{"id":696,"date":"2026-10-26T05:21:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T05:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/the-rossano-gospels-and-the-purple-codices\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T05:21:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T05:21:20","slug":"the-rossano-gospels-and-the-purple-codices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/the-rossano-gospels-and-the-purple-codices\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rossano Gospels and the Purple Codices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the cathedral town of Rossano in Calabria, in the south of Italy, the diocesan museum keeps a Greek Gospel book of the sixth century whose pages are dyed a deep reddish purple and written in silver, with the opening lines of each Gospel in gold. It is known as the Rossano Gospels or, in Latin, the Codex purpureus Rossanensis, and in the lists of New Testament manuscripts it bears the letter \u03a3 (Sigma) and the number 042. It is the oldest surviving Gospel book with a cycle of narrative pictures, and with a small group of related manuscripts it represents a short-lived but remarkable form of the Christian book: the purple codex, a luxury object that borrowed the colour of imperial dignity for the text of scripture. This article describes the Rossano Gospels, their pictures and their text, the related purple manuscripts in Greek, Latin and Gothic, and what is known of the reasons for which such books were made.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-1\"><a href=\"#note-1\">1<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-2\"><a href=\"#note-2\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group at-a-glance\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"at-a-glance\">At a glance<\/h3>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\n<li><strong>6th century:<\/strong> The Rossano Gospels are written in silver and gold on purple parchment, probably in the eastern Mediterranean.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>6th century:<\/strong> Related purple Gospel books, the Sinope Gospels, Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus and the Berat Gospels, are produced.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>Before 1879:<\/strong> The manuscript is kept in the cathedral of Rossano in Calabria, southern Italy.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>1879:<\/strong> Oscar von Gebhardt and Adolf Harnack examine it in Rossano and make it known to scholars.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>1880:<\/strong> Gebhardt and Harnack publish their description of the codex.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>1898:<\/strong> Arthur Haseloff publishes the first full study of its miniatures.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>1985\u20131987:<\/strong> A facsimile and a commentary volume are published in Rome and Graz.<\/li>\n\n\n<li><strong>2015:<\/strong> After restoration the codex is added to UNESCO\u2019s Memory of the World register; it is kept in the Diocesan Museum at Rossano.<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-purple-book\">The Purple Book<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"colour-and-dignity\">Colour and Dignity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the Roman world, purple was the colour of rank. The most prized dye, produced from the glands of murex sea snails along the coasts of Phoenicia, was so costly that its use came to be associated with emperors and with the highest offices of state, and from the fourth century imperial legislation restricted the wearing of the finest purple cloth. To dye parchment purple was to give a book something of the dignity of the imperial court. Purple manuscripts of secular texts are mentioned in late Roman sources, and there are reports of books of Homer written in gold on purple leaves.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-3\"><a href=\"#note-3\">3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Analysis of surviving purple manuscripts has shown that the colour was not always produced with shellfish purple. Several were coloured with dyes from lichens, such as orchil, or with other vegetable substances, which gave a similar effect at much lower cost; the chemistry varies from manuscript to manuscript, and in some cases the precise source is still uncertain. Whatever the dye, the parchment was coloured on both sides before writing, and the letters were then laid on in silver or gold ink, a technique known as chrysography when gold was used. Silver tends to oxidise and darken with time, and in many purple manuscripts the silver letters are now dark grey or black against a faded violet ground.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-4\"><a href=\"#note-4\">4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"jeromes-criticism\">Jerome&#x27;s Criticism<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fashion attracted criticism as well as admiration. Jerome, writing at the end of the fourth century, complained in his letter to the Roman noblewoman Eustochium that parchments were being dyed purple and gold melted into letters while Christ lay dying at the door in the person of the poor. In his preface to the translation of Job made from the Hebrew, he remarked that those who wished might keep old books written in gold and silver on purple parchment, provided they allowed him and his readers to have poor copies that were correct rather than beautiful. The remark shows that by Jerome\u2019s time purple biblical books were familiar enough to be taken as a symbol of display, and that Jerome himself distrusted their texts. His own work is described in the article on <a href=\"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/the-latin-vulgate-and-jeromes-translation-of-the-bible\/\">the Latin Vulgate<\/a>.