Abstract
This note highlights a previously unseen paleographical error in one of H. J. M. Milne and T. C. Skeat's arguments for the dictation theory of Codex Sinaiticus (א 01). In addition to their primary argument based on the orthographic peculiarities of the three scribes, the two scholars inferred from a curious string of seemingly meaningless characters found in 1 Macc 5:20 that א was copied aurally rather than visually. Although the dictation theory is not widely held today among textual scholars, this particular explanation of the strange reading in 1 Macc 5:20 for all practical purposes remains unanswered. An error in Milne and Skeat's identification of one of the letters complicates the theory and all but extinguishes its explanatory force.
