The Oxford Handbook of the Septuagint

The Septuagint is the term commonly used to refer to the corpus of early Greek versions of Hebrew Scriptures. The collection is of immense importance in the history of both Judaism and Christianity. The renderings of individual books attest to the religious interests of the substantial Jewish population of Egypt during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and to the development of the Greek language in its Koine phase. The narrative ascribing the Septuagint's origins to the work of seventy translators in Alexandria attained legendary status among both Jews and Christians. The Septuagint was the version of Scripture most familiar to the writers of the New Testament, and became the authoritative Old Testament of the Greek and Latin Churches. In the early centuries of Christianity it was itself translated into several other languages, and it has had a continuing influence on the style and content of biblical translations. The Oxford Handbook of the Septuagint features contributions from leading experts in the field considering the history and manuscript transmission of the version, and the study of translation technique and textual criticism. The collection provides surveys of previous and current research on individual books of the Septuagint corpus, on alternative Jewish Greek versions, the Christian 'daughter' translations, and reception in early Jewish and Christian writers. The Handbook also includes several conversations with related fields of interest such as New Testament studies, liturgy, and art history.

1 - What Is the Septuagint?
2 - The History of Septuagint Studies: Early Modern Western Europe
3 - The History of Septuagint Studies: Editions of the Septuagint
4 - The Social and Historical Setting of the Septuagint: Palestine and the Diaspora
5 - The Social and Historical Setting of the Septuagint: Hellenistic and Roman Egypt
6 - The Nature of Septuagint Greek: Language and Lexicography
7 - Theology in the Septuagint?
8 - The Letter of Aristeas
9 - Manuscripts, Papyri, and Epigraphy: Papyri and Epigraphy Relating to the Septuagint
10 - Manuscripts, Papyri, and Epigraphy: Manuscripts of the Septuagint from Uncials to Minuscules
11 - Translation Technique
12 - The Pentateuch
13 - Joshua and Judges
14 - The Books of Samuel
15 - The Books of Kings
16 - Chronicles/Paralipomena
17 - Isaiah
18 - Jeremiah and Baruch
19 - Ezekiel
20 - Daniel, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon: Old Greek and Theodotion
21 - The Twelve Minor Prophets
22 - Megillot (Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther)
23 - The Psalter
24 - Proverbs
25 - The Book of Job
26 - Deuterocanonical and Apocryphal Books
27 - Philo and the Septuagint
28 - Josephus and the Septuagint
29 - The Scrolls from the Judean Desert and the Septuagint
30 - Kaige and 'Theodotion'
31 - Aquila
32 - Symmachus
33 - Quinta, Sexta, and Septima
34 - The Samaritan Pentateuch in Greek
35 - The Constantinople Pentateuch and Medieval Jewish Use of Greek Biblical Texts
36 - Citations in the New Testament
37 - The Proto-Lucianic and Antiochian Text
38 - Origen's Hexapla
39 - The Use of the Septuagint in the Liturgy and Lectionary of the Greek Orthodox Church
40 - Reception of the Septuagint among Greek Christian Writers
41 - The Septuagint in the Latin World
42 - The Vetus Latina (Old Latin)
43 - Armenian, Georgian, and Church Slavonic Versions
44 - The Syrohexapla
45 - Coptic, Arabic, and Ethiopic Versions
46 - Modern Translations of the Septuagint
47 - Textual Criticism
48 - New Testament
49 - Christian Theology
50 - Illustrated Manuscripts of the Septuagint

Alison G. Salvesen is Professor of Early Judaism and Christianity at the Oriental Institute, University of Oxford, and Polonsky Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Jewish Studies. Timothy Michael Law is an independent scholar.