Septuagint

Septuagint. The Septuagint is the earliest extant Koine Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, produced for the Greek-speaking Jewish community in Alexandria during the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Its creation, traditionally dated to the 3rd century BCE, represents a pivotal moment in the transmission of Jewish religious texts into the Hellenistic world. This translation became the foundational scriptural text for early Christianity and profoundly influenced Western culture.

Name and origin

The name "Septuagint," derived from the Latin for "seventy," originates from the legendary narrative in the Letter of Aristeas. This text describes how Ptolemy II Philadelphus commissioned seventy-two Jewish scholars from Jerusalem to translate the Torah for the Library of Alexandria. While modern scholarship views this story as a pious legend, it underscores the translation's origins in the vibrant Diaspora community of Alexandria. The work likely began with the Pentateuch in the 3rd century BCE, with subsequent books translated or composed over the next two centuries. Key figures in its early use and promotion included the philosopher Philo of Alexandria and later the authors of the New Testament.

Content and textual history

The Septuagint contains the entire corpus of the Hebrew Bible, but its canon is more expansive, including several deuterocanonical books such as Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch, and Maccabees. It also presents significant textual variations from the later standardized Masoretic Text, notably in books like Jeremiah and Job. The translation process was not uniform, with different books showing varying degrees of literalness or paraphrase. Early revisions, such as those attributed to Theodotion, Aquila of Sinope, and Symmachus the Ebionite, attempted to bring the Greek text closer to emerging Hebrew standards. The collection was crucial for the work of Origen in his Hexapla.

Language and style

Composed in the common Koine Greek of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Septuagint's language is a unique dialect heavily influenced by its Semitic source material. It introduced numerous Hebraisms and coined new Greek terms to convey Hebrew religious concepts, significantly shaping the theological vocabulary of early Christianity. The style varies dramatically between books, from a fairly literal, sometimes awkward, rendering of the Pentateuch to a more fluent and literary Greek in works like the Wisdom of Solomon. This linguistic bridge made Jewish law, prophecy, and wisdom accessible throughout the Hellenistic and later Roman Empire.

Significance and influence

The Septuagint's influence is monumental, serving as the primary Old Testament for the Apostolic Age and the early Church Fathers like Clement of Rome and Justin Martyr. Its prophecies and phrasing are extensively quoted in the New Testament, particularly in the Gospel of Matthew and the Epistles of Paul. It was the version used by the Eastern Orthodox Church and formed the basis for the Old Latin and later the Vulgate of Jerome. The translation also facilitated the spread of Jewish ideas in the Greco-Roman world, influencing thinkers like Philo of Alexandria and providing a scriptural foundation for theological debates in centers like Antioch and Caesarea Maritima.

Manuscripts and editions

The text of the Septuagint is preserved in several major uncial codices, most famously the Codex Vaticanus, the Codex Sinaiticus, and the Codex Alexandrinus. Important papyrus fragments include the Rylands Papyri and the Chester Beatty Papyri. The first printed edition was part of the Complutensian Polyglot in the 16th century. The standard critical edition for most books is the Göttingen Septuagint, while the older Sixtine Septuagint and the Cambridge Septuagint remain important. Discoveries at Qumran, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, have provided invaluable Hebrew texts for comparative study, shedding light on the translation's source material. Category:Ancient Greek texts Category:Bible translations Category:Judaism and Christianity