Greek Text Research Articles

The Extreme Wish in Greek Literature

Abstract In a topos found in a range of Greek texts spanning the archaic period to the sixth century AD, a speaker links the attainment of a cherished goal to a declared desire for death. This sequence of ideas is often dismissed as formulaic or rhetorical; I argue that the topos is more varied and meaningful than such characterizations suggest. Its rationale, grounded in the archaic concept of alternation of fortune, is spelled out for a modern audience in Solon’s speech to Croesus at the opening of Herodotus’ Histories.

Absentia Nominum Sacrorum in Libro Iob: The Examination of אֱלוֹהַּ in Job without Counterpart in the LXX

Abstract Interest in the theology of the different Septuagint (LXX) books is vastly growing. In order to examine whether the LXX books reflect a different theology than the Masoretic Text (MT), I have recently analysed the additional attestations of ὁ θεός and ὁ κύριος in LXX Job and Proverbs without counterpart in MT (see Revue Biblique 128/4 [2021]; Louvain Studies 43/4 [2021] and Vetus Testamentum [forthcoming]). These studies, which focus on explicit differences between the Hebrew and the Greek text, have proven to be successful in describing (1) the (more nuanced) theology and (2) translation technique of both books. This article examines the Hebrew divine אֱלוֹהַּ in Job without a counterpart in the LXX in order to contribute to a deeper understanding of the theology and translation technique of LXX Job.

Linguistic Mathematical Relationships Saved or Lost in Translating Texts: Extension of the Statistical Theory of Translation and Its Application to the New Testament

The purpose of the paper is to extend the general theory of translation to texts written in the same language and show some possible applications. The main result shows that the mutual mathematical relationships of texts in a language have been saved or lost in translating them into another language and consequently texts have been mathematically distorted. To make objective comparisons, we have defined a “likeness index”—based on probability and communication theory of noisy binary digital channels-and have shown that it can reveal similarities and differences of texts. We have applied the extended theory to the New Testament translations and have assessed how much the mutual mathematical relationships present in the original Greek texts have been saved or lost in 36 languages. To avoid the inaccuracy, due to the small sample size from which the input data (regression lines) are calculated, we have adopted a “renormalization” based on Monte Carlo simulations whose results we consider as “experimental”. In general, we have found that in many languages/translations the original linguistic relationships have been lost and texts mathematically distorted. The theory can be applied to texts translated by machines. Because the theory deals with linear regression lines, the concepts of signal-to-noise-ratio and likenss index can be applied any time a scientific/technical problem involves two or more linear regression lines, therefore it is not limited to linguistic variables but it is universal.

