Luke in Arabic

Among the old treasures just digitized is a 96-folio Gospel of Luke in Arabic translation. This little codex in a more-or-less square format can be precisely dated to the year 993. Here is a detail of Luke 20 from folio 79r:

At the Rome Reborn exhibition 20 years ago, the display note said, "This 10th-century Egyptian codex was donated to Pope Eugene IV by the Egyptian delegates at the Council of Florence. Translated from a Coptic original, it is one of the earliest Arabic versions of any part of the New Testament, none of which can be dated before the late eighth or ninth centuries."

Here is the full list of 54 items brought online on September 17, 2015. The stated total on the index page is now 2,725.

1. Urb.lat.5, Giannozzo Manetti, Latin of Psalms
2. Urb.lat.6, Giannozzo Manetti, Latin translation of NT
3. Urb.lat.20, Acts, Catholic Epistles, Revelations, with commentary
4. Urb.lat.22,
5. Urb.lat.33, John Chrystostom, homilies
6. Urb.lat.42, Ambrose of Milan, homilies
7. Urb.lat.43, Eusebius of Caesarea, Praeparatio Evangelica
8. Urb.lat.44, Rufinus
9. Urb.lat.46, Athanasius and Isidorus Mercator
10. Urb.lat.48, Athanasius, plus anti-pope Anastasius
11. Urb.lat.51, Damasus, Augustine of Hippo, Ambrose, letters
12. Urb.lat.61, Basil the Great and Ennodius, various writings
13. Urb.lat.67, Augustine of Hippo, De Doctrina Christiana, 12th-century manuscript
14. Vat.ar.18, Gospel of Luke, featured in exhibition Rome Reborn
15. Vat.ar.1784,
16. Vat.ar.1785,
17. Vat.ebr.127, Babylonian Talmud, Ashkenazic script
18. Vat.ebr.141,Sefer Mordecai, including riddle by Judah ha-Levi, 14th century Italian
19. Vat.ebr.142.pt.1, Halakhot Gedolot attributed to Simeon Kayyara
20. Vat.ebr.156, Babylonian Talmud
21. Vat.ebr.487, Fragments from 12 Hebrew manuscripts
22. Vat.estr.or.31, Hô-laò-pê: portrait of Giovanni Mezzafalle, head of Catholic mission in China, seated with red hat
23. Vat.et.28,
24. Vat.gr.308.pt.1,
25. Vat.gr.308.pt.2,
26. Vat.lat.115, Minor prophets, with commentary
27. Vat.lat.134, Gospel of John, with commentary
28. Vat.lat.136, ditto
29. Vat.lat.137, Acts of the Apostles, with commentary
30. Vat.lat.148, Pauline epistles, annotated
31. Vat.lat.149, Pauline epistles, annotated
32. Vat.lat.151, Peter Lombard on the Pauline epistles, with this interesting illumination of an ambidextrous Peter, seemingly working with two pens on the opening page:
    
33. Vat.lat.160, Nicholas of Lyra on the Old Testament
34. Vat.lat.164, ditto
35. Vat.lat.165, Nicholas of Lyra on the Prophets
36. Vat.lat.173, Dionysius Areopagita
37. Vat.lat.182, Lilius Tifernas on Philo
38. Vat.lat.183, ditto
39. Vat.lat.185, ditto
40. Vat.lat.186, Basil the Great, homilies, plus Polycarp and John Chyrsostom
41. Vat.lat.201, Cyprian of Carthage, 15th-century manuscript
42. Vat.lat.202, Cyprian of Carthage
43. Vat.lat.203, Cyprian of Carthage and Augustine of Hippo, minor works, 12th century
44. Vat.lat.204, Origen, in Rufinus Latin translation, 11th and 15th century
45. Vat.lat.206, Origen, in Rufinus Latin translation
46. Vat.lat.212, Origen, in Rufinus and Jerome Latin translations
47. Vat.lat.215, Lactantius
48. Vat.lat.216, Lactantius
49. Vat.lat.221, Lactantius
50. Vat.lat.222, Lactantius
51. Vat.lat.223, Lactantius
52. Vat.lat.228, Eusebius of Caesarea, Praeparatio evangelica
53. Vat.lat.245, Jerome's Latin version of the Chronological Canons of Eusebius of Caesarea: this is not one of the principal sources, for which one can consult Roger Pearse's list
54. Vat.lat.286, Ambrose of Milan, letters; this copy made in the 9th century at Vercelli, according to Zelzer, page 10

Here's a fine hunt detail from Vat.lat.151, to be found just over the portrait above of Peter Lombard:

Here's the foundation of Rome noted for Olympiad 6, as set out in the canons in Vat.lat. 245 (60r):

Follow me on Twitter for more news (@JBPiggin). If you can add details about any of these, please use the comments box below. [This is Piggin's Unofficial List 24.]