Septuagint

Septuagint is the written translation of the Old Testament into Greek.

Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BC) the Hellenic king of Egypt requested the translation for the Jewish community of Alexandria who spoke Greek. He also wanted a copy of the Torah to be placed in the library of Alexandria.

The word Septuagint means seventy in Greek, and is abbreviated LXX (70 in Roman numerals) . According to the Talmud, Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, asked Eleazar, the chief priest in Jerusalem, to send 72 Jewish wise men from the land of Israel to come to Egypt. Each elder resided in a different room and was asked to translate the Torah from Hebrew into Greek. All 72 elders were able to translate the Torah in an identical way.

The Hebrew canon has three divisions: the Torah (Law), the Neviʾim (Prophets), and the Ketuvim (Writings). The Torah was translated in the 3rd century BC, and the rest was translated in the 2nd century BC and added to the Septuagint.

The importance of the Septuagint is that the Jewish scriptures became available to the nations of the Mediterranean and to early Christianity, opening the Jewish writings to the world. The Septuagint became the standard version of the Old Testament in the Greek Church.

Reference:

 Septuagint, Article from the Encyclopedia Britannica.