Difficult Issues of the Sixth Column of Origen’s Hexapla

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the problem of identifying the text placed by Origen in the sixth column of the Hexapla, Theodotion’s revision. This text, along with the revisions of Aquila and Symmachus, was actively used by the Church Fathers in the exegesis of Old Testament texts (by Chrysostom, Theodorite, Jerome, etc.). In the middle of the 20th century, the prevailing opinion, which was probably going back to the blessed Jerome, attributed the authorship of this text to a certain Theodotion who lived in the 2nd century AD. Moreover, according to this opinion the translation of the book of Daniel in the Septuagint is also attributed to Theodotion. Since the second half of the 20th century, there has been a surge of research on the origin of the sixth column and its connection with Theodotion. Various studies have emerged that put forward a variety of new hypotheses. This was especially promoted by the discovery of the Greek Minor Prophets Scroll in 1952. The Russian-language literature has not covered this issue sufficiently. More or less competently, this problem was touched upon in an article in the Orthodox Encyclopedia. The present paper aims to view the problem of identifying the text of the sixth column of the Hexapla considering the following aspects: 1. The authorship and origin of Theodotion’s revision. 2. The question whether Theodotion (2nd century AD) mentioned by the Church Fathers had any relationship to the Greek translation of the Book of Daniel ascribed to him. 3. The questions whether the material collected by Origen in the sixth column is homogeneous and how it is connected with the historical Theodotion. 4. Characteristic features of Theodotion’s revision. Thus, the paper attempts to offer a complete picture of the revision of Theodotion through the resolution of the questions raised