The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

440 The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context
an otherwise unknown form of the Vita Adam et Evae, which was
either 'a composite Latin document which contained both the Latin
Vita Adae et Evae and the Apocalypsis Mosis' or else it drew upon the
Latin Vita Adae et Eva and a Latin version of the Apocalypsis Mosis.
This view is, of course, very much like that proposed earlier by
Seymour. Murdoch himself inclines in the direction of a modified
form of the first hypothesis, that of a composite document, though
arguing that the role of Apocalypse of Moses material is less prominent
that had been thought by some in the past. 32
Two comments must be made on this matter. The first is that in
view of the now current knowledge of the Life of Adam and Eve, a
simple comparison of Saltair na Rann with the Greek Apocalypse of
Moses and the Latin Vita Adam et Evae will inevitably bring about a
distortion of the results. In fact, it is the mediaevalist's bias towards
the Greek and Latin texts which has led to this, while a deeper
aquaintance with the study of the Pseudepigrapha would have modified
this view. Since we are prepared to entertain the idea that the Irish
tradition might have known a Greek text of the Apocalypse of Moses
or a (lost) Latin translation of the Greek Apocalypse of Moses, it is
equally plausible that it might have been familiar with a Greek text
belonging to another branch of the textual transmission, such as that
represented by the surviving Armenian and Georgian works. It is no
more difficult to posit a lost Latin translation of this type of Greek
text than it is to posit a lost Latin translation of Apocalypse of Moses.
Now, it is quite evident that Seymour, Murdoch (in 1973) 33 and
others were led to the hypothesis that the Saltair na Rann knew both
the Latin Vita Adam et Evae and the Greek Apocalypse of Moses by
the fact that the Saltair na Rann contains distinctive traditions occurring
uniquely (as they then thought) in each of those two alleged
sources. In 1976, however, Murdoch proposed a different hypothesis,
maintaining that a fuller form of the Latin Vita Adam et Evae may
have existed which contained some features drawn from Greek
Apocalypse of Moses, as well as other elements, and it was this work
that was used by the author of Saltair na Rann. 34 In part, he based his
32. Murdoch, Irish Adam and Eve Story, pp. 33-35; idem, 'An Early Irish Adam
and Eve', pp. 171-74.
33. Murdoch, 'An Early Irish Adam and Eve'.
34. Murdoch, Irish Adam and Eve Story, pp. 32-37 and in the following sections
of his book.