Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

A catalogue of Western manuscripts and papyri at Cambridge University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum and selected Cambridge colleges

Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff.4.47

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12187

Contents

Introduction: This manuscript, datable to the first half of the sixteenth century, is a Byzantine Miscellany comprising texts of various genres and ages, which have in common their use for educational purposes in Byzantium: two collections of gnomic sententiae, poems by the Cappadocian Father Gregory of Nazianzos, books 20 and 22 of Homer’s Iliad, the tragedy Alexandra by Lycophron, and two short grammatical texts on declensions. Particularly significant in this context is the presence of Alexandra, with scholia, a quite obscure, and difficult text, which, due to its linguistic characteristics, was very popular as a teaching text in Byzantium. The texts were copied by the hieromonk Sabbas of the Dionysiou monastery on Mount Athos (RGK I, 359), who wrote his name in the manuscript. It was bought for Cambridge University Library by Richard Farmer in 1785, in the auction of Anthony Askew's manuscripts; it was probably previously owned by Richard Mead. The material characteristics of the manuscript reveals a complex history behind this book. The codex is in fact formed by two contemporary parts, folios 1-24 (part I) and 25-118 (part II). Although Sabbas’s hand appears in both parts and the texts are written on the same kind of paper (the same watermark representing a bull’s head is found in both parts of the codex), the two parts are immediately distinguishable due to the presence of two non-consecutive sequences of quire signatures, written by Sabbas. The three quires which form the first part are numbered να΄-νγ΄ (51-53), while the quires of the second part are numbered κα΄-λ΄ (21-30). The signatures attest that these two parts were not originally bound in the current order, and that something is missing: the second part originally preceded the first, and quite a lot of the manuscript is now lost:
  • [missing quires] - part II (quires κα΄-λ΄ [21-30]) -[missing quires] - part I (quires να΄-νγ΄ [51-53])
. One of the missing parts of MS Ff.4.47, as originally suggested by Professor Patricia Easterling, is to be found in another manuscript, now Cambridge, University Library, MS Nn.3.14, which also came from the Dionysiou monastery on Mount Athos, and was owned by Anthony Askew and Richard Mead. Nn.3.14 contains tragedies by Euripides and is a composite manuscript, formed of two non-contemporary parts. The first part (ff. 1-121) is datable to the early fourteenth century and contains three plays by Euripides ( Hecuba, Orestes, Phoenician Women). The second part (ff. 122-209) was written later, in the sixteenth century, and contains Hecuba and Orestes by Euripides followed by a grammatical text. It is this second part that was probably originally bound together with MS Ff.4.47. The same scribe, Sabbas, copied the texts; the quires are numbered [μ΄]-ν΄ (40-50) in Sabbas’s hand, partly filling the incomplete series found in Ff.4.47; the same paper is used as in Ff.4.47, with the bull’s head watermark. It is possible, therefore, to reconstruct at least a portion of the original manuscript:
  • [missing quires] - Ff.4.47, part II (quires κα΄-λ΄ [21-30]) -[missing quires] - Nn.3.14, part II (quires μ΄-ν΄ [40-50]) - Ff.4.47, part I (quires να΄-νγ΄ [51-53])
. The re-introduction of the texts contained in Nn.3.14 part II into Ff.4.47 confirms its character as a didactic miscellany: in Byzantium the tragedies of Euripides, Hecuba and Orestes in particular, were very popular texts in an educational context. At present the remaining missing parts of the original manuscript have not been identified. Moreover, the exact moment when the original manuscript was dismembered remains to be precisely clarified. Surely the division and re-assembly of the manuscript’s parts had already taken place when MSS Ff.4.47 and Nn.3.14 entered the University Library: their descriptions in the catalogue of Askew’s sale correspond to the present state of the manuscripts. Therefore the rearrangement probably occurred while the manuscripts were in possession of Askew himself, or perhaps previously, when they were owned by Mead. Further research needs to be done on this point (the issue is complex and involves also the other manuscripts deriving from the Dionysiou monastery, see on the subject O.L. Smith, 'Notes and Observations on some Manuscripts of the Scholia on Aeschylus', in: Classica et Mediaevalia 31 (1970), pp. 14-48, Stubbings 1976, Easterling 2000, and S. McKendrick, 'Collecting Greek Manuscripts in Eighteenth-Century England: the origins, scope and legacy of the collections of Richard Mead and Anthony Askew', in: Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society 17.1 (2020), pp. 85-129). Such reconstructions are of course important from a philological point of view, in understanding the tradition of the texts conveyed by the manuscripts. But, as this case shows very well, they bear added significance from a historical and cultural perspective, showing how books can be used and reused in a variety of contexts. When this miscellany, a quite traditional collection of texts in a Byzantine milieu, was placed in a new context, that of English antiquarian scholar-collectors of the 17th-18th centuries, it was divided and the texts recombined in order to form new books. Dr Erika Elia

