markings, acrostics hieroglyphics

[Steven Avery]

This thread will gather the diffuse information about the searching for special markings, claimed by Simonides.
For documentation purposes, I am including some related material here as well.

It is clear that in some discussions we do not have all the evidence of the times.

The hieroglyphics will be on a whole separate post, with the studies of George Webber Payne the central point.

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Journal of Sacred Literature (1863)
https://books.google.com/books?id=gnstAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA224

Kallinikos

I am not surprised at any of the circumstances, but only at the fact that this Codex, recent as it was, and thy handiwork, was ascribed to the fourth century. Here is a miracle forsooth, and yet people sneer at us for believing miracles! This Codex, my son, I saw several times, and particularly three of the acrostics which thou shewedst me at Athos when I overlooked thee in that pleasant writing-room of thine. The first reads thus—(Grk) ; the second—(Grk), and the third—(Grk). I also saw the fourth and fifth, but do not remember them now ; and also caligraphic symbols, and especially the numerous corrections, and corrections again of these, and annotations both of thyself and of thy uncle, by which I recognized thy work; but I said nothing to any one, nor shall I speak of the matter till thou shalt request me; and for this reason have hastened to give thee the information in the present letter.

This is also covered in:

Kallinikos exposes Tischendorf shenanigans
https://www.purebibleforum.com/index.php/threads/c.18.a/post-25

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Journal of Sacred Literature (1863)
https://books.google.com/books?id=gnstAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA482

Simonides now points to an acrostic in Gen. xxiv. as proof that he wrote the Codex Sinaiticus. He knows perfectly well that no part of Genesis has been recovered, and therefore makes his assertion with full assurance that it cannot be put to the test. - William Aldis Wright, p. 482

As a proof that the MS. is his own handwriting, he now exhibits tracings of four pages, in one at least of which is an acrostic containing his name. This one is from Genesis, which he knows perfectly well has not been recovered. These tracings he says he took when at Mount Sinai in 1852; for what reason is best known to himself. - William Aldis Wright, p. 486

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Notes and Queries (1871)
https://books.google.com/books?id=f9gEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA180

A learned friend told me lately that Simonides informed him that, if he examined the original MS. with that of Tischendorf's edition, he would find two places marked as "lacuna" by the latter, because they bore evident marks of being the handiwork of Simonides, for the initial letter of twenty-one consecutive lines spelt out the name K, o, n, s, t, a, n, t, i, n. o, s, S, i, m, o, n, i, d, e, s. If this be the case, there can be no doubt that all the world is deceived about the antiquity of the MS. Simonides, to the last, declared it to be his handiwork. G. L. Blekinsopp. Springthorpe Rectory.

And originally, also, I read this half-line written in it—(Grk) —but two days after, the leaf containing the artistically written line had disappeared, by whose doing I do not know. And know yet further, that the codex also was cleaned with lemon-juice, professedly for the purpose of cleaning its parchments, but in reality in order to weaken the freshness of the letters, as was actually the case."

Kallinikos Hiermonachos - Oct 15, 1862
https://books.google.com/books?id=gnstAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA211

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Falconer Madan (1851-1935)
Bodleian librarian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falconer_Madan

Books in Manuscript (1893)
Falconer Madan
https://books.google.com/books?id=o_s8AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA124

After this Simonides appeared only once with any prominence before the public, when in 1861 he boldly asserted that he himself had written the whole of the Codex Sinaiticus, which Tischendorf had brought in 1856 (correction: 1859) from the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. The statement was, of course, received with the utmost incredulity ; but Simonides asserted, not only that he had written it, but that, in view of the probable scepticism of scholars, he had placed certain private signs on particular leaves of the codex. When pressed to specify these marks, he gave a list of the leaves on which were to be found his initials or other monogram. The test was a fair one, and the MS., which was at St. Petersburg, was carefully inspected. Every leaf designated by Simonides was found to be imperfect at the part where the mark was to have been found. Deliberate mutilation by an enemy, said his friends. But many thought that the wily Greek had acquired through private friends a note of some imperfect leaves in the MS., and had made unscrupulous use of the information.

