Nuevos textos sapienciales griegos en obras árabe-castellanas

Abstract

A substantial part of Wisdom Literature texts translated to Castilian by the order of King Alfonso X come from Greek originals: that is certified by the Arab translators of Libro de los Buenos Proverbios (Hunayn) and Poridat de Poridades (ibn Batrik); and two other books, Bocados de Oro and Historia de la donzella Teodor, show the same characteristics. This paper is a first attempt to reconstruct, as fully as possible, the Greek models, as well as to trace their evolution from the 4th century B.C. to the 7th/8th A.D., when the books came to Arabs, directly or through Syriac translations. –– Despite some Arab touch, these works are essentially the Greek texts of the Roman Imperial period, slightly modified by the Byzantine who added religious and palatine allusions, as well as Christian proverbs. Contents and form are coincident with the antique Wisdom Literature as far as we can know it, specially from the Lifes followed by collections of proverbs, and from the literature about Alexander the Great and Aristotle.