Medieval and Early Modern Greek Manuscripts : Psalter, in Hebrew, Syriac, Greek and Arabic

Medieval and Early Modern Greek Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This manuscript is a polyglot <i>Psalter, in Hebrew, Syriac, Greek and Arabic</i>, written in four parallel columns. It was probably copied in the 14th century, perhaps in Egypt. The Hebrew text appears to have been copied first, and the number of lines in the columns containing the other languages were adjusted to accommodate the same portion of text within each pair of facing pages. The Psalms were originally followed by the Odes, the sequence of hymns excerpted from various Biblical books, also known as canticles, which in the Orthodox tradition constitute a separate book of the Bible. Only two folios containing part of one Ode have survived; the first two quires of the Psalms have also been lost. The manuscript was acquired in the late 19th or early 20th century by H. F. B. Lynch, an Irish businessman whose company exported goods to Iraq and who travelled in Armenia.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dr Christopher Wright</p>