TH E MA R C MU L T I L I N G U E PR O J E C T JAMES KEITH ELLIOTT, CHRISTIAN AMPHOUX AND JEAN-CLAUDE HAELEWYCK This article outlines the work of the team preparing an objective, scientific presentation of the textual materials in Greek, Latin, Coptic and other ancient versions of the Gospel of Mark, which should enable the history of the text of this Gospel to be plotted. It describes the aims and objectives behind this assemblage of witnesses. Among the many presentations of the Gospel text of the New Testa- ment, be they synopses of the Greek, facsimile transcripts of a particular manuscript, an edited critical edition or horizontally printed lines of text from particular manuscripts (such as the Itala fascicules1 or Das neue Testament in syrischer Überlieferung2), nothing so far published enables the historian of the text to have an objective presentation of all of the earliest materials. The Marc multilingue project sets out to serve such a need. The project is a Francophone enterprise originally led by Prof. Christian-Bernard Amphoux (CNRS, Lunel) until June 2001, by J.-C. Haelewyck (Louvain-la-Neuve) since then and by J.K. Elliott (Leeds) with collaborators in France, Belgium and Switzerland. The project now functions under the banner of the Société d’histoire du texte du Nouveau Testament. This article attempts to describe the aims and methods of a projectin- progress. **** The project arises from a recognition that printed editions of the Greek New Testament are unsatisfactory. None actually represents exactly the text of any one manuscript and certainly does not restore the autograph, which is irrevocably lost. All editors of ancient texts strive to reconstruct the supposed original of the text in question, but in the case of the New 1 A. Jülicher, Itala: Das Neue Testament in altlateinischer Überlieferung rev. W. Matz kow and K. Aland (Berlin and New York) John (1963), Mark ( 21970) , Matthew (21972), Luke (21976), cf. Vetus Latina: Die Reste der altlateinischen Bibel (Freiburg, 1951-). 2 B. Aland and A. Juckel (eds), Vol. I Die Grossen Katholischen Briefe (Berlin and New York, 1986) (= ANTF 7) vol. II Die Paulinischen Briefe (Berlin and New York, part 1, 1991; part 2, 1995) (= ANTF 14 and 23). The material on the gospels is yet to be published. Filología Neotestamentaria - Vol. XV - 2002, pp. 3-17 Facultad de Filosofía y Letras - Universidad de Córdoba (España)