Download or read book A New English Translation of the Septuagint written by Albert Pietersma and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-11-02 with total page 1050 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of Jewish sacred writings) is of great importance in the history of both Judaism and Christianity. The first translation of the books of the Hebrew Bible (plus additions) into the common language of the ancient Mediterranean world made the Jewish scriptures accessible to many outside Judaism. Not only did the Septuagint become Holy Writ to Greek speaking Jews but it was also the Bible of the early Christian communities: the scripture they cited and the textual foundation of the early Christian movement. Translated from Hebrew (and Aramaic) originals in the two centuries before Jesus, the Septuagint provides important information about the history of the text of the Bible. For centuries, scholars have looked to the Septuagint for information about the nature of the text and of how passages and specific words were understood. For students of the Bible, the New Testament in particular, the study of the Septuagint's influence is a vital part of the history of interpretation. But until now, the Septuagint has not been available to English readers in a modern and accurate translation. The New English Translation of the Septuagint fills this gap.
Download or read book LXX Song of Songs and Descriptive Translation Studies written by Dries De Crom and published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. This book was released on 2019-01-21 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dries De Crom intends to stimulate the cross-fertilization of Septuagint Studies and Translation Studies, particularly the theoretical framework of Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS). It engages with concepts and theories from DTS in order to demonstrate their applicability to the study of the Septuagint. The aim is not to replace the established methods of Septuagint Studies, but rather to show that they are fully compatible with descriptive approaches to translation. The greater part of the volume is dedicated to a meticulous verse-by-verse comparison between the LXX and MT texts of Song of Songs. As there is at present no full critical edition of the Greek texts of Song of Songs, due attention is given to the most important witnesses to the pre-Hexaplaric text. The textual study engages with matters of translation technique, textual criticism, linguistic interference and the interpretation of LXX Song of Songs. On the basis of this textual analysis, the volume explores the question of Kaige-Theodotion and LXX Song of Song's relation to it, as well as the peculiar textual-linguistic profile of LXX Songs of Songs, against the background of translational norms, interference, interlanguage and literary code.
Download or read book Introduction to the Septuagint written by Siegfried Kreuzer and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Examines the origins, language, textual history, and reception of the Greek Old Testament"--
Download or read book Septuagint s Solomon and the Testament of Solomon written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 2020-07-07 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: King Solomon is arguably the most famous of all ancient Israelite kings, with several books in the Septuagint dedicated to him, or about him, or even by him, yet, to date, no archeological evidence for his life has been found. Additionally, the Testament of Solomon has survived from the Second Temple era which displays another side of King Solomon. The lifetime of King Solomon falls during the Third Intermediate Period (dark age) in Egyptian history, and therefore are no records of Solomon within the very limited Egyptian records from the time. Egyptologists believe the Kingdom of Egypt collapsed at the beginning of the time period, and by the time that Solomon would have lived, in the early-9th century BC, the king of Egypt only controlled the northern region, while the rest of Egypt was under the rule of the High Priest of Amen (Amun). The various books associated with Solomon that made it into the Septuagint, include 3rd Kingdoms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, and Psalms of Solomon, als of which have been retranslated into modern English. The first book in this collection is 3rd Kingdoms, which tells the life of Solomon, likely from Ezra the Scribe's perspective, 500 years later. The book likely dates to before the reign of King Josiah, circa 700 BC, but is believed to have been redacted by Ezra the Scribe, or someone else in his era. The second book, Proverbs, also called Proverbs of Solomon, is generally attributed to King Solomon, who is explicitly referred to as the author of some of the proverbs. A number proverbs are known to have been copied from older collections of proverbs, most notably the Wisdom of Amenemope, which was apparently written by Amenemope son of Kanakht sometime before Pharaoh Akhenaten, circa 1350 BC. The third book, Ecclesiastes is generally also attributed to King Solomon, however, he is not mentioned anywhere by name. The idea that King Solomon was the author, is found in the introduction to the text. At some point before the Greek translation was made, someone added an introduction and conclusion to the text, in which the author is described as being the 'son of David,' and a 'King in Jerusalem.' The fourth book, Song of Songs, also called the Song of Solomon, is a song about King Solomon theoretically written in his time, circa 950 BC. The book does not list its author, but it was clearly written by a woman in love with Solomon. She is believed to have been referring to herself as a Shulamite in chapter 7, which suggests she was Abishag the Shulamite, King David's youngest concubine. The fifth book, Wisdom of Solomon was added to the Septuagint sometime between 250 and 132 BC, and while it was traditionally attributed to King Solomon, today scholars generally believed to have been composed in Greek, shortly before it was added to the Septuagint. The Wisdom of Solomon itself appears to have been redacted before the Greek translation, as the first half is about the spirit of wisdom, Sophia in Greek, who is credited with actually doing most of what the Lord (Iaw/Yahweh) was credited with doing in the Septuagint and Masoretic Texts, however, this changes abruptly to crediting the Lord in chapter 11, and Sophia disappeared entirely from the rest of the book. The sixth book, Psalms of Solomon, is also called Psalms of Salomon in many of the surviving manuscripts, although it is not clear why. At this time, it is universally agreed that the Psalms of Solomon is a pre-Christian work, as early Christian writers referred to it even though it is clearly not about the life of Jesus as described in the gospels. The seventh book, Testament of Solomon, was widely used by Christian and Gnostic astrologers in the first few centuries of the Christian era.
