish scribe, sage, and allegorist from Seleucid-controlled Jerusalem of the Second Temple period.

Ben Sirach wrote his work in Hebrew, possibly in Alexandria in the Ptolemaic Kingdom c. 180–175 BCE, where he is thought to have established a school.

[citation needed] According to the Greek version, though not according to the Syriac, the author traveled extensively (Sirach 34:12) and was frequently in danger of death (34:13).

[citation needed] The calumnies to which he was exposed in the presence of a certain king, supposed to be one of the Ptolemaic dynasty, are mentioned only in the Greek version, being ignored both in the Syriac and in the Hebrew text.

The only fact known with certainty, drawn from the text itself, is that Ben Sira was a scholar, and a scribe thoroughly versed in the Law, and especially in the "Books of Wisdom".