Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T12:10:14.474Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - The Ptolemaic Changes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2009

David J. Wasserstein
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University, Tennessee
Get access

Summary

The list of so-called Ptolemaic changes that we find in our sources, in all its variety, is not imaginary or arbitrary. Although not all the instances of alleged changes made by the translators are found in our texts of the Septuagint, the apparatus criticus of the LXX shows that at least some of the passages cited by the Rabbis do indeed contain the readings mentioned or alluded to by them. Because we do not have all the Greek versions circulating in antiquity, we cannot be sure that more of these readings were not in fact part of some such version. But we have enough to show us that we are reading reports that contain information about texts actually current in antiquity. That the Rabbis selected from what was at their disposal some readings for mention in a list designed to register variants which are clearly approved of for some purposes (even if not accepted into the text) need not surprise us, nor should we suppose that there were not also readings of which the Rabbis might not have approved. But it is clear that what those who told the story and who listed the Ptolemaic changes had in front of them was a body of text(s) or readings that were not tendentious but exegetical and homiletic and, more importantly, approved for certain purposes.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Legend of the Septuagint
From Classical Antiquity to Today
, pp. 84 - 94
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×