Beta
Ra 661
Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. gr. 431B. No diktyon: 66163.
s. X
cf. Kresten 2010, esp. 17–20; 28: “tra il 955 ed il 975”
| Parchment, 15 ff., 310 × 10460
mm since 1902, divided into 15 leaves, each 310 × 430/900 mm
|
Majuscule (cf. Kresten 2010, 30: “La maiuscola imitata quasi pedissequamente dal Maestro del Rotolo di Giosuè, la quale non corrisponde a nessuna delle maiuscole distintive adoperate nel secolo X, si richiama in maniera sorprendente a quel canone della scrittura maiuscola, in uso nella tarda Antichità, definito come «maiuscola biblica» […].”).
| Scribe:
Basileios (καλλιγράφος καὶ μοναχός)
cf. Kresten 2010, esp. 18–20.
| Provenance: Formerly part of the Bibliotheca Palatina in Heidelberg, Germany. Brought to Rome in 1622, part of the Palatina collection of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana since 1623.
Joshua Roll.
| Images on the theme of Joshua, accompanied by selected paraphrased excerpts (with lacunae or fenestrae) from the Septuagint of Joshua. Written between 955 and 975 CE by the monk and calligrapher Basileios, who also copied Codd. Vat. Ross. 169 (a. 961), Laur. Plut. IX 22 (a. 974), and Kosinitza 16 (a. 976), of which 5 ff. are preserved as Cod. Bruxell. II 2404. According to Otto Kresten, the scribe and the artist responsible for the illustration endeavoured to reproduce their Vorlage faithfully, cf. Kresten 2010, pp. 23f. In Kresten’s opinion, this late Antique Vorlage was also a volumen (ibid., 27 & 31), which can probably be dated to around 500 CE (ibid. 31). This Vorlage was rediscovered around 950 CE, but was badly damaged due to its great age (ibid. 53 & 55); consequently a kind of facsimile was produced between 955–975 CE (ibid. 55). In 1902, the 10.46 metre long roll was divided into 15 leaves. For older secondary literature, see Canart/Peri, p. 286, and Rahlfs in his description.
| Content | |
| 1r–15v | images and explanatory text relating to LXX Joshua |
Bibliography
Cacco, F.: Il Rotulo di Giosuè. La tradizione eroica nei manoscritti miniati, Tesi di Laurea, Dipartimento dei Beni Culturali: Università degli studi di Padova 2022.
Canart, P./Peri, V.: Sussidi bibliografici per i manoscritti greci della Biblioteca Vaticana (StT 261), Città del Vaticano 1970, 286.
de Cavalieri, P.F.: Il Rotulo di Giosuè. Codice Vaticano Palatino Greco 431. Riprodotto in fototipia e fotocromografia (Codices e Vaticanis selecti phototypice expressi 5), Milan 1905, 2 vols. (Tavole, Testo).
Durante, R.: “Novità erudite dal Salento. Excerpta dal rotolo Vaticano di Giosuè e degli Oracula Leonis Sapientis”, Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici, N.S. 59/2022, 2023, 197–209, 198, 201, pl. 2–4.
Ippel, A.: “Die Josuarolle. Bestand, Gestalt und Zeit”, in: Bonner Jahrbücher des Rheinischen Landesmuseums in Bonn und des Vereins von Altertumsfreunden im Rheinlande 158 (1958), 126–69.
Keck, A.S.: “Observations on the Iconography of Joshua”, in: The Art Bulletin 32 (1950), 267–74.
Kresten, O.: “Der Josua–Rotulus der Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana (Cod. Vat. Palat. gr. 431) und die illuminierten byzantinischen Oktateuche”, Lecture at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities on 4 February 2002.
Kresten, O.: Il rotolo di Giosuè (BAV, Pal. gr. 431) e gli ottateuchi miniati bizantini. Scuola Vaticana di Paleografia, Diplomatica e Archivistica, Città del Vaticano 2010 (paleography).
Lietzmann, H.: “Zur Datierung der Josuarolle”, in: Böhmer, A./Kirchner, J. (eds.): Mittelalterliche Handschriften. Paläographische, kunsthistorische, literarische und bibliotheksgeschichtliche Untersuchungen. Festgabe zum 60. Geburtstage von Hermann Degering, Leipzig 1926 (= Hildesheim 1973), 181–85.
Mazal, O.: Commentary on Josua–Rolle. Vollständige Faksimile–Ausgabe im Originalformat des Codex Vaticanus Palatinus graecus 431 der Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Codices selecti LXXVII), Graz 1984 (transcription).
Ouyang, F.: The Joshua Roll, A Model Book. A thesis for the degree of Master of Arts, Chapel Hill, North Carolina at Chapel Hill University 2018.
Schapiro, M.: “The Place of the Joshua Roll in Byzantine History”, in: Gazette des Beaux–Arts (1949), 161–76, 221–26.
Tselos, D.: “The Joshua Roll. Original or Copy?”, in: The Art Bulletin 32 (1950), 275–90.
Wander, S.H.: The Joshua Roll, Wiesbaden 2012.
Weitzmann, K.: The Joshua Roll. A Work of the Macedonian Renaissance, Princeton 1948.
Catalogues
Rahlfs, A.: Verzeichnis der griechischen Handschriften des Alten Testaments (Mitteilungen des Septuaginta–Unternehmens der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen 2), Berlin 1914, 244.
Stevenson, E.: Codices manuscripti Palatini Graeci Bibliothecae Vaticanae descripti praeside I. B. Cardinali Pitra episcopo Portuensi S. R. E. bibliotecario, Rome 1885, 279.
