Prior to the K-Liste (What is the Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments?), there were several different systems for cataloging New Testament manuscripts, which created confusion and inconsistencies for scholars. For a while, Latin letters were used (i.e. Codex Vaticanus is ‘B’), but when there were more manuscripts than letters in the Latin alphabet, some people started using Greek letters (i.e. Codex Sangallensis is ‘Δ’) and one person used a Hebrew letter (Codex Sinaiticus is ‘א’). These problems prompted the standardization of New Testament numbering.
German scholar Caspar René Gregory wrote Die griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments (The Greek manuscripts of the New Testament), published in 1908, in an attempt to standardize the numbers used to keep track of manuscripts. In 1963, Kurt Aland expanded Gregory’s work, and the Gregory-Aland (GA) numbers became the industry standard for referencing Greek New Testament manuscripts (other languages use different systems). The GA numbers put each manuscript into one of four categories:
- Papyrus manuscripts start with a P and have a number. Formally, a Gothic/Black-letter P with superscript number should be used, but some systems don’t display that format properly, so it’s common to use a regular letter and numbers. (i.e. John Rylands Papyrus (P52)).
- Manuscripts using Uncial (Majuscule) letters (similar to capital letters) start with a 0 (i.e. Codex Sinaiticus 01).
- Manuscripts using Minuscule letters (similar to lower case letters) have only a number; there is no prefix. (i.e. 365).
- Lectionaries have an L in front of the number (a cursive ℓ is preferred, but doesn’t display correctly in some web browsers) (i.e. ℓ2005 (L2005)).
They way these are categorized is a bit odd. The first category (papyrus) is based on the media the text is written on. The second (uncial) and third (minuscule) categories are based on the style of lettering. The fourth category (lectionary) is based on the contents, not the media or lettering style.
The order of the categories is generally the order in which the texts evolved over the centuries. Papyrus was used from very early times (likely 2,000 B.C. or earlier, primarily in Egypt), up through about A.D. 200-400. Uncial script was used from about A.D. 300-900. Minuscule script became popular about A.D. 800, and is still in use today. Lectionaries of one sort or another go back over two thousand year, so it’s hard to identify a start date. The modern New Testament Lectionary, which organizes the reading by the time of year (i.e. Christmas, Easter, Harvest, etc.), possibly dates back to A.D. 700-800.
The chart shows the different categories broken out by century. You can see the general change in the distribution of categories over the centuries. The Greek New Testament was first published on a printing press (rather than being hand written) in 1516 by Erasmus1, so I only included manuscripts up to the 16th century (1500-1599). The age of some Greek manuscripts is unknown, so those aren’t included either. The resource I used to create this chart and table is from 2015, so it is a few years old2.3
- Biblical Manuscripts, Gregory-Aland (Wikipedia)
- Brannan, Rick. New Testament Manuscript Explorer (Logos Bible Software, version 8.8; NTME 2015) (Logos)
- What is the Kurzgefasste Liste? (University of Munster, Germany; 8/18/18)
Footnotes
What are New Testament Manuscripts? (27 articles)
- What Media has the Bible been Written On? (1 of 27)
- What is a Manuscript? (2 of 27)
- Why were the Early Christians More Likely to Write on a Codex Rather than a Scroll? (3 of 27)
- Do I Need a Dictionary to Study Ancient Manuscripts? (4 of 27)
- Where are Biblical Manuscripts Found? (5 of 27)
- What is the Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments? (6 of 27)
- What is the Gregory-Aland Numbering System? (7 of 27)
- How Many New Testament Manuscripts Exist? (8 of 27)
- How does the Quantity of New Testament Manuscripts Compare to Other Ancient Manuscripts? (9 of 27)
- How does the Quality of New Testament Manuscripts Compare to Other Ancient Manuscripts? (10 of 27)
- What’s the Difference Between an Autograph and an Original? (11 of 27)
- How Long did the Autograph or Original New Testament Manuscripts Last? (12 of 27)
- Why Didn’t God Preserve the Autographs of the Bible? (13 of 27)
- What is Scriptio Continua? (14 of 27)
- What are Nomina Sacra? (15 of 27)
- What Symbols has the Church Used to Refer to Christianity? (16 of 27)
- What are Diglots and Polyglots? (17 of 27)
- Was the Bible Copied Like Links in a Chain or a Tangled Ball of String? (18 of 27)
- Should the Bible be Copied Like Links in a Chain? (19 of 27)
- How are New Testament Manuscripts Dated? (20 of 27)
- What is Paleography? (21 of 27)
- What is Boustrophedon? (22 of 27)
- What is “First Century Mark”? (23 of 27)
- Do Fake or Forged Biblical Manuscripts Exist? (24 of 27)
- What are Illuminated Manuscripts? (25 of 27)
- What is Skellig? (26 of 27)
- Why did I Study Biblical Manuscripts? (27 of 27)
Footnotes
- Johannes Gutenberg printed the first Bible in 1455, which was in Latin. (What is the Gutenberg Bible?)
- Brannan, Rick. New Testament Manuscript Explorer (Logos Bible Software, version 8.8; NTME 2015)
Greek New Testament Manuscripts, Age and Gregory-Aland Types
Century (Years) Papyrus Uncial Minuscule Lectionary Total 2nd (100-199) 6 1 7 3rd (200-299) 60 3 63 4th (300-399) 26 25 1 52 5th (400-499) 10 53 2 65 6th (500-599) 19 59 3 81 7th (600-699) 9 35 1 45 8th (700-799) 2 29 20 51 9th (800-899) 58 18 124 200 10th (900-999) 19 161 165 345 11th (1000-1099) 1 467 315 783 12th (1100-1199) 592 511 1103 13th (1200-1299) 607 419 1026 14th (1300-1399) 525 325 850 15th (1400-1499) 243 187 430 16th (1500-1599) 148 206 354 Total 132 283 2761 2279 5455 © BibleQuestions.info, 30-Nov-2019
Resource: Brannan, Rick. New Testament Manuscript Explorer (Logos Bible Software, version 8.8; NTME 2015)
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