Prophetic Academic Readings of the Bible

Did Plato possess a Greek Bible centuries before the Septuagint?

In the second century, Christian philosopher Justin Martyr made a remarkable accusation: Plato had taken one of his most famous statements about human freedom and divine innocence directly from Moses: "The choice makes you responsible. God is not responsible."

Known in Greek as Aitia helomenou. Theos anaitios, these words appear in Plato's Myth of Er at the conclusion of the Republic. Yet Justin insisted that Plato had not originated the teaching. Moses, he argued, was older than the Greek writers, and Plato had received this truth from the Hebrew prophet.

In Plato's Bible? Justin Martyr and the Pre-LXX Greek Bible, Antony Hylton investigates this provocative claim and its historical plausibility.

Drawing on Justin Martyr, Plato, Aristobulus, Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, Numenius, Josephus and other ancient witnesses, this concise study explores:

• Early contact between the Greek and Hebrew worlds
• Traditions connecting Moses with Greek philosophy
• Justin Martyr's charge that Plato plagiarised Moses
• The meaning and setting of the Myth of Er
• Free will, moral responsibility and divine justice
• Claims that parts of the Torah existed in Greek before the Septuagint
• Possible Hebrew and Pythagorean influences on Plato
• The evidence for—and difficulties facing—the theory of direct dependence

Could Plato have encountered an early Greek translation of the Torah? Did Pythagorean traditions transmit Hebrew ideas into Greek philosophy? Or was Justin identifying a similarity that cannot now be historically demonstrated?

Carefully argued and accessible, Plato's Bible? introduces listeners to a fascinating question at the intersection of biblical studies, classical philosophy and early Christian apologetics.

An engaging study for listeners interested in Plato, Moses, Justin Martyr, the Septuagint, ancient Judaism, Greek philosophy and the intellectual origins of Christianity