A01=Tessa Rajak
Author_Tessa Rajak
Category=CFP
Category=NHB
Category=NHC
Category=QRAX
Category=QRJ
Category=QRM
Category=QRVC
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Product details
- ISBN 9780199558674
- Weight: 605g
- Dimensions: 145 x 222mm
- Publication Date: 09 Apr 2009
- Publisher: Oxford University Press
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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The translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek was the first major translation in Western culture. Its significance was far-reaching but largely forgotten. Without a Greek Bible, European history would have been entirely different - no Western Jewish diaspora and no Christianity. Translation and Survival is a radical new study of the ancient creators and receivers of the translations and of their impact. The Greek Bible sustained Jews who spoke Greek and made the survival of the first Jewish diaspora possible: indeed, the translators invented the term 'diaspora'. The translations were a tool for the preservation of group identity and for the expression of resistance. They devised a new kind of language: many of the words they coined are still with us. The Greek Bible translations ended up as the Christian Septuagint, taken over along with the entire heritage of Hellenistic Judaism when the Church parted from the Synagogue. Here, a brilliant creation is restored to its first owners, and to its historical context among Jews, Greeks and Christians.
Tessa Rajak is Professor Emeritus of Ancient History at the University of Reading, and Member of the Jewish Studies Unit, Oxford University.
