| Below: | Old Testament, Septuagint Manuscripts, Septuagint, Uncial |
| Washington Manuscript of the Psalms/Rahlfs 1219 | |
| Location: | Freer Gallery |
| Date: | ~400-650 CE |
| Discovered: | Egypt |
| Material: | Parchment |
| Condition: | Fragmentary, Decayed |
| Contents: | Psalm 1:4-146:9a, 149:2b-151:6; Odes 1:1-6a |
The Washington Manuscript of the Psalms (Washington MS II), designated as Rahlfs 1219 (in the Rahlfs numbering of Septuagint manuscripts), van Haelst 83 (in the Van Haelst catalogue numbers of Septuagint manuscripts), is a Greek Septuagint (an old translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek along with other works included in its canon) manuscript containing the text of Psalm 1:4-146:9a, 149:2b-151:6, plus the first 6 verses of the book of Odes, written on parchment which has survived in a fragmentary condition.[1] Using the study of comparative writing styles (palaeography), it has been assigned to the 5th Century CE.[2]
The manuscript is one of the six biblical manuscripts purchased by industrialist Charles Lang Freer at the beginning of the 20th century, now housed at the Freer Gallery of Art in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C..
The manuscript is a codex (precursor to the modern book) made of 107 parchment leaves, badly decayed and worm eaten. In his initial description of the manuscript, biblical scholar Henry A. Sanders noted that sometime in the 10th Century CE, some of the final pages of the codex that contained Psalms 142:9-151 were lost. Rather than having new pages written, other pages from a slightly less older codex were taken and added to the end, completing the Psalms and adding six verses from the book of Odes (1:1-6a). This is apparent due to the different page size, the repetition of Psalm 142:5-8, and the divergent handwriting. Sanders indicated the original codex by the Greek letter Λ (Lambda), and the secondary codex as Λ (Lambda A).
The parchment is a mixture of goat and sheep skin. The main text is written in a dark-brown ink, with red ink used for the Psalm titles and numbers, and also for the word διαψαλμα (diapsalma / musical interlude). The text is written in one column per page, which originally would've been around 25 x 35 cm, 30 lines per page, with about 25-30 letters per line. Due to decay, almost half of each leaf is missing, with some leaves having decay covering them in their entirety, although with letters still visible. The text is written in large square uncials, with the Psalm titles usually in a slightly smaller size. Each Psalm has its number in the left hand margin in uppercase letters representing numerals, with decorative lines above and below the letter. The manuscript covers Psalms 1:4-142:8, with the last pages of the manuscript completely missing.
The parchment is made of sheepskin only. The main text is written in a medium-brown ink, with red ink used for the Psalm titles and numbers as in Λ. The text is written in one column per page, which originally would've been around 27.5 x 21.58 cm, 24 lines per page, with about 18-24 letters per line. The seven leaves are in a fragmentary condition, and would originally have contained Psalms 142:5-151:6 and Odes 1:1-6a, but due to the loss of two leaves, Psalms 146:9b-149:2b are missing. The text is written in large, sloping letters known as Slavonic uncial.
Prior to its purchase by industrialist Charles Lang Freer in 1906 from an Arab dealer named Ali in Gizah, Cairo, very little is known about the manuscript, where it came from or for whom it was written. One possible place of origin is the Church of Timothy in the Monastery of the Vinedresser, a Coptic Monastery probably destroyed during the Muslim persecutions of the 14th Century CE.
When the manuscript was granted to Sanders, he had to go through a long and precarious process of separating the leaves of the codex, which due to decay had turned the parchment into a hard, glue-like substance, becoming a solid mass. Sanders describes in detail in The Old Testament Manuscripts in the Freer Collection, Part II: The Washington Manuscript of the Psalms how he separated the leaves of the codex, which effectively employed the use of a slightly damp, woollen cloth, and a thin-bladed dinner knife.
Due to the fragmentary and fragile nature of the manuscript, Sanders was unable to separate more than two leaves in a day, having to create as accurate a collation as possible before further deterioration occurred on the leaves, and as such his reprint of the text shows letters that are now no longer extant.
Initial photographic negatives of the pages were made in 1914 by George R. Swain, which were used by Sanders for checking his collation.[3] Further photographs of the pages were made in 1919, where one copy was sent to the British Museum in London, England, and one was placed in the Freer Gallery in Washington D.C., in the USA. Unlike some of the other Biblical manuscripts in the Freer collection, no facsimile was ever made. The reasons for this were provided to Charles Freer by classist Francis Kelsey, who states:
...that the reproduction of the other two manuscripts in facsimile [Gospels and Deut/Josh] has made it possible for scholars to check up every page with the readings reported by Professor Sanders in the monographs which have been published; the results have been so favourable as to the thoroughness and accuracy of the work of Professor Sanders, as you are already aware, that the readings reported in his monograph on the Psalms manuscript, which is now in preparation, will be accepted by all scholars without question.
The manuscript is one of the six main manuscripts that comprise the Freer Biblical Manuscripts, currently housed at The Freer Gallery of Art.