Introduction

Introduction The Codex Alexandrinus (hereafter referred to simply as “Alexandrinus”) has a colorful history and obscure origins. The manuscript has been known by different names and labels: it has also been referred to as Codex Regius and Thecla’s Bible;1 its shelf mark in the British Library is MS Royal 1. D. V–VIII; it was abbre- viated to A by Brian Walton and signified with δ 4 by Hermann von Soden; its modern Gregory-Aland designation is A or 02. In the Gospels, Alexandrinus stands at the headwaters of the Byzantine text type and contains the earli- est extant example of the Old Greek chaptering system. It is one of the three oldest complete Greek Bibles (including the fourth-century codices Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus) and is a primary witness to the biblical texts. The codex has been brutalized by binders (who have sheared off some of the marginal features), survived at least one fire, and suffered the loss of a number of pages, and with an improperly prepared writing surface, its ink is slowly eating through some of its pages and turning them into lacework. Despite its dangerous journey, a sizable portion of this valuable codex remains available for scholarly investigation today. Objective Compared to Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, remarkably limited research has been performed on Alexandrinus since its acquisition by England in 1627. Although collations, critical editions, and facsimile copies of the manuscript were produced between the 1700s and the early 1900s (the reduced facsimile of the codex was begun in 1909 and completed in 1957), no comprehensive study of the document has been performed in the last century. As David Parker laments in his recent Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and Their Texts, there is a “surprisingly sparse” bibliography for Alexandrinus, and the text “deserves a new full-scale study.”2 The objective of this book is to describe and analyze the physical, paratextual, and textual features of the Gospels in Alexandrinus. Historically, studies of this kind have 1 Scot McKendrick, “The Codex Alexandrinus: Or the Dangers of Being a Named Manuscript,” in The Bible as Book: The Transmission of the Greek Text, ed. Scot McKendrick and Orlaith O’Sullivan (London: The British Library and Oak Knoll Press, 2003), 2. 2 D. C. Parker, An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and Their Texts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 72. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��4 | doi ��.��63/9789004�74853_�� 2 introduction primarily involved qualitative methods of processing manuscript data; here, with little precedent, I introduce quantitative data analysis where possible, in order to bolster subjective conclusions with objective evidence. While the focus will remain on the Gospels, analysis of the physical features of the codex and the paratextual features that run throughout the manuscript requires examination of the entire codex to establish a context for the data. Because access to this fragile manuscript is severely limited, I have performed the bulk of the analysis using the facsimiles produced by the British Museum in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Facsimile of the Codex Alexandrinus,3 produced under the direction of E. Maunde Thompson from 1879 to 1883 and issued in four volumes, is an excellent, full-scale facsimile suitable for physical measurements of paratextual features in the codex. The subsequently produced reduced facsimile,4 issued in four volumes (in 1909, 1915, 1930, and 1957), provides a worthwhile alternate look at the manuscript; while the full-size Facsimile offers a better view of the manuscript edges (e.g., the Arabic foliation is captured far more completely in the full-size images), the different photographic technique used for the Reduced Facsimile filters out some of the ambient image “noise” present in the Facsimile images. I petitioned the British Library to view the manuscript in person, in hopes of overcoming the limitations of the black-and-white facsimiles produced at least half a century ago. To my delight, near the conclusion of this work, I received word from the British Library that the manuscript was in the process of being conserved and that digital images would be made available in the near future. In December 2012 the British Library made freely available their color, digital images of the NT of Alexandrinus online,5 providing the scholarly world with a wealth of information previously unavailable without physical examination of the codex. Portions of the manuscript that were too dark to read in facsimile form (e.g., where chemical reagents were applied to the Clementine Epistles) are quite legible in the digital images, which are of suitably high quality. In addition, the use of color by the scribes is finally clear to anyone wishing to study the manuscript. Wherever possible I have updated my earlier work with information available from the digital images; I look forward to the possibility of the British Library making available images of the OT in digital form as well. Where physical examination would be required to form a conclusion, I have so 3 Facsimile of the Codex Alexandrinus (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1879–1883). 4 The Codex Alexandrinus (Royal MS. 1 D. V–VIII) in Reduced Photographic Facsimile (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1909–1957). Hereafter the NT and OT volumes are referred to as RFNT and RFOT, respectively. 5 http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_1_d_viii.

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