The Letter of Aristeas

Complete Edition

The Letter of Aristeas claims to be a first-hand account by a courtier of Ptolemy II Philadelphus of how the king commissioned seventy-two Jewish scholars — six from each of the twelve tribes — to translate the Hebrew Torah into Greek on the island of Pharos near Alexandria. The scholars worked independently and, when their translations were compared, every single one was found to be identical. Di

Codex Digital EditionComing soonEdition currently in preparation

Edition090

FormatDigital PDF

Editorial statusIn review

TraditionLost Scripture

Before you read

Context without the mythology.

Codex ISO separates the surviving evidence from later interpretation, so you can encounter the text without being told what to believe about it first.

01 / Historical context

2nd century BC. Claims to record how Ptolemy II commissioned 72 scholars to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek — creating the Septuagint. Later denounced as forgery. Yet it shap

02 / Why it matters

A document explaining how the Bible was translated. Fabricated. Enormously consequential.

From / associated with the text

“"Each man, as if inspired, wrote the self-same words and the self-same nouns, so that even the heathen who were present perceived that the Law had been granted through divine inspiration."”

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Source before story.

We identify the edition, translation and surviving evidence; distinguish documentation from tradition; and state uncertainty rather than turning it into a sales claim.

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Continue the archive

The Letter of Aristeas

Context without the mythology.

Source before story.

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