The Letter of Aristeas and the Question of Septuagint Origins Redux

Septuagint scholarship regularly relies on the evidence of the Letter of Aristeas to identify the original setting for the translation of the Pentateuch into Greek. While Aristeas lends itself to a view of the Septuagint as an authorized replacement of the Hebrew original, attention to the textual-linguistic character of the Greek text suggests that this was not its intended function at the time of its initial translation. Such textual-linguistic criteria as positive and negative inference, the Hebraistic use of structure words, and the presence of numerous transliterations contribute to this conclusion.