Minuscule 473
Minuscule 473, α1390, is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, made from parchment. Using the study of comparative writing styles, it has been assigned to the 11th century.
Biblical scholar Frederick H. A. Scrivener described it as "one of the most splendid manuscripts extant" which contained "many remarkable variations", and labelled it by the number 512. It has liturgical books and full marginal notes.
The manuscript was originally located in the city of Constantinople, but was brought to England in the 18th century along with several other manuscripts, all of which are now in Lambeth Palace Library.
Description
The manuscript is a codex, containing the text of the four Gospels on 309 parchment leaves, with only one gap. The text is written in two columns per page, 22-24 lines per page. Illuminations are present before the Gospels of Mark, Luke, and John, in purple, red, and gold ink.The text is divided according to the chapters, whose numbers are given in the margin, and their titles at the top of the pages. The text is also divided according to the smaller Ammonian Sections, with references to the Eusebian Canons written below the Ammonian section numbers.
It contains an introduction, the tables of contents are placed before each Gospel, lectionary markings in the margin, the Menologion, and subscriptions at the end of each Gospel. The Synaxarion, another liturgical book, was added by a later hand at the end of the manuscript. According to Scrivener it is "splendidly illuminated".
Text
The Greek text of the codex is considered to be a representative of the Byzantine text-type. Biblical scholar Kurt Aland placed it in Category V of his New Testament manuscript classification system.It was classified by textual critic Hermann von Soden as I, as a part of the third group of Family Π witnesses, along with such manuscripts as 229, 280, 482, and 1354. According to the Claremont Profile Method, it belongs to the group Π 473 in Luke 1, Luke 10, and Luke 20.
Next to the verses Luke 22:43–44 are several asterisks, and obeli accompany John 5:4.
History
The manuscript was once in Constantinople, but brought from the East to England by orientalist Joseph Dacre Carlyle, professor of Arabic, together with the manuscripts 470, 471, 472, 474, 475, and 488.The manuscript was examined by J. Farrer in 1804, Scrivener in 1852-3, and biblical scholar Caspar René Gregory saw it in 1883. Scrivener described and collated its text in 1852. The manuscript was added to the list of New Testament manuscripts by Scrivener, and in the list produced by Gregory, which is still in use.
Scrivener dated it to around the 10th or 11th century. It is currently dated by the Institute for New Testament Textual Research to the 11th century.
It is currently housed at the Lambeth Palace in London.