By Water & Blood

Why, How, and When the Greek Translations Were Made

9. And it is well for us also to explain the matter of the translators. For a knowledge of them will be helpful to you, since by the inclusion |24 of their story it will be seen who and whence ^[78] and of what race each of them was, and what was the cause of their ^[79] translating. And the first translators ^[80] of the divine Scriptures from the Hebrew language into the Greek were seventy-two men in number, those who made the first translation in the days of Ptolemy Philadelphus. They were chosen from the twelve tribes of Israel, six men from each tribe, as Aristeas has transmitted it in his work.^[81] And their names are these:^[82] first, from the tribe of Reuben, Josephus, Hezekiah, Zechariah, Johanan, Hezekiah, Elisha; second, from the tribe of Simeon, Judah, Simeon, Samuel, Addai, Mattathias, Shalmai (Eschlemias); third, from the tribe of Levi, Nehemiah, Joseph, Theodosius, Base (Basaios),^[83] Ornias, Dakis; fourth, from the tribe of Judah, Jonathan, Abraios, Elisha, Hananiah, Zechariah,^[84] Hilkiah; fifth, from the tribe of Issachar, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua, Sambat (Sabbataios), Simeon, Levi; sixth, from the tribe of Zebulun, Judah, Joseph, Simeon, Zechariah, Samuel, Shalmai (Selemias); seventh, from the tribe of Gad, Sambat (Sabbataios), Zedekiah, Jacob, Isaac, Jesse, Matthew (Natthaios); eighth, from the tribe of Asher, Theodosius, Jason, Joshua, Theodotus, Johanan, Jonathan; ninth, from the tribe of Dan, Theophilus, Abram, Arsamos, Jason, Endemias, Daniel; tenth, from the tribe of Naphtali, Jeremiah, Eliezer, Zechariah, Benaiah, Elisha, Dathaios; eleventh, from the tribe of Joseph, Samuel, Josephus, Judah, Jonathan, Caleb (Chabeu), Dositheus; twelfth, from the tribe of Benjamin, Isaelos, Johanan, Theodosius, Arsamos, Abitos (Abietes), Ezekiel. These are the names, as we have already said, of the seventy-two translators. We have told about the things concerning the asterisk and obelus above, and in part about the other translators, that is, Aquila and Symmachus and the rest; we will here inform you also of the causes, ^[85] O lover of the good.^[85]  |25 After the first Ptolemy, the second who reigned over Alexandria, the Ptolemy called Philadelphus, as has already been said was a lover of the beautiful and a lover of learning. He established a library in the same city of Alexander,^[86] in the (part) called the Bruchion; this is a quarter of the city today lying waste. And he put in charge of the library a certain Demetrius, from Phaleron,^[87] commanding him to collect the books that were in every part of the world. And he wrote letters and made request of every king and prince on earth to take the trouble to send ^[85] those that were in his kingdom or principality ^[85]----I mean, those by poets and prose writers and orators and philosophers and physicians and professors of medicine and historians and books by any others. And after the work had progressed and books had been collected from everywhere, one day the king asked the man who had been placed in charge of the library how many books had already been collected in the library. And he answered the king, saying: "There are already fifty-four thousand eight hundred books, more or less; but we have heard that there is a great multitude in the world, among the Cushites, the Indians, the Persians, the Elamites, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Chaldeans, and among the Romans, the Phoenicians, the Syrians, and the Romans in Greece"----at that time called not Romans but Latins.^[88] "But there are also with those in Jerusalem and Judah the divine Scriptures of the prophets, which tell about God and the creation of the world and every other doctrine of general value. If, therefore, it seem good to your majesty, O king, that we ^[89] send (and) secure ^[89] them also, write to the teachers in Jerusalem and they will send them to you, that you may place these books also in this library, your grace." ^[90] Thereupon the king wrote the letter, in these words: |26 

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12. After the first Ptolemy, he of the Rabbit (Lagos), who reigned forty years, ^[106] and after the seventh year of the second Ptolemy, who is also (named) Philadelphus, the number of the Ptolemies and of the years is as follows:^[106] Ptolemy Philadelphus, thirty-eight years; in his days, in his seventh year more or less, the seventy-two translators above mentioned translated the Scriptures.^[109] And after the time of their translation of the Scriptures the years and the kings are as follows: Ptolemy Philadelphus, already mentioned, the rest of his years, thirty-one;^[110] Ptolemy the Well-Doer (Euergetes), twenty-four years; Ptolemy Philopator, twenty-one years; Ptolemy Epiphanes, twenty-two years; Ptolemy Philometor,^[111] thirty-four years; Ptolemy the Lover of Learning and the Well-Doer (Philologus and Euergetes), twenty-nine years; Ptolemy the Savior (Soter), fifteen years; Ptolemy, who is also Alexas, twelve years; Ptolemy, the brother of Alexas, who was driven out by his mother, eight years; Ptolemy Dionysius, thirty-one years; Cleopatra, the daughter of Ptolemy, thirty-two years.^[112] She formed a union with Antoninus (Antony) the king, who is also (called) "Eight Sons." Altogether two hundred fifty-nine years, according to what is set down above.^[113] Then ceased the Rabbity (Lagid) kings, the Ptolemies, who were ^[114] descended from the Rabbit (Lagos), for whom the race course, when built in Alexandria, was called only in the same Alexandria the Rabbity.^[115]