Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 77/44

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 11866

Introduction: This manuscript, copied in the years around 1500, contains Byzantine, Persian and ancient Greek texts on medicine and the interpretation of dreams. The longest text is the Therapeutica, the principal work of the Anatolian physician Alexander of Tralles, who practiced around the Mediterranean in the 6th century. This is followed by a short treatise on diseases by Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā al-Rāzī, one of the most important and innovative medical writers of the Islamic tradition, known in the Christian world as Rhazes, who practiced in his native city of Rayy in Iran and in the Abbasid capital Baghdad in the 9th and 10th centuries. This text had been translated into Greek via Syriac, and also appears in other manuscripts alongside the work of Alexander of Tralles. The last text is the Oneirokritikon of the 2nd-century Anatolian writer Artemidoros Daldianos, a guide to the analysis of dreams for the purpose of divination. The manuscript has been identified by its script as the work of the Cretan scribe and notary Manuel Gregoropoulos, active in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, whose father Georgios was also a professional scribe. Both have left numerous identified manuscripts and collaborated with other notable copyists of the time. Manuel worked in Candia (Iraklion), capital of Venetian-ruled Crete, until 1492, when he was banished from the island for murder. He then lived on the nearby island of Karpathos until 1501, when he returned to Candia, where he continued to reside until his death in 1532. The chronological range indicated by the combination of watermarks present in the manuscript, centred on the 1490s, suggests that it was produced either during the scribe's time on Karpathos, or in Candia shortly before or after his banishment. The manuscript's main sequence of quire signatures runs through the portion containing the works of Alexander and Rhazes, and ends with a run of blank folios. With the text of Artemidoros a new sequence of signatures begins afresh with the number 1, and this is repeated with the shorter second part of that work, which occupies only a single quire. This suggests that this text was copied separately from the others in two stages, probably as later additions to the existing manuscript. However, the fact that it is written on papers with the same watermarks as those found in the earlier part of the manuscript indicates that any such expansion was not much separated in time from the production of the main body. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek

1. ff. 1r-173r, line 5

Alexander of Tralles (c. 565-c. 605), Therapeutica

Includes contents lists to each book (1-12)

Incipit: f. 2r Ἡ ἁλωπεκία παθὸς ἐστὶ, τριχῶν μάδισις

Explicit: f. 173r καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἱκανὰ εἰρῆσθαι περὶ τῶν πυρετῶν εἰς θεραπείαν ἡγούμεθα

TLG 0744.003

2. f. 173r, line 5-f. 185r

Rhazes (Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā al-Rāzī, c. 865-c. 925), De pestilentia

Rubric: f. 173r Ῥαζῆ τοῦ θαυμαστοῦ ἰατροῦ λόγος περὶ λοινικῆς ἐκαλληνισθεὶς ἀπὸ τῆς Σύρων διαλέκτου, πρὸς τὴν ἡμετέραν: Ῥαζῆ περὶ λοιμικῆς

Incipit: f. 173r Ὅτι μὲν οὐδέν τι τῶν νουνιστώτων τὴν ἰατρικὴν τέχνην παραλέλοιπε Γαληνὸς

Explicit: f. 185r καὶ τὴν προφυλακὴν τῆς θεραπείας ταύτης· λοιπὸν καταπαύσωμεν τὸν λόγον

Final rubric: f. 185r Τέλος

TLG 4489.001

ff. 185v-189v are blank

3. ff. 190r-225v

Artemidoros Daldianos, Oneirokritikon

Filiation: Pack concludes that this manuscript's copy of this text was derived from Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS gr. Z. 267, which he also identifies as the source for London, British Library, MS Harley 5597, Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Ott. gr. 89 and Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emmanuele III, MS II D 50.

