Description
The Jewish-Hellenistic story about Joseph and Aseneth tells first how Aseneth, the daughter of Pentephres the priest of Heliopolis, became the wife of the patriarch Joseph following her conversion to the God of the Hebrews, and secondly how she was saved from an attempt to abduct her perpetrated by Pharao's first-born son. The tale was adopted by the Christian Church and circulated widely from Middle Byzantine times on in its original Greek and a number of vernacular renderings (cf. Chr. Burchard et al., Joseph und Aseneth kritisch herausgegeben, Leiden - Boston 2003). The Armenian version (10/11th cent.?) is preserved in about 50 mss., many of them Bibles. Moreover, it is an excellent witness to the Greek text. Oddly enough we do not have a complete edition, let alone a critical one. The only printed form is based on a few late mss. with a defective text (S. Yovsep'eanc', T'angaran hin ew nor naxneac' vol. I, Venice 1896). For an editio maior a lot of preliminary studies remain to be done. This book presents a minor edition as a substitute pro tempore. It is based on the best Armenian ms., viz. Erevan, Matenadaran 1500 penned by Mxit'ar of Ayrivank' in 1282/83. It represents a line of tradition by itself while all other mss. hark back to a hyparchetype which is notably inferior. M. 1500 is printed in full and supplemented and corrected by a choice of 12 other mss. from 1269 to 1626. The introduction includes a list of well known mss., a sketch of the textual history, and a bibliography. J.J.S. Weitenberg provided a full Index of Words at the end.