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Robert Curzon, traveller and book collector (1983)
Meridel Holland
https://www.escholar.manchester.ac....amId=POST-PEER-REVIEW-PUBLISHERS-DOCUMENT.PDF

British Library MS. 42502 - The Simonides Papers (J. E. Hodgkin Simonides Papers)

In 1839 Simonides was in the monastery of Russico on Mount Athos, picking up a useful knowledge of Greek paleography and a number of Greek manuscripts for his stock as a bookseller. In 1845 Tischendorf took home with him to Leipzig forty-three leaves of the book later known as the Codex Sinaiticus from St. Catherine's on Mount Sinai. Messieurs Didron and Durand visited Mount Athos just after Curzon and rescued and printed the painter's manual of Dionysius of Fourna, which Simonides later kindly corrected from his own (forged) copy. One result of their visit was that the Athonite monks became alive to the value of their books, and thereafter it was almost impossible to take anything away from the Holy Mountain. ....

Certainly Curzon was regarded as enough of an expert for his advice to be sought in the dispute about one of Simonides' most famous 'forgeries'. Simonides had come to England in I853 with a collection of genuine manuscripts, culled mostly from the monasteries of Mount Athos, and a handful of rare and impressive documents written by himself. .... When Simonides' activities as a forger had become widely known, he decided to do a double take, and claim that at least one highly regarded genuine work was the product of his own labours. He chose the Codex Sinaiticus, one of the earliest and most valuable of all biblical codices, which Tischendorf had finally persuaded St. Catherine's to hand over to the Russian Emperor, minus a few pages. The collector J. E. Hodgkin, who had befriended Simonides late in life when he was "discredited and almost destitute",16 wrote to Curzon to ask the whereabouts of a certain monk, and his opinion as to the validity of Simonides' claim. Curzon wrote back a letter full of good paleographical sense about the Codex Sinaiticus, and demonstrating the speed with which he was capable of assessing manuscripts.

Sir; It is so long since I have been in the Levant that I have at present no means of ascertaining anything about the monk Kailinikos. H. M. Consul al Salonika would probably be able to inform you. whether that person really exists, and what position he may hold in Mt. Athos if he does exist. With respect to the Mt. Sinai manuscript. I should be quite satisfied as to its authenticity, if I was allowed to examine it, for ten minutes, or if Sir F. Madden, or any other competent person, was permitted to do so. It would be very difficult to carry out so voluminous a forgery, in the writing, the nature of the vellum, the way in which the leaves were set together, and other peculiarities of a very early manuscript, that I should doubt whether Mr. Simonides would be competent to take in a person really conversant in such matters. From my own experience I should imagine it would be hardly possible lo deceive any one who has studied the matter carefully.

I am, Sir, Yours faithfully..."

The manuscript was at this time in St. Petersburg, and, of course, Curzon did not have the opportunity to look at it for even ten minutes. Simonides said his monogram appeared on certain pages of the book—pages which turned out on inspection to be mutilated or missing. So Simonides was discredited, although it is still a mystery how he knew which pages to pick.

16 Quoted by Munby, Phillipps Studies: IV (Cambridge 1956), p. 118

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Fake?: The Art of Deception
Nicolas Barker
https://books.google.com/books?id=LaUnOztbkP4C&pg=PA172
https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_LaUnOztbkP4C#page/n173/mode/2up

Meanwhile, in late 1862, Simonides published his claim to have written the Codex Sinaiticus, the earliest complete New Testament In Greek. According to letters between himself, another monk, Kallimkos, and the Patriarch Constantius, he had undertaken it at the request of the Tsar. As proof he produced copies of this correspondence, allegedly lithographed by himself as a student in Russia in 1853-5. Including one stating that he had seen his work on a visit to Mount Sinai in 1852. In fact, the Codex had been discovered at the monastery of St Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula in 1844, and was presented by Tischendorf to the Tsar in 1859. It was bought from Ihe Russian government by the British Museum in 1931.... Simonides was not without defenders (or at least sympathisers), among them John Eliot Hodgkin, who preserved the papers, including Simonides' demonstration of how he wrote the Codex Sinaitiacus; These were given to the British Museum in 1926.

