Manuscript Room

#	Details	Abstract
20001	GA 01 Add. MS 43725 Ancient Greek 4th century CE	Dated to the 4th century CE, Codex Sinaiticus, א or GA 01, is the earliest surviving complete codex of the New Testament. As you can see in Folio 228r, the Gospel of Mark ends in the second column at Mark 16:8, followed by a subscriptio ευαγγελιον κατα μαρκον. This makes it the earliest manuscript witness to the short ending of the Gospel of Mark. Mina Monier, SNSF MARK16 project, SIB Lausanne (CH); © CC-BY 4.0
20002	GA 02 Royal MS 1 D VIII Ancient Greek 5th century CE	“5th century, Volume 4 of 4 (see also Royal MSS 1 D. v-vii). New Testament. All the books have superscriptions and colophons. The Eusebian canons and Ammonian sections are indicated in the margins of the Gospels, and the κεφάλαια appear as running heads at the top of the Gospel pages. Contents : 1. (f. 1v): 17th-century table of contents. 2. (ff. 2r-5v): Matthew. Imperfect: the manuscript is missing 25 leaves at the beginning, which would have contained the κεφάλαια of Matthew and Matt. 1:1-25:6. Colophon (f. 5v): Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ματθαῖον. 3. (f. 5v): Κεφάλαια of Mark. Superscription (f. 5v): Τοῦ κατὰ Μάρκον εὐαγγελίου αἱ περιόχαι. 4. (ff. 6r-18v): Mark. Superscription (f. 6r) is partly lost: Εὐαγγέλ]ιον κατὰ Μάρκον. Colophon (f. 18v): Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Μάρκον. 5. (ff. 19r-v): Κεφάλαια of Luke. Colophon (f. 19v): Τοῦ κατὰ Λουκᾶν εὐαγγελίου τὰ κεφάλαια”. Quotation from the British Library description: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_1_D_VIII&index=0. All rights reserved.
20003	GA 03 Vat. gr. 1209 Ancient Greek 4th century CE	Dated to the 4th century, Codex Vaticanus Graecus is one of the earliest biblical codices. The Gospel of Mark ends at page 1303. The last verse is Mark 16:8 in lines 25-31 of the second column, followed by the concluding subscriptio Κατα Μαρκον. Instead of starting the Gospel of Luke in the following column, as he/she usually does with the rest of the codex texts, the scribe leaves it empty and begins the Gospel of Luke in the following page. It is possible that the scribe was aware of Mark 16:9-20, yet he following his exemplar that lacked it. So, he may have left the third column blank for the discretion of the reader/owner of the codex. Written by Mina Monier, SNSF MARK16 project, © CC-BY 4.0
20004	GA 04 Gr. 9 Ancient Greek 5th century CE	Currently housed in the National Library of France, Codex C or GA 04 is one of the oldest attestations of the Long Ending. It is a palimpsest in which the original fifth century biblical text is written under a twelfth century translation of Ephraem’s treatises. Interestingly, verses 16:14-20 are found in folio 148r, before verses 16:1-13, which are in folio 151v. Mina Monier, SNSF MARK16 project, SIB Lausanne (CH); © CC-BY 4.0
20005	GA 05 MS Nn.2.41 Ancient Greek, Latin 5th century CE	Having a complex composition history, Codex Bezae’s initial composition is dated back to the 5th century. It is one of the most valuable codices, being bilingual with Greek and Latin versions on facing pages. It is also the earliest manuscript attestation of the long ending. However, due to damage and later handwriting, the only remaining part of the original text of the long ending is the Greek verses of 16:9-15, while the rest of the verses (16:16-20) appear in folios added to the codex in the 9th century. Mina Monier, SNSF MARK16 project, SIB Lausanne (CH); © CC-BY 4.0
