In 1681 Alessandro Stradella wrote an oratorio in two parts La Susanna for Francesco II, Duke of Modena, based upon the story. The Uruguayan painter Juan Manuel Blanes also painted two versions of the story, most notably one where the two voyeurs are not in sight, and Susanna looks to her right with a concerned expression on her face. Some treatments, especially in the Baroque period, emphasize the drama, others concentrate on the nude a 19th-century version by Francesco Hayez ( National Gallery, London) has no elders visible at all. Susanna is the subject of paintings by many artists, including (but not limited to) Lorenzo Lotto ( Susanna and the Elders, 1517), Guido Reni, Rubens, Van Dyck ( Susanna and the Elders), Tintoretto, Rembrandt, Tiepolo, and Artemisia Gentileschi. The story was frequently painted from about 1470. The story is portrayed on the Lothair Crystal, an engraved rock crystal made in the Lotharingia region of northwest Europe in the mid 9th century, now in the British Museum. Susanna and the Elders by Artemisia Gentileschi There are no known early Jewish references to the Susanna story. Origen's claim is reminiscent of Justin Martyr's charge that Jewish scribes 'removed' certain verses from their Scriptures ( Dialogue with Trypho: C.71-3). Origen received the story as part of the 'divine books' and censured 'wicked presbyters' who did not recognize its authenticity ( Hom Lev 1.3.), remarking that the story was commonly read in the early Church ( Letter to Africanus) he also noted the story's absence in the Hebrew text, observing (in Epistola ad Africanum) that it was 'hidden' by the Jews in some fashion. In his introduction, he indicated that Susanna was an apocryphal addition because it was not present in the Hebrew text of Daniel. Jerome (347вЂ“420), while translating the Vulgate, treated this section as a non-canonical fable. Sextus Julius Africanus did not regard the story as canonical. The received version is due to Theodotion this has superseded the original Septuagint version, which now survives only in Syriac translation, in Papyrus 967 (3rd century), and exceptionally in a single medieval manuscript, known as Codex Chisianus 88. Part of the Septuagint text of the Susanna story as preserved in Papyrus 967 (3rd century). The Anchor Bible uses ' yew' and 'hew' and ' clove' and 'cleave' to get this effect in English. The Greek puns in the texts have been cited by some as proof that the text never existed in Hebrew or Aramaic, but other researchers have suggested pairs of words for trees and cutting that sound similar enough to suppose that they could have been used in an original. The false accusers are put to death, and virtue triumphs. The great difference in size between a mastic and an oak makes the elders' lie plain to all the observers. The second says they were under an evergreen oak tree ( бЅ‘ПЂОї ПЂПЃОЇОЅОїОЅ, hypo prinon), and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to saw ( ПЂПЃОЇПѓО±О№, prisai) him in two. The first says they were under a mastic tree ( бЅ‘ПЂОї ПѓП‡ОЇОЅОїОЅ, hypo schinon), and Daniel says that an angel stands ready to cut ( ПѓП‡ОЇПѓОµО№, schisei) him in two. In the Greek text, the names of the trees cited by the elders form puns with the sentences given by Daniel. She refuses to be blackmailed and is arrested and about to be put to death for adultery when the young Daniel interrupts the proceedings, shouting that the elders should be questioned to prevent the death of an innocent.ДЄfter being separated, the two men are cross-examined about details of what they saw but disagree about the tree under which Susanna supposedly met her lover. When she refuses, they have her arrested, claiming that the reason she sent her maids away was to be alone as she was having sex with a young man under a tree. When she makes her way back to her house, they accost her, demanding she have sex with them. The two men realize they both lust for Susanna. As she bathes in her garden, having sent her attendants away, two elders, having previously said goodbye to each other, bump into each other again when they spy on her bathing. A fair Hebrew wife named Susanna was falsely accused by lecherous voyeurs.

Susanna in the book of daniel