Archive for 2015

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

New Manuscripts from the National Library of Greece

New manuscripts digitized by the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) have just been added to our searchable collection. These include 10 manuscripts from the National Library of Greece (NLG) in Athens, the site of our ongoing digitization project for 2015–16.

• GA 760: 12th century minuscule of the Gospels. The Eusebian canons and headpieces in this manuscript are particularly ornate and colorful.
• GA 765: 12th century minuscule of the Gospels. This codex contains two uncatalogued manuscripts, bound in front of and behind GA 765.
• GA 796: 11th century minuscule of the Gospels, Apostolos, and Paul. The scribe’s handwriting is rather petite and “exquisite,” according to the National Library’s 1892 catalogue.
• GA Lect 417: 16th century lectionary (dated to 1537) of the Gospels. It is complete and was for some reason rarely used.
• GA Lect 418: 15th century lectionary of the Gospels. There is evidence that as many as five or six different scribes worked to produce this manuscript. The text even switches between single and double columns towards the beginning and end of the manuscript.
• GA Lect 420: 15th century lectionary of the Gospels.
• GA Lect 422: 14th century lectionary of the Gospels and Apostolos. Shows minimal signs of wear, indicating this manuscript may have been for private rather than public use.
• GA Lect 423: 18th century lectionary (dated to 1732) of the Apostolos and Paul.
• GA Lect 837: 15th century lectionary of the Apostolos and Paul.
• GA Lect 2010: 15th century lectionary of the Gospels and Apostolos.

These images have now become part of our growing searchable library, which gives everyone free access to the best available digital images of New Testament manuscripts.

Friday, December 18, 2015

Manuscripts from the National Library of Greece

New manuscripts digitized by the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) have just been added to our searchable collection. These include 10 manuscripts from the National Library of Greece (NLG) in Athens, the site of our ongoing digitization project for 2015–16.

• GA 757: 13^th century minuscule with Gospels, Apostolos, Paul, and Revelation; this is very rare in the manuscript tradition.
• GA 759: 13^th century minuscule of the Gospels. A leaf from another manuscript has been inserted between Luke and John, a magnificently ornate rendering of the Eusebian canons for Matthew and Luke.
• GA 1419: 15^th century minuscule of the Gospels with extensive commentary. Scripture is indicated by double carats in the margin.
• GA Lect 406: 14^th century lectionary of the Gospels
• GA Lect 411: 12^th century lectionary of the Gospels, which ends with the dominical aphorism, “many [who are] first shall be last, and the last first” (from Matt 19.30).
• GA Lect 412: 12^th century lectionary of the Gospels, featuring ekthetic letters at the beginning of lections in the shape of Jesus, Mary, the Evangelists, and others.
• GA Lect 415: 14^th century lectionary of the Gospels, with a significant number of paper replacement leaves.
• GA Lect 416: 15^th century lectionary of the Gospels dated to 1452. This manuscript is elegantly written with many vivid colors. Its lack of wear suggests that it was privately owned.
• GA Lect 1528: 15^th century lectionary of the Gospels dated to 1464. The manuscript has many ornate ekthesis enlarged initials including faces, birds, hands, flowers, fish, foxes, snakes, etc.
• GA Lect 2008: 14^th century lectionary in the same codex as GA Lect 415, with an unidentified palimpsest undertext which appears to be a majuscule lectionary.

These images have now become part of our growing searchable library, which gives everyone free access to the best available digital images of New Testament manuscripts.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Additional New Manuscripts from the National Library of Greece

New manuscripts digitized by the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) have just been added to our searchable collection. These include 10 manuscripts from the National Library of Greece (NLG) in Athens, the site of our ongoing digitization project for 2015–16.

