11 December 2014
An Early Holiday Present: Forty-six new Greek manuscripts online
Just in time for the holidays, we announce the latest batch of Greek manuscripts to be uploaded to Digitised Manuscripts. This project has been generously funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and many others, including the A. G. Leventis Foundation, Sam Fogg, the Sylvia Ioannou Foundation, the Thriplow Charitable Trust, and the Friends of the British Library.
As always, there is something for everyone in this latest upload. We have already discussed the marvellous Phillipps Lectionary (Add MS 82957) in two blog posts, and as usual, there are many other Biblical manuscripts of interest to peruse. A bumper crop of patristic manuscripts are also included. Particularly noteworthy here is a very fine manuscript of the Orations of Gregory of Nazianzus (Add MS 36634) and a miscellany which may well repay closer attention (Add MS 24375). Some important Byzantine items have also gone online, amongst which pride of place must go to Add MS 36749, which is the sole witness to 122 letters by an unnamed 10th-century Byzantine professor. Those with an interest in the history of scholarship will welcome yet another manuscript formerly owned by Isaac Casaubon, a heavily annotated copy of the Epistles of Phalaris (Royal MS 16 D II). For classicists, the standout items are surely Add MS 58224, an important manuscript of Appian, and last but certainly not least, the famous Burney MS 69, a lavishly-decorated 16th-century manuscript of Greek treatises on warfare.
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Add MS 24369, Alexius Aristenus, Nomocanon, and other canonical texts. 15th century.
Add MS 24370, Horologion. 16th century. Illuminated head-pieces and initials. Full leather binding. Rebound in the 19th century, but leather of previous boards onlaid (gilt-tooled, with the Crucifixion at the centre, and emblems of the evangelists).
Add MS 24375, Collection of various theological works, including Maximus the Confessor and Diadorus of Photike, 14th century.
Add MS 24381/1, Wooden board formerly used to in the binding of Add MS 24381, 15th century.
Add MS 26112, Georgius Cedrenus, Compendium historiarum (TLG 3018.001), imperfect, starting from vol. 1, 546.3 and ending with 750.22, συγχάρια τῷ βασιλεῖ (from AD 374 to 641). 12th century.
Add MS 26113, Fragments of hymns (ecclesiastical canons), imperfect. Eastern Mediterranean (Mount Sinai), 8th-9th century. Written in the “oblique uncial” characteristic of Mount Sinai.
Add MS 26114, Fragments from a Menologion. 12th century.
Add MS 27862, John of Damascus, Dialectica sive Capita philosophica (TLG 2934.002) and Expositio fidei (TLG 2934.004); Sketches on the Division of Philosophy according to Christ and On the Seven Good Things; Anastasius of Sinai, Viae dux (TLG 2896.001); selections and fragments from other works (theological and geographical). Byzantine binding (rebacked) of wooden boards covered with blind-tooled leather. Two edge pins, the ends of the straps (now lost) were left over the pastedown and now protrude from the book. The fore-edge is shown on Digitised Manuscripts as f v recto. 11th century.
Add MS 28270, Saints' lives and selections from John Moschus, Pratum Spirituale, entitled The New Paradise (Τὸ νέον παραδείσει). Italy, S., completed August 1111 by Nikolaos. The script is the ‘Reggio style’. 15th century binding of wooden boards covered with stamped leather
Add MS 28821, Mathematarion in Byzantine music notation, containing works by a number of composers such as Manuel Chrysaphes, John Koukouzeles, John Kladas, Xenos Korones, Chionopoulos, John Glykys, Gregorios Mpounes Alyates, Theodoros Manougras and others. 15th-17th century. The old binding, of wooden boards formerly covered with leather, is kept separately under Add MS 28821/1.
Add MS 28822, Collection of canonical texts, imperfect. 13th century.
Add MS 28828, John Zonaras, Epitome historiarum (TLG 3135.001-002), imperfect; George Akropolites, Annales (TLG 3141.002), imperfect; Leo VI the Wise, Oracula. 14th century. Byzantine binding, recovered (with old board leather onlaid) and probably resewn. Full set of petal-shaped corner bosses and round central ones.
Add MS 29715, Service book, possibly a Sticherarion or a Tropologion, imperfect. 12th-13th century.
Add MS 30043, Σχηματολόγιον, offices of the tonsure and consecration of a monk. 15th century.
Add MS 30510, Fragments of prayers, mainly exorcisms, possibly from a roll, imperfect. 14th century.
Add MS 31214, Horologion. Illuminated headpieces on ff 4r, and 82r. Drawings on f 234v. Decorated initials and headings in red and gold throughout. 12th century.
Add MS 31919, Menaion for February and the Royal Hours for Holy Friday. A palimpsest: the volume is made up of a number of different manuscripts, namely a theological work written in the 12th century, and Gospel manuscripts (Gregory-Aland 0133, 0269, 0271, 0272, 0273, 0297, l 334; Scrivener Υ or Codex Blenheimius, evst. 282; von Soden ε 83). Completed 1431.
