The name given to a manuscript in leaf form, distinguishing it from a roll. The codex seems to have come into use about the beginning of the fourth century; the material ordinarily employed in it was parchment, but discovery has shown that papyrus was sometimes used in the making of codices, though really too brittle to be a satisfactory material. The great manuscripts of the Bible are in codex form and generally of parchment; hence the name, Codex Vaticanus etc. For convenience' sake, we group here the four great codices of the Greek Bible, Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Ephraemi, together with the Greek Codex Bezae, so remarkable for it's textual peculiarities; also, Codex Amiatinus , the greatest manuscript of the Vulgate. For other codices, see MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BIBLE, or the particular designation, as BOOK OF ARMAGH; BOOK OF KELLS; etc.

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