The Greeks in Bactria and India c12.107

c12.107

Now undoubtedly, in the original Questions of Ptolemy II, the king questioned 70 Elders, divided into groups of ten (I shall come to that), and not 72 as Pseudo-Aristeas makes him do; the join where the two numbers were fitted together can still be detected. If 72 were the number, the last two groups must contain eleven apiece, as in Pseudo-Aristeas they do; and when, in the last group but one, Ptolemy questions an eleventh Elder, Pseudo-Aristeas 273 volunteers as the explanation of this τὸν ἐνδέκατον ἐπηρώτα διὰ τὸ δυὸ πλεονάζειν τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα, ‘he questioned the eleventh because there were two more than the 70’,⁴ that is, ‘the 70’ of the Questions which Pseudo-Aristeas is working into his book; otherwise the remark would be pointless, for he has already explained at length in his introduction that there were 72, and why there were 72, and given all their names. That 70 was the original number in the legend is presupposed both by the name Septuagint and by the obvious imitation of the 70 Elders of Exodus xxiv, 1, 9;⁵ 72 does not occur before Pseudo-Aristeas, and was invented by him to make six from each of the Twelve Tribes, as Epiphanius says;⁶ he therefore had to add two more questions to the original 70. I have already mentioned that there are certain interpolations in the Questions; beside these two questions and answers, there are the sections which mention Greek philosophers at the Court⁷ and which have nothing to do with the original Questions. The reason for their insertion by Pseudo-Aristeas is obvious. Though writing propaganda himself, he was building his book round an older document¹ which had no propaganda value but which was useful as being probably well known among hellenised Jews and as vouching for good relations between the Jews and the greatest of the Ptolemies, and he tried to make propaganda of it by explaining (235) that the Jew could beat the Greek philosopher on his own ground. Josephus, when he incorporated much of Pseudo-Aristeas in his own work, showed better judgment by omitting the Questions altogether, as having no value for his purpose.