Add MS 36539, Pseudo-Sphrantzes (Macarius Melissenus), Chronicon sive Maius (TLG 3176.001). Italy, N.E. (Venice), in the hand of the scribe Manuel Glynzunius (1540-1596).
Add MS 36634, Gregory of Nazianzus, Orationes, followed by Pseudo-Nonnus (Nonnus the Abbot), Scholia mythologica, imperfect. 10th century, ff 1-9 being added on paper in the 15th century. Illuminated headpieces.
Add MS 36670, Laonicus Chalcocondyles, Historiae (History of the Turks 1298-1462) (TLG 3139.001). 16th century.
Add MS 36749, Gregory of Nazianzus, Epistles and Poems; Leo Magister, Poems; Anonymi professoris epistulae; Hierocles, In aureum carmen. 10th century, with some paper additions in Messina (southern Italy) in the 15th century.
Add MS 36928, Psalter and Canticles (Rahlfs 1089), with additional texts, including Argumentum Psalmorum (a compilation), other patristic works, and calendar-notes. Eight full-page illuminations, much-rubbed. Headings in gold. Blind-tooled leather binding, on wooden boards (17th century?), with strap for clasp. Probably written in or just before 1090: the table of movable feasts (ff 37r-41v) begins with September 1090
Add MS 37534, Life and Miracles of Saints Cosmas and Damianus (BHG 373b), imperfect, lacking two leaves at the beginning and one or two quires after f 14. All the leaves are mutilated, especially at the top. The narrative differs largely in contents, and wholly in language, from that hitherto known. At the end (f 42r) is a hymn to the archangel Michael in a different hand. Egypt, 11th century: Brought from Egypt in 1907 and said to have been found near Edfu (St Mercurius Monastery). Found with Coptic MSS bearing dates in the late 10th and 11th centuries. Written in a very late uncial hand.
Add MS 38790, Cyril of Scythopolis, Vita Sabae (TLG 2877.002), imperfect. 14th century. A colophon on ff 126r-v has been copied from an earlier manuscript, dated 1116. On f 1r is an inscription in Arabic.
Add MS 39583, Fragments collected by Robert Curzon to illustrate the history of writing, including fragments of a Greek Gospel lectionary (Gregory-Aland l 182, Scrivener evst. 233); A leaf from a manuscript containing Ephraem the Syrian, Sermo Compunctorius (CPG 3908); a miniature of St. Mark in the Byzantine style of the ?13th century, probably from a Greek Gospel-book; Facsimile transcript of the Prague fragment of the Codex Forojuliensis of the Gospels; Leaf from a commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates (TLG 0627.012), in Middle Irish. The volume originally contained both Western and Oriental fragments, but the latter have now been transferred to their appropriate departments (Egyptian Antiquities, British Museum, and Asian and African Studies, British Library)
Add MS 39607, John Chrysostom, In epistulam I ad Corinthios homiliae (TLG 2062.156), imperfect. 12th century. Head-pieces tinted yellow, initials slightly tinted.
Add MS 39609, Isaiah of Scetis (Isaiah of Gaza), Asceticon (CPG 5555). 11th century, with paper additions dating from the 17th or 18th century.Illuminated head-pieces and initials, other initials and titles in gold. Hybrid full leather Greek/western binding of goatskin over wooden boards, with blind-tooled central stamp and corner pieces.
Add MS 39610, John Climacus, Scala paradisi (TLG 2907.001) and Liber ad Pastorem (CPG 7853), with additional prefatory material. 11th century. Illuminated head-pieces and initials, and a drawing of the Ladder of Ascent on f 206r. Binding of blind-tooled leather over birch boards. Writing on the upper edge, which can be seen on Digitised Manuscripts as f iii recto.
Add MS 41086, Pentecostarion, imperfect at the beginning. 15th century. Initials and headings in red. 17th-century binding. A later gilt-stamped figure of an angel or evangelist, impressed awry within the top left-hand corner of the outer panel, appears to represent a bungled and abandoned design.
Add MS 41330, Portions of two Euchologia, with many marginal notes. 2nd half of the 15th century (ff 20-128)-4th quarter of the 16th century (ff 1-19). An earlier binding (probably added in the late 16th century when ff 1-19 were inserted) is kept separately under Add MS 41330/1.
Add MS 41483, Greek liturgy. Copied in 1795 by Georgios Gounale, perhaps on Crete? Illuminated initials, headpieces and (ff 2v, 28v) miniatures. Original binding of blind-tooled morocco.
Add MS 57942, Collection of stichera and other hymns, with late Byzantine musical notation. 15th-16th century, probably written on Crete.
Add MS 58224, Appian, Historia Romana. Eastern Mediterranean (Crete?), c. 1450-1460. Decorative headpiece on f 1r. The text belongs to Mendelssohn's family i (deteriores). The text breaks off after 11 lines on f 65r, after which 37 unfoliated leaves are left blank, marking the lacuna in the Illyrica first found in Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS 70.5.