Download or read book Grammar of Septuagint Greek written by F. C. Cornybeare and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2014-07-10 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Holy Orthodox Bible New Testament based on the Patriarchal Majority Texts written by Peter Papoutsis and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Septuaginta written by Gregory R. Lanier and published by . This book was released on 2018-11 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Dream Stele of Thutmose IV written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2020 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thutmose IV inherited the New Kingdom at its peak when his father Amenhotep II died. Amenhotep II had likewise inherited a strong empire from his father Thutmose III, and had organized a peace treaty with the Mitanni Empire to the north. Thutmose IV took the peace treaty one step further and married a Mitannian princess to secure a peaceful northern border. He is most famous for his activities at the great sphinx of Giza, and the Dream Stele he erected beneath its head. There is debate about why he erected the Dream Stele, and some Egyptologists have suggested it was intended as propaganda to validate his seizing the throne instead of it falling to his elder brother, as it states that the great god Haremakhet-Khepri-Ra-Atum spoke to him in a dream, in the form of the great sphinx, and promised he would be the king one day. It seems extremely unlikely that Amenhotep II would have allowed him to erect the stele while he was still alive, as Thutmose IV was not his chosen heir, and it is therefore assumed that he erected it after assuming the kingship. One of the things that Thutmose IV is most famous for, is digging the sphinx's body out of the sand that had filled the sphinx enclosure, which early Egyptologists interpreted as digging the enclosure itself and creating the sphinx's body. This is no longer the accepted reading of the Dream Stele, and it is now believed Thutmose IV merely restored the sphinx's body. Nevertheless, if the sphinx's enclosure was filled with sand, then the sphinx temple and the neighboring red granite temple must have also been filled with sand, and so Thutmose IV must have uncovered more than just the Great Sphinx. Unfortunately, the lower section of the Dream Stele is damaged, and so we do not know how it ended. Egyptologists generally assume it was a list of donations that Thutmose IV made to various temples, which would be consistent with other steles and biographies from the time.
Download or read book Autobiography of Thoth the Nobleman written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thoth the Nobleman was a herald of Queen Hatshepsut and her young son Thutmose III, who seems to have died while she was still ruling Egypt, as his autobiography refers to her as the King of Egypt. After she died, Thutmose III tried to remove all records of her being king, although she was still mentioned in newly written biographies as the 'divine wife' and 'chief royal wife' of Pharaoh Thutmose II. Thoth the Nobleman reports that he was trusted by Queen Hatshepsut more than anyone else, as he kept quiet about what was happening in the palace. This statement may not be entirely true as the architect Senenmut is generally considered to have been her lover. Another theory is that Senenmut may have been a homosexual friend of hers, which would then open the possibility that Thoth the Nobleman was her lover. Graffiti depicting a female or hermaphrodite pharaoh having sex with a man was discovered in an incomplete temple near the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, which is generally assumed to have been a representation of Senenmut, however, only the image survives without any writing that identifies the man, who could have been any Egyptian man, including Thoth the Nobleman, or simply intended as a representative figure of a generic male intended to insult the 'king' by depicting 'him' as a female. As this graffiti is depicted close to the massive and iconic Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, it is clear that at least some of the men in Egypt did not view her as a 'king' even late in her reign, which supports the rebellion of the 'Wicked-Evil Kushite' in the Syrian Rivers province for the first eight years of her reign in the Septuagint's Book of Judges. Thoth the Nobleman described working on many major projects throughout the reign of Queen Hatshepsut, including her Mortuary Temple, the Temples at Karnak, and the mysterious Hahut, a great sanctuary of Amen on his horizon in the west, which may have been an early reference to the Oracle Temple of Amen in the Siwa Oasis. Thoth the Nobleman also reported working on the ceremonial boat of Amen called 'Amen's Mighty of Prow.' Three centuries later, when the High Priest of Amen Her-Heru attempted to replicate this deed, it led to the problematic Voyage of Wenamen.
