Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff.3.30
Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12184
Contents
Language(s): Greek
- f. 1r ll. 6-23 Prooemium
- ff. 1r l. 23-4r l. 26 Στοιχεῖον Α
- ff. 4r l. 26-5v l. 11 Β
- ff. 5v l. 11-6v l. 13 Γ
- ff. 6v l. 13-7v l. 5 Δ
- ff. 7v l. 5-9r l. 21 Ε
- ff. 9r l. 21-9v l. 17 Ζ
- ff. 9v l. 17-10r l. 14 Η
- ff. 10r l. 14-10v l. 1 Θ
- ff. 10v l. 1-12r l. 3 Ι
- ff. 12r l. 4-16v l. 9 Κ
- ff. 16v l. 9-17r l. 24 Λ
- ff. 17r l. 25-20r l. 28 Μ
- ff. 20r l. 29-21r l. 4 Ν
- ff. 21r l. 4-21v l. 9 Ξ
- ff. 21v l. 10-24r l. 8 Ο
- ff. 24r l. 8-26v l. 11 Π
- ff. 26v l. 11-28r l. 9 Ρ
- ff. 28r l. 10-32r l. 17 Σ
- ff. 32r l. 17-33v l. 12 T
- ff. 33v l. 12-34v l. 12 Υ
- ff. 34v l. 12-36v l. 27 Φ
- ff. 36v l. 28-38r l. 10 Χ
- ff. 38r ll. 10-13 Ψ
- ff. 38r l.14-38v 10 Ω
TLG 3113.002
After the text of Symeon Seth, the scribe wrote a fragment about camomile, based on Galen, with some differencies at the end
TLG 0057.075
The chapters are numbered in red from α΄ (1) to σκζ΄ (227)
The same text is contained in MS Paris, Bibliothèquε nationale de France, gr. 2230 , ff. 39v-68v
The same index is contained in MS Paris, Bibliothèquε nationale de France, gr. 2230, ff. 37r-39r.
f. 41v is blank
The text in the manuscript is attributed to Michael Psellos
The chapters are numbered in red from α΄ (1) to σοϛ΄ (276). After the end of the text, the scribe added chapter σξα΄ (261) that he had left out on f. 140v, where he wrote in the margin: σξα΄ πρὸς τὸ διώξαι ψίλλας ζήτει εἰς τὸ τέλος τοῦ Ψελλοῦ
Ed. I.S. Berbard, Theophanis Nonni Epitome de curatione morborum, I-II, Gotha-Amsterdam (1794-1795)
ff. 145r-145v are blank.
f. 89v is blank
The manuscript does not indicate the name of the author. It contains a small epitome of the text, with a few recipes. A similar version of the text is contained in MS Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 279 , ff. 219r-237v, with some differences at the end
ed. I. Valiakos, Das Dynameron des Nikolaos Myrepsos: Erstedition, Heidelberg (2019), https://doi.org/10.11588/propylaeum.455
f. 161v is blank
The manuscript does not indicate the name of the author. It contains a small epitome of the text, with a few recipes. A similar version of the text is contained in MS Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 279 , ff. 237v-249r, which is more extended
ed. I. Valiakos, Das Dynameron des Nikolaos Myrepsos: Erstedition, Heidelberg (2019), https://doi.org/10.11588/propylaeum.455
Although the index lists 79 items, the text ends with no. 67
f. 182v is blank
Diels (1906), I 319; G. Fichtner, Corpus Galenicum. Bibliographie der galenischen und pseudogalenischen Werke, (2015) http://cmg.bbaw.de/Galen-Bibliographie_2015-09.pdf , no. 213
The text is attributed to Alexander of Aphrodisias
It starts at J.L. Ideler, Physici et medici Graeci minores, Berlin (1841), p. 6 l. 2; the text exhibits differences from the edition
TLG 0732.002; Diels (1906), II 9
Chapters are numbered from 1 to 153
Chapters are numbered from 1 to 180; after II, 60 (in the manuscript it is no. 61, f. 232r) the text is different from the edition
In the manuscript the text is considered part of Problemata
The text ends at Duffy (1992), op. 19, p. 76 l. 214
TLG 2702.010; Moore (2005), PHI.31; Duffy (1992), op. 19
The attribution to Diocles is dubious; the text constitutes chapter 100 of Paulus Aegineta , Epitomae medicae. (TLG 0715.001)
TLG 0664.002; P. J. van der Eijk, Diocles of Carystus: A Collection of the Fragments with Translation and Commentary, Leiden-Boston-Köln (2000), I, fr. 183a
f. 258r-258v are blank
Physical Description
Modern foliation in pencil, in Arabic numerals, in the top right hand corner, recto: i + 258
There is a second modern foliation, in pencil, in Arabic numerals, not consistent with the principal foliation, see e.g. ‘135’, erased, on f. 134r. The folio numbers are repeated throughout, in modern pencil, in the lower margin recto, right, particularly when the leaf is the first of a quire, see e.g. f. 130r.
Collation
The manuscript consists of quaternions, ternions, and a senion. In the 5th quire a leaf was added between the 2nd and the 3rd; the last quire lacks the last leaf, without loss of text.
