The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

DlEZ MERINO Targum Manuscripts and Critical Editions 81
press in Venice, where he set up on the advice of Felix Pratensis, a
Jew converted to Christianity.
First Biblia Rabbinica. Felix Pratensis was the first to publish the
rabbinic Bible as editor, in 4 vols., 1517-1518. These Mikra'ot
gedolot contain the text of the Hebrew Bible with Targum and the
standard commentaries, but no hint is given either in notes, or prologues,
about how the Aramaic text was found. It was made certainly
from MSS, but these apographs either have perished, or they have not
yet been identified. We are not sure if they had a vocalized Aramaic
text, because they have many errors in the vocalization, and it could
be that the editors wrote the vowels by themselves and were not particularly
expert. On the whole, however, they produced an acceptable
text.
The Second Biblia Rabbinica. Bomberg's second edition of the
Rabbinic Bible (1524-25) edited by Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah,
has served as a model for all subsequent editions of the Bible. Among
Bomberg's printers, editors, and proof-readers, whose names are
known were Israel (Cornelius) Adelkind and his brother and Jacob
ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah (all of whom were later baptized), David
Pizzighettone, Abraham de Balmes, Kalonymus ben David, and Elijah
Levite (Bahur).
This second Biblia Rabbinica contains three texts: the Hebrew text,
an Aramaic translation (Targum) and the commentary of certain
rabbis (Rashi, Ezra and Kimchi). Along with the Hebrew text an
extensive Masora was also printed. Until the second edition of Kittel's
Biblia Hebraica this text served as the basic text for editions of the
Hebrew Bible.
The Aramaic tradition presented by the Biblia Rabbinica has to be
seen as a witness of main authority: a) because it was made from the
original MSS whose identity we do not know, but which were reliable;
b) because the MSS were transcribed, as far as indirect comparisons
have demonstrated, with editorial fidelity, and not with reference to
the biblical sources, as is the case of B. Arias Montano, or B. Walton.
The Polyglots
The Complutensian Polyglot. Francisco Ximenes de Cisneros (1435-
1517), after studying at Salamanca and Rome until 1465, laid claim