The siglum Taylor-Schechter 12.182 (T-S 12.182; also referenced as TM nr. 62326;
LDAB id: 3490; Rahlfs 2005) designates a manuscript written on
parchment
Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...
in
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 ...
form. This is a
palimpsest
In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off in preparation for reuse in the form of another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid ski ...
of a copy of
Origen's work called the
Hexapla
''Hexapla'' (), also called ''Origenis Hexaplorum'', is a Textual criticism, critical edition of the Hebrew Bible in six versions, four of them translated into Ancient Greek, Greek, preserved only in fragments. It was an immense and complex wor ...
. The manuscript is dated to 7th-century AD, and is the oldest of the hexapla manuscripts. The hexapla was completed before 240 AD.
History
The fragments comes from Egypt, were published by C. Taylor in his work Hebrew-Greek
Cairo Genizah Palimpsests, Cambridge, 1900, pp. 54–65.
Description
This is
palimpsest
In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off in preparation for reuse in the form of another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid ski ...
in codex form written on
parchment
Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...
. It contains
Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament.
The book is an anthology of B ...
22 (LXX 21): 15-18 fol. A recto, 19-24 and 25-28 fol. B verso, and the middle columns, 2-5 columns of the Hexapla.
Tetragrammaton ΠΙΠΙ
The manuscript is written in koine Greek, and the divine name is notable, it contains the
tetragrammaton
The TetragrammatonPronounced ; ; also known as the Tetragram. is the four-letter Hebrew-language theonym (transliteration, transliterated as YHWH or YHVH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four Hebrew letters, written and read from ...
in Greek characters "Pipi" (). According to
Jerome
Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome.
He is best known ...
, some
septuagint manuscripts
The earliest surviving manuscripts of the Septuagint (abbreviated as LXX meaning 70), an ancient (first centuries BCE) translation of the ancient Hebrew Torah into Koine Greek, include three 2nd century BCE fragments from the books of Leviticu ...
had the
Divine Name written in this way.
Jerome
Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome.
He is best known ...
mentions that some Greek manuscripts contain the Hebrew letters YHWH (), he also comments that this Hebrew could mislead some Greek readers to read YHWH as "Pipi" (ΠΙΠΙ), since the letters YHWH (read right to left) look like "
Pi Iota
Iota (; uppercase Ι, lowercase ι; ) is the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Yodh. Letters that arose from this letter include the Latin I and J, the Cyrillic І (І, і), Yi (Ї, ї), and J ...
Pi Iota" (read left to right) in Greek.
[Letter 25 to Marcellus] According to
Pavlos D. Vasileiadis and Nehemiah Gordon, the manuscript has "the nomen sacrum with a supralinear
Hebrew yod for יהוה (YHWH), followed by . This transitional combination represents the Tetragrammaton in
Ps 22:20
XX 21:20in three separate ways in the Septuagint column of Origen’s Hexapla, preserved in a palimpsest in the Cairo Genizah."
Actual location
Today it is kept at the
Library of the University of Cambridge as a part of the Taylor-Schechter Cairo Genizah Collection (Cambridge University Library T-S 12.182).
See also
*
Septuagint manuscripts
The earliest surviving manuscripts of the Septuagint (abbreviated as LXX meaning 70), an ancient (first centuries BCE) translation of the ancient Hebrew Torah into Koine Greek, include three 2nd century BCE fragments from the books of Leviticu ...
*
Ambrosiano O 39 sup.
*
Hexapla
''Hexapla'' (), also called ''Origenis Hexaplorum'', is a Textual criticism, critical edition of the Hebrew Bible in six versions, four of them translated into Ancient Greek, Greek, preserved only in fragments. It was an immense and complex wor ...
References
Sources
*
External links
Cambridge University Library T-S 12.182 on Cambridge Digital Library'The oldest fragment of Origen's Hexapla: T-S 12.182', Genizah Research Unit's Fragment of the Month
*{{cite web, title=The Hexapla, publisher=Artefacts of Ancient Judaism, url=http://artefacts.lib.cam.ac.uk/show.html#hexapla, access-date=2015-03-09, url-status=dead, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416161134/http://artefacts.lib.cam.ac.uk/show.html#hexapla, archive-date=2015-04-16 A description of T-S 12.182
Image 1University Library Taylor-Schechter Collection 12.182.jpg Image 2
7th-century biblical manuscripts
Manuscripts held by the University of Cambridge
Manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza
Works by Origen