Traditional attribution

Aristeas

3rd c. BC · 1 work

Aristeas presents himself as a Greek courtier of Ptolemy II Philadelphus who witnessed the translation of the Hebrew Law into Greek for the royal library at Alexandria, and under his name the Letter of Aristeas transmits the foundation account of the Septuagint.

Quoted by Josephus and the Fathers, the Letter shaped the early Christian reverence for the LXX as a providentially guided translation. (Modern scholars regard the attribution as pseudonymous and date the work to the 2nd century BC.)