Language(s): Greek

Physical Description

Form: codex
Extent: Codex: iii + 118 + iii leaves. The leaves of the manuscript have been heavily trimmed. Some leaves containing marginal notes, being bigger than the rest of the manuscript, have been folded ( ff. 5r-7v). Some leaves, by contrast, have been trimmed more on the external margin and are therefore narrower. ff. [i]-65, [iv]-[vi] 213 × 150 mm. ff. 66-118 213 × 143 mm.
Foliation:

Leaves are foliated in brown ink and in modern pencil in Arabic numerals in the top right-hand corner, recto, [i]-[iii] + 1-118 + [iv]-[vi].

Collation

ff. [i]-[iii] | 1-38 | 48, 5-610, 714, 88, 910, 10-128, 1310| ff. [iv]-[vi]

Condition

Worm holes are visible throughout the manuscript and on the edges of the book block; on ff. 37-48 they have caused tears. The leaves are yellowed and there are brown stains throughout, as for example on ff. 59r-69v, where there are also extensive water stains in the lower margin.

Binding

Modern full leather binding over couched-laminate boards. There is a gold tooled frame on the cover of both boards, as well as gold tooling with flower motifs on the edges. On the spine there is decorative gold tooling with flowers and titles ‘ Catonis Sententiae, Gregorii Carmina, Variorum Poetarum Gnomae, Homeri Iliad(is) L(ibri) XX. XXII, Lycophronis Cassandra’ Just one of the leather labels with the shelmark remains pasted on the spine, with the last part of the shelfmark, ‘ 47’.

220 × 160 × 34 mm.

Accompanying Material

Ff. [i]-[ii], and [iv]-[vi], are later paper endleaves without watermarks, bound respectively at the beginning and at the end of the manuscript. There is marbled paper on the left and right pastedown and ff. [i] recto and [vi] verso. On the left pastedown is pasted the bookplate of the University of Cambridge. On f. [ii] recto are written the shelfmark and the letter F (referring to the manuscript dimensions).

History

Origin: The manuscript was copied by the hieromonk Sabbas in the Dionysiou Monastery on Mount Athos; . He wrote his name on f. 23v: Σάββας ἱερομόναχος (also found in CUL MS Nn.3.3, f. 83v). On the basis of the characteristics of the script and of the watermarks, the copy was probably made in the first half of the 16th c..

Provenance and Acquisition

The manuscript remained in the possession of the Dionysiou Monastery. Sabbas's inscription is followed by a note of the monastery's ownership: ‘Κτῆμα μονῆς τοῦ κυροῦ Διονυσίου’. The same note also found in CUL MS Nn.3.15.2, f. 2:4r , CUL MS Nn.3.16, f. 1:3v and CUL MS Add. 2603, f. 2r.

The manuscript was probably owned by the physician and book collector Richard Mead (1673-1754) ( Stubbings 1976, pp. 316-317; Easterling 2000, pp. 114-115).

The codex was later owned by the book collector Anthony Askew (1722-1774) (see also McKendrick 2020: 119).

After Askew's death, the manuscript was sold by Baker and Leigh in the auction of his library in 1785 (MS Ff.4.47, lot 558), and bought by Richard Farmer for Cambridge University Library. On the left pastedown is pasted the University of Cambridge bookplate.

