Rossano Gospels

Uncial 042

New Testament manuscript
Christ comes before Pilate
Name	Purpureus Rossanensis
Sign	Σ
Text	Matthew, Mark
Date	6th century
Script	Greek
Found	1879, Rossano
Now at	Diocesan Museum, Rossano Cathedral
Size	188 folios; 31 x 26 cm; 20 lines; 2 col.
Type	Byzantine text-type
Category	V
Note	close to N (022)

The Rossano Gospels, designated by 042 or Σ (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 18 (Soden), held at the cathedral of Rossano in Italy, is a 6th-century illuminated manuscript Gospel Book written following the reconquest of the Italian peninsula by the Byzantine Empire. Also known as Codex purpureus Rossanensis due to the reddish-purple (purpureus in Latin) appearance of its pages, the codex is one of the oldest surviving illuminated manuscripts of the New Testament. The manuscript is famous for its prefatory cycle of miniatures of subjects from the Life of Christ, arranged in two tiers on the page, sometimes with small Old Testament prophet portraits below, prefiguring and pointing up to events described in the New Testament scene above.