Marcianus graecus XI, 7 (= 1340) – Mv

Previous descriptions: Berardelli (1779, 218–9); Mioni (1972, 87–89).

Reproductions: –

Family: d²

Siglum: Mv

Shelfmark: Marcianus graecus XI, 7

Date: 15th century (before 1501)

Format: paper, 290×198 mm, I + 294 ff.

Material: the paper is in a very good state of preservation. On f. 247r, vv. 137–55 are integrated in the margin, where some letters are now lost due to later trimming of the leaves.

Binding: not original, 18th or 19th century.

Watermarks: scissors, similar to Briquet 3684 (Genoa 1449), or D. Harlfinger, J. Harlfinger (1974–1980 vol. 2, 51) under the n. 51 (around 1464), a watermark found in the Monac. gr. 215, written by Michael LyzigusMichael Lyzigus (RGK I 282 = II 386 = III 465) (see Hajdú 2012, 195–8); scales, similar to Briquet 2488 (Treviso 1467–1468); an ox head surmounted by a star, i.e. Briquet 14863 (Abach 1464); three little mountains with a cross above them, i.e. Briquet 11722 (Savoy 1413–23); tongs, i.e. Briquet 14089 (Pisa 1454).

Scribes: the entire manuscript was written probably in Crete by a single scribe, Georgius GregoropulusGeorgius Gregoropulus    (RGK I 58 = II 78 = III 98; Vogel, Gardthausen 1909, 72–3). Georgius Gregoropoulos (1450–1501) was a Cretan copyist and later a priest in Candia. He worked with Michael Apostolis, his son Arsenius, Antonius Damilas, Emmanuel Zacharides, and Georgius Trivizias. Father of Iohannes Gregoropoulos.

Annotations: at f. I a librarian in the monastery of Saints John and Paul wrote ducentorum circiter annorum. On f. 271v, at the end of the Aeschylean section, the scribe wrote αἰωνία ἡ μνήμη τοῦ ποιήσαντος τὰ σχόλια καὶ τὰς συντάξεις, ‘Eternal be the memory of him who made the commentary and the syntactical notes’.

1 (ff. 1r–142r) Pollux, Onomasticon. There is no title; incipit: θεὸς καὶ θεὸν καὶ δαίμονες (1.5). Explicit: κόρημα· κιβωτόν· λύχνον (10.192). It covers Pollux’s text from beginning to end: 1 (ff. 1r–24r), 2 (ff. 24v–41v), 3 (ff. 42r–51r), 4 (ff. 51r–64r), 5 (ff. 64v–72r), 6 (ff. 72r–86r), 7 (ff. 86r–96v), 8 (ff. 97r–112v), 9 (ff. 112v–127r), and 10 (ff. 127r–142r).

ff. 142v–153v: blank.

2 (ff. 154r–176v) Aeschylus, Prometheus vinctus; (ff. 176v–196v) Aeschylus, Septem contra Thebas; (ff. 197r–217v) Aeschylus, Persae; each tragedy has Thoman scholia rubricated between lines. There are no titles and argumenta. As one would expect, this manuscript (S) belongs to the Thoman recension of the text, see Turyn (1943, 83).

3 (ff. 217v–242v) Dionysius Periegetes, Periegesis. Title: Διονυσίου Ἀλεξανδρέως οἰκουμένης περιήγησις; it lacks vv. 1081–113. There are rubricated scholia between lines until v. 9; then one finds only sporadic scholia or glosses, mostly on final verses.

ff. 243r–244v: blank.

4 (ff. 245r–262r) Hesiod, Opera et dies. With Moschopulean glosses and some short scholia. See Gaisford (1823).

5 (ff. 262v–282r) Theocritus, Idylls 1–3, 5, 4, 6, 7, 8. The first Idyll preserves some scholia and glosses.

ff. 282v–294v: blank.

The manuscript is very elegant; the initials of each work, book, and chapter are rubricated, as are the titles and the names of the characters in the tragedies. As a note informs us (see Annotations), it belonged to the library of the monastery of Saints John and Paul in VeniceSaints John and Paul (Venice), from where it was moved, along with the entire monastery collection, to the Marciana Library in 1789 (see M. Zorzi 1987; Jackson 2011, 10.55.69) in 1789. Mioni (1971, 23–4) believes that Marcus Musurus (ca. 1470–1517) was one of the owners and that after his death the manuscript was taken by Gioacchino Torriano (DBI 37.562–5) and transferred, with many books from Georgios Gregoropoulos’ library and scriptorium, to the Dominican monastery of Saints John and Paul, where it remained until 1789. Turriano’s efforts to collect ancient manuscripts are well documented, but they must be dated some years before Musurus’ presence in Venice, which is why Speranzi (2013, 133–5) is rightfully cautious about Mioni’s assertion.