Medieval and Early Modern Greek Manuscripts : Septuagint

Septuagint (Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.53)

This manuscript, probably copied in the later 12th or 13th century, contains Old Testament excerpts drawn from three books: Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon and the Wisdom of Solomon. Much of these has been lost, and it is unclear whether they originally formed part of a full manuscript of the Septuagint or a smaller selection. It is evident, however, since the transitions between the three books have survived, that the Book of Job, which would normally appear between the Song of Solomon and Wisdom of Solomon, did not originally appear here. The size of the folios is slightly inconsistent.

Dr Christopher Wright

Information about this document

Physical Location: Trinity College Library
Classmark: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.53
Alternative Identifier(s): Diktyon 11963
Subject(s): Bible
Date of Creation: later 12th or 13th century
Former Owner(s): Gale, Roger, 1672-1744
Extent: Codex ii + 8 + 39 + 4 + vi Leaf height: c. 180 mm, width: c. 130 mm.
Collation:
The manuscript consists of 7 quires, all quaternia. One quire has been lost between Quires 1 and 3.
- Quire 1^8-4 ff. 1-4 The first, third, sixth and eighth folios have been lost, with loss of text.
- Quires 2-4⁸ ff. 5-28
- Quire 5^10-2 ff. 29-36 The fifth and seventh folios have been cancelled, without loss of text.
- Quire 6^8-5 ff. 37-39 The fifth folio has been cancelled and the second, third, sixth and seventh lost, with loss of text.
There are modern quire signatures in Arabic numerals, in pencil, on the first folio of each quire, recto, lower right. The missing quire after Quire 1 is counted as the second quire, so the numbers of the signatures thereafter are larger by one then their present position in the manuscript.
Material: Parchment (FHHF), quite thick and of relatively poor quality.
Format: Codex
Condition: There is a long tear near the gutter in f. 39 and an extensive tear from the edge of f. [xi], with occasional smaller tears elsewhere. There is serious creasing to the parchment endleaves, and some other creasing elsewhere. There is significant water staining and areas of dirt, some extensive.
Binding:
18th-century full leather binding over couched-laminate boards, with plain pastedowns. The boards are decorated with blind tooling and sprinkling, with a Cambridge panel design. There is decorative gold tooling on the edges. The classmark appears on patches on the spine
Binding height: 193 mm, width: 138 mm, depth: 35 mm.
Both outer joints have begun to split and the spine is partially detached from the book-block. Some of the leather covering has been lost from the foot of the spine.
Accompanying Material: The outermost endleaves, ff. [i-ii] and [xix-xx], are paper and uncut, and belong to the present binding. The remaining endleaves are parchment. Of these, [iii-x] and [xi-xiv] are of medium thickness and originally blank ([xi-xiv] are uncut), while [xv-xviii] are thick and composed of waste from a deed in Latin.
Script:
The manuscript was copied in a mixed minuscule script, slanting slightly to the left, in black ink, with little variation in letter size and occasional flourishing of tails into the lower margin.
Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings appear only at the end of lines, and syllabic abbreviations are very rare. Breathings are round and mute iota is absent. There is decorative use of the double dot, and accentuation of all lengths of nomina sacra.
The modern nu is present.
Punctuation used includes the lower, middle and upper points, lower and middle commas, question mark and full stop.
Headings are written in the same style in red ink.
Foliation:
The manuscript is foliated with the numbers [i-ii] + [iii-x] + 1-39 + [xi-xiv] + [xv-xx] in Arabic numerals, in pencil, recto, upper right.
Layout: A single column of 20 lines. Written height: 117-127 mm, width: 80 mm. Pricking survives in the upper and lower margins. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, margins ruled in a pattern equivalent to Leroy 20C1, but with no text lines.
Decoration: The beginning of some sections is marked by a simple minor initial in red ink.
Additions:
There is a σημείωσαι mark drawing attention to a passage on f. 29v. Later notes in Greek identify the presence of lacunas due to the loss of folios. (e.g. ff. 3v, 39v). The same hand has added a κεφάλαιον (chapter) reference on f. 2r, and completed the interrupted last word on f. 39v. A partially erased Greek devotional note appears on f. 4v, and a note on f. 6r, largely lost to cropping, included the name of the book beginning on that folio.
Headers indicating the current book have been added in Latin on ff. 1r and 5r, as have various notes of modern chapter and verse numbers.
A Latin note of content appears on f. [iii] recto: "Ecclesiastes. Canticum Canticorum. Sapientia Solomonis Graece"
The present classmark and the former classmarks No. 215, C.83 and O.3.48 have been marked on the left pastedown and on f. [i] recto.
Origin: The style of script suggests that the manuscript was copied in the later 12th or 13th century.
Acquisition: Donated to Trinity College by the antiquary Roger Gale (1672-1744), in 1738.
Funding: The Polonsky Foundation
Author(s) of the Record: Christopher Wright
Bibliography:
James, M.R., The western manuscripts in the library of Trinity College: a descriptive catalogue (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1902) 3.
Alfred Rahlfs, Verzeichnis der griechischen Handschriften des Alten Testaments [Neuausg.]. contributor: Detlef Fraenkel, Bible. Old Testament. Supplementum. Greek. Septuagint. 1931 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2004).

