Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1879.7

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 77957

Introduction: This fragment is a single folio containing part of the Book of Genesis in the usual ancient Greek translation, the Septuagint. Other, larger portions of the same original manuscript are now London, British Library, Add. MS 20002, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Auct. T. inf. 2. 1 and St Petersburg, Rossijskaja Nacional'naja biblioteka, MS gr. 62. The manuscript was copied by a number of different hands, working in the same scriptorium as part of the same project, but in markedly different styles. One of these, appearing on the verso of this folio, is the distinctive style derived from the hand of the influential abbot St Neilos of Rossano (910-1005), which was disseminated by his pupils through the Greek-speaking communities of southern Italy in the second half of the tenth century. Another style present in this manuscript, occupying the recto of this folio, is the slanted ogival majuscule style. This remarkable use of both majuscule and minuscule scripts by different scribes working on the main text of the same manuscript is a feature found in various manuscripts produced in southern Italy following the introduction of minuscule, continuing until at least the middle of the 11th century. The portion of the manuscript in Oxford directly precedes this folio (ending with the first four folios of the fifth quire, of which this was originally the fifth folio). It is written in the majuscule script found here. That in St Petersburg directly follows it and is written in a number of different hands, beginning with the minuscule hand found here. This hand recurs in the latter part of the St Petersburg fragment and also copied the London fragment which follows it. Thus this folio, forming the point of transition between the minuscule and majuscule portions of the text, enabled scholars to establish that the Oxford fragment belonged to the same original manuscript as the others, which would not otherwise have been recognisable. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek

Septuagint

The fragment contains Genesis 42:18-43:14

Incipit: || Recto ⟨αὐ⟩τοῖς τῆ ἡμέρα τῆ τρίτη. τοῦτο ποιήσεται καὶ σώζεσθε

Explicit: Verso ἐναντίον τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀποστεῖλαι τὸν ἀδελφὸν ὑμῶν τὸν ἕνα καὶ

TLG 0527.001

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Parchment, of medium thickness and relatively poor quality.

Extent: Fragment (leaf) 1 leaves. 328 × 270 mm.

Condition

The leaf is somewhat discoloured, and there is some abrasion of ink on the recto.

Layout

Two columns of 40 lines each. 275 × 215 mm. Pricking does not survive. Ruled in hardpoint, type Leroy 00C2. Text stands on the lines.

Hand(s)

The recto was copied by Hand A in a slanted ogival majuscule script in black ink, with breathings and accents, and flourishing of tails into the lower margin.

The horizontal stroke for nu is present, joined with a downward stroke to the right. Mute iota is absent. Grave accents are usually almost horizontal. Nomina sacra are unaccentuated. Nomina sacra strokes are ornamented with vertical bars.

The ligatures ΑΥ and ΟΥ are present.

Punctuation used includes the lower and upper points and the lower and middle commas.

The verso was copied by Hand B in an upright St Neilos style mixed minuscule script, in brown ink. There is little variation in letter size, and slight flourishing of tails into the lower margin.

Syllabic abbreviations are not used, apart from the horizontal stroke for nu,which can appear in mid-line, and there are no superscript word endings. Breathings are both angular and round, and mute iota is absent. Nomina sacra are accentuated only when more than three letters long. Nomina sacra strokes are ornamented with pairs of vertical bars. The double dot is only used erroneously, on diphthongs (verso, col. b, lines 29, 31). Circumflexes sometimes appear above breathings, but are not markedly enlarged.

Majuscule forms of epsilon, kappa, lambda, pi and sigma are present.

Punctuation used includes the lower, middle and upper points and lower comma.

Decoration

Sections begin with minor initials in the same ink as the rest of the text.

Additions

Modern chapter and verse references for the beginning and end of the text have been added. The fragment is marked with the current classmark and the former classmark T.1.

History

Origin: On the basis of the style of script, the manuscript from which this came has been dated to the second half of the 10th century or the beginning of the 11th century, and its production localised to ; southern Italy, where the style of minuscule script associated with St Neilos was used by his pupils.

Provenance and Acquisition

Owned by the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai.

Acquired there by the Biblical scholar Constantin von Tischendorf (1815-1874) , in 1853.

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

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

A new fragment of the Bodleian Genesis The Academy, Swete, Henry B. (996, 1891)

Ueber eine von Tischendorf aus dem Orient mitgebrachte, in Oxford, Cambridge, London und Petersburg liegende Handschrift der Septuaginta Nachrichten von der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. Philologisch-historische Klasse, Rahlfs, A. (97-112, 1898)

Zwei Bibelhandschriften mit doppelter Schriftart Theologische Literaturzeitung, von Dobschütz, E. (74-75, 1899)

On a Petersburg MS of the Septuagint The Classical Review, Brooke, A. E.MacLean, N. (13, 1899)

The New Palaeographical Society: Facsimiles of Ancient Manuscripts, (London, 1, Oxford University Press, 1903)

An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek, Swete, Henry B. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1914)

Hand-list of the additional Greek manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge Scriptorium, Easterling, Patricia E. (16, 2, 302-323, 1962)

Attività scrittoria e culturale a Rossano: da S. Nilo a S. Bartolomeo da Simeri (secoli X-XII) Atti del Congresso Internazionale su S. Nilo di Rossano 28 settembre-1 ottobre 1986, Lucà, Santo (Rossano and Grottaferrata, 25-73, Università Popolare Rossano; Amministrazione Comunale Rossano, 1989)

Membra disiecta Cantabrigiensa: two Tischendorf fragments identified Scriptorium. Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, Tchernetska, Natalie (56, 119-126, 2002)

Verzeichnis der griechischen Handschriften des Alten Testaments, Rahlfs, Alfred (Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2004)

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 1879.7

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