Abstract
I will consider Jerome’s translation using gendered analysis while considering carefully how hints of his own preoccupations and Christianizing agendas can be found within. In Liber Iudith, Jerome gives a night’s work to a text illustrating the story of the Hebrew widow Judith single-handedly overcoming the seemingly unassailable Assyrians. Comparing Jerome’s translation to the earlier Septuagint text, a number of significant departures can be located. These departures demonstrate Jerome’s conception of proper Christian widowhood, related too to his qualms with femininity. The Hieronymian changes then appear to be both culturally-motivated and implemented in response to the demands of an increasingly Christian world.[1]
[1] K. F. B. Fletcher, “Hyginus’ Fabulae: Toward a Roman Mytholography,” in Writing Myth: Mythography in the Ancient World, ed. S. Trzaskoma and R. Scott Smith (Leuven: Peeters, 2013), 135; although Fletcher applies this theoretical approach to the first-century BCE author Hyginus, the framework can also be applied to Jerome’s translation of the Latin Vulgate.
Recommended Citation
Van Roekel, Brody
(2018)
"The Christianization of Judith: Considering the Hieronymian Translation of Liber Iudith and Jerome’s Christianizing Agenda,"
The Hilltop Review: Vol. 11:
Iss.
1, Article 5.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/hilltopreview/vol11/iss1/5
Title Page
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Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Classical Literature and Philology Commons, History of Christianity Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, Translation Studies Commons
