Shlama to you (peace) Samuel,
The Tri-linear targums are most certainly (for the Pentateuch) Onkelos. This is one of two targums on the first five books of Moses that were done about 2000 years ago. The other main Targum that has survived intact for these books is known as the Palestinian or Targum Jonathan.
Which is better? Well, like many things it depends on who you ask. My opinion is that Oneklos is better because its literal style is a key witness to the state of the Hebrew textual tradtiions before the Masoretic standardization. On the other hand, Targum Jonathan has some very interesting "aggadic" (story telling) divergences that give us insight into the Jewish folk traditions.
An excellent treatment of the significance of both of these works is in this book by JW Etheridge: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=JJwCAAAAQAAJ&dq=jw+etheridge+targum&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=pAJHThsU_a&sig=AmlypPzyPh7YnHj0bYzsUSx97Do&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA35,M1">http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id= ... t#PPA35,M1</a><!-- m -->
Etheridge also did a really good translation of the Aramaic NT, and for these Targums he did a 2 volume set, of which volume 1 is available for free download in its entirety. Etheridge very wisely put one targum set after the other, rather than choosing between them to homogenize or pick one over the other. (I would recommend putting this book as a link in the Tri-linear section. I am currently looking for book 2 as a free resource, as this covers Leviticus through Deuteronomy.
One of the most interesting things in his introduction that Etheridge talks about is a tradition that the two great Greek Tanakh translators post LXX, Aquila and Theodotion, may very well be the same exact men who did these Targums. Etheridge notes that in Aramaic "Aquila" becomes "Ankelos/Onkelos" and Theodotion means the exact same thing as Jonathan does. Whether a person who was really named Jonathan Ben Uzziel really did this though, and if he was a disciple of Hillel as is often thought, remains a matter of debate. But the work product of both of these scholars is terrific and beyond dispute, and nobody denies their ultimate importance.
Hope this helps!
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth
PS--Etheridge also includes sections of the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Fragmentary Targum--two very critical sources as well. He also says on page 5 of regarding the Aramaic Tanakh the following, which is why we also study that here:
"It may be noted here also, that the Peschito Syriac version of the Old Testament, which is, strictly speaking, a Targum of Western Aramaic spoken throughout Syria, is thought by good critics to be a Jewish production of times long anterior to the apostolic age. As a literal and very able translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, that version is beyond all price."
Hope this helps!
