Onkelos the Proselyte

Onkelos (1st-2nd c. CE), the famed convert to Judaism, is the traditional author of Targum Onkelos — the authoritative Aramaic translation of the Torah accepted as canonical by the rabbis (Megillah 3a: 'Targum of the Torah was uttered by Onkelos the Proselyte from the mouths of R. Eliezer and R. Yehoshua'). The Bavli and Tosefta preserve narratives of his conversion under R. Yehoshua ben Chananya and R. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, and identify him as the nephew of Emperor Hadrian (or Titus, in some variants). Modern scholarship identifies him with — or as a parallel to — the Greek translator Aquila of Sinope. His Targum is recited weekly alongside the Torah reading (shnayim mikra v'echad targum) and printed in every Mikraot Gedolot.