The Discovery of the Pentateuch of the Syro-Hexapla Author(s): Arthur Vbus Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society,

Vol. 93, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1973), pp. 354355 Published by: American Oriental Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/599471 Accessed: 17/05/2009 09:00
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354

Journal

of the American

Oriental

Society

93.3 (1973)

The discovery of the Pentateuch of the Syro-Hexapla

The ongoing process of recovering the Syro-Hexapla-so vital for the reconstruction of the Septuagint column of Origen's lost Hexapla-has been very slow. Since 1571 when portions of the Old Testament first emerged, subsequent findings have been made only about once every hundred years. The present discovery within this timetable finally gives us the Pentateuch (beginning with Gen. 32,9 and ending with Deut. 32,25) of which very little or, in the case of some books, nothing was known. The manuscript, discovered in Tur 'Abdin, Eastern Turkey, is of the 10th or llth century. It offers a text which is carefully written and furnished with the Hexaplaric sigla and the textual critical apparatus. It includes also colophons which throw light on the Vorlage on the basis of which the SyroHexapla of the Pentateuch was made. Everyone who is aware of the consequence of the loss of the Septuagint of the Origen's Hexapla for scholarship and of the difficulties and the problems involved in this lost text understands quite well why every piece, every fragment, of the Syro-Hexapla which can be unearthed and saved from oblivion is extremely precious. Yet, this has been an ongoing process which has demanded extraordinary patience. The find presented here belongs to a category of documents which has a special history. The discovery deserves to be placed into a proper historical perspective. It was in the year 1571 that A. Masius surprised the learning in the West by a communication about the existence of the version of the Syro-Hexapla.1 The codex which had come into his possession was only the first part of the Old Testament.2 It had suffered heavily -and since then has disappeared completely. It was in the following century that a codex appeared from the remote Syrian monastery in the Valley of Nitria,3 namely Ms. C 313 inf. in the Bibliotheca Ambrosiana.4 Again the codex is only a part, namely the second half of the Old Testament.5 Moreover its emergence marked the end for any extensive find for centuries. In the course of the subsequent centuries, all that came to the fore comprised only some individual books or sections or fragments of them. It took another century before another codex emerged from the same Syrian monastery. The codex comprises 1 Syrorum Peculium (Antverpeni, 1571). 2 A. Rahlfs, Bibliothecae Syriacae a Paulo de Lagarde collectae quae ad philologiam sacram pertinent (Gottingae, 1892), 19ff. 3 Concerning this library, see H. G. E. White, The Mlonasteries of the Wddi 'n Natran II (New York, 1926 ff.). 4 Cf. "I fondi orientali minori (siriaco, etiopico, armeno) dell' Ambrosiano", Atti del congresso di studi su la Lombardia e L'Oriente (Milano, 1963), 190ff. 5 Codex Syro-Hexaplaris Ambrosianus photolithographice editus (Mediolani, 1874) = Monumenta Sacra et Profana VII. only the Fourth (the Second) Book of Kings, the present Ms. Par. Syr. 276 in the Bibliotheque Nationale,7 Paris. Then the wait lasted for more than a century for new sources to emerge. These were a group of single books, mostly parts and fragments8 which found their way into the British Museum.9 The edition of all these materials by A. M. Ceriani10 represents the net balance of all the materials found during these centuries. Furthermore, this net balance still reveals considerable gaps in the first part of the Old Testament, particularly in the Pentateuch of which very little has survived. Since the days of Ceriani, such a dearth has again taken place. Almost nothing has emerged, except for some tiny fragments in the lectionaries. Seen from this perspective in the history of the textual transmission of the Syro-Hexapla, it is a special event when one can announce the discovery of a new find-a find for which one had to wait a century ! Illumination and enlightenment of old and pressing textual and historical problems through new sources has always been my concern. This has not only projected visions but long ago gave me strength to undertake and to accomplish great projects.11 This systematic search for new manuscript sources has carried me over endless
6 Cf. H. Zotenberg, Catalogues des manuserifs syria-

ques et sabeens (mandaites) de la Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris, 1874), p. 10ff. 7 Veteris Testamenti ab Origine recensiti fragmenta apud Syros servata quinque, ed. P. de Lagarde (Gottingae, 1880); Bibliothecae Syriacae a Paulo de Lagarde collectae. 8 W. Wright, Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum I (London, 1970), 28ff. 9 See also Introduction, p. IIIff. 10 Codex Syro-Hexaplaris Ambrosianus; Pentateuchi Syro-Hexaplaris quae supersunt cum notis (Mediolani, 1863) = Monumenta Sacra et Profana II, 1-4. 11 Cf. A. Voobus, The Department of Theology at the University of Tartu: Its Life and Work, Martyrdom and Annihilation (Stockholm, 1963), 62f.