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-5\"><a href=\"#note-5\">5<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-6\"><a href=\"#note-6\">6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-rossano-gospels\">The Rossano Gospels<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"description\">Description<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Rossano Gospels in their present state consist of 188 leaves of parchment, measuring about 30 by 25 centimetres. They contain the Gospel of Matthew and most of the Gospel of Mark, breaking off at Mark 16:14; the rest of the book, which presumably included Luke and John, has been lost. The text is written in two columns of twenty lines in a large biblical majuscule, the formal Greek capital script of late antiquity often called uncial. The first three lines of each Gospel are written in gold, the rest in silver. The script is regular and generously spaced, and the format, with large letters, short lines and wide margins, belongs to a book intended to be seen as much as read.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-7\"><a href=\"#note-7\">7<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-8\"><a href=\"#note-8\">8<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the front of the codex stand fifteen pages of pictures, painted before the beginning of Matthew. They include twelve scenes from the life and teaching of Christ, a page with the remains of the decorated frame of the letter of Eusebius to Carpianus, which introduced the canon tables, and a portrait of the evangelist Mark seated and writing while a female figure, usually interpreted as Divine Wisdom, dictates to him. A portrait of Matthew may once have stood before his Gospel, and the canon tables themselves are lost.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-9\"><a href=\"#note-9\">9<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-10\"><a href=\"#note-10\">10<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-miniatures\">The Miniatures<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The narrative scenes are arranged in a distinctive way. In most of them the event from the Gospel occupies the upper part of the page, and below it stand four Old Testament prophets, each holding a scroll inscribed with a verse that was understood as a prophecy of the scene above. Thus the raising of Lazarus, the entry into Jerusalem, the cleansing of the Temple, the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, the Last Supper, the washing of the disciples\u2019 feet, the communion of the apostles, the prayer in Gethsemane, the healing of the man born blind, the parable of the Good Samaritan, and the trial before Pilate are each paired with prophets such as David, Isaiah, Hosea, Micah and Zechariah. The pictures are painted directly on the purple ground in bright colours with white highlights. The arrangement turns the opening of the book into a visual commentary on the fulfilment of prophecy.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-11\"><a href=\"#note-11\">11<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-12\"><a href=\"#note-12\">12<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two pages are given to the trial before Pilate. On the first, Pilate sits enthroned between attendants with Christ standing before him; on the second, the crowd chooses between Christ and Barabbas. Another page shows Judas returning the thirty pieces of silver and, at the side, hanging himself. The figures, the architecture and the costume reflect the art of the sixth-century eastern empire, and Pilate\u2019s court, with its standards bearing imperial portraits, resembles the courts of Byzantine officials. These details have made the codex an important source for the history of late antique costume and ceremonial as well as for Christian iconography.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-13\"><a href=\"#note-13\">13<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-14\"><a href=\"#note-14\">14<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"origin-and-date\">Origin and Date<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nothing is recorded of the place where the Rossano Gospels were made. Their script, decoration and pictures point to the eastern Mediterranean in the sixth century, and scholars have proposed Antioch, Constantinople, and the regions of Syria and Palestine. The pictures have been compared with the mosaics of Ravenna and with Syriac manuscripts such as the Rabbula Gospels of 586, but none of these comparisons is decisive. Most specialists date the codex to the middle or second half of the sixth century, and the commentary volume edited by Guglielmo Cavallo, Jean Gribomont and William Loerke in 1987 set out the evidence for an eastern origin in detail.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-15\"><a href=\"#note-15\">15<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-16\"><a href=\"#note-16\">16<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How the book reached Calabria is also unknown. Southern Italy had a large Greek-speaking population in the early Middle Ages, and Rossano was an important centre of Byzantine monastic life, associated with Nilus of Rossano in the tenth century. It has been suggested that the codex was brought from the east by monks or clergy in the seventh or eighth century, at the time of the Arab conquests or the iconoclast controversy, but no document confirms this.