Inventory number:

 
<t>AN UNPUBLISHED COPTIC SAHIDIC PSALTER CODEX 
AT THE UNIVERSITY MUSEUM IN PHILADELPHIA: 
A PRELIMINARY REPORT</t> 
 
by Robert A. Kraft (University of Pennsylvania) 
 
[= pp. 81-89 in <t>ARMENIAN AND BIBLICAL STUDIES</t>, 
ed Michael E. Stone (Jerusalem: St. James Press, 1976)] 

 
     The Egyptology section of the University of Pennsylvania
Museum in Philadelphia is in possession of portions of a
Coptic/Sahidic paper codex of Psalms 1-49, including parts of the
original cover materials.\1/  A summary description is
provided here: 

-----
\1/ Appreciation is due to Dr. David O'Connor, curator of the
Egyptology section, and to the staff of the University Museum for
permission to work with this material and for assistance in
various connections.  Students who have assisted particularly
with this Coptic/Sahidic manuscript include Janet Timbie, Tom
Woehrle, Patricia Crown, Lynne Cohen, Ann Bloomdahl, and Saundra
Sterling.  See also n. 4 below.
        
=====
 
<h1>Inventory number:</h1>   University Museum E16261, plus 
fragments inventoried separately under the numbers E16305 (items 
"i", "k", "l") and E16528. 
 
<h1>Preserved portions:</h1>  five relatively large
fragments of cover material (leather and linen, with paper
filler; some evidence of Arabic writing on the paper
materials);\2/ large sections of 108 folios, in three
different types of writing. 

-----
\2/ It has not yet been established precisely how the cover 
materials connect with the preserved folios, but the pages and 
cover matter were all stored together and presumably were 
acquired together by the Museum.  Nevertheless, the possibility 
remains open that these covers never were part of the Psalm 
codex.  

=====
 
<h1>Condition:</h1>  water damage affects approximately half
of each page; pages were not in original sequence when damage
occurred; between five and seven folios are missing, prior to
last page preserved (=p. "227", containing Ps 49.1-3a); in most
instances, water damaged portions have broken away from the
better preserved portions of the page; there are frequent minor
lacunae in damaged portions; special care is necessary to
separate materials fused by the water damage. [page 82]

<h1>Original size of page:</h1>  approximately
18.5 by 13.5 cm, hands Nos. 1 and 3, and 17.5 by 12 cm for hand
No. 2. 
 
<h1>Description of writing:</h1>  hand No. 1 -- sloppy,
irregular Coptic uncial in black ink with minimal punctuation;
about 18 lines to the page, single column per page.  Three folios
containing this writing are preserved, all from the opening
section of the codex (pages 1/2, 3/4, 7/8). 

     Hand No. 2 -- neat, regular upright Coptic uncial in dark
brown ink with some red decoration and careful attention to the
strophic structure of the material (use of marginal letters,
punctuation, identation); about 17 lines per page, single column. 
Only two folios containing this writing are preserved, from near
the beginning of the codex (pages 14/15, 16/17). 

     Hand No. 3 -- neat, regular, slightly slanting Coptic uncial
in moderately dark brown ink with red decoration and some
attention to thought units (punctuation, use of marginal
letters); normally 16 lines per page, single column; average of
12-13 (10-16 range) letters per line.  Large parts of 103 folios
in this hand have been identified (page 18 = Ps 7 onward).  Page
numbers appear at the upper outside margin, signature numbers at
the upper inside margin on the first and last pages of each
signature.  Titles to new psalms are numbered and set off by
broken lines from the rest of the material.  Large, decorated
initial letters are used at the start of each psalm; there is
haphazard use of enlarged letters set in the left margin, often
(but not necessarily) when a new sentence or clause happens to
begin on a new line; red ink is used to decorate marginal
letters, to highlight punctuation and abbreviations, and to set
off page/signature numbers and titles of new psalms. 
 