VOOBUS: Discovery of the Pentateuch roads examining the manuscript collections in Europe, leading me to the pathways in the Orient. The search in heat, thirst and fatigue has been animated by the goal. However, I have been modest in my expectations, sobered by the very great rarity of these texts. I believed I would be extraordinarily fortunate if fragments of the Syro-Hexapla could be unearthed. I could not really hope for more. However, my endeavors in a systematic search were more rewarded the deeper I extended my search into the Syrian Orient. Very precious documents -among them also a manuscript with the Book of Isaiah -began to emerge.l2 Travelling from village to village, church to church, and from monastery to monastery, the search gradually moved towards13 Tur 'Abdin, a region which has played a special role in the history of the spiritual life of the Syrian Christianity. This is the region where I would find the greatest reward-a gem among all the finds in the area of the biblical texts that I was privileged to make. I discovered the codex in Midyat.14 My first acquaintance with this codex was in an unaccustomed manner. With an unusual feeling I took up this volume of extraordinary size and appearance. I felt a strange awe before opening it. When I opened it at once it became clear what I held in my hands-a great treasure which no modern scholar has seen. A detailed study of the wealth of the textual material with which this discovery showers us must remain a task for the future. The edition of this document is in preparation which will make it available to detailed inHowever, before this takes place it is vestigations. necessary to say something about the new codex and the physiognomy of the text. The manuscript is a heavy and impressive volume bound in black leather. It contains 182 folio leaves of Oriental paper. The text was written very carefully and neatly in a script which is attractive and clear. Indeed, in every respect the text is executed with great care. The codex has not survived without some wounds. Its beginning is lost, so that at present the text begins with Genesis 32,9. Fortunately, only a few leaves have fallen out in the body of the codex and at the end of it.
12 See A. Voobus, Discoveries of Very Important Manu-

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With the loss of the end of the book of Deuteronomy, the colophon of the codex at the end has disappeared. Thus we cannot learn about the circumstances relative to the copying and the data about the time and place of origin of this manuscript. Among the published samples15 and facsimile plates16 of the dated manuscripts there is no such specimen available which helps to settle the chronological question of this ductus commensurate to this rare and extraordinary literary record for which it was used. However, it is clear that the script seems to be related to the early period of the Serto, namely the close of it or to the proximity of it,17 allowing us to reckon with the possibility that this Serto script may come from the 11th if not from the 10th century. With regard to the textual profile of this manuscript, it nust be said that the new source offers a very precious body of evidence. The text of this codex is supplemented with a textual critical apparatus. It is furnished with the Hexaplaric sigla, and the readings from Aquila, Symnmachus, Theodotion, and the Samaritan Pentateuch and other textual critical notes placed on the margin of the codex. Sometimes additional textual and exegetical notes have been added to the textual criticus apparatus. The text of the Syro-Hexapla of the Pentateuch is also furnished with colophons. They have a particular value since they contain data on the question pertaining to the Vorlage on the basis of which the Syro-Hexapla translation of the Pentateuch was made. Thus, finally, information comes into our possession which throws light on the much discussed question of the archetype pertaining to the books of the Pentateuch. When for a century scholarship had to be content with only some very tiny scraps and fragments which have emerged,18 the discovery of the Pentateuch is, indeed, unbelievable. The present report marks a real event in the entire history of disclosure of the Syro-Hexapla. Through immense fortune my labors now have a part in the very slowly ongoing process in unearthing texts which have left us waiting for a to century-according the remarkable timetable which spans centuries. ARTHUR VOOBUS LUTHERAN SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY
AT CHICAGO

script Sources for the Syro-Hexapla: Contributions to the Research on the Septuagint (Stockholm 1970). 13 About other important manuscript discoveries in this area, see A. Voobus, Handschriftliche Oberlieferung der Memre-Dichtung von Ja'qob von Sertig. Sammlungen, I-II (Louvain, 1972) = Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium. Id., New Important Manuscript Discoveries for the History of Syriac Literature (in press). 14 Namely in the Church of Mart Smfni.

15 E. Tisserant, Specimina codicum orientalium (Bonnae, 1914), plate 25ff. 16 W. H. P. Hatch, An Album of Dated Syriac Manuscripts (Boston, 1946), plates CXV, CXVI, CXVIII; cf. CXXV. 17 Cf. A. Voobus, The Hexapla and the Syro-Hexapla: Very Important Discoveries for Septuagint Research (Stockholm, 1971). 18 Cf. A. V66bus, History of Syriac Literature I (in press).