A particularly distinctive common reading of the proposed text-type is in
Matthew 27:16-17, where the bandit released by
Pontius Pilate instead of Jesus is named as "Jesus
Barabbas" rather than—with all other surviving witnesses—just "Barabbas".
Origen notes particularly that the form "Jesus Barabbas" was common in manuscripts in
Caesarea, whereas he had not found this reading in his previous residence in
Alexandria. Otherwise the Caesarean readings have a mildly paraphrastic tendency that seems to place them between the more concise
Alexandrian, and the more expansive
Western text-types. None of the surviving Caesarean manuscripts is claimed to witness a pure type of text, as all appear to have been to some degree assimilated with readings from the
Byzantine text-type. Some writers have questioned the validity of this grouping, claiming that the classification is the result of poor research. Insofar as the Caesarean text-type does exist, then it does so only in the Gospels, with most studies focusing on readings in Mark; the text-type is not so well defined in Matthew, Luke and John. The proposed Caesarean witnesses do not appear to have any common distinctive readings in the rest of the
New Testament. Some of the Caesarean manuscripts have the so-called
Jerusalem Colophon. The Caesarean text-type was discovered and named by
Burnett Hillman Streeter in 1924. According to some scholars such as
Kurt and
Barbara Aland, it is only a hypothetical text-type. There are no pure Caesarean manuscripts. In many cases, it is difficult to decide the original reading of the group, for instance in Mark 1:16: : — ƒ
565. : — ƒ : —
700. : —
28. ; Classification siglia •
H. von Soden — Iota (Jerusalem) (I), in part (most strong "Caesarean" witnesses are found in Soden's I group, with family 1 being his I and family 13 being I). •
Kirsopp Lake, an outstanding British textual critic, developed the hypothesis of the relationship between ƒ, ƒ,
Θ, 565, 700, and 28. Streeter carried Lake's work further by pointing to Caesarea as the original location of the family. •
F. G. Kenyon — Gamma (γ) •
M. J. Lagrange — C == Supposed witnesses ==