 
<h1>Background:</h1>  This Coptic/Sahidic codex is part of a
large collection of hitherto uncatalogued papyri and related
materials (paper, leather) in varying states of preservation and
in various languages (Hieroglyphics, Hieratic, Demotic, Coptic,
Greek, Arabic, Pahlevi, Hebrew, and one piece each in Syriac and
Latin) acquired by the University Museum near the beginning of
this century.\3/  As nearly as can be determined at present,
the bulk of this material was purchased on behalf of the Museum
in 1910 by [p. 83] Professor W. Max Mu%ller from or through a
Professor Moritz in Cairo.  Some of the materials seem to have
been tentatively identified already when Mu%ller obtained them
from Moritz, and Mu%ller contributed notes and observations of his
own, but it was not until 1932 that the present inventory numbers
were assigned to the materials by Battiscombe Gunn.  Almost no
systematic work has been done on the collection over the years;
indeed, many of the pieces were not even in a condition to be
examined until the present writer began humidifying and
flattening them in 1966.  Now, a concerted effort is underway by
a team of students under the writer's direction to complete the
job of inventorying and describing the materials.\4/ 

-----
\3/ Information about the acquisition and subsequent history 
of the collection has been gathered by Patricia Crown for 
publication in the near future.  The material summarized here is 
from Ms Crown's report. 

\4/ Rudimentary catalogues are nearing completion for the 
leather materials in Arabic and Coptic (by Richard Beal and 
Robert Childs).  An inventory of the Pahlevi materials is 
available (by Paul Morris), and a catalogue of the Hebrew MS 
holdings of the University Museum and the University Library 
(Cairo Geniza material) is nearing completion (by Francesca 
Rochberg and Joseph Cahn).  We are hoping to complete an 
inventory of the paper materials in Arabic and Coptic by Spring 
1974.  The bulk of the collection, consisting of Greek, Coptic, 
and Arabic papyri, will require a longer period of time to 
organize.  The papyri in Demotic, Hieratic, and Hieroglyphic are 
fewer in number and perhaps can be inventoried in 1974.  Most of 
the groundwork for the inventories has been done by Patricia 
Crown, Lynne Cohen, and Ann Bloomdahl. 

=====
 
<h1>The Coptic Codex:</h1>  When we rediscovered the
Coptic/Sahidic Psalter in Fall of 1972, it was housed rather
carelessly in a cardboard box measuring 25 by 19.5 by 4 cm. 
Along with the inventory number on the face of the box were the
words "Coptic Book of Psalms (etc. ?). Paper."  It is not clear
who was responsible originally for that tentative identification,
but since the 1932 inventory card bears the same information, the
identification is at least that old.  The damaged codex had been
handled frequently enough subsequent to its having been damaged
by water that various parts of pages were broken off from the
larger lump (the water had fused parts of many pages together),
and the sequence of pages that had obtained when the codex became
damaged by water was no longer preserved intact.  One of the
first tasks would be the delicate job of physically separating
the remaining adhering pages from each other.  There was real
concern that a successful separation of the water-fused portions
might not even be possible. 
 
 
<h1>Separating the Pages</h1>  In the Fall of 1972, one of
my graduate students, Janet Timbie, assisted in describing the
state of the MS and recording the sequence of pages as they were
found at that time.  Xerox copies were made [p. 84] of all
surface areas that could safely be placed on a flat surfaced
Xerox machine, and each available page was identified.  Much of
the initial identification was done by another graduate student,
Thomas Woehrle (Temple University).  After consultation with
Susan Nash of the Museum conservation department and Wilhelm
Spawn of the American Philosophical Library in Philadelphia, I
proceeded cautiously with the task of separating the materials
that still adhered to each other.  Some pages and sections
responded well to gentle prying apart with the help of a thin,
flat metal probe -- a method used by Wilhelm Spawn when he
examined the material on 19 December, 1972.  Some portions were
so tightly fused, however, that attempts at dry separation proved
unsatisfactory -- the individual pages sometimes would crack or
would split so that one writing surface would adhere to one part
of the mass needing separation, while the opposite surface of the
same folio would adhere to the other part of the mass, leaving no
writing visible at the place where the separation had been made. 