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-17\"><a href=\"#note-17\">17<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-18\"><a href=\"#note-18\">18<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"discovery-and-publication\">Discovery and Publication<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The codex was known locally but unknown to scholarship until 1879, when two young German scholars, Oscar von Gebhardt and Adolf Harnack, visited Rossano and examined it. Harnack, later one of the most celebrated church historians of his generation, was then at the beginning of his career. The next year Gebhardt and Harnack published a description of the manuscript with a study of its text and pictures, and the codex quickly became famous. Arthur Haseloff published a full study of the miniatures in 1898, with photographic plates, and a facsimile with a commentary volume appeared in Rome and Graz in 1985 and 1987.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-19\"><a href=\"#note-19\">19<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-20\"><a href=\"#note-20\">20<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-21\"><a href=\"#note-21\">21<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Between 2012 and 2015 the manuscript was restored at the Italian state institute for the conservation of books and archives in Rome, after which it returned to the diocesan museum in Rossano, now renamed the Museo Diocesano e del Codex. In 2015 it was inscribed in UNESCO\u2019s Memory of the World register.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-22\"><a href=\"#note-22\">22<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-text\">The Text<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"character\">Character<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For textual criticism the Rossano Gospels are of moderate importance. Their text is in the main of the type that later became standard in the Byzantine church, but it contains a number of older readings, and in Mark particularly some agreements with the so-called Caesarean group of witnesses have been noted. Kurt and Barbara Aland placed the manuscript in their Category V, the class of manuscripts with a predominantly Byzantine text, though with qualifications. The codex is cited in the critical editions of the Greek New Testament, and its date gives its readings a value that later Byzantine manuscripts lack.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-23\"><a href=\"#note-23\">23<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-24\"><a href=\"#note-24\">24<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"a-family-of-purple-gospels\">A Family of Purple Gospels<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Rossano Gospels belong to a small group of sixth-century purple Gospel books whose texts are closely related. The most extensive is Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus, known as N or 022, written in silver with gold for the sacred names. Its 231 surviving leaves are now dispersed among libraries in St Petersburg, which holds the greatest number, Patmos, the Vatican, London, Vienna, Athens, Thessaloniki, New York and elsewhere; the largest group was acquired for the Russian imperial library after it was found in Cappadocia in 1896. H. S. Cronin edited its text in 1899 and showed that it was closely related to the Rossano Gospels. Some scholars have suggested that the two manuscripts were copied from the same exemplar or even in the same workshop.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-25\"><a href=\"#note-25\">25<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-26\"><a href=\"#note-26\">26<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Sinope Gospels, known as O or 023, consist of forty-three leaves of the Gospel of Matthew written in gold on purple parchment, with five surviving miniatures at the foot of the page. A French officer acquired them at Sinop on the Black Sea coast of Turkey in 1899, and they are now in the Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France. Henri Omont published them in 1901. The Berat Gospels, known as \u03a6 or 043, preserve most of Matthew and Mark in silver on purple and are kept in the national archives of Albania at Tirana; they were described by Pierre Batiffol in 1885. Together with the Rossano Gospels these manuscripts are sometimes called the purple uncials. Their texts share many readings, and they show that a particular form of the Gospel text was being copied in luxury editions in the eastern empire in the sixth century.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-27\"><a href=\"#note-27\">27<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-28\"><a href=\"#note-28\">28<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-29\"><a href=\"#note-29\">29<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"purple-manuscripts-beyond-the-greek-gospels\">Purple Manuscripts beyond the Greek Gospels<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-vienna-genesis\">The Vienna Genesis<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The closest relative of the Rossano Gospels in style is not a Gospel book but a fragmentary copy of Genesis in Greek, now in the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The Vienna Genesis survives in twenty-four leaves of purple parchment, written in silver, with forty-eight miniatures painted at the foot of the pages, illustrating the stories of the patriarchs from the Fall to the death of Jacob. Its pictures are painted with a liveliness that recalls late Roman narrative art, and many scholars have attributed it to the same broad artistic milieu as the Rossano Gospels, perhaps a generation earlier. It is the oldest well-preserved illustrated manuscript of a biblical book.