What Is Codex Vaticanus?
Codex Vaticanus, or Manuscript B, is an ancient Greek manuscript of the Holy Bible. It is named Codex Vaticanus because the work is in codex, or book, form, and it is housed in the Vatican Library at Rome. The codex is well preserved; it has seen little editing, correcting or proofing through the years. The text is of immense significance for Biblical scholarship and textual criticism, and Codex Vaticanus has influenced modern Bible translations more than any other manuscript.
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Date of Composition
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Due to its numerous chapter identifications, varied book order and curious omissions, it is commonly thought that Codex Vaticanus was composed in the first half of the fourth century A.D. Codex Vaticanus is likely one of the earliest copies of the whole Bible, written around the same time as Codex Sinaiticus, and as such it provides a very early picture of Christianity and Scripture.
Contents
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Codex Vaticanus includes the Old Testament, the books commonly known as the Apocrypha and the New Testament. However, there are several portions missing. It is common for many ancient codex manuscripts to lack pages from the front and back of the codex; it is of little surprise, then, that all of Genesis up to Genesis 46:28 and everything past Hebrews 9:14 is omitted. In the order of books in this codex, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon and Revelation occur after Hebrews, so they are all absent. The codex also omits Psalms 105 to 137, 1 and 2 Maccabees, the Prayer of Manasseh and 2 Peter.
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Use in Textual Criticism
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Vaticanus is representative of the Alexandrian text-type, known by the famous New Testament textual critics Westcott and Hort as the "neutral" text-type. As such, it is thought to be free from Byzantine influence and of great value to recovering the "original" text. The Old Testament portions of Vaticanus are valuable as well, representing a key textual witness for the reconstruction of the Septuagint (the oldest translation in Greek of the Hebrew Old Testament).
History
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The Codex was first recorded as part of the Vatican Library in 1475, when the first catalog of the library was made. Its history before that date, including how long it was in the library, is entirely unknown. However, later scribal interaction with the manuscript is evident. It seems that a scribe found the text faded and in an attempt to fix it retraced over every letter. He also added accents, and he did not trace over portions he found extraneous or dubious. This retracing made it difficult to study the original text, sometimes even making reconstruction impossible.
Modern Importance
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This text, because of its date, completeness and Alexandrian type, is considered one of the most important manuscripts available. The text of Vaticanus provides a basis for many modern English translations, such as the NIV, NRSV, NASB and ESV. Although some scholars question the true "neutral" nature of this text, it is without a doubt important and valuable to modern textual criticism.
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