Two Unpublished Byzantine Scholia on Psalms 104 and 135 and the Ark of the Covenant (original) (raw)

Supposedly Jewish Greek Psalter Versions of the Early Modern Period

Editing the Greek Psalter, 2024

The secondary literature frequently references purported Jewish Greek Psalter adaptations from the early modern period, often citing Codex Vaticanus gr. 343 (dated to 1450) as the earliest example and a printed edition from 1643 as another. However, the latter is commonly misdated to 1543. Both examples, along with others that could be included in a broader list of early modern Psalter versions, are, in fact, Christian revisions of the Greek text and cannot be considered Jewish translations or adaptations. This study examines these texts in detail, beginning with the Vatican Vernacular Psalter, Codex Vaticanus gr. 343 (§ 1). It then explores a seventeenth-century version partly attributed to Maximos Peloponnesios and Athanasios Patellaros (§ 2), and finally, discusses various seventeenth to eighteenth-century versions, including the supposed Jewish print from 1643, which is actually a version by Agapios Landos of Crete, as well as the versions by Georgios Palamedes and Ioannes Litinos (§ 3). Contrary to the assertions of Fernández Marcos and other scholars, none of these Psalter translations originated from Jewish sources; they are all Christian adaptations from the early modern period. From a linguistic perspective, the Vatican Vernacular Psalter and the versions attributed to Maximos Peloponnesios and Athanasios Patellaros provide captivating examples of early modern Greek vernacular, while from a poetic point of view, the version by Georgios Palamedes is particularly interesting.