Test Passages: Manuscript Clusters

Guide


Underlying data

This grouping tool is based on data published in

Text und Textwert der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments, ed. by K. Aland et al. Vol. IV Die synoptischen Evangelien, 1 Das Markusevangelium; 2 Das Matthäusevangelium; 3 Das Lukasevangelium. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 1998-1999. Vol. V Das Johannesevangelium, 1 Teststellenkollation der Kapitel 1-10, Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2005.

These volumes comprise collations of more than 2,200 continuous text manuscripts of the Gospels at a total of 467 test passages (64 in Matthew, 196 in Mark, 54 in Luke, 153 in John 1-10).

Note that only the text of the first hand is included for the present application; texts of other hands are not included.


The default settings: Ms. 1 in the Synoptic Gospels, simple grouping, further relations shown

If you click GO! with the default parameters, you will get a list of manuscripts grouped with manuscript Gregory-Aland (GA) 1 on the basis of the test passage collations for the three Synoptic Gospels according to the simple grouping criterion with further relations shown.

The simple grouping criterion includes all manuscripts that agree with ms. 1 more often than ms. 1 agrees with the majority text. In the output related to the default parameters, the first line below the header says that ms. 1 supports the majority text (MT) at 58.6% of the test passages for the Synoptics. The mss. agreeing with 1 at more than 58.6% are listed in the first column with a running number, ordered by descending percentages of agreement.

“Further relations” are relations of the comparator manuscripts listed in the first column with manuscripts not grouped with ms. 1. If a comparator ms. agrees more often with another ms. or other mss. than with 1, the one with the highest agreement is listed in the second column of the output.
1582, the first entry in the first column, is most closely related with 1, agreeing at 98% of the test passages for the Synoptics. There is no entry in the second column, because no ms. agrees more often with 1582 than 1 or any other manuscript grouped with 1. The four entries that follow are also closely related to 1. These may have closer relations with other mss. grouped with 1, but apart from these there is no ms. that agrees more often with 209, 205, 2193 and 118 than 1. Apart from 2193, they are all known to be core members of family 1.
22, following in position 6, is also known to be affiliated to family 1. However, the entry in the second column says that there is at least one manuscript that agrees more often with 22 than 1 and the manuscripts grouped with 1: 1045.

Open a second window in your browser,
go to Manuscript Clusters,
replace 1 with 22,
click GO!

If you look for 1045 in the resulting list, you will find it at rank 20. This means that all 19 higher entries refer to manuscripts grouped with 1 in positions lower than that of 22. Consequently, the relationship of 22 with 1 is not called into question by its relatively high percentage of agreement with 1045. However, the proximity of 22 and 1045 points to a relationship that might be explored further in a study of the relationship of 22 with family 1 and other strands of transmission.

Ms. 1 in the Synoptic Gospels, simple grouping, further relations hidden

Return to the input form in the second browser window,
enter manuscript 1 again,
select “Hide Further Relations”,
click GO!

The output shows all manuscripts that have no closer relative than 1 apart from all the manuscripts grouped with 1 –– those which do not fit this criterion are filtered out.

(To be sure, the manuscripts listed after a gap of more than 15 percentage points at position 11 and lower do not contribute much to any grouping attempt. 2607, for example, the entry in position 11, is a manuscript with 99.5% agreement with the MT, and it has a closer relative than 1: 2529 with 100% agreement at the test passages in the Synoptic Gospels. As 2529 is listed with 1 at position number 457, it does not appear in the second column with 2607 at position number 11.)

Ms. 1 in the Synoptic Gospels, strict grouping, further relations shown

Open a third window in your browser,
go to Manuscript Clusters,
select “Strict Grouping”,
click GO!

The strict grouping criterion includes all manuscripts that agree with ms. 1 more often than ms. 1 and a comparator ms. agree with the MT. There are only five manuscripts that meet this criterion with respect to ms. 1 at the Synoptic Gospels test passages: 1582, 209, 205, 2193 and 118.

No further relations appear even though “Show Further Relations” was selected. Hence there is no manuscript included in the test passage collations that agrees more often with one of the family 1 core members than these agree with each other.

Note that there are two columns of running numbers now. The first refers to the simple grouping criterion, the second to the strict criterion. Here they are identical, because in this instance the sequence is the same according to both criteria.

Ms. 041 in the Synoptic Gospels, strict grouping, further relations shown

Open a fourth window in your browser,
go to Manuscript Clusters,
enter 041
select “Strict Grouping”,
click GO!

041 (Π) is member of a larger group named Family Π after this manuscript. The output shows a continuous row of 14 family members which have no closer relations than manuscripts inside the group. Then there are two manuscripts with further relations, 1690 and 2463, followed by 229 with none. To this point the two ranks are identical, because the sequence is the same according to the strict and to the simple grouping criterion. However, the situation changes at the next position, which is number 18 according to the strict and number 20 according to the simple criterion. This suggests that we look at the manuscripts in positions 18 and 19 according to the simple criterion.

Ms. 041 in the Synoptic Gospels, simple grouping, further relations shown

Open a fifth window in your browser,
go to Manuscript Clusters,
enter 041
click GO!

You see manuscripts 268 and 270 at ranks 18 and 19 in this list, while the preceding numbers are the same as in the fourth browser window.

If you are interested in groupings based on collation results for a single gospel, select the appropriate radio button.