Academic Periodical

In the LXX version of Ps 87:11 and Isa 26:14a, Hebrew rǝphāʾim (“the spirits of the dead”) is translated as iatroi (“healers”), while yāqûmû (“will rise up”) as anastēsousin/anastēsōsin (“will raise up”). It looks like for the translators of the LXX the direct connection of rǝphāʾim with the otherworld was lost, since they never translate it as such. It seems they understood it in the context of Ps 87:11 and Isa 26:14 as rōphǝʾim (healers), and rendered the verb qûm in a different way. This article demonstrates that the reason for this rendering is connected with the controversy between the Jewish community in Alexandria and the pagan cult of Asclepius and the Hellenistic medical practices related to Asclepius, which flourished in this city.