Manipulation of the Copies and Translations
How can modern readers be sure that the works they are reading have remained faithful to the original composition when numerous translators and copyists likely participated in the creation of new transmissions of the texts? That question seems particularly significant in respect to works of antiquity, especially the Bible. To answer the question, it may be helpful to first know that the Hebrew scriptures or books of the Old Testament were composed in Hebrew, with some portions in Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Greek.
Pope Damasus commissioned a standardized version of the Bible known as the Latin Vulgate when he became totally exasperated by Latin versions of biblical texts that were rife with errors. The word “Bible” derives from the Greek word biblia, meaning books. Jerome, a highly regarded scholar, did the work on the Latin Vulgate version.
Modern translators possess varying skill levels. So, too, in ancient times was a work necessarily at the mercy of some who may have rendered exceptional translations while others produced poor-quality works, missing sublime profundity and nuance, obscuring or, perhaps even worse, simply not understanding the meaning of passages, esoteric or otherwise. They may have introduced new errors or repeated errors in the copies from which they worked. They could have missed lines or repeated lines or words. These are just a few of the things scholars look for when they have a good control copy with which to compare a manuscript. But without the original composition or good copy of the original or other sources for comparison (the early church fathers sometimes copied an opponent's complete document to refute it) it would be difficult to know how well any ancient text has been translated, edited, or redacted.
Reasons for Alterations
It should seem obvious that if opposing groups desired to use the same sacred text but with different understandings of the work, they could modify the text to reflect their bias and further their agenda. For example, if a text contained a word or a line considered offensive or suggestive of something in conflict with a particular group's doctrine, the text could be rejected outright. In primitive Christianity, orthodox fathers could label it as heresy. Or the Gnostics could determine that the “real” interpretation was too esoteric for the orthodox and the masses and therefore keep it secret. An offending line could be changed or deleted. On a larger scale, a new beginning could be tacked on or a different ending given, pronouns could change, and other manipulations could be done. Of course, unintentional error was a possibility as well. Evidence of alterations of texts has been observed in the Gnostic texts as well as the New Testament writings.
Documents Surviving in Epitome
Epitome means a shortening of a text into a summary or miniaturized form. Some works of the ancient Greco-Roman world exist today only in the form of the epitome, or a kind of synopsis. Large works lost to antiquity would at a later time be re-created in the form of an epitome by writers attempting to stay close to the point of view and spirit of the original work. In this way, some semblance of the work continued. Here again, the writer could stay close to the original author's intent and composition, or introduce a bias not found in the original. Epitomes, in some cases, are all that the modern world has of certain lost works such as the precis (written by John Xiphilinus) for the History of Rome by Cassius Dio and the epitome of the Act of Peter.
The epitome of the Act of Peter is a Christian manuscript found in the Berlin Codex 8502. It details the story of Peter's beautiful virgin daughter who is paralyzed on one side. A rich man named Ptolemy observed Peter's ten-year-old daughter bathing with her mother and desired her for his wife. The manuscript then has missing text, but when it resumes, Peter must have agreed to allow Ptolemy to have his daughter because the servants are depositing the girl at Ptolemy's house. There she praises the Lord for allowing her to escape defilement. Ptolemy then has a vision in which God tells him he should not defile the girl and instead see her as his sister. God declares he is the one Spirit for both of them. Ptolemy bequeaths a piece of land to Peter's daughter. Because of her, he believed in God and was “saved.” The story ends with Peter selling the land and giving the money to the poor.
