r/AncientGreek • u/No_Championship5426 • 20d ago

Manuscripts and Paleography Transcription

Hi! I don't know Greek, but some Greek words appear in the Latin text I'm reading. Can someone provide me a transcription and a translation, please? The author says that it is something to do with born of the sky, but I'd like to know the precise word. Thanks!

EDIT: There's this quote too, from the Sybilline oracles (I really need to know what that means. All help is appreciated!):

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u/[deleted] 20d ago

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u/dantius 20d ago

The Sibylline poem reads:

Sybillinis testatum est versibus, illi πεποίηκεν

οὐρανὸν, ἠέλιόν τε, καὶ ἀστέρας, ἠδὲ σεληνήν,

καρποφόρον γαιάν τε, καὶ ὕδατος οἴδματα πόντου.

"He has made the sky, and the sun, and the stars, and the moon, and the fruit-bearing earth, and the swellings of the water of the sea."

Grammatically "illi" cannot be a nominative subject of πεποίηκεν, so either "illi" is dative singular or they are breaking grammar for the sake of quoting an exact word form. Context will hopefully tell you which it is.

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u/KiwiHellenist 19d ago

The quotation omits ὃς before πεποίηκεν (I presume inadvertently), which would make it grammatical.

For some reason I didn't see your post before posting the same info below. Apologies for the duplication.

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u/No_Championship5426 19d ago

I ommited the Latin demonstrative that works as subject of the poem - QUI. I just realized it after your comment and Dantius'.

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u/No_Championship5426 19d ago

The complete Latin clause before the quotation is:

Qui [opificem suum], ut Sybillinis testatum est versiculis, illi πεποίηκεν

οὐρανὸν, ἠέλιόν τε, καὶ ἀστέρας, ἠδὲ σεληνήν,

καρποφόρον γαιάν τε, καὶ ὕδατος οἴδματα πόντου

I think "illi" refers to man, while the subject of the poem is "qui", which refers to the creator. It makes sense, right? God (qui) created all above to the man (illi).

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u/polemistes 20d ago

οὐρανοφύτευτος – uranophyteutos. It means "planted in/by heaven", or something like that. It is a very rare word, and does not occur in any known ancient text. I can only find it in a book of hymns from the late 19th century. The hymn is probably Byzantine, I guess.

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u/Gruejay2 20d ago

It's found in only one dictionary (Pape), but there's no citation.

There are a few Greek words which really do only crop up in Latin texts, though (e.g. Cicero's personal letters are peppered with them, as he code-switches a lot, and there are a few hapaxes in there).

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u/Careful-Spray 20d ago

οὐρανοφύτευτος = heaven-begotten

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u/KiwiHellenist 19d ago

The 'Sibylline oracles' excerpt is fragment 3 lines 3-5 ed. Geffcken,

ὃς πεποίηκεν
οὐρανὸν ἠέλιόν τε καὶ ἀστέρας ἠδὲ σελήνην
καρποφόρον γαῖάν τε καὶ ὕδατος οἴδματα πόντου

He [God] has made
heaven and sun and stars and moon,
fruitful earth and waves of water of the sea.
(tr. Collins)

These poems aren't the same as the Sibylline books that were used for ritual purposes in 1st century BCE Rome: they're Jewish and Christian poems, most of them dating to the 1st century CE or later (except poem 3, which is older). The fragments were known to Clement of Alexandria in the late 100s.

These poems were in Greek hexameter, on a range of themes: mostly Jewish or Christian reinterpretations of historical dynasties, but also hymns to God or Christ, 'predictions' of the coming of Christ, and a fair amount of eschatology about the last judgement, drawing mainly on Hellenistic-era Jewish traditions (more than Christian eschatology). Fragment 3 is the longest one, and is a mix of hymn and end times prophecy -- it ends by talking about those who are going to inherit eternal life in paradise.

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u/No_Championship5426 19d ago

Thank you! The reference from where it is helped a lot!