Collections: Biblical Manuscripts




Skip to content





Smithsonian












Detail from St. Mark and St. Luke; Right cover of The Washington Manuscript of the Gospels, F1906.298

Detail,
St. Mark and St. Luke; Right cover of The Washington Manuscript of the Gospels, F1906.298













Collections: Biblical Manuscripts


During his first visit to Egypt in 1906, Charles Lang Freer was offered a small group of biblical manuscripts. Despite knowing little of their significance, he made the purchase. Freer’s instincts were good: he had purchased one of the world’s oldest Greek parchment manuscripts of the Gospels. In subsequent years, Freer obtained additional manuscripts from Egypt. The texts are written in Greek and Coptic, the Egyptian language used after the third century, on parchment or papyrus. They are in codex form, with folded sheets forming leaves like a modern book. Together, these works comprise one of the most important collections of biblical manuscripts outside Europe. The collections also includes a small but choice selection of medieval Armenian gospels.


Browse artworks in this section »


































Smithsonian









Copyright © 2018 Smithsonian Institution

Powered by WordPress











.ssp-wave wave wave
background: #00d4f7 !important;



var _gaq = _gaq || ;
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-4004851-1']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function()
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' === document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
)();




.ssp-mejs-container .mejs-time-rail
width: 170px !important;


.ssp-mejs-container .mejs-time-slider
width: 160px !important;


.ssp-controls
overflow:hidden;
padding: 5px 10px;
background:#333;
color: #999;
font-size: 0.75em;


.ssp-controls ul.ssp-sub-controls
list-style:none;
margin:0;
padding:0;
display: inline-block;
float:left;
clear:none;
width: 40%;
-webkit-box-sizing: border-box;
-moz-box-sizing: border-box;
box-sizing: border-box;


.ssp-controls ul li
display: inline-block;
padding: 3px;
cursor: pointer;
border-left: 1px solid #666;

.ssp-controls ul li:first-child
border-left: none;

.ssp-controls ul li:hover
color: #fff;


ul.ssp-ticker
display:inline-block;
overflow:hidden;
position: relative;
width:60%;
float:right;
clear:none;
margin:2px 0 0 0;
padding:0;


ul.ssp-ticker li
overflow:hidden;
width: 100%;


ul.ssp-ticker li .ssp-ticker-banner
position: absolute;
white-space: nowrap;
overflow: hidden;
top: 0;
left: 0;




(function()
var t = document.createElement( 'script' );
t.type = 'text/javascript';
t.async = true;
t.id = 'gauges-tracker';
t.setAttribute( 'data-site-id', '58b87484c88d90316903e406' );
t.src = '//secure.gaug.es/track.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName( 'script' )[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore( t, s );
)();

_stq = window._stq || ;
_stq.push([ 'view', v:'ext',j:'1:6.4.2',blog:'125075398',post:'2865',tz:'-4',srv:'www.freersackler.si.edu' ]);
_stq.push([ 'clickTrackerInit', '125075398', '2865' ]);

(function(d, s, id)
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.10";
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));cpp_value="ASIA";
;(function (g)
var d = document, am = d.createElement('script'), h = d.head )(window);
-