International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Sokol Çunga
Central State Archive, Tirana, Albania; 
[e-mail]
The 
Berat Codices Nos. 14 and 31
, and a Palimpsest of St. John the Chrysostom 
at the Central State Archive, Tirana, Albania
The Central State Archive of Albania houses, amongst others, a byzantine manuscript, 
separated in two halves and referred as two different books. The separation has taken place at an 
unknown time, probably before becoming part of the CSA collection and, mistakenly, each piece 
has been catalogued as a separated mss. The shelf number for them is Central State Archive, Fund 
“Kodikët e Shqipërisë”, Folder 14 and Folder 31 (or also called codex of Berat no. 14, and codex of 
Berat no. 31. Here they will be referred as A and B, respectively). According to the codicological 
observations, the quires of the manuscript have been confused and placed in an irregular order. The 
parchment is of a low quality, often it does not respect the overall dimensions of the manuscript, 
measuring 223 x 170 mm, it has many holes or it has been sewed in a rudimental way where cracks 
appear on the parchment. The total number of the folios is 252. There is no trace of the old binding, 
while each of the volumes has been restored and rebound at the CSA in 1972. The placement of the 
folios in the quire follows the Gregory rule. The text is written in one column with 33-37 lines per 
page. The entire text of this manuscript has been written in minuscule Greek by two anonymous 
scribes and it is similar to the Regio type of writing. Brown and black color has been used for the 
text, while crimson is mainly used for the titles. The initial letters at the beginning of each text are 
bigger than the others, simply decorated, as well as the headpieces before the titles or at the end of 
the sections. On the titles the presence of yellow wash is noted.
On the 36
th
quire of the manuscript (A part), between ff. 130r-137v can be seen the presence 
of a palimpsest. The scriptio inferior can be read with difficulty under UV light. The text is written 
in two columns with 36 lines (based on ff. 131v and 132r which are more visible). The writing 
dates on the 10
th
century and is similar to Anastasius type. From what can be read with simple 
means on our hands, the text corresponds to “Λόγος περὶ ψευδοπροφητῶν, καὶ ψευδοδασκάλων, 
καὶ ἀθέων αἰρετικῶν, καὶ περὶ σημείων τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου” (De pseudoprohpetis et 
falsis doctoribus) from St. John the Chrysostom. On ff. 131r-v we can clearly read what corresponds 
to PG 557-558, starting from “[Εἴ τις ἔρχεται] πρὸς ὑμᾶς, καὶ ταύτην τὴν διδαχὴν οὐ φέρει...”, ending 
with “...Παύλος ἡ θεόφθογγος λύρα...”.
Judging by the abovementioned observations, this byzantine manuscript coming at the CSA 
from Berat has been produced in Southern Italy in the second half of the 13
th
century, probably at 
the Terra d’Otranto area, well known for the large production of palimpsests in that time.

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