Cambridge, St John's College, MS A.6
Diktyon no.: Diktyon 11901
Contents
Language(s): Greek
Many blank leaves and spaces have been left, evidently where there were lacunae or mutilations in the original (the same lacunae are to be found in MS Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, gr. 2189 )
TLG 0722.001
p. [486] and ff. [iv] recto-[vii] verso are blank
The pinax includes books 1-10
Between pp. f. 205 l. 18-[206] blank space was left for a lacuna in the text, (indicated by the scribe with the note λείπει): ἡνίκα μὲν μένει καὶ κροκύδια … Ἐκ τῶν Ἡροδότου (the lacuna is common to the tradition, see I. Raeder [ed.], Oribasii Collectionum Medicarum Reliquiae, 1: Libri I-VIII, Lipsiae et Berolini 1928, p. 253 l. 24)
Some of the leaves have been bound in disorder: 303/[304], 309/[310], 311/[312], 305/[306], 307/[308], 313/[314]; the right order is: 303/[304], 305/[306], 307/[308], 309/[310], 311/[312], 313/[314]
pp. 319-[329] are blank, because of a lacuna (indicated by the scribe on p. [318] with the note λείπει): ἄχρι μαρασμοῦ· οὕτως τε … Γίνεται καὶ τρίτον εἶδος κονύζης (ed. I. Raeder, Oribasii Collectionum Medicarum Reliquiae, 2: Libri IX-XVI, Lipsiae et Berolini 1929, pp. 96 l. 11-111 l. 25)
Before the text:. Κεφάλαια τοῦ ια΄. Ἐκ τῶν Διοσκουρίδου περὶ τῆς τῶν ἁπλῶν φαρμάκων δυνάμεως κατὰ στοιχεῖον ἀπὸ τοῦ α μέχρι τοῦ μ καὶ παρασκευαὶ αὐτῶν.
Before the text: Κεφάλαια τοῦ ιβ΄ βιβλίου. Ἐκ τῶν Διοσκουρίδου περὶ τῆς τῶν ἁπλῶν φαρμάκων δυνάμεως ἀπὸ τὸ[sic] ν στοιχείου ἕως τοῦ ω καὶ παρασκευαὶ αὐτῶν.
Before the text: Κεφάλαια τοῦ ιγ΄ βιβλίου. Ἐκ τῶν Διοσκουρίδου περὶ τῆς τῶν μεταλλικῶν δυνάμεως καὶ παρασκευαὶ αὐτῶν.
The book is preceded by a table of contents, pp. 389-[390] l. 12: Κεφάλαια τοῦ ιδ΄ βιβλίου
The book is preceded by a small table of contents: Κεφάλαια τοῦ ιε΄ βιβλίου
Many blank spaces have been left in the text on pp. 477-[484] corresponding to lacunae in the text, see Raeder 1929, pp. 290-297
Only a fragment of book 16 has been preserved in the text tradition, see Raeder 1929, p. 298
Physical Description
Pagination in grey ink, in Arabic numerals, in the upper margin right, near the text, present only on the recto of the leaves (another hand added passim the page numbers throughout on the verso). Three later endleaves at the beginning ([i]-[iii]) and four at the end of the manuscript (ff. [iv]-[vii], only 3 are imaged in the digital reproduction) are unnumbered. Due to an error occured in the numbering of the original pagination (which is now difficult to reconstruct due to several later interventions), several hands intervened and re-numbered the pages between pp. 157 and 165, where the succession is in any case problematic. Pp. [320]-[329] have been left blank (there is a lacuna) and there is no pagination. Four leaves have been bound in disorder (corresponding to pp. 305-316): ff. [i]-[iii] + pp. 1-157, 154[a]-157[a], 158-[304], 309-[312], 305-[308], 313-[486] + ff. [iv]-[vii].
Running titles by the scribe are present throughout the manuscript in the centre of the upper margin: on the verso of the leaf the author is mentioned, ‘ Ὀριβασίου’, on the recto the book number, e.g. ‘ τὸ ι΄’.
Collation
The manuscript is formed almost entirely of quinions; quire 26 is a ternion. The first and the last quire, composed of endleaves, are binions which lost respectively the first and the last leaf, which have probably been used as pastedowns.
- Quire 14-1 ff. [i]-[iii]
- Quires 2-2510 pp. 1-[476] α-ω
- Quire 266 p. 477- f. [iv] αα
- Quire 274-1 ff. [v]-[vii]
Condition
Layout
A single column of 33 lines. 225 × 150 mm.
