The Eusebian Canon Tables: Ordering Textual Knowledge in Late Antiquity

384 Pages·2019·8.171 MB·English

by  Matthew R Crawford

OXFORD EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES
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The Eusebian
Canon Tables
Ordering Textual Knowledge in Late Antiquity
MATTHEW R. CRAWFORD
1
3
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Acknowledgements
Eusebius was able to create his Canon Tablesonly because of the prior
intellectual labour of Ammonius of Alexandria, and the ingenuity apparent
in his creation owes a great deal to the stimulating environment of the
Caesarean library. The present project is similarly indebted to a number of
scholarswhohaveofferedinsightfulsuggestionsandcriticismsalongtheway,
and was similarly nurtured by two intellectually fertile institutional settings.
I began writing this book while employed as a postdoctoral researcher in the
DepartmentofTheologyandReligionatDurhamUniversityandcompletedit
after making a transition to the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at
AustralianCatholicUniversity.Theinitialresearchwassupportedbyagrant
from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council for the project ‘The
FourfoldGospelandits Rivals’,whosechiefinvestigatorwasFrancisWatson
of Durham.The book owes more to Francis thanto any other single person,
sincehewastheonewhointroducedmetotheCanonTablesandconvinced
me that it was a worthy object of scholarly scrutiny. His influence on my
thinkingonthismatterextendswellbeyondthecitationstohisownscholar-
shipinthepagesthatfollow.
The first presentation I gave on the Canon Tableswas to the New Testa-
ment research seminar at Durham in early 2013, and shortly thereafter the
ReverendCanonRosalindBrownkindlyinvitedmetogiveapubliclectureon
thetopictoalunchtimecrowdatDurhamCathedral,inconnectionwiththe
LindisfarneGospelsexhibitinsummer2013.Oneofthesurprisingoutcomes
of both those events (surprising to me at least) was the degree of interest
showninthetopic,anexperiencethathasbeenreplicatedmanytimesoverin
the subsequent four and a half years. In fact, I never would have imagined
I would write a book on the Eusebian Canon Tables, but after repeatedly
seeing the enthusiasm the material generated among scholarly audiences
I finally realized that to do so was imperative. Papers that eventually became
chapters were presented at the annual meetings of the North American
Patristics Society, the Society of Biblical Literature, the Australasian Associ-
ation for Byzantine Studies, and the Asia-Pacific Early Christian Studies
Society, and I am grateful for the feedback I received on each of those
occasions. An earlier version of chapter two was published as an article in
New Testament Studies in 2015, and an earlier version of chapter six was
publishedin2017inaneditedcollectionentitledProducingChristianCulture:
MedievalExegesisandItsInterpretativeGenres,editedbyGilesGasper,Francis
Watson,andmyself.AlessandroBausigenerouslyinvitedmetogiveatalkon
Canon Tablesat a conference on multiple-text manuscripts organized by the
vi Acknowledgements
Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures in November 2016, which
prodded me to delve into the world of manuscript studies, and he invited
me to return in May 2018 for a stimulating conference entirely devoted to
CanonTables.InOctober2017IwasabletoreturntoDurhamand,thanksto
theinvitationofJaneHeath,presentsomeofthematerialinmoredeveloped
form to the New Testament research seminar, where I was once again re-
minded that there are few places that are as collegial and intellectually
engaging. Inadditiontothesepublic events,chaptersorportionsof chapters
invariousstageswerereadbyLewisAyres,JeremiahCoogan,BenEdsall,Jaś
Elsner, Brian Gronewoller, Will Kynes, Margaret Mitchell, Judith McKenzie,
DawnLaValleNorman,AdamPloyd,RobertThomson,andJonathanZecher,
allofwhomofferedcommentsthathaveimprovedthefinalformofthebook.
