Editing Codex Alexandrinus (section)

==Description==
[[File:Codex Alexandrinus list of kephalaia.JPG|thumb|left|220px|List of chapters (κεφάλαια) in the [[Gospel of Mark]]]]
The manuscript is a [[codex]] (precursor to the modern book) made from 773 [[vellum]] folios (specific name for pages in a codex) measuring {{convert|12.6|xx|10.4|in|cm}},{{r|Metzger}} bound in [[quarto]] format (parchment leaves placed on top of each other, folded in half vertically, and then folded in half again horizontally, to make a single block, then stitched together with others to create a book), which now comprise four volumes.<ref name="Metzger">{{Cite book | first=Bruce Manning | last=Metzger | author-link=Bruce M. Metzger | title=Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Greek Palaeography | page=86 | year=1991 | publisher=Oxford University Press | location=New York; Oxford | isbn=978-0-19-502924-6 | quote=Vellum codex of the Bible | url=https://archive.org/details/manuscriptsofgre0000metz/page/86/mode/2up?q=Vellum | url-access=limited}}</ref>{{r|Scrivener|p=52}} Most of the folios were originally gathered into [[paper quire|quires]] of eight leaves each (this being eight parchment leaves placed on top of each other, then folded as per [[quarto]] above). Scholar B. H. Cowper describes the vellum as "thin, fine, and very beautiful".{{r|Montefiore}} In modern times it was rebound into sets of six leaves each.{{r|Montefiore}} Cowper's further description of the pages note they are "often discoloured at the edges", which have been damaged by age and more so through "the ignorance or carelessness of the modern binder, who has not always spared the text, especially at the upper inner margin".<ref name="Montefiore">{{Cite book | first=Thomas Law | last=Montefiore | title=Catechesis Evangelica: Questions and Answers based on the "Textus Receptus" | page=267 | year=1862 | publisher=Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts | location=London | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_58CAAAAQAAJ}}</ref> Scrivener noted that "[t]he vellum has fallen into holes in many places, and since the ink peels off for every age whensoever a leaf is touched a little roughly, no one is allowed to handle the manuscript except for good reasons."{{r|Scrivener|p=52}} Three volumes contain the [[Septuagint]] (the Greek version of the Old Testament, also known as the LXX), of which the total count of folios for each volume is 279, 238, and 118 with ten leaves lost.{{r|Metzger|Scrivener|p2=52}} The fourth volume contains the New Testament in the remaining 144 folios, with 31 leaves lost.{{r|Metzger}}<ref name="Scrivener">{{cite book | first=Frederick Henry Ambrose | last=Scrivener | author-link=Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener | title=Six Lectures on the Text of the New Testament and the Ancient Manuscripts which contain it | year=1875 | publisher=Deighton, Bell & Co. | location=Cambridge | url=https://archive.org/stream/sixlecturesontex00scri#page/50/mode/2up}}</ref>{{rp|51–52}} In the fourth volume, [[First Epistle of Clement|1]] and [[Second Epistle of Clement|2 Clement]] are also missing leaves, perhaps 3.<ref>E. Maunde Thompson, ed., Facsimile of the Codex Alexandrinus (London: British Museum, 1883), 4:4, cited in {{Cite book | last=Porter | first=Stanley E. | author-link=Stanley E. Porter | title=How We Got the New Testament: Text, Transmission, Translation | publisher=Baker Academic | year=2013 | location=Grand Rapids, MI USA | page=87, note 181 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Khe-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT87 | isbn=9781441242686}}</ref>

The text in the codex is written in two columns in [[uncial script]], with between 49 and 51 lines per column, and 20 to 25 letters per line.{{r|Metzger|Scrivener|Aland|Gregory|p2=52|p3=30}} The beginning lines of each book are written in red ink,{{r|Scrivener|p=53}} and sections within the book are marked by a larger letter set into the margin.{{r|Scrivener|p=52}} The text is written continuously, with no division of words (known as ''[[Scriptio continua]]''), but some pauses are observed in places in which a dot should be between two words.{{r|Scrivener|Tregelles|p1=52|p2=153}} There are no [[Stress (linguistics)|accents]] or [[Greek diacritics|breathing marks]], except a few added by a later hand.{{r|Scrivener|p=52}} The punctuation was written by the first hand.{{r|Metzger}} The poetical books of the Old Testament are written [[Stichometry|stichometrically]] (this being a new verse/phrase starting on a new line).{{r|Metzger}} The Old Testament quotations in the text of New Testament are marked in the margin by the sign 〉(known as a ''diplai'').{{r|Greg-Canon|p=340}}