     Fortunately, the inks used in the MS proved not to be
soluble in water, so it was possible to use a process whereby a
fused mass of fragmentary pages could be soaked and submerged in
distilled water, and then carefully separated by stripping off
the layers one by one.  The results have been highly successful,
for the most part, and although much work still remains to be
done on various small fragments or portions of split folios that
still adhere to the pages to which they were once adjacent, we
are now in possession of about 90% of the surface of most
preserved pages (when the water damaged portions are joined to
the relatively undamaged portion of each page).  As each group of
water damaged fragments was separated, dried, and cleaned, Xerox
copies were made from which to work in identifying and
reconstructing the individual pages.  Careful record was also
kept of the sequence of pages in the fused portions, so that it
would be possible to reconstruct with precision the order in
which the pages occurred when the MS was damaged by water.  Table
1 records the results.  This information is crucial for the
efficient and accurate identification of small fragments still
adhering to their neighbour pages and for assistance in reading
occasional "mirror writing" that had transferred from one page to
its neighbour due to the vicissitudes undergone by the manuscript
before it came into our hands. 
 
<h1>Reconstructing the "original" codex.</h1>  When the MS
was damaged by water at some undetermined point in time past, its
pages were already jumbled, with [pp. 85-86 = charts; p. 87]  
some pages upside down and/or backwards in relation to others.
Thus we find that 59 folios are damaged at the bottom, and 49
folios at the top.  On many of the former folios, the original
page numbers are still preserved -- a fact which assisted us
greatly in restoring the pages to their original sequence that
existed when the binding of the codex was still intact.\5/ 
Table 2 presents a reconstruction of the original page and
signature format of the codex,\6/ before it became disarranged
and ultimately damaged by water. 

-----
\5/ There was some confusion in numbering in the original 
codex: the lower part of two leaves (four pages) from the center 
of signature 10 are still joined together, but their page numbers 
are not preserved.  On either side of this material come pp. 
179/180 and 184/185, with numbers preserved.  This leaves only 
three numbers (181-182-183) for four pages (in a signature of 10 
folios).  Although none of the page numbers in signature 1 is 
preserved (and there may have been a title page and similar 
material preceeding what is designated "1/2" on chart 2), there 
had to be an even number of pages between the folios "7/8" and 
"14/15".  If six pages were necessary for the intervening 
material (Ps 4.5b - 5.12b), and if Ps 1.1 began on "page 1", 
there was a numbering error somewhere prior to pp. 24/25 (our 
first preserved page numbers).  Possibly only four pages were 
required for Ps 4.5b - 5.12b, and possibly the page containing Ps 
1,1 was numbered "page 2".  In that event, our reconstruction 
would need to be adjusted so that signature 1 contains the 
following folios: 2/3, 4/5, (6/7 lost), 8/9, (10/11, and 12/13 
lost), 14/15, 16/17.  Perhaps a title-page folio was prefixed. 

\6/ Evidence of actual signature designations is preserved on 
pp. 17, 37, 56, 76, 96, 116, 117, 152, 153, 172, 191, 192, 211.  
Two sets of pages from the center of their respective signatures 
have been preserved with their inner margins still joined: 65/66 
& 67/68 and 181/182 & 183a/183b.  Notice also that pages from 
other such sets were adjacent when the materials were damaged: 
45/46 & 47/48, 125/126 & 127/128, 143/144 & 145/146, 161/162 & 
163/164, 200/201 & 202/203. 

=====

----- 
Chart 1:[p.85]    <t>UNIVERSITY MUSEUM E 16261 
                     COPTIC/SAHIDIC PSALTER</t>
 
Correlations between (1) the sequence of pages at the time the
codex became damaged by water and (2) the original order of pages
(before dislocation) as determined by preserved page numbers and
sequence of content.  In the following lists, the initial number
of a two number notation (e.g. 7/8, 226/227) always designates
pages that faced in the same direction (pages facing upward when
the pile of leaves lies on a horizontal plane), and the second
number indicates pages facing the opposite direction (facing
down). 
 
