The Letter of Aristeas

The Letter of Aristeas has been an object modern scholarly interest since the seventeenth century. It is best known for containing the earliest version of the translation of the Hebrew Law into Greek, and this story accounts for much of the scholarly attention paid to the work. Yet, this legend only takes up a small percentage of the work. Looking at Aristeas as a whole, the work reveals an author who has acquired a Greek education and employs both Jewish and Greek sources in his work, and he has produced a Greek book. Even though Aristeas has garnered scholarly attention, no fully fledged commentary has been written on it. The works of R. Tramontano, M. Hadas and others, often referred to as commentaries, only contain text and annotated notes. This volume fills the gap in the scholarship on Aristeas by providing a full, paragraph-by-paragraph commentary, containing a new translation, text-critical notes, general commentary, and notes on specific words, phrases and ideas.

Auteur

Benjamin G. Wright III, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA.

Résumé

"Die verdienstvolle Arbeit gibt den Studenten der Judaistik ein praktisches Nachschlagewerk in die Hand, weckt Bewusstsein für aktuelle Probleme und Fragestellungen der Judaistik und der Septuaginta-Forschung, liefert wichtige bibliographische Hinweise und wird bestimmt noch viele Jahre für jede Beschäftigung mit der hellenistisch-jüdischen Literatur ein unentbehrliches Arbeitsinstrument bleiben."
Maria Sokolskaya in: Judaica. Texte zum Verstehen des Judentums, 73 (2017), 2-3, pp. 329-331

*"*Wright har leveret et fornemt arbejde, der vil være til stor hjælp for den, der ønsker at trænge dybere ind i Aristeasbrevet som en af de vigtigste kilder til alexandrinsk jødedom i 100-tallet f.Kr."

Mogens Müller in: Dansk Teologisk Tidsskrift 80 (2017), 72-73

"This commentary is a major contribution to the scholarly study of the Letter of Aristeas. It covers the issues comprehensively. It is accessible to specialists, postgraduates, and even advanced undergraduate students. It is an essential reference for anyone working on this text and is a valuable resource for the study of Hellenistic Judaism."

James A. Davila in: Bibische Notizen. Neue Folge 176 (2018), 148-149