Other scholars provided assistance in a variety of ways. Stephen Carlson
helpedmeonmorethanoneoccasionwithconversationsabouttheSynoptic
ProblemandtrackingdownandcitingGreekmanuscripts.MichaelPapazian
answered multiple queries about Armenian grammar. Andrew Riggsby and
NathanSidolisharedpre-publicationversionsoftheirworkwhichturnedout
tobecrucialforcertainstagesoftheargument,andPeterWilliamsintroduced
metothefascinatingCodexClimaciRescriptus,whichIdiscussinAppendix3.
For pressing me to consider the grander implications of the topic and for
introducing me to the scholarship of Mary Carruthers (cited in two of the
following chapters), I am particularly grateful to T. J. Lang, whom I had the
pleasureofhavingasacolleagueduringmyfinalyearatDurham.Theisolated
hallway in the top level of the Dun Cow Cottage where we had our offices
witnessed many conversations about paratexts, memory, and interpretation,
whichresultedinaco-authoredarticleandprovidedthecontextwithinwhich
theshapeforthepresentbookemerged.Fourresearchassistantshavehelped
in a variety of ways at differing stages of the project: Clift Ward, Carolyn
Alsen,EdJeremiah,andJonSimons.IshouldalsothanktheResearchOfficeof
ACUforprovidingthefundstocovercostsassociatedwithsecuringcopyright
permissionsandprintingtheimagesincludedinthebook,aswellasfundsfor
research trips to UCLA in April 2017 and to the British Library in October
2017 during which I was able to examine several Greek, Latin, Syriac, and
Armeniangospelbooksrelated tothisproject.Thisfinancialsupportcameas
partofafive-yeargrantprojecttitled‘ModesofKnowingandtheOrderingof
KnowledgeinEarlyChristianity’(2017–21),afittingthemesincethepresent
volume draws attention to one of the most innovative attempts at ordering
knowledgeinlateantiquity.
Finally,Ishouldmentionthelibrariesandindividualswhohaveassistedme
withfindingtheimagesthatappearinthebookandarrangingthepermissions
topublishthemhere,includingJudithMcKenzie(FacultyofOrientalStudies,
Oxford), Simon Elliott (Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA), Julia
Rodwell (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne), Sandra Powlette (British
Acknowledgements vii
Library, London), Alexander Devine and Anne McLaughlin (The Parker
Library,CorpusChristiCollege,Cambridge),CarlGraves(EgyptExploration
Society, London), Alessandro Moro (Shylock E-Solutions, Venice, who pro-
vided images of materials in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana), Gevorg
Ter-Vardanian (Matenadaran, Erevan), Michael Gervers, Mikheil Tsereteli
(Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi), Simone Verde (Complesso Monumen-
taledellaPilotta,Parma),FlorentPalluault(MédiathèqueFrançois-Mitterrand,
Poitiers), Kerstin Herzog (Universitätsbibliothek, Augsburg), Mary Haegert
(Houghton Library, Harvard), Sharon Sutton (The Library of Trinity College
Dublin),BenedictaErny(Universitätsbibliothek,Basel),StefanoGrigolatoand
MaddalenaPiotti(BibliotecaQueriniana,Brescia),andAnnaRitaFantoniand
EugeniaAntonucci(BibliotecaMediceaLaurenziana).
This book is dedicated to two people who will probably never read it, but
without whose friendship and kindness it would never have been completed:
HamishandAndy.

List of Illustrations
1. Mk§64(inGreekξΔ=Mk6:35ff.)inTheGospelBookof
Theophanes(secondquarterofthetwelfthc.) 4
NationalGalleryofVictoria,Melbourne,FeltonBequest,
1960(710 5),fol.94r.
2. CanonIinTheGospelBookofTheophanes 5
NationalGalleryofVictoria,Melbourne,FeltonBequest,
1960(710 5),fol.3r.
3. Mt§147(inGreekρμζ=Mt14:14ff.)inTheGospelBookof
Theophanes 6
NationalGalleryofVictoria,Melbourne,FeltonBequest,1960
(710 5),fol.40r.
4. Lk§93(inGreekϘΓ=Lk9:12ff.)inTheGospelBookof
Theophanes 6
NationalGalleryofVictoria,Melbourne,FeltonBequest,
1960(710 5),fol.152v.
