Roma, the personification of the city of Rome, and as such calletl Dea Roma. She was represented clad in a long robe, and with a helmet, in a sitting posture, strongly re- sembling the figures of the Greek Athena. She was in reality the genius of the city of Rome, and was wor- shipped as such from early times, though no temple was erect- ed to her till the time of Augustus. After this their number in- creased throughout the Bioff. and Mythol. s. v.
Romaic (or Mom:i?N Grf.kk) Version. Romaic, or Modern (ireek, is the vernacular language of about 2,000,000 descendants of the ancient Greeks dispersed throughout the Turkish empire, as well as of the inhabi- tants of the modern kingdom of Greece. In this vernacu- lar several versions of the New Test, exist. The earliest was printed at Geneva in 1638, in parallel coluinns with the inspired text, and was executed byMaximus Calliergi (or Calliopoli, as he is sometimes called), at the solicita- I tion of Haga, the ambassador of the then United Prov- inces of Constantinople. This translation, which is re- markable for its close and literal adherence to the Greek original text, is preceded by two prefaces, one by the translator, and the other by CN'rillus Lucaris, patriarch of Constantino])le. This edition, which had the title H Kan/) AiaSfliKi) tov Ki'piov ii^iCbr 'li](7ov XpajTov, CiyXwrrur. €1' y cn'mrpoaioTTioc roTi Btlov Trpiororv- TTov KOI )) cnrapaWaKTioc t'i tKeirov f't,' aTrX))i> Sia- Xektoi' Ctct TOV /.laKapiTOV Kvpinv Mn^iftnii KaWiov- TToXirov yei'Ofifi'T] j-itri'Kpparnc; ii^ia tTv—io^i^rrav. "Erfi XHHAAAnil I. was reprinted with correcti<ms in 1703 in London by the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and another edition was issue<l by the same society in 1705. A re|irint of this version, in l2mo, was pulilisbed at Halle, in 1710, at the expense of So- phia Louisa, queen of Prussia, luuler the title, 'H Kan'/) Aia^i]Ki] TOV Kvpiov icai ^uiri'ipog if^MV 'h](Tov Xpiff- TOV, TOVT iatx) TO ^flQV apx^TVTTov Kai >/ aVTOV f-ttTa-
(ftpamg ei'c Kotinjv StdXtKTop. Mtrci TrcKTijg tTrtf^uXfinQ diop^wB'ii'Ta, Kai vtuinTi f^UTarvTroBh'Ta i-v'AXa TrjQ Sa^oviag, iv Tiii 'i'viToypa(pHii) 'Op(pnvoTpo<pfiiov. 'Er£i
empire, feet .^miili. Diet, of
ROMAIC VERSION
69
ROMAN ART
a-iro T/jc (VffdpKov Oiicovofiiac rov Kiiplov ical Suirjj- pog iffiCov 'lt](Tov XpioTov a. i|/'. i. From tliis edition the British and Foreign Bible Society published an im- pression, under the superintendence of the Kev. J. F. Usko, in 1808, with the ancient and modern Greek in parallel columns. As this edition was very favorably received, another was published in 1812. A strict and thorough revision of the text being deemed necessary, the archimandrite Hilarion (subsequently archbishop of 'iernovo), with two assistants, was accordingly appoint- ed, in 1819, to execute a new version of the entire Script- ures. In 1827 Hilarion's version of the New Test, was completed, and was printed at the national printing- office in the patriarchate, under the eye of the Greek Church. This version, although faithful and accurate as a translation, is considered rather stiff. About the same time, Hilarion completed his translation of the Old Test, from the Sept., which, in 1829, was submitted to the committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society. After mature deliberation, it was concluded to circulate a version prepared from the Hebrew text itself, rather than a mere translation of a translation. The Kev. H. D. Leeves was therefore a]3]3ointed to reside in Corfu, where, with the assistance of natives, he commenced a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Modern Greek. In conjunction with the Rev. J. Lowndes (an agent of the London Missionary Society), he engaged the ser- vices of Profs. Bambas and Ti])aldo, to which, for a short period, were added those of Prof. Joannides. In the fifty-first report (1855) Mr. Lowndes wrote thus: "The first edition of the Old Test, was printed in Eng- land in 1840. Select parts had been published previ- ously, as tlie work advanced. The New Test, followed, and was printed at Athens in 1844. It was not long before it was considered desirable that the whole should be submitted to a general revision, with the view of having the Old and New Tests, printed in one uniform volume; and Mr. Leeves, Prof. Bambas, and Mr. Ni- colaides, a native of Philadelphia, undertook to do it. In 1845 Mr. Leeves was removed from the land of the living, and in that year I was appointed agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society. In 184G I went to Athens to carry on the work of revision that had been just commenced, and between that year and 1850, at different times, Prof. Bambas, Mr. Nicolaides, and my- self went over the whole of the Old and New Tests. Editions of the Old Test, were printed again in England in 1849 and 1850, succeeded by a new edition of the New Test, in 1851, when the whole Bible was prepared for dissemination in one unifortn volume for the first time." From that time on several issues of the Bible in Jlodern (ireek were made, making a total up to jNlarch 30, 1878, of 446,435. That there is a great demand for the Word of God may be seen from the fact that, according to the seventy-fourth report (1878), the British and Foreign Bible Society has decided to print a portable edition of 6000 copies of the reference Bible in Modern Greek, for which edition Dr. Sauerwein is arranging the poetical parts in accordance with the Bible Society's paragraph English Bible. Having before us the latest edition of the New Test, with the title 'H Kaiv)) Aia^tjKij rov Kvpiov Kai ^loTiipog t'liiiSJi' 'li](rot> Xpiarov, irapa- (ppaffitlaa i/c tov 'EXXiyi't/cor*. Kara rt)i> tv 'ABi]vatg tKCoaiv TOV 1855-1874, we will give a specimen from the (iospel of St. John (i, 1, 2) of the three versions, that the reader may judge for himself as to the value of each :