20019	GA 019 Gr. 62 Ancient Greek 8th century CE	GA 019 (BNF Gr. 62 or Codex Regius, or L) is an 8th century uncial manuscript of 257 folios covering the four Gospels, currently preserved in the BNF of Paris. Mark 16 is spread over folios 112v, 113r and 113v. This manuscript is a good witness to the dynamic nature of the Mark 16 tradition. In folio 113r, Mark 16:8 (at the end of the first column) is followed by the shorter ending . This shorter ending is preceded by an ornamentally framed note, saying: φερετε που και ταυτα: this is also extant (or recorded). The shorter ending is then followed by the longer ending (verses 9-20) which was introduced by another framed note saying: “This is also extant after ‘for they were afraid’ (εστην δε και ταυτα φερομενα μετα το εφοβουντο γαρ).” This manuscript indicates how a scribe is aware of the various endings of Mark, yet he decided to record them all, without harmonising or confusing these traditions. Mina Monier, SNSF MARK16 project, SIB Lausanne (CH); © CC-BY 4.0
20032	GA 032 F1906.274 Ancient Greek late 4th-early 5th century CE	Codex Washingtonianus is an early codex formed of 187 leaves that include the four canonical Gospels. It has the western order: Matthew, John, Luke and finally Mark. Between verses 14 and 15, the manuscript records the freer logion (lines 9-24 in page 371). This tradition is not found anywhere else except in Jerome’s Against Pelagius 2.15 where he testified to its existence in “some exemplars and especially in Greek manuscripts of Mark.” Mina Monier, SNSF MARK16 project, SIB Lausanne (CH); © CC-BY 4.0
20033	GA 033 Cim. 16 (2° Cod. Ms. 30) Ancient Greek 10th century CE	Dated between the 9th and 10th centuries, Codex Monacensis is an uncial text of the Gospels, accompanied by patristic commentaries in minuscule script. The codex is lacunose but the ending of Mark survives. It shows the long ending as it stands in the majority of witnesses that survive today. Mina Monier, SNSF MARK16 project, SIB Lausanne (CH); © CC-BY 4.0
20044	GA 044 Lavra B.52 Ancient Greek 9th-10th century CE	GA 044 (Codex ψ or Lavra B.52), 9th-10th century CE, is another case that reflects a different view of the scribe on how to handle the different Markan endings. As you can see, the scribe moves swiftly from Mark 16:8 to the shorter ending, without an introductory statement. This would suggest that the copyist’s exemplar saw the shorter ending as part of the fabric of Mark 16 (see Gregory 1866, Lias 1893 and Lake 1903). The longer ending follows, introduced with the statement in the body of the text “εστην δε και ταυτα φερομενα μετα το εφοβουντο γαρ” which clearly informs the reader that this is an alternative ending. Mina Monier and Claire Clivaz, SNSF MARK16 project, SIB Lausanne (CH); © CC-BY 4.0
20083	GA 083 Harris 12 + Appendix 8 in Lewis Ancient Greek 6th-7th century CE	This manuscript is formed of fragmentary folios covering passages from the gospels of Mark and John. Unfortunately, the parchment that covers Mark’s end is compacted together with two other leaves from a different manuscript. J. R. Harris published in 1890 the transcription of Mark 16 :1-5 (page 70), number 12 of his catalogue. He was then able to read also Mark 16:6-10 “by holding the compacted leaves in strong sunlight”, a transcription published as Appendix n°8 in a catalogue edited by Agnes Smith Lewis in 1894 (https://archive.org/stream/catalogueofsyria00sainrich#page/n137/mode/2up). The first column is from Mark 16:6-8, followed by the subscriptio, which signifies the end of the Gospel. However, the second column shows the presence of the shorter ending. This is followed by the longer ending, which was introduced by the statement “εστιν δε και ταυτα φερομενα μετα το εφοβουντο γαρ” in smaller characters. Mina Monier (2020), SNSF MARK16 project ; updated by Claire Clivaz in 2023, SIB Lausanne (CH); © CC-BY 4.0.