Papyri and Leather Manuscripts of The Odes of Solomon 9781463218553

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Papyri and Leather Manuscripts of The Odes of Solomon

Edited by James H. Charlesworth

gorgias press 2012

Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2012 by Gorgias Press LLC

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC.

2012

O

1

ISBN 978-1-60724-258-1 Published originally in 1981 by Duke University.

Printed in the United States of America

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD T O THE SERIES DEDICATION T O JOE WESLEY DICKERSON INTRODUCTION T O T H E GREEK, COPTIC, AND SYRIAC MANUSCRIPTS PAPYRUS BODMER XI (BIBLIOTHEQUE BODMER) CODEX ASKEWIANUS (B.M. MS. ADD. 5114) CODEX NITRIENSIS (B.M. MS. ADD. 14538) COD. SYR. 9 (JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY)

Papyri and Leather Manuscripts of T h e Odes of Solomon

FOREWORD TO THE SERIES The Dickerson Series of Facsimiles of Manuscripts Important for Christian Origins has been inaugurated to serve the needs of a particular group of scholars — those who have devoted their skills and energies to the study of the "non-canonical" writings that predate the closing of the biblical canon in the Latin Church. As editor of the new English edition of the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, I arranged for the purchase of hundreds of photographs of manuscripts that preserve these ancient documents. These photographs were obtained primarily for the international team of contributors to the new edition; it now seems wise to share the most important photographs with other colleagues. We have learned the value of facsimiles of ancient manuscripts from decades of research on the Dead Sea Scrolls. In contrast to that corpus of literature, the writings related pseudepigraphically or apocryphally to the Old and New Testaments are studied often without the benefit of facsimiles, critical texts, and concordances. T h e Dickerson Series should help fill part of this void in critical research on antiquity. J.H.C. March 1981

DEDICATION T O J O E WESLEY DICKERSON In East Texas a "dog trot house" is a crude farm structure unique to that area's nineteenthcentury history. From such a birthplace, J o e Wesley Dickerson grew to professional prominence and to widespread esteem in his native region, Joe Dickerson was born on November 1, 1914, the only child of J o h n Culberson and Bertie Elizabeth Dickerson. T h e family farm home, shared with the Dickerson grandparents, was located seven miles east of Rockland, Tyler County, Texas, in the Rocky Springs community. The Dickerson family had come to Texas in 1831. Captain Aimaron Dickerson, a distant relative, died in the Battle of the Alamo in 1838. Young J o e Dickerson attended Sugar Creek School through the eighth grade, and graduated from Kirby High School, Woodville, Texas, in 1931, After completing premedical studies at Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College, in Nacogdoches, Texas, in 1937, he graduated f r o m the University of Texas School of Medicine in Galveston in 1941; be received his Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Medicine degrees simultaneously. During World War II Dr. Dickerson served five years in the United States Air Force and an additional twenty-four years in active reserve. After that twenty-nine years of service, he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. In J u n e 1947 Dr. Dickerson came to Jasper, Texas, and became associated with H u g h W. Hardy, M.D., at Hardy-Hancock Hospital. In 1949 Dr. Dickerson and his partner, William S. Sanders, M.D., acquired ownership of Hardy-Hancock Hospital f r o m its founders. On Dr. Sanders' death in 1956, Dr. Dickerson assumed full control of the hospital. In the fall of 1964, following an expansion of its physical plant, Dr. Dickerson renamed the facility the Mary E. Dickerson Memorial Hospital, in memory of his deceased wife. T h e new clinic was designated the William S. Sanders Clinic, in memory of his deceased partner. Dr. Dickerson served the hospital as administrator and chief of staff, president and chairman of its board of directors, until its acquisition in July 1980 by a private multi-hospital organization. H e presently serves as president and chief of staff of the active medical staff, which is engaged in family practice. Beloved throughout East Texas and affectionately known as "Dr. j o e , " he also is involved both in the banking business and in operating a working ranch. He is a member of the original board and co-founder of the First National Bank of Jasper, and still serves as a director. All of these occupations are within twenty miles of his birthplace. Dr. Dickerson's omnivorous mind and wide scholarly interests have led him into the fascinating field of biblical and archeological studies. He lectures frequently in many states on the medical aspects of the crucified man immortalized in the image of the controversial Shroud of Turin. His interest in earliest Christianity has drawn him to the Center and its research projects. In honoring a friend of the Center I feel the Center is honored reciprocally; such friendship helps us to move into the f u t u r e by building bridges to o u r past.

