MS in Greek on papyrus, Oxyrhynchus?, Egypt, ca. 200, 8 f f. (originally ca. 74 ff.), 20x10 cm, single column, (16x8 cm), 22-23 lines in Greek semi-cursive book script.

Context: Possibly by the same scribe as MS 2648. The 8 ff. were found tipped in between the leaves of MS 2650. The whole codex with the 27 chapters of Leviticus would have had about 74 ff. Probably from the same hoard as the Chester Beatty papyri, now in Dublin: Chester Beatty Library.

Provenance: 1. Monastery in the Oxyrhynchus region, Egypt (ca. 4th c. -); 2. Antiquity dealer, Alexandria (ca. 1930); 3. Private collector, Zürich.

Commentary: Together with the very fragmentary P. Heidelberg 945 Lev. 19:16-19, 31-33 (3rd c.), and the Dead Sea Scroll 4Q LXX Lev a+b (1st c. BC-1st c. AD), the present MS is the oldest Septuagint Leviticus extant. The greater part of the present papyrus is not represented on any Dead Sea Scroll, thus this is the oldest MS of this part of the Bible

Published: Kristin De Troyer: Report on the Leviticus Codex; in: The Folio, Bulletin of the Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center, vol. 23 (2006), pp. 3-7.

To be published by Rosario Pintaudi and Kristin De Troyer in the series "Manuscripts in The Schøyen Collection", Greek Papyri, vol. 2.

Exhibited: NorFa - Nordic network in Qumran studies. Symposium in Oslo 3-5. June 2004.

MS in Greek on papyrus, Oxyrhynchus?, Egypt, ca. 200, 6 ff. (originally ca. 60 ff.), 20x11 cm, single column, (16x8-9 cm), 19-23 lines in Greek semi-cursive book script.

Context: Possibly by the same scribe as MS 2649. The 6 ff. were found tipped in between the leaves of MS 2650. The whole codex with the 24 chapters of Joshua would have had approximately 60 ff.

Probably from the same hoard as the Chester Beatty papyri, now in Dublin: Chester Beatty Library.

Provenance: 1. Monastery in the Oxyrhynchus region, Egypt (ca. 4th c.); 2. Antiquity dealer, Alexandria (ca. 1930); 3. Private collector, Zürich.

Commentary: The oldest Septuagint Joshua extant. Apart from Joshua 10:2-5, 8-11, which is on the Dead Sea Scroll 4QJosha, in Hebrew from ca. 100 BC, the present papyrus is the oldest MS of this part of the Bible.

The text is the Septuagint before the critical work of Origenes Hexapta. It is closer to the original Septuagint of the 3rd c. BC than any other MSS. But it also revises the Septuagint towards the Hebrew Masoretic text, and at the same time reflects a different Hebrew recension from before the Masoretic revisions.

Published: Papyrologica Florentina, vol. XXXV. Rosario Pintaudi: Papyri Graecae Schøyen (PSchøyen I). Firenze, Edizioni Gonnelli, 2005 (Manuscripts in The Schøyen Collection V: Greek papyri, vol. I), pp. 81-145, by Kristin de Troyer.

Exhibited: NorFa - Nordic network in Qumran studies. Symposium in Oslo 3-5. June 2004.

MS in Greek on vellum, Fustât?, Egypt, 3rd c., 1 partial f., 9x11 cm, originally ca. 15x13 cm, single column, (7x9 cm, originally ca. 12x9 cm), part of 14 lines originally 24 lines in a small late classical Greek uncial without word division.

Binding: Barking, Essex, 1989, red morocco gilt folding case by Aquarius.

Provenance: 1. Christian Community at Fustât; 2. Dr. Leland C. Wyman, Boston, Massachusetts (from 1950); 3. John Rocks, Boston, Massachusetts (until 1988); 4. Sotheby's 21.6.1988:47.

Commentary: Earliest witness to this text. Aland uncial 0220, which is listed as the second oldest vellum MS of the New Testament. Textually Aland lists it in the highest class "Category I Strict text", which contains a few MSS only of a very special quality, transmitting the text of the exemplar with meticulous care. These MSS represent the most direct uncorrupted line to the original text extant.

Published: Papyrologica Florentina, vol. XXXV. Rosario Pintaudi: Papyri Graecae Schøyen. Firenze, Edizioni Gonnelli, 2005 (Manuscripts in The Schøyen Collection V: Greek papyri, vol. I), pp. 65-71.

W.P. Hatch: A Recenly DIscovered Fragment of the Epistle to the Romans. Harvard Theological Review XLV, 1952, pp. 81-85.

K. Aland: Kurzgefasste Liste der Griechischen Handscriften des Neuen Testaments, I, 1963, p. 55, listing present MS as no 220.

