Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Abbreviations of books of the Bible
- Table of Psalm numbering
- Introduction
- Part I Texts and Versions
- Part II Format and Transmission
- 17 The Bibles of the Christian East
- 18 Carolingian Bibles
- 19 The Latin gospelbook, c. 600–1200
- 20 The Glossed Bible
- 21 The thirteenth century and the Paris Bible
- 22 Romanesque display Bibles
- 23 Latin and vernacular Apocalypses
- 24 The Latin psalter
- 25 Illustration in biblical manuscripts
- Part III The Bible Interpreted
- Part IV The Bible in Use
- Part V The Bible Transformed
- Bibliography
- Index of biblical manuscripts
- Index of scriptural sources
- General index
- References
17 - The Bibles of the Christian East
from Part II - Format and Transmission
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 May 2012
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Abbreviations of books of the Bible
- Table of Psalm numbering
- Introduction
- Part I Texts and Versions
- Part II Format and Transmission
- 17 The Bibles of the Christian East
- 18 Carolingian Bibles
- 19 The Latin gospelbook, c. 600–1200
- 20 The Glossed Bible
- 21 The thirteenth century and the Paris Bible
- 22 Romanesque display Bibles
- 23 Latin and vernacular Apocalypses
- 24 The Latin psalter
- 25 Illustration in biblical manuscripts
- Part III The Bible Interpreted
- Part IV The Bible in Use
- Part V The Bible Transformed
- Bibliography
- Index of biblical manuscripts
- Index of scriptural sources
- General index
- References
Summary
In 615/16, Thomas of Harqel revised the Syriac text of the New Testament, noting after the Gospels:
This book is of the four holy evangelists, which was translated from the Greek language into the Syriac with much accuracy and great labour… And it was revised afterwards with much care by me, the poor Thomas, on [the basis of] three Greek manuscripts, which [were] very approved and accurate, at the Enaton of Alexandria, the great city, in the holy Convent of the Enatonians; where also I wrote it for myself – for the profit of my sinful soul and of the many who love and desire to know and to keep the profitable accuracy of divine books.
Similar enterprises, not always expressly recorded, were periodically undertaken at multinational monastic centres such as the Egyptian convent where Thomas worked, Mt Athos in northern Greece, or the Black Mountain near Antioch. Successive revisions mark the entire medieval history of Christian scriptural translations in the East. The revisers’ invariable aim was to ‘keep the profitable accuracy of divine books’ by bringing their biblical text into closer agreement with the Greek one. The latter carried the authority of an original for all east Christian versions of the Bible, including those which, like the Armenian, Arabic or Ethiopian ones, were at first partly based on other languages. Hardly any Christian translations of the Old Testament were made from Hebrew.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The New Cambridge History of the Bible , pp. 309 - 324Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012
References
., Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments, 2nd edn (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1994); see also (consulted 22 April 2010)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, A Bibliography of Greek New Testament Manuscripts, 2nd edn (Cambridge University Press, 2000); supplemented in Novum Testamentum 46 (2004), 376–400; 49 (2007), 370–401CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, ‘Les versions orientales de la Bible. Une orientation bibliographique’, in (ed.), The Interpretation of the Bible. The International Symposium in Slovenia (Ljubljana: SAZU / SheffieldAcademic Press, 1998), pp. 399–508Google Scholar
., Die altslavische Version der Evangelien. Forschungsgeschichte und zeitgenössische Forschung (Cologne: Böhlau, 2001), pp. 509–84Google Scholar
, Textkritik des Neuen Testaments, 3 vols. (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1900–9), vol. i, pp. 16–478, vol. iii, pp. 1017–1292Google Scholar
., ‘A Handlist of Manuscripts Containing Church Slavonic Translations from the Old Testament’, Polata Knigopisnaia 7 (1983), 3–48Google Scholar
., ‘Essai de répertoire des manuscrits des vieilles versions géorgiennes du Nouveau Testament’, Langues Orientales Anciennes. Philologie et Linguistique 1 (1988), 173–9Google Scholar
., Verzeichnis der griechischen Handschriften des Alten Testaments, 2nd edn, 2 vols. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2004–)Google Scholar
, An Annotated List of Armenian New Testament Manuscripts (Tokyo: Rikkyo University, 1959)Google Scholar
, List of Old Testament Peshitta Manuscripts (Leiden: Brill, 1961); supplemented in Vetus Testamentum 12 (1962), 127–8, 337–9, 351; 18 (1968), 128–43; 27 (1977), 508–11; 35 (1985), 466–7Google Scholar