Download or read book The Life of Weni written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2021 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The life of Weni, also called Uni, is one of the best-documented lives from the era of the Old Kingdom era of Egyptian history. Weni experienced significant upward mobility during the reigns of kings Teti, Userkare, Pepi I, and Merenre I, and as a result had a second tomb prepared for himself later in life, resulting in two of his tombs surviving to the present. His tombs were not extravagant like the king's pyramids of the era, and seem to have generally been ignored until rediscovered in the 1800s. His earlier, smaller tomb included the shorter Inscription of Weni, sometimes called the Tomb Inscription of Weni, while his later, larger tomb included the longer Autobiography of Weni, also sometimes called the Inscription of Weni, or Tomb Inscription of Weni. The second, longer Autobiography of Weni is the longest surviving text from the Old Kingdom that is non-religious and provides a glimpse into the lives of the royal court, as well as the extent of the Old Kingdom's power within Nubia and Canaan. The older inscription is believed to date to late in the reign of King Pepi I, as Weni doesn't mention anything after the campaigns in Canaan. The larger inscription includes Weni's expeditions into Nubia for King Merenre I, who reigned after Pepi I, and provides a brief Egyptian description of Nubia during the Old Kingdom era. Weni's life spanned most of the 6ᵗʰ Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, which would have been at the peak of the Old Kingdom's international reach, but after the major pyramid-building feats of the 5ᵗʰ Dynasty were completed. Egypt had already built the tallest building in the world decades before Weni was born, which would continue to be the tallest building in the world for thousands of years. The 6ᵗʰ Dynasty continued to build pyramids, however, none came close to the engineering accomplishments of the 5ᵗʰ Dynasty. One pyramid, which King Merenre I built, is mentioned prominently in the later section of the autobiography. It is believed to have been the Pyramid of Merenre at Saqqara, although it might have been a different pyramid for one of his wives.
Download or read book Syriac 7 Maccabees written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2024-08-18 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In addition to these five books of the Maccabees found within the Peshitta, there is additional Syriac literature associated with the woman and her seven sons, who were tortured to death by King Antiochus. A lesser-known Syriac work is The Story of the Lady and her Seven Sons, which Western biblical scholars have dubbed 7ᵗʰ Maccabees. 7ᵗʰ Maccabees does not appear to have been significantly altered by Christians. There is a reference to the youths believing in the Messiah that is often assumed to be a reference to Jesus by Christians, however, the prophecy of the Messiah long predated the time of Jesus. Therefore, it does not indicate the work of a Christian editor, but simply that the youths believed a Messiah would come to save the Judeans. This story could also be interpreted as evidence that Judas the hammer was once considered the Messiah, as he drove the Greeks out of Judea. However, he is not viewed that way today. If the story was associated with Judas’ cause at one point, it could explain why 6ᵗʰ and 8ᵗʰ Maccabees refer to the youths as the Maccabean martyrs. The name of the lady is also rendered strangely in 7ᵗʰ Maccabees. In 6ᵗʰ Maccabees, she is called Lady Shamoni, however, in 7ᵗʰ Maccabees the term mrtả is sometimes spelled as mrỉm or mrtỉm. Mrtả was the Syriac word for ‘lady’ or ‘noble woman,’ which was adopted as the name Martha in Greek, and spread into most European languages. As a result, her name is sometimes translated as ‘Martha,’ with both mrỉm and mrtỉm dismissed as scribal errors. Nevertheless, mrtỉm was the Judeo-Aramaic word for ‘ladies,’ suggesting the word is not an error but a transliteration from an older source text. The Syriac form of Aramaic used simpler pluralization, and mrtả was both the singular and plural form of the word ‘lady/ladies.’ Therefore, the terms mrtỉm or mrtả are both translated as the title ‘lady’ in this translation. It is unclear why the term would have been pluralized in the original Judeo-Aramaic text unless there were originally more than one lady in the text. It suggests her original name was Mary Shamone, however, this name is not consistent with Judean or Aramaic naming conventions from the era. If Mary was a mistranslation of mrtỉm, then this likely originated as a reference to eight noble women, not one. If so, the original title of this work was The Story of the Ladies and Their Seven Sons.
