From the Greek for "false name," the authorial stance of assuming the identity of a more famous figure in whose tradition one wishes to write; a common and accepted practice in antiquity, though today considered plagiarism
A literary practice, common among Jewish writers of the last two centuries b c e and the first two centuries c e, of writing or publishing a book in the name of a famous religious figure of the past Thus, an anonymous author of about 168 b c e ascribed his work to Daniel, who supposedly lived during the 500s b c e The Pastorals, 2 Peter, James, and Jude are thought to be pseudonymous books written in the mid-second century c e but attributed to eminent disciples connected with the first-century Jerusalem church