ARISTEAS. - Pseudonym of the author of the Letter to Philocrates, which narrates the origin of the Greek biblical version of the Septuagint (v.).

Some, however, like B. Motzo, identify him with the historian A. (2nd century B.C.), author of a Περὶ Ἰουδαίων of which a fragment survives in Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica, 9, 25 (PG 21, 728). The author of the "letter of A." calls himself a Greek, a contemporary of Ptolemy Philadelphus and a participant in the events he narrates; but from an examination of the writing it emerges that he is a Hellenistic Jew, later than the events handed down, concealed under the name of the aforementioned historian. He addresses himself to the pagans, for the purpose of Jewish propaganda.

The first to point out the apocryphal character of the letter was Lud. de Vives (Comm. in Civ. Dei, 18, 45, Basel 1522). The date of A. is uncertain: between the middle of the 3rd century B.C. and the 1st century of the Christian era; the most probable opinions are the two that divide between about 200 (E. Schürer, H. B. Swete, L. H. Vincent, R. Tramontano) and 100 B.C. or a little later (P. Wendland, H. Thackeray, B. Motzo, A. Momigliano; P. Riessler: 80-63 B.C.).

Once the many fantastic embellishments are removed — embellishments collected and expanded by later Jewish writers (Philo, Flavius Josephus) and Christian ones (Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius, Augustine) — the letter yields precious information for Palestinian topography and for the history of Judaism in Palestine and in Egypt, as well as for the origins of the "Septuagint."

A. narrates that the Greek version of the Bible, limited to the Pentateuch, was completed at Alexandria by the will of King Ptolemy II Philadelphus (283-246 B.C.) by 72 learned Jews, sent by Eleazar, high priest of Jerusalem, to the island of Pharos, through the good offices of the supposed Alexandrian librarian, Demetrius of Phalerum.

When A. was writing, around 200 or 100 B.C., there therefore existed a translation of the Pentateuch, believed to date from the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and carried out by several interpreters at the initiative of the Jewish community of Alexandria, among whom Hebrew was generally unknown. Before this version, which might be called official, there was already a Greek version, perhaps only partial and little known outside Jewish circles (Letter, §§ 30, 31, 313-16).

Bibliography10 works

BIBL.: B. Motzo, A., in Atti della R. Accad. di Torino, 50 (1915), pp. 202-26, 347-70; H. St. I. Thackeray, The Letter of A. Translated with Appendix of Ancient Evidence on the Origin of the Septuagint, London 1917; J. Février, La date, la composition et les sources de la Lettre d'A. à Philocrate, Paris 1925; P. Riessler, Altjüdisches Schriftum ausserhalb der Bibel, Augsburg 1928, p. 103; A. Vaccari, La lettera di A. sui LXX interpreti nella letteratura italiana, in La Civ. Catt., 1930, III, pp. 308-26; B. Bickermann, Zur Datierung des Pseudo-Aristeas, in Zeitschr. für die neutestamentl. Wiss., 29 (1930), pp. 280-98; R. Tramontano, La Lettera di A. a Filocrate, Naples 1931 (a capital historical-critical study); J.-M. Vosté, Epistolo Aristeas, in Angelicum, 9 (1932), pp. 77-84; H. G. Meehan, The Oldest Version of the Bible: «Aristeas» on its Traditional Origin, London 1932; A. Momigliano, Per la data e la caratteristica della lettera di A., in Aegyptus, 12 (1932), pp. 161-72.

Angelo Penna

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