Download or read book Vision of Ezra written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2023-09-23 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Vision of Ezra appears to be either a prequel to the Greek Apocalypse, or possibly another reworking of material that served as a basis for both works. In the Vision, Ezra is taken on a tour of the underworld by angels of Tartarus and then is taken to heaven where he begs for mercy for those in the underworld. The text appears to have been written by a Coptic Christian or Gnostic, as the underworld is largely inspired by the ancient Egyptian underworld. There are several unique underworld elements in the Vision that support a Coptic origin, including dogs attacking the dead, two great lions, and an immense worm, all at the western horizon. While dogs devouring corpses is not unique to Egypt, it was a significant concern in Egypt. Dogs were so closely associated with the dead that the embalming god Anubis was pictured with a jackal’s head. In the ancient Egyptian religion, two great lions protected the sun as it traveled through the underworld each night. Depictions of the sun on the horizon, guarded by the two lions are common, although different Egyptian cults believed that the lions were different specific lions deities. The oldest version was likely the Heliopolitan theology, which taught they were Shu and Tefnut, the first created by Atum, the creator. In the Heliopolitan theology, Shu and Tefnut, which means ‘dryness’ and ‘moisture,’ were the two primordial elements that the universe was made from, who in turn created Geb (Earth) and Nut (the sky). They were also viewed as being the first male and female, something akin to Adam and Eve. They were often depicted as either a set of humans, lions, or a hybrid of humans and lions. Later in Egyptian history, alternative lion deities were said to guard the sun in the underworld, including Sekhmet and Maahes, who were also depicted as human-lion hybrids. It is unlikely that a non-Egyptian Christian would have conceptualized the underworld with two lions guarding it. The immortal ‘worm’ whose size could not be reckoned is either a unique element in Christian texts, or a mistranslation from a language in which the same word is used for ‘worm’ and ‘serpent.’ The Latin vermis, which means ‘worm,’ is most-likely a mistranslation of the Coptic word fnt, which means both ‘worm’ and ‘snake.’ While the terms for snake and worm are the same in many languages, they were not in Greek or Latin, supporting the text originated in another language, such as Coptic. The giant serpent in the underworld was Ôảpp in ancient Egyptian beliefs, who lived in the far western region of the underworld, near the place the sun set each evening. During the early Iron Age, he became known as Ảpảp, a demonic serpent of the underworld in Egyptian beliefs. The Greeks interpreted him as Apophis, an underworld serpent god. In the early Christian era, he was interpreted as Aphoph by Coptic Christians, the worm/serpent from the Garden of Eden who was sent to live eternally in the underworld. It is unlikely someone other than an early Coptic Christian would have written a vision of the underworld that included this giant worm/serpent.
Download or read book Vetus Latina Esther written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 2021 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Vetus Latina is a collection of Latin language translations of the ancient Israelite texts, mainly based on the Greek language Septuagint translation. Not all of the Vetus Latina books were translated from the Septuagint though, as some were translated from versions of the ancient texts that do not otherwise survive to the present. The Vetus Latina’s version of Esther is one of the books not translated from either the Septuagint or proto-Masoretic versions of Esther, and therefore, is the fourth primary source for the Book of Esther. The Vetus Latina, which translates as ‘Old Latin,’ were the texts in use in the Latin-speaking regions of the Roman Empire, prior to the Orthodox Church ordering an official translation into Latin, which was created by Jerome, between 382 and 405 AD. The settling of the book is also an issue that has been debated over the centuries. The king in the story is called Artaxerxes in the Vaticanus and Vetus Latina versions, but Ahasuerus in the Masoretic and Alpha versions of the book. The name Ahasuerus is not the proper translation of Artaxerxes, but of Xerxes, and most modern scholars believe the classical translation of Artaxerxes was an error. There are many indicators in the story, that point to it being set in the era of Xerxes I, the first of which is the reference to him calling all the satraps (governors) of Persia to the capital of Susa in his third year. Both the Vaticanus and Masoretic versions of Esther agree that it was the third year, while the Vetus Latina reports it was in the twelfth year. As the years in the Vetus Latina are out of order, as the events in the seventh year follow the events of the twelfth, the chronology of the Vetus Latina is suspect, and therefore most scholars accept that the original year referenced by the author was regal year 3 of the king’s reign. In the case of Xerxes I, this was 483 BC, when Xerxes did call his satraps to Susa to plan the invasion of Greece.