Festschriften and Collected Essays

Festschriften and Collected Essays Christopher T. Begg, Thomas Hieke, Fred W. Guyette, Brian J. Meldrum, and Carol J. Dempsey OP Christopher T. Begg Catholic University of America Thomas Hieke Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz Fred W. Guyette Erskine College and Seminary Brian J. Meldrum Catholic University of America Carol J. Dempsey OP University of Portland 771. [History of ANE and Biblical Law] Reinhard Achenbach, Hans Neumann, Eckart Otto, and Guido Pfeiefer (eds.), Zeitschrift für Altorientalische und Biblische Rechtsgeschichte [ZAR] 26 (2020). Pp. iv + 346. Paper €128. ISBN 978-3-447-18094-8. This volume of ZAR contains a total of 12 articles on various aspects of ANE, biblical, and ancient Greek law, written in either German or English. It likewise features nine book reviews or book review essays, a list of contributors, and an index of passages cited. For abstracts of those articles of most direct interest to OTA readers, see ##4, 47, 101, 192, 426, 429.—C.T.B. Google Scholar 772. [Sirach and Its Contexts] Samuel L. Adams, Greg Schmidt Goering, and Matthew Goff (eds.), Sirach and Its Contexts: The Pursuit of Wisdom and Human Flourishing (JSJSup 196; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2021). Pp. viii + 301. $132. ISBN 978-90-04-44732-5. The 14 essays making up this volume stem from a conference held in the summer of 2017 in Richmond and Charlottesville, Virginia. The essays are divided up under four headings: Part 1: The Wisdom of Ben Sira: Contexts, Categories and Approaches (5 essays); Part 2: The Hebrew Manuscripts of Sirach: Diversity, Continuity, and Transmission (3 essays); Part 3: Sages and Their Contexts: Hellenism, Hymns, and Pedagogy (3 essays); and Part 4: The Reception of the Book and Figure of Ben Sira in Antiquity and the Middle Ages (3 essays). Each essay comes with its own bibliography. The volume's additional matter includes an introduction (which provides summaries of the following contributions), an array of illustrations, figures, and tables, and two indexes (ancient sources and modern authors). For abstracts of the essays, see ##144, 145, 163, 182, 585, 586, 587, 588, 590, 591, 592, 593, 594, 595.—C.T.B. Google Scholar 773. [Hexaplaric and Lucianic Readings and Recensions] Joshua Alfaro, Dionisio Candido, and Kristin De Troyer (eds.), On Hexaplaric and Lucianic Readings and Recensions (DSI 14; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2021). Pp. 235. $63. ISBN 978-1-525-53213-4. In the history of the Greek translation of the Bible, there are two recensions that played a very important role: the Hexaplaric recension of Origen and the Lucian text. Origen brought together the different versions of the biblical text in existence at his time and sought to align the current Greek text(s) more closely with the current Hebrew text. His work in doing this, in the words of Anneli Aejmalaeus, "opened the gates to a flood of approximations of the Greek text to the Hebrew." Filtering out what are the Hexaplaric readings in a given book is thus of utmost importance for the reconstruction of the Old Greek text, which may, in various cases, point to a Hebrew text different from our MT. A similar textual initiative was undertaken by Lucian, and his work too needs to be reconstructed and tracked in the attempt to establish the OG text. The 12 essays making up this volume deal with the above issues in 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, Joshua, and Esther. [End Page 257] For abstracts of the 12 essays (all of which are in English and each which comes with its own bibliography), see ##107, 108, 129, 139, 142, 147, 155, 157, 158, 159, 161, 166. [Adapted from published abstract—C.T.B.] Google Scholar 774. [Israel and Aram in Biblical Times] Angelika Berlejung and Aren M. Maier (eds.), Research on Israel and Aram. Autonomy, Independence and Related Issues (Proceedings of the First Annual RIAB Center Conference, Leipzig, June 2016; Research on Israel and Aram in Biblical Times 1; ORA 34; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019). Pp. xvii + 501. €119. ISBN 978-3-16-157719...

Reflections on the Hesychian Lemma βουρικυπάρισσος

The Greek grammarian and lexicographer, Hesychius of Alexandria (5th–6th c. CE) included a Pamphylian gloss: βουρικυπάρισσος ἡ ἄμπελος. Περγαῖοι in his dictionary of rare and dialectal words. Based on a microphilological and lexical analysis, I suggest that the Greek text should be read as follows: βουρί˙κυπάρισσος ἢ ἄμπελος. Περγαῖοι (“bourí: cypress or grapevine. Citizens of Perge”). The Pamphylian gloss in question represents two different borrowings of terms originating in the Near East. The first item βουρί˙κυπάρισσος (‘cypress’) seems to have been borrowed from Akkadian burāšu(m) ‘a kind of conifer tree; juniper or cypress’ with a Lycian intermediary (Akk. burāšu → Luw. *burašiš > Lyc. *burehi > *burhi → Pamph. βουρί), whereas the second one βουρί˙ […] ἄμπελος (‘grapevine’) reflects a separate loanword from an Anatolian source, cf. Hitt. and Luw. muriš c. ‘a grapevine, a vine, a cluster or bunch of grapes or other fruit’. The Pamphylian dialect of Ancient Greek represents an extraordinary idiom, which was used in the neighbourhood of numerous Anatolian languages such as Lycian, Milyan, Sidetic, Pisidian and Cilician. It is therefore not surprising that the Pamphylian Greeks borrowed a number of cultural terms for plants from an Anatolian Indo-European source, as well as from Akkadian or other West Semitic languages via Luwian and Lycian. Additionally, other possible Anatolian borrowings into Ancient Greek (e. g. Gk. dial. βωληνή ‘a type of grapevine’, μῶλαξ ‘id.’ vs. Hittite maḫlaš c. ‘grapevine, Vitis vinifera L.’) are mentioned and reviewed.

