(Greek: seventy)
The name given to the Greek translation of the Old Testament made from the Hebrew by different authors, between 300,130 B.C., at Alexandria for the Jewish colonists of Egypt. It takes its name from a false legend which says that at the request of Ptolemy II (284-247), 72 scholars were sent from Jerusalem to Egypt to translate the Pentatetuch into Greek. The translation is at times liberal and at times free, but, on the whole, faithful. The inferior version of Daniel was later displaced by the revision of that book by Theodotion. The Septuagint contains also the deuterocanonical books. It was used by the Apostles and the early Christians and is still the official text of the Greek Church, both Uniat and Orthodox. This version was revised by Theodotion, a Jewish proselyte, Origen, and others. The Old Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic, and other versions are based on the Septuagint.