The Daughter-versions of the Book of Esther

The Book of Esther is a nice story, however, its textual history is rather complex. There is a Hebrew text with 10 chapters, a Greek translation with about 16 chapters, and a second Greek text which is shorter than the first Greek translation, but longer than the Hebrew text. The question arises as to how these texts are related. Describing this complex set of relations and the textual development of the different versions of the Book of Esther stands at the core of this project. There are however some areas of research that need urgently attention. Recently new Georgian manuscripts of the Book of Esther have emerged and someone needs to work on their text in relation to both the Old Greek text and the second Greek text. Next, the Additions of the Greek text need more work. In 1998, Ingo Kottsieper published the best scholarly contribution on (all) the Additions (Ingo Kottsieper, Zusätze zu Ester [ATD; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998]). Kottsiepers work needs to be broadened by taking into account the other witness aside from the Old Greek and the second Greek text as well as the Targumim and the Midrashim (Ego 2017). Then, there is the Vetus Latina and the Esther narrative as found in the Jewish Antiquitates of Josephus are constantly used in the debate about the second Greek text. This part of the project is funded by the Thyssen Foundation.

In this project, the different text forms of the (Biblical) book of Esther were critically analysed. Two important questions were asked: What does the study of the Georgian manuscripts of the book of Esther contribute to finding a solution to the text critical problems of the book of Esther and, more specifically, its main textual problem that there is one Hebrew text of the book of Esther and two (not one) Greek versions. Moreover, the so-called Additions of the Greek texts were analysed in order to figure out in which context they primarily emerged and functioned: that of the Old Greek, Septuagintal text or that of the second Greek text, that is the Alpha Text. The project resulted in two major conclusions: - That a third Greek text (G III; or readings thereof) can be observed behind the common readings of the second form of the Georgian text (Geo II) and the old Latin (the Vetus Latina). - That the Additions fit more with the Old Greek text, than with the Alpha text.