Epistle

An epistle, from the Ancient Greek epistole meaning letter, is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The cited article says the epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum, and that the letters in the New Testament written by apostles to the early Christians are usually referred to as epistles, those traditionally attributed to Paul being known as Pauline epistles and the others as catholic, that is general, epistles. Philosophical works the atlas records as letters or epistles are grouped under this entry.