Minuscule 2
New Testament manuscript
NameCodex Basiliensis A. N. IV. 1
TextGospels
Date11th/12th century
ScriptGreek
Now atUniversity of Basel
Size19.5 cm by 15.2 cm
TypeByzantine text-type
CategoryV
Handa lot of errors
NoteTextus Receptus
full marginalia

Codex Basiliensis A. N. IV. 1, known as Minuscule 2 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), ε 1214 (in von Soden's numbering of New Testament manuscripts),[1] is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, written on vellum. Using the study of comparative writing styles (palaeography), it has been dated to the 11th or 12th century.[2] The manuscript has complex contents.

It was used by biblical scholar Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus in his edition of the Greek text of the New Testament, and became the basis for the Textus Receptus in the Gospels.

Description

The manuscript is a codex (precursor to the modern book), containing the complete text of the four Gospels on 248 parchment leaves (size 19.5 cm by 15.2 cm) with the text covering only 13.6 cm by 9.9 cm of each page. The text is written in 1 column, 20 lines per page, in minuscule letters[2] and contains ornaments in colour, with the initial letters in red ink.[3]

The text is divided according to the chapters (known as κεφαλαια / kephalaia), whose numbers are given at the margin (except in the Gospel of John), and the titles of chapters (known as τιτλοι / titloi) at the top of the pages. There is also another division according to the smaller Ammonian Sections (an early division of the Gospels into sections). Matthew has 359 divisions; Mark has 240; Luke has 342; and John has 231. This is different to the standard divisions, of which there are commonly: 355, 235, 343, and 232 (Matt-Mark-Luke-John) respectively. There are no references to the Eusebian Canons (another early division of the Gospels into sections, and where they overlap).[3]

The tables of contents (also known as κεφαλαια) are placed before each Gospel, along with subscriptions at the end of each Gospel. Some leaves of the codex were lost, but the text of the Gospels has survived in a complete condition.[3]

Text

The Greek text of the codex is considered a representative of the Byzantine text-type. The text-types are groups of different New Testament manuscripts which share specific or generally related readings, which then differ from each other group, and thus the conflicting readings can separate out the groups. These are then used to determine the original text as published; there are three main groups with names: Alexandrian, Western, and Byzantine.[4]: 205–230  Hermann von Soden classified it to the textual family Kx.[5] Biblical scholar Kurt Aland placed it in Category V of his New Testament manuscript text classification system.[6]: 138  Category V is for "Manuscripts with a purely or predominantly Byzantine text."[6]: 336  According to the Claremont Profile Method (a specific analysis method of textual data), it has a mixed Byzantine text in Luke 1. In Luke 10 and Luke 20 it represents Kx.[5]

In Luke 6:28 it lacks the phrase προσεύχεσθε ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐπηρεαζόντων ὑμᾶς (pray on behalf of those who mistreat you). It was added by a corrector in the lower margin.[4]: 144 

In John 8:6 it originally read μὴ προσποιούμενος (not paying any attention), which was subsequently erased by a corrector. This variant is also seen in the manuscripts F (07), G (011), K (017), S (028), Π (041), Minuscule 579, and a large proportion of the Byzantine manuscripts. It is not included by the manuscripts Μ (021), U (030), Γ (036), Ω (045), 047, and Minuscule 7, 8, 9, 196, 461c2, 1203, 1216, 1243, 1514, and lectionary ℓ 663.[7] Erasmus did not use this phrase in his Novum Testamentum.[3]

History of the codex

Old University Basel

The early story of the manuscript and its provenance is unknown. The codex was bought by monks at Basel for the price of two Rhenish florins (currency of the Rhineland in the 14-15th century).[8] Since 1559 it was held in the University of Basel. Its later story is the same as that of Codex Basilensis and Codex Basilensis A. N. IV. 2.

Desiderius Erasmus received this codex from the Dominican friars at Basel,[9] and chiefly used it as the basis for the Gospels portion of the first edition of his Novum Testamentum (published 1516), with press corrections by his hand, and "barbarously" scored with red chalk to suit his page format.[8] The biblical scholar Robert Estienne did not directly consult this manuscript to use in his edition of the Greek New Testament (1550), but since his edition was based on the Erasmian text, 2's readings became a basis for the Textus Receptus.

German classist and historian Martin Crusius used this manuscript in 1577.[3] The manuscript was examined by biblical scholar Johann Albrecht Bengel (who labelled it as codex β), biblical scholars Johann Jakob Wettstein, Dean Burgon, Herman C. Hoskier, and Caspar René Gregory. According to biblical scholar Bruce M. Metzger, it is one of the inferior manuscripts used by Erasmus.[4]: 144  Wettstein gave it number 2 on his list, and this siglum has remained since.[1]

The codex is located now at the Basel University Library (A.N. IV. 1) at Basel.[2][10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Gregory, Caspar René (1908). Die griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testament. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung. p. 48.
  2. 1 2 3 Aland, Kurt; M. Welte; B. Köster; K. Junack (1994). Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neues Testaments (2 ed.). Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter. p. 47. ISBN 3-11-011986-2.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Gregory, Caspar René (1900). Textkritik des Neuen Testaments. Vol. 1. Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung. pp. 127–128.
  4. 1 2 3 Metzger, Bruce Manning; Ehrman, Bart Denton (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration (4 ed.). New York – Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-516122-9.
  5. 1 2 Wisse, Frederik (1982). The Profile Method for the Classification and Evaluation of Manuscript Evidence, as Applied to the Continuous Greek Text of the Gospel of Luke. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 53. ISBN 0-8028-1918-4.
  6. 1 2 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. ISBN 978-0-8028-4098-1.
  7. ↑ The Gospel According to John in the Byzantine Tradition (Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft: Stuttgart, 2007), p. 100.
  8. 1 2 Scrivener, Frederick Henry Ambrose; Edward Miller (1894). A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament. Vol. 1 (4th ed.). London: George Bell & Sons. p. 191.
  9. ↑ W. W. Combs, Erasmus and the textus receptus, DBSJ 1 (Spring 1996), 45
  10. ↑ "Liste Handschriften". Münster: Institute for New Testament Textual Research. Retrieved 2013-05-01.

Further reading

  • C. C. Tarelli, Erasmus’s Manuscripts of the Gospels, JTS XLIV (1943), 155–162.
  • K. W. Clark, Observations on the Erasmian Notes in Codex 2, in Studia Evangelica, ed. F.L. Cross, K. Aland, et al., T & U 73 (Berlin 1959), pp. 749–756.
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