Today is recognized as “International Septuagint Day” by the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS). Why today? Well, according to the IOSCS website…
The date was chosen because, as Robert Kraft noted, it is “the one date we know of from late antiquity on which LXX/OG/Aquila received special attention.” Emperor Justinian’s Novella 146 permitted the Jews of the Roman Empire to read the Scriptures in their synagogues in Greek, Latin, or “any other tongue which in any district allows the hearers better to understand the text”. Specifically, “We make this proviso that those who use Greek shall use the text of the seventy interpreters…”
This novella (see English translation) was published on the eighth day of February in the year 553 CE.
To celebrate International Septuagint Day, we have deep discounts on a number of important LXX resources, including the lowest price we’ve ever offered on the Göttingen LXX series.
If you’re looking for fun things to do to celebrate International Septuagint Day, consider viewing one of our previously recorded webinars related to LXX study in Accordance:
