Jewish law and Greek science: Translation-and mobility-studies in light of the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament

In the last three decades, translation studies, also through the impetus of postcolonial studies, have dealt with the links between spatial and linguistic mobility. Translation has therefore become a privileged ground for pointing out the intercultural transformation processes inherent in geographical migration and contact between different peoples and languages. Within this theoretical framework, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) allows us to measure the action of two opposing forces: the need to “block” the holy text in an extra-historical dimension, and the need to adapt the translation to the historical community of its new users. Moving from the example of the law of retaliation and the problem of abortion, the chapter deals with the textual “mobility” of the Bible from its Jewish context to its Greek (Septuagint) and Latin (Vulgate) translations.