The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

ALEXANDER The Tar gum of the Song of Songs 319
manuscripts (excluding some late Persian and Yemenite handcopies of
printed Western editions), in three anthologies, and in twelve Geniza
fragments, representing the remains of four further manuscripts.
Clearly chance plays a part in the survival of texts, and we cannot rely
solely on the democratic principle to determine the importance of a
work. If we did, then the Babylonian Talmud would be relegated to
the lower divisions, which would be a patent absurdity. However, the
sheer weight of numbers in the case of Targum Shir ha-Shirim is
impressive and should not be lightly dismissed. I believe it correctly
indicates that this Targum occupies a more important place within the
tradition than it has usually been given, and that its significance has
been seriously underestimated.
This underestimation can hardly be attributed to scholarly neglect.
Targum Shir ha-Shirim has received more attention over the years
than any other Targum of the Writings. The text was included in the
first Bomberg Rabbinic Bible, Venice 1517, from where it was taken
over into the second and subsequent editions. It appeared in Buxtorfs
Biblia Rabbinica, and in the great Polyglot Bibles, starting with the
Biblia Regia, Antwerp 1570. There are numerous translations. The
Polyglots contain Latin versions, which essentially go back to Alfonso
de Zamora in the early sixteenth century. Alfonso prepared for the
Complutensian Polyglot a text of Shir ha-Shirim, with Latin translation,
copies of which survive in Madrid and Salamanca. In the event
this Targum was not included in the Complutensian Polyglot.
However, Alfonso's work was gratefully taken up and utilized by
Arias Montano for the Biblia Regia. The early Latin rendering made
the Targum available to Christian as well as Jewish scholars.
Translations into modern languages followed: four into English (by
Gill, Gollancz, Pope, who rather obviously cribs from Gollancz, and
Schneekloth 2 ); two into Italian (by Piatelli and Neri 3 ), and one apiece
2. J. Gill, An Exposition of the Book of Solomon, commonly called
Canticles... to which is added the Targum.. .faithfully translated (London, 2nd edn,
1751 [1728]); H. Gollancz, The Targum to 'The Song of Songs'; The Book of the
Apple; The Ten Jewish Martyrs; A Dialogue on Games of Chance (London, 1908),
pp. 1-90; M.H. Pope, Song of Songs (Anchor Bible 7C; New York, 1977);
L.G. Schneekloth, The Targum of the Song of Songs: A Study in Rabbinic Bible
Interpretation' (PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1977, Michigan:
University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, 1983).
3. A.A. Piatelli, Targum Shir ha-Shirim: Parafrasi aramaica del Cantico del