Codex Bezae
Part of the Treasures of the Library
Collection.
There are
half-a-dozen ancient manuscripts which are the foundation of our
understanding of the text of the New Testament writings. Among these
stands the copy known since the sixteenth century as Codex Bezae
Cantabrigiensis. Any manuscript which has survived from antiquity is a
marvel for this reason alone, and as we explore its pages, we have a
rare opportunity to explore a little of the written culture of late
antique Christianity. Although in the past century some remarkable
papyrus manuscripts have been recovered from the sands of Egypt, their
discovery has in general served more to highlight the significance of
the parchment manuscripts than to diminish it.
Among
this group, Codex Bezae occupies a unique place for several reasons. In
the first place, as a bilingual manuscript, with a Greek text and a
Latin version on facing pages, it provides a valuable insight into the
reception of the Gospels and Acts in the western Christian tradition.
The Latin version it contains is one of the small handful of manuscripts
which are the most important witnesses to the development of a Latin
version before Jerome's famous Vulgate of 382. Secondly, it provides a
strikingly different form of text to that preserved in almost every
other manuscript, and to the printed Greek text and the translations
derived from it. These differences consist in the Gospels in frequent
harmonisation of the text and in Acts in a free restyling of the text
found best represented by Codex Vaticanus and reproduced in English
translations...
Editions:
Physical location: Cambridge University Library
Classmark: MS Nn.2.41
Language(s): Greek and Latin
Uniform title: Bible. N.T.
Alternative title(s): Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis
Origin place: Possibly Beirut
Extent: 510 ff.
Support: Parchment
Ownership: Donated by Theodore Beza, 1581.
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