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-30\"><a href=\"#note-30\">30<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-31\"><a href=\"#note-31\">31<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"latin-purple-gospels\">Latin Purple Gospels<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Purple manuscripts were also produced in the Latin west. Several of the most important witnesses to the Old Latin version of the Gospels, which preceded Jerome\u2019s revision, are purple books written in silver or gold: the Codex Veronensis, known as b, in Verona; the Codex Palatinus, known as e, whose leaves are divided between Trento, Dublin and London; and the Codex Brixianus, known as f, in Brescia, whose text has been thought to reflect the Gothic version. These books, dating from the fifth and sixth centuries, preserve the Latin text of the Gospels before the Vulgate became dominant and are described more fully in the article on <a href=\"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/the-vetus-latina-and-the-first-latin-bibles\/\">the Vetus Latina and the First Latin Bibles<\/a>.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-32\"><a href=\"#note-32\">32<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-codex-argenteus\">The Codex Argenteus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The most famous purple book of all is the Codex Argenteus, the Silver Book, which preserves the Gospels in the Gothic translation of Ulfilas. It was written in silver and gold on purple parchment, probably at Ravenna in the early sixth century during the reign of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric, and is now in Uppsala. Like the Greek purple Gospels it belonged to a court culture in which the rulers of the post-Roman west adopted the forms of imperial display. Its history and text are described in the article on <a href=\"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/ulfilas-the-gothic-bible-and-the-codex-argenteus\/\">Ulfilas, the Gothic Bible and the Codex Argenteus<\/a>.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-33\"><a href=\"#note-33\">33<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"carolingian-revival\">Carolingian Revival<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the late eighth and ninth centuries, Charlemagne and his successors revived the purple book as part of their claim to the inheritance of Rome. The Godescalc Evangelistary, written in gold and silver on purple parchment for Charlemagne between 781 and 783, opened a series of luxurious Carolingian Gospel books in which whole pages or sections were dyed purple. The practice continued in Ottonian Germany and occasionally in Byzantium, but it was never again as common as in the sixth century, when entire books were written in metallic inks on purple leaves.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-34\"><a href=\"#note-34\">34<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"making-a-purple-codex\">Making a Purple Codex<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"parchment-and-dye\">Parchment and Dye<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A purple book began, like any other parchment codex, with the skins of calves, sheep or goats, soaked in lime, scraped, stretched and dried until they formed thin, even sheets. For a purple manuscript the sheets were then coloured. Two methods are known. In some books the parchment appears to have been soaked in a dye bath, so that the colour penetrated the skin; in others the colour was brushed or wiped onto the surface. The two methods leave different traces: soaked leaves tend to be evenly coloured on both sides, while painted leaves show streaks and patches where the colour was applied unevenly or has worn away. The leaves of the Rossano Gospels have suffered from damp and handling, and their colour now ranges from a deep wine red to a faded violet.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-35\"><a href=\"#note-35\">35<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-36\"><a href=\"#note-36\">36<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The scale of the work was considerable. A book of the size of the Rossano Gospels in its complete form, with all four Gospels, would have required several hundred leaves, and each bifolium had to be prepared, coloured and dried before it could be ruled. Ruling on purple parchment was done with a dry point, which left a furrow visible on the coloured surface. The scribe then wrote with a pen dipped in metallic ink. Silver and gold inks were prepared by grinding the metal into a fine powder and mixing it with a binding medium such as gum, and they were difficult to use: the ink had to be kept stirred so that the metal did not settle, and the letters often needed to be burnished after drying to bring out their shine.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-37\"><a href=\"#note-37\">37<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"scribe-and-painter\">Scribe and Painter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The scribe and the painter of a purple book were probably different people, and possibly worked in different places. In the Rossano Gospels the pictures stand on separate pages at the front of the book, which made it possible to paint them independently of the text. The painter worked directly on the purple ground, using a palette of white, blue, green, red, yellow and flesh tones, and modelled the figures with highlights in white. Several hands have been distinguished in the miniatures, and their differences in style suggest that more than one artist took part. The organisation of the work, with specialists for parchment, script and painting, implies a well-equipped workshop of the kind associated with major cities and with the patronage of the court or the higher clergy.