An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek: With an Appendix Containing the Letter of Aristeas

by Henry Barclay Swete, Henry St. John Thackeray (Editor)

Henry Barclay Swete (1835–1917) published An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek in 1900 as a manual to accompany his three-volume edition of the Septuagint (1887–1894) and to provide a guide through the vast corpus of Septuagint literature. Part 1 covers the textual history of the Septuagint, providing an in-depth analysis of its complex tradition, surveying the most important Greek witnesses and the earliest versions. Part 2 discusses the Alexandrian manuscript tradition, and covers the order and grouping of books, titles, comparison with the Hebrew Canon, and the textual divisions used in the manuscripts. Part 3 is concerned with the influence and use of the Septuagint in later works. An appendix contains the letter of pseudo-Aristeas with an introduction explaining the forgery. For over a century Swete's work has been an indispensable tool for every scholar and student of the Septuagint.

612 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1989

Reviews

[Robert Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This edition was published 109 years ago. A lot has happened in the field of Septuagintal studies since then, the most significant being the discovery of the DSS, especially the Nahal Hever minor prophets scroll. Yet, despite being over a century old, Swete's introduction contains such a wealth of information that no other introduction to the Septuagint has. Additionally, Swete demonstrates how scholars were already suspecting conclusions that were only later confirmed by more recent discoveries. For example, Swete writes, "It has been reasonably conjectured that the writers of the New Testament used a recension which was current in Palestine, possibly also in Asia Minor, and which afterwards supplied materials to Theodotion, and left trances in the Antiochian Bible, and in the text represented by A.” This is precisely what the Nahal Hever scrolls have confirmed and what the most recent scholarship says in the Oxford Handbook to the Septuagint.

This is still worth reading all these years later, though the reader must be aware of the advances in the field of LXX studies.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and exhaustive, if seriously outdated, survey of LXX studies (and many related issues). It is regrettable (though not surprising) that no one has bothered to put forth the effort to obviate Swete's Introduction. Though it contains a great wealth of information and bibliography, much of what it reports is over a century out of date! Yet any recent introduction or handbook to the Old Greek will tell you that Swete has never been surpassed. For shame.