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Part of 13 Psalms and Odes of Solomon - 13.2 Odes of Solomon - 13.2.2 Greek13.2.2.1.1 P. Bodmer XI as Part of a Codex in the Bibliotheca BodmerianaThe original language of the Odes of Solomon was most probably Greek (but see 13.2.1). Before the discovery and publication of P. Bodmer XI in 1959 (13.2.2.1.2), scholars were puzzled about the existence and size of a collection called ᾠδαὶ Σολομῶντος “Odes of Solomon” in two lists of canonical works (13.2.1.2); in addition to the evidence of these lists, we knew only of five enigmatic Coptic quotati…

Part of 13 Psalms and Odes of Solomon - 13.1 Psalms of Solom…

Part of 13 Psalms and Odes of Solomon - 13.2 Odes of Solomon - 13.2.2 Greek13.2.2.2.1 Lactantius and His Collection of the Odes of SolomonWithin the textual history of the Odes of Solomon, only three lines have survived in Latin quoted in the works of Lactantius. Lucius Caelius Firmianus qui est Lactantius, the “Christian Cicero,” lived from ca. 250 to ca. 325 C.E.; he wrote the seven books of Divinae institutiones “Divine Institutes” ( Div. inst.) between 304 and 311 C.E. and produced an abridgement of the larger work called Epitome ( Epit.) sometime after 313 C.E.1 In his main work, he introduces a quotation from Odes of Solomon 19 with the words Solomon in ode undeuicesima ita dicit “Solomon in his nineteenth Ode said”; in the Epitome he prefaces the same quotation with apud Solomonem ita scriptum est “as it is written according to Solomon.” Although Lactantius does not say so explicity, he seems to have accepted the…

Part of 13 Psalms and Odes of Solomon - 13.2 Odes of Solomon13.2.3.1 Editio Princeps of the Odes of SolomonUntil 1909, our knowledge about the existence of the ᾠδαὶ Σολομῶντος “Odes of Solomon” was based on two Greek lists of canonical works (13.2.2.1), a Latin quotation by Lactantius (13.2.2.2), and five Coptic quotations in the Gnostic tractate Pistis Sophia (13.2.2.3). This unsatisfying situation changed dramatically in 1909 with the publication of The Odes and Psalms of Solomon: Now First Published from the Syriac Version by Harris (1852–1941), the discoverer …

Part of 13 Psalms and Odes of Solomon - 13.2 Odes of Solomon13.2.1.1 The Odes of Solomon and the BibleThe collection of forty-two pseudonymous poems called Odes of Solomon has never been a part of the Hebrew Bible (MT; I.1.2.2), the Septuagint (LXX; I.1.3.1.1), or the Syriac Peshitta (S; I…

Part of 13 Psalms and Odes of Solomon - 13.2 Odes of Solomon - 13.2.2 Greek13.2.2.3.1 Editio princeps of the Coptic Quotations from the Odes of SolomonMore than half a century before the editio princeps of the late-fourth century C.E. parchment codex Askew(ianus) was published by the German oriental scholar Julius Heinrich Petermann (13.2.1.4),1 the posthumous Appendix of the Polish-British ori…

[German Version] The eulogy (from Gk εὐλογíα/ eulogía, “well speaking, praise”) did not develop as a distinct genre either in classical antiquity or in Christianity. Besides the general sense of “high praise,” in English “eulogy” has become a technical term for laudatory praise of someone who has died. In French the plural ( eulogies) has preserved an ancient Christian sense, denoting leftover pieces of blessed bread ( pain bénit). In the Early Church, the whole εὐλογ- word group …

[German Version] I. Wisdom of Solomon 1. Canonicity and versions. The Wisdom of Solomon ( Sapientia Salomonis) is classified as a deuterocanonical or apocryphal book (Apocrypha). Both terms reflect its inclusion in the Septuagint, but the Mu…

[German Version] I. Term and Genre – II. Old Testament – III. New Testament – IV. Liturgical Studies I. Term and Genre The Greek word ὕμνος/ hýmnos, whose etymology is obscure, originally meant, quite unspecifically, simply “song” (the verb ὑμνεῖν/ hymneín, “ to sing”; cf. Hes. Theog. 11.33; Hom. Hym. 3.178, etc.). Yet, from the ¶ 5th/4th century bce at the latest, it meant “song for a god” (cf. Plato, Leges 700 b 1–2; Xenophanes 21 B 1.13 DK; Xenophon, Cyrupaideia 18.1.23) and thence became the general term for “religious song,” and finally for “festival song,” “song of praise,” “song in praise of gods.” The expression never denoted a specific structure, but from the earliest sources an arsenal of individual formal elements are evident that can be found in varying frequency in almost all cultures (described esp. by Norde…

[German Version] I. Bible 1. Literary analysis. The primary source for Solomon (Heb. ְׁשׁלמה/ šĕlōmōh) is 1 Kgs 1–12. It has a chiastic structure centered on the account of the design, construction, and dedication of the Jerusalem temple (II, 4; 1 Kgs 5–8); it is flanked b…

[English Version] I. Weisheit Salomos 1.  Stellung im Kanon, Versionen. Weisheit Salomos/Sapientia Salomonis (SapSal) wird als deuterokanonisch oder apokr. (Apokryphen/Pseudepigraphen) eingestuft. Bezieht sich beides auf die LXX, so wurde im Canon Muratori (Muratorisches Fragment) die »von Freunden Salomos« griech. vf. »Weisheit« sogar als Teil des NT anerkannt, i.allg. jedoch unter atl. Antilegomena gestellt. In der LXX, die selbst …

[English Version] I. Bibel 1.  Literarischer Befund.Primärquelle über S. (hebr. שְׁלמֹה) ist der Abschnitt 1Kön 1–12. Er ist chiastisch aufgebaut: Den Kern bilden die Berichte von Planung, Bau und Weihung des Jerusalemer Tempels (: II.,4.; 1Kön 5–8), darum lagern sich Schilderungen der glänzenden Weisheit und glanzvollen Herrschaft S.s (1Kön 3f. und 9f.), den äußeren Rahmen bilden Erzählungen von seinem Aufstieg und Abstieg (1Kön 1f. und 11f.). Dieses Gesamtbild verdankt sich dtr. Geschichtsschreibung (Deuteronomistisches Geschi…