The only decorations in the codex are tail-pieces at the end of each book (see illustration), and it also shows a tendency to increase the size of the first letter of each sentence. The larger letters at the beginning of the sections stand out in the margin as in codices [[Codex Ephraemi|Ephraemi]] and [[Codex Basilensis A. N. III. 12|Basilensis]].<ref name="Scriv-Intro">{{Cite book | first=Frederick Henry Ambrose | last=Scrivener | author-link=Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener | author2=Edward Miller | title=[[A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament]] | volume=1 | year=1894 | publisher=[[George Bell & Sons]] | location=London }}</ref>{{rp|132}} Codex Alexandrinus is the oldest manuscript to use larger letters to indicate new sections.{{r|Scrivener|p=52}}<ref name="Nestle-Edie">{{Cite book | first=Eberhard | last=Nestle | author-link=Eberhard Nestle | others=William Edie (trans.) | title=Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the Greek New Testament | year=1901 | publisher=Williams & Norgate | location=London | url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontote00nestrich}}</ref>{{rp|59}}

[[Iotacism|Iotacistic]] errors occur in the text: αὶ is exchanged for ε, εὶ for ὶ and η for ὶ. This is, however, no more than seen in other manuscripts of the same date.{{r|Scriv-Intro|p=104}} The letters [[Nu (letter)|Ν]] and [[Mu (letter)|Μ]] are occasionally confused, and the cluster {{lang|grc|ΓΓ}} (gg) is substituted with {{lang|grc|ΝΓ}} (ng). This may be an argument which points to Egypt as where the codex was produced,{{r|Tregelles|p=155}} but it is not universally accepted.<ref name="Waltz">{{cite encyclopedia | first=Robert | last=Waltz | title=An Introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism | encyclopedia=A Site Inspired By: The Encyclopedia of New Testament Textual Criticism | url=http://www.skypoint.com/members/waltzmn/ManuscriptsUncials.html#uA | access-date=12 November 2010 }}</ref>

The handwriting from the beginning of Luke to 1 Corinthians 10:8 differs from that in the rest of the manuscript. Some letters have [[Coptic language|Coptic]] shapes (f.e. [[Alpha (letter)|Α (''alpha'')]], [[Mu (letter)|Μ (''mu'')]], [[Delta (letter)|Δ (''delta'')]], and [[Pi (letter)|Π (''pi'')]]). The letters are more widely spaced and are a little larger than elsewhere. Δ has extended base and Π has extended cross-stroke.{{r|Thompson|p=5}} [[Greek numerals|Numerals]] are not expressed by letters except in [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] 7:4; 21:17.{{r|Scriv-Intro|p=104}} In the past the codex had been judged to have been carelessly written, with many errors of transcription, but not so many as in [[Codex Sinaiticus]], and no more than [[Codex Vaticanus]].{{r|Scriv-Intro|p=104}}

[[File:Codex Alexandrinus 013a Mc 6,27-54.JPG|thumb|right|220px|A vacant space proportionate to the break in the sense follows the end of a paragraph (page with text of Mark 6:27–54)]]
The [[Capital letter|majuscule letters]] have elegant shape, but a little less simple than those in [[Codex Sinaiticus]] and [[Codex Vaticanus]].{{r|Scrivener|p=52}} At the end of a line, these letters are often very small, and much of the writing is very pale and faint.{{r|Montefiore|Hernandez}} Punctuation is more frequent, usually on a level with the top of the preceding letter, while a vacant space, proportionate to the break in the sense, follows the end of a paragraph.{{r|Scrivener|p=52}} At the end of each book the [[Colophon (publishing)|colophon]] is ornamented by pretty [[volute]]s from the initial copyist.{{r|Scrivener|p=52}} The [[Ammonian Sections]] with references to the [[Eusebian Canons]] (an early system of dividing the four Gospels into different sections, developed by early church writer [[Eusebius of Caesarea]]) stand in the margin of the Gospels.{{r|Metzger|Scrivener|Montefiore|p2=53}} It contains divisions into larger sections (known as {{lang|el|[[kephalaia|κεφάλαια]]}} (''kephalaia''), or ''chapters''), the headings of these sections (known as {{lang|grc|τίτλοι}} / ''titloi'') stand at the top of the pages.{{r|Scrivener|p=53-54}} The places at which sections start are indicated throughout the Gospels, and in Luke and John their numbers are placed in the margin of each column. To all the Gospels (except [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]], due to several pages missing at the beginning) is prefixed by a table of contents (also known as {{lang|el|κεφάλαια}}).<ref>{{Cite journal | first=Greg | last=Goswell | title=Early Readers of the Gospels: The Kephalaia and Titloi of Codex Alexandrinus | journal=Journal of Graeco-Roman Christianity and Judaism | volume=6 | pages=134–174 | year=2009 | url=http://www.jgrchj.net/volume6/JGRChJ6-7_Goswell.pdf }}</ref>

