The Legend of the Septuagint From Classical Antiquity to Today [Hardcover]

A history of the uses and abuses of the Septuagint creation in various cultures around the Mediterranean.The Septuagint is the most influential of the Greek versions of the Torah. The exact circumstances of its creation are uncertain, but d ifferent versions of a legend about the translation have existed since antiquity. In the course of the following centuries, to our own time, the story has been adapted and changed for many reasons: to tell a story, to explain historical events, and--most frequently--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.The Septuagint is the most influential of the Greek versions of the Torah. The exact circumstances of its creation are uncertain, but d ifferent versions of a legend about the translation have existed since antiquity. In the course of the following centuries, to our own time, the story has been adapted and changed for many reasons: to tell a story, to explain historical events, and--most frequently--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.Although the orgins of The Septuagint, the most influential of the Greek versions of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, are uncertain, different versions of a legend about the miraculous nature of its translation have existed since antiquity. The legend describes how Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-247 BCE) commissioned 72 Jewish scribes to translate the sacred Hebrew scriptures for his famous library in Alexandria and how the scribes, working independently, produced identical Greek versions. Adapted and changed by Jews, Pagans, Christians, and MuslimslãË