CODICOLOGY AND TEXTOLOGY OF ITALA

Abstract

The article explores the handwritten tradition of the Old Latin version of the Bible in the major codes of the IV-XIII centuries; the manuscripts are classified into African, European, Italian and Spanish types of Latin translation. The principles of their typology are presented and the textological features of the main manuscripts of each group are described. In addition to the handwritten heritage in the books of the Old Latin translation of the Bible, the use of its types in works of Latinspeaking patristic is indicated. The interpolations, distortions, literalism of the Latin translation in the separate codes of Itala are analyzed. The paleographical and codicological characteristics of Itala manuscripts are presented; significant attention is given in the article to the description of the bilingual Greco-Latin manuscripts and so calledsumptuous manuscripts in chrysography technology. The texts in separate manuscripts are reviewed,which show signs of different branches of the same tradition. Despite the variety of options, there are signs of commonality, which indicates a single archetype. Suggestions are made with regards to the place of origin and the reasons for the emergence of old Latin versions of the Bible and their use in the Latin church tradition. The remarkably long-term use of Itala (until the XIII century), even after the appearance of the translation of Jerome of Sidon in the IV century, is highlighted. The analysis of the handwritten material allowed to determine the particularities of the mixed type manuscripts containing the texts of Itala and Vulgata. The relationship between different versions of the Old Latin translation has been investigated and its debatable assessment in the works of famous biblical textologists is noted. Attention is paid to the current state of Itala’s textology: the systematization of all versions of the Old Latin Bible and the creation of a critical apparatus for texts by Vetus Latina Institute in Beuron (Germany).