Aristeas of Marmora

Beginning of the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 11th century.

Aristeas (Greek: Ἀριστέας) was an Alexandrian Jew who lived in the era of the later Ptolemies, approximately the second or third century BC.

He is remembered for the Letter of Aristeas in which he described in legendary form the origin of the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint. Although the account is in no way authentic, it does present some useful insights on Egyptian and Palestinian affairs of the period.

References

• Aristeas, Letter of in the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1901–1906.