• GA 1415: 12^th century minuscule of the Gospels, featuring an unusual icon of Luke (dating from the 9^th century) probably inserted into the manuscript by the 12^th century scribe.
• GA 1416: 12^th century minuscule of the Gospels.
• GA 1418: 12^th century minuscule of the Gospels, with two leaves of unidentified extra-biblical Christian text at the beginning of the codex.
• GA Lect 387: 11^th century lectionary of the Gospels.
• GA Lect 388: 16^th century lectionary of the Gospels with ornate ekthesis initials throughout. There is evidence that at least five different scribes worked to produce this manuscript.
• GA Lect 391: 16^th century lectionary of the Gospels.
• GA Lect 395: 14^th century lectionary of the Gospels. Most of the manuscript is on parchment, but the last 18 leaves are paper replacement leaves.
• GA Lect 396: 14^th century lectionary of the Gospels.
• GA Lect 401: 14^th century lectionary of the Gospels with an interesting colophon at the end in which the scribe, Leontos, prays for his monastery to acquire a writing table so that he can copy manuscripts more accurately.
• GA Lect 402: 11^th century lectionary of the Gospels with an inspiring colophon at the end which reads: “The hand that wrote [this] is rotting in the grave. But the letters remain until the fullness of time.”

These images have now become part of our growing searchable library, which gives everyone free access to the best available digital images of New Testament manuscripts.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

New Manuscripts from the National Library of Greece

New manuscripts digitized by the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) have just been added to our searchable collection. These include 10 manuscripts from the National Library of Greece (NLG) in Athens, the site of our ongoing digitization project for 2015–16.

• GA 785: 11^th century minuscule of the Gospels.
• GA 1413: 11^th century minuscule of the Gospels.
• GA 1829: 10^th century minuscule of the Apostolos, with over 400 pages of Chrysostom’s homilies in the latter two-thirds of the codex.
• GA Lect 383: 12^th century lectionary of the Gospels. A large, well-used manuscript featuring beautiful gilded icons and ornate headpieces.
• GA Lect 384: 12^th century lectionary of the Gospels.
• GA Lect 385: 12^th century lectionary of the Gospels.
• GA Lect 590: 11^th century lectionary of the Gospels and Apostolos.
• GA Lect 592: 16^th century lectionary of the Gospels and Apostolos dated to 1576.
• GA Lect 593: 15^th century lectionary of the Gospels and Apostolos. Apparently a complete manuscript.
• GA Lect 1527: 10^th century lectionary primarily consisting of the Psalms accompanied by interpretation from 18 different church fathers. This manuscript only has three pages of New Testament text!

These images have now become part of our growing searchable library, which gives everyone free access to the best available digital images of New Testament manuscripts.

Monday, November 30, 2015

Support CSNTM with Your Christmas Shopping

If you are planning on doing Christmas shopping this year on Amazon, please consider using the link above. By clicking on the Amazon logo, CSNTM will get a portion of your purchase at no additional cost to you!

The link will take you to Amazon, you can shop as normal, and Amazon will give a portion of anything purchased during that shopping session to CSNTM.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Images of Ten Uncatalogued Manuscripts from the National Library of Greece

New manuscripts digitized by the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) have just been added to our searchable collection. These include 10 newly-discovered manuscripts from the National Library of Greece (NLG) in Athens, the site of our ongoing digitization project for 2015–16. Dr. Daniel B. Wallace made the discoveries during his preparation of each manuscript for digitization. They are listed according to their NLG shelf number, as they have not yet been assigned a Gregory-Aland number. They cannot be confirmed as new discoveries without further investigation (i.e. they could be missing sections from extant New Testament manuscripts). The contents of these discoveries were recently presented at an annual scholarly meeting by CSNTM's Research Manager, Robert D. Marcello.

• NLG 118: 11^th century minuscule; one leaf, bound together with GA 765. Has a beautiful icon of Luke and the text of Luke 1.1–6.
• NLG 204: 9^th or 10^th century palimpsested minuscule; one leaf, part of the upper-text manuscript GA 771. The under-text has a distinct hand, though both the under- and upper-text is from Mark 1 on this leaf.
• NLG 2676: 13^th or 14^th century minuscule; two bifolio leaves at the front and back of GA Lect 1813. Contains a portion of 1 John, which is relatively rare in Apostolos manuscripts from this time period.
• NLG 158 (front): 14^th century lectionary; two leaves, bound together with GA 765 at the beginning of the codex.
• NLG 158 (back): 12^th century lectionary; twenty-seven leaves, bound together with GA 765 at the end of the codex. Possibly from the same scribe as GA 765, and combined into a single codex later.
• NLG 2711: 12^th or 13^th century manuscript (could be a minuscule or lectionary); found in the reinforcement strips of GA Lect 1816. Contains text from Luke 1.
• NLG 3534: 15^th century lectionary; 64 leaves, containing the Gospels, Acts, and Paul.
• NLG 4002: 18^th century lectionary dated to 1701; 172 leaves, containing several beautiful (yet unfinished!) icons.
• NLG 4074: 13^th or 14^th century lectionary; 196 leaves, containing the Gospels.
• NLG 4080: 13^th or 14^th century lectionary; 154 leaves, containing the Gospels.

