Professional Documents
Culture Documents
From scroll (cf. synagogue) to codex Pages sewn four by four : quaternion > cuaderno (notebook) ever since Antiquity Task of christians in spreading over the use of codex
Some consequences I
Books are fragile and disappear quickly save in exceptional conditions (Egypt, Dead Sea, Herculanum) No strong material for the book before codex No many copies before print Antiquity originals have all disappeared Homer : Venetus A, 10th c (1800 years gap).
Some consequences II
Electra of Sophocles : not a single verse has been lost (Irigoin) : 10th c (1400 years gap). Quality of copying in Antiquity: books are valuable. Revision by a diorthts
Date of OT manuscripts
Till 1947, most ancient manuscript of the OT : Aleppo Codex, incomplete, 10th c ; Leningrad Codex, complete, 1008.
1896 : qaraite geniza from Cairo : 6th / 7th c AD, 2/3 of Hebrew B Sirac
Qumran manuscripts
1947 : Qumran: mss from 1st c BC, sometimes 3rd c BC Complete text : Isaiah Large sections of books : Psalms, Habakuk, Jeremiah.... Fragments of all Hebrew Bible books save Esther. Most deuterocanonical missing (Judith, Mac 1 et 2, Wisdom, Baruch).
Substantially the same text Some texts are chronologically very close to the original: Ps 1 : 100 BC
NT Manuscripts I
5,000 NT Greek manuscripts
A) Most ancient papyrus Papyrus Ryland, 150 ou avant : some Jn verses P66: between 150 and 175 : Jn complete P75 : between 175 and 200 : Lc complete, Jn almost complete.
P66 Beginning of Jn
NT Manuscripts II
B) Capital letters or uncial Codex B : 4th c, Vatican (OT + NT): Vatican library Codex S : 4th c, Sinaiticus (OT + NT) : British Museum Codex A : 5th c, Alexandrinus (OT + NT) : British Museum Codex C : 5th c, Ephrem Codex (OT+ NT) : Paris, BN. C) Small letters
Codex Alexandrinus
Codex Sinaiticus
Codex Vaticanus
History of NT text
First written on papyrus, then on parchment Quick overspreading of codex (2nd c). Direct transmission of Greek text Indirect transmission through versions (more than 10,000 mss) and commentaries of the Fathers of the Church Variant readings : minor points (although at times important) not relevant for the faith Most variants before definitive canonization of texts (around 4th c)