Part 1 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff.4.7, ff. 1-24]

Contents

Language(s): Greek

1. ff. 1r-8r
⟨ Planudes, Maximus, approximately 1260-approximately 1310⟩ ⟨ Planudes, Maximus, approximately 1260-approximately 1310⟩ (trl) Distichs of Cato, translated in Greek by Maximos Planudes (recensio α) Disticha Catonis in Graecum translata (recensio α)
Incipit: f. 1r Τμῆμα πρῶτον. Εἰ ὁ θεὸς νόος ἐσθ’ ὡς τῶν λογίων πυθόμεσθα
Explicit: f. 8r τοῦτο δὲ βραχύτης δρᾷ, σύνδυο ταῦτα τιθεῖσα.
Final rubric: f. 8r Τέλος Κάτωνος ῥωμαίου

The text is accompanied by scholia written in the margins, first scholion (f. 1r) inc. Ἐπεῖ ὁ θεὸς ὡς παρὰ τῶν γραφῶν (Ortoleva 1992, p. 96), last (f. 7r) inc. Καὶ τῷ οἴνῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀφροδισίοις (Ortoleva 1992, p. 104)

The manuscript is indicated as C in Ortoleva's edition of the text (1992), where the manuscript is dated to the 14th century

TLG 4146.013

f. 8v is blank

2. ff. 9r-23r
Gregory, of Nazianzus, Carmina dogmatica, 1-5, 7-8
Rubric: f. 9r Γρηγορίου τοῦ θεολόγου περὶ ἀρχῶν
Incipit: f. 9r Οἶδα μὲν ὡς σχεδίῃσι μακρὸν πλόον ἐκπερόωμεν
Explicit: f. 23r καὶ ζωὴν πολύμοχθον ἐδέξατο. Τῷ δ’ ἄρ’ ἔθηκε ||

The text ends at Carm. 8, l. 118 ( PG 37, 455 l. 12); there is moreover a lacuna after f. 18r l. 20, καὶ δέσμιοι αἴης … Περὶ λογικῶν φύσεων. Οἵη δ’ ὑετίοιο ( PG 37, 429, l. 12-438 l. 13)

TLG 2022.059; CPG 3034; PG 37, 397-522

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: ff. 1-24 Western paper, folded in quarto. Watermark Bull's head with a sign between the ears, maybe letter M(?) ( ca. 50 × 30 mm. ) in the gutter, the watermark is not completely visible, no exact parallels found in the main repertoires.

Collation

Part I consists of 3 quaternions

  • Quires 1-38 ff. 1r-24v(να΄-νγ΄)

Quire signatures in Greek numerals by the hand of the scribe, on the upper margin, right, of the first folio recto, and on the lower margin, left, of the last folio verso of each quire, from να΄ (51, f. 1r) to νγ΄ (53, f. 17r). The signatures in the lower margins are only partially visible, due to trimming.

Layout

A single column of 21-23 lines. ca. 160-170 × ca. 100-110 mm.

Hand(s)

ff. 1r-23v Hand A: the text has been written by the hieromonk Sabbas of the Dionysiou monastery on Mount Athos (16th c., first half) ( RGK I, 359) in a minuscule script, rapid and loose, with irregular ductus (sometimes nervous), characterised by some contrasts in the size of letters, and the extension of stems in the margins.

The text is written in black ink.

Hand a. A later Greek hand wrote random annotations on ff. 17v and 24v.

Additions

Another hand (hand a) wrote the Greek alphabet twice in the left margin of f . 17v, and scattered notes, also in monocondyles, on f. 24v. One annotation on f. 24v mentions the Dionysiou monastery.

On f. 24r hand a wrote a note in red citing Proverbs 9, 10,1.

History

Origin:

This part of the manuscript was copied by the hieromonk Sabbas on Mount Athos, in the Dionysiou monastery, probably in the first half of the 16th century.