We have also added images for 9 manuscripts that are now in our digital library. Many of these are older images from microfilm. However, we want to make sure to make as many available as possible, even if high-resolution digital images are not currently available.

• GA 040
• GA 045
• GA 055
• GA 056
• GA 059
• GA 060
• GA 063
• GA 069
• GA 070

These images have now been added to our growing searchable collection, which gives everyone free access to the best available digital images of New Testament manuscripts.

Monday, November 16, 2015

New Images From the National Library of Greece

New manuscripts digitized by the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) have just been added to our searchable collection. These include 10 new manuscripts from the National Library of Greece in Athens, the site of our ongoing digitization project for 2015–16.

• GA 777: From the 12th century, this manuscript (MS) contains the complete Tetraevangelion. The manuscript features 22 beautiful icons, many of which are from the life of Jesus.
• GA 792: From the 13th century, this is a rare MS in that its New Testament contents include only the Gospels and Revelation. Also included are selected passages from the Old Greek.
• GA 798: From the 11th century, this MS of the Gospels contains Matthew and Mark. CSNTM had previously digitized the other portion (containing Luke and John) housed at the Institute for New Testament Textual Research (INTF), so digital images are now available for the entire MS.
• GA 800: From the 12th or 13th century, this MS of the Gospels has extensive commentary wrapping around the text on three sides, and some unique textual features.
• GA 1411: From the 10th or 11th century, this MS of the Gospels contains extensive commentary on John and Luke by Chrysostom and Titus of Bostra.
• GA 1412: From the 10th or 11th century, this MS of the Gospels interweaves the biblical text with commentary by Chrysostom and Titus of Bostra, using a variety of different methods to distinguish the text from the commentary.
• GA 1973: From the 13th century, this MS of Paul’s letters contains commentary from Theophylact of Bulgaria.
• GA Lect 440: Paper lectionary dated to 1504, which was damaged and then repaired with other paper texts with script at some later point in its history.
• GA Lect 1524: Paper lectionary dated to 1522, a well-used manuscript.
• GA Lect 2007: Paper lectionary from the 15th century.

We have also added images for 12 manuscripts that are now in our digital library. Many of these are older images from microfilm.

• GA 08
• GA 010
• GA 014
• GA 015
• GA 017
• GA 018
• GA 019
• GA 020
• GA 034
• GA 035
• GA 038
• GA 044

These images have now been added to our growing searchable collection, which gives everyone free access to the best available digital images of Greek New Testament manuscripts.

All images are available at the CSNTM Library

Saturday, November 14, 2015

The New CSNTM.org

Since we began our work in 2002, a core part of our mission has been to make it possible to view and study New Testament manuscripts from anywhere in the world. We have worked toward this by traveling around the globe and capturing beautiful digital images of some of the most important extant manuscripts. Today, we are taking another step forward by making it easier than ever for you to access manuscripts. We’re launching the new CSNTM.org.

Here are some of the features that you can expect to find now and in the coming weeks:

