Postclassical Greek and Cultural Identity in the Septuagint

Septuagint studies is currently in the middle of a shift, away from the characterization of its Greek as unintelligible and toward a view that its language is representative of broader Postclassical Greek. Combining perspectives from historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and cognitive linguistics, this volume seeks to better understand the language of the Septuagint and its position as an expression of cultural identity. Likewise, it aims to illuminate the various internal and external factors which produced diachronic language change, as evidenced in the Postclassical period.

This collection of essays was first inspired by the conference ‘The Septuagint within the History of Greek: Language and Cultural Identity in Postclassical Greek’ (SHG23), held in Cambridge in September 2023. This conference served as the official launch for the ‘Septuagint within the History of Greek’ Network (SHG) – an international research network originally conceived by Professor James K. Aitken (University of Cambridge) and Professor Trevor V. Evans (Macquarie University). Professor Aitken was a co-organizer for this conference before his untimely death in 2023. The conference and this volume are dedicated in his memory.