Enoch
Enoch is a legendary figure in various ancient texts, most notably in the Book of Enoch, which is attributed to him. According to tradition, Enoch was a patriarch who lived before the Great Flood, and he is often described as a man who walked with God and was taken by God instead of experiencing death. The Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish religious work, ascribed by tradition to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah.
The Book of Enoch is not part of the canonical Jewish or Christian scriptures, but it is highly regarded in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It is considered one of the pseudepigrapha, meaning that while the text is attributed to Enoch, the true authorship is unknown and widely believed to be the work of multiple authors over centuries. The book contains a detailed narrative of the heavens and the actions of angels, providing a complex cosmology that was influential in the development of early Jewish mystical beliefs.
The historical Enoch's life and works are shrouded in mystery, and much of what is attributed to him comes from apocryphal and pseudepigraphal texts. These texts have been important in the development of mystical and esoteric traditions in Judaism and Christianity, and they continue to be studied for their rich mythological and theological ideas. The figure of Enoch himself has become emblematic of wisdom and insight into the divine realms, transcending his biblical origins to become a symbol of esoteric knowledge.