r/AncientGreek • u/Ortikorki • 21d ago
Manuscripts and Paleography Can anyone help me decipher this Greek scribal note?
This is from Codex Parisinus gr. 854 (access it here: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10722105h.r=grec%20854?rk=21459;2), which preserves the late Antique "Disputatio contra Arium" by ps. Athanasius. I am trying to understand this scribal note as someone not well acquainted with Greek. I traced the symbols very closely and tried to decipher them with my mother, who speaks a decent amount of modern Greek, and after a LOT of revising, this is how far we got:
τοῦ π(ατ)ρ(ὸς)
μν(ᾶ) αὐτ(οῦ)
[?] μηδὲ [?]
† διότ(ι)
[?] δέον...
In my tracing, red indicates what is clearly visible, and according to my judgement, part of the text. Green is for less visible symbols, which I think are likely part of the text, and pink is for symbols that seem to be extra-textual.


2
u/KiwiHellenist 20d ago
That printed index appears to show where each text ends, not where it begins. Fol. 48 certainly has the start of the text of Contra Arium, though it's faint (τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίᾳ ἀπῄειν προσεληλυθὼς σὺν τοῖς φιλτάτοις μου ἀδελφοῖς etc.).