Want to know more?

Under the 'More' menu you can find metadata about the item, and information about sharing this image.

Ecclesiastes (image 11, page [viii] verso-1r) Song of Solomon (image 15, page 4v-5r) Wisdom of Solomon (image 16, page 5v-6r)

Information about this document

Physical Location: Trinity College Library
Classmark: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.53
Alternative Identifier(s): Diktyon 11963
Subject(s): Bible
Date of Creation: later 12th or 13th century
Former Owner(s): Gale, Roger, 1672-1744
Extent: Codex ii + 8 + 39 + 4 + vi Leaf height: c. 180 mm, width: c. 130 mm.
Collation:
The manuscript consists of 7 quires, all quaternia. One quire has been lost between Quires 1 and 3.
- Quire 1^8-4 ff. 1-4 The first, third, sixth and eighth folios have been lost, with loss of text.
- Quires 2-4⁸ ff. 5-28
- Quire 5^10-2 ff. 29-36 The fifth and seventh folios have been cancelled, without loss of text.
- Quire 6^8-5 ff. 37-39 The fifth folio has been cancelled and the second, third, sixth and seventh lost, with loss of text.
There are modern quire signatures in Arabic numerals, in pencil, on the first folio of each quire, recto, lower right. The missing quire after Quire 1 is counted as the second quire, so the numbers of the signatures thereafter are larger by one then their present position in the manuscript.
Material: Parchment (FHHF), quite thick and of relatively poor quality.
Format: Codex
Condition: There is a long tear near the gutter in f. 39 and an extensive tear from the edge of f. [xi], with occasional smaller tears elsewhere. There is serious creasing to the parchment endleaves, and some other creasing elsewhere. There is significant water staining and areas of dirt, some extensive.
Binding:
18th-century full leather binding over couched-laminate boards, with plain pastedowns. The boards are decorated with blind tooling and sprinkling, with a Cambridge panel design. There is decorative gold tooling on the edges. The classmark appears on patches on the spine
Binding height: 193 mm, width: 138 mm, depth: 35 mm.
Both outer joints have begun to split and the spine is partially detached from the book-block. Some of the leather covering has been lost from the foot of the spine.
Accompanying Material: The outermost endleaves, ff. [i-ii] and [xix-xx], are paper and uncut, and belong to the present binding. The remaining endleaves are parchment. Of these, [iii-x] and [xi-xiv] are of medium thickness and originally blank ([xi-xiv] are uncut), while [xv-xviii] are thick and composed of waste from a deed in Latin.
Script:
The manuscript was copied in a mixed minuscule script, slanting slightly to the left, in black ink, with little variation in letter size and occasional flourishing of tails into the lower margin.
Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings appear only at the end of lines, and syllabic abbreviations are very rare. Breathings are round and mute iota is absent. There is decorative use of the double dot, and accentuation of all lengths of nomina sacra.
The modern nu is present.
Punctuation used includes the lower, middle and upper points, lower and middle commas, question mark and full stop.
Headings are written in the same style in red ink.
Foliation:
The manuscript is foliated with the numbers [i-ii] + [iii-x] + 1-39 + [xi-xiv] + [xv-xx] in Arabic numerals, in pencil, recto, upper right.
Layout: A single column of 20 lines. Written height: 117-127 mm, width: 80 mm. Pricking survives in the upper and lower margins. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, margins ruled in a pattern equivalent to Leroy 20C1, but with no text lines.
Decoration: The beginning of some sections is marked by a simple minor initial in red ink.
Additions:
There is a σημείωσαι mark drawing attention to a passage on f. 29v. Later notes in Greek identify the presence of lacunas due to the loss of folios. (e.g. ff. 3v, 39v). The same hand has added a κεφάλαιον (chapter) reference on f. 2r, and completed the interrupted last word on f. 39v. A partially erased Greek devotional note appears on f. 4v, and a note on f. 6r, largely lost to cropping, included the name of the book beginning on that folio.
Headers indicating the current book have been added in Latin on ff. 1r and 5r, as have various notes of modern chapter and verse numbers.
A Latin note of content appears on f. [iii] recto: "Ecclesiastes. Canticum Canticorum. Sapientia Solomonis Graece"
The present classmark and the former classmarks No. 215, C.83 and O.3.48 have been marked on the left pastedown and on f. [i] recto.
Origin: The style of script suggests that the manuscript was copied in the later 12th or 13th century.
Acquisition: Donated to Trinity College by the antiquary Roger Gale (1672-1744), in 1738.
Funding: The Polonsky Foundation
Author(s) of the Record: Christopher Wright
Bibliography:
James, M.R., The western manuscripts in the library of Trinity College: a descriptive catalogue (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1902) 3.
Alfred Rahlfs, Verzeichnis der griechischen Handschriften des Alten Testaments [Neuausg.]. contributor: Detlef Fraenkel, Bible. Old Testament. Supplementum. Greek. Septuagint. 1931 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2004).