Download or read book Latin Apocalypse of Ezra written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 111 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early centuries of the Christian era, several texts called the Apocalypse of Ezra were in circulation among Jews and Christians. The original is believed to have been written in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Syriac, and is commonly known as the Judahite Apocalypse of Ezra. This version was translated into Greek sometime before 200 AD and circulated widely within the early Christian churches. This book claimed that the prophet ‘Shealtiel, who was called Ezra’ wrote 904 books, and its popularity seems to have inspired several Christian era Apocalypses of Ezra, presumably beginning with the short Latin Apocalypse of Ezra which claimed to be the ‘second book of the prophet Ezra.’ The prophet Shealtiel was not Ezra the scribe, who the books of Ezra are named after in the Septuagint and Masoretic text, but the son of former King Jehoiachin of Judah, who had been taken captive by the Babylonians in 597 BC. The shorter Latin Apocalypse of Ezra has become fused with the Judahite Apocalypse of Ezra in most Catholic and Protestant translations, however, scholars divide the Catholic versions of 4ᵗʰ Esdras (Protestant 2ⁿᵈ Esdras) into three sections, with only the core twelve chapters that correspond to the Orthodox and Ethiopian versions of the book labeled as 4ᵗʰ Ezra. The opening two chapters, which are only found in the Catholic version, are labeled as 5ᵗʰ Ezra, while the last 2 chapters found in Catholic version, as well as fragments surviving in an ancient Greek translation, are labeled 6ᵗʰ Ezra. 5ᵗʰ Ezra and 6ᵗʰ Ezra appear to have originally been one document, which is commonly called the Latin Apocalypse of Ezra, although it was almost certainly not written in Latin. In chapter 1 and 2 of the apocalypse, which is 5ᵗʰ Ezra, the author claimed to be Ezra the scribe, and gave his genealogy, which is found in the books of Ezra found in the Masoretic text and Septuagint, however, then claims he had been held captive in Media during the time of Artaxerxes. Chapter 3 and the beginning of chapter 4 of the apocalypse, the bulk of 6ᵗʰ Ezra, appears to be much older, and describe a world that the author of the longer apocalypse did not seem to understand. The prophecy itself was focused on fall of the Assyrian Empire, which did fall in 609 BC. The Assyrian Empire fell to a large alliance of its enemies, including the Medes, Scythians, and the rebelling Babylonians. The prophet, whoever it was, did not know this would happen, and did not mention the Medes or Scythians, and prophesied that after defeating the Assyrians, the conquerors would besiege Babylon, demonstrating the prophesy was made before Babylon revolted in 626 BC.
Download or read book Chronographia 8 Maccabees written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2024-08-11 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 563 AD, a Syrian scholar named John Malálas composed a history of the world subsequently called the Chronographia. The Chronographia was written in Greek, however, John was drawing from both Greek and Syriac sources and created one of the longer historical works of the era. His Chronographia was later translated into several ancient languages, and fragments survive in Georgian and Old Slavonic. It was eighteen volumes long, however, is of limited historical value, as it combines ancient mythologies, biblical stories, and events copied from older historical texts into a fantastical history of the world. Some of the earlier historians that John drew on are accepted as the Greek writers Eusebius of Caesarea and Eustathius of Epiphania, however, his Syriac sources are undocumented. John’s work is unusual for the era as he was focused on creating a work for monks and commoners, not the aristocrats. This is likely why it was carried to as many lands as it was and used as a source by later authors. One of the major works to use it as a source from it is the Primary Chronicle, one of the earliest Eastern Slavic works, believed to have been compiled near Kyiv in the 1110s. John’s literary style was simple, reflecting the straightforward communication of the written language of everyday business of the era. The majority of the Chronographia focused on the history of Antioch and then Constantinople, which is believed to have reflected John’s move from Antioch to Constantinople in 540, caused by the Persians attacking Antioch. Based on his diction, he is believed to have been a lawyer, however, some have theorized he was a religious scholar. A very small section of his work mentions the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt, which has garnered the attention of academics studying the era. His text is clearly influenced by the Syriac tradition here and ignores the Greek entirely for some reason. He referred to the seven martyrs Antiochus Epiphanes killed as the Maccabees, the same as the Syriac poem Martha Shamoni and the Maccabean Martyrs, which Western biblical scholars have dubbed 6ᵗʰ Maccabees. None of the Greek, Hebrew, or Arabic translations refer to the martyrs as the Maccabees.
