Abstract:
This article expands upon the range of options and methods of some of my earlier studies on
Euripides and the Old Testament. These studies have sought to discover similar linguistic
features and concepts in the texts of Euripides and the Old Testament, and to discuss how
Euripidean tragedies can be read as Greek responses to Hebrew anthropological beliefs, more
specifically as poetic-philosophical approaches to the anthropo-theological narratives of
Genesis 2–4 and related biblical texts. These biblical texts probably transmitted through
improvised oral or written Greek translations preceding the Septuagint (LXX), reorganise and
transform the meaning of Hebrew expressions. This article presents the basic problems and
aspects of a cultural-critical and comparative analysis and illustrates them with shared motifs
from Medea, one of the eight Euripidean tragedies named after a female protagonist, and the
Old Testament, thus expanding the boundaries of the traditional historic-critical exegesis.
CONTRIBUTION: The article contributes to the investigation of the background of the Septuagint
from a cultural critical perspective with special reference to the Euripidean tragedies.
