On the Creation of the World (De opificio mundi)

Now, in this manuscript, only the book On the Creation of the World according to Moses original: peri tēs kata Mōsea kosmopoiias has been preserved, and not even that is complete: it breaks off at folio 154ᵛ with the words “but the number of the seventh [day], not entirely the beginning is unity according to the doubles” (p. 33,11), so that about half of the booklet has perished. Compare Nessel, Catalogue of the Greek manuscripts in the Imperial Library of Vienna, volume I, page 46. That the remaining works of Philo have been lost is all the more to be lamented because his books of Questions and Solutions A series of Philo’s commentaries on Genesis and Exodus, written in a question-and-answer format. are now known only from an Armenian version.

While Manuscript V stands out from the others due to its age, it was also derived from a much older archetype|The "ancestor" or original manuscript from which a copy is made. For on the same page (folio 146ᵛ) where the table I described above is found, certain words are read, arranged in the shape of a Greek cross like this:

A Greek inscription arranged in the shape of a cross. A vertical column of letters is bisected by a horizontal line of text. The vertical column reads "EUZOIO" above the horizontal line and "EPISKOPOS" below it. The horizontal line contains "renewed [this] in small volumes:". The letter 'S' at the center of the cross serves as the final letter of "Euzoios," the middle character of the horizontal phrase, and the start of the lower vertical stem "EPISKOPOS".

Euzoius the bishop renewed [this] in small volumes, original: Euzoius episcopus in membris instauravit that is, he took care to have it transcribed from papyrus A fragile writing material made from the pith of the papyrus plant. onto parchment More durable writing material made from animal skins.. Saint Jerome testifies in Letter 34 (Migne, Latin Patrology volume XXII, page 448) that Euzoius, who was Bishop of Caesarea An ancient city on the coast of modern-day Israel, famous for its early Christian library. from 376–379 AD, reorganized that most famous library gathered by Pamphilus of Caesarea:

"The blessed Martyr Pamphilus," Jerome says, "...since he wished to equal Demetrius of Phalerum and Pisistratus in his zeal for a sacred library, and sought out images of genius—which are true and eternal monuments—throughout the whole world, then especially pursued the books of Origen with great effort and dedicated them to the Church of Caesarea: which, being partially decayed, Acacius (Bishop of Caesarea from 338–365) and then Euzoius, priests of the same Church, attempted to restore upon parchment."

Now, therefore, it is apparent that the Vienna manuscript