This volume contains bilingual Coptic-Arabic Gospels, according to Ibn al-ʿAssāl's version. Contents:. Decorative cross, fol. 1v. Matthew, fols. 2r-70v. Mark, fols. 71r-110v. Luke, fols. 111r-182r. John, fols. 182v-233v. The colophon is found on fol. 233v. In it, the scribe notes that the codex was repaired the year 1190 Hijra/1492 Anno Martyrum (1776 CE; cf. Crum, Catalogue, 322). Cureton omits the number 1492 and calculates the year 1190 according to the Anno Martyrum calendar and converts it to 1474 CE. This seems unlikely since the colophon states that the original date was 400 years older, which is very early for this sort of text. Finally, the colophon mentions that it was requested by the Monastery of al-Baramūs in Wadi Natrun and that the scribe was Ibrāhīm ibn Samʿān (the note is transcribed in [AC] Cureton and Rieu, Catalogus, 355).
Gospels
This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections
- Reference
- GB 59 Add MS 5995
- Dates of Creation
- 1776
- Language of Material
- Arabic Coptic
- Physical Description
- Codex 233 ff Material: Oriental paper (restored parts on European paper). Dimensions: 400 x 265 mm leaf [320-330 x 180-190 mm written]. Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil and in Greek uncials. Lines per page: ca 28-33/lines per page. Script: Different hands, Naskh; the younger scribe is Ibrāhīm ibn Samʿān.Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings and stops in red. Decoration: A cross on fol. 1v and decorative book headings introducing the four gospels in green, yellow, red, and purple; snake in the margin of fol. 71r. Binding: British Museum binding. Condition: Good. Fols. 1-10; 18-19; 70; 108-121; 128-132; 136-137; 182-184; 199-200; 202; 233 are restored. Marginalia: Some notes, including text-critical remarks in red; section numbers in Coptic Epact numbers.Other: There are some additional notes on the restored folios on 70v and 110v.
Scope and Content
Access Information
Not Public Record(s)
Unrestricted
Acquisition Information
Brought from Egypt by Major General Turner, August 1801.
Other Finding Aids
[AC] Cureton, William and Charles Rieu, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur. Pars secunda, codices arabicos amplectens [Supplementum] (London: The British Museum, 1871), item 795 p. 355. Crum, Walter Erwing, Catalogue of the Coptic Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1905), item 732, p. 322.