Textura poetica: Old Greek Job as Hebraic-Hellenic scriptural tragedy

Thesis

This thesis offers a sustained philological analysis of poetic diction in the Old Greek (OG) translation of Job, placing its poetic texture in dialogue with previous scholarship on the translation’s style and technique. It argues that, at times, the translator used the elevated diction of Archaic, Classical, and post-Classical Greek poetry to portray the story of Job as a cosmic and existential drama, all the while engaging with the language and intertextual world of Jewish scripture. As such, this thesis concludes that OG Job should be understood as a Hebraic-Hellenic scriptural tragedy. By offering the first deep dive into the lives of OG Job’s poetic words, this study advances the field through uncovering poetic innovation and intertextual connections with Classical literature, identifying instances of Greek metre, suggesting the text’s anticipated phonological register, and proposing instances of paronomasia previously unnoticed in scholarship. It also adds to the growing evidence that the translator and audience were connected to elite literary culture and further links OG Job and OG Proverbs. Overall, this thesis reframes OG Job not as a prosaic text with poetic touches, but as a creative and culturally situated poetic experiment in Greek—crafted for a mostly bilingual, bicultural audience, engaged with both Greek and Hebrew literary traditions.

Authors: Bell, JR

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-azy78ka0v
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Homeric diction; Alexandrian scholarship; Old Greek Job; Greek poetics; Greek tragedy; intertextuality; septuagint; Hellenistic Judaism; iambic trimeter; Jewish Greek literature
• Subjects: Bible. Old Testament--Versions, Jewish; Greek literature, Hellenistic; Epic poetry, Greek; Iambic poetry, Greek; Greek drama (Tragedy)