- 1 paper endleaf f. i (16th century)
- Quires 1-48 ff. 1r-32v (β΄-δ΄)
- Quire 58+1 ff. 33r-41v (ε΄)
- Quires 6-218 ff. 42r-169v (ϛ΄-κα΄)
- Quires 22-236 ff. 170r-181v (κβ΄-κδ΄)
- Quires 24-328 ff. 182r-253v (κδ΄-λα΄)
- Quire 336-1 ff. 254r-258v (λγ΄)
Condition
Layout
ff. 1r-34v, 36r-147v, 170r-256r A single column of 33 lines. 265 × 150 mm.
ff. 35r-35v A single column of 36/38 lines. 270 × 170 mm.
ff. 148r-169v Two columns of 33 lines. 265 × 150 mm.
ff. 256v-257v A single column of 33 lines. Bounding lines are traced in ink. 265 × 145 mm.
Hand(s)
ff. 1r-256r Hand A: almost all the texts of the manuscript have been written by Georgios Basilikos (RGK I, 56; see also RGK II, 75; RGK III, 93) in a minuscule script characterised by contrasts in the size of the letters and a tendency to extend the strokes in the margins, with ornamental flourished tails (see e.g. f. 98r). Considering the different manifestations of the script of this scribe (about them see Canart 2000), the script of the manuscript constitutes an example of one of the most exuberant manifestations of Basilikos' script, while it is upright, carefully traced, and it shows some forms of the traditional ancient minuscule, as for beta and ny. On ff. 35r-35v, a leaf that was probably added at a later stage, the script is traced with softer movements and does not show the ornamental flourished elements common in the rest of the manuscript, nor the pronounced contrasts in the letters' size; however, the presence of characteristic features of Basilikos' hand (for which, see Canart 2000, p. 177), such as, e.g., elongated zeta and xi, narrow theta, the big tachygraphic kaì, the flat epsilon-ypsilon ligature, sloping xi, loop delta-epsilon-sigma, confirms the identity of the hand.
The text is written in black ink; titles and initials in red. Sometimes round forms (in letters such as omicron, sigma etc.) are filled with red ink, see e.g. f. 82r.
ff. 256v-257v lin. 28 Hand B: another hand wrote the last text, in an upright minuscule characterized by some ornamental flourished elements in the margins and the prologing of upright and oblique strokes, ending with curls.
The ink is light brown.
f. 257v linn. 29-31 Hand a: Ioasaph of Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai wrote a possession note and signed it in monocondyle in 1619/1620.
The ink is black.
Decoration
On f. 1r there is a pyle decorated with circles containing geometrical patterns, coloured in red and yellow. Another pyle is found on f. 39r, containing a combination of geometrical patterns and interlaces, coloured in red and yellow.
On ff. 90r, 183r and 220r there are headpieces traced in black ink, coloured in red, black and yellow, containing vegetal motifs and palmettes, supported by three geometrical elements.
On f. 42r and f. 164r there are rectangular bands, coloured in red and yellow, filled with a combination of vegetal and heart motifs. On ff. f. 85r there is a frieze in red ink formed by a rectangular frame including a rope partially coloured in yellow; at the ends of the frieze, head and tail of a snake. A rope frieze in the form of a snake is also present on f. 176r. Small red undulated vegetal friezes with pearls are present on ff. 146r, 170r and 191r. There are also linear friezes in red ink, coloured in red, on f. 148r, with a knot in red ink coloured in yellow, and on f. 170r. A frieze in the form of a rope is found on 162r.
On f. 1r the initial is decorated with a yellow and red motif similar to that of the pyle present on the same folio. On f. 183r there is an anthropomorphic initial with a hand, coloured in red and yellow. Interlace initial with vegetal ornaments, in ekthesis, traced in red ink and partially coloured in yellow on f. 90r.
Minor thick initials in red ink with pearls (see e.g. f. 91r), and sometimes vegetal motifs (see e.g. f. 107v).
Hand B realized two decorated initials with palmettes in the same brown ink used for the text on f. 256v.
Additions
On the left pastedown there is an annotation in Greek, dated 1596, about the acquisition of the manuscript by a monk of Sinai (see History). Above the annotation is written by another hand the number 292 (ancient shelfmark). Below, there is an index of the manuscript's contents in Latin, the Cambridge University bookplate and the modern shelfmark.
On f. i verso there is a note dated 1650 by Edward Abbot, donating the manuscript to Nicholas Hobart (see Provenance). Above, there is an annotation by another hand attesting the donation of the manuscript by Nicholas Hobart to the University Library in 1655 (see Acquisition).
The main scribe wrote corrections in the margins.
On f. 257v, after the last text, there is an official note by Ioasaph of Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai, dated 7127 (= 1618/1619).
Binding
Modern western binding. Paper cover over couched-laminate boards, leather on spine. On the spine gold tooling with title on red square, ‘ Tractatus M.S.S.’, and leather labels with shelfmark.
