Cambridge, University Library, MS Nn.3.3
Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12241
Contents
Language(s): Greek
From ⟨ἐπίγραμμα⟩ to ἀριστοφάνους in red ink. About the epigram, cf. Greek Anthology Appendix III 33 and DBBE type 5362
TLG 4158.009
TLG 5014.031
TLG 4158.010
followed by the list of characters of the Plutus
TLG 5014.031
added by a later hand. ‘ὁρῶν ὁ καρίων τὸν ἑαυτοῦ δεσπότην χρεμύλον’ repeated on lower margin
TLG 0019.029
extensive scholia and interlinear glosses accompany the text
some folios are misplaced but the foliation numbers run consistently with the text: ff. 12r-13v are misplaced after f. 15v, ff. 16r-17v after f. 18v. This arrangement pre-dates the current binding, and a reader has noted the correct reading order of the folios on the lower margin of f. 11v and f. 13v
TLG 5014.005
followed by the list of characters of the play
TLG 0019.021
extensive scholia in brown ink and interlinear glosses accompany the text
ff. 48r-48v have been replaced by ff. 48*r-48*v without any loss of text
The same note is found on CUL, MS Ff.4.47, f. 23v. Cf. RGK I 359.
Physical Description
Collation
The manuscript originally consisted of ten quaternions and a final quire of three leaves. The original state of the quires was modified in the 18th century with extensive use of stubs, prior to the misplacing of ff. 14-18. The binding is too tight to determine the colation confidently:
- Quire 18-1 ff. 1-7
- Quire 24 ff. 8-11
- Quire 32+2 ff. 14, 15, 12-13
- Quire 43 ff. 18, 16, 17
- Quire 512+2 ff. 19-30, 31, 32
- Quire 68+8 ff. 33-40, 41-48*
- Quires 7-108 ff. 49-80
- Quire 113 ff. 81-83
Bifolium signatures, a note on collation on f. [vi] recto, and notes throughout the manuscript on the lost and cancelled folios added by Henry Bradshaw (1831-1886), University Librarian 1867-1886.
Quire signatures in Greek numerals from α to ια in red ink at the beginning and the end of quires, survive in the lower margin, probably original to the production of the manuscript. Some of them have been lost: α f. 8v; β ff. 9r and 16v ; Γ ff. 17r and 24v; δ ff. 25r and 32v; ε ff. 33r and 40v; ϛ f. 41r; ζ f. 49r (very faint); Η f. 57r (passed on f. 56v); θ and θον ff. 65r and 72v; ι f. 73r; ια f. 81r.
Later quire signatures in Greek numerals from α to ι in black ink usually at the beginning of quires, in the lower margin, and on lower margin of stubs (not visible on digital images), probably dating from the restoration of the manuscript in the 18th century: α f. 2r; β f. 8r; Γ ff. 14r and 13v (on stub); δ ff. 18r and 17v (on stub); ε ff. 19r and 32v (on stub); ϛ ff. 33r and 48*v (on stub); H f. 64v (on stub); θ f. 72v (on stub); ι f. 80v (on stub).
Bifolium signatures (Latin letters for quires, followed by Arabic numerals for bifolios) in pencil in the lower right-hand corner of the rectos of the first four folios, followed by a cross on the fifth, added by Henry Bradshaw: a-l.
Condition
Layout
ff. 1r-47v, 49r-83r: A single column of 16 lines. 190 × 100 mm. Surrounding scholia that accompany the main texts have a very variable number of lines per page. The ruling for the main text and the scholia is traced and visible on all the folios.
ff. 48*r-48*v: A single column of 16-17 lines. 230 × 110 mm.
Hand(s)
Hand A: ff. 1r-47v, 49r-83r
The texts and scholia are written in a mixed minuscule in an upright, scribal hand, in black ink script.
The writing is of reduced size and with large space for interlinear glosses. There is a moderate variation in letter size. Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings are absent in the main text, rare in introductory materials and frequent in scholia. Breathings are curved and mute iota is not used non consistenly.
The general appearance of the writing appears rigid, since the core of the letters is inscribable in a square and the strokes are often built at right angles (e.g. ypsilon), however the descending strokes are traced with some softness.
The small majuscules beta, gamma, lambda and phi are present. Beta has a heart-shape, and epsilon is both regular minuscule and lunate. The sigma telikon is present along with regular shape.
Epsilon in ligature is deformed. Lambda in ligature with alpha or epsilon has an closed loop.
Punctuation used includes the middle and upper point, lower comma and full stop.
Hand B: ff. 48*r-48*v
The integrated sheet is written a mixed miniscule similar to that of the main hand but more slanting to the right.
The name on f. 83v is written by the Greek monk Sabbas from the Monastery of Dionysiou (RGK I 359).
