Minuscule 553
Encyclopedia
Minuscule 553 ε 331 (in the Soden numbering), is a Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 minuscule manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...

 of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

, on parchment. Palaeographically
Palaeography
Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...

 it has been assigned to the 13th century.
Scrivener labelled it by number 540.

Description

The codex contains a complete text of the four Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...

s on 303 parchment leaves (size ). The writing is in one column per page, 21 lines per page.

It contains tables of the , the , the , subscriptions at the end of the Gospels, , and faded decorations.
According to Scrivener the manuscript is "extremely uninteresting".

Text

The Greek text of the codex is a representative of the Byzantine text-type
Byzantine text-type
The Byzantine text-type is one of several text-types used in textual criticism to describe the textual character of Greek New Testament manuscripts. It is the form found in the largest number of surviving manuscripts, though not in the oldest...

. Hermann von Soden classified it to the textual family Kr
Family Kr
Family Kr is a large group of the New Testament manuscripts. It belongs to the Byzantine text-type as one of the textual families of this group. It has no uncials, no early minuscules, it has only hundreds of minuscules.- Description :...

. Aland
Kurt Aland
Kurt Aland was a German Theologian and Professor of New Testament Research and Church History. He founded the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung in Münster and served as its first director for many years...

 placed it in Category V.
According to the Claremont Profile Method it represents the textual family Kr in Luke 1 and Luke 20. In Luke 10 no profile was made. It belongs to subgroup 35
Minuscule 35
Minuscule 35 , δ309 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, written on 328 parchment leaves . Paleographically it has been assigned to the 11th century. The manuscript has complex contents, marginalia, and many corrections.- Description :The codex contains the entire New Testament...

.

The Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53-8:11) is marked with an obelus
Obelus
An obelus is a symbol consisting of a short horizontal line with a dot above and below. It is mainly used to represent the mathematical operation of division. It is therefore commonly referred to as the division sign.- History :The word "obelus" comes from the Greek word for a sharpened stick,...

.

History

The manuscript was held in the monastery Mar Saba
Mar Saba
The Great Lavra of St. Sabbas the Sanctified, known in Arabic as Mar Saba , is a Greek Orthodox monastery overlooking the Kidron Valley in the West Bank east of Bethlehem. The traditional date for the founding of the monastery by Saint Sabas of Cappadocia is the year 483 and today houses around 20...

. In 1834 Robert Curzon, Lord Zouche
Robert Curzon, 14th Baron Zouche
Robert Curzon, 14th Baron Zouche , styled The Honourable Robert Curzon between 1829 and 1870, was an English traveller, diplomat and author, active in the Near East. He was responsible for acquiring several unimportant and late Biblical manuscripts from Eastern Orthodox monasteries.Curzon was the...

, brought this manuscript to England (along with the codices 548
Minuscule 548
Minuscule 548 , ε 1015 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 11th century.Scrivener labelled it by number 535....

, 552
Minuscule 552
Minuscule 552 , ε 252 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 12th century....

, 554
Minuscule 554
Minuscule 554 , ε 332 , is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. It is dated by a Colophon to the year 1271 or 1272.Scrivener labelled it by number 541.- Description :...

). The entire collection of Curzon was bequeathed by his daughter in 1917 to the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

, where it had been deposited, by his son, since 1876.

The manuscripts was added to the list of the New Testament minuscule manuscripts by F. H. A. Scrivener (540) and C. R. Gregory (553).

The manuscript was examined by Scrivener, Dean Burgon, and Gregory.

It is currently housed at the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...

 (Additional Manuscripts, 39596) in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

See also

  • List of New Testament minuscules
  • Biblical manuscript
    Biblical manuscript
    A biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. The word Bible comes from the Greek biblia ; manuscript comes from Latin manu and scriptum...

  • Textual criticism
    Textual criticism
    Textual criticism is a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts...


Further reading

  • S. Emmel, Catalogue of Materials for Writing, Early Writings on Tablets and Stones, rolled and other Manuscripts and Oriental Manuscript Books, in the Library of the Honourable Robert Curzon (London 1849).
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