British Library, Add MS 12150 is the second oldest extant Syriac

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

F. S. Jones (1992), "Evaluating the Latin and Syriac Translations of the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions", ''Apocrypha'', 3, 237–258. There is a "dated Syriac deed of sale found at Dura-Europus, which was evidently written in Edessa in the year 243". and the oldest

codex The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...

bearing a date in any language. According to the original partially damaged colophon, the manuscript was copied in

Edessa Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Sel ...

in the year 723 of the

Seleucid era The Seleucid era ("SE") or (literally "year of the Greeks" or "Greek year"), sometimes denoted "AG," was a Calendar era, system of numbering years in use by the Seleucid Empire and other countries among the ancient Hellenistic period, Hellenistic ...

, that is, AD 411. In AD 1086 (Seleucid 1398), the colophon was copied onto a different folio. This copy preserves the name of scribe, Jacob. The manuscript was brought at some point to

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

and from there in 931 to the Deir al-Suryani in Egypt among some 250 manuscripts collected by Moses of Nisibis.Oliver Nicholson (2018), "Martyrology of 411, Syriac", in Oliver Nicholson (ed.), '' The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity'', Vol. 2 (Oxford University Press), p. 976, and Christopher Kelly, "Deir al-Suryani", in ''op. cit.'', pp. 470–471. It was among the manuscripts sent to Britain from Deir al-Suryani by

Paul de Lagarde Paul Anton de Lagarde (2 November 1827 – 22 December 1891) was a German biblical scholar and orientalist, sometimes regarded as one of the greatest orientalists of the 19th century. Lagarde's anti-Semitism, anti-Slavism, and aversion to tradit ...

in 1838 and 1843. The codex is currently housed at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, catalogued as number 12150 in the additional manuscripts collection. The codex contains text of Pseudo-Clement's ''Recognitiones''; Titus of Bostra's ''Four Discources Against the Manichaeans'';

Eusebius of Caesarea Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

's ''On the Theophany'', ''On the Confessors of Palestine'' and ''Eulogy of the Confessors' Virtue''; and an anonymous martyrology. It has 255 parchment leaves (). The writing is in three columns per page, in 38–42 lines per column, in ''ʾesṭrangēlā'' script. The ink is black and brown. Hatch, William (1946). ''An album of dated Syriac manuscripts''. Boston: The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, reprinted in 2002 by Gorgias Press. p. 52. .

References

{{Portal, Bible Syriac manuscripts 5th-century manuscripts Add. 12150