DOI Artikel:
Kenyon, Frederic George: Progress of Egyptology: graeco-roman Egypt
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12055#0073
G-raeco-Eoman Egypt.
6]
in 1892. It is now, however, published in full, with a complete facsimile,
and the character of its text has been definitely ascertained. Prof.
Deissmann, in his careful commentary, shows that it agrees preponderatingly
with those MSS. (notably A and Q) which have been regarded as represent-
ing the recension of Hesychius in the Prophets; and for the part of the Old
Testament which it contains (Zech. iv. 6—Mai. iv. 5, with local mutilations)
it becomes one of the most important witnesses for this recension. Its
unquestionably Egyptian origin is a useful confirmation of the identification
of this type of text with the edition of Hesychius. It is noteworthy
however, that if this be so, the Coptic versions, to which one has naturally
been inclined to look for evidence of this edition, must be non-Hesychian,
since they all distinctly contain a different type of text. It seems to follow
that they (Bohairic as well as Sahidic) are pre-Hesychian; and this is a
further argument for the relative antiquity of those versions. On the
other hand, the statistics seem to point to a somewhat close connection
between Hesychius and the " Western " (Syro-Latin) text.
Besides the Septuagint MS., the Heidelberg volume contains three very
small vellum fragments of Biblical MS., one (perhaps an amulet) containing
a few words from Exodus xv. and 1 Sam. ii. ; the second, Mark vi. 30-42
(mutilated); the third, the last words of Acts, followed by the beginning of
St. James. A late 3rd-century fragment of a dictionary of Biblical proper
names, such as is so familiar in the work of Bemigius of Auxerre in
mediaeval Vulgate MSS., takes us back beyond the Liber interpretationis of
Jerome, on which all later dictionaries of the kind were based, and nearly
to the date of his forerunner Origen. Finally a 4th-century letter, of
strongly Christian phraseology, though it contains no information of
importance, adds another to the extant monuments of the early Church in
Egypt. The sixty pages of photographs with which the volume concludes
are an admirable and well-executed feature of it, which one may hope is
to be characteristic of the future publications of the Heidelberg papyri.
The papyrus of M. Golenischef ~ is altogether unique among the papyri
hitherto discovered, in that it consists predominantly of coloured miniatures.
It is extremely fragmentary, but the acute recognition by Prof. Bauer of its
resemblance to the " Barbaras," edited by Scaliger from a MS. at Paris of
the Merovingian period, has enabled him to reconstruct much of its
contents. It is a chronicle of the history of the world, containing indeed,
in its present state, little information of historical value, but highly
remarkable for the illustrations which accompany its lists of kings,
prophets, and the like. The writing is a large heavy uncial of Coptic
type, apparently of the 5th or Cth century : Bauer assigns it to the earlier
6]
in 1892. It is now, however, published in full, with a complete facsimile,
and the character of its text has been definitely ascertained. Prof.
Deissmann, in his careful commentary, shows that it agrees preponderatingly
with those MSS. (notably A and Q) which have been regarded as represent-
ing the recension of Hesychius in the Prophets; and for the part of the Old
Testament which it contains (Zech. iv. 6—Mai. iv. 5, with local mutilations)
it becomes one of the most important witnesses for this recension. Its
unquestionably Egyptian origin is a useful confirmation of the identification
of this type of text with the edition of Hesychius. It is noteworthy
however, that if this be so, the Coptic versions, to which one has naturally
been inclined to look for evidence of this edition, must be non-Hesychian,
since they all distinctly contain a different type of text. It seems to follow
that they (Bohairic as well as Sahidic) are pre-Hesychian; and this is a
further argument for the relative antiquity of those versions. On the
other hand, the statistics seem to point to a somewhat close connection
between Hesychius and the " Western " (Syro-Latin) text.
Besides the Septuagint MS., the Heidelberg volume contains three very
small vellum fragments of Biblical MS., one (perhaps an amulet) containing
a few words from Exodus xv. and 1 Sam. ii. ; the second, Mark vi. 30-42
(mutilated); the third, the last words of Acts, followed by the beginning of
St. James. A late 3rd-century fragment of a dictionary of Biblical proper
names, such as is so familiar in the work of Bemigius of Auxerre in
mediaeval Vulgate MSS., takes us back beyond the Liber interpretationis of
Jerome, on which all later dictionaries of the kind were based, and nearly
to the date of his forerunner Origen. Finally a 4th-century letter, of
strongly Christian phraseology, though it contains no information of
importance, adds another to the extant monuments of the early Church in
Egypt. The sixty pages of photographs with which the volume concludes
are an admirable and well-executed feature of it, which one may hope is
to be characteristic of the future publications of the Heidelberg papyri.
The papyrus of M. Golenischef ~ is altogether unique among the papyri
hitherto discovered, in that it consists predominantly of coloured miniatures.
It is extremely fragmentary, but the acute recognition by Prof. Bauer of its
resemblance to the " Barbaras," edited by Scaliger from a MS. at Paris of
the Merovingian period, has enabled him to reconstruct much of its
contents. It is a chronicle of the history of the world, containing indeed,
in its present state, little information of historical value, but highly
remarkable for the illustrations which accompany its lists of kings,
prophets, and the like. The writing is a large heavy uncial of Coptic
type, apparently of the 5th or Cth century : Bauer assigns it to the earlier