Aquila of Sinope

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Aquila (

Latin: Aquila Ponticus) was a translator of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, a proselyte, and disciple of Rabbi Akiva
.

Relationship to Onkelos

Opinions differ on whether he was the same person as

It is not clear how much (if any) of the Aramaic translation was based on the Greek.

Greek translation

Only fragments of this translation have survived in what remains of fragmentary documents taken from the

Roman paganism to Christianity but, on being reproved for practicing astrology, converted from Christianity to Judaism.[6] He is said also to have been a disciple of Rabbi Akiva (d. ca. 132 CE). [7]

In Jewish writings he is referred to as Akilas (Hebrew: עקילס) and Onkelos (אונקלוס). Aquila's version is said to have been used in place of the Septuagint in Greek-speaking synagogues. The Christians generally disliked it, alleging that it rendered the Messianic passages incorrectly, but Jerome and Origen speak in its praise.[7] Origen incorporated it in his Hexapla.[7]

The Hexapla were the only known extant fragments of the work until 1897, when fragments of two codices were brought to the Cambridge University Library. These have been published: the fragments containing 1 Kings 20:7-17; 2 Kings 23:12-27 (signed as AqBurkitt) by Francis Crawford Burkitt in 1897, those containing parts of Psalms 90-103 (signed as AqTaylor) by C. Taylor in 1899.[7] A fuller discussion appears in the Jewish Encyclopedia.[4]

The surviving fragments of this translation, and of other Greek translations forming part of Origen's Hexapla, are now being re-published (with additional materials discovered since Field's edition) by an international group of Septuagint scholars. This work is being carried out as The Hexapla Project[8] under the auspices of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies,[9] and directed by Peter J. Gentry (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), Alison G. Salvesen (University of Oxford), and Bas ter Haar Romeny (Leiden University).

See also

References

  1. ^ Chambers Biographical Dictionary. London: Credo Reference. 2011. Aquila.
  2. . Cf. Jenny R. Labendz, "Aquila's Bible Translation in Late Antiquity: Jewish and Christian Perspectives," The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 102, No. 3 (Jul., 2009), pp. 353-388: "Owing in large part to A. E. Silverstone's 1931 study, Aquila and Onkelos, scholars have long accepted the notion that Aquila is identical to Onkelos, a character mentioned numerous times in the Tosefta and to whom the Aramaic Bible translation is attributed in the Babylonian Talmud. However, there is no basis for this claim. As early as 1937, Leon Leibrich published a review of Silverstone's book that pointed to flaws in his logic, textual analysis, and assumptions, as well as to blatant inaccuracies in the work. Based on Leibrich's review and other points that space does not permit me to delineate here, it is clear to me that Onkelos bears no relation to Aquila...Moreover, already in the sixteenth century, the Italian scholar Azariah de Rossi set out to clear up this confusion and prove that the two were not the same. Sefer me 'or eynayim (ed. David Cassei; Vilna: 1866) 383-93 (Imre vinah, ch. 45); English translation in The Light of the Eyes: Azariah de' Rossi (ed. Joanna Weinberg; New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2001) 571-85"
  3. : Chicago 1935, p. 30
  4. ^ a b Jewish Encyclopedia, F. C. Burkitt, AQUILA
  5. ^ chapters 13-16; ed. Migne, 2 259-264
  6. ^ Epiphanius' "Treatise on Weights and Measures" - Syriac Version (ed. James Elmer Dean), University of Chicago Press c1935, pp. 30-31. Click to see online translation of Epiphanius' Treatise on Weights and Measures
  7. ^ a b c d Chisholm 1911.
  8. ^ "Website of the Hexapla Project". Archived from the original on 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2019-05-25.
  9. ^ Website of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies

Attribution:

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainSinger, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)