Sequence when damaged         Original page numbers 

         1/2                          37/38 
         3/4                          39/40 
         5/6                          41/42 
         7/8                          43/44 
         9/10                         49/50 
        11/12                         45/46 
        13/14                         47/48 
        15/16                         69/70 
        17/18                         68/67 
        19/20                         66/65 
        21/22                         51/52 
        23/24                         53/54 
        25/26                         55/56 
        27/28                         57/58 
        29/30                        148/147 
        31/32                        139/140 
        33/34                        141/142 
        35/36                        143/144 
        37/38                        145/146 
        39/40                        138/137 
        41/42                        136/135 
        43/44                        134/133 
        45/46                         29/28 
        47/48                         31/30 
        49/50                        164/163 
        51/52                        162/161 
        53/54                        159/160 
        55/56                        158/157 
        57/58                        156/155 
        59/60                        154/153 
        61/62                        152/151 
        63/64                        124/123 
        65/66                        209/208 
        67/68                        211/210 
        69/70                          4/3 
        71/72                          7/8 
        73/74                          2/1 
        75/76                         15/14 
        77/78                         18/19 
        79/80                         20/21 
        81/82                         22/23 
        83/84                         17/16 
        85/86                        186/187 
        87/88                        190/191 
        89/90                        188/189 
        91/92                         27/26 
        93/94                        179/180 
        95/96                        184/185 
        97/98                         85/86 
        99/100                        64/63 
       101/102                        60/59 
       103/104                        61/62 
       105/106                        96/95 
       107/108                        93/94 
       109/110                        92/91 
       111/112                       194/195 
       113/114                       196/197 
       115/116                        33/32 
       117/118                       192/193 
       119/120                        24/25 
       121/122                       169/170 
       123/124                       107/108 
       125/126                       221/220 
       127/128                       171/172 
       129/130                       173/174 
       131/132                       175/176 
       133/134                        77/78 
       135/136                        79/80 
       137/138                       207/206 
       139/140                       222/223 
       141/142                       166/165 
       143/144                       168/167 
       145/146                       128/127 
       147/148                       126/125 
       149/150                       129/130 
       151/152                        87/88 
       153/154                        89/90 
       155/156                       102/101 
       157/158                       100/99 
       159/160                        98/97 
       161/162                       103/104 
       163/164                       105/106 
       165/166                       109/110 
       167/168                       132/131 
       169/170                       112/111 
       171/172                       198/199 
       173/174                       216/217 
       175/176                       225/224 
       177/178                       205/204 
       179/180                       203/202 
       181/182                       201/200 
       183/184                       114/113 
       185/186                       115/116 
       187/188                       219/218 
       189/190                       226/227 
       191/192                       214/215 
       193/194                       181/182 
       195/196                      183a/183b 
       197/198                        82/81 
       199/200                       117/118 
       201/202                       119/120 
       203/204                       121/122 
       205/206                        84/83   
       207/208                       177/178 
       209/210                        76/75 
       211/212                        74/73 
       213/214                        72/71 
       215/216                       150/149 
                                    Missing: 
                                       5/6 
                                       9/10 
                                      11/12 
                                     13a/13b (?)   
                                      34/35 
                                     36a/36b (?) 
                                     212/213 
                                     228/229 
                                      etc. 
===== 

----- 
Chart 2:[p.86]    <t>UNIVERSITY MUSEUM E 16261 
                     COPTIC/SAHIDIC PSALTER</t> 
 
Correlation between (1) reconstructed original order of the
folios and (2) the sequence in which the dislocated pages
appeared when the codex was damaged by water.  Folios in which
the water damage affects the upper portion of the page are noted
by _underlining_ in column (1).  The other folios are 
damaged in their lower portion. 
 
Original page      Sequence when 
numbers            damaged 
--------------------------------
Signature 1 
 
      _1/2_         74/73
      _3/4_         70/69
       5/6            
      _7/8_         71/72
      9/10            
      11/12
     13a/13b
     _14/15_        76/75
      16/17         84/83
--------------------------------
Signature 2
 
     _18/19_        77/78
     _20/21_        79/80
     _22/23_        81/82
      24/25        119/120
      26/27         92/91
     _28/29_        46/45
     _30/31_        48/47
      32/33        116/115
      34/35           
     36a/36b
--------------------------------
Signature 3