INTRODUCTION TO THE GREEK, COPTIC, AND SYRIAC MANUSCRIPTS The Odes of Solomon, pseudepigraphically attributed to the son of David, are forty-two odes or hymns that date from the earliest periods of Christianity. No extant manuscript preserves a complete copy of these odes; portions, however, are preserved in one Greek papyrus, one leather Coptic manuscript, one leather and one paper Syriac manuscript. (G) The third-century Greek manuscript, Papyrus Bodmer XI, on page 57 through 61 (misnumbered 62), contains only one unnumbered ode; that is Ode 11:1-24. This ode commences on the page that contains the conclusion of 3 Corinthians, and ends on the page that preserves the beginning of the Epistle ofJude. It is written in a mixed uncial script and in scriptio continua; the scribe hurries and commits numerous errors. One (/) or two strokes (//) denotes the end of a line or a verse, three diagonal lines (III) — or a blank—the completion of a strophe, and four diagonal lines (////) the conclusion of the ode. T h e significance of the Greek version is evident: it is the earliest copy of the Odes of Solomon; beside the Syriac of Cod. Syr. 9, it is the only witness to Ode 11, and is appreciably different from the Syriac version, preserving some verses that may be original: 16a. I beheld blooming and fruit-bearing trees, 16b. And self-grown was their crown. 16c. Their branches were sprouting And their fruits were shining. 16d. From an immortal land (were) their roots. 16e. And a river of gladness was irrigating them, 16f. And round about them in the land of eternal life. The Greek recension was obtained by M. Martin Bodmer in 1955 or 1956; editio princeps is by M. Testuz (ed.), Papyrus Bodmer X-XII (Cologny-Gerifeve, 1959). (C) The late fourth-century leather Coptic manuscript, Codex Askewianus (B.M. MS. Add. 5114) contains the Pistis Sophia, which preserves Ode 5:1-11 in chapter 58, the only extant version (of portions) of Ode 1 in chapter 59, Ode 6:8-18 in chapter 65, Ode 25: 1-12 in chapter 69, and Ode 22:1-12 in chapter 71. The significance of the Sahidic Coptic version resides primarily in its early date. The codex was purchased from Dr. Anthony Askew in 1785 by the officers of the British Museum; editio princeps of the Coptic version of the Odes of Solomon is by F. Miinter, Odae gnosticae Salomoni tributae, thebaice et latine, praefatione et adnotationibus philologicis illustratae (Copenhagen, 1812). (N, olim B) T h e tenth-century leather Syriac manuscript, Codex Nitriensis (B.M. MS. Add. 14534), on leaves 149 through 151 (only obverse), contains Odes 17:7b through 42:20. T h e Odes follow a miscellany of theological tracts; they precede the Psalms of Solomon, which are numbered sequentially so that the first one is titled "43." The script of the codex is in a neat and small Serta hand. Except for the Coptic version of Odes 22 and 25, Codex Nitriensis is the earliest witness to Odes 17:7b to 42:20; and this Codex is in Syriac, which seems to be the original language of the Odes of Solomon. These two factors clarify the importance of Codex

Nitriensis, which was brought to England from the Nitrian desert of Egypt and the monastery of St. Maria Deipara in the Wadi el Natrun by Dr. H. Tattam in 1843. After J . R . Harris' 1909 edition of the Odes of Solomon (editio princeps), F.C. Burkitt recognized the existence of Codex Nitriensis in the British Museum through W. Wright's Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum (3 vols.; London, 1870-72; vol. 2, pp. 1003-08). Burkitt drew attention to this codex in 1912 ("A New MS of the Odes of Solomon," Journal of Theological Studies 13 [1912] 37285); it was incorporated in the edition by Harris and A. Mingana, The Odes and Psalms of Solomon (2 vols.; Manchester, New York, 1916-20). (H) T h e fifteenth-century paper manuscript, Cod. Syr. 9 in the J o h n Rylands Library, is worn and mutilated at the beginning and end, having lost possibly both a preface and colophon. Three leaves are probably lost from the first quire and one from the last quire; only 56 of the original 60 leaves survive. T h e Odes fill the manuscript until the fifth line o f leaf 31b, which also contains the beginning of the Psalms of Solomon; hence the Psalms of Solomon follow the Odes as in Codex Nitriensis. T h e script of the manuscript is in a large but careless Serta hand. T h e significance of this codex is that it alone — except for Ode 11 that is extant in Greek, 5:1-11 and 6:8-18 that are preserved in Coptic — witnesses to the text of Odes 3 through 17:7a, and in a language that well may be the original. This codex may derive from the region of the Tigris, according to Harris in his editio princeps: The Odes and Psalms of Solomon: Now First Published from the Syriac Version (Cambridge, 1909). Acknowledgments. I wish to express appreciation to the trustees of the Bibliotheque Bodmer, the British Museum, and the J o h n Rylands University Library of Manchester for the courtesies extended to me over two decades as I studied these manuscripts, and for the permission to publish these photographs. I also wish to acknowledge indebtedness to the Duke University Research Council and to the American Council of Learned Societies for financial assistance to pursue and complete this and related research.

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