British Library, Add MS 12150 is the second oldest extant
Syriac manuscript[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 (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...
bearing a date in any language.
According to the original partially damaged
colophon, the manuscript was copied in
Edessa
Edessa (; grc, Ἔδεσσα, Édessa) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene ...
in the year 723 of the
Seleucid era, 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 and from there in 931 to the
Deir al-Suryani
The Monastery of Saint Mary El-Sourian is a Coptic Orthodox monastery located in Wadi El Natrun in the Nitrian Desert, Beheira Governorate, Egypt. It is located about 500 meters northwest of the Monastery of Saint Pishoy.
The monastery is de ...
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
The ''Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity'' (ODLA) is the first comprehensive, multi-disciplinary reference work covering culture, history, religion, and life in Late Antiquity. This was the period in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near Eas ...
'', 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 in 1838 and 1843.
[ The codex is currently housed at the British Library, catalogued as number 12150 in the additional manuscripts collection.][
The codex contains text of Pseudo-Clement's ''Recognitiones''; ]Titus of Bostra
Titus of Bostra (died c. 378) was a Christian theologian and bishop. Sozomen names Titus among the great men of the time of Constantius.
Life
Sozomen also tells of a mean trick played upon Titus by Julian the Apostate. It was expected that the ...
's ''Four Discources Against the Manichaeans''; Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christia ...
'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