Part 2 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff.4.7, ff. 25r-118v]

Contents

Language(s): Greek

4. ff. 25r-37r
⟨ Planudes, Maximus, approximately 1260-approximately 1310⟩ (com) Menander's Sentences, redaction by Maximus Planudes ( Plan, Pernigotti 2008) Menandri sententiae
Rubric: f. 25r Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι κατὰ στοιχεῖον ἐκ διαφόρων ποιητῶν
Incipit: f. 25r Ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας. Ἀνὴρ δὲ χρηστὸς, χρηστὸν οὐ μισεῖ ποτέ
Explicit: f. 37r Ψυχὴν ἔθιζε πρὸς τὰ χρηστὰ πράγματα.
Final rubric: f. 37r Τέλος μονοστίχων

Plan, ed. C. Pernigotti (ed.), Menandri Sententiae, Firenze 2008, pp. 109-152

5. ff. 37v-66r
Homer, Iliad, books Y and X, with hypotheseis and scholia

The manuscript is indicated as Ca3 in T.W. Allen (ed.), Homeri Ilias, Oxford 1931

5.1. f. 37v
Hypothesis to Iliad, book Υ
Rubric: f. 37v l. 1 Ὑπόθεσις τῆς Υ Ὁμήρου ῥαψῳδίας
Incipit: f. 37v Διὸς ἐπιτρέψαντος κατέρχονται
Explicit: f. 37v l. 8 Ἀχιλλεὺς ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν φεύγοντας κατεπείγει.

I. Bekker, Scholiorum in Homeri Iliadem Appendix, Berlin 1827, p. 778 no. 2

TLG 5026.016

5.2. f. 37v
Hypothesis to Iliad, book Υ
Rubric: f. 37v l. 9 Ἄλλως
Incipit: f. 37v Καθοπλισάμενος Ἀχιλλεὺς μετὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων
Explicit: f. 37v l. 25 καταφυγεῖν αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει.

The same hypothesis is present, e.g., in MS Munich, Universitätsbibliothek, Cod Graec. 111, f. 192v

5.3. ff. 38r-54r
Homer, Iliad, book Υ, with scholia Ilias, lib. Υ
Incipit: f. 38r Ὣς οἳ μὲν παρὰ νηυσὶ κορωνίσι θωρήσσοντο
Explicit: f. 54r l. 1 Πηλεΐδης, λύθρῳ δὲ παλάσσετο χεῖρας ἀάπτους.

TLG 0012.001

The text is accompanied by interlinear and marginal scholia: first schlion (f. 38r) inc. θρωσμὸς ὑψηλός, last (f. 38r) inc. ἐκ τῆς πολεμικῆς ἐνεργείας (ed. C.G. Heyne , Homeri Ilias, 2, Oxford 1834, p. 329 no. 503; TLG 5026.017)

5.4. f. 54r
Rubric: f. 54r l. 2 Ἱστορίαι καὶ ἀπορίαι τῆς Υ Ὁμήρου ῥαψῳδίας
Incipit: f. 54r Ἤτοι μὲν γὰρ ἔναντα Ποσειδάωνος ἄνακτος. Ἡ τῶν θεῶν μάχη
Explicit: f. 54r l. 15 ἐπὶ δὲ τῇ τρίτῃ ἐπεσχέθη

Only a few scholia on book Υ: the first is a scholion to v. 67 (see Heyne 1834, vol. 2 and H. Erbse, Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem (scholia vetera), 5, Berlin 1977, p. 14), the last to l. 269 (see Heyne 1834, vol. 2)

TLG 5026.017

5.5. f. 54r ll. 16-21
Hypothesis to Iliad, book Χ
Rubric: f. 54r Ὑπόθεσις τῆς Χι[sic] Ὁμήρου ῥαψῳδίας
Incipit: f. 54r Τῶν Τρώων ἐγκλεισθέντων εἰς τὴν πόλιν
Explicit: f. 54r ὀδύρονται ταῦτα ὁρῶντες ἐγκεκλεισμένοι.