Sources
Literary Forgeries - James Anson Farrer
British Library MS. 41478
Phillipps Studies: IV (Cambridge 1956), p. 114-131 - Alan Noel Latimer Munby
Joseph Mayer of Liverpool (1988) p. 53-54 - M. Gibson and S. Wright
The Book Collector 33 (1984) p. 179-188 (Alfred Spranger about Persae)

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Constantine Simonides: KJV Fact of the Day
http://wherearethejews.blog.com/2008/05/10/constantine-simonides-kjv-fact-of-the-day/

Sinaiticus may really be a forgery after all...
The following has been excerpted from Dr. E. K. Best's blog,
The Jews, The Shoah, & Modern Bible Translations
Constantine Simonides: KJV Fact of the Day
http://kjvonly2.blogspot.com/2011/09/sinaiticus-may-really-be-forgery-after.html

Constantine Simonides: Papers Relating to the Codex Sinaiticus, ca. 1856-1863 One formidable resource for documents on Simonides: (other viable resources are books on Paleography, manuscript evidence, Tischendorf, "Uranius", Dindorf, Lycurgus, and Mt. Athos for direct and indirect evidence. Two texts on Forgeries of the time particularly helpful including one by Ferrar listed in quote at the beginning. " RLIN ID No. NYGG01-A18 Creator Simonides, Constantine, 1820-1867. Title Papers relating to the Codex Sinaiticus, probably forged by Constantine Simonides, ca. 1856-1863. Physical Description 1 box (.25 linear ft.) Historical/Biographical Note Constantine Simonides was an exceptionally skillful calligrapher who is alleged to have sold spurious documents (as well as possibly some that were genuine) in England in the 1850s and 1860s. Among his clients were Sir Frederick Madden at the British Museum and Sir Thomas Phillipps. Simonides resided in the monasteries on Mount Athos between 1839 and 1841 and again in 1852, during which time he may have acquired or sold some of the manuscripts that he later sold. He was in England between 1853 and 1855 and then in France and Germany. In 1862 Simonides published in English journals his claim to have written the Codex Sinaiticus, which the scholar Constantine von Tischendorf had discovered at Mount Sinai some years earlier and maintained had been be written during the 4th century C.E. Scope and Contents Papers relating to Codex Sinaiticus and Constantine Simonides’ assertion that he had forged it. Includes manuscript letters dated 1856-1863. Facsimile (?) of manuscript. Letter to A.N.L. Munby from Andreas Mayor at Sothebys regarding the Codex. Includes offprints about Simonides and the manuscript. Names Mayor, Andreas. Correspondence. Munby, A. N. L. (Alan Noel Latimer), 1913-1974. Correspondence. Subjects Simonides, Constantine, 1820-1867. Bible. Greek. Codex sinaiticus. Forgeries. Forgery of manuscripts. Location Grolier Club, 47 East 60th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022-1098. Text/Archive info from

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International Resources

The Grolier Club resources in Manhattan, NYC
http://www.grolierclub.org/LibraryAMC.Simonides.htm
are interesting, however I did not find any special literature about the markings. Most of what is there is available today on the net.

England -
British Library, as mentioned above.
Mayer Library of Liverpool

And that related to Gennadius in Italy that was helpful with the Barnabas info.

And in Australia, Melbourne, State Library of Victoria (includes the Stewart Biographical Memoir)
Henry Deane, John Eliot Hodgkin, Charles Stewart
http://www.worldcat.org/title/letters/oclc/224729292

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[Steven Avery]

George Webber Young on hieroglyphics in Sinaiticus


Below are the spots that George Webber Young (who also wrote as Mark Thunderson) pointed out as what he perceived as hieroglyphics in Sinaiticus, all "Scribe A", all New Testament Gospels

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Our hope is that George W. Young (who recently wrote a new book):

The Act Of Reading Codex Alexandrinus: Toward An Exegesis Of Mark 1: 21-28 And Parallels
https://archive.org/details/TheActOfReadingCodexAlexandrinusTowardAndExegesisOfMark12128AndParallels

would revisit these spots, and the hieroglyphics in Sinaiticus theory would receive a scholarly review. (This was mentioned by one other source, but without specific spots.)

