Bibles are Really Neat, Part Two

I got to spend some time with some Bibles.  

And not your average Bibles - but like ancient manuscripts.

I was SO excited to be in this room with the books that I only caught on to a couple of details, and was able to sort of identify everything thanks to the wisdom of my tutor, John Proctor, who facilitated this visit to the Cambridge University Library, and also walked us through each of these wonderful books.  The people in the images are some of the lovely folk from my tutor group. 

The first of the two big books is a facsimile of the Codex Bezae, 5th century (originally), this is a 19th century facsimile.   (If I remember correctly, there is an original copy somewhere but it has high standards of being looked at.)

The big book following after is Codex Macedonianus, dated from the 9th century. 

Here we are looking at a Greek Minuscule.  If you can imagine, it's hand scribed on goat skin (well, the hide) and it's the Gospels.  This is one you could actually imagine carrying around with you.  This is dated from the 12th century. 

I think we did some basic math with the whole goat hide to pages ratio - imagine you get 8 pieces of hide from one goat...and then you have four Gospels to scribe...that's quite a few goats. 

(I was assured that little of the goat went to waste.)

It was quite interesting to learn how they bound these manuscripts.  There are little pin pricks all along the edges; once all those dots aligned, they knew it was "even" and lined up.  

Can you spot the dots on this image?

The term minuscule refers to a writing style in the history of Greek writing in Byzantine, beginning in the 9th and 10th centuries.  For those of you who are Greek scholars - see if you can recognize read some of this. 

This is an image within a Greek Minuscule from the 15th century. 

These are two books are of the same type, yet the difference within them are extensive.  Part of that is due to the times they were produced, part due to who produced them, as well as how they have aged. 

Go Greek scholars, go!

Can you name this Gospel?  (See answer below!)

(Matthew)

We were so blessed to have John Proctor as our guide during this session.  

Yah, so I don't remember which one this is.  I think it is the other version of the Greek Minuscule.

This is us trying to read from the West Saxon Gospels, from the 11th century. It is the Gospels in what was the modern day language, Old English.  

 These are notes written in the Bible in Latin I believe...I will have my resident scholar confirm that.  

The name scripted at the top I think is the man who was the scribe...I could be wrong.  I just thought it was funny he wanted to make sure his name was in it.  It is also the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. 

To give you an idea of what the Anglo-Saxon would have translated like, here's a passage from the Gospel of Mark 1:1-3:

Her ys godspelles angyn Hælendes Cristes, Godes suna.  Swa awriten is on ðæs witegan bec Isaiam,  

“Nu! ic asende minne engel beforan ðinre ansyne, se gegearwaþ ðinne weg beforan ðe.   Clypigende stefen on ðam westene, ‘Gegearwiaþ Drihtnes weg, doþ rihte his siðas.’”

Yah - I'm having trouble reading this. 

The Wycliffite New Testament, 14th century

These bibles were created under the direction of John Wycliffe, and as many of you might already know, were a chief inspiration and chief cause of the Lollard movement, a pre-Reformation movement.  Most people (if they could read) would only be familiar with the Latin homilies and verses.  Wycliffe's thought to translate to the vernacular would help Christians study the Gospel in the "tongue in which they know best Christ's sentence."

You might be able to sound out this passage: 

(Hint: the beginning of the Gospel that starts way different than the others.)

Some more of the Wycliffite Bible.

Isn't the coloring just so beautiful?  I love the gold inlay!

Do these pictures look a bit different?  They are!  Welcome to the world, printing press!

The Complutensian Polyglot Bible, printed 1514

(say that 5 times fast now...)

I'm kind of in love with this Bible.  It was initiated and financed by Cardinal Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros and published by Complutense University, hence the name.  

This is a volume of the Old Testament, specifically the Pentateuch and each page has three parallel columns of text - Hebrew, the Latin Vulgate, and the Greek Septuagint on the inside.  Then, the Aramaic text and it's own Latin translation are at the bottom. 

(any scholar want to say which book of the Pentateuch this is?)

Close up on the text. 

If you just take a second to think about the printing that went into that book, it kind of blows your mind!  (Well, mine at least!) 

These pictures are from the 1514 Complutensian Polyglot Bible. This volume wasn't published until 1522 (waiting for the other volumes.)  Erasmus, who finished his Greek/Latin New Testament in 1519, was able to get his NT version out a bit more than the Polyglot Bible.  

I was really excited by this Latin/Greek combo - I soon found one of my favorite Greek words. (Isn't that kai gorgeous?)

(tee hee hee)

And last, but not least:

I do know the name of this one!  The Codex Zacynthius - this is one that Cambridge University is hoping to purchase...for 1.2 million pounds.  

Read more about it:

The Codex Zacynthius is a palimpsest: a manuscript from which the text has been scraped or washed off in order for it to be used again. The recycling of manuscripts was common practice at a time when writing surfaces were precious, few books were produced, and a tiny percentage of the population was literate.

 The 176 leaves of Codex Zacynthius are made of vellum – treated animal hide. The surface of the vellum was first used in the 6th or 7th century when it was inscribed in Greek with the text of Luke 1:1–11:33 – a layer of writing now known to scholars as the ‘undertext’. In the 13th century this was partially scraped away and written over with the text of an Evangeliarium, a book composed of passages from the Four Gospels – this is the ‘overtext’.

“The presence of the undertext, first discovered in the 19th century and critical to establishing the transmission of St Luke’s Gospel, places Codex Zacynthius among the top flight of Biblical manuscripts. Furthermore, it is the oldest extant New Testament manuscript with a commentary alongside the text, making it a witness to both the development and interpretation of St Luke’s Gospel,” said Lord Williams of Oystermouth, Master of Magdalene College and former Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Codex, measuring 35 cm by 28 cm, is now in a 16th-century Greek-style goatskin binding that shows how the manuscript has been treasured over the centuries – tiny hand-stitched repairs secure tears in the goatskin and the cover bears traces of a cross and other decorations long since lost. - See more at:http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/cambridge-university-library-bids-to-purchase-early-gospel-manuscript#sthash.mqj9cKkn.dpuf

All in all, a wonderful adventure.  Thanks to the wonders of technology, you can actually see some MUCH BETTER pictures of these ancient manuscripts.  It's worth a google.  Here's a link to the Codex Sinaiticus.

http://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/

Blessings!