Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, University Library, MS Kk.6.29

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12218

Introduction: This manuscript, produced at the beginning of the 16th century, contains the Description of the Known World by the Alexandrian author Dionysios, known from the title of this work as Dionysios Periegetes, written in the second century CE. The manuscript also contains the commentary on this text by the 12th-century Metropolitan of Thessalonike Eustathios, one of the leading Byzantine scholars of his era, which is considerably longer than the text of Dionysios itself and was quite commonly included alongside it in manuscripts. Eustathios wrote the commentary before his first appointment as bishop, while he was living in Constantinople and serving as a deacon of the church of Hagia Sophia, a professor of rhetoric and the master of petitions (ἐπὶ τῶν δεήσεων) at the imperial court. As recorded by its customary title, it was dedicated to Ioannes Doukas Kamateros, a cousin of the Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1118-1180) and one of the most powerful of his officials. The manuscript was copied by Georgios Moschos, a Greek scribe who was living in Corfu in 1496, but who moved to Italy within the next few years and worked in Ferrara and Mirandola. He has been identified as the copyist of about fifty different manuscripts. Other hands have extensively annotated the commentary in Greek to guide the reader in identifying particular items of content. A start was made on annotating the text of Dionysios similarly, along with an interlinear gloss clarifying its more obscure words and expressions in terms of more common Greek words, but this was completed only for the first few folios. The inclusion of this gloss may indicate that the book's owner at the time was a native Greek-speaker. Within only a few decades of its production, the manuscript had been acquired by the University Library, but by what means is unknown. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek

1. ff. 1r-30v

Dionysius, Periegetes , Description of the Known World Οἰκουμένης Περιήγησις

Filiation: Tsavari assigns this manuscript to group d⁵, a subset of the Constantinopolitan recension of the text, but as standing somewhat apart from the other members of this group. The other manuscripts of this group are Eton College, MS 146; Lanvellec, Bibliothèque du Marquis de Rosanbo, MS 401; Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS gr. 1411; Prague, University Library, MS Lobkov. VI Fe 45; Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Pal. gr. 154; Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Pal. gr. 313; Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. gr. 1555; Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS gr. XI.13. This manuscript was used in the preparation of the Thwaites edition of 1697.

Rubric: f. 1r Διονυσίου περιηγητοῦ τοῦ Ἀλεξανδρέως οἰκουμένης περιήγησις

Incipit: f. 1r Ἀρχόμενος γαῖαν τε καὶ εὐρέα πόντον ἀείδειν

Explicit: f. 30v ἀλλά μοι ὕμνων αὐτῶν ἐκ μακάρων, ἀντάξιος εἴη ἀμοιβὴ

TLG 0084.001

ff. 31r-32v are blank.

2. ff. 33r-163v

Eustathius, Archbishop of Thessalonica, -approximately 1194 , Commentary on Dionysios Periegetes

Filiation: Diller identifies this copy of the text as being derived from the same exemplar as Eton College, MS 146 and Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Pal. gr. 154. This manuscript was used in the preparation of the Thwaites edition of 1697.

Rubric: f. 33r Πρὸς τὸν πανσέβαστον σεβαστὸν Δοῦκα κύριον Ἰωάννην τὸν μεταταῦτα ἐπὶ τῶν δεήσεων· τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ πανσεβασμίου σεβασμίου σεβαστοῦ καὶ μεγάλου δρουγγαρίου κυρίου Ἀνδρονίκου τοῦ Καματεροῦ, Εὐσταθίου διακόνου ἐπὶ τῶν δεήσεων καὶ μαΐστωρος τῶν ῥητόρων· τοῦ καὶ ὕστερον γεγονότος ἀρχιεπισκόπου Θεσσαλονίκης, ἐπιστολὴ ἐπὶ ταῖς Διονυσίου τοῦ περιηγητοῦ παρεκβολαῖς· μεθ'ἣν προοίμιον εἰς τὸ πράγμα· καὶ μετὰ τὸ προοίμιον, αὐταὶ αἱ παρεκβολαὶ

Incipit: f. 33r Πινδάρω μὲ τῶ σοφῶ πρὸς λύραν εἰπεῖν

Explicit: f. 163v τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀμέτρως ᾄδειν νοεῖσθαι δύναται

TLG 4083.006

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: ff. 1-128, 157-160 Western paper, folded in octavo . Watermark: Scales ( 65 × 45 mm. ) in the gutter, similar to WZMA 5250. This example is dated to 1486-1500. ff. 129-152, 155-156, 161-162 Western paper, folded in octavo . Watermark: Scales ( 50 × 40 mm. ) in the gutter, similar to Mazzoldi 298-300. These examples are dated to 1515-1524. ff. 153-154, 163-164. Western paper, folded in octavo . Watermark: Scales ( 45 × 30 mm. ) in the gutter, similar to Briquet 2538. This example is dated to 1495-1505.

Extent: Codex: i + 2 + 164 + 3 + i leaves. 197 × 133 mm.

Foliation: The manuscript is foliated with the numbers [a] + i-ii + 1-164 + iii-v + [b], in pencil, in Arabic and Roman numerals, recto, upper right.

