Transmissions – serie

What does writing Greek books mean at the height of the Cinquecento in Venice? The present volume provides fascinating insights into Greek-language book production at a time when printed books were already at a rather advanced stage of development with regards to requests, purchases and exchanges of books; copying and borrowing practices; relations among intellectuals and with institutions, and much more. Based on the investigation into selected institutional and private libraries – in particular the book collection of Gabriel Severos, guide of the Greek Confraternity in Venice – the authors present new pertinent evidence from Renaissance books and documents, discuss methodological questions, and propose innovative research perspectives for a sociocultural approach to book histories.

The rediscovery and revaluation of ancient Greek philosophy was one of the most relevant results of the rebirth of the classical studies in the Renaissance, and, thanks to pivotal figures such as Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola, Platonism became a cornerstone in the history of Western thought. Nevertheless, before the flowering of Platonic studies, a struggle between the supporters of Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy exploded: this is the so-called Plato-Aristotle controversy.The key figures of this controversy were George of Trebizond, who produced a treatise against Plato, and Cardinal Bessarion, who replied to George of Trebizond in the In calumniatorem Platonis. Shortly after, Bessarion’s protégées Domizio Calderini and Niccolò Perotti wrote two treatises in support of his patron, which represent the most significant products of the last stage of the Plato-Aristotle controversy.In this volume I reconstructed the different phases of the controversy, and then I focused on Calderini and Perotti’s works, that I edited, translated and commented for the first time. The book provides the first general overview on the Plato-Aristotle controversy, and an in-depth analysis of these two treatises, which were produced at the crossroad of Platonism, Medieval philosophy and Modern thought.

This investigation sheds light on Isaac Argyrus and his scholarly work in 14th-century Constantinople on the basis of his book production: it　thus fills a major desideratum of cultural-historical, paleographical, and textual critical studies on the Palaeologan Age. After a brief introduction summing up the state of the art, the available textual sources are discussed in order to define the timeframe of Argyrus' life and to gather all information about him and his career. A complete lists of the manuscript collection copied by Argyrus introduces the pivotal aspect of the research: the analysis of Argyrus’ handwriting in relation with the contemporary graphic context. Since Argyrus seems to have mastered two types of handwriting, a formal one and a cursive one, his graphic training must have been based on two differed models: on the one side the hand of his teacher, Nicephorus Gregoras, on the other one a writing style widespread in the XIV century, known as Τῶν῾ Οδηγῶν. The paleographical point of view leads also to the reconstruction of Argyrus' scholarly enviroment, through a detailed description of hands of the scribes who collaborated with him. The writing procedure followed by Argyrus in the composition of his theological treatises eanbles a sound definition of his skills as author. Descriptive reports of each analysed codex conclude the volume. This book shows an example how the use and analysis of material sources, such as manuscripts, can give a innovative and fruitful perspective in investigation about the scholary writings practices in the Byzantine age.

The purpose of this volume is to investigate scholastic culture in the Hellenistic and Roman eras, with a particular focus on ancient book and material culture as well as scholarship beyond Greek authors and the Greek language. Accordingly, one of the major contributions of this work is the inclusion of multiple perspectives and its contributors engage not only with elements of Greek scholastic culture, but also bring Greek ideas into conversation with developing Latin scholarship (see chapters by Dickey, Nicholls, Marshall) and the perspective of a minority culture (i.e., Jewish authors) (see chapters by Hezser, Adams). This multicultural perspective is an important next step in the discussion of ancient scholarship and this volume provides a starting point for future inquiries.

The peer-reviewed series Transmissions aims to constitute a space for documentation, theoretical and methodological reflection and critical discussion on the transmission of texts. The focus is on textual production in Greek and Latin, while remaining open to comparisons with the dynamics of transmission in the graphic and textual production of other cultures and languages, especially in the cases where the latter function as vehicles for the transmission of Greek and Latin texts. The series hosts studies on the various aspects of conservation and transformation, in all their manifold processes, from antiquity to the modern period. Its concern is above all with the material factors and practices of use and reception of texts and their physical supports, with the aim of reconstructing the cultural and social history that serves as a foundation for their transmission. The scope of reflection is thus the itineraries of texts, books and book collections, with particular attention to the role of the actors and institutions that participate in these dynamics, leading towards a phenomenology and theory of the processes of transmission. The series responds to an increasing critical awareness, and to the search for theoretical systematisation in the field of the transmission of ancient texts. In the most recent research, alongside the philological approach to the text, an attention to the technical-material aspects of transmission has become widespread, and so also to the editorial and historical-cultural fortunes of the textual product right from antiquity itself, in the eastern and western Middle Ages and the whole of European humanism, up to the modern period. The philological approach to the book, with the observation of the physical signs of the material support, is ever more central to the investigation of texts, to the reconstruction of the paths taken by books and to a historical contextualisation of their use, in the need to tie the text to the fortunes of its vehicle. Increasingly conscious attention is being given to the transitions and arrivals of texts and books in different cultural and cultural-linguistic contexts, with their dynamics of confrontation and adaptation, resulting in new material outcomes of textual production, for example translations and commentaries, paraphrases, abbreviations and anthologisations. In general, there is a strong need to trace the social and cultural environments and scenarios in which the journeys of books and texts occur, by observing morphological shifts and ways of use both in textual products and in their material witnesses, and so also in the role of the actors in the practices of writing and reading – scribes, readers, scholars, humanists – and of institutions – schools, universities, public and private libraries – in the production, circulation and conservation processes of written culture. These are Transmissions, thus, not only of texts, but also of praxeis, of books and of collections of books, in the encounter between cultures. Transmissions publishes monographs, edited volumes and critical editions with commentary of texts which are particularly relevant for the study of the dynamics of textual transmission. The preferred language of publication is English, but German, Italian, and French are also accepted. Series Editor: Rosa Maria Piccione (Università di Torino) Advisory Board: Rodney Ast (Universität Heidelberg); Daniele Bianconi (Sapienza Università di Roma); Caterina Carpinato (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia); Paolo Eleuteri (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia); Gerlinde Huber-Rebenich (Universität Bern); Juan Pedro Monferrer (Universidad de Cordoba); Raphaële Mouren (Warburg Institute-University of London); Matthias Perkams (Universität Jena); Elisabetta Sciarra (Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana); Sofia Torallas Tovar (University of Chicago)