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-38\"><a href=\"#note-38\">38<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-39\"><a href=\"#note-39\">39<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-gospel-book-in-late-antique-worship\">The Gospel Book in Late Antique Worship<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The purple Gospels must be understood in the setting of the liturgy for which they were made. In the churches of the late antique east, the Gospel book was carried into the church in procession at the beginning of the service, held high by a deacon, and placed on the altar; at the reading of the Gospel it was carried to the ambo, the raised platform from which the lessons were read, accompanied by candles and incense. Congregations stood and responded to its appearance as to the presence of Christ. At church councils a Gospel book was placed on a throne in the midst of the assembly to signify that Christ presided, a practice recorded for the Council of Ephesus in 431 and represented in later Byzantine art.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-40\"><a href=\"#note-40\">40<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this setting the outward appearance of the book carried a meaning of its own. Gospel books used in procession were often bound in covers of precious metal set with gems, and a purple book written in gold and silver extended that splendour to the pages themselves. The text was not read from the purple Gospels in the way a scholar would read a manuscript at a desk; it was proclaimed from them, in public, as the climax of the liturgy of the word. The large letters and short lines of the Rossano Gospels would have suited a reader standing at the ambo with the book open before him in the light of candles.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-41\"><a href=\"#note-41\">41<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-42\"><a href=\"#note-42\">42<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"rossano-and-byzantine-calabria\">Rossano and Byzantine Calabria<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The presence of the codex in Rossano reflects the long history of Greek Christianity in southern Italy. From the sixth century to the eleventh, much of Calabria was ruled from Constantinople, and its churches followed the Byzantine rite. Rossano became a bishopric and, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, a centre of Greek monasticism. Nilus of Rossano, born in the town about 910, founded several monasteries in Calabria and later the abbey of Grottaferrata near Rome, which remains a Greek-rite house to this day. The monastery of Santa Maria del Patire near Rossano, founded in the early twelfth century, possessed an important library of Greek manuscripts, many of which are now in the Vatican. In such an environment a sixth-century Greek Gospel book could remain in use, and its survival in the cathedral treasury may owe something to the persistence of Greek liturgy in the diocese until the Latin rite replaced it in the later Middle Ages.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-43\"><a href=\"#note-43\">43<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-44\"><a href=\"#note-44\">44<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"why-purple-books-were-made\">Why Purple Books Were Made<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No document explains why the Rossano Gospels were commissioned. The cost of the materials, the quality of the painting and the arrangement of the pictures suggest a patron of great wealth, perhaps an emperor, a high official or a bishop, and an intended use in the liturgy of a major church. In late antique worship the Gospel book was carried in procession and venerated as a symbol of Christ, and a book written in gold and silver on purple expressed that symbolism directly. The colour that marked the emperor marked the Gospel as the book of the heavenly king. Seen in this light, the purple codex was not merely a display of wealth but a statement about the status of the text it carried.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-45\"><a href=\"#note-45\">45<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-46\"><a href=\"#note-46\">46<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The pictures served a related purpose. By placing the prophets beneath the scenes of the Gospel, the designer of the Rossano cycle presented the life of Christ as the fulfilment of the Old Testament, a theme that runs through early Christian preaching and commentary. The prophets\u2019 scrolls carry quotations from the Septuagint, and the choice of texts shows familiarity with the traditions of Christian exegesis in the Greek east. The images therefore join word and picture in a theological argument, and they stand at the beginning of the long tradition of Byzantine Gospel illustration.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-47\"><a href=\"#note-47\">47<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-48\"><a href=\"#note-48\">48<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jerome\u2019s complaint shows that not every Christian approved. The tension he expressed, between the beauty of the book and the accuracy of its text, recurs throughout the history of the Bible. Luxury manuscripts were often copied from good exemplars, but their makers sometimes valued appearance above correction, and the texts of the purple uncials, though old, do not belong to the earliest and most carefully transmitted forms of the Gospels preserved in manuscripts such as <a href=\"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/codex-vaticanus-and-the-oldest-large-bible\/\">Codex Vaticanus<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/codex-sinaiticus-and-the-sinai-manuscript-tradition\/\">Codex Sinaiticus<\/a>.