Translation and Survival The Greek Bible of

The translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek was the first major translation in Western culture. Its significance was far-reaching: without a Greek Bible, European history would have been entirely different - no Western Jewish diaspora and no Christianity. Translation and Survival is aliterary and social study of the ancient creators and receivers of the translations, and about their impact. The Greek Bible served Jews who spoke Greek, and made the survival of the first Jewish diaspora possible - indeed, the translators invented the term 'diaspora'. It was a tool for thepreservation of group identity and for the expression of resistance. It invented a new kind of language and many new terms. The Greek Bible translations ended up as the Christian Septuagint, taken over along with the entire heritage of Hellenistic Judaism, during the process of the Church'slong-drawn-out parting from the Synagogue. Here, a brilliant creation is restored to its original context and to its first owners.

Tessa Rajak is Professor Emeritus of Ancient History, University of Reading and Senior Research Fellow, Somerville College, Oxford.

Abbreviations	p. xiv
Introduction	p. 1
From Greek Bible to Septuagint	p. 14
The True Text?	p. 16
The Hebrew Hinterland: Torah and Beyond	p. 20
The Letter of Aristeas between History and Myth	p. 24
Ancient Translation Precedents	p. 24
Interpreting the Tradition	p. 28
The Aristeas Narrative	p. 30
Evolution of the Story	p. 34
Fact or Fiction? The Search for Historicity	p. 38
The Bible in the Shrine of Serapis?	p. 43
Reading Aristeas as Historical Myth	p. 47
The 'Meaning' of the Story	p. 51
Other Memories of the Early Ptolemies	p. 55
Going Greek: Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Alexandria	p. 64
Imperialism and Culture	p. 67
Describing the Jews	p. 72
The School of Aristotle and the Jews	p. 74
The Monarch and Judaea	p. 79
Graeco-Egyptians and the Jewish Narrative	p. 82
A Law Code?	p. 84
Jewish Needs and Choices	p. 86
Recipients of Patronage	p. 88
The Jewish Diaspora in Graeco-Roman Antiquity	p. 92
Diaspora	p. 92
Ideology	p. 100
Diaspora Locations and Populations	p. 102
Jewish Identity	p. 106
Religious Practice in the Diaspora	p. 107
The Jewish Community	p. 112
Interaction with Non-Jews	p. 114
The Ruling Power	p. 119
Conflict	p. 120
Staying Jewish: Language and Identity in the Greek Bible	p. 125
Understanding Septuagint Language	p. 127
Translation Precedents and the 'Dragoman	p. 136
A Sacred Text	p. 139
The Interlinear Theory: Knowledge of Hebrew	p. 143
Language and Cultural Resistance	p. 152
Vocabulary and History	p. 162
Function and Evolution	p. 172
Representing and Subverting Power	p. 176
Talking about Kings	p. 177
Wisdom at Court	p. 181
The Vocabulary of Divine Rulership	p. 185
The King's Anger	p. 191
Toppling Idols	p. 193
Literature and Subversion	p. 204
The Uses of Scripture in Hellenistic Judaism	p. 210
Preliminaries: Canon and Canonicity	p. 212
The Hellenistic-Jewish Tradition	p. 216
The Greek Bible and Jewish Literary Production	p. 222
Text and Users: Scripture in Action	p. 227
Parallels and Models	p. 239
The Parallel with Homer	p. 239
A Comparative Approach to Jewish Biblical Cultures	p. 243
Situating Hellenistic Judaism	p. 249
Philo and Josephus	p. 251
The Biblical Culture of Hellenistic Judaism	p. 255
The Bible among Greeks and Romans	p. 258
Ptolemy's Legacy	p. 259
The Exodus Controversies	p. 262
Further Echoes: Alexandria and Egypt	p. 264
The Roman Milieu	p. 267
The World of Magic	p. 270
Conclusion	p. 276
The Septuagint between Jews and Christians	p. 278
The Abandonment Theory	p. 288
Aquila of Pontus	p. 290
Competing Texts	p. 294
Reinterpreting the Evidence	p. 296
Jewish Attitudes to Translation in the Second Century	p. 303
Bibliography	p. 314
Index	p. 367
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Translation and Survival The Greek Bible of the Ancient Jewish Diaspora

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