Additional notes in Christian Egyptian biblical manuscripts (4th-11th centuries). Brief remarks

The article aims to make a brief survey of the additional notes in Christian Egyptian biblical manuscripts, covering the period from the 4th to the 11th centuries and taking into consideration both Coptic and bilingual – that is Graeco-Coptic – witnesses. Although a rare phenomenon in the Coptic manuscript culture, as we will see, and despite the fact that they represent a completely unexplored territory that certainly deserves further investigation, we hope that the remarks that follow may be of some help for the progress of the study of both the evolution of the bilingual Christian Egyptian cultural identity and the formation of a literary manuscript tradition, in which the role of Coptic and its relationship with Greek changed over time. Before analyzing different cases of additional notes, however, it will not be useless to summarize how the Coptic Bible took shape and the role played by the different dialects in its development.