5. Jn§49(inGreekμθ=Jn6:5ff.)inTheGospelBookof
Theophanes 6
NationalGalleryofVictoria,Melbourne,FeltonBequest,
1960(710 5),fol.211r.
6. ThebeginningofthegospelofJohninCodexSinaiticus
(midfourthc.) 8
London,BritishLibrary,AddMS43725,fol.247r
(©TheBritishLibraryBoard).
7. Lk§305–9(=Lk23:10ff.)intheStAugustineGospels(sixthc.) 9
TheParkerLibrary,CorpusChristiCollege,Cambridge,
MS286,fol.199v.
8. CanonIVinPeshittaGospels(sixthc.) 10
Paris,BibliothèquenationaledeFrance,syr.33,fol.5v.
9. Lk§215–18(=Lk18:14ff.)inCodexArgenteus(sixthc.) 11
Uppsala,UppsalaUniversityLibrary,MSDG1,fol.170r.
10. CanonsVIandVIIintheGladzorGospels(c.1300) 12
GladzorGospels,LibrarySpecialCollections,Charles
E.YoungResearchLibrary,UCLA,ArmenianMS1,p.16.
11. CanonIinTheBert’ayGospels(tenthc.) 13
Cambridge,MA,HarvardUniversity,HoughtonLibrary,
MSGeorgian1,fol.3v.
xiv ListofIllustrations
12. CanonIIinAbbaGarimaI(sixth–seventhc.) 15
Ethiopia,AbbaGarimaMonastery,AGI,fol.12r
(©MichaelGervers,2004).
13. CanonVIII,IX,andXMtoftheLondonCanonTables
(sixth–seventhc.) 26
London,BritishLibrary,Add.5111/1,fol.11r
(©TheBritishLibraryBoard).
14. FragmentofGreekCanonTablesfromapapyruscodexfound
amidsttheruinsofamonasteryinThebes(sixth–seventhc.) 36
NewYork,MetropolitanMuseumofArt,accessionno.X.455,P.Mon.
Epiph.584.
15. CanonIXinCodexBrixianus(sixthc.) 37
Brescia,BibliotecacivicaQueriniana,ManoscrittoPurpureo,fol.11v.
16. P.Oxy.4168,sideb.Fragmentsofacodexcontaining
Ptolemy’sHandyTables,datedtothefourthcentury 47
CourtesyofTheEgyptExplorationSocietyand
theUniversityofOxfordImagingPapyriProject.
17. P.Oxy.4169,sidea.Fragmentsofacodexcontaining
Ptolemy’sHandyTables,datedtothethirdcentury 48
CourtesyofTheEgyptExplorationSocietyandtheUniversityof
OxfordImagingPapyriProject.
18. PortraitofEusebiusabovethebeginningofhisLetterto
CarpianusintheGladzorGospels(c.1300) 58
GladzorGospels,LibrarySpecialCollections,CharlesE.Young
ResearchLibrary,UCLA,ArmenianMS1,p.4.
19. PortraitsofAmmonius(right)andEusebius(left)inthe
RabbulaGospels(sixthc.) 88
Florence,BibliotecaMediceaLaurenziana,MS.Plut.1.56,fol.2r.
20. ImageofEusebius(topleft),Carpianus(topright),and
Ammonius(bottom)intheParmaGospelbook(latterhalfof
eleventhc.) 89
Parma,BibliotecaPalatina,MS.gr.5,fol.12v(bypermission
oftheMinistryofCulturalHeritageandActivitiesandTourism).
21. Mk§156(Mk§ρνς=Mk14:1a)inCodexBasilensis
A.N.III.12(ninthc.) 115
Basel,Universitätsbibliothek,A.N.III.12,fol.143r.
22. Mt§211(Mt§CCXI=Mt21:12–13)intheLindisfarne
Gospels(eighthc.) 116
London,BritishLibrary,CottonMSNeroDIV,fol.68v
(©TheBritishLibraryBoard).