Abstract

The study of the Armenian Bible may yield a deeper understanding not only about the origins of Armenian literature, but also about the «Septuagint» – its "Vorlage" – and the "Vetus Latina" – which shares interesting features with it. Although studies are still at an early stage, and editions and tools are obsolete, results which are nowadays available deserve some attention: the analysis of Armenian Joshua, here proposed, means to enrich this research area. Armenian Joshua depends on a Greek text strongly related to the "Codex Alexandrinus", but with a massive and inaccurate penetration of glosses from Origen’s "Hexapla". It also seems possible to find, in some textual variants, sporadic traces from an older version of the Armenian Bible (Arm1), replaced by the "textus traditus" (Arm2). These traces are related to the so called «lucianic» or «antiochean» Greek text and to the "Vetus Latina". This general feature in Joshua (antiochean Arm1 and hexaplaric Arm2) seems to be constant among the Historical Books in the Armenian Bible and may represent a first important item for a synthesis.