Bonus 5 - Codex Vaticanus

Page from Codex Vaticanus B
(Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209; Gregory-Aland no. B or 03)
Page containing Bible Texts 2 Thess. 3,11-18, Heb. 1:1-2
Public Domain

The Codex Vaticanus (B) is perhaps one of the oldest Greek manuscripts and one of the great uncial codices of the Bible. The codex has been preserved in the Vatican Library since the 15th century and thus acquired its name.1.  It was written in Uncial letters (capitals) on 759 pages of vellum and dates to the 4th century AD.2.  Along with the Codex Sinaiticus it is considered to be one of the best Greek texts and the widely available editions of the Greek New Testament are based on it. 3.

Footnotes

• 1. Bruce M. Metzger, and Bart D. Ehrman. The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2005), 67.
• 2. Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland. The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism, trans. Erroll F. Rhodes (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1995), 109
• 3. Aland and Aland, Text of the New Testament, 26–30.

For Further Study

• Amphoux, Christian B. “Codex Vaticanus B: Les points diacritiques des marges de Marc.” Journal of Theological Studies 58 (2007): 440–46.
• Bibliorum Sacrorum Graecorum Codex Vaticanus B. Roma: Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato. 1999.
• Hoskier, Herman C. Codex B and Its Allies, a Study and an Indictment. London: Quaritch, 1–2 volumes, 1914.
• Kubo, Sakae. P72 and the Codex Vaticanus. Studies and Documents 27 edited by Jacob Geerlings. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1965.
• Metzger, Bruce M. Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Greek Palaeography. New York – Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1991.
• Miller, J. Edward. “Some Observations on the Text-Critical Function of the Umlauts in Vaticanus, with Special Attention to 1 Corinthians 14.34–35.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 26, (2003): 217–236.
• Payne, Philip B. and Paul Canart. “The Originality of Text-Critical Symbols in Codex Vaticanus.” Novum Testamentum Vol. 42, Fasc. 2 (2000): 105–113.
• Payne, Philip B. and Paul Canart. “The Text-Critical Function of the Umlauts in Vaticanus, with Special Attention to 1 Corinthians 14.34–35: A Response to J. Edward Miller.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 27 (2004): 105–112.
• Skeat, Theodore C. “The Codex Vaticanus in the fifteenth century.” Journal of Theological Studies 35 no. 2 (1984): 454–65.
• Skeat, Theodore C. “The Codex Sinaiticus, the Codex Vaticanus and Constantine.” Journal of Theological Studies 50 (1999): 583–625.
• Streeter, Burnett Hillman. The Four Gospels. A Study of Origins the Manuscripts Tradition, Sources, Authorship & Dates. Oxford, U.K.: MacMillan & Co., 1924.
• Tischendorf, Constantin von. Novum Testamentum Vaticanum. Lipsiae: Giesecke & Devrient, 1867.
• Voelz, James W “The Greek of Codex Vaticanus in the Second Gospel and Marcan Greek.” Novum Testamentum 47, 3 (2005): 209–249.