부산대학교 도서관

The beginning of the Shepherd of Hermas constitutes one of the most problematic points of the work. In fact, the tradition at our disposal is not homogeneous. The aim of my contribution is to show that the exordium attested by the codex Sinaiticus cannot be considered as genuine and that the lacuna in the middle of the first line of the Codex Bodmer XXXVIII cannot be completely supplied with certitude. Therefore, in order to reconstruct the original beginning of the Shepherd, we should pay attention to the exordium of an ancient Latin version of the work (the so called Vulgata), in which it is said that an anonymous puella was sold in Rome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]