The Bryennios List
An ancient list of the OT canon was first published by
Bryennios and later by Audet. Audet dates this list to the second century.
Audet also demonstrated that the Bryennios List shared a common tradition with
the later canonical lists of Epiphanius (d. AD 403). The list preserves two
names for each book: a Hebrew or Aramaic name in Greek transliteration and the Greek name. The list reads:
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Joshua son of Nun
Deuteronomy
Numbers
Ruth
Job
Judges
Psalms
1 Kingdoms [1 Samuel]
2 Kingdoms [2 Samuel]
3 Kingdoms [1 Kings]
4 Kingdoms [2 Kings]
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Jeremiah [including Lamentations?]
The Twelve Prophets
Isaiah
Ezekiel
Daniel
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
The number and order of the books in this list is
peculiar. The Pentateuch is interrupted by Joshua, and Numbers and Deuteronomy
are inverted. Katz proposes that this was caused by an error in copying from a
manuscript that was originally written in boustrophedon. (Peter Katz, “The Old
Testament Canon in Palestine and Alexandria,” ZNW 47 [1956] 206.
Boustrophedon was a form of writing in which the lines are written alternately
right to left and left to right. [Like the plowing of furrows with an ox
[Greek: bous]) Thus, the second line was written
“Joshua—Deuteronomy—Numbers” but was intended to be read
“Numbers-Deuteronomy—Joshua.” But the rest of the list is peculiar with only a
few groups of books in familiar order: Samuel—Kings—Chronicles is common enough
as is Proverbs—Ecclesiastes—Song of Songs. The order Ezekiel—Daniel—Ezra
matches Melito’s list and since it is followed by Esther, the Bryennios list
may confirm that Eusebius’ account of Melito’s list may have been defective in
omitting Esther.
The number of books in the list is twenty-seven. Clearly
this list could not have been derived from the twenty-four book tripartite
arrangement of the canon. The Writings are scattered too widely within this
list for that to be possible. However, it is entirely possible that this list
is related to the twenty-two book mode of arranging the canon. Samuel, Kings,
Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah clearly are presented as two books each. If Ruth
was then united to Judges (through it is not next to it in the list) the count
would be twenty-two. Therefore, this list has more in common with the
twenty-two book mode of arranging the canon and probably is related to it. (Andrew
E. Steinmann, The Oracles of God: The Old Testament Canon [Saint Paul,
Miss.: Concordia Publishing House, 1999], 150-51)
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