The various [[Euthalian Apparatus]] sections into which the Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypse were divided (similar to [[Eusebius of Caesarea|Eusebius']] system for the Gospels) are not indicated in this manuscript. A ''cross'' appears occasionally as a separation in the Book of Acts. A larger letter in the margin throughout the New Testament marks the beginning of a paragraph.{{r|Tregelles|p=154}}

The number of scribes who worked on the codex have been disputed. According to biblical and classical scholar [[Frederic G. Kenyon|Frederic Kenyon]]'s opinion there were five scribes, two scribes in the Old Testament (I and II) and three in the New (III, IV, and V).{{r|Metzger}}<ref name="FKenyon">{{Cite book | first=Frederic | last=Kenyon | title=Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts | page=130 | year=1939 | publisher=Eyre and Spottiswoode | location=London | url=https://archive.org/details/ourbibleandanci00kenygoog}}</ref> Subsequently, textual critics [[Theodore Cressy Skeat|Theodore Skeat]] and Milne argued there were only two or possibly three scribes.<ref>{{Cite book | first1=H. J. M. | last1=Milne | first2=Theodore Cressy | last2=Skeat | author2-link=Theodore Cressy Skeat | title=The Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Alexandrinus | pages=32–34 | year=1938 | publisher=British Museum | location=London | url=https://archive.org/details/codexsinaiticusc0000brit}}</ref>{{r|Metzger}}<ref group="n">Kenyon in 1939 noticed: "this seems to ignore certain marked differences of script". See Kenyon, ''Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts''.</ref> 20th-21st century scholars agreed in that case (such as biblical scholar and textual critic [[Bruce M. Metzger|Bruce Metzger]], biblical scholar and textual critic [[Kurt Aland]], textual critic Juan Hernández Jr., and textual critic Dirk Jongkind).{{r|Hernandez|prov-Alex|p1=101|p2=119–120}}

Many corrections have been made to the manuscript, some of them by the original scribe, but the majority of them by later hands.{{r|Metzger|Scrivener|p2=55}} The corrected form of the text agrees with that seen in [[Codex Bezae|Codex Bezae (D)]], [[Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus|Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus (N)]], [[Codex Monacensis (X 033)|Codex Monacensis (X)]], [[Codex Macedoniensis|Codex Macedoniensis (Y)]], [[Codex Tischendorfianus IV|Codex Tischendorfianus IV (Γ)]], [[Codex Koridethi|Codex Koridethi (Θ)]], [[Codex Petropolitanus (New Testament)|Codex Petropolitanus (Π)]], [[Codex Rossanensis|Codex Rossanensis (Σ)]], [[Codex Beratinus|Codex Beratinus (Φ)]] and the majority of minuscule manuscripts.{{r|Metzger}} Kenyon observed that Codex Alexandrinus had been "extensively corrected, though much more in some books than in others". In the Pentateuch, whole sentences were erased and a new text substituted. Kings was the least corrected of the books.{{r|FKenyon|p=10}} In the Book of Revelation only 1 of its 84 singular readings was corrected, the rest remained uncorrected. This is in stark contrast with [[Codex Sinaiticus]], in which 120 of the Apocalypse's 201 singular readings were corrected in the 7th century.{{r|Hernandez|pp=102–103}}

Each leaf has Arabic numeration, set in the verso of the lower margin. The first surviving leaf of Matthew has number 26. The 25 leaves now lost must have been extant when that note was written.{{r|Scriv-Intro|p=102}}