Codex Zacynthius

Uncial 040

New Testament manuscript
Facsimile from Tregelles edition
Name	Zacynthius
Sign	Ξ
Text	Gospel of Luke †
Date	c. 550
Script	Greek
Found	Colin Macaulay, 1820
Now at	Cambridge University Library
Cite	Tregelles, Codex Zacynthius. Greek Palimpsest Fragments of the Gospel of Saint Luke, (1861)
Size	36 cm by 29 cm
Type	Alexandrian
Category	III
Note	textually close to codex B

Codex Zacynthius is a 6th century Greek palimpsest manuscript of the New Testament. It is designated by the siglum Ξ or 040 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and as A¹ in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts. As a palimpsest, the original (lower) text was washed off its vellum pages and overwritten in the 12th or 13th century. The upper text of the palimpsest contains weekday Gospel lessons (known as a lectionary, ℓ299); the lower text contains portions of the Gospel of Luke, deciphered by biblical scholar and palaeographer Samuel P. Tregelles in 1861. First thought to have been written in the 8th century, using the study of comparative writing styles (palaeography), the lower text has been dated to the 6th century. The lower text is of most interest to scholars.

The manuscript came from Zakynthos, a Greek island, and has survived in a fragmentary condition. It was brought to England in 1821 and transferred to Cambridge University in 1985 which later purchased it after an appeal in 2014. It is often cited in critical editions of the Greek New Testament.