Aquila of Sinope

Who is Aquila of Sinope?

Saint Aquila of Sinope was a native of Pontus, celebrated for a very literal and accurate translation of the Old Testament into Greek. Epiphanius preserves a tradition that he was a kinsman of the Emperor Hadrian, who employed him in rebuilding Jerusalem, and that Aquila was converted to Christianity but, on being reproved for practicing astrology, apostatized to Judaism. He is said also to have been a disciple of Rabbi Aqiba and seems to be referred to in Jewish writings as עקילם. Aquila's version is said to have been used in place of the Septuagint in Greek-speaking synagogues. The Christians generally disliked it, alleging that it rendered the Messianic passages incorrectly, but Jerome and Origen speak in its praise. Origen incorporated it in his Hexapla.

It was thought that this was the only copy extant, but in 1897 fragments of two codices were brought to the Cambridge University Library. These have been published—the fragments containing 1 Kings xx. 7-17; 2 Kings xxiii. 12-27 by F. C. Burkitt in 1897, those containing parts of Psalms xc.-ciii. by C. Taylor in 1899. See F. C. Burkitt's article in the Jewish Encyclopaedia.