Collation

The manuscript consists of 21 quires, of which one consists of twelve folios and the rest are quaternia.

Quires 1-19⁸ ff. 1-152
Quire 20¹² ff. 153-164

There are early quire signatures in Greek numerals at the beginning of each quire, in brown ink, recto, upper right. Some have been lost to cropping. They survive on Quires 2, 6-7, 11-20 (βʹ, ϛʹ-ζʹ, ιαʹ-κʹ). This sequence indicates that ff. 153-160 form a quaternion and ff. 161-164 a separate binion (numbered καʹ). However, the watermarks indicate that this is a single quire of twelve leaves.

There are also modern quire signatures in Latin letters at the beginning of each quire, in pencil, recto, lower right. These form two consecutive sequences for the two parts of the manuscript, in lower case for the first and upper case for the second, running a-d for the former and A-I, K-Q for the latter. Each of these signatures is accompanied by the Roman numeral i, matching the usual format for the start of a sequence of leaf signatures, but none of the leaves beyond the outermost of each quire have been numbered.

Condition

There are patches of dirt on the outermost folios, and discoloration around the edges of ff. i and v, arising from the turn-ins of a previous binding.

Layout

ff. 1r-30v A single column of 20 lines. 140 × 80 mm.

ff. 33r-163v A single column of 24 lines. 147 × 90 mm.

Hand(s)

The main text of the manuscript was copied by Georgios Moschos in a mixed minuscule script, slanting slightly to the right, in brown ink, with modest variation in letter size. There is deletion by expunctuation. The same hand has added headings in the same style, in red ink.

Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings usually appear only at the end of lines, but occasionally elsewhere. Breathings are round and mute iota is absent or subscript. There is decorative use of the double dot. Horizontal strokes appear over names.

The modern nu and sigma telikon are present. Large lunate sigma wrapped around the following letters appears in a distinctive form, with an elongated lower curve hooked sharply upwards at the end. Beta appears only in its long-bowed form, with the top loop smaller than the lower and often solid. The upper curve of minuscule delta is often dramatically extended, though this feature appears only in ff. 33r-163v.

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

Decoration

An enlarged, slightly ornamented initial marks the beginning of the text (f. 1r. Initials in red ink mark the beginning of sections of the commentary (ff. 33r-163v)

Additions

The commentary of Eustathios (ff. 33r-163v) has been provided with marginal notes indicating content, some in red and some in brown ink. There has been an attempt to add these to the text of Dionysios (ff. 1r-30v) as well, but this extends only as far as f. 3v. An interlinear gloss in red ink has also been added to this text, but this breaks off during f. 3r. There are occasional schematic geographical diagrams, by the copyist (f. 65r) and by an annotator (f. 159r).

Binding

Early modern binding, repaired and rebacked, retaining the existing boards, in December 1969 by Douglas Cockerell and Son in Grantchester, according to a note on the left pastedown. Brown full leather covering over millboards, with printed waste pastedowns (Pablo de Santa Maria, Archbishop of Burgos, Dialogus Pauli et Sauli contra Judæos, sive Scrutinium scripturarum). There is a blind-tooled border with corner ornament on the boards, and the classmark and the author's name ‘Dionysius Periegetes’ are tooled in gold on the spine. The edges have been painted black.

204 × 254 × 36 mm.

History

Origin: The manuscript was copied by Georgios Moschos (RGK I 67; II 88; III 111). The combination of watermarks indicates that it was produced in the first decade of the 16th century, which is consistent with the period of activity of this scribe, who completed a dated manuscript in Corfu in 1496 and moved to Italy shortly after.

Provenance and Acquisition

Probably owned by Cuthbert Tunstall (b. 1474, d. 1559), Bishop of London .

The manuscript had been acquired by the University Library by 1557, as it appears in John Gwynn's catalogue, compiled in 1556-57 (Oates and Pink, Three Sixteenth-Cenutry Catalogues of the University Library (1952), p. 158). It appears here among the manuscripts donated by Tunstall, and so probably belonged to this group, donated by him in 1529.

Additional Information

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

Dionysiou Oikoumenēs periēgēsis. Eis autēn palaiōn scholia, kai Eustathiou parekvolai. Dionysii Orbis descriptio, cum veterum scholiis, et Eustathii commentariis., , (Oxford, E Theatro Sheldoniano, 1697)

Dionysius Periegetes, Graece et Latine cum vetustis commentariis et interpretationibus ex recensione et cum annotatione, , (Leipzig, 1828)

A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge, 3, Cambridge University Press, 1858)

The textual tradition of Strabo's Geography : with appendix, The Manuscripts of Eustathius' commentary on Dionysius Periegetes, Diller, Aubrey (Amsterdam, A. M. Hakkert, 1975)

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. [1], From the beginnings to the Copyright Act of Queen Anne, Oates, J. C. T. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986)

Histoire du texte de la Description de la terre de Denys le Périégète, Tsavarē, Isavella (Iōannina, Panepistēmio Iōanninōn, 1990)

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, University Library, MS Kk.6.29

Contents