Subject: Peshitta/Codex Antioch

From: [email-masked] (Paul CHOWN)
Date: 28 Apr 97 11:24 +0000

This list has been suggested to me as a place where I could forward
this question.

>>Can any of you scholars (or anyone else) give me a brief introduction
>>to the Antiochian Manuscripts.  I am interested in who, when, and
>>where they were used prior to Erasmus.

paul
[email-masked]

---

From: Jean VALENTIN <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 97 22:28:12 +0200

>>>where they were used prior to Erasmus.

The subject line of this message suggests you are speaking about syriac 
manuscripts. In fact, when "scholars" speak about Antiochene manuscripts, 
they speak about Greek manuscripts that, according to certain theories, 
reflect a recension of the Greek text that was produced (IVth century?) 
in Antioch. It has become more usual, nevertheless, to speak of the 
Byzantine text. It is by far the text that is represented in the biggest 
number of Greek manuscripts (If I remember, somebody gave the figure of 
80 percent, am I right?).

As to the peshitto, it is a syriac version (syriac = the Aramaic dialect 
of the Christians of Northern Mesopotamia). Though it was usually said - 
too simply - to reflect this same greek text, it is now recognized that 
it is a revision of older syriac texts, that had another textual base. 
The peshitto, though introducing in the syriac tradition many variants 
that lead to suppose that its revision base was probably something close 
to the Byzantine text, has kept an important layer of variants going back 
to the Old Syriac version. 

As an example, one day I made a study of Mt 23 in the Syriac tradition. I 
give the ciphers by memory, if some are interested, I will post something 
about it later with more precise data: of 25 variants that exist in this 
chapter in the Old Syriac version and that have no support from any known 
greek manuscripts, 8 are still present in the peshitto.

When I say above that the revisors of the peshitto used "something close 
to" the Byzantine text, I say that because all the variants that are 
introduced - at least for this chapter - are also present in other 
eastern Greek mss (like 575 700 fam1 and fam13). The one or two variants 
that are found _only_ in the Byz text were not taken by the Peshitto. Of 
course, this is only a survey I made some time ago, but it gives me the 
impression that the popular idea that the peshitto is mostly Byzantine 
could be quite easily challenged.

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Jean Valentin - 58/7 rue Van Kalck - 1080 Bruxelles - BELGIQUE
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email : [email-masked]   ***   netmail : 2:291/780.103
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