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Onomasticon (Eusebius)

January 01, 1970

The Onomasticon (Greek: Ὀνομαστικόν, Onomastikón), more fully On the Place Names in the Holy Scripture (Περὶ τῶν Τοπικῶν Ὀνομάτων τῶν ἐν τῇ Θείᾳ Γραφῇ, Peri tōn Topikōn Onomatōn tōn en tē Theia Graphē), is a 4th-century gazetteer of historical and then-current place names in Palestine and Transjordan compiled by Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea.

Early modern woodcut of Eusebius

The Onomasticon sits uneasily between the ancient genres of geography and lexicography, taking elements from both but serving as a member of neither.[1] It is widely considered the most important book for the study of Palestine in the Roman period.[2][3][4]

Background edit

Eusebius's description of his own method, who wrote: "I shall collect the entries from the whole of the divinely inspired Scriptures, and I shall set them out grouped by their initial letters so that one may easily perceive what lies scattered throughout the text,"[5] implies that he had no similar type of book to work from; his work being entirely original, based only on the text of the Bible.[6] Others have suggested that Eusebius had at his disposal early Roman maps of the Roman Empire with which to work, and which allowed him to record the precise distances between locations in Roman miles.[7] Needless to say, this innovation has been very useful to modern research. Of the approximate 980 Biblical and New Testament names of places contained in those works, Eusebius identifies some 340 with locations known in his own day and age.

The primary source for the Onomasticon is Codex Vaticanus, Gr. 1456 which dates from the 11th or 12th century. Klostermann published a scientific edition of the manuscript in 1904, using in addition four other manuscripts. Dependent upon the Codex Vaticanus manuscript is Codex Parisinus Gr 464 which dates from the 16th century. These two manuscripts were edited and published by Lagarde in 1870.

Eusebius organizes his entries into separate categories according to their first letters. The entries for Joshua under Tau, for example, read as follows:[8]

Tina (Kinah, 15:22): of the tribe of Judah.

Telem (15:24): of the tribe of Judah.
Tessam ([Azem] 15:29): of the tribe of Judah.

Tyre ([Zer] 19:35): of the tribe of Naphthali.

Under each letter, the entries are organized first by the book they are found in, and then by their place in that book. In almost all of the entries in his geographical opus, Eusebius brings down the respective distances in Roman "milestones" (semeia) from major points of reference, such as from Jerusalem, Beit Gubrin (Eleutheropolis), Hebron, Ptolemais, Caesarea, etc. In Eusebius's Onomasticon, distances between each "milestone" were usually 1,600 meters–1,700 meters, although the standard Roman mile was 1,475 meters. Since most villages in the Onomasticon are far removed from Roman-built roads, scholars have concluded that Eusebius did not glean the geographical information from maps based on a milestone survey, but rather collected the information from some other source.[9]

Where there is a contemporary town at the site or nearby, Eusebius notes it in the corresponding entry. "Terebinth", for example, describes Shechem as "near Neapolis", modern Nablus, and "Tophet" is located "in the suburbs of Jerusalem".[8]

Date edit

The Onomasticon has traditionally been dated before 324, on the basis of its sparse references to Christianity, and complete absence of remarks on Constantine the Great's buildings in the Holy Land. The work also describes traditional religious practices at the oak of Mamre as though they were still happening, while they are known to have been suppressed soon after 325, when a church was built on the site.[10] Eusebius references the encampment of the Legio X Fretensis at Aila (in southern Israel, near modern Aqaba and Eilat); the X Fretensis was probably transferred from Jerusalem to Aila under Diocletian (r. 284–305).[11]

Jerome provided a Latin translation of Eusebius's Onomasticon, which Jerome translated in 388 while living in Bethlehem.[12][13] Jerome's Latin edition includes various designations, based on the different manuscripts available to him. This Latin version of Eusebius's Onomasticon became the main source for research of Israel in the west.[12] The edition published by Paul de Lagarde includes the Latin work compiled by Jerome under the title, Hieronymi de Situ et Nominibus Locorum Hebraicorum Liber ("Jerome's Book on the Location and Names of Hebrew Places").[12]

Language edit

Eusebius compiled his work in Greek, although a Latin translation of the Onomasticon was made by Jerome in little over half a century later. Greco-Roman referents are used by Eusebius in his Onomasticon for Hebrew names, such as Ailia for Jerusalem, Nicopolis for Emmaus, Diospolis for Lydda (Lod), Eleutheropolis for Beit Gubrin, Azotus for Ashdod, Jamnia for Yavne, Neapolis for Shechem, Scythopolis for Beit Shean, Diocaesarea for Sepphoris, Philadelphia for Amman, and Ptolemais for Acco.

Demographics edit

The complete demographic diversity of Israel in the 4th-century CE is not fully known. However, Eusebius who lived in Beit Gubrin (Eleutheropolis) speaks briefly about the country's ethnic make-up, principally, in the area of the country in which he was most familiar. Out of fourteen entries where he mentions the town's ethnic details, eleven of these settlements were Jewish, namely: Ekron, Anea (thought to be Khirbet Ghuwein et-Taḥta, now a ruin),[14] Debir [sic], En-Gedi, Eshtemoh, Hormah, Thalca, Juttah,[15] Nineveh [sic],[16] Naarah, and Carmel (mentioned incidentally to Ziph); one a Samaritan village: Tirzah (Thersila) in Batanaea;[17] and two Christian settlements: Anaea and Jattir.[18] The town Debir [sic], being "Dabeira on Mount Thabor, in the borders of Diocaesarea" in Lower Galilee had a sizable Jewish population.[18][19]

Editions edit

  • Wolf, Carl Umhau (1971). Eusebius of Caesarea, Onomasticon (OCLC 70198933)
  • Eusebius. F. Larsow & G. Parthey (ed.). Eusebii Pamphili Episcopi Caesariensis Onomasticon : urbium et locorum Sacrae Scripturae (in Greek and Latin).
  • de Lagarde, P., ed. (1870). Onomastica sacra. Göttingen: A. Rente. OCLC 6826073. (2nd ed. 1887; reprinted in Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1966)
(In this edition the Greek and Latin texts do not appear in parallel but in succession: first Latin, then Greek. The editor provides the material with references to biblical and other sources, without introductory notes and commentary)
  • Klostermann, Erich, ed. (1904). Das Onomastikon der biblischen Ortsnamen. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs. OCLC 953603156. (reprinted in Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1966. OCLC 748997898)
(The first critical edition of the Onomasticon)
  • Chapmann III, R.L.; Taylor, J.E., eds. (2003). Palestine in the Fourth Century A.D.: The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea. Translated by G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville. Jerusalem: Carta. ISBN 965-220-500-1. OCLC 937002750.
(Provides an English translation both of the Greek text by Eusebius and of the Latin translation by Jerome)
  • Notley, R.S.; Safrai, Z., eds. (2005). Eusebius, Onomasticon: The Place Names of Divine Scripture. Boston / Leiden: E.J. Brill. ISBN 0-391-04217-3. OCLC 927381934.
(A triglott edition - in Greek, Latin, and English, with notes and commentary)