The book contains the editio princeps of Mattia Palmieri’s mid-fifteenth-century Latin translation of Herodotus’ Histories, almost contemporary or even earlier than that by Lorenzo Valla. It also investigates the intellectual and historical milieu in which Palmieri produced it as preparatory work for his historical works and to secure patronage under a church prelate by offering it to Cardinal Prospero Colonna. It includes some information on Palmieri’s life and work and Herodotus’ fortuna, a brief comparison between Palmieri’s and Valla’s translations, Palmieri’s Greek model and Livy’s influence on him in language and style. It finally approaches some methodological issues related to editing a text preserved in authorially revised versions, because the translation shows three different stages of revision. This first approach of Herodotus by Western scholars is significant, because Herodotus was foremost read as a quarry of information of ethnographical, geographical, historical and anthropological nature, in order for the Europeans to understand peoples they encountered on their exploratory voyages and the Ottomans, who were considered as descendants of the Persians.

At the dawn of the Renaissance, Liber Catulli was difficult to read not only for the text but also for the arrangement of the poems: few were identified, even less had titles or graphical devices to mark them. After a century, nevertheless, the book became a poetic collection in modern terms: what happened?This work provides an overview of the process, comparing paratestual evidences in latest manuscripts and first printed editions of Catullus, in order to better understand his concrete transmission, types of book or poem titles used by scribes and their relations with the meaning of the text. Following a time criterion, the author collected the most relevant paratextual facts in witnesses, searching for the innovations and constants: the first seems to coincide with philological vanguards of the XV century, while the second sheds useful lights on contamination phenomenon, that deeply affects the transmission of Catullus. This book helps to trace an outline of the comprehension of the poems and fata libelli from the late XIV to early XVI century.

The peer-reviewed series Transmissions aims to constitute a space for documentation, theoretical and methodological reflection and critical discussion on the transmission of texts. The focus is on textual production in Greek and Latin, while remaining open to comparisons with the dynamics of transmission in the graphic and textual production of other cultures and languages, especially in the cases where the latter function as vehicles for the transmission of Greek and Latin texts. The series hosts studies on the various aspects of conservation and transformation, in all their manifold processes, from antiquity to the modern period. Its concern is above all with the material factors and practices of use and reception of texts and their physical supports, with the aim of reconstructing the cultural and social history that serves as a foundation for their transmission. The scope of reflection is thus the itineraries of texts, books and book collections, with particular attention to the role of the actors and institutions that participate in these dynamics, leading towards a phenomenology and theory of the processes of transmission. The series responds to an increasing critical awareness, and to the search for theoretical systematisation in the field of the transmission of ancient texts. In the most recent research, alongside the philological approach to the text, an attention to the technical-material aspects of transmission has become widespread, and so also to the editorial and historical-cultural fortunes of the textual product right from antiquity itself, in the eastern and western Middle Ages and the whole of European humanism, up to the modern period. The philological approach to the book, with the observation of the physical signs of the material support, is ever more central to the investigation of texts, to the reconstruction of the paths taken by books and to a historical contextualisation of their use, in the need to tie the text to the fortunes of its vehicle. Increasingly conscious attention is being given to the transitions and arrivals of texts and books in different cultural and cultural-linguistic contexts, with their dynamics of confrontation and adaptation, resulting in new material outcomes of textual production, for example translations and commentaries, paraphrases, abbreviations and anthologisations. In general, there is a strong need to trace the social and cultural environments and scenarios in which the journeys of books and texts occur, by observing morphological shifts and ways of use both in textual products and in their material witnesses, and so also in the role of the actors in the practices of writing and reading – scribes, readers, scholars, humanists – and of institutions – schools, universities, public and private libraries – in the production, circulation and conservation processes of written culture. These are Transmissions, thus, not only of texts, but also of praxeis, of books and of collections of books, in the encounter between cultures. Transmissions publishes monographs, edited volumes and critical editions with commentary of texts which are particularly relevant for the study of the dynamics of textual transmission. The preferred language of publication is English, but German, Italian, and French are also accepted. Series Editor: Rosa Maria Piccione (Università di Torino) Advisory Board: Rodney Ast (Universität Heidelberg); Daniele Bianconi (Sapienza Università di Roma); Caterina Carpinato (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia); Paolo Eleuteri (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia); Gerlinde Huber-Rebenich (Universität Bern); Juan Pedro Monferrer (Universidad de Cordoba); Raphaële Mouren (Warburg Institute-University of London); Matthias Perkams (Universität Jena); Elisabetta Sciarra (Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana); Sofia Torallas Tovar (University of Chicago)

