Letter of Aristeas
Current State of the OCP Text
The Greek text of Aristeas is presented here as it appears in H. St. J. Thackeray, "Appendix: The Letter of Aristeas," in H. B. Swete, An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1914), 531-606. While newer critical editions are now available which are informed by several more manuscripts (see F. Calabi and A. Pelletier below), Thackeray's texts remains good enough that it was employed by R. J. H. Schutt as the basis of his translation in the OTP. Work on a full critical apparatus for the OCP edition has not yet begun.
Please note that this text has not yet been fully proofread. Use with caution until further notice.
Bibliography
Print Editions
- F. Calabi, Lettera di Aristea a Filocrate (Classici della BUR; Milano: Biblioteca universale Rizzoli, 1995).
- Denis, Concordance, 880-92.
- A. Pelletier, Lettre d'Aristée à Philocrate. Introduction, texte critique, traduction et notes, index complet des mots grecs (SC 89 (Paris: Cerf, 1962).
- ** Currently the standard edition. Corrects the polarized approaches of Wendland and Thackeray by taking judicious account of the early Codex Monacensis 9.
- U. Wilcken, "Urkunden-Referat. II. PER INV. 24552 GR," Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete 12 (1937): 221-23.
- Henry G. Meecham, The Letter of Aristeas: A Linguistic Study with Special Reference to the Greek Bible (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1935), 5-41.
- ** Reprints the text of Thackeray.
- R. Tramontano, La Lettera di Aristea a Filocrate (Naples, 1931).
- ** Text hampered by Tramontano's practice of accepting any reading on which the mss agree, even if it does not yield good sense.
- H. St. J. Thackeray, "Appendix: The Letter of Aristeas," in H. B. Swete, An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek (2d ed.; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1914), 531-606.
- ** First ed. in 1900. Still a good text, though Thackeray did not have benefit of several mss which more recent editions take into consideration. The 1985 translation by R. J. H. Schutt (OTP 2:7-34) was still based on Thackeray's text, despite the availability of Pelletier's more recent edition. Thackeray's text also served as the basis for the popular translation of Moses Hadas. Based on the same mss employed by Wendland. In contrast to Wendland, Thackeray was suspicious of Codex Monacensis 9 because of its textual distinctiveness and (despite its early date) excluded it from consideration. Includes a very full and clear critical apparatus.
- P. Wendland, Aristeae ad Philocratem epistula, cum ceteris de origine versionis LXX interpretum testimonis (Leipzig, 1900).
- ** Published almost simultaneously with the first edition of Thackeray's text and based on the same group of mss. Wendland differed with Thackeray in his evaluation of the manuscript tradition. Wendland placed great weight on the early Codex Monacensis 9 which Thackeray ignored altogether.
- L. Mendelssohn, Aristeae quae fertur ad Philocratem epistulae initium (Torino, 1897).
- ** Includes only paragraphs 31-50.
- M. Schmidt, in Archiv für wissenschaftliche Erforschung des Alten Testaments 1 (1870): 241-312.
- ** The first truly critical edition, departing from Schard's text.
- S. Schard, Basel, 1561.
- ** H. T. Andrews observed that all editions prior to 1870 were re-prints of Shard's text (see "The Letter of Aristeas," in The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English (ed. R. H. Charles; 2 vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1913), 2:91.
For further bibliography, see DiTommaso, Bibliography, 239-58.
The text of Thackeray's edition of the Letter of Aristeas is in the public domain. Before using this or other OCP text for another purpose, please click on the "copyright and permissions" link below to read the policy on re-use and re-publication.