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Septuagint manuscripts

The earliest surviving manuscripts of the Septuagint (abbreviated as LXX meaning 70), an ancient (first centuries BCE) translation of the ancient Hebrew Torah into Koine Greek, include three 2nd century BCE fragments from the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy (Rahlfs nos. 801, 819, and 957) and five 1st century BCE fragments of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (Rahlfs nos. 802, 803, 805, 848, and 942), only. The vast majority of Septuagint manuscripts are late-antiquity and medieval manuscript versions of the Christian Greek Old Testament tradition.

Classification

There are currently over 2,000 classified manuscripts of the Greek Old Testament. The first list of manuscripts was presented by theologians Arthur Holmes and Jacob Parsons, of which their edition (five volumes between 1798 and 1827) ends with a full list of manuscripts known to them. It enumerates 311 codes (marked with Roman numerals I–XIII and Arabic numerals 14–311), which are designated by their siglum I–XIII, 23, 27, 39, 43, 156, 188, 190, 258, 262.

The codices marked with Roman numerals signify given letters from A to Z. The current list of Septuagint manuscripts is according to the classification of biblical scholar Alfred Rahlfs, this being a list of all known manuscripts proposed by Alfred Rahlfs based on the census of Holmes and Parsons.

Division in classification by Rahlfs

The table of manuscripts is divided into ten parts:

  • Part I: A–Z (specific late antiquity codices in majuscule script).
  • Part II: 13–311 (medieval manuscripts, numbering given by Holmes and Parsons)
  • Part III: 312–800 (medieval manuscripts of the Greek Old Testament without the Psalms)
  • Part IV: 801–1000 (antiquity small fragments of the Torah and late antiquity small fragments of the Greek Old Testament without the Psalms)
  • Part V: 1001–1400 (psalms from the twelfth century)
  • Part VI: 1401–2000 (medieval fragments psalms uncertain dating younger)
  • Part VII: 2001–3000 (medieval small fragments psalter [to the eighth century])
  • Part VIII: 3001–5000 (medieval manuscripts of the Greek Old Testament without the Psalms)
  • Part IX: 5001–7000 (medieval small fragments of the Greek Old Testament without the Psalms)
  • Part X: 7001–xxxx (medieval psalter fragments )

Abbreviations

  • Pent. – Pentateuch (Genesis – Deuteronomy)
  • Hept. – Heptateuch (Genesis – Judges)
  • Oct. – Octateuch (ἡ ὀκτάτευχος = Genesis – Ruth)
  • IV Proph. – Four Major Prophets books.
  • XII Proph. – Twelve Minor Prophets books.
  • Most book names are not written in full. They are abbreviated from their Latin names which can be seen in the article Books of the Vulgate. Example: Book of Wisdom or, Wisdom of Solomon, is abbreviated as Sap.

Acronyms

EBE - National Library of Greece

Latin terms

  • aliquot – some
  • catenae, catenarum – chain, chains (abbreviated as "cat."). Catena.
  • ecloge – safeguard page
  • excerpta – items
  • graduales – Songs of Ascents (Ps 119-133 by the numbering in the LXX)
  • inter alia – among others
  • lacunae – missing words/lines/pages
  • poenitentiales – Penitential Psalms
  • sine – without

List of manuscripts

List taken from Manuscripts of the Septuagint, published by Logos.

Part I: A–Z

Part II: 13–311

Part III: 312–800

312–500

501–600

601–700

701–800

Part IV: 801–1000

801–900

901–1000

Part V: 1001–1400

1001–1100

1101–1200

1201–1300

1301–1400

Part VI: 1401–2000

1401–1500

1501–1600

1601–1700

1701–1800

1801–1900

1901–2000

Part VII: 2001–3000

Part VIII: 3001-5000

Part X: 7001–xxxx

See also

References