      37/38          1/2
      39/40          3/4
      41/42          5/6
      43/44          7/8
      45/46         11/12
      47/48         13/14
      49/50          9/10
     _51/52_        21/22
     _53/54_        23/24
      55/56         25/26
--------------------------------
Signature 4

     _57/58_        27/28
      59/60        102/101
      61/62        103/104
      63/64        100/99 
      65/66         20/19
      67/68         18/17
      69/70         15/16
      71/72    
      73/74        212/211
      75/76        210/209
--------------------------------
Signature 5

     _77/78_       133/134
     _79/80_       135/136
     _81/82_       198/197
      83/84        206/205
     _85/86_        97/98
     _87/88_       151/152
     _89/90_       153/154
      91/92        110/109
      93/94        107/108
      95/96        106/105
--------------------------------
Signature 6

     _97/98_       160/159
     _99/100_      158/157
    _101/102_      156/155
    _103/104_      161/162
    _105/106_      163/164
     107/108       123/124
    _109/110_      165/166
     111/112       170/169
     113/114       184/183
     115/116       185/186
--------------------------------
Signature 7

     117/118       199/200
     119/120       201/202
     121/122       203/204
     123/124        64/63
     125/126       148/147
     127/128       146/145
    _129/130_      149/150
     131/132       168/167
    _133/134_       44/43
    _135/136_       42/41
--------------------------------
Signature 8

    _137/138_       40/39
    _139/140_       31/32
    _141/142_       33/34
     143/144        35/36
     145/146        37/38
    _147/148_       30/29
     149/150       218/217
     151/152        62/61
--------------------------------
Signature 9

     153/154        60/59
     155/156        58/57
     157/158        56/55
     159/160        53/54
    _161/162_       52/51
    _163/164_       50/49
     165/166       142/141
    _167/168_      144/143
     169/170       121/122
     171/172       127/128
-------------------------------- 
Signature 10

    _173/174_      129/130
     175/176       131/132
     177/178       207/208
     179/180        93/94
    _181/182_      193/194
   _183a/183b_     195/196
     184/185        95/96
    _186/187_       85/86
     188/189        89/90
     190/191        87/88
--------------------------------
Signature 11

     192/193       117/118
     194/195       111/112
     196/197       113/114
    _198/199_      171/172
    _200/201_      182/181
    _202/203_      180/179
    _204/205_      178/177
     206/207       138/137
     208/209        66/65
     210/211        68/67
--------------------------------
Signature 12

     212/213
    _214/215_      191/192
    _216/217_      173/174
    _218/219_      188/187
    _220/221_      126/125
     222/223       139/140
    _224/225_      176/175
    _226/227_      189/190                   
         
===== 
 
 
        Portions of most of the pages from twelve signature units
are preserved.  Units two through twelve are written in a
consistent Coptic hand (labeled "hand 3" above), but the first
signature contains two startlingly different styles of writing. 
Indeed, Psalm 7 actually begins on page 16b ("hand 2"), but the
material was subsequently crossed out, and begins anew on page 18
("hand 3").  It seems probable that a codex from which the
initial signature had been damaged or lost was repaired in tow
stages: some pages from another old and damaged codex of slightly
smaller format were used for some of the missing material (at
least pages 14/15 and 16/17), but the opening pages had to be
supplied from a third source, perhaps written by the repairer
himself ("hand 1" pages 1/2, 3/4, 7/8; doubtless also 5/6, and
perhaps 9/10, etc.).  Thus a composite initial signature was
prefixed to the other material.\7/  [p. 88]  

-----
\7/ There seems to be a trace of some sort of glue on the 
inner margin of folio 16/17.  Interestingly, many of the pages of 
the codex still preserve (three) holes along the inner margin 
through which a binding thread apparently passed.  Does this mean 
that the signature structure was no longer functional (with each 
signature sewn separately, then united by means of the threads 
and cover) when the codex was repaired for its last useful stage 
of life? 