Medieval Narratives of Alexander the Great: Transnational Texts in England and France

Medieval Narratives of Alexander the Great: Transnational Texts in England and France

Caroline Macé and Jost Gippert, The Multilingual Physiologus: Studies in the Oldest Greek Recension and its Translations. Turnhout: Brepols, 2021, 661 pp.

Abstract Scholars of the European Middle Ages are well acquainted with bestiaries. These compendia of pithy stories about animal lore told in the service of catechetical instruction were especially popular in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Manuscripts of them survive in the dozens, many of them with lavish illustrations of the animals, plants, and fantastical beasts described therein. A recent exhibition of medieval bestiaries at Getty Museum in Los Angeles yielded a sumptuous catalogue (Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World, edited by Elizabeth Morrison and published in 2019) that provides an ideal starting point for anyone interested in this fascinating genre and its stunning illuminations. Underlying the success of the bestiary in the medieval Latin tradition is a modest Greek text from late antiquity: the Physiologus. Dating from the second or third century, this collection of forty-eight short and strange animal stories with Christian messages was probably composed in Alexandria. Untitled in the manuscript tradition, it takes its name from the anonymous natural scientist – Physiologus – whose authoritative voice narrates the text. As the volume under review makes clear, the Latin tradition was by far the most successful legacy of the Physiologus, but its reach and influence were surprisingly broad owing to the universal appeal of its charming contents, which is evident in the richness of the vernacular translations derived from the original Greek text.

ЛІНГВІСТИЧНІ СХОЛІЇ ДО УКРАЇНСЬКОМОВНОГО ПЕРЕКЛАДУ 1–3 ПСАЛМІВ

The author of the article claims that the translation of the Psalter into the contemporary Ukrainian literary language and its comprehensive study remain urgent for the domestic scientific and theological community despite the individual attempts to implement this project. The correlation of the Hebrew and the Greek texts as well as their adequate reproduction in the Ukrainian language, taking into account the active centuries-old use of the Slavic translation is a problem for the contemporary translators. Pointing out a practical way to solve this problem, the author proposes his own linguistic scholia to the Masoretic, Greek and Slavic texts of the first three Psalms and also offers a version of their translation. The original texts from Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and Septuaginta were used for the work, as well as the commonly used text of the Psalter in the Church Slavonic language. As for Ukrainian translators, the researcher focuses on the liturgical Psalter in the Kyiv translation of 1920, the text of which was edited in 1947 by professors of the Ukrainian Theological Academy in Munich, and the Book of Psalms from the translation department of the Ukrainian Bible Society in 2016: this text claims to be academic and is the latest linguistic word on this topic in Ukrainian biblical studies. Analyzing the original texts, the researcher pays special attention to the basic poetic principle of the biblical poetry – parallelism. He also analyzes individual lexemes, expressions and difficult-to-understand passages, which have repeatedly become the subject of professional discussion, and gives possible options for their translation. The material presented in the article will be useful not only for the Ukrainian specialists in the biblical studies but also for philologiststranslators, literary scholars – all those who are interested in hermeneutics and exegesis of the biblical texts.

New Books across the Disciplines

New Books across the Disciplines

Byzantine Easter Computi An Overview with an Edition of Anonymus 892

The Easter Computus in Par. suppl. gr. 920, dated to year 892, is the earliest known Byzantine Easter Computusthat is not embedded in a discursive framework but is a collection of bare procedures and examples. After an outline of thetradition of Easter Computi, I present four approaches to this Computus: an edition of the Greek text that preserves all linguisticfeatures of the original; a faithful translation; a transcription of any pertinent algorithm in a mildly symbolic formalism; anda discursive elucidation of the same algorithm. The symbolic transcriptions will prove more useful in comparing the proceduresset out in different Computi than the algebraic formulas usually used to formalize them.

