Wednesday 8 July 2009

Codex Sinaiticus online




Nothing to do with a new tablet for a naval passage blockage - that would be 'codeine sinusitus' - but everything to do with the oldest version of the Bible in existence. Now available online. Worth just having a look at the text even if (like me) you can't read the 1600 year old greek. No worries there as a translation running aloongside the photographed parchment  

Text here

Codex Sinaiticus, a manuscript of the Christian Bible written in the middle of the fourth century, contains the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament. The hand-written text is in Greek. The New Testament appears in the original vernacular language (koine) and the Old Testament in the version, known as the Septuagint, that was adopted by early Greek-speaking Christians. In the Codex, the text of both the Septuagint and the New Testament has been heavily annotated by a series of early correctors.  The significance of Codex Sinaiticus for the reconstruction of the Christian Bible's original text, the history of the Bible and the history of Western book-making is immense.

Text here



I read about it in the Church of England Newspaper CEN  in an article by Toby Cohen  'World's oldest Bible gets new lease of life' 

Professor David Parker from the University of Birmingham’s Department of Theology, said: “The transcription includes pages of the Codex which were found in a blocked-off room at the Monaster y of St Catherine in 1975, some of which were in poor condition. This is the first time that they have been published.

“The digital images of the virtual manuscript show the beauty of the original and readers are even able to see the difference in handwriting between the different scribes who copied the text. We have even devised a unique alignment system that allows users to link the images with the transcription. This project has made a wonderful book accessible to a global audience.”


THE BRITISH LIBRARY The British Library is running an exhibition form 6 July to 7 September called 'from Parchment to Pixel' 

Image taken of the Monastery from the hill      have a look at the online gallery 


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