Subject: Re: tc-list Job 4:11 LXX

From: "james r. covey" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 11:39:21 -0500

re missive of 31/03/98 04:10 AM signed [email-masked] :

>All I can find out is that the word does indeed mean "ant-lion."  The 
>question is, what's an "ant-lion" 

a dragonfly-like insect.

>and why did LXX use that term here?

you've got me.  some sort of random textual corruption, i'll wager.

james

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From: "Glen Thompson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 10:26:35 -0600

One would have to do a TLG search to investigate the accuracy of the 
translation, but the English meaning of ant-lion is not a problem.  
The Random House dictionary says:
	any of the several neuropterous insects of the family 
Myrmeleontidae, the larva of which digs a pit in sand, where it lies 
in wait for ants or other insects.

I remember watching them at work in Zambia.  You would notice a 
small conical hole in sandy soil, with perfectly smooth sides.  When 
an ant would accidently nose over the edge, it would loose footing, 
struggle to keep from falling in further, but suddenly a 
projection would pop out of the bottom, grab the ant and pull it out 
of sight.

It would appear to be a less than obvious alternate reading here.

Glen L. Thompson

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From: Burkenstock <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 01 Apr 1998 16:33:29 -0600

I asked my fellow Hellenists on the Koine Greek mailing list and they had
two good answers. They are as follows:

There is more about this in the revised supplement of LSJ. Cf. also LSJ
s.v.
MYRMHX  II. It appears there that MYRMHX was used not only in the sense
'ant' but
also referring to a fabulous animal of India. LSJ refers to Herodotus
3.102,
Strabo 2.1.9 (gold-digging MYRMHKES), 16.4.15 (lions called MYRMHKES)
etc. The
Job passage was given a number of allegorical interpretations by
Christian
writers (Didymus Caecus, John Chrysostom, Photius; cf. TLG), but the
translator
of Job is likely to have had the same concept as Herodotus and Strabo in
his
mind.

Best wishes

Jerker Blomqvist, professor of Greek language and literature, Lund
University

AND this one...

Howere, after recalling where I have read on this animal, I consulted
_Physiologus_ (there
are many versions and recensions, I consulted a critical edition of one
Slavonic version, where
comparison with Greek, Armenian and Ethiopian recensions is given). So,
now
I know well
that MYRMHKOLEWN is an animal having the face part of body of his father
lion, and another
part from his mother ant. He perished (Job 4:9) because, having such
parents, he was neither
predatory nor herbivorous.

NB. The stuff of _Physiologus_ may taken as going back to IVth century,
but
some or many
motifs may be much more earlier. A Jewish-Christian background of this
book
was already
noted. So, it can  reflect the same tradition as Job LXX.

So, it is important to know, was the MYRMHX of India herbivorous or not?

Basil Lourie

St.Petersburg Society for
Byzantine and Slavic Studies

So I hope that helps the discussion on the mysterious "ant-lion" of Job.

See ya,
Burke Gerstenschlager

--
"I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow myself to use - silence, exile, and cunning.
        - Stephen Dedalus _A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man_

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From: Jonathan Dixon <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 13:46:53 -0400

Koine Grek Mailing List?  That sounds interesting, can you send details?

In Christ,
Jonathan

At 04:33 PM 4/1/98 -0600, you wrote:
>"I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I
can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow
myself to use - silence, exile, and cunning.
>        - Stephen Dedalus _A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man_
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