Phlox Pyros

Codex Alexandrinus, also known as uncial manuscript A 02, is one of the 3 earliest codices of the full bible (ie. Old Testament, New Testament, and even apocryphal writings - eg. 1st & 2nd Clement) and dates to the 5th century A.D. (the other two codices being Sinaiticus Aleph 01 and Vaticanus B 03, both of the 4th century A.D.). See list of codices.

In another thread, Chris Weimer presented a link to images of Codex Alexandrinus (the images appear to only be for the New Testament). I thought it might be interesting to actually peruse the manuscript and look at variations, a sort of informal "Textual Analysis of Codex Alexandrinus". Julian agreed and suggested the book of Mark (always a good starting point).

If you would like to participate, you might want to read the following introduction pages for a background, which describe Codex Alexandrinus (to view the images up close in your browser, you may have to click on the image or click on an enlarge icon):

Intro 1
Intro 2
Intro 3
Intro 4

Next, we want to find out on what page the book of Mark begins. There are handwritten notes on the following page that tell us that Mark begins on page 30 (this does not correspond to the image numbers):

Table of Contents

As mentioned, the book of Mark actually begins on page 30 (image name - GA02_009a.jpg):

Beginning of the book of Mark (the title is very faint and at top of the page)

The Kephalaia (ie. "chapter headings"/"textual divisions") for the book of Mark are found on the previous page (beginning after the pretty little picture):

Kephalaia for Mark

If you want to start at the beginning and run through the book, just click on the list of images at the top of this post and select image GA02_009b.jpg, and so on. Read along in Swanson's GNT, or whatever you like. You will begin to get familiar with the text as you compare it.

We will attempt to compare against Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and either the Textus Receptus (TR) or the Byzantine Majority Text. This could prove cumbersome, but we can try. If someone knows of a good link to the TR or Byzantine text, please post it. Here is a link to Sinaiticus and Vaticanus:

Biblical Manuscripts Project (look under New Testament Manuscripts heading and select Aleph 01, Sinaiticus, or B 03, Vaticanus)

I think it might be fun, if it is not a problem, to cut pieces out of the text and post them in the thread to emphasize points. I found an online free image hosting website that might allow us to do such a thing (I'm sure there are other sites that are just as good). I've already registered. Feel free to do so yourself if you think you might want to join in with some picture posting.

ImageShack Web Image Hosting

Feel free to join in and ask questions as we look at a few things. It will probably be this weekend before I have a chance to post more and get started, but since this will be informal, go ahead and look over the texts if you like and ask some questions, post some suggestions, or observations. I won't be able to answer all questions, but there are probably some here who can if I can't.

Julian

The best uncial witness for the byzantine family, other than A (02) , would be E (07). If we cannot find images, we could cheat and use Swanson.

You seem to know some good sites for such stuff, know where we might find E (07)?

Julian

Julian

Okay, I have been looking over the first page and the page with the τιτλοι and I have a few questions.

The first τιτλος which I read as πΕΡΙΤΟΥΔΑΙΜΟΝΙΖΟΜΕΝΟΥ which is designated as Α to the left of that which I assume is Greek for the number 1, or first τιτλος. Now I can find that okay on the first page of the text of Mark. It appears as a few horizontal dots, underneath we find the Α but it has a vertical line to the left of it (ιοτα?) and an Η (ετα?) underneath those and then some slanted line with a hook. What is all that? Why the ιοτα? Why the ετα? And what does the slanted line mean?

Another question. What are the other markers in the margin? They look similar to the τιτλοι marks except maybe a bit smaller. I see no order to them. Any clues?

Other than that I can read it better than I thought, however, I suspect that the reason is that I find that I actually remember some of Mark 1 in the Greek from several recent readings.

Julian

P.S. Please note that upper case PI does not work so use lower case instead even though it looks stupid.

P.P.S. Please do not rush to respond to this post should anyone feel so inclined. You will see below that I figure most of this stuff out.

Julian

You know, I broke down and read the introduction and that answered some of my questions. What I have been looking at are the κεφαλαια and not τιτλοι. Okay, I will read some more and then be back.

Julian

Julian

Okay. The slanted line is the κεφαλαια indicator in Matt. and Mark. Unfortunately, those other mystery marks also sport a slanted line. Now what? Are the other ones Eusebian Canons?

The introduction talks about modern "numeration of chapters" but does that include the verses? The markings do not line up with modern versification.

Doing some more reading I find the following on that text crit site:
Sorry for spelling out all my thoughts here but it did help me think through it. Everything is now resolved. The other marks are, indeed, the Eusebian Canons.

Julian

Julian

I can't find a good list of the nomina sacra that shows the genitive form as well, so here is one I typed up:

Θεος ΘΣ ΘΥ
Κυριος ΚΣ ΚΥ
Ιεσους ΙΣ ΙΥ
Χριστος ΧΣ ΧΥ
Υιος ΥΣ ΥΥ
πνευμα πΝΑ πΝΣ
Δανειδ ΔΑΔ
Σταυρος ΣΤΣ ΣΤΥ
Μητηρ ΜΗΡ ΜΡΣ
πατηρ πΗΡ πΡΣ
Ισραηλ ΙΗΛ
Σωτηρ ΣΗΡ ΣΡΣ
Ανθρωπος ΑΝΟΣ ΑΝΟΥ
Ιερουσαλημ ΙΛΗΜ
Ουρανος ΟΥΝΟΣ ΟΥΝΟΥ

I only typed in the uncial nomina sacra (ns). If there is only one ns listed then that is the nominative and I suppose it wouldn't be written as a ns in the genitive.

Hope this was useful, we have four of these in the first line alone. There may be typos, I didn't proof-read it too closely. Let me know of any mistakes.

Julian

Julian

Reading along I noticed the following from verse 10. The word σχιζομενους appears at the end of a line. Notice what happens to the υς. Is that just the scribe hitting the end of the column and, being a ninny, he just puts in some sort of squiggle? Or is that some allowable scribal symbol I don't know about?

Julian

Buster Daily

Here's what you are talking about:



Good eye.

Buster Daily

Awesome. I would've been boned without those. Deciphering hand-written, all-caps, no-spaces, abbreviated Greek is fun. I assume this is, "Jesus Christ Son of God."

Phlox Pyros

Fun stuff! You guys certainly don't need me!