Bekker 1827, p. 789 no. 2; Heyne 1834, vol. 2, no. 1

TLG 5026.016

5.6. ff. 54r-54v
Hypothesis to Iliad, book Χ
Rubric: f. 54r l. 21 Ἄλλως
Incipit: f. 54r Τῶν λοιπῶν Τρώων εἰς τῆν Ἴλιον
Explicit: f. 54v l. 9 ἀπὸ τοῦ ἅρματος τοῦ εἰρημένου σύρεται.

The same hypothesis is present, e.g., in MS Munich, Universitätsbibliothek, Cod Graec. 111, f. 200r

A brief passage from Eustathius' Commentary on the Iliad, referring to book Χ, follows the text on f. 54v l. 10, inc. Χῖ, Θέτιδος γόνος (ed. M. van der Valk, Eustathii archiepiscopi Thessalonicensis commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem pertinentes, vol. 4, Leiden 1987, p. 560 l. 3; TLG 4083.001)

5.7. ff. 54v-66r
Homer, Iliad, book Χ, with scholia Ilias Χ
Incipit: f. 54v l. 11 Ὣς οἳ μὲν κατὰ ἄστυ πεφυζότες ἠΰτε νεβροὶ
Explicit: f. 66r Ὣς ἔφατο κλαίουσ’, ἐπὶ δὲ στενάχοντο γυναῖκες.
Final rubric: f. 66r Τέλος

The text is accompanied by interlinear glosses and scholia in the margins: first schlion (f. 55v) inc. εὖνιν. ἔρεμον. χῆρον (v. 44, J. Nicole, Les scolies genevoises de l'Iliade, 1, Geneva 1891 (repr. Hildesheim 1966), p. 213, TLG 5026.003) last (f. 66r) inc. κοτύλην καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἰσχίου (v. 494, vd. H. Erbse, Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem (scholia vetera), 5, Berlin 1977, p. 359 app. ‘ vide D ...’ (= Scholia in Homeri Iliadem, quae vocantur Dydimi, ed. Janus Lascaris, Romae 1517)

On f. 66r the lines of the text are written on two columns; the lines written in succession two by two are separated by a cross

TLG 0012.001

6. ff. 66v-114r
Lycophron, Alexandra, with parts of Tzetzes' Commentary, interlinear glosses and scholia
6.1. f. 66v ll. 1-4
Tzetzes, Isaac, -1138, Commentary on Lycophron's Alexandra, excerpt Commentarium in Lycophronis Alexandram, excerptum
Incipit: f. 66v ἡ βίβλος τελέθουσα Λυκόφρονος ἀσματοκόμπουσα
Explicit: f. 66v Τζέτζης Ἰσαάκιος ἐύστροφα πείσματα λύσας.

4 lines from the beginning of the commentary, E. Scheer, Lycophronis Alexandra, 2, Berlin 1908, p. 1 ll. 3-6

TLG 5030.001

6.2. ff. 66v l. 5-113v
Lycophron, Alexandra, with glosses and scholia Alexandra
Incipit: f. 66v l. 5 Λέξω τὰ πάντα νητρεκῶς, ἅ μ’ ἱστορεῖς
Explicit: f. 113v σώζων παλαιὰν Βεβρύκων παγκληρίαν.
Final rubric: f. 113v Στίχοι ˏανοα΄. Τέλος τῆς Λυκόφρονος Ἀλεξάνδρας

The text is accompanied by interlinear glosses and some scholia in the margins: first schlion (f. 67r) inc. ἰστέον ὅτι ἡ σφίγξ, last (f. 113r) inc. ὡς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀγγέλου

TLG 0341.002

6.3. f. 114r
Tzetzes, Isaac, -1138, Commentary on Lycophron's Alexandra, excerpts Commentarium in Lycophronis Alexandram, excerpta
Incipit: f. 114r τήνδε Λυκοφρονέην τὴν βαρβαρόφωνον ἰυγὴν
Explicit: f. 114r ἡ δόξα Χριστῷ τῶ συνεργῷ τοῦ τέλους.

