Complutensian Polyglot Bible

The Complutensische polyglot is the name of the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible. It was by Gonzalo Jiménez de Cisneros, OFM (1436-1517), since 1495 Archbishop of Toledo, Cardinal since 1507, encouraged and financed. For it contains the first printed edition of the Greek New Testament, the complete Septuagint and the Targum Onkelos. Only 123 of the original 600 printed copies are received.

History

With the advent of the printing press in the 1450s it became possible to produce Bibles far cheaper and more efficient. At great personal commitment acquired Cardinal Cisneros many manuscripts and invited the famous philologist of his time (including Hernán Núñez ) that work on the ambitious work of compiling a complete polyglot " to revive the language studies in the Holy Scriptures." The scholars came together in the city of Alcalá de Henares (formerly Complutum ), which was founded by Cardinal Cisneros in 1499 University of Alcalá. The work began in 1502 under the direction of Diego Lopez de Zúñiga and lasted for 15 years.

The New Testament was completed and printed in 1514. However, the delivery of the publication while working on the Old Testament was delayed in order to publish a complete work can. In the meantime reached Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, the report of the Complutensischen project while he produced a printed edition of the Greek New Testament itself. Erasmus 1516 procured an exclusive four-year publishing privilege of Emperor Maximilian I and Pope Leo X.. The text of Erasmus became known as the Textus Receptus. Later editions were the basis of the King James Version of the New Testament.

The Complutensische Old Testament was completed in 1517. Because of the exclusive rights of Erasmus publication of the Polyglot was delayed until Pope Leo X could release 1520. It is believed that she could not find widespread use before 1522. Cardinal Cisneros died in July 1517, five months after the completion of the polyglot, and got its publication never see them. " Only 600 copies were made and sold to 6 ½ ducats after the cardinal had used with a king and the needs of a monk 50,000 ducats, nearly half a million marks income to the work. "

Content

The Complutensische Polyglot was published as a set of 6 volumes. The first four volumes contain the Old Testament. Each page consists of three parallel columns of text: Hebrew on the outside, the text of the Latin Vulgate is found in the middle and the Greek Septuagint on the inner column. As the introduction explains, so are the synagogue and the Eastern Churches such as the thief on Calvary at the sides and the Roman Church as Jesus in the middle. On each side of the Pentateuch the Aramaic Targum Onkelos text and its Latin translation are added at the bottom. The fifth volume, the New Testament, consists of parallel columns of Greek and Latin Vulgate. The sixth volume contains various Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek dictionaries and study aids. For the Greek text probably the minuscule 140, 234 and 432 were used.

Pressure and reprints

The character set that Arnaldo Guillén de Brocar used for Complutener polyglot, was described by typographers such as Robert Proctor as the culmination of the development of Greek typography in the first years of pressure before Aldus Manutius ' manuscript based character sets took over the market for the following two centuries. Proctor based his Otter Greek character set from 1903 to the polyglot. Also, the JRC Complutensian Greek the Greek Font Society is based on the Complutenser polyglot.

A magnificent facsimile edition full size (folio ) was published from 1984 to 1987 in Valencia. Volumes 1 to 5 with the biblical text are reproductions of the edition in the library of the Jesuits in Rome, the rare sixth volume with the dictionaries is a reproduction of the edition in the University Library of Madrid.