Matthew Platt
Ancient Jewish History
Loren Spielman
“Letter of Aristeas”
The, “Letter of Aristeas”, is the primary source for the compilation of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. Despite going on many tangents, it clearly portrays to the reader how the Septuagint came into existence. The story is portrayed through the eyes of Aristeas, presumably a Jew from Alexandria, Egypt. The letter is apparently a correspondence between Aristeas, and his brother in Palestine, Philocrates. Originally the text was written in Greek, however it was not written with the best grammar or style.
The letter opens with Aristeas greeting his brother Philocrates, telling him that he has tried to the best of his abilities to give him an accurate narrative of the events at hand. He continues to explain to Philocrates how a group had been gathered whose mission was the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, something that they accepted upon themselves enthusiastically. He also mentions how he had taken advantage of this moment and had gotten King Ptolemy Philadelphus to release the Jewish prisoners of war that his father, King Ptolemy son of Lagos, had captured.
Aristeas tells of Demetrius of Phalerum who, on his selection as keeper to the king’s library, took upon himself the task of collecting all the books in the world. The king soon asked Demetrius about the completeness of his library, to which he answers, that news had reached him of a Jewish text that was worthy of inclusion into the library. Upon hearing this, the king asks what had stopped Demetrius from obtaining the Jewish text, to which Demetrius replies that there isn’t a Greek translation of the text, and that it is only found in the language of the Jews. After learning of this problem, the king soon writes to the high Priest of the Jews, Eleazar, asking for his help to finish this task. At this point in the narrative, Aristeas chooses to make his first tangent. He attempts to convince the king to release the Jews that had been exiled from Judea by the king’s father. As a way to persuade the king, Aristeas points out that the Jews will not only translate the text but also interpret it as well, and how they would be more willing to do so if there wasn’t such a large number of Jews in subjection within his kingdom. The king promptly releases not only the Jews that had been taken under his father, but also all the Jews that had been taken before and afterwards as well.
Once these exiled Jews were released, the king then asked Demetrius about the status on the translation of the Hebrew Bible. To this Demetrius responds, that although he had received a transcription of the Jewish books, they were translated somewhat carelessly and were not satisfactory for inclusion into the library. He goes onto say that this is most likely due to the fact that this translation didn’t receive royal patronage, and asks the king for permission to send a letter to Eleazar, requesting six men from each tribe, who understand Jewish law, so that they could decide on a translation that will be accepted by the majority, to which the king agrees.
The king writes another letter to Eleazar, telling him what he wishes to accomplish, and thanks him in advance as well as complimenting the Jewish people and the Jewish G-d. He names both Aristeas and Andrea of the chief bodyguards, Jewish men from Alexandria who were regarded as important, as part of the delegation to Jerusalem; he also offers many gifts to the Jewish Temple, something he continues to do throughout the story. Eleazar soon responds to the king, agreeing to all of the king’s requests, pledging not only his obedience but also his friendship. Aristeas then names all seventy two people that were chosen from the twelve tribes. At this point Aristeas goes into another digression, now explaining the details of the gifts given to the Jewish temple, by the king.
From one topic Aristeas then jumps to another, explaining his journey to Jerusalem, which he gives in great detail. When he finally comes back to the subject of the translation, Aristeas explains that the men chosen were all well versed in both Hebrew and Greek texts, but immediately he is side tracked yet again. He goes into a lengthy description of a discussion that he had with Eleazar the High Priest. When Aristeas finishes his story, he then discusses the arrival of the Jewish delegation to Egypt. How the king received the delegation at once, which was not the custom of the kings court. This showed the great respect that the king had for both Eleazar and the Jewish people. The delegation had brought the king a gift, a copy of the Law written on fine skins in Hebrew.
The king then, in a course of seven days, asks each member of the delegation question concerning a wide variety of topics. He, as well as the gathered assembly of philosophers, is impressed with the answers that the members provide. This is especially notable; when it is pointed out that they answered the questions almost instantly. According to Aristeas, three days later Demetrius took the delegation and showed them their rooms, and gave them anything that they needed in order to finish the task. After seventy two days, the delegation finished the translation of the Hebrew Bible; something that Aristeas points out was miraculous in its own right. The Jews of Alexandria then proceeded to place a curse on anyone who dared to change this translation in any way, due to the fact that all the members had agreed upon this translation.
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Matthew Platt
Ancient Jewish History
Loren Spielman
“Letter of Aristeas”
The, “Letter of Aristeas”, is the primary source for the compilation of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. Despite going on many tangents, it clearly portrays to the reader how the Septuagint came into existence. The story is portrayed through the eyes of Aristeas, presumably a Jew from Alexandria, Egypt. The letter is apparently a correspondence between Aristeas, and his brother in Palestine, Philocrates. Originally the text was written in Greek, however it was not written with the best grammar or style.
