ESAPLE (in Greek τὰ ἐξαπλῶ, Latin hexapla; less frequent is the singular τὸ ἐξαπλῶν). — By this term, equivalent to “sixfold,” Christian antiquity Origene (v.), who transcribed, or had transcribed, the entire Old Testament six times in six parallel columns, containing, in order: 1) the Hebrew text in Hebrew characters; 2) the Hebrew text transcribed in Greek characters; 3) the Greek version of Aquila; 4) that of Simmachus; 5) the oldest, known as that of the Septuagint (v.); 6) that of Theodotion.
In this immense work Origene pursued a twofold aim, at once scientific and practical, one serving religious controversy, the other biblical exegesis. Since the Greek version of the Septuagint, then in official use in all the Christian Churches, differed here and there from the Hebrew text (by additions, omissions, or a different meaning), it often happened that in religious controversies with the Jews, when Christians quoted in Greek some passage of the Old Testament as proof of the messianic character of Jesus Nazarenus and of the truth of the Christian religion, they were told in reply that the passage was not found in the original text and was therefore of no value. In order, then, that Christian apologists might know what the Jews accepted and what they did not, and might convince them by an authority recognized by them, Origene showed this to them in the E. in two ways: 1) simply by placing the Septuagint version opposite the Hebrew text and the versions made from it; 2) in the same fifth column (that of the Septuagint), marking in the margin with an obelus (a horizontal line, usually with a dot above and below) what was found in Greek but not in Hebrew, and inserting with the mark of an asterisk or little star what was in Hebrew but not in the Greek of the Septuagint (he generally took the Greek expression for it from the version of Theodotion).
At the same time, in that fifth column, Origene pursued the second aim: to give the Christian Churches a biblical text that was both correct and uniform. The Greek manuscripts of the Septuagint of his time displayed divergences among themselves and a considerable number of errors. Having selected a good manuscript of the type of the famous Vatican Codex III (as a careful comparative study shows), with some exceptions, he corrected its defects against the Hebrew text, assisted by the other Greek versions. A notable degree of accuracy was thus achieved. Uniformity would likewise have been obtained if all the Churches had adopted Origene’s textual recension. But we know, from the authoritative testimony of s. Girolamo and from other indications, that the use, at least in public, of the Hexaplar text was restricted to the Churches of Palestine, in whose civil capital, Cesarea, the gigantic work was completed and preserved.
The influence of the E. on biblical studies, among scholars, was instead much deeper and broader. No complete copy was ever made (it is calculated that they would have filled 50 large volumes in atlanto format); but, in compensation, many partial copies were made, of two kinds: 1) a single book was copied separately (for example, the Psalter, as in the fragments of Cairo and the Ambrosiana), with all the columns laid out side by side, at least the Greek ones; 2) only the fifth column (the Septuagint) was transcribed in full, and alongside it a selection of good readings from the other columns was recorded, namely those of Aquila, Simmachus, and Theodotion. From such copies derive the many citations of Hexaplar readings transmitted to us in the commentaries of the Greek Fathers (for example, those of s. Giovanni Giacostomo and Theodoret on the Psalms) and in the margins of Septuagint manuscripts. From a similar copy the Syriac version known for that reason as Syro-Hexaplar was subsequently made (in the years 675–717), of which a good half is preserved in a precious manuscript of the Ambrosiana Library (the other half was in the possession of the Belgian Andrea Masius, but at his death [1573] that manuscript disappeared), and other fragments in manuscripts in Paris and London.
The Heptapla and Octapla mentioned by certain manuscripts and writers should not be separated from the E., indeed not even properly distinguished from them. In his research into biblical manuscripts, Origene found, in addition to the three complete versions of the Old Testament mentioned above, three other partial and anonymous versions, that is, of only certain books (Job, Psalms, minor prophets); he also incorporated these into his E., under the names of fifth, sixth, and seventh (version), thus increasing the number of columns in those books to seven or eight.
The Tetrapla, on the other hand, were a distinct work, extracted from the E. by omitting the two Hebrew columns, not without some variant or improvement introduced into the Septuagint column. A few special readings from them have reached us in manuscripts and in writers; the original, like the E., was swept away in the Arab invasion and domination.
BIBLI. TOMO: A. M. Ceriani, Codex Syro-hexaplari: Ambrosianus photolithographicus editus, Milan 1874; F. Field, Origens Hexaplorus quae supersunt, Oxford 1875 (v. also PG 15, 16); C. Taylor, Hebrew-Greek Cairo Genius palimpsestii, Cambridge 1900; G. Mercati, D'un palimpsesto ambrosiano contenente i Salmi exopti, in Atti dell'Abradonia delle trionze di Torino, 31 (1895), pp. 635–663; an edition in phototype of this extremely important palimpsest was in preparation (1900) under the care of the same Cardinal Mercati, 'Studi: H. B. Sweet, Un introduction to the Old Testament in Greek, 2nd ed., Cambridge 1914, pp. 59–86; J. Vandervorst, Introduction aux textes hébreu et grec de l'Ancien Testament, Malmö 1935, pp. 93–103; F. G. Kenyon, The text of the Greek Bible, London 1937, pp. 33–35; H. W. Robinson, The Bible and its ancient and English Versions, Oxford 1940, pp. 33–34.