I thought it might be relevant because of the recent debate about Richard Carrier's use of this text.
First some background. AoI goes back to the 2nd century CE. It survives in various translations. It has 2 forms, a long form with 11 chapters and a short form with chapters 6-11. Scholars agree that 6-11 was originally separate the only real debate is whether or not 1-5 are an expansion of 6-11 or an originally independent text or texts.
The long version is complete in Ethiopic with fragments in other languages. The short version is complete in Old Slavonic and in a Latin text published in the 16th century from a lost manuscript, and there are fragments in other languages. The Old Slavonic/Latin version was used by the Cathar/Bogomil dualists.
Both versions in their present form have Christ present on this earth but the account in the short version is very brief while the long version has a detailed account with a strange version of the birth of Christ. The present form of the long version of the life of Christ on earth seems prima-facie secondary, and this seems confirmed by its absence in the Old Slavonic/Latin.
However, this conclusion is apparently mistaken, and is contradicted by evidence of Cathar usage of the short (chapters 6-11) version. An Inquisitor notes that in a Cathar heretical text
et descendit de coelo et
apparuit ut puer natus de novo in Bethlehem. Et videtur
ipsi loquenti, quod dictus haereticus dixit, qnod beata Ma-
ria fuit grossa, ac si esset praegnans. Et postea dictus puer
apparuit juxta eam, et existimavit, quod grossities ejus dis-
soluta fuit, quod dictum filium peperisset; cum tarnen eum
non gestasset in ventre, nee eum peperisset. Et postquam
sie dictus puer apparuit in Bethlehem, auditum fuit et nar-
ratum per multos, quod propheta, quem praedixerat Isaias
esse venturum, venerat. Quod audientes tres Reges venerunt
singuli de loco suo et convenerunt simul
(my dodgy translation)and he came down from heaven and
appeared as a new born child in Bethlehem. and it seems
they said that the said heretic said That Blessed Mary was thick, as if she were pregnant And later the said boy appeared to the side of her and it was thought that her thickness had been dissolved it was said that she had borne a son. However she had not carried him in the belly or given him birth. So the boy appeared in Bethlehem, and in the hearing of many it was ratified, that the prophet, whom Isaiah had foretold was going to come, had come. They heard that there came three kings
every man in his place, and they came together at the same time
This is clearly based on the long version of chapter 11 of Ascension of Isaiah and seems to indicate that the original Latin version of 6-11 contained the full form of chapter 11. If so it seems likely that the original (Greek) version of 6-11 had the full form of chapter 11. Possibly chapter 11 was shortened in the Slavonic tradition because it was regarded as unsound and the surviving Latin has been assimilated to the Slavonic.
Andrew Criddle