The letter opens with Aristeas greeting his brother Philocrates, telling him that he has tried to the best of his abilities to give him an accurate narrative of the events at hand. He continues to explain to Philocrates how a group had been gathered whose mission was the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, something that they accepted upon themselves enthusiastically. He also mentions how he had taken advantage of this moment and had gotten King Ptolemy Philadelphus to release the Jewish prisoners of war that his father, King Ptolemy son of Lagos, had captured.
Aristeas tells of Demetrius of Phalerum who, on his selection as keeper to the king’s library, took upon himself the task of collecting all the books in the world. The king soon asked Demetrius about the completeness of his library, to which he answers, that news had reached him of a Jewish text that was worthy of inclusion into the library. Upon hearing this, the king asks what had stopped Demetrius from obtaining the Jewish text, to which Demetrius replies that there isn’t a Greek translation of the text, and that it is only found in the language of the Jews. After learning of this problem, the king soon writes to the high Priest of the Jews, Eleazar, asking for his help to finish this task. At this point in the narrative, Aristeas chooses to make his first tangent. He attempts to convince the king to release the Jews that had been exiled from Judea by the king’s father. As a way to persuade the king, Aristeas points out that the Jews will not only translate the text but also interpret it as well, and how they would be more willing to do so if there wasn’t such a large number of Jews in subjection within his kingdom. The king promptly releases not only the Jews that had been taken under his father, but also all the Jews that had been taken before and afterwards as well.
Once these exiled Jews were released, the king then asked Demetrius about the status on the translation of the Hebrew Bible. To this Demetrius responds, that although he had received a transcription of the Jewish books, they were translated somewhat carelessly and were not satisfactory for inclusion into the library. He goes onto say that this is most likely due to the fact that this translation didn’t receive royal patronage, and asks the king for permission to send a letter to Eleazar, requesting six men from each tribe, who understand Jewish law, so that they could decide on a translation that will be accepted by the majority, to which the king agrees.
The king writes another letter to Eleazar, telling him what he wishes to accomplish, and thanks him in advance as well as complimenting the Jewish people and the Jewish G-d. He names both Aristeas and Andrea of the chief bodyguards, Jewish men from Alexandria who were regarded as important, as part of the delegation to Jerusalem; he also offers many gifts to the Jewish Temple, something he continues to do throughout the story. Eleazar soon responds to the king, agreeing to all of the king’s requests, pledging not only his obedience but also his friendship. Aristeas then names all seventy two people that were chosen from the twelve tribes. At this point Aristeas goes into another digression, now explaining the details of the gifts given to the Jewish temple, by the king.
From one topic Aristeas then jumps to another, explaining his journey to Jerusalem, which he gives in great detail. When he finally comes back to the subject of the translation, Aristeas explains that the men chosen were all well versed in both Hebrew and Greek texts, but immediately he is side tracked yet again. He goes into a lengthy description of a discussion that he had with Eleazar the High Priest. When Aristeas finishes his story, he then discusses the arrival of the Jewish delegation to Egypt. How the king received the delegation at once, which was not the custom of the kings court. This showed the great respect that the king had for both Eleazar and the Jewish people. The delegation had brought the king a gift, a copy of the Law written on fine skins in Hebrew.
The king then, in a course of seven days, asks each member of the delegation question concerning a wide variety of topics. He, as well as the gathered assembly of philosophers, is impressed with the answers that the members provide. This is especially notable; when it is pointed out that they answered the questions almost instantly. According to Aristeas, three days later Demetrius took the delegation and showed them their rooms, and gave them anything that they needed in order to finish the task. After seventy two days, the delegation finished the translation of the Hebrew Bible; something that Aristeas points out was miraculous in its own right. The Jews of Alexandria then proceeded to place a curse on anyone who dared to change this translation in any way, due to the fact that all the members had agreed upon this translation.
Igor Grinberg
October 10, 2006
Loren Spielman
Ancient Jewish History Assignment # 1
“Letter of Aristeas”
Within the “Letter of Aristeas,” Aristeas gives us reason to why we should believe that the Septuagint is the authoritative text on Jewish Law. Aristeas tells us of how or for what reason the Hebrew text was translated into Greek as well as why the Greek version of the text should be regarded as authoritative and sacred. Aristeas wrote the letter to his brother, Philocrates, with the letter containing a tone that Aristeas himself participated in the translation of the text.
Aristeas opens the letter by explaining that the King of Egypt, Ptolemy II, wanted to collect all the writings in the world so that they can be placed in the library of Alexandria. The librarian, Demetrius of Phalerum, decides to include the Jewish Law, but in order to include the text in the library it must first be translated into the universal language, Greek. For the translation to occur Demetrius of Phalerum decides to call upon the high priests of the twelve tribes, six high priests from each tribe; with the permission of Ptolemy II, the high priests whom have been taken captive and sent to Egypt are released to further insure the accuracy of the translation.