References edit

  1. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 106.
  2. ^ Eusebius; G.S.P. Freeman-Greenville; Rupert L. Chapman; Joan E. Taylor; Saint Gerome (2003). The Onomasticon: Palestine in the Fourth Century A.D. Carta. ISBN 978-965-220-500-1.
  3. ^ R. Steven Notley and Ze'ev Safrai, Eusebius, Onomasticon - A Triglott Edition with Notes and Commentary, Introduction
  4. ^ Hagith Sivan (February 14, 2008). Palestine in Late Antiquity. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-160867-4. A verbal map of Palestine, the Onomasticon ... Basically a scholarly venture, the Onomasticon's Palestine was a recreation of the biblical promised land occasionally brought up to date.
  5. ^ Onomasticon p. 2.14ff., qtd. and tr. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 107.
  6. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 106–7.
  7. ^ Yoel Elitzur, Ancient Toponyms in Eretz-Israel as Preserved among the Arabs - The Linguistic Aspects, Hebrew University: Jerusalem 1992, Introduction
  8. ^ a b Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 107.
  9. ^ Benjamin Isaac and Israel Roll, Roman Roads in Judaea I – The Legio-Scythopolis Road, B.A.R. International Series, Oxford 1982, p. 12 doi:10.30861/9780860541721
  10. ^ Barnes, "Onomasticon", 413.
  11. ^ Barnes, "Onomasticon", 413 n. 4.
  12. ^ a b c Krašovec, Jože (2009). Rofé, A.; Segal, M.; Talmon, S.; Talshir, Z. (eds.). "Phonetic Factors in Transliteration of Biblical Proper Names into Greek and Latin". Textus - Studies of the Hebrew University Bible Project. 24. The Hebrew University Magnes Press: 17. OCLC 761216587.
  13. ^ Richard, Suzanne (2003), Near Eastern Archaeology: A Reader, EISENBRAUNS, p. 442, ISBN 978-1-57506-083-5
  14. ^ Chapmann III, R.L.; Taylor, J.E., eds. (2003). Palestine in the Fourth Century A.D.: The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea. Translated by G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville. Jerusalem: Carta. p. 110. ISBN 965-220-500-1. OCLC 937002750.
  15. ^ Eusebius, Onomasticon - The Place Names of Divine Scripture, (ed.) R. Steven Notley & Ze'ev Safrai, Brill: Leiden 2005, p. 104 (§545)
  16. ^ Chapmann III, R.L.; Taylor, J.E., eds. (2003). Palestine in the Fourth Century A.D.: The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea. Translated by G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville. Jerusalem: Carta. p. 75 (Nineveh II). ISBN 965-220-500-1. OCLC 937002750.
  17. ^ Hamitovsky, Itzhak (2007). "Between Tirzah and Tirzah (Thersila) in the Onomasticon of Eusebius, and the Origin of Menahem Ben Gadi". Beit Mikra: Journal for the Study of the Bible and Its World (in Hebrew). 1 (52). Jerusalem: Bialik Institute: 50. JSTOR 23509675.
  18. ^ a b Notley, R.S.; Safrai, Z., eds. (2005). Eusebius, Onomasticon: The Place Names of Divine Scripture. Boston / Leiden: E.J. Brill. p. xvii (Introduction). ISBN 0-391-04217-3. OCLC 927381934.
  19. ^ Chapmann III, R.L.; Taylor, J.E., eds. (2003). Palestine in the Fourth Century A.D.: The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea. Translated by G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville. Jerusalem: Carta. p. 47 (Dabeira II). ISBN 965-220-500-1. OCLC 937002750.

External links edit

  • C. Umhau Wolf, The Onomasticon of Eusebius Pamphili - Compared with the Version of Jerome and Annotated (PDF)
  • The Onomasticon of Eusebius of Caesarea and the Liber Locorum of Jerome - Translated by G. S. P. Freeman-Grenville
  • Eusebius of Caesarea, Onomasticon (1971 translation)

