The ''Treatise of the Three Impostors'' ( la, De Tribus Impostoribus) was a long-rumored book denying all three

Abrahamic religions The Abrahamic religions are a group of religions centered around worship of the God of Abraham. Abraham, a Hebrew patriarch, is extensively mentioned throughout Abrahamic religious scriptures such as the Bible and the Quran. Jewish tradition ...

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

, and Islam, with the "impostors" of the title being

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

, Moses, and

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

. Hearsay concerning such a book surfaces by the 13th century and circulates through the 17th century. Authorship of the hoax book was variously ascribed to Jewish, Muslim, and Christian writers. Fabrications of the text eventually begin clandestine circulation, with a notable French underground edition ''Traité sur les trois imposteurs'' first appearing in 1719.

Timeline of the myth

''Traité sur les trois imposteurs'', from 1719

The work that came to be known by this name was published in the early eighteenth century. There were eight published editions, from 1719 to 1793. There was also clandestine circulation. The ''Traité sur les trois imposteurs'' has been reckoned the most important example of the underground literature in French of the period. The work purported to be a text handed down from generation to generation. It can be traced to the circle around

Prosper Marchand Prosper Marchand (11 March 1678 – 14 June 1756) was an 18th-century French bibliographer, who moved to the Dutch Republic in December 1709. He became a famous annotator and publisher of philosophical, religious and historical works, skilled ...

, who included Jean Aymon and

Jean Rousset de Missy Jean Rousset de Missy (Laon, 26 August 1686– Uithoorn?, 13 August, 1762) was a French Huguenot writer, from early in life in the Netherlands. He was a renowned historian and author on international law and a prolific journalist. Born in Laon fro ...

. It detailed how the three major figures of Biblical religion in fact misrepresented what had happened to them. According to

Silvia Berti Silvia Berti is a history professor at the University of Rome La Sapienza. Her field of interest is European anti-Christian attitudes, Spinoza and Spinozism, the Huguenots, Jansenists and other opposition groups within French history. Publication ...

, the book was originally published as ''La Vie et L'Esprit de Spinosa'' (The Life and Spirit of Spinoza), containing both a biography of Benedict Spinoza and the anti-religious essay, and was later republished under the title ''Traité sur les trois imposteurs''.Berti's essay in ''Atheism from the Reformation to the Enlightenment'' edited by Michael Hunter and

David Wootton Sir David Hugh Wootton (born 21 July 1950) is an English lawyer and politician. He was the 684th Lord Mayor of London, from 2011 to 2012, and is the Alderman of the Ward of Langbourn. Early life Wootton was educated at Bradford Grammar Schoo ...

. Clarendon, 1992. The creators of the book have been identified by documentary evidence as Jean Rousset de Missy and the bookseller Charles Levier. The author of the book may have been a young Dutch diplomat called Jan Vroesen or Vroese. Another candidate, to whom Levier attributed the work, is Jean-Maximilien Lucas. Israel places its composition in the 1680s. The content of the ''Traité'' has been traced primarily to Spinoza, but with subsequent additions drawn from the ideas of

Pierre Charron Pierre Charron (; 1541 – 16 November 1603, Paris), French Catholic theologian and major contributor to the new thought of the 17th century. He is remembered for his controversial form of skepticism and his separation of ethics from religion as ...

Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5/15 April 1588 – 4/14 December 1679) was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influ ...

, François de La Mothe Le Vayer,

Gabriel Naudé Gabriel Naudé (2 February 1600 – 10 July 1653) was a French librarian and scholar. He was a prolific writer who produced works on many subjects including politics, religion, history and the supernatural. An influential work on library science ...

and Lucilio Vanini. The reconstruction of the group of authors, given the original text, goes as far as Levier and others such as Aymon and Rousset de Missy. An account based on the testimony of the brother of the publisher Caspar Fritsch, an associate of Marchand, has Levier in 1711 borrowing the original text from

Benjamin Furly Benjamin Furly (13 April 1636 – March 1714) was an English Quaker merchant and friend of John Locke. Life Furly was born at Colchester 13 April 1636, began life as a merchant there, and joined the early Quakers. In 1659–60 he assisted John ...

Events from 1719

As trope

It has been suggested that the "three impostors" as trope can be seen as the negative form of the "ring parable", as used in Lessing's ''

Nathan the Wise ''Nathan the Wise'' (original German title: ', ) is a play by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing from 1779. It is a fervent plea for religious tolerance. It was never performed during Lessing's lifetime and was first performed in 1783 at the Döbbelinsch ...

''.

References

External links