γυμνὸς or γυμνοὶ in Clement's Letter to Theodore?
Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2024 6:12 am
Greek palaeographer Agamemnon Tselikas produced a transcription of the Greek text of the Letter of Clement to Theodore that notably differed from that of R. Morton Smith and others who had read γυμνὸς γυμνῷ, 'naked man [sg.] with naked man' in line 67 (line 13 of page 3 in AKMA's transcription) of the letter in the manuscript. Tselikas read the words as γυμνοὶ γυμνῷ, 'naked men [pl.] with naked man'.
Tselikas' reading raises a number of interpretive issues: First, is Tselikas' reading correct? Second, if Tselikas' reading is correct, what would it mean that R. Morton Smith gave the wrong reading? Third, how would Tselikas' reading affect the interpretation of the text if it were adopted? I intend to deal only with the first question here: Is Tselikas reading correct? The later transcriptions of Paananen and Viklund (2015) and A. K. M. Adam (2018) prefer Smith's reading of γυμνὸς γυμνῷ, 'naked man with naked man'.
One factor brought in support of Tselikas' reading is the placement of the accent in the first of the two words. It is not over the Omicron, but over the final letter. Therefore the final letter must be a vowel, not a consonant, and we ought to prefer the reading γυμνοὶ, in which the final letter is an Iota, to γυμνὸς, in which the final letter is a Sigma. This makes sense when looked at by itself, but a look at line 67 (AKMA's 3.13) in the manuscript complicates matters considerably:
Tselikas reads line 67 (the sixth line from the bottom) as κοπή. Τὸ δὲ γυμνοὶ γυμνῷ καὶ τἆλλα περὶ ὧν ἔγραψας οὐκ εὑ
Reading the manuscript along with Tselikas' transcription, there are seven accents in line 67. The accent on the final letter in κοπή actually touches the Eta (the full word is περικοπή, but the first part of the word is on the previous line), the accent on the Omicron in Τὸ is to the right of the letter, as is the accent on the Epsilon in δὲ. The accent on γυμνοὶ or γυμνὸς is either over the final Iota or to the right of the Omicron (i.e., over the Sigma). The accent on the final letter of καὶ is again to the right of the Iota, as is the accent on the final Iota in περὶ. Perhaps most relevant, the accent on the word ἔγραψας is not placed over the vowel Epsilon, but over the consonant Gamma to the right of it.
It seems that, except for the first accent on the Eta in (περι)κοπή, the scribe has placed the accents to the right of the vowels with which they belong rather than over them, including one case, ἔγραψας, in which the scribe has placed the accent over the consonant to the right of the vowel with which it belongs. This renders the argument that we should read γυμνοὶ instead of γυμνὸς in line 67 because the accent is over the final letter suspect, as the scribe has generally placed the accents in the line to the right of the vowels with which they belong, not over them.
A broader study of the comparanda might aid in our determination of the correct reading.
Bibliography:
Adam, A.K. M., Fragment of the Letter of Clement to Theodore Containing the Secret Gospel of Mark: A Study Edition (2018)
https://akma.disseminary.org/wp-content ... etMark.pdf
Smith, Morton. Clement of Alexandria and the Secret Gospel of Mark (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1973).
Tselikas, Agamemnon, in ‘Did Morton Smith Forge “Secret Mark”?’ Biblical Archæology (14 October, 2009)
Paananen, Timo S., and Roger Viklund, ‘An Eighteenth-Century Manuscript:
Control of the Scribal Hand in Clement’s Letter to Theodore,’ Apocrypha 26
(2015): 261-297. Note: The authors claim that Tselikas' transcription contains 14 errors (see n. 112).
Best,
Ken
Tselikas' reading raises a number of interpretive issues: First, is Tselikas' reading correct? Second, if Tselikas' reading is correct, what would it mean that R. Morton Smith gave the wrong reading? Third, how would Tselikas' reading affect the interpretation of the text if it were adopted? I intend to deal only with the first question here: Is Tselikas reading correct? The later transcriptions of Paananen and Viklund (2015) and A. K. M. Adam (2018) prefer Smith's reading of γυμνὸς γυμνῷ, 'naked man with naked man'.
One factor brought in support of Tselikas' reading is the placement of the accent in the first of the two words. It is not over the Omicron, but over the final letter. Therefore the final letter must be a vowel, not a consonant, and we ought to prefer the reading γυμνοὶ, in which the final letter is an Iota, to γυμνὸς, in which the final letter is a Sigma. This makes sense when looked at by itself, but a look at line 67 (AKMA's 3.13) in the manuscript complicates matters considerably:
Tselikas reads line 67 (the sixth line from the bottom) as κοπή. Τὸ δὲ γυμνοὶ γυμνῷ καὶ τἆλλα περὶ ὧν ἔγραψας οὐκ εὑ
Reading the manuscript along with Tselikas' transcription, there are seven accents in line 67. The accent on the final letter in κοπή actually touches the Eta (the full word is περικοπή, but the first part of the word is on the previous line), the accent on the Omicron in Τὸ is to the right of the letter, as is the accent on the Epsilon in δὲ. The accent on γυμνοὶ or γυμνὸς is either over the final Iota or to the right of the Omicron (i.e., over the Sigma). The accent on the final letter of καὶ is again to the right of the Iota, as is the accent on the final Iota in περὶ. Perhaps most relevant, the accent on the word ἔγραψας is not placed over the vowel Epsilon, but over the consonant Gamma to the right of it.
It seems that, except for the first accent on the Eta in (περι)κοπή, the scribe has placed the accents to the right of the vowels with which they belong rather than over them, including one case, ἔγραψας, in which the scribe has placed the accent over the consonant to the right of the vowel with which it belongs. This renders the argument that we should read γυμνοὶ instead of γυμνὸς in line 67 because the accent is over the final letter suspect, as the scribe has generally placed the accents in the line to the right of the vowels with which they belong, not over them.
A broader study of the comparanda might aid in our determination of the correct reading.
Bibliography:
Adam, A.K. M., Fragment of the Letter of Clement to Theodore Containing the Secret Gospel of Mark: A Study Edition (2018)
https://akma.disseminary.org/wp-content ... etMark.pdf
Smith, Morton. Clement of Alexandria and the Secret Gospel of Mark (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1973).
Tselikas, Agamemnon, in ‘Did Morton Smith Forge “Secret Mark”?’ Biblical Archæology (14 October, 2009)
Paananen, Timo S., and Roger Viklund, ‘An Eighteenth-Century Manuscript:
Control of the Scribal Hand in Clement’s Letter to Theodore,’ Apocrypha 26
(2015): 261-297. Note: The authors claim that Tselikas' transcription contains 14 errors (see n. 112).
Best,
Ken