Copying the New Testament by Hand in Greek!

Got them at B&N!

 A number of years ago I embarked on a project that went the way of many of my projects, going strong for awhile then allowing it to lapse. Now that I'm retired and have more time I have decided to pick it up again. Hey, it’s Lent!! The project is writing out the entire New Testament in Greek in the style of early papyrus manuscripts. Last time I got as far as Mark 13:10. I did a couple of verses today and will do more tomorrow.

Part of my motivation was to see how long it would take me to write a page. I am using journal type books that are a perfect copy of early manuscript in their original form. I have found that it takes fifteen to twenty minutes a page. I still have a long way to go. I'm still in the first volume, which has four thick signatures. Matthew took up one half of the book so Mark will definitely fit. I haven't decided what to do with the leftover pages yet. It isn't a huge problem.

I have learned a lot about what the scribes experienced. And, I cheat a bit. I started off using a fountain pen but found that both tedious and expensive. Of course, the scribes would have too, but it wasn't that important. I am currently using a fine point Sharpie. The ink doesn't bleed through so that's good. I have also found first hand how errors were easily introduced into manuscripts. It's in looking back and forth from the page that is being copied and the new copy. If the same word appears in two lines in a row on the page that is being copied it is easy for the eye to slip down to the second one, thereby leaving out a phrase. The same thing can happen within a single line. It is also easy to misspell a word if I memorize the whole word and don't look back while I'm writing it. So what it comes down to is that I'm just as human as the scribes who did this for a living 1700 years ago. I have correction tape just in case. It doesn't happen a lot but it does happen some.

Fortunately this isn't a project with a timeline. It will be meditative to return to this project, and will be a good way to refresh my Koine Greek.