Add MS 59864, George Acropolites, Annales (TLG 3141.002), imperfect, expl. (1220A) μετὰ παραδρομήν. Not noted in Heisenberg’s edition of George Acropolites. 2nd quarter of the 14th century. In a 17th century binding of parchment over card boards, with fragments of title-labels on spine. Formerly owned by Sir Thomas Phillipps.
Add MS 82957, Gospel Lectionary (Gregory-Aland l 2376) with illumination and ekphonetic notation. 2nd half of the 11th century, Constantinople. Illuminated headpieces (ff 1r, 59r, 93r, 137r, 233r) and headbands (ff 210r, 230r, 248v, 257v, 263r, 278r, 292r, 297r, 300r, 301v, 302v, 309r, 312r). Decorated initials, frequently zoomorphic or historiated. Headings and some writing in gold. Occasional flourishes to letters on the final line of a page, especially χ, φ, λ, ι, and ξ. Formerly owned by Sir Thomas Phillipps.
Burney MS 16, Psalter. Coloured penwork headpiece and initial (f 1r). Written by Matthaeus the hieromonk for Pachomius the monk at the Monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai, and dated 2 July 1661.
Burney MS 18, Four Gospels and Hebrews (Gregory-Aland 480; Scrivener evan. 568; von Soden δ 462), adapted for liturgical use, imperfect, followed by Synaxarion and Menologion. Headpieces decorated in colours and foliate patterns on gold grounds at the beginning of each Gospel (ff 3r, 63r, 101r, 163r). Titles, initials and capitula in gold. In a binding of blue velvet over wooden boards with embroidered Greek spine title, brass corner pieces and two gold plaquettes of the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Adoration of the Magi set into the upper and lower boards, respectively, dating from the last quarter of the 16th century and probably Milanese or North European imitating a Milanese style. Written by Ioasaph of the monastery of the Theotokos ton Hodegon in Constantinople, 4 June 1366
Burney MS 69, Greek treatises on warfare, with numerous drawings. Includes works by Athenaeus, Biton, Heron, Apollodorus, Philo of Byzantium, Leo VI the Wise, and others. Italy, N. E. (Venice), completed 7 May 1545. The scribe of a large portion of the manuscript was identified as that of Escorial MS gr. 138.
Egerton MS 2784, Four Gospels (Gregory-Aland 716; Scrivener evan. 565; von Soden ε 448). 14th century. A former binding (16th-century stamped black leather) is preserved in the box containing the manuscript, and is now ff iii-v.
Egerton MS 2786, Gospel Lectionary (Gregory-Aland l 346; Scrivener evst. 255). Imperfect and partly palimpsest: ff 55 to 157 are composed of leaves from at least four manuscripts of the 12th century, of which one (ff 59, 60) is a Lectionary, containing lections from Matthew; another (ff 55, 64, 73, 80, 84, 85) is a manuscript of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, written in double columns, and containing portions of the Orations (among others, parts of Orations 37, 38, 45); a third (f 132) is a manuscript of the Septuagint, containing part of Daniel 3; and the rest are from a theological work, most of which is wholly obliterated. 12th-14th century. 5 headpieces in red and brown with a braided or geometric pattern (ff. 40v, 65v, 96v, 132, 136v). Large initials in red and/or brown and red with penwork decoration, some anthropomorphic with a hand blessing. Smaller simpler initials in red. Simple headpieces in brown and red. Highlighting of letters in red.
Egerton MS 2787, Acts and Epistles (Gregory-Aland 913; Scrivener act. 223; von Soden α 470). 14th century, produced in the Levant, according to J. W. Burgon, based on the ornamentation. 19 large headpieces in red and/or brown or yellow with penwork decoration at the beginning of most books (ff 1r, 11r, 72r, 96r, 119v, 136r, 146v, 155v, 163r, 169v, 175r, 179r, 186r, 191r, 194r, 198v, 216v, 234v, 241r). Simple headpieces in red or brown. Large initials in brown and red with penwork decoration. Small initials in red. Text in red. In a binding of wooden (oak?) boards, possibly the original, with grooved edges, rebacked. Formerly fully covered in leather, fragment remains at the back edge.
Kings MS 17, Scholia on Pindar's Olympian and Pythian Odes. Italy, N., 4th quarter of the 15th century.
Royal MS 1 A XV, Old Testament: Proverbs, Wisdom, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon (Rahlfs 425), in Greek and Latin. 15th century, possibly written at Crete.
Royal MS 1 D II, Old Testament: Historical books and Isaiah of the Septuagint version (Rahlfs 93), imperfect and with extensive marginal notes. 13th century, with additions in the 15th century.
Royal MS 16 C XXIII, Philostratus, Heroicus, Imagines, and Vitae Sophistarum. 15th century.
Royal MS 16 D II Epistles of Phalaris (TLG 0053.001), with many marginal annotations, imperfect. Italy, N. (Venice), 2nd half of the 15th century. Owned by Isaac Casaubon.
- Cillian O’Hogan