Section shown in images 11 to 15

Title: Ecclesiastes
Note(s): Defective at the beginning, with lacunas: contains 9:7-15 (f. 1r-1v), 10:10-12:1 (ff. 2r-3v), 12:9-12:14 (f. 4r-4v); TLG 0527.030
Excerpts:
Incipit: f. 1r <Δεῦ>ρο φάγε ἐν εὐφροσύνη τὸν ἄρτον σου
Explicit: f. 4r-4v ἐὰν ἀγαθὸν, ἐὰν πονηρόν

Section shown in images 15 to 16

Title: Song of Solomon
Note(s): Incomplete, with a lacuna: contains 1:1-1:6 (f. 4v), 7:12-8:14 (ff. 5r-6r); TLG 0527.031
Excerpts:
Rubric: f. 4v Ἆσμα ἀσμάτων
Incipit: f. 4v Ἆσμα ἀσμάτων, ὅ ἐστι τῶ Σαλομῶν
Explicit: f. 6r ἐπὶ τα ὅρη τῶν ἀσωμάτων

Section shown in images 16 to 50

Title: Wisdom of Solomon
Note(s): Defective at the end, with lacunas: contains: 1:1-16:16 (ff. 6v-37v), 17:5-16 (f. 38r-38v), 18:24-19:7 (f. 39r-39v); TLG 0527.033
Excerpts:
Rubric: f. 6r Σοφία Σολομῶντος
Incipit: f. 6v Ἀγαπήσατε δικαιοσύνην οἱ κρίνοντες τὴν γῆν
Explicit: f. 39v ὁδὸς ἀνεμπόδιστος καὶ χλοηφόρον