This targum of the Pentateuch eventually acquired the status of the targum and was circulated widely in Jewish communities throughout the world. Some scholars now theorize that, although not descended from the “Proto-Palestinian Targum,” Targum Onkelos was originally composed in the Land of Israel in the second century c.e. and subsequently transferred to the Jewish centers in Babylon, where its Aramaic underwent a process of “easternization.” Attributed to Onkelos, reputed nephew of the Roman emperor Hadrian and a convert to Judaism; the name is probably a corruption of Aquila. Onkelos translates the Torah in comparatively literal fashion, though frequently diverging from the literal in order to avoid anthropomorphisms or for other doctrinal reasons or when translating songs or highly metaphorical passages.