• New Manuscripts – We will be adding 10-20 new manuscripts to our website weekly for the next few months. These will be from the National Library of Greece in Athens (our ongoing project for 2015–16), as well as previously unposted images from hundreds of manuscripts and rare books in our collection.
• New Look – We have revamped our entire website to make it both simpler and richer in content. We have new content, which narrates how we go about digitizing and archiving manuscripts. We also explain what goes into our extensive training program that enables our teams to work quickly while capturing high-quality images.
• New Viewing Environment – The website is equipped with a new viewer, which makes it easier than ever to navigate manuscripts and view our stunning new images.
• New Usability – Our new site is also designed to work perfectly with mobile devices and tablets, enabling you to view manuscripts or to access other resources quickly, whenever you need them.
• New Search Features – The website is now outfitted with an extensive search functionality. Searches can be performed at the manuscript level, allowing you to find manuscripts that meet certain criteria (e.g., date, contents, material, location). They can also be performed at the image level, which allows you to find specific features within a manuscript. For instance, we now have a Jump to Book option that allows you to find the beginning of each book that a manuscript contains. Also, one can search tagged manuscripts for verse references. Every place, for example, in which John 1.1 is tagged will automatically populate when the verse is searched.
• New Search Database – The search database holds tags for each manuscript and individual image. As our team continues tagging our growing collection, the search function will become more comprehensive each week. But the task is daunting. We want your help for the tagging! If interested, you can reach us via our contact page.

Please share our new site with colleagues and friends, so more and more people can continue to utilize CSNTM’s library, which is free for all and free for all time. We sincerely hope that you enjoy using the site. It represents a giant leap forward in accomplishing our mission to bring ancient New Testament manuscripts to a modern world.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Behind the Scenes: What Happens after We Capture an Image

29 October 2015

Andrew K. Bobo and Robert D. Marcello

Many visitors to the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts' (CSNTM) website are familiar with the front end of the digitization process. We travel across the world—this past summer we were in Athens, Greece for three months—taking our equipment with us to photograph manuscripts page by page. What most people do not realize is the amount of work that continues after an image is taken, the part of the process we refer to as “post-production.”

The post-production process of safely storing our data has developed rapidly over the past decade with the advent of newer and better technologies for every stage of the digitization process. The quality of digital cameras has increased exponentially, and so has the size of each image file. As we planned to switch to 50 megapixel cameras last summer, we knew we would significantly increase our storage needs as we increased the quality of every image. We archive files in RAW, JPEG, and TIFF formats. So a single manuscript page digitized with the newest cameras requires more than 425 MB of storage space. Because we have recently committed to capture 150,000 images in 15 months, this demanded a more robust way to manage our data.

The Center purchased and installed a professional-grade server system, which tripled the capacity of our previous server. The system can be scaled to hold over 600 TB of data, ensuring that CSNTM has room to grow for the next decade of expeditions. The new server runs a RAID6 backup protocol. This process is designed to automatically rewrite all data to multiple locations within the system, and would allow for two individual drives to fail without any data loss. The new server also gives us remote access to our holdings, allowing us to run maintenance processes and gain access to our data from anywhere in the world.

The entire process of finding, installing, and maintaining a new server would not have been possible without bringing in some outside help. CSNTM was fortunate to be connected with The Core Technology Group, an IT consultancy based in the Dallas area. They quickly understood our organization’s mission and data storage needs, helping us find a server setup that would be cost-effective, reliable, and scalable in the long-term. They have also answered dozens of emails and phone calls from us along the way.

Finally, CSNTM has found new ways to archive our images in additional locations and formats. Aside from our new server, we also purchased an LTO tape drive and several LTO tape cartridges. In the past, CSNTM used gold-plated DVDs for the purpose of additional backups, but with the rapid expansion of the size of our images, this backup method has become unwieldy and inefficient. It would take thousands of DVDs to store the massive number of images we plan to take during the next few years. LTO tapes, on the other hand, each hold more than 2 TB of data, only cost about $30 each, and last up to 30 years. We are creating multiple LTO tape backups for every image in our collection, in both RAW and TIFF formats, in order to conform with archival best practices.

Preservation begins with capturing beautiful images, but it doesn’t end there. With our new backup protocols, we will be processing over 60,000 images during the next few months. Each image will be converted and stored in three different formats, on two different media, and in three different locations. Though we aren’t in the field digitizing, the work continues as we safely archive our data for generations to come.

