The Book of the Prince and the Ascetic and the transmission of wisdom

This article deals with the Hebrew Sefer ben ha-melekh we-ha-nazir, a version of the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat probably based on an Arabic source that has not been ­conserved. A first part presents an overview of the ­work’s structure, parable corpus, and narrative instances, putting special emphasis on stylistic features. An appendix ­complements this part. A second part focuses on the depiction on two narrative levels of transmission of wisdom as a ­constitutive element of the ­ascetic’s job.