In this paper I am proposing to do something that may well seem
foolhardy: namely, to trace, over the course of an entire millennium, the changing
attitudes to the way in which one should go about translating a text that is
considered to be sacred, or otherwise authoritative. My time span runs from the
third century BCE to the seventh century CE, and the main languages involved are
Hebrew, Greek, and Syriac, although Latin and Armenian will also feature very
briefly. I deliberately stop with the seventh century since the situation changes
radically with the replacement of Greek by Arabic as the dominant cultural
language of the Middle East. I hope, nevertheless, that the Late Antique background
of translation practice will also be of some interest and relevance to those who are
primarily interested in biblical translation of a later period.