Hexapla

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Psalms 102: 29-103, 13 translated by Aquilas

The Hexapla ( Greek Ἑξαπλᾶ, the sixfold ') is a multilingual synopsis of the Old Testament text in six columns, edited by Origen around 245 . Its aim was to establish or, where necessary, to establish the correspondence between the Greek text of the Septuagint and the Hebrew (pre- Masoretic ) text. For this purpose, the Septuagint text was supplemented with passages that were only passed down in the Hebrew text; conversely, where the Greek text went beyond the Hebrew, marks of deletion were added. This philological approach should serve the most precise understanding of the original text and make competent exegesis possible.

Arrangement of texts / languages

  1. In the first column there was the Hebrew consonant text ,
  2. in the second the Hebrew text in Greek transcription ,
  3. in the third the Greek translation Aquilas ,
  4. in the fourth the Greek translation of Symmachus the Ebionite ,
  5. in the fifth the Septuagint reviewed by Origen (also called the Origenic or Hexaplaric Review ) and
  6. in the sixth the Greek translation of Theodotion .

The Hexapla in the early days

Individual parts of the text, e.g. B. the Psalms, Origen provided with more columns that reproduce unknown translation sources. They are called "Quinta", "Sexta" and "Septima".

The entire work is said to have included 50 volumes with 6000 sheets. There were probably no copies of the complete works. The original was seen in the library of the Pamphilus of Caesarea in Caesarea . It has been lost since the Arab invasion in 638 at the latest.

Another Origen writing was also found in this library: the Tetrapla , which contained four columns. It contained the works of Aquila, Symmachus, the Septuagint and Theodotion. Whether it was a preliminary work or a short version of the Hexapla cannot be answered today.

There are no longer any copies of the complete works. Pamphilus and Eusebius made copies of the Origenic Review . Eusebius quoted it in his Demonstratio Fidei .

The Hexapla in the 19th century

Giovanni Mercati discovered and deciphered a copy of the Hexapla in five columns with around 150 psalm verses in 1895. It is a palimpsest with liturgical texts from the Greek Orthodox Church , which Mercati studied in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan . It is listed as Codex Rescriptus Bibliothecae Ambrosianae O 39 sup. ( Milan fragments ) known. The minuscule text dates from the 9th or 11th century and contains the Greek transcription of the Hebrew letters ( Secunda ), the works of Aquila and Symmachus the Ebionite and, somewhat surprisingly, the Quinta. The romanization gives an insight into the pronunciation of Hebrew in the 3rd century.

Another fragment of a Hexapla manuscript was found as a palimpsest in the Cairo Geniza , now as Ms. TS 12.182 in Cambridge. It contains part of Psalm 22 in all six columns.

The publication of the Codex Ambrosianus C. 313 Inf. By Antonio Maria Ceriani in 1874 is somewhat older . The Codex contains a Syrian translation (so-called Syrohexaplaris ) of the Septuagint (LXX) reviewed by Origen in the 5th column, that of Bishop Paul von Tella 615/617 was made, as well as many marginal readings by Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion.

Frederick Field published two volumes with the title Origenis Hexaplorum in 1875/76 . It contains a complete collection of the hexaplaric fragments known at the time. However, he arranged the text according to different criteria.

However, Origen had provided his review with the text-critical signs of Aristarchus of Samothrace , which the copyists often considered unimportant and did not copy, so that the preserved Greek manuscripts often offer a mixed text of the Origen and the other reviews. Since the variants are often noted as such in the Syrohexaplaris, this is of great help in the reconstruction of the original hexaplatext.

Modern Hexapla editions

The term "Hexapla" is now also used for printed works in which various modern Bible translations are juxtaposed in a six-column format.

literature

  • Felix Albrecht: Art. Hexapla of Origen. In: The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. 11, Berlin u. a. 2015, col. 1000-1002.
  • Frederick Field (Ed.): Origenis hexaplorum quae supersunt: ​​sive veterum interpretum Graecorum in totum vetus testamentum fragmenta. Post Flaminium nobilium, Drusium, et Montefalconium, adhibita etiam versione Syro-Hexaplari. 2 volumes. Clarendonianus, Oxford 1875 (Volume 1: Genesis - Esther. Archive.org ; Volume 2: Job - Malachi. Archive.org ).
  • Erich Klostermann : Analecta to the Septuagint, Hexapla and Patristic. Deichert, Leipzig 1895.
  • T. Michael Law: A History of Research on Origen's Hexapla : From Masius to the Hexapla Project . BIOSCS 40 (2007), pp. 30-48.
  • Alison Salvesen (Ed.): Origen's hexapla and fragments. Papers presented at the Rich Seminar on the Hexapla, Oxford Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, 25th July - 3rd August 1994 (= Texts and studies in ancient Judaism. Volume 58). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1998, ISBN 3-16-146575-X .

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Levin : Das Alte Testament , Verlag CH Beck, Munich, 3rd edition 2006, ISBN 978-3-406-44760-0 , p. 14.
  2. ↑ Christoph Levin : Das Alte Testament , Verlag CH Beck, Munich, 3rd edition 2006, ISBN 978-3-406-44760-0 , p. 15.