Monday, September 28, 2015

National Library of Greece Summer Recap

Robert D. Marcello

28 September 2015

After months of hard work and planning, the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) recently completed phase 1 of the National Library of Greece (NLG) expedition. The NLG is one of the top five locations for New Testament manuscripts in the world. During this trip, the Center was able to digitize 135 Greek New Testament manuscripts. Almost 30 people were sent over to Athens, rotating out over the course of three months. Throughout the time there, the Greek financial crisis hit hard. Banks closed, individuals could only withdraw 60 Euros a day from ATMs, and tensions soared. However, the teams continued their work. In fact, during some of the hottest months of the year, they continued to work without any air conditioning. In spite of all of this, each member of the team knew that they were a part of something much bigger than themselves, and as a result, they had to press on.

Pressing on is exactly what happened. In spite of all of the obstacles, CSNTM digitized over 62,000 images. These images are in the process of post-production where they will all be evaluated, added to CSNTM’s archives and website, and made available to you! This undertaking is intense, and CSNTM ensures that each image remains backed up and preserved for future generations. In fact, some of the manuscripts that have been digitized are new discoveries, and some others include significant finds! The Center will be making announcements when these new manuscripts are made available online.

CSNTM wants to thank the Director of the library, Dr. Tsimboglou, and his staff for their partnership in this important collaboration to preserve a fraction of the National Library’s treasures. We also want to thank everyone who partnered with CSNTM to make this amazing opportunity a reality. Without you, it could have never happened, and because of you, irreplaceable New Testament manuscripts have now been digitally preserved for years to come! We look forward to completing this project and thank you for your continued support to complete this massive project.

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Update from the NLG

CSNTM's Executive Director has posted an exciting new blog providing an update of the expedition to the National Library of Greece and a newly discovered manuscript. Also, CSNTM has been featured in some leading Greek newspapers for our work at the National Library.

Click here to read all about Dr. Wallace's update!

Monday, March 16, 2015

Background on the National Library of Greece

Matthew Wilson

16 March 2015

The National Library of Greece (NLG) holds one of the five largest repositories of Greek New Testament manuscripts in the world. Ancient Greece dates back thousands of years, and most consider it the birthplace of Western culture. In fact, the rise of Greek culture resulted in its language becoming the lingua franca of the first century, and it was this language in which the books of the New Testament were originally written. As a result, the most important witnesses to the text of the New Testament are ancient Greek manuscripts and it is the mission of CSNTM to digitize them.

Though Greek culture is very ancient, modern Greece is a relatively young nation. In fact, it wasn’t until the early nineteenth century that Greece gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire. In 1829 the first governor of the independent Greek State, Ioannis Kapodistrias, established a library, museum, and orphanage in the first capital of Greece, Aegina. The library was established as an independent institution in 1832. That same year it was moved to the new capital Nafplio and moved again in 1834 to Athens, which became the new (and current) capital. In Athens, the library was first housed at the Roman Forum. Later it was moved to the church of St. Eleftherios. In 1842, the then Public Library was joined with the University Library, and the two were fully merged into the NLG in 1866. Both were housed at Othonos University.

On March 16, 1888, the cornerstone for a new marble neoclassical building was laid. In 1903, Greece relocated the NLG into the new location. The new structure was a part of three neoclassical buildings. The other two were the National University of Athens and the Academy of Athens. The three were named the “Athenian Trilogy.” Today, a new building is currently under construction as part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, which will house the National Library and the National Opera. The NLG considers itself the guardian of the written intellectual legacy of the Greeks. It seeks to preserve this legacy and to make it available to the public.

When the NLG was first made an independent institution in 1832 it had 1,018 volumes. In 1842 with the merger of the University Library, the collection increased to 50,000 volumes. Today the National Library holds one of the largest collections of Greek manuscripts—4,500 total. Of those, approximately 300 manuscripts are of the Greek New Testament, one of the largest collections of Greek New Testament manuscripts in the world.

On January 12, 2015, the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) announced that it has entered into an agreement with the NLG to digitize all of these 300+ manuscripts of the Greek New Testament and make them freely available on CSNTM’s website. This is an amazing opportunity and a huge undertaking. There are approximately 5,800 Greek New Testament manuscripts that are currently known, and the NLG has 300 of them! This collection represents a significant witness to the text of the New Testament, and its digitization by CSNTM will not only ensure that these witnesses are available for generations to come but are freely available to anyone who would like to see them.


For more information about the NLG, click here or here

If you would like to support this expedition, please click here.