The Septuagint within the History of Greek Network (SHG) was founded by James (Jim) Aitken and Trevor Evans in the northern spring of 2018. It represents the formalization of a scholarly movement inspired by the work of the Australian scholar John Lee, whose research has refined and developed the pioneering contributions of Adolf Deissmann, Henry St John Thackeray, and others.
At the heart of this movement is the conviction that the language of the Septuagint should be studied within the broader history of Greek, with particular attention to the linguistic developments and communicative practices of the Post-Classical period. This approach seeks to move beyond accounts of Septuagintal Greek primarily in terms of its relationship to the Hebrew source text, emphasizing instead its place within the linguistic and cultural world in which it was produced.
Since its establishment, the network has brought together scholars from different disciplines and research traditions. Its international conference series began in Cambridge in 2023 with Language and Cultural Identity in Postclassical Greek, followed by Diversity, Change, and the Individual in Post-Classical Greek in Sydney in 2025. The third conference, Translation as Linguistic and Cultural Mediation in Post-Classical Greek, will take place in Ghent in 2027.