Hand(s)
pp.1-309, 330-485 Hand A: the text has been written in a minuscule script, slanting to the right, regular in size, by Nikolaos Pachys (16th c., 2nd half), (Νικόλαος Παχύς, see E. Gamillscheg, "Nikolaos Pachys, ein Kopist aus dem Umkreis des Bartolomeo Zanetti", Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik 41, 1991, pp. 283-292 and RGK II, 435, III 511). In the manuscript forms characteristic of his hand (for a description of the script see RGK II B, 435) can be found, for example, open theta, a narrow csi traced counter-clockwise, a large psi with undulating horizontal stroke, ligatures to the right "from below", phi, round sigma, tau, lambda, the use of trema on iota and of a point-like iota subscript. Titles have been written in an Auszeichnungsmajuskel.
The text is written in brown ink; titles and initials in red.
Hand a: throughout the manuscript, numerous marginal annotations have been written in an informal minuscule, slanting to the right, by a western European scribe, in black and brown ink, see e.g. pp. [274]-275, [180]. It is probably datable to the 16th/17th c.
Hand b: throughout the manuscript, some marginal annotations have been written in an informal minuscule, by a western European scribe, in black ink, see e.g. pp. 135, [180].
Hand c: throughout the manuscript, a few marginal annotations have been written in an informal minuscule, by a western European scribe, in red ink, see e.g. pp. 135, 407.
Hand d: throughout the manuscript, a few marginal annotations in Greek and Latin have been written in an informal minuscule, by a western European scribe, in black ink, see e.g. pp. 247-[248], 251.
Decoration
At the beginning of books there are rectangular headpieces in red ink: on p. 371 the headpiece is filled with red ink and a rope, the execution is poor; on p. 433 the headpiece is filled with a vegetal-geometrical motif.
At the end of books there are small and simple friezes in red ink, formed by recurring motifs of lines and groups of small vertical strokes, see e.g. pp. 57, 77, p. [126] l. 13.
At the beginning of books there are friezes in red ink with a geometrical motif with clovers (pp. [340], 371), on p. [390] there is a rectangular frieze in red ink.
Initials in ekthesis in red ink decorated with vegetal motifs with pearls (see e.g. pp. 1, 9)
Additions
On p. 485, after the conclusion of the text, the scribe (hand A) added a note in Greek explaining the collation of the manuscript: ‘ α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο π ρ σ τ υ φ χ ψ ω αα. Μέχρι τούτου πάντα ἐστὶ πεντάφυλλα πλὴν τοῦ αα τρίφυλλον’.
On p. 1, in the upper margin, there is an annotation in black ink by a later hand ‘ Oribasius anno Christi 351’.
Binding
Early modern western binding. Full leather cover on wooden boards. Blind tooling on both covers of frames of double fillet. Labels on spine with shelfmark ‘ 6 A’. The edges are coloured in blue. 343 × 237 × 70 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
The manuscript was given by John Collins, M.D., Regius Professor of Physic and formerly Fellow of St John's College, in 1634 (see bookplate on the left pastedown). The college bookplate is also glued onto the left pastedown.
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
Visitors to St John's College who wish to consult Special Collections material are required to apply to the Library in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: St John's College: Old Library and Special Collections.
Bibliography
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Notices et extraits des manuscrits médicaux grecs, latins et français, des principales
bibliothèques de l'Europe. [1], Manuscrits grecs d'Angleterre suivis d'un fragment
inédit de Gilles de Corbeil et de scolies inédites sur Hippocrate., Daremberg, Charles (Paris, Imprimerie Impériale, 1853)
A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of St. John's College, Cambridge, James, M. R. (Cambridge, University Press, 1913)
Oribasii Collectionum Medicarum Reliquiae Corpus Medicorum Graecorum, (Lipsiae at Berolini, I, Teubner, 1928)
Nikolaos Pachys, ein Kopist aus dem Umkreis des Bartolomeo Zanetti Jahrbuch der österreichischen
Byzantinistik, Gamillscheg, Ernst (41, 283-292, 1991)
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)
Oribasio, coll. med. libri XVI fragm. (CMG VI 1, 2, p. 298, 1-17): un frammento da
espungere Galenos, Savino, C. (13, 115-130, 2019)
Funding of Cataloguing
The Polonsky Foundation
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