When the high priests arrive in Alexandria, they are welcomed with a royal banquet, at which the King questions each one of the seventy-two translators. After the banquet the high priests are ushered to their respected quarters to begin the translation. During that time the high priests do not have any contact with each other in order to insure an accurate and unbiased translation. All the high priests conclude their translation in exactly seventy-two days and each translation is exactly the same as the rest. After the completion of the translation, the translation is read to the Jewish world to ensure the authority and sacredness of the translation. A curse is put upon anyone who shall change the translation in anyway.
At the completion of the translation Ptolemy II is pleased with the addition to the library of Alexandria and the high priests are sent home. Yet the account of the events is some what contradictory. With Aristeas trying to describe the events in the pursed form, there are inclinations that the events were modeled after the seventy elders whom followed Moses in the desert arise in the letter, the events are tried to be modeled in the multiples of seventy to make the translation as sacred as possible, but that would have been impossible to do since there were twelve tribes and seventy does not divide by twelve equally. Also the time it took the high priests to translate the text should have been seventy, keeping with the “sacred” number of elders, not seventy-two. Let alone the fact the seventy-two high priests translated a set of Jewish Laws into a foreign language with exact accuracy to one another is somewhat hard to believe. With contradictions like these we have to rethink the accuracy and the authenticity of the “Letter of Aristeas” and the events that took place. We have to conclude whether the “Letter of Aristeas” is a complete work of fiction, or whether the story is accurate, but fictional details are added to ensure the idea that the overall outcome of the story is so great and sacred that it can not be contested be the people.
Alexis Kushner
Professor Spielman
Ancient History
October 9th, 2006
Letter of Aristeas
The Letter of Aristeas was written sometime between the years 250 B.C. and 100 B.C.E.. It was written in Greek, but “ not a particularly distinguished or elegant type of Greek.” ( pg.108) The letter was a request by Ptolemy II, that the bible be translated into Greek, the result of which was the Septuagint. Ptolemy makes this request to his librarian, Demetrius of Phalerum, so that he could increase his library size from the two-hundred thousand books projected to be in the library, to about five-hundred thousand. In an exchange for the translation, a bargain between Ptolemy II and Aristeas occurred, in which he petitions the release of prisoners. The translation to the bible was to be done by seventy two Jews, six from every tribe. Supposedly, the mythical seventy-two Jews came up with the same translation for the bible. A large part of his letter included questions that the king asked the translators that ranged from a variety of topics. Finally, after seventy-two days the translation is completed, and the king established that this translation was the final version, and the only authorized Greek translation.
The most interesting question about the letter besides its validity would be the purpose of it. The three main possible explanations of why Ptolemy II ordered the translation all have no proof to substantiate themselves. The first option could be exactly what the story mentioned; Ptolemy just wanted to have the translation for his library. The second option could be that there were different groups of Jews in Egypt who engaged in Torah, but they didn’t know Hebrew. They were learning the Torah based on different pieces that they heard in Greek. However, this presented a problem because they were learning Torah in fragments and the need to have one source was prevalent. The last theory could be that the Persian Empire wanted an authoritative law code for the Jews, and this translation would serve that purpose. The Persian Empire demonstrated a sponsorship of Judaism, so, just to ensure that there were laws governing the Jewish people, he requested that this translation be done. However, because there is no proof of any of these theories, or even that the document existed at all, the reader can only speculate as to the validity of the document, and if it did exist, what was the reasoning behind its creation.
One of the questions that the king poses to a translator was “ how can one make his friends like himself?” ( line 191 of letter) The translator responded by saying that Ptolemy would have to show concern for the people that he ruled over, and that he could do this in the fashion that God does this, by giving them food and health. I thought that this question brought an interesting connection to one of the theories presented as to why the letter of Aristeas was written. One possible reason included the idea that the Persian Empire was tolerant to the Jews, and purely wanted the translation in hopes that it would just be a law code to govern over them. I think that this theory shows some tolerance that Ptolemy II had for the Jews, and that he liked the response that the translator gave because he thought that by allowing the Torah to exist in Egypt, even though it had to be in Greek, he was still being tolerant.
The Letter of Aristeas is mostly viewed as a fictional document, because there is no proof that anything as such occurred. However, it is the only ancient document to survive on that topic. Tcherikover believes that the letter was addressed to Jewish readers, not to Greek ones, but obviously doubts the validity of this document.
WORKS CITED
Ancient History Sourcebook compiled by the Jewish Theological Seminary
Letter of Aristeas
I just wanted to clarify a few things about the Letter of Aristeas:
1) The Letter of Aristeas is about much more than just the translation of the Septuagint. In fact, the section of the letter which describes the translation is quite brief.
2) The legend of the 72 independant and yet identical translations is not found in the Letter of Aristeas. Actually, the letter is quite explicit about the fact that the different translators co-operated with one another and harmonized their translations.
-LRS
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