January 01, 1970
onomasticon, eusebius, onomasticon, greek, Ὀνομαστικόν, onomastikón, more, fully, place, names, holy, scripture, Περὶ, τῶν, Τοπικῶν, Ὀνομάτων, τῶν, ἐν, τῇ, Θείᾳ, Γραφῇ, peri, tōn, topikōn, onomatōn, tōn, theia, graphē, century, gazetteer, historical, then, cur. The Onomasticon Greek Ὀnomastikon Onomastikon more fully On the Place Names in the Holy Scripture Perὶ tῶn Topikῶn Ὀnomatwn tῶn ἐn tῇ 8eiᾳ Grafῇ Peri tōn Topikōn Onomatōn tōn en te Theia Graphe is a 4th century gazetteer of historical and then current place names in Palestine and Transjordan compiled by Eusebius bishop of Caesarea Early modern woodcut of Eusebius The Onomasticon sits uneasily between the ancient genres of geography and lexicography taking elements from both but serving as a member of neither 1 It is widely considered the most important book for the study of Palestine in the Roman period 2 3 4 Contents 1 Background 1 1 Date 1 2 Language 1 3 Demographics 2 Editions 3 References 4 External linksBackground editEusebius s description of his own method who wrote I shall collect the entries from the whole of the divinely inspired Scriptures and I shall set them out grouped by their initial letters so that one may easily perceive what lies scattered throughout the text 5 implies that he had no similar type of book to work from his work being entirely original based only on the text of the Bible 6 Others have suggested that Eusebius had at his disposal early Roman maps of the Roman Empire with which to work and which allowed him to record the precise distances between locations in Roman miles 7 Needless to say this innovation has been very useful to modern research Of the approximate 980 Biblical and New Testament names of places contained in those works Eusebius identifies some 340 with locations known in his own day and age The primary source for the Onomasticon is Codex Vaticanus Gr 1456 which dates from the 11th or 12th century Klostermann published a scientific edition of the manuscript in 1904 using in addition four other manuscripts Dependent upon the Codex Vaticanus manuscript is Codex Parisinus Gr 464 which dates from the 16th century These two manuscripts were edited and published by Lagarde in 1870 Eusebius organizes his entries into separate categories according to their first letters The entries for Joshua under Tau for example read as follows 8 Tina Kinah 15 22 of the tribe of Judah Telem 15 24 of the tribe of Judah Tessam Azem 15 29 of the tribe of Judah Tyre Zer 19 35 of the tribe of Naphthali Under each letter the entries are organized first by the book they are found in and then by their place in that book In almost all of the entries in his geographical opus Eusebius brings down the respective distances in Roman milestones semeia from major points of reference such as from Jerusalem Beit Gubrin Eleutheropolis Hebron Ptolemais Caesarea etc In Eusebius s Onomasticon distances between each milestone were usually 1 600 meters 1 700 meters although the standard Roman mile was 1 475 meters Since most villages in the Onomasticon are far removed from Roman built roads scholars have concluded that Eusebius did not glean the geographical information from maps based on a milestone survey but rather collected the information from some other source 9 Where there is a contemporary town at the site or nearby Eusebius notes it in the corresponding entry Terebinth for example describes Shechem as near Neapolis modern Nablus and Tophet is located in the suburbs of Jerusalem 8 Date edit The Onomasticon has traditionally been dated before 324 on the basis of its sparse references to Christianity and complete absence of remarks on Constantine the Great s buildings in the Holy Land The work also describes traditional religious practices at the oak of Mamre as though they were still happening while they are known to have been suppressed soon after 325 when a church was built on the site 10 Eusebius references the encampment of the Legio X Fretensis at Aila in southern Israel near modern Aqaba and Eilat the X Fretensis was probably transferred from Jerusalem to Aila under Diocletian r 284 305 11 Jerome provided a Latin translation of Eusebius s Onomasticon which Jerome translated in 388 while living in Bethlehem 12 13 Jerome s Latin edition includes various designations based on the different manuscripts available to him This Latin version of Eusebius s Onomasticon became the main source for research of Israel in the west 12 The edition published by Paul de Lagarde includes the Latin work compiled by Jerome under the title Hieronymi de Situ et Nominibus Locorum Hebraicorum Liber Jerome s Book on the Location and Names of Hebrew Places 12 Language edit Eusebius compiled his work in Greek although a Latin translation of the Onomasticon was made by Jerome in little over half a century later Greco Roman referents are used by Eusebius in his Onomasticon for Hebrew names such as Ailia for Jerusalem Nicopolis for Emmaus Diospolis for Lydda Lod Eleutheropolis for Beit Gubrin Azotus for Ashdod Jamnia for Yavne Neapolis for Shechem Scythopolis for Beit Shean Diocaesarea for Sepphoris Philadelphia for Amman and Ptolemais for Acco Demographics edit The complete demographic