Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 - The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution

Taking the Measure of the Ancient World 

biblicalJudaism,andofcourseearlyChristianity,wouldbeformedwithin
aGreekenvironment.Lookingbackfromtheendofthefirstcentury..,
thegreatJewishhistorianJosephus,writinginGreekthewholehistoryofhis
peoplefromtheCreationto..,wastoincorporateawonderfulfolk-
tale,or(onemightsay)historicalnovella,aboutAlexander’svisittoJerusalem:

Thenhewentuptothetemple,wherehesacrificedtoGodunderthe

directionofthehighpriest,andshowedduehonourtothepriestsand

tothehighpriesthimself.And,whenthebookofDanielwasshown

tohim,inwhichhehaddeclaredthatoneoftheGreekswoulddestroy

theempireofthePersians,hebelievedhimselftobetheoneindicated;

andinhisjoyhedismissedthemultitudeforthetimebeing,butonthe

followingdayhesummonedthemagainandtoldthemtoaskforany

gifts which they might desire.When the high priest asked that they

mightobservetheircountry’slawsandintheseventhyearbeexempt

fromtribute,hegrantedallthis.

Weneednothesitatetosaythatthestoryastoldislegend,fortheBookof
Daniel,inwhichthispseudo-prophecydoesindeedappear(:),hadnot
yetbeenwritten.Itwastobecomposed,intheforminwhichwehaveit,
intheheartoftheHellenisticperiod,tobepreciseinthes..,during
thepersecutionofJudaismbytheSeleucidkingAntiochusIVEpiphanes.
Alone of all the other cultures which were to be submerged by Greek
culture,Judaismcontinuedtoproduceworkswritteninitstwonativelan-
guages,HebrewandAramaic(Danielusesboth),andtohaveitsowncanoni-
calworkstranslatedintoGreek.ThelegendofhowtheBible,oratleastthe
Pentateuch, came to be translated into Greek, involves both Egypt, under
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (–..), and Judaea. For the king is said to
havesentamissiontoJerusalemtobringtranslatorstocarryoutthework
inAlexandria.Thestorydoesindeedseemtobelegend,thoughtheseventy
(orseventy-two)translatorshavegivenitsnametotheGreekversionofthe
Bible,theSeptuagint.Butitisafactthattheworkoftranslationhadatleast
beenbeguninthethirdcentury;andwithitaquitenewvisionoftheworld,
andhowitcameintoexistence,cametobeexpressedinGreek.Howmany
classesforthetranslationofGreekprose,Iwonder,haveeverfoundbefore
themtheopeningwordsofthefirstchapterofGenesis?

̓Ενἀρχῇἐποίησενὁθεὸςτὸνοὐρανὸνκαὶτῆνγῆν. ̔Ηδὲγῆἦν

ἀόρατος,καὶἀκατασκεύαστος,καὶσκότοςἐπάνω τῆςἀβύσσου καὶ

πνεῦμα θεοῦἐπεφέρετο τοῦὓδατος.καὶεἶπενὁθεόςΓενηθέτο φῶς.

καὶἐγένετο φῶς.