University of Chicago Library, Goodspeed Manuscript Collection Ms. 132, New Testament. Gospels (Demetrius Gospels). Greg. 2398. Balkan Peninsula or Asia Minor, 14th century.

Contents

Four gospels in Greek. Ammonian section numbers and lection notes in margins. Added lectionary tables. Formerly Goodspeed Ms. Grk. 8.

  1. fols. 2r-68v Matthew (begins at 1:12 with εγεννησεν and ends at 28:14 with ημεις).
    Additions: Drawing of hand holding cross (25 x 20 mm, fol. 23r).
  2. fols. 69r-69v Kephalaia of Mark (1-35 only).
  3. fols. 70r-92v Mark (begins at 4:8 with καρπον and ends at 14:65 with περικαλυπτειν αυτου).
  4. fols. 93r-137v Luke (begins at 1:23 with αυτου απηλθεν and ends at 24:21 with αυτος εστιν).
  5. fols. 138r-180v John (begins at 3:2 with ηλθεν and ends at 21:20 with το στηθος). Pericope: The Woman taken in Adultery (fols. 154r-155r).
    Additions: Drawing of cross and hand pointing (50 x 28 mm, fol. 169v).
  6. fols. 181r-204v Lectionary tables (Synaxarion and Menologion).
  7. fol. 204r Inscription of Demetrius.

Physical Description

Support

Parchment. 214 x 159 mm.

Number of Leaves

205 leaves, of which 2 are raised pastedowns of reused parchment ruled for two columns of text, which now function as flyleaves.

Foliation

1 (foliated parchment flyleaf) + 203 + 1 (foliated parchment flyleaf). Modern foliation in Arabic numerals in pencil 1-205.

Collation

Initially composed of 32 quires of which 25 are extant. It is assumed all quires contained 8 leaves, with the exception of quires 17, 28, and 32, respectively of 7, 9, and 3 leaves. Estimate of content lost: Leaves 1, 5, and 7 of quire 1 (opening, Matthew 1:1-12, after fols. 4 and 5, 2:19-3:8, 4:3-16); leaf 7 of quire 9 (after fol. 68, Matthew 28:14-end); leaves 1-8 of quire 10 (after fol. 69, end of kephalaia, Mark 1:1-4:8); leaf 4 of quire 11 (after fol. 72, Mark 5:15-34); leaves 1-8 of quire 12 (after fol. 76, Mark 6:51-9:19); leaves 1-8 of quire 15 and leaf 1 of quire 16 (after fol. 92, Mark 14:65-end, Luke 1:1-23); leaf 8 of quire 16 (after fol. 98, Luke 3:3-16); quires 18, 19, and 20 (24 leaves after fol. 105, Luke 6:4-12:39); leaves 1-8 of quire 25 (after fol. 137, Luke 24:21-end, John 1:1-3:2); leaves 1 and 8 of quire 29 (after fols. 162 and 168, John 10:32-11:8, 12:50-13:16); leaf 8 of quire 30, and leaf 1 of quire 31 (after fol. 175, John 16:30-18:3); leaves 3 and 6 of quire 31 (after fols. 176 and 178, John 18:18-32, 19:20-34); leaf 8 of quire 31, and leaf 1 of quire 32 (after fol. 179, John 20:8-21:7); leaf 3 of quire 32, and leaf 1 of quire ā (after fol. 180, John 21:20-end).

Remains of two sets of quire numbers are visible on the first or last leaf of several quires (see, fol. 84v). Lectionary tables numbered separately, 1-3 (α-γ).

Dimensions

Written space 145 x 105 mm (fol. 169r ).

Layout

1 column, 20 lines. Ruling with hard point. Pricking in outer margins.

Writing

Written in minuscule script in medium brown ink.

Punctuation includes middle point, comma, and marks of interrogation and elision. Quotation marks in left margin next to each line of quoted text.

Corrections to the text noted primarily in the margins.

Text Divisions

Titles in red.

Condition

Leaves moderately cockled, some loose from binding. Text lost from torn leaves (fols. 105, 109, 114). Leaf split along ruling lines (fol. 195). Stitched repair (fol. 150). Water and grease stains. Insect damage.

Binding Description

Bound in blind stamped dark brown leather over wooden boards (worm holes). Linen lining exposed owing to the loss of portions of the cover.

History

Origin

The manuscript is dated to the 14th century, and is judged to have been written in either the Balkan Peninsula or Asia Minor.

Provenance

Medieval to late 19th century provenance unknown. Demetrius, a one-time owner, noted he paid for the manuscript in gold (his undated inscription, fol. 204r).

Said to have belonged to a monastic library on Greece's Mount Athos until 1890. Acquired in the 1920s by the bookseller Athenas Grivakis supposedly from a Greek national or his widow, possibly in Istanbul, Turkey.

An excised leaf containing John 12:50-13:16 (leaf 8, quire 28), formerly owned by F. Cleveland Morgan (1881-1962), is currently in the collection of McGill University Libraries, Montreal, Quebec, Canada as Ms. Greek 9. An additional leaf with the text of Luke 6:33-46 (leaf 3, quire 18) was presented in 1935 to the Montreal Diocesan Theological College, an affiliate of McGill University by Gordon W. Phillips, an assistant to Mr. Grivakis. The leaf is said to be lost.

University of Chicago Libraries bookplate (inside front cover); inscriptions, drawings, and jottings (fols. 1v, 204v, 205r). Mr. Philips recorded chapter and verse notation (first and last leaf of each gospel), and the total number of leaves (inside back cover).

Acquisition

Acquired by the University of Chicago from Athenas Grivakis, 1929.

Bibliography

  1. Samuel A. Cartledge, "A group of Gospels manuscripts." (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1930).
  2. Seymour de Ricci, Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada (New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935), vol. 1, p. 569.
  3. George Abbott-Smith, "Two uncharted leaves of gospel parchment minuscule manuscripts," Canadian Society of Biblical Studies Bulletin 1 (1935), pp. 3-5.
  4. Kenneth W. Clark, A Descriptive Catalogue of Greek New Testament Manuscripts in America (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1937), pp. 238-241.
  5. Merrill Mead Parvis, The Story of the Goodspeed Collection ([Chicago:] s.n., 1952), pp. 8-11.