> In a message dated 03/27/2000 10:13:57 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> > Without entering into lots of detail, the technological shift in early
> > Christian circles (and some early Jewish ones?) from scroll to small
> > codices (2nd-3rd century) to mega-codices (4th century onward) such as the
> > Greek Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, etc., is relevant for this
> > discussion. It raises the question of what "Bible" or "biblical canon"
> > would mean at a time when it was impossible (practically speaking) to
> > include all "scriptural" writings in a single literary production ("under
> > one cover," in codex language). Presumably there were boxes or pouches of
> > scrolls, and certainly there were lists, but how did those physical
> > factors affect the understanding of "bible" as an abstraction?
>
> Is there any record of how the codex came to be developed?
Not to my knowledge. Early experiments (e.g. the Roman poet Martial, in
the first century CE) are mentioned, and there were school exercise books
of two or more wooden waxed tablets bound together, but details of the
development of the manufacturing process are few (if any).
> It would seem to
> presume a method of binding, as well as a technology capable of cutting many
> pages to eactly the same size.
Such details may also vary with the material used -- wooden sheets,
papyri, leather, paper (later). The earliest codices on papyri or leather
seem to be single quire productions (several sheets folded in the middle;
sewn?), then as time went on and large single quires became unruly (inner
sheets would be smaller than outer sheets, etc.), multiple quire codices
came into existence (actually, this is an evolutionary guess!). I'm not
sure that the cutting process would be a problem, since even with rolls,
the pieces needed to be cut -- then sewn or glued. One can judge how many
pages could be expected from a single hide by seeing how many columns
could be put on a length of a roll section -- check the Dead Sea Scroll
literature for all sorts of technical details, including the use of DNA
tests to determine what sorts of animals and whether their descendants are
still around (for some DSS, the related flocks still exist!).
> One could, of course, take a scroll, eliminate the roller, and fold the
> scroll fanwise. I've seen this done in Japanese books but never in Europe.
I don't recall anything like this in the stuff with which I'm familiar,
but with fragments, there is seldom enough information preserved to tell.
Interesting possibility, but not quite a codex either, since text could
not be written on both sides of a "page" consecutively.
>
> pat sloane
>
Bob
--
Robert A. Kraft, Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania
227 Logan Hall (Philadelphia PA 19104-6304); tel. 215 898-5827
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http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/kraft.html
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