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Dochorn - Georgian - Sources - For - Early - Judaism - Forthcoming

Georgia became a Christian state in the 4th century AD. Prominent parts of the Bible were translated into Georgian soon after, with Armenian, Syrian and Greek debated as source languages. Most of the deuterocanonical books of the Septuagint exist in Georgian translations. Several Old Testament apocryphal and pseudepigraphical works were also translated into Georgian, including the Book of 4 Esdras and the Life of Adam and Eve. A Book of Nimrod is cited in two early Georgian works from the 5th and 9th centuries, but it is unclear if a full Book of Nimrod existed or if the tradition reflects a Georgian adaptation of the figure of Nimrod from Jewish hagg

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39 views1 page

Dochorn - Georgian - Sources - For - Early - Judaism - Forthcoming

Georgia became a Christian state in the 4th century AD. Prominent parts of the Bible were translated into Georgian soon after, with Armenian, Syrian and Greek debated as source languages. Most of the deuterocanonical books of the Septuagint exist in Georgian translations. Several Old Testament apocryphal and pseudepigraphical works were also translated into Georgian, including the Book of 4 Esdras and the Life of Adam and Eve. A Book of Nimrod is cited in two early Georgian works from the 5th and 9th centuries, but it is unclear if a full Book of Nimrod existed or if the tradition reflects a Georgian adaptation of the figure of Nimrod from Jewish hagg

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Josh Alfaro
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Georgian

W.E.D. ALLEN: A History of the Georgian People, London 1932; Ernst BAMMEL: Das Buch Nimrod,
Augustinianum 32 (1992), 217–221; J.N. BIRDSALL: Traces of the Jewish Greek Biblical Versions in Georgian
Manuscript Sources, JSS 17 (1972), 83–92; IDEM: Georgian Studies and the New Testament, NTS 29 (1983),
306–320; Robert P. BLAKE: The Georgian Version of Fourth Esdras from the Jerusalem Manuscript, HThR 19
(1926), 299–375; Jan DOCHHORN: Die Apokalypse des Mose. Text, Übersetzung, Kommentar (TSAJ 106),
Tübingen 2005; J.-C. HAELEWYCK: Clavis Apocryphorum Veteris Testamenti, Turnhout 1998; C. K‘URCIK’IDZE:
Dzveli ağt‘k‘mis ap’ok’rip‘uli k‘art‘uli versiebi (2 vol.), Tbilisi 1970; 1973; Ciala KOURCIKIDZÉ: La Caverne des
Trésors. Version Géorgienne (CSCO 526), Lovanii 1993; Nino MELIKIŠWILI: Die georgische Übersetzung der
Antiquitates des Flavius Josephus, in: Jürgen U. Kalms: Internationales Josephus-Kolloquium Aarhus 1999 (MJSt
6), Münster 2000, 57–62; Georg Péradze: Die Probleme der Ältesten Kirchengeschichte Georgiens, Oriens
Christianus 20 (1932), 153–171; Stephen H. RAPP, JR.: The Georgian Nimrod, in: Kevork B. Bardakjian / Sergio
La Porta: The Armenian Apocryphal Tradition, Leiden 2014, 189–216; Michael TARCHNIŠVILI: Geschichte der
kirchlichen Georgischen Literatur (Studi e testi 185), Città del Vaticano 1955.

Georgia became a Christian state in the 4th century AD (sources: Rufin in Eccl Hist X,11; Life
of Nino, cf. TARCHNIŠVILI 406–410). Prominent parts of the Bible were translated soon after,
as attested by pre-medieval manuscripts (TARCHNIŠVILI 313–323). Armenian, Syrian and
Greek are debated as source languages (for the NT cf. BIRDSALL, Studies). Hexaplaric
traditions were adopted (BIRDSALL, Traces). Most of the deuterocanonical books of the
Septuagint exist in Georgian (K‘URCIK’IDZE). 4 Esdras is transmitted in Biblical manuscripts
and in a lectionary (HAELEWYCK, § 180; BLAKE 299–303). Several other OT parabiblica are
attested (HAELEWYCK §§ 1; 3; 11; 16; 17; 39; 40; 41; 48; 58; 95; 166; 195; 213), amongst
which only §§ 1 (Vita Adae) and 213 (Vitae Prophetarum; cf. TARCHNIŠVILI 389) are with
certainty of Jewish origin. The Vita Adae has been transmitted in a collection containing mainly
apocrypha and pseudo-chrysostomica (cf. KOURCIKIDZÉ VI–IX; for another apocryphal
collection cf. TARCHNIŠVILI 336). Both 4 Esdras (georg) and Vita Adae (georg) may have been
translated from Armenian but do not depend from their extant Armenian recension (BLAKE
305–314; DOCHHORN 39–41). A Georgian translation of Josephus, Antiquities I–XV is ascribed
to Johannes Petric’i (11/12 century; TARCHNIŠVILI 212; MELIKIŠWILI).
A Book of Nimrod is cited in the Life of King Va tang Gorgasal (5th century, written in the
9th century) and in Legends about Nino (cf. RAPP; BAMMEL). The excerpts display a positive
view of Nimrod (he is amongst other things the ancestor of the Georgian kings). They conclude
with a prophecy about Christ. It is an open question whether a Book of Nimrod really existed,
and whether this tradition primarily reflects a Georgian adaptation of the figure of Nimrod
(RAPP) or rather goes back to Jewish haggada (cf. BAMMEL), which might attest a strategy of
inculturation performed by Georgian Jews (Legends about Nino ascribe to Jews a role in the
christianization of Georgia, cf. TARCHNIŠVILI 406–407; PERADZE 166–171; for early Jewish
settlements in Georgia cf. ALLEN 60, n. 5; 64).

JAN DOCHHORN

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