Aristeas (author of the Letter of Aristeas)

Beginning of the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 11th century.

Aristeas (Greek: Ἀριστέας) was an Alexandrian Jew who lived in the era of the later Ptolemies, approximately the second or third century BC.

He is remembered for the Letter of Aristeas in which he described the origin of the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint. Although the account is viewed with suspicion, it does present some useful insights on Egyptian and Palestinian affairs of the period.

References

• Aristeas, Letter of in the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1901–1906.