Страшный рай «Жития Василия Нового»

Emotive vocabulary played a significant role in creating the image of paradise in the literary works that circulated in Ancient Russia. The article explores the meaning of the adjective “fearful” and its cognates. “The Life of Basil the Younger” was chosen as a historical source, in which references to fear are most common. Based on the comparison of the original text of “The Life…” and its Slavonic translation, the article identifies the Greek equivalent of the Old Russian “fear in paradise”, which is a special kind of emotion — φρίκη. Examples from other sources confirm the established connection. Analysis of Ancient Greek texts made it possible to trace the origins of the concept φρίκη, the changes in its meaning over time, and the main aspects of this state. The author also examines connection between fear-φρίκη and the words that designate the emotion of wonder.. As a result of our research, we got the complex understanding of the concept of fear not only in the descriptions of paradise, but also in the stories where characters are faced with the Divine.

Cruces Copticæ: sopra alcuni luoghi della versione copta del De anima et resurrectione di Gregorio di Nissa

The essay points out some loci in the surviving part of the Coptic translation of De anima et resurrectione, written in Greek by Gregory of Nyssa. It shows how the Coptic text can be useful not only for amending the Greek text but also for understanding better the underlying theology of the Alexandrian Church, which promoted the Coptic translation. In this way, a reading of Gregory’s fragment will be read for the first time using the Coptic version on its own terms and not merely as a translation of Ancient Greek.

Glaubenskrieger - Kriegsdienstverweigerer - Wort- und Blutzeuge des Evangeliums. Charakterliche Vielschichtigkeit, Intertextualität und Versionenpluralität in der lateinischen Passio Theodor Tiros

The Latin dossier on Theodore the Recruit derives in its entirety from the early fifth-century Greek Passio (BHG 1761-62). During the seventh and eighth centuries, the West became acquainted with two versions of it: the older one (BHL 8078) is based on a lost recension of the Greek text which had combined Theodore with Eutropius and Basiliscus in order to present a triad of iconoclast soldier-saints. This older version also exists in a slightly better attested redaction of Northern French origin (BHL 8079). The Latin standard-text (BHL 8077), however, results from an original (re-)translation of BHG 1761, which also relies on the earlier version 8078 and other Latin Martyria of similar content, such as the Martyrdom of Polycarp or the Passio Nestoris. Both the relatively high quality of the translations and the development of Theodore’s cult in the West speak to their Italian origin, at some point between the late sixth and early eighth centuries.

Գրիգոր Բ. Վկայասերի նախաձեռնած թարգմանական շարժումը/The Translational Movement Initiated by Grigor II Vkayaser

In 1075/1076 Grigor Vkayaser (Martyrophil) started a prolific translational activity, trying to protect the Armenian Church from Byzantine encroachments when a new geopolitical situation was created after the fall of the Bagratuni kingdom of Armenia. He enriched Armenian ecclesiastical literature, and with the help of his associates, established educational centers in Cilicia. For translating some writings, Grigor Vkayaser involved foreign translators generously paying them for their work. They translated the original Greek text verbatim into Armenian, and then the text was revised by an Armenian erudite. This method of translation requires a thorough study in order to gain a better understanding of the reasons for its use.

Two Greek Paratext Poems from the Manuscript Q No. 2 of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences

This paper sheds new light on two Greek texts accompanying Aeschylus’ Prometheus Vinctus, in the fifteenth-century manuscript Q No. 2 of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg. The first text is a didactic poem on iambic versification, allegedly composed by Michael Psellos, and the other one is a mixture of book epigrams related to the subject of the Prometheus Vinctus. August Nauck studied the manuscript and published these texts. All further mentions of the manuscript depend on Nauck’s readings, which nobody seems to question. In the latest edition of Psellos, prepared by Westerink, the manuscript from St Petersburg has not been taken into account, albeit the editor mentions Nauck’s publication. As for the epigrams, they have been published several times, also without taking that manuscript into account. A new study of the codex shows that Nauck’s edition contains several minor misreadings, therefore, I propose a new edition, based on the St Petersburg manuscript, as well as other manuscripts bearing same or similar verses, which were, apparently, unknown to him. Analyzing the epigrams on Prometheus, I compare our manuscript with others which contain the same verses (usually in different order). I try to explain some of the mistakes in these texts and correct them, as well as to compare them with other readings.