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-49\"><a href=\"#note-49\">49<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-50\"><a href=\"#note-50\">50<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-rossano-gospels-in-scholarship\">The Rossano Gospels in Scholarship<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since their publication in 1880 the Rossano Gospels have been studied chiefly by art historians. Haseloff\u2019s study of 1898 placed their pictures within the development of Christian art, and the debate about their origin has drawn in comparisons with Syrian, Constantinopolitan and Palestinian works. Kurt Weitzmann, in a series of studies culminating in his survey of late antique and early Christian book illumination, argued that the Rossano miniatures derived from older cycles of Gospel illustration that had been adapted for the format of the purple codex. Later scholars, among them John Lowden, have questioned the assumption that lost model cycles lay behind every surviving manuscript and have emphasised instead the inventiveness of the sixth-century designers.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-51\"><a href=\"#note-51\">51<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-52\"><a href=\"#note-52\">52<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For biblical scholars the codex is one of a few manuscripts of the Greek Gospels that combine an early date, a nearly complete text of two Gospels and a fixed place in a manuscript family. Its relation to Codex N has been used to study how a text was copied within a single workshop or tradition, and its readings appear in the apparatus of the standard editions. The restoration of 2012 to 2015 included new photography and analysis of the pigments, and has made the manuscript accessible to a new generation of research.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-53\"><a href=\"#note-53\">53<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-54\"><a href=\"#note-54\">54<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"conclusion\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Rossano Gospels are among the most splendid books to survive from the early Christian world. Their purple leaves, their silver and gold letters and their cycle of paintings place them at the meeting point of imperial art and Christian scripture in the sixth century. With the other purple Gospels in Greek, the Vienna Genesis, the purple Old Latin manuscripts and the Codex Argenteus, they show how the late Roman taste for luxury books was adapted to the needs of the church, and how the book of the Gospels became an object of veneration as well as of reading. Their text, while not among the oldest forms of the Gospels, preserves a stage of the Byzantine tradition earlier than most surviving witnesses. The criticisms of Jerome, who preferred correct copies to beautiful ones, are a reminder that the history of the Bible has always involved choices between the appearance of the book and the accuracy of its words.<sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-55\"><a href=\"#note-55\">55<\/a><\/sup><sup class=\"fn-ref\" id=\"ref-56\"><a href=\"#note-56\">56<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"notes\">Notes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list post-notes\">\n\n<li id=\"note-1\">Grokipedia, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/grokipedia.com\/page\/Rossano_Gospels\">Rossano Gospels<\/a>\u201d. <a href=\"#ref-1\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-2\">Guglielmo Cavallo, Jean Gribomont and William C. Loerke, <em>Codex purpureus Rossanensis: Commentarium<\/em> (Rome: Salerno Editrice; Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1987). <a href=\"#ref-2\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-3\">Grokipedia, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/grokipedia.com\/page\/Tyrian_purple\">Tyrian purple<\/a>\u201d. <a href=\"#ref-3\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-4\">Bruce M. Metzger, <em>Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Greek Palaeography<\/em> (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), 94\u201395. <a href=\"#ref-4\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-5\">Jerome, preface to the book of Job (translated from the Hebrew), and Letter 22 to Eustochium, 32. <a href=\"#ref-5\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-6\">Grokipedia, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/grokipedia.com\/page\/Jerome\">Jerome<\/a>\u201d. <a href=\"#ref-6\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-7\">Bruce M. Metzger, <em>Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Greek Palaeography<\/em> (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), 94\u201395. <a href=\"#ref-7\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-8\">Grokipedia, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/grokipedia.com\/page\/Uncial_script\">Uncial script<\/a>\u201d. <a href=\"#ref-8\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-9\">Arthur Haseloff, <em>Codex purpureus Rossanensis: Die Miniaturen der griechischen Evangelien-Handschrift in Rossano<\/em> (Berlin and Leipzig: Giesecke &#038; Devrient, 1898). <a href=\"#ref-9\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-10\">Guglielmo Cavallo, Jean Gribomont and William C. Loerke, <em>Codex purpureus Rossanensis: Commentarium<\/em> (Rome: Salerno Editrice; Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1987). <a href=\"#ref-10\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-11\">Arthur Haseloff, <em>Codex purpureus Rossanensis: