Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

A catalogue of Western manuscripts and papyri at Cambridge University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum and selected Cambridge colleges

Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1879.5

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 77955

Contents

Introduction: This fragment consists of a small scrap of parchment from an Arabic hagiographic palimpsest with Greek Old Testament undertext. The upper and lower texts are written in the same orientation, rather than at right-angles as is usually the case in palimpsests. While the fragment is too small for much information to be discerned from it, the manuscript from which it came has been identified. Other, much more substantial portions of it are now Sinai, Monastery of St Catherine, MS NF ar. perg. 66, Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, MS gr. 2 (Rescriptus Tischendorf/Codex Scythopolitanus) and St Petersburg, Rossijskaja Nacional'naja biblioteka, MS gr. 26, comprising 6, 22 and 6 folios respectively. From these it can be established that the original Greek text, found also in the Leipzig and St Petersburg fragments, is that of the Old Testament, and can be dated stylistically to the 7th or 8th century. The leaves of the Sinai fragment were reused in palimpsest from a different original manuscript, written in Christian Palestinian Aramaic. The overtext comprises a series of Lives of Saints translated from Greek into Arabic, and was copied by one Ḏāwīḏ al-Ḥimṣī (David of Homs) for Yannah of Raqqa, a monk of the great Monastery of St Sabas (Mar Saba) in the Jordan valley. It can be dated quite closely, since the translation of one of these texts, the Life of St Stephen the Sabaite by Leontios of Damascus, was composed at St Sabas and completed only in 903, while by 924/5 Yannah had been appointed abbot of the monastery. (M. van Esbroeck, 'Le codex rescriptus Tischendorf 2 à Leipzig et Cyrille de Scythopolis en version arabe', Actes du deuxiėme Congrės international d'études arabes chrétiennes (Oosterhesselen, septembre 1984), ed. S. K. Samir (Rome 1986), pp. 81-91; André Binggeli, 'Les trois David: copistes arabes de Palestine aux 9e-10e s.', Manuscripta Graeca et Orientalia: mélanges monastiques et patristiques en l'honneur de Paul Géhin, ed. André Binggeli, Anne Boud'hors and Matthieu Cassin (Leuven 2016), pp. 79-117 at pp. 100-106)). The style of the Greek text suggests that the original manuscript had also been produced in Palestine (Tchernetska, 'Add. 1879.5', p. 205). The Leipzig, St Petersburg and Cambridge fragments were all acquired in the mid-19th century by Constantin von Tischendorf, on two different trips to the Middle East. However, while he visited St Sabas on both occasions and acquired manuscripts there, including palimpsests, the presence of another fragment of the manuscript in the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai, which he also visited during these journeys, indicates that this palimpsest had entered the library of that institution by the time he encountered it. Tischendorf evidently had the various parts of the manuscript in his possession, including this fragment, treated with a chemical reagent to make the Greek text more visible, which have left the ink blurred and discoloured. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek and Arabic

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Fragment (scrap) 1 leaves. 85 × 30 mm. 300 × 230 mm.

Condition

The scrap contains small holes and is stained. The ink of the Greek text has been blurred and tinged blue-green by a reagent.

Additions

The fragment is marked with the current classmark and the former classmark T.18.4.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Owned by the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai.

Acquired there by the Biblical scholar Constantin von Tischendorf (1815-1874) , either in 1843 or 1858.

Bought by the University Library from Tischendorf's executors 23 February 1876.

Part 1 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1879.5, lower text]

Contents

Language(s): Greek

1. 1r-1v
Old Testament

There is insufficient surviving text to establish which part of the work this fragment contains.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Layout

The Greek text of the original manuscript is laid out in two columns of 23-26 lines. On the fragment, 7 lines survive on the recto and 6 on the verso.

Hand(s)

This text was copied in a slanting ogival majuscule script. No diacritics are visible on the surviving letters.

History

Origin: The copying of the original manuscript has been dated to the 7th or 8th century. Tchernetska ('CUL Add. 1879.5') argues on the basis of the syle of script that it was copied in ; Palestine.

Part 2 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1879.5, upper text]

Contents

Language(s): Arabic

2. 1r-1v
Cyril, of Scythopolis, approximately 524-approximately 558, Hagiographic text

The other surviving parts of the source manuscript with Greek undertext contain portions of Cyril's Lives of SS Euthymios (CPG 7535), Sabas (CPG 7536), Abramios (CPG 7541), Theodosios (CPG 7539).

Physical Description

Hand(s)

This text was copied by Ḏāwīḏ al-Ḥimṣī in Kufic script, in black ink, with punctuation marks highlighted in red.

History

Origin: The upper text of the palimpsest was commissioned by Yannah of Raqqa , monk of the Monastery of St Sabas in Palestine, and copied by Ḏāwīḏ al-Ḥimṣī (David of Homs) , between 903 and 925, as established by colophons in the Leipzig and Sinai fragments and other contextual information (Binggeli, 'Les trois David', pp. 102-104).

Additional Information

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.

Bibliography

    Hand-list of the additional Greek manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge Scriptorium, Easterling, Patricia E. (16, 2, 302-323, 1962) Hand-list of the Greek palimpsests in Cambridge libraries I manoscritti greci tra riflessione e dibattito: Atti del V Colloquio Internazionale di Paleografia Greca (Cremona 4-10 ottobre 1998) Papyrologica Florentina, Tchernetska, Natalie (Florence, 733-739, Edizioni Gonnelli, 2000) The Tischendorf Greek palimpsests Appunti Romani di Filologia, Tchernetska, Natalie (2, 107-126, 2000) Cambridge University Library Add. 1879.5 and its provenance Homer, Tragedy and Beyond: Essays in honour of P.E. Easterling, Tchernetska, Natalie (London, Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, 2001)

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

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