PREFACE
The present bilingual critical edition of THE SHEPHERD OF HERMAS - Selected Critical Edition (? οιμὴν τοῦ Ἑρμᾶ ) provides scholars and students a rigorous and up- to-date academic tool.
This edition is based primarily on the Codex Sinaiticus (!" ) , the earliest and most significant extant Greek
manuscript of the work (4th century). Wherever the Sinaiticus transmits the text in a complete and legible form, its reading is adopted as the preferred source text. For sections where this codex has significant gaps (especially from the later Mandates onward and in much of the Similitudes), the Codex Athous (A) is used primarily , supplemented by the ancient Latin versions (Vulgate L1 and Palatine L2 ) and, where appropriate, the Ethiopic version .
The Greek text has been systematically compared with the critical editions of Robert Joly (Sources Chrétiennes 53 bis, 1968) and Molly Whittaker (Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller 48 , 1967). The main variants are recorded in the critical apparatus , allowing the reader to follow the editorial decisions with transparency.