Overview

The Letter of Aristeas is a Hellenistic Jewish work of historical fiction, presented as an eyewitness account by a courtier named Aristeas to his brother, Philocrates. Its central narrative describes the miraculous translation of the Hebrew Torah into Greek, an event that supposedly produced the Septuagint. The story claims that King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt, desiring to include the Jewish laws in his great library at Alexandria, sponsored the project. The letter's primary purpose is apologetic: it seeks to establish the divine authority of the Greek translation for Greek-speaking Jews and to present Judaism as a venerable, wise, and philosophically sophisticated tradition to a gentile audience. By framing the translation as a royally sponsored, divinely guided event, the author elevates the status of the Septuagint to that of the original Hebrew scripture and showcases the superiority of Jewish wisdom.

Summary

The narrative begins with Aristeas, a Greek official at the court of Ptolemy II Philadelphus in Alexandria, persuading the king to commission a Greek translation of the Jewish Law for his library. The king agrees and sends Aristeas with a delegation to Jerusalem, bearing magnificent gifts for the Temple and a letter to the High Priest, Eleazar. Impressed by the king's generosity and intellectual curiosity, Eleazar selects seventy-two elders, six from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, to undertake the task. The letter includes a lengthy section describing the splendor of the gifts, the geography of Palestine, the magnificence of the Jerusalem Temple, and a detailed discourse by Eleazar on the symbolic meaning of the Jewish laws. When the seventy-two scholars arrive in Alexandria, the king tests their wisdom for seven consecutive days with a series of difficult philosophical questions, which they answer brilliantly. Following this, the translators are taken to a quiet house on the island of Pharos. They work for seventy-two days and, through divine guidance, miraculously produce seventy-two identical translations. The finished work is read aloud and acclaimed by the Alexandrian Jewish community and the king, who places it in his library and pronounces a curse on anyone who would alter the text.

Historical Context

The Letter of Aristeas was composed in Alexandria, Egypt, a vibrant hub of Hellenistic culture and learning with a large, prosperous, and Greek-speaking Jewish population. Written in the 2nd century BCE, it is a prime example of Jewish apologetic literature from the Second Temple period. During this era, Jews in the diaspora had to navigate their religious identity within a dominant Greek culture. Many no longer spoke Hebrew and relied on the Septuagint for their knowledge of scripture. The letter addresses this community's need for assurance that their Greek Bible was as divinely authoritative as the Hebrew original. Furthermore, it served as a form of cultural propaganda directed at a non-Jewish audience. By presenting Jewish law and theology through the lens of Greek philosophy and reason, and by depicting a great Hellenistic king admiring Jewish wisdom, the author argued for the respectability and antiquity of Judaism. The work aimed to build bridges between Jewish and Greek thought while simultaneously defending the uniqueness and divine origin of Jewish tradition in a competitive religious and philosophical marketplace.

Why It Was Excluded from the Canon

The Letter of Aristeas was never a serious candidate for inclusion in any Jewish or Christian biblical canon. Its genre is not that of divine revelation, prophecy, or sacred history, but rather a work of historical fiction with a clear apologetic agenda. Its purpose was to legitimize another body of texts, the Septuagint, not to stand as scripture itself. While the legend it created about the Septuagint's miraculous origin was immensely influential and widely accepted by early Jewish writers like Philo and Josephus and Christian fathers like Irenaeus and Augustine, they valued the letter as a historical source, not as inspired scripture. Over time, its pseudepigraphal nature became clear; scholars recognized it was not written by a contemporary of Ptolemy II but by a later author. Its primary function was to provide a foundational story for the Greek Old Testament, a role that did not necessitate its own canonization. It was seen as a valuable but human composition about the translation of God's word, not the word of God itself.

Key Themes

Key Passages

Reading Tips

When reading the Letter of Aristeas, remember that it is historical fiction with a purpose, not a factual report. The key is to ask why the author tells the story this way. Pay close attention to the long descriptions of the lavish gifts to the Temple and the detailed philosophical discussions between the king and the Jewish elders. These sections are not digressions; they are central to the author's goal of impressing a Hellenistic audience with the wealth, dignity, and intellectual depth of Judaism. Consider the text as a window into the mind of a 2nd century BCE diaspora Jew navigating a complex cultural world. The letter is a masterclass in cultural diplomacy, seeking to earn respect for Jewish tradition while also affirming its divine uniqueness.

Influence & Legacy

The Letter of Aristeas had a profound and lasting impact, primarily by creating the foundational legend for the Septuagint. This story of a miraculous, royally sponsored translation was widely accepted by both Jews (Philo, Josephus) and Christians (Irenaeus, Augustine) for centuries. It conferred immense authority upon the Greek Old Testament, which was crucial for the early church, as the Septuagint was the scripture used by most New Testament authors and the Greek-speaking Christian world. The letter's validation of the Septuagint justified its use in Christian theology and its eventual status as the Old Testament of the early church. Although modern scholarship has dismissed the letter's historical claims, it remains an invaluable primary source for understanding Hellenistic Judaism. It provides unparalleled insight into how diaspora Jews negotiated their identity, engaged in apologetics, and synthesized their ancestral faith with the prevailing Greek culture of their day.

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