Septuagint: The First Bible Translation? (Dan McClellan and Dan Beecher; Data Over Dogma podcast on YouTube)

If you've listened to this show for any amount of time, you know what the Septuagint is (if you haven't, don't worry- it's just the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible). But do you know where that name came from? Or the legend of its creation?

This episode, we're diving deep into the lore of this very important document, and yes- there is LORE! The most important of which is a very long letter from a man calling himself Aristeas, which tells a fascinating (and spurious) tale of the Septuagint's origin. What do we know about this letter? And how much credence should we give it?

Index

00:00 Intro & Banter
00:41 The Letter of Aristeas
01:16 What Is the Septuagint?
02:20 Why 70 (or 72) Translators?
03:22 The Origin Story Explained
05:34 The Library of Alexandria
07:36 The Mission to Jerusalem
08:21 The 7-Day Banquet & Debates
10:15 What’s in the Letter?
11:58 The Translation “Miracle”
12:48 Divine Approval & Public Reading
14:00 Why This Story Matters
16:17 Later Influence (Philo & Josephus)
17:31 Why Was It Written?
19:14 Historical Context: Hellenism
21:04 Myth vs. History
22:02 How the Septuagint Really Developed
24:44 Influence on Later Bible Translations
27:38 Dead Sea Scrolls & Textual Evidence
29:27 Why It Still Matters
30:13 Outro
Interview: 

https://youtu.be/o56imBUwbtk?si=IfW4RyZFmCGjAJCd