Göttinger Septuaginta

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Grec 9. N^o diktyon: 49569.

GA Number: 04, Trismegistos ID: 61778, LDAB ID: 2930.

s. V/1, rescr. XIII | Palimpsest, 209 ff., 330 × 270 mm, 1 col. 2 cols. in the Poetic Books, with the exception of the supplemented part on pages 695–704 (content: Ps. 105:27–137:6), which is written in 3 cols., 40–46 lines per page pp. 1–334: 44 lines; pp. 335–534: 42 lines; pp. 535–554: 40 lines; pp. 555–fin.: 42 lines. | Majuscule (Biblical Majuscule (scriptura inferior)); Minuscule (Epsilon style (scriptura superior)) cf. Albrecht, „Palimpsesthandschriften“, 503–504. | Scribes: A (s. V/1) V.T., B (s. V/1) N.T.. | Provenance: A Palestinian provenance is probable, see Albrecht, „Palimpsesthandschriften“, 502–505, esp. 505. The Codex probably came by way of Janos Lascaris (d. 1534), who made two manuscript journeys to Greece and the Near East for Lorenzo de’ Medici, into the possession of Cardinal Niccolò Ridolfi (d. 1550) and then into the collection of Piero Strozzi (d. 1558). Until 1560, the library of the latter remained in Rome. It was subsequently brought to Paris by Caterina de’ Medici (d. 1589), queen of France from 1547–1559. Under Henri IV, Caterina’s library was assimilated into the royal collection. | Owners: Niccolò Ridolfi (d. 1550), Piero Strozzi (d. 1558), Caterina de’ Medici (d. 1589).

Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus. Pandect of the Greek Bible (OT and NT), of which Libri sap. [Lacunae] + N.T. have survived. | The Codex originates from the first half of the 5th century. It was made of quaternions (layers of eight leaves). Old and New Testament parts were written by different scribes. Furthermore, two additional hands can be distinguished in the N.T. part (7th and 9th century), and a corrector in the V.T. part (7th century). In the 12th/13th century, parts of the original manuscript were palimpsested and bound together into a new codex containing 209 leaves (OT 64, NT 145), through which the original leaf order was destroyed. The new codex was overwritten with 38 treatises in Greek by Ephraem the Syrian (the overlying scripture, scriptura superior). The old Bible codex (the underlying scripture, called scriptura inferior) contains fragments of the biblical Wisdom Books (Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach), the four Gospels, Acts, Catholic Epistles, Pauline Letters, and Revelation. Altogether, 44 quaternions (OT 15, NT 29) and six individual leaves of the original manuscript can be reconstructed. For codicological reasons, it is probable that further parts of the Old Testament were contained therein and it is also conceivable that an apocryphal annex followed Revelation. In 1602, the codex was newly bound. The librarian Jean Boivin (d. 1726) discovered the scriptura inferior. After many consultations of the MS, in 1840, Constantin Tischendorf (d. 1874) came to Paris and compiled the authoritative edition (N.T. part published in 1843, V.T. part published in 1845). In 1958, R. W. Lyon presented a new evaluation of the NT portion; in 2010, F. Albrecht began a revision of the OT portion. Today, the manuscript is in extremely poor condition. The damage observed in the manuscript has been attributed to the influence of chemicals used in the 19th century to increase readability. The use of the so-called Giobert tincture, especially, caused irreversible damage (see Albrecht: Between Boon and Bane, 156–158). | Collation: LXX^Got | Text-type: varying text-type. In the case of Proverbs, Codex Ephraemi seems to represent the Origenic recension (O-group), cf. Albrecht, „Palimpsesthandschriften“, 504–505

Content
19 ff.	Iob 2:12c–4:12a; 5:27c–6:5a; 6:5b–7:7b; 10:9–22; 11:2b–12:2a; 13:18b–16:8b; 16:8c–18:9a; 19:27b–22:14a; 24:7a–30:1a; 31:6a–35:16a; 37:5a–38:17a; 40:25b–42:17e ed. Ziegler
6 ff.	Prov. 1:2b–2:8b; 15:29a–17:1b; 18:11b–19:26b(23b); 22:17b–23:25b; 24:22e+30(24):1(24)–14(37)+24:23(38)–34(49)+30(24):15(50)–21(56)a; 26:23b–28:2b; 31(29):30(48)–31(49) Göttingen edition in preparation; for the subscriptio of the book of Proverbs in Codex Ephraemi, cf. Albrecht, „Palimpsesthandschriften“, 504–505
8 ff.	Eccl. 1:2b–14c; 2:18b–12:14c fin. ed. Gentry
1 f.	Cant. 1:3–2:14; 2:15–3:9a (fragm.) Göttingen edition in preparation
7 ff.	Sap. 8:5b–12:10a fin.; 14:19a–17:17b; 18:24a init.–19:22b ed. Ziegler
23 ff.	Sir. prol. 1–10; 20–fin. prol.; 1:3a–7:14(15)a; 8:15(18)c–11:17a; 12:16d(b)–14:27 (fragm.); 15:1a–16(15):1a(22); 17:12(10)a–20:5a; 21:12(14)–22:19(24)b; 27:19(21)a–28:25a; 30:8–31(34):5; 32(35):22 init.–34(31):22d(27b); 37:11(12) init.–38:15b; 39:7(10)a–43:27(29)a; 45:24(30)c init.–46:9(11)b; 46:9(11)c–47:4a (fragm.); 47:4b–20(22)c; 47:20(22)d init.–23d(28a) (fragm.); 48:9b init.–18a (fragm.); 48:22a init.–49:12a (fragm.) ed. Ziegler
145 ff.	N.T.

