Codex Alexandrinus

Codex Alexandrinus
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Name	Codex Alexandrinus
Date	5th century (approx.)
Language	Greek
Material	Parchment
Size	12th–13th century rebinding
Location	British Library, London

Codex Alexandrinus is a fifth-century Greek manuscript of the Bible that is one of the earliest and most complete witnesses to the Septuagint, New Testament, and parts of the Old Testament in Greek. It has played a central role in the development of modern textual criticism associated with figures such as Desiderius Erasmus, John Mill, Richard Bentley, and Westcott and Hort. The manuscript is notable for its large folios, uncial script, and a mixture of textual traditions that link it to the Alexandrian text-type, Byzantine text-type, and Western text-type.

Description and Physical Characteristics

The codex is written in Greek uncial letters on parchment with around 773 extant leaves, resembling the format of other major uncials like Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus. The folios measure approximately 12 by 10 inches, bound in later bindings similar to those used by the Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Church of Constantinople. Layout features include two columns per page, with 40–44 lines per column, marginalia in minuscule hands reminiscent of scribes associated with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and rubrication that parallels manuscripts in the libraries of Mount Athos. Decorative elements and chapter headings show affinities with manuscripts produced under the patronage networks of the Byzantine Empire and scribal practices influenced by the Library of Alexandria.

Contents and Textual Features

The manuscript contains the majority of the Septuagint from the Greek Old Testament including the Book of Psalms, together with the entire New Testament except a few lacunae in the Gospel of Matthew and the Pastoral Epistles. It includes the Apocrypha and deuterocanonical books in the order and selection typical of manuscripts associated with the Alexandrian church and the Patriarchate of Alexandria. The New Testament text exhibits a Byzantine-majority affinity in the Gospels while the Epistles often align with the Alexandrian text-type seen in Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. Nomina sacra are contracted, and κεφαλαια and τιτλοι divisions are present, echoing organizational features used by scribes in Antioch and Jerusalem.

Date, Origin, and Production

Scholarly consensus places the codex in the 5th century, though palaeographic and codicological analyses occasionally argue for a late 4th or early 6th century provenance, similar to debates surrounding Codex Vaticanus. Proposed places of origin include Alexandria and Constantinople, with historical testimonies linking its production to scriptoria influenced by the Alexandrian school and the monastic communities of Caesarea Maritima. Ink composition and parchment preparation techniques compare with manuscripts produced under imperial workshops during the reign of Theodosius II and the cultural milieu of Justinian I. Colophons and later annotations suggest that the manuscript passed through ecclesiastical centers associated with Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria and later custodians like clergy serving in Cairo.

Textual Significance and Variants

The codex is a principal witness in critical editions of the Greek New Testament and the Septuagint because it preserves readings that illuminate the transmission history between the Alexandrian text-type and the rising Byzantine text-type of the medieval period. Its variant readings have been cited in apparatuses alongside those of P46, P75, Codex Bezae, and Codex Washingtonianus in evaluations by editors such as Eberhard Nestle, Kurt Aland, and the team producing the United Bible Societies edition. Notable variants include differences in the Gospel of Luke and disputed passages like the longer ending of Mark and the Pericope Adulterae in John. The manuscript's mixed text provides evidence for localized recension activity and liturgical revision, paralleling phenomena observed in the transmission histories studied by Herman C. Hoskier and Bruce Metzger.

History and Provenance

Tradition traces the manuscript’s presence to Alexandria and later to the Patriarchate of Constantinople; it was reportedly given to Charles I of England in the 17th century by Patriarch Cyril Lucaris or other high-ranking clerics during diplomatic exchanges with agents of the English monarchy and envoys connected to Thomas Roe and Henry Savile. The codex arrived in London in the 1620s and was catalogued in royal collections, where it influenced antiquarians and scholars such as James Ussher and William Laud. During the English Civil War and the subsequent Restoration the manuscript remained in royal or institutional custody, later transferred into the holdings that became the British Museum and subsequently the British Library.

Modern Study and Conservation

From the 19th century onward, intensive collation and photoduplication projects involved scholars like Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener, Samuel Birch, and T. C. Skeat; technological studies have used multispectral imaging and material analysis similar to protocols employed for Codex Sinaiticus and parchments in the Dead Sea Scrolls program. Conservation efforts mirror practices of the Conservation Centre of the British Library and international collaborations with the Bibliothèque nationale de France and Vatican Library on preservation and digitization. Current scholarly work integrates codicology, palaeography, and computational collation methods pioneered by teams responsible for the Institute for New Testament Textual Research and major critical editions, ensuring that the codex remains central to debates over textual criticism and the history of the Bible.

Category:Greek manuscripts Category:New Testament manuscripts Category:Septuagint manuscripts