Die Miniaturen der griechischen Evangelien-Handschrift in Rossano<\/em> (Berlin and Leipzig: Giesecke &#038; Devrient, 1898). <a href=\"#ref-11\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-12\">Kurt Weitzmann, <em>Late Antique and Early Christian Book Illumination<\/em> (New York: George Braziller, 1977), 89\u201397. <a href=\"#ref-12\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-13\">Kurt Weitzmann, <em>Late Antique and Early Christian Book Illumination<\/em> (New York: George Braziller, 1977), 89\u201397. <a href=\"#ref-13\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-14\">John Lowden, \u201cThe Beginnings of Biblical Illustration\u201d, in John Williams, ed., <em>Imaging the Early Medieval Bible<\/em> (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), 9\u201359. <a href=\"#ref-14\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-15\">Guglielmo Cavallo, Jean Gribomont and William C. Loerke, <em>Codex purpureus Rossanensis: Commentarium<\/em> (Rome: Salerno Editrice; Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1987). <a href=\"#ref-15\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-16\">Kurt Weitzmann, <em>Late Antique and Early Christian Book Illumination<\/em> (New York: George Braziller, 1977), 89\u201397. <a href=\"#ref-16\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-17\">Grokipedia, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/grokipedia.com\/page\/Rossano\">Rossano<\/a>\u201d. <a href=\"#ref-17\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-18\">Guglielmo Cavallo, Jean Gribomont and William C. Loerke, <em>Codex purpureus Rossanensis: Commentarium<\/em> (Rome: Salerno Editrice; Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1987). <a href=\"#ref-18\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-19\">Oscar von Gebhardt and Adolf Harnack, <em>Evangeliorum codex Graecus purpureus Rossanensis<\/em> (Leipzig: Giesecke &#038; Devrient, 1880). <a href=\"#ref-19\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-20\">Arthur Haseloff, <em>Codex purpureus Rossanensis: Die Miniaturen der griechischen Evangelien-Handschrift in Rossano<\/em> (Berlin and Leipzig: Giesecke &#038; Devrient, 1898). <a href=\"#ref-20\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-21\">Grokipedia, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/grokipedia.com\/page\/Adolf_von_Harnack\">Adolf von Harnack<\/a>\u201d. <a href=\"#ref-21\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-22\">Grokipedia, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/grokipedia.com\/page\/Rossano_Gospels\">Rossano Gospels<\/a>\u201d. <a href=\"#ref-22\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-23\">Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman, <em>The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration<\/em>, 4th edn (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 76\u201377. <a href=\"#ref-23\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-24\">Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, <em>The Text of the New Testament<\/em>, trans. Erroll F. Rhodes, 2nd edn (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; Leiden: Brill, 1989), 113\u2013118. <a href=\"#ref-24\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-25\">H. S. Cronin, <em>Codex Purpureus Petropolitanus: The Text of Codex N of the Gospels<\/em>, Texts and Studies 4.4 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1899). <a href=\"#ref-25\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-26\">David C. Parker, <em>An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and Their Texts<\/em> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). <a href=\"#ref-26\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-27\">Henri Omont, \u201cNotice sur un tr\u00e8s ancien manuscrit grec de l\u2019\u00c9vangile de saint Matthieu en onciales d\u2019or sur parchemin pourpr\u00e9 et orn\u00e9 de miniatures\u201d, <em>Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Biblioth\u00e8que nationale<\/em> 36 (1901), 599\u2013676. <a href=\"#ref-27\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-28\">Pierre Batiffol, \u201c\u00c9vang\u00e9liaire grec pourpr\u00e9 de B\u00e9rat\u201d, <em>M\u00e9langes d\u2019arch\u00e9ologie et d\u2019histoire<\/em> 5 (1885), 358\u2013376. <a href=\"#ref-28\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-29\">Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman, <em>The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration<\/em>, 4th edn (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 76\u201377. <a href=\"#ref-29\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-30\">Grokipedia, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/grokipedia.com\/page\/Vienna_Genesis\">Vienna Genesis<\/a>\u201d. <a href=\"#ref-30\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-31\">Kurt Weitzmann, <em>Late Antique and Early Christian Book Illumination<\/em> (New York: George Braziller, 1977), 89\u201397. <a href=\"#ref-31\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-32\">David C. Parker, <em>An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and Their Texts<\/em> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). <a href=\"#ref-32\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-33\">David C. Parker, <em>An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and Their Texts<\/em> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). <a href=\"#ref-33\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-34\">John Lowden, \u201cThe Beginnings of Biblical Illustration\u201d, in John Williams, ed., <em>Imaging the Early Medieval Bible<\/em> (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), 9\u201359. <a