Bibliography

Albrecht, F.: Art. Ephraemi Rescriptus, Codex, in: Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception 7, Berlin et al. 2013, 1025–1026.

Albrecht, F.: Between Boon and Bane. The Use of Chemical Reagents in Palimpsest Research in the Nineteenth Century, in: M.J. Driscoll (ed.): Care and Conservation of Manuscripts 13. Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Seminar Held at the University of Copenhagen 13th–15th April 2011, Copenhagen 2012, 147–165, here: 156–158 with fig. 82 (i.e. f. 58r).

Albrecht, F.: Codex Ephraemi Syri rescriptus. Neue Lesarten zum Septuagintatext des Koheletbuches, in: ZAW 122 (2010), 272–279.

Albrecht, F.: Palimpsesthandschriften der griechischen Weisheitsbücher in Majuskelschrift, in: E. Bons et al. (eds.): Die Septuaginta. Themen, Manuskripte, Wirkungen (WUNT 444), Tübingen 2020, 501–514, here: 502–505 (Provenance, Paleography).

Andrist, P.: „Au croisement des contenus et de la matière: les structures des sept pandectes bibliques grecques du premier millénaire“, in: Scrineum Rivista 17 (2020), 3–106 .

Cavallo, G.: Ricerche sulla maiuscola biblica (STP 2), Florenz 1967, 87–93 (Paleography).

de Montfaucon, B.: Palaeographia Graeca, sive De ortu et progressu literarum graecarum, et De variis omnium saeculorum Scriptionis Graecae generibus, itemque de Abbreviationibus et de Notis variarum Artium ac Disciplinarum. Additis Figuris et Schematibus ad fidem manuscriptorum Codicum, Paris 1708, 213.

Hernández, J.: Scribal Habits and Theological Influences in the Apocalypse. The Singular Readings of Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Ephraemi (WUNT II, 218), Tübingen 2006, 132–155, 216–218.

Lyon, R.W.: A Re–Examination of Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, in: NTS 5 (1959), 260–272.

Lyon, R.W.: A Re–Examination of Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, St. Andrews ²1994 (reprint of the 1958 dissertation).

Catalogues

Fraenkel, D.: Verzeichnis der griechischen Handschriften des Alten Testaments von Alfred Rahlfs. Bd. I,1 Die Überlieferung bis zum VIII. Jahrhundert (Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis editum. Supplementum I/1), Göttingen 2nd ed. 2020, 313–315.

Omont, H.: Inventaire sommaire des manuscrits grecs de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris 1898, 2.

Rahlfs, A.: Verzeichnis der griechischen Handschriften des Alten Testaments (Mitteilungen des Septuaginta–Unternehmens der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen 2), Berlin 1914, 193–194.

Editions

Gentry, P.J. (ed.): Ecclesiastes (Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis editum XI/2), Göttingen 2019, 3 (C).

Rahlfs, A./Hanhart, R.: Septuaginta. Id est Vetus Testamentum Graece iuxta LXX interpretes. Duo volumina in uno, Editio altera, Stuttgart 2006 (C).

Tischendorf, K.: Codex Ephraemi Syri rescriptus sive fragmenta Novi Testamenti e codice Graeco Parisiensi Celeberrimo quinti ut videtur post Christum seculi eruit atque edidit, Leipzig 1843 (N.T).

Tischendorf, K.: Codex Ephraemi Syri rescriptus sive fragmenta Veteris Testamenti e codice Graeco Parisiensi Celeberrimo quinti ut videtur post Christum seculi eruit atque edidit, Leipzig 1845 (V.T).

Ziegler, J. (ed.): Iob (Vetus Testamentum Graecum auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis editum XI,4), Göttingen 1982, 9–10 (C).

Ziegler, J. (ed.): Sapientia Iesu Filii Sirach (Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis editum XII/2), Göttingen ³2016, 7 (C).

Ziegler, J. (ed.): Sapientia Salomonis (Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum auctoritate Academiae Scientiarum Gottingensis editum XII/1), Göttingen ³2017, 7 (C).

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