Decoration
The Thoman Life of Aristophanes and Plutus are preceded by rectangular headpieces with vegetative ornament in red ink: ff. 1r and 2r. Blank space is left for a headpiece on f. 40r.
Minor initials in red ink, with simple ornament on ff. 1v, 39v and at the begin of each scholion.
Additions
f. 1r: a fragment of red wax seal on the lower margin, partly lost in trimming, with a small Greek cross and some letters of the legend still readable: ‘+ | ΑΝΤΟ⟨ΝΙΟΥ⟩ | ΤΡΙΦ⟨ΙΛΙ | 1713⟩ ’, accompanied by the inscription ‘απο του δεονισιου (sic) νουμερο 11’. The same seal is preserved on CUL MS Nn.3.15, Part Ia f. 2r (with inscription: ‘απο του δεονισιου (sic) νουμερο 8’), and CUL MS Add. 2603, f. 459v; in the latter the legend ‘+ | ΑΝΤΟΝΙ⟨ΟΥ⟩ | ΤΡΙΦΙΛΙ | 1713’ is readable, accompanied by an inscription dated 18th July 1739, in the same hand as the inscription ‘απο του δεονισιου’ on Nn.3.3, f. 1r. The same seal can be found on Leiden, Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit, BPG 74 G , f. 1*r, and traces of its impression can also be found on London, British Library, Add. MS 5153A , f. 5v.
The incipit of Plutus is copied by a later hand on the lower margin on f. 1r: ‘+ ὡς ἀργαλέον πρᾶγμ’ ἐστίν’. It is partly written on paper used for the restoration of the manuscript and now almost entirely covered by the strip of paper that bears Triphilis' seal; only the accents and breathings are visible on digital images.
A sketch of a horse's head is drawn on f. 1v.
Henry Bradshaw added the bifolium signatures and a note on collation on f. [vi] recto, and notes throughout the manuscript on the lost and cancelled folios.
Binding
Bound with pale brown full skin covering over millboards. There is decorative tooling on boards, spine and on the board edge. The title (Aristoph Plutus Nubes) is tooled in gold on the spine. Marbled paper is used as pastedowns with blank leaves.
279 × 216 × 37 mm.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
The manuscript used to belong to the Dionysiou Monastery on Mount Athos. It contains the same inscription on f. 83v (‘Σάββα Ἱερομόναχος’) as that found in CUL MS Ff.4.47, f. 23v, which is accompanied by a note indicating it belonged to the Monastery (‘κτῆμα μονῆς τοῦ κυρίου Διονυσίου’).
Antonios Triphillis, who was an educated Greek of the diaspora active in the first half of 18th century, may have been a dealer with access to Mt Athos monasteries or a collector, whose books were sold abroad. Triphillos wrote his name on CUL MS Ff.4.47, f. 23v alongside a note indicating it belonged to the Monastery (‘κτῆμα μονῆς τοῦ κυρίου Διονυσίου’). The note on f. 1r, ‘απο του δεονισιου (sic) νουμερο 11’, was in all likelihood added by Triphillis along with his seal. Similar inscriptions, by the same hand, can be found in CUL MS Add. 2603, f. 459v (νουμερο 7) and CUL MS Nn.3.15.1, f. 1:2r (νουμερο 8), which both also have the seal impression.
The manuscript later belonged to the physician Richard Mead (1673-1754) .
The manuscript later entered the library of Anthony Askew (1722-1774) , physician and book collector.
After Askew's death, his manuscripts were sold by G. Leigh and J. Sotheby in the auction of his library in 1785 (Nn.3.3 Lot. n. 556), and several, including Nn.3.3, were eventually bought by Richard Farmer for Cambridge University Library. The University of Cambridge general bookplate (engraved by William Jackson in 1706-1707) was added on the pastedown of left cover.
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
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Bibliography
-
A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the
library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge, 4, Cambridge University Press, 1861)
The Manuscripts of Aristophanes. I Classical Philology, White, John
Williams (1, 1, 1-20, 1906)
Simonidis Fr. 2 (507) Page in Scholio Leidensi
Ad Ar. Nub. 1356 Mnemosyne, Koster, Willem Johann
Wolff (19, 4, 395-396, 1966)
Scholia in Aristophanem. Pars 1, Prolegomena de
comoedia, Scholia in Acharnenses, Equites, Nubes. Fasc.
3(2), continens Scholia recentiora in Nubes, Koster, Willem Johann
Wolff (Groningen, Bouma's Boekhuis, 1974)
Anthony Askew's "Liber amicorum" Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical
Society, Stubbings, Frank (6, 5, 306-321, 1976)
Clouds / Aristophanes, (Oxford, Clarendon, 1989)
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)
Funding of Cataloguing
The Polonsky Foundation
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
