Editing Codex Vaticanus (section)

=== Provenance ===
The provenance and early history of the codex are uncertain;{{r|Aland}} [[Rome]] ([[Fenton John Anthony Hort|Hort]]), [[southern Italy]], [[Alexandria]] ([[Frederic G. Kenyon|Kenyon]],{{r|keny-hand|p=88}}), and [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]] ([[Theodore Cressy Skeat|T. C. Skeat]]; [[F.C. Burkitt|Burkitt]]<ref>{{Cite book | first=P. Morduant | last=Barnard | contributor-first=Francis Crawford | contributor-last=Burkitt | contributor-link=F.C. Burkitt | contribution=Introduction | title=The Biblical Text of Clement of Alexandria in the Four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles | series=Texts and Studies | volume=5 | page=VIII-XI | year=1899 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | location=Cambridge }}</ref>) have been suggested as possible origins. Hort based his argument for Rome mainly on certain spellings of proper names, such as {{lang|grc|Ισακ}} and {{lang|grc|Ιστραηλ}}, which show a Western or Latin influence. A second argument was the chapter division in Acts, similar to the ones in [[Codex Sinaiticus|Sinaiticus]] and Vaticanus, is not found in any other Greek manuscript, but is present in several manuscripts of the Latin [[Vulgate]].<ref name="West-Hort">{{Cite book | first1=Brooke Foss | last1=Westcott | author-link1=Brooke Foss Westcott | first2=Fenton John Anthony | last2=Hort | author-link2=Fenton John Anthony Hort | title=Introduction to the New Testament in the Original Greek: Appendix | year=1882 | publisher=Harper & Bros | location=New York}}</ref>{{rp|264–267}} [[Armitage Robinson|Robinson]] cautiously suggests, however, that the system of chapter divisions was introduced into the Vulgate by [[Jerome]] himself, due to his studies at Caesarea.<ref>{{Cite book | first=J. Armitage | last=Robinson | author-link=Armitage Robinson | title=Euthaliana: Studies of Euthalius Codex H of the Pauline Epistles and the Armenian Version | pages=42, 101 | year=1895 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | location=Wiesbaden}}</ref> Hort also postulated the codex was copied from a manuscript whose line length was 12–14 letters per line, as when the codex's scribe made large omissions, they were typically 12–14 letters long.{{r|West-Hort|pp=233–234}}

Kenyon suggested the manuscript originated in [[Alexandria]]: "It is noteworthy that the section numeration of the Pauline Epistles in B shows that it was copied from a manuscript in which the Epistle to the Hebrews was placed between Galatians and Ephesians—an arrangement which elsewhere occurs only in the Sahidic version."{{r|keny-hand|p=84}} Kenyon also suggested the order of the Pauline epistles indicates a connection with Egypt, and as in [[Codex Alexandrinus]], the titles of some of the books contain letters of a distinctively Coptic character, particularly the Coptic [[Mu (letter)|mu]] (which was also frequently seen at the ends of lines where space has to be economized).{{r|keny-hand|p=84}} According to Metzger, "the similarity of its text in significant portions of both Testaments with the Coptic versions and with Greek papyri, and the style of writing (notably the Coptic forms used in some of the titles) point rather to Egypt and Alexandria".{{r|Metzger}}

It has been postulated the codex was at one time in the possession of Cardinal [[Johannes Bessarion|Bessarion]], because the minuscule supplement has a text similar to one of Bessarion's manuscripts. [[T. C. Skeat]] believed Bessarion's mentor, the patriarchal notary in Constantinople [[John Chortasmenos]], had the book brought to Rome from [[Constantinople]] around the time of the fall of the [[Byzantine Empire]].{{r|elliot-skeat}} Paul Canart argued the decorative initials added to the manuscript in the Middle Ages are reminiscent of Constantinopolitan decoration found in the 10th century, but the poor execution gives the impression they were added in the 11th or 12th century, and likely not before the 12th century in light of the way they appear in connection with notes in a minuscule hand at the beginning of the book of Daniel.<ref>{{Cite book | first=Paul | last=Canart | editor=Patrick Andrist | contribution=Notice paléographique et codicologique | title=Le manuscrit B de la Bible (Vaticanus graecus 1209) | year=2009 | pages=26, 32–38 | publisher=Éditions du Zèbre | location=Lausanne | isbn=978-2-940351-05-3 }}</ref> [[Theodore Cressy Skeat|T. C. Skeat]] first argued that Codex Vaticanus was among the [[Fifty Bibles of Constantine|50 Bibles]] that the Emperor [[Constantine I of the Roman Empire|Constantine I]] ordered [[Eusebius of Caesarea]] to produce.<ref>T. C. Skeat, "The Codex Sinaiticus, the Codex Vaticanus and Constantine", JTS 50 (1999), pp. 583–625.</ref>

The codex is generally assigned to the middle of the fourth century and considered contemporary with or slightly earlier than [[Codex Sinaiticus]], which can be dated with a reasonable degree of confidence between the early fourth century and the early fifth century.<ref>Brent Nongbri," The Date of Codex Sinaiticus," ''Journal of Theological Studies'' 73 (2022) 516-534. https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flac083</ref>