Sources and Tradition of Five Slavonic Medieval Texts against Nezhit on Lead Amulets and in Manuscripts

The paper aims at studying five medieval Slavonic historiolae concerning nezhit in comparison to ancient and Byzantine Greek texts. The author brings together evidence from both tablets and manuscripts. The study reveals several important textual, linguistic and cultural aspects concerning the significance of the Slavonic text versions.

Mary as a Disciple: The Reception of the Figure of Mary of Bethany (John 11:1–46) in the Old Syriac Sinaiticus Manuscript

The figure of Mary, Lazarus's sister, receives an enhanced role in the Old Syriac Sinaiticus translation of the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1–46). Four readings in the Syriac translation focus on Mary and consist of additions or reelaborations of the Greek text that are not errors or misunderstandings of the original but rather the result of reading the figure of Mary in the context of the Fourth Gospel as a whole. The result is a portrait of Mary of Bethany in the Sinaiticus translation that should properly be titled "portrait of a disciple." This analysis results in a deeper appreciation of the Old Syriac translator's overall interpretation of John 11.

« Dialogus Timothei et Aquilae » (CPG 7794). Une nouvelle histoire du texte / Eine neue Überlieferungsgeschichte

“Dialogus Timothei et Aquilae (CPG 7794). A New History of the Transmission of the Text.” Scholarship about the“Dialogus Timothei et Aquilae” has a long history, which is outlined here. The complete Greek manuscript tradition, includingsome newly discovered manuscripts, is described, together with the Slavonic translation, whose importance for the history andreception of the Greek text is reassessed, taking account of its relationship to the Slavonic chronographic and Paleya traditions.The examination of the Greek tradition and of the Slavonic translation allows us to propose new hypotheses about the history ofthe text and the origin of the two recensions known to date. A critical edition of three selected passages in both the Greek originaland the Slavonic translation is offered here for the first time.

Old Testament Names in the Text of the Ladder of John Climacus

The paper explores twenty-one Old Testament names found in the text of the translated monument of early Slavic writing, the Ladder of John Climacus. These personal names are a special kind of biblical quotations referring to the events of the Holy History. The study builds on a comparative analysis of the Greek text of the Ladder according to the publication in Patrologia Graeca (Vol. 88) and the text of the oldest Russian manuscript of the 12th century. The author looks to identify various strategies of delivering biblical citations used by the author, translator and scribe of the book, which is explained by the absence of the canonical text of the Holy Scriptures and the long history of existence of the Ladder in Byzantine and Slavic book literature. The article follows research on the collective church memory of medieval scribes which manifests itself in the commonality of topics, images, plots, ideas, and expressions that go back to the text of the Bible. The novelty of the work lies in incorporating new linguistic material extracted both from the text published in Patrologia Graeca and from the texts of unpublished Byzantine and Slavic codes. Personal names found in the Greek text of the Ladder (Jacob, Moses, David, Job, Lot, Adam) allude to key symbolic images and reveal several functions of the Old Testament anthroponyms in the Ladder texts: referential, symbolic, emphatic and indexical. Observations on the text of the translation evidenced to the high skill and erudition of the author of the first Slavic translation but at the same time revealed a translation error (new Adam), which was obviously caused by illegible or incorrect reading in the Greek version used as a source text for the translation. Contrastingly, the Russian manuscript under study showcases spelling inconsistencies in relation to Old Testament names as well as multiple errors and omissions of the names of characters. These are the result of multiple copies of the book made by inattentive and inexperienced scribes, one of whom was the scribe of the oldest surviving manuscript of the Ladder, created two centuries after the first translation appeared.

Theoria and Optasia in the Old Church Slavonic Translations of the “Life of St Anthony the Great”

The focus of the present paper is the terms θεωρία and ὀπτασία presented in the Greek text of Life of St Anthony the Great by St Athanasius of Alexandria and their translation representation in the Old Church Slavonic versions of the text. The terms are approached diachronically, i.e. in through history of Classical and post-classical Greek literature, thus providing the necessary cultural background for their usage and context. Each term, then, is commented in its exact attestation in the Life, providing also the corresponding translations and their wider context. The translation renderings are further analyzed in perspective of the lexical material in the classical Old Church Slavonic corpus as well as with material from texts and sources, thus aiming at contextualizing them in wider lexicological perspective.