On the lower edge there is a title, ‘ Opera Graeca Manuscripta … ’
369 × 265 × 52 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
The manuscript was bought in 1596, in Messina, by a certain hieromonk Neophytos of Sinai for the price of 15 tarì, as it is written in an annotation on the left pastedown: ͵αφϙϛ΄ ἀγόρασα τὸ παρὸν ταρία ιε΄ Νεόφυτος ἱερομόναχος Σιναίτης ἐν Μεσσήνῃ τῆς Σικελίας.
The hieromonk Neophytos probably acquired the manuscript for Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai. The codex indeed was there in 1618/1619: this date is mentioned in an official note by Ioasaph written on f. 257v, below the last text: Ἡ παροῦσα βίβλος τῇ ἱερᾷ μονῇ τοῦ Σιναίου ἁγίου ὄρους κεκλήρωται· συνοχῇ ἀρᾶς, καὶ δεσμοῦ, τὸν σφετερησόμενον ἀπείργουσα, διὰ τοῦ παρόντος τῆς ἐμεῖς[sic] ταπεινότητος, διωρισθικοῦ γράμματος. ͵ζρκζ΄ ἐκ τοῦ (?) Σινᾶ ὄρους Ἰωάσαφ. (The last five words in monocondyle). The same note signed by Ioasaph in monocondyle is present in a manuscript which has remained until now in Saint Catherine's Monastery, MS Sinai, Saint Catherine's Monastery, gr. 74, f. 246r (a transcription of the note is found in Δ. Στρατηγοπουλος, Τὸ χειρόγραφο Θεοτοκάριο τοῦ Ἱδρύματος Παπανικολάου (Κομοτηνή) καὶ ὁ κωδικογράφος Ἱερεμίας Μαγγαφούρης ο Σιναϊτης, in Byzantina Symmeikta 27 (2017), pp. 315-346: 337).
The codex was in the hands of the English merchant Edward Abbott, consul at Cairo in the 1650s (concerning him see Oates 1986, pp. 292-294 with bibliography), who donated it to Nicholas Hobart (ca. 1605-1657) , Fellow of King's College in Cambridge from 1625 to 1650. This is stated in a message from Abbott to Hobart written on f. i verso, dated 16th July 1650 in Cairo: ‘ nº 1. Sir, this manuscript I obteyned by favor of a friend out of the publique library of the Bishopp of Mount Sinai resident heere in Grand Cayro, wharein though the Synopsis on Gallens' book of Terapephtike and his problems on the humours bee common, yet I suppose that the Physicall Treatises of Simeon Protomestraki of Antioch, of the most learned Psellius, and the problems of Alexander Aphrodisius, are more rare and usefull. You will finde it iust 100 yeares from this 16th of July 1650 since the finishing of this book by George of Constantinople. Wich accept from your most affectionate servant Edw. Abbott. Grand Cayro, this 16th July 1650.’
The manuscript was donated to Cambridge University Library by Nicholas Hobart in 1655, as it is stated also in a note written on the upper part of f. i verso, ‘ Ex dono ornatissimi viri Nicolai Hobart Collegii Regalis quondam socii et huius Academiae insignis ornamenti. 1655’. On the left pastedown is pasted the Cambridge University bookplate.
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
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Bibliography
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Notices et extraits des manuscrits médicaux
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sur Hippocrate., , (Paris, Imprimerie Impériale, 1853)
A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the
library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge, 2: Ee-Ff, Cambridge University Press, 1857)
Die Handschriften der antiken Ärzte:
Griechische Abteilung., , (Berlin, 1906)
Die griechischen Schreiber des Mittelalters und
der Renaissance, Vogel, MarieGardthausen, Victor (Leipzig, O. Harrassowitz, 1909)
Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum Graecorum qui
in monasterio Sanctae Catharinae in Monte Sina
asservantur, Porfirīĭ, UspenskīĭBeneshevich, V. N. (Hildesheim, Olms, 1965)
Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten,
800-1600. I. Grossbritannien Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für
Byzantinistik, Gamillscheg, ErnstHarlfinger, Dieter (Wien, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie
der
Wissenschaften, 1981)
Cambridge University Library: a history, Oates, J.C.T. (Cambridge, 1: From the beginnings to the
Copyright Act of Queen Anne, Cambridge University Press, 1986)
Untersuchungen zur Überlieferung der Schriften
des Theophanes Chrysobalantes (sog. Theophanes Nonnos) / von
Joseph A.M. Sonderkamp. Poikila Vyzantina, , (Bonn, RHabelt, 1987)
Michaelis Pselli Philosophica Minora, vol. I,
Opuscula logica, physica, allegorica, alia Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum
Teubneriana, (Berlin/Boston, De Gruyter, 1992)
L’écriture de Georges Basilikos. De
Constantinople à la Calabre en passant par Venice The Greek script in the 15th and
16th
centuries Diethnē symposia, Canart, Paul (Athēna, 165-191, Ethniko Hidryma Ereunōn, Institouto Vyzantinōn
Ereunōn, 2000)
Iter Psellianum: a detailed listing of
manuscript sources for all works attributed to Michael
Psellos, including a comprehensive bibliography Subsidia mediaevalia, Moore, Paul (Toronto, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval
Studies, 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)
Funding of Cataloguing
The Polonsky Foundation
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Abbreviations
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