Excerpt: ends at Book 2, chapter 10, line 10

Rubric: f. 190v Ἀρτεμίδωρος Κασίω Μαξίμω χαίρειν

Incipit: f. 190v Πολλάκις προετράπην ἐπὶ τὴν πραγματείαν τὴν προ- κειμένην ὁρμῆσαι καὶ ἐπεσχέθην

Explicit: f. 225v συγγενεῖς τε καὶ θεράποντας· ἡ δὲ γυναικωνίτις, θεράπαινας

TLG 0553.001

ff. [ii] recto-[iii] verso are blank

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: ff. 1-26, 193-194, 199, 208, 221-225, ii Western paper, folded in folio. Watermark: Cup ( 30 × 11 mm. ) in the corner of the folio, similar to Sosower Coupe 1. This example is dated to the beginning of the 16th century. ff. 27-39, 50, 63, 74, 189-192, 195-198, 201-207, 209-220, [iii] Western paper, folded in folio. Watermark: Circle ( 90 × 34 mm. ) in the centre of the folio, similar to Briquet 3057. This example is dated to 1493-1496. ff. 40-49, 51-54, 59-62, 87-98 Western paper, folded in folio. Watermark: Bull's head ( 169 × 53 mm. ) in the centre of the folio, similar to WZMA 4659-4664. These examples are dated to 1490-1498. ff. 55-58, 64-73, 99-122, 149-156, 171-174, 176-177, 179-188 Western paper, folded in folio. Watermark: Scales ( 71 × 33 mm. ) in the centre of the folio, similar but not identical to Briquet 2599. This example is dated to 1512. ff. 75-86, 123-148, 157-170, 175, 178 Western paper, folded in folio. Watermark: Scales ( 61 × 32 mm. ) in the centre of the folio, similar but not identical to Briquet 2509. This example is dated to 1486-1491.

Extent: Codex: 1 + 227 + 1 leaves. 308 × 202 mm.

Foliation: The manuscript is marked with the numbers [i] + 1-225, [ii-iii] + [iv] in Arabic numerals, in brown ink, recto, upper right.

Collation

Part I consists of 17 quires, of which one is a ternion, two are quaternia, one is a quinion and the rest are of twelve folios.

Quire 1¹⁰ f. 1-10
Quires 2-3⁸ ff. 11-26
Quires 4-16¹² ff. 27-182
Quire 17⁶ ff. 183-188
Quires 18-20¹⁰ ff. 189-218
Quire 21¹ ff. 219-219
Quire 22⁸ ff. 220-225, [ii-iii]

There are quire signatures in Greek numerals, in brown ink, on the first folio of each quire, recto, lower right until Quire 11, thereafter lower centre, probably original to the production of the manuscript. A second sequence begins from the number 1 with Quire 18, and a third with Quire 22. They survive on all quires (αʹ-ιζʹ, αʹ-δʹ, αʹ).

Condition

There is slight pest damage to the outermost folios. The edges of ff. ff. [i]-17 are soft and fragile. Wear and tear to the edges of some of these folios has been repaired with Japanese paper. There is slight water staining, occasional areas of dirt, and some creasing to the outermost folios at the front of the manuscript. Parchment guards at ff. [i], 10r, 219r and [iv] are creating hinging to the paper.

Layout

A single column of 30 lines. 197 × 115 mm.

Hand(s)

The manuscript was copied by Manuel Gregoropoulos (Hand A) (RGK I 249, II 342, III 411) in mixed minuscule script, slanting to the right, in black ink, with moderate variation in letter size.

Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings appear throughout the line. Breathings are round and mute iota is absent. There is decorative use of the double dot. Accents are sometimes joined to letters and breathings.

The modern eta, modern nu, sigma telikon and loop epsilon are present.

Punctuation used includes the middle and upper points, lower and middle commas, question mark and full stop.

Headings have been written in the same style in red ink.

Decoration

Rectangular bands of ornament in red or orange ink precede the beginnings of texts and major sections on ff. 1r, 2r, 189r, 190v, 220r and 221r.

Texts and section begin with simple minor initials in red ink.

The beginnings of books of the work of Alexander of Tralles (ff. 1r-173r) are marked by small pieces of ornament in red or orange ink in the margin (e.g. ff. 44r, 52r).