diversity of Israel in the 4th century CE is not fully known However Eusebius who lived in Beit Gubrin Eleutheropolis speaks briefly about the country s ethnic make up principally in the area of the country in which he was most familiar Out of fourteen entries where he mentions the town s ethnic details eleven of these settlements were Jewish namely Ekron Anea thought to be Khirbet Ghuwein et Taḥta now a ruin 14 Debir sic En Gedi Eshtemoh Hormah Thalca Juttah 15 Nineveh sic 16 Naarah and Carmel mentioned incidentally to Ziph one a Samaritan village Tirzah Thersila in Batanaea 17 and two Christian settlements Anaea and Jattir 18 The town Debir sic being Dabeira on Mount Thabor in the borders of Diocaesarea in Lower Galilee had a sizable Jewish population 18 19 Editions editWolf Carl Umhau 1971 Eusebius of Caesarea Onomasticon OCLC 70198933 Eusebius F Larsow amp G Parthey ed Eusebii Pamphili Episcopi Caesariensis Onomasticon urbium et locorum Sacrae Scripturae in Greek and Latin de Lagarde P ed 1870 Onomastica sacra Gottingen A Rente OCLC 6826073 2nd ed 1887 reprinted in Hildesheim Georg Olms 1966 In this edition the Greek and Latin texts do not appear in parallel but in succession first Latin then Greek The editor provides the material with references to biblical and other sources without introductory notes and commentary Klostermann Erich ed 1904 Das Onomastikon der biblischen Ortsnamen Leipzig J C Hinrichs OCLC 953603156 reprinted in Hildesheim Georg Olms 1966 OCLC 748997898 The first critical edition of the Onomasticon Chapmann III R L Taylor J E eds 2003 Palestine in the Fourth Century A D The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea Translated by G S P Freeman Grenville Jerusalem Carta ISBN 965 220 500 1 OCLC 937002750 Provides an English translation both of the Greek text by Eusebius and of the Latin translation by Jerome Notley R S Safrai Z eds 2005 Eusebius Onomasticon The Place Names of Divine Scripture Boston Leiden E J Brill ISBN 0 391 04217 3 OCLC 927381934 A triglott edition in Greek Latin and English with notes and commentary References edit Barnes Constantine and Eusebius 106 Eusebius G S P Freeman Greenville Rupert L Chapman Joan E Taylor Saint Gerome 2003 The Onomasticon Palestine in the Fourth Century A D Carta ISBN 978 965 220 500 1 R Steven Notley and Ze ev Safrai Eusebius Onomasticon A Triglott Edition with Notes and Commentary Introduction Hagith Sivan February 14 2008 Palestine in Late Antiquity OUP Oxford ISBN 978 0 19 160867 4 A verbal map of Palestine the Onomasticon Basically a scholarly venture the Onomasticon s Palestine was a recreation of the biblical promised land occasionally brought up to date Onomasticon p 2 14ff qtd and tr Barnes Constantine and Eusebius 107 Barnes Constantine and Eusebius 106 7 Yoel Elitzur Ancient Toponyms in Eretz Israel as Preserved among the Arabs The Linguistic Aspects Hebrew University Jerusalem 1992 Introduction a b Barnes Constantine and Eusebius 107 Benjamin Isaac and Israel Roll Roman Roads in Judaea I The Legio Scythopolis Road B A R International Series Oxford 1982 p 12 doi 10 30861 9780860541721 Barnes Onomasticon 413 Barnes Onomasticon 413 n 4 a b c Krasovec Joze 2009 Rofe A Segal M Talmon S Talshir Z eds Phonetic Factors in Transliteration of Biblical Proper Names into Greek and Latin Textus Studies of the Hebrew University Bible Project 24 The Hebrew University Magnes Press 17 OCLC 761216587 Richard Suzanne 2003 Near Eastern Archaeology A Reader EISENBRAUNS p 442 ISBN 978 1 57506 083 5 Chapmann III R L Taylor J E eds 2003 Palestine in the Fourth Century A D The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea Translated by G S P Freeman Grenville Jerusalem Carta p 110 ISBN 965 220 500 1 OCLC 937002750 Eusebius Onomasticon The Place Names of Divine Scripture ed R Steven Notley amp Ze ev Safrai Brill Leiden 2005 p 104 545 Chapmann III R L Taylor J E eds 2003 Palestine in the Fourth Century A D The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea Translated by G S P Freeman Grenville Jerusalem Carta p 75 Nineveh II ISBN 965 220 500 1 OCLC 937002750 Hamitovsky Itzhak 2007 Between Tirzah and Tirzah Thersila in the Onomasticon of Eusebius and the Origin of Menahem Ben Gadi Beit Mikra Journal for the Study of the Bible and Its World in Hebrew 1 52 Jerusalem Bialik Institute 50 JSTOR 23509675 a b Notley R S Safrai Z eds 2005 Eusebius Onomasticon The Place Names of Divine Scripture Boston Leiden E J Brill p xvii Introduction ISBN 0 391 04217 3 OCLC 927381934 Chapmann III R L Taylor J E eds 2003 Palestine in the Fourth Century A D The Onomasticon by Eusebius of Caesarea Translated by G S P Freeman Grenville Jerusalem Carta p 47 Dabeira II ISBN 965 220 500 1 OCLC 937002750 External links editC Umhau Wolf The Onomasticon of Eusebius Pamphili Compared with the Version of Jerome and Annotated PDF The Onomasticon of Eusebius of Caesarea and the Liber Locorum of Jerome Translated by G S P Freeman Grenville Eusebius of Caesarea Onomasticon 1971 translation Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Onomasticon Eusebius amp oldid 1223850621, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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