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Verzeichnis der griechischen Handschriften des Alten ... Flipbook PDF
This review was published by RBL 2008 by the Society of Biblical Literature. For more information on obtaining a subscri
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RBL 07/2008 Rahlfs, Alfred; Detlef Fraenkel, ed. Verzeichnis der griechischen Handschriften des Alten Testaments, Vol. 1.1: Die Überlieferung bis zum VIII. Jahrhundert Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2004. Pp. xxxiv + 566. Hardcover. €118.20. ISBN 3525534477.
Johann Cook University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch, South Africa Whereas it is common knowledge that the Göttingen Septuaginta-Unternehmens is responsible for the preparation of the Old Greek text, not many scholars are aware of the crucial fundamental research that is executed by the main Mitarbeiter of this institution. Over the past decades two such co-worker colleagues were Udo Quast (sadly, he passed away recently) and Detlef Fraenkel. A large number of the manuscripts published in this series over the last three decades went through their hands (eyes!). The six-hundred-page monograph under review represents a reworking of the original publication by Alfred Rahlfs. This is not just a republication but a thorough reworking and updating of the original. In Fraenkel’s own words, it is his intention “eine erweiterte Neuausgabe des Verzeichnisses zu vereinstalten, welche nicht nur die seither hinzugekommenen Stücke registrieren, sondern auch die Daten des überkommenen Bestandes überprüfen und aktualisieren sollte” (xi). This is also the first volume in a planned two-volume chronologically oriented series. Whereas this first volume aims at collecting the material from the beginning up to the eighth century, the second volume will deal with the data up to the sixteenth century. However, Fraenkel deliberately did not follow these chronological guidelines strictly, since he chose not to unravel textual material that belonged together
This review was published by RBL 2008 by the Society of Biblical Literature. For more information on obtaining a subscription to RBL, please visit http://www.bookreviews.org/subscribe.asp.
(xi). This first volume contains all the data that were collected after 1914 and entails more than four hundred papyri over against the one hundred taken into account by Rahlfs. 1. Introduction. In his preparation of this monograph, Frankel to a large extent follows Rahlfs in his descriptions but sometimes goes his own way. For example, whereas Rahlfs referred to the “Oxyrhynchus Papyri,” Fraenkel uses only the description “Oxyrhynchus,” which, moreover, is a reference to the place of origin. The logic behind these decisions is that these two publications can be used together without difficulty. The introduction contains an indispensable orientation to the monograph as a whole. The original descriptions of Rahlfs are followed and adapted where necessary. Fraenkel, for example, refers to novel material from patristic circles that were compiled by Aland. This is a change from Rahlfs’s policy, but necessary since these materials are relevant for patristics as well as the reception of the LXX. The description of the manuscripts is done according to a set scheme, and the introduction includes an exhaustive list of sigla and abbreviations. 2. Description of the Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament (ch. 1). This chapter is by far the most comprehensive and contains the detailed description of the Greek manuscripts (some examples of Coptic manuscripts are also included, e.g., the Bodleian Library on 276) of the Hebrew Bible, alphabetically ordered according to place and libraries. Each manuscript is described according to the following system, where applicable: (1) description—inventory numbers, date, material (papyrus, etc.), number of pages/fragments, format, columns, inscription/heading (recto/verso), state of preservation, codicological information, letter-type, orthography, including references to the nomensacrum, stichal writing for poetic parts, origin/owner; (2) contents; (3) editions; (4) facsimiles; (5) collations; and (6) literature. The first description entails manuscripts from Alexandria (El-Iskandarīya), and the last one, ending at page 449, concerns manuscripts from Zürich. The descriptions are meticulously executed and include a vast number of manuscripts that were not available to Rahlfs. 3. Numerical lists (ch. 2). Fraenkel decided to be fairly exhaustive in his preparation of the sigla. This chapter is divided into two parts: manuscripts with Rahlfs’s sigla and those without sigla. As to the first category, the following sigla are described: (1) A–Z selected uncial manuscripts; (2) 13–311 from Holmes-Parsons; (3) 312–800, manuscripts from the Old Testament, excluding the Psalms; (4) 801–1000, smaller fragments of the Old Testament (excluding the Psalms); (5) 1001–, Psalteria until the twelfth century;
This review was published by RBL 2008 by the Society of Biblical Literature. For more information on obtaining a subscription to RBL, please visit http://www.bookreviews.org/subscribe.asp.
(6) 1401–, younger Psalteria; and, finally, (7) 2001–, smaller fragments from the Psalms until the eighth century. The manuscripts without a Rahlfs siglum are indicated by means of the abbreviation oS, from 1–64 and include: (1) fragments of other Greek translations (Aquila, Symmachus); (2) lectionaries; (3) the remainder. 4. Biblical lists: overview of Old Testament manuscripts material. Again Fraenkel follows Rahlfs as far as the grouping of Old Testament books into seven categories is concerned. This chapter is especially useful, since manuscripts from different biblical books are described. Three sigla are important: a question mark (?) indicates uncertain cases, a cross (†) that a manuscript was later rewritten, and a dart (↑) that the specific manuscript also includes texts from other biblical books. From this list the researcher can therefore gain easy access to relevant readings from specific biblical books. 5. Registers. The monograph ends with an extremely useful and multipurpose register. The first category consists of a concordance of sigla that exhaustively compares: (1) Holmes-Parsons and Rahlfs; (2) Lagarde-Rahlfs; (3) Swete-Rahlfs; (4) Brooke-McLeanRahlfs; (5a) Aland-Rahlfs; (5b) Rahlfs-Aland; (6a) van Haelst-Rahlfs; (6b) Rahlfs-van Halest; (7a) Turner-Rahlfs; and (7b) Rahlfs-Turner. In the second category, manuscripts prepared in different scribal materials are described: papyri, leather, parchment, paper, ostraca, plates, lead, and stone. The third category includes multilingual manuscripts, with the following combinations in conjunction with Greek: Arabic, Coptic, CopticArabic, Georgian, Hebrew, Latin, Nubian, and Syriac. The fourth category is an exhaustive list of textual references. Since issues of provenance are important to the Septuaginta-Unternehmens, manuscripts are, fifthly, located according to the places and libraries where they are kept. In a sixth category, places and regions where manuscripts were found are mentioned; finally, references to places (Ortsverweise) are mentioned. 6. Conclusion. Detlef Fraenkel has used his specialized knowledge to the full. He has executed a meticulously detailed reference work that will be of inestimable value to text critics specifically but also to hermeneuts in general. The academic community is in debt to this original and careful researcher for an indispensable research tool.
This review was published by RBL 2008 by the Society of Biblical Literature. For more information on obtaining a subscription to RBL, please visit http://www.bookreviews.org/subscribe.asp.