=====

     How many pages were included in this reconstituted codex is 
difficult to determine.  The last preserved page (p.227) breaks 
off in the middle of a verse (Ps 49.3). and would not have been 
the final page of signature 12 if, like most of the other 
signatures, it contained 10 folios (20 pages) (Only signature 8 
has 8 folios.) If signature 12 also had 10 folios, it would have 
extended to page 231.  But even that would not provide sufficient 
room to include the entirety of Ps 49.  Thus it may be that we 
have only a portion of a much larger Psalter codex, or perhaps 
the first volume of a multi-volume Psalter.  Further research 
into the habits and techniques employed in producing Coptic 
codices is necessary in this connection.\8/ 

-----
\8/ Reference needs to be made to the following articles: H. 
Ibscher, <gn>"Koptische Bucheinhande aus A%gypten," <p>Berliner 
Museen</p></gn> 49 (1928), pp. 86 - 90; D. Cockerell 
"Development of Bookbinding Methods -- Coptic Influence," 
<p>Library Service</p> 4, 13 (1932/1933), pp. 4, 20 (1939/40), 
pp. 214 - 33. 

=====
 
<h1>Dating the writing.</h1> Careful paleographical
research on the different hands in the codex is being pursued by
Janet Timbie.  Initial impressions suggest a date somewhere in
the ninth to eleventh century for hands 2 and 3, with "hand No.
2" possibly somewhat earlier (early tenth century?) than "hand
No. 3" (end of tenth century?).  Both represent Stegemann's
<gn>"schmaler Stil" </gn>.\9/  Comparative material for
dating the relatively careless and sloppy "hand No. 1" is more
difficult to isolate.  "Hand No. 1" leaves the impression of
being later than hands 2 and 3 (which is expected if the
reconstruction offered above is accepted), but at this point it
is impossible to give more than a general tenth to thirteenth
century estimate, with some inclination towards a twelfth century
date.

-----
\9/ V. Stegemann, <gn><t>Koptische Palaographie</t> 
(Heidelberg: Akademie der Wissenschaften </gn>, 1936).  For 
recent palaeographical charts see also M. Cramer, <gn>Koptische 
Palaographie</gn> (Wiebaden: Harrassowitz, 1964). 

=====

<h1>The text represented.</h1> Work has only begun on
collating this witness with other available materials.  The
initial impressions gathered by Ms Timbie, Mr. Woerhle, and
myself are that our text has few major differences form the
sixth/seventh century Psalter published by Budge in 1898.\10/ 
Orthographic [p. 89] variations abound.  A tendency to include
the conjunctive "and" where it is lacking in Budge's text has
also been noted, but whether this is peculiar to our manuscript
or not still needs to be determined.\11/  As could be expected, the
titles of the Psalms also show variation between our codex and
other Sahidic witnesses (which vary significantly among
themselves).  The absence of any convenient collection of Sahidic
textual data on the Psalms and of any standard critical edition
of the Sahidic Psalms makes this aspect of work on the
Pennsylvania Sahidic Psalter especially difficult and time
consuming.  Any detailed report must be postponed to a further
date. 
 
-----
\10/ E. A. W. Budge, <t>The Earliest Known Coptic 
Psalter</t> (London: Paul, 1898).  For helpful lists of Sahidic 
MSS of the Psalms, see A Rahlfs, "<gn>Die Berliner Handschrift 
des Sahidischen Psalters," <p>Abhandlungen der kgl. Gesell. der 
Wiss. zu Go%ttingen</gn></p>  4,4 (Berlin, Weidmann, 1901), 
pp. 5-7; also H. Worrell, <t>The Coptic Psalter in the Freer 
Collection</t>, ("University of Michigan Studies: Humanistic 
Series," X,1; New York: Macmillan, 1916), p. xxiii f. For further 
bibliography, see W. Kammerer, <t>A Coptic Bibliography</t> (Ann 
Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press, 1950), items 843-862.  

\11/ See, for example, Ps 17.48c (18.49c) "<e>and</e> 
saves me from a man" (only Theodoret supports this reading 
according to Rahlfs' apparatus in his Gottingen LXX ed. of 1931 
[1967\2]); Ps 21.2b (22.3b) "<e>and</e> by night" (so also 
Greek and Hebrew); Ps 21.30a (22.31a) "<e>and</e> my seed" (so 
also Greek but not Hebrew). 

=====
//end//