Chapter Fourteen. Translation as scripture: The Septuagint in Aristeas and Philo

Abstract

At the beginning of the work on the New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS), those involved in preparing the foundations for the project had to reckon with the problems of translating into English, not an original work in the Greek language, but a Greek translation of a Hebrew original. Toury describes a three-fold series of relationships operative in any translation, which he labels position/function-process-product. This chapter focuses on the Letter of Aristeas and to Philo of Alexandria. In the light of the close original relationship between the Septuagint and the Hebrew Torah, what Ps.-Aristeas tells us about is not original function, but reception history. The Septuagint's textual-linguistic makeup points to its intended original function, one in which the Greek was dependent on rather than a replacement for the Hebrew.Keywords: Hebrew Torah; Letter of Aristeas; Philo of Alexandria; Septuagint