4 passages from the end of Tzetzes' Commentary, each preceded and followed by a cross; they are not in the order found in Scheer's edition of 1908 (Scheer 1908, p. 398 ll. 10-13 and ll. 4-9, p. 397 ll. 30-31, p. 398 ll. 1-3)

TLG 5030.001

f. 114v is blank

7. ff. 115r-116v
Grammatical text on declension
Rubric: f. 115r Περὶ κλίσεως τῶν ἰσοσυλλάβων ἀρσενικῶν ὀνομάτων
Incipit: f. 115r Τῶν ὀνομάτων τὰ μὲν κλίνονται ἰσοσυλλάβως, τὰ δὲ περιττοσυλλάβως
Explicit: f. 116v τὸ βῆμα. τοὺ βήματος. τῷ βήματι. τὸ βῆμα. ὦ βῆμα.

The text is comparable, with differences, with a portion of Manuel Chrysoloras ' Compendium see A. Rollo, Gli Erotemata fra Crisolora e Guarinio, Messina 2012, pp. 302 l. 15-306 l. 6

8. ff. 117r-118v
Grammatical text on declensions
Rubric: f. 117r Περὶ τῶν συνῃρημένων κλίσεων
Incipit: f. 117r Εἰσὶ καὶ ἕτεραι πέντε κλίσεις συνῃρημέναι λεγόμεναι ὧν ἡ πρώτη
Explicit: f. 118v Καὶ κρᾶσιν ποιεῖ οἷον, ἡ Σαπφὼ, ἡ Αἰδὼς, ἡ Λετὼ, ἡ Ἐρατὼ, ἡ Θεανώ. οο ου, οι οι, οα ω.
Final rubric: f. 118v Τέλος τῶν κλίσεων

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: ff. 25-66 Western paper, folded in quarto. Watermarks: ff. 25-43, 52-53, 66 Bull's head with a sign between the ears, maybe letter M(?) ( ca. 50 × 30 mm. ) in the gutter, the watermark is not completely visible, no parallels found in the main repertoires. ff. 46-49 Anchor in a circle surmounted by a cross ( ca. 25 ) in the gutter, the watermark is not completely visible, no exact parallels found in the main repertoires. ff. 56-57, 62-63 Hand surmounted by a flower, on the hand letters M C(?) ( ca. 75 × 25 mm. ) in the gutter, the watermark is not completely visible, it can be compared with Sosower Main 7 , which is dated to the beginning of the 16th c. ff. 67-118 Western paper, folded in octavo. Watermark: Anchor in a circle surmounted by a six-point star, with countermark ‘ B3’ ( ca. 65 × 45 mm. ) on the upper edge, no specific parallels found in the repertoires, but comparable to Briquet Ancre 477-532, all Italian watermarks dated to the 16th c.

Collation

Part II consists of quaternions, quinions and a quire of 14 leaves.

  • Quire 48 ff. 25-32
    • κα΄
  • Quires 5-610 ff. 33-52
    • κβ΄-κγ΄
  • Quire 714 ff. 53-66
    • κδ΄
  • Quire 88 ff. 67-74
    • κε΄
  • Quire 910 ff. 75-84
    • κϛ΄
  • Quires 10-128 ff. 85-108
    • κζ΄-κθ΄
  • Quire 1310 ff. 109-118
    • λ΄

Quire signatures in Greek numerals by the scribe, on the upper margin, right, of the first folio recto, and on the lower margin, left, of the last folio verso of each quire, from κα΄ (21, f. 25r) to λ΄ (30, f. 109r). The signatures in the lower margins are only partially visible, due to trimming.

Layout

ff. 25r-66r A single column of 18-26 lines. 170 × 75-90 mm.

ff. 66v-118r A single column of 11-18 lines. ca. 170 × ca. 110 mm.

Hand(s)

25r-66r Hand A: hieromonk Sabbas of Dionysiou monastery on Mount Athos (16th c., first half), (RGK I, 359); the script is a minuscule informal script, rapid and irregular. Variations in speed and accuracy are detectable within the leaves written in this hand, which seems occasionally very nervous (see e.g. f. 34r, ff. 55r-66r), but is sometimes also more vertical and accurate, see e.g. f. 27r, ff. 39r-41v).

