SOLOMON, PSALMS OF

a pseudepigraphal work (not in any biblical canon) comprising 18 psalms that were originally written in Hebrew, although only Greek and Syriac translations survive. Like the canonical Psalms, the Psalms of Solomon contains hymns, poems of admonition and instruction, and songs of thanksgiving and lamentation. Some of these psalms also contain technical musical notations suggesting that they were used in Jewish cultic rites. Many of them express belief in resurrection and free will, and two reveal messianic expectations. The psalms most difficult to date are those primarily concerned with moral exhortation. Some contain obvious references to the Roman general Pompey's conquest of Jerusalem in 63 BC and to the attendant demise of the Hasmonean dynasty of Judaean rulers.