Aquila of Sinope was a 2nd Century AD native of Pontus in Anatolia known for producing an exceedingly literal translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek around 130 AD.[1] He was a proselyte to Judaism and a disciple of Rabbi Akiba[1] (d. circa 135 AD). He is generally regarded as being he who was named Onkelos, the writer of Targum Onkelos.
Epiphanius (De Pond. et Mens. c. 15) preserves a tradition that he was a kinsman of the emperor Hadrian, who employed him in rebuilding Jerusalem (Aelia Capitolina), and that he was converted to Christianity, but, on being reproved for practising paganastrology, converted to Judaism. He seems to be referred to in Jewish writings as עקילס. Aquila's version is said to have been used in place of the Septuagint in the synagogues. The Christians generally disliked it, alleging without due grounds that it rendered the Messianic passages, such as Isaiah 7:14,[1] 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 20:7–17; 2 Kings 23:12–27 by F. C. Burkitt in 1897, and those containing parts of Psalms 90–103 by C. Taylor in 1899. See F. C. Burkitt's article in the Jewish Encyclopaedia.
