Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 10062
Diktyon no.: Diktyon 73427
Contents
Language(s): Greek
Gregory-Aland l 299
The text ends on f. 175v because the final folio of the manuscript, f. 176, has been bound in the wrong place. This ends, on f. 176v, with ‘κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ γὰρ ἐποίουν τοῖς ψευδοπροφήταις οἱ πατέρες αὐτῶν’.
Physical Description
Collation
The manuscript consists of 22 quires, all quaternia.
- Quires 1-218 ff. 1-168
- Quire 228 ff. 169-176 The first folio of the quire has become detached and been erroneously bound in at the end, while the original sixth folio has been almost entirely lost and replaced with a paper leaf attached to the stub.
Condition
There are widespread small tears to the edges of the folios, and various small holes within them. More serious damage of this sort affects ff. 7-8, 18, 23, 30, 45, 59-63, 84-86, 90, 105-107, 113, 125, 131, 140-141, 151-152, 161, 163, 166 and 171-176, sometimes with loss of text. The outer margin of 169 has been torn or cut away, probably deliberately. Losses to ff. 171-172 and 174 have been repaired with parchment patches, on which the lost text has been supplied. There are a number of small worm-holes in ff. 1-2. There is moderate cockling, mainly in a horizontal band across the centre of the folios, and frequent creasing. There is significant water staining, areas of ingrained dirt and drops of wax. Red paint has been spilled on small areas of ff. 171r-172r, 174r and 175v-176r.
The lower part of f. 173 has become detached from the stub of the original folio to which it is attached, it has suffered significant losses from the edges, with loss of text, and contains serious tears and holes. A detached fragment is attached to the folio with thread. There are drops of wax and patches of dirt. Red paint spilled on f. 171v impinges on the patch on that folio.
Layout
A single column of 31-38 lines each. Written space 220-230 × 130 mm. Pricking does not survive. There is no ruling for the overtext. The text is frequently continued beneath the last full line of a page in order to reach a punctuation mark.
Replacement leaf: a single column of 25-29 lines. Written space 195 × 120 mm.
Hand(s)
The overtext was copied by Neilos (Hand B) in a mixed minuscule script with variable slant, in black ink. There is significant variation in letter size, and frequent flourishing of tails into the margin. There are deletions by erasure.
Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings appear only at the end of lines, except in the top line of a page or lection. Breathings are round and mute iota is adscript, absent, or in a transitional form positioned below and the right of the preceding letter. Occasionally it appears within a preceding omega (e.g. f. 45r, line 35, f. 109r, line 1). There is decorative use of the double dot and accentuation of all lengths of nomina sacra . Nomina sacra may appear unabbreviated when used in a non-religious sense (e.g. f. 39r, line 21, ‘κύριος’). Accents are sometimes joined to letters. The double grave accent is in use.
There are inclusions of letters within omicron, and the ligature of sigma-upsilon-nu linked over the top is in use (e.g. f. 31v, line 36. Distinctive letter-forms include rho with its tail sharply swept to the right (e.g. f. 34v, line 15), minuscule zeta with a sharp corner in the upper left curve (e.g. f. 3v, lines 3-4, 6, 8), majuscule kappa with a flourished downward diagonal (e.g. f. 7r, line 6) and enlarged tau with the horizontal extended to the left and terminating with a blob (e.g. f. 8v, lines 2, 4-6).
Punctuation used includes the lower, middle and upper points, lower and middle commas, question mark and full stop. The teleia of the ekphonetic notation (the red cross marking the end of a sense-passage) is often used also as a punctuation mark. A punctuation mark appearing at the end of the text on a page often appears as a more ornate cross.
Headings are by the same hand, in Alexandrine majuscule script with occasional minuscule forms, in red ink. Some of the headings at the beginning of major sections are in epigraphic display majuscule, also in red ink. From the cross in the lower margin of f. 68v there is a change of red ink.
Hand C, from the later 14th century, has copied replacement text onto the repair patches and replacement folio in an upright mixed minuscule script in brown ink, with moderate variation in letter size.
Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings appear throughout the line. Breathings are round and mute iota is absent. There is decorative use of the double dot and accentuation of all lengths of nomina sacra . Accents are sometimes joined to letters and nomina sacra strokes.
Punctuation used includes the lower, middle and upper points, lower comma and full stop.
Decoration
The beginning of the text is preceded by a crudely drawn pyle in red ink, with vegetative ornament, whose design appears extemporised (f. 1r). The lections for the weeks of Matthew are preceded by a thin rectangular headpiece with a black ink border containing a plait in red ink (f. 21v) and those of Luke and Mark by pylai, the latter H-shaped, with black ink borders containing respectively vegetative ornament and plaits, in red ink. The menologion is preceded by a plait in red ink.
The text of each lection begins with an enlarged ornamental initial in red ink, usually quite small and simple, sometimes larger and more elaborate (e.g. ff. 6v, 23v), sometimes highlighted with a translucent yellow wash (e.g. ff. 13v, 21v).
The months of the menologion are preceded by simple vignettes in red ink.
Headings for lections and for major sections have been highlighted with translucent yellow wash.
Lections begin with ornamented minor initials in brown ink. The area substituted by the patch on f. 171v includes part of an existing initial letter in red ink, and the missing part of this has been supplied on the patch in brown.
Additions
The scribe Neilos has written devotional notes, in both black and red ink, in the margins of ff. 1r, 9r, 11r, 16v-17r, 24v, 27v, 35r, 39r, 40r, 43v, 46v, 54r, 61v, 63v-64r, 65r, 70v, 72v, 74r, 76v-77r, 78r, 80v, 91v-92r, 94r, 99v, 101r, 102r, 104r-104v, 106v, 108r-108v, 125r, 129r, 131v, 133v, 136r, 144r, 153r, 158r, 160r-160v and 175v.
