The Legend of the Septuagint: From Classical Antiquity to Today

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Cambridge University Press, 3. apr 2006
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The Septuagint is the most influential of the Greek versions of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The exact circumstances of its creation are uncertain, but different versions of a legend about the miraculous nature of the translation have existed since antiquity. Beginning in the Letter of Aristeas, the legend describes how Ptolemy Philadelphus commissioned seventy-two Jewish scribes to translate the sacred Hebrew scriptures for his famous library in Alexandria. Subsequent variations on the story recount how the scribes, working independently, produced word-for-word, identical Greek versions. In the course of the following centuries, to our own time, the story has been adapted and changed by Jews, Christians, Muslims and pagans for many different reasons: to tell a story, to explain historical events and to lend authority to the Greek text for the institutions that used it. This book offers the first account of all of these versions over the last two millennia, providing a history of the uses and abuses of the legend in various cultures around the Mediterranean.
 

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Contents

I
II
III
IV
V
3
VI
132
VII
174
VIII
192
IX
217
X
14

Other editions - View all

The Legend of the Septuagint: From Classical Antiquity to Today
Abraham Wasserstein,David J. Wasserstein
No preview available - 2009
The Legend of the Septuagint: From Classical Antiquity to Today
Abraham Wasserstein,David J. Wasserstein
No preview available - 2006

Common terms and phrases

Agapius al-Makin Alexandria ancient Arabic Arabic version Aristobulus Baraitha biblical text captives CB976/Wasserstein century changes Chapter Christian sources Church collection concerned contents copies December 13 December 20 Demetrius detail difficulty divine earlier edition Egypt Eleazar element Epiphanius Ethiopic Eusebius Exodus fact find first five Genesis Greek Bible Greek language Greek translation Greek version Hebrew text Hellenistic High Priest Hody Holy identical inspiration interest invented Irenaeus Islamic Israel Jerome Jerusalem Jewish Tradition Jews Josephus king Ptolemy later Latin learning Legend Letter of Aristeas manuscript Massekhet Sopherim Mekhilta mentioned miracle Moses Muslim offers Old Testament original passage Pentateuch Philo prophets Ps.-Aristeas Ptolemy Philadelphus Rabbanite Rabbis reference reflects Rossi Samaritans scholar Scriptures seems seen sent Sepher Septuagint seventy-two significance Simeon story survived Syriac Talmay Talmud tells told Torah word writing written wrote Yosippon

References to this book

About the author (2006)

Abraham Wasserstein (born Frankfurt am Main, 1921, died Jerusalem, 1995) taught at the universities of Glasgow and Leicester before taking up a chair in Greek at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in 1969, where he stayed until his death in 1995. He had special interests in Greek literature and science, and wrote widely in these fields. His publications include an edition of the medieval Hebrew translation of Galen's commentary on Hippocrates' Airs, Waters and Places (lost in the original Greek). The present book was begun by him and left incomplete at his death.

David J. Wasserstein, AW's son, read classics and oriental studies at Oxford (D.Phil. 1982). He lectured in Arabic and Hebrew at University College, Dublin, and was professor of Islamic history at Tel Aviv University, before taking up a chair of History and of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2004. He is the author of The Rise and Fall of the Party-Kings (1985) and The Caliphate in the West (1993), as well as of many articles on medieval Islamic and Jewish topics.

Bibliographic information

QR code for The Legend of the Septuagint
TitleThe Legend of the Septuagint: From Classical Antiquity to Today
AuthorsAbraham Wasserstein, David J. Wasserstein
PublisherCambridge University Press, 2006
ISBN113945501X, 9781139455015
  
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