Manuscript Graffiti

It has been a little quiet around here lately, but it’s not been because of inactivity. I’ve been working on several projects lately, and one of them I was hoping to finish in time to end this month with a bang, but work, sunday school prep and an almost complete inability to keep myself focused on one thing has gotten in the way. So instead of something profound or academic, I offer you something humorous. But don’t worry, it is old humor, so it at least fits the theme of the blog a bit.

I’ve seen a couple of instances of "graffiti" or doodling in manuscripts before in presentations by Dan Wallace. I was poking around lectionary 170 (of Acts, the Pauline epistles including Hebrews and James, though since James is in there more epistles can probably be found as well) tonight and noticed a few, so I thought I would show you. Since they just photographed the images a few months ago, these must not be ones I’ve seen before. I don’t recognize them but I have a horrible memory, so I’ll use logic instead :)

Graffiti 1

Who is this guy? I’m guessing this is a child’s drawing, so maybe it is his dad. Regardless, he’s happy but bald. Anyone care to guess who this is? You can see the full leaf here.

Graffiti 2

This one is on the facing page, and the sloppiness of the handwriting also lends itself to the idea of a child’s writing. Was this the scribe’s kiddo practicing his father’s trade? You can see that he duplicated the first few words of the lection beside it there in the margin. I will be, though, that his dad didn’t want him practicing there! You can see the full leaf here.

Well, I hope you got a chuckle. I did. And you know, you would never know about this if someone like CSNTM wasn’t traveling the globe taking these pictures!

Chat with you again in October.