Download or read book Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 1900 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor is the earliest known surviving story of a shipwrecked sailor, and as such is the forerunner of many stories of nautical adventure encountering strange magical creatures, from Homer's Odyssey to Sinbad the Sailor. In a broader sense, it is generally considered the oldest piece of Egyptian fiction to survive to the present. Only one copy has been found to date, a single papyrus manuscript that resides at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is designated pHermitage 1115. The exact origin of the papyrus was not properly documented at the time, which was common for early Egyptologists, however, it was most likely recovered in Vladimir Golenishchev's 1884-85 expedition to the Wadi Hammamat, which was the major trade route between the Nile in southern Egypt and the port of El Qoseir on the Red Sea. The papyrus does appear to be complete, however, the story is not. It begins abruptly and ends abruptly, and suggests that it was excised from an older text. The story begins as a ship's captain is returning home from Nubia, on a failed mission of some kind, and then segues to the narrator telling the disinterested captain of a time when was shipwrecked on an island near Punt. It ends as abruptly as it begins, but the scribe confirms that this is the end of the story. Based on the content, it appears that the point of the papyrus was to copy the section of text dealing with the island and the 'Lord of Punt,' which was copied from a longer text in which the captain returned from his failed mission in Nubia, and told the king a story his crewman had told him to make up for the fact that he had nothing to report, but also downplayed the fantastic story by making it clear that it was his boring crewman's story, and not his. The reason for the extraction of the story, was probably because at the time, in the early Middle Kingdom era, the Egyptians were re-exploring their world, and trying to find the lands their ancestors had been trading with. This short work of probable fiction was, nevertheless, about the fabled land of Punt, which the Middle Kingdom reopened trade with during the 11ᵗʰ dynasty. Under the 11ᵗʰ dynasty's Mentuhotep III, an officer named Hannu reopened trade with Punt, however, it is unknown if he personally sailed there or simply organized the expedition. The most probable time for Imenyas pen-Imeny to have excised the story was before that first mission of Hannu, when the Egyptians were scouring their records for information on Punt. The fact that it was abandoned in the Wadi Hammamat, the route taken from the capital at Thebes to the Red Sea port of El Qoseir, seems to be a pretty strong indicator that the navigator did not see any value in the text, and did not even bother carrying it all the way to the harbor.
Download or read book Syriac 6 Maccabees written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In addition to these five books of the Maccabees found within the Peshitta, there is additional Syriac literature associated with the woman and her seven sons, who were tortured to death by King Antiochus. The most famous of these Syriac works is the poem Lady Shamoni and the Maccabean Martyrs, which Western biblical scholars have dubbed 6ᵗʰ Maccabees. The poem goes into more detail regarding the torture of the sons of Shamoni than 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees, where the author skipped over most of the gruesome details and then ended the chapter with “This is enough about the eating of sacrifices and the extreme tortures.” The text of 6ᵗʰ Maccabees is itself somewhat confusing. Scholars agree the original text was the third-person perspective historical narrative that forms most of the text, however, this is repeatedly interrupted by an editor who interjects their own thoughts in first-person perspective. The editor was clearly a Christian, as he references Jesus, however, even the Christian edits use a mix of terms that confuse their dating. It is entirely plausible that more than one Christian editor handled the poem. The older third-person historical narrative appears to be pre-Christian, as it is consistent with Judean writings from the Second Temple era. The focus of the story returns consistently to the preservation of the Orit, the Aramaic version of the Torah that was in use before the Hasmonean dynasty translated and standardized the ancient Samaritan, Judahite, and Aramaic texts into Classical Hebrew. Some scholars believe that this older historical narrative is drawn from the same source the author of 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees used, which is why it retains more of the details. This is conjectural, as the details may be fictional additions to the story found in 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees. However, the author of 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees claimed to be condensing Jason of Cyrene’s five-volume work on the Maccabees and certainly skipped over some of the torture. Jason of Cyrene’s work is lost, and so this may be a section of his work that was later converted into a Syriac Christian poem.