href=\"#ref-34\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-35\">Bruce M. Metzger, <em>Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Greek Palaeography<\/em> (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), 94\u201395. <a href=\"#ref-35\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-36\">Guglielmo Cavallo, Jean Gribomont and William C. Loerke, <em>Codex purpureus Rossanensis: Commentarium<\/em> (Rome: Salerno Editrice; Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1987). <a href=\"#ref-36\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-37\">Bruce M. Metzger, <em>Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Greek Palaeography<\/em> (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), 94\u201395. <a href=\"#ref-37\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-38\">Arthur Haseloff, <em>Codex purpureus Rossanensis: Die Miniaturen der griechischen Evangelien-Handschrift in Rossano<\/em> (Berlin and Leipzig: Giesecke &#038; Devrient, 1898). <a href=\"#ref-38\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-39\">Guglielmo Cavallo, Jean Gribomont and William C. Loerke, <em>Codex purpureus Rossanensis: Commentarium<\/em> (Rome: Salerno Editrice; Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1987). <a href=\"#ref-39\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-40\">John Lowden, \u201cThe Beginnings of Biblical Illustration\u201d, in John Williams, ed., <em>Imaging the Early Medieval Bible<\/em> (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), 9\u201359. <a href=\"#ref-40\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-41\">Kurt Weitzmann, <em>Late Antique and Early Christian Book Illumination<\/em> (New York: George Braziller, 1977), 89\u201397. <a href=\"#ref-41\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-42\">John Lowden, \u201cThe Beginnings of Biblical Illustration\u201d, in John Williams, ed., <em>Imaging the Early Medieval Bible<\/em> (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), 9\u201359. <a href=\"#ref-42\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-43\">Grokipedia, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/grokipedia.com\/page\/Rossano\">Rossano<\/a>\u201d. <a href=\"#ref-43\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-44\">Guglielmo Cavallo, Jean Gribomont and William C. Loerke, <em>Codex purpureus Rossanensis: Commentarium<\/em> (Rome: Salerno Editrice; Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1987). <a href=\"#ref-44\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-45\">John Lowden, \u201cThe Beginnings of Biblical Illustration\u201d, in John Williams, ed., <em>Imaging the Early Medieval Bible<\/em> (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), 9\u201359. <a href=\"#ref-45\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-46\">Kurt Weitzmann, <em>Late Antique and Early Christian Book Illumination<\/em> (New York: George Braziller, 1977), 89\u201397. <a href=\"#ref-46\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-47\">Arthur Haseloff, <em>Codex purpureus Rossanensis: Die Miniaturen der griechischen Evangelien-Handschrift in Rossano<\/em> (Berlin and Leipzig: Giesecke &#038; Devrient, 1898). <a href=\"#ref-47\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-48\">Kurt Weitzmann, <em>Late Antique and Early Christian Book Illumination<\/em> (New York: George Braziller, 1977), 89\u201397. <a href=\"#ref-48\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-49\">Jerome, preface to the book of Job (translated from the Hebrew), and Letter 22 to Eustochium, 32. <a href=\"#ref-49\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-50\">Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman, <em>The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration<\/em>, 4th edn (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 76\u201377. <a href=\"#ref-50\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-51\">Kurt Weitzmann, <em>Late Antique and Early Christian Book Illumination<\/em> (New York: George Braziller, 1977), 89\u201397. <a href=\"#ref-51\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-52\">John Lowden, \u201cThe Beginnings of Biblical Illustration\u201d, in John Williams, ed., <em>Imaging the Early Medieval Bible<\/em> (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), 9\u201359. <a href=\"#ref-52\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-53\">H. S. Cronin, <em>Codex Purpureus Petropolitanus: The Text of Codex N of the Gospels<\/em>, Texts and Studies 4.4 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1899). <a href=\"#ref-53\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-54\">Grokipedia, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/grokipedia.com\/page\/Rossano_Gospels\">Rossano Gospels<\/a>\u201d. <a href=\"#ref-54\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-55\">Guglielmo Cavallo, Jean Gribomont and William C. Loerke, <em>Codex purpureus Rossanensis: Commentarium<\/em> (Rome: Salerno Editrice; Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1987). <a href=\"#ref-55\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n<li id=\"note-56\">David C. Parker, <em>An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and Their Texts<\/em> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). <a href=\"#ref-56\" aria-label=\"Back to text\">\u21a9<\/a><\/li>\n\n<\/ol>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the cathedral town of Rossano in Calabria, in the south of Italy, the diocesan museum keeps a Greek Gospel book of the sixth century whose pages are dyed a deep reddish&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-text-transmission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masoretes.online\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}