Tag Archives: manuscripts

Manuscripts of The Jewish War by Josephus

Posted on June 20, 2025 by Brent Nongbri

The seven-book composition by the historian Josephus describing the sacking of Jerusalem goes by different names in the Greek manuscript copies: In the Latin tradition, these books were known to Jerome as captituitas Iudaicae (Comm. in Isaiam 17), but the … Continue reading →

Posted in Josephus, Judaism | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The So-called Scriptorium at Bu Njem

Posted on March 8, 2025 by Brent Nongbri

It is common for historians of ancient Rome to state that writers did not use desks (As Theodor Birt put it, “In antiquity, people did not write on desks”). I have noted before on the blog that I am not … Continue reading →

Posted in desks, Ostraca, Scriptoria | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Ehrman on Titles of the Gospels in Sinaiticus and Vaticanus: Fact Check

Posted on January 26, 2025 by Brent Nongbri

Over at his blog, Bart Ehrman has been posting some basic facts about different books of the New Testament. The last couple posts have been about the Gospel According to Mark, and yesterday’s post, which is publicly available, treats the … Continue reading →

Posted in Biblical Majuscule, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, Palaeography, Scripts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Decoration of the Fore-edges of Coptic Codices

Posted on December 27, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

There is a fun article in The New York Times about the growing trend among publishers of producing deluxe editions of romance and fantasy books. The article mentions different kinds of cover enhancements but focuses on decoration of the fore-edge. … Continue reading →

Posted in Book binding, Book covers, Chester Beatty Papyri, Codicology, Maurice Nahman, Saqqara Codices | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Work on Codex Vaticanus (Vat. gr. 1209)

Posted on December 20, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

2024 has been a good year for the study of Codex Vaticanus. Peter Head at the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog just posted a notice of an important new study of the inks in the codex: The article is available open … Continue reading →

Posted in Codex Vaticanus, Codicology, Ink | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Upcoming Sale of the Crosby-Schøyen Codex (Just How Old is this Book?)

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

It has been an unusually busy news week for Coptic codices. I posted a few days ago about the Mudil Psalms codex, and then yesterday several news outlets reported that Christie’s will be auctioning off the Crosby-Schøyen codex, a papyrus … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Codices, Codicology, Crosby-Schøyen Codex, Maguid Sameda, Radiocarbon analysis, Schøyen Collection | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

The Mudil Psalter

Posted on March 31, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

News services in Egypt have announced that the Mudil Psalter is back on display after undergoing conservation treatment. This was a very well preserved Coptic codex that was excavated in 1984. It was found buried together with the body of … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeological context, Book binding, Mudil Psalter | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments