The Armenian Texts of Epiphanius of Salamis: De Mensuris Et Ponderibus

The story of the translation of the Bible into Greek was known and popular in Jewish Hellenistic literature and in early Christian writings. It has served to guarantee the validity of the text of the scriptures used by the Church which is a major theme in the texts being published here. Epiphanius of Salamis included one of the ancient forms of this recital in his work entitled On Weights and Measures. The work deals not only with weights and measures found in the bible, but with the various biblical translations themselves. Material is also included on the twenty-two main works of creation, the canon of hebrew scriptures, and the emperors of Rome. In the present volume, the authors offer texts and translations of eight Armenian documents, all of which derive from Epiphanius’ work, and six of which relate to the translation of the Septuagint. The seventh deals with the weights and measures themselves. The material preserved in the first six documents takes up two basic themes, both central to other aspects of Armenian literature. The first is the actual story of the translation of the Scptuagint. The other has to do with the subsequent Greek versions of the Old Testament. Both themes are connected with the very lively interest displayed by the Armenians in all matters concerning the Bible, its composition, history, canon and similar topics.