B.M. Metzger: The Text of the New Testament, Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. 2. ed. Oxford, Claredon Press, 1968, p. 61.

Exhibited: 1. Conference of European National Librarians, Oslo. Sept. 1994; 2. NorFa - Nordic network in Qumran studies. Symposium in Oslo 3-5. June 2004..

MS in Greek on papyrus, Egypt, mid 4th c., 5 ff., 26x16 cm, originally 28x16 cm, single column, (22x12 cm), 32 lines in an expert Greek uncial.

Context: 1 f. with Exodus 6:28 - 7:12 in Antonovich Collection, Paris.

Provenance: 1. François Antonovich, Paris (1981-1988); 2. Bruce Ferrini, Akron, Ohio.

Commentary: From a very early Exodus papyrus codex that originally contained 4 quires of 11 bifolia each, in all 88 ff. A doubled sewing chord with remains of brown leather reinforcement is preserved in the bifolium. There are relatively few papyri of Exodus in Greek, and the present MS is the most substantial one. The texts preserved here are not otherwise extant on papyrus. Together with Codex Vaticanus the oldest Septuagint Exodus.

The present shows a very suggestive state of the Greek Septuagint text before the critical work of Origenes, i.e. a preorigenian but already partly hebraised text. Rahlfs no. 866.

Published: To be published by Olivier Munnich and Rosario Pintaudi in the series “Manuscripts in The Schøyen Collection”, Greek Papyri, vol. 2.

Exhibited: XVI Congress of the International Organization for the study of the Old Testament. Faculty of Law Library, University of Oslo, 29 July - 7 August 1998.

MS in Greek on vellum, Sicily, Italy, 10th c., 285 ff. (-17), 15x11 cm, single column, (9x7 cm), 20 lines in Greek minuscule, headings and 9 full pages in red uncials, 7 full-page decorated canon tables, painted initials with zoomorphic ornament throughout, 9 miniature roundels, 8 of them with portrait of Christ, 2 drawings of animals. Binding: Sicily, Italy, 15th c., blindstamped leather over boards, chain stitches on 3 sewing stations, spine raised "alla Grecca".

Provenance: 1. Charles of Anjou, King of Naples and Sicily (1273); 2. Bishop Gregor, Myriophyton, Merefte, Turkey; 3. Sotheby's 19.6.1990:79. Commentary: Aland 1421, text category 5 (Byzantine recension), with corrections from a better text.

Exhibited: 1. Charles of Anjou, King of Naples and Sicily (1273); 2. Bishop Gregor, Myriophyton, Merefte, Turkey; 3. Sotheby's 19.6.1990:79. Commentary: Aland 1421, text category 5 (Byzantine recension), with corrections from a better text.

MS in Greek on vellum and paper, Constantinople, Turkey, 11th c. with additions ca. 1400, & 16th c., 277+49 ff. (-19), 33x26 cm, 2 columns, (22x16 cm), 23 lines in a fine flowing Greek minuscule, and clubbing Greek uncial, 1/4 of the 2nd half of the MS in gold script, ecphonetic notation in red, heading and small initials in gold over red, large decorated initials in gold, red, blue and green, up to half-page headpieces, 3 decorated in gold and colours, the ca. 1400 additions by the scribe Ioasaph, 16th c. full-page miniature of St. Matthew.

Binding: Constantinople, 16th c., green and gilt damask with floral decoration over light wooden boards, chain stitches on 5 sewing stations, spine raised "alla Grecca".

Provenance: 1. Agia Sofia, Constantinople (11th c. - ca. 1400); 2. Monastery of the Theotokos, Constantinople (ca. 1400-); 3. Papas Andreas (1849-1858); 4. Sam Fogg, London.

Commentary: Over one quarter of the second half of the MS is entirely written in gold. The ecphonetic notation was partly a forerunner to the neumes. Aland l. 2404, text category 5 (Byzantine recension).

MS in Aramaic on vellum, Qumran, ca. 4 BC-68 AD, 4 fragments sticking together, each 1,8x1,9 cm, of which 3 are inscribed, part of 3+1+2 lines in a Herodian Hebrew book script. The uninscribed fragment, 0,7x2,4 cm, and further a linen cloth 2,2x4,2 cm adhering.

Context: Part of the Dead Sea Scroll 1QDanb=1Q72, of which 2 larger fragments (11,3x9,6 cm 14 lines and 5,8x6,4 cm 7 lines), and ca. 9 tiny fragments (mostly uninscribed) survives, with the text of Daniel 3:22 - 31. Fragment 2 from the present MS matches the largest fragment. They were found in Cave 1 in a lump of vellum consisting of 9 layers also containing 1QDana and 1QPrayers.

