[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: orion translation central?
Jim West wrote:
> OK- please contain your laughter at what I am about to suggest and recognize
> that it is sometimes the most wild eyed theories which eventually win the
> day. (but maybe not this time).
>
> Here goes (and these are all assumptions without any basis in fact; what I
> am interested in is your opinion as to the feasibility of the theory)
>
> theory 1- the OT was originally composed in Greek during the Hasmonean
> period by Hellenized folk seeking to legitimize their claim to the land
> (land propoganda in the most positive sense of the term).
Dear Jim,
Do you assume that these Hellenized folk were acquainted with the language and
details of the Gilgamesh Epic or Atra-Hasis (cf. Gen. 6-9) and the Sumerian
Gilgamesh legends (cf. Qohelet, which once cites the Akkadian Gilgamesh Epic and
once Gilgamesh and Agga, I believe).
Do you also assume that expressions such as lwytn nx$ brx lwytn nh$ 'qltn (Is.
27? can"t remember), which has its exact equivalent in Ugaritic ltn bthm brx ltn
bthm 'qltn, somehow had Greek equivalents?
I think the cultural and linguistic evidence, just to name two aspects, is
against your theory.
Jonathan D. Safren
Beit Berl College