The Scholia by Hesychius of Jerusalem on the Minor Prophets : Edited with an Introduction by Mats Eriksson

Abstract: This dissertation contains an edition of the scholia by Hesychius of Jerusalem (died probably after 451) on the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament (CPG 6558). Apart from a few fragments, this text has never been edited before. It consists of 2 160 mostly quite brief pieces of text interpreting various aspects of the bible text. The first chapter of the introduction contains a discussion of the biography of Hesychius. It is suggested that the various remarks of different scholars concerning Hesychius, his life and (to a varying extent) even his theological standpoint have often been based on a study of a minor portion of his writings. Scholars seem rarely to have evaluated the sources of the few biographical notices with respect to the entire context of the works in which these texts appear or the environments from which they come. This has given rise to inadequacies of interpretation and perspective. In the second chapter, the four different versions of the scholia are presented and examined. It is concluded that the version found in the so called Catena I is the most original and should form the basis of the critical edition. Some observations are made on the format and possible use of the scholia, both as an original work and as a part of a catena. In the third chapter, the manuscripts of three of the versions are presented and a stemma is established for the version in Catena I. In the appendixes are given, among other things, the scholia as found in Ambrosianus H 45 sup. and Catena II. A list of readings taken from other versions of the OT and appearing in the scholia of Hesychius is also provided.