The Complutensian Polyglot Bible is the name given to the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible, planned and financed by Cardinal Cisneros (1436-1517). It includes the first printed editions of the Greek New Testament, the complete Septuagint, and the Targum Onkelos. Of the 600 printed, only 123 are known to have survived to date.

History

With the rise of the printing press in the 1450s, the potentials for more efficient production of the Bible were quickly realized. At great personal expense, Cardinal Cisneros acquired many manuscripts and invited the top religious scholars of the day to work on the ambitious task of compiling a massive and complete polyglot "to revive the languishing study of the Sacred Scriptures." The scholars met in the city of Alcalá de Henares (in Latin, Complutum), at the Cardinal's own University of Alcalá. Work on the project began in 1502 under the direction of Diego Lopez de Zuñiga, and continued there for fifteen years.

The New Testament was completed and printed in 1514, but its publication was delayed while work on the Old Testament continued, so they could be published together as a complete work. In the meantime, word of the Complutensian project reached Desiderius Erasmus in Rotterdam, who rushed to produce his own printed edition of the Greek New Testament. Although this hasty edition was based on limited, arguably inaccurate texts and full of typographical errors, Erasmus obtained an exclusive four-year publishing privilege from Emperor Maximilian and Pope Leo X in 1516. Erasmus' text became known as the Textus Receptus, and later editions were the basis for the King James Version of the New Testament. It was reprinted in 1572 with the second edition known as the Biblia Regia or Filipina.

The Complutensian Old Testament was completed in 1517. Because of Erasmus' exclusive privilege, publication of the Polyglot was delayed until Pope Leo X could sanction it in 1520. It is believed to have not been distributed widely before 1522. Cardinal Jiménez died in July of 1517, five months after the Polyglot's completion, and never saw its publication.

Contents

The Complutensian Polyglot Bible was published as a six-volume set. The first four volumes contain the Old Testament. Each page consists of three parallel columns of text: Hebrew on the outside, the Latin Vulgate in the middle, and the Greek Septuagint on the inside. On each page of the Pentateuch, the Aramaic text (the Targum Onkelos) and its own Latin translation are added at the bottom. The fifth volume, the New Testament, consists of parallel columns of Greek and the Latin Vulgate. The sixth volume contains various Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek dictionaries and study aids.

Jerome's version of the Old Testament was placed between the Greek and Hebrew versions, thus the synagogue and the Eastern church, as the preface explains it, are set like the thieves on this side and on that, with Jesus (that is, the Roman Church) in the midst.