Hillel I. Newman, «A Hippodrome on the Road to Ephrath», Vol. 86 (2005) 213-228
LXX to Gen 48,7 refers to a hippodrome in the vicinity of
Rachel’s Tomb. This cannot be satisfactorily explained as an exegetical creation
of the translator’s imagination and probably refers to a genuine structure. This
is also true of the stadium or hippodrome mentioned in Tg. Onq. to Gen
14,17, as the meeting place of Abram, the king of Sodom, and Melchizedek. Since
1QapGen locates the same meeting in the Valley of Beth Hakerem, which should be
identified as the valley between Ramat Rahel and Bethlehem, it is reasonable to
assume that both versions refer to the same hippodrome. There is no textual
justification for assuming a late interpolation in LXX and no geographical or
archeological justification for explaining these passages as allusions to a
Herodian hippodrome. LXX may attest to a case of profound Hellenistic influence
in Judea already under Ptolemaic rule.
228 Hillel I. Newman
The passing allusions to otherwise unknown hippodromes in LXX
and Tg. Onq. on unrelated verses have provided us with an opportunity
to explore the question of the geographical and historical realities
which underlie the translations. I have argued that the translators did
not create these structures — which should be seen as one — from
the substance of the verses alone, but rather that both versions reflect
the existence of an altogether real race-course in an area where we
were not inclined to look for one. Perhaps it is time to start looking. In
the final analysis, it is not the mere existence of a hippodrome on the
road to Ephrath which should interest us, but what it might teach us
about the penetration of Hellenistic culture into Judea years before the
sound of the discus summoned the Antiochenes of Jerusalem to the
palaestra (54).
Dept. of Jewish History Hillel I. NEWMAN
University of Haifa
Haifa, Israel
SUMMARY
LXX to Gen 48,7 refers to a hippodrome in the vicinity of Rachel’s Tomb. This
cannot be satisfactorily explained as an exegetical creation of the translator’s
imagination and probably refers to a genuine structure. This is also true of the
stadium or hippodrome mentioned in Tg. Onq. to Gen 14,17, as the meeting place
of Abram, the king of Sodom, and Melchizedek. Since 1QapGen locates the same
meeting in the Valley of Beth Hakerem, which should be identified as the valley
between Ramat Rahel and Bethlehem, it is reasonable to assume that both
versions refer to the same hippodrome. There is no textual justification for
assuming a late interpolation in LXX and no geographical or archeological
justification for explaining these passages as allusions to a Herodian hippodrome.
LXX may attest to a case of profound Hellenistic influence in Judea already under
Ptolemaic rule.
(54) 2 Macc 4,14. See M. STERN, “‘Antioch in Jerusalem’: The Gymnasium,
the Polis and the Rise of Menelausâ€, Zion 57 (1992) 238 (Hebrew).