What is a Catena Manuscript and Why should we Care?

In the course of my research on the hexaplaric fragments of Job, I became immersed in its catena tradition. I also became aware that most handbooks and introductions to the Septuagint that mention these MSS did not describe them well, and they usually assumed too much knowledge on the part of the reader, especially the beginner, or worse, the specialist did not understand catena MSS either. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a visual of these MSS allows one to understand commentary on them and what the “C“ symbolizes in a critical text’s apparatus. Knowledge of their material layout aids in understanding their contents.

“Catena” is the Latin word for “chain,” and it will become evident below why these MSS were named as such. The details of the textual tradition of the Job catena need not detain us here. See my article on this topic for details, but one does not need to wade through it to appreciate the content of this post. There are two types of catenae MSS: Marginal and Text.

Marginal Catena

Tyrnavos 25 (10th)

Prominently displayed in the center of the folio is part of the bible text of Job 2. One can then see how various notes and comments are chained around this text. There is an intricate system of notation next to the left of the bible text with corresponding notation to the notes and comments on that part of the text in the margins. The larger comments at the top, left, and bottom are usually from church fathers (Olympiodorus, Chrysostom, Didymus the Blind etc.). In the right margin, there is a hexaplaric note (unattributed) to Symmachus as well as other exegetical notes (many times anonymous though there is a note to Iulian [the Arian] in the right margin of this folio). In this catena MS, these four elements are usually found: (1) bible text, (2) catena/patristic comments on the text, (3) hexaplaric notes (places where one or more of the Three’s readings contrasted interestingly with the bible text of the Seventy), and (4) anonymous exegetical scholia on the text.

Kopenhagen, Kgl. Bibl., Gamle Kgl. Saml. 6 (10th –11th)

Part of Job 28

Text Catena

Although these manuscripts that included bible text with commentary are all usually referred to as catena MSS, it would be a mistake to think they all had the same layout. Many of these MSS had a continuous, linear layout with bible text written first and then immediately below the relevant text the comments were added. Genua, Durazzo-Giustiniani A I 10 (9th–10th) is a good example:

Same part of Job 2 as in Tyrnavos 25 above

The bible text is indented slightly and marked with a straight obelos (at χρονου 10 lines from the top) or lance like index near the middle of the column of text in this folio. There are two lines marked with an ÷. These lines are the beginning of Job’s wife’s extended soliloquy in the Greek tradition, an addition to the Hebrew text probably first noted by Origen. In the right margin is the same anonymous hexaplaric note we observed above that probably should be attributed to Symmachus. In the left margin just below the bible text is ολυμ marking an excerpt from Olympiodorus of Alexandria, who wrote a full length commentary on Job sometime in the first half of the sixth century or late fifth.

Conclusion

Credits: The first image was sent to me by Zisis Melissakis, who prepared the digital images of the MS at Tyrnavos. The second and third images were shared with me by Dieter Hagedorn.