Stylistic Identification

One must keep in mind that the general frames on which the letter are written do change due to the fact that Rahlfs 1098 tends to have two sets of scripts, one that is more majuscule and one that is minuscule, as noted earlier.

Nevertheless both majuscule and minuscule scripts are bimodular. For the minuscule script, there is a clear distinction between tall and narrow letters like τ, δ, and ψ, or wide letters like ω, and square letters like alpha.

On the other hand, for majuscule shapes, omega and delta are rectangular.

Alpha, epsilon (somewhat), mu, nu, lambda, kappa, omicron, pi (sometimes), sigma,

gamma, beta, upsilon, and chi are rather square. Psi, tau, phi, rho, zeta, xi, iota, eta

(somewhat) are tall and rectangular. The result is that the scribe has a range of options

when it came graphically represent the text. The text in general is austere looking. It is

devoid of flourishes. Even the portions written in red ink do not show adornment.

their relative positions), their cursiveness (in terms of ductus), and the frequency of ligatures and/or abbreviations. Letter­shapes also display greater diversity in minuscule, partly because the ligatures add another 20­odd signs, which can be written in peculiar ways, to the 24 letters of the alphabet; and partly because scribes had the option (and made increasing use of over time, as we shall see) of substituting individual majuscule letter­shapes for minuscule ones, so that many letters could be represented by two (or more) completely different shapes.

¹¹

Still, one should make an attempt at looking for parallel writings in other manuscripts.

This practice provides a starting point for making educated guesses regarding provenance, style, and dating. Perhaps, should the provenance of the manuscript be ascertained, there could be found other manuscripts with a similar textual profile, in our case, hexaplaric material.

Concerning the hand of Rahlfs 1098, there are likely parallels in the Ephraim Type Minuscule. This style is one of several mentioned by Timothy Janz in the Greek Palaeography Pathway from the Thematic Pathways on the Web project.

The style is named after the person who copied the manuscripts Vatop. 747, Marc. gr. 201, and Vat. gr. 124. His subscription appears in all these manuscripts. Janz provides link to the subscription for Vat. gr. 124, which according to him was copied in 947 CE. Figure 54 shows the last page, where the subscription is located.

11Janz, “Greek Paleography.”

Figure 54. Vat. gr. 124

The script is not exactly like that of Rahlfs 1098; and one should not expect it to be so. However, already here one can see points of contact between the hands in Vat. gr.

124 and Rahlfs 1098. For example, the hand in Vat. gr. 124 appears to use more

majuscule­like letters for paratextual purposes. In the case of Rahlfs 1098 the majuscule shapes are also used as paratext, like the abbreviations of church father in the catena portions and the transliteration column which in light of this discussion could be

considered a kind of paratext. It is not only that Ephraim in Vat. gr. 124 and Rahlfs 1098

use similar style letters for paratextual information, also in both manuscripts the

paratextual portion does not connect letters. The letters in the transliteration column of the Rahlfs 1098 do not join.

Similar styles of abbreviations in Vat. gr. 124 and Rahlfs 1098 have also been observed. First, on the last line of Vat. gr. 124 one can see the initials ε ιν δ

ε. I would like to bring attention to the use of horizontal lines above and below the epsilons and the vertical stroke under the lower horizontal line. This finds parallels in Rahlfs 1098 in the catena, specifically in folios 52 and 54.

In the first image (fol. 54) using the 3D­Relief layer the red channel has been increased and the contrast has been modified so as to make the strokes more visible. See figure 55.

Figure 55. Fol. 54, 3D­Relief layer,

red channel enhanced

From top to bottom we see delta, theta, a horizontal line below delta, and finally the right­leaning vertical stroke. This is the abbreviation for the name of Theodoret.

In figure 56 (fol. 52), using the Basic layer, one can see again the abbreviation for Theodoret, written with the same sequence of characters as above: delta, theta, horizontal line, and vertical stroke. In addition, there is an accent­like stroke above the delta.

