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Abstract
This thesis investigates the development of iotacism and the merger of ! and " in Roman and Byzantine manuscripts of the New Testament. Chapter two uses onomastic variation in the manuscripts of Luke to demonstrate that the confusion of # and $ did not become prevalent until the seventh or eighth century. Furthermore, the variations % ~ # and % ~ $ did not manifest themselves until the ninth century, and then only adjacent to resonants. Chapter three treats the unexpected rarity of the confusion of o and " in certain second through fifth century New Testament manuscripts, postulating a merger of o and " in the second century CE in the communities producing the New Testament. Finally, chapter four discusses the chronology of these vocalic mergers to show that the Greek of the New Testament more closely parallels Attic inscriptions than Egyptian papyri.