Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Schmuel wrote:

> And you really think it is worthwhile to get into 332-285=47 which is more than 
> "approximately 35".  Harold, are you also going to yell 'liar, liar' on that basis ?

HH: The nature of the comment shows an unreliable 
willingness to warp facts. Not only is it actually 
at least 47 years from the beginning of Alexandria 
to the beginning of the reign of Philadelphus, it 
is also more natural to choose a date in the 
middle of his reign as an average calculation of 
when the translation may have been started.

HH: Wikipedia begins his reign from 281:

Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309–246 BC), was the king 
of Ptolemaic Egypt from 281 BC to 246 BC.

HH: Others give similar figures:

E. R. Bevan: The House of Ptolemy • Chap. III
The young man of twenty-five who became sole king 
of Egypt in 283 or 282 B.C. is known in history as 
Ptolemy "Philadelphus." This surname he never bore 
in ...
penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/ 
Places/Africa/Egypt/_Texts/BEVHOP/3*.html - 94k -

Home - Faculty of Arts at The University of 
Auckland, New Zealand
Scholars are invited to attend and contribute 20- 
or 40-minute papers on any aspect of Egypt in the 
reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (282-246 BC). ...

HH: If the Wikipedia date were used, that would 
put the span of time at 51 years, but going to 
more average middle of the reign date would add 
another 15 or 20 years. This yields almost three 
generations of people, granting 25 years to a 
generation.

HH: There is every reason to believe that about 
three generations into Greek rule and use of the 
Greek language, the million or so Jews in 
Alexandria would have spoken Greek and would have 
needed or benefited from a Greek translation of 
the Bible, contrary to the words of Floyd Jones.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard