Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 403
Diktyon no.: Diktyon 11831
Contents
Language(s): Greek, with a few later annotations in Latin
The text is accompanied by scholia and interlinear glosses in brown ink
TLG 0006.040
TLG 5023.015
Followed by the list of characters of the play
TLG 5023.015
The text is accompanied by scholia and interlinear glosses in brown ink
TLG 0006.049
Followed by the list of characters of the play
TLG 5023.016
TLG 0006.048
Physical Description
Collation
The manuscript consists of 12 quinions:
- 2 paper flyleaves (18th century)
- Quires 1-1210 ff. 1r-121v
- 1 paper flyleaf (18th century)
A sequence of quire signatures in pencil in Arabic numerals is added in the bottom right-and corner of the first folio, recto of quires 2-12.
Bifolium signatures in pencil in Arabic numerals remain in the bottom right-hand corner of the first folio, recto of quires 5-12, partially lost in trimming.
Condition
Generally in good condition. There are occasional stains, worm holes, and a blue ink stain on f. 75v
Layout
ff. 1r-41v Hand A: written space 140 × 72 mm.
ff. 42r-118r Hand B: written space 138 × 75 mm. Main text varies between 19 (Hand B) and 22 (Hand A) lines per page, both in single columns. The scholia that accompany the main text have a very variable number of lines per page and the arrangement arranged in a orderly manner. The text of the scholia is sometimes shaped cul-de-lampe or following sinuous lines (e.g. ff. 28r, 38r).
Hand(s)
Hand A: ff. 1r-41v, Hecuba, Orestes ll. 1-490.
A mixed minuscule script, with variable slant, in brown ink, with modest variation in letter size. Letters are hanging from the ruling line.
Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings usually appear only at the end of lines, but occasionally elsewhere (e.g. common abbreviation of μεν). Breathings are curved and joined to accents; mute iota is absent. Accents are often joined to alpha, upsilon and omega.
Alpha is drawn in two shapes: a rounded one and another one with a long oblique stroke; beta displays in bilobate shape; pi is in 'omega-like' shape, under a long horizontal stroke; tau is often high with an eyelet, especially when ligated to kappa; one of the two strokes of chi is prolonged in the lower left corner; psi is traced in the shape of a cross. The modern nu, small gamma, kappa, lambda and sigma telikon are present; the latter is angular and traced in four strokes.
The epsilon-rho ligature appears in a distinctive form in which the upper part forms a closed loop.
Punctuation used includes the middle and upper point, lower comma and full stop.
Hand B: ff. 30r-30v, 42r-118r, Hypothesis on Orestes, Orestes ll. 491-end, Phoenissae, and scholia.
A mixed minuscule script, with very variable slant, in brown ink, with modest variation in letter size. Letters are mostly hanging from the ruling line. Hand B shows a more fluid and cursive tendency than Hand A.
Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings are rare and usually appear only at the end of lines. Breathings are curved and joined to accents; mute iota is absent.
Gamma is high; theta is open, often with a little downward fluttering; enlarged lunate sigma is used often at the beginning of words; tau is high and with an eyelet; lambda is positioned low and often with long descenders; the modern nu and sigma telikon are present.
Tails are occasionally flourished into the lower and outer margins.
Punctuation used includes the middle and upper point, lower comma and full stop.
Some Greek words occur in the text with Latin translation by a later hand (e.g. ff. 37r, 52r).
Decoration
Major initials in thick red ink and with floral patterns mark the start of the plays on ff. 1r, 31r and 73v. The initial of the Hypothesis on Phoenician Women, f. 73r, is outlined in red ink and decorated.
Simple initials in the arguments, and names in the lists of characters are outlined in red ink. The names of characters in plays are in red ink.
An ormamental vine leaf marks the end of Hecuba on f. 30r. The manuscript contains a sketch of a face, drawn in pale brown in the margins of f. 43v. Several maniculae marked the main text (e.g. ff. 6v-8r).
Additions
Binding
18th-century couched-laminate board binding covered in quarter with skin and parchment.
232 × 157 × 27 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
The manuscript seems to come from Christ Church, Canterbury, and it was counted among the books believed to have belonged to Theodore of Tarsus (d. 690), archbishop of Canterbury , as a 16th-century hand stated on f. 1r: ‘ Liber quondam Theodori Archie(pisco)pi Cantuariensis ’. This note was propably added by William Sellyng , known as Tilley or Tillaeus (d. 1494). Sellyng is among the first English men known to have studied Greek in Italy, and the monastery of Christ Church in Canterbury, of which he was prior from 1472 to 1494, was one of the earliest English centres in which Greek texts were studied; the manuscripts he collected passed into the Parker's collection.
The manuscript was bequeathed to Corpus Christi College by Matthew Parker (1504-1575) , Master of the College between 1544 and 1553, and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 until his death in 1575. It is listed in William Stanley's catalogue of 1722 at the classmark Q.7, which remains on f. 1r.
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
Visitors to Corpus Christi College who wish to consult Special Collections material are required to apply to the Parker Library in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: Parker Library: Information for Readers.
Bibliography
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Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum in bibliotheca Collegii Corporis Christi in Cantabrigia:
quos legavit
Matthæus Parkerus Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum in
bibliotheca Collegii Corporis Christi in Cantabrigia, Stanley, W. (London, 1722)
Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum quos Collegio Corporis Christi et B. Mariæ Virginis
in Academia
Cantabrigiensi legavit reverendissimus Matthæus Parker, archiepiscopus Cantuariensis, (Cambridge, Typis Academicis, 1777)
The sources of Archbishop Parker's collection of MSS at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge,
with a Reprint
of the Catalogue of Thomas Markaunt’s Library, James, Montague Rhodes (Cambridge, Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 1899)
The ancient libraries of Canterbury and Dover: the catalogues of the libraries of
Christ Church Priory and
St. Augustine's Abbey at Canterbury and of St. Martin's Priory at Dover The ancient
libraries of Canterbury and Dover, James, Montague Rhodes (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1903, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511920097)
A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge, James, Montague Rhodes (Cambridge, University Press, 1912)
A Preliminary Skeleton List of the Manuscripts of Euripides The Classical Quarterly, Spranger, J. A. (33, 2, 98-107, 1939, https://www.cambridge.org/core/article/preliminary-skeleton-list-of-the-manuscripts-of-euripides/71F5A3144B4B257F9619A6032FA74DCC)
The Byzantine manuscript tradition of the tragedies of Euripides, Turyn, Alexander (Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 1957)
Medieval libraries of Great Britain: a list of surviving books Medieval libraries
of Great Britain Royal Historical Society guides and handbooks, Ker, N.R. (London, Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1964)
Studien zur Textüberlieferung der Hekabe des Euripides, Matthiessen, Kjeld (Heidelberg, C. Winter, 1974)
Before palaeography: notes on early descriptions and datings of Greek manuscripts
Studia Codicologica, Easterling, P. E. (124, 179-88, 1977)
The manuscripts and the transmission of the Paleologan scholia on the Euripidean triad, Günther, Hans Christian (Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag, 1995)
From Britain to Byzantium: the study of Greek manuscripts Through the looking glass:
Byzantium through British eyes. Papers from the twenty-ninth Spring Symposium
of Byzantine Studies, London, March 1995 Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies
publications, Easterling, Patricia E. (Aldershot, 107-120, Ashgate, 2000)
Byzantium through illustrated manuscripts Through the looking glass: Byzantium through
British eyes : papers from the twenty-ninth Spring Symposium
of Byzantine Studies, London, March 1995, Lowden, John (Aldershot, 85-106, Ashgate, 2000)
Funding of Cataloguing
The Polonsky Foundation (cataloguing).
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (digital images).
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