Neilos has also placed marks in the form of a cross with a curved tail extending downwards from the right-hand side in the lower margin of some folios, distinct from the crosses marking the end of some quires (e.g. ff. 22v, 23v).
There are numerous marginal corrections in the hand of Neilos, along with a few possibly by other hands (ff. 16v, 149r). Other hands have added lection notes to ff. f. 18r, 73v, 99r, 103v, 117r, 118v, 146v, 156r, 159v, 160v and 161v. Another has copied the last words of f. 51v. On f. 90v is a memorial note reading ‘Νικολάου Κομήλωντος κοιμή σου καλῆς κοιμη(?) Μαρίας Κοιμαρκιζήνας κοιμή σου’. On f. 120v is a single semi-legible word in a very rough hand, perhaps ‘καιρο’.
There are notes in English, in pencil, concerning the presence of halves of the original leaves (ff. 169v and 176v).
There is an incomplete, partially repeated Greek note inside the right board: ‘δι'εὐχῶν τὸν ἀγγέλων πων’.
A number of notes concerning ownership appear on the left pastedown. Two record ownership by Prince Antonio Comuto of Zakynthos and his gift of the manuscript to General Colin Macaulay in 1820: ‘Μνημὸσυνον σεβάσματος τοῦ Ἰππέος Ἀντωνίου Κόμητος 1820’; ‘Il Principe Comuto Zante’. Another records the manuscript's presentation by Macaulay to the Bible Society: ‘presented by General Macaulay November 6 1821’. The former and current classmarks also appear here.
Binding
A Byzantine binding using five sewing stations prepared with v-notches. The sewing is unsupported loop-stitch with a Z-twist sewing thread.
There are classic Greek endbands extending approximately ¼ of the way onto the boards. They are sewn around two cord cores. The lower is diagonal and the upper is wound vertically. Both endbands have broken threads. The headband is complete, the tailband is partially missing.
The cloth spine lining extends up to one third of the board. The endband tiedowns pass through the cloth.
Board attachment is bridling passing from the outside face of the board to the inner face and then back out. Channels are visible on the outside and inner faces of the boards to accommodate the threads. The boards are wooden, with slightly grooved edges, and the inner spine edges are shaped to form a round that nestles in the textblock shoulders.
There is a full covering of dark red tanned skin. The skin has been patched on both boards; one piece has been added, which extends from the upper left part of the left board to the upper part of the right board. This piece has been stitched in place with a natural coloured thread. An additional triangular piece is visible on the upper turn-in of the right board foredge. The turn-ins are now all open-mitred.
On the left board there are two metal bosses in the middle of the board, one towards the spinedge and one towards the foredge. There are remnants of two other bosses on the left board, and remnants of four bosses at the corners of the right board. On the left board, marks of four larger round pieces are visible on the four corners; those areas might have been covered by round metallic plates, held in place by pins. One pin is visible on one of those holes on the bottom right corner. Several smaller holes are also spread across both boards, suggesting the presence of smaller metallic furniture pieces.
There is a metallic pin on the left board foredge. Another hole is visible next to this pin on the left hand side; and two other holes are visible on the lower part of the foredge. Those holes suggest the previous presence of metallic pins. There are remnants of cord ties on the inside of the right board, going through two holes on the lower part of the right board; and through two out of three holes on the upper part of the right board.
Decoration uses blind tooling with intaglio hand-tools and fillets. On the left board, two vegetative rolls framed with double fillet borders extend from to the outer edges towards the centre. A central cross fills the central panel, the cross being framed by a single fillet with floral tool on the corners. Small holes on the cross suggest the previous presence of metallic furniture or gems. Double fillets are visible starting from the upper right corner of the frame, and disappearing where the cross motif starts. Smaller hand tools are visible on the frame corners. On the right board, there are two vegetative rolls framed with double fillet borders extending from to the outer edges towards the centre. Four triangular shaped tools with floral decoration are impressed on the central area within the inner frames, alongside two rounded tools inclosing fleurs-de-lys motifs. Smaller hand tools are also visible on the frame corners.
295 × 191 × 108 mm.
History
The production of the original manuscript must be dated after 518, the earliest possible date for the composition of the treatise of Severus against Julian of Halikarnassos, one of the texts featured in the catena. On the basis of the style of script, it has been dated variously from the from the 6th to the 8th centuries, but an 8th-century date is currently considered most likely. Its transformation into the present palimpsest can be dated to the second half of the 12th century, the period of activity of the scribe Neilos, who copied a dated manuscript in 1170 and two more in 1180. Since the latter two manuscripts were produced on Rhodes, it may well be that the upper text of this manuscript was also copied there.
The watermark of the paper leaf suggests that these repair elements,whose text is in the same hand, were added and copied during the later 14th century. This is consistent with the style of the script.
Provenance and Acquisition
Owned by the nobleman Prince Antonio Comuto (1748-1833) on Zakynthos.
Given by Comuto in 1820 to General Colin Macaulay (1760-1836) .
Donated by Macaulay to the British and Foreign Bible Society on 6 November 1821.
Purchased from the British and Foreign Bible Society by the University Library in 2014.
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.
Funding of Cataloguing
Acquired with the support of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Friends of the National Libraries, the Anstruther Literary Trust for Rare Books and the Friends of Cambridge University Library
Digital Images
Abbreviations
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