An Armenian-Greek Index to Philo's Quaestiones and De Vita Contemplativa

IN VOL. XLIX of the Journal of Biblical Literature (1930, p. 61ff.) the writer published a brief paper on the nature of the Armenian translation of Philo's Quaestiones in Genesim et Exodum on the basis of the text published by Aucher at Venice in 1826. As is well known, the Greek original of this Philonic work has been almost entirely lost except for a small number of fragments in patristic writings and catenae, which have been collected and published by Rendel Harris in his Fragments of Philo Judaeus (Cambridge, 1886). From a comparison of the Armenian text with the Greek fragments, the writer was led to the conclusion previously reached by Conybeare (Philo about the Contemplative Life, Oxford, 1895, p. 155) that the Armenian is marvellously faithful, reproducing the Greek original word for word and as a rule without any change in the order. Hence its great value as a means of determining the Greek text . Shortly after, an additional study was made of the Armenian version of the De Vita Contemplativa, edited by Conybeare (op. cit.), and the Armenian-Greek index, compiled for the Quaestiones, was expanded to include this work, which is now generally agreed to be genuinely Philonic, and the language of which is indisputably Philonic. The Quaestiones and the D. V. C. were evidently translated into Armenian by the same person, and it is therefore possible to make use of the vocabulary of the latter in any attempted reconstruction of the Greek original of the former. The following index is presented to scholars with a view to aiding such a reconstruction, which if not completely possible, may at least be undertaken to! the extent of improving upon Aucher's Latin version. However, the actual work of systematic reconstruction of the Greek Quaestiones must be deferred until the publication of a definitive critical edition of the Armenian, such as may be expected in the not far distant future from Dr. Hans

Armenian · Art · Index (typography) · Linguistics · Literature · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Classics · Historical and Linguistic Studies · Philosophy · Theology and Canon Law Studies

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