Complutensian Polyglot Bible
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The Complutensian Polyglot Bible is the name given to the first printed polyglot of the entire
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
. The edition was initiated and financed by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (1436–1517) and published by Complutense University in
Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish municipality of the Community of Madrid. Housing is primarily located on the right (north) bank of the Henares River, Henares. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municip ...
, Spain. It includes the first printed editions of the Greek
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
, the complete
Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...
, and the Targum Onkelos, a translation of the
Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...
. Of the 600 six-volume sets which were printed, only 123 are known to have survived to date.


History


Precedents

The polyglot Bible was the result of Spain's long-lasting tradition of translations of texts. Through centuries the intellectual class of the Iberian peninsula had developed a deep understanding of the issues of translation and the difficulty of conveying, or even interpreting meaning correctly across languages. Religious texts were known to be particularly difficult due to their high metaphorical content and how dependent on the context in which they were written they tended to be. This sparked a debate in Spain about the convenience of continuing the translation of religious texts, and the best way to do it, over a century prior to the
Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
. The customary answer to this debate was to ask religious authorities to examine the translation and cross-check and compare different translations with contemporary Castilian, but that in turn created a debate about the qualifications of the religious authority itself to properly translate from the original sources. One of the answers to this debate was the polyglot Bible, which Cisneros hoped would end the issue forever.García Oro, José (2005). '' Cisneros: un cardenal reformista en el trono de España (1436–1517). Esfera de los Libros.'' ISBN


Translation process

Diego López de Zúñiga was the chief editor, and was fluent in Latin as well as both Aramaic and Arabic. He was given a team of various translators. Converted translators and academics were favoured and specifically sought since they were fluent in the source languages and the cultures of the texts. Second in command, Alfonso de Zamora (14761544) was a converted Jewish scholar, an expert in Talmudic studies, and spoke Hebrew as his first language. Other ''conversos'' working on the project were Alfonso de Alcalá and Pablo de Coronel. Demetrius Ducas (a scholar from Crete), Hernán Núñez de Toledo ("The Pincian") and Juan de Vergara were in charge of the translation from Greek manuscripts. Antonio de Nebrija was specifically called for the translation of the Latin
Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...
. Hernán Núñez de Toledo was also the chief Latinist. The scholars met in
Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish municipality of the Community of Madrid. Housing is primarily located on the right (north) bank of the Henares River, Henares. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municip ...
, a city near Madrid also known by its Latin name ''Complutum'', at Complutense University. The
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
was completed and printed in 1514, but its publication was delayed while work on the
Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
continued, so they could be published together as a complete work.


Delays

The Complutensian Old Testament was completed in 1517. Cardinal Cisneros died in July 1517, five months after the Polyglot's completion, and never saw its publication. Further delays happened when, following the death of Cardinal Cisneros, the text was confiscated by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...
's four-year exclusive privilege in 1516 (and the papal privilege given to the '' First Biblia Rabbinica'' in 1518) may have also been a delaying factor: Pope Leo X finally sanctioned it in 1520. At which time the civil war in Castile, the
Revolt of the Comuneros The Revolt of the Comuneros (, "War of the Communities of Castile") was an uprising by citizens of Crown of Castile, Castile against the rule of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles I and his administration between 1520 and 1521. At its hei ...
broke out, causing delays.


Influence

The direct influence of the Complutensian Polyglot was attenuated because, according to a much later letter of King
Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...
, a significant number of copies were lost in a shipwreck in transit to Italy around 1521. The
Aldine Press The Aldine Press was the printing office started by Aldus Manutius in 1494 in Venice, from which were issued the celebrated Aldine editions of the classics (Latin and Greek masterpieces, plus a few more modern works). The first book that was d ...
based the Old Testament text in the 1518 Aldine Bible on the Complutensian's Greek
Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...
, paired with a New Testament based to some extent on Erasmus's version. Erasmus acknowledged using the Complutensian in the 1527 edition of his ''Novum Testamentum''.


Contents

The Complutensian Polyglot Bible was published as a six-volume set. The first four volumes contain the
Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
. Each page consists of three parallel columns of text: Hebrew on the outside, the
Latin Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Roman Church. Later, of his own initia ...
in the middle (edited by Antonio de Nebrija), and the Greek
Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...
on the inside. On each page of the Pentateuch, the Aramaic text (the Targum Onkelos) and its own Latin translation are added at the bottom. The fifth volume, the New Testament, consists of parallel columns of Greek and the Latin Vulgate. The sixth volume contains various Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek dictionaries and study aids.
Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...
's Latin version of the
Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
was placed between the Greek and
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
versions, symbolizing the Roman Church of Christ being surrounded and crucified by the Greek Church and the Jews. This text was collated by Antonio de Nebrija from manuscript sources, but was left uncorrected. Nebrija eventually resigned from the project after Cisneros refused to allow him to improve the translation, in deference to the desires of the Papacy.


See also

* '' Novum Instrumentum omne'' * '' Editio Regia'' * '' Codex Complutensis I''


References


Further reading

* Lyell, James P. R. (1917), ''Cardinal Ximenes, Statesman, Ecclesiastic, Soldier, and Man of Letters: with an Account of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible''. London: Coptic House, 1917. * Rummel, Erika. Jiménez de Cisneros, ''On the Threshold of Spain’s Golden Age. Tempe'', Arizona: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1999.
Catholic Encyclopedia: Editions of the BibleGFS Complutensian GreekRobert Proctor's announcement of his Otter Greek font: A New Fount of Greek Type, ''Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs'', Vol. 2, No. 6 (Aug., 1903), pp. 358-360


External links

Scanned copies
''Complutensian Polyglot Bible''
WDL
'' Biblia Políglota Complutense. Volúmenes I-V. Biblioteca digital de Castilla-La Mancha.''

"''Vetus testamentū multiplici lingua nūc primo impressum ... adiūcta vnicuique sua latina interpretatione''"
1514, ''volúmenes II-VI, digitalizada en la Biblioteca Digital Hispánica de la'' Spanish National Library(In Spanish) {{Authority control 1520 books Early printed Bibles Greek New Testament Polyglot bibles History of translation Editions of the Vulgate