Chronicon Blog » Translation

Update on Hippolytus’ Chronicle 5

Tom — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:17:27 +0000

I just received the updated edition of Hippolytus’ Chronicle. It is in a much nicer format and the end notes have been turned into foot notes. The previous edition appeared to have been a facsimile of a handwritten copy; this one is printed. I will spend the next week or so preparing the text for translation, at first glance there does not appear to be many differences between the greek text in the older edition and this one, which hopefully will mean that I do not have to revise my translation much. I have not made any progress in the translation since I last posted because I was waiting for this new edition to arrive.

As an amateur, mistakes like this will probably happen frequently. I only hope that they become less and less as I become more experienced. Although I’ve heard stories of professional scholars who spend years on projects only to find out that someone else has already done it! In my case I would be very happy if I found out that somebody had already translated Hippolytus’ Chronicle, as the whole goal here is to get ancient works translated, whether I or someone else does it is irrelevant.

From looking at this and other Greek works that were printed in German editions it is becoming increasingly clear that I need to work on my German in order to make proper a translation because the valuable footnotes are in German. I plan right now is to finish translating Hippolytus’ Chronicle and then once I get a handle on the German language (which could easily be several years from now) go back and revise the translation to ensure its accuracy and faithfulness. I figure that having one inadequate English translation is better than having none at all. Thoughts?

Update on Hippolytus’ Chronicle 4

Tom — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:49:17 +0000

I am about 9% done with the translation. I found out that GCS (Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller) has published an updated version of this. I had looked into this but was not able to find any complete list of the series and I was not able to find any library catalog that correctly sorted books by series. If I knew german better I’m sure I would have been able to find a list quite easily, I hope to work on my German soon. I am going to interlibrary loan the newer edition to see how different it is from the older Bonwetsch version I was using. I hope that my current translation does not have to be significantly altered!

For those interested, you can find a complete list of the GCS texts here or here for an english translation via google.

Update on Hippolytus' Chronicle 3

Tom — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:28:19 +0000

I have been busy translating and am about 8% complete. It seems as though most of the remaining text is a glorified list of place names. Unfortunately none of the dictionaries that I have access to list many of the place names. Right now I am using William Smith’s enormous “Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography.” This 155 year old dictionary is the only thing I have found that lists place names using Greek spelling and letters. What this means is that when I encounter a Greek place name like “χάλυβες” I have to transliterate it into the Latin spelling which can be quite difficult. In this case the place/people being referred to is the “Chalybes.” In other cases, like with “Ουννοί” I have not been able to locate an entry.

Does anyone know of a Greek placename dictionary? If so, please tell me. As a amateur translator I have large gaps in my knowledge that I would imagine a professional would not.

Hippolytus' "Commentary on Daniel" update

Tom — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 02:51:31 +0000

It was as I suspected, Hippolytus’ Commentary on Daniel has not been fully translated into English. I wonder what kind of gems are hidden away in this work. Unfortunately the Greek text is about 75 standard pages so translating it would take a considerable amount of time. I believe that this is the first commentary on scripture ever produced by a Christian. It is a pity that no one has translated it yet. Does anyone know how accurate ancient Greek Optical Character Recognition is? Perhaps I could scan the text and use some Greek tools to help with translation.

Hippolytus' "Commentary on Daniel"

Tom — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:29:08 +0000

While I was doing some research on Hippolytus today, I discovered that perhaps his “Commentary on Daniel” has not been fully translated into English. An article I read referenced a quotation that does that seem to appear in the classic ANF translation of Hippolytus (vol. 5). On top of that only 17 pages of text are present in this English translation. The German Bonwetsch edition of the original Greek has over 300 pages of text. I understand that Bonwetsch also translated it into German and that there are substantial notes, which will of course lengthen the page count, but to me it appears likely that not all of the text was translated in the ANF series. As I write this it occurs to me that Quasten may have cited incorrectly and his 300 plus page count may reflect other works of Hippolytus. I will hopefully get a copy of Bonwetsch tomorrow and will let you all know my findings.

Hippolytus' "On Apostolic Tradition"

Tom — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:22:00 +0000

I have had a rather unpleasant experience attempting to find a copy of Hippolytus’ “On Apostolic Tradition” by Burton Scott Easton. I twice interlibrary loaned a copy and specifically requested only Easton’s edition, knowing that mistakes are frequent. However both times I received an edition other than Easton’s. Rather than anger the interlibrary loan librarians, by pestering them with another request, I am going to try and purhcase it. Roger Pearse pointed out where I can get an edition on Amazon.com (I can’t believe I neglected to look their myself). Hopefully I will receive the right one this time.

Update on translating Hippolytus' "Books on Chronology"

Tom — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:11:51 +0000

Just a quick update, I’ve been very busy being in a friend’s wedding and beginning a new job. However I made good headway with Hippolytus’s “Books on Chronology” and have translated (at least roughly) about 3% of it. I expect to move at a faster pace as my schedule frees up and as I become more accustomed to Hippolytus’s manner of writing. I am again reminded of a large a project this is, it will likely take me well over a year before I get a rough draft.

My biggest obstacle so far has been understanding the German notes and introduction. My German is just not good enough, as I can only understand the most rudimentary sentence. Has anyone had any luck with automated German translation? Let me know if you have any ideas.

Translating "Books on Chronology"

Tom — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:38:02 +0000

I recently borrowed a copy of Hippolytus’ “Books of Chronology.” As far as I am aware, this has never been translated into a modern language, so I hope to do so. Its fairly simple Greek and Latin, so as long as I can navigate the German notes and introduction I should be alright. In it Hippolytus uses the Septuagint to prove the age of the world so that he can get people to stop looking for the return of Christ, which, according to Hippolytus, was not to happen until the world was 6,000 years old. He believed that the end was still a couple hundred years off.

Ancient Christians commonly believed that the world would last 6,000 years. I’ll try and gather some quotations from the fathers about this later.