., Biblia Coptica: Die koptischen Bibeltexte. Das sahidische Alte und Neue Testament (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1995–)Google Scholar
, and , I.M.A.G.E.S. Index in manuscriptorum graecorum edita specimina (Rome: Borla, 1981)Google Scholar
(consulted 22 April 2010)
, Facsimiles and Descriptions of Minuscule Manuscripts of the New Testament (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1951)Google Scholar
., The Principal Uncial Manuscripts of the New Testament (University of Chicago Press, 1939)Google Scholar
, Manuscripts of the Greek Bible. An Introduction to Greek Palaeography (Oxford University Press, 1981)Google Scholar
, Codicum Novi Testamenti specimina. Paginas 51 ex codicibus manuscriptis et 3 ex libris impressis collegit ac photo typice repraesentatas (Bonn: Hanstein, 1929)Google Scholar
., Early Versions of the New Testament. Manuscript Studies, Papers of the Estonian Theological Society in Exile 6 (Stockholm: ETSE / Louvain: Durbecq, 1954), pp. 370–409Google Scholar
, ‘The Subscription of the Chester Beatty Manuscript of the Harclean Gospels’, HTR 30 (1937), 141–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (eds.), Studies in Philology in Honour of Ronald James Williams (Toronto: Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, 1982), pp. 1–15Google Scholar
, An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and their Texts (Cambridge University Press, 2008), pp. 342–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, The Textual Tradition of the Gospels. Family 1 in Matthew (Leiden: Brill, 2004), p. 69Google Scholar
, Eine textkritische Arbeit des zehnten bzw. sechsten Jahrhunderts (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1899), pp. 7–8Google Scholar
, Byzantine Miniature. Masterpieces of Byzantine Miniature of IXth–XVth Centuries in Soviet Collections (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1977), pls. 3–4Google Scholar
, and , Text und Textwert der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments: Das Johannesevangelium, 2 vols. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2005–6), vol. i, pp. 63, 80Google Scholar
, ‘Quelques témoins grecs des formes textuelles les plus anciennes de l’épître de Jacques. Le groupe 2138 (ou 614)’, NTS 28 (1981), 91–115CrossRef
(ed.), The Greek Illuminated Praxapostolos Dated 1072 in the Scientific Library of Moscow State University (Moscow: Severnyi Palomnik, 2004)Google Scholar
, ‘Evan.157 (Rome, Vat. Urb. 2)’, JTS 14 (1913), 78–116
, G. Morello and A. M. Piazzoni (eds.), I Vangeli dei popoli. La parola e l’immagine del Cristo nelle culture e nella storia (Rome: Rinnovamento nello Spirito Santo / Vatican City: BAV, 2000), pp. 260–4Google Scholar
and , The Text of the New Testament. An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism, 2nd rev. edn (Leiden: Brill, 1989), pp. 128–42, 229–30Google Scholar
, Der byzantinische Text der katholischen Briefe: Eine Untersuchung zur Entstehung der Koine des Neuen Testaments (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1995), pp. 136–41Google Scholar
Ho Porphyrous Kōdix tōn euangeliōn Patmou kai Petroupoleōs, ed. , 2 vols. (Athens: Miletos, 2002)Google Scholar
, Studien zur Geschichte des griechischen Apokalypse-Textes, 2 vols. (Munich: Zink, 1955–6)Google Scholar
, ‘The Janina Gospels and the Isle of Patmos’, Crozer Quarterly 21 (1941), 30–40, esp. p. 32Google Scholar
, and , Text und Textwert der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments. Die Paulinischen Briefe, 4 vols. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1991), vol. i, pp. 44, 55Google Scholar
, Theodore Hagiopetrites. A Late Byzantine Scribe and Illuminator, 2 vols. (Vienna: Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1991), vol. i, pp. 131–3Google Scholar
, A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, 4th edn, 2 vols. (London: Bell, 1894), vol. i, p. 257Google Scholar
, ‘Kopistinnen in Byzanz’, Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici, ns 36 (1999), 35–45Google Scholar
Concilium universale Constantinopolitanum tertium, ed. , 2 vols. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1990–2), vol. ii, pp. 652–3Google Scholar
, Études de littérature roumaine et d’écrits slaves et grecs des principautés roumaines (Leiden: Brill, 1985), pp. 86–112, 434–7Google Scholar
Colophons of Armenian Manuscripts, 1301–1480. A Source of Middle Eastern History, ed. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969), pp. 11–12CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and , Armenian Gospel Iconography. The Tradition of the Glajor Gospel (Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 1991), pp. 197–205Google Scholar
, ‘A Note on Penances Prescribed for Negligent Scribes and Librarians in the Monastery of Studios’, Scriptorium 36 (1982), 258–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, ‘The Illustrated Gospelbook of Basil Meliteniotes (Caesaria, 1226)’, Deltion tes Christianikes Archaiologikes Hetaireias, 4th ser. 26 (2005), 149–64Google Scholar