Additions

As part of the original production of the manuscript, numbers identifying sections have been written in the margins, in red ink.

Running numbers appear in the upper margin of the recto folio, identifying the current book of the current work, possibly also original to the production of the manuscript.

There are occasional marginal annotations by a later hand in Greek and Latin.

The letter Z is marked on the outside of the left cover and on f. [i] recto.

A note in Latin listing the contents appears on f. [i] recto.

On f. [i] recto is a note of donation by John Caius: ‘Collegio suo de Gonville et Caius in Cantabrigia, Joannes Caius dono dedit’.

Binding

16th-century quarter leather binding with parchment cover, the right cover being extended in a flap to wrap around the foredge and outer part of the left cover. Sewn on double raised supports of alum-tawed skin, stained pink. Wound western endbands with a leather core. The leather around the spine is decorated with blind tooling. The classmarks 77 and 44 are marked on patches of different date on the spine.

318 × 235 × 47 mm.

Leather covering material has been lost from the head of the spine. The headband and tailband are both split, and the threads of the taliband are worn and becoming unravelled. There is creasing to the parchment covers, and due to shrinking of the parchment, the foredge flap now protrudes outwards.

History

Origin: The manuscript was copied by Manuel Gregoropoulos (Hand A) (RGK I 249, II 342, III 411), as indicated by his hand, in the late 15th or early 16th century, as indicated by the watermarks and Gregoropoulos's period of activity. It was presumably copied either in ; Candia (Iraklion), where Gregoropoulos worked until 1492 and from 1501 onwards, or in ; Karpathos, where he worked in 1492-1501.

Provenance and Acquisition

Given to Gonville and Caius College by John Caius (151-1573 .

Additional Information

Record Sources

Availability

Visitors to Gonville and Caius College who wish to consult Lower Library material are required to apply to the Library in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: Gonville and Caius College: Library Information.

Bibliography

A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Gonville and Caius College, , (Cambridge, 1, University Press, 1907)

Studies in the dream-book of Artemidorus, Blum, Claes (Uppsala, Almqvist & Wiksells, 1936)

Lexical and textual notes on Artemidorus Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Pack, Roger (90, 180-184, 1959)

John Caius' Library Biographical history of Gonville and Caius College, 1349-1897 : containing a list of all known members of the college from the foundation to the present time, with biographical notes, Grierson, Philip (Cambridge, 7, 509-525, Cambridge University Press, 1978)

John Caius and the Linacre tradition Medical History, Nutton, V. (23, 373-391, 1979)

Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten, 800-1600 Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Byzantinistik, Gamillscheg, ErnstHarlfinger, Dieter (Wien, I. Grossbritannien, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1981)

John Caius and the manuscripts of Galen Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society. Supplementary volumes ; No.13, Nutton, Vivian (Cambridge, Philological Society, 1987)

Le traducteur grec du traité de Rhazès sur la variole Storia e ecdotica dei testi medici greci : atti del II Convegno internazionale, Parigi, 24-26 maggio 1994 Collectanea, Congourdeau, Marie-Hélène (Naples, 99-111, M. D'Auria, 1996)

Die Therapeutica des Alexander Trallianus: ein medizinisches Handbuch und seine Überlieferung Selecta colligere. II. Beiträge zur Technik des Sammelns und Kompilierens griechischer Texte von der Antike bis zum Humanismus Hellenica, Zipser, Barbara (Alessandria, 211-234, Edizioni dell'Orso, 2005)

Byzantine medical manuscripts: towards a new catalogue, with a specimen for an annotated checklist of manuscripts based on an index of Diels' catalogue Byzantion: Revue internationale des Études Byzantines, Touwaide, Alain (79, 453-595, 2009)

Artemidori Daldiani Onirocriticon libri V, , (Berlin, De Gruyter, 2011)

A census of Greek medical manuscripts: from Byzantium to the Renaissance Medicine in the medieval Mediterranean, Touwaide, A. (London, Routledge, 2016)

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 77/44

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