Beta
Ra 88
Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Chis. R. VII. 45 (gr. 36). No diktyon: 65224.
s. XII in. s. XII: Faraggiana di Sarzana; s. XI: Franchi de’ Cavalieri; s. X: Rahlfs
| Parchment, 402 ff., 320 × 240 mm,
2 col., 27 lines per page.
Minuscule.
Owner: Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (Pope Pius II) 1405–1464, Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini (Pope Pius III), 1439–1503, Fabio Chigi (Pope Alexander VII), 1599–1667.
Provenance: Siena, Cathedral (Duomo), Biblioteca Piccolomini (founded 1492 by Cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini, later Pope Pius III, to house the book collection of Pope Pius II); acquired for the Bibliotheca Chisiana in the mid‑17th century by Fabio Chigi (Pope Alexander VII) as part of his purchase of Piccolomini codices (213 volumes; cf. Lenzi, Codices, pp. 313–320; list in Cugnoni 1883); transferred with the Chigi Library to the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana in 1923.
Codex Chisianus, Four Major Prophets.
| Ms. Ra 88, alongside the Syrohexapla, is the most important witness to the hexaplaric recension in the prophetic books of the Septuagint. The order of the prophets in the hexaplaric recension, as it can be reconstructed on the basis of Ra 88 and the Syrohexapla, differs from the usual sequence (Is., Jer., Ez., Dan.), namely: Jer., Dan., Ez., Is. The origin of the texts from the Hexapla or Tetrapla is made explicit by subscriptiones (cf. Rahlfs, Verzeichnis, p. 278). For Isaiah, Ra 88, together with the Syrohexapla, constitutes the first hexaplaric subgroup (oI), cf. Ziegler, Isaias, pp. 41–43. For the Corpus Ieremiae, it is the most important hexaplaric witness alongside the Syrohexapla, cf. Ziegler, Jeremias, p. 69. For Ezekiel, it is likewise the most important hexaplaric witness beside the Syrohexapla, although the exemplar of the Syrohexapla preserved a better text than Ra 88; cf. Ziegler, Ezechiel, p. 35. Ms. 88 is, together with the Syrohexapla, a witness to the hexaplaric recension of the book of Daniel, whose original, pre-recensional LXX translation is preserved only in Papyrus 967. Apart from two small fragments, namely Ra 813 (s. V) and Ra 875 (s. III), and additions from Dan. ο′ in Ra 613 (s. XIII), Ra 88 represents the sole continuous Greek witness. Cf. Ziegler/Munnich/Fraenkel, Susanna, pp. 9–20. The relationship between Ra 88 and the Syrohexapla is close (cf. Ziegler/Munnich/Fraenkel, ibid. p. 23), so that both are even described as ‘sister manuscripts’ (ibid.). For the reconstruction of the hexaplaric recension of Daniel, Ra 88 is therefore the only direct Greek witness. Until the discovery of Papyrus 967, Ra 88 constituted the sole basis for the LXX text of Daniel. The editio princeps appeared in Rome in 1772; it was reprinted several times: in Göttingen by J. D. Michaelis (1773, 1774) and in Utrecht by C. Segaar (1775). The exceptional value of the manuscript had, however, already been recognised by Jean Mabillon, who consulted it in September 1685 (Mabillon/Germain, Museum Italicum, pp. 94–95). Rahlfs provides a detailed description of the editorial history of this manuscript in his Verzeichnis; cf. also Ziegler/Munnich/Fraenkel, Susanna, pp. 100–101.
Collation: Göttinger Septuaginta
Text-type: O.
Bibliography
Barone, F.P.: La Synopse de la Sainte Écriture attribuée à Jean Chrysostome et les divisions en chapitres de la Bible à Antioche, in: Bossina, L./Barone, F.P. (eds.): La Bibbia ad Antiochia: tra questioni di canone, pratiche erudite e storia dell'istruzione (Rivista di storia del cristianesimo 18/2), Brescia 2021, 385–422, here: 392–393.
Cugnoni, J.: Aeneae Sylvii Piccolomini Senensis qui postea fuit Pius II. Pont. Max. opera inedita descripsit ex codicibus Chisianis vulgavit notisque illustravit (Atti della R. Accademia dei Lincei. Anno CCLXXX–1882–83. Serie terza. Memorie della classe di scienze morali storiche et filologiche 8), Rome 1883 (= Farnborough 1968) (Provenance).
Lenzi, M.: The Codices of the Library: Their Later History / I codici della Libreria: vicende storiche, in: Settis, S. et al. (eds.): La Libreria Piccolomini nel Duomo di Siena (Mirabilia Italiae 7), Modena 1998, 313–320 (Provenance).
Mabillon, J./Germain, M.: Museum Italicum seu collectio veterum scriptorum ex bibliothecis Italicis, tom. I, pars I: Iter Italicum litterarium, Paris 1687.
Mejor, M.: Antyczne tradycje średniowiecznej praktyki pisarskiej. Subskrypcje późnoantycznych kodeksów (Studia Staropolskie. Series Nova 1 [57]), Warszawa 2000, 116–117 (subscriptio Ez. et Dan).
Catalogues
Editions
De Magistris, S. (ed.): Daniel secundum Septuaginta ex Textraplis Origenis nunc primum editus e singulari Chisiano codice annorum supra DCCC, Rome 1772 (Dan. ο′).
Michaelis, J.D. (ed.): Daniel secundum Septuaginta, ex Textraplis Origenis, Romae anno 1772 ex Chisiano codice primum editus, Göttingen 1773, repr. 1774 (Dan. ο′).
Segaar, C. (ed.): Daniel secundum Septuaginta, ex Textraplis Origenis, ex Chisiano codice Romae primum, deinde Gottingae, nunc denuo editus, Utrecht 1775 (Dan. ο′).
Ziegler, J. (ed.): Ezechiel. Mit einem Nachtrag von Detlef Fraenkel (Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis editum XVI/1), Göttingen 4th ed. 2015, 8, 35 (O).
Ziegler, J. (ed.): Isaias (Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis editum XIV), Göttingen 3rd ed. 1983, 8, 41–43 (oI).
Ziegler, J. (ed.): Jeremias, Baruch, Threni, Epistula Jeremiae (Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis editum XV), Göttingen 3rd ed. 2006, 8, 67, 69–79 (O).
Ziegler, J./Munnich, O./Fraenkel, D. (eds.): Susanna, Daniel, Bel et Draco (Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis editum XVI/2), Göttingen 2nd ed. 1999, 18 (Dan. ο′, θ′).
Online Sources
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