, Die griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments in den UdSSR (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1966), 84–7Google Scholar
Corpus of Dated Illuminated Greek Manuscripts to the Year 1453, ed. , 2 vols. (Leiden: Brill, 1981), vol. i, pp. 15–16Google Scholar
, ‘Die älteste Perikopensystem des Rabulakodex’, Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie 73 (1913), 202–14Google Scholar
, ‘K datirovke drevneishei arabskoi rukopisi Evangeliia’, Kapterevskie Chteniia 6 (2008), 19–23Google Scholar
, Scripta disiecta, 1941–1977, 2 vols. (Leuven: Université Catholique, 1980), vol. ii, pp. 722–37Google Scholar
Xanmeti lekcionari. Pototipiuri reprodukcia, ed. (Tbilissi: Sakartvelos Mecnierebata Akademia, 1944)Google Scholar
, ‘Analyse der Lektionarhandschrift sa 530 L’, Journal of Coptic Studies 4 (2002), 133–66CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and (eds.), Kyriakon. Festschrift Johannes Quasten, 2 vols. (Münster: Aschendorff, 1970), vol. ii, pp. 768–99Google Scholar
and , The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai. The Illuminated Greek Manuscripts (Princeton University Press, 1990), pp. 17–19
and (eds.), La lecture liturgique des Épitres catholiques dans l’Église ancienne (Lausanne: Zebre, 1996)Google Scholar
, New Testament Studies. Philological, Versional, and Patristic (Leiden: Brill, 1980), pp. 114–26Google Scholar
, ‘Analyse d’un lectionnaire byzantino-géorgien des Évangiles (Sin. géorg. 74)’, Le Muséon 91 (1978), 105–52, 367–447Google Scholar
, ‘The Greek Old Testament Lectionary as a Liturgical Book’, Cahiers de l’Institut du Moyen-Âge Grec et Latin 54 (1987), 39–48Google Scholar
(ed.), Die alten Übersetzungen des Neuen Testaments, die Kirchenväterzitate und Lektionare (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1972), pp. 498–591CrossRefGoogle Scholar
and J. Tyrrell (eds.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edn, 29 vols. (London: Macmillan, 2001), vol. viii, pp. 47–51Google Scholar
, ‘L’horologe “georgien” du Sinaiticus Ibericus 34’, unpubl. PhD thesis, Sorbonne (2003)
and (eds.), The Old Testament in Byzantium (Washington: Dumbarton Oaks, 2010), pp. 77–105Google Scholar
, ‘Office de minuit et office du matin chez St. Athanase’, Orientalia Christiana Periodica 28 (1962), 173–80, esp. pp. 175–6Google Scholar
, Osservazioni a proemi del Salterio di Origene, Ippolito, Eusebio, Cirillo Alessandrino e altri, con frammenti inediti (Vatican City: BAV, 1948)Google Scholar
, ‘An Introduction to the Book of Psalms by David Anhaght’, in C. Burchard (ed.), Armenia and the Bible (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1993), pp. 15–21Google Scholar
The Old Testament in Syriac According to the Peshitta Version (Leiden: Brill, 1972–)
, The Canticles of the Christian Church, Eastern and Western, in Early and Medieval Times (Cambridge University Press, 1914)Google Scholar
, ‘The Alexandrian Era in Jerusalem in the Ninth Century and the Date of Profiriy Uspenskiy's Psalter’, Montfaucon 1 (2007), 89–93Google Scholar
, ‘Observations on Illustrated Byzantine Psalters’, Art Bulletin 70 (1988), 242–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, Collected Papers in Greek and Georgian Textual Criticism (Piscataway: Gorgias, 2006), pp. 220–1Google Scholar
and , Catalogue of the Illuminated Byzantine Manuscripts of the National Library of Greece, 3 vols. (Academy of Athens, 1978–97), vol. i, pp. 17–19Google Scholar
, The Iconography of Preface and Miniature in the Byzantine Gospel Book (New York University Press, 1980), pp. 93–107Google Scholar
Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments in ihrer ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt hergestellt auf Grund ihrer Textgeschichte, ed. , 2 vols. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1911–13), vol. i, pp. 321–6Google Scholar
, Istoriia perevoda Biblii na armianskii iazyk (St Petersburg: Pushkinskaia Skoropechatnia, 1902), pp. 268–73Google Scholar
and (eds.), Theologische Realenzyklopädie, 36 vols. (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1977–2004), vol. vi, pp. 114–31Google Scholar
, An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek, 2nd edn, rev. R. R. Ottley (Cambridge University Press, 1914), pp. 351–6Google Scholar
, ‘A Typology of Armenian Biblical Manuscripts’, Revue des Études Arméniennes, 18 (1984), 49–67Google Scholar
, ‘Eine verspätete Bibelhandschrift (Paris, Bibl Nat. gr. 14)’, Palaeoslavica 10/2 (2002), 159–74Google Scholar
(ed.), I luoghi della memoria scritta. Manoscritti, incunaboli, libri a stampa di Biblioteche Statali Italiane (Rome: Libreria dello Stato, 1994), pp. 446–8Google Scholar
, ‘The Date of Codex Zacynthius (Ξ). A New Proposal’, JTS 55 (2004), 117–31
, ‘Pour une étude des centres de copie byzantins (2)’, Scriptorium 13 (1959), 177–209, esp. pp. 196–200CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 5
- Cited by