Rajak Tessa. Translation and Survival: The Greek Bible of the Ancient Jewish Diaspora

New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. — ISBN: 978–0–19–955867–4.
The translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek was the first major translation in Western culture. Its significance was far-reaching. Without a Greek Bible, European history would have been entirely different - no Western Jewish diaspora and no Christianity. Translation and Survival is a literary and social study of the ancient creators and receivers of the translations, and about their impact. The Greek Bible served Jews who spoke Greek, and made the survival of the first Jewish diaspora possible; indeed, the translators invented the term 'diaspora'. It was a tool for the preservation of group identity and for the expression of resistance. It invented a new kind of language and many new terms. The Greek Bible translations ended up as the Christian Septuagint, taken over along with the entire heritage of Hellenistic Judaism, during the process of the Church's long-drawn-out parting from the Synagogue. Here, a brilliant creation is restored to its original context and to its first owners.
Abbreviations.From Greek Bible to Septuagint.
The True Text?
The Hebrew Hinterland: Torah and Beyond.
The Letter of Aristeas between History and Myth.
Ancient Translation Precedents.
Interpreting the Tradition.
The Aristeas Narrative.
Evolution of the Story.
Fact or Fiction? The Search for Historicity.
The Bible in the Shrine of Serapis?
Reading Aristeas as Historical Myth.
The ‘Meaning’ of the Story.
Other Memories of the Early Ptolemies.
Going Greek: Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Alexandria.
Imperialism and Culture.
Describing the Jews.
The School of Aristotle and the Jews.
The Monarch and Judaea.
Graeco–Egyptians and the Jewish Narrative.
A Law Code?
Jewish Needs and Choices.
Recipients of Patronage.
The Jewish Diaspora in Graeco-Roman Antiquity.
Diaspora.
Ideology.
Diaspora Locations and Populations.
Jewish Identity.
Religious Practice in the Diaspora.
The Jewish Community.
Interaction with Non-Jews.
The Ruling Power.
Conflict.
Staying Jewish: Language and Identity in the Greek Bible.
Understanding Septuagint Language.
Translation Precedents and the ‘Dragoman’.
A Sacred Text.
The Interlinear Theory: Knowledge of Hebrew.
Language and Cultural Resistance.
Vocabulary and History.
Function and Evolution.
Representing and Subverting Power.
Talking about Kings.
Wisdom at Court.
The Vocabulary of Divine Rulership.
The King’s Anger.
Toppling Idols.
Literature and Subversion.
The Uses of Scripture in Hellenistic Judaism.
Preliminaries: Canon and Canonicity.
The Hellenistic–Jewish Tradition.
The Greek Bible and Jewish Literary Production.
Text and Users: Scripture in Action.
Parallels and Models.
The Parallel with Homer.
A Comparative Approach to Jewish Biblical Cultures.
Situating Hellenistic Judaism.
Philo and Josephus.
The Biblical Culture of Hellenistic Judaism.
The Bible among Greeks and Romans.
Ptolemy’s Legacy.
The Exodus Controversies.
Further Echoes: Alexandria and Egypt.
The Roman Milieu.
The World of Magic.The Septuagint between Jews and Christians.
The Abandonment Theory.
Aquila of Pontus.
Competing Texts.
Reinterpreting the Evidence.
Jewish Attitudes to Translation in the Second Century.
Bibliography.
Index.