This website aims to collect all kinds of information/updates related to biblical topics, as well as patristics but also ancient history and mythology. The aim is to have full information and access to anyone who wishes to delve into the relevant topics.
There is a lot of material in English, so anyone can delve into the relevant topics, such as texts, translations and generally various books.
Extensive material on biblical topics is provided, such as on Hebrew and the Semitic language family, Septuagint, Vulgate and other ancient translation texts. English and German translations of the Bible are available. Patristic texts in the classification of the Greek series of Migne and the Latin, as well as the Near Eastern series of Graffin and Nau; the Talmud and other pages with grammars, guides, etc, are available.
Recently, ancient Greek poets were introduced, and ancient Greek and other countries' philosophy and science, rhetoric, etc., and mythology will be introduced next. The website is updated regularly and new material is added almost daily.
Below are listed with a brief description the biblical texts and ancient translations.
The Hebrew (Masoretic) text – Aramaic Targum
The Hebrew text, as is well known, is provided entirely by the Leningrad Codex (1008 AD), which is a copy of the text of this Ben Asher (the Aleppo Codex) with Tiberian punctuation which constitutes the Western Masoretic tradition, although somewhat mixed with the East Babylonian of Ben Naphtali, where it ended up being the most accepted text of the Masoretic among the Jews, which is available to us in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS), and Quinta (ΒHQ). The latter is a large critical edition in volumes, still in production, and provides, like the former, the Leningrad text, as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls in marginal notes. It also provides at the beginning of the pages of the book a critical commentary on phrases and words.
The Aramaic Targums are paraphrases of the Hebrew Bible, i.e. they are, for the most part, an elaborate interpretation, except for the Targum of Onkelos, which includes only the Pentateuch, and that of Jonathan of the Prophets, as well as that of the Hagiographa. These are often a literal translation.
The Dead Sea Scrolls
Around the Dead Sea in Israel, many manuscripts have been discovered, mainly in Hebrew and Aramaic, but also in Samaritan dialect and Greek, those of the prophets, and generally biblical texts, some of which are canonical and others deuterocanonical and apocrypha.
The Samaritan Pentateuch
The Samaritans, who broke away from the Jews, provide a somewhat different text of the Pentateuch, which sometimes agrees with the Hebrew, sometimes with the Septuagint, as the Septuagint differs greatly from the Hebrew.
The Septuagint The translation of the Septuagint is the work of 72 Hellenistic Jews, according to the letter of Aristeas, who describes in his work that during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247 BC), with the agreement of Demetrius of Phalerum, he sent an embassy to the high priest Eleazar in Jerusalem to send elders to Alexandria to carry out a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek language.
A few years after the death of Alexander the Great, since the Near East had been Hellenized, in this way Greek, as the common language now, with a mixture of various languages, became the means of disseminating the Hebrew Scriptures. And when the work was completed, it had been fully accepted by the Jewish community as a whole, and had received honors.
The text has Egyptian and Aramaic influences, and this sometimes makes it necessary to learn the dialects. As well as various Hebraisms.
Translations from the Septuagint
There were many translations of the Septuagint. Some of these were the Old Latin of Carthage, the Coptic translations of Egypt, the Ethiopic and the Syriac (Syro-Hexapla).
The Revisions of the Septuagint text
The first attempt at revision was that of Origen (c. 185 – c. 253 AD); who compiled the so-called Hexapla. This included the text of the Septuagint and other Greek translations, such as those of Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, etc.
Another revision was made by Lucian (c. 125 – c. 180 AD), which was appreciated. There was also another one written by a certain Hesychius whom Jerome mentions in his prologue.
Peshitta Another important translation is the Syriac; which was completed in the mid-2nd century. The Syrians, who would obviously have had close relations with the Jews, as an Aramaic dialect, probably held a key position in the interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures.
Vulgate Jerome, after learning the Hebrew language, completed a translation into Latin around 405 AD. Respect for this translation was expressed around the beginning of the Middle Ages, when it became common for all (Vulgate) Roman Catholics.
New Testament
The New Testament, as is well known, was written mainly in Greek and was completed towards the end of the 1st century. It has an Aramaic influence and often requires knowledge of an Aramaic dialect for its full understanding.
Patrology The Fathers of the Church are those who preserved and handed down the history of the first centuries to us. They are the ones who interpreted the Scriptures. There is a vast tradition of writings and a great history of the Fathers.