Subject: RE: tc-list Uncial or Uncial?

From: "Thomas J. Kraus" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1999 12:51:34 +0200

One more example demonstrating (my) stupidity (cut message). Sorry.
Edward,
I wouldn´t be that optimistic about secure dating on palaeographical 
grounds. Many hands almost resemble each other but nonetheless have 
characteristics on their own. Not to forget that scribes might have 
attempted at imitating a kind of archaic style, a style out of fashion in 
their time, or they indeliberately wrote in a way which was still to come 
into fashion during the next generations. The repayment of a loan, 
P.Vindob.G 19811, for instance, carries three subscriptions spanning a 
period of about four hundred years (different styles) if only palaeography 
is taken as the decisive factor for dating. Luckily, a notary put down (in 
a regular cursive hand) his remark and a date. Nonetheless, for literary 
documents there are, in most cases, no other possibilities to judge from 
the style of writing, compare that with other manuscripts, and then give a 
hypothetical date. But: this remains hypothetical, and if a specific style 
of writing falls out of fashion, does not mean that it will not appear 
later on somewhere.
Apart from Metzger, I would recommend: F. G. Kenyon, The Palaeography of 
Greek Papyri, London 1899; W. Schubart, Palaeographie. Erster Teil: 
Griechische Palaeographie, Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft I,4,1, 
Munich 1925 (a classic); E.M. Thompson, A Handbook of Greek and Latin 
Paleography, Chicago 1968; E.G. Turner, Greek Manuscripts of the Ancient 
World, 2nd ed. London 1987, and above all: R. Seider, Palaeographie der 
griechischen Papyri. 3 vols, Stuttgart 1967-1990.
P.S.: Dave Washburn mentioned: "... "uncial" has been the standard term 
for a particular Greek style of writing for over 100 years". This is 
misleading as long as you do not say which kind of uncial writing you mean 
(uncial vs minuscule!). By the way, the original meaning of uncial and 
majuscule definitely is of importance to judge and understand the way of 
writing found in a manuscript in a proper way (see e.g. Turner, Greek 
Manuscripts, 1-5). 
Best wishes,
Thomas J. Kraus
Universitaet Regensburg
Kath.-theol. Fakultaet
Universitaetsstr. 31
D-93053 Regensburg

Tel. + 49 941 943 36 90
Fax. + 49 941 943 19 86
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