Published without the present fragments in: Discoveries in the Judaean Desert I, Oxford 1955, pp. 150-155; and in: J.C. Trever: Completion of the Publication of some Fragments from Qumran Cave I, in: Revue de Qumran, tome 5, no. 19, Nov. 1965.

Provenance: 1. Community of the Essenes, Qumran (ca. 4 BC-68 AD); 2. Qumran Cave 1 (68-1948); 3. George Isha'ya, finder (1948); 4. Syrian orthodox Monastery of St. Mark (Metropolitan Athanasius Samuel), Jerusalem (1948); 5. Gift to John C. Trever, Jerusalem, Claremont and Laguna Hills, California (1948-1994).

Commentary: Daniel 3:26 - 27 is not present on any other Dead Sea Scroll, so this MS is the earliest witness to the text, actually written in the lifetime of Christ and the Apostles.

Originally written 167-164 BC, Hebrew is the original language of Daniel 1:1 - 2:4, Aramaic of 2:4 - 12:13. The present MS is in the original language as well, and copied only about 200 years after the book of Daniel was written.

Published: Dr. Bruce Zuckerman and Dr. Marilyn Lundberg in: The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, Newsletter, no. 12, Cincinnati, Ohio, autumn 1996.

Exhibited: 1. XVI Congress of the International Organization for the study of the Old Testament. Faculty of Law Library, University of Oslo, 29 July - 7 August 1998; 2. NorFa - Nordic network in Qumran studies. Symposium in Oslo 3-5. June 2004.

See also MS 2861, The Judges Dead Sea Scroll, Qumran, 80-30 BC

See also MS 4612, The Joel Dead Sea Scroll, Qumran, 30 BC - 68 AD

MS palimpsests on vellum, Mt. Sinai, Egypt. Texts 1-5 (underlying text): comprising parts of 5 different MSS, all in Christian Palestinian-Aramaic, 6th c., 2+11+13+16+7 full ff. and 1/2 f. 14x19 cm - 31x20 cm, originally 32x23 cm - 35x24 cm, 2 columns (originally 19x14 - 25-20 cm), 11-25 lines, originally 22-25 lines in Christian Palestinian-Aramaic uncial, 3 decorated crosses (2 of these are used for the book label of The Schøyen Collection). Texts 6-10 (overlying text): in Georgian, dated 979, 70 ff. (incomplete), 20x15 cm, single column, (17x12 cm), 22-26 lines in Khutsuri book script (Georgian ecclesiastical minuscule), by Johannes Zosimos, rubricated.

Binding: Mt. Sinai, Egypt, 979, black leather and linen from mummy wrappings over stout palm wood board, chain stitches on 5 sewing stations, bound and signed by Johannes Zosimos. Hole in bottom outer corner for a chain, iron nail with a conical head for a leather strap. Upper cover complete, lower cover with original leather over 19th c. wood, rebacked, the cords fastened to the cover with small loops of thinner cord, headband coloured red, blue and yellow. Pastedown of other leaves of the MS (6th c).

Context: Another 1½ ff.= MS 36 are from MS no. 3 (text 3), and ½ f.=MS 37 is from MS no. 4 (text 4) of the original codices of 6th c.;16 ½ ff., also from the same codices, in St. Petersburg, The National Library of Russia (mostly St. Cyril: Catacheses), brought to St. Petersburg from Mt. Sinai in 1859 together with Codex Sinaiticus by Konstantin von Tischendorf. Further ½ + ¼ f from MS no. 3 (text 3) are in Göttingen: Niedersächsische Staats- und Universtätsbibliothek.

Further MSS from Mt. Sinai see MSS 36, 37, 571-585, 613 and 2530.

Provenance: 1. Community of the Essenes, Qumran (late 1st c. BC-68 AD); 2. Qumran Cave 4? (68-1952); 3. . Khalil Iskander Shahin ("Kando"), Bethlehem (1952-1956); 4. Private collection, Switzerland (1956-1995).

Commentary: Underlying texts: All 5 texts are the earliest extant in Christian Palestinian-Aramaic. Text 4: Addresses Delivered by St. Cyril in 348 AD to Candidates for Baptism. Text 5 is unique. Gospels of 6th c. in this rare language, closely related to the mother tongue of Christ, are of considerable textual interest. The script is together with the nearly identical one in "Codex Climachi Rescriptus", Mt. Sinai, mid 6th c., considered the finest and earliest specimen of Christian Palestinian-Aramaic uncial extant. Apart from the 3 MSS in The Schøyen Collection, only the Vatican, St. Petersburg and Mt. Sinai libraries have MSS in this language and script, and even the Mt. Sinai library has only 3, all from 11th c.

