Minuscule 644

New Testament manuscripts
papyri • uncials • minuscules • lectionaries
Minuscule 644
Text Pauline epistles, Catholic epistles
Date 14th century
Script Greek
Found 1853
Now at British Library
Size 18.4 cm by 14.9 cm
Type Byzantine text-type
Category V
Note very neat

Minuscule 644 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 476 (von Soden),[1] is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 14th century. The manuscript is very lacunose.[2] Gregory labelled it by 220a and 275p, Scrivener by 229a (for the Catholic epistles) and 270p (for the Pauline epistles).[3]

Description

The codex contains the text of the Pauline epistles and Catholic epistles, on 94 parchment leaves (size 18.4 cm by 14.9 cm), with lacunae (Romans, 2 Corinthians 1:1-11:25; James 4:4-5:4; 1 Peter 3:15-Jude). It is written in one column per page, 21 lines per page.[2] According to Scrivener it is very neatly written.[3]

It contains Prolegomena, tables of the κεφαλαια (chapters) before each epistle, τιτλοι (titles), lectionary markings on the margin, Menologion, subscriptions at the end of each epistle, and numbers of στιχοι at the margin.[3][4]

According to Gregory it could be written by the same hand as Minuscule 502.[4]

The order of books: Pauline epistles and Catholic epistles. Epistle to the Hebrews is placed after Epistle to Philemon.[4]

Text

The Greek text of the codex is a representative of the Byzantine text-type. Kurt Aland placed it in Category V.[5]

History

The manuscript is dated by the INTF to the 14th century.[6]

The manuscript was bought from Constantine Simonides, the most versatile forger of the nineteenth century, for the British Museum in 1853.[4] It is one of the very few authentic Simonides pieces. The manuscript was added to the list of New Testament manuscripts by Scrivener (229a, 270p) and Gregory (220a, 275p). It was examined and described by Bloomfield. Gregory saw the manuscript in 1883.[4] In 1908 Gregory gave the number 644 to it.[1]

The manuscript currently is housed at the British Library (Additional Manuscripts 19388), at London.[2][6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Gregory, Caspar René (1908). Die griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testament. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung. p. 70.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 K. Aland, M. Welte, B. Köster, K. Junack, "Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neues Testaments", Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York 1994, p. 85.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose; Edward Miller (1894). A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, vol. 1 (4 ed.). London: George Bell & Sons. p. 296.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Gregory, Caspar René (1900). Textkritik des Neuen Testaments, Vol. 1. Leipzig. p. 282.
  5. ↑ Aland, Kurt; Aland, Barbara (1995). The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism. Erroll F. Rhodes (trans.). Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-8028-4098-1.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Handschriftenliste at the Münster Institute

Further reading

External links