Latin Moses

Appendix A. Translation

1… in order that we may give him glory.

2Then Jacob stretched his bow, shot an arrow, pierced his brother Esau on his right breast, and struck him down.

3He shot a second arrow and pierced Adorama the Aramean near his left breast, struck him down, and killed him.

4After this Jacob’s sons — they and their servants — went out, divided to the four sidesb of the tower. 5Judah went out first. Naphtali and Gad were with him, and fifty servants were with him on the south side of the tower. They killed whomever they found in front of them. No one at all escaped from them.

6Levi, Dan, and Asher went out on the east side of the tower, and fifty were with them. They killed the Moabite and Ammonite warriors.

7Reuben, Issachar, and Zebulun went out and their fifty with them. They also killed the Philistine warriors.

8Simeon, Benjamin, and Enoch — Reuben’s son — went out on the west side of the tower, and their fifty were with them. Of (the people of) Edom and the Horites they killed four hundred warriors and six hundred and the four sons of Esau ran away with them. They left the body of their father thrown on the hill that is in Adurin. 9Jacob’s sons pursued them as far as Mt. Seir, while Jacob buried his brother Esau on the hill that is in Adurin and then returned to the tower.

10Jacob’s sons besieged Esau’s sons in Mt. Seir. They subjugated them to become servants for Jacob’s sons. 11They sent to their father Jacob (to ask) whether they should make peace with them. 12They placed the yoke of fear on them so that they should give honor to Jacob and his sons for all time. 13They continued giving honor to Jacob until the day of his descent to Egypt.

14The Edomites have not extricated themselves from the yoke of fear which Jacob’s sons imposed on them until today. 15These are the kings who ruled in Edom — before a kingship ruled the Israelites — until today in the land of Edom. 16Barad, son of Beor, and the name of his city…

Appendix B. Bibliography

Antonio Maria Ceriani, Fragmenta Latina evangelii S. Lucae, Parvae Genesis et Assumptionis Mosis, Baruch, Threni et Epistola Jeremiae versionis Syriacae Pauli Telensis: cum notis et initio prolegomenon in integram ejusdem versionis editionem (Monumenta Sacra et Profana ex Codiciubus praesertim Bibliotheca Ambrosiana 1; Milan: Typis et impensis Bibliothecae Ambrosianae, 1861).

A. M. Denis, Concordance latine du Liber Jubilaeorum sive Parva Genesis (Informatique et étude de textes 4; Louvain: CETEDOC, 1973).

Ian W. Scott, Kenneth M. Penner, and David M. Miller, eds., “The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha,” 2006–. https://pseudepigrapha.org/.

Appendix C. Prosopography

Borromeo, Federico

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Borromeo

Ceriani, Antonio Maria

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Maria_Ceriani

Hanneken, Todd R.

https://jubilees.stmarytx.edu/thanneken/

Mai, Angelo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Mai

Rönsch, Hermann

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_R%C3%B6nsch

Appendix D. About This Document and Its Source Manuscript

Hanneken, Todd R., ed., Latin Moses, The Jubilees Palimpsest Project, 2022. CC BY-NC

Based on Biblioteca Ambrosiana (Milan) C73 inf

1. Latin Moses, original pages 1–272, modern pages 49–144
   1. Latin Jubilees, original pages 1–256, modern pages 49–66, 69–76, 79–84, 87–90, 93–96, 101–108, 113–144
   2. Testament of Moses, original pages 257–272, modern pages 67–68, 77–78, 85–86, 91–92, 97–100, 109–112
2. Latin Commentary on Luke, modern pages 1–48
3. Eugippius, Anthology of Augustine, modern pages 1–144
4. Modern frontmatter

Support: parchment

Extent: Latin Moses was originally at least 272 pages, of which 96 are preserved. Today an additional 48 pages of Latin Commentary on Luke are preserved with the manuscript. Typical leaf height 29 cm. Typical leaf width 24 cm.

Modern page numbers (not folio numbers) were added using Arabic numerals in upper outside corners relative to the palimpsest orientation (Eugippius).

The original fifth century manuscript contained more than 272 pages. We know the Testament of Moses ends abruptly, but do not know how many pages followed. We know from quire signatures that the Testament of Moses followed after Latin Jubilees. If the length of Latin Jubilees corresponds to Ethiopic Jubilees there must have been compression of text or additional pages inserted. Some quire signatures have been observed but all original page numbers are reconstructed.

Quire signatures were observed by Rönsch.

As of 2011 the bifolia are disbound and stored separately in protective folders. Most bifolia are intact. Some are split but stored with the original partner. In one case glue has created a false pair.

See history, below, for how erased folios from two separate collections were combined in the eighth century.

The reconstruction of the original codex is based on quire signatures and extrapolation based on the assumption that the extent of Latin Jubilees is comparable to Ethiopic Jubilees. The reconstructed collation can be visualized at https://palimpsest.stmarytx.edu​/LatinMosesReconstruction.html.

There is no evidence of collation other than standard quires.

All pages are treated with at least one form of iron gall reagent. Edges are worn but not as far as the main text columns. Cockling is often 1 cm deep, as evident in raking illumination images. Ink has corroded through the parchment in places, as evident in transmissive illumination images.

Latin Moses ruled with 24 lines and 2 columns.

Latin Commentary on Luke ruled with 22 lines and 1 columns.

Anthology of Augustine ruled with 35 lines and 1 columns.

Latin Moses writing:

Written in iron gall ink. No direct evidence of rubrication is preserved. The complete absense of any trace of writing at the first three lines of the Testament of Moses is consistent with the possibility that a different ink was used for those three lines. The same hand seems to be responsible for all of Latin Moses. The difference between written words and roman numerals between Latin Jubilees and Testament of Moses could be attributed to the source documents. A palaeography chart for Latin Moses is available online at http://jubilees.stmarytx.edu​/annotations​/LatinMosesPaleography.html. See Ceriani for more on the classification and dating of the script.

Latin Commentary on Luke writing:

Written in iron gall ink with frequent rubrication for lemmas from the Gospel of Luke. See Gryson for more detail.

Anthology of Augustine writing:

Iron gall ink

Unbound as of 2011

Originally copied in Northern Italy in the fifth century.

Catalogued at the Bobbio monastery in 1461.

Acquired for the Biblioteca Ambrosiana by Federico Borromeo in 1606.

See further, Hanneken, The Book of Jubilees in Latin.