Mark 9:28-29 "crescent moon rises"
Mark Thunderson - Sept 3, 2007
[TC-Alternate-list] Crescent Moon Rises in Sinaiticus
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/TC-Alternate-list/conversations/messages/1477
[textualcriticism] Crescent Moon Rises in Sinaiticus
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/textualcriticism/conversations/messages/3369
Codex Sinaiticus Project page
https://codexsinaiticus.org/en/manu...lioNo=7&lid=en&quireNo=76&side=v&zoomSlider=0

Nothing found

Matthew 24:17 "up on the domatos"
[TC-Alternate-list] Hieroglyphs in Sinaiticus
Mark Thunderson - Sept 5, 2007
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/TC-Alternate-list/conversations/messages/1485
Codex Sinaiticus Project page
https://codexsinaiticus.org/en/manu...book=33&chapter=24&lid=en&side=r&zoomSlider=0

Maybe o changed to a - does not look like hieroglyph

Mark 12:27 "the gate-keeper"
[TC-Alternate-list] The Gate-Keeper: More Hieroglyphs from Sinaiticus
Mark Thunderson - Sept 9, 2007
http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/TC-Alternate-list/conversations/topics/1504
Codex Sinaiticus Project page
https://codexsinaiticus.org/en/manu...lioNo=1&lid=en&quireNo=77&side=v&zoomSlider=0

Matthew 26:31 "the gate-keeper" #2
[TC-Alternate-list] The Gate-Keeper, Part 2: More Hieroglyphs from Sinaiticus
Mark Thunderson - Sept 16, 2007
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/TC-Alternate-list/conversations/messages/1531
Codex Sinaiticus Project page
https://codexsinaiticus.org/en/manu...lioNo=7&lid=en&quireNo=75&side=v&zoomSlider=0

Mark 4:21 - under the lampstand
(original posting not found)
Codex Sinaiticus Project page
https://codexsinaiticus.org/en/manu...lioNo=4&lid=en&quireNo=76&side=r&zoomSlider=0

#3 and #4 might just be the addition of an ai ending

Similarly, #5 above the CY might be simply letter correction.
Hebrew?

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The Journal of sacred literature (1863)
https://books.google.com/books?id=vvgDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA224

"I am not surprised at any of the circumstances, but only at the fact that this Codex, recent as it was, and thy handiwork, was ascribed to the fourth century. Here is a miracle forsooth, and yet people sneer at us for believing miracles! This Codex, my son. I saw several times, and particularly three of the Acrostics which thou showedst to me at Athos when I overlooked thee in that pleasant writing room of thine. The first reads thus ... (Greek of acrostics is in this section) ... I also saw the fourth and fifth, but do not remember them now, and I also saw the fourth and fifth, but do not remember them now; and also calligraphic symbols, and especially the numerous corrections, and corrections again of these, and annotations both of thyself and of thy uncle, by which I recognised thy work; but I said nothing to any one, nor shall I speak of the matter till thou shall request me; and for this reason have hastened to give thee the information in the present letter. - Kallinikos was also relating five special Greek acrostics

The first reads thus
Σιμωνίδου χεὶρ ἐπεραίωσέ με
the second -
Κ . Α . Φ . Σιμωνίδου * Μακεδόνος ἔργον θεάρεστον εἰμί ;
and the third
Zwvidov тd 8λov épyov


p. 212
https://books.google.com/books?id=_bYRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA212#v=onepage&q&f=false

David Daniels (he also has the p. 212 JSL refg)
https://books.google.com/books?id=Ap83EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA220