Cambridge, University Library, MS Mm.1.17
Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12226
Contents
Physical Description
Collation
116, 24-1+1 | 316+2, 416, 512 | 6-720, 820+6
Condition
Binding
Early modern binding. Full alum tawed skin cover over couched-laminate boards. On the left cover there are traces of a Greek manuscript inscription in black ink (the script has almost completely disappeared, ‘ ἰατρικόν’). On the spine are pasted three paper labels with the shelfmark; in the upper part gold tooling on a red leather label with title ‘ Tracts | M.S.’
A leaf from a printed edition of canon law is pasted on the right pastedown.
236 × 173 × 31 mm.
Accompanying Material
A parchment strip with a handwritten text on it has been bound at the end of the book, probably as a consolidation tool (here ff. [ii]-[iii]).
History
Provenance and Acquisition
As stated in a note on f. 1r, the manuscript was part of the library of the Parisian physician Jacques Mentel (1597-1671) . Although the note is written on the first leaf of part I, it can be assumed that, by the time the note was added, the manuscript had already its present make-up. In Cambridge University Library, there is another Greek manucript owned by Mentel, MS Kk.5.7 : in this codex, near Mentel's name, the date of 1670 is mentioned, indicating that in that year it was still in the physician's possession. This may also apply to MS Mm.1.17.
The manuscript was afterwards owned by a certain J.B. Hautin, probably a relative of the French scholar and numismatist Jean-Baptiste Hautin (ca. 1580-1640) : on the left pastedown there is Hautin's name on the right, ‘ J. B. Hautin ’, and, on the left, by the same hand, the title ‘ Oribasii tractatus’. The same hand wrote another title on f. [i] verso, ‘ Oribasii tractatus varii’. Hautin acquired the manuscript probably after 1670.
John Moore (1646-1714) , bishop of Ely: no. 1000 (left pastedown) in the handwritten supplementary list of Moore's manuscripts, now MS Oo.7.50(2), compiled by Thomas Tanner (1674-1735) after the publication of Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (c. 1697).
Presented to the University Library in 1715 by George I (1660-1727) : donation bookplate engraved by John Pine (1690-1756) in 1736 on the left pastedown.
Part 1 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Mm.1.17, ff. 1-19]
Contents
Language(s): Greek
Only the alphabetical index of the work is present in the manuscript
The contents of this pinax, comprising also an entry from the Suda, corresponds exactly to the first seven leaves of the 1499 Aldine edition of Discorides
A. Adler, Suidae lexicon, (Leipzig, 1928-1935), letter Δ, entry 1206
TLG 9010.001
ff. 15v-16v are blank
The text is followed by the beginning of another hymn, inc. Θεοῦ συγκατάβασιν τὸ πῦρ
B. Koutloumousianos (ed.), Μηναίον, 9 (Venice, 1843), p. 78
f. 17v is blank
TLG 0284.020
f. 19v is blank
Physical Description
Collation
Part I is formed by two quires. Quire 2 is a binion which lost the last leaf (no loss of text); a smaller leaf was inserted before the first leaf of this quire ( f. 17[a]).
- Quire 116 ff. 1-16(α΄)
- Quire 24-1+1 ff. 17[a], 17-19
Layout
ff. 1r-13r A single column of 23 lines. 170 ca. × 100 ca. mm.
ff. 18r-19r A single column of 28 lines. 165 ca. × 105 ca. mm.
Hand(s)
ff.1r-15r, 17[a], 17r, 18r-19r Hand A: the texts have been written by Michael Souliardos (15th century-16th century) (Μιχαὴλ Σουλιάρδος, RGK I, 286; on him see also RGK II 392; RGK III, 468) in a minuscule script of small size.
The text is written in black ink; initials in red (initials are missing on f. 18r).
Additions
In the lower margin f. 1r there is an ownership noteof Jacques Mentel in red ink (see Provenance).
On the lower edge of f. 19r there is an annotation by the scribe about his work, ‘ Φύλλα γεγραμμένα οε΄ τετράδια (?)ς΄’, "Written leaves 75, quires (?) 6".
History
Part I of the manuscript was copied by Michael Souliardos probably around the beginning of the 16th century , as the watermarks suggest.
Provenance
As stated in a note on f. 1r, ‘ Ex Bibliotheca Jacobi Mentel’, the manuscript was part of the library of the Parisian physician Jacques Mentel (1597-1671) .
Part 2 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Mm.1.17, ff. 20-63]
Contents
Language(s): Greek
The manuscript contains extracts from books 3 and 4, and a part of the prooemium; the chapters have been numbered in the margin by the scribe (the numbering does not always correspond to the current one)
TLG 0722.005
Ff. [26a] recto, f. 29a verso, f. 38v, ff. 63r-63v are blank
The extracts from book 4 end with chapter 113 (indicated in the manuscript as 114), incomplete
The ending of chapter 15 has been written by the scribe on the verso of a smaller leaf ( f. [26a] verso) bound between ff. 26 and 27; chapters 81, 82 (title only), 84 (indicated as 85), 91, have been written by the scribe on the recto of a smaller leaf ( f. 29a recto) bound between ff. 29 and 30
The extracts from book 1 end with chapter 14, incomplete
Physical Description
Collation
Part II is formed by three quires. Two smaller leaves were inserted in quire 3 (ff. [26a], 29a).
- Quire 316+2 ff. 20-26, [26a], 27-29, 29a, 30-35(α΄)
- Quire 416 ff. 36-51
- Quire 512 ff. 52-63
Layout
ff. 20-26, 27-29, 30-63 A single column of 22 lines. 160 ca. × 95 ca. mm.
Hand(s)
ff. ff. 20-26, 27-29, 30-63 Hand A: the texts have been written by Michael Souliardos (15th century-16th century) (Μιχαὴλ Σουλιάρδος, RGK I, 286; on him see also RGK II 392; RGK III, 468).
The text is written in black ink; initials in red.
Decoration
Initials in ekthesis in red ink decorated with a simple vegetal motif, see e.g. f. 20r.
Simple thick initials in red ink, see e.g.f. 35v.
History
Part II of the manuscript, as part I, was copied by Michael Souliardos probably around the beginning of the 16th c., as the watermark confirms.
Part 3 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Mm.1.17, ff. 64-129]
Contents
Language(s): Greek
The text is attributed to Alexander of Aphrodisias but is considered spurious
Only books 1-2 have been published ( J.L. Ideler, Physici et medici Graeci minores, 1, (Berlin, 1841) [repr. Amsterdam, 1963], pp. 3-80); about the contents of books 3-5 in this manuscript see R.W. Sharples, 'Alexander and pseudo-Alexander of Aphrodisias, Scripta minima. Questions and Problems, makeweights and prospects', in Gattungen wissenschaftlicher Literatur in der Antike, ed. by W. Kullmann, J. Althoff and M. Asper (Tübingen, 1998), pp. 383-403 (pp. 388 and 391-393).
The scribe wrote scholia in the margins
TLG 0732.002
Folios 115v-116v are blank.
The same text, comprising also the text about eyes, is found in MS Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Z 294, ff. 1r-8v
At the end of this series of texts there is a final rubric attributing them to Oribasius' work Synopsis ad Eustathium filium (TLG 0722.004); the texts do not coincide with the printed text, but for the medical recipe about eyes (f. 127r), see J. Raeder, Oribasii synopsis ad Eustathium et libri ad Eunapium (Leipzig, 1926) [repr. 1964], pp. 3-313 (9,61,9)
f. 121v is blank
f. 126v is blank
ff. 127v-129v are blank
Physical Description
Collation
Part III is formed by two quires. Between the 12th ( f. 115) and 13th leaf ( f. 122) of quire 8 a ternion (ff. 116-121) was inserted.
- Quires 6-720 ff. 64-103(αον )
- Quire 820+6 ff. 104-129
Layout
ff. 64r-115r, 122r-126r, 127r A single column of 20 lines. 165 ca. × 100 ca. mm.
ff. 117r-121r A single column of 23 lines. 160 ca. × 95 ca. mm.
Hand(s)
ff. 64r-115r, ff. 117r-121r, 122r-126r, 127r Hand A: the texts have been written by Michael Souliardos (15th century-16th century) (Μιχαὴλ Σουλιάρδος, RGK I, 286; on him also RGK II 392; RGK III, 468).
The text is written in black ink; initials in red.
Decoration
Small vegetal friezes in black and red ink on ff. 87r, 95r, 117r.
Simple thick initials in red ink, sometimes with small decorative strokes, see e.g.f. 95r.
Vegetal decorative motif in the upper margin, before the beginning of the text, on f. 64r.
History
Part III of the manuscript, as part I, was copied by Michael Souliardos probably around the beginning of the 16th century, as the watermarks confirm.
Additional Information
Record Sources
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 Catalogue of manuscripts (Ll-Oo), (Cambridge, 4: Ll-Oo, Cambridge University Press, 1861)
Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten,
800-1600 Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für
Byzantinistik, Gamillscheg, ErnstHarlfinger, Dieter (Wien, I. Grossbritannien, Verlag der Österreichischen
Akademie der
Wissenschaften, 1981)
Alexander and pseudo-Alexanders of Aphrodisias:
Scripta minima. Questions and Problems, makeweights and
prospects Gattungen wissenschaftlicher Literatur in der
Antike ScriptOralia, Sharples, R.
W. (Tübingen, 95, 383-408, Narr, 1998)
The Greek Manuscripts of John Moore and Etienne
Baluze Codices Manuscripti, Jackson, Donald
F. (56/57, 29-42, 2006)
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)
A census of Greek medical manuscripts: from
Byzantium to the Renaissance Medicine in the medieval
Mediterranean, Touwaide, A. (London, Routledge, Taylor and Francis, 2016)
Funding of Cataloguing
The Polonsky Foundation
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
