Acts of Pilate/Gospel of Nicodemus

Gesta Pilati/Euangelium Nicodemi

Standard abbreviation: Acts Pil.; Gos. Nic.

Other titles: none

Clavis numbers: ECCA 309; CANT 62

VIAF: 181444369; 292435377; 262634350; 2283155044861572520005

Category: Pilate Cycle

Related literature: Epistle of Pilate to Claudius, Healing of Tiberius, Hospitality of Dysmas

Status: unassigned

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style):

1. SUMMARY

Named historical figures and characters:

Geographical locations:

2. RESOURCES

2.1 Art and Iconography

The Lower Basilica of the Basilica of San Clemente (Rome) includes a ninth-century fresco depicting Christ standing upon Satan and drawing Adam by the hand out of the underworld (cf. Acts Pil. Rec. B, 22 and 24).

Fiesche Morgan Staurotheke. A ninth-century reliquary with an image of the Descent to Hell.

Holkham Bible Picture Book (London, British Library, Add. 47682; ca. 1327–1335): Described as “A biblical picture book with explanatory text of varying length, sometimes in rhyming couplets, in Anglo-Norman French, with some English.” One image relates to the Pilate Cycle: f. 34r, The Harrowing of Hell; St Joseph and Nicodemus imprisoned and rescued.

Mosaic of the Harrowing of Hell in the Chora Church, Istanbul (14th cent.)

2.2 Web Sites and Other Online Resources

Alcock, Anthony. “Texts relating to the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.” academia.edu (English translation of Rahmani’s Syriac edition).

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Aramaic

3.1.2 Armenian

3.1.3 Church Slavic

Lʹviv, Lʹvivsʹka nat︠s︡ionalʹna naukova biblioteka Ukraïny im. V. Stefanyka, БА 56, fols. 654^r–675^v (1531)

3.1.4 Coptic (CC 0035; PAThs entry)

Torino (Italy), Museo Egizio, cat. 63000, II, 1–54 (7th/8th cent.) (=GIOB.AB; PAThs)

Oxford, Bodleian Library, Copt. 27 (PAThs)

CLM 1643 (10th/11th cent.) (PAThs):

pp. 31–32: Bibl. Nat., Copte 129¹⁸, fol. 140^v

pp. 27–28: Bibl. Nat., Copte 129¹⁷, fol. 50

3.1.5 Georgian

3.1.6 Greek

Recension A (BHG 779t) ~ extant in 19 manuscripts

London, British Library, Harley 5636, fols. 1^r–25^v (14th cent.)

Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, C 92 sup. (Martini-Bassi 192), fols. 318^v–327^r (14th cent.)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 770, fols. 7^r–20^v (1315)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 929, pp. 29–30, 15–28, 31–34, 1–14 (15th cent.)

Rome,  Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele II, Gr. 20, fols. 91^v–109^v (15th cent.)

Recension B (BHG 779u; BHG 779v; BHG 779w) ~ translated from Latin A and extant in 31 manuscripts

Oxford, Bodleian Library, Holkham gr. 24 (olim 90) (14th-15th cent.)

Mount Athos, Monē Hagiou Pantelēmonos, 742 (Lambros 6249) (19th cent.)

Mount Athos, Monē Hagiou Pantelēmonos, 744 (Lambros 6251) (19th cent.)

Mount Athos, Monē Ibērōn, 692 (Lambros 4812) (16th cent.)

Mount Athos, M. Megistes Lavras, H 31 (Eustratiades 686) (18th-19th cent.)

Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, gr. 1697, fols. 193^r–216^v (18th cent.)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 808 (olim Regius 2342²), 261^r–279^r (16th cent.)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, suppl. gr. 1169, fols. 1^v–39^r (1685)

Sofia, C’rkovno-istoričeski i archiven Institut, 881, fols. 72^v–78^v (17th cent.)

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Ott. gr. 411 (start of 15th cent.)

Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, gr. app. II, 87 (coll. 1258; olim Nanianus CIX) (16th cent.)

Ehrman, Bart D. and Zlatko Pleše, The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011 (Tischendorf’s Greek A text with parallel English translation, pp. 419–63; Greek B [chs. 13–27 only], pp. 465–89).

3.1.7 Latin

Alençon, Bibliothèque municipale, 17, fols. 163^r–175^v (13th cent.)

Berkeley, University of California, Bancroft Library, UCB 020, fols. 21^r–56^r (12th cent.) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 15

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 288, fols. 38^r–54^v (12/13th cent.) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 44

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 385, pp. 223–39 (13/14th cent.)

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 441, pp. 393–414 (13/14th cent.) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 46

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 500, fols. 110^r–116^v (14/15th cent.)

Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard Houghton Library, Lat. 117, fols. 1^r–22^r (1350–1400)

Dijon, Bibliothèque municipale, 50, fols. 119^r–24^r (12th cent.) ~ truncated at end; = Izydorczyk, Census no. 66

Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek, 250 (382), pp. 375–412 (ca. 1150)

Genève-Cologny, Bibliothèque Bodmer, MS Bodmer 127, fols. 2^r–10^r) (12th cent.) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 89

Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, Aug. 63, fols. 31^r–40^r (1385)

London, British Library, Arundel 404, fols. 19^r–28^r (14th cent.)

London, British Library, Royal 1 E. IX, fols. 282^r–286^r (15th cent.) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 157

Madrid, Biblioteca nacional, 9783, fols. 87^v–98^r (13–15th cent.)

Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 19105, fols. 51^v–95^v (7th/8th cent.) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 199

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 5327, fols. 35^v–55^r (10th cent.) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 268

Saint-Omer, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 202, fols. 1^r–13^r (9th cent.) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 334

Trier, Stadtbibliotek, 550/1538, fols. 59^r–79^v (14th cent.) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 359

Trier, Stadtbibliotek, 615/1558, fols. 77^r–87^r) (15th cent.) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 361

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Reg. lat. 648, fols. 27^v–44^r (12th/13th cent.)

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 4578, fols. 35^r–37^v (14th cent.)

Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 563, undertext fols. 123, 125, 126, 128, 130, 131, 133, 134, 136–140, 143, 144, 146–154, 161–170, 173, 174, 177 (5th cent.)

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Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, MS Theol. lat. qu. 369, ff. 64ra-65vb (s. xiii ex.) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 22

München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 11403, fols. 62v–70r (1458–1460) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 190 (NT)

München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 28168, ff. 166ra174va (s. xiii and xiv) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 206

Gdańsk, Biblioteka Polskiej Akademii Nauk, MS 1956, ff. 85ra-91rb (s. xv) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 85

Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, MS Vitr. 23-8, fols. 162r–202r (13th/14th cent.) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 173; IMAGES

München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 22353, ff. 86ra-94va (s. xv/2, 1452) = Izydorczyk, Census no. 202

3.1.8 Middle Irish

Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 23 P 16 (the Leabhar Breac), pp. 160b–168b, 170a–172b (1408–1411)

Atkinson, Robert, ed. and trans. The Passions and the Homilies from Leabhar Breac. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1887 (text, pp. 113–34, 143–51; English translation, pp. 359–71, 392–400).

3.1.9 Middle Welsh

Aberystywth, National Library of Wales, Peniarth 5, fols. 30^r–36^v (ca. 1350)

3.1.10 Old English

Cambridge, University Library, Ii.2.11, fols. 173^v–193^r (11th cent.) ~ English Manuscripts 1060–1220; follows the four New Testament Gospels

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 41, pp. 295–301 (11th cent.)    

London, British Library, Cotton MS Vitellius A XV, fols. 86^v–93^v (990s–12th cent.) ~ IMAGES

Hulme, William H. “The Old English Version of the Gospel of Nicodemus.” PMLA 13 (1898): 457–542.

3.1.11 Old French

London, British Library, Add. 10289, fols. 64^r–81^v (1275–1300)

3.1.12 Syriac (based on Greek A)

Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard Houghton Library, Syr. 99,  fols. 96^v–103^v (1899)

Charfeh, Syrian-Catholic Patriarchate, Fonds. Patr. 79 (1901) ~ copied from an unnamed fourteenth-century manuscript from Mosul

Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 4, fols. 53^v–57^r (1895)

Mardin, Dayr al-Zaʿfarān, 203, fols. 82^v–88^r (20th cent.)

Midyat, Dayro d-Mor Gabriel, 21, pp. 81–88 (1971)

Midyat, Mar Barṣawmo Library, 16, pp. 142–153 (1972)

Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, syr. 82, fols. 1^r–12^v (12th cent.) + Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 639, 2 unnumbered fols.

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. sir. 596, fols. 85^v–90^r (1917)

Mingana, Alphonse. Catalogue of the Mingana Collection of Manuscripts Now in the Possession of the Trustees of the Woodbrooke Settlement, Selly Oak, Birmingham. 3 vols. Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd., 1933–1939 (full text of Mingana Syr. 639 given in vol. 3, pp. 79–84, with English translation, pp. 81–85).

Rahmani, Ignatius E., ed. Studia Syriaca, seu collectio documentorum hactenus ineditorum ex codicibus Syriacis: Apocryphi hypomnemata Domini Nostri, seu, Acta Pilati. 5 vols. Charfeh: Charfeh Patriarchal Seminary, 1908 (Syriac text based on Charfeh Fonds. Patr. 79 with variant readings from unidentified 8th-century manuscript from Midyat, of vol. 2:3–15, 22 [Syriac numbering]; Latin translation, vol. 2:11–28).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Ehrman, Bart D. and Zlatko Pleše, The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011 (Tischendorf’s Greek A text with parallel English translation, pp. 419–63; Greek B [chs. 13–27 only], pp. 465–89).

Elliott, J. K. The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993 (translation of Tischendorf’s Greek A, pp. 164–85; and Greek B [chs. 17–27 only], pp. 17–27).

3.2.2 French

3.2.3 German

Sedlácek, Jaroslav. “Neue Pilatusakten: Besprochen und Übersetzt.” Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Böhmischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften in Prag 11 (1908): 1–18 (German translation of Rahmani’s Syriac text, pp. 5–16).

3.3 General Works

Baudoin, Anne-Catherine, and Zbigniew Izydorczyk, eds. The Oldest Manuscript of the Acts of Pilate: A Collaborative Commentary on the Vienna Palimpsest. Proceedings of the International Summer Schools on Christian Apocryphal Literature 2. Strassbourg, 2019.

Elliott, J. K.. “Pilate Cycle.” Pages 128–41 in Early New Testament Apocrypha. Edited by J. Christopher Edwards. Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies 9. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2022.

Gounelle, Rémi. “Acta Pilati grecs B (BHG 779u-w). Traditions textuelles.” Recherches Augustiniennes 26 (1992): 273–94.