Manuscripts from the Byzantine era hand down lists of outstanding Greek authors or canons in the various literary and scientific-philosophical genres, but there has been a lack of research into their nature, chronology, origin, formation and use. The volume Παραδείγματα, the term used in rhetorical texts to designate the canons, provides a new critical edition of these lists as a basis for the topics discussed. One of the lists, hitherto thought to be unitary, turns out to be composed of two originally independent and diachronic lists, later joined into one: an older one, dating back at least in part to Alexandrian philology, and another possibly from the 5th-6th century AD with additions up to the 9th, formed between Alexandria and Constantinople. A later list of canons, referable to the 13th-14th centuries, proves to be different from the previous ones, reflecting all-Byzantine instances partly intrinsic to Byzantine orthodoxy since it includes Church Fathers and theologians, partly resulting from cultural turning points of the 11th-12th centuries, partly inspired by the Second Sophistic. The groups and authors of each list were then examined, recalling their geo-historical context, activity, production and textual tradition, and their place in Serorian scholarship. Finally, the lists were compared with the canons transposed or reformulated by Byzantine scholars and scholars. The volume may prove useful to those concerned with ancient literary and scientific-philosophical canons, the history of scholarship, the use of the classics and the Church Fathers in Byzantium.

The Bibliothèque Nationale de France preserves an extraordinary document: a fourth-century CE papyrus codex from Upper Egypt. This handbook is over seventy inscribed pages long and is equivalent in length to four or five normal-sized papyrus rolls. But despite its great size, it contains only fifty-three recipes, many of unusual length and complexity. Our research team on the Transmission of Magical Knowledge project has been studying, re-editing and translating all the magical handbooks from Roman Egypt, and in the process, we have realized that the Paris Codex from Upper Egypt, long understood as the "typical" or "model" handbook of the age, is, in fact, a marvelous outlier in the group. The manuscript was probably never used for the preparation of quotidian magical spells, but rather as a book to be read and to fire the imagination of its readers. We propose in this volume a complete re-assessment of GEMF 57, not only of its materiality, scribal production, and its language, but also of its composition in different blocks coming from divergent exemplars. The book is distributed into five sections: 1. Materiality of GEMF 57, including codicology, paleography and scribal practice; 2. Language and Rhetoric; 3. Poetry, on the metrical sections; 4. Special sections, including chapters on the Mithras Liturgy, the collapse of Solomon and the Epistolary section; 5. Special topics, on astrology and Egyptian influence.

During the sixteenth century, antiquarian studies (the study of the material past, comprising modern archaeology, epigraphy, and numismatics) rose in Europe in parallel to the technical development of the printing press. Some humanists continued to prefer the manuscript form to disseminate their findings – as numerous fair copies of sylloges and treatises attest –, but slowly the printed medium grew in popularity, with its obvious advantages but also its many challenges. As antiquarian printed works appeared, the relationship between manuscript and printed sources also became less linear: printed copies of earlier works were annotated to serve as a means of research, and printed works could be copied by hand – partially or even completely. This book explores how antiquarian literature (collections of inscriptions, treatises, letters...) developed throughout the sixteenth century, both in manuscript and in print; how both media interacted with each other, and how these printed antiquarian works were received, as attested by the manuscript annotations left by their early modern owners and readers.

Enjoying a wide transmission during the Middle Ages, Barlaam and Ioasaph tells the story of a pagan prince, Ioasaph, whose spiritual crisis is allayed only by the preaching of the Christian ascetic Barlaam. Recent studies have repeated the standard claim that the core of the novel was the Christianisation of the life of the historical Buddha, Śākyamuni Gautama. However, this reconstruction is unsatisfactory for a number of reasons.Basso’s approach contextualizes BkI in the larger category of texts whose authors are anonymous and whose content is open and not firmly structured. The analysis of textual transmission of texts like these cannot follow the same rules as standard philology, the so-called Lachmannian stemma codicum. Basso proposes to call this alternative explanation theory the “Karussell-Modell” in opposition to the Baum-Modell, since it takes into due consideration the carousel-like diffusion of stories, dramatically different from the model of the genealogical transmission of manuscripts. Stories, unlike closed texts, continued travelling in a spiral-like movement, along the cultural highways of the Late Antique world, from India and Iran through Syria to Greece, and back once more, in a sort of narrative Rückwanderung.