Abstract
The Greek word ‘androgyne’ that appears in Plato’s Symposium defines the primordial human being as a hermaphrodite. After Zeus’ wrath, this human being is divided as a male and a female. This Greek mythical definition of the human being is not harmonious with the Hebraic one given in the creation narrative of Genesis 1-2. Hence, the biblical reader can be astonished to get to know that this scandalous word is used in the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint.<BR> This textual bizarreness drives the Septuagint specialists to translate ‘androgyne’ as an effeminate man rather than as a hermaphrodite in Proverbs LXX 18:8 and 19:15. It is possible that the word ‘androgyne’ in 19:15 forms wordplay with a gune andri in the previous verse. However, this is a makeshift measure devised in order to evade an interpretative difficulty. In this case, one cannot reflect a great semantic meaning of an androgyne. In light of the Ancient Near Eastern civilization, a deep sleep in Genesis 2:21 and the image of God in Genesis 1:26 can be reconsidered in a mythical background of human creation.<BR> This article considers not only a textual problem related to ‘androgyne’ but the cultural strategy of the Septuagint translators who had to preserve and express their faith as diasporan Jews under the influence of Hellenism.
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