Searching for Linguistic Standards in 2 Maccabees

This chapter assesses the linguistic and stylistic features of 2 Macc., a Septuagint book that has attracted attention since Late Antiquity for its peculiar language. Recent studies (Doran 2012; Le Moigne 2012; Shaw 2016) have appropriately emphasized its multifaceted style, inferring a date of composition in the first century BCE or slightly later (Domazakis 2018). Considering the number of theories about 2 Macc.’s chronology and its JewishHellenistic context, it is worth asking again whether and how this book, usually labeled Asianic (Gil 1958), can be placed within the dispute about the ancient origins of grammatical Atticism. Three prominent features of the text will be briefly examined: phonetics, morphology, and, most importantly, lexicon. Indeed, 2 Macc., which summarizes the historical work of Jason of Cyrene, contains a lexical inventory rich in poetic language that is not otherwise attested in the Septuagint. The overall impression is that the author, while observing various standards (e.g., Greek literary prose, high Koine, Hellenistic rhetorical devices), pursues μεταβολή without selecting a single authoritative model. Although written in an Asianic manner, 2 Macc. displays a quest for grammatical correctness that at times anticipates Dionysius of Halicarnassus’ style.