What is a palimpsest, and how are they important in manuscript studies?

Such manuscripts are called rescripts, "written again," or palimpsests, "scratched or scraped again."

We give a specimen of one of these rescripts. It will be seen that in this case the leaf had been folded in half, and the second writing placed transversely. In other cases the two writings run in the same direction. Here only a portion of the original is covered by the second writing; but in other places and in other rescripts the entire original is covered. This, however, will shew how difficult it is to read the first where it is covered by a second writing, and in some places the original is much more indistinct than in our copy, being read in places only with great difficulty. The most difficult to read are those re-written line upon line, where the characters blend and run into one another.

The seizure of Egypt, however, by the Mahommedans, is said to have stopped the use of papyrus thenceforward forever. It is not likely that it was known at any time afterwards. Soon there came in the dark ages, when almost all records of the ancient civilisation seemed about to perish; and only the monasteries still preserved some few valued treasures of literature. Parchment became now the only material for writing, and, little as it was required, it rose in price: so that it was considered a great possession. We are told of a certain Gui, count of Nevers, presenting to the Chartreux of Paris, a service of plate, and of the monks asking for parchment instead. Now also arose the custom of erasing what was written on old parchment, and of re-writing something on it of more immediate interest. In this way, doubtless, many relics of antiquity have disappeared. While, from the imperfect manner in which the old writing was sometimes effaced, it has occasionally been recovered. A manuscript thus restored, from under the second writing above it, is called a palimpsest, and a codex rescriptus. There is, for instance, in the British Museum, one of the oldest known manuscripts of Homer's poems thus resuscitated. Recently Cardinal Angelo Mai discovered in the Vatican Library of Rome a lost treatise of Cicero de Republicâ, over which had been written a commentary of St. Augustin on the Psalms. And one of the most precious existing MSS. of the New Testament is now in Paris, over which had been written the works of the Syrian father Ephraim.

Writing was needed on other substances besides stones. When a man put away his wife he had to give her a"bill of divorcement." Deut. 24:1. Papyrus was early used as paper, but being very fragile, it gave place to parchment and vellum, being written on with reeds. It is on the two latter that nearly all the ancient MSS of the scriptures have been preserved to this day. But the skins were expensive and could not be always obtained, which resulted in some of the copies of the New Testament being rubbed out, and something of much less importance being written on the same surface, as in the specimen here given. To enable such erased writing to be read, chemical means have to be resorted to. Such copies are called Palimpsests 'rubbed a second time,' or Rescripts.

It should be noted that the same letter does not always refer to the same MS, as D above. Also in the two MSS shown as B, though bound in the same volume, one is some 400 years earlier than the other. Some of the MSS, as C above, are Palimpsests, that is, the old writing had been partly erased, and other works written over it, as shown under WRITING.

The supply of papyrus was abundant from the Egyptian market during the early part of the Roman empire, but on the complete division of the empire this supply was in a measure stopped, the intercourse with the East being both difficult and irregular. This led to a revival of the practice of rubbing out from the parchment anything that was not valued by the owner in order to put thereon what he desired to commit to writing, or it might have been done simply as a matter of trade, clean parchment being always saleable.

Unfortunately, as we say, some portions of the New Testament have been served in this way. The word of God has been rubbed out, and something comparatively worthless written in its place. In some instances a third writing has been placed on the same parchment. In 1476 one of the early editions of the Clementine Constitutions was actually printed on a parchment from which the writing had been erased.

But fortunately this erasing has not been thoroughly effected, so that the parchment still shews in faint outlines the original writing, which often, by great labour, and sometimes by chemical means, has been deciphered.

To comprehend the process of restoration it must be understood that there were two methods employed by the ancients in effacing the original writing — the wet and the dry. The first consisted in moistening the surface of the parchment, washing it with a sponge, and rubbing it with pumice stone. Of the dry there were different forms: either the entire line was scraped away with a broad tool or blade, or the operator followed the course of each separate letter and obliterated each in succession with the point of the tool. The ink again was of three kinds metallic (which was that commonly used), vegetable, and mineral. And as the action of the ink, whatever may be its composition, was not entirely confined to the surface, it is found that even after the superficial trace of colour has been partially or entirely removed, its unobserved presence may still be detected by careful scientific treatment.

The method frequently adopted by Mai was simply to wash the page with an infusion of galls, and expose it to the action of light and air. This was in many cases successful; in other cases however it blackened the parchment so that neither the first nor the second writing could be read.

The more recent mode is to carefully wash the parchment with water, then dip it in diluted Hydrochloric acid, and finally in Potassium ferrocyanide. This in many cases has proved entirely successful. (Encyclopedia Britannica.)

Codex Ephraemi (C). This is a palimpsest, and is in the National Library of Paris, on account of which it is often called the Paris Rescript. Over the writing of the New Testament had been written some Greek works by St. Ephraem, the Syrian Father, of A.D. 299-378. The chemical agents applied to the vellum have turned some of it dark brown and black, rendering the deciphering very difficult. It is in a single column on a page, has initials of increased size, and its letters are a little smaller than A or B. Its date is assigned to the fifth century. It being odd leaves only of the original manuscript, it contains but portions both of the Old and New Testament; the parts preserved of the New extend from Matthew to Revelation. This has been published in facsimile.

5.3. CODICES AMBROSIANI, being five manuscripts, now in the Ambrosian Library of Milan. They contain the Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, and to Timothy almost entire, and fragments of Philippians, Colossians, Titus, and Philemon. They were discovered and rescued from palimpsests. These are not unlike the Codex Carolinus.

5.4. CODEX CAROLINUS. This contains about forty verses of the Epistle to the Romans. It is also a palimpsest, and is accompanied by a Latin version. It has been traced to Mayence and Prague, and was purchased by a duke of Brunswick in 1689.

A little book called "FROM EGYPTIAN RUBBISH HEAPS," by Dr. J. H. Moulton, gives a very brief account of how some 60 years ago hundreds of thousands of old bits of paper were found in the sands of Egypt: some had been used to stuff embalmed crocodiles. There were old letters, children's exercise books written at school, and no end of other papers that had been thrown away as useless. Many of these were written at just about the same time as the Greek New Testament; and from these old papers we have been enabled to learn a great deal about certain words in the Greek New Testament, that we never properly understood before.