Ahiqar nel libro di Tobia

The relations between the book of “Tobit” and the “History of Ahiqar” can be studied from the image of the Assyrian wise emerging in the passages of “Tobit” in which he was introduced as a relative of Tobit. Ahiqar is mentioned in Tb 1:21-22; 2:10; 11:18; 14:10, where his vicissitudes are re-contextualized against the backdrop of the ones of Tobit, and indirectly also in Tb 4:17; 14:15. The first and the last one of the direct mentions contain several important information: they occur at the beginning and at the end of “Tobit,” i.e. in the framework that encloses essential features of the Tobit’s story. Here, criticism currently tends to recognize traces of the original legend which inspired the author, whose outline is also present in the book of “Job,” and in other texts of the Ancient Near East.