Figure 56. Fol. 52, left margin, Basic layer

Nonetheless, I cannot draw any kind of hard and fast rule regarding this style of

abbreviation in Rahlfs 1098 since it is rather infrequent. Also, there are other types of

abbreviations such as what is used for the name of Origen. See figure 57, from fol. 47 line

12, left margin, displaying Origen’s name in red ink.

Figure 57. Fol. 47, displayig Origen’s name

Other points of contact between Rahlfs 1098 and the Ephraim Type are as follows. First, a tendency for rhos to connect to the following letter from its descender.

Janz highlights this one feature, and calls it a “cursive element of note...not found in earlier scripts.”

¹²

See for example the word θηρίων in fol. 52 line 10 in figure 58.

Figure 58. Fol. 52, line 10

Second, the Ephraim style has a tendency to lean ever so slightly to the right.

This is something that has already been pointed out for Rahlfs 1098. Figure 59 shows a page from Melodaniensis Ambrosianus B. 106 sup. fol. 195v.

12Timothy Janz, “Greek Paleography: From Antiquity to the Renaissance: 4. Ninth­ and Tenth­Century Minuscules,” Accessed February 11, 2022,

https://spotlight.vatlib.it/greek­paleography/feature/4­ninth­and­tenth­century­minuscules.

Figure 59. Melodaniensis Ambrosianus B. 106 sup. fol. 195v

Third, I would like to elaborate a little on what Janz calls an “impression of well­proportioned harmoniousness.”

¹³

Janz himself does not specify what he means by this, only that this feature “prefigures the Perlschrift.” Still, by reading his description of the Perlschrift style, one can deduce that Janz has in mind the even spacing between letters and words as well as the evenness with which the letters were drawn. Figure 60 is an example of this Perlschrift style, extracted from the Greek Paleography Pathway site.

It is the same image that Janz uses as demonstration of this style. The manuscript is Vat.

gr. 1613, p. 124.

13Janz, “Greek Paleography.”

Figure 60. Perlschrift style, Vat. gr. 1613, p. 124

The point is that the Ephraim Type also displays even spacing both within the line (between words and letters) and from line to line.

Regarding Rahlfs 1098, it has already been pointed out how the scribe of Rahlfs 1098 used rule lines in order to guide his writing. It has also been pointed out that the letters in their own graphic appearance are not compromised. But the evenness in writing in Rahlfs 1098 is not carried out to the extent that one sees in the Perlschrift style.

In conclusion, it appears safe to classify Rahlfs 1098 within the Ephraim Type minuscules. One cannot know with certainty whether it was written by Ephraim himself.

Nevertheless, even the dating assigned to Ephraim Type minuscules accords well with that assigned by Mercati to Rahlfs 1098. Ephraim Type minuscules are dated from the early to mid tenth century.

¹⁴

Mercati, on the other hand, expressed the view that the writing in Rahlfs 1098 was at the earliest from the late 9th century. In light of the dates assigned to the Ephraim Type, I would also like to assign Rahlfs 1098 a date of mid­tenth century.

14Janz, “Greek Paleography.”

CHAPTER 3 ORTHOGRAPHY

This chapter aims to present a comprehensive overview of the most salient orthographical characteristics found in Rahlfs 1098. It is necessary to mention the following caveat, however. Since Rahlfs 1098 is the lower layer or scriptura inferior in Ambro. O 39, determination of the exact nature of the orthography will sometimes be a matter of interpretation. Additionally, given the nature of the palimpsest, one would not be able to get an exhaustive account of every single orthographical deviation in the text.

Nevertheless, the content in this chapter will assist the reader of Rahlfs 1098 in the task of reading the text, whether it is only the images or with the transcription. I use the hyphen to signal that the word in question is broken across two lines. In the following sections, I will be examining these orthographical characteristics one by one.

Orthographical Characteristics