Overlying texts: Text 8 is unique, cf. MS 37. Text 9 is the oldest of the 3 extant. Text 10: This colophon extends over 3 pages, dated twice, Mt. Sinai 979. There are 20 MSS from Mt. Sinai in The Schøyen Collection. Besides the monastery's own famous library (4300 MSS), only British Library (8 MSS) and The National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg (69 MSS, mostly fragments), have comparable holdings.

Published (underlying text): (underlying text): Alain Desreumaux: Codex sinaiticus Zosimi rescriptus; Description codicologique de feuillets araméens melkites des manuscrits Schøyen 35, 36 et 37. In: Histoire du Texte Biblique 3. Lausanne, Éditions du Zèbre, 1997.

Land: Examinantur fragmenta syropalaestina; in: Anecdota Syriaca, IV, 1875. Orthodox Palestinian Society, ed.: Orthodox Palestinian Collection, vol. IV. St. Peterburg 1888, p. 233 no 81 (In Russian).

Exhibited: 1. Conference of European National Librarians, Oslo. Sept. 1994; 2. XVI Congress of the International Organization for the study of the Old Testament. Library of Law Faculty, University of Oslo, 29 July - 7 August 1998.

Binding: Barking, Essex, 1996, red cloth gilt folding case by Aquarius.

Context: The most similar dated MS is the Codex Ben-Asher (MS Cairo, Karaite Synagogue), dated Tiberias 895, now proved to be wrong, the MS probably is 10th c. or ca. 1000.

Provenance: 1. Quaritch, London.

Commentary: These leaves are contemporary with the Leningrad Codex, dated 1009, which is the main MS used for the text of the Old Testament of our Bible today. It is the oldest complete Old Testament MS extant, and, like the present 4 ff., textually of the highest class, following the Masoretic tradition closely.

Very unusually the present MS spells in one case the Holy Name with 4 dots surmounted with 4 yods, i.e. it is not to be pronounced. The use of 4 dots without Yods is attested in a few Dead Sea Scrolls, such as IQS, col. 8, line 14. In the remaining cases it actually vocalizes the Holy Name.

Exhibited: XVI Congress of the International Organization for the study of the Old Testament. Library of Law Faculty, University of Oslo, 29 July - 7 August 1998.

MS in Hebrew on vellum, Ascalon, Israel, 1189, 4 ff., 28x24 cm, single column, (18x15 cm), 24-25 lines in a bold Samaritan square book script, by the scribe Ab Hasta, son of Abnef Uscha.

Provenance: 1. Maggs European Bulletin 13(1986):18; 2. Maggs Cat. 1073(1987):3.

Commentary: This is one of the oldest survivals of the Samaritan Pentateuch in codex form. The oldest is Cambridge University Library from 1149/50 or earlier. The oldest surviving scroll is 11th c. The Samaritans were separated from the Jews 4th – 2nd c. BC. Being extremely conservative, they preserved both a very archaizing form of the Hebrew script, and the original text of the Hebrew Pentateuch, confirmed by its agreements with the Qumran texts, and some Jewish texts that escaped revision by official Judaism.

Exhibited: XVI Congress of the International Organization for the study of the Old Testament. Library of Law Faculty, University of Oslo, 29 July - 7 August 1998.

MS in Hebrew on vellum, Spain, 2nd half of 13th c., 264 ff. (-40), 37x35 cm, 3 columns, occasionally 1 or 2 columns, (26x25 cm), 24 lines in a square Spanish Hebrew book script by 1 scribe, occasional penwork decorations; 5 additional ff., autograph notes by Sir Frederick Madden, 1826.

Binding: Liverpool, England, 1820-1830, dark blue morocco gilt on wooden boards, central panel with ostrich, crest A of Thomas William Coke, bound by Jones.

Provenance: 1. The Holkham Library, MS 2, the 1st to 6th Earls of Leicester, Holkham Hall, Norfolk (ca. 1730-2002); 2. Quaritch, London.

Commentary: The scribe provided a 12-line poem in which he comments on his writing of the text and his methodology. According to Madden's notes the MS has Masoras that he had not found in any other MS. This majestic Bible is part of the tradition of the great format Bibles, initiated in Castilla and Aragon in the 13th c. The unusual layout with 3 columns goes back to the earliest codices of the Hebrew Bible from the Near East from 10th-11th c., which origin from the earlier scroll format, cf. MSS 1630, 1858/3 and the Dead Sea Scrolls MSS 2713 and 4611.

Exhibited: NorFa - Nordic network in Qumran studies. Symposium in Oslo 3-5. June 2004.