Pseudo-Abdias

Pseudo-Abdias is the name formerly given to a collection of New Testament Apocrypha held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France and consisting of Latin translations in ten books containing several chapters.

[1][2] The name "Pseudo Abdias" itself is a mistake, dating from the edition of Swiss scholar Wolfgang Lazius (1552), and based on the mention of a disciple called Abdias, who is presented as the companion of the two apostles Simon and Judas Thaddeus on the way to Persia in one of the books, Passio Simonis et Iudae (BHL H, 7749-7751).

[3] In Lazius' editio princeps (W. Lazius, Abdiae Babyloniae episcopi et apostolorum discipuli de historia certaminis apostolici libri decem Basel, 1552), the introduction to the Pseudo-Abdias is allegedly written by Sextus Julius Africanus who claimed the originals were written by Abdias of Babylon who was allegedly consecrated by Saint Simon and personally knew some of the Apostles.

Abdias was supposed to have originally written them in Hebrew and Latin, after which they were translated into Ancient Greek by "Eutropius", his assistant.

[1] The art historian Otto Demus argued that Pseudo-Abdias was a significant influence upon the designers of the mosaics of St Mark's Basilica in Venice.