The Septuagint and Homeric Scholarship in Alexandria: A Study in the Narrative of the 'Letter of Aristeas'

by Sylvie Honigman

The Letter of Aristeas tells the story of how Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt commissioned seventy scholars to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek.
Long accepted as a straightforward historical account of a cultural enterprise in Ptolemaic Alexandria, the Letter nevertheless poses serious interpretative problems. Sylvie Honigman argues that the Letter should not be regarded as history, but as a charter myth for diaspora Judaism. She expounds its...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415518547
• ISBN13: 9780415518543
• Release Date: January 2012
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 9.2"