This same script recurs for the interlinear glosses and scholia in the margins of ff. 67r-113r.

The ink is black.

Hand B: the text on ff. 66v-118v is written in an archaizing minuscule, vertical, calligraphic, with reminiscences of the Hodegon minuscule in forms such as majuscule beta, zeta, and csi in ligature, round sigma. There are frequent inclusions and superpositions of letters. The same script is detectable on ff. 122r-207v of MS CUL Nn.3.14 (hand A).

The scribe does not write regularly iota subscript.

The ink is black.

As in the case of Sabbas' script, also this hand shows a certain variation in the level of formality: while the script appears very accurately traced and uniform in forms and size in particular in the final part of the text of the Alexandra, and in the final part of the manuscript ( ff. 115r-118v), in the first leaves it is a little less regular (see e.g. ff. 66v-67v); the very first lines of f. 66v seems to be in Sabbas' hand. The variations in Sabbas' and hand B's script, and the coincidence of some forms allow to hypothesize an identity of hand A and B: Sabbas could possibly have been able to master two different types (and, in this case, levels) of script. Hand B shows sometimes forms which recur identical in Sabbas' script, such as the vertical ligature phi-rho (see respectively ff. 25r and 66v), epsilon-phi with epsilon reduced to a simple curl (see respectively ff. 43v and 103v), epsilon-omicron with epsilon reduced to a curl (see respectively ff. 41r and 105r), majuscule delta with a big 'hook' at the upper end (see respectively ff. 47v and 66v), 'tall' majuscule gamma, sometimes with ornamental 'hooks' at both ends (see respectively ff. 27r and 66v), minuscule delta with upright slanting to the left (see respectively ff. 45r and 70v), heart-shaped majuscule beta (see respectively ff. 23v, Sabbas' signature, and 70v). It was not uncommon for Greek scribes to be able to use different types of scripts. The contrastive use of scripts with a different level of formality, which is found in Byzantine manuscripts, was a way to enable the reader to distinguish easily text and commentary. The hypothesis needs more work, and a broader analysis of the question, in the light of the presence of both scripts of Sabbas and hand B also in MS Nn.3.14 (part II).

Hand a: the same hand which wrote marginal annotations in part I wrote the personarum tabula of Euripides' Hecuba in the lower part of f. 118v.

Additions

On f. 118v there are three annotations:

  • the first one, near the upper edge, is an incomplete invocation, μεγάλα τὰ τῆς πίστεως κα…
  • the second one, written under the end of the text and preceded by a cross, κάρηθι παντάλαινα Βαβυλὼν νέα in an invocation citing New Babylon, and has been written perhaps by hand A
  • the last one, on the lower part of the folio, is a three lines annotation by hand a, listing the characters of Euripides' Hecuba.

History

Origin:

This part of the manuscript was copied by the hieromonk Sabbas, in the first half of the 16th century, as the script and the watermarks indicate.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description (2019) draws partly on: A catalogue of the Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, vol. 2: Ee-Ff, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1857, pp. 476-477.

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.

Bibliography

    A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge, 2: Ee-Ff, Cambridge University Press, 1857) Anthony Askew's "Liber amicorum" Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Stubbings, Frank (6, 5, 306-321, 1976) Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten, 800-1600. I. Grossbritannien Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Byzantinistik, Gamillscheg, ErnstHarlfinger, Dieter (Wien, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1981) Gli scholia alla traduzione planudea dei Disticha Catonis Siculorum Gymnasium, Ortoleva, Vincenzo (44, 275-280, 1991) Disticha Catonis in graecum translata Bibliotheca Athena, , (Roma, Edizioni dell'Ateneo, 1992) 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, P. E. (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2000) Collecting Greek Manuscripts in Eighteenth-Century England: The Origins, Scope and Legacy of the Collections of Richard Mead and Anthony Askew Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, McKendrick, Scott (17, 1, 2020)

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Study at Cambridge

About the University

Research at Cambridge