British Library, Add MS 14479, is a
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 ...
of the
New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
, on parchment. It is dated by a
colophon to the year 534. It is one of the oldest manuscripts of
Peshitta
The Peshitta ( ''or'' ') is the standard Syriac edition of the Bible for Syriac Christian churches and traditions that follow the liturgies of the Syriac Rites.
The Peshitta is originally and traditionally written in the Classical Syriac d ...
and the earliest dated Peshitta
Apostolos.
[ Bruce M. Metzger, ''The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission and Limitations'' (Oxford University Press 1977), p. 51.]
Description
It contains the text of the fourteen
Pauline epistles
The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest ext ...
,
on 101 leaves (), with only three
lacunae (folio 1, 29, and 38). Written in one column per page, in 25-33 lines per page. The ''
Epistle to the Hebrews
The Epistle to the Hebrews () is one of the books of the New Testament.
The text does not mention the name of its author, but was traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle; most of the Ancient Greek manuscripts, the Old Syriac Peshitto and ...
'' is placed after ''
Philemon''.
[William Wright, ''Catalogue of the Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum'' (2002), p. 86.]
Numerous Syriac vowels and signs of punctuations have been added by a
Nestorian hand, as well as a few Greek vowels by another reader.
[
It was written for the monastery 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 a small, elegant Estrangela hand in the year 533–534.][ The first folio was supplemented by a later hand in the twelfth century, folio 28 and 39 were supplemented in the thirteenth century.][
The manuscript is 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 ...
(Additional Manuscripts 14479) in London.[
]
See also
* List of the Syriac New Testament manuscripts
; Other manuscripts
* Codex Phillipps 1388
* British Library, Add MS 14455
* British Library, Add MS 14459
* British Library, Add MS 14669
; Sortable articles
* Syriac versions of the Bible
* Biblical manuscript
A biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. Biblical manuscripts vary in size from tiny scrolls containing individual verses of the Jewish scriptures (see '' Tefillin'') to huge polyglot codices (multi- ...
References
{{refend
Further reading
* William Wright, ''Catalogue of the Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum'' (1870; reprint: Gorgias Press 2002).
External links
* William Wright
''Catalogue of the Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum''
Peshitta manuscripts
6th-century biblical manuscripts
Add. 14479
British Library additional manuscripts