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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 Solomon13.1.1.1 Psalms of Solomon and the BibleThe collection of eighteen pseudepigraphical poems called Psalms of Solomon has never been part of the Hebrew Bible (MT; I.1.2.2) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX; I.1.3.1.1). Although Rahlfs incorporated the collection’s 613 cola (twenty-five monocola, 216 bicola, fifty-two tricola) into his Handausgabe,1 he himself had to admit that these psalms of varying lengths were not to be found in ancient OT manuscripts.2 It is mainly due to Rahlfs that we now find an English translation of Psalms o…

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, h…

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.1.3.4). One can find these poems, which have also been called “hymns” or “psalms” by modern researchers, in collections such as The Apocryphal Old Testament1 or Neutestamentliche Apokryphen.2 They have found their way into the French collection Écrits apocryphes chrétiens3 and the German collection Da…

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 orientalist Charles Godfrey Woide (1725–1790) appeared in 1799, containing the Coptic text, together with a Latin translation, of the “quinque Odae Salomonis.”2 According to Harnack, this…

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 of the paper …