The so-called Letter of Aristeas is a Hellenistic Jewish forgery or pseudepigrapha. Josephus (Antiquities XII:ii passim) ascribes to a certain Aristeas a letter ascribing the Greek translation of the Jewish Law to seventy-two interpreters sent into Egypt from Jerusalem at the request of the librarian of Alexandria, resulting in the Septuagint translation. Forgery is the process of making or adapting objects or documents (see false document), with the intention to deceive (fraud is the use of objects obtained through forgery). ... Pseudepigrapha (from the Greek words pseudos = lie and epigrapho = write) is a text or a number of texts whose claimed authorship or authenticity is incorrect. ... Josephus (c. ... Jerusalem (31°46′ N 35°14′ E; Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם Yerushalayim; Arabic: القدس al-Quds; see also names of Jerusalem) is an ancient Middle Eastern city of key importance to the religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. ... Antiquity and modernity stand cheek-by-jowl in Egypts chief Mediterranean seaport Located on the Mediterranean Sea coast, Alexandria (in Arabic, الإسكندرية, transliterated al-ʼIskandariyyah) is the chief seaport in Egypt, and that countrys second largest city, and the capital of the Al Iskandariyah governate. ... The Septuagint (LXX) is the name commonly given in the West to the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) produced in the third century BC. The Septuagint Bible includes additional books beyond those used in todays Jewish Tanakh. ...

Over twenty manuscripts of this letter are preserved and it is often mentioned and quoted in other texts.

The work is a glitteringly staid account with no plot relating how the king of Egypt, presumably Ptolemy II Philadephus, is urged by his librarian Demetius of Phalarum to translate the law books of the Jews. The king responds favorably, including giving freedom to Jews who had been taken into captivity by his fathers and sending lavish gifts (which are described in great details) to the temple in Jerusalem along with his envoys. The high priest Eleazar choses exactly six men from each tribe, giving 72 in all; he gives a long sermon in praise of the Law. When the translators arrive in Alexandria the king weeps of joy and for the next seven days puts philosophical questions to the translators, the wise answers to which are related in full. The 72 translators then complete their task in exactly 72 days. The Jews of Alexandria, on hearing the Law read in Greek, request copies and lay a curse on anyone who would change the translation. The king then rewards the translators lavishly and they return home. Head of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309-246 BC), with Arsinoë II. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309-246 BC), was of a delicate constitution, no Macedonian warrior-chief of the old style. ...

Early philological analysis proved the letter was a forgery. In 1684, Humphrey Hody published Contra historiam Aristeae de LXX. interpretibus dissertatio, in which he showed that the so called "Letter of Aristeas" was the late forgery of a Hellenized Jew, originally circulated to lend authority to that version. The dissertation was generally regarded as conclusive, although Isaac Vossius (1618-1689), who had been librarian to Queen Christina of Sweden, published an angry and scurrilous reply to it, in the appendix to his edition of Pomponius Mela. Events France under Louis XIV makes Truce of Ratisbon separately with the Empire and Spain. ... Humphrey Hody (1659 - January 20, 1707) was an English monk and theologian. ... Christina (1626 – 1689) or Kristina, later known as Maria Christina Alexandra and sometime Count Dohna, was Queen of Sweden from 1632 to 1654, was the daughter of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. ... Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. ...

See also

• Library of Alexandria
• Septuagint
• Masoretic Text

The Royal Library of Alexandria was once the largest in the world. ... The Septuagint (LXX) is the name commonly given in the West to the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) produced in the third century BC. The Septuagint Bible includes additional books beyond those used in todays Jewish Tanakh. ... The Masoretic Text (MT) is the Hebrew text of the Tanakh approved for general use in Judaism. ...

External links

• English translation by Herbert T. Andrews from The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English: Volume II Pseudepigrapha, edited by R. H. Charles (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1913) [ISBN 0198261527]:
  • Wesley Center Online: Pseudepigrapha
  • Christian Classics Etheral Library: Pseudepigrapha
• Commentary at Early Jewish Writings