Onkelos ( he, אֻנְקְלוֹס ''ʾunqəlōs''), possibly identical to

Aquila of Sinope Aquila (Hebrew: עֲקִילַס ''ʿăqīlas'', fl. 130 AD) of Sinope (modern-day Sinop, Turkey; la, Aquila Ponticus) was a translator of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, a proselyte, and disciple of Rabbi Akiva. Relationship to Onkelos Opinio ...

, was a Roman national who converted to

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...

in Tannaic times ( 35–120 CE). He is considered to be the author of the Targum Onkelos ( 110 CE).

In the Talmud

Onkelos is mentioned several times in the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

. According to the traditional Jewish sources, he was a prominent

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

nobleman, the son of a man named

Callinicus Callinicus or Kallinikos ( el, Καλλίνικος) is a surname or male given name; the feminine form is Kalliniki, Callinice or Callinica ( el, Καλλινίκη). It is of Greek origin, meaning "beautiful victor". People named Callinicus Seleu ...

( he, קְלוּנִיקוּס ''Qəlūnīqūs'' or קַלִינִיקוּס ''Qalīnīqūs'') and the sister of

Titus Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death. Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a mili ...

, the Roman emperor. According to the midrash

Tanhuma Midrash Tanhuma ( he, מִדְרָשׁ תַּנְחוּמָא) is the name given to three different collections of Pentateuch aggadot; two are extant, while the third is known only through citations. These midrashim, although bearing the name of ...

, he was a nephew of

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania ...

, and not Titus. Neither of these assertions are historical — Hadrian's sister, his only sibling, had a daughter, and the only known child of either of Titus' siblings to survive to adulthood was also a girl, later known as Saint Flavia Domitilla. Nevertheless, the story goes that his uncle, the emperor, advised Onkelos to go out and find something that wasn't worth much today but would be invaluable in the future. Onkelos found Judaism. Onkelos' conversion is the subject of a story wherein he first consulted with the spirits of three deceased enemies of Israel to see how

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

fared in the next world. The first was his uncle

, who was blamed for the destruction of the

Second Temple The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...

; the second was the seer

Balaam Balaam (; , Standard ''Bīlʿam'' Tiberian ''Bīlʿām'') is a diviner in the Torah ( Pentateuch) whose story begins in Chapter 22 of the Book of Numbers (). Ancient references to Balaam consider him a non-Israelite, a prophet, and the son of ...

, hired by

Balak Balak ( ''Bālāq'') was a king of Moab described in the Book of Numbers in the Hebrew Bible, where his dealings with the prophet Balaam are recounted. Balak tried to engage Balaam for the purpose of cursing the migrating Israelite community. On ...

king of Moab to curse Israel; and the last was Yeshu, a name used for those who sought to lead Jews astray to idolatry, in particular an idolatrous former student of

Joshua ben Perachiah Joshua ben Perahiah or Joshua ben Perachya ( he, יהושע בן פרחיה, Yehoshua Ben Perachia) was Nasi of the Sanhedrin in the latter half of the 2nd century BCE. With Nittai of Arbela, second of five pairs of scholars He and his colleague ...

in the Hasmonean period as well as

Manasseh of Judah Manasseh (; Hebrew: ''Mənaššé'', "Forgetter"; akk, 𒈨𒈾𒋛𒄿 ''Menasî'' 'me-na-si-i'' grc-gre, Μανασσῆς ''Manasses''; la, Manasses) was the fourteenth king of the Kingdom of Judah. He was the oldest of the sons of Hezekia ...

. (In later writings ''Yeshu'' is used for Jesus, but opinions differ over whether it can be understood this way in the Talmud.) Onkelos is said to have seen all of them subjected to humiliating punishments for harming Israel. The earlier Jerusalem Talmud gives the subject of these stories as Aquilas the proselyte, often understood as being a person other than Onkelos. The difficulty with this theory, however, is that the Jerusalem Talmud says explicitly that he (Aquilas the proselyte) translated the Torah under Eliezer ben Hurcanus and

Joshua ben Hananiah Joshua ben Hananiah ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ ben Ḥánanyāh''; d. 131 CE), also known as Rabbi Yehoshua, was a leading tanna of the first half-century following the destruction of the Second Temple. He is the seventh-most-frequently mentioned sage i ...

. The Babylonian Talmud repeats the same oral tradition, but this time calls him by the name Onkelos the proselyte, which leads one to conclude that the name is a mere variant of ''Aquila'', applied in error to the Aramaic instead of the Greek translation. This view is supported by

Epiphanius of Salamis Epiphanius of Salamis ( grc-gre, Ἐπιφάνιος; c. 310–320 – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches. He ...

(4th century). After his conversion, the Talmud records a story of how the Roman emperor tried to have Onkelos arrested. Onkelos cited verses from the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' contubernium, who then converted. The second contubernium was also converted, after he juxtaposed God's personal guidance of Israel in the

Book of Numbers The book of Numbers (from Greek Ἀριθμοί, ''Arithmoi''; he, בְּמִדְבַּר, ''Bəmīḏbar'', "In the desert f) is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah. The book has a long and ...

to the Roman social hierarchy. A similar tactic was used for the third contubernium, where Onkelos compared his

mezuzah A ''mezuzah'' ( he, מְזוּזָה "doorpost"; plural: ''mezuzot'') is a piece of parchment, known as a '' klaf'', contained in a decorative case and inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah ( and ). These verses consist of the ...

to a symbol of God guarding the home of every Jew, in contrast to a Roman king who has his servants guard him. The third contubernium also converted and no more were sent.

The Targum of Onkelos

According to tradition, Onkelos authored the Targum Onkelos as an exposition of the "official" interpretation of the ''peshat'' (or basic meaning) of the Torah as received by rabbis Eliezer ben Hurcanus and

.Megillah 3a
/ref> This helped canonise the status of both Onkelos and his

Targum A targum ( arc, תרגום 'interpretation, translation, version') was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the ''Tanakh'') that a professional translator ( ''mǝturgǝmān'') would give in the common language of the ...

in the Jewish tradition.

References

External links

Biography of Onkelos
from the Orthodox Union

from Chabad.org {{authority control 1st-century births 2nd-century deaths Ancient Pontic Greeks Bible translators Converts to Judaism from paganism Mishnah rabbis Translators of the Bible into Aramaic 2nd-century Romans 1st-century rabbis 2nd-century rabbis Place of birth unknown

In the Talmud

The Targum of Onkelos

See also

References

External links