The Septuagint is an ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. Its name comes from the Latin word for “seventy” (septuaginta) because, according to tradition, seventy or seventy-two Jewish scholars worked on the translation. It was produced in the 3rd to 2nd centuries BCE in Alexandria, Egypt, a major center of Jewish scholarship and Hellenistic culture.
The Septuagint was significant because it made the Hebrew Scriptures accessible to Greek-speaking Jews who lived outside Israel. It also played a crucial role in early Christianity; many of the Old Testament quotations and references found in the New Testament are based on this Greek version rather than the Hebrew text.
